Analysis of My Genetic Inheritance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis of My Genetic Inheritance - Essay Example My younger brother Larry is very close to my Father. I am not sure why this is, but I think it might be because he is very cute, and he likes the same sports as my Dad. They do things together sometimes, such as watching particular sports programs on tv, and I can see that they both like this very much. My Dad never did that with me when I was his age, and I think maybe as Dad gets older he is not so busy with work, and he likes to spend time with Larry to relax. Dad was not close to his own father, and I am guessing that he wants to make up for that with his own sons, or at least one of them. I am really happy about this because it shows that a person can break free from the patterns that they experienced themselves as a child, and they can make a new start with the next generation. My older Brother Mark has left home and does not have much contact with the rest of us in the family. I used to be a bit afraid of him because he always seemed to be a person that wants to be in control. Now I think maybe he had a difficult job, being the oldest of three boys, and he used to argue a lot with my father. He is the same age as one of the cousins on my father’s side, and I think that he learned some bad habits from him, such as drinking and smoking. I would not be surprised if he even takes drugs, because he was never that impressed with rules and authority. It seems that alcoholism is a common occurrence in my father’s side of the family. My Dad talks about his brothers sometimes, and the mischief they got involved in when they were teenagers. I can see that he has changed since then, and that is probably due to the influence of my mother. She does not drink alcohol, and although she is not totally against it, she would prefer if her family stays away from things that make them behave badly. My brother seems to have a very independent mindset, and it may be that he has inherited this from my grandfather on my father’s side. The cousin that he used to spend time with his now broken contact with his parents and he lives in some community in Nevada. I am not sure what that is all about, but it may have something to do with alternative lifestyles and a kind of resistance to mainstream American values. My older brother does not follow the same kind of crazy ideas that my cousin does, but I think he is disillusioned with his job and wishes he could move away from this state and start something new in a different place. He is certainly more rebellious than my younger brother and me, and I think in the future he might surprise everybody by doing something quite amazing. He is the brightest of us all, but he chooses not to study hard, and so it is possible that one day he will come back to our way of thinking and do something useful with his life.  Ã‚  

Measuring Customer Satisfaction at ImageStream Essay Example for Free

Measuring Customer Satisfaction at ImageStream Essay ImageStream Internet Solutions, Inc. is a privately held company in its 9th year of operation. ImageStream engineers, manufactures, and distributes Linux-based routing products for network and Internet applications. ImageStream products are used by Internet service providers (ISPs), governments, schools, and businesses in more than 75 countries around the world. As ImageStream moves toward its next decade, market forces require it, like most high technology companies, to be fast and responsive. The company faces constant change in demands and needs along with the pressures of mission creep in the face of limited resources. It is against this backdrop that ImageStream started its ISO 9000:2000 certification process. This process requires not only the implementation of quality processes, but measurement of their efficacy as well. ImageStream conducts key manager meetings twice monthly, and a company-wide review on a semi-annual basis. During these managerial and company reviews, the senior executives identify key metrics driving the success of the companys mission, including those metrics that would benefit most from significant improvement. This proposal outlines the use of a customer satisfaction survey and seeks to answer the management question: What is the current customer satisfaction with the level and type of customer service provided by ImageStream? The study will explore the conceptual framework of service quality, the positive and negative impacts of service quality on ImageStream, and the effect of favorable and unfavorable customer intentions on perceived quality using survey research. Armed with the statistical analyses outlined below, the operations management team will identify current trends in customer satisfaction in a proactive attempt to resolve to any issues. Background and Literature Review The study and development of customer service techniques and customer  retention management programs has blossomed into its own industry. This increasing focus on customer satisfaction is not surprising, given the positive correlation between happy customers and successful companies illustrated in countless marketing research studies. This study will outline the relationship between customer satisfaction with service and customer retention at ImageStream. To support the findings, we will conduct an empirical study focusing on the relationship between perceived service quality and customer intentions. Weinstein and Johnson (1999) recommend that companies like ImageStream should spend 75% of its marketing budget on customer retention strategies and to strengthen these relationships. Once customers commit to a product platform, and the longer they use and deploy that platform, the more profit ImageStream can realize. Longstanding, satisfied customers will generally continue, or often increase, purchasing, require less operational and customer service support, and be more willing to pay price premiums to remain with the companyall without incurring new customer acquisition costs (Pine, Peppers, and Rogers, 1995). This paper will analyze how ImageStreams service relationship with its customers produces customer behaviors indicating whether or not a customer will remain an ImageStream customer. The methodology used will follow Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuramans study on this topic (1996). Since replacing lost customers requires new customer acquisition costs, customer retention should be a fundamental performance measure for ImageStreams executive staff and a key component of the companys incentive programs (Zeithaml et al., 1996). According to the American Management Association, acquiring a new customer can require five times the investment needed to keep an existing customer (Weinstein et al., 1999). Literature Review Customer service, not surprisingly, has been researched extensively: from the conceptual framework of service quality, to the positive and negative impacts of service quality, to the effect of favorable and unfavorable  customer intentions on perceived quality. We review these concepts in recent literature, and investigate an empirical study focusing on the relationship between service quality and customer behavioral intentions (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman (1996) offer a conceptual model of service quality. The researchers postulate that the quality of customer service will determine whether a company retains its customers or loses them to defection. Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman (1996) highlight seven key points: 1.Customer defection has a negative relationship with an organizations profitability. 2.Retaining current customers costs less than acquiring new ones. 3.Customer retention should be a fundamental component of incentive programs. 4.Companies must advertise not only to attract new customers, but to replace lost customers. 5.Advertising, promotion, and sales costs are required expenses when attracting new customers. 6.In general, at the beginning of a customer/vendor relationship, the customers do not generate a profit for the company. Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman estimate that acquisition cost recovery can take as long as four years. 7.Positive customer assessments of service quality lead to positive behavioral intentions, strengthening the relationship between the customer and the company. Negative assessments, on the other hand, create unfavorable customer behavioral intentions. The unfavorable conditions weaken the customer/vendor relationship. Based on their research and observations, Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman  (1996) believe that expressed or observed behavioral intentions can indicate whether or not customers will remain with an organization. Reinartz and Kumar (2000) challenge Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuramans assertions that customer retention always leads well-managed companies to profitability. Reinartz and Kumar (2000) argue that long-term customers are not always the most profitable customers, and dismiss research assuming that loyalty equates with profitability as a gross oversimplification. Reinartz and Kumar (2000) contend that managers should not automatically assume increased lifetime spending, decreased costs of service, and decreased price sensitivity for long-term retained customers. Reinartz and Kumar (2000) go further in also disputing the idea that long-term retained customers require lesser marketing investment by companies. Their research concluded that long-term customers often have inactive purchasing periods unrelated to their retention by an organization (Reinartz and Kumar, 2000). During these dormant periods, these customers are at best a break-even proposition for organizations, and often consume marketing and service resources resulting in net losses during periods of inactivity. Reinartz and Kumar (2000) found that short-term customers may be as significant to customers as longtime clients. Other research indicates that organizations struggling with a single approach to satisfy all customers can end up with inefficient and inappropriate levels of service (Cohen, Cull, Lee and Willen, 2000). Cohen, Cull, Lee and Willen (2000) conclude that organizations must customize their service to meet each customers individual needs. Superior service generates favorable behavioral intentions in customers, including increased future spending, acceptance of price premiums, word of mouth referrals, and, ultimately, customer retention (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Research suggests that most employees have a true customer orientation in that they understand their customers needs, and possess empathy and respect for their customers (Bitner, Booms and Mohr, 1994). Quality service builds customer faith in the organization, and is essential for maintaining competitive advantage (Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml, 1994). Since quality customer service can generate positive behavioral intentions, quality service strategies are effectively profit strategies for organizations. Research illustrates this link between service and profitability, as Keaveney (1995) found that customer defections can cost an organization future revenue stream. As customers intentions toward a company improve, the results include new customers, increased business with existing customers, fewer lost customers, and added pricing power (Berry et al., 1994). Berry and Parasuraman (1997) stress the creation of customer feedback channels as a component of quality service. Listening and responding to the customers needs in a quality way has a direct effect on the quality of service provided (Berry and Parasuraman, 1997). This focus on customer feedback drove the purpose of this series of papers. Evidence, such as Keaveneys study, highlighting the role customer loyalty plays in making an organization more profitable makes it imperative that companies quickly and proactively address concerns, complaints and other unfavorable behavioral intentions among their customers (Tax, Brown and Chandrashekar, 1998). Tax, Brown and Chandrashekars point also applies in a comparative sense as well. Organizations can potentially provide satisfactory service that nonetheless lags other competitors service offerings. In these cases, customers may defect because of the attraction of comparatively superior service offerings from a competitor. Managers of service departments and service companies must recognize this comparative measure, and realize that some customers will defect even when they are satisfied with a former provider (Keaveney, 1995). Customers display favorable intentions such as praising the company, expressing a preference for the company to the company or to other consumers, continuing and/or increasing purchasing volumes, paying price premiums, and making recommendations to others based on their satisfaction with the company (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Satisfied customers stay loyal to an organization longer, pay less attention to competitive products, exhibit less price sensitivity, offer service improvement or expansion ideas to the organization and cost less to service over time than new customers (Weinstein et al., 1999). When dissatisfied, customers display unfavorable intentions such as expressing an eagerness to leave the organization, decreasing purchase patterns, voicing complaints to the vendor, complaining to others, or taking legal action against the organization (Zeithaml et al., 1996). When customers do leave an organization, many choose to do so quietly with the intention of getting even by making negative comments to others about the organization (Tax and Brown, 1998). Since defecting customers can impact current and future revenue streams, properly identifying dissatisfied customers and understanding why customers defect can be valuable tools in improving customer retention management programs. Companies must implement strategies to overcome potential customer defections. Retention efforts should begin as soon as organizations acquire new customers. The organization should proactively attempt to learn and address customer needs and resolve any complaints or concerns quickly (Weinstein et al., 1999). Weinstein et al. (1999) suggest several ways to build loyalty and increase favorable behavioral intentions in customers. They suggest that organizations could embed sales staff at the offices of their best customers, participate in their customers events or promotional efforts, interview their customers customers, conduct retreats with major customers to share best practices and to train customers on company products and services, develop a preferred customer pricing strategy, reward customers for referring new business, solicit feedback on product development roadmaps, and even partner with key accounts on industry research projects (Weinstein et al., 1999). SERVQUAL Among the most popular assessments tools of service quality is SERVQUAL, an instrument designed by Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml (1994). Through numerous qualitative studies, they evolved a set of five dimensions ranked consistently by customers as central to service quality, regardless of the  service industry. Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml (1994) defined these dimensions as: *Tangibles: the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials; *Reliability: an ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately; *Responsiveness: a willingness to help customers and provide prompt service; *Assurance: the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence; and *Empathy: the caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers. Based on the five SERVQUAL dimensions, the researchers also developed a survey instrument to measure the gap between customers expectation for excellence and their perception of actual service delivered. The SERVQUAL instrument helps service providers understand both customer expectations and perceptions of specific services, as well as quality improvements over time (Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml, 1988). Analysis of customer responses to a SERVQUAL questionnaire presents numerous potential practical implications for companies and their customer service teams. Scope We will conduct a study of all ImageStream customers (the population) by e-mailing or mailing a questionnaire to companies listed in ImageStreams internal records. The study will take less than one month to complete. We will contact all customers and direct them to the on-line survey, and follow up with customers who have not responded after two weeks. We will end the study after four weeks, and expect 25%-30% participation. We base this estimate on the response rate of similar studies mentioned above. A response  rate of at least 10% will yield a significant sample, enabling us to make conclusive findings and recommendations. Methodology We identify three determinants of customer satisfaction with ImageStream: service quality, solution quality, and price (through a measure of perceived value). Data on customer satisfaction, service quality, solution quality and price will be collected through the attached questionnaire survey. The questionnaire adapts the SERVQUAL instrument developed by Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml (1998) and uses a combination of Likert-scaled, dichotomous and unstructured questions. The use of both bipolar Likert/dichotomous and unstructured questions allows us to benefit from the strengths of both quantitative and qualitative research. The use of quantitative questions allows us to obtain a high degree of reliability and validity using the scientific method, and enables others to more easily repeat or replicate our study. The qualitative questions provide background for customer responses, and help to identify any underlying issues highlighted by the quantitative research. Triangulation, in this case the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, allows us to overcome the weakness of using only one research technique. We do not assume that there is only one reality and believe that different research methods will reveal different perspectives. Using quantitative and qualitative triangulation allows us to use different sets of data, different types of analyses, different researchers, and/or different theoretical perspectives to study customer service. The quantitative question results will provide data that we can subject to complex statistical analyses. We will combine the quantitative question responses to determine central tendencies and dispersion of the data, including measures of mean, standard error, median, mode, standard deviation, variance, kurtosis, skewness, and range. We will analyze the  results of each question and of the study as a whole. Based on the results of the analysis above, we will develop regressions to identify potential relationships between past service experiences, perceived quality, future purchasing behavior, and loyalty. A possible research design for the regression analysis follows. H1: There is a positive correlation between the level of superior customer service and positive future customer behavior. H2: There is a negative or no correlation between the level of superior customer service and positive future customer behavior. H3: There is a positive correlation between the level of inferior customer service and negative future customer behavior. H4: There is a negative or no correlation between the level of inferior customer service and negative future customer behavior. Using these results, we can make conclusions about the management problem defined above. Development of these findings will include the use of anecdotal evidence from the qualitative questions in the survey. We will use the responses to the qualitative questions to support the quantitative findings, and to highlight key issues not covered by the quantitative portions of the survey. Possible Findings Following Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman (1996), we believe that a positive relationship exists between quality service and positive customer behavior as defined above. Additionally, we believe that our research will show that favorable customer behavioral intentions will be higher among customers experiencing no service problems. Customers who have experience problems, but received service to resolve them will show the next highest level. Customers with unresolved service problems will show the least favorable  behavioral intentions. Conclusion Customer service and its effect on customer retention in an organization is a growing area of research, and one that is vital to maintaining quality at ImageStream. This paper examined customer retention and defection from an organization in the context of customer service quality, exploring four areas: 1.A conceptual framework of how service quality affects particular customer behaviors and the consequences for ImageStream, establishing the purpose for this study, 2.Empirical studies that focused on the relationship between service quality and customer behavioral intentions, 3.A triangulated quantitative and qualitative survey to study perceived service levels among ImageStream customers, 4.Follow-on research based on the survey results and statistical analysis, including a summary of expected findings Customer retention branches off into many other significant areas such as value-added services, supply chain relationships, use of information systems to service customers better, and very importantly perceived and expected performance. Organizations have a chance to learn from their customers. The more customers teach the company the more effective it becomes at providing exactly what they want and the more difficult it is for competitors to lure them away from the organization (Pine II et al., 1995). Learning about customers is what this whole retention topic is about. The customers tell the organization what to do to keep them. The strategy is for the organization to learn how to listen and respond. References Anton, J. (1996). Customer Relationship Management: Making Hard Decisions with Soft Numbers. New York: Prentice Hall. Berry, L., Parasuraman, A. and Zeithaml, V. (1988). A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its Implications for Future Research. The Academy of Management Executive, 8, 32-52. Berry, L. and Parasuraman, A. (1997). Listening to the Customer: The Concept of a Service-Quality Information System. Sloan Management Review, 38, 65-76. Berry, L., Parasuraman, A. and Zeithaml, V. (1994). Improving Service Quality in America: Lessons Learned. The Academy of Management Executive, 8, 32-52. Bitner, M., Booms, B. and Mohr, L. (1994). Critical Service Encounters: The Employees Viewpoint. Journal of Marketing, 58, 95-106. Chase, R. and Stewart, D. (1994). Make Your Service Failsafe. Sloan Management Review, 35, 35-44. Cohen, M., Cull, C., Lee, H. and Willen, D. (2000). Saturns Supply-Chain Cooper, D. and Schindler, P. (2002). Business Research Methods (6th ed.). Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. Cronin Jr., Joseph J. and Taylor, S. (1992). Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension. Journal of Marketing, 56, 55-68. Heskett, J., Jones, T., Loveman, G., Sasser, W., and Schlesinger, L. (1994, March-April). Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work. Harvard Business Review, 164-174. Innovation: High Value After-Sales. Sloan Management Review, 41, 93. Joppe, M. (n.d.). The Research Process. Retrieved January 12, 2004 from http://www.ryerson.ca/~mjoppe/rp.htm Keaveney, S. (1995). Customer Switching Behavior in Service Industries: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Marketing, 59, 71-82. Pine II, J., Peppers, D. and Rogers, M. (1995). Do You Want to Keep Your Customers Forever? Harvard Business Review, 73, 103-114. Pitt, L., Watson, R., Kavan, C. (1997). Measuring Information Systems Service Quality: Concerns for a complete canvas. MIS Quarterly, 21, 209-221. Reinartz, Werner J. and Kumar, V. (2000). On the Profitability of Long-Life Customers in a Noncontractual Setting: An Empirical Investigation and Implications for Marketing. Journal of Marketing, 64, 17. Tax, S. and Brown, S. (1998). Recovering and learning from service failures. Sloan Management Review, 40, 75-88. Tax, S., Brown, S.and Chandrashekar, M. (1998). Customer evaluations of service complaint experiences: implications for relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 62, 60-76. Van Dyke, T., Kappelman, L., and Prybutok, V. (1997, June). Measuring Information Systems Service Quality: Concerns on the use of the SERVQUAL questionnaire. MIS Quarterly, 21, 195-208. Weinstein, Art and Johnson, W. (1999). Designing and Delivering Superior Customer Value: Concepts, Cases, and Applications. Boca Raton: CRC Press. Whyte, G., Bytheway, A., and Edwards, C. (1997). Understanding User Perceptions of Information Systems Success. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 6, 35-68. Zeithaml, V., Berry, L. and Parasuraman, A. (1996). The Behavioral Consequences of Service Quality. Journal of Marketing, 60, 31-46.

Quality Management at Coca Cola, Vodafone and Cadbury

Quality Management at Coca Cola, Vodafone and Cadbury The total quality management is customer oriented, with all the members of the organisation striving to systemically improve the organisation through the partial participation of the employees in problem solving efforts across the functional and hierarchical boundaries. The total quality management includes the concepts of quality products, process control, quality assurance and quality improvement on an fragmentary basis. All the transformational process in an organisation to improve the customers satisfaction in the most economical manner for all these the control is taken by the quality management. This process works in each unit of the work system with the internally self control. The problem solving action is given to the lower level in the organisation, allowing the responsible people to take the quality control and corrective measure where necessary in order to deliver a product or service that meet the needs of the customers. Total Quality Management has a management philosophy, a paradigm, a continuous improvement approach to doing business with a new management model. The philosophy of quality management has evolved a philosophy of continuous improvement focusing on the quality and the most important dimension of the activity. Meanwhile, dominant highlight the quality of the product or service. The total quality management goes beyond statistical process control activities to embrace a broader management on how we manage people and organizations by focusing on the whole process and not mere measures. Keeping the customers in mind at all time is when the company makes the quality products and services, which is always the highest priority of the organisations. From quality guarantee hard work of each employee for the quality of society as a whole. The company which wants to be success in the market and among its customers devotes itself to make quality products and service for its customers. TQM (Total quality management) is a way to manage the future of the organization and have much wider application only to ensure the product or service quality It is the way of managing the people and business processes to ensure customer satisfaction at every stage of the organisational activity, internally and externally. It is a combined effort of the effective leadership, results organisations doing the right things and right first time. The core of quality management is the customer- supplier relation edge, both externally and internally and in each edge lays a number of processes. This is the main activity that surrounds the organizations promise to quality and quality of the message and recognisation needs to change the entire organization to create quality. These are the basis for quality management and support of the leadership roles of people, processes and systems. For the quality management, the chosen companies are from different industries and they have different systems and requirement for their quality management for their product and services which are to be introduced to the market. The companies are Coca Cola, Vodafone, Cadbury. These three companies provides its products to the customers with products and services quality checked before introducing in the market so that the customers are satisfied and the company makes the effective and efficient use of the material and making profit at the end. 2. Quality Management at Coca cola The coca cola company ensures the best quality of its beverages by implementing globally accepted authenticated manufacturing process and quality management system. The company measure the products and its package quality attributes to ensure that the beverages products in the marketplace meet the requirements of the company and expectations of customers. Consistency and reliability are the two key factors to the quality of the product. These factors are critical in meeting the global regulatory requirements and the company standards. The global nature of the business requires high standards and processes for ensuring consistent products and quality from the concentrate production to the bottling and product delivery by them. For ensuring the consistency and reliability, the companys quality system is directed by The Coca-Cola Management System (TCCMS). TCCMS is their integrated quality management program which holds all the operations of the company system wide to the same standards for the production nad distribution of the beverages. It assures the highest standards in the management of the product quality, the environment and the health and safety throughout the Coca cola system. TCCMS is supported by the heads throughout the company as it guides the product safety and quality by bringing together the ultimate objective of the business and quality simultaneously with consistent metrics of monitoring the performance of the product, integrating the preventive actions as a management tool. It demands rigorous efforts while planning for introducing a new product or service including the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) into the companys system standard. This management system includes defining the problem solving methodologies and tools to make continuous product safety and quality improvements. The relevance of the product safety and quality guidelines are evaluated again and again so as to stay updated with the new regulations, best practices in the industry and the market conditions to help them sustain in the market with their competitors. The food quality and safety awareness are provided to the manufacturing as well as the entire supply chain. The company maintains a safety and quality system for the TCCMS requirement by establishing, implementing and documenting each business within the coca cola system. The process and quality assurance program conducted at each of the manufacturing facilities are with world class standards. The following are the programs. 2.1 Proof and testing source of water for plant site selection The manufacturing plant site is finalised only after the source water is tested for the requirement. The testing of the source water are conducted by the third party accredited laboratories, the analysis are conducted are based on the requirement of the globally standards. After the selection, the source water is checked and tested on a regular basis to ensure that the international standards are met. The water for the plant are taken through the sealed pipelines and stored in. tanks placed in secure areas of the water treatment plant. 2.2 Purity of Sugar The sugar selection process as severe as our water selection process. The sugar is brought from the high grade authorised mills, which is then cleaned with global acclaimed carbon treatment process. The sugar is then converted to purified sugar syrup which is that mixes with the soft drink beverage concentrate. 2.3 Carbon Dioxide Meeting International Purity Standards Carbon-dioxide is manufactured from authorised suppliers which meets the international purity standards. The gas is then taken through a severe quality control confirmation prior to using it in the beverages etc. 2.4 Automated Bottling Process The bottles returned from the market are recycled through automated process; these bottles are sterilized at a very high temperatures with formulated cleaning agents. The bottles are then transported to the filler for filing with the automated filling machine, the bottles are then capped, date coded and packed into crates. (Quality commitment, http://www.cocacola.in/quality/quality_commitment_policy.aspx) The company has a well clear and structured manufacturing procedure quality control and guarantee program. All manufacturing services of the company are skilled, experienced and professional training to manufacture and test the product. The company has a strong internal audit system to monitor the compliance to international and local standards. The manufacturing facilities are audited by the external audit agencies for the quality management standards. The company make sure that the beverages are tested by acknowledged quality assurance mechanism before it is brought to the market. Company meets the international standards ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 SGS and Lloyds of London, an internationally recognized registrar, to assess the quality system against Coca-Cola ISO 9001:2000 (quality) and ISO 14001 (Environment) . Department supports the activities of the company for each of the packages to enable them to offer world class products. The system applies to the bottling company, and activities are also supported by the same technical and quality systems and standards. 2.5 Quality Assurance and control The coca cola company has one global standard Coca cola operation in different areas follows the same international quality standards across all the bottling operations. Every ingredient used in the manufacturing process of the beverages meet all the local regulatory, company and international standards. They undergo through extensive testing and inspection before it is introduced. These ingredients are regularly tested by the external accredited laboratories so that they are updated and they meet the standards of the company 3. Quality Management at Vodafone Vodafone has adopted specific framework of analytically assessing the excellence of the services which are given to the customers. These frameworks are assessed from the concept and planning phase to their delivery of the product to the ultimate customers in the market. These frameworks include the following: 3.1 Service Evaluation Service Evaluation is done to ensure that the new product and services are designed, developed and implemented based on the quality requirements, keeping the company policies in mind and processes aiming to meet customers need. The quality standards of the new products and services are checked through specific number of trials with certain level standards, with prior and post launch of the product against the initial technical and quality specifications. 3.2 Quality of Service monitoring The most important method before going to set the target and network development on the use of mobile telecommunication network is to understand the customer perception on these matters. The pioneer indicators demonstrate the quality of service is the Call Success Rate- CSR- the percentage of successfully set up, maintained and released calls, as perceived by the customers, the Poor Voice Quality- accessing the quality of communication and the Weak signal Percentage- evaluating the weak signal level. Quality of Service is monitored is performed on their GSM, GPRS and UMTS Services. 3.3 Suppliers and Partners Performance Evaluation Vodafone access the quality of the product and service and identify the areas of improvement and implement appropriate action in order to maintain a mutual trust and cooperation with its partners and to achieve mutual beneficial synergies. 3.4 Participation in Vodafone group network and Service quality team Vodafone aims to ensure the quality of the product and services especially on the new technologies which creates the new demand for the company in the market. Special care is been taken about the participants in the Vodafone group network and service quality team. The purpose is to- To introduce the quality of service indicators for the product and services that are implemented within the frameworks of the corporate projects. To ensure the use of quality checked plans and measure its implementation To identify the required changes in the company, in order to update with the new technologies Vodafone is the first and the only telecommunication company in Greece and the few internationally certified for the development and implementation. The management systems within the framework of an integrated management. According to ISO 9001:2008 standards the Quality Management for the systematic and continuous improvement, development of its activities, and the customer satisfaction. Certificate of Approval (No: 362 212) Quality Management System according Vodafone retailer to ISO 9001:2008 for the companys commitment to offer products and services to customers through its passion for retail chain and in particular, a chain formed by the property and franchise stores. Certificate of Approval (No: 362 212) Environmental Management System under ISO 14001, which aims at the systematic management of the companys activities that affect the environment. Certificate of Approval (No.: 362 212 / D) Health and Safety Management System according to OHSAS 18001 / ELOT 1801, aims to provide a safe working environment and safe for all employees. Certificate of approval (362212) According to ISO 27001 the Information Security Management System , which concerns the security of information security in the enterprise, customers, shareholders and partners. Certificate of Approval (No.: 362 212 / F) According to BS 25999-2:2007, Business Continuity Management System is to ensure continuity of critical business operations and ensuring continuity of essential services to customers in case of unexpected incidents. Certificate of Approval (No.: 362 212 / H LRQA) (Integrated Management System, http://www.vodafone.gr/portal/client/cms/viewCmsPage.action?pageId=1620) 4. Quality Management Assurance at Cadbury Market high quality, excellent value products that consistently meet business requirements and comply with local standards, but continuously improve and exceed the expectations of consumers. It ensures that customers and consumers first become actively listening and understanding their expectations for quality and value points of purchase and consumption. Ensure that the representation of corporate image, including products and brands, meet the recognized standards, strengthen the commitment to quality and to safeguard the reputation of Cadbury. Preserve the right best time before culture, which continues to absorb the food quality and safety, where everyone understands their responsibilities and accountability. Use a quality system is monitored continuously improves processes to provide these policies and standards. Set clear management responsibilities and strengthening the achievement of measurable goals and objectives of quality and food safety. supply chain and business partners work to ensure compliance with quality policies and systems, ensuring quality throughout our supply chain. Place of continuous improvement is critical to performance, which allows us to offer better products and services to consumers and customers. Create a passion for quality, which are the successes and achievements are recognized and celebrated. Re-examine and bring up to date this policy to ensure that it continues to reflect the values and outlook of customers. (Quality and Food Safety Assurance, http://www.cadburyindia.com/cadtoday/qualityfoodsafety.asp) 5. Compare and Contrast Coca cola company has introduced a system named The Coca Cola Management System (TCCMS). This system is introduced in all the stages of the organisational level and also to the bottling agents so that the global standards of the company can be maintained with the bottlers. The company takes care of each of the process the product goes through, from the source water to the bottles used for the packaging for the beverages. Vodafone has adopted a specific framework for the assessing systematically and logically the quality of the services which are provided to the customers. These frameworks are assessed from the concept and planning phase to their delivery of the product to the ultimate customers in the market. These frameworks are set with the service evaluation of the product and technologies up gradation in the industry. Cadbury adopted the quality assurance for the products which are introduced to the customers. Maintain a right first time culture that constantly ensures the quality and food safety, every employee understand the responsibility given to them and they are made accountable for their activity. Quality management system is audited periodically to improve the process to deliver their policy and standards. All the three companies are giving great importance to the total quality management of its products and services. These quality management are considered as the responsibility of the company to its ultimate customers in the market. Different systems and frameworks are followed for the quality management. Whereas some companies have create a program for the quality management and some have just included it in its process. The quality management for each organisation differ based on their activities in the market. The system introduced in coca cola is implemented for all the regions and the bottlers as that they can have a global standard. The service evaluation at Vodafone is done for ensuring that the product and service match with the company policies and market demand. The Cadbury assurance is done with the aim of quality and food safety for the customers. 6. Impact on Innovation, Changes and Competitiveness Coca cola Companys system on quality helps them as a support to introduce new products in the market. The major competition faced by coca cola is from PepsiCo, TCCMS makes the difference between the two companies product and service. This helps the company to follow the market trends among the customers so that they can be up graded with the market trends. Vodafone has the systematic and logical framework for analysing the quality management. With the better quality product introduced in the market the RD of the company will be able to make new innovation to the product and which will be helpful for the company to compete with others in the market. Cadbury follows a quality system which helps them to provide the quality product to the customers. The company has a deal to innovate new product to the market and can be bringing out the efforts to face the competition in the market. 7. Recommendations The companies need to take care of the activities when given to the agents; they should have a proper light of the quality aspect of the product. The periodical checking and testing of the quality system should be made so that the systems can be up graded. The RD of the companies should be given the resources for the research. They should be made available with the equipment required. While innovation of the products are done, they should be marketed in such a way that they are they attracted to the customers. 8. Critical Reflection It was always known that Quality management is important in an organisation but the importance of quality management and its implementation in each and every process of the each activity is understood after making the research for the assignment. While studying the quality philosophy, approaches, systems and its management of each company selected, only then it was noticed that the companies RD division and top management takes a lot of efforts in making the product a success in the market. The product or service from the start of its planning it takes the lot of contribution for the quality in the company. Before making the systems for the quality management, the company need to make the market research for the product and service quality. They have to make note of the each and every process in the manufacturing and distribution of the product to the market. The employees have to quality check the product in every single step to ensure the quality. The resources required for the product to be made are to be checked and tested from its initial stages. Quality management is an important aspect in an organisation which the employees have to follow while manufacturing the product and services. The employee which are given responsible for the activities in the organisation, are made responsible for the corrective measures, this way it is easy for the employees to understand the mistakes made in the first process. It helps them to understand the actions required to follow while doing the activities. In every organisation, quality system should be given equal importance because the products are ultimately made for the customers in the market and they are the one to who would the critical viewer of the products in the market. The quality system should be checked and updated continuously so that the organisation should be left behind in the market. The quality in the product should be ensured before it goes to the market to the customer. Being a manager, I will be making the quality check conducted at every step to ensure that the products are safety and fine to be used in the market. This may increase the time in each process but can ensure a good product to the customers. Being a customer of several products, I will definitely prefer the products which are good in quality and will ensure the quality before use. Therefore any customer will think the same way. The quality of the product contributes to the organisation success with effective and efficient use of the resources in the organisation for the products. The organisation are never ready to compromise on the quality of the product since the quality creates an image of the product and ultimately the image of the organisation in the market.

Moving from Alienation to Cooperation :: Personal Narrative Essays

Moving from Alienation to Cooperation As Jewish and Palestinian students, we've learned a lot about reconciliation in our Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue group. We know the process isn't easy. But after many meetings, we've moved from fear to trust, from alienation to cooperation. And if we can do it, others can too. We began with a handful of people who rejected the popular gloom and hopelessness of the seemingly endless violence in the Mideast. We had had success in working with a grassroots movement called Beyond War, which focused on team-building between "enemies" - Israelis and Palestinians. Today we are 30 Americans - Jews and both Muslim and Christian Palestinians. Several "others" moderate and lend support. We saw how face-to-face dialogue changes people. Realizing that American citizens and government are connected to events in the Middle East, it was time to put our global experience to use in our community. "These are the worst of times, so why aren't you hopeless?" people ask us. "Why do you do it, when others want to quit?" When we are separated by our history and suffering, overcome with anger and pride, we find inside ourselves an even stronger belief and knowing. It is the ancient insight of our common ancestor, Abraham, that all is one - we're interdependent and interconnected. We're neighbors. We want to learn to live together that way. We also believe what sociologist Margaret Mead said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." We've made progress, but now we feel rushed by what Ambassador Edward Djerejian, former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, calls "the worst-case scenario," when violence from both sides is on the rise and the peace process is stalled. So last Saturday night we gathered 420 Jewish and Palestinian Americans, and others, around dinner tables to begin changing the nature of our relationships. The hotel sign on Highway 101 said, "Welcome Jews and Palestinians Building a Common Future." It made it a fact before anyone walked through the doors. The event was a view into the future of what can and must be. It was a missing part of the peace process - face-to-face relationship-building. Ambassador Dennis Ross, US envoy to the Middle East peace process, arrived late from emergency meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Modern Poetry Comparison Essay

Over the past few weeks, my class and I have been studying a bank of poems, all of the same theme, they all deal with racist issues in modern life. I have chosen two of these poems to compare, these are, ‘The Negro’ and ‘Prayer of a black boy’. Throughout the coursework I shall be calling ‘Prayer of a black boy’ Poem ‘A’, and ‘The Negro’, poem ‘B’. Poem ‘A’ uses imagery contrasting white and black cultures, lots of words and expressions in the poem underlines the wonder and amazement of the Negro’s natural environment, and the barrenness and unproficness of the white man’s. I will be disusing these and pointing out the affects they have. Poem ‘B’ is in 6 clear stanzas but uses imagery of a symbolic and/or historic kind, and so I will also explain the affects this has upon the poem, and although Poem ‘A’ is written continuously, it can easily be broken into six stanzas for comparison. Also both poems are written in the first person, we know this because they say ‘I’. Due to Poem ‘B’ being in six stanzas it is very quick and easy to read and understand, so I have split Poem ‘A’ into six parts as well to make it easier to compare. Poem ‘A’ tells us that the mans roots are very black, and that he is proud to be Black and that him and his people originated from Africa, I concluded this from the line â€Å"Black as the depths of Africa†. In poem ‘B’ the man says â€Å"he is tires of this world†, he is saying a prayer, which means he is fed up of the way white people act and live and he wants out, also he says â€Å"since the cock crew he wandered†, this means he is worn out of looking for a better place of peace amongst the white people. Poem ‘A’ explains that the man in the poem has always been used as a slave and that he has been treated like a second class citizen because of his race. Also he says â€Å"Caesar told me† this means that black people have been slaves for a very long time, even when Caesar was around. But he seems to be proud of what he and his race have done to get where they are now. During the second part of Poem ‘B’, the man describes a beautiful scene of where and what he wants to be, but then he thinks about what will really happen, which is that his people are slaves and workers all day then he says they are spat out of the factory in which they work. He also dreams of going back to his own country and living freely amongst his people, but he then awakes with great disappointment to se he is still stuck in a white mans world. In the third part of Poem ‘A’ the man explains that he worked on ancient buildings as well as very modern buildings, which shows us a sense of time, of which he and his people have been treated with a lower standard from the white people, and over a long period of time. The man in Poem ‘B’ tells us that what the so called gentleman is, he doesn’t want to be, because he can see the real white people and they are not kind and generous as a real gentleman is thought to be. Also he compares his brown skin with the brown sugar bags in the street, which are from his country and makes yet again think of being at home with black people. The forth part of Poem ‘A’, tells us that he is a singer, and this shows he is proud of the situation he is currently in. We have a mention that he worked his way up from his homeland (Africa) to Georgia, where he sings ragtime for white people and they like it, and this makes him very proud to be who and what he is, a Negro. In the forth section of Poem ‘B’ the Negro explains that he really wants to be back where he knows is a lot better place, which is his country, because in this country there is nothing better than his home, Africa. In section five of Poem ‘A’, he tells us that he and his race have been victims all their lives, he tells us the horrors oh what has happened in the past to him and his race. They have been treated unfairly and with no trial they are punished. Poem ‘B’ section five, tells us that the man doesn’t want to learn the ways and religion of the white people, he wants to know his own history and practise his own religion, the religion of the black people from his home country. He asks why he should read about things he doesn’t know or understand of. The white people’s religion comes from a book, (the bible), whereas black religion is carried through time in stories and songs. The final section of Poem ‘A’ is the exact same as the first stanza, he repeats how proud he is of where how hard him and his race have worked, and that he is proud of his wonderful country, his wonderful home, Africa. The final section of Poem ‘B’ isn’t the same as it’s first, in this final part, the black man explains that white people are too sad for his kind, and that his culture are in touch with there countries natural habitat and that the white people are far too industrious. The final line tells us that the white culture needs to lighten up a bit.

Battle of Crecy in the The Hundred Years War

Battle of Crecy in the The Hundred Years War The Battle of Crà ©cy was fought August 26, 1346, during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). Largely a dynastic struggle for the French throne, the conflict began following the death of Philip IV and his sons, Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. This ended the Capetian Dynasty which had ruled France since 987.   As no direct male heir lived, Edward III of England, Philip IVs grandson by his daughter Isabella, pressed his claim to the throne. This was rejected by the French nobility who preferred Philip IVs nephew, Philip of Valois. The War Begins Crowned Philip  VI in 1328, he called for Edward to do homage to him for the valuable  fief of Gascony. Though initially unwilling to this,  Edward relented and accepted Philip as King of France in 1331 in return for continued  control over Gascony. By doing so, he surrendered his rightful claim  to the throne. In 1337, Philip VI revoked Edward IIIs control of Gascony and commenced raiding the English coast. In response, Edward reasserted his claims to the French throne and began building alliances with the nobles of Flanders and the Low Countries.   In 1340, Edward scored a decisive naval victory at Sluys which gave England control of the Channel for the duration of the war. This was followed by an invasion of the Low Countries and an abortive siege of Cambrai. After plundering Picardy, Edward withdrew back to England to raise funds for future campaigns as well as to deal with the Scots who had used his absence to mount a series of raids across the border. Six years later, having assembled around 15,000 men and 750 ships at Portsmouth, he again planned to invade France.   A Return to France Sailing for Normandy, Edward landed on the Cotentin Peninsula that July. Quickly capturing Caen on July 26, he moved east towards the Seine. Alerted that King Philip VI was assembling a large army in Paris, Edward turned north and began moving along the coast. Pressing on, he crossed the Somme after winning the Battle of Blanchetaque on August 24. Tired from their endeavors, the English army encamped near the Forest of Crà ©cy. Eager to defeat the English and angry that he had failed to trap them between the Seine and Somme, Philip raced towards Crà ©cy with his men. The English Command Alerted to the approach of the French army, Edward deployed his men along a ridge between the villages of Crà ©cy and Wadicourt. Dividing his army, he assigned command of the right division to his sixteen-year old son Edward, the Black Prince with assistance from the Earls of Oxford and Warwick, as well as Sir John Chandos. The left division was led by the Earl of Northampton, while Edward, commanding from a vantage point in a windmill, retained leadership of the reserve. These divisions were supported by large numbers of archers equipped with the English longbow. Armies Commanders: England Edward IIIEdward, the Black Prince12,000-16,000 men France Philip VI20,000-80,000 men Preparing for Battle While waiting for the French to arrive, the English busied themselves by digging ditches and laying out caltrops in front of their position. Advancing north from Abbeyville, the lead elements of Philips army arrived near the English lines around mid-day on August 26. Scouting the enemy position, they recommended to Philip that they encamp, rest, and wait for the entire army to arrive. While Philip agreed with this approach, he was overruled by his nobles who wished to attack the English without delay. Quickly forming for battle, the French did not wait for the bulk of their infantry or supply train to arrive. The French Advance Advancing with Antonio Doria and Carlo Grimaldis Genoese crossbowmen in the lead, the French knights followed with lines led by the Duke D’Alencon, Duke of Lorraine, and Count of Blois, while Philip commanded the rearguard. Moving to the attack, the crossbowmen fired a series of volleys at the English. These proved ineffective as a brief thunderstorm before the battle had wet and slackened the crossbowstrings. The English archers on the other hand had simply untied their bowstrings during the storm. Death from Above This coupled with the longbows ability to fire every five seconds gave the English archers a dramatic advantage over the crossbowmen who could only get off one to two shots per minute. The Genoese position was worsened by the fact that in the rush to battle their pervises (shields to hide behind while reloading) had not been brought forward. Coming under devastating fire from Edwards archers, the Genoese began withdrawing. Angered by the crossbowmens retreat, the French knights fired insults at them and even cut several down. Charging forward, the French front lines fell into confusion as they collided with the retreating Genoese. As the two bodies of men tried to move past each other they came under fire from the English archers and five early cannon (some sources debate their presence). Continuing the attack, the French knights were forced to negotiate the slope of the ridge and the man-made obstacles. Cut down in large numbers by the archers, the felled knights and their horses blocked the advance of those to the rear. During this time, Edward received a message from his son requesting aid. Upon learning that the younger Edward was healthy, the king refused stating â€Å"I am confident he will repel the enemy without my help, and Let the boy win his spurs. As evening approached the English line held, repelling sixteen French charges. Each time, the English archers brought down the attacking knights. With darkness falling, a wounded Philip, recognizing he had been defeated, ordered a retreat and fell back to the castle at La Boyes. Aftermath The Battle of Crà ©cy was one of the greatest English victories of the Hundred Years War and established the superiority of the longbow against mounted knights. In the fighting, Edward lost between 100-300 killed, while Philip suffered around 13,000-14,000 (some sources indicate it may have been as high as 30,000). Among the French losses were the heart of the nations nobility including the Duke of Lorraine, Count of Blois, and the Count of Flanders, as well as John, King of Bohemia and the King of Majorca. In addition eight other counts and three archbishops were slain. In the wake of the battle, the Black Prince paid tribute to the nearly blind King John of Bohemia, who had fought valiantly before being slain, by taking his shield and making it his own. Having earned his spurs, the Black Prince became one of his fathers best field commanders and won a stunning victory at Poitiers in 1356. Following the victory at Crà ©cy, Edward continued north and laid siege to Calais. The city fell the next year and became a key English base for the remainder of the conflict.

Wildlife Management in Urban Areas

Wildlife Management in Urban Areas Abstract In recent decades it has become clear that man has to learn to co-exist with nature. Even in urban areas it has become imperative to understand the principles of wildlife management. Ignorance and negligence of wildlife will one day lead to a rude awakening, of a world reeling from the impact of a major ecological imbalance.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Wildlife Management in Urban Areas specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This is because wild animals that are conserved and managed will play a significant part in the earth’s ecosystem. Urban centers need not be a place where wild animals are doomed. The community must learn to develop programs so that wild animals and human beings can co-exist in a world of biodiversity and beauty. Human beings are oftentimes dictated by their impulses rather than sober thought. If there is a need for more land, they would not think twice in destroying forest cover or transforming farmlands into towns and cities. If they find other living things in that area that they believe is a pest or nuisance then there is no hesitation and once again irrational impulse leads them to kill and eradicate. However, in recent decades it has become clear that man has to learn to co-exist with nature. This is why it is important that even in cities they should learn the intricacies of wildlife management. There is a need to understand these things because ignorance and negligence will one day lead to a rude awakening, of a world reeling from the impact of a major ecological imbalance. It is understandable when humans act irrationally whenever they are faced with something they do not understand. Man would act on impulse especially when they are fearful. And there is nothing more terrifying than wildlife, such as carnivores with sharp fangs and vermin that carry diseases. Thus, the next logical step is to exterminate. This is where man is greatly mistaken because wildlife, properly conserved and managed play a significant part in the earth’s ecosystem. A wanton disregard for the natural system that was built in to ensure balance in the ecological sphere will surely create catastrophic results. Ecological and Social Impacts The end result of reducing the number of predator and carnivores in a given ecological system will cause an imbalance that allows organisms in the lower levels of the food chain to multiply to the point of becoming pests. Their population becoming a nuisance to others competing for the same resources. The same can create problems for humans living in areas wherein this delicate balance has to be maintained. In other words biodiversity will benefit every living thing whether in a national park or in an urban setting.Advertising Looking for essay on ecology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A good example is the efficient conservation and wildlife manag ement of coyotes. Predators such as these limit the number of organisms that will grow and multiply in a given area. For instance, a coyote will serve as an ecological tool to control the prolific multiplication of a bird called grouse (MacDonald Zubiri, 2004). Even if this bird specie manages to multiply aggressively, the presence of coyotes will make sure that their population will always be in check. As a result grouses will never reach a number that will cause scarcity of food supply for other birds that have the same preferences for that same food resource (MacDonald Zubiri, 2004). Even if there are no competing animals the possible runaway population of grouses will pressure the insect population that they feed on thereby causing a possible extinction for the said insect group (MacDonald Zubiri, 2004). The need for wildlife management is not only justified in the context of biodiversity and some other ecological principles. Another importance of wildlife management is due t o the connection between managing wildlife and health and safety impacts. According to one expert many wild creatures are carriers of diseases and he added that animals like raccoons and skunks can carry diseases such as rabies and Lyme diseases (Landry, 1994). Furthermore, there is also the psychological impact because people has to feel safe in their homes and they need not be an anxious that animals will attack them in their homes or when they are taking a walk in the park. Aside from health and safety impacts there is also the social impacts of managing wildlife. There are those who strongly believe in the preservation of endangered animal species while there are those who will give more importance to urban development and therefore wildlife management takes a second priority. In New Jersey there was a divisive issue regarding the management of the black bear population (Gehrt, Riley, Cypher, 2010). This has created obstacles that prevented the residents and government official s to effectively deal with a burgeoning black bear population (Gehrt, Riley, Cypher, 2010). In other words no one benefited from such conflict. Wildlife management need not be a contentious issue. The community can see it from a health and safety vantage point and to some extent a tourist attraction.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Wildlife Management in Urban Areas specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In Louisiana for instance concern for the black bear population in the region prompted the creation of a coalition comprised of more than 60 organizations that resulted in a massive campaign for the support of the black bear and was instrumental in the creation of a habitat for the animals (Gehrt, Riley, Cypher, 2010). This means that wildlife management can produce positive social impacts. Wildlife Management As one considers the variety of environmental, social and even psychological impacts of wild animals in urban a reas, the need for a successful conservation and wildlife management program becomes more urgent. The challenge is two-fold. Community members must find a way to protect and conserve wild animals. It is imperative to maintain biodiversity and hence ecological balance. On the other hand it is also of utmost importance to do it in such a way that urban areas are kept safe primarily from carnivores and even other reptiles that may carry diseases or attack humans when provoked. One way to do this is to increase funding when it comes to studies related to wildlife management. Scientists were able to determine that disturbances in the natural habitat of the animals are creating long-term consequences but there is still much to learn (Morrison, 2006). This is part of the long term solution. But when it comes to creating immediate change in wildlife management there are some urgent measures that need to be implemented such as the creation of suitable habitats for wild animals so that they c an co-exist with human beings even in an urban setting. There is also a need to initiate projects that will determine the extent of the problems. For example coyotes are vulnerable in urban areas because there is scarcity of food. In addition coyotes have to deal with pest and parasites such as mites and ticks which may have been transferred to them when they come in contact with other animals (Wobeser,2006). In other words the community must get involve in creating measures to increase the survival rate of these animals or else the extinction of some wild animals will become a reality much sooner than expected.Advertising Looking for essay on ecology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Conclusion The importance of effective wildlife management in urban areas is something that will benefit not only the present generation but also those who are to come. There is a need to maintain biodiversity because changes in the ecological balance does not only mean the extinction of a particular species, this can also mean the aggressive multiplication of undesirable wild animals. It is therefore important to learn how to balance conservation as well as the proper management of wildlife to prevent the early extinction of some of the endangered animals. Urban centers need not be a place where wild animals are doomed. The community must learn to develop programs so that wild animals and human beings can co-exist in a world of biodiversity and beauty. References Landry, Sarah. (1994). Peterson First Guide to Urban Wildlife. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company. Morrison, Michael. (2006). Wildlife-Habitat Relationships: Concepts and  Applications. Washington, DC: Island Press. Gehrt, Stanley, Riley, Seth, Brian Cypher.(2010). Urban Carnivores: Ecology,  Conflict, and Conservation. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press. Macdonald, D.W. C.S. Zubiri. (2004). Biology and Conservation of Wild Canids.  New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Wobeser, G. (2006). Essentials of Disease in Wild Animals. Ames, IA: Blackwell Publishing Professional.

euthanasia1 essays

euthanasia1 essays The option of self-deliverance for the terminally ill person is the ultimate civil liberty. Over the past twenty years major controversy has spawned over the issue of euthanasia: a persons right to die. The American courts have been burdened with determining whether or not the Constitution gives the American people the right to allow others to take their lives, and have failed to come up with a definitive answer. There are several aspects to suicide and the law, but we are only going to discuss a few of them. First of all we will examine why anyone would want to take their own life and decipher the differences between a rational suicide and an irrational suicide. Secondly we will look at ways assistance has played in the area of suicide. Next, we'll look at what the constitution says and see if any of the states have allowed suicide. Finally, we'll study some of the cases that have been brought before the American courts. Suicide has become a big part of American society; year after year more people are taking their own lives for many different reasons. A lot of philosophers have broken down all the reasons of suicides into two different categories, rational suicide and irrational suicide. A rational suicide has been given five basic criteria that usually must be met for the person's act to be considered rational. The five criteria which a person must show for their suicide to be considered rational are, "the ability to reason, realistic world view, adequacy of information, avoidance of harm, and accordance with fundamental interests." Another opinion of rationality of suicide is, "it is the best thing for him from the point of view of his own welfare-or whether it is the best thing for someone being advised, from the point of view of that person's welfare". People have to characterize suicides because a lot of times they don't understand what that person is going through so by grouping them and plac ing crit...

Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Sociology - Essay Example Humans themselves are emotional creatures; biologically each reaction is a chemical response to additional visual, chemical or other form of stimuli. At the very base of what makes a human’s emotional framework run is the chemical responses or neural framework that exists. This cannot of course discount the effect of ones surroundings, their culture and society on their reactions. In many ways we respond based on taught responses. While we are growing up we are adapting to the society that we are directly involved in, and the cultural variances that may accompany that society. We react to some forms of stimuli based solely on our understanding of those stimuli which was trained into us from birth. An example of this could be seen by using a simple observation of a set of parents and their progeny, by observing the individual and separate reactions to different forms of stimuli it becomes readily apparent that the child will likely mimic the adults in many areas. A group is a n umber of people continuously interacting with each other in a structured way according to shared morals or social outlooks. A primary group would represent a family unit, such as parents and children and possibly grandparents as well. In my life it would be my parents and my significant other. Because our contact is based on a large amount of contact and an understanding of each other in more than a few hours a week at work or in meetings with various social gatherings this would be a primary group. An example of a secondary group would be fellow students with whom I share several hours a week in a similar manner though we are unlikely to have much actual face to face time and the time we spend together will likely be more cohesive and rule based. Max Webber’s six-traits of bureaucracy according to Professor Alazzawi are a formal hierarchical structure, management by rules, organization by functional specialty, a focused mission, purposely impersonal and employment based on t echnical qualifications. This organizational form works well within a secondary group however, would likely cause problems within a primary group. Humans thrive on being able to â€Å"personalize† everything around them, and while this has its obvious drawbacks within society as a whole it does make it difficult to promote long lasting, self-sustaining relationships within any group. There is a level of inflexibility that would likely cause frustration and in fact in many organizations that are secondary groups frustration with the role being played by the individual is often voiced. The sexual revolution was the extremely liberal approach to human sexuality as embraced in the 1960’s it accompanied for the most part a large amount of experimentation in drugs, political approaches and lifestyle changes as well. There have been many various views applied to the â€Å"why† of this revolution, one that I tend to embrace is that this revolution is the result of the c ontinued stifling of free thought along with the sexist and racist approaches embraced and taught leading up to this point. It was a complete rebellion against the status quo as it were. As for the various issues discussed I believe that sexual violence in the form of rape, child sexual abuse and other related

Apple_Inc_Week_3 Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Apple_Inc_Week_3 - Thesis Example Apple has a set of values that it has fostered in its culture and employees personalities through aggressive training. Some of these values include empathy for users, aggressiveness, achievement, positive social contribution, innovation/vision, individual performance, team spirit, quality/excellence, individual reward and good management. These values appears to be ideological and achievement driven, Apples training manual further reinforces these values. The training manual includes programs like Component Isolation, The Power Of Empathy, Using Diagnostic Services etc. All these trainings methodologies promote Apples values and persuade the employees to act compassionately, be customer-oriented and stay fearless about the feedback (Duerson, 2012; Biddle, 2012). Apples long standing slogan of Think Different pushes its practices, offering and employees to be different, emphasizing on inventive and innovative ways. When it comes to motivation, Apple has successfully managed to attract and retain potential talent with the help of its intrinsic motivational techniques. Apple provides remuneration that is slightly higher than the average market remuneration package. Its mainly competitive environment and opportunity to progress that motivates employees to perform well in their respective jobs. Apple mainly recruits employees with flair for innovation and challenge. These personality traits comply well with the organizational culture of Apple. Apple has a culture that fosters competitiveness, innovation, creativity and ownership. This culture is a resultant of Apples ideology introduced by its leadership. It has managed to devise a working environment that allows employees to operate more independently. Other than on-site jobs through which employees are assigned with goals aligned with their job description with complete ownership, off-site jobs facilitate ownership and

Duty to Warn and to Protect Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Duty to Warn and to Protect - Essay Example Some individuals may cause harm to themselves while other may be dangerous to other people. In any case, it is the job of a therapist to make sure that a person copes with the personal crisis and carries on happy and productive life. For the purposes of this paper, one should imagine the following scenario. The author will be a therapist that has a patient. The latter tends to be distressed. He is a white male in his mid-twenties, experiencing a personal crisis: he wants to find a girl who will ultimately become his wife, but he simply can not, not matter how hard he tries. His inability to cope with this problem causes him to experience severe stress. There are two ways that he deals with it: on the one hand, he spends much time in the bed, waiting for the feelings that tear his soul to go away; on the other hand, he recently started thinking about hurting other people. The latter thoughts are very rare and the subject clearly acknowledges that they are wrong. However, he admits that there are times when he looses control over his actions. To begin with, it may be important to identify the legal issues that this case holds. Thus, the therapist is made aware of the violent intentions of his client. The latter said several times that hurting others will allow him to release the stress. The subject is well educated person with a stable income with no legal history. Other than during the session he acts cheerfully and assertive. It is highly likely that he will be able to buy a gun if he wants to. With all this in mind, the therapist is faced with a possibility that his client might start a shooting spree. That is why it is the legal obligation of the former to inform law enforcing agencies that there is a subject in the area that experiences a personal crisis and made a clear statement of possible intentions of hurting others because of that. There is also an

CISCO Systems Inc Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

CISCO Systems Inc - Research Paper Example The company operates through data center operations management services, which assists the customers in accelerating the operational success by employing new technologies and solves the problems that arise in the due course of time. The Data Center Services for Operations Enablement of CISCO includes many voluntary modules, which assist in accelerating the operational maturity of the Data Center management processes. The three main domains of operation such as plan, build and manage are significant in the company. The services aim at addressing the challenges that are associated with the operational processes and tools. This requires assessment of data effectively and efficiently in the data center. The business operation of CISCO has undergone huge changes and is also encountering modifications presently so that they can sell the bundles of solutions in high prices. The offered solution bundles need changes in credit selling, revenue attribution, supply chain and order processing (CISCO Systems Inc., 2014a; CISCO Systems Inc., 2014c). Analysis of operations transformation process of CISCO One of the main competitive advantages of CISCO is its ability to offer architectures of different products related to collaboration, mobility, borderless networks, and security. The transformation process of the service that is taken into account is Wireless LAN (CISCO Systems Inc. 2014b). The process considers the designing and sale of the solutions of the products that are developed by the units or partners of the unit.

Vulnerabilities Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Vulnerabilities - Research Paper Example Certificate Authority (CA) and is considered to be the most efficient control in terms of email security (Ellison & Schneier, 2000). In case of secure email, one has to make sure about the sender possessing the key is the one who is the authentic sender. Likewise, when signed email is verified, one of the checks includes the source of the email i.e. the sender. However, if encryption is applied to the public key infrastructure, there is a requirement of identifying people possessing the relevant key to decrypt the message (Ellison & Schneier, 2000). This is the point where email certificates starts to operate, as the certificate ID is a digitally signed message from the CA that is transmitted to the user linked with the public key. However, the (PKI) possess many risks that may lead to vulnerabilities and in the end threats. One of the risks incorporates a breach of keys associated with the signer via unauthorized access or by any other means (Ellison & Schneier, 2000). However, efficient Certificate Authorities can mitigate risks by en effective physical security, personnel security and secure network. Pretty Go od Privacy ‘PGP’ counters these issues as well by incorporating ‘Web of Trust’ including self-governing signatures linked with the single certificate (Ellison & Schneier, 2000). Moreover, for addressing internal security, monitoring of employee emails is a regulatory requirement. However, there are many procedures, tasks and functions associated with it. The requirements can be met by utilizing tools from outlook express that are capable of retrieving certain keywords used in the email. For example, the keyword ‘account’ can retrieve all emails including this specific word. (Bhatnagar, 2012). However, these outlook tools only work individually on each workstation and can be solved by incorporating Microsoft Exchange server. As the server will retrieve all emails of all employees containing the specific

John smith 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

John smith 2 - Essay Example However, after suffering from burns from gun powder he returned to England to receive treatment, never to return to the ‘new world’ again. He died at the age of 51 years (Apva.org). The site portrays topics on colonization, war for independence, business for profit motive through the Virginia company as well as diseases. There is a picture of Smith to the right of the page and above it at the top right corner there is an artifact looking like a broken medallion. The medallion has a picture which looks like that of Smith. On the other hand, there are extra links which offer more information about Jamestown, history, resources, publications, findings, and exhibits. The interactive features of this site include a platform for support, contact information of the site creators and a video link at the bottom of the page. The site has interesting graphics that are user friendly. The information is very enlighting and it offers an insight on the history that many people are not aware of. However, I fail to understand how Smith was a survivor in every extreme situation he was in. The most interesting things are how Smith survived and how he was a lucky man to having beautiful women and more so how adventurous and a leader he was. However, there is bias in the information that Smith was a boastful man while no literature can clearly account how he was. Conclusively, the site is educative, interesting and I would recommend for others to explore

CISCO Systems Inc Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

CISCO Systems Inc - Research Paper Example The company operates through data center operations management services, which assists the customers in accelerating the operational success by employing new technologies and solves the problems that arise in the due course of time. The Data Center Services for Operations Enablement of CISCO includes many voluntary modules, which assist in accelerating the operational maturity of the Data Center management processes. The three main domains of operation such as plan, build and manage are significant in the company. The services aim at addressing the challenges that are associated with the operational processes and tools. This requires assessment of data effectively and efficiently in the data center. The business operation of CISCO has undergone huge changes and is also encountering modifications presently so that they can sell the bundles of solutions in high prices. The offered solution bundles need changes in credit selling, revenue attribution, supply chain and order processing (CISCO Systems Inc., 2014a; CISCO Systems Inc., 2014c). Analysis of operations transformation process of CISCO One of the main competitive advantages of CISCO is its ability to offer architectures of different products related to collaboration, mobility, borderless networks, and security. The transformation process of the service that is taken into account is Wireless LAN (CISCO Systems Inc. 2014b). The process considers the designing and sale of the solutions of the products that are developed by the units or partners of the unit.

John smith 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

John smith 2 - Essay Example However, after suffering from burns from gun powder he returned to England to receive treatment, never to return to the ‘new world’ again. He died at the age of 51 years (Apva.org). The site portrays topics on colonization, war for independence, business for profit motive through the Virginia company as well as diseases. There is a picture of Smith to the right of the page and above it at the top right corner there is an artifact looking like a broken medallion. The medallion has a picture which looks like that of Smith. On the other hand, there are extra links which offer more information about Jamestown, history, resources, publications, findings, and exhibits. The interactive features of this site include a platform for support, contact information of the site creators and a video link at the bottom of the page. The site has interesting graphics that are user friendly. The information is very enlighting and it offers an insight on the history that many people are not aware of. However, I fail to understand how Smith was a survivor in every extreme situation he was in. The most interesting things are how Smith survived and how he was a lucky man to having beautiful women and more so how adventurous and a leader he was. However, there is bias in the information that Smith was a boastful man while no literature can clearly account how he was. Conclusively, the site is educative, interesting and I would recommend for others to explore

Art is an expression Essay Example for Free

Art is an expression Essay Art to me is an expression. Society has a way of creating social norms, and through this influence people to become inspired to be different, to express themselves in many ways and to share with others this passion, in the form of art. Cultures have utilized art in the form of drawings, patterns, and techniques; for example the type of clothes they wear, and type of houses they live in. Art is everywhere. Albert Einstein once said, you could look at life as if nothings a miracle or as if everything is. I think that you can look at art in the same way. I remember watching a film in class on a man and a woman who were in charge of the community project that consisted of hanging sheets for miles. I have no idea why they would do that over a different art project, but I got their message. It was all about working together, doing something that was unique and of their own works, regardless of everyone else’s opinion. They had to fight the system for a while before they were able to begin. That’s passion. After the readings I can’t help but to agree that art offers us a way to go beyond physical existence. What the author is saying to me is that art in every form changes our values our ideas in an effect change our lives. We are not robots, we don’t have to stay within regulations; we have the ability to be creative. Being creative is the most powerful tool we have some may argue. To touch back on why people make art, I can remember watching movies as a kid and there was this one kid out of the prep school that did wear the dress uniform to standard like all the other students. He was seeking to be different. Changing your uniform up a little to be different is art. Indians may paint their faces and their horses differently so that they stand out of all the others so that they can be found and identify. Same cases Indians made art was to distinguish themselves from other tribes as to not kill  their own people during a raid or battle. I used to become stressed with school and/or with relationship issues so I started drawing. I never liked being told what to draw and how to do it. I mostly like to begin with lines and later find out it looks like something that was unplanned. The reasons why I draw was take my focus off of life. Sometimes drawing something that makes you happy can help you to recall memories from good experiences and can turn your day around. Art is my tool and is my passion.

Difference between Structured and Unstructured Observation

Difference between Structured and Unstructured Observation At the first step of this assessment I need to outline what is involved in structured observation. The two main strategies that researchers can usually use to record their observations of events are the structured and unstructured observation. The former involves the recording of events of predefined types occurring at particular points in time, or within particular intervals. Structured observation typically produces quantitative data (information about the frequency of different sorts of events or of the proportion of time spent on different types of activity). This form of observation typically involves different threats to validity. Among the dangers with structured observation is that the predefined categories used, will turn out not to be clearly defined, so that there is uncertainty in particular instances about which category is appropriate. There may also be relevant events that do not seem to fit into any of the categories. This, however, is only gained at the cost of the i nformation being collected on different cases or at different times often not being comparable (Research Methods in Education, Handbook, p. 44). Furthermore, structured observation is easy to be described but difficult to be appreciated without actually engaging in the process. Very simply, it involves placing an observer in a social setting to observe all activities defined as of interest to the research. In essence, the method is derived from participant observation in social anthropology and the distinction which is sometimes made between participant and non-participant observation does not fully hold in practice: some degree of participation is inevitable. As William Howard Russell, the Victorian war correspondent for the Times said I stand and look around, and say thus does it appear to me and thus I seem to see so does the structured observation. The structure of structured observation is imposed by the aims of the research in the same way as such aims impose structure upon any method of data-collection. Just as is the case when open questions are used in interviews or self-completed questionnaires the researcher using structured observation recognizes that not all of the structure can be determined in advance and that some structure must be imposed on the data after they have been collected (Roberts, 1975, p. 309). Researchers undertaking structured observational research usually look to use low-inference categories in other words, categories that can be applied to instances with a minimum of contestable judgement on the part of the observer in the hope of incurring only small elements of error and uncertainty. For example, low-inference categories for observing a meeting might include such things as Asks a question, Expresses agreement and Makes a proposal (E891 Educational Enquiry, Study Guide, p. 145). Furthermore, it is almost sure that some data obtained from structured observation contain errors, especially if observation is carried out under considerable pressure of time, leading the candidate to make wrong judgement in wrong boxes. However structured observation as a quantitative research has also been guided by at least some of the assumptions of positivism from laboratory experiments, through structured observational studies of classroom teaching, to large-scale social surveys of t he attitudes of teachers, students, parents, education managers and others. Indeed, over the course of the twentieth century, a great deal of educational research was influenced by a positivist approach concerned, for example, with identifying the relative effectiveness of different teaching strategies and techniques (Dunkin, 1974, p. 6). Coming to the second part of the assignment, I will try to introduce according to the best of my knowledge, the methodological philosophy of positivism. In concern to the tenets of logical empiricism, scientific progress in any discipline begins with the untainted observation of reality. This fact is expected to provide the researcher with an image of the real world from which cognitively generates an a priori model of the process to be investigated. The word positivism is nowadays used in such a wide range of ways that it has become almost meaningless, except that it is usually employed desperately to dismiss views or forms of research of which the speaker disapproves. The original meaning of the term contained some important elements. Widely, positivism can be characterised historically as a way of thinking about knowledge and enquiry that takes natural science, as it developed after the seventeenth century, as the model, and which seeks to apply the scientific method to new fields . Even though the term positivism was not invented until the nineteenth century, this idea was a central strand of eighteenth-century Enlightenment thinking, although it was by no means the only one and was certainly not accepted by all Enlightenment thinkers (E891 Educational Enquiry, Study Guide, p. 78). One of the main elements of positivism is the idea that it is the task of research to identify standard repeatable patterns between cause and effect, identifying particular pedagogical strategies that reliably bring about a desirable educational outcome. However, there are questions about whether such patterns exist, what character they have if they do, and how we can know them. Another feature of positivism is the idea that research must follow an explicit procedure, so that the idiosyncratic effects of who is doing the research can be eliminated and the replicability of the findings checked. Trying to build on this, the concept of evidence-based policy-making and practice is often promoted on the grounds that it is transparent, since it is guided by explicitly specified knowledge whose validity is open to inspection even though this idea is subjected to dispute. In contrast, the positivist philosophy, suffers from several limitations, especially when applied to social sciences. First, this approach, generalizes a universal statement of truth from observations of a certain number of positive instances. The strict inductionist approach is often inappropriate because speculation and creation of an a priori hypothesis are essential for a systematic procedure of theory building. Furthermore, the empiricist approach is based on the notion of pure observation, which is impossible in research, especially in social sciences, since observations are always subject to measurement errors. Finally, this approach assumes that knowledge is derived from an objective interpretation of assumptions, without any of the subjective biases or a priori knowledge of the scientist coming into play. Furthermore, positivists have tended to believe that the success of natural science in modern times has stemmed from scientists refusal to go beyond what can be supported by empirical evidence. It is easy to forget how radical an orientation this was in earlier centuries, and perhaps still is in some quarters. It challenges religious claims to knowledge about the world, various kinds of speculative philosophy that do not pay close attention to what is warranted by empirical evidence, and even any appeal to what is obvious to common sense. (E891 Educational Enquiry, Study Guide, p. 79). The third component of my essay is the strengths and weaknesses of structured observation in concern of positivism. Although positivism has been a recurrent theme in the history of western thought from the Ancient Greeks to the present day, it is historically associated with the nineteenth-century French philosopher, Auguste Comte, who was the first thinker to use the word for a philosophical position. In his study of the history of the philosophy and methodology of science, Oldroyd (1986) says: It was Comte who consciously invented the new science of society and gave it the name to which we are accustomed. He thought that it would be possible to establish it on a positive basis, just like the other sciences, which served as necessary preliminaries to it. For social phenomena were to be viewed in the light of physiological (or biological) laws and theories and investigated empirically, just like physical phenomena. Likewise, biological phenomena were to be viewed in the light of chem ical laws and theories; and so on down the line (Silverman et al, (2000), p.18). Furthermore, Comtes position was to lead to a general doctrine of positivism which held that all genuine knowledge is based on sense experience and can only be advanced by means of observation and experiment. Firstly, Positivism here implies a particular stance concerning the social scientist as an observer of social reality and second the end-product of investigations by social scientists can be formulated in terms parallel to those of natural science. This means that their analyses must be expressed in laws or law-like generalizations of the same kind that have been established in relation to natural. Positivists often had high hopes that science, and especially a science of human social life, would pave the way for substantial social and political progress, by undermining beliefs and practices that were based solely on superstition or tradition, and replacing them wherever possible with ones founded on scientific evidence. To a large extent, positivists have, adopted experimental physics as their model. As a result to this, it has been a strong tendency for them to insist that it is essential to use the experimental method, and the forms of statistical analysis modelled on it, to engage in the careful measurement of phenomena, and to look for causal or statistical relationships among variables. These commitments strongly imply the use of quantitative data (E891 Educational Enquiry, Study Guide, p. 89). Another characteristic of positivist philosophy is the view that, to develop knowledge, it is essential to follow special or transparent procedures or methods. The logic behind thi s is that it helps to eliminate the biases that can arise through the influence of the personal and social characteristics of the researcher. In addition, can achieve what is sometimes referred to as procedural objectivity. It also allows others to replicate the research, which in some regard is necessary in order to test whether the knowledge produced is sound, or whether it has been distorted by error or bias by the researcher. Furthermore, positivism is the idea that research should follow a set of explicit procedures, so that the idiosyncratic effects of who is doing the research can be eliminated and the replicability of the findings checked. Building on this, the concept of structured observation policy-making and practice is often promoted on the grounds that it is transparent, since it is guided by explicitly specified knowledge whose validity is open to inspection. The link between positivism and the notion of structured observation does not necessarily mean that the idea that educational research can and should be designed to make a significant contribution to educational policy-making and/or practice. Indeed, one sign that the positivists impose on this commitment is that positivism has influenced various forms of action research. This often requires enquiry to be integrated into educational practice, rather than being detached from it in the way that much ordinary research is (E891 Educational Enq uiry, Study Guide, p. 219). However, as in all methods so in this one strengths and weakness can be distinguished. Structured observation can provide good insights into how the different participants are behaving and interacting. In addition, may enable you to see things that are taken for granted by participants in the learning and teaching context. Their perceived lack of importance by participants may mean that they would not be picked up by other methods that explore participant perceptions. In addition to the above, the task of the educational investigator often explains the means by which an orderly social world is established and maintained in terms of its shared meanings and how do participant observation techniques assist the researcher in this task. As Bailey mention some inherent advantages in the participant observation approach: Observation studies are superior to experiments and surveys when data are being collected on non-verbal behaviour. In observation studies, investigators are able to discern ongoing behaviour as it occurs and are able to make appropriate notes about its salient features. Because case study observations take place over an extended period of time, researchers can develop more intimate and informal relationships with those they are observing, generally in more natural environments than those in which experiments and surveys are conducted. Case study observations are less reactive than other types of data-gathering methods. For example, in laboratory-based experiments and in surveys that depend upon verbal responses to structured questions, bias can be introduced in the very data that researchers are attempting to study. (Silverman et al, (2000), p.18). In contrast to the above, firstly, structured observation neglects the significance of contexts-temporal and spatial-thereby overlooking the fact those behaviours may be context specific. In their concern for the overt and the observable, researchers may overlook unintended outcomes which may have significance; they may be unable to show how significant are the behaviours of the participants being observed in their own terms. Furthermore, structured observations as a quantitative method in concern with positivism can be time consuming. Getting a representative picture of the implementation over the duration of a pilot or embedding phase of a change in learning and teaching will involve attending more than one learning and teaching activity or event. Continuing, its activities may affect the behaviour of those involved in it and hence what you observe. Participants may be concerned about what you are actually evaluating. Academic staff may be concerned the quality of their teaching is being evaluated and students may be concerned their academic performance is being assessed. The thinking that underlies participants observed actions cannot be observed. Finally, structured observations are therefore used with other methods that seek insight into this thinking. Being able to make sense of the context of evaluation in a limited amount of time with limited resources may require some knowledge of the academic discipline and its culture. At this part of my assignment, I will introduce the methodological philosophy of interpretivism. Interpretivism was introduced from German philosopher Max Weber. According to Max Weber from whom the interpretivist tradition is derived, the enterprise of social science could not be treated as similar to that of the natural science. He stressed on social action which means the study of meaning which the individual attaches to his/her actions. Interpretivisms starting point is its insistence on differentiating between the nature of the phenomena investigated by the natural sciences and the nature of those studied by historians, social scientists and educational researchers. Mainly, it argues that people in contrast atoms, chemicals or most non-human forms of life interpret their environment and themselves in ways that are shaped by the particular cultures in which they live. These distinctive cultural orientations shape what they do, and when and how they do it (E891 Educational Enquiry , Study Guide, p. 81). Interpretivist does not reject the idea of scientific or objective knowledge, but they question the notion that the methods employed by natural science used also in the study of society or social sciences. He stressed on social action which means the study of meaning which the individual attaches to his or her actions. Furthermore Interpretivist criticize Positivists for neglecting the fact that they are studying people who need to be explored in the ways they really think and act in different kinds of situations. Social institutions cannot be treated as separate entities or divorced from the subjective understanding or meaning that people have of them and society cannot be studied on the principle of causality as positivists stress, may make a great deal of sense in the natural world but according to the interpretivist, cannot be rigidly applied in the social world. People do not just react to external stimuli like biologically programmed living organisms. They actively interpret an d control the situation and control their behavior, acting on the basis of their interpretations of what is going on, what is the best course of action. Many different responses are possible. There are three different interpretations of a single event, e.g.; there is no consistent cause and effect relationship. Whatever the response, an observer cannot make sense of your response without interpreting the meaning you attributed to your teachers behavior, for it is this meaning that explains your response, not the observable event on its own. Interpretivists argue that all research methods involve complex forms of communication: therefore, coming to understand other people necessarily relies both on researchers background, cultural knowledge and skills, and on their willingness to suspend prior assumptions and allow understanding of other peoples orientations to emerge over the course of enquiry. Thus quite different ways of life and associated beliefs about the world can be located at different points in history and also coexist (peacefully or in conflict) at any time. Furthermore, this is not just a matter of differences between societies; there is also significant cultural variation within the large, complex societies in which most of us now live. Interpretivists argue that we cannot understand why people do what they do, why particular institutions exist and operate in characteristic ways, without grasping how people interpret and make sense of their world in other words, the distinctive nature of their beliefs, atti tudes and thoughts. Coming to this part of my assignment I need to mention the strengths and weaknesses of structured observation within the context of interpretivism. As we know, structured observation involves a researcher watching and listening to actions and events within a particular context over a period of time, and then making a record of what he or she has witnessed. A distinction is sometimes drawn between participant and non-participant structured observation, indicating that the role of an observer may vary a good deal. He or she may play a participant role in the setting or the events being observed, or may play no such role other than observer. The primary concern behind this distinction is reactivity in other words, the extent to which, and the ways in which, the behaviour of the people studied is shaped both by the fact that they are being studied in a given way and by the particular characteristics and participant role of the researcher (E891 Educational Enquiry, Study Guide, p. 121). Generally speaking, qualitative researchers use relatively structured observation as a supplement to other sources of data. Furthermore, researchers undertaking structured observational research generally seek to use low-inference categories in other words, categories that can be applied to instances with a minimum of contestable judgement on the part of the observer in the hope of incurring only small elements of error and uncertainty. For example, low-inference categories for observing a meeting might include such things as Asks a question, Expresses agreement and Makes a proposal. As a result, this is one of the reasons why interpretivism has encouraged a shift towards qualitative method. Qualitative methods are usually taken to mean unstructured or structured observation, ethnography, focus groups, and etc. that involve researchers in actively listening to what the researched say. The popularity of the term paradigm is traceable to Kuhns work on The Structure of Scientific Revolutions; 7 it can be defined as a total matrix of beliefs about theories, research questions and research data (Oakley, 1999, p.155). These observations and experiences are one way of representing the conflict between different ways of achieving knowledge about the world that amongst social researchers are known as qualitative and quantitative methods. A commonly accepted alliance has developed between research method and research subject, according to which qualitative methods are often used to privilege the experiences of oppressed social groups. What I argue is that this division of methodological labour is, firstly, socially and historically constructed and secondly is problematic in terms of the potential of qualitative methods to produce an emancipator social science with trustworthy knowledge claims. However, this qualitative method as all the other research methods has strengths and weaknesses points. Taking the advantages strengths at the beginning, I can definitely mention that usually the data is based on the participants own categories of meaning and the research is only useful for studying a limited number of cases in depth. Not only that, another major advantage of the method is that the researcher can describe complex phenomena something that you can rarely find in any other method. Structured observation is one of the most straightforward ways to gather information via the school or classroom having a strong connection with the researcher of interpretivism and get a picture of what happens. It is often a good way to begin to explore a situation you want to know more about. It can also be useful to add information to other sources of data you may be collecting for your action enquiry. However, it is important to be aware that as an observer you can often affect the situation you are trying to observe. Generally the role of the observer can be pure (unnoticed, part of the wallpaper) or participatory (e.g. participate in what is going on in the situation observed). The latter use qualitative, structured approaches of observation; the former might use a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Whilst the pure observer uses an instrument (e.g. proforma) for the observation, the participant-observer is the instrument. One very common example could be the finding of the class teacher in finding out how children solve a multiplication problem. As a pure observer she or he will use an observation checklist, ticking boxes as she or he observes the pupil on a pre-determined problem-solving activity. Then, as the instrument himself or herself, she or he may ask the pupil what he or she did, why he did it, and may even set him another, but similar, task, to see if he uses the same strategy. By doing so, the teacher will influence the outcome, but in the context of teaching and learning this may be a valid method of structured observation. Taking the above simple example into consideration someone can definitely determine not only the strengths but also the weaknesses of the method used. From the point of strength, the researcher Can conduct cross-case comparisons and analysis and provides understanding and description of peoples personal experiences of the phenomena. Furthermore, the researcher can study dynamic processes, and determine how participants interpret constructs. In addition, qualitative researchers are especially responsive to changes that occur during the conduct of a study and may shift the focus of their studies. In contrast, biases can be developed. Data analysis is often time consuming and the results are more easily influenced by the researchers personal biases and idiosyncrasies. Meaning that all perceptual processes involving the taking in of information by observation and its subsequent internal processing are subject to bias. Our own interests, experiences, and expectations are likely to influen ce what we pay attention to and do make a conscious effort to distribute your attention widely and evenly. Finally, It is more difficult to test hypotheses and theories with large participant pools but knowledge produced might not generalize to other people or other settings (i.e., findings might be unique to the relatively few people included in the research study. Part six, is the last part of my assignment. The searching question in this part has to do with all of the discussion done on the previous sections. Up to now, structured observation was the core of our assignment and the way researchers develop their task. As a result, I have discussed the structured observation from the point of positivism and the quantity method on the one hand and the structured observation from the point of interpretivism and the qualitative method on the other hand. However since Gage wrote his fictional history, what has actually happened is in fact quite complex and varies across countries. The trend against positivism continued, and what we have called constructionism emerged as an important influence alongside interpretivism and critical research. However, in the early years of the twenty-first century, there have been signs of a second phase, the re-emergence of positivist ideas, partly as a result of calls for practice to become evidence-based. Neverthele ss, at present, much educational research continues to take a qualitative approach. Alongside, the revival in support for quantitative methods in some quarters, there have also been increasing calls for mixed methods or triangulation research that is, research that combines quantitative and qualitative approaches and more methods. The justification for this is often the kind of pragmatism to which Gage appealed. It is suggested that, by combining quantitative and qualitative methods, it is possible to gain the benefits of both and avoid the weaknesses of each when used on its own (E891 Educational Enquiry, Study Guide, p. 89). Coming to the point, the difference between positivism and interpretivism is rather subtle than a difference in focus, but it is still important. Examine the situation historically, the conflict between positivism and interpretivism dates from at least the middle of the nineteenth century, although it only arose clearly within the field of educational research during the second half of the twentieth century. Usually, positivists researchers have generally assumed that it is possible to document recurrent and standard patterns of relationship. At first between peoples background experiences and their attitudes, and then between their attitudes and their behaviour. On the other side of the coin, interpretivists researchers have suggested that these relationships are much more contingent and diverse, as the historians have emphasised the uncertain course of history and this is not simply the playing out of a set of universal laws. This is what Gage means when he says that interpretivist s reject the assumption of the uniformity of nature and linear causal models (E891 Educational Enquiry, Study Guide, p. 81). It is worth to mention an example at this point to raise the difference among them. Positivists assume that it is possible to document attitudes by getting people to respond to a standard structured questionnaire. Interpretivists, however, argue that all research methods involve complex forms of communication: therefore, coming to understand other people necessarily relies both on researchers background cultural knowledge and skills, and on their willingness to suspend prior assumptions and allow understanding of other peoples orientations to emerge over the course of enquiry. Further to the point I have raised concerning the two other methods, i.e., the mixed method or triangulation, I have the feeling I need to elaborate on at least at one of them. The triangulation, in social science, is defined as the mixing of data or methods so that diverse viewpoints or standpoints cast light upon a topic. The mixing of data types, known as data triangulation, is often thought to help in validating the claims that might arise from an initial pilot study. The mixing of methodologies, e.g. mixing the use of survey data with interviews, is a more profound form of triangulation. Denzin wrote a justification for triangulation in 1970 and is credited by some with initiating the move toward integrated research that mixes methods. However other authors in other contexts have used mixed methods research both before and after Denzins summary was written. For instance, Lenin used a mixture of quantitative data tables along with a political-economy analysis of charged words use d in his classic research monograph, The Development of Capitalism in Russia (1898). We would today say that his work used methodological triangulation of discourse analysis (a qualitative methodology), and survey data (a quantitative methodology), to study the end of the Russian peasantry and the early beginnings of working class conflict with employers in Russia (Wendy O., 2004, p.3). Continuing the above and according to researchers from case studies to econometric analysis, educational research has a long tradition of employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, but the usual juxtaposition of qualitative research against quantitative research makes it easy to miss the fact that qualitative research itself encompasses a multitude of different approaches. Qualitative work can be positivist: It can attempt to document practices that lead consistently to one set of outcomes rather than another, to identify characteristics that commonly are related to some policy problem, or to find strategic patterns that hold across different venues and with different actors. Qualitative work also can be interpretivist: It attempts to understand what general concepts like poverty or race mean in their specific operation, to uncover the conscious and unconscious explanations people have for what they do or believe, or to capture and reproduce a particular time, culture, or p lace so that actions people take become intelligible. In conclusion, observation methods are powerful tools for gaining insight into situations. As with other data collection techniques, they are beset by issues of validity and reliability. Even low inference observation, perhaps the safest form of observation, is itself highly selective, just as perception is selective. Higher forms of inference, whilst moving towards establishing causality, rely on greater levels of interpretation by the observer, wherein the observer makes judgements about intentionality and motivation. In this respect it has been suggested that additional methods of gathering data might be employed, to provide corroboration and triangulation, in short, to ensure that reliable inferences are derived from reliable data. References Dunkin, M.J. and Biddle, B.J. (1974) The Study of Teaching, New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston. E891 Educational Enquiry, Study Guide, (2007), The Open University. Oakley, A., Peoples way of knowing: gender and methodology. In: Critical issues in social research, Hood, S, Mayall, B. Oliver, S., pp.154-170. Open University Press, 1999. Research Methods in Education, Handbook, (2003), The Open University. Silverman, David (2000). Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook. Sage Wendy, O. (2004) Triangulation in Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods Can Really Be Mixed, Causeway Press.