The growing popularity of paranormal studies and haunted houses in the Research Paper

The growing popularity of paranormal studies and haunted houses in the U.S - Research Paper Example People’s main objective is to catch something to prove that there are ghost. People have become obsessed with the afterlife. Those interested are from a wide variety of people with different types of backgrounds. It doesn’t matter if you are educated, uneducated, young, old, white collared or blue collared to be interested in the paranormal (Sedersten). Amateur paranormal investigators aren’t cautious like serious investigators are in the type of evidence they show people. Amateur’s take pictures with digital cameras and think that any little thing in the pictures is an orb. Serious investigators only want to show people what they know for a fact is real. Amateurs can cause problems, because most don’t truly understand what they are seeing. This is why it is hard to make a skeptic believe that there are real ghost in the world (Sedersten). Paranormal investigators have a range of different devices that they use. Some are very costly in price and some aren’t, but most the items needed you can pick up anywhere. Here is a common list of items needed; LED lights, digital camera, motion detectors, electromagnetic voice phenomenon (EVP), and thermal imaging devices. These items are supposed to help determine if what you have is real or not. The multiple different television shows on paranormal activity has left people wanting to know more about the afterlife (Sedersten). The show Ghost Hunter’s has made paranormal investigating popular with people. The most interesting concept of this show is how they try to disprove whether something is paranormal or not. Jason Hawes actually started this group as the Rhode Island Paranormal Society in 1990 and later changed it to the Atlantic Paranormal Society. In 1992, Grant Wilson joined the group, but he was a friend of Jason’s for many years. Jason and Grant worked for Roto-Rooter plumbers for years. In 2004, they made their debut on the

Political science - The Elites Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Political science - The Elites - Essay Example In such cases, the laws do not address the needs of the public, which usually leads to conflicts. This is clearly demonstrated by the numerous protests by various groups of people concerning their oppression. A good example is the American constitution, which was founded on the interests of the elites. As a result, it was not pleasant to the majority of the population, which brought forth the necessity for quick intervention by the elites. The intervention used in this case was the passage of the civil rights act of 1964, which was very good in reducing the oppression and discrimination of the minority and oppressed groups of people but also had hidden ideas (Hasday 96). In this case, the elites used it as a base for winning support from the public thus stabilizing their base of control and influence. Through the influence, the elites usually affect the public’s point of view. In the initial stages after airing their views, the public usually falls for their view. This does not last for long as they later realizes that they were taken advantage of by the elites. Since the elites usually have access to the resources, they usually use them to win their support (Chase, D and Chase, A 20). A good example is in the case of feminist movement as outlined by Ryan. In this case, despite the women forming a larger part of the population, they were observed to be less privileged. Having got a clear understanding of this, the elites used the power and resources available to them and put into place laws that empowered them. This is evident in the grievances of the women who were among the founders of women’s movement, which was formed in 1848. Through their hard work and dedication, the group expanded and had good coverage in various areas. Despite this, they did not get nationa l support, which raises questions to the reason behind the lack of support. Through the protest raised against

Geert Hofstede vs Fons Trompenaars

Geert Hofstede vs Fons Trompenaars Introduction How do we market in different cultures? Although we have done many researches about the different cultures, marketing, which is as a discipline, has lagged behind other researches in recognizing the need for it. Before we have found the importance of marketing in different cultures, usually, the approach for marketing was too simple, and we often use the economic theory to explain facts and solve problems, however, international marketing and management is a kind of practical work, which is different from the economic research. Firstly, we always assume that tastes, preferences, and habits are transferable between different countries; secondly, it also implies that we can do the trade freely in different countries. In the end of 20th century, we began to lay more emphasis on the influence of cultural differences, and more research have been done about the cultural differences. Take wine as an example, even now wine has become a global product, it still takes the French at least ten t imes longer to chose the right vintage and grape combination than it does the Dutch, who tend to be more focused on price. If we ignore this kind of difference, wine producers cannot success in both countries. The researches about cultural differences of marketing are still a new field. The first serious book on the subject of the cultural aspects of marketing was written by Jean-Claude Usunier in 1997. In this book, he mainly compares the differences between cultural systems and refers that culture is also a factor affecting business, like other socio-political,. financial, ecological, and legal factors. However, Usunier does not resolve the dilemmas and offer practical solutions. Culture, based on our research at Trompenaars Hampden-Turner, is different from what describe in Usuniers theory, which is not simply a factor like most processes in the transactional environment. The factor of culture challenges the fundamental strategy of marketing, customer relations management, definition of product, price, advertisement and other business processes. In short, culture is all pervading. However, so far there are a few famous approaches to the whole subject of cultures and their classification and generalization, that can be employed in developing a truly transnational approach to marketing. The ones that we are going to discuss and compare further are those of Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars. Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars: biographies and theories Geert Hofstede He is a dutch psychologist and writer who was born in 1928. Hofstede was interested in the influence of culture on peoples behaviour. He was inspired by the Culturalism (a trend which dominated the American sociology from the 1930s to the 1950s). The culturalists qualify culture as the way of thinking, feeling and acting of a human group, which was acquired and transmitted by symbols and which represents its specific identity. (donner sources de la citation) Geert Hofstede explains the origins of the differences in behaviours, which can tend to problems. As we grow up and live in a multi-cultural world, we have to understand why people from different nations act differently. This question is very important in business when a company from a certain country has to deal with a company from another country, or even within a company which is composed by employees from different nations, we have to know how to act and communicate. Hofstede wrote several books: Cultures consequences (1984), Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind (1992), co-authored by his son Gert Jan Hofstede. To explain and solve the problems engendered by people from different cultures living or working together, he included 5 factors of cultural differentiation: individualism/collectivism, masculinism/feminism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance and long term/short term orientation. According to Hofstede, these 5 criteria explain the disparities between the nations and the individuals. He applied his theories to all the countries in the world. Hofstede used his culture dimensions by examining work related values in employees of IBM during the 1970s. Fons Trompenaars Fons Trompenaars is a Dutch author in the field of cross-cultural communication. His books include: Seven Cultures of Capitalism (1993), Riding the Waves of Culture (1998), Building Cross-Cultural Competence (2000), 21 Leaders for the 21st Century (2001) and Innovating in a Global Crisis (2009). Trompenaars studied Economics at the Free University of Amsterdam and later earned a Ph.D. He experienced cultural differences first-hand at home, where he grew up speaking both French and Dutch, and then later at work with Shell in nine countries, where he worked for 7 years as the director of the Human resources. At this moment, he wrote The Multi-cultural company (1993) in which he explains his theories. According to him, international companies tend to standardize their management functioning because of globalisation, and impose this way of thinking to their subsidiaries. Problems in companies appear as they dont take care about the cultural differences of employees and certain ways of managing are not appropriate to certain cultures. He defines culture as the way a human group solve its problems. Taking the example of Geert Hofstede and modifying his theories, he invented with Charles Hampden-Turner the 7 dimensions of cultural differentiations: universalism/particularism, individualism/communitarianism, affective/neutral, specific/diffuse, achievement/ascription, sequential/synchronic, internal/external control. These are the 7 criteria of cultural differentiation which have an impact on the management trends. He shows how to manage complexity in a heterogeneous environment, which is a major challenge for todays international managers and corporate leaders as well as a critical component of long term success. He explains how to reconcile cultural differences, which will lead to competitive advantage. Trompenaars wrote The Seven Cultures of Capitalism in which he applies his methods to 7 countries (France, Germany, US, Japan, Netherlands, UK and Sweden). Hofstedes dimensions of culture It is often said that, deep inside, all people are the same. But they are not. Actually, everyone is very different from the others. For those who work in international business, it is sometimes very hard to adapt, because people can live in very different ways. Therefore, if you go abroad and make decisions based on how you usually operate in your own country, there are obvious chances you dont act properly. Geert Hofstedes researches permit us to understand easier other cultures, so we can be more effective when interacting with people all around the world. For example, in some coutries, à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½yesà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ means à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½I hear youà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ more than à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½I agreeà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. Stereotyping can have intense negative effects, especially when managers make fewer attempts to involve those of other cultures. Hofstede led a study on the IBM employees, in more than 50 countries. Its goal was to identify the major differences in mental programming. This worldwide analysis made him realize that there were five fundamental differences between the societies, which he called five dimensions: Low vs. High Power Distance Index (PDI) This dimension measures the degree of equality, or inequality, between people of one society ; and how much the less influent members accept the hierarchy. The institutions or organizations where less powerful members accept power is distributed unequally will have a high PDI. This is also often indicating that the governments allowed inequalities to grow within the society (ex: Malaysia). Those countries will be more likely not to allow significant upward mobility of its citizens, because they accept autocratic and paternalistic relations. A low PDI indicates the society tends to reduce the differences between citizens power and wealth. In those cultures (ex: Austria, Denmark), people expect power relations that are more democratic. They relate to others regardless of formal positions, such as if they were consulting them. Subordinates are more comfortable with contributing to and criticizing the decisions of those who are hierarchically higher. Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV) It focuses on how much people of a society define themselves apart from their group, and on how much the country emphasizes individual or collective achievements. A High Individualism ranking indicates that people are expected to develop and to be proud of their personalities and their choices. People often tend to form a higher number of looser relationships in those societies. A Low Individualism ranking typifies societies where the individuals are more likely to act as a member of a group (ex: family, town, profession). This collectivist nature tends to develop relationships between individuals, and reinforce à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½extended familiesà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. Masculinity vs. feminity (MAS) This dimension measures the degree the society reinforces the traditional masculine work role model (as understood in most Western countries) or not. A High Masculinity ranking indicates the country gives a high importance on traditional male values (such as ambition, accumulation of wealth and power). Those societies emphasize high gender differentiation. In these cultures, males dominate a significant portion of the society, while females are under domination. In the opposite case, a low MAS will indicate that the society de-emphasizes the gender differentiation. In those countries, females are treated equally to males in all aspects of the society. The valuable things are relationships and quality of life. This strong opposition between the quantity values (masculine societies) and the quality values (feminine societies) led many users of Hofstedes work to rename this index the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Quantity of Life vs. Quality of lifeà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. Low vs. high Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) It focuses on the level people try to cope with stress by fighting uncertainty and ambiguous situations within the society. A high UAI indicates a rule-oriented society, where citizens prefer explicit laws, rules and controls, in order to reduce the amount of uncertainty (ex: religion, food industry). A Low Uncertainty Avoidance ranking indicates the country has less concern about ambiguity and has a greater tolerance for informal situations. This is reflected in a society that is less rule-oriented, where people value implicit or flexible guidelines. Michael Harris Bond subsequently found a fifth dimension which was originally called à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Confucian dynamismà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. Hofstede later integrated this into his dimensions of culture as : Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation (LTO) It focuses on the degree a society attaches importance to a future oriented perspective rather than a short-term point of view. In other words, this index describes the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½time horizonà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ of a society (future vs. past and present). A high LTO characterizes countries where people value the behaviors that affect the future, such as perseverance, thrift and shame. (ex: Asian countries). Those societies are often superstitious or based on many truths or faiths. Cultures scoring low on this dimension believe in absolute truth. They (ex: Western countries) have a short-term orientation and a concern for immediate stability, which means they value actions that are affected by the past or the present (ex: normative statements, respect for tradition and reciprocation of favors and gifts). Those five dimensions describe tendencies and not precise characteristics of individuals. Consequently, a societys score should not be interpreted without no further reflection. Trompenaarss dimensions of culture According to Trompenaars, culture is a way a group of people act to solve problems. From three basics which are the relationship with others, time and environment, Trompenaars identifies seven fundamental dimensions of culture. His definition of culture is a mix between organizational and national cultures. He proceeded by using a database which contained more than 30000 survey results so that he could analyse the seven dimensions of culture. Universalism vs. Particularism In universalistic cultures, people share the belief that general rules, codes, values and standards are much more important than needs, claims and relations. On the contrary, in a particularistic culture, people think that human relationships are more important than rules and codes. They are not against rules, they just aim at showing that everybody can count on their friends. Rules come after human aspects. Individualism vs. Collectivism (Communitarianism) In individualistic cultures, people place the community after the individual, which is definitely the contrary in a communitarian culture. People are autonomous in the first case, they can take decisions, they can take care of them and their family on their own. In the second case, people are responsible for the good functioning of the society and are the representation of the health of a society considering his degree of involvement in the development of the society. Neutral vs. Affective Relationships People in an affective culture can show up there emotions and their feelings. They do not have to hide them and people from this type of culture sometimes interpret less explicit signals from neutral cultures. People in a neutral culture think that it is not correct to show emotions and feelings even if they have it. It is the degree of manifesting it which is limited and controlled. They might interpret signals from an affective culture as excited and too emotional. Specific vs. Diffuse Relationships People in specific cultures always start analyzing by small details, specific elements to finally put them together to have a global idea. They concentrate on facts, standards and contracts. They have a larger specific sphere than the private one (which is very difficult to enter in. On the contrary, people in diffuse cultures start analyzing the whole and then the elements, but in a perspective of the whole because all elements are linked to each other. In fact, the elements matter less than the link between them. They have a large private sphere and a small public one. Achievement vs. Ascription This cultural dimension is similar to the power distance dimension of Hofsede. In achievement cultures, people respect their colleagues basing their respect on anterior demonstration of knowledge and previous achievements. They do not look at the title of peoples job. In ascription cultures, people use their titles of job and respect their hierarchical superior. Time orientation He shows that meanings of past, present and future depend on cultures. For instance, people who have a past-oriented culture respect older people and are quite traditional whereas people who have a future-oriented culture enjoy discussing potential and future achievement. There is a second division of cultures possible thanks to time orientation which compares sequential and synchronic cultures. This dimension looks like a distribution of tasks in the time in a culture. People who have a sequential culture tend to do one activity at a time by following plans whereas people who have a synchronic culture can do many tasks and activities at a time by changing the subject at any time. Human-nature relationship: Internal vs. external control This last dimension lays the stress on the fact that cultures think that they control their environment and others think that they are controlled by it. In an internalistic culture like the United States, people believe that what happens to them is their own doing. Many Asian countries have an external culture in which the environment shapes their destiny. Because they dont believe they are in full control of their destinies, often externalistic people adapt to external circumstances. Comparison and criticism Hofstedes aim was to evaluate work values, while Trompenaars Hampden-Turners questionnaires inquired into respondents preferred behaviour in a number of both work and leisure situations. What both studies have in common is that in both questionnaires the focus is on the ultimate goal state, and that the underlying values, the underwater part of the culture iceberg, are derived from a series of questions about more outer layers of the culture onion, closer to the top of iceberg. Trompenaarss system appears focus-oriented; it speaks a lot about what is on peoples minds and what is in their sight, it speaks about the logical organization and framework of their behaviour (specific vs. diffuse, internal vs. external control, universalism vs. particularism) and relationships (individualism vs. collectivism; achievement vs. ascription; neutral vs. affective). Hofstede, on the other hand describes some of values present in people and finally affecting their behavior. The difference therefore is that Trompenaarss investigation lies on the surface of the investigation of the persons culture, showing exactly the choice and manner in which the actions are planned and handled, while Hofstede tries to go in the very deep of culture layers and lets us make our own forecasts of peoples behavior based on the knowledge of the hidden part of iceberg. Taking a closer look into the comparison between the dimensions themselves, we can notice similarities between the two theories. One of these is the closeness between the notions of collectivism vs. individualism of Hofstede and communitarianism vs. individualism of Trompenaars. For a marketer, from our point of view, there is close no difference which index to use. There is some degree of similarity in Hofstedes power distance index and achievement vs. ascription. One values the accepted degree of high class/low class lifestyle and secondary characteristics difference, while the other measures the motivation of the low class to move higher. A marketer can infer that customers are better evaluated with the high power distance index in relation of selling status-emphasizing products (like luxury brands), while Trompenaarss index is better used when selling low cost practical business tools (like cheap PDAs). We would advise to use the two indices together as they complement each other. Long-term vs. short-term orientation index of Hofstede has got something in common with the past/present/future orientation of Trompenaars. That is in the way, how i.e. short-term oriented cultures will show the same tendency to be populist, tradition-oriented as the past- and present-oriented cultures. After taking a look into evaluations of different cultures one can find that the results, obtained by the two theories are often counter logical. German corporate culture is hierarchical, as is claimed by Trompenaars in his studies. Whereas Hofstede identifies Germany as relatively low in terms of Power Distance. These differences in the approach attracted some serious criticism over the years. One of the most prominent points often criticized is Hofstede perception of culture as a static characteristic of societies and their representatives. This approach does not take into the account the cultural drift that can easily be observed as the time passes by. As a vivid example, one can take the comparison between, say, the UK of the Victorian age and the Post Second World War UK and just try to assess the Power Distance Indices. Apparently, over this period of time peoples behavior has altered enough to allow a society with a lot lower power distance, the expressions of which found their way in the art of the time as well as in the politics (Rise of the Labor Party in 1945-1951) people of lower class were have become conscious to demand equality in these dimensions with the former unapproachable higher class, the expression of wealth and power and respect to it have decreased, as well as PDI. S imilar drift patterns can now be observed today in some of the underdeveloped countries, like Mexico, where former strong collectivist communities are dissolving, as their member become more individualistic, pushed by their desire to be successful in the new highly commercialized society. The same can be said about political influence on the culture (transition from Communist to Capitalist values). In other words it is easily observable that through time cultures evolve. Therefore the estimations for indices are slowly becoming outdated. Hofstede was later pushed by this evidence to regularly update his Index database, still retorting that cultural evolution is a very slow process. However the problem that may be hard to identify is actually not the quantitative, but rather the qualitative obsolescence of the framework itself, that will sooner or later present itself. I.e. what was reasonable and precise description in the 1970s can be an incomplete, flawed and vague characterizatio n for 2010, and even more so for future. That is however just one of the many debatable things. Among the others are: Question interpretation of the surveyed, i.e. will the question really be a precise way to determine the culture, as the culture and personality may directly affect the way the question is translated and thus produce errors in the resulting evaluation. Researchers background diminishes the completeness of cultural description and offers one-sided look at the problem. This way it would be preferable for marketers to have a marketer, not a manager, to make the proper evaluations framework, which would be more suited for marketing decision making. Ignoring the ethnic group and communities presence, national culture fragmentation. Just saying that Germany has low UAC index may totally confuse the policymaker, as this does not differ between East, West and especially Turkish communities. Moreover, a study carried out only in only one company (Hofstede) cannot give an outlook on the entire cultural system of a country. The cultural dimensions in international marketing Why marketing uses the cultural dimensions? The Hofstede and Trompenaars cultural dimensions can be a useful tool for several themes, such as within the organization and the structure of a company or when trading with other countries. In fact, for those who works in an international business is essential to know the differences between countries and cultures. And moreover, cultural dimensions are also a helpful instrument for marketing purposes due to the fact that they facilitate the design of an optimum strategy. Each society has developed through the history a different culture where it is extremely important to take into account the different ways of communication and the usage and the meaning of the language. Actually, the markets can be segmented by cultural dimensions; consequently we can develop a marketing plan to exploit the common elements of these segments. Thus, we can affirm that in the international marketing, the success or failure of a campaign depends on the prior analysis of the environment. The cultural analysis can also provide various guides to develop the marketing strategy, in fact, when a company is entering in a new market, in a foreign market, it is necessary to study the population and the society, the history and the culture. There is some data that we can obtain by public sources of information, and other data that has to be collected by the company itself. Concerning the culture and the habits of the society in a certain country, we can use the cultural dimensions theory developed by the two professors as a guideline, but it is also necessary to make a specific study, for the reason that every product is different and it is important to analyze which is the greatest manner to promote a new product in a foreign country regarding the different cultural dimensions. How to apply the cultural dimensions in a marketing context? For instance, we know, thanks to the theory elaborated by Geert Hofstede, that United States has low power distance, in marketing terms that should be translated in commercials and promotions where the communication must be informal and friendly. In countries where the situation is totally different, the message for a new product must communicate that the product is well accepted in the society. These assumptions are the starting point, a part from them, the company will have to analyze the culture of the specific country itself taking into account the new product to be launched and thus create a commercial and a campaign with great results in that market. However, a company has two options: to adapt the marketing strategy to each culture by using the cultural dimensions or to try to change the culture. For example: in Japan, people is used to subtle publicity campaigns, nevertheless , when Procter Gamble started to sell its products there, the company launched a very aggressive campaign that first shake all the Japanese society, but later it was copied by other Japanese companies. Procter Gamble changed part of the culture. Contribution of culture in international marketing In our fast moving world, local markets are not big enough for companies willing to have more profits. The future of each company that wants to be more important than its competitors is to go internationally. Selling a product wont be the more complicated things that companies will have to face while going internationally but the cultural adaptation will be the hardest thing. There are different kinds of adaptation, the product adaptation, the administrative and law adaptation and the cultural adaptation that means the situations where you meet a client or you create a subsidiary elsewhere. The five dimensions, which are (cf 1, 4 in bibliography) PDI, IDV, MAS, UAI and LTO come from an analysis done by Geert Hofstede while working at IBM and trying to understand the employees attitudes at IBM worldwide. Actually, it is important to know that the 5 cultural dimensions of GH help individuals and companies to understand, analyse and compare the culture of different countries. With the GH analysis, we are trying to define the culture. One of the goals of GH is to help to take into consideration the differences in the way of thinking, to react and act between the different people in the world. According to GH each country generates its own management system. Example with Accenture Bands: For Luxembourg, United-Kingdom, France. * With the Fons Trompenaars analysis (cf. 3 in biblio.), we are seeing that even if each culture owns its main features, it remains a cultural identity toward each individual, as for each company, which allows to adapt into every context. By completing itselves, these different cultural orientations (for instance in the relationship with the group, with the individual, with the environment or even with the time), are no more impediments for the common work (within different groups) but become on the other hand the best key factors to carry out successfully. FT helps more the companies to develop and create their own intercultural management. Each company has indeed its own management style or cultural organizational structure. The use of both theories The Use of Fons Trompenaars theory In Fons Trompenaars theory, there are two kinds of people, which is universalism and particularism. Americans, Canadians, Australian all belong to the first group, and Chinese, Korean and other Asian all belong to the second group. Take ERP as an example, the first group will accept the ERP system as the best way to conduct the project, and members of the second group will think that they are different from each other, so when ERP works in China, it is most important for the managers to deal with average workers, if not so, the whole system may fail at last. And the theory is also applicable in the field of education, for example, English education in Chinese schools and other western countries is different since the different culture and language system. It is the same with other fields, like business, communication, the cultural differences are more and more important. The use of Geert Hofstede theory According to Geert Hofstede theory, there are different ways of management because of different cultures, for example, American cooperation always pay more attention to the individuals, and the third world countries is the opposite, so if an American firms operating abroad, it must consider the this kind of cultural differences, taking the employees into consideration and emphasize the loyalty, which can help to get success. The structure of organization is also influenced by the cultural differences, for example, Germans always avoid the risk, so rules and regulations seems to be more important, however, in America, people prefer to taking risk, so people enjoy more freedom. According to the theory, Hofstede also shows that if the manager ignore the cultural differences, there will be something wrong with the communication, morale and have a negative effect on the final result in the end. Conclusion As described in this paper, there are several approaches to the classification of the cultures of different nations. The ones that were observed closely here are Geert Hofstedes and Fons Trompenaarss classifications, so-called cultural dimensions. These, as shown have a number of things in common and many differences as well. Thus, a marketer has to make a decision, which part of which study is to be used to develop a successful strategy. However there is little doubt that some way of adapting the strategy to the local culture is to be used. We may live in a globalized enviroment, however, so far there is no mundial culture and different clusters of people, whether they are separated geographically, historically or socially; some may choose one product instead of the other because of their culture and values. All of that is to be taken into consideration. And there are so far not many standartised approaches to the culture evaluations, other than Hofstedes and Trompenaarss, which eco nomise time and enable the creation of a consolidated strategy in approach to culture. It is not surprising that some of the companies nowadays are already fully involved in applying these methods in their decision making, and the amount of them will inevitably grow as the studies of the theories are being held in many Universities and Business Schools, from wich the future excecutives will come. However one has to rememember, that both these method are quite controversial and obviously imperfect, therefore we should learn learn to use the questionnaires and the databases responsibly. Only in this way can they provide precise, trustworhy and calculated assistance to people learning to work effectively in other countries. Bibliography/Information Sources/Webography Books and articles Hofstede, Geert. Cultures Consequences, Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations; Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications 2001. Geert Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations, Software of the mind, 1992. The multicultural company, Fons Trompenaars, 1993, Paris, Maxima. Global marketing and advertising. Understanding cultural paradoxes; Marieke Mooij; edition of 2009 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½The Use and Misuse of Questionnaires in Intercultural Trainingà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ article by John W. Bing à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Hofstede Culturally questionable?à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ article by M. L. Jones, 2007 Oxford Business Economics Conference à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Intercultural/Cross-Cultural Training: Rejecting Hofstede and Trompenaarsà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½- arti

The Cold War Essay -- History, Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cold War was a worldwide conflict that went on for over 40 years. Many people today do not understand how much it cost in terms of lives and money. During the Cold War, many events helped shape today’s United State’s military, foreign relations, and policies. The Cuban Missile Crisis helped prove that the US was a strong nation. The Space Race helped technology advance and allowed man to go where we had never been before. Another well-known conflict was the Vietnam War, which started long before the US got involved. France lost the first Indochina war to the Vietminh. Soon after, Communist North Vietnam showed interest in invading Capitalist South Vietnam and the country eventually split in two. At the time, the US had political representation in South Vietnam. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the US military became activists and sent over 50,000 troops to fight (Murray, 13). Those troops endured horrors no one could imagine, including new weapon advances suc h as Agent Orange and Napalm that were used to clear forests and fight. Back in the US, many people protested the war with rallies and marches. They had a reason. The United States was not justified in entering the Vietnam conflict because it caused more damage than advances for the US. Many different people and countries were involved with the Vietnam conflict. It began during WWII, when Japan took France’s Indochina Peninsula of Southeast Asia. The communist leader Ho Chi Minh led forces called the Vietminh to fight Japan. These forces had been trained by United States advisers. After Japan’s defeat in WWII, France had set their sights on regaining control of Indochina. By that time, Ho had already declared Vietnam independent, but France refused to recognize... ...t the spreads of communism. After the USS Maddox was attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, President Johnson sent military personnel to fight. After all hope seemed lost and people back home gave up, President Nixon tried to end things with a cease fire. Unfortunately in the end, the US and South Vietnam lost to North Vietnam. The war proved to be pointless after all the destruction it caused. 58,214 soldiers were killed and over 1,700 are still unaccounted for (History Channel). From the very beginning of the war, there was not much hope. The North Vietnamese were already sure of victory. The very reason the US entered the war was partly because of misinformation. Had we known then that there was no second attack coming in the Gulf of Tonkin, where would we be now? Would the US be better in foreign policies? Thanks to one misread signal, we will never know.

Customer is King: Evolution of the Retail Food Industry Essay

It is common understanding that you cannot have a business if you do not have customers to buy the product you produce or services you deliver; therefore customer is an integral part of every business. There was a time when customers was treated less critical and vocal by the businesses and markets was treated just as dumping grounds for the products, however this situation does not prevail anymore because of the tremendous transformation happening in the retail food industry since last five decades. Today customers have more choices than ever before, through more diverse channels. Even the expectations of customer are higher than ever before. Companies who fail to leave up to the expectation are finding hard to get or retain the customers- Majority of the unsatisfied customer do not complain they just change the suppliers. Therefore retailers have realised that the only way to sustain in the competitive market is by being customer centric. (Barnes & Glynn, 1993) Today every businesses treat customer as king and aware that only exceptional level of customer service can differentiate them from the competition in an increasingly saturated marketplace. Customer is often treated as the asset of the company and considered in the strategic level decision making. Therefore I certainly agree with this frequently used marketing cliche â€Å"customer is king†. To better explain my position I have presented my views based on two contexts. The first being how customer is king? This is explained by describing the customer’s role in the evolution of the retail food industry and its implications. The second being why customer is king? This is explained by detailing the significance of customers in the retail food business. The evolution of the retail food industry and its implications: Retail food industry has undergone a tremendous transformation in the last five decades, these transformations can be classified into four different phases- Predevelopment, Development, Saturation and Decline phase (Terbeek, 1999). During the predevelopment phase shopping was a social event, relationships between the customer and grocer was important. Shopping experience was logical, retail was more of a personalised business where the customer was treated as an individual and his or her needs were well known and understood by the businesses. Also there existed a long term personal relationship between the businesses and the customer (Steidtman, 2005). Therefore during this phase more emphasis was given to the customer and customer service, however this situation did not prevail long. During the development phase, small and neighbourhood stores started to decline due to the raise of supermarket. Customers were no more trusting grocer rather they started to trust brands. No longer there existed a personal relationship between the businesses and the customer. Even management was centralised and employees were ignorant of the customer behaviour, old values which existed during the predevelopment stage relating to employee and customer relationship almost disappeared, the customer becomes a consumer. However due to logistics efficiency and introduction in new model of central buying and distribution of standard products to standard stores led in the decline of product prices. Even though retailer was the ultimate connection to the customer but manufacturer had more control over the market demand and retailer was just acting as distributor. Manufacturer assumed that every market was standard and started using push marketing model to sell his products, therefore emphasis on customer was neglected and customer service was taken a backseat (Terbeek, 1999) During the saturation phase the competition between the retailers intensified, there was a rise of many stores even the products increased from 8000 to 30000 items and above, which resulted in making a decision making stressful for the customers. However the growth of the industry slowdown and the real growth for supermarkets came from taking businesses away from each other. Marketing cost intensified because of the competition between supermarkets, even value created by supermarkets become less easy to distinguish because of the availability of the identical products in every store. Therefore Price become the way for many stores to differentiate them, which gave rise to the new mantra of super markets called â€Å"more products and lower prices†. Competition among the manufacturers also heated up which led retailers to get better incentives for the self-space. Therefore retailers was busy concerned on making deal money which was more profitable then customer service, Customer was almost invisible and the relationship between the retailer and the customer no longer existed(Terbeek, 1999). During the decline phase the might of the supermarkets reduced drastically by the entry of fast food chains and low cost department stores (Wal-Mart, Target etc. – which started competing for the stomach share of the consumer. Therefore retailers try to differentiate themselves by introducing new merchandising strategies such as home meal replacement and solution selling, also another strategy for growth was geographic expansion through consolidation and globalisation. Retailers were more concerned on making profits and increasing market share, however even in this phase they neglected the fact that customer is one of the important ass et and failed to be customer oriented. Therefore retailers still moved even further away from the customer. Following the decline phase of the retail food market is the â€Å"current† (2000+) situation which can perhaps be termed as the frictionless phase (Terbeek, 1999). It’s not surprising that in this phase, the focus is once again on the customer. The one size fits all concept of retail is no longer applicable and there is need to deliver personalized services and products on an individual basis to distinguish them from others and to stay ahead in the market. Therefore customer has become the central focus in this era, even the retailers have realised that customer service, customer loyalty and customer retention plays a major role in sales and profitability of the concern. Thanks to Technological transformation, which has enabled retail to return to what it once – a personalised business, today businesses have realised that customer is a strategic asset of the organisation and treating customer as a â€Å"King† is vital for the long term sustainability. Significance of customers in the retail food business: The food and beverage market is often the largest industrial sector in developed economies. In the US, expenditures on food in both retail stores and food service establishments account for nearly 30 percent of all retail spending. Food retailing alone is among the largest of all retailing sectors in most countries(Gomez, McLaughlin, & Wittink, 2003). The most recent Consumer Expenditure Survey from the Department of Labour indicates that 58 percent of food expenditures are on food consumed at home and Groceries represent a $700 billion business in US alone (George, 2005). Due to the market size today retail sector is not only growing in the rapid pace but also becoming more competitive, even the customers have become more demanding than ever. Retailers have realised that the only way to sustain in the competitive market is through differentiation; Rita Heise of Cargill says differentiation must be a top priority of almost any company today (Tuck, 2003). Today differentiation in terms of pricing, product offering are also becoming commonplace so companies need new ways to differentiate themselves. In the verge of finding differentiating strategies, retailers have realised that the only way of differentiating them form others is by being customer centric(Gomez et al. , 2003). Today customers are vital for the retail businesses, treating customers like a King is really important because this leads to more satisfied customers. The more satisfied the customers are, the more loyal the customers will be- which in turn helps in maintaining customer loyalty. Therefore customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer retention all these three terms are interrelated which has a significant impact on the profitability, sales and market share of the businesses. Customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction and retention are generally considered among the most important long term objectives of firms (Cooil, Keiningham, Aksoy, & Hsu, 2007). The satisfied customers will remain loyal to the company and also create a positive brand image by word of mouth. In recent research of over 1,000 kiwis, respondents said they were twice as likely to tell others about a bad experience over a positive one. With stories being told online, rather than person-to-person, they are accessible to a much wider audience and live on long after the initial compromising incident occurred (Meyer, 2011). Therefore businesses which fail to meet the customer expectations will not only lose customers but also may create a negative brand image. Linking customer satisfaction and customer loyalty/retention: The marketing concept suggests that a satisfied buyer will likely return to purchase again, or at least, consider purchasing again(Keith, 1960). According to Reichheld and Sasser repeat customers cost less to serve than new buyers, benefiting a firm’s cost structure. Additionally, maximizing customer retention rates and minimizing customer defections are primary strategic objectives for most firms because of the competitive retail environment and low switching costs(Reichheld, 1990). Customer satisfaction is positively linked to loyalty and customer retention, therefore businesses should be customer oriented in order to maximise the profits, market share and also to increase the sales. Linking profitability or market share to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty: According to one study, a 2 percent increase in customer retention has the same effect on profits as cutting costs by 10 percent. Similarly, a 5 percent reduction in customer defection rate can increase profits by 25-125 percent (Min, 2011). It is logical that both satisfaction and loyalty are directly related to profitability(Pleshko & Baqer, 2008). Loyal and satisfied customers will increase the customer base by positive word of mouth advertising, which in turn increase the market share and also the sales, even lowers the market retention costs. Satisfied and loyal customers gives businesses a clear understanding about their needs and wants which helps the retailers to grow businesses and profits based on their deep knowledge and understanding of customers. Satisfied customers also create brand equity and even retailers will be insured with better protection during downturn- due to more loyal customers. Therefore today retailers are continuously focusing on keeping their customers happy and satisfied. Businesses which do not satisfy the customers run the risk of customer base eductions, smaller sales and also lose the market share for the retailers who serve better to the customers. Being customer centric cannot be treated simply as the strategy of an individual company because modern food system is complex, dynamic and international (Schaffer, 1998). It includes suppliers of farm inputs, agricultural producers, packaging suppliers, processors and manufacturers, commodity merchants, wholesalers, food retailers, restraints, institutions, and facilitating industries etc. (Schaffer, 1998). Therefore to be successful and competitive, all the players in the food system should be customer centric. Businesses in the food supply chain have realised this and every businesses are taking customer centric approach in the recent years. Today’s retail market in the developed world are becoming more customers centric and treating customers as Kings because retailers have realised that customer centric approach is directly linked to profitability of the firm and also can become a key source of competitive differentiation. By excelling at the strategic customer-centric approach can deliver a superior shopping experience that could not only result in consistently high customer satisfaction but also might encourage customers to shop more often and spend more with their favoured retailers. Therefore we can say that today businesses have realised that customers have the power to dictate their profits, market share and also the sales in the businesses, so treating customers as Kings has become vital for the retail businesses success today.

Against for Profit Prisons

GE 217 Against for profit prisons Prisons for profit have a different mission than public prisons, they must earn revenue. This means they have an inherent interest in ensuring prisons stay filled, even at the taxpayer’s expense. When a state government enters into a contract with a private prison company, it legally binds the taxpayer to pay the company a certain dollar amount per inmate per day. This has led to over incarceration and violence at private facilities nationwide. The relationship between prisons and private industry is not a recent innovation, but rather dates back to our nation’s origin.In the colonial period, incarceration was a rarely utilized form of punishment. Newly formed governments, unequipped to house criminals, looked to private jailers to provide detention services. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, via legislation or private contracts, some states leased prison labor to private enterprises. In other states, private organizations exe rted complete control over the prison function. (Robbins, 1989) Prison overcrowding has evolved into a critical social problem. Per capita the United States incarcerates more individuals than any other industrialized nation in the world.Studies show that private facilities perform badly compared to public ones on almost every instance from prevention of intra-prison violence, jail conditions, and rehabilitation efforts—except reducing state budgets and adding to the corporate bottom line. To keep their gravy train rolling, private prison companies need a few things from state and local government. * Lots of people arrested and convicted (often of essentially victimless crimes) and given long sentences. This most heavily impacts young black males—about one in nine of whom is in prison, many for using or selling marijuana, or, to a lesser degree, harder drugs. Although whites have comparable drug use rates, their prosecution rates are dramatically lower. ) * Opposition t o the decriminalization of drug use, which would cut sharply into prison industry profits. (As a result, it isn’t going to happen. ) * The continued criminalization and detention of undocumented foreigners. Louisiana is the world's prison capital. The state imprisons more of its people, per head, than any of its U. S. counterparts. Which makes America first among the world? Louisiana's incarceration rate is nearly triple Iran's, seven times China's and 10 times Germany's.One in 86 adult Louisianans is doing time, nearly double the national average. And for African – Americans from New Orleans, 1 in 14 is in prison, parole or on probation. (Baker, 2012) The hidden engine behind the state's well-oiled prison machine is cold, hard cash. A majority of Louisiana inmates are housed in for-profit facilities, which must be supplied with a constant influx of human beings or a $182 million industry will go bankrupt. Several homegrown private prison companies command a slice of t he market. But in a uniquely Louisiana twist, most prison entrepreneurs are rural sheriffs, who hold tremendous sway in remote parishes.A good portion of Louisiana law enforcement is financed with dollars legally skimmed off the top of prison operations. If the inmate count dips, sheriffs bleed money. Their constituents lose jobs. The prison lobby ensures this does not happen by thwarting nearly every reform that could result in fewer people behind bars. Meanwhile, inmates subsist in bare-bones conditions with few programs to give them a better shot at becoming productive citizens. Each inmate is worth $24. 39 a day in state money, and sheriffs trade them like horses, unloading a few extras on a colleague who has openings.A prison system that leased its convicts as plantation labor in the 1800s has come full circle and is again a nexus for profit. In Louisiana, a two-time car burglar can get 24 years without parole. A trio of drug convictions can be enough to land you at the Louisia na State Penitentiary at Angola for the rest of your life. (Chang, 2012) For profit prisons often try to economize, but even the best run companies have come to recognize that operating with too small or poorly trained staff can spell trouble, and experts say state officials must pay close attention to the level of services being provided.Even if private – prison corporations succeed in cutting costs, there is unlikely to be sufficient competition in any given community to ensure that the savings result in diminished government budgets for corrections. There is a substantial likelihood that government contracts with prison corporations will fully protect neither the interests of the public nor the prison inmates. (Hogan, 2006) Studies show that private facilities perform badly as compared to public ones on almost every instance from the prevention of intra-prison violence, jail conditions, and rehabilitation fforts—except reducing state budgets and adding to the corpor ate bottom line. A 2004 report found that private prisons had 50 percent more inmate on inmate assaults and almost 50 percent more inmate on staff assaults. Private prison companies cut costs by hiring cheaper, lower skilled staff and fewer of them. The result is a vicious cycle where poorly trained and poorly disciplined corrections officers are incapibable of adequately responding to prison emergencies. Prison safety conditions deteriorate, and more staff quit, increasing the turnover rate.There is also less than adequate medical care for inmates, in some extreme cases infirmaries are often closed certain times due to shortage of guards. Other areas to suffer in private prisons are psychiatric care, educational, and meals in order for the prison to earn a profit; these programs seem to get cut before other many others. It is my opinion that privatization undermines sentencing reforms, cost the taxpayer more money, and endanger the lives of prison staff and inmates alike.Offenders are incarcerated for reasons of their own making; I feel that having their freedom taken away should be punishment enough. They should not have to suffer anymore beyond that, especially for corporate greed. I strongly feel that prisons should be left in the hands of the public sector, which can operate them in a safe and true manner for which they were intended. Works Cited Baker, R. (2012, May 1). Briefing: For Profit Prisons.Retrieved from Who, What, Why, Forensic Journalism: Thinking Hard, Digging Deeper: Http:whowhatwhy. com brinkerhoff, N. (2012, May 17). Retrieved from Info wars: http://www. inforwars. com Chang, C. (2012, May 13). Louisana is the worlds capital. Retrieved from Nola. com: http://www. nola. com Hogan, M. (2006, June 2). Correction Corp. Breaks Out,. Retrieved from BUS. WK. ONLINE,: htpp://www. businessweek. com/investor/content/jun2006/pi20060602_072092. htm23id Robbins, I. P. (1989). The Legal Dimensions of Private Incarceeration.

Top 10 Resume Writing Tips for 2018

Top 10 Resume Writing Tips for 2018 Top 10 Resume Writing Tips for 2018 Top 10 Resume Writing Tips for 2018 By Ali Hale Writing a resume can be really tough. You know you need to convince an employer that you’re the best person for the job – but how exactly do you do that? It can be especially hard if you’ve been out of the job market for a while, and you feel that you’re not sure what’s required from your resume – or if this is the first resume you’ve ever written. Don’t worry! We’re going to quickly recap the basics, before digging into some crucial tips for writing a winning resume. What Is a Resume Anyway? A resume is a document that lets employers know about your work history, your educational achievements, and your key skills. If you’re in the UK, a resume is commonly called a â€Å"CV† (curriculum vitae). (Note that in the US, you may hear CV used to refer to a long, academic resume.) What Should a Resume Look Like? While there’s no absolute rule on how your resume should be formatted, a quick Google Images search for resume will give you an idea of how most resumes look. It’s normally unwise to do anything clever or cute with the format of your resume: employers want to get information clearly and easily from it, and you don’t want to risk standing out in a bad way. Your resume should include the following information, in this order: Personal Details (name, address, phone number, email address) – this goes right at the top of the first page. Normally, you should put your name in a large font as the title for your resume. Personal Profile (optional) – a high-level summary of who you are and what you’re looking for from a job. This has become popular in recent years, though it’s not absolutely essential. Core Skills (optional) – immediately beneath your personal profile, you can opt to include a bullet-pointed list of your core skills, so your prospective employer can quickly see what you’re good at. Career History – list your past jobs, in reverse chronological order (the most recent job should come first on the page). Itll usually be appropriate for your most recent job to have the most details. Education and Qualifications – this should come after your career history, unless you’re fresh out of school / college – in which case it might make sense to give it greater prominence. You can also include information about volunteering on your resume, especially if you have few or no previous jobs to write about. Of course, you probably already know that you shouldnt use coloured backgrounds, lots of unusual fonts, or anything else that makes your CV look odd and hard to read. So how do you write a winning resume in 2018? Tip #1: Tailor Your Resume to Each Position You’re Applying For If you only follow one tip from this list, make it this one: your resume should be carefully tailored to the position you’re applying for. Don’t view your resume as a document that you write once then forget about. Of course, you won’t be restarting from scratch every time – but you should make appropriate tweaks to highlight how exactly your past experience matches up the role you want to be considered for. Youll almost certainly find it helpful to Tip #2: Use the Job Advert to Guide You Whatever job you’re applying for, there’ll be an advert detailing what the company is looking for. Use this to help you make it very clear that you have exactly what they need. For instance, if the advert says they need someone â€Å"who’s adept with Microsoft Word†, you might include Microsoft Word in your core skills, or mention it in the description for one of the jobs you’ve had in the past. If they ask for someone with experience managing a team, youll want to make sure you emphasise this in your career history even if it was only a relatively small part of one of your roles. Tip #3: Present Information Chronologically Although some people think that a â€Å"functional† CV can help show you in your best light, if you have an unconventional work history, this will lead employers to wonder what you’re hiding! As Allison Green puts it in â€Å"here’s the right way to format your resume† on Ask a Manager: Functional resumes – which are focused on one long list of skills and accomplishments rather than connecting them to a chronological work listing – are widely disliked by employers, since they make it difficult to understand what the candidate’s work progression has been. Stick with the standard reverse-chronological order instead. Tip #4: Give Appropriate Weight to the Various Sections Normally, it makes sense for your most recent roles and achievements to take up the most space on your resume. You don’t need to go into lots of detail about a job that you had for six months ten years ago it’s not likely to be very relevant to your employer. The same goes for your educational qualifications: if you’ve graduated college, your high school classes and GPA are no longer very significant. You can include them briefly, but don’t spend half a page of your resume on them. Tip #5: Include Examples to Back Up What You’re Claiming It’s not enough to say that you have â€Å"excellent time management skills† – it doesn’t mean anything, and it’s the sort of phrase that almost any candidate can use. Back up your claims with concrete examples. For instance, you could write: Excellent time management skills: managed heavy workload in a busy department, prioritising and dealing with customer emails (frequently over 50/day). Where possible, give figures: for instance, if you took on the task of writing newsletters to your company’s client base and this resulted in 10% more sales to customers on the newsletter list – say so! Tip #6: Don’t Be Cutesy About Your Stay-at-Home Parenting One rather cringe-worthy trend with resumes is for stay-at-home parents (both moms and dads) to describe their time parenting in terms of a job. For instance,  James Wilkinson from  Advice from Super Dad writes that: If I was to include my stay at home dad role on a resume it would probably look something like this: STAY AT HOME DAD July 2011 – Present Responsibilities /Achievements Primary child care duties. Design and implementation of household operational procedures. Supervising, training and managing children and their needs. Complaint resolution, Household bookkeeping and finance management Additionally you may have had to learn to meal plan and cook, to do cleaning and washing duties or a myriad of other assorted essential household and child rearing skills. Now, I’ll be the first to say that being a stay at home parent is hard work – it’s a whole job and a half, at least. I’ve every respect for parents. But this sort of entry does not belong in your work history. It looks silly, it makes you seem a little desperate for something to put on your resume and it could also come across as quite insulting to a potential boss who may well have children of their own (and all of these duties to handle in addition to their job). So what should you do? The safest professional approach is to simply leave those years out of your work history: you can write a sentence in your cover letter to explain â€Å"from July 2011, I’ve been a stay at home parent†. Tip #6: Keep it to Two Pages Maximum (Unless You’re an Academic) In today’s digital age, you might think that it really shouldn’t matter if your resume doesn’t fit onto two sides of a sheet of paper. But it does! If your resume goes on for three or four pages, no-one’s going to want to read the whole thing plus it makes you look like someone who’ll ignore professional norms. If you absolutely need to fit in an extra paragraph or two, it’s better to go onto a third side than to squeeze all your text so that it’s tiny. The main exception here is if you’re applying for an academic role, where you might well be listing your publication history, presentation experience, and so on in a longer CV. In this case, it’s often expected that your CV will run to three or four pages. Tip #7: Use Bullet Points Where Appropriate If you’re fresh out of school, you might think that bullet points look informal and odd. But in a business context, it’s completely normal to use bullet points to summarise information and to make it easy to take in. You can find plenty of examples of resumes here on Live Career – this should give you an idea of how often bullet points are used! Some key areas to include bullet points on your resume are: Your core skills (probably in a list with two or three columns, rather than a single long list that leaves a lot of white space on the right hand side of the page). Your duties for each of the previous job roles you’ve held Your educational history and qualifications Tip #8: Don’t Include a Photo of Yourself This might seem like a strange tip, but it’s something that employers have increasingly mentioned as an issue – perhaps with the ease of taking and inserting digital photos. You do not need to include your photo on your resume however fantastic you look! Employers don’t (or shouldn’t) care what you look like, and it looks weird and unprofessional to put a photo of yourself on your resume. (The main exception here is if you’re applying for a modelling or acting role, when of course it is appropriate to include a photo.) You should avoid including any other images in your resume, too: for instance, don’t put in company logos from the places you’ve previously worked. You might think it looks slick, but it can cause problems with formatting, and it’s frankly a waste of your time. Stick to text alone. Tip #9: Use a Professional-Looking Email Address This might seem like a tiny thing but your email address matters. If you’re using tequilalover@hotmail.com, it’s not going to create the best impression. A free email address is fine, but make sure it’s something sensible (probably involving your name, and perhaps a number if no version of your name is available). Some people – and I’ll admit I’m one of them – feel that a Gmail address looks better than Hotmail or Yahoo, because Gmail users tend to be a little more tech-savvy. The name of your email provider, though, really isn’t likely to make a lot of difference. Tip #10: Triple-Check Your Spelling and Grammar There aren’t many situations in life when a typo can be ruinous but sending out a resume is one of them. While most people would forgive you a tiny typo, a resume with several typos, or significant typos (like a misspelled company name) will inevitably make you look bad. Proofread your resume as carefully as you can – there are some great tips here on Daily Writing Tips that should help. If possible, get a second pair of eyes on it too: ask a friend to look over it and make sure you’ve not made any mistakes. This is also a good opportunity to make sure that you’ve been consistent with formatting (e.g. that all your headers are the same size, font and style), and that everything looks polished (e.g. that you don’t have a single paragraph running over the page break – if you do, insert a manual page break to neaten it up). Bonus tip: Make sure to check our previous article 44 Resume Writing Tips for additional points you can use.. I know there’s quite a bit to take in here, and you might feel overwhelmed before you’ve even begun on your resume. One of the best ways to tackle any daunting writing project – resumes included – is to start with a small step. You might open up a fresh document and type in your contact details, for instance then you’ve made a start. I wish you the very best of luck with your job search, and I hope you find and land the perfect role for you. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Business Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Great Similes from Literature to Inspire YouFor Sale vs. On SaleDissatisfied vs. Unsatisfied

Business and Management Research Paper

Business and Management Research Paper Research Paper: Identifying Key Concepts in Business and Management Introduction Key concepts in business are important for the growth of any entity. This is because such concepts determine the direction in which the business is governed, and hence, they determine the success or failure of any business. By understanding the key concepts applied in the business environment, managers are able to avoid errors that may arise in business operations such as poor financial management. The purpose of this paper is to explore different concepts used in key areas of business operations. The key areas include dynamic business environment, critical business functions, the integration of individuals and systems, and ethics and social responsibilities that confront a business. Dynamic business environment In our text, Boone Kurtz (2010) defined business management as the process of managing an organization by applying various business concepts on the set objectives. For the objectives to be met there must be stable functions of the organization such as good planning, organizing, coordination, and directing. These functions can be achieved through well co-ordinated management team. Therefore, good business management results into smooth flow of business activities. In a business set up, various dynamic business environments may affect the performance of the firm negatively or positively. One of the key concepts in the area of dynamic business environment is economic changes. Economic changes refer to changing trends of general performance in an economy. Economic changes comprise of economic boom and recession. Economic boom has a positive effect on the business environment because businesses generate supernormal profits. Economic recession has a negative effect on business environment because it results into a slowdown in demand and thus a reduction in production. Firms and businesses wind up during economic cycle. Another concept in the area of dynamic business environment is market conditions. Market conditions refer to the extent of demand and supply of goods and services in the market. Demand and supply are the main determinants of prices of goods and services. The presence of many competitions in the market results into a reduction in prices of goods and services. To beat this odd, Beaumont (2003) noted that a firm must differentiate its products by producing goods and providing services of high quality and standards as well as developing good relationships with the customers. Boone and Kurtz (2010) observed that maintaining good customer relations increases the sales revenue generated by the firm even when market conditions are unfavourable. The other concept in the area of dynamic business environment is changes in government policies and regulations. Governments change regulations and business policies to regulate business activities. Such regulations may include high taxes imposed on businesses, changes in business registration requirements and policies for reduction in carbon emissions. Failure to observe these changes in government policies may lead to increased conflicts between the government and the firms thus destabilising business operations. Critical business functions An organization is divided into operation units that perform different functions. Such functions include human resource, sales and marketing, information technology, production or operation, research and development, finance and accounting and customer service. These functions are undertaken in different levels of management in the organization. These functions are interconnected in different ways. For example, the human resource trains people to work in customer service. The quality of customer service affects the sales generated by the firm. Research and development, generates new methods of production and operation. Information technology affects the extent to which the sales and marketing teams reach the customers in the market. The accounting and finance departments must work to ensure that the human resource receive their salaries in time as a way of motivating the human resource to perform their duties with dedication. In this regard, the concepts above are intertwined and the y generate a positive effect in the long run if the management does not create barriers between the departments represented by the functions above. Integration of individuals and systems Boone and Kurtz (2010) noted that a smooth flow of activities can be achieved in the organization through proper co-ordination between the workers and the organizational management. The three types of communication flow that must be taken into consideration to enhance better business management include; (a) upward communication; (b) Horizontal flow of communication and (c) downward communication flow. Upward communications refer to communication between subordinates and managers. Managers should create a free and fair environment that allows them to welcome any worker with an issue. Upward communication enhances the relationship between the managers and the workers which make the workers feel as part and parcel of the firm. Horizontal communications refer to positive relations between people of the same level. This means that departmental managers should develop positive relations in order to increase the connection of service delivery between the departments. This will allow effective information flow between the departments. In downward communication, messages and information flow from the managers to subordinates. Effective and timely delivery of information from the manager to the subordinates enhances the time within which activities are undertaken in the firm. A delay in the flow of information from the manager delays every other activity being undertaken in the firm. Therefore, all persons from the manager to the subordinates must work together to achieve the desired objectives. Ethical and social responsibilities that confront a business Ethical responsibilities refer to the acceptable code of conducts that guide the behaviour of people in the organization. Ethical responsibilities may be determined by the government, customers, competitors and the business environment at large (Weybrecht, 2010). For example, courtesy in dealing with customers may be an important consideration in beating competitors. The dressing code may be determined by the government to enhance smartness during service delivery both in private and public held institutions. Social responsibility refers to the society’s requirements towards the firm. For example, producing high quality products and selling the products at an affordable price is a social responsibility (Weybrecht, 2010). Additionally, adopting green production methods to reduce emission of green house gases is another social responsibility. Providing a safe and healthy working environment is another example of social responsibility. Treating customers with courtesy and paying the pending debts in time is another important concept in the area of social responsibilities that confront a business. Positive behaviour concept in the organization includes relating with other people positively and following proper channels of dispute resolution. It also involves dressing smartly in the office in order to gain respect particularly from the customers. Ethical and social responsibilities are important considerations in the organization without which the business may not yield the desired objectives. Conclusion In the above sections, different areas that touch sufficiently on operations in the firm have been discussed. They include dynamic business environment where concepts such as economic changes, market conditions and changes in business regulations and policies. The other area discussed is critical business functions where concepts such as human resource, sales and marketing, finance and accounting, production or operation, information technology, research and development as well as customer service have been discussed. The area of integration of individuals and systems has also been discussed. The concepts discussed here include upward communication, horizontal communication and, downward communication. All these make up the flow of communication in the organization. Further, the area of ethical and social responsibilities has been discussed. Among the concepts explored in this area include the responsibility of the firm towards the society in terms of employment, reduction in pollution of the environment and payment of better salaries and wages to the workers. Other concepts discussed in this area include proper dressing codes, handling of customers with care and using courteous language under the area of ethical responsibilities that confront the business. For any company to succeed, all these concepts must be taken into consideration because they may affect the business positively or negatively.

ACT Tutoring

How To Save Money on SAT/ACT Tutoring SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips As you may have seen in some of my other articles on tutoring, if there's one thing you need to know about tutoring, it's this: tutoring is expensive, particularly high quality tutoring. In fact, I've even written an entire article devoted to the topic of how much you should pay for SAT/ACT tutoring. So how can you save money on SAT/ACT tutoring? Let me give you a few tips, tailored around the case studies of 3 hypothetical students. feature image credit: Money – Savings by 401(K) 2012, used under CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped from original. Case 1: Anthony - Comprehensive Tutoring Anthony and his parents have decided he needs a tutor to help him with his ACT test prep and bring his composite score up. He took a timed practice test and scored 23 on Reading, 30 on English, 30 on Math, and 20 on Science, giving him a composite score of 26. His scores seem all over the place, and he isn’t exactly sure where to start with his studying. Anthony's family can’t afford a lot of tutoring. Originally, they thought they could save money by hiring a cheap tutor – maybe some high school student who aced the ACT and is charging $30/hour. After all, a $30/hr tutor could make Anthony's budget stretch to many more hours of tutoring than a more expensive tutor, and more hours are always better, right? Probably not. Getting a low quality tutor, even if she's only charging $30/hr, is a waste of time and money for many students. Why? A high school student who's only charging you $30/hr may be able to help with explaining the answers to practice tests, but it is unlikely that she will have the skills and experience necessary to help with comprehensive test prep.For someone like Anthony, who doesn't know what he needs to study, or how he should plan his studying, or where his weaknesses lie, someone who just helps with practice test answers would not be helpful. Cost-Saving Recommendation for Comprehensive Tutoring: Instead, we'd recommend Anthony hire a higher quality tutor, but for fewer hours. How come? Higher quality tutors are able to help you set the stage for your studying outside of tutoring sessions. This means that you are able to stretch what you can get - if you end up spending 9 hours using what the tutor taught you in one $60/hour test prep session, you're effectively paying $6/hour for tutoring. Not too shabby! Anthony goes with a $60/hr tutor for two sessions over the course of 4 weeks, and learns how to better plan his studying and what he needs to focus on. His tutor finds that Anthony is overwhelmed by the large amount of information presented in the Reading and Science questions, and so focuses Anthony's study around becoming more comfortable with the Reading and Science sections and drilling these questions. Anthony creates a study plan with his tutor for 6 hours of study a week, scheduling in practice tests and time to review his mistakes. Even after Anthony's 2 sessions with the tutor are over, he's able to use the study schedule his tutor devised to guide his test prep, right up until testing day. When he takes the ACT for real, he gets a 32 on Reading, 31 on English, 30 on Math, and 30 on Science – huge leaps in achievement for a minor investment in tutoring time. Case 2: Carmela -Partial Tutoring Carmela took the SAT in December and got a 740 on CR, 640 on Writing, and 660 on Math. She’s applying to college as a humanities major, so she really needs to get her score up on the Writing section. What are Carmela's issues with SAT Writing? Well, she keeps messing up the hardest writing questions, and she doesn't really know how to improve her SAT essay. After all, she's good at writing essays in school - shouldn't that just carry over? Why should she bother studying something she's good at in school? Carmela doesn't know how to plan her essay prep and in any case is unmotivated to do so. Cost-Saving Recommendation for PartialTutoring: How does Carmela overcome these obstacles? She gets tutoring only for the hardest problems and for high-level study planning and motivation. Carmela hires a tutor for $50/hr for 4 sessions over 8 weeks. The tutor figures out that Carmela is getting the hardest Writing questions wrong when the answer choices are technically correct but worded in a way they would never appear in real life. She also discovers that Carmela is using mostly abstract reasoning in her practice essays, rather than concrete examples. Carmela's tutor sets out a study schedule for Carmela: half an hour of practice on the hardest writing questions every other day. On the off days, the tutor tells Carmela to start coming up with some historical, literary, or pop culture events that she can mine for examples on the SAT essay, like World War II or The Hunger Games; if she knows a few historical events or pieces of literature really well, she will be able to take examples from them for nearly any SAT essay topic. In addition to giving Carmela specific tutoring tips, the tutor helps Carmela figure out that her target Writing score is a 720, and so she needs to improve by 80 points. With concrete information on how much she needs to improve and how to do so, Carmela is motivated to study for the SAT outside of tutoring as well as during tutoring sessions. After 2 months of tutoring, Carmela takes the SAT again and gets 730 on CR, 730 on Writing, and 690 on Math – a much better score report for a prospective humanities student. Another alternative: If Carmela had only had issues with hardest Writing problems, she could have tried tutoring combined with another test prep strategy, like tutoring and a self-guided online prep program, or tutoring and focused self-study. In this particular case, since Carmela was struggling with motivation to improve her essay as well as with the hardest Writing problems, it made more sense for her to get tutoring that would help her with both. Case 3: Marie -A Limited Budget for Tutoring Marie took the SAT in October of her junior year and got a 660 on CR, 600 on Writing, and 570 on Math. After focused math self-studying, she retook the SAT in March and got a 640 on CR, 620 on Writing, and 740 on Math, which brings her composite superscore up from 1830 to 2020. Marie has a very limited budget ($120), but really wants to solidify her chances of getting into Smith College. The middle 50% of first years who enter Smith have composite SAT scores ranging from 1870-2190, so to increase her chances of getting in, Marie really needs to get her total SAT score to at or above 2190...which is a 170 point increase. How does Marie decide if she should get tutoring? Marie considers her overall budget and her current test prep progress. Can she achieve her results within her current system, or does she need a tutor? Cost-Saving Recommendation for Limited Tutoring Budget: Marie concludes that because she was able to improve her Math score with self-study, she can probably apply the same methods to studying for the Critical Reading and Writing sections. What were these methods? She took timed practice tests, marking every question she wasn't sure about, and thoroughly reviewed the questions she got wrong and the questions she guessed on but got right. During her prep for the SAT Math section, Marie discovered that she had a tendency to rush through reading the question because she was so nervous that she would run out of time, which led to her often answering the wrong question. She spent hours drilling herself on actual SAT Math questions in her weakest areas, elementary algebra and plane geometry, slowly but surely increasing the speed at which she could answer the questions, which in turn helped her slow down when reading the questions. Marie decides that since Smith superscores the SAT (combines the highest scores for each section across all testing dates), and she clearly has an effective test-prep method, she will take the SAT 2 more times (a cost of $105), once after having focused on Writing and once after having focused on Critical Reading. She does and scores 750 on Writing and 790 on Critical Reading, bringing her overall score up to 2280 - well above the composite she needs to get into Smith. So how does this apply to you? Let’s take a look at the tips I mention above, distilled down into a series of hypotheticals. How Can I Save Money on SAT/ACT Tutoring? Do you want the best test prep, bar none? Then get high quality, expensive tutoring. Want good prep but have a limited budget, like Anthony? Spend your money on a higher quality tutor for a shorter amount of time. Only need focused prep, like Carmela? Get a high quality tutor who can focus on that section so you don't buy hours for the other sections. Have a strict budget that limits tutoring? Then use another prep program, and add tutoring sparingly for high level stuff. Is your current method effective? Keep careful watch on how you do on practice and actual tests, note where you need to improve (by section and within a section), and then take more official tests. If your score plateaus, you should consider other options. If you hit your target scores, like Marie did, then you're all set! Use these tips to help you save on tutoring when studying for the SAT/ACT. Dollars by 401(K) 2012, used under CC BY-SA 2.0. What’s Next The best way to save money on tutoring is to make sure you’re getting the best tutor for you. How do you do this? Read more about it here. What should you be looking for in a tutor, anyway? Check out my article on what makes an effective tutor. Want to find out more about PrepScholar Tutoring Program? PrepScholar co-founder Fred Zhang has the article for you. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Employee Survey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employee Survey - Essay Example The employee engagement survey of McDonald’s will consider three aspects of employee equity such as alignment of the Human Resources (HR), their capabilities and their engagement in the organizational process. The employee engagement survey is designed for the purpose of studying employee equity which includes their alignment, their capabilities and their engagement with the overall organizational process. The survey is intended to be based on the questionnaire method where employees will be provided with several close-ended questions in order to judge the equity. Contextually, it can be mentioned that survey is a useful method for recognizing the degree of alignment, possessed capabilities and level of engagement of employees. The major component of the survey is the type of questions to be asked to the respondents. The questions are designed in a close-ended framework so that it can fully address all the aspects of employee equity and make it a valid one reducing any kind of ambiguity (Nawaz, 2011). The reaction of respondents will be measured through Likert scaling method and will also be benchmarked by contrasting with other similar organizations. Employee engagement is considered as one of the biggest challenges for a multinational company such as McDonald’s. The sample for the survey will be selected randomly in order to avoid any kind of biasness from every hierarchical position of the organizational structure. The survey report on employee equity will depict the suitability of approaches and strategies used by McDonald’s in order to make employees satisfied and capable enough to contribute in the overall organizational productivity. It is worth mentioning in this regard that the survey has been developed in order to measure the level of organizational proficiency of McDonald’s and similar other businesses to manage their human resources

Lab report peer review Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lab report peer review - Assignment Example In figure 2 the COSY and H NMR data for unknown 2 shows a structural representation known as 4-heptanone. FEEDBACK: Yes, there is a good transition between the paragraphs. The information flow from one paragraph leads to the analysis of the next one. Together, the paragraphs sustain an argument, for example, paragraph 1 that introduces the thesis statement is followed logically with paragraph 2 that analyzes unknown 1 to completion before introducing analysis of unknown 2 in paragraph 3. FEEDBACK: There is a remarkably smooth integration of examples by the author into the argument. The connections between the evidence cited and the ideas supported are also quite clear. For instance, in each of the three cases of unknowns, the author illustrates the number of carbon/proton chains that produce the structure of the peaks that help in identifying the figures. The author supports the findings with appropriate figures. FEEDBACK: The other problems are not spotted. Only clichà ©s are used in the paper. Examples are â€Å"†¦in conjunction with†¦Ã¢â‚¬  in paragraph 1 and â€Å"†¦pentane chain which mirrors each side†¦Ã¢â‚¬  in paragraph 5 (Pavia, Pg

Human resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Human resource management - Essay Example However, other forms of motivations discussed in this essay enable companies to increase their productivity. Motivation refers to any incentive or force that seeks to develop, direct and sustain behaviours of employees (Perkins & White, 2011, ch.6). The first theory that seeks to explain how employees are motivated in the workplaces is the expectancy theory. This theory also explains the relationship between pay and performance in the workplace. Expectancy theory is based on the notion that employees consciously choose options that maximize pleasure and minimize pain. In the workplace, this is evident by employees working hard in order to have a better life and lifestyle (Thompson, 2009, p130). Expectancy theory correlates efforts and performance; employees will perform according to expectations in order to achieve rewards (Marsden, 2004, p16). The reward helps the employee to satisfy his or her needs. The satisfaction gained from the reward makes the work worthwhile. According to this theory, the employees have a choice while doing their work (Marsden, 2004, p17). The goal setting theory, on the other hand, emphasizes more commitment rather than incentives as the prime motivation for employees. The theory suggests that employees work harder if they are committed to attaining their individual and company goals (Thompson, 2009, p130). The goals increase the effort and performance of the employees. The goal setting theory is often complimented by, to some extent, the use of incentives. The incentives should be because of the employees setting their own goals (Grimshaw & Ribery, 2010, p361). Moreover, the goals should be attainable and realistic and not far-fetched (Marchington, Mick & Wilkinson, 2008, p47). The manager’s task, while adopting this motivational theory, is to achieve balance between the set goals, the difficulty and challenging nature of the goals and the incentives for completion of the goals (Kessler,

Distinction Between Leadership in Educational Organisation and Essay

Distinction Between Leadership in Educational Organisation and Business Organisation - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that leadership has been an aspect of human civilization from time immemorial and has been exercised in ruling tribes to nations and in winning wars and facing adversities of natural disasters. Leadership is defined as â€Å"the ability to influence individuals and groups to work toward attaining organizational objectives†. While leadership, in general, remains essentially an influencing process, the styles of leadership vary greatly and to suit the different situations and follower profiles. While different schools of thoughts extend different views on leadership, they are grouped under four wide categories of trait, behavioral, situational and transformational theories. Trait theories believe that leaders have specific qualities and characteristics in them that make them a leader. Subsequently, leadership studies turned to leaders’ actions and behaviors. Leadership studies evolved further to accommodate the idea of situation al aspects that required different leadership styles. Alternative approaches have emerged in the form of Transformational vs. transactional approach. In order to compare and contrast the different styles of leadership adopted by two leaders in two different organizations, a leader in an educational organization – Principal of Washington Elementary School and CEO of Slim Line Limited – an apparel manufacturing International Joint Venture of MAST Industries USA have been interviewed.

Explanation of Roper et al's Activity of Living Essay

Explanation of Roper et al's Activity of Living - Essay Example Other underpinning theories including dignity, consent, and privacy shall also be discussed in this paper as they relate to better and effective nursing care. Although not all of Roper’s activities of daily living apply to this case, they shall nevertheless be included for discussion purposes. This paper is being carried out in order to establish a clearer picture and understanding of Roper’s activities of daily living and the impact of disease, disability, and infirmities on such activities. Body The patient is a 55-year old Afro-Caribbean male who was admitted to the hospital after suffering a fall secondary to excessive alcohol intake. He also has Type 2 diabetes as his other co-morbid condition based on his previous medical history. He lives alone after his wife divorced him two and a half years ago. He is also unemployed because he lost his driving license three years ago and has since sought solace in alcohol which he initially thought he could control. Roper†™s Activities of daily living 1. Maintaining a safe environment Maintaining a safe environment is crucial for this patient. Patients who have experienced falls are likely to fall again because of any injuries they may have suffered and any immobility which their fall might have caused (Lord, et.al., 2007). Maintaining a safe environment includes safety precautions which can be made on the home and in the patient’s hospital room. Guard rails on the bed have to be put up, especially in instances where the patient’s mental awareness is low (Miller, 2008). Since the patient is suffering from excessive alcohol intake, the guard rails need to be put up in order to prevent any repeat falls. Maintaining a safe environment also requires the nurses taking on leadership roles in order to maintain and monitor standards which can secure the cleanliness and effective infection control measures (Smith, n.d). The care administered to the patient therefore includes various remedies i ncluding infection control as well as monitoring of patient progress. Maintaining a safe environment for the patient also includes the process of ensuring that the nurses have the sufficient skills and training to care for the patient and administer to his needs (Smith, n.d). Such safe environment also includes working in partnership with health professionals in order to deliver adequate patient care (Smith, n.d). Ensuring a safe environment also includes the process of effective communication with the patient, gaining their consent before interventions are carried out (Department of Health, 2010). Maintaining a safe environment for the patient also involves patient education, teaching the patient about the dangers of alcoholism and any further injuries he may suffer due to his intoxication. It is also important to educate the patient about his disease and the risks he is taking with his alcohol intake (Gonzalez, et.al., 2005). Any injuries he may suffer would also likely take a lon g period of time to heal because of his diabetes. Maintaining his privacy at all times is also part of the safe environment created for the patient, ensuring that he can trust the nurse and his dignity can be respected at all times (Department of Health, 2010). 2. Communication Since the patient is still in the throes of his alcoholic stupor, there is a communication barrier between the nurse and the patient. When he was sober, there were no apparent communication bar