Joyce Carol Oates “Golden Gloves” Story

Yu-Tzu Lin Instructor Emily Plicka English 101 6, October 2012 In Joyce Carol Oates’ story â€Å"Golden Gloves†, it is about the growth of a boy to becoming a man. This boy who was a born with deformed feet, he had couldn’t walk until 3 years old. His dad was a little shameful of him being handicapped. He didn’t like people to touch him or help him. When he was eight, he had a surgery on his feet. He suffered a lot of pains during his rehabilitation . His father took him to a boxing match and he fell in love with boxing right away.He told himself that He would box one day at the Golden Gloves tournament and people would see him standing there in that ring, not in a wheelchair. He began his training at the YMCA. He worked out every day in order to keep himself in the best shape. All he thought about was boxing. He was told that he had talent and had a future. He won many local matches. At the young age of eighteen he boxed in the semi-finals of the Golden G loves tournament, and it was the game that ended his boxing career. A few years later, he married a woman, Annemarie, who desired to have children so bad.She always wanted to have a family even after her first miscarriage; she still persisted to be pregnant again. Finally, Annemarie got pregnant again. They took natural childbirth classes together. But her husband never told Annemarie about his past—about his amateur boxing. He even wasn’t honest about his premature birth and deformed feet. It is a deep shame he struggles with. Joyce Carol Oates â€Å"Golden Gloves† story, the main character struggles with insecurity, even as an adult who eventually achieves success and happiness in his career and marriage.His insecurity haunts him his whole life through: First, insecurity as a child, he was suffering a lot of pain from his deformed feet. He was being bullied by the kids at school. He would grab them and hurt them and made them cry when he got older. Those child hood experiences built up his personality more like shy, showing none of his emotions in him, even a little bit self-abased. As a child, there was not much things that he could do about it, so he keeps his hurt and anger bottled up inside. (P. 774) Second, as a boxer, he lies awake at night worrying about the â€Å"punch out of nowhere† and worries about disappointing his dad.When he was training at YMCA, he was constantly thinking about what did other people think about him and if he challenged other boys, could he knock him out? He also practiced with boys that might be older than him. He improved himself, he knew his weaknesses. (p776) From that example shows that he was insecure that he would be fail. Although some readers might think that it showed his humility, actually here is a mixture feeling of being humble and afraid of not being the best boxer. His father made the statement: â€Å"Either you have the talent or you don’t, It can’t be fake. (p. 776) t his pointed out that he had to win to show that he had talent in boxing. Also his dad put bets on him and that gave him more pressure and worried about letting his dad down. That is probably why he would wake up in the middle of the night and confused about himself. Here, Oates wrote â€Å"His fists when he woke would be clenched so hard his fingernails would be cutting into his palms, his toes curled in tight and cramped as if still deformed, secretly deformed. † (p. 779) because character here was physically healed, he was not crippled anymore.But he still had the same reaction as when he was crippled before. Moreover, the last word, â€Å"secretly deformed†, makes readers feel like that he is still deformed in some way. Maybe he is not physically deformed; maybe in deep down his heart, he is still that crippled boy. Third, he was also insecure as an adult in his strength —admire the strength of his wife, her willingness to try again reminds him of his failure at eighteen, and his insecurity haunts him. Annemarie, his wife, was miscarriage the first pregnancy. She suffered a lot physically and mentally.Annemarie was persistent to be pregnant again but he hesitated. Annemarie’s persistence made him think of his boxing career, made him think of his failure. The main character told himself that â€Å"It’s just physical after all it doesn’t mean anything. Such failures of physical life don’t mean anything. You take the blow then get on with living isn’t that the history of the world? Of course it is. † This part showed that he was trying to comfort himself and made himself feel better about trying again. And the next he said he is an adult now, not a boy any longer. (p. 82) He compared Annemarie’s miscarriage to his failure at eighteen, and he admired the strength of his wife and persuaded himself that he can take more now. Even though when the baby due in less than a week, he was still insecu re about the punch out of nowhere. (p. 783) Maybe he was worried about that he couldn’t control what would happen next. Throughout his life, things were always happened unexpectedly. â€Å"He hadn’t been a fighter at all, merely a victim. † (P. 783) This phrase from Oate’s story pointed out that his biggest insecurity is from life, since he was a premature baby who had deformed feet.He worked so hard to be able to walk; he got bullied by other kids. When he finally became a boxer, he was worried about disappointing his dad, and failure in boxing. He still struggled with insecurity about things happened to his wife. Actually he had a good life when he grew up. But why does he continue to feel insecure in his life, in his happiness? Is it because deep down inside of him he is still that little boy with deformed feet that people pitted or made fun of? Hopefully, he would learn from strength of Annemarie. And maybe when their baby is born, he can feel more se cure in his role as a father and a husband.

A Crime of Compassion Essay

This woman is not a murderer. Barbara Huttmann is a long time nurse who gave a man named Mac his wish to just die and not continue to suffer. Mac had terminal cancer, was on loads of pain medication that wasn’t working and at a hospital where the policy was to resuscitate any patient that stopped breathing. But he begged her to stop them from resuscitating him and so she did. What Huttmann did was not wrong. Mac had the right to die with dignity and not suffer any longer. The team would rush in after the code button is pushed, get the patient breathing again, and leave the nurse to clean the patient up. He would moan in pain and beg Huttmann to stop them every time. Huttmann begged and pleaded with the Doctor put a no code order on Mac but refused due his beliefs and hospital policies. â€Å"We resuscitated him fifty-two times in one month.† (Huttmann 344) Huttmann had been his nurse for six months  which was long enough for her to know Mac, a well-respected police officer and his wife Maura well. â€Å"It was also long enough to watch Maura’s transformation from a young woman to a haggard, beaten old lady.† (Huttmann 344) Maura has had enough too. Maura sat there for six months and watched her husband battle this horrible disease and then had to sit there and watch him suffer as the hospital team continued to save him numerous times. All of this is occurring regardless of what the family said. This is not what Mac and Maura wanted for him. Regardless of Mac and Maura’s wishes they continued to resuscitate him everytime. Until Huttmann finally decided to do as the patient wished. â€Å"Nothing I have done in my 47 years has taken so much effort as it took not to press that code button.† (Huttmann 345) She did it, Huttmann waited until she knew for certain Mac could not be resuscitated again, and then she pushed that button. Just then Maura walked in and begged â€Å"No†¦don’t let them do this to him†¦..for God’s sake†¦please no more.† (Huttmann 346) That is when Huttmann took Maura in her arms and comforted her the best she could. That is when some people decided that Huttmann was a murderer. Of course she was not a murderer. She was finally doing as Mac and his family wished would be done. Mac and Maura begged her enough to just let him go and be put out of the misery and pain he and his family were going through. Of course Huttmann has to listen to people say these things to her. She did what was right, she granted Mac’s one last wish and did not push that code button. Mac will no longer suffer  because Huttmann decided to stop worrying about the policies of the hospital and focus more on what the patient and his family wanted.

Race: White People and Color Purple Essay

What does race means? To me race means where we come from, the color of my skin, appearance and the beliefs I follow. Even though for many people is the skin color or the appearance of a person. Many of the minority races had being treated unequally in the United States since early colonization. Over time there has being an increase of Hispanics, Blacks and Asians, each one bringing new experiences to the country and changing it in a good way. I have learned in my choice unit books, that many people just see someone’s skin color to try to figure out how they are instead of their personality. Most of the characters in those books had experience racism, lack of education, and economic statue. Each of the main characters had different stories, and went through different hardships but there is one thing in common. They come from a different culture and a poor family. Racism is one of the main issues of this country since slavery was introduced to the colonies and so did I saw it in different book and films this year. As I notice while reading The Color Purple whites has most of the superiority and so did man of any race. Sofia a big girl who wasn’t afraid of anyone and always talked back when there was something she didn’t like. One time she met a white woman and asked her if Sofia will like to work as her maid. Sofia refused that offered and so the white woman’s husband asked her again and she refused again, so the man slapped her and so Sofia responded back. At the end she was sent to jail for hitting a white person and was sentenced to work on the white’s family house for many years. She couldn’t see her children for many years or any one from her family. This example shows how many whites have superiority over certain race. Before you didn’t have to be rich, to be superior, you just needed to be white in order to set the rules, vote, and to be free in a few days if there was a crime. In my history class I saw a documentary how an African American 14 years old boy was killed just for talking to a white women and his case to get the guilty men in prison wasn’t that successful, and those men were set free and declared not guilty. After a few days a press told them they will receive money if they told the media the truth and so did the white men confessed and were sent to jail. This was a victory for the boy’s mom, but still they left an empty whole in that boy’s family. This is one of the few cases in the early years that a crime was solve to favor African Americans and many were just forgotten. Now days we have seeing that there is a huge percentage of color people dropping school every day. Many of these kids face pregnancy at an early age, they start looking for jobs, etc. In The Color Purple, Celie was abused by her stepfather and had two kids with him. He always lowered her esteem by telling her she was dumb and fat. She didn’t want to go to school for this causes but slowly she started learning how to read and write because her sister helped her. Later on she created her own store and triumph in life. Also in the film A Better Life we can see how a community of Hispanics has lowered education and many of the gangs are formed inside school. Schools are supposed to represent a safety environment so everyone can learn. The school environment I saw in the film was kind of like a jail. Police was everywhere the school and many kids had tattoos everywhere in their body. Many poor cities are more likely to have a lack of education and many of them are black or Latinos. In Macho, the people in Mexico living in that city were struggling for a job. The ones that had a job didn’t make a lot of money to bring food to their families. Since that’s a big issue, many falls in the hands of coyotes and try to immigrate illegally to its neighbor country which is the United States. Many try to get a working visa but also many fail, and the only choice they had was to travel by the desert. A lot of people died in the process of passing border or they were left to die or they were shot but gang members. In conclusion races are the one that define this country because many of us came from different cultures. We came to the United States to find freedom, which the first amendment allowed to us, also to escape poverty of our countries, and give our family a better future. Many of the families that migrate to this country do it in different forms. Many innocent people face discriminations and racism because of their skin color or how they look. Their communities’ faces lack of educations, many of the schools are not receiving help from the government. Poor communities are the ones that have a lot of diversity including blacks, Hispanic and Asians. This people have hardship looking for jobs and sometimes their only choice is to join a gang. Race has changed this country in different ways, and hopefully in years racism will have a different face.

How would you teach the following structures to Young Learners Assignment

How would you teach the following structures to Young Learners - Assignment Example While explaining, it is important to create the atmosphere of another culture. The atmosphere of the foreign culture must be created in order to introduce a language to children. If Children learn French, for example, the teacher can bring pictures of Eifel tower and other national images of the country as visual training means capture children’s attention and increase memorizing capabilities: e.g. using pictures and word cards for learning words will create necessary parallels between the word and the concept in a child’s mind. â€Å"The pupil ought from the very first lesson to have the clearest sensation of being on foreign ground, and he ought to realize that the foreign sounds cannot be learned without work† (Jespersen, Otto, 1928, 29). The new surrounding will enable young learners to be involved in the new culture and its language. There is no other practice that would be as effective in working with children as playing. Young learners always perceive the new information better when it is delivered in the game form. â€Å"The difficulties of the new language can be overcome by paying careful attention to both the processes that are involved: listening and imitation† (Kirkman, F. B., 1909, 28). An effective type of learning activity is singing songs containing repetitions of the new words and watching educational cartoons. Moreover, competitions can be organized between children divided into 2 groups with guessing the word describing the picture and writing it on the whiteboard (the group, which manages to guess more, wins). Small prizes like candies can be used to encourage the winners. The form of debates between the groups can be also used on the later stages of learning. During some creative activities (like drawing) children must be encouraged to say aloud what they are

Service Marketing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Service Marketing - Research Paper Example Marketing challenges are a common issue for all service companies. The major focus of these companies is to highlight intangible or tangible element present within the service aspect. In this research study five different companies will be included belonging to different service sectors. The various service sectors chosen for this study are financial services, telecommunication services, airlines, hospitality and health care services. Financial services are usually provided by finance industry and are regarded as economic services. There is wide range of firms belonging to this industry like banks, insurance companies, real estate funds, credit unions, investment funds, accountancy companies, etc. Air transport services are another well-known service for travelling freight and passengers. Telecommunication service is all about enhancing transfer capabilities of user information through telecommunication systems. On the other hand, health care services are highly responsible for provi ding appropriate health care facilities to patients. Hospitality services are inclined towards providing guests accommodation facilities, travel, food, other amenities, etc. Etisalat is the brand name for Emirates Telecommunications Corporation. The company belongs to the telecommunication industry and was founded in 1976. Etisalat is a well-known telecommunication service provider based in UAE. In current scenario the company operates across 15 countries encompassing Asia, Africa and Middle East. The company is ranked as 12th largest operator of mobile network across the globe. Total customer base of the firm is about 150 million. Services being offered by the company are mobile and fixed line telephony, digital television and internet services. It can be stated that fixed line telephony and digital television is a form of tangible substance being offered by Etisalat. The company has even entered into approximately 150 roaming agreements, expanding across 186

Othello and the lady with the dog Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Othello and the lady with the dog - Essay Example Yet he quickly shows that he is capable of believing that his wife is unfaithful with the slightest bit of evidence and insinuation and proceeds to commit vicious murders in order to avenge himself. Desdemona demonstrates love, honesty, and sincerity while in contrast Iago displays hate, jealousy, and malice and Othello starts at one end of the spectrum and swiftly moves to the other. Dmitry Gurov is the main character in Chekhov’s story and is described by himself and the author as a man with contradictory actions and beliefs. He is outwardly a good and honest father and husband while he secretly runs around on his wife and considers all women to be part of â€Å"the lower race† (Part I). Anna is seemingly embarrassed and ashamed of her feelings and actions towards Dmitry yet she openly denounces her husband and admits that she is unhappy in her life with him. Presentation is only one facet of these character’s lives while their actions and beliefs are another. While Iago is the essence of evil, he strives to portray himself otherwise in order to achieve the ends he desires, no matter the cost. He openly admits is dual nature to Roderigo: â€Å"In following him, I follow but myself; / Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, / But seeming so, for my peculiar end; / For when my outward action doth demonstrate / The native act and figure of my heart / In compliment extern, ‘tis not long after / But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at. I am not what I am† (I. i. 58-65). Iago is fully aware of his true feelings and his ability to manipulate others and lie in order to achieve whatever he wants. He admits that he is not who he seems to be and that he is purposeful in being so. He successfully convinces Othello that he was not the one to tell Brabantio of Othello’s relationship with his daughter Desdemona and that in fact Roderigo â€Å"spoke such

Social Awarness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social Awarness - Essay Example In a way some sick audience may become victims to such ill movies, which hasn't got any social message. The movies which are actually made for entertainment if causes damage to the society must not be made available to all except to adults under strict rules and regulations. I would to like to take the movie Frankenstein as part of subject to evaluate. This was originally a novel written by Mary shelly, which was later made as a movie. The title name Frankenstein (Victor Frankenstein) is a name of a scientist who is obsessed and crazy of creating life in a dead body. The very first intention of the director to make a horror movie of such genera is it self a matter of concern. It is not that such movies should not be made but basing the total movie on a point like regeneration of human life is unethical and paranoid. Not even the very own base of the movie, the way the movie is made clearly indicates the mediocre and harming the society's nature towards the humanity. He spent many years to acquire dead bodies from grave and also by torturing animals. After ten years of wild goose chase he was finally ready to induce life into his creation. Frankenstein asks his assistant (Fritz) to bring a brain from the university. He drops the normal one and steals a criminal's brain from a dead body. Finally Frankenstein manages to put life into his imagination.

Legalizing Marijuana, Pro Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Legalizing Marijuana, Pro - Essay Example Medical science has adopted a cautious approach while dealing with the issues related to legalization of marijuana. In other words, medical science neither completely opposes, nor it completely opposes the legalization of marijuana use in America. This is because of the fact that controlled use of marijuana may bring more benefits than harm. Patients who are suffering from chronic pain may be benefitted, if they are allowed to take marijuana in a controlled manner. This paper critically analyses all the dimensions of this controversial topic and argues in favor of legalizing of marijuana in America. Marijuana use is legal in fourteen American states at present. â€Å"The 14 states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes are Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington†(Hall & Schiefelbein, p.197). It would be illogical to argue that these states legalized marijuana use without a deep study. In other words, these states might have conducted many studies before legalizing the usage of marijuana in their territories. â€Å"The cannabinoid drug THC has been approved by Food and Drug Administration for use in relieving nausea and vomiting and increasing appetite in people with cancer and AIDS. Testing of other marijuana extracts is still in the early stages† (Find support and treatment). ... A pure preparation of the major active component, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), Marinol or dronabinol, is available for treating nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy and as an adjunct to weight loss in patients with wasting syndrome associated with AIDS. Although such approval currently applies only to orally administered THC, for practical purposes smoked marijuana should also be expected to be equally effective (Holister, p.5). The acceptance of marijuana among American people is growing day by day. â€Å"A recent Gallup poll found that a historic high of 46 per cent of Americans favor legalizing the drug† (Abramsky, p.18). Under such circumstances, prohibition of marijuana force people to collect marijuana from illegal sources. Collection of marijuana from illegal sources may cause huge taxes to the government. Clements et al (2010, p.20) pointed out that â€Å"taxing marijuana at the same rate as tobacco is estimated to yield additional revenue of about 24% of the pre-existing proceeds from taxation of tobacco and alcohol†. A recent study estimates that a state could collect tax revenues in the $650 million to $760 million range, if marijuana use is legalized. Moreover, law enforcement costs would decline by several hundred million dollars per year while legalizing marijuana (Abramsky, p.18). From the above findings, it is evident that legalizing of marijuana would help a government to increase tax revenue and reduce expenditure for the law enforcements. It should be noted that plenty of efforts and resources are necessary for the government to seize illegal marijuana collections and to enforce the law. Such expenditure can be avoided

Critically Evaluate How ICT Is Applied To the Tourism and Hospitality Essay

Critically Evaluate How ICT Is Applied To the Tourism and Hospitality Industries - Essay Example rating in the tourism and hospitality industries also face immense competition amid themselves owing to the increasing numbers of entrants and established brands offering similar products and services. Companies possess the need to develop effective strategies to deal with such scenarios. They need to perform effectively in every aspect of their business so that they can outdo the performance of their competitors and obtain greater advantages that can suffice their long-run sustainability needs. It is often argued in this regard that proper execution of the plans and decisions of the business is the ultimate approach that can substantiate effective performance demanded by a modern day organisation (Pride & et. al., 2010). In this regard, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) performs a key role in the proper execution of organisational operations, keeping in mind the needs of modern companies, which can be explicitly observed in the context of tourism and hospitality industries. ICT is often considered as one of the extensive constituents of Information Technology (IT). However, unlike IT, the concept of ICT stretches more on the aspect of communication. The concept of ICT in any form of industry including the tourism and hospitality industries commonly involves the execution of activities such as incorporation of telecommunications technology with computers and other essential software, which further allows the user companies to access, store as well as share information among their various operational departments. It would not be erroneous to depict in this regard that ICT has its influences in various sections of the business and it acts as a major driving force in deciding the performanc e of the business operations of companies functioning in any sector including tourism and hospitality sectors. The significance of ICT for companies operating in any sector can be affirmed from the fact that it is actively implemented in certain specific and vital

1984 by George Orwell Essay Example for Free

1984 by George Orwell Essay â€Å"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him† . In such a way â€Å"1984† by George Orwell starts. From the very first lines the author tires to set necessary atmosphere. Actually, the main point of the book is Orwell’s idea of personal freedom and how this freedom is defined throughout the book. The author presents the existence of doublethink, ultimate power in society and government along with absence of free thought and liberty. It is necessary to admit that the book is famous author’s ability to create tension and for finding original way of expressing ideas and thoughts. The book is one of the most famous dystopias because it illustrates real life, real living conditions and opportunities. George Orwell provides descriptions of future paying special attention to human face, human predetermination and human fate fighting every person from pessimistic misanthropes to the idealistic optimists. See more: My Writing Process Essay Orwell tells a story of a solitary Winston Smith who works in the Ministry of Truth. The main idea is that everything is functioning under the pressure of totalitarian world. Smith is a member of a leading party of the state, whereas Orwell underlines that only one part exists. In such a way Orwell shows that the only party provides guidance and control of all aspects of human life including even the most intimate thoughts. Smith’s job speaks for itself –Winston is assigned to provide changes to past records to make them match party wishes. Social culture is treated as â€Å"doublethink† meaning that presence of two conflicting facts opposes party’s ideology. Every citizen should support general party philosophy enabling English Socialism to subsume the essence of different thinking and to provide full control. Winston Smith thinks about liberty and freedom of though, though he realizes that he is simply a middle-aged man having no ties. His mind is full of dangerous thoughts and inside he is willing to struggle in order to reconcile events taking place around him. Actually, he remains the only unsettled person being interested in human rights and personal dignity. He thinks people should fight for what he feels proper and right. Te concept of doublethink must be eliminated, though Winston is personally weak to be able to rebel. It is necessary to note that it is the author who wants to speak to readers via his main character. Winston is trying to warn people of what may come in near future: â€Å"For whom, it suddenly occurred to him to wonder, was he writing this story? For the future, for the unborn. His mind hovered for a moment round the doubtful date on the page, and then fetched up with a bump against the Newspeak word doublethink. either the future would resemble the present, in which case it would not listen to him: or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless? † When Smith makes an elicit contact with a fellow party worker Julia, he feels he is ready to confront. Nevertheless, the power of the book is not simply in social theory provide, but rather in detailed descriptions of thoughts of main character. The author skillfully writes about party’s claims: â€Å"But simultaneously, true to the principles of doublethink, the Party taught that proles were natural inferiors who must be kept in subjection, like animals, by the application of a few simple rules †. When the main charter is firstly introduced, he is presented a thought criminal whose story is premised on that leap. Orwell allows following Smith’s life, to share his job, his objections to instructions. Also readers have an excellent opportunity to observe his love affairs and strange romance with Julia. Main hero is outrageous with established set of order and he says Julia: â€Å"I hate purity, I hate goodness! † Speaking about strong points, the book is brilliantly written, well-structured. The author writes with a rhythm vividly expressing his ideas. Development of Winston Smith creates empathy. Possibly, the strongest moment is the last half of the book when Orwell provides answers to the questions of interest. When Smith reads a book about how the leading party remains in power, he is interested why? party provides such discriminative and unfair policy towards society. When he asks O’Brien, he is answered as bluntly as possible that power should be achieved and retained for the sake of the power. The author vividly portrays Winston’s disappointment stating that society is confronted by absolute power being confident of its own immortality and universality. He thinks of Big Brother realizing that this program is confronted because of promoting sex crimes and proliferation. Nevertheless, the weak points are present as well. Actually, the last half of the book, despite being full of sense and explanations, appears not so interesting compared with the beginning. The author continues illustrating new fascinating ideas and images, though the whole story comes to a crashing halt. Apparently, long descriptions of dry book about political theory makes readers boring and dull. When Smith appears under tortures, the author fails to create intensive atmosphere. Possibly, the book becomes too familiar and the fact that Smith fails to confront social order is disappointing. The next moment is that the society of Big Brother is too idyllically presented to support man’s resistance. However, the author improves the situation after releasing Winston. The best piece of the book is re-union of Winston and Julia. The book is relevant to modern society and political philosophy because it aims at expanding existing knowledge of totalitarian ideologies. The author sheds light on the lives of common people with no ties comparing their opportunities with that of the absolute power being practiced by party members. The author provides detailed overview of totalitarian ideology exploring its deepest corners.

Causes Of Failure At Lehman Business Essay

Causes Of Failure At Lehman Business Essay The article examined and analysed for this coursework is entitled for Lehman, More Cuts and Anxiety by Jenny Anderson and Eric Dash. It was published in the New York Times in August 29th 2008. Lehman Brothers was formed in 1850 and is a much diversified globalised financial institution with its headquarters in the United States1. Lehman had a client portfolio of corporations, governments and various individuals across the globe meeting their financial needs. However, the once successful Lehman Brothers is facing a tough time. This is due to the sub prime mortgage crisis, an ongoing economic problem of contracted liquidity in the global market and banking system, in the United States. This adversely destroyed the operations of Lehman brothers significantly as their finances were seriously affected. Lehman undervalued risk in the subprime market together with false accounting leading to catapulting collapse of the organisation2. As a result of these problems, together with external for ces Lehman had to lay off 6000 of its workers. As quoted from main article by anderson3 Lehman has laid off more than 6000 workers since June 2007. Speaking in the same vain, this influences the morale on the remaining staffs expected round of cuts is stark reminder of basic truth on wall street, in good times you get rich, bad times you get fired3. The repercussions such as layoffs backfiring, dissatisfied workers and employment laws are some of the challenges that management at Lehman will be facing and therefore needs to apply various management theories and concepts to overcome it. These include analytical frameworks of Jackson and Schuler4 and Kochan and Barocci5 in relation to internal human resources management, together with the rights and responsibilities which can be exercised by Lehman Brothers. Causes of failure at Lehman: There was not a single variable which lead to the fall of Lehman brothers but rather a culmination of factors such as greedy Wall Street traders, debt load of American household, Rating Agencies and degregulations6. However, out of these factors the main one was the market of credit default swaps. Morin and Maux6 gave an explanation of the sub-prime market as follows inferior quality real estate loans whos higher risk of payment default is countered by the bank with higher rates. The mortgage loans granted at variable rates were granted to households with modest incomes. Moreover in a separate report and SWOT analysis done by Datamonitor7 gave an insight into how Lehman exposure to sub prime market caused a risk to the company and went further to criticise it. Investments in sub-prime mortgages and mortgage backed securities are at risk of being written off amid a crisis in US sub-prime mortgage market. Much of that prime dept was repackaged as collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) and mortgaged backed securities and was sold in the whole sale market7. Another factor which needs to be considered is known as Repo 105. This is a purchasing agreement used to manage cash flow by organisations. It normally involves an agreement in which the bank gives one of its counterparts highly liquid securities in exchange for cash. But in the case of Lehman they acted differently, according to Wilchins and Da silva8, Lehman Bought government bonds from another bank using its Lehman Brothers Special financing unit in the states. Before the end of quarter, the US unit transferred bonds to London affiliate called Lehman Brothers International. Afterwards, the London office gave assets to its counterparty and received cash and agreed to buy the assets back later at a much higher price, at least 105% of original price. The money that was received was used to cover and pay off a large amount of liabilities. Therefore the reduction in assets and liabilities showed a much better quarterly financial statements and corresponding ratios, appearing much bette r to regulators, investors and the general public. At the start of the next quarter Lehman borrowed more money using its falsely made up financial statements and then only to repurchase the securities from its affiliates in London and in so doing its financial statement will revert back to its preceding poorer position. Discussion With reference to the main article2 for the essay, after the mortgage crisis, management at Lehman had to re-structure their strategies for managing. Lehman executives are examining many options, among them is the sale of investment management division, which includes Neuberger Berman and could fetch $7-10 billion. Other options include the sale of about $40 billion of troubled commercial real estate, and the creation of separate unit that would be owned by Lehman shareholders and house a substantial portion of Lehmans commercial and residential mortgage assets, as well as making thousands of staff redundant2. According to Jackson and Schuler4, the implementation of a specific human resource management (HRM), practices, policies and philosophies and organisational performance are derived from an assortment of macro-level environmental influences. It was apparent in the case of Lehman Brothers that they should adopt the practice of organisational resizing in response to the economic and environmental conditions8. The degree to which their remaining employees respond and execute their duties will be deeply depended on how the human resource department handles the staff. In their model, the human resource management of Lehman needs to think about external factors such as culture, laws and regulations, politics and industry partners relevant to investment banking9. Moreover, the model shows the dependency between the processes of information interpretation, decision making and communication management in relation to the organisations technology, structure, size, strategy and life cycle stage. As a conglomerate company operating in different countries, the amalgamation of the globalisation strategy and sustainable technology would help Lehman Brothers. Henceforth, Lehman should apply the model and reduce its financial burden as well as job dissatisfaction. It was sensible for Lehman to lay off some of its staff as the article said but an alternative strategy could have been to keep its staff but give a pay cut. Although how feasible this option is unknown. In the same way, Kochan and Barocci5 provided an analytical framework demonstrating the informal linkage between the constantly evolving environmental conditions, HRM strategies and policies, and stakeholders goals and needs. It was significant for Lehman to understand the framework proposed by these management gurus as they have to make Human Resource decisions to convince both the organisation and its stakeholders including but not limited to maintaining profit, sustainable dividend payment to shareholders, provide a healthy and safe working environment, and customer service6,7. The management model proposed by Kochan and Barocci went further to advocate that organisational HR analysis should be able to recognise the need for HRM strategies and policies to adopt and response to both internal and external organisational changes9. As said earlier, Lehman brothers could have kept their staff on and reduce their wages or find them temporary jobs and in so doing their financial woes cou ld have been reduced and at the same time fulfil its responsibilities by providing short-term compensating jobs. However according to article used2, Lehman decided to permanently layoff 6000 workers which lead to backfiring by various stakeholders including some of the staff taking Lehman to court for unfair dismissal, retained workers felt job insecurity in a fearful environment, and loss of consumer confidence as reflected in the decline of mortgage financing applications in 2007. Lehmans stock has been rattled by persistent rumours about what the firms next move will be. Last week, the stock fell 12% and rose 16% on two separate days. The shares have lost 73% of their value this year, rankling employees and customers2. Therefore to prevent Lehman Brothers being in the news for similar reasons, it should layoff its staff in accordance with employment law. However, if the law does not sanction this act then a revised job package needs to be considered as discussed earlier. Although different Human resource management (HRM) strategies and practises exists such as human resource (HR) planning, staffing practices, performance and appraisal, workplace participants rights, responsibility and safety in the work place and etc. Not all of them are applicable in the article in the case of Lehman; the most relevant is HR planning and workplace participants rights and responsibilities. A tactical plan showing the elementary ideology and criteria fundamental to the success of such programmes is vital11. For the most part, strategically based organisations are now finding it beneficial to appraise the affectation of reduction measures in advance because an under-employment or over employment might obstruct accomplishments to change the organisations niche11. The conventional all plans fit in every situation i.e. uninterrupted layoff plans by Lehman brothers of staffs in unsteady conditions, cannot be used as forecast anchor in low growth, volatile business environm ent. An assortment of management gurus have given support to the human resource practice as it is important in deciding which jobs are critical, which jobs will be lost, and to establish whether terminations should be concurrent or implemented using a phase down approach12. Accordingly, this enables the justification and magnitude of importance for Lehman to conduct a Human resource planning by engaging themselves in an ongoing environmental scanning of both the internal and external labour market in line with an analysis of their organisational objectives, strategies and policies in order to determine the right quantity and quality of employees. Perhaps it can argue that because Lehman had to lay so many staffs off during their problems, there was a bit of Human Resources Policy failure i.e. the institution was overstaffed. The main other Human Resource practice which needs to be considered by Lehman is the workplace participants right and responsibilities. This is because the employment liaison between Lehman and other respective parties are determined by signed contracts. Henceforth, the employment law in all countries around the globe sets the minimum standards and conditions for employment in a given region13. As the employment options are diverse and multifaceted, it is imperative for Lehman Brothers to have up to date and precise understanding of employment laws both in the home and host country. In referring back to the situation in which Lehman laid off staff launched a court claim for unmerited dismissal, it seems Lehman was oblivious to the employment law. Whilst at the same time, it was apparent that how to reduce the financial loss was what was dominating the irrational managerial executives. The Human relation practitioners at Lehman should have known better in the sense that you cant just dismiss a member of staff without cause and the member wont refer to the Director General of Industrial Relations Act 6713. Lehman in principle needed to endow with their offer of contract in agreement with what the content said. And Lehman has the duty to pay remuneration if employers are prepared to work. Conclusions In the current global economy, various organisations will face many uncertain external environment pressures, which will significantly influence the Human Resource Aspect of the organisation16. In the case of Lehman Brothers, due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis it lead to a range of negative outcomes such as laid off staff taking Lehman to court for unfair dismissal, retained staff had lots of job insecurity in an apprehensive environment, and finally the loss of customers assurance as seen in the decline of mortgage financing applications. Therefore with reference to the main article, two pertinent strategic human relations management theories were used to explain how Lehman could improve its organisational circumstances. The analytical frameworks of Jackson and Schuler3 and Kochan and Barocci5 were discussed. In the application of the former framework to Lehman it was suggested that they should adopt the practise of rightsizing i.e. temporary layoffs of staffs and pay-cuts. It was also analysed that extend to which the staff kept behind would react and perform was seen to be greatly determined by the ability of the human relations department to control the situation15. Moreover the framework also recognized the need for Lehman to adopt HRM strategies with response to the changes in the external environment i.e. temporary layoff plan and job repackaging. Speaking in the same vein, two internal HRM practices were suggested to help Lehman out of its situation namely HRP and workplace participants rights and responsibilities. With respect to the HRP proposal, Lehmans one fit alls application was damned and instead, the significance for Lehman to conduct a HRP taking into consideration continuous environmental scanning were emphasised as their past HRP was a disaster- permanently laying off surplus labour leading to wastage of resources and excessive payrolls. References New York Stock Exchange (2008) Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Retrieved 20th Oct 2012. Weng Marc Lim. Organisational Strategic Human Resource Management. The case of Lehman Brothers. Journal of Management Research (2012) 4: 20-24. Anderson J Dash E. For Lehman, More cuts and Anxiety. The New York Times. August 2008. (Last accessed on October 30th 2012). Jackson S Schuler R. Understanding Human Resource management in the context of organisation and their environments. Annual Review of Psychology 46: 237-264. Kochan TA Barocci TA. Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations (1985) 15: 21-28. Le Maux J Monin D. 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