Transitioning from Nonfiction to Fiction Writing

Transitioning from Nonfiction to Fiction Writing First of all, it is possible. Ernest Hemingway and William Kennedy moved from journalism; Sue Monk Kidd from memoir; and C. S. Lewis from essays and treatises. Sue Monk Kidd states that the most frequently-asked question on her book tours is, â€Å"How did you go from nonfiction to fiction?† Here are some tips and support to help you make the transition: You need to transition your reading, as well. Read your most-admired authors and new fiction authors also. Remember, C.S. Lewis says good readers read a piece more than once. Have a plan. Stagger your writing. Perhaps write fiction and nonfiction on alternate days. Or, write your fiction first, then go back to the nonfiction you’re more comfortable with once you’ve met your word count in the other. Writing fiction is a discipline for which you have been well-trained through your nonfiction deadlines. Produce five to ten pages a day faithfully! Try flash fiction first. Because it is short, it is easier to start with and there are numerous contests listed in FundsforWriters newsletter. Your nonfiction themes can find a home in your fiction. For instance, C. S. Lewis’ themes concerned Christianity which he incorporated into his fiction (Chronicles of Narnia) without being didactic or preachy. The skill sets you have developed while writing nonfiction will serve you well in fiction also. These include: 1) Attention to detail. Your descriptions of the who, what, where, why and how will help you in plotting fiction and in description. 2) Interviewing. Interview your characters on what they think about - religion, politics or an event - just as you would a source. 3) Sense of place. Your knowledge of a place garnered from nonfiction can serve you well in fiction. William Kennedy reported on Albany, NY first for the Albany Times Union and then set his cycle of Albany novels there. Readers always want to see a place with which they are familiar portrayed accurately, and your nonfiction experience of place sets you apart. 4) Journal Writing. Your journal or dream journal writing can help with both plot and productivity. This angle also falls in the category of â€Å"write what you know.† 5) Research. Nonfiction research is helpful to fiction. You’ll get that time or place right, but William Kennedy talks about the danger of research: â€Å"And so I got hooked on research, couldn’t get out from under the library’s microfilm machine until I finally realized I was doing myself a great disservice; because your imagination can’t absorb all that new material and synthesize it easily.â€Å" Finally, William Kennedy describes the difference between nonfiction and fiction: â€Å"But the journalist must report on life objectively, and the novelist must reinvent life utterly, and the work has to come up from below instead of down from the top as a journalist receives it. But experience alone will produce only commonplace novels. The real work is a blend of imagination and language.† Source for quotes: Allen, Douglas and Mona Simpson, â€Å"William Kennedy: The Art of Fiction 111,† Paris Review, Winter, 1989.

Overview of Corn-Pone Opinions by Mark Twain

Overview of Corn-Pone Opinions by Mark Twain In an essay not published until several years after his death, humorist Mark Twain examines the effects of social pressures on our thoughts and beliefs. Corn-Pone Opinions is presented as an argument, says Davidson College English professor Ann M. Fox, not a sermon. Rhetorical questions, elevated language, and short clipped declarations . . . are part of this strategy. (The Mark Twain Encyclopedia, 1993) Corn-Pone Opinions by Mark Twain Fifty years ago, when I was a boy of fifteen and helping to inhabit a Missourian village on the banks of the Mississippi, I had a friend whose society was very dear to me because I was forbidden by my mother to partake of it. He was a gay and impudent and satirical and delightful young black mana slavewho daily preached sermons from the top of his masters woodpile, with me for sole audience. He imitated the pulpit style of the several clergymen of the village and did it well, and with fine passion and energy. To me, he was a wonder. I believed he was the greatest orator in the United States and would some day be heard from. But it did not happen; in the distribution of rewards, he was overlooked. It is the way, in this world. He interrupted his preaching, now and then, to saw a stick of wood; but the sawing was a pretensehe did it with his mouth; exactly imitating the sound the bucksaw makes in shrieking its way through the wood. But it served its purpose; it kept his master from coming out to see how the work was getting along. I listened to the sermons from the open window of a lumber room at the back of the house. One of his texts was this: You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en Ill tell you what his pinions is. I can never forget it. It was deeply impressed upon me. By my mother. Not upon my memory, but elsewhere. She had slipped in upon me while I was absorbed and not watching. The black philosophers idea was that a man is not independent, and cannot afford views which might interfere with his bread and butter. If he would prosper, he must train with the majority; in matters of large moment, like politics and religion, he must think and feel with the bulk of his neighbors or suffer damage in his social standing and in his business prosperities. He must restrict himself to corn-pone opinionsat least on the surface. He must get his opinions from other people; he must reason out none for himself; he must have no first-hand views. I think Jerry was right, in the main, but I think he did not go far enough. It was his idea that a man conforms to the majority view of his locality by calculation and intention.This happens, but I think it is not the rule.It was his idea that there is such a thing as a first-hand opinion; an original opinion; an opinion which is coldly reasoned out in a mans head, by a searching analysis of the facts involved, with the heart unconsulted, and the jury room closed against outside influences. It may be that such an opinion has been born somewhere, at some time or other, but I suppose it got away before they could catch it and stuff it and put it in the museum. I am persuaded that a coldly-thought-out and independent verdict upon a fashion in clothes, or manners, or literature, or politics, or religion, or any other matter that is projected into the field of our notice and interest, is a most rare thingif it has indeed ever existed. A new thing in costume appearsthe flaring hoopskirt, for exampleand the passers-by are shocked, and the irreverent laugh. Six months later everybody is reconciled; the fashion has established itself; it is admired, now, and no one laughs. Public opinion resented it before, public opinion accepts it now and is happy in it. Why? Was the resentment reasoned out? Was the acceptance reasoned out? No. The instinct that moves to conformity did the work. It is our nature to conform; it is a force which not many can successfully resist. What is its seat? The inborn requirement of self-approval. We all have to bow to that; there are no exceptions. Even the woman who refuses from first to last to wear the hoopskirt comes under that law and is its slave; she could not wear the skirt and have her own approval; and that she must have, she cannot help herself. But as a rule, our self-approval has its source in but one place and not elsewherethe approval of other people. A person of vast consequence s can introduce any kind of novelty in dress and the general world will presently adopt itmoved to do it, in the first place, by the natural instinct to passively yield to that vague something recognized as authority, and in the second place by the human instinct to train with the multitude and have its approval. An empress introduced the hoopskirt, and we know the result. A nobody introduced the bloomer, and we know the result. If Eve should come again, in her ripe renown, and reintroduce her quaint styleswell, we know what would happen. And we should be cruelly embarrassed, along at first. The hoopskirt runs its course and disappears. Nobody reasons about it. One woman abandons the fashion; her neighbor notices this and follows her lead; this influences the next woman; and so on and so on, and presently the skirt has vanished out of the world, no one knows how nor why, nor cares, for that matter. It will come again, by and by and in due course will go again. Twenty-five years ago, in England, six or eight wine glasses stood grouped by each persons plate at a dinner party, and they were used, not left idle and empty; today there are but three or four in the group, and the average guest sparingly uses about two of them. We have not adopted this new fashion yet, but we shall do it presently. We shall not think it out; we shall merely conform, and let it go at that. We get our notions and habits and opinions from outside influences; we do not have to study them out. Our table manners, and company manners, and street manners change from time to time, but the changes are not reasoned out; we merely notice and conform. We are creatures of outside influences; as a  rule, we do not think, we only imitate. We cannot invent standards that will stick; what we mistake for standards are only fashions, and perishable. We may continue to admire them, but we drop the use of them. We notice this in literature. Shakespeare is a standard, and fifty years ago we used to write tragedies which we couldnt tell fromfrom somebody elses; but we dont do it  any more, now. Our  prose  standard,  three quarters  of a century ago, was ornate and diffuse; some authority or other changed it in the direction of compactness and simplicity, and conformity followed, without argument. The historical novel starts up  suddenly and sweeps the land. Everybody writes one, and the nation is glad. We had historical novels before; but nobody read them, and the rest of us  conformedwithout reasoning it out. We are conforming in the other way, now, because it is another case of everybody. The outside influences are always pouring in upon us, and we are always obeying their orders and accepting their verdicts. The Smiths like the new play; the Joneses go to see it, and they copy the Smith verdict. Morals, religions, politics, get their following from surrounding influences and atmospheres, almost entirely; not from study, not from thinking. A man must and will have his own approval first of all, in each and every moment and circumstance of his lifeeven if he must repent of a self-approved act the moment after its commission, in order to get his self-approval again: but, speaking in general terms, a mans self-approval in the large concerns of life has its source in the approval of the peoples about him, and not in a searching personal examination of the matter. Mohammedans are Mohammedans because they are born and reared among that sect, not because they have thought it out and can furnish sound reasons for being Mohammedans; we know why Catholics are Catholics; why Pre sbyterians are Presbyterians; why Baptists are Baptists; why Mormons are Mormons; why thieves are thieves; why monarchists are monarchists; why Republicans are Republicans and Democrats, Democrats. We know it is a matter of association and sympathy, not reasoning and examination; that hardly a man in the world has an opinion upon morals, politics, or religion which he got otherwise than through his associations and sympathies. Broadly speaking, there are none but corn-pone opinions. And broadly speaking, corn-pone stands for self-approval. Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people. The result is conformity. Sometimes conformity has a sordid business interestthe bread-and-butter interestbut not in most cases, I think. I think that in the majority of cases it is unconscious and not calculated; that it is born of the human beings natural yearning to stand well with his fellows and have their inspiring approval and praisea yearning which is commonly so strong and so insistent that it cannot be effectually resisted, and must have its way. A political emergency brings out the corn-pone opinion in fine force in its two chief varietiesthe pocketbook variety, which has its origin in self-interest, and the bigger variety, the sentimental varietythe one which cant bear to be outside the pale; cant bear to be in disfavor; cant endure the averted face and the cold shoulder; wants to stand well with his friends, wants to be smiled upon, wants to be welcome, wants to hear the precious words, Hes on the right track! Uttered, perhaps by an ass, but still an ass of high degree, an ass whose approval is gold and diamonds to a smaller ass, and confers glory and honor and happiness, and membership in the herd. For these  gauds, many a man will dump his lifelong principles into the street, and his conscience along with them. We have seen it happen. In some millions of instances. Men think they think upon great political questions, and they do; but they think with their party, not independently; they read its literature, but not that of the other side; they arrive at convictions, but they are drawn from a partial view of the matter in hand and are of no particular value. They swarm with their party, they feel with their party, they are happy in their partys approval; and where the party leads they will follow, whether for right and  honor or through blood and dirt and a mush of mutilated morals. In our late canvass half of the nation passionately believed that in silver lay salvation, the other half as passionately believed that that way lay destruction. Do you believe that a tenth part of the people, on either side, had any rational excuse for having an opinion about the matter at all? I studied that mighty question to the bottomand came out empty. Half of our people passionately believe in high tariff, the other half believe otherwise. Does this mean study and examination, or only feeling? The latter, I think. I have deeply studied that question, tooand didnt arrive. We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking. And out of  it, we  get an aggregation which we consider a Boon. Its name is Public Opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it the Voice of God.  Praps. I suppose that in more cases than we should like to admit, we have two sets of opinions: one private, the other public; one secret and sincere, the other corn-pone, and more or less tainted. Written in 1901, Mark Twains Corn-Pone Opinions was first published in 1923 in Europe and Elsewhere, edited by Albert Bigelow Paine (Harper Brothers).

Director of Marketing for WhizBang Games Research Paper

Director of Marketing for WhizBang Games - Research Paper Example Within the last few years, many games have been of great influence on the industry of gaming. This has led to growth in video gaming evolution (Creasey, and Myers, 1986, p.257). From my point of view, I think the most influential games include Final Fantasy, Mario Brothers, Grand Theft Auto and World of Warcraft. How does our culture impact video games? Video games are impacted by our culture through promotion of family game night. This is done through the families having quality time for fun. Also, for educational purposes, learning which uses educational tools is encouraged. All types of academic disciplines are tested; reading skills, English skills and skills of mathematics (Favaro, 1982, p.19)). Moreover, video games are created basing on reality of life. Therefore, through the gaming world, normal life activities like being rich, being a police man, being a fighter among others are depicted. Lastly, through the growth and evolution of video gaming industry, there was growth for video games indicating that video games are positively impacted by our culture. How do you think the gaming industry has to adapt in order to minimize negative effects to our culture? For minimization of negative effects to our culture, I believe that gaming industry has to ensure that reduction of violence content and sexual content is adhered to. In my opinion, many games which are meant for mature people are viewed by children hence the need to minimize on sexual content and violence content video games. Several games have violence content and sexual content which affect the girl child and boy child in the society; the girl child is more affected than boy child through video games. Also, more family friendly games should be aired thus encouraging many people to watch the video games. Lastly, producers should engage in minimizing negative effects of media and maximizing positive effects of media through production of age-appropriate programs which are designed well (Griffiths, 19 91a, p.312). Assessment B, Part 1 - Exploring the Influence and Controversy of Modern Electronic Games What are some of the most controversial issues you have discovered? The most controversial issue I have discovered is violence. Violence is portrayed as the most controversial issue in video games although other controversial issues exist such as that of Grand Theft Auto. Other controversial issues include foul language, sex, amount and time spent in playing video games (Graybill et al, 1987, p.7). How can I explain the industry’s response to concerns that gaming perpetuates obesity? On explaining the response of industry that obesity is perpetuated by gaming, it is true that the current Nintendo Wii can make one lose his or her weight. One can also fight obesity through being active and participating in games such as ches. Indeed, video gamers might not fight the flab but battle virtual villains thus leading to reduction of obesity. Will we ever be able to completely elimin ate concerns about sex and violence in video games? Why or why not? No, we will not be able to fully eliminate concerns on violence and sex in video games. This is because such video games are highly demanded by people globally. Video games such as Grand Theft Auto and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft which is being subscribed by approximately nine million people who pay monthly fee (Funk, 1993, p.89). What are some positive aspects of video games?

Performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Performance - Essay Example The findings of the study show that the extensive research carried out has not been able to come up with a concrete relationship between the human resource and performance. Brudan (2011) postulated the focus of performance management as a discipline and the proposition of an integrated performance management (Brudan, 2011). The paper’s aim was to track the various developments that performance management has gone through regarding the various levels of the organization. The paper was able to identify various crucial dichotomies that were intertwined in the performance management model. Many firms have taken performance management a notch higher in terms of evaluating their workers output and ensuring that there is an improvement in their daily tasks (Gruman & Saks et al., 2011). Performance management, as a result, should be directed towards engaging the workers to improve their performance and thus increase their output to the benefit of the organization. In addition, the company puts in place various measures that ensure that the employees at each level meet their expected targets as stipulated in the objectives and goals of the company at a certain period. Performance management in such a case does not only look at the rewards that workers should get but also on their performance and hence output to the company. The company, therefore, rewards employees at various levels and ensures that they are up to their tasks. Luong (2012) investigated the factors that drive engagement, engagement, and performance. The study noted that there have been inefficiencies of performance management systems used by companies. Some of the studies have indicated that there needs to be an overhaul of the performance management systems in place to help come up with efficient systems that help organizations, and their employees achieved desired targets and goals. The study was an added development on the Gruman and Sak’s (2011) employee engagement model. The study

Admitted to hospital Essay Example for Free

Admitted to hospital Essay As the days passed, Mr. Glen succeeded. Now he started to teach her how to use a typewriter. She picked up his instructions very quickly. In some days she became able to write ten words in one minute. Unfortunately she failed in her exams. She cried a lot because she thought that her work was totally dark but Mr. Glen tried to give her understanding that you could try again. He told her Your work wasnt dark. It was very psychedelic. Dont lose hope. You will get success someday. Near eight O clock in the evening suddenly they made a plan to go out to eat ice cream. When they reached the ice cream shop, Mr. Glen asked Lorraine to sit on the bench and he would be back with the ice cream. She agreed and Mr. Glen went towards the ice cream shop but at once he forgot every thing even about himself: who he was and why he come there. He went back to home but unfortunately Lorraine was waiting for him. Propitiously the teacher at Lorraines university was passing that street where Lorraine was sitting. He took Lorraine with him and dropped her in her home. Lorraine opened the door of her room; Mr.  Glen was sat there. Lorraine asked her why you left me there and return home? . Mr. Glen didnt reply because he didnt know what was going on. He started to forget every thing even Lorraine because of his old age. Lorraine got frightened that if her teacher forget every thing what would happen with her future. Her parents were able to understand her sign language so she spoke to her father about her teachers health. So Mr. Callam decided that he needed doctors treatment so he got admitted to hospital. Every evening Lorraine went to the hospital to meet her teacher. She had a hope that he would be cured eventually. Chapter 4 Now Lorraine is fourty years old. She had a graduation day at her university. The principal of her university announced that Lorraine is the pride of his university. He asked her to come on the stage to get an award by him for achieving graduation. At last she fulfilled the dream of her teacher Mr. Glen. Her principal told her to express her feelings. Her parents were also present there so her mother translated her signs for other people. She said I got this level just because of my honorable teacher Mr. Glen. He worked very hard and he spends his whole life towards making my future. He taught me manners, how to spend my life. Because of him, I learnt how to eat. He taught me all the things that were impossible. He taught me dark is not black. It is the colour of achievement, colour of knowledge. She told the audience that she wanted her teacher Mr. Glen to come there and look at her with her precious award but unfortunately he couldnt come. She said, If he came here I am sure that he would be happier than me because today I have completed his dream. Then Lorraine went to the hospital to show her award to Mr. Glen. She said to him Look at this award which you have wanted for fourty years. Today I have completed your dream. Unfortunately, he didnt remember anything. Now she started trying her best to give him his memorial. She thought that Mr. Glen was the best teacher in the whole world who taught her to achieve what was impossible. Moral: Nothing is impossible if we work hard!

Back In My Day :: essays research papers

Back in My Day…   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  “Back in my day, people just didn’t do stuff like that.'; In addition to hearing about how bread used to cost a nickel, that quote is what you hear it from the elders of most generations when talking about violence, especially on television in the present time; they say that the violence seen just did not seem to exist back then. However, when one thinks about it, violence that extreme has existed throughout the ages, whether it was as early as the Iliad and the Odyssey during the Greek era, the Aeneid in the Roman era, or even in Christian stories in the Bible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first example of historic extreme violence is back in the time of the Iliad and the Odyssey during the Greek era, which happened during the eighth or ninth centuries BCE. These two epics, which are considered by many scholars to be very fine works of art, are filled with gratuitous acts of violence and other such acts of immoral behavior. In the Iliad, especially in Book 5, where Homer tells of Diomedes’ aristea, a detailed account of how a man battles and injures both man and gods is given. In lines 72-75, for example, Homer gives us a terrifyingly graphic description of the battle scene: “Now the son of Phyleus, the spear-famed, closing upon him struck him with the sharp spear behind the head at the tendon, and straight on through the teeth and under the tongue cut the bronze blade, and he dropped in the dust gripping in his teeth the cold bronze.'; Examples of aggression and viciousness are also given in the Odyssey. In this, most say that Odysseus was justified in doing what he did, but it is still brutal fighting. The best example of viciousness is given when Odysseus finally returns home and has to defeat the suitors: “Odysseus’ arrow hit him [Antinoos] under the chin and punched up to the feathers through the throat. Backward and down he went, letting the winecup fall from his shocked hand. Like pipes his nostrils jetted crimson runnels, a river of mortal red, and one last kick upset his table knocking the bread and meat to soak in dusty blood.'; These two examples might not be the same as a gang war or a drive-by in the middle of the streets in New York, but they are still brutal and gory nonetheless.

Open-Economy Macroeconomics Notes

Ch28 â€Å"Open-Economy Macroeconomics† FOREIGN TRADE AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY Imports ? goods and services produced abroad and consumed domestically Exports ? goods and services produced domestically and purchased by foreigners Net exports ? defined as exports of goods and services minus imports of goods and services Net foreign investment ? counterpart of net exports Denotes net US savings abroad and is approximately equal to the value of net exports ? ? ? appreciation in the exchange rate and a corresponding decline in net exports; monetary easing does the opposite. The impact of changes in interest rates on net exports reinforces the impact on domestic investment In a full-employment closed economy (always holding other things constant), higher government spending, lower taxes, or lower desired private saving will raise the real interest rate and lower equilibrium saving and investment net exports are determined by the difference between national saving and national investment, which is determined by domestic factors plus the world interest rate changes in exchange rates ? re the mechanism by which saving and investment adjust Domestic expenditures ? equal to consumption plus domestic investment plus government purchases Examples of open-economy saving-investment theory in the small open economy an increase in private saving or lower government spending will increase national saving; this will lead to a depreciation of the exchange rate until net exports have increased enough to balance the increase in domestic saving an increase in domestic investment, say, because of an improved business climate or a burst of innovations, will lead to a shift in the investment schedule; this will lead to an appreciation of the exchange rate until net exports decline enough to balance saving and investment. In this case, domestic investment crowds out foreign investment an increase in world interest rates will reduce the level of investment. This will lead to an ncrease in the difference between saving and investment, to a depreciation in the foreign exchange rate, and to an increase in net exports and foreign investment (this would be a shift along the investment schedule) integration of a country into the world economy adds an important new dimension to macroeconomic performance and policy o the foreign sector provides an important source of domestic investment and a potential outlet for domestic saving o higher saving at home— whether in the form of higher private saving or higher public saving will lead to higher net exports o a country’s trade balance is primarily a reflection of its national saving and investment balance rather than of its absolute productivity or wealth ? The volume and value of imports will be affected by domestic output and the relative prices of domestic and foreign goods – Marginal propensity to import ? the increase in the dollar value of imports for each $1 increase in GDP ? Because a fraction of any income leaks into imports in an open economy, the open-economy multiplier is smaller than the multiplier for a closed economy. OPEN ECONOMY Multiplier = 1/ (MPS + MPm) Where MPS = marginal propensity to save and MPm = marginal propensity to import ? ? – Real exchange rate ? corrects for movements in the price levels in different countries Overvalued currency ? one whose value is high relative to its long-run or sustainable level High mobility of financial capital ? hen financial investments can flow easily among countries and the regulatory barriers to financial investments are low ? Foreign trade produces a new and powerful link in the monetary transmission mechanism when a country has a flexible exchange rate. When m onetary policy changes interest rates, this affects exchange rates and net exports as well as domestic investment. Monetary tightening leads to an ? o o adjustments in a country’s trade accounts require a change in domestic saving or investment in the long run, adjustments in trade accounts will be brought about by movements in the country’s relative prices, often through exchange-rate changes ptimal currency area ? one whose regions have high labor mobility or have common and synchronous aggregate supply or demand shocks. In an optimal currency area, significant changes in exchange rates are not necessary to ensure rapid macroeconomic adjustment European Monetary Union ? one of history’s great economic experiments. Never before has such a large and powerful group of countries turned its economic fortunes over to a multinational body like the European Central Bank. Never before has a central bank been charged with the macroeconomic fortunes of a large group of n ations with 325 million people producing $16 trillion of goods and services. While optimists point to the microeconomic benefits of a larger market and lower transactions costs, pessimists worry that monetary union threatens stagnation and unemployment because of the lack of price and wage flexibility and insufficient labor mobility among countries. The financial crisis of 2007-2009 is the first major test of this new monetary system. Stable macroeconomic climate ? taxes are reasonable and predictable and that inflation is low, so lenders need not worry about inflation confiscating their investments ? promoting economic growth in an open economy involves ensuring that business is attractive for foreign and domestic investors who have a wide array of investment opportunities in the world economy. The ultimate goals of policy are to have high rates of saving and investment in productive channels and to ensure that businesses use bestpractice techniques. Achieving these goals involves setting a stable macroeconomic climate, guaranteeing dependable property rights for both tangible investments and intellectual property, providing exchange-rate convertibility that allows investors to take home their profits, and maintaining confidence in the political and economic stability of the country Success for the countries of North America and Western Europe: robust economic performance o rapid and sustained economic growth emerging monetary system o conduct independent monetary policies with flexible exchange rates, while smaller countries either float or have â€Å"hard† fixed exchange rates tied to one of the major blocks reemergence of free markets Competitiveness ? refers to the extent to which a nation’s goods can compete in the marketplace; this depends primarily upon the relative prices of domestic and foreign products Productivity ? easured by the output per unit of input, fundamental to the growth of living standards in a nation; to a first approximation, a nation’s real income grows in step with its productivity growth ? conclusion on productivity and competitiveness ? as the theory of comparative advantage demonstrates, nations are not inherently uncompetitive. Rather, they become uncompetitive when their prices move out of line with those of their trading partners. The surest route to high productivity and high living standards is to expose domestic industries to world markets and to encourage vigorous domestic competition with foreign companies that have adopted the most advanced technologies –

Ethics and Corporate Responsibility in the Workplace and the World Essay

Abstract This paper will examine the ethics of a pharmaceutical company by the name of PharmaCARE. Stakeholders will be discussed, and the treatment of rank and file workers versus executives will be analyzed. Also the proposed firing of three of PharmaCare’s workers will be debated. Additionally obligations, protection, and whistleblowing opportunities will be examined on behalf of Allen a manager for the company. PharmaCARE’s environmental initiatives will be assessed and compared to their efforts to stop environmental laws and regulations. The Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act ( CERCLA) will be reviewed, and all provisions which apply to the PharmaCARE scenario will be discussed. PharmaCARE is one of the world’s most successful pharmaceutical companies. It has a reputation for producing high quality products that saved millions of lives, and enhance the quality of millions of others. The company sponsors a program that offers free and discounted medication to low income customers. PharmaCARE has many stakeholders. Stakeholders being any one or group owning a significant percentage of a company shares, or a person or group not owning shares in an enterprise but affected by or having interest in its operation.(W.Dictionary) Having established the definition of a stakeholder, one can concur that PharmaCARE has plenty. When identifying the company’s stakeholders the first that come to mind are the investors, shareholders and employees, without these people the company would cease to exist. The secondary stakeholders are the customers, suppliers, communities, clinics, hospitals, and doctors’ offices, all of these groups have an interest or wil l be affected by the operations of PharmaCARE. Established in New Jersey, PharmaCARE owns a substantial manufacturing facility in the African nation of Colberia. The natives of the land are extremely poor and maintain the lowest standard of living. PharmaCARE employs the natives, paying them a measly one dollar a day salary to gather plants and carry up to fifty pounds five miles. The company executives that run the facility on the other hand live in a luxury compound provided by the company. PharmaCARE’s practice of paying people to work for a dollar a day is totally utilitarian. They are getting cheap labor and destroying the land of the natives without even trying to provide a structure to help the people out of poverty, or provide equipment or facilities to help them replenish their land. PharmaCARE is morally corrupt, they have no sense of community when it comes to their bottom line. The executive of PharmaCARE are paid sizable salaries and are treated well. They are provided with facilities that contain all the amen ities. The lower ranking employees are treated as expendables. They are expected to work in unsafe conditions without complaint, or risk the chance of being fired. They are in some cases paid a salary so miniscule that it can be interpreted as modern day slavery. On the surface PharmaCARE looks to be an ethically sound company but when closely evaluated it is utilitarianism at its worst. Allen Jones a manager for the company was appointed to lead a new division created by PharmaCARE called CompCARE. The subsidiary was a way for PharmaCARE to avoid FDA scrutiny concerning the reformulation and selling of their top selling diabetes drug. The company quickly established CompCARE and did a low cost renovation to an office located close to headquarter. The new formulation of the drug was successful for treating Alzheimer and the success of CompCARE grew. As production and working hours increased employees began to fall ill. An employee brought to Allen’s attention that there was mold on the air vents, after contacting his supervisor Allen was told to ignore the fact. An EE by the name of Donna who previously had perfect attendance became so ill that she could no longer report to work because of the mold. So she eventually filed for workers compensation. Tom one of Allen’s best supervisor threaten to file a complaint with OSHA about the air quality at the fac ility because it was so bad. Lastly an EE named Ayesha filed an EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) complaint  inferring that she had been looked over for a promotion because she was Muslim. Allen discussed the EE issues with his boss and was told to fire them all. Firing the EEs would not be the best decision for Allen, he has to consider the legal ramifications of his actions. Legally, Allen cannot fire Donna for filing for workers compensation, an EE is protected by law from retaliation for filing a claim. Donna had excellent work evaluations prior to her illness, Allen would have to provide sufficient evidence that firing her was not due to the filing of a workers comp claim. Firing Donna would surely bring an employment discrimination lawsuit against PharmaCARE, it would be wise for Allen to convince his boss to take care of the mold problem in the facility it would save the company money in the long run. Terminating Tom would also bring litigations against PharmaCARE, Tom could allege that he was wrongfully discharged, because he complained about his unsafe working conditions and threaten to inform OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Commission). Under the Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act one cannot be terminated for reporting a violation of public policy or not for good cause once a probationary period is completed. Tom was Allen’s best supervisor, terminating him would be illegal. Allen needs to persuade his boss to remedy the mold problem at the facility, he needs to explain to him that it is in the best interest of the company. Lastly Allen could legally fire Ayesha, not because of her filing a complaint with EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunities Commission) but for not being able to substantiate the claim. Under the Employment-at- Will Act he can terminate her unless some type of contractual terms are stated or implied in the employer’s handbook. Allen’s managerial status puts him in a unique position, he has direct contact with the executives and daily interactions with the lower level EE. Allen is faced with legal and ethical issues, Allen has been told to allow workers to remain in a hazardous work environment. The air quality of the workplace is dangerous to the health of any one working in the environment. As a manager he has an ethical and legal duty to report the conditions of his jobsite to first his superiors, then to OSHA if no measures are taken to correct the problem. Allen’s boss has made it clear that nothing will be done about the air pollution, so reporting this problem to OSHA would  benefit Allen legally. As a manager Allen was made aware of the problem by an employee, if the employee decides to contact OSHA and inform them that they reported this problem to him he may be fired later for not taking steps to remedy the problem. Once you submit a complaint to OSHA your company cannot retaliate against you, this will protect Allen from getting fired and having legal action taken against him. Allen reporting to OSHA is his best option, his job will be protected and he would have done the right thing for the employees. PharmaCARE had recently announced its â€Å"We Care about Your World† initiative. They started recycling, and made packaging changes, these steps made them seem community friendly. Even as they took on these green initiatives, they lobbied to block environmental efforts that would benefit the greater good of the people. Also they entered poor villages and exploited the people and the land to their benefit with no moral gauge. It seems that PharmaCARE is promoting an image of environmental stewardship when they are actually ethically corrupt. They are misleading the community with their behind the scenes practices. If PharmaCARE is going to portray themselves as an environmentally friendly company than they should assume the responsibility of initiating a green program in all aspects of their productions within reason. Communities will support a company that they believe to care about the interest of the greater good and not just profit. PharmaCARE is jeopardizing their image w ith these unethical practices and if made public the company could possibly suffer an economic loss. Comprehensive Environment Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) also known as â€Å"Superfund†, was enacted by Congress in 1980. This law created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment. The law authorized the EPA to identify companies or individuals responsible for hazardous waste contamination and require them to clean it up. If no party could be found responsible for the contamination then money from the superfund would be used for the cleanup. On October 17, 1986 CERCLA was amended to include more detailed provisions to better the process of  enforcing maintaining and cleaning contamination sites. They include increasing State involvement in every phase of the Superfund program, requiring Superfund actions to consider the standards and requirements found in other State and Federal environmental laws and regulations, and stressing the importance of permanent remedies and innovative treatment technologies in cleaning up hazardous waste sites. There are eleven provisions in all, they were added to give the states more authority in the matters of environmental protection, and bring awareness to the actual dangers to human health from hazardous waste. Provisions relating to PharmaCARE are the right to have safe and toxic free working conditions and the power of the state to enforce clean up, also the random site inspections. References Stakeholders. (n.d.) Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved August 11, 2013, from Dictionary.com website OSHA: complying with workplace health and safety laws. (2013). Retrieved from www.nolo.com SARA Overview. (2013). Retrieved from www.epa.gov/superfund/policy Halbert, T., & Ingulli, E. (2012). The duty of loyalty. In M. Staudt & M. Stranz (Eds.), Laws and ethics in the business environment (7th ed.). Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning

The Story of the Tea Party V essays

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5 Nutty Careers for Writers Showing up Their Skills at College

5 Nutty Careers for Writers Showing up Their Skills at College 5 Nutty Careers for Writers Showing up Their Skills at College Writing skills are very important in many different careers. People who are good at it are more likely to find a high-paying job. From resumes to cover letters to interview thank-you notes, good writing impresses potential employers; once you’ve landed a job, it’s even more important when you’re writing memos and emails, preparing reports, writing copy for a website or blog, and so on. If you’ve got major writing skills, here are some of the best careers for writers you should consider taking up after college. 1. Executive Assistant Do you like creating high-quality products that make someone else look really, really good? Consider becoming an executive assistant, where you will work with the big bosses. Whether it’s constructing a brief, writing an end-of-year report, or composing a thank-you note to an important business associate, your superb writing skills will make the entire company shine. 2. Media Relations Specialist When a company needs to communicate with the press, they employ a media relations specialist to write press releases, create press packets, and otherwise work with journalists to create positive news about their organization. This work is especially important when the company hits a rough patch and needs to smooth things over. Someone who can communicate the value of a brand as well as maintain the loyalty of its customers needs superb writing skills, and you might just be the right person for this particular position. 3. Video Game Copywriter If you think that video games are just for nerds, think again. The video game industry is constantly growing, and as virtual reality (VR) becomes more popular, the need for video game copywriters grows as well. Your job will be to design the narratives that make the game so realistic and engaging, so a natural, conversational style and knowledge about your customer vernacular is really important. 4. Legacy Writer Are you fascinated by the past? Do you love learning about history? Are you great at working with people, especially older ones? You might enjoy being a legacy writer. Legacy writers, also known as personal historians. They write down all of the important events of their and their family members’ lives. They need excellent soft skills and the ability to listen and stay well-organized. If history is really your thing, then legacy writing could be a meaningful and lucrative career path for you. 5. Content Writer Content writers need to be able to write to their audience. That means adopting an appropriate style and choosing topics of interest for their particular demographic. Since content writers frequently make a living by working for a number of different clients, blogs, or websites, they need to be able to quickly adapt to whatever style is needed. They also need to be able to generate truly original content. The final skill needed for content writing is a familiarity with SEO, or search engine optimization; this means that certain keywords need to be included in posts in order to get the most traffic to the site. While there is definitely a learning curve, it is a solid career choice for professional paper writers that is not going away anytime soon. Still think that your writing skills are just good for your student papers? Come on! You even do not know what kind of treasure you have. Start thinking about your future career, as you have such a great variety of positions to choose among.

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