Best Summary and Analysis The Great Gatsby, Chapter 7

Best Summary and Analysis The Great Gatsby, Chapter 7 SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Chapter 7 marks the climax of The Great Gatsby. Twice as long as every other chapter, it first ratchets up the tension of the Gatsby-Daisy-Tom triangle to a breaking point in a claustrophobic scene at the Plaza Hotel, and then ends with the grizzly gut punch of Myrtle’s death. Read our full summary ofThe Great Gatsby Chapter 7to see how all dreams die, only to be replaced with a grim and cynical reality. Image: Helmut Ellgaard/Wikipedia Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. The Great Gatsby: Chapter 7Summary Suddenly one Saturday, Gatsby doesn't throw a party. When Nick comes over to see why, Gatsby has a new butler who rudely sends Nick away. It turns out that Gatsby has replaced all of his servants with ones sent over by Wolfshiem. Gatsby explains that this is because Daisy comes over every afternoon to continue their affair - he needs them to be discreet. Gatsby invites Nick to Daisy's house for lunch. The plan is for Daisy and Gatsby to tell Tom about their relationship, and for Daisy to leave Tom. The next day it is extremely hot. Nick and Gatsby show up to have lunch with Daisy, Jordan, and Tom.Tom is on the phone, seemingly arguing with someone about the car. Daisy assumes that he is only pretending, and that he is actually talking to Myrtle. While Tom is out of the room, Daisy kisses Gatsby on the mouth. The nanny brings Tom and Daisy's daughter into the room and Gatsby is shocked to realize that the child actually exists and is real. Tom and Gatsby go outside, and Gatsby points out that it's his house is directly across the bay from theirs. Everyone is restless and nervous. From the way Daisy looks at and talks to Gatsby, Tom suddenly figures out that she and Gatsby are having an affair. Daisy asks to go into Manhattan and Tom agrees, insisting that they go immediately. He gets a bottle of whiskey to bring with them.There is a short, but crucial,argument about who will take which car. In the end, Tom takes Nick and Jordan in Gatsby's car while Gatsby takes Daisy in Tom's car. On the drive, Tom explains to Nick and Jordan that he's been investigating Gatsby, which Jordan laughs off.They stop for gas at Wilson's gas station. Tom shows off Gatsby's car, pretending it's his own. Wilson complains about being sick and again asks for Tom’s car because he needs money fast (the assumption is that he will resell it at a profit). Wilson explains the he's figured out that Myrtle is cheating on him, so he's taking her the way from New York to a different state. Glad that Wilson hasn't figured out who Myrtle is having the affair with, Tom says that he will sell Wilson his car as he promised. As they drive off, Nick sees Myrtle in an upstairs window staring at Tom and Jordan, whom she assumes to be his wife. (It’s critical to realize that Myrtle now also associates Tom with this yellow car.) It's still crazy hot when they get to Manhattan. Jordan suggests going to the movies, but they end up getting a suite at the Plaza Hotel.The hotel room is stifling, and they can hear the sounds of a wedding going on downstairs. The conversation is tense. Tom starts picking at Gatsby, but Daisy defends him.Tom accuses Gatsby of not actually being an Oxford man. Gatsby explains that he only went to Oxford for a short time because of a special program for officers after the war. This plausible-sounding explanation fills Nick with confidence about Gatsby. Suddenly Gatsby decides to tell Tom his version of the truth - that Daisy never loved Tom but has always only loved Gatsby.Tom calls Gatsby crazy and says that of course Daisy loves him - and that he loves her too even if he does cheat on her all the time. Gatsby demands that Daisy tell Tom that she has never loved him. Daisy can’t bring herself to do this, and instead said that she has loved them both. This crushes Gatsby. Tom starts revealing what he knows about Gatsby from his investigation. It turns out that Gatsby's money comes from illegal sales of alcohol in drugstores, just as Tom had predicted when he first met him. Tom has a friend who tried to go into business with Gatsby and Wolfshiem. Through him, Tom knows that bootlegging is only part of the criminal activity that Gatsby is involved in. These revelations cause Daisy to shut down, and no matter how much Gatsby tries to defend himself, she is disillusioned. She asks Tom to take her home. Tom's last power play is to tell Gatsby to take Daisy home instead, knowing that leaving them alone together now does not pose any threat to him or his marriage. Gatsby and Daisy drive home in Gatsby’s car. Tom, Nick, and Jordan drive home together in Tom's car. The narration now switches to Nick repeating evidence given at an inquest (a legal proceeding to gather facts surrounding a death) by Michaelis, who runs a coffee shop next to Wilson's garage. That evening Wilson had explained to Michaelisthat he had locked up Myrtle in order to keep an eye on her until they moved away in a couple of days. Michaelis was shocked to hear this, because usually Wilson was a meek man. When Michaelis left, he heard Myrtle and Wilson fighting. Then Myrtle ran out into the street toward a car coming from New York. The car hit her and drove off, and by the time Michaelis reached her on the ground, she was dead. The narration switches back to Nick's point of view, as Tom, Nick, and Jordan are driving back from Manhattan. They pull up to the accident site. At first, Tom jokes about Wilson getting some business at last, but when he sees the situation is serious, he stops the car and runs over to Myrtle's body. Tom asks a policeman for details of the accident. When he realizes that witnesses can identify the yellow car that hit Myrtle, he worries that Wilson, who saw him in that car earlier that afternoon, will finger him to the police. Tom grabs Wilson and tells him that the yellow car that hit Myrtle is not Tom's, and that he was only driving it before giving it back to its owner. As they drive away from the scene, Tom sobs in the car. Back at his house, Tom invites Nick and Jordan inside. Nick is sickened by the whole thing and turns to go. Jordan also asks Nick to come inside. When he refuses again, she goes in. As Nick is walking away, he sees Gatsby lurking in the bushes. Nick suddenly sees him as a criminal. As they discuss what happened, Nick realizes that it was actually Daisy who was driving the car, meaning that it was Daisy who killed Myrtle. Gatsby makes it sound like she had to choose between getting into a head-on collision with another car coming the other way on the road or hitting Myrtle, and at the last secondchose to hit Myrtle. Gatsby seems to have no feelings at all about the dead woman, and instead only worries about what Daisyand how she will react. Gatsby says that he will take the blame for driving the car. Gatsby says that he is lurking in the dark to make sure that Daisy is safe from Tom, who he worries might treat her badly when he finds out what happened. Nick goes back to the house to investigate, and sees Tom and Daisy having an intimate conspiratorial moment together in the kitchen. It's clear that once again Gatsby has fundamentally misunderstood Tom and Daisy's relationship. Nick leaves Gatsby alone. It’s amazing how immediately suspect and creepy Gatsby becomes once Nick turns on him. Has our narrator been spinning Gatsby’s behavior from the get-go? Key Chapter 7 Quotes Then she remembered the heat and sat down guiltily on the couch just as a freshly laundered nurse leading a little girl came into the room. "Bles-sed pre-cious," she crooned, holding out her arms. "Come to your own mother that loves you." The child, relinquished by the nurse, rushed across the room and rooted shyly into her mother's dress. "The Bles-sed pre-cious! Did mother get powder on your old yellowy hair? Stand up now, and say How-de-do." Gatsby and I in turn leaned down and took the small reluctant hand. Afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don't think he had ever really believed in its existence before. (7.48-52) This is our first and only chance to see Daisy performing motherhood. And "performing" is the right word, since everything about Daisy's actions here rings a little false and her cutesy sing song a little bit like an act. The presence of the nurse makes it clear that, like many upper-class women of the time, Daisy does not actually do any child rearing. At the same time, this is the exact moment when Gatsby is delusional dreams start breaking down. The shock and surprise that he experiences when he realizes that Daisy really does have a daughter with Tom show how little he has thought about the fact the Daisy has had a life of her own outside of him for the last five years. The existence of the child is proof of Daisy's separate life, and Gatsby simply cannot handle then she is not exactly as he has pictured her to be. Finally, here we can see how Pammyis being bred for her life as a future â€Å"beautiful little fool†, as Daisy put it. As Daisy’s makeup rubs onto Pammy's hair, Daisy prompts her reluctant daughter to be friendly to two strange men. "What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon," cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?" "Don't be morbid," Jordan said. "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."(7.74-75) Comparing and contrasting Daisy and Jordan) is one of the most common assignments that you will get when studying this novel. This very famous quotation is a great place to start. Daisy's attempt at a joke reveals her fundamental boredom and restlessness. Despite the fact that she has social standing, wealth, and whatever material possessions she could want, she is not happy in her endlessly monotonous and repetitive life. This existential ennui goes a long way to helping explain why she seizes on Gatsby as an escape from routine. On the other hand, Jordan is a pragmatic and realistic person, who grabs opportunities and who sees possibilities and even repetitive cyclical moments of change. For example here, although fall and winterare most often linked to sleep and death, whereas it is spring that is usually seen as the season of rebirth, for Jordan any change brings with it the chance for reinvention and new beginnings. "She's got an indiscreet voice," I remarked. "It's full of- - " I hesitated. "Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly. That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money- that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. . . . (7.103-106) Here we are getting to the root of what it is really that attracts Gatsby so much to Daisy. Nick notes that the way Daisy speaks to Gatsby is enough to reveal their relationship to Tom. Once again we see the powerful attraction of Daisy's voice. For Nick, this voice is full of â€Å"indiscretion,† an interesting word that at the same time brings to mind the revelation of secrets and the disclosure of illicit sexual activity. Nick has used this word in this connotation before - when describing Myrtle in Chapter 2he uses the word â€Å"discreet† several times to explain the precautions she takes to hide her affair with Tom. But for Gatsby, Daisy's voice does not hold this sexy allure, as much as it does the promise of wealth, which has been his overriding ambition and goal for most of his life. To him, her voice marks her as a prize to be collected. This impression is further underscored by the fairy tale imagery that follows the connection of Daisy's voice to money. Much like princesses who is the end of fairy tales are given as a reward to plucky heroes, so too Daisy is Gatsby's winnings, an indication that he has succeeded. "You think I'm pretty dumb, don't you?" he suggested. "Perhaps I am, but I have a- almost a second sight, sometimes, that tells me what to do. Maybe you don't believe that, but science- - " (7.123) Nick never sees Tom as anything other than a villain; however, it is interesting that only Tom immediately sees Gatsby for the fraud that he turns out to be. Almost from the get-go, Tom calls it that Gatsby's money comes from bootlegging or some other criminal activity. It is almost as though Tom's life of lies gives him special insight into detecting the lies of others. The relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me and I had a bad moment there before I realized that so far his suspicions hadn't alighted on Tom. He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world and the shock had made him physically sick. I stared at him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before- and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well. Wilson was so sick that he looked guilty, unforgivably guilty- as if he had just got some poor girl with child. (7.160) You will also often be asked to compare Tom and Wilson, two characters who share some plot details in common.This passage, which explicitly contrasts these two men's reactions to finding out their wives are having affairs, is a great place to start. Tom’s response to Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship isto immediately do everything to display his power. He forces a trip to Manhattan, demands that Gatsby explain himself, systematically dismantles the careful image and mythology that Gatsby has created, and finally makes Gatsby drive Daisy home to demonstrate how little he has to fear from them being alone together. Wilson also tries to display power. But he is so unused to wielding it that his best effort is to lock Myrtle up and then to listen to her emasculating insults and provocations. Moreover, rather than relaxing under this power trip, Wilson becomes physically ill, feeling guilty both abouthis part in driving his wife away and aboutmanhandling her into submission. Finally, it is interesting that Nick renders these reactions as health-related. Whose response does Nick view as â€Å"sick† and whose as â€Å"well†? It is tempting to connect Wilson’s bodily response to the word â€Å"sick,† but the ambiguity is purposeful. Is it sicker in this situation to take a power-hungry delight in eviscerating a rival, Tom-style, or to be overcome on a psychosomatic level, like Wilson? "Self control!" repeated Tom incredulously. "I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out. . . . Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they'll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white." Flushed with his impassioned gibberish he saw himself standing alone on the last barrier of civilization. "We're all white here," murmured Jordan. "I know I'm not very popular. I don't give big parties. I suppose you've got to make your house into a pigsty in order to have any friends- in the modern world." Angry as I was, as we all were, I was tempted to laugh whenever he opened his mouth. The transition from libertine to prig was so complete. (7.229-233) Nick is happy whenever he gets to demonstrate how undereducated and dumb Tom actually is. Here, Tom’s anger at Daisy and Gatsby is somehow transformed into a self-pitying and faux righteous rant about miscegenation, loose morals, and the decay of stalwart institutions. We see the connection between Jordan and Nick when both of them puncture Tom’s pompous balloon: Jordan points out that race isn’t really at issue at the moment, and Nick laughs at the hypocrisy of a womanizer like Tom suddenly lamenting his wife’s lack of prim propriety. "She never loved you, do you hear?" he cried. "She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!" (7.241) Gatsby throws caution to the wind and reveals the story that he has been telling himself about Daisy all this time. In his mind, Daisy has been pining for him as much as he has been longing for her, and he has been able to explain her marriage to himself simply by eliding any notion that she might have her own hopes, dreams, ambitions, and motivations. Gatsby has been propelled for the last five years by the idea that he has access to what is in Daisy's heart. However, we can see that a dream built on this kind of shifting sand is at best wishful thinking and at worst willful self-delusion. "Daisy, that's all over now," he said earnestly. "It doesn't matter any more. Just tell him the truth- that you never loved him- and it's all wiped out forever." ... She hesitated. Her eyes fell on Jordan and me with a sort of appeal, as though she realized at last what she was doing- and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all. But it was done now. It was too late†¦. "Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby. "I love you now- isn't that enough? I can't help what's past." She began to sob helplessly. "I did love him once- but I loved you too." Gatsby's eyes opened and closed. "You loved me too?" he repeated. (7.254-266) Gatsby wants nothing less than that Daisy erase the last five years of her life. He is unwilling to accept the idea that Daisy has had feelings for someone other than him, that she has had a history that does not involve him, and that she has not spent every single second of every day wondering when he would come back into her life. His absolutism is a form of emotional blackmail. For all Daisy's evident weaknesses, it is a testament to her psychological strength that she is simply unwilling to recreate herself, her memories, and her emotions in Gatsby's image. She could easily at this point say thatshe has never loved Tom, but this would not be true, and she does not want to give up her independence of mind. Unlike Gatsby, who against all evidence to the contrary believes that you can repeat the past, Daisy wants to know that there is a future. She wants Gatsby to be the solution to her worries about each successive future day, rather than an imprecation about the choices she has made to get to this point. At the same time, it's key to note Nick’s realization that Daisy â€Å"had never intended on doing anything at all.† Daisy has never planned to leave Tom. We've known this ever since the first time we saw them at the end of Chapter 1, when herealized that they were cemented together in their dysfunction. It passed, and he began to talk excitedly to Daisy, denying everything, defending his name against accusations that had not been made. But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room. (7.292) The appearance of Daisy's daughter and Daisy’s declaration that at some point in her life she loved Tom have both helped to crush Gatsby's obsession with his dream. In just the same way, Tom's explanations about who Gatsby really is and what is behind his facade have broken Daisy's infatuation. Take note of the language here – as Daisy is withdrawing from Gatsby, we come back to the image of Gatsby with his arms outstretched, trying to grab something that is just out of reach. In this case it's not just Daisy herself, but also his dream of being with her inside his perfect memory. "Beat me!" he heard her cry. "Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!" (7.314) Myrtle fights by provoking and taunting. Here, she is pointing out Wilson’s weak and timid nature by egging him on to treat her the way that Tom did when he punched her earlier in the novel. However, before we draw whatever conclusions we can about Myrtle from this exclamation, it’s worthwhile to think about the context of this remark. First, we are getting this speech third-hand. This is Nick telling us what Michaelis described overhearing, so Myrtle’s words have gone through a double male filter. Second, Myrtle’s words stand in isolation. We have no idea what Wilson has been saying to her to provoke this attack. What we do know is that however â€Å"powerless† Wilson might be, he still has power enough to imprison his wife in their house and to unilaterally uproot and move her several states away against her will. Neither Nick nor Michaelis remarks on whether either of these exercises of unilateral power over Myrtle is appropriate or fair - it is simply expected that this is what a husband can do to a wife. So what do we make of the fact that Myrtle was trying to verbally emasculate her husband? Maybe yelling at him is her only recourse in a life where she has no actual ability to control her life or bodily integrity. The "death car" as the newspapers called it, didn't stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment and then disappeared around the next bend. Michaelis wasn't even sure of its color- he told the first policeman that it was light green. The other car, the one going toward New York, came to rest a hundred yards beyond, and its driver hurried back to where Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick, dark blood with the dust. Michaelis and this man reached her first but when they had torn open her shirtwaist still damp with perspiration, they saw that her left breast was swinging loose like a flap and there was no need to listen for the heart beneath. The mouth was wide open and ripped at the corners as though she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored so long. (7.316-317) The stark contrast here between the oddly ghostly nature of the car that hits Myrtle and the visceral, gruesome, explicit imagery of what happens to her body after it is hit is very striking. The car almost doesn’t seem real – it comes out of the darkness like an avenging spirit and disappears, Michaelis cannot tell what color it is. Meanwhile, Myrtle’s corpse is described in detail and is palpably physical and present. This treatment of Myrtle’s body might be one place to go when you are asked to compare Daisy and Myrtle in class. Daisy’s body is never even described, beyond a gentle indication that she prefers white dresses that are flouncy and loose. On the other hand, every time that we see Myrtle in the novel, her bodyis physically assaulted or appropriated. Tom initially picks her up by pressing his body inappropriately into hers on the train station platform. Before her party, Tomhas sex with her while Nick (a man who is a stranger to Myrtle) waits in the next room, and then Tom ends the night by punching her in the face. Finally, she is restrained by her husband inside her house and then run over. Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken between them and two bottles of ale. He was talking intently across the table at her and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own. Once in a while she looked up at him and nodded in agreement. They weren't happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale- and yet they weren't unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture and anybody would have said that they were conspiring together. (7.409-410) And so, the promise that Daisy and Tom are a dysfunctional couple that somehow makes it work (Nick saw this at the end of Chapter 1)is fulfilled. For careful readers of the novel, this conclusion should have been clear from the get-go. Daisy complains about Tom, and Tom serially cheats on Daisy, but at the end of the day, they are unwilling to forgo the privileges their life entitles them to. This moment of truth has stripped Daisy and Tom down to the basics. They are in the least showy room of their mansion, sitting with simple and unpretentious food, and they have been stripped of their veneer. Their honesty makes what they are doing - conspiring to get away with murder, basically - completely transparent. And it is the fact that they can tolerate this level of honesty in each other besides each being kind of a terrible person that keeps them together. Compare their readiness to forgive each other anything - even murder! - with Gatsby’s insistence that it’s his way or no way. The image of Tom and Daisy holding hands, while discussing how to flee after Daisy kills Myrtle, is the crux of their relationship. They are willing to forgive each other everything. Are they secretly the most romantic couple in the book? The Great GatsbyChapter 7 Analysis It's no surprise that this very long, emotional, and shocking chapter is laced through with the themes ofThe Great Gatsby. Let's take a look. Overarching Themes Morality and Ethics. In this chapter, suspicion of crime is everywhere: Gatsby’s new butler has a â€Å"villainous† (7.2) face a woman worries that Nick is out to steal her purse on the train Gatsby lurks around outside the Buchanans’ mansion like â€Å"he was going to rob the house in a moment† (7.384) Daisy and Tom sit and conspire together at the kitchen table This air of the illegal heightens the actual crimes that take place or are revealed in the chapter: Gatsby is a bootlegger (or worse) Daisy kills Myrtle Gatsby hides the car with its evidence of the accident Daisy and Tom decide to get away with murder This descent into the dark side of the Wild East (contrasted with Nick's version of the calm and strictly above-board Middle West) reveals the novel’s perspective on the excesses of the time period. It is interesting that the vast majority of the crime or near crime that is described is theft – the taking of someone else’s property. The same desires that spur the ambitious to come to Manhattan to try to make something of themselves also incite those who are willing to do the kind of corner-cutting that results in criminality. Only Daisy, who is already so established that theft is unnecessary to her, takes crime to the next level. Love, Desire, Relationships. Just as crime is everywhere, so too is illicit sexuality. However, the heat and tension seem to reverse the behavioral tendencies of the characters we have come to know over the course of six chapters. The usually reserved Nick wonders about his train conductor and â€Å"whose flushed lips he kissed, whose head made damp the pajama pocket over his heart† (7.23). He also makes a dirty joke about the Buchanans’ butler having to yell over the phone that he simply cannot send Tom’s body to Myrtle in this heat. The usuallypassive Daisy kisses Gatsby on the mouth in front of Nick and Jordan in a display of rebellion. Later she calls Tom out on his euphemistic description of the times he cheated on her right after their honeymoon as a â€Å"spree† (7.252), a word that just means â€Å"fun good time.† On the other hand, the womanizing Tom primly and hypocritically rants about the downfall of morality and the possibility that people of different races will be allowed to intermarry. Similarly, the normally weak and ineffectual Wilson overpowers his wife enough to lock her up when he finds out about the affair she’s been having. He also feels as bad about the situation as if he had gotten a woman pregnant by accident. Everyone’s desire for someone who is not their spouse is underscored by the way that an ongoing wedding is continuously described as deeply unappealing throughout the chapter. Eventually, the wedding music pops up in the middle of the climactic argument like this: â€Å"From the ballroom beneath, muffled and suffocating chords were drifting up on hot waves of air† (7.261). Married life is suffocating, and these characters spend significant energies trying to break free. Motifs: Weather. The overwhelming heat of the day plays a vital role in creating an atmosphere of stifled, sweaty, uncomfortable breathlessness. Each scene’s overwhelming tension and awkwardness arefurther heightened by the physical discomfort that everyone is experiencing (it’s also key to remember that being hot and slightly dehydrated elevates the level of intoxication that a person feels, these characters pour back whiskey after whiskey). The hot mugginess ratchets up anger and resentment, and also seems to elevate the recklessness with which people are willing to expose and pursue their sexual desires. So crucial is this atmospheric element, that every movie adaptation of this novel makes sure that the actors are covered in sweat during these scenes, making it almost as uncomfortable to watch them as it is to imagine making it through that day. Here’s a quick clip that shows you what I mean. Mutability of Identity. It is fitting that just as lots of wool is removed from lots of eyes, as Gatsby is source of wealth is revealed, and as Daisy is shown not to be the fairytale figment of Gatsby’s imagination, the idea of faà §ades, false impressions, and mistaken identity is front and center. First, on this blisteringly hot day, Daisy is entranced by Gatsby’s projecting an image of looking â€Å"so cool† and resembling â€Å"the advertisement of the man† (7.81-83). Gatsby’s glossy appearance is perfect but also clearly shallow and fake, like an ad. Later, Myrtle seethes with jealousy when she sees Tom driving next to Jordan, and assumes that Jordan is Daisy. This case of mistaken identity contributes to her death, as she assumes that Tom would be driving the same car back from the city that he took there. Third, Daisy and Jordan remember a man named Biloxi who talked his way into Daisy and Tom’s wedding, and then talked his way into staying at Jordan’s house for three weeks as he recuperated from a fainting spell. Their memories make clear that his entire story about himself was a sham – a sham that worked, until it didn’t, like the faà §ades of the main characters in the story. Fourth, Wilson briefly assumes that Michaelis is Myrtle’s lover. His failure to understand who it is that is a really having an affair with his wife leads to the novel’s second murder. The Treatment of Women. Also key this chapter are women characters. First, there is the pairing of Daisy and Jordan, whose outlooks on life are confirmed to be diametrically opposed. Daisy is rich, overindulged, and endlessly bored with her monotonously luxurious life. She grabs on to the romance with Gatsby is a possible escape, but is soonconfronted with the reality of the perfect, idealized being that he would like her to be. Daisy realizes that she prefers the safe boredom and casual betrayal of Tom to the unrealistic expectations – and thus inevitable disappointment – of being with Gatsby. Her fundamental cowardice is a better fit for Tom, as we find out after the car accident when she kills Myrtle. It’s Tom who offers her complicity, understanding, and a return to stability. On the other hand, Jordan is a pragmatist who sees opportunity and possibility everywhere. This makes her attractive to Nick, who likes that she is self-contained, calm, cynical, and unlikely to be overly emotional. However, this approach to life means that Jordan is basically amoral, as revealed in this chapter by her almost complete lack of reaction to Myrtle’s death, and her assumption that life at the Buchanan house will go on as normal. For Nick, who clings to his sense of himself as a deeply decent human being, this is a dealbreaker. Next, we have the comparison between Daisy and Myrtle, two women whose marriages dissatisfy them enough that they seek out other lovers. There are many ways to compare them, but in this chapter in particular what seems important is whether each woman is able to maintain coherence and integrity. What Gatsby wants from Daisy is a complete erasure of her mind, history, and emotions, so that she will match his weirdly flat and idealized notion of her. By demanding that she renounce ever having had feelings for Tom, Gatsby wants to deny her fundamental sense of self-knowledge. Daisy refuses to compromise herself in this way and so is able to maintain psychological integrity. On the other hand, Myrtle, whose physicality has always been her most defining feature, ends up losing even the most basic integrity – bodily integrity – as her body is not only ripped open when she is hit by a car, but this mutilation is witnessed by many people and then also graphically described. Finally, we can look at all three women in terms of whether and how they are controlled by the men in their lives, and whether and how they escape that control. Jordan’s cool aloofness prevents her from being trapped in the same way that Myrtle and Daisy are. Despite even her admission later that breaking up with Nick hurt her feelings, we certainly get the sense that Jordan could take him or leave him. She retains a lot of power in their relationship. For example, when Nick suddenly freaks out about turning 30, she shows him how to be â€Å"too wise ever to carry well-forgotten dreams from age to age† (7.308) and by putting her hand over his with â€Å"reassuring pressure† (7.308). Neither of the other two women is ever on top even in this very mild way. For example, Tom, who is used to putting his hands on people as a way of showing his power over them (in this chapter he does it to the policeman, and then to Wilson), puts his hand over Daisy’s at the end of the chapter to indicate that she is back within his circle of control. But at least Daisy’s escape attempt led her to Gatsby’s presumably gentlemanly treatment. The same can’t be said for Myrtle, who goes from bad to worse, as she escapes her marriage to have an affair with Tom, who feels free to beat her, and then is forced to return to her husband, who feels free to imprison and forcibly remove her from her home. Death and Failure. Death comes in many forms, both metaphorical and horribly real. Of course, the primary death in this chapter is that of Myrtle, gruesomely killed by Daisy. But this is also the chapter where dreams come to die. Gatsby’s fantasy of Daisy undergoes a slow demise when he meets her daughter, and when he learns that she is simply unwilling to renounce her entire history with Tom for Gatsby’s sake. Similarly, any romantic ideas Daisy may have had about Gatsby vanish when she learns that he is a criminal. New York’s Plaza Hotel, famous for being the place where Eloise lives in those kids books, and for being the setting for this novel’s scene of confrontation. Crucial Character Beats Gatsby stops throwing parties at his house and instead carries on an affair with Daisy. Nick, Gatsby,Daisy, Jordan, and Tom have lunch together and decide to go to Manhattan for the day to escape the heat. Both Tom and Wilson realize that their wives are having affairs; however, only Tom knows who Daisy's affair is with. Wilson decides to take Myrtle to live somewhere else. Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan, and Tom end up in a suite at the Plaza Hotel where everything comes tumbling into the open. Gatsby and Daisy admit that they've been having an affair, Gatsby demands that Daisy tell Tom that she has never loved him. Daisy cannot do this, and Gatsby's dreams are dashed. Gatsby and Daisy drive home together. On the way, with Daisy driving the car, they hit and kill Myrtle, who is trying to escape being imprisoned in her house by Wilson. Gatsby decides to take the blame for the accident, but doesn’t quite realize that it is all over between him and Daisy. Daisy and Tom have an intimate moment together as they figure out what they are going to do next. What’s Next? Compare the novel’s four trips into Manhattan: Nick at Myrtle’s party in Chapter 2, Nick’s description of what it’s like to be a single guy around town at the end of Chapter 3, Nick at lunch with Gatsby in Chapter 4, and insanity at the Plaza in this chapter. Does Manhattan affect the way the characters behave? Does it make them more or less likely to act out to be there? Do they feel comfortable there? Explore this chapter’s many significant motifs: Tom’s insistence on everyone drinking, the ridiculously hot weather, Jordan’s calm excitement about the fall season, dangerous cars, and the strangely invasive music from the hotel wedding. Move on to the summary of Chapter 8, or revisit the summary of Chapter 6. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Emphasis sponsors MCA Awards - Emphasis

Emphasis sponsors MCA Awards Emphasis sponsors MCA Awards Emphasis are proud to be sponsoring the Customer Engagement Award at the MCA Awards 2012. Last year, management consultants Navigant scooped the Customer Engagement Award for their work with Skandia investment managers. This year, the shortlist for the award comprises: Ernst Young, for their work with BMW; IBM with Nationwide; LOC Consulting with Truvo; Propaganda with Clipper Logistics; and Transform with Argos. All the companies on the shortlist have achieved great things this year and we wish them the best of luck. Well be there on the night, and Emphasis Chief Executive Rob Ashton will be presenting this years Customer Engagement Award. As well as Rob, Director Tom Wilde and Development Manager Jenny Ferguson will be attending. Please do come and say hello, whether to talk about how we can help your company or just to put names to faces. Well be reporting on the night, so its also your chance to tell us your latest news. The MCA Awards will be held on Thursday 19 April at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London. For more information, and to see the companies shortlisted in other categories, click here.

Legal Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Legal Research - Essay Example Accidents can take several forms and each one of those might produce diverse results ranging from minor to moderate to fatal injuries. Among the major forms of accidents that take place, road accidents are deemed to have the potential of much frequent occurrence2. Notably, the common grounds of court ruling in road accidents take into account the duty of care beard by the road users, contributory negligence performed by the driver(s) and insurance coverage of the driver(s), in order to rule the offence and correspondingly deliver opinion on the liabilities of the driver. The ultimate ruling may affirm that i) one of the parties involved in the accident was entirely faulty, which caused the accident and thus the liability is to be bestowed on that party completely; ii) both the parties involved were equally liable for the damages caused due to the road accident and must be charged with 50:50 liabilities in compensating each other’s losses; iii) either of the parties involved in the road accident was more responsible than the other and therefore the liability shall be shared in a proportion where one party bears more but not the entire compensation than the other party involved3. Taking into account these principles along with other statutory provisions, the aim of the paper will be to analyze a particular case related to road accident. Subsequently, the paper will provide advice to the victim of the accident described in the section of case overview regarding all the legal procedures thereafter. Case Overview Headed for celebrating a short weekend holiday in their campervan, Mr. Johnson and his family had to experience a fatal accident, where the driver in the other car was killed. The driver in the other car, D, had been driving erratically when it hit Mr. Johnson’s campervan. When police arrived to the accident scene, even though they conceded that Mr. Johnson was not faulty, they charged Mr. Johnson for the death of D. The other relevant particu lars of the case state that Mr. Johnson’s campervan was uninsured and that he too did not possess a full license, which, according to the police made him chargeable under the relevant act. Additionally, further investigation to the accident revealed that the D was under the influence of alcohol when driving, which was the cause of his driving erratically and had further caused his death in the road accident. Undoubtedly, the point of concern in this case is to justify the proportionate liability of Mr. Johnson and make him bear least liability of the accident. Relevant Laws In the case of Mr. Johnson and D, the applicable statues will be under the Road Traffic Act 1988, and the relevant Tort of Negligence. As a matter of fact, the proportionate liability chargeable for Mr. Johnson and D will be required to be considered in ruling the compensation liability of Mr. Johnson. As disclosed in the above mentioned case, where Mr. Johnson was hit by another driver, in-spite of the fa ct that he/she was driving within the prescribed speed limit, Section 125 of the Highway Code of UK rules that being in a particular speed limit does not signify it is safe and justified to drive for any particular situation and get exempted from the liability of the road accident damages. Although charges and penalties in such cases are minimal, a legal

Strategic analysis of a company and its competitive environment Essay

Strategic analysis of a company and its competitive environment - Essay Example Tesco offers almost 40,000 food products, including clothing and no-food items there product range includes their own labeled products that account for almost 50% of the total sales of the company (Finance.yahoo.com. 2013). Tesco labeled products are of three grades value, normal and finest thus targeting and offering products all range of customers offering them products of different price ranges. Many of the Tesco stores have gas stations that makes it the UK's largest independent petrol retailer. Tesco has almost 530,000 employees that according to the company policy are called their colleagues and it operates almost 6,780 stores around the world with 3,146 stores in UK thus making UK its largest market and it largely depends upon the UK market as 75% of the revenues of Tesco are from UK market. Tesco also operates online store through its subsidiary Tesco.com (Tescoplc.com. 2013). Tesco is one of the largest retailers in the world and was held responsible for 5.4 million tons of Carbon Dioxide emission in 2010-11. However in 2011 Tesco was named the top retailer globally in the Carbon Disclosure. It was the recognition given to the company for its Carbon reporting and reduction measure that made it the top FTSE 350 Company (Eurofound.europa.eu. 2013). Tesco recognized its responsibility towards environment in 2007 and since then had adopted the climate change strategy to curb the carbon emission from its business and ultimately aims to become the zero carbon emission company. Industry Environment and Competitors Following below are the industry and the competitor analysis of the Tesco: Industry Analysis UK along with Germany, France, Spain and Italy is the largest food and drink producer in the EU. The food and drink manufacturing industry is the single largest manufacturing sector in the UK with almost ? 70 billion turnover in the last year while more then 500,000 people are employed by the food and drink manufacturing industry that represents around 13% o f the total manufacturing workforce in UK (SOFHT, 2013). Besides the manufacturing industry food and drink retail sector is the largest industry in UK that employees almost 3 million people. The retail food and drink industry has always witnessed the growth in the UK economy as it is believed that 20% of all consumptions are relating to the food. However the year 2013 brought the growth of revenues at the fastest pace for the retail food and drink industry. Retail sales in July 2013 were 3% higher than of sales in July 2012. The major reason of this increase in revenues is thought to be the heat wave that as the longest period of hot weather that the UK has witnessed since 1997. It was thus due to the weather that people were spending more on food, drinks (alcohol), clothing and other out-door items. The surveys revealed that the grocery stores and the supermarkets dominated the UK retail industry and with every ? 1 spent 42 pence were on food. Especially in July 2013 it was seen th at the consumers spent almost ?7bn per week that is an increase from ? 6.8bn in June 2013 and ?6.7bn in July 2012 (Financial Times. 2013). The food and drink retail industry in the UK has been associated to the supermarkets or the grocery retail stores that along with the traditional stores also provide their products online. UK witnesses one of the world’

Business Essays Human Resource Strategic

Business Essays Human Resource Strategic Human Resource Strategic Assignment Theoretical, Conceptual and Empirical Developments in the field of Strategic Human Resource Management Abstract This essay will discuss the theoretical, conceptual and empirical development in the field of strategic human resource management. It is found that the idea of best-fit and best-practices has been popular in the amplification of SHRM. The best-fit school of thought argued that HR strategy will be more effective when it is appropriately integrated with its specific organizational and environmental context. Whereas, the best practices school of thought favours universalism, arguing that all firms will be better off if they identify and adopt ‘best-practice’ in the way they manage people. However, in last 20 years, the resource-based view of the firm has played a pivotal role in the theoretical and conceptual developments in the field of SHRM. The resource-based view of the firm put emphasis on the internal resources of the firm as the source of sustained competitive advantage. These all ideas have important role in the amplification of SHRM field. Further, integration of SHRM ideas and concepts in Japanese MNEs operating in USA, Russia, UK, China and Taiwan has been investigated. Introduction In this era of globalisation and intense competition firms are seeking ways to continuously gain competitive advantage, flexibility and be innovative. It has been argued in literature that efficient and effective human resource’s polices and practices play pivotal role in gaining this competitive advantage and therefore, much emphasis is now on linking organisational strategies to human resource strategies. Strategic human resource management (SHRM) has its foundation in the US in 1980s in the work of the ‘Harvard Group’ (Beer et al., 1984 cited in Truss and Lynda, 1994) and the ‘Michigan/Columbia Group’ (Fomburn et al., 1984 cited in Truss and Lynda, 1994). Before proceeding further to explore the developments in the field of SHRM, some various definitions in the literature which describe the concept of strategic human resource management are as follow: Truss and Gratton (1994) states that SHRM is linking of HRM with strategic goals and objectives of firm to enhance business performance and to develop organisational culture that support innovation and flexibility. Schular and Walker (1970, cited in Truss and Lynda, 1994) states that, human resource strategy is a set of processes and activities jointly shared by human resource and line managers to solve people-related business issues. Wright and McMahan (1992, cited in Wright, 1998) defined SHRM is the pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities intended to enable the firm to achieve its goals. In the view of above definitions, strategic human resource management therefore, takes a macro-level perspective (Truss and Lynda, 1994) and contains lot of debate in the literature for the factors influencing the development and implementation of the field of SHRM. Best-fit school of thought: The best-fit school of thought argues that HR strategy will be more effective when it is appropriately integrated with its specific organizational (Horizontal fit) and environmental (Vertical fit) context (Boxall and Purcell, 2000; Wright and McMahan, 1992 cited in Wright, 1998). However, the review of literature reveals that this fit can be better achieved when certain contingency, configurational and contextual factors are taken into account. MartÄ ±Ã‚ ´n-Alca ´zar, Romero-Ferna ´ndez and Sa ´nchez-Gardey, (2005) have grouped the contingency relationships into three generic categories; strategic, organizational and environmental variables. They pointed out that the HR practices that are effectively incorporated (fit) into business strategy would yield high organizational performance (Niniger, 1980; Fombrun et al., 1984; Hax, 1985; Van de Ven and Drazin, 1985; Kerr, 1985; Slocum et al., 1985; Lengnick-Hall and Lengnick-Hall, 1988; Rhodes, 1988a, 1988b; Miller, 1989; Kerr and Jackofsky, 1989; Butler et al., 1991; Cappelli and Singh, 1992; Begin, 1993 cited in MartÄ ±Ã‚ ´n-Alca ´zar et al., 2005). Further, organizational variable such as size, technology, structure (Jones, 1984; Jackson et al., 1989; Jackson and Schuler, 1995 cited in MartÄ ±Ã‚ ´n-Alca ´zar et al., 2005), internal political relationships (Jones, 1984; Pfeffer and Cohen, 1984; Pfeffer and Langton, 1988; Pfeffer and Davis-Blake, 1987; Balkin and Bannister, 1993, Pfeffer, 1987 cited in MartÄ ±Ã‚ ´n-Alca ´zar et al., 2005) and environmental variables such as competition, technological changes, macro-economics and labour (Kanter, 1983, 1989; Warner, 1984; Coates, 1987; Walker, 1988; Schuler and Walker, 1990; Becker and Gerhart, 1996; Boxall, 1998; Jackson and Schuler, cited in MartÄ ±Ã‚ ´n-Alca ´zar et al., 2005), all have influence of HR on organizational strategy. The author further indicated that behavioural theory and resources and capabilities view of the firm foster the development of contingency models. Boxall and Purcell (2000) also elaborated this argument by pointing out that the more realistic model for practice is one in which fit with existing competitive strategy is developed in accordance with flexibility in the range of skill and behaviours, that have the potential to cope with uncertainty and different competitive scenarios in the future and therefore, HR strategy should incorporate firm’s current competitive goals and objectives, by recruiting and motivating people with the sort of skills and motivations required in firm’s competitive sector. In this regard, Guest (1997 cited in Tekeuchi et al., 2003) argued that effective and efficient alignment of HRM practices is able to bring out the synergistic effects on performance’, he referred it â€Å"fit-as-bundle† approach. The second approach which he identified for gaining higher organizational performance through HR is what he called the â€Å"fit-as-gestalt†. The underlying concept of this approach is that, sum of individual HR practices is greater than it parts, the pattern of combinations among HRM practices is additive rather multiplicative and that one key aspect of HRM practice is needed. This argument favours, what SHRM researcher called â€Å"configuration perspective†. According to configuration theory, a firm seeking high performance have to structure whole HRM practices and link each practice to all the others in a systematic manner, so that the system is internally coherent (Tekeuchi et al., 2003; MartÄ ±Ã‚ ´n-Alca ´zar et al., 2005). Whereas the â€Å"contextual theory† authors argued, that to better understand the complexity of the concept of SHRM, one should not only scrutinize the internal working and its effect on business performance but rather also consider the influence on the external and organizational context in which managerial decision are made (Brewster, 1999 cited MartÄ ±Ã‚ ´n-Alca ´zar et al., 2005). Therefore, the underlying idea of contextual approach is to effectively examine the relationship between the SHRM system and its context (MartÄ ±Ã‚ ´n-Alca ´zar et al., 2005). In nutshell, Boxall and Purcell (2000) argued that the best-fit model is one in which HR strategy becomes more effective when it is designed to fit certain critical contingencies in the firm’s specific context. They proposed that configurational models are more capable of identifying the complex interactions involved in business strategy and toward more dynamic theory. Best-Practices school of thought: This school of thought favours universalism, arguing that all firms will achieve high performance, if they identify and adopt ‘best-practice’ in the way they manage people (Boxall and Purcell, 2000). It is recognized that the concept of ‘best practices’ is widely acknowledged by researchers and practitioners (Delery and Doty 1996, 806 cited in Boxall and Purcell, 2000) and there is immense list of argument in the favour of best practices in the literature. Wright, Snell and Dyer (2005) reported that the development of the idea of best-practices came in the mid-1990s when Huselid (1995 cited in Wright et al., 2005) published his study demonstrating a statistically and practically significant relationship between HRM practices and corporate performance. It was also when MacDuffie’s (1995 cited in Wright et al., 2005) industry-focused study illustrated how particular bundles of HR practices, when aligned within an organizational strategy leads to high plant-level performance. Since then, the focus of research is on finding relationship between HRM principles and practices and important organizational goals (Becker and Gerhart, 1996 cited in Wright et al., 2005). Jeffrey Pfeffer (1998 cited in Boxall and Purcell, 2000) identified seven best practices: Employment security. Selective training. Self-managed team or team working. High pay contingent on company performance. Extensive training. Reduction of status differences. Sharing information. However the best practices idea is not short of criticism as Wright et al. (2005) pointed out that most of these developments have come from communities of scholars focusing on their own particular countries or regions, be it the US (e.g. Arthur, 1994; Batt, 1999; Delery and Doty, 1996; Huselid et al., 1997; Youndt et al., 1996 cited in cited in Wright et al., 2005), the UK (e.g. Brewster, 1999; Guest, 1997; Guest et al., 2003; Tyson, 1997 cited in cited in Wright et al., 2005), elsewhere in Europe (e.g. d’Arcimoles, 1997; Lahteenmaki et al., 1998; RodrÄ ±Ã‚ ´guez and Ventura, 2003 cited in cited in Wright et al., 2005) or Asia (e.g. Bae and Lawler, 2000; Lee and Chee, 1996; Lee and Miller, 1999 cited in Wright et al., 2005). SHRM and Resource-based view of the firm: Another, theoretical development in strategic human resource management is its integration with the resource-based view of the firm. Although the field of SHRM does not directly emerge from resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, but to borrow concepts and theories from the broader strategy literature, the integration of the RBV of the firm into the SHRM literature was imminent (Wright et al., 2001). Therefore, two major developments have emerged over the past years. Firstly, the popularity of the RBV within the SHRM literature as a foundation for both theoretical and empirical examination (McMahan, Virick and Wright, 1999 cited in Wright et al., 2001). Secondly, the application and implications of the RBV within the strategy literature have led to an increasing convergence between the field of strategic management and SHRM (Snell, Shadar Wright, 2001 cited in Wright et al., 2001). The RBV proposes that internal organizational resources that are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable are a source of sustainable competitive advantage (Barney, 1991). Barney (1991) further argued that firm’s resources can be imperfectly imitable for three reasons: Historical condition (Path dependency): As firm evolve they obtain skills, abilities and resources over the period of time that then become unique to the firm (Barney 1995 cited in Paauwe and Boselie, 2003). Paauwe and Boselie (2003) argued that this is equally true for firm’s human resources who are recruited and trained over the time to be properly embedded in firm’s cultural network. Causal ambiguity: Causal ambiguity exits when the relationship between firm’s resources and competitive advantage is not understood or imperfectly understood by the firm who posses the competitive advantage and most importantly by the competitors . Paauwe and Boselie (2003) argued that the ways employee’s competencies have been formed are subject to thousands of small decision and events in the firms which have contributed to specific pattern of capabilities and hence these patterns are no easily understood by the competitors. Social Complexity: And finally firm’s resources are imperfectly imitable because they are subject to very complex social phenomena that are beyond the ability of the firms to systematically manage and influence. So when the competitive advantage is based on such complex social phenomena then the ability of other firms to imitate these resources is ceased (Barney, 1991). Paauwe and Boselie (2003) pointed out that social complexity exits in HR characteristics such teamwork, interpersonal relationships among managers, cultural traditions, and firm’s networks. Wright et al. (1994 cited in Wright et al., 2001) separate firm’s human resources and HR practices. In applying the concept of value, rareness, inimitable and non-substitutability, they argued that HR practices cannot be the source of firm’s sustainable competitive advantage as HR practices can easily be copied by competitors. Rather they voted in the favour of human capital pool (a highly skilled and highly motivated workforce) as source of sustainable competitive advantage for the firm. They noted that to gain a source of competitive advantage, the human capital pool must have both high level of skill and willingness (i.e. motivation) to exhibit productive behaviour. Opposingly, Lado and Wilson (1994 cited in Wright et al., 2001) argued that HR practices could provide the source of sustainable competitive advantage. There point of view is that HR systems can be unique, causally ambiguous and synergistic in how they enhance firm competencies, and therefore could be inimitable. Snell et al. (1996 cited in cited in Wright et al., 2001) further justify Lado and Wilson point of view and seem it as widely accepted in current SHRM paradigm. Boxall (cited in Wright, 1998) indicates the process through which Human Resource Advantage (HRA) can be developed. He argues that HRA consists of two components: Human resource capital advantage which may provide advantage when firm employs people with higher level of skill than their competitors. Human resource process advantage which can be gain when employees’ relationships and joint problem solving process enable the firm to execute operations more quickly, efficiently and/or effectively. Furthermore, Lepak and Snell (1999 cited in Wright et al., 2001) argued that some employees groups are more instrumental to competitive advantage than others, so they are likely to be managed differently. This may help researchers to recognize that real and valid difference exists in HR practices in organisations and looking for one HR strategy may not help to identify the important differences in the types of human capital available to the firm (cf. Truss Gratton, 1994 cited in Wright et al., 2001). Researchers also have consensus that employee behaviour is an important independent component of SHRM. Unlike, the skills of human capital pool, employee behaviour recognize individuals as cognitive and emotional beings who posses free will and this free will enables the employees to make decisions regarding the behaviour in which they are engage (Wright et al., 2001). MacDuffie (1995 cited in Wright et al., 2001) argued about discretionary behaviour that recognizes that within prescribed organisational roles, employees exhibit discretion that may have positive or negative impact on the firm. Similarly, March and Simon (1958 cited in Wright et al., 2001) recognizes the discretionary behaviour and suggest that competitive advantage can only be gained if the members of human capital pool individually or collectively choose to engage in behaviour that benefits the firm. Based on the above discussion Wright et al. (2001) provide a preliminary framework that suggests core competence, dynamic capabilities, and knowledge serve as a bridge between the emphasis in the strategy literature on who provides sources of competitive advantage and the focus in the HRM literature on the process of attraction, development, motivation, and retention of people. The authors pointed out that the people management systems construct which is actually the focus on HR field that creates value to the extent that they impact the stock, flow, and change of intellectual capital/knowledge that form the basis of core competencies. They further argued in this model that, skill concept should be looked from the broader perspective of the firm strategy and therefore, might be expanded to consider the stock of intellectual capital in the firm, embedded in both people and systems, this stock of human capital consists of human (knowledge, skills, and abilities of the people) social (the valuable relationships among people), and organisational (processes and routines within the firm). The â€Å"behaviour† element within the SHRM literature has been embedded in the flow of knowledge within the firm through its creation, transfer, and integration. The authors have indicated that, this â€Å"knowledge management† behaviour becomes very important as information and knowledge play greater role in firm competitive advantage. It is through the flow of knowledge that firms increase or maintain the stock of intellectual capital. They further propose that core competencies arises from the combination of the firms stock of knowledge (human, social, and organisational capital embedded in both people and systems) and flow of this knowledge through creation, transfer, and integration in a way that is valuable, rare, inimitable, and organized. Finally, the dynamic capability construct represents the processes that the organisation has to cope with, in order to remain competitive. It illustrates the relationship between the workforce and the core competence as it changes overtime. The authors argued that dynamic capability requires changing competencies on the part of both the organization and the people who comprise it. It is facilitated by people management systems that promote the change of both the stock and flow of knowledge within the firm that enable a firm to constantly renew its core competencies. This frame work developed by Wright et al. (2001) is an important development in SHRM literature; however its application in real world scenario is subject to empirical testing. SHRM in Japanese Multinational in USA, Russia, UK, China and Taiwan: To further investigate the issue in the real world scenario, this essay will look into the matter of SHRM integration in Japanese multinational companies operating in USA, UK, Russia, China and Taiwan. This discussion is based on the empirical research conducted by Park, Mitsuhashi, Fey and Bjo ¨rkman (2003) on fifty two Japanese multinational corporation operating in USA and Russia, Basu and Miroshnik (1999) case study of Nisan and Toyota (Japanese automobile companies) operating in UK and Takeuchi, Wakabayashi and Chen (2003) study of 286 Japanese affiliates operating in Mainland China and Taiwan. Japanese manufacturing organisations have made a lot of inroads in overseas production bases. The successes of their enterprises have raised interests on the system of production and organisation peculiar to the Japanese business firms (Wickens, 1987; Suzaki, 1987 cited in Basu and Miroshnik, 1999). Japanese system of management is a complete philosophy of organisation which can affect every part of the enterprise (Ohno, 1978; Nohara, 1985 cited in Basu and Miroshnik, 1999). The empirical research done by the authors, mentioned above to investigate the issue of HRM strategy and firm performance in Japanese MNEs is subject to the idea of best HR practices. However, some interesting facts come into attention with the previous discussion of best-fit, best-practices and resource-based view of the firm which would be discussed below. The Japanese MNEs have maintained their own management styles in overseas operations and despite of cultural difference, environment impact, and local labour market conditions these MNEs have adopted the best practices idea and tried to coordinate the HRM policies and practices between their overseas subsidiaries and parent headquarters. The Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement, zero defect, just-in-time method of delivery, team based problem solving practices (Quality circles, management by objectives, kaizen (suggestion and improvement)), long-term commitment, in-company welfare system, extensive training for skill development, performance based rewards, decentralised responsibilities, vertical information systems are at the heart of their management strategy . And this style of management has not only proved to be successful for Japanese MNEs but it has forced other local companies to adopt Japanese styles of management for increased organizational performance. The concept of team working through quality circles and management by objectives (MBO) are the important components to manage the human resources of the firm and bring them in align with company strategic goals to achieve higher performance. Employees through quality circle teams can put forward their suggestions, and then feedback is given to employees for their suggestion and there are also rewards for employees. This foster employee’s motivation and give them the sense of involvement. It does not only ends here, as the concept of quality circle is also important for organizational learning, as the members of quality circle comes from every department of the organization and share their knowledge and information, this helps in creating new skills and attitudes that can help to attain the company goals. Zero defect policy refers to the fact that instead of individual parts the whole process is controlled and quality is insured through process instead of inspection. Therefore, employees are given extensive on the job and off the job training not only for specific but rather multiple operations of the firm. This refers to the fact of upskilling of employees. The long term commitment and performance based rewards helps to ensure employee retention and continuous commitment towards the firm’s objectives, this refers to the fact that the valuable and rare skills of the employee’s that have been developed over the period of time and are integrated into firm’s HR systems should not be imitable and substitutable. The above discussion points out, that these Japanese MNEs’ HR systems are some what in coherence with the framework developed by Wright et al. (2001). As it is obvious from above discussion that the people management systems of Japanese overseas subsidiaries are continuously maintaining their stock of intellectual capital both embedded in people and systems of the company i.e. through extensive training, performance based rewards, concept of continuous improvement etc. And the concept of team working through quality circles and MBO is fostering learning in Japanese organization and this valuable knowledge and skills that employees developed is retained by the policy of long-term commitment and in-company welfare system,decentralised responsibilitieswhich all help to develop employee’s behaviour and attitudes for high commitment and hence increased organizational performance. It is also observed that these patterns of HR practice is quite relevant to our earlier discussion of best practices in which we refer to the seven practices identified by Jeffrey Pfeffer (1998 cited in Wright et al., 2001). Conclusion: The empirical research done in the field of SHRM to investigate the issue of strategic HRM and its impact on performance of Japanese MNEs is only based on finding relationship between HR practices (configurational perspective) of the firm and their impact on organizational performance. The concepts of dynamic capabilities, core competencies, organizational learning are gaining popularity in strategic literature and as argued by Wright et al., 2001 are the important source of gaining sustained competitive advantage. Therefore, the future empirical research should incorporate these concepts to investigate the issue of integration of HR into firm’s strategy. Secondly the above research also lack the evidence of how these Japanese MNEs incorporate the local market, government regulations, cultural impact that can have influence on HR strategies of these firms. In the view of above theoretical developments in the literature it can be proposed that the firms who seek high performance and want to gain competitive edge over their competitors should device their HR policies and practices that develop skills, attitudes and behaviours of the employees in such a way that are valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and non-substitutable in the firm’s same line of business, organizational learning is an important component in developing up these characteristics and therefore, firms should develop up knowledge management systems incorporated into their HR strategy to foster organizational learning that would have positive impact on firm’s performance. References: Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management. 17, 1, 99-120. Basu, D.R. and Miroshnik, V. (1999). Strategic human resource management of Japanese multinationals A case study of Japanese multinational companies in the UK. The Journal of Management Development. 18, 9, 714-732. Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. (2000). Strategic human resource management: where have we come from and where should we be going?. International Journal of Management Reviews. 2, 2, 183-203. MartÄ ±Ã‚ ´n-Alca ´zar, F., Romero-Ferna ´ndez, P.M. and Sa ´nchez-Gardey, G. (2005). Strategic human resource management: integrating the universalistic, contingent, configurational and contextual perspectives. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 16, 5, 633-659. Paauwe, J. and Boselie, P. (2003). Challenging ‘strategic HRM’ and the relevance of the institutional setting. Human Resource Management Journal. 13, 3, 56-70. Park, H.J., Mitsuhashi, H., Fey, C.F. and Bjo ¨rkman, I. (2003). The effect of human resource management practices on Japanese MNC subsidiary performance: a partial mediating model. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 14, 8, 1391-1406. Takeuchi, N., Wakabayashi, M. and Chen, Z. (2003). The strategic HRM configuration for competitive advantage: Evidence from Japanese firms in China and Taiwan. Asia Pacific Journal of Management. 20, 4, 447-480. Truss, C. and Gratton, L. (1994). Strategic human resource management: a conceptual approach. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 5, 3, 663-686. Wright, P.M. (1998). Introduction: Strategic human resource management research in the 21st century. Human Resource Management Review. 8, 3, 187-191. Wright, P., Dunford, B. and Snell, S. (2001). Human resources and the resource based view of the firm. Journal of Management. 27, 6, 701 -721. Wright, P.M., Snell, S.A. and Dyer, L. (2005). New models of strategic HRM in a global context. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 16, 6, 875-881. Bibliography: Lepak, D.P. and Snell, S.A. (1998). Virtual HR: Strategic human resource management in 21st century. Human Resource Management Review. 8, 3, 215-234. Lundy, O. (1994). From personnel management to strategic human resource management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 5, 3, 687-720. Mabey, C., Salaman, G. and Storey, J. (1998). Human Resource Management A Strategic Introduction (2nd Edition). Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc.

How to Deal with Disagreements Between Children and Young People Essay

Dealing with conflicts with children can be challenging. Young children get very emotional and are often crying. Especially children in Infants years, the smallest thing can cause a disagreement, usually in the playground over toys. I find the best way to deal with conflicts is to be calm and get each child to explain what happened, this shows you are not taking sides and you are listening to both, explain the difference in right and wrong. Try to make them understand if they were put in the same position, how they would feel and get them to apologise. Also, younger children, especially those who may be an only child find it harder to share. This is another issue affecting disagreements in this age group. For example, during art class, sharing colours, some children don’t have the patience to wait for their turn; this causes little conflicts amongst children. So I try to explain to them that they should be patient, be considerate of others and wait for their turn. Whereas with young people you need to have a different strategy in order to deal with disagreements. This age group are strong willed and most will have their own views and ideas. They are more independent and have their individual personalities hence will clash more. They should be encouraged to discuss the issue and come to a mutual agreement. Learning to accept others views and opinions and to respect this. Adults should give young people the opportunity to resolves issues themselves and intervene only when needed. I feel when dealing with young people, you need to be able to listen to them, let them explain the issue before jumping in giving them your view. If the matter is discussed, they will realise for themselves what is the right answer.

Fraud, Deceptions, and Downright Lies About Intermediate Level Essay Topics Exposed

Fraud, Deceptions, and Downright Lies About Intermediate Level Essay Topics Exposed You may find there's a compelling argument for learning another language after all! The Study Problem must meet with the deadline picking a topic that's compelling enough to sustain additional study is crucial. Selecting a great topic for your essay is among the most crucial and frequently tricky parts for many students. Following are a few of the advised sociology essay topic for those students that are unable to decide on a great topic for their assignment. Since you can see, lots of the topics listed are new and tackle the present issues happening in the World today. There's a remarkable solution to your issue! If you can select the problem by yourself, it's possible to develop the issue of interest! Among the most prevalent issues in our world today is the matter of deforestation. 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