Sunday, March 29, 2020

Analysis of Whirlpool

Abstract Change management is one of the topics in business, which have been accorded a wide range of coverage. This is mainly based on the fact that change management has been found to have a profound impact, with regard to the performance and future of any business organization around the world.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Analysis of Whirlpool specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Although it has been described by a host of authors and business experts, change management can generally be defined as a systematic shift from the current status of a business organization or an individual to a more desirable state. Even though this term exists, it has turned out to be ambiguous to some people based on the aspects, which it encompasses (Goldsmith Carter 2009). These aspects include but not limited to adaptation to change, control and implementation of change. Introduction This report gives an analysis of Whirlpool Corporation with regard to change management. It is divided into various segments to ensure that all aspects of change management, which relate to the firm, are addressed in a concise manner. For instance, the report will give a summary of the case, by featuring critical facts. Under this, the analysis will focus on specific change that was introduced by the company, together with factors, which triggered the adoption and implementation of the change. Besides this, the report will feature relevant change management issues, which are faced by the company. Under case analysis, appropriate change management models and theories will be applied by referring to authentic literature like books and journal articles. This will help in understanding the manner in which change at Whirlpool Corporation is being implemented and received. Home Appliance Industry The industry emerged in the early 20th century with a few home appliances like refrigerators, washing machines and temperature controlle d stoves among others. However, most of these appliances had an array of disadvantages as others like the refrigerator contained explosive substances. In addition, the Great Depression and World Wars experienced during the 20th century also affected the growth of the industry, as it picked up in early 1950s (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). Due to emerging technology, most home appliances became attractive, effective and cheaper as compared to earlier years. Through regulations, home appliances were designed based on energy saving principles. Additionally, they were environmental friendly through compliance of manufacturer with laid rules and regulations (Goldsmith Carter 2009). With regard to consumers, most of them had diverse tastes and preferences. However, some were influenced by residential constructors who fitted houses with home appliances, mostly obtained from companies with fair prices. Nevertheless, customers got involved in direct purchase of the products during replacemen t of worn-out appliances (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More During this time, most of them were influenced by their friends and media advertisements, with a few opting to get details online, even though the channel had not advanced as it is today. Customers were also interested in special features of particular appliances, say efficiency, energy saving, reliability and warranty among others. The industry has also experienced change in the manner in which products reach their customers in various parts of the world. This is based on the fact that the industry has continuously responded to changes, which take place within the market. For example, specialty stores were common in 1960s, accounting for more than fifty percent of home appliances that were being sold in the United States. Mass merchants included Sears, Montgomery Ward and J.C. Penney (R ivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). On the other hand, independent stores, became a diminishing channel as some of them became bankrupt, thus playing a less influential role in the market. It is also important to note that most stores adopted varying approaches in selling appliances. As a result, they offered different prices even though manufactures influenced retailers through incentives and sales promotions. Like in any other industry, home appliance industry has witnessed competition since 1940s. Manufacturers resolved to any means possible to outdo each other in the market. Mergers and acquisitions were common for the purpose of gaining dominance in the market. For instance, Whirlpool bought KitchenAid in 1986. As a result of this trend, 93% of home appliances were being manufactured by four companies in 1998. General Electric remained to be a major player in the market, serving up to twenty eight percent of the American market (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). Whirlpool Corporation Whir lpool Corporation is a multinational manufacturer of major appliances, based in Michigan, United States. The company has approximated annual revenue of $18.4 billion, more than seventy thousand workers and more than seventy centers around the world, which are involved in manufacturing and research. It has been noted that Whirlpool Corporation markets its products in almost every country around the world (Whirlpool Corporation 2012). The company was founded in the year 1911, and became the leading manufacturer of home appliances after surpassing Electrolux. Throughout its business history, Whirlpool Corporation has undergone tremendous transformation in order to fit in a competitive business world, which presents new challenges that have to be confronted.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Analysis of Whirlpool specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Due to these demands in the market, Whirlpool Corporation adopted change management attitude, which has consistently propelled it to become one of the leading companies in the world today (PENSKE 2012). As it shall be seen in the following segments of this report, certain factors have contributed to this trend. Anticipating the change Like many other companies around the world, Whirlpool Corporation experienced the need for change management even though there were hitches, which hampered these efforts. In 1998, the executive committee of the firm launched â€Å"Brand-Focused Value Creation,† which was aimed at shifting the company’s attention to the needs of customers. In essence, the company was headed towards delivering better solutions to its customers and increasing their loyalty to products, thus benefiting shareholders. However, this was not an easy task as the organization had to face an array of challenges (Whirlpool Corporation 2012). Forces against change It is important to note that by the time the executive committee of the fir m unveiled the â€Å"Brand-Focused Value Creation† strategy, similar change efforts had failed twice in 1987 and 1990. According to Dave Whitwam, the company had resisted being converted into branded organizations in 1987 before resisting the â€Å"Dominant Consumer Franchise† initiative in 1990. These efforts targeted customers as the management believed that customers found it hard to penetrate the organization (David Whitwam 2012). This was based on the fact that Whirlpool Corporation had concentrated on operations since it was an engineering-oriented company without paying attention to the need for marketing its products in a competitive business world. Although there was resistance with regard to customer needs and brands, Whirlpool Corporation experienced immense growth through globalization, quality improvement and cost reduction. However, in understanding this change management issues at Whirlpool Corporation, it is equally important to consider the business en vironment so as to identify some of the forces within the marketed which compelled Whirlpool to initiate change strategies. Forces for change As the Chief Executive Officer of Whirlpool, David Whitwam believed that there was need for the company to implement change management in order to thrive in the market (David Whitwam 2012). The following are some of the factors which contributed to this move:Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Globalization Whitwam noted that domestic competition, which existed and the entry of Electrolux were enough reasons to implement change at Whirlpool. The market was basically being dominated by Whirlpool, General Electric, Maytag and White Consolidated, which had been acquired by Electrolux (100 Years at a Glance 2012). As the chief strategist of the company, Whitwam was convinced that the industry was getting global, whether the players shifted their operations to a global scale or not. As a result, Whirlpool’s leadership consolidated efforts to redefine the company’s globalization ideas. Whirlpool adopted the â€Å"Reaching Worldwide to Bring Excellence Home,† a strategy that was to augment the presence of Whirlpool in major markets around the world. To enhance its presence in all markets around the world, Whirlpool kicked off by acquiring Philips in 1991, making it the largest manufacturer of home appliances in the United States and the second largest in the world. It further expanded to Asia, Europe and had a good relationship with Brazil (100 Years at a Glance 2012). y 1998, Whirlpool operated forty-four facilities in thirteen countries around the world. Although the company registered this major success, it also had a share of losses. It experienced stiff resistance in Europe, experienced a failed joint venture with a Chinese firm and incurred huge losses in Asia and Latin America. Whirlpool’s globalization strategy was not easy even in manufacturing. Due to existing differences in manufacturing practices and performance, products from different facilities around the world had variations (Goldsmith Carter 2009). As a result, the company spent most of its time and resources establishing a global operating platform. The company however remained aware of its competitors. It analyzed its competitors’ products as a way comparing the cost of production. As mentioned before, whirlpool produced a wide range of brands as a way of meeting the global market needs. In particular, four major brands were manufactured, which were: the Flagship, KitchenAid, Roper and Kenmore (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). To achieve this, it partnered with several distributing channels. For example, independent appliance channels specialized in Whirlpool and KitchenAid brands. Other channels included Sears, Lowe and Costco. However, Sears was given the highest priority among all the distributing channels. To achieve this target, the company required effective support functions. Its organization remained intact with a marketing team at all corporate headquarters. The company experienced a low turnover in the human resource department, with manageable costs in promotion, and research and development. The need of identifying and nurturing the values and culture was also paramount as Whirlpool scaled to higher levels of performance in the entire industry (Goldsmith Carter 2009). This was led by Nancy Snyder, who was serving as the director for organization and leadership change. The process was mainly done through workshops and trainings by managers, emphasizing four core values: respect, integrity, teamwork, and customer insight. Value creation was highly emphasized as the company took the path of brand. As a way of executing this, the executive committee launched the â€Å"Dominant Consumer Franchise,† whose main objective was to win the confidence of final consumers in choosing Whirlpool products. Through case studies, market surveys, and ethnographic studies, the company was able to develop customized products, which fitted the needs of different customers around the world. Above all, costs and quality were well checked in augmenting operational excellence (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). Task forces were established, which addressed employee pride, customer passion and shareholder performance. The findings of the task forces were synthesized as a way of understanding the kind of change that was rel evant to Whirlpool Corporation. It was found out that Whirlpool needed to produce innovative branded solutions in order to win the loyalty of its customers and command price premiums within the market. Change Process In order to spark change at Whirlpool, the executive committee initiated efforts, which had not been witnessed in the company’s history. The backbone of this was to emphasize on innovation throughout its operations and everywhere around the world. Gladiator GarageWorks was one of the innovative ideas (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). Others included Personal Valet and Inspired Chef. Since its introduction in 1998, the shift to adopt innovative operations picked slowly as managers assimilated it into their operations. Nevertheless, some managers confessed that they did not understand the Brand-Focused Value Creation strategy that had been proposed by the executive committee. The principle behind the strategy was to promote customer loyalty even though it wasn’ t clear how innovative operations would be incorporated on a global scale. Snyder and Whitwam found no conviction in some innovation ideas, which were being practiced by several companies. Some of these included the â€Å"great man† theory of innovation or the â€Å"skunkworks† theory. The challenge was therefore how to embed innovation in the organization as a change strategy. Starting the change Process As the vice president of innovations, Snyder was tasked with rolling out an innovation platform. This was launched simultaneously in three of Whirlpool’s largest markets: North America, Europe and Latin America. Training of managers and other individuals was crucial in ensuring that they understood the meaning of innovation and its projected impact in the future operations of the company. However, most people expressed uncertainty in the strategy. Innovation trainees were referred to as â€Å"I-Teams,† and were divided into three groups (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). The first I-Team took nine months before employees resumed their jobs, the second took an extra three months training while the last I-Team was converted into I-Consultants in order to teach the rest of the workforce about innovation. The innovation was also introduced to two hundred Whirlpool leaders who converged in Washington, D.C. in 2000 for an annual strategy conference. This gave the senior management a taste of the role of I-Teams in implementing change in the company. Other change strategies were adopted as Whitwam used senior leaders of the company to form I-Boards, whose main function was to support I-Teams in every region. Their support was to include setting of goals, allocation of duties and reviewing of innovation ideas (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). This approach seemed to work as I-Team geared towards their task. Methodologies were adopted, to help the company management in detaching from conventions of the industry, generate new business ideas and tra nsform ideas into opportunities. They emphasized the fact that consumers acquired appliances for functional and not emotional reasons. Resource Allocation As Whirlpool geared towards change management, it was clear in the minds of leaders that resources were needed in order to drive the company’s innovative agenda. As a result, the company allocated a total of $400 million to capital investment in 2001. This was shared to regional facilities where each received 10% of the allocation, which was to fund innovation-related capital investments. The amount was raised to 20% in 2002 (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). Knowledge management There was need to track innovation efforts and disseminate knowledge to other regions from I-Teams. This was initially done using I-Pipe software, which had been adopted from Strategos. The software showed the progress of innovation, by identifying the number of projects in four different stages, which included business concept, prototype, experiment a nd scale-up (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). The information was available to all innovation leaders through the internet and also to other employees of the company via the firm’s intranet. This was followed by the introduction of the Innovation E-Space, a suite that allowed online visitors to go through a tutorial on innovation, learn how to formulate an idea, interact with innovation mentors and share ideas with other employees through interaction. These efforts were aimed at managing knowledge at Whirlpool Corporation. The company hired a knowledge manager and ensured that every regional branch had a knowledge leader. Other change efforts Besides innovation, Whirlpool considered other efforts in supporting the Brand-Focused Value Creation strategy. For instance, labels on product families were adjusted to carry customer activities as opposed to product lines. These activities included food preparation, food preservation, and fabric care, as the efforts emphasized the Whirlpo ol brand. On the other hand, efforts to improve cost and quality in manufacturing operations were intensified. As a result, the firm continuously registered gains in total cost productivity (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). The price of Whirlpool products was also checked as a way of winning customers. Although the company had gained tremendously by the year 2001, David Whitwam saw it as the start of an unfinished journey. During that short span, Whirlpool had experienced growth and transformation like never before since Whitwam joined the company. Most frontline employees were full of energy as several change management strategies were implemented by the executive committee (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). The CEO was therefore concerned with the company’s middle management in the event of an economic recession since it was the most vulnerable phase of management. Brand Focus Even though there were several innovative efforts at Whirlpool during late 1990s, it was just among the e fforts, which the company had to implement in order to achieve the â€Å"Brand-Focused Value Creation† strategy. The sole purpose of this strategy was to develop unmatched levels of customer loyalty within the market. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that innovation was a critical enabler of the strategy as supported by Whitwam, when he served as the company’s CEO (David Whitwam 2012). Besides innovation, the company equally focused on the ability to establish deep insights about consumers, proper partnering with channel distributors and effective production of home appliances by improving quality levels around the world. Diagnosis While Whirlpool was seen to be doing well in terms of change management through I-Teams, there was great concern among senior leaders. Led by the CEO, David Whitwam and the innovation vice president Nancy Snyder, they felt that there was a disconnection between the teams’ efforts and Whirlpool’s existing brands. For instance, A ndrew Batson, the innovation vice president in North America noted that most I-Teams were working on things, which were considered to be outside the box like, garage organizers and exercise equipment. Additionally, the organization of most I-Teams was outside the brand structure (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). Based on the challenge pinpointed above, the company’s management had to roll out efforts to harmonize innovation with its brands. For instance, the â€Å"migration path† was adopted in order to identify target customers together with desired benefits. These were crucial in determining customer loyalty, regarding Whirlpool’s appliances in the market (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). The managers were also tasked with reflecting on what the company was going to offer in the future, regarding its brands, thus setting a progress pace for every attribute that was in consideration. The last aspect of the migration path was breaking the progress into discrete innova tions, which were necessary for the company to achieve its intended change management. As a result of the â€Å"migration path† efforts, innovation at Whirlpool was owned by brand management teams unlike previously when it was under individual I-Teams. These management teams comprised of I-Team alumni and other experts who had been trained through Strategos methodologies (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). Additionally, the company changed the nature of innovation projects to focus on existing business as opposed to concentrating on the company’s opportunities. Internal and External Alignment Embedment Efforts In the understanding of change management at Whirlpool Corporation, it is important to underscore the role played by Nancy Snyder in orchestrating the firm’s efforts to embed a capacity for innovation. As it shall be seen, these efforts were considered by Snyder as workable in her tough path of accomplishing the mission. Vision, goals, and rewards and recogniti on The backbone of embedment efforts was its vision dubbed, â€Å"innovation from everywhere and everyone.† In order to realize this, Snyder observed three layers of goal, which were: business-result goals, embedment goals and individual capability goals. Importantly, there was need to develop measurement and reporting systems whose function was to track the progress towards the above mentioned goals. Through the proposed tracking system, it was realized that progress towards business-results goals was complex to determine. This was based on the fact that the concept of innovation had infused itself more deeply in the organization, making it difficult to establish the scope of innovation impact to the organization. On the other hand, it was easier to track progress towards embedment goals. As noted by Snyder and her monitoring team, this was made possible because of the availability of embedment indicators like individual efforts, number of I-Consultants and I-Mentors and the frequency of I-Board meetings among others (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). Lastly, the intranet was essential in measuring progress towards individual capability goals. The track-team carried out random surveys on Whirlpool employees quarterly. In general, the respondents described their experience in the innovation process, which had been initiated by the company’s management in 1990s. They also reported on monthly time allocated to innovation and whether the innovation process had changed their job description. Having this level of change management, it was imperative for the company to adjust systems of reward and recognition to promote progress along these strategies (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). As a result, compensation packages for senior leaders reflected the achievements realized through innovation-related goals. Other bonuses were pegged on economic value, which had been realized and customer loyalty targets. Nonetheless, the management was quick to notice the inef ficiency of monetary incentives as compared to monetary ones. As a result, other options were considered, which included involvement in the dynamic team, job mobility, running of new businesses and visibility with senior leaders of the company. Leadership accountability and development For effective change management, it was made clear to the company leaders that they were responsible for innovation and its embedment as a capability. Individual managers were made accountable for certain tasks like defining innovation success while the executive leadership was accountable for the entire embedment process within the corporation. Importantly, accountability also reached other employees of the company through discussions, which were led by company leaders. Through these discussions, employees were encouraged to focus on long-term priorities, tolerate mistakes and new ideas, and mobility of employees (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). Notably, this proved difficult to several employees, incl uding those who seemed to be committed to embedment innovation. Change management impact As of 2004, the company had registered tremendous steps with regard to its innovative strategy. It had two hundred and fifty seven innovation projects around the world, tapped into its I-Pipe system. The company revenue had also increased, even as the leadership projected better results (Rivkin, Leonard Hamel 2006). Some of the projects were however shelved, and were to be considered in future to bear fruits at the most appropriate time. It was evident that throughout its change management history, the company realized both gains and losses, which remained a source of motivation for future leaders when planning about change management. Recommendations As mentioned above, change management at Whirlpool had its pros and cons. These laid a platform for future consideration, especially when there is need to shift the manner in which company operations are carried out. In developing new businesses w ithin a company, like the Inspired Chef, which failed at Whirlpool, it is important to understand the underlying challenges (Goldsmith Carter 2009). Of great significance is the fact that the business has to compete for attention with established businesses in the market. Besides this understanding, it is important to involve the entire organization in any form of change management being anticipated by the management. This allows holistic involvement of senior leaders, managers and all other employees in the firm. As a result, efforts get tuned towards the realization of a common goal. Proper communication of the vision to implement change management is equally important in preparing all stakeholders. This should be done through all possible means at the management’s disposal. Additionally, change management drivers should teach appropriate behaviors to the rest of the company (Goldsmith Carter 2009). In other words, senior leaders have to lead by example in order to realiz e profitable change management impact. It is also important to eliminate impediments to change. The management needs to ensure that there are no structures or systems, which undermine the process of change, by empowering risk-takers without necessarily being limited by traditional and industry conventions. In order to drive change, it is important to appreciate the efforts made by every member of the organization. Through recognition and rewards, employees get motivated to be part of the change-process for a common goal (Goldsmith Carter 2009). Above all, no change-vision can be successful by being fitted into an organization. Systems have to be changed progressively, through development of relevant knowledge to propel the vision to its maturity. Above all, Whirlpool and other organizations have to aim at incorporating change into organizational culture to create a link between the success of a company and its new behaviors. Conclusion From the above case analysis of Whirlpool Corp oration, it suffices to mention that the change management, which was initiated by David Whitwam, played a significant role in propelling the company to a leading manufacturer of home appliances around the world. Importantly, the path to change management was not smooth all through; the company management had to confront a wide range of challenges. For instance, it faced stiff resistance in Europe, experienced a failed joint venture with a Chinese firm and registered enormous losses in Latin America and Asia. Although the company was committed towards â€Å"Brand-Focused Value Creation† through several strategies, innovation played a major role in winning the loyalty of customers within the market. Lastly, it is important to acknowledge Whirlpool’s management, led by David Whitwam as it played a crucial role in the entire change management process. References 100 Years at a Glance. 2012. Web. David Whitwam. 2012. Web. Goldsmith, M Carter, L 2009, Best Practices in Tal ent Management: How the World’s Leading Corporations Manage, Develop, and Retain Top Talent, John Wiley Sons, New Jersey. PENSKE. 2012. Web. Rivkin, J, Leonard, D Hamel, G 2006, ‘Change at Whirlpool Corporation’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 9 no. 705, pp. 1-39. Whirlpool Corporation. 2012. This report on Analysis of Whirlpool was written and submitted by user Kimberly Kent to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

buy custom Windmere Trust Company essay

buy custom Windmere Trust Company essay This paper seeks to verify information about a service level agreement or contract. This discussion will be in relation to the Windmere Trust Company legal case. A service level agreement or contract is an agreement between a customer, and network service provider that describes what services the network service provider will give and it is usually in measurable terms. Most Internet service providers offer their customers with a service-level agreement. In the present times information system departments in central enterprises have approved the idea of writing a service level agreement and one of these leading companies is Windmere Trust Company. The importance of a service level agreement is to ensure the services being offered to the customers can be evaluated, justified, and at times compared with those of outsourcing network providers. Windmere Trust Company has adopted a new state of the art software system known as CASE Computer Assisted Software Engineering. This has been through the effort of the current Senior Vice President, Allan Bartt, who presented the idea in a management committee conference, in Toronto. The proposal presented in the meeting by the senior vice president aims at doing away with the current computers and in place putting up a mighty latest hardware platform. In addition, the senior vice president proposed a re-developing of all of the companys software systems by bringing in new tools. The meeting was a success as the council had accepted the proposal, and now all Alan Bartt had to do is bring the results. Windmere Trust Company is a comprehensive firm located in Canada. It deals majorly in trusts being the sixth largest trust company in Canada at the time of its inception in 1962. Currently the company has five main business groups- the real estate financing subsidiary, the equipment financing part, the savings division, finances and investment, and trust services, and mutual funds group. Windmeres current Chief Eecutive Officer-Scannell believed in effective information systems and the competitive value a firm gains from having an effective information system. To this effect, Scannell supported Allan Bartts plan to change the information system tools. The approval of Bartts proposal means that Windmere Trust Company will have to hire a service provider that will supply the information system department with the tools necessary for the upgrade. In the process, a service level agreement will be necessary between the chosen service provider and Windmere Trust Company. In this agreement, there are several issues that will be present including the percentage of the times the services will be available, the number of users of the tools, and particular performance benchmarks to which real performance will be periodically compared. In addition, the service level contract will provide the provision of usage statistics, help-desk response time for diverse categories of problems, dial-in contact availability, and the program for notification in advance of network alterations that may have an effect on the users. This will be necessary information as the company is a large company serving several people and with a high number of staff. Before the respective stakeholders of the company and service provider can sign this agreement, the two parties will have to provide information concerning the information systems, which in most cases is a large department of any company. At Windmere Trust Company, the information department consists of 80 personnel whose offices are in Vancouver. The section is split evenly between the operations group and the development and administrative staff. At this time, the companys original computer was a Micro data minicomputer, which at the time of its acquisition was remarkably advanced. Through the times of its operations, the company has adopted various advanced hardware and application software, which have seen the current efficiency of the company. Scannell was nott contented with the hardware and software applications present in the company as all the five main branches of the company were not productive by using the current information systems. Further research into the information system department revealed exceedingly difficult issues in the section, which required immediate attention. The departments costs were too high, and the staff number was ridiculously gargantuan. The recommendations included reducing the number of staff from 80 personnel to 20 and cutting down the budget cost. This would mean introducing new tools in the department that would be cost friendly and increase efficiency of the company. This was the idea of Allan Bartt who had just joined Windmere Trust Company. In this case, the service level agreement would have to indicate the following matters, which the information system department needed to transform. The number of minicomputers it will have to supply to the company because they needed to replace the current hardware and the new network will need to have scalability and responsiveness. The service provider will have to know the exact specifications that Windmere required to achieve its transformation goals in the information system department. On the part of the software, a new software application was to be put up using CASE tools. There would be user documentation for the new systems that will have online maintenance. All this will be in the service level agreement between the two stakeholders, which will be created once they come to an agreement. The service level contract plays the leading roles of describing the customers demands and ensuring that the supplier delivers in his works. In business, the customer is always right and, therefore, the service provider will be mandated to provide what the customer needs or describes in the document. The SLA distinguishes the duties of the customer and provider that ensures the customer knows whom to call in case of a problem. Buy custom Windmere Trust Company essay

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Brain Fingerprinting 302 WK5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Brain Fingerprinting 302 WK5 - Essay Example According to Daubert guidelines, new questions would be answered before fingerprints could be entered into evidence. Due to this decision, the court had to introduce five criteria that had to be achieved before evidence could be considered scientific. The first question that must be answered concerns peer review, and sound methodology. The second question involves a known error rate, the third involves testable hypothesis, fourth involves application outside of legal proceedings, and fifth question involves general acceptance (Hensen, 2006). Brain fingerprinting continues to face challenges regarding twins. Twins have the same DNA, but different fingerprints. In addition, the main challenge to brain fingerprinting lies in the fact that there is a lack of universal standards for comparing fingerprints. Several mismatches of partial fingerprints have been encountered (Hensen, 2006). This criterion involves using a particular scientific technique. In other words, it shows the likelihood of being wrong in the case whereby the scientist has asserted that alleged crime has a particular effect. The known potential error should be small, about 1-5 percent (Roth, 2010). This criterion measures the extent at which the actions of the scientist produce results that are scientifically knowledgeable. Appropriate hypothesis testing techniques must be used on questions of interest to the scientific community. The general hypotheses testing techniques must be accepted after undergoing scrutiny by the scientific community (Roth, 2010). The theory must be peer reviewed before publication. The scientist’s peers must scrutinize the work before being published. This is the only ways objectivity of the fingerprinting can be achieved. After publication, the work is then expected to undergo further review by other experts (Roth, 2010). The hypothesis testing method should determine whether the

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Business ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Business ethics - Essay Example These issues not only affect an individual but also affect the organization and the society at large. Various issues related business ethics have been witnessed throughout the semester but job discrimination stands out as the most serious issues according to the journal entry considerations. Job discrimination leads to many problems that go beyond affecting an organization is various ways to causing a serious psychological effect to the discriminated employee. Job or employee discrimination involves unequal treatment of two individual having the same qualifications for a particular job or task. It could involve preferring one employee for an available post to others because of distinct characteristics. These distinctive traits may be skin colour, origin, religion, gender, race, nationality, or any other distinctive traits among individuals. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission witnessed a number of cases concerning employee discrimination at the workplace. This b usiness issue led a number of employers to face charges against such ethical issues in their businesses and organizations. Workplace discrimination is seen as morally wrong and is moreover expensive for businesses and employers. Some of the consequences that businesses face due to employee discrimination are low working morale, high turnover, and legal action among other effects. This happens irrespective of the form of discrimination exercised in the workplace of any organization (Becker 1971). Discrimination in occupation and employment may take various forms. The discrimination can also take place in various work settings but the impacts of such discrimination actions are seemingly similar. Discrimination entails different treatment of individuals due to certain characteristic, which mainly include colour, sex, and race. This discrimination results business issues such as impairment of opportunity and treatment equality (Anonymous Employee 2013). Discrimination therefore reinforc es employment inequalities in the workplace. Employment discrimination is an ethical issue, which brings restrictions on the freedom of people in developing their various capabilities, choosing, as well as pursuing their professional aspirations (Floten 2004). There is hardly any regard for employee abilities when deciding who to choose for a particular job specification, or when promoting individuals based on various requirements by an organization. In such a case, it would be difficult for a business to initiate a good working environment where skills and competencies can be developed adequately (Schulz 2005). The same ethical issue would create an environment whereby rewards to work are completely denied but instead, workers go through many cases of humiliations, job frustrations, as well as a feeling of powerlessness towards achievement of certain goals. This aspect comes from the fact that some employees feel that they are discriminated or some of the workers are favoured more than others are (Murphy & Enderle 1995). The problem of job discrimination still persists in many countries despite the various programs that have been initiated to curb the ethical issue and the effects of the problem. The problem becomes even worse as people of different origins, skin colour, and race interact in the work environment of all world economies. Discrimination in employment is mainly seen in cases whereby people of common attributes

Monday, January 27, 2020

What Political Issues are Important to the Elderly?

What Political Issues are Important to the Elderly? Because Americans are living and staying healthy much longer than they were just 50 years ago, reaching the age of 65 and becoming a Senior Citizen is no longer the major milestone it has been in the past. As a result, many people stay active and productive by working to the age of 65 and beyond. Even so, and although everyone ages differently, at some point the aging process catches up with all of us. For some it occurs well before the age of 65, but many can and do remain healthy and active well into their 80s and even 90s. The end result is that the median age of the general population is increasing causing a phenomenon often referred to as the Greying of America. With people living longer, accompanying a reduction in fertility rates, there is a higher percentage of elderly people in the general population than there has been in the past. Because this country is a democracy where each citizen has the right to vote, an increase in the number of older people means there will be mo re focus on laws, social programs and legislation involving the concerns of that segment of the population. Although the current hot political topic involving healthcare is The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly nicknamed Obamacare, the number one issue with most seniors at this time however is not Obamacare it is Social Security. After becoming law on August 14, 1935, Social Security has proven to be the number one anti-poverty program in the United States serving roughly 43,317,000 individuals as of January 2017. Being so, many seniors receiving Social Security benefits rely on this program for most if not all their daily living expenses. Due to the Federal Governments own admission that the Social Security Trust Fund in nearing insolvency, it stands to reason then that the viability of the Social Security program is our seniors major concern. Following closely behind social security in importance to seniors is Medicare another entitlement program that, like Social Security, automatically becomes effective when a qualifying citizen of the United States reaches the age of 65. Medicare is the vehicle through which a majority of seniors receive healthcare benefits. This program is also facing a financial crisis. According to information from the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services (CMS) the total number of Medicare beneficiaries in the U.S. during the year 2016 is roughly 55.5 million. With the increasing number of individuals qualifying for these two entitlement programs accompanied by a constant increase in the cost of medical services and prescription medications, the price tag for both these programs will continue to increase. When you color in that fact that the Federal Government spent a total of 916 Billion Dollars on Social Security payments and 595 Billion Dollars on Medicare bills for a grand total of $1,511,000,000,000 USD or roughly 50% of the total amount of money collected in taxes by the Federal government last year (2016), it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out where this is headed. Regardless of the cost or the reasons the simple fact remains a substantial number of retired folks depend on these two programs for a majority of their day-to-day living expenses which is why they regard Social Security and Medicare to be of more importance to them than the fate of Obamacare. It is important to note here that many of the people who depended on personal savings, retirement plans, pensions and other savings plans to replace their paycheck as a means of support during retirement found that this means of income is less than reliable. The reason this is true is beyond the scope of this paper for there are almost too many to count. Even so, the fact remains most people have little or no additional retirement savings to rely on other than Social Security. In truth, most private retirement plans are a thing of the past except for Government Pension Plans. If you had worked for any governmental body from Municipal, State or Federal you were awarded a retirement pension to go along with your paycheck. Pension payments cost lots of money. A case in point: the Federal Government paid out 983.7 Billion Dollars to retired Federal employees in 2016 alone. That is 67.7 billion dollars more than the total amount of taxpayer money the Federal Government paid out in Socia l Security payments that same year (983.7 916 = 67.7 Billion). Granted, since 1984, some Federal employees were required to pay Social Security Taxes so they qualify to receive Social Security benefits when they reach the age of 65 however, their Social Security payments are in addition to their retirement pension which is taxed at the much lower rate during retirement rather than the much higher rate it would have demanded when the money was paid in. What does this mean? It means that whoever was in charge of the Federal Retirement Pension Plan should have been in charge of Social Security. Can this issue be fixed? Yes, but NOT without hurting some feelings. The facts are: According to the Social Security Administration, 48% of married couples and 71% of unmarried persons rely on Social Security for 50% of their day-to-day living expenses. Another 20% rely on Social Security for a significant percentage of their living expenses. This means that a large percentage of those receiving Social Security payments that do not need these monthly payments in order to live comfortably in retirement but because they paid into the system are qualified to get them. What happens when the Social Security system crashes and burns? After years and years of contribution nobody gets paid the political fallout alone would be enormous? So enormous in fact that todays politicians are avoiding the issue like the plague even as the people in charge of Social Security and Medicare beg them to do something (Social Security and Medicare, 2016). Is there an alternative to crash and burn? Yes but it isnt pretty. What needs to happen is for Social Security to become a means tested benefit program instead of an entitlement program which would initially free up enough money to carry Social Security into the future and make it available as the stop gap program for future generations as the program was originally intended to be. The next thing to do is to put the money collected into the bank and not let politicians write IOUs and take the money and spend it on something else like war or anything else for that matter. Would you take your kids allowance and give them and IOU and blow the money of something you wanted to buy and tell them you will pay them back when they really needed the money? No teenager I know would go for that line so should we? The alternative is not only ugly it could very well tear this country apart. Whats really scary is that like the sunrise its coming. References Affordable Healthcare ObamaCare Facts http://obamacarefacts.com/affordable-healthcare/ FDR signs Social Security Act Aug 14, 1935 HISTORY.com www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-signs-social-security-act Fear mongering Oxford Dictionaries https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fearmongering Home Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services https://www.cms.gov/ Monthly Statistical Snapshot, January 2017 Social Security https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/ Alliance for Retired Americans https://retiredamericans.org/ A SUMMARY OF THE 2016 ANNUAL REPORTS, Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, Status Of The Social Security And Medicare Programs. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/ Medicare Spending Analysis Charts Tables History www.usgovernmentspending.com/medicare_spending_by_year Social Security Spending Analysis Charts Tables History www.usgovernmentspending.com/social_security_spending_by_year US Federal Budget Analyst, Actual 2016 http://www.usfederalbudget.us/federal_budget_estimate_vs_actual_2016 United States Department of Labor / Bureau of Labor Statistics https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Meaning of life †Question Essay

Freud, like Newton and Darwin, did not consider himself to be a philosopher but had an enormous influence over philosophy, he believed that to consider the question: â€Å"what is the meaning of life? † is a waste of time. The question, he thought, is rather meaningless and has no ultimate answer, asking it is being somewhat like asking what the color of time is (Mason). There are serious arguments that can be advanced in support of this point of view, especially if we agree that meaning is not something inherent to events, things, and other processes and so on, but something we ascribe to them (Mason). To think otherwise would involve ascribing them something that is a product of our intellect and consciousness. The meaning of X, whether X is an event, a thing, or a process, is actually the connection or a set of those connections X has with other events, things, and processes and so on, which we choose to consider to be of particularly importance to us (Mason). This is why the same events have different meaning for different people. For a Chinese, be he a Communist or an anti-Communist, the meaning of the war in Korea is that it marks the end of a century of national humiliation and a permanent threat of devastation through a long series of military defeats by foreign powers; for an American, the meaning of that very same war is that it put an end to the attempts to expand by direct military invasion the influence of Chinese Communism (Adams). There are undoubtedly countless amounts of explanations to this riddle, and there are many circumstances that can change one’s perspective towards this problem, but ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer. Paragraph 2: Everything changes radically, of course, if we belong to a Church. Everything is noted under God’s eye For believers, their life long goal is to sustain God’s knowledge and go his way. Go to the right passage and obey his â€Å"laws† Their passage of life consists of saving one’s immortal soul. Duty of life makes up the meaning of life. Paragraph 3: The practical Romans grasped something that over the head of two millennia of Christianity resonates with contemporary pragmatism, and with the life philosophy resumed in the dictum â€Å"the meaning of life is life itself† Meaning of life is life itself Living the life in happiness is the meaning of life. Anything that fits you the best will become your meaning of life. Find out your goals, what you want to achieve life, and that will become your meaning of life ultimately. Limitations will apply. Paragraph 4: Living your life according to this life philosophy, which is the most commonly chosen among the life philosophies derived from the answer â€Å"the meaning of life consists in living life†, is usually not too difficult for a â€Å"normal† person living under â€Å"normal† circumstances. Meaning of life depended on the status of the person. Meaning of life is to live a good life. Do not know what exactly is a good life but a good life will be noted. Everyone has different meanings to life. Paragraph 5 (Conclusion): But be it Confucius, Aristotle or even Kant with his theory of being impossible to achieve moral perfection or any other of the great minds each of whom spent years of their lives trying to provide humanity with an answer to the fatal question, essentially, they trying to tell us what to live for and how to live. Namely, almost all the answers they offered have the same basic flaw: when they are workable at all, they work only for very few exceptional individuals and are way beyond the reach for the rest of us (Shields); us, those weak, silly and prone to sin creatures that make up the vast majority of humankind. Luckily, this vast majority do not worry too much about what great minds have in mind, but just live their lives as they best can according to their own, petty, senseless wishes and notions (Metz): work their gardens, even if they never heard of Voltaire, and whether they know that Freud existed or not, do not waste their humble intellectual potential trying to answer a question that has no answer (Metz). The rest is a senseless waste of time, â€Å"Primum vivere, deindre filosofare†, and if you spend too much time and effort philophizing, you will have no time nor energy to live, which involves earning money to pay the bills. As to the great eternal and fundamental questions, let’s leave them to professional philosophers whom society pays to do this specific job, as it pays plumbers to do the plumbing, scientists to explore nature, nurses to help the sick, the clowns to entertain us.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Pablo and Braque: Art after World War I Essay

World War I left a tremendously lasting impact all over the world. The economic, social and governmental devastation were immeasurable.   The war begins in 1914 and lasted four years.   Eight million people lost their lives many being civilians in what has been called the Great War.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Europe was left totally destroyed economically and socially. Europe fell due to how much the war cost and increased inflation forcing them to print more money (http://www.pvhs.chico.k12.ca.us/~bsilva/projects/great_war/effects.htm).  Ã‚   The bleak future caused many to slip into a depressive state because of the ugliness of the war.   Europe was forcibly ushered into the industrial age.   Those who enjoyed financial comfort before the war were now facing poverty (http://www.art-ww1.com/gb/present.html).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     It is hard to imagine then the destructive nature a war could have on the artistic community of that time. Many artist including Braque joined the war leaving behind their talents to pursue battle on the military front.   Fighting side by side with their countrymen some lost their lives or sustained major wounds. Other artist witness the effect the Great War had in their home county. However, all were left with a lasting impact that was conveyed through their art work.  Ã‚   Boccioni, Macke, and Marc among others lost their lives fighting or a result of the war.   Artists like Picasso and Gris were not asked to enlist to fight because they were in neutral countries. However, many of the artists enlisted because of loyalty to their country or to be part of the drama of the war.   Up until this period artists did not have to become part of the war (http://www.art-ww1.com/gb/present.html).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the war, many artists relived the memories of the war through their sketches and drawings.   Others were so depressed by what they saw took their artwork in an opposite direction. Paintings were mainly of city life.   There was a hesitation to show the cruelty of the war.   Many photographers would only print pictures that show bodies of the enemy, but later photographs of   bodies of Germany and French soldiers were shown lying next to each other.   (http://www.art-ww1.com/gb/present.html).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Treaty of Versailles was only a symbolic end to the war.   The after effects of the war were still sending shock waves long after the signing of the treaty. Governments became more liberal and Germany angered over the humiliation forcibly lead to the Second World War (http://www.pvhs.chico.k12.ca.us/~bsilva/projects/great_war/effects.htm).  Ã‚   The war had a tremendous impact on the artistic community during and after. Two notable artists of that time Braque and Picasso each reacted to the war through their artistic en devours.   For one their faceted style was maintained after the war while the other was left temporarily unable to paint transcended into more still life and back brilliant colors perhaps to phase out the bleakness of the war.   Braque’s and Picasso’s style differed after thee war due to the destruction left by the war, Braque’s injury sustained during the war, and notoriety of Picasso during and after the war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   World War I lasted from August 1914 to November 1919.   It involved most of Europe and the United States. It was fought from every conceivable position-air, above ground, underground, on water, and under water. This was the first total war where countries used their total population and resources to fight.   France lost a whole generation by taking the lives of millions of Frenchmen (Encarta 2005, World War I).   The massive body count could not be conceived until the war had ended. The world had not had a war that impacted the entire world until this one. It was only referred to as World War I when World War II begins until then it was called the Great War.   It begins with the assassination of Archduke of Ferdinand in 1914 and ended with the demised of three empires: Germany, Russia, and Austro-Hungary.   The war sped up the revolution of Europe ushering the technological and scientific age. The war gave rise to the Soviet Union and the Nazi regime because of the humiliation felt by Germany. The face of central Europe was changed for the next twenty years.   Painters of every conceivable kind were on the front lines fighting side by side their comrades. Several died during the war such as Boccioni, Macke, Marc and La Fresnaye.   Neutral countries such a Spain the home to Picasso and Gris were not asked to fight.   Artist s from every genre was asked to fight.   Legar was a stretch-bearer, Kokoschka a cavalryman, and Beckmann a medic. They all wrote and painted about what they saw and did.  Ã‚  Ã‚   These artists left a heart wrenching account of the devastation of the war.   Their artwork is a testimony.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Little research has been done or their artwork has been forgotten. This probably due to the painful memories associated with the war. Others who made it through chose not depict the drama of war and their style became totally different than before.   (http://www.pvhs.chico.k12.ca.us/~bsilva /projects/great_war/effects.htm).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One such artist was George Braque who style after the war was different in color and subject matter. He was one of their own from France who fought in the war.   He was born in Argenteuil-sur-Seine which was later the home of the impressionist movement.   His father and grandfather were both house painters and young George followed in his father and grandfather footsteps. At age 15 Braque’s family moved to Le Haurve and George started taking courses at a local art school.   He started his career as an interior decorator.   Braque moved to Paris at age 17 to fully submerse himself in his passion for space and color.   He enlisted into the military and in 1902 with the financial backing of his family he attended a private art school the vole des Beaux-Arts.   He was inspired by African and Greek sculptures and often the visit the Lourve for ideas (http://www.mes.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Braque.html).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   George Braque painting was influence greatly by the Fauves-Matisse and Derain.   Their wild eclectic style was called Fauvism.   Fauvism emphasized wild vivid colors like that of Van Gogh (Encarta 2005 Fauvism).   Like some of the artist of the time Braque wanted to challenge the traditional themes in artwork. He wanted his paintings to evoke an emotion, a discussion, and a mood. He accomplished such a task with works like Antwerp and Landscape at La Ciotat of 1906. These paintings showed the vivid colors of Fauvism, but little line .   After a year of Fauvism, Braque became impressed by the styles of Paul Cezanne call the father of â€Å"modern art† (Cezanne, Encarta 2005). Cezanne artwork was the opposite of Fauvism. It restored order to the style of the â€Å"wild beasts† of Matisse and Derain.   This when the cubist style was formed.   Braque admired the way Cezanne’s â€Å"distorted forms† led Braque to immolate that style (http://www.mes.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Braque.html). Cubism defies convention just like Fauvism, but unlike his early work everything-landscapes, houses, people-are reduced to geometric cubes.   The colors were bland and the subjects were unemotional. Such as one of his earlier cubist work Little Harbor in Normandy of 1909.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cubism can be broken into two genres: Analytical Cubism and Synthetic Cubism.   It was then in 1909 when Braque formed a friendship with Pablo Picasso that together they revolutionized the Cubist movement. Analytical cubism lasted for roughly two years. From 1911 on synthetic cubism became known.   In both genres geometric shapes were used, but now the subject was less fragmented and more recognizable (http://pablo-picasso.paintings.name/).   Cubism originated from a rivalry between Picasso and Matisse.   Matisse Blue Painting caused a scandal at the exhibit the Paris art show. This how Matisse and others received the title Les Fauves.   At around the same time Picasso produced Desmoiselles and young artists that once followed Matisse now begin emulating the style of Picasso including Braque. This infuriated Matisse and others to the point of rejecting all of Braque’s work.   Matisse tried to discredit Braque’s work by showing how it was made out of little cubes and that this artistic style was easy to replicate.   The term cubism was born and catapulted Braque and Picasso.   It marked the beginning of abstract art, even though the art form should dimensions of the subject being painted. Nonetheless, cubism owes it creation to notable artists (http://pablo-picasso.paintings.name/).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the beginning Picasso’s and Braque’s work dealt with neutral colors and subdued subjects. Objects were shown from a 3-dimensional perspective (http://painting.about.com/). An early example of his work is the Violin and the Candlestick represented analytical cubism.   The subdued colors along with the geometric shapes are seen. However, one can not called this artwork fully abstract as the subjects of the painting are still visible and the three dimensional sides are visible (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http). Braque and Picasso worked so closely together that at times their work was indistinguishable (http://www.safran-arts.com/42day/art/art4aug/art0831.html#cmc).  Ã‚   Both he and Picasso began experimenting with collage and would add bits of objects such as paper to their artwork (http//www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Braque.html).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pablo Ruiz y Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain.   He can be called a genius in the art world and undoubtedly a brilliant painter. His father was an art professor so he was destine from birth to become one of the most immovable faces of art (http://www.biography.com/picasso).   He moved to Paris where many friendships formed with other artists including George Braque.   His work is labeled by different periods.   The Blue period showed his use of the color and a representative of the mood of the time.   His Rose period featured a more primitive style of art.   However, it was the art form of Cubism that made Picasso famous.   He shocks his fans and critics with Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907).   In this work he used African themes with unemotional subjects painted with varying shades of color (http//www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Braque.html).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The bond formed between Braque and Picasso was broken by the First World War.   Braque like many artists enlisted into the French Army to show loyalty for his country.   Braque served in the Great War for two years: 1914 to 1916.   Braque entered the army as a sergeant. He was decorated twice for bravery.   During the war he sustained a significant head wound in 1916 which left him temporarily blind. He spent several months recovering in a hospital. After, he was sent to a nursing home where he spent his time expressing quotes about life and art that start long before the war.   A friend put together a book with all of Braque’s â€Å"aphorisms†.  Ã‚   Braque did not begin painting again until 1917.   He rejoined the Cubist movement after the military which was now in the synthetic phase (http://www.free-termpapers.com/tp/5/ame43.shtml).   Perhaps due to the cruelty of the war or the sever head wound he sustained while fighting, his artistic style quickly changed.   Braque left the theme of traditional cubism and returned more to his original roots. He started using more â€Å"softer† drawings, brilliant color and more of an personal influence as in his work   the 1919 Playing Cards (www.megaessays.com/ viewpaper/21985.html)..   His paintings became more textured after moving to the coast of Normandy.   He did not reflect the war in his work, perhaps not wanting to relieve the pain of the war.   Braque along with painting also became an engraver, lithographer, and a sculptor. He along with Loewenfield turned his paintings into different images such as jewelry and books.   Both had a love for precious stones which solidified their friendship. The idea of taking 2-dimensional objects and turning them into 3-dimensional objects allowed them to create over 100 different jewels.   The Apollon Gallery featured their work in 1963 later that year Braque passed away at the age of 81 (www.genesisgallery.com/html/bios/373.html).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the Great War, Picasso went to Rome where he met and married a Russian dancer named Olga Koklova.   In Rome he worked with designer Sergey Diaghilev.   He made several portraits of their son (Paulo as Harlequin, 1924) and of their friends.   His work reflected neoclassical style showing voluptuous women (Women at the Spring, 1921) and mythological beings (The Pipes of the Pan, 1923).   Picasso also picture strange creatures and crudely painted women (Sleeping Woman in Armchair, 1927) which may have indicate trouble in his first marriage (http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/picasso_bio.htm). After the war, went further in his exploration of his style.   He emphasized color and dream-like images.   Although it appears that Picasso’s artwork wasn’t greatly affected by the war like Braque.   Picasso being a spanish citizen living in Paris was able to continue his work. However, he wasn’t without grief. The country was feeling the ill effects of the war and Picasso had to deal with the scrutiny of his friends not having to enlist.   His paintings reflected the depressive mood of that time. Picasso had to also deal with the passing of his lady friend Eva Gouel (http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/ picasso/ section8.rhtml).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the war he tried to stay close to cubism, but was also developing a unique style of his own.   He returned to more traditional styles maybe in attempt to be recogzed for his own work and not be associated any longer with the cubist movement and his close friend Braque. It is not noted if their friendship continued after the war. Picasso struck up a friendship with a young poet and became involved with the Russian ballet (http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/ picasso/ section8.rhtml).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The War left major devastation in it is path. No one was left unaffected by the fighting especially the artistic community. Braque and Picasso were the 20 century most notable artists. Their style impacted not only the artistic community but all who enjoy art.   However, the war seems to have left a permanent impact on George Braque as seen in his latter artwork. His style softened a contrast to the harshness of war. He focused on still life perhaps to view the world as calmer and beautiful. Picasso artwork changed very little. The notoriety he obtained probably shielded him from the devastation of the war. Perhaps, not being on the front lines allowed him to miss out on the cruelty that came from the war.   Whatever the reason, both before, during and after the war, became two great artists emerging and remaining among the brilliance of the 20th century.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Bibliography   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.pvhs.chico.k12.ca.us/~bsilva/projects/great_war/effects.htm   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.art-ww1.com/gb/present.html.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     World War I, 2005 Encarta Encyclopedia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     http://www.mes.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Braque.html   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fauvism, 2005 Encarta Encyclopedia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     http://pablo-picasso.paintings.name   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     http://painting.about.com/   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     http://www.free-termpapers.com/tp/5/ame43.shtml   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     www.megaessays.com/ viewpaper/21985.html   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   www.genesisgallery.com/html/bios/373.htm   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/picasso_bio.htm   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cezanne, 2005 Encarta Encyclopedia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/ picasso/ section8.rhtml).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     http://www.biography.com/picasso