Marketing assignment Essay

1.1 Ryanair are pioneers of low cost airlines in Europe operating more than 1600 daily flights from 57 bases across 1600 low far routes connecting 180 destinations in 29 countries. They recently announced that they have ordered 175 new Boeing craft. 1.2 In order for Ryanair to keep the costs to a minimum, their airline uses small, regional airports only to reduce operational costs and operates as a point-t-point airline carrier, thus when other airlines avoiding the cost associated with a hub-and-spoke service. 1.3 Ryanair advertises it’s self as a â€Å"The low fare airline† and has a price promise under which it will pay double the difference if a customer finds the same flight cheaper elsewhere. 1.4 They pay as little as possible for their aircraft. They get big discounts on aircraft because they buy them when other airlines want them. 1.5 They spend as little as possible on advertising. They do not employ advertising agencies; instead all of their advertising is done in-house. 1.6 They don’t use travel agencies, so they don’t pay commissions. Ryanair uses direct marketing to recruit and retain customers and to extend products and services to them and this reduce cost. You book online or on the internet. This saves 15% on agency fees. Question 2 Kulula and Mango are South Africa’s low cost airlines. These airlines have in some areas imitated the Ryanair business model. 2.1 Kulula uses Lanseria Airport as an alternative to OR Tambo airport which can be attributed to reduction operational costs. Ryanair makes use of smaller airports instead of the large busy airports to reduce costs and reduce the time between flights. 2.2 The low cost airlines in South Africa, such as Kulula and Mango also upsell products such as car hires, travel packs and hotel accommodation. This is similar to the business model of Ryanair. 2.3 The low cost airlines in South Africa also reduce their costs by not including food on the fare; you can buy your food if you want. 2.4 To make bookings simpler the customers of Kulula and Mango can also book and buy flight tickets at Shoprite/Checkers for there’s is no commission paid to travel agencies. The internet online process also exists for self-service of making bookings. Question 3 The marketing environment consists of Micro and Macro environment. According to Kotler and Armstrong (2012;90) Micro environment consists of the actors close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers such as the company its self, its suppliers, its marketing partners, customers and the general public. The macro environment is said to consist of the larger societal forces that affect the macro environment such as political, economic, social, technological, natural environment, and legal framework (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012) 3.1 The Micro environment 3.1.1 Company Ryanair’s mission is to keep their customers happy by offering a simple service and that involves maintaining low-cost fares, such as offering no meal options or extended service elements such as beverage consumption, thus keeping labour-related costs low and inviting the more humble or thrifty consumer to enjoy travel to regional destinations without the worry of excessive airline expense. 3.1.2 Suppliers Suppliers are very important to the company and they are the determining factor for Ryanair to keep customer value. In a running an airline Ryanair require a lot of fuel but they are unable to influence their suppliers since the price of fuel is controlled by external bodies such as OPEC(Ryanair Annual Report, 2004). 3.1.3 Competitors The increasing number of competition with carriers offering lower-cost fares is impacting the consumer mentality regarding which carrier to choose when travelling within European destinations. 3.1.4 Marketing Partners Ryanair does not use advertising agencies instead all their advertising is done in-house by doing so they are cutting cost and making sure that they maintain low cost strategy. They simple use adverts that tell passengers that Ryanair has low fares. 3.2 Macro environment 3.2.1 Political The external political environment is one of significant advantage to Ryanair, as the majority of its operations are contained within Europe. It is relatively common knowledge that this region maintains political stability, thus Ryanair does not experience issues with governmental instability in Europe as a concern regarding passenger volumes or flight destinations. 3.2.2 Technological The technological environment does not appear to significantly impact the firm in a negative capacity as the firm. Additionally, supply chain software programs and other integrated software applications are available to assist Ryanair in streamlining labour functions and improve internal organisational efficiency. 3.2.3 Economical Economical factors in the Euro region such as the Greece debt issues, increased unemployment in Spain and other countries have a negative impact in the number of customers for air travel like Ryanair. Question 4 Low cost airline offer a no-frill service, they sell the cheapest tickets you can buy. Unlike branded airlines that argue that passengers are willing to more for a better level of service. These are the reason I would not use low cost airlines such as Ryanair. 4.1 Customer Service Ryanair offers poor customer service such as when your bag is broken into no compensation is provided. It is also reported that their staff is unfriendly and rude. Ryanair also do not make provisions for fragile items that you wish to carry on the aircraft with you. Musical instruments and sporting equipment can be taken but at a fee. 4.2 Value added services There is no complementary food and what is offered is expensive and unhealthy. 4.3 Misleading pricing The policy of 70% sets sold at lowest fares and 30% at higher fares can be misleading. This means that you may not always be paying the lowest price for the fares. 4.4 Convenience Ryanair does not offer convenience as you cannot chose seat. You also cannot change flights. Their plains are old and offer low comfort. They use secondary airports which tend to be smaller regional airports. Question 5 Ryanair’s objective is to firmly establish itself as Europe’s leading low-fares scheduled passenger airline through continued improvements and expanded offerings of its low-fares service. Ryanair aims to offer low fares that generate increased passenger traffic while maintaining a continuous focus on cost-containment and operating efficiencies 5.2 Understanding customer needs and wants 5.2 Design a customer driven marketing strategy 5.3 Construct an integrated marketing program that delivers superior value 5.4 Build profitable relationships and create customer delight Question 6 6.1 Product or Service Low cost, no frills air travel to Europian destinations. There is no free food or drink on-board. Food and drink are income streams. You buy on-board, or you do take your own food and drink if you like. 6.2 Price Ryanair has low fares. 70% of seats are sold at the lowest two fares. 24% of seats are charged at higher fares. The last 6% are sold at the highest fare. 6.3 Place Ryanair does not use travel agents so it does not pay agency commissions. It uses direct marketing techniques to recruit and retain customers, and to extend products and services to them (i.e. Customer Relationship Management). This reduces costs. You book online over the Internet. This saves them 15% on agency fees. They are based in Stansted in Essex – which is known as a secondary airport. It is new and accessible. It is cheaper to fly from Stansted than either Heathrow or Gatwick, and since it is less busy Ryanair can turn aircraft around more quickly. 6.4 Promotion They spend as little as possible on advertising They do not employ an advertising agency. Instead all of the advertising is done in-house. In fact O’Leary himself oversees much of the promotion of Ryanair. They use simple adverts that tell passengers that Ryanair has low fares. Ryanair employs controversy to promote its business. For example in 2009, the company reasoned that passengers would be charged  £1 to use the toilets on board. O’Leary reasoned that passengers could use the terminals at either the destination or arrival airport. This would speed things up. It was reasoned that this is what passengers wanted – since they did not want other passengers leaving their seats and walking the aisles to go to the toilet. O’Leary also argued that larger passengers should be charged more since they took up more room – again it was reasoned that this is what the majority of passengers wanted. 6.5 People Pilots are recruited when they are young as pilot cadets. They work hard and take early promotions and then move on after 10-years or so to further their careers. Cabin crew pay for their uniforms to be cleaned. They invest in their own training. They are mainly responsible for passenger safety as well as ancillary revenues onboard 6.6 Physical Evidence They pay as little as possible for their aircraft. Planes are the most expensive asset that an airline can make. They get big discounts on aircraft because they buy them when other airlines don’t want them, for example after September 11th, or on the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. Aircraft manufacturers cannot simply stop a supply chain in minutes. If orders are being cancelled or delayed, this is when to buy. It was rumored within the industry that Ryanair was buying Boeing 737s – list price around  £40,000,000 (forty million pounds) – with up to a 50% discount. 6.7 Process There is no check in. You simply show your passport and supply your reference number. You cannot select a preferred seat. It is first come, first served. This aids speed. There are no air bridges (the tunnel that connects to the side of the aircraft when to board it). You walk or are bused to the aircraft. Baggage is deposited directly onto the terminal – it’s quick. However if your bag is broken don’t expect high levels of customer service. Question 7 7.1 Cultural factors Ryanair has addressed a global cultural need for leisure travel by making their prices extremely low and the easy availability of tickets operating between two points. One of the factors that influence consumer behavior is social class such as people’s income. Ryanair get most of their business from lower income group. 7.2. Social factors One the factors that influence consumer factors is the social factors such as consumers small groups family and social roles. According to the case study Ryanair make use of buzz marketing by their controversial promotions. This influences people opinions about their services as it gets people to discuss the controversial promotions. 7.3 Personal factors Personal factors are influenced by personal characteristics such as customer’s age and life cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, life style and personality and self-concept. The people that would be influenced into buying Ryanair’s would need to have an easy going personality and not be concerned much about the service of the airline since many of the luxuries are removed from the service. 7.4 Psychological factors A person’s buying choices are further influence by four psychological factors motivation, perception, learning and beliefs and attitudes. Customers that would be influences to use Ryanair are customers that believe that are getting value for money through the low cost pricing. Question 8 Consumer market consists of individuals and households that buy goods and services for their personal consumption. These would normally be consumer goods such as soft drinks, cosmetics, travel and household goods. Ryanair’s consumer market is the individuals in the European region that use air travel as a form of transportation. Question 9 Below is an example of Ansoff’s Matrix which shows growth strategies that organisations can use to expand their operation followed by the explanations for each growth strategy (Riley, 2012). Figure 1 Ansoff’s matrix. Sourced from Riley (2012) 9.1 Market penetration Market penetration is when the company expands in the same market using the same products. For Ryanair, market penetration would involve increasing the number of flights in the same routes. This way they are in the same markets and using the same service. 9.2 Market Development Market development requires the companies to enter new markets while using the same products. For Ryanair, this would require the company to go to new markets such as Africa, Asia or America using the same low cost air travel service. 9.3. Product Development Product development means that in order to expand the company must introduce new products or services in the existing market. For company like Ryanair, product development would mean that they introduce new service such as business class or first class into the existing market. 9.4 Diversification Diversification is when the company seeks to enter into new markets with new products. For Ryanair diversification could mean that the company introduces new services such as leisure sea cruising. This would also mean that the company moves into a new market since leisure sea cruising would require different destinations and customer base. References Riley, J. 2012. Ansoff Matrix. [online]. Available at: http://www.tutor2u.net/business/strategy/ansoff_matrix.htm [Accessed on 02 September 2013]. Kotler, P. and Armstong, G. 2012. Principles of marketing. 14th edition. Essex: Pearson.

Sex Discrimination in Poland

Eradication from sex discrimination on the Polish work market would favour development of women’s promotion prospects. Since becoming a full European Union member Poland has made headway in promoting gender equality into national policies and in gender discrimination in the workplace. However, this country still lags far behind the other countries of an old continent breaching women’s’ rights not openly. Poland is a country that cultivates its tradition and keep its values. Stereotypes regarding the model of Polish traditional family are deeply ingrained in Poles psyche and therefore women are not treated equally in the society because they have always been associated with fulfilling domestic activities. Also, a conservative attitude to women in Poland when it comes to work stems from the history. Polish women were identified with ‘Mother- Pole’ who protects the hearth and home. In connection to this the vast majority of men cannot imagine women’s forsaking their duties. Regardless Poland succeeds in making progress on different fields the problem of female manager’s promotion remains unsolved. The most industrialized countries such as Sweden, Germany or USA are willing to take advantage of women’s potential and experience. Reasons are numerous, for instance : more female workers are highly educated in comparison to male employees. Moreover women seem to be attractive workers in view of possessing features that are not typical of men. For example they better endure stressful situations and have better developed communication skills. Unfortunately many employers in Poland do not appreciate women’s aptitude like it is in other countries. Still women continue to occupy lower positions . Even if they put an enormous effort to perform their duties the salary for the same job is lower . I conclude that male employers are afraid of aligning women in responsible positions because they do not believe that women will manage to fulfill duties properly. Nevertheless, a plenty of amenities for female workers are being implemented in many European companies in order to facilitate their development. Also Poland should adjust their work market to women. First of all the Polish Government ought to take measures to protect women against discrimination at work. For instance they can levy fines on companies where women are sidelined from work due to their gender. Moreover, Poland should increase the access to care services like nursery schools. Thanks to it women will have an opportunity to join family duties with work and continue their carreers. In addition there should be implemented flexible working hours which are crucial for women on maternity leave . Introducing such solution will be profitable for her employer. On the whole Powers governing Polish work market are relentless and only few women who were entirely determined to break the glass ceiling managed to overcome the barriers. Women’s promotion prospects should be more widespread and the Government should introduce campaign encouraging male bosses to employ women.

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake & Sanaysay Essay Example for Free

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake & Sanaysay Essay Earth (355) , Earthquake (45) , Hawaii (26) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints ? A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, generally an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions(including detonations of underwater nuclear devices), landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami.[3] Tsunami waves do not resemble normal sea waves, because their wavelength is far longer. Rather than appearing as a breaking wave, a tsunami may instead initially resemble a rapidly rising tide, and for this reason they are often referred to as tidal waves. Tsunamis generally consist of a series of waves with periods ranging from minutes to hours, arriving in a so-called â€Å"wave train†.[4] Wave heights of tens of metres can be generated by large events. Although the impact of tsunamis is limited to coastal areas, their destructive power can be enormous and they can affect entire ocean basins; the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters in human history with over 230,000 people killed in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean. The Greek historian Thucydides suggested in his late 5th century BC, History of the Peloponnesian War, that tsunamis were related to submarine earthquakes,[5][6] but the understanding of a tsunami’s nature remained slim until the 20th century and much remains unknown. Major areas of current research include trying to determine why some large earthquakes do not generate tsunamis while other smaller ones do; trying to accurately forecast the passage of tsunamis across the oceans; and also to forecast how tsunami waves would interact with specific shorelines. A tsunami is a series of ocean waves that sends surges of water, sometimes reaching heights of over 100 feet (30.5 meters), onto land. These walls of water can cause widespread destruction when they crash ashore. Tsunami are waves caused by sudden movement of the ocean due to earthquakes, landslides on the sea floor, land slumping into the ocean, large volcanic eruptions or meteorite impact in the ocean. Earthquakes Most tsunami are caused by large earthquakes on the seafloor when slabs of rock move past each other suddenly, causing the overlying water to move. The  resulting waves move away from the source of the earthquake event. Landslides Underwater landslides can cause tsunami as can terrestrial land which slumps into the ocean. View our landslide generation animation which demonstrates how a landslide induces a tsunami. Volcanic eruptions Less common are tsunami initiated by volcanic eruptions. These occur in several ways: destructive collapse of coastal, island and underwater volcanoes which result in massive landslides pyroclastic flows, which are dense mixtures of hot blocks, pumice, ash and gas, plunging down volcanic slopes into the ocean and pushing water outwards a caldera volcano collapsing after an eruption causing overlying water to drop suddenly. An earthquake is the shaking of the earth that occurs after pieces of the crust of the Earth suddenly shift. The term earthquake describes the sudden slip on a fault and includes the ground shaking and radiating seismic energy that is caused by the slip. Volcanic activity, or other geologic processes, may cause stress changes in the earth that can also result in an earthquake. Earthquakes can occur anywhere in the world although some areas of the globe are more likely to experience an earthquake than others. Earthquakes occur in all types of weather, in all climate zones, in all seasons of the year, and at any time of day making it impossible to predict with any certainty when an earthquake is likely to occur. The best seismologists (scientists who study earthquakes) can do is to look at the historical record of earthquake activity for any geographical area and use this data to calculate the probability of an earthquake occurring in the future. Earthquake prediction is still in the future. A tsunami is a series of sea waves that can be caused by earthquakes or landslides at or beneath the sea floor. The displacement of the sea floor that occurs during certain large submarine earthquakes and landslides causes displacement of large volumes of the sea water above it producing large, fast moving waves. When a coast line experiences a tsunami it can be due to an earthquake near the coast or due to a quake occurring in a distant part of the ocean. Coastal areas may experience little or no damage from an  earthquake but can be devastated by the resulting tsunami. 2010 Haiti Earthquake Haiti suffered one of the largest earthquakes in more than 200 years in 2010. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake was centered about 10 miles from Port-au-Prince and set off a swarm of tsunamis that killed three people and destroyed several homes. The waves were averaged to be about 10 feet high. 2010 Sumatra Earthquake/Tsunami he October 2010 Sumatra earthquake occurred on the same fault as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The second time wasn’t as disastrous but there was still substantial damage. This time around the earthquake was 7.7 on the Richter scale and developed a tsunami that struck the Mentawai Islands. The tsunami, which had a wave of 9 feet, destroyed many of the villages on the island. It displaced more than 20,000 people and reportedly killed 435. 2010 Chile Earthquake/Tsunami A 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chile on February 27, 2010 with intense shaking that lasted for about three minutes. It triggered a tsunami that destroyed several coastal towns in south-central Chile. The tsunami raced through the Pacific Ocean that 53 countries had to post warning, though there was little damage as it moved past Hawaii, Australia and Japan. The death toll was 521 victims. 2011 Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami The 9.0-magnitude megathrust earthquake that hit the Tohoku region of Japan on March 11, 2011 was the largest earthquake to have ever hit the country. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan even called it â€Å"the toughest and most difficult crisis for Japan† since the end of World War II. The tsunami that traveled along the Pacific coast of Japan’s northern islands was measured to be at least 9.8 feet high. Entire towns and cities were swept away and about 5,692 are said to be dead, with 9,522 missing and 2,409 injured. 1771 Great Yaeyama Tsunami On April 24, 1771, the Yaeyama Great Earthquake caused the formation of the 1771 Great Yaeyama Tsunami. The tsunami hit both the Ishigaki and Miyakojima Island of Japan and killed a total of 12,000 people. Agriculture was severely damaged and the population decreased about one-third of what it was. The tsunami at Ishigaki reportedly reached a height of 262 feet. 1792 Mount Unzen The 1792 eruption of Mount Unzen in western Kyushu, Japan is the most deadliest volcanic eruption ever in Japan. It caused a megatsunami that reached up to 330 feet and killed 15,030 people. 1896 Meiji-Sanriku Earthquake The 1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake hit Japan on a day when the country was celebrating both the return of soldiers from the Sinto Japanese War and a Shinto holiday. The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that took place was small but the tsunami that struck the coast of Sanriku 35 minutes later was much greater. Waves as high as 125 feet were measured and nearly 9,000 homes were destroyed. 22,070 were reported dead and an unusually high count of victims with fractured skulls and broken or missing limbs. Hawaii also suffered some destruction from the tsunami as waves of 30 feet were measured there. 1868 Arica Earthquake/Tsunami The estimated 8.5 to 9.0 magnitude earthquake near Arica (then part of Peru, now part of Chile) in 1868 nearly destroyed all of Arica and its surrounding cities. The tsunami it produced almost completely destroyed the port city of Pisco. It also caused some damage in Hawaii, New Zealand and Japan. About 25,674 casualties were reported. Aug. 27, 1883: Eruptions from the Krakatoa volcano fueled a tsunami that drowned 36,000 people in the Indonesian Islands of western Java and southern Sumatra. The strength of the waves pushed coral blocks as large as 600 tons onto the shore. June 15, 1896: Waves as high as 100 feet (30 meters), spawned by an earthquake, swept the east coast of Japan. Some 27,000 people died. April 1, 1946: The April Fools tsunami, triggered by an earthquake in Alaska, killed 159 people, mostly in Hawaii. July 9, 1958:Regarded as the largest recorded in modern times, the tsunami in Lituya Bay, Alaska was caused by a landslide triggered by an 8.3 magnitude earthquake. Waves reached a height of 1,720 feet (576  meters) in the bay, but because the area is relatively isolated and in a unique geologic setting the tsunami did not cause much damage elsewhere. It sank a single boat, killing two fishermen. May 22, 1960: The largest recorded earthquake, magnitude 8.6 in Chile, created a tsunami that hit the Chilean coast within 15 minutes. The surge, up to 75 feet (25 meters) high, killed an estimated 1,500 people in Chile and Hawaii. March 27, 1964: The Alaskan Good Friday earthquake, magnitude between 8.4, spawned a 201-foot (67-meter) tsunami in the Valdez Inlet. It traveled at over 400 mph, killing more than 120 people. Ten of the deaths occurred in Crescent City, in northern California, which saw waves as high as 20 feet (6.3 meters). Aug. 23, 1976: tsunami in the southwest Philippines killed 8,000 on the heels of an earthquake. July 17, 1998:A magnitude 7.1 earthquake generated a tsunami in Papua New Guinea that quickly killed 2,200. Dec. 26, 2004: A colossal earthquake with a magnitude between 9.1 and 9.3 shook Indonesia and killed an estimated 230,000 people, most due to the tsunami and the lack of aid afterward, coupled with deviating and unsanitary conditions. The quake was named the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, and the tsunami has become known as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Those waves traveled the globe – as far as Nova Scotia and Peru. March 11, 2011: A massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan, triggering tsunamis that reportedly swept up cars, buildings and other debris. The Japan Meteorological Society has forecast more major tsunamis in the area, with some expected to reach more than 30 feet (10 m) off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s second largest island. A tsunami was also generated off the coast of Hawaii, one that could cause damage along the coastlines of all islands in the state of Hawaii, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Tsunami warnings are in effect across Hawaii as well. 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake & Sanaysay. (2016, May 26).

Discussion and participation week 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discussion and participation week 4 - Essay Example ontingencies Gain is Probable Gain is Reasonably Possible Gain is Remote Disclose in notes only Disclose in notes only Nothing (Ecfa, 2011). Ecfa.org (2011). Accounting for Contingencies. Retrieved September 1, 2011 from http://www.ecfa.org/Content/Accounting-for-Contingencies Weygandt, J., Kieso, D., Kimmel, P. (2002). Accounting Principles (6th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. 2. Gain contingencies are not recognized in the income statement, but loss contingencies may be based on the circumstances. â€Å"Loss contingencies may be recorded in the financial statements after evaluation to determine if inclusion is required† (Ecfa, 2011). The probability of occurrence is the determining factor that must be evaluated to determine the proper accounting treatment. The three options are probable, reasonable possible, and remote. Each of the options has different accounting treatment based on losses or gains. The table below shows all the possibilities. Loss Contingencies    Loss is Probable Loss is Reasonably Possible Loss is Remote Amount of Loss can be estimated Record liability and disclose in notes Disclose in notes only Nothing Range of Loss can be estimated Record low end of range as liability and disclose in notes Disclose in notes only Nothing Loss can NOT be estimated Disclose in notes only Disclose in notes only Nothing Gain Contingencies Gain is Probable Gain is Reasonably Possible Gain is Remote Disclose in notes only Disclose in notes only Nothing (Ecfa, 2011). Ecfa.org (2011). Accounting for Contingencies. Retrieved September 1, 2011 from http://www.ecfa.org/Content/Accounting-for-Contingencies 3. A hedge can be defined as protecting a long position in one asset while being short in another in order to reduce overall risk (Tewales & Bradley & Tewales, 1992). If the fair value of the asset changes the investor can minimize his losses based on the use of a hedge. A hedge is a complex investment instrument that should be used only by expert and institutionalized investors. I would not recommend a novice investor in the stock market to invest in hedges. Teweles, R., Bradley, E., Teweles, T. (1992). The Stock Market (6th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. 4. The four types of contingencies mentioned in your answer are right on target. I only came up with liabilities as a potential contingency out of the top of my head. None of the contingencies you mentioned are ever included in the income statement when they are gain contingencies. If the gain contingency is probable or reasonably possible they are disclosed as a note to the financial statements. The existence of a gain contingency is a factor that can positively influenced the price of common stocks of public corporations. 5. Early extinguishment of debt typically results in either a gain or loss. In the income statement gains or loss resulting from early extinguishment of debt are included as other income. â€Å"

Child Labour in Pakistan. Business Ethics Essay

Child Labour in Pakistan. Business Ethics - Essay Example Governments began to press parents to send their children to school instead of forcing them to work. Question1 What are the main ethical issues under examination? The progress made by national economies among Western nations in the 20th century facilitated the schooling of children as parents did not need them to labour for wages to meet family expenses. The parents also began to see the advantage in ensuring that their children attended schools. In many developing nations, though, this is not yet a reality (Dessy and Vencatachellum 2003). Nations with a large percentage of low income societal classes have to constantly grapple with the issue of child labour because they need all family members to work in order to meet the family expenses. There are many ethical issues involved in child labour. In many developing nations, which often have the largest numbers of working children, the conditions in which children are forced to work are often deplorable. Children do not ask for higher w ages, unlike adult workers. They can also be forced or intimidated to work for long hours in dangerous conditions (Parker and Harkin 2007). This is why many unscrupulous employers in both developed as well as developing nations would prefer to work with children rather than adults when they have monotonous and dangerous work to be done. For instance, there are many plantations of crops in developing nations where child workers will be given pesticides to spray on the crops without being given any overalls or protective gear to wear in order to protect their skin and eyes. Child labour in many developing nations also tends to be gender biased. Among poor families, when there is only enough money to send one or two children to school, it is the male children who will be selected. Female children are then expected to work in order to sustain their brothers in school as well as providing for the family. This issue does not only affect the companies functioning in developing nations. Wit h globalisation, many multinational corporations have benefitted from the chance to expand to overseas locations. This means that they have the opportunity to take advantage of cheaper production that results from the use of child labour (Parker and Harkin 2007). In some cases, the foreign partners with which multinational corporations work keep the reality of child labourers away from them. However, in many cases, the multinational corporations may be aware of the use of children and may choose to turn a blind eye so as to make handsome profits. In nations such as Pakistan, children are often compelled to work for a pittance in sweatshop conditions (Gifford 2009). In such places, the children work in dimly lit areas that have poor ventilation and no sanitation facilities. The children work for long hours without any breaks for rest and are often subjected to sexual, emotional, and physical abuse by their supervisors. In addition, children who work overnight in such facilities are o ften locked inside the facilities in which they are working so that they may not steal anything in the absence of a supervisor. In the past, this has resulted in the tragic loss of life when fires suddenly erupted in the production facilities due to electrical faults. Another reason why child labour is wrong is that it steals childhood from children and can result in mental problems later as they struggle to reconcile themselves with the fact

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 13

Project management - Essay Example In this respect, the group flourishes and makes great strides in many academic contests. However, the optimist does not have a strong bond in their grouping. The individual group member are focused on their personal goals rather than the overall group goal achievement. The behavior of the optimist is conservative and limiting in many ways. The optimist group instills the culture of hard work among the members of the society. According to Mccalman (2008), the optimist is associated with stupidity and boredom. The optimist usually is techno-savvy and is the cream of society with regard to literacy and empowerment. The weakness of the group is that it has low social rating. The failure of the group members to interact with people does not deprive them of information on the current affairs. The tendency only makes them less sensitive to the human value other people. Their major focus on machines lie computers is the group’s short-coming. The optimist is the cream of society and th ey are initiators of all innovations within the society. The group’s fortitude enhances exploits in the technological sphere. The group member usually spends much of their time surfing internet. This implies that their lives are solely based on the internet and other computer applications. Slashdot is also a forum, which is frequently accessed by the optimistic members. The optimist also enhances inventions and they help create new gadgets to the market. The theory to be established is the thinking learning theory. This theory will encompass all the aspects of almost all the other learning theory. This owes to the fact that essentially all the processes pertaining to learning are subject to thinking. Therefore, it is prudent to establish this theory based on the fact that thinking is a variable of learning. Mccalman (2008) asserts that cognitive –gestalt theory reveals how a

Plea Bargaining Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

Plea Bargaining - Research Paper Example 622 (2002), (Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the ninth circuit No. 01-595. Argued April 24, 2002-Decided June 24, 2002) the court initiated the focus on the realities of the plea process but the endeavor materialized with a half hearted outcome. It was in the year 2010, regarding a case between Padilla v. Kentucky - 08-651 (2010) the court engineered in the substantive calculus of the notion of plea bargaining along with the attendants sentencing decisions, running of the lawyers along with the associated civil consequences. Padilla was a petitioner, a lawful permanent resident of the United States for 40 years faced deportation after pleading guilty to drug distribution charges in Kentucky. Padilla held that before a guilty plea, the criminal defense counsel must be advising the clients not only about the direct consequences of the plea but also but also about one of its chief collateral civil consequences, deportation. The case of Padilla can be said to be a la ndmark construal of the constitution’s Sixth Amendment’s right to effective counsel followed by the court to move beyond its fixation upon various cases that go to the jury trials (Bibas, 2011, p.1117). The United States (U.S.) of America from a very long time has been rigidly associated with the emblem of democracy and freedom with proper and quick functioning of the court system being one of the major parameters. Within the judicial system of the United States, the notion of plea bargaining is highly common with approximately 90% of the criminal cases being settled by plea bargaining mechanism rather than by the process of a jury trials. The procedure of plea bargaining is subjected to the court and several states and jurisdictions fall under domain of different rules (Plea Bargaining, 2012). The American Samoa is one of the territories of United States of America and the central theme of the paper will be dealing with the practice of plea bargaining

Communitiies Of Practice (COP) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Communitiies Of Practice (COP) - Essay Example The CoP could also meet on a regular basis or depends on the common availability of the members. Likewise, due to the advancement of technology, the members could also utilize the computer and internet, i.e. group sites, web pages, e-mail, blogs, wikis, podcasting, and/or file sharing to keep connected and updated.2 The practice of CoP had long been existed throughout the society. In fact, it had been observed and practiced in the classical Greece wherein the Greeks were subdivided and lived according to their shared common interests and beliefs. The people who have the same crafts such as the metalworkers, potters, masons, etc. belonged to the same group because they work and learn together. Each group had their own business function in which they were responsible to share their skills and spread the innovation through training and coaching apprentices/novices. Whilst, each group had shared social purpose wherein they â€Å"worshipped the same god and goddesses and celebrated holid ays together.† 3The practice had been very common; however, the term was only coined recently by Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave. Originally, the term was used to name a group of traditional African tailors who couched and trained their apprentices. 4 Further, the two have concluded that learning could be a two-way process wherein the apprentices could learn from their masters/instructors and vice versa. Since then the two researchers have expanded the CoP concept and had been widely incorporated in organizations, government, businesses, teams, work groups, corporations and among others. Etienne Wenger and William Snyder have considered community of practice as an important instrument because it could improve organizational performance as long as it is implemented accordingly. The advantages of CoP have included its ability to drive strategy. Several organizations have proven this, i.e. the World Bank. Since, they had integrated in their management the concept of CoP; they become â€Å"knowledge bank†5 because they had provided their customers’ high-quality information as well as they gained know-how on economic development. Likewise, the CoP could also start new lines of businesses. An example of this was the one cited by Wegner and Snyder, wherein a group of consultants created a community and they decided to meet regularly at the airport after their engagement with their clients to discuss over their common interests. After a couple of years, this group had established a new line of business that offered financial services due to community of practice. The CoP could also used to solve problems quickly. The practical reason is that members of the CoP could share their problems and could ask the assistance of their co-members to find solution with their problems. In the same manner that their counterparts could extend their help because they knew the problem and they could identify the best solutions to common problems. For example, a man had asked from his CoP on how to improve his writing skills. Since, they share the same interest, many of his expert co-members have responded via net within 24 hours. Luckily, many of them have provided the best and easiest writing techniques. Further, it could also transfer best practices because they â€Å"do much more than work on specific problems. 6 In an organization or company, it was considered as the best and ideal venue for sharing and disseminating best practices and knowledge. One of the most successful examples of

Compare and contrast the Right to Remain Silent in the US and the UK Essay

Compare and contrast the Right to Remain Silent in the US and the UK - Essay Example On March 13th 1963 Ernesto Miranda was arrested in Arizona and taken to the Phoenix Police Station where he was then identified by the complaint-filing witness. Without being notified of his rights, Miranda was led into the interrogation room and questioned by police officers. In two hour’s time the officers had succeeded in obtaining a written and signed confession from Miranda. The signed statement claimed he signed it â€Å"with full knowledge of my legal rights, understanding any statement I make may be used against me.† When the case went to trial the prosecution used Miranda’s statement of confession against him and despite objections from the defense, the judge allowed for the confession to be admitted as evidence. Miranda appealed and the Supreme Court of Arizona ruled his rights were not violated because Miranda never requested council to be present during questioning. Miranda’s case went before the Supreme Court who acknowledged Miranda was never informed of his right to council or the right he had not to â€Å"be compelled to incriminate himself.† The Supreme Court ruled since Miranda did not have full knowledge of his rights all statements made by Miranda were inadmissible in court since they were not legally received. Furthermore the Supreme Court justified that since interrogation is intimidating, a suspect must first be given their rights to lessen the intimidation they experience. The Miranda Rights must be read before a suspect is to be questioned or interrogated in any way. The Miranda rights are read as followed: â€Å"You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Do you understand? Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand? You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. Do you understand? If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appoint ed for you before any questioning if you wish. Do you understand? If you do decide to answer questions now without an attorney present you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney. Do you understand? Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?† (essortment.com) The 5th Amendment to the US Constitution’s Bill of Rights is â€Å"No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself or be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.† The 6th Amendment Right to Counsel Clause coincides with the 5th intricately and was instituted in 1964 from the case of Escobedo vs. Illinois by the Supreme Court’s insistence that police allow council to be present during questioning. â€Å"In all criminal proceedings, the accused shall enjoy the right to have the assistance of counsel for h is defense.† (flexyourrights.org). In historic times, such a notion as the right to silence did not exist. In the 18th century English Criminal procedure made it impossible for a suspect of a crime to protect themselves from self-incrimination. Common law refused a criminal the right to be defended by a lawyer therefore persons suspected of a crime had little choice but to speak for themselves because no one else was going to. Refusal to speak and answer questions was quite the same

My childhood memory that still occurs today Essay Example for Free

My childhood memory that still occurs today Essay I don’t know why I’m surprised about this as it’s happened before and still is today. Looking back at it now has made me a lot more confident and I feel a lot stronger than I was before. This all happened 10 years back from now how I had an operation on my eyes that didn’t go to plan and left me with bad results to my eyes as one was squint and the other was just normal. Knowing I had to go to school with these effects was terrifying, nerve-racking, scary, and I had this gut feeling that I wasn’t going to be good enough for anyone. Every day that went by was emotional and upsetting to not only me but to my mum too as she knew what it felt like to be bullied. Each day I came home from school with tears streaming down my face, she knew something was wrong and as I was so young she had no idea what to do but to comfort me and sometimes it wasn’t always like that she would sometimes and sit there and cry because she wanted to help and also the fact she hated seeing her children cry/ be upset. From day one I was given a nickname which was named 4- eyed Katherine and now growing up it has came to me that my new nickname is cock-eyed Katherine. As it’s been so long ago that this all started I can actually still remember an incident that happened due to the disaffect in my eyes. The school bell rang for home time, I was so happy to be g oing home. I remember running to the door with my big heavy schoolbag that was twice the size of me. I waved all the teachers goodbye and opened the door to see a few guys I knew that were in my class standing just outside to the left of the school doorI hated each and every one of them that were there. One of the boys within the group said hello so I just ignored him and walked on by then I heard someone shout from the group â€Å"oi, Katherine come here†, I didn’t want to go as I just wanted to get home so I ignored them again was halfway down the playground. After having been ignored twice they decided to come over to me, they all circled around me. Next thing I knew I was thrown to the ground; they all spat on me and called me 4-eyes. I seen that they had on roller-blades, they started kicking me with themit hurt me like mad. By this time I was crying and screaming for help. I could hear someone from the far end of the playground shouting â€Å"leave her alone†, the boy s all ran off and I was left in pain, I couldn’t feel parts of my body. One of the teachers came over and helped me up also took me back to the school to get me cleaned up. My mum was called  and was told about what had happened to me .thinking about it gives me butterflies in my tummy. Reflecting back 10 years from now is a huge difference but more to the fact that all the bullying hasn’t stopped as it still proceeds today, just like it has for the past 10 years. As I grew up I learnt that not everyone was perfect; everyone has their own flaws and opinions. Looking back from 10 years to now has mostly not affected me as much as it did before but in reality it’s hard to hold back feelings. As it still happens today I don’t really bother about it as basically I’m used to it but sometimes it can go abit too far and it will eventually get to me. There are times that someone has said something either about me or to me and I just simply walk away as people have their own opinions. I don’t understand why they bully me because if it had happened to them they wouldn’t like it. I still have the nickname of cock-eyed Katherine today, I had to wear glasses ever since I had the operation so it would help my eyes get better but every tim e I took them off everyone just stared at me and laughed and I knew from then that I was going to get bullied and be an easy target. Ever since I had theses glasses everyone kept asking me to take them off just so they could see my eyes and laugh at me. My friends stick by me today and they have for a long time, they have seen me at my worst when all this gets to me and they understand how I’m feeling as they also have been through that stage but not as long as I have though. There is an incident that happened in 1st year where it was in P.E and we were doing swimming, as I can’t really see without my glasses I had to wear them. I jumped into the water and when I rose to the top I noticed I wasn’t wearing my glasses, they must have fallen off and sunk to the bottom of the pool. I turned around to find everyone in my class staring at me and laughing. One pupil had to swim to the bottom and collect them and from that day in high school I was bullied as everyone knew the me under the glasses. I mean there are also times when I am walking in the corridor of school and people just walk by me and say â€Å"look there’s cock-eyed Katherine†, I just don’t listen and just keep on walking. In my own opinion I feel like everyone should be treated equally and fairly, we all came in this world the same way so we should all go out that way too. I would like for all the bullying to stop as I’m fed up of it and it just isnâ€℠¢t fair on me that I’m being picked on when they wouldn’t like it if I were doing it to them.

Incentives For Blue And White Collar Workers

Incentives For Blue And White Collar Workers The term incentive has been used both in the restricted sense of participation and in the widest sense of financial motivation. The concept of incentive implies increased willingness or motivation to work and not the capacity to work. It refers to all the plans that provide extra pay for extra performance in addition to regular wages for a job. Under this programme, the income of an individual, a small group, a plant work-force or all the employees of a firm are partially or wholly related to some measure of productive output. Wage incentives are extra financial motivation. They are designed to stimulate human effort by rewarding the person, over and above the time-rated remuneration, for -improvements in the present or targeted results. Basically, the wage incentive implies a system of payment under which the amount payable to a person is linked with his output. Such a payment may also be called payment by results. MEANING AND DEFINITION Incentives are monetary benefits paid to workmen in recognition of their outstanding performance. An incentive scheme is a plan or programmes to motivate individual or group performance. An incentive programme is most frequently built on monetary rewards (incentive pay or monetary bonus), but may also include a variety of non-monetary rewards or prizes. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) refers to incentives as payment by results but it is appropriate to call them incentive systems of payment emphasising the point of motivation that is the imparting of incentives to workers for higher production and productivity. Unlike wages and salaries which are relatively fixed, incentives generally vary from individual to individual, and from period to period for the same individual. CLASSIFICATION OF INCENTIVES Incentives can be classified into: (i) direct compensation, and (ii) indirect compensation. Direct compensation includes the basic salary or wage that the individual is entitled to for his job, overtime-work and holiday premium, bonuses based on performance, profit sharing and opportunities to purchase stock options, etc. Indirect compensation includes protection programmes (insurance plans, pensions), pay for time not worked, services and perquisites. Also incentives may broadly be classified into monetary and non-monetary. Monetary incentives have an important contribution to make within the total motivation pattern. They provide extra-financial motivation, by rewarding the worker over and above his regular remuneration for performing more than the targeted work. Some of the financial motivations are overtime wages, higher basic wages, incentive bonus, merit increments, suggestion rewards; various allowances, promotion and fringe benefits. Some of the non-financial incentives are good human relations, self-respect, recognition, status, sense of belonging, appreciation, higher responsibility, greater authority, job satisfaction, improved working conditions, greater leisure, etc. All these motivate workers to raise their productivity. ILO classifies incentive schemes into four categories: (i) schemes in which earnings vary in proportion to output, (ii) schemes where earnings vary proportionately less than output, (iii) schemes where earnings vary proportionately more than output, and (iv) schemes where earnings differ at different levels of output. Incentives have also been classified into individual, group and organisation-wide. In an individual incentive plan, the rewards of incentives are based solely on individual performance. It is the extra compensation paid to an individual over a specified amount for his production effort. Such a system is feasible only where an individual can increase the quantity and quality of his output by his own individual efforts and where his output can be measured. The payment is normally on a monthly basis, though in a few cases it may be quarterly or other convenient periods. The standards of performance have been set by a qualified industrial engineering analyst, using technically sound work measurement procedures. The rewards under this plan are almost always immediate, that is, paid daily or weekly. The advantages of individual wage incentive plans are relatively obvious and straightforward. First and foremost, the individual incentive plan rewards the individual for his or her production. The more the worker produces, the more the worker earns. Second, the individual incentives appeal to the basic need for money found in most people. Almost everyone will work harder, up to a point, when there is a justifiable reason to believe that increased productivity will bring about a personal gain. Although individual wage incentives have advantages, there are also limitations. Individual wage incentives work best with jobs that are primarily operator-controlled. They may also lead to labour problems. Incentives, because they reward production levels, can lead to quality problems. Safeguards must be taken to ensure that quality is not sacrificed for quantity. It is the output of the group rather than that of each individual member of the group that can be measured most conveniently or accurately. Group or area incentive schemes provide for the payment of a bonus either equally or proportionately to individuals within a group or area. The bonus is related to the output achieved over an agreed standard or to the time saved on the job the difference between allowed time and actual time. Such schemes may be most appropriate: (a) where people have to work together and team work has to be encouraged; and (b) where high levels of production depend a great deal on the co-operation existing among a team of workers as compared with the individual efforts of team members. Group bonuses are calculated on the basis of the output of the team and are divided among the members either equally or in specified proportions, with more being given to skilled employees than to those who are unskilled. Group incentives are usually applied to small teams and the rewards are based on the performance of the entire group. The bonuses are often much larger than individual wage incentives. Group incentiv e plans, since they evaluate overall performance, are applicable to a wide variety of tasks. Sometimes, however, they are applied to all workers of a department or even of a whole undertaking. One of the disadvantages of group incentive plan is that there is a possibility of ignoring the individual performance as the rewards are based on group performance. In large groups it is often inevitable that there will be slackers who can disrupt the functioning of the whole group. Some of the advantages of group incentive plans are: Better co-operation among workers Less supervision Reduced incidence of absenteeism Reduced clerical work Shorter training time. The disadvantages of group incentive plans are: An efficient worker may be penalised for the inefficiency of the other members in the group The incentive may not be strong enough to serve its purpose Rivalry among the members of the group defeats the very purpose of team work and cooperation. The organisation-wide incentive system involves co-operation and collective effort of the employees and management in order to accomplish broader organisational objectives, such as: (i) to reduce labour, material and supply costs; (ii) to decrease turnover and absenteeism; (iii) to strengthen employee loyalty to the company; (iv) to promote harmonious labour management relations. One of the aspects of the scheme is profit-sharing under which an employee receives a share of the profit fixed in advance under an agreement freely entered into. Some of the advantages of such a scheme are: (i) it inculcates in employees a sense of economic discipline as regards wage costs and productivity; (ii) it engenders improved communication and increased sense of participation; (iii) it is relatively simple and its cost of administration is low; and (iv) it is non-inflationary, if properly devised. MERITS AND DEMERITS Everything has its merits and demerits. In the same way incentive has also some advantages and disadvantages. MERITS 1. Motivation: The primary advantage of incentives is the inducement and motivation of workers for higher efficiency and greater output. It may not be difficult to get people for fixed wages and salaries. 2. Removes fear of Insecurity: With fixed remuneration, it is difficult to motivate workers to give better performance. Fixed remuneration removes fear of insecurity in the minds of employees. 3. Improves Standard of Living: Earnings of employees would be enhanced due to incentives. There are instances where incentive earnings exceed two to three times that of the time rated wages or salaries. Increased earnings would enable the employees to improve their standard of living. 4. Increase in Productivity: There will be reduction in the total as well as per unit of cost of production through incentives. Productivity would increase resulting in greater number of units produced for given inputs. This would bring down the total and unit cost of production. The production capacity is also likely to increase. The other advantages of incentive payments are: reduced supervision, better utilisation of equipment, reduced scrap; reduced lost time, reduced absenteeism and turnover and increased output. Furthermore, systems of payment by results would, if accompanied by organisation and work measurement, enable firms to estimate labour costs more accurately, than under the system of payment by time. This would facilitate the application of cost control techniques like standard costing and budgetary control. On the other hand, systems of payment by results may have disadvantages. There is a tendency for the quality of products to deteriorate unless steps are taken to ensure maintenance of quality through checking and inspection. This involves added expenses. Difficulties may arise over the introduction of new machines or methods. Workers may oppose such introduction for fear that new piece of bonus rates set may yield lower earnings; or when new machines or methods are introduced, they may slacken their rate of work. Another disadvantage is that jealousies may arise among workers because some are able to earn more than others. One of the greatest difficulties with the incentive systems is in the setting of piece or bonus rates. Rate fixing involves delicate problems of judgment in which there is always a risk of error. If rates are set too low, workers are bound to be dissatisfied and will be under pressure to work very hard. If rates are set too high, workers may slacken their efforts at times and employers may not take recourse to revision of rates because the earnings are too high. Difficulty also arises in determining standard performance. Many organisations follow a safe route to fix the standards which is usually the average of past years performance. Past performance may not be the ideal basis for fixing production norms. Most of the problems of financial incentives arise either from the inadequacies of the particular system or from incorrect application and insufficient control. In western countries, as also in India, it has now been realised that economic gain has ceased to be a source of motivation and that greater emphasis should be placed on non- economic factors. Many empirical researchers have shown that monetary incentives alone do not bring about the desired motivation. PRE-REQUIS1TES OF EFFECTIVE INCENTIVE SCHEME All things considered, it may be concluded that in many industries or undertakings and for a large group of operations, well designed systems of payment by results shall yield advantages to all concerned. Many of these advantages will be realised provided sufficient safeguards are provided. Such pre-requisites are: The co-operation of workers in the implementation of an incentive scheme is essential. In particular, workers co-operation is necessary wherein: (a) the methods followed in measuring the results or output upon which payment is based; (b) the methods followed in setting wage rates for different classes of work; and (c) appropriate safeguards concerning earnings, job security and settlement of disputes over piece-work rates and allotted time. The scheme must be based on scientific work measurement. The standards set must be realistic and must motivate workers to put in better performance. Workers must be provided with necessary tools, equipments and materials so as to enable them reach their standards. Indirect workers, such as foremen, supervisors, charge hands, helpers, crane operators, canteen staff, store keepers, and clerical staff should also be covered by the incentive schemes. There should be management commitment to the cost and time necessary to administer incentive schemes properly, and these must be carefully assessed before go on an incentive programme. There is greater need for planning. Many incentive schemes, started hurriedly, planned carelessly, and implemented indifferently have failed and have created more problems for the organisation than they have tried to solve. INCENTIVE SYSTEMS Some of major incentive systems are as follows: 1. The Halsey System: This system which was developed by F.A. Halsey. He provides this system for the fixation of a standard time for the completion of the task. For the work done in correct time or more, the actual time rate is paid. Thus, the minimum wage is guaranteed even if the output falls below the standard. If the job is completed in less than the standard time, the worker receives a bonus payment at his time rate for a specific percentage of the time saved. This percentage may vary anywhere from 30 percent to 70 percent, but usually it is fixed at 50 percent (the other 50 percent going to the share of employer). Thus, if a worker does the work in 6 hours against that of 10 hours standard, he gets bonus after 6 hours plus 50 percent of 4 hours, i.e., 2 hours, as bonus. The other 50 percent (2 hours) is shared by the employer. Bonus= Â ½ of Time Saved/ Time Taken* Daily Wage 2. The Rowan System: Under this system also a standard time is allowed for a job, and bonus is similarly paid for any time saved. This plan differs from the Halsey plan only in regard to the determination of the bonus. In all other respects, the two are the same. The premium is calculated on the basis of the proportion which the time saved bears at standard time. Thus, if a worker does work in 6 hours against the 10-hour standard, the wage payable is 6 hours wages plus 40 percent of the wages as bonus. Bonus= Â ½ of Time Saved/ Time Allowed *Time Taken* Hourly Rate 3. The Bedaux Point System: Under this system, the standard time set is divided into a number of points at the rate of one minute per point. The bonus is calculated at 75 percent of the points earned in excess of 60 per hour. Thus, if the standard time is 10 hours and if the worker completes the job in 7 hours and if his hourly rate is 0.96 money units, the standard number of points for completing the job is 600 points. The worker thus earns 600 points in 7 hours. His bonus, therefore, will be 75 percent of 180 x 0.96/60 which is equal to 2.16 money units. If a worker does not reach the standard, he is paid at his time rate. This system is really more than the incentive system, since it enables the management to record the output of any worker of the department in units which show at once if the production is up to the standard the management desires. 4. The Taylor Differential Piece-rate System: This system was introduced by Taylor with two objectives. First, is to give sufficient incentive to workmen to induce them to produce up to their full capacity and Second, to remove the fear of wage cut. There is one rate for those who reach the standard; they are given a higher rate to enable them to get the bonus. The other is the lower rate for those who are below the standard; so that the hope of receiving a higher rate may serve as an incentive to come up to the standard. Workers are expected to do certain units of work within a certain period of time. This standard is determined on the basis of time and motion studies. Such scientific determination assumes that the standard fixed is not unduly high and is within the easy reach of workers. A proper determination of the standard depend the success of the scheme. This system is designed to encourage the especially efficient worker with a higher rate of payment and to penalise the ineff icient by a lower rate of payment. In practice, this plan is seldom used now. 5. Premium and Task Bonuses: It has been devised by Gantt and is the only one that pays a bonus percentage multiplied by the standard time. Under this system, fixed time rate are guaranteed. Output standards and time standards are established for the performance of each job. Workers completing the job within the standard time or in less time receive wages for the standard time plus a bonus which ranges from 20 percent to 50 percent of the time allowed and not time saved. When a worker fails to turn out the required quantity of a product, he simply gets his time rate without any bonus. Its fairness and practical value depends on the reasonableness of the standard fixed and the wages which workers of average ability can earn without having to work at excessive speed and becoming unduly fatigued. 6. The Profit-sharing System: The profit-sharing scheme is based on the same principle as the group system where incentive is related to the collective effort of the group. It is a system freely entered into under which an employer gives to his employees a share the net profits of the enterprise, fixed in advance, in addition to their wages. The essential features of profit-sharing are: (a) that the arrangement is voluntary but based on an agreement between employer and employee; (b) that the amount to be distributed amongst the participants depend upon the profits earned by the enterprise; and (c) that the, proportion of the profits to be distributed is determined well in advance. The aims of profit-sharing plans are: (i) to promote increased effort and output; (ii) to share some gains in the productivity of the firm; (iii) to secure employee co-operation and to achieve industrial harmony; and (d) to strengthen unity of interest and employee loyalty to organisational objectives. The profit-sharing scheme is comparatively easy and less expensive to adopt. In some cases, these schemes have become successful resulting in increased production at a lower cost. There are cases where they have not made any significant contribution towards improving the overall efficiency of the company. To be effective, profit-sharing schemes should be based on the considerations of profitability of industrial units, computation of surplus profit for distribution on an average basis, and fair return on capital invested in an enterprise. It should not be treated as a substitute for adequate wages but provide something extra to the participants. Full support and co-operation of the union is to be obtained in implementing such a scheme. Since the Second World War, profit-sharing has generally grown in importance, especially in those countries which have adopted legislative measures promoting or requiring its use. Thus, in the late 1970s, approximately 310,000 profit- sharing plans were in operation in the United States covering about 9 million wage-earners, or roughly 10 percent of the employed labour force. Mandatory profit-sharing schemes have been introduced in a number of developing countries. Some voluntarily introduced profit-sharing schemes have continued in the United Kingdom for 40 or 50 years. 7. The Scanlon Plan: It is a plant-wide incentive scheme developed by Joseph Scanlon of the United Steelworkers of America in 1927. The basic concept underlying the Scanlon Plan is that efficiency depends upon plant-wide co-operation. The purpose of this incentive plan is to develop teamwork. It has two main aspects: (a) adopting a measure for increased productivity; and (b) sharing the gain accrued from that increased productivity. The objective of the plan is to devise the formula which will most adequately reflect the prospective efforts of workers and management as a whole. The bonus formula is devised to fit the particular operating conditions of the plant. Some of the salient features of the plan are: (a) it encourages group work; (b) there is high flexibility in the generation of decisions and execution of the plan; (c) it integrates the companys objectives with group activity; (d) it involves all the workers in the exercise and they make their maximum personal contribution to the process of production. Earnest Dale has described four degrees of co-operation between labour and management in the Scanlon Plan, namely: (a) information co-operation by gathering information; (b) advisory co-operation through the process of consultation; (c) constructive co-operation by making suggestions for improvement; and (d) joint union-management decision making. Although there have been remarkable successes with the Scanlon Plan, not all applications have worked. Most of the successful applications have been in relatively small plants, one hundred employees or less. The Scanlon Plan seeks to provide the highest order of incentives to the workers by inviting them to offer suggestions and to share decisions with the management for improving productivity and moulding work incentives. 8. The Rucker Plan: The philosophy of the Rucker Plan is similar to the Scanlon Plan, but the bonus computed is based on a more sophisticated basis. There are two major differences between the two plans. The standard under the Rucker Plan is based upon a careful study of accounting records and is not considered bargainable. While the Scanlon Plan rewards only savings in labour costs, the Rucker Plan offers incentives for savings in other areas as well. 9. Merit Rating: Method may be made of merit rating as a form of wage incentive. It presupposes that the workers in a given grade or occupation differ in their efficiency at work in the undertaking. Merit rating is a method of attempting to give recognition to the best Workers by systematic objective standards. Various qualities are listed, such as skill, efficiency, reliability, initiative, care in avoiding accidents, adaptability, co-operation with other workers, and regularity of attendance. Points or gradings are given for each of these qualities, and workers who reach a high level receive an addition to the normal rate of pay for the job. Rating may be done for each year, and workers who had been receiving merit pay may lose a part or whole of it if they do not maintain their rating. Merit rating is usually applied to time- workers, especially in occupations where opportunities for promotion are less. Merit rating should not be confused with job evaluation. Job evaluation is an attempt to measure the worth of the job, irrespective of who does it, while merit rating is an attempt to measure the performance of the individual. WAGE INCENTIVE PLANS Wage incentive plans may be discussed as (i) plans for blue-collar workers (ii) plans for white-collar workers and (iii) plans for managerial personnel. Each of these categories of employees have separate and distinct needs and hence specific tailor- made incentive plans have to be devised to meet their requirements. Therefore, correct measurement of performance for the purpose of incentive payment is very important. The four critical performance indices are: (a) the standard index (b) the reference index (c) the base index and (d) the incentive index. Various wage incentive schemes are formulated on the basis of these indices. 1. INCENTIVE PLANS FOR BLUE COLLAR WORKERS: Short-term incentive plans for blue collar workers may be broadly classified into three categories: (a) Plans under which the rate of extra incentive is in proportion to the extra output; (b) Plans under which the extra incentive is proportionately at a lower rate than the increase in output; (c) Plans under which the rate of incentives is proportionately higher than the rate of increase in output. Every employer wants his workman to do the maximum work they are capable of doing. On the other hand, there is a feeling among the workers that an increasing effort benefits only the employer even when they are employed on a piece-rate basis. The result is that they never produce to their full capacity, and, in most cases, put in the minimum necessary work. This feeling on the part of workers may be removed either through fear or through expectation of gain, it has been found that fear can never produce the desired effect, but a hope of earning a bonus does induce them to work harder and produce more. Incentive plans are, therefore, known as premium plans because they offer a premium for outstanding performance. All bonus or premium plans relate to two factors: one, they set a standard time for the completion of a definite output or piece of work for a fixed wage; two, the fixing of rate of percentage by which bonus would be earned by a worker over and above his set wage, if the standard time is saved or the standard output is exceeded. Indirect workers such as crane operators, charge hands, canteen staff, helpers, security staff, employees in purchasing, sales and accounts, and maintenance staff also deserve incentives at par with direct workers. Such payments are desirable to avoid dissatisfaction and dissension among the workers in a plant. The payment of bonus to indirect workers, however poses a serious problem because the output of many of them cannot be accurately measured. For example, it is extremely difficult to measure the output of maintenance staff, canteen employees, or security personnel, though it is possible to assess the performance of inspectors, sweepers and packers. Much management therefore, prefers to apply a merit rating system to indirect workers, which rewards these workers for other qualities, in addition to their output. 2. INCENTIVE PLANS FOR WHITE COLLAR EMPLOYEES/SALESMEN: The salesmen are usually given incentives in the form of sales commissions. One study reported that almost 75 % of the organisations surveyed paid salesmen on some type of incentive basis. This is due to three factors: (i) the unsupervised nature of most sales work; (ii) tradition in the market; and (iii) the assumption that incentives are needed to motivate salesmen. There are several incentive plans for sales staff each appropriate for different markets, products, but all plans are basically variations of three types of plans: straight salary, straight commission, and combination plans. The straight salary method is not an incentive plan; the salesman is simply paid on weekly, monthly, or on yearly basis. The advantages of this method are that: (i) the salesmen know in advance what their income will be; and (ii) the expenditure on salesmen is known beforehand. The disadvantages are: (i) this method tend to shift salesman emphasis to just making the sale rather than prospecting and cultivating long-term customer; and (iii) pay is not related to results. This lack of relationship reduces salesmens performance. Under the straight commission, the salesmen are paid on the basis of sales effected i.e., they are paid for results and only for results. Therefore, high performance salesmen are generally attracted. But the disadvantages are: (i) salesmen focus on making a sale on high volume items and as a result cultivating dedicated customers and working to push hard-to-sell items are often neglected; (ii) salesmen tend to .be less company-oriented and more money-oriented, and the company has less control over them; (iii) salesmens income generally fluctuates widely. Under the combination method of salary and commission, salesmen not only get a fixed salary but also a commission in proportion to the sales effected. The advantages of this method are: (i) since salesmen are assured of minimum earnings, they are relieved of financial worries; (ii) the company has more control over its salesmen, as there is sizable salary component in most combination plans. But the main disadvantage is that salary is not related to performance; only incentive value of money is being traded off for its security value. Incentives for Management Employees: In many organisations, the managers are paid bonus. There are two types of bonus plans: one determined by formula (i.e. some criteria like increased sales) and the other determined by some discretion used in allocation of bonus (i.e., paid on more or less permanent basis). The bonus plans are generally reviewed annually to make them more effective. For top level management, bonuses are generally tied to overall corporate results. The size of bonus is much higher for top level executives and lower for the lower level executives. At the top management level, incentive payments are mostly in the form of bonuses which are usually a percentage of base salary that depends upon the level of performance and company profits. Mostly bonuses are paid in cash but in some cases the company may use stock plans that offer the executive the companys stock at a fixed purchase price. Such plans are designed to encourage ownership in the company and indirectly serve as an incentive for good work and represent a form of saving. In the manufacturing and retailing fields, where year-to-year results are largely a reflection of management performance, it is common for executive and managerial personnel to be compensated partly in the form of a base salary and partly in the form of a year-end bonus. The decision of whether to install an incentive bonus plan for executives and, if so, what kind of plan to install should be made appropriately. On the one hand, a bonus is a more immediate and flexible form of compensation than salary and thus has greater motivational potential. On the other hand, the bonus plan that is poorly conceived or administered can have a negative motivational impact. If a bonus plan seems appropriate, careful attention should be paid to what kind of plan would be most effective. WORKING OF INCENTIVE SCHEMES Incentive schemes are regarded as beneficial to both employers and workers. They are accepted as a sound technique for the achievement of greater productivity and good performance. The main advantage of any wage incentive scheme is that for a little expenditure of capital, there can be sizable gains in productivity; the gestation period is also small. The workers chase the supervisors for material, tools, etc., instead of supervisors chasing the workers. The experience gained in India and in other countries indicates that wage incentives have resulted in raising productivity, increasing output and earnings, reducing direct labour costs, and curtailing absenteeism. Despite certain merits of incentive schemes, their actual working is not quite happy. Some critics point out that the output of modern industry does not depend so much on individual human effort as on the capacity of machines and on good organisation. The most effective incentive, they claim, is a combination of good regular wages, good working conditions, and good human relations. There is a tendency for the quality of the products to deteriorate unless steps are taken to ensure the maintenance of quality through a stricter system of checking and inspection. Their application in some cases has not only failed to increase production over a period of time but has caused an actual reduction in employee productivity. One company, for instance, found that a substantial increase in pay through wage incentive systems merely resulted in higher absenteeism, restricted output and lower work standards. Some studie

Comparing Gothic Elements in Fall of the House of Usher, Uncle Toms Ca

Comparing Gothic Elements in Fall of the House of Usher, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ligeia, and American Slave Gothic literature has a number of conventions, including evils of horror, present of light and dark, suggestions of the supernatural, and dark and exotic localities such as castles and crumbling mansions (American). Violence in gothic literature never occurs just for the sake of violence; there is always a moral dilemma (Clarke 209). By going the extremes, a gothic author is able to accentuate a contrast allowing the author's point to be made more easily. American fiction was based on fantasy works of writers like Edgar Allan Poe. Although Edgar Allan Poe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Frederick Douglass, all used gothic devices in their work, the question arises whether Poe's gothic techniques represented his fantasy, or did they represent his reality like they do with Stowe and Douglass. Poe's use of gothic device leads the readers into a downward fall of an insane world representing fantasy. Stowe and Douglass, on the other hand, used gothic details to reflect the reality of th e lives of slaves as they struggle to climb upwards out of the descending fall of their lives. Edgar Allan Poe is primarily known for his mastery of the gothic genre. He constantly explored subjects such as self-destruction, madness, imagination, and earned a reputation for his fascination with death, especially the death of women (Scharf). Poe uses the interplay dark and light and colors such as black, gray, white and red in order to present the downward fall of his characters rather then an upward gain in their lives. Unlike the stories of Stowe and Douglass, these colors are present to represent the upward struggle of the characters ... ...r cause (Scharf ). All three writers depend on the gothic devices to make their narratives attention getting, but Stowe and Douglass went beyond this. They wanted their readers to know their narratives were not fantasy, but could be almost dreamlike. Poe leaves his readers questioning the sanity and desires of his fictional characters while Stowe and Douglass leave their readers astonished by the insanity of a cruel and truly indescribable world. Works Cited Clarke, Doug. Themes and Issues of the Gothic Genre. http://members.aol. com/franzpoet/intro.html An American Cottage -- American Edition of Smith's Dictionary of the Bible http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/browse.author/a.81.html Scharf, Douglas. Edgar Allan Poe: Biographical Contexts For "The Fall of the House of Usher". http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/ PoeFall. htm#First.

The Tragedy of Child Abuse and Neglect Essay -- Violence Against Child

Child abuse has been defined as, any intentional act that results in physical or emotional harm to a child. This could cover any behavior from assault, to neglect, to molestation. (Encarta 1) In 1995, a study was done by the National Center on Child Abuse & Neglect. They concluded that in the United States alone, approximately 3 million children are victims of some sort of maltreatment each year. This means that an unimaginable amount of our county’s adolescents are being seriously mistreated, and the numbers are rising steadily. While the specific definition of child abuse may differ from state to state, the effects unfortunately do not. Physical maltreatment, neglect and sexual abuse create immediate problems for children, as well as long term damage. Some common effects on sufferers of abuse include, a lowered sense of self worth, an inability to relate to others, short attention span and often they develop learning disorders. More detrimental cases can develop severe de pression or anxiety, schizophrenia, violent behavior and an increased risk of suicide. (Encarta 3) In some cases, abused children learn how to cope with their experiences and grow to healthy adults, but most are not that lucky. Most victims of abuse are forced to deal with the results for their entire lives. Physical abuse is one of the most common forms of child maltreatment. It can begin as soon as conception and includes any deliberate act of violence that is meant to injure or kill a child. (Encarta 1) Over 500,000 children are physically harmed each year. In 1991, 25% of American adults admitted to being beat by a parent or a caretaker in their youth and unfortunately the numbers have increased since then. (Shepard 305) ... ...ividual parent. In conclusion, Child abuse, without a doubt, causes permanent damage to the life of the victim. Whether it’s physical, sexual or neglect, the after effects will haunt them, and very possibly their future family as well. Child psychiatrist, B.F. Steele stated, â€Å"†¦we do believe that how we bring up out children has a most profound effect upon how our society is behaving and how we deal with each other as human beings.† (Kakar 6) This is an excellent point. If parents do not care for their children and show them the ways of life, how could they expect them to know any better, and more importantly, how could they expect them to pass on the knowledge to their own children? Parents, more than anyone, hold the key to shaping the ideals and minds of their children†¦ and until society gets that key fixed, the problems of child abuse will always remains.

Personal Narrative - Music and I Essay -- Personal Narrative Writing

Music and I Ever since I was a small child, I have loved music. The strong, steady beats, the entrancing melodies, and the lyrics that vary between heart-warming and heart-wrenching have always had an unexplainable affect on my life. Music seems to have the ability to change certain aspects of my world. If I am in a foul mood, an angry girl band can make my rotten attitude even more irresistibly awful. When I am happy, any sort of upbeat, dance-to-me kind of music enhances my joy that much more. I love to study to classical music, daydream to classical music, even sleep to classical music. Through my teen years, I became a fan of the often melodramatic country music that is still preset on my radio today. No matter what kind of music it is, when I turn it on, my mood morphs easily into whatever kind of music I am listening to. Music has absolutely been an enormous part of my life and who I am. However, this is not to say that I have much musical talent. I did perform in the choir in elementary school, and I played the flute for four years through middle school, but one day I came to a simple decision. When it comes to music, I am a much better enjoyer of it than a producer of it. When I am alone in the car, my sing-along-to-whatever-is-on-the-radio voice is fab-u-lous. However, as soon as any else climbs into the car with me my talent suddenly dwindles. My larynx doesn’t seem to appreciate an audience when it is trying to perform. Thus, my musical enjoyment stems directly from listening. My love for music has existed for as long as I can remember. When I was a child, my mom and I had a special song that she would sing to me if I was sick, sad, or sometimes just as a treat before bed. To this day, â€Å"You are My S... ...an beings. Although each person has a distinctly unique taste of music, people still like to listen to it and enjoy it. My own personal experiences and attitudes to music have stemmed from my own life and relationships. My new husband and I just finished putting up our very first Christmas tree together. I was pleasantly amazed when he flipped on the radio to Christmas tunes and began singing along to them with me. These holiday songs are only another example to me of how powerful music is. As soon as we starting singing while we were putting up ornaments on the tree, our moods were lifted easily from the stress of looming finals and another Christmas working in retail. Although this is the first year I won’t be spending Christmas at home, I know that all I will have to do is listen to the old familiar notes of â€Å"Holy Jolly Christmas† to feel right at home.

Avarice in the Crucible

Cambria Anderson Petersen AP English III/Period 3 11 November 2012 Avarice and Vengeance in The Crucible The play The Crucible takes place during the Salem Witch Trials of the 1800s. Yet Arthur Miller does not reveal the tragedy of the witch trials in the manner expected. Miller expresses the underlying causes of the accusations made as those stemming from personal greed and the feeling of revenge. Abigail Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Putnam, and Reverend Samuel Parris all have their own agendas as to why they â€Å"cry witch† on others in their village.Miller outlines the history between Abigail Williams and John Proctor in Act One: Abigail was removed from the Proctor home by Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife, because of an affair happening between her and Proctor. Because of this, Abigail harbors a hate and jealousy towards Elizabeth. In Act Two, a warrant was sent for Elizabeth’s arrest: The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parr is’ house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor.Like a struck beast, [Parris] says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And [Parris] goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demandin’ of her how she come to be so stabbed, she [†¦] testify it were your wife’s familiar spirit pushed it in. (Miller 79) Abigail knew that from the beginning of the witch scare that she could exact revenge on those who she felt wronged her or took something from her, which would be the case of Elizabeth.Abigail knew Mary Warren made a doll, and was planning to give it to Elizabeth; she also saw Mary Warren stick the needle back in. Abigail took advantage of the situation to provide seemingly irrefutable evidence of witchcraft on Elizabeth’s part. Through this, Proctor sees that vengeance runs these trials, and how easily people turn on one another to get what they want. Proct or also knows that Abigail’s revenge has no limits; she has no shame, and always believes that she is right, much like the character of her uncle, Reverend Parris.At this point, Proctor had to juggle keeping his past a secret from the public and protecting Elizabeth, as Abigail will turn on anyone who â€Å"wrongs† her. Mr. Thomas Putnam and Mrs. Ann Putnam have a sorrowful history of losing their newborn children, while only having one that survives. Mrs. Putnam finds comfort in blaming their midwife, Sarah Osburn, for the deaths, saying, â€Å"I begged [Thomas] not to call Osburn because I feared her. My babies always shriveled in her hands! (I. 50). Mrs. Putnam finds that crying witch on Goody Osburn would solve the â€Å"murder† of her children, yet does not desire to take into account her own role in her pregnancy, being that Miller says she is fourty-five years old (I. 13). Mrs. Putnam, in a way, wants someone to feel the pain of losing seven children, be ing that she is a selfish woman – putting her child in the dangers of witchcraft to find the identity of the person who â€Å"killed† her babies.Accusing someone of witchcraft, and potentially running their life, was the perfect way to exact her so-called â€Å"revenge†. Although Reverend Parris never accused anyone of witchcraft, he refuses to defend Proctor of any charges brought up against him – from insulting the court to claims of witchcraft. In Act Three, Parris takes Proctor’s depositions from Corey Giles and Mary Warren personally, warning Judge Danforth that â€Å"[†¦] since [he] come to Salem [Proctor] is blackening [his] name [†¦]† (110) and â€Å"[Proctor]’s come to overthrow this court, Your Honor! (97). Aside from trying to protect his reputation, Parris makes such allegations about Proctor in an attempt to prove Proctor as an unreliable messenger. Parris wants to get vengeance for what he feels Proctor has do ne to him, just as Abigail wants revenge on Elizabeth. But, these alleged wrong-doings have only come from Parris’s mouth; he seems to enjoy taking things personal when they come from Proctor, and the courtroom scene is the perfect place for Parris to return the hate he feels from Proctor.The Salem Witch Trials proved to be a time of tragedy and mass hysteria as accusations ran rapidly through the small Massachusetts village. The source of the witchcraft charges came from the village people’s personal greed and want of retribution, as well as many other contributing factors. Abigail, Parris, and the Putnams all used this situation to their advantage, hoping to get some personal satisfaction out of their charges, thus ruining lives of their victims: Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor, and Sarah Osburn.

A study on service quality of G-six Hair and Beauty Salon Essay

G-six Hair and Beauty Salon prides on providing a high standard of customer service. In addition to the quality hair and beauty services, the customer service has been found to be one of the main reasons of clients keep coming back to the salon. Today, beauty care becomes a big business, which can contribute to an economy significantly (Peiss 2000). Large scale production, global distribution networks, extensive advertisement efforts, scientific marketing and sales at a large scale, all these have contributed to the emergence of beauty as an industry (Peiss 2000). Beauty is always considered as an important attribute for female. From the ancient time till now, we can trace many descriptions of beauty and beauty care practices in the poetry, literature and arts (Peiss 2000). As globalization intensifies, the concept of beauty and the necessity of being beautiful have gone through an evolutionary change. Now women tend to spend more time, energy and money on beautification by visiting beauty parlors or salons (Schwer & Daneshvary 2000; Joy, Sherry, Troilo & Deschenes 2010). Physically attractive people usually income more compared to the less attractive people (Hamermesh & Biddle 1994; Frieze, Ohlson & Russell 1991). Moreover the organizations tend to earn more revenue if they hire physically attractive employees (Bosman, Pfann, Biddle &Hamermesh (1997). Besides, being attractive can increase the possibility of getting married (Young 2011). The growing importance and demand of beauty care vigorously raised the question on quality service issues for beauty parlors. As beauty care is a kind of personal service, ensuring service quality is challenging yet unavoidable need for the customers. It has been evident that, when customers’ perceptions of service quality are positive, the behavioral intentions are favorable, which strengthens their relationship with the organization (Zeithaml & Bitner 2003). On the other hand, when service-quality assessments are negative, the customers’ behavioral intentions are unfavorable (Kouthouris & Alexandris 2005). For the success of any service organization, quality is imperative and of paramount importance to the service providers (Bebko 2000). As services are becoming  commodity-like it can offer a source of competitive advantage for the service providers (Chowdhury, Iqbal&Miah 2010). A great haircut just isn’t enough to keep a client any more. The country is saturated with salons and, for most, there’s a competitor only yards away who is also well equipped to offer a technically accurate and fashionable haircut (Sophieh 2008). Having regular customers is one of the most important aspects of running a successful hair salon with consistent customer numbers and satisfied customers always proving to provide strong financial returns and reviews. In today’s era of fast-changing global marketplace, customer satisfaction has been an important aspect. With the increase of the importance of service sector in the economy of Myanmar, the measurement of service quality became important. Moreover, customers’ satisfaction may help the service providers to spread positive word-of-mouth and maintaining current customers can help the firms to be more profitable. Service quality is an approach to manage business processes in order to ensure full satisfaction of the customers which will help to increase competitiveness and effectiveness of the industry. Quality in service is very important especially for the growth and development of service sector business enterprises (Powell, 1995). We know that customers’ satisfaction with individual service encounters affect the customers’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the overall service experience (Johnston 1995). So, it is important to know whether the client’s expectation regarding the service really matches the perceived service in all dimensions of service quality. 1.1Rationale of the Study The beauty care service industry in Myanmar is growing day by day and it is contributing in the economy both in terms of revenue and employment generation. Along with the local firms, many foreign firms and franchise companies are trying to enter in the industry with professional set up and huge investment. Therefore this is the high time to explore and understand the service gap scenario of the beauty care industry. Previously, researchers had conducted several studies on service quality in different service sectors like hospitality, educational institute, financial institute, airlines, advertising agency and tourism. In today competitive  environment, majority of the businesses face with intense competition. They need not only to retain their existing customers but also to attract new customers. Among the businesses, services sector becomes important because it can create job opportunity and provide customer satisfaction. At present, in service sector, beauty care services are growing faster and booming because it can provide self-confidence, personal grooming and anti-aging in society. In the highly competitive beauty-care service industry, service quality becomes one of the most important elements for gaining a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. To satisfy and retain customers of beauty-care service industry faces challenges. Important benefits of visiting beauty shops that people get ensure of their best looks at all the times. After a stressful day, people wish to relax and to take action, so they visit a spa and salon, where they like complete relaxation with a pampering touch. It is obvious that everyone wants to look beautiful and healthy as well as this is the requirement of today’s busy lives. Among various categories of beauty-care service businesses, G-six Hair and Beauty Salon, a well-established beauty-care service salon since 2002, is serving with a wide menu of beauty service which includes Make-up and Hair dos’, Hair Braiding, Hair Extension and Weaving, Hair Perm, Hair Color and Hair Straighten with various techniques and Facial treatment to its customers in the competitive market of Myanmar. Therefore, there is a requirement to analyze the service quality leading to customer satisfaction and loyalty of G-six Hair and Beauty salon. Many of these studies have shown different patterns of service gap on the five dimensions of service quality. But being a personalized service, beauty care contains different intrinsic and extrinsic cues of quality which are different from the other industries. And so far, no significant research was done on service quality of G-six Hair and Beauty Salon in Myanmar. So, it is expected that the current study would help the industry experts and management of beauty care service providers to improvise their services. And understanding the significance and the implications of each service criteria would help them to prioritize their area of improvement, which would be especially helpful for a growing industry like this. Thus the main objective of this study is to find out the service gap, i.e. the gap between the expectations and perceptions of the customers about the service of G-six Hair and Beauty Salon. 1.2Objectives of the Study The objectives of this study are: To explore the services provided by G-six Hair and Beauty Salon To measure service quality of G-six Hair and Beauty Salon To examine the customer satisfaction on services provided by G-six Hair and Beauty Salon 1.3 Methods of the Study This study is descriptive research type. To implement these three major objectives, both primary and secondary data have been used. Primary data acquired from G-six Beauty Salon and 60 regular customers 30% of total 200 regular customers who visited to G-six Hair and Beauty Salon will be selected by using random sampling method with structured questionnaires of SERVQUAL Model GAP 5. The secondary data are obtained from profile and record of G-six events, previous research papers, relevant text books and internet websites. 1.4 Scope and Limitation of the Study The study will emphasis on services quality of G-six Hair and Beauty Salon which is located at No.6, G-floor, Pearl Condo, corner of Kabaraye Pagoda road and Sayarsan road, Bahan Township, Yangon. The study will focus on customer satisfaction towards services provided by G-six Hair and Beauty Salon. 1.5 Literature Review In the field of services marketing, service quality grabbed the most attention from the researchers (Wang, Lo & Hui 2003). To define service quality Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) emphasized on the superiority of a service. According to these scholars, perception of service quality arises from the judgment of customers, who define the service as superior. The  classic researchers has defined the term ‘service quality’ as the difference between customer expectations of the service to be received and perceptions of the service actually received (Grà ¶nroos 1984; Parasuraman, Zeithaml& Berry 1988). Perception was defined as consumer’s beliefs relating to the received service (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry 1985). Brown and Swartz (1989) defined perceived service as â€Å"experienced service†. On the other hand, expectation was defined as the desire or want of the consumer about the service (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry 1985). In most of the cases, service quality expectations involve norms and these norms are developed on the basis of previous experiences of the consumers (Carman 1990). Parasuraman and colleagues’ (1985) definition was based on the concept of â€Å"disconfirmation†, which was defined as the difference between perception and expectation. This disconfirmation in terms of service quality leaded to a service gap. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988) considered that a customer’s assessment of overall service quality depends on this service gap. Khin Kay Khine, A study on Service quality of Able Winners Catering Company, January 2013 found that how customers perceive the service quality and being able to measure service quality can benefit as professional. Wutt Yi Soe, Customer Satisfaction on Service provided by Pin Lon Hospital, January 2013 found out that strongly positive relationship between patient satisfaction and service quality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_service http://www.managementstudyguide.com/customer-satisfaction.htm 1.6 Organization of the Paper This Thesis paper is organized into five chapters. In the first chapter, it contains Introduction, Rationale of the study, Objectives of the study, Method of the study, Scope and limitation of the study, Literature review and organization of the research paper. In chapter 2, theoractical background of service quality and competitiveness are discussed. Chapter 3 presents the background of business and profile of G-six Hair and Beauty Salon. In Chapter 4, dimensions of service quality of G-six Hair and Beauty Salon are analyzed by using SERVQUAL Model. Conclusion and recommandations for findings in the study and the requirements of future research on the topic are suggested in Chapter 5. Chapter 2 Theoretical Background 2.1The Nature and Role of Services Service industries are playing an increasingly important role in the overall economies of the countries of developed and developing countries. The 21st century is considered to be as the service industry. Researchers have tried to define service and to explain what service constitutes. There are many definitions regarding the concepts of service. Services are deeds, processes, and performances (Parasuraman et al. 1985). Gronroos (1983) defined service as: â€Å"An activity or series of activities of more or less intangibles nature that normally, but not necessarily, take place in interactions between the customer and service employees and/or physical resources or goods and I or systems of service provider, which are provided as solutions to customer problems†. Sasser et. al.,(1978) defined another meaning for service: â€Å"A service is a package of explicit and implicit benefits performed with a supporting facility and using facilitating goods†. Service is: â€Å"Any primary or complementary activity that does not directly. Produce a physical product – that is, the non-goods part of the transaction between customer and provider† (Payne, 1993). Whereas Kotler et. al.(1999) defined service as any activity or benefit that one party offers to another which is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything, and it may or may not be tied to a physical product. Services include all economic activities which are intangible, not physically apparent like products, which provide value to the customer. Service has become very crucial in all business industries due to globalization and the IT developments. Services are now seen almost to every part of our life, starting from the most essential demands, like eating to other entertainment activities, such as: sport, travelling, etc. Service is not bound to only service based businesses, like: banks, telecommunications, hotels, restaurants, and beauty salons, but it is found on all companies strategic tools for gaining a competitive advantage. Nowadays products heavily rely on   its services to acquire competitive advantage, and to satisfy customers’ needs. 2.2Nature of Service Quality