Meditation to the Heart of Darkness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Meditation to the Heart of Darkness - Essay Example Yet Conrad, as a man who had endured many hardships in his life even before his eleventh birthday (Papke, 2000), was also aware of the hidden aspect of the hearts of men. Motives ranging from good to evil reside in the human heart, yet are not always visible on their faces. Hearts are very private and hidden places, and the heart of a continent is shown to be often as dark as the heart of the humans who seek to penetrate it. Work is essential to life, and people spend so much time performing the actions of their life's work that they are often inextricably tied to the job. Marlow shows the lengths to which people will go to get employed when he relates that after asking men for a job and they "said 'My dear fellow,' and did nothing. Then-would you believe it-I tried the women. I, Charlie Marlow, set the women to work-to get a job" (Conrad, 72). His subsequent job with the Company demonstrates the power that Work can have over persons. It is depicted as a one-dimensional and overarching presence to which the men of the tale answer. It is connected with not just the men who travel on the steamers into the African territory, but also with the hearers of the tale, whose jobs are intimately connected with the operation of the Company's machine. Work may also be seen as a machine that drives the darkness of the ivory business. The fact that so many persons must provide for both themselves and families makes p opular what is essentially an inhumane practice of de-tusking elephants. The natives who work with the whites engage in this practice for the sake of having the income that work provides. This they do, though it encroaches upon the sanctity of animal life much in the same way that slavery has encroached upon the sanctity of human life. Yet, for the sake of work the natives become a party to something of an inhumanity that is similar to those their kinsmen have faced within the past century. For seamen, the sea is synonymous with work, and Conrad has been quoted by Papke (2000) as saying, "men and sea interpenetrate, so to speak--the sea entering the life of most men and the men knowing something or everything about the sea." The work enters every part of a seaman's life and is connected somehow with his actions, whether honorable or dark. In Africa, the work that is done by the Europeans who enter the territory is as dark as the continent as it has been described throughout history. Though theft is frowned upon in European society, robbery is essentially the goal of these "reputable" merchants who enter that territory. Of this double standard Conrad writes, "By heavens! there is something after all in the world allowing one man to steal a horse while another must not look at a halter" (98-99). The truth of these men's dishonesty is substantiated in the text. As Marlow travels along the coast and then within the continent, he comes upon several instances in which the continent and its inhabitants are being robbed of their possessions. The animals whose tusks provide the ivory are in danger because the greed of those robbing seamen who want their tusks and would see them die in order to have the boon that they desire. Not only do the European seamen rob the elephants of their lives, but they also rob the Africans of the riches of their own territory. This type of robbery is especially perceptible in the character Kurtz, who under the guise of entering the African territory for trading purposes has resorted

The reorganization of Starbucks Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The reorganization of Starbucks - Research Paper Example From this research it is clear that Howard recruitment was informed by the need to reverse the trend where almost all the company figures were declining at an extremely fast rate. According to Howard, the root cause of the problem was the fact that Starbuck had lost its luxurious nature thereby losing the sense of uniqueness and high-end characteristics, and therefore became like any other commodity which could now be challenged by coffee outlets such as McDonald and even Dunkin Donut. According to Howard, this Starbucks experience could only be redeemed by refocusing not just on the customer experience but also rebuilding its heritage of innovation. It was his strong believe that Starbucks performance could only be reclaimed by getting back to what drove its past success, which no doubt was its relationship and focus on customers. That being the case, Howard, assumed office with a clear mind on what was expected of him. First, having being there not just in Starbucks’ good da ys but also in its most turbulent days preceding his recruitment, there was no doubt that he was the best placed person to turn it around. Noteworthy was also the fact that he was the builder of Starbucks brand and therefore best positioned to take Starbucks back to the path of innovation, while executing a radical organization-wide restructuring process. Re-igniting the emotional attachment that Starbucks enjoyed with its customers was arguably the greatest feat that Howard achieved in his turnaround effort of this entity. (Rushe, 2006). This is because this is all what was needed if Starbucks was to reclaim the uniqueness of its coffee and hence its brands image, which to Howard was the magic bullet for its financial woes. Howard also reasoned that the mushrooming of Starbucks stores literary in every nook and cranny was also to blame for the financial difficulties that the company was experiencing. It was in this regard that he initiated a program that saw a number of underperfor ming stores closed while others replaced with new ones in strategic locations where they could perform profitably, a process that enabled Starbucks to renew focus on what it referred to as store-level unit economics (Howard, & Gordon, 2011). Howard also believed that the company’s huge investment in socially responsible activities was not contributing to its revenue as would be expected. It is for this reason that he significantly cut the social responsible budget which in his opinion was not commensurate to the revenue it was generating while shifting those funds to other profitable ventures. Howard also restored a number of store design elements that had been lost along the way and which he believed were a major component of the Starbucks’ experience which he was keen to reclaim. Another benefit that his efforts in this regard bore was the accelerated expansion in the international front. This expansion saw the capital resource that was earmarked for Starbucks expans ion locally directed to store growth outside US, a move that improved Starbucks consolidated profitability immensely. Howard was also able to re-align its organization while streamlining its management in a way that better supported customer-focused programs. Lastly, Howard, radically changed the leadership organization of Starbucks, something that experts saw as highly risky especially bearing in mind the size of the company at the time and its stage in development. It is not in doubt