Monday, September 30, 2019

Fist Pumping Their Way To The Top Essay

â€Å"Gym, Tanning, Laundry†, these three words have become increasingly popular among teenagers because of MTV’s hit reality television show, Jersey Shore. Television shows and their stars can become very influential to many of their viewers. Many of these viewers strive to be like these stars and mimic their style and attitude, in hopes of living the same careless lifestyle that has made these stars known around the world. Unfortunately, these television shows don’t always portray certain aspects of life realistically, and therefore send a false message that can be very deceiving. Studies show that television shows tend to follow several popular trends that do indeed portray the wrong reality. Harry F. Water’s article, â€Å"Life According to TV†, analyzes the different trends that television shows and movies in popular culture tend to follow. Harry Water’s focuses on George Gerbner’s research on the scientific examination of television far beyond familiar children-and-violence arguments. He describes television’s reality warp dealing with sex, age, race, work, health and crime. Water’s states in his article, â€Å"People over 65, too, are grossly underrepresented on television. Correspondingly, heavy-viewing Annenberg respondents believe that the elderly are a vanishing breed and that they make up a smaller proportion of the population today than they did 20 years ago. In fact, they form the nation’s most rapidly expanding age group† (Waters, 1982). Jersey Shore is a reality television show similar to that of â€Å"The Real World† and markets binge drinking, partying, fake tanning, and sleeping all day. It seems that the drama-driven cast seems to be promoting a careless way of life, and in fact might be rubbing off on its viewers. Elderly people are rarely seen on the show, and the stars are constantly shown going out with other young people, and going to bars and clubs that consist of other people around their age group. Even though some of the stars on the show are in their 30’s, they still live a constant partying lifestyle and act as though they are still young and essentially do not have to grow up yet. Teenagers watching this show can see this lifestyle as normal and strive to live their life the same way. The stars in the show live in a nice house and are constantly spending money, even though they only work at a pizza, ice cream and t-shirt company. In reality, these types of jobs would not cover the type of expenses these lifestyles come with. This lifestyle is extremely glamorized and in reality, someone living the same lifestyle as these stars would not be living nearly as luxuriously as they do, due to the success rate they have gained from the show. Many of these stars are on the front of magazines and all over different television talk shows because their show has become so successful and is increasing in fans. Some worry that viewers might have more motivation to be like these casts members and partake in inappropriate activities in hopes that they too will get famous. David Showalter a columnist for New Jersey newsroom says that, â€Å"MTV’s ‘Jersey Shore’ success is a cultural phenomenon† (Showalter, 2011), and for the most part he is absolutely correct. Jersey Shore has been a huge success, but for what? Partying? Another aspect of life that television shows often times portray unrealistically is health. Water’s states in his article, â€Å"Although video characters exist almost entirely on junk food and quaff alcohol 15 times more often than water, they manage to remain slim, healthy and beautiful.† Jersey Shore is centered almost entirely on partying and living that partying lifestyle- partying all night and recovering for half of the next day in order to be ready to do it again. However, the majority of the cast appears to be extremely well fit. This can confuse viewers because constant partying and binge drinking daily can be extremely harmful to one’s health. Even though going to the gym is part of these cast members daily routine, it does not make up for their excessive partying and will eventually catch up to them, when the viewers are no longer watching. These stars go out almost every night and are constantly shown belligerent to the point where they can’t walk and are starting fights in clubs and other public places, and for some reason young teenagers are seeing this as something cool to participate in. In an interview by Steven Guarino, he states, â€Å"Alcoholism is promoted on the Jersey Shore so much that it could influence younger viewers to drink irresponsibly.† The motive and center of the show is clearly the stars ongoing party lifestyle and their crazy drunken endeavors. The Situation, one of the cast members, has even stated in the first season on the first episode, â€Å"You can hate on me all you want to, but what can you possibly say to somebody that looks like Rambo, pretty much, with his shirt off.† Therefore, although the stars are constantly drinking and eating poorly, they still remain slim and good-looking, when in reality most people would be looking the complete opposite. Walter’s article also states, â€Å"Frequent TV watchers, the Annenberg investigators found, eat more, drink more, exercise less and possess an almost mystical faith in the curative powers of medical science.† When watching television shows, sometimes we get hooked and start to believe and agree with these stars way of life, not noticing the reality of it and allowing ourselves to get sucked into popular culture. Tanning is another major part of the popular Jersey Shore lifestyle. As we know, fake tanning can be very harmful to our skin, and cause skin cancer. However, the Jersey Shore characters act as if it is a way of life. Waters also states in his article, â€Å"Television may well be the single most pervasive source of health information. And it’s over idealized images of medical people, coupled with its complacency about unhealthy life-styles, leaves both patients and doctors vulnerable to disappointment, frustration and even litigation† (Waters, 1982). Despite what children have heard from their parents or other people, the un-healthy diets they see on television can appear healthy to them because they seem to be working for these reality TV stars and consequently can end up being more influential than what they’ve heard. Snooki, one of the show’s main characters, recently said on a Jay Leno show, that she’d like to change the world by installing cancer-causing tanning beds â€Å"in everybody’s homes.† Every member on the show tans in a tanning bed daily as a consistent part of their daily lives, and considers being tan as one of the main things one must do in order to be good looking. The cast members are very forward about this and seem to see nothing wrong with it. The Situation states in the second episode of the first season, â€Å"I wait till the last minute to shave, I wait till the last minute to put my shirt on ‘cause you feel fresh. These are rules to live by, shave last minute, haircut the day-of, maybe some tanning and the gym. You gotta do the guido handbook.† These quotes seem to be aiming towards the casts members’ hopes to influence viewers to live these similar lifestyles and to shoot to look like them, even if it’s not what’s best for the viewers’ health and unfortunately television shows continue to influence people in the wrong way. Although Jersey Shore seems to capture every negative aspect of reality television and continues to be unrealistic, it somehow remains the most viewed series on MTV. The third season finale delivered 4.8 million viewers; almost triple the audience who watched the season premiere on December 3 (Martin). It is clear that the Jersey Shore phenomenon is continuing to grow and become more widespread than ever before. This can be very troubling to parents and the messages being sent to young teenagers is influencing them in a very negative way, while showing them unrealistic â€Å"reality television†. With popular culture becoming more and more deceiving, viewers can forget to question who they are really taking after.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Finance & Strategic Management Essay

Over the past decades the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has continued to grow in importance and significance due to external pressure of diverse stakeholders, and has thereby become more prominent on companies’ agendas (Carroll & Shabana, 2010; Beurden & Gossling, 2008). The concept of CSR has been subject to considerable debate, commentary, theory building and continues research (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). The question, of whether CSR investments result in financial and social benefits that outweigh its costs, is intensively scrutinized in existing literature (Schreck, 2001; Carroll & Shabana, 2010). Adherents of CSR argue that it is in the long-term self-interest of corporations to be socially involved (Carroll & Shabana, 2010; Barnet 2007). The overall logic is that CSR increases the trustworthiness of firms and strengthens the relationships with stakeholders. CSR may further result in decreased transaction costs and thereby improved corporate financial performance (CFP), by decreasing employee turnover, reducing operating costs, as well as functioning as a buffer in disruptive events (Carroll & Shabana, 2010; Barnet, 2007). Barnett (2007) and Schreck (2011) argue that, if the financial benefits of CSR meet or exceed the costs, CSR can be justified as a rational investment. According to Kurucz, Colbert and Wheeler (2008), firms may attain four distinct benefits from engaging in CSR; cost and risk reduction; gaining competitive advantage; developing reputation and legitimacy; and seeking win–win outcomes through synergistic value creation. Critics of CSR typically use classical economic arguments, articulated most forcefully by Friedman (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). Traditionally, the expenditures of CSR are considered an illegitimate waste of resources, which conflict with a firm’s responsibility to its shareholders (Schreck, 2011, Barnet, 2007). According to Friedman (1970) â€Å"There is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Friedman further argued that, social issues are not the concern of business people, and â€Å"the business of business is business† (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). Even though CSR have been subject to critique, an increasing number of corporations are accepting responsibilities that extend well beyond the immediate interest of the owners, by considering â€Å"non-shareholder stakeholders’ concerns† (Grant, 2010; Clegg, Carter, Kornberger & Schweitzer, 2011). Although the existence, direction and strength of possible links between CSR and CFP have been the subject of several empirical analyses (Schreck, 2011), and even though CSR is almost universally practiced, the results from empirical studies are inconclusive (De Bakker, Groenewegen & Hond, 2005). After more than thirty years of research, it cannot clearly be concluded, whether a one-dollar investment in social initiatives returns more or less, than one dollar in benefits to shareholders (Barnet, 2007; Surroca & Tribo & Waddock, 2008). The inconclusiveness of empirical studies may be due to unclear and inconsistent definitions of key terms (De Bakker, Groenewegen & Hond, 2005; Barnet, 2007), methodological differences (Carrol & Shabana, 2010), and diverse approaches of measuring CSR and CFP (Beurden & Gossling, 2008). In existing literature, CSR activities are often entioned to reduce risk, by avoiding the various consequences of moral disapproval by numerous stakeholders (Zadek, 2000). However, CSR derived risk reductions are considered as an ex-post beneficial outcome and not as a proactive risk management instrument to control or reduce idiosyncratic risk (firm specific). Under the assumption that, shareholders are risk adverse and prefer a high expected return (Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2011; Brealey, Myers & Allen, 2011), a reduction of firm specific risk must be perceived as favorably. Provided that CSR investments can be applied as a risk management tool, CSR could be seen as investments by firms on behalf of its shareholders. Taking a shareholder perspective, this paper looks beyond the socially good deed of CSR, and focuses on the value of CSR as a method to reduce idiosyncratic risk without detriment of CFP. CSR and Risk Management Since this paper hypothesizes that, CSR can be applied as a risk management instrument to preserve CFP, risk need to be defined. Risk can be defined as the uncertainty about outcomes or events, especially with respect to the future (Orlitzky & Benjamin, 2001). Widely risk management is defined as a managerial tool to avoid risk, transfer risk to another party, reduce risk, or in some cases accepting consequences of a certain risk (Froot, Scharfstein & Stein, 1994). A shareholder’s perspective on risk management however, conflicts with the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) (Markowitz, 1952) and the Modigliani & Miller’s theorem on capital structure (1958). CAPM theory states that, the cost of reducing idiosyncratic risks simultaneously reduces the expected return, and hence firm value (Markowitz, 1952). Risk reduction by holding a well-diversified portfolio of securities will be unattainable by risk management (Godfrey, Merrill & Hansen, 2009), why a profit-maximizing investor would not prefer risk management. Total firm risk is in general the combination of systematic and unsystematic risk (Hoje & Haejung, 2012). Systematic risk, often referred to as market risk or non-diversifiable risk, is usually defined as the firm’s sensitivity to changes in the market average returns, which cannot be reduced by diversification of shareholders (Weber, 2008; Luo & Bhattacharya, 2009; Orlitzky & Benjamin, 2001). Unsystematic risk is defined as idiosyncratic risk (Hoje & Haejung, 2012; Luo & Bhattacharya, 2009). Idiosyncratic risk is traditionally viewed as indifferent to the portfolio investors, since it is associated with specific companies and thereby can be reduced by diversified portfolios (Husted, 2005; Weber, 2008). Opposing idiosyncratic risk is of great relevance to the firm manager, whose very survival may depend upon taking adequate measures to reduce the idiosyncratic risk (Husted, 2005). Firms’ financial risk is often defined in terms of variability of returns (Orlitsky & Benjamin 2001), or stock price volatility (Luo & Bhattacharya, 2009), which is important risk measures, given that higher volatility implies greater investment risk and uncertain future cash flows (Luo & Bhattacharya, 2009; Oikonomou, Brooks & Pavelin, 2012). A reduction in idiosyncratic risk reflects reduced variance in the future expected cash flows, which translates into greater shareholder wealth (Luo & Bhattacharya, 2009; Mishra & Modi, 2012). In a strict Modigliani and Miller perspective, risk-management instruments are of no value, since these are purely financial transactions that do not affect the value of a company’s operating assets (Froot, Scharfstein & Stein, 1994). The views of CAMP and Modigliani and Miller have been superseded by a postmodern view of risk management as an important strategic tool. Firms do invest in insurances even though the costs of these investments may be in excess of expected losses, which is in clear violation with the perfect market assumption (Smith & Stulz, 1985; Stultz, 2002). If risk management can reduce firms’ exposure to idiosyncratic risks, it protects shareholders against the deadweight costs of severe financial distress in a way, that investors can not accomplish in the market by diversifying (Godfrey, Merrill & Hansen, 2009). Review of the linkage between CSR and risk For several decades, researchers have aimed at discovering a conclusive linkage between CSR and CFP, the literature however, remains highly fragmented (Aguinis & Glavas 2012). According to Orlitsky & Benjamin (2001) true economic performance manifests itself in both high financial returns and low financial risk. Among financial and non-monetary benefits, risk reduction is often mentioned as a positive outcome of engaging in CSR activities. Porter and Kramer (2006) argue that, today’s pressure, of external stakeholders to hold companies accountable for social issues, learly demonstrate the potential large financial risks for any corporation. Several scholars emphasize, that the costs of CSR can be justified by reductions in risk and costs derived from engagement in social issues (Caroll & Shabana, 2010). The primary argument is that the diverse demands of stakeholders represent potential threats and risks to the viability of the firm, why it is the economic interest of firms to mitigate these threats and gain legitimacy through social involvement (Caroll & Shabana, 2010; Schreck, 2011; Kurucz, Colbert & Wheeler 2008). Existing literature on the CSR-risk relationship is virtually unanimously agreeing upon a negative correlation between CRS and idiosyncratic risk, where empirical results show that CSR lowers idiosyncratic risk (Spicer, 1978; Orlitsky & Benjamin, 2001; Godfrey, 2005; Hoje & Haejung, 2012; Caroll & Shabana, 2010; Godfrey, Merrill & Hansen, 2009; Heal, 2005; Luo & Bhattacharya, 2012; Oikonomou, Brooks & Pavelin, 2012; Berman, Wicks, Kotha & Jones, 1999; Hart, 1995; Shrivastava, 1995; Peloza, 2006). Several studies have also shown a significant negative relationship between CSR and systematic risk (non-diversifiable) (Hoje & Haejung 2012; Orlitzky & Benjamin, 2001; Mcguire, Sungren & Scneewies, 1988; Luo & Bhattacharya, 2009). CSR reduces idiosyncratic risk by reducing the probabilities of expected financial, social, or environmental crisis that could adversely influence firms’ cash flows (Hoje & Haejung, 2012). Firms perceived as socially responsible may be able to increase interpersonal trust among stakeholders, build social capital, lower transaction costs, and therefore ultimately reduce uncertainty about future financial performance (Orlitzky & Benjamin, 2001). Luo and Bhattacharya (2009) present the view of CSR, as helping the firm build a bulwark of defense against future losses of economic value by reducing firm specific risk and vulnerability of future cash flows. Firms with high social responsibility may have lower financial risk, since these are less sensitive to certain negative external events, like regulatory governmental intervention, undesirable publicity, probability of civil- and criminal legal proceedings or consumer boycotts, why risk reduction can be seen as a monetary benefit of CSR (Mcguire, Sungren & Scneewies, 1988; Oikonomou, Brooks & Pavelin, 2012; Weber, 2008; Orlitzky & Benjamin, 2001; Mcguire, Sungren & Scneewies, 1988). Participation in specific types of CSR, those aimed at a firm’s secondary stakeholders or society as a whole, is argued to create a form of goodwill or positive â€Å"philanthropic moral reputational capital†, which functions as an insurance-like protection, when negative events occur (Godfrey, 2005; Peloza, 2006). When business activity creates negative impact on society, stakeholders respond by sanctioning the firm (Godfrey, Merrill & Hansen, 2009). It is argued that the goodwill, derived from engagement in CSR, reduces the overall severity of the sanctions, by encouraging stakeholders to give the firm ‘the benefit of the doubt‘(Godfrey, 2005; Uzzi, 1997; Peloza, 2006; Godfrey, Merrill & Hansen, 2009). The resultant moral capital gained from social engagement has little to do with generating financial value, but the insurance-like protection contributes with preserving shareholder value and thereby financial performance (Godfrey, Merrill & Hansen, 2009). Mishra and Modi (2012) fund a significant effect on idiosyncratic risk, when CSR is applied, the authors however enhanced this result by finding that, positive CSR reduces idiosyncratic risk, while negative CSR increases idiosyncratic risk. Literature has, according to Mishra and Modi (2012), often a singular focus on positive CSR, and overlooks that firms also occasionally engage in activities that qualifies as negative CSR. Luo and Bhattacharya (2009) and Porter and Kramer (2006) argue that CSR is not beneficial in all situations, but is rather advantageous in some contexts and disadvantageous in others and can even lead to additional risk. This is in line with Barnet (2007), who argues that stakeholders’ perception of firms’ CSR engagement are path-dependent (Barnet, 2007; Luo & Bhattacharya, 2009; Hoje & Haejung, 2012). For firms with social negative impact or prior bad reputation, CSR may be perceived as â€Å"blood money† to mitigate past sins, omissions or shortcomings (Luo & Bhattacharya, 2009; Barnet 2007). CSR can thereby lead to reduced idiosyncratic risk, but can also expose a firm to additional risk (Weber, 2008; Barnet, 2007). Discussion Even though the CSR-risk relationship have received much attention in the existing literature, managing risk as the predominantly basic for engaging in CSR has not received specific attention. Focus within the field is on ex-post measures of risk-related benefits, where CSR is not valued as a proactive tool to reduce idiosyncratic risk. Existing research does not seem to provide any practical guidance to managerial proactive evaluations of the risk reductions derived from CSR involvement. It further lacks a practical framework to ex-ante quantify the risk related benefits of CSR (Weber, 2008). The above review demonstrates the focus on risk, solely as valuable side-effect of engaging in CSR activities. The authors of the paper posit a research gap exists within the existing literature of CSR and risk: CSR is not considered as a proactive ex-ante risk management instrument to control and reduce firm risk. Given the risk reducing benefits of CSR, the authors suggest that investments in CSR can be used as a proactive risk management instrument to reduce idiosyncratic risk. Such an approach could strengthen the overall CSR involvement and support rational ex-ante decision-making in this area (Weber, 2008). The aim is to draw a much-need attention to the risk-reduction potential of CSR by viewing CSR investments as a proactive risk management tool, where managing risk is the main purpose for engaging in CSR. Empirical resolving the research gap and verifying the hypothesis is beyond the scope of this paper. The authors however, suggest that a potential solution is to apply real option theory as a basis for proactive CSR risk management decision-making. CSR as a real option Attributable to the aforementioned arguments, the function of CSR as a risk management tool can be considered as a real option. Regular options are based on securities (financial instruments), whereas real options are based on hedging against uncertainties in real investment projects (Mun, 2002). An analysis of the costs and benefits of CSR projects, using traditional NPV models, often leads to a rejection, as these fail to contribute to maximizing shareholder value (Friedman, 1962). This is, nevertheless, not always the right decision, as the NPV approach fails to incorporate the main advantage of real options (Husted, 2005). Compared to the traditional NPV approach, real options offer management flexibility through multiple decision-making in situations with high uncertainty. Managers have the option, but not the obligation, to engage in, modifying or end strategies, as new information becomes available (Mun, 2002). A CSR option offers the choice of deferring, abandoning, expanding, or staging an investment project (Amram & Howe, 2003). Due to the theoretical and mathematical complexity of option theory, which is beyond the scope of this scientific paper, option theory will be described on an incomprehensive level. In brief option pricing is a function of five variables: the value of the underlying asset, the exercise price, time to exercise, the risk-free interest rate, and the volatility of the underlying asset (Black & Scholes, 1973). The value of the underlying asset is the resources resulted from the CSR option, such as qualified employees, PR and cost avoiding’s etc. Husted, 2005). The exercise price refers to the required additional investments needed for receiving the value created by the CSR option. The timing of the exercise is an essential variable, as it has great effect on the value of CSR options. The risk-free interest rate does not play an important role in most real options (Mun, 2002). The volatility or the uncertainty of the underlying asset has a significant impact on the value of CSR options (Mun, 2002). The variance of the expected value can both be higher or lower than the expected return. Black and Scholes is the most widely used regular option pricing model, however, also one of the most complicated models (Mun, 2002). A Binomial lattice approach is applied in most real option pricing, as it provides a more transparent and intuitive appeal compared with Black and Scholes’ theoretical and mathematical approach (Mun, 2002). However, since the aim is solely to clarify the value of real options in a CSR context, the choice of approach is of less relevance. Real options provide an important framework for firms to manage risk by reducing the risk of future investments, and can thus be an essential tool in corporate risk management (Husted, 2005). Finally, a real CSR option explicitly includes a time dimension. This ex-ante perspective is clearly different from the focus on risk in most CSR-risk research, which is ex post in nature. CSR as a risk management instrument – The Toyota example A few decades ago, car manufacturers did not focus so intensively on a green profiling as they do today. The increased oil prices in 1973 and 1979 were influential for the entry of Japanese car manufacturers in USA, who were producing smaller and more gas efficient cars (Andrews, Simon, Tian & Zhao, 2011). The gas efficient cars of Japanese manufactures were causative to the car industry as a whole subsequently invested massively in green technology projects. These investments have met consumers’ need and have generated positive branding values. Toyota’s Prius has reached â€Å"cult status†, as it is one of the most gas efficient and green cars on the market. However, more interestingly is the security, that the green profile of the Prius has offered Toyota, which includes protection against the bad publicity of car manufacturers’ contribution to pollution and factors such as Middle Eastern conflicts that influence oil prices and hence sales of cars. At first glance, it appears as Toyota has been skilled at forecasting future trends and meeting customer’s needs without using CSR as management instrument. As the following example however illustrates, Toyota’s management could have benefitted from considering investments in CSR as real options to control idiosyncratic risk and thereby preserve CFP. In 2009 repeated accidents occurred, which were accused to be caused by flaws in floor mats and accelerator pedals in Toyota’s vehicles. This resulted in a recall of more than 5 million vehicles, alone in the North American market (Andrews, Simon, Tian & Zhao, 2011). Before a product is recalled, companies have to make severe considerations. A product-recall can have great financial impact in terms of losses in brand value, consumer goodwill, decreasing sales and a negative effect on stock prices (Kumara & Schmitza, 2011), which in this case is the value of the underlying asset of the CSR option. The decision to recall the cars is the price of the option. The recall option could have generated strategic flexibility, which however, meanwhile was eliminated, as Toyota’s management failed to exercise the option, before it was too late. The leisurely recall decision resulted in losses in brand value, consumer goodwill, decreased stock price, lower sales, a fine of $16 million and more than 130 potential class-action lawsuits (Andrews, Simon, Tian & Zhao, 2011). The negative outcome of the late recall is considered as high volatility of the underlying asset. A faster recalling could have had a avoiding, a limited or opposite effect on product brand, consumer goodwill and the massive media coverage (Husted, 2005). Provided that Toyota’s management had viewed the recall decision as a valuable option rather than severe costs, strategic flexibility could have been obtained, why the negative outcome may have been avoided. A faster exercise of the recall option might have resulted in goodwill or trust, which could have been exploited by Toyota to limit the negative publicity caused by the repeated accidents. Toyota however, failed to exercise the recall option in acute time, why the result was lost flexibility to respond to the unexpected event of the accidents. The value of the real option foregone by Toyota was a function of inter alia lost sales, brand value and reputation. Toyota’s management failed to exploit the advantages of CSR as a risk management tool.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

When the status quo will amend Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

When the status quo will amend - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the article of Cox and McCubbins develops an interest group model in which the lawmaker delegates his voting decision of his party leader. By that, the party leader has a plan for setting power. The model has six assumptions: members of assembly seek reelection to the House, the status of a member’s party affects his chance of reelection, a party’s standing depends on its lawmaking achievement, team engagement between legislators overcomes harmonization troubles, lawmaking members delegate to the central power and that the major explanation they do that is to delegate to his agenda acquiring power. The party’s head is the one who brings the agenda acquiring power. Therefore, in that respect is a bias to the majority party. The readings from the book Pivotal Politics attempt to understand in what cases gridlock happens. Gridlocks are when there will be no policy alteration from the status quo. The script sets off by explaining a few dissimilar hypotheses. It explains that gridlock is can be narrowed down if the majority party discusses bills with the minority party and it is even more uncommon if both the legislative and majority party are from the same party. Keith Krehbiel comes up with one directed model which depicts the ideology of the members of the house of Congress. It includes the median voter, the filibuster threshold, the president’s ideology and the veto threshold to override the president.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Ancillary 1 Audience Exploration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ancillary 1 Audience Exploration - Essay Example The company is based in New York City. In tandem with its objectives, it covers topics related to celebrity relationships, the ever growing fashion world with the latest trends, beauty and entertainment. The present format of the magazine was introduced in the year 2000. The important sections of the magazine are: â€Å"Just Like Us: photos of celebrities doing things everyday people do. Inspired by a regular Sesame Street feature about animals. Who Wore It Best? : Reader polls of which celebrity wore an outfit better Hot Stuff: the latest gossip from inside Hollywood’s The Red Carpet: the looks and styles from Hollywood’s hottest parties and premieres Hot Pictures: Celebrity sightings of stars around the globe Fashion Police: Famous comedians cite the fashion disasters of the stars, and the best â€Å"look of the week† The Record: A roster of changes in the lives of stars — births, marriages, divorces, etc. Loose Talk: Quotes from the stars Us Musts: Acc ording to Us Weekly, the must-see films, TV shows and DVDs.†(Us Weekly) The titles of the sections are self-explanatory that cater to the psyche and expectations of the celebrities and their fans. The ideal target audience and their social practices The Editorial Board, the policy and decision makers know their objectives well and the art of appealing to the psychology of the celebrities and their fans. The contents of the magazine lead the reader to their website Usmagazine.com launched in 2006 with about two million hits per month. This site is a source of public relations exercise to maintain and augment the popularity of the magazine. It also provides a number of additional features like news blog, star photographs, and coverage from the red carpet galleries from premieres special events, videos, games, quizzes and opinion polls. They know how to hold on and gain popularity amongst the target audience well, by bringing out many signature issues, Hot Hollywood special issue s, Best Bodies Issue and Best Makeovers issue. These moves make the magazine â€Å"celebrity friendly.† The magazine is more information-giving in its targeted areas and not totally gossipy in character. Well-researched information adds to the respectability of the magazine and the readers remain expectant about the arrival of the magazine week after week. Some of the top stories in the latest issue of the magazine are a pointer to the ground which it covers: Jane Seymour Goes Without Makeup in Stunning Picture Kim Kardashian Shows Off Growing Baby Bump on Super Bowl Sunday Kate Middleton Covers Up Baby Bump: Pictures Kate Middleton Covers Up Baby Bump: All About Her Outfit! Beyonce Performs at the Super Bowl: Why Jay-Z Didn't Join Her on Stage Thus, Us Weekly makes constant exploration to construct and maintain audience connectedness, and has been growing in all the directions like the octopus. Audience measurement means to be on the lookout for relationship of the audience to the sections of the magazine and the types of articles covered under those sections. The themes of the articles should cater to the needs of the current demands of the audience, besides creating a lasting impression in their minds. They need to inspire the focus groups and fan forums and establish a connectedness. They must answer the individual and social needs through the contents of the articles. Aggressive marketing helps audience

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Paper two Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Paper two - Essay Example The US and indeed the whole world currently experiences high unemployment rates due to increased population and unavailability of job opportunities. This causes humans to inadequately meet their basic needs and consequently leads to poverty. Poverty refers to a condition in which basic human needs including food, clothing and shelter fail to be met. A majority of countries would have poverty being exhibited through low life expectancy, poor nutrition and high infant mortality among other factors. Poverty results from unavailability of resources and humans being unable to achieve economic development. Socially, discriminating other people based on their culture, race, gender or inabilities has also been a major socioeconomic issue. Racism and sexism would be observed in a majority of the countries particularly due to the increased globalization. This causes the minority groups to be disadvantaged and miss on the opportunities presented to the majority. Globalization has further caused a shift in social morality with major morality conflicts resulting due to abortion, prostitution and drug abuse among others. But the belief that Christians have on Jesus plays a critical role in confronting these socioeconomic problems. Christians’ Belief on Jesus Christians believe Jesus as being full of compassion towards all humankind due to His caring nature. The reason people go to church and follow Christian principles has been noted to be majorly finding care and compassion, a position that has seen Christians considered as caring and compassionate people. Jesus shows compassion to the Church with the ultimate indication of His compassion being the sacrifice of shedding His blood for the cleansing of the Church. In spite of a few times when Jesus got angry like the day He turned tables over in the temple, He largely showed compassion to all humans without regard to their situations or nature. As such, Christians being His followers have the obligation to lead a life of compassion to the society at large. How Christians’ Belief about Jesus Helps Confront Socioeconomic Problems Compassion cares for the temporal needs of people. The story of Jesus feeding a multitude with just a few fish and loaves of bread indicates the need for compassion as a way to support people in need. The problem that the people had then was lack of food. As such, Jesus found a temporal solution to the temporal need and He fed them using the fish and bread from the young shepherd boy. In the same manner, a majority of the reasons causing socioeconomic issues in the society could be attributed to humans’ temporal needs. Lack of human basic needs drive people engaging in socially immoral acts such as prostitution. Additionally, drug abuse could be a direct result of unemployment and idleness. If Christians adopt a compassionate attitude as was with Jesus, such persons would have people share with them food and clothing and probably even shelter. Christians woul d take it upon themselves to ensure that such persons secure employment so that they earn a decent living just like other average human beings. Therefore, compassion from Christians would have the needy have their temporal needs catered for. Compassion cares for the oppressed. It has been appreciated that discrimination plays a significant role in propagating socioeconomic problems in the society. Notably, racism, sexism, class discrimination and nepotism have been said to cause the occurrence of several crimes in the society. But with

Stop and frisk Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Stop and frisk - Research Proposal Example causal relationship exist between two variables when a cause exist and some consequences follow the cause and policy enforcement is the cause with change in gun violence rate as the effect. Existence of a correlation relationship that other factors cannot explain is another requirement for a causal relations and research control can ensure this (Aparasu 72). Implementation of the policy is the independent variable while incidence of gun violence is the dependent variable. Implementation of the stop and frisk policy and effects of the implementation are the concepts for measure. Implementation defines effective enforcement of the policy within the perception of citizens while effects of implementation define associated change in gun violence behavior among the public because of the policy implementation. In addition to peer group questionnaire that background study identified, I plan to use existing data on the subject and opinions among psychology and criminology experts in collecting data on the concepts. Individuals who have been accused of gun violence and those who have close relation to the already accused individuals ate the study’s target population. One of the major characteristics of the population is arrest or issuance of arrest warrant against an individual. These characteristics forms the characteristics of the remaining population segments, associated of the accused. Criminal records from attorney’s office will help in identification of individuals who have been arrested or against whom arrest warrants have been issued for gun violence crimes. Background study on the identified individuals will facilitate identification of their associates. A survey design will be used will be used for data collection because of its potential to collect data of human traits (Aparasu 161). Cross sectional approach will be implemented to collect data relating to periods before the policy and after the policy. This will also incorporate data on application and

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Dutch Style of Painting in the 17th Century Assignment

Dutch Style of Painting in the 17th Century - Assignment Example After the 1640s, many of the houses’ interiors contained scenes of daily life activities with some pictures and maps along the doorways. One of the paintings by Hedrick Sorgh in Rotterdam had a figure of a mother who devoted her time for her children (Hollander 2). In some scenes such as the courtship, paintings consisted of men and women drinking or playing music. Other paintings were biblical and mythological scenes on walls addressing various issues and narrating stories. Dutch paintings can say a lot just in a small setting through the conceptualization of the images. The texts and pictures were a form of entertainment and vehicles for persuasion and challenge in the 17th century. The secondary pictures in Dutch paintings were for commentaries and pictorial and not verbal representing the painters’ thoughts. The paintings provided the aspect of rhetoric and a chance to consider many sides of the issues both simple and complex. The splitting of images into several pa rts is a fundamental feature of the Western image making as it occurs in the medieval pictorial systems. The separation of the pictures provided a wider theme for the picture or narrative. In March 2015, Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century earned the prestigious George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award from the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) for excellence in art publishing. â€Å"The selection of Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century acknowledges a transformational achievement in art historical publishing,†.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Buncefield Disaster Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Buncefield Disaster - Essay Example Disasters are major accidents which take place on a large scale in specific areas. However it is not necessary that the whole areas are affected by these large scale disasters. Such a disaster which would be described in this report would be a mass disaster which took place on the 11th of December 2005. The disaster famously known as the Buncefield disaster took place because of an overfilled storage tank at the Buncefield Oil Depot located close to Hemel Hempstead, Herfordshire UK. The disaster was so huge that it expanded and took over other 20 storage tanks and the fire further spread. The horrible incident resulted in the combustion of that area for several days (Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board, 2006). The oil depot that was destroyed in that incident was one of the largest distribution terminals employed to store refined oil, petrol, aviation turbine fuel, diesel and other kerosene supplies. The explosion that started in the early morning of 11th December, 2005 resulted in the explosion of the large stocks of these refined products. The explosion was further fortified by petrol, diesel, gas and other products. The intensity of the disaster remained firm for 3-4 days. The last major combustions were stubbed out on Wednesday 14th December. However, the fire was not completely extinguished until 15th December. The explosion was so intense that the blast was heard up to about 200 miles (320 km) away. The devastating blast affected the nearby area including commercial buildings and the industrial area. The working week directed towards a great loss of many workers who were supposed to be residing there. 43 people were harmed; however, luckily no serious injuries or deaths were recorde d. The spectators and crews found this incident much destructive and confirmed that it is possibly the largest incident of this sort in peacetime Europe.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

The Functions of Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the Essay

The Functions of Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union - Essay Example he ECJ. Article 267 of TFEU provides that when there is a question concerning the interpretation and application of EU law: When such a question is raised before any court or tribunal of a Member State, that court may, if it considers that a decision on the question is necessary to enable it to give judgment, require the Court of Justice to give a ruling thereon. 6 It therefore follows that the word â€Å"may† as it appears in Article 267 of the TFEU does not impose upon national courts a compulsory duty to refer a question of EU law to the ECJ for determination.7 The obligation to refer a preliminary question of EU law to the ECJ is only mandatory when the matter is before the court of final appeal and no further national remedies are available to the litigants.8 With lower national courts relieved of the compulsory obligation to refer a question of EU law to the ECJ when the interpretation and application of EU law is in doubt can be counterproductive to the goal of achievin g consistency in the interpretation and application of EU law when a national court comes to the decision that not to refer a question to the ECJ for interpretation. Nyikos explains how the discretion to submit a preliminary reference to the EU on a point of EU law can compromise integration of national legal systems with the EU’s legal system and consistency in the interpretation and application of EU laws. According to Nyikos, the decision to refer a preliminary question of EU law depends on a number of variables that are difficult to predict. To begin with, the decision to submit a preliminary question of EU law largely depends on the national courts’ â€Å"acceptance† of intervention by the ECJ.9 A court’s decision to refer a preliminary question of EU law also depends on the â€Å"national judicial procedure†, the â€Å"complexity of the issue† and â€Å"individual court experience.†10 The ECJ however, has established a significa nt safeguard against the risk of inconsistency in the application and interpretation of Community law in cases where the national court is of the opinion that a particular EU law is not valid. In such a case, a referral is mandatory regardless of whether the court seized of the matter is a court of first or last instance. This is because it would be entirely inconsistent with the supremacy of EU law and the goals of consistency among EU states for a national court to render an EU law invalid and another state to uphold the same EU law.11 Ideally, perfect and seamless integration of national legal systems with the EU legal system and consistency of EU law within and among the Member States should be accomplished by Article 267

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Impacts of Negative Leadership Essay Example for Free

Impacts of Negative Leadership Essay Leadership carries considerable influence and responsibility within any organization. Leaders are challenged daily with how to manage this influence effectively. Communication plays a key role in this approach and can have significant impacts to the leader and their staff. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impacts of negative leadership behavior regarding communication and effects on the team as well as the overall organization. Experience with Negative Leadership Behavior Over my career, there have been negative leadership behaviors experienced with both direct mangers and senior management. One of the most destructive is lack of communication. Recently, an executive manager was going to be out of the office for an entire week. This leader has four direct reports of which three are group leaders. The executive manager casually mentions to one of the direct reports that she will be out of the office the following week at a seminar. The direct report appropriately relays this information to their team supervisor to address any concerns or open issues in advance of this absence. The same communication was not made to the remaining three direct reports, in any form, by the executive manager. As the business week of the absence began, the other three direct reports incur an issue require assistance from the executive manager. These managers were rendered unproductive and left wondering when the leader was going to be in the office so that they can discuss the problem at hand. During subsequent discussions, the team supervisor aware of the absence is the one to notify the other three direct reports that their direct manager was out for the week. The gap in communication impacted the teams noted but also other service partners and finally the client due to the delays in resolving the issue timely. It is also important to note that this is not an isolated incident but had happened previously having similar impacts to the same parties noted above. Analysis of Leadership Behavior The leadership behavior described in this experience appears straightforward at the surface but is far reaching in its impact to the firm. The leader showed consistent lack of personal integrity as well as respect and empathy for her staff by not relating her accessibility on a regular basis. It impacts the morale of the direct reports and deteriorates their working relationships ability to collaborate. The leader did not inform all direct reports of her absence. Without a collective knowledge, a subset of the larger reporting team was less effective and efficient during this time. This also created a gap in escalation when issues arose. Lastly it weakens the culture of inclusion. By being excluded, part of the management staff experienced a decrease in satisfaction subsequently affecting their overall performance. Attrition is a by product as well of this negative behavior. Supporting Research of Negative Leadership Behavior â€Å"For it is character through which leadership is exercised, it is character that sets the example and is imitated in turn†¦. The more successfully tomorrow’s manager does his work, the greater will be the integrity required of him†¦. No matter what a man’s general education or his adult education for management, what will be decisive above all, in the future even more than in the past, is neither education nor skill; it is integrity of character† stated Drucker (1954) reiterating the important of reliability in leadership positions. Leading by example creates the ability for the team to tangibly see this character on a daily basis. Additional leadership duties like consideration and management of emotions are becoming more important in the leader-membership interaction per Meike, Jacobs Soares (2012). As these duties increase so will the need for leaders to develop empathetic skills with regard to their staff. This will include appreciation, trust and open communication. Per Fuller and Green (2005), leaders are responsible for embedding strategy in the organization by developing an excellent team, picking the right roles and allowing the rest of the team to make the strategic moves. This requires teams that can function in unison with high level of collaboration. Lack of communication will cause a disjointed approach affecting the vision of the organization ultimately impacting the firm’s success. Hoffman, Bynum, Piccolo and Sutton (2011) noted that transformational leaders are able to articulate a vision that emphasizes the way in which collective goals are consonant with follower values, causing followers to regard organizational goals as their own and submit extra effort toward goals and accomplishments. This sets the groundwork for a culture of inclusion within an organization. When strong unified behavior, values and beliefs have been developed, a strong organizational cultures does emerge per Tsai (2011). Leaders have a primary role in growing and upholding the firm’s culture. It encourages performance and leads to long lasting job satisfaction. When this is not present, organizations will see increased conflict, reduced dialogue between managers and teams and a progressively dysfunctional environment. According to social identify theory, unfair treatment from supervisors may arouse a negative identification which in turn leads employees’ negative behaviors in organizations as outlined by Duan, Lam, Chen and Zhong (2010). This emphasizes the pattern of negative leadership behavior that has the ability to funnel throughout the entire organization is not addressed. Recommendation for Strengthening Leadership Behavior Leadership is a dynamic, ever changing role and requires the leader to be aware of her own behavior and the potential impacts of this behavior on the team. In this situation, the leader needs to understand the value of leading by example. For the team to utilize the leader for her depth of knowledge and broader perspective, a level of reliability needs to be established. From a time management standpoint, simple steps like sharing the leader’s calendar with direct reports could alleviate this issue on a go-forward. This type of planning and organization will benefit the leader as well as the staff’s perception of her abilities and character. Interpersonal skills like active listening, feedback and conflict resolution are critical as well for any leader. Being able to engage her direct reports and the larger staff in a meaningful way will allow for the team dynamic to shift to a positive state. These relationships can be developed through mentoring and engaging the direct reports in projects or other work the leader is responsible for providing insight to her managers of the next level and current challenges of the firm. This end to end view develops the direct reports as well as building a more full bodied relationship with the leader. The impact to the organization also needs a voice n acknowledging the effects of this negative behavior. The leader is accountable for the resulting impacts of any action they take while representing the firm. In this case, the lower performance and higher attrition are concrete costs to the organization. The leader needs to answer for the consequences ofher behavior to a higher power like senior management, stock holders or similar. Conclusion Negative leadership behavior comes in many forms and lack of communication is one of the most pervasive. This paper provides an example of this type of negative leadership and the effects to the staff and organization. It also provides an outline of productive steps to modify the leader’s behavior and limit the adverse impacts in the future. References Duan, J. , Lam, W. , Chen, Z. , Zhong, J. A. (2010). Leadership justice, negative organizational behaviors, and mediating effect of affective commitment. Social Behavior and Personality, 38(9), 1287-1296. doi: 10. 2224/sbp. 2010. 38. 9. 1287 Drucker, P. (1954). The practice of management. New York, NY: Harper Row. Fuller, J. N. , Green, J. C. (2005). The leader’s role in strategy. Graziadio Business Review, 8(2). Retrieved from http://gbr. pepperdine. edu/2010/08/the-leaders-role-in-strategy/ Hoffman, B. J. , Bynum, B. H. , Piccolo, R. F. , Sutton, A. W. (2011). Person-organization value Congruence: How transformational leaders influence work group effectiveness. Academy of Management Journal, 54(4), 779-796. Meike, S. , Jacobs, K. , Soares, M. M. (2012). Emotions and leadership. Reason and impact of emotions in the organizational context. Work, 41, 5671-5673. doi 10. 3233/WOR-2012-0915-5671 Tsai, Y. (2011). Relationship between organizational culture, leadership behavior and job satisfaction. BMC Health Services Research, 11(1), 98-106. doi: 10. 1186/1472-6963-11-98

Friday, September 20, 2019

Impact of Employees Satisfaction on Customer Satisfaction

Impact of Employees Satisfaction on Customer Satisfaction Table of ContentsAbstract This research paper determines the impact of Employees Satisfaction on Customer Satisfaction. This study is based on the Standard Chartered Bank of Pakistan. In this study, the data has been collected from two different questionnaires one is for Employees perspective and other is for Customers perspective. This research has been conducted in Karachi. The target population for this research is the Employee and Customer of Standard Chartered Bank. A sample size of 100 respondents of each type from various locations of Karachi which are Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulberg, F.B.Area, D.H.A, and S.I.T.E are collected. Chi-Square test has been used to test the hypothesis at significance level of 95%. Finally, I find through analysis that Employee Satisfaction is a Key factor for the Customer Satisfaction. It has a significant Impact on Customer Satisfaction. Key Words: Employee Satisfaction, Customer Satisfaction. Introduction Private Banks are playing pivotal role in mobilizing nations savings. These banks have become the mainstream banking institutions in the country mainly, because of; public sector banks are not playing effective role due to obsolete technology and old dated infrastructure. These banks usually use traditional banking practices which are not suitable in this era of globalization led to the establishment of a handful of private banks. These banks are also failed to meet the service expectations of general public due to their inefficient operation including administrative delay, traditional technology, slow processing of transactions etc. This is one of the main reasons behind the flourish of the Private Banks numbers within a short period of time which increase competition. Consequently, banks have taken steps to attract customers and adopted a service orientation with a focus on developing customer-employee relationship. It is a logical approach since an overwhelmingly large proportion of bank customers in Pakistan prefer face to face banking. Taking necessary initiatives to improve the relationship between front line employees of the bank and its customers is of utmost importance in gaining a competitive advantage. Moreover, any new offering from one bank is quickly imitated by other competing banks. In such situation, customer-employee relationships could be used as an important tool for making them distinct from others. To understand how relationships are formed, need an insight into the factors that contribute to customer satisfaction. Many companies demonstrate a very narrow view of these factors assuming that if they get their core product right and deliver it quickly and conveniently, the customer will be satisfied. As leading customer satisfaction and customer loyalty research suppliers, researcher recognize that the drivers behind customer attitudes and opinions are much more complex than that. Customer satisfaction is a mental state which results from the customers comparison of a) expectations prior to a purchase with b) performance perceptions after a purchase. Previous studies shows that Satisfied Employees are more productive, innovative, committed and loyal, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction, which means that employee satisfaction plays a strong, central role in predicting profitability and organizational effectiveness. Employee satisfaction is significantly related to service quality and to customer satisfaction, while the later in turn influences firm profitability. Many firms have enthusiastically applied the operation-centric approach and demonstrated that it is an effective means for improving organizational efficiency. Nevertheless, the impact of human resources on operational systems has often been overlooked. The importance of employee attitudes, such as job satisfaction, employee loyalty, and organizational commitment, and their impacts on operational performance have largely been neglected in the extant OM literature (Boudreau, 2004). However, this study helps to understand the employees satisfaction play any role or not on customer satisfaction in Private Banks in Pakistan. This study is based on bank Standard Chartered, operating their business in whole country. This is conventional (interest based) Bank. This research conduct in Karachi city, thats why all the branches for research are in Karachi. These banks are located in different area of Karachi. Standard Chartered Bank Limited Standard Chartered is the largest and fastest growing International Bank in Pakistan. The Bank has been operating in Pakistan since 1863 when it first established its operations in Karachi. Standard Chartered now employees over 4,000 people and has a branch network of 162 branches across 41 cities in the country. Standard Charterers core businesses in Pakistan are in Consumer Banking and Wholesale Banking. Problem Statement There are significant benefits to be realized from trying to improve an organizations service/quality. And thats why managers devote so much time and money to training programs that instruct employees on the specifics of dealing with customers. What these managers dont understand, however, is that such attempts are largely cosmetic. Real improvements in customer service start with providing superior service and support to the employees themselves which manager of most companies doesnt realize. That is the big problem in Pakistan. So the problem statement is: that it is impossible to maintain a loyal customer base without a base of loyal employees. Research Objectives As mentioned in the problem statement, it is impossible to maintain a loyal customer base without a base of loyal employees. Hence the main objective of this study is to find the relationship of employee and customers either satisfy employee impact or not on customer satisfaction. Scope of study This research will identify importance of Employee Satisfaction. The research in this area is very important because there is no trend to satisfy the employee, and to satisfy customer employer offer type of packages and services. If employer realize that for customer satisfaction they must need to satisfy there employee first they may get more profit, A study at Sears Roebuck Co. showed that a five-point improvement in employee attitudes led to a 1.3 rise in customer satisfaction which, in turn, generated a 0.5 increase in revenues. This study is not limited to the banking industry; it helps all the private and public sector organizations. The scope of study is not very large due to the shortage of time. I selected Karachi because it has huge population. And people belong to every part of Pakistan found in Karachi. And I can find every class of people in Karachi. I cover different areas of Karachi like, Gulshan-e-iqbal, Gulberg, F.B. Area, D.H.A and S.I.T.E. Limitations of the Study Some of the respondents refused to fill the questionnaires. The responses may vary as some people did not want to come up with real answers. Difficult to gather primary data as some of the respondents is not taking questionnaire seriously The people were busy in their own work so they might not have given actual responses. Limitation of time. The survey is conducted only in few areas of Karachi; hence the results may vary in other parts of the cities. Small sample size. And like any other research the limitation of personal bias of respondents limits the scope of the study. The findings are based on the survey conducted in the month of June and July; the results may not vary on the basis of months because the study is based on the behavior like satisfaction. Operational Definitions Employee Satisfaction Employee Satisfaction can be defined as how Employee is happy on his work place which can be shown by his Loyalty and Commitment towards their organization. Customer Satisfaction Customer Satisfaction can be defined as how Customer is happy or agree to purchase the product and Services again, shown by his Loyalty and Commitment towards the Product and Services offered by the Organization. Literature Review Employee Satisfaction is crucial for any bank for its strong impact on customer perceptions of service quality and satisfaction. Dell (1991) illustrated customer-employee relationship as a state of customers overall good feelings when they interact with sellers. Previous studies (Garbarino and Johnson, 1999, Johnson et. al. 2008, Levesque, 1996) suggest two types of customer satisfaction. Overall satisfaction, comes from multiple experiences or encounters with the firm (Bitner and Hubbert, 1994) whereas, encounter satisfaction will result from the evaluation of a single, discrete interaction. Bank customers measure their satisfaction based on a series of encounters or ongoing relationship experiences with the banks employees. This corroborates (Storbacka et al, 1994) who argued that customers experiences gathered from all service encounters influence their overall satisfaction. However, customer-employee interaction is more vital in some countries (e.g., the Netherlands, Italy, and K enya) than in other parts of the world where people do not like to be involved in personal interactions (Gremler and Gwinner, 2000). In Pakistan, as personal relationships hold more influence on customers, it may be assumed that customer-employee relationships have stronger impact on customers mind for their satisfaction than those countries where personal relationship is not an important factor. Employees can derive satisfaction from their jobs by meeting or exceeding the emotional wants and needs they expect from their work. Therefore, Managers that can recognize this and understand the many different aspects that are involved in employee satisfaction will be successful at achieving the link between employee satisfaction, customer retention and added profitability. A substantial body of research confirms the positive association between employee and customer satisfaction (Bernhardt et al., 2000; Harter et al., 2002; Koys, 2001; Ryan et al.,1996; Tornow and Wiley, 1991). A common characteristic of all previous research is that present available dyadic studies have mainly focused on service employees who are in direct and intense customer contact, such as salespeople (Homburg and Stock, 2004, 2005), financial service consultants (Ryan et al.,1996), or service personnel from a restaurant chain (Koys, 2001). The concept of emotional contagion has been used in marketing research to explain the link between employee job satisfaction and customer satisfaction (Homburg and Stock, 2004; Pugh, 2001;Verbeke, 1997). According to this theory, customers catch certain emotional states of customer-contact employees which are associated with the employees job satisfaction. As an example (provided by Homburg and Stock, 2004), the level of experienced job stress is negatively correlated to the employees job satisfaction. Thus, a highly dissatisfied employee will (unconsciously) exhibit a high level of emotional tension expressed through facial expressions, vocalization, and other observable behaviors. That tension will be felt by the customer and consequently will affect the customers satisfaction via the process of emotional contagion (Wild et al.,2001). This will create cognitive tension for the customer as well, which in turn reduces the customers satisfaction-level. Employees create value for their organizations through the profitable relationships they create with the organizations customers. As the research has shown, loyal customers are profitable customers and loyal customers have an emotional connection with the organization, most often because of the employees at the organization. In order for employee value creation to even be a consideration, the employee must be satisfied with his or her employment situation. Satisfied and loyal employees deliver better customer service, make fewer mistakes, and maintain an emotional connection to the organization for which they work. A series of service encounters between an employee and a customer will lead to a productive and profitable relationship only if the employee is able to achieve consistently high quality in the encounter (Heskett, Sasser, and Schlessinger 1997). Research conducted on Call Centre employees and Customer shows that the private and public call centers employee and customer relationship link to be either positively or negatively correlated. Meaning that call centers that have high employee satisfaction also have high customer satisfaction and call centers with low employee satisfaction also have low customer satisfaction. Therefore, SQM is of the strong opinion that employee satisfaction impacts customer satisfaction for both the public and private sectors. Furthermore, SQM has demonstrated that a 1% increase in employee satisfaction represents approximately a 2% improvement increase in customer satisfaction. (Mike, 2005). Many times organizations assume that customers will become satisfied if prices and costs are simply lowered. However, much research has indicated that customers are willing to pay more for service and convenience. Employees create value for their organizations through the profitable relationships they create with the organizations customers. As the research has shown, loyal customers are profitable customers and loyal customers have an emotional connection with the organization, most often because of the employees at the organization. (Anthony, 2007). Methodology Target population and Sources of data: The target population in this study includes (i) front line employees and key personnel working in the customer service department of the different branches SCB located in Karachi and (ii) customers having account of any type in these banks. Primary data will be collected through two separate surveys. A questionnaire containing both structured and unstructured questions will be developed and administered through e-mail to randomly selected sample elements from the target population (i) above. A second survey would be conducted on a sample of 100 randomly selected customers of these banks from the target population (ii) above. Necessary secondary data such as annual reports, websites, newspaper reports and various other published works will also be collected from relevant sources. Hypothesis The following hypothesis was developed: Ho: Employees Satisfaction has a significant impact on Customer Satisfaction. Sample size The sample is based on employees and customers of Standard Chartered bank. And the size is 100 respondents of each type. How to collect data To collect data method of questionnaire based survey is conducted and the question is about the loyalty and commitment of employees and customers behaviors towards the bank. Statistical Techniques The SPSS software has help us in the solution of research calculation. Chi-Square test has been used to test the hypothesis at significance level of 95%. Analysis and Findings The measurement factors of Employee according to the questionnaire are Job Security, Working Condition, Compensation Packages, Team Leaders, Communication level in Bank with peers and seniors, Customer services providing by the them and Training and Development from the Bank, this factors measure on the scale of satisfaction and the end result which comes in the over all satisfaction level of Employees are shown in the table 1: Table 1 Satisfaction Level Of Employee Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Satisfied 59 59.0 59.0 59.0 Neutral 11 11.0 11.0 70.0 Dissatisfied 30 30.0 30.0 100.0 Total 100 100.0 100.0 59 % of employees are satisfied by these all factors, 11% of the Employees are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and 30% employees are Dissatisfied from these factors. Observation Compensation Packages is the main reasons of Dissatisfaction, and some of them are not satisfied with their Team Leaders. Similarly the measurement factors of Customers, according to the questionnaire are Responsiveness from the front desk Employees, Products and Service Quality, Delivery of Services, Competitiveness and Technical Support from the Bank Employees, these factors also measure on the scale of satisfaction and the end result which comes in the over all satisfaction level of Customer are shown in the table 2: Table 2 Satisfaction Level Of Customer Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Satisfied 42 42.0 42.0 42.0 Neutral 19 19.0 19.0 61.0 Dissatisfied 39 39.0 39.0 100.0 Total 100 100.0 100.0 42% Customers are Satisfied with the Banks overall Services, 19% of Customers are neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied and Finally 39 % Customers are Dissatisfied. Observation shows that this ratio of Dissatisfaction is Because of Product and Service Quality and Delivery of Services. Table 3 Satisfaction Level Of Customer * Satisfaction Level Of Employee Cross-tabulation Count Satisfaction Level Of Employee Total Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Satisfaction Level Of Customer Satisfied 44 1 6 42 Neutral 5 3 6 19 Dissatisfied 10 7 18 39 Total 59 11 30 100 The Table 3 shows the overall satisfaction of Employee and Customer, 42% employee Satisfaction leads to the 59% satisfaction Of Customers, 19% neutral employee does not effect significantly and Finally 39% Dissatisfied Employees leads to the 30% Customer Dissatisfaction. table 4 Chi-Square Tests Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) Pearson Chi-Square 19.683a 4 .001 Likelihood Ratio 21.158 4 .000 Linear-by-Linear Association 15.674 1 .000 N of Valid Cases 100 The above table 4 gives the test results for the chi-square test for independence. The first row labeled Pearson Chi-Square shows that the value of à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡2 is 19.6837 and the degree of freedom is 4. The two-tailed p-value is shown as 0.001, which is less than 0.05, so our hypothesis is accepted and we conclude that there is significant impact of Employees Satisfaction on Customer Satisfaction. Conclusion Keeping in view the results discussed above it can be safely concluded that there is positive association between the Employee satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction. On the basis of results generated by using SPSS software (17th version) and the test applied on it is chi-square, it is found that Satisfied Employees either front desk or not has a significant impact on Customer Satisfaction. If Employee is Satisfied with the Job, He/she would be loyal, and committed with the bank and in the result they are providing good services to their valuable Customers as they perceived, and finally Customer is Satisfied. Recommendations and Direction for further Research On the basis of the analysis I recommend that the researcher can be conducted in every field and specially in government sector so that we can find out the reasons of dissatisfaction of customer in this sector similarly the large number of respondent will gives the accurate finding where as the area of this research is very limited based on one city and one bank. Following this line of thought, I also suggest that researchers examine the relationship between employee satisfaction and companys profitability. For instance, is employee satisfaction a necessary condition for Companys Profitability?

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Expectations :: Personal Narrative, Autobiographical Essay

Expectations People often do things they don’t necessarily mean to do. The young Langston Hughes once stood up and pretended to have seen and been touched by Jesus. He did this not because he really saw Jesus, but because others expected it of him. Although others rejoiced on his behalf, he was ashamed for having lied to them. Similarly, I myself have undergone an experience in which I acted in a way that was foreign to my nature. At the age of eight, I was living in the Philippines. In my little town of Ilocos Norte, there was a man who was mentally retarded. To me, he was this towering giant who could easily squash little kids like a bug. People mostly stayed away from him, especially children. In fact, just the sight of him struck terror in their little hearts. As for me, I mostly avoided him. However, there were some teenage kids who made it their job to make his life miserable. For instance, whenever they saw him, they laughed and pointed at him, as well as taunting and calling him names. Nevertheless, he never talked back or yelled at them. I used to wonder why he never defended himself. After all, he could easily scare them away with a growl or a mean expression. One day, I passed by him on my way to the store. He was sitting on a chair all by himself wearing the saddest expression on his face. A part of me was tempted to go over to him and cheer him up. The other part, however, was wary and cautious of a stranger. All too soon, his tormentors showed up. Two of the boys went behind him and pushed his chair. Toppling clumsily to the ground, he looked awkward and funny. The teens all started laughing hysterically even though I found nothing remotely humorous about the situation. Nevertheless, when the boys looked at me, I started to laugh as well, pretending to have enjoyed their little joke. However, my laughter died the second I looked into the man’s eyes. Seeing his eyes shining with tears and hurt, I was horrified at my behavior. I was ashamed that not only had I laughed at him, but that I had done nothing to help him while he was being taunted and tormented. This memory and its moral lesson have stayed with me ever since. My only excuse for my shameful behavior was that I was young and easily influenced by the

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

We Can Stop Global Warming Essay -- Environmental Global Climate Chang

We Can Stop Global Warming   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nowadays, the earth is presenting drastic changes. There are different factors that have influenced to provoke these changes. The man is one if not the main responsible. With the modern world and its speed in which life is developed everyday, the man may not sometimes think of a long-term harm that is provoking. It has been recognized that human activity is slowly increasing the atmospheric concentration of several gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the colloquial term to refer to enhanced global warming. The green house effect is what keeps the earth habitable, without the greenhouse effect the temperatures would be too cold for human live.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Over the past 100 years, global temperatures have increased by about one degree Fahrenheit, with the 1990s to date the warmest decade on record, according to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Scientists predict that, unless greenhouse gases emissions are reduced substantially, Earth’s average global temperature will rise by two to six degrees by the next century. Since people are causing global warming, they can also prevent it from getting worse or to stop it at all. To prevent global warming we must reduce usage of greenhouse gases emissions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a vital source to the greenhouse effect. Humans have made buildings and machines that release CO2 into the air. Large amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere causes more heat to be...

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Strategic Management Essay -- Business Analysis Management

Every firm competing in an industry has a competitive strategy. Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organization through its structure of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations. In other words, strategy is about the direction in which the business is trying to move in the long term. A strategy should help in finding the potential markets in which the business competes and its corresponding activities. It should help in analyzing the resources needed to compete, example : skills, assets, finance, technical know-how etc. Strategies should help in Analyzing the external environmental factors that affects the ability of the business to compete. Finally it should help in analyzing the values and expectations of the stakeholders who have the power in and out of the business. The organization's strategy must be formulated in such a way that it has a unique distinctiveness which is clearly specified. This distinctiveness must place the organization in the potential market with a strong base . The strategy developed will be successful when it fits into the company's activities and they should balance each other and they should supply the right benefits to the firm and its customers. The ultimate concept is to position the firm in a way that will ensure its survival in the long term among the competitive environment. The various elements of strategies are strategic planning, strategic thinking and strategic management. Strategic planning is a management tool. It serves one of the main purpose as a management tool i.e., to help an organiz... ...al and the dynamic approaches are equally important. The organizations will prove to be more successful when they apply both these strategic approaches. The organization should know where it is heading to and must also be quick enough to grab the new opportunities and welcoming changes in the competitive market to gain a competitive advantage. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Strategic Management - An Integrated Approach Charles W. L. Hill / Gareth R. Jones (Third and Sixth Edition ) Strategic Management - Issues and Cases Paul Dobson, Kenneth Starkey and John Richards Competitive Strategy - Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors Michael E . Porter WEBSITES : 1. www.findarticles.com 2. www.pim.com 3. www.tutor2u.net 4. www.whatcar.com 5. www.strategyclub.com Strategic Management Essay -- Business Analysis Management Every firm competing in an industry has a competitive strategy. Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organization through its structure of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations. In other words, strategy is about the direction in which the business is trying to move in the long term. A strategy should help in finding the potential markets in which the business competes and its corresponding activities. It should help in analyzing the resources needed to compete, example : skills, assets, finance, technical know-how etc. Strategies should help in Analyzing the external environmental factors that affects the ability of the business to compete. Finally it should help in analyzing the values and expectations of the stakeholders who have the power in and out of the business. The organization's strategy must be formulated in such a way that it has a unique distinctiveness which is clearly specified. This distinctiveness must place the organization in the potential market with a strong base . The strategy developed will be successful when it fits into the company's activities and they should balance each other and they should supply the right benefits to the firm and its customers. The ultimate concept is to position the firm in a way that will ensure its survival in the long term among the competitive environment. The various elements of strategies are strategic planning, strategic thinking and strategic management. Strategic planning is a management tool. It serves one of the main purpose as a management tool i.e., to help an organiz... ...al and the dynamic approaches are equally important. The organizations will prove to be more successful when they apply both these strategic approaches. The organization should know where it is heading to and must also be quick enough to grab the new opportunities and welcoming changes in the competitive market to gain a competitive advantage. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Strategic Management - An Integrated Approach Charles W. L. Hill / Gareth R. Jones (Third and Sixth Edition ) Strategic Management - Issues and Cases Paul Dobson, Kenneth Starkey and John Richards Competitive Strategy - Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors Michael E . Porter WEBSITES : 1. www.findarticles.com 2. www.pim.com 3. www.tutor2u.net 4. www.whatcar.com 5. www.strategyclub.com

Modern technology today Essay

With the advent of more modern technology today, and the expansion of corporate markets, commercial transactions between industries grow by the day. As commerce, in its basic sense, pertains to the trading of something of economic value, be it goods or services, information, and most of all, money, it is required of an individual to know how to analyze the economic systems that guide every transaction and endeavor related to commerce. As an empowered individual, my enthusiasm and desire for learning the commerce of man is very strong, at the same time I possess the capability to initiate ideas and activities that help in conceptualizing products or services that may be â€Å"traded† for value. To further learn the intricacies of the field of commerce, I have decided to take up the Bachelor of Commerce program. I believe I will be successful in this field. When assessing basic market financial records in newspapers, I easily comprehend economic trends that I often imagine myself as a good financial analyst. Coupled with the fact that I have enough experience in dealing with different kinds of people in economic terms, I know that ill be successful in this field. The rise and fall of economies in every country influence events globally. I was intrigued with this issue that this pushed me to exert effort in realizing my dream of taking up Commerce as a course. At the micro-level, I am attentive in class, like to recite and debate on issues relating to economics and commerce. The pursuit of education is to be encouraged to better understand the world around us and to contribute to its development. In my own opinion, I can serve this purpose by learning things related to commerce, and with the qualities I possess, I can provide additional knowledge to the study of commerce.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Official Winter Break Essay

However, even though Columbus did not discover the Americas first, European Exploration still had a ore immense impact within their world and our modern world today. One of the major reasons the European Exploration turned out to have a much bigger impact in history' than any other exploration is due to the formation Of the European Exchange. Thanks to the exchange many goods had been traded and thus the creation of many foodstuff as well as other materials such as tobacco and crops. The European Exchange is one of the major reasons that the European Exploration is recognized above all other explorations.The trade between these countries lead to many others to come o Europe for valuable resources and Europe began to expand and grow, not only due to the newly conquered land, but to the new people that were coming for the resources. I believe that this is because of how large this was on the scale and the explorers prior to the Europeans never made a big deal rather they just kept movi ng on and missed an opportune chance. European Exploration also overshadows the other explorations as the fact that they were more ruthless and willing to do anything in their power to expand their religion, obtain more gold, and be glorified for their actions.Their actions lead to them to enslave and slay the natives of the New World whether by accident (disease). Their sheer numbers had overwhelmed many places that they conquered and changed the society of the people around them. Native Americans turned into Catholics and lived the same way as the Europeans. Other countries, such as China, used Ghent Hajj was took on more of a peaceful approach yet not to an extent. China used the tribute system which enforced their power on the land nearby, whereas Vocal De Gamma, aEuropean explorer, enslaved and killed hundreds to capture ports for Portugal to trade. Their ways were very much similar, however Europeans were more ruthless and quicker and thus their influence was more massive and swifter which is why their influence is still active today. Rupee's strength was not solely the reason why its influence was so solid- some states like.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Schedule

Brian Tran Dr. U. Lynn Jones GOVT 2302 – S11 November 8, 2012 Court Observation Paper For my court observation, I was able to sit in a Texas State District Court. The judge of the court I observed was Honorable Judge Etta J. Mullin. Everything was pretty much what I expected to see. I wasn’t expecting anything outrageous to happen like on the television. I was expecting everything to be very professional and very boring, like watching the C-SPAN channel. The walls were a dull brown color and most of the furniture was wooden.The Judge sat on a little stand and next to the stand was a seat where people would go to present evidence or tell stories under oath. On the Judge’s right side, there were two rows of seats that the Jury would sit in. There were police officer standing in the room and people sitting down in the audience like me. I couldn’t tell if they were just spectators in the audience, or family/friends of the people on trial. When I first entered the courtroom, I walked in the middle of a court case. Most of the court cases were pretty straight forward. People pleaded guilty and the Judge moved on to the next case.The most interesting case was an assault because it was assault. The defendant of this case also pleaded guilty, but afterwards the Judge talked with the lawyer to discuss what sort of punishment or jail time he should receive. Because there were three counts of assault, the defendant was fined $40,000 and 3 years of community service. I thought it seemed fairly reasonable since the one of the victims suffered injuries such as skull fractures. I, however don’t think that I am experienced enough to know what is considered a good punishment for a crime. Other cases were simple things, like people being caught with possession of marijuana.The penalty for that is a small fine. That reminded me of a time when a guy I knew was caught in possession of marijuana on his was to Waco. He was kept in a holding cell and I had to drive to Waxahachie to help my friend pay for his bail. Personally, I have never done any illegal substances, and I believe that it is wrong even when Colorado and Washington had recently made it legal in those states. The experience was new and fresh, but I don’t think I’d ever go back and watch a court case for fun. I can see how the trial could be interesting, but I was fairly bored by the end of my two hours.It wasn’t as gripping as an episode of Law and Order. A more memorable event that happened while I was at the court house was that one of the people that worked the (in a family court setting) told me a story about this one family. There were 2 siblings, a brother and a sister, and they were trying to get away with taking their Grandmother’s social security check. To do this, the siblings had morphine patches that they would stick on to her spine to make her appear senile. But one day the Grandmother’s friend came over and took her to meet up with the people that worked in the building and everything was good.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Mary Wollstonecraft and Gender Inequality in Our Modern World Essay

Ridgeway states that â€Å"In the United States as in many other societies, gender relationships are changing and inequalities between men and women are questioned in virtually every sphere – at work, in the home, and in public affairs.† In Mary Wollstonecraft’s â€Å"A Vindication of the Rights of Women,† she argues different issues about women’s role in society, and she called for equality between men and women. However, even now women still demand equal rights with men because gender inequality still exists throughout different countries in the world. Since â€Å"A Vindication of the Rights of Women,† many issues have changed for women in society in various fields such as education, employment, and politics, but some specific problems exist now. In the modern world, there are many gaps between men and women in different positions. Wollstonecraft’s piece still applies to women in the modern world because of social, economic, and political inequality. Wollstonecraft argues that women’s societies are neglected when she wrote hundreds of years ago. This is still true in the present day because in most societies men and women are allocated diverse duties, rights, and privileges. Women and men have different roles in society. Gender inequality is characterized by the social process individuals deal with. According to Wollstonecraft, â€Å"There must be more equality established in society or morality will never gain ground, and this virtuous equality will not rest firmly even when founded on a rock† (198). This means that society plays an important role in determining the position role of the women, and that role depends on religion, traditions, and customs. They are attached to values joined to human well-being and prosperity. Research shows that â€Å"Sex categorization unconsciously primes gender stereotypes. This allows the stereotypes to become cognitively available to affect our behavior and judgments† (Fisk ). Regardless, how much they truly do shape our conduct can vary from inconsequential to huge depending on the particular situation and our own specific goals and interests. For example, in general, men are accepted by society to be particularly more skilled than women in male work -settings such as engineering, sports, and positions of expertise, while women are advantaged in female- work settings such as childcare and communication. In other words, Wollstonecraft acknowledges society expects a different thing from men and women. Also, Wollstonecraft writes about the role of women in the economy is not as clear and concrete as it is for men. Wollstonecraft mentions that â€Å"Business of various kinds they might likewise pursue if they were educated in a more orderly manner, which might save many from common and legal prostitution† (205). In other words, people don’t know what women can accomplish because they have never been allowed to fully participate in the economy because of gender-defined jobs. In most of the world, women spend more hours working than men. In addition, they spend a lot of energy doing housework which is unpaid and along these lines not considered when economists analysts measure the amount of work done by men and women. Indeed, even women who have full-time occupations do the majority of housework in the household. In most countries, women possess an exceptionally small percentage of the basic leadership positions in the upper economic range. Although women work more hours than men, the wage gap between the genders remains generally static between women and men working full time according to the study in the article, â€Å"Women still make only about 80% of what men earn for full-time work† (Ridgeway). Also, corporations should assist in treating both women and men similarly because when women choose to have kids and stay home for maternity leaves they don’t make it up the chain of leadership. However, companies should significantly assist in executing approaches that incorporate women again into the workforce in senior positions after having children including more flexible advancement processes and activities as strategic scheduling. Furthermore, Wollstonecraft discusses that women’s politics has been intangible for many years and still exists in the modern world. According to the article, â€Å"Women are less likely to hold managerial or supervisory positions, and when they do, their positions carry less authority† (Ridgeway). Men have had the monopoly on political power for a long time which indicates gender inequality and led to its continuation. Even in democratic societies, gender segregation happens in governmental issues both concerning assumptions about political devotions that fall along gender lines, and dissimilar gender representation inside delegate vote based systems. Truly, this is considered obvious when women couldn’t even vote. Wollstonecraft writes that â€Å"They might also study political, and settle their benevolence on broadest basis, for the reading of history will scarcely be more useful than the perusal of romances† (205). The participation of women in politic al life is one of the most important elements of the democratic process in a country. Therefore, the weakness of democratic mechanisms and forces in society contributes to the marginalization of women’s political participation. Public and private communities should strengthen their capacities to contribute to the development of their female population. It should be noted that traditional societies are more likely to recognize women’s political rights. This is important because women with access to political power might have an opportunity to change her situation thus disrupting the narrative that men are the traditionally powerful ones in society. Obviously, when Wollstonecraft wrote the â€Å"Vindication of the Rights of Women,† she opened the doors for women’s rights. Wollstonecraft piece is still applicable to women in the modern world because of social, economic, and political systems. Although women have equal rights in some fields, some issues of equality regarding society’s rights and duties are still with us today because it depends on society how people think about and respects women. Works Cited Fisk, Susan, â€Å"How Does Gender Inequality Persist?.† Gender.stanford.edu, Monday,2 May. 2011, http://gender.stanford.edu/news/2011/how-does-gender-inequality-persist. Ridgeway, Cecilia. L, â€Å"HOW GENDER INEQUALITY PERSISTS IN THE MODERN WORLD.† Scholarsstrategynetwork.org, June. 2013, http://www.scholarsstrategynetwork.org/brief/how-gender-inequality-persists-modern-world. Jacobus, Lee, editor. A World of Ideas. Bedford /St. Martin’s, 2017. Mary, Wollstonecraft. â€Å"Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society†. Bedford /St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 198-205. NSCC Grading Rubric for Composition I and II Note: All essays are marked for errors and include comments. This rubric shows the breakdown of your score. Any essay that does not meet the requirements of the assignment may not be graded and may receive a zero. Any essay that contains an abundance of major grammatical errors or numerous repetitive errors that negatively affect the meaning and readability may lose extra points. A. Content Topic Fits assignment, narrowed appropriately, focused, original, shows independent thought, creative Thesis Statement Clear, strong, focused, logical, and insightful Rhetorical Technique Adheres to assigned rhetorical technique or blends rhetorical techniques effectively to enhance the strength of content Support Evidence, details, examples, and explanations are sufficient, thorough, accurate, logical, well-developed, and effectively support claims, ideas, and the topic Critical Thinking Appropriate level of analysis, evaluation, inference, or deduction of issues related to the topic Comments Possible Score Your Score 25 B. Organization Thesis Placement Thesis statement is logically placed for the specific essay Introduction Catches reader’s attention, accurately introduces scope of paper, interesting Conclusion Leaves reader with a sense of completion reemphasizes point and/or motivates reader, the appropriate ending for essay Paragraphs Each paragraph is well developed and relates to the thesis has a strong topic sentence and presents solid supporting information Sequencing Careful development of related ideas in coherent, sequential paragraphs with smooth and logical transitions that create a smooth flow of the essay Comments Possible Score Your Score 25 C. Editing Grammar Essay is free from major errors, such as fragments, comma splices, run-ons, and agreement errors, and minor errors, such as punctuation and capitalization Style Tone is mature, consistent, and suitable, a voice is appropriate for academic writing, and awareness of audience is evident Language Sentences are forceful, clear, and logical, a variety of sentence structures are present, and diction is precise and expressive using college-level vocabulary Presentation Correct MLA style formatting, including MLA style heading, double-spacing, correct margins, and font style and size, with a strong title and indented paragraphs Comments Possible Score Your Score 25 D. Documentation Sources Appropriate amount of research is used from credible and quality sources instead of sources such as encyclopedias, SparkNotes, eNotes, BookRags, Wikipedia, answers.com, or the like; sources support rather than overwhelm the writer’s ideas Borrowed Information Quotations use quotation marks or are put in block format if needed and are written exactly as the author intended, paraphrases and summaries are written well and do not change the meaning of the original, information is integrated smoothly into text and thoroughly discussed, and quantity and quality of information is appropriate In-text Citations Formatted correctly with a signal phrase and a citation that matches the first element of the works cited the entry Works Cited Page Starts a new page, entries are double-spaced and indented correctly, information is incorrect order and complete, and no extra sources are listed that are not cited in the essay Comments Possible Score Your Score 25 Total Score Possible Score Your Score 100