Case Study of European Budget Airlines

Case Study of European Budget Airlines Ryanair is one of the leading airline companies of Europe. This airline company is known for its low cost and high quality service. It operates more than 1,400 flights per day from 44 bases and 1100+ low fare routes across 27 countries, connecting 160 destinations (Ryanair-a, n.d.). This paper endeavours to analyse Ryanair, with special emphasis on situation analysis, decision making, planning and controlling process, leadership and organisational structure. This paper will conclude with some plausible recommendations on future growth and progress. Situational Analysis SWOT is a very helpful management tool for analysing the situation of a company. Ryanair was established in 1985, and despite its shortcomings it established a strong position in the market. Strengths Ryanair has developed a strong brand name in airline industry as a low cost service provider. Ryanair has been in the airline company since the last 25 years and has gained sufficient experience in it. Ryanair has developed its internet facilities and has made it an important selling point. This helps the company to eliminate the costs of agents. Ryanairs fleet includes aircrafts with high sitting capacity and low maintenance cost. Ryanairs services performance is of high standard with punctual fleet timing. Weakness To save cost, Ryanair charges its passengers for services like refreshments, wheelchair etc. It creates very impression among passengers about the company. It is not a preferred airline with the high class passengers. Opportunities The European Union market is expanding with time and most of the passengers prefer low fare for their air travel. Regions like North America and Asia have greater scope for low cost provider like Ryanair. Threats The existing airline companies are following strategies that lower the cost and hence competition within the industry is increasing with time. The oil market is a major supplier to airline business. In recent years, price of oil has increased significantly. The customers are becoming very price and service sensitive. Porters 5 Forces The bargaining power of suppliers is very high as the number of aircraft manufacturer and oil suppliers are very less in the market. Availability of proper airports is also very important for this industry. However, airports bargaining power is quite low as they depend on aircraft companies. The bargaining power of customers is very high as they have many airline service providers to choose from. The barrier entry of airline industry is quite high as it requires heavy investments and technical expertise. Airline is the fastest mode of transportation for overseas and long distance travel. No other substitute can match the service of airline industry. Competition among existing rival is the most import factor in this industry. The rivals are competing with each other for increasing their market share. In European Union, Lufthansa, Ryanair, Easy jet etc are leading airline companies. 3. Decision Making 3.1. Decision Making Process in Ryanair Ryanair provides low cost and high quality airline services to its customers. It places customer satisfaction above all other priorities. The decision making process is primarily centred on concerns regarding ways to provide higher customer services. Fleet planning, airline fare, fleet scheduling etc are some of the chief aspects of Ryanairs effective decision making process. 3.2. Decision Making Approach Decision making approach can be defined as strategic approached of an organisation. Ryanairs management team aims to follow rational decision making approach. The rational decision making approach is an ongoing and dynamic process. This approach helps to identify the underlying problems and to find relevant solutions (Kroon, 1995 p.187). For example, in 2004, when the company was passing through a financial crisis, rational decision making approach not only helped it to overcome it but also paved the path of growth. 3.3. Types of Problems and Decisions Making In Ryanair In 2004, Ryanair was one of the worst performers in FTSE Eurotop 300 index. During that period, competition in airline industry was very high in the European nations as many new companies entered the market. Despite the stiff competition, the company enjoyed a healthy growth rate till 2003. But the managements inability to understand and rectify the inherent weakness of its decision making process stunted its growth. 3.4. Decision-Making Conditions in Ryanair While framing the strategic move for any decision making process; Ryanairs first priority will be to analyse the elements of external competition. The European airline industry is crowded with many leading companies like Lufthansa, Virgin, Aer Lingus, and British Airway etc. Consumers needs are also very important for Ryanairs decision-making. Prior to 2003, the companys concern for customer service was very low, except the low fare advantages. 3.5. Decision-Making Styles The decision making style of Ryanairs management team seems to be affected by different factors. However, the decision making methods are quite flexible. After analysing its rapid growth during 2002-2003, it can be claimed that it focuses on short term objective rather than long term goals. Creativity is another major feature of its decision making style. 3.6. Decision- Making Biases and Errors Ryanairs temporary fall during 2004 brought into fore many drawbacks of its decision making process. Robbins has identified some unexplained prejudices and errors of decision making like biases relating to overconfidence, anchoring, confirmation, availability, escalation of commitment etc (Robbins, 2009, p.126). Ryanairs decision was affected by two major biases i.e. anchoring biases and status quo biasness. Its decision making was based on the past success that failed to take in to account unfavourable macro-economic conditions resulting from 9/11 attack on WTC. 4. Planning 4.1Vision and Mission Statement Vision and mission statements help an organisation to prepare a roadmap for its operational activities. Ryanairs official website does not have the vision and mission statement of the company. However, the public statements of Michael OLeary and other higher executive member of Ryanair indicate that it aims to achieve growth and success by being the lowest cost provider in airline industry (Box and Kent, 2007). 4.2. Purposes of Planning In general, the purpose of planning is to bring effectiveness and efficiency in the operational activities of a business. The implied mission and vision of Ryanairs clearly states its purposes of planning. To counter the increasing competition, the company has decided to follow low cost strategy. Hence, its planning is designed after taking into consideration this objective. 4.3 Planning And Performances in Ryanair According to Riezebos, planning is a very crucial element of operational activity that affects the performance level (Riezebos, 2001, p.12). Planning is one of the major tools of motivating participants to achieve the common organisational goal. Due to rational decision making approach, the company is able to plan its operational and strategic activities properly. Ryanair is able to achieve its target with the help of an efficient planning process. 4.4 Types of Goals in Ryanair The primary goal of Ryanair is to become the lowest cost airline service provider in Europe. The idea of offering low fare proved successful for the company. However, initially it failed to understand the necessity of good service for customer. Currently, the company is committed to provide lower fare, high quality service and punctual air schedule (Ryanair-b, n.d.). 4.5 Types of Plans in Ryanair Ryanairs decision making process follows rational approach and it also follows rational model for its planning process. Basically, planning can be divided as short term goal and long term goal. The companys management team was concerned only with the short term goal. The company often changes its plan as per the requirements of the market. In 2002, the companys plan was to provide low cost fare and after 2004, its planning process also took note of service quality. 4.6 Contingency Factors in Planning Ryanair faces three major contingency factors. Firstly, the organisational level affects the operational planning of middle and low level managers. Secondly, the uncertainty of macro-environmental or other external factors affects the planning process. Therefore, Ryanair aims to develop a flexible planning system. Thirdly, the long and short term objectives of Ryanair affect its planning process. The company always tries to concentrate on its current objective. 4.7 Objectives The primary objective of Ryanair is to attain cost leadership in European airline market. However, to achieve this objective, the company needs to concentrate on other long term goal. These include increasing its operational activities to enter new markets like North America, developing customer centred business model and increasing the use of internet as a major selling point (OCuilleanain et al, 2004). 4.8 Management by Objectives (MBO) Management by objective (MBO) approach of management leads to increase in the performance of organisation. MBO is a result-oriented, non-specialized managerial process for the effective utilization of organisational resources by integrating individuals with the organisation and the organisation with the environment (Goyal, 2005, p.304). During 2004, in order to overcome its crisis situation, the company introduced MBO approach to improve its performance. 4.9 Strategic Management Process Ryanairs strategic management process is based on its objective of achieving cost leadership in European airline industry. The company has improved its positioning by implementing proper strategic management process. The key elements of its strategic management include low fares, high frequency of point-to-point flight within short routes, proper route choice, reduction in operating cost, increase the internet use for selling, maintenance of safely and high quality service etc (OCuilleanain et al, 2004) 5. Organising 5.1 Organisation Structure and Design: Proper organisational structure and design helps to develop efficient management performance. There are four elements of organisation structure and these are departmentalisation, span of control, centralization and formalization. Appendix 1 depicts the organisation structure of Ryanair. Michael OLeary is the CEO of the company and there are seven Directors and a Chairman. For each department like customer services, finance, HR etc, there are individual head management personnel having a team. 5.2 Chain of Command The Chain of command in Ryanair is based on its organisational structure. The appendix 1 portrays that the CEO is the chief person of command of the organisation. However, the decision making process in Ryanair includes all the senior managers of each department. To maintain high level of transparency and to develop two-way communication system in cross functional departments, the chain of command is very essential. 5.3 Span of Control The span of control in Ryanair is effective and helps to maintain a sound organisational growth. The span of control of the CEO Michael OLeary is the highest and most effective. As per appendix 1, the entire department is required to report on the ongoing activities to the CEO. The CEO along with the Directors and Chairman is responsible for making the final decisions of the organisation. However, for better planning and implementation, the employees should be involved in the decision making process. 5.4 Centralization and Decentralization The decision of centralization or decentralization depends on the nature and expansion of business. Ryanair is a multinational company having different units in European countries and North America. For the airline industry, decentralization is more preferred over centralization. However, Ryanair follows a centralized organisational model. Decentralization of organisation will help it to compete with the major competitors of different markets. 5.5 Mechanistic and Organic organization The mechanistic organisations are those having a well defined hierarchy. Ryanair has a centralized organisational structure and it is an example of mechanistic organisation. Appendix 2 shows the major difference between the mechanistic and organic organisation. The company has been very strict in maintaining its relationship with the employees. However, such organisational structure of Ryanair creates biases and errors in decision making process. 5.6 Contingency Factors There are many factors that affect the organisational structure of a company. The industry trend, the growth structure, the social and demographic characteristics of employee customers and vision and mission of the company etc are the major contingency factors that help in designing the organisational structure. The leadership quality of the higher management also affects the organisational structure. The organisational structure of Ryanair is also affected by external competition and its leadership style. 5.7 Job Characteristics Model One of the primary objectives of Ryanair is to provide high customer services and in this respect the employees are the most important resource. In order to enrich the quality of job, the company motivates its employees to achieve the common organisational goal i.e. growth. The company aim to offer competitive salaries with excellent benefits that are simple and easy to understand (Ryanair-c, n.d.). 6. Leadership The leadership style is an important influencing factor organisational growth and success. The major leadership skills of Ryanairs management focus on the low cost fare for airline. The fleet of Ryanair includes single-class aircraft that increases the seating capacity. However, the leadership skills of Ryanair have led to its success of 2002-2003 and failure of 2004. The leadership in Ryanair strives to focus on position, seniority and authority. Control 7.1 Control Process The control process is the key element for Ryanair as it wants to achieve the lowest cost leadership. In order to facilitate effective and efficient control system, employees must be properly organized. Ryanair has developed proper system for regulating the control process by managing its employees. 7.2 Types of Control Ryanair strategic moves and policies control various aspect of the organisation. Firstly, cost controlling activity is the major criteria for low cost fare airline and it includes labour cost, marketing cost, airport charges. It also reduces the service cost by controlling many activities. For example, in 2003, it did not offer meals of refreshments to passengers who faced delays (O Higgins, 2004,). 7.3 Managerial Approaches to Implement Controls Ryanairs management team approach for implementation of control, strives to bring down the financial expenses. However, proper organisation culture and operational activities are also very important to improve its service qualities. Fleet control and market control are necessary for achieving the competitive strategy. The market control managerial approach of Ryanair involves the comparison of profit and expenses with that of its competitors. 7.4 Management Information System For establishing better management system, Ryanair has brought technological advancement in its organisations non-operational activities. For example, it has developed its website for using it as a major selling point. The increasing use of internet has made the managerial activity more efficient. At present, the company is aiming to achieve 100% internet ticket booking. Contingency Factors in Control Like the decision making process, controlling activity of an organisation is affected by uncertainty of macro-economic factors and the cultural and social characteristics of employees. In the airline industry, the major contingency factor is the competition and conflicts related to organisational objectives. Ryanairs management aims to avoid these contingencies factors related to employees by rewarding them for their efforts. 7.6 Corporate Governance Ryanair is listed on London and Irish Stock Exchanges in Europe. The company is responsible for following proper business ethics and compliance as per the corporate governance. The entire management teams including the Directors and CEO are committed to maintain the standard corporate governance. Its business policy clearly defines the role of Directors and other members in meeting its corporate responsibility. Balanced Scorecard Balanced score card is the most popular management tool used by organisations. Ryanairs strategic management system can be explained with balanced score card. To bring efficiency in its operational activities, Ryanair concentrates of four major areas i.e. finance, customer, business process and learning and growth. 8.1 Benchmarking To achieve the objective of becoming the lowest cost provider in the European airline industry, Ryanair has set its benchmark for cost controlling activities. At present, it is the lowest cost provider in the industry and hence, it has developed its own benchmark. For example, in 2003, the company reduced its cost for wheelchairs services by bringing a third party wheelchair suppliers who charged passengers for supplying wheelchairs. 8.2 Value Chain The value chain of the company strives to provide the lowest fare possible. Appendix 4 portrays the value chain which includes other important aspects of the airline industry. To develop a cost effective operational process, the company has combined its balanced score card, benchmarking and value chain. RECOMMENDATIONS To ensure success, Ryanair must bring some changes in its management and business model. Some of the useful recommendations are given below. It must focus on its services to meet the passengers minimum expectation. The company should include the employees in the decision making process. As many other rivals are also following low cost strategy, Ryanair can bring certain innovations in its service process. Internal communication should be encouraged for better transparency and motivation. It should develop its public image by increasing corporate social activities. For maintaining low cost fare, it should emphasise on the financial aspects. 10. Reference Box, T. M. and Kent, B. 2007. Ryanair (2005): Successful Low Cost Leadership. [Online]. Available at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5452/is_200705/ai_n21289700/pg_2/. [Accessed on November 03, 2010]. Goyal, R. C. 2005. Hospital Administration and Human Resource Management. 4th Edition. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Hellriegel, D. and Slocum, J. W. 2007. Organizational behaviour. 11th Edition. Cengage Learning. Kroon, J. 1995. General Management. 2nd Edition. Pearson South Africa. OCuilleanain, E. S. et al, 2004. Ryanair Plc. [Pdf]. Available at: http://dev.ulb.ac.be/cours/alle/PDF/BuspPresRyanair04.pdf. [Accessed on November 03, 2010]. O Higgins, E, 2004, Case Study Ryanair. Riezebos, 2001. Design of a period batch control planning system for cellular manufacturing. University of Groningen. Robbins, S. P. 2009. Organisational behaviour: global and Southern African perspectives. 2nd Edition. Pearson South Africa. Ryanair-a. No Date. About Us: History of Ryanair. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ryanair.com/en/about. [Accessed on November 03, 2010]. Ryanair-b. No date. About Us: Passenger Charter. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ryanair.com/en/about/passenger-charter. [Accessed on November 03, 2010]. Ryanair-c. No date. Careers. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ryanair.com/en/careers/working-for-ryanair. [Accessed on November 03, 2010]. The Official Board. September 15, 2010. Ryanair. [Online]. Available at: http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/ryanair-holdings. [Accessed on November 03, 2010]. The Performance Institute. 2009. Balanced Scorecard. [Online]. Available at: http://www.performanceweb.org/events/training/program-performance/sub7/. [Accessed on November 03, 2010]. Jack Baskin School of Engineering. No date. Airline Industry Analysis. [Ppt]. Available at: http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/ism158/Winter03/istcch04.ppt. [Accessed on November 03, 2010].

Differing Perspectives of the Caribbean :: Caribbean History Historical Essays

Differing Perspectives of the Caribbean The Caribbean has been an unexplained region throughout the test of time because there are many different depictions of what actually is happening. The ranging cultures in the Caribbean bring about many different points of view. A perfect example is how Cliff, Mintz, and Benitez-Rojo describe their version of the Caribbean. They discuss affairs in the Caribbean from the days of slave trading to present day issues. In analyzing their anecdotes and books, one can find not only similarities between them, but discrepancies as well. All three authors express their thoughts vividly, unleashing ideas about the Caribbean. Among the most important themes of these ideas were that of the plantation, identity, and social hierarchy. The role of the plantation was a prominent issue brought up by all the authors. The plantation played an imperative role in Caribbean society from colonialism to contemporary society. Mintz and Benitez-Rojo gave a number of positive aspects of how plantations were positive in helping the economy whereas Cliff despised the whole plantation system. All authors bring out valid issues on their analysis of plantations. According to Mintz, the emergence of the plantation occurred when there became a decline in miners. This decline brought a new economy and an alternate plan to their mining careers. In addition, it was a new source of production for goods like sugar, rum, coffee and tobacco. Production of goods meant more money to the Caribbean’s economy as well as new materials to give to their colonial powers. Mintz argues that the Caribbean flourished because of the system of plantations. He goes as far as saying, "the plantation system was not only an agricultural device; it also became the basis for an entire societal design" (Mintz, 27). Benitez-Rojo also gives praise to the plantation in his article entitled the Repeating Island. He said how the "modest sugar boom in the Spanish Antilles left an indelible mark on the island’s society" (Benitez-Rojo, 42). The plantations created an economy in the Caribbean when there was previously nothing. It changes the whole course of Caribbean history and this can be incorporated with his Chaos Theory. Benitez-Rojo believes in the physics theory that things in one place certainly have a great effect on something else. However, Cliff significantly differs on her view of the plantation. In Cliff’s Abeng, there is much discussion about the plantation. However, Cliff argues how the sugar plantation actually hurt the economy and made little profits.

Virginia Scharffs Femininity and the Electric Car :: Technology Automobiles Essays

Virginia Scharff's "Femininity and the Electric Car" In "Femininity and the Electric Car," Virginia Scharff examines the electric car, its history, and the targeted customers at which it was aimed. Five hundred electric cars were produced by the Pope Manufacturing Company in 1897. According to Scharff, this was after Colonel Albert A. Pope, the president of that company, decided not to concentrate "on noisy or smelly gasoline-powered cars, but instead, on clean, quiet electric vehicles." ("Femininity and the Electric Car" p.75) The Pope Manufacturing Company clearly targeted women as customers. This is evident in their advertising strategy. For example, Scharff says, "As Pope suggested in a 1903 advertisement for the Pope-Waverly electric model ‘electrics†¦will appeal to anyone interested in an absolutely noiseless, odorless, clean and stylish rig that is always ready and that, mile for mile, can be operated at less cost than any other type of motor car.’ Lest this message escape those it was intended to attract, the text accompanied a picture of a delighted woman driver piloting a a similar female passenger." (p.75) With such blatant advertising can be clearl y seen that the electric car was targeted at women. Later advertisements which were also directed at women contained Victorian language. According to Scharff, this separate spheres ideology "vastly oversimplified both human relations and social forces." Scharff then gave an example of a man who is stereotypically rugged seeking shelter from the rain and of women who are stereotypically soft-spoken yelling at their children to illustrate this oversimplification. The main reasons why electric cars were targeted at women was basically because of the misconception that women lacked the ability to drive well and should drive slower, safer cars rather than faster, more powerful gasoline-powered cars. It was also assumed that women should just use a car as a means of transportation for chores and other errands that were associated with short distances, so that the electric car’s lack of range wouldn’t bother women. Perhaps husbands liked the restricted range that their wives would have because maybe they didn’t trust them enough to go on longer trips. In this manner of using the electric car nearly exclusively for chores, the technology seemed more oppressive to women rather than liberating. In addition to a limited range, Scharff mentions a number of other disadvantages that the electric car had. It was more expensive than a gasoline-powered car. It was difficult to drive on bumpy roads and was unable to climb steep hills. Virginia Scharff's Femininity and the Electric Car :: Technology Automobiles Essays Virginia Scharff's "Femininity and the Electric Car" In "Femininity and the Electric Car," Virginia Scharff examines the electric car, its history, and the targeted customers at which it was aimed. Five hundred electric cars were produced by the Pope Manufacturing Company in 1897. According to Scharff, this was after Colonel Albert A. Pope, the president of that company, decided not to concentrate "on noisy or smelly gasoline-powered cars, but instead, on clean, quiet electric vehicles." ("Femininity and the Electric Car" p.75) The Pope Manufacturing Company clearly targeted women as customers. This is evident in their advertising strategy. For example, Scharff says, "As Pope suggested in a 1903 advertisement for the Pope-Waverly electric model ‘electrics†¦will appeal to anyone interested in an absolutely noiseless, odorless, clean and stylish rig that is always ready and that, mile for mile, can be operated at less cost than any other type of motor car.’ Lest this message escape those it was intended to attract, the text accompanied a picture of a delighted woman driver piloting a a similar female passenger." (p.75) With such blatant advertising can be clearl y seen that the electric car was targeted at women. Later advertisements which were also directed at women contained Victorian language. According to Scharff, this separate spheres ideology "vastly oversimplified both human relations and social forces." Scharff then gave an example of a man who is stereotypically rugged seeking shelter from the rain and of women who are stereotypically soft-spoken yelling at their children to illustrate this oversimplification. The main reasons why electric cars were targeted at women was basically because of the misconception that women lacked the ability to drive well and should drive slower, safer cars rather than faster, more powerful gasoline-powered cars. It was also assumed that women should just use a car as a means of transportation for chores and other errands that were associated with short distances, so that the electric car’s lack of range wouldn’t bother women. Perhaps husbands liked the restricted range that their wives would have because maybe they didn’t trust them enough to go on longer trips. In this manner of using the electric car nearly exclusively for chores, the technology seemed more oppressive to women rather than liberating. In addition to a limited range, Scharff mentions a number of other disadvantages that the electric car had. It was more expensive than a gasoline-powered car. It was difficult to drive on bumpy roads and was unable to climb steep hills.

Aids in the African American Community

In the mind of the public, the AIDS problem is undoubtedly linked to sexual behaviors and possibly perceived to be a result of promiscuity, nonmonogamous sexual activity, and a well-deserved problem that should affect gay and homosexual people.To a certain extent, efforts to combat AIDS in the African-American communities have also been hindered by the fact that we know very little, beyond stereotypes and myths, about the sexuality of African-Americans. These perceptions have provided much of the confusion about what we should do about HIV/AIDS, or for that matter any of the health problems that are at epidemic levels in the African American communities throughout the United States.It has also been the case that several of the important sources of leadership in the African-American communities have utilized the AIDS epidemic to develop and promote extremely conservative religious and moral agendas and punitive responses toward persons who are already considered to be unfit members of the community.For example, during the first wave of the AIDS epidemic there were several stories within the African-American communities across the United States about ministers who were preaching to their congregations about how AIDS is â€Å"God's punishment for homosexual people who sin.†While there is no way to determine the extent of this attitude among African-American ministers and preachers, approximately one-fourth of the sample (28 percent) of African-American college students was in agreement with this belief.â€Å"There is a long history in the United States of African-Americans and other minority groups being devalued and of having their behavior labeled deviant. In the case of AIDS, the victims are further socially ostracized.A prime example is the fact that Haitians were at one time considered a risk group. Because of this, many Haitians lost their jobs and experienced extreme levels of racial discrimination, not because they had AIDS, but because they were H aitians and therefore linked to AIDS† (Moore and LeBaron, 1986).So, it appears that efforts to combat HIV/AIDS have been hindered by (1) our lack of knowledge about the sexuality of African-Americans, (2) research that has not seriously examined the variability of behavior and attitudes within African-American groups, (3) community and religious leaders who view the AIDS problems as punishment from God, (4) our intolerance of gays and bisexuals within the African American community, and (5) the lack of attention directed at the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases prior to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.If one accepts these observations, then what are we to do in order to develop effective and culturally sensitive AIDS-prevention messages that will reach African-Americans, who are not monogamous, are not abstinent, and who do not use IV-drugs.One solution is to make sure that African-Americans have an adequate understanding of the factors associated with the transmission of HIV/ AIDS. Overall, the pattern of the results indicates that African Americans are very knowledgeable about AIDS, but there appears to be a gap between knowledge and risky sexual behaviors.The development of culturally sensitive AIDS-prevention programs for African-American college age adults may be facilitated by considering some of the insights gained from the study.For example, data suggest the gap between knowledge and risky sexual behavior is likely to be filled with different attitudes and beliefs for males versus females, or individuals with multiple versus non-multiple sexual partners, or individuals with or without a history of STDs, or individuals with or without HIV/AIDS. (Nikitta Foston, 2002).Information uncovered by this investigation revealed that males are less knowledgeable about several factors involved in the transmission of AIDS than females. On the other hand, individuals with multiple partners were more likely to believe that AIDS is caused by bacteria or the same virus that causes VD.Knowledge about the factors associated with the transmission of HIV/AIDS was essentially identical for subjects who practiced unprotected anal intercourse and those subjects who did not. Individuals with HIV/AIDS correctly answered only 55 percent of the questions concerning the transmission of AIDS while those not exposed correctly answered 85 percent of the AIDS knowledge questions.These data suggest that educational information and self-assessment instruments may need to be created for and targeted at specific African-American groups rather than rely on a wide-scale mass media campaign to reach all individuals. One way to accomplish this aim may be to create materials that enable African-Americans to actively question and evaluate their own risk.Perhaps one of the problems that has to be overcome in order to implement such a plan is to identify the explicitness needed in the HIV/AIDS prevention messages for African-Americans who are not monogamous and engagin g in risky sexual behaviors (e.g., anal intercourse).The possible means of how to minimize the gap between knowledge and risky behaviors could go on and on, but the one way that is likely to result in a more favorable outcome is to simply ask the people involved to provide solutions. Seldom have we taken this position around a major public health problem, but what can we lose by asking African-Americans to generate solutions to problems that are the focus of so much human suffering.One of the barriers to effective HIV/AIDS education programs in African-American communities is the fact that the people and organizations have not been encouraged to believe that HIV/AIDS prevention would be more effective when planned, executed, and propagated by members of their own community.In other words, African-American community members are not involved in the empowerment process which stresses both individual determinations over one's own life and strong democratic participation in the life of o ne's community. The notion of empowerment presupposes that African-American community members have the competency to intervene on their own behalf but lack the necessary resources.

Discourse Analysis Mini Research Essay

This chapter presents an introduction consisting of background of study, problems of study, objective of the study, and significance of the study. 1.1 Background of the Study Language has a social function as a tool to make connection between human beings. Without language, it seems impossible for people to interact with others in their daily life because language can express people’s feeling, willing, opinion, etc. In case of communication, some public figures might influence language use in socio culture. The figure public not only as the entertainer for society but also as a trendsetter of any aspects such as the fashion style, hobby, and the language style. The later aspect is the interesting one that we want to analyze in our mini research. The influence of figure public language style toward society is could studied in Critical Discourse Analysis (commonly abbreviated to CDA). Fairclough, the founder of CDA, explains that CDA is a theory of language in relation to power and ideology (1995:1). This is a theory enabling us to discover how a ruling class rules the society through their linguistics practices. Simply put, CDA is an interdisciplinary study combining linguistic theory and social theories, such as politics, economics, religion, culture, communication, etc. in order to shed light on how the social and power domination are acted out in linguistic practice. We can found language style used by figure public in any kinds of media such as television, radio, internet, newspaper, and even in media socials. One of the phenomenal public figure is an Indonesian singer, Syahrini, who is known by her words. She produces some famous words such as sesuatu, Alhamdulillah ya, cetar membahana, and the last one is terpampang nyata. Those five words are famous among our society and everyone often use them in daily communication. How do Syahrini’s words influence language use in socio cultural? Of course, there is a reason why does Syahrini have big impact to society’s language usage. Based on the unique phenomena above, the researchers conduct the mini research entitled â€Å"Meaning Construction in Syahrini’s Utterances†. 1.2 Problem of The Study Based on the background above, the problem of the study is formulated as follow: a. How do the words produced by Syahrini influence language use in social practice? 1.3 Objective of The Study Objective of the study is: a. To find out the influence of the words produced by Syahrini toward language use in social practice CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Discourse Analysis According to Gillian Brown, discourse analysis is a term that has come to have different interpretations for scholars working in different disciplines. For a sociolinguist, it is concerned mainly with the structure of social interaction manifested in conversation; for a psycholinguist, it is primarily concerned with the nature of comprehension of short written texts; for the computational linguist, it is concerned with producing operational models of text-understanding within highly limited contexts. In this textbook, the authors provide an extensive overview of the many and diverse approaches to the study of discourse, but base their own approach centrally on the discipline which, to varying degrees, is common to them all linguistics. Using a methodology which has much in common with descriptive linguistics, they offer a lucid and wide-ranging account of how forms of language are used in communication. Their principal concern is to examine how any language produced by man, whether spoken or written, is used to communicate for a purpose in a context. The discussion is carefully illustrated throughout by a wide variety of discourse types (conversations recorded in different social situations, extracts from newspapers, notices, contemporary fiction, graffiti, etc.). The techniques of analysis are described and exemplified in sufficient detail for the student to be able to apply them to any language in context that he or she encounters. A familiarity with elementary linguistics is assumed, but the range of issues discussed in conjunction with the variety of exemplification presented will make this a valuable and stimulating textbook not only for students of linguistics, but for any reader who wishes to investigate the principles underlying the use of language in natural contexts to communicate and understand intended meaning. 2.2 Critical Discourse Analysis Critical Discourse Analysis is based heavily upon Halliday‟s systemic functional linguistics (Fairclough, 1992, Fairclough 1999), and the critical linguistics approach which stemmed from the work led by Roger Fowler at the University of East Anglia in the 1970s (Fairclough 1992, Coffin 2001). Fairclough supported the ideas of critical linguistics, but felt that in many respects, they did not go far enough. Fowler claims that the effectiveness of critical linguistics lies in â€Å"its capacity to equip readers for demystificatory readings of ideology-laden texts† (Fowler, 1996: 6). But Fairclough believed that this focuses excessively on the „text as product‟, to the detriment of examining how these texts are produced, and how they may be interpreted. For Fairclough, it is equally vital that we understand the process of production of the text, as well as the process of interpretation of the text. CDA aims at making the connections transparent among discourse practices, social practices and social structures, connections that might be opaque to the layperson (Sheyholislami 2001). Luke (as cited in Taiwo 2007) describes that CDA is a method of DA that reveals hidden ideas behind everyday discussion. Language is no longer seen as merely reflecting outer reality. Fiske (1994) says that our words are never neutral they carry power that reflects interest of speakers. The objective of CDA is to uncover the ideologies or assumptions that are hidden behind the words of our written texts or oral speech. 2.3 Fairclough’s Framework for Analysis Discourses are forms of social practice. They are also obviously texts (in the wider sense of the word). But Fairclough‟s framework adds a â€Å"mediating‟ third dimension â€Å"which focuses on discourse as a specifically discursive practice† (Fairclough, 1992: 71). Discursive practice is itself a form of social practice, and focuses on the processes of text production, distribution and consumption. diagrammatically as follows: This is represented Fairclough describes this framework as â€Å"an attempt to bring together three analytical traditions, each of which is indispensable These analytical traditions are: – The tradition of close textual and linguistic analysis within linguistics. – The macrosociological tradition of analyzing social practice in relation to social structures – The interpretivist or microsociological tradition of seeing social practice as something which people actively produce and make sense of on the basis of shared commonsense procedures. for discourse analysis†. 2.4 Theory of Ideology The theory of ideology that informs the discourse analytic approach of this paper is multidisciplinary. It is articulated within a conceptual triangle that connects society, discourse and social cognition in the framework of a critical discourse analysis (van Dijk, 1993b). In this approach, ideologies are the basic frameworks for organizing the social cognitions shared by members of social groups, organizations or institutions. In this respect, ideologies are both cognitive and social. They essentially function as the interface between the cognitive representations and processes underlying discourse and action, on the one hand, and the societal position and interests of social groups, on the other hand. This conception of ideology also allows us to establish the crucial link between macrolevel analyses of groups, social formations and social structure, and microlevel studies of situated, individual interaction and discourse. Social cognition is, here, defined as the system of mental representations and processes of group members (for details, see, e.g., Fiske and Taylor, 1991; Resnick, Levine and Teasley, 1991). Part of the system is the sociocultural knowledge shared by the members of a specific group, society or culture. Members of groups may also share evaluative beliefs, viz., opinions, organized into social attitudes. Thus, feminists may share attitudes about abortion, affirmative action or corporate glass ceilings blocking promotion, or other forms of discrimination by men. Ideologies, then, are the overall, abstract mental systems that organize such socially shared attitudes. The feminist attitudes just mentioned, for instance, may be internally structured and mutually related by general principles or propositions that together define a feminist ideology. Similar examples may be given for racist, anti-racist, corporate or ecological attitudes and their underlying ideological systems. Through complex and usually long-term processes of socialization and other forms of social information processing , ideologies are gradually acquired by members of a group or culture. As systems of principles that organize social cognitions, ideologies are assumed to  control, through the minds of the members, the social reproduction of the group. Ideologies mentally represent the basic social characteristics of a group, such as their identity, tasks, goals, norms, values, position and resources. Since ideologies are usually self-serving, it would seem that they are organized by these group-schemata. White racists, for example, represent society basically in terms of a conflict between whites and non-whites, in which the identity, goals, values, positions and resources of whites are seen to be threatened by the others. They do so by representing the relations between themselves and the Others essentially in terms of us versus them, in which we are associated with positive properties and they are associated with bad properties. Such ideologies of groups and group relations are constructed by a groupbased selection of relevant social values. Feminists, on the one hand, select and attach special importance to such values as independence, autonomy and equality. Racists, on the other hand, focus on self-identity, superiority of the own group, and hence on inequality, while at the same time advocating the primacy of their own group and the privilege of preferential access to valued social resources. The contents and schematic organization of group ideologies in the social mind shared by its members are a function of the properties of the group within the societal structure. The identity category of a group ideology organizes the information as well as the social and institutional actions that define membership: who belongs to the group, and who does not; who is admitted and who is not. For groups who share a racist ideology, this may mean, among other things, resentment, actions and policies against immigration and integration in our culture, country, city, neighborhood, family or company. Similarly, the goal category of groups who share a racist ideology organizes the information and actions that define the overall aims of the group, e.g., to keep our country white. The position category foreigners , defines the relations of the group with reference groups, such as, immigrants , refugees or blacks . In sum, the social functions of ideologies are, among others, to allow members of a group to organize (admission to) their group, coordinate their social actions and goals, to protect their (privileged) resources, or, conversely, to gain access to such resources in the case of dissident or oppositional groups. As basic forms of social cognitions, however, ideologies also have cognitive functions. We have already suggested that they organize, monitor and control specific group attitudes. Possibly, ideologies also control the development, structure and application of sociocultural knowledge. To wit, feminists have special interest in acquiring and using knowledge about the dominance of women by men. Generally though, we shall assume that ideologies more specifically control evaluative beliefs, that is, social opinions shared by the members of a group. At this mental interface of the social and the individual, however, ideologies and the attitudes and knowledge they control, also – indirectly – influence the personal cognitions of group members, e.g., the planning and understanding of  their discourses and other forms of (inter)action. These personal mental representations of people’s experiences of such social practices are called models (Johnson-Laird, 1983; van Dijk, 1987b; van Dijk and Kintsch, 1983). Models are mental representations of events, actions, or situations people are engaged in, or which they read about. The set of these models represents the beliefs (knowledge and opinions) people have about their everyday lives and defines what we usually call people’s experiences. These models are unique and personal and controlled by the biographical experiences of social actors. On the other hand, they are also socially controlled, that is, influenced by the general social cognitions members share with other members of their group. This combined presence of personal and (instantiated, particularized, applied) social information in mental models allows us not only to explain the well-known missing link between the individual and the social, between the micro and the macro analysis of society, but also to make explicit the relations between general group ideologies and actual text and talk. That is, models control how people act, speak or write, or how they understand the social practices of others. We, thus, have the  following, highly simplified elements in the relations between ideologies and discourse at various levels of analysis. In other words, ideologies are localized between societal structures and the structures of the minds of social members. They allow social actors to translate their social properties (identity, goal, position, etc.) into the knowledge and beliefs that make up the concrete models of their everyday life experiences, that is, the mental representations of their actions and discourse. Indirectly (viz., through attitudes and knowledge), therefore, ideologies control how people plan and understand their social practices, and hence also the structures of text and talk. Ideologies define and explain the similarities of the social practices of social members, but our theoretical framework at the same time accounts for individual variation. Each social actor is a member of many social groups, each with their own, sometimes conflicting ideologies. At the same time, each social actor has her/his own, sometimes unique, biographical experiences ( old models ), attitudes, ideologies and values, and these will also interfere in the construction of models,  which, in turn, will influence the production (and the comprehension) of discourse. Hence, the schema given above may be read top down, or bottom up. The relations involved are dynamic and dialectic : ideologies partly control what people do and say (via attitudes and models), but concrete social practices or discourses are themselves needed to acquire social knowledge, attitudes and ideologies in the first place, viz., via the models people construct of other’s social practices (including others discourses) (van Dijk, 1990). At many points, our theoretical approach to ideology is at variance with classical and other contemporary approaches to ideology (see Eagleton,1991; Larrain, 1979; Thompson, 1984, 1990). Ideologies in our perspective are not merely systems of ideas, let alone properties of the individual minds of persons. Neither are they vaguely defined as forms of consciousness, let alone as false consciousness. Rather, they are very specific basic frameworks of social cognition, with specific internal structures, and specific cognitive and social functions. As such, they (also) need to be analyzed in terms of explicit social psychological theories (see also Rosenberg, 1988), which obviously has nothing to do with mentalist reductionism. At the same time they are social, for they are  essentially shared by groups and acquired, used, and changed by people as group members in social situations and institutions, often in situations of conflicting interests between social formations (Eagleton, 1991). However, ideologies are not restricted to dominant groups. Oppositional or dominated groups also share ideologies. The main problem of most critical approaches to ideology is that they are exclusively inspired by social sciences and rather confused philosophical approaches. They ignore detailed and explicit cognitive analysis, and so they are unable to explicitly link social structures with social practices and discourses of individuals as social members. Ideologies or other social cognitions in our approach are not reduced to or uniquely defined in terms of the social practices they control (Coulter, 1989), nor to the discourses that express, convey or help reproduce them (Billig et al., 1988; Billig, 1991), or to the institutions in which they are reproduced. (For different but related approaches, see, e.g., Fairclough, 1989, 1992a; Kress and Hodge, 1993.) Discourse analysis as ideological analysis The sketch of the theory of ideology presented above provides us with a conceptual framework that also allows us to engage in ideological analyses , and, hence, a critique of discursive practices. After all, we have seen that ideologies, though variably and indirectly, may be expressed in text and talk, and that discourses similarly function to persuasively help construct new and confirm already present ideologies. In both cases, this means that there may be discourse structures that are particularly relevant for an efficient expression or persuasive  communication of ideological meanings. For instance, headlines in newspapers,, taken as prominent expressions of the overall meaning or gist (semantic macrostructure) of a news report in the press, form a special discourse category that is probably more likely to express or convey ideological content than, for instance, the number of commas in a text. On the other hand, we have no a priori theoretical grounds to exclude any textual structures from expressing underlying ideological principles. Indeed, virtually all discourse structures are involved in the functional expression of mental models of events or communicative contexts, and,  therefore, of the opinions that are part of such mental models. To wit, a racist opinion of a speaker about his black interlocutor, may be subtly expressed (involuntarily or not) by minimal intonation variations, interpreted by the black interlocutor as a racist way of addressing her, while sounding unwarrantably insolent or impolite (for many such examples of everyday racism, see Essed, 1991). Let us now examine these levels and properties of discourse and the ways ideologies may be expressed and conveyed more systematically. However, before we present a summary of preferential discourse  structures for the expression and communication of ideological meanings, we should be clearly aware of what we are looking for. Given the theory of ideology presented above, we need to attend primarily to those properties of discourse that express or signal the opinions, perspective, position, interests or other properties of groups. This is specifically the case when there is a conflict of interest, that is, when events may be seen, interpreted or evaluated in different, possibly opposed ways. The structures of ideologies also suggest that such representations are often articulated along an us versus them dimension, in which speakers of one group will generally tend to present themselves or their own group in positive terms, and other groups in negative terms. Thus, any property of discourse that expresses, establishes, confirms or emphasizes a self- interested group opinion, perspective or position, especially in a broader socio-political context of social struggle, is a candidate for special attention in such an ideological analysis. Such discourse structures usually have the social function of legitimating dominance or justifying concrete actions of power abuse by the elites. Surface structures The surface structures of discourse refer to the variable forms of expression at the level of phonological and graphical realization of underlying syntactic,  semantic, pragmatic or other abstract discourse structures. With a few exceptions, such surface structures of text and talk do not have explicit  meanings of their own. They are only the conventional manifestations of underlying meanings. Yet, such surface structures may express and convey special operations or strategies. For instance, special stress or volume or large printed type may strategically be used to emphasize or attract attention to specific meanings, as is the case when shouting at people or in screaming newspaper headlines. In the same way, special into national contours may help express irony, (lack of) politeness or other semantic or interactional meanings and functions. These examples already suggest that surface structures may express or control the ways in which events are interpreted by speech participants. A large banner headline may emphasize the biased summary of a news event, about a race riot, for instance, and insulting volume or intonation may similarly inequality between speaker and signal social  hearer. Theoretically, this means that communicative contexts may  ideologically controlled models of events or of  represent women or minorities in a negative way, and such opinions will not only influence the meanings of the text but also, indirectly, the sometimes subtle variations of the graphical or phonological surface structures. Indeed, whereas the meanings of the text may not explicitly express or encode prejudice or social inequality, surface structures may let anyway. In general this means that such surface structures must be marked. They must be out of the ordinary and violate communicative rules or principles, i.e., those of normal size headlines, normal volume or intonation in polite transpire such hidden meanings  speech, and so on. Depending on meaning and context, then, such deviant surface structures may signal, express, or convey similarly deviant properties  of models, such as a specially negative opinion about the competence of a woman or a black man. In other words, ideological surface structures primarily function as signals of special meanings or model structures, and  may, thus, also contribute to special processing of such interpretations of text and talk. Special graphical or phonological emphasis may also manage the importance of information or beliefs, and, hence, the hierarchical organization of models in which important information is located at the top. Conversely, meanings and beliefs may be de-emphasized or concealed by non-prominent graphical or phonological structures when they express meanings that are inconsistent with the goals or interests of the speaker. Intonation, such as the tone of racist insults, may also conventionally signal specific social relations, and hence also ideologically based inequality. That is, they also influence the context models of the communicative context. The same is true for other forms of non-verbal communication, such as gestures, facial expression, proximity, and so on, which also may signal interpersonal and social relations, and, therefore, ideological meanings. Finally, it is well known that accented speech of sociolects or dialects express or convey social class, ethnicity, gender, or social relations of familiarity or intimacy, as has been shown in much sociolinguistic and social psychological research (Giles and Coupland, 1991; Montgomery, 1986). Again, it is obvious  that such social relations may also be structured in conflict and inequality, and so presuppose ideological differences. Accents may thus signal or express prestige, accommodation, dominance, resistance or other ideologically controlled social relations. CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS There are four aspect that are discussed in the chapter of research method. That are : (1) type of research, (2) data and data sources, (3) data collection methods, and (4) data analysis 3.1 Type of research In this research, the writer uses qualitative research. According to Creswell (1997, p.15) Qualitative research is an inquiry process of understanding based on distinct methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem. The researcher builds a complex, holistic picture, analyzes words, reports detailed views of informants, and conducts the study in a natural setting. The researcher analyzed CDA in the words produced by Syahrini. Therefore, later the researchers described the result of their analysis which tried to find out the influence of the words  produced by Syahrini toward language use in social culture. 3.2 Data and Data Sources The data sources were taken from the words produced by Syahrini. She is an Indonesian singer who is known by her words such as sesuatu, Alhamdulillah ya, cetar membahana, jambul khatulistiwa, and terpampang nyata. Those words are produced by Syahrini herself and they have a significant influence language use because many people use them in daily communication 3.3 Data Collection Methods There are three steps in collecting data, those are : 1. The writers searched the words produced by Syahrini from the internet. 2. Listing the words produced by Syahrini 3.4 Data Analysis In analyzing the data, the writer used some steps as follows: 1. Identifying and analyzing the words produced by Syahrini using Fairclough’s dimension of discourse 2. Drawing conclusion CHAPTER IV FINDING AND CONCLUSION 4.1 Finding Ideologies Syahrini as one of the popular artist I Indonesia has her own characteristics of ideal beautiful person, moreover women. Unconsciously, she creates her own version of the ideal women characters. She prefers to see the ideal women based on their physical appearances. She phanatically sees the beautiful women are they who have good physical appearances, such as slim body, white skin, straight nose, bulu mata lentik, and having jambul. It can be proved with the utterances regularly used by her like Cettar Membahana, Jambul Katulistiwa. It can be concluded that he prefer to see the author beauty rather than the inner beauty of women. The following supports the above explanation. Here are the utterances regularly used by Syahrini, : 1. Sesuatu 2. Cetar Membahana 3. Jambul Khatulistiwa 4. Bulu Mata Anti Badai Text Analysis Those utterances are merely concerned with the diction choice and structure formation. As we know, those utterances spelled by Syahrini who is one of famous artist or singer in Indonesia. She prefer to say (datum 1) in expressing her feeling toward something. The expression of (1) represents her regret or interest expression like mempesona, meriah, gokil. For example: Trans TV sesuatu banget ya or Ayushanti memang sesuatu. Instead of saying Trans TV gokil banget she prefers to say Trans TV sesuatu banget. In Bahasa Indonesia sesuatu has the equal meaning as  something. The diction something or sesuatu usually has the position as noun, but here Syahrini use this diction as adjective. On the other hand, Syharini usually say Cettar Membahana. Cettar membahana has the equal meaning as Luar Biasa or Amazing. Instead of saying luar biasa, she prefers to say cettar membahana. Cettar in Bahasa Indonesia followed the theory of onomatopoeia which defines as language formation influenced by the sound of something. Cettar expresses the sound of fireworks when it burnt-out. So cettar menas something burnt, eye-catching, interesting, or extraordinary. Besides that, she also adds the diction membahana after the word cetar. Membahana has almost the same meaning with cetar, but membahana here as adverb and better as adjectives. Form those explanation above cetar membahana means kill the expression of something amazed, great. In fact there is the expression like â€Å"luar biasa† or â€Å"meankjubkan† in Indonesia there Syahrini used the exaggeration expression in expressing something. Next, Syahrini also used the expression â€Å"Bulu Mata Anti Badai† instead of saying â€Å"bulu mata lentik†. She prefers to say bulu mata badai perhaps it caused many disasters happened in Indonesia lately, so that she exaggerate her utterance using one of the name of those disaster. Actually there is nit the regular expression between bulu mata and anti badai, but she just combining the utterances with other utterances so it will create new strange language, or perhaps it can call controversy language. Discourse Practice Those utterance used by Syahrini above clearly in order to attract her popularity as one of Indonesian singer. She seems has plan to use those utterances rather than the other utterances proved above in order to be extraordinary in expression something. By those utterances above, she wants to get more attention by her fans, or moreover the Indonesian people. The utterances like sesuatu, cetar membahana, and badai expressed something exaggerated. Here, Syahrini plans to use them regularly in many times. It seems like  she always update her new expression again and again when she was  interviewed by the infotainment journal. Nowadays, who doesn’t know Syahrini? Almost all Indonesian people know her, with her controversy utterances also. Sociocultural Practice Syahrini as one of the popular artist in Indonesia needs to attract her popularity. That’s why she does it by using the controversy utterances or language in expressing something. Before, it had been existed the utterances sesuatu, cetar membahana, and sesuatu in Indonesian. Today, the changes of language formation can be created freely in order to get some intentions. The change in discourse practiced by Syahrini influence the sociocultural of Indonesia and Indonesian people. By the utterances used by Syahrini that have been illustrated above, the people imitate that expression from children until adult use that utterances. CONCLUSION From those explanations above, it should be underlined that her utterances above imply the deep meaning beside it. One of the reasons is that she say the exaggeration expression in order to get more intentions from her fans. Moreover, she also wants to get extra intention from Indonesian people. NO 1 2 3 4 Utterances Sesuatu Cetar Membahana Bulu mata anti badai Jambul Khatulistiwa Meaning Luar biasa More than sesuatu Bulu mata lentik Jambul Keren REFERENCES Choyimah, Nurul. 2013. CDA handout. Unpublished Paul Gee, James. 2011. An introduction to discourse analysis: theory and method. New York: Routledge Fairclough N., 1992. Discourse and Social Change. Polity Press: Cambridge. Fairclough N., 2000. Discourse, social theoryand social research: the discourse of welfare reform. Journal of Sociolinguistics4, pp. 163-195 Kata Syahrini. [Online]. Available: http://www.dusunblog.com/2012/11/kata-syahrini-cucok-mokorocodot.html [Accessed from the Internet on May 22, 2012] Syahrini Manfaatkan Jargon Unuk Popularitas. [Online]. Available: http://www.cumicumi.com/posts/2011/09/24/23004/26/syahrini-manfaatkanjargon-untuk-popularitas.html

Police Authority and Accountability in Australia

INTRODUCTION Police officers in Australia, as well as worldwide, have been consistently accused of abusing their authority over the years. Police officers are known to protect and serve and to be the law enforcers of the land, but due to the reality that some human beings are concerned about self-satisfaction and lawlessness, police authority can often times be misconceived as abusive and aggressive.The powers of the police are consistently being scrutinized by the media, the community and even politicians, not to mention that police are, and not just in Australia but worldwide, held as one of the most accountable in society (Robertson, 1998). In order to essentially resolve these issues, the focus of the research should be related to police officers and specific issues such as use of force, police discretion, delegation of authority and the attempts that were made to control officers behaviours’ in Australia.WHAT IS POLICE AUTHORITY? Firstly, authority can be defined as gener ally and basically, Persons having power or powers that other people will not naturally be allowed to have. Bringing this definition toward linking it to police authority, this is where the police officer has legal power of enforcing laws, and at all times should be given the respect, because they are the gate keepers of society, our â€Å"guardian angels† who will be watching over us twenty four seven.For example, we are to respect our parents; they care for us and provide for us our basic needs, I believe that police officers are somewhat the same because they provide us the citizens with safety and when there is a problem we can run to them at many times. Although police authority maybe a good thing, there are also the pit falls with it, in that, there is the abuse of police authority.Some officers due to â€Å"bad apples† meaning some officers are dirty cops, because of greed and selfishness, also some officers believe that they are above the law, because they enfo rce the law, but I believe in the â€Å"eye for an eye† theory: if you do the crime, you should do the time; no one is above the law. WHAT IS POLICE ACCOUNTABLILITY? Firstly accountability is It is a fundamental principle of a democratic society that the police should be held to account for their actions. Accountability includes both what the police do and how they perform.What an officer does or how they do what they do is extremely critical in the world of policing. The entire concept of police accountability revolves around these two criteria, which according to how efficient they are executed, may make or break an officer’s policing career. Agency-level accountability involves the performance of law enforcement agencies with respect to controlling crime and disorder and providing services to the public (National Institute of Justice, 1999). Individual-level accountability involves the conduct of police officers with respect to lawful, respectful, and equal treatmen t of citizens. walker, 2007). I honestly believes that police accountability should be very vital within policing. Officers should be held accountable for their actions like any other individual. POLICE AUTHORITY IN AUSTRALIA In Australia the authority and powers of the police services are clearly defined and understood by officers, these powers are being tested by the courts and even the police themselves, the police know the limit of their authority and powers, but at sometimes politicians, legal professions and even the community are reluctant to greatly alter those powers.Hence the reason why officers may have to use force, law enforcement officers are authorized to use force in specific circumstances, officers in Australia are trained as any other police officer worldwide, but the matter of the issue is how much force to use, this is referred to as police discretion. Authority and abuse needs to be differentiated, because they are not at all supposed to be equal to the same thi ng. Generally, the way in which the police may maintain social order successfully is mainly in alignment with the use of force exercised by the police officers.Many people, citizens of Australia and even the world, here the term use of force being used consistently, whether it may be via the media or directly from a police officer, but what does the term really mean? Use of force is simply and basically the amount of force that is required of a police officer to ensure that an unwilling offender complies with the law enforcer (National Institue of Justice, 2012). Where it is unnecessary to use brute force, a police officer ought to refrain from so doing. An officer can use force in ifferent ways, either verbally or physically; also it may be less lethal or lethal (National Institue of Justice, 2012). Even as it remains that the police officer in Australia has the right to use force where necessary, how then do we determine when he should use which method of force, and how to deal wi th an offender on the whole? Police discretion is used often times when it comes to more of the minor offences, such as alcohol use and urination, but one major encounter in Australia in which police discretion ought to be used is in relation to people suffering from mental illness.Police discretion though, can be influenced by either personal relationships, or race or status, which ought not to be so, but realistically is it. There was one scenario in which a police officer encountered a cafe proprietor who had a traffic violation. The officer in this scenario, decided not to give the driver a traffic offence notice due to the relationship that had developed from before.Although many other officers agreed with the officer’s decision to exercise gratitude toward the violator, this is not a welcoming and promising prospect for the future of law enforcement on the whole. Police discretion can be altered and affected by many other factors surrounding an offender in society. An u nwilling and unruly suspect has a higher risk of being arrested than one who cooperates with the officer. Also, the police records of an offender may also influence the decision of the police.Even with relation to juvenile, police discretion can be altered but not by the juvenile themselves. The parents or Guardians of the juvenile may weigh in heavily on the decision and discretion of the police officer. In the case where the parent or guardian may be uninvolved or uncooperative, the officers may be led to take a different approach to the handling of this situation (Holmgren, 2012). POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY IN AUSTRALIA The face of the matter remains, and one which makes complete logical sense, is that whatever a police officer does, he/she need to account for it.Police in Australia, however, have been given a sense of discretion and freedom to fulfil their roles in society without too much interventions of any judicial or supreme official (Lewis, 2012). Police are not to be seen as i ndependent and totally able to do as they will by members of society, which is not at all the case. Police usually have to consult the judiciaries in the commission of enquiry pertaining to accountability for their actions or allegations, but what prompted this move by the Government?Police in Australia in the past; have been accused for many different things, such as police corruption, inefficiency and brutality. These falls of the police officers are not overlooked by the judiciary, and even though police are the protectors of society, they are very liable to punishment and sanctions for their wrong if it is not properly accounted for (Lewis, 2012). Police accountability has over years become viewed as more of a problematic issue than that of an encouraging one.One of the major ongoing disturbances in Australia’s society is the case where civil litigation is constantly overlooked as a form as accountability (Ransley, 2007)what exactly is civil litigation? Well, civil litiga tion is where someone is accused of doing wrong, but not necessarily a crime, and it is formally submitted to a court (Honeyman, 1999-2010) In fact and very evident to the world today, there have been many cases in Australia, in which persons have been involved in disputes with police officers for doing wrong yes, but not crimes.The reality that the purpose of civil litigation is to settle and attain some form of compensation for being wrongfully accused or dealt with, makes civil litigation a very critical aspect that should more than likely be incorporated in the field of Police accountability mainly because it is a form of correction, just that it is from the civilian stand-point (Ransley, 2007).If in fact, the intent of the more recent police reform is directed toward the strengthening and to some extent upgrading of the individual and organisational accountability, then that makes civil litigation a very fundamental, effective and also it should be, a mandatory component in the effective completion of this goal. Attempts to control the behaviour of police officers are not only affected by civil litigation, but also by the measures in which police officers are dealt with for misconduct.Without the emphasis on the errors of police officers, the police force may adapt to the conditions which could lead to the abuse of their powers and authority. The lack of consistent correction of officers often times may lead to the diminishing of confidence in the community in the police service (Perez, 2008). Internationally, this have become the evident scenario in the present society, as the trust and corporation between Police officers and communities is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and this have been ighly influenced by the lack of legitimate duty and procedures by police officials. Officers have confrontations of a sort among their own organisations because of the corrections that they may face having the issue to argue that to balance the leniency of misco nduct and the harshness of crimes is difficult to manage (Perez, 2008). A common observation presently is that since authority is delegated rather than chosen gives police officials the opportunity to select the appropriate officers to do the reputation and compatibility with the relative scenarios at hand.CONCLUSION Whether it may be the favourable opinion to some, or the contradicting bias to others, Policing authority and accountability is one of the fundamental aspects of efficient law enforcement. In the case where any of the two may fail or fall short in any aspect, there will always be a conflict in the relationship between Law enforcement and community, and also it may serve as the catalyst for the diminishing status of the police force.From the use of force, to the correction of police officers by their own organisations, the main concept is to ensure that the standard and reputation of the Australian law enforcement department. There have been a lot of complaints geared to wards or targeted at the police officers, but in fact as much as the reality is that they do make some really uncharacteristic errors, they do uphold the law relatively efficiently.This is just another reinforcing point that the society at large tends to make judgements, especially toward individuals and systems within the law enforcement sector based on their benefit and fair treatment. Whether or not the case would have been that police officers in Australia abuse their powers or not, the comparison of the rate in which civil litigation is turned away and how vast the difference is between the corrections that the police officers correct citizens to how intense and consistent the punishment and corrections of officers themselves are, would have still caused some sort of rift within the system.Nothing, it seems can truly be completely satisfying and totally effective, and especially in a world where crime and deviance, because of the continuous introduction of laws and stereotypes via media interventions and other sources, the balance between being lenient and modest in terms of acts of misconduct, and being harsh and enforcing in situations that are more serious, or crimes, is very difficult to assess. The fact remains that o matter where the police system is today, in Australia, and even worldwide, the law enforcement sector cannot afford to cease from continuously modifying and developing their efforts and adaptations to the criminal advancements in society. REFERENCES Holmgren, L. (2012, April 12). Factors that affect Police officers' discretion. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from ehow: http://www. ehow. com/list_5960237_factors-affect-police-officers_-discretion. tml Honeyman, C. (1999-2010). Civil litigation. Colorado, united States of America. Lewis, C. (2012, may 5). Police, civilian and democratic accountability. Monash, Australia. National Institue of Justice. (2012, January 20). police use of force. D. C. , Washington, United States of America. Perez, M . R. (2008, august). Police discipline and community policing: New models. Los angeles, USA. Ransley, J. A. (2007).Civil Litigation against Police in Australia:Exploring its extent, Nature and implications for accountability. Australian and New Zeland Journal of Criminology(Australian Academic Press) , 143-160. Robertson, D. (1998). Public and Private policing: Issues and options for collaboration within Australia. sydney: n/a. walker, s. (2007, may N. D). police accountability: current issues and research needs. POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY , p. 4.

A Comparison of Vietnamese and American Writing-Pedagogy Essay

A Comparison of Vietnamese and American Writing-Pedagogy As an international student and educator from Vietnam, I see a lot of differences in the educational systems of the United States and my own country. In order to illuminate the differences between teaching writing in Vietnam and teaching writing in America, I would like to give a brief introduction to teaching writing in Vietnam and what I have learned from a writing class here at Eastern Illinois University. In my discussion of pedagogy in Vietnam, I would like to highlight two things: how Vietnamese people study Vietnamese, and how Vietnamese study English. Though I need to read more about American writing pedagogy, I see some basic similarities between the two countries. As in the United States, mathematics and language arts are important subjects in Vietnam. In Vietnam, however, writing isn’t a subject per se, and students develop their writing skills through the study of literature. In primary school, the teacher begins by asking the student to write simple and short para graphs about what happens in his/her daily life. Popular writing topics include â€Å"the person you love best,† â€Å"pets,† and so on. When grading, the teacher pays attention to spelling, clarity, and the way students use words. In secondary school, a student begins to write longer and more difficult essays, including plot summaries, movie reviews, character- and other kinds of literary analysis. Students continue to study writing up to graduation, when they are required to demonstrate their mastery of writing skills in an exam. Students who want to go on to university must pass an additional exam. The different is, however, university students do not take courses devoted to writing. They devote their time to their majors. Form is an important element of essay-writing in both countries. As in English, an essay in Vietnam includes three parts: the introduction, the body and the conclusion. There is a major difference, however: In America, the college essay derives from classical rhetoric. Ultimately, Aristotle and the syllogism provide the basis of a linear and logical structure. Milton’s â€Å"Of Education† and his political writings would be examples here. In Vietnam, the classical model derives from the Chinese/Confucian tradition. That tradition emphasizes the elaboration of or commentary upon a classical text or phrase. The Western essay is very linear and à ¢â‚¬Å"thesis-driven,† and compared to it the Vietnamese essay can seem circular. To Vietnamese, it is organic. Models for this form can be found in Zhuang Tzu’s, Meng Tzu’s â€Å"Doctrine of the Mean† or Literati prose. Even though these two classical models have been changed and developed considerably in modern writing, their original ideas have great influence on writing customs between the two countries. Western essay strictly follows the thesis statement and topic sentence. All sentences are coherent and support to topics sentences. Vietnamese essay, however, is circular. Students don’t go directly to their topic but approach to indirectly. The reader knows what the student is doing and tries to enjoy the essay. The approach isn’t as analytical. In Vietnam, academic essays can be of different types: description (van ta), commentary (binh luan), proof-and-explanation (chung minh va giai thich), analysis (phan tich), and critique (binh giang). In the introduction to an essay describing a landscape, a student gives general information about the place, time and setting, and the reason he/she is writing. An analysis or a proof essay is a little different. Most importantly, here a student has to give information about the author, setting and social background of the story. In the body, he/she takes up the selected text and discusses its general characteristics, outstanding f eatures, details and logic. Connections between commentary and text should be clear. The conclusion, in general, offers a brief summary of the main idea and a personal or â€Å"felt† response to the subject. The most important differences between English and Vietnamese writing are linguistic and cultural. English grammar is demanding and prescriptive with regard to such matters as tense, agreement, singular and plural forms, etc. In Vietnamese, however, word-building is very complex, and students devote their attention to morphology rather than syntax. Vietnamese (again like Chinese) has classifiers, a linguistic item unknown to English. Lexical items are variously â€Å"classified† in countless ways, including â€Å"animate† (con), inanimate (cai), â€Å"book-like† (quyen), â€Å"picture† (buc), â€Å"photographic† (tam), â€Å"food or medicine† (thuc). The classifiers can be baffling to non-native speakers of Vietnamese. Student-writers have to know how to use classifiers correctly, however, so they have to master word building skills that English students don’t. Finally, there are pronouns. â€Å"He,† to give only one example, ca n variously be any of the following in Vietnamese: no, anh, anh ay, anh ta, ga, y, ong ay, and ong ta. Knowing  these dedicated differences and using them correctly in each context is very important in writing. These linguistic features perhaps help to account for the Vietnamese love of word- play and elegant variation in many contexts where they would be unusual in English. The beautiful is important. This notion of elegance even carries over into the technology of Vietnamese writing. Computers haven’t reached most VN classrooms, and the technology of penmanship still matters. Because enthusiasm in writing comes from the beauty of nature and internal sensation, sitting with teacher and friends in a writing class is believed to be better than with technology devices. Third, I would like to introduce what a good essay is. A good essay is the combination of good grammar, language and knowledge. When grading, the instructor usually pays attention to the content: accord with the topic, clear form and organization, proportionality between introduction, body and conclusion, cohesive transition, logical phrases and sentences, correct spelling, clarity, neat presentation†¦ The instructo r often would underline obscure sentences or redundancies, cross out sentences that may be incohesive, contradictory and write his/her comments at the beginning of these sentences. Now we come to another question: how is a writing class organized? Because a writing class is in fact a literature class, the teacher lectures most of the time. Sometimes, he/she stops to ask students some questions related to his/her lecture or ask them to give their own opinion about some things. The class is not divided into groups for students to discuss or write collaboratively. Students listen to their teacher and write on their own. After students submit their tests, the teacher grades and comments. Normally, the teacher chooses interesting and good essays to read aloud and points out how they are interesting, what is good about them. Then teacher mentions those essays that are not very good, points out the common errors and teaches students how to avoid these errors in later tests. Since writing an essay in Vietnamese usually means writing about literature, the reader may wonder how a student writes essays on other subjects, such as history or geography. Invention is not stressed as much in Vietnam as here. Students listen to the teacher’s lecture and takes note carefully. Sometimes, professors simply dictate their notes to students. Before exams, teachers often give students a list of questions to prepare at home. Students find the answers in the teacher’ s textbooks or  notes, and then try to get them down by heart. The teacher chooses one or two topics for student to write at the exams. There are no take home exams. Students do their research the same way as here. The teacher gives student topics to write about, and the student then chooses a topic and writes a proposal. The teacher will offer suggestions or advice. After that, the student collects material from books, newspapers and the Internet and starts to write. Thesis topics are often very broad. Therefore, the student needs to convince his/her readers using reasonable and logical arguments. The way Vietnamese learn how to write in their own language is of course different from the way they learn to write in English, which is a foreign language. In the following paragraph, I’m going to point out what the differences are. In theory, a student is supposed to learn every step as a native speaker does. The purpose is to learn how to write good essays. However, a writing class in Vietnam is usually more like an ESL class than an American writing class. Freshman and sophomore students learn to write sentences and short paragraphs. The topics are often very simple, for example: write abo ut the first day at school, an unforgettable memory. The teacher focuses on grammar, and the way of using words. Juniors and seniors learn to write essays, but what they learn is basically the theory; they don’t practice writing essays very often. A student is only required to write essays in final tests or graduate exams. The essay is usually about 1-2 pages in length. A 4-page essay is the longest. The topics are about what happens in daily life. In these essays, a student writes his/her own opinion, what he/she sees and thinks. Because their English is limited, students rarely do research in the language or make many quotations. Students aren’t usually acquainted with MLA/APA styles, and teachers focus mostly on grammar errors. In order for students to practice writing, the teacher gives writing assignments for them to write at home. Then the teacher will ask a student to write the assigned essay on the chalkboard. The whole class discusses the ideas and grammar in this essay and participates in the writing process. We have seen that writing customs vary from one country to another, especially between the cultures of East and West. Differences in writing pedagogy reflect cultural and linguistic differences. Being aware of those differences would be of importance to anyone teaching in a diverse classroom. Appreciating those differences can lead to a richer sense of the possibilities of language for all peoples.