Foundations of Mythology Short Answers Essay

How is the word myth used popularly? For example, what does the statement, â€Å"It’s a myth† mean? In contrast, how is the word myth used in the academic context? After considering the things in the definition in your textbooks and course materials, write a definition in your own words. The word myth is used in stories told people don’t know if the stories told are true or not. My personal belief is that a myths can be both true and not true tales. My reason for this because things in the area that happened more than fifty years ago or longer could be turned into false information after the years and years of being restated, no one knows because this area has happened so long ago in time. Myths are stories that were passed on from one generation to the next one its fiction and non -fiction. Myth is used in academic context as being an explanatory narrative, & illustrates how people should act and the existing social order. They are collectively authored and are created by people traditions and oral traditions are told and retold over time. My definition of myth is something that has reason for it could be true or untrue depending on the topic; you just have to use logic to determine the truth of the quote or statement. Why do myths from different cultures around the world address such similar or universal themes? Think about how myths explain the unknown and the tribulations of mankind. The reasoning why myths from other cultures are similar is because of their story lines, they are different because every couture has their own behalf’s and way of doing things accordantly and the ways in which it has been done for generation after generation most people believe that this way is best. They share a way that is perspective, and has value and interest and could  be their own stories. In many myths your able to format we connect to each other no matter the religion choice or aspect on the different types of myths. Myths are great in explaining the unknown and the tribulations of mankind. Myths give meaning into our lives, they explain things that are unexplaning they encourage or give us great ideas about different events and in schools helping students learn the different myth types. By doing this it enables us to learn different myths that are out there and the background of them. Myths give you laughter or tears and a clearer understanding of different things going on in our current life and events that happened before our time. What is the relationship between belief, knowledge, mythology, and religion? Where do mythology and religion intersect? Where do they diverge? Think about the function of myth and religion in helping human beings cope with change, suffering, loss, and death. There are many huge differences between religion and myth they can be overlapping mythology is one component or aspect of religion knowledge is very eternal and ever changing axiom. Mythology and religion intersect at they start as explanation accepted by people are two different things, mythology isn’t a religion but a myth of stories and the studies it can explain the unexplainable religions are surely traditional stories. They diverge easily but are both the same type of things with just different labels in difference between the two is that mythology is about anything a belief which has existed with not any proof. Religion is that of what you worship or reveres the persons or objects. In cases religion and myth always help us cope with change, suffering, with loss and deaths no matter what we will all deal with these things in our own personal ways, no one will ever grieve with lose the same as another person.  How would you defend mythology’s relevance in contemporary culture? Think about familial and cultural traditions. Also, consider how mythology is used in the arts and in advertising to typify human experience. I would defend mythology’s relevance in contempary culture as being very relevant and great need in society it gives us insight on all cultures from around the entire world. I would defend the mythology perspective my family  has a tradition of having yearly trail rides in the town I am from and getting together at least once a year either thanksgiving or Christmas time this helps our family find out how we all are doing in our lives because we all become very busy Mythology is used in the arts and advertising to typify the human experiences. References www. Askville.amazon.com www.eridu.co.uk/Author/myth_religion/myth_religion. Html mythsdreamssymbols.com/Importance of myth. Html EBOOK COLLECTION: Leonard, S., & McClure, M. (2004). Myth & knowing: An introduction to world mythology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Sociology – Nature Versus Nurture

The roles of nature (what we genetically inherit) and or nurture (what we learn) in making us what we are have long been argued. The idea that humans are determined by these two influences dates back to the ancient Greek philosopher Protagorus who in the fifth century BC compared physics (nature) and nomos (tradition). It is however difficult to unravel the separate influences of nature and nurture. If the children of musically talented parents are themselves musically talent, is it because of genetic inheritance (nature) or because of a musical environment at home where they grow up(nurture)? The nature versus nurture debate concentrates on the question of how far our behavior is determined by nature at birth or by nurture after birth. In seventeenth century philosopher John Locke claimed that the mind of a child was like a Tabula Rasa (blank slate). People became what they were taught to be. By the second half of nineteenth century many social scientists started to argue that human behavior is determined by nature. Charles Darwin’s theory came up with the idea that humans and other animals have descended ultimately from the same ancestors.  Read also  Sociology and Social Integration. Animals are governed by instincts (fixed traits that are inherited and shared by all members of a species). These inherited mechanisms enable members of the species to perform complex tasks. For example twice a year the New Zealand cuckoo travel 4000 miles between New Zealand and Islands off the coast of New Guinea. The adults’ leave New Zealand before their eggs are hatched. The young cuckoos later on travel 4000 miles and join their par4ents-without ever having made the journey and with no one to guide them. Experiments have indicated that other birds also seem to have some inborn sense that guides their migration. Because animals are governed by instincts and human are also animals, some scholars reasoned that human behavior must also be governed by instincts. As a result many social scientists searched for the supposed instants that would explain all kinds of human behavior when they saw a mother feeding her baby they attributed it to the maternal instinct, when they were asked to explain war, they explained it was the aggressive instinct. They eventually discovered more that 14000 instincts, ranging from laughing instinct to a religious instinct. But these ideas of instinct have many short comings. Firstly the concept of instinct was tautological. (i. e. the explanation was true by definition. The instinct that was discovered was just another name for what was to be explained. For example the aggressive instinct was just another way of saying that they engage in warfare, in the same way that high temperature is another way of saying hot weather. Secondary the same instinct was used to explain contradictory actions for example the acquisitive instinct was used to explain both hard honest work and bank robbery. Thirdly, instincts are supposed to be in all human but human behavior around the world varies greatly. For example Arapesh of New Guinea or the Tasaday of Philippines do not have aggressive, nature in their behavior, if human have self preservative instinct then they would not have committed suicides. In 1969, An American psychologist Jensen claimed that only to percent of the variation between peoples intelligence is due to their social environment while 80 percent is fixed from birth by genetic inheritance. Another American psychologist, Professor Thomas Bouchard of Minnesota University carried out an experiment on Jim Twins which also help to argue that human behavior is determined more bye nature than by nurture. For example, James Lewis and James Springer were identical twins who were separated in the first year of life and brought up separately. He discovered an amazing number of coincidences about Jim Twins: †¢ Both had married women called Linda. †¢ Both had been divorced and had then married women called Betty. †¢ One of them had named his son James Allan and the other as James Alan. †¢ Both had had a dog called Toy †¢ Both had spent these holidays on the same beach in Florida. †¢ Both drove a blue Chevrolet. †¢ Both built white benches round the trunk of a tree in their gardens. †¢ Both had a habit of biting their fingernails. Both were chain smokers of same brand of cigarettes †¢ Their temperaments, voice patterns and nervous habits were also similar. Thus the case of Jim Twins might lead us towards the idea that nature determines our human behavior. Sociobiology (the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior) was devel oped by E. O. Wilson in 1980 s. According to sociobiology’s human behavior is determined naturally just like animal behavior. According to sociobiologist Steven Gavlin and Alice Schlegel (1980) individuals act in order to maximize their genes in future generations. Thus the tendency of man to have sexual relationship with beautiful women is to maximize his genes. Similarly behavior of both men and women is thus guided by genetic factors. These above mentioned evidences shows that human behavior is determined by nature or genetic influences. Our race (color of the skin and other bodily features (sex, certain diseases, flood groups, are no doubt inherited. Human beings are directly influenced by nature. For example, hunger, thirst, physical fatigue, gradual but in exorable degeneration human body all constrain our human life, shaping what we can do and can be. For example vigorous physical exercise is beyond the capacities of virtually all 70 year olds. Similarly we are still subject to and contained by ecological or climatic conditions. Human communities, no matter how advanced or developed are powerless in the face of elemental forces of earthquakes hurricanes or snowfall. On the other hand, as the twentieth century began, the concept of instinct lost its strength. The idea that human behavior is determined by nurture or learning began to gain favor. For example Russian Psychologist Ivan Pavlov had shown that human beings like dogs can be trained or conditioned. American psychologist John Watson extended Pavlov’s experiment on dogs to human infants. For example Watson could make a little boy called Albert afraid of a white rat that had previously delighted him. He concluded that all emotions, and behaviors are learned through such associations and social environment make us who we are. He further added that learning by itself determines human personality. Although social scientists accepted the influence of biological factors they considered nurture to be more influence than heredity. Even the habits that seem very basic and essential to human nature also appear to depend on nurture i. . socialization. Evidence of the far reaching significance of socialization comes both from case studies of children who are deprived from socialization and those rose in the mild. Since the fourteenth century there have been mor4e than 50 recorded cases of feral children (children supposedly raised by animals) one of the most famous is mild boy of Avey ron-Victor. In 1979 he was captured in the woods by hunter in Southern France. He was about 11, completely naked, ran on all fours, could not speak, speechless, preferred uncooked food, could not do most of the simple things done by young children. Jean Itard a physician ried to train the boy. After 3 months he seemed little more human. He more clothes learned to sit at a table, and eat wit6h utensils. He started to show human emotions such as joy, gratitude and remorse. He lived for about 40 years but he never learned to speak nor ever become a normal person. Similarly in one orphanage Spit found that infants who were about 18 months old were left lying on their backs in small cubical most of the day without any human contact. Within a year all had become physically mentally, emotionally and socially retarded. Two years later more than a third of the children had died. Those who survived could not speak, they could not walk, they could not dress up and they could not use spoon. This shows that children who received little attention/socialization suffered very noticeable effects. Various cases of unsocialized children also indicate that human behavior is something that has to be learned. Humans do not simply become able to do all things instinctually. For example Anna, from Pennsylvania, USA was an illegitimate child. Anna was kept hidden from the public in the attic. She was just fed enough to keep her alive, she was neither touched nor bathed, and she simply lay still in her own filth. She was discovered in 1938 at the age of six. She looked like a skeleton. She was couldn’t talk nor walk. She did nothing but lay quietly in the ground her eyes vacant and expressionless. She was attempted to socialize. Eventually she could walk, feed herself. Brush her teeth and follow simple directions. But she never learned to speak and was far from normal. Isabella was also an illegitimate child. She was founding Ohio, USA in 1938 at the age 6. Her grandfather had kept her and her deaf-mute mother secluded in a dark room. She could however interact with mother. When discovered however she showed great fear and hostility towards people and made a strange croaking sound, when examined she was found to be feebleminded and uneducable, she was put on a systematic skillful training, after a slow start she began to talk. In nine months she could read and write within two years she was attending school, she had become a very bright cheerful and energetic girl. All these examples clearly show that human behavior is not some thing which is fixed at birth and which unfolds step by step naturally. Human behavior has to be learned therefore social environment actually determines human behavior. Sociologists use the following evidence to support the claim that human behavior is socially determined. Jack Yufe and Oscar Stohr are identical twins born in 1932. They were separated as babies after their parents divorced. Oscar was reared in Czechoslovakia by his mothers and Jack was reared in Trinidad by his father, social scientists at the University of Minnesota Observed them but this time they found many differences between the two twins:-

Noting

CONTENTS Page 1. 0 2. 0 3. 0 4. 0 5. 0 6. 0 7. 0 8. 0 9. 0 10. 0 11. 0 UGC Act, 1956 as Modified upto the 20th December, 1985 UGC Inspection of Universities Rules, 1960 UGC Rules regarding Fitness of Universities, 1974-88 UGC Returns of Information by Universities Rules, 1979 UGC Fitness of Institutions for Grants Rules, 1975 Recognition of College in Terms of Regulations, 1974 Framed under the UGC Act.UGC (Establishment and Maintenance of Institutions) Regulations, 1985 UGC Regulations, 1985 regarding the Minimum Standards of Instruction for the Grant of the First Degree UGC Regulations, 1991 regarding Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers in Universities and Colleges List of Degrees specified for the purposes of Section 22 of the UGC Act.UGC Rules, 1996 regarding Fitness of Health Sciences and Medical Universities for receiving grants 1 23 25 37 39 41 43 46 57 62 73 THE UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION ACT, 1956 Considered a leader, a statesman, and a humanist, William Jef ferson Clinton's genius exemplifies many characteristics of the Age of Modernism and Pluralism in Western culture. The Age of Modernism and Pluralism is said to be a culmination of the previous two major periods in human history.Modernism has the â€Å"quest for an authoritatively-rational aesthetics, ethics, and knowledge indicative of the Enlightened Period† (â€Å"PostModernism†, 2005), and the higher ideals of respect for people's rights and liberty brought forth during the Romantic period. Former president Bill Clinton's contributions to social and civil reforms in the United States, his support of the spread of democracy throughout the world, and his previous and ongoing support for the humanities constitute this nomination for the 20th Century Genius Award.

Starbucks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Starbucks - Essay Example The aim of Starbucks includes providing fresh, high quality teas and coffee products, as well as creating a unique experience in our store by encouraging a positive, safe environment for all. The global customer base of the company provides the opportunities of global expansion for the company wherein Starbucks can pursue the opportunities with it beyond the traditional store experiences for offering its customers new coffee products. Some of the examples of functional tactics of the company include ongoing expansion in the foreign markets, increase in product categories and growth in the distribution channels of the company which has helped Starbucks leverage its strong brand and build a retail store base. The strength of Starbucks is that over time it has continued being a cash cow, generating high operating cash flows with consistent growth rates (Starbucks Annual Report). Due to the recession of the U.S. economy, customers in US have become price sensitive due to their income ran ge, especially students. Therefore, Starbucks utilize making our product quality better. It makes its products, atmosphere, and employees better than its surrounding competitors so that it can meet the needs and ensure that it draws in multiple and diverse group of customers (Starbucks Annual Report).

Ecology +Strategic Decision Making and Management Science Assignment

Ecology +Strategic Decision Making and Management Science - Assignment Example ?†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.........................

Discussion Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 14

Discussion Question - Essay Example This is in the light of capital constraints, where each of the affiliates to the company provides a suitable ground for shareholder value maximization. Shifting capital in this case would be informed by the performance of each affiliate prior to capital shifting and the extent of value maximization required. Capital should be shifted from relatively low performing affiliates to relatively high performing ones, allowing for diversification of shareholder value maximization. Managing working capital is critical to the daily operations undertaken by the company (Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2010). This is more so in line with the relationship between working capital and inventory portfolio. Increase in inventory costs restrains the production capacity of the firm. As a result, working capital becomes directly involved due to the fact that inventories are dealt with every single day. Production needs to flow, and the production capacity should improve as opposed to deteriorating. In this regard, the financial manager of the company should devote more time in managing working capital in such a way that mainstreams the inventory

Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Analysis - Essay Example the orders are taken physically and accordingly sent for processing cleaning activities. In the present system, Abi Dry Cleaners cannot pull higher number of customers. Furthermore, the current system is also quite slow to react to the requests of customers. Due to the ineffectiveness of the manual booking system, Abi Dry Cleaners is unable to exploit the demand of dry cleaning services. The present system maintains a list for different requests of customers which is used for providing dry cleaning services. There are several problems of the present booking system of Abi Dry Cleaners such as only few reservations can be made because of manual process and it also takes huge time for recording the reservations and transactions. There is also an issue of validation in the present booking system. Besides, the employees face difficulties in managing the collection and the date of delivery of services. Furthermore, the present booking system also necessitates considerable paperwork which is quite difficult to manage (Imam, 2005). Consequently, in order to overcome the problems related to the present booking system, an online booking system has been proposed. The online booking system will not only satisfy the existing customers, but will also attract new customers. Furthermore, it will also allow Abi Dry Cleaners to promote its dry cleaning services to a large section of target customer segment, resulting in increased revenue. However, in order to achieve the desired objectives, the online booking system requires reliability, consistency, flexibility and security (Agheorghiesei & Ineson, 2010). In accordance with the requirements of customers, the online booking system would need log in information, contact information, on-going dry cleaning tasks along with their status, estimated time for competition of on-going tasks, customer advice for dry cleaning, organisational history, testimonials,

UNIT 4 DISCUSSION BOARD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

UNIT 4 DISCUSSION BOARD - Essay Example The next year would take its toll on Jane as she engaged in non-rational escalation of commitment to support her decision. The soap cleaned comparably well in comparison to the previous product. However, after the first week the workers complained that the soap was clogging the jets and they had to shut down the machine every two days to clean them. Jane tells them that they were probably already in need of cleaning and it couldnt be the soap. Besides, with the money she saved they could afford to clean the jets occasionally. She has begun the escalation process due to the need for self-justification (Colwell & Mowday, n.d.). She rationalized that the soap was working just fine. Two weeks later, one of the owners asked Jane to return the soap and go back to the old brand. She called the supplier and was advised of the 20% re-stocking charge to return the soap. However, the salesman told her that because she had a bad experience and was under some pressure, he would sell her another years supply at a 50% discount. Jane did the math and figured she would save the 20% restocking fee and get a 50% discount. That was a savings of 70% and would be enough to save her reputation. She purchased another years supply. Jane had gone down the path of serial decision making and was basing her decisions on the previous errors she had made, which is the critical feature of non-rational escalation (Staw, 1981, p.584). In addition, she was the victim of perceptual bias that impeded her ability to think objectively (Block, 2005, p.15). Jane was also ignoring everything she had learned in business class. She was not making decisions based on the current state and was using her sunk costs to influence her decision (Schminke, 1998, p.205). She was throwing good money after bad. Jane did some research on clogged jets and found that soap was the most likely suspect but could be caused

The Rise of China and the Subsequent Re-Shaping Of Business Essay - 1

The Rise of China and the Subsequent Re-Shaping Of Business Environment for MNEs (Multi-National Enterprises) - Essay Example The researcher states that modern era globalization has taken its present shape due to three primary reasons: technological innovation leading to worldwide networking and integration; global integration of emerging economies of developing countries; and opening up of by previously closed economies of countries like Brazil, India, and China. MNEs (Multinational Enterprises) are the product and the most visible aspect of globalization. A   MNE controls material  production  and/or provides services  to a large number of countries worldwide. MNEs conduct their operation (material production) in one country, which is generally termed as the ‘host country,’ while base their management activities in another country, referred to as the  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœhome country.’ Some of these MNEs are large and powerful, often operating with budgets that are more than the GDP of some of the developing nations in the world. The emergence of MNEs along with globalization is evident w hen we find that during the 1970s there were around 7000 MNEs, which at the turn of the century skyrocketed to around 60000. Around the same time, we find that the world’s largest MNCs and MNE’s (top 1000) accounted for almost 80% of the global industrial production, while the top 100 corporations and enterprises were responsible for 4.3% global GDP. At the core of globalisation and the rise of the MNCs and MNEs, is the emergence of China, as an economic power; and this article will examine the rise of Chinese economy and its particularly good relationship with various MNEs, and the recent break in this ‘good’ relationship leading to re-shaping of business environment for the MNEs in China.

Develop a new idea for existing company Term Paper

Develop a new idea for existing company - Term Paper Example Until only recently the brand went through expansion and introduced the Skin care product range which now included lotion, cleansers, towelettes, make-up removers etc. Smooth and Soft face wash will be the solitary face wash related product offering in the company’s portfolio of products. However, given ample time and growth, the company plans on expanding its line of face wash with more special purpose face washes instead of a one-for-all product. We’ll use penetration pricing for Our Soft and Smooth face wash will cost $3.25. Another added advantage that we’ll get is that it will complement our cream range as people who use face wash and care for their skin will also make lotion and cream purchases hence this strategy will benefit us in the longer run. We’ll use advertising in Magazines and place ads which clearly highlight features of the new product and its lower price with similar benefits to the competitors. This would create a pull in the market. The promotion and publicity activities plan include a first time customers’ discount of 30% if purchased in the soft launch activity zone. The product will be showcased at prominent malls in the metropolis along with banners, decoration, flash mob, gift hampers and other awareness-creating activities. Sales promotion will be initially used which will include offers like giving small sample tubes & bottles in a package with the already well established cream and lotion range. Discounts will not be offered as the product is already lowered price to competitors while providing quality. If prices will be lowered than this then customers will doubt the quality, An indirect distribution channel will be used as we have to reach to masses and also our products are Shopping products which are usually sold by retailers at stores and shops as compared to specialty goods require direct

Public Law Human Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Public Law Human Rights - Essay Example (Legal Briefing) The Act has sufficient clauses to assist those enmeshed in legal complications with the fourth estate. Its provisions hold out the olive branch to hapless victims of snoopy, uncouth journalists, and those taken into custody for serious offences such as acts of terrorism. It is a step in the right direction for fairer trial and accurate justice. The courts are empowered to impose corrective, punitive or deterrent measures, although in the context of law relating to civil liberties in the United Kingdom, sometimes the sentences delivered by the honorable judges are found either too lenient with rogue elements or unduly harsh on law abiding plaintiffs. The media in UK has lobbied hard to dilute the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998 in its original form, and continue to do so to this day. The reasons are obvious. The HRA is permanent hindrance to their right to free expression. This Act has come as breath of fresh air especially to celebrities and powerful individuals caught in the glare of an uncompromising media. (Privacy And The Press) The Human Rights Act 1998 came into force in the UK on 2nd October 2000. ... The Act makes public authorities in the UK more accountable in their dealing with citizens who can access any British court and seek redressal for infringement of rights enshrined in the Act. Evolving from the Council of Europe, a conglomerate of different European nations formed in 1949 as an aftermath to World War II, and the European Common market formed in 1957, this Act is the creation of the present day European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms to which UK is a signatory from among 41 European nations. (Protecting and promoting your rights) Reactions to this Act have been mixed in a continent accustomed to extreme emotions of ecstasies, turmoil, triumphs, blas and even stony nonchalance since the renaissance. Nevertheless, it has drawn the attention specifically two groups of the people in UK. One of them are those desperate for help from any quarter having exhausted all legal means for justice, and secondly, they are all those keen to get away from the piercing gaze the indicting Act, especially the media. The Act applies specifically to public authorities responsible for the general welfare of the populace. Never before in the history of the British administration was the common man more empowered to confidently take on the government for judicial lapses. It is important to bear in mind the two important factors of judicial interpretations or misinterpretations and recalcitrant occurrences such as terrorism in the present scenario which make issues for the Act more complex and difficult. Under the threat of terrorism, it is but natural for majority of the people to willingly sacrifice some civil liberties for safety and security. On the other hand, in the name of national

Online Hotel reservation Essay Example for Free

Online Hotel reservation Essay INTRODUCTION Over the years, the internet has greatly changed the way people use computers and communicate today. Many Internet terms have become part of peoples everyday language and e-mail has added a whole new means through which people can communicate. By the turn of the century, information, including access to the Internet, will be the basis for personal, economic, and political advancement. The popular name for the Internet is the information superhighway. Whether you want to find the latest financial news, browse through library catalogs, exchange information with colleagues, or join in a lively political debate, the Internet is the tool that will take you beyond telephones, faxes, and isolated computers to a burgeoning networked information frontier. The pace of change brought about by new technologies has had a significant effect on the way people live and work worldwide. New and emerging technologies challenge the traditional process of teaching and learning, and the way education is managed. Information technology, while an important area of study in its own right, is having a major impact across all curriculum areas. As internet technology has improved, so have online reservation systems. Today, it is possible through online, to make a reservation for a hotel anywhere in the world. Hotels can create Web site and post new content on it every day. Technology has gone a long way, improving the lives of people. These technological breakthroughs have lots to offer, making great things in the easiest, fastest and efficient possible ways you can think of. Online hotel Reservation is very useful for the people especially for socials that they can now easily reserve a room in a hotel through online Internet. Easy worldwide communication provides instant access to a vast array of data. Project Overview Project Statement The hotel reservation system will provide service to on-line customers, travel agents, and an administrator. On-line customers and travel agents can make searches, reservations and cancel an existing reservation on the hotel reservation’s web site. Administrator can add/update the hotel and the room information approve/disapprove a new travel agent’s account application and  generate a monthly occupancy rate report for each hotel. Literature review The design of travel and tourism websites has received substantial attention by scholars (e.g.Schegg et al., 2002; Law and Leung, 2002; Law andWong, 2003; Scharl, Wà ¶ber and Bauer, 2003; Landvogt, 2004; So and Morrison, 2004; Essawy, 2005; Jeong et al., 2005; Law and Hsu,2006;Zafiropoulos and Vrana, 2006; Schmidt, Cantallops, and dos Santos, 2007).Landvogt (2004) evaluates several online booking engines over 23 differentcriteria, like overall user friendliness, payment method, instant confirmation,reliability, and invoicing function among others. These criteria present some ofsystem’s functions and design principles discussed furtherin current paper.In their study Jeong et al. (2005) find that only two characteristics ofhotel websites (information completeness and ease of use) are importantdeterminants of perceived website quality. These results are bewildering asmost studies identify more dimensions of perceived service quality to besignificant for website users. Law and Hsu (2006), for example, assess thedimensions of hotel websites (information regarding the reservation, hotelfacilities, contact details of the property, surrounding area and websitemanagement) and attributes in each dimension mostly valued by online users.Some of the most important website attributes are found to be the room rates,availability and security of payments (in the reservation informationdimension), the location maps, hotel and room amenities (in facilitiesinformation), telephone, address and e-mail of the hotel (for contactinformation), transportation to the hotel, airports and sights (for surroundingarea information), and up-to-date information, multilingual site and shortdownload time (for website management). So and Morrison (2004) applysimilar criteria for website evaluation as the preceding study but they groupthem into technical, marketing, consumer perspective and destinationinformation perspective criteria.Essawy (2005) focuses on website usability and shows that severeusability problems with interface quality, information quality, and servicequality affect negatively the purchase and revisit intentions of website users.The author identifies some of the practical tools/activities for increasing users’perceived satisfaction, purchase intention, and potential relationship building –exchanging links  with local points of interest, shorter/simpler pathways toleisure breaks, greater depth of information for room facilities and pricing,providing proactive interactions, and avoiding third-party reservation systems. In similar vein, Scharl, Wà ¶ber and Bauer (2003) assess the effectiveness ofhotel websites. Authors identify personal, system and media factors thatcontribute to hotel website adoption. In the system factors group, that is morecontrollable by the hotel management compared to personal and media factors,they identify the perceived utility of the product, speed of the system,intelligence, layout, services, languages, navigation, interactivity, reliability ofthe system.Research has also shown that trust is an important dimension of websitedevelopment (Fam, Foscht and Collins, 2004; Chen, 2006; Wu and Chang, 2006). If consumers do not trust the website they will not visit it, or will nottransform their visits into real purchases.Although much effort has been put towards evaluating the design oftourism websites and the identification of website attributes highly valued bycustomers, there is a gap in the research in the OHRS design and its specificproblems have not received enough attention in previous research with fewnotable exceptions. In series of reports Bainbridge (2002, 2003a, 2003b)discusses the practical aspects of the OHRS design (the search option in thesystems, the booking process and the date format), while Ivanov (2002, 2005)discusses the types and main characteristics of OHRSs and the major marketingdecisions to be taken by the marketing managers in their design. The review of available literature on the tourism / hotel website and OHRS design reveals the following conclusions:  · Website users are interested in easy navigation through the system.  · They want abundance of information for the services offered in textand pictures.  · Trust is vital for the usage of the system.  · Website design can significantly influence the online experience of theusers and their purchase intentions.  · Website design itself does not guarantee online purchases but it is theperceived utility of the product that attracts customers. Demographic characteristics and Internet Usage Behaviour Education level, age, income,and occupation have been found to be significantly different among Internet users. Bonn etal.(1998)[15] study showed that those who use the Internet as a travel information-gathering tool are likely to bemore educated, younger, with higher household incomes, use commercial lodging accommodations while traveling, tend to travel by air and spend more money on travel-related expenses. Weber and Roehl’s (1999)[16] study shows similar results. They found that online travel purchasers are more likely to be people who are aged 26-55, with higherincomes, with higher status occupations, and have more years of experience with the Internet than those who do not search or purchase online. The Asian demographic patterns of online purchasers tend to mirror their Western profiles. According tostudies carried out by Technowledge Asia in 1999 and 2000, cybershoppers in the four Asian regions (Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia) were found to be mainly males, in the age group of 26 to 35 years and better educated. Hence, it has been shown that an individual’s educational level may affect their susceptibility to attitude change. Intelligent people understandcomplex messages better, and as a result, persuasion by complex messages is more likely. In addition, an individual’s educational level is alsopartially a measure of their socioeconomic status. Weber and Roehl (1999)[16] study found that Internet â€Å"bookers† were more likely to have used the Internet for 4 years. Other researchers confirmed that Internet bookers spend more time online per week than those booking offline (Weber and Roehl ,1999)[16]. Finally, the intention to shop online is also influenced by consumers’ Internet shopping history (Shim et al., 2001)[17]. It is demonstrated by pastresearch findings that prior online shoppingexperiences have a direct impact on Internet shopping intentions (Weber and Roehl, 1999)[16]. There have been other studies that have supported online experience or tenure as key determinant of onlinebuying behavior (Bellman, Lohse, and Johnson, 1999[18] and Beldona et al, 2004)[19]. Findings indicate that the greater the number of years the user spent online combined with higher frequency of Internet usage; the greater was the likelihood of buying (Bellman et al., 1999[18]; Weber and Roehl, 1999[16] and Beldona et al 2004)[19]. Alwitt and Hamer (2000)[20] posit that consumers increase  their control with more time spent on the Internet, and in turn develop finer expectations of their interactions with businesses in general. Hammond, McWilliam, and Diaz (1998)[21] of users’ attitudes towards the Web. Based from the literature review of the Internet users,it is noticeable that Internet users are better educated, higher incomes, higher status occupations, have more online experience, use commercial lodging accommodations while travelling and tend to travel by air. In Malaysia, one of the profiles that had an early exposure to the culture of using the Internetfor personal and professional reasons was university residents. These may consist of students, administrators and lecturers. However, university staffs are more likely to fit the profiles of the Internet users (in terms of purchasing) due to their financial capability and mobility. Consequently, this leads to: H1 : There is a relationship between the university   staffs’ demographic factors and the determinants of  online hotel reservation H2 : There is a relationship between the university   staffs’ Internet usage behavior and the determinants of online hotel reservation

Lives of Athenian and Spartan Women

Lives of Athenian and Spartan Women Athens and Sparta were known as the famous Greek city states. The two governed their city state differently in political system, social life, economy, education, religious view, and so on. Another main difference was the womens rights and power. Athenian women were horribly treated. They were highly kept and protected at home because the belief to Athenian men was that women were highly sexual beings who could not control their sexual urges and therefore had to be restricted for their own benefit. On the other hand, Spartan women enjoyably live with their status, rights, power, and respect which the women of another Greece city states werent lucky to be delight with those freedom. Spartans realized that regardless of gender all Spartan people had an obligation to serve the militaristic end of Sparta.(Gaughan) This essay mostly focuses on how Athens and Sparta differently and similarly treated their women to the following questions: How were Athenian and Spartan women educated? How did they get married? Could they women divorce their husband? What did they do when they become a mother? How did Athenians and Spartans judge their women? How sociable were Athenian and Spartan women? Did they have right to own property? How did they receive citizenship? What are the similarities between both of them? Athens was a powerful capital and the largest Greece city state. It was a heart of economic, political, financial and culture life in Greece. Athens represented freedom, art, and democracy. Athens was given its name from Athena goddess who is the goddess of wisdom and knowledge and won the competition with the sea god  Poseidon. Furthermore, the government of Athens was limited democracy. And Athens economy mostly depended on trade. Sparta was a well known city state in Greece, and located on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. When Sparta invaded Dorians, and brought both the local and non-Dorian population under control, it appeared as a political entity around the 10th century BC. Later on, it became a strong and dominant military land-power in ancient Greece. It considered itself as the Greece protector, providing expert armies to Greece whenever needed. The political system of Spartan government was a monarchy ruled by two kings. Moreover, economic in Sparta mainly focused on agriculture rather than trade. How were Athenian and Spartan women educated? Athenian women werent expected to get education from school such as how to write and read. However, they were taught reading at home. They were also taught necessary household skills such as spinning, weaving, and sewing, cooking, cleaning and managing other domestic duties by their mothers, and even the slaves whom their families had. Furthermore, they got education about facts on mythology, religion and occasionally musical instruments. On the other hand, since the Spartans believed that if their women are educated and are able to protect themselves; Spartan women could also manage property of their husband while he was gone. As the result, most of Spartan women are literate. At the age of seven, Spartan women were both academically and physically educated. But they didnt receive any knowledge related to domestic work as Athenian women such as weaving, cooking, sewing, and others because these kinds of work were responsibilities of helots and slaves in Sparta. For academic education, they were taught to read, write, and protect themselves. They got cultural education including poetry, social and religious customs, choral recitation, dance and music. In addition, music was a main section in religious festival. Spartan women, therefore, learned to sing and perform dance. For physical education, Spartan women were trained in athlete competitions such as running, wrestling, and javelin throwing. Moreover, they were well known  with their great knowledge in not only breeding and training but also riding horseback and driving small horse-driven carts. How did they get married? Since birth, Athenian girls were highly protected and kept at home. Athenian fathers arranged and married of their young teenage daughter at early age, normally at the age of thirteen or fourteen; to men who were 30 years old and sometimes from prominent families in Athens society. The brides father celebrated a marriage ceremony call gamos, which the aim is to show that the bride was passed to the groom. Athenian bride couldnt meet her groom until the contracts had already been approved. The process of marriage was quite very long and complicated. After the marriage Athenian women were supposed to join or move to live in their husbands family though they werent considered as full member of the new family until they birthed the first child. Unlike Athenian women, Spartan women had non-ceremonial for their marriages. Commonly, they got married at the age of eighteen years old. A Spartan woman was assigned to married a man who came and abducted her at mid night from her family. After that, she shaved her head and wear mans clothes. Then she was able to meet her husband, mostly for children purpose. After marriages, husband and wife lived separately. If husband joined war for too long time, Spartan woman could find a new husband. Could they women divorce their husband? Women in Athens couldnt divorce their husband without providing any reasonable evidences to public official and agreement from their husband. Though they successfully divorced, they would lose all rights to their children. Oppositely, Spartan women could divorce their husband without losing any wealth, properties, and even rights to children. What did they do when they become a mother? Athenian women were supposed to give healthy son who would be strong soldier. Thus they werent allowed to take parts in sport, competition, and military. On the other hand, being a healthy mother producing strong and brave son to serve in Spartan armies was a primary purpose for Spartan women since Spartan was known as strong militaristic city state of Greek. Thus, Spartan women involved in  military training, did exercises, and join athletic competition to make their bodies fit, strong and healthy. How did Athenians and Spartans judge their women? Athenian women were strongly determined on their artificial beauty rather than natural beauty. They liked wearing valuable and elaborate jewelry and nice clothes for being attractive and other purposes. On the contrary, Spartan women were well known for their natural beauty. Consequently, they were forbidden to wear or use any kinds of cosmetics or makeup, especially jewelry, which was a serious avoidance for them. How sociable were Athenian and Spartan women? Athenian women had very less freedom. They had a secluded life since they were forced to stay at home most of the time. They would lose their status if they failed to do so. Since Athenian women were educated, they couldnt have carriers or hold office in society such as prostitute, market seller, flute players, dancers, nurses, and mid wives. Only freewomen of poorer classes could do trade in market places, and went outdoor much more than wealthy women. More than this, women from rich family were physically protected by their slaves or male relatives, and they had to maintain and protect their reputation by not talk closely with men. Though Athens was a democracy, Athenian women still couldnt join public activities such as voting or taking part in state operation. They could neither watch nor participate in the Olympic Games, military training, and even athletic competitions. But, they could leave the houses to join religious festival. Spartan women, on the other hand, lived freely and left the house whenever wanted. They were strongly given confidence to speak in public. They could join group discussion in public. They could involve in military and also politics. Did they have right to own property? Spartan women were allowed to own wealth and property. After married, women in Sparta could own both her husbands land and hers, but her land couldnt become her husband land. Aristotle stated that, by the fifth century B.C., Spartan women owned two-fifths of the land. Spartan women had authority to control, manage and, abandon the land they owned whenever they wished. They could legally  pass their land to sons and daughters. In addition, they could also get income earned form their land. Even thought Athenian women could own jewelry, clothes, inexpensive things, they couldnt get the kind of ownership as Sparta such as owning land, luxuries, or any things that put into contract. In short, they didnt have financial independence. How did they receive citizenship? In idea of Athenian men, women were less necessary. Thus, Athenian women werent offered Athenian citizenship. Unlike women in Athens, women in Sparta were considered as Spartiates and also citizens of Sparta thought they couldnt join public assembly. Receiving citizenship in Sparta, one had to withdraw profit from owning land to pay for government. As what mentioned above, Spartan women could own land, so they could be awarded the Spartan citizenship. What are the similarities between both of them? According to what shown above, the life of Athenian and Spartan women are different from each other. However, they still had several commons. Both of them were required to get married. And the marriages were arranged by fathers. More than this, the two were expected to give strong and healthy sons. The two had to bear their children. They couldnt join assembly. They could own property. In short, women status in Sparta and Athens are quite different from each other. As we see, while Spartan women were educated to write, read, and know about cultural knowledge, Athenian women were taught managing household duties. For marriage, Athenian women were expected to get married in early age, and the process of getting married seemed be complicated. But in Sparta, women got married unless they were eighteen years old. Moreover, Athenian women were judged on artificial beauty, but Spartan woman were judged on natural beauty. And Spartan women were very active in the public. Contrast of Spartan women, Athenian women stayed at home most of the time. Last but not least, Athenian women didnt have valuable property ownership as Spartan women. Comparing ancient Athenian women to women nowadays, there are both similarities and differences. For similarities, both of them were pressed to produce  children and take care them, looked after home, and increased their beauty and attractiveness by wearing additional jewelry and beautiful clothes. One more similarity is that marriage is an important thing for their lives. Though they are similar, they are still different from each other. In contrast to ancient Athenian women, present women can go to work and do their own careers. They are sociable; they can go wherever they want, do whatever they prefer, and talk with whomever they like. Moreover, the marriages of modern women are mostly not arranged or chosen by their parents. Another difference is that women nowadays can involve or have status in politics and government. They also have right to education, and to own property as men have. However, most of what modern women can do is the same as what ancient Spartan could do. Consequently, we can assume that modern women and ancient Spartan women share many similarities. In my own view, if I had been born in ancient Greek, I would have preferred to be a woman of Sparta.

Customer Satisfaction By Measuring Service Quality Tourism Essay

Customer Satisfaction By Measuring Service Quality Tourism Essay Rationale of the study: The measurement and management of service quality are fundamental to the survival and success of service companies (Legcevic, 2008). The hotel sector is a large segment of the service industry which provides services and accommodations to a wide range of customers. To make sure that a hotel is satisfying its customers needs, it is necessary to measure service quality periodically to identify areas in need of improvement. There are several methodologies used for measuring service quality, but this research study shall employ one of the more popular models called the SERVQUAL model. This theory was developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry. They were early researchers studies about the concept of quality (Jain and Gupta, 2004). The SERVQUAL model was created to measure service quality as perceived by the customer (Parasuraman et al., 1985). According to Shangri-La Hotels Annual Report of year 2008 and 2009, the occupancy rate of the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok has declined continuously (Shangri-La Asia Limited, 2008, Shangri-La Asia Limited, 2009). The most likely cause of this problem is the political instability that hit Thailand recently. On the other hand, it is possible that this decline in the number of customers was a result of a decline in service quality. Even though the Shangri-La Hotel continued to emphasize customer needs and provide excellent service to their customers, it is still crucial to measure service quality to ensure that the customers are satisfied with the hotels services and responsiveness to customer needs. The result of measuring service quality also helps management to understand exactly what their customers expect from the hotel and the level to which they are satisfied with their experience at the hotel. This measurement model functions as a tool to promote communication between the hotel man agement and their customers. This research was conducted to observe customer perceptions about hotel services by measuring service quality using the SERVQUAL model at the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok. The benefits of this research are not just to understand the level of customer satisfaction; but moreover, it can use as a guideline to enhance service quality and promote customer loyalty. Title of project: A Study of Customer Satisfaction by Measuring Service Quality; A Case Study of Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok Statement of research problem: A continual decline in the number of hotel customers over the past few months has had a direct effect on the hotels income. The main factor which is believed to have caused this decline was internal political instability in Thailand. In an effort to transform a crisis into opportunity, this is an appropriate time to observe customer perceptions of service quality in order to help hotel management improve quality and prepare their business for when the situation returns to normal. Project objectives: The objectives of this research are as follows: To measure service quality of Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok by using SERVQUAL model, To understand the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality, and To gain a clearer understanding of customer perceptions of service quality from Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok in order to improve hotel service quality in the future. Conceptual framework: Figure 1: Conceptual framework Reliability SERVQUAL Dimensions Responsiveness Customer Satisfaction Assurance Empathy Tangibles Scope of the study: The scope of this research focuses on measurement of service quality at the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok by using the SERVQUAL model which considers service quality from the following five dimensions: a) reliability, b) responsiveness, c) assurance, d) empathy and e) tangibility. The sample population would be a random sample of 100 hotel customers during the period from July to August, 2010. The survey technique would employ the use of questionnaires. This study focuses on the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality. Definitions of terms used in the study: SERVQUAL model: An instrument for measuring service quality comprised of five dimensions such as: a) reliability, b) responsiveness, c) assurance, d) empathy and e) tangibility. Parasuraman summed up that customers perceive service quality by comparing their expectations with the actual organizational performance, and they evaluate service quality in different dimensions (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Service Quality: A product or outcome of all the staff managers of the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok working together to satisfy their customers. In other words, high-quality service is a service that meets or exceeds customer needs and expectations (Wisniewski, 2001). Customer Expectation: is prediction service of customer that hotel should be provides to them. Predict service directly influence customer satisfaction evaluation (Zeithaml et al., 1993) Customer Perception: A feeling or sense possessed by the customer which is derived from their experiences at the hotel. Customer Satisfaction: The level to which a customer perceives that their expectations were met in the transaction with the hotel (Hallowell, 1996). Assumptions: A customer who receives a high level of service quality from the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok is more likely to be satisfied with the overall level of service at the hotel. Limitations: Size of sample: The political uncertainty in Thailand during the past several months resulted in a decrease in the number of tourists all over Bangkok. Furthermore, the occupancy level at the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok has been suppressed due to a reduction in room availability for internal renovations. The limited number of hotel customers may limit the sample size, leading to sample error. Time frame of data collection: The time frame is a major problem for this research because the research time table is quite short, especially considering that this season is the low season for tourism in Thailand. Since the tourist numbers are much lower than during high season, it could be difficult or impossible to reach the appropriate sample size. Human ethics considerations: This research is being conducted for educational purposes to learn about customer satisfaction at the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok. For this reason, the hotels management is allowing researchers to collect data from their customers. Therefore, the researchers should not force the customers to complete the questionnaire if they are hesitant. The questionnaire is being designed so that it does not contain sensitive items which would make customers feel uncomfortable. Practical significance: Measuring service quality is more difficult than measuring the quality of manufactured goods because the nature of services is intangible (Bergman and Klefsjo, 1994). The SERVQUAL model is an efficient tool to help measure service quality and clarify customer satisfaction. The result of this research would be useful for the Shangri-La Hotels management and staff members so that they can better understand their customers level of satisfaction with perceptions about the hotels services. It will help hotel management in their efforts to maintain and improve hotel service quality. In addition, other hoteliers and organizations within the service industries sector could adapt this research to use as basis for studies into their own organizations. Background information: Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is a well-established Asian hotel chain in major cities throughout Asia, Oceania and The Middle East. The headquarters is located in Hong Kong. Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok is one property of many properties of Shangri-La Company, located in the Silom district, has a total of 799 rooms including serviced apartments and other facilities such as restaurants, conference rooms, spa, swimming pool and tennis courts (Shangri-La Hotel, 2010). Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok is located in a convenient place next to the Chao Phraya River which is the main river of Thailand, and is only half an hour from Suvarnabhumi Airport and 10 minutes away from central business by BTS Skytrain. For these reasons, this hotel has the ability to attract numerous tourists. Furthermore, Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok is connected to Sathorn Pier, so tourists can take public boats or long tail boats to travel to and visit several kinds of tourist attractions easily such as the Temple of Dawn, the Grand Palace, the Flower Market and Khaosan Road. There is a high diversity of tourism industries which promote the economy in this district and along this river. However, in recent years, the Thai economy has experienced difficulty for a variety of reasons. Figures 1 and 2 compare the performance of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts in the period from 2007 to 2008 with the period from 2008 to 2009. Table 1: The Shangri-La Hotel Weighted Average Room Yield 2007-2008 Source: Shangri-La Asia Limited (2008) Table 2: The Shangri-La Hotel Weighted Average Room Yields 2008-2009 Source: Shangri-La Asia Limited (2009) The figures above show that there was a significant decline in the performance of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Thailand in 2008 compared with 2007, and this decline in performance continued into 2009 with a drop on average room occupancy. According to the 2008 Shangri-La Asia Limited Annual Report, occupancy and RevPAR for Shangri-La Hotels decreased in 2008 by 15 and 10 percentage points respectively (Shangri-La Asia Limited, 2008). Moreover, the overall weighted average RevPAR for Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts Thai properties decreased a further 11 percent in 2009 (Shangri-La Asia Limited, 2009). The global financial crisis, the extensive renovations at the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok and political uncertainty are cited as the main reasons for this decline. Literature review: There are several pieces of literature regarding studies of service quality which say that if a customer had a pleasant service experience, they would probably use that service again and would be likely to invite their friends or tell someone else to utilize those same services. In the same way, if customer had a poor service experience, they generally never forget about it, and many customers will complain and go elsewhere (Assael, 1987, Farrington et al., 2009, Peter and Olson, 1987). Word of mouth is a powerful communications tool. Customers may tell others whenever they experience poor service quality, and this would have a direct effect on the organizations image resulting in an eventual decrease in revenue. The power of this communications tool has always been evident from the past until the present. Consequently, organizations must always ensure that their service quality is the most pleasant and best to generate customers satisfaction. This is because the backbone of service organization growth is not just a high quality product or pricing strategy, but it is also the combination with good customer service. Nowadays, companies increasingly emphasize service quality and customer satisfaction throughout, so that they can increase customer loyalty, because it has determined that high customer loyalty is key to success in their market segment(Cronin et al., 2000). Service quality is widely studied and useful in service industries(Carman, 1990, Collier and Bienstock, 2006, Cronin and Taylor, 1992, Cronin et al., 2000, Gronroos, 1984, Parasuraman et al., 1985, Parasuraman et al., 1988). Many scholars have taken an interest in service quality issues because of their intangibility, which makes them very difficult to measure (Bergman and Klefsjo, 1994). For these reasons, several researchers created a model to help clarify the measurement of service quality. The most popular and extensively used models are Gronroos Service Quality Model and Parasuramans Gap Model (Legcevic, 2008). It could be describes of each model as following; Gronroos Service Quality Model splits customer perceived service into two dimensions: 1) technical quality, and 2) functional quality (Gronroos, 1984). 1) Technical quality or outcome quality is what customer receives as outcome of the process in the resources. Functional quality is how customer receives from technical outcome (Legcevic, 2008). Parasuramans Gap Model indicates that five gaps exist between management and customers during the service delivery process (Parasuraman et al., 1985). For my research, I will employ the SERVQUAL scale by using gap scores to help measure service quality. Service Quality: Today quality become recognized as a strategic tool to enhance and improved business actual performance both of goods sector and service sector. The key factor to success in service industry is service quality. The purpose of service quality is to satisfy the customer. Hence, service quality and customer satisfaction influence each other. As mentioned in the beginning, service quality is defined as a product or outcome resulting from all members in the organization trying to satisfy their customers (Wisniewski, 2001). Service quality also could be defined as crucial decision-making criteria for service consumers (Cronin et al., 2000). Customers evaluate service quality by comparing organizational performance with their expectations (Zeithaml et al., 1993). However, Parasuraman proved and indicated that there is a problem with customer perception of service, because five gaps exist between the customer and the service provider during service delivery. The figure below illustrates the Service Quality Gap Model by Parasuraman. Figure 2: The Service Quality Gap Model Source: Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) According to figure as above, it could be describes each gap as following; Gap1: Service provider not knowing what the customers expect Gap2: Service provider not selecting the right service design Gap3: Service provider not delivering to service standard Gap4: Service provider not matching performance to promises Gap5: The difference between customer expectations and customer perceived service (Legcevic, 2008) A gap which may occur between customer expectation and customer perception is not the only measurement of service quality. However, it is a determinant of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. If the service providers response to customer needs is below their expectations, the customer would estimate that the quality is low. SERVQUAL Scale: The main benefit of the SERVQUAL instrument is that it helps management to measure the quality of service by comparing customers expectation of service and customer perceived service which categorizing each problem facet into five dimensions. It lets them classify the problems into dimensions, helping management to focus on the problems and improve service quality in the right way when some elements of service are found to be lacking. The SERVQUAL model was created by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in 1985. The 1985 version consisted of ten dimensions. The model was further developed, and in 1988 it was refined into five dimensions. The SERVQUAL model has been widely used as an efficient instrument for measuring service quality in many service industries (Asubonteng et al., 1996). The five dimensions are: 1) reliability, 2) responsiveness, 3) assurance, 4) empathy and 5) tangible. According to Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985), they defined each dimensions as follows: Table 3: SERVQUAL 5 Dimensions Reliability: Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service Assurance: Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence Empathy: Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers Tangible: Physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel (Parasuraman et al, 1985) The most important dimension that the customer used to evaluate service quality is the reliability dimension (Legcevic, 2008). Parasuraman developed a set of questionnaires using 22 parallel questions to measure customers expectation of service and customer perception of service in the five dimensions. The measurement uses a Likert Scale with seven levels ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The service quality measurement of each pair of questions uses performance minus expectation. A positive score represents positive service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Quality = Performance Expectation Nevertheless, there are numerous of academic studies which do not support these five dimensions. These studies determined that problems occur with this measurement method. Chen (2008) argued that SERVQUAL should add more dimensions to give the result more validity and credibility (Chen, 2008). Carman (1990) argued that each dimension should not be general because each service industry is different. Therefore, this model could not be used in the same format across industries (Carman, 1990). Although, there are weak points existing in SERVQUAL model, the concept of dimensions is still useful and when anyone interested in service quality issue, one choice which remind is SERVQUAL scale because its great to demonstrative power (Jain and Gupta, 2004). Then, it is used frequently today. SERVPERF Scale When discuss about SERVQUAL scale, it can not forgot to talks about SERVPERF scale as well. SERVPERF is one of service quality measurement scale. The results of both scale (SERVQUAL and SERVPERF), when compare these method to each other, the result which occurs are quite similar. However, there are differences in measuring process. Moreover, it is difference in reliability. To classify divergence between SERVQUAL scale and SERVPERF could be concise explain as following; SERVQUAL use customers expectation of service and customer perceived service to find service quality while SERVPERF use only customers perception for consideration. Cronin and Taylor (1992) compare between these two scales a found that SERVPERF is enough for measure service quality. However, the SERVQUAL scale is effective than SERVPERF scale because it provide more pragmatic diagnosis of service quality (Jain and Gupta, 2004). Customer Satisfaction: There are plentiful researchers studies on customer satisfaction. The definition of customer satisfaction is also diverse. Pizam and Ellis(1999) states that customer satisfaction is a psychological concept relating to a feeling of pleasure and well-being which is a result between needs in mind and an appealing product or service (Pizam and Ellis, 1999). The sense of satisfaction brings about positive attitudes which leads a customer seek that satisfying experience again (Assael, 1987). Customer satisfaction also has an influence on corporate survival. Naumann (1995) states that in order to attract a new customer, an organization has to pay costs in the form of time and resources equal to approximately five times that which is necessary to retain an existing customer (Naumann, 1995). Therefore, it leads the organization to determine quality as the ability to retain existing customers. However, not every customer will perceive the same level of satisfaction with the same level of service, because their sense of satisfaction is related to word of mouth communication and their past experiences (Pizam and Ellis, 1999). All people have had different experiences, thus they also have different objectives, needs and expectations. To ensure that the organization provides a high level of service quality, customer satisfaction surveys are necessary. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Bery (1994) suggested that product quality, service quality, and price are each factors that encourage satisfaction (Parasuraman et al., 1994). Customer loyalty develops when customers become satisfied with these different factors provided by the organization (Farrington et al., 2009). The following is a conceptual framework showing the connection of each element which involves customer satisfaction. Figure 3: A Conceptual Framework for the Effects of Perceived Product Quality, Service Quality, and Pricing Fairness on Consumer Satisfaction and Consumer Loyalty Customer Satisfaction Product Quality Perceived Product Quality Perceived Service Quality Service Quality Customer Loyalty Perceived Price Fairness Price Source: (Bei and Chiao, 2001) Understanding the critical elements described above, how they are related, and how they help the organization is a foundation to success in the service industry. Data required: The data required for this study would be based in information collected from Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok customers. This research also requires the use of SERVQUAL as the main model to help measure service quality. Furthermore, may utilize some other theories from journal articles and textbooks which are related to this research. Other sources of information may include Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts information, particularly with regards to general information and occupancy data as required supporting in this research. Data sources: This research will utilize the following two types of data: Primary data: The primary data for this research will be collected from 100 hotel customers who stay at the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok for least one night. The guests will be selected by simple random sampling technique, and they will fill out questionnaires regarding hotel service quality. Each questionnaire shall contain three parts: the first part will be general information of respondent, the second part will be about the expectations and perception service quality, and third part is level of satisfaction of the customer. Secondary data: The secondary data will be gathered from literature such as journal articles, textbooks, Shangri-la Hotel, Bangkok data and hotel website sources. The process of data collection shall be conducted from July to August, 2010. Data collection techniques: This research would be collects the data from 100 of customers of Shangri-La hotel, Bangkok who stay at the hotel at least one night. The researcher would be select population sample by employ random sampling method and using questionnaire as the tools. The measuring service quality instrument in this research is SERVQUAL. The questionnaire composes of three parts as following; First part is about demographic data of customers; 1) gender, 2) age, 3) country of resident, 4) reason for stay, and 5) why they selected Shangri-La hotel, Bangkok as a place to stay. Second part, it would be focusing on customers expectation of service quality (customers expectations) and received service quality (customers perceptions), in this area customer would answer both of these two aspects into SERVQUAL dimensions. This research would use Likerts scale to measure into five point scales. Likerts scale is a instrument to help measure attitude and opinion (Laerhoven et al., 2004). On the customers expectation question side and customers perception question side would be ask customer to give rate ranging from Strongly Disagree 1,2,3,4,5 Strongly Agree. Third part would be ask customer one question about their satisfaction of overall hotel service quality. In addition, researcher would leave the area for customer to add any recommendation. Data analysis: As for this research would be use R software (R Development Core Team, 2009) to help analyze questionnaire survey. Then would be using descriptive analysis and present it as table form, pie chart, and percentage calculated would be show. The standard deviation (SD) and mean are also would include. Timeline: Researcher has 13 weeks to process this report. This research process began on May 22, 2010. Due date of research proposal is on June 20, 2009. As for research final report is require to be submit on August 22, 2010 Table 4: Timeline Research Methodology: The precise measurement of hotel service quality is vital in order to be success in the hotel business. Because it helps hotel management to understand the hotel service quality level which hotel staff provide to customer. Without an appropriate measurement, it would be difficult to understand the expectation and satisfaction of customer and moreover, it would be difficult to create the strategies to upgrade hotel service quality. This research survey adopted the questionnaire 25 parallel items from (Mey et al., 2006) which is proper use to measure in hotel service quality industry, instead of using the original SERVQUAL questionnaire of 22 parallel items which establish by (Parasuraman et al., 1988). This research uses the quantitative as the main methods. Refer to the questionnaire, this research intends to identify and analyze the gaps between customer expectations and customer perceives service quality. The objective of this paper is to measure customer satisfaction and hotel service quality of the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok. The questionnaire survey was divided into three categories. The first category was demographic data and travelling characteristics of respondents. The second category was to investigate the customer expectation and customer perception regarding hotel service quality by using SERVQUAL dimensions. In this part of questionnaire were on 5-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly Disagree 1,2,3,4,5 Strongly Agree. The last category was asked one question about the overall satisfaction regarding the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok service quality. Generally, the five stars hotel even in Bangkok had a strong policy which concern with guest privacy issues and not allowed the external people to do survey in the hotel. However, the researcher had been trainee and employee at the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok for two years; with this reason, the hotel was confidence and permits the researcher to do survey eventually, because the hotel saw that this research survey would gain more benefits to the hotel than disadvantage. The Sampling The researcher faced the problems during doing the survey; the questionnaire survey prepared for customer at the hotel check-in/ out counter. In the beginning front office attendant was given the questionnaire survey to customers when they are check-in and aim to get it back after they are check-out. Most of customers got the questionnaire survey from front officer, but indeed they are not completed it questionnaire. To reduce uncompleted questionnaire, the front office attendant was change to given questionnaire survey to customer during they were checking-out instead, and return it from customer promptly. However, the front office attendant was not enforced customer to fill out the questionnaire, if they were reluctant. The samples were 100 hotel customers who stay at the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok at least one night. However, the researcher collected data from 100 hotel respondents as aims. Results and Analysis: The questionnaire composes of three sections as following; First Section It is about demographic data of customers; 1) gender, 2) age, 3) country of resident, 4) reason for stay, and 5) why they selected Shangri-La hotel, Bangkok as a place to stay. Demographic Data Gender of respondent According to result, it indicated that the majority of the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok customer were female than male. Female were 63% and male 37%. There were female customers almost 2 times of male customers. See table 5. Table 5: Frequency and Percentage of Gender Gender Frequency Percentage Male 37 37 Female 63 63 Total 100 100 The result of elaborating on male and female were showed in figured below; Figure 4: Gender of hotel customer 2. Age of respondents This research survey classifies the age of hotel customer into 4 categories; 1) below 30 years, 2) 31 40 years, 3) 41 50 years, and 3) above 50 years. The result indicated that the majority of the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok customer were between 31 40 years (60%), were below 30 years (28%), 41 50 years (9%), and above 50 (3%) respectively. See table 6. Table 6: Frequency and Percentage of Age Age Frequency Percentage Below 30 year 28 28 31 40 year 60 60 41 50 year 9 9 Above 50 3 3 Total 100 100 The result of elaborating on age of hotel customer was showed in figured below; Figure 5: Age of hotel customer Resident country of respondent According to result, it indicated that the majority of the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok customer was had resident country in China (13%). Also were USA (12%); Japan (10%); Australia, Thailand and Singapore (7%); UAE (6%); England, German, Hong Kong, Italy and Korea (5%); India (4%); Canada (3%); Span and France (2%); Belgium and New Zealand (1%) respectively. See table 7. Table 7: Frequency and Percentage of Resident Country Resident Country Frequency Percentage Australia 7 7 Belgium 1 1 Canada 3 3 China 13 13 England 5 5 France 2 2 German 5 5 Hong Kong 5 5 India 4 4 Italy 5 5 Japan 10 10 Korea 5 5 New Zealand 1 1 Singapore 7 7 Span 2 2 Thailand 7 7 UAE 6 6 USA 12 12 Total 100 100 The result of elaborating on resident country of hotel customer was showed in figured below; Figure 6: Resident country of hotel customer The main objective of respondents for staying at Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok The result showed that the most of the hotel customer come to stay at the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok significantly for leisure as main objective (84%). And also for business (16%). See table 8. Table 8: Frequency and Percentage of Objective for Stay Objective for Stay Frequency Percentage For Leisure 84 84 For Business 16 16 Total 100 100 The result of elaborating on objective for Stay of hotel customer was showed in figured below; Figure 7: Objective for Stay of hotel customer Reason of Select Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok for stay This research survey c

Internet Access: Flat Fee Vs. Pay-per-use :: essays research papers

Internet Access: Flat Fee vs. Pay-Per-Use Most Internet users are either not charged to access information, or pay a low-cost flat fee. The Information SuperHighway, on the other hand, will likely be based upon a pay-per-use model. On a gross level, one might say that the payment model for the Internet is closer to that of broadcast (or perhaps cable) television while the model for the Information SuperHighway is likely to be more like that of pay-per-view T.V. "Pay-per-use" environments affect user access habits. "Flat fee" situations encourage exploration. Users in flat-fee environments navigate through webs of information and tend to make serendipitous discoveries. "Pay- per-use" situations give the public the incentive to focus their attention on what they know they already want, or to look for well-known items previously recommended by others. In "pay-per-use" environments, people tend to follow more traditional paths of discovery, and seldom explore totally unexpected avenues. "Pay-per-use" environments discourage browsing. Imagine how a person's reading habits would change if they had to pay for each article they looked at in a magazine or newspaper. Yet many of the most interesting things we learn about or find come from following unknown routes, bumping into things we weren't looking for. (Indeed, Thomas Kuhn makes the claim that, even in the hard sciences, real breakthroughs and interesting discoveries only come from following these unconventional routes [Kuhn, Thomas, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962]). And people who have to pay each time they use a piece of information are likely to increasingly rely upon specialists and experts. For example, in a situation where the reader will have to pay to read each paragraph of background on Bosnia, s/he is more likely to rely upon State Department summaries instead of paying to become more generally informed him/herself. And in the 1970s and 1980s the library world learned that the introduction of expensive pay-per-use databases discouraged individual exploration and introduced the need for intermediaries who specialized in searching techniques. Producers vs. Consumers On the Internet anyone can be an information provider or an information consumer. On the Information SuperHighway most people will be relegated to the role of information consumer. Because services like "movies-on-demand" will drive the technological development of the Information SuperHighway, movies' need for high bandwidth into the home and only narrow bandwidth coming back out will likely dominate. (see Besser, Howard. "Movies on Demand May Significantly Change the Internet", Bulletin of the American Association for Information Science, October 1994) Metaphorically, this will be like a ten-lane highway coming into the home and only a tiny path leading back out (just wide enough to take a credit card number

IQ And Environment :: essays research papers

IQ and environment It is obvious that a person’s intelligence stems from a variety of traits. The task of trying to quantify a person’s intelligence has been a goal of psychologists since before the beginning of this century. One of the important questions that always comes up regarding these tools is what are the tests really measuring? Are they measuring a person’s intelligence? Their ability to perform well on standardized tests? Or just some arbitrary quantity of the person’s IQ? When examining the situations around which these tests are given and the content of the tests themselves, it becomes apparent that however useful the tests may be for standardizing a group’s intellectual ability, they are not a good indicator of intelligence. A person’s environment has a great impact on cognitive abilities. We all perceive situations differently, which is not the only factor to take in to consideration, but it is a very important one. Is the light flickering? Is the paint on the walls an unsettling shade? Is the temperature too hot or too cold? Is the chair uncomfortable? Or in the worst case, do they have an illness that day? To test a person’s mind, it is necessary to utilize their body in the process. If everyone’s body is placed in different conditions during the testing, how is it expected to get standardized results across all the subjects? Everyone has good days and bad days. It is highly unlikely that everyone will be equally prepared for the exam as well as adjusted to the new testing environment. Because of this assumption that everyone will perform equally independent of their environment, intelligence test scores are skewed and cannot be viewed as standardized, and definitely not as an example of a person’s intelligence. Although intelligence tests are the same for everyone who takes it, the information that one is being tested on is relative to the environment in which they were raised. To really gauge a person’s intelligence, it would be necessary to put them through a rigorous set of real-life trials and document their performance. Physical intelligence, conversational intelligence, social intelligence, survival intelligence, and the slew of others are apart of our everyday lives.

An Accusation of Sexual Harassment in Pro Sports Essay

Over the years sexual harassment has been revered on a higher level of unacceptability than ever before. Companies are setting high standards for employees concerning sexual harassment. Usually, they implement a code of ethics to encourage an ethical decision making process in the minds of their employees. People inside an organization need to know what is considered to be illicit behavior. With sexual harassment, the scale is very narrow. It can range from petitioning sexual favors, vulgar language, or any type of inappropriate touching. In the case study, â€Å"An accusation of Sexual harassment in Pro Sports,† the employers were dealing with being accused of verbally abusing and sexually harassing Ms. Brown Sanders over a two year period and once she blew the whistle to top management, she was fired a month later. In my opinion, what is known as sexual harassment was not as popular a decade ago. Today, I feel that the line of intended hospitality and sexual harassment is extremely thin. People must filter what they say, how they say things, and how they may innocently touch the shoulder of their fellow employees, rather male or female. Based on the facts in the Sander’s verses Madison Square Garden (MSG) case, I believe that MSG could not have prevented themselves from liability, according to the Employers Liability for Employee’s Act which states, â€Å"employers are liable for the criminal conduct of their employee’s† (smallbusiness.findlaw.com). According to Principles of Management, the author insists, â€Å"top managers are responsible for monitoring their business environment† (Williams 8). It does not even matter if top management does not know what is going on, they will still be held responsible for their employee’s conduct. If I was a part of Madison Square Garden’s top management, I would make sure that I had a well established code of ethics and I would let it be known that anyone who violates the discretionary measures will be reprimanded to the highest degree, plus fined. I say this because of the environmental changes occurring in the sports world, women are a huge part of the fan base; therefore, to uphold our image, to continue to maximize our profit momentum, to stop unfavorable publicity by the media, and to let women know that we value their opinion, would help us to remain a profitable establishment. In addition, I would do my best to deal with problematic issues with temporal  immediacy. Often victims of sexual harassment have long term effects that can have a tendency to hurt them psychologically, mentally, and emotionally. The allegation against Madison Square Garden in this case does raise an ethical question with regard to the employee’s actions. In my opinion, the company became aware of Ms Brown’s complaint and instead of helping her; they allowed her to be fired. Even when she won her case for 11 million dollars; MSG neglected their social responsibility and threatened that they will appeal the decision, rather than givi ng a formal apology to her and their commentators. One clichà © my grandmother use to say is, â€Å"the apple does not fall far from the tree.† To me, this means that many of the characteristics displayed by the employee’s are simultaneously stemmed from the top. To conclude, nowadays, it is more common for people to report to a higher authority or a supervisor that they have been sexual harassed or assaulted. Once these issues have been acknowledged and report to top management, they should not turn away with blind eyes. Certain actions must take place if a report has been made and the company must figure out what kind of harassment took place, so they can determine what the next step of discipline will be. I believe that companies who have adopted clauses for sexual harassment on men and women were long overdue; especially, with women, who have usually kept silent, but have dealt with solidified objectification for years. Works Cited An Employers Liability for Employee’s Act. Find Law. 27 September, 2014. http://www.smallbusiness.findlaw.com Dessler, Gary. Human Resource Management. An Accusation of Sexual Harassment in Pro Sports. Williams, Chuck. Principles of Management. Top Management Responsibilities. South Western: Madison, OH. 2015. pp. 8.

Organisational Behaviour Assignment

Performance Review Report ————————————————- Cho Cho Phyu Company Limited Group – 2 â€Å"We can say that there can be a change situation, when the people are dissatisfied with the current status or current situation. † Kurt. W. Lewin â€Å"Change can be happened when the people in the organization are open-minded and willing to change. † U Aye Kyaw(MHR) Acknowledgements We would like to express our sincere acknowledgements to all those who have helped us in preparation for this project.Initially, we would especially like to express my gratitude to our teachers- TakeruOhe, PhosyChanhming, and Yasushi Ishida who give the training of COBLAS Myanmar (Consulting Based On Learning Asean Small and Medium Enterprises). We are greatly in debt of gratitude to all of our Myanmar teachers for their encouragement, unflagging support and invaluable guidance throughou t our project. We are very much grateful to Daw Phyu Phyu Seinn, Managing Director of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd (SPIKE Fashion Collection) who allows us to do the research in her company and gives us invaluable datas, information and help which is very important for our project.Furthermore, our special thanks are due to the employees in Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd, for their contribution and help in our change process. Last, we would like to offer my thanks to the authors and publishers mentioned in the references for using their materials in preparing this project. Many thanks to everybody who gave us help and support throughout our project. Executive Summary People are talking about the powerful word called ‘Change’, which is really popular in the human society started from the not more than the past three decades.And yes, this will be happened continuously at every time and in every situation. This is also happened in our business environment. Many literatures say that the e nvironment that the businesses operate is ‘rapidly and massively changing’. So, here are only two questions for all the businesses. Those questions are â€Å"kill? † or â€Å"be killed? †. For the business to be successful in the foreseeable future, it has to be killed the change before it is too late. So, the businesses must have aligned its internal arrangement with the demand of external changes.In this project, we focus on the aspect of ‘Starting up the Human Resource Department and introducing about Customer-led Culture’ at the company called â€Å"SPIKE Fashion Collection†, which is a successful fashion brand in Myanmar. ORGANIZATION PROFILE Cho Cho Phyu Company is started with a humble sole trader business structure in 1992, in the Third Capital City of Myanmar, Mandalay. And then, the business moves to Yangon in 2006 and formed as a private limited company. Also in 2006, Cho Cho Phyu company launched a fashion brand called †˜SPIKE’, which offers woman clothing to both business and consumer markets.Now, SPIKE is very popular brand for its local target markets of both Upper Lower and Lower Middle classes who live in suburb areas. Now Cho Cho Phyu hasTwoShow Rooms, in some downtown areas and TwoGarment Factories, which are operating very well. Business Canvas CUSTOMER SEGMENTS 1 Upper Lower Classes Lower Middle Classes VALUE PROPOSITION 2 ‘Spike’ is a fashion brand which is well established and has a good quality and reasonable price to its target market. the design is the main proposition for it, which is mostly emphasise on the comfort and confidence for its targets. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP 4Personal Assistant, Email, Phone, Letters DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS 3 Indirect Channel Direct Channel Consignment KEY RESOURCES 6 Reasonable Market Experience KEY ACTIVITIES 7 Cutting, Making , Packaging, Selling and Distribution PARTNERS 8 COST STRUCTURE 9 Social / Environmental Costs Financial Risk Capital Investment REVENUE STREAMS 5 Business community Well established Brand Seven Colour Textile Co. ,Ltd Long Foung Laung Yee ‘Spike’ aims to generate small revenues from a large number of customer designed items. This represents a valuable addition to Spike Fashion Collection. SWOT Analysis Strengths Customer loyalty / relationshipsProduction quality High production efficiency Skillful employees S W O T Weaknesses Poor Human Resource Management Lack of Plan Lack of clear mission, vision & goals Opportunities Changing customer’s needs Technological advance Get offer from ASEAN free trade Fashion trend changes of different ages Threats Changing the taste and preferences of the customers. the direct investment of the foreign companies. Main Issues As Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd is just transforming from Sole Trader business structure to Limited Liability Company (LLC), there are many problems associated with conventional or traditional management style.Many theorist s say that most of the business owners are still getting lost in this change period, as they do reflect and remember their past behaviors, which are very well relevant for them in the past. In this firm, employee are dissatisfied with their job as they do not get the benefits and privileges that can get easily in the external market or in other companies. The Bureaucratic decision-making and less delegating also lead the whole organization to feel stifle and less important. Moreover, no Human Resource Department leads to become unstructured and unsystematic procedure in dealing with employee aspects.As a consequence, there are many unmatched job responsibilities and position. Employees do not know ‘what are their rights? ’ and â€Å"what are strictly forbidden/†. Initial Stage (prelude) We met with the Managing Director of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd and discussed about the matters that are currently arising within the Company. After discussing about the matters, we m ade an agreement with MD of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd and we sent TOR (Term of Reference) Letter to make the agreement. After due consideration of all aspects, our group started to work the following activities. Investigation methodsResearch Design Exploratory: After getting the permission from company’s board of director, we started to discuss what factors of Cho Cho Phyu Co. ,Ltd contribute to employee satisfaction. Because of time and budget constraints, we were unable to conduct focus groups or in depth interviews. By doing interview, we developed the research design. Descriptive: To gain a better un derstanding of the problem, and to clarify the research questions, we conducted secondary research to discover what experts say aboutemployee salary scales. This research allowed us to gain a solid understanding of the business.We clearly describe about the process of our research and data process through clear clarification in our ‘Employee Job Satisfaction Report’ . Force Field Analysis For every change management, the most vital thing to consider is that whether this change is needed or not. To know the solution, we made investigations by using interviewing, questionnaire and scanning the environment. After being investigated the whole environment, we can suggest that the Cho Cho Phyu is needed to set the Human Resource Department. As the nature of organization comprises with human beings, there can be complexity of human emotions and psychological implications.People always feel threaten because of change. So in this situation, there is no doubt that this will be happened too. Then when we look at Lewis Force Field, there are two forces – the positive forces for change and obstacles of change. there will be change of the positive forces are greater than obstacles. Driving Forces * Demographic Changes In previous days, there are few places for all customers to buy products or whatever they want. After 1998, the demographic changes inc ur and customers now have habits to buy things at retail stores. Now, customers are very choosy, know they have a right to sue and knowledgeable.Moreover, every customer thinks they are paramount for every businesses. * Various Stakeholders Interests Stakeholders are those who are interested in the business activities and can be affected by the business operations. There is declined in organization’s profit level at those days. Poor customer management skills and overlooking the customers’ needs and expectations made the Cho Cho Phyu bad image. For Cho Cho Phyu, employees are the best valuable assets which cannot be copied or imitate. Also, there is a strong relationship between the Employee Job Satisfaction and Customer satisfaction. * Political ChangesAfter changing government and political policies in 1989, the economic condition of Myanmar is gradually increasing. Changing from socialist economy to market economy gave the Myanmar economy to become more developments and beneficial returns. In 2015, there will be an AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Agreement) issues. So, many SMEs and large scale businesses are starting to prepare for the unseen able future changes. * Competitors’ Reactions In Myanmar, there are same businesses like SPIKE Fashion Collection. The main rivalries for the SPIKE are D2, ,who are aggressively aiming to satisfy the customer requirements. * Economic IssuesIn Myanmar economy, there are too many uncertainties for every businesses. Also the implication of globalization of markets, organization must learn to break the limited mindset of national markets to compete on a worldwide basis (Ghoshal and Butler, 1992). Restraining Forces * Habits For every complexities, everybody rely on habits or programmed responses. People are difficult to change if they are naturally habited. * Security Even people at the high level can resist if the change is threatening to their feeling of safety. For staffs, there can be a sense of insecurity of being the nature of culture change due to the fear of unknown. Group Inertia Even if individual want to change, there can be resistances, which are constraint to the group norms. In Cho Cho Phyu Company Limited, there are many resistances – perceived habits of the shop floor workers, the current perceived culture of the worker, the status quo of the workers, and uncertainty of the desire situation. So, we made some assumptions that as this is a culturaland department change, the incremental change could be more appropriate forCho Cho Phyu Company in this development process. RESTRAINING FORCES (Obstacles for Change) Present State or Desired State DRIVING FORCES Positive Forces for Change) Lewin’s Force Field Analysis Excerpt from www. changemanagement-coach. com Impact Area Analysis Impact area analysis means analyzing the area which will have impacts because of the nature of effect of change. So, weanalyzed the whole organization and after the investigation, this change is mainly depended on the whole organization but the Top management has already been committed to set up the HR department. Then, the impact area was now clarified, our main aim is to change the perceived culture of the Middle and First Floor level of the organization. The Required BehavioursThe required behavior for this change are as followed: The customers in Myanmar are now very educated, knowledgeable and very complaining. Not only about customer, also the competitive reactions are so intense. So, for retail chain like SHMT Home Mart, the required behavior will be as followed; * Lean and structured Organization * Well and systematic HR Department, HR Policies, Practices and Procedures * Rightful design of job * Better place to work. Prudence that We All need to Aware * This process is a ‘Change’ process. * Examine whether it needs to do or not. * We must have ‘Management’ it well, until it reaches the proper end. This is not an ‘Event†™, this a â€Å"Journey†. * Many people give ‘Bloods and Lives’ during the Change Process. * ‘Resentments or conflicts’ can occur during the whole phase. * We cannot do it lightly, and when we dealt with it ‘there is no turning back’ * There is a ‘Time Constraint’. Role of Change Sponsor or Leader In this change process, Ms. Phyu Phyu Seinn, MD, is the leader, an inspirational leader. Before she communicates about the new ‘Culture’, firstly, she must build the level of trust, which Stephen. P. Robbins means that there are dimensions of integrity, competence, consistence, loyalty and openness.As she is a leader, she must do the to minimize the possible employees’ resistance. The main task for the leader are as followed: * Know his employees. * Know his customers * Think about the desired results * Empower People * Create a Win–Win situation In this situation, Phyu Phyu Seinn acted as a ‘Tran sformational Leader’, that is, â€Å"Leaders who inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organization by clarifying role and task requirements. †, â€Å"Leaders who are also capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on their follower. † Stephen P. Robbins.For Mr. Chan, changing the nature of ‘Customer unimportant Culture’ to ‘Customer-centric Culture’. Transforming the old believes to new opposite one. On the other hand, Phyu Phyu Seinn also acted as a ‘Sponsor’ who provides resources, authority, or reinforcement neededto accomplish change and has the authority to modify reward systems or otheraspects of organizational culture. Role of Change Agent Change Agent means that â€Å"Persons who act as catalysts & assume the responsibility for managing change†Robbins et al 1994 Qualities of the Change Agent * Flexibility * Objectivity * Commitment Leadership and inspiration o f others * Ability to handle uncertainty * Organizational Awareness * Sense of Humor Here are tasks for the Change Agent, which was identified by for SHMT Home Mart culture change process. The tasks of the change agent are: to get the commitment to the change from the impact groups, to set up and strengthen the change network, to disseminate the information about change, to help and support the groups in implementing change processes, to make involvement and educate others to participate in the change, to monitor the whole change process. The First Stage . We prepared an Employee Profile Form to know the length of services, knowledge, qualifications, and summary of the current position. The total workforce number is 46 in Head Quarter. We made the entire total workforce to fill up the employee profile to know the record of the employees. 2. Analyzed the detail aspects of the job by using interviewing methods. 3. Sent out the job satisfaction questionnaires to know the satisfaction r ate of employee. 4. Redraft and rethink the old bloated and ineffective organizational chart to ensure that human resources are fit with the right job. . Sent out the new job description HR Manager post to set up the proper HR Department. * Posted in Institutes and in some Universities. * Advertised through internet * Linked with Employment Agency * Posted in internal Notice Board 6. Started to with Billion Forces Co. , Ltd to introduce the HRIS software. The Second Stage 1. Draft and prepared Job Descriptions and Person Specifications to know the detail of their tasks, duties and responsibilities. 2. Set HR Policies in line with Organization Strategy and Philosophy 3.Prepared HR Forms in accordance with HR policy and procedures to have a proper and systematic HR system. 4. Completed an Employee Handbook, both in English and Myanmar, which constitutes all the aspects of HR policies, Attendance and leaves, and some procedures. 5. Interviewed to all the applicants, to get the right pe rson at the right job in the right place. 6. Redrew a New Organization Chart, which is more effective, and lean structure than ever. the Third Stage 1. Implement the new organizational structure andHR procedures and rules, and transferred all the necessary HR forms. 2.Set new salary scale level in accordance with secondary research data published by MRS (Myanmar Research Survey), 2011. 3. Held Human Resource Management Training to all the managerial and supervisor level, to know the importance of the Human Resource Management in the business organization. 4. Introduce the new figure print system to know the attendance of each and every employee. 5. Introduce the Employee Cards to record and improve the customer service and know the attendance of each and every employee. MD HR Manager Sr. Operation Manager Finance Manager Sale & Marketing ExecutiveAdministrative Manager Sr. Designer HR Officer As. Production Manager As. Logistic Manager As. Procurement Manager Chief Accountant Accoun tant-1 Accountant-2 Stock Controller Cashier (Shop 1) Cashier (Shop 2) SCM Administrative Officer Sale Manager Mobile Team Leader Sale Staff (Shop-2) Sale Staff (Shop-1) Mobile Team member IMC Officer Jr. Designer Inbound L. Officer Production Supervisors Production Leaders SCM Outbound L. Officer Managing the People issues – Human Resource Management Strategy As organizationis comprising with people, there is more or less human resource factors for us to consider.Torrington and Hall (2008) defined ‘Human Resource Strategy’ as ‘a central philosophy that people in the organization are managed and transition of this into HR policies and practices, to become effective, policies and procedures need to be integrated with business or organizational strategy’. In here, we are needed to be considered is that the HR strategy must ‘Fit’ with business strategy which means ‘employees are seen as key in the implementation of the declared organi zational strategy and human resource strategy is designed to fit with it. ’ Torrington and Hall (2008)The main aims of aligning the HRM with organizational strategy are to ensure the best utilization of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd employees to generate the organization performance and to reduce the level of risk by arranging and organizing the right people, in the right place, to the right job and in the right time. For human resource issues, we drew a plan, which is to cover most likely cases of Cho Cho Phyu Company people issues. Topics covered for Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd are as followed: Motivating, Training and development, Reward System, managing Psychological issues and Appraisal systems. Motivating or Committing others to Change For every successful change management process, the motivation of the followers is one of the factors to consider. ‘For most changes, people’s past experience of change can affect the level of commitment and willingness to support furthe r change’ John Hayes (2002). So, as this is the first time for Cho Cho Phyu, we have a responsibility to win this change. To motivate the workforce, we set, firstly, a proper goal and linked with the non-financialreward system of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd.We also set MD and Human Resource Manager as a role model for this change by visiting stores for every weeks, dealing with customers and giving speeches to employees about the importance ‘customers’. * Training Program Another issue during the department start-up time, we need to think about the ‘training program’. This is a new culture, people will not be familiar with it. For the first step, they have to understand what the new culture means for them. As this is the new culture, most of the sale staffs and supervisors would require a certain specific training for their job purposes.Each and every individual employees will be tested to ensure that they do have qualifications, skills and experiences to work with the new culture. We empowered change agents (managers) to persuade the workforce to attend and commit to the new culture. * Reward and appraisal system Another aspect is the reward and appraisal system. Organizational rewards are powerful incentives for improving employee and work group performance. Based on ‘carrot and stick’ metaphor, we set both tangible and intangible rewards for workforce. We made variety of reward, which is linked, with the culture of the organization.Reward such as recognition, contests, games, financial rewards, incentives, employee of the month or year awards which are mainly to show the appreciation for employee effort. We also made the reward systems link to the needs and wants of the individual employees. We used House’s Path-goal theory to motivate the workforce. * Managing Psychological Issues As people are human beings, there was many resistances to the new culture. Many people feel they were defeated, threatened, coerci ve by the new culture. Some people feel demoralized, stressful and frustrated for the change.So, from human resource management view point, we have a responsibility to take care and manage the psychological issues of the affected employees. That is why, we have made an agreement with HR department to make employee assistance program (EAP), stress management program and work-life-balance program. During the culture changing process, there can be some degree of redundancy. So, for survivors from the cuts, there can be shock, bitterness, anger and also peer and group pressures. Survivors need information about ‘why action had to be taken’ and ‘what the future holds for them personally’. Compensation and Ethical Considerations During the change process, there can many be issues like layoffs and compensations for those who resist change. So, we made some financial and non-financial transition arrangements. we arranged transition stay bonus and outplacement progr ams for all the layoffs employees. As most of employees at Cho Cho Phyu are between twenty and twenty-eight, there are much potential for their whole life long. So, Ms. Aung arranged personal career counseling, resume preparation and typing services, interviewing workshops and referral assistance in the outplacement programs.Initiating and implementing the new ‘Customer-centric’ Culture â€Å"The change process goes through a series of stages that, in total, usually require a considerable length of time. Skipping stages creates only the illusion of speed and never produces a satisfying result. †John Kotter, Leading Change To implement the new organizational culture, we were followed the model described by Kurt Lewis (1951). This is one of the best change model that is combining the theories of sociology and psychology, developed a three stage model for large-scale system change. Unfreezing phase This is the establishing stage for Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd, which is forced by the environment to implement the customer-centric culture as their competitors, or back off from this aggressive market. Unfreezing phase is first step of the Lewin’s change transition stages, where people are taken from the situation of being unready to change to the firststep of being able and willing to change. Schein(1995) states that in order for change to occur, there must be a combination of both adding driving force and removing restraining forces.Creating a sense of crisis will bring the whole components in the company into one voice. As the main aim of this stage is to ‘let go’ the old culture of the organization, we, firstly, searched the bad points of the current culture and linked it with the issues and problems currently faced by the SHMT Home Mart. This step is the most important fundamental step for this whole change, we created a crisis – ‘burning platform’ to reduce the level of trust on the currently using culture. According to many researchers, most of the change processes are failed because of the unreliable vision and strategy.So, for second, we created a persuasive vision – ‘what we want to be? , then communicate it to the whole organization, to overcome the current crisis situation of the Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd. By drawing a clear vision and strategy in how to achieve that vision, the employees will understand how the new system will benefit them and they will progressively change their effort to support the implementation of the new culture. We made change agentsto set clear vision of customer-centricculture in implementation process of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd.According to Lewin, this is a phase, which melt down the old beliefs, assumptions, and paradigm of organization. * Transition Phase this is a changing phase form the old undesired situation to the new desire situation. This is the hardest part for every individual to start. So, Ms. Aung, also made a pioneer team to fac ilitate the change situation. In this phase, the leader has to act like a king or role model. We made some form of coaching, counseling, reward, appraisal system, motivation and other psychological support for this phase.This phase get rid of anything which may vulnerablethe implementation plan of change process, including any unsuitable ideas, company structures, activities as well as existing beliefs which may potentially undermining or threatening the new culture implementation. Linking the reward and performance is very important for all change management process, and also with punitive actions. A sense of motivation is now needed for all employees to go to the goal of the organization. The project team also provided plenty of penalties of options for employee involvement in this change process.Giving opportunities to have delegation and empowerment can get the commitment of the employees. By announcing the short-term success also made the whole organization to generate motivati on. * Refreezing phase At the end of our journey, the final goal is to ‘refreeze’ the situation. Making short-term wins made the whole change process to run smoothly. As this new culture is very beneficial for both organization and staffs, each and every employees are very enthusiastic with the change. But in every change, there can be a ‘Marathon Effect’ that is some people reached the aim while other people are still running from the start.Visionary and icon leadership supports, proper reward systems, and reliable feedback systems made the change process to get success. we also made the training and development sessions for all the impacted employees to get the desired and required results from change management. For every change, there can be a fall back to the old undesired stage. That is why we made ‘burning bridges’ to ensure that there is no way to go back by establishing proper rules, regulations and policies and rewarding the successfu l employees whose behavior are aligned with the desired behavior. Communication StrategyCommunicating about the change throughout the whole organization is also the main point for all change champion, change leader and change agents to consider. Varey also said that ‘culture and communication cannot be separated’. People may feel shock, and deny in the first place, if the communication strategy is not well. So, we found out that we have to arrange it in the right timing during the transition process. We also used both formal and informal communication structure. In this strategy, we made people more rely on the formal communication system (that is – meetings, speeches, briefing, discussion, memo, notice etc. rather than informal (that is – rumors, gossips, conjectures and opinions). We planned the communication more focus on ‘what, when, who and how’, but there is no formula about the communication that can apply in all situation. In some circ umstances, change agents may advocate a complete openness of about all the issues to the impact groups. Conclusion This change management is concerned not only for the employee job satisfactions and delights but also for the business organizations to get competitive advantage.In this changing environment, the environment that the businesses operate is rapidly and massively changing. Notable experience is that, in Myanmar, the demographic changes have hugely impact on the Myanmar Businesses. As it is a culture change for Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd, we faced with many problems and it may take more than 1 year for the whole organization to accept and exercise the new culture. Although it is a new culture for the whole organization, it is very beneficial for both employees and employer. Because of that point, we can implement the whole change management in successful behavior. Organisational Behaviour Assignment Performance Review Report ————————————————- Cho Cho Phyu Company Limited Group – 2 â€Å"We can say that there can be a change situation, when the people are dissatisfied with the current status or current situation. † Kurt. W. Lewin â€Å"Change can be happened when the people in the organization are open-minded and willing to change. † U Aye Kyaw(MHR) Acknowledgements We would like to express our sincere acknowledgements to all those who have helped us in preparation for this project.Initially, we would especially like to express my gratitude to our teachers- TakeruOhe, PhosyChanhming, and Yasushi Ishida who give the training of COBLAS Myanmar (Consulting Based On Learning Asean Small and Medium Enterprises). We are greatly in debt of gratitude to all of our Myanmar teachers for their encouragement, unflagging support and invaluable guidance throughou t our project. We are very much grateful to Daw Phyu Phyu Seinn, Managing Director of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd (SPIKE Fashion Collection) who allows us to do the research in her company and gives us invaluable datas, information and help which is very important for our project.Furthermore, our special thanks are due to the employees in Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd, for their contribution and help in our change process. Last, we would like to offer my thanks to the authors and publishers mentioned in the references for using their materials in preparing this project. Many thanks to everybody who gave us help and support throughout our project. Executive Summary People are talking about the powerful word called ‘Change’, which is really popular in the human society started from the not more than the past three decades.And yes, this will be happened continuously at every time and in every situation. This is also happened in our business environment. Many literatures say that the e nvironment that the businesses operate is ‘rapidly and massively changing’. So, here are only two questions for all the businesses. Those questions are â€Å"kill? † or â€Å"be killed? †. For the business to be successful in the foreseeable future, it has to be killed the change before it is too late. So, the businesses must have aligned its internal arrangement with the demand of external changes.In this project, we focus on the aspect of ‘Starting up the Human Resource Department and introducing about Customer-led Culture’ at the company called â€Å"SPIKE Fashion Collection†, which is a successful fashion brand in Myanmar. ORGANIZATION PROFILE Cho Cho Phyu Company is started with a humble sole trader business structure in 1992, in the Third Capital City of Myanmar, Mandalay. And then, the business moves to Yangon in 2006 and formed as a private limited company. Also in 2006, Cho Cho Phyu company launched a fashion brand called †˜SPIKE’, which offers woman clothing to both business and consumer markets.Now, SPIKE is very popular brand for its local target markets of both Upper Lower and Lower Middle classes who live in suburb areas. Now Cho Cho Phyu hasTwoShow Rooms, in some downtown areas and TwoGarment Factories, which are operating very well. Business Canvas CUSTOMER SEGMENTS 1 Upper Lower Classes Lower Middle Classes VALUE PROPOSITION 2 ‘Spike’ is a fashion brand which is well established and has a good quality and reasonable price to its target market. the design is the main proposition for it, which is mostly emphasise on the comfort and confidence for its targets. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP 4Personal Assistant, Email, Phone, Letters DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS 3 Indirect Channel Direct Channel Consignment KEY RESOURCES 6 Reasonable Market Experience KEY ACTIVITIES 7 Cutting, Making , Packaging, Selling and Distribution PARTNERS 8 COST STRUCTURE 9 Social / Environmental Costs Financial Risk Capital Investment REVENUE STREAMS 5 Business community Well established Brand Seven Colour Textile Co. ,Ltd Long Foung Laung Yee ‘Spike’ aims to generate small revenues from a large number of customer designed items. This represents a valuable addition to Spike Fashion Collection. SWOT Analysis Strengths Customer loyalty / relationshipsProduction quality High production efficiency Skillful employees S W O T Weaknesses Poor Human Resource Management Lack of Plan Lack of clear mission, vision & goals Opportunities Changing customer’s needs Technological advance Get offer from ASEAN free trade Fashion trend changes of different ages Threats Changing the taste and preferences of the customers. the direct investment of the foreign companies. Main Issues As Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd is just transforming from Sole Trader business structure to Limited Liability Company (LLC), there are many problems associated with conventional or traditional management style.Many theorist s say that most of the business owners are still getting lost in this change period, as they do reflect and remember their past behaviors, which are very well relevant for them in the past. In this firm, employee are dissatisfied with their job as they do not get the benefits and privileges that can get easily in the external market or in other companies. The Bureaucratic decision-making and less delegating also lead the whole organization to feel stifle and less important. Moreover, no Human Resource Department leads to become unstructured and unsystematic procedure in dealing with employee aspects.As a consequence, there are many unmatched job responsibilities and position. Employees do not know ‘what are their rights? ’ and â€Å"what are strictly forbidden/†. Initial Stage (prelude) We met with the Managing Director of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd and discussed about the matters that are currently arising within the Company. After discussing about the matters, we m ade an agreement with MD of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd and we sent TOR (Term of Reference) Letter to make the agreement. After due consideration of all aspects, our group started to work the following activities. Investigation methodsResearch Design Exploratory: After getting the permission from company’s board of director, we started to discuss what factors of Cho Cho Phyu Co. ,Ltd contribute to employee satisfaction. Because of time and budget constraints, we were unable to conduct focus groups or in depth interviews. By doing interview, we developed the research design. Descriptive: To gain a better un derstanding of the problem, and to clarify the research questions, we conducted secondary research to discover what experts say aboutemployee salary scales. This research allowed us to gain a solid understanding of the business.We clearly describe about the process of our research and data process through clear clarification in our ‘Employee Job Satisfaction Report’ . Force Field Analysis For every change management, the most vital thing to consider is that whether this change is needed or not. To know the solution, we made investigations by using interviewing, questionnaire and scanning the environment. After being investigated the whole environment, we can suggest that the Cho Cho Phyu is needed to set the Human Resource Department. As the nature of organization comprises with human beings, there can be complexity of human emotions and psychological implications.People always feel threaten because of change. So in this situation, there is no doubt that this will be happened too. Then when we look at Lewis Force Field, there are two forces – the positive forces for change and obstacles of change. there will be change of the positive forces are greater than obstacles. Driving Forces * Demographic Changes In previous days, there are few places for all customers to buy products or whatever they want. After 1998, the demographic changes inc ur and customers now have habits to buy things at retail stores. Now, customers are very choosy, know they have a right to sue and knowledgeable.Moreover, every customer thinks they are paramount for every businesses. * Various Stakeholders Interests Stakeholders are those who are interested in the business activities and can be affected by the business operations. There is declined in organization’s profit level at those days. Poor customer management skills and overlooking the customers’ needs and expectations made the Cho Cho Phyu bad image. For Cho Cho Phyu, employees are the best valuable assets which cannot be copied or imitate. Also, there is a strong relationship between the Employee Job Satisfaction and Customer satisfaction. * Political ChangesAfter changing government and political policies in 1989, the economic condition of Myanmar is gradually increasing. Changing from socialist economy to market economy gave the Myanmar economy to become more developments and beneficial returns. In 2015, there will be an AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Agreement) issues. So, many SMEs and large scale businesses are starting to prepare for the unseen able future changes. * Competitors’ Reactions In Myanmar, there are same businesses like SPIKE Fashion Collection. The main rivalries for the SPIKE are D2, ,who are aggressively aiming to satisfy the customer requirements. * Economic IssuesIn Myanmar economy, there are too many uncertainties for every businesses. Also the implication of globalization of markets, organization must learn to break the limited mindset of national markets to compete on a worldwide basis (Ghoshal and Butler, 1992). Restraining Forces * Habits For every complexities, everybody rely on habits or programmed responses. People are difficult to change if they are naturally habited. * Security Even people at the high level can resist if the change is threatening to their feeling of safety. For staffs, there can be a sense of insecurity of being the nature of culture change due to the fear of unknown. Group Inertia Even if individual want to change, there can be resistances, which are constraint to the group norms. In Cho Cho Phyu Company Limited, there are many resistances – perceived habits of the shop floor workers, the current perceived culture of the worker, the status quo of the workers, and uncertainty of the desire situation. So, we made some assumptions that as this is a culturaland department change, the incremental change could be more appropriate forCho Cho Phyu Company in this development process. RESTRAINING FORCES (Obstacles for Change) Present State or Desired State DRIVING FORCES Positive Forces for Change) Lewin’s Force Field Analysis Excerpt from www. changemanagement-coach. com Impact Area Analysis Impact area analysis means analyzing the area which will have impacts because of the nature of effect of change. So, weanalyzed the whole organization and after the investigation, this change is mainly depended on the whole organization but the Top management has already been committed to set up the HR department. Then, the impact area was now clarified, our main aim is to change the perceived culture of the Middle and First Floor level of the organization. The Required BehavioursThe required behavior for this change are as followed: The customers in Myanmar are now very educated, knowledgeable and very complaining. Not only about customer, also the competitive reactions are so intense. So, for retail chain like SHMT Home Mart, the required behavior will be as followed; * Lean and structured Organization * Well and systematic HR Department, HR Policies, Practices and Procedures * Rightful design of job * Better place to work. Prudence that We All need to Aware * This process is a ‘Change’ process. * Examine whether it needs to do or not. * We must have ‘Management’ it well, until it reaches the proper end. This is not an ‘Event†™, this a â€Å"Journey†. * Many people give ‘Bloods and Lives’ during the Change Process. * ‘Resentments or conflicts’ can occur during the whole phase. * We cannot do it lightly, and when we dealt with it ‘there is no turning back’ * There is a ‘Time Constraint’. Role of Change Sponsor or Leader In this change process, Ms. Phyu Phyu Seinn, MD, is the leader, an inspirational leader. Before she communicates about the new ‘Culture’, firstly, she must build the level of trust, which Stephen. P. Robbins means that there are dimensions of integrity, competence, consistence, loyalty and openness.As she is a leader, she must do the to minimize the possible employees’ resistance. The main task for the leader are as followed: * Know his employees. * Know his customers * Think about the desired results * Empower People * Create a Win–Win situation In this situation, Phyu Phyu Seinn acted as a ‘Tran sformational Leader’, that is, â€Å"Leaders who inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organization by clarifying role and task requirements. †, â€Å"Leaders who are also capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on their follower. † Stephen P. Robbins.For Mr. Chan, changing the nature of ‘Customer unimportant Culture’ to ‘Customer-centric Culture’. Transforming the old believes to new opposite one. On the other hand, Phyu Phyu Seinn also acted as a ‘Sponsor’ who provides resources, authority, or reinforcement neededto accomplish change and has the authority to modify reward systems or otheraspects of organizational culture. Role of Change Agent Change Agent means that â€Å"Persons who act as catalysts & assume the responsibility for managing change†Robbins et al 1994 Qualities of the Change Agent * Flexibility * Objectivity * Commitment Leadership and inspiration o f others * Ability to handle uncertainty * Organizational Awareness * Sense of Humor Here are tasks for the Change Agent, which was identified by for SHMT Home Mart culture change process. The tasks of the change agent are: to get the commitment to the change from the impact groups, to set up and strengthen the change network, to disseminate the information about change, to help and support the groups in implementing change processes, to make involvement and educate others to participate in the change, to monitor the whole change process. The First Stage . We prepared an Employee Profile Form to know the length of services, knowledge, qualifications, and summary of the current position. The total workforce number is 46 in Head Quarter. We made the entire total workforce to fill up the employee profile to know the record of the employees. 2. Analyzed the detail aspects of the job by using interviewing methods. 3. Sent out the job satisfaction questionnaires to know the satisfaction r ate of employee. 4. Redraft and rethink the old bloated and ineffective organizational chart to ensure that human resources are fit with the right job. . Sent out the new job description HR Manager post to set up the proper HR Department. * Posted in Institutes and in some Universities. * Advertised through internet * Linked with Employment Agency * Posted in internal Notice Board 6. Started to with Billion Forces Co. , Ltd to introduce the HRIS software. The Second Stage 1. Draft and prepared Job Descriptions and Person Specifications to know the detail of their tasks, duties and responsibilities. 2. Set HR Policies in line with Organization Strategy and Philosophy 3.Prepared HR Forms in accordance with HR policy and procedures to have a proper and systematic HR system. 4. Completed an Employee Handbook, both in English and Myanmar, which constitutes all the aspects of HR policies, Attendance and leaves, and some procedures. 5. Interviewed to all the applicants, to get the right pe rson at the right job in the right place. 6. Redrew a New Organization Chart, which is more effective, and lean structure than ever. the Third Stage 1. Implement the new organizational structure andHR procedures and rules, and transferred all the necessary HR forms. 2.Set new salary scale level in accordance with secondary research data published by MRS (Myanmar Research Survey), 2011. 3. Held Human Resource Management Training to all the managerial and supervisor level, to know the importance of the Human Resource Management in the business organization. 4. Introduce the new figure print system to know the attendance of each and every employee. 5. Introduce the Employee Cards to record and improve the customer service and know the attendance of each and every employee. MD HR Manager Sr. Operation Manager Finance Manager Sale & Marketing ExecutiveAdministrative Manager Sr. Designer HR Officer As. Production Manager As. Logistic Manager As. Procurement Manager Chief Accountant Accoun tant-1 Accountant-2 Stock Controller Cashier (Shop 1) Cashier (Shop 2) SCM Administrative Officer Sale Manager Mobile Team Leader Sale Staff (Shop-2) Sale Staff (Shop-1) Mobile Team member IMC Officer Jr. Designer Inbound L. Officer Production Supervisors Production Leaders SCM Outbound L. Officer Managing the People issues – Human Resource Management Strategy As organizationis comprising with people, there is more or less human resource factors for us to consider.Torrington and Hall (2008) defined ‘Human Resource Strategy’ as ‘a central philosophy that people in the organization are managed and transition of this into HR policies and practices, to become effective, policies and procedures need to be integrated with business or organizational strategy’. In here, we are needed to be considered is that the HR strategy must ‘Fit’ with business strategy which means ‘employees are seen as key in the implementation of the declared organi zational strategy and human resource strategy is designed to fit with it. ’ Torrington and Hall (2008)The main aims of aligning the HRM with organizational strategy are to ensure the best utilization of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd employees to generate the organization performance and to reduce the level of risk by arranging and organizing the right people, in the right place, to the right job and in the right time. For human resource issues, we drew a plan, which is to cover most likely cases of Cho Cho Phyu Company people issues. Topics covered for Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd are as followed: Motivating, Training and development, Reward System, managing Psychological issues and Appraisal systems. Motivating or Committing others to Change For every successful change management process, the motivation of the followers is one of the factors to consider. ‘For most changes, people’s past experience of change can affect the level of commitment and willingness to support furthe r change’ John Hayes (2002). So, as this is the first time for Cho Cho Phyu, we have a responsibility to win this change. To motivate the workforce, we set, firstly, a proper goal and linked with the non-financialreward system of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd.We also set MD and Human Resource Manager as a role model for this change by visiting stores for every weeks, dealing with customers and giving speeches to employees about the importance ‘customers’. * Training Program Another issue during the department start-up time, we need to think about the ‘training program’. This is a new culture, people will not be familiar with it. For the first step, they have to understand what the new culture means for them. As this is the new culture, most of the sale staffs and supervisors would require a certain specific training for their job purposes.Each and every individual employees will be tested to ensure that they do have qualifications, skills and experiences to work with the new culture. We empowered change agents (managers) to persuade the workforce to attend and commit to the new culture. * Reward and appraisal system Another aspect is the reward and appraisal system. Organizational rewards are powerful incentives for improving employee and work group performance. Based on ‘carrot and stick’ metaphor, we set both tangible and intangible rewards for workforce. We made variety of reward, which is linked, with the culture of the organization.Reward such as recognition, contests, games, financial rewards, incentives, employee of the month or year awards which are mainly to show the appreciation for employee effort. We also made the reward systems link to the needs and wants of the individual employees. We used House’s Path-goal theory to motivate the workforce. * Managing Psychological Issues As people are human beings, there was many resistances to the new culture. Many people feel they were defeated, threatened, coerci ve by the new culture. Some people feel demoralized, stressful and frustrated for the change.So, from human resource management view point, we have a responsibility to take care and manage the psychological issues of the affected employees. That is why, we have made an agreement with HR department to make employee assistance program (EAP), stress management program and work-life-balance program. During the culture changing process, there can be some degree of redundancy. So, for survivors from the cuts, there can be shock, bitterness, anger and also peer and group pressures. Survivors need information about ‘why action had to be taken’ and ‘what the future holds for them personally’. Compensation and Ethical Considerations During the change process, there can many be issues like layoffs and compensations for those who resist change. So, we made some financial and non-financial transition arrangements. we arranged transition stay bonus and outplacement progr ams for all the layoffs employees. As most of employees at Cho Cho Phyu are between twenty and twenty-eight, there are much potential for their whole life long. So, Ms. Aung arranged personal career counseling, resume preparation and typing services, interviewing workshops and referral assistance in the outplacement programs.Initiating and implementing the new ‘Customer-centric’ Culture â€Å"The change process goes through a series of stages that, in total, usually require a considerable length of time. Skipping stages creates only the illusion of speed and never produces a satisfying result. †John Kotter, Leading Change To implement the new organizational culture, we were followed the model described by Kurt Lewis (1951). This is one of the best change model that is combining the theories of sociology and psychology, developed a three stage model for large-scale system change. Unfreezing phase This is the establishing stage for Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd, which is forced by the environment to implement the customer-centric culture as their competitors, or back off from this aggressive market. Unfreezing phase is first step of the Lewin’s change transition stages, where people are taken from the situation of being unready to change to the firststep of being able and willing to change. Schein(1995) states that in order for change to occur, there must be a combination of both adding driving force and removing restraining forces.Creating a sense of crisis will bring the whole components in the company into one voice. As the main aim of this stage is to ‘let go’ the old culture of the organization, we, firstly, searched the bad points of the current culture and linked it with the issues and problems currently faced by the SHMT Home Mart. This step is the most important fundamental step for this whole change, we created a crisis – ‘burning platform’ to reduce the level of trust on the currently using culture. According to many researchers, most of the change processes are failed because of the unreliable vision and strategy.So, for second, we created a persuasive vision – ‘what we want to be? , then communicate it to the whole organization, to overcome the current crisis situation of the Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd. By drawing a clear vision and strategy in how to achieve that vision, the employees will understand how the new system will benefit them and they will progressively change their effort to support the implementation of the new culture. We made change agentsto set clear vision of customer-centricculture in implementation process of Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd.According to Lewin, this is a phase, which melt down the old beliefs, assumptions, and paradigm of organization. * Transition Phase this is a changing phase form the old undesired situation to the new desire situation. This is the hardest part for every individual to start. So, Ms. Aung, also made a pioneer team to fac ilitate the change situation. In this phase, the leader has to act like a king or role model. We made some form of coaching, counseling, reward, appraisal system, motivation and other psychological support for this phase.This phase get rid of anything which may vulnerablethe implementation plan of change process, including any unsuitable ideas, company structures, activities as well as existing beliefs which may potentially undermining or threatening the new culture implementation. Linking the reward and performance is very important for all change management process, and also with punitive actions. A sense of motivation is now needed for all employees to go to the goal of the organization. The project team also provided plenty of penalties of options for employee involvement in this change process.Giving opportunities to have delegation and empowerment can get the commitment of the employees. By announcing the short-term success also made the whole organization to generate motivati on. * Refreezing phase At the end of our journey, the final goal is to ‘refreeze’ the situation. Making short-term wins made the whole change process to run smoothly. As this new culture is very beneficial for both organization and staffs, each and every employees are very enthusiastic with the change. But in every change, there can be a ‘Marathon Effect’ that is some people reached the aim while other people are still running from the start.Visionary and icon leadership supports, proper reward systems, and reliable feedback systems made the change process to get success. we also made the training and development sessions for all the impacted employees to get the desired and required results from change management. For every change, there can be a fall back to the old undesired stage. That is why we made ‘burning bridges’ to ensure that there is no way to go back by establishing proper rules, regulations and policies and rewarding the successfu l employees whose behavior are aligned with the desired behavior. Communication StrategyCommunicating about the change throughout the whole organization is also the main point for all change champion, change leader and change agents to consider. Varey also said that ‘culture and communication cannot be separated’. People may feel shock, and deny in the first place, if the communication strategy is not well. So, we found out that we have to arrange it in the right timing during the transition process. We also used both formal and informal communication structure. In this strategy, we made people more rely on the formal communication system (that is – meetings, speeches, briefing, discussion, memo, notice etc. rather than informal (that is – rumors, gossips, conjectures and opinions). We planned the communication more focus on ‘what, when, who and how’, but there is no formula about the communication that can apply in all situation. In some circ umstances, change agents may advocate a complete openness of about all the issues to the impact groups. Conclusion This change management is concerned not only for the employee job satisfactions and delights but also for the business organizations to get competitive advantage.In this changing environment, the environment that the businesses operate is rapidly and massively changing. Notable experience is that, in Myanmar, the demographic changes have hugely impact on the Myanmar Businesses. As it is a culture change for Cho Cho Phyu Co. , Ltd, we faced with many problems and it may take more than 1 year for the whole organization to accept and exercise the new culture. Although it is a new culture for the whole organization, it is very beneficial for both employees and employer. Because of that point, we can implement the whole change management in successful behavior.