Conclusion: Hotel and Customer Loyalty

Recommendations According to my research, brand image as direct affect customer loyalty. As a five-star hotel have a good brand image is important for customer loyalty and long-term business. Brand image also affect customer loyalty through use customer satisfaction as the medium. If you are selling to people who are willing to pay a premium price for choose your hotel, you have to have a quality in you brand. Without a hotel brand image which in some way you will get the wrong customers or in the extreme case, no customer and this will lead to you making no money and therefore no profits.After my research have clearly relationship between hotel brand image and customer loyalty. Here I will give some recommendations to hotel. The way to improve hotel brand image Hotel should pay more attention to customer’s perceived value as they would like to get affordable price, quality service for the product and service they pay for. To attract more customers, hotel can have regular VIP or member customer’s appreciation activity. Hotel also can have advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Brand image is not fixed in customer’s heart.It is changed every times, such as this time stay in this hotel have new feeling of brand image take over before brand image in customer’s heart. Thus, it still has some ways to improve hotel brand image. 1, First impressions which hotel give customer is important. The hotel has prominent logo with fresh color and sample design. When customers fist time see that can easy to memories. As simply speaking, human nature dictate that people will often substantiate their first decision or impression by focusing on the positives and even overriding or blocking out any negative points.Hotel needs customer fist time to confirm their brand image. Hotel brand image should be based on what their customer expects. Hotel brand shout speak to their market in a way that they like to be spoken to. Hotel need to define their b rand fonts, color, and logo shape appears. For example the Shangri-la hotel, they said that Our ‘S' logo, which resembles uniquely Asian architectural forms, suggests majestic mountains reflected in the waters of a tranquil lake†. All these little things together will create a highly successful brand image for a five-star hotel. . Brand values are very important to improve a brand image. Creating a predefined set of values is extremely important in getting hotel brand to work. Decide which values apply first and foremost to hotel business. For Shangri-la hotel, they give the slogan is â€Å"a luxurious sanctuary for the discerning traveler†. For this sentence, not only give a promise to their customer, but also as a standard for hotel staffs. These also can instantly be able to convey to your clients how hotel operate. It will be a useful way for hotel to improve their brand image. 3.The aim to highlight the benefit such hotel can provide quality service to custom er and put it on the forefront of any marketing. This is what they’re most interested in. How will spending money with hotel benefit. According to research data analysis shows that customer think the most importance element when they choose a five-star hotels is product quality. Then hotel should highlight their quality at any marketing activity and advertisement. This means that hotel have set out why customers should choose your hotel and therefore why customers shout pay your price. 4. Hotel can share their business growing with their customer.They can put the hotel growing history in their web side. The time will come where hotel business grows to a size where hotel brand image no longer accurately reflects and how much customer have stayed in this hotel, how long time the brand have created. At this point it’s worth looking at re-branding. It can get customer approved. Let customer feel that he joins the hotel growing and feel kind with your hotel brand image. 5. Differentiate yourself from your competitors. Nowadays have many different five-star hotel brand image. How to let customer can memories your hotel brand?Everything from the vocabulary your use to the tone of your advertisements and the color and shape of your logo should be distinctly yours. The customer can easy find the shining point from your brand and live a deep impression in their heart. Your hotel brand image can give the different feeling to customers. Therefore, in order to create a successful brand, marketing managers should be more devoted on building brand image, customers’ satisfaction and customer loyalty as the most important parts of branding strategy. By strengthening and maintaining the brand images will hopefully position the brand positively in the customer mind.The target market of Five-stat hotel From research, the majority of customers are middle age and the purpose is for business or leisure. It also shows a high personal income to support five-star h otel consumption. Thus, hotel should pay more attention to male, middle age customers who are 40-49 years old, and consumers who have a diploma or degree and who and high personal income for increasing market share. Look at the guest database and define your target market and desired amenities. Developing a business plan for an existing business or conducting a feasibility study for a new venture requires a through analysis of market conditions.The correct target market is importance for success a hotel business. We can know that hotel need to focus their target market at middle age group people. List the business goals for your hotel. For these group customers, hotel need to know what is they pay attention to when they stay in a hotel. It is advisable to improve hotel meeting facilities, room facilities and quality service. Making pointed references plan for business and leisure and give many meeting or leisure package to customers. Improve customer loyaltyAccording to the research data analysis, brand image and customer satisfaction affect customer loyalty. As a hotel, improve customer loyalty from these two aspects. From literature review and analysis we understand that customer loyalty is important for a hotel operation and market. First of all, to improve customer loyalty need to focus on brand image. A good brand image is conducive to get more customer loyalty. Hotel finds the correct way to improve brand image, therefore the customer loyalty will increase. The customer loyalty is directly proportional to how good brand image in customer’s mind.On the other hand, is having customer satisfaction. To get customer satisfaction, hotel should provide good service, high quality facilities to let customer feel is worthy of expense their money in your hotel. Hotel also can do some regular customer research to get fresh feedback information about customer satisfaction and can timely find problem and vulnerabilities then solve it. Conclusion The research ha s shown the importance of brand image benefits on customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. The finding supports H1, the five-star hotel brand image is a direct path.For H2, brand image is also a factor that significantly affects the customer satisfaction then finally effect customer loyalty in five-star hotel. For H3, the positive hotel image increase customer loyalty in five-star hotel. Based on my research results, hotel brand image is as a determinant of customer loyalty in five-star hotels. The hotel brand image also affects customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction has strong impact on customer loyalty. With regard to satisfaction and loyalty, it is important for five-star hotels to measure customer’s satisfaction in order to analyze their product or service image performance.Hotel satisfied customers are willing to recommend their branded hotel product and service to others as well as having the intention to purchase their product and services in the future. Th e research findings of this study showed that hotel brand image plays the most important role in creating and maintaining customer loyalty in five-star hotel industry markets. As a five-star hotel have to specifically focus on these factors in order to build a long-term and mutually profitability relationship with customers. Hotel also needs to create loyalty as competitive advantages in the market.To identification of five-star hotel brand image benefits of their branded product and service will help to establish effective marketing strategies. Marketing managers should consider the roles of hotel brand image in creating customer loyalty. The brand image target in hotel business is the target customers of the brand. Nowadays, the customer oriented marketing theory requires an enterprise to take customer satisfaction into account when making decisions and establishing brand image. Establishment of brand image in hotel industry lies in customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Hotel need to improve internalize the value of brand image. Establishment of brand image in hotel industry is to firmly establish a brand image basis. Therefore, when the core value of brand image spreads to customer will the brand image in the hotel business is clearly established in the bran of the customer. This research endeavored to help hotel marketing practitioners better understand the key drivers. Creating and maintain customer loyalty in a highly competitive market. The important point of brand image in hotel industry is the customer benefit brought by brand.When the brand positive hotel brand image was aggressively improved, the hotel business would be able to in maintain their current customers and loyalty. Truly loyal customers are manifestly satisfied. With the five-star hotel have a positive image towards the hotel. Therefore, hotel should always strive to ensure that their customers are very satisfied and improve their hotel brand image to get more customer loyalty. The s econd of limitations of my research is that data quality can be compromised via a number of potential routes, such as cultural and other type of bias.We all have biases, whether we are conscience of them or not. Bias is when a place, things or person is viewed or shown in a consistently inaccurate way. It is usually negative, though one can have a positive bias as well. During my research, different people have different opinion about brand image and customer loyalty. So, it must be acknowledge that is a kind of limitation in my research. The sample was collected from a group of consumers in certain area Malaysia. Future research need to extend to diversified samples in order to ensure the full applicability to other settings in this model.Future research In future I plan to continue to work on analysis about marketing; research could use a different design to examine the causal relationships posited by the theories, such as relationship quality or marketing mix which is 4Ps to expl ore other antecedents on hotel industry customer loyalty. It also continues my research will be conducted in other industry, such as transport industry, club med industry or casino industry. In addition, for my future research plan can focus other different countries or different global regions. It till can focus on a limitative group person.

Psychosocial Stage Essay

Psychological development is generally accepted as product of the interaction among social and psychological forces which directly affect and shape the personality of every individual (Erikson, 2000). This may also encompass changes in self-control, and prosocial behavior. In relation to this, Erik Erikson established a unifying theory on the social and psychological aspects of human development throughout life span. In his eight developmental stages, each individual should, from infancy to senescence, accomplish psychological tasks in line with his or her social experiences. In addition, his theory, often called as â€Å"the stages of man,† is primarily grounded on the notion that every individual develops self-images through others’ perceptions and his or her own perceptions (Erikson, 2000). Erikson described the development of personality and the process by which an individual acquires societal role and shapes his or her identity. In contrary to Freud’s psychosexual emphasis, Erickson accentuated the development of one’s attitudes, skills, and the sense of responsibility. Further, Erikson argued that individuals undergo the different developmental stages, each with crisis or dilemma, and expected to resolve specific conflict in every stage. Unresolved conflicts in the previous stage will pass on the succeeding stages which impart negative traits in one’s personality (Erikson, 2000). On the other hand, as an individual successfully confronted every developmental crisis, he or she achieves positive traits or psychological attributes. Generativity versus Stagnation Erikson viewed â€Å"development† as a continuous process of facing the complexities of life (Santrock, 2002). A young professional, for example, to ensure success and intimate relations, he or she must perceive and accomplish the task of creating and caring his or her life role or style. Erickson’s 7th stage of psychosocial development, generativity versus stagnation, coincides with the middle adulthood period of humans. As defined by Erikson, generativity is the desire to take an active role in establishing the society and nurturing the youth to ensure the continuity of human generation (Lerner, 2002). In this stage, individuals should develop concern for the next generation in order to prevent personal stagnation (Santrock, 2002). While some individuals accomplish this through active community involvement and participation, some contribute for the welfare of the society through responsible parenthood. In any means, the dynamic that must be attained is the outward shifting from the well-being of one’s self to the consideration and care for the humanity. As such, the strength of care is achieved through creating, parenting, volunteering, and mentoring. For instance, by means of genuine care and concern, the generative religious teachers indoctrinate traditional religious view on development. Generative adults, on the other hand, may take responsibility on the cycle of life by leading and guiding their children in the first five stages of psychosocial development (Santrock, 2002). Meanwhile, a key element of â€Å"generativity versus stagnation† is the continuity of stages and cumulative implications of various experiences in life (Santrock, 2002). The adults’ sense of generativity is stimulated by encouraging and supporting the future of the next generation. However, individuals who fail to bestow the continuity to the next generation may possibly become engorge with his or her personal needs, disregard the needs of other individuals, and eventually become stagnated. Influences on my Personality The psychosocial development constructs of Erickson encompasses every experience of an individual that processes and shapes his or her personality, generativity, and perceptions. These processes are deemed universal; that is, although individuals experience family, social, and cultural life differently, the variations are minor. The minor variations account for other individual variables such as socioeconomic status, age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, education, and culture (Lerner, 2002). Hence, the psychosocial processes in the middle adulthood show variations on themes but of similar dynamic of change. Erikson outlined these changes in every developmental stage through specific conflicts or tasks that one needs to attend to or resolve. As such in middle adulthood, generativity versus stagnation is the conflict that needs to be resolved. However, as the resolution of conflicts in the early adulthood influences this stage, the outcome in this stage will directly affect the late adulthood period (Lerner, 2002). As well, as individuals are expected to provide inspiration, care, and guidance for the youth, they are also challenged to acquire productive roles for the societal development and continuity. Generativity then should not only be confined in parenting but should stretch out to community involvements through projects, leadership, and commitment. It must be deemed with respect to the manner by which an individual handle his or her relations with his or her family, societal institutions, friends, relatives, and with other individuals. Whereas every social behavior is determined by myriad of factors, the commitment and concern for the welfare of the next generation must be the primary motivation in all those aforementioned social responsibilities and activities (Lerner, 2002). As I learned the middle adulthood psychosocial stage of Erikson, about 35-40 years of ages, I examined the present state of my personality in terms of generativity and stagnation. That is, I assessed my self if I am productive in my field of endeavor and geared towards inspiring and guiding my children and other youngsters and young adults. I became concern with the achievement of generativity for Erikson argued that it is crucial for a positive outlook during midlife. As such, I formulated my developmental goals of preparing my self for my senescence period and caring for and guiding the youngsters for adulthood. However, life experiences in this stage of life are not identical among individuals; some are still single adult while others are happily married or divorced during this period. Generally, the middle adulthood has developmental discontinuity and continuity. In particular, psychological attributes like cognitive functioning may rapidly change while the others such as intelligence and personality may attain stability during midlife (Lachman, 2001). I realized then that in defining life’s success, experiences in midlife have significant roles. During middle adulthood, every individual compensates for and copes with life’s losses which tend to be apparent as senescence life approaches. As revealed by psychological researches, life satisfaction is at its peak in midlife; this is the period of life where subjective happiness and well-being are rated best as compared to other stages of life (Lachman, 2001). Thus, midlife is known as the prime of one’s life, where most middle adults are at the summit of their family and professional careers, and income generation. In addition, middle adults experience a very satisfactory psychological well-being; they have positive outlook in life, autonomy, and aim for both personal and professional growth (Lachman, 2001). They perceived midlife as the period where one should function best. Thus, my consciousness on my work performance, multiple-role playing, and parenting styles were awakened. Nevertheless, at the other extreme of middle adulthood are the midlife crises. Based on psychological reports, middle adulthood is battered by worries in life such as the feelings of individuals of life losses and failures, non-achievement and underachievement, and trivial and non-essential goals (Lachman, 2001). Yet, amidst these crises and as compared to other stages of life, middle adulthood is the period of less depression and higher well-being. In this period, most individuals attained their professional and personal goals. Those who are susceptible to environmental factors, limited resources, and poverty, are at risk to psychological and physical distress (Lachman, 2001). It was then clarified in my mind that during midlife, individuals may either enjoy the fruition of their respective labors or suffer the cumulative deficits of their life due to unresolved conflicts in previous stages. Therefore, middle adulthood, as generativity versus stagnation implies, is not only a period of fulfillment and accomplishment but also a transition period for the past and present events of life basically influence the later life’s transition. Midlife is the stage of life when individuals, more frequently, have already decided for a lifestyle and other social context like vocation, routine, neighborhood, and support network. Thus, I postulated that personality molds the life of an individual, rather than life experiences shapes the personality of an individual. In particular, only specific aspect of personality is altered by dramatic life events during middle adulthood. For example, career or marriage failure, affliction due to mental or physical disorder, and death of a loved one may alter the behavioral trait of an individual which in turn only causes minor shifts in personality but do not reflect in the holistic personality structure. Moreover, the concept of midlife crisis, perceived as inevitable in middle adulthood, was found to be false (Lerner, 2002). Even though midlife is a stage of reflection, increased anxiety, midcourse correction, and unpredictable transformation, researches revealed that during middle adulthood, individuals still undertake the shifting of life perspective from birth until to their last years to live (Lerner, 2002). The nature of an individual’s response to midlife challenges is largely affected by personality attributes and less by the individual’s present developmental stage or chronological age. As proposed, the enduring nature of midlife crisis is possibly related to the capability of an individual to cope with the tragic life events and in the end still considers his or her self as fairly fortunate. In sum, Erikson suggested the importance of finding oneself in another during midlife developmental stage. By merely serving oneself or own family, an individual becomes engorge with his or her personal needs, disregard the needs of other individuals, and eventually ends as stagnated. Hence, I must not confine my self in looking at and working only for the welfare of my family. Bringing up my children into the best that they can be is inadequate contribution for the welfare of the society. I need to acquire the sense of altruism in order to contribute whatever resources I have, actively involve myself to community projects, and to extend whatever support I can give for the welfare of the next generation. In addition, since midlife crisis is inevitable in middle adulthood, I realized that in order to face every travail, empathy and support to others are crucial so as to establish a network support where I can lean on as I resolve any form of midlife crisis. References Erikson, E. H. (2000). The Erik Erikson Reader. Coles, R. Ed. New York: Norton. Santrock, J. W. (2002). Life-span development. New York: McGraw-Hill. Lachman, M. E. (2001). Handbook of Midlife Development. New York: John Wiley. Lerner, R. M. (2002). Concepts and Theories of Human Development, 3rd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

13 Reasons Why: Story Essay

Hanna’s and Clays dual narrative enhance goes by they tell each point of view in the story because its like he is not talking to anyone but himself and his conscious, it would’ve probably been the same way because that’s probably what most of them thought. If it was Tony he was going to think the same. I don’t think her reasons are of equal importance some people are on the list for playful reasons. The main one I found unexpected was when Bryan walker molested her. I think all thirteen reasons are responsible that’s why they all have tapes and I think she committed suicide to get away from her problems. I think that’s creepy because you visualize her being there and that would creep me out but then you would tend to feel exactly what she felt as she was their so you experience her inside life. The tape is different from the impression of a suicide note because when you get to hear a voice you know exactly how their feeling. She recorded and left the tapes for the rest to hear them and remember that day for the rest of their lives. Yes because that’s what people use today, tapes are old. When she says that she means that there are other peoples point of view in the story and she tells what happens and what she thinks about it. See more: Beowulf essay essay If she listened to it she probably wouldn’t be dead because they would have discussed about it first. She thought that if she moved place to place the rumors would be left behind. A rumor is something going around as gossip known as â€Å"not true† they say that she has â€Å"things† in her dresser. No one isn’t powerful then the other were all the same, rumors can’t be positive. Yes it does because rumors are just lies. The different perspectives of how her story plays out is like they didn’t know that what they do and how they act contributes to others. What she means by â€Å"pushing it† is that every time something happens to her it takes her deeper and deeper each time till she feels like killing herself. All of the thirteen reasons pushed her to her final decision but they kept treating her wrong so she gave up. Yes they would’ve changed, if they knew. what she means by this is that for you, you would investigate something before saying it so you just need it to be true because nobody wants to be called a liar so at first you say the lie then you know your going one day have to say the truth because you know its not your choice to say the lie so you say you need it. She reacts to it because she knows something is wrong with him and the way he acts she thinks it’s unusual. Yes I think she knows he is lying she should know her son. She doesn’t question him because she knows he will tell her a lie so she doesn’t bother because that’s the way she feels about the poem and she wants the rest of them to know. I agree with her reasoning because that’s how she feels about everything and they should know this reappears throughout the story but she still uses the same tore of voice. The â€Å"lost-n-found† gazette applies to the themes because once you tell something and put it out there, it will soon be found and spread else where so when you say a secret or a bad rumor it will go around every where and it wont be lost but soon found. â€Å"The truth will set you free† applies to Hanna’s story by instead of spreading rumors you should tell something that’s the truth and you’ll be free and not on a list. No truth really doesn’t gift freedom because sometimes the truth hurts and affects others. Yes there will always be peace in knowledge you would know wrong from right. What the man says is significant to Clay because he sees that there is something wrong with him with the way he acts and how he feels and he sees that he is suffering from something but he doesn’t have to know he sees it so he lets Clay not have to pay to feel better. To describe the difference between incidents and non-incidents is that an incident and is tragedy and a non-incident is something done on purpose and isn’t that bad. Clay Jensen relates to the previous state because of what happened to her about what was said on a rumor and people just wanting to believe it. So on what was said about Clay was so good she knew she had to believe it regardless if it was true or not. Hanna’s reputation is important to her because she doesn’t want things put down on her that’s not true. The reputation that others have on the tapes is bad and is most likely to be changed. I think most of the people on the tapes are disproved through the information. Hanna’s reputation influences Clays interactions by he knows who the real Hanna is and wants to meet her. Clay is afraid of getting hurt by her. The reason why Clay left the room after kissing Hanna was because she forced him too. I think he really didn’t have to leave, she just needed help. He could’ve asked her why she wanted him to leave and just get her talking. She puts Clay as one of the thirteen reasons why because she wants to say sorry. When Clay says that, yes I agree with him because I know that he really did like her n he really would’ve helped. Yes Hanna made that choice, she wanted to kill herself. The choices she had was that she could’ve talked to someone or talk to them about how she felt. For those thirteen reasons she ended her life I think that there were also thirteen equally reasons she had to live. When Jenny hits her car to a stop sign actually symbolizes something hazard because she can cause an accident. What Clay means when he says â€Å"we all could’ve stopped something† really shows that all those things that goes on there can be a positive to it. This relates to the Bryce and Jessica situation because she could’ve stopped Bryce for taking advantage of Jessica. The roles adults play in what happened to Hanna is like they should’ve paid more attention to her and take what she was saying very seriously. Yes I think an adult could’ve done something to help her and stop her from her decision she includes one adult so everyone could know she went for help. She opens the truth to an adult so they can help her and give her advice. She chose Mr. Porter because he was a trust counselor.

Distance Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Distance Education - Essay Example Today's distance education encompasses all courses, except pure medicine, that too till now. With education being revolutionised almost by the day, there is no guarantee that medicine too would not be offered as a course in distance education. Distance education has opened new vistas and new dreams. People, who had found it difficult to continue or complete their education owing to various reasons, have been offered another opportunity to do so through distant education. ""The prominence of education and learning within the post-industrial, information society analysis was in no small part responsible for the high-profile reassessment of education and training by education and politicians in developed countries over the latter half of the 1990s," (Selwyn, 2006, p.5). Open learning offers greater flexibility to study, with the student's own pace, in whichever place, at whatever time, supported by Internet or intranet and all the choices are of the student alone. But without the academic support of Universities, distance learning cannot function. It needs greater efforts from universities and faculties to improve quality of learning experience while providing greater flexibility of study, and encourage easy access to programmes. Main purpose of this new trend has been to add value to flexibility. It had always been noticed that a great amount of rigidity prevailed in the educational scene of the country, in the name of tradition, discipline and educational highhandedness. Distance education's main purpose was to lessen this rigidity in the field of education so that it could be evolutionary and reachable. University's learning and teaching strategies should lay out a path through which accessibility of programmes could be extended. For people who are unable, or unwilling to attend classes, this includes up a new region of possibilities by offering full award bearing and accredited programmes and short courses. Learners could be local and distant; but usually, full programmes will be particularly relevant for international students, Distance education does not come cheap. It needs development of substantial and high cost materials and support mechanisms that are expensive. It cannot be done unless it is an adequately funded venture. Design and delivery of programmes has to take account of recent research and this, sometimes, means additional expenditure. Universities have to be confident that there is an adequate market to repay the hopeful spending. Programme should be appropriate, and improve the quality of learning experience. They also have to ensure that quality should be equivalent to any campus programme. Particular concern has to be taken to ensure that e-programmes are delivered in the most pedagogically effective way possible. Educational research has been going on full swing and emerging results have brought up many theories of learning and these have to be taken into account while preparing the material. Students need

Critically review one concept or practice that has been applied in one Essay

Critically review one concept or practice that has been applied in one aspect of tourism management ( - Essay Example To ensure the survival of travel agents, technology must become a significant tool featured in the forthcoming business strategy ascertaining their competitiveness. Therefore, technology is a threat, while at the same time, an opportunity since it is necessary for travel agencies in readjusting to the latest realities. As a result, re-intermediation through the Internet, along with Interactive Digital Television, brings about the potential opportunities for innovative participants who utilize the up and coming tools. Therefore, after reading the two journals on the argument for and against disintermediation of the distribution channel in tourism, this article examines the leading Internet trends regarding the travel industry (Josà ©, Salastiano & Josà © 2008, p.79). Furthermore, it puts into consideration strategies applicable by travel agents in ensuring their future survival. For a long time now, tourism and technology have proved to be a couple that is highly compatible. The character of service distribution spins around the concept of intangibility, as well as perishability, thus, the manner whereby communication of information happens to be extremely beneficial. In the past, in the tourism sector, this task has vastly been assumed by the travel agent operating as the brokers of information between services’ supplier and consumers. Therefore, travel agent was the early beneficiary of advancements in technology like the CRS and GDS. In the recent past, advancements in Internet distribution and particularly e-commerce, are threatening to assume the responsibility of these systems. The function of the travel agent was acting as a go between, as well as retailer, whereby they were selling travel services for a commission on behalf of principals. They also had an enormous function as advisers for consumers, as well as providers of

A clue about current socialpolitical issue Essay

A clue about current socialpolitical issue - Essay Example work to pass fundamental values and assumption by using one of the protagonists to show the effect drugs have to young people who engage themselves in drug trafficking. Maria Alvarez work at the rose plantation where she could use the little salary she get to support her family. In her ambition to find a well-paying job and the need to get fulfill Maria, she ends up suffering emotional and psychologically. The author has done his research perfectly, and this enables him to know the major thing that is causing young people to engage themselves in drug trafficking. The argument he present in his play depicts a solid reasoning that Joshua possess as his argument were not based on rumors or wishful thinking hence enabled him to present his work on an empirical manner. The author has tried to convince his audiences that poverty is the main factor that is causing young people like Maria to become mules. However, poverty is not necessary the main cause that is making people be mule but greed is also another factor responsible in causing other people like Maria to join drug traffickers. Therefore, Joshua have is jumping to the conclusion without considering other factors like gluttony which some use to became drug traffickers. Despite, poor economic conditions and moral failures of people such as Lucy, Maria and Blanca, political corruption still contributes to an increase in drug traffickers. Many individual have used their economic and political power to facilitate drug trafficking as they used their political power and money to bribe the police. Therefore, the government must also not concentrate on people like Maria but also on those who are harnessing their financially viable and political power to perpetuate the drug

Thematic element Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Thematic element - Essay Example The monster was not happy with Victor because he was lonely and people always shied away from him. This is when it embarks on a revenge mission to ensure that Victor was also as lonely as it was. He does this by killing all the people that were close to Victor and even threatens to kill Victor himself unless he made him a beautiful lady monster for it to marry. Victor is afraid and decides to make a lady monster but the thought of the harm they would do once they are together, makes him destroy her. The big monster is not happy with this act and threatens Victor that he will visit him on his wedding night. On that fateful night, the monster did as he had promised and kills the bride, Elizabeth. On hearing this news, Victor’s father died out of shock and it is here where Victor decides that he will also destroy the big monster to revenge for his dead relatives and friends. Victor though dies before he could do this but the monster assures the people that he was alone and that h e was guilty of what he had done and that he will also kill himself so as to come to terms with what he had done. â€Å"Beloved† by Toni Morrison is also a thrilling story about a mother who had three children but was held in slavery. The master at the plantation was so stressing and always wanted to take the children from Sethe, the mother. Sethe was not happy and decided that instead of giving her children out; she would rather kill them and take them to a place where they will be â€Å"safe†. In the process, only the first born daughter dies and she is buried on a grave that was only labeled on its plague â€Å"beloved†. After a long time, the family returns home from a journey to find a beautiful woman seated in the front of their house and identified her to them as beloved. Sethe realized that this could be her dead daughter, who had come back to life and out of guilt, pampered her with so much

How and to what extent performance management in the public sector has Essay

How and to what extent performance management in the public sector has changed under contemporary managerial reforms Identify a - Essay Example In pursuit for reforms in the management of the public sectors, there have been radical changes in the last two decades on how governments do their management; there has been outsourcing of those management practices and techniques from the private-for –profit sectors with the purpose of reforming the government (public) sector. Since then, several countries have adopted these practices; Australia, New Zealand, and UK are some of the countries that have adopted the practices in the public sector management (Aulich, Halligan and Nutley 2001, p.46). Even though the system is widely believed to be associated with the developed countries, in the recent decade, its application has been witnessed in a number of the transitional and developing economies. These contemporary techniques and practices sourced from the private sector to the public sector are referred to as New Public Management, NPM (Eliassen and Sitter 2008, p.58). Pressures for Change NPM adoption came with the rising p ressure from other quarters; it is a change process that has been adopted because of agitation from several sectors and interested groups. Some of the reasons that led to the adoption of the new strategy of public management included; Fiscal and Economic Pressure on the Governments This problem was first witnessed in the developed countries before spreading to the developing countries of Africa and Asia, lately; it was also witnessed in the Asian tiger Economies. There were fiscal stress that was necessitated by enormous public sector deficit, spiraling indebtedness, and unfavorable balance of trade. This fiscal problem made it possible for the reconstruction of the public sector through rethinking, reshaping what the role of the government is, to counter the problems that were facing the public sector, drastic measure of privatization, contracting, and downsizing became the available options (Bovaird and Loffler 2009, p.37). There was also public outcry on the leathery and the bure aucratic nature of the old order, the increased criticism from the public on the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies associated with public delivery of services occasioned the need for change. The old order was criticized for its slow and unresponsiveness that is driven by the established rules rather than its performance. The international consultants on management ideas advised most of the government on the need to change the management of the public sector by integrating some of the management tools from the private sectors (Ferlie, Laurence and Christopher, 2005, p.84). Finally, for the transitional and developing countries, there change has been necessitated by the donor agencies; it has been one of the conditions for lending form the international financial institution like the World Bank and the IMF. Changes Noted in the Public Sector following NPM As stated above in introductory part there was need for more efficient and effective of the public sector resources, in this regar d several tools used in the management have been used that are sourced from the private sector to improve the performance of the public sector organization following the failure of the traditional systems used. In effecting this, several changes have been seen from the traditional order of public sector management, these changes have been

Literature Review on Total Quality Management in public and private Essay

Literature Review on Total Quality Management in public and private preschools - Essay Example The use of quality management issues in public and education sector is more recent, and the interest of working with quality from a TQM point of view within the education sector has grown during the last decade (Dale, et al., nd). The use of TQM in the public sector such as education and the health sectors is deemed as part of the new public management. New public management is a general term for various change initiatives, which has been brought about by escalating requirements from different authorities. The Swedish public sector introduced an administrative law in 1987 that requires counteracting of inconveniences and enhancing accessibility among authorities. The Swedish commission on advanced vocational education necessitates that educational organizations employ quality assurance as some kind of quality evaluation. Formal definitions of total quality management preschool The external concept of quality refers to attempts to enhance the quality of the incoming product. In the ca se of schools, the product is the student or the child who is entering school for the first occasion. Industry operates with sellers who make parts, which when assembled will be the end product. Schools on the other, hand have two vendors, which are the preschool children and their parents or guardians. Schools ought to have programs for preschool and parenting. Nevertheless, this is often not possible to have preschooling as part of an ongoing program in most cases due to cost inadequacies. If possible, any school wishing to implement the external quality concept should have a preschool program. There are numerous definitions of the quality concept as put forward by different scholars (Karoly & Bigelow, 2005). There are five broad concepts of the term quality. One aspect is the transcendent concept where quality is taken as the innate excellence, which is absolute and universally acknowledgeable and long lasting. In preschooling, transcendent quality can be learned to be acknowledg ed through experience. The second approach to quality is product based, where quality reflects differences in the amount of some ingredient or factor possessed by a product. Preschool quality management concept on product based refers to attributes possessed by students. The third attribute of quality is user based, where the quality of the best satisfies clients’ preferences. Preschool quality management reflects on students meeting the requirements and needs of the employers as they look for those students with the highest quality. The fourth aspect of quality is manufacturing based, where the focus is on the supply side. Manufacturing based quality is essentially concerned with manufacturing practices and fulfilling tolerances (Bradley, 1994). The final concept of quality is value based, where quality is measured in terms of costs and price. In preschooling total quality management, the school should offer performance or conformance at an acceptable price and cost. Main co mponents of total quality management in preschool There are five main basic components in preschool total quality management that foster young children skills and abilities. These are the curriculum, the early literacy learning principles, accountability and assessment, teacher education and professional growth, as well as home-school relations (Bracken, 2004). Early literacy learning principles Developing standards for preschool is among the best

Lab Report Banana Dna Essay Example for Free

Lab Report Banana Dna Essay DNA is organized into genes and stores genetic information. DNA molecules are long, slender molecules that carry the heritable information of organisms on to future generations. Because of their size, it is impossible to see a single DNA molecule with the naked eye. It would take about 300,000 DNA molecules side by side to make a bundle as thick as a human hair. When subjected to certain conditions, it is possible to collect â€Å"large† amounts of DNA to make it visible. As part of the chromosomes, the information contained in genes can be transmitted faithfully by parents through gametes to their offspring. For the gene’s DNA to subsequently influence an inherited trait, the stored genetic information in the DNA in most cases is first transferred to a closely related nuclei acid, RNA or ribonucleic acid. In eukaryotic organisms, RNA most ofther carries the genetic information out of the nucleus, where chromosomes reside into the cytoplasm of the cell. In the cytoplasm, the information in RNA is translated into proteins, which serve as the end products of most all genes. The process of transferring information from DNA to RNA is called transcription. The subsequent conversion of the genetic information contained in RNA into a protein is called translation. DNA molecule exists in cells as a long coiled structure often described as a double helix. Each strand of the helix consists of a linear polymer made up of genetic building blocks called nucleotides. There are four types of nucleotides which vary depending on the four nitrogenous bases of the molecule. The four nitrogenous are A(adenine), G(guanine), T(thymine) and C(cytosine). These comprise the genetic alphabet which in various combinations, will specify the components of proteins. It was established in 1953 by James Watson and Francis Crick that the two strands of their proposed double helis are exact complements of one another, such that the rings of the ladder always consists of either A=T, or G=C base pairs. This complementarity between adenine and cytosine nitrogenuos base pairs and between guanine and cytosine nitrogenuos base pase pairs, attracted to one another by hydrogen bonds, is critical to genetic function. Complementarity serves as the basis for both the replication of DNA and for the transcription of DNA into RNA. OBJECTIVES * To learn basic DNA extraction processes. * To properly and successfully extract DNA from banana using cell disruption and separation techniques. * To investigate the effect of temperature on DNA extraction from bananas. * To observe the extraction of genomic DNA from plant cells. * To understand how a buffer solutions disrupts the plasma membrane and releasing cellular components into the solution. MATERIALS AND APPARATUS PER CLASS * (60-70 oC) Water bath * 95% Ethanol * Extraction solution * Cheesecloth Ice chest containing ice PER GROUP * 40g Banana * 2 ziplock bags (Label ‘Extraction 1’ and ‘Extraction 2’) * 2 funnels * 2 test tubes * 50ml conical tube (2 pieces) * 500ml beaker (2 pieces) * Glass Rod (2 pieces) * Shampoo 4ml * Distilled water 40ml * Table Salt (NaOH) 0. 3g PROCEDURE (A) Extraction solution recipe: 4ml of shampoo was mixed with 36ml of distilled water. The solution was stirred well and slowly. The mixture was divided into two 50ml conical flasks (20ml each). The conical flasks was labelled S and SS. 0. g of salt was added into flask SS. The salt was dissolved by stirring slowly to avoid foaming. (B) Banana Extraction 1. A water bath was prepared. (60 oC) 2. 20g of banana was added into each ziplock bag labeled ‘Extraction 1’ and ‘Extraction 2’ 3. Extraction solution ‘S’ was added into ziplock ‘Extraction 1’ and extraxtion solution ‘SS’ into ziplock bad ‘Extraction 2’. The bag was closed with minimum content of air. 4. The bananas were mushed carefully to avoid the bag from breaking. The bananas were mashed for about 5 minutes. 5. The banana mixtures were cooled in the ice chest containing ice for 2 minutes. Then the bananas were mushed more. The banana mixtures were cooled, the mushed again. This process was repeated for 4 times. 6. The mixtures were filtered through cheesecloths. 7. Approximately 3ml of banana solution were dispenced into each test tube. 8. The test tubes were carefully handled to avoid shaking. Approximately 2ml of cold 95% ethanol was added into each test tube. 9. The test tubes were then observed. Result Photo 1: Test tubes containing solution S and SS CONCLUSION We manage to learn basic DNA extraction processes. We are able to properly and successfully extract DNA from banana using cell disruption and separation techniques. We succesfully investigated the effect of temperature on DNA extraction from bananas. We are able to observe the extraction of genomic DNA from plant cells. We understood how a buffer solutions disrupts the plasma membrane and releasing cellular components into the solution. REFERENCES: BOOKS: * Neil A. Campbell, Jane B. Reece, Lisa A. Urry, Michael L. Cain, Steven A. Wasserman, Peter V. Minorsky, Robert B. Jackson, Biology (8th Ed), Pearson International Edition: Pearson, Benjamin Cummings. * Peter J. Bowler (1989). The Mendelian Revolution: The Emergence of Hereditarian Concepts in Modern Science and Society. Johns Hopkins University Press. * Pragya Khanna. Essentials of Genetics. I. K International Publising House. * Elof Carlson (The Unfit), Mendels Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory Press, USA * Benjamin Cummings(2005), iGenetics: A Mendelian Approach, Pearson; University of Chicago, USA

Influence Of Hard Rock Music Media Essay

Influence Of Hard Rock Music Media Essay Hard rock music is a type of music that is characterized by heavy use of drums, bass and electric guitar. The music is observed to have its origin in the United States and United Kingdom in 1960s. Susan (2001), and Andrew (2007), indicate that the music has borrowed its style from the other music such as rock music, rock and roll and blues rock music. The music is characterized to be so loud and aggressive. It was sometimes called cock rock because historically, it has been played by the male species to emphasize masculinity. Its crowd is usually made of the adolescent whites who are of working class. In the late 1096s, hard rock was also referred to as heavy metal but the term did not last long as bands came up with distinctions between the two types of rock music. It was noted that heavy metal was played at higher volume, pitch and intensity than the hard rock music. In the early 1970s the heavy metal took the darker side and developed some minor genres such as hard core punk and extreme metal, and this characteristics differentiated the two types of music. In the mid 1960s, the American British Bands made the efforts to make some modifications in the rock and roll music. They introduced heavier guitar use, more loud and bombastic drumming and hard sounds on the standard music and this made it different from soft blues. Examples of the hard rock music that were developed include (I cant get no) satisfaction which was sang by the Rolling Stones in 1965, You really got me bad sang by the Kinks in the year 1964 and My who sang by Who in the year 1965. From the above discoveries, it was now possible to differentiate the music as either hard or soft music. Soft music involved more emphasis on the harmony of the song and its melody but hard music had more emphasis put on the instruments that accompanied the music and melody (Mick and Gianni, 2003). Some of the bands that emerged to sing this type of music includes; Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge and MC5. As time passed on, more bands were developed and other even mixed the two types of music (mixed early rock bands music and hard blue rocks). Examples of such bands included the Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath. In the year 1972, Alice Cooper received credit on producing top ten hard rock albums in the United States. In the year 1974 onwards to 1975, some bands from Canada came up with distinctively hard rock music and released albums (with songs such as fly by night, caress of steel and rush) that were played in Britain and United States. Glen et al (2006) noted that the music continued to be modified by more bands that emerged afterwards until there was a differentiation between heavy metal music and hard rock music. In the 1990s, the hard rock music became so dominant in the United States charts. In the year 2000s, Peter (2003), observed that very few bands from 1970s and 1990s had managed to survive recording hard music. Some of the existing bands that survived into the 2000 era and onwards include; Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Who and The Black Sabbath. The era has also seen the emergence of more rock genres such as post punk, metal genres and the garage rock music and bands like Wolfmother. Influence of hard rock music According to Smith and Boyson (2002), music has been seen to be one of a factor that has consequential effects to the one listening. Majorly, it is assumed that those who listen to rock music are harsh, aggressive and arrogant in real life. Masling (2002) indicates that most parents and society norms warn their adolescents against listening to rock music. However, this is not always the case as is to be seen. Although hard rock music is observed to initiate violence in individuals, Masling (2002), noted that most of the rock music melodies contained a message that could change someones lifestyle. He noted that most of rock music feature on love and peace as its main themes. Rock musicians have been known to talk about social issues that affect a nation or its citizens. Some of inspiring songs were heard during the Vietnam War and the songs were sang musicians such as Bob Dylan and John Lennon. Susan (2001) noted that most of the songs had protests message against violence and encoura ged people to kip the environment clean. Some of them have even undertaken the responsibility to perform charity services and at the same time preaching the message using their songs (Glen, 2006). Glen (2006), has also noted that some rock music have been developed and they posses strong Christian values. However, a few Christians are still against the music claiming that the beats and styles used are immoral, satanic and are too sensual to be listened in the church. Thus, according to them, any song that is in the Rock, Reggae or Hip-hop genre is satanic regardless of the lyrics in the music. It has been estimated that violence acts and aggression are can be found in almost 70% of rock music and raps (Barongan and Nagayama, 2005). There were also evidence that most people who listened to these types of music displayed violent behaviors to their spouses (women especially). According to Nicholas and Dibben (2001), a brief exposure to a violent music video or listening to the music for just 10 minutes would change the emotions of an individual. Most of the percentage have been said to change the person negatively. An archival research performed by Atkin et al (2002), indicated that listening and watching to rock music attributed to more violence, aggressiveness and use of explicit language. Emotionally, Nicholas and Dibben (2001), depicts that soft music invokes a positive thought in an individual while listening to a hard rock music invokes negative emotions. According to Atkin et al (2002), some rock singers confuse its singers by the lyrics they compose. He noted that some famous musicians contradicted themselves when they released a song that illustrated non-existence of God, meaning they are atheist in nature. This can be influential to their fans that may end up believing in what they sing about. An example is John Lennon who sang the song Imagin (the song described that the world would be a better place without religion). American Psychological Association (2002) observed that most rock musicians love being identified as unique and standing out. Most of them isolate themselves and even use drugs to make their life different from a normal individual. Most of the musicians depict a lifestyle that is characterized by drugs and sex. They were known to attract attention of young girls groupies who later developed to become prostitutes as a result. They were also characterized by a hard drinking habits and lack of order in what they do. Masling (2002) depicts that the bands were influential to the young youths who still were naÃÆ'Â ¯ve and they followed everything they saw and heard. Some bands used satanic imageries and this influenced the viewers too. As they appreciate their stars, they also appreciate the images they use in their music. To conclude, music is defined by the type of message and comfort one derives after listening to it. Todays society is not happy with the hard rock music and its effects. From above explanations, it is noted that hard rock music has more harm than good to our society. It is the responsibility of parents and the community to educate their children on the need to watch out on the type of music they listen to as it may have permanent effects in their lives.

Adidas and Adidas Pops Competitive Advantage

Adidas and Adidas Pops Competitive Advantage Three strategies that will Increase Adidas and Adidas Pops Competitive Advantage A competitive advantage is modelled around the question of why a consumer should purchase a product from a given company when there are other numerous alternatives (Gebauer, Gustafsson Witell, 2011). According to Kumar et al. (2011), competitive advantage is the force behind a companys sustainability and long-term survival, and as a result, scholars have devised numerous frameworks such as the 5Cs of marketing and Porters five-force model to evaluate the organisational competitive advantage. In this section I have identified three strategies that a high number of firms employ to gain a competitive advantage and which could be employed to increase the competitive advantage of Adidas and its new product Adidas Pop. 1. Differentiation Over the years it has become apparent that markets have become most turbulent and competitive for manufacturing firms and pricing strategies are no longer sufficient to keep an organisation competitive (Gebauer, Gustafsson Witell, 2011; Valipour, Birjandi Honarbakhsh, 2012). In some industries however, businesses still use price wars to undermine their competitors (Zhang Round, 2011). However, lowering prices for competitiveness is unsustainable in the long run and, as a result, many companies have resorted to other strategies to help differentiate themselves from competitors (Valipour, Birjandi Honarbakhsh, 2012).ÂÂ   According to Valipour, Birjandi Honarbakhsh (2012), traditionally, manufacturing organisations focused on products to the neglect of customer needs. However, this approach has changed and now, customer needs largely inform the product process (Kumar et al., 2011). The Adidas differentiation strategy is built around establishing the company as a premium qualit y and highly innovative brand that not only sells sports apparel but can positively impact consumer lifestyles (Kohli Jaworski, 1990). To achieve this strategy, Adidas has developed a number of highly innovative products and has also collaborated with high profile fashion designers to create sportswear that is both functional and fashionable (Adidas, 2016). The move has led many consumers around the world to use Adidas products as a fashion statement instead of for sportswear (Gebauer, Gustafsson Witell, 2011), which has seen the Adidas market share grow in line with its business strategy. As part of the Adidas product range, Adidas Pop will utilise a similar customer-centric differentiation strategy to set itself apart in the emerging markets of Asia. Despite retailing at a comparatively premium price, Adidas Pop will appeal to the targeted markets 19 to 29 year-olds who want to live the Adidas lifestyle. This differentiation strategy will require the input of the marketing and p roduction departments, as well as the RD unit to collect consumer wants and capture them in a product that accurately addresses their needs. To measure the success of the differentiation strategy, the organisation will evaluate the development and products costs with actual sales. 2. Alliances Strategic partnerships are vital to businesses, as evidenced by Adidas decision to form an alliance with Reebok to penetrate the North American market and outsource its manufacturing functions to third parties in China to cut on production costs (Evans Richardson, 2007). Furthermore, Adidas has also formed alliances with distributors such as wholesalers and franchisees, to penetrate markets that are otherwise too costly for the company to set their shops in (Adidas, 2016a). Without these strategic alliances with both manufacturers and distributors in China, the vision for Adidas Pop would be impossible or extremely costly to establish. However, because of Adidas strategic partnerships, the Adidas Pop can be operationalised and could possibly break even within the first year. However, while strategic alliances are increasingly becoming a popular practice in the corporate world, they are not always beneficial to all involved parties (Hamel Pralahad, 1985; Tax Brown, 1998). For examp le, critics observe that after 11 years of an alliance, Reebok lags in sales, in which while the three other brands profits have been growing at 16 percent annually, for the same period, those of Reebok grow by approximately five percent (Adidas, 2016). In such cases, Buhalis Crotts (2013) suggest the use of partnership performance measurement systems such as the Balanced Scorecard to determine the financial and non-financial position of Adidas Pops potential allies. 3. Cost Leadership Developed by Michael Porter, cost leadership is a way of establishing a competitive advantage by keeping costs at the lowest level (Kaliappen Hilman, 2013) If the cost for Adidas products can be kept lower than those of Nike or its other competitors then it is possible to create a competitive advantage. It is important to note however that keeping costs at the lowest level possible is not such an easy task. Costs need to be managed across the entire chain from the very beginning to the very end. According to Kaliappen Hilman (2013), a balanced mix of a cost leadership strategy enhances organisational performance. Cost leadership is mainly internal-oriented as opposed to other competitive strategies such as the differentiation strategy that focus on the external environment (D. Banker, Mashruwala Tripathy, 2014). According to D. Banker, Mashruwala Tripathy (2014), cost leadership involves total costs control, in which, the production budget is solely focused on the most necessary processes. Adidas main competitive strategies are differentiation and strategic alliances. However, cost leadership will also be a useful strategy for Adidas Pop, in which the central focus will be total cost minimisation. Moreover, cost leadership is beneficial in keeping debts levels down and monitoring operations costs (Valipour, Birjandi Honarbakhsh, 2012).

Attention Deficit Disorder Essay -- Health, Diseases

After a long day of hard work, I was exhausted and really hungry; I hear my stomach making weird noises. I grabbed the keys from the kitchen's table and put my sweater on. I decided to eat something fast but healthy. While I was driving to Wendy's, I was thinking about my order: a large salad, with a large orange juice and bowl of fruit. I was waiting for my turn when I saw Suzy, one of my old friends from high school, she was on the first table with the cutest, adorable, talkative and charming girl I ever seen. As I was approaching her to said hi, I hear this little girl screaming six times on top of her lungs â€Å"HOT DOG!† then she pulled the mat off the table, spilled the water in the table and threw the silverware to the waitress. I was in shock, I couldn't believe that this little girl was capable of doing this scene in front of many people. Everyone keeps looking at her and I hear them murmuring â€Å" What's the matter with them?† â€Å"What kind of mom is she ?† or â€Å"Why they can control that little girl?†. I saw her face of embarrassment, she quickly asked for the bill and left. I felt bad for her but I was wondering why this little girl acted like that. Is it really bad parenting? Or a more serious problem? After I while I discover about this disorder called ADD ( Attention Deficit Disorder), but what causes this disease, what are the symptoms, or what is the treatment? Attention Deficit Disorder or also know as ADD has been called in different forms and terms but synonymously ADD is called ADHD ( Attention Hyperactivity Disorder) but speaking in medical terms they differentiate in many ways. â€Å" According to the DSM-III both types involve difficulty with attention† (Phelan 13). In one hand ADHD can be described as a disorder with att... ...mad at you and to feel like you haven't been let in on the secret. Get in a support group. It is helpful for you and your children to understand that you are not the only one living like this. Never, never give up!! There are some valuable lifelong lessons to learn.† (Hallowell 12) And the most important Attention deficit children need help because they can succeed in social areas if extra help is provided for them. â€Å" Whatever the case, the ADD child needs to be attended to. He or she should not be written as lazy, stupid, or badly behaved. With the proper intervention, the ADD child can be helped.† (Woliver 48) There are parent support groups as well as family therapy. ADD can be considered as a family matter because the relationships are strained or breaking down. This therapies help them to avoid blame and check what problems have caused this.

Manipulation of Lyrics in Shakespeares As You Like It Essay -- Shakes

Manipulation of Lyrics in As You Like It   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While it is a comedy of the turmoil of love and the experimentation with gender roles and identity, William Shakespeare's As you Like It is a historical preservation of Renaissance music. The play is fraught with spontaneous song and poetry, yet Shakespeare strategically manipulates these musical elements. Specifically, the lyrics and poetry of the play function to establish a soundtrack and a direct appeal to their Elizabethan audience, while providing Shakespeare with a valuable shorthand for character development.    It is necessary to understand that music in Shakespeare's time functions as a complete renovation of sound, voice, and function. Paul Brian emphasizes that "whereas the music of the middle ages is predominately sacred, there is a great flourishing of ideas dedicated to secular topics, predominantly love, in the 15th through early 17th centuries" (1). From this comment, we can understand that the demand for love music and poetry in Shakespeare's time is indeed influential on As You Like It's musical content. In addition, Mason proffers that "the chief glory of Elizabeth's age was [...] the development of its secular vocal music, which reached a high degree of artistry. It did so, of course, because Elizabethans received perhaps even more enjoyment from singing together socially then they did from singing psalms together in church" (3). In this development of secular music and emphasis on communal singing, the numerous musicians and singers who painfully extend Shakespeare's cast of ch aracters should be seen as symbols of music's booming popularity in the Elizabethan age.    In scenes of As You Like It, we can see the influence of communal music on... ... As You Like It chooses a few individuals to symbolize the importance of music to an entire society, whether it is the merrymakers of the Forest of Ardenne or the inhabitants of Renaissance England.    Works Cited Brian, Paul. "Renaissance Love Songs Study Guide". 6 June 1997. Online. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/love-in-the-arts/renaissance.html. 7 November 2002. Elson, Louis C. Shakespeare in Music. Boston: LC Page & Company, 1900. Long, John H. Shakespeare's Use of Music. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1955. Mason, Dorothy E. Music in Elizabethan England. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1958. Pattison, Bruce. Music and Poetry of the English Renaissance. (2nd ed). London: Methuen and Company, 1970. Seng, Peter J. The Vocal Songs in the Plays of Shakespeare: A Critical History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.   

The Journals Impact Factor Health And Social Care Essay

The diaries impact factor is at present, considered a pace stick for mensurating the comparative quality and significance of a diary. It is defined as the frequence with which the ‘average article ‘ in a diary has been cited in a peculiar twelvemonth or period. Despite the acknowledgment that the impact factor is an imperfect step and 45 old ages of unfavorable judgment, there is no obvious option. Thus, those forced to utilize this tool for direct diary comparing should be encouraged to stay open-minded and cautious, with an consciousness of the built-in restrictions of its usage. Extension of journal-impact-factor informations to single articles and writers is inappropriate and should be avoided. Some of alternate indices of impact factor ( Thomson Reuter ) include Google Scholar, PageRank, H-index, Y-factor, Faculty of 1000, Eigen Factor etc. Some of these options may be more recognized than impact factor in future. Cardinal words: Impact factor, h-index, commendation, AlternativeBackgroundThe construct of commendations as tool for ‘evaluating ‘ scientific discipline was foremost proposed by Eugene Garfield in 1955 ( Garfield, 1955 ) . As merely a limited figure of diaries could be included in the Thomson Reuters ( TR ) databases ( presently totaling about 10500 ) , analyses based on such a limited dataset ( besides selected in a non-transparent manner by the TR ) has been widely and badly criticized by both the developed and developing states ( Molloy, 2007 ) . Although holding been widely criticized, the impact factor ( IF ) published in the Science Citation Index Journal Citation Reports by the Institute for Scientific Information is the most normally used bibliometric standard. It quantifies the influence of a periodical on secondary publications ( Garfield, 1999 ) , and is normally used non merely to rank and measure diaries, but besides for academic publicity or for the choice of research grant applications ( ) . There were coincident attempts to happen alternate indexs utilizing the TR databases, and through other advanced methods. Some of these include Google Scholar, PageRank, H-index, Y-factor, Faculty of 1000, Eigen Factor etc. ( Satyanarayana, 2010 ) .Impact factorThe impact factor was first described in 1955 by Dr. Eugene Garfield ( Jacso, 2001 ; Lundberg, 2003 ) and was used in the early 1960s to assist choice diaries for what would germinate to go the Science Citation Index ( Garfield, 1999 ) . The Science Citation Index, a commercial belongings of the Institute of Scientific Information ( Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ) ( Opthof, 1997 ) , is used to bring forth the Journal Citation Reports, produced yearly. The IF is a simple descriptive quantitative measuring of a diary ‘s public presentation computed on the footing of the mean figure of times articles from the diary published in the past two old ages have been cited in the current twelvemonth. It is calculated from this equation: Journal X ‘s 2009 impact factor = Citations in 2009 ( in diaries indexed by Thomson Reuters ) to all articles published by Journal X in 2007-2008 divided by Number of articles deemed to be â€Å" citable † by Thomson Reuters that were published in Journal X in 2007-2008 ( Gisvold, 1999 ) . The diary IF is presently calculated by Thomson Reuters based on commendation informations from the 6650 plus diaries indexed in the Web of Science database, which is so reported in the Journal Citation Reports ( JCR ) , a database that lists the diaries as per their commendation ranking ( Lundberg, 2003 ) . Impact factor is calculated utilizing the undermentioned expression:Impact of impact factorEver since the visual aspect of the JCR in 1972, there has been efforts to utilize the IF informations for comparings of scientific discipline, scientists, groups of scientists, scientific subjects, states and, of class, scientific diaries ( Satyanarayana & A ; Sharma, 2008 ; Seglen, 1997 ) . The IF is chiefly meant to be an index of the success of a paper in a diary and a alternate of its direct application in subsequent research. Such broad and indiscriminate application of IF and commendation informations frequently resulted in lopsided and unacceptable quality opinions, particularly on the scientific discipline and engineering capableness and strengths of states led to severe and serious unfavorable judgment of the really usage of citation-based informations for intents other than journal rating. Despite broad and sustained unfavorable judgment, commendation informations and IF continued br oad application by research workers to take diaries for reading and referencing and more significantly, tracking challengers ‘ publications and commendation profiles to stay competitory. Journal editors and publishing houses merely love impact factors and they use the IF as a major USP for pricing and selling the diaries at their will ( Kurmis, 2003 ; Monastersky, 2005 ) . Librarians continue to trust on impact factors and other commendation informations for make up one's minding which diaries to subscribe. Potential employers use citation-based parametric quantities to measure campaigners ‘ bibliography for determinations of engaging. Many establishments and Universities all over the universe continue to utilize the commendation informations for appraisal of academic excellence, publicities, awards and wagess. Funding bureaus besides seek commendation indices from appliers to measure undertakings for support. Learned societies and national scientific discipline academies and other such organic structures confabulating awards and wagess all over the universe usage commendation informations for determination devising ( Balaram, 2009 ) .Incorrect Application of Impact FactorsThe quality of an single scientific research paper is an highly hard construct to specify and quantify ( Bloch and Walter 2001 ) . The frequence of commendation has been adopte d as a unsmooth index of quality ( Saper 1999 ) . Although a high commendation rate may non ever be associated with high quality, most commendations in most documents are non refuted or discredited by the writers of the paper ( Callaham et al. 2002 ) . Therefore, it is still widely accepted among writers that commendation of work by others imparts a grade of prestigiousness and professional acknowledgment ( Reyes 1998 ) . While impact factors may be utile for the qualitative rating of diaries, the utility does non widen to single articles. In fact, it has been reported that 50 % of commendations recorded in the Science Citation Index come from merely 15 % of articles published ( Walsh and Weinstein 1998 ) and that the most cited 50 % of articles account for about 90 % of commendations ( Seglon 1997 ) . Therefore, the impact factor of a diary is likely to be mostly influenced by a little per centum of its published articles ( Hansson 1995 ) . Similarly, it is of import to observe that the impact factor does non reflect the quality of the peer-review to which a diary subjects its articles ( Neuberger and Counsell, 2002 ) . The Institute of Scientific Information itself suggests that the primary public-service corporation of the Journal Citation Reports is to help bibliothecs and research workers in pull offing journal aggregations. In turn toing the extension of this tool to academic rating, the Institute of Scientific Information states that, while the impact factor may supply a gross estimate of the prestigiousness of diaries, it does non rede utilizing this value as the exclusive agencies of comparative rating. Misunderstanding of the impact factor and inappropriate weighting of its importance have affected the author-journal relationship, frequently greatly act uponing writers ‘ choice of the diaries to which they submit their manuscripts ( Linardi et al. 1996 ) . Many writers may be tempted, or experience pressured, to choose the highest impact-factor-rated diaries likely to accept their article for publication while rejecting diaries whose mark audience may in fact be more suited and recept ive to the publication itself ( Meenen 1997 ) .Restriction of impact factorThough impact factor is widely accepted globally, it is besides criticized every bit good for some restrictions it possess. Some of the restrictions of impact factor are discussed in the followers: 1. Impact factor clearly favours diaries which publish work by writers who cite their ain forthcoming work and who are geographically situated to do their work readily available in preprint signifier. The step punishes diaries which publish the work of writers who do non hold rank of these unseeable colleges and is virtually incapable of observing echt impact ( McGarty, 2000 ) . 2. The 2nd computation job is statistical in nature: the JIF calculates the average figure of commendations to an article in the diary in inquiry. However, many writers have found that commendation distributions are highly skewed. Seglen ( 1997 ) for case found the most cited 15 % of documents to account for 50 % of commendations and the most cited 50 % for 90 % of the commendations. Hence on mean the most cited half of documents are cited nine times every bit much as the least cited half. 3. The impact factor can be influenced and biased ( deliberately or otherwise ) by many factors. 4. Extension of the impact factor to the appraisal of journal quality or single writers is inappropriate. 5. Extension of the impact factor to cross-discipline diary comparing is besides inappropriate. 6. Those who choose to utilize the impact factor as a comparative tool should be cognizant of the nature and premiss of its derivation and besides of its built-in defects and practical restrictions ( Kurmis, 2003 ) . 7. It must be recognized that the Science Citation Index includes merely about 5000 diaries ( Lankhorst & A ; Franchignoni, 2001 ) of an estimated universe sum of 126,000 ( Whitehouse, 2002 ; Seglen, 1997 ) ; therefore, it represents & lt ; 4 % of all diaries. Diaries non listed in the Science Citation Index database are frequently crudely referred to as holding no impact factor ( zero ) . This suggests, falsely, that 96 % , or 121,000, of diaries are ne'er officially cited. 8. Citation Index do non lend to impact factor computations ( Talamanca, 2002 ; Callaham et al. , 2002 ) . Seglen reported that, within the field of mathematics, publications that were non included in the Science Citation Index database were cited more often than were publications that were included ( Seglen, 1997 ) . 9. Review of the diaries included in the Science Citation Index database has besides shown an tremendous prejudice toward those published in English ( Bloch & A ; Walter, 2001 ; Neuberger & A ; Counsell, 2002 ; Whitehouse, 2002 ; Golder, 1998 ; Winkmann et al. , 2002 ) , with non-English-language diaries given lower impact factors ( Rogers, 2002 ; Dumontier et al. , 2001 ) . 10. Differences in commendation ( Saper, 1999 ) and citing ( Linardi et al. , 1996 ) inclinations within single Fieldss limit the cogency of cross-discipline comparing. For illustration, it has been reported that the average figure of mentions per article of biochemistry periodicals is three times that of mathematics periodicals ( Linardi et al. , 1996 ) . Some Fieldss encourage drawn-out mention lists, whereas others dictate more concise or restricted bibliographic listings ( Sieck, 2002 ) . Because of this, Linardi et Al. ( 1996 ) suggested that comparings of diaries on the footing of their impact factors should be limited entirely to intra-area rating ; they warned that inter-area comparings may be both inappropriate and deceptive. 11. Ease of entree to diaries, publication immediateness, and type of publication stuff have all been identified as subscribers to the impact factor. The handiness of diaries to writers and research workers can change ( Curti et al. , 2001 ) . Theoretically, diaries published more often ( Linardi et al. , 1996 ) may be more readily available for commendation or may cut down publication slowdown. The fact that a diary or article is available electronically may besides increase the rate of commendation and therefore the impact factor. 12. The type of research being reported can impact the journal impact factor because of commendation restrictions. Scientific articles tend to mention merely scientific articles, whereas clinical articles cite both scientific and clinical articles, therefore leting a much larger pool for commendation. In a similar context, general diaries tend to hold higher impact factors than specialist diaries because of the larger pool for commendation ( Hecht et al. , 1998 ; Saper, 1999 ) . 13. Finally, those who choose to utilize the impact factor as a step of quality must acknowledge that the Institute of Scientific Information is a private for-profit company that enjoys an undisputed monopoly on the market of citation-frequency recording. Therefore, despite the valuable part that this company has made to the scientific community, it does hold a commercial involvement in the development and application of its merchandises, which may non ever aline itself with pure academic purpose ( Rogers, 2002 ; Sieck, 2002 ) .Recommendation for bettering impact factors of DiariesLack of impact factor does non needfully bespeak hapless quality, unacceptableness and deficiency of freshness in the research work published. It is obvious that there are published a good no of novel and exciting documents in Bangladeshi diaries, but missing of on-line handiness those are non punctually apprehended and cited. To better commendation and impact factor, the undermentioned recommendations can be suggested – 1. Like many other diaries around the universe, Bangladeshi diaries can propose their writers to mention a figure of ( 5-10 ) articles from Bangladeshi Journals related to their subject and it can be considered as added benefit in accepting a manuscript. This will increase the commendation ratio and h-index, hence impact factor of the diaries. 2. Rapid on-line publication of all diaries and articles. 3. Search engine optimisation for the published article. 4. Scientists and research workers of Bangladesh should seek to mention more autochthonal publications in their documents wherever found relevant. 5. Research articles published in local diaries should be circulated more extensively throughout the state in print version and by e- mail. 6. Research workers of Bangladesh should regularly visit and survey documents published in local diaries which is presently extremely unsatisfactory. 7. Local diaries should better their reappraisal and publication procedure doing it quicker to print a paper so that autochthonal research workers feel involvement to print their work in local diaries. 8. Diaries should seek to be indexed in worldwide accepted journal systems and archives and databases such as ISI, SJR, Pubmed, Elsevier etc. 9. More review articles should be published as these articles attract more readers and are cited more than research studies. Therefore, reappraisal articles can raise the impact factor of the diary and reappraisal diaries will hence frequently have the highest impact factors in their several Fieldss. 10. Diaries may take non to print minor articles, such as instance studies in medical diaries, which are improbable to be cited and would cut down the mean commendation per article. 11. Diaries may alter the fraction of â€Å" citable points † compared to front-matter in the denominator of the IF equation. Which types of articles are considered â€Å" citable † is mostly a affair of dialogue between diaries and Thomson Scientific. As a consequence of such dialogues, impact factor fluctuations of more than 300 % have been observed. For case, columns in a diary are non considered to be citable points and hence do non come in into the denominator of the impact factor. However, commendations to such points will still come in into the numerator, thereby blow uping the impact factor. In add-on, if such points cite other articles ( frequently even from the same diary ) , those commendations will be counted and will increase the commendation count for the cited diary. This consequence is difficult to measure, for the differentiation between editorial remark and short original articles is non ever obvious. â€Å" Letterss to the editor † might mentio n to either category. 12. Diaries may print a big fraction of their documents, or preferentially documents which they expect to be extremely cited, early in the calendar twelvemonth. This gives those documents more clip to garner commendations. 13. Several methods, non needfully with villainous purpose, exist for a diary to mention articles in the same diary which will increase the diary ‘s impact factor.Alternate Indexs of journal impactRight from early 1970s, there have been serious efforts to analyze the restrictions of IF and other citation-based indices and to device alternate matrices that can turn to the lacks to do the rating exercises more nonsubjective. Equally early as 1976, a recursive impact factor and tried to calculate and analyse commendation informations to give commendations from diaries that have high impact greater weight than commendations from low impact diaries was proposed ( Narin & A ; Pinski, 1976 ) . The increasing web-based entree to and usage of scholarly literature through powerful hunt engines as Google has facilitated the development of advanced methods and tools to rank scholarly diaries. Such methods have helped farther polish the rating of both scientific discipline and scientists bo th within and outside the citation-based systems. Some of these include Page Rank, Weighed Page Rank, h-index, g-factor, y-factor, Euro Factor, Faculty of 1000, Eigen factor etc. ( Resnick, 2004 ) . There have besides been several efforts to use parametric quantities other than IF to analyze the issue of ‘popularity ‘ V ‘prestige ‘ of diaries, a major restriction of the IF and other citation-based indices. Many surveies have besides been done to compare the commendation based informations with the new and improved methodological analysiss ( Dellavalle et al. , 2007 ) . One such comparative analysis has shown that Y-factor ranking has helped get the better of at least one important restriction of the IF i.e. , the higher ranking of reappraisal diaries as compared to original research documents ( Satyanarayana & A ; Sharma, 2008 ) .Google Scholar:Google Scholar ( hypertext transfer protocol: //scholar.google.com ) is a free-to-use hunt engine developed in 2004 basically to turn up information from learned diaries and other beginnings on the Web. Due to its easy handiness, Google Scholar is possibly one of the most widely used tools by bookmans in all subjects of scientific discipline and engineering. Some particular maps of the Google Scholar include the ‘cited by ‘ option that provides links to other articles that have cited this paper, and more. It is frequently hard to obtain relevant information rapidly due to absence of sifting harmonizing to quality. The major restrictions of the hunt engine are that non all records retrieved are peer reviewed and hence quality is hard to judge. Besides, there is deficiency of lucidity on how the beginnings themselves are selected, content analyzed, the clip span covered how the listing is done ( Satyanarayana, 2010 ) .PagerankTMPageRank is a package system for ranking web pages developed by Google and has besides been applied to rank research publications. The advantage with this tool i s that it uses a wide scope of unfastened informations beginnings from the Google Scholar ( GS ) etc. that can turn up and recover big figure of records. PageRank algorithm references is the issue of ‘popularity ‘ and adept grasp or ‘prestige ‘ of published research that remains the major restriction of other databases like SCI through the Weighed PageRank. Popular diaries are those that are cited often by diaries could be with small prestigiousness. These diaries hence could hold a really high IF and a really low weighted PageRank. Esteemed diaries, on the contrary, are those may non be often cited, but their commendations come from extremely esteemed diaries. These diaries may hold a really low IF but a really high weighted PageRank. Analysis of diaries harmonizing to their ISI IF and their leaden PageRank shows important convergences and differences.h-index and g-indexThe h-index was introduced by Hirsch ( 2005 ) and is defined as follows: â€Å" A scient ist has index H if H of his/her Np documents have at least h commendations each, and the other ( Np-h ) documents have no more than h commendations each. † As a consequence the h-index provides a combination of both measure ( figure of documents ) and quality ( impact, or commendations to these documents ) ( Glanzel, 2006 ) . Therefore, the h-index is preferred to merely mensurating the entire figure of commendations as it corrects for â€Å" one hit admirations † , i.e. faculty members who might hold authored ( or even be the twentieth co-author of ) one or a limited figure of highly-cited documents, but have non shown an academic public presentation that has been sustained over a longer period of clip. The H index is besides preferred over a simple measuring of the figure of documents published as it corrects for documents that are non cited and hence can be argued to hold had limited impact on the field. In amount, the h-index favor faculty members that publish a uni nterrupted watercourse of documents with permanent and above-average impact ( Bornmann & A ; Daniel, 2007 ) . Hirsch index therefore measures the quality and sustainability and diverseness of scientific end product and therefore addresses the jobs with the SCI where a methodological paper could bring the highest impact. A major restriction is that scientists who are really productive tend to hold lower H figure. A disadvantage of the h-index is that it ignores the figure of commendations to each single article over and above what is needed to accomplish a certain h-index. Therefore an academic or diary with an h-index of 6 could theoretically hold a sum of 36 commendations ( 6 for each paper ) , but could besides hold more than a 5,000 commendations ( 5 documents with 1,000 commendations each and one paper with 6 commendations ) . Of class, in world these extremes will be really improbable. However, it is true that one time a paper belongs to the top H documents, its subsequent commendations no longer â€Å" count † ( Braun, 2005 ) . Hence, in order to give more weight to highly-cited articles Leo Egghe ( 2006 ) proposed the g-index. The g-index is defined as follows: [ Given a set of articles ] ranked in diminishing order of the figure of commendations that they received, the g-index is the ( alone ) largest figure such that the top g articles received ( together ) at least g2 commendations. Although the g-index has non yet attracted much attending or empirical confirmation, it would look to be a really utile complement to the h-index. The h-index and g-index have several of import advantages over the Thomson ISI JIF. First of wholly, these indices do non hold an unnaturally fixed clip skyline. Second, the h-index, and to a lesser extent the g-index, attenuates the impact of one extremely cited article, because – unlike citations-per-paper steps such as the JIF – the h-index and g-index are non based on average tonss. H-index measures the overall commendation impact of the diary, non in the commendation impact of one or two extremely cited single documents in that diary. h-index for diaries provides a robust step of sustained and lasting public presentation of diaries, instead than articles. Third, both the h-index and g-index are influenced to some extent by the figure of documents that a diary publishes. A diary that publishes a larger figure of documents has a higher likeliness of bring forthing a higher h-index and g-index since every article presents another opportunity for commendations ( Saad, 2006 ) .The Y-factorThe Y-factor is a simple combination of both the IF and the leaden PageRank. Significantly, the writers claim that the ensuing journal rankings correspond good to a general apprehension of journal position. For illustration, while the IF superior lists five reappraisal diaries, the Y-factor column had none. Two primary research diaries Cell and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, rated extremely by equals, figure in the Y-factor list ( Satyanarayana, 2010 ) .Faculty of 1000Peer ranking of research documents outside the commendation figure game has besides been tried and a outstanding one being the Faculty of 1000, a subscription-based literature consciousness tool. Faculty of 1000 comprehensively and consistently high spots and reviews the most interesting documents published in subjects as biological science, medical specialty etc. , based on the recommendations of 1000s of carefully chosen research workers. ( hypertext transfer protocol: // f1000biology.com/ about/faq ) . These Faculty members evaluate documents based on their perceived virtue than where they appear to germinate a consensus. The restrictions: the manner of choice of the module itself as besides the pick of documents considered to be of high quality as the diaries sample is about 1000 merely. The concluding F1000 Factor is consensual integrating the evaluations it receives and the figure of times it is selected by different Faculty Members. Outstanding work therefore gets its merited equal acknowledgment irrespective and independent of commendation counts ( Meho, 2009 ) .Tocopherol I g vitamin E n f a hundred T O RDeveloped by Carl Bergstrom, the Eigenfactor ( Bergstrom et al. , 2008 ) provides an on-line suite of tools that â€Å" ranks diaries much as Google ranks web sites † . The informations are taken from the Thomson Reuters databases. Available at no charge, the Eigenfactor is considered a step of the diary ‘s entire importance to th e scientific community. The â€Å" Article Influence † metric within the Eigenfactor is comparable to the impact factor, but that is merely one facet of the broader model.Other initiatives-Other current enterprises include the MESUR ( MEtrics from Scholarly Usage of Resources ) undertaking supported by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a two twelvemonth attempt to enrich â€Å" the toolkit used for the appraisal of the impact of scholarly communicating points, and hence of bookmans, with prosodies that derive from use informations † ( Banks et al. , 2008 ) . The MESUR is considered the most comprehensive attempt until now to analyze article impact rating techniques visa- six modern scholarly communicating patterns that have undergone a sea alteration over the last decennary.DecisionWhile the impact factor may, in certain fortunes, be a utile subjective tool for rating journal quality, it is non appropriate for choice appraisal of single articles or writers. The impact facto r is a tool whose utility is declining, but there is non yet a to the full feasible option to it. Therefore, when utilizing impact factor for comparing of diaries, cautiousness should be taken sing the built-in restrictions of impact factor.

Meeting the Challenge of Sexual Harassment

Meeting the Challenge of Sexual Harassment At an office of Goldman, Sachs and Company in Boston, some male employees allegedly pasted photos of bare-breasted women on company newsletters, next to biographies of new female employees (suggesting that the photos were pictures of the new staff members). Copies of the newsletters were circulated around the office. Sexist literature such as â€Å"The Smart Man’s Creed or Why Beer Is Better Than Women† (â€Å"After you’ve had a beer, the bottle is still worth a dime†) was allegedly also distributed. Kristine Utley, a former Goldman sales associate, has made these allegations in a suit charging that the environment at Goldman, Sachs constitutes sexual harassment. Fired for refusing a transfer to a New York office, she is suing to gain reinstatement and damages and to eliminate the harassment. Joanne Barbetta has filed a similar suit seeking damages for harassment caused by an environment that she asserted â€Å"was poisoning my system. † Ms. Barbetta reports that during her tenure as a clerk at Chemlawn, male employees circulated pornographic magazines and pinup posters. She viewed a slide presentation that included suggestive pictures (e. g. , a nude woman) put there, according to management, â€Å"to keep the guys awake. † After these experiences and continual breast-grabbing by a male employee, Ms. Barbetta quit. Marie Regab, formerly an 18-year employee of Air France, has filed similar charges concerning the Washington office where she worked as a salesperson. She alleges that several characteristics of the office environment combined to create harassment, including propositions by one of her bosses, circulation of Playboy and Penthouse magazines in the office, and open discussion of sexual activity by male employees. â€Å"It was sickening and an insult to women in the office,† she claims. Ms. Regab was fired; she is suing to gain reinstatement, for $1. 5 million in damages, and to eliminate the harassment in the office. These three situations are examples of a growing number of suits being filed by women who charge that a sexist environment in the workplace constitutes sexual harassment and that their employers are therefore liable. Plaintiff actions in this area have been fueled by the Supreme Court’s ruling that sexist behavior that creates an â€Å"intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment† is sexual harassment and violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Court’s ruling has spurred an increasing number of companies to act to revent sexual harassment in the workplace and to deal with if effectively when the problem occurs. Other factors have also triggered company action. Employers are realizing that the costs of harassment can be high in terms of lowered productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. One study of female employees in the federal government concluded that the government loses about $200 million each year to the effects od sexual harassment. Costs can also be high if an employee sues. Even if the plaintiff opts for an out- of-court settlement, the costs of these settlements are often in six figures, and it’s the company that pays. Companies are also realizing that sexual harassment is a very real issue in today’s workplace; from 20 to over 50 percent of working women have experienced sexual harassment (and so have at least 15 percent of male employees). Thus, companies are tackling the issue; the more effective strategies developed so far contain four primary features: Training programs the educate employees concerning the meaning of sexual harassment and the behaviors that constitute a hostile and harassment workplace: Training is especially important simply because men and women often differ in their perception of what constitutes harassment. Most training is in the form of seminars and workshops, often with films and videos. Philip Morris USA conducts a mandatory training program for its field managers that include viewing a video called â€Å"Shades of Gray†. General Motors conducts an awareness seminar for employees and offers this benchmark for judging the appropriateness of office conduct: â€Å"would you be embarrassed to see your remarks or behavior in the newspaper or described to your own family? † Du Pont has developed one of the most comprehensive antiharassment programs in business (begun in 1981). Recently, the corporation added a $500,000 course on personal safety, rape, and harassment prevention primarily for its female employees (many of whom are moving into traditionally male jobs at Du Pont such as agricultural products sales). The course offers no-nonsense advice on how to handle a harasser. For example, if a male customer fondles a women’s knee, Du Pont advises that she â€Å"firmly remove his hand . . . and then say, ‘Let’s pretend this didn’t happen. â€Å"If she receives a verbal proposition, Du Pont advises that she say, â€Å"No, I wouldn’t want our business relationship to be jeopardized in any way. About 1,600 employees have completed the course. Like General Motors, Du Pont offers its employees a guideline for evaluating their behavior. Said a Du Pont spokesman, â€Å"We tell people, it’s harassment when something starts bothering somebody. † Some other companies provide advice concerning how to handle harassmen t. One popular piece of advice: Document the incident as soon as possible by describing on paper what happened in full detail and talking to someone informally about the incident. A relatively mild case of harassment can be handled by taking to the harasser, explaining what he or she did , how it made you feel, and telling the harasser to stop. In a more serious situation, communicating these points via a certified letter sent to the harasser, with the victim keeping a copy, is often recommended (and reportedly proves to be quite effective). An internal complaint procedure: Ideally, the procedure provides for fast action and confidentiality and ensures that the employee can report the problem to a manager who is not involved in the harassment. Some companies encourage employees to report a problem to their immediate supervisor but also designate an individual (often a woman) in the HR department as someone employees can speak with in cases where the immediate supervisor is involved in the problem. To ensure speedy action, some companies require that an investigation begin within 24 hours after the harassment complaint has been reported. Ideally, the procedure also stipulates how investigations will be conducted. Speedy, corrective action that solves the problem: If the investigation supports the employee’s claims, corrective action is quickly taken. Such action can range from simply talking to the harasser to discharge, depending on the severity of the offense. One federal agency requires offending employees to publicly apologize to the individuals they’ve harassed. Staffing changes also sometimes occur. Our New York bank faced a problem of a highly talented male executive who generated much profit for the bank-and also several costly EEOC complaints from his secretaries. The bank solved the problem by assigning the executive an all-male secretarial staff. Corrective action is particularly important because it communicates to both victims and potential offenders that harassment will not be tolerated. A written and communicated antiharassment policy. The written policy is documented and distributed to all employees. The policy contains a definition of harassment, the company’s position prohibition harassment, the grievance procedure, and penalties. While a growing number of companies are implementing antiharassment policies, the courts have yet to establish consistent record concerning the issue of â€Å"hostile environment† as illegal harassment. For example, a federal district court in Michigan dismissed a claim by Vivienne Rabidue that sexual posters and obscene language in her office at Osceola Refining Co. constituted illegal sexual harassment. However, Joanne Barbetta has won the first round of her court battle with Chemlawn. The judge hearing her complaint rejected Chemlawn’s motion to dismiss the suit; he has ordered Ms. Barbetta’s case to trial. Chemlawn is expected to present a vigorous defense, asserting that the men involved in the newsletter incident have been disciplined and that the situations Ms. Barbetta cites fall far short of creating a hostile, harassing environment because they occurred â€Å"over the course of two years. † Questions Assumes that you are an HR executive for a company that manufactures and sells agricultural products (for example, fertilizers and grain feeds). The company’s workforce of 1,200 employees is 70 percent male and 30 percent female. Drawing from this case and the chapter content, develop an antiharassment policy and program. What are the major challenges you see in implementing the program? Many experts assert that reported cases of sexual harassment represent only a small percentage of the total number of incidents that actually occur in the workplace. If their assertion is true, why do so many cases go unreported? How would your HRM policy on harassment address this situation? As research indicates, people differ widely in their perceptions of sexual harassment. What is a harmless remark to one individual can be an annoying, even infuriating insult to another. In your view, what separates harmless conduct from harassing behavior? In the same vein, when does a sexist environment become a hostile, harassing one?