Budgeting Importance Essay Example for Free

Budgeting Importance Essay Abstract Beyond Budgeting has been proposed as an influential idea that will reinvigorate management accounting contribution in business  operation and performance. It is claimed that the traditional system has lost relevance with the modern business environment and is no longer satisfying the needs of managers. Budgets have been ingrained in the culture of business since their inception in the 1920s and managers will find it extremely difficult to radically shift to a system without budgets. The implications of a Beyond Budgeting system are; performance measures relative to competitors and a decentralised organisation structure. Alternatives such as the Better Budgeting techniques may be more favourable to management who desires a formal planning and control system. The Beyond Budgeting concept is still in its infancy and requires further development and practical implementation. Keywords: Budget; Beyond Budgeting; BBRT; Management Control I. Introduction Beyond Budgeting has been proposed as an influential idea that will reinvigorate management accounting contribution in business operation and performance. According to Hope and Fraser (2003) the budgeting system, as implemented by most businesses, should be eradicated. The budgeting debate has arisen due to a movement into the information age (Drury, 2008). It is considered that the environment is now so complex and competitive that budgeting in its existing form is no longer useful for businesses. Dissatisfaction with traditional budgets is growing in the business world and ‘Beyond Budgeting’ has been suggested as a method to reinvigorate the managerial contribution of management accounting. This article discusses how budgeting has evolved into its current state, before examining why this universal technique has come under such heavy criticism of late. The limitations and weaknesses of traditional budgeting system will be supported with appropriate references. At the he heart of this paper is the evaluation whether the Beyond Budgeting model is more relevant in today’s business environment and if it can be a prominent tool in the future practices of management accounting. After critically evaluating academic scholars’ views on this issue, a conclusion will be drawn as to whether Beyond Budgeting really is the way forward. This article is organised as follows: Section II introduces and discusses evolution of various concepts of budgeting; Section III discusses limitations of traditional budgeting; Section IV discusses how beyond budgeting addresses the limitations of traditional budgeting and is indeed the way forward and finally section V concludes. II. Evolution of Various Concepts of ‘Budgeting’ Bhimani et al. (2008) define a budget as a quantitative future plan created by managers to assist the implementation of this plan. Becker et al. (2009) state the common view is that at the foundation of management accounting  systems is budgeting. In the 1920s budgets were born in order to help managers control costs and cash flows (CIMA, 2007). This concept grew into fixed performance contracts involving future income and expenditure estimations. Budgets were used to drive and evaluate management performance. Furthermore, Rickards (2006) believes the main purpose of budgets is to help implement a firm’s strategy, not just controlling and planning. The changes in the economic environment and business processes led to evolutions in budgeting. From the initial cash budgets to more modern techniques of zero based budgeting (ZBB) and activity based budgeting (ABB). Drury (2008) details six functions of traditional budgets: Refining the company’s long term plans; Coordinating the different departments and helping to improve relationships between them; Communicating ideas and expectations from top management to all other employees; Motivating managers to achieve challenging targets and goals.; Controlling the business activities using variance analysis to determine areas requiring attention; Evaluating the performance of managers in relation to achieving targets. A study of 40 managers revealed that budgeting is still very popular (Dugdale Lyne, 2006). They found that all businesses in question were using budgets and that when used alongside other tools; budgets can harmonise, motivate and control. Budgeting is ingrained in the cultures of many companies; therefore it can be difficult to convince managers that the business will be better off without them (Libby Lindsay, 2007). Daum (2002) argues that in the dynamic business environment managers should be looking to grow, expand, exceed targets and limits, and not be restricted by them. He describes many features of this environment such as; complex activities, innovation, retention of good employees. The new business environment is vastly different from the 1920s and although budgets have evolved to adapt to these changes, they are increasingly coming under criticised. III. Criticisms of Traditional Budgeting The traditional budgeting methods are considered too time consuming and unresponsive to external changes. According to a research by Neely et al. (2003) the budget creation uses 20% of management time. Following on from this, Bartram (2006) found that even the leanest and most efficient  companies take 79 days to organise their budgets, whilst 210 days are spent in the worst practice companies. This is a considerable amount to time for a firm to spend on an activity that arguably adds no value to the business. The budget culture has restricted the ability for a firm to reshape into a modern business because the budgets reign and contain management behaviours into old  paradigms (Hope and Fraser, 1997). In today’s environment the traditional systems of frequently found to be an obstacle to innovation and enterprise by management (Daum, 2002). Daum Hope (2003) highlight the growth of organisations as a factor in causing the irrelevance of traditional budgeting methods. Previously, businesses were smaller and staff relationships were built on trust. Trust to act in the best interests of the company. The expansion and development of multinational companies has caused a break down in trust between employees. To combat this, budgets were used as systems of control. However, now this control aspect has become a restriction to progress for a modern and forward thinking company. The following are weaknesses suggested by Neely et al. (2003) and they advocate these as an area for improvement. Budgets lack strategic focus and value creation, instead the aim is always cost reductions. The bureaucratic style restricts flexibility which in turn impacts a firm’s creative instincts. Annual budgeting is too infrequent therefore feeding into the unresponsive argument. Employees may not react well to having controls forced onto them thus having the potential to de-motivate. Also the top down style of budgets strengthens vertical command structures, which can lack adaptability and responsiveness. Working to budgets can cause dysfunctional behaviour as managers are often under pressure to meet targets, this behaviour is also known as budget games. Bartram (2006) breaks down budget  games into five areas. Firstly, ‘The Sky’s the Limit’, this entails management pushing the boundaries and trying to get as large a budget as possible instead of asking for just what they need. This feeds into ‘Mine’s Bigger than Yours’ whereby managers use the size of their budget to judge their own status within the company. ‘Cooking the Books’ relates to a delay of declaring revenue if the targets are already met so that they can use this revenue to meet future objectives. Next is ‘Hey Big Spender’, managers feel that they must spend the entirety of their budget otherwise it will be cut next year. Finally, ‘Bonus or Bust’ is concerned with the managers focus on measures that impact their own salaries or bonuses, whilst ignoring targets which may be more vital to long term success. On the subject of budget games, Jensen (2003) feels the integrity of the whole firm can be compromised when managers partake in this type of behaviour. The traditional system is based on a flawed principle; reward managers for meeting targets but punish if they fail to do so. This only encourages the type of dysfunctional behaviour described by Bartram. In order to end these games, Jensen proposes abolishing the using budgets as a system for rewarding performance. Otley (2003) believes budget system has the potential to create dysfunctional behaviour and discusses his experience of a coal mine that held back stock to meet weekly quotas, an example of ‘Cooking the Books’. The majority of criticism of traditional budgeting methods has been published by the proponents behind the Beyond Budgeting movement, Hope Fraser. Their initial criticisms were used as a spearhead to create a better management tool. Traditional methods rely on past information which can have negative knock on effects. An example is the incremental budgeting tool, where the previous year’s budget is slightly adjusted for the new year without any analysis into areas which are over/under performing. The performance evaluation is generally carried out at the end of the budget period; this can be too late to remedy deficiencies. Leading on from this, the common practice is to carry out fixed percentage cuts when early results appear unacceptable (Hope Fraser, 2003). Libby Lindsay (2007) feel that the problems are originating from how budgets are implemented and used within business, if used correctly they still can be a very effective tool. Ekholm Wallin (2010) agree with Libby and Lindsay, and add that if properly used traditional budgets are a strong framework to plan and measure a company’s operations. Therefore it can be suggested that many of the inadequacies of traditional budgets could be down to the implementation and not the tool itself. Despite the reasoning behind these limitations, Hope and Fraser (1997) report that 99% of European companies use formal budgeting procedures, this figure is likely to remain high even today. In addition, a survey of US organisations by Libby Lindsay (2007) revealed that over 50% of senior managers felt businesses could not cope without budgets and that they were imperative to success. Managers also believed that despite the associated time and costs, budgets were adding value to a company. Ekholm Wallin (2010) feel the annual budget is not dead yet, but it is past its peak and has lost usefulness and become outdated. IV. Beyond Budgeting Beyond Budgeting promotes the most ideal characteristics of a budgeting system; flexibility, coordination and responsiveness (Pilkington Crowther, 2007). It is not just another system of tools; it requires a complete overhaul of the organisations culture and a shift in the management style (Becker et al, 2009). Hansen (2011) states this can be performed in two stages; move toward performance evaluation relative to competition and then implement a decentralized structure. Hope Fraser (2003) believe the limitations of traditional budgetary systems require businesses to abandon budgeting altogether and instead focus on financial and non financial measures. The process should look to external benchmarks and competitors rather than internally set targets. The restrictive nature of budgets is removed and this can enhance the potential of a firm whilst empowering employees to make better decisions. Player (2003) describes Beyond Budgeting as extreme approach but with vast benefits to be r ealised. A key problem area is with rewarding managers using traditional systems. A Beyond  Budgeting reward system is far more appropriate as it is relative to performance measures, often derived from competitors and benchmarks (Hope Fraser, 2003). Daum Hope (2003) argue that Beyond Budgeting is a more adaptive approach to management, with more frequent performance reviews. A second feature is that centralized and hierarchical structures are converted to a decentralized management style. This empowerment pushes authority and decision making to lower levels of the business. The effect can be found in increased productivity and motivation. Managers have embedded budgets into their culture so it is likely they will struggle to manage without them. Hope and Fraser (2001) believe that the volatile nature of the environment mean budgets and plans are redundant. Budgets try to remove surprises from business. Instead, managers should embrace them and look to them as opportunities for improvement. They continue by saying that in order to take full advantage of the opportunities lower level staff need the authority to make strategic decisions. Furthermore the removal of budgets creates extra time for managers spend on  problem solving and adding value to the business, as the time taken to prepare budgets is a particular disadvantage (Ostergren Stensaker, 2011). The Beyond Budgeting model is becoming increasingly popular and many companies are now following its principles. Hope Fraser (1997) discovered that the Scandinavian bank Svenska Handelsbanken abolished all forms of traditional budgeting in 1979. Since then it has grown into the largest bank in Scandinavia and one of Europe’s most efficient banks. Their CEO reported that a cultural change from budgets and targets to improvement has enabled costs to be driven down. Daum (2002) states that Svenska Handelsbanken utilised a decentralised structure to enable each branch to run as an independent profit centre. This is an example of the potential that Beyond Budgeting can unlock. The Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT), a network designed to transform the  traditional budget system, studied 14 companies without budgets or almost without budgets and from this they produced 12 guiding principles to Beyond Budgeting: i. Measure performance against the competition, not internal targets. ii. Motivate employees by empowerment. iii. Delegation to divisional managers allows them to take responsibility. iv. Give operational managers independent access to resources. v. Create customer focused teams. vi. Provide transparent information sharing across the organisation. vii. Set targets on external benchmarks. viii. Rewards in line with beating the competitors. ix. Allow managers to be involved with strategy planning. x. Grant management access to local resources. xi. Coordinate the internal use of resources. xii. Performance measurement information should be available freely. (Daum, 2002) Pilkington Crowther (2007) have found that Beyond Budgeting is most commonly adopted by large firms employing over 1,000 people. The smaller firms (10 50 employees) tend to impose strict budgets for employees to follow. This is likely to be due to the size, management style and ability to train staff in unfamiliar concepts. DeWaal (2005) suggests an entry scan before implementing Beyond Budgeting to ensure that staff feels the current systems are failing. The scan creates discussion into whether staff wants, and if the organisation can, implements Beyond Budgeting. The main advantage of questioning the employment of Beyond Budgeting is that staff will feel involved in decision making and internal business processes. Beyond Budgeting appears to have many advantages over traditional systems but it is not without criticism of its own. CIMA (2007) believe that having no budget  creates various problems. A business will have no framework for planning, coordinating and controlling its activities. The business can lose direction without detailed plans of its current position and future goals. Finally, a drastic culture change can leave employees feeling disillusion and the decentralized structure may be impractical for some organisations. An alternative option for firms that still want a formal budgeting system is Better Budgeting. Better Budgeting entails five techniques that can be used to overcome some of the limitations of traditional methods (Neely et al, 2003). Activity Based Budgeting involves planning using value adding activities, following a similar concept to ABC and ABM. Zero Base budgeting forces managers to justify their budgets every year to try and prevent dysfunctional behaviour and budget games. Thirdly, a Value Based technique encourages a focus on creating shareholder wealth and linkages with strategy. Profit methods consider both short and long term projections whilst ensuring sufficient cash is generated. Finally, Rolling Budgets create frequent budgets to provide more accurate forecasts. A major problem with Better Budgeting techniques is that they can actually take even more management time to be used effectively, which is likely to cause greater dissatisfaction with the processes. The Beyond Budgeting movement is still in the early stages of development and Rickards (2006) feels that further research and practical implementations are required before a real breakthrough in management accounting is achieved. Becker et al (2009) believe that the initial fascination with Beyond Budgeting is fading and that some principles are being put into practice, just not under the umbrella of Beyond Budgeting. Decentralisation and empowerment may be growing in popularity due to the current business environment. V. Conclusion To conclude, Hope’s view is that Beyond Budgeting is a far more effective system which conquers the limitations of traditional methods. He foresees the international expansion of the BBRT and that Beyond Budgeting will become a ‘major management theme for the future’ (Daum Hope, 2003). After evaluating the thoughts and opinions of various academics, this article believes that Beyond Budgeting has an important role to play in the future of management accounting. However, it is unlikely that it will be fully adopted as the BBRT imagined; a number of principles are extremely useful within the modern environment. These may be adopted but management will find it hard to completely abandon budgeting, as it is embedded it business culture. Perhaps some Better Budgeting techniques could be practiced in order to update the failing traditional system. This article supports the argument that traditional budgets are outdated and no longer appropriate for the current environment. Furthermore, budgets can actually destroy shareholder value within a firm therefore it is vital that new systems are developed. It is the view of this article that the traditional budget requires refreshing and revitalizing but is not yet ready for removal. References Bartram, P. (2006). Forecasting the end for budgets. Director. 30. Becker, S., Messner, M. and Schaffer, U. (2009). The Evolution of a Management Accounting Idea: The Case of Beyond Budgeting. Working paper. Bhimani, A., Horngren, C., Datar, S. Foster, G. (2008). Management and Cost Accounting, 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson. Michael Goode, Ali Malik CIMA 213 (2007). Beyond Budgeting. [Online] Available at: http://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/cid_tg_beyond_bu dgeting_oct07.pdf [Accessed: 28/11/11] Daum, J. (2002). Beyond Budgeting: A Model for Performance Management and Controlling in the 21st Century? Controlling and Finance. Daum, J. and Hope, J. (2003). The origins of Beyond Budgeting and of the Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT) An interview with Jeremy Hope. DeWaal, A. (2005). Is Your Organisation Ready for Beyond Budgeting? Measuring Business Excellence, 9(2), 58-67 Drury, C. (2008). Management and Cost Accounting. 7th Edition. Andover: Cengage Learning. Dugdale, D. and Lyne, S. (2006). Budgeting. CIMA Financial Management, 32-35. Ekholm, B. and Wallin, J. (2010). Is the annual budget really dead? European Accounting Review, 9(4), 519-539. Hansen, S. (2011). A Theoretical Analysis of the Impact of Adopting Rolling Budgets, Activity-Based Budgeting and Beyond Budgeting. European Accounting Review, 20(2), 289-319. Hope, J. and Fraser, R. (1997). Beyond budgetingbreaking through the barrier to the third wave. Management Accounting, 75(11), 20-23. Hope, J. and Fraser, R. (2001). Beyond Budgeting Questions Answers. CAM-I Hope, J. and Fraser, R. (2003). New ways of setting rewards: the Beyond Budgeting model. Californian Management Review, 45(4), 104-119. Hope, J. and Fraser, R. (2003). Who needs budgets? Harvard Business Review. 81(5), 125-126. Jensen, M. (2003). Paying People to Lie: the Truth about the Budgeting Process. European Financial Management, 9(3), 379-406. Libby, T and Lindsay, R. (2009). Beyond budgeting or budgeting reconsidered? A survey of North-American budgeting practice. Management Accounting Research. Neely, A., Bourne, M. and Adams, C. (2003). Better budgeting or beyond budgeting?Measuring Business Excellence, 7(3), 22-28 Ostergren, K. and Stensaker, I. (2010). Management control without budgets: A field study of â€Å"Beyond Budgeting† in practice. European Accounting Review, 19(1), 1-33. 214 Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 31, No. 2 Otley, D. (2003). Management Control and Performance Management Whence and Whither? British Accounting Review, 35, 309-326. Pilkington, M. andCrowther, D. (2007). Budgeting and control. Financial Management, 29-30. Player, S. (2003). Why some organizations go Beyond Budgeting. Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance, 14(3), 3-9. Rickards, R. (2006). Beyond budgeting: boon or boondoggle? Investment Management and Financial Innovations, 3(2), 62-76.

The Colossian Heresy Essay -- essays research papers fc

The city of Colossae Located on the South bank of the Lycus River in the province of Phrygia stood Colossae. Before the Christian era, Colossae was a principle city in the Lycus Valley . Part of a major trade route in Asia minor from Ephesus to Miletus, the city was most known for its production of textiles, especially its purple wool . With other large cities such as Laodicea and Hierapolis, this was a well-populated and high business area in the Lycus Valley. Yet, with changes in the road system, Laodicea became a more important trade city than Colossae. And though once a city of great prominence, by A.D. 61, Colossae had suffered a great deal. An earthquake shook the city that year, Eusebius writes, and had disappeared from the literature of its day . However, there is much more to the story of this once prominent city. For instance, the city is written to by the Apostle Paul in the late 50’s A.D., concerning what was considered to be dangerous teachings that might be infiltrating the church in that city. What was this false teaching that Paul was concerned enough to write about? Was there truly a danger? What did this teaching consist of? These questions will attempt to be answered in the following pages. It would be wise to first begin with the church in Colossae. The Church in Colosssae had a problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The church in Colossae was not planted by Paul. Rather, many believe that one of his students, Epaphras, was the man who built this Gentile church . It is believed that Epaphras is the man who first sent word to Paul about the problems facing the church there. And while it is generally agreed that Paul writes to a specific problem affecting the church in Colossae, it is not agreed upon what exactly the problem was. There are as many possibilities as there are scholars who have written on the subject. For the time being, some of the more likely views will be briefly examined. The heresy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Often referred to as the â€Å"Colossian Heresy†, many debated as to who might be the ones responsible for the false teachings and wrong influences that Paul was so concerned about. Arnold writes that though Paul had probably not visited the church in Colossae before he wrote, he believed the teaching to come from a Pagan and Jewish style of thought and law . This would imply that two different groups were responsibl... ...rand Rapids, Michigan 1996. Baird, Cliff. What Was nailed to the Cross. Memphis 1989. Barclay, William. The All Sufficient Christ: Studies in Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, Westminster Books, Philadelphia 1974. Furnish, Paul Victor. Colossians, Paul’s Epistle to the Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. Freedman, David Noel. Doubleday, New York 1992. Gray, Crete. The Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians and Philemon, Lutterworth Press, London 1948. Jones, Allen H. Essenes, University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland 1985. Kachelman, John L. Jr. Studies in Colossians: The Saviors Supremacy, Quality Publications, Abilene, Texas 1985. Lewis, C.S. Colossians, Paul’s Epistle to the, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. Orr, James, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids 1952 Lightfoot, J.B. Saint Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, Macmillan and Co., London 1900. Robertson, A.T. Paul and the Intellectuals, Broadman Press, Nashville 1959. Schweizer, Eduard. The Letter to the Colossians, Ausburg Publishing House, Minneapolis 1982. Simon, Marcel. Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus, Fortress Press, Philadelphia 1967.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Colossian Heresy Essay -- essays research papers fc The city of Colossae Located on the South bank of the Lycus River in the province of Phrygia stood Colossae. Before the Christian era, Colossae was a principle city in the Lycus Valley . Part of a major trade route in Asia minor from Ephesus to Miletus, the city was most known for its production of textiles, especially its purple wool . With other large cities such as Laodicea and Hierapolis, this was a well-populated and high business area in the Lycus Valley. Yet, with changes in the road system, Laodicea became a more important trade city than Colossae. And though once a city of great prominence, by A.D. 61, Colossae had suffered a great deal. An earthquake shook the city that year, Eusebius writes, and had disappeared from the literature of its day . However, there is much more to the story of this once prominent city. For instance, the city is written to by the Apostle Paul in the late 50’s A.D., concerning what was considered to be dangerous teachings that might be infiltrating the church in that city. What was this false teaching that Paul was concerned enough to write about? Was there truly a danger? What did this teaching consist of? These questions will attempt to be answered in the following pages. It would be wise to first begin with the church in Colossae. The Church in Colosssae had a problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The church in Colossae was not planted by Paul. Rather, many believe that one of his students, Epaphras, was the man who built this Gentile church . It is believed that Epaphras is the man who first sent word to Paul about the problems facing the church there. And while it is generally agreed that Paul writes to a specific problem affecting the church in Colossae, it is not agreed upon what exactly the problem was. There are as many possibilities as there are scholars who have written on the subject. For the time being, some of the more likely views will be briefly examined. The heresy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Often referred to as the â€Å"Colossian Heresy†, many debated as to who might be the ones responsible for the false teachings and wrong influences that Paul was so concerned about. Arnold writes that though Paul had probably not visited the church in Colossae before he wrote, he believed the teaching to come from a Pagan and Jewish style of thought and law . This would imply that two different groups were responsibl... ...rand Rapids, Michigan 1996. Baird, Cliff. What Was nailed to the Cross. Memphis 1989. Barclay, William. The All Sufficient Christ: Studies in Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, Westminster Books, Philadelphia 1974. Furnish, Paul Victor. Colossians, Paul’s Epistle to the Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. Freedman, David Noel. Doubleday, New York 1992. Gray, Crete. The Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians and Philemon, Lutterworth Press, London 1948. Jones, Allen H. Essenes, University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland 1985. Kachelman, John L. Jr. Studies in Colossians: The Saviors Supremacy, Quality Publications, Abilene, Texas 1985. Lewis, C.S. Colossians, Paul’s Epistle to the, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. Orr, James, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids 1952 Lightfoot, J.B. Saint Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, Macmillan and Co., London 1900. Robertson, A.T. Paul and the Intellectuals, Broadman Press, Nashville 1959. Schweizer, Eduard. The Letter to the Colossians, Ausburg Publishing House, Minneapolis 1982. Simon, Marcel. Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus, Fortress Press, Philadelphia 1967.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Personal Healthy Living Plan Essay

1. Physical a. I will develop a workout schedule for me to do throughout the summer time and for the rest of my time here in college. b. There are so many reasons to exercise regularly (better health, weight loss, feeling happier all around), and so many reasons to just, well, not (happy hour, errand-filled days, vacations). If the latter reasons are getting the best of you, here are four simple ways to stick to a workout routine. http://www.fitsugar.com/How-Keep-Workout-Routine-22523101 c. My state of change would be preparation. d. I will be doing this scheduling within the next few weeks or month. I will start by writing out the schedule and do specific workouts each day to target different parts of my body. In doing so, I will also write out stretching and cool down workouts as well to balance out the work intake. e. Some barriers that I might face are feeling lazy, in taking the wrong foods which will lead me to not wanting to work out and negativity from people around me. They way that I will overcome these barriers is to avoid having the feeling of laziness, not in taking the wrong types of food and to not listen to any negativity that comes out of others around me. f. The way I will commit this plan is by thinking of the end result; having the satisfaction of being in control of my body and proving people’s negativity wrong. 2. Spiritual a. My goal for spirituality will be to starting going back to church and participating in meditations. b. The benefits of meditation are manifold because it can reverse your stress response, thereby shielding you from the effects of chronic stress. When practicing meditation, your heart rate and breathing slow down, your blood pressure normalizes, you use oxygen more efficiently, and you sweat less. http://stress.about.com/od/tensiontamers/p/profilemeditati.htm c. My state of change would be preparation. d. I will do meditations at least three times a week or when needed to relieve stress. I will start going back to church when I go back home on Sunday and this will continue for the rest of my time there and when I come back to school. e. Some barriers that I might face are not having the time to fit meditation in when I have a busy work schedule and being unable to go to church if I work on Sundays. Ways that I can counter these barriers are rescheduling my work hours around the time me and my family would be going to church and putting aside time for meditation to relieve all the stress from work and school. f. The way that I will commit to this plan is by thinking of how less stress I will be if I did meditation and by going to church with my family will help create a strong bond between us that we haven’t had in quite a long while. 3. Social a. My goal is to create a strong friendship with those who I care for the most; my friends and my family. b. You’re shy or lack confidence, talking to people can be very stressful. That’s why it’s a good idea to work to improve your social skills. Once you feel comfortable interacting with people in a social setting, you’ll see the benefits immediately. You’ll meet new friends, you’ll be exposed to new experiences, and you’ll feel 100 percent better about yourself. Here are some simple steps to help you feel comfortable in public. http://www.wikihow.com/Become-Sociable c. My state of change would be action. d. I expect that I will start be more social with my friends now that school is about to finish. I also intend to be social with my immediate family; spending more time with them, talking and visiting them now that I will be staying home. e. Some barriers that I might face are being unable to hang out with friends because of my busy schedule or because their busy schedule and being unable to visit my family because I have no transportation to get there. How I will overcome these barriers will be to make time for them and put aside things that are unnecessary to do. I’ll do the same for seeing and making time for my family. f. The way I will stay committed to this plan is imagining how happy my family members will seem when they see me after not seeing each other for about two years or so and the same with my friends. 4. Intellectual a. My goal is to studying hard for my finals that are soon to be arriving and do a time management chart to organize all my studying time. b. Developing time management skills is a journey that may begin with this Guide, but needs practice and other guidance along the way. One goal is to help yourself become aware of how you use your time as one resource in organizing, prioritizing, and succeeding in your studies in the context of competing activities of friends, work, family, etc. http://www.studygs.net/timman.htm c. My state of change would be termination. d. I will set specific times to study and organize my work according to the date of the final. Making sure I put the important things to get them done and out of the way for the next study session. e. Some barriers that I might face while doing this would be not getting enough sleep at night because I want to get everything done right away, not being able to retain all the information that I just took in and neglecting to eat. How I will overcome these barriers will be to get sleep to help me retain the information and make time to eat so I get my nutrients that I need to keep going. f. The way I will stay committed is the gratitude of being done and satisfaction of passing all my classes with good grades. 5. Emotional a. My goal to relieve my build-up emotions will be through dancing. b. People can avoid these common emotional traps and improve your emotional health, attitudes, and self-esteem. One method of shifting emotion is called the BARES model. http://www.thenewmedicine.org/health_planner_info/emotions/recommendations_shift_emotions c. My state of change would be action. d. Instead of keeping my emotions to myself, I will relieve them through dancing in my room or by going to a dance party. e. Some barriers that I may face will be not wanting to dance or not wanting to talk to anyone about all the emotions that I have inside. Some ways that I can overcome these barriers is to pick good music to dance to or have my boyfriend be my dancing partner and create a strong bond as well as relieving stress and emotions build-up. f. The way I will stay committed to the plan is knowing that with expressing my emotions, I will become a better person and be less stress especially with finals ahead. 6. Environmental a. My goal is to take less time taking a shower than taking a longer one. b. Your morning or evening shower is very easily the most relaxing part of your entire day. Sometimes it just feels so good to close your eyes and stand under the rain-like flow of your showerhead. The only problem is, sometimes our most relaxing showers are also the ones that waste the most water (and therefore waste the most energy, too) http://ezinearticles.com/?Save-the-Earth,-One-Shorter-Shower-at-a-Time!—Follow-These-Shower-Efficiency-Tips&id=199375 c. My state of change would be action. d. Starting now, taking less time in the shower would be beneficial to the environment because I will be wasting less water and less energy to keep the lights on when showering. e. Some barriers that I can face will be to having the feeling of not wanting to shorten my showers because they feel good to me and because the water feels good when taking it after a sports game or work out. Some ways to overcome these barriers are to tell myself that I will be helping the environment and saving energy. f. The way I will stay committed to this plan is knowing that I’m helping out the world instead of myself.

Comparing Women As Propriety In The Merchant Of Venice...

Women As Propriety In Shakespeares The Merchant Of Venice and The Taming Of the Shrew We may say that the dominant ideas in most societies are the ideas of the dominant sex, associated and mingled with those of dominant class. (Chedgzoy, pg.50) During the Elizabethan time men dominated society. Historically speaking males have always held more power then females in most cultures. Although a few cultures were Matriarchal societies. Yet even in these cultures women were not the superior power but were valued as equal to men. Most of the matriarchal societies viewed women as the embodiment of the goddess. Women have never been the sole dominant sex in a society. The fall of the Matriarchal societies occurred mostly†¦show more content†¦I chose to focus on women issues in Shakespeare plays because I found this area to be the most interesting. Throughout this web page one can find information on Elizabethan marriage and women during this time. The two plays that are written about contain significant evidence on how women were in inferior positions. The household was the microcosm of the state, and womens subjection a happy paradigm of civil order. (Dusinberre, pg.78) The household was a mirror of society and this made it extremely difficult for women to gain power of their own lives. Females were dependent on their fathers during childhood and were obliged to obey their fathers. Once females grew up and got married they were obliged to obey their husbands. During this time men and women were not viewed as an adult until they were married and began a family. In most cases marriages are arranged with a dowry which inevitable perpetuated the view of women as monetary positions. In a society that values the power of men it was often difficult for women to take on the multi-faceted roles that were required of them. While on one hand wives were supposed to be viewed as inferior they also