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Information System Used by Wal - Mart Term Paper

Essays on Information System Used by Wal - Mart Term Paper The paper "Information System Used by Wal - Mart" is a good example of a term paper on e-commerce.  The Wal - Mart stores were the organization was selected owing to the curiosity of knowing more about the business strategy and information system used by the no 1 rated company in fortune 500 lists, which would be quite a rewarding experience as always success is never achieved in a single step.  Organization’s overall business strategyWal - Mart store inc. is one of the world’s largest retailers, rated as the number one company by the fortune 500. It has a revenue of $351,139.0 million that has increased by 11.2% in the current year. This year it has shown a profit of $11,284.0 million, with the stock holder’s equity rising up to 61,573.0. Its annual growth rate through the year of 1996 was a woofing rate of 15.1%. Sam Walton when open his first store in Arkansas 1962, had 3 basic beliefs on which he built the entire empire, which has now 1.3 million associat es worldwide with 3200 stores in the United States with 100 million customers visiting per week worldwide. The belief which on the technical terms was later transformed as a strategy was respecting individuals offering the best service to the customer and always striving for excellence. This belief with 10 factors ranging from motivating the partners to controlling the expenses better than the competitors became their underline principle. Sam Walton, with an innovative vision, used unusual business practices that let the company straight forward, with the organization still facing a significant amount of controversy over several different issues, but none of them was altering the gigantic operation. Future of Wal - Mart is also looking comfortable with the proper balance between increasing its profit and recognizing its social and ethical responsibilities. (Wal – Mart annual report, 2003)It is undeniable fact that Wal - Mart huge success is due to its sound strategic manageme nt decision couple with innovative implementation. The business strategy features 3 key points in its background, customer value, and service; partnership with its associates and community involvement. Thus the key feature of implementing this strategy by Wal - Mart is putting a strong emphasis on a solid working relationship with suppliers and employees, taking into notice many integrate details in-store layouts and merchandising techniques, capitalizing on every cost-saving opportunities and create a high-performance spirit. The strategic formula of company is very simple, in that to provide access to quality goods for customers together with making the goods available when and where the customer wants, on the sides developing a cost structure that would be given an inch up in competitive pricing summing up in building and maintaining the reputation for absolute trustworthiness. (Biesada, Alex,2006)

What would happen if he ate McDonalds for 30 days straight Free Essays

Morgan Spurlock wanted to see what would happen if he ate McDonalds for 30 days straight. Every meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he was not allowed to eat or drink anything that was NOT from McDonalds. He has to eat everything on the menu at least once. We will write a custom essay sample on What would happen if he ate McDonalds for 30 days straight? or any similar topic only for you Order Now And, on top of all that, if they asked him to supersize it, he had to do it! His journey has begun. Morgan weighed 185 pounds at the beginning of his journey. His girlfriend is a vegan chef, which is someone who does not eat meat, fish, dairy products, or eggs. She completely disagrees with the choice that Morgan has made, and thinks that he is going to kill himself doing it. The fattest nation in the world, you could guess, is America. The fattest state is Mississippi. The fattest city is Houston, Texas. Texas has 4 of the top 10 fattest cities in the Nation. And in Manhattan alone, there are 83 McDonalds. Every day, more than 46 million people are served worldwide! It is predicted that in the future, obesity will be the leading cause of death, behind smoking. People who eat McDonalds once a week are called ‘heavy users’. Nutritionists say that never eating McDonalds in your entire life is the healthiest choice you can make. Morgan gained 25 pounds over 30 days of eating McDonalds. At second weigh in, he had gained 18 pounds, which was 203 pounds. At third weigh in, Morgan had actually lost one pound, putting him 202 pounds. At his fourth and final weigh in, Morgan had gained another 8 pounds, putting him at 210 pounds. Over this 30 day period, Morgan had consumed about 30 pounds of sugar. Eating fast food is very unhealthy. It can also be very addicting. These huge fast foods have all the money in the world to pay for advertising to attract a variety of age groups to come and buy their products. Every company does this, they have to advertise in order to stay in business! How to cite What would happen if he ate McDonalds for 30 days straight?, Papers

Essay About free essay sample

A consumer products manufacturer competes in a mature and declining commoditised market with a small number of competitors. As such, the organisation must compete on quality to retain its share of the market. With quality becoming an increasingly important strategic imperative, the organisation wanted to understand how it could execute this strategy more consistently and effectively . RESPONSE Research of high performance companies has shown that one way to improve strategy execution is to build a culture aligned with that strategy Towers Perrin analysed results . rom this company’s employee opinion survey to assess how well the current organisational culture supported a quality-focused strategy and then identified how the company might alter its culture to , enable more effective execution of this strategy . RESUL TS Towers Perrin uncovered gaps in specific cultural elements that needed to be addressed to better realise a strategy focused on quality The analysis included a re view of the . prior year’s survey data and showed that the company was becoming weaker in critical cultural aspects. This insight helped the company form and conduct a formal process of culture change to improve its strategic focus and retain its market competitiveness. ALIGNMENT DRIVES STRATEGIC SUCCESS In many years of working with global companies, Towers Perrin has found that for an organisation to be effective in translating its goals into results, there must be alignment between its business strategy and organisation culture. Alignment is achieved when the shared beliefs, values, and ways of working within an organisation drive the realisation of goals and objectives. HOW DOES CULTURE SUPPORT QUALITY? Through research of high-performing organisations that compete on quality, Towers Perrin has uncovered the core cultural characteristics or cultural drivers which contribute to the success of these organisations (see table). Cultural drivers of quality Teamwork / best practice sharing Performance management Understanding of customer expectations Empowerment Process focus Training Long-term orientation Career development ? Good cooperation across work groups and departments ? Clear performance criteria that support customer service ? Knowledge of customer needs ? Provide quality where it matters most to the customer ? Support for change and challenge of tradition ? Demonstrated commitment to quality and improvement ? Identify and eliminate potential sources of error ? Focus on job preparation and continuous skill improvement ? Plans and optimism for the future of the company ? Recruiting, developing, promoting, and retaining best talent Towers Perrin I 2 A company’s most desirable cultural qualities depend on the particular business strategy the organisation is emphasising. Using this knowledge as a framework for investigation, Towers Perrin implemented a two-step assessment to determine to what degree and with what consequences the drivers of quality exist at this consumer products manufacturing company and to identify areas of culture change that would have the most beneficial impact in supporting an organisational strategy based on quality. EXAMINING THE COMPANY’S CULTURE Employee opinions, taken from their most recent survey, were analysed on the cultural drivers of quality. The survey results were first compared with scores from Towers Perrin’s Global High Performance Norm. This Towers Perrin benchmark consists of companies demonstrating superior financial performance and excellent management practices. As seen in Figure 1, the company scored significantly below benchmark in five of the cultural drivers of quality. Employees at this company were favourable with regard to sharing information and working across teams, managing performance towards customer service goals and understanding what their customers expect in terms of quality. Employees were less favourable with regard to support for change and new ideas, training and development of people, focusing on continuous improvement and taking a long-term view in the planning of the company’s future. Towers Perrin then looked at historical trends for the company regarding these drivers, comparing survey results over a three-year period. The results (see Figure 2) indicate that the company may be moving further away from embodying a culture that can support and sustain a real focus on quality. All quality driver categories showed either no improvement or a slight decline. FIGURE 1: Comparing company scores on Tower Perrin’s cultural drivers of quality Global high performance benchmark Centre line: Towers Perrin’s global HP norm Teamwork/best practice sharing Performance management Understanding customer expectations Empowerment Process focus Training Long-term orientation Career development -10 1 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -6 -5 0 5 10 Shaded bars denote a statistically significant difference (p lt; . 05) FIGURE 2: Drivers of quality over time in the company Historical trends Percent favourable score 77 76 77 79 80 81 71 73 74 66 Training 69 68 77 78 77 41 41 44 Performance management 54 54 55 0 20 40 60 80 100 Process focus Teamwork and best practice sharing Empowerment Understanding customer expectations Long-term orientation 70 72 71 Career development Year 3 Year 2 Year 1 Towers Perrin I 3 Identifying key drivers that impact the desired strategy such as a quality focused culture, , are critical to action-planning. As training, career development, and long-term orientation were significantly below the high performance norm and showed a decline in employee favourability, these areas emerged as areas for focused improvement actions. IDENTIFYING AREAS OF CULTURE CHANGE WITH THE MOST IMPACT To identify the specific link between culture and quality within this company and to aid in the prioritisation of action, Tower Perrin conducted a series of key driver analyses to determine the strongest predictors of perceptions of quality among employees at this company. The results (see Figure 3) revealed that three factors were most influential in driving perceptions of quality: long-term orientation, process focus, and understanding customer expectations. In other words, those pockets of the organisation where quality was seen as very strong were also the pockets that had clear long-term plans for the future, management support for quality improvement and elimination of error and an understanding of customer expectations for quality. An increased focus on these three areas would have the greatest impact in strengthening a quality culture at this company. Specifically for this company:  ¦ Long-term orientation means that division management has clear plans for the future. Process focus means that the commitment to quality was apparent on a day-to-day basis and managers made time to work on quality improvements.  ¦ FIGURE 3: Identifying company-specific drivers of quality Key drivers Outcome Long term orientation Process focus Quality Understanding expectations FIGURE 4: Identifying company-specific drivers of quality Pre drivers Key drivers Outcome Career development Long term orientation Empowerment training Performance management Career development Performance management Career development Teamwork/BP Sharing Process focus Quality Understanding expectations Understanding expectations means that employees perceive the company as truly customer oriented.  ¦ Towers Perrin then conducted a secondlevel key driver analysis to help the company know where to further focus improvement efforts. The analysis revealed that for this company, creating a culture focused on quality was linked with employees being trained, developed, empowered, and managed effectively (see Figure 4). Furthermore, employees wanted opportunities for growth and development, adequate training, and sufficient authority to do their job well. They wanted to see the company hire, promote, and retain the best talent. They wanted to be supported to challenge tradition with new ways of doing things. And finally, they wanted to see the actions of leaders, managers, and the teams around them demonstrating a commitment to customer service. Towers Perrin I 4 The company is now conducting a formal process of culture change PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: BUILDING A CULTURE OF QUALITY The results of these analyses indicate many areas for improvement were needed to build a culture to support the company’s key strategy of quality. However, Towers Perrin helped the company prioritise two key cultural issues to focus on and improve first in order to better support quality. With this guidance, the company is now conducting a formal process of culture change that focuses on the critical priorities highlighted below. Career development and training  ¦ Build and demonstrate a sustained commitment to employees through adequate training and development opportunities.  ¦ Develop effective strategies to recruit, retain,and promote talent. Empowerment and teamwork Support employees when they challenge traditional ways of doing things.  ¦  ¦ Empower employees with the authority to do their jobs well.  ¦ Encourage teamwork and cooperation between work groups. To build a culture that supports the challenging of tradition, enables empowerment of employees, and engages groups to work collaboratively, the company has structured all survey follow-up to be conducted entirely at local level. Corporate HR charges each local HR manager to work with their management teams to identify local issues and drive change. Each local management team then charges an employee task-force to come up with solutions and present them to management, who make decisions regarding implementation. The task forces usually comprise six to ten employees, and are a mixture of high potential employees, volunteers, and those appointed by management. The company has also created a newsletter and has increased local meetings from a quarterly basis to monthly. Action planning and the sharing of progress and results now happen at local levels, empowering teams nd individuals to make and track changes that matter. SUMMARY Tower Perrin’s analysis provided this consumer goods company with information and insight for developing a culture that best supported their business strategy of competing on quality. Towers Perrin identified two critical issues that would have the biggest contribution to culture change. Equipped with this cultural vision and empirical support for it, this company has started change initiatives and i s working with Towers Perrin to monitor progress towards the creation of their new quality-focused culture. The company has developed and implemented Career Development Workshops where employees learn to take charge of their own career and learn how they can be successful in the organisation. The company has also implemented a mentoring program and a 360 ° feedback process. These programmes provide a foundation for building and sustaining training and development opportunities for employees, and as such they are a critical element in the development of an effective strategy to recruit, retain, and promote talent. ABOUT TOWERS PERRIN Towers Perrin is a global professional services firm that helps organisations improve their performance through innovative human capital and risk and financial services solutions. In the human capital area, Towers Perrin helps organisations develop and implement workforce strategies that align with business needs, address critical talent issues, drive higher performance and ensure the right return on their investment in people. Areas of focus include workforce effectiveness; rewards effectiveness; benefit programme effectiveness (including retirement and health and welfare programme strategy design, , implementation and management); assistance with mergers, acquisitions and restructurings; HR function design, service delivery and technology; change management; employee communication; human capital metrics; and employee and organisational surveys. Towers Perrin has offices and alliance partners in the world’s major markets. More information about Towers Perrin is available at www. towersperrin. com. CONTACTS For further information, please contact: Europe Steve Young Asia-Pacific Melisa Chong Australia Lesley Brown Middle East Crispin Marriott North America Dan Rubin +44 20 7203 6833 stephen. [emailprotected] com +65 6389 7430 melisa. [emailprotected] com +61 3 9820 9388 lesley. [emailprotected] com +971 4 318 4107 crispin. [emailprotected] com +1 312 201 5215 dan. [emailprotected] com or your usual Towers Perrin consultant.  © 2009 Towers Perrin

Organically Grown Food Essay Sample free essay sample

Organic nutrients are by and large produced based on definite production criterions. Crops. to be considered as organic nutrient. should non be grown utilizing conventional pesticides. human wastes. sewer sludge and even unreal fertilisers. Furthermore. organic nutrients should non be processed utilizing ionising radiation or nutrient additives. In the instance of animate beings. they should be raised or taken attention of without a accustomed usage of antibiotic and growing endocrines use. A nutrient is classified to be organically grown by Government-approved certifiers. The U. S. Department of Agriculture sets the criterions which should be purely followed by all organic nutrients. As such. an organically grown nutrient can merely be released in the market if and merely if it has the â€Å"USDA Organic† seal. In their criterions. an organically produced merchandise should hold a lower limit of 95 % of the nutrients ingredients to be organically produced. The Government-approved certifiers give besides seals of blessing to merchandises which have at least 70 per centum organic ingredients. We will write a custom essay sample on Organically Grown Food Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However the seal can non be indicated on the front screen of the merchandise. If it does non hold the â€Å"USDA Organic† seal. so the organic merchandise have non met the USDA criterions or that any claim of being an organic merchandise can non be wholly dependable. However. non all 95 % to 100 % organic merchandises have the seal because the usage of the seal is non mandatory. Evaluation of organically grown nutrients or merchandises show that even if they are grown organically. it is still non known whether they are safer and more alimentary than the traditionally produced nutrients or merchandises. Furthermore. if a merchandise is said to be organic. it does non immediately mean that it is natural. Claims such as â€Å"natural† . â€Å"free-range† or â€Å"hormone free† can be seen together with the label â€Å"organic† . but these footings are non interchangeable. Mention Organic Food Standards and Labels: The Facts. ( April 2002. January 2007 ) . Retrieved January 23. 2008. from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. Ams. Department of Agriculture. gov/nop/Consumers/brochure. hypertext markup language

Gregory The Great Essay

Gregory The Great Essay Gregory The Great Essay Gregory the Great (c.540–604), pope, apostle of the English, one of the most important popes and influential writers of the Middle Ages. Gregory was the son of a Roman senator and entered the service of the State as a young man. But in 573 he sold his enormous properties, founding six monasteries in Sicily and a seventh in Rome, and giving generously to the poor. The next year he entered his own monastery of St. Andrew's on the Celian Hill as a monk and was distinguished for his austere life, which both filled him with nostalgia in later years and caused some of the ill-health which he suffered so constantly. Pope Benedict I, however, called him out of the monastery to become one of the seven deacons of Rome, and his successor, Pelagius II, made him apocrisiarius (ambassador) in Byzantium. After six years of distinguished service Gregory returned to Rome to become abbot of St. Andrew's, seemingly convinced that the future of Christianity lay with monasticism rather than with t he declining Eastern Empire. But his own choice of monastic life was destined to be frustrated. He had hoped to lead some missionaries to bring the Gospel to the Anglo-Saxons- he had been specially impressed by some Anglo-Saxon slaves on sale in the Roman market- but he was elected pope during an outbreak of plague. Reluctantly he accepted and was confirmed by the emperor. He was at once faced with a state of crisis. Floods, famine, plague, a Lombard invasion, all called for urgent attention, while in

Any topic you think is good for my paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Any topic you think is good for my paper - Essay Example I posit that natural-supernatural distinction exists in all cultures. All religions including Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists among others believe in a supreme being, which they call God. It is simple to see that cultures attach more power in supernatural. They believe that the natural comes and is influenced by the supernatural. Therefore, they have a clear distinction between natural and supernatural. In addition, all cultures around the world have their own supernatural beliefs. It is hard to find a culture that does not have cultural beliefs, which are based on supernatural beings. However, it is important to note that different cultures have different ways in which they express their supernatural beliefs. In my opinion, natural-supernatural distinction exists in all cultures. The only difference is that different cultures have different ways in which they relate with natural and the supernatural. In addition, natural-supernatural distinction is relative. This is because what may appear as supernatural to one culture may not be supernatural to another culture. However, natural-supernatural distinction does indeed exist in all

Compare and Contrast the Culture, Mission, and Vision of Profit and Research Paper

Compare and Contrast the Culture, Mission, and Vision of Profit and Nonprofit Organizations - Research Paper Example In cash basis accounting method financial information is recorded according to real time cash flow. Again under the accrual basis system, revenue is recorded when it is earned rather that when the payment is received. Profitable organizations maintain their financial records by following a standard accounting system but this system may not be followed by a non profitable organization as their nature of work is different than the profitable organization. In this regard this can be said that both types of organization will never follow similar type of accounting method for the business activities. This report will compare and contrast the accounting methods which are applied in profitable and non profitable organization. The accountants of one profitable and one non profitable organization are providing the information about the accounting standard followed by those companies in their interview session. Here the profitable organization is Apple Inc which is an American multinational co mpany which manufactures computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers and online services. The example of non profitable organization is Virginia Community Capital, Inc. It is a nonprofit banking entity and community development financial institution. This organization provides innovative investment solutions and loan for economic developmental projects and affordable housing in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Huge differences can be observed in case of accounting system for nonprofit and profitable organization. In case of profitable organization this can be said that this kind of business has started for providing benefits to the business owners and shareholders of the company. For this reason profit is one of the major goals of these businesses and company has to pay tax on the amount of profit. But in case nonprofit organization this can be

Why are many countries in Africa described as weak states Essay

Why are many countries in Africa described as weak states - Essay Example table political institutions; ensuring security for their populations from violent conflict and maintaining their territory; and meeting the basic human needs of their populations. State effectiveness in delivering on these four critical dimensions, is the main criterion for measurement. A state’s strength or weakness is a function of its effectivenes, responsiveness, and legitimacy across a range of government activities. Many countries in Africa are described as weak states. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the world’s highest concentration of weak and failed states. Weak states are defined as having a prevalence of structural inequality, which consist of economic differentiation, cultural or social inequality and political inequality (Atiku-Abubakar & Shaw-Taylor, 2003: 168). Weak states are unable or unwilling to provide essential public services which include supporting equitable and sustainable economic growth, legitimate governance, ensuring physical security and provision of basic services. To evaluate state capacity in each core area of state responsibility, policy makers and scholars resort to a host of adjectives: weak, fragile, failing, failed and even collapsed, to distinguish between countries suffering from a wide variety of capacity gaps (Rice & Patrick, 2008: 5). The degree of effectiveness of the delivery of the most crucial political goods distinguish strong states from weak ones, and weak ones from failed or collapsed ones. The hierarchy of political goods have security, especially human security at the apex, followed by the provision of law and order, free and open political participation, medical care, educational facilities, physical and social infrastructure, in that order (Rotberg, 2004: 4). State failure is a long-term and multidimensional process whereby state collapse is the distinctive endpoint of this process. The two dimensions to state failure are: the loss of legitimacy which is the gradual decline of the authority of

Reflective Essay On Patient Encounters Using Gibbs Cycle Nursing Essay

Reflective Essay On Patient Encounters Using Gibbs Cycle Nursing Essay In this essay, I will reflect upon a experience which I had with a patient using the Gibbs cycle of reflection (Gibbs, 1998) to help to signpost my answer and help the reader to read this essay with ease. Description of the event: During my clinical placement I have encountered a number of patients, each one possessing a unique personality thereby required a slight adaptation of my professional behaviour in order to communicate most effectively with each individual. During one particular placement within my allocated hospital, I encountered a patient who was younger than the patients that I had previous met and conversed with over the previous months. The patient, aged 3 months, attended the clinic with his father regarding his physiotherapy for his Cystic Fibrosis (CF). I was asked to carry out a subjective assessment of the patient however, the setting of this encounter was rather different from the set-up which had been used in the past, and although I had seen patients who were younger in the past, this patient was different as it rapidly became apparent that he had been brought by his father who was unable to speak fluent English and was also unable to understand much English at all. In the normal situation with young patients, due to the patients young age and the presence of her father, it would be typical to direct most of the questioning towards the patients parents or guardian with whom they attended rather than at the patient himself, despite the necessary inclusion of the patient in the discussion wherever possible. I would then physically assess the patient. However, in this setting, it was very difficult to ask any questions to both the patient or to their parent and instead, most of the information about the health of the patient and their physiotherapeutic interventions which they required was gained from the examination of the patient and not from any information which they provided. Feelings: Upon reflection, I feel that although, at first the situation did both feel and appear new and challenging, my ability to communicate with the client was not helped by the fact that I was unable to think of a new way to phrase the questions, which I had. In addition, the patients father kept looking at the trained physiotherapist (my mentor) for reassurance and guidance with the language being used and thus, this made me also look towards my mentor for help. When my mentor took over the line of questioning, and the conduction of the assessment, his approach was to ask the patients the questions in a loud and slow voice. This appeared to aid the patients fathers understanding greatly. I felt, at this point however, that I had let myself and the mentor down, as I was unable to conduct the procedures which I was expecting to and I also felt that I had let the patient down, through my inability to communicate effectively with them. When examining the patient, my tutor made sure that he looked at the patients father at all times when speaking and also that he used body language to highlight the meaning of what he was saying also. This again, helped the patients father to understand the meaning of what was being carried out and what was being said. Visual aids were also used to ensure that the patients father understood. For example, when my tutor was asking whether the patient had taken his antibiotics for his CF and what physiotherapy he thought his child required. When asking such questions, he pointed to a prescription on his desk, which helped the father to understand what was being said. This clearly made the difference between the patient not understanding what was being said to gaining an appropriate understanding and being able to answer the questions properly and accordingly. Evaluation: From this experience I also learnt that in the case of younger patients, particularly babies, it is important to be able to talk to the parents, as the patient themselves would be unable to provide information. This is because when a child has a condition such as CF, it is regularly the parents who will be worried and concerned about this and additionally; it is the parents who deal with the physiotherapy and the treatments, which the child receives. Additionally, it will be the parents of the child who will manage the symptoms that their child has, and conduct the physiotherapeutic interventions on the child until they come of age where this can be continued by the child. In the case of the patient who was not fluent in speaking English, I have noted the importance of speaking both loudly, and slowly and using all the different sorts of body language possible in order to ensure that the patients parents were put at ease and were able to comprehend the questions, which we re being asked. Analysis: My experience has taught me that in order to improve my communication skills with patients of different languages, I will need to increase my interaction with a range of patients with different native languages and those who are not fluent in speaking English. This will most likely be achieved through increased exposure to patients within my clinical placement and I will try to ensure that I increase my exposure to individuals of a variety of nationalities wherever possible within my placements. Meeting this patient and his father also highlighted the requirement to adapt not only the language used when asking questions, but also the language tone and the nature of my body language used throughout the assessment. Conclusion: In conclusion, due to the presence of both the patient (the baby) and his father, not only did this patient encounter bring with it the challenge of the language barrier, but it also brought the experience of needing to integrate multiple people into a conversation without loosing the flow of the conversation. For example, it was clear that there was a need to build a rapport with the patient themselves, despite their young age, in order to put them at ease during their physical, physiological examination. This is important for physiotherapists to establish a good patient rapport, especially with children, in order to make physical assessment easier. This was clear because when the patient first entered the room, he was looking around the room and not smiling very frequently. After being within our company for a small amount of time, and after I had smiled at the patient and looked at him to engage him when speaking to his father it was clear that he felt much more relaxe d and comfortable as he began to smile and look at us when we were talking. He was less interested in his surroundings and appeared to be much more at ease. Action plan: The experience also showed that I must work on my communication skills and my coping strategies in different clinical situations. Thus, in the future, I aim to increase my level of exposure to patients of all ages by attending a variety of physiotherapy clinics and talking to patients. This should help in the development of such skills and make experiences such as this, much easier to manage effectively.

African Creation Stories :: African Culture Creation Tales Essays

African Creation Stories Since the beginning of humankind, there has been one common thread that ties together all cultures and religions of the world: an attempt to explain their origins. this holds true for the numerous religious groups existing on the African continent. In the absence of science, they resorted to creating stories to account for what they did not and could not understand. While similar in their basic design and theory, these stories varies greatly in their content and meaning. By studying them, much can be learned about the African people of the present and past. The Shilluks of the Nile region, for example, tell a story in which humankind is fashioned out of clay. In each region of the world in which the creator traveled, he created humans from the materials available, making some white, others red or brown, and the Shilluk black. He then took a piece of earth and gave them arms, eyes, etc. This story says much about their values and culture. In distributing the characteristics to man, he chose first to give them the ability to do work through the use of their arms and legs. They were then given the ability to see and taste their food. Finally, they were given speech and hearing with which to entertain oneself ("An African Story"). This shows the value system at work among the Shilluk, that work comes above all else. It also attempts to explain the differences between men of various races by telling of how they came about. A West African creation tale explains how two spirit people were accidentally sent down to earth by the sky god. Lonely, the people decided to create children from clay, but feel they must hide them when the sky god comes down. Because they are hidden in fire, the children soon turn to various shades based on how long they had been exposed to the heat. Over time, these clay children grow up and move to various regions of the earth, ultimately populating it (Fader). Much like that of the Shillu k people, this story serves a two-fold purpose: it explains both the creation of man as well as accounts for the differences among him. This tale shows the West Africans value these differences because they feel that all men are created equal and should be treated as such. The Boshongo, a central Bantu tribe of the Lunda Cluster, tell a different story.