...Accountability and Rhetoric during a Crisis: Walt Disney’s 1940 Letter to Stockholders Joel H. Amcrnic UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO and Russell J. Craig AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY ACCOUNTABILITY AND RHETORIC DURING A CRISIS: WALT DISNEY’S 1940 LETTER TO STOCKHOLDERS Abstract: In 1940, Walt Disney was faced with crafting a message of corporate accountability under duress. His company, the product of his creative genius, had been forced to submit to public accountability. It had a pressing need to raise preferred equity finance for a major expansion during a period of market uncertainty, war, and reported losses. This paper conducts a “close reading” of the “Letter to Stockholders” in Walt Disney Productions’ 1940 annual report, the first such letter signed by Walt Disney. The letter’s rhetorical features, including metaphor and ideology, are examined in the context of the times. What is revealed is an accountability document skillfully crafted with the exigencies faced by Disney’s company firmly in mind. The letter offers suggestive insight to the world as Disney made sense of it. The paper contributes to understanding the use of rhetoric by top management in activities related to aspects of financial accountability and reporting. It also helps to understand better a significant public persona of the 20th century, Walt Disnev. Acknowledgment The authors wish to acknowledge the helpful comments of the reviewers. SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES Analysis of annual reports, including letters...
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...maslow's hierarchy of needs Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs motivational model Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of Needs model in 1940-50s USA, and the Hierarchy of Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training, and personal development. Indeed, Maslow's ideas surrounding the Hierarchy of Needs concerning the responsibility of employers to provide a workplace environment that encourages and enables employees to fulfil their own unique potential (self-actualization) are today more relevant than ever. Abraham Maslow's book Motivation and Personality, published in 1954 (second edition 1970) introduced the Hierarchy of Needs, and Maslow extended his ideas in other work, notably his later book Toward A Psychology Of Being, a significant and relevant commentary, which has been revised in recent times by Richard Lowry, who is in his own right a leading academic in the field of motivational psychology. Abraham Maslow was born in New York in 1908 and died in 1970, although various publications appear in Maslow's name in later years. Maslow's PhD in psychology in 1934 at the University of Wisconsin formed the basis of his motivational research, initially studying rhesus monkeys. Maslow later moved to New York's Brooklyn College. The Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs five-stage model below (structure and terminology - not the precise pyramid diagram itself) is clearly and directly attributable to Maslow; later versions of the theory with...
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...Enablers of Exuberance Jennifer S. Taub Sept. 4, 2009 DISCUSSION DRAFT Enablers of Exuberance: Legal Acts and Omissions that Facilitated the Global Financial Crisis Jennifer S. Taub1 I. Introduction This paper explores certain legal acts and omissions that facilitated the over-leveraging and near collapse of the global financial system. These ―Legal Enablers‖ fostered the boom that enriched a class of financial intermediaries who followed a storied tradition of gambling away ―other people‘s money.‖2 These mechanisms also made the pain of the bust disproportionately felt by the middle class and poor while shielding the middlemen who created the problems. These legal Enablers permitted the growth of a shadow banking system, without investment limits, transparency or government oversight. In the shadows grew a variety of highly leveraged private investment pools, undercapitalized conduits of securitized loans and speculation in complex credit derivatives. The rationale for allowing this unregulated, parallel system was that it helped to create innovation and provide liquidity. The conventional wisdom was that any risks associated with a hands-off approach could be managed by the ―invisible hand‖3 of the market. In other words, instead of public police, it relied upon private gatekeepers. A legal framework including legislation, rules and court decisions supported this system. This legal structure depended upon corporate managers, counterparties, ―sophisticated investors‖ and the...
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...variation in democracy in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania and removes the impact of most variables that dominate current statistical research about democracy. The association between Protestant missions and democracy is consistent in different continents and subsamples, and it is robust to more than 50 controls and to instrumental variable analyses. ocial scientists tend to ignore religion in the processes of post-Enlightenment modernization. In individual cases and events, the role of religious actors is clear—especially in the primary documents. Yet in broad histories and comparative analyses, religious groups are pushed to the periphery, only to pop out like a jack-in-the-box from time to time to surprise and scare people and then shrink back into their box to let the important historical changes be directed by “secular” actors and forces (Butler 2004). Yet integrating religious actors and motivations into narratives about the rise and spread of both Western modernity and democracy helps solve perennial problems that plague current research. In fact, most research on democracy and other macro historical changes has...
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...and the facility to highlight different subject matters created one of the most important impressions in mass media. There are so many angles to see as to what extent TV has brought about changes in daily life of people and the nations as well. Here we will see some of the key changes affected by TV transmissions in general. Seeing is believing The authenticity of news and other informative material has never been more acceptable to people through other means of communication than the one available on TV. People already informed about an event still like to see the news along with footage on TV. For instance, the winning run scored by your favorite team in an exciting match is something people would like to see again and again although they know the outcome of the match. So is about visuals on accidents and unusual events like hanging of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain etc. Changes in timings Most people have tuned their daily timings in accordance with their popular programs. Students tend to finish their homework before their favorite show. Housewives would make their cooking schedule as not to miss the soap tonight. Men would get ready for relaxing by watching programs of their interest. Much noticeable change is in bed-timings. Early to bed... dictum seems to have lost its meaning and watching TV till late night has become a norm at most households until children get a gaze from parents they tend to fight sleep only to watch a play or a show and discuss it next...
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...negative impacts of mass media. However, there was no empirical evidence to substantiate a direct cause and effect relationship of mass media messages with the actions of the consumer of the information. Consequently we can only assert that the mass media impacts on society but does not necessarily have an effect since other factors also influence people other than information consumed from the media. As such, this study asserts that the mass media influences public opinion but does not necessarily cause it. Key words: powerful media, mass media effects, theories of mass media effects, impact of media messages INTRODUCTION The mass media involve organisations that are responsible for the dissemination of information to a large number of people. Basically, the mass media are categorised into print and electronic media. The print media include magazine, newspapers and books while the electronic media are television, radio, internet, videos or films etc. The instruments of both the print and electronic media are being used by the mass media to create and promote multitude of ideas that positively affect the lives of people and the society. That is to say,...
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...Chapter 1 What is social psychology? LEARNING OUTCOMES When you have finished studying this chapter, you should be able to: 1 Outline the main differences between experimental and critical approaches to social psychology. 2 Describe the three main ‘metaphysical battles’ between them. 3 Trace the origins of social psychology through the work of William McDougall and William James, and the contributions made by Völkerpsychologie and crowd psychology. 4 Describe the two contrasting images of ‘the person’ in social psychology. 5 Identify the roots of and describe the historical development of both experimental and critical social psychology. 6 Describe the main elements of Modernism and Postmodernism, and how these relate to contemporary social psychology. 7 Explain how these two approaches are different, and why they cannot be integrated. Introduction On a March night in 1964, Kitty Genovese was attacked by a maniac as she came home from work at 3 A.M. Thirty-eight of her Kew Gardens neighbors came to their windows when she cried out in terror – but no one came to her assistance. Even though the attack, which resulted in her death, lasted more than half an hour, no one even so much as called the police. . . . The thirty-eight witnesses to Kitty 3 4 FOUNDATIONS AND PRINCIPLES Genovese’s murder did not merely look at the scene once and then ignore it. Instead they continued to stare out, fascinated, distressed, unwilling to act but unable...
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...If Saab becomes Chinese should it rename? • Vladimir Djurovic, president at Labbrand, suggests the name might not work well in China. “We have already found in previous research projects on car brand names, that names with this term were not a favourite choice in China because they are a little too spiritual”. • Given both Labbrand’s expertise and MG’s experience, the acquisition might be the perfect opportunity for repositioning the Saab brand, especially if the product line were to change. However this move is not risk-free. • Saab’s name “萨博” is widely recognized by the Chinese audience, so renaming might mean losing loyal customers. To solve this Vladimir Djurovic, president of Labbrand, believes that “instead of renaming, Saab could consider developing a better tagline to fit the Chinese market and make the brand more vivid in the imagination of Chinese consumers”. Chivas Regal Trademark Case • Chivas Brothers failed to establish that the spirits brand was “well-known” in China before the registration of Chivas Regal clothing in 2003, which would have been grounds to deny the application.Before the 2003 registration by the Wenzhou squatter, Chivas Brothers (the brand owner) had registered the marks in a number of Classes, including 33, which includes alcoholic beverages. However, just because a brand owner registers the mark in one Class this does not automatically protect against other registrants for different goods/services or for products in other Classes...
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...The Reader’s Digest condensed version of The Road to Serfdom The Road to Serfdom FRIEDRICH A. HAYEK The condensed version of The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek as it appeared in the April 1945 edition of Reader’s Digest The Institute of Economic Affairs First published in Great Britain in 1999 in the ‘Rediscovered Riches’ series by The Institute of Economic Affairs 2 Lord North Street Westminster London sw1p 3lb Reissued in the ‘Occasional Paper’ series in 2001 This condensed version of The Road to Serfdom © Reader’s Digest, reproduced by kind permission The Road to Serfdom is published in all territories outside the USA by Routledge. This version is published by kind permission. All other material copyright © The Institute of Economic Affairs 1999, 2001 Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders associated with this edition. In some cases this has not been possible. The IEA will be pleased to include any corrections in the next edition. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. isbn 0 255 36530 6 Many IEA publications are translated into...
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..... [tags: Business Employee Management] 1639 words (4.7 pages) $19.95 [preview] Scientific Management - Scientific Management Fredrick Taylor, the father of scientific management. He had a firm belief in "one best way" (Samson & Daft, 2003), of doing something. In the year 1899, Taylor held an experiment that involved German and Hungarian men, whose job involved some very heavy-duty work (Gabor, 2000). To his disappointment, men either refused to work, or wouldn't work to his expectations. The men hated him utterly; to the extent he required security when going home (Gabor, 2000). In his entire dilemma with his employers, in stepped Schmidt, a man not of intelligence but had the strength of a bull and an ox-like mentally required to reach the standards of Fredrick Taylor.... [tags: Taylorism Business Management Essays] :: 3 Works Cited :: 6 Sources Cited 1822 words (5.2 pages) $29.95 [preview] Scientific Method - Scientific method what comes to mind. Do we start thinking of some type of formal process that will answer all our scientific questions or problems. When I was in school many years ago, we were taught that scientists go through a series of steps to find a solution to a problem or find evidence...
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...INTRODUCTION Much of the literature about the liberation struggle in the South-East Lowveld has documented different counter strategies by the RSF but propaganda as one of the strategy has been partially covered. The study focuses on Rhodesia Front government’s propaganda as a counter insurgency strategy to the guerrilla activities. Propaganda is the control of public opinion. There are three types of propaganda that is white, grey and black propaganda. White propaganda is the dissemination of the truth to someone’s advantage, grey propaganda is the mixture of lies and truth and black propaganda consists of largely but not total lies. All these types were exploited upon implementation of propaganda at different levels through different tactics. Psychological operations which were executed as forms of propaganda involved planned use of communication through words, symbols and actions to influence the behaviour of the targeted audiences and achieve set objectives. The government’s use of propaganda warfare was prompted by a number of reasons which ranged from economic, political, social and military factors. It is worth noting here that, the tempo and conduct of the war varied from one locality to the other depending on the terrain and proximity to strategical areas like borders, transport networks and close to government’s administrative offices. The study is presented in three chapters. The first chapter outlines the reasons for the introduction of propaganda warfare in Chilonga...
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...Contents Introduction 3 At the Turn of the Century 4 The 20th Century Literary Background 5 Modernism 6 Poets of the First World War 11 The Interwar Years 13 British Postwar Literature 19 Conclusion 27 References 29 Introduction The 20th century seems to be the most dramatic and unique: it witnessed two world wars and great social, economic and political changes. All this events could not but find their reflection in the arts in general and in the literature in particular. The urgency of the work is determined by the complexity of the period considered and variety of forms and trends which appeared during the century. The object of the project is British literature. The aim of the project is to consider the peculiarities and distinct features of the British literature of the 20th century. In order to gain the project’s aim, during its implementation the following practical issues were studied: - the most distinguished writers of the period; - their contribution to development of the British literature; - key topics. The project’s aim and issues considered predetermined the choice of methods of research. During the project’s implementation the following methods were used: critical survey of the sources on the issue considered, as well as comparison and analysis. Theoretical value of the project is constituted by the analysis of the peculiarities and distinct features of the British literature of the 20th century. Practical value of the project...
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...erikson's psychosocial crisis life cycle model - the eight stages of human development Erikson's model of psychosocial development is a very significant, highly regarded and meaningful concept. Life is a series of lessons and challenges which help us to grow. Erikson's wonderful theory helps to tell us why. The theory is helpful for child development, and adults too. For the 'lite' version, here's a quick diagram and summary. Extra details follow the initial overview. For more information than appears on this page, read Erikson's books; he was an award-winning writer and this review does not convey the richness of Erikson's own explanations. It's also interesting to see how his ideas develop over time, perhaps aided by his own journey through the 'psychosocial crisis' stages model that underpinned his work. Erik Erikson first published his eight stage theory of human development in his 1950 book Childhood and Society. The chapter featuring the model was titled 'The Eight Ages of Man'. He expanded and refined his theory in later books and revisions, notably: Identity and the Life Cycle (1959); Insight and Responsibility (1964); The Life Cycle Completed: A Review (1982, revised 1996 by Joan Erikson); and Vital Involvement in Old Age (1989). Erikson's biography lists more books. Various terms are used to describe Erikson's model, for example Erikson's biopsychosocial or bio-psycho-social theory (bio refers to biological, which in this context means life); Erikson's human development...
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...PART 1 THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT R esearching the process of human development across cultures provides us with an opportunity to improve the human condition as well as, hopefully, to acquire the knowledge needed to optimize life satisfaction. We therefore begin with an overview of how diverse social science and life science researchers (collectively known as developmentalists) approach the monumental task of studying humans over the course of the life span. Our discussion includes the goals of the scientific community, the recognized framework for studying the life span, what aspects of development warrant extensive examination, and what scientific methods are used to conduct research with humans. Chapter 2 discusses the main developmental theories over the past 100 years, when social scientists, biologists, and chemists focused on studying discrete aspects of human development. Earlier introspective methods about subconscious experience and contemporary measurable evidence about microscopic genetic codes, neurons, and hormones all contribute to our understanding of the human condition. Contemporary researchers are focusing on how to integrate scientific findings and theory from across cultures into a more meaningful whole about human development. CHAPTER 1 Introduction Critical Thinking Questions 1. Developmental change takes place in three fundamental domains: physical, cognitive, and emotional-social. Which domain has been most important for...
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...Constitution From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Constitution (disambiguation). A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed.[1] These rules together make up, i.e.constitute, what the entity is. When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a writtenconstitution; if they are written down in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution. Constitutions concern different levels of organizations, from sovereign states to companies and unincorporated associations. A treaty which establishes an international organization is also its constitution, in that it would define how that organization is constituted. Within states, a constitution defines the principles upon which the state is based, the procedure in which laws are made and by whom. Some constitutions, especially codified constitutions, also act as limiters of state power, by establishing lines which a state's rulers cannot cross, such as fundamental rights. An example is the constitution of the United States of America. George Washington at Constitutional Conventionof 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world,[2] containing 444 articles in 22 parts,[3][4] 12 schedules and 118 amendments, with 117...
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