Transparency and leadership in organisations Dissertation

Transparency and leadership in organisations - Dissertation Example ndful of the fact that the world’s national economies are inextricably linked and therefore the weakness of one is the weakness of all, global financial and economic alliances and unions called for greater transparency and regulatory compliance from all regional unions. The Middle East and North African (MENA) region is among the regions most cited for lack of transparency, with Somalia and Iraq identified as two of the worst-ranked countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. While the UAE is far removed from either of these two, it nevertheless is bound by many commonalities including regional economic, political, and trade agreements. Furthermore, the UAE has been one of the nations which had attracted public attention precisely on this issue. Dubai, more than the other emirates, has been under tighter scrutiny because of the Dubai World debt restructuring and the significant slow-down in development projects, even before the US subprime mar ket crisis hit (Afridi & Angell, 2010). The stigma of corruption and lack of transparency is a mark a country could not afford to obtain if it wishes to attract trade and investment from outside its borders. 1.3 Statement of aim and objectives The principal aim of this dissertation is to assess the degree to which transparency and good governance have been advanced by organizational leadership in the United Arab Emirates, as they impact upon the management of projects within the federation. In particular, the study seeks to fulfil the following objectives: (1) To trace the historical context of the UAE’s imperative for transparency and governance; (2) To understand the measures that have been instituted and are currently in place to enhance transparency and good governance in the UAE; (3) To... The intention of this study is transparency as capable of being seen through; without guile or concealment; open, frank, candid. It is also unavoidable to likewise discuss the concept of concealment. This is because the very concept of transparency is drawn from the absence of concealment. According to Kerfoot, concealment is at the heart of any dysfunctional relationship between the staff, its customers principally, and its other stakeholders. Concealment breeds distrust, and the lack of trust compromises the success of any attempt at a productive relationship. This can be a particularly disadvantageous relationship, particularly in industries where the organization works in close contact with the customer, such as health care services and hospital concerns. For the organization to discharge its function well, it cannot afford a situation wherein customers can find reason not to repose their full trust and reliance upon the firm. The avoidance of concealment, even the very appearanc e of it, is therefore to be avoided by a show of full disclosure and the conduct of an open enterprise. The various and divergent views on transparency is expected to be reflected in the specific application of transparency programmes within the different companies; likewise, the understanding of transparency within the cultural context of the UAE is also expected to differ from that of other countries. This material difference should be taken into consideration during the analysis of qualitative data to be undertaken in this dissertation, so that false conclusions may be avoided by careful qualification.

How to Manage Your Stress Wisely Essay Example for Free

How to Manage Your Stress Wisely Essay Stress is defined as a physiological response that occur when an organism fails to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats (Selye, 1956, p.1). It can also be defined as something that puts a strain on your health and overall well-being. Stress is considered â€Å"The Unseen Killer† according to Charles Stangor. I, personally, define stress as the number one killer. I think stress is the behind the scenes killer to many different illnesses like high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks and nervous break downs. People are faced with stress every day when it comes to daily life situations. Jobs cause stress, schoolwork causes stress, traffic causes stress, relationships cause stress and illnesses cause stress. According to the â€Å"The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale†, based upon a survey of everyday life events that could cause stress out of 2,500 military soldiers, there are 40 leading stressors that lead to people being put in the hospital (Rahe, R. H.,1970, p.12). People become hospitalized because they do not know how to manage stress. If people had a better response to stress and different ways to manage stress, they may be healthier. Since stress is a behind the scenes murderer, I have decided to share some stress management exercises with my best friend. She has been going through a divorce. She is now a single mother of two eight year old twins. She has a full time job and she is a part time student. Not only does she have a lot of responsibility, she is also hoping for a promotion to become project manager for her current employer. Between all the juggling schedules and making time for herself, she is beyond stressed. She has lost weight, her hair is falling out, and she never makes enough time to relax. I have come up with a stress management guide that I think will be helpful for her. I find that the power of positive thinking is a great beginning. The best antidote for stress is a happy one: Think positively, have fun, and enjoy the company of others (Stangor, 2013). Wake up with the thought of â€Å"Today will be a great day.† Being optimistic about life will help her with dealing with her daily issues she is faced with. Optimistic thinking helps remove doubt and negative thoughts. Being optimistic about her daily life will help nurture positive thinking. I want her to know that, even though things seem overwhelming, there is plenty to be happy about. She has two beautiful healthy children, a stable career that is considering making her a project manager, a stable environment that her children can rest in, and, although she is divorcing, it can bring a new beginning. I also recommend more planning and time management. With planning and time management, it can reduce stress and the feeling of being overwhelmed and rushed. It will help her self-efficacy, which will help her be proactive and give her the satisfaction of some accomplishment. She can plan out her week, which will allow her some free time for social support from friends and family. Social support will be uplifting to her and let her know that she has a support team. Last, but not least, to help her manage her stress, I would allow her to choose an activity for us to do weekly. Some good stress management activities would be exercising, meditation, shopping, eating out, activities with the kids or just basic girls night out. This time will enable her to be free from some worries and have some fun, laughs, and relaxation. Laughing is truly good for the body and fun brings laughs. Relaxation removes tension and allows the body to be at ease mentally and physically. In conclusion, stress management is vital to our health. It has a big impact on our overall health as far as our moods, heart condition, and mental state. I hope that this information on stress will help her manage her stress and know the facts about stress. Being healthy and stress free is an important factor in healthy living. Cited: Selye, H. (2013). Introduction to Psychology, v. 1.0., 10.2 (1) Irvington, NY: Flatworld Knowledge, Inc., http://www.flatworldknowledge.com Rahe, R. H. (2013). Introduction to Psychology, v. 1.0., 10.2 (12) Irvington, NY: Flatworld Knowledge, Inc., http://www.flatworldknowledge.com Stangor, C. (2013). Introduction to Psychology, v. 1.0., Irvington, NY: Flatworld Knowledge, Inc., http://www.flatworldknowledge.com

Graduation Speech: Make Your Own Rules :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Good evening my name is Ben Rood I would like to share with you something that Michael Konda once said: "The fastest way to succeed is to look as if you're playing by somebody else's rules, while quietly playing by your own." I couldn't agree more. I am standing here today because for the last four years I have unknowingly followed this advice. It started my freshman year when I was in the right place at the right time. Due to the overcrowding here at AHS the Microsoft Windows NT class was changed to an after-school class. This normally full class now had empty seats. As a freshman I did not meet the prerequisites for the NT class so I quietly slipped into one of the empty seats as a pass/fail student. As the year progressed I slowly moved away from the rules and took the class for a grade and as you can see it paid off with "A's". By the end of the year I was able to pass the Microsoft Certified Professional exam at age 14 and land a job at Microsoft. I would not have been able to do all of this and more during my freshman year had I "played by somebody else's rules." I continued to bend and break the rules both silently and blatantly. Through Microsoft I was able to participate in and manage conferences for any where from a hundred and fifty to 10,000 attendees. Interns are not generally invited to help with conferences, but I was fortunate enough to start with a manager who "(looked) as if (he were) playing by somebody else's rules, while quietly playing by (his) own." In school I broke away from the crowd a little more obviously. After individual debates in English class our teacher invited us to debate the different topics as a class. One of these topics was where our "new" school should be located. I was the only one in my class who didn't agree with the bond being presented to the public. While I listened to the points made by my peers and the teacher I still maintained my points and did not jump on the bandwagon. As many of you know I spend much of my time at a computer. Some would say that's because I'm a computer geek. Well I may be a computer geek because I spend lots of time at the computer, but I spend it there because it is much easier to bend the rules of the computer than it is to bend the laws of physics.

Potential For Water Supply Essay

According to the International Water Management Institute environmental research organisation global water stress is increasing, and a third of all people face some sort of water scarcity. Where demand exceeds supply and no effective management operates, there will be conflicts between the various players involved. In addition, global climate change will exacerbate these challenges faced by countries and populations. Shifting precipitation patterns threaten to reduce water availability in some regions while inflicting stronger storms on others, increasing both potential droughts and floods. This may increase the frequency of more serious conflicts and result in ‘water wars’. Meeting the world’s growing water needs will require far more effective use of available resources. By combining appropriate technology, strategic management and involving all the players water conflicts can be avoided. The Nile river exemplifies an International dispute with the source of the conflict being the water supply. Egypt who have a historical right to The Nile are highly dependent on its waters, which are required for agricultural purposes with the waters being a necessity to irrigate the arable land. Many countries in the Nile basin depend heavily on the Nile, with Egypt depending on the Nile for 97% of its renewable water resource. Consequently, The Nile is essential to the food and water security in all of the countries that lie within the Nile river basin. With so many countries being reliant on one single water source it is no surprise that this water supply has increased tensions in the area and that there is a huge potential for it to cause conflict. Ethiopia’s tributaries supply roughly 86% of the Nile however as a result of the Entebbe Agreement Ethiopia and other upstream countries have begun to divert water for new dam projects that would provide hydro-electric power and irrigation networks. These developments upstream have led to threats from Egypt, who are extremely protective over their decreasing share of the Niles water supply. However in order to secure their  supply they must engage in peaceful negotiations as violence would only jeapordise their share of the supply. Thus the potential for water conflict is there as tensions continue to increase between upstream and downstream nations, and perhaps overtime as the downstream nations share of the supply is further squeezed, these tensions are likely to result in conflict. Conflict can also occur within a country, for example the states situated within the Colorado river basin have been constantly squabbling over who owns the water supply and who should be allocated the most water. In the 1920s the ‘Law of the River’ established the division of water amongst the upper basin states, it also defined their responsibility to supply water to the lower basin states. This division had been based on an estimated annual flow of 21 billion m3/yr in 1920, however this was a time of above normal flows, recent studies have indicated that long term average flows are around 18 billion m3/yr. The deficit between the flow and the allocation has become more apparent as the population in the clorado basin states continues to rise. As a result of this deficit tensions are rising between the states, California receives a large percentage of the water as a result of its large population and political power even though the river does not directly flow through it. This has heightened tensions with the states who are experiencing severe water shortages who actually have a grater claim to the river than California. Although the city dwellers may be losing out as they are having to share their water with other states, farmers are profiting as they claimed the land first and thus the majority of water, 80%, lies with them. The Colorado river has not only caused internal disputes but also international disputes, causing there to be the potential for conflict with Mexico. The reason being that the Colorado river is that the basin states are so dependent on the water that the river supplies that it no longer reaches the sea, 90% of the water has been extracted before it reaches Mexico. The delta has decreased in size as a result of the extraction and the large dams put in place along the river such as the Hoover Dam. This did increase political tensions between the two nations and there was a strong potential for the supply of the Colorado river to become a source of  Conflict between the two countries, however in 2012 an amendment was made to the ‘Law of the River’ entitled ‘Minute 319’ which gave Mexico a grater allocation of the water supply. This is an example of how there can be a potential for conflict yet an agreement can be reached to prevent it. Nonetheless there is still a potential for new disputes among the Colorado river, this is less likely to occur internationally on the US-Mexico border as a result of the recent amendment, however at the artificial border drawn at Lees Ferry, between the upper and lower basin states. Aside from the strain put on the supply by a growing population, the upper basin has a small surplus that it is using to develop its economy. However at the same time water shortages in the lower basin could limit the potential for economic growth in the lower basin and thus their remains a potential for the water supply to cause conflict in the future.

Microenvironment in australia

First of all we would have to define microenvironment as those properties over which organizations have control or elements which they have that enables them gain information on their marketing operations. This is to say that, information gotten can be used to provide an improved customer service because the purpose of this study is to make profits through customer satisfaction. Manipulations are made in ways to achieve the objective of the organization. In other words, we can say that micro environment provides the force with which organizations act towards customer satisfaction; any change in any of these forces would lead to the re-studying of the marketplace. Nevertheless, the issue behind this study is to check how it affects retailing in the food industry in Australia and it is one of the factors that are considered when it comes to food retailing. HOW MICROENVIRONMENT IN AUSTRALIA AFFECTS FOOD RETAILILNG Food retailing in Australia is a fast growing one and it is no doubt that industries are seeking better way to meet up with customer satisfaction. This is the driving force behind the carrying out of consumer research. Microenvironment in Australia has affected food retailing to a great state. Competition: One of the effects is that it made the industry to be very competitive. Organizations are doing everything in their power to make sure that they stay in touch with their customers. As the competition increases, there are more advantages to the customers. Consumer Voice: It has created room where customers could provide feedback on a particular product or company. This study, gives organization ideas on how to restructure their services towards customers. Quality Output: Microenvironment in Australia has made organizations to increase the quality of output being rendered to consumers. Consumers are able to have access to quality products. Provision of Threat Analysis: Microenvironment also provides organizations possible threats in the market place that would reduce their profit or rate at which consumers purchasing their products. One of those threats is threats that could come from products that consumers can comfortably use as a substitute to their products. Checking threats that could also come from rival organizations and threat. This study also enables the study of the bargaining power of both suppliers and consumers. Mode of Distribution: Microenvironment has also provided a better form of distribution. Giving a better idea of the networks to be followed in other to make sure that products reach the final customer. The modes of distributive market place change from time to time but in a very slow way. Therefore the inability of organization to recognize these changing factors would affect their mode of distribution. MACROENVIRONMENT IN AUSTRALIA Coming to macro environment, we would provide a definition so as to give us a better understanding of the topic. Another word that can be best used to define macro environment is environmental scanning and environmental scanning can be said to be the concept of a business management use by business organizations to gather in formations in other to have a better competitive advantage. There is a need for organizations to gather information from environmental canning by hanging the plans and strategies for the aim of gaining advantage. Scanning can be carried out in different modes and reason. There could be a requirement for market study due to arising emergency cases. Studies could also be done on a regular base, perhaps once a year and also on a continuous basis. The results gotten from this studies allow the organization to act quickly, be the first to take action before their competitors recognize an opportunity and also respond to any environmental threats. Macro environment also has to do with wider studies of factors of organization and how it affects their day-to-day operation. These factors are: The political and legal environment: For some food retailing, political and legal concerns are put in mind by companies. Political issues and legal issues arising in Australia affect the mode of food retailing. The policies made by the government on imports on raw materials also affect the price of some food products. The economic environment: the issues behind economic factors are of great concerns to firm because it states the price of food products. When the economic status of a community is low, it reduces the purchasing power. That is why the economic factors is likely related and dependent on political and legal factors. The socio-cultural environment: This is a very dynamic part of study in macro environment because it has to do with changing properties of a consumer. These changes can be taste, priorities and purchasing behavior. Knowing the particular type of products need by customers on a social period and needs according to beliefs and cultural practices. The technological environment: Technological factor put into the products determines the mode of retail. These areas could be technology for production and logistics. The affects food retailing. RELATION BETWEEN 4Ps AND FOOD RETAILING First of all we would have to look into organizational marketing. There to main types of marketing and there are known as: Strategic marketing: This is the attempts made by organization on how   the level of competition in the market place.this is with the aims at generating a competitive advantage relative to its competitors. Operational marketing: This is the strategy that deals with the satisfaction of customers and increasing the value gotten from them, as well as to satisfy the customer with prompt services and meeting the customer expectations. It is in the area that we hve to talk about the 4Ps. 4Ps in the world of marketing is stands for: Product: This is the area of marketing that deals with the type of products and how it relates and benefits the intending consumers, checking if it meets up with their expectation and satisfaction. This area carries properties like guaranties and warranties and after sales support. The area of products says a lot on food retailing because it states the particular kind of products that would be provided for the consumers. It states the products that are higher in demand and aids organizations produce these substitute products with better properties in other to compete with organizations are also in the same market place. Price: This is where we talk about setting a price for the product and also not forgetting about discounts. This usually comes classified in monetary forms and any other modes that can be used in exchanging good and services. Pricing a product is also another factor that goes with food retailing. This tells the price that is both comfortable for both the company and the consumer to purchase and own the products. Promotion: These are the steps taken to promote products, brand or company. Possible ways could be through advertising of the product, sales promotion, and creating publicity on the product, brand or company, personal selling or branding. Promotion increases the awareness of products to consumers. It makes them to understand the type of products and its contents and qualities. It also creates the awareness of it availability and products location. So I believe that this part of the 4Ps has a lot to do with food retailing. Placement: This area determines how a product gets to the final consumers. In other words, we are talking about distribution, place the product here it could be of a better reach to the customer and a place where it would bring about revenue to the organization. Placement does a lot to food retailing by stating various factors that leads to the success of the products sale. It dictates the level of penetration in the market, stating how many stores that have the products in them. It also gives types of outlets and channels to use. It gives an idea on the level of competition in the marketplace and also aids the geographical factors. These 4Ps have a lot to do when it comes to food retailing. This is because there alter the rate and mode in which food retailing takes. CONLUSION In conclusion of this whole issue, they is a great level of competition in the food industry marketplace and companies are applying effort to gain a competitive advantages over other competitors. Ways, which are used, are studies carried out through microenvironment and macro environment. These studies gives them better ideas on how to stay in contact with their customers and increase the rate of purchase from them. Microenvironment, deals with the issue of consumer studies and development of better ways to increase the rate of service and satisfaction rendered to them in the food industry. Macro environment deals with wider studies on higher factors that affect food retailing. Such factors are the political and legal environment, the economic environment, the socio-cultural environment and, the technological environment. The study of theses factors and environment contributes to the direction which food retailing follows. REFERENCES Brandenburger, A.M. and Nalebuff, B.J. (1995), â€Å"The Right Game: Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy†, Harvard Business Review, Jul-Aug, pp.57-71 Coyne, K.P. and Sujit Balakrishnan (1996), â€Å"Bringing discipline to strategy†, The McKinsey Quarterly, No.4 Grant, R.M. (2005), â€Å"Contemporary Strategy Analysis†, Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford (U.K.), 2005 Porter, M.E. (1979) â€Å"How competitive forces shape strategy†, Harvard Business Review, March/April 1979. Porter, M.E. (1980) â€Å"Competitive Strategy†, The Free Press, New York, 1980. Porter, M.E. (1985) â€Å"Competitive Advantage†, The Free Press, New York, 1985. Hunger, J. David & Wheelen, Thomas L. (2003) â€Å"Essentials of Strategic Management†. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.   

A Candidate for Murder Essay Essays

A Candidate for Murder Essay Essays A Candidate for Murder Essay Essay A Candidate for Murder Essay Essay Murder is a remarkable page turner by Joan Lowery Nixon. The book is fictional and suspenseful, it has a length of two hundred ten pages and was published by Dell Publishing in 1991. The story seemed to start a little slow but, It sped up soon after the first chapter. It was a quick read and it kept me on my toes, always curious about what was going to happen next. A Candidate For Murder Is about a girl (Cary) whose father (Charles) Is running for the Governor of Texas. While at a party, Cary overhears a conversation led between two men. They notice that she heard some of the crucial Information and now they do everything In their power to keep her from telling anyone. Even If that means they have to hurt her Or even kill her. Onions goal and topic of this book was to keep the reader entertained, and she definitely stayed on topic. The most Important and Interesting part of the book was chapters 15 through 19. Theyre full of the action-filled mammals pieces needed to put this puzzle of a story together. I do believe that this novel met the goals of the author. It gave me plenty of entertainment, and kept me busy. The book is an astonishing and powerful read from cover to cover. The ending could have been a little longer but, I loved all the twists and turns the story had. I would recommend this to anyone, it will capture your mind and take you on an adventure; as if you were in the story. This is easily one of the best pieces Ive ever read, Joan Lowery Nixon is the elite of all authors. Her adventures and persona in her writing makes you want to buy all of her books and read every single one of them.

Awards Programs, Advantages, and Disadvantages

Awards Programs, Advantages, and Disadvantages Introduction Information from the National Accident Statistics and Cost reveals that over 10,000 United States employees sustain injuries on the job every day and about 15 of them succumbing to their injuries. The average cost related to these injuries was approximately $45 billion in 2010 and a further $40 billion every year in direct wage substitution and health expenses. Job injuries also have indirect yearly expenditures of $70-$150 billion.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Awards Programs, Advantages, and Disadvantages specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Over 3 million United States employees had job-related accidents in 2010 (National Safety Council, 2001). These worrying statistics have made businesses and government agencies to focus more on safety issues in order to avoid legal penalties, boost employee morale, enhance productivity, and reduce labor turnover. It was through this initiative that safety incen tive programs were adopted by many organizations to reward safe work practices. The main objectives of the safety awards programs were to increase safety awareness among employees, minimize recordable accidents, and promote safe work practices among workers. However, the functionality and reliability of safety incentives programs to promote safe work practices have proven tricky for many organizations in the United States leading to the establishment of various safety administration institutions such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which regulates safety programs for companies (Geller, 2005). This paper discusses the merits and demerits of injury-based, behavior-based, and process-based programs as three independent safety awards programs. Injury-based programs These safety programs are based on the rates of injuries and accidents as a measure of rewarding employees and teams. Workers and groups are awarded for avoiding or minimizing industrial mishaps d uring specified periods. Illness oriented safety programs operate on the suppositions that facilities and equipments are secure and do not induce mistakes, workers have appropriate education and understanding on how to handle machinery, and industrial accidents are chiefly the fault of employees’ carelessness or negligence of safety. Injury-based safety programs have the advantages of giving awards like bonuses and prices due to the lack or a minimal number of job-related injuries (Leape Berwick, 2005). In addition, this program has the benefit of creating a safer work environment since workers are always under pressure to work safely or lose some benefits. Safe work environments reduce accidents and enhance safety vigilance among employees. However, this approach directly compares rewards with the rates of injuries. This is a condition that poses the temptation for employees not to disclose some injuries for fear of losing personal rewards or denying their teams an incentiv e. This has the effect of distorting the injury frequency.Advertising Looking for term paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The consequences of not reporting an accident or an injury may be insignificant or huge to the employee involved. Lack of reporting injuries falsely reduces the company’s tragedy incidence rate and makes it able to show to the safety management agencies and its head office that their safety operations have advanced; the actual accident figures are concealed (National Safety Council, 2001). This often makes it difficult for regulatory agencies such as OSHA to convince companies to start up legitimate safety programs. This fact was ascertained after 18 workers died, and 200 others sustained injuries during an explosion at a BP plant in Texas City in 2005 (Leape Berwick, 2005). An inquiry conducted after the explosion revealed that factory employees dreaded reprisal s for exposing potentially precarious situations since the company had a safety incentive plan that attached employees’ incentives to reduced eventualities of accidents and injuries. The incident prompted members of Congress to invite the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine safety programs (McSween, 2008). The GAO published a report that revealed that safety awards programs can be hindrances for employees to disclose accidents and injuries to their managers. Another demerit of this program is that these plans may become unimportant and difficult to maintain in the long run since employees can consider rewards as a right thus discontinuance may bring far-reaching impacts. Rate-based reward programs may also give false submissions and lead to mistrust between employees and administration. For instance, imagine a team that makes considerable efforts to avoid mistakes and accidents, yet regrettably encounters an accident and consequently the team misses a reward. Me anwhile, another team that does not attempt to avoid accidents accomplishes their task without injuries and thus receives a reward. This approach fails to recognize the fact that many incidents are not due to the negligence of employees themselves but are the consequences of aspects outside their control. A rate-based incentive plan shifts the blame of industrial accidents away from the accountability of the employer to give safety instruction to new workers and places it onto the hands of the employees who are compelled to acknowledge the blame for their individual injuries. The rate-based program does not impart new knowledge to employees that can enable them perform safely but rather forcefully enforces safe behaviors of employees (McSween, 2008).Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Awards Programs, Advantages, and Disadvantages specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Behavior-based safety award program It is based on an employee’s performance as a standard of granting bonuses. The employee behaviors to be rewarded include taking part in safety meetings and teaching, providing ideas on ways of improving job environment safety, and other actions that can assist avoid industrial accidents. Workers can also be rewarded when they invent a safer way to do a job, adhere to safety rules and encourage others to do the same, complete safety training programs, assist investigate accidents, and report dangerous situations. Behavior-based safety plans are prevalent in job places all over the United States. These incentive plans have improved as an administration tool that takes resources away from a scientific-based health and safety program and focuses interest away from recognizing and tackling workplace perils that induce and lead to job-related accidents and fatalities (National Safety Council, 2001). Behavior-oriented plans aid in reducing accidents by eliminating a direct connection between an i ncentive and the extent of accidents reported. Underreporting accidents can lead to the furtherance of dangerous conditions and hazardous actions in the place of work. By choosing to reward and reinforce safe behaviors with a behavior-oriented approach, companies can be certain that their safety incentive programs are satisfying their planned function of a safe job environment for all. Behavior-oriented safety plans also provide information about facilities and machinery that can injure workers. Timely reporting of accidents, injuries, and unsecure conditions is essential not only in order for the injured workers to access immediate treatment and the employees’ reparation benefits to which they are permitted, but also that managers may redress hazardous working conditions. Even though behavior oriented plans assist in eradicating the problem of flawed reporting and boost turnout in conferences and training, their usefulness is questionable. These programs are relatively hard to determine and check since workers’ behaviors are obviously more compound and difficult to judge. Additionally, workers’ behaviors shift regularly in response to exterior factors like new machinery, and new work teams. These plans strengthen safe performance by providing rewards to workers or crews who display safe performances; the program is not attached to accident rates. Since the objective is safe performance and not a reduced accident rate, workers are motivated to be lively partakers in the safety plans (McSween, 2008). Process based reward programs Process based reward programs credit individuals for performing definite safety related actions such as maintaining safe driving speed limits, keeping a safe distance while on the road, or putting on safety belts. This program emphasizes actions that a worker should carry out. Process-based programs have the advantage of increasing targeted safety-related actions and consequently increasing non-targeted work behavi ors (Goodrum Gangwar, 2004).Advertising Looking for term paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This experience is referred to as response generalization and has assisted safety experts to target a few specific workers’ actions with advantages across many more non-target acts thus is less burdensome to apply. However, these programs injure safety performance intentions and evoke a high bottom-line expenditure on companies. Workers who view these rewards as their lawful entitlements often ridicule these programs. Additionally, process plans sometimes remunerate erroneous behaviors and the wrong workers. Process-grounded plans conceal reporting of accidents and injuries with the use of incentives that promote trust on extrinsic (money or other financial items) instead of intrinsic support (an interior satisfaction with a person’s work). Furthermore, process plans encourage the use of comparatively small rewards, which tempts workers to modify their actions and manners. When rewards are kept moderately small, workers excuse their behavior change to interior causes i nstead of exterior causes. For instance, $1 per mile safety bonus would lead to a collision-free, 50,000 miles per year driver receiving $50,000 yearly or $12,500 quarterly (Goodrum Gangwar, 2004). This amount is substantial and significant, but not so high to warrant the gross unfairness that might be formed by errors in the system. However, the process incentive plans have been attributed to increasing safety belt use across different backgrounds especially on manners related to over-speeding and extreme breaking. In all the three safety reward programs, motivation is a vital aspect. Positive support, response, recognition, and reward are considered the four primary constituents for motivation in any safety reward program. To present constructive reinforcement, motivators should be rewarded in different forms. It is obvious from this paper that organizations which desire to lessen their experience alteration rates, lost time workday occurrences, and limited workday occurrences ca n use safety reward programs effectively. Conclusion This paper has established that other different aspects such as behavior-based programs, rate-based programs, and awards do not alter the efficiency of safety incentive programs in a considerable way. The paper has also revealed how vulnerabilities involved in accidents and injuries that go unreported are unrecognized and uncorrected, which restricts the ability of workers and managers to deal with the safety aspects present in their job places entirely. Training of employees, unions, and administrators about the discipline of accidents and injury avoidance, danger management, and the use of devices like surveys and investigations can help to eliminate safety threats. Additionally, formulation of government policies that would disallow employer strategies, programs, and performances that discourage workers from reporting accidents and injuries will be an essential milestone towards developing effective safety rewards programs. In order to achieve a more efficient and comprehensive safety incentive plan, all the stakeholders must encourage the development of materials, courses of study, and methods of teaching intended to advance job place attempts to identify and address risky conditions by establishing broad workplace injury and accident prevention plans proposed to discover and fix risks (Geller, 2005). References Geller, E. S. (2005). Behavior-based safety and occupational risk management. Behavior modification, 29(3), 539-561. Goodrum, P. M., Gangwar, M. (2004). Safety incentives programs. A study of their effectiveness in construction Prof Safety, 49(7), 24-34. Leape, L. L., Berwick, D. M. (2005). Five years after to err is human. JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association, 293(19), 2384-2390. McSween, T. E. (2008). Values-Based Safety Process: Improving Your Safety Culture with Behavior-Based Safety. New York: John Wiley Sons. National Safety Council (2001). Accident Prevention Manual for Business and Industry: Administration and Programs (13th ed.). Itasca, Illinois: National Safety Council.

Biography of José Francisco de San Martín, Latin American Liberator

Biography of Josà © Francisco de San Martà ­n, Latin American Liberator Josà © Francisco de San Martà ­n (February 25, 1778–August 17, 1850) was an Argentine general and governor who led his nation during the wars of Independence from Spain. He is counted among the founding fathers of Argentina and also led the liberations of Chile and Peru. Fast Facts: Josà © Francisco de San Martà ­n Known For:  Leading or helping to lead the liberations of Argentina, Chile and Peru from Spain.Born: February 25, 1778 in Yapeyu, Province of Corrientes, Argentina.Parents: Juan de San Martà ­n and Gregoria Matorras.Died:  August 17, 1850, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.Education: Seminary of Nobles, enrolled as cadet in the Murcia infantry regiment.Published Works:  Antologà ­a.Spouse: Marà ­a de los Remedios de Escalada de la Quintana.Child: Marà ­a de las Mercedes Tomasa de San Martà ­n y Escalada.Notable Quote: The soldiers of our land know no luxury, but glory. Early Life Josà © Francisco de San Martin was born on February 25, 1878 in Yapeyu in the Province of Corrientes, Argentina, the youngest son of Lieutenant Juan de San Martà ­n, the Spanish governor. Yapeyu was a beautiful town on the Uruguay River, and young Josà © lived a privileged life there as the governors son. His dark complexion caused many whispers about his parentage while he was young, although it would serve him well later in life. When Josà © was seven years old, his father was recalled to Spain and returned with his family. In Spain, Josà © attended good schools, including the Seminary of Nobles where he showed skill in math and joined the army as a cadet at the young age of eleven. By seventeen he was a lieutenant and had seen action in North Africa and France. Military Career with the Spanish At the age of 19, he was serving with the Spanish navy, fighting the British on several occasions. At one point, his ship was captured, but he was returned to Spain in a prisoner exchange. He fought in Portugal and at the blockade of Gibraltar, and rose swiftly in rank as he proved to be a skilled and loyal soldier. When France invaded Spain in 1806, he fought against them on several occasions, eventually rising to the rank of Adjutant-General. He commanded a regiment of dragoons, very skilled light cavalry. This accomplished career soldier and war hero seemed the most unlikely of candidates to defect and join the insurgents in South America, but thats exactly what he did. Joining the Rebels In September of 1811, San Martin boarded a British ship in Cadiz with the intention of returning to Argentina, where he had not been since the age of seven, and joining the Independence movement there. His motives remain unclear  but may have had to do with San Martà ­ns ties to the Masons, many of whom were pro-Independence. He was the highest ranking Spanish officer to defect to the patriot side in all of Latin America. He arrived in Argentina in March of 1812 and at first, he was greeted with suspicion by Argentine leaders, but he soon proved his loyalty and ability. San Martà ­n accepted a modest command, but made the most of it, ruthlessly drilling his recruits into a coherent fighting force. In January of 1813, he defeated a small Spanish force that had been harassing settlements on the Parana River. This victory - one of the first for Argentines against the Spanish - captured the imagination of the Patriots, and before long San Martà ­n was head of all of the armed forces in Buenos Aires. The Lautaro Lodge San Martà ­n was one of the leaders of the Lautaro Lodge, a secretive, Mason-like group dedicated to complete liberty for all of Latin America. The Lautaro Lodge members were sworn to secrecy and so little is known about their rituals or even their membership, but they formed the heart of the Patriotic Society, a more public institution which consistently applied political pressure for greater freedom and independence. The presence of similar lodges in Chile and Peru aided the independence effort in those nations as well. Lodge members often held high government posts. Argentinas Army of the North, under the command of General Manuel Belgrano, had been fighting royalist forces from Upper Peru (now Bolivia) to a stalemate. In October 1813, Belgrano was defeated at the Battle of Ayahuma and San Martà ­n was sent to relieve him. He took command in January of 1814 and soon mercilessly drilled the recruits into a formidable fighting force. He decided it would be foolish to attack uphill into fortified Upper Peru. He felt that a far better plan of attack would be to cross the Andes in the south, liberate Chile, and attack Peru from the south and by sea. He would never forget his plan, even though it would take him years to fulfill. Preparations for the Invasion of Chile San Martà ­n accepted the governorship of the Province of Cuyo in 1814 and set up shop in the city of Mendoza, which at that time was receiving numerous Chilean Patriots going into exile after the crushing Patriot defeat at the Battle of Rancagua. The Chileans were divided even amongst themselves, and San Martà ­n made the fateful decision to support Bernardo OHiggins over Jose Miguel Carrera and his brothers. Meanwhile, in northern Argentina, the Army of the north had been defeated by the Spanish, clearly proving once and for all that the route to Peru through Upper Peru (Bolivia) would be too difficult. In July of 1816, San Martà ­n finally got approval for his plan to cross into Chile and attack Peru from the south from President Juan Martà ­n de Pueyrredà ³n. The Army of the Andes San Martà ­n immediately began recruiting, outfitting and drilling the Army of the Andes. By the end of 1816, he had an army of some 5,000 men, including a healthy mix of infantry, cavalry, artillerymen and support forces. He recruited officers and accepted tough Gauchos into his army, usually as horsemen. Chilean exiles were welcome, and he appointed OHiggins as his immediate subordinate. There was even a regiment of British soldiers who would fight bravely in Chile. San Martà ­n was obsessed with details, and the army was as well equipped and trained as he could make it. The horses all had shoes, blankets, boots, and weapons were procured, the food was ordered and preserved, etc. No detail was too trivial for San Martà ­n and the Army of the Andes, and his planning would pay off when the army crossed the Andes. Crossing the Andes In January of 1817, the army set off. The Spanish forces in Chile were expecting him and he knew it. Should the Spanish decide to defend the pass he chose, he could face a hard battle with weary troops. But he fooled the Spanish by mentioning an incorrect route in confidence to some Indian allies. As he had suspected, the Indians were playing both sides and sold the information to the Spanish. Therefore, the royalist armies were far to the south of where San Martà ­n actually crossed. The crossing was arduous, as flatland soldiers and Gauchos struggled with the freezing cold and high altitudes, but San Martà ­ns meticulous planning paid off and he lost relatively few men and animals. In February of 1817, the Army of the Andes entered Chile unopposed. The Battle of Chacabuco The Spanish soon realized they had been duped and scrambled to keep the Army of the Andes out of Santiago. The Governor, Casimiro Marcà ³ del Pont, sent all available forces out under the command of General Rafael Maroto with the purpose of delaying San Martà ­n until reinforcements could arrive. They met at the  Battle of Chacabuco  on February 12, 1817. The result was a huge patriot victory: Maroto was completely routed, losing half his force, while the Patriot losses were negligible. The Spanish in Santiago fled, and San Martà ­n rode triumphantly into the city at the head of his army. The Battle of Maipu San Martà ­n still believed that for Argentina and Chile to be truly free, the Spanish needed to be removed from their stronghold in Peru. Still covered in glory from his triumph at Chacabuco, he returned to Buenos Aires to get funds and reinforcements. News from Chile soon brought him hurrying back across the Andes. Royalist and Spanish forces in southern Chile had joined with reinforcements and were threatening Santiago. San Martà ­n took charge of the patriot forces once more and met the Spanish at  the Battle of Maipu  on April 5, 1818. The Patriots crushed the Spanish army, killing some 2,000, capturing around 2,200 and seizing all of the Spanish artillery. The stunning victory at Maipu marked the definitive liberation of Chile: Spain would never again mount a serious threat to the area. On to Peru With Chile finally secure, San Martin could set his sights on Peru at last. He began building or acquiring a navy for Chile: a tricky task, given that the governments in Santiago and  Buenos Aires  were virtually bankrupt. It was difficult to make Chileans and Argentines see the benefits of liberating Peru, but San Martà ­n had great prestige by then and he was able to convince them. In August of 1820, he departed from Valparaiso with a modest army of some 4,700 soldiers and 25 cannons, well supplied with horses, weapons, and food. It was a smaller force than what San Martà ­n believed he would need. March to Lima San Martà ­n believed that the best way to liberate Peru was to get the Peruvian people to accept independence voluntarily. By 1820, royalist Peru was an isolated outpost of Spanish influence. San Martà ­n had liberated Chile and Argentina to the south, and  Simà ³n Bolà ­var  and Antonio Josà © de Sucre had freed Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela to the north, leaving only Peru and present-day Bolivia under Spanish rule. San Martà ­n had brought a printing press with him on the expedition, and he began bombarding citizens of Peru with pro-independence propaganda. He maintained a steady correspondence with Viceroys Joaquà ­n de la Pezuela and Josà © de la Serna in which he urged them to accept the inevitability of independence and surrender willingly in order to avoid bloodshed. Meanwhile, San Martà ­ns army was closing in on Lima. He captured Pisco on September 7 and Huacho on November 12. Viceroy La Serna responded by moving the royalist army from Lima to the defensible port of Callao in July of 1821, basically abandoning the city of Lima to San Martà ­n. The people of Lima, who feared an uprising by slaves and Indians more than they feared the army of Argentines and Chileans at their doorstep, invited  San Martin  into the city. On July 12, 1821, he triumphantly entered Lima to the cheers of the populace. Protector of Peru On July 28, 1821, Peru officially declared independence, and on August 3, San Martà ­n was named Protector of Peru and set about setting up a government. His brief rule was enlightened and marked by stabilizing the economy, freeing slaves, giving freedom to the Peruvian Indians and abolishing such hateful institutions as censorship and the Inquisition. The Spanish had armies at the port of Callao and high in the mountains. San Martà ­n starved out the garrison at Callao and waited for the Spanish army to attack him along the narrow, easily defended coastline leading to Lima: they wisely declined, leaving a sort of stalemate. San Martà ­n would later be accused of cowardice for failing to seek out the Spanish army, but to do so would have been foolish and unnecessary. Meeting of the Liberators Meanwhile, Simà ³n Bolà ­var and Antonio Josà © de Sucre were sweeping down out of the north, chasing the Spanish out of northern  South America. San Martà ­n and Bolà ­var met in Guayaquil in July of 1822 to decide how to proceed. Both men came away with a negative impression of the other. San Martà ­n decided to step down and allow Bolà ­var the glory of crushing the final Spanish resistance in the mountains. His decision was most likely made because he knew that they would not get along and one of them would have to step aside, which Bolà ­var would never do. Retirement and Death San Martà ­n returned to Peru, where he had become a controversial figure. Some adored him and wanted him to become King of Peru, while others detested him and wanted him out of the nation completely. The staid soldier soon tired of the endless bickering and backstabbing of government life and abruptly retired. By September of 1822, he was out of Peru and back in Chile. When he heard that his beloved wife Remedios was ill, he hastened back to Argentina but she died before he reached her side. San Martà ­n soon decided that he was better off elsewhere, and took his young daughter Mercedes to Europe. They settled in France. In 1829, Argentina called him back to help settle a dispute with Brazil which eventually would lead to the establishment of the nation of Uruguay. He returned, but by the time he reached Argentina the tumultuous government had once again changed and he was not welcome. He spent two months in Montevideo before returning once again to France. There he led a quiet life before passing away in 1850. Personal Life San Martà ­n was a consummate military professional, who lived a  Spartan  life. He had little tolerance for dances, festivals and showy parades, even when they were in his honor (unlike Bolà ­var, who loved such pomp and pageantry). He was loyal to his beloved wife during most of his campaigns, only taking a clandestine lover at the end of his fighting in Lima. His early wounds pained him greatly, and San Martin took a great deal of laudanum to relieve his suffering. Although it occasionally clouded his mind, it did not keep him from winning great battles. He enjoyed cigars and an occasional glass of wine. He refused almost all of the honors and rewards that grateful people of South America tried to give him, including rank, positions, land, and money. Legacy San Martà ­n had asked in his will that his heart is buried in Buenos Aires: in 1878 his remains were brought to the Buenos Aires Cathedral, where they still rest in a stately tomb. San Martà ­n is the greatest national hero of Argentina and he is considered a great hero by Chile and Peru as well. In Argentina, there are statues, streets, parks, and schools named after him wherever you go. As a liberator, his glory is as great or nearly as great as that of Simà ³n Bolà ­var. Like Bolà ­var, he was a visionary able to see beyond the confining borders of his own homeland and visualize a continent free of foreign rule. Also like Bolà ­var, he was constantly stymied by the petty ambitions of the lesser men who surrounded him. He differs from Bolà ­var chiefly in his actions after independence: while Bolà ­var exhausted the last of his energies fighting to unite South America into one great nation, San Martà ­n quickly tired of backstabbing politicians and retired to a quiet life in exile. The history of South America might have been very different had San Martà ­n remained involved in politics. He believed that the people of Latin America needed a firm hand to lead them and was a proponent of establishing a monarchy, preferably led by some European prince, in the lands he liberated. San Martà ­n was criticized during his life for cowardice for failing to chase nearby Spanish armies or for waiting for days in order to meet them on a ground of his choosing. History has borne out his decisions and today his military choices are held up as examples of martial prudence rather than cowardice. His life was full of courageous decisions, from deserting the Spanish army to fight for Argentina to crossing the Andes to  free Chile  and Peru, which were not his homeland. San Martà ­n was an outstanding general, courageous leader, and visionary politician and is very deserving of his heroic status in the nations he liberated. Sources Gray, William H. â€Å"The Social Reforms of San Martin.† The Americas 7.1, 1950. 3–11.Francisco San Martà ­n, Jose. Antologà ­a. Barcelona: Linkgua-Digital, 2019.Harvey, Robert.  Liberators: Latin Americas Struggle for Independence  Woodstock: The Overlook Press, 2000.Lynch, John.  The Spanish American Revolutions 1808-1826  New York: W. W. Norton Company, 1986.

Avon Calls on Foreign Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Human Resources. The role of the workforce Essay

Human Resources. The role of the workforce - Essay Example This paper will address two challenges faced by business organisations as outlined by the article Slippery Slope which looked the evolving role of the human resource practitioner due to the structural changes in companies. The first section will look at why Ulrich's well-known employee champion role is disintegrating in business organisations. Before the in depth discussion, the first section will also give a background on the four key roles of human resource practitioners as laid out by Ulrich. The second section will tackle how the changes to the operations of HR function have often created problems for HR practitioners, line managers and employee in general. This paper will also look at specific solutions to address these problems. David Ulrich recognized the role of the human resource in furthering the thrusts of business organisations in the face of rapid technological advancement, globalisation, growth and changing customer demands. He emphasized that in the evolution of this hypercompetitive environment, requires a competent workforce. In fact, he cited that organisational capability can be a source of competitive advantage in a company. Thus, Ulrich challenges businesses to "redefine business capabilities to sustain and integrate individual competencies" (Performance Management 1998) In relation to this, Ulrich presented f... ners should be strategic partners who translate the organisation's strategies into action; administrative experts who build efficient business infrastructure; employee champions who increase employee's commitment and capability; and change agents who substantially understand the theory of change and apply them to business organisations (Performance Management 1998). Among all the four key roles mentioned above, this paper will solely focus on the employee champion role of human resource practitioner. Ulrich described this role as listening and responding to employees and finding the right balance between the demands of employees and resources available on employees. In order to do this, the company's HR department must find time to know their employees well and spend time meeting and listening to their concerns. This role also includes promoting communication through the use of "employee surveys, employee suggestion programs, all-employee meetings, on-going communication on business status, and any other program that can make employees part of the team and dedicated to customer service" (The HR Philosophy 2006). Nowadays, employee champion is also referred to as employee advocate. However, as will be discussed in the next paragraphs, this role is rapidly being eliminated in business organisation due to various changes in company structure. According to the study conducted by Helen Francis and Anne Keegan, the current business structure facilitated the deterioration of the employee champion role of human resource practitioners. However, it should be noted that the disintegration of this role can be traced to current emphasis on business or strategic partnering. The authors note the rapid increase in the number of companies looking for HR business partners as

Msc IT Project Proposal - Title to be decided Thesis

Msc IT Project Proposal - Title to be decided - Thesis Example Current paper focuses on the methods used by a firm that operates in a specific industry, this of the martial arts, in order to improve its communication with its customers and therefore increase its performance. The firm under examination is a Judo club which is not well established in the market; it has entered the market rather recently – one year ago – and it seeks to increase its performance by improving its communication with its customers. It can be assumed therefore that the resources available for the achievement of the above targets will be limited. The chances for the achievement of the relevant plan will be explored and analyzed using a series of appropriately customized research methods. As already noticed above, the firm’s resources that are available for the realization of the relevant project – development of a communication website – are limited. The short presence of the firm in the market could be regarded as the main reason for the lack of necessary resources; however, there are firms that are developed quite quickly even if they operate for a short period within a particular market – this is the case of firms that use all resources available – referring not to the internal resources but also to the external ones, e.g. the funding options available in a specific market. It seems that the specific firm didn’t manage to ‘gain’ the support of the market until now (probably because no appropriate research was made to this direction). For this reason, it is necessary that all available resources of the firm will be employed in the particular effort trying to ensure the increase of its competitiveness within th e particular industry. Currently, the systems available for the completion of the specific project – communication website – are rather limited. The firm’s operation is based on a simple IT network consisting from 3 desktops that communicate through an

How to Improve College Education in the United States Essay

How to Improve College Education in the United States - Essay Example This essay stresses that the importance of education is that it plays a major role in determining the future of the concerned individuals. At times, it seems to widen the gap between the high and low income families with regard to the level of education that is present. Placing hopes on education simply means that only those who are educated prosper in life. Needless to mention, that the gap between the rich and the poor widen with the presence of education. In reference to this, it is important that the United States assesses student learning in higher education institutions. Assessment basically entails educational improvement where ideas are enacted on the type of learning that has more value to students and aim at assisting in its achievement. The values should incorporate both, what we choose to assess and how we do it. This paper makes a conclusion that the United States should ensure their colleges and universities regain back their glory as some of the best universities worldwide. This could be done through ensuring that the level of education is taken to a notch higher and more complex cognitive skills are taught to prepare graduated to a working experienced world. The college and universities should not be highly taxed especially for foreign students as this discourages them from joining the institutions. Through this, there will be a grantee of an improvement in the college education in the United States.

Bribery at Siemens Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Bribery at Siemens - Essay Example Bribery is definitely an unethical and illegal practice. Bribery cannot be considered as a cost of business just to get contracts for the company or securing their financial position in any international state or country. The reasons given by the employees when they were accused with the bribery scandal was mainly focusing on one aspect. They said they did it for the benefit of the company, so that the organization could get good business and be stable in all their different business units. The employees said in their defense that the bribery was asked to them by the employees of Enel if they wanted the contract for their company, Siemens. The employees of Siemens also defended their case by saying that the practice of bribery was common to get the contracts for the company on an international level. In late 2006, Siemens had faced another scandal of bribery in the telecommunication department which was bribing foreign officials for securing of contracts. Accusations were also made by IG Metall Company to Siemens for bribing their unions. Many other countries like US, Italy, Greece and Switzerland has accused Siemens for having misconduct while doing their foreign business. Siemens had practiced bribery so that they could win the contracts in the international market and become a strong player in their respective field. This is an unethical practice but it has been observed that for multinational organizations, the concept of bribery is considered a norm. Siemens has also been charged for bribing the employee representatives of different organizations so that they can get their work done easily. The former Siemen managers were also convicted of bribing the foreign officials for getting the business contracts for their organization. The main worrying aspect is that the practicing of bribery may be spread along many levels of management and to get to the

How to Improve College Education in the United States Essay

How to Improve College Education in the United States - Essay Example This essay stresses that the importance of education is that it plays a major role in determining the future of the concerned individuals. At times, it seems to widen the gap between the high and low income families with regard to the level of education that is present. Placing hopes on education simply means that only those who are educated prosper in life. Needless to mention, that the gap between the rich and the poor widen with the presence of education. In reference to this, it is important that the United States assesses student learning in higher education institutions. Assessment basically entails educational improvement where ideas are enacted on the type of learning that has more value to students and aim at assisting in its achievement. The values should incorporate both, what we choose to assess and how we do it. This paper makes a conclusion that the United States should ensure their colleges and universities regain back their glory as some of the best universities worldwide. This could be done through ensuring that the level of education is taken to a notch higher and more complex cognitive skills are taught to prepare graduated to a working experienced world. The college and universities should not be highly taxed especially for foreign students as this discourages them from joining the institutions. Through this, there will be a grantee of an improvement in the college education in the United States.

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Family of the Hearts - Essay Example The family is definitely one of the most important parts of the life of any person without which a person feels very lonely and sad at times. One can create the definition of a family by many different ways but the real and authentic meaning for the family is to live with people having emotions and feelings for each other. A person living with his/her family is able to enjoy life more than a person living alone. Therefore, after completing my education if I will have to decide whether I should live alone in America or with my family, I will definitely vote to live with my family. Being the first born in a family of three, I sometimes do feel the guilt of not being around my siblings to show them the right thing to do in the absence of my parents. This is so because whenever I am with them and my parents are not around, I take the full responsibility of being a parent to them. Although being away from my family is not for a bad course, I do not get that full satisfaction I usually get when being around them. Staying away from them has made realize how important my family is and that distance plays an important role in strengthening a family as a unit. Â   My extended family plays an important role just like my nuclear family. Even though being away from them too, I cannot get enough of their calls and the precious gifts they send me often. They shower me with love that rivals that of my dad, mum, and siblings. This is a clear example of how a family should be, not even friends can rival that bond created by family members.

Philosophy of Gender Essay Example for Free

Philosophy of Gender Essay Some people aspire for successful lives, but I think success is overrated. What Im trying to do is living my life according to what I think is right. This means learning not only inside the classroom, but also outside. This is because I believe that education inside the classroom is very limited, which is why we should take the initiative to control our education.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   So I start my day by having breakfast. I also read the paper while eating. One must still be aware of the current political and social issues; we must never be isolated from society. These are the peoples issues, so we must not be isolated from what they are engaged in. We are working for a better society not for ourselves, but also for other people and the next generation, so we must be integrated with their issues.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After breakfast, I go to school. In school, aside from attending class, I talk to the personnel. I ask their opinion on issues. I ask how their lives are. Through this way, I get a perspective on how they think. It is very interesting because they are usually very outspoken. Sometimes, I learn so much more from them than the textbooks they make us read in class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After class, I sometimes do volunteer work. I treat this as my â€Å"other class.† It supplements what I learn in class, and sometimes I get to apply what I learned inside the classroom as well. This class teaches me a lot, from relating with other people to critical thinking. Then I go home. I eat, study, then read. I may not have a lot of stuff, but I do have a lot of books.   I love reading. This opens my mind to a lot of possibilities, as well as solutions. I also love reading about great odds being surpassed by ordinary people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For a democracy to work, I think the citizens should be proactive people. For this to happen, they have to be trained even while in school. And this would entail letting them take control of their education, planning their own curriculum, carrying out their own lesson plan. When one speaks of a rational state of consciousness, one is talking of the state when ones mind is consciously doing something, like crossing the street. This kind of state requires ones full attention. When one speaks of non-rational consciousness, it is when ones mind is engaging in an activity that ones mind can do subconsciously; its whole attention is not on the activity. Habits and learned behavior fall under this state. An example would be tapping ones foot. And when one talks of the irrational state, it is the state of being unconscious, such as sleeping deeply. When in this state, one is unaware of what is happening. Have you had your heart broken? I have, once. I loved her, but she left me. Maybe she thought the world is a better companion. I do not know. It has been years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Her name was Lilith. She was a remarkable being, all magic and desire. She had hair that was like waterfalls cascading down to earth; fluid, wild, breath-taking, hypnotizing. Her body was like the hills and mountains of the earth, curvaceous and fertile. She also provided the   intellectual stimulation that I needed. In my youth, I was too arrogant and stubborn to see that.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I had asked Father for a mate. I was lonely, and I had no one to share my experiences of naming and taking care of the creatures Father put under my care. I also wanted someone who would complement my efforts of organizing the whole of Creation, listening intently, while serving me a delicious meal. So I told the Father how lonely I was.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   He made a mate, and called it woman. I accepted her, and we lived together. I thought we were going to be happy together forever in paradise. I made her wait on me, serve me, obey me. I wanted her to only wander when I was with her. I wanted her to do all the domestic duties, because I was busy managing the Garden of Eden.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   We got along sometimes. Lilith, skilled with words, would contribute to my summary of what I did during the day, pointing out which names fitted the creature exactly. I thankfully used her suggestions, being inept with words, having been alone for some time. But mostly we fought day and night. We had different views on most things. She wanted to talk about how we feel; I could not successfully keep up with her analysis on why she is annoyed when the sheep just leaves its droppings lying around. She wanted to do things on her own; she could not understand that I was afraid of losing her, which is why I do not want her wandering off. She wanted the privilege of naming and managing the creatures in Creation; I could not make her understand that this was a job given to me, and she should try other activities in the Garden. She talked of how Eden could be made better; I would rather focus on the conditions now.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   So we fought. She would not do the things I told her were her duties as my wife. She said she wanted to do other things. She could not understand that her declining means undermining my authority. I know I should not have shouted at her and pulled her hair, but she made me angry. So when she left, I did not go looking for her. We have had disputes before, and though it is unlike her to not talk the problem over, I decided to pay no heed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But then, days after, she has not yet returned. So I told the Father of my concern. He sent messengers to her, but she would not yield. She would not come back to Eden, to me.

The Effects Of Farming On The Environment Environmental Sciences Essay

The Effects Of Farming On The Environment Environmental Sciences Essay By 5000 BC the Sumerians had developed core agricultural techniques including large-scale intensive cultivation of land,  mono-cropping, organized  irrigation, and the use of a specialized labour force. Intensive farming or  intensive agriculture  is an agricultural system that aims to produce maximum yield from available land. Besides, its also an  agricultural  production system characterized by the high inputs of  capital,  labour or heavy usage of technologies such as  pesticides  and chemical  fertilizers  relative to land area. You could say food is produced in large quantities with the help of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The products such as eggs, meat and many agricultural products available in many supermarkets are produced using modern intensive farming. Intensive farming is practiced widely by many of the developed economies of the world. Sustainable intensive farming, intensive aquaculture, intensive live stock farming and managed intensive grazing fall under intensive farming. Environment issues of Intensive Farming Intensive farming may bring some issues to the environment. For instance:- Intensive farming includes the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides.  It is also associated with overpopulated animal farms, which are often associated with pollution and animal sickness. And even more disturbing is the fact that the majority of working farms use intensive farming. This means more chemicals on our plate at each meal. The use of such massive amounts of nitrogen based fertilizers contaminates the area lakes and rivers. Forests are destroyed to create large open fields and this could lead to soil erosion and affects natural habits in the forest. The pesticides sprayed on crops destroy pests, contaminate the crops and kill good insects. Eventually, these chemicals are passed on to the human beings.   The fruits and vegetables bought from farms that promote intensive farming are covered with invisible pesticide. These are not easily washed off. The residue of the pesticide affect the health of human beings.   Use of pesticides has numerous negative health effects on workers who applied those, people that live nearby the area of application or downstream from it and consumers who eat the pesticides which remain on their food. INTENSIVE FARMING IN MALAYSIA Livestock farming in Sabah once seen as backyard farming and pose no threat to the environment, but with the rapid development in the livestock industry, particularly in monogastric subsector, coupled with rapid expansion of urban and peri-urban area, livestock farming has become the critical issue. Excessive livestock waste as a result of intensive farming system need to be addressed. Although animal waste can be utilized as a manure to improve the physical and chemical properties of soil, it can also cause environmental hazard if not managed properly. It can caused malodour or odour nuisance to environment, surface water contamination, secondary pollution and also religious sensitivity. Table 1. Estimated Livestock Population of Sabah, 1999 Species Number (Head) Cattle 44,837 Buffalo 50,741 Goat 37,285 Sheep 1,900 Pig 100,000 Chicken 3,400,000 Duck 113,000 Source: (Anon.1999b) Livestock Species Population Waste Produce (m.t.) per Year Poultry 2.4 millions 178,000 Duck 0.5 millions 55,000 Pig 85,000 248,000 Cattle/Buffalo 97,000 1,416,000 Goat/Sheep 38,000 70,000 Total 1,967,000 Source: (Mokhtar and Chia, 2000) Table 2. Total livestock population and the wastes produced per year The rapid growth of the livestock industry caused on environmental problem-related to the livestock waste generated from the intensive farming system. Livestock waste generated from an extensive or semi extensive farming system does not seem to cause any major environmental problem as shown in table 2, cattle or buffalo wastes amount to 1.4 million metric ton compare to pig wastes about 248,000 metric ton. The problem is further aggravated with the rapid development of the urban and peri-urban area where most of the livestock farms are situated. The total livestock population and the waste produced per year for selected animal is illustrated in Table 2. Environmental problems cause by livestock farming Water Pollution Main environmental problem cause by livestock farming is water pollution, according to The Malaysian Environmental Quality Report, 12 rivers in the state were polluted with ammoniac nitrogen (NH3-N) due to livestock farming and domestic wastes in 1997. Water pollution cause by livestock farming occurred due to malfunction of waste lagoon or accidentally spill over from flooded lagoon or deliberate flushing of wastes directly into river system. Water may turn reddish brown and may destroy the fragile ecosystem. Pollution from nutrients contained in animal manure, namely phosphorous and nitrogen is one of the most serious problems, leading to excess algae growth, robbing water of oxygen which may lead to mass destruction of fish. Air pollution The anaerobic decomposition of stored animal wastes generates various volatile metabolic compounds of which a dozen contributes to odour, in particular hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and ammonia. These can cause continuous source of strong, persistent and unreasonably offensive hog/poultry odours. The resulting of air pollution is interfering with surrounding areas. Air pollution in the form of ammonia nitrogen can cause respiratory illness in the neighborhood up to two miles away from the site. Potential source of diseases Beside serious environmental problem, animal waste also may become a source of various diseases such as infectious worm larvae hatched from the worm eggs passed out with the faeces; contamination encrusted with organic matter is an ideal breeding ground of harmful bacteria. Arthropods such as flies, lice, fleas that are attracted by animal waste may trigger outbreak of infectious diseases, because they are the vectors to transmit diseases such as viruses, rickettsiae, protozoa and helminthes. WAYS TO PREVENT There are several ways to prevent Environmental problems cause by livestock farming, fr instance:- To minimize environment problem caused by pig waste there should be proper animal waste management system such as improving the housing adopting by the Pit Recharge System and Concrete Floor unit.   The adoption of the Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBBR) with an Automation, which is waste water treatment system with the function of stirring, aeration and settling.     To reduce the odour emitted from farm, a close housing system with regulated ventilation is used. Thats mean, by using high efficiency fans at one end of the building; fresh air is sucked ion from outside environment passing through the cooling pad to reduce the temperature before being delivered into the building. Livestock Farming Rules, 2001. In the meantime the Department of Veterinary Services and Animal Industry is well aware of the need to control and rectify irregularities in the livestock farming practices. Base on this, Livestock Farming Rules, 2000 (Draft) was introduced. This regulation was created under the existing Animal Ordinance 1962 (Amended 1998). Under this legislation, all livestock farms shall be operated under the permit of Department of Veterinary Services and Animal Industry, Sabah (DOVSAI). CONCLUSION Intensive farming or  intensive agriculture  is an agricultural system characterized by the high inputs of  capital,  labour or heavy usage of technologies such as  pesticides  and chemical  fertilizers  relative to land area. Intensive farming is practiced widely by many of the developed economies of the world. However, it may bring disadvantages to our environment. Livestock farming has become the critical issue. The rapid growth of the livestock industry in Sabah caused on environmental problem-related to the livestock waste generated from the intensive farming system. Excessive livestock waste as a result of intensive farming system need to be addressed. If not managed properly, it can caused malodour or odour nuisance to environment, surface water contamination, secondary pollution and also religious sensitivity. RERERENCES http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intensive_farming http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-for-intensive-farming.html http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-for-intensive-farming.html http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5019e/y5019e0l.htm http://kb.rspca.org.au/RSPCA-Policy-B2-Intensive-farming-practices_165.html http://www.sabah.gov.my/jpas/news/SITE/SITEppr12.pdf Water pollution in a rural stream due to farming activity APPENDIXC:UsersEnd_UserPicturesuntitled.bmp photo06.jpg Pesticides drift The use of pesticides in agriculture C:UsersEnd_UserDesktopimage.jpg

The Coquette Essay -- Literary Analysis, Hannah Webster Foster

The Coquette, written by Hannah Webster Foster in 1797, chronicles the life of an affluent woman in the 18th century. There are a few themes that are presented throughout the whole novel: correspondence, sexual freedom, and ideal womanhood. Elizabeth Whitman has been an icon of American history since the 19th century because of her bravery and contempt for the caged position of women in society. It is stated that the tombstone of Elizabeth Whitman is a popular tourist attraction; â€Å"her grave was a popular destination for New England travelers, who beat paths to the far corner of Danvers’s Old South Cemetery through the entire nineteenth century.† (Waterman) The Coquette was loosely based on the story of Elizabeth Whitman, born in 1752 and dead in 1788. Women were typically not objects of novels because women were not deemed important by society, therefore it is surprising when a novel about a woman becomes very popular among the general public. The Coquette was advertised as a dime novel in the late 17 and early 1800s but come the turn of the 21st century, it is one of the most popular novels about women’s liberation and sexual freedom. Since The Coquette is based on true events, there must be a primary or credible secondary source; in this case, the epistolary novel was compiled using themes from the original letters written by Elizabeth Whitman. There were only 15 letters that remain of the correspondence between Elizabeth Whitman and Joel Barlow that exist in the Baldwin Family Papers. (Waterman) In her novel The Romance of the Association, Caroline Wells Healy Dall had to personally contact the Baldwin family in order to review the original letters. This is why correspondence is so important in novels of this time period. ... ...est stick since she lost her life and her reputation, the two most important things to her. However I would argue that the punishments were the same, Sanford lost the two most important things to him as well, Eliza and his money. Depending on one’s view point, it may be better to die than to live without the love of your life. Works Cited Castiglione, Balclesar. "The Book of the Coutier ." Castiglione, Balclesar. The Third Book. London: Norton & Company, 1523. 147-187. Elizabeth Whitman Grave. Peabody, n.d. Photograph. Foster, Hanna Webster. The Coquette. Oxford University Press, 1797. ebook. Waterman, Bryan. "Coquetry and Correspondence in Revolutionary-Era: Reading Elizabeth Whitman’s Letters." Early American Literature (2011): 541-563. Wenska Jr., Walter P. "The Coquette AND THE AMERICAN DREAM OF FREEDOM." Early American Literature (1977): 243-256.

Athenian Artistic Performances Were They a Form of Propaganda Essay

The â€Å"glory that was Greece† reached its height in 5th century BCE in Athens, under the leadership of Pericles. He opened Athenian democracy to the ordinary citizen, was responsible for the construction of magnificent temples and statues on the Acropolis and he, in effect created the Athenian empire. The definition of propaganda is â€Å"the planned use of any form of public or mass-produced communication designed to affect the minds of a given group for a specific purpose, whether military, economic or political† (Linearger, p. 39, 1954). This has connotations of dishonesty and while people assume it is a modern phenomenon, its roots go back much further. The question is however, was propaganda rife in 5th century BCE Athens and if so, was it the driving force whether explicitly or not behind many of the public displays? A funeral oration or epitaphios logos is an official speech delivered at a funeral. The epitaphios is regarded as a virtually unique Athenian concept, although early elements of such speeches exist in the Epic poetry of Homer and in Lyric poetry of Pindar; in addition modern parallels have been drawn between Lincoln’s Gettysburg address and Pericles. When Pericles gave the epitaphios for Athenian soldiers who had been killed in the first year of the Peloponnesian War. He took the opportunity to not only praise the deceased, but Athens itself, in an oration which has been both praised as enshrining the archetypal democratic system and condemned as barefaced propaganda. In Thucydides’ book History of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles’ Funeral Oration is a powerful rhetorical piece. In addition it is important evidence for the study of the Athenian sense of identity and the way they represented themselves and others. It eloquently discusses the ancient democratic model and the picture it portrays serves as a prototype for democratic states today (Abbott, 1970). Thucydides specified a man would be chosen to make an ‘appropriate speech’ i. e. it matched formulaic prescriptions of the epitaphios, which according to Edinger, â€Å"consisted of a number of recognised topics: praise of the dead, praise of the ancestors, praise of the city, consolation of the families of the dead.

Consumer Preception Towards Online Shoping

Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. com International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 CONSUMER’S PERCEPTION TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING- THE CASE OF PUNJAB Pawan Singh Rathour ABSTRACT India has more than 100 million internet users out of which one half opt for online purchases and the number is rising sharply every year. The growth in the number of online shoppers is greater than the growth in Internet users, indicating that more Internet users are becoming comfortable to shop online.The capability of purchasing without leaving your place is of great interest to many consumers. Not only does online shopping offer really good deals, but also brings optimum convenience to the consumers. Moreover, the use of Internet tools for price searching and comparison provides an additional advantage in consumers’ final decision, as they can purchase their desired products in the lowest available price. This paper focuses on the unders tanding of demographic profiles of adopters and non-adopters of online shopping.For this purpose the data from 400 respondents was collected in the form of questionnaires. The study has been conducted in 3 cities of Punjab, a sample of urban respondents were selected from the Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar The paper also analyses the various reasons for adoption and non-adoption of online shopping. KEYWORDS: Online Shopping, Consumer Perception, Factor analysis, Adopters and Non-Adopters of online shopping REVIEW OF LITERATURE Bellman et al (1999) investigated various predictors for whether an individual will purchase online.These authors concluded that demographic variables, such as income, education and age, have a modest impact on the decision of whether to buy online, whereas the most important determinant of online shopping was previous behaviour, such as earlier online purchases. Standing (1999) stated that traditionally retail travel agencies have acted as intermediaries be tween airline companies and wholesale travel companies and the consumer. The Internet and the World Wide Web provide a whole new set of challenges and opportunities for this business sector.The major threat stems from airlines and wholesale travel companies offering their products and services directly to the customer without the assistance of travel agencies. Large online agencies have gained significant attention in the travel industry and provide some evidence of a restructuring of the travel industry sector. Leong (2001) examined the marketing strategies adopted by local hotel establishments in the competitive hospitality industry. It also analyses the adoption and role of information technology in strategic marketing.It was found that most hotels seemed to have embraced the marketing concept, given the existence of extensive marketing plans. Although most hotels appeared to have successfully incorporated information technology into their marketing campaigns, the level of commit ment seemed to be insignificant. Following a brief comparison with a similar US study, the paper concludes that there are only minor differences between US and Singapore hotels in terms of their marketing practices. Parasuraman (2002) stated that the motivations for this special issue and propose a conceptual framework pertaining to the issue’s theme.Using this frameworks a backdrop, they then offer an overview of the remaining articles by segmenting them into categories and discussing their relationship to the framework. They conclude by highlighting research avenues for augmenting our understanding of marketing to and serving customers through the Internet. Sigala (2003) stated that despite the exponential growth of e-commerce on the Internet, little is still known on how the new medium is transforming marketing concepts/practices and their effectiveness.This empirical study aims to fill in this gap. This article first analyzes the Internet's capabilities and features as we ll as the new virtual market space that Internet advances have fostered. After reviewing models and strategies for Internet marketing, an Internet marketing mix is proposed based on the Internet strategies of hotels in Greece that were investigated. Know and Lee (2003) explored consumers’ concerns about payment security and its relationship to online shopping attitude and actual purchases.They observed a negative relationship between attitude towards online shopping and concerns about online payment security. Consumers with a positive attitude seem to be less concerned about payment security. Bechrer (2004) stated that Internet marketing is a field that is continuing to grow, and the online auction concept may be defining a totally new and unique distribution alternative. Very few studies have examined auction sellers and their INTRODUCTION With nearly half of the Indian population being young and net savvy, there has been an extra ordinary rise in the numbers of online shopp ers.The recent growth in the mall culture in the country has in fact made consumers more aware about different options and encouraged them to search and eventually purchase online. India has more than 100 million internet users out of which one half opt for online purchases and the number is rising sharply every year. The growth in the number of online shoppers is greater than the growth in Internet users, indicating that more Internet users are becoming comfortable to shop online.Until recently, the consumers generally visit online to reserve hotel rooms and buy air, rail or movie tickets, books and gadgets and gizmos, but now more and more offline product like clothes – saris, kurtis, T-shirts – shoes, and designer lingerie, consumer durables are being purchased online. At present the market is estimated at Rs. 46000 crore and is growing at 100 percent per year. The two most commonly cited reasons for online shopping have been convenience and price. The capability of purchasing without leaving your place is of great interest to many consumers.Not only does online shopping offer really good deals, but also brings optimum convenience to the consumers. Moreover, the use of Internet tools for price searching and comparison provides an additional advantage in consumers’ final decision, as they can purchase their desired products in the lowest available price . On the contrary, privacy and security have been the great concerns, resulting many people to browse the Internet for informational matters than for buying online. 1|Page www. ijmit. com Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. om International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 internet marketing strategies. This research examines the internet auction phenomenon as it relates to the marketing mix of online auction sellers. The data in this study indicate that, whilst there is great diversity among businesses that utilize online auctions, disti nct cost leadership and differentiation marketing strategies are both evident. These two approaches are further distinguished in terms of the internet usage strategies employed by each group.Ryan (2004) conducted a research on the mosaic of institutional issues associated with gaining credibility for internet marketing standards. Strong claims for a predominantly self-regulatory approach are reviewed in conjunction with other factors that inhibit credibility, namely: competing internet worldviews, weak moral coherency and offline ambiguity about respective institutional roles, especially as regards moral dimensions of notions of regulation and self-regulation. Wang (2006) conducted a research to examine the current use and predict future Web-based marketing activities of U. S. onvention and visitor bureaus. A survey was sent to 600 randomly selected American convention and visitor bureaus with a focus on assessing the applications included in the bureaus’ Web sites, their Web site promotion techniques, and customer relationship management programs in relation to these Web sites. The results indicate that most bureaus’ Internet marketing activities are relatively limited, focusing on providing travel information to prospective visitors. Bengtsson (2007) stated that adopting the Internet for advanced marketing operations opens up challenging opportunities for firms of all sizes.However, such adoption might destroy investments in present market channels and thus has the characteristics of radical innovation. The results of analysis show that composition of factors on which firms base their decision to adopt advanced Internet-based marketing operations varies significantly with firm size. Chin ting (2010) stated that few school or educational studies have simultaneously explored both internet marketing and organizational commitment, and of those that have, only direct effects were examined. This study clarifies the relationship between school organiz ation’s internet arketing and teachers’ organizational commitment by examining the mediating role of teachers’ job involvement and job satisfaction. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The study has been conducted to identify the consumer’s perception towards online shopping in Punjab. The specific objectives of the study are: ? ? To identify the demographic profile of adopters and non-adopters of online shopping in Punjab. To identify the various reasons for adoption and non-adoption of online shopping by the consumers of Punjab DATABASE AND METHODOLOGY The research is primarily descriptive in nature.The data was collected in the form of questionnaires. The study has been conducted in 3 cities of Punjab, a sample of urban respondents were selected from the Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar. The survey was carried out on 450 respondents. However, 31 Questionnaires were found to be incorrect or irrelevant, so a total of 50 questionnaires were deliberately rejected. Hence, the study sample was reduced to 400 respondents. The data was collected personally (and via emails) in the months of January 2012 to March 2012. The questionnaire was pretested in order to identify possible problems in terms of clarity and accuracy.Thus, several changes were made in order to improve the presentation of the items, based on comments and feedback. Apart from demographic-related questions, fivepoint Likert scale was used for all the questions concerning consumers’ expectations and perceptions about the online shopping. Most of the Respondents of the age group 36-45 years (44. 6%) were found to be adopters of online shopping (Table 1). Most of the Males (55. 3%) were the adopters as compared to females, where 53. 7% were non-adopters. The adopters were mostly post graduates (48. 9%) with monthly income in the range of Rs. 0000-Rs. 30000. The respondents those who use internet from 5 to 7 hours a day were found to be adopters of online shopping. The consumer respon ses ranked the retail websites at Number 1 with Electronics and comparison shopping websites at Number 2 and 3 respectively. Home items were ranked at Number 10 by the Punjab consumers (Table 2) Table 1 : Demographic profile of Adopters and Non Adopters Demographics Adopters No. Age: 15-25 26-35 36-45 Above 46 Gender: Female Male 84 104 44. 6% 55. 3% 114 98 53. 7% 46. 2% df=1 chi-square=53. 892 p=0. 000 34 67 84 03 18. 0% 35. 6% 44. % 1. 5% 45 72 91 04 21. 2% 33. 9% 42. 9% 1. 8% df=3 chi-square=48. 241 p=0. 000 % Non Adopters No. % Chi – square 2|Page www. ijmit. com Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. com Education: Under Graduate Graduate Post Graduate Any Other Monthly Income: Under Rs. 10000 Rs. 10000-Rs. 20000 Rs. 20000-Rs. 30000 More than Rs. 30000 Not Employed Daily usage of the Internet 1 hour and below 1-3 hours 3. 1-5 hours 5. 1-7 hours 7 hours and above 21 38 56 65 08 18 37 78 55 00 31 43 92 20 International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 6. 4% 22. 8% 48. 9% 10. 6% 56 62 86 08 26. 4% 29. 2% 40. 5% 3. 7% df=3 chi-square=72. 452 p=0. 000 9. 5% 19. 6% 41. 4% 29. 2% 0. 0% 42 51 69 45 05 19. 8% 24. 0% 32. 5% 21. 2% 2. 3% df=4 chi-square=67. 453 p=0. 000 11. 1% 20. 2% 29. 7% 34. 5% 4. 2% 47 53 71 39 02 22. 1% 25. 0% 33. 4% 18. 3% 0. 94% df=4 chi-square=77. 344 p=0. 000 Table 2: Most visited category of websites: Category of Websites Retail Consumer Electronics Comparison Shopping Computer Hardware Apparel Movies Books Flowers/Gifts/Greetings Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories Home itemsRank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mean 3. 45 3. 12 2. 98 2. 87 2. 64 2. 55 2. 03 1. 76 1. 46 1. 55 Reasons for adoption or non-adoption of online shopping The factor analysis was applied on the responses provided by respondents. Factor analysis is a good way of identifying latent or underlying factors from an array of seemingly important variables. In a more general way, factor analysis is a set of techniques, which, by anal yzing correlations between variables, reduces their number into fewer factors, which explain much of the original data, more economically. (Malhotra,2002).In the present study, the factor analysis was applied in order to identify the various reasons for online shopping by the consumers, the responses obtain were put to factor analysis and the result so obtain were Table 3 : KMO and Bartlett’s test subject to Kaiser- Meyer- Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity. The approximate chi-square value is 621. 103 with df 290, which is significant at 0. 000 level. (Table 3). The value of KMO statistics (0. 783) is also large (; 0. 5). Hence, all factors are not considered equally important for Television viewing.From table 4, it is evident that the first four variables represent the 62. 092 % of variance. Therefore, only these four factors with the variance greater than 1. 0 are retained and the other factors are not included in the model. T hus, from eigen values in table 3, we extract only 4 factors from the 13 variables. 3|Page www. ijmit. com Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. com International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx.Chi-Square Degree of Freedom Significance .783 621. 103 290 . 000 Table 4: Total Variance explained Initial Eigenvalues Component 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Total 4. 150 3. 144 2. 718 1. 411 0. 892 0. 789 0. 618 0. 601 0. 590 0. 449 0. 332 0. 217 0. 189 % of Variance 27. 823 14. 230 10. 783 9. 256 6. 068 5. 130 5. 003 4. 781 4. 350 4. 263 2. 963 2. 788 2. 562 Cumulative % 27. 823 42. 053 52. 836 62. 092 68. 160 73. 290 78. 293 83. 074 87. 424 91. 687 94. 650 97. 438 100. 00 Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Total 4. 150 3. 144 2. 718 1. 411 % of Variance 27. 823 14. 230 10. 783 9. 56 Cumulative % 27. 823 42. 053 52. 836 62. 092 Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings Total 3. 921 3. 101 2. 318 1. 290 % of Variance 27. 823 14. 230 10. 783 9. 256 Cumulative % 27. 823 42. 053 52. 836 62. 092 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis Factor loadings are simple correlations between the variables and factors. The most commonly used method is the Varimax Table 5:Rotated Component Matrix rotation procedure. This is an orthogonal method of rotation that minimizes the number of variables with high loadings of a factor, thereby enhancing the interpretability of the factors.Orthogonal rotations results in factors that are uncorrelated. Component S. No. Statements 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 I prefer to purchase online due to heavy discounts available online It is easier to buy online rather than going on to shop at store Shopping online gives you larger options to choose from It is easier to pay online through credit card or direct bank transfer The quality of products purchased online from trusted sites is very good and are available at economical pri ces Shopping online saves my time and money as I don’t have to go through heavy traffic besides saving fuel 609 . 361 . 212 . 341 . 425 . 380 .427 . 521 . 517 . 489 . 336 .379 . 389 . 412 . 656 . 316 .235 . 260 . 352 . 419 . 296 6 .552 .272 .461 4|Page www. ijmit. com Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. com 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 . 402 . 642 . 285 . 403 . 502 . 325 . 580 . 326 . 561 . 223 . 326 . 346 . 436 . 352 . 561 . 452 . 311 . 262 . 663 . 516 . 431 . 613 . 497 . 591 . 570 . 371 . 696 . 280I am a bit concerned about the security and privacy of my payments online I cannot buy all the products on discount but some selected products only There are some shipping delays in getting the product I do not use the credit card so I cannot often shop online I prefer to purchase online due to easement of online buying procedures I physically need to check the products before purchasing it I ca n read the reviews also before purchasing online which helps me to select the right product at economical pricesPrincipal Component Analysis under the rotation method (Varimax with Kaiser Normalization), rotation converged in 15 iterations. The following four components (Table 6) may be extracted: Component 1: Factor 1,5,8,13 (Price Consciousness) Component 2:Factor 2,3,6 (Convenience and Variety) Component 3:Factor 4,11 (Easy payment options) Component shopping) 4:Factor 7,9,10,12 (Challenges of online The rotated component matrix suggests presence of the four interrelated factors.Table 6: Naming of Factors Factor No. F1 Name of Dimension Price Consciousness Item No. 1 I prefer to purchase online due to heavy discounts available online Variables Factor loading . 609 5 8 13 F2 Convenience and Variety 2 3 6 F3 Easy payment options 4 11 F4 Challenges of online shopping 7 9 10 12 The quality of products purchased online from trusted sites is very good and are available at economical pr ices I cannot buy all the products on discount but some selected products only.I can read the reviews also before purchasing online which helps me to select the right product at economical prices It is easier to buy online rather than going on to shop at store Shopping online gives you larger options to choose from Shopping online saves my time and money as I don’t have to go through heavy traffic besides saving fuel It is easier to pay online through credit card or direct bank transfer I prefer to purchase online due to easement of online buying procedures. I am a bit concerned about the security and privacy of my payments online There are some shipping delays in getting the product.I do not use the credit card so I cannot often shop online I physically need to check the products before purchasing it .425 . 642 . 580 . 521 . 517 . 552 . 656 . 663 . 613 . 591 . 570 . 696 Price Consciousness: It is the most significant factor with 27. 823 percent of total variance explained. T his explains the intent of Punjab Consumers being price sensitive. Most of the consumers prefer to buy some selected products online because they will get heavy discounts in comparison to store purchases. Also, the consumers feels that there are good websites available which can be trusted for purchases. |Page www. ijmit. com Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. com International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 Convenience and Variety: It is the second most significant factor with 14. 230 percent of total variance explained. The consumers perceive that shopping online gives them larger options to choose from. Shopping online is very convenient as one has to just open a laptop or PC to shop rather then getting ready and pass through rush hour traffics. Easy Payment options: It is the third most significant factor with 10. 83 percent of total variance explained. Consumers feel that carrying cash or credit cards all the way to the stor e is meaning less if one can purchase the same product from their home. Challenges of Online Shopping: It is the fourth most significant factor with 9. 256 percent of total variance explained. The only worry of consumers is regarding the trustworthiness of some websites, since they have to give their credit card details to shop online. REFERENCES ? Bechrer C. (2004). Characteristics and internet marketing strategies of online auction sellers.International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising. 24(1), 24-37 Bellman, S. , Lohse, G. and Johnson, E. (1999) ‘Predictors of online buying behaviour,’ Communications of the ACM, 42 (12), 32-38. Bengtsson M. (2007). Integrating the Internet and Marketing Operations: A Study of Antecedents in Firms of Different Size. International Small Business Journal. 25(1), 27-48 Chin ting S. (2010). The Effect of Internal Marketing on Organizational Commitment: Job Involvement and Job Satisfaction as Mediators. Educational Administrati on Quarterly. 9(4), 65-74 Know, K. and Lee, J. (2003) ‘Concerns about payment security of Internet purchases: a perspective on current on-line shoppers,’ Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 21 (4), 174-184. Leong C. (2001). Marketing practices and Internet marketing: A study of hotels in Singapore. Journal of Vacation Marketing. 7(2), 179-187 Parsuraman A. (2002). Marketing to and Serving Customers through the Internet: An Overview and Research Agenda. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 30(4), 96-105 Ryan P. (2004).Internet marketing standards: institutional coherence issues. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising. 15(4), 84103 Schiffman L. (2007) Consumer Behavior , New Delhi: Prentice Hall India Sigalla M. (2003). Developing and Benchmarking Internet Marketing Strategies in the Hotel Sector in Greece. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. 27(4), 375-401 Standing C. (1999). Internet marketing strategies used by travel agencies in Australia. Journal of Vacation Marketing. 6(1), 36-42 Wang Y. (2006).Futuring Internet Marketing Activities Using Change Propensity Analysis. Journal of Travel Research. 45(2), 158-166 ? ? ? CONCLUSIONS It was seen from the study that most of the Respondents of the age group 36-45 years were found to be adopters of online shopping. Most of the Males were the adopters as compared to females, where 53. 7% were non-adopters. The adopters were mostly post graduates with monthly income in the range of Rs. 20000-Rs. 30000. The respondents those who use internet from 5 to 7 hours a day were found to be adopters of online shopping.Further, the factor analysis was applied to understand the various reasons for adoption and non-adoption of online shopping by the respondents. The following four factors were found to be significant Price Consciousness, Convenience and Variety, Easy Payment options and Challenges of Online Shopping. Most of the consumers prefer to buy some selected products onli ne because they will get heavy discounts in comparison to store purchases. Also, the consumers feels that there are good websites available which can be trusted for purchases.The consumers perceive that shopping online gives them larger options to choose from. Shopping online is very convenient as one has to just open a laptop or PC to shop rather then getting ready and pass through rush hour traffics. Shopping online saves time and money along with lesser effort is required in comparison to store purchases. Consumers feel that carrying cash or credit cards all the way to the store is meaning less if one can purchase the same product from their home. The educated consumers are aware of the buying procedures online which they feel are pretty simple.The only worry of consumers is regarding the trustworthiness of some websites, since they have to give their credit card details to shop online. Many of the consumers are aware of the various online scams due to which they are very concern ed and reluctant while providing their credit card information online. Also the online purchases take a longer time in shipments and deliveries. The psychology of an Indian consumer is still the same of checking the product physically before purchasing it, which creates a mental hurdle for online shopping. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 6|Page www. ijmit. com