The Infinity Mirror Persuasive Essay Example For Students

The Infinity Mirror Persuasive Essay Tularecito is a myth about truth. Tularicito, just a character of that myth, is the focus for this glossed over fable. Steinbeck draws on this form of genre to present the idea that we are all a part of what happens to others, based upon our nature. The image presented of Tularecito is that of a demon, an idiot savant, a boy with a gift from God, and that gifts cost. He is a freak, a dangerous misfit, an innocent who does not need the constraints of reality. Tularecito is a test. The test is one of moral caliber. It is a test of the souls of the characters who overshadaow Tularecito. Pancho is a man that is both holy and sinful. His purfunctory act of church going becomes true belief as alcohol demons induce him to halucinate a deformed boy into an outcast from hell. He looks into his mirror and sees himself, becomes shaken, reforms. We will write a custom essay on The Infinity Mirror Persuasive specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now From Panchos employer, Franklin Gomez, we get a cold hard look into society. We see a mother, knowing her son is to be hated and feared, and perhaps possibly killed, cannot face killing her son with her bare hands. She leaves the killing to exposure to the elements, enying herself a look into Tularecito. Franklin adopts Panchos demon, and Tularecito transforms into a disadvantaged who has been gifted with talent. Tularecito becomes a man at the age of six, The boy grew rapidly, but after the fifth year his brain did not grow any more, To Franklin, Tularecito is grace, and graceless. He is talented in all things of any physical strength, and well proficient in the creation of beauty, and an artist in the care for life of nature. The touch of Tularecito brings beauty, and life, and love to the world, until he becomes enraged, (should anyone endanger what came from the touch of his hand). Franklin looked into Tularecitos mirror and saw what Tularecito was. Authority views come from several directions. While one teacher sees Tularecito as a Pavlovian dog, needing to be trained, the other sees him as an idiot savant, needing only to be pushed into harmless fantasy. This leads a third view of Tularecito, one of a simple minded killer that needs to be locked up for his own good. Tularecito is viewed as less than human from the start. His name means little frog, and his physical disabilities are seen by all, causing fear. Tularecito is a noble savage. Dangerous to look at but hiding the soul of God, hf is intimidating, a creator, and dangerously tempermental. As Steinbeck weaves his tale, it is obviously full of metaphors on the basic belief of our society that everything must be forced into a plausable category, fit for inclusion into the human race. Tularecito should never have gone to school. He would have been happy living at home, simple as he was. In the end society takes Tularecito and makes him a monster. Since monsters are not allowed into human society, Tularecito goes looking for a different society that he does belong to. Unfortunately this society doen not exist. Tularecito has no control over his perceptions of reality and fantasy. He searches for a world of fantasy, and in his efforts, he creates a hole. When this hole is covered up, it confirms Tularecitos belief in fantasy. Tularecito creates another hole, and waits for his fantasy to show. Tularecito has only one flaw. He believes that what he created should not be destroyed. Whenever this happens, should it be school, work, or fantasy, Tularecito defends his creations with the only thing he can understand, violence. It is not like true, calculated violence, but very much like a motor nerve reaction. He reacts with pure emotion and pain, and eventually he kills. Steinbeck tells an interesting story with Tularecito as a mirror. In fact, all the characters in the story are mirrors. .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d , .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d .postImageUrl , .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d , .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d:hover , .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d:visited , .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d:active { border:0!important; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d:active , .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u89e21426ede56234608087539fd4a82d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Jfk Assassinaton Essay As we look at them we see how we measure against them. But Tularecito is a mirror with an infinity of sides. He is a tool for testing human beliefs, one of which is that sometimes, it is better to leave things alone than to try to force them into our mirror image of how they should exist.

Personal Opinion of Human Psychology and Dr Buscaglia essays

Personal Opinion of Human Psychology and Dr Buscaglia essays The questions posed to me are what I think of Human Psychology and the views of Dr. Buscaglia. My answers are no where near as easy as the questions. I don't know very much about Human Psychology, but from what I do know I think it is a great way to learn about people. I feel this way because I believe the self is a very important part of life. Dealing with a persons troubles in a conscious way will help them learn to deal with it on their own. On the later subject I am very well informed. I saw this video once in High School and it still gives me goose bumps. I do agree with Dr. Buscaglia on his views. His ideas sound wonderful, but we must be realistic. Our world doesn't work that way. Some people are really nice and do care, but others love pity. They play on others to build themselves up. Love is a gift and should be cherished, but I do believe that it would take ages to create the kind of love he is talking about. It is a very slim chance that it will ever happen. If you look, throughout history, as long as there have been people there has been hate. Those rotten few have and will always ruin it for the rest. It is not their fault, not their parent, grandparent and so on. Its human nature to hate crave greed lust and other such sins. We dont mean to be like that its just the way we are. There is no good without evil, no light without dark, and no love without . If our species accepts that, we might be able to get a foothold on true love. ...

The 8 ACT English Tips You Must Use in Your Prep

The 8 ACT English Tips You Must Use in Your Prep SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The ACT English section can feel a bit overwhelming. You have to answer 75 questions in 45 minutes. You have to know and understand grammar rules. You have to analyze phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and whole passages. It can be scary stuff. If you can focus on a few basic tips, you can simplify the ACT English section and feel more confident when attempting to slay the ACT English beast. Whether you spend ample time diligently studying for the ACT or start your ACT preparation the night before the test, remembering these tips for the ACT English section will be beneficial on test day. In this article, I'll give you the top 8 tips for ACT English success. Using these tips willraise your score and prevent you from making careless mistakes: Read the Whole Sentence Don't Be Afraid to Pick NO CHANGE Don't Rush Rely on Rules, Not Your Ear BeSure You Know the Easy, Common Rules Eliminate Identical Answers Pick the Clearest Answer Answer the Question that You're Asked General ACT English Tips Let's start with some strategies that apply to the ACT English section as a whole. #1: Read the Whole Sentence This tip is vital for the ACT English section. Most of the questions will ask you how to change the underlined portion of a sentence. Don't just read the underlined portion. Reading the whole sentence is imperative to correctly answering the questions. The phrases that are not underlined in the sentence often provide essential information to determine whether there is an error in the underlined portion. Here is an example question from a real ACT to illustrate this point: If you just look at the underlined portion, you probably won't think there is anything wrong with the word "consecutively." It's an adverb and it modifies the verb "speak." However, when you read the whole sentence, you should notice that "consecutively" is redundant due to the phrase "for twelve hours straight." In this context, consecutively means without stopping, and the phrase "for twelve hours straight" implies that she could speak that long without stopping. Therefore, the word "consecutively" is superfluous. If you don't read the whole sentence, you might not notice the error and most likely select A. However, because the word "consecutively" is unnecessary, the correct answer is D. Additionally, some questions require you to read multiple sentences to correctly answer the questions. For example, you need the context provided by multiple sentences to answer some verb tense and paragraph order questions. Remember to do enough reading. #2: Don't Assume That There Must Be an Error Do not fear the "NO CHANGE" option. If a sentence seems fine, look at the differences between the answer choices to understand what concept the question is testing and determine whether that error is present in the original sentence. The NO CHANGE answer tends to be more common than expected if all answer choices were distributed evenly. #3: Don't Rush This tip may seem obvious, but it's important to think about as you're taking the test. Make sure you read and understand the relevant sentences and questions before marking your answer. It's better to have to guess at the end or skip the more time consuming big picture questions than to rush through questions and make careless mistakes. Check out this question that you could easily miss if you were to rush: If you're going too quickly, you may miss this relatively easy question. Perhaps you won't notice that the apostrophe comes before the "s" in "girl's" and select NO CHANGE, or you may not recognize that we're dealing with a plural possessive noun. The plural noun "faces" suggests that we're talking about more than one girl, and if you read the passage carefully, you'll know that the sentence is referring to the faces of Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths. Therefore, the apostrophe should come after the "s" to indicate plural possession. The answer is G. This question is testing a somewhat basic rule, but if you're not paying close enough attention, you can miss a question like this that you should be getting right. Make sure you identify the type of question you're being asked, and go through all the necessary steps to find the correct answer. Refer to our ACT English articles in this blog for strategies for answering every type of question that appears on the ACT English section. Grammar Tips Here are some tips that focus exclusively on the grammar questions. #4: Rely on Grammar Rules to Answer Grammar Questions On the ACT English section, you should primarily use your knowledge of grammar rules to answer the grammar questions. Don't rely on your ear for what sounds right, except on idiom questions. Many correct sentences may sound wrong to you, and the ACT tests rules that are often broken in spoken and written English. Take a look at this official ACT example: If you attempt to answer this question by relying on what sounds right, you probably won't notice the error. The sentence sounds fine (at least it did to me when I first read it). However, if you rely on grammar rules to answer this question, you should first identify the underlined word as a pronoun. Whenever you see a pronoun underlined, you should check to see if there is an error in pronoun agreement. In the sentence, the pronoun "them" doesn't have a clear antecedent. The only answer choice that corrects the error is G. Here's an overview of all of the grammar rules that are tested on the ACT. #5: Some Common Errors Are Relatively Simple to Fix Some of the most common grammar errors on the ACT English section are fairly easy to fix. If you're able to identify these errors, often you can correct them with simple changes. Redundancy/Wordiness Redundancy and wordiness errors can be fixed by eliminating words or by making a sentence more concise. If a sentence makes sense without some of the underlined words, get rid of them. Here is an example: I think maybe I might possibly have met them all. F. NO CHANGE G. perhaps I've H. I've possibly J. I've By just looking at the underlined phrase, you should be able to determine that this is a redundancy question because "might" and "possibly" are synonyms, and therefore, both words aren't necessary. Additionally, the word "maybe" makes both "might" and "possibly" superfluous. All you have to do to eliminate the error is to get rid of "might" and "possibly." The correct answer is J. Unnecessary Commas Some of the comma questions on the ACT can be a little tricky and require you to know your comma rules well, but many comma questions simply require you to get rid of unnecessary commas. If you're unsure if a comma is needed, the general rule is to go with no comma. Take a look at this question: The sentence works just fine without the comma. On the ACT, if the sentence doesn't require a comma, there shouldn't be one. All you have to do to fix the error is get rid of the comma after "value." The correct answer is H. Dangling Modifiers If you start a sentence with a descriptive phrase, the word following the comma has to be the noun the phrase is describing. Any time you see an introductory phrase that describes a noun, the described noun should come right after the comma. This is an example of a dangling modifier: A writer for PrepScholar, Justin's goal is to help prepare students for ACT success. The introductory phrase is describing "Justin," not his goal. This sentence would fix the dangling modifier: A writer for PrepScholar, Justin hopes to prepare students for ACT success. #6: Eliminate Identical Errors If two answers are functionally identical, they must both be wrong. For example, if there is a question about transitions and two of the answer choices are "furthermore" and "moreover," you can determine that both are wrong because there is no way to differentiate between the two options. If you notice that more than two options are functionally identical, it will be a "Which of the following would not be acceptable?" question. Let's take a look at one of our previous examples: I think maybe I might possibly have met them all. F. NO CHANGE G. perhaps I've H. I've possibly J. I've If you didn't initially notice the redundancy error, you could have started going through the answer choices. Look at choices G and H. There is no real difference between the phrases "perhaps I've met them all" and "I've possibly met them all." Therefore, you would be able to determine that they must both be incorrect, and you can eliminate them. Then, you can compare the two remaining choices. Answer choice J is more concise, maintains the meaning of the original sentence, and it's grammatically correct, so it's the right answer. Rhetorical Skills Tips Now, here are some tips to use for the rhetorical skills questions. #7: All Prose Should Be as Clear as Possible Focus on picking the answer choice that provides all the necessary information and nothing more, in the most straightforward way possible. Here is an actual ACT example for you: While the phrase "being the place in which" doesn't contain a specific grammatical error, it's unnecessarily wordy. Every word or phrase in the passages on the ACT English should serve an essential purpose. This sentence can be more straightforward and concise. The correct answer is C. If we change "being the place in which" to "in which," none of the information in the sentence has changed, but the prose is more clear. #8: You Must Answer the Question You're Being Asked This tip may seem fairly obvious, but thinking about it is helpful when answering rhetorical skills questions. Each question asks you for specific things. Focus on selecting the answer choice that best answers the question instead of picking an answer choice that just seems plausible or sounds right. Here is an example for you: Many students will be stumped on questions like these. Since all the answer choices are true, they'll just randomly pick the choice that sounds formal and complex. Focus on the wording of the question. The correct answer should be the most specific and vivid. The answer choice that paints the clearest image of the underwater terrain will be the right answer. By focusing on what the question is specifically asking, you should be able to determine that the correct answer is A. None of the other answer choices vividly describes the underwater terrain. What's Next? Review the posts on the five critical concepts you must understand to ace ACT English and formality on ACT English. Both offer some helpful insight into the English section of the ACT. Also, read the article on how to approach ACT English passages. Make sure you have a systematic approach to these passages that works for you and will enable you to reach your target score. Aiming forthat elusive perfect 36? Tryour guide to getting a 36 on the ACT Englishfrom a perfect scorer. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this English lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Phosphorus, Nitrogen & Microbiological based water pollution from Essay

Phosphorus, Nitrogen & Microbiological based water pollution from municipal sources - Essay Example Water pollution usually occurs when a water body gets contaminated by different materials which are usually not present in it and which are harmful in nature. So in such a situation the water body is no longer useful for its intended use and hence is termed as polluted. If we consider the case of pollutants, there are two variants of water pollution. They are called as point source and non point source. Point sources of pollution happen when harmful substances are emitted directly in the water body and non point sources are those which deliver pollutants indirectly usually through environmental effects. It is generally regarded that water pollution which arises from non point sources are usually difficult to deal and ironically these are the ones which account for a majority of the contaminants in water bodies like streams and lakes. In order to understand the whole scenario clearly lets give a brief introduction to causes of pollution. We all know that there are many elements which cause pollution. Some of the important ones are sewage and fertilizers. These are dangerous because they contain nutrients like nitrates and phosphates. The main problem is that these nutrients stimulate the growth of aquatic plants and excessive growth of these organisms clogs the waterways. They also block light to the deeper section of the water body and this affects fish and other living organisms.   Pollution is also caused when silt and other suspended solids, such as soil, construction and logging sites, urban areas, and eroded river banks when it rains. Normally, lakes, rivers, and other water bodies undergo Eutrophication, an aging process that slowly fills in the water body with sediment and organic matter.   When these sediments enter various bodies of water, fish respiration becomes impaired, plant productivity and water depth become

Clinician Attitudes toward Borderline Personality Disorder Essay

Clinician Attitudes toward Borderline Personality Disorder - Essay Example This study aims to prove that often, even the mental health clinicians dealing with BPD have less than sympathetic views on the disorder. The study is correlational, because there are no experimental techniques used. Correlational studies look to show the relationship between variables and results. This study looks to see correlation between sub-types of clinician, years worked in mental health care and number of patients with BPD cared for in the past year and the attitudes toward patients with BPD. It is also a cross-sectional study, in that it provides information on attitudes at a certain point in time. The questionnaire was distributed to all relevant clinicians at all nine centers simultaneously, and thus all responses were formed at a similar point in time. The study provides no information on how the variables may affect the participants over time (and is thus not a longitudinal study). The subjects were 706 mental health clinicians (clinicians in this case being an umbrella term for nurses, physicians, social workers, psychologists etc.) from 9 different academic centers. Every clinician within these centers was provided with a questionnaire, and the 706 respondents were those that replied – they were a self-selecting sample. The issue with this is that there may be a subtype of person who is more likely to respond to this type of survey – they may have more time available than others and thus may be more understanding of patients with BPD.... However, the aforementioned subtype of clinician likely to respond and the very nature of questionnaires mean that any responses lack true ecological validity. The primary variables, as defined by the study, were the specific subgroup of clinician (psychiatrist, psychiatry resident, social worker, staff nurse, nurse practitioner/physician assistant, psychologist, and â€Å"other†), the number of years having worked with mental health patients, and the number of patients with BPD that the individual has worked with over the past year. The secondary variables or covariates were the gender of the individual and the center at which they worked. In my opinion, the primary variables were reasonable for this study. The specific subgroup opinion was part of the hypothesis (the coordinators of the study made predictions such as ‘social workers will have more caring attitudes’) and thus was a key variable. The number of patients with BPD that the individual has worked with is also key. The number-based variables were assessed in groups, such as 0-5, 6-10 etc., and again this is a reasonable measurement, although there are some issues where a clinician has worked in the area for 5 years – the individual may have attitudes more similar to the 6-10 group. The subgroup variable was also useful as it had a diverse range of roles available, although the â€Å"other† group may be too ambiguous and provide results that need further probing. The main problem with the study is the fact that the subtype of clinician was highly variable in the number of respondents – 227 psychiatrists responded, compared to only 17 nurse practitioners. This means that any conclusion formed from the responses

Organizational Structure and Competitive Advantage

Organizational Structure and Competitive Advantage In our fast-paced, ever-changing world, organizations are constantly seeking ways to gain and sustain effectiveness. Though there is no single thing that makes an organization successful no secret ingredient some concepts do universally apply. One fundamental is to create a right organizational structure for success by ensuring alignment in organization dynamic relative to core purposes, strategy, and culture. Organisational structure refers to the way tasks are divided up, how the work flows, how this flow is coordinated and the forces and mechanisms that allow this coordination to occur. It creates the framework within which organizations operate. It is the skeleton and later on becomes the engine of the business. Therefore an organization with a structure which does not fit into economic and business environment, differentiated from its core purposes cannot exist for a long time. The aim of this paper is to review an organizational structure as a competitive advantage. The objectives will be the guiding tour to achieve the goal: Review existing organizational structures and their respective Analyse relationship between organizational structure and strategy Define which organizational structure is relatively better for exporting companies As a case study, organizational structure of Hansa Flex was researched, and subject in question was applied to it to compare organizational theory in real business life. The paper starts formulating a unified theoretical framework by explaining what the organization is, and describing relationship within an organization. Then it defines common types of organizational structure, talks about their function principles, afterwards investigates organizational effectiveness and relationship between organizational structure and strategy. To describe how a company can gain a competitive advantage relying on this relationship, and to compare theoretical framework with real business life, at the end, organizational structure of Hansa Flex was studied and conclusion about comparison is described. Some have described organizational structure as a formal configuration of roles and procedures, the prescribed framework of the organization. Others have described structure as the patterned regularities and processes of interaction. Structure is important in organizations because it reduces ambiguity and clarifies tasks, expectations and goal. Bartol, Martin, Tein and Matthews (2001, p. 267) define organizational structure as the formal pattern of interactions and coordination that managers design to link the tasks of individuals and groups to achieve organizational goals. Different sources give different contingencies which define organizational structure. These contingencies change through the time due to economic and business environment, technology, innovation as well as designs of organizational structures. The elements that were main criteria for selecting organizational structure 20 years ago are not reliable nowadays. Contingencies like size of organization, role clarity, specialization and control, for example, have been replaced by speed, flexibility, integration and innovation (Ashkenas et al., 1995, p. 7). Methodology Before carrying out the research, it is reasonable to analyse particular method for a given study. There are two main points that the research process of the paper goes through, as the research is done to enlighten development of organizational structures and review organizational structures as a competitive advantage: Defining the resource for analysis of theoretical framework Applying the theory on particular case study (Hansa-Flex) Starting a new research paper is like starting a new project you have an idea of what you want to do, but are not sure how to start. Many writers, like many project planners and managers, find that outlining is frequently the most effective way to start writing (Keene, 1987, p. 2). So having this idea in mind, we started to draw a step-by-step methodology of the research. Following are the stages that paper went through. Formulating the research aim (Initiation). This is the first stage of our research process, and the purpose of this stage is for us to decide what we are writing about, therefore after this stage it is possible to know which are the other stages that are needed for the fulfilment of the paper. As it was mentioned, the aim of the paper is to review organizational structure as a competitive advantage. We want to analyse perspectives of modern organizational structures and see whether there is one best structure that exporting companies can use. Developing the objectives. Once the research aim is determined, the next stage of our research is to develop the objectives: Review existing organizational structures and their respective Analyse relationship between organizational structure and strategy Define which organizational structure is relatively better for exporting companies These objectives will keep the research study going on towards the aim of the paper. Resource selection. Having followed all the previous stages then is the next stage; determine how and where to collect the data that is crucial to draw inferences and conclusions for the study. Primary Data Secondary data Collection Purpose For the problem at hand For other problems Collection process Very involved Rapid easy Collection cost High Relatively low Collection Time Long Short Table 1. A Comparison of Primary and Secondary data Source. Malhotra (1996, p. 117) According to a source comparison table of Malhotra (1996, p. 117), due to absence of research budget and short time, secondary data was chosen to be relative as source. It was decided to use, for this area of study, the following sources: Books Records Journals Newspapers Internet articles Academic Papers Published censuses or other statistical data Company Hansa-Flex (interviews with representatives) Unfortunately, there were some difficulties using all the sources above. Since the research took place in Bremen, small town in North Germany, it was not easy to find physical books, journals or newspapers in English. Therefore, to help this situation, electronic versions of some of the books were downloaded from the Hochschule Bremens internet network. Also, not being able to have an interview with Hansa-Flexs representative had negative impact on the case study part of the research. Literature Review. After collecting necessary data, this stage is an integral part of the research methodology, because it makes important contribution to all the next stages of the methodology. This stage helps to understand the subject area as well as the research aim precisely and clearly. Although the secondary sources created a framework for the study, censuses and annual reports published by Hansa-Flex did not help a lot to analyse the organizational structure of the company and evaluate it as a competitive advantage. The company presentation of Hansa-Flex given at the Hochschule Bremen by the companys Development Manager was used to fill this lack. Interpretation. After collecting and analyzing the data, and also subsequent to the clarifying of the questionable points, the next stage for the study will be interpretation in which the raw data, clean of mistakes, will be applied to the research aim. In this case it will be related to the case study, which is organizational structure of Hansa-Flex. Results and formal write of conclusions reached. The last stage is writing the report, in which all the previous stages come together as one research study and with the principle of enlighten the reader what all the research is about and all the results achieved drawn from what all the previous stages have done. It will also help to finally come with the result, whether the research aim was achieved or not. Organization and organizational structure. Definitions As it was mentioned before, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between organizational structure and strategy, and describe organizational structure as a competitive advantage. However, the goal of this chapter, as a starting point, is to introduce some common view about an organization and organizational structure. What is an Organization? Organizations all over the world share the same characteristics; they are social entities that are goal-directed, are designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems and are linked to the external environment. Not all organizations are the same, some are large, multinational corporations, others are small, family owned business, some manufacture products, others provide services. One key element of an organization is that indeed the organization will exist when people interact with one another to perform essential functions that will help the achievement of goals. One organization cannot exist without the interaction with customers, suppliers, competitors, and some other elements of the external environment like the government etc (Daft, 2007, p.10-11). Definitions of organizational structure Having defined the organization, it is next sensible to define organizational structure. The Morris describes organizational structure as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the framework around, and the systems that support, the work being done in an organization. Walton (1986) notes structure as the basis for organizing, to include hierarchical levels and spans of responsibility, roles and positions, and mechanisms for integration and problem solving. The similar definition is given in the Dictionary-Organizational Behavior (2003) as: the established pattern of relationships among the components of parts of a company; the way that a company is set-up; the formally defined framework of an organizations task and authority relationship. (p.2) The organizational structure is reflected in the organization chart (Daft, 2007, p. 190). It is the visual representation of the whole organization and its processes. The organization chart enables to see employees going about their duties, performing different tasks, and working in different locations. The organization chart is very useful in the understanding how a company works. In general, it refers to the way that an organization arranges people and their jobs so that the work can be done and its goals can be achieved. If the size of a work organization is not big and communication can be made face to face, formal structure may be not necessary, but in a large-scale organization the messengers have to be passed about the delegation of various tasks. Then, structure is established that distribute responsibilities for various functions. It is these decisions that determine the organizational structure. Organizational structure and effectiveness Having a common view about what an organization is, and saying that organizational structure refers to the way that an organization arranges people and their jobs, it is time to think about the impact of the structure on organizational effectiveness. Organizational structure and organizational effectiveness are interrelated, because organizational structure impacts organizational effectiveness based on organization creativity. Woodman explains that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in general, adaptive organizational forms (e.g. matrix, networks, collateral or parallel structures) increase the odds for creativity. Bureaucratic, mechanistic, or rigid structures decrease the probability of organizational creativity. (Morris, 1995, p.64) Peguin (2003) comments that organizational effectiveness and its relation to structure are determined by a fit between information processing requirements so people have either too little or too much irrelevant information (para. 3). Andrews (1995) supports his idea and notes without clearly defined roles and responsibilities of getting information, any organization structure becomes dysfunctional. (p. 1) In analyzing the difficulties of realizing the organizational effectiveness, on the one hand, Bedeian (1986) says, Although effectiveness is a central theme in the study of organizations, it remains one of the most frequently cited yet least understood concepts in organization theory. (p. 186). He continues to argue that failing to consider organizations goals, characteristics, and constituents lead to fault assumptions of performance. (p. 190). He also believes that the relationship and consequences between organizational design and structure choice. Organizations are incredibly complex. They are molded by increasingly fluid and disorderly environmental forces that constantly threaten their rationally ordered structures and stated goals. (p. 198) On the other hand, he emphasizes the possible result of wrong structure choice. Declining organizations face many problems. One of the most serious of these is the lack of flexibility at time when adaptiveness and agility are especially needed. Among the attributes most commonly affected are an organization leadership, innovative processes, work-force composition, and relationships with interest groups. (p. 197). Relation between organizational structure and strategy This chapter is divided in two parts, while first part describes how organizational structure and strategy are related via environmental conditions; second part explains how to build proper organizational structure that supports strategy and defines the authority for each manager. Nearly always, development of corporate strategy begins by analyzing the industry in which it operates and environmental conditions. Then having industry and competitive analyses, through research and benchmarking the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, executives set out to carve a distinctive strategic position where they can outperform their rivals by building a competitive advantage. To obtain such advantage, a company chooses a structure, which is supposed to group people due to their duties, tasks and responsibilities as well as hierarchy of decision making (Mouborgne, et al., 2009). Developing an organizational structure that supports the strategy is not easy, because of uncertainty in the global economys rapidly changing and dynamic competitive environments. When a structures elements, such as reporting relationships, procedures, etc., are properly aligned with one another the structure facilitates effective use of the strategy (Hitt, et al., 2009, p. 309). Choosing the most appropriate organizational structure that supports the strategy does not ensure an organization from future mismatches. As previous chapters describes organizations has to change and adopt to innovation and changing environment, and just as organizations strategy needs to change with changing external environment, so must a structure change for proper strategy implementation. In other hand companys strategic options are bounded by the environment. In other words, structure shapes strategy (Mouborgne, et al., 2009). So organizational structure and strategy are like two different sides of the same coin. In structure strategy relationship, organizations must be wide awake in their efforts to verify that the structure calls for work to be completed remains consistent with implementation requirement of chosen strategy. There is no perfect or ideal organizational structure that lasts forever. The strategy must be supported by the structure that provides the stability needed to use current competitive advantage as well as flexibility required to develop future advantages. Therefore, properly matching organizational structure and strategy can create competitive advantage (Hitt, et al., 2009). Characteristics of organizational structures After the impact of organizational structure on organizational effectiveness and strategy was described, based on the literature review of the definition and characteristics of organizational structure above, this part explores the types of organizational structure. There are different approaches to design the organizations activity. In the other word, that is different types of organizational structure. Common types of organizational structure Numerous international scholars are working on identifying the types of organizational structure. Thus, various literatures identify several dominant organizational structure types from different perspective. According to traditional organizational type of bureaucratic and other new forms, dominant organizational structure types include functional structure, divisional structure and matrix structure. The descriptions below are summarized and supported by reference to current literature. Functional structure. It refers to a set of people who work together and perform the same types of tasks or hold similar positions in an organization (Ledbetter, 2003, p.13). Organizations that grow too complex to be administered through a simple structure usually adopt the functional structure as a means of coping with the increased demands of differentiation (Hatch, 1997, p.183). As Raymond mentions also a functional organization is best suited as a producer of standardized goods and services at large volume and low cost. Coordination and specialization of tasks are centralized in a functional structure, which makes producing a limited amount of products or services efficient and predictable. Moreover, efficiencies can further be realized as functional organizations integrate their activities vertically so that products are sold and distributed quickly and at low cost. Divisional structure. It refers to an organizational structure that is divided along some criteria, and most commonly it is geographic location, but there can also be product, functional, or strategic divisions. (Ledbetter, 2003, p.13) Matrix structure. It refers to simultaneously groups people in two ways: by the function of which they are a member and by the product team on which they are currently working. (Ledbetter, 2003, p.13) According to Hatchs organization theory, the matrix structure was developed with the intention of providing the best of both the functional and multi-divisional alternatives. The sad truth is all these structures have their disadvantages parallel to their advantages. If one of the structures did not have any disadvantage, it would be automatically accepted without any need to consider the pros. Pros and Cons of each structure Which structure effects efficiency most and works best for an organization can be quite complicated because of the nature of different organizations themselves. Every way of designing an organization has pros and cons. However, this section describes some general advantages and disadvantages of each organizational structure. This will help us to analyze the case study in the next chapter and see whether a company can use its structure as an advantage. Functional structure. In the functional structure, as it was recently described, the employees are allocated in departments based on their skills and what they do. Common functional departments are purchasing, accounting, manufacturing, sales and marketing, human resources. Each department acts as its own entity and they are focused on activity performance rather than final result. It leads to centralization of specialized personnel, equipment and facilities, and results high development of skills, however, this major benefit can be a major pain for the communication with other departments. In manufacturing companies, for example, weak communication within departments may affect the quality of final product. It also does not allow for flexibility because of the centralization. Divisional structure. As Rao (2003) mentions, the main benefit this structure provides arise from, appositely from functional structure, from the fact that this type of structure tends to be more result oriented than activity oriented. Each division in this structure contains all the necessary resources and functions within it. The employees of each division know about the specific needs of the division, and are involved actively to achieve the goal. This structure creates an atmosphere of individual commitment and motivation. Divisional structure has its own disadvantages. As it is decentralized, it results duplication of facilities, equipment, and personnel usually leads to more costly processing. Although the employees are aware of specific needs of the division, they might not know organizations overall needs. As functional structure divisional structure also may lead to a weak communication between divisions. The lack of cooperation reduces improvement of techniques. Matrix structure. This type of structure tries to get the benefits of functional structure and of divisional structure, reducing their disadvantages. One of the benefits is resources can be used from all over the organization. Another benefit, as Rainey (2009) underlines, is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the advantage of the ability to share or shift personnel or other resources rapidly across product lines. However, it is not easy to implement this structure because of the dual authority. Having two bosses may sometimes confuse the employees. But this fact can also have a positive impact, as two managers share responsibilities. Matrix structure requires heavy investment in coordination. Because such structure often produce high level of stress and conflict that must be resolved. It is important to remember that each managerial decision has its pros and cons. When designing an organizational structure management should take necessary actions to decrease the disadvantages of the chosen structure. Nowadays, many companies are based on mix of these structures. Whatever structure is chosen, management has to make sure that it supports organizations strategy and can be used as competitive advantage. Case study. Hansa-Flex As previous chapters suggest, when establishing an organizational structure a company has to make sure the structure supports companys strategy and fits into its culture. Having done this, a company can create sustainable resource for a competitive advantage. This chapter describes how Hansa-Flex, supplier of hydraulic hose, applies the theory of organizational structure to its business to achieve a competitive advantage over its rivals. Hansa-Flex. Company overview Since it was initiated in 1962 in the garage of the companys founder Joachim Armerding, Hansa-Flex Hydraulics has been Europes leading privately owned supplier of hydraulic hose, couplings, fittings, adapters and hydraulic accessories. Hansa-Flex offers replacement of spare parts due to customers require even at short notice. This can be done very efficiently as Hansa-Flex holds over 82,000 different parts permanently in its stock. With the expertise of committed workforce and focus on service Hansa-Flex provides fast, qualified help in any situation. Hansa-Flex equips more than 300,000 customers in various industries with hydraulic and metal hoses and components. Until now, it has more than 350 branch offices in 33 countries worldwide operations, has an annual turnover of 165 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ in year 2009 (Hansa-Flex Annual Report 2009). Furthermore, Hansa-Flex has a customer service fleet of 225 vehicles worldwide, of which 100 are in Germany on the road (Hansa-Flex Annual report 2009). The staff and training service in the fleet take FLEXXPRESS Services throughout the world around the clock repairs and install replacement parts. For instants, defective hydraulic hoses to forklifts and related fittings are replaced in the automobile production. In a word, the motto of Hansa-Flex is thinking globally acting locally, which means being positioned in Bremen with a worldwide network of branch offices. All of these branch offices guarantee great availability of their products throughout of world. For instants, by May 2010, the facility in Geisenfeld keeps about 150 branches in southern Germany (Hydraulikpresse 2010). In October 2010, Hansa-Flex opened their Operation Centre for the Asian market in Shanghai, China. This Operation Centre provides training program in training center and central warehouse as well as manufacturing and administrative space. Therefore, Hansa-Flex is well standing in Asian Market to take advantage of future developments. This is one of the last but not least successes for Hansa-Flex. Strategy of Hansa-Flex Hansa-Flex is also very well founded through all over world. Generally, in the process of globalization the competition between the companies is more disastrous. More customer attraction and more market share are the main targets of companies. In other words, the company needs the appropriate strategy for the organizational structure in different environment conditions, especially an international company. Well-designed structure provides effective outcome. This is the reason why Hansa-Flex has developed very fast in its founding in Germany and in Europe. Hansa-Flex believes that The whole is greater than the sum of its parts (Aristotle). It considers that it is more than just the number of its branches; more than the sum of its products and services. To be considered as a whole, Hansa-Flex has to include the totality of the experience and skills of every employee. Based on this point view Hansa-Flex sets a very important and interesting Strategy for the Company. It has opened the training center for their employees and potential employees early in 2001 when Hansa-Flex merely focused on local. Besides that, as a glocal  [1]  company, Hansa-Flex sees customer proximity as part of its responsibility for ensuring smooth processes in hydraulics. To sustain the proximity the company has chosen strategy of growth through diversification acquisition, subsidiary, partnership. This strategy makes sure Hansa-Flex is maintaining international growth while at the same time enlarging their product range. Figure 1. Number of branches Source. Hansa-Flex Annual Report 2003 According to the researches which are made by the majority of international scholars we find this growth strategy highly appropriate reflexed the following theory. The strategy must be supported by the structure that provides the stability to current competitive advantage as well as flexibility required to develop future advantages (Hitt, et al., 2009). In briefly, Hansa-Flex has a deeply understanding about how could organizational structure and strategy be related via environmental conditions and how to build proper organizational structure that supports their strategy to grow the market share and enter a new market. Hansa-Flex never stops changing and always thinks forward such as their catchword Think globally act locally. Organizational structure of Hansa-Flex Interesting point here is how the company controls such a large network of branches. How is the company organized to provide a strong communication between departments, and basically between warehouses to keep customers satisfied? This section answers this question by analyzing organizational structure of Hansa-Flex, and finds out whether or not the company uses it as a competitive advantage in the market. Obviously, as many other starter companies, Hansa-Flex was founded based on simple structure. Later on, as we see on figure 1, it starts opening branches in different regions of Germany, and so created functional structure. Starting from 1992, Hansa-Flex goes international. Being international and offering products in different countries is always a big deal and requires a lot of research. Nowadays, Hansa-Flex has established a mix of functional and divisional structures and customized it by its strategy and culture. The structured is divisioned by geographic location to push the company toward being bounderless organization. Basically it has centralized functional areas, such as purchasing, quality management, warehousing, human resources, marketing; and decentralized sales and local marketing. Most significant advantage of centralized purchasing is that it speeds up the purchasing cycle. Thanks to centralized purchasing Hansa-Flex can complete this process very fast, sometimes even within one day. It is because purchasing data is stored and accessible via the internet. The company can access the necessary order information and place an order much more quickly. It also saves a lot of time on conducting the correlation between supplier and Hansa-Flex. This way the company can easily forecast how it could suffer if the supplier goes bankrupt unexpectedly. This is easier to be done, because the company does not need to collect all the purchasing data from different branches. Another advantage is centralized purchasing makes it easy for everyone who needs to track the information even across multiple branches and corporate divisions. For Hansa-Flex this means insurance of customer proximity, and results on less time waste between branches and subsidiaries on tracking down the data. Thus, centralized warehouse again gives an advantage to Hansa-Flex to satisfy its customers faster than competitors. Having centralized HR, first of all Hansa-Flex ensures to have most qualified applicants for work. Because centralized HR decision making promotes a more equitable treatment of employees, and is political abuse. Therefore, HR experts review and rank job candidates very carefully and transparent. Using the advantage of purchasing power centralized marketing continue to create even better brand image among customers. The company also needs a local marketing on destination point. Because local employee knows local market better than foreigners employees. Therefore, central marketing transfer knowledge to local marketing to continue the whole process of marketing. Following the same logic Hansa-Flex has divisional sale force that is in charge of sales in specific regions. This gives the company flexibility to react and adapt to local environment changes. Conclusion Due to the globalization the concept of competitive advantage of a product or service has recently changed. It is not easy to sustain this sort of advantage, because of high competition and growing number of follower companies. Therefore, companies like Hansa-Flex use their organizational structure as a competitive advantage. As most of economic writers and managers say, there is no one ideal organizational structure. Each structure has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is also true that, due to its mission, organizational culture, and history, two companies in the same market can apply the same one structure, but still get totally different outcome. In our fast changing world, sticking into one classic structure is not enough. Establishing a structure needs a lot of creativity, knowledge, experience, and customization of the structure to the companys indicators. Following this logic Hansa-Flex designed a customized mix structure of functional and divisional structures. It efficiently uses advantages of both structures, reduces disadvantages. Therefore, having structure that supports strategy, Hansa-Flex can easily achieve its goals towards its mission. The model which Hansa-Flex constructs may not be applied in other companies; however, it provides a practical experience concerning the organizational structure, which is considered as the crucial factor for organizational effectiveness.

With the evolution of man has come the inevitable evolution of the arts

With the evolution of man has come the inevitable evolution of the arts. Whether decorative, visual, or musical, the arts have seen several distinct periods of development through the course of history and as one of the definitive artistic media, music is no exception. During the 17th through middle 18th centuries, music progressed through a period that historians labeled â€Å"Baroque. † New musical forms and a style of music that was unheard of at the end of the renaissance characterized this period. These new styles and forms saw the emergence of several composers who, rather than break new ground in the musical world, took the existing forms and developed them into robust, mature works that fully exhibited their virtuosic command of the â€Å"rules† of composition. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) were two composers that historians and musicians alike use to describe the essence of the baroque period. Neither composer generated groundbreaking reforms in the core of the music they composed, but rather they took that which was defined and increased the breadth, scope, and complexity of existing genres to suit their purposes as working musicians and/or composers. During the Baroque period, a popular musical form was the Prelude and Fugue (also called Toccata and Fugue or Fantasia and Fugue). Such a form was nothing new during the Baroque period, as examples of similar forms date back to renaissance and even pre-renaissance musical examples. The practice of freely improvising a few notes of the coming contrapuntal passage was common in those periods prior to Baroque. When composers such as Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) and Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707) codified the Prelude and Fugue into its then-modern form, the way was paved for Bach's Praeludium et Fuga in A Minor, BWV 543 (~1708-1717). The prelude section consisted of contrasting irregular rhythms coupled with sets of asymmetric runs of driving sixteenth notes (Palisca 346). Such irregular compositions were used to emulate the improvisational nature of the prelude of days past. While the form was codified by the likes of Buxtehude and Frescobaldi, there are some fundamental differences between their works and those of J. S. Bach. Bach's Praeludium et Fuga in A Minor consists of separate sections for the prelude and fugue. A staple of Frescobaldi's work, Tocatta No. 3 (1615 revised 1637) gives us the relentless movement associated with a prelude form, although its extensive use of cadence evasion is a contrast to Bach's mostly uniform movement from tonic to dominant and vice versa. The less-defined fugal section in Frescobaldi's work also serves as a contrast to Bach's later work, however, the roots of the template for his toccata are nonetheless prevalent in this example. Buxtehude's Praeludium in E Major, BuxWV 141, followed a progression of several â€Å"free† segments with fugal segments intertwined within the whole of the piece. While the prelude and the fugue sections may not be as clearly defined as Bach's piece, they nonetheless serve as the template from which they will be written. Parallels can also be drawn to Arcangelo Corelli's (1653-1713) Trio Sonata, Op. 3 No. because the second movement, Allegro, makes use of fugal sections in the melodic structure. The voices of the fugue are spread out among the voices of the instruments involved. The evolution an artistic medium such as Prelude and Fugue to its mature form spanned the better part of the 17th century, and then took its place among the many popular forms of the Baroque Era. The chorale prelude in the Baroque era is â€Å"a short piece in which the entire melody is presented just once in readily recognizable form† (Palisca 350). Both Bach and Buxtehude wrote chorale preludes and each had an interesting take on how to arrange the chorale. In Bach's Durch Adams Falls BWV 637 (~1717), Bach places the original melody in the topmost voice and makes extensive use of the lower voices and pedal to participate in large amounts of text painting. The passages marked with any kind of text related to a â€Å"fall† have intervallic drops that were considered dissonant at the time. The intervallic dissonances coupled with the easily recognizable melody in the topmost voice made for an effective setting of Lazarus Spengler's text. Danket dem Herrn, BuxWV 181, by Buxtehude, provides a contrast to Bach's style of text setting for a chorale prelude. Buxtehude sets the text for â€Å"Thank the Lord, for He is very kind† by taking the original melody and dividing it among the various voices and making the melodic phrase the subject of a short fugue. Each of the three verses would see an individualized segment of imitation followed by a run of freely composed counterpoint (Palisca 429). The two seem to share characteristics of the chorale prelude in name only, however, there is a connection between the two, for without Buxtehude's setting of his text, Bach could have never developed upon the idea of making the text more effective even though there would be no actual text in the organ chorale. The idea of making the meaning of the text more effective was characteristic of Bach's chorale prelude. Such a development from the counterpoint-centered chorale prelude of Buxtehude to the message-conveying text painted medium of Bach shows just how much variation there can be within a certain medium. As one of the more massive works in J. S. Bach's repertoire, the cantata is a massive musical setting of a religious text delivered in multiple movements. Although not a dramatic medium, the cantata was organized religion's answer to the use of aria and recitative. Cantata in the Baroque era made use of alternating aria and recitative sections to set a religious text to a specific story. J. S. Bach's Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, sets the story of Philip Nicolai's telling of angels come down from heaven to wake the virgins in anticipation of the bridegroom's arrival. The entire cantata makes distinctive use of ritornello reminiscent of Antonio Vivaldi's (1678-1741) Concerto Grosso in G Minor, Op. 3, No. 2, RV 578. The ritornello is divided into four-bar phrases that are based on several distinct melodic motives (Palisca 547). Bach also makes extensive use of text painting and subtle musical paintings that are clearly throwbacks to composers such as Josquin Des Prez (~1450-1521) and Carlo Gesualdo (~1561-1613) that wrote in the â€Å"musica reservata† style in the renaissance and ars nova periods. J. S. Bach lived and worked in Germany all of his life. His work was, almost exclusively, with the Lutheran church, which is not surprising since it is known that Bach was a devout Lutheran. Such information may seem peripheral to his works as a musician but it becomes integral when trying to take a historical analysis of J. S. Bach's Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 (~1749). It is somewhat of a historical idiosyncrasy that Bach, a self-professed devout Lutheran, to write a Catholic mass, but historians have inferred that the mass was probably written as a gift for the King of Poland. The historical oddity aside, Bach's Mass in B Minor, is one of the most well-known and oft-performed examples of his work. His setting of the credo includes a single tenor being accompanied by a small chamber group of instrumentalists. Such an instrumentation differs with Credo's of the past, especially that of Giovanni Da Palestrina (1525/6-1594). Palestrina's Pope Marcellus Mass (1567) sets the credo, in a style typical of the period, for unaccompanied voices set in contrapuntal melodies. Such a fundamental difference in the setting of a mass would indicate the differences in philosophies regarding the setting of text between the two periods. Bach's post-reformation world held a belief that, with matters regarding religion, the meaning of the text should come first and thus should not take second place to musicianship or rules of counterpoint. For those who wrote â€Å"traditional† catholic masses, such as Palestrina and Josquin Dez Prez the meaning of the text took a backseat to the melodic structures of the pieces at hand. Although Josquin's Missa Pange lingua (~1510) presents a homo-rhythmic setting of the credo, the rest of the mass is a contrapuntal mess of voices taking complex imitative passages of each other. Bach's setting of â€Å"Et expecto resurrectionem† is a reflection of a Baroque trend of large-scale instrumental accompaniment to a choral text setting. Here, a full orchestra accompanies five voices. The text is displayed in blocks alternating to and from a ritornello from the orchestral accompaniment. While Bach's works throughout the Baroque era are vital to the understanding of music during that period, where it came from and where it was headed, Bach's work contributed no less to the development of music than G. F. Handel. Bach is probably best known for his work as a German in Germany, Handel, however, is perhaps best known for his work as a German in England. During a brief period in the early 18th century, Handel was patron to the elector of Hanover, and although this appointment would not last, it would prove to be a defining point in Handel's career. In 1712, he was granted permission to take a trip to London, and what started out as a short leave of absence turned into a 2-year stay in England's capitol. Ironically, George I, Handel's master in Hanover, ascended the British thrown shortly thereafter, becoming King George I of England. This two year period in London would only be the tip of the ice burg of what would be considered a long and prosperous career for Handel. If Bach were to be defined by his eclectic collection of religious works, then the defining works of Handel would be his adherence to the operatic tradition. Handel wrote many operas like Giolio Cesare (1724) that emphasized the dramatic tradition of the opera. Giolio Cesare is the story of Julius Caesar and subsequent trip to Egypt and all the drama that occurs therein. Handel skillfully uses the orchestra as an accompanying force during the recitative and aria, but also knew how to take advantage of a full orchestra by writing passages in which there were powerful unison passages and utter silence when appropriate. Like Alessandro Scarlatti's (1660-1725) opera La Griselda, Handel uses a repeat to return to the phrases at the beginning at the end of use, thus making effective use of â€Å"Da Capo† or â€Å"Dal Segno† form. The setting of the text is done effectively to create both musical and dramatic beauty by using well-placed sets of delays and avoided cadences. Fierce competition with a rival operatic company coupled with the tightening of the moral collar by the church forced Handel to adopt an alternative to opera as his main artistic medium. The church ruled that during solemn periods in the liturgical year the theatres in England would be closed, and as such, no operas, or any other dramatic works for that matter, could be performed. As such, Handel took a foray into the form of the Oratorio, an adaptation of the operatic tradition for the purpose of telling religious stories. His Oratorio, Saul (1739), was, for all intents and purposes, an opera set to the story of Saul's conversion into Christianity. Although Oratorios make extended use of accepted operatic forms, aria, recitative, etc. no physical drama takes place in the setting of the stories. Handel makes use of contrapuntal passages and fugue, typical baroque compositional elements, to tell his story of Saul, while Heinrich Schitz (1585-1672) used more of a concerto grosso form to tell of Saul's revelation. Schitz set the story of Saul for six voices and orchestra and made extended use of harmonic dissonance rather than play with rhythms or melodic structures to tell the story. The relatively thick-textured nature of Schitz's setting makes for a dramatic interpretation of Christ's words to Saul. Handel, however, takes his experience with recitative and aria to paint a no-less striking story of Saul. The â€Å"masters† of any historically defined era or period are usually those that came into the scene â€Å"en medias rex† (in the middle of things). We see that both J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel took the existing artistic forms and artistic media available to them codified at the beginning of their period and expanded them into what would become the defining elements of music of the Baroque period. Like Josquin Des Prez during the height of the Ars Nova and Adrian Willaert during the peak of the madrigalists, composers at the middle of their respective periods were responsible for creating the defining characteristics and notable references to that period before the inevitable move towards evolution and change take hold and move the music or art away from its previous center. The process of musical evolution is, perhaps, not as notable as some of the social or political watermarks, but provides much needed insight into the minds and hearts of those who lived during such fascinating times.