Affect of Women in Advertisement Essay Example for Free

Affect of Women in Advertisement Essay Abstract Due to advertisement clutter in the 21st century customers are exposed to a variety of advertising appeals that aims to influence their attitudes towards a wide range of products and services. Many companies worldwide are using women as an object to attract and influence consumers’ attitudes towa rds the products they sell. Women appear in huge number of advertisement as a sexual object or as attractive decorative model standing nearby a product, even when the sexual image has little relevance to the advertised product. This article looks at Jordan ian male consumers’ attitude towards using women in advertisement. Results reveals four factors tend to influence consumer attitude towards using women in advertisement. Culture, control, and emotion were found to have a significant influence on consumer attitude towards using women in advertisement, while there was no significant influence for women appearance on consumer attitude towards using women in advertisement. In general Jordanian male consumers’ were opposed to exposing, exploiting and objectifying the woman and her body in advertisement. Introduction Research on advertisement featuring sex role focused on how content and imagery affect cognitive responses and attitude toward the advertisement, which in turn affect attitude toward the brand and purchase intention (Jaffe, 1994; Leigh and Whitney, 1987). Attitude toward advertising can be defined in general as learned tendencies to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner to advertising in general (Lutz, 1985; Mackenzie and Lutz, 1989). The link between attitudes, intentions and behavior has been explained primarily by Ajzen (1985, 1988), Ajzen and Fishbein (1980). This theory is based on the assumption that human beings usually behave in a sensible manners where they will take into account information available to them and consider the consequences of their actions. Thus people are expected to act in accordance with their intentions. The personal factor is the attitude toward the behavior, which is the individual‟s positive or negat ive evaluation of performing the behavior of interest. Whereas the social determinant of intention is the person‟s perception of social pressure to perform the behavior under consideration. People generally intend to perform a behavior when they evaluate it positively and belief that important others think they should perform it. Advertisements perceived as contentious will not be effective in capturing the attention of people or changing their attitudes towards the advertised products (Michell and Al-Mossawi, 1995). Based on that, it‟s very essential to choose the appropriate advertisement strategies employed in advertising which range from informational to emotional. Among those designed to stir emotions or rouse particular feelings, we can find fear, humor, warmth, novelty, contrast, animation, music, and sexual arousal. According to Reichert et. al. (2001) sex appeal advertising invokes any message, which, whether as brand information in advertising contexts or as persuasive appeals in marketing contexts, is associated with sexual information. It has long been an accepted belief that this form of advertising is very effective at attention-grabbing, considered by some commentators as a powerful step in reaching one‟s target market, especially in the current clutter of 21st century marketing and communications (Reichert Lambiase, 2003). Sexual economics theory (SET) is a stimulating theory about sexuality that combines the idea of gender differences in sexual attitudes with social exchange theory, which S precher, (1989) conceptualize as two or more parties that each give up something with the aim of getting back something of greater value. Much research suggests that sex as an end in itself is less valued by women than men (Baummeister et al., 2001). Ther efore, sexual economics theory posits that women possess substantially greater negotiating power than do men in the context of a sexual exchange. Based on this theory, the current study will focus on men and the way women are used to persuade them in adver tisement to influence their attitudes. Using women in advertisement as a sexual appeal has transferred women to a marketing instrument by many firms. Women are used as a material mostly in advertisements (Bayraktar, 2011). In many advertisements, the ideal woman is an object that exists to satisfy men‟s sexual desires. Many researchers have shown that women in advertisements are portrayed as sex objects (Baker, 2005). Advertisers feature provocative images of sexually attractive women in ads (Reichert, 2 002). Sexual appeals in advertisements consist of a variety of elements models. Courtney and Whipple (1983) describes sexuality in advertisements as sexuality in the form of nudity, sexual imagery, innuendo, and double entendre used as an ad object for dif ferent kinds of products. Reichert (2002) reveals that common forms of sexuality in ads includes nudity (dress), physical attractiveness, seductive behavior and interaction, innuendo, and other factors such as setting, context and camera effects. While Lambiase and Reichert (2003) propose that there are five types of sexual content in ads: Nudity, sexual behavior, physical attractiveness, sexual referents, and sexual embeds. Ramirez and Reichert (2000) propose that viewers consider physical characteristics the most sexual in ads and the sub-categories of these characteristics are clothing, attractiveness and body. Table 1 shows the categories of women appearance in advertisements and their meanings in USA. It‟s noteworthy to say that women misrepresentation in advertisement is a world wide phenomenon. In India, for example, Bag and Roy (2010) bring up various reasons behind unaccept ed representation of women in advertisement, such as poverty where still a number of women, particularly young girls with intolerable economic misery compelled to represent themselves in different forms of uncultured version for survival. To the contrary some rich womens do it as a hobby, just to get mental or psychological satisfaction through modeling, front page sensational attraction in different popular magazines. Globalization is another factor responsible for misrepresentation of women in advertisement. Being attracted to western culture, teenager girls have been adopting western style in their garments and manners and hence, they have been losing their own culture and tradition, social values and moral character. Consumerism, which tries hard to inc rease the consumption of people, is another cause of such unaccepted representation. Much consumption means much economic profit which a group of people highly want. Profit maximization has escalated the introduction of women in a number of advertisements of different companies in television, magazine, T.V., Cinema, Newspaper, Cartoons, painting and even in the Internet to attract customers from different age groups. The different types of women representation in advertisement are presented below. Representation through Television- There is a lot of representation of women in advertisement through T.V. which affect common people and children adversely. It is obvious that visual indecent representation of them has been perverting psychologically all youth. Representation through Newspaper- Newspaper is another source of representation in indecent manner. Readers from almost all age group are intensely influenced while observing and reading those undesirable advertisements. Representation through Magazine- Similar examples will be cited in several advertisements in several reputed magazines where the honor of women have not only been despoiled simultaneously people are being psychologically endangered. But interestingly, by virtue of human instinct, neither presenter nor consumer is realizing its adverse impact. Other forms of Representation- There are other forms of uncultured representation which we can find rarely but have both internal and external effects on common people. Despite fewer in number, such representations are noticed in different sorts of paintings, hoarding hanging or fixed in cities and towns, and even displayed in Internet. Painting of undesirable quality is often displayed in cinema hall for greater publicity. Similarly, a lot of painters draw naked or half naked figures, which may have inner good meaning, but it is a matter of question how many people are finding that inner good meaning and how many are taking those adversely. Research Problem and Significance Very few studies tries to explain the influence of using women in advertisement based on cultural factors. Researchers have either concentrated on or compared dissimilar cultures, such as the U.S and Japan or they have focused on similarities or differences on similar cultur es, such as Great Britain and Australia (Al-Olayan and Karande, 2000). Many researches explain ads by using Hofstede‟s cultural dimensions or Hall‟s high and low typology and other country specific variables. Culture dominates communications, such as langu age, traditions, beliefs and music (Al-Olayan, Karande, 2000). Therefore, the main motivation behind this article is to identify the influence of using women in advertisement on male consumers‟ attitude in Jordan. This study is conducted in a Muslim country where Shariah (Islamic Law) prohibit the use of sexual appearance or body in a way to attract or convince consumers with company products, brands or services. This study is significant for the reason that there is no any study has been done in this field regarding this issue. Another reason for doing this study is to increase our understanding of the Arab societies, and in this case Jordan. Research Objectives The objectives of this research are: 1) To identify the factors that may affect male Jordanian consumers‟ attitude towards using women in advertisement 2) To examine consumers overall attitude towards using sexy women in advertisement Theoretical Background Culture and Advertisement Marketers need to observe the cultural traits, environments, norms, beliefs, and values of a particular country or region to obtain an understanding of whether their future behaviors will be perceived as ethical (Haque et al., 2010). For example, companies advertising their products or services in different countries should be aware of a country‟s existing norms concerning role portrayals and the way these organizations affect these norms (Gilly, 1988). Clow and Baack (2009) maintained that culture, religion and value system determine the levels of nudity, sexual references, and gender specific issues that are permitted in a country. Several differences have also been recognized across countries for men and women appear in different settings and for different products. Women are more likely to be portrayed in domestic environment as sex objects, while men are more likely to be portrayed being occupied. In Sweden, for example advertisers show men and women in greater variety of nonworking roles than in the U.S.A and Germany and women in Asian countries are less likely to be shown as sex objects (Das, 2000). Since in many Middle Eastern countries, sex and gender issues are taboo subjects, sexual appeals are not used in advertising and even sexually related products are difficult to advertise (Bryant, 1998). Muslim nations tend to reject any kind of nudity and any reference to sexuality and other gender -related issues. Any hint of sexuality or display of the female body is strictly forbidden. In Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, women must be shown in family settings. They cannot be depicted as being carefree or desirable to the opposite sex. Marlin (2008) conduct a study on how culture affects advertisement, he used an advertisement showing a sexy picture for Paris Hilton, the famous model wearing a bikini and asked respondents to writ e their reactions. About 27% had positive reactions, 45% had negative reactions and 28% were indifferent. For this advertisement some respondents were confused whether it is an advertisement for a burger or for a car. The results show that different cultures imply different reactions, some of the comments the respondents wrote were: †¢ Unrealistic, bizarre (German respondent) †¢ It is not about the product, they are selling a lifestyle (Iranian respondent) †¢ Nice, interesting (French respondent) †¢ Too much naked skin (1 Ethiopian and 1 Swedish respondent) †¢ I am discussed, angry and feel fat (Swedish respondent) †¢ Too naked, too unrealistic (Moroccan respondent) †¢ Sexistic (Swedish respondent) †¢ Inappropriate, bad taste (French respondent) †¢ It is totally unnecessary for the object of advertising (Swedish respondent) Muslim countries are not the only ones with restrictive advertising for sex appeals. Many Christian countries such as Ireland, Spain, South Africa, Mexico and the Philippines have similar standards. 184 While in Canada, France, and Sweden, sexism should be avoided in any advertising directed toward children (Boddewyn, 1991). Based on that, understanding how religious beliefs influence the attitude towards the advertising is of great importance to international advertisers and advertising agency managers in their efforts to improve advertising effectiveness without offending or alienating their target audience. It‟s important to comprehend that Islamic social philosophy is based on the belief that all spheres of life: spiritual, social, political, and economic form an indivisible unity that must be thoroughly imbued with Islamic values. Advertisement and Women in the Muslim world The aim of this section is to give an in-depth understanding on the nature and position of women and advertisement in the Muslim world to help and benefit marketers and the advertising producers in the Muslim world to gain a profound understanding of Muslim values. As a starting point, it‟s important to note that the Holy Quran does not prohibit advertising (Al-Makaty et al., 1996). Some advertisements use religious terminology to reassure consumers of the Islamic integrity of products and services. For example, in a television advertisement, a Saudi Investment ba nk in Egypt had used religious terms to show that it had no unlawful transactions and that all of its financial products Shariah compliant. The use of selected Quranic injunctions and words can enhance the mood of the advertising communication to make it more appealing to Muslim consumers. Luqmani et al. (1989) provide an example of a manufactured water pump that uses a verse from the Quran in advertising. Although it is obviously welcome to keep in mind that the Islamic regulations related to business and marketing, appropriate implementation of precise Islamic terms is crucial. Contrary to this, a business may face unexpected troubles in gaining markets in Muslim populous areas if some how its advertisements create feelings that are inconsistent with religious sensitivities. In such a context, the most potential and contemporary issues in Islamic markets should be carefully introduced, developed, and offered through appropriate advertising and communication messages which meet the commitment of ethics as gu ided in the Islamic Shariah. For example, the Islamic system encourages moderation in living, while prodigality and waste are denounced. Costly promotional efforts and massive commercial advertisements by businesses are considered unnecessary. Producers of advertisements must make sure that their advertising campaign does not overstep any social or legal norms. Little attention has been paid on the exposure of advertisement in the Arab societies. Except from investigations in Saudi Arabian ads, there is only one study that has examined the cross-cultural differences in advertising content in other countries in the Middle East and only one study of the portrayal of Egyptian women in television commercials. Luqmani et al., (1987) study focused only on the influence of Islam on advertising content and regulation in Saudi Arabia while Michell and Al-Mossawi, (1999) study focused on message contentiousness among Gulf Co-operative Council countries, and showed that religious Muslims scored lower in terms of recall and were unfavorable towards contentious advertisements relative to lenient Muslims. The findings suggest that there is a difference in perceived controversial elements in advertisements between a devout and a lenient Muslim. These findings also highlight the importance of matching creative execution and message content to a society‟s socio-cultural environment. Michell and Al-Mossawi claim an offensive advertisement will not be effective in capturing an audience‟s attention or changing his/her attitudes. Both of these studies revealed the importance of understanding the Islamic religion in relation to effective advertising. In particular, Luqmani et al., assert that unconventional advertisements must obtain prior approval from religious authorities. While in Malaysia, Unilever‟s used an ad for Pond‟s skin lightening moisturizer showing a Malay college student using the product for a fairer complexion to attract a boy‟s attention. The ad is deemed offensive to the Muslim ethnic culture (Haque et al., 2010). In addition to the above mentioned facts, the women‟s status is debated among traditional Islamists, reformist Islamists and feminists, secular or Islamic. The traditional Islamists are clear about the male-female differences and insist on the distinct sex roles. They view women as emotional, sentimental and weak humans whose duty is in the household. The traditional Islamists take every verse in the Qur‟an as a source of protection of women and see women as minors that need to be protected by superior men. In return the woman will nurture the family and try to please her father, brother or son, or whoever may be the head of the household. The woman has a responsibility to maintain the honor, reputation and status of the family. Traditionally, a man‟s hon or depends on the extent on the virginity of his sisters, wife and daughters, and widows divorcees‟ sexual continent. 185 The Islamic reformists believe that the inferiority is only in relation to the woman‟s physical strength and weaker autonomy, thus she is capable of participating in all spheres or public and social life. Modern and liberal reformists are trying to accommodate the Islamic rules with the realities of modern times. The feminist view is a secular movement whose aim is to achieve equality for women. The roots of this movement consider the woman as totally subordinated to the man and that the veil is a symbol of this. Advertising in Jordan Jordan‟s media sector has seen significant privatization and liberalization efforts in recent years. Based on official rack rates, research firm Ipsos estimated that the advertisement sector spent some $303m towards publicity in Jordan‟s media, 80% of which was spent on newspapers, followed by TV, radio and magazines. In recent years, Jordan has also seen a spectacular rise in the number of blogs, websites and news portals as sources of news information. The increasing diversification of Jordan‟s media boosted advertising revenues and private initiatives. Recording growth of 30%, 2007 turned out to be yet another outstanding year for Jordan‟s advertising industry. Following nearly a decade of double-digit growth, the Jordanian advertising had some catching up to do with the rest of the region in terms of average expenditure per capita. Since 2000 total ad spend increased from $77m to $303m in 2008, an increase of 260%. The Jordanian telecoms sector was the biggest ad spender in 2008, accounting for around 20% of the market, followed by banking and finance sector (12%), services industry (11%), real estate (8%) and the automotive sector (5%). Research Design In order to measure Jordanian male consumers‟ attitude towards using women in advertisement , male respondents between 18-55 years were selected. The survey instrument included a list of 22 statements from which respondents were asked to indicate their level of personal acceptance on a five-point scale, where 1 means â€Å"Strongly Disagree† and 5 means â€Å"Strongly Agree†. Statements from 1 -17 was designed to measure factors affecting consumers attitude towards using women in advertisement. Most of the statements were adapted from earlier studies, for example (Al Makaty et al. 1996; Nordà ©n 2006; and Baker, C.N. 2005). While statement 18-22 were designed to measure consumers overall attitude towards advertisements. The statements were adapted from earlier studies as well such as (Usman, 2010; and Ashill, 2005). Respondents belonging to different demographic groups in terms of education level, marital status and profession were considered in the study. The sampling frame for the study was male consumers living in west of Amman. For respondents‟ selection, simple random sampling procedure was adopted. Questionnaires were filled by the respondents. The total number of respondents was 450. The responses received were 353 (80.5 per cent). Cronbach alpha reliability analysis was conducted for the items included in the study. The internal consistency Cronbach alpha value for reliability of the questionnaire was found to be 0.74. All items were well above the 0.70, which was the commonly accepted threshold (Nunnally 1978). Respondent Profile Respondents from different parts of west Amman were asked to fill in the questionnaire. Table 2 depicts a summation of the study‟s respondents‟ demographic information. As per research objectives all the respondents are male consumers. Of the 353 respondents, 79.0 per cent were less than 25 years of age. A larger number of respondents were unmarried (74.4 per cent) the maximum respondents fell into this age group, since youth is the target market and they are the ones who pay maximum attention to the advertisements. Out of the remaining sample, only 2.3 per cent were above 55 years of age. The remaining 29.5 per cent belonged to the age group of 26–55 years of age. The larger number of r espondents was unmarried (74.4 per cent), and this could be attributed to the young age of the respondent. In addition most of them 78.5 percent were with undergraduate education. The maximum respondents in the category „profession‟ belonged to the student group with a major share of 68.2 per cent and the remaining 31.8 per cent included businessmen, executives and others. The overall composition of respondents included in the study was young, unmarried and students.

Evaluating The Front Office Practices Of Kurrajong Hotel Tourism Essay

Evaluating The Front Office Practices Of Kurrajong Hotel Tourism Essay The term hospitality can be specified as the friendly response and handling of strangers. The hospitality industry comprises of businesses and institutions that allow for lodging, food and other services to travellers. The friendly response and handling of guests is the duty of the people who work in the hospitality industry (Foster, 2009). In present hospitality industry is growing at an immense rate and increasing occupancy rates and revenue by ameliorating customer experience is the aim of modern organizations. To achieve these results, management of hotels need to understand the needs of their customers and have to align their needs with their Front-Office operations as it is one of the most viewable aspects of hospitality industry. The topic discussed here is the Front Office practices of hospitality industry as it is one of most significant aspects of the industry in concern to attainment of success. The front office allows for services to hotel guests beyond the elemental duties of getting them into and out of their rooms so it can be said that it plays a prominent role in the industry (Front Office Overview, 2009). The significance of this operational topic will be discussed through a rational approach that will involve all essential aspects and theories. First of all a literature review will be completed on the selected topic and then the theory associated to the topic will be researched and observed how it fits with the real world of hospitality. Subsequent to this, we will research what are the politics, policies and practices of selected topic and what the implications of these politics, policies are and practices on the operational staff, the management and most of all the customers. Afterwards an appropriate research model will be used to evaluate the selected topic and the nature of topic will be stated along with the explanation of its importance in the industry and the benefits that will be achieved by analyzing it. An appropriate theory related with the selected operational topic will be researched so that the compatibility among the Front office practices and that theory can be identified for reaching at conclusion. In this whole process the management and the staff of Hotel Kurrajong will be interviewed so that some effective criteria can be developed to measure the compatibility between theory and topic. Front Office Practices Businesses and hospitality industry for attaining assured success always determine which part of their organization will have contact with customers. In this concern front office is the customer interface area. It directs to deal with customer demands and anticipations, appropriating the back office and other departments to go forward to focus on tasks which affirm the running of the organization and hotel as well as supporting the efforts of the front office (Key Concepts in Operations Management, 1984). Similar is the case with hotel Kurrajong, Canberra. The front office of the hotel manages the delivery of service systems to the customer, allowing the hotel staff not to be exhibited and supercharged by customer demands, thereby disseminating the demands and handling the capability of the hotel. Front Office is a term employed in hotels to comprehend the several sections which deal with reservations, room allocation, reception, service delivery, billing and payments. Front office is only one of the sections within a hotel (Bardi, 2006). This front office practices are essential in present as the first contact most potential guests would have with a hotel is with its telephone switch-board, which is a function of front office (Abbott Lewry, 1999). Telephone operator addresses the customers and connects them to someone in the reservations department, who considers their booking and handles following correspondence like confirmations, alterations or cancellations. When the guest arrives in the hotel, they may be aided by a uniformed guard, though this is not so common in present. In any situation the guests have to go to the reception desk to record and receive their room key. In addition to this, throughout their stay in hotel guests may well have chances to go back to reception a number of times, at a time for information or to find out messages if any and sometime for assistance with tickets or further journey. Apart from all these aspects, guests have to call front office at the end of their stay in order to hand over his room key and carry on with their bills of food and staying (Abbott Lewry, 1999). All these activities of front office related with guests do not end their association with the hotel. It is the responsibility of front office staff to keep their guests registration forms for a specific time period and the effective use of the data it contains (Abbott Lewry, 1999). The front office staff of the hotel can make use of guests data for an assortment of follow-up communications, which are planned by hotel to get their guests to come back at sometime. All these distinctive aspects are the specific job of front office. Front office is an American term, which is used in place of older word reception. The term has been replaced with the time because the older term only covers that staffs that comes into direct, face-to-face contact with the guests (Bardi, 2006). On the other hand, the term front office is broadly used to depict the altogether range of front of house sections that are as follows: Uniformed staff Reservations Switchboard Reception Enquiries Guest Relations Bill office Cashier (Abbott Lewry, 1999). The front office, which is conventionally known as reception, is the focal point of most activities within a hospitality business, whether it is a prominent or small hotel, a cruise liner, a holiday centre, a time-share resort or a youth hostel (Front Office Operations in Hospitality, 2010). Similar is the situation with Hotel Kurrajong, Canberra. The management of Kurrajong hotel primarily manages its front office practices as they are aware with the fact that the front office is the above all place where a guest has direct contact with the business, and is also the most noticeable of all departments. If this department, is managed effectively and efficiently, can direct towards the predetermined objectives of hotel management. For the hospitality industry the front office is a term consented as admitting back of house obligations, like switchboard, accounts, cashier and night audit, concierge, front desk and guest services (Front Office Operations in Hospitality, 2010). The management of hotel and the industry believes that the learners who want to come in the hospitality industry, mainly in the hotel sector, will attain various benefits with an explicit apprehension of front office operations. By developing skills in front office operations, admitting advanced reservations, guest registration and guest accounting processes a learner can attain immense success in the industry (Front Office Overview, 2009). The industry requires learners to make effective use of the front office systems, from traditional manual systems to advanced fully-incorporated computerised systems (Front Office Operations in Hospitality, 2010). In addition to this for gaining foothold, newcomers also need to learn about the means in which data, like room occupancy statistics are used to evaluate performance. Interdepartmental collaboration and communication are critical to the success of any hospitality business, and front office practices and staffs are way to this. The newcomers coming to this present growing industry need to develop a superior apprehension of how the front office associates to other departments, for instance housekeeping, food and beverage, sales and marketing and accounts. For the effective management of Front Office practices it is essential that the management of Kurrajong Hotel, tailor its front office procedures with its business as otherwise it would not be possible to manage these practices effectively and generate desired results (Front Office Overview, 2009). The management and its staff should develop a thorough checklist that covers crucial front office goals and aims so that all aspects can be managed accordingly. The front office procedures of hotel should be managed in a way that can reflect the overall business environment. In this way, it can be said that the practice of front office is not as easy as it appears as until or unless it is not managed effectively cannot appeal guests. The hotel management need to evaluate it continuously as in these operations there is always room for improvement. By identifying the room for improvement management of hotel can easily create and implement suitable strategies. Theory related to Front Office Practices The theory related to the selected operational topic of Front Office Practices is Employee Empowerment. Employee empowerment is a theory or philosophy that is used to evince the means in which non-managerial staff can make independent decisions without conferring with their boss or manager. These self-directed decisions can be diminutive or great relying upon the level of power with which the company regards to provide employees. Employee empowerment in organizations and associations can begin with training and altering an entire company to an empowerment model. On the other hand it simply means allowing employees with the capability to make some decisions on their own. The present era in which business organizations are operating is of intense competition, growing intricacy, elevated uncertainty and marginal profits. Complying with the extreme challenges confounded by such surroundings is only probable through team work, cooperative effort, invention and compliance (Bilal, 2010). The only answer to deal with this environment lies in bringing about modification to persist competitive. Consequently, conducting and handling change has become a key obligation and one of the significant success factors for present leaders and managers in most of the grownup organizations all over the world. Although, organizational change is a multifaceted procedure concerning numerous interconnected aspects of an organization but changes if made prominently in one function of the organization often have reflective consequences on other functions (Employee Empowerment, 2010). In most of the organizations and the one with conservative management, any change attempt invites opposition from assorted directions, most especially from within, because the managers experience endangered to lose authority, while most of the employees have the concern of losing the job or some of the gains in an altered, competence-based, result-oriented work setting. So, for prospering alteration attempts, a holistic, people-concentrated approach embracing conventional aspects like structure and schemes, as well as unceremonious aspects, like culture, communications, employee benefit, etc. is necessitated (Bilal, 2010). From last some years it has been seen that time-honoured stratified command and control organizations have been ineffectively contending to arrive at an edge over their rivals, while relatively liberal organizations with flatter schemes, which regarded their employees throughout the conceptualization, designing and effectuation levels of change, succeeded in accomplishing far ameliorated results to comply with the increasing requirements for quality and adaptability through well-liked change brought about through empowerment of its employees (Employee Empowerment, 2010). In this way, it can be said that an organization cannot attain desired results from change without the participation and ownership of the change by its employees. This significance of employee involvement developed the concept of employee empowerment (Bilal, 2010). With these kinds of beliefs it becomes apparent that before bringing about any change for improvement, efforts need to be made for creating a sense of ownership amongst the employees of the organization. The sense of ownership among employees can be produced through following measures: Developing an energetic, ground-breaking, knowledge environment where people are incessantly seeking novel ways to gratify customers and have the autonomy to try out their groundbreaking thoughts (Potterfield, 1999). Giving small personal advantages to employees and worrying about their well being and health. Adopting decentralization and allocation of several functions to grassroots level, which fundamentally intends that the employees of organization should be given more liberty to take go-ahead and computed risks when required, without asking from their seniors and devoid of any dread of reprimand (Bilal, 2010). Nowadays, empowered and endowed employee is the main component of organizational success, which is also true for Kurrajong Hotel. For managing its all different functions it is essential that the hotel employs productive employees. The most significant method of management that hotel can adopt in present is employee empowerment (Johnson, 2002). This practice will assist the hotel in employing the people liable for the work procedures and the people who acknowledge the procedures and the aspects of quality. By appropriating autonomy and feedback to its front office staff, the management of hotel can make its empowerment process successful (Potterfield, 1999). Employee empowerment does not intend that the management is no more accountable for functioning or for conducting the hotel rather it means that by empowering employees management becomes responsible to create and promote a setting in which it is evident that employee input is coveted and cultured (Doughty, n.d.). The management must believe and communicate with its employees for empowering them to a maximum extent. The practice of employee empowerment will assist the hotel management in creating a working environment where every employee is appropriated to make his own determinations in explicit work-related positions (Johnson, 2002). This will increase the employees accountability towards his work place, his morale and the quality of their work life. Preferably, when an employee feels enthroned in an organization, he will be more fertile, devoted and more convinced. The most prominent aspects related with employee empowerment are effective communication and participative management. It is known that participation and satisfaction are strongly associated with inspiration and execution. With the help of employee empowerment the management of hotel will become able to delegate more responsibility directly to its front office employees (Doughty, n.d.). This in turn will assist in identifying the latent of employees to distinguish troubles and to formulate actions to figure out those troubles. Front office employees are the most important asset of any hotel so it is essential that the management of Kurrajong Hotel empower its employees so that they can experience satisfaction in their achievements (Doughty, n.d.). By empowering its front office staff, the hotel management can effectively develop a sense of responsibility and the knowledge among their employees that in turn will gratify employees as they will become aware with the fact that their organization is concerned about them and their success (Johnson, 2002). This theory and practice of employee empowerment can be effectively related with the Front-office practices of Kurrajong Hotel and that in turn will result in the effective management of front office aspects of hotel. Relation among Employee Empowerment and Front Office Practices Employee Empowerment is the most well-liked theory among modern management and organization diligences, which amends the decisional powers of employees and affirms their personal development. It is the most appropriate management apprehension deliberating the acquainting of an organization with employees, demonstrating that they were honoured by the managerial level and heightening their involvement to their work. In the labor concentrated tourism sector, the practice of employee empowerment play a significant role. It increases the productivity of employees and ensures the organizational competence (Pride, Hughes Kapoor, 2009). The stability and victory of present hotel enterprises like Kurrajong hotel which give precedence to customer satisfaction and personnel satisfaction devolve on the quality of personnel and on an uninterrupted enhancement in this quality. This theory of employee employment is related with the Front office practices of Kurrajong Hotel, as it can be related with its front office employees and managers in an effective and efficient manner. The management of Kurrajong hotel is aware with the fact, that the basic source of rendering competitive advantage and the customer satisfaction in their hotel is its employees (Cogner Kanungo, 1998). By applying employee empowerment practices, the management of hotel can significantly increase the productivity of its front office staff that in turn will increase the organizational efficiency. This increasing interest in employee empowerment within the hospitality industry is related with some of the fundamental themes distinguished in the evolution of HRM generally that is deriving competitive advantage through enhanced service quality. Mainly, it has been believed that in hospitality industry service deliverers (front office employees) play a critical role in influencing the extent and quality of customer experience and satisfaction (Lashley, 1995) and due to this it is said that the industry players should definitely apply the practice of employee empowerment. An employee of the hotel must make decision at the same time with the time of event, and must exercise this decision due to the consumer conscious and competitiveness and this can only be done by giving them authority and power to make decisions (Pride, Hughes Kapoor, 2009). On the other hand, if some mistake is committed by employees, a resolution can be discovered and feedback can be done but all this necessitates empowerment of front office employees and managers of hotel. With the evaluation of the use of empowerment in service sector organizations it is identified that in present a number of different fleshes of employee empowerment practices are being implemented in real life (Cogner Kanungo, 1998). These diverse approaches demonstrate a variety of managerial significances being enforced which are grounded on diverse precepts of business troubles, needs for bringing in empowerment and comprehended gains to be arrived at through empowerment. The conception that empowerment can be employed as a term to distinguish diverse go-aheads allows for a expedient rhetoric which evokes that empowerment is in standard a good thing and develops a win-win condition for employees and managers (Pride, Hughes Kapoor, 2009). The compounding of customer and employee satisfaction, conducts to enhanced organizational functioning, repeat business and word of mouth recommendations and in ameliorated employee morale, altered effort and inferior turnover and absenteeism, as well as in originality and advancement (Hales Klidas, 1998). Research Study for evidencing Relation among Employee Empowerment and Front Office Practices With the above discussion it is clear that the theory and concept of employee empowerment is significantly related with selected Front office practices of Kurrajong Hotel, but for evidencing it with rational justifications, a research study will be undertaken here. The nature of topic selected for research is of qualitative and descriptive research. This study involves qualitative phenomenon, i.e., investigating the reasons of human behaviour. This research aims at discovering the underlying motives and desires of hospitality industry employees as it is essential in present because employees are the only most viewable aspects of hotels and hospitality organizations. Purpose of the Research: The significant aim of this research is to find valuable results by trying out the efficiency of the employee empowerment variables ascertained by theoretical information, by means of survey method to be applied to management and staff of Kurrajong Hotel. In regard to attain the predetermined purpose, questionnaires are used for the management and front office employees. Importance of Research: The immense success of all functions carried out in tourism sector admitted in the service sector devolves on the human factor. The persistence of selected hotel furnishing services in the tourism sector relies on the quality level of its selected personnel and on the uninterrupted augmentation of this quality. The increasing rivalry among hotel enterprises functioning all over the world and in the Canberra, in the perspective of customer satisfaction, augments the significance of the employee. Accordingly, the opinion of employee empowerment is regarded as a mean for the hotel to attain its objectives. With the identification of its significance in its hotel, the management of hotel can substantially apply it in their work environment that in turn will direct it towards the augmented customer satisfaction (Guzel, Tukelturk Ozkul, 2008). On the other hand, another prominent reason of this research study is to identify the importance of employee empowerment and to understand the perception of this approach through management and employees and to elucidate the circumstances of success. Research Methodologies: The research will be completed by making use of various methodologies and the theoretical information that will assist in arriving at meaningful results. The observation and questionnaire methodologies are two forms of the survey methodology that can be used in the selected study. For questionnaire, the research will made use of a specific sample group of management and employees and will identify the facts related to the employee empowerment and Front office practices. The methodologies selected are effective and will significantly help in providing a proper direction to the research and in proceeding systematically. Research Design: The research design is descriptive and qualitative as the questionnaires, literature review and observation methodologies are used. The research design of this study should aim at accomplishing the pre decided goals and objectives of the research. The responses that will be collected through the questionnaires will help in finding out the significant facts (Fink, 2002). Justification for the Selected Research Methodologies: The selected observation and questionnaire methodology will be helpful in finding the facts related to the topic of the research. These methods are selected as they are the right and absolute methodologies for the research. It aims at minimizing the errors in the research and proves to be helpful and highly beneficial for the present as well as the future researchers. The survey methodology has many advantages and is considered as a very useful method of conducting research. First of all, survey methodology is a very efficient technique which is used to collect data from a large number of people through questionnaires and when the sample size is small through observation and interview (Cohen, Manion Morrison, 2007). Sample: The sample for the questionnaires comprises of 30 top management executives and 50 front office employees. The questionnaires are e-mailed to the top management and Front office employees. Time flexibility is given to the professionals and front office staff to answer the questionnaires so that they would not answer any question in hurry and give proper and right answers of the questions asked in the questionnaire. The questions in the questionnaire were close-ended and not open ended so that there were less chances of biasness in the research. Reliability Validity of the methodology: Survey method has a strong reliability but the validity of the method is not so strong. The survey method also has some tests for measuring the reliability and validity of the survey conducted. The reliability test that can be used here is alternate-form reliability (Cohen, Manion Morrison, 2007). In this test, the questions are reworded. Even their order could be changed; but the aspect of behaviour of the items should not differ. This compels the respondent to read the question carefully and reduce the practice effect. For measuring the validity of the content, another test known as content validity test can also be conducted. Observation methodology: Observation methodology is very useful in finding out the behavioural facts associated with the selected topic of study. So, it can be very meaningful methodology for finding out the relationship between empowerment and front office practices. This methodology is used to serve the formulated research purpose and is a scientific tool of data collection (Cohen, Manion Morrison, 2007). The observation methodology here is very helpful in attaining the objectives of the research. It will give a spontaneous picture of the activities of the front office staff and the effect of empowerment on their tasks and performance. Questionnaire Methodology: In this methodology, two questionnaires are framed one for management and one for front office staff, which involve a set of questions. The questionnaire consisted of close ended questions including the topics relating to front office practices and effect of empowerment on their practices. This methodology of attaining data will increase the accuracy of the results and will help in forming the important results for the research (Cohen, Manion Morrison, 2007). It also aims at fulfilling the targets and objectives of the research by asking the right and required answers to the respondents. Significant findings are made with the help of the responses obtained through the questionnaires which will be discussed later in the findings section of the paper. Analysis of Findings The findings of the research are demonstrated in three groups. First group involves demographic features of managers, employees and organization itself. Second group depicts attitudes of the managers towards the front office employees empowerment and third group involves attitude of front office employees of hotel towards their empowerment. Findings related with the Demographic Characteristics of Managers Employees: The aspects related with demographic characteristics that need to be filled in questionnaire are the gender, the department, the working time period in the sector, the working year in the Kurrajong hotel and the number of hospitality organizations for which manager or employee has worked previously (Lashley, 1999). On the bases of demographic characteristics it is found that from 30 managers 83.3% are men and 16.7% of managers are women. On the other hand 70% of 50 front office employees are men and 30% of 50 front office employees are female. In addition to the dominance of male members the age of the managers and employees who fulfilled the questionnaire is between 29-38 18-38. On the other hand, the majority of the managers are working from last 8 and more years and employed in Kurrajong hotel for 1-3 years. This information demonstrate that the managers working in hotel have worked in the sector from last several years but their working time period in Kurrajong hotel is short which shows that they often switch their enterprises. Apart from managers, the working period of employees in sector is between 4-7 years and their working period of existing organization is between 1-3 years (Guzel, Tukelturk Ozkul, 2008). Findings related with Attitude of Managers towards Employees Empowerment The industry players are aware with the fact that human factor is very important in management of a hotel and due to this; this research aims to discover the attitude of hotel managers to the process of employees empowerment and the significance level of these positions (Pardo, 2003). For identifying the attitude of managers 5-point Likert Scale is applied. With this analysis it is identified that the most significant aspects for managers in concern to empowerment are allowing for essential training to employees and restructuring of the environment in compliance with the subject, proclamation of objectives and goals to the employees, furnishing a reformist business condition, rendering employee allegiance and gratification by means of all these actions (Lashley, 1995) As a result, it can be summarized that the managers of Kurrajong Hotel give substantial importance to the employee empowerment as they know that with this front office employees will become more competent in performing their duties and tasks. Attitude of Front Office Employees toward Empowerment By analyzing the attitudes of front office employees towards the empowerment, it can be said that the employees believes if they are provided with chances of success and are rendered with positive environment and opportunity to make decisions they performance level increase significantly (Pardo, 2003). Conclusion The notion of employee empowerment means that the working person could take part in determinations pertaining to his job and could get the substantive training in order to arrive at competent stage. Whereas Front Office practices includes all essential reception related tasks of hotel (Lashley, 1995). This theory of empowerment is critically related with Front office practices and this relation is evaluated in this study in regard to Kurrajong hotel and the conclusions below have been arrived at. Managers generally attach importance to the employee empowerment as they are aware with the fact that until or unless front office employees do not have power to take decisions it is not possible for them to satisfy the coming guests and travellers. For resolving their queries and problems, it is essential that they have power to take spontaneous decisions (Pardo, 2003). For enhancing this practice of empowerment with Front office practices it is essential that the managers of the hotel give training to front office employees and modify their environment, exposed them to targets and encourage them with ideas of invention and originality. With this discussion it is clear that by adopting practice of employee empowerment the management of Kurrajong hotel can significantly expand the responsibility area of its front office employees that in turn will aid in accomplishing the needs of hotel customers ((Lashley, 1995). The analysis demonstrates that the managers of hotel are not giving substantial attention to this practice employee empowerment whereas by assigning authority to its front office staff it can effectively augment their motivation and performance in regard to satisfying the needs of customers in the most effective and unique way. For attaining the exclusive benefits of the practice of employee empowerment, it is essential that the management should relate it with their organizational structure and management apprehension (Ozdilli, 2003). Despite of the role of managers, it is also essential that front office employees of the hotel also take part in decision making process on different subjects so that they become aware with the problems and troubles they may find or confront some day. The management of hotel should also allow them to take part and should encourage them to offer proposals and should allow appropriate material and moral rewards. In addition to this, the management of hotel should analyse the hotels employee selection and evaluation process and the employees appropriate f

Analysis of Michael Walzers View on Terrorism Essay -- Terrorism Essa

Michael Walzer is an esteemed retired professor from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Walzer has written many books, essays, and articles. His essay, Excusing Terror, is one that best relates to the current events happening around the world. In this essay, Walzer talks about different reasons that people would want to resort to terrorism. In this essay I will argue Walzers view on Terrorism is correct in that terrorism is wrong because it is akin to murder, it is random in who it targets, and no one has immunity. I will also offer an objection to Walzer’s theory and explain why it is not a valid one. First to determine if terrorism is in fact right or wrong we must understand what it is. Although there is not a universal definition to describe terrorism I relate closely to Walzers definition which is: â€Å"a random murder of innocent people, intended to frighten a population into demanding that their governments negotiate for their safety.† In Walzer’s article â€Å"Terrorism† (Cahn, 239) he lists the purpose and methods of terrorism as to â€Å"destroy the moral of a nation or a class, to undercut its solidarity; its method is the random murder of innocent people.† Innocent people or noncombatants, as people call them, are described as normal working civilians who do not play a role in the government or have any control of what is happening politically. These innocent people are the ones who are targeted with no regards to political affiliation, the only thing that makes them the target is simply belonging to a certain group. To offer an example in 911 innocent people were killed and were chosen only because they worked in the World Trade Center, they were not chosen for anything they had done politically. Wal... ...agree with. The hardest aspect of determining whether or not terrorism is morally right or wrong is the various definitions that it can have. As mentioned earlier I relate to Walzer’s definition of terrorism and understand it as he does. As discussed I feel that terrorism is wrong because it is akin to murder, it is random in who it targets and when, and no one has immunity. There are objections to this argument which is that conventional war is worse than terrorism therefore if war is justifiable then terrorism can be as well. As argued the difference between war and terrorist is the way of choosing your victims, which in my mind refutes this objection. Terrorism exists and whether it is right or wrong can be argued respectfully. Works Cited Cahn, S.M. (2011). Exploring Ethics: An Introductory Anthology, 2Nd Edition. (pp. 239-253) Oxford University Press

Managing a Multigenerational Workforce Essay -- Business, Workplace Mo

The United States economy has experienced highs and lows throughout the years. These changes affect everyone in one way or another. The U.S. workforce is not exempt from feeling the effects of the economy. Many individuals across the nation have reassessed their career and personal goals due to financial hardships. One major trend developing is that individuals are beginning careers earlier, and ending careers later. The good old days of retiring at sixty-five are replaced with worrying about health care costs and retirements plans, with no retirement date in sight. Many parents are unable to foot the bill for their college-aged children, so the workforce has also seen a jump in young adults entering into the workforce. Nationwide, organizations are witnessing for the first time ever, four different generations working side by side. These generations have been labeled as the veterans or the traditionalist group (born before 1945), the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), generation X (born between 1965 and 1980), and generation Y (born after 1980). As a manager it can be quite challenging to manage four different generations of workers. All four generations have different strengths and weaknesses, so it takes a great manager to merge all of them into one productive team. To be an effective manager of such diverse groups, it takes understanding and appreciating the qualities each generation offers. This review analyzes current research available describing the differences between each generation, how to motivate each generation, and how to effectively merge the generations into one cohesive group. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GENERATIONS Currently, in the United States, there are over 1 million workers that are 75 years of age o... ...orce earlier it is a fact of life that managers will encounter a multigenerational workforce at some point. Organizations need to prepare management to be able to handle such diverse populations. It was somewhat surprising to review the literature, and discover most all researchers agree that different generations of employees have different needs and are motivated differently. It is important to note that while researchers agree about generational generalizations, they are just generalizations. A manager needs to be aware of the generalizations about each generation to help them understand, but be careful not to let it become a stereotype and affect the way they approach that employee. The main point is that every employee brings something valuable to the workplace, and managers need to be aware of how to utilize those strengths to the organization’s benefit. Managing a Multigenerational Workforce Essay -- Business, Workplace Mo The United States economy has experienced highs and lows throughout the years. These changes affect everyone in one way or another. The U.S. workforce is not exempt from feeling the effects of the economy. Many individuals across the nation have reassessed their career and personal goals due to financial hardships. One major trend developing is that individuals are beginning careers earlier, and ending careers later. The good old days of retiring at sixty-five are replaced with worrying about health care costs and retirements plans, with no retirement date in sight. Many parents are unable to foot the bill for their college-aged children, so the workforce has also seen a jump in young adults entering into the workforce. Nationwide, organizations are witnessing for the first time ever, four different generations working side by side. These generations have been labeled as the veterans or the traditionalist group (born before 1945), the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), generation X (born between 1965 and 1980), and generation Y (born after 1980). As a manager it can be quite challenging to manage four different generations of workers. All four generations have different strengths and weaknesses, so it takes a great manager to merge all of them into one productive team. To be an effective manager of such diverse groups, it takes understanding and appreciating the qualities each generation offers. This review analyzes current research available describing the differences between each generation, how to motivate each generation, and how to effectively merge the generations into one cohesive group. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GENERATIONS Currently, in the United States, there are over 1 million workers that are 75 years of age o... ...orce earlier it is a fact of life that managers will encounter a multigenerational workforce at some point. Organizations need to prepare management to be able to handle such diverse populations. It was somewhat surprising to review the literature, and discover most all researchers agree that different generations of employees have different needs and are motivated differently. It is important to note that while researchers agree about generational generalizations, they are just generalizations. A manager needs to be aware of the generalizations about each generation to help them understand, but be careful not to let it become a stereotype and affect the way they approach that employee. The main point is that every employee brings something valuable to the workplace, and managers need to be aware of how to utilize those strengths to the organization’s benefit.

We were kids… :: Personal Narrative Essay Example

We were kids†¦    High school. A safe abode free from the anger and hatred that wells from the streets of every city we've ever known. This place where smiles trickle in the half glow of routine. This place where, almost assured of treason's guilt one hides their anguish in desperate, fearful anticipation of secret forays with whispered confessions.    We were kids when we came. I was a kid when I came. I had tasted some small trickle of life and became certain of some things myself. I clung to an identity afraid I might be seen as a child who didn't know. I wasn't ready to listen and still I'm not. Not to those who do not cherish diversity. Not to those who post the same agenda on every face but for a different Ivy League university. Not to those who with their power, their judgement squeeze from me, my desires and dreams. Not to those who stifle my screams of pain and rage in the belief that world peace can only achieved through some king of frozen grinned, sweaty rolled up, button down cotton shirt diplomacy instead of a whole lot of healing. Do you hear me in this silence: You gotta know what needs to be healed so, cry out, CRY OUT! . . . Someone did that once, this guy who hated more and was angry more than anyone I'd ever met (even more angry than my older brother), it was last year and he only went nuts for just that one nig ht and besides he was really drunk. It took a few days for the bewildered rumours to hit me and the guy was my roommate, the bravest guy I've ever met.    We were kids when we came and as kids we grow up, we fall down, we make mistakes, we even make believe. As kids moving into the intricate intrigue of sick societies with a multitude of roads, paths, back alleyways and even underground shopping concourses we sometimes get confused, lost and uncertain. Decisions loom and our futures are relegated to the dull glint of role models whose paths we may hope to follow. But what once worked, what once we valued, may now have fallen from our esteem. Relevancy is ever changing and roads deteriorate in crumbling empires, traffic flows change and as we wait to cross the road we find cars more reluctant to stop and fewer and fewer people ready to join us at the sidewalk's edge. We were kids†¦ :: Personal Narrative Essay Example We were kids†¦    High school. A safe abode free from the anger and hatred that wells from the streets of every city we've ever known. This place where smiles trickle in the half glow of routine. This place where, almost assured of treason's guilt one hides their anguish in desperate, fearful anticipation of secret forays with whispered confessions.    We were kids when we came. I was a kid when I came. I had tasted some small trickle of life and became certain of some things myself. I clung to an identity afraid I might be seen as a child who didn't know. I wasn't ready to listen and still I'm not. Not to those who do not cherish diversity. Not to those who post the same agenda on every face but for a different Ivy League university. Not to those who with their power, their judgement squeeze from me, my desires and dreams. Not to those who stifle my screams of pain and rage in the belief that world peace can only achieved through some king of frozen grinned, sweaty rolled up, button down cotton shirt diplomacy instead of a whole lot of healing. Do you hear me in this silence: You gotta know what needs to be healed so, cry out, CRY OUT! . . . Someone did that once, this guy who hated more and was angry more than anyone I'd ever met (even more angry than my older brother), it was last year and he only went nuts for just that one nig ht and besides he was really drunk. It took a few days for the bewildered rumours to hit me and the guy was my roommate, the bravest guy I've ever met.    We were kids when we came and as kids we grow up, we fall down, we make mistakes, we even make believe. As kids moving into the intricate intrigue of sick societies with a multitude of roads, paths, back alleyways and even underground shopping concourses we sometimes get confused, lost and uncertain. Decisions loom and our futures are relegated to the dull glint of role models whose paths we may hope to follow. But what once worked, what once we valued, may now have fallen from our esteem. Relevancy is ever changing and roads deteriorate in crumbling empires, traffic flows change and as we wait to cross the road we find cars more reluctant to stop and fewer and fewer people ready to join us at the sidewalk's edge.

The Environmental Non Governmental Organizations Education Essay

Environmental non-governmental organisations ( ENGOs ) are going one of the noticeable histrions today in biological preservation. A study was conducted on the university pupils of Central Mindanao University ( CMU ) , Philippines and National Chung Hsing University ( NCHU ) , Taiwan to measure their perceptual experience towards ENGOs and if their sentiments are influenced by demographic variables. The survey besides explores the pupils ‘ involvement and respect about biological preservation as a major issue locally or globally. A sum of 273 university pupils were surveyed from different classs in both states. The consequences showed that most pupils from both states were non familiar with ENGOs and indicated a impersonal mentality towards their trust to these organisations. CMU pupils perceived the local people as the most responsible stakeholder while on the other manus NCHU pupils signified the authorities as the most dependable establishment. The nationality and academic major of the pupils were found to hold a strong association in the pupils ‘ perceptual experience of the most responsible stakeholder. The pupils from both states besides believed that the environmental issues are the most serious jobs in the universe, followed by societal and preservation issues. Furthermore, CMU and NCHU pupils were more concerned about societal jobs than preservation issues in their several hometowns, although they have contrasting positions about the major societal jobs they are confronting. NCHU pupils, nevertheless, expressed more involvement in environmental issues than CMU pupils, both in local and planetary graduated table. The nationality of the pupils showed a positive relationship with their perceptual experience towards the major of import issues in the universe and in their communities. ENGOS should exercise more attempts in affecting the college pupils of Taiwan and Philippines in their run plans to better the pupils ‘ engagement and perceptual experience towards these organisations. KEYWORDS: environmental nongovernmental organisations, pupils ‘ perceptual experience, Philippines, Taiwan, biological preservation Introduction With all the services and chances that biodiversity provide the human public, it is of import to keep and conserve the Earth ‘s biological resources. Biological preservation must be reinforced to prolong the profusion and variableness of different life-forms and their home grounds ( Spellerberg and Hardes, 1992 ) . One of the stakeholders involved in this enterprise are the Environmental Non-governmental Organizations ( ENGOs ) , which are mostly concerned in delivering biological resources from fast extinctions and debasements ( Gunter, 2004 ) . These organisations employ different schemes in their projects. They act the function of experts ( Charnovitz, 1996 ; Esty, 1998 ) , raise consciousness runs ( Bauer, 2006 ) , anteroom policymakers ( Binder and Neumayer, 2005 ) and authorise local communities ( Raustiala, 1997 ) . ENGOs in the Philippines proliferated during the Martial Law Period of President Marcos in the 1970s until the early 1980s ( Teehankee, 1993 ) . Serious environmental debasements during and after the absolutism have prompted the Filipino authorities to go through a figure of environmental Torahs and policies ( Magallona and Malayang, 2000 ) . The democratisation of the state officially acknowledged the importance of NGOs in the Filipino society ( Soledad, 2006 ) . The activities of Filipino ENGOs are engaged chiefly in natural resource direction, community organizing, pollution control, biodiversity development, land debasement and dirt preservation ( Magallona and Malayang, 2000 ) . They besides build partnerships with other NGOs, academia, media, grassroots organisations, anteroom politicians, empower autochthonal people and behavior scientific research and circulate studies to the populace ( Lucas, n.d. ; Magno, 1993 ; Bryant, 2001 ) . It is estimated that there are about 3,000 NGOs that focus on the environment and rank to these groups largely come from the young person, scientists, professionals, retired persons, altruists, politicians and business communities ( Lucas, n.d ) . They obtain support from many-sided givers, authorities bureaus, rank fees, local and foreign contributions, income-generating activities, local and transnational companies, local and international NGOs ( ADB, 2007 ) . The issue on NGOs ‘ deficiency of resources and managerial capablenesss frequently limit their influence on the Filipino society in relation with their ends and involvements ( Teehankee, 1993 ; ADB, 2007 ) . Like the Philippines, Chinese ENGOs came to turn after the Kuomintang ( KMT ) Martial Law epoch ended in the late eightiess ( Hsiao, 1999 ) . The rapid industrialisation of Taiwan and the authorities ‘s thrust for economic growing has been pointed out to do major environmental crisis in Taiwan ( Edmonds, 1996 ; Tong, 2005 ; Yang, 2008 ) . In response to the dismaying environmental crisis, the Chinese authorities has passed several Torahs, policies and ordinances ( Edmonds, 1996 ; Lin, 2001, Yang, 2008 ) . ENGOs in Taiwan by and large drew rank from bookmans and professionals ( Tong, 2005 ) and addressed issues chiefly on pollution control, resistance to atomic power workss, and biological preservation ( Hsiao, 1999 ) . Furthermore, they are besides active in forming grassroots presentations and public hearings, educating the populace on environmental issues, oversing authorities policies, publicising environmental issues, and let go ofing imperativeness studies ( Tong, 2005 ; M cBeath and Leng, 2006 ) . There are merely about 300 ENGOs that operate in Taiwan and some of which operate as government-organized NGOs ( McBeath and Leng, 2006 ) . Taiwan ENGOs acquire funding support largely from rank fees, contributions, and authorities grants ( Edmonds, 1996 ; Lin, 2001 ) . Due to its political position, international loaning establishments like the Asian Development Bank and World Bank are non aggressive subscribers in the local environmental protection runs, which make foreign fund supports difficult to obtain ( McBeath and Leng, 2006 ) . The common encountered restraints by Chinese ENGOs are the troubles in enrolling members, acquiring fiscal support, deficiency of information channels from international ENGOS and deficiency of equal managerial capacity ( Hsiao, 1999 ; Yang, 2008 ) . In malice of the support to Filipino and Taiwanese ENGOs, there are still restricting factors that affect their range in accomplishing the groups ‘ ends and involvements. The contentions that involved ENGOs and the NGO sector in general ( Gibelman and Gelman, 2004 ; Jepson, 2005 ) have a serious impact on their image to the populace and every bit good as impacting their legitimacy, credibleness and ability in acquiring fiscal support. The present survey selected the college pupils as respondents because they are assumed to be the future stewards and leaders of the society ( Sia Su, 2007 ) . Although there is really limited information available that explores the perceptual experience of people towards NGOs ( Vasquez, 2010 ) , old surveies have assessed the perceptual experience of local people and pupils towards these organisations ( Ivy et al. , 1998 ; Wong, 2003 ; Hyseni, 2008 ) . The aim of this survey is to exemplify the perceptual experience of the college pupils towards the functions of ENGOs in biological preservation, utilizing two representative universities, Central Mindanao University ( CMU ) and National Chung Hsing University ( NCHU ) of the Philippines and Taiwan, and to measure if their point of views are influenced by demographic factors such as nationality, gender, academic major, and age. This research besides intends to turn to a figure of inquiries: ( a ) How do college pupils of CMU and NCHU regard biological preservation as an issue, in their ain place state or worldwide? ; ( B ) How do these college pupils rank ENGOs compared to other stakeholders involved in biological preservation? ; ( degree Celsius ) How much do these college pupils trust ENGOs? ; and ( vitamin D ) How willing are these college pupils to take part in biological preservation attempts by ENGOs? Method The research survey involved 137 and 136 college pupils of Central Mindanao University ( CMU ) , Philippines and National Chung Hsing University ( NCHU ) , Taiwan severally. This was conducted last February to March 2010. In both states, merely two universities were approached due to clip restraints and to be able to ease a manageable survey. The study involved pupils from different classs in CMU and NCHU. CMU respondents were pupils taking Agriculture, Biology, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering and Nursing classs. Respondents from NCHU were pupils taking Forestry, Commerce, Engineering, Political Science, Foreign Language and Mathematics. The questionnaire was pre-tested with a few pupils in NCHU, and alterations were made consequently to better the lucidity of the inquiries. The questionnaires given to CMU respondents were in English while the Mandarin version was given to the NCHU respondents. The different socio-demographic information of the respondents such as age, gender, academic major, degree of survey, and nationality were ab initio asked. The succeeding inquiries were posed to obtain the respondents ‘ ( 1 ) general perceptual experience and consciousness towards biological preservation, ( 2 ) perceptual experience and consciousness towards ENGOS and ( 3 ) willingness to take part in biological preservation attempts of NGOS. The study was carried out both inside and outside the schoolroom, and about, it took 10 proceedingss per respondent to make full out the questionnaire. Data analysis was performed utilizing Statistical Analysis System ( SAS ) . Chi-square trials were used to find whether socio-demographic variables influenced the pupils ‘ sentiments about the ENGOs. The age groups and academic big leagues were divided into two classs. Respondents below 18 were added to the 18-20 age class and those above 25 were included in the 21-25 age groups. The academic big leagues were farther categorized into biology-related and non-biology-related. Biology-related classs in this respect pertains to train such as agribusiness, forestry, veterinary medical specialty, and biological science while non-biology related classs includes technology, nursing, commercialism, foreign linguistic communication, political scientific discipline and mathematics. The degree of trust held by CMU and NCHU pupils with regard to the different statements refering ENGOs were highlighted in Table 7. Most of the respondents from the two universities rated â€Å" impersonal † ( bespeaking neither agreed nor disagreed to the statement ) when surveyed about their assurance on ENGOs ‘ â€Å" cognition and competency † and â€Å" answerability in the efficient usage of money † in work outing environmental jobs. Furthermore, when asked if ENGOs are influenced by political parties in their several local countries, most pupils from CMU and NCHU said â€Å" Yes † ( 49.26 % and 53.38 % , severally ) . Both CMU and NCHU expressed high concern over societal issues in their several hometowns, while environmental and preservation issues were less recognized. The two groups of respondents had different perceptual experiences on the local societal jobs. Most of the CMU respondents were peculiarly concerned about poorness, corruptness and unemployment. The prevalence of poorness in the Philippines ( CIA World Factbook, 2010 ) could be a conducive factor to the CMU pupils ‘ concern for poorness. The issue on political corruptness has besides been a battle in the Philippines ( Thompson, 2001 ) . Furthermore, the state ‘s unemployment rate is high. Its population, estimated at 92.23 million, is projected to make 111 million by 2015 ( National Statistics Office, 2009 ) . NCHU pupils were largely concerned about unemployment, and seemed to be less troubled by the issues of corruptness and poorness. Their concern for unemployment is attributed to the recent economic recession wherein legion occupations were lost in Taiwan ( Chan, 2009 ) . Taiwan ‘s economic position is about comparable to a developed state ( Lin, 2009 ) which could assist explicate why merely a little proportion of NCHU pupils considered poorness as a job. Whereas the deficiency of concern over corruptness may bespeak that the job is non serious in Taiwan but it does non needfully intend that the job does non wholly exist ( Transparency International, 2009 ) . NCHU respondents besides expressed more concern in both environmental and preservation issues than CMU respondents. This could be attributed to the environmental debasement attach toing Taiwan ‘s rapid industrialisation in the past old ages ( Agoramoorthy, 2009 ) . The Philippines has besides faced ecological crisis ( Posa et al. , 2008 ) but the CMU pupils may care less about environmental issues because of other societal-generated jobs. The difference in CMU and NCHU perceptual experiences towards environmental issues could besides be attributed to the school ‘s geographical location. CMU is located in a rural scene while NCHU belong in an urban country. As Hsiao et Al. ( 2002 ) contends, the rural people have a different relationship to nature than the metropolis people. Although NCHU pupils seemed to be comparatively concerned about biological preservation, most of them were non cognizant to international environmental understanding compared to CMU pupils. This could be attributed to Taiwan ‘s international political position, non being recognized as a â€Å" state † by UN criterions ( MacBeath and Leng 2006 ; Lin, 2009 ) and therefore Taiwan was isolated from take parting in international environmental dialogues. On the other manus, the Philippines have signed to some international environmental pacts ( Magallona and Malayang, 2000 ) which could explicate why CMU pupils were largely cognizant about international environmental acme. Percepts and Awareness of Students towards ENGOs Most CMU and NCHU respondents were non peculiarly cognizant of ENGOs in their several hometowns. Although there are a figure of national ENGOs operating in the Philippines, peculiarly in the Metropolitan Manila and the chief island Luzon ( Magallona and Malayang, 2000 ) , CMU pupils might non still be cognizant of them sing the archipelagic nature of the state. Unlike in Luzon, there are merely a few established ENGOs that operate in Mindanao ( PSDN, 2010 ) , the island where CMU is situated. The less figure of ENGOs which are actively working in Taiwan ( MacBeath and Leng, 2006 ) could be the ground besides for less consciousness by NCHU pupils. The CMU pupils perceived the local people as the most responsible stakeholder in biological preservation. Although there were several preservation plans initiated by the Filipino authorities ( Magalona and Malayang, 2000 ) , the respondents ‘ low assurance on their authorities may hold stemmed from the prevailing issues of corruptness ( Thompson, 2001 ) and therefore, their perceptual experience shifted towards tilting on the local people as accountable and more reliable on holding the ideal place in pull offing their biological resources ( Posa et al. , 2008 ) . On the other manus, the NCHU pupils believed more in the attempts of their authorities in biological preservation. This could be mostly attributed to the launching of huge educational runs by the Taiwan authorities in advancing preservation consciousness to the populace ( Wong, 2001 ) . The authorities establishment in Taiwan has the fiscal and human resources besides to transport out monolithic preservation plans. The fiscal restraints by both Taiwan and Philippine ENGOs could besides be a important factor with regard to the extent of their preservation actions. In Taiwan, most contributions normally go to local spiritual organisations ( Lin et al. , 2005 ) . On the other manus, the poorness state of affairs in the Philippines is a major restraint in donating to these organisations ( Jiao, 2008 ) . The less acknowledgment by CMU and NCHU pupils of ENGOs as a stakeholder in biological preservation farther implies that ENGOs should demo more effectivity and value in their attempts, particularly in affecting college pupils. The nationality and academic major of the pupils were found to be important variables in act uponing their perceptual experience of the most responsible stakeholders in biological preservation. Students with classs related to biological science are more open to preservation issues and therefore, more likely to exhibit high degrees of cognition refering the environment. This is besides in conformity with the consequences of Tikka et Al. ( 2000 ) . Most pupils from both universities could non peculiarly agree nor disagree to the cognition, competency and answerability of ENGOs in turn toing preservation issues. But the two groups of respondents agreed that these organisations are capable by political use. CMU pupils ‘ perceptual experience might be affected by the reported dirts on some development and environmental NGOs before ( Bryant, 2002 ; Songco, 2007 ) . On the other manus, NCHU pupils ‘ positions towards ENGOs might be influenced by some pro-development persons who think these organisations aggressive signifiers of actions might interrupt the state ‘s foreign investors ( MacBeath and Leng, 2006 ) . Although ENGOs are one of the seeable and active subscribers to nature preservation, their representation should besides show unity, earnestness and trust, non merely to the college pupils but to the whole populace, with regard to its nature as a fund-dependent organisation. Students ‘ Conservation Behavior Both CMU and NCHU respondents had low respect in back uping ENGOs as a worthwhile personal activity in protecting the environment. However, if there will be ENGOs present in their local country, the CMU pupils are willing to take part actively by giving clip. While the NCHU pupils expressed willingness to back up but could non offer both clip and money. Most of the pupils expressed private preservation behaviour ( e.g. personal enterprises ) instead than public behaviours ( e.g. back uping activities of NGOs ) . This besides suggests that ENGOs need to better on how to present their purposes on preservation attempts affecting the pupils. ENGOs should develop ways on how pupils could easy derive entree of information on their environmental runs and plans and perchance, the degree of engagement would increase. The deficiency of involvement by CMU and NCHU pupils in fall ining conservation-themed pupil nines may be parallel to their indifference in ENGO ‘s preservation attempts. Decision The present survey demonstrates that CMU and NCHU college pupils were non unusually concerned about biological preservation issues, globally or locally. Social precedences in the pupils ‘ respective and immediate milieus by and large influenced their mentalities towards preservation issues. The pupils ‘ deficiency of involvement in preservation issues further implies that any biological saving thrusts and runs, whether initiated by ENGOs or any other stakeholder, may non be as effectual and greatly participated, sing that they have other pressing concerns in head. ENGOs ‘ deficiency of outreach plans and hapless selling thrust in the academia sector could be a important factor in the waning involvement and weak acknowledgment in the Black Marias of the immature public. College pupils, on the other manus, should be cognizant of their societal and environmental duties since they will be the stewards of biological resources in the hereafter. They have to recognize that ENGOs are their spouses in this enterprise and that they are besides a valuable component in the organisations ‘ sustainability in turn toing environmental protection. It would besides be interesting for the two universities to better their environmental instruction plans by presenting a more specific topic entirely turn toing environmental and preservation issues. This could excite and perchance alter the pupils ‘ concern and mentality towards the environment. Increasing the sample size from different universities and parts in both states would hold better represented the Philippines and Taiwan in comparing the pupils ‘ perceptual experiences on ENGOs. Stratified choice of respondents from different strata is besides recommended in future surveies to guarantee a representative subdivision of the different demographic variables.

Business Environment Of Oman Air Essay

Introduction SWOT analysis is a beneficial tool that takes into account not only for our own business but also our competitor’s events and current industry trends as well. It is a framework for any organization in strategic planning for the factors that affects business be it internal or external. This understanding of business factors will help managers effectively to any changes in the factors and facilitate decision making. Factors can be based on economy and non-economic. By economic factors we understand the fiscal and monetary factors, whereas non-economic factors include socio cultural, educational, political and legal system. To identify the internal strengths systematically SWOT analysis is an important tool for an organization. Objective In this paper we will use SWOT analysis to increase the sales revenue for next five years. SWOT Analysis is a useful method to understand the Strengths and Weaknesses and for detecting both the Opportunities open to the business and the Threats the business will face. SWOT Analysis for business SWOT is a very powerful tool in business as with a little thought it can help you discover prospects that you are well-placed to exploit and by understanding the weaknesses of your business, you can manage and remove threats that would otherwise catch you unexpectedly. By observing at our own business and our competitors using the SWOT framework, we will start a crafted strategy that will help us distinguish Oman Air from other competitors, so that we can compete successfully in the market. Strength and Weaknesses of an organization are mostly internal whereas the opportunities and threats are often external factors. The internal factors are mostly the factors that can be controlled internally in a company. Factors like e-commerce, technology and business expansion. The organizations have to continuously upgrade and adapt to factors if it has to sustain in the market. Internally the company is considered as in conversion machine who  takes in input such as labor, money, equipment and material from the external factors and it converts those input into an output such as service, products and goods. The few factors that constitute the internal factors are Vision, missions and objectives, internal power relationship, management structure nature, company image and brand equity, and human resource. The external factors is a set of complex, rapidly changing and significant interacting institution and forces that effects the organizations ability to serve its customer. This factors conditions interact with strategic decisions and therefore it is important for organizations to understand it’s importance. SWOT analysis framework is both simple and powerful tool for strategy development. Analysis of the strength and weakness of the organization and opportunities and threats in the factors is the first step in strategic management process. Strengths Direct flights to Europe, far east, Asia, Africa, Indian sub-continent and middle east. National fuel price National carrier of Oman Government support Weaknesses Connectivity to far Europe and United States which affects the sales revenue. High operational cost. Product Employee Education and growth Opportunities Many award won by the airline helps in better marketing and increase sales High season and low season sales as per class of travel Our business sector is expanding, with many future opportunities for success. Local government wants to encourage local businesses. Expansion Plans Threats Competitors sales strategies Connectivity of Flights Emerging demand for low cost Airlines. Strengths Oman air has direct flights to Europe, Middle east, Africa, Asia and Indian subcontinent which is one greatest strength of the company. The sales team uses this to attract tourist, medical tourist and corporate customers. The revenue can increase if we increase the frequency of the fights to Indian subcontinent from 1 flight per day to 2 flights per day to destination to Cochin, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. Increasing frequency to flights to Europe will add on to more revenue by increasing from 3 flights to 5 flights per week to Paris, Munich and by connecting the Munich flight via Milan. The Fuel price is another factor which directly affects the cost of per flight. The airline can avoid extra expenditure by using more fuel efficient aircrafts and by using one engine during taxi especially at airports like Dubai where the rush hours are too busy and involves longer taxi. The one engine taxi will help is reducing fuel consumption and will bring extra revenue. Weaknesses Oman air been a small organization faces lot of competition from the neighboring countries. Oman air flies to only 47 destinations out of which only 4 European destinations. Airline loses lot of business due to lack of connectivity to other European sectors like to Belgium, Amsterdam and also to America. If Oman air increases its connectivity to US and more European sectors this will increase the sales by attracting more customers from other countries Muscat being the hub and bring more revenue in next five years. The cost of operations in Muscat is high. The basic salary paid to locals is very high compare to other countries and airlines. Due to government involvement in the airline the compulsion to recruit locals is very strict. For example the basic salary paid to a check in staff in Oman air is 350 Omani rials with whereas Emirates pay 300. To reduce this cost company has to increase revenue from other sources as this is inevitable cost. Opportunities Oman Air won the best business class seats award for last 3 years, best middle east airline in economy service award in 2014and many others. This achievement can be used more and get more customers by advertising. Investment in marketing and advertisement now will bring more customer and increase in revenue in next coming years. Liaise with corporate and agent customers to frame incentive programs and agreement in order to ensure maximization of business partnership and build strong customer base Airline business is directly affected as per the seasons. During the high season like June and July the airline can close the lower class fares and sell only the high class tickets. Because of demand in market the sales will be high. Whereas during low peak season the flights should be open for lower classes that will attract more customers and fill the fights and generate more revenue in long run. Constantly checking with corporate customers to promote all frequent flyer programs and enroll them to add business to WY network. Keep our competitors in mind Oman air can plan for fare sales during off season to again boost the sales. Threats Oman air being small airline with just 47 destination and 30 aircrafts faces lot of competition from other big airlines around like emirates, Qatar, Etihad, Jet airways etc. and also some low cost airlines like Fly Dubai. Oman Air have few destinations but this big giants in the market give competition to Oman air operations. Better connectivity of other competitors is one of the major factors that effects the load factor on Oman air. Customer prefer to fly on the same airline with a continuity for example if a customer wants to fly to Amsterdam he will prefer taking Emirates or Qatar as they fly direct or via another airport. This results in losing many local passenger as well as international customers. Company can escape these losses by expanding faster and after proper survey of market to retain its customer. Increasing the connectivity will help in retaining the loyal customer and also to gain new customers which will help in increasing the revenue in longer run. The route factors and the fares on those routes play another important role in the competitive market of aviation. During off  peak seasons the competitors as well reduce their fares to get more business. They offer sale prices and other attractive offers to make the customer chose there airline. To avoid this Oman air will do better market study and come out with more attractive offers and incentives for travel agents to sale Oman air tickets and services. Conclusion The above findings will therefore increase the revenue of Oman air by 10 percent every year for next five years after meeting all extra costs that the company has to incur. Success of Oman Air depends on the adaptability of the business factors, it is subjected to. The factors are link together and all factors influences policy making in the business. SWOT analysis is an effective tool in examining the business factors. Business should respond to the factors changes and the manager’s approach toward those changes is very vital. With the understanding of this factors that will influence the business Oman Air can save lot of time and bring the difference by using SWOT Analysis. References Daniel, C.(2011). Business Factors. http//www.articlesnatcg.com/Article/Business-Factors/252704. Dreze, J. & Amartya, S (1996). Economic development and social opportunity, oxford University press. Menon, A. et al. (1999). â€Å"Antecedents and Consequences of Marketing Strategy Making†. Journal of Marketing (American Marketing Association Quincy, Ronald.† SWOT Analysis: Raising capacity of your organization† Rutgers School of Social Work. http://www.learnmarketing.net www.omanair.com