Competent Leadership in Human Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Competent Leadership in Human Resources - Essay Example It is the capability of efficient leaders to put efforts to get a factual outcome, setting objectives harmoniously in order to accomplish a mission and setting priorities right as well as maintaining principles, which cannot be compromised in the endeavors to achieve a certain goal. Prudent leaders view their position as a responsibility to achieve the desired goal. This essay is a critical evaluation of competent leadership in human services. The strengths that are needed in order for leaders to be competent in this field have been discussed. Some weaknesses that may hamper effective leadership have been highlighted. Â  There are several factors that a leader should put in to practice in order to improve his strength. The ability to balance various interests, adaptability and the ability to innovate are some of the strengths that enhance competence in offering effective human services. Being trustworthy is a very important attribute of leadership. This is because others depend on the leader in order to be triumphant in their endeavors. Without trust, people cannot believe in leadership and therefore do not follow the wishes of their leader. Kelly et al (2006, p. 182-183) further argue that acquisition by leaders of essential data concerning a range of backgrounds enables leaders to design the best organizational plan. This would serve to enhance planning to offer human services especially in situations that need a balanced allocation of resources.

Bussiness Accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Bussiness Accounting - Assignment Example All users will have access to the published accounts of a business such as the accounts filed with the registrar of companies by a limited company. The value of any interpretation of company accounts is restricted by the deficiencies of the accounts themselves as a tool for decision making. Published accounts present a very limited amount of data i.e. depending upon which profit format under the 1985 companies account is chosen a limited company may not disclose cost-of-sales. Another problem that arises in the use of published accounts is that the reporting entity may not be the business unit that the user is concerned with i.e. if a company is engaged in several types of activity then an employee in one particular section of the business unit will not be able assess the employee prospects in that particular part of the business by reference to the published account of the company as a whole. b. Assets consumed are recorded as expenses in the profit statement as historical cost although the cost of replacement will be higher. Therefore it is argued that the profit figure is over-stated in terms of real increase in value obtained by businesses. d. c. Assets shown in the balance sheet are recorded as historical cost although as a result of price level changes, though their current value may be substantially higher d. The contents of published financial statements are largely prescribed by the companies acts(supplemented by SSAPs and FRSs ) most organizations treat the companies act as the maximum disclosure requirement and do not give much information to outsider on the grounds of confidentiality and maintaining competitive advantage. e. Published accounts look backwards usually into the past year ,so they are of limitedvalue to people who want to estimate future performance. The current drawbacks deriving information from Current system of published accounts are: a. A lack of sufficient conceptual framework where results are shown in arguably over-complex rules and processes and ultimately in a failure to meet the need of those who are using the accounts. b. Information overload is potentially as much a problem as is sufficient information the complexity of the accounting principles also contribute toteh uncertainty and lack of information by users. c. A continuing problem is the historical focus of accounting which reduces the relevance for users who are most likely to be interested in the future prospects of the company. Solutions to the problem of gathering reliable information from published accounts for financial users: Though the traditional legal model is arguably the more conservative and gives primacy to shareholders'. The current accounting standards debates indicates that at-least recognition of other group interests. A broad range of potential information users gives rise to several questions relevant to a disclosure regime. It is appropriate to

The Crucible and Hamlet | Analysis

The Crucible and Hamlet | Analysis In The Crucible and Hamlet, the main themes of manipulation, ambition and religion are used frequently. Nonetheless, these themes are found in either the initial conflict, climax or conflict resolution for the plays. The initial conflict reflects the theme of ambition, manipulation starts to fail during the climax, and religion is a common theme throughout both plays but can be seen during the conflict resolution. In The Crucible, Abigail is considered to be the antagonist and in Hamlet, the villain is Claudius who kills his brother in order to become King. Both these characters put to use these themes, and have many things in common in terms of their goals. Three main themes are found common between the antagonists of both plays, and ultimately, they intertwine with one another. Manipulation plays a great role in both The Crucible and Hamlet. Claudius was the most manipulative character in Hamlet, he was the antagonist. Abigail from The Crucible was also the villain and antagonist in the play and was not able to meet her end goal just like Claudius. The striving King manipulated the people of him using his remarkable language and speech which he used as his weapon. He used his language to persuade the people of the kingdom that he is a noble and loyal King; also, he used this to manipulate Gertrude into believing that he is a good man and can replace her husband. In The Crucible, Abigail also has a weapon, however it is not like the one Claudius has. Abigail has leverage against Proctor. Thus, Abigail uses Proctors adultery as influence over John and uses it to manipulate the entire town. The only people who know the antagonists true intentions are the protagonists of the story. The quote A murderer and a villain,/ A slave that is not twentieth part the tith / Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings,/ a cutpurse of the empire and the rule/ that from a shelf the precious diadem stole,/ And put it in his pocket-(Shakespeare, act 3, scene 4), was said by Hamlet while talking to Gertrude and convincing her that Claudius is not the person she thinks he is. He says that Claudius is a murderer and he was able to take the throne by stealing using his manipulative powers. The only two people who knew who Abigail really was, was John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor, the audience sees this when Proctor says, She thinks to dance with me on my wifes grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whores vengeance, and you must see it.(Miller,73) . The theme of ambition is recognized in the initial conflict of both stories. The initial conflict in Hamlet was the sighting of the ghost, when Hamlet finds out what happened to Hamlet Sr., his father, the audience understands how ambitious Claudius really is. Claudius would do absolutely anything to maintain his power, so the audience understands, because it is said that he killed his brother in order to become King. The initial conflict in The Crucible is when the girls were dancing in the woods the audience sees that she would curse just to be with him. Abigails main objective is to be with John Proctor. She was the cause of the deaths of innocent people in the town. Claudius killed his brother for his objective and Abigail had no problem killing innocent people of Salem just so she could be with John. Claudius knew what he did was wrong but cannot come to admit it to others. His ambition blurred his ability to admit and take the blame for the death of his brother. In act 3, scene 3, he reflects on his guilt, My fault is past. But oh, what form of prayer/ Can serve my turn, Forgive me my foul murder? (Shakespeare, Scene 3 Act 3). We do not see this form of confession about her wrong-doings from Abigail. She was there to complete her goal, and was not able to do so; therefore, she ended up leaving Salem. Religion plays a great role in both stories, we see this particularly in Hamlet. Claudius goes into confession to reflect on his sins, which is ironic because if he cared so much about cleansing his soul, why would he commit murder in the first place? At the most, he should admit to his guilt and deal with the consequences. However, in his confession we see that he cannot bring himself to resign his assets, he says, I am still possessed/ of those effects for which I did the murder, / my crown, mine own ambition and my queen. (Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 3). In the Crucible, society is so sure about the existence of the devil, and they are all religious, therefore, Abigail uses religion to get what she wanted. She knew that if she used religion, she would have an effect on society as a whole. Which she tries to do by saying that she is associated with the Devil. In conclusion, the main themes of manipulation, religion and ambition play a great role in Hamlet and The Crucible. These three themes are common in the antagonists of the plays and also are found in either the initial conflict, climax or conflict resolution. In both plays, the protagonists know the truth behind everything. Claudius occasionally showed signs of guilt as well as signs of love towards Gertrude. However, Abigail only showed signs of love toward John Proctor, and throughout the story there are no signs of human feeling from her. All these themes are intertwined with one another. In the Crucible, Abigail uses religion as a form of manipulation to attain her goal. In Hamlet, ambition causes the death of Claudius brother, which results in him manipulating Gertrude and the kingdom, and ultimately allows him to show human feelings in confession. Therefore, the audience notices that both antagonists share common themes that occurred in each play.

good vs evil :: essays research papers

Beowulf Good VS. Evil   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many times we see a battle of good vs. evil in movies, books, society, and in this case, an epic poem. This motif is used so often because it pertains to so many facets of authentic life. The epic poem Beowulf is an example of this because the hero of the story has an ongoing conflict with the evil villain, Grendel. In Beowulf, the conflict between good and evil is the poem’s main and most important aspect. The poet makes it clear that good and evil do not exist as only opposites, but that both qualities are present in everyone. Beowulf represents the ability to do good, or to perform acts selflessly and in help of others. Goodness is also showed throughout this epic as having the ability to cleanse evil. Even though evil is presented by Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon, who are filled with a desire to act against people and ultimately destroy them. Even pride, a human quality, is presented in Beowulf as a sign that evil exists.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beowulf is the character in the story that played the super hero. He was the man who went to innocent peoples rescue. When they needed someone to help them he was the man who would respond to their cries for help. For example, Beowulf went to the aid of the people of another country to fight a monster and protect them from another ambush of attacks from the monster. He risked his own life, to face this monster that would destroy any human in a matter of seconds. Beowulf isn’t just any normal human, he has the strength of 30 men in each hand. He is â€Å"the Prince of goodness†(46). He has been sent down from heaven to protect the earth from evil such as Grendel. As you can see clearly by the fact that he is called â€Å"The Prince of goodness† he is the â€Å"good guy† in the story (46). He has been chosen to protect the world from evil. When this story was made, the author intended for it to be clear that Beowulf is supposed to be the hero of the story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beowulf takes it upon himself to announce several great deeds that he will perform to help countries in need. One of these deeds is his offer to King Hrothgar, in which he proposes to slay Grendel. Beowulf states, â€Å"single handed I’ll settle the strife (37).

Hardware and Software Requirements For an IT system Essay

For this assignment we have to produce a report on the types of hardware and software requirements, and their purposes, for an IT system. In the context of this essay I have decided that bullet point form along with brief descriptions and graphics is the best way to present this assignment. 6 STAGE MODEL Shown above is the six-stage model, showing the processes undertaken by a computer system. Below is what each of my pictures represents: * Mouse: Input Device * The Tower: Central Processing Unit * Monitor: Output Device * Floppy Disk: Backing Store * Head: Main Memory * Telephone: Communications Devices e.g. Internet Input Devices and Techniques ‘Input devices are the means whereby computers can accept data or instructions’ (Heathcott P M, 2000, p 159) * Keyboard: The keyboard is the most commonly used of all input devices. It can be used for a various number of tasks, form entering programs, to typing documents using a word processor, or entering a persons personal details etc. * Mouse: The mouse and its variants such as the trackball is well known with all PC users. * Scanner: A scanner can be used to scan graphical images and photographs, and software can then be used to edit or touch up the images. Scanners can also be used to read typed or hand-writtten documents and this can then be interpreted by using OCR software, which can then export it to a word processor or data file. Scanners can also be used to input large volumes of data on pre-printed forms such as credit card payments, where the customers account number and amount paid are printed at the bottom of the payment slip. * Web Cam: This transfers images onto the screen. In can be used via the internet for video conferencing or you can even pre-record messages and send them via E-mail. * Bar Code Reader: Bar codes appear on almost everything we buy, whether it is a new CD or a tin of bins. The pattern of thick thin lines represents the 13 – digit number underneath the bar code. There are four main pieces of information on a bar code. The first few two or three digits represent in which country the product was registered. The next five digits represent the manufacturer’s code. The second group of five numbers represents the product and package size. The last digit is a check digit, which is calculated from the other digits in the code and ensures that the barcode is keyed in or read correctly. A very similar process to that used in the ASCII code where the spare digit is used as the parity. A Product Bar Code * Light Pen: A light pen is a device which incorporates a light sensor so that when it is held close to a screen over a character or part of a graphic, the object is detected and can be moved to create or modify graphics. * Microphone: An input devise for sound recording. * OMR (Optical Mark Recognition): An Optical Mark Reader can detect marks made in present positions on a form. The most common example of this is the lottery. It is also widely used for marking, multiple choice exams and market research questionnaires. * OCR (Optical Character Recognition): Light is emitted, bounced back and then received. This is how the OCR reads its characters. The light emitted is in different resolutions depending on the character. OCR is used widely in services such as gas and electricity etc. * MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition): All banks use MICR for processing cheques. Along the bottom of a cheque the banks sort code, customer account number and cheque number are encoded in special characters in magnetic ink. The amount of the cheque is encoded in magnetic ink when it is handed in at the bank. The cheques can then be processed by MICR devices that read, sort and store the data on disk. MICR has several advantages for processing cheques: 1. It is hard to forge the characters 2. The characters can be read even if the cheque is crumpled, dirty or smudged 3. The characters are readable by humans, unlike bar codes The disadvantage of MICR though is the expense. This is why you don’t find many other examples of it being used. * Swipe Cards: Swipe cards are operated by using a magnetic strip. They are used in credit cards, debit cards, railway tickets, phone cards and many others. The magnetic strip can be encoded with upto 220 characters of data and other 83% of adults in Britain own at least one card. Unfortunately because there are only 220 characters of data this makes the cards very easy to copy, which is why the strips will eventually, disappear and be replaced by a chip, which is almost impossible to fake. Something slightly similar to the smart card. * Smart Cards: Smart cards are of a similar appearance to that of the swipe cards, but instead of using the magnetic strip they contain a small 1-millimeter square microprocessor which is stored in the centre of the card. This is then protected by a small gold electrical contact the card can still read information through this. Unlike the swipe card the smart cards can hold millions of characters of data. In the future banks hope to replace all the swipe cards with a ‘Super card’ which will also be able to be used to pay for smaller goods such as milk and newspapers without the need to carry cash. This card will almost be unbreakable. In Belgium they already have a similar system working to this it is called the ‘Proton Card’, which incorporates the use of both magnetic strip and a microprocessor chip for bank withdrawals and payments of small goods. The Smart Card * Touch Sensitive Screens: A touch sensitive screen allows the user to touch an area of the screen rather than having to type the data on a keyboard. They are widely used in tourist centres, where tourists can look up various local facilities and entertainment’s, in fast food stores such as McDonald’s for entering customer orders, in manufacturing, and also bars. * Digitisers: A digitiser can draw quality illustrations. It has a flat rectangular slab onto which a stylus (anything that terminates in a point) is placed. Output Devices and Techniques ‘The ultimate aim of the computer is to produce useful information, the information that is produced by the computer is in binary digits, we therefore need devices to translate these into a form we can use’ (Corbitt T, 1990, p 11) * VDU: (Visual Display Unit) The VDU is similar in appearance to the television receiver, an alternative name is the monitor. VDUs have better resolution than TVs and therefore are better for graphical work. It has its own fixed amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) associated with it to store the image being displayed on the screen. So the more RAM it has the better the resolution displayed on the screen. The number of pixels used to represent a full-screen image determines the resolution. Example: If 1 bit represents each pixel then two colours can be displayed, so to display 256 colours you would need 8 bits (1byte) It is usually possible to adjust both the resolution and the number colours – if you select a high resolution you won’t be able to have as many colours because of the memory available on the VDU Printers The results of processing are usually required in printed form. Printers come in all shapes and sizes, there are two main categories of printers: * Impact Printers which transfer the image on to the paper by applying pressure against a ribbon onto the paper, this transfers ink form the ribbon to the paper forming the image * Non-impact Printers which produce the image on the paper without any contact. Impact Printers * Dot-matrix: The characters on this are formed by dots. The print head contains a number of needles, the more there are of these the better the quality of print. A head with nine needles would take seven horizontal movements to print a character, this printer would be said to have a seven-by-nine-character matrix. In the latest type near letter quality is produced by double printing. The line of type is printed, the head moves back to the beginning of the line, moves down fractionally and then prints the line a second time. This doubles the time taken to print a document. To overcome this more expensive models use twice the number of needles and near letter quality can be achieved with one pass of the head. The dot-matrix can also print out graphics and pictures of a basic quality. Dot-matrix printers, which can print in colour, are available, these use a ribbon which contains red, green and blue. Coloured output is obtained by repeated printing, repositioning of the paper, print head and ribbon. The dot-matrix can print between 30 and 200 characters per second (cps). * Daisy-wheel printers: The print head consists of flexible arms extending from a centre hub, the characters are at the tips of the arms. When printing the hub revolves bringing the required character next to the ribbon. Some daisy-wheel printers are bi-directional and the print head can turn in either direction so that quickest possible print time is achieved. The print can be changed so that different font styles can be used. Daisy wheel printers are unable to print graphics unlike the dot-matrix. It is capable of speed ranges 12 to 55 cps. Non-impact printers * Thermal printers: These use specially treated paper, which is affected by heat generated by the print head as it passes across the paper. The main advantages are that they are silent and fast, printing 30-120 cps. Disadvantages are that the paper is expensive and that the printed image degrades in time. * Ink-jet printer: With this type of printer the characters are formed on the paper by spraying it with a stream of ink dots. They are fast, printing 150-270 cps and almost soundless, the quality of print is very good. A Canon Bubble Jet Printer BJC7000 * Plotters: Plotters are used to produce drawings, diagrams and other types of graphical output. There are two varieties in use, the flatbed plotter which is used where accuracy is important and the drum plotter which is used for business applications. The flatbed type is fixed while the pen moves over the top of the device while the axis moves up and down, whilst the drum variety uses continuous stationery. In both types the pens, under the program control, are moved to the down position, the movement of the pens is then controlled to draw the image. There are from one to six pens, which can be used to output different colours. There is also the less commonly known graph plotter. This is most commonly seen in use for lie detector tests. * COM: (Computer Output on Microfilm) The problem of storing information on paper can be considerable in a large business. One way to solve this is to have output from the computer photographed as microscopic images directly onto microfilm. Two methods of storage are used, one put the information onto a roll of 16mm film while the other uses microfiche. Microfiche can store upto 100 pages of A4 on a single piece, to see it you must have a microfiche reader. The most recent examples of this being used is in libraries and in garages for checking car parts. Data can be stored onto microfilm directly from the computer or off line using magnetic tape as an intermediary store. * Voice output: The output of the computer can be given in spoken form by using voice synthesisers to transform words stored in the computer into human speech, this is great for disabled people who cannot speak as it allows them to communicate. The user can hear through a loudspeaker. Secondary device techniques A permanent, non-volatile form of storage is required by all computer systems to save software and data files. Magnetic tape, magnetic disks, CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory), and microfilm are all examples of what is known as secondary storage. * Floppy disk: The standard 3 1/2†³ floppy disk is a thin, flexible plastic disk coated in metal oxide, enclosed in a rigid plastic casing for protection. A standard high density disk has a storage space of 1.44 Megabytes. * Hard Disks: The hard disk used with conventional PCs consists of one or more disk platters, which are permanently sealed inside a casing. Hard disks have a capacity of between 2Gb and 10Gb, though external hard drives can be plugged into the computer to provide extra storage space. For large-scale applications storing huge amounts of data, more hard disks would be used. The disks can be fixed or removable, although the fixed disks are more reliable and have more storage capacity. Data is stored on the concentric tracks, which are divided into sectors. Data is then stored in one of the sectors so that it minimises the movement of the read-write heads, thereby minimising access time. * CD-ROM: CD-ROMs can store around 680Mb of data, which is the equivalent of hundreds of floppy disks. CD-ROMs do not transfer data as quickly as the hard disk drive. As the name suggests the disks are read-only memory. Unlike a magnetic disk they are created by burning tiny holes into the surface of the disk, a laser beam is then reflected off the surface of the disk, detecting the presence or absence of pits, which represent the binary digits. * Worm disks (Write Once, Read Many): These look very similar to the CD-ROM in appearance but are gold rather than silver in colour. These disks can be used to write your own material and are ideal for archiving or storing images or data, which will not be changed. They are popular in the pirate industry because a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5 blank disk can store upto à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 000 worth of software and sell for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50 – à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½80. They are used by less reputable PC company’s which install the software onto the PC so they can charge the consumer more for the package. However because of the competition in the pirate industry at present many of these carry viruses which can cause chaos on the hard drive. * Magneto-optical disks: Magneto-optical disks integrate optical and laser technology to enable read and write storage. A 5 1/2†³ disk can store up to 1 Gb. These disks may in future replace current magnetic disks, but at present the technology is still developing and the disks are too expensive, slow and unreliable to be in widespread use. * Magnetic tape: Magnetic tape was developed in the 1950s and very quickly became the primary means of storing data. The data is stored on magnetic tape in the form of dots of magnetism. It is used widely for archiving past transactions or other data that may be needed again, for example, old news readings that have been collected over a number of years. * Jaz Drive: Two Gigabytes is a tape drive and a mass storage device mainly used for backing up large files or batches of files i.e. end of day transaction backup for banks or businesses Software requirements and techniques Software is the name given to the programs that direct the operation of the computer. It can be divided into two main groups, system software and applications software. System software is the programs required to run the computer system and applications software is the programs required to carry out a particular application such as stock control Systems software This is the software that the microcomputer system needs to run. In this group there are three divisions: operating systems, utilities and compilers/interpreters/assemblers. Operating systems: An operating system is a set of programs that allows the user to perform tasks without having to know how they are done. For example, a user can give a command to save a file on disk without having to know where the file will be stored or how it will be retrieved again. Applications programs are usually written to work with a particular operating system e.g. Excel will only work with Windows and not with Apple Mac, which has a different operating system. Utility programs: Utility programs perform common tasks that every computer user will need at one stage or another. They carry out such jobs as formatting and copying disks, deleting files from disks, sorting information into a required order, and to help with the testing of programs that have been written. Compilers, interpreters and assemblers: These are programs that translate the programming language that is used into a form that the computer can understand. Compilers work by translating the whole of the program from what is known as the source program into the object program which will be in a form that the computer can understand. Interpreters are programs that translate and execute source programs one statement at a time. An assembler is a program supplied by the computer manufacturer that will translate a program that was written in assembly language (low-level programming language) into machine code. Applications software: In large organisations that have a mainframe or minicomputer we would find that programmers were employed whose job it would be to write the programs for the applications that the organisation wished to have run on the computer, such as payroll, stock control or hospital appointments. The software may be designed specifically for one particular company and written especially for them using a programming language or software such as database management system. Alternatively, the software may be purchased ‘off the shelf’. General purpose software: Most general purpose software is sold as a package, including a CD containing the software. Below is the most common packages that you would find on the market to date: 1. Applications: spreadsheets, database, word processing, Desk Top Publishing 2. Presentation: CD based presentations (Power Point, Director) 3. Internet Publishing: web page development software (Front Page, Dreamweaver, Flash) 4. Programming Software: BASIC, Visual Basic, C++, Java, Pascal, HTML 5. Creation and Editing: Photo Shop, Paint Shop Pro, Premier, Coral Draw 6. Utility: Anti-virus, tidy and compression, Doctors. The newer computer systems will have these utilities on them already. Software such as word processing, spreadsheet and databases is sometimes refereed to as generic software. This means that many of the packages can be made to do many different tasks, and is not specifically for one type of application. The other types of application software such as stock control and payroll as mentioned before are special purpose because they have been designed to complete one particular task. Conclusion: I found this assignment very interesting and now feel I have a much sounder understanding off computer hardware and software. I would have liked to incorporate more images into the assignment as reference to each of the products described, but was unable to find all of the images that I required, and also had problems trying to transfer them from the internet. Apart from this I feel quite satisfied with the overall assignment and hope that I have entered all the data needed and presented it in a clear fashion. Bibliography Corbitt T, (1990), Information Technology And Its Applications. Avon, United Kingdom: Bath Press Heathcott P M, (2000), ‘A’ Level Computing. Ipswich, United Kingdom: Payne-Gallway Publishers Ltd References Corbitt T, (1990), Information Technology And Its Applications. Avon, United Kingdom: Bath Press Heathcott P M, (2000), ‘A’ Level Computing. Ipswich, United Kingdom: Payne-Gallway Publishers Ltd Michael Firmstone Tutor: Del Turney 14/11/01

Active Audiences & the Construction of Meaning

Active Audiences & the Construction of Meaning â€Å"Media messages are central to everyday lives†¦ Audiences are active interpreters of meaning. † â€Å"Audiences interpret media in diverse ways. †(255-256). People in the media industry believe that the audience is a mass of passive readers who accept media messages uncritically.Nevertheless, the audiences actively take part in the interpretation of media texts which is an essential process when media messages start meaning something to people who assign their own implication to the texts. Sometimes audiences can interpret the message in the same way as intended by the producers, but sometimes they construct meaning that is very different. People interpret media texts in all types of social settings. Therefore, media has become a significant part of the social life.Since audiences are active receivers of media texts, they can change media messages by collective action such as prohibition of certain media texts, ca mpaigns that show audiences’ disapproval of media products, public writing of letters of complaint regarding media, foundation of independent media that criticize main media but also supply audiences with alternative perspectives. Audiences from different races, ethnicities, genders and social classes construct various interpretations of the same media message.So, media texts are characterized by polysemy, they have multiple meanings. According to John Fiske (1986) there is abundance of meaning embedded in the media texts. Therefore, media messages are structured in a way that enables people to make different readings and interpret them actively, not simply to accept the dominant interpretation. People have agency but there is no structure. However, people from different social backgrounds construct various interpretations of same media texts. Social statuses shape audience members’ viewpoints, interests and attitudes towards media.As a result, people must be aware of their agency- the opportunity to construct meaning- and of the social constraints as well. People often construct interpretation that is based on widely accepted norms, values and beliefs about the world around us. According to Stuart Hall’s encoding-decoding model messages are constructed on the basis of specific â€Å"codes†, encoded by the producers and decoded by the active audience. To decode the media texts, audiences have to know the basic medium conventions and cultural values.Since media messages draw on some taken-for-granted beliefs and cultural codes, the audience uses its knowledge about them to construct meaning and decode the media texts. This factor hinders us from being fully autonomist. Active audiences use media for diverse reasons and construct different interpretations but the big corporations will always be there to nudge us in certain directions. Fortunately, people like me will often refuse to accept the preferred meaning and develop oppositiona l reading and resistance, which are related to social action.Audiences’ oppositional decoding is part of the resistance to the traditional roles and rules. People are suppose to use media to relax, fantasize and escape from the social reality or solve some problems and live in harmony not to be subliminally attacked by producer beliefs. Some people experience ‘pleasure of resistance’ by making interpretations opposing to the dominant meanings. Overall there will always be a give and take between the media and the people, what we have to remember is we can have control over these media influence as long as we can take a step back and acknowledge their presence.