Stereotypes in media Essay -- essays research papers

â€Å"Bringing Down the House† featuring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah is a clever comedy that creatively showcases the sociolinguistic phenomena covered in this course. The film is about a tax attorney named Peter, played by Martin, who stumbles into an online lawyer chat room and meets Charlene, played by Latifah. The two chat frequently, mostly about court cases, and eventually decide to meet in person. When the day finally comes, Peter is greeted at the door with who he thought would be a middle-aged Caucasian woman, but happened to be Charlene, a black woman who just escaped from prison. Thinking this was a mistake, Peter tries to kick out Charlene but is later convinced she is the one who he was speaking with in the chat room. Charlene was able to successfully impersonate a lawyer through speech, and along with a deceiving picture, able to convince Peter she was a petite blonde. During these chats, the two talked about court cases that happened to relate to Charleneâ⠂¬â„¢s predicament with the law. In attempt to clear her name from a crime she did not commit, Charlene researched the judicial system and similar court cases to hers while in prison. Now that she is out, she seeks personal assistance from Peter who has already through the internet, given her support. All throughout the movie the characters contrast in viewpoints, culture, and most importantly for our studies, language. Charlene and Peter represent different language backgrounds which we can analyze as the root of their character development and actions throughout the film.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To illustrate generational conflict, the scene when Peter confronts his daughter about her crazy night, best conveys the phenomena. In the scene Peter’s daughter sneaks out of the house late at night to attend an unsupervised party with some friends which involved drinking, smoking, and other activities that make up a parent’s worst nightmare. While at the party, the boy who accompanied her there begins to make sexual advances. Frightened and confused, Sarah calls Charlene who comes to pick her up, teach the boy a lesson, and bring her home safely. This is when Charlene tells Peter what just happened and tries to cool him down before he explodes with anger. By instinct, Peter plans to scold his daughter with an intimidating language, tone, and overall authoritarian speech. Before letting him conti... ...es can lead to difficulty in understanding one who is from a different background. Peter, who we assume was brought up in a suburban environment with the upper class, portrays standard English compared to Charlene who was brought up in a black urban neighborhood which would explain her AAVE speech. Although both speak English, it is simply the variation that arose from class, gender, ethnicity, and other distinct traits that led for misunderstandings to occur. In part of the scene, in attempt to explain her course of actions through her alleged crime, Charlene says â€Å"When Roscoe cracked that doe, I was strait off day heezy and bounced.† After Peter looked at her with a lost look and asked her what she said, Charlene restated the phrase by saying â€Å"I was recently liberated from a correctional facility†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This moment illustrates not only the language variations of English, but the necessity for one to style shift according to their audience. English has m any dialects, pronunciations, and other factors that may require one to adapt temporarily to facilitate communication with somebody who is accustomed to a different form. This was the case for Charlene, as it is for others in the film. Stereotypes in media Essay -- essays research papers â€Å"Bringing Down the House† featuring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah is a clever comedy that creatively showcases the sociolinguistic phenomena covered in this course. The film is about a tax attorney named Peter, played by Martin, who stumbles into an online lawyer chat room and meets Charlene, played by Latifah. The two chat frequently, mostly about court cases, and eventually decide to meet in person. When the day finally comes, Peter is greeted at the door with who he thought would be a middle-aged Caucasian woman, but happened to be Charlene, a black woman who just escaped from prison. Thinking this was a mistake, Peter tries to kick out Charlene but is later convinced she is the one who he was speaking with in the chat room. Charlene was able to successfully impersonate a lawyer through speech, and along with a deceiving picture, able to convince Peter she was a petite blonde. During these chats, the two talked about court cases that happened to relate to Charleneâ⠂¬â„¢s predicament with the law. In attempt to clear her name from a crime she did not commit, Charlene researched the judicial system and similar court cases to hers while in prison. Now that she is out, she seeks personal assistance from Peter who has already through the internet, given her support. All throughout the movie the characters contrast in viewpoints, culture, and most importantly for our studies, language. Charlene and Peter represent different language backgrounds which we can analyze as the root of their character development and actions throughout the film.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To illustrate generational conflict, the scene when Peter confronts his daughter about her crazy night, best conveys the phenomena. In the scene Peter’s daughter sneaks out of the house late at night to attend an unsupervised party with some friends which involved drinking, smoking, and other activities that make up a parent’s worst nightmare. While at the party, the boy who accompanied her there begins to make sexual advances. Frightened and confused, Sarah calls Charlene who comes to pick her up, teach the boy a lesson, and bring her home safely. This is when Charlene tells Peter what just happened and tries to cool him down before he explodes with anger. By instinct, Peter plans to scold his daughter with an intimidating language, tone, and overall authoritarian speech. Before letting him conti... ...es can lead to difficulty in understanding one who is from a different background. Peter, who we assume was brought up in a suburban environment with the upper class, portrays standard English compared to Charlene who was brought up in a black urban neighborhood which would explain her AAVE speech. Although both speak English, it is simply the variation that arose from class, gender, ethnicity, and other distinct traits that led for misunderstandings to occur. In part of the scene, in attempt to explain her course of actions through her alleged crime, Charlene says â€Å"When Roscoe cracked that doe, I was strait off day heezy and bounced.† After Peter looked at her with a lost look and asked her what she said, Charlene restated the phrase by saying â€Å"I was recently liberated from a correctional facility†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This moment illustrates not only the language variations of English, but the necessity for one to style shift according to their audience. English has m any dialects, pronunciations, and other factors that may require one to adapt temporarily to facilitate communication with somebody who is accustomed to a different form. This was the case for Charlene, as it is for others in the film.

Pay for performance Essay

Motivation, Performance, and Pay Incentives Financial rewards paid to workers whose production exceeds a predetermined standard. Individual Differences Law of individual differences The fact that people differ in personality, abilities, values, and needs. Different people react to different incentives in different ways. Managers should be aware of employee needs and fine-tune the incentives offered to meets their needs. Money is not the only motivator. Employee Preferences for Noncash Incentives Needs and Motivation Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Five increasingly higher-level needs: physiological (food, water, sex) security (a safe environment) social (relationships with others) self-esteem (a sense of personal worth) self-actualization (becoming the desired self) Lower level needs must be satisfied before higher level needs can be addressed or become of interest to the individual. Herzberg’s Hygiene–Motivator theory Hygienes (extrinsic job factors) Inadequate working conditions, salary, and incentive pay can cause dissatisfaction and prevent satisfaction. Motivators (intrinsic job factors) Job enrichment (challenging job, feedback and recognition) addresses higher-level (achievement, self-actualization) needs. The best way to motivate someone is to organize the job so that doing it helps satisfy the person’s higher-level needs. Edward Deci Intrinsically motivated behaviors are motivated by the underlying need for competence and self-determination. Offering an extrinsic reward for an intrinsically-motivated act can conflict with the acting individual’s internal sense of responsibility. Some behaviors are best motivated by job challenge and recognition, others by financial rewards. Instrumentality and Rewards Vroom’s Expectancy Theory A person’s motivation to exert some level of effort is a function of three things: Expectancy: that effort will lead to performance. Have to have the skills to do the job Instrumentality: the connection between performance and the appropriate reward. Goal must be attainable Valence: the value the person places on the reward. Motivation = E x I x V If any factor (E, I, or V) is zero, then there is no motivation to work toward the reward. Employee confidence building and training, accurate appraisals, and knowledge of workers’ desired rewards can increase employee motivation. Types of Incentive Plans Pay-for-performance plans Variable pay (organizational focus) A team or group incentive plan that ties pay to some measure of the firm’s overall profitability. Variable pay (individual focus) Any plan that ties pay to individual productivity or profitability, usually as one-time lump payments. Pay-for-performance plans Individual incentive/recognition programs Sales compensation programs Team/group-based variable pay programs Organizationwide incentive programs Executive incentive compensation programs Individual Incentive Plans Piecework Plans The worker is paid a sum (called a piece rate) for each unit he or she produces. Straight piecework: A fixed sum is paid for each unit the worker produces under an established piece rate standard. An incentive may be paid for exceeding the piece rate standard. Standard hour plan: The worker gets a premium equal to the percent by which his or her work performance exceeds the established standard. Pro and cons of piecework Easily understandable, equitable, and powerful incentives. Employee resistance to changes in standards or work processes affecting output Quality problems caused by an overriding output focus. Employee dissatisfaction when incentives either cannot be earned due to external factors or are withdrawn due to a lack of need for output Merit pay A permanent cumulative salary increase the firm awards to an individual employee based on his or her individual performance. Merit pay options Annual lump-sum merit raises that do not make the raise part of an employee’s base salary. Merit awards tied to both individual and organizational performance. Incentives for professional employees Professional employees are those whose work involves the application of learned knowledge to the solution of the employer’s problems. Lawyers, doctors, economists, and engineers. Decisions can be challenging These individuals are already well paid and are driven to succeed Possible incentives Bonuses, stock options and grants, profit sharing Better vacations, more flexible work hours Improved pension plans Equipment for home offices Recognition-based awards Recognition has a positive impact on performance, either alone or in conjunction with financial rewards. Combining financial rewards with nonfinancial ones produced performance improvement in service firms almost twice the effect of using each reward alone. Day-to-day recognition from supervisors, peers, and team members is important. Online award programs Programs offered by online incentives firms that improve and expedite the awards process. Broader range of awards More immediate rewards Information technology and incentives Enterprise incentive management (EIM) Software that automates the planning, calculation, modeling and management of incentive compensation plans, enabling companies to align their employees with corporate strategy and goals. Incentives for Salespeople Salary plan Straight salaries Best for: prospecting (finding new clients), account servicing, training customer’s salesforce, or participating in national and local trade shows. Commission plan Pay is only a percentage of sales Specialized Combination Plans Commission-plus-drawing-account plan Commissions are paid but a draw on future earnings helps the salesperson to get through low sales periods. Commission-plus-bonus plan Pay is mostly based on commissions. Small bonuses are paid for directed activities like selling slow-moving items. Organizationwide Variable Pay Plans Profit-sharing plans Cash plans Employees receive cash shares of the firm’s profits at regular intervals. The Lincoln incentive system Profits are distributed to employees based on their individual merit rating. Deferred profit-sharing plans A predetermined portion of company profits is placed in each employee’s account under a trustee’s supervision. Organizationwide Variable Pay Plans (cont’d) Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) A corporation annually contributes its own stock—or cash (with a limit of 15%) to be used to purchase the stock—to a trust established for the employees. The trust holds the stock in individual employee accounts and distributes it to employees upon separation from the firm if the employee has worked long enough to earn ownership of the stock. Advantages of ESOPs Employees ESOPs help employees develop a sense of ownership in and commitment to the firm, and help to build teamwork. No taxes on ESOPs are due until employees receive a distribution from the trust, usually at retirement when their tax rate is lower. At-Risk Variable Pay Plans At-risk variable pay plans that put some portion of the employee’s weekly pay at risk. If employees meet or exceed their goals, they earn incentives. If they fail to meet their goals, they forgo some of the pay they would normally have earned. Short-Term Incentives for Managers And Executives Annual bonus Plans that are designed to motivate short-term performance of managers and are tied to company profitability. Eligibility basis: job level, base salary, and impact on profitability Fund size basis : nondeductible formula (net income) or deductible formula (profitability) Individual awards: personal performance/contribution Long-Term Incentives for Managers And Executives Stock option The right to purchase a specific number of shares of company stock at a specific price during a specific period of time. Other Executive Incentives Golden handshake Payments companies make to departing executives in connection with a change in ownership or control of a company. Guaranteed loans to directors Loans provided to buy company stock. A highly risky and now frowned upon practice. Creating an Executive Compensation Plan Define the strategic context for the executive compensation program. Shape each component of the package to focus the manager on achieve the firm’s strategic goals. Create a stock option plan to meet the needs of the executives and the company and its strategy. Check the executive compensation plan for compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements and for tax effectiveness. Install a process for reviewing and evaluating the executive compensation plan whenever a major business change occurs. Why Incentive Plans Fail You get what you pay for. â€Å"Pay is not a motivator.† Rewards rupture relationships. Rewards undermine intrinsic motivation. Implementing Effective Incentive Plans Ask: Is effort clearly instrumental in obtaining the reward? Link the incentive with your strategy. Make sure effort and rewards are directly related. Make the plan easy for employees to understand. Set effective standards. View the standard as a contract with your employees. Get employees’ support for the plan. Use good measurement systems. Emphasize long-term as well as short-term success.

Analysis of The Race by Karen Gershon Free Essay Example, 750 words

Karen s autobiographical touch that has been used to focus on the life of refugees cannot be wholly accepted as the voice of the Jews together. Race is more of an emotional outburst of a child rather than a developed writer; in addition, the poet appears to treat herself as a messenger who would like to hold an identity for the Jew refugees. Karen and her sister were sent by their parents through Kindertransport to England as refugees. But circumstances went unfavorable leaving Karen alone and this stood as an enhancing factor to realize alienation. Karen had to search for living amidst the racial differences showered on the Jewish community. Karen s literary works carry the background of her childhood and the influence of World War II on their community. Karen wishes to establish her identity which is repeatedly reflected in use of words like My face , I and that appears to be due to the racial problems experienced by her and other children. However, the argument that the poem re produces the feature of Jewish Literature remains unanswered. According to Lawson s observation gives a hint at the nature of Jewish poetry, he observes the Anglo Jewish Poets maintained marginality"[p-6] so their voice for identity cannot be considered as a voice of the whole Jewish community. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis of The Race by Karen Gershon or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page