Discussion on Quantitative Reasoning for Business Course Essay Example for Free

Discussion on Quantitative Reasoning for Business Course Essay Discussion on Quantitative Reasoning for Business Course Self Reflection Paper 10/15/08 Discussion on Quantitative Reasoning for Business Course For many years, the quantitative or mathematical approach to business problem solving was the cornerstone of MBA programs worldwide. The traditional approach has been a rational analysis: information is collected, collated, analyzed and interpreted, alternatives are formulated, and a logical choice is consciously arrived at (Bagchi, 2005). In practice this means: â€Å"the more information, the better; ‘cool and calm’ strategic thinking should not be ‘debased’ by feelings; efficient thought and behavior must be called upon to subjugate emotion† (Sadler-Smith, 2004). The Quantitative Reasoning for Business course would provide me with the prerequisites necessary to master the rational analysis. In recent years, however, the usefulness of the quantitative analysis training for future managers has been put into doubt. The requirement for fast decisions and the limits of human beings’ rational information-processing capacities may combine to impose severe demands upon executives’ cognitive capabilities to handle masses of information at the necessary speed (Sadler-Smith, 2004). That is when intuition comes into play. Intuition is difficult to describe but easy to recognize. Many of us will be intimately familiar with our own intuitions and will probably be able to identify, and may even envy or admire, those individuals who confidently display a ‘gut feel’ for complex situations and who appear to have an ‘instinct’ for grasping key issues quickly. This quality can be nurtured through life experience. The optimal solution thus, might be a combination of two approaches depending on circumstances. The relationship between intuition and rationality can work in two ways. For example, proceeding from intuition to rational analysis represents a ‘validation’ sequence in which gut feeling may be checked out by rational analysis by posing questions such as ‘Do the data support my hunch? Proceeding from rational analysis to intuition represents an ‘incubation’ sequence in which intuition provides an expertise-based or feelings-based validation for judgments arrived at through rational analysis (Sadler-Smith, 2004). In summary, quantitative training will probably benefit me by preparing me for the future courses in economics, finance, accounting, operations, and research (Quantitative Reasoning for Business Overview, nd). More importantly though, it will prepare me for the future ‘real world’ w ork, even when its direct usefulness is not as extensive as often believed its proponents.

Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia Essay -- Chronicles of Narni

Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia      Ã‚  Ã‚   C. S. Lewis, a well-known author and apologist, is best known by people of all ages for his seven volume series entitled The Chronicles of Narnia. As Lewis wrote about the land of Narnia, an imaginary world visited by children of this world, he had two obvious purposes: to entertain the readers and to suggest analogies of the Christian faith. Although some feel that his stories are violent, Lewis is successful at using fiction to open peoples' hearts to accepting Christ as their Savior because he first entertains the audience with a wonderful story.    Lewis talked about how he came to write the books of Narnia, saying that they "all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood" (Lewis 79). The Chronicles tell of the different adventures of English children as they visit the kingdom of Narnia and fall in love with the lion Aslan. Aslan, "the son of the Emperor over Sea," can be compared to this world's Jesus Christ (Schakel 133). As a child, Lewis always favored fairy tales and fantasies; as an adult, he decided to write one (Lewis 60). And so began The Chronicles of Narnia. Rather than planning to write a fictional book that succeeded in using apologetics, Lewis admits that the "element" of Christianity, "as with Aslan," entered "of its own accord" (Hooper 31). Walter Hooper, C. S. Lewis' biographer, describes Lewis as being the most religious man he ever met (Schakel 132). For this reason, no matter what Lewis wrote, his religion would greatly impact all of his works.    Although Christian symbolism can be found... ...rtainer.    Works Cited    Dorsett, Lyle W. and Marjorie Lamp Mead, eds. C. S. Lewis Letters to Children. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1985.    Holbrook, David. The Skeleton in the Wardrobe: C. S. Lewis's Fantasies: A Phenomenological Study. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1991.    Hooper, Walter. Past Watchful Dragons: The Narnian Chronicles of C. S. Lewis. New York: Collier Books, 1979.    Lewis, C. S. Of This and Other Worlds. Ed. Walter Hooper. St. James Place, London: Collins, 1982.    Martin, Holly Bigelow. "C. S. Lewis in the Secular Classroom." The Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 22.4 (1991): 1-7.    Schakel, Peter J. Reading with the Heart: The Way Into Narnia. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979.   

Christian Life Education Reflection Paper Essay

Prayer is a way of communication between me and God. It allows me to talk to Him and listen to Him so that I can establish a closer relationship with Him. As I went about my CLE classes, I learned that there were proper ways and intentions that are needed in order to make the most out of prayer, thus I reflected on my prayer life to see if I was praying according to the 4 keys. First, I evaluated Rico’s prayer life since it is by doing this that I can better evaluate my own prayer life. Rico prays to God whenever he needs help like during tests, and he does good deeds in order to make sure that God will answer his prayers. Whenever he doesn’t need Him, he doesn’t set time for prayer since he believes that studying is already a form of prayer. How one sees God affects how he relates to Him. In Rico’s case, he sees God as a vending machine. In vending machines, buyers insert money into the machine and in return, the machine gives the product the buyer desires. Rather than seeing God as a God who loves unconditionally, he sees God as someone who demands that he do good deeds in order for Him to grant the petitions of Rico. Rico promises God to stop cursing, to stop backstabbing and goes to mass whenever there are tests because he believes that God demand he does these good deeds so He will answer Rico’s prayer. Just like a ve nding machine, Rico believes he needs to give â€Å"money† or good deeds in return for the â€Å"product† or petition he wants. Ideally one should see God as an unconditional lover, who loves us despite flaws, since this allows the person to approach God with trust, honesty and love, making the relationship more real and genuine. Instead, Rico doesn’t believe in God’s unconditional love since he chooses to do good deeds to please love and make God love him. In reality, we shouldn’t do good to receive God’ love but we should be open to God’s unconditional love, which will then motivate and transform us to do good. How one sees himself also affects the way he relates with God in prayer since how we see ourselves shapes how we think others see ourselves. If we see ourselves as lovable, we will be open and honest since we know that the other person will love us the way we are. If we see ourselves as unlovable, we will be false and unreal since we will probably hide our true self to make others like us more. Rico’s image of himself is a mixture of both. He sees himself as lovable by God only when he does good deeds and  religious acts. He does these acts to please God and to assure himself that God will answer his prayers since he believes that doing these acts make him lovable by God. Rico doesn’t see himself as lovable when he indifferent towards others and when not doing good deeds. Because of this, he doesn’t find time to pray to God when he doesn’t need help or do good deeds. One assumption is that Rico is ashamed of the cursing, backstabbing and other bad deeds he has done, so he distances himself from God because he feels unworthy of his love. He only prays to God when he promises to do good deeds, so he probably thinks he is not worth listening to by God unless he does good. This will have a negative effect on his relationship with God since he chooses to distance his messy self from God rather than pray to God to improve their relationship because he feels unworthy due to his flaws and doesn’t think that God has unconditional love for him. Instead of all the prayer time he could have spent with God, he misses out on it because of his wrong perception of God and himself. Reading Rico’s sample prayer, I’m not entirely sure if he is honest with God. He appears to be buttering God up so that God will grant his petitions. He tells God he promises to stop cursing and backstabbing, yet he goes back to his indifferent ways during regular school days. For me, it doesn’t seem that he seems sincere in what he is saying, so his relationship cannot progress and remains shallow. He should focus more on expressing what he really feels in order to break down barriers with God and in order to make the relationship with God more real and intimate. Rico also has a hard time integrating prayer with daily life. Rather than making everyday an opportunity to pray to God, he only prays to God when he needs him. This is similar to a relationship with a doctor, wherein one goes to the doctor for his services only without establishing a personal relationship with him. Rico only goes to God when he needs something and doesn’t attempt to establish a personal relationship with him. Occupational prayer is about recognizing God’s presence in daily tasks, but Rico doesn’t do so since he only seeks God when he needs him. Other than those times, he studies and remains indifferent towards others, thus he doesn’t recognize God’s presence unless he needs Him. Spousal prayer is resting from work in order to be totally available to God. â€Å"My work is my prayer† is not an  excuse since we all need to spend at least 15 to 20 minutes everyday to talk to God alone, which will deepen our relationship with him and make occupational prayer more meaningful. Rico is â€Å"busy† and believes that studying is a form of prayer, thus he doesn’t make time daily for spousal prayer, which prevents him from deepening his relationship with God. Rico doesn’t listen to God often during prayer. Prayer is irrelevan t when one dominates the stage and keeps talking and asking for favors from God. Prayer becomes relevant when we use it to listen to God in order to discover what he wants us to do. Often times, what God has to say to us is more important that what we have to say to him, so we must be selfless enough to give him the stage and reflective enough to learn his message. In Rico’s case, he always dominates the stage by praying only to ask for petitions. He doesn’t listen to what God wants of him and only prays for his own personal intentions rather than praying to improve his relationship with God. Rico needs to become more selfless and put what God’s trying to say over what he’s going to say. By listening along with talking to God, prayer becomes a two-way communication, which allows his relationship to flourish with God.

Television Adverts Essay Example Pdf - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2396 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Advertising Essay Type Analytical essay Topics: Television Essay Did you like this example? In the age where media inhabits numerous conduits for the production of culture it is difficult to imagine culture without its mediated form, from television and comic books to fashion and postcards, culture is derived through a range of diverse vehicles. We experience our cultural life through media in various ways. Modern society is founded on universal law, enlightenment of reason and science is the solution to social problems, utopia is possible (except the poor will always be poor); Western-centric humanism will save the world; mass consumption means mass employment and modern society contained in the grand narrative of history. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Television Adverts Essay Example Pdf" essay for you Create order Progressive social transformation of the post-modern turn will take us on new adventures; resituating science, technology, society capitalism into a multi-perspective and multi-disciplinary framework. One attempt to account for the emergence of post-modern condition is the shift during the 20th century of the economic needs of capitalism from production to consumption. Reality is what we see fit by these various forms of seductive illusion. The prefix post clearly implies a break, a relation to a period that has happened before. In the case of post-modernism the previous period is undoubtedly modernism. Thus, postmodernism refers to a breakdown of the distinction between culture and society emergence of a social order in which the importance and power of the mass media and popular culture means that they govern and shape all forms of social relationships. For Lyotard, a key post-modernism theorist, the post-modern condition is neither a periodizing concept nor does it re fer to the institutional parameters of modernity and post-modernity. Rather it is: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the condition of knowledge in the most highly developed societies. I have decided to use the word post-modern to describe that conditionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (it) designates the state of our culture following the transformations which, since the end if nineteenth century, have altered the rules for science, literature, and the arts (Lyotard, 1991, pg xxiii) Lyotard refers to postmodernism as a loss of faith in meta-narratives, the big stories that have justified the rational, scientific, artistic and political world of the modern world. Rejection of all overarching and totalising thought; Marxism, liberalism, etc. that tell universal stories which organize and justify the everyday practices of a plurality of different stories (narratives); Science, which has developed importance since the Enlightenment, has assumed the status of a meta-narrative, organizing and validating other na rratives on the road to liberation. Lyotard says since Enlightenment status as a meta-narrative has waned. Science is no longer seen to be making progress on behalf of mankind. Its a breakdown in distinction between art and popular culture: there are no longer any agreed and definite criteria which serve to differentiate art from popular culture. For example, take Warhol Velvet Underground art becomes increasingly integrated into the economy both because it is used to encourage people to consume through the expanded role it plays in advertising, and because it becomes a commercial good in its own right. Popular cultural signs and media images increasingly dominate our sense of reality, and the way we define ourselves and the world around us. The world which tries to come to terms with a media-saturated society. Mass media was once thought of as holding up a mirror to, and reflecting society. Now, reality can only be defined as the surface reflections of this mirror. S ociety has become subsumed within mass media it is no longer a question of distortion of reality, since the term implies that there is a reality outside the surface simulations of the media, which can be distorted, and this is precisely what is at issue according to post-modern theory. Is the media creating reality? Linked to this is the notion that it is more difficult to distinguish the economy from popular culture. The realm of consumption is increasingly influenced by popular culture. For example, we watch more films because we have a VCR, then they reference and advertise products that we go and buy. Surface and style have become more important and evoke a kind of designer ideology. The obsession with being super-model thin, fad-diets, use of sexuality, football, designer clothing, and many more simulations that work as a network in exchange order with each other to create reality narrative for post-modern consumer. The argument is we increasingly consume images and s igns for their own sake rather than for their usefulness or for the deeper values they may symbolise. The very values that modernists used to talk about. In the production-era machines had to be built and updated, basic materials like iron and steel made, infrastructures such as roads, rail, communication had to be laid down, the work force had to be taught the work ethic: Taylorisation and Fordism. Once this was established, the need for consumption emerges. And people need to acquire a consumer ethic. The need to consume becomes equal to the need to produce. Increased affluence combined with consumer credit, advertising, marketing and design. Culture celebrates consumerism and style, therefore the media becomes more important. New occupations or changed role of older ones involved in need to make people consume: advertisers, marketing, design, journalism, television, finance, etc. Consuming images In his essays, Stuart Hall has conceptualized the production and consumption of the television message as a complex social construction of meaning within the semiotic framework. His theory of encoding/decoding is very important in the discourse of consumption of advertising in TV. The polysemic images have been encoded in a particular way and the process of decoding is not symmetrical. Looking back at the work of Barthes we understand that advertising texts are polysemic and at the connotative level of signification signs possess fluidity which enables them to be articulated in multiple ways (Barthes, 1973, pg 122). Eco argues that the viewers determination to decode the message in aberrant ways are to be found in the readers general framework of cultural references such as his ideological, ethical religious standpoint, value systems, etc, (Eco, 1998, 141). Following the same path of consumption and ideology, Baudrillard follows Althuesser in arguing that the subject is con stituted through social classifications and ideological processes. Ideology converts humans into subjects. Ideology lets us mistakenly recognize ourselves as autonomous self-determining agents, whereas in fact we are subjects formed through a social physic processes. Ideology therefore is not the mirrored inversion of the real but our imaginary or symbolic to our shared conditions of existence. Watching the latest Levi jeans advertisement we are addressed as individual consumers with our own unique passion and desires. The ideological effect of the ad lies in its ability to interpellate us in this way. Althusser complicates Marx beautifully by not accepting the concept of ideology as false consciousness. It is material practice produced by ideological state apparatuses. It makes us think are sovereign consumers rather than a member of social class. (Stevenson, 2002,150) In the age of postmodernism where the product is a sign instead of a commodity, as Baudrillard argues, th e way in which adverts are consumed by television viewers depend on the very same framework Eco talks about. Jean Baudrillards essay The Ecstasy of Communication evokes TV and its technologies as a metaphor for the regime of simulation in the contemporary western culture. A TV screen cannot be thought simply as an object to be looked at, with all the old forms of psychic projection and investment; instead, the screen intersects responsively with our desires and representation and becomes an embodied from of our psychic worlds. What happens on the screen is neither on the screen nor in us, but in some complex, virtual space between the two. Marshall McCluhans notion that the medium is the message is clearly related to consumption theory. McCluhan argues that television influences viewers thinking processes and leads to alienation and individualism. But McCluhan sees this not as the result of television content but rather caused by the sensory nature of the medium itself. It is the form of the medium, according to McCluhan, and not its content that influence viewers (Mcluhan, 2002, pg7). TV advertising is a representative part of the arena where the post-modern scene of simulation takes on the relationship between the product and consumer. Baudrillard has contributed significantly towards the theory of consumption. He abandoned Marxist analysis after his book called the Symbolic Exchange and Death (1976). He argues that through a more explicitly post-industrial analysis the real relations of production and consumption have been replaced by a sign system. According to Baudrillard the arrival of consumer society requires a radical reconstruction of critical theory. Baudrillard argues that before goods (objects) can be consumed they must become signs (Baudrillard, 1988, pg 23). The meaning of the objects is established through the organisation of signs into codes. It is only through these codes that people realise their sense of self and their nee ds. The codes themselves are hierarchically ordered, being used to signify distinction of statue and prestige. As Baudrillard argues a need is not for a particular object as much as it is a need for difference (the desire for social meaning) only then we will understand that satisfaction can never be fulfilled, and consequently that there can never be a definition of needs. A subject whose needs are fixed by human nature does not consume the object. Social goods are consumed not to satisfy pre-existing needs but to signify social distinctions. We have become completely absorbed by adverts, images and simulation. Baudrillard would call this simulation as an ecstasy of the real. In Baudrillards hyper-reality and simulacra terms, the storied images of Nike sports heroes are more real than the reality of Third World workers to millions of consumers. However this consuming condition is an obsession and the product of late capitalism in Western societies. Digitally created commercials Faking the real When we examine television advertising we once again find art and technology being used to create simulations that tell stories in an effort to evoke desired reactions from audiences. But in advertising we see a strange new cultural creation: the 20-second cinematic production full of dancing, singing and joke-telling characters playing physicians, housewives, and used car salesmen, with ultra-abbreviated plots and quick resolutions of conflict in which the characters overcome obstacles and fulfil their desires in record time with the help of the product. Unlike movies, which will evoke the wrath of the audience if the unfolding of the story is interrupted, in commercials there is virtually no story to interrupt. The entire commercial is a dynamic, graphic, field composed of images, music, theatrical performances, superimposed illustrations, narration, and other elements, which reinforce each other to achieve their effect. Commercials also include another kind of simulatio n in the form of digitally manipulated images that are used to portray another realm of fantasy in which the limits imposed by the physical world no longer seem to be in effect. As a result, they are full of talking dogs, giant sized children, products that zoom into space, dancing credit cards and scenes that suddenly become two-dimensional which spin out of existence, creating a virtual world that surpasses anything produced by Imax or Nintendo. Commercials take these elements visual fantasy, deceptive images of the products, and false claims and weave them into their various approaches. There are, perhaps, a handful of approaches that they rely on and put together in different ways, just as theme parks, video games, television and news fall into a few basic categories. The product, no longer able to offer satisfaction on its own ground (a potato chip is a chip is a chip), instead offers the consumer a chance to be part of a certain crowd or scene. They belong to a c ool product tribe, revelling in the image and sensibility that the product somehow mystically confers the fetishism of commodities. More and more people are being sold style, image, and celebrity, since there is no substance or material satisfaction to the product-in-itself. Concealed within the jump-cut flash of post-modern advertising is a simple code: consumption is a mode of transcendence, a way to take part in something larger than yourself, the Pepsi Generation. Today, ads are filled with a strange sort of rugged selfishness, misanthropy, and mean-spirit people (touch my Doritos and die.) A person is told sternly to buy as much as they can of the product but never to share with friends. Get your own, theyre told. Latest ads on TV have that narrative that goes on and on and takes the form of a mini soap or a series of short cinematic films. The product is like a movie star. The product has taken the stand of the character in the commercial. It has become another simulati on for audiences. Small Nokia phones that are given a character play a different role in each different Nokia commercial. Digital technology has given designers the ability to make real characters and models that we see in everyday TV. The big entities spend millions of pounds in one 60 second commercial. The commercial has the production company behind it; director, actors and the whole set that would normally be used in film production. Many television commercials thus give us another variation on Umberto Ecos absolute fakes; they are false promises that make everything seem better than it is. Like theme parks, they make mundane realities look like transcendent utopias. All cultures place people inside invented worlds, so that in itself, isnt what is new about all this. The human world is by nature full of fictionalization and metaphor and drenched in stories and metaphysical assumptions, much of it contrived by conscious and unconscious design to support the claims of those in power. But never before has a culture been scientifically invented in this way, using the tools of rationalization including marketing studies and computers to sell products and a way of life. These tools of rationality extract the essence of our own irrationality our fantasies, imbued with fears and desires and give them back to us in the form of their invented worlds. Real experiences and things have been replaced with simulacra copies without an original. Due to the power of mass media advertising, our relationship to the signifier has changed. Now it hides the absence of a signified: conceals the inability to deliver real satisfaction by cleverly simulating it. Part of our hyper-real lives is the fact that our simulations are more real than real.