Monday, September 30, 2019

Generation Gap Essay

Life styles, rapid changes in Science and Technology has transformed our outlook towards life, increasing the divide, much more than it has ever happened in the past. The divide has always been there but never before has it been so wide. Life style changes with the passage of time and with a changing life style, attitudes and values also undergo a transformation. No two generations have shared the same views and options. However, there has never been a greater divide between two generations than in modern times. With rapid changes in science and technology, the exposure, which today’s teenager is getting, is enormous. Value systems have gradually degenerated and the youth is assimilating a new culture. The result is confused parents who are unable to reconcile with the views of their children. There is a great divide between the perception of both, the young people and the adults. One finds that both are unable to communicate with each other, quite often. One of the reasons could be that neither knows what the other is interested in though they may be living under the same roof. This gap results in direct confrontation between the young and the old. This is a universal truth which is applicable to all times be it the past or future. Shakespeare King Lear beautifully depicts this confrontation between the young and the old. King Lear represents the older generation and the younger generation is represented by his daughters. Generation gap is not only reflected in the choice of dresses but also in music, opinions and other behavior patterns. The younger generation which has acquired a different set of values rebels against the older generation as they wish to impose their own value system on them. They resist this forceful intrusion as they are unable to reconcile with the thought of accepting what they think has become outdated. The parent’s displeasure is obviously natural as it is a defiance of their authority and the right way to lead one’s life. Parents fail to realize that the wheel of change irreversible and those, who do not move with it, tend to become disillusion aggravating conflict. The kids are moving much faster on the technologic track, as well as in daily life, than the parents. Children, today, are capable using complicated gadgets and this phenomenon of superior knowledge children as compared to adults has never happened as much as now in 13 societies. The conflict arises when adults stick to their old ways and refuse accept any change while the world rapidly moves ahead. In short, Generation Gap is nothing but the resistance in adults to adapt| change – They forget that the only thing constant in life is ‘change’. The realization requires a lot of patience and understanding of change perceptions. The adults need to look back, introspect and think also the differences they had with their parents. No doubt, memory is she lived and one tends to forget the past which they are fond of referring to ‘Good old days’, where they as children were obedient, respectful

Sunday, September 29, 2019

A Long Way Gone Research Paper Essay

When people imagine soldiers they think of strong men. However, some soldiers today are child soldiers. At a young age child soldiers witnessing and committing horrible acts of violence, which makes them at a higher risk for mental health issues like Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Most child soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18 years, but some are as young as 7 years old. At that young age children should not witness murder, rape, or even be able to be allowed to kill. According to Klasen, Oettingen, Daniels, and Adam,â€Å"Child soldiers refer to any person who is below the age of 18† (574). At that age it is a high risk that, that kid could be traumatized. Child soldiers are some of the most troubled populations of children and adolescents. According to Klasen, Oettingen, Daniel, and Adam,â€Å"The experiences the children the children are inflicted on are beatings, torture, witness of killing, and sexual abuse† (573). Also, according to Klasen, Oettingen, Daniels, and Adam, children who have traumatic experiences are more likely to have mental health issues (574). One of these problems is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). According to Bayer et. Al and Vinck et, al, â€Å"child soldiers with more posttraumatic symptoms are less open to reconciliation, have higher feelings of revenge, and favor violent forms of behavior to resolve conflicts (Klasen, Oettingen, Daniels, and Adam 580). Therefore, because of the violence the children are witnessing, they are developing mental health issues. These mental issues are affecting these innocent kids at very young ages. The reason why is because child soldiers are witnessing murder, r ape, and committing murder. There should be an urgent stop to this so call Child Soldiers.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

The American Dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

The American Dream - Essay Example The most basic comparison is that both American residents as well as these illegal immigrants want to live the American dream but the catch here is that is that although the goal is the same but the environment that the American nationals have is in stark contrast to the facilities that the illegal immigrants have, since they are illegal immigrants they can never have the same facilities that proper American nationals enjoy because no one would be willing to employ them not only because it is illegal to do so but also because the illegal immigrant might move out any time. The values of freedom of speech, equality and opportunities for every one have become so embedded in the American culture that every one is able to make use of them and enjoy them, so the illegal immigrants are also able to enjoy this culture so both the groups have a same working environment but the fact remains that illegal Mexican immigrants will never be given the status of citizens and hence never be entitled t o the American citizenship or American dream. In contrast when these Mexicans cannot find proper jobs according to their academic qualification, they take up petty jobs and therefore do not continue to look forward to the material well being and in affect stop believing in the American dream.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Subsidies in the EU and the WTO. An assessment of evolution and impact Essay

Subsidies in the EU and the WTO. An assessment of evolution and impact - Essay Example Subsidy includes furnishing goods and services but without including the general infrastructure. Again acquiring products from a variety of firms at an advanced price than what would be paid in the market is also a significant part of subsidy. (Schaffer, Agusti and Earle, 2008, p. 374) Subsidy reform has been taken the form of gradual progression in making provisions for vessel decommissioning, transition support, environmental projects and a phase out of the most direct form of capacity enhancing subsidies. (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2007, p. 123) In case of a perfectly competitive market where resources are allocated inefficiently, providing a subsidy can lower the welfare. At times provision of subsidies are taken as a measured step toward a protected trade as providing subsidies may sometime increase the cost of exports. However if returns to scale, imperfect market, public goods etc are considered, there can be some justification for the subsidies. (Gower, Thomson, 2002, p. 147) Economists have found out a number of ways by which governments can use subsidies to provide help to the national firms to earn benefits in case of imperfect information. The easiest way for providing such type of benefit is through the subsidies in export markets. Because of predatory price, subsidized producers can reap a benefit of monopoly price. However there has been criticism on this ground that little empirical evidence can be provided in support of any government-financed pricing occurring to any significant level. (Sykes, 1989, p. 203) T he idea of subsidy undertook for the first case during the Uruguay Round and the definition of subsidy following the WTO law is very much motivated by the explanation of the US law. It explains subsidy mainly as a monetary contribution, by a government or any other civic body within the country of an affiliate. These kinds of aid can arise from a straight transfer of funds, as of

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Food Safety Management Systems exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Food Safety Management Systems exam - Essay Example One of the main factors that results in organizational change is the desire for growth (Branson, 2008). Organizations which want to attain certain levels of growth or expansion are always forced to change how they operate so that they are can align procedures with the new status that they want to achieve. A very classic example in the food industry is Subway sandwich chain that began its operations using different names in the 1960s. During this time, the company struggled to achieve its goals or even grows. After changing its name to Subway and also aligning its operations to be able to allow for franchising, it was able to open up several units in the United States of America. This however required the employees to also change the way they carried out their duties so that it was in line with the new desired status. The second factor which results in organizational change is the need to improve processes (Kotter & Cohen, 2002). A food business or venture which wants to implement new production process in order to be more efficient is required to carry out changes that will facilitate this. There are also food production and selling enterprises like Kraft Foods which have implemented leaner production procedures such as sigma six so that they can reduce their costs of operation and enhance efficiency. Food retailing stores like Walmart have also come up with high level service delivery systems which ensures not only the provision of quality services but also enhance and improve the entire operations and processes. The third primary factor for organizational change is the government regulations. Wyman (2001) states that the changes in government regulations directly impact on how businesses are run. Among the food processing organizations, when safety and quality regulations are changed and implemented by the government, it is usually important for the organization to change its

VolunTourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

VolunTourism - Essay Example In order to make a VolunTourism trip, the first and primary requirement is accommodation. For this, my personal minimum requirements would be running water, a place to rest, requisite apparels, electricity and other important tools such as cell phone and electronic equipment. How Much Time/Percentage Of My Trip Do I Want To Dedicate To Volunteering And How Much To Travel & Tourism? In VolunTourism, I desire to dedicate most of the time for travel and tourism activities i.e. 65% of the total tourism time and the remaining i.e. 35% of the time on volunteering. How Sensitive Am I To Deprivation, Poverty, Starvation, Health Issues, Etc.? I am moderately sensitive with respect to certain health aspects such as deprivation or starvation. To a certain extent, I can deal with the issues of hunger or bad food. What Tolerance Do I Have For Extremes In Climate? I possess high tolerance with respect to freezing cold weather or humidity climate. However, I cannot tolerate extreme heat such as in dessert or near volcano among others. What Food Preferences And Aversions Do I Have? Concerning vegetable items, I do not possess any aversions. However, with respect to non-veg items, I have certain preferences and cannot eat every type of non-veg food. How Good Are My People Skills In Relation To Travel? I bear good interpersonal skills that might help me while travelling. I can speak with anyone at any place irrespective of any racial difference. However, at times, language barrier hinder my communication process. Moreover, I feel quite uncomfortable to travel alone. What Volunteer Experience Do I Have? I have several volunteering experience. To cite some few, I have volunteered activities such as charity works and assisting in performing medical responsibilities among others. What Voluntary Service Would I Like To Perform? I would prefer to perform charity activities such as providing medical assistance to those who are in

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Choose one from 6 topics, I attatched files Essay

Choose one from 6 topics, I attatched files - Essay Example The father has as well as left and the mother’s departure is also a reflection of the search for their father. The two sister are left with the aunt they do not know and presents a hostile environment hence validating their minority as reflected in the minor transnationalism. Their children are left long before they could realize the reason for the desertion. The girls are portrayed as scrubbing and cleaning for their aunt to fill the plastic piggy bank that will lead to their reunion with their mother. The idea of the minor transnationalism is validated, in this case, the two sisters have both engaged with as well as against the others who are the majority as they put efforts to fill the plastic piggy bank. Their engagement is in line with the provisions of the minor transnationalism as it shows a vertical framework of opposition and assimilation. Indeed, he paper also showcases how these young characters engage with both majority and other minority cultures. For example, their aunt represents the majority and their grandmother who they sympathize with depicts their engagement with other minorities. Their desertion is evident as the elder sister washes her sibling to prevent her from feeling a state of desertion. The two sisters are however sold grasshoppers to care for themselves as they await the return of their mother despite being i n a diaspora. The younger sister is in a state of withdrawal; however, her elder sister tries to make her happy as she takes the role of parenting her. The sisters must thrive to come to terms with their isolation or minority status. The sisters know the threats of the external environment they live. Jin shows affection for her sister despite desperately feeling abandoned but have little knowledge about their situation. Thus, the characters fit the minor transnationalism description as they fight creatively despite being minority to fill their piggy bank as they know that will bring their mother back. On

Monday, September 23, 2019

Uniformly Accelerated Motion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Uniformly Accelerated Motion - Assignment Example The graphical representation for movement along straight line includes plotting distance against time is always regarded as positive. The curve of this graph never reduces take for instance the speedometer and odometer in a vehicle. Since the displacement is termed as the vector quantity, it can be graphed against the period if we confine the motion of a line and then use the positive and the negative signs in specifying the direction. However, it is a conventional practice plotting displacement along straight line against time with the help of a scheme. Such graphical representation along the x-axis may be positive or negative. The graph can either be a plus and get more plus or negative and get more minus. In the two cases, the curve would be a positive slope and the object will be a positive velocity. Additionally, the graph might be positive, have less positive and or a minus, and have more minus. In the two cases, the curve would have a minus slope and the object will be a negat ive velocity. The instantaneous velocity of any given object at any given time will be the displacement slope against the time graph. Therefore, it can either be +ve, -ve, or even zero. The instantaneous acceleration of the object at a given time will be the gradient of the velocity against the time graph at that given time. For the constant motion and velocity along the x-axis, the x graph against t graph is represented as the titled straight line. For the constant motion and its acceleration, the v against the t graph is represented as a straight line (Bueche and Eugene, 134).

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Trouble Brews at Starbucks Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Trouble Brews at Starbucks - Case Study Example However, in 2007, trouble began when the company performance began to decline. It reported a reduction in the number of customer visits in the United States leading to a 50 percent drop in share price (Pride, Hughes and Kapoor 45). In two quarters growth remained flat and declined in the fourth quarter. This led to rehiring of Howard Schultz, who was viewed as a visionary leader. This was done on the purpose of restoring Starbuck’s premier brand. To this end, this paper analyzes this company to understand how it can regain its earlier status. In the industry, the level of competition is very high. Some of the major competitors for this company include the Tully’s coffee, Caribou Coffee and Gloria Jean’s. Although, there are a high number of competitors, the industry is dominated by the mentioned competitors. In Starbucks case, there are new entries and other firms in the market. The company’s new competitor is McDonalds’ â€Å"McCafe†. Competitors are likely to enter this industry because the startup cost is low. McDonald has the ability to create its distinct product that will help it tap in the coffee market. A store that can successfully enter the market has the potential to make profits. Fortunately, the company’s location limits new entrants. Also, the existence of differentiated brands enables the company to increase the switching costs for customers. For Starbuck, the sheer scale has helped reduce the buyers bargaining power (Romney n.pag.). There is no single group that influences the purchase of the company’s products in large quantities. Also, there are different options as a result of a high number of competitors. In addition, the products that can substitute coffee are in of a variety. This threat is high for the company. The purchase of bottled coffee is seen as inexpensive rather than opting for the company’s mug coffee. There are also products that can be used instead of coffee. They

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Molar Volume of a Gas Essay Example for Free

Molar Volume of a Gas Essay Introduction: In this lab I am going to find out the volume of one mole of hydrogen gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The room pressure only slightly differs from the standard, but can be taken into consideration when calculating the results. The molar volume is 22.41 liters per mole at STP (Standard pressure), in other words, at zero degrees centigrade. Figure 3.1 (the experiment set up) Procedure: 1. Set up all equipment. 2. Cut a piece of Magnesium ribbon about 20cm in length. 3. Calculate the weight of the ribbon from the weight of a 1 m long ribbon. 4. Measure 1.0 M Hydrochloric acid to a volume of 25-30ml. 5. Pour the HCl to the reaction flask. 6. Add the Mg ribbon to the reaction flask and secure the mouth of the flask as fast as possible with a hose. Make sure that the hydrogen gas cannot escape from the flask. 7. Follow the temperature 8. Collect the gas until no further reaction is observed in the reaction flask. 9. Carefully remove the gas collection flask so that no gas escapes from the flask. 10. Light the gas. 11. Determine the volume of the gas. 12. Calculate the molar volume of H2 gas at room temperature. a) theoretical value from Vm =22.44 l/mol at STP. b) experimental value from your data. Equipment: * 2 flasks (volume at least 600ml) * large container (volume at least 3,5 l) * Magnesium ribbon * 30ml of Hydrochloric acid * thermometer * a hose (to cover the reaction flask) Observations: * Magnesium ribbon was a little oxidized for it had lost some of its shine. * When the collection flask was turned around and placed in the water filled container, there were tiny air bubbles on the inside walls of the flask. * When Magnesium ribbon was added, it began to corrose in the HCl * Instantly after adding the Mg ribbon to the hydrochloric acid, temperature in the reaction flask started to rise as a chemical reaction took place in the flask. * Moisture and (fog) blocked the view of the reaction * Immediately after adding the Mg ribbon, hydrogen bubbled to the collection flask * Hydrogen bubbled to the flask for about a minute,stopping soon after the ribbon had corrosed in to the HCl. * There was a hissing sound as the chemical reaction occurred in the reaction flask and the gas flowed to collection flask through a pipe. * The temperature in flask A rose quickly by a few degrees celsius and then stayed nearly constant for the 15 minutes the temperature was measured. * The temperature did not change in flask B;however, it cannot be stated for sure as it was only compared with the temperature of flask A. * The temperature in flask A rose very quickly as the reaction started * The amount of hydrogen produced from the reaction was large for large bubbles of gas rose to beaker B within few seconds after starting the experiment * The volume of the reaction flask was not measured, but it is close to the volume of the other flask (629ml) * After the reaction, when lighting the hydrogen gas, collection beaker made a popping sound but the reaction flask actually burned and formed a thin flame. * The flame from the reaction flask gave out a lot of heat, which was not noticed when lighting the gas in the collection flask. Theoretical = 22.5 l/mol Vm= 22.41 0.36 % error The molar volume was 0.36% too large. The error can come from water vapour in the collection flask 10cm water below the glass air in the collection flask temperature rise in the reaction flask water vapour in the reaction flask Evaluation: This experiment had many error-causing factors, which probably influenced the results. Overall, the calculations showed that very little error (0.36% error) which made me a little skeptical about the results. Such a small error percentage was not expected. To point out a few mistakes, I did not measure the difference in height of the water level from the surface of the water-filled container. This would have allowed further investigation about the volume of hydrogen in the flask. Also, the exact volume of the reaction flask was not measured. It was only stated by eye that the flasks looked to be the same size. Other than that, the experiment was performed well. It was made sure that none or very little air was left in the collection flask when turning it around and placing it in the water filled container. There were a few tiny air bubbles on the walls; however, the air in the reaction flask was more likely to influence the result. Having a lab partner helped with managing time, for one was able to follow the temperature while the other checked the time. We made sure that we had read the instructions carefully and thought twice before deciding what methods to use when, for example, turning the flask upside down in the water. Conclusion: In conclusion, the experiment turned out some successful results. When magnesium reacted with the hydrochloric acid, hydrogen was released into the flask from where it flowed through a pipe to the collection flask. The molar volume of H2 gas at room temperature is 22.79 l/mol, which is also the rate for the hydrogen gas in the collection flask. The amount of H2 gas in the flask is impossible to calculate for the amount of water vapour and air was measured when performing the experiment. The experimental value turned out unexpectably very small. 0.36% error in the experiment seems very small, unless there has been some unnoticed mistakes that have influenced the experimental value. The theoretical value is 22.5 l/mol. Temperature changes during the experiment turned out some interesting results, for the temperature seems to start falling soon after the chemical reaction has ended, yet it begins to rise a little after a few minutes and stays constant for a long time before starting to fall (figure 3.2). From the information gained during this experiment, it is difficult to state why this happened; therefore, some extra research should take place if performing the experiment again. Improved investigation: For further investigation, temperature should be measured for longer than 15 minutes in order to find out the rate the temperature is going to fall in a closed flask. The distance between water surface in the container and the surface in the flask should also be measured. For more accurate results, factors such as air and water vapour in the flask should be taken into consideration when calculating the final values. Advisable would be to do some research on why the temperature changed the way it did in this experiment.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Service Delivery And Service Recovery Strategy Tourism Essay

Service Delivery And Service Recovery Strategy Tourism Essay Expectation is one of the most important thing related directly to the guest that the hotel has to know in order to be able to provide the service that fulfill the needs and desire of the guest. Its the key to know whats the hotel has to provide in order to make the guest feel satisfy. Before experiencing the service, each guest must have their own expectation. As what Pizam and Ellis had discussed in their research, the meaning of expectation can be describe as a mutable internal standard which is based on a multitude of factors including needs, objectives, past personal or vicarious experiences with the same establishment restaurant, with similar establishments, and the availability of alternatives. Besides on past personal experience and other factors have been mentioned, the expectation of the guest can also be based on whats the hotel had been promised to the guest. Not only that, another factor such as advertisement which is based on external communication can affect the expectation of the guest. For example, the guest who is looking for five star hotels for the accommodation during their holiday will search some particular hotels through the website, brochure, etc. If the advertisement of that particular hotel is very attractive and the physical of the hotel looks luxury and interested, most probably it will build higher expectation to the guest. Halstead (1994) also stated that the guest who, didnt have any experience before they go to one particular hotel, will rely on external source of information. H1: Good advertising could probably affect and increase the expectation made by the guest. Moreover, through the research made by Getty and Thomson in 1994, it is known that the expectation should be elicited prior to the service being provided; otherwise it will be influenced by perceptions of the actual service being provided.For instance, the guest may change her expectations during the service encounter and use those changes (perhaps more realistic) expectations as the standard of comparison. Many researchers support that statement because some think that the information that the guest receive during the current service will affect the expectation they have made before the service experience. Halstead (1993) found that expectations that are measured after service experience was higher for dissatisfy customers than for satisfy customers. On the other side, the guest, who has little or no experience of product and service before, will generate little information that leads to lower expectation made on the first time they experience the service. For instance, the guest who has never been stayed in five star hotel will have lower expectation about the five star hotel they are about to stay. This happened because the guest doesnt know whatare the products and service offered by the five star hotel, the guest just has little information that might be gotten from the advertisement they have seen before. Though there are differentiations for both the factors influence expectation and the times the guest makes their expectation, but normally the expectation of the guest can be grouped as several parts. As written in the research made by Lewis and McCann (2004), they classifying the expectations that based on what the guest expect from three or four star hotels. Below are the results of the ranking both business and leisure guests expect through their staying in three or four star hotels: Clean, comfortable bedrooms with all items in working order. Good quality food and beverages. Friendly, helpful, polite and efficient staff. High level of room security. Speedy, efficient check-in and out. The data above was made in the research made by Dolnicar (2002) to show that most of people expect to have clean room (including bathroom). Meaning to say that the guestwho are staying in three or four star hotel are more concern to the cleanliness of the hotel. Even the data was obtained through the questionnaire; it can change according to how many star of the hotel. Besides, she had completed her data with the expectation from the business travelers hotel expectation by hotel star category. The data is shown below. */** *** **** ***** Good food 8.0% 10.0% 5.6% 3.7% TV 5.3% 6.0% 2.1% 0.0% Good service 1.3% 4.0% 2.6% 4.9% Good location 2.7% 3.0% 2.1% 4.9% Staff 2.7% 2.0% 1.0% 0.0% Good value for money 5.3% 1.5% 3.1% 0.0% Pleasant atmosphere 0.0% 1.5% 3.6% 3.7% Large room 0.0% 1.5% 3.1% 3.7% Toilet 1.3% 1.5% 0.0% 0.0% Cheap 1.3% 1.0% 0.0% 0.0% Shower 9.3% 1.0% 1.5% 1.2% Internet 0.0% 1.0% 1.5% 2.5% High quality 0.0% 0.5% 1.5% 2.5% Food 6.7% 0.0% 0.0% 2.5% Comfortable bed 2.7% 0.0% 1.0% 1.2% Comfort 0.0% 0.0% 0.5% 3.7% It is shown in the data above that the expectation from business travelers hotel expectation is different according to the star of the hotel theyve been staying at. Both of the data above broaden the factors influence expectation of the guest; star of the hotel and type of the guest are also influence the expectation made by guest. Jonathan D. Barsky also stated that the perception of product or service performance will influence the response made by guest if it combines with the expectation or pre-experience standard. When the guest has no pre-experience standards or expectation, the response of the guest will directly reveal their perception of the product or service experience without being affected by their expectation. Satisfaction In hospitality industry, the guest will evaluate more on its service than its product. Quality of service becomes the most important things that the guest will experience and give their valuation through. Since every guest wish to perceive the best service or in the other word; excellent service, hotel has to make efforts in giving them what they wish. The meaning of the excellent service is given in the research made by Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithami which is a profit strategy because it results in more new customers, more business with existing customers, fewer lost customers, more insulation from price competition, and fewer mistakes requiring the re-performance of services (1994, pg. 32 Vol 8. No. 2). It is clearly said that through the excellent service, hotel will increase their customer and decrease the lost of the customer. In other words, if hotel gives excellent service to the guest, it will result in having more profit for the hotel itself.However, excellent service will lead to satisfaction of the guest which will cause in the increasing of guests loyalty. When it comes to satisfaction, every guest who feels satisfy with the service given will disposed to be loyal to the hotel. So, it can be said that the satisfaction the hotel wants to obtain from the guest is to gain the loyalty from them.It was said by Jones and Sasser (1995) that increased customer loyalty is a critical driver of a firms long-term financial performance. Besides, the guests who feel dissatisfied with the hotel will reduce loyalty and the reputation of the hotel through the action they may do after experienced service failure. Therefore, satisfaction is the goal that the hotel wants to achieve. The meaning of customer satisfaction had been written in the article as a psychological concept that involves the feeling of well-being and pleasure that results from obtaining what one hopes for and expects from an appealing product and/or service (WTO, 1985). Through this definition, it is known that satisfaction can be obtained by fulfilling guests hopes and expectation. Furthermore, satisfaction is not a definite thing that will go constantly the same; each person will perceive different level of satisfaction even when they are in the same hospitality experience. The reason behind it is that each guest has their own needs, objectives, and past experience that will affect their expectations. Based on this statement, its very important for the hotel to know how to measure customer satisfaction. Of course, the reason for measuring customer satisfaction has to be clear in order to get the right information from the guest. According to Naumann (1995), five objectives that are the reasons the hotel measures customer satisfaction are: To get close to the customer It was well explained that the hotel has not only just know but also understand the most important attributes to customer, why those attributes affects customers decision making, the importance of those attributes, and get a feedback of how well the hotel perform to deliver each attribute. Measure continuous improvement The attributes that are necessary for the customer are linked directly to value added processes in the firm and are put into a form consistent with the internal measurements used to evaluate the process. To achieve customer driven improvement Not all customers are from the same source of valuable innovation. This will need creation of a comprehensive database that not only tracks sales, but sources of innovations. To measure competitive strengths and weaknesses Perceptions of the customer will be determined by the competitive choices. This is achieved through the possible survey and future customers as well as current and past customers. To link customer satisfaction measurement data to internal systems (Naumann, 1995, pp.22-7). Knowing that satisfaction is very important to be learned in the industry especially service industry such as hospitality industry, there have been research discussed about this topic. There have been nine distinct that researchers developed about the theories of customer satisfaction. The nine theories include: expectancy disconfirmation, assimilation or cognitive dissonance, contrast, assimilation-contrast, equity, attribution, comparison-level, generalized negativity, and value-precept (Oh and Parks, 1997). Based on expectancy disconfirmation theory, satisfaction is caused by confirmation or positive disconfirmation of consumer expectations, and dissatisfaction is caused by negative disconfirmation of consumer expectations. (Pizam and Ellis, 1999). When the outcomes received by the guest are different from what the guest have been expected, negative disconfirmation occurs. According to the research made by Yuksel (2001), there is positive disconfirmation when the service performance is better than what the guest had been expected before which lead to the satisfaction of the guest. When service performance is the same as the guests expectation, there is a confirmation which still leads to the satisfaction of the guest. Moreover, the guest will feel dissatisfy when the service performance is not good as what the guest had been expected which there will be a negative disconfirmation occurs. At the time the guest feel dissatisfy, it means that the need and wants of the guest cant be fulfilled by the hotel. Even though the satisfaction of the guest depends on the service performance and the expectation, minimum tolerable level also give impact to the satisfaction of the guest. Minimum tolerable level is the situation where the guest still can accept the failure that the hotel made. According to Yuksel (2011), depending on the situation, some of the guests will still feel satisfy when the service performance falls short of their predictive expectation but above the minimum tolerable level. Each person has different minimum tolerable level as they have different expectation. Basically, this minimum tolerable level cant be predicted and measured, so the hotel cant provide the service based on this minimum tolerable level just to prevent the guest feel dissatisfied. H2: When the hotel cant meet the high expectation made by guest, they will still feel satisfy if the service meets their minimum tolerable level. According to Pizam (1999), Dissatisfiers were more likely to earn a complaint for low performance or absence of a desired feature than anything else. But an operation that exceeds the threshold performance standard apparently will not receive compliments on the attributes. Meaning to say, the guest can be easily feel dissatisfy of the failures or the small things that not happened smoothly but will be very hard to appreciate the higher performance level achieved by the hotel. For example, the guest will easily feel dissatisfy when they expect the bathroom was clean but they found a rubbish near the basin. However, the guest will not be easily impressed when they expect the room was clean and the hotel provide more than that with decorating the room with a flower. Service Recovery Service Recovery was made because its impossible to give a maintain service that will never change nor have a mistake. In order to compete with other industries, each has to improve their performance all the time. Not only creating new stuff, products, or refurbished the building but also improving the service. Unfortunately, even there is a significant improvement, mistakes and failures will always be made since theres no so called perfect service.Through this realized condition, hotel creates recovery service to obtain positive response from the guest. Service recovery involves those actions designed to resolve problems, alter negative attitudes of dissatisfied customers and to ultimately retain these customers (Miller et al., 2000, p.38), and it includes situations in which a service failure occurs but no complaint is lodged by the customers (Smith et al., 1999, p. 359). There are always the strategies made before doing the recovery of the service. According to Lewis and McCann (2004), service recovery strategies are the actions that services providers take, in response to defects or failures, comprise a combination of psychological recoveries and tangible efforts. In addition, service recovery strategy is made to avoid bad response showed by the guest after theyve experienced service failure. When the guest experienced service failure, they may switch their option and move to the competitors, make a complaint that will give bad impact for the hotel if they speak out in public media, and the worst thing; they may use negative words to share about the bad experienced theyve had. As word of mouth is one of the media that works fast among people, negative words shared by the guest can influence hotels profit and reputation.There have been many researches stated that dissatisfied customers might tell ten to twenty people about their bad experience with their colleagues (Zemke, 1999). In order to decrease dissatisfactionthat lead to the negative consequences for hotel, some strategies have to be performed to the guest that experienced service failure as the recovery. H3: Service recovery strategy will prevent the hotel from the negativeopinion shared by the guest who had experienced service failures. At the first time the guest chose the place to stay, they have made their expectation and when the guest dont get what they have been expected or the quality that they evaluate is very poor, the guest will feel dissatisfy. After feel dissatisfy, the guest will either make a complaint or give their feedback to the hotel. From those situations, then only the hotel know that theres some failures occur.Sundaram, Jurowski, and Webster (1997) had mentioned in their research that Dissatisfied customers expect that service failures will be recovered when they complain. Moreover, there are five broad service dimensions that the guests use to evaluate or judge the service quality. The five dimensions are: RELIABILITY : The ability to perform the promised service dependably (32%) and accurately. RESPONSIVENESS : The willingness to help customers and provide prompt (22%) service. ASSURANCE : The knowledge and courtesy of employees and their (19%) ability to convey trust and confidence. EMPHATY : The caring, individualized attention provided to (16%) customers. TANGIBLES : The appearance of physical facilities, equipment, (11%)personnel, and communication materials. Those five broad service dimensions will affect to the evaluation made by the guest. Once one of the dimensions cant be fulfilled by the hotel, the evaluation from the guest through the hotel will decrease and vice versa. As human being, we will absolutely make a mistake. Thats why the service which is done by the staff will never be constantly perfect. Its a common thing for a hotel to do some failures to the guest. However, when some failure occurs, the hotel will definitely do the recovery to enhance customer satisfaction, build customer relationship, and keep the loyalty of their guest. Service recovery strategy is described by Gronroos (1988) in their research as the actions that hotels take in response to defects or failures. The action of recovery strategy is done with the range of doing nothing to do some efforts to fix the problems or the failures occur. A lot of researchers have made the research connecting with service recovery strategies theme. The summary of the research, about the strategies the hotel do after the failures occur, made by Bitner et al. (1990), Kelley et al. (1993), Johnston (1994), Hoffman et al., (1995), Tax et al. (1998), Miller et al. (2000) and Lewis and Spyrakopoulos (2001), generate the result that the strategies may be classified as : Apology; Corrections; Empathy; Compensation; Follow-up; Acknowledgement; Explanation; Exceptional Treatment; and Managerial Intervention. Apology is a basic strategy the hotel does after some failures occur. The moment the hotel does some failures, the first action to be taken is to apologize to the guest. When apologize is compulsory to be implemented as a service recovery strategy, the other action needs to be done according to the failures made by the hotel. Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml (1994) stated that even though the guests appreciate an apology, the apology will not make the guest forget the memory about the service failure happened. That makes the other recovery strategy was made to be fit in the type of failures. Even though some strategies may need to be done at the same time, some may not need to be done at all. For example; compensation will not necessary be donewhen the failure occurs is just the small failure such as mention the name of the guest wrongly. Effectiveness After service failure occurred, hotel will give the prompt service recovery strategy that match the failure and the guest will react according to what theyve received. The response of the guest will determine whether the service recovery strategy is effective. Meaning to say, the effectiveness of service recovery strategy can be measured with seeing guests response. When the guest feel satisfy with the service recovery strategy given by the hotel, it means the service recovery given was effective. Dissatisfaction of the service recovery given by the hotel is evidence that the service recovery was not effective. The guest who feel satisfy with the service recovery strategy offered will forget about the failure and may increase their satisfaction level after dissatisfaction occurred. In contrast, when the service recovery offered didnt match what the guests expected, they will feel dissatisfy and may not be loyal to that particular hotel.Other than that, Tax et al. (1998) had mentioned in his research that even though a customer may be satisfied with the type of service recovery strategies offered, the recovery evaluation might be poor because of the process endured to obtain the recovery outcome. So, the process how the hotel delivers the service recovery will affect the overall satisfaction of the guest. However, the service recovery strategies given by the hotel will be affected by some factors. Each strategy may give different result for different people. A man who has been travelling for 2 years will have different expectation and will have different result in receiving service recovery strategy than a man who has never been for travelling. Many researches about the effectiveness of recovery strategy were built upon this kind of situation. Further, factors that influence the type and effectiveness of service recovery strategies are : The service (e.g. Mattila, 2001); Purpose of purchase (e.g. McDougall and Levesque, 1999); The failure (e.g. Smith et.al, 1999); The magnitude of the failure (Kelley et al., 1993; Smith et al., 1999; Michel, 2001; Mattila, 2001); Previous experience with an organization (e.g. Tax et al., 1998); and Service recovery expectations (e.g. Miller et al., 2000). When the hotel offered one of service recovery strategies, they have to choose the right strategy that can possibly increase guests satisfaction. Magnitude of the failure will definitely affect the type and effectiveness of service recovery strategy. For example; hotel has made the failure throughthe bad temperature of the food given to the guest. Since it was a small failure, the recovery strategy given will be different from the time the hotel did big failure such as; the room where the guest stayed wasnt clean. According to Zemke (1999), only the guest themselves who can describe and tell how annoying is a particular service failure has been. Miller et al., (2000) stated that if the failures made by hotel are very serious, it will later require more drastic reparation. That will make service organization need to train more of their front-line employees so they can be able to handle the guests complaint and asses their situation correctly. Moreover, service recovery expectation also gives big impact on the effectiveness of recovery strategy. Kelley and Davis (1994) found that the guest who rated highly for the service quality will mainly have higher expectation on service recovery strategy. It can be understood by the guest to have a better service recovery on five star hotel that to have service recovery by four star hotel. In other way, it can be said that the quality of the hotel will surely affect the expectation of the recovery strategy. It is stated by Hart, Heskett, and Sasser (1990) that the main reason of the guest dissatisfaction is the problem resolution which cant satisfy the guest and up to 50% of the guest who experience service failure not feel satisfy with the recovery strategy (Best and Andreasen, 1976; Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman, 1990). Based on this situation, hotel has to follow up the guest to make sure that the service recovery they have made was successfully increasing the satisfaction of the guest. After the hotel has given the recovery strategy to the guest, they will not know the response of the guest until they follow up their guest and receive their evaluations. Giving the service recovery to the guest for the first time when the hotel made some failures will not always give the same result on the guest for the second time. When the first time the hotel made mistakes, some guests can be offered the minimum service recovery strategies or another service recovery strategy depends on the failures made by the hotel. That can reduce dissatisfaction of the guest, but it will give different result on the second, third, and on the next arrival. On the second arrival, the guest may not be able to accept the same way of service recovery strategy theyve ever offered. With the same recovery strategy given by the hotel on the second time with the same service failures experienced, the guest may not feel satisfy.Thats why, the evaluation and feedback is needed to know the guests response. Of course there will be more advantages on hotel when they can successfully give service recovery strategy that match the failure theyve made. First, they can get loyalty from the guest. Loyal customers are those who continue to stick with an unsatisfying product/seller with the hope that things will soon improve (Boshoff, 1997; Hirschman, 1970). When the guest feel satisfy with the service perceived, they will be loyal to the hotel and willing to come for another time. Loyalty of the guest will directly impact the profit of the hotel. It will lead to the increasing of the profit of hotel. Besides the loyalty and profitability, the effective recovery strategy can prevent the spread of negative word of mouth that is believed to be the most important post-purchase behavior. Service entities could increase their profits up to 85% by reducing the customer defection rate by 5% (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990).It has been proved that word of mouth has an effective power in spreading their opinion as a free advertisement tools. So, if hotel make the guest satisfy, the advertisement via word of mouth will be very useful to be used for spreading good advertisement. In the other way, if the hotel make the guest dissatisfy, the advertisement via word of mouth will not be useful anymore. It will even give bad impact to the hotel and may decrease the profit of the hotel. The last thing, when the hotel can handle the complaint of the guest and give the best service strategy match with the failure was made, they can build the trust from the guest. Moorman, Deshpande, and Zaltman (1993) defined trust as the willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence (p. 315). The moment the guest trusts the hotel, the guest will willing to come again to the same hotel. The trust built by making the guest satisfy can also make the guest increase their minimum tolerable level. Both loyalty and trust will give long term benefit for the hotel. Basically, when the hotel had successfully build trust in the guest, loyalty will directly follow. As the guest has trust the hotel, they will be loyal to that particular hotel. They will feel safe and comfortable with the hotel because they have trusted that the hotel will do their best to provide and deliver the best service. It is proved by Gilly (1987) that the guests who experience the service failure and did complainthen feel satisfy with the service recovery given, have higher repurchase intention than the guest who already satisfied with the service and did not complain. H4 : Guest expectation will be higher after he experienced service failure and offered recovery strategy.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

the second great awakening :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many took different steps in the fight for equality. Nat Turner, a religious leader among his fellow slaves, become convinced he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. Leading a revolt, he and five other slaves killed their master and his family. Joined by about sixty other blacks, he led a general revolt. Within days, militiamen suppressed the revolt and Turner was ironically hung in Jerusalem, Virginia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many took different steps in the fight for equality. Nat Turner, a religious leader among his fellow slaves, become convinced he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. Leading a revolt, he and five other slaves killed their master and his family. Joined by about sixty other blacks, he led a general revolt. Within days, militiamen suppressed the revolt and Turner was ironically hung in Jerusalem, Virginia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many took different steps in the fight for equality. Nat Turner, a religious leader am ong his fellow slaves, become convinced he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. Leading a revolt, he and five other slaves killed their master and his family. Joined by about sixty other blacks, he led a general revolt. Within days, militiamen suppressed the revolt and Turner was ironically hung in Jerusalem, Virginia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many took different steps in the fight for equality. Nat Turner, a religious leader among his fellow slaves, become convinced he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. Leading a revolt, he and five other slaves killed their master and his family. Joined by about sixty other blacks, he led a general revolt. Within days, militiamen suppressed the revolt and Turner was ironically hung in Jerusalem, Virginia.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Advertising Campaign :: Free Essay Writer

Objectives: As we know, the objective of Gateau PLC patisserie chain – sale of high-quality food and drinks, cooked individually with use of ingredients of the best quality. Gateau PLC exerts every effort to offer wonderful, tasty and, perhaps, the best food. The main accent in your patisserie chain is quality. The achievement of high quality of your products only possible under accurate observation of whole process’s technology – from purchase of equipment, organization of patisserie’s work, to staff’s skill in cooking. Little deviation from the technology leads to inescapable fall of the quality. Customers’ comments and franchising offers allows you to say that you offer excellent products, which agree international standards. But we think that besides qualitative products you company should accent on teaching staff not only how to cook the best food but teaching them to be attentive, polite and communicable. Your staff should be well known for its kindness, competence and virtuosity. Target: We want to say that, technology of patisserie work and most up-to-date equipment allows you to organize outlet and to offer your high-qualitative products not only in stationary conditions but also in the places where demand for the product is high and conditions for snack bars are low:  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In museums and exhibitions;  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In hotels and business centers;  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In airports and railroad stations;  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In supermarkets and molls;  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Everywhere, where you can find empty 10-12 square feet and electricity. We want to offer you to orient your supply to those places. Media: Actually we are not yet ready with TV commercial but want to offer nice print advertisement. Here we designed motto and slogan for you patisseries. Even in such conditions we keep:  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  our special features, which are unrepeatable design comfortable and kind atmosphere;  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  motto: â€Å"Cleanness, Honesty and Professionalism!†  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  slogan: â€Å"†¦We offer comfort in the city†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Support:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Of course the best method to boost sales and attract more customers, the method, which can be run simultaneously, is offering discounts and gifts.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Decrease Of Teen Pregnancy Rate :: essays research papers

The overall teen birth rate has declined by 16 percent from 1991 to 1997. â€Å"All states are recording a decline and it is the sixth year in a row that the teen birth rate has declined,† stated Donna Shalala, HHS secretary of U. S. Newswire. Although the birthrate among teens is decreasing and the percentage of teenagers who have had sexual intercourse is declining, it is a multi-fauceted problem affecting today’s youth. The government is taking in to consideration all possibilities and conditions with teen births to make an affective way to prevent it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Teenage pregnancy is a condition that can be controlled in many instances. Congress’ campaign is â€Å"To reduce the teenage pregnancy by supporting values and stimulating actions that are consistent with a pregnancy-free adolescence,† stated the Speaker pro tempore Mr. Taylor of North Carolina. Congress’ goal is to balance the budget and reduce spending in the area of Medicaid funds, food stamps, and AFDC funds that are especially hard-hit by the teenage pregnancy problem. Reducing teenage childbearing through this campaign is likely to require more than eliminating or manipulating welfare programs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A form of prevention funded by the Department of Public Health in Massachusetts is The Challenge Fund. It is a community-based approach to teen pregnancy prevention. These coalitions unite youth, family, and community in order to create and increase opportunities for youth development and leadership. It also increases awareness of ownership of the risks, costs and problems of teen pregnancy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Federal Government has invested millions of dollars into an abstinence education program for young adults that provide ways for them to avoid sexual activity at such a young age. The program teaches teens the importance of sustaining from sexual activity before marriage and the importance of a monogamous relationship in a marriage. It also teaches them the harmful effects psychologically and physically, of sexual activity at a young age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Studies show a trend toward sexual abstinence and improved use of condoms as possible reasons for sudden change in the pregnancy rate decreasing. Other studies also show that teen abortions are steadily declining as well, ruling out abortion as a factor in the falling national teen birth rate. â€Å"The government cannot calculate an overall teen pregnancy rate, which includes live births and abortions, because ten states keep no figures on abortions,† stated Stephanie Ventura, a statistician with CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

The Hard Part of Breaking Up

Its hard to break up with someone. You never know how that person is going to act or say once you tell them why you are breaking up with him or her. There’s never a good way to break up with someone. But if there’s problems in the relationship you have to point them out if not things will never get better. There are three reasons for break ups: falling out of love with that person, cheating, or they were never happy together. One of the reasons why people choose to end their relationship is because they fell out of love with their partner.Some people say that love never dies but it fades once a person realizes what is missing in their relationship. Nobody ever wants to leave their true love but when your tired of trying to fix things or spark up the relationship and nothing seems to work then that’s when you have to let him or her go. Other people just aren’t in love with that person anymore . I hear this all the time â€Å"I love him or her but I’ m not in love with him or her†. I never really get that its either you are in love with that person or you aren’t.Another reason for break ups is cheating. Some people say the reason for cheating is that he or she isn’t taking care of my wants and needs. But when you actually realize it people cheat just to cheat they never have a reason to why they do it they love doing it. I don’t think cheating is right at all. That’s just showing people what type of person you are and should want people to see that side of you. People should always be faithful in their relationships. You shouldn’t want to cheat on your girlfriend or boyfriend.The last reason why break ups happen is because the couple was never happy together. Maybe at a point in their relationship they were happy but everything little thing is an argument. Even when they still try to go out and have a good time it always ends in an argument about stupid things. So they decide to go their separate ways and see other people but when I hear what some people go through in a relationship, I say to talk things out before actually breaking up but when they say they’re tired of it and their done there’s nothing you can really do at that point.But when your not happy together think of what made you happy at the beginning of your relationship to see if you can bring that happiness back. You never want to end a relationship especially if you have been together for years. That’s something you never want to let go but when its time you have to let him or her go. You always want to at least let that person know you still care about them.

Monday, September 16, 2019

History of General Motors

History of General MotorsThe Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, is General Motors' world headquarters. General Motors Corporation, also known as GM or GMC, is the world's second largest car manufacturer based on annual sales. Founded in 1908, in Flint, Michigan, GM employs approximately 284,000 people around the world. With global headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, USA, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries. Their European headquarters is based in Zurich, Switzerland. In 2005, 9. 17 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. Early history General Motors was founded on Wednesday, September 16, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick (then controlled by William C. Durant), and acquired Oldsmobile later that year. The next year, Durant brought in Cadillac, Cartercar, Elmore, Ewing, and Oakland (later known as Pontiac). In 1909, General Motors also acquired the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessors of GMC Truck. A Rapid became the first truck to conquer Pikes Peak in 1909. In 1910, Welch and Rainier were added to the ever-growing list of companies controlled by GM. Durant lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers trust, due to the large amount of debt (around $1 million) taken on in its acquisitions. Durant left the firm and helped establish the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1911, with brothers Gaston and Louis Chevrolet. After a brilliant stock buy back campaign, he returned to head GM in 1916, with the backing of Pierre S. du Pont. Chevrolet entered the General Motors fold in 1917; its first GM car was 1918's Chevrolet 490. Du Pont removed Durant from management in 1920, and various Du Pont interests held large or controlling share holdings until about 1950. In 1918 GM purchased the McLaughlin Motor Car Company of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, manufacturer of the McLaughlin-Buick automobile, and renamed it General Motors of Canada Ltd. , with R. S. â€Å"Colonel Sam† McLaughlin as its first president. In 1925, GM bought Vauxhall Motors of England, and then in 1929 went on to acquire an 80% stake in German automobile manufacturer Adam Opel AG. Two years later this was increased to 100% and the company remains the core of GM Europe to this day. In 1931, GM acquired Holden of Australia. GM surpassed Ford Motor Company in sales in the late 1920s thanks to the leadership of Alfred Sloan. While Ford continued to refine the manufacturing process to reduce cost, Sloan was inventing new ways of managing a complex worldwide organization, while paying special attention to consumer demands. Car buyers no longer wanted the cheapest and most basic model; they wanted style, power, and prestige, which GM offered them. Thanks to consumer financing via GMAC (founded 1919), easy monthly payments allowed far more people to buy GM cars, while Ford was moralistically opposed to credit. (Nevertheless, Ford did offer similar credit arrangements with the introduction of the Model A in the late 1920s but Ford Credit did not exist until 1959. ) 1933 – 1958 During the 1920s and 1930s, General Motors assumed control of the Yellow Coach bus company, and helped create Greyhound bus lines. They replaced intercity train transport with buses, and established subsidiary companies to buy out streetcar companies and replace the rail-based services as well with buses. GM formed United Cities Motor Transit in 1932 (see General Motors streetcar conspiracy for additional details). In 1930, GM also began its foray into aircraft design and manufacturing by buying Fokker Aircraft Corp of America (U. S. subsidiary of Fokker) and Berliner-Joyce Aircraft, merging them into General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation. Through a stock exchange GM took controlling interest in North American Aviation and merged it with its General Aviation division in 1933, but retaining the name North American Aviation. In 1948, GM divested NAA as a public company, never to have a major interest in the aircraft manufacturing industry again. General Motors bought the internal combustion engined railcar builder Electro-Motive Corporation and its engine supplier Winton Engine in 1930, renaming both as the General Motors Electro-Motive Division. Over the next twenty years, diesel-powered locomotives — the majority built by GM — argely replaced other forms of traction on American railroads. (During World War II, these engines were also important in American submarines and destroyer escorts. ) Electro-Motive was sold in early 2005. In 1935, the United Auto Workers labor union was formed, and in 1936 the UAW organized the Flint Sit-Down Strike, which initially idled two key plants in Flint, but later spread t o half-a-dozen other plants including Janesville, Wisconsin and Fort Wayne, Indiana. In Flint, police attempted to enter the plant to arrest strikers, leading to violence; in other cities the plants were shuttered peacefully. The strike was resolved February 11, 1937 when GM recognized the UAW as the exclusive bargaining representative for its workers. World War II General Motors produced vast quantities of armaments, vehicles, and aircraft during World War II for both Allied and Axis customers. By the spring of 1939, the German Government had assumed day-to-day control of American owned factories in Germany, but decided against nationalizing them. During the war, the U. S. auto companies continued to be concerned Nazi Germany would nationalize American-owned factories. [citation needed] GM's William P. Knudson served as head of U. S. wartime production for President Franklin Roosevelt, who called Detroit as the Arsenal of Democracy. The General Motors UK division, Vauxhall Motors, manufactured the Churchill tank series for the Allies. The Vauxhall Churchill tanks were instrumental in the UK campaigns in North Africa (ironically often being used to attack German logistics units using Opel trucks). Bedford Vehicles manufactured logistics vehicles for the UK military, all important in the UK's land campaigns. In addition, GM was the top manufacturer of U. S. Army 1? ton 4Ãâ€"4 vehicles. 1] Nevertheless, while General Motors has claimed its German (Opel) operations were outside its control during World War II, this assertion appears to be contradicted by available evidence. General Motors was not just a car company that happened to have factories in Germany; GM management from the top down had extensive connections with the Nazi Party, both on a business and personal level. [2] Americ an GM Vice President (later Colonel) Graeme K. Howard was a committed Nazi, and expressed such views in his book, America and a New World Order. Adolf Hitler awarded GM boss James D. Mooney the Order of Merit of the Golden Eagle for his services to Nazi Germany. General Motors’ internal documents show a clear strategy to profit from their German military contracts even after Germany declared war against America. Defending the German investment strategy as â€Å"highly profitable†, Alfred P. Sloan told shareholders in 1939 GM’s continued industrial production for the Nazi government was merely sound business practice. In a letter to a concerned shareholder, Sloan said that the manner in which the Nazi government ran Germany â€Å"should not be considered the business of the management of General Motors†¦ We must conduct ourselves as a German organization. . . We have no right to shut down the plant. â€Å"[3] After 20 years of researching General Motors, Bradford Snell stated, â€Å"General Motors was far more important to the Nazi war machine than Switzerland †¦ Switzerland was just a repository of looted funds. GM-Opel was an integral part of the German war effort. The Nazis could have invaded Poland and Russia without Switzerland. They could not have done so without GM. †[3] Post-war growth At one point GM had become the largest corporation registered in the United States, in terms of its revenues as a percent of GDP. In 1953, Charles Erwin Wilson, then GM president, was named by Eisenhower as Secretary of Defense. When he was asked during the hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee if as secretary of defense he could make a decision adverse to the interests of General Motors, Wilson answered affirmatively but added that he could not conceive of such a situation â€Å"because for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa†. Later this statement was often misquoted, suggesting that Wilson had said simply, â€Å"What's good for General Motors is good for the country. At the time, GM was one of the largest employers in the world – only Soviet state industries employed more people. In 1955, General Motors became the first American corporation to pay taxes of over $1 billion. [4] 1958 – 1983 While GM maintained its world leadership in revenue and market share throughout the 1960s to 1980s, it was product controversy that pl agued the company in this period. It seemed that, in every decade, a major mass-production product line was launched with defects of one type or another showing up early in their life cycle. And, in each case, improvements were eventually made to mitigate the problems, but the resulting improved product ended up failing in the marketplace as its negative reputation overshadowed its ultimate excellence. The first of these fiascos was the Chevrolet Corvair in the 1960s. Introduced in 1959 as a 1960 model, it was initially very popular. But before long its quirky handling earned it a reputation for being unsafe, inspiring consumer advocate Ralph Nader to lambaste it in his book, Unsafe at any Speed, published in 1965. Ironically, by the same (1965) model year, suspension revisions and other improvements had already transformed the car into a perfectly acceptable vehicle, but its reputation had been sufficiently sullied in the public's perception that its sales sagged for the next few years, and it was discontinued after the 1969 model year. During this period, it was also somewhat overwhelmed by the success of the Ford Mustang. The 1970s was the decade of the Vega. Launched as a 1971 model, it also began life as a very popular car in the marketplace. But within a few years, quality problems, exacerbated by labor unrest at its main production source in Lordstown, Ohio, gave the car a bad name. By 1977 its decline resulted in termination of the model name, while its siblings along with a Monza version and a move of production to Ste-Therese, Quebec, resulted in a thoroughly desirable vehicle and extended its life to the 1980 model year. In the 1980 model year, a full line of automobiles on the X-body platform, anchored by the Chevrolet Citation, was launched. Again, these cars were all quite popular in their respective segments for the first couple of years, but brake problems, and other defects, ended up giving them, known to the public as â€Å"X-Cars,† such a bad reputation that the 1985 model year was their last. The J-body cars, namely the Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire, took their place, starting with the 1982 model year. Quality was better, but still not exemplary, although good enough to survive through three generations to the 2005 model year. They were produced in a much-improved Lordstown Assembly plant, as are their replacements, the Chevrolet Cobalt nd Pontiac Pursuit/G5. 1983 – 2008 Under the controversial leadership of Roger B. Smith throughout the 1980s, a multitude of well-intentioned initiatives seemed to go awry at every turn. GM was losing money for the first time since the early 1920s as the legacy of poor management of the previous decade was taking its inevitable toll. Poor product quality, lab our unrest and lawsuits over unsafe vehicle designs were affecting sales volumes, which meant that GM was losing market share at an alarming rate, mostly to foreign automakers. Recognizing the superiority of the Japanese quality and production procedures and practices, Smith set out to infuse their methods into the GM culture. He formed joint ventures with two Japanese companies (NUMMI in California with Toyota, and CAMI with Suzuki in Canada). Each of these agreements provided opportunities for GM managers to work alongside Japanese managers, thus learning their approaches, and taking this knowledge back to GM. Unfortunately the GM bureaucracy that opposed change influenced from outside was too strong and â€Å"inbred,† so the efforts of these managers as they returned to GM were essentially ineffective. Apparently anticipating this reaction, Smith also launched the Saturn Corporation, in which these managers could institute the Japanese system in a fresh non-GM environment. While all three of these facilities were, and still are, moderately successful, the net result for GM was failure to accomplish Smith's ambitious goals. GM's profits remained inconsistent and its share of the U. S. market continued to fall. Ironically it was another Smith, not related to Roger, who took the reins of GM in the early 1990s, and succeeded where Roger had failed. Like Roger, his tenure began when GM was in dire straits, having just endured a very close brush with bankruptcy. Its losses were much deeper than they had been a decade earlier and â€Å"Jack† Smith was burdened with the task of overseeing a radical restructuring of General Motors. Sharing Roger's understanding of the need for serious change, Jack undertook many major revisions, of which the most visible to the public in general was the demise of the Oldsmobile division, an effort that took in total a full decade. Reorganizing the management structure to dismantle the legacy of Alfred P. Sloan, instituting deep cost-cutting and introducing significantly improved vehicles were the key approaches. These moves were met with much less resistance within GM than had Roger's similar initiatives as GM management ranks were stinging from their recent near-bankruptcy experience and were much more willing to accept the prospect of radical change. By the late 1990s, many archaic remnants of GM's history were falling away, such as the Oldsmobile complex in Lansing, Michigan and Buick City in Flint. This also meant a large reduction in the work force. After GM's massive lay-offs hit Flint, Michigan, a strike began at the General Motors parts factory in Flint on June 5, 1998, which quickly spread to five other assembly plants and lasted seven weeks. Because of the significant role GM plays in the United States, the strikes and temporary idling of many plants noticeably showed in national economic observations. In the late 1990s, GM had regained market share; its stock had soared to over $80 a share by 2000. However, in 2001, the stock market drop following the September 11, 2001 attacks, combined with historic pension underfunding, caused a severe pension and benefit fund crisis at GM and many other American companies and the value of their pension funds plummeted. A weak U. S. dollar and private health care (as opposed to nationalized health care in other countries) costs also put GM at a disadvantage to its Japanese, Korean, and European counterparts In successive moves, GM responded to the crisis by fully funding its pension fund; however, its Other Post Employment Benefits Fund (OPEB) became a serious issue resulting in downgrades to its bond rating in 2005. The company expressed its disagreement with these bond rating downgrades. In 2006, GM responded by offering buyouts to hourly workers to reduce future liability; over 35,000 workers responded to the offer, well exceeding the company's goal. GM has gained higher rates of return on its benefit funds as a part of the solution. Stock value has begun to rebound – as of October 30, 2006 GM's market capitalization was about $19. 19 billion. GM stock began the year 2006 at $19 a share, near its lowest level since 1982, as many on Wall Street figured the ailing automaker was bound for bankruptcy court. But GM remained afloat and the company's stock in the Dow Jones industrial average posted the biggest percentage gain in 2006. [5] In early 2007, GM fell to be the world's second largest auto company, behind Japan's Toyota, but regained the lead during the summer. Also, in June 2007, GM sold its military and commercial subsidiary, Allison Transmission, for $5. 6 billion. Having sold off the majority, it will, however, keep its heavy-duty transmissions for its trucks marketed as the Allison 1000 series. During negotiations for the renewal of its industry labor contracts in 2007, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union selected General Motors as the â€Å"lead company† or â€Å"strike target† for pattern bargaining. Late in September, sensing an impending impasse in the talks, the union called a strike, the first nation-wide walkout since 1970 (individual plants had experienced local labor disruptions in the interim). Within two days, however, a tentative agreement was achieved and the strike ended.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Sonveyor Belt project part6 Essay

You have received revised estimates for the remaining activities at the end of the fourth quarter: -Prototypes will be completed on 3/8/11 -Serial I/O drivers will be completed on 6/30/11 -System hardware/software test will start on 7/11/11 and take 25 days -Order circuit boards will start on 8/8/11 and take 5 days -Assemble preproduction model will begin on 10/14/11 and take 18 days -Project documentation is expected to start on 8/8/11 and will take 55 days -Network interface is expected to start on 8/8/11 and will take 99 days -Shell is expected to start on 8/8/11 and will take 55 days -Integrated acceptance testing is expected to start on 12/29/11 and will take 54 days You have received revised estimates for the remaining activities at the end of the fourth quarter as given in Part 6 of the Conveyor Belt project in Appendix 2. Enter the revised estimates in the start dates, completion dates and durations into the Gantt Chart/ Table /Entry view in the respective columns. This will result in revised estimate of the project completion date. Part 6 (Status Date January 1, 2011) 1.There is no need to change the status and current date from what was set earlier, i.e., January 1, 2011. 2.Enter the new status information for the project in the Tracking table. 3.Produce and copy/ paste the Earned Value Report, Earned Value Cost Indicators Report, Earned Value Schedule Indicators Report and the Tracking Gantt Chart into the Word document. 4.Answer all the questions given in Part 6.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Gift Giving in Japan

Anthrop 525 Term Paper Yi Min Yeng ( Leon ) Katherine Rupp began the study of Japan and Japanese when she was an undergraduate at Princeton University as noted in the Acknowledge portion of the book, Gift-Giving in Japan: Cash, Connections. Cosmologies. After that she had her graduated training in the University of Chicago funded by the National Science Foundation and the University itself, including one year of support from the Committee on Japanese Studies. Before the writing of this book, Katherine Rupp took twenty months of field work In Japan which is funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education.She finally completed the manuscript of Gift-Giving in Japan as a postdoctoral associate of the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University in the Anthropology Department (Rupp 2003). Much like Mauss, Katherine Rupp is interested in the cultural effect of the gift giving and exchanges in Japan. She too believes that there is a social and cosmic order, much like Marcel Mauss’s total social phenomenon that it influences people but is also shape by the individuals. She focuses on the content of gift giving considers historical changes in gift exchange practice and differences in giving among groups.Like Mauss, provokes thought on our own practices of exchange, gift and otherwise (Citation). She spent eighteen months of intensive scientific field works in Tokyo metropolitan area and also short term research on other parts of Japan by interviewing experts such as authors of gift giving books, Buddhists and Shinto priests, departmental and funeral home employees, workers and different classes of families. All these because she seeks to understand multiple questions such as â€Å"Why do people give as much, as often, and in the particular ways that they do? Why do some people reject giving and receiving?How do attitudes towards practice of giving relate to considerations of age, class, gender, geographic area, occupation, and religion? †¦ In What ways ca n these study of gifts in Japan contribute to the field of gifts and exchange in anthropology? † (Rupp 2003:2). Other than that, she conducted observational studies on festivals, election rallies, house building ritual and other kinds of ceremonies with gift giving integrated in it. Besides using comparative methods, the use of statistic is also incorporated such as recording the amount and value of gift received and purchased on different events.She believes that the recent anthropological attention of the strong contrast between commodities and gifts are not distinctively unrelated but are interconnected (Rupp 2003:182). The Gift Giving in Japan can be separated into six chapters. The book first emphasized the importance of gift giving in various ways such as pointing out reasons and giving the enormous examples of gift giving. People in Japan feel obligated and burdened when they receives gifts, some even avoid visiting their hometown or decide not to enclose the informatio n to people when they do.Gift giving on the other hand is very crucial to the macroeconomic level as well as departmental stores earn most of their profits during ceremonial festivals throughout the years such as ‘gosekku’ the five seasonal celebrations, new year, Christmas eve and Valentine’s day (Rupp 2003:2,119). Rupp too focused on examples of gift giving such as wedding gifts and returns sent to Mrs. Ueda, Mr. Hoshino’s house building ceremonial gift and returns, Mr. Ishiyasama’s father’s funeral gifts and returns, Mr. Tanabe declination of gifts and lastly gift categorizing of â€Å"meaningless† gifts, travel gifts, and seasonal gifts from Mrs.Inoue. All these examples raise questions of relationships, the level of gratitude, and the influence of class between giving and receiving that will be explained on further chapters (Rupp 2003:33). Second chapter focus on the question raised previously with the emphasize in strength of rel ationship, gratitude and hierarchy. The value of the gift varies with the strength of the relationship. At times of celebration, those who bring enormous gifts are usually close friends or relatives and those who hardly brought anything are superficial friends or unfamiliar relatives most of the time.For example during the house building ceremony people that are Mr. Hoshino’s true friends gave more than his superficial friends. And that those who gave a higher value of gift in order to create stronger relationship can be precarious as sometimes it can distant one from the receiver causing a backfire (Rupp 2003:36). Secondly, gift value can increase enormously as a form of gratitude to show appreciation for the receiver. For example, Mr. Hoshino received a large sum of money during his house building ceremony from his cousin because his wife had been taking care of his mum (Rupp 2003:41).Lastly, the social class of a person can influence the value of gifts. A person with a hig her hierarchy is obligated to give a higher value of gift compared to a lower one. On the other hand, they are also able to receive higher value of gifts as well. During Mrs Ueda’s son’s wedding, his superior in the company who made the decision to hire him gave them a gift worth a hundred thousand yen which is compared to be higher than average, yet he received three hundred thousand yen in return as a form of gratitude also because of his superior ranking.In order to understand and interpret the meaning of gifts it is crucial to understand the three main factors which are relationship, gratitude and hierarchies that influence the value of gift giving (Rupp 2003:50). Gifts are not only given in considering of value, as not all items with high values symbolize auspiciousness for certain events. Gift giving practices are implemented during life and seasonal cycle practices and are considered highly important.These rites of passages vary in places and modern cities such as Tokyo considers these practices burdensome, old fashioned and irrelevant where else people in Warabi observed these practices for generations (Rupp 2003: 53). There are three important life cycles which are birth, marriage and death which all three will be given bowls of rice packed into a mound sphere shape symbolizing total consumption and breaking of relationship and it was considered inauspicious not to do it. For the birth of a child, it meant it means separation from the world of the dead.A woman consumes bowls of rice symbolizing separation from her side of family and lastly the dead is separated from the live world when a bowl of rice is given to the deceased. But as time passes, history changes and most of the people do not implement some of these traditions and nor do they consider as inauspicious as before. Life cycle events are divided into happy and sad occasions. During happy occasion such as birth and marriage, bills should be new and shiny while facing up in an el aborately decorated envelope where else sad occasion such as death, bills given should be old and crumbled while facing down in another kind of envelope.Also, certain colors and method of tying a knot are used in happy and sad occasion with different meanings. For example, black or white ‘musubikiri’ knots which are knots that cannot be undone are used for funerals and red, white or gold butterfly knots are used for marriage. Returned gifts too are carefully considered as it is inappropriate to return inauspicious gifts as different items symbolize different meanings (Rupp 2003: 59). Besides life cycles, most gifts in Japan are given in related to seasonal cycles with yearend and midyear gifts with the highest percentage also there are festivals such as ‘bon’, ‘Gosekku’, ‘Higan’.Throughout the history, traditions in festivals have changed especially when the Meiji government changed most of the ritual to the worship of Shinto God i n order to bolster State Shinto and the emperor’s position (Rupp 2003:123). The book then describes the auspicious decorates people put up for each traditional festivals such as the zigzag white flags during New Years and Carp banners during ‘Gosekku’ festival, and people send auspicious gifts such as long noodles during the New Year which symbolize one life’s will extend like the long noodles (Rupp 2003:117).Other than that, gifts will be offered to the dead on ‘bon’ festival in the form of gratitude. Relatives will visit their families and company employees will visit their superiors during New Year and they will be given auspicious gifts or snacks such as the two rounded rice cakes similar to the rounded bowl rice thus reinforcing the hierarchy of their relationships (Rupp 2003: 122). Besides traditional seasonal festivals, Japan do celebrate Western holidays such as Christmas Eve, Valentine’s day, Father’s day and Mother†™s day. Christmas Eve is quite unique in Japan as it is strongly associated with romance.Heart shape decorations with bells will be decorated in the streets and young men are willing to pay over one hundred thousand yen for a date during Christmas Eve. Even though men think Valentine’s Day chocolate gift as absurd but at the same they would be secretly delighted if received. Yet these western festivals still requires return gifts similar to the traditional festivals. Interestingly enough, unlike traditional festiavals which benefits men more than women, western festivals are the only festivals that it is women who have the upper hand (Rupp 2003: 144-154).The practice of gift giving has variations of attitudes and it â€Å"vary according to regions, occupations, education, class, family background, gender, religion, and personality† (Rupp 2003:155). For example, most funerals in Warabi region returns a fixed value of gift yet funerals in Tokyo returns records each rec eived gift and returns the half value of it after forty nine days. Also, most people studied in Warabi region did receive higher education in the middle or lower class. They are straight forward and do not concern with politeness and will assume people from Tokyo are calculative concerned with ranking.Other than that, it is an assumed social fact that women have perfect knowledge in gift giving and that they are responsible for the gift giving between their husbands or other households as well. If a women who was from another region married to a men in Tokyo and do not know the region’s practices, she would be sanctioned yet people would not fault the husband which could have told her. By giving gifts from women on behalf of their husband, it â€Å"softens† the gifts and saves face for men as it is unusual for men to offer gifts to the people who are superior over them (Rupp 2003:159-161).Thus this type of gift giving system reinforced the hierarchy of men and women an d the subordination of women below men. Besides hierarchy between men and women there are practices between other subordinates and superior such as tenant and landlord, patient and doctors. People send gifts to their land lord or doctors as a form of gratitude even though there is a contract between them which the tenant or patient has already fulfilled. Interestingly enough even though hospitals forbidden gifts for doctors, patients still send cash gift certificates from high ranked departmental stores to the doctors’ house.It seems to be a bad custom according to Mrs. Inoue, yet everyone abides by it and they do not consider it as a bribe (Rupp 2003: 164). Even with people like Mr. Tanabe who declined a valuable live shrimp gift from his customer as he felt burdened are uncomfortable of calling these practices bribery (Rupp 2003: 166). Due to these norms, there is a rising of abuse of the system and forming an example of forced giving by doctors throughout Japan. There are cases that if no valued gifts are given to the doctors as a form of â€Å"gratitude†, the quality of the patient’s care will decrease dramatically.In the conclusion of the book, Rupp emphasizes that the Western concept of gift and market cannot be in the same realm and should not be applied in Japanese culture. Rupp uses Mauss’s theory of reaching back into history to seek explanation and highlight that Western culture have once been like Japanese culture which when gifts are not separated from the realm of buying and selling (Rupp 2003: 181). Japan is a place that challenges the stereotype of Western capitalist societies which are characterized almost exclusively by the commodity form with the circulation of independent transaction as alienable objects.Rupp brought up multiple reviews on Japan’s gift giving practices and evaluates those who critics it as irrelevant and misleading. Japan is a major capitalist society, yet gifts and commodities are not two different realms but entangled together. In Japan, calculation of value on an item might not always be related to the economic realm compared to the Western societies. She concludes that the practice of gift giving in Japan is not so much in relation to an individual level as it is the shaping and solidification of the social order, which then influences the individuals. Notes for review:On gift giving guan xi : purpose of Gift giving is shifting from its original meaning. Nowadays coporate gift givings are mainly aimed for illicit payments, corruption and pursuit of self interest instead of the building of ‘guan xi’ which means relationship or even providing social solidarity in macro levels. Understanding gift giving in japan page 20 the practice of gift exchange encompasses a wide range of social and cultural implications. Many purposes are served, such as fulfilling a sense of obligation to return a favor, reciprocating a favor, cultivating rapport, and enhancing a willingness to share sad and happy occasions.When the Japanese practice gift giving, they always have some reason why they wish to give a gift to another. A gift without reason is not acceptable For example, when one company in Japan wishes to do business with another company in Japan, a salesperson from the first company will visit the prospective client company and take a small gift, perhaps sweets or candy valued 1,000 yen The ‘Social Death' of Unused Gifts:  Surplus and Value in Contemporary Japan page 396 it is the sentimental value we attribute to things we have had a long-term relationship with that keeps us from disposing of them.However, my ? eldwork suggests that in Japan the propensity for not throwing things away is more affected by a feeling of duty than emotional attachment. The duty people felt towards objects is grounded in an awareness of the interrelatedness of human and nonhuman entities. In other words, things offer their service to people who, in return , should be thankful and treat objects respectfully Many people receive excessive quantities of these gifts because of the overall increase in af? ence since the economic growth of the 1970s that has led to an acceleration of the scale of the Japanese gift economy. Because the surplus of value embodied in unused gifts can only be recouped through sociality (Henderson, 2004), many tried to re-circulate their ‘unused goods’ through intimate, personal networks. These data thus question accounts that depict Japan as an hierarchical, formal society primarily grounded in ritualized gift exchange. GIFTS BRIBES AND GUAN XI page 399 Clearly guanxi can be used for instrumental purposes, and this usage is recog- nized by members of the society.However, it is referred to as the art of guanxi, be- cause the style of exchange and the appropriateness of the performance are critical to its effectiveness. The style and manner of gift exchange is not optional; rather, it is fundamental t o its operation. Although a relationship may be cultivated with in- strumental goals foremost in mind, the forms must be followed if the goals are to be achieved. The relationship must be presented as primary and the exchanges, useful though they may be, treated as only secondary.If, instead, it becomes apparent that the relationship involves only material interest and is characterized by direct and immediate payment, the exchange is classified as one of bribery Gifts, bribes and solicitions: page 522 In traditional Chinese society, relationships, quanxi, are moderated and balanced by renqing, obligations of reciprocity (Hwang, 1987). A patient receiving service from a doctor may feel obligated by renqing to reciprocate with an informal payment or gift. Alternatively, patients who desire new or continuing care from a doctor may give a gift or payment as a way of ‘‘seeking relationship’’ (Lyckholm, 1998).The rules of renqing dictate that if the keeper of a r esource accepts a petitioner’s gift, he or she now has an obligation to provide a service (Hwang, 1987). The implementation of Taiwan’s system of national health insurance (NHI) in 1995, and the introduction of concepts of consumer rights into Taiwanese culture, created tension with the tradition of informal payments (Ensor & Savelyeva, 1998). The premises of NHI—that the health care system had an a priori obligation to provide care and that doctors’ fees would be set and paid by a third party—stood in sharp contrast to the premises of renqing.This study examines how the meaning of informal payments (red envelopes), as an integral part of the doctor–patient relationship, evolved during the process of healthcare reform in Taiwan. The red envelopes discussed in this paper differ from traditional gift-giving. ‘Red envelopes,’ in the context of the doctor–patient relationship, imply the transfer of money or valuables from pat ients to doctors in return for an enhanced or improved medical encounter Dagang Write gift giving and mauss idea Good field world Then say about bribery Then conclude bribery is not same with gift giving. Why Conclusion

Friday, September 13, 2019

Problem and soluyion paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Problem and soluyion paper - Essay Example At that time the teenager starts searching for a university to attend too. Most universities are not near the place where the teenager lives, thus most teenagers move out of the parents’ house in order to attend college. The single parent at that time will no longer enjoy the company of their child. The parent now has to face life as if they were single once again without kids. A lot parents have trouble dealing with their changes in life once a kid leaves for college. This phenomenon is referred to as the empty nest. The empty nest can be defined as a time when marital satisfaction decreases because parents derive considerable satisfaction and the children departure leaves parents with empty feelings (Messac). The empty nest becomes harsher on single parents because they don’t have a partner to support them. Problem Statement Single parents are emotionally attached to their kids. The departure of their only sibling once they go to college creates an empty nest that aff ects the person emotionally. Once the kid leaves for college the single parent is left with a lot free time which the person does not know what to do with. A problem statement of this situation is: How can single parents continue with their lives in order to fulfill the hole left by the departure of their kids once they leave for college? Alternative Solutions Once the kid of a single parent leaves for college the parent is left with a lot of time for themselves. The parent might become depressed because they miss the presence of their kid in their household. There are ways in which the parent can defeat the empty nest feeling they are exposed too due to the departure of their kid. The work life of the parent alone is not sufficient to satisfy the social needs of the parent. An alternative solution for the parent to forget about how much they miss their kid is to take a vacation. The longer the vacation time the better off the parent will be. The vacation spot can be within the Unit ed States or outside the United States. The destination chosen and the longevity of the vacation will depend on the budget of the parent. My recommendation is for the parent to take an extended vacation of at least one month. While on vacation the parent will forget about the departure of the kid. The person will be enjoying quality time alone. Once the person comes back from the vacation it is likely that the individual will have a new perspective in life and the emotional attachment to their child will be lessen. A second alternative solution for the parent going through an empty nest feeling due to the departure of the kid for college is for the parent to get involved in volunteer work. One of the biggest benefits of volunteering is the satisfaction of incorporating service into their lives and making a difference in the community and country (Nationalservice). Volunteering can be extremely rewarding because the person will notice how their service will benefit a person in need. There are various options for volunteering activities. A person can volunteer at a homeless shelter in order to help humans that have no home and are fighting everyday to find food. Another option for volunteer work is for the individual to volunteer at an elderly care center. The elderly go through similar situations as single parents as far as not having another person to share time with. A third volunteering option is to spend time with children at boys or girls