Thursday, September 19, 2019

Cabinet of Styles :: Personal Narrative Timeline Papers

Cabinet of Styles Wow, am I tired. I tried to go to bed early last night, but couldn't sleep for squat. So I turned on the tube. Nothing of interest was on so I turned it to MTV. It was, like, Jams hour or something so it lulled me to sleep. Around one am or so it was Headbanger's ball or Alternative Nation. The strobe flashes from the screen woke me up really fast. Damn MTV. FLASH FLASH FLASH FLASH. Their music changes from Enya's soft, sweet lullabies to Dead President's traumatic, trashy rock. It's kinda like their commercials, which I see as a microcosm of that whole network. Flash things at an audience, be loud, obnoxious and downright stupid sometimes and make money of f of it. Maybe I am just cranky because it woke me up. I don't mind MTV, just not at one in the morning. Maybe VH1 is better to sleep to. Hey, maybe that's kinda what Mike was talking about in class about styles in society as related to me. Different situations demands different styles. Cool! So anyway, I should clean out that file cabinet today....no, too much work...but yet, I have nothing better to do so I may as well. Maybe if I keep MTV on while I do it, I can get through that pile of junk more quickly. 10:45 am: THE FILE CABINET God I have a lot of junk. I've kept papers from high school writing classes. As if they are worth revising...they sound so childish now. Neat, here's one I wrote in ninth grade. I have to laugh as I read it though, because I always sounded the same in my writings back then. Somehow my personality ended up being expressed through the character no matter what. If I tried to make my character into someone I wasn't the story was awkward and stilted. One of them was an essay I wrote right after a break up; the assignment was just a character sketch. Ã ¬Her attention was caught, however, when her friend Mary said that hse had a date for that weekend. She flet as if he's been slapped in the face. Her mind wandered to the days when she had been busy dating. It seemed to bery long ago." Of course my character was a depressed girl whose friends were all dating and she was home all alone to moon over the lost love.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Show how these poets illustrate different aspects of love in their Essa

Show how these poets illustrate different aspects of love in their poems. How do the poets communicate thoughts and feelings by the words and the images they use? The poems I have read are: Porphyria's Lover; by Robert Browning, The Lady Of Shalott; by Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Eve Of St. Agnes; by John Keats, A Trampwoman's Tragedy; by Thomas Hardy. A. - It is evident that in the four poems I have read, there are different aspects of love shown in each. In 'Porphyria's Lover', Browning puts across some rather dark kinds of love; obsessive, jealous and possessive love. I use the word dark, because in the poem, a clearly insane man kills his lover Porphyria, to secure all her love for himself, "And give herself to me forever". The man is besotted with Porphyria, but in an extremely selfish way. He thinks that she is seeing someone else, so he kills her to preserve her love for him forever, "That moment she was mine, mine, fair, Perfectly pure and good: I found A thing to do, and all her hair In one long yellow string I wound Three times her little throat around, And strangled her." This theme of tainted love is continued in 'A Trampwoman's Tragedy', with jealous love also occurring in this poem. The trampwoman's boyfriend became jealous after she started to flirt with 'jeering' John. Consequently, the boyfriend stabbed and killed John. "Then up he sprung, and with his knife - And with his knife He let out jeering Johnny's life," In this poem, the jealous love is basically the same as in the last. A character is worried about their lover betraying them for someone else. In 'A T. 's Tragedy', this is shown by the line, "my lover's dark distress." Teasing about love is also addressed... ..., "Burned like one burning flame together". Keats, in 'The E. Of St. A.', uses a metaphor, "Music's golden tongue", to describe how loud and far reaching the music is to the beadsman. You can tell he feels sad that he is out in the cold, and people nearby are dancing and having fun. Keats also uses alliteration in describing the food Porphyro gets for Madeline, making it sound tasty, "jellies soother than the creamy curd". In 'A T.'s T.', Hardy blends in some symbolism, which adds an extra sense of sadness to the end of the poem. It helps to describe the trampwoman's unhappiness and loneliness, after losing all of her friends, "The red moon low declined". Although all the poems are based around love, and most have this linked with death, they are all subtly different. Each highlights a different aspect of love, which affect people in different ways.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Communication in Individual and Collectivist Societies Essay

How do people in â€Å"individualist† cultures behave differently to people in â€Å"collectivist† cultures? People in collectivist cultures: Each person is encouraged to be an active player or role in society, to function as a whole. The rights, as a whole, trump those of the individual. Rules promote unity, and selflessness. Working with others is considered the norm. Community strength is their main focus. People in individualistic cultures: They promote the â€Å"I† for identity. Strive for goals, initiative, esteem and achievement. Independence is valued, less motive to help others. Not relying on others is viewed as a norm. Doing things on your own, depending only on one’s self. As you were growing up, in what ways were you reared to be individualistic or collectivistic? Which orientation was the predominant cultural value of your family?  For what I can remember, as a child, I was raised to be more collectivistic but with a little bit of individualistic as well. Growing up with a large, caring and close family, it only came natural to me to fit into the collectivistic category. When you are young you are still learning therefor depend on others to gain knowledge and understanding to learn. One can only view themselves as collectivistic when it comes to being technical when viewing how you were raised. Also, I was involved in many friendship groups and multiple sports growing up. I had to learn from others how to play the sport, but once I grew in my skill of that sport, I then depended on myself to get better. So, both collectivistic and individualistic were used in upbringing. But as far as a predominant role, I would have to lean to collectivistic. Explain the connections between these two cultures with the dialectic approach. Which of the six dialectics is the most predominant in assisting  people in communicating more effectively in intercultural interactions? Provide examples to support your response. In this article, the two approaches that stood out to me were the cultural-individual and personal-contextual approaches. Seeing how there were several people in an argument from different cultures doesn’t surprise me there was conflict amongst them. Plus the context-personal played into each person differently and how they responded. And because of that, each person’s cultural background came into play.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Organization and Environmental Analysis Essay

Huawei Technologies technical diversification of its portfolio and value addition to its existing products is highlighted by Huawei being ranked amongst the top 5 in the world in terms of essential UMTS patents. By June 2008, Huawei had filed 30,569 patent applications. (Huawei Corporate Information-Huawei Media release). The big inclination towards R&D and strong cost differentiation has enabled Huawei Technologies to achieve what the other dominant players in the telecom industry have been struggling to achieve- customization! .This strong customer focus is also the face of Huawei Technologies projected through its brand logo. The Huawei Technologies brand logo reflects its core principles of â€Å"customer-focus, innovation, steady and sustainable growth, and harmony, conveying Huawei Technologies sincere commitment to helping its customers realizing their potential to launch a variety of competitive services through continuous innovation and an enterprising spirit. † (Huawei Corporate Information-Huawei Media release). The Huawei Technologies logo was recently changed and modified to reflect harmony as also one of its key elements, so as to convey its social responsibility. Huawei Corporate Information-Huawei Media release). This has brought in the much needed image change required by Huawei Technologies primarily being seen as a Chinese vendor. Figure1: Huawei Contract Sales (Source Huawei Corporate Information-Huawei Media release) Opex & Capex leverage which Huawei Technologies has been able to offer its customers has enabled it to demonstrate cost leadership which is evident as 72% of its cont ract sales were from overseas market in 2007. Let alone in 2007, it had 45% increases in its contract sales revenue. See figure 1. Huawei Corporate Information-Huawei Media release). The strong hold which Huawei Technologies is being able to maintain also comes from the socio-political environment it works in as the labour cost in China is one sixth of that of United States or Europe. Thus it has become a key external environmental factor . Internally Huawei Technologies has capitalized on human resource and R&D. But has the cost differentiation been enough, will it still promise growth and more market share? These are the biggest questions which need to be addressed for a guaranteed continuous growth. This question has made Huawei Technologies rethink its marketing strategy towards value proposition, and to value chain analysis (Porter 1985) for a bigger market share. Before that however lies another hurdle of poor quality perception a question mark on the quality of Chinese branding. Issue 2- The dragon brand wagon. With the FMCG market taking blows after blows because of adulterated Chinese raw materials, the general consumer perception on Chinese quality is struggling to establish a stand. Though it specifically affects as said the FMCG market or the business dealing in B2C but the general perception affects all including B2B. And this has been one of the prime challenges. From 1998 to 2001 Huawei was looked at with distrust & doubt . With the Cisco lawsuit the market penetration in the developed economies had become more difficult and required 1000 times more effort as compared to its American or European counterparts. (The Economist, Nov 2007). I believe that the focus needs to be shifted towards creating a strong brand if Huawei Technologies needs to keep its foothold in the global telecom market. Thus strengthening of the Huawei brand has become even more important. Remodeling to establish Huawei as a brand has been now the new focus to develop a better perceived quality & create brand equity. The need of brand recognition has also become very vital to be seen as a valued collaborator for its customers. Brand development has never been big in China; with large volume market brand recognition never existed in the Chinese market. Hence it becomes more essential as well as difficult for Huawei to develop its brand image to compete in the global economy. The strong need for branding and change for the marketing orientation to move towards the service sector becomes more vital when we look into the 5C’s of Huawei Technologies. Issue 4- The 5C’s. Exploring the 5 C’s of Huawei Technologies highlights the core competencies of Huawei and helps us in understanding why a new orientation approach is required . As discussed earlier Huawei Technologies dominates in cost differentiation and is armed with a strong R&D to achieve customization in a high barrier industry and it has been a key strength of Huawei Technologies. But a quick SWOT analysis brings out the lack of perceived quality in the market as one of the greatest threats Huawei Technologies faces. Its major competitor Ericsson currently leading the market share comes with a very strong branding and high perceived quality. The dilemma is not just the market perception but also the perception of the employees themselves despite the fact that human capital is a key resource & strength of Huawei Technologies which also drives to low labor costs.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Lost and Sex and The City Essay

By choosing any two programmes that you are familiar with describe and discuss what the term ‘Quality Television’ means. Quality television refers to the development and rise of quality television drama. The term ‘quality television’ however mostly refers to the emergence of quality broadcasters’ they themselves use to describe a genre/style of television programming that they argue is of higher quality than other genres. ‘Television is for appearing on, not looking at.’ (Coward, 1993: 436) They are referring to the kinds of programmes that are perceived as more expensively produced and, especially more culturally worthwhile, due to their subject matter or content. In the history of ‘quality’ television, it presents a daunting set of challenges. There is no central register of quality programming quality style is defined by depth and warmth of its characters and the use of self reflexivity and the notion that the writers and viewers enjoyed an unusual degree of freedom. The term also associates mostly on the issue of gender representation. In this essay I will discuss television shows, Lost and Sex and The City and how they have both proved great quality television through their success and interesting storylines. (Jancovich, Mark, Lyons, James, Quality Popular Television, 2003) The complex characters, settings and dilemmas are what make good quality television. This brings me to Lost. Lost is an American television drama that follows the survivors of a plane crash that end up on a mysterious island. Each episode typically features what happens on the island as well as a secondary storyline of the characters lives. Most of the characters in Lost are driven to reconcile a patriarchal crisis; Jack must resolve an ‘Oedipal’ conflict with his alcoholic father, John Locke must redeem his masculinity and after being manipulated by his father and rebuild his disabled body and Kate and Sawyer are repetitively haunted by their fathers and dark pasts. The whole island is an experimental site, emphasizing the constant distress of mystery that the island holds and the unknowing. Within this, each episode continues a story about each character, most encountering their violent fathers and how this will shape the collective islands culture. In one particular episode, ‘The 23rd Psalm’, flashbacks consist between Nigeria, the present day and a Nigerian beechcraft airplane that crashed on the island. ‘Mr Eko’ becomes aware that drug addict ‘Charlie’ has possession of a heroin filled Virgin Mary statue that he realizes has a connection to his own past. After discovering the plane on the island, Eko finds his brothers corpse along with it. The episode has an overall theme of redemption of Mr Eko’s religious leanings that have created a major turn in his life. This also challenges our assumptions about coincidence and fate and how the overall series depicts spirituality and realism through the characters pasts. (www.uk.tv.ign.com/artcicles/101/1011812p1.html) The director, ‘JJ Abrams’, creates strong character development and long term plotting which is why the Lost series remained so strong and captivating for audiences. The fact that people were being forced to live together and survive, made it interesting to watch because relationships were created very fast and viewers wanted to see love, fights and dramas as well as action and supernatural happenings on the island. In the first pilot episode of Lost, the first scene shows an eye close-up and character ‘Jack Shephard’ as he awakens in a jungle and notices a yellow Labrador retriever darting through the forest. He then runs through the jungle to a beach where he is faced with the disaster of the plane crash and people fighting for survival. Quality TV dramas are what make audiences want to keep watching and Lost is a great example of this because in the very first scene, viewers are already given that mind blowing experience and the drive to keep watching. The characters are also faced with the unraveling of the islands mystery and the motives of the unknown ‘Others’ who may also inhabit the island. The series tracks two major, interconnected themes; first, the struggles to survive and live together on the island and second, the lives of the fourteen main characters before the crash which is retold through flashbacks. It doesn’t follow the stereotypical television back story and allows viewers to become connected with the characters, their secrets and motivations. Jack is a doctor becomes the leader of the group; helping Charlie kicks his drug addiction and encourages ‘Shannon’ to pursue her relationship with ‘Syid’. Jack is seen at the very beginning of the series and in the last episode in the last scene where it re creates the first scene again only in a different context. The way Lost starts off, during; with all the inconceivable and unthinkable story lines, makes it so mesmerizing for audiences. After six seasons of plot twists, there was a completely thrilling but not entirely logical finale. Audiences across the world became worried about what Lost would end like and how everything could be explained because of its constant complexity. Lost is full of mind puzzling and gripping drama that has become a huge success through its mind blowing performances. (www.tv.com/shows/lost) Another American quality TV show is Sex and The City. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the comedy-drama series follows the lives of a group of four women; three in their mid thirties and one in her forties and throughout their different natures and constant changing sex lives, they remain great friends with high confidence. Sex and The City becomes quality television through the continual of its quirky storylines and modern social issues that explore the differences between friendships, relationships and revolves around femininity. The main character ‘Carrie Bradshaw’ is the narrator of each episode which is structured through her train of thoughts. Throughout the entire series, Carrie is entangled with her on and off relationship with ‘Mr Big’ and whose name eventually is revealed to be John Preston. Each character has their own individual unique personalities which female audiences can relate to and connect with. Sex and The City has proven to be one of the most successful and controversial television programmes of the last decade. In transforms the idea of the incisive widow into the life of the single urban female and emphasizes an upper class life. It also presents sophistication and yet, much of the generic and stylistic conventions, are by no means new to this specific show. (LeMay, Matt, Sex and the City and the Discourse of Quality Television: 2) ‘Once upon a time on a small island not too far away, there lived four smart, beautiful women who were all very good friends’. (LeMay, Matt, Sex and the City and the Discourse of Quality Television: 2) This quote already establishes the genre of the show and the kind of characters the audience may expect to see. Much of the criticism both positive and negative, show degrees of realism which suggests how they are entwined in the history of industry and market standards of quality television and determines gender and class. Many other dramas can be traced back to earlier ‘realist’ family sitcoms and still remain relevant to contemporary quality television such as Sex and The City. There is a particular emphasis on self reflectivity and the program’s representations and intersexuality. Through Sex and the City, the relation to feminism and sexual taboos positions itself in the history of television. Intersexuality occurs through the importance and real-life impact of the cultural phenomenon called ‘Sex and the City’. (Akass, Kim, McCabe, Janet, Reading sex and the city. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004) In conclusion, the serve to clearly set out the intended debate and issue of ‘Quality TV’, is the way in which critics and audiences currently define it and supplying a broad overview of the critical contentiousness of quality TV as a collective term. Quality Television is about captivating storylines, unique characters and enabling viewers to want to watch excellent programming. Within this, audiences are able to connect with the show through the interesting structures that are included in them. Bibliography Books: Jancovich, Mark, Lyons, James, Quality Popular Television, 2003) McCabe, Janet, Akass, Kim, Contemporary American Television and Beyond, 2007) Akass, Kim, McCabe, Janet, Reading sex and the city. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004 Articles: (LeMay, Matt, Sex and the City and the Discourse of Quality Television: 2) Websites: www.uk.tv.ign.com/artcicles/101/1011812p1.html www.tv.com/shows/lost

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Qualification Pre‐Master Course (Business Studies) Assignment title Essay

1.0 Executive Summary PNG Co.Ltd was specialized in supplying Electric Resistance Welded pipes(ERW Pipes), Longitudinally Submerged Arc Welded pipes (LSAW Pipes) and drilling bits mostly from Asia market to oil and gas industries in Myanmar. PNG feared well and generated profits in last two years. Reaching the third year from it started, PNG’s business life cycle is in the declined stage because there was much weakness in all departments. So PNG needs to reform the company to improve the reputation. PNG has to fix this problem by proper vision, mission and objectives. By seeking and grasping business opportunities, PNG will create markets through our synergistic partnership, reputation and reliability. ‘Cordiality, loyalty and sincerity to partners and customers are the most important ingredients of our corporate life’ will become our corporate mantra. 2.0 Company Profile Company Name † Paing Nagar Trading Co.Ltd Looking for the New Next Golden Myanmar Group of Companies 2011 Medium†sized oil and gas equipments trading company Room†8A, Building 99A,Shwe Padaut Condo, Sanchaung Mr.PhyoKyaw Thu Chief Executive Officer,MBA (UK) Director of Golden Myanmar Groups of Companies. Ms.KayZin Han Manager (Sales and Marketing), MBA (UK) Ms.MyatTheingarHtut Manager (Human Resource), MBA (UK) 65 Company Logo & Slogan † Mother of company Established Business Type Company Address Management Team Total Employees † † † † † † Analytical Report on Business Organisation by Group 5 (PMBA†03/2013); PhyoKyawThu,KayZinHan,MyatTheingarHtut Page 3 2.1 Background Paing Nagar Trading Co.Ltd (PNG) is a recognized distribution of high quality products which are widely used in the oil and gas sector of Myanmar since 2011. PNG provides pipes and drilling bits to oil and gas industries both private and government enterprises, especially exist on government tender projects. First of all, PNG Company was started by 3 officers and 10 staffs. Now it is being run with total number of 65 employees. Within a few months after establishment, for the sake of better improvement and better communication with oversea suppliers and manufacturers, PNG opened an oversea branch office in Singapore. PNG did pretty well and reached our target market sales in 2011 and 2012. But nowadays, there are many competitors who are interested in oil and gas field because of many opportunities. At that time, PNG Company’s reputation drops slowly because of internal weakness. 2.2 Vision †¢ †¢ To get innovative, proactive and progressive company culture To be the multi†national professional company by delivering quality products and services to meet our customers’ satisfaction in the future 2.3 Mission †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ To abide by the requirements detailed in the strategic business plan To deliver our services in time To work in a corporate manner with our clients, employees and shareholders and to align clients and company expectations To penetrate global market from local market Analytical Report on Business Organisation by Group 5 (PMBA†03/2013); PhyoKyawThu,KayZinHan,MyatTheingarHtut Page 4 2.4 Objectives †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ To expand our products range at least 20 categories in 2014 To increase at least 30% of market share in O&G equipment sector in 2015 To deliver quality products with fair prices To serve our clients with sincerity and cordiality to achieve strong customer relationship To create a teamwork with employees to get better working environment Analytical Report on Business Organisation by Group 5 (PMBA†03/2013); PhyoKyawThu,KayZinHan,MyatTheingarHtut Page 5 3.0 Situational Analysis PNG has to analyze the current situation of the company to evaluate weak points and to solve the problem effectively by using situational analysis (SWOT and PEST analysis). Strengths † deals with the suppliers that have good reputation mostly from Asia † strong financial resources Weaknesses † faces the high turnover rate of employee, so PNG cannot manage the operational process in time †chooses the quality assurance that can be †previous organization used a centralization acceptable by our customers †has oversea branch office in Singapore to communicate with foreign suppliers more effectively approach alone †managers could not establish a good relationship with staffs †have not adequate skilled workers †the structure of organization was not systematically demonstrated Opportunities †now our country allows many Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), so the market demands in oil and gas field become increase sharply †can deal with many suppliers rather than Asia now Threats †for the time being, our country’s policies have not been stable yet †needs to compete with many competitors because of the development of oil and gas industries so many investors are engrossed to invest 3.2 PEST Analysis When PNG researches about the external environment by PEST analysis, the following impacts effect on PNG Company. Analytical Report on Business Organisation by Group 5 (PMBA†03/2013); PhyoKyawThu,KayZinHan,MyatTheingarHtut Page 6 Political†Legal Now our country steps towards the democracy, economic sanctions are released, so become interested by many foreign investors. But, for the time being, the government is in the transitional state, policies and foreign trade regulations have not been stable yet. Besides, Tax policies are going to release compare to the past. Economic Our country’s economic state becomes improve and growth. But PNG should think about the inflation rates and exchange rates which are closely related with price of inputs. Socio†cultural According to our country’s culture, PNG might to concentrate the attitude to work and leisure of our employees and try to fulfill their desires as much as it can. Simultaneously, PNG should consider the education level based on not only the graduation subject but also additional qualifications such as computing, languages, etc. Technological Techniques associated with oil and gas industry are changing a lot so PNG needs to catch up the technologies continuously. Therefore, PNG ought to update IT technologies to communicate with customers and suppliers smoothly. 4.0 Analysis on Organization Management Previously the old PNG’s management team had not clear organization structure, the practices of commanding, allocating responsibilities and delegation were not managed well suited. Every successful company must have definite organization structure which shows the set of formal tasks and formal reporting relationships. So PNG Company constructs the organization structure well and shown by organization chart, visual representation of an organization’s structure. Analytical Report on Business Organisation by Group 5 (PMBA†03/2013); PhyoKyawThu,KayZinHan,MyatTheingarHtut Figure 1: O Organization n Chart Organization structure m O means the f framework in which th organization defines how he tasks are e divided, re esources are e deployed a and departm ments are co oordinated. Our organization has six m major depart tments. PNG delineates the chart with relative few hier G s ely rarchal level By ls. seeing th he chart, work specializa ation and cha ain of comm mand can be clearly seen n. 4.1 Wo ork speciali ization In order to perform the work more effici m iently, comp pany divides the tasks individually and s y describe clearly wh hich tasks w be resp will ponsible by whom. By doing this employee can s, e emphasiz ze his own d duty. But PNG considers that work specialization n can make employee boring jobs and feel isolatin ng from othe ers. So comp pany plans e employee to o rotate amo ong the separate jobs ever ry three mon nths to enco ounter the g greater challe enges and p perform vario ous jobs by team work. Analytical Re eport on Business Organisation by G Group 5 (PMBA†03 3/2013); PhyoKyaw wThu,KayZinHan,M MyatTheingarHtut t 4.2 Chain of command Every organization must have distinct authority and responsibility for different kinds of tasks. Thus, every employee can know to whom they report and management levels of the whole organization.Chain of command is important for this reason. Each employee should have his own authority and responsibility and how much he can make effort for the job. According to management level, delegation is the useful process for the managers. Good managers should delegate authority to the possible lower levels and give the chances to the subordinates. 4.3 Span of management Span of management means the number of employee reporting to a Supervisor. Our company’s span of management is based on seven subordinates per manager. Controlling level is closely involving with subordinates; it can get better team work form. 4.4 Centralization VS Decentralization To get the correct hierarchical level at which to make decisions,

Friday, September 13, 2019

School Culture and Climate Management Research Paper

School Culture and Climate Management - Research Paper Example The author of the essay "School Culture and Climate Management" begins with the short introduction of the topic. He tells that upon entering the premises of a school, a visitor may immediately feel a sense of the school’s prevailing social climate. A positive atmosphere should be palpable upon walking through the school premises. Classrooms may be designed differently, but my school maintains a standard by which each classroom teacher adheres to. Several studies have been completed on the topic of classroom climate and how it affects student learning. Wilson et al. (2007) concluded that an effective classroom climate encompasses a warm, child-centered, positive environment in which the teacher exhibits sensitivity to each student’s emotional and instructional needs and structures instruction to encourage student autonomy and self-control. The teacher is enthusiastic and respectful of students and encourages students to pursue their interests. (Douglas, 2008, p. 41) Wilson adds that a well-managed, positive school environment where adults manifest sensitivity and allow autonomy in the students’ learning coupled with evaluative feedback results in the development of positive social behaviors of the people within that school. Therefore, It follows that quality of interpersonal relationships within the school determines the factors that create a school’s culture and climate. Fulfilling relationships flourish in pleasant learning environments, influencing academic achievement. (Van Petegem et al., 2008). A pleasant learning environment brings about well-being among students, which is described as â€Å"a positive emotional state that is the result of harmony between the sum of specific context factors on the one hand and the personal needs and expectations towards the school on the other hand† (Engels, Aelterman, Van Petegem, Schepens, & Deconinck, 2004, p. 11). Dynamic factors such as the nature of students’ experiences in their positive interactions with their teachers are more essential than structural factors. According to Munro (2007), Pianta devised certain questions to explore these dynamics: What do children experience in the school? How do their experiences and interactions affect their learning? How can the quality of interactions and experiences in classrooms be improved through observations and professional development? (p. 46) In the implementation of the school’s mission and the achievement of its vision, the school culture and climate has to be consistent in meeting set expectations. Widespread agreement among researchers prevails that a positive and pleasant environment that emphasizes sensitivity to student needs from caring and supportive teachers and school staff increases the likelihood of student success (Wilson et al., 2007; Douglas, 2008; Van Petegem et al., 2008; Munro, 2007; Black, 2006). Blankstein (2004) identified the six principles that promote student achievement and these reflect the school’s culture and climate: common mission, vision, values and goals; ensuring achievement for all students by establishing systems that provide