Hersheys Chocolate Essay Example for Free

Hersheys Chocolate Essay Hershey’s company originated with candy-manufacturer Milton Hershey’s decision in 1894 to produce sweet chocolate as a coating for his caramels. Located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the new enterprise was named the Hershey Chocolate Company. In 1900, the company began producing milk chocolate in bars, wafers and other shapes. With mass production, Hershey was able to lower the per-unit cost and make milk chocolate, once a luxury item for the wealthy, affordable to all. A company on the move. The immediate success of Hershey’s low-cost, high-quality milk chocolate soon caused the company’s owner to consider increasing his production facilities. He decided to build a new chocolate factory amid the gently rolling farmland of south-central Pennsylvania in Derry Township, where he had been born. Close to the ports of New York and Philadelphia that supplied the imported sugar and cocoa beans needed, surrounded by dairy farms that provided the milk required, and the location was perfect. By the summer of 1905, the new factory was turning out delicious milk chocolate. New products, hard times. Throughout the next two decades, even more products were added to the company’s offerings. These included MR. GOODBAR Candy Bar (1925), HERSHEY’S Syrup (1926), HERSHEYS chocolate chips (1928) and the KRACKEL bar (1938). Despite the Great Depression of the 1930s, these products helped the newly incorporated Hershey Chocolate Corporation maintain its profitability and avoid any worker layoffs. HERSHEY’S chocolate goes to war. With the outbreak of World War II, the Hershey Chocolate Corp. (which had provided milk chocolate bars to American doughboys in the first war) was already geared up to start producing a survival ration bar for military use. By the end of the war, more than a billion Ration D bars had been produced and the company had earned no less than five Army-Navy â€Å"E† Production Awards for its exceptional contributions to the war effort. In fact, the company’s machine shop even turned out parts for the Navy’s antiaircraft guns. A family friend becomes a family member. The postwar period saw the introduction of a host of new products and the acquisition of an old one. Since 1928, H.B. â€Å"Harry† Reese’s Candy Company, also located in Hershey, had been making chocolate-covered peanut butter cups. Given that Hershey Chocolate Company supplied the coating for REESE’S â€Å"penny cups, (the wrapper said, â€Å"Made in Chocolate Town, So They Must Be Good†), it was not surprising that the two companies had a good relationship. As a result, seven years after Reese’s death in 1956, the H.B. Reese Candy Company was sold to Hershey Chocolate Corp. Growing up and branching out. The following decades would see the company renamed Hershey Foods Corporation in 1968 expanding its confectionery product lines, acquiring related companies and even diversifying into other food products. Among the many acquisitions were San Giorgio Macaroni and Delmonico Foods (1966); manufacturing and marketing rights to English candy company Rowntree MacKintosh’s products (1970); YS Candies, makers of TWIZZLERS licorice (1977); Dietrich Corp.’s confectionery operations (1986); Peter Paul/Cadbury’s U.S. confectionery operations (1988); and Ronzoni Foods (1990). The Hershey Company enters a new century. Today, The Hershey Company is the leading North American manufacturer of chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery and grocery products. As the new millennium begins, The Hershey Company continues to introduce new products frequently and take advantage of growth opportunities through acquisitions. HERSHEY’S products are known and enjoyed all over the world. In fact, the company exports to over 90 countries. The Hershey Company remains committed to the vision and values of the man who started it all so many years ago. A New Company: 1894 In the beginning, the Hershey Chocolate Company was simply a wholly owned subsidiary of Milton Hershey’s Lancaster Caramel Company. Using chocolate-making equipment purchased at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the company produced baking chocolate, cocoa and sweet chocolate coatings for the parent company’s caramels. But things changed with the hiring of William Murrie to sell the excess product to other confectioners. Murrie was so successful a salesman that the Hershey Chocolate Company quickly turned into a viable concern on its own. Milton Hershey became even more convinced that his future in the candy business lay in chocolate, not caramels. Sweet Chocolate Novelties: 1895 – 1909 By 1895, the Hershey Chocolate Company was manufacturing 114 different items in all sorts of sizes and shapes. Many were flavored with vanilla and given luxurious-sounding names like LeRoi de Chocolate, Petit Bouquets and Chocolate Croquettes. Chocolate â€Å"segars† and cigarettes were also quite popular. Some chocolate cigarettes and cigars, such as Vassar Gems and Smart Set Cigarettes, were purposely marketed to women as an alternative to the tobacco variety. Chocolate was also touted as a source of quick energy for athletes. The Baby in the Bean: 1898 On August 1, 1898, the company adopted a very distinctive symbol for its trademark. The small child in a cocoa bean pod appeared on cans of HERSHEY’S COCOA up until 1936, when it was finally replaced by the block lettering familiar today. The â€Å"Baby in the Bean† went through many incarnations, sometimes holding a cup of cocoa, sometimes a chocolate bar. Even the child’s hair and facial expression underwent changes over the years. The logo symbol was finally retired in 1968, when the company was reorganized as Hershey Foods Corporation. Finding the Formula: 1895 – 1904 While his company was successful enough selling sweet chocolate products, Milton Hershey was certain the real market lay in milk chocolate. The problem was in developing a formula for manufacturing it cheaply and efficiently, while still maintaining a high level of quality. Hershey built a milk-processing plant on the family farm in Derry Township in 1896 and spent the next several years developing a viable formulation for milk chocolate. Hershey worked day and night, going back and forth between the condensing room and the creamery, rarely even stopping for meals. Finally, in 1899, he cracked the recipe and became the first American to manufacture milk chocolate. Hershey Goes to Cuba: 1916 With the onset of World War I, the European beet sugar, which Hershey had been using to make his milk chocolate, became increasingly scarce. So, searching for a more dependable source, Milton Hershey started acquiring cane sugar plantations and constructing refineries in Cuba. Typically, he also established a planned community for the workers, called Central Hershey, based on the Pennsylvania model. Hershey’s Cuban holdings eventually included 60,000 acres of land, five mills, a 251-mile railroad and, not surprisingly, a school for orphaned children. By the end of World War II, the company found it no longer needed its Cuban sources, and its sugar and railway interests were sold to the Cuban-Atlantic Sugar Company. Expanding and Innovating. Stepping Stones Many Hershey products that are familiar today were originally produced for the confectionary trade and were later reformulated for consumers. HERSHEY’S powdered cocoa, for example, has been manufactured continuously since 1894. Also, Hershey was the first to sell chocolate syrup for home use beginning in 1926. Not all products under the HERSHEY brand were so successful in the marketplace. HERSHEY’S mint-flavored chewing gum, introduced in 1915, enjoyed only brief popularity. And a creation named the Not-So-Sweet bar was introduced in 1934, only to be discontinued in 1937. A Kiss and Tell Story Of course, the very first addition to the HERSHEY’S product line of milk chocolate confections was HERSHEY’S KISSES Chocolates way back in 1907. Originally, each one was hand-wrapped in a square of silver foil, but in 1921 machine wrapping was introduced, along with the addition of the unique â€Å"plume† which marked it as a genuine HERSHEY’S KISSES Chocolate. The chocolates were not produced at all from 1942 through 1949 due to the rationing of silver foil during and immediately after World War II. HERSHEY’S KISSES Chocolates were wrapped in colors other than silver for the first time in 1962. HERSHEY’S KISSES with almonds were introduced in 1990 and the first successful HERSHEY’S product using white chocolate, HERSHEY’S HUGS, in 1993. Sweet Inventions Two of the most successful products launched during ‘20s were the MR. GOODBAR and KRACKEL bars. MR. GOODBAR, combining milk chocolate and peanuts, was introduced in November of 1925. According to popular legend, Milton Hershey himself named the new product. Upon tasting it, he is said to have exclaimed, â€Å"Now, that’s a good bar!† The KRACKEL bar was introduced on September 14, 1938. During its first few years, the formula for the confection changed several times, with almonds, and then peanuts, being included along with crisped rice in milk chocolate. Finally, the nuts were eliminated altogether in 1943, leaving the crispy milk chocolate recipe enjoyed by millions ever since. Mr. Reese and his Cups In 1923, a former Hershey employee named H.B. Reese decided to start his own candy company out of the basement of his home. He made several different kinds of candy, but it wasn’t until five years later that he hit upon his greatest idea: a confection of peanut butter covered by milk chocolate (purchased, incidentally, from the Hershey Chocolate Company). During World War II, he discontinued his other product lines and concentrated on producing only REESE’S peanut butter cups. Despite its dependence on only a single product, Reese’s company prospered, and in 1963 the H.B. Reese Candy Company was purchased by the Hershey Chocolate Corporation. Since then, the REESE’S product line has grown to include REESE’S PIECES candies, the NUTRAGEOUS candy bar and REESESTICKS. Going to War The Ration D Bar The U.S. Army’s requirements were quite specific. For troops engaged in a global war, they needed a ration bar that weighed about four ounces, would not melt at high temperatures, was high in food energy value, and did not taste so good that soldiers would be tempted to eat it except in an emergency. This last objective in particular was certainly a new one for the Hershey Chocolate Corporation. Nevertheless, its chocolate technologists came up with something that passed all tests. Named â€Å"Field Ration D,† it was so successful that by the end of 1945, approximately 24 million bars were being produced every week. More successful still was HERSHEY’S Tropical Chocolate Bar, a heat resistant bar with an improved flavor developed in 1943. In 1971, this bar even went to the moon with Apollo 15. Growing Global Advertising to the Nation Except for a TV and billboard campaign in Canada in 1964, the company had never really done advertising on a national scale. In 1968, the newly renamed and reorganized Hershey Foods Corporation announced plans for a nationwide consumer advertising campaign spearheaded by the famous Ogilvy Mather ad agency. Starting with a Sunday newspaper supplement in July, 1970, followed two months later by television and radio commercials, the campaign was an immediate success. Sales of REESE’S peanut butter cups and HERSHEY’S KISSES Chocolates, in particular, rose dramatically. But while the company today continues to advertise in all media, the quality of our products is still our best form of advertising. Milton Hershey would have liked that. E.T. Makes a Good Choice In the early 1980s, Hershey executive Jack Dowd met with Hollywood producer Steven Spielberg and struck a deal to include REESES’S PIECES candy in Spielberg’s upcoming film, E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. When Hershey Chocolate Company President Earl Spangler first saw the movie’s promotional materials, he told Dowd, â€Å"That’s the ugliest creature I’ve ever seen.†After its successful premiere, the movie was screened by the company’s managers and top brass. When the film ended, there was first silence, then wild applause. Like many others, Spangler emerged from the theater with moist eyes. â€Å"Is he still ugly, Earl?† Dowd asked. Replied the company president, â€Å"He’s beautiful!† Both the lovable alien and his candy of choice became instant hits nationwide. Hershey Goes International In addition to being the leading producer of chocolate and non-chocolate confectionary and other grocery products in North America, The Hershey Company also carries on a significant international presence with operations in more than 90 different countries. Hersheys International division exports HERSHEY’S chocolate and grocery products worldwide and maintains licensing agreements with partners in nations such as South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan. We don’t believe Milton Hershey would have been at all surprised to learn that his HERSHEY’S KISSES Chocolates are especially popular in Japan. Top of the Charts Through unceasing technological modernization, strategically astute acquisitions and continued new product development, The Hershey Company grew spectacularly in the last 30 years of the 20th century. From $334 million in 1969, the company’s net sales soared to $4.4 billion in 2004. The Hershey Company is the leading North American manufacturer of quality chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery and chocolate-related grocery products. The company also is a leader in the gum and mint category.

events in history :: essays research papers

The year 1968 can be recognized by the mass-youth appeal in late twentieth-century political and intellectual culture. It's most frequently remembered for the assassination of Martin Luther King, the May uprisings by students and workers in France, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the riots in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention, the massacre of government protesters in Mexico City during the weeks leading up to the Olympics, and the election of Richard Nixon--to name just a few of the more infamous events. It was a year marked by the beginning of America's decline as the single dominant economic power to emerge at the end of World War II. Many social changes that were addressed in the 1960s are still the issues being confronted today. The ‘60s was a decade of social and political upheaval. In spite of all the turmoil, there were some positive results: the civil rights revolution, John F. Kennedy’s bold vision of a new frontier, and the breathtaking ad vances in space helped bring about progress and prosperity. However, much was negative: student and anti-war protest movements, political assassinations, and ghetto riots excited American people and resulted in lack of respect for authority and the law. Edward Sanders' book-long poem entitled 1968: A History in Verse depicts all areas of the year 1968 from January 1st through the end of December. Sanders avoids depicting the year 1968 as either the last great hope for historical redemption in America or as the beginning of a reactionary turn in the culture. The book recaps the year in which he played an important socio-cultural activist, role model, musician, and poet. The poem continues to cite specific details centered mostly on where his rock band, the fugs, traveled to and whom and what he encountered along the way. â€Å"To me this was the last mote of proof in 1968 that the Nation was lost† (189). After witnessing the riots in Chicago, the "Nation" Sander’s referred to is an imaginary society in which community responsibility is shared equally between both government and citizens, and economic resources are distributed more rightfully among its members, when it is actually an existing set of political formations run by the government. The book continues to address 1968 as a rebellious era of the youth of America. The Yippies, or members of the anti-political association The Youth International Party, were active across America voicing their opinion and opposing the war.

Modernity and Literature Essay

Modernity by itself is a very abstract concept which can be associated with all new experiences in history. It is largely temporal because what is modern today is the old or obsolete tomorrow. Modernity is said to be a logic of negation because it tends to give importance to the present over the past, and at the same time also frowns over the present with respect to the future. From a purely historical perspective however, the society which evolved in Europe after the French Revolution of 1789 can be termed as modern in so much so that there is a marked difference or break in the way of thinking, living and enterprise between the societies after and before the French Revolution. The evolution of the modern society was not a process that happened overnight. The roots of the modern society and its gradual evolution can be traced back to the beginning of the eighteenth century. In fact the period from that point in history to the French Revolution is termed as the period of intellectual Enlightenment when there was a radical change in philosophy, science, politics, arts and culture. It was on these new forms of knowledge that the foundation of the modern society or modernity was based. Defining the Traditional Many scholars have tried to analyze the basic or instinctive nature of human beings in attempts to track back how modernity could have affected the core individual. In his book Leviathan, Hobbes deduced that in an environment uninfluenced by artificial systems or in a ‘state of nature’ human beings would be war like and violent, and their lives would consequently be solitary, poor, brutish and short. Rousseau however contradicts Hobbes. He claims that humans are essentially benevolent by nature. He believed in the ‘noble savage’ or the concept that devoid of civilization human beings are essentially peaceful and egalitarian and live in harmony with the environment – an idea associated with Romanticism. Human beings have however lived in communities and formed societies since the very early ages. In what is now known as the ancient world or the world of classical pagan antiquity typical of the societies of Greece and Rome, the concept of the ‘new’ or ‘change’ was absent. Time, like the seasons, was supposed to move in cyclical order, repeating itself with regularity cycle after cycle with nothing new or changed to break away from the established order. The people were steeped in more superstitious and religious beliefs which ruled almost every aspect of their lives. Christianity brought about changes in the belief systems of the ancient world. Christianity postulated that time was linear, that it began from the birth of Jesus Christ and would end with the apocalypse and the second coming of Jesus. This was a linear concept of time that moved in a straight line and not in a cycle that kept coming back to the same point. The Foundations of Modernity It was during the Enlightenment period that the Christian concepts of time and history were secularized to give way to the modern approach to change and progress. There were many other basic changes during the Enlightenment. The key ideas which formed the basis of the enlightenment period were autonomy and emancipation, progress and the improvement of history and universalism. The development of scientific knowledge gave rise to religious skepticism. People were no longer willing to submit blindly to the dictates of ordained religion. In other words they attained emancipation from the shackles of religion that had governed almost all aspects of their lives. This emancipation led to autonomy of the individual. Individuals began to decide for themselves instead submitting to an external authority such as religion. The people now decided by themselves what kind of authority, rules and regulation would be good for them, and such authority must be natural and not supernatural. Enlightenment encouraged criticism. Enlightenment thinkers did not hold anything sacred and freely criticized, questioned, examined and challenged all dogmas and institutions in their search for betterment or progress. Thinkers such as Voltaire defended reason and rationalism against institutionalized superstition and tyranny. The belief that there could and should be a change for the better came to be a prominent characteristic of modernity. The critical attitude of enlightenment thinker to contemporary social and political institutions paved the way for scientific studies of political and social studies and subsequent evolution of better forms of such institutions. The scientific revolution during the period, culminating in the work of Isaac Newton, presented a very practical and objective view of the natural world to people at large, and science came to be regarded very highly. Scientific inquiry was gradually extended to cover new social, political and cultural areas. Such studies were oriented around the cause-and-effect approach of naturalism. Control of prejudice was also deemed to be essential to make them value free. Enlightenment thinking emphasized the importance of reason and rationality in organization and development of knowledge. The gradual development of the scientific temperament with a paradigm change from the qualitative to the quantitative is also very evident in Europe of the time. People came to believe that they could better their own lot through a more scientific and rational approach to everything. The concept of universalism which advocated that reason and science were applicable to all fields of study and that science laws, in particular, were universal, also grew roots during the period. People began to believe in change, development and progress – all basic tenets of modernity as we know it today. Autonomy to decide for their own good, gave the people the right to choose the form of authority that could lead them as a society or community towards a better future and progress. This opened the doors to the emergence of states with separate and legally defined spheres of jurisdiction. Thus we find that modernity represents a transformation – philosophical, scientific, social, political and cultural – at a definite time in history at a definite spatial location. This transformation also represents a continuum up to the present in so much so that its basic principles are inherent in the societies and nations of today. The period of enlightenment can be seen as one of transition from the ‘traditional’ to the ‘modern’ forms of society, from an age of blind beliefs to a new age of reason and rational. Different Perspectives on development of Modernity Different political and philosophical thinkers have however developed different, and sometimes contradicting, theories of the development of modernity. Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx are two of the leading thinkers whose theories run counter to each other. For Hegel, the development of modernity was a dialectical process which was governed by the increasing self-consciousness of what he termed as the collective human ‘mind’ or ‘spirit’. According to Hegel, the dialectic process of development of the mind comprised three stages, with two initially contradicting positions synthesizing into a third reconciled position. Human beings live what Hegel called an ‘Ethical Life’ or in a social environment shaped by customs and traditions. This ethical life has three stages: the first is the family, which is dissolved in due course, the second is the ‘civil society’ that a person builds up as a result of his social interactions beyond the family and greater relations, and finally the third stage of the ‘state’ which Hegel defines as the highest form of social reason. For Hegel therefore, the formation of the modern state is the mark of modernity when human beings achieve the ultimate stage of social existence. Hegel believed as individuals or families, human beings are too selfish and self-centered co-exist in harmony and work for development. It is the state that is able to integrate the contradictions of different individuals, and not market forces. Since the state by itself is composed of political institutions, Hegel’s theory equates the development of the modern state or modern political institutions with modernity. Marx took a completely opposing view, when he asserted that material forces drive history. For him the state by itself is not an ideal entity for the integration of human beings into a cohesive whole for their development as a nation or a society. According to him it is the material forces comprising social and economic forces that drive history towards modernity. People engage in production for their means of subsistence, they bind together and form states for the sake of production. Different forms of productions create different class relations. It is to maximize production and gain the maximum benefits and advantages that people bond together in different classes in the form of the modern state. The different ways in which production is organized give rise to complex forms of social organization because a particular mode of production is an entire way of life for the people who are involved in it. For Marx social existence is not consciously determined by human beings, rather, it is the other way round: their social existence determines their consciousness. When there are contradictions between productive forces and the social relationships of production, class conflict arises. For Marx, therefore, modernity is defined by the state of social existence. Marx acknowledges that ‘capitalism has been the most productive mode of production, and it contains the most potential for the realization of human freedom’. This very dynamic characteristic of capitalism is born out of its destructiveness for all traditional social constraints such as religion, nation, family, sex, etc. But it is the same destructiveness and creativeness that creates the experience of modernity in Capitalism. This vital association between capitalism and modernity from none less that Marx himself establishes that the capitalism that evolved after the period of enlightenment in Europe has been acknowledged as the modern era of the period of modernity by Marx. Marx however states that capitalism is exploitative, and because it is exploitative, its full potential cannot be harnessed for the benefit of all. He therefore advocates communism which is a system of planned and conscious production by men and women of their won free will. This brings us to the question whether humanity has already passed through a stage of history that has been termed as modernity, and has moved on to the postmodern era (Mitchell, 2009). Another important point is regarding the placing of modernity. Modernity is understood to be a process that began and ended in Europe, and was later exported to other parts of the world. Thinkers like Marx tend to differ. He saw Capitalism emerge as a ‘rosy dawn’ not in England or the Netherlands but in the production trade and finance of the colonial system (Marx, 1967). Therefore, though the concept of modernity can be defined in various ways, it definitely refers to the process of evolution of the human mind and the society to a point where people were able to come together for their own advantage and benefit and work for unceasing development under a collectively formalized authority such as the nation state. It can also be state with a certain degree of assertiveness that the period from the beginning of the Eighteenth Century to the French Revolution in 1789 actually marked the period of active development of modernity in Europe. The concepts that were nurtured during the period bore fruit immediately afterwards in Europe and the West and later spread to the rest of the world. The world has continued since on very much the same basic principles but with far more advanced technologies and superior social, economic and political approaches. Influence of Modernity on Literature Modernity had a profound influence on literature. As people began to think differently, they also began to write differently. The modernist ideas of religious emancipation, autonomy, reliance on reason, rationality and science, and on development and progress began to find expression in the literature that developed even during the period of enlightenment and thereafter. This new form of literature came to be known as the Modernist Literature. Modernist literature tended to vent expression to the tendencies of modernity. Modernist literature, as also modernist art, took up cudgels against the old system of blind beliefs. Centering around the idea of individualism or the individual mind, modernist literature displayed mistrust of established institutions such as conventional forms of autocratic government and religion. It also tended not to believe in any absolute truths. Simmel (1903) gives an overview of the thematic concerns of Modernist Literature when he states that, â€Å"The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life. † Examples from two Greats A few examples of Modernist literature will serve to make its characteristics more clear. Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) is considered to be one of the early enlightenment thinkers whose literary works opened the avenues to the modern era. Known as the founder of modern philosophy and the father of modern mathematics, Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist whose influence has served to shape the beginnings of Modernist literature. In his famous work, The Discourse on Method, he presents the equally famous quotation ‘cogito ergo sum’ or ‘I think, therefore I am’, which about sums up the very principle of the basis of the modern era. â€Å"I observed that, whilst I thus wished to think that all was false, it was absolutely necessary that I, who thus thought, should be somewhat; and as I observed that this truth, I think, therefore I am (COGITO ERGO SUM), was so certain and of such evidence that no ground of doubt, however extravagant, could be alleged by the sceptics capable of shaking it, I concluded that I might, without scruple, accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of which I was in search† (Descartes, 1637). In this work, Descartes drew on ancients such as Sextus Emiricus to revive the idea of skepticism, and reached a truth that he found to be undeniable. â€Å"Descartes started his line of reasoning by doubting everything, so as to assess the world from a fresh perspective, clear of any preconceived notions. In other words, he rejected man’s reliance on God’s revealed word, placing his own intellect on a higher plain† (McCarter, 2006). David Hume (1711 – 1776) was a philosopher, economist and historian from Scotland, and was considered a notable personality both in western philosophy and of the Scottish Enlightenment movement. In his works, he had a way of projecting the errors of scepticism and naturalism, thus carving out a way for secular humanism. In his most famous work, ‘An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding’, Hume asserts that all human knowledge is imbibed through our senses. He argues that unless the source from which the impression of a certain entity is conveyed to our senses is identified, that entity cannot exist. The logic would nullify the existence of God, a soul or a self. â€Å"By the term impression, then, I mean all our more lively perceptions, when we hear, or see, or feel, or love, or hate, or desire, or will. And impressions are distinguished from ideas, which are the less lively perceptions, of which we are conscious, when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned †¦It seems a proposition, which will not admit of much dispute, that all our ideas are nothing but copies of our impressions, or, in other words, that it is impossible for us to think of anything, which we have not antecedently felt, either by our external or internal senses†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Dover Philosophical Classics, 2004) In the same work Hume also postulates two kinds of human reasoning – Relation of Ideas and Matters of Fact. The former involves abstract concepts such as of mathematics where deductive faculty is required, and the later is about empirical experiences which are inductive in nature. This postulate has come to be known as Hume’s Fork. Hume, along with his contemporaries of the Scottish Enlightenment, also proposed that the basis for principles of morals is to be sought in the utility that they tend to serve. This shows the questioning nature of modernist literature not only of religious but also of moral and social norms and values. A very visible influence of modernity is therefore seen in the works of Hume. Present-day Modernist Literature If modernity influenced literature, it also used literature to shift from a philosophical and theoretical domain into the practical lives of people. Modernity could infiltrate into the lives of people through literary works that defined and reiterated the legitimate new modes of classification. Old literary forms with traditional meanings attached to them were reworked, allowing readers to modify or contravene the older meanings. â€Å"This opening-up process allowed readers to glean new meanings that modified or contravened the older ones. In the course of these changes, words, forms, and institutions altered their meaning in British life: they, and the practices they comprised, referred differently†¦. modifying ‘reference potential’ in literature fed back into how readers responded to changes in life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Rothstein, 2007) In art and literature, many critics view ‘modernism’ as a new trend in the field of art and literature, defined basically by stylistic and structural variations. They would not accept the fact that ‘modernism’, it is basic approach, was the principles of modernity rendered plausible in literature and art. Modernity has always tried to hold up the world in new perspectives. Similarly, modernist literature opens up the world in all its forms – theoretical, philosophical, aesthetical and political – for fresh scrutiny. Even in its present form, modernist literature attempts to break the objective world of the realist. â€Å"Modernist writing †¦ takes the reader into a world of unfamiliarity, a deep introspection, a cognitive thought-provoking experience, skepticism of religion, and openness to culture, technology, and innovation† (Melton, 2010). Modernist literature exhibits a fascination with the workings of the mind, and how reality is reflected by the mind. The questioning of life, with or without the presence of God, is another trademark of the philosophical and theoretical moorings of modernist literature. Charles Darwin’s work challenges God as the Creator and presents the process of natural selection in the survival of life. This led to modernist literature of time travel, of questioning the existence of individuals and the purpose of the universe. Modernism brought about a new openness in the areas of feminism, bisexuality, the family, and the mind. In the world of today, modernist literature still display much of the characteristics of the times in which it first took shape. A very important theme of modernist literature today is a feeling of being alone in the world – a feeling stemming from estrangement or alienation. Characters are often presented as being depressed or angry. A second common trait is that of being in doubt. â€Å"It may be disbelief in religion, in happiness, or simply a lack of purpose and doubt in the value of human life. Finally, a third theme that is prevalent is a search for the truth† (Foster, 2010). Then there is a third theme in which the alienated character is always in the search for truth and seeks answers to a plethora of questions relating to human subjectivity. In all these characteristics are to be found the same questioning nature, the same denouncement of blind beliefs and the same dependence on reason and rationality that the Eighteenth Century enlightenment thinkers had pursued. The character is alienated and estranged because he or she questions all that is deemed not right by his or her own mind; the character questions the beliefs of religion and other institutions which are not based on reasoning; and finally the character seeks answers and the truth. â€Å"Modernist literature encompasses the thematic fingerprints of a rebellious, questioning, disbelieving, meditative, and confident type of form, which was conceived out of a change in the belief of humanity, the mind, a God, and the self brought on by the shift from capitalism to an ever-increasing society of revolutionary changes† (Melton, 2010). References Descartes, R. , 1637, The Discourse on Methods. Dover Philosophical Classics, 2004, David Hume, An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Dover Publications Inc. Foster, J. , 2010, Modernism in Literature and History, Available: http://www. helium. com/items/743749-modernism-in-literature-and-history Karl Marx, 1967, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, 3 vols. , New York: International Publishers, 1:703. McCarter, J. , P. , 2006, Literature of the Modern Era, The Puritans’ Home School Curriculum. Melton, L. , 2010, Modernism in Literature and History, Available: http://www. helium. com/items/809291-modernism-in-literature-and-history Mitchell, T. , 2000, The Stage of Modernity, Available: http://www. ram-wan. net/restrepo/modernidad/the%20stage%20of%20modernity-mitchell. pdf Rothstein, E. , 2007, Gleaning Modernity, Earlier Eighteenth Century Literature and the Modernizing Process, Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp. , Associated University Presses. Simmel, G. , 1093, The Metropolis and Mental Life.

Xerox - A Case Study Report - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1899 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Info and Admin Report ParkRC5 Table of Contents Introduction Xerox Company Departments Finance Information Technology (IT) Global Contact Centre (GCC) Human Resources (HR) Organisation Structure Administration Functions of an Office Workplace Legislation Carers Leave Act 2001 Terms of Employment (information) Act 1994 Unfair Dismissals Act 1993 Introduction This is an introduction for a report I have done as part of my assignment on the globally know company Xerox. The purpose of this report is to introduce people to companies such as Xerox and give them an insight of the work done in the company and reasons for it doing them. In my report I have included the company history, type, size, location and service. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Xerox A Case Study Report" essay for you Create order I have also explained some roles in the company, an organisation chart along with duties of some jobs, administration functions of an office and finally three pieces of workplace legislation. I feel I have done this report to the best of my ability and hope you find that there is a wide range of useful information on Xerox as a company among other things. Xerox Xerox was founded in the year 1906, Chester Carlson created way to easily duplicate information on to paper named xerography 75 years ago. This invention transformed how office work is done and how information is shared. The invention of xerography is the reason for the company of Xerox, Carlson said while working on developing xerography that his reason for it was à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“to make office work a little more productive and a little less tedious.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  And when we look at Xerox today this shines true. Xerox is one of few companies whoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is a female. Ursula M. Burns joined Xerox as a summer intern in mechanical engineering in 1980 and in her years there has helped strengthen Xeroxà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s leadership in document technology and services. Xerox is a private sector organisation. A private sector business is a privately owned business, a business is set up to produce or distribute a product or service. The sole purpose of a business is to make a profit, without this a business would not survive in the market. Xerox is a private limited company (Ltd). A private limited company is a company that is owned by its shareholders and can have a minimum of 1 member or a maximum of 99. Limited companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s and PLC are similar legally but limited companies have strict rules for the amount of shares to be issued to the shareholders, these are usually owned by family or friends of the business. Xerox is an American based company and is run in 160 countries, Ireland is one of these countries. Their Irish branch is based in Ballycoolin Industrial Estate Blanchardstown Dublin 15. Xerox has been a major part in document technology and services and currently is the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s leading company for document management and business process. With over 140,000 employees they offer global services from claims, reimbursement, HR benefits management and automated toll transaction to customer care centres. They commit 3.2% of their revenue to development and research for the company each Xerox, like many businesses has a variety of different departments. Four of these departments are Finance, IT, GCC and HR. Company Departments Finance The purpose of a finance department in a business is to make tactical decisions in the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s money management. They also deal with annual reports of the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s payments and returns. Do financial reports helps with building profits for the business Information Technology (IT) The IT Departments role in the workplace is to develop and maintain a certain standard of network on desktops. Their main purpose is to manage the technology and software of their workplace and give guidance on these things to other staff members. Meeting clients to define any requirements Giving written or verbal solutions to queries Global Contact Centre (GCC) The GCC department is a call centre in Xerox. Its purpose is to take customer calls from a variety of countries with any queries they have with products purchased and also to take orders for products. This is a big part in Xeroxà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s business as it helps with a lot of sales. Provides information to customers on the companies goods Gives answers or solutions to inquiries Human Resources (HR) HRà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s role in a company is to help give advice on policies linking to the use of employees in a business. The people in this line of work need to have an understanding of the businesses objectives and by doing so develop their departmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s policies. Cover the conditions or employment Deal with work practices and equality in the work place Organisation Structure Network Manager Duties include: Purchasing equipment for the company network Manages the network and maintains its standard Installs any upgrades needed Oversees all user access Develop and run a backup program for any emergencies Budget Analyst Duties include: Helps prepare the annual budget reviews budget in case of errors explain issues with the budget at hand Compare each result of each budget Administration Functions of an Office The responsibility of the office is to handle any of the information that goes to and from the business. Location and size of an office is determined by the nature and size of the business itself. Larger businesses would usually have an admin office for each specific department, however it would be more common for a large business to have a centralised office for dealing with frequent activities. Functions of admin: Receiving and Sorting Information: The office would usually have to deal with a variety of information on a daily basis received from: Customers queries, orders, payments and quotations Government Bodies, Revenue Commissions, Trade and Employment, Employment Welfare Agencies and Department of enterprise Suppliers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Statements, invoices, quotations, promotional material and catalogues Financial institutions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Interest currency rates, bank statements and stock valuation The business itself à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" reports, accounts, internal mail requests and minutes of meetings Processing and Communicating Information: Information received will usually need further examination before it can be used or distributed. The office will tell the recipient of the information this in one of the following ways: Orally à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Telephone, face to face or video conference Written à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" By letter or report Visually à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Bar charts, pie charts or histograms Electronically à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" E-mail or fax Sorting and Protecting Information: After information is processed in an office it is then stored for future reference. This is done using either a manual filing system or electronic document management system. Information held in paper format or on a computer has to be upheld according to the Data protection Acts 1988-2003, any confidential information should be correctly stored to avoid any unauthorised access. Three pieces of equipment used for these functions are: The Fax Machine Fax machines are used to send images of a document of choice over telephone line, this is an easy way of sending printed of hand written documents to another personà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s fax. A fax will usually have its own phone number and line they can also send and receive at the same time. Photocopier A photocopier is an office appliance used to make copies of paper documents. There is a wide range of photocopiers from small desktop ones to the larger freestanding ones, however offices would have a freestanding photocopier as its gives personnel easier access. Shredder A shredder is a machine used to disperse of any unwanted documentation and would be commonly used in offices. It is an effective way of getting rid of unwanted documents as it cuts them into small sections that would be almost impossible to be put back together. Workplace Legislation Carers Leave Act 2001 The Carers Leave Act 2001 provides employees the entitlement to avail of temporary leave to care for persons who require full-time care and attention. To be eligible for carers leave you need to be an employee in your workplace for 12 full months. You are required to be the sole and only carer for the person in need of care. You are required to give your employer at least 6 weeksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ notice of your intention to take this leave. You are entitled to a minimum of 13 weeks and a maximum of 104, however your employer can refuse to your carers leave if it is 13 weeks or le ss. The right of an employeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s annual leave and public holidays is restricted for the first 13 weeks if carers leave has been taken by said employee Your employer cannot penalise you à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" treat you unfairly or any different prior to your leave when back from carers leave. When on carers leave you are unpaid but your job is kept open for you and you have the possibility of being paid through carers benefit. The person your caring for isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t required to be family it could be a friend colleague When on carers leave you got to an educational or training course for up to 15 hours a week Terms of Employment (information) Act 1994 The terms of employment Act 1994 is in place to give employees an understanding on the obligations that should be followed by them and their employer/s. It withholds information on the matters of job descriptions, rates of payment and hours of work. Anyone who is employed and earns an avera ge wage has a contract of employment. Employment contracts do not have to be in writing. An employee has to be given a written statement on their employment and its terms within 2 months of starting work, this does not apply to those employed a month or less. The statement is required to be signed by your employer but there is no requirement for the employee to sign it. The statement can also be signed on behalf of your employer if they are not available to do so. Your employer is required to keep a copy of your statements of terms during your employment and at least a year after it. If any changes are to be made to the statement the employer has one month after it comes into effect at most to inform said employee of the nature and date of the changes. An employee has the right to bring complaints forward to their employment for up to six months from termination. Unfair Dismissals Act 1993 The Unfair Dismissals Act 1993 gives us information on our employer à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s rights to employee dismissal. If dismissed from your workplace, depending on your dismissal conditions you have the right to bring a claim forward for unfair dismissal against your employer. This legislation doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t protect from dismissal but gives the right to appeal it and question the reasons for your dismissal. If you qualify to bring your claim forward (if your employer agrees there was a dismissal) your employer will have to show that the grounds for dismissal were fair. Dismissals are deemed unfair if there are not significant justifications for it. You can ask for a written statement of the reasons for your dismissal, this is to be provided within 14 days from requested day. If found that you are unfairly dismissed you could be place back in your job position or receive compensation for earning lost because of the dismissal. You have a limit of 6 months from your dismissal date to put in a claim, under certain excepti onal circumstances you may be able to extend it up to 12 months. If youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve work for your employer for at least 13 weeks you are still entitled to a statutory minimum period of notice.