Human Resource practices in Grameen Phone Company

Human Resource practices in Grameen Phone Company 3.1 HR at Grameen Phone-HR management is about managing people in organizations as effectively as possible for the good of the employees, the company, and society. In GP managing human resources is becoming more and more important to the success of all divisions of the company. With the honest and coordinated effort, HR plays a key role in realizing the vision and strategic direction of the company. In the contribution of GP, the HR Team is a beautiful blend of bright, innovative, enthusiastic and professional members. The entire HR team has had excellent drive to translate concepts into reality. Thus, in within a short period they have accomplished so many successes in the arena of employee benefit and recognition at home and abroad. HR has very actively participated and sponsored HR conferences and meetings in Bangladesh. Thus they are contributing to the uplift of Human Resources in Bangladesh. They are looking forward to be corporate member of Bangladesh Society for Human Resourc e Management (BSHPM).This indicates that they would like to be a part of the professional institution building for HR in Bangladesh. Moreover, the HR division has launched the HR News which has started its journey from May2000 is also another Employee Development initiative. Thus, overall HR of GP is moving forward and playing even stronger role in every year by upholding the team spirit and harmonizing interdepartmental relationship. Human Resources (HR) Department, an important part of Administration Division plays very vital role in the total functioning of Grameen Phone Employee recruitment, selection, transfer, promotion, training, performance appraisal all these are conducted by HR division. The informal structure of HR according to its functions can be classified into three main categories they are: u ma Human Resource Management (HRM) Human Resource Development (HRD) Human Resource management Information system (HR- MIS) Human Resource practices in Grameen Phone Company 3.2 Human resource planning Effective human resource planning (HRP) can be one of the most rewarding aspects of work in human resource management. Effective planning can enhance the success of the organization while minimizing the amount of suffering resulting from poorly anticipated labor surpluses or shortages. In the line of business plan, HRP at GP starts. HRP is tagged with business Plan such as potential investment, subscribers, market shares etc. There is a strong correlation between subscriber and employees requirement. 3.3 Demand of Human Resource Forecasting of Human Resource Demand is done fully on Judgment. The method in this respect used is bottom-up forecasting. Each unit, branch or department estimates its own future need for employees. The sum of the estimated unit needs is the demand forecast for the whole organization 3.4 Mission, Vision, Objectives Strategies of Grameen Phone Company Vision Ideas that Simplify CompanyMission The vision will be achieved by Connecting Bangladesh with ease and care Being user-friendly Providing value for money Providing simple and timely connections Having a right and understandable process Objectives and Mission of the Grameen Phone The objectives of HR at GP are: To be strategic business partner with the line managers. To create an attractive work environment. HR missions at GP are: To attract, develop and retain qualified employees so that they can contribute to business goal. To create an environment which facilitates are effective performance and enhances employee morale and satisfaction. Grameen Phones basic strategy is the coverage of both urban and rural areas. The Company has devised its strategies so that it earns healthy returns for its shareholders and at the same time, contributes to genuine development of the country. In short, it pursues a dual strategy of good business and good development. Serving the mass market is one of GPs primary goals. By serving the general public as opposed to niche markets, the Company plans to achieve economies of scale and healthy profits. At the same time, service to the general public means connectivity to a wider population and general economic development of the country. In contrast to the island strategy followed by some companies, which involves connecting isolated islands of urban coverage through transmission links, Grameen Phone builds continuous coverage, cell after cell. While the intensity of coverage may vary from area to area depending on market conditions, the basic strategy of cell-to-cell coverage is applied throughout Grameen Phones network. In addition, GP has positioned itself to capitalize on the declining prices of handsets, making its goal to serve the general public realistic. Company Strategy Grameen Phone follows strategies at three levels. Those are described below: Functional Level Strategy Grameen Phones focus is on efficiency, quality, innovation, and customer responsiveness. This enables Grameen Phone to earn competitive advantage over the competitors. Business Level Strategy Grameen Phone mainly applies cost leadership strategy. In addition, they also apply differentiation strategy as their business level strategy. Corporate Level Strategy Grameen Phone follows related diversification as their corporate level strategy. It enables them to keep the cost lower. 3.5 Supply of Human Resource Manpower planning is an important function of HR management section. Two major activities in this function are: Planning and forecasting the organizations short-term and long-term human resource requirements. Analyzing the jobs in the organization and determining skills and abilities that are needed. Grameen Phone has both internal and external supply of labor force. 3.5.1 Internal Supply The HR department maintains a strong HRIS for internal supply. It keeps all types of employee data ranging from skill inventory to selection out. For senior level post, they hire internally in most of the case. For senior level position, they are some times from external source. They maintain replacement chart as a part of succession planning. 3.5.2 External Supply HR division has policy to manage labor supply externally such as: Online recruitment policy to attract people from outside as well. Use the temporaries with the help of their HRIS. Rehire the retired person: they have few examples of such case. No formal organizationally sponsored career planning is in existence now, but the HR unit is considering it with due importance and now working on it to implement in near future.HR department ensures integration between HRP and strategic planning of the organization.

The Implementation Of Change Management In Maxis Information Technology Essay

The Implementation Of Change Management In Maxis Information Technology Essay Maxis are Malaysias leading telecommunications company and market leader with a total mobile phone subscriber base of more than seven million, as at 31 December 2005. Maxis continue to enhance how people communicate and live with an impressive array of innovative products and services. Maxis were the first to launch 3G Connect Card, PC Webmail, Video Mail and 3G prepaid. They are having significantly increased the 3G service coverage since its launch in July 2005, catering to more than 740 sites across Malaysia. The case study of Maxis was about the company taking a generation shifts at the top management (management team) to meet the challenges of the competitors and the unpredictable demands of the global competitors in a rapid changing and hostile environment. The study aims to analyze the implementation of change in Maxis and making a shift to update telecommunication technology from 2G to 3G. This was initiative taken by Maxis implementation of a generational shift in order to be competitive in global market is still questionable as the highly competitive market is indeed a tough to overcome. This study discussed: (a) The importance of change and the demand to be competitive. (b) The success of implementing the change process in Maxis (adopting and adapting the new technology) (c) Importance of organizational change in Maxis The Wireless Industry felt that inventing 3G network was critical in order to offer high-bandwidth services to their customers, or risk losing out to their competitors. Third generation mobile phones (3G) are at the introduction stage and a lucrative trend. Maxis were able to achieve market leadership because its constant efforts towards developing a corporate culture which fostered innovation. It wasnt easy for Maxis to maintain market leadership in the ever-changing telecommunications industry. The vision and dedication of its key personnel allowed Maxis to have a clear advantage over its competitors. Success and winning only comes naturally when the right people initiate and lead the charge to victory. The vision and mission of Maxis played a very important role in fostering innovation for a company that aspires to be the best based on a set of values that serves as a guiding principle in all its relationships, internally and externally, unifies and motivates its staff, provides clarity in its decision making, defines the way it conduct business to the community (Maxis website, 2004). 2.0 Change Management as a competitive advantage in Maxis To excel in todays business climate, organizations must continually deliver a varied range of products and services that provide high business value. Even the most successful enterprises can experience failure because they unsuccessfully manage change in software development. With more demand than ever for IT (Information Technology) to quickly and accurately achieve and support corporate objectives, IT organizations must cope with a continuous barrage of changes-changes in product requirements, technology, development processes, and deployment environments. As a result, telecommunication companies can only successfully deliver newer technology assets and applications to their current customers and attract new customer base through proactive management of change. The single, most constant factor in telecommunication companies is change (Becher, 1989). Telecommunication providing organizations and project teams must deal with rapidly changing business and product requirements, development methodologies, delivery technologies, and application architectures. For Maxis, there are compelling reasons to believe that 3G network will work around the skepticisms surrounding the technology and succeed. The 3-G network is broadband and 6 times faster than GPRS and three times faster than EDGE (Maxis Website). With its abilities to deliver video-based services, it opens the door to a brand new communications medium whereby the mobile experience is made more diverse, more interactive and more enjoyable than its technological predecessors. With launch of 3G in maxis, the telecom users will be able to talk to each other as well as to see each other face-to-face and share special moments as they happen. We get access to content; especially live TV and video streaming that is more diverse, richer and a lot more engaging and also very enhancing for the users. Adopting 3G, user can easy access to broadband connectivity on your mobile device and your laptop, anytime, anywhere and you dont have to look for Internet cables or phone lines ever again. The great advantage of 3G at this point is due to the low broadband service penetration currently. Above all, for mobile operators, 3G provides growth as the market for voice telephony matures. Data is set to rule the communications industry of the future and thus, 3G network would be a service to look forward to by customer in future. The major benefits that Maxis will be reaping by the proposed change management would be: 2.1 The need to reinvent the business as the business environment changes As the competitive pressures increase, the company needs to rethink its business strategy and position in the value chain by contributing both to differentiation and cost leader strategies is to simplify the value chain and move closer to customers through mobile services. 2.2 The need to be able to focus on the most differentiating activities Most operators still want to differentiate with new mobile services, content and portals. Extensive efforts are required to develop, launch and market with increasing time-to-market pressures and by being able to focus on these most differentiating activities is a significant benefit in view of a more complex technological environment in the future. 2.3 The need to improve operational efficiency After usual process optimization and competence development, the main source for cost efficiency is economies of scale. There is a need to increase the cost efficiency of basic technical operations irrespective of the operators competitive strategy. For very large operators and international operator groups, it is possible to gain significant economies of scale in-house. Small and medium sized operators should consider a managed service provider that could deliver benefits for their business by creating higher economies of scale on their behalf. 2.4 The need to improve quality of services and operations If Maxis manages the operations and network well with necessary capacity increases and modernization, the quality of service will be meeting the customers expectations. However, the quality is unlikely to be a differentiating factor as all the operators can deliver the same product. The new mobile services and applications provide excellent possibilities for quality differentiation and grabbing market share in a certain time window. The operators should make the most out of this with the chosen help of the experienced managed service provider. 2.5 The need to manage technology and operational challenges In traditional operator-vendor relationships, the operator has responsibility for deploying mobile services network technologies, billing and customer care readiness. This integration responsibility involved risk and managed services contract can be set up in a way to reduce this technology and operational risk by linking service providers incentives to operators business objectives. These drivers differ from one operator to another and each of these drivers needs to be considered carefully. Since outsourcing of technical operations is such a major change, it should be based on the correct and well considered reasons. 3.0 Fostering successful change management in Maxis Successful management improvement efforts require the active involvement of managers and staff throughout the organization to provide ideas for improvements and supply the energy and expertise needed to implement changes. Employees at all levels of high-performing organizations participate in and have a stake in improving operational and program performance to achieve results. High-performing organizations use a number of strategies and techniques to effectively involve employees, ie (1) Fostering a performance oriented culture, (2) Working to develop a consensus with unions on goals and strategies, (3) Providing the training that staff need to work effectively, and (4) Devolving authority while focusing accountability on results. Employees in high-performing organizations understand the importance of and the connection between their performance and the organizations success. The failure to constructively involve staff in an organizations improvement efforts means running the risk that the changes will be more difficult and protracted than necessary (Becher, 1989). The various steps for a successful organizational change in Maxis were: 3.1 Form the coalition. Once we create the commitment of what we want to our vision to be, the second step is to form a coalition of all stakeholders as well as both internal and external members of the organization. Its not only the senior management, but it is everyone that is involved with the company as well. 3.2 Envision the future (Implementation of 3G Pilot Launch) Envisioning the future is about painting a picture of what the firm is going to look like when this journey and transformation are complete. Many individuals who are part of the team will have difficulty understanding what the changes that are attempted to incorporate into the business really mean. They are going to ask how the change is going to affect the company and, more importantly, each individual within the company. This explained the pilot launch in Klang valley during the 3rd quarter of 2004. (The Star-In Tech, 22 June 2004). According to the news, Maxis Communications Bhd will initially roll out its 3G (third generation) mobile services in populated areas of the Klang Valley in the first 18 months to two years following its commercial launch by the end of 2004. Maxis revealed how, by offering these services, they would be able to grow significantly faster while providing the clients with a much higher value service, and this would create more opportunities for each of the stakeholders. At the same time, if they didnt change, they were going to fall behind in the industry, leaving fewer opportunities for employees, becoming a less important partner in the financial advisors growth, and not doing all that they could in assisting the investors to achieve their financial goals. It was not a very tough decision for the stakeholders once they had the information and time to confirm the vision. 3.3 Begin the transformation. Successful change is a real challenge because no one reacts well to change except the person that is driving it. When change comes, we all tend to immediately put our hands up and try to figure out how to avoid it. Behaviorists tell us that 80 percent of us are reactive thinkers who will do anything to avoid change. Twenty percent of us are creative thinkers, meaning we initially try to avoid the change, but then examine and judge whether its a good change or a bad change. If we think it is a good change we will incorporate it into our lives. If creative thinkers believe it is a change for the worse, they will just figure out ways to go around it. The only way to ensure that change occurs smoothly is to have a road map that outlines the process that will be incorporate into your firm to make it work for mutual benefit. 3.4 Embed it in the culture. Everything that was doing should be consistent with the commitment. For example, Maxis was constantly promoting 3G network advantage to their valuable customer over the country during the initial launch. This creates a sense of commitment for all the employees that they are undergoing change and it is therefore real and it creates a new culture. 3.5 Accelerate the pace. Maxis helped everyone see the increased competition and the need to differentiate it from all the other firms. Maxis understand the likely outcome if you dont make the changes. They know that it will be fine to be uncomfortable with change but that the winner in business will always be the one who most effectively adapts to the new environment. 3.6 Collaboration with other organizations According to Mobilecomms-technology.com, Maxis realized that the success of any 3G network relies on the availability of 3G handsets in the marketplace. A joint venture between Sony and Ericsson has been contracted by Maxis to provide 300,000 3G enabled handsets in a contract worth RM20 million for the period 2004-05. Maxis also intend to continue its close relationship with both Motorola and Siemens, and 3G handsets from these companies will also be available. Maxis also collaborated with Astro, especially in streaming live telecasts. Taken from the same article; Maxis mobile subscribers are also set to get video streaming services before the 3G network goes live, as Astro are to provide program clips, running at 64kbps and 24 frames per second, to the existing Maxis 2G GPRS Network. In addition, Motorola is installing its new push-to-talk over cellular service on the Maxis 2G network that will allow a single subscriber to connect with one or many users at one time via the single push of a button on their handset (this should see most use in the corporate market place for the easy arrangement of conference calls). 3.7 Continuously reinvent yourself High-performing organizations seek to involve and engage employees by devolving authority to lower levels of the organization. Employees are more likely to support changes when they have the necessary amount of authority and flexibilityalong with commensurate accountability and incentivesto advance the agencys goals and improve performance. Allowing employees to bring their expertise and judgment to bear in meeting their responsibilities can help agencies capitalize on their employees talents, leading to more effective and efficient operations and improved customer service. To continue usage of video streaming and video calls, Maxis has lowered the cost of 3G network charge toward their customer to increase the usage of it. The excerpt blow was taken from the article Maxis lowers cost of 3G adoption published on August 7, 2006. We are seeing a healthy uptake on 3G services with people coming on board at an incremental increase of 30% every month. We believe free video calling will further accelerate 3G adoption in Malaysia, said Maxis Head of Products and New Businesses, Dr. Nikolai Dobberstein. At the of end July, Maxis has 256,000 customers with 3G mobile phones in its base, of which 150,000 are active 3G users. By removing the cost barrier, Maxis hopes to drive up usage among 3G handset owners in its base and counter the prevalent notion of 3G being expensive. With Maxis continual low pricing strategy, we are turning that around and proving that Maxis 3G is as affordable as 2G, said Dobberstein. 4.0 Comments and Suggestions The success of the change implementation was due to the fact that it was an initiative from top management and it was clearly seen that the shift is urgent with the competitors in the market coming up with new invention. (It is an internal change and the change agent is the top management). This was congruent with one of the Organanizational Development principle, which stated that the Change Management should start from the top. According to Rothwell et al (2010), Organizational Development works best when it is supported by top managers. This is because top managers are traditionally the chief power brokers and change agents in the organization; they often control an organizations resources and reward system. The expertise of the staff was recognized and their ideas were discussed during meetings therefore capitalizing on their talents will enhance the operations and allow a smooth revolution of change. The staffs were committed to change and they were aware that there is pressure from the environment and Maxis have to differentiate from other firms and the change was necessary and the change is directed to positive results so there was no resistance to change. There is a need for change that was understood by employees. The management also has created the awareness of change. Change is inevitable, and this message was disseminated throughout the organization. This ensure low level of resistance to change. The collaboration with Sony, Ericson, Motorola and Astro has strengthen the change as companies supporting each other in terms of sharing of network, video streaming has led to a win -win situation in the corporate market. However, the change process in Maxis was a success but the future has yet to be seen in this era of companies coming up with new intervention and innovation to have the competitive advantage but the war is not over yet for Maxis as further strategies to combat the competitions need to be planned ahead of time so as to meet the demands of the future market in the era of globalization. The group view that other strategies such as new design and more practical models may be able to penetrate the market apart from technology which is the main area of competitiveness as customers of today do not only value the update of technology but the design has cosmetic value and it influence the user in the trendy world of today. 5.0 Conclusion The telecommunication industry felt it was not practical and risky to launch 3G network in the market because it final result is quite unpredictable. It could be said that the industry as well as stakeholders still felt sceptical even though the pilot plant was considered a success. However after the implementation, Maxis has proved that it had been successful in term of change management. This was proved by statistics from The Mobile World that noted Maxis ended Q1 06 with some 8.2 million customers giving them a market share of 42.5%. The country has a population penetration rate of 80%. Even though this could be directly linked to 3G, but it is not to be denied that 3G contributed a major part in the increase of market share. This notion was strengthen by the fact that Maxis has the most extensive integrated 3G network coverage in all major cities in the country. The Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru, Kuantan, Alor Setar, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and other cities are now with 3G connectivity. Today, Maxis have over 300 buildings with Maxis 3G/2G transmitters, and also over 350 Maxis Utopia and Airzà «d WLAN hotspots.   After the tremendous success in Malaysia, Maxis planned to penetrate 3G in Indonesia (end of year 2006) using the same change management plan. Thus, the well planned change can bring the expected result in the end. The change plan is very important to make a company to be market leader or sustain in the market.

Cadbury’s :: Business and Management Studies

Cadbury’s Departments Inside a business there are many different functional departments all created to help the company in its organizational methods. There are many different departments involved with Cadbury’s, as there are in any business all used for different functions. These are:  · Marketing and Sales  · Finance  · Administration and IT support  · Operations  · Research and Development  · Production  · Customer Services  · Human Resources Many of these all blend in together on the area of their focus but still all play an important part in the running of the business. The three departments that I will be focusing on are Marketing and Sales, Operations and Administration and IT support. Marketing and Sales The main things that are dealt with in the marketing and sales departments are:  · Market Research, both primary and secondary research  · Promotion  · Advertising  · Sales There are the four P’s of Marketing and Sales, Promotion, Price, Product, Place. Market Research Primary Research Market Research is identified as one of two, either primary research which is studies that have not taken place before or secondary research which is using research that has been carried out before. Primary Research involves things such as asking people questionnaires on their views and opinions of a particular product or sector. Many of these have taken place before for Cadburys and I have been asked in stores and around the Bournville site to fill out a quick questionnaire. I browsed the Cadburys website and found an online questionnaire referring to the site. See appendix . Secondary Research Secondary Research, otherwise known as desk research, is looking through information that all ready exists. This takes place often for Cadbury’s also as they always look through old information to discover what the customers want and how preferences have changed throughout the years. If information is collected from a book you must create a bibliography and write down the name of the book and the author so that you do not take credit for their work. See appendix . Promotion Promotion is making customers aware of their businesses products. There are many ways of doing this including; showing customers how it will meet there needs, persuading customers to buy the product, making sure customers know where they can purchase the product and the cost of it and of course giving information about the product. Promotion can also occur as testing a product out before you think of purchasing it or even lowering the prices as low as they can go to raise interest in them. In some cases promotion can even be the one on one explanation of the product and the support needed if problems arouse. See appendix . Promotion is seen everywhere like billboards, bus

Reuven Malters Development In The Chosen :: essays research papers

Malter's Development in The Chosen One of the most emotional scenes from Chaim Potok’s The Chosen is when Reuven goes with Danny Saunders to talk to his father. Danny has a great mind and wants to use it to study psychology, not become a Hasidic tzaddik. The two go into Reb Saunders’ study to explain to him what is going to happen, and before Danny can bring it up, his father does. Reb Saunders explains to the two friends that he already known that Reuven is going to go for his smicha and Danny, who is in line to become the next tzaddik of his people, will not. This relates to the motif of â€Å"Individuality† and the theme of â€Å"Danny’s choice of going with the family dynasty or to what his heart leads him.† The most developing character from the novel is Reuven Malter. One of the ways that he developes in the novel is in hus understanding of friendship. His friendship with Dfanny Saunders is encouraged by his father, but he is wary of it at first because Danny is a Hasid, and regards regular Orthodox Jews as apikorsim because of the teachings of his father. Reuven goes from not being able to have a civil conversation with Danny to becoming his best friend with whom he spens all of his free time, studies Talmud and goes to college. Reuven truly grows because he leans, as his father says, what it is to be a friend. Another way that Reuven grows is that he learns to appreciate different people and their ideas. He starts out hating Hasidim because it’s the â€Å"pious† thing to do, even though his father (who I see as the Atticus Finch of this novel) keeps telling him that it’s okay to disagree with ideas, but hating a person because of them is intolerable. Through his friendship with Danny, studies with Reb Saunders, brief crush on Danny’s sister (who was never given a name), and time spent in the Hasidic community, he learns that Hasids are people too with their own ideas and beliefs that are as valuable as his. He learns why they think, act, speak, and dress the way that they do and comes to grips with the fact that he doesn’t have a monopoly on virtue. A third way in which Reuven grows, though the book doesn’t really talk about it a great deal, is in his appreciation of life, or cha’im in Hebrew. He almost loses his vision, his father nearly works himself to death, six million Jews are butchered in Europe, and Danny’s brother’s poor health threatens Danny’s

Pauls Character in Pauls Case :: Paul

Paul's Character in Paul's Case Pauls's Case is the story of a young man who struggles with his identity. Paul feels that he knows where he belongs, but his family and teachers refuse to support his choices. In the middle of Paul's Case, there is a switch in narration. At this point, the reader can associate with Paul and his problems. Paul struggles with both internal and external conflicts, causing him to be quite a puzzling character. From tha perspective of his family and teachers, Paul seems abnormal. From his perspective, however, he seems misunderstood. In the beginning of the story, Paul seems to be a typical teenage boy: in trouble for causing problems in the classroom. As the story progresses, the reader can infer that Paul is rather withdrawn. He would rather live in his fantasy world than face reality. Paul dreaded returning home after the Carnegie Hall performances. He loathed his "ugly sleeping chamber with the yellow walls," but most of all, he feared his father. This is the first sign that he has a troubled homelife. Next, the reader learns that Paul has no mother, and that his father holds a neighbor boy up to Paul as "a model" . The lack of affection that Paul received at home caused him to look elsewhere for the attention that he craved. The theater and Carnegie Hall was where Paul "really lived". To him, the rest of his life was but "a sleep and a forgetting". The moment Paul stepped into either one of those places, he felt he was in his element. He "breathed like a prisoner set free". Paul's life was so monotonous and dull in comparison to his theater life, which he felt was his "secret temple". This alone provides insight into his character. He truly believed that he belonged to the arts. This makes Paul's case so sad because no one believed in him. This is what caused him to flee to New York to be in a place where he would be accepted for his true selt. Paul's train trip is where the change in narration occurs. Prior to this point, the author used an omniscient point of view. From this point on, the reader reads from Paul's point of view. The change in narration helps the reader understand Paul's perspective. He is not, as it seemed in the beginning, an abnormal person.

Colonial history of the United States Essay

Test Review Chapters 1-3 Day 1 Review (Monday) * Website review: themes and learning objectives from Chapter 1 * http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072424362/student_view0/chapter1/ * includes review Multiple choice and essay questions Topics to review: * Summarize the changes in European society that led to the era of exploration between 1400 and 1700. (pg. 9-12, 23-28) * Describe the Spanish Empire in the New World during the 1500s. Include political, military, economic, social, and cultural considerations. (pg. 11-20) * Discuss the economic and religious motivations that led to the establishment of English colonies in North America. (pg. 23-27) * Explain the French process of colonization and interaction with the natives. (pg. 27) Day 2 Review (Tuesday) * Website review: major themes and learning objectives from Chapter 2 * http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072424362/student_view0/chapter2/ * Includes review Multiple choice and essay questions Topics to Review: * Compare and contrast the development of Virginia with that of New England. Consider social, economic, political, and religious differences (Page: 34–49) * Explain the underlying causes and the unfortunate consequences of Bacon’s Rebellion. (pg. 39-40) * Contrast the early years of Pennsylvania with the early years of Georgia. (Page: 52–54, 58–59) * Compare and contrast the religious, economic, and social cultures of the Puritans and Quakers. (Page: 40–49, 52–54) Day 3 Review (Wednesday) * Website review: major themes and learning objectives from Chapter 3 * http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072424362/student_view0/chapter3/ * includes review multiple choice and essay questions Topics to Review: * Compare and contrast the institutions of white indentured servitude and African slavery in early colonial America. (Page: 66–67, 71–75) * Compare and contrast the lives of colonial women in the Chesapeake with those in New England. (Page: 69–71) * Compare and contrast the economies of the southern colonies with those of the northern colonies in the 1600s and 1700s. (Page: 77–89) * Compare and contrast the society found on a southern plantation of the late 1600s with that of a Puritan community of the same period. (Page: 83–87) * Explain how religion developed in the New England colonies during the 1600s and early 1700s. (Page: 89–91) * Compare the growth of education and organized religious thought in eighteenth-century colonial America. (Page: 89–94) Test Review Chapters 1-3 Day 1 Review (Monday) * Website review: themes and learning objectives from Chapter 1 * http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072424362/student_view0/chapter1/ * includes review Multiple choice and essay questions Topics to review: * Summarize the changes in European society that led to the era of exploration between 1400 and 1700. (pg. 9-12, 23-28) * Describe the Spanish Empire in the New World during the 1500s. Include political, military, economic, social, and cultural considerations. (pg. 11-20) * Discuss the economic and religious motivations that led to the establishment of English colonies in North America. (pg. 23-27) * Explain the French process of colonization and interaction with the natives. (pg. 27) Day 2 Review (Tuesday) * Website review: major themes and learning objectives from Chapter 2 * http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072424362/student_view0/chapter2/ * Includes review Multiple choice and essay questions Topics to Review: * Compare and contrast the development of Virginia with that of New England. Consider social, economic, political, and religious differences (Page: 34–49) * Explain the underlying causes and the unfortunate consequences of Bacon’s Rebellion. (pg. 39-40) * Contrast the early years of Pennsylvania with the early years of Georgia. (Page: 52–54, 58–59) * Compare and contrast the religious, economic, and social cultures of the Puritans and Quakers. (Page: 40–49, 52–54) Day 3 Review (Wednesday) * Website review: major themes and learning objectives from Chapter 3 * http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072424362/student_view0/chapter3/ * includes review multiple choice and essay questions Topics to Review: * Compare and contrast the institutions of white indentured servitude and African slavery in early colonial America. (Page: 66–67, 71–75) * Compare and contrast the lives of colonial women in the Chesapeake with those in New England. (Page: 69–71) * Compare and contrast the economies of the southern colonies with those of the northern colonies in the 1600s and 1700s. (Page: 77–89) * Compare and contrast the society found on a southern plantation of the late 1600s with that of a Puritan community of the same period. (Page: 83–87) * Explain how religion developed in the New England colonies during the 1600s and early 1700s. (Page: 89–91) * Compare the growth of education and organized religious thought in eighteenth-century colonial America. (Page: 89–94)

Contrast of Zeena and Mattie in “Ethan Frome” Essay

Some decisions have an everlasting effect on one’s life. Ethan Frome, the protagonist in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, is tormented by his passionate love for Mattie Silver, but is morally shackled to Zeena by the sacred bonds of marriage. After years of harsh life with his wife in the dreary town of Starkefield, Ethan comes to believe that his greatest chance at a happy life is with Mattie Silver, a cousin of Zeena, who has come to live with him. However, in the end Mattie’s other side, one which is extraordinarily similar to Zeena’s attitude, comes to light, after a thwarted suicide attempt. In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton makes an ironic comment on the choices present in an impoverished world by presenting contrasting images to describe Zeena Frome and Mattie Silver, yet also presenting details which make them seem alike. Wharton suggests that Mattie’s cheerful attitude, her spirited activity, and her ability to inspire confidence in Ethan, prompts him to believe that Mattie could bring him bliss. One of the reasons why Ethan thinks that Mattie could turn his life around was because she usually overflowed with cheerfulness and energy. Ethan is often fascinated by â€Å"her gaiety [, which to him,] was a plain proof of indifference.† Her cheerful image contrasts sharply with that of Zeena who is selfish and melancholy, and brings some cheer into his otherwise dull life. Mattie again exhibits her ability to spread warmth while she learns her household duties. When Ethan sees her performing her household duties awkwardly, he bursts out laughing, and, to his surprise, Mattie also â€Å"burst[s] out laughing and this made them better friends.† This incident baffles Ethan who assumed that a woman would blush with embarrassment instead of laughing it away and charms him so that the idea comes to be implanted into him that Mattie would bring him a happy life. Mattie brings him further happiness by simply listening to him especially when he talks of subjects completely new to her. When he talked about stars on their way back from the dance, Ethan and Mattie stood â€Å"entranced† and gazed at the starry sky. Talking to Mattie of such subjects gives Ethan a considerable amount of pleasure because he could impart his knowledge to an eager, cheerful and somewhat ignorant listener. Mattie’s colorfulness and liveliness also helps Ethan to fall in love with her and strengthen his conviction that she could bring happiness into his life.  Mattie’s colorfulness and liveliness is seen in the church where Mattie is dancing. Ethan, who is seeing through the window, is entranced by her graceful figure as she danced, and when â€Å"scarf flew off her head and stood out behind her shoulders†¦[revealing her] laughing panting lips.† By just looking at her dance, Ethan seems to share the joy that Mattie feels as she dances. Her liveliness also differs with that of Zeena who is something of a cold, selfish introvert and seldom goes outside for the fear of her health. Another scene in which Mattie’s liveliness captivates Ethan is when they are alone in the living room while Zeena was in Bettsbridge. While Ethan was talking to Mattie, she changes her countenance frequently â€Å"like a wheat field under a summer breeze.† Ethan takes a secret pleasure in seeing how Mattie reacts to his remarks especially when they talk about Ruth Varnum and Ned Hale’s upcoming marriage and is overjoyed to see Mattie blush when he recounts what he saw Ruth and Ned do. Yet another scene in which Mattie’s activity strengthens his belief is when Mattie knits by the fireplace. As she knits, he watches in admiration as her fingers fly like â€Å"a pair of birds making short perpendicular flights† over their nest. This encourages his notion because she seems to be able to knit like his mother could in the happy days before the illness had taken her. He also shows his appreciation of her abilities by kissing the â€Å"stuff† she made. Mattie’s ability to inspire confidence in Ethan also leads him to believe that Mattie could guide him to a happier life. Mattie’s ability to inspire Ethan’s confidence is clearly shown when they are walking home from the dance. While walking home he talks to her about the â€Å"Orion,† â€Å"Aldebaran,† and the â€Å"Pleiades.† Mattie listens to Ethan eagerly, leading him to wonder how his dull talk could interest a carefree person who cared little about stars. Mattie also inspires confidence in Ethan when the cat breaks the pickle dish. Shocked and terrified she raises her eyes to him for a solution and â€Å"his courage was up.† He is able to free her mind of the broken dish and able to mend it enough so that it would look unbroken until he could obtain some glue to fix it. Mattie’s ability again inspires Ethan to gain self-confidence when Zeena orders Jotham Powell to take Mattie to the railway station. He gains self-confidence by looking at Mattie’s stricken face and responds by insisting to Zeena that he â€Å"would take Mattie over† to the railway station. This incident in which Ethan was able to muster enough self-confidence to  oppose Zeena shows how Mattie is able to directly or indirectly to encourage Ethan to have confidence in himself, thus corroborating his idea that he and Mattie could lead a happy life. Despite Mattie’s untiring gaiety, Wharton includes scenes in which she is closely related to Zeena to imply that Ethan’s choice is nothing but an illusion. One of such scenes in which Mattie closely resembles Zeena is when she prepares the table when Zeena is in Bettsbridge. While she prepares the table, she uses the pickle dish which Zeena â€Å"never meant [for it] to be used.† Mattie shamelessly using the pickle dish strongly resembles the character of Zeena because like her, Mattie uses the dish secretly and with deception, a quality of Zeena’s which Ethan abhors. Mattie again shows strong resemblance to Zeena when she and Ethan sit down in the living room to pass time. When she sits down to sew in Zeena’s chair, Ethan sees in Mattie’s face the face of â€Å"the superseded woman† who was then at Bettsbridge. This shows that Ethan’s choice is an illusion since Zeena haunts him even when she is not present and disproves the idea that Ethan would be happy with Mattie because even then Zeena’s face would haunt him. The character of Mattie after the coasting accident rudely reveals to Ethan that he had never had any choices all along. When he takes the narrator into his house, the narrator faces two women who look sickly; Zeena looks â€Å"old, and gray with†¦pale opaque eyes† while Mattie looks â€Å"bloodless† and â€Å"her eyes [have] a witch like stare.† The narrator also reveals that Mattie’s voice sounds querulous like Zeena’s voice. This shows how Mattie and Zeena are similar and the dependency of both the invalids on Ethan–contrary to the dreams of Ethan in which he and Mattie would have been free. Wharton depicts the sharp contrast between the morose Zeena and the gay Mattie to imply that Ethan’s choice is obvious. However, Wharton includes scenes that show the resemblance of Mattie to Zeena to warn the unsuspecting Ethan that Mattie has another personality, which is just as bad as that of Zeena. In the end, Ethan realizes that Mattie had just been a wolf in a sheep’s clothing and that from then on he had to carry burden to care for 2 invalids as well as himself.