System Modeling & Requirement Analysis Essay Example for Free

System Modeling Requirement Analysis Essay a)Discuss the strengths and the limitation of the traditional systems development life cycle (SDLC). Systems development life cycle or software development life cycle is a conceptual model. The systems development life cycle describes the stages in an information system development project (Marios Alexandrou 2011, para.1) which from begin till the end and maintenance of system. The objectives of traditional systems development life cycle are to ensure end-state solutions meet user requirement in support of business strategies goals (FrankKlucznik 2006, para.1) and provides detailed guides of all aspect of system development or scope to managers. Commonly, the traditional systems development life cycle has 5 phases. First phase is planning which identify and analysis what to do. Second is analysis, analyse the requirement of system. Third is design the usability, detail and architectural of system. Next is implementation or programming through software testing and testing code. The last is support to maintain the system. Strengths The traditional systems development life cycle is familiar and easy model to develop a system. This is because the most of designers and programmers familiar with traditional systems development life cycle. Besides that, many people understand and easy to learn the approach of traditional systems development life cycle which the steps are clearly outlined (Tayntor Christine B 2007). The traditional systems development life cycle is a systematic approach, so the software or system is created or a well planned pattern (Greekinterview 2008). Using traditional systems development life cycle approach in development of system will organise and manage the task for the system clearly and organised. The traditional systems development life cycle that emphasises on project control creates formal documentation. The formal documentation ensures the system requirement can be traced back to state business. The formal documentation also records the phases of traditional systems development life cycle, then the managers can used to maximise management control and used as references for next creation of system. During the traditional systems development life cycle, it creates many intermediate products during the phases of systems development. These intermediate products will be reviewed by both managers and users. The intermediate products tested by users or customers to check whether the system meets their requirements. The traditional systems development life cycle was useful for building large and complex system. The large and complex system requires a lot of plan and traditional systems development life cycle approach can solve these problems. The traditional systems development life cycle approach was highly structure and well-defined. Therefore, the system can be planned properly by using traditional systems development life cycle approach. Limitation However, the traditional systems development life cycle is a time consuming approach. Since the traditional systems development life cycle at least has 5 phases to create a system. Each phase requires a few days till some months to complete it. So it takes a few months or years to create system when run these phases for creation of system. In addition, it takes time to create documentation which need record the process of each phase. The traditional systems development life cycle is a costly or expensive approach for system development. Each phase of the approach requires a lot of money. The costs that used in each phase are the error of the process, cost for process and cost for experts that run the phase of the approach. Documentation in traditional systems development life cycle is costly to create because it needs to create in each phase and maintain the documentation. The traditional systems development life cycle may create generation of unnecessary document (Tayntor Christine B 2007). It will happen when people followed the process of each phase slavishly. These mostly happen to the inexperienced managers and staff that believe that all the processes are required to be documentation. The traditional systems development life cycle is an inflexible approach to develop a system where it hard and lack of responds to change of system development. Cutter (2000) states the traditional system development life cycle is full-short in the new e-business environment. They (traditional systems development life cycle) are unable to keep up with fast-paced ever-changing e-business project. Therefore these approach cannot use for easy creep scope of system development. The other limitation in traditional systems life cycle is the customer or user is involved only periodically (Tayntor Christine B 2007) in phase of the system development. The traditional systems development life cycle was mainly participant in the developing system while the users or customers only test the product at the end and less chances to give feedback for the system development. This may lead misunderstanding between designers, programmers, managers and customers about the requirements and functions of the system to be made.

Impact of Employee Relations in Banks

Impact of Employee Relations in Banks Employee relationship management find conflict among employees as major drawback for organization to progress with its endeavors. Most of the time conflicts occur due to different cultures that people come from and less knowledge on Johari window way by the theory help people to work through their stereo types. Another reason for conflict is the of work, for example some employee are task oriented and other have artistic view and people oriented i.e. task oriented employee would want to finish the job in whatever manner but an artistic employee would prefer to do the job in particular manner or include certain individual. Employee performance and motivation problems Performance of the employee can play a major role for success or failure. Employees under performing would cost the organization fortune especially in a banking industry where competition is increasing every day. Employee poor performance could be caused by two main issues, first, is the employee skilled enough to handle the task? has the company motivated the employee in question enough to handle pressure the task present? and is the employee capable to do the job? Secondly, another cause is the system to do the task for instance managerial behavior, effect of coworkers behavior and resource distribution. http://performance-appraisals.org/faq/causesproblems.htm Unmotivated employee will not positively influence the performance of the banks. To bring about good performance everyone has to give all the effort to the organization and more importantly they should be motivated. Employee becomes unmotivated because the banks processes are too ambiguous hence providing a lot hardship, the bank is experiencing continuous conflict and behavior effect. Turnover and retention concerns This is another employee relation challenges that also especially banks encounter. Generally turnover causes are economic issue and labor market condition they affect significantly the turnover rate. But also non-competitive compensation, poor fit of employee and the job, very poor working condition and monotony increases employee turnover. Employee more often may seek for better green pasture to improve their living standard. Sometime some employee find the job to be too monotonous hence their morale goes down and as result affect the performance of the organization. Turnover cost for many banks are very high which include direct cost such as recruitment, selection and training of the new employees. Indirect cost include reduced productivity, increased of workload for remaining employee as they have to cover and overtime expense for the colleague. http://www.romeroconsulting.com/example_employee_relations_issues.htm Overcoming employee relations challenges For turnover and retention problems most banks conduct training on their employees so that for example the job becomes less monotonous and challenging. Banks that have low employee turnover they are said to be employee oriented and they come up with well compensation package they always hire the right people for the job. An interaction with the employees regularly is required so that the manager can understand they core problems. Distribution of right resource to perform task can increase performance of employees and reward systems can always boost morale of employees. The employer should come with new approaches and practical tips for the banks success. Employee relations in collaboration with human resource management can avoid conflict before they happen by understanding and identifying the strength and weakness of the employees. Employers should assign jobs to employees that fit their skill sets. For team conflict employer should pick a team leader who is capable to handle pressure that teammate present. Banks should see if the employees who are involved in conflict are affecting the performance and productivity of the organization, once the parties involved in the conflict are identified then it will be easy to solve problems. http://www.ehow.com/how_2076427_address-poor-employee-performance.html Advantage of maintaining good employee relation in banks There are advantages for organization good relationship with its employees apart from increase the general performance; the company will also enjoy the following. Reduced Absenteeism For many banks in Tanzania, they have managed their employees with authoritarian style whereby absenteeism of the employee will not be tolerated. This is because many banks in Tanzania are privately owned hence even the unions cannot bring total impact on any companys wrong doing. Therefore good employee relation will bring benefits to the bank by reducing the cause that mounts absenteeism such as continuous employee conflict and job satisfaction. Improving motivation and morale A good employee relation in banks would be able to increase motivation and morale. A motivated group of employee would be able to bring very beneficial result that most banks are always relishing to accomplish. By avoiding things that would discourage motivation this is a hard-working process but very crucial to the success of the business. We have witnessed most banks in Tanzania have provided their employees with a positive working environment. Also personal incentives always do trick of raising employees motivation and morale. Loyalty is increased Most banks in Tanzania have managed to gain loyalty from their employees as most banks have been able to install good procedure that suit employees specification. Employees would not be certain if they leave what they experience from other banks. Bank that trains its employees more often will be able to increase confidence of employees and hence increase their loyalty to the company. The bank would be able to get competitive edge if employees are engaged. Engaged employees would take less sick day as they know they influence in the organization. Reducing turnover Good employee relation will reduce the employee turnover as the employee issues that contribute to employee turnover are eliminated. Skilled employees who are not paid well would want to move on, but a good employee relationship management will not let that happen. The employee will be given what he/she needs since they are crucial to the banks performance. Employee relationship management would be able to have saved recruitment and selection cost that would come as result of high rate employee turnover. Losing the most skilled employees to competitors its like giving out your own gun to be shot with. Introduction of easy working practices Committed employees would feel unchallenged on the on the repetitive job each and every day. Monotonous working practice would reduce the performance of the employee as they do not feel motivated well enough. A good bank employee relation would introduce new and easy working practice more often. By doing this the bank would be able to increase the banks output. Additionaly, the new practice would be able to consider not waste companys resources. Hence employees will be more committed thus affecting the quality of service from banks and reduces rejections. http://www.citehr.com/1324-advantage-maintaining-good-employee-relations.html#axzz1BRG1N0zU Disadvantage of incompetent employee relation in banks Sometime most banks fail to tackle problems that relate to employee relation due to the following reason: Employee relationship management letting the union to get a lot of power would deprive the banks ability to succeed as the unions would control the organization position. After the company has realized what is happening then it will be too late. As we have learned that some trade union bring political agenda that they want to champion so that the society can recognized that there is a problem. Therefore employee relation should not union grow its power to influence the fortune of banks but acquire mutual interest for all parties involved. Banks that have set up employee relationship management will incur extra cost from the department. Sometimes employee relation does not live to the expectations in such a way that the problems that should be solved by it are still roaming within the organization. The division is supposed to monitor workplace challenges before the union does and solve them before they become a nuisance to the organization. Therefore any failure to tackle means unnecessary costs have been incurred by the banks. Single employer bargaining can be expensive because of the need to maintain a centralized employee relation. For single employer bargaining, there is inflexibility and makes it hard to accommodate difference in production systems, the service markets, labor market and technologies within centralized bargaining systems. It could also be hard to integrate new businesses within employee relation systems. For employee relation to be effective it requires very effective communication in company. The level of management decision making will increase if the employee relationship management work independently as a result reducing the employee commitment to these decision and local management. (David Farnham, pg 236) For workplace bargaining, it employee relationship management complicates labor cost control. As this is a bargaining that occurs between the management and union representatives, there are high chances of increasing the danger of wage parity by the unions. Also it requires management to put its best people who have negotiation skills to neutralize the effort of union to have an upper hand on the outcome of negotiation. Conclusion In this second easy we have taken analytical view towards employee relation and its real impact on banking sector in the case of Tanzania where we dont have many of public owned bank where union can also have an impact. We gave seen how globalization has also brought some problems and fortune to the banking industry. New venture have realized due to globalization for instance the transfer of banking technology to Tanzania form abroad is one factor that globalization has inspired banking industry to progress. On the other hand, the coming of technology would raise concerns over employee job security. The aim of banks to bring new technology is sometimes to cut down cost in the long-run, so this will obviously raise concerns towards employee who fear for their job. The essay went further to look on the recognition of unions in Tanzania banks and we realized that in Tanzania they very less banks that can be influenced by trade union since many of them are privately owned. The only trade union that employee relations have been able to interact with is Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) where bank such as Tanzania postal bank employee can real much on TUCTA. The impact of trade unions in banking industry profitability is very high. So banks should come with approaches that would manage the unions in a way that they do not impact negatively on the performance of the organization. We have look on approaches such as Unitarist, pluralist, Marxist and adversarial approach. It is also indicated that employee relation should much be governed by agreements, rules and regulation to handle unions. As we have realized that not only external factor that are important to organization success but also internal constraint are also crucial to the companies and therefore they should be managed very well using appropriate management styles. It seemingly appears that privately owned banks use authoritarian way of managing to handle internal issues affecting the banks. Other management styles include opportunist and Paternalistic. Recommendation This is very important aspect of business and especially in banking industry. Banks should consider taking employee relations very seriously as employees are part and parcel of the organization success or failure. New innovative ideas should be brought forward so that business process and practice could be made simple thus improving organization performance. Employee relationship management in collaboration with human resource they should come up with ways that will resolve dispute in more modern way even without involvement of trade unions. The management should assess employee relation future trend and research on the potential findings that can be applied in third world countries e.g. Tanzania. The influence of technology should not be left untouched as technology will play a big part in the future employee relation success. The employee relation view should be much flexible to tackle issues that have not been resolved yet with management. Employee relation should help in avoiding unnecessary problems such poor working condition. These are problems that union is working to abolish them but on the other hand they problems that increase unnecessary cost than if they had been tackled beforehand. Employer should engage employee in activities or even during decision making process so that they can be more motivate and very loyal to the org anization this should incorporate they payment structure and other compensation packages which seem to be the most coveted things by employees.

Priceline.com Essay -- Economics Case Study e-commerce, solution

Priceline.com Priceline.com is an Internet company that pioneered a unique type of e-commerce known as â€Å"demand collection system† that enables consumers to use the Internet to save money on a wide range of products and services while enabling sellers to generate incremental revenue. Using a simple and compelling consumer proposition of â€Å"name your price,† the consumer is in control of the product they wish to purchase. In the form of individual customer offers guaranteed by a credit card for a particular product or service at a price set by the customer and communicate that demand directly to the participating sellers or to their private databases. The company works by allowing the consumers to agree to hold their offers open for a specified period of time to enable priceline.com to fulfill their offers from inventory provided by participating sellers. Once fulfilled, offers generally cannot be canceled. By requiring consumers to be flexible with respect to brands, sellers and/or product features, the company enables sellers to generate incremental revenue without disrupting their existing distribution channels or retail pricing structures. The company is grounded on the assumption of â€Å"rational self-interest.† In other words, since individuals make rational decisions to achieve the greatest satisfaction or the maximum fulfillment of their goals, Priceline.com has now revolutionized the market industry. By their ‘name and lock your price† strategy, more and more consumers have been able to maximize their satisfaction on differentiated products. The consumers want to spend their incomes to get the greatest benefit from the goods and services they can afford. Priceline.com helps them to achieve their goals. Since the inception of this internet-based company, millions of consumers were able to afford more with less expenditure on their goods. In addition, rational behavior varies among every individual because individual preferences, circumstances, and available information differ. Priceline.com offers various or â€Å"differentiated goods and services† in a broad range of products to purch ase from. â€Å"E-Commerce Pioneer Priceline.com Sells 20,000 Leisure Airline Tickets In Six Weeks.† As ticket sales accelerated, priceline.com has become one of the nation’s top 10 most-visited commerce Web sites. In it’s first six weeks of operation, pricelin... ...e expected rate of return is far greater than the interest invested in producing advertisement. Moreover, they expect companies to support their business strategy so the other companies in return can generate greater revenue as well. Conclusively, Priceline.com has brought an exciting and provides other businesses with inspiration to follow their strategies. Many consumers have benefited from this Internet Company and as a result have saved money to spend on other wants. Now we have the option of choosing a price and giving countless vendors the chance to bid. For better or worse, this could transform the way we think of shopping, as well as the way in which we do it. Conceivably, it could alter the nature of balance and power between vendors and consumers. In addition, it restructures long-standing capitalistic business and sales traditions. This new business model appears to have the potential to give enormous new powers to people who want to buy things, since their price is being offered to many thousands, even millions, of possible sellers. The new business method venture is successful and it opens the doors for consumers who are tired of the fixed prices they have to pay.

The Role of Dreams in Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses Essay exa

The Role of Dreams in Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses Works Cited Missing Cormac McCarthy All the Pretty Horses depicts the American romanticized view of the west. John Grady, emerging from a dilapidated family ventures out on a journey in pursuit of his dream of the cowboy lifestyle. Through out the novel there is a constant tension between John Grady destiny or fate and the nature of his dreams. Dreams keep the dreamer from reality and because they are unreal, they paralyze the dreamer’s reality. Nonetheless, they motivate his journey through Mexico. The different roles that his dreams play depict the different characters that John Grady assumes: the Texas teenager, the lover, the prisoner and the man. John Grady’s dreams are as complex as his character. Without ambition or dream, life is purposeless. Naturally, John leaves the comfort of his home with the intention of discovering the purpose of his life which is mapped out in his dream. Through John Grady’s adventure McCarthy suggests the necessity for boys to leave the comfort of their homes in order to become men. Indeed, oriented by his dream of becoming a cowboy, John Grady experiences harsh realities, especially whilst imprisoned in the Mexican jail. Here is life is constantly under threat. Ultimately, John Grady kills his attacker. The act of killing symbolizes his transition to manhood. John Grady’s imprisonment infers that dreams have consequences that are not always pleasant. Although ambition provides the map for life, it does not eliminate the consequences of actions taken towards the achievement of that goal. Ambition, goal and fantasy are all an intricate part of his life that shapes his destiny. John Grady believes in a fixed destiny, he... ... become of them.† Staying true to his identity as an American, John Grady extends his â€Å"possibilities.† His hardships are not an â€Å"end† only misfortunes. Dreams are often thought of as unreal and as viable modes for escaping reality; however, for John Grady dreams are an extension of his reality. Dreams extend his life through different roles: dreams as ambition, as fantasies and as an unconscious act during sleep. His dreams enable the reader to understand John Grady character as his expresses openly his aspirations in his dreams. A person’s aspirations are frequently in conflict with their reality. Likewise dreams can be in conflict with ones destiny. Nonetheless, there is blurred difference between the nature of dreams and reality. The complexity of life transforms itself into our dreams, thus dreams enable the dreamer to re-evaluate life his or life destiny.

Anna and Emma and the arts :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The arts, in many different forms, played a major role in the events and outcomes of both Emma’s and Anna’s life. The arts impacted major decisions in both of the characters lives. Whether it was an initial spark or a driving force, art played many roles.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even though they initially met at the train station, the met once again at a ball they both attend. While they were at the ball they fell into their routine of dancing and socializing. Vronsky sought out Anna when he saw her but when they finally came together for the first time, that would be the beginning of the end for Anna. They were in the moment and the music helped put both of them in a trance with each other. This was the first time that the arts were involved in Anna and Vroksky coming together. This ball caused Anna great excitement inside her but also caused some pain to Kitty. When Kitty saw them together she knew, right at that moment, she had lost Vronsky to Anna. She apologized to Dolly for any hurt feelings that may have arose at the ball with Kitty. I think that underneath her talk with Dolly, Anna enjoyed the affect that she had on Vronsky. When she finally returns home from the exciting ball, her life at home does not excite her as she thought i t would.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These balls and types of parties are something that were normal to Anna. In her class, society, and near friends, these events are of everyday occurrence. The only art that Anna takes part in is only the best her class has available to her. She is very high in status in her marriage with Karenina. They have a status and look to uphold. They drag each other to these great dancing balls or enormous parties and drink and talk about the same old thing every time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vronsky knows about this type of class enough to know the right person who knows the right people. It was all about who you were friends with and who you were connected with. The society of balls and parties was the preference for Anna. Vronsky knew they would meet at these types of events. Vronsky played the arts the right way to conquer his â€Å"fair maiden.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anna also has a chance to see Vronsky in a different way when they went to the races.

Causes of the Boer War

There were significant political conflicts between the two sides. The Boers treated all blacks very badly and did not give basic human rights even to the blacks working for them. They made them pay taxes but could not vote. It was said to be through religious reasons that the Boers treated blacks so badly. This awful treatment infuriated the British, who had abolished slavery in all its colonies as well as at home in 1834. The Dutch wanted to keep its slaves. Europeans working in the Boer territories were also mistreated. These â€Å"Uitlanders† as they were known were key to the Boers' economic success, yet were still denied the vote. The war occurred also because of strategic reasons. The British had already seized Swaziland, Bechuanaland and Basutoland, which more or less surrounded the Boers who feared that if the British took any more territory, they could be under siege, particularly if their route to the sea was blocked. The British wanted to control all of Southern Africa, not just small areas which were isolated – the Boers were their main opponents. There were economic issues involved in the war. The Boers took control of the Transvaal and set up the Orange Free State. They found gold in the Transvaal and this area became very rich indeed. Later diamonds were found in this area as well, and there was argument between the British and Boers over in which nation's territory they lay. Certain individuals had a major role in provoking the war. Cecil Rhodes was probably the most ambitious of Britain's leaders abroad. He was a real imperialist, and strove to expand the British Empire further, especially through his dream of a â€Å"Cape Colony to Cairo† railway. He was strongly anti-Boer, and his actions seemed to shape British policy back at home. Also highly influential was Sir Alfred Milner, who was the British High Commissioner and was also strongly anti-Boer. He was supposed to be a peacemaker, but it were the demands he placed on the Boers which sparked the war, and he ended up looking more like a warmonger. Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal and leader of the Boers, did not want to give in to the Uitlanders, since he feared he would lose his position if they were given the vote. It was he who had ordered the first attack against he British in 1881. The British were angered by the Boers first assault, but the Zulus' victory over the British led the arrogant Boers to believe that they could defeat them with ease. They were most ambitious, particularly after the absurd â€Å"Jameson Raid† where the British Dr. Jameson led only 500 men into the Transvaal. It was planned that the Uitlanders would join up and form an uprising to overpower and defeat Kruger and the Boers, however the raid was a failure and most of the British were killed or captured. The Boers did not accurately judge the British military.

How useful are the sources A to G for explaining why there was an anti-war movement in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s?

The movement against the Vietnam War in 1960s America was one of the largest of its kind, in both national and international comparisons; the movement was heavily linked with other reform groups which were pressurising the American government during that time period. Due to this, opposition to the war came from a diverse number of groups who each had their own reasoning for their anti-militaristic stance – ranging from veteran's opposing based upon their experience or Civil Rights demonstrators who felt they were trying to uphold the rights of the Vietnamese people, whilst not necessarily having the same themselves, domestically. What facilitated the exacerbation of the anti-war movement was the greater access to uncensored information in the extensive television coverage from Vietnam; not forgetting that the right to freedom of speech was also capitalised on by those in education who sought to bolster the importance of student activism, and their pressure group status. Others viewed the conflict as a war against Vietnamese independence, or as intervention in a foreign civil war; others opposed it because they felt it lacked direction and appeared to be potentially unsuccessful – devastation for a nation that was, and possibly still is, the largest international influence. Source A Source A, an extract from the book ‘Four hours in My Lai' by Michael Bilton (published in 1992), is a piece that mainly focuses towards the military aspect of the war and the effects of the involvement had on real life soldiers – this would be the case, given that this secondary source is based upon an influential telling of events by some individuals who were involved in the My Lai incident on 16 March, 1968. The U. S. soldiers who had been interviewed for this process – a T. V. ocumentary had been produced prior to the publication of the book, in the late 1980s – may have been asked the questions quite a few years after their involvement in the war, but this bears not much significance on what they say – the vivid memories they would hold of that event would not leave for a long time and so, by and large, would be true to an extent beyond doubt. The source itself mentions that the â€Å"increasing† number of recruits scored â€Å"so low† on intelligence rankings that they wouldn't normally have been given a place in the regular U. S. Army during a peace-time period. It then goes on to mention how the tours of duty affected each soldier, with some dying in the first month of duty as this was â€Å"highly likely†. Due to the soldier rotation and their differing lengths of duty (some of the soldiers were wounded, so would not serve the same length as those they had arrived with, for instance) the inexperienced recruits were often polarised by the conditions they faced – they were quite different to those they had probably been trained in, in the United States. The result of this continuing spiral of poor strategy and younger and younger recruits et al. meant many of the objectives which had been planned, ultimately failed in response to the effort which was being put in; low morale in existing, serving soldiers also played its part. A consequence of lack of planning and poor skill within soldiers trained, spontaneously affected those back home who saw lack of progress, especially at a time when the taxes were being increased by Johnson. With regards to the question, how useful is it for demonstrating why there was an anti-war movement – it isn't that useful, since it doesn't mention any of the direct causes itself, instead implying various reasons for one explanation (i. e. giving reasons for the lack of progress which frustrated those in America). However, it does also give an impression that with the large numbers of deaths came great anger within communities who had lost a relative, a friend or somebody else. This could be integrated into the logic behind the personal rationale that fell behind another reason why people demonstrated against the Vietnam War – they wanted to see an end to the ‘bloodshed' and ‘unnecessary killing' that engulfed the media reports throughout the U. S. Its advantages are also its downfall, ultimately – the limitations of the source are great, as it doesn't consider the financial burdening on tax payers (or any other economic aspect), the Civil Rights movements, the failure of the Great Society programme, the suffering of the Vietnamese people shown in the media, or the media influence itself. So, therefore, it is useful for explaining the problems faced by the troops on the ground in Vietnam, who will have encountered people who weren't responsible, nor mature enough, to make their own decisions and the horrific effects of the war on the Veterans – something they took back from their tour of duty, exacerbating the anti-war movement as people flocked to prevent their relatives from being seriously maimed or killed. Source B Source B, a photograph taken during a napalm attack on June 8, 1972, demonstrates the true extent to which the American bombings were taking their toll during the Vietnam War – the children running representing the apparent innocent victims that were being brutally murdered in raids that were deemed unacceptable by the majority of the American population. All of this contributed to the â€Å"Credibility Gap† which describes almost any â€Å"gap† between the reality of a situation and what politicians and government agencies make statements about. Once those who were reading the papers were shocked by the initial target of the bombing raids, anger would turn into questions as they would seek who lied about the reality, perhaps even wondering what else the administration may not be revealing the full facts about. The deeper the credibility gap, the larger the polarisation of people from the Vietnam War, who would now see it in a negative light and therefore would not be likely to support it, both financially and physically through public endorsements. As a primary source, it's hard to find fault with the photograph – it isn't likely to be redacted so it shows one side over another, and is also fairly neutral as it shows the after-effects of the American incursion, rather than something happening at that very moment. However, as the media was part of the continuing anti-war movement, this photo could in fact show only one incident that ever occurred but was highlighted for additional emphasis to their campaign – given the accounts of citizens and U. S. soldiers, however, that is unlikely to be true. As its overall purpose was intended to shock the readers in the U. S. A. , it is difficult not to find that this picture was as an asset to the movement given that it was taken by dedicated photographers, in this particular case, a Vietnamese one – Nick it – who would have wanted the war to be stopped, given it was his country that had been drawn into a long and bitter war. This isn't its only limitation however, as a photograph it only captures one event at one time, so by default it can't take into consideration other reasons for the anti-war movement. Saying that, it has a specific purpose to underline that the government was lying about certain aspects of the war that it wanted to keep hidden – this was released to make citizens aware of this fact. It is therefore useful for giving us some idea why there was a contra-militaristic viewpoint in the U. S. and why people were prepared to act upon that. Source C Source C, an extract from the publication of personal memoirs in 1982, gives us a personal perspective to an individual soldier's experience in the Vietnam War and McCarthy also reflects upon the intimacies of his encounter with the Vietcong. Whilst describing one event that occurred early on in his tenure as a rifleman, we see that – as with many other U. S. oldiers – he wanted to kill the Vietcong upon hearing and seeing the effects of their guerrilla warfare tactics which meant that damages could be incurred by the Americans but often, there could be no retaliation given that the enemy couldn't be seen. McCarthy makes note of this saying that even in daylight it was hard to distinguish between those who were part of the North's continuing campaign for the liberation of the South and those who were just normal peasants – this resulted in more deaths than had been initially projected. Due to the fact that often the enemy was not visible until it was too late, or in en masse confrontations, it was difficult to foresee a war that could be won by the Americans – too many losses were sustained, whilst relatively modest amounts of VC combatants were being killed in fighting locations. Not only that, the VC also had foreign backing with the aid of China and the USSR helping with the funding and the strategic logistical movements of weapons. McCarthy mentions that â€Å"[†¦ we knew guys' wives, mothers, fathers and kids† – suggesting that the impact of the deaths reached beyond the remit of the immediate family and affected other people, the soldiers' themselves even – who's stories of the deaths would return to their communities when they returned from their tour of duty – all of which would be passed on to the public who's view of the war would possibly change from supporting to opposing based on what they hear, and see on the te levision and in the newspapers. However, there are other omissions from the source; there is no particular relation to the failure of the Great Society programme or the struggle for Black Rights, for example. Nevertheless, that would hardly be needed in the personal memoirs of a soldier who has possibly died – commenting on the situation as he felt it would not need to include any information which was not relevant to the experiences he had had. Due to there being no information to suggest other reasons for the anti-war movement, it could be considered not as useful for the purpose of investigating why but it does give us a personal reflection and wouldn't be biased for the simple fact that nothing was to gained for the author by writing this piece. Source D Source D, an extract from a newspaper piece by American journalist Richard Hamer in 1970, is a primary source revealing an extent to which the conflict was affecting those who were militarily involved – the fact that often the Vietcong were ‘invisible' or ‘out of range' meant that often the troops became frustrated in their objectives and all too regularly lost sight of a war that could have been won if the South Vietnamese government convinced the peasants of the benefits of capitalism. Due to the complications with invisible attackers meant more and more lives were being lost and no retaliation could be given – this sentiment is also present in Source C. This source runs along a central theme, however, and is clearly against the war and the actions of some renegade soldiers who felt it necessary to commit atrocities like those at My Lai. At the time, this would have been a damaging piece of writing for its noticeable anti-American stance – despite the writer being an American citizen. This in itself shows the deep degree of pacifism within the United States at the time, but this could, nevertheless, be part of a wider-ranging media campaign to prevent any further actions in the war due to other factors, perhaps the increase of taxes – this would indicate that it is possible that Hamer wasn't anti-war based on the prospect, rather the inconvenience it caused him. The fact that this was released during the period of war means it is also linked to the credibility gap; its exposure of American counter-tactics would almost certainly ensure the exacerbation of the anti-war sentiment and give another reason for people already desperate for relatives to return, to not believe what their government was saying. What we need to know however, is whether the information presented in this source is what Hamer actually saw with his own eyes, or whether it was a brief summarisation of stories he had collected from soldiers; if the latter, its provenance could be affected, as soldiers influenced the reporter's personal views. This source was also published one year after the My Lai incident has irreversibly affected most people's views of the Vietnam War – thinking what damage could be done to the reputation of the U. S. A, a country that had protected democracy only 20 years earlier in the Second World War – this could then, be a piece catered towards their views, however, that is unlikely given the deep sense of conviction within the content of the source and the way in which he has written the piece. This sense of betrayal by American soldiers extended to within the hearts of the communities across the U. S. who saw individuals committing acts which could not be seen as ‘her oic' in any respect. However, it is important to remember that most of the Vietcong were invisible to an extent – they did use purposeful tactics that did have an effect; most of the time soldiers did not who they were engaging with within the dense forests and this did have devastating effects on those on the ground. Those injured in the attacks would return back to the U. S. sharing their stories and further affecting people's views on the war that wouldn't finish for (officially) 5 years after Source D was published. The use of the word ‘one' (in this context it is in reference to the collective American force) seems almost like a paradox – the righteousness of that word compared with the conditions that were faced on the ground in Vietnam. As it focuses towards these aspects more than the other possible reasons for the anti-war movement, it may be seen as not that useful; however, I would strongly discourage any sort of thinking along that line. It ascribes the particular tensions between the two rivalries on the ground as VC entered into guerrilla combat with the Americans, who hadn't been trained to a great level in that respect, and with the luck of hindsight suggests to us why there was an anti-war movement within the country – it's clear that the media used an en masse approach to their reporting of the Vietnam War, ensuring that the readers of their reports were to be influenced by their ideology on the subject; whether it was because the papers' were more left-leaning or were simply against the war because of the financial cost, for example, is of not much significance. Its main limitations are the fact that it doesn't mention some features of the war that turned people against it, such as the government's preference of that over the Great Society programme (being at a bad time, given that Black Rights had already suffered setbacks with the Martin Luther King assassination a few years earlier) and the drafting of poorer people from disadvantaged backgrounds, regardless of race. Source E Source E, a cartoon published by the satirical magazine ‘Punch' in 1967, demonstrates the international view of the American involvement in Vietnam. Although it uses the failure of the key Great Society programme of the Johnson administration in its depiction of â€Å"the costs of the Vietnam War†, it does not discuss the effects of that failure or suggest any possible reasons for that (increased spending elsewhere, aside from the military, for instance). Another point is the fact that as Punch is a British magazine, it would be assumed that they would favour the side that had helped them defeat the Nazi threat in the 1940s, but no, it could be interpreted that they instead believe that money is needlessly being wasted on something that they themselves weren't involved in – perhaps because of the recovery that was still ongoing in the UK. In the cartoon, we can see President Johnson dismantling the US economy ‘train' (perhaps with connotations as a gravy train – the sentiment prior to the war that was against the Communist threat, whereas now it wasn't) in favour or the war in Vietnam he had initiated with the conspiracy regarding the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The smoke billowing from the train's engine funnel reads ‘Vietnam', backing up the British thought that money was needlessly being wasted in a dirty war. The source itself was published in 1967, not that long into the actual fighting phase of the war, but still after key events practically highlighted the fact that the programme Johnson had promised during his presidential re-election campaign of 1964 was failing. The effects of the unsuccessful plan meant that many of the potential conscriptees were turned against the prospect of being involved in the war; their family would have already been affected by the change (as often those drafted were from impoverished backgrounds) but the deprivation would not only have an effect on them, it would also radically change those opinions held by the rest of their family. It would yet another reason to oppose the war, especially considering taxes had already risen enough to concern the financial well-being of most families. The limitations of the source are clear; it, as many others, doesn't consider many of the aspects that made up the significant anti-war movement in the early 1970s – the Civil Rights demonstrations (which is surprising given that those most affected by the collapse of the programme were mainly of an African-American ethnicity) or the media campaigns et al. Punch, as a satire magazine may not be the most reliable or sourcing though – as a magazine dedicated to cynicism and making mockeries of political blunders, means with that purpose and the fact that evidently Punch were against the war, means the provenance of the source could be affected. On the other hand, it could be useful for explaining the views held by those who weren't personally involved in the tragedies of death or affected by the charges made by the American government. Source F Source F, a partial transcript from a seminar conducted by Robin Day in 1970, although addressing a British conference reflects upon the explanation for the sizeable increase in the anti-war attitude that had overran the initial support in the late 1960s. Day, a highly revered individual within the British media at that time, would have been eagerly listened to in the RUSI (a government think-tank studying naval and military science) seminar that took place during the latter stages of the Vietnam War; Day gives what he thinks was the overwhelming reason that formed the basis for all the opposition against the war – the repeated and consistent images of Vietnamese (and American) brutality on the television. He believed that the repeated visualisation of what was really happening (given that during previous wars, colour television in real-time was not a reality) made images resonate within the minds of the communities across America, who, on top of various misgivings they already had for the war would now act upon that; it brought a sense of to reality â€Å"a situation 10,000 miles away from home†. Whilst saying that, he doesn't explicitly refer to this being the single factor – in fact, it was the media campaign in its most general form – it was the more â€Å"uninhibited [coverage]† as opposed to specific things that may have been seen. These images, as with the other sources that represent other media items released during the war, widened the credibility gap between the political establishment and those who it governed. Day had been reporting the Vietnam War since it had begun only a few years prior to this seminar and was knowledgeable on the topic of why and when the war really developed in the full-scale conflict it did. This in turn means that the provenance is supported because we can rely upon this fact as meaning he would understand the complex motivations for particular events. This could, however, be his downfall – as in that time he could have developed anti-war views based on what he had seen and been reporting, that is unlikely though, given the general neutral tone of the source. The limitations to the source are obvious as some other causes for opposition included the returning wounded (and the much publicised deaths of) soldiers amongst others. Source G Source G, a 1989 film adaptation from an autobiography of Ron Kovic, which contained extensive notes on his experiences in the Vietnam War – a war which left Kovic paralysed for the majority of his body. In the film, the key points are: * It is apparent that some of the authorities wanted to hide the veteran soldiers, due to the fact that they were a key component of the anti-war movement. * There were protests against the 1972 Miami Republican Convention, at which Nixon received his party's presidential nomination. * Some Republicans defended the war to an extent. * Often violent scenes when pro and anti war movements met. Some even mentioned that anti-war supporters were â€Å"communists†, because of their support for pacifism and, although largely incorrect, left -wing socialism. Although Kovic was the inspiration for the story, Oliver Stone, the producer of the movie adaptation, was also someone known for his vehement opposition to the conflict in Vietnam. Through this film, Stone almost tries to change people's perceptions of the war; the dramatic re-enactments of events that happened and the exact quotes used in history re-quoted giving it a sense of reality. Kovic mentioned all the reasons why he was anti-war in the film extract, with the delegates in the background all shouting â€Å"four more years† as Nixon promised to withdraw the soldiers. Although produced some years after the end of the war, Stone still lacks the critical evaluation of both sides of the story, instead tending to focus on the anti-war movement almost completely – but then, he would, he was an activist himself, trying to stop the deaths and serious maiming of further service personnel. The purpose of this film was to give the impression that the Americans were wrong to go to Vietnam in the first place (as Kovic's character clearly says in â€Å"the poor Vietnamese seeking freedom for hundreds of years†) and that despite the intermittence between the end of the war and the time of the production, Stone's views had not changed on the subject. In that context, and the fact that the film is much more dramatic than necessarily need be, it is easy to assume that this is a piece of biased film-making – despite that, it is useful for one thing; informing us of the thoughts of people who had experienced the full horrors of the conflict and the effect it had on them. It is also historically accurate as all the dates, places and people are all correct – only the story itself is elaborated – therefore it is reliable in some form. Referring back to the original question, â€Å"How useful are the sources A to G for explaining why there was an anti-war movement in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s? † – I would respond by saying that some are more accurate than others in terms of their respective historical context, their individual purposes (some are cartoons, some are memoirs), and the reality that some are more reliable than others as they represent individual events on film or simply people's thoughts on the war. In terms of usefulness, they have a collective worth as when combined they allow a fuller picture of the war to be completed – as opposed to thoughts garnered from one source. In some sources, the usefulness could be undermined by the purpose or the provenance of each source – authors all have different views on what they write, but this can also be played to our advantage as even this in itself can represent the effect the conflict had on individual writers. Primary sources are not necessarily more beneficial as those that are produced as secondary sources, as often even in these cases, bias is still present – often we forget that in secondary sources, the author has had the chance to evaluate many of the explanations for something of a long period of time before publishing their thoughts – this can give us a better view of what really happened.