Training And Development Strategy Essay Example for Free

Training And Development Strategy Essay 1.0 Executive summary Training involves has to do with behaviour modification which is implemented in a formal and systematic manner. Organizational training and development needs to be incorporated in Fair Price. The aims and objectives of carrying out training in this store are to minimise absenteeism and equip employees with skills etc. There are various steps that are taken in employee training and development including formulation of training policy. There are poor levels of supervisory skills in this store which can be improved by mentoring and coaching. Training existing and new staff will help Fair Price store to have skilled manpower though it may be costly. Management training should include both men and women with larger percentage being women. Management development of managers in this store will help to improve their skills. There are different models which have been used including Kirkpatrick’s 4 level model. If training and development is well implemented in this store it will solve the existing problems and lead to success. 2.0 Introduction Training involves a behaviour modification which is normally carried out in a formal and systematic manner. It is as a result of planned experience, instruction and education. Training and development plays a big role in achievement of organisational goals. (Brooks, 1999)   Most of these goals are normally long term in nature. Training is part of the strategic framework of organisations.   It produces a comprehensive and coherent plan that helps in developing employees and other stakeholders in organisations. When a business incorporates training and development therein, it acquires a competitive advantage over the other businesses. This is because the intellectual capital in the business is greatly developed. In fact employees in an organisation get an opportunity to improve their skills in their areas of specialization.   This leads to great impacts on the organisation as a whole. There is usually improved team performance when training and development strategies are incorporated in a business. (CIPD 2006) Research shows that such training influences the performance of employees at personal levels. For instance employees are in a position to carry out self evaluation of their performance and implement self corrections where necessary. 2.1Justification Fare Price stores needs to incorporate organisational training and development strategy in its management system. This is because a close evaluation at Fair Price store shows that it requires training and development in many areas. For instance the previous store manager never tried to implement company appraisal scheme in the organisation. (Cherrington, 1994) The employees that continue learning never see the benefit because the management was not acknowledging it.   The previous manager did not seek qualified personnel to carry out the responsibilities therein. This has led to underperformance in this organisation. (DTI 2006)   Employees are given posts and responsibilities that they are not qualified for. The previous manager never considered Investing in People. In fact the supervisors in Fair Price store are not qualified at all. There is a lot of absenteeism in this supermarket. The supervisors therein are not concerned and they are not doing anything about it. The absenteeism is taken in form of sick leave. Even the till operators complain that no one notices their presence. This shows that there have been poor relations between management and employees in this supermarket. In fact even when they do not report to duty, no one notices. This has created a sense of irresponsibility in them. Research shows that when people are not appreciated, they never do their best. They do shoddy work. Employees in Fair Price store are really demoralised.   How can all the managers in an organisation be male only? This is what is happening in Fair Price supermarket. (Fawson, T. 1999) There is no gender equality in the management. All the managers are male despite the fact that most of the employees in this supermarket are women. Women constitute seventy five percent of the two hundred employees in this supermarket. This means that most of the issues affecting the female staff are not adequately addressed. It is only the wearer of the shoe who knows where it pinches most. There is no way that the male managers can adequately address feminine issues.   (Burgoyne, J. 1997)They simply cannot understand because they are not female. Having considered all these factors, I strongly feel that implementing a training and development strategy in this supermarket will be very beneficial both the staff and the organisation at large. 2.2 Performance appraisal management system Performance appraisal is one of the training needs in Fair Price store. This is whereby employees that are best performers are rewarded by the management. 2.3 Succession planning This need to be carried out in Fair Price store and it includes. (Brooks, 1999)There needs to be smooth transition from the old management to the new management in this store. This has not been practiced in Fair Price store. 2.4 Mentoring and coaching Fair Price store needs to put in place mentoring and coaching mechanisms. (Brooks, 1999) Management in this organization needs to mentor employees and also to coach them on various leadership and job skills. This has not been practiced in this store. 2.5 Personal development Management in this store has to consider personal development of employees. This is where they are given training on their professional skills. (Brooks, 1999)This will benefit them. Fringe benefits given to employees help in promoting personal development. All these have not been implemented in Fair Price store. 3.0 Aim and objectives The aim and objectives of carrying out training and development strategy in Fair Price store include: To recruit new staff on merit basis. To help eradicate or minimize absenteeism in Fair Price store.   Ensure gender balance in management. Introduce an Information technology system for checkouts. Implement employee appraisal schemes. To improve leadership and professional skills of employees To enhance behaviour modification among employees 4.0 Steps for employee training and development The following steps will be taken in the training and development strategy in Fair Price store. Formulation of a training policy Identification of training needs in Fair Price store Training plan development Conducting of the training program Training responsibilities Training evaluation 4.1 Formulation of training policy Training policies normally give a guideline on degree of training that should be carried out in an organisation. They direct on the employees that need to be trained. In this stage there is allocation of profits to the training. This has to be done annually. Aims of training are clearly evaluated at this stage. (CIPD 2007)All these information has to be disseminated to the employees and the entire staff in Fair Price store. This will help them to understand that the management is interested in their welfare. This is in relation to career development. Training the employees in Fair price store will greatly influence in goal achievement. In fact the employees’ personal skills will be sharpened and this is very beneficial to Fair Price supermarket in general. The training in Fair Price store can be carried out in two ways. One of them is where it is oriented to actions. The other way relates to performance of the employees. This includes meeting targets. Performance training has to do with competence of employees. (Phillips, J. 1996)This means that they are trained to be more competent in their various responsibilities. When the training is action oriented, the employees in Fair Price are trained to make things happen. For instance they can be trained in customer care skills that will influence many customers to visit and purchase from the store. 4.2 Identification of training needs in Fair Price store When implementing training and development strategy, it is very important to identify the training needs in the organisation. Fair Price store has to identify its various training needs. This will help in realizing what the employees in this store know and what they can do. (CIPD 2007) It will also help in identifying what they need to know such that services in Fair Price store are improved. This is in relation to the goals in Fair Price store. For instance one of the goals is to ensure customer satisfaction in their service provision. The training needs in Fair Price store have to be analyzed at a corporate level. After that the analysis has to be done at the departments in this store. This includes customer care, finance and sales departments. (CIPD 2007)   Later on they need to be analyzed at team levels then finally at individual level. There are various tools that can be used when carrying out this analysis. This includes administering questionnaires to the employees.   This is because employees normally have first hand information concerning what they know and what they need to know. Focus group discussion between management and employees can be used in this store in identifying the training needs. This will really work for this store.   (CIPD 2007)   These discussions should also be done between the management and the departmental heads. This information will really be beneficial to Fair Price store when carrying out their long term and short term goals on training. 4.3 Training plan development Much thought has to be done when developing a training plan. This is in relation to the outcomes of learning program. Fair Price store management has to be keen in examining any changes in behaviour of employees after training is done. Now after identifying training needs then the training program content has to be put in place. After identifying the training objectives, an analysis needs to be done such that this stores’ management knows exactly what to do. .   (CIPD 2006)     All these things have to be put in place so that Fair Price store’s objectives are met. The content will greatly determine how long the training will take place. The length of the training will be influenced by modes of delivering information. For instance lectures may need long time to accomplish all that is required unlike the use of handouts. Training can also be done by the managers by carrying out on job training of the employees in Fair Price store. They can do this by coaching the staff at low levels in Fair Price store. These employees just learn how to do their job under the managers guidance.   They just learn naturally as they interact with other employees and managers. (CIPD 2007)  Ã‚     This is done on a day to day basis. Supervisors and also other senior employees in Fair Price store should go for training which can be done externally and not necessarily internally. They can make good use of consultants who provide these services at a fee. Through this the senior employees will gain skills in leadership and technical areas which they are lacking. 4.4 Conducting the training program In this stage there is monitoring of the courses that were identified during when analysis of training needs was being done. (Parry, S. 1996)This helps in ensuring that all the activities carried out in the training are within the budgets of Fair Price store. Management in this fair Price store should evaluate the training and know whether it is effective or not. 4.5 Training responsibilities Training in Fair Price store should not be carried out on an ad-hoc basis. This is because training will help this store to achieve its corporate goals. This human resource department in Fair Price store should be concerned with all the training and development needs therein. This should not just be done by the human resource department in general but a unit in this department will be more efficient. This unit will carry out coordination of every activity that is related to training and development. This unit will be responsible for evaluating both internal and the external people responsible in facilitating the training. It will also be responsible for planning the training and development activities in Fair Price store. Managers in this store should come to knowledge that it is their responsibility to oversee all the training activities. 4.6 Training evaluation This is very important since it will help to assess how effective the program is. This helps to know whether the objectives set at the planning stage were met or not. (Easterby, 1997) For instance the performance of the employees can be greatly monitored to see whether it has improved or not. In case the objectives are not met then necessary adjustments have to be put in place. These adjustments will help in improving the training so that it is more effective. For instance managers in Fair Price store should evaluate whether the employees’ skills have improved after the training or not. (Parry, S. 1996)Behaviour change in staff should be evaluated concerning absenteeism from work. This stage is should be done thoroughly and stakeholders should be given an opportunity to give the reasons why the objectives were not achieved and factors that contributed. Evaluation should be carried out to whether employee’s supervisory skills have been improved. Evaluation can be carried out in four levels. They include the following; 4.6.1 First level In the first level, there is the measurement of the reaction of the people who participated in the training. They include employees and external trainers. In this stage the degree of satisfaction of participants is evaluated whether it was poor, fair or excellent. (Parry, S. 1996)   In this case employees in Fair Price store can be interviewed by the managers or they have an open forum. Through this managers can know whether the training was effectively carried out or not. 4.6.2 Second level The evaluation is carried out in relation to achievement of objectives. This is to know whether the objectives were attained or not. (Alliger, G. 1989) The objectives in this case were to reduce absenteeism, to ensure behaviour modification in employees and to ensure that employee’s skills are improved. This can be evaluated whether they have been achieved or not. 4.6.3 Third level In this level the degree of behaviour change is evaluated. This is to know whether the employees’ behaviour has improved or not. Mangers in Fair Price store can evaluate behaviour change in the employees by observing their behaviours when at work. (Alliger, 1989) This can be noted down and those that have improved should be acknowledged by the managers.   Those that have not improved in their behaviour can be asked the reasons why and necessary steps taken. 4.6.4 Fourth level The results of the training are evaluated at this level. The costs of the training are evaluated against the benefits achieved. Managers in Fair Price store should evaluate the results of the training needs. (Alliger, 1989)   This can help them to know whether it was worth the initiative or not. The costs that Fair Price as a store incurred should be calculated against the benefits that the store would have achieved. This needs good use of records concerning the expenses that were incurred by the organization in carrying out the entire training. 5.0 Critical evaluation of options to tackle poor level of supervisory skills There are various ways of dealing with poor supervisory skills in Fair Price store. Now having a closer look at the supervisors shows that they are not qualified for the job they are doing. (Parry, 1996)They do not have leadership skills at all and this is clearly seen in the way that they deal with absenteeism. One of the ways of dealing with this is carrying out retrenchment of these under qualified staff. While this will help eliminate untrained staff, it may create a very poor relationship between managers and some employees. Though it is worth it since the store’s structure has to be reorganised. Carrying out organisation al learning for these supervisors can be very expensive for the store. In fact some of them may not understand due to lack of basic knowledge. Instead of retrenching them, they can be demoted to responsibilities that do not require skills like sanitation duties and packing the goods. New staff can be recruited on merit basis to do supervisory work in this store. Mentoring and coaching can be carried out by the managers in this organization. This should be carried out especially in relation to supervisors in this store. This can be done by the managers in this store showing the right examples to the supervisors. Managers can also have coaching sessions with supervisors and this will help improve supervisory skills though its time consuming. 6.0 Women only management training It would not be appropriate to carry out women only management training in Fair Price store in the name of levelling the playing field. (Kaufman, R. 1996)This still would not be gender sensitive. It will still be biased. Rather management training should be carried out for both male and female employees. Women should constitute two thirds of those attending the management training while then men should be a third. This is in relation to the gender ratios of the staff in Fair Price store. This will help in addressing feminine issues affecting the female employees. On the other hand if all the managers are women, the management in this store will not be stable. The male employees will never be comfortable with this. 7.0 Critical evaluation of option of training existing and new staff On opening of the new ‘mega store’ there will be the option of recruiting one hundred and fifty extra staff in various areas of the store. This is a positive venture though it has got its own challenges. Having a large number of employees to manage means having more problems to solve. Management development courses will be beneficial to managers at this stage. One of the challenges that are posed by this venture is in the financial sector. (McNamara, C. 2001)This is because the recruitment process can be very expensive. This is because there are costs that are incurred in advertising vacancies. The entire recruitment process can be quite tedious. There are also other financial implications like paying the salaries of one hundred and fifty extra people. The new employees will have to be recruited on merit basis unlike what initially happened in Fair price store under the previous store manager. Training of existing and new employees can be done with the help of National initiatives which were introduced by the government. The government helps in provision of resource materials in staff training. These resource materials include books in various professions that help the employees in the training. (Hoberman, S. and Mailick, S. 1992)   The government plays a big role in identifying modules that assist organisations such as Fair Price store to carry out training of employees. Fair price store can really benefit from government initiatives where it will be assisted to link up with qualified personnel that can be employed in the new store. This store will greatly benefit by receiving awards and scholarships through the National initiatives introduced by the government. The government offers scholarships and training opportunities that are quite collaborative in nature. Fair Price store can also gain through research that is carried out by the government. It will get a concrete base of knowledge from National Initiatives introduced by the government. 8.0 Management Development effectiveness In management development managers skills are improved. This is usually very beneficial to the organisation and even to the managers. It gives managers knowledge on how to deal with various issues in the organisation. This always plays a great role in the success of the organisation. (Gupta, K. 1999)   In this case managers are given the chance to broaden their reasoning in the business sector while at the same time continuing with their management responsibilities in the organisation. They learn more on new methodologies of handling human as a resource. It helps managers to gain knowledge in managing themselves first. Knowledge is also gained that helps them to manage employees in the organisation. Leadership skills of managers are greatly sharpened by management development. This will be effective for Fair Price store managers basing on the following evaluation models. 8.1 Flashlight Triad Model This model involves use of technology in accomplishment of various tasks. The technology should enable accomplishment of a specific activity. (Alliger, G. 1997) Management development will help managers incorporate appropriate technology in management areas like information technology. 8.2 Connoisseurship Evaluation An expert in the study field estimates how worth the new innovation is. (Alliger, G. 1997)   The threats that exist are clearly shown. Managers will be helped to use this model in their organisation. 8.3 Adversary Evaluation In this model there is a critical look at both sides of the innovation. This includes both the negative and the positive. (Alliger, G. 1997)This is to show whether the innovation is beneficial or not. 8.4 Kirkpatrick’s 4-level model In this model, the managers are helped to evaluate the reaction of employees on training and learning. (Alliger, G. 1997)Changes in behaviour are also noted in evaluation of the training by the managers. 9.0 Conclusion It is important for every business organisation to incorporate a training and development strategy. This helps in modifying employee’s behaviours. Organisational goals are easily achieved when training and development is well implemented. There are various steps in employee training and development. All these steps are important and should be carried out by business organisations. Evaluation will help in knowing whether the set objectives were achieved or not. 10.0 Recommendation Fair Price store has to include training and development strategy in its management. This will help in solving problems that exist in this store such as unskilled personnel, lack of appraisal scheme. This will help in motivating employees and will minimise absenteeism problems. Above all it will lead to the overall success of Fair Price store to the benefit of the stakeholders therein. 11.0 References Alliger, G. (1997): A meta-analysis of the relationship among training criteria. Personnel Psychology, 50, 341-358 Alliger, G. (1989): Kirkpatricks levels of training criteria: Thirty years later. Personnel Psychology, 42, 331-342 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2006): Training and development strategy; New York; Sage Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2007): Creating a Training and Development Strategy; New York; Sage Beard, C. and Wilson, J. (2002): The power of experiential learning: A handbook for trainers and educators. London: Kogan Brooks, H. (1999): Workshops; Designing and facilitating experiential learning; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Burgoyne, J. (1997): Management learning; Integrating perspectives in theory and practice; London; Sage Cherrington, R. (1994): Pinning down experiential learning. Studies in the education of adults, 26(1) Easterby, S. (1997): Research traditions in management learning; Management learning: Integrating perspectives in theory and practice. London; Sage; pp. 38-53 DTI (2006): National Training and development Strategy; New York; Macmillan Press Fawson, T.   (1999): A study of executive education programs at ATT; Measuring learning and performance. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development. Gupta, K. (1999): A Practical Guide to Needs Assessment; San Francisco; Jossey- Bass/Pfeiffer Hoberman, S. and Mailick, S. (1992): Experiential management development; From learning to practice; New York; Quorum Books Kaufman, R. (1996): What works and what doesnt: Evaluation beyond Kirkpatrick. Performance and Instruction, 35(2), 8-12 McNamara, C. (2001): Employee Training and Development: Reasons and Benefits; New York; Macmillan Press Parry, S. (1996): Measuring trainings ROI. Training Development; 49(2), pp. 72-78 Phillips, J. (1996): ROI; The search for best practices. Training Development; 50(5), pp. 42-48

Scandals :: essays research papers

Contemporary society is always portrayed as a civilized society, in which the sense of democracy has come to woven throughout the fabric of our lives. Thanks to the mass media, the public has become more informed about what is happening in the world, from the political field such as the state and national government to the business area such as the international stock market. At the same time, people are paying more attention to the leaders. Some insist that since the major mission of the leaders is to lead the whole group to succeed in the intense competition, a leader should try every means to achieve his goal rather than care much about the ethic and morality. Those from the other camp hold a strong belief that to be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards. As far as I am concerned, I prefer the latter point of view. In the following discussion, I would like to present several evidences to support my standpoint. First and foremost, a public official with high ethical and moral standards will set a good example for the society as a whole which does good to the improvement of the morality of the public. From ancient times to the present world, the public leaders always serve as a focus of the ordinary that treat the words and actions of the leaders as a sign of right. So what and how the leaders say and do would produce a far-reaching effect on the public. A case in point is Gandhi, the greatest leader in Indian history. He led a simple and hard way of living all his life and never wasted even one coin, , and this encouraged all citizens of India to spare no effort to work hard for a better further of their country and no one pursued a luxury material life. This illustrates that a leader with high ethical and moral standards promote a good ethos in the society. Meanwhile, high ethical and moral standards embodied in the words and actions of a public official would help him or her to gain the trust and support of the public especially of his or her subordinates which make his or her policy to be implemented more effectively and efficiently. Take Mao Zedong, the founder of our new China for example: in the period of hardship, he advocated that all Chinese should tie up their belts and try every effort to go through this difficult time.

Despite Atwood’s portrayal of Gilead as soulless and destructive she has nevertheless succeeded in giving the reader a sense of optimism

‘The Handmaid's Tale' is set in the futuristic republic of Gilead. Everybody has somebody controlling what they do and only a minority have control over other people. In the first chapter alone we learn of the system of control within the Handmaids' residence. There are the angels, who are responsible for the Aunts, who have responsibility for the handmaids, i. e. the narrator. This system has the sole purpose, reproduction: â€Å"we are for breeding purposes†¦ There is supposed to be nothing entertaining about us, no room is to be permitted for the flowering of secret lusts†¦ We are two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices. † The narrator of takes on a role based on the Biblical story of Jacob's wives; when they failed to conceive, he fathered children by their handmaids. In a world in which the fertility of both sexes has dropped dramatically, it is the role for which young women who have demonstrated their ability to bear children are destined, rather to the chagrin of the Wives who have to house them. For this regime to function effectively it is important that a high level of control is exerted and more essentially, that the people within the regime understand there purpose. They are not there to build relationships, they are there for reproduction and any other aspect of life is irrelevant. Ironically the regime is developed for sex yet any attributes you would normally apply to a sexual relationship have been removed. There is no conversation, no intimacy, no pleasure or appreciation of yourself or your partner; in fact there is no relationship with your partner or anyone else. Physical contact must be kept to what is necessary and the act of sex itself is simply necessary for reproduction. For the regime to work there can be no feelings. To prevent feelings developing within people towards others Gilead works to remove anything that makes the person unique, this is why the regime has been described as â€Å"soulless† as by taking away peoples' personalities you are practically taking away their soul. This is similar to the system in Aldous Huxley's â€Å"Brave New World† where the concept of love has been destroyed. The idea of falling in love with someone has been made almost impossible, as there is no opportunity for this to happen, everybody been made as soulless as possible. There must be no character, individuality or expression of self to avoid people getting into any form of relationship. The women are literally branded with numbers a code that ties them to the regime. They are made to wear uniforms (in describing the uniforms Atwood appears to me making a link to the similarity to the German and Canadian prisoners of war uniforms from World War Two) and are renamed in attempt to completely depersonalise them. They are treated as cattle, as a group with no thought of their own. This leaves the reader questioning their interpretation of the narrator, we sometimes see her as an individual taking minor rebellion against the regime, and yet at other times we see her as one of many that are all in the same helpless situation. The high level of control they hold over their people enhances Gilead's destructive manner. Even the narrator's name â€Å"Offred† has been composed by the regime. The novel explains this unusual noun as being a word â€Å"that is composed of the possessive preposition and the first name of the name of the gentlemen in question. † However most readers pick up on the play on the word â€Å"offered† she is offered around the gentlemen in society. No individual or group is strong enough to overthrow the regime and this is the focal point of the regime's strength. They can enforce and law no matter how unjust because there is no one strong enough to oppose it. However at no point is the reader led to believe that the narrator has given up hope and that there is no purpose for her anymore. This is of a conscious effort by Atwood to create a positive perspective of the situation through her narrative technique, imagery and by surrounding the character with situations where they could potentially rebel. The harsh regime of Gilead is emphasised by Atwood offering the reader a comparison of the narrator's current situation and her previous one, it has been suggested that this is Atwood supporting the theory that fear causes regression, not progression. These comparisons are possible because of the flashback technique that occurs throughout the novel. For example, Offred contrasts the way she used to think about her body to the way she thinks about it now: ‘I used to thin of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplish of my will †¦ now the flesh arranges itself differently. I'm a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping. Where as in the story, Offred uses the flashbacks as a way of escaping, a more practical level Atwood uses them to reveal to the reader the reasons behind the current situation and how the novel possibly relates to our lives. One critic commented, â€Å"1the essential element of a cautionary tale is recognition†. The reader is very aware that Offred once lived a life similar to their own, this heightens their compassion towards the handmaid's and in some ways the novel acts as a warning, for what could potentially occur in our own future. By allowing us to see Offred's past and compare it with the life she has been forced to live now it is obvious how much destruction the regime has caused. For the novel to progress it is essential Atwood creates optimism, because Offred herself has to say positive in order to cope with the situations, she cannot give up therefore Atwood cannot let the reader think she has given up. Minor acts of rebellion are ways of showing the reader that the system has flaws, there is a gap and if Offered works hard enough she can get through the gaps in the system. For example, no communication is meant to happen between the handmaids and yet Offred and Moira find a way of talking through a hole in the wall, which poses as a hole in the system. However, Atwood creates the feeling of empowerment and hope through these rebellions but she never goes as far as to say there definitely is hope. It is possible that Offred is aware than any act of rebellion is simply a coping tactic and the regime will not fall, she will leave eventually and the regime will go on unshaken. Offred's relationship with the commander acts as â€Å"something else to think about†, as the reader we do not dwell on the state of the society as we are now concerned with the relationship Offred is forming, of course this is due to the narrative style of the novel, we are guided towards thinking about Offred and the commander because that is what Offred is thinking about and we are reading her thoughts, in the form of a dialogue to her audience. However it is ambiguous as the whether the commander forms an attachment with many of his handmaids, so Offred's relationship with Nick is far more pivotal to her story as it is as close as she could have to the sort of relationship she could have formed before the regime, the sort that she had with her husband Luke. The risk she eventually takes with him we know could be the end of her but at the time it's a chance for a better standard of life, of course again this could be perceived as Offred falling under the control of Gilead's regime by going out of her way to have a child and conforming to their rules. Gilead's destructive power is emphasised by showing the extremes it will force people to go to, to succumb to their demands. An essential part to the regime is the fact that everyone is a victim; everybody has had to sacrifice something and give up part of their old life. Even those that still have a small amount of control have given up more than they have gained. Serena Joy is portrayed as a malicious character by Offred, yet she has lost her relationship with her husband, she has no contact with anyone and has to live in a regime that has her husband sleeping with many different women. Atwood uses process and reconstruction when writing and the reader is often reminded that â€Å"truth† is only a matter of the teller's perspective. If the reader is never sure of the true details then they are allowed to picture the worst possible situations, and the best. Time shifts and short scenes add to the ambiguity of the story and the reader may question how factually based the story actually is and how true to life Offred's description of other characters are. Moira is a classic example, it could be she was never as strong or rebellious as Offred claimed she was, she was maybe a role model for Offred and her character was exaggerated because Offred need her role model to be strong. However it is not only the reader that is unsure of the truth, Offred has very little facts at her disposal. The only time the handmaid's are educated is when they are listening to the Bible being read or watching the â€Å"news. † In the same way the Ministry of Truth created the news in George Orwell's â€Å"1984† there is suggestion the news the handmaids are shown is fabricated. By acknowledging this fact Offred has rebelled against the regime. However she also accepts that â€Å"any news is better than none† and she simply has to believe the news because there is nothing else to go by. It is the only source of knowledge. Gilead's controls are so tight she is forced to believe what she hears. This too is similar to â€Å"1984† and the concept created by George Orwell of doublethink which is to acknowledge two conflicting truths at once. Offred accepts the news is probably false and yet she also believes it is true because she has to. This is similar to the relationship between the reader and the narrator; we accept that what here cannot be entirely true yet we have to believe it. Offred herself does not know what has happened to her daughter or her husband therefore she is able to cling on to the hope that they are alive, as it has not been confirmed otherwise. The reader does the same with Offred's existence at the end of the novel, we hope she is alive and the ambiguity of the ending allows us to do so. Quite often in the novel Atwood creates a sense of hope later to take it away again, or create optimism with an underlying tone of doubt. When Offred discovers the note in the cupboard â€Å"nolite te bastardes carborundorum† she is filled with hope, reading it as a message left for her by the last person that lived here, she is reading which she is not allowed to do as language has been abolished and this all adds to the positive feeling of going against the regime. However Offred then builds up the message to by more significant than it is and is let down when the commander translates it as â€Å"don't let the bastards grind you down. At the end, we discover that Offred's story was not founding the form of a manuscript but as a recording on a cassette player. This is confusing for the reader as the strict structure of the regime would not have made it possible to have access to a cassette player. One suggestion is that Offred did escape and managed to record her story at a later point. However even if Offred had been writing this would have been a constant form of rebellion, as language had been abolished. It has been suggested that Offred's storytelling is an act of resistance to Gilead, just as her tale itself is an act of resistance to masculinist fiction conventions, including that archetypal patriarchal text, the Old Testament. In many ways the historical notes are more essential to the meaning of the novel than Offred's story. On a positive note, the historical notes assure the reader that the regime of Gilead was overthrown and society returned to normal, Offred's story has been found in the form of cassette recordings, this suggests she did escaped and managed to get her writing on to tape. However, Offred's story is found but it is not heard or understood. Male historians have tried to impose their perception of it on to it and created a title for it. The regime has apparently not changed their sexist attitudes, history has taught them nothing. The professors are abusing Offred as Gilead did by removing her authority from the telling of her own story, they seem more worried at the fact there is nothing more about the Commander and his true identity. Ironically he does just what Offred predicts would happen to the story of the Handmaid's â€Å"from the point of view of future history, we'll be invisible. The modern day historians have depersonailised her just as much as the regime did by taking away her voice and forcing reader is brought into a second vision of the future and is forced to judge what they have just read. Atwood's historical notes satirise American society as it stands today, where as Gilead is based on an international range of models, which include not only historical examples but contemporary political carnage in Iran, Latin America and more recently Iraq and Afghanistan. Denay Nunavit† (deny none of it) seems to be Atwood's message out of the past to the future, giving the reader a sense of shared moral responsibility for our own futures. This is effective as the pre Gilead society is very similar to our own society today. The novel was first published in 1986 â€Å"the age of the R – strain syphilis and Aids epidemic† Aids had just being brought to the publics attention and there was a massive campaign to prevent it's spread. A second reason we are given for the need of a society such as Gilead was â€Å"various nuclear power plant accidents†¦ hemical and biological warfare, stock piles and toxic waste disposal sites† all readers will recognise these issues and can map them on to real life incidents such as Chernobyl. Similarly to â€Å"1984,† Atwood's novel seems to be an extension of real fears her audience would have had. This was noted by one reader who commented that: â€Å"what is especially meaningful is the fact that the book was published in the 80's, long before many of the concepts were as relevant as they are now. 2 Ironically once the regime has been abolished there is no longer the optimistic tone in Atwood's writing, suggesting that even though Gilead was destructive, the intention of the society was good and there was room for hope, however we can now see that life after Gilead reverted to pre Gilead ways and there has been no progression, development of understanding a nd this is a far more negative situation to be faced because it suggests man will never learn.

Definition and Examples of Testimony in Rhetoric

Testimony is a  rhetorical term for a persons account of an event or state of affairs. Etymology: from the Latin, witness Testimony is  of various kinds, said  Richard Whately in Elements of Rhetoric (1828), and may possess various degrees of force, not only in reference to its own intrinsic character, but in reference also to the kind of conclusion that it is brought to support. In his discussion of testimony, Whately examined the distinctions between matters of fact and matters of opinion, noting that there is often much room for the exercise of judgment, and for difference of opinion, in reference to things which are, themselves, matters of fact. Examples and Observations Four out of five dentists surveyed recommend Trident sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum! -(advertising claim made by Trident chewing gum)No wonder so many doctors now smoke and recommend King-Size Viceroys. -(advertising claim made in the 1950s by Viceroy cigarettes)One of the Soviet Georgias senior citizens thought Dannon was an excellent yogurt. She ought to know. Shes been eating yogurt for 137 years. -(advertising campaign for Dannon Yogurt)Extrinsic Proof as Testimony-  I define testimony as everything that is brought in and secured from some external circumstance for the purpose of gaining a conviction. The best witness, therefore, is one who has, or is perceived by the jury to have, authority. -(Cicero, Topica, 44 B.C.)- Cicero stated that all extrinsic proofs rely chiefly upon the authority granted by the community to those who make them (Topics IV 24). In other words, Cicero defined all extrinsic proof as testimony. In keeping with Ciceros remark, we might argue that facts are a kind of testimony since their accuracy depends upon the care taken by the person who establishes them as facts and upon his reputation in relevant communities, as well. -(Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, 3rd ed. Pearson, 2004)George Campbell on Evaluating Testimony (The Philosophy of Rhetoric, 1776)Although [George] Campbell does not provide a detailed discussion of the guidelines to be used in evaluating the reliability of a rhetors testimony, he does list the following criteria that may be used in corroborating or invalidating the claims of a witness: 1. The reputation of the author and the manner of his or her address.2. The nature of the fact attested.3. The occasion and disposition of the hearers to whom it was given.4. The design or motives of the witness.5. The use of concurrent testimony. When these criteria are met, and are consistent with experience, a high level of persuasion may be achieved. -(James L. Golden et al., The Rhetoric of Western Thought: From the Mediterranean World to the Global Setting, 8th ed. Kendall Hunt, 2003)Testimony of Condoleezza RiceOn August 6, 2001, over a month before 9/11, during the summer of threat, President Bush received a Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) at his Crawford, Texas ranch indicating that bin Laden might be planning to hijack commercial airliners. The memo was entitled Bin Laden Determined to Strike inside US, and the entire memo focused on the possibility of terrorist attacks inside the US. In testimony before the 9/11 Commission, Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor to President Bush, stated to the commission that she and Bush considered the August 6th PDB as just an historical document and stated that it was not considered a warning. -(D. Lindley Young, The Modern Tribune, April 8, 2004)Richard Whately on Matters of Fact and OpinionObserving that argument from testimony is related mostly to jurisprudence, [Richard] Whately [1787-1863] observes two kinds of Testimony that can be used to support the truth of a premise: testimony regarding matters of fact, in which a witness testifies to matters verified by the senses, and testimony regarding matters of opinion, in which a witness offers a judgment based on common sense or deduction. As a form of argument from signs, testimony convinces by presenting evidence of an effect from which a cause or condition can be inferred. -(Nan Johnson, Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric in North America. Southern Illinois University Press, 1991)The Testimony of WitnessesContemporary rhetoric includes a kind of testimony that was absent from ancient considerations: statements by persons who were physically present at an event. The authority of proximate witnesses derives not from their wisdom or their professional expertise but from the modern presumption that evidence provided by the senses is reliable and credible. . . .The worth of testimony offered by proximate witnesses must pass sever al tests. First, a witness must be in a position to observe the events in question. Second, conditions must be such that a witness can adequately perceive an event. Third, the witnesss state of mind at the time must be conducive to her accurate observation and reporting. If this is not the case, her testimony must be modified accordingly. Fourth, in keeping with modern faith in empirical evidence, testimony offered by a proximate witness is more valuable than evidence offered by someone who was not present. -(Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, 3rd ed. Pearson, 2004) Pronunciation: TES-ti-MON-ee