Understanding Society - Classical Liberalism Essay Example for Free

Understanding Society Classical Liberalism Essay The individualism that Durkheim sees and defends as the ethic of our time is an ethic not just of the individual hut of the individual as man. This is an absolutely fundamental point, and not as obvious and straightforward as, at first sight, it might seem. It involves a dualism, in which an ideal of individuality is part of the ideal of humanity (Miller, 1996 96). The dualism’s Durkheimian explanation concerns the development of the division of labor, such that there are increasingly only two fundamental identities we can have, the identity of the distinct â€Å"individual† and the identity in common of â€Å"man† (Hamilton, 1995 136). However, it also concerns the development of modern society such that it demands a Universalist ethic of â€Å"the person†. This means, amongst other things, insistence on every individual’s same basic moral status and rights to respect and regard. Indeed, an ethic of the person is the only way to extend this status to every individual, and to oppose reactionary individualisms that withhold it. The modern individualist ideal is and has to be, for Durkheim, humanist and republican, its aspirations find expression in 1789’s â€Å"liberty, equality, fraternity† (Miller, 1996 97). â€Å"Liberalism is neither a vague Zeitgeist nor the outlook of modern man, but clearly identifiable set of principles and institutional choices endorsed by specific politicians, publicists, and popular movements. The early history of liberalism cannot be detached from the political history, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, of England and Scotland, the Netherlands, the United States, and France† (Berkowitz, 1999 256). As for the main character of the discussion, liberalism for Durkheim remains part of the egoistic nature of man towards his environment. Discussion Durkheim published a response entitled, Individualism and the Intellectuals, wherein he discussed â€Å"the argument, always refuted and always renewed,† that â€Å"Intellectual and moral anarchy would be the inevitable result of liberalism. † Some varieties of liberalism, Durkheim conceded, are egoistic and threaten the common good of societies by encouraging the individual to become excessively preoccupied with self-interest. However, there is a strand of liberalism, Durkheim argued, that is moral and social. This form Durkheim called â€Å"moral Individualism† and he claimed that â€Å"not only is moral individualism not anarchical, but it henceforth is the only system of beliefs that can ensure the moral unity of the country. † In industrial, democratic nations such as France, moral virtue and unity are promoted by the liberal practices and ideals of moral individualism. France’s modern moral traditions are largely constituted by liberal institutions and values (Hamilton, 1995 124). Durkheim asserted chat â€Å"all communal life is impossible without the existence of interests superior to those of the individual. † From the outset of his career, Durkheim insisted that in modern Industrial society’s happiness and freedom are achieved in the context of moral beliefs and practice, embedded in vital traditions and institutions. Durkheim sees in the modern ideal â€Å"all the values to which he adheres most: equality, liberty, justice, fraternity†. Moreover, it is important to emphasize, he sees them as coming together in an inseparable package. It will not do to insist on a definition of freedom that in effect writes off other modern ideals, and that camouflages, behind a lot of philosophical talk, a recipe for a minimalist police state and an anemic and oppressive class-divided society (Berkowitz, 1999 257). It is a recipe for such things if only because the other ideals, which the libertarian state has to trample on, will not go away but are part of the modern world (Miller, 1996 97). Similarly, it will not do to insist on conceptions of equality and community that in effect write off freedom, in a recipe for a â€Å"despotic socialism†. Durkheim’s project is a commitment to a continuing, developing search to work and rework the human ideal’s different aspirations, which, whatever the tensions between them, must combine into a whole. It is bound to be a dispute-filled search, if only because of the nature of the human ideal, with its commitment to individualism and free thought, but also, in Durkheim’s account, because of the nature of modern individuality itself. However, his appeal to the division of labor as a basic source of our individuality can at the same time obscure the point about individuality itself as a source of differences and disputes (Miller, 1996 98). Critics of liberalism tend to be the more aggressive, eager to portray Hobbes as a paradigmatic liberal theorist whose geometric method, materialist metaphysics, mechanistic psychology, and atomistic vision of society exemplify the poverty of the liberal spirit (Tucker, 2001 68). Meanwhile, when confronted with the image of Hobbes as one of their own, liberals often react sharply; pointing to Hobbes’s theory of indivisible and inseparable sovereign power and insistence on state supervision of university curriculum and church teaching, they emphatically declare that Hobbes cannot be understood to be a liberal in any meaningful sense (Hamilton, 1995 138). As often happens when passions flare and partisans draw sharp lines in the sand, the truth in its complexity and fine-grained texture becomes the first casualty, in the debate over Hobbes’s relation to liberalism, each side errs not so much in what it points to as in what it fails to acknowledge in Hobbes’s political theory (Berkowitz, 1999 257). In their efforts to present Hobbes as liberalism’s torchbearer, liberalism’s critics abstract from the fact that Hobbes’s political science does little to insure the protection of traditional liberal freedoms and rejects the need, made thematic by the liberal tradition, to limit government power through careful institutional design (Pickering 2001 196). At the same time, liberals who wish to deny any relation whatsoever to Hobbes overlook the fact that Hobbes’s doctrine of absolute sovereignty is explicitly established for the limited purpose of securing and maintaining peace, while subjects’ obligation to obey the civil law is limited, according to Hobbes’s theory, by the natural and inalienable right to self-preservation (Hamilton, 1995 139). Hobbes argued that human beings are fundamentally equal and endowed with certain natural and in-alienable rights, defended the idea of a state based on the rule of law: maintained a basic distinction between the public and the private; envisaged a sovereign who respected personal freedom by permitting his subjects the liberty of commerce and contract, as well as the choice of profession, where to live, and how to raise their children: held that a primary task of a good government was to secure a rudimentary welfare for all citizens; affirmed that civil laws govern actions, not inner faith or conscience, insisted on the utility of toleration (Berkowitz, 1999 258). Adam Smith, on the other hand, introduced two forms of liberalism, specifically economic liberalism and social liberalism. Economic liberalism is primarily about efficiency, whereas social liberalism is primarily about freedom. In modern politics, they often appeal to quite different people (McLean, 2006 314). Economic liber als are often social conservatives, and vise versa. People who believe that the state should get out of the market often believe strongly that the state should police morals (Hamilton, 1995 141). The individualization of altruism thus connects with all the emphasis on how we each become an â€Å"autonomous source of action† and a centre of thought in which â€Å"the very materials of consciousness have a personal character† (McLean, 2006 315). It increasingly involves, around this â€Å"common faith†, ways of thinking and feeling that are â€Å"very general and indefinite† and that let in â€Å"a growing multitude of individual disagreements (McLean, 2006 323). Dissidences, even if including the differences of organic cohesion, must also refer to the conflicts involved in pluralism, factionalism and the freedom in which we each have our own â€Å"opinions, beliefs, aspirations† (Miller, 1996 99). Moral individualism, wrote Durkheim, is â€Å"the individualism of Kant, Rousseau, of the spiritualities — the one that the Declaration of the Rights of Man attempted, more or less happily, to formulate and that is currently taught in our schools and has become the basis of our moral character (Pickering 2001 194). This type of individualism is â€Å"profoundly different† from the egoistic type. Far from making personal interest the object of conduct, this one sees in all personal motives the very source of evil (Tucker, 2001 68). According to Kant, the individual is only certain of acting properly if the motives that influence the person relate, not to the particular circumstance in which the person is placed, but to the equality as a man in abstract (Holmes, 1995 89). On the other hand, Rousseau’s concept of the general will is an authentic expression of justice insofar as it is constituted not by personal interest, but by public goods and concerns (McLean, 2006 326). Durkheim concluded, thus, for both these men, the only moral ways of acting are those that can be applied to all men indiscriminately, which are implied in the notion of man in general duty consists in disregarding all that concerns us personally in order to seek out fellowmen (Pickering 2001 195). It is perhaps more accurate to say that Durkheim’s moral individualism invented this tradition as much as It belongs to it (Holmes, 1995 86). Durkheim attempted to piece together his own â€Å"communitarian† account of his favorite varieties of liberalism (Hamilton, 1995 142). A set of liberal, democratic traditions already existed; however, Durkheim was well aware of competing communitarian traditions, such as those of the Royalists and the conservative Roman Catholics, as well as of competing liberal traditions, such as those of the classical economists and utilitarians (McLean, 2006 320). Durkheim attempted to show that in the vocabulary of moral individualism there is no fundamental opposition between individual rights and the common good. He first advanced what he considered to be the necessary communal, social Interpretation of the Kantian autonomous Individual (Pickering 2001 193). Conclusion Egoism is equated with individualism wherein Durkheim defines it in terms of â€Å"sentiments and representations which are exclusively personal†, and indeed just talks of it as â€Å"individuality†. This does not sound as if it can just be a matter of organic diversity, of differences that are complementary and cohesive rather than conflicting nor is it. The crucial passage comes earlier on, when Durkheim discusses the nature of the modern conscience collective and of the human ideal at its core. From the perspectives of other liberal philosophers of Adam Smith, liberalism is in the aspects of economic and social strengths wherein the society and industry are in continuous interplays of identities; Hobbes emphasized the universal right to personally convene a decision as the basic form of individuality. Rousseau and Kant exemplified liberalism in the form of rights of man to achieve utmost happiness as the form of individuality. Bibliography Berkowitz, P. (1999). Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism. Princeton University Press. Hamilton, P. (1995). Emile Durkheim: Critical Assessments. Routledge. Holmes, S. H. (1995). Passions and Constraint: On the Theory of Liberal Democracy. University of Chicago Press. McLean, L. (2006). Adam Smith, Radical and Egalitarian: Radical and Egalitarian. Edinburgh University Press. MIller, W. W. (1996). Durkheim, Morals and Modernity. McGill-Queens Press. Pickering, W. F. (2001). Emile Durkheim: Critical Assessments of Leading Sociologists. Routledge. Tucker, K. H. (2001). Classical Social Theory: A Contemporary Approach. Blackwell Publishing.

Free Essays - No Innocence in Catcher in the Rye :: Catcher Rye Essays

No Innocence in Catcher in the Rye Probably the greatest irony of the novel is the fact that, despite his love of "childhood innocence," Holden is and acts far from innocent himself. In fact, he is its antithesis. He acts that way for many reasons. First of all, he has so many responsibilities. Second, he never fits in with the crowd, and finally, he never gets any real help for the problems that he deals with. Holden does have a love for "childhood innocence" as seen across the book. For example, on page two hundred and one "Somebody'd written ' Fuck you' on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them-cockeyed naturally- what it meant, and how they'd all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it... But I rubbed it [The 'fuck you' written on the wall] out anyway." Another example is on page two hundred and eight, "'So shut up.' It was the first time she [Phoebe] ever told me to shut up. It sounded terrible. God, it sounded terrible. It sounded worse than swearing." There is one more outstanding quotation from the novel which is found on page two hundred and thirteen. "I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe was going around and around [the carousel]." All these examples clearly show that Holden appreciated "childhood innocence" to a great extent. Yet Holden acts the opposite. The irony in this novel is Holden's behavior, which is far from being innocent. He smokes, drinks, always depressed, thinks about suicide, thinks about going embarking to a far place, and has people tell and act in many weird ways. There are three main reasons why he acts this way. Firstly, Holden being only sixteen years of age already has so much responsibility. He has to get money for food and travel. When he travels he has to make sure he doesn't get lost, and actually gets there. He has to make sure that he doesn't flunk school.

Organising An Event: Market Research Essay

INTRODUCTION There is a proverb that says ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.’ This is very true, I will support this theory. Planning is an essential part of everyone’s life. I will look at a time schedule of a typical school child. For instance, a school pupil will set his or her alarm clock to go off at 7.30am. This is so that he or she can give him or herself around half an hour to use the shower and get ready for school. He or she will then be ready to have breakfast and leave for school around 8.30am in time for school at 9am. The pupil’s time has been valued and organized in such a way that he or she can make it on time for school lessons, otherwise if the pupil did things in their own time, he or she would never make it on time for school and miss out in what the teacher has already taught (This is the negative consequence and therefore in this case, failure). Even school lessons are planned. For example, a student may be in school from 9 to 3pm i.e. 6 hours. Therefore, the school may plan the students’ timetable in such a way that the student gets half an hour for break, an hour for lunch and about 50 minutes for each subject. This way, the tutors can plan what they want to say in the 50 minute interval and not spontaneously run into other tutors time and students’ breaks. Similarly when holding an event, in this case a business conference, it is important that every aspect of the event is well managed, analyzed, rehearsed and assessed to ensure that everything goes according to plan. Some of these aspects can include the consumers. The consumers are the ones who are going on the trip to the conference so firstly, their safety is the trip administrators’ top priority. For example all aspects of the consumers’ health and safety have to be reviewed like if they have any medical histories, current/past allergies and many more. This is the nature of things that have to be carefully considered in order for trip to go well. The intentions of this essay is to successfully report upon all stages of the business conference planning process from the start i.e. whether the event has the potential and the required resources to enable it to go all the way to the end, i.e. giving an account on personal experiences from the trip and future recommendations. Simply it will be divided into three parts: a beginning, middle and an end. These three stages will be: 1. Market Research: This will lead to whether the event has the potential to go on at all or not. 2. Planning: If it is confirmed that the event can go on, it will then be safe to proceed. Planning and analyzing all aspects of the event from start to finish can then occur. 3. Finalizing the event, the event and finalizing the report: Once the event is flawlessly planned, it can successfully take place. Once the event is over, post-event experiences and remarks can be included in the report to conclude it. STAGE 1: MARKET RESEARCH- VIABILITY & FEASIBILITY OF THE EVENT CONSUMERS The people who are going to use the service (i.e. the AS level business studies students who could potentially want to go on the trip) need to be aware of this upcoming event. Therefore it is important that they are aware of the reason for the event being held at the first place, to let as many people as possible understand why they need to come to this conference trip. In order to find out this information from people, a survey will need to be carried out focusing on the target population researching whether or not anybody will be interested in coming on this trip. This target population is the AS level Business Studies Class of Marlborough school in St. Albans. However, this can be time-consuming to carry out and the decision of whether the AS level students can travel abroad for the business conference trip is down to their parents. So waiting for the students to ask their parents to grant them permission and give them the green light can waste time especially when they forget. Also, if the students cannot find the survey researcher to answer whether or not they can go on the trip can throw away even more precious time. Therefore it can be deduced that, an even more tangible, more effective method of communicating this message and obtaining this information as soon as possible without hesitation would be required. FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS Previously before the school summer vacations i.e. 18th June 2007, the event organizers of the year thirteen business studies students decided on a financial aim at the meeting. This was to obtain the most cheapest yet superb value for money costs going towards the trip. Therefore, they brainstormed capitals of the world that would meet their goal, also which would offer a great diversity of businesses, for the year twelve business studies class to obtain case studies from. Capital destinations which were suggested and seemed suitable included Prague, Cape Town, Budapest, Rome, Barcelona and New York. Due to Travel and Tour companies including â€Å"European Study Tours,† language barriers can be prevailed over, meaning that the trip could still be feasible in any of these locations, making the short listing and elimination process a little more difficult. Theoretically, the further the location from Marlborough school, the more expensive the trip will cost to travel too. This meant that destinations such as New York will have to be eliminated from the potential choices list automatically since it is the furthest away from the United Kingdom, although the city has a wide range of medium to large sized organizations. As a result, the choices of destinations were narrowed down to those either in Asia or Europe. Budapest, as opposed to Prague and Rome which were all located in Europe, did not seem like they had much to offer in terms of business diversity. Therefore, it remained Europe: Prague, Rome and Barcelona. Since these three locations were large cities and also located in Europe, them being the nearest to England, they all seem convenient. However, due to the costs the travel and tours companies would offer for them, as well as the length of stay the trip required and the dates, Prague was selected. This was the most affordable and convenient at two hundred and twenty- nine pounds for three nights offered by â€Å"European Study Tours.† Therefore, the event organisers had obtained a budget covering the compulsory costs including travel to Prague, accommodation and the conference event. At first meeting back after the school summer vacations i.e. 24th September 2007, the event organizers of the year thirteen business studies students decided that the Prague trip should take place in the spring term. This will be at the middle of the 2007-2008 academic years i.e. February 22nd 2008, where the gaps between the spring season will be occupied by some examinations mainly taken by the target consumers of the trip i.e. The lower sixth form business studies students. Financially, this is ideal. If the trip was to take place in the Autumn/Winter term, due to the Christmas Holidays, the costs of the travel to Prague by air travel will rocket up due to popularity. Likewise, if it were to take place in the summer term, costs of air travel will, again shoot up because of the long summer vacation approaching just around the corner. Therefore, by selecting Prague, travel costs have been minimized. FEASIBILITY OF THE EVENT Quotes have been obtained from â€Å"European Study Tours,† and so it is safe to reveal the news about the Prague conference trip to the lower sixth form business studies class. It was needed to know the popularity of the event, despite the budgets. Also, on the 24th September 2007, the event organisers discussed revealing this news to the target consumers. Notice was given to the whole group by the event head organiser, that the lower sixth form business studies students were divided into two separate classes at two different times; an afternoon class and a morning class due to their great size in total. Therefore, the event head organiser proposed that three group members must inform the morning class and another three people must inform the afternoon class. The reason being was for a confidence boost since making a speech to a large number of people can possibly intimidate some of the event organisers. So, group members without assigned responsibilities at the time, volunteered to reveal the news concerning the Prague trip to the lower year business studies students. To inform the morning class were the assigned informants: Laura Port, Adam Mead and Sunil Rajput. Also, to inform the afternoon class were the assigned informants James Dillon, Joe Medlin, and Adrian Daniels. In addition, unexpected informant, Louise Conyard, also joined the other three informants. As a result, the morning class informants reported that â€Å"a majority of the wanted to go.† (I.e. Laura Port, Adam Mead and Sunil Rajput). Also, the afternoon class informants responded that â€Å"the whole class put their hands up to go on the trip. † (i.e. Joe Medlin, James Dillon, Adrian Daniels and Louise Conyard). Therefore, it can be deduced that the conference event trip to Prague is highly feasible in terms of popularity. SMART AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Therefore, it was now necessary to establish SMART (i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound) objectives. These objectives will act as a guide for the whole group of event organisers, to monitor their progress on meeting certain deadlines. These are: * To provisionally book sixty-five year twelve business studies students including the supervision staff and the year thirteen event organisers with ‘European Study Tours’ by Monday 15th October 2007: This will secure places for the approximate number of people who would like to go, but not certain can afford to go on the Prague trip. * To plan and implement all fundraising activities by Wednesday 31st October 2007: The current travel and accommodation budget of two hundred to two hundred and sixty pounds is not affordable by everyone. So, therefore the bar needs to be raised as much as possible before informing the parents of the final cost of this in the letters. * To have raised sufficient funds to pay for the coach fees by Tuesday 20th November 2007: Funds will need to raised, to pay for the coach. This is a fixed cost and not variable, so including it among the travel and accommodation costs will be difficult and it will make the trip seem even more expensive. It is difficult because it cannot be calculated exactly how much the coach will cost per student, since at the end of the day, the number of students going on the Prague tip can vary. * To have all letters to the Parents of the year twelve business studies students concerning the Prague trip, by Wednesday 30th November: The parents need to be aware of the cost of the trip at this time as the holiday ‘Christmas’ is rapidly approaching. Some people spend money to purchase Christmas gifts in advance, and so informing them about the year twelve business studies students Prague trip a month before, can encourage Parents, guardians or whoever will want to pay for the trip, to monitor their finances carefully. * To have all sixty-pound deposits in by Thursday 20th December 2007: As the Prague trip will be a couple of months away, the number of students going will have to be certain by paying deposits, so the planning process of the trip can proceed. * To have secured by Monday 15th January 2008, four guest speakers (ranging from medium to large sized organizations), to share their perspective of business planning and a typical day for them: People in Businesses have tight schedules, and so most people need to be conscious of things in advance otherwise they may make other plans to fill up their schedule. In this case, the potential guest speakers will need to be contacted and arranged for suitable dates, to give their inspirational speeches to the year twelve business studies students. * To have arranged an evening for Parents to discuss matters concerning the Prague trip for the year twelve business studies students, by Thursday 31st January 2008: As around this time, the trip will be rapidly approaching with only two to three weeks to go. Therefore, final preparations will have to be made including the parents of the year twelve business studies students, to discuss any problems they have concerning the trip, as well as hearing the Prague trip’s programme in detail. * To have designed and printed out guest speakers’ programme and evaluation and feedback sheets by Monday 11th February 2008: The year twelve business studies students will need to be aware of what the guest speaker is going to emphasize on, so that they will know what to listen out for when taking notes, making it easier for them to organise them. At the end of the conference, the year thirteen students will need to obtain remarks based on the event, and so the easiest way to do it, instead of asking everyone who participated later, is to hand out feedback sheets for them to fill in straight after the event. Since the ‘SMART objectives’ have been established, the ‘SMART aims’ can now be stated as well, as all the objectives contribute towards these. These aims are: * To plan and execute the Prague Trip (from start to finish) within twenty-seven weeks. * To ensure that the Prague Trip is feasible in terms of the year twelve business studies students. * To ensure that the Prague Trip is viable in terms of the year twelve business studies students. * To provide the year twelve business studies group with an abundance of case studies to apply in their end of year examinations. * To arrive in Prague to run conference event safely, and to return to Marlborough School safely. VIABILITY AND FURTHER FEASIBILITY OF THE EVENT Since that a majority of the lower sixth form Business Studies students wish to take part in the trip. This may mean that fixed costs will be more difficult to meet; compared to having a few consumers i.e. the lower sixth form business studies students. However, having numerous consumers can be advantageous when it comes to bulk purchase of the â€Å"European Study Tours† service, as this could qualify for a discount eventually reducing the costs per person. Although there is a possibility of a discount from the travel and tours, it is not worth taking a risk and waiting till all the finances are in before finding out. Pressurizing the consumers i.e. the lower sixth form business studies students, to pay within an unreasonable deadline is unethical. This will not be fair on them since the event organizers who have proposed the idea of the trip are the ones convincing them, and their parents or guardians. In the long run, this will only put the chances of the consumers deciding to go into jeopardy. This will only aggravate the state of the situation, eventually repelling the consumers. Moreover, analysing the potential scenario situation in a deeper perspective, the inter-relationship of the consumers’ parents and the school will be affected. Also, this may even heavily influence the decision the parents make, regarding giving permission to let their child go on future trips with Marlborough school. Most significantly, the year twelve business studies students are less likely to have suitable case studies resources to use in their examinations, and the event organizers may have to consider the event unviable, thereby calling it off entirely. As a result, time is a very important element in this trip to Prague. Any mistakes or situations that could arise during the administration of the trip cannot be undone because it is impossible to go back in time. It is crucial that everything is organised carefully by the event organisers. Therefore, in conclusion, at the 1st October 2007 meeting, the event organisers reached a verdict to hold a fundraising event. Here, the bar can be lowered to make it easier and faster to meet the deadlines of the variable costs finances, thereby reducing time constraints. This is as there are time constraints to when all the finances can be collected by. Also, at this meeting on 1st October 2007, all of the event organisers proposed fundraising events to investigate into its feasibility and viability. James Dillon and Joe Medlin suggested a school taxi service transporting students to various destinations like parties, outside school in return for a reasonable fee to raise money. Sunil Rajput and Adam Mead came up with a cake stall to raise money. James Wardy and James Flaherty came up with the idea of a football tournament. Louise Conyard, Laura Port and James Lindsay decided into bag packing at a local supermarket. Laura Port and James Lindsay is employed with the supermarket giant â€Å"Sainsburys,† a contact which would be very useful for this fundraising activity for the whole group. Finally, Adrian Daniels and Michael Garvis looked into Muj’s idea of a â€Å"Halloween† themed disco, as the holiday was only a few weeks away making it more sense to do it. At the following week’s meeting i.e. 8th October 2007, all the event organisers reported upon their idea’s feasibility and viability. Adrian Daniels and Michael Garvis reported on the Muj’s idea, which was also included in the investigation, into a â€Å"Halloween† themed school disco. Michael Garvis calculated an estimated budget if this ideas was to be chosen and become a reality. However, plenty of students were required to turn up for the event and to pay the price of around three pounds per person for admission to break-even and produce profit. But this was not for certain to happen, so the even needed to be inviting as possible and promoted as much as possible to ensure that a lot of people turn up. In addition, Adrian Daniels found out that the school hall was not free of charge, although all the event organisers were part of the Marlborough School Students. By the fact that the hall is being used for profit-making reasons, money will be required to be able to hire. Therefore, another fundraising activity would be required to raise start-up capital to be able to afford the hall, which would not require start-up capital. The school hall is the venue of the disco, so it would be essential to run the disco. However, this was not going to be necessary as Muj looked into sponsoring of the event. He asked his local costume store in Watford for sponsorship in return of customers. Through sponsoring, another fundraising event would not be necessary anymore, since the costume store will cover the hall costs in exchange for giving them plenty of customers. Alternatively, Adrian Daniels carried out some secondary research. He interviewed the student â€Å"Elke Cooper† a current year thirteen student with previous experiences with organising a similar event, a â€Å"Valentine Day’s† Ball. She mentioned several essentials to consider. However, she emphasized on the fact that â€Å"the advertising of the event had to be very effective to the target audience as much as possible, including the Marlborough School Newsletter.† Also, in terms of the event taking place, she pointed out that the event cannot be carried out during half term since the school hall facilities will be booked and used by local sports clubs. In addition, the school students may have other arranged plans and might prefer doing something other than going to the Halloween Disco. On the other hand, she also explained that the event could not happen after half term on the actual Halloween day. Halloween Day on the 2007 calendar is on a Wednesday, which is on a weekday. Unfortunately, for the event organisers, Halloween day is not a national holiday but a normal school day for students, meaning the only available time to run the event would be after school. Marlborough School starts at nine in the morning and closes at five past three in the afternoon. After a long day of hard work, the students will feel exhausted and would want to go home to relax. They would want to get rest, so later in the evening they can go â€Å"trick or treating.† However, due to the winter season, the sky gets dark very fast. So, students can bring their costumes to school and after school, they can get ready whilst the disco hall gets prepared. Finally, the event can take place when it is slightly dark, some students catch the coach to school in the morning and back from school, so running this event after school on Halloween Day may not be an option at all. As a result, the event is neither feasible nor viable. James Dillon and Joe Medlin reported back on their text service idea. They suggested that services income is estimated to be around a hundred pounds, due to students who may require a ride to various upcoming parties over Friday and Saturday night. However, it is not certain that these students will require rides to parties that may or may not take place, since they can always be cancelled at the last minute. Therefore, this fundraising method may not seem very reliable in producing over a hundred pounds, thereby not worth doing since there are other potential fundraising methods more likely to bring in more income. Moreover, at the meeting i.e. 8th October 2007, Joe Medlin and James Dillon suggested that they may require more drivers within the trip organizing group. This is so that the event organisers would not have to raise extra capital to pay drivers outside this group, which can lead to less net profit. So, in addition to Joe Medlin, Sunil Rajput, James Wardy and Adam Mead all volunteered to help, who are also qualified drivers over the age of seventeen. However, relying on all these drivers to be present when needed to give rides is not a risk worth taking. As a result, although this fundraising method may be feasible, it is certainly not viable. Alternatively, James Wardy and James Flarherty gave feedback based on their research into a football tournament. This fundraising method seemed feasible due to similar past fundraising methods†¦ â€Å"Hamza Bhandari,† a previous year thirteen business studies student was contacted on 6th October 2007 by Adrian Daniels, one of the event organisers. Hamza was interviewed about his past part in the participation in the school fundraising events. He replied that â€Å"a penalty shootout was run to raise money, eighty pounds was raised in total.†It was successful as a substantial amount of money was raised i.e. eighty pounds. Therefore, it can be predicted that the football tournament is very likely to succeed, due the very similar â€Å"penalty shootout† used to raise funds. It can be predicted that the football tournament is very likely to succeed, due to the very similar â€Å"penalty shootout† used to raise funds. It can be deduced that the event is feasible. As a result, to ensure that the event was viable, James Flaherty and James Wardy spoke to a Physical Education department member, Mr. Lucas, about availability of the school gym facilities to carry out the fundraising event. However, similarly to the â€Å"Halloween School Disco†, the hall must be hired again due to the fact that it is after school hours and the event is held purposefully to make profit. However, it was said also that there would be no time available during school, on break and lunch times. Therefore, the only time to carry out the event would be after school, meaning far less people would be available to stay and also willing to take part, particularly because there is a fee involved for participation and some people may prefer to go home instead. Consequently, this event is considered to be not very viable. Another potential fundraising event was bag packing, which was investigated by Laura Port, James Lindsay and Louise Conyard. James Lindsay was given permission by Sainsbury’s to do the bag packing on the Saturday of 20th October 2007, and the Saturday of 3rd November 2007. However, a disadvantage of this date is that unfortunately most of the event organisers (i.e. the year thirteen business studies students) work on this day. This means that it will be difficult getting everybody to take time off work successfully to take part in bag packing. Although not every single event organiser is working on a Saturday, but having only a few people to help out can significantly reduce the amounts of profit made. And so, the numbers of people present to help need to be maximised, in order to maximise the profits made from the bag packing. But the bag packing activity will not be for the whole day. So, if the event organisers working on a Saturday morning and sacrifice their time after work to help out, their work will not clash with bag packing, and therefore both can occur with no problem. On the other hand, those working afternoon shifts on Saturdays can help out in the mornings to contribute their share of bag packing. This flexibility even enables those without employment on a Saturday, to choose whenever shift (i.e. in the morning or afternoon) they feel is more suitable for them on the day. Previously, the last year thirteen was successful working twelve ‘o’ clock to five ‘o’ clock in the afternoon, and producing eight hundred pounds according to ‘James Flaherty’ on the 8th October meeting. Therefore, a similar time to do the shift can recreate the success last year. Another situation arising from selecting this fundraising event is that, the Sainsbury’s that gave James Lindsay permission is based in Garston. Marlborough school is based in St. Albans and so theoretically, this is where most people live and so a local Sainsbury’s branch will be more convenient. This also applied to the event organisers, where the majority was found to reside in St. Albans. This can be a problem because those who do not live near or in Garston will have to commute with a cost which may include paying train fare, arranging lifts or even using own car’s petrol and also paying for a parking ticket for the long hours of bag packing. Ultimately, this will add up towards the overall costs that each event organiser would have to pay to go on the Prague trip. Nevertheless, Laura port one of the event organisers, devised a solution to the problem. Fortunately for the group, she is in contact with the St. Albans Sainsbury’s branch, and so found out about doing bag packing over there. Laura found out that she needs to appeal with a letter to this branch convincing enough to let the bag packing event happen over there. As a result, it can be deduced that this fundraising event is very feasible as ‘James Lindsay’ was granted permission to do it at his local branch at ‘Garston’, and very viable due to last year’s profits from the event, told by ‘James Flaherty’ i.e. eight hundred pounds. Finally, Sunil Rajput and Adam Mead commented on their research in doing a Cake Stall to raise money. Adam Mead informed the manager and found out that he had to obtain the canteen staff’s full approval before running the event. The canteen staff responded that the event can take place during break time and lunch time. After the entire assigned event organisers contributed their research into potential fundraising activities to increase the finance available for the Prague trip, a vote was made by the organisers to decide the top two activities that should be used for fundraising. Each organiser wrote their top two choices on a piece of paper, and folded it up to prevent any organiser from seeing this so that it would not influence their choices. The majority votes won which were the ‘Cake Stall’ and ‘Bag Packing.’ More votes were made to decide which activity was going to be the fundraiser, this time the whole group votes by hand. Majority votes ruled, and the ‘Cake Stall’ was chosen. Without delay, plans were made to achieve and end this fundraising as soon as possible; to meet the Prague trip aim was ‘To complete fundraising events by the end of October’. Therefore, Sunil Rajput and Adam Mead were assigned to confirm to the canteen staff that the fundraising event was going to happen. James Lindsay was assigned to write up a brief column in the Marlborough School newsletter concerning the Cake Stall and the reason for doing it. Toyosi Akinola was also assigned, to write a letter to the school head. Tinashe J. was assigned to inform the school office about the cake stall, asking if the school reception can be a collection point for the cakes. On the other hand, everybody needed to decide on a date to carry out the event. As a result, the whole group selected ‘Friday 19th October 2007’. On this day of the week, year thirteen have plenty of free time, since that there is a free period in the morning (i.e 9.00am- 10.00am) , plus a one and a half period (i.e. one hour thirty minutes) of General studies, which also leaves plenty of time to spare before the sixth form lunch time (i.e. 12.25am- 1.05pm). This schedule will enable the event organisers to serve cakes during the lower/higher breaks (i.e. 10.00am- 10.20am and 11.00- 11.20am respectively) and the lower/higher lunches ( i.e. 12.20am- 1.05pm and 1.20pm-2.05pm respectively). Also, with this day being the following week, sufficient time was created to advertise the upcoming cake stall to the school effectively. One of the main methods use to promote the cake stall was the posters that the group were asked to design, and assess at the next meeting before duplicating them to put around school . An example of one of the posters put around the school grounds was: (see next page) The cake stall needed cakes to sell for profit in the cake stall. This was not included in the poster because it might put people off buying cakes from the cake stall. Therefore, the whole group came to a decision to bring in as many cakes, biscuits and other related confectionary such as cookies, whether cooked or purchased. Also, in the newsletter column that ‘James Lindsay’ was assigned to compose, included that The following meeting was on Monday 15th October 2007. Toyosi Akinola was successful in convincing the head to permit the cake stall sell to happen with his fantastic letter. And so this was the official confirmation to let the cake stall take place on the upcoming Friday. As a result, the promotion of this stall had to be more effective. So, the event organisers all contributed in phrasing a memo to all teachers in the school. This is how the memo turned out: CAKE SELL Please read this out to the class (Teachers) As part of their A-level Business Studies course, the year thirteen business studies students need to organise an event. They need to hold a cake sale on Friday. And to reduce the costs of this event, they need to hold this in Pascal Hall in 19th October during both breaks and lunch time. The teachers informing the students about the cake stall will ensure that they are all aware of it, even if they do not spot the posters being posted up around the school. However, those who were absent to hear this memo may find out about the cake stall through the posters or their friends through word of mouth as ‘gossip is a great traveller’. Also, the event organisers brought in their poster designs and showed each other. Then the whole group decided what could be done to improve them before putting them up around the whole school. This is what one of the posters looked after amendments have been made: The more improved versions of the poster did not include the fact that the event for was for the profit-making purpose to raise funds for the Prague trip. This part of the poster was not necessary and it had to be brief and straight to the point for people to read the whole message. However, if it was made long some people would be put off and walk away from the poster, thereby missing out on the essential message that the cake stall is on the upcoming Friday. James Lindsay failed to submit the memo to all of the teachers concerning the Cake stall. However, the newsletter column composed by the event organiser head was released by Friday, at the end of the school week. This backed up James Lindsay and the message concerning the upcoming Cake Stall got through to all of the students who picked up a newsletter in their form rooms. These newsletters are usually handed out by the students form tutors, and so the chance of them receiving the newsletter was very high. The event organiser chair decided that all of the event organisers needed to a break time and a lunch time each, be it a lower or higher one. The lower and higher break and lunch time shifts had to be evenly distributed to all the event organisers, to make it fair on everyone. So everybody volunteered to do combinations of lower/higher breaks and lower/higher lunches to suit their own flexibility. When it seemed that too many people were in one group, (i.e. a lower/higher break or a lower/higher lunch) then event organisers such as ‘Adrian Daniels’ changed group for the sake of fairness, by changing from a lower lunch to an upper lunch. As a result, this was the outcome for the Cake Stall schedule for Friday 19th October 2007: Lower Break Upper Break Lower Lunch Higher Lunch (10.00-10.20) (11.00-11.20) (12.20-13.05) (13.20-14.05) Adam Lindsay Lindsay Adam Laura Wardy Laura Adrian Louise Dillon Wardy Joe Adrian Toyosi Dillon Muj Michael Flaherty Toyosi Tinashe Muj Joe Flaherty Louise Tinashe Tinashe Michael The Cake Stall schedule was put together in a a way, that there will be sufficient ratio of event organisers selling and supervising, to the consumers (i.e. the school years on break or lunch time, like the years seven, eight and nine out for upper break). This way, there would not be too many event organisers at the Cake Stall at one time, or too little event organisers at the cake stall to cope at one time. Although there was an equal number of event organisers out for each cake stall except the ‘upper lunch’, it did not matter because any body free at the time of the ‘upper lunch’ can give additional help if needed. So even if one person turned up to help the ‘upper lunch’ and make all the cake stall time schedules equal, it was adequate and fair. Thursday 18th October was the date set for the event organisers to hand in their cakes. There were various ‘cake hand-in points’ to take the cakes too, because the canteen would only hold the cakes for the day of the cakes stall. Some of these points were the school ‘reception’ and the ‘business studies department office’. These places were selected so that the cakes could be kept secure. Preservations were not a situation as all the cakes and other confectionary had expiry dates displayed on them. This date was also the day before the big cakes stall sell, so if anybody forgot to bring in the cakes on the actual day (i.e. Friday 19th October 2007) they could bring them in, in advance. However, if anybody forgot to bring them in on Thursday, the following meeting on Thursday acted as a reminder. The finances concerning the cake stall were also discussed at the 15th October 2007 meeting. The following meeting was on Thursday 18th October, the day before the cakes stall sell. Laura Port was assigned by the event organisers’ chair to collect ten pounds worth of change from the bursar. Change was required for the cake stall to start-up with, otherwise waiting to make adequate money through the cake sells in order to give the consumers (i.e. school students) change can be time consuming. The school students break or lunch time is for a limited time only. So the school students would want to be able to buy their cakes, have their break or lunch, and then finish in time for their next lessons. The event organisers also agreed that the cakes will sell from prices ranging from twenty-five to fifty pence. The prices of the cakes and the other confectionary were to be confirmed for the next meeting. ‘Michael Garvis volunteered to bring in some margarine containers to collect the money made from the cake stall in. ‘Petty cash’ or coins will mainly be used by the customers to pay for the cakes and other confectionary, so there would not be a need for a cash register. The ratio of event organisers to customers will also be sufficient enough for them to supervise the money right in front of them. The ‘year eight’ group was due to be absent for the day, which could possibly affect the rate of sales, and more significantly, the rate of sales. ‘Joe Medlin’ and ‘Adrian Daniels’ volunteered to collect the money made from the cake stall at the last sell, at upper lunch, to the treasurer. He or she can calculate how much has been made and keep the funds safe for future use i.e. costs going towards the trip such as coach fees. The finance issues concerning the cake stall had been discussed and sorted. So next were the health and safety concerns for the sale: The event organisers agreed to arrive ten minutes early before the cake stall sell. This would allow enough time to setup the cake stall in the hall before any commotion is caused by the consumers (i.e. the Marlborough school students). Also, it was agreed between the event organisers that the cake stall queue had to be organised, to prevent the consumers pushing each other about to get into the line. However, if the cake stall was not so popular and only a few students turned up, it may not be necessary to create a queue barrier. Since there is a chance of fights arising from the queue, a risk assessment is to be created to evaluate how severe incidents could potentially become during the cake stall. Then suitable health and safety measures can be carried out to protect the consumers and customers, (i.e. the school students) the cakes and other people like the teachers. As the cake stall is a business, the Government’s health and safety procedures have to be observed: http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/EnvironmentalServices/HealthAndSafety/hs_riskassessments.pdf Therefore according to the ‘Health & Safety at Work Act 1974’, employers are to take â€Å"reasonably practicable† precautions in various areas to safeguard employees. In this case, the event organizers are to consider suitable safety measures in the cake stall to protect all the stakeholders, which include the customers and the teachers. To do this it must be ensured that good judgment is made about the extent of risks that could happen at the cake stall, and its consequences. In regards to the legal governmental health and safety Governmental requirements, the ‘Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1992/1999’ has also been considered. It states that: â€Å"Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The risks to the health and safety of his/her employees to which they are exposed while they are at work; and à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him or his undertaking: For the purposes of identifying the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon him by or under the relevant statutory provisions†. The findings must be recorded if five or more are employed. In this case, a risk assessment must be drawn up by all the event organisers for the cake stall, in order to produce health and safety solutions for the event. Therefore, a risk assessment will be carried out. CAKE STALL RISK ASSESSMENT LOCATION: ACTIVITY: SELLING CAKES PASCAL HALL, AT STAND, AND OTHER MARLBOROUGH CONFECTIONARY SUCH AS SCHOOL COOKIES PEOPLE AT RISK: MARLBOROUGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, CUSTOMERS, CONSUMERS, TEACHERS, CANTEEN STAFF. POTENTIAL HAZARDS: FIGHTING (E.G QUEUE PUSHING) EXPIRED CAKES AND OTHER CONFECTIONARY EXCITED CUSTOMERS NOISE NUTS IN CAKES, COOKIES, MUFFIN, ETC TABLE LEG WET ADJUSTMENTS FLOOR MOPED BY CLEANING STAFF POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES: SLIPPING TRIPPING OVER STAIRS FOOD ALLERGIES TOE INJURY BLINDING FOOD CONTAMINATION EXISTING CONTROLS: FRESHLY BAKED CAKES/BISCUITS CAKES AND OTHER CONFECTIONARY PURCHASED WITH A VALID EXPIRY DATE RISK RATING WITH EXISTING CONTROLS: HIGH MEDIUM ? (Major Injury: Fighting) LOW NEW CONTROLS REQUIRED: QUEUE BARRIERS (To be improvised with chairs) TEACHER SUPERVISION ENSURING THAT THE HALL FLOOR IS COMPLETELY DRY BEFORE CAKE SELLING BEGINS CAKE STALL TABLES TO BE KEPT FIRMLY TOGETHER IN POSITION RISK RATING WITH NEW CONTROLS: HIGH MEDIUM LOW ? (Major injuries: tripping over stairs, food allergies {all cakes that are purchased from stores like ‘Asda’ are not 100% certain to contain traces of nuts in them) ASSESSOR NAME†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦JOB TITLE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. SIGNATURE †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. DATE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦DATE TO BE REVIEWED†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. The cakes and other confectionary prices were also decided on at the meeting: (i.e. Thursday 18th October 2007) Fixed Costs à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Hire of Hall 0 Ten pounds worth of change 10 Cake Stand Tables (school property) 0 Money containers (complimentary of ‘Michael Garvis’) 0 Cakes and other confectionary (donated) 0 Napkins ( Complimentary of ‘James Lindsay’) 0 Total 10 Variable costs (per customer) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Little Muffins 0.25 Plain Cupcakes 0.30 Cupcakes with icing 0.40 Big muffins 0.55 Big Cookies 0.40 Biscuits 0.20 Mini Fairy Cakes 0.20 Flapjacks 0.20 Small Cookies 0.20 The cake stall took place on Friday 19th October 2007. No incidents/accidents happened due to the new improved controls introduced from creating and making risk assessments. The follow-up meeting was 29th October 2007. The cake stall sale was reviewed. The event organisers discussed that the ‘plain cupcakes’ were not so popular during the break times, and therefore were not selling well. As a result, ‘Louise Conyard’ took initiative and sprinkled some icing on top of all of them to add value and sped up sales. This simple action helped to sell all of them. There were certain cakes that were selling well and not selling so well. And so, it was discussed between the event organisers that more of these high in demand cakes could have been purchased during the day of the cake stall to boost sales. This would have also have boosted profits. Also, it was mentioned during the meeting that the cake stall was not as popular as anticipated. This may have been due to the fact that promotion was not as effective as required, and that insufficient posters may have been posted up around the school. In future, marketing of the event would need to be more effective if another fundraising event had to take place, to raise additional funds. However, some of the Marlborough school students may have preferred bringing their own snacks to school or buying other snacks in school, and bringing their own packed lunch to school or buying school dinners from the canteen. This competition between the canteen and the cake stall during the break and lunchtimes could have definitely hindered sales. Not all of the cakes sold at the end of both breaks and lunches, so event organisers including ‘James Dillon’ and ‘Toyosi Akinola’ discussed their idea of how they went round the school trying to boost sales with a tray of cakes and other related confectionary. This was highly successful since all of them were sold! As a result, two hundred and twenty four pounds in total was produced from the event. It was considered that this could be used to pay off the trip’s fixed costs, including the coach fees. However, this was insufficient capital to meet these costs. ‘Adrian Daniels’, one of the groups of event organisers contacted the ‘South Mimms Coach travel service’, a very good, long-term coach supplier for Marlborough School. The quote that Adrian received was that: â€Å"Two coaches including baggage space to transport approximately eighty people would cost five hundred pounds. This will include parking spaces and waiting time at the Luton Airport and Marlborough School.† – A South Mimms Coaches representative From the look of the amount of funds raised from the cake stall, around half of the coach fees have been raised. Therefore, an additional fundraising event will be required and the objective â€Å"to implement all fundraising events by Wednesday 31st October 2007† would have to be extended the maximum an additional month, otherwise it could clash with the deadline to have all the letters to the parents concerning the Prague Trip out. As a result, the second place fundraising event chosen was ‘Bag Packing’, and this alternative will also be used to boost the current funding towards the Prague Trip of two hundred and twenty-four pounds. Laura Port volunteered to get in contact with the Sainsbury’s branch in St. Albans, whilst James Dillon also agreed to get in contact with his local Sainsbury’s branch too, at Garston. Therefore, in order to meet the next objective, this event would have taken place by the end of November. Since at least two Saturdays are required for the whole group to carry out bag packing, and the first fundraising event (i.e. the cake stall) has taken place before the end of October, So far accomplishing the objectives to date, the Prague trip is proved feasible. Since the critical parts of the event organisation process are out of the way, it is possible to proceed with planning the rest of the event and careful monitoring; that everything goes to plan and progress is monitored vigilantly. Most significantly, the finances will have to be watched, since they determine whether or nor the trip will take place entirely. Therefore, a letter to the parents will need to be released by the end of November, making them aware of the upcoming deposit deadlines and other details relevant to the Prague trip. At the first meeting back after the school summer vacations i.e. 24th September 2007, the event organizers of the year thirteen business studies students decided that the most appropriate solution to communicate the message about the Prague trip to the parents would be to write a formal letter as soon as possible. This would explain to the parents as well as the students: > What the event is about > Why they should go on the trip > What is required for the trip to occur > When it will take place and end > What the trip co-coordinators’ are aiming to attain for the students who go on the trip > The eventual benefits > Keeping both parents and the student up-to-date with the most recent news regarding the conference trip. At the end of the letter, an optional ‘cut-out’ permission slip can allow for the student and the parents to agree on whether or not he or she can go on the trip, backed up with their individual signatures. All the event organisers agreed to design a letter being addressed to the parents of the year twelve business studies students concerning the Prague Trip. All the best aspects of the whole groups’ letters’ were to be combined in fashioning the perfect letter. An example of a letter design of one of the event organisers was: Re: Educational Trip to Prague Dear Sir/Madam, We are proud to inform you that the Year 13 Business Studies students are organizing a business conference that will be great benefit to your child’s education, particularly in AS level Business Studies. At the end of the course, students must write a Business Studies exam based on ‘people at work.’ In this exam, they will have to apply that knowledge of what they have learnt during the year, including applying and referring it to real- existing business firms. The exam is worth 33.3% of their final AS grade in the course, so the information they can obtain from companies to apply in case studies to fulfil their exam specification requirements is vital. Various guest speakers representing the different business firms will come in and give an inspirational talk to the students about what their job role is on a typical day as well as their personal experiences. The students will be given plenty of opportunities to take notes and questions, so they will most definitely make the most of their stay their. They will also visit businesses like a beer factory and also have time to do some Prague sightseeing while they are appreciating the scenery of places like the ‘Prague Castle,’ etc. The trip to Prague, the capital city of Czech Republic will take place on Thursday 21st February till Sunday 24th February 2008. Coaches will arrive and depart on time to their airport, so please ensure that your child gets to the departure point at a suitable time. We will ensure that you will be informed about most recent news regarding this trip, so we will keep you updated. Communication is very important, especially when there are time constraints. Therefore, it is vital that when it comes to communicating, it is done effectively so that all the event organizers are motivated to persevere to accomplish the Prague Trip objectives. Time could be constrained even more if they are demotivated to meet these goals, which makes communication crucial for the event to succeed. Although all the event organizers may have the potential to succeed as a unit (i.e. a ‘pseudo’ team), but however if they are all not organized well enough and fail to contribute to the team where they may specialize, for example bringing in imaginative concepts to which everyone going to the Prague trip can alert each other whenever when in Prague, then the whole group is at risk of collapsing. Therefore, the event organizers need allocate one another job roles where each other fits in or works best. But before this can happen, the whole group needs to be aware of the Prague trip schedule from start to finish, so that everybody will realize at which point in this schedule they can take an active role in. As a result, a Gantt chart will be created to meet this need.

Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut Essay - 1615 Words

In the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, a fictional character named Bill Pilgrim is used to depict the various themes about life and war. Vonnegut went through some harsh times in Dresden, which ultimately led to him writing about the tragedies and emotional effects that come with war. By experiencing the war first handed, Vonnegut is able to make a connection and relate to the traumatic events that the soldiers go through. Through the use of Billy Pilgrim and the other characters, Vonnegut is able show the horrific affects the war can have on these men, not only during the war but after as well. From the very beginning Vonnegut portrays a strong sense of anti-war feelings, which he makes most apparent through Billy Pilgrim.†¦show more content†¦When he tells Billy that he needs to figure it out and snap out of it, Billy says, â€Å" You guys go on without me. I’m all right† (Vonnegut 47). This just displays the hopelessness in Billy’s life. T he war has driven him to lose touch with himself and not value his own life. This makes it very easy for a reader to feel empathy for Billy and get an idea of how war can really affect these men. Billy isn’t the only character that Vonnegut uses to depict the terrors of war. Throughout the novel, Vonnegut uses different characters to display his anti-war feelings and show how many innocent victims end up being casualties in a war. In order to display this effectively, he uses Edgar Derby as an example. Edgar Derby was a high school teacher that willingly left his career to fight in the war. He was much older then most of then most of the men he was serving with including his son who was also fighting in the war. Derby was also one of the soldiers that experienced the firebombing in Dresden with Billy. After the bombing occurred Derby and the others were sifting through the damage and he picked up a teapot. Later on in the book Derby is arrested for stealing this simplistic it em and is sentenced to death by firing squad. This really bothered Billy because he saw an innocent man that he was friends with get killed for a teapot. Some can argue that this is just an aspect of war that soldiers needShow MoreRelatedSlaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut534 Words   |  2 PagesSome people may think the novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a failure. In fact, Kurt Vonnegut himself calls it a failure. A lot of people disagree with that, many think that Slaughterhouse Five is one of Vonneguts best novels. They say it is the most successful book they have ever read, just for reasons of the author himself. From him being bluntly honest, to his great wit. So if it is such a failure in his eyes, why did he write it, what was his purpose, and why was it even publishedRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut1458 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Barry Sadler singer of the song Ballad of the Green Beret and novelist Kurt Vonnegut maintain comparable tones regarding their literature pieces representing the war and the underlying image that is portrayed by the Green Beret. Sadler insightfully states that the impacts that committed soldiers fought through and the sacrifices their families had endured: represents honor, courage, and is described as jingoistic. It is an exceptionallyRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut1560 Words   |  7 Pages Slaughterhouse-five strives to remember the tragedy of the bombing of Dresden. Kurt Vonnegut constructs his novel around a main character who becomes â€Å"unstuck in time† (23). Billy Pilgrim’s life is told out of order, which gives him a different perspective than the rest of the world. Billy lives through his memories, and revisits events in his life at random times and without warning. Vonnegut introduces Billy Pilgrim to the Tralfamadorian way of thinking about memory and time so that he can copeRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut1997 Words   |  8 PagesKurt Vonnegut’s book, Slaughterhouse-Five, is full of historical context, scientific-fiction themes, modernistic themes, and even emphasizes the idea of free will. But Vonnegut’s novel contains one major theme of the destructiveness of war making the book anti-war. Vonnegut uses a variety of techniques to allude to this theme and he does it well. The combination of his writing style and his use of humor to degrade the human in the event of war is highly effective in the fact that it causes the readerRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut1348 Words   |  6 PagesSince the last time I wrote a journal, I started and finished Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and started Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five had a total of 275 pages, and Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves has a total of 854 pages, however, I am currently on page 50. Slaughterhouse-Five is a piece of historical fiction that explores the hardships of war, the odd simplicity of death, and the confusing topic of time. The novel stars Billy Pilgrim, a physically weak and strangeRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut3749 Words   |  15 PagesMario Peà ±a Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut â€Å" ‘Is it an anti-war book?’ ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I guess.’ ‘You know what I say to people when I hear they’re writing anti-war books?’ ‘No. What do you say, Harrison Starr?’ ‘I say, ‘Why don’t you write an anti-glacier book instead?’† (Vonnegut 4). 1. The author Kurt Vonnegut and a filmmaker, Harrison Starr, converse in this passage, which introduces the topic of Slaughterhouse-Five. In which Starr makes fun of Vonnegut’s idea for planning on making Slaughterhouse-FiveRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut1242 Words   |  5 PagesSlaughterhouse Five, a novel written by Kurt Vonnegut, depicts unchronological and sometimes nonsensical moments of the life of Billy Pilgrim as he â€Å"become[s] unstuck in time†(Vonnegut S. Five 23) Billy has no control over where he will end up next. â€Å"He has seen his birth and death many times, and he pays random visits to all the events in between†, and â€Å"is in a constant state of fright, ... because he never knows which part of his life he is going to have to act out next.†(Vonnegut S. Five 23)Read MoreSlaughterhouse Five, By Kurt Vonnegut941 Words   |  4 Pageslargely fatal events, the survivors reflect upon the unbearable guilt and emotions they have experienced. Billy Pilgrim, the main protagonist In Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five, serves as Vonnegut’s vehicle to communicate his feelings and contemplations as a survivor. Throughout the story, Pilgrim, or the reader encounters an animal that Vonnegut uses to convey the range of emotions and incidents that humans are subject to as a result of war. In the novel, a mysterious dog resides alongsideRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut1154 Words   |  5 PagesTaylor Holmes In the novel Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut presents a framed narrative voiced through an unreliable narrator that stimulates the presence of universal and empirical truths. (Introducton?) The juxtaposition of predestination with the exercise of free will is an age-old question. In the pagan world, prior to the upsurge of Western development and Christianity, predestination was deemed a truth; pagan gods were superlative and dictated the lives and fates of subordinate humans. AroundRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut1050 Words   |  5 PagesLauren Farrell Mrs. Worthington AP ELA 4 30 November 2014 Free Will Through his novel, Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut poses an ancient question: Are we masters of our destiny, or are we simply pawns of fate? The medium through which Mr. Vonnegut presents this riddle is death. Death is the central point to which all action in the book connects. The story is primarily about the death of 135,000 German civilians in the bombing of Dresden narrated by Billy Pilgrim, a man who experiences death from