Irony in Guy de Maupassant’s “The Jewelry”” Essay

Introduction â€Å"Expect the unexpected,† is something that I heard many times. We should follow this rule while reading different genres of writing, because writers use irony to keep readers’ attention, and make their works more interesting. This research paper deals with one of Guy de Maupassant’s short story â€Å"The Jewelry† and with his virtuous ability to use irony in it. It is sometimes said that we live in an age of irony. Because nowadays even politicians in their speeches use ironical device, in order to catch attention of society. Barry Brummet (expert in Techniques of Close Reading) in one of his speech mentioned that â€Å"Irony is a kind of winking at each other, as we all understand the game of meaning reversal that is being played.† The story was first published in Maupassant’s short-story collection â€Å"Contes du jour et de la nuit† in 1885. Since that time people have been reading it, and it won popularity among them. So it has a lot of interesting opinions and analysis which were made by famous critics and writers like Leo Tolstoy. Maupassant is considered one of the finest short story writers of all time and a champion of the realist approach to writing. â€Å"The Jewelry† is interesting to read because it contains irony. Irony has always been fascinating object to study, and it is widely known and popular  to use in modern time as in literature so in speech. It is splendid story; despite of being short it has deep sense and contains interesting topics to discuss. In â€Å"The Jewelry† reader can see what ironical games life can play with us and to what conclusion it can lead us. Chapter I Irony The Greek etymology of the word irony, ÃŽ µÃŽ ¯Ã Ãâ€°ÃŽ ½ÃŽ µÃŽ ¯ÃŽ ± (eironeia), means feigned ignorance (a technique often used by the Greek philosopher Socrates), and from ÃŽ µÃŽ ¯Ã Ãâ€°ÃŽ ½ (eiron), the one who makes a question pretending to be naive, and ÃŽ µÃŽ ¯Ã ÃŽ µÃŽ ¹ÃŽ ½ is also a verb radical of the Greek â€Å"to speak†. The verb ÃŽ µÃŽ ¯Ã ÃŽ µÃŽ ¹ÃŽ ½ (eirein) itself is probably from the Proto-Indo-European root *wer- say. Irony is a stylistic device in which the contextual evaluative meaning of a word is directly opposite to its dictionary meaning. There are very many cases which we regard as irony, intuitively feeling the alteration of the evaluation, but unable to put our finger on the exact word in whose meaning we can see the contradiction between what is said and what is implied. The effect of irony in such cases is created by a number of statements, by the whole text. Many examples of irony are supplied by D. Defoe, J. Swift and many others. Types of irony There are 3 main types of irony: 1. Verbal Irony: This occurs when a character says one thing but suggests or intends the opposite. For instance in Julius Caesar, Mark Antony says â€Å"and Brutus is an honorable man,† when he really means that Brutus is dishonorable because he has betrayed Caesar. It is very similar to sarcasm, although sarcasm is rough and direct while verbal irony is implied. 2. Dramatic Irony: This is the contrast between what the character thinks to be true and what the readers know to be true. Dramatic irony occurs when the meaning intended by a character’s words or actions is opposite of the true situation. Further, the character cannot see or understand the contrast, but the audience can. For example, in Othello, dramatic irony occurs when Othello refers to Iago as â€Å"honest Iago.† Unknown to Othello, Iago is a villain who deceives him into thinking that his wife has been unfaithful. For this, Othello unjustly kills his wife, believing the whole time in Iago’s honesty. Note the difference in examples for verbal and dramatic  irony: Antony calls Brutus â€Å"honorable† and knows he is not honorable, while Othello calls Iago â€Å"honest† and does not know of Iago’s deception. 3. Situational Irony: It is the contrast between what happens and what was expected or what would seem to be more appropriate to happen. This type of irony appears from the events and circumstances of a story. When we see situational irony, we might think circumstances are unfair or unfortunate – for example, if a greedy millionaire buys a lottery ticket and wins additional millions. Irony in literature Here I wanted to list several examples from literature, by means of which, we could understand what irony is more clearly. Firs examples are from â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† by William Shakespeare. I have chosen them, because this story is widely known across the globe. â€Å"Two households, both alike in dignity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The opening line of Shakespeare’s play leads the reader to believe that both Capulet and Montague families are worthy of respect that they are given in Verona. As the story progresses, we realize that neither household is dignified. In fact, several of their actions are unworthy of their place in society. Another irony in Romeo and Juliet is that the reader remains aware of the fact that Juliet takes a sleeping portion to simulate death, and at the end of the day, when Romeo kills himself after thinking that Juliet is dead, the reader is astonished by the tragic irony. Next examples come from short stories, which I was supposed to read on my first years in university. The Casque of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe: In this story, the reader is conscious from the very beginning that Montressor is planning the murder of Fortunato, but Fortunato remains unaware of this and he considers Montressor his friend. It is very ironic how foolish people could be. Fortunato forgot about his past relationship with Montressor, and it led him to fatality. The Necklace, Guy de Maupassant: The protagonist Madame Loise, in order to look good, borrows jewelry from a prosperous friend and then loses it. With her husband she replaces the  jewels but the replacement effects on their financial conditions. Years later, when she meets the same friend again, she learns that the jewels she replaced with real gemstones was mere imitation jewelry. Conclusion to the Chapter I Generally, Irony is the difference between what someone does or says in relation to what is understood about what is done or said. Often there is a bit of confusion over what is ironic and what is simply accidental. The two ideas can be easily confused, but there is however, a very distinct difference between what is ironic and what is simply good or bad luck. Irony has several different types and it appears not only in literature, but in ordinary life also. It is a contradiction between appearance and reality. Irony is a widely known method of explaining something, and is popular to use as in writing and in everyday life so in media. It points on how many different people don’t pay attention to what is happening around them, and how many ironic games our fate can play with us. It is not only when we don’t mention, but it can happen every day and any time with anyone. Chapter II. â€Å"The Jewelry† by Guy de Maupassant Plot summary The story of â€Å"The Jewelry† takes place in Paris. It tells us about Monsieur Lantin, who worked as a chief clerk at the office of Minister of Interior. Story begins with M. Lantin’s falling in love with young virtuous girl(whose name will never be told) and their marriage. The story tells how they happily lived together during several years of their marriage. We can see that Lantins’ wife enjoys going to theatres and loves fake jewelry. She was the best housewife man can ever imagine, and she provided her home with everything. One cold winter evening she came back home from opera freezing and coughing, and after 8 days she died because of inflammation of the lungs. Mr. Lantin loved her very much, so he saved things staying as they were while she was alive. His life completely changed, he couldn’t rule his accounts and soon got into depts. One day he decided to cell one of his wife’s fake jewelries in order to have some money for food. When he went to the jeweler he learned that his wife’s jewelry wasn’t fake. Mr. Lantin was shocked, while she was alive, they didn’t have so much money to buy such  kind of expensive jewelries, so, she had deceived him with somebody. After learning that all of her â€Å"fake† jewelries were not fake, he decide to sell them, after that he decides that he is reach enough and quits his job. He was very happy and pleased with it, so he visits expensive restaurants, orders expensive meals, and boasts to everybody that he is rich, but, he is telling different amounts of money to everybody. After that he marries another girl. They didn’t live happy and loving life together as with the first wife. ii.ii Analysis of the story This story takes place in Paris, which is in France. As it is the general place of setting, there are also specific ones. For instance, in the beginning M. Lantin meets his future wife at a reception at the house of the second head of his department. After we see places like their house, theater, jeweler shops and so on. However, setting doesn’t play major role in â€Å"The Jewelry†, so author doesn’t pay much attention on displaying it. Two main characters of â€Å"The Jewelry† are Monsieur Lantin and his first wife. These two characters are very important for this story, because all of actions in it are connected with them. M. Lantin is a middle class man, who desperately loves his wife, and thinks that she loves him too, because they had very warm relations. Think like unfaithfulness of his wife wouldn’t even come to his mind, and when he learns this fact, he understands that everything is not as it seems to be. In my opinion Lantin is boastful person, and he likes to exaggerate. Maybe because of this characteristic feature, he looked to his family life as if it was ideal. His wife, whose name remains unknown to reader, is professional liar, who is arrogant and narcissistic, even though we don’t see it with unaided eye. I came to this conclusion because in the story it is said that â€Å"Happy the man who wins her love! He could not find a better wife.† Everybody thought that she was a perfect woman, who was able to make happy her man. In fact she could, but, because of hearing these words she became proud of herself, and inside she came to conclusion that she might deserve better man or better life. We don’t know what type of man she was dating with, but it is obvious that she could hide her feelings easily, so, she had two faces. One was how she was acting during staying at home with her husband, and the second is outside of  it. While she was near her husband, she was the most caring wife, tender and kid. She was also very smart, because she ruled household perfectly, but, with the help of her lover’s finances. I can say that her place was on the stage of the theater, because wife of M. Lantin was a perfect actress! The theme of â€Å"The Jewelry† by Guy de Maupassant is that life can be full of irony. Each of the ironies shown in â€Å"The Jewelry† reveal how people keep secrets from one another or themselves, and reveals how they ignore a situation that upsets them if they are com pensated enough. That compensation in this story is money. In this story, Guy de Maupassant as a main literary form of writing uses ironical style. â€Å"The Jewelry† is full of irony from the beginning. It awaked several feeling in me. First, I felt happy, that M. Lantin got married and was living pretty good life, but, I wondered why didn’t he also took a part in house holding or even look in what sphere and what amount of money was spent by his wife. I wasn’t surprised when it turned out that Lantins’ wife had a lover, because he wasn’t paying much attention on her, go out and have fun. It is possible that because of these reasons she was tired of that routine and wanted to try something new. Her lover may have paid more attention to het or shown his love more clearly. ii.iii Irony in â€Å"The Jewelry† The plot of â€Å"The Jewelry† moved from one irony to another. The first couple of paragraphs show how respectable M. Lantin’s wife was supposed to be. But even this early in the story, the author states that â€Å"The young girl seemed to be the very ideal of that pure good woman to whom every young man dreams of entrusting his future.† That â€Å"†¦seemed to be†¦Ã¢â‚¬  lets the reader know that the young girl was not chased woman as everybody took her for. This indicates that the girl was hiding something, although what that something was we didn’t find out until she died. The second irony which we come across in this story, is the fact that they â€Å"†¦seemed to live in luxury†, but in fact they didn’t just simply seem they really did. Unknown to M. Lantin, his wages were being supplemented by his wife’s lovers. They were paying for his good food, fine wine and luxuriously furnished house. I suppose if he had open ed his eyes, and looked through the household expenditures, he would  have learned that the money was coming from somewhere other than his salary. At that point M. Lantin was being fooled by his own self as well as by his wife. But anyway, during that time he was happy! After that comes our third irony. If M. Lantin hadn’t stopped going to the theatre with his wife, then probably another man wouldn’t have had an opportunity to flirt with her, and become her lover. Her attention would have been on her husband or on the stage, not on another man. In every other way, other than the theatre and her jewelry, M. Lantin’s wife devoted herself to him. We can understand it in lines â€Å"It would be impossible to conceive of any attention, tenderness, playful caress which she did not lavish upon her husband†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I think she loved her husband. And then of course, there is irony of the jewelry itself: the fact that the jewelry was real, while she had been acting like it was imitation of it. Even so far as to let the light catch the crystal, and say, â€Å"Now, look at them – see how well the work was done. You would swear it was real jewelry.†, when he would revile her for wearing the fake jewelry instead of being â€Å"adorned with one’s natural beauty and grace.† At that time she might have been mocking at her husband, thinking how stupid he was. After her death, M. Lantin found out that his wife’s entire jewelry was real. The jewelry that the wife’s lovers gave her paid for their luxurious life. After he realized he could get rich by selling all â€Å"fake† jewelry, M. Lantin forgot all about his wife’s affairs, and deceived himself that everything will be okay as long as he became rich. Six months after his wife’s death, he married again to a good virtuous woman which made his life miserable. Conclusion to Chapter II In conclusion, the story emphasized that looks can be deceiving and that sometimes we are blind to what really is going on. We can question if being happy by dishonest values is worth the financial gains or if the unhappiness from honest values is worth the pain. As we see â€Å"The Jewelry† is a little complicated story, and everybody has its own point of view on it. As it is ironical story, and there are people who may not understand it. In fact, I even feel sorry for M. Lantin, because even after his wife’s death, he deceives himself as if he were happy. Nowadays many people may face this problem, and no one is insured from this. Conclusion During writing of this research paper, I learned more about irony, its types and its usage in language. There are very many cases, though, which we regard as irony, intuitively feeling the reversal of the evaluation, but unable to put our finger on the exact word in whose meaning we can trace the contradiction between the said and the implied. The effect of irony in such cases is created by a number of statements, by the whole of the text. Ironies are easy to find in our daily activities; whether in statement, situation, or unexpected event. The simplest irony of our lives is that we feel happier having fun and not worrying about what we are doing or who we are doing it with. At that time ironical situations might occur. Guy de Maupassant was a great French short-story writer. He became famous around the world by the help of his great works. In other words, we can call him â€Å"father of modern short-story writers†. As I read responses of people about his works, they admired him, because his stories contain the face of our everyday life and problems. He points to our negligent treatment for our lives. Maupassant’s stories was popular nowadays is they were in 19th century. The story, which is discussed in this research paper, â€Å"The Jewelry†, points out how unaware we can be of things that happen around us. So we can call it realistic story. I think it would be suitable to finish my research paper by this quote: â€Å"The simplest of women are wonderful liars who can extricate themselves from the most difficult dilemmas with a skill bordering on genius† Guy de Maupassant Bibliography 1.Edgar Allan Poe, â€Å"The Casque of Amontillado†, The Norton Introduction to Literature 8th edition 2.Guy de Maupassant, â€Å"Original short stories†, translated by Albert M. C. McMASTER and others, Plymouth edition, South Australia 5005 3.Guy De Maupassant, â€Å"The Jewelry.† The Norton Introduction to Literature. 9th edition 4.Short Story Criticism, Gale Cengage, 2004 5.William Shakespeare, â€Å"Romeo and Juliet†, Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow, 1951 6.William Shakespeare, â€Å"The tragedy of Othello†, Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow 1963 7.http://article.ranez.ru 8.http://en.wikipedia.org 9.http://schoolworkhelper.net 10.http://www.slideshare.net

Hardware and software Requirements Essay

Floppy disk: The standard 3 1/2†³ floppy disk is a thin, flexible plastic disk coated in metal oxide, enclosed in a rigid plastic casing for protection. A standard high density disk has a storage space of 1. 44 Megabytes.   Hard Disks: The hard disk used with conventional PCs consists of one or more disk platters, which are permanently sealed inside a casing. Hard disks have a capacity of between 2Gb and 10Gb, though external hard drives can be plugged into the computer to provide extra storage space. For large-scale applications storing huge amounts of data, more hard disks would be used. The disks can be fixed or removable, although the fixed disks are more reliable and have more storage capacity. Data is stored on the concentric tracks, which are divided into sectors. Data is then stored in one of the sectors so that it minimises the movement of the read-write heads, thereby minimising access time.   CD-ROM: CD-ROMs can store around 680Mb of data, which is the equivalent of hundreds of floppy disks. CD-ROMs do not transfer data as quickly as the hard disk drive. As the name suggests the disks are read-only memory. Unlike a magnetic disk they are created by burning tiny holes into the surface of the disk, a laser beam is then reflected off the surface of the disk, detecting the presence or absence of pits, which represent the binary digits. Worm disks (Write Once, Read Many): These look very similar to the CD-ROM in appearance but are gold rather than silver in colour. These disks can be used to write your own material and are ideal for archiving or storing images or data, which will not be changed. They are popular in the pirate industry because a i 5 blank disk can store upto i 20 000 worth of software and sell for i50 – i 80. They are used by less reputable PC company’s which install the software onto the PC so they can charge the consumer more for the package. However because of the competition in the pirate industry at present many of these carry viruses which can cause chaos on the hard drive.   Magneto-optical disks: Magneto-optical disks integrate optical and laser technology to enable read and write storage. A 5 1/2†³ disk can store up to 1 Gb. These disks may in future replace current magnetic disks, but at present the technology is still developing and the disks are too expensive, slow and unreliable to be in widespread use. Magnetic tape: Magnetic tape was developed in the 1950s and very quickly became the primary means of storing data. The data is stored on magnetic tape in the form of dots of magnetism. It is used widely for archiving past transactions or other data that may be needed again, for example, old news readings that have been collected over a number of years.   Jaz Drive: Two Gigabytes is a tape drive and a mass storage device mainly used for backing up large files or batches of files i. e. end of day transaction backup for banks or businesses. Software requirements and techniques Software is the name given to the programs that direct the operation of the computer. It can be divided into two main groups, system software and applications software. System software is the programs required to run the computer system and applications software is the programs required to carry out a particular application such as stock control Systems software This is the software that the microcomputer system needs to run. In this group there are three divisions: operating systems, utilities and compilers/interpreters/assemblers. Operating systems: An operating system is a set of programs that allows the user to perform tasks without having to know how they are done. For example, a user can give a command to save a file on disk without having to know where the file will be stored or how it will be retrieved again. Applications programs are usually written to work with a particular operating system e. g. Excel will only work with Windows and not with Apple Mac, which has a different operating system. Utility programs: Utility programs perform common tasks that every computer user will need at one stage or another. They carry out such jobs as formatting and copying disks, deleting files from disks, sorting information into a required order, and to help with the testing of programs that have been written. Compilers, interpreters and assemblers: These are programs that translate the programming language that is used into a form that the computer can understand. Compilers work by translating the whole of the program from what is known as the source program into the object program which will be in a form that the computer can understand. Interpreters are programs that translate and execute source programs one statement at a time. An assembler is a program supplied by the computer manufacturer that will translate a program that was written in assembly language (low-level programming language) into machine code. Applications software: In large organisations that have a mainframe or minicomputer we would find that programmers were employed whose job it would be to write the programs for the applications that the organisation wished to have run on the computer, such as payroll, stock control or hospital appointments. The software may be designed specifically for one particular company and written especially for them using a programming language or software such as database management system. Alternatively, the software may be purchased ‘off the shelf’. General purpose software: Most general purpose software is sold as a package, including a CD containing the software. Below is the most common packages that you would find on the market to date: 1. Applications: spreadsheets, database, word processing, Desk Top Publishing 2. Presentation: CD based presentations (Power Point, Director) 3. Internet Publishing: web page development software (Front Page, Dreamweaver, Flash) 4. Programming Software: BASIC, Visual Basic, C++, Java, Pascal, HTML 5. Creation and Editing: Photo Shop, Paint Shop Pro, Premier, Coral Draw 6. Utility: Anti-virus, tidy and compression, Doctors. The newer computer systems will have these utilities on them already. Software such as word processing, spreadsheet and databases is sometimes refereed to as generic software. This means that many of the packages can be made to do many different tasks, and is not specifically for one type of application. The other types of application software such as stock control and payroll as mentioned before are special purpose because they have been designed to complete one particular task. Conclusion: I found this assignment very interesting and now feel I have a much sounder understanding off computer hardware and software. I would have liked to incorporate more images into the assignment as reference to each of the products described, but was unable to find all of the images that I required, and also had problems trying to transfer them from the internet. Apart from this I feel quite satisfied with the overall assignment and hope that I have entered all the data needed and presented it in a clear fashion. Bibliography Corbitt T, (1990), Information Technology And Its Applications. Avon, United Kingdom: Bath Press Heathcott P M, (2000), ‘A’ Level Computing. Ipswich, United Kingdom: Payne-Gallway Publishers Ltd References Corbitt T, (1990), Information Technology And Its Applications. Avon, United Kingdom: Bath Press Heathcott P M, (2000), ‘A’ Level Computing. Ipswich, United Kingdom: Payne-Gallway Publishers Ltd.

How heroic do you find the character of Achilles? Essay

A hero is more than just a character that it especially noble, courageous, self-sacrificing etc. A hero is also a protagonist, a character to whom we can relate, and with whom we can sympathise. Ultimately a hero is a character with which we can identify, and an example which each of us wishes to follow. Achilles often appears to be such a character. Of all the Homeric heroes, he is by far the most passionate and emotional. When begging his mother to help him in book 1 he speaks â€Å"with tears falling†. His protection of Briseis and his honour is extreme. He goes to the lengths of withdrawing from the fighting, even though â€Å"his heart yearned for battle†, he causes and endures the suffering his fellow Argives, and his speaks affectionately of Briseis as his â€Å"wife† – in stark contrast to Agamemnon’s relationship with Chryseis, whose purpose Agamemnon describes as to â€Å"serve my bed†. Achilles is also a great man, and has a god-like status within his army. It is Achilles who calls the assembly to discuss how to end the plague in the Greek camp and it is Achilles who protects Kalchas from Agamemnon. But the character of Achilles in book 9 is anything but heroic. His ears to deaf to three impassioned pleas of his dear friends Odysseus, Ajax and Phoinix, his tutor. He is offered all that has been taken from him: his girl, Briseis; women from Lesbos, the island which he captured and from which Agamemnon took the prizes, he is offered riches and glory beyond measure, as well as the chance to win a heroic victory, to gain the glory that he so badly desires – â€Å"the Achaians will honour you like a god†. In this passage there can be no sympathy for Achilles. His anger at Agamemnon’s insult in book 1 can be understood. But by book 9 he has got what he wanted: the Trojans are winning, Agamemnon has realised his mistake [although admittedly none of those coming to Achilles make any offer of a public apology by Agamemnon], and he could have all that he had lost. In book 1 Achilles stubborn attitude could be excused as heat of the moment (we are after all, talking about Achilles whom Peleus urged to control â€Å"your heart’s high passion†), and in book 1 Achilles is perhaps unaware of at least unthinking of the consequences of his actions (i.e. the death of many Danaans). Achilles’ real crime is to let his personal quarrel with Agamemnon get in the way of his duty to his friends. As Odysseus says â€Å"But if your hatred for the son of Atreus has grown too strong in your heart†¦ then still have pity on the other Achaians of the army in their affliction†. However, the story of Achilles does not end in book 9. By the end of book 22 he has atoned for many of his previous sins. He has conquered his heart’s high passion and finally returned to the fighting. He has totally reversed the tide of the war, forcing the Trojans to take shelter inside Troy. The killing of Hektor is in fact unremarkable given the support of Pallas Athene and earlier statements – â€Å"once he stood up to me alone, and barely escaped my attack†. What is remarkable is that Achilles in fact sees the defeat of Hektor as a triumph for the whole Greek army, not just personal revenge, and he says â€Å"We have won great glory – we have killed glorious Hektor†. In the act of returning to the fight and killing Hektor Achilles has traded his own life (i.e. he has chosen the short and glorious life) for the fall of Troy. This is why I feel that Achilles is a true hero. He is wronged massively, by his friends and by cruel fate. He grapples with his own demons of anger and pride. But eventually he corrects this by making the ultimate sacrifice for his people. His triumph over adversity is a story common throughout world literature, and is one to which we can all relate, and one which each of us in our own lives, has emulated in some way or another.

Is the future of the EMU threatened by recent events Discuss Essay

Is the future of the EMU threatened by recent events Discuss - Essay Example World War; the legal, economic and political framework of the EU is rooted in the Franco-German tradition, which has lent itself to EU tensions with the political agendas of certain other member states such as Britain (Lippert, 2001, p.114). This intrinsic conflict at the heart of the European Monetary Union (EMU) has been further underlined by the recent European Union and International Monetary Fund’s Irish and Greek bailout. Additionally, some analytical forecasts suggest that Spain and Portugal bailouts are on the horizon, which not only questions the future of the Euro but also brings renewed attention to the long term sustainability of the EMU. The fragmentation of the single monetary union and the EU agenda with national political agendas has become increasingly prominent in relation to the EU enlargement programme (Lahav, 2004, p.113). Indeed, Artis & Nixon suggest that the EU’s economic objectives in the last decade have reached crisis (Artis & Nixon, 2007, p.1). They further argue that the EU relies on co-ordination and mutual co-operation of states and that the enlargement of the EU and free movement has led to many member states opting out, derogating or suspending certain obligations to address national political agendas (2007). With regard to the latter, the continuation of the sensitivity over Turkey and reality of corruption and political agenda in EU friendly Ukraine clearly fuels the debate as to how far national objectives can successfully operate in conjunction with EU economic policy (Wesley Scott, 2006, p.99). As such, Artis and Nixon argue that the root of the Union and mutual objectives are becoming secondary to national political interests, which in turn risks negating the Union’s objectives of a monetary union (2007). The focus of this paper is to critically evaluate the extent to which the EMU is threatened by recent events and it is submitted that a central consideration in this issue is the extent to which the efficacy of

Global Executive attributes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Global Executive attributes - Essay Example He has risen to the top position by hard work. He has been successful as he has a clear vision of what it takes to make a company profitable. He is tough, a task master but at the same time he is quiet and warm. He has in him all the attributes of a global executive. Several attributes contribute to outstanding leadership of a global company. According to Chenault adaptability is one of the traits required to succeed in a rapidly changing environment of a global marketplace. In one of his lectures Chenault (2005) said â€Å"its not the strongest or the most intelligent who survive, but those most adaptive to change. Over the past 10 years, the need for, and focus on, adaptability has accelerated." He further added that it is absolutely necessary to understand different cultures and to have the ability to act quickly in changing circumstances. Apart from these attributes, it is absolutely essential that a global executive or leader acquire the following competencies and skills: foresight, communicativeness, a willingness to encourage colleagues and build effective teams, trustworthiness, dynamism, confidence, leadership qualities, toughness and courage. In addition, a global executive should be humble, modest and must be able to motivate a diverse team. Most importantly he must be able to change himself and also bring about a change in accordance with a given situation. It is needless to say that Chenault has most, if not all, of the attributes that are associated with a global executive. He has served his organization in a wide variety of positions, ranging from director of strategic planning in the Merchandise Services division to president of the Consumer Card division. He has been instrumental in building and restructuring the companys card business. He took on the challenge of streamlining divisions which were not doing well. He integrated four divisions into one business unit, to make the unit

Strategic Human Resource Management College Case Study

Strategic Human Resource Management College - Case Study Example It is possible to say that performance management is a central tool used by both companies to meet business objectives and goals. Performance management allows different companies to balance the need to embed processes with the need to be flexible and adaptive to changing circumstances. According to Greer (2000) management often supplements performance management by competency frameworks; appraisal is more frequently conducted through multiple perspectives; rewards decisions are more likely to be decentralized; and formal training is supplemented by coaching and self-development activities. In this case, it is possible to say that the application of performance management is influenced by the degree and experience of change, the involvement and commitment of line managers, and the transparency and perceived fairness of the process (Nkomo et al 2004). Training and self-development of employees are the key concepts identified in the case studies. All the companies placed great emphasis on training and development, with "most having a number of large-scale training initiatives either in place or being developed, sometimes as part of a broader cultural change program" (Nkomo et al 2004, p. 23). There is clear evidence that all the organizations are increasing their investment in training in order to compete on the market. Significant qualitative differences emerged between the types of training offered. Performance management is expected to regulate both motivation and ability to work. Performance management is usually conceptualized as consisting of three elements: (1) objective setting, (2) formal performance evaluation, and (3) linkage between evaluation outcomes and development and rewards, in order to reinforce desired behavior (Nkomo et al 2004).. Motivation is important because it influences commitment to work and productivity, morale and culture. Even if a company succeeds in constraining their behaviors in this way, the prescription might dampen the very motivation and creativity that the company seeks from them and depends upon for business performance. 'Business targets' also emerges as a significant source of motivation in all organizations. Motivation and rewards is an important part of change management helping companies to overcome resistance to change and inspire employees. One tempting interpretation of these results would be to argue that the personal motivation o f managers is of much greater importance in explaining the involvement of line managers than formal institutional incentives and pressures (Greer 2000). In any case, the personal motivation of managers is influenced by their organizational environment. B. The main similarity between Ford and Toyota management is the strategic approach to human resource management. Both companies had to change their working culture and improve professional skills of employees. Toyota created a positive environment where employees perceived that they easily acquired new skills and knowledge. Similar to Toyota, Ford introduced training programs for engineers and production workers. The main difference was that Ford emphasized on-job training and development while Toyota paid a special attention to motivation

Refilction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Refilction - Essay Example Although many aspects of leadership require that lay down a set of rules for directives which stakeholders should follow, spirituality is one of the only determinants that will be discussed within this five-part analysis that is completely concentric upon the way in which the individual leader the Hanes himself/herself. Challenge - is a compound of leadership that is not only necessary for the leader, but also necessary for the stakeholders. Although most people derive a sense of satisfaction from many different determinants, challenge is one of the most universal. What is meant by this is the fact that will be most fulfilled in his/her responsibilities by performing tasks and functions that represents something of a challenge to the ability that he/she is able to bring to bear. In much the same way, the fulfillment of the individual stakeholders/employees will most be affected by a degree of challenge within their own respective work. Whereas no one would be fulfilled by a monotonou s and unchallenging job that requires little to no creativity or problem-solving skills, the converse be said with regards to the level of the filament which can be derived from a job that provides a type of challenge and encourages the individual to maximize their potential and strengths. Friendship - no matter how good the leader is and no matter how effective his/her strategies might be, there is a high level of efficiency that can be affected by treating one’s colleagues, superiors, and subordinates with a level of friendship. This is particularly dangerous concept due to the fact that it has been proven that the work environment should remain professional. However, what is meant by engaging in a level of friendship with all of the stakeholders in the process is that they should be treated with the courtesy, kindness, acceptance, and respect that one would give to their own friends. Although they may indeed not be close friends outside of the work environment, this level of respect and admiration for the unique skills and qualities that they bring only helps to facilitate the work process and encourages each and every member of the organization to perform at their peak capacity. The leader should understand that even though a level of friendship is engaged with the stakeholders, he/she should not feel that they are continually among friends and not required to display a level of professionalism at all times. Loyalty - whereas all of the other aspects which have been discussed up until this point are some what unidirectional, the issue of loyalty is something that is very specifically multidirectional. What is meant by this is that the leader/manager that attempts to engage in level of loyalty with respect to both his superiors and subordinates will necessarily have this level of loyalty returns to them in time. Although loyalty should not be engaged in as a means of getting something in return, this action allows for each and every stakeholder in th e process to come to the understanding that the leader in question prizes loyalty and its compounded parts above all other things. In this way, a feeling of confidence and increased efficiency will be generated whereby each and every stakeholder is secure in the knowledge that they have loyal colleagues who are not merely engaged in the

She pitied men always as if they lacked something. How does Woolf Essay

She pitied men always as if they lacked something. How does Woolf contrast masculine and feminine in To the Lighthouse - Essay Example Ramsay. The sentence is thought by Lily Briscoe in the novel and the whole sentence is This sentence clearly shows that the novel, â€Å"To the Lighthouse† is written with feminist theme in which, the writer wants to depict that men are naturally lacking while on the other hand, women have some power. Mr. Ramsay, who is Mrs. Ramsay’s husband, is a philosopher who has a good reputation on the basis of his knowledge but in the whole novel, he is shown dependent on Mrs. Ramsay. Mr. Ramsay is shown worried about the existence of his work as he thinks at one juncture, â€Å"and his fame lasts how long? It is permissible even for a dying hero to think before he dies how men will speak of him hereafter. His fame lasts perhaps two thousand years. And what are two thousand years? (asked Mr. Ramsay ironically, staring at the hedge).† These lines by Mr. Ramsay indicate towards his doubts about the remembrance of his work and himself. All his doubts about his existence and being remembered receive a sense of satisfaction because of Mrs. Ramsay who is always there to help his husband. He while talking to Mrs. Ramsay informs her about his doubts about his work being forgotten and he gets encouraging responses and back up from his wife. Mrs. Ramsay is not shown as a perfect woman but she is always ready to support men and while helping them, she sympathizes with them and tries to find solution to their problems. With Mrs. Ramsay, every character of the novel feels relaxed and comfortable because of her complacent and supportive attitude. She is like a source of support to the other characters of the novel including her husband, who looks a strong person but appears to be very weak before her wife. Mr. Ramsay appears wholly dependent on Mrs. Ramsay for confidence and encouragement. Woolf portrays Mr. Ramsay as a person and a man, who feels himself incomplete without Mrs. Ramsay. Woolf tries

The drinking age Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The drinking age - Research Paper Example In refute, if they have to illegally get alcohol, they aren’t mature enough to be drinking anyway; Not lowering the age goes against the Constitution that states that people are officially adults at the age of eighteen. In refute, the age limit exists to protect young, undeveloped people from accessing a harmful substance Conclusion: Proposals have been brought up that would educate and license young drinkers, though this would still go against keeping youngsters away from a substance they cannot handle; The drinking age should remain the same as it has already proven to be more effective at keeping people safe Argumentative Essay In 2010 in the United States, one person died approximately every hour as the result of an alcohol-impaired driver; of these drivers, nearly fifteen percent were under the legal drinking age of twenty-one (Bell). It has been in the works for many years to lower the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen, but many have fought against it.

A childs education is increasingly dependent on the wealth and wishes Essay

A childs education is increasingly dependent on the wealth and wishes of their parents, rather than the ability of pupils themselves. Discuss - Essay Example It is true that a child’s education is increasingly dependent on the wealth and wishes of their parents, rather than the ability of pupils themselves? How accessible is education in the United Kingdom? What sorts of conflicts does the inaccessibility of education produce? These questions and many more will be addressed and applied to this holistic analysis of education in the United Kingdom. Education is supposed to be meritocratic in nature and the means through which people break through the cumbersome social barriers of class and privilege. Is it true that education is meritocratic and based upon the notion that education allows people to advance, progress and move forward in life? A basic premise of the sociology of education is that it promotes greater equality and is based upon merit and equal opportunity for all. The expansion of education in the past two hundred years in the United Kingdom remains an incredible advance which has purportedly increased social equality to the betterment of society. Less than one hundred years ago, the educational institutions of this country were effectively closed to women, ethnic minorities and a whole host of other groups. Incredibly, educational opportunities were denied to more than 50% of the population for centuries. The sociology of education emphatically argues that public schooling and universal education promotes social equality, social cohesion and is characterised by opportunities for progress and social growth. A fundamental underpinning of the sociology of education is that it is meritoocratically based and that it promotes great equlaity. Now that educational access has expanded across this country, is it true that education promotes social equality and is based upon the merits of individual students? According to scholars Persell & Cookson in their study of

Daoism and Confucianism Essay Example for Free

Daoism and Confucianism Essay Daoism and Confucianism are two of China’s oldest and most pervasive philosophies. They arose during the same period in Chinese history, called the Hundred Schools of Thought, a time often marred by unrest and feudal strife. Both philosophies reflect this, as their overarching goals are to seek order and harmony in one’s life, relationship with society, and the universe. Confucianism is a philosophy originated by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius, which teaches that logic and reason can solve all human problems, and rejects excessive emotion and superstition. Confucianism also teaches that following the traditions of early Chinese culture is the best way to organize society. Traditional ritual, music and poetry are also seen as important tools in maintaining societal harmony. Confucius was concerned with matters of human relationships. His philosophy inspires scholars to take up civil service with the goal of building a society based upon their discernment of good and bad and to desire that which is judged to be good. The way of Confucius is to forge a moral society protected from the world. The main source of Confucian teaching is the Analects of Confucius. Daoism on the other hand was started by Lao Tzu, and is mainly concerned with living a balanced life based on following Nature. Lau Tzu saw the natural world as a sort of teacher which could impart wisdom to mankind if we only observed it and modeled our lives on what we see in nature. Extremes are to be avoided, passivity is encouraged over force, going with the flow of things and avoiding conflict is the goal. Lao Tzu rejects worldly concerns, limited knowledge and flawed judgments as creating an imbalance in the nature of things. The way of Lao Tzu is to allow man and nature to come into a harmonic coexistence. So, to boil it all down to one point, Taoism is all about mans relationship with nature, while Confucianism is about mans relationship with his fellow man. Confucianism was created in the early fourth century B. C. E. The founder of Confucianism was Kong Qiu (Kung Chiu), who was born around 552 B. C. E. in the small state of Lu and died in 479 B. C. E. The Latinized name Confucius, based on the honorific title Kong Fuzi (Kung Fu-tzu), was created by 16th-century Jesuit missionaries in China. Confucius was a teacher to sons of the nobility at a time when formal education was just beginning in China. He traveled from region to region with a small group of disciples, and believed that his philosophy could transform individuals and society into a more harmonious unit. Confucius was not particularly famous during his lifetime, and even considered himself to be a failure. He longed to be the advisor to a powerful ruler, and he believed that such a ruler, with the right advice, could bring about an ideal world. Confucius said heaven and the afterlife were beyond human capacity to understand, and one should therefore concentrate instead on doing the right thing in this life. The earliest records from his students indicate that he did not provide many moral precepts; rather he taught an attitude toward ones fellow humans of respect, particularly respect for ones parents, teachers, and elders. He also encouraged his students to learn from everyone they encountered and to honor others cultural norms. Later, his teachings would be translated by authoritarian political philosophers into strict guidelines, and for much of Chinese history Confucianism would be associated with an immutable hierarchy of authority and unquestioning obedience. Confucius’s teachings were carried on and promoted by his disciple Mencius, and, later, by Hsun-Tzu, who lived from about 300 to 235 B. C. E. E. A rationalist form of Neo-Confucianism, an outgrowth of Confucianism, began to gain popularity through the teachings of Chu Hsi, who lived from 1033 to 1107 CE. A more socially oriented Neo-Confucianism became popular through the teachings of Wang Yang-Ming, who lived from 1472 to 1529 C. E. The Analects is a collection of principles enunciated by the Chinese thinker Confucius in conversations with his disciples. Similar to Proverbs in the Old Testament, the analects depend heavily on analogy and metaphor. They stress the importance not of rules per se, but of ethics, that guide behavior. Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself. He also stressed the need for ritual and music. These principles set standards for individual conduct and the administration of government and community. After Confucius died in 479 B. C. E. , his followers compiled his teachings in the form of dialogues between him and his students. The resulting collection highly influenced educational, social, and cultural thought in China and elsewhere. Running through the teachings of Confucius is this theme: A man should lead an upright life, educate himself, and contribute to the betterment of society. The superior man, he says, respects elders, cultivates the friendship of good people, presides over his subordinates with a fair and even hand, continually educates himself, overflows with love for fellow human beings, and in general sets a good example for others to follow. The Analects are terse and usually easy to understand. Many of these passages, though presented in the form of conversation, are epigrams that stand alone as wise and memorable admonitions. The statements make frequent use of parallel structure and antithesis. Some say Confucianism is not a religion, since there are no Confucian deities and no teachings about the afterlife. Confucius himself was a staunch supporter of ritual, however, for many centuries there were state rituals associated with Confucianism. Most importantly, the Confucian tradition was instrumental in shaping Chinese social relationships and moral thought. Thus even without deities and a vision of salvation, Confucianism plays much the same role as religion does in other cultural contexts. Confucianism is a socio-philosophical system aimed at bettering individuals and society. Its primary goals were to educate people to be self-motivated and self-controlled, and to enable people to assume their responsibilities, which would, in turn, cultivate a better self and a harmonious society. Confucius believed that lawlessness and social problems stemmed from the combination of unenlightened individuals and a social structure without norms. Confucius believed in the Great Ultimate (Tao), which manifests itself in the I, or change. Tao is the cause of I, and generates Yang (energy) and Yin (a passive form). Together, Yin and Yang are seen as complementary symbols of the energy and tension in a system of counter forces. Tao, or the Great Ultimate, is the first-cause of the universe, a force that flows through all life, but is not a personal being. Ultimately, we are here to discover our real self, which is the nature of Tao. Humans are thought to be inherently good. Through self-discipline, a human is able to move in accordance to Tao and thus will enjoy the principle of change. In a practical sense, we are here to better ourselves and society. This is done through education and enlightenment. Daoism was created in China in the Late 4th century B. C. E. Daoism was founded by Li Erh (better known as Lao Tzu), or â€Å"Old Master†, in the sixth century B. C. E. Lao Tzu was the keeper of the imperial library and the author of Tao Te Ching, or the Book of Dao and Virtue. The specific date of birth of Lao Tzu is unknown. Legends vary, but scholars’ place his birth between 600 and 300 B. C. E. Lao Tzu’s wise counsel attracted followers, but he refused to set his ideas down in writing. He believed that written words might solidify into formal dogma. Lao Tzu wanted his philosophy to remain a natural way to live life with goodness, serenity and respect. Lao Tzu laid down no rigid code of behavior. He believed a person’s conduct should be governed by instinct and conscience. Lao Tzu believed that human life, like everything else in the universe, is constantly influenced by outside forces. He believed â€Å"simplicity† to be the key to truth and freedom. Lao Tzu encouraged his followers to observe, and seek to understand the laws of nature; to develop intuition and build up personal power; and to use that power to lead life with love, and without force. Legend says that in the end Lao Tzu, saddened by the evil of men, set off into the desert on a water buffalo leaving civilization behind. When he arrived at the final gate at the great wall protecting the kingdom, the gatekeeper persuaded him to record the principles of his philosophy for posterity. The result was the eighty-one sayings of the â€Å"Tao Te Ching. † The Tao Te Ching was written in China roughly 2,500 years ago at about the same time when Buddha expounded the Dharma in India and Pythagoras taught in Greece. The Tao Te Ching is probably the most influential Chinese book of all times. Its 81 chapters have been translated into English more times than any other Chinese document, and it provides the basis for the philosophical school of Daoism, which is an important pillar of Chinese thought. In Tao Te Ching, it never specifically defines The Way. It’s a series of verses, poems, and riddles. It emphasizes control but not dominance, fluidity but not ambivalence, and mystery but not confusion. Dao is analogous to God, but Dao is not a being. Rather, Dao is the source of all and the ultimate reality, and Dao is the cause of all change in life. Dao permeates the universe and is the principle behind all that is. Dao can only be experienced through mystical ecstasy. Daoists seek transformation of their self and body into a cosmic, Dao-focused entity. This is achieved through ritual and meditation. Daoism teaches that there is one undivided truth at the root of all things. Daoism is the organized, indigenous religion of China. From a philosophical standpoint Daoism focuses on Dao, or way, and deals with ideas about naturalness, ease, non-action etc. Physically, Daoism focuses on health through concepts like Qigong and Taiji quan, which involve deep breathing, slow, graceful motions and gentle stretching. From a religious standpoint, Daoism is reflected in many areas, including a social and political vision, rituals, a hierarchical priesthood, talismans and exorcisms. Other Daoism practices include advanced spiritual meditation and mystic, ecstatic soul travel. The universe is hierarchically organized in such a way that its entirety is reproduced in its individual parts. Thus, man is a microcosm within the macrocosm (small universe within a larger one). Man’s parts correspond to parts of the universe and nature. All is from the Dao, and all will return to the Dao. Daoism was created to reunite with Dao through the transformation from disharmony to harmony. Disharmony causes a destructive or waning cycle of the Five Elements (metal, wood, earth, water and fire). This cycle consists of metal destroying wood (wood is cut by a metal ax); wood dominating earth through its roots (domination through power); earth mastering water and preventing floods (anti-nature forces); water destroying fire (pollution is caused by anti-nature, and destroys the beauty of the world); fire melts metal (causing pollution). Through personal and social transformation, humans can convert the destructive cycle of the Five Elements into a creative or constructive cycle of the Five Elements. Metal in the earth nourishes underground water (purification); water is the source of life for vegetation, including wood (nourishment); wood is the fuel for fire, which causes ashes, which then form earth (natural recycling). The formation of metal in earth completes the cycle. Daoism has a very recognizable symbol. It is the Yin-Yang, a circle divided in two equal parts of dark/black (Yin) and light/white (Yang). Within the dark, there is a circle of light, and within the light, there is a circle of dark. The two parts are equal because they signify the balance in the world caused by the Yin and Yang forces in all things. Each has a circle of the other to symbolize that each contains elements of the other, and that each cannot exist without the other. Sometimes, the Yin-Yang symbol will be surrounded with trigrams, or sets of three lines with breaks in various positions. Each trigram stands for a certain principle in Daoism.

Background to the French new wave cinema Essay Example for Free

Background to the French new wave cinema Essay The New Wave (French: LA Nouvelle Vague was a term coined by critics for a group of French Filmmakers that existed in the late 1950s and 1960s. these set of filmmakers were actually influenced by Italian Neorealism, (New form realism). Although, this group of people was not well organized filmmakers, they were however connected through their self conscious rejection of classical cinematic form and their spirit of youthful iconoclasm. Many of them never had the social and political upheavals of that period separated from their work. Their experience which came up in a radical movement experimented with editing/visual style, and narrative part as a way of breaking from the old tradition of conservation. So many filmmakers were actually involved in this movement; however, the most prominent pioneers among them include Jean – Luc Goddard, Fancois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer, Claude Charbroil, and Jacques Rivelte among others. Through criticism and editorialization, they laid the groundwork for a surge of concepts which was later termed as the auteur theory, the French version of which is â€Å"La Politique des auteurs† meaning (â€Å"the policy of authors†). This policy holds that the director is the author of his movies, with a personal signature which must be seen from film to film. The beginning of New Wave was an exercise by the cahiers writers in applying his philosophy to the world by directing movies themselves. Chabrol’s Le Beau Serge (1958) is seen as the first New Wave feature. Truffaut achieved great success in the 400 Blows (1959) and Godard, with Breathless in 1960. The movement flourished immensely due to the success it recorded in the area of criticism and financing. This turned the world’s attention to the innovation of the New Wave and enabled the movement to flourish the more. New Wave Cinema is a common term in Film studies as a way of bringing together series of films and personnel that represent a change of direction or a break with the past. It is important to note that New Wave is an era usually referred to as a historical moment within a National Cinema. The most popular example of the French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague); essentially a group of young critics who broke away from the earlier or olden tradition and resorted to producing films that are highly exciting, experimental and innovating. The question then, is what the nature of French Cinema before this innovation was. The French were the pioneers of early Cinema through the silent films of Auguste and Louis Lumiere and Georges Melies. These filmmakers represent the polar opposites of cinematography; a realistic documentary approach for the Lumiere brothers. During the late 30s, France experience a period of increased political awareness that encouraged the development of poetic realism (i. e. realisme poetique) which characterized French Cinema during this period. The intended effect of poetic realism was to project an ambivalent image, a romanticized vision of the world, as well as an atmosphere of fatalism reflecting the spirit of time. French Cinema was seriously affected by the Second World War during the Nazy German occupation which also dominated the world of film making. Even though the Cinema industry was ruined, the French people needed entertainment and as the result and in the early fifties, French production started thriving again. The films were marked by distinctive features that were considered very quality oriented. (LA tradition de qualite). At the origin of the New Wave was a Cinema journal called Cahiers du Cinema and the development of a critical notion La Politique des auteurs, which both grew increasingly influential in the 1950s as a reaction to the mainstream quality tradition on the one hand, and to enthusiastic cinephilic interest in a few distinctive directors working in Hollywood on the other. Even though it has been permanently established today, the French New Wave was not originally conceived as a Cinema movement or a school, but rather was the result of specific socio-cultural circumstances. A number of important technical developments for example, (New lighter cameras; faster, more light sensitive film; synchronous sound equipment and the advent of television) took place in the second half of the 1950s which coincided with the emergence of a new generation of critics, actors and directors. The group of new young directors who were included under the umbrella phrase of the New Wave (Jean – Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer, Alain Resnais, Claude Charbol and Francois Truffant) brought in new ideas, the enthusiasm of youth and a sense of freedom into French Cinema. Goddard was the intellectual of the group interested in formal experiment, and later became politically involved; Truffaut’s film combined humanism, emotion and sensitivity; New Wave directors work together, exchange ideas, screenplays, technicians and even actors. This collaboration certainly helps explain some common characteristics in the films that were, and still are, associated with the New Wave. These and many more are the crux of the New Wave. A FOCUS ON FRANCOIUS TRUFFAUT Francois Truffaut was born in Paris on the 6th February, 1932. He attended Lycee Rollin, Paris. He was later enlisted into the army, but later escaped on the eve of departure for Indochina. He was later released for character instability. Francois was married to Madeleine Morgenstern and got divorced around 1957; he actually had two daughters from her. He was the founder of Cine – club in Paris; he was jailed at a point due to his inability to pay his debt and was later released. He was briefly employed by the service of Cinematographique of the Ministry of Agriculture in 1953. He became a writer on film for Cahiers du Cinema, arts from 1953, including seminal article, â€Å"Une certain Tendance du Cinema Francois† in 1954; he directed his first – feature, Les Quatre Cents Coups, and wrote script for Godard’s â€Å"A bout de souffle. He had won so many awards; these include Best Director, Cannes Festival, for Les Quatres Cents Coup, 1959; Prix Louis Delhic, and Best Director, New York Film Criticism and British Academy Award for Best Direction, for Day for Night, 1973. He died of cancer in Paris on the 21st October, 1984. However, before his death, he achieved great fit in the world of Cinema in France. He was one of the five young French film critics, writing for Andre Bazin’s Cahiers du Cinema in the early 1950s. He was the one that first formulated the politique des auteurs, a view of film history and film art that defended those directors who were â€Å"true men of the Cinema. These include Renoir, Vigo, and Tati in France; Hawks, Ford, and Welles in America – rather than those more literary, script – oriented film directors and writers associated with the French â€Å"tradition of quality†. In his first feature in 1959 of Les Quatre Cent Coups, he put his ideas of Cinema spontaneity into practice with the study of an adolescent, Antoine Doinel, who breaks free from the constrictions of French society to face an uncertain but open future. Since this debut, Truffaut’s career has been dominated by an exploration of the Doinel character’s future. In Truffaut’s 25 years of making films, the director, the Doinel character, and Leaud all grew up together. THE FILM, LES QUATRE CENTS COUPS (THE FOUR HUNDRED BLOWS) BY FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT The rebellious teenager of Less quatre cent coups becomes a tentative, shy, sexually clumsy suitor in â€Å"Antoine et Colette† episode of Love Love at Twenty. In Baisers Voles, Antoine is older but not much wiser at either love or money making. In Domicile conjugal, Antoine has married but is still on the run toward something else – the exotic lure of other sexual adventures. And in L’ Amour en fuite, Antoine is still running sequence that concludes Les Quatre Cent Coups. Although Antoine is divorced, the novel which he has finally completed has made his literary reputation. That novel, it turns out, is his life itself, the entire Doinel Saga as filmed by Truffaut, and Truffaut deliberately collapses the distinction between written fiction and filmed fiction, between the real life of humans and the fictional life of characters. The collapse seems warranted by the personal and professional connections between Truffaut the director, Doinel the character, and Leaud the actor. Truffaut in his film making remained consistently committed to his highly formal themes of art and life as can be seen in the â€Å"Four Hundred Blows†. He also concentrated on film and fiction and youth education, rather than venturing into radical politics as was the case with Jean – Luc Godard. While stating his position in Le Dermer Metro, one of his most political film, which examines a theatre troupe in Nazified Paris. The film director appeared to confess that, like those actors in that period, he could only continue to make art the way he knew how, that his commitment to formal artistic excellence would eventually serve the political purposes that powerful art always serves, and that for him to betray his own artistic powers for political, lead to his making bad art, and load political statements. In this rededication to artistic form, Truffaut was probably restating his affinity with Jean Renoir. He wrote about for Cahiers du Cinema. Renoir like Truffaut, progressed from making more rebellious black-and-white films in his youth to more accepting colour films in his adult age; he played major roles in most of his own films as was the case with Renoir. FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT AND FILM THEORY THE AUTEUR THEORY According to Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia, in film criticism, the auteur theory of 1950s holds that a director’s films reflect his personal creative vision, as if they were the primary â€Å"auteur† (the French word for â€Å"auteur†). In some cases, film producers are considered to have a similar â€Å"auteur† role for the films that they have produced. In law the auteur is the creator of a film as a work of art and is the original copyright holder. Under the European Union law, the film director shall always be considered the author or one of the authors of a film. Auteur theory by Francois Truffaut has had a major impact on film criticism ever since it was advocated in 1954 by the same Francois. â€Å"Auteurism† is the method of analyzing films based on this theory, or, alternatively, the characteristics of a director’s work that makes her or him an auteur. Either the auteur theory or, alternatively, the characteristics of a director’s work that makes him an auteur (author) Both the auteur theory and the Auteurism method of film analysis are closely tied to the French New Wave and the film critics who wrote for the influential French film review periodical â€Å"Cahiers du Cinema. † Auteur theory draws on the work of Andre’ Bazin, co-founder of the Cahiers du Cinema, who argued that films should reflect a director’s personal vision. Bazin championed film makers such as Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock and Jean Renoir. Although Bazin provided a forum for Auteurism to flourish, he remained wary of its excesses. Another person who this theory can be traced to is Alexandre Astrucx, who notion of the camera – stylo or â€Å"Camera pen† and the idea that directors should wield their cameras like writing use their pens and that they should not be prevented by any form of traditional storytelling. Traffaut and the other members of the Cahiers recognized that moviemaking was an industrial process. To this end, they proposed an ideal to strive for; thus, the director should use the commercial apparatus the way a writer uses pen and, through the mise en scene, imprint their vision on the work. What this means is that the role of screen writer was minimized in their eyes. They also understood and realized that not many directors could reach this ideal; they however value those that attempt to draw close to the ideal. In his further explanation on his theory, Truffant asserts that there are no good or bad films or movies, rather only good or bad directors exist. Invariably, he tends to say that a director makes the film and not the story line or the script per – say. This is the more reason why the director of a film should be the writer of the script. Much of Truffaunt’s writing of this period and his colleagues at the film criticism magazine cahiers du Cinema, was specially designed to ridicule or criticize post-war French Cinema, especially the big production films of the Cinema de qualite (â€Å"Quality films†) Truffaunt in his theory referred to these films with disdain or sterile, old fashion or archaic. The theory essentially maintains that all good directors and many bad ones have such a distinctive style or consistent theme that their influence is unmistakable in the body of their work. Traffaunt was equally appreciative of both directors with a marked visual style such as Alfred Hitchcock, and those whose visual style was less pronounced but who had nevertheless consistent in their theme, throughout their movies such as Jean Renoir’s humanism. The auteur theory has created a lot of impact on directors of the New Wave Movement of French Cinema in the 1960s; many of such were the critics of the Cahiers du Cinema. One of the ironies of the auteur theory is that when Truffant was writing, the break-up of the Hollywood Studio System during the 1950s was ushering in a period of uncertainty and conservation in American Cinema, with the result that very few films of Truffant admiration were actually being made. The impact of the theory did not just stop in France. It was adopted in English – Language film criticism in the 1960s. In the UK, movie adopted Auteurism, while in the US; Andrew Sarris introduced it in the essay, â€Å"Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962. † This essay is where the Half-French, Half-English term, â€Å"auteur theory†, originated. To be classified as an â€Å"auteur†; according to Sarris, a director must accomplish technical competence in their technique, personal style in terms of how the movie looks and feels the interior meaning. Later in the decade, Sarris published American Cinema; Directors and Directions, 1929-1968, which without delay turned out to be the unofficial Bible of Auteurism. A FOCUS ON A BOUT DE SOUFFLE BY JEAN – PAAL BELMONDO; AN ANALYSIS WITH PARTICULAR FOCUS ON VISUAL ELEMENTS USED IN THE MAKING OF THE FILM In our analysis, we shall see how Godard created the New Wave style by using production techniques to achieve some visual show. These techniques include location shooting, hand-held camera, natural lighting, casual acting and subversion of rules of classical editing. All these techniques cannot be found in tradition of quality, turn the film into spontaneous and improvised performances, rather than being the mere representation of the script, which exists before the film – making process begins. About de Souffle begins with Michael Pioccard (Jean – Paul Belmondo) stealing a car to drive him to Paris. However, two Policemen on motorcycles chase him. He turns off the road, but is followed by one of the Policemen. Michael shoots the Policeman and runs off. What makes this part of the film unusual and innovative is the way it is filmed. There is therefore every need to analyze the film based on the shots; it is only with that that a vivid understanding of the visual elements can be clearly understood. The first 17 shots last just 44 seconds, which makes an average a change of shot every 2. 6 seconds. (The first shot lasts 14 seconds). All the innovative production techniques mentioned above are apparent in this series of shots. The scene is shot on location, on the highway. The rest of the scene is also shot on location patricianly on the street of Paris. The camera is very mobile and shaky. The pans in shot 3 and 4 are very quick, creating blurred images. The Lighting is natural in shot 7, the sun shines directly into the lens, creating a bloomer. Belmondo is renowned and often initiated for his casual acting style in this film. He seems to improvise most of the time. Finally, this series of shots subvert the rules of continuity editing. The cut from shot 3 to shot 4 is less than 30 degrees and, therefore creates a Jump cut. In shot fire, Michael’s car is traveling from screen left to screen right. But in shot 6, the Police are shown traveling in different or opposite direction, from screen right to left. The Cameraman has crossed the road after filming the car to film the motorcycles. Such a swift change of direction creates a confusion of screen space. Almost in the same vein, when Michael stops the car, he looks screen left at the Police passing by. But after he picked up the gun, he looks screen right at the Policeman, instead of screen left, as the viewers screen left, as the viewers would expect. The cut from 15 to 16, the shot of Michael’s hand to the shot of the gun, created another jump, because there is very little difference between the two shots. The use of shaky, hand-held camera, together with the use of location shooting and natural lighting, jump cuts and discontinuous editing, do not aim to show the action clearly; instead, it offers a fragmentary and partial vision of the scene. These â€Å"imperfect† techniques represent the auteur’s presence and serve as a clear mark of the way he or she writes his or individual vision into the film. The effect these production techniques create is one of spontaneity and improvisation. However, what is interesting is the use of these techniques to give the film a documentary feel. The blurred pans, the shaky camera movements and abrupt editing testify to the difficulty the camera man faces in the situation which he found himself and his physical interaction with the event. It is imperative to note that the stylistic choices made by French New Wave directors were not simply determined by aesthetic considerations, but also y economics. The French New Wave is a low budget film making practice. Filming on location with natural lighting decreases production costs, just as the emphasis on spontaneity defrays pre-production cost such as script writing. Nevertheless, far from being deponent by the lack of finance, the French Wave directors identified low production costs with artistic freedom. They saw that a close relationship exist between the size of the budget and artistic freedom for visual creation and effect. Hence, they believed that the higher the budget, the lower the artistic freedom as one may not be allowed to improvise since every technicality would be in place. This is not the case in the Hollywood Film making. The direct opposite is the case here. To this end, a sharp contrast is noticeable while comparing the Hollywood Wave Film making with the French New Wave. FRENCH NEW WAVE CINEMA AND HOLLYWOOD FILM MAKING: JUXTAPOSITION Contrary to what we saw in the French New Wave Cinema, the Hollywood film making has taken a different dimension. Many of the initial conventions of the French Wave are beginning to go into extinction today. Jump cuts were used so much to cover mistakes as they were an artistic convention. Jean – Luc Godard certainly appreciated the dislocating feel a jump cut conveyed. The use of location shooting, natural lighting and improvisational acting by Midvale Claude Chabrol and Francois Truffaut as well as Jean – Luc Godard has been visited with an innovation with the emergence of Hollywood and its dominance in the film making in the world; as accurate and appropriate measures are often taken to curb any attitude of copying the incomplete and quick production of the French Wave Cinema. It is against this background that it has become necessary to say that since the advent of commercial Cinema of a century ago, the costs and complexity of film making have encouraged producers to develop a factory-oriented approach to production. This is the case of the Hollywood film making. The benefit of such approach includes the centralization of both production and management; the division and detailed subdivision of labor. This is not the case with the French New Wave Cinema as they upheld the director as the only competent artist without any form of division of labor. Contrary to the French New Wave Cinema, where standardized production is often questionable, Hollywood film production often yearns for standard. This, they do through putting all they can to ensure that the production is of standard. This stern from film style, product type, cost efficiencies derived from economies of scale, consistent production values; and the cultivation of a brand name in the movie market place. This was not the case in the French New Wave Cinema. Their major target was artistic freedom which should not be restricted by high budget. But in the case of Hollywood, artistic freedom is not emphasized, what is emphasized is the quality of the film to be produced which is often encouraged or motivated through huge budgeting and division of labour. The idea of proper film making set into Hollywood in 1910 in California; when the locale became the centre of commercial film production in the United States. The dominant firms referred to their facilities as â€Å"studios†, which invoke the more artistic aspects of film making, although operations on the kind of model that Henry Ford (1963-1947) was introducing to the auto industry at the time. In the larger global context, Hollywood has been the dominant force throughout motion future history due to the studio’s collective control of distribution as well as production. This control diminished considerably in post war era. This was due to the rise in independent production and freelance talent as well as the threat of television and other new media. Yet, the Hollywood studios are the strongest shaping forces in movie industry, and their operation today is the fundamental extension of the system that they established at their inception. It is against this background that it has become obvious that the current trend in the Hollywood film making is better off than the French New Wave Cinema and that is why some of the French New Wave Directors realized themselves that the Hollywood Cinema is something to write home about. To buttress our point and to clearly back up this juxtaposition without any form of prejudice, a cursory examination of some prominent Hollywood film makers such as John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock and Nicholas Ray would be taken into consideration. JOHN FORD AND THE HOLLYWOOD FILM MAKING There is nobody after having gone through his profile would doubt his greatness in the American movie making. Even among great film makers, the greatness of John Ford is often observed. This is why Welles much quoted Matra was â€Å"John Ford, John Ford and John Ford†. The road to Citizen Kane and Xanadu. A John Ford film was a visual gratification; this was not the case during the French New Wave Cinema. His method of shooting was characterized with clarity and apparent simplicity. Frank Capra called Ford â€Å"pure great† and Elian Kazan confessed that, even after half-a-dozen films, he studied Ford’s oeuvre to learn how to become more cinematic. She says ‘Ford taught me to tell it in pictures. . . Jack taught me to trust long shots. This is a clear indication that Ford as a filmmaker of the Hollywood believed and upheld the issue of technicality and visual elements in the making of his films. This is contrary to what was in vogue during the New Wave of French Cinema. Ford’s greatness in the Hollywood film making manifests again when Fredrick Fellini says â€Å"When I think of Ford, I sense the smell of barracks of horses, of gunpowder, . . The amending trips of his heroes. But, above all, I feel a man who liked motion picture, who lived for the Cinema, who has made out of motion pictures a fairly tale to be told to everyone, but in the first place a fairly tale to be lived himself . . . For all this, I esteem him, I admire him and I love him. † Ford made more than 60 silent films, about 130 movies in all. John Ford has to a great extent contributed immensely to the development of film in the world. Nicholas Ray was born on August 7th 1911 and died June 16 1979. Coming from a radio background, Ray directed his first and only Broadway production, the Duke Ellington Musical Beggar’s Holiday, in 1946. After a year he went into directing films, and he directed his first film, The Live by Night. This film though was visited with a lot of criticism, for its extreme empathy, The New York Times gave the film a positive review and acclaimed Ray for â€Å"good, realistic production and sharp direction. Ray has an eye for action details. His staging of the robbery of a bank, all seen by the lad in the pick-up car, makes a fine clip of agitating film. One of his prominent films ‘Rebel Without a Cause† distilled much of the essence of Rays Cinematic vision; expressionistic use of colour, dramatic use of architecture and empathy for those who struggle to fit in to mainstream society. Ray had been praised by most French New Wave Cinema, such as Jean – Luc Godard who referred to him as the Cinema. Thus he says â€Å"The Cinema is Nicholas Ray†. This at attests to the fact that Ray has contributed greatly to the field of Cinema. Having studied and researched in Hollywood Studio directors as can be seen above, it is important to juxtapose the French New Wave Cinema with their works in the field of film making. The way the films of the French New Wave were made reflected and interest in questioning Cinema itself, by drawing attention to the conventions used in film making. In this manner, the French New Wave directors strove to present an alternative to Hollywood by consciously breaking its conventions, while at the same time paying homage to what they regarded as good in Hollywood Cinema. French New Wave films had a free editing style and did not conform to the editing rules of Hollywood films. The editing often drew attention to itself by being discontinuous, reminding the audience that they were watching a film for example by using jump cuts or the insertion of material extraneous to the story (non-dugetic material). Godard in particular, favored the use of the jump cut, where two shots of the same subject are cut together with a noticeable jump on the screen. In a Hollywood film, this would be avoided by either using a sot/reverse shot edit or cutting to a shot from a camera in a position over 300 from the preceding shot. In Godard’s first full length film A Bout de Souffle, jump cuts were used during a lengthy conversation. Irrelevant shots were sometimes inserted for ironic or comic effect. The acting in the French New Wave Cinema was a marked departure from much that had gone before. They were encouraged to improvise their lines, or talk over each others lines as would happen in real life. In A Bout de Souffle, this leads to lengthy scenes of inconsequential dialogue, in opposition to the staged speeches of much traditional film acting as the case of Hollywood. Women were often given strong parts that did not conform to the archetypal roles seen in most Hollywood Cinema, for example Jeanne Moreau in Truffaut’s Jules ET Jim (1962) To this end, the reason why the French New Wave filmmakers praised a style so very different from their own has been obviously established and in this regard, one now understands that the excellent and perfect production of the Hollywood Cinema cannot in anyway be overemphasized. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1) http:/en. wikipedia. org/cinematic New Wave 2) Gerald Mast http://www/filmreference. com/Directors-st-ve/Truffaut-Franois. html

Parts Of A Green Ict Strategy Information Technology Essay

Parts Of A Green Ict Strategy Information Technology Essay This research study has offered and in-depth study of the impact of Cloud Computing on sustainable business practices and has effectively examined the fact that whether organizations are able to achieve business benefits as an outcome. Particularly, the study analyses and critically assesses whether adopting a cloud computing model as part of a Green ICT strategy can actually achieve sustainability benefits as well as gaining operational efficiencies and cost reduction. The study discusses that Information and communication technology (ICT) has increasingly become a powerful social and economical trend, with time. It has left its mark on the business landscape of the twenty first century. With a detailed background of ICTs, the paper has successfully illustrated as to how computer devices like monitors, keyboards, printers, laptops, etc need extensive power and energy, and in this context ICT has become an integral and vital part of the modern workplace and has transformed organizations to compete in the digital revolution (European Commission 2010). Research Strategy: The study has followed an inductive approach since the focus was laid on the understanding of the meanings attached to events. There is, however, less concern with the need to generalize as the way of carrying out the research has influenced the research outcomes. Since several research strategies exist for different types of research work, such as experiments, surveys, case studies, action research, grounded theory, archival and ethnography, etc. this research project has selected the case study method. The research project involves an empirical investigation of a contemporary phenomenon in real life context using multiple sources of evidences. This research work has adopted a single case study approach for a typical government department as discussed in the previous sections. The case studies involved are based on exploratory research done with the help of publicly available information for understanding what processes they have implemented as well as the success they have achieved. Furthermore, the case studies involved a limited quantity of archival research to understand how, in case previous projects have been finished and the metrics that were used to quantify the success of these (BIAC 2009) (Quat Fai 2009). In this context, the research has also used the Multi-method qualitative study because it involves informal as well as structured interviews and archival research. The research project is a cross-sectional study as it studies the research problem as a snapshot, i.e. study of a particular phenomenon at a particular time. Data is obtained through surveys and interviews available from public sources across the Internet. Findings Discussion: Several green measures have been implemented in practice. Organizations strongly believe that Green ICT will highly benefit government, together with ICT and non-ICT industries alike, in heightening effectiveness and sustainability. The research paper illustrated some specific green ICT initiatives undertaken by government. These are: Employing energy-efficient air-cooling systems in and around the Central Computer Centre Proclaiming the practice guide on Green Management to departments and offices for their adoption and detailed reference Adhering to the applicable green procurement guidelines to introduce energy efficiency requirements and appropriate environmental considerations in securing IT products and services (Quat Fai 2009) Hosting public awareness programmes to impart knowledge on the need to reuse as well as re-cycle waste computers and several other electrical appliances Bringing forth e-book and e-learning initiatives that help in reducing paper usage and offer opportunities for overall industry development Making use of technologies of mobile, video-conferencing and telepresence and remote collaboration tools in order to cut down the need for physical business travels. Influencing and encouraging the development of intelligent transport and car navigation systems, fleet management systems, etc for transportation optimization for reducing fuel consumption and emission, and lastly, Urging the application of planning and resource management systems in order to optimize collection and disposal of waste. Further, location based technologies such as RFID and global positioning system (GPS), and image processing applications can help in locating and handling waste (BIAC 2009). Organizations have declared that they will embrace Green ICT as a government IT strategy and particularly to make constant changes and enhancements to their existing IT infrastructure and facilities. Green ICT as a cure for todays economic crisis: The study has offered detailed knowledge about what Green ICT is. It explains that Green ICT attempts to enhance the initiation and utilization of information and communications technologies, services and products which are capable of cutting down energy and resources, optimizing operational efficiency and gain savings while meeting the needs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Say, for example, considerable operational costs can be decreased from energy conservation for ICT benefits such as centres for data processing and network operation, internet exchange junctions, and other ICT facilities, since energy consumption price alone is recorded to be as much as 50% of their operating costs. It can be stated that greener ICT technologies, services or products will certainly become traditional with increase in global concerns on climate change and deterioration in environment (BIAC 2009) (Molla et al 2010). Green ICT Reduces Costs: With various methodologies adopted to determine the importance of Green ICT, this study was able to illustrate that ICT is virtually omnipresent in the business world. Virtually, there is no product or service that does not depend on ICT in some manner for its production, development, distribution or commercialization. However, while ICT equipment causes consumption of energy, Green ICT is proven to be an integral part of the solution to assist in reducing energy cost of an operation, not just inside the ICT industry itself, but also for other sectors of the economy which count on ICT. This is especially essential now that there is growing pressure on majority of industries and businesses to cut costs (ONeil 2010). A US company, for instance, expert in high performance networking anticipated that employing virtualization technology can help them become less dependable on some 325 servers at their data centres, thereby leading to a reduction of almost 1278 Megawatt per hour every year . Reducing energy consumption and the ensuing costs savings associated with Green ICT may leave many firms with much more resources to be used for other crucial ICT initiatives. Hence, Green ICT can help make a broad array of local businesses more agile and responsive for competing in the global economy (European Commission 2010). A good example of this is Hong Kongs ICT and is linked industries which have a wealth of skills that are capable of making a real difference and gain recognition and success in developing ICT-based green innovations. Green ICT gives opportunities: Greater demands for ICT-driven innovations, which are able to reduce energy and materials used whilst enhancing the efficiency of business systems, can generate global opportunities for a companys business and professionals. These innovations include software applications, such as virtualization technology to implement power savings, and hardware applications, such as server with energy-saving properties. For instance, Hong Kongs ICT and its closely linked industries possess a wealth of skills which can actually make a major difference and gain recognition and achieve success in developing ICT-driven green innovations. Furthermore, essential infrastructure and mechanisms for incubation must be in place for the industry in order to capitalize on the increasingly expanding global market for ICT-based solutions planned for improving the energy efficiency as well as tackling the climate change concerns (BIAC 2009) (ONeil 2010). Green ICT heightens environmental benefits: The research study could determine that apart from the economic benefits, adopting Green ICT practices in business operations can easily deal with climate change issues that are associated with greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, it also described that Green ICT can play a crucial role in helping to promote the low carbon economy around the world. The ICT industry can also produce a green image while behaving as a responsible global citizen (Bibri 2009) (Molla et al 2010). Government as a Green ICT user: After progressively studying social and economic trend set by the information and communication technology, this research study goes on to prove that how the Government is one of the primary users of ICT and has a substantial impact on the health of the ICT industry. In other words, as a prime influencer one believes that the Government takes the leading role in embracing Green ICT technologies and quantifies for improving its operational efficiency along with encouraging an environmentally aware and sustainable culture to the society. In order further motivate government involvement and to develop Green ICT strategy plans for addressing environmental impacts that accompany the usage of ICT services and products, the study recommends that it is essential for the Government to establish close collaboration with the ICT industry (European Commission 2010). Moreover, it recommends the following areas to be considered as starting points for the Government for exploring more opportunities for the smooth implementation of Green ICT: Implementing standards and policies which influence the use of Green ICT technologies as well as practices. Deploying Government-wide Green ICT audit is essential to realize opportunities for bettering resource and energy efficiencies when reducing greenhouse gas emissions of ICT within Government operations, specifically in ICT-intensive facilities like Government data centres. Speeding up the upgrade of orthodox and traditional ICT equipment and systems in the Government to Green ICT substitutes offered by local ICT industry Taking the lead in utilizing ICT-based innovations which may help increase energy efficiencies and reduce resources as a role model for the remaining business sectors (Molla et al 2010). The research paper supported the development of Green ICT innovations by drawing out the following assertions (Barker 2007). ICT professionals associated with the industry identify that technologies can be best utilized as an effective tool primarily for improving operational effectiveness and resolving environmental sustainability issues. As such, the ICT industry can be urged to come up with more innovative Green ICT solutions and technologies to best fulfil the rapidly growing market needs and demands. The study could advocate that the in order for the Government to offer support to foster the development of Green ICT innovations, a specific pre-decided budget must be allocated out of the current Innovation and Technology Fund distributed by the Innovation and Technology Commission as well as the Environment and Conservation Fund primarily administered by the Environmental Campaign Committee for supporting Green ICT research and development. Also, it is necessary to establish a robust mechanism for recognizing or certifying ICT products and services that accomplish prescribed green standards. Maximizing use of Green ICT in local business is highly encouraged . Establishing market for Green ICT services or products is the most important consideration in making Green ICT blossom locally. A Government must establish a Green ICT Technology Platform that involves the organization of Green ICT Database and workshops, and so forth in order to allow local businesses to gain more opportunities in employing the Green ICT solutions. Funding or subsidies must be offered for SMEs in order to engage professionals in carrying out Green ICT audit for identifying opportunities for both costs saving as well as reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Similarly, funding, subsidies or loans must be provided for SMEs in order to adopt Green ICTT systems and upgrade their orthodox systems to Green ICT alternatives. In addition to this, even a pilot programme can be financed for various businesses to adopt Green ICT technologies as representation cases (European Commission 2010) (ONeil 2010). An excellent demonstration of how locally developed Green ICT can be exported, is given by this study. Global market for ICT industry or ICT-based solutions to the climate change matters is growing at a rather fast pace. Local ICT industry must not fall behind and combat against their counterparts elsewhere in the world. Since Green ICT technologies on energy management of processes and systems can be extensively applied over virtually every type of business sector, the global market is potentially massive The study recommends the government to establish a mechanism to channel Green ICT technologies or solutions that are locally developed to potential global clients or users with consolidation of efforts from all government departments concerned. Enrichment of Green ICT capability can be gained for ICT professionals. In other words, it can be elaborated that ICT professionals must be supplied with a better understanding of the connection between ICT activities as well as environmenta l issues. Further, they must also be equipped with appropriate tools and the assurance to be the real drivers of designing ICT technologies, equipment, algorithms, and services which are more resource efficient and environment friendly (Australian Computer Society 2009) (Quat Fai 2009). Indeed, the paper is supported by evidences that are derived from exhaustive research on how governments support initiatives to adopt Green ICT. These initiatives include facilitating and provision of support to, the ICT community for setting up a Green ICT consortium for professionals as an attempt to promote the adoption of Green ICT and also be a part of the current wave of creating a local Green ICT trends and culture. Secondly, the initiative emphasizes on the need to partner with the ICT industry in order to organize Green ICT seminars as well as conferences to produce awareness of Green ICT. Next, focus is set on encouragement that must be given in the development of professional training programmes as well as offering recognized qualifications to Green ICT professionals. By doing so, Green ICT contents are also strengthened in local ICT education to satisfy the need of the future (Bibri 2009) (James Hopkinson 2009). Through a careful literature review of the research conducted in the past by researchers and experts, the current study was able to provide an increased understanding in the Green ICT are and successfully analyzes and assesses Sustainable Business Practice associated with Cloud computing. It has further investigated whether implementing a cloud computing policy will enable tangible business advantages aligned with wider Corporate, Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSER) activities, which enabled equipping ICT managers with opportunities to enhance operational excellence and optimize technology that is inherent to the business strategies and ICT infrastructure operations (Barker 2007). The paper suggests ICT as a very apt example of an innovative technology which allows for green growth. Information communication technology and the Internet provide heightened efficiency and productivity in manufacturing, offering services and in working methods. In essence, they help in reducing energy consumption and handle scarce resources. And both greening of the ICT and greening by the ICT are exceedingly crucial in this respect. With such a motive backing the study, it is essential to understand that governments must continue to guarantee policy and regulatory environments which offer rigid support to innovations in ICT technologies and endless capital investment in the telecommunications industry and infrastructure, like broadband and high speed networks, essential to affirm and green ICT application throughout all sectors of the economy (Bibri 2009). A number of tangible business benefits are associated with Green ICT strategies for the organization. These include: Superior business performance with the help of a highly motivated workforce which fully support the need for a Green ICT strategy Effectiveness and efficiency of processes Establishment of smart and wise business strategies in line with views that are depicted widely for the reduction of carbon emissions. Yet another concept of virtualization of the infrastructure is illustrated in the study that supports the business helps in streamlining and automating the business processes by reducing the amount of physical devices which require support. Consequently, this leads to the development of robust as well as dynamic initiatives that can be utilized for the success of the organization. As a result of these processes, organizational productivity and outcome are greatly improved. Extending the energy star rating program for every ICT product will enable businesses to accurately compare the energy consumption of ICT products and take the best decisions with respect to reducing energy use as well as costs for both households and businesses (James Hopkinson 2009). Therefore, this would allow for the entire government ICT energy consumption target and reporting systems to be benchmarked while determining energy intensity measures (Janakiraman 2009). The designed introduction of technologies such as Web 2.0 systems throughout all tiers of the government will act as a catalyst of change in present-day public sector workforce practices, together with the way in which government departments communicate with each other as well as with citizens and stakeholders. With the addition of democratic and interactive technologies through Web 2.0, the sharing of information between sites has increasingly become a necessity, which entails that websites must be capable of generating output in machine-readable formats. Furthermore, in order to ensure these benefits are obtained, government agencies must starting making necessary amendments by re-educating existing employees to acquire new ways of implementing tasks via online engagement. And this can also indicate introduction of work-from-home practices, using teleconferencing technologies, and mobile work platforms in order to reduce business travel to a great extent. All of these measures will , in turn, have substantial impact on the amount of energy use and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions originating from government agency activities, specifically when they are exhaustively applied on a the entire government (Barker 2007). Sustainable computing practices have progressively become a vital part of the professional tasks of all ICT professionals. Such responsibilities tend to assist in reducing costs throughout agencies by encouraging reduction in energy consumption, the creation of suitable product stewardship and e-waste plans, and increased awareness for the moderation of carbon emissions with the help of latest and most energy efficient technologies (Bibri 2009). In essence, one of the measures Government must take for optimizing the ICT energy consumption is to decrease the amount of servers in an agencys data centre by employing virtualization and cloud computing technologies. With data centres emerging to be prime power users, data storage needs are creating a significant increase in data centre construction. Moreover, the powerful servers now housed in data centres often demand as much cooling power as the electrical energy required to run them. As data centres mostly emit wastages through surplus hardware, memory, power supplies and network devices, government organizations need to control the wastage of energy in an accurate manner. One such way is to mature ICT assets, together with the need to harness energy use, and this indicates that todays organizations are being forced to embrace innovative strategies into their business plans in order to limit their data centre operational costs (James Hopkinson 2009). Again, virtualization and cloud computing are able to help in significantly improving sustainability performance for public sector organizations. Since cloud computing is a modern way of sourcing and delivering ICT services through the Internet on a pay-as-you-go basis, it offers a feasible alternative to build ICT infrastructure as well as application for workloads. Moreover, the combination of virtualization and cloud computing is able to reduce the requirement of expanding an agencys electronic storage demands. And the power requirements for running and cooling d ata centres now formulate as much as a quarter of global ICT carbon dioxide emissions. Besides, server virtualization reduces power consumption by enabling firms to operate multiple virtual machines across a single physical server. As different virtual machines may run different operating systems and multiple applications over the same physical computer, it eliminates the current problem of under-usage of storage space within data centres, and thereby improving data centre efficiency (Barker 2007) (Quat Fai 2009). Apart from reusing infrastructure, organizations considered recycling the rest of the infrastructure which cannot be reused. In order to enable more efficient recycling, organizations will only produce electrical products that are designed in a way to be easily disassembled to the basic component level, by using common tools. Hence, the ultimate aim of an organization must be to ensure that no waste in the electronic form has been disposed off in a landfill site. Very large scale organizations having more than 500 employees had relatively well-formulated capability in all the ICT components. Those engaged in hardware manufacture, wholesaling, as well as maintenance, were inclined towards performing better in comparison to other ICT sub-sectors. Majority of ICT firms are progressing towards clearer strategic direction regarding the opportunities linked to climate change. While 39 percent of firms reported that they had a highly transparent strategy for enabling the eco-sustainability of other industries, other 38 percent stated they had an emerging clarity, and only 23 percent of the participants either remained doubtful or inactive about the need to develop a sustainability vision. Surveyed firms declared having relatively well established processes for the usage and optimization of ICT resources, like servers, applications, networks, data storage systems, office and telephony systems, etc. Additionally, 29 percent of firms displayed maturity in the practice of disposing electronic and non-electronic wastages in an eco-friendly fashion. However, some of the firms introduce eco-sustainability design principles like less wastage, low energy utilization, less use of toxic chemicals, and more use of recyclable, renewable and reusable systems, etc at the early stages of product design and development (Janakiraman 2009). Out of the surveyed firms, 75 percent of the firms have not yet acquired any third party certification about their environmental performance. ICT solutions enabling employees to work remotely, like video-conferencing, telecommuting, and telepresence have been the most matured offerings in the global ICT sector. And such solutions/ applications are very well settled in 32 percent of the firms surveyed and these firms are operating to maintain and amend the value contribution from their offerings. Another 32percent indicated that their product category is associated with market visibility and it is a source of revenue, while 21 percent of the respondents informed no plans of offering such products (ONeil 2010). The reviewed firms demonstrated a promising portfolio of development along with initial offering of product groupings. For instance, over one-third of companies have either offered solutions for or have assigned resources for development of energy use monitoring and reporting systems, remote power management, pollution control systems, etc. Furthermore, an equal ratio of companies is also reforming their current business strategies to allow for Green ICT strategic consulting, education, training, and research (Australian Computer Society 2009). More than 40 percent of firms have identified the brand value of Greenness. These firms are also at an advanced level in using Green ICT in their marketing strategy. Use of Greenness as a marketing strategy must not always be understood as Green-washing; almost all companies which use Greenness as one of their marketing strategy employ it to add to their other value propositions like price, quality, service, etc. By doing so, these firms are not only re-branding their current products with Greenness, but also are offering initial or mature solutions which may improve the overall environmental performance of their clients and customers (Janakiraman 2009). It can be noted that firms perform comparatively better as indicators of value identification rather than as value measurement. As an example, 35 percent of respondents felt that their Green ICT products offer them with bigger competitive edge, and other 9 percent claim that Green ICT products aid them in achieving a moderate growth in competitive performance. Further 32 percent of surveyed firms conformed that they obtained higher cost and environmental footprint decrease from their Green ICT initiatives. However, approximately 40 percent of respondents believed that their Green ICT products heighten their revenue, and the last 29 percent said that the improvement is substantial. Again, 69 percent of respondents felt the need to be authorized as a concerned part of global as well as local communities and vision of senior management as two primary drivers to invest in Green ICT products and service growth. Most importantly, the key element accounted for inhibiting the adoption of Green ICT was that it is not considered as a priority, leading the lack of demand and funds (Bibri 2009) (Janakiraman 2009). Conclusion: Encouraging innovation in Green ICT will not only generate a significant reduction in the ICT sectors carbon footprint, but will also enact a crucial role in decreasing emissions across every sector of the economy. Moreover, ICT-based solutions will be the primary element in reducing carbon emissions and enhance an organizations international competitiveness. It could also give rise to global opportunities for ICI professionals and businesses (James Hopkinson 2009). Green growth which is welfare-enhancing must be realized as a prime objective by every part of the society, including governments, customers, stakeholders and overall business in general. However, it must be considered in total isolation, where it needs to address issues like investments, innovations, market openness, employee skills development/ entrepreneurship, prolonged job creation and the growth of metrics for supporting analysis of such issues along with being able to evaluate progress. Recognizing the potential of strategies for green growth across sectors can only be achieved if businesses adopt the most accurate investment framework, urge innovation, maintain market openness, discard market distortions, advance human skills and capital, and offer an overall capable and stable policy structure (Bibri 2009). Green ICT is considered to be one of the most efficient and highly effective strategies not only for the ICT market but also for virtually all business and economy sector s in order to enhance operational efficiencies to maintain market competitiveness. Together with the supply of necessary infrastructure as well as incubatory support, the local ICT sector will be enabled to grow in parallel to the global trend and turn towards becoming an active part of the vanguard in influencing the future of a greener and carbon-free business world (ONeil 2010). The literature review of the study gives an increased apprehension in the Green ICT area and analyzes Sustainable Business Practice linked to Cloud Computing. It has further looked into whether implementing a cloud computing policy will potentially enable tangible business benefits in line with wider Corporate, Social and Environmental Responsibility activities, as a result of which ICT managers are armed with opportunities to improve operational excellence and optimize technology that is underlying the business strategies and ICT infrastructure operations (Australian Computer Society 2009). The result of the research study points out that firms within the ICT sector are developing clearer strategic directions regarding their business opportunities in order to enable the eco-sustainability of other industries. Few companies could develop genuine value propositions aimed at improving the sustainability, both ecological as well as economical, of their customers by delivering products and services that resolve customers current problems. The study successfully determined the scope and richness of sustainability, as well as explored the relevance, motivators and inhibitors of cloud computing with respect to a sustainability initiative. In general, it describes that issues on how to achieve cost savings and sustainability among the organization can be addressed at early stages of maturity. Although there are signs of sustainability implementations in terms of coverage, across government at present, however, whether this is being used for driving cost saving initiatives is yet unclear (James Hopkinson 2009).