Self-Image and Consumer Behavior

Article Review: Self-Image and Consumer Behavior: How Sacrosanct Self-Beliefs Sway Preferences in the Marketplace Written by: David Dunning In this article, David Dunning questions whether or not beliefs, wants, and needs are the keys to decision making in a consumer’s mind. He believes in a decision making technique called belief harmonization. With this, Dunning means that in order to reach a decision , it may require arranging and revising one’s beliefs, needs, and preferences into a network of cognition that produces little tension among its elements. He states that this allows for two major influences on decision making.The first influence is if people hold a bias to favor one decision over another, then that will alter how they perceive the product. They will solely make a decision on that bias and keep to it. In our book, it explains this with brand equity. The outcome shows that a consumer will decide based on the belief that this brand is better than all of the others and not think twice to purchase. The second influence involves the beliefs that the consumer want to maintain, called sacrosanct beliefs. This is one claiming that the self is a moral, lovable, and capable individual.Dunning states that many decisions in the consumer world are based on this belief of self-image, even when the decision at hand has no relevance to the self. We buy to highlight or hide aspects of our self. Evidence for Decision Making as Belief Harmonization There is much evidence that suggest that judgment and decision making, including consumer behavior decision making, is known to be belief harmonization. Dunning stated that through the 1940s and 1960s, people depended on the consistency theory, balance theory, and the cognitive dissonance theory.However, it has been known that belief and other connections are applied as well. This would be referred to as connectionist modeling or parallel-constraint satisfaction. He gives a certain example of a young woman buying a car and the positive and negative factors based on buying this car. There can be some direct and indirect contradictions in the harmonization process. What people do is revise what they believe in and make connections with the decision. It may lead towards the negative factors or the positive factors in this decision.Dunning states that the best decisions should be based on the beliefs that the person possesses and will be the best indicator for it. Beliefs are equally able to influence and be influenced by other beliefs. The Influence of Decision Outcomes on Perceptions of â€Å"Input† Variables Emerging evidence demonstrates just how easily the causality in decision making can run in reverse. A preliminary opinion leaning toward one conclusion tends to alter how people evaluate evidence in decision making. This also is a part of product choice as well.The Influence of Logically Irrelevant â€Å"Outside Beliefs† Any belief can bias people to initially favor o ne over another. These beliefs are called â€Å"outside† beliefs and tend to be irrelevant when it comes to the decision making process. Dunning talks about how a juror decides on whether or not someone should be sued for posting negative comments on the internet. They looked at both positive and negative sides of the defendant and never based their decision on if the defendant was a nice guy or not. Work in the consumer world has also found similar bias due to outside beliefs.Evidence for Sacrosanct Beliefs about the Self People commonly approach every decision with the belief that their decision takes precedence and that they are honorable individuals. They want their decisions to be positive so that their self-image is positive. In class, we learned about impression management, which means that we work to â€Å"manage† what others think of us. This is a factor in our self-image. Evidence for Positive Self-Beliefs Researchers have showed that people have upbeat self- images, even to an unrealistic degree.Our psychological process that might help leave people with flattering views is a constant engagement in belief harmonization anchored on a self-belief. Research on self-evaluation also shows what type of moves or decisions people make for a positive self-image. This goes in hand with the ideal self portrayal and our concept of what we would like to be. With consumers, they easily adapt to certain products to help us reach our ideal self and have a positive outcome in our beliefs. Evidence for Belief Harmonization with Positive Self-BeliefsBeliefs about the social world are harmonized with flattering self-views. The judgment of people will affirm the positive impression of self. Culture is a big factor in the consumer world, and that is where the beliefs and self-image become intertwined together. In our book, it talks about how in some cultures, women are supposed to foster harmonious relationships and men are supposed to be assertive and have certain skills. These beliefs make the positive self-image in the culture that the male and female are in. Definitions of Social Traits and JudgmentThere are many social traits out in the consumer world today. The article talks about how people tend to emphasize specific attributes and talents that they have and de-emphasize those they do not. These beliefs guide people’s judgments. They align their attribution for success and failure to affirm about the self and the image it portrays. Dunning states that at times a behavior is clearly an underlying trait. People tend to adopt performance standards that place their own competence and character in a good light. Evidence for Belief Harmonization in ChoiceRecent developments in the consumer psychology literature provide strong hints that self-image motives may influence decision making in the marketplace. Here are some points that play an important role by self-image in decision making. * Self-Signaling: this is the notion that people reach their decisions with an eye toward bolstering their self-images is similar to another idea emerging from work in decision making and choice. This is to signal the type of person they are. This explains behavior that remains curious and has been an explanation for people’s behavior.Shafir and Tversky conducted this behavior in the Newcomb problem, where it showed that a participant in the experiment picked an economically inferior option to another option. * Endowment Effects: People place more value on an object once they own in. Handing a coffee mug to a college student causes them to more than double what the mug is really worth. Once products are associated with people, it confirms the positive impressions of that person and becomes valuable for them to have. * Compensation Effects: People buy to compensate for perceived deficits. For example, men buy toupees to make up for hair loss.People buy products to cover their shortcomings for others not to see. * Affi rmation Effects: People express ideas that they are invulnerable to risk. Having self-esteem may prompt people to make choices with less concern. * Licensing Effects: Once people have gained solid evidence that they possess some sacrosanct trait, they act in a way that could potentially violate that they have that trait. This arises in consumer choice many times. Future Questions Dunning focuses on one specific sacrosanct belief, which is that the self is a lovable and capable person.He feels as though there could be other beliefs that exist as well. People possess personal self-esteem but also can possess collective self-esteem. This very much indeed influences people’s decisions and behavior in the marketplace. Also, beliefs that people seek might involve specific ones or rather a more overall general one about the self as a whole. Willer studies on masculinity suggested that people bolster specific self-values. Also, many suggest that people are not as concerned with speci fic self-views as they are worried over a general sense of self-worth. Automatic versus Deliberative Nature of Self-Image MotivesAnother issue would be whether the impact of self-based sacrosanct beliefs is deliberative or automatic in nature. Dunning believes that the impact of self-beliefs might be more automatic in nature. He argues that the term automatic can be the case that the process of affirming favorable self-beliefs is beyond people’s control. Also that is may be the case that this process occurs below people’s awareness; they may lack any insight that their choices are influenced by concerns over the self. However, people’s preferences can impose its influence below a person’s awareness.The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem For sacrosanct beliefs about the self to influence consumer psychology, people must presumably have those sacrosanct beliefs, and people with low self-esteem may not have positive views to maintain. In the consumer realm, one could ask whether low self-esteem people will work as energetically as their high self-esteem peers harmonize consumer decisions with positive views of self. The Moderating Role of Culture/Implications of Marketing As I discussed in this paper earlier, culture is another condition with how consumers make decisions.People in North America and Western Europe work to bolster their self-esteem. In the West, people seem more concerned with individuality and in the East; they focus on the collective self. Self-Image concerns may also carry implications for effective marketing according to Dunning. People tend to state that they are motivated to do good work in their job for reasons like personal growth, whereas other people are more motivated by money. That is how it works with decisions in consumer buying. People are influenced by social status.This article suggests that marketers should be mindful of the motivations that people are likely to cite as prime considerations for their purcha ses. In conclusion, the article is about how consumer behavior is acted and what it is based upon. There are many different factors that the author speaks about in this article. Self-Esteem and Culture are two main pieces of the puzzle when it comes to how consumers react to certain products. In the marketing world, we marketers have to look at these factors and how much insight it will provide us when we are trying to get into the minds of our consumers.Dunning makes very interesting arguments of how we cannot look at the picture as a whole, but yet as different segments of ourselves that all tie together with the decision making process. I thought this was a very interesting article because it shows how experiments and studies were done to prove that these are main factors with consumer behavior. It also showed me how we basically become the product and shine through the product for our own self-image. It could be even with becoming part of a group that reflects your personality, or just for your individual traits themselves.

America and the World

The American power has been well-recognized in all parts of the world. The series of war that are participated by America –namely: World War II and the Cold War – have given the image of a country which has power over other countries. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States has been the sole superpower in the world. Since then, America has been part of almost all international gatherings and endeavors to promote the concept of globalization – making the world a single place for all the citizens of the world.During these times, America has been able to prove that their superpower is not only premised on their political capabilities but also on supreme economic status. Being one of the First World Countries, America is really an economically well-off country. And it has proven its economic supremacy in the global economy. In effect, most countries, especially those that are developing and underdeveloped countries, are seeking support from the American government to pursue their own economic progress. In addition, the rise of the American culture has also become one of the most controversial international issues in the current global scenario.People from around the world are trying to be like their Hollywood idols. The McDonalds and the Coca-Cola â€Å"syndrome† are also affecting the people from all over the world. In fact, the two are always present in almost all nation-states in the world (Sloan). These are just few of the things that promote the American culture. The popularity that America has since then and up to the present is undeniably a sign of how great its power is. However, other countries perceive this thing as a tactic or strategy of America to dominate the world.There are countries that do not patronize America. Therefore not all countries or people have faith in American influence or power. They view the acts of America as ways to Americanize the world. They claim that America only wanted to expand and amp lify its power all over the world such that it has been very active in particular international issues (Sloan). Nevertheless, as Alkman Granitsas said in his column in YaleGlobal Online, America has been, in fact, tuning out the world. This implies that America has been trying to move away from the global village.Instead America has just wanted to focus its dwellings on its domestic affairs. The first reason that is raised by Granitsas is that America has become conceited by the fact that almost one-third of the world’s population wants to get in their country. Secondly, America has realized that if almost all people in the world want to be in America, and more countries look upon America for economic assistance and other political purposes, then what is there in the outside of America that the Americans should pursue? If all wants to be in America then why should they leave and go to other places in the world?As presented in the column of Granitsas, American schools, college s, and university have a high rate of decline in terms of students who take up foreign languages courses. The record shows that Americans have started to become disinterested in going outside America. The perceived attitude of the Americans are indeed logical in the sense that why should they aspire to make themselves proficient in foreign languages when in fact most of the people in the world want to be expert in speaking English? In addition, significant changes have been reported which demonstrate how America has started to decrease their interest in global issues.Their newspapers have minimized the inclusion of international or global news. Before, the front page of the American newspapers had 27 percent of international news. But as shown in the report, there is only 21 percent of international news that are being included in the front page of the American newspaper (Granitsas). It was only when the September 11 bombing that the American had faced once again the global village (Granitsas). Since then, the American government has been trying to fight against terrorism that tends to inflict disturbance in America and its people.It is now acting for the sake of its government and people and not for the whole world. It is doing its job for the sake of its government subsistence and for the safety of its people and not really to dominate the world. America, labeled as the New World, does not really want the world to kneel down before it. It does not really want to conquer the whole of the world. Its recent actions and policies are not really to gain more power and to rule the world but only to protect the interest of the state and its people.The dilemma in this topic is directed towards the perceived dominance of the America over the last centuries in the international scene and the more current attitude of America of closing its idea on global participation. Either the latter is true or the former is true is not confirmed yet. But it is true that both could m ake the global order complicated. Works Cited: Granitsas, Alkman. â€Å"Americans are Tuning Out the World. † 24 November 2005. YaleGlobal Online. 10 October 2007 . Sloan, Kim. A New World: England's First View of America. The University of North Carolina Press , 2007.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Jonathan Rhys Meyers Jonathan Rhys Meyers was born Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keeffe in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Geraldine Meyers and musician John O'Keeffe. His stage name is derived from his mother's maiden name, Meyers. Rhys Meyers was born with a serious heart problem and was baptized shortly after his birth, as it was feared he would not survive long enough for a traditional baptism ceremony. He spent the first few months of his life in the hospital. Born in Dublin, he moved to Cork City at one year old and was raised there. He has three younger brothers named Jamie, Alan and Paul, who are all professional musicians. When Rhys Meyers was three years old, his parents separated. His mother raised Jonathan and his brother Alan, while his other two brothers went to live at their grandmother's house with their father. Career Rhys Meyers was expelled from the North Monastery Secondary School at age 16, and spent much of his time hanging out in pool halls, namely the Victoria Sporting Club on Patrick's Quay and the Coliseum Leisure Centre on McCurtain Street. Casting agents looking for Irish boys to appear in War of the Buttons spotted Rhys Meyers at a Cork pool hall, the Victoria Sporting Club, and invited him to audition. Although he was passed over for War of the Buttons, the casting agents encouraged him to pursue a career in acting. His first film role came soon afterward, in A Man of No Importance (1994). In 1996, he appeared in Michael Collins, as the title character's assassin. In 1999, he appeared in Ride with the Devil as psychopathic guerrilla fighter Pitt Mackeson. Rhys Meyers has starred in television series including Gormenghast (2000) and in the CBS 4-hour mini-series Elvis (2005) as Elvis Presley alongside Randy Quaid as Colonel Tom Parker and Rose McGowan as Ann-Margret. The latter earned him an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe win. He is currently starring in the Showtime cable series The Tudors (2007) as the young Henry VIII. He was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Drama in 2007 for the role. His film roles range from a David Bowie-inspired glam rock star in Velvet Goldmine (1998) to a dedicated girls' football coach in Bend It Like Beckham (2002). He appeared in Vanity Fair (2004) opposite with Reese Witherspoon. His co-starred opposite with Colin Farrell in Oliver Stone's epic Alexander (2004). In 2005, Rhys Meyers starred in Woody Allen's film Match Point, for which he received a Chopard Trophy at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, he appeared in Mission: Impossible III. Other projects include August Rush (2007) and The Children of Huang Shi (2008). He is rumored to be appearing in Danny Glover's Haitian epic Toussaint (2008) and signed on to star as Lee Falk's comic strip hero Mandrake the Magician in an upcoming movie directed by Chuck Russell. Upcoming projects include Shelter, co-starring Julianne Moore, and From Paris With Love, co-starring John Travolta. He also has several films in pre-production, including Mary Mother of Christ and Mandrake, both set for release in 2010. Rhys Meyers, a self-taught singer and guitarist, has appeared in a number of musical roles. His first such role was that of rock star Brian Slade in Velvet Goldmine; two of the songs he sang (â€Å"Baby's On Fire† and â€Å"Tumbling Down†) are on the film's soundtrack. He sang briefly in the TV miniseries version of The Magnificent Ambersons, performed in studio scenes of the miniseries Elvis and played the flute in Gormenghast. In the 2007 music drama August Rush, Rhys Meyers performed on-screen as singer-songwriter Louis Connelly and is credited for four songs on the soundtrack – â€Å"Break†, â€Å"Moondance†, â€Å"Something Inside† and â€Å"This Time†. Of the four, â€Å"This Time† and â€Å"Break† were considered in the Best Original Song category of the 80th Academy Awards. â€Å"This Time† was not released as a single but peaked at #84 of the Canadian Hot 100. Rhys Meyers was chosen as the face for the Versace men's collection of Autumn/Winter 2006 and Spring 2007, and he has also been the face of the Hugo Boss men's fragrance range since 2005. Currently, Rhys Meyers is the face of Hugo Boss' newest fragrence, HUGO Element. He is signed to Independent Models in London. In February 2008, he became a celebrity ambassador for The Hope Foundation. This Cork-based charity aims to provide shelter and supplies to Calcutta's impoverished street children. Rhys Meyers hopes that lending his name to the organization will help raise awareness of the issue. As Ambassador he is expected to visit India and record a TV documentary for the charity. On 5 October 2008, Rhys Meyers received an Honourary Patronage from the Trinity College Philosophical Society in Dublin, Ireland. Interestingly, he has played the father of both Freddie Highmore (in August Rush) and Sarah Bolger (on The Tudors); Bolger and Highmore played siblings in The Spiderwick Chronicles film. [edit] Personal life Rhys Meyers owns houses and apartments in Nichols Canyon, Dublin, London and Morocco, splitting his time between Los Angeles and London when not working. He also owns a horse named Belle and a Chihuahua named Boo Boo. In May 2005, Rhys Meyers checked into rehab facility Promises in California seeking treatment for alcohol abuse. On 24 April 2007, the Associated Press reported that Rhys Meyers returned to treatment. The actor's representative Meredith O'Sullivan confirmed the news to People magazine citing his need to take a break from his busy schedule in order to maintain sobriety. On 18 November 2007, Rhys Meyers was arrested in Dublin Airport and charged with being drunk and in breach of the peace. He was later released on bail to appear at the Dublin District Court on 5 December 2007. He was in Dublin to promote his new movie August Rush on the Irish television programme Tubridy Tonight. The charges were later dropped. On 27 February 2009, the actor checked into rehab a third time, seeking help for his alcohol addiction. Rhys Meyers was believed to be in an English treatment facility this time. He checked out on 15 March 2009. On 20 June 2009, Rhys Meyers was arrested after allegedly attacking a number of staff at a bar in Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris and then threatening to kill them. He was bailed to appear before magistrates on charges of â€Å"willful violence, outrage, hitting and threatening death†, and will appear before the Correctional Tribunal in Bobigny, in September 2009.

Mid term Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mid term - Assignment Example The concept helps the countries reduce the time and money spent trading among the countries. Starbucks faced three major risks in the competitive market. The first was the saturated market condition in the USA. The company started with 17 coffee locations in Seattle and over 5000 outlets in more than 20 countries. Seattle has a population of over 9000 people, which the company considers as the upper limit of market saturation. The second risk is the loss of customers due to few product options. The risk of global expansion poses risks for Starbucks due to increased competition (Graham, Cateora and Gilly 300). Starbucks can reduce the employee destruction to improve the quality of service. Product repositioning will help Starbucks win back their lost customers. Since coffee is the primary product, Starbucks should focus on improving the quality of the product. Starbucks overall corporate strategy is facing challenges due to a mismatch between consumer expectation and company strategies. They believe that having more outlets increases the sales volume. Starbuck concentrates on increasing the number of outlets without analyzing consumer satisfaction levels. The company does not apply the use of price differentiation strategy making it difficult to attract the younger generation. Product and service reposition will aid Starbucks improve their profits in Japan. The Japanese people are less conscious with the price, and look for quality. Even though they hesitate to spend, they do so only for high quality products. The Japanese are cultural oriented hence the marketing strategies of Starbucks should relate to the cultural aspects to gain more audience (Graham, Cateora and Gilly

Possible challenges and opportunities facing Argentina Research Paper

Possible challenges and opportunities facing Argentina - Research Paper Example For example, business people come together at an international level to brainstorm about business policies. Economic expansion is the increase in level of services and goods and increase in level of economic activities. Gross Domestic product (GDP) is used to measure level of economic expansion. GDP is the total value of goods and services produced within the country’s boarder. An increase in gross domestic product of a country implies that economy is expanding while decrease in GDP will imply decline in economy (Eitzen and Zinn 22). Challenges and Opportunities Facing Argentina One of the opportunities that exist in Argentina is the possibility of increased trade output. Though Argentina is facing a number of challenges, there exist an opportunity of a wider market that has opened up due to globalization. The country can now expand its production potential in various industries, especially, food processing sector to cater for the wider market. This will enable the country to improve its balance of trade, strengthen its domestic currency and improve its GDP. However, this opportunity gives rise to a challenge to the government in developing a sound economic strategy to create an environment for expansion of industries (Nayyar 94). The government can, however, take advantage of the greater access to knowledge and resource people to develop a sound strategy. Argentina has the opportunity to develop specialized skills among its population and utilize superior technology in its production. Globalization provides an opportunity for Argentina to access the latest technological improvement in the world. This provides it with the most effective methods of production. The producers are able to reduce the cost of production, apply specialization and improve the quality of the final product for both internal and external market. As a result the producers can hire more workers, and improve quality leading to better standards of living. The producers also face the ch allenge of high cost of acquiring external experts to impart skills to the citizens in the country. It is also a challenge to obtain the initial capital to obtain the superior equipment technology equipment due to high initial cost (Greenaway et al 51). Argentina can use globalization to obtain foreign investor to invest in the sectors identified as of key interest. This will enable the government to rip from the benefit of increased output and access of products in the country as well as training of the local citizens on technical knowledge. There exists an opportunity for government’s improvement of its transparency and accountability to its citizens. In the past Argentina has been faced with a challenge of rampant corruption within the government which has made growth and development in the country difficult task. Globalization has introduced external checks to the government operations pressuring the government to be accountable to its citizens. The government can therefo re not misuse its power over public resources (Greenaway et al 34). This leads to government acting in the interest of the citizens in all its dealings. As a result public properties are utilized to better the life of the citizens resulting into better pay, reduced poverty and improvement in the country. Globalisation and poverty go hand in hand especially in a country such as Argentina where we find that most peoples are farmers. Food processing industries are very important in Argentina economy since they employ most of the people in Argentina. The practices that occur in these industries play a key role in minimizing the level of poverty in the country (Eitzen and Zinn 43). In consideration of Argentina

Discuss red scare or mccarthyism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discuss red scare or mccarthyism - Essay Example Abridgement of civil liberties had had to be resorted to by the United States administration even during the Civil War in the 1860s, and even later. Many Americans had initially resented deprivation, or curtailment, of their freedoms by Abraham Lincoln, but they got reconciled to it considering the imperatives of preserving the Union and abolishing slavery. But McCarthy went berserk in his self-assumed crusade against communists who, he believed till his death shortly after his disgrace, had sneaked into the United States government. Maybe he would have got away with it, or at least got off lightly, if he had not spread his net of suspicion wide enough to include writers, Hollywood celebrities, and even common people; and when McCarthy finally pointed an accusing finger at the United States Army, he met his Waterloo. But by then he had already done irreparable damage to America's democratic institutions. Little wonder, therefore, that even today McCarthyism is synonymous with crucifi cation of innocent American citizens on the cross of unsubstantiated charges. It is against this background that the book, "Give Me Liberty: An American History" by Eric Foner becomes essential reading. "McCarthyism is often referred to as the Second Red Scare, as the (first) Red Scare refers to a time in which Americans feared communist influence in the United States from 1917 to 1920." (Encycle Media; 1990). "Throughout the 1940s and 1950s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism growing in Eastern Europe and China. Capitalizing on these concerns, a young senator named Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than 200 'card-carrying' communists had infiltrated the United States Government." (Miller; 1965) "Though eventually his accusations were proven to be untrue, and he was censured by the Senate for unbecoming conduct, his zealous campaigning ushered in one of the most repressive times in 20th century American politics." (Miller; 1965) However, "investigation of Hollywood radicals by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 and 1951 was a continuation of pressures first exerted in the late 1930s and early 1940s by the Dies Committee and State Senator Jack Tenney's California Joint Fact-finding Committee on Un-American Activities." (Georgakas; 1992). "Between 1948 and 1956, or later, the government was engaged in political repression of the Communist Party, USA, its leadership, and others suspected of being communists. After the allegations that both assistant treasury secretary Harry Dexter White and Franklin D. Roosevelt's advisor Alger Hiss were Soviet agents, loyalty tests were required for government and other employment, and lists of 'subversive' organizations were maintained." (SourceWatch; 2008). While the witch-hunt launched by McCarthy against mostly innocent Americans has been both publicized and condemned internationally, its social costs have not received due attention. "Congressional investigations of the 1940s and the 1950s fueled the anti-communist hysteria which eventually led to investment of thousands of billions of dollars in a nuclear arsenal." (Navasky; 1980). "McCarthy

Wall-MArt Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wall-MArt - Assignment Example The divisional structure works for Wal-Mart in attaining the objectives of each division. Annual shareholders meeting assists in the governing process of Wal-Mart in several aspects, with the assistance of a president or chief executive officer. The Wal-Mart Corporation has forty-one regions, thirty-five Wal-Mart regions and six Sam’s club regions (Maestri, 2010). Regional vice presidents head the regions thus supervise the operation of stores in the region. Each region has stores in each district chaired or headed by district managers for Wal-Mart stores and directors of operations for Sam’s clubs. District managers collaborate with regional personnel managers who are responsible for hiring workers and settling their issues. Each Wal-Mart has a person responsible for the overall store activities (store manager) and one in-charge of the overall activities (general manager). Below the store manager, there are co-managers; their deputies depending on the size of the store (Maestri, 2010). Down the ladder, there are hourly department managers who supervise all the junior workers in the stores. However, there are certain elements in the company that affect this structure. The company has a transparency policy in its operation, based on documents filed by the US Security Exchange Committee. This policy applies in all the Wal-Mart stores situated outside the territories of the US. The nomination of the Wal-Mart’s directors is based on shareholders votes. Wal-Mart has a significant number of stakeholders thus should engage all of them in its operations. However, this is not the case, as there is no evidence that shows the engagement of this audience in the executive duties. In addition, the Wal-Mart structure does not encourage training its staff in a manner that engages the stakeholders. Wal-Mart lacks a policy to appraise its ecological effects. However, it has a social assessment plan that evaluates its significance to the society through ethical

Marketing Planning on Portakabin Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Marketing Planning on Portakabin - Assignment Example Currently, it is employing more than thousands of people and expanding its operations in European countries. Although construction industry relies on the same traditional methods of first designing building architecture and then moving ahead with the project; Portakabin changed the entire industry by introducing innovative products in the market. The management of company realized that it will have to apply Piercy (2010) going to market concept which states that everyone within the firm will have to work together to achieve the desired goals. The key elements of this concept are represented in the figure: Source: Piercy (2010) The company’s market has definitely changed in the last couple of years as it is focussing on providing quality products to their consumers by the implementation of finest production methods. Portakabin has applied the lean production process which ensures that procedural steps creating wastage are eliminated from the processes (The Times 100, 2010). The basis of a building is prepared on-site while actual structure is manufactured and fitted in factory; the module of the customer is taken to site, craned into desired position and then linked together. Other architectural features like brick cladding on building’s exterior side, glazing, pitched roof, stair tower and lifts are added on-site; any other modifications required by customers are done on-site so that customers’ are satisfied. Portakabin has positioned itself as a company that is offering quality products at premium prices that reflects high value for money. Portakabin has changed its focus on quality development of products so that every customer is satisfied with services provided to them (The Times 100, 2003). In order to have superior quality, there are two sources important for every business i.e. internal and external. For internal quality insurance, it has developed its own range of buildings on the basis of market research and aim of this frequent re search is to identify precise needs of customers. Similarly, strong emphasis is done on offering value added features such as fitted furnishings, quality carpeting and climate control systems so that high quality working environment is created; customers are provided the opportunity of availing one stop shop service. In order to meet external quality level, all of its products ensure compliance with appropriate regulations of building along with demands of ISO 9001: Quality Management Systems. Hence, Portakabin has ensured that going to market concept is properly applied throughout the organisation to meet needs and demands of consumers. Question No. 2a Examine the factors that would determine Portakabin’s ability to plan its future marketing activity effectively. What does Portakabin need to understand and control in order to plan effectively and measure the effectives of its activity? Answer No. 2a In UK construction industry, Portakabin is the market leader as it manufactu res modular buildings with superior quality. It has been delivering products and services that have been tailored to meet each customer’s requirements. In order to provide top quality services to customers, Portakabin has implemented some crucial processes as follows: 1. Continuous research and development for developing new product solutions and providing value-added solutions

The Spherical Spatial Designs and Its Meanings in The Pantheon, Rome Term Paper

The Spherical Spatial Designs and Its Meanings in The Pantheon, Rome - Term Paper Example By looking at the vast span of the empire at that time, dome structures was almost everywhere. From the temples, churches, up to the administrative buildings, the dome was a clear Roman mark in the Roman urban zones. By looking at the existing structures of today, it is clear that the Romans directly influenced modern day engineers and architects. Arenas, stadiums and government buildings are the favored pieces that exemplify the classical Roman built. In fact, the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. in the US is one of the premier heirs of this type of architecture. Also, the presence of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican could also attest to the influence of the Romans. Indeed, the fall of Rome did not hinder the end of its influential art and architecture. From the Middle-Ages, the Renaissance, up to the dawn of the 18th to the 19th centuries, the spirit of the Romans are present in building structures. With the remarkable Pantheon as the culmination of the ingenious Roman dom e, this paper would concentrate on the spherical spatial design of the structure. It will explain the prevalence of these kinds of structures and their significance in the Roman society at that time. By historicizing the Pantheon and narrating the context when it was built, this paper would arrive to a closer answer that pertains to the meanings of the spheres and curvatures that dominate the Pantheon. This paper will then delve into a more focused analysis of its interior. It will try to connect the presence of the pillars to the importance of the spherical feel that the Pantheon creates in its layout. The utter shift from a pagan to a Christian worship will also be explained in this paper. The importance of the dome to the pagans and the Christians will be viewed as varying interpretations based on their respective tenets and beliefs. This paper on the Pantheon’s spherical built is intended to shed light on the mysteries that surround the architecture of this Roman structur e. By the end of this study, it should give a clear understanding on the harmony and the coordination of every detail within the Pantheon. The different interpretations of the pagan and Christian should be evident and conclusive as well. For the fulfilment of this research, it will take into account various secondary sources such as books and journal articles. The historical methodology will be used in order to corroborate information and to explain the arguments of the topic at hand. The Roman Context: the Pantheon and the Society in the 1st Century Before doing an analysis on the predominance of the spherical Roman structures and its obvious use in the Pantheon, a brief narrative of the Roman society should be explained in order to contextualize the matter at hand. During the 1st century, the Roman Republic had been expanding rapidly and was transforming into an empire. The principle of expansionism was the primary rationale of the Romans’ will to subject the whole Mediterr anean under its control. At the dawn of that century, the concept of the republic was rightfully replaced with the title of the empire, primarily due to the vast expanse of its territories (Hollister, 183-189). Under the Principate, the leadership of the princep or the â€Å"first prince† caused a conquest which produced frontiers from the Tigris-Euphrates Valley in the east, the Atlantic in

The Road Not Taken Essay Example for Free

The Road Not Taken Essay Every adult faces challenges and life-altering decisions. In â€Å"The Road Not Taken† by Robert Frost this dilemma is brought to life. The character in the poem has free will to choose whichever path he wants. He is completely unaware of what his choice will bring but he leaves it to chance. He knows he has to make a choice and that it is impossible to know whether or not it is the right choice. He knows that no matter what his choice is he will always wonder what his life would have been like had he chosen the other path. In reality there is no right or wrong path. There are only decisions and outcomes. The theme of decision making in this poem takes a â€Å"seize the day† approach. No matter the outcome the traveler knows he still must make a decision and make the best of it. The setting of the poem takes place in the woods. The character is standing there studying a forked path. It is ironic that both paths are seemingly the same, they are both intriguing to the traveler and he wishes that he could travel them both. The forked path is symbolic of life and all of its many choices that must be made. Just as the character is unaware of what his choice may bring, outcomes of adult choices do not always turn out as expected. The title of the poem â€Å"The Road Not Taken† is significant. The poem is named after the path that was ultimately not chosen, leaving the reader to believe to think it was written with regret. In stanza 4 the regret is brought to light with a metrical device. â€Å"Sigh† is an onomatopoeia that emphasizes the characters regret or relief. That one word makes the reader want to go back and reread the poem to make sure the theme is understood. The traveler is either regretting his decision that he made or he is relieved that he made the best choice for himself. It is left up to the reader’s interpretation to discover what the poet was trying to say. Some other metrical devices used are imagery, symbolism, personification, rhyming, alliteration, and allegory. The reader is presented with imagery in â€Å"two roads diverged in a yellow wood† and again in â€Å"And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black†. This gives the reader something to visualize. Personification is used in â€Å"because it was grassy and wanted wear. † A road cannot produce a feeling to want wear. The rhyme scheme of ABAAB in this poem produces interest and makes for an entertaining read. Alliteration is used when the poet writes â€Å"wanted wear†. Allegory presents itself when the poet writes about the two paths when his ulterior message is about choices. All of the devices used in the poem support the poets overall theme. Out of all of the â€Å"roads† faced in life the roads not chosen to take have just as much impact as the roads that are chosen. There is no way of knowing the outcome of a decision unless you make the decision and see what happens. You may be happy with that choice, or you may sigh and wish you had made a different choice. Some of the choices you make are final, the poet makes light of this when he writes â€Å"I doubted if I should ever come back†. It is as if he knows that he will not ever be returning to â€Å"The Path Not Taken†. The poet allows the reader to come to their own imaginations, ideas, and outcomes in this poem. This is a poem that can be interpreted many different ways.

The death penalty debate

The death penalty debate Death penalty has been an issue of controversy and debate for ages and one comes across a large number of arguments for and against capital punishment system. Capital punishments were prevalent at one stage or other in the developmental history of many nations and many of them have constitutionally abolished death penalty from their criminal justice systems. Advocates of death penalty in the United States argue that death penalty is the need of the time as homicides and serious offences are at an increasing rate and that the provision for capital punishment can act as the strongest corrective measure in a crime prone condition. Besides, there are many who believe that many innocent lives can be saved by providing death penalty to dreaded criminals. The retributive belief that death penalty is essential to preserve retributive justice whereby murderers get the full punishment they deserve and the utilitarian argument that death penalty deters or is necessary to incapacitate prospectiv e criminals have immensely supported capital punishments in the nation. On the other hand, the major argument against death penalty is that it is against human rights, ethics, and morality. Whatever may be the arguments for and against the practice, when it comes to implementation of a law such as capital punishment on state level, it is essential to consider the pros and cons of death penalty in the nation, the underlying reasons behind the creation of the capital punishment, the moral and ethical issues related to it, how much the implementation of it is efficient in fulfilling its purpose, and whether there are any other alternatives to achieving the same purposes as that of death penalty. The higher cost of using the capital punishment and the liabilities it causes on the states governance are also to be unearthed. In doing so the paper tries to compare and contrast capital punishment with its closest possible alternative-life imprisonment without any possibility for parole. The paper seeks to make a probe into the various aspects of capital punishment and it emphasises that capital punishment should be abolished in the United States as it does not deter other criminals, as there is the increased risk of innocents being executed and as the cost of execution is higher than that of life imprisonment. 2 Discussion There have been a number of debates over the future of capital punishment in the United States. However, it is a fact that the opponents as well as the supporters of death penalty system are not entirely satisfied with the current system of capital punishments and the way death penalty is administered in the nation. Even a number of national opinion polls have brought about conflicting results with regard to the elimination capital punishments. This has prompted most of the politicians to take a neutral stand in this controversial issue. On the other hand, there are many who favour life time imprisonment without any chance of parole to death sentencing. In fact, the abolitionists have played a pivotal role in educating the public of the laws regarding life in prison without parole whereby they seek to convince people that such murderers will never be released or allowed to commit further deadly crimes (Marzilli 2008, p. 94). They also argue that United States should follow the exampl e set by other Western industrialized nations in abolishing capital punishment. There are also many who hold that gun control, drug treatment, better schools, and other social programs are much more effective than the death penalty in reducing crime (Marzilli 2008, p. 96). Similarly, one should also bear in mind that there are several nations that have brought down crime rates even after abolishing death sentence. Abolition of Capital Punishments: Pros and Cons: It is essential to consider the advantages and disadvantages of capital punishments in the United States. Stephen B. Bright argues that death penalty is an outdated form of punishment which belonged to the primitive ages when prisons and jail systems were limited. He cites the examples of South Africa and Russia, two nations that have abolished death sentencing in the 1990s. According to him, in USA, there are many other factors like racism, poverty, improper police and prosecution practices that decide death penalty for the perpetrator, rather than the seriousness of the crime committed (Bright, 2000, p. 2). To substantiate his argument, Stephen provides a number of instances where the convicts who were sentenced for death penalty were later proved to be innocents and thus points out how the judicial system of the nation come to hasty conclusions and sentence people for capital punishments. In the same way, in most of the cases the ac cused were not given proper legal assistance and even the mentally retarded people were convicted for capital punishment. Thus, he concludes that there exists fallibility of the court system of the nation and he exhorts that the government should pay heed to the public demand to abolish death penalty from the nation. On the other hand, the supporters of the capital punishment system consider death penalty as the strongest form of deterrence and preserver of judicial retribution. Ernest van den Haag, a Professor of Jurisprudence at Fordham University, repudiates the arguments of Simon by stating that it would be a failure of the judicial system of the nation if dreaded criminals are not punished for the retribution of their crimes. According to him, the capital punishment acts as the powerful deterrent for the criminal minded people to abstain from crimes as he believes in the common sense evidence that fear of the death penalty is likely to deter many would-be criminals from committing murder (Haag 2000, p.1). Besides, he holds that sparing criminals from death penalty would pose further threat to many more innocent lives. Thus, the abolitionists argue that the change should take place not in the sentencing of death penalty but the way it is pronounced. The accused are to be provided sufficient o pportunity to prove his/her innocence irrespective of his/ her colour or financial status. No hasty decisions are to be taken during trials and only the deserving convicts are to be sentenced for death penalty. While many purport that capital punishments are aimed at deterring prospective criminals from indulging in serious criminal activities, it is quite paradoxical that death sentence in the United States are inflicted in private, leaving no scope for such deterrence. Similarly, one can also find that crime rates have not come down in those states where capital punishment prevails offering no evidence that support this deterrence perspective. Bryant (2003, p. 376) makes this clear when the author purports that even though the states are spending millions of dollars into the death penalty, one can notice no resultant reduction in crime rates in these states. In this respect, Sarat argues that capital punishments has become commonplace in America. For him, capital punishments in the states take place in the face of increasing doubts about the reliability and fairness of the capital punishment system, strong criticising from international communities (mainly from democratic nations) and in many cases the issues of the victims innocence are remaining unresolved (Sarat, 2002, p. 13). The author also argues that capital punishments only help to weaken democratic political institutions and promote revenge rather than reconciliation or social reconstruction. One can also notice that death penalty in America is disproportionately directed towards racial minorities (who murder white victims) and in many jurisdictions blacks and African Americans are subjected to capital punishments at a rate of 38 percent higher than all others (Sarat, 2002, p. 18). Innocence, Morality and death penalty: The growing support for the abolition of death penalty and subsequent priority for life imprisonment is the likelihood of innocent people being put to death. One can never undermine the possibility of wrongful conviction and execution of the innocents due to human error the fallibility and frailty of human judgement), perjured testimony and mistaken honest testimony (Hodgkinson Schabas, 2004, p. 11). A significant research conducted by Bedau, Radelet and Putnam showed that there were almost 416 cases in the United States where the wrong person had been convicted and sentenced to death; the underlying reasons for these wrongful convictions varied from perjury by prosecution witnesses, mistaken eyewitness testimony, community passion against the defendants, failure in police work to overzealous prosecution (Hodgkinson Schabas, 2004, p. 13). All this have culminated in the public demand towards the introduction of a moratorium on executions where by a commission would decide whether it is fair to administer death penalty on the convicted. The Death penalty Information Centre (2002) observes that even though the Federal Government has undertaken great radical measures to minimise the chances of innocent people being executed, it has been identified that almost 102 persons have been released from death rows in various states based on evidence of their innocence since 1973 (Bryant 2003, p. 376) and all these evidences call for the need to abolish capital punishment in the nation. Thus, it can be seen that even though the most significant argument against administering death penalty is the possibility of innocent people being executed, the ethical and human rights issues related to capital system also need to be addressed. Many social scientists, theologians and legal experts explain that capital punishment is morally wrong, and thus should be abolished and replaced with more humane but adequate criminal penalties. Simultaneously, social activists and right protection organizations called for a moratorium on death penalty until the American judicial system achieves an acceptable degree of accuracy and ensures highest levels of fairness in capital punishment processes. The ethical concerns with regard to capital punishment system consider it as a way of taking revenge on the perpetrators whereas morality stresses on mercy, compassion and forgiveness. Similarly, the proponents of human rights theories argue that the government does not have the right to take the life of anyone and that the value of life is to be acknowledged. Similarly, there are many who hold that the methods of execution used by the judicial system are cruel and inhumane. History of Capital Punishment in America: Ever since the end of the Second World War one can notice a considerable decline in the rate of capital punishments in the United States. Hood (2002) offers a clear cut statistics of the number of capital punishments in the United States in various decades. During the 1930s the number of people executed in the nation was 1,670; in the 1940s it was brought down to 1,288 and in the 1950s to 717. The number of people executed in the nation was only 21 in 1963, 15 in 1964 and just 2 in 1967. The Supreme Courts verdict in 1972 that ruled all death penalty as unconstitutional as it was being applied in an arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory manner against the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the constitution in Furman v. Georgia case proved to be a landmark in the history of the criminal judicial system of the nation (Hood, 2002, p. 63). This prompted many of the states to redraft their statutes and frame new capital statutes which were rul ed as constitutional by the Supreme Court in Gregg v. Georgia and many other cases towards 1976. Since then, there have been debates over whether capital punishments are to be abolished or not. While those states that uphold capital punishments for their deterrence effect on prospective criminals, there are 13 jurisdictions in the United States that have abolished capital punishments. In the 1970s there was an increasing public demand to reinstate capital punishments and this paved the way for new mandatory statutes regarding death penalty. Killing a police officer, murder-for-hire, multiple murder, and murder by a life-sentenced inmate became more likely to be followed by death penalties under these new mandatory statutes (Petrezselyem, 2008, p. 15). However, factors such as mental impairment, emotional disturbance and juvenile delinquency were also taken into account in such mandatory capital punishment cases. Even though the abolitionists argued that capital punishment in its ver y nature is cruel and unusual as per the Eighth Amendment of the constitution, the US Supreme court announced its decision on July 2, 1976 in favour of the supporters. However, the mandatory death penalty sentencing was rejected by the Supreme Court as it fails to take into such factors as individual circumstances that led to the crime. In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled in the Coker v. Georgia case that it was unconstitutional to provide death penalty for rape cases. However, The Violent Control Act of 1994 made capital punishment a discretionary penalty for offences other than murder cases. However, towards the last decade of the 20th century there was an increased difference of opinion on the legitimacy of capital punishment among the juries in the Supreme Court as well as the common public which led to controversies and debates over the abolition of capital punishment in the nation. Similarly, public opinion also has varied from time to time in public polls with regard to the abol ition of capital punishments. The methods of execution in the United States vary from lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging to firing squad; the statistics on execution in the United States since 1976 show that there were 654 executions through lethal injection whereas there were only 10 executions by electrocution, 11 by gas chamber, 3 by hanging and two via firing squad (Bryant 2003, p. 370). Abolitionists argue the death penalty is cruel and inhumane primarily because of the methods used. The pictures of the old and newly renovated San Quentin Prison Death Chambers are given below: Capital Punishment and its Cost: One needs to consider the huge amount of money spent on capital punishments and studies have shown that the cost of death penalty is much higher compared to other forms of punishment. In this respect Mandery (2005) observes that the increasing costs of capital punishment are actually making America less safe and that it has put the nation at the danger of economic and financial liabilities. The author observes that the state of California which had little money for innovations like community policing is spending an extra $90 million per year on capital punishment whereas Texas, which spends on capital punishment an estimated $2.3 million per case has the highest murder rate in the nation (Mandery, 2005, p. 116). These statistics clearly demonstrate that there exists no cost-benefit analysis for the huge sums of money spend on administering death penalty. It is also imperative to compare the cost of capital punishment with that of life imprisonment without parole and researches have shown that death penalty is much more expensive than its closest alternative-life imprisonment with no parole. As Mandery observes, Capital trials are longer and more expensive at every step than other murder trials. Pre-trial motions, expert witness investigations, jury selection, and the necessity for two trials-one on guilt and one on sentencing-make capital cases extremely costly, even before the appeals process begins (Mandery, 2005, p. 116). One can also see that many of the capital punishments end up in life imprisonment even though the government needs to spend huge amount of money for the prosecution and trials. A comparative and contrastive analysis of the cost of death penalty and life imprisonment without parole shows that the death penalty is actually two or three times more expensive than that of life imprisonment. Barkan Bryjak put it, capi tal cases are extremely time-consuming costly than life imprisonment procedures as they involve various procedures at the pre-trial and trial stages unlike non-capital cases; similarly, appeals following conviction also become mandatory, time-consuming and costly in capital cases (Barkan Bryjak 2010, p. 447). All these prove that the federal and state governments can benefit a lot from the abolition of capital punishment and the huge amount of money spend on death capital cases can be used for the effective prevention of crimes such as the employment of community policing. Capital punishments are also causing financial burden to the local governments and various counties. Very often, the county governments become responsible for the costs of prosecution, appeals for defending the poor convicts, and in their criminal trials. The far reaching effects of this increasing cost for capital punishment for the nation are many and varied. The large sum of money spend on death penalty not only is reflected in the shrinking budget for crime prevention but also in other developmental and health care projects. Similarly, these costs of capital punishment pose great financial trouble to the tax payers also. Mandery, in this respect, observes that in Texas taxpayers need to pay an average of $ 2.3 million towards death penalty case costs which is about three times the cost of imprisoning one at the highest security level for 40 years and in Florida the cost for each execution is $3.2 million (2005, p. 117). Thus, one can easily come to the conclusion that the high co sts of capital prosecution in the nation has adverse and long lasting effects on its local, State and Federal government budgets. All these call for the need to substitute death penalties with life-without-parole sentences whereby the nation can utilize the high cost of death penalty system for better crime prevention measures and other purposes. (Baumgartner, Boef Boydstun 2008, p. 229). Life imprisonment over death penalty: Moral, religious and legal issues have always been an issue with regard to punishment of criminal activities of citizens of a country or a region. Some legal systems consider both life imprisonment and death penalty while others take a stand that taking a life of a human being is morally and ethically wrong (Gildenhuys 2004, p. 17). Given the various factors mentioned above, this section views awarding life imprisonment without parole as an effective alternative to capital punishments for any crimes. The factors that will be taken into consideration are the effectiveness in prevention of crime in awarding death sentences versus life imprisonment. The legal factors followed in the US are not considered here because statutes regarding the two factors differ between different states. Proponents of death penalty state that executions will help to deter crime and will also remove the criminal from committing further crimes (Baumgartner, Boef Boydstun 2008, p. 246). Execution in a verdict of death penalty is irreversible and does not offer a chance to the concerned individual to a life of redemption and regret apart from the fact that judicial errors may creep in such sentencing and subsequent executions (Hood 2004, p. 95). Once a person is executed it is not possible that he or she will redeem or change their attitudes and make an attempt to come back into the mainstream society. The above observation also indicates that judicial errors can result in wrongful conviction of innocent persons which could be proved as wrong in the course of time which is possible in life imprisonment. One compelling argument against death penalty is that it promotes official homicide or murder or in other words, endorses unofficial criminal acts (Robertson 2002, p. 2). In other words, it could be said that official execution will only contribute to develop an attitude that will endorse unofficial or civilian criminal acts. Another factor that favours a lighter sentence like life imprisonment over capital punishment is provided by Hodgkinson and Schabas. The reason is that there is an increase of unfairness in awarding of capital punishment for the same type of crimes in the United States (Hodgkinson Schabas 2004, p. 208). The authors state the following factors that contribute to this development over the years. Courts in the US find it increasingly difficult to appoint counsels to represent death-row inmates in the country. In other words, competent people who can argue for a lesser punishment are often seen as difficult and hence can be considered to be unfair to such convicted people. Those counsels appointed are not only incompetent, but also are often accused of unethical behaviour themselves. This is an indication that competent counsels are reluctant to represent such cases and also that those who come forward will go any lengths to defend their clients. According to the authors, another aspect of this lack of fairness is that economically backward sections of the community are affected more under such circumstances. In other words, a proper investigation which could provide persuasive evidence against providing capital punishment to such sections through proper investigations and arguments is not available. The inherent problem is that a jury comprised of common citizens may award a preliminary death penalty and such people do not have the power to counter it. The lack of understanding of the acts of psychologically disturbed persons is also an issue in this instance (Fleiner Fleiner-Gerster 1999, p. 64). Statistics over the years show that sentencing to death and actual executions have shown a disturbing trend in recent years. Figures ranging from the 1950s to 1970s show that the actual number of sentencing was quite low in the 1950s, but the subsequent carrying out of executions were high during this period (Barkan Bryjak 2010, p. 443). Both sentencing and actual executions came down during the 1970s. But as mentioned earlier, both sentencing and executions have actually increased after the 1970s in the United States. This could be due to the increasing number of crimes in the modern society and a change in judicial outlook on the concept of implementing (and executing) death penalty. The fact is that awarding of capital punishment does not seem to have an effect on criminal activities in a particular society. For example, studies on crime over the past century in New York does not provide any real evidence that death sentence providesany real deterrence to crime when compared to life imprisonment (Owens, Carlson, Elshtain, 2004, p. 241). Thus, it can be concluded that capital punishment and subsequent execution is not a deterrent and a solution for criminal activities in the United States. Whatever may be the reasons that the perpetuators of crimes act in a particular fashion harmful to the society, it is felt that they should be given a chance to change their outlook and attitudes. This is not possible in the case of capital punishments and executions. But a life imprisonment may provide them with a chance to transform through effective counselling and support and above all the government can save a large sum of capital invested in death penalties which can be utilized in other sectors. 3 Conclusions Having critically analysed the various pros and cons of the capital punishment system in the United States one can come to the conclusion that death penalty should be abolished in the nation. First of all, the large sum of money spent on capital punishments not only adversely affects the budget systems of the local, State and Federal governments but it also does not have any positive impact on reducing the crime rates in such states that have not yet abolished the system. Similarly, studies have clearly demonstrated that the capital punishment system does not help to deter further similar crimes in the United States. The study also has shown that life imprisonment without any possibility for parole could be an ideal alternative to death penalties as it is comparatively less costly and provides an opportunity for innocent victims to prove their innocence. Life time imprisonment is also desirable as the dreaded criminals will never be allowed to indulge in similar dreaded crimes as the y will not be offered any sorts of parole and it can also have a deterring effect on the society. The moral and ethical considerations also favour life imprisonment without parole as the method of punishment value both human life, human rights and ethical codes. Similarly, life time imprisonment without parole also helps the judicial system to make sure that no innocents are being executed. The innocent victims get opportunity to prove their innocence even though justice can be delayed to them. Death penalty, in its implementation level is subject to a number of drawbacks and therefore it is recommended that the nation abolish the system and substitute it with its closest possible alternative-life imprisonment without any possibility for parole. It can also be seen that life imprisonment is capable of providing sufficient retribution for ones crimes and that it has also got the potential to deter further crimes. It is high time that the United States makes meaningful constitutional amendments so as to implement the abolition of capital punishments. For this, the abolitionists need to go a long way towards creating awareness among the public, the jury and the political leaders. They also need to build public opinion in favour of the abolition of death penalty in the nation and the present trends in the nation show positive signs towards such a land mark in the judicial and constitutional history of the United States. Thus, it can be concluded that that capital punishment should be abolished in the United States as it does not deter other criminals, as there is the increased risk of innocents being executed and as the cost of execution is higher than that of life imprisonment.

Impact of Employee Motivation Strategies on Customer Service

Impact of Employee Motivation Strategies on Customer Service Creating and maintaining a well-motivated work force is challenging task of a company. The confidence and motivation of work force are being constantly worn down by the inevitable rejection they suffer from buyers as part of everyday activities. To some extent, a high level of employee motivation is derived from effective management practices. To develop motivated employees, a manager must treat people as individuals, empower workers, provide an effective reward system, redesign jobs, and create a flexible workplace. Empowerment occurs when individuals in an organization are given autonomy, authority, trust, and encouragement to accomplish a task. Empowerment is designed to unshackle the worker and to make a job the workers responsibility. In an attempt to empower and to change some of the old bureaucratic ideas, managers are promoting corporate entrepreneurships. Entrepreneurship encourages employees to pursue new ideas and gives them the authority to promote those ideas. Obviously, entrepreneurship is not for the timid, because old structures and processes are turned upside down. Managers often use rewards to reinforce employee behavior that they want to continue. A reward is a work outcome of positive value to the individual. Organizations are rich in rewards for people whose performance accomplishments help meet organizational objectives. People receive rewards in one of the following two ways: Extrinsic rewards are externally administered. They are valued outcomes given to someone by another person, typically a supervisor or higher level manager. Common workplace examples are pay bonuses, promotions, time off, special assignments, office fixtures, awards, verbal praise, and so on. In all cases, the motivational stimulus of extrinsic rewards originates outside the individual. Intrinsic rewards are self-administered. Think of the natural high a person may experience after completing a job. That person feels good because she has a feeling of competency, personal development, and self-control over her work. In contrast to extrinsic rewards, the motivational stimulus of intrinsic rewards is internal and doesnt depend on the actions of other people. When people think of honoring employees for jobs well done, they may typically think of monetary rewards. However, these may be neither necessary nor the best type of reward. By contrast, frequent, positive feedback provided within a n enjoyable, team-oriented environment makes a tremendous difference in employees sense of being valued and, as a result, their commitment to your company. With or without financial rewards, these cultural aspects of the workplace could be the smartest investment in the staff and business. 2.0 Problem Statement McDonalds want to improve service quality and productivity in company; the single most effective thing is improve employee morale and motivation. Fortunately there are many ways to do this from the familiar recognition and reward programs to motivating with good management, teams, training, and more. And the really good news is that most of these programs dont cost a lot of money. Motivating customer service employees provides details on the full range of approaches use to improve frontline motivation. It is important to understand exactly how these motivational approaches have been put into action in to improve customer service and provide better customer care with customer satisfaction in McDonalds. It is important to hire the right people after all, you can never motivate the wrong people, create powerful recognition and incentive programs, that fully engage and motivate employees and make the frontline job more interesting, challenging, and rewarding through empowerment, teams, good management, training, and more. 3.0 Research Objectives To identify current employee motivation strategies in McDonalds To identify effective motivates factors of employees in McDonalds To understand the customer feel about the employees of McDonalds To introduce proper employee motivation strategies to improve customer service and employees performance in McDonald 4.0 Research Questionnaires What are the current employees motivation strategies in McDonald? What are the best effective employee motivation factors for McDonald? How is the customer view about the employee of McDonald? What are the most suitable employee motivation strategies to improve customer service and employees performance in McDonald? Chapter -02 5.0 Literature Review Literature Review of Employee Motivation and Customer Service Many people go to work every day and go through the same, unenthusiastic actions to perform their jobs. These individuals often refer to this condition as burnout. But smart managers can do something to improve this condition before an employee becomes bored and loses motivation. The concept of job redesign, which requires knowledge of and concern for the human qualities people bring with them to the organization, applies motivational theories to the structure of work for improving productivity and satisfaction 5.1 Employee Motivation When redesigning jobs, managers look at both job scope and job depth. Redesign attempts may include the following: Job enlargement, often referred to as horizontal job loading, job enlargement increases the variety of tasks a job includes. Although it doesnt increase the quality or the challenge of those tasks, job enlargement may reduce some of the monotony, and as an employees boredom decreases, his or her work quality generally increases. Job rotation, this practice assigns people to different jobs or tasks to different people on a temporary basis. The idea is to add variety and to expose people to the dependence that one job has on other jobs. Job rotation can encourage higher levels of contributions and renew interest and enthusiasm. The organization benefits from a cross-trained workforce. Job enrichment, this called vertical job loading, this application includes not only an increased variety of tasks, but also provides an employee with more responsibility and authority. If the skills required to do the job are skills that match the jobholders abilities, job enrichment may improve morale and performance. Todays employees value personal time. Because of family needs, a traditional nine-to-five workday may not work for many people. Therefore, flextime, which permits employees to set and control their own work hours, is one way that organizations are accommodating their employees needs. Here are some other options organizations are trying as well: A compressed workweek is a form of flextime that allows a full-time job to be completed in less than the standard 40-hour, five-day workweek. Its most common form is the 4/40 schedule, which gives employees three days off each week. This schedule benefits the individual through more leisure time and lower commuting costs. The organization should benefit through lower absenteeism and improved performance. Of course, the danger in this type of scheduling is the possibility of increased fatigue. Job sharing or twinning occurs when one full-time job is split between two or more persons. Job sharing often involves each person working one-half day, but it can also be done on weekly or monthly sharing arrangements. When jobs can be split and shared, organizations can benefit by employing talented people who would otherwise be unable to work full-time. The qualified employee who is also a parent may not want to be in the office for a full day but may be willing to work a half-day. Although adjustment problems sometimes occur, the arrangement can be good for all concerned. Telecommuting, sometimes called flexi place, is a work arrangement that allows at least a portion of scheduled work hours to be completed outside of the office, with work-at-home as one of the options. Telecommuting frees the jobholder from needing to work fixed hours, wearing special work attire, enduring the normal constraints of commuting, and having direct contact with supervisors. Home workers often demonstrate increased productivity, report fewer distractions, enjoy the freedom to be their own boss, and appreciate the benefit of having more time for them. Of course, when there are positives, there are also negatives. Many home workers feel that they work too much and are isolated from their family and friends. In addition to the feelings of isolation, many employees feel that the lack of visibility at the office may result in the loss of promotions. 5.2 Employee Motivation Strategies 1. External Motivation There are two kinds of external motivation: a) Fear You had better get this right, or you will lose money, job, respect, relationship, status, etc. b) Incentives If you do this right, you will gain money, recognition, status, promotion, lifestyle, etc. The impact of external motivation is temporary. When the threat or incentive is removed, motivation is lost. 2. Internal Motivation Most employees have been exposed to the idea If it is to be, its up to me. And they have all been advised to set goals. Many employees set worthwhile goals, BUT their suboptimal thinking prevents them from taking the best actions to achieve the best outcomes. They compromise their own best interests, because they havent been educated in the art and science of consistent Optimal Thinking. As an Optimal Thinking leader, you assess and best resolve demotivating company rules, policies and behaviors (e.g. unproductive meetings, destructive criticism, and unclear expectations about employee performance). By minimizing demotivates and optimizing no-cost employee motivation strategies (e.g. maximizing job ownership, setting supremely motivational realistic challenges and goals, providing fair treatment and appropriate recognition, measuring performance progress, optimizing collaboration and teamwork) and educating your employees in the consistent art of Optimal Thinking, you will provide the most conducive environment to optimize employee motivation and productivity. 5.3 Motivation Theories Motivation has been researched by psychologists and others for many years. A number of theories have evolved which are pertinent to the motivation of employees. The basis of Maslows motivation theory is that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower factors need to be satisfied before higher needs can be satisfied. According to Maslow, there are general types of needs (physiological, survival, safety, love, and esteem) that must be satisfied before a can act unselfishly. He called these needs deficiency needs. As long as we are motivated to satisfy these cravings, we are moving towards growth, toward self-actualization. Satisfying needs is healthy, while preventing gratification makes us sick or act evilly. The two-factor theory (also known as Herzbergs motivation-hygiene theory) states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction. It was developed by Frederick Herzberg, a psychologist, who theorized that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction act independently of each other. Expectancy Theory proposes that a person will decide to behave or act in a certain way because they are motivated to select a specific behavior over other behaviors due to what they expect the result of that selected behavior will be. In essence, the motivation of the behavior selection is determined by the desirability of the outcome. However, at the core of the theory is the cognitive process of how an individual processes the different motivational elements. This is done before making the ultimate choice. The outcome is not the sole determining factor in making the decision of how to behave. 5.4 Importance of Customer Services Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. It can offer promotions and slash prices to bring in as many new customers as company want, but unless company can get some of those customers to come back, business wont be profitable for long. Good customer service is all about bringing customers back. And about sending them away happy happy enough to pass positive feedback about business along to others, who may then try the product or service offer for themselves and in their turn, become repeat customers Good salesperson can be used to sell anything to anyone once. But it will be your approach to customer service that determines whether or not ever be able to sell that person anything else. The essence of good customer service is forming a relationship with customers a relationship that that individual customer feels that he would like to pursue. Answer your phone. Get call forwarding or an answering service. Hire the staff if business need to. But make sure that someone is picking up the phone when someone calls your business. Dont make promises unless you will keep them. Not plan to keep them, will keep them. Reliability is one of the keys to any good relationship, and good customer service is no exception. It is important think before you give any promise because nothing annoys customers more than a broken one. Listen to your customers. Is there anything more exasperating than telling someone what you want or what your problem is and then discovering that that person hasnt been paying attention and needs to have it explained again? From a customers point of view, I doubt it. Can the sales pitches and the product babble. Let your customer talk and show him that you are listening by making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting how to solve the problem. Deal with complaints. No one likes hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug, saying, You cant please all the people all the time. Maybe not, but if you give the complaint your attention, you may be able to please this one person this one time and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service. Be helpful even if theres no immediate profit in it. The other day I popped into a local watch shop because I had lost the small piece that clips the pieces of my watch band together. When I explained the problem, the proprietor said that he thought he might have one lying around. He found it, attached it to my watch band and charged me nothing! Where do you think Ill go when I need a new watch band or even a new watch? And how many people do you think Ive told this story to? Train your staff (if you have any) to be always helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable. Do it yourself or hire someone to train them. Talk to them about good customer service and what it is (and isnt) regularly. Most importantly, give every member of your staff enough information and power to make those small customer-pleasing decisions, so he never has to say, I dont know, but so-and-so will be back at Take the extra step For instance, if someone walks into your store and asks you to help them find something, dont just say, Its in Aisle 3. Lead the customer to the item. Better yet, wait and see if he has questions about it, or further needs. Whatever the extra step may be, if you want to provide good customer service, take it. They may not say so to you, but people notice when people make an extra effort and will tell other people. viii) Throw in something extra. Whether its a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to use the product, or a genuine smile, people love to get more than they thought they were getting. And dont think that a gesture has to be large to be effective. The local art framer that we use attaches a package of picture hangers to every picture he frames. A small thing, but so appreciated. Chapter -03 6.0 Methodology Staff surveys are usually very helpful in establishing whether staff in your company is motivated and therefore performing to best effect. Aside from the information that questionnaires reveal, the process of involving and consulting with staff is hugely beneficial and motivational in its own right, Whilst survey will be unique to McDonalds and staff issues, industry and culture, some useful generic guidelines apply to most situations and own questionnaires on employee motivation. 6.1 Sampling Frame Research is mainly focused on primary data. Random sampling method is used for the primary data collection. Two questionnaire surveys are conducted for the research study. It is randomly selected 10 McDonalds in all over the country. Then it is selected 100 employees from all over the McDonalds in country. It is randomly selected 100 customers from selected ten McDonalds in all over the country. 6.2 Data Collection Mainly research is focused on primary data and secondary data also collected from books, journals and informal discussions. Two questionnaires are prepared to collect all the information required for the objectives. One questionnaire is prepared for the McDonalds employee and other questionnaire prepared for the McDonalds customers. Then the prepared questionnaire is pre tested with five employee and five consumers to make sure that questionnaires are appropriate to get required information. Then questionnaire survey is conducted randomly selected 100 employees and customers. Questionnaires are completed when interviewing the employee and customers. Chapter -04 7.0 Data Analysis 7.1 Employee Survey According to the results of the questionnaire survey, out of the sample that were subjected to the survey 75% of chefs and managers said that they were satisfied with the level of flexibility of working hours. However only 61% of the cashiers were satisfied, and it should be noted that out of the cashiers that were interviewed 53% are female workers. The female workers may find it difficult to match their requirement with the available working shifts. Even though the management had emphasized that the performance related rewarding strategies were in place, the questionnaire analysis shows some contradicting results. Only 37% of chefs, 46% cashiers are satisfied with their salary. But 100% of the managers are satisfied with their salary. Also approximately 37% of chefs and cashiers are satisfied with the benefits, while 75% of the managers are satisfied with their benefits. Further 25% and 38% of chefs and cashiers are satisfied with the frequency and amount of bonuses respectively. However 50% of the managers are satisfied with the bonuses. But 62% chefs, 53% cashiers and 100% of the managers are satisfied with the rewarding scheme. Nevertheless this analysis indicates a more focus and biasness towards the management in terms of rewards and the requirements of the team members are not sufficiently addressed. However based on the questionnaire analysis, on average 50% of the employees are satisfied with the career advancement opportunities available to them. So the reason for this lower satisfaction level should be investigated. The results of the questionnaire survey shows that around 76% of the operational level employees (cashiers, chefs, etc) are below 4 years in service. So this can be a symptom of employee turnover or they may have been promoted to higher grades. So it is identified that the job security for the KFC team members are high, a large number of employment opportunities are available within their group of companies and their career path is clear. According to the questionnaire results 75% of chefs and 100% of managers are satisfied with their job security. However the cashiers show a lower satisfaction rate of 53% of job satisfaction. Even though the management believes in a supportive corporate culture to enhance employee motivation, the effectiveness of the implementation of the strategies is questionable. This because the results of the questionnaire results revealed that only 50% of the chefs and only 46% of cashiers are satisfied with the existing corporate culture even though there is 100% satisfaction of the management. 7.2 Customer Survey 100 customers were interviewed in this survey, according to their view 69% customers satisfied with customer service delivering in McDonald, 26% customers dissatisfied and 5% customers were neutral in that question. Product quality and price view of customers were good 78% of customers satisfied with product quality and 82% customers satisfied with product price. According to customer view, researcher can summarized their view as above Chapter -05 8.0 Conclusions Recommendations 8.1 Conclusions It can be concluded that the rewarding strategy which is in place at the moment is somewhat ineffective. One of the major issue with the current system is it is more bias towards the management but does not take into account the requirements of the team members. This fact is proven by the results of the questionnaire analysis. For instance only 37% and 46%% of chefs and cashiers are satisfied with their salary, respectively. However 100%% of the managers are satisfied of their salary. On the other hand 37% and 38% of chefs and cashiers are satisfied with their benefits respectively, while 75% of the managers are satisfied. It can be concluded that, in general KFC has taken actions tom promote their team members to higher positions in anticipation of motivation. When considering the results of the questionnaire only 0% of chefs and 15% of cashiers have service records of more than 7 years. So the chefs and cashiers may be promoted as managers in course of time. This fact is further supported by the fact that no managers were found to have less than 4 years of experience at Mcdonald. So managers must be promoted from the operational level to their current position. 8.2 Recommendations It is recommended to revise the existing rewarding scheme appropriately to accommodate the requirements of the team members in terms of amount of economic benefits ensuring a win-win situation for both the employees and the employer. It is recommended to attend to the issue of high work load of female cashiers, and to the issue of lack of new technology in McDonald. It is emphasized that by bringing in new technology to reduce work load. It is recommended to design a new shift of working, different to the general shifts that are currently available in order to accommodate the requirements of the female employees. It is recommended to provide convenient physical working environment for female workers. It is recommended to assess the training needs of chefs regularly because of the technical nature of the job and because of a chefs ability to deliver superior customer satisfaction. Proper training program should be organized and conducted continuously to enhance the knowledge and the skill base of the chefs.

Dell Incorporated :: essays research papers

The computer industry has benefited from the explosion of home computer usage and has become one of the most competitive industries in the world. With technology growing at amazing paces, many of the computer companies have fallen behind and even out of the industry since the development of the computer. Only the strongest companies have been able to be profitable and efficient. Dell Inc. is one of the few corporations to be able to remain at the top of the market. Dell began as the vision of Michael Dell. The company began in 1984 with a simple business concept to build computers to order and to sell directly to customers. Dell has a history of achieving double-digit increases in annual sales. To maintain this growth, Dell is faced with many challenges in maintaining it’s distinctive capabilities and using objective analysis to ascertain it’s strength’s, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. â€Å"Dell's vision is to work closely with our development partners to provide 100% perceived availability to the application environment.† "Dell's mission is to be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve.† In doing so, Dell will meet customer expectations of: highest quality, leading technology, competitive pricing, financial stability, and individual and company accountability. From the nine essential components of a mission statement, Dell’s mission statement includes: products or services, markets, technology, and concern for survival, growth, and profitability. The most important value to Dell is to satisfy their customers and the second most important value is to be profitable. Dell has three distinctive capabilities which consist of: 1) selling products directly to consumer’s which eliminates the markups of resellers 2) build products as they are order, which eliminates overstocked products and 3) having the ability to respond quickly to customers who experience problems with their products.

Oedipus and Creon in Sophocles Oedipus the King Essay -- oedipus Soph

Oedipus and Creon in Sophocles' Oedipus the King   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At first glance, Oedipus and Creon are two very different people. But as time progresses their personalities and even their fates grow more and more similar. In Sophocles’s play â€Å"Oedipus the King†, Oedipus and Creon are two completely opposite people. Oedipus is brash and thoughtless, whilst Creon is wise and prudent. In â€Å"Oedipus the King†, Oedipus effectively portrays the idea of the classic â€Å"flawed hero†. He becomes arrogant and brash. He accuses Creon and Tiresias of treachery. Even worse however, Oedipus goes against the gods. This causes them to punish him severely. Creon is the exact antithesis of Oedipus. He thinks before he acts. Creon is wise and loyal. In Sophocles’ other play, â€Å"Antigone†, however, he undergoes a drastic personality change. He becomes more and more like Oedipus. Creon commits acts of hubris, kills and humiliates people for no reason whatsoever. Once he realizes the folly of hi s ways, he punishes himself for going against the gods and destroying all that he loved, This is strikingly similar to the story of Oedipus. At first Oedipus and Creon seem like entirely different people. But through the course of events, they share almost identical personalities and even fates.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"Oedipus the King†, Oedipus is a brash and arrogant ruler while Creon is his patient, thoughtful right hand man. After Oedipus and his sons all die and Creon becomes king of Thebes, he begins to grow wilder and even more out of control than Oedipus was. In â€Å"Oedipus the King† Oedipus accused Creon of bribing Tiresias, the blind prophet, to make a prediction that will doom Oedipus. He accuses Creon of â€Å"plotting to kill the king† (189). He does this without any concrete evidence or proof. Oedipus rationalizes that because Creon induced him to â€Å"send for that sanctimonious prophet [Tiresias]† (190), he is responsible for the prophecy. Oedipus assumes that â€Å"if the two of you [Creon and Tiresias] had never put heads together, we would never have heard† (192) the prophecy. Creon even calls Oedipus a man is full of â€Å"crude, mindless stubbornness† (190). Oedipus lashed out at Creon for â€Å"betrayin g a kinsman† (192). He did so without any evidence or proof. He just did accused Creon without thinking about the consequences. Although Creon stands against rashness and unthinking now, he soon becomes another Oedipus. ... ...e world that you can name† (237) Creon receives a very similar punishment. He too, loses all he deems valuable in the world. Creon will not allow Haemon to marry Antigone. He condemns their marriage and greatly distresses his son, Haemon. As a result of Creon’s actions, Haemon commits suicide, â€Å"his blood spilled by his very hand† (120). Eurydice, Creons’s wife, also kills herself. She is so wracked with anguish by Haemon’s suicide, that she â€Å"stabbed herself at the altar† (126). Creon â€Å"murdered†¦ his son†¦ and his wife.† (127). He has nowhere to â€Å"lean to for support† (127) and no-one to â€Å"look to† (127). The chorus sums up his and Oedipus’s fate when they say â€Å" The mighty words of the proud are paid in full with mighty blows of fate, and at long last those blows will teach us wisdom† (128) Creon and Oedipus were obviously very similar people. They both rose through chance and circumstance and they both fell because of their brashness and hubris. Creon started off as a very different person to Oedipus. But once he became king, he immediately became an almost identical person to Oedipus. He was rash, unthinking and uncaring. This resulted in his downfall just as it caused Oedipus’.

How to Become a Lawyer Essay

Career Description: * Criminal lawyers have the same basic duties as other lawyers. * First, they advise their clients of their legal rights and responsibilities, as well as any potential problems. * Second, they represent their clients before the courts. Third, they research rules, regulations, and previous cases. * Finally, they prepare legal documents. In each case, lawyers interpret the law and apply it to specific situations. In the courtroom, criminal lawyers act on one of two â€Å"sides:† the defence or the prosecution. * Defence attorneys represent people who have been charged with criminal offences (for example, murder or theft) by making a case that supports their clients’ innocence. * On the other hand, prosecuting attorneys—usually called Crown attorneys or Crown counsel—act for the government on behalf of the public. They form cases against defendants by convincing juries to view the facts as evidence of guilt. * Both prosecuting and defence attorneys are respon sible for preparing their cases before and during the trial. Education & Training: To become a lawyer, you must attend law school and complete a law degree. Before applying to law school, you must complete at least 2 years of undergraduate studies at university (except in Quebec, where you can get into law school straight from a CEGEP). However, because the admission process is extremely competitive, most applicants have at least a bachelor’s degree. Bachelor’s degrees usually take 4 years to complete. To get into law school you need very good marks. You almost always need to write an aptitude test called the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) as well. After graduating from law school, you still need to work for approximately 1 year as an articling student, under the direction of licensed lawyers (fortunately, you usually get paid for this part) before you can become a licensed lawyer. Then you have to successfully complete the bar admission program, including classes and exams, which several weeks to several months to finish.