Wednesday, December 25, 2019

The Potential Relationship Between Personality And Job...

Throughout decades, individuals have been trying to understand the human behaviour. One of the core reasons fuelling this on-going search is to have a better knowledge on the way organisations work and the people affecting it. The way employees behave and factors that affect job performance or job commitment all come down to one single area of study, which is organisational behaviour. Due to the large spectrum of values and beliefs, human behaviour tends to be rather vast and unpredictable. However, it is possible for organisations to take advantage of this by effectively analysing the extent to which those different behaviours affect overall job performance. (Lombardo, n.d) This may potentially help to better understand the needs of the†¦show more content†¦The FFM consists of five main personality dimensions. Conscientiousness refers to having self control, strong-will, determination, organisational skills and being achievement striving. Agreeableness is defined by being a ltruistic, selfless, compassionate and eager to help. Anxiety, high levels of stress and personal insecurity defines neuroticism. Openness to experience reflects the ability to have an active imagination, being unconventional and experience new ethical or social ideas. Lastly, extraversion consists of being sociable, energetic and optimistic (Rothmann Coetzer, 2003). According to psychologists, there are two main ways through which an individual’s personality is formed. Firstly, the science of behavioural genetics, largely through twin studies has shown that â€Å"much of our identity is stamped on us from conception† (Wright, 1997, pp. 143-148). In addition, studies have also reveals that our personality is a product of our environment (Roach, n.d). The relative importance of both factors however can be argued and debated. Personality and Job performance Job performance is a multi dimensional construct which indicates how well employees perform their assigned duties and the way in which they undertake them (Boshoff Arnolds, 1995). The link between personality and job performance has been a large and ongoing research topic in industrial psychology over the past century. The first phase of research

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Ethical Principles Of Ethics And Corporate Ethics

(b)Write out the one page (up to 500 words) definition of what is Ethics and what is Morality on the first page. You will need to include in your definition also Sacred Texts, Sacred People, the Ethic itself and Human Reasoning. (We will refer to this in class). Ethics Definition: Ethics are the set of moral principles that guide a person s behavior. These morals are shaped by social norms, cultural practices, and religious influences. Ethics reflect beliefs about what is right, what is wrong, what is just, what is unjust, what is good, and what is bad in terms of human behavior. They serve as a compass to direct how people should behave toward each other, understand and fulfill their obligations to society, and live their lives.†¦show more content†¦Morality Definition: To define morality, a person will use the rules or habits with regard to right and wrong that he or she follows. It is a complex system of general principles and particular judgments based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs. Cultures and or groups regulate and generalize these concepts, thus regulating behavior. When someone conforms to the codification, you consider this person to be moral. And yet, the notion of how we ought to behave and the reality of how we do behave are varied and real morality behaves in accordance with one s perception of morality. Often, doctrines or moral duties that support the quality of an action which renders it good, is moral. Definitions: Sacred Texts: Religious texts, also known as scripture, scriptures, holy writ, or holy books, are the texts which various religious traditions consider to be sacred, or central to their religious tradition. Many religions and spiritual movements believe that their sacred texts are divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspire. Sacred People: People who are regarded with reverence The Ethic itself: Sexual ethics: Concern issues from all aspects of human sexuality, including human sexual behavior Human Reasoning: Generally refers to the human being s capacity to use logic and make judgments related to knowledge and ethics. (C) On

Monday, December 9, 2019

Management and Business Context Retail Company

Question: Describe about the Management and Business Context for Retail Company. Answer: Overview of Woolworths Woolworths operates as an effective supermarket retail company based in Australia that services the needs of customers related to grocery, fresh food and meat products and also non-food products. Macro Environmental Analysis of Woolworths The retail business of Woolworths is significantly affected by the government and regulatory policies concerning trading hours of the retail establishments, use of plastic and other recycled bags, pricing practices to be used and also the tax reforms generated in the region. Woolworths also generates potential income related to dividends and union dues to the different political parties (Leslie, 2009). The global deflation in food prices had contributed in generating price deflations by 2.9 percent during the periods ranging 2012-13. The sales of liquor and supermarket products by Woolworths had increased by around 4.9 percent during the periods ranging 2011-12. Further, Woolworths through the opening of a large number of petrol stations gained an increase of sales by 11.4 percent (Niininen, 2012). Woolworths focuses on conducting consumer oriented retailing through the generation of seasonal produces like fruits and vegetables. The seasonal food products are kept at controlled temperatures all along the year and also generated in an artificial manner for helping in meeting of consumer demands. Woolworths focuses on enhancing the effectiveness of its retail stores through the incorporation of Point-of-Sales (POS) systems and also the use of effective Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, SAP. The use of SAP potentially contributes in tracking the movement of retail merchandises along the distribution and store outlets, the function of which is further enhanced based on integrating SAP with POS systems (Bryson, 2011). Woolworths is observed to have faced a penalty amount of $3 million owing to the sales of faulty and unsafe private brand products that in turn affected potential customers. The judgment that was passed required the retailer to sell safe food products and also to withdraw and recall the faulty food products from the market (Cameron Green, 2012). Woolworths focuses on the generation of carbon footprint that focuses on reducing the level of carbon emissions from its retail, distribution and logistics operations. The retail institution sets targets regarding reduction of emission levels of carbon and other greenhouses gases from its diverse units and functionaries (Collier, 2013). Micro Environmental Analysis of Woolworths Woolworths focuses on addressing the consumer power of its target customer groups through not only the generation of organic produces all along the year but also focusing on the development of the omnichannel platform for helping the consumers gain a seamless retailing experience. The retail company has teamed up with Genesys for developing an effective contact point with its retail consumer base (Garland, 2009). Woolworths counters its supplier power through the sustaining of effective relationships with potential suppliers for the gaining of fresh and quality oriented produces and fresh products. The retail institution has set up an effective benchmark that contributes in evaluating the quality sourced from the different suppliers. Woolworths based on the conducting of online trading focuses on generation of substitute products for the products demanded by the customers in cases where the ordered product is out-of-stock. The substitute products that are arranged by Woolworths are either of same or equal value (Gopalkrishnan, 2014). Woolworths faces considerable competition from Coles and the discount retailer Aldi in the retail market of Australia. The intensification of the rivalry has required Woolworths for closing down around 17 outlets spread along the region. The existence of faulty strategic planning initiatives has increased the level of threat for the domestic retailers from the large scale expansion activities of foreign retailers in the region (Rozkwitalska, 2012). The increased threat of entry of foreign players has required the traditional retailers to shut down their brick-and-mortar outlets and develop an online platform for helping in reaching a larger section of consumers (Jenner, 2011). Application of the McKinseys 7S Framework on Woolworths Woolworths focuses on generation of products at low price points to counter its rivals while also has developed an effective online presence for reaching its products to a large range of customers. Moreover, it focuses to operate based on a lean and customer oriented retail strategy (Bhatia Kaur, 2014). Woolworths operates on a simpler structure that conducts its business through establishment of large number of retail outlets across different petrol stations. Further, Woolworths also operates through a section of specialized employees that provide needed support to franchised retail outlets operating in different parts of international markets like South Africa (Kerzner, 2013). Woolworths, in recent times has focused on the incorporation of different types of technological systems like Point-of-Sales (POS) and other inventory management and ERP based systems that contribute in effective management and flow of stocks across the distribution and retail outlets (Ongori Nzonzo, 2011). Woolworths focuses on generating the right quality and style of the food and non-food products. It also focuses on generating effective value to the customers. Woolworths generates increased importance in providing quality services to customers (Podsiadlowski et al., 2013). The retail institution also focuses on fostering creativity and innovation relating to the different types of retail services offered by it. It also aims in meeting the objectives of sustainability and promoting energy efficiency along its retail and distribution centres (Cameron Green, 2012). Woolworths generates continual training to promote skill development of its staffs involved both in retail operations and official duties. The management style of Woolworths is evaluated to be autocratic and authoritarian in nature. It thus reduces the collaboration of middle and junior level managers in taking business decisions (Kapur, 2014). Woolworths operates on a total of 19,000 staffs that are effectively allocated along the different retail stores, distribution centres and offices. The staffs provide needed services in sourcing quality products at affordable prices and also in servicing the emerging needs of customers (Jenner, 2011). Application of the SWOT and TOWS Matrix SWOT Strength Woolworths operates as a market leader in the grocery and food retail industry of Australia. It effectively conducts its retail business through synchronizing human and technological resources along with quality food and grocery products. Weakness Woolworths suffers owing to restricted or limited expansion to both regional and international markets. Opportunities The development of its omnichannel platform with also growing consumer demand related to online purchases of food and grocery products provides increased opportunities for Woolworths to develop its retail presence in the region. Threats Woolworths gains significant threat from its nearest competitor Coles operating in the Australian retail market. Moreover, the business of Woolworths also is increasingly governed by government interventions and regulatory paradigms. Global Risks Confronting Woolworths The different types of risks confronting Woolworths are outlined as follows. -Reduction in the pace of market growth -Emergence of discount retailers in Australia -Reduction in the level of staff morale related to the stores and distribution centres. Risk Assessment Matrix Reduction in Pace of Market Growth Rare Unlikely Possible Likely Almost Certain Severe Low Low High Extreme Extreme Major Low Low High Extreme Extreme Moderate Low Low Medium High High Minor Low Low Low Low Low Minimal Low Low Low Low Low Emergence of Discount Retailers Rare Unlikely Possible Likely Almost Certain Severe Low Low High Extreme Extreme Major Low Low High Extreme Extreme Moderate Low Low Medium High High Minor Low Low Low Low Low Minimal Low Low Low Low Low Reduction in level of Staff Morale Rare Unlikely Possible Likely Almost Certain Severe Low Low Medium High High Major Low Low Medium High High Moderate Low Low Medium Medium High Minor Low Low Low Low Low Minimal Low Low Low Low Low Business Model Canvas of Woolworths Woolworths focuses on gaining revenue both from purchases made by customers and also through charges levied on suppliers. Further, supermarkets like Woolworths also focus on gaining on in cash margins based on selling large merchandise volumes (Olsen Martins, 2012). It also focuses on generating effective customer services based on its operation conducted through retail, back office and distribution outlets (Kircher Jain, 2013). References Bhatia, A., Kaur, L. (2014). Global Training Development trends Practices: An Overview. International Journal of Emerging Research in Management Technology , 3 (8), 75-78. Bryson, J. M. (2011). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement. United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons. Cameron, E., Green, M. (2012). Making Sense of Change Management: A Complete Guide to the Models Tools and Techniques of Organizational Change. United States: Kogan Page Publishers. Collier, M. (2013). eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies. John Wiley Sons. Garland, R. (2009). Project Governance: A Practical Guide to Effective Project Decision Making. United States: Kogan Page Publishers. Gopalkrishnan, J. G. (2014). eBay: The worlds largest online marketplace- A Case Study. Conference on Global Competition Competitiveness of Indian Corporate. Jenner, S. (2011). Management of portfolios. United States: The Stationery Office. Kapur, V. (2014). The 21st Century CIO -- Leading IT Transformation in a Quantum Change Environment. Cognizants Business Consulting group. Kerzner, H. R. (2013). Project Management Metrics, KPIs, and Dashboards: A Guide to Measuring and Monitoring Project Performance. United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons. Kircher, M., Jain, P. (2013). Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture, Patterns for Resource Management. United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons'. Leslie, B. ( 2009). Excellence in Advertising. Routledge. Niininen, O. (2012). Marketing Principles. Cengage Learning. Olsen, J. E., Martins, L. L. (2012). Understanding organizational diversity management programs: A theoretical framework and directions for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior , 33 (8), 1168-1187. Ongori, H., Nzonzo, J. C. (2011). TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES IN AN ORGANISATION: AN INTERVENTION TO ENHANCE ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS. International Journal of Engineering and Management Sciences , 2 (4), 187-198. Podsiadlowski, A., Grschke, D., Kogler, M. (2013). Managing a culturally diverse workforce: Diversity perspectives in organizations . International Journal of Intercultural Relations , 37, 159-175. Rozkwitalska, M. (2012). Accepted and strong organisational culture in multinational corporations . Journal of Intercultural Management , 4 (3), 5-14.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Surving Greenscape at Hard Time free essay sample

Robbins, S. , Organizational Behavior 2. Buchanan, D amp; Huczynski, A. , Organizational Behaviour 3. Mullins, L. , Management and Organisational Behaviour| Week 6| Feedback sessionFeedback on LO2| | Week 7| Motivation, what is motivation, motivational theories, critical assessment of motivational theories, reward and punishment| Books, Lecture Slides/Notes, Case Studies, Assignment-related resources| Week 8| Understanding Groups, what are groups, formation of groups, formal and informal groups | 1. Robbins, S. , Organizational Behavior 2. Buchanan, D amp; Huczynski, A. Organizational Behaviour 3. Mullins, L. , Management and Organisational Behaviour| Week 9| Team Development, types of teams, developing teams, why teams are not groups| 1. Robbins, S. , Organizational Behavior 2. Buchanan, D amp; Huczynski, A. , Organizational Behaviour 3. Mullins, L. , Management and Organisational Behaviour| Week 10| Feedback sessionFeedback on LO3amp;4| | Learning outcomes Outcomes| Assessment requirements| LO1 Understand the relationshipbetween organisational structure and culture| 1. 1 compare and contrast different organisational structures and culture1. explain how the relationship between an organisation’s structure and culture can impact on the performance of the business1. We will write a custom essay sample on Surving Greenscape at Hard Time or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 3 discuss the factors which influence individual behaviour at work| LO2 Understand differentapproaches to management and leadership| 2. 1 compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in different organisations2. 2 explain how organisational theory underpins the practice of management2. 3 evaluate the different approaches to management used by different organisations| LO3 Understand ways of usingmotivational theories in organisations| 3. discuss the impact that different leadership styles may have on motivation in organisations in periods of change3. 2 compare the application of different motivational theories within the workplace3. 3 evaluate the usefulness of a motivation theory for managers| LO4 Understand mechanisms fordeveloping effective teamwork in organisations| 4. 1 explain the nature of groups and group behaviour within organisations4. 2 discuss factors that may promote or inhibit the development of effective teamwork in organisations4. 3 evaluate the impact of technology on team functioning within a given organisation. Indicative resource materials Textbooks Buchanan, D amp; Huczynski, A. , Organizational Behaviour Mullins, L. , Management and Organisational Behaviour Brooks, I. , Organisational Behaviour, Individuals, Groups and Organisation Bloisi, W. , Cook, C. , and Hunsaker, P. , Management and Organisational Behaviour Journals Academy of Management Journal (Academy of Management) British Journal of Management (John Wiley and Sons) California Management Review (University of California, Berkeley) European Management Journal (Elsevier) Harvard Business Review (Harvard Business Publishing) Journal of General Management (Braybrooke Press Ltd) Journal of Management Studies (John Wiley and Sons) Management Today (Haymarket Business Media) MIT Sloan Management Review (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Websites www. businessballs. com HR and Organisational Behaviour articles and links www. changingminds. org Useful articles on strategic change by leading theorists www. mindtools. com www. 12manage. com www. cipd. co. uk www. incomesdata. co. uk

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Free Essays on The Sphinx

or less, stated that he believed that the survivors of the lost civilization of Atlantis had built the Sphinx as early as 10,500 BC. He also believed that the survivors had concealed beneath it a "Hall of Records" containing all the wisdom of their lost civilization and the true history of the human race (dreamscape.com/morgana/hancock.htm, 2001). All three of the sources that I acquired information from seem to be very credible. Sure, not all of t... Free Essays on The Sphinx Free Essays on The Sphinx The questions discussed in this paper are â€Å"when was the Great Sphinx built?† and also, â€Å"what kinds of kooky things have you heard about the Sphinx?† The biggest controversy surrounded the Sphinx is not the question why was it built, but instead the question when was it built. There are two different theories that answer this question and they both seem to be logical answers. The first is that it was built around the same time as the construction of the Pyramid of Khafre, around (1425 - 1417 BC) (http://interoz.com/egypt/sphinx.htm, 2001). This is the theory that most archaeologists adhere to because they believe the Sphinx represents the Sun god, the king as the god Horus, or a king in the leonine form of a god (Archaeology, September 1994). However a new, more intriguing theory is beginning to gain support among Egyptologists. The new theory states that the Sphinx is much older than what was previously thought. Perhaps being built up to 12,000 years ago. The evidence that this theory is based on is that the pattern of erosion is due mainly to a very large amount of water. This indicates that the Sphinx was carved at the end of the last Ice Age, when heavy rains last fell on the eastern Sahara (dreamscape.com/morgana /hancock.htm, 2001). The second question being asked was â€Å"what kinds of kooky things have you heard about the Sphinx?† The â€Å"kookiest† thing that I could find involved the late American psychic, Edgar Cayce. Cayce, in more words or less, stated that he believed that the survivors of the lost civilization of Atlantis had built the Sphinx as early as 10,500 BC. He also believed that the survivors had concealed beneath it a "Hall of Records" containing all the wisdom of their lost civilization and the true history of the human race (dreamscape.com/morgana/hancock.htm, 2001). All three of the sources that I acquired information from seem to be very credible. Sure, not all of t...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Acid-Base Titration Calculation

Acid-Base Titration Calculation An acid-base titration is a neutralization reaction performed in the lab to determine an unknown concentration of acid or base. The moles of acid will equal the moles of the base at the equivalence point. So if you know one value, you automatically know the other. Heres how to perform the calculation to find your unknown: Acid-Base Titration Problem If youre titrating hydrochloric acid with sodium hydroxide, the equation is: HCl NaOH → NaCl H2O You can see from the equation there is a 1:1 molar ratio between HCl and NaOH. If you know that titrating 50.00 ml of an HCl solution requires 25.00 ml of 1.00 M NaOH, you can calculate the concentration of hydrochloric acid, HCl. Based on the molar ratio between HCl and NaOH, you know that at the equivalence point: moles HCl moles NaOH Acid-Base Titration Solution Molarity (M) is moles per liter of solution, so you can rewrite the equation to account for molarity and volume: MHCl x volumeHCl MNaOH x volumeNaOH Rearrange the equation to isolate the unknown value. In this case, you are looking for the concentration of hydrochloric acid (its molarity): MHCl MNaOH x volumeNaOH / volumeHCl Now, simply plug in the known values to solve for the unknown: MHCl 25.00 ml x 1.00 M / 50.00 ml MHCl 0.50 M HCl

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Human Factors and the Insider Threat Research Paper

Human Factors and the Insider Threat - Research Paper Example The cyber security is a framework which enables the users to protect their cyber assets through preventing, detecting, countering and recovering the cyber incidents (Mehan, 2008). Although many practitioners assess the cyber security as a technical approach, there are many human aspects of acquiring cyber security. It is important to understand the significance of human contribution in the cyber security processes. Incorporating human behavior into the process can lead to a more efficient use of cyber space and reduction in cybercrime. Cyber security is dealt with not only access to technology but also to the understanding of the human user. There are many aspects of human behavior that make the cyber security processes effective in which education and training play an important role. It has been a long debate that technology advanced and gives the humans a better way of living but due to the human behavior, most of the times the technologies are exploited, wasted and misused. It is important to use the cyberspace without interfering and annoying other users. This will reduce the amount of cybercrimes which includes hacking, transferring the data and others. With effective human factors, a cyber environment can be created which provides the users with all the functions along with personal and national security (Shinder &Â  Cross, 2008). There are many challenges in managing the human aspects of cyber security. Cybercrimes take place at a high rate including personal information being leaked, invasion in the data of national concern, hacking accounts etc. The reasons for the cybercrimes may be many from personal to professional. Any person who has the expertise in computers and cyberspace can hack or access any user’s information. Many times it is unknown to the user that who committed the action. However, managing the cybercrimes can be very challenging as recently seen it has become a challenge

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

What made the Soviet experiment work, and what did eventually lead to Essay

What made the Soviet experiment work, and what did eventually lead to its failure - Essay Example This paper has presented a comprehensive account of the cause of the revolution. It has described how, a rush into a new system with very little knowledge and experience, coupled with other factors such as; conflicts within the parties, and the civil war; led to the failure of the soviet experiment. There is a description of the soviet experiment. Also included is a description of capitalism and its integration with the Russian economy, as well as, a description of socialism and its compatibility to the Russian economy. There is also a discussion about the qualities of the revolutionary leaders that led to the success and failure of the experiment, conflict between the two parties that formed the revolution, the civil war, and the outcome that led to the abandonment of socialism. All these have been described with reference to examples from historical texts and documents.Before 1914, Russia was a country of great wealth considering the farmed land estates that it had. These lands wer e however, inadequately used and there were millions of peasant farmers that grew poorer by the day due to increased population of industrial works, and high rents imposed on them by the landlords. The state of the economy of Russia was not good because of a variety of factors. Russia had no domestic market for its industrial products. The country had built a railway to be used to export products, and also invested largely on foreign capital.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Teaching assistant diplom Essay Example for Free

Teaching assistant diplom Essay Introduction In this essay I will be analysing what influence the recession has had on consumer behaviour and the cause behind those changes in performance. A recession is defined as two straight quarters of depressing economic growth, as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. Consumer behaviour can be defined as ‘The study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy products. The recent recession began in December 2007 and produce from the USA‘s advance market, mortgages were being proposed to people who simply could not afford to include one. As a result the property market collapsed and the economic down turn rapidly spread to the rest of the world’s financial system, therefore there is now a worldwide recession. With the banking world in turmoil there have been effects for other industries. For example, the car industry is one of the most terrible hit industries because banks are now being particularly alert about lending capital. This means that whilst a customer may wish a new car they are unable to fulfil those needs because there is no way of them generating the resources which would allow them to make the purchase. This can be demonstrated by the fact Toyota has suffered a loss of $4.4 billion4. It is Toyotas first loss in 59 years which added highlights how bad the recent recession is. Furthermore, the fall down of the property market has not just changed the behaviour of consumers in this industry although, it has also had knock on affects. For example, because less people are being contributed mortgages, due to the fact a 20-30% deposit is needed, there is usually less demand for new houses to be built because they basically would not be bought in the current climate. The sale of fewer houses then affects furnishing stores as there are hardly any consumers who need new furniture. Therefore, it is important to realise that consumer behaviour is related between industries. Impact of recession on consumer Consumer behaviour will also change during a recession depending on  demographics which include age, gender and occupation. Research conducted by Price Water House Coopers put forwards the most influenced age group is the 60-65+ year olds who are retired or come up to retirement, followed by 18-24 year olds, then 45-60 year olds and ultimately 25-44 year olds be likely to be the least affected by the downturn. The worst affected are the 60-65+ year olds because the UK government implements an economic policy. This means the government regulates the money supply and interest rates to direct the economy. As OAPs rely on their savings to supplement their pension it means in the current incidents they are earning significantly less money than they were in prior years because interest rates are currently at 0.5% contrasted with 4.5% in 2005. This clearly has huge affects on their buying behaviour because they are forced to create cuts which they may not want to make but have to go throu gh requirement due to major reduced disposable profits. With idleness soaring during a recession this affects consumer behaviour as individuals become more alert about their spending due to the fear of unemployment or unemployment. During the current recession it is the 18-24 year olds who are bearing the most with unemployment. However, with unemployment rates presently at 7.8% the increase in cautiousness, and the alarm of unemployment is not isolated to purely this age group as individuals who have seen friends, family or colleagues lose their jobs share the same sentiments and fears that they could be next. This has a huge impact on consumer confidence and therefore consumers will look to reign in their spending. Consumers adjust their frame of mind to being more adjusted towards saving money rather than spending money because of the uncertainty which surrounds their future. This involves the consumer’s behaviour towards products. Luxury products such as top of the range food, cars, clothes and perfumes etc are similarly to see sales drop spectacularly as consumers look for methods of decreasing their spending whilst maximising how far their budget goes. For example, an average family may choose to t he drop brand level of food for their weekly shop. So rather than buying the Tescos finest variety they would buy the Tesco Value range. Research proposes that on average you can save 33% for each product for a one level drop. For a family hit by the recession this would be a major saving and this emphasizes how when times are hard value is the most vital factor for the consumer and their behaviour will return this. During a recession many consumers are  forced to down grade their preferences in order to make living monetary viable. By staring at the performance of Dominos pizza it is evident to spot that consumers are changing their activities. Dominos pizza recorded a 20% rise in returns for the first half of 2009. This is an outcome of cash strapped families opting to stay in and order takeaways as a form of a treat rather than eating out at restaurants and pubs. This means the restaurants and pubs are experiencing the brunt of the change in the recession as equal to 75% of British family’s say they will avoid equally eating and drinking out of the house. This does not however mean that households are cutting alcohol out of their life. Instead British households are choosing to drink at home wi th the average spend per household thought to be  £35 per week. So the consumers behaviour is changing in the form of where they purchase their products rather than what they are purchasing in this case. Conclusion On the whole, it is enormously vital to recognise that consumer behaviour is affected by the recession. However it must be noted that the changes in consumer behaviour are very much charge on the industry and products concerned. This is underlined by the aforementioned points, so for example the car industry, construction and property market were the most unhelpfully affected even as industries which allow diversion benefit from the recession i.e. the entertainment sector and the cinema. Finally, consumer behaviour will evermore face affected. It will be affected depending what stage of the life cycle the country is at, therefore the only way to reduce the adverse affects and take benefit of the positive affects is for businesses to be flexible. These way businesses have the best opportunity of helping consumers to get equilibrium in the homeostasis see-saw which is more and more difficult to achieve in a recession as consumers face more limitations. Referencing UKessays.co.uk [online]. (2003 2014). Available from: . [Accessed 30 march 2014]. Wikipedia [online]. (28 March 2014). Available from: . [Accessed 30 march 2014].

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Performers in Eighteenth Century British Theatre :: European Europe History

Performers in Eighteenth Century British Theatre Eighteenth century British theatre was perhaps the starting point that would evolve into modern theatre. Women started to be allowed on stage and acting techniques were beginning to change. Leading performers were like celebrities with a number of fans. Theatre was an intricate part of the social ladder. In the overall scheme of things the actors and actresses played an important part in making the theatre what it was. Without the performers there wouldn’t really be theatre, so in order to understand the eighteenth century British theatre the performers of that era need to be understood. The social standing of actors and actresses in the late eighteenth century was mostly understood to be of the lower class but they were not always treated so. "Many performers, furthermore, were received everywhere with cordiality and respect. Several of them made marriages with persons of distinction;" (Hogan, cxx). A problem that would often occur to dampen a performer's social standing would be the result of a character they played. People of the audience would often hold the performer accountable for the faults of their character. "For an actress to portray an adulteress was not only immodest, but it would almost certainly induce her to become one in reality; of an actor profligacy and immorality were his chief characteristics;" (Hogan, cxx). In a season that could involve 200 nights of performances over 100 plays may be produced (Hogan, ciii). With this in mind many actors and actresses would need to be available to play a great number of parts. For example, "in 1794-95 Quick's first appearance was on 24 September, his last on 25 May. This is a period of 177 nights, out of which he acted on 149, in 47 different parts" (Hogan, cii). With such an abundance of parts to be learned and understood performers had to develop a system to remember everything. There is no exact detailed system to how performers did this than just completely taking time to focus on the part. Hogan provides an example from Michael Kelly‘s Reminiscences that is perfect in showing the focus and discipline performers had to have. â€Å"Previous to the opening of the newly constructed Drury lane in the spring of 1794 its acting manager. John Philip Kemble, must clearly have had his mind occupied with countless details: the superintendence of a large crew of house servants and workmen, of finances, of advertising, of preparing a spectacular revival of Macbeth.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Analysis of Charles Dickens’ †Sketches by Boz Essay

‘The Streets-Morning’ by Charles Dickens is an extract taken from ‘Sketches by Boz.’ It is a descriptive piece and follows prominent features of the literary sketch technique, as it contains no prominent plot. The speaker narrates the â€Å"appearance presented by the streets of London an hour before sunrise on a summer’s morning.† The extract is in the first person narrative. This feature adds intensity and supports the use of details. First person narrative is generally considered unreliable due to lack of witnesses and external verification; however, the detached and objective narration by the speaker prompts readers to think otherwise – â€Å"now and then a rakish looking cat runs stealthily†¦bounding first on the water-butt then on the dust hole†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The sentence structures used support the use of detail and imagery. The speaker uses complex-compound sentences that are long with two or more sub-clauses. The use of these help create the atmosphere and heavy early morning slumber – â€Å"There is an air of cold, solitary desolation about the noiseless streets which we are accustomed to see thronged at other times by a busy, eager crowd, and over the quiet, closely shut buildings†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Through this narrative, readers are made aware of the close attention to detail the speaker employs. The mood of the extract is established through the sentence structure and setting. A relaxed and comfortably detached perspective is evident. In many ways it is similar to the morning itself, gently unfolding as the darkness fades. The narrative time and context is established through the subjects described in the setting. â€Å"Coach-stands† lying deserted in the larger thoroughfares remind readers of the 19th century. This is supported by the fact that they are described as ‘coach stands’ and not bus stands. Imagery plays an essential role in a literary sketch and is seen widely in this extract. The speaker uses concrete and abstract imagery. The use of metaphors lends a sense of what the speaker is feeling or trying to describe to the reader. Such metaphors are: â€Å"The days are swarming with life and bustle† the reference to honeybees shows a restlessness which was similarly used by John Keats in ‘Ode to Autumn† – And still more, later flowers for the bees, †¨Until they think warm days will never cease.† The bee metaphor is used to show activity that contrasts with the early morning street. The second metaphor is – â€Å"stillness of death is over the streets,† perhaps the most foreboding of lines in the extract, this metaphor could serve as a possible foreshadowing for impending events. The street itself becomes an important motif. It represents a path that leads somewhere, however, readers could question whether this could be leading to activity or stagnation. This theory is supported with the images of the â€Å"drunken, the dissipated, and the wretched.† The policeman similarly, is also preoccupied with his â€Å"deserted prospect.† The description of the street is similarly presented in Tennessee Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire†Ã¢â‚¬â€œ â€Å"The houses mostly white frame, weathered grey with rickety outside stairs and galleries and quaintly ornamented gables to the entrances of both. It is the first dark of an evening in early May.† The houses become symbols of who their inhabitants are in the extract. They give readers insights to where they live, how they live and who they are. The â€Å"quiet, closely-shut buildings† are perhaps the only privacy the residents have. The speaker brings in social context through this description and the tone shifts to one of fragmentation and futility with the description of – â€Å"The last houseless vagrant whom penury and police have left in the streets, has coiled up his chilly limbs in some paved corner, to dream of food and warmth.† The social context and strata becomes ironic when the last drunken man is home before sunlight, while the â€Å"orderly† part of the population are still asleep.† The opening lines of T.S. Eliot’s ‘Preludes’ also refers to an early morning scene similar to the one in the extract, using personification – â€Å"The morning comes to consciousness Of faint stale smells of beer From the sawdust-trampled street With all its muddy feet that press To early coffee-stands.† Human qualities are given to the cat who is – â€Å"rakish looking.† The character of whose develops as the speaker gives him gender and infers that â€Å"his character depended on his gallantry.† The use of personification adds further detail to the narrative with – â€Å"A partially opened bedroom-window here and there, bespeaks the heat of the weather, and the uneasy slumbers of its occupant.† The extract uses language in distinct and deliberate ways to shape meaning. The vocabulary used helps infer that the speaker is mature; this is seen with use of words such as â€Å"penury,† â€Å"profligate† and â€Å"dissipated.† A sentence of importance in shaping such meaning is – â€Å"The drunken, the dissipated and the wretched have disappeared.† The trochaic features at the end of each word, helps to reveal the distant and condescending manner in which the speaker is viewing these people. The order in which these words are presented form a climatic effect. Also seen is the use of the adverb â€Å"then† in describing the cat’s actions, which gives dramatic effect – â€Å"Bounding first on the water-butt, then on the dust-hole, and then alighting on the flag-stones.† The use of inversion by the speaker helps readers to concentrate on certain parts of the narrative. This is done in deliberation to gain readers’ attention, particularly in – â€Å"An occasional policeman may alone be seen at the street corners,† as opposed to the conventional ‘may be seen alone.’ Such emphasis is also used in – â€Å"cold, solitary desolation.† The speaker employs onomatopoeia to describe a drunken man’s inebriation with – â€Å"roaring out the burden of the drinking song of the previous night.† The speaker has a noted tone of detached indifference. This mood could be due to the futility of the modern age and monotony of these peoples lives in the eyes of a keen observer. The historical, social context comes back to the forefront and the void between the country and the urban life is seen. This effect of the 19th century and industrial revolution is addressed in – â€Å"The few whose unfortunate pursuits of pleasure, or scarcely less unfortunate pursuits of business cause them to be less acquainted with the scene.† Grammar and punctuation support meaning. The use of dashes shows a flow of thought or in the case of describing the cat, shows action and continuity. The use of the color grey in the â€Å"somber light of daybreak† supports the mood and futile atmosphere, seen also in O’ Henry’s ‘Gift of the Magi’ – â€Å"Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard.† The extract concludes with a reference to the figures in the early morning streets as â€Å"exceptions† other than which the â€Å"streets presents no signs of life, nor the houses of habitation.†

Sunday, November 10, 2019

The study a library Essay

2. 1 Background of the study A library is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, a corporation, or a private individual. Public and institutional collections and services may be intended for use by people who choose not to — or cannot afford to — purchase an extensive collection themselves, who need material no individual can reasonably be expected to have, or who require professional assistance with their research. In addition to providing materials, libraries also provide the services of librarians who are experts at finding and organizing information and at interpreting information needs. Libraries often provide quiet areas for studying, and they also often offer common areas to facilitate group study and collaboration. Libraries often provide public facilities for access to their electronic resources and the Internet. Modern libraries are increasingly being redefined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources. They are extending services beyond the physical walls of a building, by providing material accessible by electronic means, and by providing the assistance of librarians in navigating and analyzing very large amounts of information with a variety of digital tools. Kalayaan National High School started when Mrs. Esmelita P. Ulangca, the principal of Bagong Silang High School, felt an urgent need of an annex school in order to accommodate the heavy influx of enrolment of students. In 1996, the construction of two(2) three-storey building with 9 classrooms each were constructed in Phase 10 Bagong Silang, Caloocan. The first enrollment commenced on May 21,1997 where the first batch of 1,450 first year enrollees and organized into 14 sections with 18 teaches from Bagong Silang High School. As classes went on another three-storey with 15 classrooms was also constructed, 300 second year and 212 third year students from Bagong Silang Hish School were transferred. Along with them were 8 teachers. The first inauguration of the said buildings was held February 6,1998. In June 29,1998, a Division Memorandum No. 97 s. 1998 was issued to inform the field that the establishment of Kalayaan National High School(formerly Bagong Silang National High School Annex) as per Republic Act No. 8644 entitled â€Å"An Act Establishing a National High School in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City to be known as Kalayaan National High School and Appropriating Funds Thereof, lapsed into law on May 30,1998. Library System is one of Transaction Processing System because it can process large records and data of the school and it is also use for library transactions like borrowing and returning books. In Computerized Library System, the data are kept accurate in order to lessen errors in listing of books and computation of penalties. Library System is also designed to perform the process involve in acquisition, cataloguing, and circulation of books in the library. The proponents intend to propose to develop A Computerized Library System for Kalayaan National High School to enhance the transactions of the current procedure of their library. 2. 2 Overview of the current System Borrowing For those who are new borrowers they will be given a library card and fill up all the informations needed. The students are allowed to borrow as many books as they want inside the library premises. Anyone who wishes to borrow a book must physically check by himself the book stored in the shelf to know if it is available, if it is he should bring it to the librarian together with his library card. If he wishes to borrow it for over night he must return it the following day(excluding Saturday and Sunday), if he fails to return it he will need to pay for penalty per overdue books which cost 1 peso per day; if the student fails to pay for the penalties his clearance will be hold. But if the borrower is a Faculty there is a logbook provided for them to write their name, title of the book, date borrowed, and date returned and he is allowed to borrow the book for the whole school year and return it before the school year ends, if he lost or damaged the book his clearance won’t be cleared. Returning For returning the book the borrower will return it to the librarian and find his Borrower’s Card then the librarian will check if it is returned on the right date if it is not the borrower must pay for his acquired penalty. For Faculty members they will give the book to the librarian to record it on the logbook for faculty’s borrowed book the date they returned it. For all the penalties for overdue books,damage books and return boooks they will pay it to the librarian. For overdue books the students should pay penalty per overdue books which cost 1 peso per day. For lost or damage books the students should pay for the price of the book or replace it with a new one. Reports The librarian anually submitting the library’s annual inventory report by checking the books manually in the library, the librarian should physically check the books on the shelves and match it on the list of their books thatthey have. The report was done using Microsoft Excel. 2. 3 Project Rationale The following will be the beneficiaries of this study: * School They will be able to provide better service to their students because of a more organized records and user-friendly library. This study will also uplift the image of school by providing an optimal use of new technology. * Librarian He will be able to monitor the books easily and provide a record of library transactions such as borrowing and returning of books. Generating of reports such as list of books, list of Borrowers, list of Borrowers with offense, list of Damage books, list of Lost books, list of borrowed books, list of returned books, Inventory of Book will be more faster and easy. * Borrowers They do not need to search manually for the books they wished to borrow and they could easily know the availability of the book. The borrowing process could be more faster than their current procedure. * Library The library could easily monitor the condition of their books as well as its availability and stocks, because on their current system the librarian should physically check the books on the shelves. Generation of reports such as list of books, list of Borrowers, list of Borrowers with offense, list of Damage books, list of Lost books, list of borrowed books, list of returned books, Inventory of Books will be easier and faster. They could manage and easily update their records and transactions. * Proponents They would enhance their programming skills and knowledge in developing a system. * Future Researchers They could use this as a referrence for their study and guide for improving this system.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Parker and his colleagues Essays

Parker and his colleagues Essays Parker and his colleagues Essay Parker and his colleagues Essay Experiment two used a white noise cue while experiment one used a 1000 Hz pure tone. In both experiments a significant response time advantage was found for valid cues at the short SOA of 200ms. The results obtained mirror those found by Spence Driver (1994) for exogenous processing in that valid cues produced a response time advantage for short cue-target SOA’s. Experiments 3, 4 and 5 tested endogenous auditory attention as opposed to the first two experiments which tested exogenous processing.The informative cues used differed from the uninformative spatial cues of experiment 1 and 2. It was found that for this experiment (3) response time was faster for all SOA levels. The faster response time for all SOA levels in experiment 3 says that the use of informative cues pushes attention towards the target. It was predicted that significant response time advantage would occur at the middle and long SOA levels (500ms and 1100ms) for valid cues as opposed to the invalid cues.On acquisition of the cue information, the subject can shift spatial attention to the likely location of the subsequent target location. In experiment 3 a significant response time advantage was found at all SOA for valid cues. Despite the significant response time advantage found for valid cues at the short SOA (200ms), these results were expected. While the significant response time advantage found for the short SOA condition (200ms) is not necessary expected with a cognitive based cue, the cue used in experiment 3 (and in subsequent experiment 5) was both informative and spatial based.The initial capture of attention to the spatial location of the cue would aid response time advantage at the short SOA condition (200ms), while the knowledge that the cue is informative would keep attention focused on the spatial location of the cue for longer aiding response time advantage for the other SOA conditions (500ms 1100ms). In experiment 4 the spatial component of the informative cue was removed to investigate pure endogenous processing. The results obtained for experiment 4 found a significant response time advantage for valid cues only at the middle SOA condition (500ms).The lack of a response time advantage for valid cues at the shorter SOA of 200ms can be expected with a purely endogenous cue, however at the longer SOA of 1100ms a response time advantage was expected to be found. The addition of extra subjects may have produced a significant response time advantage for the SOA condition of 1100ms, however the same may be said for the short SOA of 200ms which also had a moderate average valid cue response time advantage (16ms).Spence and Driver (1996) found that by using purely endogenous cues (side blocking and central arrow) with an auditory target response time were significant for higher SOA (600-900ms) and since the task still involved visual cues the results may have been affected by it. The results of the experiment supported the earlier findings in experiment 3 wherein, a significant response time advantage was found for valid cues for all SOA conditions in experiment 5. The lack of spatial cuing decreased the response time of subjects for they did not have basis for localization.Flanagan, McAnally, Martin, Meehan Oldfield (1998) visual search times were reduced when spatially informative auditory information was supplied. In comparison to experiment 3 overall response times were about 30ms faster in experiment 5. The introduction of speech alone did not have the effect of reducing response times in experiment 4 where a non-spatial speech cue was u sed. Unfortunately, this assumption cannot be made in this case due to the fact that not all subjects who completed experiment 3 also completed experiment 5.The successful use of virtual 3-dimensional audio in laboratory experiments have been supported by other researches Parker and his colleagues (2004) studied the effects of supplementing head-down displays with 3-dimensional audio during visual target acquisition found that it improved performance during visual acquisition tasks, in fact the addition of 3-D audio resulted in significant reduction in visual acquisition time and a significant reduction of perceived workload and improved situational awareness.Flanagan et al (1998) also used virtual 3-D audio in an experiment which compared an unaided search with visual and auditory search cues for targets outside the visual field. The pure tone was initially used as the pure tone will give side discrimination without distinct elevation discrimination. With cues and targets seeming t o emanate from the same spatial position, in the case of high targets, the effect of priming cannot be discounted in any response time advantage observed for valid high targets.While the faster response times observed in the current experiments were not significant, it is a concern as to why faster responses were recorded. Spence and Driver used cue duration of 100ms followed by target duration of 100ms, while in the current experiment cue duration was 200ms with the target also of duration 200ms Generally each experiment was analyzed individually with not all subjects completing the three experiments relating to this observed effect (experiments 3, 4 5). Flanagan, McAnally, Martin, Meehan Oldfield (1998) found that with the use of spatially informative auditory information, visual search times were reduced.They used a spatial localization task in which the search for a visual target was aided by either a visual arrow or an auditory cue. They found that both the visual and auditor y cues aided in significantly reducing the search time when compared to an unaided search. With evidence suggesting that attentional capacity is modality-specific (Duncan, Martens Ward, 1997) and that auditory cues can help with a visual spatial localisation task (Flanagan, McAnally, Martin, Meehan Oldfield, 1998), the nature of the links between auditory and visual streams in spatial attention is of great importance.In conclusion, our experiments have clearly demonstrated that 3-dimensional audio can be used successfully in testing auditory attention. The results of the experiments supports what has been reported by the research of Spence and Driver (1994), thus indicating that informative and spatial auditory cues increases response time. These findings have practical implications in the design of human interface systems where visual targets can be enhanced by virtual auditory cues in the form of pure tone or words.Although the findings have validated the existence of cuing para digms for auditory attention, much has to be learned in the study of audition and its practical implications.ReferencesBedard, M. A. , El Massioui, F. E. , Pillon, B. , Nandrino, J. L. (1993). Time for reorienting of attention: A premotor hypothesis of the underlying mechanism. Neuropsychologia, 31, 241–249. Begault, D. Pittman, M. (1996) Three-Dimensional Audio Versus Head-Down Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System Displays, International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 6(1), 79-93.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

What Everyone Should Know About World War I

What Everyone Should Know About World War I World War I was an extremely bloody war that engulfed Europe from 1914 to 1919, with huge losses of life and little ground lost or won. Fought mostly by soldiers in trenches, World War I saw an estimated 10 million military deaths and another 20 million wounded. While many hoped that World War I would be the war to end all wars, in actuality, the concluding peace treaty set the stage for World War II. Dates: 1914-1919 Also Known As: The Great War, WWI, the First World War The Start of World War I The spark that started World War I was the assassination of Austrias Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. The assassination occurred on June 28, 1914, while Ferdinand was visiting the city of Sarajevo in the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Although Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the nephew of Austrias emperor and heir-apparent to the throne, was not very well liked by most, his assassination by a Serb nationalist was viewed as a great excuse to attack Austria-Hungarys troublesome neighbor, Serbia. However, instead of reacting quickly to the incident, Austria-Hungary made sure they had the backing of Germany, with whom they had a treaty before they proceeded. This gave Serbia time to get the backing of Russia, with whom they had a treaty. The calls for back-up didnt end there. Russia also had a treaty with France and Britain. This meant that by the time Austria-Hungary officially declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, an entire month after the assassination, much of Europe had already become entangled in the dispute. At the start of the war, these were the major players (more countries joined the war later): Allied Forces (a.k.a. the Allies): France, the United Kingdom, RussiaCentral Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary Schlieffen Plan vs. Plan XVII Germany didnt want to fight both Russia in the east and France to the west, so they enacted their long-standing Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan was created by Alfred Graf von Schlieffen, who was the chief of the German general staff from 1891 to 1905. Schlieffen believed that it would take about six weeks for Russia to mobilize their troops and supplies. So, if Germany placed a nominal number of soldiers in the east, the majority of Germanys soldiers and supplies could be used for a quick attack in the west. Since Germany was facing this exact scenario of a two-front war at the beginning of World War I, Germany decided to enact the Schlieffen Plan. While Russia continued to mobilize, Germany decided to attack France by going through neutral Belgium. Since Britain had a treaty with Belgium, the attack on Belgium officially brought Britain into the war. While Germany was enacting its Schlieffen Plan, the French enacted their own prepared plan, called Plan XVII. This plan was created in 1913 and called for quick mobilization in response to a German attack through Belgium. As German troops moved south into France, French and British troops tried to stop them. At the end of the First Battle of the Marne, fought just north of Paris in September 1914, a stalemate was reached. The Germans, who had lost the battle, had made a hasty retreat and then dug in. The French, who couldnt dislodge the Germans, also dug in. Since neither side could force the other to move, each sides trenches became increasingly elaborate. For the next four years, the troops would fight from these trenches. A War of Attrition From 1914 to 1917, soldiers on each side of the line fought from their trenches. They fired artillery onto the enemys position and lobbed grenades. However, each time military leaders ordered a full-fledged attack, the soldiers were forced to leave the safety of their trenches. The only way to overtake the other sides trench was for the soldiers to cross No Mans Land, the area between the trenches, on foot. Out in the open, thousands of soldiers raced across this barren land in the hopes of reaching the other side. Often, most were hewn down by machine-gun fire and artillery before they even got close. Because of the nature of trench warfare, millions of young men were slaughtered in the battles of World War I. The war quickly became one of attrition, which meant that with so many soldiers being killed daily, eventually, the side with the most men would win the war. By 1917, the Allies were starting to run low on young men. The U.S. Enters the War and Russia Gets Out The Allies needed help and they were hoping that the United States, with its vast resources of men and materials, would join on their side. However, for years, the U.S. had clung to their idea of isolationism (staying out of other countries problems). Plus, the U.S. just didnt want to be involved in a war that seemed so far away and that didnt seem to affect them in any great way. However, there were two major events that changed American public opinion about the war. The first occurred in 1915 when a German U-boat (submarine) sunk the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania. Considered by Americans to be a neutral ship that carried mostly passengers, Americans were furious when the Germans sank it, especially since 159 of the passengers were Americans. The second was the Zimmermann Telegram. In early 1917, Germany sent Mexico a coded message promising portions of U.S. land in return for Mexico joining World War I against the United States. The message was intercepted by Britain, translated, and shown to the United States. This brought the war to U.S. soil, giving the U.S. a real reason to enter the war on the side of the Allies. On April 6, 1917, the United States officially declared war on Germany. The Russians Opt Out As the United States was entering World War I, Russia was getting ready to get out. In 1917, Russia became swept up in an internal revolution that removed the czar from power. The new communist government, wanting to focus on internal troubles, sought a way to remove Russia from World War I. Negotiating separately from the rest of the Allies, Russia signed the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty with Germany on March 3, 1918. With the war in the east ended, Germany was able to divert those troops to the west in order to face the new American soldiers. Armistice and the Versailles Treaty The fighting in the west continued for another year. Millions more soldiers died, while little land was gained. However, the freshness of the American troops made a huge difference. While the European troops were tired from years of war, the Americans remained enthusiastic. Soon the Germans were retreating and the Allies were advancing. The end of the war was near. At the end of 1918, an armistice was finally agreed upon. The fighting was to end on the 11th hour of 11th day of the 11th month (i.e. 11 am on Nov. 11, 1918). For the next several months, diplomats argued and compromised together in order to come up with the Versailles Treaty. The Versailles Treaty was the peace treaty that ended World War I; however, a number of its terms were so controversial that it also set the stage for World War II. The carnage left behind by the end of World War I was staggering. By the end of the war, an estimated 10 million soldiers were killed. That averages to about 6,500 deaths a day, every day. Plus, millions of civilians were also killed. World War I is especially remembered for its slaughter for it was one of the bloodiest wars in history.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Michael Jackson and How the Media Betrayed Him Assignment

Michael Jackson and How the Media Betrayed Him - Assignment Example A large number of interviews and news columns was publicised which have indicated Michael was a pedophile. Michael suffered the disparaging and debasing media charges and criticisms and persistently implored the media not to condemn him because his guilt was not yet proven (Barris & Gray, 2006). But the media kept on depicting the King of Pop in the most damaging way possible. Although the media has claimed their reports were for the public’s entertainment, the scathing media reports have constantly burdened and troubled Michael. For a media that flourished on generating images of Michael which depicted his life’s undesirable facets; the media coverage has been less disparaging in portraying the death of the King of Pop. His demise did not generate the burst of images normally depicting a famous icon’s passing away. The sole media image being shown is Michael’s ambulance snapshot while an EMS specialist was trying to revive him (Lee, 2009). It is somewhat unexpected that the media has easily acknowledged the verification of Michael’s death from law enforcement and family members. It is actually worrying because the media has constantly projected an ‘investigative’ character when it referred to current events or controversial personalities, particularly regarding the King of Pop (Hadley, 2009: 37). However, the media has not once challenged or looked into the legitimacy of Michael’s demise. They have been accommodating of family’s verification of Michaelâ €™s death and the unintentionally ‘disclosed’ coroner analysis of the cause of Michael’s demise (Campbell, 1994). The media has tracked and monitored Michael for roughly forty years, but they were not knowledgeable or informed of the degree of the alleged substance addiction of Michael. This is puzzling and incredulous a media quite meticulous in giving viewers photos and updates of   Michael and his children going abroad wearing surgical masks, being manhandled in a wheelchair, and going to establishments late at night (Sartore, 2000).

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Customer Service Operations & Excellence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Customer Service Operations & Excellence - Essay Example Service Packages offered by The Edge Restaurant Service Packages also known as â€Å"A bundle of goods and services with information that is provided in some environment†. Supporting facility The physical resources that must be in place before a service can be sold. The physical resources of the Edge include the location of the restaurant in the campus, interior decoration of the restaurant, the advanced point of sale systems etc. Facilitating goods The material consumed by the buyer or items provided by the consumer. The facilitating goods in the Edge would include the food items served by the restaurant like Sandwiches, Baguettes and Paninis, Chocolate bars and tablets, Chocolate crisps, Fresh Fruits, Potato Chips, Waffles, Pancakes, Pasta etc. Explicit services The essential or intrinsic features are known as explicit services. The explicit services of the Edge restaurant would include the quality of food, timing of serving the meal, courtesy and behavior of the staff of th e restaurant etc. Implicit services This includes the psychological benefits or extrinsic features which the consumer may sense only vaguely. These include factors like the spacious environment, space provided for car and motorbike parking etc. The timings of the restaurant is 8:30 am to 2:00 pm which have been kept for the convenience of the students (Disabledgo, 2013b). ... The Service Blueprinting method consists of a graphically represented overview of the service process and activities. In each process the contact and the interaction points of the customers becomes visible. A Service Blue print would be created for The Edge restaurant to understand the interaction points between customers and identification of the failure points of the restaurant. Client Interaction: This separates the process step of the service activities that the client carries out independently (Gremler, n.d.). Visibility Line: It separates the visible service activity from the hidden service activity. Above the line the process components which can be seen, smelt or heard are ordered. Internal Interaction: This separates the activities that imply to the immediate relation to the customer’s order from the support activities. These support activities can serve as a guide for the preparation of the primary activities and do not belong to the customer’s order. Control Line: This separates the preparation activities from the management activities which are general. Line of Interaction Arriving at Canteen, Reading Menu, Selecting Menu, Ordering and Eating Line of Visibility Seating at Table, Giving the menu card, Taking order, Serving food &drinks, checking whether seats are ready or not Line of Internal Interaction Placing order, Taking drinks from counter, placing order on kitchen counter, cooking and serving meal Control Line Creation of special â€Å"order of the day† , Paying at counter etc. (Source: Gremler, n.d.) The failure points in each of the stage would be as follows: a) Line of Interaction: The seating arrangement, cutlery etc of the Edge restaurant can be termed as the failure points in the line of interaction. b) Line of Visibility: The

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Grammer Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Grammer - Assignment Example The significant thing that I think I could develop in my paper would be the improper use of apostrophes and sentence fragments. For instance on bartleby.com there are many mistakes that can compromise the quality of the paper (Strunk, 2012). With the possessiveness of very many objects being indicated with lack of apostrophe and use of sentence fragments, it sounds irregular and odd. The website was very helpful and useful. I would definitely recommend it to another student to read it. The following is an example of two sentences in one of the paragraphs: â€Å"This boat is Peter’s.† This was the first original sentences, and after reading and understanding from the website provided, the first sentence does not sound great (Strunk, 20120. However, the revised one would sound like this: â€Å"This is Peter’s boat.† On the issue of sentence fragments, I found that the original sentence read like this â€Å"Working hard into the night in an effort to save his little boat†. After reading this sentence I discovered that something was missing, a noun. A correct sentence would read like this â€Å"Peter worked hard into the night in an effort to save his little

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Market analysis of Sodexo and food and facilities management services

Market analysis of Sodexo and food and facilities management services INTRODUCTION: Sodexo is one of the flourishing food and facilities management services. It believes in providing quality services is winning the customers heart and trust ;through which they have been successful in the market. The organization has more than 25 years old experience in the field of hotel chains, resorts and vacation villas. The organization contains the best and most efficient staff to provide quality service including laundry, housekeeping and food serving. According to Peter, customer service is defined as fulfilling needs and expectations of customers according to them (Whitman, 2001). Since quality assurance is the key to gain the trust of customers and to maintain the competitive edge it is important to have a quality assessment in hotels to know the standards of a hotel. (Bo Edvardsson, 2006) Edvardsson advised the concept of services should be viewed from customers approach because they are the main users of the services and best to judge it. Different customers have different demands and they may look at same thing with different views. People belonging to different cultures, religions have different perceptions, social behavior and preferences. Many researches are done on assessing the service qualities through customer satisfaction in several parts of the world; (Davidson, 2003), (ONeill, 1996), the Kano model (Preece, 2002), (Amy Wong Ooi Mei, 1991) etc. Literature Review: The theory and models designed to evaluate the service quality and potential gaps in quality in hotel industry are necessary. Hotels do market research to get full information about its target audiences and the environment. TQM Total Quality Measurement is a new management term introduced to execute the exceeding demands of the customers. Different hotels use different approaches to TQM according to the surroundings and competition. Measuring Service Quality: The actual evaluation takes place at the time of delivery, whether its beyond expectations are below expectations. The time when we service our customers is the moment of truth that gives the result. For instance the food delivered in the hotel gets its immediate feedback either by the verbal response or in written form by the customers. SERVQUAL MEASURING TECHNIQUE: SERVQUAL model which is also referred as the skeleton for measuring service quality. It basically evaluates what the customer demanded and what he got, the difference between the two. It includes five basic dimensions on which the customers assessed the quality he received and what he had in mind; Tangibles: the physical appearance and facilities of the personnel Reliability: ability to perform the desired service accurately and efficiently Responsiveness: Availability and willingness to help the customers Assurance: Knowledge of employees to gain trust and confidence Empathy: Caring, making customers feel special and cared. The advantage from this model is that it provides an immediate response of the customers after the service delivery which if not up to mark could be sent for improvement. For instance the responsiveness of the hotel staff is just a call away from ones room. On time assistance availability always adds up to the quality of services they provide. Today almost every hotel in the world has their feedback form based on the SERVQUAL model of assessing the quality of services. However there has been some criticism about the model, Brotherton and Booth implemented SERVQUAL strategy on a 4 star hotel and found out that customers viewed tangibles as the hygiene and cleanliness of the resources. The homogeneity in the dimensions of the model is said not to be appropriate in providing exact results. Knutson introduced LODGSERVE for service quality evaluation, Mackey developed REQUAL and etc. all the studies carried out on this topic indicates that certain dimensions are highly valued by the custo mers which mainly includes the interaction and physical quality. THE CHRISTOPHER NAD YALLOP MODEL: Christopher and Yallop suggest a four stage process model to measure the perceptions customers have when they receive the services; Identify the vital elements that are important to the customers and why Understand the importance attached behind it Investigate how successful the organization is in providing those elements Analyze from the collected data for improvements. The model basically suggests an inquiry set to investigate the expectations of the customers. It is important to know what the special or important requirement of the customers is and why is it so? Answers to this can help the organization earn customers trust and reliability. Then the organization needs to evaluate itself by seeing how well he fulfills those demands and how The answer to this can lead the organization to further improvement, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the organization in terms of customers perception. Especial rooms are designed according to the demands of the customers, the food menu contains a variety to serve all possible taste they could for vegans, Chinese or different people from different culture. THE PRUDENTIAL MODEL: (McCabe, 2001) Prudential model suggest how financial advice is also a way to meet the expectations of the customers and gain their satisfaction. It examines the perception of customers in terms of what they value most or what would make them value the most. Are there any possible changes that could be implemented in the organization? The charges in the hotel are reasonable and set according to the market equilibrium which should be acknowledged by the customers. The overall package of their stay; food, laundry, hygiene etc are the factors that the customers look for and expect it to be standardized. The hotel charges are kept such that if offers a complete package the customers with the room and other complimentary facilities like sports club, gym, swimming pool etc. THE ECR (EFFECTIVE CONSUMER RESPONSE) MODEL: The main theory of this model suggests that the companies should give continuous focus on the elements that are highly values by the customers. The preference of a certain service or product for instance if the room service is very efficient hotel should invest more in this department in order to gain more customers. Also an appropriate use of technology for efficient usage of resources to satisfy customers. BLUE PRINTING It is a common and very effective theory adopted by the hotel through which they ensure an effective service delivery. It defines the whole process of offering services in three stages; backstage, front stage and line of visibility. The whole struggle is to maintain service standards and to update the whole process with a backup plan. The front stage for instance is the interaction the staff has with the people. The reservation process, greeting the customers and introducing them to the hotel, parking the car, guiding them to their rooms with their luggage etc. Second and the third stage that is the invisible services that the hotel takes care off. Like maintain the reservations with updates and checking for the desired room and its availability. Taking care of the facilities and maintenance required for it. Process Redesigning It is important to set service target standards which are transparent to the staff to work on. The feedback from the customers should be analyzed and strategies should be redesigned according to the demands of the customers. Redesigning services reduces the services failure, enhance productivity and increase customer satisfaction. The process of redesigning first step is to eliminate the non value adding steps, shift the system to self service. The involvement of customers to co-produce the service can lead to progression. SSTs Self Service Technology is the form of customer involvement such that the customers avail the services provided by the suppliers to evaluate and give a response. It is a flexible and cost saving method but requires a lot of effort. Therefore the basic delivery process involves three stages; Introductory scene Delivering the core/main service or product. Conclusion of the drama This provides the hotel with the information where the hotel is lacking in customers eye. MEHRABIAN- RUSSELL STIMULUS RESPONSE MODEL This is a model that indicates how customers response to environment that surrounds the, Emotional or physical responses like anxiety, boredom or excitement. How different environments gives different responses of customers in different surrounding. How variety of factors can affect customers response. The surrounding, color scheme etc influence the customers. For instance the signs and symbols hanged for guidance in multi languages for the ease of the customers. All these models and theories incorporate the similar concept implied for customer satisfaction. Sodexo and other hotels in the world implied these concepts to maintain or improve their service standards because hotel business heavily relies on quality service. SERVICE QUALITY GAPS: It is important to identify the key gaps that exist in delivering the services to the customers and how they can be overcome. (Sargeant, 2008) The Knowledge Gap: it is basically the barrier in communicating the expectations and demands of the customers to the hotel staff. It could be overcome by having a strong market research by carrying out interviews or sampling questionnaire which should be repeated once a while. Management should be allowed to interact with the customers to know what they feel and expect. The management should make sure the feedback is implemented immediately and monitored constantly. The Policy Gap: it is the differences or restrictions made because of the policies. To overcome this gap it is important to use systematic processes to improve working methods. The goals, agendas and priorities based on customers demands and expectations which should be transparent to the employees. The Delivery Gap: it is the difference between the quality service delivered and the service itself. It is important to ensure that the performance of the customers and also that the customers understand the service delivered. For this the employees should be well trained to perform the required tasks more efficiently. Employees should be clear in what they have to deliver and do in more effective way. Consistent monitoring should be done to endure how well are they are performing; they should be motivated to work harder with incentives. The hotel should be updated in terms of technology. Advanced and cost effective equipments should be installed for better and quick services. This would also make a balance between productivity and demand. The customers should be educated enough o perform their roles successfully to gain customers trust. The Communication Gap: this occurs because of the communication barriers between the customers and the staff. To overcome this gap it is important to have transparent vertical integration in the organization such that the information can easily flow in. The managers should be able to identify the problems the staff is facing or their demands to produce better results. Employees should be involved in the basic functions of the organization. By rotating and recruiting the staff can lead to more efficient and motivated employees to provide better results. The Perception Gap: this occurs when there is a perception gap between the customers and the management and employees. It is important to show customers with some evident changes that the hotel is putting in efforts to meet their requirements. By tangibilizing the management can show their customers how concerned they are for their customers. The Service Gap: it is the collection of all the gaps which cause the services to get bad. It could be overcome by overcoming and monitoring all other gaps. It is important to provide the customers with the best service and make sure that they acknowledge it and are satisfied. By implying the theories and models according to the requirement of the hotel the management can meet the demands of the customers and gain their trust. The hotels should have a constant feedback system with immediate implementation to make the customers realize that they are important. By monitoring the work and progress of the staff the management needs to make sure that the staff is motivated enough and works with a team spirit. It is highly important for the hotel industry that the customers are satisfied and becomes loyal to the service it offers.

Friday, October 25, 2019

What it Means to be a Boxer Essay -- Boxing Sport

Boxing is a combat oriented sport developed by the ancient Greeks in which two opponents fight each other with their fists. It was first introduced into the Olympics in 688 B.C but the sport was discontinued after the fall of the Roman Empire. It later resurfaced in the early 18th century in England by the name of "bare-knuckle fighting", the "boxing gloves", as we know them, did not come until much later. The Marquess of Queensbury rules, developed in 1867, are the general rules that modern boxing is based around today all around the world. Today, boxing is among the toughest sports in the world and requires a rigorous amount of training and exercise. It requires a unique mindset to which one must have the killer instinct to never give up and to attack at the opponent's weaknesses without mercy. Some consider boxing to be a reckless sport in which two unintelligent beings indulge to punching each other until one of them is knocked out. Others consider it poetry in motion. People say that sports are meant to enhance the body, whereas in boxing it would seem that the objective is ...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

People often complain about life in the U.S. Essay

People complain when most of their needs are not met. The irony of it lies when complaints are just piled up without any further insights on how to solve such problems. In the long run, complaints become a part of the lifestyle of people who are good at pointing at the loopholes most especially of the government, and of the leaders. As there would always be a reason for every action that is done, and for every result that is produced, man is also by nature never contented. Furthermore, the will to seek for the ‘best’ is always an intention to make life worth living. Power, fame, and money tops the priority of why people choose the option of fulfilling their daily agenda from dusk ‘til dawn. Although, with the exception of the few who does their work for the common people’s welfare and interest. It may also be considered a selfish ambition to seek good only for one’s self advantage and leave or ignore others behind while they struggle for the well being of everyone. From birth, the very basics of life are taught –following instructions, and that it is in the individual’s prerogative to obey, and afterwards reap the consequences of such actions. On the other hand, citizens do have their obligations and responsibilities. From simple instructions of following the rules and regulations or by becoming a â€Å"law abiding citizen† then, at least one is a big step ahead of fulfilling his obligations and responsibilities. Other concerns such as the payment of taxes for which some would dare not to are obligations that are intentionally forgotten. These are just simple, and few to mention that when taken for granted are enough reasons for making a citizen’s life fluctuate. Self-examination is important and should be carried before bursting in dismay the various injustices committed by the government and by the leaders or officials. For whatever reasons people complain about life in the U. S. is according to their own generalization and judgement on whatever situation or experiences they are basing it. On the other hand, a patriot will readily and passionately criticize his government when it is evil, corrupt, and infamous; and that refusing to do so is considered treason. It is the duty of every citizen to criticize, censure and scourge the political fiends that pretend to serve the public when those villainous brutes serve only tyranny, greed, hatred, and prejudice. In addition, complaints may have been germinated and nurtured from the compost heap of tyranny, imperialism, and international widespread liberal acts of butchery, despotism, and horror. The exposure of such a regime and its operations has become a primary duty of citizens who still believe in the Rule of Law and in the freedoms, which a country is supposed to represent. On the other hand, as a citizen who loves his country, his nation or his homeland, such complaints should be put aside and instead â€Å"take part† in the reforms that are taking place and â€Å"be a part† of whatever changes that will occur. For what would one gain complaining against the government – it only leads to further chaos and destruction that would later affect the stability of a country. Instead, an action of commitment is necessary for a change. Citizens cannot be required to take part in the political process, and they are free to express their dissatisfaction by not participating. However, without the lifeblood of citizens’ action, there can be no hope of making life much better. Teamwork is at its best when everyone participates in the fulfillment of such goals and objectives. For this reason, citizens play a very major role in the development of a country or a nation. Their â€Å"actions† speak â€Å"louder† when joined in one voice for the rehabilitation and development of their country. Most often, people are only joined on an aftermath, citing the 9/11 as an example. World leaders were heard on radio and seen on television joining against terrorism as worldwide threat to political-economic progress of every state or nation. Citizens therefore, should not take their responsibilities only as an option but as a mandate for which they should put into action and make commitments. US enjoy a government whereby the supreme power lies in the body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them. In which case, election of public officials is the most visible and common form of participation for which people could exercise their genuinity as citizens. However, there are problems faced by the electorate before and during election that would stop or make them have a second thought in casting their votes. Thus, the agenda of â€Å"making life better† by taking part in the election is at stake. Needless to say, as a citizen who loves his country, taking part on a crucial endeavor is worth an honor for standing on such beliefs and life principles – taking part for the better. In other areas, opportunities in which to participate to be able to have a part in the development and rehabilitation of a country and make it a better place to live is to take advantage of joining a host of private organizations, associations, and volunteer groups. For which many of these are concerned with issues of public policy and pay close attention to public opinion, making every effort to widen their base of support as they seek simultaneously to educate the public and influence government policies. The right of individuals to associate freely and to organize themselves into different sorts of nongovernmental groups is fundamental in shaping a better society, a better environment. When people of common interest band together, their voices can be heard and their chances of influencing the political debate increases. As there are no perfect leaders and perfect government that provides and meets the demands and expectations of its citizens, there are the advantages of opportunities vested upon the people to exercise their civil rights whenever it is necessary and while maintaining public order and countering attempts that ignites violence. Every circumstance that an individual faces everyday is a part of the spices of life that one should face courageously. That with his body, mind, and his character, should consider it as strengths for further growth and development. To make life better entails a long practice of patience and humility from which one could invest and influence others to follow. History records of people who have done it, and were able to successfully pursue their agendas after a long historic battle. Furthermore, citizens have the option of either to criticize and act, or to criticize and watch how complaints get piled and returns like a boomerang that backfires. It takes time, effort and most often investing money to make a goal successful. However in the long run, it pays an action for a legacy worthy for future generations. As the world advances, and so do the expectations of every individual, of every citizen. In addition, as government leaders occupy government offices from time to time, new agenda are always sought. Accordingly, to the best interest of the people! Whosoever leads, citizens’ action makes a difference when joined with a common goal – to make life better. REFERENCES: Felkins, Leon. â€Å"How to Avoid Wasting Your Vote†. The Election. 26 May 1996. 19 http://www. spectacle. org/1096/felkins. html Kettenhofen, Colleen. â€Å"Difficult People: Dealing with Difficult People 101†. Beyond Better Communications. 19 March 2007 http://www. livingbeyondbetter. com/difficult101. html â€Å"Politics, Economicsc, and Pluralism†. USINFO. STATE. GOV. 19 March 2007 http://usinfo. state. gov/products/pubs/whatsdem/whatdm8. htm

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Critical Review of Poor-Bashing: The Politics of Exclusion Essay

Social struggles and cultural crisis have been the subjects of various books over the years. They have resulted into an abundance of works done by social and theoretical experts as well as literary and media practitioners. One society crisis that these writers have discussed is the issue of poverty, the people involved in this situation, and the issue of poor-bashing they are faced with. However, only a few of these sources have really created their work using their own or personal experiences. The perspective coming from people who belong to the poverty block is significantly helpful and useful. This is because their personal experiences and battles ignite the search for truth and manifest the real issue that the poor people are the targets of a well-designed and orderly crusade of discrimination and exploitation. All it needs is a real presentation and argument of the issue for the public to realize that these poor people do not welcome being blamed for a condition that only society dictates.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Included in these first-hand writers is Jean Swanson (2001) who tackled the existing yet unfamiliar issue of poor-bashing in her book entitled â€Å"Poor Bashing: The Politics of Exclusion.† Swanson’s presentation of poverty, particularly poor-bashing, is a well-attested discussion that turned out to be a depiction of the real emotional expressions of the poor people and the author’s own cry from her heart.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The book is a passionate disclosure by anti-poverty activist Swanson of poor-bashing, a condition of the society that continuously fails to claim general information despite its existence and utilization as an anti-poverty tool for the past two decades. A seasoned anti-poverty activist, Swanson employed her personal experiences and various interactions with the rest of the poor people in her country to present the real issues brought about by poor-bashing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Swanson (2001), the term of poor-bashing hides the actual origins of poverty and the pain it inflicts to poor people. It degrades the employed people while taking away the pressure and responsibility from the rich members of the society. The Swanson book critically presents a new approach of writing poverty with the provision of the personal stories, ideas, and analysis of the poor about poverty. The book disputes the position that there is no one to be blamed for the condition of the poor people but themselves. The book serves as an expressive style of poor-bashing which was introduced in our terminology use and traditions. It is also an instrument for academic progress and direction (Swanson, 2001).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The term poor-bashing was defined by Swanson as a condition when poor people are pictured, neglected, accused, sponsored, sympathized, and wrongly blamed for being intoxicated, and contented of having big yet unmanageable families and settling as unemployed individuals depending on the welfare and financial assistance from the government. Aside from the said societal presentations, the poor people are likewise subjected to poor-bashing by the institution. A manifestation of low financial assistance rates for the promotion of social welfare is a type of poor-bashing by the establishment. Swanson added that having or allowing the existence of poverty when the society can possibly do away with it is also another poor-bashing kind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Poor-Bashing: The Politics of Exclusion† critically looked into how low-income people and even those belonging to below poverty line are marginalized and maltreated by the state, media and the corporate world. However, Swanson pulled off some entertainment when she pictured how the term poor-bashing, which was used to represent people who are dependent on financial assistance and benefits, actually better fits to demonstrate the behavior of the sluggish rich members of the society. In presenting the many points of the book, Swanson featured several realistic voices and emotions of the poor, such as those of single mothers, a side that has not been focused on by other works. These single parents are made to experience poor-bashing when they are shown as people struggling to give food, clothes, and shelter to their kids because of an unforgiving and unacceptable financial condition. The structural and personal poor-bashing of single mothers denied them the chance to decide better for themselves and their children, thereby negatively affecting their way of living.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An interview by Swanson with a single mother revealed that the latter did not prefer to be financially dependent and always on the welfare of other people. According to Swanson’s interpretation, the society where the single mother belongs and her partner in particular are the ones that actually put her life and that of her children where it is now. The poor-bashing applied to single mothers is just one of the pieces of evidence of the wide gap between the rich and the poor. Accordingly, in Swanson’s country (Canada) and in most parts of the world, statistics proves that the poor people tend to share only a small percentage of wealth while the rich people enjoy the biggest portion. It is generally perceived that people who have a share as that of the rich are assured of a dependable education and stable job. This is not because poor people are legally restricted to be a part of the majority, but it is because there are laws that are apparently in favor of the rich than the poor. This results in more options and opportunities available for the rich than for the poor.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Swanson’s book unveiled the orientation of poor-bashing in a clean, strong manner. One example is the author’s analysis of how the media, particularly the reporters, function when they cover and tell stories about poverty. Swanson called this as the media â€Å"poornography† where the media utilizes many attacks to get and present poverty stories. In the book, media â€Å"poornography† depicts poor people as sufferers. Swanson said that this is part of the journalistic approach to â€Å"putting a face on the problem.† However, this media portrayal does not change the problem. This is because the said media approach fails to determine the real causes of poverty. Charity, financial aid, and welfare dependency offered to poor people oftentimes do not offer a solution to the poverty problem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Despite the strengths of the book and that of Swanson’s arguments, they did not allow readers to draw their own conclusions and realize for themselves the main points of the issue of poor-bashing. Instead, the author dwells and banks on rhetorics about the need to solve the problems of classism, racism and sexism. Although these issues are valid, they made the book feel and look out of focus. The non-stop utilization of poor-bashing term or affiliation, apparently to picture evident situations pertaining to the problem, actually created a feeling for the public to be subjected to reader-bashing. This is simply because the book is all but representation of the poverty problem and poor-bashing in particular but without drawing a definite solution on how to address the said condition.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     The book which depicts the poor as unworthy, lazy, possibly involved in criminal acts and a threat to stability of the society deviate attention away from the real problem of poverty. This is because it diverts the true reasons of poverty and unemployment into the poor people who are presented as victims of inequality. The book’s individualization of the causes to poverty and unemployment distracts focus on the actual solutions to the problem. These realities include legalities and corporate decisions that are designed to produce and promote the undermining of wages and employment conditions of the poor. The book turns out to be just an endless discussions of who are the poor yet deserving people. This eventually encourage self restriction instead of self-esteem among poor people. Even the book’s presentation of the creation and multiplication of profit and wealth among the undeserving rich is overdue and uncalled for.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In challenging poor-bashing, it should be understood by the poor that they are not to be blame for their conditions. There are factors to be considered such as an apprehension of the economic system that actually cause poverty and how treatment of poverty is supported by the government. One must learn and realize that there is enough profit and wealth to end poverty, for both the rich and the poor to share. People in turn, should benefit from poor-bashing and poverty. Poverty is a condition that entails government policy and the poor people that are subjected to poor-bashing actually benefits because they become cheaper in the labor market. Sometimes, the poor has to challenge bashing created not by poverty but by the condition resulting from the conditions of racism or sexism. The poor just have to dispute the depictions created by the term, myths, media, and the government.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Instead of stating proposals to address poor-bashing, the book should have encouraged the poor people to understand the underlying policies of the government, corporations, and media. These plans of action actually create confusion and exclusion and promote inequality and the feeling of blame. It is essential to unite crusades about poor-bashing with alliance against racism and other negative conditions of the society. It requires a lot of understanding and ultimately the need to build an organization of thoughts and actions. A concrete step is to end the kind of notion and feeling that group people into being poor or those on welfare dependency. This will not justify treating them badly and blaming them for poverty. There should be an end to blaming poverty to the poor or other oppressed people. In this manner, an adaptable and effective policies, laws, and economic system can be worked out that will allow poor people to productively compete against each other. Poverty should have a different and justifiable image. In the end, resolving poor-bashing requires addressing the issues of unequal distribution of wealth and income among all members of the society. With this, putting the blame of poverty on the poor would be stopped. Reference Swnson, J. (2001). Poor-Bashing: The Politics of Exclusion. Toronto: Between the Lines. Â