Political Corruption - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1534 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Type Essay any type Level High school Tags: Act Essay Corruption Essay Political Essay Did you like this example? In the present day and age, corruption has ceased to shock people. Even when Ministers and Bureaucrats are detected engaging in malpractices, they go scot- free due to the reach of their offices and influence they exercise. If anything is done at all, they are given transfers which offer no solution to the problem at all. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Political Corruption" essay for you Create order As long as corruption fails to be legally, morally and socially censured, there exists no hope eradicating it from our nation or even reducing its grip on it. Realistically speaking, it may be impossible to extirpate corruption from the system however, it ought to be curbed and kept in check, at least moderately. To truly answer the question whether it is possible to contain corruption in our Indian society, it is necessary to understand that although many of the leaders come into power upon making determined promises to eradicate corruption from India, they themselves end up succumbing to the system and become thoroughly corrupt in order to amass immense wealth. For instance, when the Communist government came to power in West Bengal in 1977, it promised to rid the State of corruption in a matter of few years. But most of the leaders were accused of corruption, so much so that, one politburo member, who at one time served as the Chief Minister of Tripura, was expelled from the pa rty in the middle of April in 1995 just because he had accused a highly placed politician in the party of nepotism and being personally corrupt. When Rajiv Gandhi was elected to the Prime Ministerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Office in 1984, he too declared war on corruption but soon he himself was victimized due to the Bofors payoff scandal. Thus, corruption has become institutionalized in the present day. The following existing myths regarding corruption must be expelled to effectively combat corruption: Corruption has become a way of life and nothing can be done to eradicate it[1]; Post- independence, an abundance of freedom and license bestowed on the people of the democracy caused corruption to gain momentum[2];or that Poor people of underdeveloped countries are easy targets of temptation due to their dishonesty while citizens of developed countries are more morally upright[3]; or that Corruption is rampant only at the subordinate levels of offices[4]; or that Illiterate people are more corrupt than the educated people[5]; or that Politicians are mainly responsible for the spread of corruption[6]. All these fallacies have to be guarded against while planning measures to contain corruption. To reduce corruption at all levels, the following might be considered as necessary measures and methods: 1. Law, procedure and administration have to be adequately focused upon. The organizations and behavior of certain rank holders in specific situations are to be governed by specific laws and rules. Outdated and dysfunctional laws have to be repealed or amended. Laws or rules or regulations which are too harsh or complex lead to corruption. Also, laws should not be too relaxed either as they leave too much Continued to Page 2 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Continued from Page 1 scope for discretion. The level of discretionary powers bestowed on an officer must be commensurate with his status and the role in the office. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Administrativeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ factors leading to corruption include both structural and functional aspects. The structure of an organizat ion determines its lacunae for corruption while à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"functioningà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ refers to the process in which the organization works meaning both the quantity and quality of work, supervision, magnitude of lapses permitted, and so on. 2. Artificial shortages and scarcities facilitating illegal gratification have to be curbed. 3. Vigilance must be increased as vigilance does not hamper efficiency but improves it. Officials of doubtful integrity should be kept away from sensitive posts. And, surprise checks must be carried out at vulnerable points of corruption. 4. Liberalization policy must be very cautiously introduced. Although liberalization and free market may eventually reduce corruption but at present à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"liberal sanctionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ are generally being granted in return for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"considerationsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. Capitalist nations like the United States of America, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Mal aysia are exceedingly corrupt societies. Corruption scandals are forever being exposed in Japan which point to the institutionalization of hypocrisy and dishonesty. 5. Election expenses have to be strictly monitored and controlled, and 6. The general mass has to cooperate in full measure in order to successfully combat corruption. Cases of police because they are afraid (that the corrupt and influential might harm them), indifferent (that they are not duty bound to report cases of corruption) and pessimists (that no action will be taken against the corrupt people). Yet, there are instances where people have tried to bring about a change by bringing the cases of corruption to the notice of concerned authorities. These people have an innate sense of opposition towards any wrongdoing and derive satisfaction from doing any kind of service to the community. Corruption can be vanquished only by the collective efforts of the people. By making sure that the dis honest politicians are not elected to the legislatures, half the battle is won. In a modern democracy like India, people need to realize their true role in combating corruption. In fact, the complete lack of public initiative against it and peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s tolerance of the same encourage corruption to continue to exist. Failure of the intellectual, educated, well- informed and articulate citizens to properly channelize their resentment of corruption into strong public opinion against it (it is only recently that they are voicing their opinions through the Civil Societyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Movement Against Corruption- CMAC), has caused corruption to become accepted as a deep- rooted customary evil. The CMAC, in fact, is making a serious dent in the corruption level. However, this needs to be supported by increasing number of people as then only, will it successfully bring about permanent changes in the country. Even Indian university youths can take up such society- orien ted initiatives and organize movements for controlling the evil.[7] Another effective measure for containing corruption could be the introduction of a method which will enable political parties to secure electoral funds in a bona fide manner, or the central government can Continued to Page 3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..Continued from Page 2 finance elections through the creation of an election fund. This system is in function in Germany, Sweden and Norway and some other advanced European countries. The political parties may obtain funds from the state according to the votes polled by them in the previous general elections. The money may be fixed per vote, for instance, two or three rupees per vote and so on. The concept of State funding of elections has been discussed in the Indian Parliament, in recent years, more than once. However, not only the previous governments but also the present United Progressive Alliance government has found it extremely problematic to implement the sam e. State funding of elections will not only eliminate donations from corrupt businessmen and interest groups but will also ensure free and fair elections by drawing men of integrity in assemblies, equalizing the amount of money spent by various political parties, and so on. Along with this measure, appointing Lok Pals to investigate the charges of corruption at the highest echelons of power and could effectively control corruption. Although, Lok Ayuktas in eleven states have been tendered impotent due to numerous disabilities, learning from their experiences, the powers of the Lok Pal should be widened and his recommendations ought to have a statutory force. These have to be brought up in the Parliament and given due publicity in the media. The Lok Pal could comprise a single retired judge of the Supreme Court or a division bench or three judges. The judge(s) should not be selected by the executive but by a four member committee consisting of the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition. The Lok Pal must be equipped with independent investigative machinery at his disposal. The Jan Lokpal Bill, also known as the citizens ombudsman bill, aims to effectively deter corruption, redress grievances of citizens, and protect whistle-blowers. If made into law, the bill would create an independent ombudsman body called the Lokpal (Sanskrit: protector of the people). It would be empowered to register and investigate complaints of corruption against politicians and bureaucrats without prior government approval. Corruption is a cancer which every Indian needs to strive to obliterate. The four most important prescriptions for corruption are: 1. Honest and dedicated persons being elected to power and assuming public offices, 2. Reduced government control in the economy, also known as, liberalization policy, 3. Control over electoral expenditures, 4. Passing and proper implementation of the Jan Lokpa l Bill. The citizens of India have had to tolerate the curse of corruption for a long time. It is now time to join hands with and engage the youth of India and harness their power of influence and vigour to rid our beautiful nation of this ugly plague of corruption. End of Document Signature: (Oindree Priyadarshini Mukherjee) [1] Ahuja, Ram, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Social Problems in Indiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ 2nd revised Edn., Rawat Publications, 2003, p. 449; https://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/article/is-poverty-a-cause-of-corruption-1613-1.html, visited on 04-04-2014. [2] Ibid. [3] Ibid. [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid. [7] Ahuja, Ram, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Social Problems in Indiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ 2nd revised Edn., Rawat Publications, 2003, p. 449; https://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/article/is-poverty-a-cause-of-corruption-1613-1.html, visited on 04-04-2014.

The Mists of Avalon the Women Behind King Arthur

The Mists of Avalon: The Women Behind King Arthur Kate Wrigley period 3 The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, is not only an example of a Medieval Romance, but also tells the story of the women who stood behind King Arthur during his infamous reign in the Middle Ages. This novel explains the reasoning and decisions that Arthur made in the womens perspective. The Mists of Avalon is a twist on the Arthurian tales as told by the four women instrumental to the story: Gwenhwyfar, his wife; Igraine, his mother; Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, High Priestess of Avalon; and his sister and lover, heiress to Avalon, Morgaine. The story is told by each, as they saw it happen. The struggle between Christianity and the religion of†¦show more content†¦In the beliefs of Avalon, the Goddess was not male as God was believed to be, and the followers of the Goddess believed that the women were good and should be the leaders of the lands. In the Christian beliefs there were priests, and in the Avalon beliefs, there were priestesses. The males were, obviously, the priests, as the females were priestesses. Even though the believers in Avalon thought well of the Christians, the Christians despised the people from Avalon and thought of them as evil. Viviane, the High Priestess of Avalon (can be compared to the Bishop, who is male), also Arthurs grandmother, thought the reason Arthur came to be king was because of the people of Avalon. She believes that the reason he has lived through as many battles as he has, and because he remains king was because of the magic of Avalon. the Christians, however, feel that it was by the faith of God that Arthur has reigned so long with only minor injuries in his battles. Viviane, as well as Morgaine when she becomes a priestess, think that it was because of the women that Arthur remained so strong. In typical Arthurian legends, only the Christian male beliefs were talked about, because the women were not important. In the old Avalon ways, the heir of the throne was given to the sisters first born son. In the Christian ways, the rights were given to the fathers first born son. Once again, in the old Arthurian legends, the ways of Avalon were notShow MoreRelated The Mists Of Avalon: The Women Behind King Arthur Essay1656 Words   |  7 Pages The Mists of Avalon: The Women Behind King Arthur nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, is not only an example of a Medieval Romance, but also tells the story of the women who stood behind King Arthur during his infamous reign in the Middle Ages. This novel explains the reasoning and decisions that Arthur made in the womens perspective. The Mists of Avalon is a twist on the Arthurian tales as told by the four women instrumental to the story: GwenhwyfarRead More The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley Essay1310 Words   |  6 PagesThe Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, is not only an example of a Medieval Romance, but also tells the story of the women who stood behind King Arthur during his infamous reign in the Middle Ages. The term â€Å"Medieval Romance† does not necessarily mean that the piece using it contains any sort of romance. There are three criteria that must be meet to form a Medieval Romance. (1) The plot must divide into sharply separate episodes that often doRead MoreMovie Review : The Mists Of Avalon Essay1631 Words   |  7 PagesThe Mists of Avalon Most people have heard the story of King Arthur and Camelot, most have probably heard several stories that focus on different views, different events, but for the most part the story remains the similar. Ask those same people how many Arthurian movies have you seen again many have been made and most stay along the same path, save for one, The Mists of Avalon takes us on a whole new version of the story coming from the often portrayed villainess Morgaine La Faye. With Mists of AvalonRead MoreThe Depiction of Morgan Le Fay in Various Accounts of The Arthurian Legend2196 Words   |  9 Pagespart she plays in the legend. Five different texts: Geoffrey of Monmouths The History of the Kings Of Britain, Sir Thomas Malorys Le Morte dArthur, a French version of the Arthurian legend, Mort Artu, written by an unknown 13th century author and T. H. Whites 20th century classic The Once and Future King, along with Marion Zimmer Bradleys New York Times best-selling novel The Mists Of Avalon show vastly different versions of the character of Morgan and her importance in the legend. Read More King Arthur: The Man Behind The Name Essay999 Words   |  4 PagesKing Arthur: The Man Behind The Name King Arthur is a figure surrounded by an aura of myth and mystery. His name evokes visions of knights and gallantry in a bygone era of chivalry and magic. Clear the mist around the myth, however, and the character revealed is a man with flaws like any other. He is human as well as heroic. Arthur has assembled the greatest court of knights in British history, but his own condition and relation to those knights leads to the downfall of his court. Although Arthur

Authoring for a PHD

Question: Describe about How Authoring for a PHD? Answer: Reading for dissertation is more challenging than writing the dissertation itself. The statement draws a picture of the most inherent concept and theory in the process to write a dissertation and proceed in the right direction. Reading for the dissertation is like a marathon and not a sprint (Buglear, 2004) and therefore, the process of reading should be continuous, energetic and full or willingness to learn and enrich the knowledge bank for writing purposes. Simply reading the books, journals, articles or any piece of related information would not refine our writing skills but in addition to simple reading, there have to elements of crucially analyzing the readings, prioritizing the read texts, choosing the most appropriate texts for writing and dwelling deeper into the contextual aspects of reading. It is so easy to feel that we are reading for the purpose of writing but reading some book wont code up all the data, compile plethora of sources or help in writing up a commendable literature review (Dunleavy, 2003). Reading becomes a blend of exploring and researching for the dissertation topic. Deeply analyzing different concept from altogether different perspectives are the keys for efficient reading for the purpose of dissertation writing. Foundation of a well-researched dissertation lies over in depth reading skills. To sum up, reading to write a dissertation is like preparing hard for a lighter job as it amalgamates the concepts of analysis, critical thinking, reading between the lines and think out of the box as a result. References Buglear, J. (2004).Researching and writing a dissertation for business students [Electronic book]. Prentice Hall/Financial Times. Dunleavy, P. (2003).Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation. Palgrave Macmillan.

Observation of various lifestyles

Toddlers are children between the age of one year and two and half years. At this stage, kids are growing and also spending their time playing. Kids at this age are very active especially in the playground. I observed the children in the playground. The playground was quite small, just an acre.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Observation of various lifestyles specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It was green, with the grass neatly planted and evenly cut. The field was well organized with various games’ equipment. At one end of the field were swings that the kids used for swinging. On the other end, there were bouncing castles that kids seemed to enjoy. In addition to this, there was a small room that contained children’s toys. This was the room in which indoor games’ were played. In this room, I observed that most children played indoor games. The number of kids in the playground was approxi mately fifty, who were between one and two years old. The children in the room were busy painting various objects while others were playing with toys. Some of the children were off by themselves. The kids who could walk were having their fun in the bouncing castles while their caretaker observed them. The children of all ages seemed very friendly. They seemed to recognize each other. The older ones seemed to take care of the small ones while playing. They also aggressively involved them in various games. The children seemed to have known each other for a while. However, there were some children mostly aged two years, and above who were bulling the smaller children by snatching their toys. The younger kids did not appear to like them. Crying was observed among the younger kids who were seeking attention of the caregiver. Hence, most of them were playing with the caregivers or with the older kids but under supervision. None of the children had physical disabilities. For the toddlers a ged one to two and half years, the toddlers are more balanced with adults-like appearance. Some of the physical issues the kids were experiencing were mastering the many skills for example, sitting, walking, using a spoon, and at least throwing a ball and recognizing a toy placed in front of them. The kids aged one year old were the most affected. The kids aged two years were doing just fine at these skills. These were normal issues that could be managed by therapy.Advertising Looking for case study on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Some of the children were sheathing behind their playmates in knowing to make speech sounds. They did not know how to pronounce some names for example, some pronounced rabbit as wabbit. They had a problem in expressing themselves in speech. Most of the children only knew the common words like mum. Some also had poor reception. An example of these issues was children who did not re spond to their names. The children mistook certain sounds. Observing the children’s social emotional issues, the children were more aware of emotion. Their emotions were varying. The children were often frustrated since they wanted to be independent. The children enjoyed playing along with some children but had a problem interacting with others. Some also had a problem with sharing. For instance, some were not open to sharing their toys with others. In such situations the care giver had to intervene. Some of the children also experienced anxiety around people they did not know. I also observed temper tantrums among the kids when frustrated or when not able to communicate what they wanted. Most of the children recognized emotions of other kids. For example some comforted the crying children. In the church day care, I observed children aged four and five years. The setting was a classroom style where the children were taught various Christian teachings. There was also a small p layground that the children went for breaks after each lesson. The interaction of these children was fair. The children knew each other by names. They played together. The children were twenty in number. The children recognized the care giver and seemed to respect her. They seemed to have stayed together for quite a long time. Observing their physical behavior, the children seemed to love each other. They treated each other as family. They played together. They also seemed to participate quite well in various group discussions when assigned. None of the children was disabled. None of them was obese. Most of the children here were missing some milk teeth. They were all well dressed and groomed except that the clothes were dirty by evening due to the continuous play. Some had stronger motor skills than others. The children had to be told one thing several times otherwise by the next day most had to be reminded what they had leant the previous day. I also observed that most of the chil dren had the logic skills of solving problems amongst themselves when conflicts arose. All the children were fluent in their speech. There were no issues observed in their cognitive behavior. The children were learning how to read and other academic skills.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Observation of various lifestyles specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Observing their social emotional behavior, the children were emotionally attached to the other children. The kids at this age are at a position to control their emotions. The kids were expressing the desire to be independent. I also observed display of emotional tantrums, extremes and contradictions. The children were constantly interacting with other children. Observing the comparison and contract of development behavior of older and younger children, the older children seemed to understand their environment much better than the young ones. The children ag ed five had grown up and were at a position to control their emotions. In learning, the older children seemed to learn faster. The older children engaged in less risky situations compared to the younger ones. With development behavior, the older ones showed faster progress. During the observation time, there did not appear any abnormal behavior. The children behavior could be termed as normal. The children had no theories of any addition and addictive behavior since the care givers were there to correct them. The children had no theories of any addition and addictive behavior since the care givers were there to correct them. Some of the issues that the children came across could easily be addressed by therapy. These issues were normal since as the child grew they faded away. Conclusion Feeding children well facilitates a healthy lifestyle. In addition, close observation of the children by both the caregivers and the parents will facilitate the well-being of the children. Taking a ch ild to clinics for weighing and checkups also ensures healthy lifestyle. This case study on Observation of various lifestyles was written and submitted by user Elisabeth Bruce to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Maillard Reaction and Why Foods Brown

Maillard Reaction and Why Foods Brown The Maillard reaction is the name given to the set of chemical reactions between amino acids and reducing sugars that causes browning of foods, such as meats, breads, cookies, and beer. The reaction is also used in sunless tanning formulas.  Like caramelization, the Maillard reaction produces browning without any enzymes, making it a type of non-enzymatic reaction. While caramelization relies solely on heating carbohydrates, heat is not necessarily needed for the Maillard reaction to occur and proteins or amino acids must be present. Many foods brown due to a combination of caramelization and the Maillard reaction. For example, when you toast a marshmallow, the sugar carmelizes, but it also reacts with the gelatin through the Maillard reaction. In other foods, enzymatic browning further complicates the chemistry. Although people have known how to brown food pretty much since the discovery of fire, the process was not given a name until 1912, when  French chemist Louis-Camille Maillard described the reaction. Chemistry of the Maillard Reaction The specific chemical reactions that cause food to brown depend on the chemical composition of the food and a host of other factors, including temperature, acidity, the presence or absence of oxygen, the amount of water, and the time allowed for the reaction. Many reactions are occurring, making new products that themselves begin reacting. Hundreds of different molecules are produced, changing the color, texture, flavor, and aroma of food. In general, the Maillard reaction follows these steps: The carbonyl group of a sugar reacts with the amino group of an amino acid. This reaction yields N-substituted glycosylamine and water.The unstable glycosylamine forms ketosamines through the  Amadori rearrangement. The Amadori rearrangement signals the start of the reactions that cause browning.The ketosamine may react to form reductones and water. Brown nitrogenous polymers and melanoidins may be produced. Other products, such as diacetyl or pyruvaldehyde may form. Although the Maillard reaction occurs at room temperature, heat at  140 to 165  Ã‚ °C (284 to 329  Ã‚ °F) aids the reaction. The initial reaction between the sugar and the amino acid is favored under alkaline conditions.

The Importance of Democratic Elections essays

The Importance of Democratic Elections essays The validity of democratic elections in a country depends, to a great deal, on the awareness of common man. The more information available to the common man, the more he (she) tends to become a voter and play his (hers) role that is vital to the electoral process. Identifying the source(s) that provides this information to a prospective voter is, therefore, extremely important. There are two main candidates for this source of information: interpersonal communication and mass communication. In this research, we will use the 2002 national elections held in Pakistan as a use case. Our goal is to identify the sources of information that played a major role in pushing prospective voters to vote on the election day. In particular, we would like to conclude what roles interpersonal, and mass communication played. More specifically, we would attempt to analyze the roles played by the mass media: television, radio, and newspapers. The individual roles played by these different forms of media might affect different classes of voters. It is important to find out which one of these forms of media played the most significant role in helping voters form their opinions. It is also extremely important to find out how these sources affect a voter's decision. Incorrect or misinterpreted representation of information by mass media can result in a major class of voters being misled into making a decision that affects the whole nation. Our goal would be to find out how, in the 2002 national elections in Pakistan, the different presentations of the same information by different forms of media affected voter's decisions differently. To summarize, we would use the 2002 national elections held in Pakistan to answer some very important questions about the influence of media on the electoral process. Our first goal is to compare the effects of different information sources-interpersonal and mass communication-on the knowledge gained by prospective ...

Principles and Practices of Effective Leadership (Apple Inc) Essay

Principles and Practices of Effective Leadership (Apple Inc). Leadership Portfolio - Essay Example Each leader adopts a unique approach and style, through the interplay of one’s traits, intelligence, behavioral set, authority, power, temperament and charisma. Within an institution, there develops an emphasis on implementing leadership skills and abilities that are relevant across the organization. This cultivates the ‘leadership style of the organization’. Let us delve in to an analysis on leadership at Apple Inc. (formerly  Apple Computer Inc.), an American  multinational corporation that designs, develops and sells  consumer electronics, computer hardware, software and personal computers. The powerful visionary, Steve Jobs, was the co-founder of Apple Inc. along with Steve Wozniak. They went on the establish Apple as one of the world’s giants, with an unconventional approach and leadership style that was starkly different from conventional business wisdom. The predominating leadership approach at Apple Inc. was that of ‘Transformational Lea dership’, wherein Steve Jobs (the leader),  identified the need for  change,  created  a vision amongst his people to enforce the change and  finally, ensured its enforcement with the  unfailing commitment  of the  members  of his company. (Bryant S., 2012)... At a review session, Jobs was quick to grab a ‘Magic Marker’ and draw a two-by-two grid on the board, labeling each quadrant sequentially as â€Å"Consumer†, â€Å"Pro.†, â€Å"Desktop† and â€Å"Portable†. He insisted that Apple focus on just four great products (one for each quadrant), cancelling all other products. Steve Jobs is known to have said to Walter Isaacson, â€Å"Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. â€Å"That’s true for companies, and it’s true for products.† (Issacson, 2012). The Apple Company under Steve Jobs, developed a ‘perfectionist style’ with an eye for great detail. The success of the company lay in the fact that Jobs recognized his own strengths and delegated areas suited to other people’s strengths, so that only the best product emerged from its shores. Steve Jobs was a driven leader and the products and services he directed his company to develop and commercialize changed the way many of us live, as well as the course of a diverse set of industries, including computing, publishing, movies, music and mobile telephony (Katzenbach, 2012). Undoubtedly, the success of Apple Computers under Steve Jobs stemmed from his creativity in decision-making, charismatic leadership and the ability to take risks in order to adapt to changing market conditions. As testimony to Apple’s creativity, Steve Jobs himself famously said â€Å"innovation distinguishes a leader and a follower†! Both, situational factors and the leadership approach of Steve Jobs contributed to Apple’s success. By selecting Steve Jobs to lead the company, Apple was not only able to improve its performance, but also position itself to take advantage of the opportunity

Formal Proposal on Pensions for Public Employees Research

Formal on Pensions for Public Employees - Research Proposal Example There are different types of pension plans and this report suggests the public organizations to use and implement ‘Defined benefit pension plan’ as this would be beneficial for most of the employees working in public sector. Pension plans are of many types. Retirement plan, state and social pension plan, and disability pension are some of the types. It is mandatory for permanent employees that they should be given payment after their retirement in the form of pension. If it is not paid then it should be mentioned in the contract of the employees. Pension is defined the amount that an employee gets on his retirement through the contribution of employees and investment returns. This amount is received on a regular basis by the employee. Members’ contribution is deducted from their payroll throughout their duration of service (Davis, 1998). Generally, the amount of pension is predetermined and based on a defined formula. This formula may vary from one organization to another however the formula is based on employee’s history of earnings. In America, Public employee pension plan is suffering and the employees at the public organizations are not satisfied with the existing plan. One of the reas ons for this is that government is exploring more unusual investments in order to feed the Public employee pension plan. OCER has invested 10.9 billion dollars in funds. Out of these funds, only 4% is from assets (Reicher, 2014). According to figure 1 presented in the appendix section, all public plans are funded in a well-mannered way and contributions from the employers are found lower in pension plans (Basich, 2011). This report presents a proposal for the pension of public employees. Pension is an important aspect of the workplace as it provides funds at a stage when the person does not have the ability or energy to work appropriately for 40 hours in a week. Senior management has an important role and they have to take part

Briefing Report on RKD Transport Case Study Essay Example for Free

Briefing Report on RKD Transport Case Study Essay This is a short briefing report based on research and critical analysis of various management literatures to develop solutions to the case study RKD Transport. As a graduate member of Business Consulting Group (BCG), I have been asked by the CEO to identify and evaluate issues that are perceived to be affecting work performance and cooperation at RKD Transport. The Managing Director (John) has asked BCG to review the situation as described in the case study, and has requested a report assessing the situation with comment on the issues that are raised and Johns proposed plan. This report also presents a range of options and recommendations as supported by research, which resolves the perceived problem about the implementation of John’s proposal a clear indication of the skills which can be taught to staff members. As of the dependable data in relation to what is taking place in the world of study into organizational behavior (OB) and management, the present line of thought and practice in OB programs can be applied to the case study. I. Point of View- graduate member of Business Consulting Group (BCG) Given the case material, the group has decided to take the point of view of the BCG’s graduate member on analysis to facilitate ease of recommending decisions to the management. II. Problem Statement The question posed by the case is thus: â€Å"What should the Managing Director, John do to effectively and efficiently introduce and implement his plan for the company? † III. Background of the Study Organizational behavior is concerned on personal and group dynamics in an institutional background and situation, over and above the character of the association themselves. Reports pertaining to this, try to figure out and form the various factors when persons in the group interrelate with one another. Comparable to all shared sciences, managerial studies seek to organize, forecast, and elucidate all the social happenings that are occurring in the given field, which can be taken as a foremost part in institutional progress and success. According to Arnold (2005), examples of the problems that OBM directs on are security, output, quality, and aptness. SWOT Analysis is the assessment by the decision making person or group of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats regarding preferred final position or purpose of a task or business. The goal of every SWOT investigation is to recognize the chief inner aspects, the strengths and weaknesses to the institute and outer features, the opportunities and threats exhibited by the outside setting to accomplishing the intention. The case study should be defined as an investigation technique, using SWOT Analysis involved in a project or in a business venture, as stated by the MCRPC Regional Planning Commission (2005). Strengths are elements of the organization which are of use to reaching the goal of the management. The assets of the RKD Transport workplace are the following: monetary and intellectual terms, site, infrastructure, and fundamental training. However, the weaknesses which are detrimental to attaining the purpose of the management are the following: good organization, work appraisal of employees, developed methods for doling out with main fields of human resources, poor at pulling off consequences through undirected aid of individual vigor, and partial running skill and proficiency. The opportunities of the organization, on the other hand, are the following: desiring to progress on the whole managerial efficacy through directorial growth and social organization line up and more broad supervision prospects entailing improvement of new executives. And lastly, the threats are the following: human resource input are not acknowledged by the upper administration who dodge it by making use of external advisors and transference having the result of eliminating units and removing intermediate organization strata to develop flatter arrangement of institution. IV. Alternative courses of action Organization design is a conventional channeled means for assimilating the personnel, information and tools of an establishment. It is utilized to go with the structure of the corporation as thoroughly as feasible to the points the business pursues to accomplish. Through the design process, a corporation takes steps to expand the likelihood that the shared efforts of affiliates will be exultant. Additionally, the concept of job design is important here which indicates the manner that a series of everyday responsibilities and jobs, are structured. This makes easier to ascertain what, how, how many, and in what order the responsibilities are completed in connection with the organization. Its principles can also direct predicaments in the workplace such as labor under load, monotony, inadequate manipulation over occupation, deferral in filling unoccupied stations, and partial perception of the entire work course (Jones, 2004). Executives must use Organizational Behavior Management since the achievement of the business is credited with the efficiency of their courses of action and the pleasant response of the staff, incorporating the key functions of management such as â€Å"planning, organizing, leading and controlling† (Buchanan, 2004). Here is a variety of options and recommendations which may be implemented to solve the particular problem of the company. 1. Change the type of leadership from paternalistic to democratic for the voice of the employees to be heard. John, the Managing Director of RKD Transport, must change the way of administrating his subordinates. He must develop an employee-oriented method by trying to motivate his employees rather than direct or control his subordinates (Burns, 2003). Furthermore, he would have to depend not only to his own capabilities but must encourage his own subordinates to participate, thus, resulting to developing managerial abilities of the subordinates. The style of leadership of John, indeed, can have significant impact on the performance and satisfaction of his subordinates so his leadership style should have the characteristic manner in which he makes decisions affecting his subordinates and exercises influence to elicit their compliance with, commitment to, and support for his directives. He must encourage his subordinates in decisions that affect them, forming a friendly, trusting, and respectful leadership with group members, and must act promptly with this said concern. 2. Make a prior notice that the manager would downsize employees of the work force. It is indicated in the case problem that labor turnover is low. In order to achieve effective control over direct labor costs, John must apply downsizing and layoff strategies. But he must make use of consensus first in making decisions for the company for the employees to be given a chance to change their attitude towards work. These approaches for layoffs and downsizing will lessen the harm to those workers who will be laid off and to the employees who will stay behind. This also presents a practical prospect for a healthier outlook for the business and the business’ stakeholders. Downscaling in this way falls into the kind of administration means for accomplishing preferred adjustment, a good deal like downsizing examination. The following factors must be considered in considering this: Is the business being upright to its human elements? Has the necessary stipulation which may head to a number of complicated resolutions been conveyed to the business’s staff? Have the employees been able to supply input? Have the administration conscientiously supposed the outcome for those workforce? How will this influence those who may lose their work? How will this concern those who stay with their job? Does the strategy for modification present the business to attain improved outcome in the future? (Hickok, 2007). 3. The managing director would still be strict and objective, and would monitor the employees himself. John would continue to be hard-working, spending time inspecting the personnel and meticulously supervising the business process by plotting strategies, captivating counteractive deeds of this customary viewpoint. But some conflicts may arise because in implementing this kind of procedure. John’s status here as the person in charge is at risk in view of the fact that discords from his subordinates may take place against him (Haslam, 2003). 4. Assign more supervisors which will monitor the employees’ performance. By this course of action, the personnel can be monitored well if they are doing their jobs effectively and efficiently because they have to meet with the deadline. This could provide the management an objective assessment of each worker’s performance. It must be remembered that the input of workers in the business is a crucial part in the success of the company. 5. John must be further trained as managing director position in the company. To be considered an efficient and effective managing director, John must possess personality characteristics such as self confidence, aggressiveness, dominance, and adaptability. Additionally, he must also have the skills like sensitivity in dealing with others, intelligence, and job mastery which he can use in supervising his constituents. So he must be further trained to have these characteristics to become an efficient and effective leader. Successful directors essentially sets up a working atmosphere in which human resources would like to carry out their jobs properly. To realize the far more constructive work milieu, performance study edifies administrators on how to efficiently handle their positions as affirmed by Holman (2003). John may acquire the knowledge and skills though attending seminars, hands on training, and the like. 6. John must conduct research of the leadership style of former managers of the RKD Transport and examine what is the most appropriate approach in running the Management division. He must critically study the past records of the former managers of the company and their leadership styles and see what the best way of treating employees is during those times and apply it with the present situation, with the integration of interior appraisals of the business SWOT. This recommendation requires the enclosure of an evaluation of the current state of affairs, as well as the assessment of their extent. 7. RKD Transport pay rates must be adjusted to what the company can afford and are just right for the employees. Since workers perceive that the management was sympathetic to them, pay rates are considered high. Besides, there are other benefits offered to the employees by the company like sufficient compensation for shifting workers, provision for emergency loan, and many more. The conventional employee performance system relies on direct supervision, the wage and salary compensation system, and annual performance reviews, merit pay increases and promotions as rewards for exceptional performance (Staw, 2004); though an indispensable budgeting aspect must be of great consideration for the company’s success.

People and Paperless Future for Organisations -- globalisation, social

Technology plays a major role in today’s organisations and offices, and has contributed positively to productivity and efficiency of businesses. Social media and globalisation may also have lead to an easier way of communication cross-culturally and making business with individuals and companies internationally. However, there is a concern that technology has gone so far that organisations and offices might become both paper and people less in the future. This paper will discuss and evaluate if there is a possibility for offices and organisations to be completely people and paper less in the future. The first part will define and explain the terms; globalisation, social media, office and organisation, the second will evaluate with the use organisational examples of which technology has changed the ways of interaction and services. The final part will include a conclusion and recommendations for the future. Globalisation can be defined as the following; â€Å"The process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale† Globalisation is possible due to technological advances as the internet, smartphones, and computers and further back in time by improved vehicles and the ability to travel far distances, making the world smaller. However, part of globalisation is also traveling and social interaction amongst people’s cultures etc. One definition of social media can be websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. (Press, 2014) Social media has indeed simplified the interaction between people socially it is now easier to gain, have and further maintain contact with people across the world and condu... ...ielfisher/2012/05/02/poor-students-are-the-real-victims-of-college-discrimination/ Nogales, A. (2010, October 13). Facebook versus face-to-face. Retrieved March 27th, 2014, from Psychology: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/family-secrets/201010/facebook-versus-face-face Podmoroff, D. (2014). Retrieved March 26th, 2014, from Mind Tools- essential skills for an excellent career : http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/Cross-Cultural-communication.htm Press, O. U. (2014). Retrieved March 20th, 2014, from Oxford Dictionaries- Language Matters: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/organization street, Q. (2014). Retrieved March 27th , 2014, from Webopedia: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/paperless_office.html University, P. (2012). Retrieved March 20th, 2014, from The Free Dictionary By Farlex : http://www.thefreedictionary.com/organisation

Social Media and Business

Business Horizons (2010) 53, 59—68 www. elsevier. com/locate/bushor Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media Andreas M. Kaplan *, Michael Haenlein ? ESCP Europe, 79 Avenue de la Republique, F-75011 Paris, France KEYWORDS Social Media; User Generated Content; Web 2. 0; Social networking sites; Virtual worlds Abstract The concept of Social Media is top of the agenda for many business executives today. Decision makers, as well as consultants, try to identify ways in which ? rms can make pro? able use of applications such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, Second Life, and Twitter. Yet despite this interest, there seems to be very limited understanding of what the term ‘‘Social Media’’ exactly means; this article intends to provide some clari? cation. We begin by describing the concept of Social Media, and discuss how it differs from related concepts such as Web 2. 0 and User Generated Content. Based on this de? nition, we then provide a classi? cation of Social Media which groups applications currently subsumed under the generalized term into more speci? categories by characteristic: collaborative projects, blogs, content communities, social networking sites, virtual game worlds, and virtual social worlds. Finally, we present 10 pieces of advice for companies which decide to utilize Social Media. # 2009 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved. 1. The specter of Social Media As of January 2009, the online social networking application Facebook registered more than 175 million active users. To put that number in perspective, this is only slightly less than the population of Brazil (190 million) and over twice the population of Germany (80 million)!At the same time, every minute, 10 hours of content were uploaded to the video sharing platform YouTube. And, the image hosting site Flickr provided access to over 3 billion photographs, making the world-famous Louvre * Correspondi ng author. E-mail addresses: [email  protected] eu (A. M. Kaplan), [email  protected] eu (M. Haenlein). Museum’s collection of 300,000 objects seem tiny in comparison. According to Forrester Research, 75% of Internet surfers used ‘‘Social Media’’ in the second quarter of 2008 by joining social networks, reading blogs, or contributing reviews to shopping sites; this represents a signi? ant rise from 56% in 2007. The growth is not limited to teenagers, either; members of Generation X, now 35—44 years old, increasingly populate the ranks of joiners, spectators, and critics. It is therefore reasonable to say that Social Media represent a revolutionary new trend that should be of interest to companies operating in online space–—or any space, for that matter. Yet, not overly many ? rms seem to act comfortably in a world where consumers can speak so freely 0007-6813/$ — see front matter # 2009 Kelley School of Business, India na University.All rights reserved. doi:10. 1016/j. bushor. 2009. 09. 003 60 with each other and businesses have increasingly less control over the information available about them in cyberspace. Today, if an Internet user types the name of any leading brand into the Google search, what comes up among the top ? ve results typically includes not only the corporate webpage, but also the corresponding entry in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Here, for example, customers can read that the 2007 model of Hasbro’s Easy-Bake Oven may lead to serious burns on children’s hands and ? gers due to a poorly-designed oven door, and that the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company has been accused of using child labor in its Liberian rubber factory. Historically, companies were able to control the information available about them through strategically placed press announcements and good public relations managers. Today, however, ? rms have been increasingly relegated to the sidelines as m ere observers, having neither the knowledge nor the chance–—or, sometimes, even the right–—to alter publicly posted comments provided by their customers. Wikipedia, for example, expressly forbids the participation of ? ms in its online community. Such an evolution may not be surprising. After all, the Internet started out as nothing more than a giant Bulletin Board System (BBS) that allowed users to exchange software, data, messages, and news with each other. The late 1990s saw a popularity surge in homepages, whereby the Average Joe could share information about his private life; today’s equivalent would be the weblog, or blog. The era of corporate web pages and e-commerce started relatively recently with the launch of Amazon and eBay in 1995, and got a right ticking-off only 6 years later when the dot-com bubble burst in 2001.The current trend toward Social Media can therefore be seen as an evolution back to the Internet’s roots, since it retransforms the World Wide Web to what it was initially created for: a platform to facilitate information exchange between users. But does that mean that Social Media is just old wine in new bottles? Probably not! As we will delve into further, the technical advances that have been made over the past 20 years now enable a form of virtual content sharing that is fundamentally different from, and more powerful than, the BBS of the late 1970s.This article discusses the challenges and opportunities that emerge from this evolution for ? rms, and provides structure to better understand the rapidly evolving ? eld of Social Media. We begin by providing a de? nition and classi? cation of Social Media by looking at their historical roots, technical speci? cities, and differences from other entities such as Web 2. 0 and User Generated Content. We then focus on six types of Social Media–—collaborative projects, blogs, A. M. Kaplan, M. Haenlein content communities, social networki ng sites, virtual game worlds, and virtual social worlds–—and present ways in which companies can ef? iently make use of these applications. Based on this analysis, we then derive a set of 10 recommendations companies should follow when thinking about developing their own Social Media strategy, be it with respect to these aforementioned types or other applications which might emerge in the future. 2. What is Social Media–—And what is it not? As highlighted, the idea behind Social Media is far from groundbreaking. Nevertheless, there seems to be confusion among managers and academic researchers alike as to what exactly should be included under this term, and how Social Media differ from the seemingly-interchangeable related concepts of Web 2. and User Generated Content. It therefore makes sense to take a step back and provide insight regarding where Social Media come from and what they include. By 1979, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis from Duke University had c reated the Usenet, a worldwide discussion system that allowed Internet users to post public messages. Yet, the era of Social Media as we understand it today probably started about 20 years earlier, when Bruce and Susan Abelson founded ‘‘Open Diary,’’ an early social networking site that brought together online diary writers into one community. The term ‘‘weblog’’ was ? st used at the same time, and truncated as ‘‘blog’’ a year later when one blogger jokingly transformed the noun ‘‘weblog’’ into the sentence ‘‘we blog. ’’ The growing availability of high-speed Internet access further added to the popularity of the concept, leading to the creation of social networking sites such as MySpace (in 2003) and Facebook (in 2004). This, in turn, coined the term ‘‘Social Media,’’ and contributed to the prominence it has today. The most rece nt addition to this glamorous grouping has been so-called ‘‘virtual worlds’’: computerbased simulated environments inhabited by threedimensional avatars.Perhaps the best known virtual world is that of Linden Lab’s Second Life (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009c). Although the list of the aforementioned applications may give some idea about what is meant by Social Media, a formal de? nition of the term ? rst requires drawing a line to two related concepts that are frequently named in conjunction with it: Web 2. 0 and User Generated Content. Web 2. 0 is a term that was ? rst used in 2004 to describe a new way in which software developers and end-users started to Users of the world, unite!The challenges and opportunities of Social Media utilize the World Wide Web; that is, as a platform whereby content and applications are no longer created and published by individuals, but instead are continuously modi? ed by all users in a participatory and collaborative fashio n. While applications such as personal web pages, Encyclopedia Britannica Online, and the idea of content publishing belong to the era of Web 1. 0, they are replaced by blogs, wikis, and collaborative projects in Web 2. 0. Although Web 2. 0 does not refer to any speci? technical update of the World Wide Web, there is a set of basic functionalities that are necessary for its functioning. Among them are Adobe Flash (a popular method for adding animation, interactivity, and audio/video streams to web pages), RSS (Really Simple Syndication, a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content, such as blog entries or news headlines, in a standardized format), and AJAX (Asynchronous Java Script, a technique to retrieve data from web servers asynchronously, allowing the update of web content without interfering with the display and behavior of the whole page).For the purpose of our article, we consider Web 2. 0 as the platform for the evolution of Social Media. When Web 2. 0 represents the ideological and technological foundation, User Generated Content (UGC) can be seen as the sum of all ways in which people make use of Social Media. The term, which achieved broad popularity in 2005, is usually applied to describe the various forms of media content that are publicly available and created by end-users. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2007), UGC needs to ful? l three basic requirements in order to be considered as such: ? rst, it needs to be published either on a publicly accessible website or on a social networking site accessible to a selected group of people; second, it needs to show a certain amount of creative effort; and ? nally, it needs to have been created outside of professional routines and practices. The ? rst condition excludes content exchanged in e-mails or instant messages; the second, mere replications of already existing content (e. g. , posting a copy of an existing newspaper article on a personal blog without any modi? ations or commenting); and the third, all content that has been created with a commercial market context in mind. While UGC has already been available prior to Web 2. 0, as discussed above, the combination of technological drivers (e. g. , increased broadband availability and hardware capacity), economic drivers (e. g. , increased availability of tools for the creation of UGC), and social drivers (e. g. , rise of a generation of ‘‘digital natives’’ and ‘‘screenagers’’: younger age groups with substantial technical knowledge and 1 willingness to engage online) make UGC nowadays fundamentally different from what was observed in the early 1980s. Based on these clari? cations of Web 2. 0 and UGC, it is now straightforward to give a more detailed de? nition of what we mean by Social Media. In our view–—and as used herein–—Social Media is a group of Internet-based applicati ons that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2. 0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content. Within this general de? ition, there are various types of Social Media that need to be distinguished further. However, although most people would probably agree that Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, and Second Life are all part of this large group, there is no systematic way in which different Social Media applications can be categorized. Also, new sites appear in cyberspace every day, so it is important that any classi? cation scheme takes into account applications which may be forthcoming. To create such a classi? cation scheme, and to do so in a systematic manner, we rely on a set of theories in the ? ld of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure), the two key elements of Social Media. Regarding the media-related component of Social Media, social presence theory (Short, Willi ams, & Christie, 1976) states that media differ in the degree of ‘‘social presence’’–—de? ned as the acoustic, visual, and physical contact that can be achieved–—they allow to emerge between two communication partners. Social presence is in? uenced by the intimacy (interpersonal vs. mediated) and immediacy (asynchronous vs. ynchronous) of the medium, and can be expected to be lower for mediated (e. g. , telephone conversation) than interpersonal (e. g. , face-to-face discussion) and for asynchronous (e. g. , e-mail) than synchronous (e. g. , live chat) communications. The higher the social presence, the larger the social in? uence that the communication partners have on each other’s behavior. Closely related to the idea of social presence is the concept of media richness. Media richness theory (Daft & Lengel, 1986) is based on the assumption that the goal of any communication is the resolution of ambiguity and the reductio n of uncertainty.It states that media differ in the degree of richness they possess–—that is, the amount of information they allow to be transmitted in a given time interval–—and that therefore some media are more effective than others in resolving ambiguity and uncertainty. Applied to the context of Social Media, we assume that a ? rst classi? cation can be made based on the richness of the medium and the degree of social presence it allows. With respect to the social dimension of Social Media, the concept of self-presentation states that 2 in any type of social interaction people have the desire to control the impressions other people form of them (Goffman, 1959). On the one hand, this is done with the objective of in? uencing others to gain rewards (e. g. , make a positive impression on your future in-laws); on the other hand, it is driven by a wish to create an image that is consistent with one’s personal identity (e. g. , wearing a fashionable out? t in order to be perceived as young and trendy). The key reason why people decide to create a personal webpage is, for example, the wish to present themselves in cyberspace (Schau & Gilly, 2003).Usually, such a presentation is done through self-disclosure; that is, the conscious or unconscious revelation of personal information (e. g. , thoughts, feelings, likes, dislikes) that is consistent with the image one would like to give. Self-disclosure is a critical step in the development of close relationships (e. g. , during dating) but can also occur between complete strangers; for example, when speaking about personal problems with the person seated next to you on an airplane. Applied to the context of Social Media, we assume that a second classi? ation can be made based on the degree of self-disclosure it requires and the type of self-presentation it allows. Combining both dimensions leads to a classi? cation of Social Media which we have visualized in Table 1. With respect to social presence and media richness, applications such as collaborative projects (e. g. , Wikipedia) and blogs score lowest, as they are often text-based and hence only allow for a relatively simple exchange. On the next level are content communities (e. g. , YouTube) and social networking sites (e. g. Facebook) which, in addition to text-based communication, enable the sharing of pictures, videos, and other forms of media. On the highest level are virtual game and social worlds (e. g. , World of Warcraft, Second Life), which try to replicate all dimensions of face-to-face interactions in a virtual environment. Regarding self-presentation and self-disclosure, blogs usually score higher than collaborative projects, as the latter tend to be focused on speci? c content domains. Table 1. A. M. Kaplan, M. Haenlein In a similar spirit, social networking sites allow for more self-disclosure than content communities.Finally, virtual social worlds require a higher level of self-disclosure tha n virtual game worlds, as the latter are ruled by strict guidelines that force users to behave in a certain way (e. g. , as warriors in an imaginary fantasy land). We will now provide more detail on each of these six different types of Social Media, and discuss the challenges and opportunities they offer companies. 3. The challenges and opportunities of Social Media 3. 1. Collaborative projects Collaborative projects enable the joint and simultaneous creation of content by many end-users and are, in this sense, probably the most democratic manifestation of UGC.Within collaborative projects, one differentiates between wikis–—that is, websites which allow users to add, remove, and change text-based content–—and social bookmarking applications–—which enable the group-based collection and rating of Internet links or media content. Exemplary applications within this category include the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, a wiki currently available in more than 230 different languages, and the social bookmarking web service Delicious, which allows the storage and sharing of web bookmarks.The main idea underlying collaborative projects is that the joint effort of many actors leads to a better outcome than any actor could achieve individually; this is similar to the ef? cient-market hypothesis in behavioral ? nance (Fama, 1970). From a corporate perspective, ? rms must be aware that collaborative projects are trending toward becoming the main source of information for many consumers. As such, although not everything written on Wikipedia may actually be true, it is believed to be true by more and more Internet users. This may be particularly crucial as regards corporate crises. For example, Classi? ation of Social Media by social presence/media richness and self-presentation/self-disclosure Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media when online book retailer Amazon started to test the idea of dynami c pricing, comments declaring such a practice as unfair showed up instantaneously under the Wikipedia entry on ‘‘time-based pricing. ’’ Yet, collaborative projects also provide some unique opportunities for ? rms. Finnish handset manufacturer Nokia, for instance, uses internal wikis to update employees on project status and to trade ideas, which are used by about 20% of its 68,000 staff members.Likewise, American computer software company Adobe Systems maintains a list of bookmarks to company-related websites and conversations on Delicious. 63 3. 3. Content communities The main objective of content communities is the sharing of media content between users. Content communities exist for a wide range of different media types, including text (e. g. , BookCrossing, via which 750,000+ people from over 130 countries share books), photos (e. g. , Flickr), videos (e. g. , YouTube), and PowerPoint presentations (e. g. , Slideshare). Users on content communities are not required to create a personal pro? e page; if they do, these pages usually only contain basic information, such as the date they joined the community and the number of videos shared. From a corporate viewpoint, content communities carry the risk of being used as platforms for the sharing of copyright-protected materials. While major content communities have rules in place to ban and remove such illegal content, it is dif? cult to avoid popular videos–—such as recent episodes of comedy dramas–—being uploaded to YouTube only hours after they have been aired on television.On the positive side, the high popularity of content communities makes them a very attractive contact channel for many ? rms; this is easy to believe when one considers that YouTube serves over 100 million videos per day. In 2007, Procter & Gamble organized a contest for its over-the-counter drug Pepto-Bismol, whereby users were encouraged to upload to YouTube 1-minute videos of themsel ves singing about the ailments Pepto-Bismol counteracts, including heartburn and nausea. In a similar spirit, kitchen appliances manufacturer Blendtec became popular for its bevy of inexpensive ‘‘Will it blend? ’ videos, which have been watched by millions of people. Other ? rms, such as Cisco and Google, rely on content communities to share recruiting videos, as well as keynote speeches and press announcements, with their employees and investors. 3. 2. Blogs Blogs, which represent the earliest form of Social Media, are special types of websites that usually display date-stamped entries in reverse chronological order (OECD, 2007). They are the Social Media equivalent of personal web pages and can come in a multitude of different variations, from personal diaries describing the author’s life to summaries of all relevant information in one speci? content area. Blogs are usually managed by one person only, but provide the possibility of interaction with others through the addition of comments. Due to their historical roots, text-based blogs are still by far the most common. Nevertheless, blogs have also begun to take different media formats. For example, San Francisco-based Justin. tv allows users to create personalized television channels via which they can broadcast images from their webcam in real time to other users. Many companies are already using blogs to update employees, customers, and shareholders on developments they consider to be important.Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, maintains a personal blog to improve the transparency of his company; so does automotive giant General Motors. Yet, as is the case with collaborative projects, blogs do not come without risks. These generally present in two fashions. First, customers who–—for one reason or another–—turn out to be dissatis? ed with or disappointed by the company’s offerings may decide to engage in virtual complaints in the form o f protest websites or blogs (Ward & Ostrom, 2006), which results in the availability of potentially damaging information in online space.Second, once ? rms encourage employees to be active on blogs, they may need to live with the consequences of staff members writing negatively about the ? rm. Microsoft’s former ‘‘technical evangelist’’ Robert Scoble, for example, had a tendency to ? ercely criticize the products of his employer–— before he decided to leave the Redmond-based software company in 2006. 3. 4. Social networking sites Social networking sites are applications that enable users to connect by creating personal information pro? les, inviting friends and colleagues to have access to those pro? es, and sending e-mails and instant messages between each other. These personal pro? les can include any type of information, including photos, video, audio ? les, and blogs. According to Wikipedia, the largest social networking sites are U . S. -based Facebook (initially founded by Mark Zuckerberg to stay in touch with his fellow students from Harvard University) and MySpace (with 1,500 employees and more than 250 million registered users). Social networking sites are of such high popularity, speci? cally among younger Internet 4 users, that the term ‘‘Facebook addict’’ has been included in the Urban Dictionary, a collaborative project focused on developing a slang dictionary for the English language. Several companies are already using social networking sites to support the creation of brand communities (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001) or for marketing research in the context of netnography (Kozinets, 2002). To promote the movie ‘‘Fred Claus,’’ a 2007 Christmas comedy ? lm, Warner Brothers created a Facebook pro? le via which visitors could watch trailers, download graphics, and play games.Likewise, the Adidas custom soccer community on MySpace allows visitors to asso ciate themselves with one of two brands of elite soccer cleats produced by the German sports apparel manufacturer, and to access product reviews and information on professional soccer players who play using ‘‘their’’ shoes. Some ? rms even go one step further and use Facebook as a distribution channel. Consider U. S. -based ? orist 1-800-Flowers. com, which offers a widget on Facebook called ‘‘Gimme Love’’ whereby users can send ‘‘virtual bouquets’’ to friends or, with a click of the mouse, be directly transferred to the company’s website to send real ? wers. A. M. Kaplan, M. Haenlein hunter–—starts to more and more closely resemble their real life personality. Besides their use for ingame advertising (similar in idea to product placement in blockbuster movies), the high popularity of virtual game worlds can also be leveraged in more traditional communication campaigns. Japanese automo tive giant Toyota, for example, used pictures and mechanics from the World of Warcraft application in its latest Tundra commercial to reach the 2. 5 million players in the U. S. lone. 3. 6. Virtual social worlds The second group of virtual worlds, often referred to as virtual social worlds, allows inhabitants to choose their behavior more freely and essentially live a virtual life similar to their real life. As in virtual game worlds, virtual social world users appear in the form of avatars and interact in a three-dimensional virtual environment; however, in this realm, there are no rules restricting the range of possible interactions, except for basic physical laws such as gravity.This allows for an unlimited range of self presentation strategies, and it has been shown that with increasing usage intensity and consumption experience, users of virtual social worlds–—or ‘‘residents,’’ as they prefer to be called–—show behavior that more and more closely mirrors the one observed in real life settings (Haenlein & Kaplan, 2009; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009a, 2009b). Arguably, the most prominent example of virtual social worlds is the Second Life application, founded and managed by the San Francisco-based company Linden Research Inc.Besides doing everything that is possible in real life (e. g. , speaking to other avatars, taking a walk, enjoying the virtual sunshine), Second Life also allows users to create content (e. g. , to design virtual clothing or furniture items) and to sell this content to others in exchange for Linden Dollars, a virtual currency traded against the U. S. Dollar on the Second Life Exchange. Some residents are so successful in this task that the virtual money earned that way complements their real life income.Virtual social worlds offer a multitude of opportunities for companies in marketing (advertising/communication, virtual product sales/v-Commerce, marketing research), and human resource and internal process management; for a more detailed discussion, see Kaplan and Haenlein (2009c). 3. 5. Virtual game worlds Virtual worlds are platforms that replicate a threedimensional environment in which users can appear in the form of personalized avatars and interact with each other as they would in real life.In this sense, virtual worlds are probably the ultimate manifestation of Social Media, as they provide the highest level of social presence and media richness of all applications discussed thus far. Virtual worlds come in two forms. The ? rst, virtual game worlds, require their users to behave according to strict rules in the context of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). These applications have gained popularity in recent years, as standard game consoles–—such as Microsoft’s X-Box and Sony’s PlayStation–—now allow simultaneous play among a multitude of users around the globe.Examples of virtual game worlds inc lude the cod-medieval ‘‘World of Warcraft,’’ which counts around 8. 5 million subscribers who explore the virtual planet of Azeroth in the form of humans, dwarves, orcs, or night elves, to ? ght monsters or to search for treasure; and Sony’s EverQuest, in which 16 different races of players (e. g. , wizards, clerics) travel the fantasy world of Norrath. The rules of such games usually limit the degree of self-presentation and self-disclosure possible, although some users spend so much time with these applications that their character–—be it a warrior, a wizard, or a dragon . Ten pieces of advice for companies deciding to use Social Media Social Media is a very active and fast-moving domain. What may be up-to-date today could have Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media disappeared from the virtual landscape tomorrow. It is therefore crucial for ? rms to have a set of guidelines that can be applied to any form of Social Media, whether they are part of the aforementioned list or not. Next, we provide such a set of recommendations. Given that Social Media have both a social- and a media-component, we split our advice into two sections: ? e points about using media and ? ve points about being social. 65 4. 1. Five points about using media 4. 1. 1. Choose carefully There are dozens–—if not hundreds–—of Social Media applications, and new ones are appearing on the horizon every day. If you still need time to run your core business, you simply cannot participate in them all, especially since ‘‘being active’’ is one key requirement of success (see below). Choosing the right medium for any given purpose depends on the target group to be reached and the message to be communicated.On the one hand, each Social Media application usually attracts a certain group of people and ? rms should be active wherever their customers are present. For example, if your main target audience is book lovers, a content community via which users share self-written novels or poems is likely better suited to your purpose than a virtual world which centers on ? ghting dragons and ? nding treasures. On the other hand, there may be situations whereby certain features are necessary to ensure effective communication, and these features are only offered by one speci? c application. For example, when the U. S.Army undertook an initiative in 2007 to reach the Hispanic community, it decided to utilize the social networking site Univision rather than the more popular Facebook. This choice was driven in part by the fact that Univision–—a Spanish-language television network in the U. S. and Puerto Rico–—is the social networking application with the largest Latin American audience, due to an extensive range of telenovelas and Mexican programs produced by Grupo Televisa. However, another reason Univision was chosen is becau se it offers a moderating service which checks comments from users for appropriateness before posting them on the site.In contrast, other applications, including Facebook, allow users to post messages without supervision. 4. 1. 2. Pick the application, or make your own Once you know which game you’re playing, the next decision involves whether to make or buy. In some cases, it might just be best to join an existing Social Media application and bene? t from its popularity and user base. After all, there is no need to reinvent the wheel if somebody has already done it, especially given that Social Media show positive network externalities in the sense that they get more attractive to join the more participants they already have.But in some cases, the right application might just not be available yet. Japan’s Fuji? lm, for example, recently launched its own social network to build a community of photo enthusiasts. In a similar spirit, U. S. -based department store ? rm Se ars collaborated with MTV music television to create a social network around back-to-school shopping. Yet, whatever the ultimate decision–—to buy, make, or both–— it is vital that there is an understanding of the basic idea behind Social Media. It’s all about participation, sharing, and collaboration, rather than straightforward advertising and selling. 4. 1. 3.Ensure activity alignment Sometimes you may decide to rely on various Social Media, or a set of different applications within the same group, in order to have the largest possible reach. In this case, it is crucial to ensure that your Social Media activities are all aligned with each other. A prime example in this context is computer manufacturer Dell and its ‘‘Digital Nomads’’ campaign. Dell uses a combination of social networking sites (Facebook, LinkedIn), blogs, and content communities (YouTube videos) to show how its range of laptop computers enable individuals to become a nomadic mobile workforce.In a similar spirit, Chrysler’s Jeep brand connects with its customers by combining photos shared on the content community Flickr, with groups on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Using different contact channels can be a worthwhile and pro? table strategy. But remember: one goal of communication is the resolution of ambiguity and reduction of uncertainty, and nothing is more confusing than contradicting messages across different channels. 4. 1. 4. Media plan integration What is true for different types of Social Media also holds for the relationship between Social Media and traditional media: Integration is key!While you may consider these two arenas to be completely different, in customers’ eyes they are both part of the same: your corporate image. Consider the actions of soft drink giant Coca-Cola. In June 2006, a pair of performance artists shot a video featuring a series of geysers they created by dropping Mentos brand mints into 2-liter bottles of Coke; the clip became a major hit on YouTube. Realizing customers’ enthusiasm for this performance, Coca-Cola fostered the sensation by airing the video on late-night television and ensuring broad digital distribution across different content communities.Besides the advantage of 66 high impact/low cost media coverage, the campaign also resulted in a measurable sales uplift. 4. 1. 5. Access for all Although this might sound elementary, once the ? rm has decided to utilize Social Media applications, it is worth checking that all employees may actually access them. Commonly, ? rms block Facebook, YouTube, and Second Life on corporate PCs for fear that staff might spend too much time networking instead of working. While this is certainly a consideration, it cannot imply that employees must have special permission to be able to access the company blog.At the same time, there is a need to curtail the possibility of the entire organization spending all its time producing funny videos and uploading them to YouTube. One possible approach involves de? ning groups of employees whose primary objective is the management of corporate Social Media; all other staff members are treated as occasional participants. Under this scenario, the ? rst group is given administrator rights–—which allows the opening of new discussion threads and deletion of inappropriate posts–—while the second group is not.Also, at some point, it will be necessary to develop certain guidelines for Social Media usage; as done, for instance, by ‘‘Big Blue’’ IBM, which has a corporate charta for appropriate behavior within Second Life. For example, it is important to highlight that every employee needs to identify himself or herself as such when posting a comment on the corporate blog. Otherwise, end-consumers could get the impression that anonymous accounts are used to enable employees to post fake messa ges and overly-positive feedback, which could severely damage the credibility of your whole Social Media campaign. A. M. Kaplan, M.Haenlein else’s than it is about engaging others in open and active conversation. Participants on Social Media applications have the desire to actively engage and to become both producers and consumers of information, so-called ‘‘prosumers’’ (Tof? er, 1980). Be considerate of this need and act accordingly. 4. 2. 2. Be interesting Let’s face it: nobody is interested in speaking to a boring person. As such, if you would like your customers to engage with you, you need to give them a reason for doing so–—one which extends beyond saying you are the best airline in town, or manufacture the most robust kitchen blender. The ? st step is to listen to your customers. Find out what they would like to hear; what they would like to talk about; what they might ? nd interesting, enjoyable, and valuable. Then, devel op and post content that ? ts those expectations. Coffee powerhouse Starbucks, for example, created the ‘‘My Starbucks Idea’’ platform, via which customers can submit new ideas for the company. These ideas are subsequently voted on by other users, with the winners being considered for implementation by Starbucks top management. As stated by Oscar Wilde in his novel, The Picture of Dorian Grey: The one sin for which there is no forgiveness is ennui. . 2. 3. Be humble Never forget that Social Media existed before you decided to engage in them; indeed, in many cases, even before you knew about their existence. In this light, do not expect that you know better how to use them than others who have spent countless hours on Facebook or Second Life, for example. Before you enter any application, ? rst take some time to discover it and to learn about its history and basic rules. Only once you have gained the necessary understanding, start to participate. When aerosp ace and defense ? rm Boeing decided to launch its ? st corporate blog, the site was designed such that users were not allowed to comment on what they saw. Yet, interaction and feedback are critical elements of all Social Media, blogs included. Hence, many readers perceived the Boeing blog as a fake, and simply corporate advertising in disguise. If there is one certain path to failure, it involves thinking that Social Media is just about posting existing TV spots on YouTube or putting prefabricated press announcements on corporate blogs. 4. 2. 4. Be unprofessional Have you ever noticed that in Hollywood blockbuster ? ms, it’s not usually the handsome guy who ends up with the girl, but rather the clumsy, charming one? The same goes for Social Media, and ? rms 4. 2. Five points about being social 4. 2. 1. Be active If you want to develop a relationship with someone, it is always advisable to take the lead and to be active. Social Media are all about sharing and interaction, so e nsure that your content is always fresh and that you engage in discussions with your customers. Consider the aforementioned blog kept by Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz. Via this outlet, the ? urehead discusses–—on an ongoing basis–—his corporate strategy, new product development projects, and company values, and replies directly to correspondence received. In considering your Social Media efforts, be aware that ? rm involvement must extend beyond responding to negative comments and defending product offerings. Social Media is less about explaining why your baking mix, detergent, or shampoo is better than anyone Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media would be wise to avoid overly-professional content offerings.There’s no need to spend $100,000 to design the perfect MySpace presence, or hire a professional writer to manage your corporate blog. Instead, try to blend in with other users and don’t be a fraid to make mistakes! Bill Marriott, Chairman and CEO of the Marriott International Hotel chain, uses his blog, for example, to post regular updates and stories from his travels to Marriott properties around the world–—very much in the same way as would a work colleague when describing her last vacation. Social Media users are people like you, who understand that things do not always go smoothly.And, if you’re nice to them, they may even give you free advice on how to do it better the next time. 4. 2. 5. Be honest Last but not least, be honest and respect the rules of the game. Some Social Media–—such as Wikipedia–— may not allow companies to be involved, so do not try to force your way in. Consider Anheuser-Busch, owner of SeaWorld marine mammal parks. Anheuser-Busch tried to ‘‘rectify’’ misleading information on Wikipedia through the use of PR ? rms, and failed miserably at it. Never expect that other par ticipants may not ? d out who stands behind some anonymous user account; after all, you’re dealing with some of the most technologically sophisticated people on the planet. 67 5. Nothing to lose but their chains Today, everything is about Social Media. Some industry gurus claim that if you do not participate in Facebook, YouTube, and Second Life, you are not part of cyberspace anymore. Social Media allow ? rms to engage in timely and direct end-consumer contact at relatively low cost and higher levels of ef? ciency than can be achieved with more traditional communication tools.This makes Social Media not only relevant for large multinational ? rms, but also for small and medium sized companies, and even nonpro? t and governmental agencies. Using Social Media is not an easy task and may require new ways of thinking, but the potential gains are far from being negligible. Dell, for example, states that its use of Twitter–—a micro blogging application that allows se nding out short, text-based posts of 140 characters or less–—has generated $1 million in incremental revenue due to sales alerts. Some ? ms may even be too successful for their own good, as illustrated by Burger King’s ‘‘Whopper Sacri? ce’’ campaign: In December 2008, the fast food giant developed a Facebook application which gave users a free Whopper sandwich for every 10 friends they deleted from their Facebook network. The campaign was adopted by over 20,000 users, resulting in the sacri? cing of 233,906 friends in exchange for free burgers. Only one month later, in January 2009, Facebook shut down Whopper Sacri? ce, citing privacy concerns. Who would have thought that the price of a friendship is less than $2 a dozen?A new trend is on the horizon, though; Watch out for Mobile Social Media! Mobile Web 2. 0 is very similar to Web 2. 0, as discussed earlier. In contrast to its predecessor Mobile Web 1. 0, which relied on proprietary pr otocols (e. g. , WAP) and use-based pricing, Mobile Web 2. 0 is characterized by open standards (e. g. , a transition to the TCP/IP protocol, the technical foundation of the World Wide Web) and ? at-rate systems. Even the manual entry of web addresses using small and dif? cult-to-handle keyboards is becoming history.Soon, all items around you will be equipped with Radio Frequency Identi? cation (RFID) tags that will be able to automatically connect to your mobile phone and send URLs to them, similar to today’s text messages. This technical evolution is laying the groundwork for moving Social Media applications away from desktop PCs and laptops, toward mobile devices. Why log into Facebook if you can easily update all your friends using Twitter? Why wait until you return home to watch the new YouTube video if you can do so conveniently on your iPhone? According to Jupiter Research, the market for Mobile Web 2. evolutions will grow from a mere $5. 5 billion today to an impressi ve $22. 4 billion by 2013. Mobile Social Media applications are expected to be the main driver of this evolution, soon accounting for over 50% of the market. In one way, this surge toward Mobile Social Media can even be seen as another step toward Internet democratization and closing the digital divide between developed and emerging countries. In India, for example, mobile phones outnumber PCs by 10 to 1. In Thailand, only 13% of the population owns a computer, versus 82% who have access to a mobile phone.It is therefore not surprising that the Pew Research Center–—a Washington-based think tank–—estimates that by 2020, a mobile device will be the primary Internet connection tool for most people in the world. Making Social Media applications mobile is likely to tap a currently unexploited base of new users. Even if percapita spending in these countries may still be low, vast population numbers make them relevant for virtually any ? rm. Obviously, Mobile So cial Media does not come without a price. Some would argue that while it enables the detailed following of friends half-way across the world, it can foster a society where we don’t now the names of our own next-door neighbors. Be that as it may, and independent of 68 whether or not one approves of such an evolution, it seems undisputable that (Mobile) Social Media will be the locomotive via which the World Wide Web evolves. Businesses, take note–—and don’t miss this train! A. M. Kaplan, M. Haenlein Kaplan, A. M. , & Haenlein, M. (2009b). Consumers, companies, and virtual social worlds: A qualitative analysis of Second Life. Advances in Consumer Research, 36(1), 873—874. Kaplan, A. M. , & Haenlein, M. (2009c). The fairyland of Second Life: About virtual social worlds and how to use them.Business Horizons, 52(6), 563—572. Kozinets, R. V. (2002). The ? eld behind the screen: Using netnography for marketing research in online communities. Journa l of Marketing Research, 39(1), 61—72. Muniz, A. M. , & O’Guinn, T. C. (2001). Brand community. Journal of Consumer Research, 27(4), 412—432. OECD. (2007). Participative web and user-created content: Web 2. 0, wikis, and social networking. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Schau, H. J. , & Gilly, M. C. (2003). We are what we post? Selfpresentation in personal web space. Journal of Consumer Research, 30(3), 385—404.Short, J. , Williams, E. , & Christie, B. (1976). The social psychology of telecommunications. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Tof? er, A. (1980). The third wave: The classic study of tomorrow. New York: Bantam Books. Ward, J. C. , & Ostrom, A. L. (2006). Complaining to the masses: The role of protest framing in customer-created complaint web sites. Journal of Consumer Research, 33(2), 220—230. References Daft, R. L. , & Lengel, R. H. (1986). Organizational information requirements, media richness, and st ructural design. Management Science, 32(5), 554—571. Fama, E. F. (1970).Ef? cient capital markets: A review of theory and empirical work. Journal of Finance, 25(2), 383—417. Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books. Haenlein, M. , & Kaplan, A. M. (2009). Flagship brand stores within virtual worlds: The impact of virtual store exposure on real life brand attitudes and purchase intent. Recherche et Applications en Marketing 24(3). Kaplan, A. M. , & Haenlein, M. (2009a). Consumer use and business potential of virtual worlds: The case of Second Life. The International Journal on Media Management 11(3).

A Bad Spell for a Worst Witch Essay

Mildred Hubble returns to Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches for her second year, determined to lose her embarrassing reputation as â€Å"the worst witch in the school†. After Maud Moonshine and Enid Nightshade arrive, the three bump into two first-years (one of whom reminds Mildred very strongly of someone, the other with ginger frizzy hair in bunches). The one who seems familiar bursts into tears and clings onto Mildred when she hears that a lot of the teachers (including Miss Hardbroom) are quite strict. Mildred also accidentally slips a made-up story about Miss Hardbroom turning a student into a frog when she was just two seconds late for a lesson. To the girl’s horror, they also learn that Miss Hardbroom will be replacing Miss Gimlett as their form-mistress for their second year. The next morning, a fire bell rings. Mildred scrambles into her clothes but notices outisde her window Miss Hardbroom standing in the playground surrounded by hazy purple smoke. Thinking she is in a state of shock, Mildred tries to douse her in freezing cold water but the bucket slips off her broomstick and lands with a clang on Miss Hardbroom’s head. See more:  Capital budgeting essay After witnessing the bucket incident between Mildred and Miss Hardbroom, Ethel Hallow confronts Mildred at lunchtime saying that the girl she told the frog story to was her younger sister, Sybil Hallow. After prodding at Mildred, Mildred loses her temper and insults Ethel’s family (â€Å"All you Hallows are weeds, weeds, weeds! â€Å"). After an unfortunate flying lesson, where Tabby makes another terrifying attempt to avoid sitting on the end of the broomstick, Miss Hardbroom sends Mildred to her room to calm down. When sitting in her bed, however, Mildred accidentally falls asleep and doesn’t hear Ethel creeping into her room. Mildred is awoken by her bedroom door shutting only to find that everything looks giant-sized, even Tabby. She peeks in the mirror only to find that somebody has turned her into a frog. Whe jumping onto her bed, the frog-Mildred notices a tatty handful of weeds on her pillow, no doubt left by Ethel as a reference to her family’s insult and why she turned her into the frog. Panicking, Mildred squeezes under the gap under her bedroom door and hops off to a potions lesson where everyone has noticed that she has disappeared. Miss Hardbroom, however, discovers her and puts her in a jar. During the potions lesson, Mildred manages to escape from the jar and hops over to Ethel’s desk where she drinks an invisibility potion that turns her invisible. Taking advantage of her invisibility, the frog-Mildred hops out of the academy and lands in the lilypond on the castle grounds. In the lilypond, Mildred meets another frog who also was a human once called Algernon Rowan-Webb. Algernon reveals that he was turned into a frog by one of his fellow magicians after the two had an argument. Algernon also reveals that the one thing he is craving is some toats and crumpets with butter. Promising to come back for him, Mildred hops back up to the academy where Maud and Enid instantly recognise her. They take her to Ethel where she reluctantly turns her back into a human. Miss Hardbroom comes by and Ethel tells her that she caught Maud, Enid, and Mildred sneaking around the school. Miss Hardbroom is just about to give Mildred a punishment, when she notices that Mildred’s feet are still invisible. Mildred tells Miss Hardbroom what really happened. Miss Hardbroom tells Mildred and Ethel to go to her office the next day. In the morning, Mildred and Ethel have a brief squabble about who’s fault it was until Miss Hardbroom turns up. After the full story is explained, Miss Hardbroom bans both of them from attending the Halloween ceremonies (which was the only chance Mildred would have to come into contact with a magician who could turn Algernon back into a human). With no other options, Mildred feels she has no choice but to kidnap somebody who is going to the Halloween festival. She tricks a third-year witch, Griselda Blackwood, into looking under her bed for an imaginary beetle where Mildred ties her up and gags her and takes her cat. Later, Ethel discovers Griselda being held captive in Mildred’s room and the two fly off to the festival to turn Mildred in. Mildred gives herself away and barges up to Mr. Hellibore where she gives him the box that contains Algernon. Mr. Hellibore, who was one of Algernon’s fellow magicians at the time of his transformation, turns him back to his human form. As a last request from Mildred, Mr. Hellibore magic’s up a pot of tea along with some toast and crumpets with butter. The three head off to enjoy the supper.