Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Succubus on Top CHAPTER 13

Min, Doug's saxophonist, rummaged through the array of liquor bottles on Wyatt's counter. â€Å"I don't think he has any,† he finally said. â€Å"Can you make a gimlet without lime juice?† â€Å"Um, no,† I replied. â€Å"That kind of defeats the whole purpose. â€Å" â€Å"Oh. Okay. Well, then, you just want a shot or something?† He held up a bottle of – God help me – Skyy vodka. â€Å"I think I'll pass.† I surveyed the humming, thumping party around me. Tons of people had showed up as usual; I doubted the band even knew half of them. The wages of fame, I guessed. Also as usual, there were drugs and drinks aplenty for those who wanted such things – as long as one's vices didn't stray to lime juice, apparently. I turned back to Min. â€Å"You seen Alec tonight?† â€Å"Nope. Said he'd be here. I hope he shows soon.† Min shifted restlessly, and I wondered just how many people Alec was stringing along. The whole band, after all, had displayed that crazy, uncaring behavior. I'd spent most of the day planning for tonight, trying to figure out what it would take to get information and possibly the drug itself from Alec. Finally, as the party drew nearer, I accepted that I was overthinking the matter. Alec was hardly a criminal mastermind. If I wanted something from him, it was a safe bet that the removal of clothing and an orifice would suffice. With that in mind, I'd dressed for the part in another little dress. Like the one I'd worn to the last concert, this too had a V-neck, straps, and short skirt. Unlike that one – which had been cotton and more like a sundress – this one was silk and looked kind of like a nightgown. Its rich, emerald green mirrored the green flecks in my eyes. I'd made sure of that, enhancing the color in both. â€Å"Finally,† I muttered to myself, catching sight of Alec's blue-streaked hair across the crowd. He saw me, and I waved, making him grin smugly at my acknowledgment. â€Å"Hey,† he said, looking me over. â€Å"Wow.† â€Å"About time you showed,† berated Min, handing over a beer. They greeted each other with some kind of weird, shoulder-punching guy thing. Then Min held up a bottle of Tropical Soiree Key Lime Schnapps. â€Å"Hey, look what I found. Will this work?† â€Å"Sure. Whatever,† I said. I wanted to start working Alec, putting him at ease. If it involved some unholy drink concoction, then I'd have to take that risk. Min handed me a plastic cup filled with bright green liquid, and Alec and I wandered off to mingle. â€Å"You're letting Min experiment on you?† he asked, pointing at the cup. Inspiration hit. â€Å"He's been experimenting on me all night.† I laughed, a bit too loudly and held on to his arm. Alec didn't need to know this was my first drink. â€Å"But none of the other stuff he made looked this bad.† He smiled and casually placed his arm around my waist. â€Å"Have I told you how great you look?† â€Å"Yeah, I kind of got the message,† I told him. Sniffing the cup, I detected nothing but sugar. Tentatively, I brought the cup to my lips and tasted. Bleh. It was like Kool-Aid and mouthwash. Fortunately, I don't have much of a gag reflex, so I managed to swallow without choking. Alec flattered me a little more, and then I steered him toward the one topic guaranteed to captivate him: himself. It worked. Within a few minutes, I discovered that subject area was even more limited than I'd suspected. He only wanted to talk about the band. â€Å"So yeah, we figure we should start expanding out of Seattle and hit some of the other big cities in the area. You know, like Portland and Vancouver. If we can start getting a following in the Northwest, we can hit the rest of the west coast, you know? And Corey's dad knows this guy who knows someone at a record company, and he's going to send him the review that was in the SeattleTimes†¦ â€Å" I let him go on, nodding my head and saying â€Å"uh-huh† a lot. I should point out that I really was interested in Nocturnal Admission's success. I believed in them and their talent. Just not tonight. Other things demanded my attention. â€Å"You know,† he suddenly said out of nowhere, â€Å"I didn't think you really liked me.† Yeah. Good observation. I smiled. â€Å"Sorry about that. There are so many jerks out there that I come off a little bitchy at first, until I know a guy. But the rest of the band swears by you, and I trust them. Besides† – I leaned closer, lowering my voice to a sultry purr – â€Å"I know you now, and I definitely like you now.† To my astonishment, Alec broke away from me. How unexpected was that? Weirder still was that I saw interest in his eyes but only his eyes. The rest of him was plainly distressed about something. My surprise must have been reflected in my expression, because a moment later, he laughed like nothing had happened and returned the hand to my waist. â€Å"I wouldn't really trust the guys on much, but hey, if they've convinced you, whatever.† I turned the smile back on, pretending I hadn't noticed the weird reaction. We started talking again, and I continued to let him dictate the parameters of our conversation. When he brought up skateboarding and the benefits of one board brand over another, I decided Doug didn't appreciate the extent of my love for him. Slightly bored, I leaned into Alec and drank from the cup without thinking about it. â€Å"Son of a bitch!† I swore, tasting that mess again. â€Å"What?† â€Å"This.† I set the cup down on a rickety coffee table, sloshing the green liquid. â€Å"It's terrible.† I realized this was my opening. â€Å"God, I've had such a fucked-up week.† I turned so that I stood even closer, resting a hand on his back, sliding it down to his waist. â€Å"I'm glad you had this party. You guys must need to get a little crazy too to handle all the stuff you've been doing.† He seemed happy about my proximity but didn't move his hand from my waist. â€Å"We know when to work, and we know when to play.† He spoke with a ridiculous swagger, again attempting to project a wisdom he was too young to have. I grinned at him. â€Å"I like to play too.† Like before, the look in his eyes said he did want to play – especially if we played doctor. But his body language didn't match it. He was holding himself back for some reason, which didn't fit with my image of him as a womanizing drug lord. But he kept smiling, even if the rest of him was stiff. â€Å"How do you like to play?† â€Å"Not with that.† I pointed at the jettisoned cup and looked back up at him with doe eyes, both innocent and provocative. I tried to recall the stupid expression he'd used at the first party. â€Å"You maybe got anything†¦harder?† A pleased and – unless I was mistaken – relieved smile danced on his face. â€Å"Maybe I do.† I punched him lightly, then snaked my arm around his neck. â€Å"I know you do. I saw you give it to Doug. You guys are in on something good, and you won't share. Whereas me†¦well, I always share†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He still didn't take the physical bait or go for my over-the-top vixen lines, but the rest had piqued his interest. â€Å"I've got something,† he said, glancing around carefully. â€Å"Let's go talk in the bedroom. â€Å" Ah. Now we were getting somewhere. I followed him back to Wyatt's small messy bedroom which miraculously wasn't occupied yet. I sat on the unmade bed, crossing my legs, keeping my body language as open and relaxed as possible. â€Å"Are we going to play now?† He answered with a question of his own: â€Å"You sure you can handle the hard stuff?† I arched an eyebrow. â€Å"Baby, I can take it as hard as you can give it. â€Å" Reaching into his coat pocket, he sat down on the bed beside me and held up a tiny plastic bag, much smaller than the bag Reese kept his pot in. In the poor lighting, I could discern tiny glittering crystals. Almost like red sugar. â€Å"This,† he said in a low voice, â€Å"is what you've been waiting for your whole life. This is the stuff that's going to change your world. Make you who you were born to be.† I was rendered speechless, but not from his melodramatic prologue. It was the crystals. This close to them, I†¦well, felt them. They had an aura, almost the same way an immortal has a signature. Only this wasn't exactly a pleasant aura. The crystals felt strange to me. They sent little Shockwaves into the air. They made my skin crawl. And weirdest of all, I'd felt them before. Once with Doug, once with the band. I hoped Alec would interpret my frown as cute confusion. â€Å"What is that?† A sly smile spread over his face. â€Å"A magic potion, Georgina.† I smiled back, not having to feign puzzlement. â€Å"I don't believe in magic.† â€Å"Oh, you will after this.† He pressed the bag into my palm, and I squelched a sharp cry. I didn't like touching the crystals. â€Å"Go grab something to drink and put them in it. Mix it all up and then drink – preferably as fast as you can. You'll get the effects sooner.† â€Å"What'll they do?† â€Å"Something good. Something you'll like.† He ran his hand through the strands of my hair. â€Å"Man, I can't wait to see how you react to them.† How I reacted? I didn't like the sound of that. Maybe I wasn't getting the same thing as Doug after all. Maybe I was getting the date-rape drug. Of course, with as inviting as I was trying to be, he had to realize those kinds of extremes weren't necessary. I pushed the unease out of my head. â€Å"What do I owe you for these?† The smoke in my voice clearly told him how I'd like him to extract payment. â€Å"Nothing. It's a gift.† â€Å"Nothing?† I trailed my hand across his leg. Believe me, I really didn't want to sleep with this guy, but I wanted to stay in his good graces to figure out what the hell this stuff was. And yeah, okay, I sort of wanted to see him suffer from the energy loss. â€Å"Are you sure?† I slid my body closer to his, gently pushing him back on the bed. His eyes widened as I lay down next to him, brushing my lips over his neck. Turning his face toward mine, I moved my lips closer to his, lightly kissing the area just by his mouth. â€Å"Are you really sure?† I asked, voice lower. His breathing grew heavy, and he stroked my side, tracing the shape of my hip and moving down to my bare leg. Looking half-terrified, he moistened his lips in anticipation. My tongue snaked up to them, dancing around their edges before gently probing inside. He stifled a moan and then pushed me aside. â€Å"No†¦I†¦no. No.† He sat up, shaking. â€Å"Not yet.† I sat up as well, moving in one fluid and graceful motion. Tossing my hair over one shoulder, I gave him a languid smile. â€Å"Come on, I want to.† â€Å"I can't†¦but maybe, well maybe later we can work something out.† Both longing and reluctance showed in his expression, which I found relieving. Nice to know my charms were still working and he wasn't all business after all. Maybe this was just a first-one's-free type of deal, and he'd be more thorough in his demands later. Fine by me. It wasn't the end of the world if I didn't sleep with him, and hopefully we wouldn't even need the second batch. â€Å"Here.† Having seized control of himself, Alec held out his beer to me. â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"Go ahead and try them. You can mix them in this.† I looked down at the sparkling red granules. They almost had a light of their own. That weird sensation pulsed out at me, grating my immortal senses. No way was I going to ingest the contents of this bag. I shook my head. â€Å"I can't right now. I've got to go to another party. I promised a friend. I'll try them later, okay?† He didn't look happy about that. â€Å"I wanted you to try it now.† â€Å"What's wrong with later?† â€Å"Nothing I guess†¦just, look, don't let anyone else know, okay? I don't have a lot of this stuff. If word gets out, everyone'll want some. Right now I'm only letting special people try it.† â€Å"Am I special?† I teased. Alec gave me a long, searching look, blatantly studying my face and the way the silk fit me. Again, the appreciation and attraction shone in his eyes, but he held himself back from my smile of invitation. â€Å"Very special.† I managed to extract myself from the party shortly thereafter but not before Alec had warned me again to keep the crystals to myself. He also urged me to let him know how I liked them. â€Å"The second dose is even better,† he promised. Finally escaping, I breathed a sigh of relief, alone in the cool night air. As I walked to my car, I shoved the crystals into my purse, still creeped out by how they felt. They were supernatural; that much was obvious. I knew I had to get them to someone who could identify them. That, however, would have to wait a little longer since I was already past when I'd said I'd call Seth. Happily, I discovered I could no longer sense the packet once it was encased in the fabric. That was something, at least. â€Å"Where are you at?† I asked Seth when he answered his cell phone. â€Å"Terry and Andrea's. You want to come over?† Spending the evening with his family sounded refreshingly ordinary after the sleaze and debauchery of Alec and that party. In fact, compared to everything else weird in my life at the moment, it sounded downright wonderful. Identical blonde faces greeted me at the door when I arrived, both sets of lips forming a perfect ‘o' when they saw me. A moment later, Brandy appeared behind her little twin sisters. â€Å"Oh, Georgina, that dress is so pretty.† She pushed Morgan and McKenna out of the way, both still starstruck. I stepped inside the Mortensen home and found complete chaos. Sheets of clear plastic lay everywhere. Masking tape covered the wall trim. Most of the furniture had been pushed out of the living room, shoved into a pile in the hallway beyond. Those items remaining were wrapped in thick cocoons of more plastic sheeting. Paint buckets, trays, and brushes littered most of the free space, and everything – the people included – was splattered with yellow paint. â€Å"Georgina!† squealed eight-year old Kendall, tearing toward me. Her mother, walking into the room, leapt out and tackled her daughter. â€Å"Don't touch her!† Andrea exclaimed, tumbling to the ground. â€Å"Not in that dress.† I laughed, wanting to sweep up each one of the girls in an enormous hug, the dress be damned. â€Å"Seth,† chastised Terry, standing on top of a ladder, â€Å"why didn't you tell her this was a war zone?† The Mortensen Brothers always entertained me. Despite being younger, Terry always seemed exasperated by Seth's scattered behavior and often had to prod him into reality. Seth sat cross-legged on the floor with Kayla, youngest of the Mortensen daughters, on his lap. Like everyone else, he had paint all over him – including his Writers Do It at Their Desks shirt. Looking as serene as a Buddhist monk, he flashed me one of his distracted smiles. â€Å"Because it's always a war zone over here. â€Å" â€Å"Well, get her out of here and take her somewhere nice,† Terry said. â€Å"No need to drag her down into this.† This immediately triggered cries of outrage from the girls. â€Å"I don't mind staying,† I told them. â€Å"I'd like to help.† Andrea rose from her tackle, one arm still around Kendall. â€Å"We're going to have to cover you up then. Come on, let's see if I've got anything that'll fit.† She released Kendall. The little girl took a step toward me but didn't touch anything. â€Å"You look like one of the ladies in the Victoria's Secret catalog.† â€Å"My favorite reading material,† I told her solemnly. â€Å"Daddy's too.† Her mother groaned and led me to her bedroom, forcing us to squeeze through the furniture packed hallway. Being in Terry and Andrea's bedroom was a lot different than being in Dana's. It was messier for one thing, with an unmade bed and piles of laundry on the floor. The color scheme and decorating were a lot less coordinated too, suggesting it had all been pieced together over the years, not preplanned with a designer's cold eye. Pictures of the girls at various ages covered the walls and dressers, and free surfaces held odd pieces of jewelry, books, and change. And yet, despite that clutter, the whole room felt filled with love, like the people who occupied it were happy and cared about each other. It made the place warm and cozy, not sterile and sharp as Dana's had been. It made me feel good to be in here, jealous that I had nothing like it with another person, and almost intrusive to be in such an intimate setting. It was like eavesdropping. â€Å"Ah, here we are,† murmured Andrea, rummaging through drawers. She handed me some clothes. I slipped out of the dress and tried them on. While she had a fantastic body for having birthed five daughters, Andrea was still taller and bigger than me, so the clothes hung loose and long. Changing her mind, she handed me denim overalls instead of the jeans. They had to be rolled up at the cuffs, but the straps kept them on me. I tied my hair in a ponytail and was ready to go. Seth laughed when he saw me. â€Å"Hey,† I said, poking him with my foot, â€Å"be nice.† â€Å"I think this is the first time I've ever seen you look anything less than†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He paused, playing with word choice. â€Å"Well-planned.† â€Å"Why, you silver-tongued romantic devil. That is the look I usually go for. Other women go for sexy or chic or beautiful. But me? Well-planned all the way.† â€Å"You know what I mean. Besides, unplanned isn't a bad look for you. Not bad at all.† His voice sounded deliciously low and dangerous, and something ignited between us as we held each other's eyes. â€Å"You guys can flirt on your own time,† said Terry briskly, handing me a roller and tray of paint. â€Å"Right now, you work for us. Think you can do this part of the wall?† â€Å"Sure.† I glanced over at Seth, whose main job still seemed to be restraining Kayla. â€Å"Why aren't you painting?† â€Å"Because he isn't allowed to,† answered Brandy, painting deftly around a doorway. â€Å"Uncle Seth's a libation,† explained Kendall. â€Å"Liability,† corrected her mother. She grinned at me. â€Å"The odds say you have to be a better painter than him. Correction: the laws of the universe say you have to be.† â€Å"Of course she is. She's good at everything.† Seth watched me apply a smooth, even coat. â€Å"See?† Painting with the Mortensens made for an utterly normal and utterly enjoyable evening. They were so funny and nice that it was hard not to love them. Working side by side, I could almost pretend I was really one of them. Like this could be my own family. They included me in everything and spoke as though Seth and I were a done deal, assuming I would be with them not only for Thanksgiving but also for Christmas and an assortment of other get-togethers. The simple, casually extended affection made me feel happy inside, and sad too. I would never be able to quite fit in with any mortal family, even if this wacky relationship with Seth did ever stabilize. I pushed aside a plastic-covered box and got a peek inside. Moving the sheet further, I smiled down at a framed picture of Terry and Andrea's wedding party – including a much younger Seth. â€Å"Look at you,† I teased. â€Å"You used to shave.† He rubbed the stubble on his lower face. â€Å"I still shave.† â€Å"So this is the infamous occasion Seth almost missed?† â€Å"Yup,† said Terry, a rueful tone in his voice. â€Å"Apparently finishing A Talented Heat was more important than witnessing my nuptials.† â€Å"Oh,† I said neutrally, â€Å"that's a really good one.† I wasn't sure if it was missing-a-wedding good, but it was still one of my favorites. It might have been worth the sacrifice. â€Å"Who's the other guy beside you?† â€Å"Our other brother. Ian.† â€Å"Another Mortensen? You guys are abundant.† â€Å"Tell me about it,† said Terry. â€Å"Ian's the black sheep.† â€Å"I thought I was the black sheep,† said Seth, sounding almost hurt. â€Å"No. You're the unfocused artistic one. I'm the responsible one. Ian's the wild, hedonistic one.† â€Å"What's hedonistic?† asked Kendall. Her father considered. â€Å"It means you run up a lot of credit card bills you can't pay, change jobs a lot, and have a lot of†¦lady friends.† Brandy rolled her eyes. â€Å"Good euphemism, Dad.† Only in the Mortensen family, I decided delightedly, would a fourteen-year old use a word like â€Å"euphemism.† Andrea walked over to the portrait and admired her younger self. In the picture, she wore a long-sleeved lace dress that left her shoulders bare. â€Å"Ah, those were the days,† she sighed. â€Å"Back before pregnancy ruined my body.† â€Å"Well, that wasn't entirely before pregnancy,† observed her husband in an undertone. She shot him a dangerous look. Brandy groaned. Seth tried to hide a smile and changed the subject. â€Å"That church had horrible carpet. Burgundy shag.† He shook his head. â€Å"I think I'm going to get married outdoors.† â€Å"Oh my God,† said Terry with mock horror, â€Å"I can't believe you just acknowledged you might get married. I thought you were married to your writing.† â€Å"Hey, I've never had a problem with polygamy.† Kendall's eyes widened. â€Å"What's polygamy?† Later, when we'd finished the living room, Seth and I offered to start cleaning up while Terry and Andrea put the brood to bed. The girls resisted, clinging to Seth and me, wanting us to talk and come back tomorrow. â€Å"My nieces think you're a rock star,† he observed as we washed brushes in the kitchen. â€Å"I think they like you better than me.† â€Å"I'm not the one they had to tear Kayla from. Hey, does she ever talk?† â€Å"Sometimes. Usually when there's bait involved – like candy or small objects she might choke on.† We washed the brushes in silence until I brought up the topic that had been on my mind ever since he'd mentioned it. â€Å"An outdoor wedding, huh?† The notion of Seth getting married held a perverse fascination for me. Fascinating because I was female and attracted to such things. Perverse because I knew I wouldn't be the bride at such an event. Succubus logistics obviously made that impossible. Then, of course, there was the fact that my mortal marriage had not gone so well. In addition to me cheating and pushing my husband into a debilitating depression, it had later resulted in me selling my soul and joining the ranks of hell. That didn't make for a good matrimonial track record. Seth cut me a look, eyes amused. â€Å"Yup.† â€Å"I didn't know guys ever thought about that kind of stuff.† â€Å"Sometimes we do.† â€Å"You got any other details worked out? Or just the outside lovefest part?† He pondered this as we returned to the living room. He wore the intense expression that seized him when he was trying to write a certain line or think of something clever to say. â€Å"I want a good buffet,† he said. â€Å"Not one of those cheap ones with cold cuts. And no bows on the chairs or anything like that. Man, I hate those.† â€Å"Wow. I guess you've got it all figured out.† I began pulling masking tape off the trim while he knelt down to gather more brushes. He continued on, still considering. â€Å"And I want my bride to wear open-toed shoes.† â€Å"Why open-toed?† He looked up with astonishment. â€Å"Because toes are sexy.† I looked down at my own bare feet. They were small and cute, each toenail painted a pale lavender. Andrea hadn't had any shoes my size. I gave him a sly smile. â€Å"Like these toes?† He looked away and returned to his work. Forgetting my masking tape, I strolled over to him, trying not to laugh. â€Å"Why Seth Mortensen, do you have a fetish?† â€Å"It's not a fetish,† he replied evenly. â€Å"Just an appreciation.† This time I did laugh. â€Å"Oh yeah?† I moved my foot out to tickle his arm, wiggling the toes. â€Å"You appreciate these toes?† â€Å"I appreciate everything about you – even how mean you are.† I crouched beside him and slung an arm around him. â€Å"To think, all this time I've been prancing around you in low-cut shirts and no underwear, in awe of your stalwart resistance, when really it was my toes – â€Å" â€Å"No underwear?† he interrupted. â€Å"Wait. Are you wearing any now?† â€Å"My lips are sealed. You'll have to find out the old-fashioned way. I'm not going to talk. â€Å" â€Å"Oh,† he said in a warning voice, â€Å"we have ways of making you talk.† â€Å"Like what?† In one surprisingly quick motion, Seth sprang up and rolled me onto my back. One arm pinned me and the other held a paintbrush over me, wet with paint. â€Å"Hey!† I cried. â€Å"That's not sexy. That's not even cool.† Actually, being pinned to the floor by him was about as sexy as it got. He stabbed it toward me playfully, never actually making contact, but I flinched anyway. â€Å"What's the problem?† he teased. â€Å"You can just shape-shift it away.† â€Å"Oh! You're a twisted bastard.† His lips quirked into a wicked smile, and he dabbed the brush at my cheek, leaving a small streak of paint. A second later, he added a matching mark on the other cheek. â€Å"Ready for battle,† he declared. I yelped in dismay, then used his momentary satisfaction to break free and reverse the situation, rolling him over. Now I hovered on top of him, one hand on his chest, the other on his arm. â€Å"I'm learning more about you every day,† I observed, leaning my face toward his. My hair had come undone from its haphazard ponytail and now hung down, almost creating a curtain around him. â€Å"You've got a real dark side.† â€Å"Is that a problem?† â€Å"Actually I kind of like it.† I lowered my mouth and gave him what we had now dubbed a â€Å"stealth kiss† – the kind of semi-deep kiss perfected at the concert that just pushed the envelope of succubus absorption. I pulled up a moment later, my lips still tingling from where we'd touched. He shifted one hand to the small of my back while his other tangled itself up in my hair. A lazy and contented smile played on his face. â€Å"You want to go grab something to eat after this?† â€Å"What do you have in mind?† â€Å"Anything. So long as the company stays this good.† I smiled and leaned down to kiss him again, only this time I had trouble keeping the kiss as stealthy as it should have been. When I should have broken away, I kissed him a little harder instead, letting my tongue probe more boldly into his mouth. Surprisingly, what abruptly stopped this indiscretion was not the twinge of energy transfer, but Seth himself. â€Å"Thetis,† he warned, pushing me away – not harshly, but not gently either. I stared, my better judgment suddenly scrambled. I wanted to kiss him again. And again. To hell with the succubus thing. And it wasn't just because of the chemistry or the physical roughhousing, the comments about my toes and lack of underwear. It was about everything tonight. Pretending I was part of his family. Talking about weddings that could never happen. I was suddenly overcome with emotion. Joy and delight over the way just being around him felt. Knowing he loved me for both my inner and outer selves. A warm contentment that his presence naturally brought on. And, of course, the dark emotions were there too. Anger that our relationship could never be complete. Despair that he was not immortal. Jealousy that I could never be his bride. What had Jerome said? That being with me denied Seth all the normal things in life? Kissing him was a base, anxious reaction to all these emotions I couldn't otherwise deal with. â€Å"Thetis,† he repeated, studying my face and whatever crazy expression was on it. â€Å"Come on. You're stronger than this.† He sounded sad and sympathetic, yet stern and parental too. His words snapped me out of my emotional vortex, suddenly making me feel, well, inadequate compared to him. Terry walked back into the living room, looking rightfully startled to see me on top of his brother. â€Å"Do you guys need to go to bed too?† Seth and I exchanged bitter, amused smiles. â€Å"If only,† I said. Once everything was cleaned up, Seth and I left to find a very late dinner. We stayed quiet, neither of us bringing up what had happened earlier. I think he knew I was taking it harder than he had and wanted to say something to cheer me up. But nothing apparently came to mind, so silence reigned until we returned to Terry's house to get our respective cars. â€Å"Georgina,† he said suddenly, hesitantly, as we stood by my car. â€Å"I have to know something.† I looked at him wearily, not liking the seriousness in his voice. I really didn't want to deal with any more weighty issues tonight. I sighed. â€Å"What?† He studied me a moment, apparently assessing my emotional state. â€Å"So†¦ areyou wearing any underwear now?† I blinked in astonishment, taken aback. Then I saw how hard he fought to keep a straight expression. It was too funny. Seth was trying to make me feel better, very much in a goofy way I might have attempted. The tight coil of frustration inside of me unwound. â€Å"Yes,† I told him with a smile. â€Å"Oh,† he said, looking relieved to see me relax but disappointed by the answer. â€Å"But you know what the real beauty of shape-shafting is?† â€Å"What?† â€Å"I'm not anymore.†

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Reward Management System

TERM PAPER OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TOPIC: REWARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM {draw:frame} SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY: OVERVIEW: REWARD MANAGEMENT Reward management is about the development, implementation, maintenance communication, and evaluation of reward processes. These processes deal with the assessment of relative job values, the design and management of pay structures, performance management, paying for performance, competence or skill (contingent pay), the provision of employee benefits and pensions, and management of reward procedure. Employers and mangers should pay attention to their employees and special attention to the best employees. This is done to encourage good performers, to push them to greater heights. Positive recognition for people can ensure a positive and a productive organization. The recognition of outstanding performance aims to create an understanding of what behavior might add significant value to the organization and to promote such behavior. Awards- monetary and non-monetary – should be given based on the achievements and accomplishments of workers. The Business Research Lab, 2006) But first, let's take a quick look at the primary goals of rewards and recognition. Jack Zigon defines rewards as â€Å"_something than increases the frequency of an employee action_† (1998). This definition points to an obvious desired outcome of rewards and recognition: to improve performance. Non-monetary recognition can be very motivating, helping to build feelings of confidence and satisfaction (Keller 1999). Another important goal is increased employee retention. An ASTD report on retention research identified consistent employee recognition as a key factor in retaining top-performing workers. (Jimenez 1999). COMPONENTS OF REWARD SYSTEM An organization’s reward system compromises three components- Monetary rewards, Non-monetary rewards and psychological satisfaction. Monetary rewards Monetary rewards are those paid by any negotiable instrument- cash, cheque, money order and direct deposit. It can also be any item that can be readily converted to cash such as savings bonds or gift –cards/certificates. Non-monetary rewards These can be in the form of meals, trips, plaques, trophies, desk items, cups and mugs, personal items and clothing such as caps, shirts and sweatshirts and other items such as tools, electronics, radios and sports equipments. Psychological satisfaction This form of reward includes opportunities to perform meaningful work, social interactions with others in the workplace, job training, career advancement opportunities, recognition, employer brand, and a host of similar factors. REWARD SYSTEM {draw:line} {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:rect} {draw:line} {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:rect} draw:line} * {draw:line} {draw:line} * {draw:rect} * {draw:line} {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:rect} * {draw:rect} * {draw:rect} {draw:line} {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:line} {draw:rect} {draw:rect} * {draw:rect} * {draw:rect} * {draw:line} {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:line} {draw:li ne} * {draw:line} * {draw:rect} * {draw:rect} {draw:line} {draw:line} * {draw:line} * {draw:line} {draw:rect} {draw:line} {draw:rect} {draw:line} {draw:rect} draw:line} {draw:rect} {draw:line} {draw:line} {draw:line} {draw:rect} LINKAGE OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TO REWARD SYSTEM Performance management is concerned with measuring individuals' effectiveness in their roles, understanding their aspirations and determining which development actions would be most appropriate. Reward management is about understanding individuals' motivating factors, and determining the level of pay, bonus and other rewards they receive. In some organizations the links between the two are strong and explicit, while in others they are kept deliberately separate. Work in these areas can be prompted by evidence of employee dissatisfaction, such as high turnover or poor morale, or by the desire to drive a change in some aspect of employees' behavior. The effectiveness of an organization's performance and reward management can have a major impact not only on morale and productivity but also its ability to attract and retain staff. Many companies have found that far from complementing the stated aims of the business, their performance and reward systems were actually driving counter-productive behavior. Motivation and Reward System Management Employee motivation is the psychological feature that arouses an employee to behave in a certain manner for accomplishing certain organizational goals. It is imperative for the organization to enhance motivation level of the employees in order to bring out the best in them. The motivation-level of the sales force must be kept high in order that the sales force efficiently realizes the sales goals. Reward system management is the framework that envisions formulation of different types of reward systems to boost the motivation of the salespersons. Role of Compensation and Rewards* in Organization: Compensation and Reward system plays vital role in a business organization. Since, among four Ms, i. _e__ Men, Material, Machine and Money, _Men has been most important factor, it is impossible to imagine a business process without Men. Land, Labor, Capital and Organization are four major factors of production. Every factor contributes to the process of production/business. It expects return from the business process such as Rent is the return expected by the Landlord. imilarly Capitalist expects Interest and Organizers i. e Entrepreneur expects profits. The labour expects wages from the process. It is evident that other factors are in-human factors and as such labour plays vital role in bringing about the process of production/business in motion. The other factors being human, has expectations, emotions, ambitions and egos. Labour therefore expects to have fair share in the business/production process. Advantages of Fair Compensation System: Therefore a fair compensation system is a must for every business organization. The fair compensation system will help in the following: If an ideal compensation system is designed, it will have positive impact on the efficiency and results produced by workmen. Such system will encourage the normal worker to perform better and achieve the standards fixed. this system will encourage the process of job evaluation. It will also help in setting up an ideal job evaluation, which will have transparency, and the standards fixing would be more realistic and achievable. Such a system would be well defined and uniform. It will be apply to all the levels of the organization as a general system. The system would be simple and flexible so that every worker/recipient would be able to compute his own compensation receivable. Such system would be easy to implement, so that it would not penalize the workers for the reasons beyond their control and would not result in exploitation of workers. It will raise the morale, efficiency and cooperation among the workers. It, being just and fair would provide satisfaction to the workers. Such system would help management in complying with the various labor acts. Such system would also bring about amicable settlement of disputes between the workmen union and management. 10. The system would embody itself the principle of equal work equal wages. Encouragement for those who perform better and opportunities for those who wish to excel. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY DATA COLLECTION The data I’ve chosen for my study is SECONDARY data. The relevant secondary data is collected from the sources like Internet and books. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to: Investigate the relationship between the human resource function and payroll administration Evaluate the link between pay and performance Understanding the overall objectives and structure of the organisation, and the factors that have prompted the review of performance and reward Understanding how the current performance and reward management systems work, how they are perceived, and what effect they are having Agreeing what behaviours and capabilities should be rewarded, and what reward elements and approaches should be used, for which employees Goals and objectives of rewarding in an organization The main purpose of this rewarding strategy is to support business goals and to recruit and retain high performers’ . Compensation and rewarding is important. A recognition programme can be arranged anytime and it does not have to be expensive. All it needs is fairness, high visibility and consistency. To be fair, a programme must not favor one employee over another. Making certain that a programme is highly visible will help to ensure consistent implementation . The reward should just be part of the process. Recognition, however, can be achieved by the reward given at a gathering of employees. A good manager automatically knows that employee satisfaction is essential to healthy teamwork and productivity. The best manager will always try to find ways to bring out the strengths in every employee but when an employee just isn't fit for the job, the manager should take a hard look for a better way to use their talents. Management To insure fair and consistent application, set of rewards and recognition programmes should be developed. This should be characterized by pre-arranged frequently scheduled ways of acknowledging contributions and accomplishments for an individual or team. Reward and recognition should be given as acknowledgements and appreciation for attendance, safety, customer service, productivity, public service, outstanding achievements and the like. Attendance reward is given as an incentive to reduce the number of unplanned sick days or lost days due to injury and to reduce the level of over time required to back bill absent employees. Customer service rewards help to promote and recognize employees for outstanding customer service. Sales award provides an incentive for employees to increase the sales margin over the previous fiscal year, such as in a bookstall. Another approach to employee recognition is by providing employee rewards and recognition at anytime for demonstration of behaviors and values of the organization; contributions to the goals and objectives of the organization or work unit and to acknowledge individual or team accomplishments. Such behaviors and contribution are team work, project completion, suggestion for a new or modified business practice, exemplary efforts, employee appreciation, employee of the month and honouring separating employees. PAY AND REWARD SYSTEM Pay is an important feature of human resource management – after all, it is the main reason why people work. It is a sensitive and controversial area that has been extensively debated at both practical and theoretical levels. In the US the term ‘compensation' is used to encompass everything received by an employed individual in return for work. For example, Milcovich et al (2001: 6) state that: â€Å"Employees may see compensation as a return in exchange between their employer and themselves, as an entitlement for being an employee of the company, or as a reward for a job well done†. The term ‘reward management' covers both the strategy and the practice of pay systems. Traditionally, human resource or personnel sections have been concerned with levels and schemes of payment whereas the process of paying employees – the payroll function – has been the responsibility of finance departments. There is a trend towards integrating the two, driven by new computerized packages offering a range of facilities. There are two basic types of pay schemes, although many organizations have systems which include elements of both: Fixed levels of pay. Wages or salaries which do not vary from one period to the next except by defined pay increases, generally on annual basis. There may be scales of payments determined by age, responsibility or seniority. Most ‘white-collar' jobs were paid in this way until recently. Reward linked to performance. The link may be daily, weekly, monthly or annualized. Payment for any one period varies from that for any other period, depending on quantity or quality of work. Sales functions are commonly paid on the basis of turnover; manual and production workers may be paid according to work completed or items produced. Catering staff typically rely on direct payment from satisfied customers in the form of service charges or tips (gratuities). Both methods work smoothly, provided that scales are easy to understand and the methods of measuring completed work are overt, accurate and fair. However, there has been considerable dissatisfaction with the management of pay on both sides of the employment relationship. In recent years, attempts have been made to remedy the situation through new systems and a greater reliance on performance-related pay. 5 Ways to Reward Employees (Without Spending a Dime) Your firm's employees work hard (well, most of them). And in a world where corporations like to boast about running â€Å"lean and mean,† it may seem nearly impossible to compensate employees for doing good work without breaking the budget. Here's the hard-earned advice to reward employees. 1. Flex those hours. If there's one free reward that rises above the rest, it's flexible work schedules. Nearly every expert suggested flex time as a perk that offers the most gain with the least pain. Give a little latitude in determining work schedules and to take time for family or personal issues (such as doctor’s appointment and banking errands),† advised Richard Martin, president of Alcera Consulting Inc. â€Å"As long as the employee is deserving and doesn’t abuse the privilege, this can go a long way to building trusting and mature relationships with key workers. † 2. Send a handwritten note. Supervisors should ask top brass to write a personal note to employees who deserve recognition. For example, Advanced MD CEO Jim Pack handwrites his thank-you notes to employees on a $2 bill. In three years of doing this, only one employee has asked if he could spend it,† said company spokesman John Pilmer. 3. Make work fun. â€Å"Everyone must be having fun and socializing while doing work. The environment of the organization must be very conducive. 4. Help them connect. Introducing employees to key suppliers, customers or someone in senior management can help make an employee's career, and it won't cost you a thing. 5. Lose the shoes. Kerrie Ray, an account executive with the Echo Media Group public relations irm, said implementing a â€Å"no-shoes policy† can make employees feel right at home with each other, which translates into increased productivity. (But she suggests keeping the footwear handy in case clients come in. ) â€Å"It's great to be in an office where employees are more concerned about doing quality work than what shoes or jewelry they have on,† she said. â€Å"We get so much done. † 6. Send them to the showers. (As in parties, not lathering and rinsing. ) â€Å"Every birth and wedding deserves a shower,†. â€Å"Echo employees always leave early on shower days, and the food is on the house. No need to make up the time. † 7. Reward effort as well as success. Even if their ideas sometimes fail, you want employees to keep producing them, said Alan Weiss, president of the Summit Consulting Group Inc. â€Å"When I consulted with the CEO of Calgon, we created an annual award for ‘the best idea that didn't work' and presented a loving cup at the annual awards dinner. This stimulated innovation and positive behavior, not ‘winning. ‘† 8. Give them a free pass. Levine suggests giving out a certain number of free days off to employees to use as they see fit. Employees get a few of these a year and can use them as they like,† she said. â€Å"They don't have to pretend to be sick. They can go to the beach, read a book, play with their kids †¦ it doesn't matter. † 9. Dole out cream and sugar. During the busiest times of the year, executives at the Cigna Group push coffee carts around the office, serving drinks and refreshments to their colleagues, noted Steve Harrison, author of â€Å"The Manager's Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies. † As they serve, executives coach and encourage colleagues and hear about real consumer issues. 10. Blow out the candles. Cisco Systems Inc. ‘s CEO John Chambers hosts a monthly hour-long birthday breakfast for any employee with a birthday that month, says Harrison. â€Å"Employees are invited to ask him anything. They feel recognized, and he gains loyal employees who share their ideas. † 11. Spread the love. Ask co-workers to write something they truly like or admire about an employee on a scrap of paper, then frame them along with a photograph of the employee, suggested David Russell, author of â€Å"Success With People – A Complete System for Effectively Managing People in Any Organization. † 12. Offer a swap. Giving your best employees a chance to pick their own projects or trade tasks with a colleague empowers and rewards them at the same time, said Harrison. 13. Applaud their efforts — literally. If someone has done something really worthwhile, your entire staff must give them a standing ovation at the next meeting. 14. Say it with flowers. Reward the top employees by bringing in flowers and arranging them in a spectacular crystal vase on their desks. â€Å"Everybody knew what having the custody of the flowers meant,† â€Å"Surprisingly, even the men competed fiercely for custody of the flowers. 15. Walk it as you talk it. The City of Dallas sponsored a walkathon where employees set goals for walking a certain number of steps each day, offering a free gym membership to those who walked the farthest. Not only did they get more fit, they turned their daily walks into traveling staff meetings. â€Å"Group members must be able to update one another on projects, solicit team input and improve their fitness,† 16. Pass the bucks. Handing out monopoly money that can be redeemed for gifts and other goodies may not be strictly free, but it pays off handsomely in the long run. For example, associates at Bank Atlantic can pass out â€Å"WOW! Bucks† to colleagues who've done something outstanding, said bank vice president Gregory Dalmotte. The bucks can eventually be traded in for real goods. â€Å"There's a clear correlation that words of encouragement have created associates who perform at a higher level,† he says. 17. Share the memories. â€Å"My team created a scrapbook chronicling the impact I'd had on their company and gave it to me on my last day in the office,† said Lopeke. â€Å"People who’d worked on my teams wrote testimonials and creative graphics highlighting some our team successes. It's the best gift I ever received in my 40-year career. † 18. Elect them to the Wall of Fame. Several experts suggested setting aside a public space inside your firm and placing photos of employees who've accomplished something truly special, along with the details of what they did to earn their place on the wall. 19. Create your own â€Å"Club Med. † Set aside a quiet space or unused office in your building where employees can meditate, chill out, nap or otherwise re-center themselves, said John Putzier, author of â€Å"Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work. † 20. Stoke their passion. â€Å"Great employees are not mercenaries,† said Dr. Richard Chang, CEO of Richard Chang Associates Inc. , a performance-improvement consultancy. â€Å"They don’t just want to enjoy their work, they want to be passionate about it †¦ if you want your employees to feel valued and inspire their passion on your behalf, encourage them to make their own decisions. You can have systems in place to control the implementation of ideas, but you must be certain not to compromise the enthusiasm, creativity and hard work that make them possible in the first place. † 21. Give them a place to park it. Reserve the best parking spot for employees who've done something truly worthwhile, said Lopeke. And if it's next to the CEO's Lexus so the employee can chat him or her up on the way into work, so much the better. 22. Remember the spouses. Independent management consultant Nan Amish recalled one time when she had 16 employees trapped in a hotel lobby on a Sunday night, waiting for the ballroom to open so they could set up a trade-show booth. â€Å"I bought flowers at a farmers market, a nice $6 bouquet of roses for each person,† she said. â€Å"I told them to take them home to their significant others, apologizing for me taking them away from their families on a Sunday. The next day I got thank-yous from most of them. One wife sent a letter saying I could keep her husband until Friday. † 23. Publicize their successes. â€Å"We like to publicly recognize employees so the whole company can share in their accomplishments,† noted Scott Ragusa, president of contract businesses for staffing firm The Winter, Wyman Companies. â€Å"Each week, nominations for our quarterly ‘Clutch' award are shared with the whole company. The Clutch nominations are a way to recognize our administrative and nonmanagerial professional staff members who have come through in the clutch in supporting their departments or the firm. 24. Let them phone it in. Telecommuting programs can relieve stress and make workers feel more appreciated, as well as more productive. â€Å"Reward the employee by starting with one day of telecommuting, then add additional days as performance heightens,† suggested Brian Margarita, president of IT staffing firm TalentFuse Inc. â€Å"Having the option to cart the kids to so ccer practice, visit the beach during the afternoon or cut out early to avoid traffic congestion is becoming more important than working an 80-hour week for a larger paycheck. † 25. Remember the secret words. The two most underused words in corporate America that get the highest ROI (return on investment) and ROT (return on your time) are the simple words ‘thank you,'† noted Michael Guld, president of the Guld Resource Group author of â€Å"The Million Dollar Media Rep: How to Become a Television and Radio Sales Superstar. † While telling the employees , appreciation should be obvious, no one does it enough or is specific enough about what the employee did. â€Å"So when you share your appreciation, be specific about what you really liked, so they not only feel appreciated but can do it again. The Do's and Don'ts of Effective Reward Programs Effective Reward Systems. Reward systems should focus on positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is the most e ffective tool for encouraging desired behavior because it stimulates people to take actions because they want to because they get something of value (internally or externally) for doing it. An effectively designed and managed reward program can drive an organization's change process by positively reinforcing desired behaviors. There is a criterion for building effective reward systems that is the SMART criteria. These criteria should be used when designing and evaluating programs. Programs should be: Specific: A line of sight should be maintained between rewards and actions. Meaningful: The achievements rewarded should provide an important return on investment to both the performer and the organization. Achievable: The employee's or group's goals should be within the reach of the performers. Reliable: The program should operate according to its principles and purpose. Timely: The recognition/rewards should be provided frequently enough to make performers feel valued for their efforts. Case Study Employee Incentive Safety Program: â€Å"Rim Safe Colleagues at Work† Rim Hospitality is a hotel, resort and boutique property management company offering full-service property management solutions including Rim Office2 hotel property revenue management software, fully integrated real-time payroll, hotel revenue data collection & reporting, and employee staffing and training programs. With rising workers compensation expenses, Rim Hospitality needed to find a cost effective solution that would motivate employees to help reduce these costs, and also maximize efficiencies with employee productivity and scheduling. A comprehensive plan outlining all of the program objectives, requirements, communications, training, projected costs and benefits were developed. A safety team leader was appointed at each property to facilitate the program, maintain frequent communication about the program, and reinforce the messages coming from upper management. Consistent communication from the home office, to team leaders, to colleagues is an important reminder to drive this new behavior. They decided to implement a prepaid MasterCard card as the award. This provided the employee the freedom to choose what they want, when they want it, making them feel truly rewarded. The list of recipients is communicated to Springbok Services each quarter that provides the personalized MasterCard cards with a safety logo and bulk ships them to Rim Hospitality. Awards are handed out at each hotel property to provide a personal touch and give upper management the opportunity to again, reinforce the positive behavior they are looking for and share the results of the program amongst all the hotels in a motivating way. Rim Hospitality experienced positive results almost immediately which have steadily increased. Over two years, they reduced workers compensation claims by 29%. This meant a savings of $634,000 and a 3. 4 to 1 ROI to the bottom line. Peer-to-peer Employee Recognition Program: â€Å"Informal Awards Program† Applied Materials is the global leader in nano manufacturing technology solutions for the electronics industry with a broad portfolio of innovative equipment, services and software products. Applied Materials innovates and commercializes the processing and manufacturing technology that helps semiconductor manufacturers produce the world's most advanced chips. Applied Materials had implemented a peer-to-peer employee recognition program that was being manually tracked and awards were being fulfilled out of their company store. Managing the program was utilizing resources that could be focused on other productive projects. They needed to find a solution that would automate the program and award fulfillment. Applied Materials chose the Reward Incentive Management System (RIMS) from Springbok Services to fulfill this need. RIMS is a web based application that was easy to integrate with The Applied Materials reward and recognition program. RIMS fully automated the process of setting up and tacking budgets, nominating and approving awards, collecting recipient information and streamlining the award fulfillment process through its integration into Springbok’s MasterCard card management system. The goal of the program is to encourage outstanding performance and consistent behavior for employees and temporary or contract personnel to support corporate goals and values related to the following categories: Safety First: Individual award to promote positive safety-related behaviors and/or results that go beyond the normal job scope. Quality Counts: Individual award to promote positive quality-related behaviors and/or results that go beyond the normal job scope. Achieving Excellence: Individual award to promote outstanding behaviors and/or results toward corporate goals and objectives. TEAM Award Together Everyone Achieves More: Award to promote outstanding behaviors and/or results demonstrated or obtained by a team of 10 or less. Employees can nominate each other for awards, email notifications are sent to managers for approval, and once approved, the MasterCard prepaid card is mailed to the recipient. Fulfillment of awards through their company store has been eliminated and the whole award nomination and approval process has been automated and streamlined increasing both employee productivity and satisfaction. Health & Wellness Initiative: â€Å"Healthy Living† The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) is the world's largest manufacturer, seller and distributor of Pepsi-Cola beverages — some of the world's most recognized consumer brands. The PBG sales force of more than 30,000 customer representatives sell and deliver nearly 200 million eight-ounce servings of Pepsi-Cola beverages per day. PBG's focus is on superior sales execution, customer service, merchandising and operating excellence. In 2005, PBG was working to better manage the rising cost of health care for its employees. They decided they could do that by educating their employees on various health related issues. To narrow the scope of broad number of health related topics, PBG implemented an employee survey to get feedback on the interest of their employees. Beginning in January 2006, employees were provided the opportunity to complete a healthcare survey and receive a prepaid MasterCard card as an incentive. In addition to the employee receiving the incentive, participating spouses in the healthcare benefits program could qualify as well. Qualifying employees were collected on a weekly basis by a third party healthcare management company and the data file was submitted to Springbok. The prepaid Master Cards were made and mailed directly to the employees who completed the survey. The participation rate from employees in the survey was over double the rate PBG has projected going into the program. Following the survey period, results were analyzed and employees were offered a variety of healthcare educational classes to attend. When the class was completed, the employee received an additional prepaid MasterCard as a reward for completing the class. The educational program is on-going at this time. PBG rolled the program out with a multi-media communications campaign, from emails and newsletters, to direct mail pieces mailed to employee’s homes. A custom branded PBG Healthy Living prepaid MasterCard card was used along with a custom card carrier and envelope. This branding helped tie the incentive back to the program continuing to remind and motivate employees to further participate. They attribute the success of the program to the amount and consistency of communication and the attractiveness and flexibility of the incentive, Springbok’s prepaid MasterCard card. Employee Service Awards Program: â€Å"Iowa Telecom’s Personal Touch† Iowa Telecom is the second largest local telephone company in Iowa. They work hard to provide their customers with reliable dial tone, long distance and Internet services every second of every day. They provide telephone service to over 440 communities across the state. Their 600+ trained professionals are working across the state to provide reliable service with a personal touch. That personal touch is not only conveyed to their customers, but to their employees as well. With the large number of employees and diverse interests they have, Iowa Telecom was faced with trying to consolidate their service anniversary awards program, to a streamlined, single awards program. After considering a variety of different awards, Iowa Telecom decided to utilize Springbok’s prepaid Service Awards MasterCard. Since the fall of 2002, Iowa Telecom has been awarding their employees for length of service, celebrating the employees’ anniversary during the month it occurs. Each calendar year, an employee file is sent to Springbok to manage the program and order the prepaid MasterCard. Orders are placed for people whose anniversaries are in the following month. That schedule, gives Iowa Telecom plenty of lead time to verify the employee’s status and provide payment for the order. Orders are fulfilled and the prepaid MasterCard cards are bulk shipped to Iowa Telecom’s human resource department. They utilize the â€Å"service awards† branded card to reinforce what the incentive is for and the card is personalized with the employees name for that special recognition. To show appreciation to these loyal employees, Iowa Telecom President, Alan L. Wells, includes a letter of appreciation acknowledging the employees loyalty for service. This personal touch is consistent with the pleasant work environment and efforts to recognize and reward employees for their achievements. The program has been running over 4 years and employee feedback has been positive with regard to receiving the prepaid MasterCard card as it provides them the flexibility to choose their own reward by purchasing what they want, from millions of places, wherever MasterCard debit cards are accepted. Employee Sales Incentive Program: â€Å"Balkamp – NAPA Auto Parts† NAPA purchases auto parts from various manufacturers and redistributes them to NAPA warehouses. The role of Balkamp is to take the NAPA Auto Parts Store into new markets and to provide the necessary support to enable the store to gain market share. Balkamp adds value to NAPA stores through packaging, order quantities, catalogs, sales, pricing, service, promotions, warranty, obsolescence, innovation, and a product mix that includes hard parts, tools and equipment, accessories, service items, performance and SUV accessories, and chemicals. Coordinating with so many different parts manufacturers and their individual incentive programs, Balkamp was challenged with finding a way to increase sales by their district reps to their franchises and streamline the payments to the sales team upon achieving their goals. Balkamp also needed the flexibility of managing multiple incentive programs at the same time for multiple manufacturers. Grouping the awards into one payment vehicle simplified the process for Balk amp and the recipient. Balkamp selected a re-loadable prepaid MasterCard debit card that can be used anywhere MasterCard debit cards are accepted. The Balkamp incentive award program started in 2005 to help increase sales company wide through their distribution channels to their franchises. With 100+ district sales representatives, Balkamp can implement incentive programs relatively easily, communicate the goals, track the sales and award the sales person very quickly. Requirements are built for sales people to achieve certain criteria. For various products at different times, the sales people are tasked with selling truck loads of product through their distribution centers to any of their stores nationally. Upon reaching certain thresholds, the award amounts are loaded onto their prepaid MasterCard card from Springbok Services which they retain and can be re-loaded each time a new incentive threshold is achieved. Into the second year of the program, Balkamp is continuing with this incentive program as it has made a positive impact in increased sales, and decreased costs associated with administering their sales incentive program.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Political Research Methods- Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Political Methods- - Research Paper Example The exception these proportions of parity in the social resources literature are uncharacteristic. It is evident that countries that score highly on social trust also happen to score highly on economic equality, for example Canada and the Dutch. The case of escalating social trust by sinking inequality has for the most part been overlooked in strategy debates on social trust. The strategy implication that is depicted from the research is that the low down levels of trust and social resources that affect many countries are brought about by little or no government act to lessen inequality. Many countries with low levels of public trust and social resources ultimately find themselves in a situation we call a â€Å"social trap.† Public trust would not rise since immense public inequality reins, but the public strategies that could cure this state of affairs cannot be recognized specifically since there is a real need for trust. This state of affairs concerns both the citizens and the government. Introduction. There exists a great deal of evidence throughout the world that proves income inequality is extreme and ever increasing. It is reported that income inequality has grown in the United States of America than in any other place in the world. Poverty and inequality are closely linked to one another as logical issue and also as a strategy matter, it leads to strict limitations in trying to deal with shortage or even with economic safety devoid of also probing income discrimination. Literature review. Inequality and its perception by the average person is a deadly element of today’s American society since it is related to low levels of trust, as well as a horde of other public challenges. Key terms; Income, inequality and trust. In the 19th century, equality conditions were exceedingly praised and advocated for by Alexis de Tocqueville as he considered them an immense platform for democracy to thrive on. Inequality levels have risen and have remained a t those levels for the better part of the last five decades. This research outlines a self-sufficient assessment based on facts shown in the articles; â€Å"The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett† and â€Å"A Trust Deficit; Look to the Inequality by Ray Brescia.† The literature review has mirrored the following fundamentals: 1) Consequences of income inequality on contentment significantly depend on the apparent income distribution in a country. Income inequality tends to be absolutely linked to reported well-being as people tend to believe that they will sooner or later reach a higher income. The contrary is witnessed in low income distributing countries because in those countries people tend to believe that it is impracticable to reach high levels of income. 2) Studies of the detrimental consequence of income inequality on health are more often than not decisive. This shows that there is still not a widely acknowledged justification for explaining why income inequality ought to impact on health. Studies tend to put forward that the situation is vice versa, from health condition to income inequality. 3) The connection between income inequality and educational realization might go in both directions. Rising inequality ought to promote funds through improved proceeds while on the other hand, it may thwart these funds for the people at the bottom of the income distribution channel. As regards the second method, the studies suggest a reserved outcome or no outcome of income

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Volunteer Internships and Internships for B-Schools Article

Volunteer Internships and Internships for B-Schools - Article Example This article, â€Å"Volunteer Internships Benefit Local Governments and Students† by Robin Popik is about how local governments can attract interns both as a way of recruiting potential candidates to the positions in the local government as well as a means of giving the students the experience of working for a government. The article starts off by describing who an intern is and what are the roles and responsibilities that a typical intern should have when given an internship in a local government office. The article focuses on why it is a great idea for local governments to advertise for positions of internships to prospective students and then introduce them to the concept of a government job. The point here is that many students think of government jobs as not attractive enough when compared to those in the private sector. This perception is mainly because the government is seen as bureaucratic in nature and not serving the purpose of a fast-paced job that brings challenges and offers attractive remuneration for the students. As the article states, â€Å"Government organizations that need temporary staff for special projects are a great place to use internships. Challenge the intern to bring out the value of the project† (Popik, 2009). Hence, the author’s point is that the concept of government service must be made attractive to the students and they should be made aware of the potential benefits that a government job can bring in its wake. The article then goes on to describe the methods in which internships in the government sector and local government offices, in particular, can be structured by the local government officials. To quote from the article, â€Å"Local governments can champion this concept by using interns to teach about the governmental process and politics in a way most textbooks miss.  

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Report global citizenship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Report global citizenship - Essay Example This is necessary because the textie industry faces the biggest criticism with regard to its environmental policies. The high resource consumption and waste management are the biggest criticism against the textile industyr. Cicadania would impose environmental regulations on itself by complying with ISO regulations.The ISO 1400 series specifically deal with enviromental management (Joshi, 34). This set of regulations requires Cicadania to plan, implement, control, monitor, review and improve environmental pratices. The process moves in a loop which has been represented below: organic cotton: The amount of water involved in the production of cotton is enormous and literally drains seas like the Aral sea. On average there is 10.000 liters of water needed per kilogram of cotton or 2500 liters per shirt or 8000 liters for a jeans. Therefor Cicadania is buying its cotton from China where only 6000 liters per kilo is needed. Recycled cotton and other materials: In order to further reduce the amount of new produced cotton, Cicadania engaged itself in introducing recycled cotton from used clothes and will introduce plastic fibres recycled from other plastics. Production electricity carbon neutral: through solar power panels placed on top of the manufacturing plant. In Brazil the amount of sunshine per year is sufficient to produce enough for day and night electricity. Extra electricity during the day flows into the net and at night the net gives back to the factory. transport: The efficient transport plan introduces smart packaging reducing the amount of plastics and cardboard and smart pile up will increase the amount of clothes to be shipped in one shipment of course reducing the amount of CO2 emitted per piece of clothing. The in store saving is a combination of both a set of mentality and small easy adaptations of the the store.The company would aim at creating eco friendly stores. These would paying attenion to the

Humanities-week 2 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Humanities-week 2 - Term Paper Example I believe that he is someone who has the capacity to lead a nation without fear of dying. He also showed how loyal he is to his friends and companions when he fought back for Patroclus. Even if he refused to fight anymore, he begged his mother to make him new armour ended his refusal to fight. Discussion 2: Greek Legacy †¢ Describe one way that you see a particular tenet of Greek philosophy reflected in the modern Western worldview One of the most influential principles of Greek philosophy came from Plato. In the modern Western worldview, we continuously strive how to live a good life. In Plato’s famous dialogue named The Republic, he talked about the central problem of how to live a good life. He also tackled about the ideal state, state with justice and the just individual. In our world today, we all know that we are still in the midst of finding the answers to these questions. Our state is still striving hard to become a just and ideal state that could serve the best t o the people. Individuals also struggle to become good to others. Modern Western worldview still reflects the quest to ideal republic and justice. Discussion 3: Roman Legacy †¢ Describe a specific example of life in Ancient Rome that is found in contemporary life in the U.S. One of the most prominent lifestyle in Ancient Rome is their desire for innovation and love for gadget.

Friday, July 26, 2019

Enterprise resource planning Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Enterprise resource planning - Literature review Example Taking into account all the necessary precautions described in this review, readers can develop an accurate and effective ability to choose the correct ERP to fulfil their company’s needs. Enterprise Resource Planning The development of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages has evolved the software market in the most valuable segments of modern organizations. They have transformed over the past decade, every aspect of organisational process including sales, marketing, manufacturing and staffing. The first ERP systems that emerged were very expensive for small and medium companies and also required complex processes and maintenance to incorporate them. The detrimental effect that ERPs possess over the entire organization is deemed important for the development and prosperity of a business (Livermore & Ragowsky, 2002). As, such a combination of human and technical expertise is required in order to make a correct selection of vendor, implement the system accordingly and p rovide adequate support and maintenance. The instances of companies going bankrupt due to implement failure of an ERP system include prestigious firms, such as Mobil Europe, Nike, Reebok and Hershey. The continuous failures of the ERP system have raised the question of their viability and the risks involved with incorporating such practices (Chen, 2001). Based on available literature and real-life examples, this review will analyse the tasks needed in order to choose the correct ERP system, the implications that need to be considered, important procedures needed for implementation and future directions for research are proposed. History of ERP The predecessors of modern ERPs were made in the 1960’s with the manufacturing of early Material Requirements Planning (MRP) software by the partnership of J.I. Case with IBM.. However these solutions were big and expensive because they required a large technical staff to support the mainframe computers. In 1970’s the developme nt of faster and higher capacity storage enabled the development of a more integrated business information system. The introduction of COPICS concepts for IBM computers and subsequent birth of software companies such as SAP (Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung) and Oracle among others, lead to increased technological advancements in MRPs. Its functions included scheduling and releasing manufacturing work orders and purchase orders (Chen, 2001). The MRP II system was created in the early 1980’s by J.D Edwards was later named manufacturing resource planning rather than its original acronym and adopted the MRP-II term to conjoin with the newer capabilities, such as integrating primary functions (production, marketing and finance) and personnel and engineering to improve the efficacy of the enterprise. During the late 80’s the update of CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) framework offered a strategy to help integrate information in a consistent manner across the e nterprise, which was the key to the migrating path between MRP and ERP systems (Chung & Snyder, 2000). The term enterprise resource planning (ERP) was named in the early 1990s by the Gartner Group and included certain criteria to asses the extent of integration across many functional areas such as production from raw materials to work-in-process (WIP) to finished goods inventory (FGI), shipping and receiving

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Buddhism and Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Buddhism and Psychology - Essay Example Why does a person become a victim of trauma or violence? Is it due to his Karma? The word, Karma, is from the Sanskrit language and means both action and duty. Karma according to Buddhist philosophy exists at two planes, at the individual plane, and at a collective plane. At the individual plane, every person gets born into circumstances, depending on his actions in his past life. And at the collective plane, a â€Å"certain category of beings live in a certain location and tend to perceive their environment in much the same way, because that particular shared situation is the fruition of their former actions.† On this depends whether a being is reborn as a human or an animal. However, the Karma Theory is not a deterministic one. At each point of time, one has a choice of adopting either an elevating course of action, thus ensuring a better birth in the future. Therefore, although Karma may have put a person into circumstances, which are difficult, including becoming the victi m of trauma, it decrees that one accepts this and treat those who wrong him with compassion. One must understand that Buddhism does not exalt suffering as a means to having a better life in the next birth. Not at all. A person who does not suffer and a person who suffers have both the same chance of being in similar circumstances in the next life. But since one’s current circumstances are the result of past actions, how one deals with it (with patience and forgiveness to those who harm you, if anyone does) ensures a better life in the next birth.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Live Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Live Art - Essay Example Modern performance art dwells on current political topics and tries to illustrate them employment various techniques. In this essay I will attempt to focus my attention primarily of the visual arts and how they passed through an evolutional process in the 20th century. Although I partially agree with the statement that Goldberg (2001) makes that performance art is a medium with endless variables, almost no barrier, crossing all known taboos, and eventually borders with anarchism, I will try to pose the contra-argument that those alternations are caused by the fast-revolving global cultural, political and social life and consequently is a process which barely faces intentional directions. The term "performance art" was first used in the 1960's in the United States. Originally, the term referred to any live artistic event which engaged musicians, poets, film makers and so on (Goldberg, 2001). However, there were earlier forms of visual arts, for example the live performances of the Dadaists which was a combination of poetry and visual arts. Another example that Goldberg (2001) cites are the German Bauhaus, who established a theater workshop in order to examine the bonds between sound, space and light. Although, there were various other art performances the term hadn't been coined until the 1960s. By the 1970's the performance art idea spread as a worldwide acknowledged word which with the time began to be treated as a commodity - traded, advertised and sold (Goldberg, 2001). Consequently, the performance artists instilled in their art the direct contact with their audience through the public forum. This evolution of the performance art, eliminated the requirement to f or galleries, agents and brokers to act as mediators between the artists and their audience. On one hand, this opened the art to the general public and aided the artists to maintain a more real contact with their admirers, on the other this process destroyed all aspects of the capitalism and gaining profits from the artists. The main characteristics of the performance art are that: It is in live; There are no specific rules or guidelines, the art is experimental and if the artist says it is art, then it is; It is not for sale, though there might be admission tickets or included film right; It may contain painting or sculpture, music, dance, opera, film footage, poetry, dialogue, live animals, fire and everything that crosses one's mind; It is a legitimate artistic movement and there are many institutions where it is taught as a degree course; It is amusing, shocking, terrifying, entertaining and memorable. The most memorable and affirmative definition that I found about visual art is, is given by Goodman (1982). The comments: "What we know through art is felt in our bones and nerves and muscles as well as grasped by our minds . . . all the sensitivity and responsiveness of the organism participates in the invention and interpretation of symbols (pp.198 - 199)." That is true about performance art is that it is influential, because it reaches everyone, because they can perceive it with their senses and react to the feelings that the art evokes in them. Goodman (1982) a philosopher most of all, notably remarks that visual art is riddled with "philosophic faults and aesthetic absurdities (p. 191)." We can refer the aesthetic absurdities to the quote that Goldberg (2001) stating that art in the 20th century resembles anarchy. If analyzed from a artistic point of view anarchy means performances combined

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

What steps should an American leader undertake to avoid Civil War of Essay

What steps should an American leader undertake to avoid Civil War of 1860 - Essay Example The backdrop or case in history that would be a noted example would be the American Civil War during the late nineteenth century. To start off, this paper would try to look into the causes of the American Civil War and see which among the factors was the most pressing or critical for the war to start with. From that point, this paper will then explain what would be the personal suggestions or actions that could have been taken to prevent any further escalation of hostilities between both opposing sides during the civil war. If I Were the United States President During the 1860’s, How Would I Prevent the Civil War? It is difficult to be the head of state when dealing with the likelihood of civil war. Such instances would mean either two things for a president. One option is to immediately choose a side among the belligerents, which could mean either the losing or winning side. The other option is to try to remain neutral while encouraging much political maneuver or diplomatic a pproach as the only way to engage the problem. The head of state usually makes these decisions based on political alignment, economic advantage, or the moral high ground. Perhaps an ideal scenario that would make a great example would be the American Civil War. ... Defenders of slavery from the Southern Confederacy held that slaves are needed to run their economy since most of their economy runs on agricultural growth and development, especially with cotton crops. At the same time, slaves were views by southerners as property and were held as to have private protected ownership by right of the owner. In the case of the northern side, their economy is largely based on industrial progress and trading of equipment and materials. This gave the northern side the advantage over the south in terms of economy and, eventually, military power. The use of slaves for the north was not really needed for their economy to run. Although Leidner (2011) held the opinion that: Although slavery was  the  moral issue of the nineteenth century that divided the political leaders of the land, the average American had very little interest in slaves or slavery. Most Southerners were small farmers that could not afford slaves. Most Northerners were small farmers or t radesmen that had never even  seen  a slave. The problem then is not solely on the economic issues of slavery, but it is found on the politics that revolved around slavery. Handlin (1864) further observed that: The institution of slavery has, doubtless, been a true cause of secession and rebellion, although there have been many who disputed the proposition, and alleged that the tariff and other questions were more powerful agents in causing the South to throw off her allegiance and seek protection from the injustice of the North in a separate and independent government. (pp.41-42) It should also be noted that the seat of the Federal government and power is located at the northern side, and most

Monday, July 22, 2019

The Normandy landings in Defeating Germany in World War Two Essay Example for Free

The Normandy landings in Defeating Germany in World War Two Essay 1. Using source A and your own knowledge explain why the D-day was such an important event of World War two? D-Day was such an important event of World War Two for numerous amounts of reasons. The term D-Day actually means The Day. As said by Major Elson, it is the day where everyone does something. Major Elson fought on the Italian front, which is demonstrated on the map. D-Day was to be June 1944 minutes between night turning to morning on the 6th. The Germans had occupied France and France needed Britain, Canada and America to come together to regain the French territory for them. As well as this, Russia was fighting of Germany in the East and needed the Allies to relieve pressure. D-Day was a very important part into ending the war but other factors include the Battle of the Atlantic, the fighting in North Africa and the Battle of Britain. Arriving at Normandy using the Mulberry harbours, the Allies captured all of the five designated beaches (Omaha, Juno, Gold, Sword and Utah) despite strong German coastal defences. This is mainly due to the opposing armies having no idea to where the Allied forces would be landing because no place in France were called those names. The map shows where the troops entered France and this also clearly enforces the sheer scale of the invasion and its importance into keeping it top secret. Meanwhile, parachutists were flown in nearly 20 minutes after mid-night to capture Pegasus Bridge on the River Orne and Vier. This was important as it prevented German counter attacks from transporting troops to the beaches. As quick as they could, the Americans advanced all the way up to Cherbourg and captured it. Meanwhile, the British struggled pushing through Norman hedgerows which proved excellent cover for the defending German formations but the Allies succeeded in liberating the city of Caen in the end. This then led to the captivity of the capital of Normandy, Flank Con. However, with the capture of Saint-Là ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ and later Avranches in mid-July, the way was open for an Allied breakout into open country, an opportunity seized by General Omar Bradley, commander of the 12th US Army Group, who early in August ordered his forces to advance to the east. Hitler refused to allow the Wehrmacht to abandon Normandy and ordered a German armoured counter-attack against the allied forces near Avranches. On August 7 the German offensive was defeated and they soon found themselves in a trap as Canadian and United States divisions began to close in on both sides. On August 19th the allied forces had closed the gap at Falaise, trapping about 12 German divisions, who were subjected to merciless air and artillery bombardment. Hitler now ordered his forces in the gap to escape: about 30,000 did so, while 50,000 were captured by the Allies. The Germans were forced back by sheer weight of numbers by the Allies and by August 25th 1944 Paris had been liberated. After this, the Allies advanced too far, too fast to the border of France and Germany and so the Germans were able to push back one area of the line of troops, enforcing a bulge. This was known as The Battle of the Bulge. The Allies overcome this. The Allied advance in the west and south through Italy coupled with the Soviet advance in the east led to the overall defeat of Germany on May 7th 1945 11 months after D-Day began. The map demonstrates all of the above happenings and the names of the commanders in charge show their line of advancement into Germany. This map also, clearly shows us just how much land had been covered and that the Allies werent just invading from Normandy but from the Mediterranean, from the east (USSR) and from Italy. However, if it werent for the declaration of operation Overlord at Normandy then it is possible to say that attacks elsewhere would not have taken place. The map helps me explain my theory; you can see an awful lot of troops coming from all directions heading towards Germany but the majority are advancing from Britain. Thus meaning that without the attack from Normandy, it wouldnt relieve pressure from the eastern front with USSR and in general, the Allies wouldnt have won the Battle of Normandy. A key factor is that the Battle of Normandy was the beginning of the end. It was a turning point in the war and I can make a judgement from my evidence that the Battle of Normandy was a key factor into the defeat of Germany (Victory in Europe) and possibly to ending the war altogether. 2. Study sources B and C. Compare these judgements on the importance of D-Day in the outcome of the Second World War. From studying both sources, I can see that they differ considerably. Both sources say the importance of D-day. Source C tells the problem of getting over the river Rhine and the vigorous German counter attacks. Source B doesnt have a particular author but it was written for the Telegraph Newspaper marking the 50th anniversary to commemorate D-Day. There are two key facts to touch upon in this subject area. Firstly, I have recognised that this is a British newspaper and therefore its information would be from a British perspective. By this, I mean that it will say only what the British public wants to hear especially on the anniversary. The anniversary is a celebration of freedom and victory and commemoration so for a British newspaper, the British public is not going to want to hear about D-Days flaws. Secondly, this is secondary evidence. This means the writer wasnt there to actually see what happened- he/she is just going on the basis of what they have heard and researched. However, this is the same for source C so there is no difference in that respect. Regardless, a British historian (Jack Watson) writes source C. Therefore, this man is obviously bound to know his stuff as his career is based around the acknowledgement of history. Thus meaning that he isnt just purely writing to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day, he is writing it because he is interested in it. Maybe this is why source C is far much more detailed than source B. From reading source B, it had become clear to me that the way in which the text had been written; it comes across although D-Day was achieved in such little time. This is true but the advancement of the troops from Normandy to Paris did come with a bit of a struggle at some areas (e.g. British troops capturing Caen) and so it wasnt as straightforward as the writer is making out. I think the writer has done this to give the British public what they want to hear and therefore will sell more copies. Another possibility is that the writer just needed to summarise D-Day and just produce an overview. Source C explains that it wasnt just down to Normandy that D-Day took place. Watson says how paratroopers landed in Holland, resistance broken in Italy and fighting in Germany. This means the historian has studied a broader area to the happenings of D-day rather then just focusing on France like source B. I think this is because people, who read his writings, are going to be more inclined to see D-Day from all angles of perspective. I believe people reading Watsons work would like a less judgmental and less biased view to the events of D-Day. Source B illustrates a bit more on how important Normandy was and how we commemorate it today. I do think that the writer of source B is somewhat biased and possibly holding back factual information which would probably give us a different perspective on D-Day as he has just wrote it to please, however, this leaves this piece of evidence to some extent, being unreliable. Source C, nevertheless, has more factual evidence and includes as much information about D-Day in as little words as possible for it to be a more reliable source. It takes into account the German resistance and understands the Allies didnt gain liberation easily. 3. Study sources D and E. Use details from the cartoons and your wider knowledge in your answer. What do these cartoons suggest about the reasons why the allies defeated Germany? There are many reasons as to why the allies defeated Germany. Source D illustrates one aspect. Source D shows Adolf Hitler ordering troops to invade the USSR but they turn into graves instead. From my own knowledge I know that this occurred on June 22nd 1942. Hitler envisioned it as short decisive war with USSR reaching a spectacular triumph. It started well for the German army who successfully employed the blitzkrieg tactic again. The Germans had a spectacular rate of progress into the USSR with the Panzer tank regiments moving up to twenty miles a day. By September1941 the German army had reached the Ukraine farmlands and had surrounded the city of Leningrad. This was the height of German success from this point onwards the German defeat became more and more probable. The German forces were unprepared for the extreme Russian winter with temperatures reaching as low as -40 degrees Celsius. The Russians used a huge evacuation policy, which involved evacuating whole armaments factories to the east of the USSR. This ensured that even though they had lost a large amount of territory they still had the means with which to fight back. USSR was well organised because at the time of signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact, they realised they couldnt possibly fight a war as they werent ready. Therefore, this treaty gave USSR time to prepare, and so they did. Consequently, this Soviet cartoon depicts basically how Hitler sent his troops to death. As well as defeats in the east, there are other areas in which Germany fell. Between the years of 1939 and 1941 the United States of America had played a supposedly neutral role in the war. While not actually declaring war on the Germans the USA was supplying the British with everything they needed to keep the war effort going. The American role in the war changed on the 7th December 1941 when the Japanese attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. The American President Roosevelt used this attack to swing public opinion in favour of declaration of war. The USA declared war on Japan and three days later Hitlers Germany declared war on the USA. This declaration of war by Germany was a decisive point in the whole war. It has long been wondered why Hitler chose to declare war on the Americans. His forces were just suffering their first defeats in the USSR and the German army was already stretched on a number of different fronts. This clearly shows that the Germans were failing before they had begun. I believe this relates to the cartoon; the troops in the picture are defeated before they have even begun. As if Germany hadnt enough on their hands and hadnt taken into account the loss of men in the cold winter months in Russia, they continued and they reached the key industrial and railway centre of Stalingrad in August 1942. A bitter street battle ensued which continued until February 1943. Eventually the Germans were defeated in the Battle of Stalingrad one of the fiercest battles in the whole war. The Russian victory destroyed the invincible reputation of the German army. The defeat also destroyed the German morale because of the large losses of men and because of the fact that the supposed master race had been defeated by a lower race in the Slavs. This obviously didnt give the Germans the courage to go on. Not to mention, an awful lot of the German army was foreign so they wasnt as eager to fight as its not their country they are defending. Germany was a country practically on its own. Whereas on the other side there was Canadians, Russian, American and British all fighting on the same team with a greater number of troops. The Atlantic Ocean was a key battleground in the Second World War because of the large number of allied supplies travelling from the USA to Britain and the USSR. The Germans had had control of the Atlantic since the beginning of the war with the number of U-boats losses being very minimal compared to the number of Allied shipping lost. But by mid 1943 technological advances allowed the Allies to effectively win the Battle of the Atlantic. Some of these advances included better radar detection systems and longer-range aircraft. The victory in the Atlantic meant that Britain was no longer blockaded. The Germans also lost the war in the air. Over a period of two years between 1942 and 1944 the Allies mounted ever more devastating air attacks on German cites. The Allies were able to drop a far greater tonnage of bombs over German cites than the Luftwaffe could drop over British cites because of the development of a heavy bomber by the allies. The continuing air attacks slowly gained the Allies complete air superiority which was key for the D-Day landings in June 1944. These are all the events that lead up to June 6th (D-Day) and all of these links in with the effect of D-Day. In conclusion it could be argued that there were a number of different turning points in the war. On the one hand, the declaration of war by the USA, the Soviet victory in Stalingrad the Allies successful completion of Operation Overlord or when Hitler choose to declare war on the USA, could all be considered as the turning points in the war. Overall we believe that the point at which German defeat became inevitable was when Churchill and several great generals including Eisenhower and Montgomery planned the daring invasion of Normandy and put it into action. Sources D and E demonstrate this quite clearly. Source E basically shows that Stalin and a Russian soldier/general could easily roll over the Germans without much of a fuss and were defeating them generously. Germany, as illustrated above, suffered many defeats and Normandy just basically hit the nail on the head. The French were Allies with Britain and Britain was Allies with USSR and Canada and USA. I dont suppose it benefited the Axis in any way at all with the economic and industrial power of the Allies was now overwhelming. If the Germans had been fighting the British alone the war would have been one of attrition like the First World War because Britain and Germanys industrial output were equal. So with the addition of the two most industrial powers in the world in the form of the USA and the USSR the Allies could not lose. All of the previous defeats like the fighting in North Africa, the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic and the fighting in the East with USSR etc. are all linked with the effect of the Battle of Normandy. On the other hand, in my opinion, if it wasnt actually for the Battle of Normandy which led to the liberation of France and the Falaise gap and so on, then Germany would of carried on capturing countries until the end. It is also possible to say that if Germany hadnt declared war on USA (for which reason we do not know) then USA might have still stayed out of the war against Germany (and only fought Japan) and also, Germany might have stood a chance of winning. But they still would have had a war on two fronts with USSR, too. Therefore, if they hadnt declared war on USSR in 1942 then they would have had more troops to give resistance on D-Day. In general, Germany didnt stand a chance as the British were sending messages to the French resistance who helped prepare for D-Day and also the British bombed Calais four times as much as they did Normandy to give Hitler the impression they were invading at Calais rather than Normandy. Therefore, Hitler sent more troops to defend Calais and this was completely unnecessary. This then meant, that on the attacks of Normandy, Hitler was unable to send troops to Normandy from Calais because the paratroopers had captured the bridges and railway lines etc. D-day was the largest invasion to be known as of yet and the Germans couldnt retaliate against 3 countries including 176,000 allied soldiers, alone-not to mention the attacks from the East. 4. Study source F. How reliable is Stalins view of the importance of D-Day? Source F may only say that one thing has been completed successfully and that is the landings on a grandiose scale. We can infer from the rest of what Stalin says that the beach landings are going quite successful as well, because he says that. I think this is a fairly trustworthy source in that Jopeph Stalin was the leader of USSR at that time. This is primary evidence and was sent only five days after the landings so the goings on was still perfectly clear in Stalins mind. Also the date is reliable because this could not have been said before D-Day as the things Stalin mentions hadnt happened yet. Also he is speaking in the present tense so it is obvious that what he is talking about is currently going on. There are several things that it does not say in the text, perhaps because Stalin does not know this, or perhaps he is holding back. He does not tell us anything about what the opposition is doing or what the planes and ships providing covering fire are doing, which could be very useful information. The bottom part of the text in bold allows us to infer several things. It tells us he is speaking personally via telegram to Churchill, from this we can infer that as he is writing in the form of a telegram he may not want to mention a few things. He obviously will not criticise Churchills operation, as they are allies. Russia needed Britain, USA and Canada to relive pressure from the east and for Stalin to be congratulating Churchill on the success of it must mean that D-Day had relieved pressure and so Stalins telegram is of some great significance and importance. At face value it is impossible to judge the importance of the D-Day landings from just studying Source F alone. Inconclusively, by making careful inferences we can think that it was obviously a great success, for Stalin to send a telegram to Churchill congratulating him and saying history will record this deed as an achievement of the highest order. It is very difficult to analyse any resistance from the Germans from this source and whether USSR had any part in D-Day or whether D-Day was purely to do with anything else like the fighting in Italy. I know, however, that there was from my own knowledge but this source doesnt imply anything of the kind-5 days into the D-Day landings and Stalin is congratulating him already, before they have really begun. So in that sense, Stalins view isnt that reliable in the importance of D-day. On the other hand, Stalin wrote it so it has to be reliable-it is first hand evidence. He was there to witness the goings on at the time you cant get much closer to it than that and he shows his support to Churchill. Although Russia signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Germany, it was under a mutual understanding and this didnt make them Allies, it merely kept the peace for a little while. So there would be no reason for this source not to be unreliable as they were Allies. Stalin also proves from the Pact that he wasnt at all with Germany because he says the hysterical Hitler boasted for two years that he would invade England across the channel but could not even make up his mind even to attempt carrying out the threat. This means one of a few things. Firstly, Stalin stitched up Hitler to Churchill about Hitlers threat to invade England. Secondly, he criticises him, calling him hysterical. This clearly states he was never a German ally, he just used the Nazi-Soviet Pact as much as Hitler did. Stalin was Allies with Churchill and Churchill was the prominent figure who arranged D-Day. Therefore, his evidence has to be somewhat reliable and relevant to the importance of D-Day. 5. Study sources G and H. Which of these sources is more useful as evidence in assessing the significance of D-Day? On the one hand, Source H is obviously written by one of the allies rather than Germany, as it does not say as such. I know this because the way in which Geoffrey Elliot refers to the event is on a positive note. If a German wrote it, I would expect it to be somewhat negative as a pose to praising the significance of D-Day. Additionally, another factor as to why source H is useful to the significance of D-Day is that it recognises the obstacles the Allies faced. This is because most sources that are written by a member of the Allies country normally exclude the difficulties they faced and just note how greatly they succeeded. Members of the Axis countries usually criticise D-Day and find faults on every account in its events. Therefore, this source, in that sense, is exceedingly reliable as it looks at both perspectives. From my own knowledge, this is to some extent unusual. It states that a change in weather could have destroyed. Meaning that the weather made it harder for the allies to get on the beaches and off load their equipment. Despite this, they did it even though they were forced to cancel out the Mulberry Harbour at Omaha beach due to the weather. On the other hand, source G was written by a historian and it is obvious that he is bound to know the significance of D-Day thoroughly. The writing in bold at the bottom reads that Taylor has studied English history from 1914-1945. This means that he has studied both of the wars (First World War and the Second World War) and knows all knowledge he can on the subject. He would be able to see how significant D-Day was out of the Second World War in greater detail even if it secondary evidence rather than primary. Furthermore, Source G is less biased on the count that it involves the aid of Russia and America. This is great considering other evidence written by British historians, that I have studied seems to out-rule the Russian help and sometimes fails to mention about the Canadians and Americans. Conjointly, this source looks at the events leading up to D-Day and not just D-Day itself. For example, it says that Dunkirk was the period when Britain stood alone. This signifies one of two things. Firstly, Taylor is not just looking at the successes, as being alone isnt much of a success. Secondly, Dunkirk isnt part of D-Day. This can be seen as a good or a bad thing. Bad, because he isnt focusing himself on D-Day and this is what is required for me in order to assess the usefulness of this source to the significance of D-Day. Good, because he is analysing other factors into the vents leading up to Normandy and other factors that helped the invasion succeed. Source G also gives more precise key names and dates throughout the text. This relevant because this shows the historian knows what he is writing about. To add to this, I know for a fact that it is written by a British person because it says so at the bottom in bold. However, this is can mean that the historian is more inclined to be biased but being a British historian, it is expected. Taylor doesnt look at D-Day from a German prospective, given that it was published 20 years after the war. Instead, it sees D-Day as a final victory. They may be his opinion, but it was nearly a year after D-Day that the Germans surrendered so it wasnt exactly a final victory. To analyse exactly what source is more useful than the other to the significance of D-Day I must study their flaws. Source H appears to be more of an overview than anything else. This is satisfactory if its just for the 50th anniversary but compared with source G, with a lot more detail than itself, it is not good. This brings me on to the fact that it is a commemorative article produced for a magazine on the 50th anniversary. An editor who briefly researched the events of D-day produced this article and probably doesnt particularly focus on this subject matter. This is my interpretation of what I thought after reading the text. But as a pose to source G, which is written by a historian whose job and interest is to research the wars thoroughly, it doesnt compare. Therefore, in my opinion, I personally feel that Source G is more useful to the significance of D-Day and the evidence above backs up my theory as a whole. 6. Why do you think sources I and J disagree about the defeat of Germany and the end of World War Two? When one looks at sources I and J, we can see they are very different when juxtaposed with all the other sources and different compared with themselves. The only point at where they have something in common is that both sources are secondary evidence. Source I is written by Yves Leccouturier who is from Normandy. I know this because it says so in bold at the bottom of the source. The fact that he is from Normandy is a great factor to his perspective of the attack itself. He isnt going to be bitter about the landings as the allies came to liberate France, not invade it. Therefore, he is, of course, going to be grateful towards the Allies for pushing the Germans out of France. There is additional evidence that backs up my theory behind this. He describes it as the liberation of Europe and in the outcome of the Second World War. This clearly indicates just how grateful he is and that the rest of Europe should be grateful, too as the Allies savoured them and without them, V E Day wouldnt have been achieved (Victory in Europe-of, which I believe Leccouturier is referring to). Leccouturier also believes that as a result of the landings at Normandy, the war ended (illustrates this in the quote). Both of these examples, would be key factors as to why the source was written in this manner. Another quotation in the text to back up my theory is when Leccouturier says Everyone welcomed the liberator with limitless enthusiasm. Leccouturier is also a French Historian. This helps to establish his reasons behind the source because he would know a great deal about the landings from living there and also from being a historian. He would have surely researched a great deal into the subject matter. To add to this, he is writing this source for a guidebook of the Normandy beaches for tourists. In essence, the type of tourists that are likely to visit this area of France would essentially be French, British, American and Canadian. These are the countries that were on the same side as each other and so it would be me probable for them to visit Normandy as a pose to a German citizen. Therefore, it is logical for this source to be biased, in that approach and this is another instance as to why the source is written in this form. Source J has an immensely different view on the topic. Source J is written by a Soviet historian some years after (1968) and feels very differently juxtaposed with Source I. Source J, from studying the text, appears to be bitter about the Allied troops receiving all the credit for the result and the war ending as a result of that. Source J basically writes it in this way because they dont feel recognised enough by western Allies for their efforts in the war. The Russians were the ones who requested back up from Britain and Churchill took up the request along with America and Canada. Therefore, I can see why credit goes to the Western Allies as they were the saviours but it was Russia who was fighting of German in the East in the first place. The Soviets feel forgotten it seems, from the way the source appears, that Russians just want some sort of recognition for their efforts in the outcome. In conclusion, all of the evidence above makes it clear to why the sources disagree to the defeat of Germany and the end of the Second World War. This is because the Soviet historian wring this text feels that USSR played a key part up to, on and after D-Day and that they havent received a sign of gratefulness or not enough of it from the western Allies they helped. Juxtaposed with source I, who boasts about how joyous the Normans were when the Allies landed and how the Normans welcomed the liberators with limitless enthusiasm. And liberators being the word. It doesnt mention a word about USSR and their efforts and this source is just another example as to why source I disagrees with the defeat of Germany and the end of the Second World War. Being from Normandy and writing for a Norman guide book, it isnt likely that he is going to mention the USSR as they didnt land here, they didnt capture the beaches, Caen, Cherbourg or Paris, they werent anything to do with the Battle of Normandy itself. They were involved with the fighting in the east while the liberators fought in the west. France praised the Western Allies and the Soviets got jealous. All these reasons conclude, in my opinion, to why the sources disagree about the defeat of Germany and the outcome of the Second World War. 7. How far have the sources in this paper convinced you that D-Day and the Normandy invasion was the most significant factor in the defeat of Germany in World War Two? Use all the sources and your wider knowledge There are numerous sources that reflect that Normandy was the most significant factor in the defeat of Germany in World War Two and sources A, B, C, F, G, H and I are included. On the one hand, Normandy was by far, the largest and most amphibious invasion that has ever been planned, let alone to have succeeded. Source A depicts how much of a large-scale invasion it was because you can see a tremendous amount of troops came in from the English Channel to Normandy at the five beaches. Source B, written for the Telegraph newspaper for 50th anniversary edition, classifies it as the turning point in the Second World War and the greatest amphibious operation the world has ever seen. This is the second source to illustrate how much of significant factor the Normandy landings played to the defeat of Germany and the Second World War. Source C, written by a British historian, delivers another quotation to put to my evidence by writing the Germans were driven back. This directly explains that the landings at Normandy advanced to this. I also have primary evidence from Stalin, the leader of Russia. Stalin says, from his first hand knowledge that the landings have succeeded completely. What the Western Allies wanted to do was liberate France, force the Germans out of France and relieve pressure from Russia. Obviously, for Stalin to send this message in a telegram to Churchill after just five days, it must have been working. Source G, written by a British historian, explains that combined with the Russians, British and American armies brought final victory. Thus meaning that D-Day achieved its targets of relieving pressure on Russia, liberating France and more importantly, defeating Germany bringing Victory in Europe (V E Day). Another commemorative magazine on the 50th anniversary, source H, though it is a small article, provides a lot of evidence. To begin with, it refers to the D-Day and the Normandy invasion was a military feat. This infers that D-Day and the Normandy invasion was an achievement for the Allies. This source also says that D-Day and the Normandy invasions were a plan to smash German power in Europe. I can say from this that not only was it a plan; it was a plan put into action. Finally, source I, written by a French historian from Normandy wring tourist guidebook, says how the French coastline is marked forever by the first steps towards the liberation of Europe. By this remark, I assume he is referring to V E Day (Victory in Europe Day). In which case, this source directly shows that D-day and the invasion of Normandy was significant into the defeat of Germany. On the other hand, whilst D-Day and the Normandy invasion is obviously a prominent factor to the defeat of Germany, there are other factors, too. Source A shows how many troops came via the Channel but it also shows how Allied troops came from Italy, all along the German border of Russia and from the Mediterranean and into France. This demonstrates that Germany wasnt just being attacked from Normandy. Source D depicts a cartoon of Hitler ordering troops to invade USSR but instead, they turn into graves. This cartoon clearly states that there was fighting on the eastern front with Russia and that Germany wasnt benefiting from it and arent just suffering defeats in the West. Source E backs that up as it demonstrates Stalin rolling Germans back using a rolling pin and in the stew pots behind him are defeats Germany had already suffered from USSR. It is ironic that the cartoon is named The Chefs Speciality as this means the Russian speciality is to roll Germans back and defeat them. Source G has two sides to it. It does say that the Normandy invasions and D-Day brought final victory but it also says that D-Day couldnt have been launched until German U-boats have been mastered in the summer of 1943. The reason for this is because the Navy wanted absolute air and sea superiority before they proceed with the invasion. This led to an attack on the Atlantic Ocean named Battle of the Atlantic. Therefore, without the Battle of the Atlantic, D-Day and the Normandy invasion couldnt take place. Source J expresses how it wasnt just down to D-Day and the Normandy invasions that Germany was defeated. Source J, written by a Soviet, believes the Soviets played a role in defeating the Nazi aggressor but has not been fully recognised by the Western Allies. It continues to add that it was the Soviet people who held back the Nazis in Europe for over two years while the Western Allies deliberated and prepared for their invasion. I gather from this text that point this source is trying to get across is that without the Soviets aid, Hitler would of put into action his plans of invading Britain (as said by Stalin, Source F). Britain would have been unprepared and the invasion of Normandy and D-Day wouldnt have taken place at all. There are factors not included in any of the sources that without their aid, D-Day and the Normandy invasion wouldnt have been as significant as it was. The Battle of Britain is one of them. Germany was bombing RAF bases in Britain every night for 53 nights before bombing cities. This was a fatal mistake. It gave the RAF time to regroup, repair airfields and train new pilots. Therefore, Germany lost along with a few other reasons. But if Germany had won, Germany would have gained supremacy in the air and Germany would have invaded Britain and probably lost the war as a whole. Dunkirk was a key element in boosting the British moral and saving 50,000 troops from the coast of France. This is a great feat because if the British public didnt rescue them then the British troops would have been stuck at Dunkirk and captured by the Germans. They were saved and this meant that Britain still had its troops and could progress onwards. The loss of 50,000 men would have had an effect on their efforts with D-Day and the invasion of Normandy. The fighting on the Italian front and North Africa played an important role into the significance D-Day and the invasion of Normandy had to the defeat of Germany. This is for the same reasons as the fighting on the eastern front with Russia and the Germans in that if the British had lost this, Germans would have been able to progress onwards through France and would have possibly been more ready for the invasion of Normandy and D-Day. To add to this, Germany was failing anyway, mainly as a result of all these defeats above. Germany had fewer troops and wasnt as well prepared as the Allies. The Allies had paratroopers fly in to capture main railway lines and bridges to prevent Germans from bringing in reinforcements. There were also preparations in Britain. Britain had inflatable military equipment, code signals were sent to the French resistance, petrol pumps for military vehicles in Normandy were disguised as ice-cream parlours and they dropped Rupert dolls which were counterfeit paratroopers that fired gun shot sounds when they landed. Furthermore, Britain sent a van around Scotland sending out more false alerts of an invasion from Scotland and they bombed Calias 3-4 times more than Normandy so the Germans would think an attack would be in Calias. They also invented special tanks to overcome German obstacles, they used reflective stripes to confuse German radar systems and they code-named the beaches so the Germans didnt know where they were going to attack. This is a drastic amount of preparations to undergo but these kinds of preparations meant that Germany didnt, in theory, stand a chance of winning. I dont think Churchill would have organised such a large-scale invasion, involving 4 main countries if he wasnt assured of a beneficial outcome. I think most of the significance of D-Day and the invasion of Normandy was, on the whole, down to exceedingly good planning and a lot of luck. However, the sources, overall, in this paper and from my own knowledge, have convinced me that D-Day and the invasion of Normandy are the most significant factors to the defeat of Germany in the Second World War. The Invasion of Normandy led to a lot of things. For instance the capture of Cherbourg, Caen and Paris. The Falaise Gap was a great achievement as it captured 50,000 German troops and from then the Allies progressed fast to the French-German border where the Battle of the Bulge took place. The Allies won this two and then it was just a race with Russia to get to Berlin. Of course there were set backs, like the weather, the struggle at Caen and the capture of Omaha beach, but thats expected in a large-scale invasion as this. But on the whole, there were a lot of achievements and the invasion accomplished their targets and the invasion was a success. Germany surrendered on the 5th May 1945 and there was victory in Europe at last. Without all the other factors that led up to D-Day and the luck involved, Normandy wouldnt have either taken place, succeeded or succeeded as well as it did.