Recruitment and Selection Strategies in HRM

Recruitment and Selection Strategies in HRM Strategies are made according to objectives of an organization. These are set of activities towards objectives. Corporate objectives These are the statement of intent that basically provides a firm direction for the activities an organization performs in the pursuit of its mission. Usually in organizations there is confusion and overlapping between the terms, objectives and the company goals. This confusion is easy o solve only if the company tends to think of the objectives as a statement of intents and the goals as the quantifiable targets. Sales Strategies Sales strategy can be defined as the planned approach to the account management policy formation, prospect identification and qualification, sales presentation, and order generation aimed at achieving a firms sales quotas or targets. Following are sales strategy Objectives: Helps in improving client loyalty Increases the closeting ratio by knowing clients hot buttons Helps in shorting the sales cycle with outside recommendations. Proper sales strategy helps in offering best solutions to outsell the competitors Helps in targeting and penetrating the most promising and profitable sectors and markets Helps in refining and maximizing the competitive advantage and product differentiation to increase the market margin and share. Helps in establishing a specific plan to strengthen and enhance the lead generation  source: (Businessdictionary) P-9: Devise appropriate recruitment and selection procedures. Recruitment: It is the process of attracting, screening and selection qualified people for the Job. Selection process: Screening Applicants Read all applications submitted. The selection of the top candidates for interviewing must be based on the Job Description and specifications. New criteria cannot be introduced to assess the candidates at this stage as it would be unfair. It is the responsibility of the persons conducting the interviews to complete the short-listing and to ensure the process remains free of unlawful discrimination. If a committee is used, the entire committee should agree on the short list. If a committee is not used, it is desirable that a second person also participate in the short-listing process. The criteria used to select the top candidates and all appropriate notes must be returned to Human Resources and Employee Development for filing and are retained for a period of 6 months. It is good practice that all employees that apply for a position within their department be interviewed. Former employees who have been dismissed for misconduct cannot be considered for appointment. Former employees who have since retired must meet certain qualifications due to their retirement status. If there is a question about whether an applicant can or cannot be considered contact Human Resources and Employee Development. Arranging the Interview The persons responsible for the interviews is responsible for scheduling dates and times for interviews directly with the short listed candidates and notifying the candidates of any selection tests that will be used. Federal law prohibits certain questions in an employment interview and the application for employment has been developed to comply with Federal guidelines. Examples of such illegal questions might refer to the applicants age, disability, religion, ages of children, etc. Interviewing guidelines are provided to the employing department upon referral of applications. To assure consistent treatment of each applicant, a patterned interview might be developed by the department. Such might include specific questions of job related functions, skills required, and how the applicants educational background, previous experience, etc. might be useful in the position if selected for employment. The Interview The purpose of interviewing is to appoint the best person for the job based solely on merit and suitability. The Valdosta State University recruitment and selection process achieves this using methods that are systematic, thorough, fair, unbiased and based on rational, objective, job related criteria. At the interview, each candidate should be treated consistently. To achieve this the panel should: Ask the same initial questions of each candidate Supplement their understanding of the candidates responses by following up questions as appropriate Be consistent in allowing access to presentation material, notes and so on Not allow any discriminatory questions, harassment, or any other conduct which breaches the equal opportunities policy or code of conduct Ensure that in the case of disabled candidates, the necessity for any reasonable adjustments that would be required on the job are explored in a positive manner. Assessment of disabled candidates should be based on their expected performance in the job, given that any reasonable adjustment required was provided. Keep in mind that information obtained throughout the selection process is treated as confidential and is known only to parties involved in the selection process Keep records of interviews and the reasons for decisions each question should receive a grade, and a grade for overall impression. The candidates will be ranked from highest to lowest based on the scores given and the position negotiated or offered to the highest ranking candidate. The scoring sheets and all documentation of the interviews must be given to Human Resources and Employee Development for filing Panel members must be aware that it is their responsibility to ensure recruitment/interview documentation is stored securely and confidentially whilst in their possession. Selection Tests Where selection tests are a valid method of assessing a candidate (i.e. effectively measures the job criteria, is relevant, reliable, fair and unbiased also considering the predictive capacities of tests), they are an extremely useful tool and are recommended for use. Supervisors should seek advice from Human Resources and Employee Development on the use of such tests. Hiring Decision In selecting the successful candidate, the panel must make a decision based on the merit and eligibility of the candidates as judged by: Content of application and qualifications Performance at Interview Outcome of any selection tests Reference Checks As part of assessing the merit of each candidate, persons selecting candidates must satisfy themselves that the information the candidate gives is authentic, consistent and honest. This includes being satisfied about information regarding the candidates: application work history qualifications (where a qualification is a requirement, supporting evidence or certification must be obtained from the candidate and recorded) evidence presented at interview Reference checks; references must be called and information recorded for the file a) Identify yourself immediately, explain your position within the organization and tell the person why you are calling about the applicant. b) Ensure confidentiality c) Ask if he or she is free to discuss the situation d) Try to establish rapport e) Tell the person the position the candidate is being considered for f) Let the person talk feely g) Ask the references the same questions for each of your candidates h) Always end the call with: would you rehire this person? Should any of these not meet the required standards, Human Resources and Employee Development must discuss the issue with the Supervisor/Director. Use the Employment Reference Check and Education Verification form located in Appendix 10 and Appendix 11. Criminal Background Checks. In an effort to provide a safe and secure workplace, to comply with Board of Regents Policy and to minimize the potential litigation associated with negligent hiring processes, Valdosta State University will require background checks on the top two candidates for the position. Employment shall be conditioned upon the execution of a consent form for criminal record disclosure and upon consideration of ones criminal history. The Valdosta State University Police Department, upon receipt of the Consent to Criminal History Release Form, shall conduct the background check and report results to the Department of Human Resources. The department will notify the applicants whose criminal history report prevents their employment. The applicant can be referred to Human Resources and Employee Development if they have questions on the process The applicant is allowed seven calendar days to initiate corrective action of any inaccurate report. Proof of an error in reporting shall not disqualify the applicant and the position will not be filled until this time period has expired. If no action is initiated, and if the report is factual, the hiring department may resume the employment process. P-10: Evaluate the role of motivation, remuneration and training in enhancing sales performance. Role of Motivation in sales performance. Whether you are a sales person or someone in a position who manages sales people, you need to know the importance of motivation. Although many it would be great to just hire self motivated people who dont need any help from you to take action and make sales, you need to realize that sales is a tough job and that there are people who can really become great at it with some encouragement. Being in sales can either pay you very well or can make you go broke. The better you are at sales, the more money you will make. So where does motivation come into play? Well, the main reason that most people dont like sales is because of having to deal with rejection. No one likes to be rejected but if youre in a sale, thats all part of the game. The more rejections you get, the closer to a sale you will be. Now just because you expect your sales people or yourself to go out there and make those sales calls like a machine, it doesnt mean motivation should be neglected. If you are a sales person, take the time to read and listen to motivation material. By doing this, you will constantly be feeding your mind with positive and encouraging thoughts that will help you get through those days where everyone prospect seems to be in a bad mood. For sales managers, providing your team with motivation is critical. Just look in the world of sports. Those athletes are the best in the world at what they do yet when they are losing and feeling discouraged, a simple pep talk from their coach can fire them up to the point to turn the game around. This same thing can be used on your sales people to help them see more of themselves instead of beating themselves up mentality for not making as many sales. Motivation is important because it causes people to take action. Without action, nothing happens. The key to achieve any goal is to take action. The more action you take, the closer to your goals you will be. In order to continually take action, you will need to come up with ways to motivate yourself to do what you need to do everyday in order to reach those goals. So whether you need to motivate yourself or your team, motivation plays an extremely important role in building success. Source (Wikipedia) Role of Remuneration in Sales Performance Remuneration is wages or salary, typically money that is paid for services rendered as an employee. How do you decide what remuneration packages to adopt? How do you ensure that your Remuneration packages incentives and motivate the right people? How do you make sure that the amount of pay helps your staff with their lifestyle requirements? These questions are vital ones to anybody trying to run a sales team or customer service team, when you have a look at how you can actually reward personal effort as well as maintain service. In looking at any remuneration package, its worthwhile to consider a set of scales. In any job description, there is an opportunity to analyze the work required into service aspects whereby these things have to be done to maintain the client, or maintain the client relationship, such as receiving orders, implementing orders, handling queries, general items of customer service, and also perhaps even merchandising or helping with displays, as well as ensuring that stock levels are adequate, these can be called service areas or service responsibilities. On the other hand, a sales person or customer service representative could influence the  value of the sale through their personal sales skills, personality, and training, to either make the sale happen, add value to the sale, or sell some specific items that are on special or on bonus, at the point of communication, either by phone, by web, or face-to-face. This particular activity is known as personal contribution. A relatively easy formula to follow is by adopting the scales of remuneration, you can then analyze the input from the people involved. If there is high service requirements and service levels in the performance of the job, and little opportunity to add personal influence, then a wages or base salary system will be the most cost efficient to make the results work. If there is a high personal input, whereby the sales person can strongly influence the amount of the sale or the profitability of the sale, then you can reward that personal effort by special commissions, sha re of profits, special incentives, and special rewards, for the sales as they occur after the event, and lessen the base salary or wages that need to be paid by increasing the risk factor, which of course the personal touch will overcome. Role of Training in Sales Performance The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of technology (also known as technical colleges or polytechnics). In addition to the basic training required for a trade, occupation or profession, observers of the labor-market recognize today [update] the need to continue training beyond initial qualifications: to maintain, upgrade and update skills throughout working life. People within many professions and occupations may refer to this sort of training as professional development. Source (Wikipedia) P-11: Describe two techniques used to co-ordinate and control sales output. Sales out put control Outputs can be triggered manually or automatically in the sales document. Automatic determination requires maintenance of output condition record. Print programs and layout sets control content which Should be displayed in the output. controls output determination using condition   Technique. Output determination procedure is determined on the basis of sales document type (sales order type, delivery type, billing type). Standard output determination procedure for sales order (OR), Delivery (LF) and Billing (F2) is V100000. Output procedure contains output types, which can be processed when that sales document is created. One document can have Output types like Delivery note and Packing list in delivery. Output controls Medium (Like Print, Fax, EDI) Time of sending the output -e.g. immediately or in a batch Which partner function of Business partner it can be sent Language Criteria for which output condition record can be maintained for automatic output determination It offers flexibility of changing the key controls in the Sales documents. Example If order confirmation for a customer is scheduled to be printed in a batch but the customer wants it immediately then time of dispatch control can be changed in the sales order. P-12: Use given information to recommend appropriate organization structures and procedures. Team One of the newest organizational structures developed in the 20th century is team. In small businesses, the team structure can define the entire organization. Teams can be both horizontal and vertical. While an organization is constituted as a set of people who synergize individual competencies to achieve newer dimensions, the quality of organizational structure revolves around the competencies of teams in totality. For example, every one of the Whole Foods Market stores, the largest natural-foods grocer in the US developing a focused strategy, is an autonomous profit centre composed of an average of 10 self-managed teams, while team leaders in each store and each region are also a team. Larger bureaucratic organizations can benefit from the flexibility of teams as well. Functional structure Employees within the functional divisions of an organization tend to perform a specialized set of tasks, for instance the engineering department would be staffed only with software engineers. This leads to operational efficiencies within that group. However it could also lead to a lack of communication between the functional groups within an organization, making the organization slow and inflexible. As a whole, a functional organization is best suited as a producer of standardized goods and services at large volume and low cost. Coordination and specialization of tasks are centralized in a functional structure, which makes producing a limited amount of products or services efficient and predictable. Moreover, efficiencies can further be realized as functional organizations integrate their activities vertically so that products are sold and distributed quickly and at low cost .For instance, a small business could start making the components it requires for production of its products instead of procuring it from an external organization. But not only beneficial for organization but also for employees faiths. P-13: Identify and give three examples of the differences in the nature of sales tasks and skills in a variety of context. Sales Skills Effective communication Ability to listen Ask revelent questions Problem solver Well-organized Self starter and self finisher Positive self image. Well mannered and courteous Naturally Persuasive Person of Integrity Sales Task Specified amount of sales that a management sets for achieving or exceeding within a specified timeframe, and allocates required resources. Sales targets are apportioned among different sales-units such as salespersons, franchisees, distributors, agents, etc. Three Types of Sales Task Personal Sales Task A salesman of Jazz has to sell 100 connections/Sims per week Team Sales Task Peshawar region has to sellout 2000 connections in a month Organizational Sales Task Ufone has to cover 5 cities per year. P-14: Explain the role of sales staff operating in an international environment. International sales staff have very important role in an organization. To improve firms image To improve brand image Bring International talent to domestic market Bring new Ideas and knowledge Create good relationship between nations To integrate the different cultures Brining International harmony while working with different people of the world Bringing new skills and talents With all above international sales staff is the sign of Globalization. P-15: Explain the purpose of trade fairs and evaluate their contributions. Trade fair A trade fair (trade show or expo) is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities. In contrast to consumer fairs, only some trade fairs are open to the public, while others can only be attended by company representatives (members of the trade, e.g. professionals) and members of the press, therefore trade shows are classified as either Public or Trade Only. Purpose of Trade Fairs Generating sales leads Generating actual sales at the show Enhancing your image and visibility Reaching a specific audience Establishing a presence in the marketplace Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing efforts Personally meeting your customers, competitors and suppliers Prospecting for new customers Introducing new products and services Demonstrating your product in ways not possible using other marketing channels Recruiting distributors or dealers Educating your target audience. Contribution of trade fairs to Firms Establish meaningful goals, masterfully plan your strategy, and measure your return on investment. Implement powerful marketing initiatives before, during, and after the event that engage potential buyers and generate sales. Choose the best exhibit display booth that meets your marketing needs and budgetary requirements. This includes evaluating different sizes, designs, and configurations of trade show displays. Identify the most effective graphic elements for your exhibit that portray your key messages and fulfill your brand communications needs. This includes establishing design parameters for banners, custom exhibition stands, brochures, and other materials. Learn about unique and appealing booth ideas that create buzz on the exhibition floor and attract visitors to your trade show display area. Effectively use exhibit accessories, signage and lighting techniques to heighten visibility. This includes selecting quality booth materials, high-impact portable display boards and booth fixtures that support your brand positioning. Select cost-effective giveaways and promotional products that have high-perceived value among your target prospects and complement your company image. Ensure team members who are staffing your booth project a professional appearance and are well-trained to represent your company, generate leads, and secure sales. source: (Businessdictionary) M-4: Evaluate the recruitment and selection procedure of the selected organization. Recruitment at Ufone Before recruiting a new employee, management checks whether there is a need to hire a new employee for that particular job or whether it can be incorporated into an existing employees job. Recruitment in Ufone may be of internal or external nature. Internal Recruitment In the case of internal recruitment people from within the organization are promoted to fill the vacant vacancy. The HR department and the relevant department in which the vacancy exists, analyze whether there an employee within the organization exists, who most appropriately meets the requirements of the particular vacancy. If more then one employee is eligible for the vacancy; then that employee is chosen who has the most outstanding record. After the promotion the employee may be sent for further training. The effect of internal vacancy is that it motivates the employee to perform their best and produce maximum output. It also creates a healthy competition amongst the employees. The hiring from within may have a trickle down effect i.e. the opportunities spring not just from the first vacancy but from the vacancy created when a person in the company fills that vacancy. External Recruitment If the organization feels that none of their current employees can fill out the new vacancy then they hire from external sources. In this case the human resource management considers other departments in the organization that might be interested in the appointment in order to make it a joint effort. They talk to relevant supervisors and especially to the people the new person will work with. A set of expert panelists is then selected from each relevant department to interview applicants Direct Applicants Ufone maintains a data base system i.e. HRMS (Human resource management system) for its internal employees as well as the employees which they will recruit in near future. In some case certain some people just drop their CVs at the head office. And whenever there is an opening or a vacancy occurs, the organization may call them for an interview. Referrals By advertising a post internally Ufone gains an added benefit, which is; the current employees may pass the information on to any interested friends and relations. Word of mouth is also a valuable recruitment method for them and they draw on all appropriate contacts they have Advertisements Since most of the posts are of a specialist nature, they intend on advertising in the journals of professional bodies and the trade press. Their next step is to find out how much adverts cost for varying amount of space and decide what they can afford. The HR management has hired the services of Interflow, an advertising agency, to propagate their service and company for them. They are also using the services of a web designer, Eveready media, to post the advertisement of the company on the Internet. Private Employment Agency The private Recruiting agencies collect information from unemployed as well as employed people about their skills and experiences. These agencies attempt to find some one suitable using its computerized inventory database of suitable individuals. These agencies charge Ufone for the referrals. Through Vendors (Outsourcing) Ufone also do outsourcing for the purpose of recruitment they hire firm, which will provide employee Ufone to work in the organization, but the employee will remain employee of that firm not Ufone, and this is the most common method followed by most of organization these days. Lower management at Ufone is comes through outsourcing. Electronic Recruiting The growth of information superhighway has opened up new vistas for organizations trying to recruit talent. Ufone is make full fledge use of this new technology, and it uses its own web page to advertise for new job openings. Another aspect of the electronic recruiting is that individuals dont have to physically go to the head office to drop their CVs. They now can simply use the e-CV format provided by Ufone on its home page. The e-CV is then transferred to the relevant database or the HR department. Recruitment Procedure The HR management decides on the length of the short-list, which includes five or six people at the most. Following the advert they need help to sift through the applications. Everything is computerized and on-line which makes it easier to handle large numbers of replies. In case they run short of time, they get the help of other staff, supervisors and managers in the organization. Apart from the question of time, they do this to get second opinions. They look out for the following when reading an application: How well-matched is the candidate to the requirements Any unexplained employment gaps The quality of presentation How tailored the reply is to the particular job and Ufone as an organization. Replying To Candidates The candidates that do not match the job are contacted as quickly as possible and dealt with courteously since the HR management believes in the philosophy that these people, and their relatives and friends, may be future customers or acquaintances of potential, future applicants. Those that match the job are called over to undertake an on-line evaluation test. Scheduling Interview The candidates that pass the on-line evaluation test are then called for interviews. A date and a time are arranged and the candidate appears for the interview. The questions of this interview are designed especially for gauging the personality and ability of the candidate. Screening Process The results are screened by a set of panelists in order to minimize chances of error in selecting the candidates. The HR management sometimes keeps a small number of candidates in reserve. M-5 : Highlight the motivating factors being used by the selected organization also determine the remuneration and training programs used by the organization for enhancing sales performance. Training at Ufone Training Development involves improving the knowledge, skills and abilities of the individuals. A continuous training is conducted inside Ufone to improve the performance of the employee. There are two types of trainings conducted at Ufone: In-house Training External Training In-house training is customized training which is only for Ufone employees. External training is carried out through trainers in training institutes. Employees at Ufone are usually trained through Rameez Allahwalla (in  Karachi), Possibilities and Intec (two well-known training institutes). Before training Training Need Analysis (TNA) is conducted by the manager  of the department. And after the training feedback from the employee is  taken. Motivating Factors at Ufone A very effective way to retain an employee is to give him compensation Benefits and Motivating factors at Ufone which is mentioned below: Medical Facility to employee and his/her parents Paid Vacations Food Allowance Trips Promotion on Performance Remuneration at Ufone There are about 150 employees who are working in the Ufone Head Office and 1500 employees serving nationwide. All of them are very devoted as they are given a wonderful learning environment to work, pay offered to them is also very attractive and ample chance of progress motivates them to work more. The job analysis is done on targets assigned and daily routines. The employees are indeed very satisfied and motivated. Ufone is basically equal employment opportunity organization. Almost 70% of its employees are male and 30% are female. The job description of each and every employee is predefined. Performance appraisal is done on annual basis. Average age of Ufone employee is 32 years. This shows that they prefer young and energetic people for their middle and lower level management. High profile well experienced persons are considered for top level management. Average Salary is 12000 for a Ufone employee. Salaries are increased as the federal government of Pakistan announced the percentage. M-7: Compare the sales tasks and skills being used by the two selected organization. Ufone Sales Task Skills: Successful companies have long known that a well-trained, highly motivated and efficiently connected field force is critical to their continued growth and success. Ufone realized that to stay ahead of the competition, they must replace traditional paper based systems with mobile solutions that enable access to key information directly from the field. Today, Ufones sales team is armed with Psion Teklogix WORKABOUT PRO hand-held with GPRS and a software application built on the Microsoft CE Framework; the team retrieves data from the companys accounting stock system through an Oracle database and uploads new data in the same manner. Known internally as U SFA (Ufone Sales Force Automation), this application allows sales staff to create orders, add details, fill in electronic outlet cards,

Loss and Gain of the Reformation Essay

During and following the Protestant Reformation, an innumerable measure of dignitaries lost, as well as gained a great deal due to the Reformation. Dignitaries or authority figures during this time period consisted of highly ranked members of the Church and Government. As a result of this 16th century movement, both were affected negatively and positively. The authority figure that lost the most was the Pope. It was established that the Bible held more authority than the Church in the 1400’s by John Wycliffe of England and Jan Hus of Bohemia. Furthermore, they taught that the pope did not have the right to worldly power. At the start of the Reformation, many political leaders questioned his control and power. New ideas from the Renaissance had begun to challenge the Catholic Church. Individualism and secularism went against the Church’s beliefs. Not only did the pope lose all of his power, but the other church leaders did as well. When people didn’t believe in what the pope did, they founded new Christian churches that went against the pope’s decisions and wrongdoings. Consequently, the Pope and the rest of the catholic church’s leaders lost their authority and wealth. Just as the Catholic Church and the Pope lost a substantial amount of power and authority, the King and the Protestants gained what they lost. Since most people had nearly forgotten about Catholicism by now and reverted to Protestantism, the Protestant Church gained a lot of money through donations to reform the church past what had already been changed. Since the pope no longer ruled, it was left to the king to do what the pope no longer could. The king took control over the churches and established new churches, which they also regulated. Accordingly, the king gained the most out of the Reformation. As a result of the Reformation, the pope lost all of his power and the king gained it. There are vast differences from the beginning of the Reformation to its conclusion. If you were to look at the two periods in time, you would be able to tell how to pope went corrupt and how the king gained respect and held power over the churches.

Equal Protection in Criminal Punishment

Equal Protection in Criminal Punishment The 14th Amendment articulates that no State shall â€Å"deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws† (Sullivan and Gunther 486). It is nearly impossible though, for the equal treatment of all persons, since every law affects people differently. â€Å"This command cannot literally require equal treatment of all persons, since almost all laws classify in some way, by imposing burdens on or granting benefits to some people and not others† (Sullivan and Gunther 486).The Equal Protection Clause was meant for the application of all laws equally, not necessarily equal treatment of all people. There is a great difference in the two. The people most adversely affected by these iniquitous laws are mainly minorities and those from low socio-economic groups. The inequality in sentencings of the criminals is often the focal point of legal discussion. The most debatable topic when it comes to criminal punishment is the area surrounding the death penalty. It is often given unjustly and undeservingly to minorities.Race is the most controversial and monumental factor in determining the length and severity of a criminal’s punishment. Racial discrimination has been evident in our legal system in the past and continues to remain present to this day. Our court system has deprived minorities of their rights throughout the years. In Strauder v. West Virginia, the State excluded blacks from the jury. The State law stated that â€Å"all white male persons who are twenty-one years of age and who are citizens of this State shall be liable to serve as jurors† (Sullivan and Gunther 487).A black man facing trial in the 1800’s against an all white jury doesn’t stand a chance. The Court found that to deny citizen participation in the administration of justice solely on racial grounds â€Å"is practically a brand upon them, affixed by law; an assertion of their inferiority, and a stimulant to that race prejudice which is an impediment to securing to individuals of the race that equal justice which the law aims to secure to all others† (Sullivan and Gunther 487). This case was a major turning point in racial discrimination in our legal system.Minorities were starting to be seen as people, and not just objects. But at this time, we were still far from our goal of total equality among all people. In a more recent case, Swain v. Alabama, the Court held that a defendant in a criminal case is not constitutionally allowed to a balanced number of his race on the trial jury or the jury panel. There is no evidence in this case that the jury selection committee applied different jury selection standards as between blacks and whites (Swain v. Alabama, 380 U. S. 209, 1965). There may not be evidence, but it is quite obvious that there is an inequality here.How can a man facing a death penalty be put up against an all white jury during a time of racial tension? A f lawed system of selection of jury panels is not comparable to intended racial discrimination (Swain v. Alabama, 380 U. S. 209, 1965). Although the selection of an all white jury was not sought out, society during this time was racially divided. The principle announced in Strauder v. West Virginia, that a State denies a black defendant equal protection when it puts him on trial before a jury from which members of his race have been purposefully excluded, was reaffirmed in Batson v.Kentucky (Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 84). The Equal Protection Clause assures the defendant that the State will not prohibit members of his race from the jury venire on account of race, or on the inaccurate assumption that members of his race as a group are not eligible to serve as jurors. By denying a person participation in jury duty on the basis of his race, the State also unconstitutionally discriminates against the barred juror (Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 85). This inequality in the selection of jurors has damaged confidence in our legal system.The lack of confidence has in turn caused inequality in the sentencing of criminals, mostly dealing with minorities. There is no doubt that minorities receive harsher and longer sentences. â€Å"As of June 1998, only seven white men had been executed in the United States for killing black victims. In the same 1976-1998 period, 115 black men were executed for killing white victims† (Cole 132). These numbers prove that blacks have historically received harsher treatments than whites. This connects to the selection of juries. Juries have a great affect on the sentencing of criminals.A predominantly white jury is more than likely to convict a black man, than a predominantly black jury is. â€Å"Juries remain predominantly white in most of the country, and apparently their sympathies lie more strongly with white than black victims† (Cole 133). A large study conducted by Professors David Baldus, George Woodworth, and Charles Pulaski, showed that there was a large disparity in the racial breakdown of the death penalty. They found that defendants charged with killing white victims received the death penalty eleven times more often than defendants charged with killing black victims (Cole 133).The Equal Protection Clause was set out to protect from this indifference, but this clearly shows that it has not done so. Equal treatment of all people has yet to be achieved today and racial inequality is still ever-present. Criminal sentencing when it comes to blacks and whites is vastly different and unjust. The disproportion of sentences given to blacks and whites in dealing with drugs is ridiculous. First of all, the gap in sentencing when it comes to crack cocaine and powder cocaine is too big.Under federal sentencing guidelines, a small-time crack dealer caught selling 5 grams of crack receives the same prison sentence as a large-scale powder cocaine dealer convicted of distributing 500 grams of powder cocaine (Cole 142). To me, powder cocaine is just as dangerous and addicting as crack cocaine. The large gap in sentencings for the two offenses places a higher value on the danger level of crack, when in all actuality they are on the same level. The increase in policing of the low-level crack offenders has caused us to neglect the big drug traffickers.As it is, we already do not have enough federal law enforcement to police all the drug dealers out there. By paying more attention to the people with small amounts of crack cocaine, we are letting others get by with more powdered cocaine. This puts more powdered cocaine on the streets, because dealers are unafraid to receive the consequences since the pay-off to conviction rate is much more in their favor. An offender would receive a mandatory minimum of 10 years if they were to get caught with 5,000 grams of powdered cocaine, while a person would receive the same sentence for being caught with only 50 grams of crack cocaine.Crack cocaine is the only drug that carries a mandatory prison sentence for a first-time possession offense. A person convicted in federal court of simple possession of 5 grams of crack is subject to a mandatory five-year prison term while a person convicted of possessing 5 grams of powder will probably receive a probation sentence. To solve this problem, we need to bridge the gap between the two sentencings. Crack cocaine is the poor man’s powdered cocaine. The popularity of crack cocaine was associated with its cheap price, which for the first time made cocaine available to a wider economic class (thesentencingproject. rg). More than often, the biggest users of crack cocaine are people of lower social status. This in turn implicates that more crack cocaine users are African Americans. As a result of this, blacks are receiving more prison time when it comes to crack cocaine. African Americans make up one-third of crack cocaine users, with the other two-thirds being white and Hispanic (The D efenders Online). About 90 percent of federal crack cocaine defendants are black (Cole 142). African American drug defendants have a 20 percent greater chance of being sentenced to prison than white drug defendants (The Sentencing Project).Why is this the case? The legal system inadvertently targets blacks by placing higher sentences on crack cocaine offenses. A considerable racial disparity in prosecutions and imprisonment has endured for too long. Along with disproportionate law enforcement procedures that aim towards blacks, the crack sentencing guidelines have resulted in more than 80 percent of crack cocaine defendants being African American, although in all actuality, a majority of crack offenders are white or Hispanic (The Sentencing Project).With the punishment of crack cocaine so severe for low level offenses, the prison incarceration rate has risen, causing us as taxpayers more money. American prisons and jails house nearly two million people and Blacks face incarceration rates more than six times that of Whites (Schlesinger). The inequality in our justice system has caused more minorities to be locked up, which in result is a financial burden on the American taxpayers. By equalizing the gap in criminal sentencing for all races, we can solve the problems from within our legal system.The racial inequality that is present in our justice system also exists in the sentencing of the death penalty. There seems to be a consistent factor in those on death row. â€Å"Those being executed and awaiting their deaths are no different from those selected for execution in the past: virtually all were poor; about half are members of racial minorities; and the overwhelming majority where sentenced to death for crimes against white victims† (Bright 433). Over time, our legal system has placed a â€Å"small† value of importance on minorities and this was built upon, to where whites did not notice this inequality.There has to be some sort of factor that in fluences why there are more minorities on death row. A possible influence on the situation could be the fact that most prosecutors are white. â€Å"98 percent of all state death penalty state prosecutors are white and in eighteen of the thirty-eight death penalty states, prosecutors are exclusively white† (Free 187). White prosecutors may not knowingly have a racial bias in their head, but it is evident when they are trying to seek the death penalty. State courts were 4. 3 times more likely to sentence those who killed whites than those that killed blacks (Free 185).These same courts were 1. 1 times more likely to black defendants to death than any other defendant of another race (Free 185). While the state prosecutors are pressing for the death penalty, the defendant is supplied with an insufficient lawyer. The jury is more than likely to listen to the more qualified state prosecutor and be persuaded by what he has to say, over the under qualified attorney supplied by the st ate. This has resulted in more successful cases in favor of the state prosecutors. This reoccurring situation is ever-so-present in today’s legal system.Minorities are getting shafted in the American justice system and nothing is being done to prevent this from continuing to happen in the future. ‘All men are created equal†¦ ‘ may be what the Declaration of Independence says, but in all reality, some men receive better treatment than others. The actual reality of the Declaration of Independence is that all free, white, landowning men are created equal. For that reason, inequality has always been present in the United States' legal system and maintains to exist today; though, the inequality currently in the system is not as obvious as what it once was.We have made little progress towards total equality. Anywhere you look in today’s world, you can find some sort of inequality or injustice. I firmly believe we will always have a racial prejudice in the wo rld no matter what, because there will always be the people that can’t get over their racial indifferences. Although we will not fully achieve the goal of racially equality, we can make positive steps forward by first addressing the problems associated with in our justice system. Race is the largest influencing factor in the sentencing of criminals, especially when it comes o dealing with the death penalty. Works Cited Bright, Stephen B. â€Å"Discrimination, Death, and Denial: The Tolerance of Racial Discrimination in Infliction of the Death Penalty. † Santa Clara Law Review Vol. 35 (1995. ): 433. Free Jr. , Marvin D. Racial Issues in Criminal Justice: the Case of African Americans. Westport: Criminal Justice Press, 2004. 185,187. Schlesinger, Traci. â€Å"How Determinate Sentencing Contributed to the Prison Boom: The Failure of Race Neutral Policies†Ã‚  Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The Law and Society Association, Jul 06, 2006. ttp://www. allac ademic. com/meta/p94999_index. html â€Å"Sentencing disparity: Crack Cocaine v Powdered Cocaine. † The Defenders Online. 27 May 2009. 16 Dec. 2009. http://www. thedefendersonline. com/2009/05/27/sentencing-disparity-crack-cocaine-v-powder-cocaine/ Sullivan, Kathleen M. and Gerald Gunther. Constitutional Law: 16th Ed. New York: Foundation Press, 2007. The Sentencing Project: Research and Advocacy for Reform. â€Å"Federal Crack Cocaine Sentencing. † 13 December 2009. http://www. sentencingproject. org/doc/publications/dp_crack_sentencing. pdf

Short Story Critical Analysis Sample Essay on Miss Brill

After you have finished reading Miss Brill, by Katherine Mansfield, compare your response to the short story with the analysis offered in this sample critical essay. Next, compare Miss Brills Fragile Fantasy with another paper on the same topic, Poor, Pitiful Miss Brill. Miss Brills Fragile Fantasy In Miss Brill, Katherine Mansfield introduces readers to an uncommunicative and apparently simple-minded woman who eavesdrops on strangers, who imagines herself to be an actress in an absurd musical, and whose dearest friend in life appears to be a shabby fur stole. And yet we are encouraged neither to laugh at Miss Brill nor to dismiss her as a grotesque madwoman. Through Mansfields skillful handling of point of view, characterization, and plot development, Miss Brill comes across as a convincing character who evokes our sympathy. By telling the story from the third-person limited omniscient point of view, Mansfield allows us both to share Miss Brills perceptions and to recognize that those perceptions are highly romanticized. This dramatic irony is essential to our understanding of her character. Miss Brills view of the world on this Sunday afternoon in early autumn is a delightful one, and we are invited to share in her pleasure: the day so brilliantly fine, the children swooping and laughing, the band sounding louder and gayer than on previous Sundays. And yet, because the point of view is the third person (that is, told from the outside), were encouraged to look at Miss Brill herself as well as share her perceptions. What we see is a lonely woman sitting on a park bench. This dual perspective encourages us to view Miss Brill as someone who has resorted to fantasy (i.e., her romanticized perceptions) rather than self-pity (our view of her as a lonely person). Miss Brill reveals herself to us through her perceptions of the other people in the park--the other players in the company. Since she doesnt really know anyone, she characterizes these people by the clothes they wear (for example, a fine old man in a velvet coat, an Englishman wearing a dreadful Panama hat, little boys with big white silk bows under their chins), observing these costumes with the careful eye of a wardrobe mistress. They are performing for her benefit, she thinks, even though to us it appears that they (like the band which didnt care how it played if there werent any strangers present) are oblivious to her existence. Some of these characters are not very appealing: the silent couple beside her on the bench, the vain woman who chatters about the spectacles she should be wearing, the beautiful woman who throws away a bunch of violets as if theyd been poisoned, and the four girls who nearly knock over an old man (this last incident foreshadowing her own encounter with ca reless youths at the end of the story). Miss Brill is annoyed by some of these people, sympathetic toward others, but she reacts to them all as if they were characters on stage. Miss Brill appears to be too innocent and isolated from life to even comprehend human nastiness. But is she really so childlike, or is she, in fact, a kind of actress? There is one character whom Miss Brill appears to identify with--the woman wearing the ermine toque shed bought when her hair was yellow. The description of the shabby ermine and the womans hand as a tiny yellowish paw suggests that Miss Brill is making an unconscious link with herself. (Miss Brill would never use the word shabby to describe her own fur, though we know that it is.) The gentleman in gray is very rude to the woman: he blows smoke into her face and abandons her. Now, like Miss Brill herself, the ermine toque is alone. But to Miss Brill, this is all just a stage performance (with the band playing music that suits the scene), and the true nature of this curious encounter is never made clear to the reader. Could the woman be a prostitute? Possibly, but Miss Brill would never consider this. She has identified with the woman (perhaps because she herself knows what its like to be snubbed) in the same way that playgoers identify with certain stage characters. Could the woman h erself be playing a game? The ermine toque turned, raised her hand as though shed seen someone else, much nicer, just over there, and pattered away. The womans humiliation in this episode anticipates Miss Brills humiliation at the end of the story, but here the scene ends happily. We see that Miss Brill is living vicariously, not so much through the lives of others, but through their performances as Miss Brill interprets them. Ironically, it is with her own kind, the old people on the benches, that Miss Brill refuses to identify: They were odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though theyd just come from dark little rooms or even--even cupboards! But later in the story, as Miss Brills enthusiasm builds, were offered an important insight into her character: And then she too, she too, and the others on the benches--they would come in with a kind of accompaniment--something low, that scarcely rose or fell, something so beautiful--moving. Almost despite herself, it seems, she does identify with these marginal figures--these minor characters. The Complications of Miss Brill We suspect that Miss Brill may not be as simple-minded as she first appears. There are hints in the story that self-awareness (not to mention self-pity) is something Miss Brill avoids, not something of which she is incapable. In the first paragraph, she describes a feeling as light and sad; then she corrects this: no, not sad exactly--something gentle seemed to move in her bosom. And later in the afternoon, she again calls up this feeling of sadness, only to deny it, as she describes the music played by the band: And what they played warm, sunny, yet there was just a faint chill--a something, what was it--not sadness--no, not sadness--a something that made you want to sing. Mansfield suggests that sadness is just below the surface, something Miss Brill has suppressed. Similarly, Miss Brills queer, shy feeling when she tells her pupils how she spends her Sunday afternoons suggests a partial awareness, at least, that this is an admission of loneliness. Miss Brill appears to resist sadness by giving life to what she sees and  hears the brilliant colors noted throughout the story (contrasted to the little dark room she returns to at the end), her sensitive reactions to the music, her delight in small details. By refusing to accept the role of a lonely woman, she  is  an actress. More importantly, she is a dramatist, actively countering sadness and self-pity, and this evokes our sympathy, even our admiration. A chief reason that we feel such pity for Miss Brill at the end of the story is the sharp contrast with the liveliness and beauty  she  gave to that ordinary scene in the park. Are the other characters without illusions? Are they in any way better than Miss Brill? Finally, its the artful construction of the  plot  that leaves us feeling sympathetic toward Miss Brill. We are made to share her increasing excitement as she imagines that she is not only an observer but also a participant. No, we dont believe that the whole company will suddenly start singing and dancing, but we may feel that Miss Brill is on the verge of a more genuine kind of self-acceptance: her role in life is a minor one, but she has a role all the same. Our perspective of the scene is different from Miss Brills, but her enthusiasm is contagious and we are led to expect something momentous when the  two-star  players appear. The letdown is terrible. These giggling, thoughtless adolescents (themselves  putting on an act for each other) have insulted her fur--the emblem of her identity. So Miss Brill has no role to play after all. In Mansfields carefully controlled and understated conclusion, Miss Brill packs  herself  away in her little, dark room. We sympathize w ith her not because the truth hurts, but because she has been denied the simple truth that she does, indeed, have a role to play in life. Miss Brill is an actor, as are the other people in the park, as we all are in social situations. And we sympathize with her at the end of the story not because she is a pitiful, curious object but because she has been laughed off the stage, and that is a fear we all have. Mansfield has managed not so much to touch our hearts in any gushing, sentimental way, but to touch our fears.