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gch1995 · 3 years

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OMG! I’m watching the 2016 PPG reboot on reboot to make fun of its awfulness by comparing it to the far superior OG cartoon from 98’-05 version, and I just got finished watching the atrocious episode “Musclecup.” I know the girls are supposed to be very precocious for kindergarteners-first graders, and I know that Buttercup is the “toughest fighter.” However, I still am in awe at the sheer stupidity of the writers of this episode, who thought it would be a “genius” idea to write a storyline in which Buttercup, a super-powered little girl in the first grade, actually gets addicted to steroids because she wants to bulk up her muscles!

First of all, Buttercup is a child, so this storyline feels gross and unnecessary, even if she is the “toughest fighter?”

Secondly, it doesn’t even make any sense as to why Buttercup thinks she needs to bulk up her muscles to a beef-cake level since she was born with superhuman strength that easily allows her to overpower the average person, anyway.

Thirdly, it’s annoying that Blossom and Bubbles are yet again rendered to be completely helpless and ineffectual by the writers together against one villain together without Buttercup, the brash and brawny tomboy, there to swoop in and save them. I know I’ve complained about Buttercup occasionally getting the short end of the stick when she had centrics the OG cartoon in which she was either getting into trouble, getting punished, getting double standards, and/or suffering exceedingly and/or unfairly with the world getting turned against her, sometimes to the point of needlessly mean-spirited overkill of character derailment for either her and/or other characters in the episode she cared about. Yeah, the writers not knowing how to write Buttercup centrics where she was framed in a positive light, being treated fairly, and/or granted the same individual compassion and emotional support of her loved ones that she normally had otherwise, and that her sisters were granted individually in their centrics when they were in the wrong or feeling down, was an occasionally recurring flaw in the writing on an overall great show that started showing up sometime in her centrics in S2.

However, in the 2016 reboot, the writers seemed to have overcorrected the writing flaw of Buttercup’s occasional designated butt-monkey status in the OG cartoon by turning her into the main character Mary Sue of the show, who gets the most centrics, and who does all the saving by herself without the other two girls most of the time. In the reboot, this now has created a new problem of diminishing Blossom’s and Bubbles’ individual strengths and relevance in the story.

Not to mention the fact that reboot!Buttercup’s personality is pretty shitty. In the OG cartoon, she was generally portrayed as a jerk with a heart of gold. Here in the reboot, she’s been flanderdized into an openly arrogant, crude, exceedingly aggressive, disrespectful, loud-mouthed, mean-spirited, obnoxious, petty, nonchalant, and selfish brat. She disrespects Ms. Keane and mocks her when she’s teaching a grammar lesson to be a class clown in “Painbow.” In “Professor-Proofed” she gets her dad hurt by causing him to lose focus, sneeze, and get hurt when he’s working in his lab with a dangerous chemical by peppering her pancakes right in front of him, then doesn’t ever apologize to him for it, and even ends the episode doing it again with an evil smirk on her face right in front of him, causing him to get hurt all over again after sneezing when the pepper goes up his nose. She tries to steal one of Bubbles pigtails in an attempt to catch a crawdad in “ClawDad,” and didn’t apologize. In “Little Octi-Lost,” she steals Octi from Bubbles in the dead of night when they are all asleep to “teach her a lesson” for being so into it, which isn’t a good reason at all, then realizes she wants to go play with Octi herself, takes him to a state fair, and then tries to cover it up when she loses him, rather than tell the truth. In the episode “Man Up” she violently blows up in an aggressive rage, recklessly destroys an entire state fair, and accidentally gives Bubbles a black eye all because a villain calls her “princess,” and she hates being called that. The moral of the episode was supposed to be learning to temper her aggression, but unlike in the OG Buttercup centric, “Makes Zen To Me,” the lesson doesn’t actually end up sticking with Buttercup at all, and she ends the episode reverting back to being an overly aggressive and obnoxious jerk because “status quo is comedy gold.”

Granted, out of the three girls in the OG cartoon, Buttercup did have the greatest tendency to be the most aggressive fighter with the greatest instigator and rebel tendencies, and she had some ooc instances of suddenly being a very uncharacteristically greedy, sadistic, and remorseless jerk than usual to fit certain contrived plots in bad episodes, such as “Moral Decay,” though almost everyone in the fandom despises that segment the most of the OG series and pretends it never happened because it was such ridiculously out of character and mean-spirited derailing writing for both Buttercup and her entire family in order to turn her into the villain and punish her harshly in ways that didn’t feel fair or make any sense.

However, generally, og Buttercup genuinely did have the heart of a hero and love her family more than anything. While she did have trouble apologizing to Elmer for teasing him in “Paste Makes Waste,” she genuinely did still feel bad about it, even if she had some trouble apologizing for it, and she did learn to swallow her pride and do it at the end. She and Blossom tended to argue a lot because they both were very stubborn people, who had trouble making compromises, and admitting to it when they were wrong, and she liked to mess with Bubbles the most. However, she generally hated seeing either of her sisters getting hurt, and she was always quick to defend them in battles against threats. She generally felt bad about hurting her sisters, and apologized all the time.

Buttercup occasionally got irritated when the Professor became a doting, sentimental, and overprotective Dad™️ with her and/or her sisters in the OG cartoon in episodes like “Uh Oh, Dynamo,” “Mr. Mojo’s Rising,” “PowerProf.,” and “Oops I Did It Again,” especially because she didn’t like to be doted on. She got in trouble with the Professor more than her sisters, partially because she was genuinely caught being disobedient, making bad choices, or instigating fights with her sisters by him more often than they were, but also partly because the writers dealt her an unfair hand in the world in her centrics since they liked turning her into the designated butt monkey when she got in trouble in them in a couple of instances, such as “Moral Decay” and “Down ‘n’ Dirty.” However, even at her worst and most OOC, she would never have tried to deliberately hurt her dad for shits and giggles like she did in reboot episode “Professor-Proofed.” She and her sisters also never would have deliberately sabotaged one of the Professor’s romances for their own benefit because they wanted him to be happy in the OG cartoon.

Fourthly, I know he’s not in the episode, but if the girls are this irresponsible and stupid in the reboot, then why would Professor Utonium ever think to trust them to stay at home alone, while he goes to work for the day? Oh, right...It’s because he’s also been reduced to an idiotic, incompetent, irresponsible, neglectful, reckless, and selfish parent 9 out of ten times in the reboot, who has little to no knowledge of how to actually be a good parent at all, and usually only appears to make things worse whenever he does appear anyway by being a cliche and mostly unfunny bumbling bad sitcom dad. In the OG cartoon, it’s different because the girls are mature enough to handle staying by themselves for a few hours, even while he’s out at work, though he got babysitters for them when he was out at night to be safe, but in this reboot version, the girls shouldn’t be trusted to stay at home alone by him.

Finally, that’s the other issue in the reboot. All of the adults are morons who have no common sense most of the time. The writers really expect me to believe that an adult would be totally okay with giving a little girl steroids without any thought to just how gross and unethical that is? Yeah, I know it’s a cartoon, and even in the OG cartoon, the city of Townsville were complete idiots at times to fit certain plots, but I don’t believe any of them would actually ever be stupid and unethical enough to give steroids to a little girl with superpowers to help her bulk up her muscles, especially not without warning her first about how it could be dangerous.

#anti PPG 2016 reboot #ep: musclecup #I can’t believe they actually did a storyline about a superpowered first grader getting hooked on steroids!#the classic PPG wasn’t always a good show but overall it was a really great cartoon #they have completely turned buttercup into an obnoxious tomboy Mary Sue in the reboot #granted they’ve ruined all of the girls in the reboot but I’m focusing on buttercup in particular here #they completely ruined buttercup’s personality in the reboot!#buttercup utonium #bubbles utonium #blossom utonium

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theliterateape · 3 years

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Why Can't We Just Share the Last Slice of Pizza?

by Don Hall

I had the first TV dinner in possibly forty-years a few weeks ago and it was kind of incredible.

Sure, it was a Hungry Man® chicken and mashed potatoes concoction and had more sodium than a bucket of sea water but it was still oddly delicious and covered in a gravy comprised of nostalgia and gluten. I didn't buy the frozen tray in a cardboard box. No, my wife has, in the pandemic, taken to rebranding her self as a 'resource locator' otherwise known as a 'dumpster diver.'

It sounds odd but I'm convinced that when the Second Great Depression takes hold, I'm married to the most resourceful and extraordinary partner on the planet. She finds brand new shoes, genuine Shriner fez's, and food. Cans of food thrown away. Expired bags of pretzels. And still-frozen TV dinners.

The nostalgia of consuming this marvel of the fifties, the fully-prepared dinner, ready to heat and eat in front of the television comes from my youth. In terms of economic status there were times in my earliest days when we were 'poor'. Now, mom wouldn't let us use that word to describe our situation. She preferred to say we were 'broke'. That distinction was my first lesson in reframing your perspective to fuel optimism.

Whichever it was called it was common practice growing up to eat TV dinners and mom would cut each portion in half (even the weird lava-like brownie or apple-crunch) so we had a meal the next day as well.

When we couldn't afford a Swanson-manufactured meal, she'd make what she called 'Spanish Rice'—Minute rice, a green pepper, tomato sauce, and Tabasco—another rebranding that certainly made this odd and rough cultural appropriation seem both unsavory and about as white as it could be.

Mom worked hard. My recollection was that she was often working several jobs and doing the best she could to keep us in clothing and food with a roof over our heads despite the fact that the minimum wage at the time was $1.60. She also had a way of reframing things so that, at no point, did we feel like we were missing out on much.

On top of that raising me could not have been easy.

We moved around a lot so I was always the new kid in school. Even with teachers and administrators, there is a tribal imperative to put the new members in their place, establishing the rules of behavior and assigning the slot for the newest members. I was never much of a conformist so this dance of going along to get along didn't take. All of which made my struggling mother's life one of battling the powers that be to protect her less than socialized monkey-son.

There are stories. The time I was forbidden to speak in class so I drew pictures of a butt and a butt pooping to silently curse some kids out. The incident of my failing to stay put during classes and finding escape routes during lunch that caused an epic battle as the Vice Principal decided to ban me from the Free Lunch program out of pique and spite. The summer when I was caught beating up Cub Scouts because they wouldn't let me join due to my mother's financial inability to buy me the requisite uniform.

There's an image I have in my head of my tiny mother almost coming to blows with a much larger woman because the woman called us "poor white trash." We were white but my mother wouldn't abide her children embracing the twin ideas of us being poor or being trash.

“No, Donald. You cannot just eat the last piece of pizza. You need to learn to share.”

In Chicago there's a thing called 'dibs.'

Sometimes it snows big and the streets are plowed but the parking spots are all but obliterated by small mountains of snow. The diligent among residents get their shovels out of the garage and clear out the snow from in front of their homes so that they will then have a place to park. They have done the work, so they feel entitled to the benefits of that labor.

The problem lies with those who do not shoulder in and remove the snow yet still feel entitled to park on public streets that they, after all is said and done, have paid for with their tax dollars.

Thus 'dibs.' The shoveler decides to put a lawn chair or card table or statue of the Virgin Mary in the spot they have labored over so when they come home from work, the spot has been saved for them and them alone.

It all sounds silly until you look at from an economic perspective. There are more cars in Chicago than there are legal places to park. It's a fact. The demand for spaces is greater than the supply. Parking tickets cost drivers thousands of dollars a year and the 'ticket dicks' are as numerous as the homeless. When it snows and the plows come through there are suddenly even less spaces than there were the night before.

Given the city will clear the roads but not the curbs the solution for half the population is to carve out their own space and the other half parks wherever they can. Those who take the spots but do not shovel are capitalizing on the labor of those who do and it pisses them off.

“No, Donald. You cannot just eat the last piece of pizza. You need to learn to share.”

I was thirteen. I was growing. I ate like a fucking locust with the table manners of the Cookie Monster. There it was—the last piece. I wanted it. My sister was small and weak. What was she gonna do?

“Offer your sister the last piece.”

“…do you want the last…”

“YES!” she barked and shoved the whole piece in her mouth.

“That’s NOT FAIR! We coulda split it! That’s not sharing, that’s theft!”

That’s Capitalism. Cut throat. Haves and Have Nots. It is simply not in human nature to share. In all of recorded history there has always been, in every society and civilization, when approached with abundance, a small percentage of those at the top and a much larger percentage at the bottom. Call it what you want—winners and losers, the One Percent and the Ninety-Nine (great name for a prog rock band), Bourgeoisie and Proletariat—it all amounts to the same dynamic.

It occurs to me that in the fight to get people fired from their jobs for tweeting arguably terrible things the double standard in place is exceptionally capitalist. On the ‘cancel culture’ side is the idea that people should be held accountable for their words in the world and, if they cross the line, then employers should fire them. On the other side, these same people will scream that an employer who decides that a kid wearing the costume of his culture or using grammatically incorrect language cannot be fired.

Both are individuals putting themselves and their ability to express themselves at the center of a business that has little to do with the individual. Everyone should have the right to their own specific identity as they see fit but no one should have the right to exert themselves above a business that pays them a salary in order to center things on them.

It’s frustrating. Economic class is the true great divider in the world. Because it is so ingrained in the human experience to live with those who have the cash and many who do not, economic class seems an unassailable unfairness. It’s an immovable and undeniable trait in societies of every stripe.

The landlord who leverages herself to get loans to buy an apartment building, fix it up to be livable, and rents it out to people has shoveled the snow. The tenant who claims it is unfair to be evicted from that apartment building because they cannot pay the rent is parking wherever there is a spot.

And it pisses everybody off.

No, it is neither race nor gender that is the engine of inequity. It’s almost entirely economic class.

Since the existence of class is so ever-present and unmoving, we focus on other things to change society. The battle to curb billionaires has never really taken hold despite the obvious problems they present. So we focus on race, we focus on gender. We spend our energy ignoring that most of inequity that exists between humans is about economics and find as many differences between those of us on the Have Not side as we can.

Why is it so hard to get rid of billionaires and that pernicious One Percent? Because we all want what they have. We all want the last piece of pizza and the parking space. We all want the luxury of luxurious things. We resent the things we'd have to do to get that luxury so instead we tear at anyone and everyone to gain whatever slice we can.

No one wants to shovel out that goddamned parking space. Trust me. In thirty years of living in Chicago, I shoveled tons and tons of snow to get that coveted spot. I never did the 'dibs' thing but I empathize with the fury at someone taking that spot I've labored over.

Study after study indicates that it is economic class that holds us back far more than race or gender but the road to power is through a perception of grievance these days and the only evil when presenting poverty as the problem is human nature. Men and women can be demonized. That game has been around for-freaking-ever. African Americans can demonize whites (but not black Americans because African immigrants in America do, on average, far better economically than whites). We can go the People of Color vs White People but, in order to make that case, Asians have to be ignored or made white-adjacent.

No, it is neither race nor gender that is the engine of inequity. It’s almost entirely economic class. Not that acknowledging that will change anything.

The utopian ideals of Socialism and even Communism sound better than Capitalism. The problem is the humans are built from the DNA to compete. Compete for resources, for sexual partners, for jobs, for shelter. Competition is as instinctual as our desire to procreate and Capitalism is a competitive sport. Throughout history, progress toward learning to truly share that slice of pizza is slow because it goes against our very nature. Not impossible and thus worth the effort but fucking S-L-O-W.

A friend recently posited that maybe I have gained some wisdom in my aging. He then switched and decided that maybe what we think is wisdom is just age plus exhaustion. Whichever it is, I have learned to share. I've also learned that in order to share, I have to assume my offer of the last piece of pie is going to be taken and stuffed into my sister's mouth. I can be wounded by the gesture, I can even be annoyed by it. I have to let it go.

I'm comfortable with the concept of enough. Meaning, if I have enough to share, I have enough to survive. Even if it's only enough of my mom's Spanish Rice.

There will be those, always those, who are so imbued with the need to compete that there is never enough. There will be those, perpetually those, who have not had enough and are willing to tear it out of the mouths of those who have.

And there will always be those, unendingly those, who are fine parking in the open spot knowing that someone else put in the work and not caring enough about anyone else that they take up the space and benefit from the labor without contributing.

On the best days, I don't run into them.

#Class

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adonis-koo · 4 years

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Sorry my asks was too long I had to make an acc and I hope you don’t mind I just re post all my asks as submit instead coz it’s long!

1-9 after reading ch 11 and prob unpopular opinion but I kinda felt like sometimes tease!jk behavior comes across as emotional manipulative with how he tends to guilt trip mc with his double standards when he’s angry.

He makes her feel bad for things he’s doing the same. And what he said was crossing the line and downright cruel. I understand the reasoning but I have to agree with that anon who said he was let off easy

2-9 I feel like he’s so far given a lot of excuse and pass for his toxic behaviour just because he has a messed up past. When I look at the conflict between mc, he tends to lash out towards her a lot when he can’t express his emotions properly or is jealous. It makes mc look like his emotional punching bag at times and coz he’s more aggressive than her, she ends up get dragged by or is affected by his emotions a lot more than hers does his in a negative way. Mc ain’t right too but she never lashed out the way he did.

3-9 Mc ain’t right too but she never lashed out the way he did. Sure he apologized but I feel like it was dismissed and that behavior wasn’t addressed more seriously. him being forgiven so easily doesn’t seem to allow him the chance to experience the full consequences of his actions and he needs to learn he can’t always deal with his pain by self-harm if he did happen to lose mc.

4-9 and mc seems a little over depend on jk’s approval. If him not apologizing would be enough for her to shut down that bad, than it shows her dependence on him might be bordering on unhealthy. It feels like all her approval and acceptance of herself at this point stems from jk’s behavior and words towards her because as you mentioned, her friends wouldn’t be able to pull her out of that situation if she did shut down.

5-9 She seem to feel insecure when he’s not giving her the attention she wants coz of her insecurities of not measuring up. I’m not sure if she’s aware of that and if she is it’s not addressed as much. Her accepting his apologies feels like a temporary bandage to her deeper issues and enabling herself to be more dependent on him instead of a chance for her to face it alone and grow.

6-9 I feel mc needs more chances to find her own worth and love outside of jk. To know she don’t need his love to feel lovable and worthy since he’s not the best person to get it from. She also needs the chance to be stronger and take more assertion and power as well, to balance the power in their relationship because it feels v imbalance now.

7-9 She needs a bit more equal grounds and feel in control and know she has as much power as him. She’s missing this in both sex and her relationship with him since the type of man she likes - the dominant and caretaker type like jk who has a tendency to be in control, can hinder her from growing stronger and independent.

8-9 And jk kinda needs someone more assertive and put him in his place and don’t take no bs from him. Someone who’ll be willing to walk away and have a time out when needed instead of always accepting him back so easily after he apologizes when he messes up. I’m actually glad mc walked out & I wouldn’t blame her if she did decide to time out from him in this ch. I mean he needs to be treated w/ understanding but too much dismissing his behavior will only enable him to continue excuse his problematic side.

9-9 Change requires quite some time and I’m glad they talked it over. But I just felt the way it ended didn’t really addressed fully those toxic sides to their relationship when the negative influences they have on each other outweighs the positive so far. I don’t know if I’m making sense I’m not the best at explaining stuff. But of course they have a lot more room to grow too since the story is not over and I’m excited to see their relationship grow more. I honestly really love your writings and I’m so invested in the characters so I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m being hateful because your writing is amazing.

~~~

(edit: PC tumblr won’t let me use my pink font >:( )

So I’ve read over this very carefully multiple times and gave it a lot of thought because you pointed out a few things I hadn’t quite thought of or saw it in that type of angle before, so first of all, thank you! I NEVER want to portrayal a relationship that is toxic in a non intentional way, so let’s go ahead and dive on in.

Something I’ve tried to avoid is giving ‘excuses’ especially in the sense of using Jungkook’s background for it. Something I used to constantly say (and I should probably start saying again) yes he has a reason to act out the way he does, it does NOT mean it’s okay by any means. But in a way, we use our past experiences as human beings to guide us, bad experiences leave negative effects.

While we could argue Jungkook ‘needs to learn’ by suffering consequences (which to a degree I do agree because as a previous anon said he needs to be held accountable for his actions) it wouldn’t necessarily be effective in this situation because Jungkook is actually very self aware he can’t escape through self-harm or self destruction, he does understand his actions and what he is doing isn’t okay.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t make mistakes- or fuck up big time he’s extremely hotheaded and impulsive and it’s something he CONSTANTLY battles with, something I wanted to portray when writing tease is the very essence of humans, we can be self aware of our destructive tendencies and yet still do them without realizing it in the moment- only to catch ourselves realizing we did it later on. Which is what happened after their fight.

It’s a war between wanting to heal and become healthy while still struggling to let go of his ego and anger that get the better of him. It’s what makes him human, it doesn’t make it right by ANY means, but it’s a struggle of growth, and no matter how much we grow there will always be ups and downs and set backs. That was definitely something I wanted to portray in my writing, while we don’t see this internal battle in Jungkook as the fic isn’t in his POV we do get to see a lot of this in his journal entries.

This is however something we get to explore a little in the upcoming arc and it’s something we heavily explore after the upcoming arc.

Let me state again this probably still sounds like an excuse and it does not in ANY way mean to be, the only thing I can really do is just explain why I’ve written him this way. I can’t justify his actions or defend him (other then his charactization which still isn’t really defending him because it’s more to do in technicality of writing, if that makes sense?) because that would be enabling him and glorifying unhealthy relationships which we don’t do in this house 🤢

So let’s discuss a little about MC’s behavior, she is 100% dependent of Jungkook’s approval and praise and in a more unconscious way, that was pretty much what I was aiming for. But let’s take a look at their entire relationship through the eyes of the story, Jungkook and MC, in reality, set themselves up for this. Ever since they met they accidentally established a power dynamic-

(via mentor/trainee taken a little too seriously even Jimin states in chapter 2 ‘“You don’t see any of us grinding on our trainee’s, so what’s the difference Guk, hm?” Your lips parted at his words slightly, was he insinuating this wasn’t normal?’ This was the first clue that their mentor trainee relationship was not normal compared to all of the others soloists who had trainee’s)

-that should have never been allowed to flourish before they really got to know one another. Because that’s the first step to what lead to all of this.

It first started innocently, MC just wanting to be seen as desirable by someone cute like Jungkook, and him being her mentor she wanted his approval on knowing she was doing well. But due to their natural tendency to fall into dom and sub combined with their already established mentor trainee without the foundation of a steady platonic friendship beforehand, it quickly descended more and more into MC needing his attention all the time, needing to know she was good enough and etc.

Really, this goes back to a previous ask I answered: Jungkook and MC have a lack of respect and knowledge for/of one another as people, as two individuals outside of the crumbling dynamic they established when they first met. I mean, sitting here thinking about it, I’m really not surprised it became such a toxic fest between them. They completely set themselves up for this unintentionally and now they’re going to have to learn is how to be a couple (and friends) without the power dynamic or else things are bound to fall apart.

Like you said change does take time and it’s something we’ll begin too see slowly developing between them both in the upcoming arc, but the one question that really struck me was your main one. We’re all aware of these toxic dynamics going on between them both, but why weren’t they addressed and talked about? I feel a little dumb for having to think about it when it feels so clear to me now. They themselves, don’t realize just how toxic their relationship has become, how are they supposed to when it’s been set up this way from the beginning? Their (unfair and unhealthy) power dynamic is all they’ve ever experienced one another through.

MC jumped out of one controlling relationship only to enter another more appealing one without realizing it and Jungkook has never even seen a healthy relationship let alone experience one. The only unhealthy aspect they are both aware of are the ridiculous double standards Jungkook had put on her in the past, because it’s the most blatant and dominant problem between them both. All of these other issues are more underlying and they are both oblivious too.

We’ve both said change takes time, but I think as Jungkook and MC begin to see each other as people outside of the power dynamic, and as they get to know each other as people and no longer as caretaker/little, sub/dom, mentor/trainee, these problems will eventually fix themselves, that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t be orally addressed in the story. But from a writing perspective it leaves me to wonder how do I address this when they the characters aren’t even aware of how unhealthy their relationship is? That’s not really a question for you guys too worry about though lmao.

Anyways I’ll start wrapping things up but one last thing I really liked was your opinion on MC needing more independence and growth on her own. I can’t say for sure that’s what we’ll see in this upcoming arc but it’s something I’m definitely aiming for. As someone who though likes to submit I need a sense of autonomy and identity outside of someone else, so I can appreciate your words for MC!

I genuinely think they can be what they need for one another, but it’s always going to be a work in progress because as humans no one is perfect! It all boils down to what you’re willing to deal with in a relationship and what you aren’t, that of course isn’t an excuse to not work to become a better person or the best you can be! But a natural understanding. Anyways I hope I answered to the best of my ability, I said it once and I’ll say it again, I never ever ever want to portray a relationship that isn’t purposely set up toxically.

And that’s not too say I thought for a moment I had, because I’ve clearly stated in the past that this arc was specifically aimed at their toxicity, but it was more of a moment of panic that: ‘oh shit, I can NOT let this go on in the future of the story’ because like I’ve said before tease is all about character development, it won’t make them perfect but I want them to be a THOUSAND times better at the end of the story then where they are now.

Anyways no worries hun! I just hope this clarified a little bit! MC and Jungkook’s real relationship is only now just beginning to unfold in the upcoming arc, we’re only 1/3 of the way through the story so there’s still plenty of time! Thank you for sticking with it though no matter how frustrating the characters may be! I love getting asks that keep me on my toes, it helps keep me grounded and make sure I don’t accidentally become too biased to one narrative.

Thank you so much for sending in hun! ~~

#missy answers #tease #submission

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ladystylestores · 4 years

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You should play Namco’s lost arcade-action classic, Mr. Driller DrillLand

Enlarge / Right about now sounds good for a blast of 2002’s best arcade-puzzle gaming.

Bandai Namco

In recent years, Japanese game makers have tried to revive the 16- and 32-bit era’s beloved niche of arcade-puzzle series, but these nostalgia cash-ins have mostly failed. Capcom’s Puzzle Fighter came back to life on smartphones as a free-to-play gacha mess. Sega’s Chu Chu Rocket returned with too many complications as an Apple Arcade exclusive (and, crucially, zero multiplayer). And Hudson’s Super Bomberman sputtered onto the Switch’s 2017 launch lineup as a mess, though it eventually received some face-saving patches.

As a result, I shudder whenever I see a cult-classic, puzzle-arcade series return on modern, download-only storefronts. The genre that used to thrive on cartridges and CD-ROMs has become ripe for microtransactions and slot-machine mechanics. Which is why I’m taking the unusual step of reviewing such a launch going right.

Mr. Driller DrillLand, out today on Windows PCs and Nintendo Switch, is one of the rarest games from Namco’s early-’00s period, which was otherwise marked by the blistering 3D likes of Ridge Racer and Tekken. The cartoony, 2D game, which launched exclusively in Japan in 2002 for the GameCube, was arguably a swan song for the studio’s legacy as an ’80s arcade juggernaut. Thankfully, today’s updated, translated version leaves well enough alone: its pure gameplay experience returns with 1080p-friendly touches.

$30 may be a bit steep for this classic game, but it’s the best Mr. Driller game ever made, and it’s a remarkable love letter to the Namco of old.

Clearing a path to a flow state

The “basic” mode mostly resembles the classic gameplay of the 1999 original. Every mode in this game has an amusement park theme, and this one is clearly the “It’s A Small World” segment.

Dig further, and you’ll find other countries. Here, Puchi makes his way through France.

Different characters have different strengths and weaknesses. This robot character is a bit slower, but he gets double the health.

That’s the star of Dig-Dug, if you’re wondering.

This Indiana Jones-like mode is the most interesting, thanks to its treasure-routing challenge.

This mode, an homage to Namco’s Tower of Druaga, has some cool adventure-mode tweaks.

Collect potions, then use their powers to trap and capture ghosts.

The least interesting mode in the package merely makes you contend with randomized bonuses.

Plus, quite frankly, I’m happy to have this enormously cheery and weird game right now.

Like other puzzle games from its era, DrillLand comes with a silly and largely unnecessary plot, and it includes the same Japanese voice acting found in the 2002 version. Mr. Driller and his friends have been invited to visit a fictional amusement park, and its every attraction twists or modifies the core Mr. Driller gameplay formula with some thematic gimmick. (His friends, if you’re wondering, include his dad—as in, the guy who starred in Dig Dug—and a cheery, talking dog named Puchi.)

One of these attractions is essentially a port of other Mr. Driller games, because it simply asks players to dig, dig, dig. Your primary object is to dig through colorful blocks from the top of the screen as deeply as possible. That may seem simple, but if you dig carelessly, you may leave hanging fragments that fall and crush you, and your digging path is complicated by “solid” blocks and a requirement to pick up oxygen tank refills. This is a high-score chase mode, since you’ll get more points for clearing various depth amounts quickly and efficiently.

Since the first Mr. Driller game launched in 1999, no other puzzle game has copied its formula. Unlike color-matching and piece-fitting classics, Mr. Driller emphasizes the flow state of constant, efficient movement and digging, which benefits from spatial awareness of shapes and colors all around you. Matching other colored blocks factors into your success, and your downward digging can put color-matching combos into motion, so there’s a two-headed thrust to your Mr. Driller DrillLand progress. That this gameplay still feels special and unique makes this 2002 re-release a worthy puzzling option for anyone who may have missed the series before.

But even if you find that puzzle system a bit wanting, the four other modes add clever twists to its formula. The best mode removes the oxygen-filling requirement and converts the whole game to an Indiana Jones spoof, where you’re forced to create digging paths that lead to treasure pickups while avoiding traps and—oh, I love these—giant rolling stones that will smash through your digging path and threaten you, like the chase scene from Raiders. Another mode pays homage to Namco’s classic Tower of Druaga series, as it forces Mr. Driller to take specific paths through a dungeon, collect treasure and keys, and fight bosses. And a haunted-house mode turns you into a ghostbuster of sorts, as it makes you freeze and capture ghosts within the blocks that you’d otherwise dig through.

That’s the Puchi attitude

Need a cheery, silly game? DrillLand has you covered.

You’ll switch from mode to mode by wandering across this map interface.

As far as a silly, family-friendly script is concerned, DrillLand delivers. Expect plenty of groaners and cheese.

Boy, I’ll say.

The points you accrue in every level can be spent on things like cards.

These appear to exist primarily to dole out trivia.

Want to buy some utterly worthless collectibles? Go ahead.

Between each of these challenges, a fully voiced cut scene will play out with the Driller crew’s personalities clashing in giddy, Saturday morning fashion, and while you can mash buttons to skip these, I’d suggest not. The whole package radiates with DayGlo-bright designs—all handsomely scaled to modern screen resolutions and a 16:9 ratio—and part of the inflated $30 cost is that you’re sometimes expected to sit back and marvel at how weird and elaborate the game’s story gets.

This should particularly delight anyone who still fondly recalls Katamari Damacy, which debuted on PlayStation 2 two years after DrillLand‘s launch. You can see the seeds of Katamari‘s wacky plot and King Of All Cosmos character planted by the Driller family’s saccharine-sweet trials. Meanwhile, DrillLand‘s perky J-Pop soundtrack, presented here at full fidelity, isn’t identical to Katamari‘s classic tunes by any stretch, but the up-tempo charm and vocal-melody components are almost identical.

The weirdness doesn’t end there. At any time, you can load a lengthy, music-driven parade sequence, where various Driller-series characters stomp across your screen, almost-but-not-quite in time with the music. There’s no way to fail this mode; it’s not technically “gameplay,” and you can only modify it by pressing a joystick to change the marchers’ tempo. Why is this in the game? I have no idea. But now I kinda wish every video game had an optional parade sequence as an amusing distraction. (Just think of how TLOU2‘s post-apocalyptic Seattle might look with its mutated monsters stomping to the music while holding batons.)

Big-screen treatment for two-player modes.

Smaller screens for three- and four-player modes.

On PC, it’s easy to set up everyone’s preferred controllers.

To finish the package, the game includes a pair of four-player battle modes. One is a parallel race through standard Mr. Driller gameplay, where each player races to dig through identical content, and the other is a ho-hum battle mode where players dig through the same, shared screen in search of a randomly placed treasure. The latter feels unfair as a versus game, while the former is pretty meager with its battling and “garbage” mechanics. Still, as family-friendly four-player modes, they’re better than nothing (but, sadly, don’t work online).

Nitpicks, not dealbreakers

The biggest drawback to the whole package is a $30 pricetag, which is high for a 2002 re-release. As far as “new” content, you’re getting a newly translated script (no new English voice acting), an admittedly smooth upscaling of the original 2D assets to 1080p resolution, and a new “casual” difficulty level—which, I should be blunt, is far from casual. Mr. Driller DrillLand can be pretty unforgiving to new players due to how quickly its falling block fragments fall and harm your character, and entire runs will get wiped out due to a severely limited pool of lives. (Casual mode only adds a single extra life to each mode, which, I have to say, doesn’t suddenly make the package newbie-friendly.)

Worse, the game’s digital download doesn’t include any form of instruction manual, so you’ll go through trial-and-error to answer serious questions about the game. Which levels should I play first? Do shiny blocks, which disappear after a certain amount of time, mean anything in a level? Why don’t each individual mode’s “level 2” and “level 3” sections unlock? Is there a point to spending in-game coins on a shelf of collectibles? And how do all of the items in the item shop work? The last question is crucial, because beginners will rely on that item shop, not the “casual” mode toggle, to survive their earliest sessions. Some in-game guidance to that effect would have been appreciated.

Thus, it’s not a perfect collection. Still, I’ll take a re-release that’s doggedly old-school over the microtransaction alternative. DrillLand is exactly the kind of unique, satisfying, and cutesy puzzle-action game I want right now, and its brand-new appearance on the portable Nintendo Switch is particularly welcome. (And since the series’ iOS $1 version from 2009 is dead, thanks to a lack of 64-bit update, we’ll have to settle on this week’s solid port.)

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jenniferasberryus · 4 years

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Temtem Hands-On: How it Is (and Isn't) Like Pokemon

The first time I saw Temtem, I, like probably everyone else in the world, thought “Wow, this looks… exactly like Pokemon.” After playing the alpha for about six hours, I’m still pretty confident in describing it as about 85 percent similar to classic Pokemon. And before I go any further, no, this is not a review - this is just first impressions of Temtem, an MMORPG obviously inspired by Pokemon.

In Temtem, you start off as a young person whom you’ll customize with a plethora of options – options that will only increase as you play. It’s your Apprentice's Eve in which you (and your jerk rival, Max) celebrate with the town’s Temtem professor. Professor Konstantinos gives you your first Temtem, which is chosen from three starter Temtem: The Mental-type Houchic, the Crystal-type Crystle, or the Melee-type Smazee.

From there, it’s up to you to go to Accademia (yes, it's spelled like that) to learn more about Temtem (but you don’t actually attend classes), catch and tame Temtem, challenge eight Dojos, and possibly thwart an evil organization. The Temtem even show up as random encounters when wading through tall grass or exploring dark caves or ruins, and are caught by throwing an object - in this case a Temcard. Temtem are certain types, like Nature or Crystal, and can be two types at the same time. They can have up to four moves slotted at once, and their stats and type affect how they perform. Temtem can evolve, and sometimes their types change with the evolution. NPC Tamers will stop you to fight as soon as you cross their line of sight, and there are special buildings to go to in order to heal your Temtem and purchase Temtem-related items.

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Nearly%20all%20of%20Temtem's%20battles%20are%20two%20on%20two."]

Yeah, it all sounds so eerily familiar. But there are some key differences, too, the most obvious being Temtem’s PC accessibility and its MMO-style, player populated world. While exploring, Temtem trailing behind you, you’ll see other tamers out and about as well. You can’t interact with them like an NPC, but you can go into a menu to do so. To facilitate the ease of cooperative play, it seems as though nearly all of Temtem’s battles are two on two - making it perfect for continuous co-op. Each Tamer, using separate accounts, bring their own Temtem into the battle, and this never feels unfair for the NPC opponents. On the contrary, playing strategically in a double battle is even more difficult with a partner unless constant communication is kept up, assuming both have Temtem around the same level.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=temtem-species&captions=true"]

Making Temtem double-battle focused is a neat solution to make co-op viable, and simultaneously, makes the entirety of Temtem more difficult, too - a welcome change for those clamoring for more challenge in the genre. It is too early for me to say how difficult Temtem really is, but double battles are inherently more complex than single battles. In addition, the classic treatment is kind of old-school in the inconvenient game-design sort of way, which forces you to backtrack through Temtem-infested dungeons if you can’t handle its back-to-back boss battles at the end. Some may love the extra challenge and punishment, others may lament the loss of time.

To be clear, I went into Temtem blind without researching the unique Temtem Type-chart, so I didn’t know things like how Melee-type Temtem were weak against Digital-type attacks, and it made me realize how much I rely on my ingrained Pokemon knowledge when playing those games, and how much more challenging they’d be if I didn’t know my opponent’s Pokemon was especially weak to Electric-type moves with weak Special Defense and high Attack. It’s difficult to play strategically when you know nothing about your opponent, but I'm glad I went in without studying to be able to gain the fresh experience of being a complete newb again.

There are a few more similarities and differences, like how Temtem's answer to Pokemon's Individual Values (SVs in Temtem) and Effort Values (TVs in Temtem) are present in different numerical capacities and can be seen whenever you want in a Temtem's summary. But, I wanted to specifically call out Temtem’s stamina system, the only monster stat that truly differs from any of Pokemon’s. Instead of each move having a generous number of times it can be used, each Temtem has a pool of Stamina. Think of it like a mana bar. Each move uses a certain amount of points, and once the pool is used up, the Temtem will hurt itself if it tries to attack, and will be unable to act the next turn. Stamina is recovered between battles, but this system prevents Tamers from being able to rely on a single overpowered Temtem, and forces them to switch out to others or else be punished.

Another added spice to Temtem's combat is Synergy. Sometimes, a Temtem will have a move that gets a boost when its teammate on the field is a certain type. As you can see in the screenshot above, Crystle's Crystal Dust move gets a boost in both damage and priority when a friendly Nature-type Temtem is on the field with it. Traits--like Pokemon's Abilities--also encourage teammate combos. For example, Tateru can have a trait that won't wake up sleeping Temtem, so pairing it with a Temtem with Hypnosis is a cool combo.

For those looking for an MMO-style Pokemon, perhaps with some extra flavor in the form of challenge, a more thought out online-competitive system, and co-op, Temtem will probably scratch that itch, especially for those who prefer old-school Pokemon over more recent iterations’ quality-of-life improvements and time-saving updates. Temtem will enter Early Access on Steam on January 21, and will release on consoles sometime next year.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/07/the-first-17-minutes-of-temtem-pokemon-like-mmo-alpha-gameplay"]

For more on Temtem, make sure to watch the first 17 Minutes of Temtem Alpha Gameplay above. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Casey DeFreitas is an Editor at IGN who loves monster hunting, slaying, and catching. Catch her on Twitter @ShinyCaseyD. [Disclosure: Humble Bundle (which is owned by Ziff Davis, the parent company of IGN) is either the publisher or financier of this game and may receive a commission or fee in connection with sales. Humble Bundle and IGN operate completely independently, and no special consideration is given to Humble Bundle-published or financed games for coverage or scoring.] from IGN Video Games https://www.ign.com/articles/temtem-hands-on-how-it-is-and-isnt-like-pokemon via IFTTT from The Fax Fox https://thefaxfox.blogspot.com/2020/01/temtem-hands-on-how-it-is-and-isnt-like.html

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ladala99 · 5 years

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Spyro Reignited Countdown - Skylanders Swap Force (Console)

Vicarious Visions takes the reigns for a game, and at the same time, wins me over.

I honestly didn’t want this game at first, but eventually decided to try it with the bare minimum of figures a few months after release. To my surprise, I loved it, and there was soon enough a sale that let me get the rest of the Swap Force leg types at half price. I never really engaged much with the gimmick, but the game itself made me want to buy the rest, and that’s what a Skylanders game should do.

Gameplay

On the surface, it’s the same as the first two games. There’s one major difference, however: the presence of a jump button. Yeah, it doesn’t seem to do too much, but as someone who grew up on 3D platformers, being able to dodge attacks in three dimensions was so much easier than just using the two.

And there’s also some very minor platforming. Not enough to make it really a platformer, but enough to make platformer-starved me delighted. Seriously, the world before N-Sane Trilogy and Mario Odyssey was a dark place. Because for some reason I never thought to, you know, buy games for the PS1 and PS2 that I had previously missed out on.

Oh, and the Swap Force gimmick, where you can mix and match the different top and bottom halves of the Swap Force characters. I didn’t use it much (I think I was using only one of them on my official playthrough team), but it added some interesting variety as you figure out which attacks work best together.

The biggest thing, though, is the new combat balancing. Enemies now will be pushed over and back when you attack them powerfully enough. This makes combat so much more satisfying, and also makes melee characters usable in Nightmare Mode.

The Gates

It’s still early in the franchise, and thus everyone gets to be included.

We’ve got the original Elemental Gates. These are unchanged but are quite a bit less common.

We’ve got new Dual-Elemental Gates. These can be unlocked two ways: 1. You can make a Swap Force character with those two elements, or 2. You can enter 2-player mode and use two different elemental Skylanders to open the gate, then exit 2-player mode if you desire. This was a fun and fair way to do it, imo.

We’ve got Giant Chests, that only Giants can open. I don’t think these counted for percentage points and were just another way to get treasure.

And finally, the Swap Zones. These are minigames that require you to have a Swap Force Skylander with particular types of legs. These were fun. At least, doing all bonus stars were really fun. Plus, you know, they’re minigames, and I love gameplay variety.

Old Figures vs. New Figures

Vicarious Visions restatted all of the characters for this game, so everyone’s on approximately even ground. New characters, old characters, they all do around the same amount of damage, and they all use new mechanics well.

The characters made for this game do take advantage of the new combat styles better than older characters, and some of the older characters’ abilities are now completely phased out of usefulness when at least they could be used in Adventure Packs in Giants, but those are minor cases.

Old characters retain their value in that they continue to be able to open up Elemental Gates, and Giants have some use with the Giant Chests. Still, Giants are significantly less useful in this game than in their game, aside from Nightmare Mode because it is actually possible to use them here.

The Swap Force figures obviously have the most to do, but it doesn’t feel unfair when everyone else has something to do, too.

The Collectables

We’ve got a lot of returning stuff, being Treasure Chests, Hats, Winged Sapphires, Soul Gems, Legendary Treasures, and Story Scrolls.

Legendary Treasures now give stat bonuses. You can choose which ones to display after a certain point in the story and the ones on display give you bonuses, like the Luck-o-Tron Wheels in Giants.

There’s also random stuff that’s different every level. These contribute to level completion and are always hidden in the main part of the level that anyone can access.

Finally, there’s Bonus Mission Maps, which give you extra stuff to do in the Bonus Mission game mode. More variety!

The thing to mention, though, is that everything other than Treasure Chests and the level-specific collectables are found behind Elemental Gates and Swap Zones. This makes it much more frustrating figuring out whether you’re really missing something, or if it’s just a place you can’t go to because you don’t have the figure, and makes upgrade discounts locked behind additional figures.

Additional Game Modes

The game has a few different game modes, and they work a bit differently to other games in the series.

We’ve got the Adventure Mode, which is the main story.

There’s Bonus Missions, which are unlocked through Adventure Mode, are small tasks to perform, similar to Heroic Challenges but locked only behind standard gates rather than each individual character.

You can complete the Swap Zones in various difficulties and with various other tasks for stars.

There’s Arena Challenges, which were also present in Giants but the improved combat mechanics makes these much more fun.

Each Skylander also has individual quests that unlock more stats. The bigger your collection, the more replay value! Although a lot of them are pretty repetitive.

Bosses

I remember them being pretty fun. They have levels to themselves, now, so they have their own set of stars and sometimes those are pretty difficult to complete!

The fight with Kaos’ Mom is actually really interesting as well, using your portal as part of the battle. This series doesn’t do fourth-wall-breaking things nearly often enough when it comes to gameplay.

Levels

The only real issue is how long the levels are. Like: expect to take an hour or more exploring them. They’re so long they all have a mid-level checkpoint for sanity.

But I actually didn’t have much of a problem with that. Sure, there’s fewer levels than in the past games, but the gameplay you get out of them makes up for it.

Other than that, they’re fairly fun to go through and pretty well-designed with some hidden areas in the main level rather than all being gated. There are getting to be a lot of gates, though, and that can be a bit frustrating if you don’t have everything needed, and that is objectively more expensive than it ever has been before, given that at minimum you’ll need to have a Swap Force character of each leg type, and you can double-up and get each element at the same time. So minimum of 6 additional $15 figures assuming you got the Starter Pack.

Story

Kaos found this Evilizing volcano and is spreading darkness throughout the Cloudbreak Isles, trying to corrupt the Elementals. It’s up to you, our Portal Master, and your Skylanders to stop him!

Oh, and Kaos’ Mother’s actually one of the main villains. She is never referred to as anything but Kaos’ Mother.

If Kaos’ Mother actually had a name or any particular characterization, this game would be more interesting. As it is, it’s the standard save-the-world plot with a slight twist.

Kaossandra is a lot more interesting in the Skylanders Academy TV show.

Unique in the Series?

It’s the only game that actually tries to make previous gimmicks have a place. It’s the only game with quests for each individual Skylander to complete to get extra stats (I think?). The Swap Zones never return. The clay-like artstyle never returns.

Yeah, it is pretty unique. But it also builds up the series with new types of gameplay that will continue in the future. Starting with this game, the replay value goes up a lot in the series aside from just playing through with different characters. It made a lasting impression, even though it took some risks.

Conclusion

Swap Force is one of my favorite Skylanders games. It’s only behind the other Vicarious Visions Skylanders games, and that’s because this game plays it a lot safer than they do, and I like the way they experiment.

Swap Force is the reason I don’t hate Skylanders after Giants disappointed me. Not bad for the developers behind Spyro Orange.

#spyro #skylanders #skylanders swap force #video game review #spyro reignited

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talabib · 6 years

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Leadership journey: Ellen Pao

The Pao vs. Kleiner case garnered some heavy media attention, and there’s a good chance you’re aware of it. But perhaps the struggles and obstacles Pao had to endure leading up to the trial are less well known.

What was it like working at Kleiner? What were the challenges faced by Pao and other women working at the firm? And how did she come to pursue a lawsuit against one of the most powerful venture capital firms in the world?

This post will give you an insight into the events leading up to and surrounding the case, as well as how Pao dealt with the blow of losing to Kleiner.

Deeply ingrained sexual discrimination makes it hard for women to succeed in the workplace.

Ellen Pao grew up believing that a good education would inevitably lead to success, and so when she graduated from Harvard Law School in 1994, she saw endless career opportunities laid out in front of her. When she began working at the well-known New York City law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore as a corporate lawyer, however, she quickly realized things weren’t going to go quite how she’d expected.

One of the things Pao noticed was that sexual discrimination had become so deeply rooted in the workplace that it often happened without anyone noticing it, sometimes not even the person on the receiving end.

A coworker who was black and female was constantly mistaken for an administrative assistant or a paralegal, despite being dressed in suits donned only by attorneys. Furthermore, even though as a lawyer she had the authority to use company cars, Pao’s coworker faced difficulties in doing so.

At the time, Pao’s coworker didn’t think too much about it, and thus never reported what happened. Ultimately, however, she was so distressed by these experiences that she ended up leaving the profession entirely.

The case of Pao’s coworker serves as a reminder of how it’s nearly impossible to ascend the corporate ladder if you’re not one of “the boys,” despite your hardest efforts.

Pao relates a time when the head of her department invited 12 male coworkers to dinner, following it up with a visit to a strip club. Pao pointed out that going to the strip club allowed the male coworkers an opportunity to get to know their boss on a more personal level, which is a massive advantage.

These men-only events happened all the time. Pao managed to get a ticket to a hockey game once, but she was only allowed to come if she didn’t sit beside the senior partner.

Such behaviors excluded women from important conversations and opportunities, and as a result, they had to double their efforts just to keep pace with their male counterparts.

In the venture capital world, the “boys club” culture celebrates tenacity in men but not in women.

Pao finished her two-year MBA at Harvard Business School and in 2005 joined the influential venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as chief of staff. Venture capital firms receive financial support from wealthy individuals, universities, families and pension funds, which they invest into startups, hoping for a return on investment.

The venture capital industry is dominated by men, being a real “boys club”, and is predominantly white.

On a business trip to New York, Pao shared a table with four white male colleagues, one of whom was a tech CEO and investor named Ted. The tech CEO expressed his desire to have a woman join his board, which consisted of only men, and Pao suggested that he invite one of Google’s founding partners, Marissa Mayer. Upon Pao’s suggestion, Ted said Mayer would be “too controversial,” while the rest of the men remarked that they would like her to join because she was hot.

The men at the table then continued to openly discuss the type of sex worker they liked and bragged about meeting Jenna Jameson, a porn star, leaving Pao cringeing and uncomfortable. She was aware that the male colleagues didn’t like her being there. This feeling of exclusion was confirmed when they landed at Teterboro Airport, and the men organized a night out without extending an invitation to Pao. As a result, Pao missed out on the exchange of advice and information that occurs during these men-only events.

A sad reality of the business world is that men are praised for having ambition and being forward-thinking; however, when women show those qualities, they’re often ignored.

During the early days of Twitter, Pao saw promise and potential in the platform’s ability to connect people all over the world, and so she decided to get in touch with their CEO, Jack Dorsey. She then pitched Twitter to a partner at Kleiner, but he showed no interest and dismissed her proposal.

Almost four years later, Kleiner would finally invest in Twitter, upon the suggestion of a male junior partner, of course. By that point, Twitter’s value had gone up by 400 percent, but the male partner was celebrated as a genius nonetheless, while Pao’s foresight was completely disregarded.

Pao’s colleagues at Kleiner still treated her as before, despite her promotion to junior partner.

Though she was aware of the inequality rampant in the world of venture capital, Pao decided to stay at Kleiner because she enjoyed the work.

Even following her promotion to junior partner in 2007, her male coworkers still didn’t take her seriously nor did they listen to her opinions.

One incident that comes to mind is the pitch of an Indian classifieds website to their fund’s investors. During preparation for the pitch, a colleague of Pao’s suggested that she “search for turbans!” When she refused to do so, her colleagues branded her a “killjoy.”

Furthermore, when Pao brought this incident up with her managing partner, he simply told her she was overreacting and making a big fuss about nothing. The managing partner repeated the same distasteful joke at a fundraising meeting and had to apologize immediately when he saw that one of the investors was an Indian woman.

This insensitive behavior towards women in the workplace is perpetuated by the “boys club” dogma of protecting its own members.

While on a business trip, Pao’s coworker Ajit Nazre told her that he believed they would make a good couple, even though he was a married man at the time. After he told Pao that he’d separated from his wife, the two began dating. He would give her the inside scoop on who had left the company and share Kleiner’s various philosophies and beliefs on investment. During this time, Pao felt like she’d finally been accepted and seen as an equal at the firm.

However, it turned out that Nazre had lied to Pao about divorcing his wife, and so when Pao learned the truth, she stopped seeing him romantically. The problem was that she still had to face him at work.

It became evident that since the break up, Nazre was intentionally misleading Pao and excluding her from important email threads and meetings. Pao alerted her managing partner, Ray Lane, to Nazre’s misconduct, but her concerns fell on deaf ears. Lane had gotten to know Nazre from the male-only dinners and events, and they bonded over conversations about women. Due to Lane’s fondness for Nazre, the managing partner defended him in the face of Pao’s complaints.

Pao was victorious in a claim of discrimination at Kleiner, but this was only the start.

Having been promoted to senior partner, Nazre was now in a higher and more powerful rank than Pao. He gained the authority to impede her career aspirations by writing negative performance reviews about her. In an attempt to do something about this abuse of power, Pao filed a number of verbal and written reports, but, after a while, the HR consultant at Kleiner told her to stop complaining.

Additionally, Pao confided in her fellow junior partner, Trae Vassallo, about her unfair treatment, hoping to build her case.

Much to her surprise, however, Vassallo admitted that Nazre had sexually harassed her. Nazre had asked Vassallo to join him on a business trip to New York – which turned out not to be a business trip at all. Nazre had lied, again, and showed up at her hotel room wearing nothing but a bathrobe, unsuccessfully insisting that she let him in.

With this story up her sleeve, Pao relayed Nazre’s series of misdemeanors to the managing partners at Kleiner. He finally left the firm after negotiating the conditions of his severance package for two months.

Though she had won this small battle, Pao wasn’t satisfied. She wanted to see real, long-lasting change and to eradicate the “boys club” culture at Kleiner.

Furthering her efforts, Pao convinced the firm to hire an independent investigator, but Kleiner seemed less than interested in her and Vassallo’s experiences of harassment in the workplace. This disinterest became apparent when Kleiner failed to introduce anti-discrimination and anti-sexual harassment training in the workplace.

Unsatisfied with these results, Pao contacted the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and filed a lawsuit against her company for their inaction, the inadequate investigation efforts and the unfair treatment and exclusion of women in the workplace.

She was advised by her lawyer to continue working at Kleiner, as this would strengthen her case. But she only lasted a few months before being fired on the claim that she had performed poorly in her latest review.

While the lawsuit was underway, Pao became the CEO of the social media website Reddit.

Pao vs. Kleiner escalated when the company’s lead defense lawyer started to publicly shame Pao, using private information from her therapy sessions and from conversations between herself, her husband and her lawyers.

Public shaming, Pao discovered upon becoming Reddit’s CEO, is found all over the internet.

Back then, Reddit was a small startup that called itself “the front page of the internet.” Reddit users could share news and photos that would be either upvoted or downvoted in real time. It was through Reddit that Pao familiarized herself with the dark side of the web.

Journalist Eron Gjoni created a blog in August 2014 called “The Zoe Post,” where he wrote about his ex-girlfriend Zöe Quinn’s infidelity. Via the internet, he rallied supporters whom he would encourage to continue publicly shaming her on other platforms, such as 4chan, 8chan, Internet Relay Chat, and of course, Reddit. His supporters published her personal information online, hacked into her account, sent her death and rape threats and made computer games depicting violent acts against her.

This type of online behavior was unacceptable to Pao, and, in 2015, she banned revenge porn and unsolicited nudes on Reddit. Her actions encouraged many well-known websites, like Facebook, to take the same zero-tolerance attitude.

Emboldened to do more, Pao employed Reddit and the internet as her weapons to take down discrimination and harassment.

To help her with her ambitious task, Pao sought the advice of investor and entrepreneur Susan Wu. Wu became an activist after hearing about the case of a woman raped by Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner. Wu created the hashtag #IWasRapedToo in an attempt to encourage more women to speak up about their experiences.

Meanwhile, online press coverage began picking up Pao’s lawsuit against her former company, and many women reached out to her. It was clear that sexual discrimination was happening everywhere. Reporters began to call this sudden flood of women speaking up about their experiences the Pao Effect.

Pao lost the case against Kleiner, but the support she received led her to create Project Interlude.

Pao was convinced that she had enough evidence to win the case against her former employer, but the firm had the financial capabilities and the human resources to build a strong defense based on hundreds and thousands of emails.

During her trial, Pao was also busy with two full-time jobs: being the CEO of Reddit and a mother. On 27 March 2015, the final verdict was in: Pao had lost the case.

Nevertheless, the support she received throughout the trial was of immense importance. Though she had lost, Pao never once felt she was alone in her battle. She was forever grateful for the support of her family and friends, who stuck with her right to the end.

She also received a lot of unexpected support from women all around the world. Her inbox on LinkedIn alone was flooded with hundreds of supportive messages. Pao hadn’t won the case, but she’d won the hearts and minds of many women across all industries, including the tech industry.

With this overwhelming support, Pao decided to gather other women in executive positions to brainstorm how they could reset the tech industry.

Pao’s initiative resulted in the founding of Project Interlude, with a mission to provide CEOs and venture capital firms with the tools and solutions they needed to effectively fight against workplace discrimination.

The co-founders are influential women who all share similar experiences, like former Google engineer, Erica Joy Baker, diversity advocate Brianna Wu and Pinterest engineer Tracy Chou. These women developed the project’s three core solutions to combat discrimination at work: inclusion of all employees, comprehensiveness and accountability.

Project Interlude gives CEOs useful advice on how to diversify their teams and lead them to success. Since its founding, the project has become an award-winning non-profit organization, spreading the word for more inclusivity in the workplace.

No matter your race, gender, age, sexuality, disability or if you’re pregnant, everyone is entitled to equal career opportunities. This means fair allocation of jobs, a workplace that doesn’t tolerate discrimination or harassment, and the assurance that every employee is paid according to their performance. Pao’s journey shows us that we shouldn’t be discouraged after one knockback, and that speaking up against these injustices can have wide-reaching effects.

#Ellen Pao

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What problems might each individual encounter in the position

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Human Resource Management

Attempt Any Four Case Study

CASE 1: It is Good News Everywhere for Coca Cola

After fumbling in India for over a decade and losing the top slot to Pepsi, the humbled cola giant is dreaming big again and rejigging its strategy with a fresh and sharper focus.

Why did Cola giant fumble in the first place? Here are some mistakes and learnings that Coca Cola has undergone in the past:

Globalization Holds the Key

Coca Cola was among the bluest of blue MNCs to have entered India in the 1990s. It was and still remains among the top five most powerful brands and the largest beverage company in the world. A lot of that MNC arrogance had a rub-off effect in the way it laid out its India strategy. Snapping up the locally popular brands like Thums Up, Limca, Maaza to competition, its brand-building exercise for the mother-brand was often at the cost of the local ones. It was costly and often didn’t work. Thumps Up remains a very strong brand in southern states like Andhra Pradesh and in fact in the Brand Equity Most Trusted Brands listing, it ranks 34—much higher than Coca Cola’s 42nd ranking. As the company redraws its India plans it promises to be far more rooted to the realities like having more local insights, promoting local drinks like Aam Panna and localised variants like Sprite—Jal Jeera.

Delegate, Empower and Be Patient

Five CEOs in a decade, a high employee turnover of 30%, Coca Cola India was in a chaos as constant churn at the top took its toll. “Every time a new CEO took over, he drew out a new strategy and a fresh game plan to win the market”, recalls a Delhi-based ex-employee. Lack of confidence and patience from the headquarters only made matters worse. “The short-term approach to show quick results was talking its toll,” recalls a Bangalore-based ex-employee who was involved in operations.

Worse, with $1 billion of investments and having written off $450 million assets in 2000, penny conscious Coca Cola headquarters began micromanaging issues like hikes. Recalls a senior HR executive who worked in the eastern region: “No hikes above 10% at any level—we got the message from the US headquarter.” Everything was in a flux—not just in people leaving, in roles too changing frequently. There wasn’t much flexibility that the HR department had in managing people.

Slowly, Mr. Singh (CEO, Coca Cola, India) and his team are helping win back the staff confidence here and getting some freedom from the Atlanta headquarters. “When I came, there were complains of low salaries. We undertook a transparent benchmarking study to fix that,” he says. Multiple channels of dialogues have been opened up. Every month now, there is an open house meeting where all employees at the headquarters can air their concerns and issues. “We are trying to bring down the decision-making process,” says Mr. Singh.

Soften that MNC Arrogance

Being the world’s most powerful brand had its flipside. Every time there was a problem, the company pointed a finger elsewhere. “We were in denial mode,” says a senior company executive. “Earlier, we spent more time defending ourselves,” says a candid Mr. Singh. Despite aggressive efforts it realised that in a sensitive business of food and drinks, scientific data matter, but perceptions matter more. “No matter what you did, it (pesticide issue) was a losing proposition,” says a senior ad industry executive. “You could only side-step it to minimise the damage,” he adds. The company too seems to have figured that out. “Let’s focus on solutions instead of debating if we are part of the issue or not,” says Singh. Coca Cola is trying to move beyond the blame game and has learnt to be more constructive.

Engage Beyond Business

For both Pepsi and Coca Cola the world was small and their attention very focused on each other. Just then CSE, an NGO, expanded and complicated their business playfield in India. Suddenly their MNC tag became a noose as the cola glitz and glamour gave way to pesticide, pollution, groundwater depletion controversies. Having learnt lessons the hard way, Coca Cola is now opening up channels of dialogue and engagement with the community it is operating in. it is setting up a Coca Cola Foundation that will engage in a variety of developmental work. To help create employable talent, it is setting up Coca Cola Retail University that will train sales staff. It organises rural games with a consortium of Indian farmers in the South. Water conservation and recycling have become its pet projects even as it aspires to become a net zero water user by 2009 in India. “We want to build a sustainable business model in India,” says Singh.

Perhaps, the highs of the past may never return. India and Indians’ fascination for the West and MNC brands like Coca Cola today may have more earthy—rather than heady—appeal. Of course, the brand itself has come down from its pedestal. “Coca Cola was an insignificant product delivered spectacularly,” says an ad industry veteran. The celebrity endorsements, ad campaigns and their cricket-connect made them glitzy and desirable. “Soon, they came to be seen as frivolous without being pleasurable,” he adds, just when “cooler” brands like Google and Nokia overtook it. From such lows, a company can only go up. Coca Cola India is already beginning to. Hopefully, Atlanta’s confidence in India's growth story will be strong and long-term. And that the global beverage leader – after a slew of bad publicity and poor business track record—has gained a humble confidence to chalk up a successful business in India. For a company with a such a difficult past in India, this may yet be early days.

But the management is upbeat. Neville Isdell, chairman and CEO of Coca Cola, said its India arm registered a double-digit growth in the first quarter this year after a series of negative growth. Earlier in Atlanta it announced that India will be the No.3 market for the company. The company will invest close to $250 million in the next three years—and this is just the beginning. Today things are working for the company. For the CEO, it is good news everywhere.

This could well be the third awakening in India for the world’s largest beverage company. (Forced out of India in the 1970s, Coca Cola re-entered in 1993 sinking $1 billion in over a decade. It began losing its fizz since 2003 when pesticide allegations first surfaced). But finally, after negative sales growth on the back of public backlash, surging attrition (around 30%) and internal chaos, the company seems to be steadying its feet in the Indian market.

Question:

As HR manager, what role do you carve for yourself in making Coca Cola a number one cola company in India?

CASE 2: Prejudices in Workplace: Real or Perceived?

Manjula Srivastav had been head of marketing for the last four years at Blue Chips, a computer product firm. The company’s turnover had increased by two-and-a-half times during the period and its market share in a number of products had also moved up marginally. What was creditable was that all this had happened in an environment in which computer prices had been crashing.

Although she had a talent for striking an instant rapport with people—particularly with the company’s dealers—Srivastav often found herself battling against odds, as she perceived it, as far as her relationships with her subordinates and peers in the company were concerned. Srivastav had to fight male prejudice all the way. She found it unfair that she had prove herself regularly at work and she used to make her displeasure on that score quite obvious to everyone.

Six months ago, Blue Chips had been taken over by an industrial group of business interests and was, more importantly, flush with funds. The change of ownership had led to a replacement of the managing director, had his priorities clear. “Blue Chips will go international,” he had declared in the first executive committee meeting, “and exports will be our first concern.”

Prakash had also brought in Harish Naik as his executive assistant with special responsibility for exports. Naik had been seconded to Srivastav for five weeks as a part of a familiarisation programme. Much of her surprise, he had been appointed, within two months, as the vice president (exports), with compensation and perks higher than her own. Srivastav had made a formal protest to Prakash who had assured her that he was aware of her good work in the company and that she would have an appropriate role once the restructuring plan he was already working on would be put into effect.

One morning, as she entered the office and switched on her workstation, a message flashed on her screen. It was from Prakash. “Want to see you sometime today regarding restructuring. Will 2.30 be convenient?” It went.

Later at his office, Prakash had come straight to the point. He wanted to create a new post called general manager (public affairs) in the company. “With your excellent background in customer relations and connections with the dealer network, you are the ideal material for the job,” he said, “and I am offering it to you.” Srivastav was quick to react. “There is very little I can contribute in that kind of job,” she said. “I was in fact expecting to be promoted as vice president (home marketing).” Prakash said that the entire gamut of marketing functions would be looked after by Naik who would have boardroom responsibility for both domestic and export sales. “If you continue in marketing , you will have to be reporting to Naik which I thought may not be fair to you. In any case, we need someone who is strong in marketing to handle public affairs. Let me assure you that the new post I am offering will in no way diminish your importance in the company. You will in fact be reporting to me directly.”

“You are being unfair and you are diminishing my importance in the company,” reported Srivastav. “You know that I am a hardcore marketing professional and you also know I am the best. Why then am I being deprived of a rightful promotion in marketing? Tell me,” she asked pointedly, “would you have done this to a male colleague?”

“That is a hypothetical question,” said Prakash. “But I can’t thin of any other slot for you in the restructuring plan I want to implement except what I am offering.”

“If the reason why you are asking me to handle this fancy public affairs business of yours,” said Srivastav, “is that you can’t thin of any other slot for me, then I would have second thoughts about continuing to work for this company.”

“May I reiterate,” said Prakash, “that I value your role and it is precisely because of this that I am delegating to you the work I have been personally handling so far? May I also state that I am upgrading the job not only because it is important but also because it should match your existing stature in the organisation?”

“I need to think about this. I will let you know tomorrow, said Srivastav and left the office.

Question:

What should she do?

CASE 3: Travails of a Training Manager

Ashwin Kumar, who had recently joined Systems, as a training manager, was feeling uneasy at the end of his first meeting with Pesu Shroff, the managing director of the company.

Systems was a ten-year old unit employing 300 people. It had a turnover of Rs 25 crore the previous year. The company traded in several products—both domestic and imported. Nearly 80 per cent of its turnover came from selling electronic component products which were assembled locally from imports of semiknocked-down kits. The landed cost of its imports was about Rs 10 crore last year. The products had an assured demand in the country, with smuggled goods from Taiwan and Korea providing whatever little competition there was. The company had been operating in a seller’s market for years and, as a result, most of its activities were production oriented rather than market oriented.

Early during the current financial year, the Government of India had announced, as a part of its economic liberalisation strategy, several policy measures which made imports costlier. All imports had to be financed by exports – there were restrictions on margin money and interest rates for working capital had shot up at one stroke. With little export income in its account, Systems had no choice but to discontinue importing SKD kits.

The company management had three option before it. First, to build up its domestic trading activity rapidly; second, to assemble at least a few of the component products from raw materials sourced locally and third, pursue after-sales service aggressively both to generate revenue in the short run and to establish an enduring client-base for the company’s products in the long run.

Invariably, this meant that the survival of Systems depended on how quickly it could train its people—beginning from a handful of sales engineers—to become market-centred and customer-friendly in their approach to business.

“The days of easy revenue money are over for us,” Shroff had told Kumar, who had a formal training in HRD and had been an officer in the training cell of a multinational firm before signing up with Systems. “We have to compete now in the marketplace and sell hard to be able to secure orders. Times are changing. We have to change too. And that is where you come in. it will be your responsibility, as the training manager, to ensure that people here acquire marketing skills,” he said, adding, as a clincher, “Frankly, have always felt that a salesman is born, not trained. I have had no belief in non-technical training. In fact, have found no need so far for a training manager at Systems. But I am prepared to do anything to get more sales.”

That punching was what had made Kumar uneasy. But he decided to let it pass. Over the next few days, Kumar got busy evolving specific training packages for workers, shop-floor supervisors, administrative staff and senior functional executives and an intensive module for field salesmen. Deciding to start with the salesmen first, he met the sales manager to ask him to depute 10 salesmen for a training session the next day. The sales manager was skeptical and only half-heartedly consented to release people for the two-day training.

The session was a disaster. No one showed any interest in the proceedings. In fact, one of the salesmen came up to him during the coffee break and said, “You see, all this is a waste of time. Take the client for a drink and you get the sale. It is as simple as that. It has worked in the past and it will work in the future.” Kumar laughed it off but the message had been delivered.

The attendance of the second day session was thin. This lack of interest was again obvious at the session for workers next day. The works manager who had originally agreed to the idea was vague about the absence of so many workers at the training session. “They are sick, I believe,” he said, making no attempts to hide his feeling that to him the whole thing was a big joke.

Kumar had encountered such resistance in the company where he had worked earlier. He also knew that his training capsule was very effective. He was aware that training needs were universal for all companies and so were the training techniques which were also easily transferable from one set of working conditions to another and from one industry to another. He also knew that he had the aptitude and interest to become a professional trainer.

But Kumar began to realise that he had made a few tactical errors in this particular case. He should have perhaps asked Shroff to personally inaugurate the training session to give the whole exercise an air of formality and, more importantly, of authority. He should have perhaps started with the module for senior executives first.

“I must find a way out of this and bring everyone round. There is simply no way I am going to accept failure. Whatever damage there has been must be undone. I must do something,” he said to himself.

Question:

What should he do?

CASE 4: The Resentful Employee

It was a bitterly cold night, and even at the far end of the bus the east wind that raved along the street cut like a knife. The bus stopped, and two women and a man got in together and filled the vacant places. The younger woman was dressed in sealskin, and carried one of those little Pekinese dogs that woman in sealskin like to carry in their laps. The conductor came and took the fare. Then his eye rested with cold malice on the beady-eyed toy dog, I saw trouble brewing. This was the opportunity for which he had been waiting, and he intended to make the most of it. I had marked him as the type of what Mr. Wells has called the Resentful Employee, the man with a general, vague grievance against everything, and in particular, a grievance against passengers who came and sat in his bus while he shivered at the door.

“You must take that dog out”, he said with sour venom.

“I shall certainly do nothing of the kind. You can take my name and address”, said the woman, who had evidently expected the challenge and knew the reply.

“You must take the dog out—that is my order”.

“I won’t go on the top in such weather. It would kill me”, said the woman.

“Certainly not”, said her lady companion. “You have got a cough as it is”.

“It is nonsense”, said her male companion.

The conductor pulled the bell and the bus stopped.

“This bus does not go on until that dog is brought out”. And he stepped on the pavement and waited. It was his moment of triumph. He had the law on his side and a bus-full of angry people under his thumb. His embittered soul was having a real holiday.

The storm inside rose high. “Shameful”, Why is not he in the army?” “Call the police”, “Let us all report him”, “Let us make him give us our fares back”, “Yes, that is it, let us make him give us our fares back”. Everybody was on the side of the lady and the dog.

That little animal sat blinking at the dim lights in happy unconsciousness of the rumpus of which he was the cause.

The conductor came to the door. “What is your number?” Said one taking out a pocket-book, with a gesture of terrible things, “There is my number”, said the conductor unperturbed. “Give us our fares back—you have engaged to carry us—you can not leave us here all night”. “No fares back”, said the conductor.

Two or three of the passengers got out and disappeared into the night. The conductor took another turn on the pavement, then went and had a talk with the driver. Another bus, the last on the road, sailed by, indifferent to the shouts of the passengers to stop. “They stick by each other, the villains”, was the comment.

Some one pulled the bell violently. That brought the driver round to the door. “Who’s conductor of this bus?” He said and paused for a reply. None coming, he returned to his seat and resumed beating his arms across his chest. There was no hope in that quarter. A policeman strolled up and looked in at the door. An avalanche of indignant protests and appeals burst on him. “Well, he has got his rules you know”, he said generally. “Give your name and address”, “That is what is being offered and he won’t take it”. “Oh”, said the policeman, and he went away and took his stand a few yards down the street, where he was joined by two more constables.

And still the little dog blinked at the lights, and the conductor walked to and from on the pavement like a captain on the quarter-deck in the hour of victory. A young woman whose voice had risen high above the gale inside, descended on him with an air of threatening and slaughter. He was immovable as cold as the night and hard as the pavement. She passed on in a fury of importance to the three policemen who stood like a group of statuary up the street watching the drama. Then she came back, imperviously beckoned her “Young man” who had a silent witness of her rage, and vanished. Others followed. The bus was emptying. Even the dashing young fellow who had demanded the number, and who had declared he would see this thing through if he sat there all night, had taken an opportunity to slip away.

Meanwhile the Pekinese party was passing through every stage of resistance to abject surrender. “I will go to the top”, said the sealskin lady at last. “You must not.” “I will”. “You will have pneumonia”. “Let me take it” (This from the man). “Certainly not—she would die with her dog”. When she had disappeared up the stairs the conductor came back, pulled the bell, and the bus went on. He stood sourly triumphant while his conduct was savagely discussed in his face by the remnant of the party.

Then the engine struck work, and the conductor went to the help of the driver. It was a long job, and presently the lady with the dog stole down the stairs and re-entered the bus. When the engine was put right the conductor came back and pulled the bell. Then his eye fell on the dog and his hand went to the bell-rope again. The driver looked around, the conductor pointed to the dog, the bus stopped, and the struggle recommenced with all the original features, the conductor walking the pavement, the driver smacking his arms on the box, the little dog blinking at the lights, the sealskin lady declaring that she would not go on the top and finally going.

Questions:

1. Which theory of motivation do you use to motivate the bus crew? Why?

2. If you were the conductor what would you do?

3. If you were the lady with the pet dog, what would you do?

4. Role play (a) the conversation between the conductor and the lady with sealskin, (b) between policeman and the fellow passengers, and (c) between the conductor and the driver.

CASE 5: Protest Over Job Losses

Bitter it may taste, shrill it may sound, and sleepless nights it may cause, but it is true. In a major shake up, Airbus—the European aircraft manufacturer—has thrown a big shock to its employees. Before coming to the details of the shock, a peep into the company’ resume.

Name: Airbus

Created: 1970

President CEO: Louis Gallois

Employees: 57,000

Turnover (2006): 26 bn (Euro)

Total aircraft sold (Feb.2007): 7187

Delivered: 4598

Headquarters: Toulouse (France)

Facilities: 16

Rival: Boeing

Airbus announced on February 27, 2007, that it would shed 10,000 jobs across four European countries and sell six of its units. On the same day the hapless workers did what was expected of them—downed tools and staged protests. The protesting workers at Airbus’s factory at Meaulte, northern France, were seen picketing outside the factory gate after holding up production a day earlier. To be fair to Airbus, its management entered talks with unions before the job loss and sale was formally announced. But the talks did not mollify the agitated workers.

Job shedding and hiring of units are a part of Power8 restructuring plan unleashed by Airbus to save itself from increasing loss of its grounds to the arch rival, Boeing Co.

Airbus’s Power8 strategy was first mooted in October 2006, but sparked a split between France and Germany over the distribution of job losses, and the placement of future ones. Later, the two countries agreed to share both job losses and new technology.

The Power8 plan, if finalised, would mean a 9 per cent reduction to Airbus’s 55,000 employee strength.

Questions:

1. Why should Power8 focus on shedding jobs to save on cost? Are there no alternative strategies?

2. Will the proposed shedding of jobs and sale of six units help Airbus survive the intense competition from Boeing?

CASE 6: The Office Equipment Company

Office Equipment Company (OEC) must identify a manager to help set up and run a new manufacturing facility located in the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip. The position will have minimum duration of three years. OEC manufactures office equipment such as photo copying machines, recording machines, mail scales, and paper shredders in eight different countries. OEC’s products are distributed and sold worldwide.

Currently, OEC has no manufacturing facility in Middle East but has been selling and servicing products in Israel since the early 1970s. OEC sells its products in Israel through independent importers, but is now convinced that it needs to have a local manufacturing facility in order to take full advantage of the new, more peaceful situation in the region. Despite occasional turmoil that interrupts new moves towards peace, OEC’s sales in Israel have been improving, with increase in profitability. OEC has recently been contacted by distributors in Jordan and Egypt about possible sales of OEC products. Incentives for foreign direct investment in Gaza Strip could help OEC develop extensive operations in the region at considerably reduced cost.

OEC hopes to begin constructing a factory in Gaza Strip within the next six months. This factory would import products and assemble them. The construction of the assembly plant would be supervised by an US technical team and a US expatriate would be assigned to direct the production. This expatriate manager would report directly to the headquarters of OEC at US.

The option of filling the position of managing director with someone from outside the firm is alien to OEC’s policy. Otherwise the options are fairly open. OEC uses a combination of home-country, host-country, and third-country nationals in top positions in foreign countries. It is not uncommon for managers to rotate among foreign and domestic locations (in the US). In fact, it is increasingly evident that international experience in an important factor in deciding the persons who will be appointed to top corporate positions. The sales and service operations in Israel have been controlled through OEC’s European regional office located in Podernone, Italy. A committee at the European regional office has quickly narrowed its choice to the following five candidates.

Tom Zimmerman Zimmerman joined the firm 30 years ago and is well-versed in all the technical aspects required for the job. Zimmerman is a specialist in start-up projects, and has supervised the construction of new manufacturing facilities in four countries. He has never been assigned to work abroad permanently. His assignments have usually been in developed countries and for periods of less than six months. He is considered to be extremely competent in the duties he has performed during the years, and will retire in about four-and-a-half years. Neither he nor his wife speaks any language other than English—their children have grown and are living in the US. Zimmerman is currently in charge of an operation about the size that the one in Gaza Strip will be after the factory begins operating. However, as that operation is being merged with another, this present position will become redundant.

Brett Harrison At age forty, Brett has spent 15 years with OEC. He is considered highly competent and capable of moving into upper-level management within the next few years. He has never been based abroad but has frequently travelled to Latin America. Both he and his wife speak Spanish adequately. Their two children, aged fourteen and fifteen, are just beginning to study Spanish. His wife is a professional as well, holding a responsible marketing position with a pharmaceutical company.

Carolyn Moyer Carolyn joined OEC after getting her BS in engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the prestigious Bond University in Australia. At the age of 37, she has already moved between staff and line positions of growing responsibility. For two years, she was the second-in-command of a manufacturing plant in Texas about the size of the new operation in Gaza Strip. Her performance in that post was considered excellent. Currently, she works as a member of a staff production planning team. When she joined OEC, she had indicated her eventual interest in international responsibilities because of a belief that it would help her advancement in career. She speaks French well and is not married.

Francis Abhrams Francis is currently one of the assistant managing directors in a large Mexican operation, which produces for and sells to the Mexican market. He is a Jewish New Yorker who has worked for OEC in Mexico for five years. He holds an MBA from New York University and is considered to be one of the likely candidates to head a Guatemalan operation when the present managing director retires in four years. He is 35, married with four children (ages two to seven). He speaks Hebrew adequately. His wife does not work outside the home and speaks only English.

Leon Smith At 30, he is assistant to the managing director at the Athens manufacturing facility, a position he assumed when he joined OEC after completing his under-graduate studies in the US seven years ago. He is considered competent, especially in production operations, but lacks in managerial experience. He was successful in increasing OEC’s production output in Athens during his tenure in Athens. Leon travelled extensively in the Middle East. He went to the college with a number of students from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt. These individuals came from prominent political and business families in their countries, and Leon has visited them during his travels. He thus has the advantage of being reasonably well-connected with influential families in the region. He is not married.

Questions:

1. Whom should the committee choose for the assignment and why?

2. What problems might each individual encounter in the position?

3. How might OEC go about minimising the problems that the chosen person would have in managing the Gaza Strip operations?

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