Heart Of Darkness Essays (612 words) - Congo Free State,

Heart Of Darkness The contrast between Kurtz's intended and black mistress The Heart of Darkness is a story about a man telling a tale of an adventure that he had on the Congo River. During this adventure he meets a guy named Kurtz. Kurtz was congregating with a tribe of people who worshiped him and did what ever he told them to do. Kurtz was a very special person in the way he influenced the feelings of two very different, but somewhat similar women. Among this tribe of savages was a woman that was said to have been Kurtz's mistress. Back home he had a woman who he was supposed to marry. Kurtz's black mistress and intended were two very different people, from different places, who shared the same devotion towards him even though there were many obstacles in the way of their love. Kurtz's intended was from the city and was well off with money. Kurtz's black mistress was in a tribe of savages in Africa. She to was well off in her possessions. You could tell she was well off or important in the things she wore and the way that Marlow described the way she carried herself and the way the other members of the tribe watched what ever she did. In the city the intended's family labeled Kurtz as being not good enough. Marlow says that it was because, he was not rich enough or something. (p.249) This is ironic because his black mistress' tribe or family treats him like a god. Both women felt the same undying devotion to Kurtz. When Kurtz was being taken away by Marlow on his ship the tribe came running and hollering trying to get him back. The woman even entered the water with her arms stretched towards the boat. Marlow blew the whistle to scare away the tribe. This worked and even made the ones closest to the shore fall down flat on their face as if they were dead. The whistle did nothing to the woman and she remained in the water with her arms out. The whistle did not scare the woman like it did the rest of the tribe because she was devoted to Kurtz and wanted to be with him. Kurtz intended shared the same devotion towards him as the black tribal woman did. Marlow went to see her, a year after the death of Kurtz, and she was still in mourning. The woman accepted Marlow into her home because he was a friend of Kurtz. She was glad he had visited, so she would have someone to talk to about him. She talked of how she loved him and of how he needed her. They talked of when he died and she got upset. She said, And I was not with him.(p.251) She said she would have treasured everything he did and said. Marlow tells her that he was with him till the end and that he heard his last words. She wanted to know what they were and said, Repeat them?I want-I want-something-something-to-to live with.(p.251) She says this so Marlow will tell her his last words. He tells her that his last words were her name. This makes her feel good and at the same time makes her weep in her hands. Kurtz played an important role in the lives of both women and had a tremendous impact on the way they loved him. Both women were very different and at the same time very similar in the way they loved Kurtz. Both went through very tramadic experiences to show their undying love for him.

Performance-Based Pay Essays

Performance-Based Pay Essays Performance-Based Pay Paper Performance-Based Pay Paper Essay on Performance-Based Pay Organizations pay salaries to their employees based on the type of services rendered. Salary levels rise system is one of the most critical elements in strategic human resource management. This is primarily due to the role played by rewards and compensation system in determining employee productivity. Rewarding the employee on the basis of his productivity or performance generates enthusiasm and interest within the employee to perform better. Moreover, this approach tends to increase the level of motivation encouraging him to perform better. An intrinsic part of rewards and compensation strategy is performance management that seeks excellence and high quality work from the work force. The study highlights various theories in relation to performance related pay and associated human resource strategy. The discussion provides an insight into essential features of performance related pay such as motivation, performance management, appraisals, feedback, and learning that play a vital role in creating effective performance related pay strategies. It also identifies some practical problems faced by managers and strategic alternatives that can effectively meet these challenges. What is performance related pay? Performance related pay is the financial compensation paid to an employee based on his work performance. It translates to rewarding employees for effective performance. Bruno Frey (2002) observes in his book Successful Management by Motivation â€Å"Variable performance related pay has become an increasingly popular form of compensation. The key to performance related pay is that compensation is adjusted to reflect an employee’s individual performance. † This form of compensation is similar to rewards system adopted by organizations to motivate their work force and extract higher quality work. Performance related pay has been practiced by a large number of organizations since the inception of trade and commerce. The system has now evolved to include identification of measurable parameters while assessing performance, use of positive reinforcement and feedback mechanism to instill confidence within employees, and ongoing training development sessions to equip the workforce to meet operational challenges. Theoretical bases of performance related pay Rewarding an employee with financial compensation is a form of motivation that is intended to increase productivity and encourage others within the organization to strive harder to reach the specified performance targets. Motivation has been defined as the â€Å"driving force that determines the direction and strength of goal-oriented behaviors† (Preker, 2007; pg 240). Performance based pay schemes have failed in many instances to motivate the employees to the desired level of performance. Many explanations have been given for this failure and it is to some extent attributed to the amount of compensation in lieu of the hard work and the management fairness during performance appraisals. Vroom’s expectancy theory and the Adam’s equity theory provide explanation to the fundamental problems faced during the process of deciding the level of compensation. Pros and Cons of Performance-Based Pay Advantages The first and most important advantage to performance-based pay is that this type of pay is a fantastic motivator. Simply for a worker to get more money, which is the case in nearly every job, he needs to work harder. This pay system is great for retaining key talent the organization has and getting unmotivated individuals to improve productivity. For a sales person, performance- based pay motivates you too sell your product, since it is the only way that you are going to get paid. There is also a feeling of accomplishment when you get your income, its like a reflection of all the hard work you have put in the month or week. Another advantage to performance-based pay that I think is rather important is that amount of freedom that they might get, (depending where they work). For example, a salesperson would be interacting with customers, he wouldn’t be tied down to a strict schedule or be stuck behind a desk all day. Its also good as you can plan your day around personal appointments, like the dentist or your daughter’s piano recital. Another great advantage for an organization that offers a performance- based pay scheme would be that it is attractive to workers who are higher skilled than their co workers in the same category of work. For example, if I am an extremely experienced and educated sales rep, and I know I’m better than most people at the job, I want to work in a place that will recognize my talents and will also be reflected in my pay. So the organization will have access to a wider range of more educated and experienced workforce. This is extremely useful for an organization, especially in the current economic climate. Disadvantage of performance-based pay A disadvantage of performance-based pay that would contradict my previous advantage would be that motivation isn’t just as simple as money = happiness! Too little money will demotivate but more money will not necessarily increase satisfaction or monivation. (Herzberg) Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs model of motivation has 5 levels of motivation. 1.physiological 2. Safety 3. Social 4. Self esteem 5. Self actualization. In the there are many other motivators than just financial incentives, like need to belong to a group, to make friends, to work towards job security and to work towards bettering yourself and your career. Once your basic needs are satisfied, other factors start to become more important. A contrasting view of this would be that, in early careers, some people find themselves working an insane amount of hours, and with a performance- based pay, there may not be a limit to the hours you can work, as you can spend a big amount of time building up a client list. Also if you have a certain sales goal to meet or making up for lost time at that dentist or the piano recital, you can sometimes find yourself working through the weekends or even very late into the evenings. In line with this, another disadvantage would be the financial instability. Your wage or salary cannot be sure. This would increase the tension of the employee. A good way to battle the tension or anxiety caused by performance- based pay would be to have some savings set aside for a rainy day or an emergency or if your performance hasn’t been up to par. This isn’t a great solution but it’s a way to help A disadvantage that I though went together in relation to my previous advantage (employees) is that employees that are working on the basis of performance- based pay, may only be inclined to actually do what is measured in their performance appraisal. For example, an employee who picks orders for customers in a warehouse for a wholesalers might have a daily goal or picking up to 14% of the orders placed in a day. He may have achieved that goal, but in the process of just meeting the target, he has caused long-term setbacks but ignoring tasks involved in the company, like restocking the shelves, which is not ideal for an organization. Another disadvantage to do with the employees is that this type of pay scheme can cause a split amongst employees. If some employees are not being rewarded as equal it can cause other employees to feel under appreciated or even start to have some resentment towards the employee who is getting the better rewards. This error can occur easily enough as not every single aspect of the job can be monitored. It can be prevented by putting strict and clear stipulations in place for the system.

Technology is making communication easier in today's world, but at the Essay - 1

Technology is making communication easier in today's world, but at the expense of personal contact as many people choose to interact from home in front of a computer screen - Essay Example The first decade of the twentieth century has, however, bought significant changes in the society having made the world a very small place to live in. McLuhan’s claim narrated that the technological advancements had created a global â€Å"tribal echo-land† of media resonance where people from all over the world could listen to each other’s conversations whenever desired. This communication has become an inevitable part of every human being’s everyday routines in the present times. In order to keep up with the rapid changes that are taking place in the world it has become essential that the news giving sources should regularly be looked up to. And what else could be better than staying logged in to online news giving sites and social and business networking sites at regular intervals. This is a very important benefit of technology. All the current updates just about anything and everything are just a click of the mouse away. At least one of the communication devices in a household is definitely logged on to the internet round the clock. However, this habit of staying connected to the internet has its disadvantages as well. It is often said that technology behaves like a ‘double edged sword’ (Kurzweil, 2008) . Where the pros of the attractive and convenient to use communications advancements have shaped the society towards betterment the cons of the said changes are often problematic and alarming. The most dangerous phenomenon of present times is social networking websites. These sites are very attractive to human nature. Elders and youngsters both like to stay logged in to their profiles identities on these websites round the clock just because they are anxious about status updates from their friends or are looking up the next comment update on any issue that is being commented upon in the discussion board. These and other