Causes and Effects of Organisational Structure Change

Causes and Effects of Organisational Structure Change ABSTRACT This dissertation will help to understand the reasons, why organizations change and its affect on the organizational structure. To comprehend the selected topic various secondary sources from the public domain has been taken. Information from these sources has been addressed under the heading literature review. It gives an overview of the triggers of change in the first section with special reference to role of the change agent in the change process, followed by a section how the organizational structure is affected by triggers of change. Next section addresses the contribution of the structure towards change followed by employees attitude to the change process. This literature review helped to understand already established concepts on the topic. And to realize the commercial application of the management theories two companies have been selected, Atari and Oticon. One of them changed its structure because of triggers in the external environment and it was successful and still perfo rming well but the other did not change and it perished. At the end this dissertation helped to look at the ways of making the changing process a subtle experience instead of making it a knee-jerk incident as suggested by many authors in the field. AIMS AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES This dissertation is an attempt to examine the relevance of theoretical studies to real commercial situations. And it gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our understanding and application of the concepts and theories taught in the MSc programme. While undertaking this task it also tested our ability to exhibit business research skills and to make a clear presentation of findings. And finally at the end it allows us to do a critical evaluation of our future career path. METHODOLOGY As a part of MSc Management course work this dissertation is to be completed based on secondary research. And it consists of published journals, books, annual reports of the companies, corporate and other websites. Most of the published journals are available through the University of Glasgow library database belonging to different disciplines from psychology to management reviews. There are certain limitations and challenges faced during its completion like it did not allow any primary research which means restriction of work only through secondary research. But the availability of overwhelming amount of research works on the selected topic posed another challenge. It was challenging to sieve through it and extract the relevant information which would help to conclude the topic. Other challenges faced are the time limit of only four months, and word limit of maximum twelve thousand which is quite less to compress all the work from literature review, company history to analysis of ea ch part. I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection Charles Darwin Charles Darwin was the British naturalist who was renowned for his theories of evolution and natural selection (www.lucidcafe.com). As the theory of natural selection suggests that in the biological world organisms develop certain characteristics that help them to survive in the environment. That is, the strongest survive in certain environmental conditions and these characteristics are transferred from one generation to the next through genes (www.allaboutscience.org). Change is inevitable and environment is changing at a much faster rate than anticipated, influencing all levels of the society, from individual to the corporate settings making the world a vibrant place to live. From organizational perspective, change in an organization can be triggered by advancement of technology, to the quest of the management to excel in the market. And to avoid annihilation one has to transform itself and adapt to its environment. To understand each aspect of change from organizational point of view will be an enormous task with amount of literature available. So the core focus will be to understand the triggers of change, role of a change agent in the changing process. The next aspect is to know why changes within the organization affect its structure. Subsequently the nature of change, that is how organizations change and finally the aspect of employees reaction to the change. And for a better understanding of all the aspects, first it is an attempt to understand the literature available on this topic and to comprehend their application in real life situation two companies have been chosen, Oticon and Atari as the case studies. LITERATURE REVIEW 5.0 INTRODUCTION Literature review is an effort to study the research work done by various authors ranging from 1958 to 2008. The main topic of this research is to understand what makes organizations change and its consequences on the structure. It includes an introduction on various forms of triggers of change comprising of a discussion on the role of a change agent, its leadership style and power skills in the first section. The second section is about how change affects organizational structure. Next section consists of the nature of change that is, the type of change that organizations go through. And the last section deals with employees reaction to change with a discussion on Hofstedes work on culture. There has been an overwhelming amount of research work on different aspect of organizational change and it will be beyond the scope of this dissertation in terms of time and words to cover each topic. So it has been decided to get an overview on a part of organizational change as mentioned above. SECTION 5.1 TRIGGERS OF CHANGE This section would cover the reasons that might activate a change process in an organization. Some authors have classified trigger of change into groups based on their relation to the organization, while others have a more generalised view. Triggers of change have been categorized into external and internal triggers. External triggers would include change in customer needs, competition, innovative technology, new opportunities, change in social and cultural values, change in trading conditions, change in legislation and government policies (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2000a). Scarcity of essential resources also results in change and can lead to formulation of new strategies, policies, rules and regulations, innovative ways of communication, encouraging team work, developing new technology which can lead to the change of the entire structure of the organization (Chackerian and Mavima, 2000). Globalization of marketplace, enhanced technologies, fierce competition, liberalization of economies, single European currency, electronic-trading, reduction of cost in production, information and transportation through economies of scale, supply chain integration (Daft, 2006), environmental awareness towards global warming, industrial waste disposal management, use of renewable and non-renewable raw materials, health awareness towards obesity, diabetes etc making consumers move towards natural food from the synthetic ones, change in lifestyle due to increase in disposable income leading to the change in attitude towards work, leisure-time and society etc. Changing perspective towards work style from traditional to teleworking, outsourcing, advances in communication allows organization to be multinationals without leaving their own countries (Paton and McCalman, 2000a). Internal triggers would include appointment of a new senior executive, new and better ways of serving customers, infrastructure relocation, innovative product development (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2000b). Presence of influential group within the organization can trigger change (Greenwood and Hinings, 1996) or change in top hierarchy may lead to change through accepting and implementing innovation (Boeker, 1997a; Kraatz Moore, 2002). Change of managers within the hierarchy of the organization may lead to change (Boeker, 1997b), new responsibility can bring new motivation to do better and can lead to change through enhance learning, communication and introducing new technology etc (Fernandez and Pitts, 2007a). Organizations experience several types of triggers and thus implement several types of changes. It has been reported that 50% of organizations adapts changes due to crisis (Beddowes and Wille, 2007a). Organizational crisis can arise from external triggers such as competitors which can be a new firm or a rival, change in legislation, action of a stake holder by selling or buying a significant amount of shares, buy-out from an organisation etc (Eccles, 1994a). And 23% of organizations proactively change while anticipating threats and while doing so 44% percent of organizations change their organizational structure. (Beddowes and Wille, 2007b). According to a study of 100 companies, majority showed re-structuring as successful, as there are examples of companies running in losses for millions of dollars for a decade and then turning into a profit making company in two years with evidence of effective work through teams and employee empowerment. So triggers of change can be financial losses leading to drop in profits which can attract new leadership and which may lead to changes in the structure (Haveman, Russo and Meyer, 2001a), increased competition leading to loss of market share, industry in recession, appointment of new chief executive officer, proactive action (opportunities or threats foreseen), technological development and effective ways of staff utilisation (Beddowes and Wille, 2007c). According to Champy and Nohria (1996) there are three major triggers of change; technology, government and globalization. Technology especially information technology has transformed business in many different ways. For example e-banking has opened new strategies for the banks of doing their business electronically and over the net, giving better access to customers with personalised services. Another example is the use of information technology in the field of publishing of research journals. It has helped in speeding up the process of research and its publication. The government role as a trigger of change is by changing the policies which affects businesses. Deregulation, privatisation and free trade etc are opening up new ways for businesses and encouraging them to change their strategies. This type of change in government policies has been termed as regulatory punctuation which gives organizations new opportunities for expansion (Haveman, Russo and Meyer, 2001b). Another trigger of change is the observable fact of globalization. It has helped in developing new concepts of this century like outsourcing and forced companies to work in virtual environment. Change can be a powerful energizer and creative force which can be good and would lead to development of innovative ways of getting a competitive advantage as well as bad with callous demands on employees and other measures like downsizing for cost cutting etc. As mentioned earlier organizations appoint change agent to deal with external triggers which leads to internal changes in the organization. There is evidence that 16% of changes takes place due to appointment of new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with characteristics like charismatic personality, with a clear idea of what and how changes are to be made, capable of taking a holistic view of the organization and who believes in team work (Beddowes and Wille, 2007d). Managers do play a crucial role in planning and in implementing organizational change (Fernandez and Pitts, 2007b). For effective implementation of change there are three factors that need to be considered, the attitude, motivation and mind set of the change agent designing the change (Newman, 1973a). Previous research suggests that there exists a difference in the role of a change agent in the public sector and the private sector organizations. For example, there is significant amount of work directing towards the fact that public organizations although show more resistance to change but they often change according to Peters and Hogwood (1988) cited in Fernandez and Pitts (2007c). But some authors argued that organizational change has little to do with managerial leadership. As suggested by Hannan and Freeman (1984a) organizations survive because they are strong enough for a particular environment marked by size, age and complexity of the organization. But an organization stands for collective work of individuals and groups to fulfil the objectives and goal through set of rules, which needs direction and vision which is the responsibility of the organizational leader (Burke, 2002). And in order to influence individuals to work collectively towards a common goal is a complex task in itself on the part of the organizational leader. As stated influence is the essence of leadership (Yulk, 2002: P 141). The role of a change agent becomes effective when there is adequate leadership skill or influencing power to let others follow the vision and reach the goal. There is a list of twelve traits which consist of strong drive for responsibility , focus on completing the task , vigorous and persistence in pursuit of goals, venturesomeness and originality in problem solving drive to exercise initiative in social settings, self-confidence , sense of personal identity, willingness to accept consequences of decisions and actions, readiness to absorb interpersonal stress, willingness to tolerate frustration and delays, ability to influence the behaviour of others, capacity to structure social systems to the purpose in hand according to Stogdill (1950, 1954) cited in Huczynski and Buchanan (2007c). While studying American executives, 15 indispensible leadership traits were identified, which are judgement, initiative, integrity , foresight, energy, drive, human relations skill, decisiveness, dependability, emotional stability, fairness, ambition, dedication, objectivity and co-operation according to Stewart (1963) and there are as many as 80 leadership traits, identified in various studies as cited in Huczynski and Buchanan (2007d). As leadership is all about influential skills or power skills on the part of the change agent so that the vision of the change is followed by others (followers). The power to influence others measures the extent of leadership value (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007e). At individual level power can be seen as a motivational tool when an individual tries to control and influence events and when this is manifested in terms of observable action by others then power is seen as a behavioural aspect. Power in behavioural terms has been divided into eight categories reward, coercive, referent, legitimate, expert power (French and Raven, 1958a), informative, affiliation and group power (Benfari, et.al, 1986a). Reward power describes the ability to influence others in such a manner that followers believe the leader have the capacity to offer valuable reward or incentive in return of the obedience shown to the leaders demand. Coercive nature of power shows that the leader has the capacity to punish in the form of penalties and sanctions in return of noncompliance to the leaders demand. Referent power describes the ability of the leader to control by his/her enigmatic personality. Power is said to be of legitimate nature based on the authoritative position of the leader which is followed by the others as a compulsion. And the expert power which is described by its name that leader has expert knowledge and experience to make other people follow the instructions as it is regarded as of superior nature (French and Raven, 1958b). Informative power is similar to expert power and describes the leader to have undisclosed information crucial to the organization which makes the leader superior and thus followed by others. Affiliation power shows the leader to have strong relations with influential figures in the organization and society and thus followed on this basis. And the last category is the group power which is associated with the leaders ability to lead a team or group with sharing of power and responsibilities. All the eight categories are perceived either as positive (P+), beneficial or negative (P-) as exploitation or mixed response (P+ and P-) by the receiving party according to its characteristics. For example reward and referent power are received as P+. Coercion and information form of power as P-(Benfari, et.al, 1986b). But all are situational that is they have different influential power when used under different situation and the most effective leadership style that has emerged with time is the g roup power with sharing of power between the leader and others, as it can give the feeling of responsibility to take decision which can be rewarding (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007f). Summary So in brief triggers are mainly external that pressurises organizations to undertake internal changes. And it is a crucial responsibility of the change leader to assess the external situation and act accordingly so that the internal changes are done in a subtle way. When an organization becomes successful in making the relevant changes and performs well, it will pose a threat to other organizations and thus trigger another set of changes taking the course of a chain reaction. But why does an organization has to change its structure? This can be understood in the next section of the literature review. Section 3. 2 Affect of change on the organizational structure As mentioned earlier 44% percent of organizations change their organizational structure (Beddowes and Wille, 2007e) while adopting internal changes. The structure of an organization can be defined simply as the sum total of the ways in which it divides its labour into distinct tasks and then achieves coordination among them.(Mintzberg, 1979a: 2) According to Newman (1973b: xiii) Organization is a system for enabling people to reach or attempt to reach certain objectives and it involves the use of resources to carry out activities towards those objectives. The basic features of an organization involve presence of objective(s), people and the environment in which it operates. Objective(s) would be the reason behind its existence, people working in an organization communicate, coordinate with occasional conflicts carry out activities in an organised way which is in par with the objective(s) of the overall organization. And these objective(s) are the opportunities and constraints provided by the environment, within which an organization exists. In order to survive, an organization must be able to understand the environment i.e. its complex surroundings and establish a relation with the trading market, products and services, suppliers, finances, customer preferences, competitors, employees, government policies, social settings, c ulture etc which would eventually help it to formulate the objective(s). Organization tends to establish relationship between people, units, roles etc with a degree of consistency embracing all the relationships which is the basic source of structure for an organization. The three basic features of organization that demands the need of a structure are first is the organizations desired activity in order to fulfil its objective(s) through effective use of available resources, second, the way of carrying out its activities i.e. the process and the third is the behaviour of the people working for the organization while carrying out the first two features. The function of a structure is to give stability, consistency, by holding things together giving it a form and reducing randomness while outlining its operations. The design of the structure must facilitate the fulfilment of the organizational objective(s). The conventional forms of organization design were the functional form, the e xecutive or administrative form and line or staff form. The functional form of the structure reflects the kind of function performed by the people. As required, new positions are developed along with new divisions or departments. But as complexity of work increases and it requires more coordination among divisions this structure becomes inadequate otherwise this form works well for independent work in each divisions. TOP MANAGEMENT DIVISION A DIVISION B DIVISION C DIVISION D Source: The Functional Form (Newman, 1972c:81) The administrative form separates the organizations actual work and the internal management of the organization. As it is difficult to separate the executive side of the organization which is more result orientated and the administrative side of the organization which controls the resources . Communication plays an important role in coordinating between the two; otherwise it can give rise to conflicts. The line or staff form shows relationship between the operation and the people within the organization that is, work demand and it is an extension of the executive form. One problem faced in this form is the control of managers over the subordinates and another is the orientation of the structure to the kind of work the organization is engaged with. For example line structure can be marketing orientated, sales orientated and so on. But as demand from the environment increases there is a need for multi-functional structure. The inadequacies of the conventional forms led to the formation of the new structure called the matrix form. TOP MANAGEMENT FACILITIES STRUCTURE OUTPUT STRUCTURE Source: Matrix Form (Newman, 1972d:85) Matrix structure is task based or project based that is, based on work demand. It is flexible as it changes according to the project or task at hand. And this type became popular among organizations dealing with large projects like civil engineering, research and development organizations etc. This structure deals with two basic objectives, first is the output of the organization and second is the ability to produce the output. Both are interconnected and interdependent on each other with the top management being responsible for its control and ensuring efficient utilization of resources. As it is project specific, unutilised resources needs to be reallocated or used for training etc. According to Mintzberg (1979b) there are five basic elements of a structure, mutual adjustment, direct supervision, standardization of work process, work outputs and worker skills and these hold the organization together. Mutual adjustment is achieved through informal communication while coordinating work. Direct supervision is the process of scrutinizing and instructing others work by an individual which again ensures mutual adjustment. Standardization of work process, output and worker skills can be achieved when they are precisely specified. In complex organizational environment these five factors work in a loop. Standardization Work Process Of Output Mutual Adjustment Mutual Adjustment Direct Supervision Worker Skills Source: The coordination mechanism among the five basic elements of a structure. (Mintzberg, 1979c: P 7) Organizational change reflects re-organization in the structure of the organization which includes the patterns of roles, policies and procedures which affects the relationship between them and thus affects the structure. The change can be due to new customer preferences, new work requirements, new strategies etc. In order to have an effective process of change, reviewing of the consequences of change is necessary and making relevant adjustments to the structure and policies from the results. The second factor is the change itself and for effective change it is necessary to have adequate information from the past and present as change begins with the analysis of these situations. As change means weakening of old or existing relationships and strengthening new ones and a critical situation is reached when old ties are weakened and new ties are not strong enough. Problems are faced when relationships between various factors in an organisation which were compatible in the old situation becomes incompatible in the new situation. So it is important to develop all the factors in such a way that will reinforce rather than inhibiting peoples work. For an organization to be effective, its structure, policies etc should enhance peoples output and attitude towards change. The third factor is the development of the relationship between the people and the new settings. This can be done by effective communication, consultation, discussion, participation among the employees and involving people in the change process (Newman, 1973e). According to Greiner (1972) as cited in Meredith and Mantel (2003) an organization tends to develop a structure whilst growing and adding resources and establishing relationship between them and at the core is the specialization factor of the human element of the organization. The structure remains stable till it facilitates the completion of the task but if there is change in the nature of the task due to any of the above mentioned triggers of change, and the present structure hinders the completion of the new task, it will indicate a need for change and which affects the structure of the organization. According to Chandler (1962a) organizational structure reflects the health of an organization. Structure is defined as the design of the organization through which the enterprise is administered (p: 14). The design has two aspects, first is the line of control and communication between various units and people working in them and second aspect is the flow of information within these lines. And these two aspects are essential to fulfil the organizational goal. Structure follows the strategy of the organization, for example when an organization decides to expand and increase the number of offices; it requires more administrative infrastructure and people to handle it and thus changes the structure. Again if an organization has overseas expansion plans it will have departments and headquarters to administer its individual units. Diversification to new type of function or vertical integration will attract a multi-departmental structure with a central main office. Diversification into new product line will be supported by multi-divisional structure with a general office to control the divisions. This multidivisional structure would attract decentralisation of authority from the centralised control in departmental structure. The coordination and control of business units takes place through centralisation and decentralisation form of decision making. Centralization means power to control and coordinate resides in one person while decentralisation means division of power into many individuals. Research shows cognitive limitation in centralized decision making as it involves only one person and organizations face many complex situations. And a rational way of making decisions in such situations is through decentralisation. Other benefits of decentralisation are that it allows better understanding of the environment and it facilitates innovation and creativity as it involves many brains (Mintzberg, 1979d). According to Drucker (1988) as soon as a company changes its strategy from paper work to electronic mode it starts affecting the decision process, management structure, over all way of working style of the organization eventually affecting the organizational structure. And this includes change from command and control mode of working in departments and divisions into information based organization of knowledge specialists. According to Burns and Stalker (1961) as cited in Mintzberg (1979e), that if the environment is volatile the organizations have to have a flexible and an organic structure in order to adapt itself to changing environment but if the environment is stable organizations can have bureaucratic structures performing routine and standardised tasks. Organizations have adopted flat, flexible structure which emphasizes on empowerment and team work culture in order to cope up with the changing nature of the environment. Successful organizations show involvement of employees in decision making and also as a part of the change the organization needs (Piderit, 2000a). As stated by Burns and Stalker (1961) cited in Meadows (1980a) organic structure has the following characteristics, team work to complete a common task, no fixed rules or methods to accomplish the task, periodic re-examine of the task so that it can be readjusted according to demands of the surroundings through communication, consultative nature of communication instead of autocratic nature, closely knitted network of communication, devotion towards the organization and the task and appreciation for intellectual and technological soundness. Summary Organizational structure is the reflection of its internal relationship between all its resources (people and work) which are constantly influenced by the external factors. And thus when an organization makes internal changes in order to cope up with the external triggers eventually changes its structure. Organizations need to have a flexible structure (organic) so that it can adapt to the environment which is volatile in nature due to external triggers. And as suggested growth without structural adjustment can lead to economic failure (Chandler, 1962b; p: 16). The next question that arises is that does the structure of the organization affects or facilitates changes within an organization? This can be understood in the next section of the literature review. Section 3.3 Nature of change While organizations adapt to environment, structure plays an important role, if the inherent nature of the structure is flexible then changes are easily done otherwise it poses a threat to both the process and content of change. Organizational change is the difference in organizational features measured over a period of time. Organizational features can range from functions performed by individuals or organizational subunits or relationship among other organizations and the environment (Van de Ven, 2004a). Organizational theories are either focused on the content of change or process of change. Barnett and Carroll (1995a) have suggested a distinction between process and content aspect of the changing organizations. Content refers to the element of the organization that changes and process refers to the actual course of action or procedure that is adopted to make those changes. The outcomes of both content and process changes have different effects on the organization although there is a clear interaction between them. Types of changes due to various triggers can be at various levels. For example, at organisational level, change may occur in the culture and structure of the organization with new work practices, emphasising on training and team work, introducing new reward systems and innovative ways of communication etc. Another prominent type of changing is through cost cutting measures like staff reduction or downsizing. Market led issues may lead to customer orientated focus with new products with better quality, adapting innovative technology (Beddowes and Wille, 2007f). A similar list suggested by Van De Ven (2004b) consists of structural change featuring decentralization or centralization; functional change in strategies to bring new and better products and services; compositional change featuring downsizing and recruitment, resource allocation; change in relationship between organization units through effective communication, exchange of resources across units; change in boundary through bus iness expansion or contraction using mergers, acquisition, joint ventures etc; environmental changes due to resource scarcity etc, and lastly change in performance showing profitability, job satisfaction etc. These comprises of the content aspect of the organization change.

The Reasons of Chinese Immigrated to the United States

The Reasons of Chinese immigrated to the United States Chen Zhang The Reasons of Chinese immigrated to the United States Introduction In China, since the reform and opening-up, there have been two waves of immigration in the last century late 70s and early 90s. With the advent of a new century, China’s economy has come into the phase of rapid development and its informatization construction has been developed at a high speed. Surprisingly, at that time, there is growing the third emigration which is a larger scale one. Among these immigrants, the professional elite and the proportion of affluent people increases year by year.Why do so many Chinese immigrate to US while China is growing fast and full of opportunities? That’s a very good question which might have thousands of answers from the Chinese immigrants. The present study surveys Chinese immigrants’ reasons and attitudes toward immigrate to the United States. Method Participates: The interviews were request ed to be completed by Chinese people I have met in the Chinese school in Edison and New Brunswick, people work in the Asian Cultural Center of NJ, and some of my friends in Montclair State University, Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickenson University.I have totally interviewed 30 people included 5 people want to immigrate, 23 immigrants, 2 second-generation immigrants (American born Chinese). Questions: Besides the basic information about ages, incomes, the questions included 1) When was your first come to the United States? 2) When did you immigrate? 3) Is there any family member immigrated with you? 4) Why you immigrated to the United States? 5) Why did you choose the United States? Conclusion First, people pursue the high quality of life and the high quality of experience.In this rapidly developing society, the pursuit of a high quality of life has become a demand of modern people. As economy is developing fast, people's living conditions have greatly improved. When people ge t a promotion, they want to move into bigger house and higher living conditions. Human desires are not always fulfilled. People are alive and never satisfied with the present condition. Especially, some successful young people prefer to choose one new life in order to pursue the high-quality experience. They want to challenge themselves in a totally different situation. Life isn't about finding yourself, Life is about creating yourself! † said Lichun Zhang, 46. She is a reporter of one of the biggest Chinese newspaper in the USA. When she was in China, she was a manger of one famous company of Shanghai. For her dream, she left her native place. For this dream, she abandoned a lot such as her prestigious job and her comfortable life. Second, the natural environment in United States is better than in China. During the rapid development of the global economy, natural resource encounters the over-limited exploitation that destroys the environmental balance.Some heavy industry citi es have been serious polluted. Industrialization quickly affected local water and air quality around factories. We can see the big gap between the air quality in China and in some Western country such as the United State. A Chinese student studies in the Fairleigh Dickson University, Zerong Ding said that he likes this new life. He seems to live and study in a big forest park. On the contrary, there are varied and numerous of tall buildings around us. More and more buildings were constructed, less and less green space were damaged.The green space has a great function on adjusting and meliorating the urban climate system and on purifying the urban atmosphere. There are apparent differences in forest fragmentation and disturbance patterns between China and the USA in the current analysis. The possible underlying reasons responsible include differences in political systems, institutions, economy, and so on. (Li, Mao, Zhou, Vogelmann, Zhu,2010) Lawmaking in China did not take ecological , economic and societal benefits of forests into account in the past, which led to an inadequate protection of natural forests.In particular, forest fragmentation issues were not involved in the processes of legislation. To date, a well-defined tenure or ownership has not been available for those collective forests in southern China, and an overloaded forest-related taxation still exists for forest farmers. This has heavily undermined the afforestation initiatives available to forest farmers (Zhang, 2008). In contrast, the USA has pushed many favorable policies, including an adoption of taxation incentive packages to encourage citizens to manage forests.A comprehensive system of laws related to forest management has dramatically advanced forest management levels and led to an overall forest inventory regularly. Beside governmental supports, various NGO’s pay much attention to forest fragmentation issues when management plans are being developed. (Li, Mao, Zhou, Vogelmann, Zhu ,2010) In contrast, USA attaches greater importance to the preservation of natural forests (FAO, 2006). More importantly, the USA tends to pay more attention to technical innovations, as well as efficient and sustainable forestry practices, to help minimize anthropogenic disturbances to forests.Currently, there are significant gaps in forestry technologies and administrative philosophy and capabilities between China and the USA, which are key contributors to different types and levels of forest fragmentation(Li, Mao, Zhou, Vogelmann, Zhu,2010). Although the hardware environment in some big cities of China is good, sometimes even better than American, the forest management levels and the relatively policies must be improved. Third, the rhythm of life in China has become faster and faster, people can easily feel pressure and lost their happiness. China is densely populated.As for China, a developing country with large population, it is hard to solve the problem of employment. Obtainin g employment of university students is a vital and key problem in the development of higher education. More and more graduates are facing a serious problem of obtain employment. In today's highly competitive market environment, working pressure and heated competition are growing day by day. No one wants to be left behind in the competition. Everyone is confronted with more and more fierce competitions. As everybody is pressed for time, the rhythm of life is more anxious. The level of people’s happiness dropped apparently.Today, when people visit China’s major cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai or Chongqing, people can easily feel the rhythm of life much faster than America. Everything happens in a fast forward mode. People feel the vibrancy, and people feel the pressure, too(Lifestyle – China vs. North America). Starting from late 90’s, China pushed forward its reform in its residential housing system, privatizing residential houses by encouraging people t o buy houses with governmental subsidiary. Only since then, China’s real estate market tool off (There was no houses or apartments you can buy before the reform.Everyone lives in the state owned apartments). In merely 10 years, accompanying the fast growing economy, the housing prices in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have skyrocketed over 10 folds. However, the affordability went straight down(Lifestyle – China vs. North America). For instance, (Bridge to China, 2010) the current average housing price in Shanghai is about RMB10,000 per square meter, which means a 100 square meter (930 sqft) apartment would cost RMB1 million. (Note: Because China’s large cities are heavily populated, e. g. 0 million in Shanghai alone, few people can afford living in a house, or â€Å"villa† in Chinese term, which costs millions in US or Canadian dollars. Most people live in high-rise condo apartments). The average annual personal income, however, is only RMB40, 000. That means a double income family need 12. 5 years income to pay off their home without spending a dime on food or entertainment. Here in North America, we only need 4 to 5 years. Simply put, in China the young people there just cannot afford to be not aggressive, no matter at work, in business or study. Fourth, the parents want their children can received better education.Shushu Ye, a teacher of Chinese school in Edison said that she has immigrated for her eight-year-old son, Boyang. She wants her son can received advanced skills and techniques in this developed big country. On the other hand, the different between Chinese education system and American is significant. Hailin Wang is the principal of Chinese school in New Brunswick used â€Å"Fear of public speaking†, the most common phobia that people have, to explain these two different systems. For example, strictness is the well-known brand of education in China. In class, students take notes while listening to the l ecture.Most teaching still emphasizes direct instruction and passive learning. Gradually, students become silence and lost our own views in class. We have not chance to talk in public. On the contrary, the interactive learning in the American classroom offers the opportunities to exploit the logical thinking and creativity. American students are used to voice their thought in public. We need to learn from them and practise more in order to supply our deficiency. Fifth, it is convenient for travellers, visitors or the business men do the commercial intercourse between China and America. People have to go through a lot of red tape to get the visa.However, if people become American citizen, they can enjoy the visa exempt. It is convenient for the business man to do the commercial intercourse. For the past ten years, Huang Ye has done a lot of trade with American company. Generally, she needs to travel from China to America three times per month. She has a big company to sell china and Zisha teapot. Zisha teapot of Yixing, is a wonderful work of the traditional Chinese arts with a long history. Ye told me that she loves her job because she found that many American people love these Chinese crafts very much.ReferencesMingshi Li, Lijun Mao, Chunguo Zhou, James E. Vogelmann, Zhiliang Zhu, Comparing forest fragmentation and its drivers in China and the USA with Globcover v2. 2 , Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 91, Issue 12, December 2010, Pages 2572-2580 Zhang, 2008 L. Zhang, Reform of collective forest right system in Jiangxi Province, Scientia Silvae Sinicae 44 (7) (2008), pp. 79–83 (in Chinese). FAO, 2006 FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 Rome (2006) ftp://ftp. fao. org/docrep/fao/008/A0400E/A0400E00. pdf/Online . Lifestyle – China vs. North America, January 26, 2010, http://bridge2china. wordpress. com/tag/chinese-immigrants/. Online.

Theme Of Symbolism In A Doll House - 1168 Words

People always dream something and try to find themselves in the hope and lies behind the real world. Continuing in the second plan is a character of the human soul. Honesty makes people different each other. People know themselves accurately, and when bad things happen, they try to trick themselves into something else. Torvald Helmer, the father of three and Nora’s husband, who has different thoughts than his wife. In Noras existentialist transformation, the interaction of consciousness and subconscious cannot be ignored. The play has excellent examples of symbolism and metaphor. There are easy to realize and understand the metaphors, but symbols have deep meanings, which we must feel the Author’s emotion in the three acts while reading a†¦show more content†¦Linde also states the same word for her that Nora was same in the school. When Nora wants to show everything she bought for Christmas, she was pleased and excited because she thought Helmer would be feelin g the same way. When Torvald saw a bunch of things that Nora purchased, he said, â€Å"We cannot spend money recklessly.† Moreover, Nora still does not care about the money, however; she thinks she can borrow money quickly, which she did earlier, but it is not easy for Helmer, who cares about his reputation. In the play, the Christmas tree symbols Nora’s expectation, and how one little thing can affect a relationship smoothly. Tarantella is a dance, which describes the story of horror and enthusiasm of lifes joy. Tarantella dance plays a renewing role in the attitude and personality. Torvald prepares a show with Tarantella dance for the guests. This show is the product of Torvalds aesthetic devotion. He acts like a theatrical director, so he trains to Nora until she does the dance lovely. Torvald does not know about Nora’s debt, which she did for saving Torvald from his disease. Krogstad already knows the situation, who is a lawyer and works with the same bank that Torvald works. Nora scares if Krogstad will tell Torvald that Nora illegally used her father’s sign because Nora pretended his fathers signature to get the money. Nora does not act normal when she dances; she is nervous about thinking that Krogstad might talk about to the debt soon. In the play,Show MoreRelatedCritical Analysis of a Doll House1250 Words   |  5 PagesA Critical Analysis of A Doll House By Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen s background provided him the insight to write the play A Doll House. In Britannica Biographies, Ibsen s father lost his business and the family s financial stability when Ibsen was a young child. Because of the family s financial misfortunes, at the age of 15, Ibsen was forced to leave home and venture out on his own. He supported himself meagerly as an apothecary s apprentice and studied at night to prepare for universityRead MoreA Doll s House By Henrik Ibsen869 Words   |  4 PagesA Doll’s House was written in 1879 by Henrik Ibsen. The play takes place in a suburban Europe surrounding a middle-class family. Nora, the female protagonist is quite different from the social norms portrayed during this time period. The play focuses on the controversial topic of the change in social norms. Throughout the play, Ibsen utilizes theme, characterization, and symbolism to explain the injustices of inequality faced by women in Europe as well as countries. A Doll’s House took place inRead MoreA Doll House By Henrik Ibsen901 Words   |  4 PagesA Doll House The play A Doll House written by Henrik Ibsen has strong symbolisms such as the doll house, Christmas tree, macaroons, and New Year’s day that help outline the theme. The author uses symbolisms to pull his audience in and allow them to feel the full effect of inequality and emotional abuse men gave women in the year of 1879, when Ibsen wrote this play. The first symbolism in this play is the Christmas tree which represents Nora’s inner state of mind. In Act 2 the stage directions describeRead MoreAnalysis Of Self In 1958 By Anne Sexton1647 Words   |  7 Pagesusing symbolism in her poems. Her analyzed poem â€Å"Self in 1958† allows people to view the multiple symbolic pieces in her work. Examples varying from a dollhouse to a plaster doll itself. Yet, when she uses these interesting pieces of symbolism, it turns out to be a much deeper concept than once thought. The doll in this poem, in turn becomes an extremely large symbolic piece that not only reflects Sexton, but her own personal views in life. In her poem â€Å"Self in 1958†, Anne Sexton uses symbolism toRead MoreEssay on Facades in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House1224 Words   |  5 Pages When a young girl plays with her doll house, she imagines a make-believe world full of enchantment. However, little does she realize the false a nd unattainable image of perfection that lies before her. With every miniature doorway and elaborate bookcase, the doll house disguises reality with a mask of flawless excellence. Similarly, Henrik Ibsen describes many appearances in A Doll House as mere faà §ades of deception. These images reiterate the theme that outer appearances are never what theyRead More Womens Identity in the Early 1900s Essay1355 Words   |  6 Pagestreated as humans and not dolls. Women need to know their place and that they have rights. They also have duties as a wife and mother. As a wife, they need to be trustworthy and as a mother, they need to be role models. As do husbands need to respect their wife and know that, they have their own opinions and titled to them. Women cannot be good wives and role models to their children, if they do not know who they are and what their roles are in life. Ibsen uses the symbolism in his setting to showRead MoreHenrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House Essa y example1182 Words   |  5 Pages Phylogeny versus misogyny, arguable one of the greatest binary oppositions in a work of literature, is present in Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 Norwegian play A Doll’s House. The title itself suggests a misogynist view, while the work mainly consists of feminist ideology, as Ibsen was a supporter of the female as an independent, rather than a dependent on a male. Nora knew herself that her husband did not fully respect her, and this became a major conflict in the play as Nora progressively became more self-reliantRead MoreEssay on Themes and Symbols in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House1296 Words   |  6 Pagesbeen your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa’a doll-child† (Ibsen 1491). Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House tells a story of scandal and deceit set in the Victorian era. Nora Helmer is married to Torvald Helmer and she feels more like his toy than his wife. Nora had to have Torvald to be able to do anything, because of when she lived. Nora bo rrows money behind her husband’s back (which is illegal at this time) and tries to cover up everything she has done. Ibsen employs the use of many themes and symbolsRead MoreAnalysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll s House 1381 Words   |  6 PagesGrace Kuenzli English A: Literature Written Assignment, HL 9 May 2017 The Role of Symbolism in Nora’s Transformation from Repression to Liberation in A Doll’s House The play in prose A Doll’s House is written by Henrik Ibsen, and set in Norway in 1879. By inserting symbols into the storyline, Henrik Ibsen reveals the theme of female submissiveness and male superiority during the 19th century and highlights character revelation in the play, namely through Nora’s transformation from beingRead MoreChanging The World : One Play At A Time1644 Words   |  7 Pageshistorically influential plays that were written during the birth of feminism are quintessential to the rise of free expression among women. A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, and Trifles by Susan Glaspell both explore the unjust role of women in society, though in contrast, A Doll House develops the theme through a more complex external conflict. Trifles and A Doll House are both centered on marriage and both come from the woman’s point of view. In Trifles, the audience is introduced into the home of Mrs

Administration of Roman Empire During Augustus Reign

Administration of the Empire Much chaos surrounded Rome with the fall of the Roman Republic. After seizing Egypt, Octavian returned to Rome and became the first emperor of the Roman Empire in 27 BCE. â€Å"His restructuring of the senatorial and equestrian orders, and the subsequent emulation between the two, provided the human resources, power dynamics, and incentives necessary for his administration†. It was easier for Augustus to carryout such major changes in administration because there was a universal desire for peace, stability, and material gain. Augustus developed a new administration for the empire in three different levels: those in Rome, Italy, and the provinces. Besides from being emperor, Augustus acquired multiple titles and†¦show more content†¦Monuments depicted visually what Augustan poetry worshiped in words, all providing all with a material imagery of imperial ideology. Augustus paid special attention to four areas of the capital: the Roman Forum, the Forum of Augustus, the Campus Martius, and the Palatine. He also accomplished many major road projects, in order to create easy access to and from Rome and center it in the middle of the Empire. â€Å"In 7 BCE, he divided the urban territory into fourteen districts (regions), each in the charge of a magistrate chosen by lot from the praetors, tribunes of plebs and aediles. These districts were themselves divided (in total) into 265 quarters (vici)†. All the divisions and the entire administration of the capital came under senatorial rank. Italy, in a similar manner, was divided into eleven regions. It was divided for several reasons, undoubtedly for fiscal purposes and voting at their place of origin. Italy consisted of a large population ranging from five to eight million people, and it shared a similar administration as Rome, simply on a larger scale. Italy transitioned easily, but a different approach was taken in regards to the provinces outside of Italy. â€Å"Indifferent to (rather than respectful of) indigenous traditions,Show MoreRelatedWas The First Emperor Of Rome So A Good Thing?1214 Words   |  5 PagesAccording to many historians Augustus was not only the first emperor of Rome but also the greatest. During his long and impressive career Augustus dissolved the faulty governmental system of the Republic and created a new basis of Roman government that stood for three centuries. On his death bed Augustus was purported to have said: â€Å"Did I play my part well?† Through examination of his reforms of the Roman tax and legal system, as well as his role in creating the Pax Romana and a stable military itRead More Augustus Caesar Essay1118 Words   |  5 PagesAugustus Caesar Works Cited Missing Augustus Caesar, the Romes first true Emperor was the historical figure who had the greatest impact upon the western world between the dawn of civilization and the end of the middle ages. Augustus Caesar (31B.C. - 14 A.D.) was originally named Gaius Octivian, the name Augustus was granted by the Roman Senate, which means magnificent. The success of Augustus was he developed an honest government, and during his reign, he rebuilt many structures to improveRead MoreAugustus s Life During The Civil War1741 Words   |  7 PagesAugustus had a discouraging childhood as he was unhealthy and did not have many connections with the government. Augustus was born on 23, September 63 BC. He was the son of a man from Velitrae who was in the position of praetorship and died unexpectedly when Augustus was 4. At this same time, Rome was dangerous because of extensive civil war. Augustus’ great uncle, Julius Caesar, was involved in this war. Augustus’ father was married to Atia, who was the daughter of Julia, Caesar’s sister. LaterRead MoreTiberius- Roman Empire1507 Words   |  7 Pagescontributions to the Roman Empire during his reign†¦ The Julio-Claudian dynasty refers to the first five  Roman Emperors:  Augustus, Tiberius,  Caligula  (also known as Gaius),  Claudius, and  Nero and the family to which they belonged. They ruled the  Roman Empire  from its fo rmation, in the second half of the 1st century 27 BC, until AD 68, when the last of the line,  Nero, committed suicide. The ancient historical writers,  Suetonius  and  Tacitus, write from the point of view of the Roman senatorial aristocracyRead MorePax Romana816 Words   |  4 Pages The Roman Oration was written and delivered by Aelius Aristides, a popular Greek orator who lived during the Roman Empire, glowingly praising the Pax Romana (which literally means Roman Peace). In this oration, Aristides used hyperbole and exaggeration to describe the Roman Empire whilst managing to capture the universalism and cosmopolitanism that characterized it. Pax Romana was not only the long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military force experienced by the Roman EmpireRead MoreClassical Civilizations: The Reigns of Caesar and Augustus1138 Words   |  5 PagesClassical Civilizations Dear Friend, The expansion of Roman territory into Gaul and the Rhine River are signs that the republic is continuing to enlarge its borders. This occurred with Julius Cesar successfully invading and capturing these areas in 60 BC. To achieve these objectives he had won election to the Senate and secured the support of key allies. Moreover, Cesar controlled a total of four legions. This gave him the ability to move further North into Britannia and secure the other sideRead MoreEssay about The Roman Emperor Tiberius1974 Words   |  8 Pagesearly first century AD, the Roman Empire was subject to autocratic rule and the old Republic was long dead. Augustus had been ruling for forty years and most of that time he was loved and praised by the Senate and the people of Rome. Throughout his reign, Augustus had the one lingering problem of finding a successor to take over the role of Emperor. He had chosen 3 different heirs in his time of rule; however, they all passed before they had the chance to inh erit Augustus’ esteemed power. His fourthRead MoreArt and Literature in Augustan Rome1252 Words   |  6 Pagescauses Octavian and Antony to break out into war. He then takes his great-uncles name of Augustus and claims his leadership over Rome by defeating Mark Antony. Much art and literature was dedicated to the support of Augustus, which helped to bring together his empire. The Aeneid is an example of such propaganda in favor of Augustus, which people often find parallels between Aeneas and Augustus. In order for Augustus to maintain his newly gained power he uses such art and literature to influence his peopleRead MoreAugustan Art and Propaganda Essay1964 Words   |  8 PagesAugustan Art and Propaganda Julius Caesars reign was an unfavorable and chaotic period for Rome, and after his death, a large portion of the empire was handed down to his adopted son, Gaius Octavian. From the ashes of his father, Octavian was able to build an Empire unparalleled. Later, the name Augustus was given to him by Senate. Augustus ostensibly maintained the form of the Roman Republic while in actuality creating the Roman Empire. He introduced the administrative reforms that led to theRead MoreThe Rise And Decline Of The Roman Empire1809 Words   |  8 PagesEmperor of Rome, result in the Pax Romana? Augustus reigned from 27 BCE to 14 CE after his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, was murdered. The Pax Romana was a time of Roman peace after many civil wars which had occurred after Julius Caesar’s death due to the fact that Senates wanted to attain the power of the throne. But the Pax Romana lasted from 27 BCE to 180 CE with the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius. The place investigated will be the Roman Empire during this time and will be accomplish by using