Food, Inc. Essay Example for Free

Food, Inc. Essay Food, Inc. broadens the consumers prospective on the production of foods such as chicken and cattle. The documentary was convincing in regards to showing the consumer what manufacturers are afraid to show us, consumers. Nowadays, there are approximately 47 thousand products in a grocery store. That of which four producers have 70% of the market. Food, Inc. had many facts and statistics telling the viewers of todays farmers and other large corporations in the food industry. It used to be that it took three months to produce a chicken from when it hatched to the time it was ready to slaughter, now, it takes only 48 days. Farmers average a borrowing of $500,000 in which they only make $18,000 profit. Large producers are keeping farmers in debt. Rather than letting the plants and animals take the time they need to produce naturally companies are always thinking faster, faster, bigger, bigger. Candy, chips, pop, and hamburgers from McDonalds are all examples of cheaper food than compared to vegetables or fruit. Although they are higher subsidized, they are low in cost. Food, Inc. could have overlooked the value some Americans have on these cheaper meals. A Hispanic family was shown on the documentary. This family was faced with having to choose between buying medication for their diabetic father or getting groceries. Him, as well as one and a half million other Mexican farmers lost their jobs due to larger corporations and with all the debt that is due, they dont have a lot of money for the quality of food they may want. Food, Inc. however did overemphasize all the negative larger companies were doing to farmers, as well as animals. Some interesting facts are as follow: at a slaughter house located in Tar Heel, 32,000 pigs are slaughter a day; thats 2,000 per hour. If a plant is always failing the USDA testing, they are said to be shut down. However, the law never took affect, instead, the plants took USDA to court. In 2008, 90% of soybeans did not have the original seed. Although documentaries are usually biased, there were many times throughout the film where a large corporations were asked to talk, however, they declined. Large corporations could have helped their side of view by taking time to conduct an interview with the Food, Inc. crew. Food, Inc.was very intriguing, although it could have furthered explained through a corporations prospective overall the documentary was successful. The harsh facts with the jaw dropping graphics were just a bonus on the heart touching stories all of the farmers told. The graphics of reality was most bothering. The fact that companies could get away with employing illegal immigrants than do nothing when they were arrested was annoying, as well as knowing that a company could sue anybody for anything even if they knew they would lose. Something that was realized as result from watching this piece, is that to eat well in this country you need money. Questions that could be asked are how can companies like Monsanto have all of one farmers bank accounts and check written from the last 10 years. How can this company sue farmers (and win) for the farmers crops being contaminated against their knowledge. Why did patenting a seed ever become acceptable when the seed needs to be grown and consumed by millions. And why can the FDA sell food without a GMO label.

Silence :: essays research papers fc

Silence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Maxine Hong Kingston’s autobiographical piece â€Å"Silence†, she describes her inability to speak English when she was in grade school. Kindergarten was the birthplace of her silence because she was a Chinese girl attending an American school. She was very embarrassed of her inability, and when moments came up where she had to speak, â€Å"self-disgust† filled her day because of that squeaky voice she possessed (422). Kingston notes that she never talked to anyone at school for her first year of silence, except for one or two other Chinese kids in her class. Maxine’s sister, who was even worse than she was, stayed almost completely silent for three years. Both went to the same school and were in the same second grade class because Maxine had flunked kindergarten.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first time Kingston had to speak English in kindergarten was the moment silence infiltrated her world. Simple dialogue such as â€Å"hello† or asking for directions was hell for her because people usually couldn’t hear her the first time she asked, and her voice became weaker every time she tried to repeat the question (422). No matter what, speaking English just shattered her self-esteem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Maxine covered her school artwork with black paint. In a sense, she was creating something beautiful that symbolized her futuristic ability to speak English well, then covering it with black paint that symbolized a curtain that would, in time, rise and reveal her artwork of exceptional English dialogue. Her teachers notified her parents of the paintings, but they could not understand English. So, Kingston’s parents thought of it as something bad, according to the seriousness of the teachers’ expressions about them. As her father said, â€Å"the parents and teachers of criminals were executed† (423).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Though Maxine was quiet in American school, it didn’t mean that she was quiet in Chinese school which started after American school at 5:00pm and ended at 7:30pm. This was her escape from English where most of the kids, including a couple of Negro kids that enrolled, could talk, shout, sing, chant, and joke around without the fear of embarrassment. Children were allowed to do whatever they wished during recess. Chinese school was where the well-behaved boys in American school played tricks on girls, and where the girls had fistfights during recess because there were no rules. They played dangerous games in dangerous areas of the school and even wandered off into the city while the teachers sat in the classrooms and â€Å"drank tea and warmed their hands at a stove† (425).

Group Project

You have just been part of a merger. You have each been chosen to head up your department and merge the two groups into a self-directed work team. Work with each other to lay out a plan describing how you will develop a new team within your department or departments. It is natural that there will be some confrontations between people. Look at the stages of team development and use that knowledge to work with the team. It is recognized that some employees will refuse to be part of the team. In fact, the new ownership expects that there will be some who lose their jobs because of these issues; however, that is a last resort.Use all your skills to negotiate with employees in an attempt to resolve conflicts and pull your team together. Because you are working together as a team, it is seen by the ownership that if one is successful, you are all successful. Likewise, if one fails, you all fail. The future success of the company is dependent on your mutual success. Consider the following: * As a team, you must come up with a plan and be in agreement because you have to implement it in your departments. For the plan of team development, I will use Tuckman's Theory, namely, Forming, Storming, Norming- Performing.The first step that I will take is to form a team that has all the talents and abilities required for the tasks at hand. This means a careful inventory has to be developed of the skills, and abilities and checking if these are appropriate and adequate for the task at hand. When developing a plan the objective is to develop a team that is high-performing and brings the advantages of synergies after the merger has taken place. Forming: During this stage of the team, there is a desire to be accepted and to avoid conflict; The tasks are allotted according the skills and abilities of the persons.The tendency during this stage is to study the other members and avoid confrontation. The team members get to know each other. It is planned that this stage should last for one week. Storming: As the owners give challenging tasks to the team there is storming and different ideas compete for consideration. I will ensure that even though confrontational ideas are presented, there is productive input and good ideas are accepted. I will use tolerance and patience because at this stage there is likely to be conflict among the employee groups belonging to each merging company. I will ensure that more comfortable interaction is possible.This stage will take two weeks time. Norming: During this phase I will ensure that the team has only one goal and a plan will be developed to achieve the tasks given to the team. At this time norms will be developed for tackling different tasks assigned to the team and the manner in which they will be executed. The normng phase will take one weeks time. Performing: To get the team performing, I will get the team members to carry out multi-functional tasks and to become mutually interdependent. I will set challenging goals for the team and set criteria by which the performance will be evaluated.The objectives of the team and the criteria for performance evaluation will be so designed in such a manner that the team members become interdependent. I will actively participate in the activities of the team and motivate the team members. The decision making will be participative and will encourage new ideas and even dissenting thoughts; The performing stage will continue for a period of six months. After a period of seven months it is expected that the team will be a cohesive, high performing, and synergetic. * For each step you take, provide a brief explanation of your reasoning.Forming: during this step there is a gathering of information about the team members from the other company; There is also an attempt by the member of the acquiring company to exert their power and become dominant. At this stage simply allotting task according to the skills and abilities creates a feeling that every person has a rightf ul place in the team. Storming: During this step the inherent conflict between employees of the acquiring company and the acquired company come out into the open. There are conflicts over small issues, and the acquired company members will test the rules to see if they get a fair deal.To motivate team members they must be made to feel that every person will be treated equitably. (Remember Stacey Adam's equity theory). Norming: During this stage rules of teamwork are formed and there is a give and take. The team members understand the concerns of the other members easily. Performing: During this stage by setting objectives/goal, and setting criteria for performance evaluation, I compel the group to become interdependent and flexible. This is the most direct way of ensuring that synergies are achieved. I will take certain steps during the team formation process to ensure that the team formation is successful.Since, the members of the team come from different cultures; I will not impos e outside principles or ground rules from outside. Further, since there are persons from different companies, I will ensure that the group does not get caught up in details, nor will I allow the persons from one company dominate others. I will ensure that each member of the team gets an equal say. In addition, I will set challenging targets for the team and the objectives will not merely be in financial terms. Moreover, I will encourage sharing of information and cultural integration. Finally, I will not allow random or undirected changes to my plans.

What Makes A Successful Advertising - 1336 Words

I was eating dinner with friends the other evening, and one of my friends made a comment I seem to hear a lot. I’m not influenced by advertising, she said. I then pointed out that U.S. companies like General Motors, for example would not invest $4.2 billion dollars last year on something they thought didn t work. (Laya) Companies use advertising to produce returns, similar to any other investment. The reason that my friend (and, I m guessing, many of your friends) think advertising doesn t work is that they think advertisements are trying to make them immediately do something. They are wrong. Successful advertising rarely does well through argument or calls to action. Instead, it creates progressive memories and feelings that†¦show more content†¦She has beautiful soft lips that appear to have EOS lip balm on them. To the left of her mouth, the woman holds a striped, pink, ball-shaped lip balm, held in her hand to inadvertently guiding the viewer’s eyes to her lips. A few strands of hair flow down around her jawline accompanying her hand in framing the woman’s face. As you continue down the page, the woman’s arm guides you from her hand down to a bracelet with the same striped, pink, design of the lip balm she is holding. Next to the bracelet is a description of the lip balm with a heading that reads â€Å"get noticed with visibly softer lips†. This advertisement sells its product by leading viewers to believe that if they use this product they will be more attractive. Likewise, Burt’s Bees placed an advertisement in Glamour Magazine featuring a new lip balm from their company. Similar to the EOS advertisement, this full-page spread features a close up of a woman with voluptuous lips with a picture of the lip balm at the bottom next to a tag ling promising results. However, in the Burt’s Bees advertisement the entire face of the woman is pictured and the whole advertisement appears to be hand drawn. The woman’s hair, which appears to be somewhat unwieldy, begins at the top of the page and frames her face stopping at her jaw line. Her eyebrows are drawn unevenly and below that she has one eye open and one eye closed in what appears to be a wink. The woman’s nose is centered directly in the middle of the page