English 4A Topic 2 Flashcard

English 4A Topic 2

Divorcing a Culture When the Legal Procedure Costs More Than Expected

Divorcing a Culture When the Legal Procedure Costs More Than Expected Becoming a part of a different culture is not as easy as changing one’s clothes – no matter how alluring the real of foreign traditions might seem, it is still a different world with different rules. In her essay â€Å"The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl†, Elizabeth Wong tells her story of trying desperately to fit in the American culture and shake off the irritating Chinese lifestyle. However, it still seems that rejecting a specific culture in such a fierce way is hardly mature.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Divorcing a Culture: When the â€Å"Legal Procedure† Costs More Than Expected specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More ALTHOUGH WONG’S EXPERIENCE IN CHANGING CULTURES IS WORTH RESPECTING AS A CONSCIOUS DECISION MADE BY A PERSON WHO KNOWS WHAT SHE WANTS TO ACHIEVE, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE REASONABLE TO FIND A COMPROMISE BETWEEN TWO CULTURES, SHOWING RESPECT TO THE REPRESENTA TIVES OF EACH COMMUNITY. There is the time in every single person’s life when (s)he needs to blend with the rest of the crowd. Thus, one can realize that (s)he is accepted among the rest of the members of society and, therefore, become its integral part. Otherwise, one can be easily ostracized and turn into an outcast for the rest of the community members to ignore at best and make fun of at worst. From the point of view of the one who is afraid not to be accepted in the community, the ideas of becoming an â€Å"all-American girl† expressed in Wang’s article are quite familiar to pretty much every single person. As Wang explains, â€Å"The language was a source of embarrassment† (Wang 23), pointing at the fact that she did not want to stand out among the rest of the members of the American community. An understandable stage of adapting to the new environment, the given emotion can be easily dealt with. Personally, I had a similar experience when I learned that I had to accept the culture of another country along with my native one. However, the need to be accepted among the members of a foreign society should not be spurred by the hatred of one’s own culture. What follows from Wang’s experience is that she started detesting her own culture when understanding how weak it looked compared to the power of the American traditions. As Wang put it, as she was ten years old, she had better things to learn than ideographs copied in lines (Wang 24). However, it seems that there is too much denial in Wang’s writing. In my personal experience, I had to accept two cultures at once when I learned that some of my relatives belonged to a different nationality; however, the given fact did not prevent me from learning about both cultures and taking the best from both.Advertising Looking for essay on cultural studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Despite the mat urity of Wong’s decision to â€Å"divorce† her culture and accept the American one, it is still a hardly reasonable step. Refusing to accept her own culture and blending with the rest of the American population might have resulted in Wong losing a part of her uniqueness. Since a personality depends greatly on the environment in which it develops, cutting off the links to the Chinese culture meant losing the opportunity to have new experiences. While there may be a lot to hate about a particular culture, most of its ideas have been time-tested, which means tthey are worth at least comparing with the ones of the American culture. Wong, Elizabeth. â€Å"The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl.† PARAGRAPHS AND ESSAYS. Ed. Lee Brandon. New York: Houghton Miffin, 2005. 23–24.

Nestle Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nestle - Research Paper Example In order to improve its performance, it also shifted its executive offices to the United States. Another major organizational change took place when Nestle took its first step towards diversification by becoming a major shareholder in L’Oreal, the largest company in the cosmetics industry. Instead of investing in developing markets like cosmetics, Nestle purchased Alcon laboratories and entered the pharmaceutical industry. The main focus of Nestle during this time was to restructure its organization by focusing on strategic acquisitions and improve its financial improvement through diversification. In the later period, however, the new CEO focused on slow and conscious organizational change. 2. Identify whether the changes were first-order and/or second-order changes and the rationale for your decision.   In simple words, first order change is when a company does something which is similar to that done before and is a reversible option. A second order change is an irreversib le practice that an organization adopts which is fundamentally different from the practices adopted before (Leadership and institutional change, n.d.). According to the case studies, Nestle incurred both first order and second order changes. The first change of relocating its executive offices from Switzerland to the United States during the World War 2 is considered to be a first order change because the core identity of the company as well as its organizational values were maintained. During this change, the company underwent an organizational climatic change which is a king of a transactional change. The second order changes incurred by Nestle would be the decision of global expansion and diversification. By buying out shares in L’Oreal and Alcon Laboratories the company underwent transformational change as it had to face radical transformation as well as organizational development. This organizational change transformed the core organizational values and practices of Nest le. Together these changes made up the stream of organizational changes that Nestle went through. 3. Discuss whether or not the changes made were with an incremental approach as emphasized by Brabeck-Letmathe.   The CEO of Nestle, Brabeck-Letmathe, believed in sustaining and developing the strengths of the organization and introducing radical changes only if the company is facing a crisis. He believed in slow and conscious changes which are considered to be an incremental approach. He also believed that any change should only be adopted after conscious decision making which should be focused on long term rather than short term success of the organization. The first change made by the CEO was changing the entire executive board and replacing it with 10 new executive members. The CEO also focused on reinforcing and sustaining the strengths and relying on the commitment of the managers. But the overhaul of the executive board might demotivated these managers and instill in them a fea r of losing their own jobs. Also, slow and conscious growth in today`s fast paced world hinders the growth of the organization and might affect Nestle negatively. 4. Identify three examples of lessons from the front line that were evident in the Nestle case and how these issues may be overcome.