HR ASSISMENT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

HR ASSISMENT - Assignment Example Human resource management is an important area of research, and the resistance is the most important element and the good knowledge of organizational activity is the main part of successful organizational activity. Knowledge in the field of human resource management help different organizations go through the period of change (Ferris, Rosen & Barnum 205). *Numerous researches and books that have been written on the topic confirm the relevance of leadership in developing effective human resource strategies and using them to create and sustain better competitiveness. Every human resource executive should develop leadership skills. Every company has its own rules and limitations which should be learned and carefully analyzed by any human resource manager. These knowledge should be taken into account by human resource manager in the decision making process. Manager must understand the important of skills improvement (Ferris, Rosen & Barnum 205). * As human resource management now represents the essential area of investigation, and the resistance is the most important element as well as the good knowledge of company structure is a central part of successful organizational activity, some key points can be defined for human resource managers. The current state of research confirms human resource executives as the most important asset on company boards (Renckly & Renckly 301). HR executives (and outstanding HR executives, in particular) know most about their employees, employee relationships personnel law, benefits, diversity, compensation, personnel policies, and related employment issues (Renckly & Renckly

Local Ecology Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Local Ecology - Term Paper Example Most of the plants are either fruit or vegetable plants. This is our way of promoting an organic lifestyle! There is a pomegranate tree, an apricot tree and two apple trees. We have also planted garlic and tomatoes. There is a crowd of electrical wires upon the street at the level of the street light. Normally, they remain covered with insulation tape, but a couple of times, crows have been electrified when they tried to sit over the wires while it was raining. On the street, one can often find wild dogs chasing cats, and wild cats chasing mice. Most of the people in my area are pure vegetarians and there is a culture of growing vegetables within the homes. List of factors distinguishing between my local ecology and environment and those of the nearby towns: The factors are as follows: Cultivation of vegetable and fruit trees Intense electric wiring across the roof Dense population Houses made of stones and bricks Occasional outburst of heavy smoke generated by the burning of rubbish heap Frequent rainfall Wild cats, dog and mice wandering around Temperature significantly lower than the nearby towns because my town is at a greater altitude. The effect of human activities on the local ecosystems: The ecology and environment of my locality was considerably different two to three decades back than what it is now. â€Å"Human activity such as farming, building dams and clearing for development can also change the characteristics of land cover, which in turn affects how an ecosystem operates† (Hartman, 2010). Human activities have also caused a lot of changes in the local ecology and environment. Since my town is at an altitude, it used to be one of the greatest attractions for the local and foreign travelers. That is why, one can still notice a lot of rest houses in my area. It is basically a hilly area. About twenty years ago, it used to be very green. There were pine trees everywhere. One could not locate one brown spot in the whole depth of valley. Everyt hing was green. There were very less houses. It was like a forest. â€Å"Close to 1.6 billion people – more than 25% of the world’s population – rely on forest resources for their livelihoods† (FAO, 2011). Likewise, the people of my town used to earn by entertaining the travelers with the folk tales, local dance, selling fresh fruits and vegetables from the forest trees to them and renting their houses. As more and more people started to dwell here, they cut the trees to make fire. Within a decade, trees were greatly reduced in number. Accordingly, tourists lost interest in coming here. This impacted the businesses of hundreds of local people. They became jobless and moved to the cities for jobs. The temperature of my region today is generally 5 to 6 degrees higher than what it used to be twenty years back. Today, we can not see any sea-gulls flying over the sky unlike in the past. Twenty years back, many people kept cattle and would eat their meat. But t he gradual shift from this area to the city reduced the trend of keeping cattle and more people became pure vegetarians. Comparison of the effect on my local ecosystem change with other areas: In comparison to other areas, my local area has suffered from a greater change of ecosystem because of the fact that it is a hilly area has been the greatest tourist attraction for many years in the past. Today, one

Managing External Stakeholders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Managing External Stakeholders - Essay Example The company management has to make a balancing assessment and evaluate all such external forces in order to adjust them with company's objectives. While taking crucial corporate decisions, it is necessary to know about the expectations of different stakeholders and to determine the extent to which they could and would exert their influence. Johnson & Scholes (1999) define stakeholder as, "Stakeholders are groups or individuals who have a stake in, or expectation of, the organisation's performance." For any organization to work, all the stakeholders have to pool their efforts. Terry & Franklin (1994) define management as 'a distinct process consisting of activities of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling performed to determine and accomplish stated objectives with the use of human beings and other resources'. Different organisations have different sets of stakeholders, whose nature and composition varies depending upon the nature of business. For example the Arsenal Footbal l Club, besides being a soccer club is a public limited company in itself. As football club, its main stakeholders are, the players, the spectators, football fans, the club administrators etc. But as a plc, a broader array of stakeholders comes into picture. The Arsenal Holdings plc manages stadiums, matches, football teams, online TV channel, credit card business, sports academies, strategic partnerships with host of other organizations etc. Therefore the company has stakeholders from different corners of the society in general. The Arsenal Football Club started off when a group of workers at the Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory decided to form a football team in late 1886. The club has now transformed into a full fledged company organizing different types of activities. The recent half yearly financial results for the company indicate an impressive growth rate with group turnover increasing to GBP100.8 million (2005: GBP57.0 million) as a result of higher gate and match day reven ues at Emirates Stadium and sale of a property development site at Drayton Park1. Similarly, British Petroleum (BP) is a leading oil and gas company. The company's operations include the exploration and production of gas and crude oil, construction and mining, manufacturing and transportation. Besides this the company also has a network of subsidiaries engaged in the chemicals, power and renewable energy sectors. The company maintains leading brands like BP, AM/PM, Aral, ARCO, Castrol etc. With operations spread over six continents in about 100 countries, the company maintains stakeholders in many forms and profiles. The humble beginning of BP can be traced back to 1901 when William Know tried to explore oil in Persia. But it was not before 1908 that the first commercial oil discovery was made in the Middle East by BP (Datamonitor, 2006). In 1935, the company prospered and was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Similarly, exploration expanded into North America (mainly Alaska), South America, Africa, and Europe. The war effort resulted in the British governmen t becoming a shareholder in the company, an association which went on till 1987. Any organization is managed by soliciting crucial support and guidance from respective stakeholders and by taking care of different factors affecting the functioning of an organization. A coordinated approach is required for taking care of all the

Shareholder Theory and Kants Duty of Beneficence Essay

Shareholder Theory and Kants Duty of Beneficence - Essay Example While Friedman argues that an organization must have only one purpose; to utilize all of its resources to increase profits and nothing else, Bowie bases this claim on Kant’s argument, that an attitude of pure self-interest contradicts our call to be helped by others. Bowie argues that ‘society’ has assisted organizations, in the form of infrastructure e.g. roads, sanitation facilities, police security, ï ¬ re protection, etc., and therefore corporations owe a duty of ‘beneï ¬ cence’ back to society (Mansell, 2012). A way forward has been suggested in the article to harmonize the divergent views of various theories and to reduce the difficulties that may been to face the duties of corporations. The bodies should establish formal policies or codes of conduct that include the ethics of the non-shareholders in the society. This has been demonstrated in the principles of the UN Global Compact. Kant in overall recommends that acts of benevolence should be made a matter of right rather than obligation. Instead of rejecting the shareholder theory, it can be extended to involve the well-being of non-shareholders (Mansell,

The Value of HRM to Business Organisations Essay Example for Free

The Value of HRM to Business Organisations Essay This essay will evaluate the literature available on the value of the selection method of personality tests to business organisations. These tests measure individual’s responses to what are usually fixed choice questions to uncover characteristics that have important implications for their job performance (Beardwell and Claydon, 2007). Personality tests were first reviewed in a personnel selection context in 1965 (Guion and Gottier, 1965) but it is only recently that they have become popular with around 30% of companies using them (Heller, 2005), particularly for candidates applying for managerial and graduate jobs within the top companies in the UK (Faulder, 2005; Newell, 2005: 133). However, despite their popularity there is still continuing controversy in debates surrounding this selection method. These debates will be explored alongside identifying relevant concepts such as the validity and reliability of personality tests which have implications for their value to business organisations. Although there are many debates surrounding personality tests they can be broadly grouped into four main areas (Taylor, 2005). The first of these debates concerns whether and to what extent it is actually possible to measure an individual’s personality. The uptake of personality tests highlights that there is now a level of agreement that personality is measurable, but there is a need therefore to adopt similar systems of personality descriptions if findings are to be compared (Newell, 2005: 134). The five factor model also referred to as the â€Å"Big Five† is close to achieving this as it becomes more readily accepted as the model of choice when constructing personality tests (Robertson, 2001). This model breaks personality into five important traits of open to experience, agreeableness, emotional stability, conscientiousness and extraversion (Rothstein and Goffin, 2006) with the latter two being considered the most valid predictors of job performance (Barrick and Mount, 1993), however it is important to note it is not without its critics (Murphy and Dzieweczynski, 2005). Furthermore, when using personality tests in selection an individual’s willingness to be honest when answering questions needs to be considered and will be explored in more detail later (Torrington, 2005). Secondly, there is much discussion about whether personality is context dependent (Torrington, 2005: 152) or whether it remains consistent over time (Barrick and Mount, 1993). This has significant ramifications for the value of personality tests in selection methods and specifically the reliability of research to establish its predictive value. There would be ultimately no value to a business organisation spending resources to measure a characteristic which is fluid as it would only serve to identify an individual’s personality at one point in time. This issue also feeds into the notion of faking personality tests and social desirability which has been the subject to much research into reliability (Furnham, 1986). It has been argued that such limitations in selection can be overcome by implementing detection measures into tests which can expose when a candidate is trying to fake their responses (Dalen et al, 2001). Another debate which is central to the use of personality tests as a selection method is whether personality characteristics can really be matched as necessary for a specific job. As some jobs will pose more constraints on an individual than others and therefore limit their ability to express their personality (Barrick and Mount, 1993). This perhaps explains why the increased uptake in personality tests has been specific to certain types of work where this matching is possible (Taylor, 2005) and therefore that in a large amount of recruitment the use of personality tests would be undesirable and pose little value to the business organisation. The final debate which has implications for the value of personality tests is whether the method, i. e. the completion of a fixed questionnaire, provides a suitable depth of information about the candidate’s personality to make decisions about their suitability for the job they are applying for (Taylor, 2005). Iles and Salaman (1995) have argued that these measures are stronger predictors than had previously been thought but there have been many limitations of studies demonstrating its predictive value. Armstrong (2006) points to the need to have tests which are sensitive, standardised, reliable and valid in order for them to be considered effective. It has also been suggested that instead personality tests should be used as part of a two way process whereby results are discussed during interviews to consider how an individual would deal with certain situations (Newell, 2005). This would perhaps help manage the limitation that individuals feel pressurised into giving a ‘right’ answer and therefore fake their responses to a personality test. Throughout these debates there is the reoccurring theme of the need for reliability and validity in personality tests, as with any other selection method a business organisation may adopt. Here it is important that the method is consistent in its measures both throughout the personality test itself and should the personality test be applied to individuals over time. Furthermore, the predictive value will be heavily affected if no clear relationship is established between the tests results and job performance (Newell, 2005). In conclusion, from the literature review it is evident that there is still little clarity or agreement about the validity and reliability of personality tests as a selection method. What is certain, however, is that it is necessary to carefully match certain personality characteristics against aspects of performance on the job for personality tests to have predictive value. Building on this literature review, this essay will now focus on and describe the research findings of two relevant papers.

Analysing The Performance Of Aegon Group Business Essay

Analysing The Performance Of Aegon Group Business Essay AEGON Group is world leader in financial services business which provides life insurance, pensions, long term savings funds and investment services and products. AEGON Group has 30000 employees and serving over 40 million customers globally. AEGON Group provides services and products over twenty five countries globally United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. By 1994 AEGON started relationship with Scottish Equitable, which was very popular and well known name in the United Kingdom as a financial service industry. Scottish Equitable founded in 1831. By 1998 AEGON had taken complete control of Scottish Equitable and Scottish Equitable was rebranded as AEGON Scottish Equitable in 2006. After two years the Group extended its businesses in the United Kingdom and bought life insurance operations of Guardian Royal Exchange. AEGON main customers are United States, United Kingdom and Netherland. AEGON withdrew some business from Belgium and Greece, also general insurance from the Unit ed Kingdom market and healthcare sector from Netherland. The Group also sold its stake in FGH Bank and merchant bank Labouchere. The result was a more efficient and better concentrated organization. AEGON playing very important role in its markets just not in United Sates, Netherlands and United Kingdom but also in new markets of Asia, and central part of the Eastern Europe as well. AEGON is listed on the stock exchanges of Amsterdam, London, New York and Tokyo. Task -1: Explore the background to change affecting the current organization. P -1.1 Discuss the background to change that exists in today economy. Change is a powerful force or an engine that drives many segments of our economy. Mostly forces of change provide us as contractors with new projects to build and older buildings to modify or amend. Changing is truly the lifeblood of our businesses and our economy. The forces of change are also more subtle and pervasive as its affect our economy, our businesses, our jobs and even our daily lives as well. We might easily recognize changes as progress in physical world of production, but maybe we fail to recognize other forces in our economy, our businesses, our jobs and even our personal lives. Failure to recognize force of change can only lead in downward spiral to lower efficiency, lower profitability, lower productivity and lower personal in-effectiveness. Change is continuous adoption of organization strategies and structures to changing external environment. Today change is ongoing process in our economies, our businesses, and our lives. Change that exists in todays economy The competitive pressure forced the changes bring into our economy. There are several major forces for changes that exist in today economy and financial sectors. These forces are: Bureaucracy Environment changes Climate change Economics changes Political changes Technological changes Personal behaviours changes Changes in turn started the industry globalization We can see incidents in past changes the businesses and economic environment which is responsible for changes exist in current economy. Bureaucracy effect in our organization and economy because management were use resources to person needs rather than organization goals. Max Weber saw bureaucracy as the most rational and effective mode of organizing the activities of large numbers of people because it ensured decision-making according to general rules rather than the whims of officials, cultivated trained experts, and reduced the possibilities of corruption and nepotism. Weber, M., (1979): Economy and Society, in: Journal of an Outline of Interpretive Sociology, Volume 2 The global economic crisis that started in the US in 2007 and spread around the world in 2008 was preceded by large imbalances in global capital flows. The economic crisis has changed world economy during the past year alone, slowdowns economic growth. The IMF says this represents By far the deepest post-World War II recession with an actual decline in output in countries making up 75% of the world economy BBC News. (April22, 2009): (Online). Available at: www.bcc.co.uk The evidence shows that ignoring climate change will eventually damage economic growth. Our actions over the coming few decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century. And it will be difficult or impossible to reverse these changes. Tackling climate change is the pro-growth strategy for the longer term, and it can be done in a way that does not cap the aspirations for growth of rich or poor countries. The earlier effective action is taken, the less costly it will be. NICHOLAS STERN, STERN REVIEW: THE ECONOMICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE LONG EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ii (2006) Economy growth slowdown, unemployment is up, house price fall down and these changes, changed people mindsets and their spending habits in order to survive this difficult time. Managers across the UK, meanwhile, have accepted their own redundancy as inevitable, according to the Chartered Management Institute. Those factors are cause to a lot of stress for us all our society and individually. There also In near past the world economy was not good even before September 11.Synchronized growth slowdowns and in the case of recession in Japan were already under Way in the US, Europe and Japan, while developing countries were facing weaker export demand and increasingly difficult financing conditions. After the shock of September 11 have changed the picture, increasing the already significant downside risks to world growth Fischer, S., October 18, 2001: International Monetary Fund. 32nd IAFEI World Congress, Cancun, Mexico The Changes in the political environment is also one factor to change in today economy. It is difficult to say that these changes are simply short-term reactions to a major shock or amount to new and worrisome trends. At the very least, the balance between political and economic forces has been significantly altered. Because political support for globalization was at best shallow while the global economy was in a buoyant state, this suggests the pendulum is now swinging in the opposite direction. Against this background, two lessons from history are worth keeping in mind. One, dismantling protections takes time. It took several decades for many of the trade barriers erected during the interwar period to be brought down. Second, even if a important part of the progress in liberalizing trade in recent times has been institutionalized and strong reversals à   la 1930s are not likely, the downward spiral of protectionism acts fast. Ferry.P.J Santos.I, (March2009). FD: Volume46, Number1 The technology is posing major challenge to todays economy that is information technology. The information technology of the computer and internet services has and will continue to changes the economy. In the world of economics, globalization is reflected in the increasing the acceptance of free markets and private enterprise as the principal mechanisms for promoting economic activities. Its growing importance is captured in such indices as trade in goods and services, private capital flows in different forms, foreign investment, information technology transfers, operations of transnational enterprises, business travel and communication, and migration and remittances Dunning, J. H. (1993): The Globalisation of Business. Routledge, London. As Labovitz Rosansky point out personal behaviour Psychologists have long recognized that human beings like people who are like themselves and tend to reject people who are different from them. So far organizations continue to create changes between people interest of efficiency. Line versus staff, management versus labour, field versus corporate, internal versus domestic, East versus West, accounting versus sales- the list goes on. No wonder it so hard to focus people around familiar goals when they are so different from each other simply by virtue of what they do and where they do it. Specialization and knowledge can be a wedge that drives people future apart and makes it difficult for them to work together Price, A., (2007): Human Resource Management. 3rd Ed, p281 Several commentators have drawn attention to the analogy with the effects of natural disasters like the Kobe earthquake in Japan that barely show up in the national accounts. It is the indirect effects that will matter most, in particular, in the short-term much depends on the effects on consumer and investor confidence and spending, which were already under strain and have been strained further by the attacks Fischer, S., October 18, 2001: IMF, 32nd IAFEI World Congress, Mexico. AEGON UK chief executive Otto Thoresen says The economic environment is challenging but we have a strong team to take us forward through the next phase of our development Many changes affected the AEGON, UK environment in recent years. These are few changes; External factors In the UK, life expectancy has increased in recent years hence people can expect to be retired for longer. In many cases, individuals have not planned properly for retirement and there may be a shortfall in the amount of money available. AEGON UK have introduced new less expensive pension schemes or insisted on employee pension contributions where they did not in the past. In an economy closed to external equity investors, such as the UK before 1979, the decline of defined benefit pensions would have been a disaster. The cost and availability of equity capital would have reflected the reduced flow of funds into the equity market. This potential concern became irrelevant as a consequence of the lifting of exchange controls and the globalisation of capital flows, which made the market more efficient while putting downward pressure on the cost of capital. Plender, J., (2010): The pensions shake-up heralds equity demand change. The Financial Times Private pensions The government pensions were very small and also government want to decrease the dependency on the state in old age. The government also have introduced private pension schemes to deceased the dependency on the state. Pension funds are increasingly being asked by politicians, non-governmental organizations, campaigners, and pressure groups to mobilize their financial clout more actively and to take their responsibilities as corporate owners more seriously. The chances are it could change from being asked to being required. Fraser, I., (2010): Pension funds search for climate change risks and opportunities Falling vales of shares The current economic downturn situation affected the company shares values, which reduce the returns on the customers investment. Customers getting less than they were expected for their investment, also people had a negative impact on pensions as well. Competition AEGON is in competition with other organisations which are selling directly to customers and those competitors also well known in United Kingdom. Also AEGON has had very poor reputation in the insurance and pensions industry in recent years. P -1.2 Evaluate the strengths and weakness of the organization. Strengths The strengths of an organization are those things that it does particularly well, especially when viewed against the operations of its competitors and also its weakness areas in which it is less strong than the competition.  ¨ AEGON had historically been successful AEGON had historically been successful but government imposed price controls had reduced profitability. Compared to its competitors, AEGON was not well known by consumers. It had developed good products and services and had a good reputation with distributors, particularly in the area of pensions which were a key strength of Scottish Equitable.  ¨ Developed good products/services AEGON developed a range of products and services to individuals, corporations and institutions. Most of these products and services fall into one of the following three categories: Life insurance Pensions Long-term savings and investments products  ¨ Good reputation with distributors Compared to its competitors, AEGON is well known and had a good reputation with distributors, particularly in the area of pensions which were a key strength of Scottish Equitable.  ¨ Customer focused organisation AEGON UK is a customer focused organization as AEGON CEO (Otto Thoresen, 2009) pointed out that We work to help keep customers needs /wants at the heart of all developments and to make sure that financial service industry works with customers to give them what they want/need and we offer the best products and services from their point of view.  ¨ Reflecting local knowledge and global power Scottish Equitable is now AEGON Scottish Equitable reflecting both local knowledge and global power. All the brands now bring a new common look which is refreshing and different.  ¨ AEGON provide the levels of return promised AEGON UK Ltd is also providing the levels of return promised and being responsible for any risks associated with doing so.  ¨ Provide products/services different levels of income for the consumers AEGON Ltd have contractual measures in place to help those customers who find themselves on low incomes and, often through no fault of their own, are unable to maintain premium payments. These measures include introducing lower premium payments, grace periods and loans or, in some cases, reducing the coverage offered by a particular policy. Weaknesses The weaknesses of the organisation are matched to the opportunities and threats that may affect the organisation and which come from the external environment.  ¨ Not well known by consumers in the UK AEGON was not well known by consumers. It had developed good products and services and had a good reputation with distributors, particularly in the area of pensions but not well known directly by consumers.  ¨ Had poor reputation in life insurance and pensions industry The insurance and pensions industry, in which AEGON operates, has had very poor reputation in recent years.  ¨ Not providing consumers with best products for their needs The AEGON Ltd is not providing the products and services in a way that genuinely meets consumer needs/wants, and also not regulator by government.  ¨ Difficult to understand financial services products Financial services/products are hardly to understand. People do not always feel which range of financial products/services they need and also are not sure where to seek support and advice.  ¨ Wide problems to remain competitive The insurance and pensions industry have been characterised by intense competition. AEGON is in competition with other organisations which are selling directly to consumers and which are also better known in the UK.  ¨ Not selling directly to customers AEGON Ltd not sells product direct to consumers, they sells products/services via salesmen, agents or brokers which sometime involves mis-selling of its products/services. P -1.3 Compare alternative forms of organizational development. When we promote the idea of making consumer aware of the organizational change, it becomes organizational development. Generally, the organizational development is considered as a method of arrangement, suitable with the contemporary requirements of the organization and also being able to fulfil the future requirements that cannot be distinguish. After reading the case study of the AEGON Ltd, The plan appears to be the organizational efficiency and effectiveness from top to bottom level. The company led by its new CEO has new objectives such as: Defining the view of where company stand. Defining how the company will stand in the future. Defining the policies and standards to reach the future goals and objectives. The purpose of the company was self analysis by defining goals, targets and objectives, how to reach them and what the management is doing to achieve these goals and objectives. AEGON took a brand audit to find out the answers of these questions and the result of the audit reveals two steps How was the company positioned? How was the competitor of the company positioned? By the audit, the new CEO came to know that there is a need for formation of the new approach (play in the market). The staffs were adopted with the innovation and well organized communication system. Additionally, self analysis has helped new CEO to position a fresh plan to craft progress. The new plans resulted for the organization to involve in the following strategy steps: Simplify financial service and provide more focus. It was important that consumers understood more precisely what they were buying as well as the benefits and services they received. By making products and services clear to the consumers, to many of goal organization achieved and too many very important stakeholders introduced to the change. Both of the stakeholders (government and consumers) are aware and happy, because of services provided by AEGON, these steps were taken for the customer to make them aware and solve problems. Develop the workforce. The objective was to develop the skills, needed within the business and to involve the stakeholders in process of change, by providing them training and skills. Therefore, AEGON also created new opportunities for stakeholder to progress from one job to another job by developing and promoting the careers of work force. This helps AEGON to attract more customers and have competition. Organizational culture may include such things as, confidence to innovation, decisions and trust for production and quality. The model, implemented by new CEO of the AEGON, brought positive change in the organization and gave new direction to the company. Fundamentally, representation of simplify system with regard to the AEGON can be evaluated as follows; Analysing the factor affect the organization Organizational performance and future plans are constantly affected by the external and internal environmental factors. For success in the present world, one need to consider not only the internal environment of the organization consisting of its resources and employees, but needs to consider the external factors as well. These facts cannot be stopped but can adjust accordingly as per the changes in the political, economical or social pressures. These are the external aspects which consist of: Competitors or Opponents The change in the economic structure The Impact of the society/culture Financial agreements Political or Legal system Impact of the environment Analysing the weakness and strength of the organization A range of organization functions which determine an organization strength and weaknesses include production function, management function, Research and Development, marketing function, sales function, HR function, procurement function, logistics function, and various other departments within the organization. For example, organization strength can be derived from the excellence human resource in the organization which might not be present in some of the competitors in the insurance and pensions industry. One more example includes marketing function i.e. if an organization is not effective in marketing efforts, competitors may take advantage of the firms weakness. So AEGON Ltd need highly competent in achieving competences in all these areas of business in order to be successful in the business environment. Determine the goals and objectives of the organization It aims to boost organizational performance by aligning goals and objectives throughout the organization. Ideally, employees get key input to identify their objectives, time lines for completion etc. Management by objectives to be effective, individual managers must understand the specific objectives of their job and how those objectives fit in with the overall organizational objectives set by the board of directors. Involving the stakeholder to process of change Involving the stakeholder, how well does the organization Involve stakeholders in problem solving? Keep stakeholders informed of status towards organizational objectives? Act on feedback from stakeholders? Mobilize the right resources at the right time to adopt the implementation initiative? Create a critical mass of effort by impacted groups to propel the change? Strength Risk Dr. Baba, M., (2005): Change Management. The Defence Logistics Enterprise. Transforming Organizations in the Information Era. Enterprise Integration Group Creating new culture in organization Changing culture in organization helps to improvement organizational objects. Changing culture involves changing the basic values, beliefs, norms, etc., with the individuals of the organization in order to improve overall organization performance. Whether or not it is possible to fully manage change, we believe that being very clear about what changes are required and being very intentional about building a culture that supports the new mission, goals, strategies and practices increases the probability of success exponentially. This necessarily involves a large cross section of the organization in assessing the current system of norms and beliefs, determining what changes are needed, and designing an implementation plan ( Shorb, J.K and Jones, M.D. 2009 ). The result of the change was increase in the efficiency and effectiveness, the company improve its strengths and over comes its weaknesses, the pattern of the behaviours and business culture was developed in the organization and base of the organization to learn from its experiences was forms. Task -2 Develop systems for understanding and involving others in the process of change. P-2.1 Identify systems to involved appropriate stakeholders in the introduction of change. Stakeholder is someone who has some stake or interest in the changes and development of the organization, such as share holders, employees, government and customers. The new CEO consulted with different stakeholders of the company and then formulates a plan of action which includes following aspects: Simplify to financial services and customer focus It was important that consumers understood more specifically what they were buying, as well as the benefits and services they received. The new CEO make understandable to customers, what were company services and products, and what we going to invest and also what will possible to investment returns. Both of the stakeholders and government were unhappy because services and products were not good but after this step taken by new CEO to clarify methods and they become more aware to this regard and problem has been solved. Developing the workforce The purpose was to develop the  skills  needed within the company to help it change. AEGON also created opportunities for progression from one job to another job and usually one service to another service. Creating a distinct market place for the organization Create a more different presence within the marketplace. This involved refreshing the AEGON  brand in a means that made it more distinctive from its competitors and more attractive to his  consumers. The new CEO has taken some steps in following ways. External promotional: External promotional campaigns emphasised the relationship between Scottish Equitable and AEGON. This helped to support the local familiarity and the global power of the Organization in UK. The CEO talked to media: The new CEO talked to media about the refreshing of the brand internally and externally resulted in strong positive response. AEGON has launched new and innovative products: AEGON has launched new product e.g. the five for life pension has helped to change the way in which consumers can look at their retirement income. AEGON provide more certainty about the levels of income for customer, with providing the levels of return promised. P-2.2 Analyse and evaluate these systems. The change in the system of the organization brought positive influence internally and externally. The big challenge was to convince the stakeholders, the importance of the change in the organization. For the achievement of this objective, new CEO manoeuvre from improving skills of the workforce, he linked this growth to certain behaviours: These eight behaviours are; Think customer Embrace change Encourage excellence Act with integrity Decisive action Work together Learn and grow Relate and communicate Customers less awareness is one another reason of the change in the organization, this was also reason of the government increased tax impositions. As result of this, the company was losing customers. Knowledge of the service and product was made available through AEGON information system. Training and retraining of the employees was another aspect of the change. Finally, the company has to regain its reputation and built a brand name for its stakeholders, and the CEO responded to this challenge by bringing well known brand shares which recognise AEGON in front of its stakeholders. Furthermore, AEGON moreover revive its brand name to hold its market position though merger with Scottish Equitable (now known as AEGON Scottish Equitable), which gave company a new look. Task- 3 What were the models implemented for ensuring ongoing change. P-3.1 Adapt an appropriate model for change. The model, implemented by new CEO, brought positive and contrastive change and gave company new direction. The CEO already mentioned the performance of company through reforms in culture. As mentioned previously, both of the stakeholders (government and consumers) are aware and happy because of services provided by AEGON. These steps were taken for the customer to make them aware and solve problems. With regard to AEGON model, implementation will bring some changes which can be categorised: Analysing the factor affecting the organization. Analysing the weaknesses and strengths of the organization. Determine the goals and objectives of the organization. Involving the stakeholder to process of change. Creating new culture in organization. As Kotter, (1995) describe in Leading Change helpful model outlines an eight step process with suggestions to help organizations transform. Kotter model is useful in understanding that the change process takes time and is not something that happens immediately. It is important for program leaders and communications staff to understand that the steps needed to support any transformation plan takes place during all stages of project. Each step acknowledges a key principle identified and people can see changes, feel the changes. These eight steps: Increase Urgency AEGON pensions provider has suggested that the issue of the government helping public to put money away for retirement is of greater urgency now than it ever has been. (AEGON UK chief executive Otto Thoresen. 2010) Build the Guiding Team Get the guiding team to create the right vision and strategies to guide action in all of the remaining stages of change. This is a difficult and increasingly complex market in which AEGON Ltd is committed to offering adviser partners the ongoing help they require. We are confident that we have developed an investment proposition that meets the needs of advisers and their clients now and in a post RDR world. (Andy Marchant., 2009. Life and Pensions Marketing Director at AEGON) Get the Vision Right A shared sense of urgency for change may push people into action, but it is the vision that taking them in the right direction. A good vision offers a compelling, motivating the picture of the future and serves several important purposes. Communicate for Buy In Communicate changing vision and strategies to create understanding and buy-in Keeping communication uncomplicated and heartfelt not complex and technical Know what your individuals are feeling Speak to anxieties, confusion, anger, fear Empower Action Empower action mean is a deal effectively with obstacles that block action, especially disempowering bosses, the wrong performance measurement and reward systems, lack of information, and lack of self confidence. Create Short Term wins A short term win boosts employees confidence in the process, helping to make their efforts seem worthwhile, and gives the people responsible a chance to relax and enjoy their achievements and also link achievements back to the original vision, quieten the cynics and resisters and strengthen support from organization. Consolidating achievements and progressing Continuing with wave after wave of change, not stopping until the clear vision is a reality no matter how big the obstacles. Make Change Stick Change simply sticks when the people it affects are involved. All change is either rejected or embraced by the employees who have to live with its outcome. So its always better to involve those people in the process of change and pay close attention to their hopes and fears. P -3.2 How was the plan implemented, its process and outcomes. For successfully manage change processes, it is required to analyze the phases of the process. Managers want to know in which phase they have to anticipate and what types of problems. Most successful organizations are able to adjust themselves to new conditions quickly. This needs to learn planning processes that lead to improved organizational values. Consumers were confused before the model implemented what AEGON was. The outcome of model implement for change was extremely positive and successful. It helps to recognise the company strength and weakness and its also shows that global scale was important and local brand expertise as well. AEGON brand was not promoted alongside the Scottish Equitable and not well known in financial service industry. With a new Chief Executive of UK in place 2005 of AEGON put a new plan (model). The purpose of this model implement was to meet the CEO objectives and goals. Before implement to change AEGON was unknown in the United Kingdom, much less popular in consumers and product or services offer by the company not good enough. But after the implementation of changes AEGON became very popular brand in the United Kingdom and business started growing as well. Now the alliance with AEGON is much stronger. E.g. Scottish Equitable is now AEGON Scottish Equitable thus reflecting local knowledge and also global power. In order

Controversy In South Park Film Studies Essay

Controversy In South Park Film Studies Essay South Park is an icon of modern satire and humor in America.  Ã‚  This sitcom is a source of thousands of winged phrases culprit billion settlement on all sorts of topics covered in it. It ridicules many celebrities, religion, individual nations and a lot of things that are part of our lives. Series  «South Park » is a cruel satire of American society produced by the Comedy Central over ten years.  During this time the series had gained popularity, received awards, was on the verge of closing and again reborn.   Anime as a genre, can reduce everything to a joke, and, even if it differs with black humor, violates ethical rules, ridicules the ideals of decent Americans. South Park mocks and parodies, drops and mixes with the mud all that is possible and all that is impossible. To describe the series definitely is quite a challenge: comments on it differ immensely from the exclamations of delight, to the requirements of the immediate closure. The basis of action is an exaggeration or an understatement of some events: sometimes of household trifles, sometimes of the worlds problems.  This is a blow to the stereotyped thinking. The television is not taken to reflect on what is considered politically incorrect, especially about how the Americans think about Jews, Canadian, Russian, blacks, people of different faiths, but  «South Park » ridicules almost all religions and nationalities. In the South Park, that violates at the events of reality, can not appear so-called guest stars.  Mostly they look like cartoon with a head carved out of this photo: in particular in the series satirically played on Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Lopez.  «South Park » in 2006 won Peabody Award, a prestigious award for journalists, established by the University of Georgia.  Jury awards noted South Park as the most vivid, politically incorrect TV program. (Mansour, 2005) In its own way  «South Park » is unique.  Perhaps the main idea of the series is that we must be able to laugh at themselves, and perhaps to appreciate life.  In any case, it is not so superficial and vulgar as it first seems, because of the rudeness and swearing discuss important issues.  A conspicuous obscenity is a speaking out against censorship, in which TV is entangled. South Park as a ridicule of American life South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.  The plot is based on adventures of four boys and their friends living in the small town of South Park, Colorado.  Series ridicules the shortcomings of American culture and current world events, and criticized a lot of deep convictions and taboos, through parody and black humor. The series always involves controversial subjects and all sorts of taboos.  Obscene language is used to make fun of religion and cults, such issues as sexuality and global warming. The series covers and ridicules practically all topics and points of view, absolutely all things can become subject of jokes and ridicules.  According to Tony Fox, one of the leaders of Comedy Central, creators of South Park make an attempt to make people laugh, not offend anyone.  () Main characters are the portraits of certain people in the modern world, images of certain characters.The main heroes of the cartoon are five students of American elementary school.   Eric Theodore Cartman the prototype of this hero was Archie Bunker, a fictional character in the once popular U.S. comedy series The whole family.  Eric is often the instigator of the conflict and asks a series of problems.  He is vulgar, offensive, has an unhealthy sadistic, intolerant of anything alien, spoiled, rude, hostile and obese.  He is a racist, so constantly insults Kyle and considers his idol Hitler, even his name is very similar to the name of best air ace of the Third Reich Erich Hartmann.  Sometimes he laughs on poverty.  At the same time, his flashy and sociopathic behavior often play a trick on him, pitting him against the others.  In many parts Cartman openly opposed to the other three characters.  However, Cartman has repeatedly demonstrated his supernatural ability to conduct business and leadership: he can easily make money or incites others to action that helped him to achieve own goals.  However, he has a lot of complexes: for example, Eric ex plains his overweight as wide bones and a strong constitution, because that is what my mother told him.  Cartman is the only anti-hero of all four children, but he from the very first season is attracting more attention of the spectators than the remaining trio. Cartman entered the list of VH1 greatest icons of pop culture, the list of TV Guide 50 greatest cartoon characters, and in 2005 was in the list of the channel Bravo 100 greatest TV characters.() Stanley (Stan) Marsh good-natured and clear-headed man, who usually tries to get out of scandalous situations by finding a logical solution.  Stan is a moralist, and often utters morality of the whole series, for his age he has a very profound views on many issues. Stan lives with his mom, dad, sister and grandfather, his family is often used as an example of the archetypal American family. Kyle Broflovski is a sensitive skeptic, at times self-satisfied and pliable, but always sincerely trying to learn.  By origin he is a Jew.  Like Stan, Kyle often provides a reasonable estimate of the abnormal behavior of the adults around them, but more emotional and subjective.  Kyle, unlike Eric Cartman, always ponders over his actions, and tries to correct his mistakes, he is very careful to expensive to own people friends, parents, brother.  Perhaps it is a cartoonish character of a typical Jew. Kenneth (Kenny) McCormick: during the first five seasons Kenny serves as a perpetual victim is killed in many ways.  This is because the series in the series, with few exceptions, accompanied by remarks obychnosmert Kenny Stan: Oh my God!  They killed Kenny!   You Bustards!.  Cause permanent resurrections Kenny revealed in one of the series his parents give birth to every episode of a new son, absolutely indistinguishable from the dead last.  At the end of the fifth season of Kenny dies for real, so for 6 seasons friends must search for his replacement. The basis of character, as a rule, is a typical template a primitive-drawn body, a circle for a head, big eyes.  If a character is a prototype of a real life, sometimes instead of a drawing or photograph a person using a few, so you can change facial expressions.  Sometimes, for extra comic effect a more complex animation is used.  Instead of fire, cut from colored paper, is now using realistic graphics bombings, against the backdrop of primitive graphics core landscape creates an additional humorous effect. Sometimes with the help of special effects certain films, series, or whole genres are parodied.  For example, a series called Good Times with Weapons was made in style of anime, Make Love, Not Warcraft contains numerous videos from Warcraft; in addition there are a lot of episodes in the parody style of animation of Scooby-Doo, The Simpsons, Family Guy  , cartoon Heavy Metal . Also there are fragments with documentary footage, for example in a series of Tweek vs. Craig, Cat Orgy and New Trend Snatch Mr. Garrison. (South Park Studios FAQ, 2001) The primitive style of animation in the South Park is completely on purpose, the use for such animation editors Maya and Corel Draw Parker and Stone describe as an example of self-irony. (Jones, 2008) South Park very often shows business and media stars, although only few of them (in particular,  «Radiohead »,  «Korn », Robert Smith of  «The Cure ») voiced themselves.  In most cases the ratio of creators to the characters of celebrities is extremely humiliating, all their negative traits are maximized, sometimes even mockery has no real motive. Paris Hilton.  In episode 812 she opens in South Park a shop Dull spoiled whore, she also used obscene language.  In the comments creators emphasized that usually do not make fun of a particular celebrity, but the idea of celebrity in principle, and in this case they had quite specific desire to show that girls must not become such as Peris is. Barbara Streisand.  Creators of the series really hate Barbra Streisand for her self-love and is constantly laughing at her: in the episode Mecha-Streisand she tries to take over the world in the form of a huge robot dinosaur, in the episode terrible fish her face is always on the screen to the viewer  was terrible.  And in the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer Uncut her name is used as a curse, but in the episode Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants plaque with her picture represents an extreme degree of stupidity. Ben Affleck.  In episode 510, he is the son of people with ass instead of head, and all are aware that Ben Affleck is quite obvious also sick of this disease.  In the 705th episode, Ben Affleck falls in love with Cartmans hand, imagines himself the new Jennifer Lopez.  This infuriates the real Jennifer Lopez, who arranges for Cartmans hand, hunting for what eventually sentenced to occupational therapy. Sally Struthers.  She is a well-known on television stout woman, engaged in charity, so in episode 109 she eats cupcakes and is intended for humanitarian aid.  In episode 311 she is shown in the image of a giant worm Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars.   Russell Crowe.  In episode 604, Russell Crowe is shown as idiot, who leads his own show on beating people around the world.  In particular, Russell Crowe beat the Chinese, children and cancer patients. Mel Gibson.  In episode 804, when Stan and Kenny come to the Gibson home, he is shown as a lunatic, who paints his face like his hero in the movie Braveheart and the chase in his shorts for boys, laughing, mad, and cries of torture me! Until the South  Park.  At the end of the episode, Kyle, which is developing a complex about the film The Passion of the Christ, says I am that all this time agonizes over this movie nerd? (Jones, 2008) Typically, a celebrity does not react to ridicule in the South Park.  Nevertheless, we know that Bob Saget, David Blaine, Tina Yozers and Patrick Duffy commended their appearance in the series, considering it was funny.  But there are a lot of counter-examples: as sharply responded negatively about the series Barbra Streisand. Also in one of the most controversial episodes called Trapped in the Closet Tom Cruise is for a long time trying to come out the closet, which is a typical expression meaning to confess to his own homosexuality.  Although Cruz said that he didnt care about these jokes. (Jones, 2008) The main topics of mockeries in the South Park One of the most characteristic features of the plot of South park is the presence of many series of parodic debriefing and moralization, when heroes Stan and Kyle speak to other characters: I learnt something today.  In different series it can be portrayed in different ways: sometimes with the help of the rotation (at least in those cases when, after a standard phrase uttered truly significant word) actually supplied some kind of morality and suggests that belong to Parker and Stone  .  In other cases, however, it serves as a simply humorous admission, when the heroes have to make some of their goals or get rid of those they harm.   (Broman, et.al,2007) A characteristic feature of the series, which can be observed in many series, is the constant mockery of all kinds of stereotypes of our modern life.  The set of characters and situations are hyperbolizing in series to limit expressions of certain stereotypes prevailing in America or around the world.  On the other hand, often in the South Park primitive stereotypes unexpectedly found to be completely accurate.  The complex, ironic play around stereotypes, by which to know the plot twist is practically impossible, is a striking feature of the series. (Heffernan, 2005) The most common stereotypes are about nationalities and their characters, about modern society and modern style of life. For example, there are a lot of mockeries about Canadians.  All Canadians on the show, since appearing in episode 101 of Ike, are shown much coarser than the American characters: they have small eyes, the upper half of the head twitches during a conversation.  Primitivity of image of Canadians is emphasized: for example, a person with an ugly face is depicted in the same way as any other.  Deliberate ugliness of Canadians, compared with the usual characters, is a clear mockery of the American stereotypes of Canadians as inferior human beings. In the FAQ on the official website of the series was told that Stone and Parker are trying to portray the most realistic of Canadians.  (Johnson-Woods, 2007)     In the song  «Blame Canada » and anticanadian campaign in the movie South Park: Bigger Longer Uncut also a mockery of American stereotypes about their neighbors are marked.  Ã‚  However, in 2005 Matt Stone made clear that the characteristic for the series image of Canadians is no more than a satire.  (Johnson-Woods, 2007) Also the South park has a lot of jokes about the Japanese.  American stereotype of spirituality and machining process of Japanese is reflected in episode 904, when one of the archangels of Heaven resembles another that the Japanese have no souls.  The stereotype of the Japanese as enemies of America is ridiculed in a series 310, when the Emperor of Japan with his assistants hipnotizes children again to attack Pearl Harbor. It is necessary to mention also certain jokes about the Chinese.  In a series 611 Chinese restaurant owner Tuong Lu Kims is requested to build the city wall, as he is the only Chinese in the city, but the Chinese do have the ability to build the wall.  Chinese outraged, but nevertheless built a huge wall, quite comparable to the Great Chinese Wall, and later he tried to defend it from Mongols who tried to destroy it. Also in the series The China Probrem Cartman decides that the Chinese want to conquer the world, and they along with Butters depict the Chinese to learn from one of the Chinese families about plans to seize the world. Speaking about the topics of jokes and mockeries it is necessary to point out the questions of religions: Islam, Catholicism and SÑ ientology. For example a series Trapped in the Closet is ridiculing the Church of Scientology and its famous followers, Tom Cruise and John Travolta.  In this episode, Scientologists declare Stans new incarnation of L. Ron Hubbard , and Tom Cruise is locked in a closet because Stan did not praise his acting skills.  Also, Scientology is parodied in the series Super Best Friends and Return of Chef, but just the name of religion is not called.  In Super Best Friends appear fictional cult of Bleyntology, that is taking money from the faithful, who claims to tax benefits and compels ordinary people consider themselves unhappy, and in The Return of Chef author returns to the events surrounding the Trapped in the Closet. ( Jones, 2008) The South Park has repeatedly derided Judaism and Mormonism.  Kyle is a Jew, Cartman is an anti-Semite, so that attacks on Judaism are frequent phenomenon for South Park, while these jokes are mostly from negative characters.  Series  «The Passion of the Jew » illuminates the contradictions surrounding the movie by Mel Gibsons Passion of the Christ: Kyle, a Jew, after viewing the film decides that his nation is truly blamed for the sufferings of Christ, and tries to make the synagogue in South Park to bring apologies.  However, to the final series it turns out that Gibson is an insane fanatic weirdo, and even Cartman is disappointed in him, though The Passion of the Christ is one of the pillars of his anti-Semitism. (Heffernan, 2004) Mormons are subjects of a series All about the Mormons, in which their religion is ridiculed in every way and is provided as very silly and controversial.  Repeatedly in the series it was shown that only Mormons will appear in Heavens and thus illustrated the absurdity of the problem of choosing between different versions of Christianity.  Nevertheless, in the episode All About Mormons the boy-Mormon Gary said he felt that if people who believe in something, are happy, the intelligent man should be capable to understand and respect it.  (Heffernan, 2004) South Park demonstrates the support of advocates for the rights of sexual minorities and is criticizing their opponents in the standard for South Park grotesque style.  The irony is that the chief opponent of gays in the series Mr. Harrison- is an open homosexual, and then a transsexual by the name Mrs. Harrison.  Eventually, Mrs. Harrison becomes a lesbian, and then, after understanding the impossibility to bear children again a man.  In Watch the eggs! the same-sex marriages are declared as too offensive, but the school experiment proves that same-sex couples can raise children, despite all the efforts of Mrs. Harrison.  As a result, according to the plot of the cartoon, a single-sex marriage is allowed in Colorado.  In the episode Cripple Fight states that Boy Scouts of America did not have to hire homosexuals, but also did not have to try to dismiss homosexuals. South Park is regularly referred to or making fun of different political ideas, political figures.  In it has repeatedly appeared the U.S. Presidents: twice it was Bill Clinton, eight times George W. Bush, and single episode (About Last Night) was devoted to Americas presidential election in 2008, which also parodied the main contenders for the post,  including the current president Barack Obama.   In a series of Free Willzyx the second president of Russia Vladimir Putin was parodied, and the members of the Russian government of that time.  In the episode Mandombe Queen Elizabeth II was shown, and in the final of the series she killed herself after an unsuccessful attempt to capture the U.S. with the help of the British Navy.  Also many world leaders have been parodied in a series of Derby pine forest. (Heffernan, 2004) One more topic that is criticized is the hype around the issue of global warming. For example, in a series of 1999 activist-environmentalist, who is voiced by Jennifer Aniston, falls into the jungle and finds out that she did not like nature at all. In a series of 2001 Terrance and Phillip: Behind the group of ecologists are trying to wash peoples brains, so that they began to care about the environment.  They take Kenni in hostage and begin to chop off pieces of him to make friends to organize a speech at the festival in support of the environment. In a series of 2005, Two days before the day after tomorrow the assumption that the cause of hurricanes is global warming is ridiculed.  The entire series is a parody of the movie The Day After Tomorrow . In a series of 2006 The threat of complacency! Owners of hybrid cars are so proud of themselves, that a result they themselves begin to exude dangerous fumes.  Nevertheless, in the series was noted the importance of using hybrid cars.  The episode ManBearPig is dedicated to Albert Gore and his fight against global warming.  Gore is shown as insane rogue, trying to catch the imaginary ManBearPig to attract attention to himself. South (Park Studios FAQ, 2001) Also in the cartoon repeatedly appears Humane Society of PETA.  In the episode Douche and Turd members of the organization are represented as natural freaks who marry animals (a hybrid of man and the ostrich is moaning Kill me) and contemptuous of their fellows. Conclusion During its existence, the South Park has become not only a successful show, but a kind of pop-culture phenomenon, and its characters like Cartman, Kenny, Timmy, as well as many phrases, parts and fragments of the episodes have become an essential part of pop culture.   Effect of South Park, according to assistant of show producer Mike McMahon, one can often see in things that have no relationship to pop culture or animation. (South Park Studios FAQ, 2001) In 1999 came a full-length animated film South Park: Bigger, Longer Uncut.  The film combines the elements of a musical (the film is actively parodying the Disney musicals), political satire and dark, obscene and wicked humor, it has a hard R rating due to the large amount of violence, obscene language and obscenity  .  The film revolves around the ban by parents of Terrance and Phillip movie, and the growth of hatred of Americans to Canada, and around the attempts of Satan and Saddam Hussein to capture the world. The film has achieved considerable critical success, both qualitative and interesting example of political satire. In the whole both series and film ridicule the shortcomings of American culture and current world events, and criticized a lot of deep convictions and taboos, through parody and black humor. South Park ridicules modern celebrities, religious ideas, modern stereotypes and views about nations and nationalities, and a lot of things that are part of todays life in America. So all this make South Park a modern icon of satire and humor in America.