Management and Leadership Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Management and Leadership Development - Essay Example In this paper, Vodafone Group is used as a key case study for the application of theories in strategic human resource management that have been discussed earlier under literature review. As part of the application action, the key leadership and management issues in Vodafone group are going to be discussed as well as a critical review of the management development of Vodafone and how this is a contributing factor to the company’s five ranking on the list of Top 10 British Companies listed by market capitalization (Economic Help, 2012). The review shall clearly outline what Vodafone group is actually doing in terms of strategic human resource management and assign a general judgement as to whether or not the company has strategic human resource management strategy at all. Thereafter, there shall be a comparative assessment of the place of the strategic human resource management of Vodafone with theory to practice (Margit, 2011), after which general recommendations shall be given on the way forward to achieving a more enhanced corporate growth. Key leadership and management issues Leadership and management issues come in different forms and types within the Vodafone Group (Marek, 2011). Establishing considering the fact that the Vodafone Group employs some 86,373 people means that the company has a relatively larger scope of human resource issues to deal with than other companies because literature has actually showed that the human resource intensity of companies increase with increasing employee size (Schein, 1985). Among the number leadership and management issues in Vodafone however, three main issues shall be given attention, which are hiring, mentoring, and incentives. These are selected over the others because of the place these have in theory as the pivotal human resource issues for strategic organisational growth and development (Veiko, 2009). What is more, in the Vodafone Annual Report 2012, the company is emphatic about the role of these three ke y leadership and management issues to the success of the company. As seen in literature earlier, at Vodafone, there is a conscious effort by the top hierarchy of the company to clearly define what leaders need to do about these three issues, as well as what managers need to do. This way, there is a perfect harnessing of the human resource competence of the company and functions are not seen as overlapping (Pasmore, 2009). Management Development In terms of the critical issues identified as hiring, mentoring and incentives, the company does a number of things from a management theoretical perspective rather than a leadership theoretical perspective. For instance there is always a conscious effort to working towards alignment within the work team rather than just defining the company values (Gluck, Kaufman and Walleck, 1982). Using hiring as a typical example, Vodafone Group has an entire human resource management team that is made up of representatives and officers from all other dep artments of the company. This way, it is easier to align the needs of the company from all departments into a collective need of the company so that the hiring process will cater for the larger human capital inadequacies of the company (Waters, 1995). In effect, the hiring process at Vodafone Group is one that is done for corporate Vodafone and not one that is done

A Study About TK Maxxs Commerce Essay

A Study About TK Maxxs Commerce Essay The first T.K. Maxx opened in Bristol in 1994.[2] T.K. Maxxs United States parent company, T.J. Maxx, adopted the name T.K. Maxx to avoid confusion with the existing but separate discount chain T J Hughes[citation needed]. TK Maxx is part of TJX Europe headed by Paul Sweetenham as SEVP Group President. TJX Europe is split into four divisions: TK Maxx UK Ireland headed by Susanne Given, TK Maxx Germany headed by Gino Barrera, and HomeSense UK headed by Dave Alves. The fourth division is Shared Services which as the title suggests consists of shared services between the three trading divisions such as distribution, logistics, buying and finance. Each trading division has their own Human Resource, Marketing Loss Prevention departments to meet the individual needs of each division. In 2007, TK Maxx began a slowing down of new store openings within the UK. Focus was given to revamping older inner city stores or relocating them. Some of the chains first stores such as Bristol and Reading have been expanded and extensively refurbished while others such as Southampton, Cardiff and Hull have been relocated to bigger sites. As part of the businesses slow down of new stores, TK Maxx confirmed that they were only interested in opening stores averaging 30,000 sq ft. This decision saw the creation of the Maxx Maxx concept, a new department store format that saw TK Maxx get away from its pack it high, sell it cheap reputation into a large store format that sees a much larger product offer. Examples of Maxx Maxx store are Leeds The Headrow, Cardiff, Birmingham Bull Ring, Hammersmith, Manchester Market Street, Dundee Cork. We make daily deliveries to our stores and its essential that our fleet of trucks is as efficient and environmentally responsible as possible. Were working hard on innovative solutions to make our delivery process as green as it can be and here are just some of the ways were doing this already. For the first time ever, we have joined forces with Sainsburys to sell the exclusive Sport Relief T-shirt designed by the whole Beckham family and yes, that includes Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz. So far, over our 5 year partnership weve raised  £6.3 million for Comic Relief through Red Nose Day. Supporting Sport Relief through selling the T-shirt gives us both another opportunity to contribute financially to this fantastic cause and to grow an even stronger partnership. Half of the money from each T-shirt goes towards helping some of the most vulnerable people in the world so please visit us instore or online to buy your very own fantastic Sport Relief T-shirt. Welfare to work is a scheme designed to get people who have been out of work for a long time back into the workforce. Weve had an initial Education to Employment trial with Action for Children and we are now in the early stages of rolling out a specific programme to further develop this. Weve also extended our five year relationship with Remploy and continue to remain committed to making our own workplace more accessible for people with disabilities. P4 The fundamental economic problem in any society is to provide a set of rules for allocating resources and/or consumption among individuals who cant satisfy their wants, given limited resources. The rules that each economic system provides function within a framework of formal institutions (e.g., laws) and informal institutions (e.g., customs). What and how much will be produced? Literally, billions of different outputs could be produced with societys scarce resources. Some mechanism must exist that differentiates between products to be produced and others that remain as either unexploited inventions or as individuals unfulfilled desires. How will it be produced? There are many ways to produce a desired item. It may be possible to use more labor and less capital, or vice versa. For whom will it be produced? Once a commodity is produced, some mechanism must exist that distributes finished products to the ultimate consumers of the product. The mechanism of distribution for these commodities differs by economic system. P5 Until ten years ago the term Welfare Work was a phrase without meaning in the industrial world. Today it stands for a definite policy on the part of employers which may bring about the solution of many of the vexed problems of labor and capital. The leaven of this policy already has begun to work. A branch of welfare work through which the company has had a great influence on the people and the surroundings of the neighborhood is that of landscape gardening. At the time when welfare work was started the surroundings of the factory were like those of most industrial plants—anything but attractive. After the company has made its own property beautiful with lawns, shrubbery and vines, it taught the people of the neighborhood, by lectures and demonstrations, the principles of landscape gardening. As a result of this campaign of education the factory neighborhood has been change from a region of tumble-down houses, ash heaps and tin cans to a neighborhood of beautiful homes and well kept yards. P6 The impact of Macro-economic (Monetary and Fisca)l Policy on the economy There are some differences in the economic effects of monetary and fiscal policy, on the composition of output, the effectiveness of the two kinds of policy in meeting the governments macroeconomic objectives, and also the time lags involved for fiscal and monetary policy changes to take effect. We will consider each of these in turn: Effects of Policy on the Composition of National Output Monetary policy is often seen as something of a blunt policy instrument affecting all sectors of the economy although in different ways and with a variable impact. In contrast, fiscal policy can be targeted to affect certain groups (e.g. increases in means-tested benefits for low income households, reductions in the rate of corporation tax for small-medium sized enterprises, investment allowances for businesses in certain regions) Consider as an example the effects of using either monetary or fiscal policy to achieve a given increase in national income because actual GDP lies below potential GDP (i.e. there is a negative output gap) Monetary policy expansion: Lower interest rates will lead to an increase in consumer and business capital spending both of which increases national income. Since investment spending results in a larger capital stock, then incomes in the future will also be higher through the impact on LRAS. Fiscal policy expansion: An expansion in fiscal policy (i.e. an increase in government spending) adds directly to AD but if financed by higher government borrowing, this may result in higher interest rates and lower investment. The net result (by adjusting the increase in G) is the same increase in current income. However, since investment spending is lower, the capital stock is lower than it would have been, so that future incomes are lower. In UK lots of multinational organization are operating, Many people from different part of the world also visited in UK for different purposes, if the global economy fall the business of UK based company also fall down. As a result they faces difficulties to earn profit and ultimately the shareholders suffer. P7 Perfect Competition: A market is said to be perfectly competitive when firms perceive that they individually have no noticeable influence on market price. The outcome in such an industry is efficient in the sense that the cost of the last unit of output (marginal cost) would just equal what consumers would be willing to pay for that unit. Perfect competition is a regarded as a benchmark market structure for evaluating other market structures. Market Structure and Competition: The market structures tells us about the environment within which an enterprise functions and the nature of external pressure on the enterprise. The elements of market structure that we look at are concentration ratio, stability of market shares, conditions of entry and exit of firms. FDI Policy Stability of Markets Shares A limitation of the above summary measures of concentration is that they ignore the dynamic changes in the market shares of individual firms. Market shares of dominant firms may increase or decline over time. Greater churning of market shares in given market suggests greater intensity of competition. P8 Market forces and organizational Response: Organizations always responses positively toward market forces. P9 Company Summary: This section presents the key facts figures, business description, and products services offered by the company. Major Competitors: This section first selects the competitors based on assets, sales, focus of business, or geographic reach. Then all the competitors are profiled. Key Business Strategies of Each Competitor: It talks about the current and future strategies of each company. All business, marketing, financial and organizational strategies are discussed here. Comparative SWOT Analysis: Our comparative SWOT analysis is a valuable step in assessing your companys and you competitors strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It offers powerful insight into the critical issues affecting a business. Comparative Financial Analysis: This section compares the recent financials of the company and its competitors. The financial performance of each segment of all the companies is also discussed here. The objective is to evaluate the financial health of the company vis-à  -vis its competitors. The stock price comparison helps us in evaluating the performance of the company position versus its competitors from an investors viewpoint. There is an important role for tobacco control advocates in the policy development process in regulatory agencies. P10 The buying and selling of goods and services across national borders is known as international trade. International trade is the backbone of our modern, commercial world, as producers in various nations try to profit from an expanded market, rather than be limited to selling within their own borders. There are many reasons that trade across national borders occurs, including lower production costs in one region versus another, specialized industries, lack or surplus of natural resources and consumer tastes. One of the most controversial components of international trade today is the lower production costs of â€Å"developing† nations. Both the United States and the European Union have imposed severe restrictions on imports from Asian nations to try to stem this tide. Clearly, a company that can pay its workers the equivalent of dollars a day, as compared to dollars an hour, has a distinct selling advantage. P11 Consultation with UK SME representative bodies on domestic and European matters consistently shows that the main issue for their members is regulation. The 2007 EU Observatory Survey found that 36% of SMEs within Europe reported that regulations acted as a constraint or had presented difficulties in the previous two years. Whilst progress has been at the EU level, for example on the promotion of the â€Å"Think Small First† principle and the European Commissions commitment to reduce administrative burdens by 25%, we believe a much more ambitious set of measures should be introduced Another important issue is access to finance, where we believe action should be focused on improving the demand side, in particular investment readiness, and the supply of modest amounts of finance for entrepreneurs who, for various reasons, are deemed to be a higher risk. In order to grow, SME must also have access to new markets. Generally, exporting firms have been found to benefit from greater productivity growth than non-exporters. P12 The UK has to make a decision on membership of EMU in the next two years. The monetary and fiscal regimes in the Euro Area and in the UK do not differ greatly. However, we argue that membership of EMU will increase the stability of the economy and the credibility of the policy framework, and hence will enhance the prospects for growth and higher incomes and employment.

Free Essays - Impatience and Disrespect in Oedipus the King (Rex) :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

Impatience and Disrespect in Oedipus the King A bad attitude causes most fights between people. People showing disrespect by saying hurtful or crazy words without thinking them through upsets almost everyone. In the play, Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, Oedipus was trying to find the murderer of his predecessor, King Laius. In doing so, Oedipus' impatience caused quarrels that brought out his paranoia and hot-temper. Oedipus' impatience was flagrant during his search for Laius' assassin. Oedipus threatened the citizens of Thebes, the city in which Oedipus ruled, to come forward if they knew anything about the murder of Laius. "I order you, every citizen of the state where I hold throne and power: banish this man-whoever he may be-never shelter him, never speak a word to him, never make him partner to your prayers, your victims burned to gods..."(172). Oedipus was impatient to find Laius, and in his impatience he had no toleration for citizens hiding the criminal, even though the criminal was himself. Later on, Oedipus called on Tiresias, a blind prophet, to help find Laius' killer. Oedipus was trying to force Tiresias to tell the story that Tiresias was hiding. "Nothing! You, you scum of the earth, you'd enrage a heart of stone! You won't talk? Nothing moves you? Out with it, once and for all!"(178). Oedipus was so impatient with Tiresias that he insulted and degraded Tiresias. After speaking with Tiresias, Oedipus had a contention with his wife's brother, Creon. Oedipus had proclaimed Creon the assassin of Laius and created the plot of Creon's supposed wrongdoing. Oedipus exclaimed, "Then leave me alone-get out!"(198). Oedipus would not accept any other idea than Creon being the killer, so when Creon tried to defend himself, Oedipus grew impatient and sent Creon away. Oedipus' impatience was the spark for his paranoia. Without his impatience, Oedipus would not have jumped to so many harsh, offensive, and paranoid conclusions. Oedipus' paranoia estranged him from people he was close to. One of the main examples of Oedipus' paranoia was the discussion he had with Tiresias. Oedipus came up with ideas in his head that Tiresias was more than what he seemed. "Oh I'll let loose, I have such fury in me-now I see it all.

Literacy Essay Essay

For as long as I can remember literature has always played an important role in my life. As a young child, I can remember how excited I’d be at story time each night before bed. My interest in literature carried on throughout my school years†¦ from kindergarten†¦ when I was placed in the red bird group, which was the group of strongest readers†¦. to high school†¦when I had the benefit of being taught by one of the best English teachers ever, Ms. Irena King. Now as an adult and professional, I am very appreciative of the literary foundation that was laid for me by my family and my teachers. I understand how important literacy is in everyday life. First, as a young child, literacy played a very important role in my life even before I could read. I was always fond of books of all kinds. Coloring books, magazines, and picture books†¦I loved them all. I remember each trip to the grocery store; I would always get a new â€Å"Little Golden Book†. I absolutely had to have the entire collection and would want them read to me each night before bed. My favorite of this collection was â€Å"The Gingerbread Man†. I would sit for hours and look at the pictures. My mother would often encourage me to keep an interest in books. She always kept a subscription of â€Å"Highlights Magazine† for me and I would watch the mail each day in hopes that a new issue had arrived. As I grew older, my love for books did not change, but the type of books I wanted did. I had the largest collection of â€Å"Sweet Valley High† books and was a faithful subscriber to â€Å"Fresh Magazine†. I think that these are some of my fondest memories from my childhood, and I am so appreciative of my family’s support of my passion for reading. Next, my interest for literature carried on from my early years to my school years. This was very evident when I started kindergarten. I vividly remember there were different groups within our kindergarten class.

Cultural Dimensions Essay

Culture is one of those terms that have no specific definition because of its diverse nature. It can be looked at from any point of view. However, a basic definition that includes all the important aspects of a culture is ‘the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations’ (Webster, 2008). Culture is very important if one wants to study a society. It can tell a lot about different aspects of the society and this is the reason why different countries deal with issues differently. This paper will outline and discuss the cultures of China, Saudi Arabia and United States of America and will show how, because of differences in cultures, issues like strategy, team communications, influence tactics, conflict management etc are dealt differently in these countries. Towards the end, recommendations to avoid cross cultural differences will be outlined. United States of America The population of United States of America is very diverse. It has people from many backgrounds. However in general, the American culture is said to be one of the most individualistic culture in the world. This means that people are less integrated in forms of groups. They do not depend on each other and are more concerned about themselves than about others. The country also has a higher than world average score for masculinity. This means that there is differentiation between genders to some extent in the American culture. On the other hand, the score in power distance dimension shows that there are not many differences in societal levels. This can be seen in organizational, family or governmental settings. People expect that power will be distributed equally to a greater extent even if someone is lower in the level of hierarchy. Besides this, the score on uncertainty avoidance is also lower than the world average. This means that people are tolerant to uncertainty and there are few rules and regulation present to control results (Hofstede, 2003). One important characteristic about the work culture in United States is that hard work and integrity is appreciated and also, punctuality is valued. Both mean and women are expected to dress according to the surroundings, situation and weather. The culture does not promote or support gift giving in business as it may be considered as bribe (International Business Center, 2003). As mentioned above, because of the cultures individualistic nature, privacy is valued. The lifestyle in general is causal and informal. Americans believe in voicing their opinions and although this direct speaking is sometimes considered as rude in other cultures, it is totally normal among Americans (American Graduate Education, 2007). From the above details, we can tell a lot about how issues like strategy, team communications, influence tactics and conflict management get affected. Since people believe in voicing their opinions, the strategy is usually bold. In addition to this, since any kind of strategy requires its actors to put in all the effort they can possible put in. Be it in an organization, government or even in one’s personal life. The team communication is very effective because of the low power distance characteristic and informal nature of the American culture. The belief that the power distributed to everyone is equal and the informal nature in groups inhibits any kind of barrier in effective teamwork. Gift giving or anything close to bribery is considered very insulting and inappropriate therefore this approach is not widely used in influence tactics. Conflict management is usually done openly without an arbitrator or a third party (American Graduate Education, 2007). As mentioned above, Americans believe in voicing their opinions so this plays a major role in conflict management strategies used nationwide. In order to remove the communication barriers, in my opinion, one would not have to change much about himself because of the presence of a diverse cultures in the population. However, it is suggested that English is used to communicate any kind of verbal information as this is understood and accepted by almost everyone (American Graduate Education, 2007). Regarding dressing, one is suggested to dress appropriately considering the time of the day, weather, occasion and gathering. China Now we come to the Chinese culture. The culture of the people of China is very different from the American culture just discussed above and it is said to be the exact opposite of the America culture. In fact, the Chinese culture is very different, unique and peculiar if one compares it with the rest of the cultures in the world. It is difficult to understand for those who are not a part of it however one does not need to completely understand it before blending in (Think Quest, 1998). We will now look into this in detail. We can prove the above hypothesis correct by comparing the individualism dimension of the American and Chinese cultures. Unlike the America culture, the people of china are very collectivistic. They are integrated tightly, they look after each other and they are highly dependable on the people around them. This can be seen in their family structures and organization values etc. Both the Chinese and American cultures are similar when it comes to the Masculinity dimension. They both score approximately 68 on a scale of 1 to 100. This again is higher than the world average which means that there are slightly more differences between genders in the Chinese culture compared to the rest of the world. The uncertainty avoidance is slightly higher than United States which means people are more tolerable to not have complete information as compare to the American culture. The fourth dimension of Power Distance is also quite higher than the United States meaning that people expect more differences in organizational hierarchies. The American score on Power distance was 45 while the Chinese score is 85 therefore one can imagine the amount of differences in the structures of organizations, governmental institutions and families etc. One major difference is in the long term orientation dimension of the two cultures. While the American culture was more on the lower side of this dimension, the Chinese culture is known to have the highest ranking factor when it comes to long term orientation. These means that people tend to overcome obstacles with time and not with will and strength (Hofstede, 2003). Some other important details of the Chinese culture include being used to the communist form of government. The Chinese culture is very hospitable and accepts people from all backgrounds. Since there is no one particular religion that is followed in the country, anyone can adjust easily (International Business Center, 2003). All these cultural characteristics largely influence many issues in business. For instance any strategy usually requires everyone to stick together and work collectively because of the collectivistic nature of the culture and also teamwork is very effective as people realize that they are dependent on each other. However, because of high power distance, both strategy and team communication is affected. Communication within team becomes more broken as it has to be passed through several levels of hierarchy. The cultural values are imbedded in the he influence tactics. For example these tactics project the idea of togetherness as it is evident from their advertisements that promote family ties and bonds etc (Lin, 2001). The approach to conflict management is including a third party to settle issues. In order to remove the communication barriers, a few things need to be kept in mind. Firstly, it is suggested to not use too much of hand movements as this distracts the audience. Besides this, there are other non verbal gestures that must be avoided. For instance pointing finger may be considered rude therefore such things must be kept in mind in order to ensure effective communication. English is understood widely in the corporate world therefore this is preferred after Chinese of course (International Business Center, 2003). Saudi Arabia Now we will start discussion on the culture of the last country of the paper. This country has also been selected to be studied because of its different and unique culture. The Chinese and Arabian Cultures are similar in the power distance dimension of their cultures. Unlike the American Cultures, the high power distance ranking indicates the inequality of wealth throughout the Arab world. Because of this, the rich of course have more power than the poor. The uncertainty avoidance dimension of the Arabian culture is also very different from the Chinese and the American cultures. While the Chinese and Americans ranked lower than world average on the uncertainty avoidance ranking, the Arabian culture has a higher score in this dimension. Meaning that people do not tolerate uncertainty at all and this can be the reason why there are so many rules, policies and regulations are implemented in the country. Surprising as it may sound, the Arabian culture scored low on the masculinity dimension considering all the restrictions on the Arabian women etc. The score was 52 which is only slightly higher than the world average. The reason for low masculinity ranking could be that all the restrictions on the women of the country are because of the religion and not the culture. The Arabian culture, like the Chinese culture, is more collectivistic. It had an average ranking of 38 which is way lower than that of the American culture and also the world average for that matter. This means people prefer to stick together and remain integrated (Hofstede, 2003). The Arabic culture is largely shaped by its history and religion (Saudi Embassy, 2006). Therefore history, religion and language are valued the most in the Arabian culture. These cultural characteristics affect many practical issues. The strategy devised by Arabs in any situation usually calls for people to remain cohesive. Also because of high uncertainty avoidance, there are many rules, regulations and policies that must be followed. Because of high power distance, like the Chinese culture, effective team communication is affected. But on the other hand, this is compensated for because of collective nature of the culture. The influence tactics are devised keeping the religion in mind. Anything such as bribery or use of women models in advertisements are avoided because this is against Islam. Conflicts are also managed according to the rules of Shari’ah which is the Islamic or Sacred Law (Hooker, 1996). Also, because of the collectivistic nature of the culture a third party is often included in managing conflicts. There are many cultural traits that must be kept in mind in order to improve communication. Firstly, one must keep in mind that during communication, anything he says or does not offend or insult Islam. The people are very sensitive when it comes to the religion therefore one must dress, talk and behave appropriately. There are certain non verbal gestures that are considered offensive such as the thumbs up sign and crossing of legs etc. Therefore one should avoid these. Arabic is preferred by the people there therefore it is preferred is one communicates or at least uses some words from Arabic. One must not ask too many questions are the inquisitive one is considered as the most unimportant and lastly, if an Arab offers a gift, not accepting it may be considered offensive (International Business Center, 2003). References American Graduate Education (2007) U. S. American Culture & Values. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from American Graduate Education. Web site: http://www. americangraduateeducation. com/folder2/subfolder2/americanculture. htm Hofstede, G. (2003). China- Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from Geert Hofstede. Web site: http://www. geert-hofstede. com/hofstede_china. shtml Hofstede, G. (2003). United States of America- Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from Geert Hofstede. Web site: http://www. geert-hofstede. com/hofstede_united_states. shtml Hofstede, G. (2003). Arab World- Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from Geert Hofstede. Web site: http://www. geert-hofstede. com/hofstede_arab_world. shtml Hooker, R. (1996) Shari’ah- Sacred law. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from Washington State University. Web site: http://www. wsu. edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/SHARIA. HTM International Business Center. (2003). China. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from Cybor Link. Web site: http://www. cyborlink. com/besite/china. htm International Business Center. (2003). United States of America. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from Cybor Link. Web site: http://www. cyborlink. com/besite/us. htm International Business Center. (2003). Saudi Arabia. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from Cybor Link. Web site: http://www. cyborlink. com/besite/saudi-arabia. htm Lin, C, A. (2001) Cultural values reflected in Chinese and American television advertising. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from All Business. Web site: http://www. allbusiness. com/professional-scientific/advertising-related-services/836806-1. html Merriam Webster (2008) Culture. Retrieved 1 Oct, 2008, from Merriam Webster. Web site: http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/culture%5B1%5D Saudi Embassy. (2006) Culture. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from Saudi Embassy. Web site: http://www. saudiembassy. net/Country/Culture/Cul. asp Think Quest (1998) Destiny, the Culture of China. Retrieved Oct 1, 2008, from Think Quest. Web site: http://library. thinkquest. org/20443/living. html