Software Engineering And HCI

Software Engineering And HCI In this essay I will talk about the issue which currently annoying the HCI community about its connection with software engineering and how to merge them. We encourage both HIC and software engineering to take a larger view, and we suggest system engineering as one of the structure for achieving such merging. Users sometimes face complex tasks within the progression of interactive software. There is no adequately support in general software development. MEMFIS one of the methods laid out for evolvement of software with the interaction of non-trivial human-computer. MEMFIS focused user interface into the object-oriented methodology. It has three phases the first one is the examination of problem field and its conceptual user interface; communication design for modeling of user interface tool in preoccupation of software concepts. Software design is used for mapping problem domain model and the concept of software. We can address this issue from the interaction of users with the software development. New interaction techniques are required to end tasks analysis and modeling techniques also to allow tasks that are performed by software developers to be finished by users. Those tasks which performed by professional software developers are to be studied deeply so that they can provide users with adequate tools. Users need to be particularly supported to achieve their tasks. It is the greatest goal to define the range of end-user participation in software development in general and on the other hand end-user directed software development methods and to support them with new tools. User Efficacy A lot of technological changes depend on User Interface Design to glorify heir technical intricacy to use it again. Technology may not win user acceptance. To know how the user experiences the end product is the important thing to accept this product and that is where User Interface Design enters the design process. As product engineers looking forward to technology, usability specialists focus on the user interface. To make users more efficiency and also cost effectiveness, so this relationship should be kept from the start of the project. While people often think of Interface Design in the concept of computers, it also refers to many products where the user interacts with controls or displays. There are few products that widely apply User Interface Design. Other products such as Military aircraft, vehicles and audio equipment have a good effect on its User. Interface Design requires good planning appeal to the design process. It is necessary to ensure maximum performance through Usability Test. This empirical testing allows innocent users to provide data about what does work as expected. A product can be supposed to have a user optimized interface after the resulting repairs are made. User Interface Design can determine the difference between product acceptance and rejection. If users feel that it is not easy to use or learn about anew software program this product could fail. Good User Interface Design helps to make a product easy to understand and use. User Interface Design Expert Services Usernomics has a great role which can help your company to make your products easy to learn and use. Some experts design both hardware and software products. Their skills cover a wide extend of products such as web-based and application software. Experts of User Interface Design experts apply a systematic technique to evaluate websites for highest effectiveness, easy navigation, and enhanced user experience. The integration issue No doubt that the Interaction with human beings is increasingly identified. It is considered as an important aspect of software systems and products. Many professionals in the field of computing industry call for integrating human-computer interaction engineering with software engineering. In the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society they explored some ideas on integration. They had suggested some proposed solutions which would integrate HCI engineering into software engineering. So what is the relationship between HCI and software? And how do they interact as fields of endeavor? And that this is the major issue for the HCI community. The user is an ingredient of the system and notice that the software engineering process must include usability engineering. Another point of view said that HCI should be moved from the field of computer science to design, saying that software engineers have a constructors-eye view that helps to consider this issue. Recently at least three new books have addressed this issue in order to find new ways to solve it. Agreement continues to avoid the HCI community. In this paper we can say that this opposes and competition are unnecessary and unproductive. HCI and software engineering need to be better merged. Integration between HCI and software engineering is very necessary to the cost-effective development of highly usable software systems and products. However, that it is appropriate to blend either of these processes into the other. Our hypothesis is that the fields of HCI and software must interact and work together under a larger perspective that surrounds both and each of them must develop a larger vision. Building a larger vision The outlook of such disciplines as system engineering, product engineering, industrial engineering, and industrial design can provide this larger vision. We can use system engineering as a model for this outlook because this term is used in the environment of development of large systems under contract to specific clients. It should be clear when we say system engineering we mean many aspects such as system engineering, product engineering, industrial engineering, or maybe even industrial design which is suit for an organization. So that it is necessary to make it clear with the concept of engineering. It means specification, design, and technical omission of the execution process. Some people argue that the word engineering means taking a design and building the inclusion of design within engineering appears in most therapy of software engineering throughout its history. According to Newman engineering like design is about creativity and changes. Integrating HCI engineering and software engineering requires both disciplines to do a model shift to create a larger outlook. Discipline, system engineering has considerable experience in integrating specific engineering disciplines such as software, hardware, firmware, and data base engineering in a matched system development process. Within this model shift, We can start the integration effort as following: First thing to do is to determine the disciplines distinct and what do HCI and software engineering do? To know the responsibilities do each has in its system Which of HCI and software engineering is in charge of what? To put plans of how should they cooperate? Determine the way of interaction interact and communicate with each other? List of needs does each one have, and sort the information about each produce? How does the work of each affect the other? to determine the roles of system engineering How does the system engineering process merge and coordinate the technical donation of the separate engineering disciplines? Through the answers of these questions you can notice the importance of the integration of HCI and software engineering. The answers to these questions depend on the specific organization, the development environment, and the system or product being developed. We can consider the above questions and provide a few answers from our information of system engineering in our environment. Distinctions The basic difference between HCI engineering and software engineering is that they have disconnected problem domains. HCI engineering depends on the tasks of people using the system or product and interactions that the users need to perform their tasks on the environment in which they work. On the other hand Software engineering depends on the software ability which needed for the system to perform its tasks, achieve its objectives, and meet its requirements. Some of the software skills are also needed to support the users in achieving their tasks and interacting with the system. Their unlike problem domains give these disciplines separate roles and responsibilities in the process of specifying, designing, and developing the system or product. The following figure shows the roles and responsibilities of both HCI and software engineering: HCI Engineering (user view) User task analysis Interaction design Usability specification Interface design Software support Usability evaluation Software engineering (Technology view) Software requirement Software design Software validation Interaction support software Application program coding Interface software coding Calling for integration often place HCI within software design or software engineering. Many of the activities involved in the development of interactive systems are often assert by both software engineers and HCI engineers: The software industry be inclined to see HCI development as a software engineering activity which can improve software engineering and its practice and the HCI community tends to see some fields of software development as part of HCI engineering Current tools tend to unclear the difference and worsen the problem Many application development tools include HCI layout skills, and many interface design tools can automatically create interface code. However, these two engineering skills must be kept clear, so that each may maintain its own focus and Preference. There are some activities which differ from the Curtis and Hefley list in two ways. They assigned to HCI engineering the activity of allocating functions to humans and software; other people designate it as a system engineering responsibility because it requires a larger view than that of either HCI or software. They allocated to HCI engineering the activity of coding the HCI software. We assign it to software engineering because coding as we know belongs to the software engineering problem domain. HCI and software engineering must cooperate and communicate, but they are as processes distinct and have some difficult and sometimes conflicting issues and concerns. It takes a larger view, such as provided by system engineering, to think about the issues. Cooperation The HCI and software engineering processes closely cooperate during the design and execution of interactive systems and products. As we can notice Figure 2 demonstrate the interactions and information exchanges between the processes as they relate to HCI and its development? The following diagram indicates that HCI engineering and software engineering are detached but interact very closely. Not only do they exchange information, but each reviews and validates the others products to ensure both usability and probability. As we can see The HCI engineering process receives input from the definition of the users needs with regard to the system skills. This includes a description of users environment, a definition of human-performed and other activities and information from other related sources such as marketing. The HCI process has some tasks such as identifies the HCI and usability requirements, designs the interaction, and legalize requirements and design by means of initial usability evaluation using main idea. The HCI engineering product that is of interest to software engineering is software needs such as the software skills and characteristics needed to carry out the HCI design. The software engineering process blend the HCI related software requirements with the requirements connected to the other parts of the software product, such as computational and information restoration skills, and develops the software to meet the blended requirements. This development may in turn create additional HCI requirements, which HCI engineering then combine into the HCI design such as the software development process recognize needs for further interactions with the user, such as specific software which related online help and error messages. Software engineering also requires restriction on the HCI design and often related to technological limitations and probability but also due to delivery schedules and total budget. Sometimes Separation and collaboration may fail due to the use of human interface tools that do automatic code generation may give the HCI engineer the impression of performing a software engineering role; in the other side, the use of application program tools that generate forms and windows such as Visual Basic may give the software engineer the impression of performing an HCI engineering role. Also, the interaction between the disciplines may create issues and conflicts. In my point of view the strong interaction between these disciplines and the need to resolve their conflicts are major reasons why each discipline tries to take in the other. We assert that such attempts are neither necessary nor advantageous; because neither discipline has a large enough view to accomplish the others objectives. It is system engineerings role and responsibility to optimize the other system design and thus to recognize acceptable in its market and try to resolve the issues. The framework of system engineering According to the Systems Engineering Capability state Model (SE-CMM) which developed by the SEI, system engineering aims to merge the efforts of all engineering disciplines and specialties into the total engineering effort Some organizations define a system engineering process that clearly provides for the separate processes of HCI and software engineering like the Computer Sciences Corporation in 1990. System engineering can be considered as the keeper of the system view, it always working to make sure that the system or product meets its overall requirements and aims. System engineering has responsibility for many primary activities such as following: Definition of system and operation concepts Specification of detailed system requirements Requirements allocation and definition of system architecture and design Technical oversight of all engineering donation to product execution. Technical oversight of testing and confirmation at the system level Technical tradeoff decision making These system engineering responsibilities and its aims provide the framework for the effective integration of HCI and software engineering. The specific integration appropriate for an organization and development environment will depend on a definition of when and how the interactions between HCI engineering and software engineering occur and how to solve the issues and other conflicts. This definition should include some aspects: Clear border around HCI and software engineering processes such as responsibilities, inputs, outputs Sources of inputs and destinations of outputs to all participants in design and development Specification of the information exchange between activities of the engineering processes Process for setting decision standard for example tradeoff analyses, usability aim. One of the major donations of HCI and software engineering to system engineering involves providing their own out look to the allocation of system skills to humans and software HCI participates in the discovery of user needs and tasks, also in the decisions about whether or not to allocate a function to a person. Software usually shares in the evaluation of the feasibility of proposed automation of human activities and in the decisions about whether or not to set functions to software. System engineering uses these analyses to develop a system design from tradeoffs of schedule, cost, and the overall benefits that the system will provide to its users and to the organization. Improving the integration framework We can notice that system engineering is not perfect. The specific processes that system engineering tends to mandate for the HCI often may fail to support effective collaboration with software engineering, and they may not provide the most efficient means of achieving usability in interactive systems and products. System engineers need to acquire as deep an understanding of HCI engineering as they tend to have about the other engineering disciplines whose contributions they coordinate. Developing such an understanding will require the collaboration of specialists in system engineering, HCI engineering, and software engineering. Conclusion: HCI belongs to the study of interaction between users and computers. It is considered as the intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, and several other aspects of study. This Interaction between users and computers occurs at the user interface which includes both software and hardware. There is connection between human-computer interaction and a machine. It depends on supporting knowledge on both the machine and the human side. It is very important for poorly designed to have human-machine interaction because human-machine interfaces can lead to other unexpected problems. So HCI and software engineering must have more cooperation to put more solutions to this issue. References: Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory Abowd, and Russell Beale (2003): Human-Computer Interaction. 3rd Edition. Prentice Hall, 2003. http://hcibook.com/e3/ ISBN 0-13046-109-1 Helen Sharp, Yvonne Rogers Jenny Preece: Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd ed. John Wiley Sons Ltd., 2007 ISBN 0-470-01866-6 Matt Jones (interaction designer) and Gary Marsden (2006). Mobile Interaction Design, John Wiley and Sons Ltd. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction Behaviors Information Technology International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction Human-Computer Interaction . http://www.springerlink.com/content/755m81vp18522u21/ http://www.usernomics.com/user-interface-design.html#ui http://www.aesthetic-images.com/ebuie/larger_vision.html

Flexicurity a Relevant Approach in Central and Eastern Europe Essay

Flexicurity Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Flexicurity is an integrated approach for endorsing security and flexibility in the labor market. Flexicurity endeavors to merge employers’ call for for a flexible labor force with workers’ call for for security. Employee call for security implies the confidence that the employees will not go through stretched periods of joblessness. Flexicurity is a new policy that is called upon because of the increased nee of security and flexibility faced by national governments, European Union, individual workers and companies, as well as sectors of industry. Legislators, policy-makers, employers and trade unions organizations have a strong call for new flexicurity policy concepts and models that guarantee to reunite the strategies of endorsing security and flexibility at the same time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Flexibility and security has for a long time seen as incompatible, thus this new policy will be very significant in industrial relations. The EU aim of enhancing security and flexibility in the labor market is to achieve a competitive advantage and open knowledge-based economy across the world that is proficient of sustainable economic expansion with immense cohesion and more and superior job opportunities. The new flexicurity approach is common within the European Employment strategy. The European Employment Guideline 13 formulated in 2001, under the Adaptability pillar, clearly tackle both security and flexibility strategies and also welcomes social stakeholders to mediate and implement appropriate agreements to update the how work is organized, incorporating flexible working programs, with an objective of achieving high productivity, required balance between security and flexibility as well as competitiveness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Flexicurity is very vital since appropriate balance between security and flexibility will increase productivity and quality of work, competitiveness and help corporations to adapt to changes in the economy. Flexicurity is important to European employment policies and update of EU labor law especially in the recent economy which is faced by increasing globalization, financial and economic crisis. The position of social dialogue and social partners is greatly emphasized in flexicurity. Swedish industrial relations and labor laws system is based on cooperation between stakeholders, self-regulation and collective bargaining. Collective bargaining is estimated to be 90% and trade unionization is estimated to be about 70 percent. Salaries and other job conditions and terms are set by collective bargaining. European Union member states apply different approaches to flexicurity depending on industrial relations, their labor laws, and social securi ty systems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Countries implement the new flexicurity policy with an aim of cutting down market segmentation and enhance changes. Equal treatment of all employees can be attained via values of equal treatment and non-discrimination and appropriate reforms to the guideline of employment security and fixed-term occupation. Flexicurity policies call upon enterprises to make reforms on their existing laws and police in order to accommodate security and flexibility. Functional flexibility has led to a heated debate in the labor markets. In order to come up with effective flexicurity firms should examine the existing internal and external flexibility. Internal flexibility help employees to adjust labor input in case of transitory fall in demand while conserving jobs which are feasible in the long run. Flexicurity poicy can account for the resilience in many European nations especially helping them maintain low and stable unemployment rate. This is because fle xicurity protect employees from income losses connected to key lay-offs and plant closures. However, external flexibility of many firms remained unchanged for the last three decades. Research reveals that income losses of misplaced workers have reduced since the workers can get swift re-employment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Flexicurity has faced many criticisms from the people who proposed that flexicurity was developed with an aim of eliminating employment protection legislation, but it encourages a suitable blueprint of employment protection legislation. Open-ended contract between an employee and the employer would be redesigned to incorporate gradual development of job security. The job protection would gradually build-up with the job term, until full job security is attained. The tenure track approach is very significant since it reduces the incidents of employees being trapped in less protected contracts. Reforms of the employment due to economic crisis are aimed at addressing length of procedure, bureaucracy, improve lucidity and make the procedure more dependable. The starting job protection policies may take into consideration notification periods, the procedural phase of dismissal protection and the amount of severance pay.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   European Expert Group on Flexicurity propose that use of fixed-term agreement should be reduced and undeclared work should be cut short as swiftly as possible by raising valuable inspections. It is crucial to acknowledge that outside the sphere of the European Employment plan, the open technique of coordination and Europe 2020 Strategy, the flexicurity policy has not yet brought up fresh legal suggestions associated to employment security. Flexicurity slightly regulate the employment security at EU level with an aim of achieving their main objectives and meet the requirement of member states in areas such as protection of workers whose employment contract is abruptly terminated. EU agreement of Fundamental Rights state that every employee has the right to safety from groundless dismissal as per the national and union laws and policies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Flexicurity has been able to increase flexibility in the labor market while at the same time maintaining security via promotion of more employment opportunities and enough ground of employment benefits. Counties with solid employment protections tend to go through fewer incidents of labor market disruptions as compared to nations with weaker employment security. Flexicurity has dominated over the famous Commission’s labor market policy prescriptions. The interest of flexicurity in labor market originated from Netherlands and Denmark which serve as an example. These countries enjoyed the lowest unemployment rates in the global economy crisis in Europe while maintaining adequate unemployment benefits. The main reason was that Denmark and Netherlands emphasized on active labor market measures accompanied by modest employment protection. European Commission has gradually incorporated flexicurity policies when developing its labor market policy instructions and has persuaded the EU members to develop labor market laws that conform to flexicurity plan. In endeavors to direct development of national policy, the commission highlighted four pillars of flexicurity which include: flexible and dependable contractual agreement between employer and employees, comprehensive long-lasting learning scheme to enlighten the workers, successful active labor market policies and updated social security systems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In conclusion, flexicurity is a very significant strategy that will help countries to cope up even during economic hardship. Flexicurity also offer the employee allows flexibility at work and at the same time maintaining security. This ensures firms acquire competitive advantage, increase productivity and quality of work and help employees and corporations to adapt to changes in the economy. Nations are called upon to incorporate flexicurity policy in their labor markets so that they can enjoy various benefits associated with this new strategy. However, appropriate measures must be undertaken to ensure there is the required balance between security and flexibility. References Cazes, S., & Nesporova, A. (2006). Flexicurity a Relevant Approach in Central and Eastern Europe.. Geneva: International Labour Office. Flexicurity: perspectives and practice.. (2010). Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Source document

A Study of Mrs. Warren’s Profession Essay

Although George Bernard Shaw finished writing Mrs. Warren’s Profession in 1893, he was unable to get a license to stage it until 1902. Since this play deals with the double standards between rich and poor and men and women the inability for it to be performed in London for nine years is both poignant and ironic. This time lapse emphasizes the â€Å"the victimization of young women and girls, not just in brothels . . . to which society conveniently turned a blind eye† (Dierkes-Thrun 293). The royal censor chose to ignore the issues Shaw’s play presents in favor of more conventional, happier plays. Although nominally about Mrs. Warren’s profession as a prostitute and madam, the play also deals with incest, the relationship between Victorian men and women, and the relationship between Mrs. Warren and Vivie Warren. The theme that drives the play is the victimization of the poor caused by the underpaying and overworking of women and men by the social institutions in England. Broad and Broad cite the preface to Getting Married† where in 1908 Shaw wrote, â€Å"I have shewn [sic}]that Mrs. Warren’s Profession is an economic phenomenon produced by our underpayment and illtreatment [sic] of women who try to earn an honest living† (64-5). Shaw illustrates this victimization with the relationships between the four male characters and the two women. These men all appear to have the same interest and relationship in Vivie as they do in her mother, Kitty Warren. Praed, the first male appearing on stage has an artistic temperament and a long term friendship with Mrs. Warren. He denies that he has a sexual relationship with her and has had â€Å"nothing to do with that side of Mrs. Warren’s life [her profession as a prostitute and madam], and never had. † He claims that he is just a friend who helps Kitty Warren â€Å"escape from her own beauty† (Shaw 66). He appears to have come to meet Vivie and become her friend in the same fashion. The effect is that both women are his friends and serve the same role as one another. Sir George Crofts represents the English upper class gentleman and is later revealed as Kitty Warren’s business partner. The two have a long history together: they were intimate before he became Sir George and she became Mrs. Warren. Crofts has an eye for both Mrs. Warren and Vivie. This prospect that he may be Vivie’s father does not deter him. Almost immediately after meeting Vivie, Crofts queries Mr. Praed to find out if he knows who Vivie’s father is. When Praed denies the knowledge Crofts asks for the favor of being told if he knows because he feels attracted even though he may be Vivie’s father. He assures Praed that â€Å"it’s quite an innocent feeling. That’s what puzzles me about it. Why, for all I know, I might be her father† (Shaw 66). Despite his protests of innocence his interest appear more sinister than not. When Frank Gardner first appears on stage he reveals to Praed, who appears to be becoming a confidant for all of the characters, that he knows Vivie and that she loves him (Shaw 67). Despite this declaration Frank Gardner flirts outrageously with Kitty Warren that evening even suggesting that she accompany him to Vienna. She responds and gives him a kiss before she dismisses him by telling him to go and â€Å"make love to Vivie† (Shaw 69). The last gentleman is the Reverend Samuel Gardner, father of Frank, who represents the Church. He had an indiscretion with Kitty Warren prior to his having studied for the clergy. During their romance he wrote her several love letters and later, embarrassed by what she has become and fearful of what she might do with the letters, he asks for them back. Mrs. Warren flatly refuses to return the letters because â€Å"[k]nowledge is power . . . and I never sell power† (Shaw 68). Apparently Sir George Crofts, Reverend Gardner, and Mrs. Kitty Warren have a past together when they were young and were known as George Crofts, Sam Gardner, and Miss Vavasour (Shaw 68). Later in the play Crofts tells Frank Gardner that Vivie is his half-sister as a result of the liaison between Reverend Gardner and Kitty Warren. The similarity between the way these men treat both women indicates they view women as interchangeable parts instead of having value as individual people. It is not just the men who uses Mrs. Warren; Vivie also makes use of her mother as a tool. Shaw describes Vivie as â€Å"an attractive specimen of the sensible, able, highly-educated young middle-class Englishwoman† (Shaw 62). At the beginning of the play Vivie does not even bother picking up her mother at the train station. This is understandable because Vivie does not really know her mother who has spent most of her time in Brussels and Vienna with occasional visits to England (Shaw 64). Although she admits her mother always provided for her by paying for her caregivers and schools, there is no daughter-mother relationship. Vivie fancies herself as being in control of her life. She plans on being the modern woman or new woman who will make her own way by using the mathematics she has studied and excelled in to work â€Å"in the City, and work at actuarial calculations and conveyancing [sic] . . . with one eye at the Stock Exchange† (Shaw 63). She wants nothing from her mother except my fare to London to start there to-morrow earning my own living . . . † (Shaw 64). This is clearly the boasting of someone who has never had to provide for herself but has had her livelihood and education handed to her. She tells of her work experience when she had She had worked for six weeks the previous May where she did calculations, but her view of working is not realistic with thoughts of day to day working that may become drudgery, but more like the imaginings of a school girl who temporarily worked beneath her financial station as lark. She imagines this experience has not only provided her with tools to make her own living, but will satisfy her social life as because when she stayed with her friend Honoria she spent her evenings with her friend where â€Å"in the evenings we smoked and talked, and never dreamt of going out except for exercise. And I never enjoyed myself more in my life. I cleared all my expenses . . . (Shaw 63). Vivie is naive and innocent of the realities of life. Doing something for six weeks as a lark is one thing; doing the same thing for the rest of your life just â€Å"clearing expenses† and being subject to the accidents and difficulties one faces in real life is something quite different and, at times, not that enjoyable. Vivie challenges her mother by saying â€Å"Everybody knows my reputation, my social standing, and the profession I intend to pursue† (Shaw 74). The implication being that her mother’s life has been hidden and she should make it known. When Vivie declares that, â€Å"The poorest girl alive may not be able to choose between being Queen of England or Principal of Newnham; but she can choose between ragpicking [sic] and flowerselling [sic], according to her taste. People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them† (Shaw 75), it becomes too much for Mrs. Warren and she tells Vivie about her circumstances. When she worked fourteen hours a day as a waitress and dishwasher Kitty Warren earned only four shillings per week and board. When Vivie discovers her mother’s profession she finds herself shocked but admiring her mother for the sacrifices she has made, â€Å"my dear mother: you are a wonderful woman† and asks her mother if they can be friends (Shaw 77). However, the next morning when Crofts tells her that he is her mother’s partner and they are still operate brothels throughout Europe, Vivie changes her mind about her mother and immediately leaves to start her working career in London. When she is followed by Praed, Frank, and her mother, she summarily dismisses them from her life and determines to make her own way in life. One cannot help but wonder if Vivie Warren would not have suffered the same or a similar fate as her mother if she had not had the benefit of her mother’s money that allowed her to study at college and to go into business. At the play’s end Vivie Warren has been liberated. She has said goodbye to her mother, Frank, and the others, with the possible exception of Praed who may still be a friend. She has rejected the possible romance with Frank, who may be her brother, she has refused the marriage proposal of Sir George Crofts, who may be her father, and has rejected the lifestyle of her mother who continues to make money from her brothels. She has chosen to an unconventional life, but in a rather more acceptable, conventional fashion than did her mother. Although it was rare in the Victorian age for a woman to work in an office it was far more acceptable than being either a madam or a prostitute and was becoming more acceptable with each passing year. Ultimately, there is not that much difference between Vivie and her mother. Each sought and found a way to create independence for herself. Vivie has been forced to make a decision that is not popular with society to gain her own independence, just as her mother had to do twenty years earlier. Just as her mother had to reject her conventional life, Vivie had to reject the life offered to her by Kitty Warren. Liggins offers an interesting analysis about Vivie’s rejection of her mother’s lifestyle by making mention of the concept of the new woman. Vivie sees herself as a new woman who has time for nothing other than business. Liggins posits that Mrs. Warren’s Profession is about the relationship between the new woman and the prostitute. Shaw portrays Kitty Warren as a incorrigible flirt who could never be accepted in society. Vivie chooses a life that exempts her from being a part of society as she has no regard for it. The new woman has carved out a new niche in life but the new woman, just like the conventional woman and conventional man regards prostitution as immoral and consequently opens the door to continued economic poverty for the poor. Mrs. Warren’s Profession is a very interesting play. By today’s standards it is fairly tame and is suitable for high school students. Shaw does a good job attacking conventional mores. However, he pulls his punches and fails to finish off the Victorian conventions (Harris 176). Therefore the reader is not entirely satisfied. One feels it could have been a stronger play than it is. Harris writes that â€Å"there is no play in all Shaw’s works as full of magnificent misses as this one. It could be one of the greatest dramas of all time and it is unforgettable, but it fails to achieve timeless greatness† (Harris 176). Harris suggests two reason why the play does not quite work; he believes that either Shaw did not know how to handle the issues, which appears to be a good conclusion since Shaw does not describe or even name Mrs. Warren’s Profession; or Shaw â€Å"was afraid to drive right through to the end of it. † In either case, as written Mrs. Warren’s Profession fails to resolve the issues; virtually everything is the same at the final curtain as it was at the beginning of the play. Kitty Warren is a madam, Vivie Warren is an independent new woman and the men are left trying to resume their â€Å"pre-Vivie lives. † Unfortunately the double standards between rich and poor, and man and woman remain. The poor are still victims of these double standards. A Study of Mrs. Warren’s Profession Essay Although George Bernard Shaw finished writing Mrs. Warren’s Profession in 1893, he was unable to get a license to stage it until 1902. Since this play deals with the double standards between rich and poor and men and women the inability for it to be performed in London for nine years is both poignant and ironic. This time lapse emphasizes the â€Å"the victimization of young women and girls, not just in brothels . . . to which society conveniently turned a blind eye† (Dierkes-Thrun 293). The royal censor chose to ignore the issues Shaw’s play presents in favor of more conventional, happier plays. Although nominally about Mrs. Warren’s profession as a prostitute and madam, the play also deals with incest, the relationship between Victorian men and women, and the relationship between Mrs. Warren and Vivie Warren. The theme that drives the play is the victimization of the poor caused by the underpaying and overworking of women and men by the social institutions in England. Broad and Broad cite the preface to Getting Married† where in 1908 Shaw wrote, â€Å"I have shewn [sic}]that Mrs. Warren’s Profession is an economic phenomenon produced by our underpayment and illtreatment [sic] of women who try to earn an honest living† (64-5). Shaw illustrates this victimization with the relationships between the four male characters and the two women. These men all appear to have the same interest and relationship in Vivie as they do in her mother, Kitty Warren. Praed, the first male appearing on stage has an artistic temperament and a long term friendship with Mrs. Warren. He denies that he has a sexual relationship with her and has had â€Å"nothing to do with that side of Mrs. Warren’s life [her profession as a prostitute and madam], and never had. † He claims that he is just a friend who helps Kitty Warren â€Å"escape from her own beauty† (Shaw 66). He appears to have come to meet Vivie and become her friend in the same fashion. The effect is that both women are his friends and serve the same role as one another. Sir George Crofts represents the English upper class gentleman and is later revealed as Kitty Warren’s business partner. The two have a long history together: they were intimate before he became Sir George and she became Mrs. Warren. Crofts has an eye for both Mrs. Warren and Vivie. This prospect that he may be Vivie’s father does not deter him. Almost immediately after meeting Vivie, Crofts queries Mr. Praed to find out if he knows who Vivie’s father is. When Praed denies the knowledge Crofts asks for the favor of being told if he knows because he feels attracted even though he may be Vivie’s father. He assures Praed that â€Å"it’s quite an innocent feeling. That’s what puzzles me about it. Why, for all I know, I might be her father† (Shaw 66). Despite his protests of innocence his interest appear more sinister than not. When Frank Gardner first appears on stage he reveals to Praed, who appears to be becoming a confidant for all of the characters, that he knows Vivie and that she loves him (Shaw 67). Despite this declaration Frank Gardner flirts outrageously with Kitty Warren that evening even suggesting that she accompany him to Vienna. She responds and gives him a kiss before she dismisses him by telling him to go and â€Å"make love to Vivie† (Shaw 69). The last gentleman is the Reverend Samuel Gardner, father of Frank, who represents the Church. He had an indiscretion with Kitty Warren prior to his having studied for the clergy. During their romance he wrote her several love letters and later, embarrassed by what she has become and fearful of what she might do with the letters, he asks for them back. Mrs. Warren flatly refuses to return the letters because â€Å"[k]nowledge is power . . . and I never sell power† (Shaw 68). Apparently Sir George Crofts, Reverend Gardner, and Mrs. Kitty Warren have a past together when they were young and were known as George Crofts, Sam Gardner, and Miss Vavasour (Shaw 68). Later in the play Crofts tells Frank Gardner that Vivie is his half-sister as a result of the liaison between Reverend Gardner and Kitty Warren. The similarity between the way these men treat both women indicates they view women as interchangeable parts instead of having value as individual people. It is not just the men who uses Mrs. Warren; Vivie also makes use of her mother as a tool. Shaw describes Vivie as â€Å"an attractive specimen of the sensible, able, highly-educated young middle-class Englishwoman† (Shaw 62). At the beginning of the play Vivie does not even bother picking up her mother at the train station. This is understandable because Vivie does not really know her mother who has spent most of her time in Brussels and Vienna with occasional visits to England (Shaw 64). Although she admits her mother always provided for her by paying for her caregivers and schools, there is no daughter-mother relationship. Vivie fancies herself as being in control of her life. She plans on being the modern woman or new woman who will make her own way by using the mathematics she has studied and excelled in to work â€Å"in the City, and work at actuarial calculations and conveyancing [sic] . . . with one eye at the Stock Exchange† (Shaw 63). She wants nothing from her mother except my fare to London to start there to-morrow earning my own living . . . † (Shaw 64). This is clearly the boasting of someone who has never had to provide for herself but has had her livelihood and education handed to her. She tells of her work experience when she had She had worked for six weeks the previous May where she did calculations, but her view of working is not realistic with thoughts of day to day working that may become drudgery, but more like the imaginings of a school girl who temporarily worked beneath her financial station as lark. She imagines this experience has not only provided her with tools to make her own living, but will satisfy her social life as because when she stayed with her friend Honoria she spent her evenings with her friend where â€Å"in the evenings we smoked and talked, and never dreamt of going out except for exercise. And I never enjoyed myself more in my life. I cleared all my expenses . . . (Shaw 63). Vivie is naive and innocent of the realities of life. Doing something for six weeks as a lark is one thing; doing the same thing for the rest of your life just â€Å"clearing expenses† and being subject to the accidents and difficulties one faces in real life is something quite different and, at times, not that enjoyable. Vivie challenges her mother by saying â€Å"Everybody knows my reputation, my social standing, and the profession I intend to pursue† (Shaw 74). The implication being that her mother’s life has been hidden and she should make it known. When Vivie declares that, â€Å"The poorest girl alive may not be able to choose between being Queen of England or Principal of Newnham; but she can choose between ragpicking [sic] and flowerselling [sic], according to her taste. People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them† (Shaw 75), it becomes too much for Mrs. Warren and she tells Vivie about her circumstances. When she worked fourteen hours a day as a waitress and dishwasher Kitty Warren earned only four shillings per week and board. When Vivie discovers her mother’s profession she finds herself shocked but admiring her mother for the sacrifices she has made, â€Å"my dear mother: you are a wonderful woman† and asks her mother if they can be friends (Shaw 77). However, the next morning when Crofts tells her that he is her mother’s partner and they are still operate brothels throughout Europe, Vivie changes her mind about her mother and immediately leaves to start her working career in London. When she is followed by Praed, Frank, and her mother, she summarily dismisses them from her life and determines to make her own way in life. One cannot help but wonder if Vivie Warren would not have suffered the same or a similar fate as her mother if she had not had the benefit of her mother’s money that allowed her to study at college and to go into business. At the play’s end Vivie Warren has been liberated. She has said goodbye to her mother, Frank, and the others, with the possible exception of Praed who may still be a friend. She has rejected the possible romance with Frank, who may be her brother, she has refused the marriage proposal of Sir George Crofts, who may be her father, and has rejected the lifestyle of her mother who continues to make money from her brothels. She has chosen to an unconventional life, but in a rather more acceptable, conventional fashion than did her mother. Although it was rare in the Victorian age for a woman to work in an office it was far more acceptable than being either a madam or a prostitute and was becoming more acceptable with each passing year. Ultimately, there is not that much difference between Vivie and her mother. Each sought and found a way to create independence for herself. Vivie has been forced to make a decision that is not popular with society to gain her own independence, just as her mother had to do twenty years earlier. Just as her mother had to reject her conventional life, Vivie had to reject the life offered to her by Kitty Warren. Liggins offers an interesting analysis about Vivie’s rejection of her mother’s lifestyle by making mention of the concept of the new woman. Vivie sees herself as a new woman who has time for nothing other than business. Liggins posits that Mrs. Warren’s Profession is about the relationship between the new woman and the prostitute. Shaw portrays Kitty Warren as a incorrigible flirt who could never be accepted in society. Vivie chooses a life that exempts her from being a part of society as she has no regard for it. The new woman has carved out a new niche in life but the new woman, just like the conventional woman and conventional man regards prostitution as immoral and consequently opens the door to continued economic poverty for the poor. Mrs. Warren’s Profession is a very interesting play. By today’s standards it is fairly tame and is suitable for high school students. Shaw does a good job attacking conventional mores. However, he pulls his punches and fails to finish off the Victorian conventions (Harris 176). Therefore the reader is not entirely satisfied. One feels it could have been a stronger play than it is. Harris writes that â€Å"there is no play in all Shaw’s works as full of magnificent misses as this one. It could be one of the greatest dramas of all time and it is unforgettable, but it fails to achieve timeless greatness† (Harris 176). Harris suggests two reason why the play does not quite work; he believes that either Shaw did not know how to handle the issues, which appears to be a good conclusion since Shaw does not describe or even name Mrs. Warren’s Profession; or Shaw â€Å"was afraid to drive right through to the end of it. † In either case, as written Mrs. Warren’s Profession fails to resolve the issues; virtually everything is the same at the final curtain as it was at the beginning of the play. Kitty Warren is a madam, Vivie Warren is an independent new woman and the men are left trying to resume their â€Å"pre-Vivie lives. † Unfortunately the double standards between rich and poor, and man and woman remain. The poor are still victims of these double standards. Works Cited Broad, C. Lewis and Broad, Violet M. Dictionary to the Plays and Novels of Bernard Shaw. London: A. & C. Black, 1929. Dierkes-Thrun, Petra. â€Å"Incest and Trafficking of Women in Mrs. Warren’s Profession: ‘It Runs in the Family. ‘† English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 49, 3 (2006): 293-305. Dukore, Bernard F. Bernard Shaw, Playwright: Aspects of Shavian Drama. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1973. Harris, Frank. Bernard Shaw. New York: League of America, 1931). Liggins, Emma. Prostitution and Social Purity in the 1880s and 1890s. Critical Survey 15, 3 (2003). Shaw, Bernard. The Complete Plays of Bernard Shaw. London: Constable, 1931. Note, this edition does not include line numbers of the play so the page number is used for citations.

Offer You Cant Refuse - 1247 Words

Case 10-10 An Offer You Can’t Refuse Fast Eddie, a publicly held company, manufactures and installs refrigeration systems for governmental and commercial applications. Fast Eddie is being investigated by a governmental agency for overpricing on government sales during the period from 2007 through 2009 as well as allegations of misrepresentations by one of Fast Eddie’s former officers, Sweet Lou. The criminal and civil investigations began in late 2009. In the prior fiscal year, the company’s auditors, CPAs-R-Us, obtained management’s representation and a letter from Fast Eddie’s independent legal counsel that indicated that the ultimate outcome of the investigation could not be determined and that any potential payment for the alleged†¦show more content†¦Fast Eddie believes the first paragraph of the settlement offer adequately supports the company’s contention that this offer in no way obligates the company to the government and, t herefore, the offer does not indicate that a liability should be accrued. The first paragraph states: Fast Eddie has offered a one-time payment of $3.7 million as a final settlement of the investigation in process by your department. If this amount is accepted by the government, it must represent a complete exoneration of all charges against Fast Eddie. The following letter summarizes the company’s understanding of our meeting in April 2011. At that time, you represented that the offer of settlement could not be accepted. Although we understand that the government does not generally accept offers to settle before finalizing its investigation, we believe it would be in everyone’s best interest to put this matter behind us. We believe that if this case goes to federal court, the company will be able to establish that it has no legal liability for this matter. However, CPAs-R-Us is concerned that the last paragraph of the settlement offer may indicate that the company ful ly intended the offer to represent an amount Fast Eddie was willing to pay to resolve the investigation. The last paragraph states: In conclusion, Fast Eddie believes the government hasShow MoreRelated10 Things Avoided By Successful People Essay812 Words   |  4 Pagesout that accomplishment lies in their capability to go up in the features of failure, and they cant do this when theyre living in the past. 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