Concert review of the Train and Mat Kearney Show at Ravinia Festival Essay

Concert review of the Train and Mat Kearney Show at Ravinia Festival in Chicago Illinois - Essay Example A unique feature of this venue is that the pavilion itself is already elevated on a natural terrain so that the viewers do not have to crane their necks or push towards the front of the concert in order to have a good look at their performing band. This ease of viewing added greatly to the overall experience as from the concert experiences I have had, it can often be frustrating to attempt to maintain a comfortable distance from the performance while still being able to have good visibility and not being crushed by the crowd. With respect to the concert lighting, the concert fell short. This was not necessarily due to a lack of proper planning but due to the fact that the performance took place outdoors. As such, most lighting displays need adequate indoor facilities in order to project the lights onto the stage instead of from the stage to the stage. Therefore, by nature of the venue, the lighting left something to be desired as the performers were illuminated in what only seemed li ke a two dimensional way. To be fair, in order to achieve proper lighting, it would have been necessary to anchor multiple high powered lights in and around the area that the concert goers were viewing the show. This would have caused further inconvenience due to the hassle of draped power cords and the non visibility that would have been a problem to those seated or standing behind such anchored lights. With rock concerts, the venue has a heavy bearing as to the overall ability of the lighting and sound to mirror the same type of experience that might be available to the concertgoer in an indoor setting. As such, with respect to the overall sound level and equipment used, the organizers were limited with what they could do; instead having to sacrifice by setting up a barrage of speakers on the front lines of the pavilion in order to ensure that the sound was loud enough to reach those at the very back of the concert area. Such a technique is effective, however; it can make the nois e level somewhat unbearable for those that wish to be in the front rows of the concert. This was very much the case as I attempted to get a closer view of the performance I was appalled at the overall noise level that was coming from the very front of the concert. It was uncomfortable in the extreme to spend more than a very few moments in such a setting. This fact helped to somewhat reduce the overall effectiveness of the concert; however, it must be noted that as described earlier, such techniques are just part and parcel of what having an outdoor concert necessarily entails and could not have likely been improved by another band performing under the same conditions. With respect to overall accessibility, the concert also scored well in my perspective. Due to the fact that there was plenty of room to move around, high stage visibility even from areas far removed from the performance and an outdoor setting, individuals, even with disabilities, could easily gain entry, have room to move around, and enjoy the concert without being impeded by the setting. With respect to the actual fashion and style that the performer’s exhibited, it could be described as a very folksy representation of pan-America. Flannel, leather, boots, and cowboy hats

CPTED principles Essay Example for Free

CPTED principles Essay I. The following are the Four CPTED Principles arranged in their relative importance: 1. Surveillance- Surveillance for me is the most important of the four CPTED principles. This approach is direct; a person will avoid performing a crime when they feel that they can be observed. It is also important because it allows some level of control from the owner and other concerned parties. For example, a person is committing a crime, with surveillance, there is a high probability that the owner or other concerned citizens will see him, thus an immediate response can be done. 2. Territoriality- This is next to surveillance because it also shows control. Distinguishing private areas from public will discourage people from approaching the area without a purpose. It shows that the proprietor knows and cares for his area of responsibility and any intruder is subject to the proprietor’s discretion. 3. Image- After the territory is marked, the image of the palace must be developed to strengthen it. By maintaining a positive image of the area, the owner is establishing it as a holistic area where good natured and productive deeds are done thus, showing that wrongdoings are not welcomed and will not be tolerated. 4. Environment-Maintenance of the environment ranks last not because it is least effective but rather because it is collaboration, a concern not only of a single owner but of the entire surroundings. An owner might want to implement it but no matter what his/her effort is, it is useless if the neighbors are uncontrollable or do not want to cooperate. Also, state if you believe CPTED and its associated principles are valid and successful crime prevention strategies. Remember to support your answer with adequate details from the text and academic research. I believe that CPTED is a valid crime prevention strategy. Oscar Newman (1972) determined that crime rates vary according to the four principles stated above. Surveillance is may be the most effective of all the approach since it can be easily installed. The most common form of this is the CCTV surveillance. In a study conducted in June 1997, Nieto concluded that â€Å"CCTV video surveillance is successful in reducing and preventing crimes and is helpful in prosecuting individuals caught in the act of committing a crime†(para. 4). He added that it is cost saving. The other three principles, territoriality, image and environment serve as reliable guide for designing the safety of the place. It is important to note that crimes vary with the location of the institution. As Patricia and Paul Brantingham (1981) said, crimes like murder and assault occur in areas of economic decline and neglect, whereas white-collar crimes occur in area in which a high number of potential victims exist†(160-171). CPTED may have its drawback when implemented poorly but proper preparation for its implementation in an area definitely helps may it be in the prevention, an immediate response or a post-analysis of a crime. As stated in the website of the Los Angeles Police Department(2010), â€Å"experience strongly suggests that application of CPTED in combination with other Department crime prevention programs will help reduce crime and fear of crime in the community†(para 14). Part II. Choose four of the physical security countermeasures listed in Box 10. 2 of the Security Operations text and identify the best location to utilize your selected countermeasures. Alarm Systems Alarm systems work best in facilities inside large buildings. The area must be large enough so that the function of the alarm system will be maximized, small areas often does not need such a system. Alarm systems are effective indoors because sensors are programmed to react with some variations in the conditions of the environment. Indoors are much more controlled than in the outdoors. Strength of this countermeasure is that the alarm communicates fast through out the facilities so that everybody can know if something wrong is happening. Also, it can be easily designed to suit the facility where it will be installed without adding much cost in the design. Weaknesses of this as Mc Crie (2007) stated is that the wires or cables that are used to transmit signal can be cut easily either intentional or by accident. The usual costs associated are for installation cost and maintenance. Based on Table 10. 2 (Mc Crie, 2007), the total cost is relatively high. Signs This countermeasure is useful in areas that do not require much protection that is when the harm that can be done is small. A good example is private properties that are under construction or not yet in use. Signs that say no trespassing and indicating the corresponding penalties are useful enough to lessen the probability of having intruders. The strength of this is that it incurs very low cost (the cost is only for making the sign) and seldom needs follow-up maintenance. However, planned and determined offense can not be prevented by this measure. Access Control System The best location to use this countermeasure is in restricted areas where only few personnel are allowed to enter. It must be located in all access points such as the entrance and exits as well as in other machines and facilities. Such areas are the research facilities of companies. The access to such areas needs to be limited because the operations performed are critical and confidential. As stated on Table 10. 2 (Mc Crie, 2007), it can deter, delay and detect. The strength of this system lies in the fast growth of technologies available to facilitate such measure. With these technologies, a company can choose from a variety of system that can fit their needs and budget. The weakness of this is some access controls can be stolen from the authorized person. This involves IDs and sometimes passwords. System that uses biometric features can also malfunction at times. Common errors are in the processing of the data. â€Å"False-positive (also called Type I or A) errors occurs when an authorized person accesses a restricted facility where he or she should have been allowed† (Mc Crie, 2007 p. 305) and he or she is denied access. On the other hand, the â€Å"false-negative (also called Type II or B) errors allow admission to someone who should not be admitted but is† (Mc Crie, 2007 p. 305). Associated cost is relatively high and includes the installation of the system, training for the concerned personnel. Lighting Systems Hallways are the area where lighting systems have important effect in terms of security measures. It works in two ways: it protects the employees from accidents with the fixtures of the area and personal assaults; it also protects the facility from intruders. This can be easily implemented in almost any condition and a tried and tested way of increasing security of a place. The weakness of this is that it is only a deterrent; it cannot stop an ongoing offense unless a security personnel is watching the place. So, it is important that with good lighting, the visibility of the area to other personnel is also ensured in the design consideration. Associated cost is low; it includes the installation, electricity cost and maintenance such as replacement of bulbs and repairs. III. Security Operations Management. Chapter #10, Question #2: Why must security planners be involved early in facility design? What is the expected payoff from such involvement? Security planners must be involved early in facility design because if the physical and technology based security measures will be done after the structure is designed or built, it will disrupt the existing situation and may cause the employees to feel that â€Å"the management is putting systems above people† (Mc Crie, 2007 p. 285). Most of the effective security measures such as proper lighting need to be incorporated in the design of facilities in order to incur lesser cost and to blend well with the over-all plan. However, well-designed and executed security measures may result to requirement of lesser number of security personnel. It will also gather support from the employees because at the very start of operations, the goal for a secured workplace is already established. References: Brantingham, P. J. , Brantingham, P. L. (1981). Environmental Criminology. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications McCrie, R. (2007). Security Operations Management (2nd ed. ). Burlington, USA: Elsevier Inc Nieto, M. (1997). Public Video Surveillance: Is It An Effective Crime Prevention Tool? (CRB-97-0050). Sacramento, CA: California Research Bureau. Retrieved May 16,2010, from http:/www. library. ca. gov/CRB/97/05 Newman, O. (1972). Defensible Space: Crime Prevention through Urban Design. New York, NY: Macmillan The Los Angeles Police Department. (2010). Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Retrieved May 16, 2010, http://www. lapdonline. org/prevent_crime/content_basic_view/7726

The Factors Influencing Strategy Implementation Management Essay

The Factors Influencing Strategy Implementation Management Essay The aim of this module is to produce a 4000 word research proposal that would be capable for supporting the preparation of a Masters dissertation. The project report would include an introduction including a title, which would highlight the content of this business document providing a background, informing the reader of the problem / issue at hand and the context of the situation that would be discussed. The research issue would be provided highlighting the importance of the issue in todays ever-changing and competitive, cut-throat business environment. Adequate linkages would be provided to co-relate the research aims, research objectives, research questions and the hypothesis as such generated. A coherent and critical literature review would follow demonstrating the knowledge of the literature available and linking it to the situation which would be investigated. A research design and methodology would be adopted to investigate the concerned issue providing a rationale as to how the research objectives are to be accomplished explaining the selection of the research paradigm. The research design would include the methods of data capture, the data access issues, the analysis and the interpretation means that would be used to assess the situation and appropriate reasons would be provided for the choice of research tools used. Relevant ethical issues underpinning the research objectives would also be discussed along-with the resources required to complete the research proposal. The last part of this management report would include a timetable that would provide the time that it took to complete each part of the research proposal along-with a list of references utilized to complete the report. INTRODUCTION TITLE: FACTORS INFLUENCING STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION BACKGROUND The title of this research proposal is factors influencing strategy implementation. Before we discuss the issue and highlight the importance of the issue in the context of the report it is of prime importance to understand the concept of strategy implementation itself. It is the process by which the business strategy formulated is put into action. It includes the design and management of organizational systems to achieve the best integration of people and structure, allocating resources, managing human resources and developing information and decision processes to achieve organizational objectives. Pierce and Robinson  note that to effectively direct and control the use of the firms resources, mechanisms such as organizational structure, information systems, leadership styles, assignment of key managers, budgeting, rewards, and control systems are essential strategy implementation ingredients. After the creative and analytical aspects of the corporate strategy have been formulated the priority of the management is to convert the strategy into operationally effective action. A strategy is never complete, until it gains a commitment of the firms resources and becomes embodied in its organizational structure. Strategy implementation is an iterative process of implementing strategies, policies, programs and action plans that allows a firm to utilize its resources to take advantage of opportunities in the competitive environment (Harrington, 2006). There is no one definition of strategy implementation as seen from the above citations but for the purpose of this report, taking into consideration the definitions above we can define strategy implementation as an iterative, dynamic and a complex process, which comprises of series of decisions and activities by the management and the administration those affected by many interrelated internal and external factors, to turn strategic plans into reality in order to achieve the objectives of the firm. RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY This part of the report would highlight the aim and the objectives of the research, discussing the issue chosen and its importance by proposing a research question and providing an answer to it in the literature review. Many studies have acknowledged that business strategies often fail not because of inadequate strategy formulation, but because of an inappropriate implementation strategy. This report would study the factors that enable or impede effective strategy implementation. This report would highlight how strategy implementation has been researched so far and how this field may be moved forward so as to help in effective execution of a business strategy. As a result of the literature review undertaken, the report has found nine critical factors for strategy implementation that will be discussed further in the literature. Formulation of an effective strategy, making the strategy work and implementing it throughout the company is a difficult task (Hrebiniak, 2006). Many factors potentially affect the process by which strategic plans are turned into organizational action. Unlike strategy formulation, strategy implementation is more of a craft, rather than a science. After successful formulation of the business strategy, difficulties usually arise during the subsequent implementation process. If the business strategy formulated is not applied correctly to all the aspects of the organisational structure the business model would fail, thus harming the organisation in many aspects, the major being the financial capability of the firm, which would take a huge blow. It is of prime importance to get the implementation right otherwise there would be huge losses for the firm. Noble (1999b) notes, the best-formulated strategies may fail to produce superior performance for the firm if they are not successfully implemented. This issue is of utmost importance in todays day and age because of the cut-throat competition in the ever-changing business world where each firm needs to keep re-modelling their policies and procedures to keep up with the change in the external and internal business environment. There are combination of issues that influence the success of strategy implementation, ranging from the people who communicate or implement the strategy to the systems or mechanisms in place for co-ordination and control. How can we better understand these issues and their importance for successful strategy implementation? In this report we try to respond to this question by the critical analysis of the existing research on the factors that influence strategy implementation. An analysis has been conducted of the most widely used literature databases to identify key factors influencing the process of strategy implementation, to surface current areas of agreement and disagreement on the topic. LITERATURE REVIEW In the following section, the report would review the study sources and assess their research context, theoretical bases, their main results and the research methods used as well as the analytical techniques which are employed for the study. The examined organizational levels and organizational types are the two elements of the research context. The core of the literature review, would concentrate on the nine factors identified through rigorous analysis of the study sources, that play a role in influencing strategy implementation success, as well as the frameworks or models that aggregate or relate the relevant factors to each other. This is followed by the discussion of the theoretical bases of the reviewed studies. Finally, the research methods and analytical techniques adopted will be reviewed to see which methods are still underutilized in the context of strategy implementation. By carrying out a literature review of the existing studies, the report found two types of strategy implementation studies: one that highlight the importance of the individual factors for strategy implementation and the second that emphasize the big pictureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ of how the single factors interrelate and form a strategic implementation environment. The research would highlight nine recurring, individual factors that influence strategy implementation. They are namely the strategy formulation process, the strategy executors (managers, employees), the organizational structure, the communication activities, the level of commitment for the strategy, the consensus regarding the strategy, the relationships among different units/departments and different strategy levels, the employed implementation tactics, and the administrative system in place. THE NINE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE STARTEGY IMPLEMENTATION 1. Strategy Formulation If the corporate strategy drafted by the business is a poor or a vague strategy, then it can limit the implementation efforts dramatically. Good execution cannot overcome the shortcomings of a bad strategy or a poor strategic planning effort (Hrebiniak, 2006). Several studies mention the fact that the kind of strategy that is developed (Alexander, 1985; Allio, 2005) and the actual process of strategy formulation, namely, how a strategy is developed (KimMauborgne, 1993; Singh, 1998) will influence the effect of implementation. Alexander (1985) believes that the need to start with a formulated strategy that involves a good idea or concept is the most crucial and critical factor which helps promoting its successful implementation. As Allio notes, good implementation naturally starts with good strategic input: the soup is only as good as the ingredients (Allio, 2005). 2. Relationships among different departments and different strategy levels Many studies in the concerned field have stressed that the institutional relationships among different units/departments and different strategy levels play a major role in the outcome of strategy implementation (Walker Ruekert, 1987; Gupta, 1987; Slater Olson, 2001; Chimhanzi, 2004; Chimhanzi Morgan, 2005). Walker Ruekert note that marketing policies, inter-functional structures and processes, corporate-business unit relationships and processes are a major influence on business strategy implementation. In addition, allocation of resources, functional competencies, inter-functional conflict, decision-making participation and influence, and coordination also have different effects on the implementation of various kinds of business strategies. Implementation effectiveness is negatively affected by conflict and positively affected by interpersonal communication and not written. Such interdepartmental dynamics are affected by senior management support informal integration and joint re ward systems. Other relationships that have received attention to a lesser extent include finance, manufacturing, engineering, quality, marketing, accounting, and sales. 3. Executors Executors comprise the top management, middle management, lower management and non-management. Effectiveness of strategy implementation is, at least in part, affected by the quality of people involved in the process (Govindarajan, 1989). The quality refers to the capabilities, experience, skills, attitudes, and other characteristics of people required by a specific position (Peng Litteljohn, 2001). Findings indicate that strategy implementation effectiveness, critically depends on the human or people side of project management, and less on organization and systems related factors. Top management refers to the senior-level leaders including presidents, owners, and other high ranking executives (CEO, CFO, COO etc.) and senior-level managers. Hrebiniak and Snow (1982) report that the level of interaction and participation among the top management team typically leads to greater commitment to the firms goals and strategies. This, in turn ensures the successful implementation of the strategy. Gupta and Govindarajan (1984) note that greater the marketing and sales experience of middle managers, the greater would be their willingness to take risk and successfully implement the strategy. Heracleous (2000) also finds that if middle management do not agree with the strategy, or do not feel that they have the skill set to implement it, then they would sabotage its implementation. Middle managers expect the direction from the top management but frequently feel that they are in a better position to start and evaluate alternative courses of action. Also, the lack of shared knowledge with lower-level management and non-management employees would create a barrier to successful strategy implementation. 4. Communication Many researchers have emphasized the importance of adequate communication channels for the process of strategy implementation. Alexander (1985) notes that communication is mentioned more frequently than any other single item that promotes successful strategy implementation. Communication includes explaining what new responsibilities, tasks, and duties need to be performed by the employees in order to implement the strategy. It answers the why behind the changed job activities, and explains the reasons why the new strategic decision was made. Rapert and Wren (1998) find that organizations where employees have easy access to management through open and supportive communication channels outperform those with more restrictive communication environments. Effective communication is a fundamental requirement for any effective strategy implementation. Organizational communication plays an important role in training, knowledge acquisition and applied learning during the process of implementation. In fact, communication is vital in every aspect of strategy implementation, as it relates in to the organizational context, organizing processes and the implementation objectives. 5. Implementation Tactics Nutt (1986) stipulates four types of implementation tactics used by managers in making planned changes: intervention, participation, persuasion, and edict. Intervention refers to strategy adjustments made during the implementation stage by introducing new practices and norms. Participation includes formulating strategic goals and nominating a task force that can develop and propose the corresponding implementation options. Persuasion is the tactic which uses involved parties to convince the employees about the desired course of actions. The issuing of directives is the main focus of the implementation tactic edict. Lehner (2004) considers the implementation tactics as genuine organizational behaviour based on the assumption that implementation in general is dependent on the environment, and various strategic and corporate variables. 6. Consensus Nielsen (1983) notes that firms must achieve consensus both within and outside their organization in order to successfully implement business strategies. The consensus about a firms strategy may differ across the operation channels within the company. If the employees of the company are not on the same information level or if information passes through many layers in the organization, a lower level of consensus would result. This lack of shared understanding may create obstacles to successful strategy implementation.(Noble, 1999b). Floyd and Wooldridge (1992a) label the gulf between strategies conceived by top management and awareness at lower levels as implementation gap. Strategic consensus is the agreement between the top, middle, and lower-level managers on the fundamental policies of the organization. Strategic decisions are initiated by a team of top managers and then mandated to the rest of the organization, overlooking the importance of securing consensus with and commitment to the organizational strategy with the lower level employees, which is a big barrier for effective strategy implementation. 7. Commitment Strategy implementation process may fail if the strategy does not achieve support and commitment by the majority of employees and the middle management. Shared understanding without commitment would result in counter effort and may negatively affect the organisational performance. The understanding between middle management and those at the operational level to that of the top management teams strategic goals is of prime importance to successful implementation. Noble Mokwa (1999) have put forward three dimensions of commitment that are central factors which directly influence strategic outcomes: organizational commitment, strategy commitment and role commitment. Organizational commitment is the extent to which a manager identifies with and works toward organization-related goals and values. Strategy commitment is the extent to which a manager comprehends and supports the goals and objectives of an implementation strategy. Role commitment is the extent to which a manager is determine d to perform his individual implementation responsibilities, regardless of his personal beliefs about the overall strategy. 8. Organisational Structure The type of strategy adopted could differ in many ways and have different requirements regarding an adequate organizational structure. Factors relating to the organizational structure are the second most important implementation barrier according to Heide Grà ¸nhaug Johannessens (2002) study. Drazin and Howard (1984) stipulate that a proper alignment of the strategy with the organisational structure is an important pre-requisite for successful implementation of a corporate business strategy (Noble, 1999b). They note that changes in the competitive environment require adjustments to the organizational structure. If an organisations realignment strategies are lacking, it may exhibit poor performance and be at a major competitive disadvantage. 9. Administrative Systems Roth, Schweiger Morrison (1991) study suggests that organisational business units make use of three administrative mechanisms which are formalization, integrating mechanisms, and centralization, to create operational capabilities of configuration, managerial philosophy and coordination, to support business strategy implementation. Some researchers have also focused on the control systems which are one of important ingredients of administrative systems (Drazin Howard, 1984; Nilsson Rapp, 1999). Drazin and Howard (1984) discuss about the role of formal control system in the process of strategy implementation, and suggest that the fluidity of control system contribute to strategy implementation (Noble, 1999b). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY This part of the project report would focus on the research design and methodology adopted to carry out the research of the issue chosen which is the factors influencing strategy implementation. The following literature would highlight the components of the research paradigm chosen to accomplish the study. This section of the project report would provide a detailed rationale on how the study would achieve the research objective put forth in the title. This part would explain the methods of data capture used and the issues which would arise in gathering the required information along with the analysis and the interpretation techniques employed to achieve the research aim. Limitations would be included in the following report to make the reader aware of the shortcomings of the chosen methodology; the relevant ethical issues would also be discussed in the proposed research design along-with the resources required to complete the proposed research. The choice for the research methodology adopted is in congruence with the strategic issue chosen for the research proposal. The selection criteria to choose articles for inclusion in the research analysis: The articles which contain the keywords strategy implementation or strategy execution have been included in the literature .From this; further articles were identified using the references sections of the previously retrieved articles. In this way, the report also includes the articles which treat strategy implementation as one of the major subjects even if their title or keywords did not include the terms strategy implementation or strategy execution. As a final selection criterion it was checked whether the articles explicitly discuss factors impeding or enabling strategy implementation success. Data Collection Secondary Sources In order to identify the factors that enable or impede effective strategy implementation, the report has analysed relevant academic, peer reviewed journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Management Studies, Long Range Planning, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Executive, Human Relations, Sloan Management Review, Journal of Marketing, etc. using the literature databases of EBSCO Host, ProQuest ABI, Science Direct, JSTOR and Wiley Interscience. Information has also been sourced from Google Scholar and books, newspapers, trade journals, industry portals, government agencies, trade associations, monitoring industry news and developments. The research data would be collected in different organisations or units of an organisation. The organisations were mainly professional service organisations, from both public and private sector. For example, finance, insurance and telecommunications companies, and government departments would be included. The size of the units under study would be 100 to 500 employees. The study would be qualitative in nature, main research method being semi-structured interviews. Primary Sources and Sampling In each organisation or unit, representatives would form three groups, namely the top management, middle management, and lower level personnel, would be interviewed using the questionnaire provided below. Altogether twenty-five interviewees per organisation would be randomly chosen: 2-5 persons representing the top management level, 4-13 persons the middle management level, and 8-17 persons from the lower level personnel. The interviewees would be chosen randomly, ensuring however that different tasks, work groups, and departments were represented equitably. The general topic of the interviews would be strategy implementation. During the interviews, the interviewees would fill out questionnaires, in which they would evaluate the various problem statements. The questionnaire has been given below: Q1. How do you define the concept of strategy implementation? Q2. What kind of issues would you associate strategy implementation with? Q3. How do you participate in the strategy implementation process? Q4. How are the policies pertaining to strategy implementation communicated within the different levels of the organization? Q5. Describe your own role in the process of strategy implementation. Q6. Evaluate the degree of the strategy implementation problems in your organisation. Data Access Issues Some data access issues might arise in the research journey, which could be the unwillingness of the employees to participate in the planned interviews hampering the information gathering capabilities of the subsequent research report along-with lack of co-operation from concerned companies which might not give permission to carry out interviews with its employees fearing a possible leak of its corporate strategy to its competitors. Also finances required for the successful completion of the information gathering process might not be adequate. Data Analysis The results of the questionnaires would be assessed, as well as the comments of the interviewees for the statements would be analysed. The main data analysis method employed would be content analysis of the interviews. The transcribed interviews would be coded accordingly to the central issues of the research. The analysis method would include historical trend analysis and linear regression analysis using software tools, judgmental forecasting, and conjoint analysis. Limitations of the Research Design The approach in conducting the literature review has shortcomings which should be acknowledged. The following are the limitations in the methodology adopted. Collection of articles has been carried out by relying on the databases of EBSCO Host, Science Direct, JSTOR, Wiley Inter Science and ProQuest ABI and the report thus may have overlooked some critical viewpoints on strategy implementation included in monographs or specialists books. Some selective articles in the review, however, rely heavily on concepts from advanced books on corporate strategy thus making up for the shortcoming to a certain extent. The articles have been located using the keywords strategy implementation and strategy execution. This procedure of gathering articles may omit some important articles. The report also excludes some very specific strategy implementation contexts, such as post-merger integration implementation. The research has discovered that most of the conducted studies in the subject focus on the influence of middle managers on strategy implementation. There is no special research relating to lower management and non-management, even if several authors have stated that it is important to consider their effects on strategy implementation as well. Another major research challenge incudes, a lack of understanding between the relationships among the nine reviewed factors, for example, there are major disagreements about the relationship between the variables of communication, commitment and consensus which the report fails to highlight. Also a limiting factor is that there are very few studies that systematically examine how different organizational units and strategy levels can influence strategy implementation, which the report has not included. Strategy implementation involves many theories including agency theory, social learning theory, expectancy theory, organization theory and social system theory. Because of the limited word count it was not feasible to include such theories in the text presented which is also a shortcoming. The lists of journal articles selected are not comprehensive enough, as many other issues could potentially affect strategy implementation. Such other factors, however, are less mentioned or not analysed in-depth, as many of them are also hard to control and modify. Research Ethics For research to be carried out successfully there are many ethical issues that need to be taken into consideration. It is very important to secure the permission and interests of all the people involved in the study. The people involved would be given assurance that any information obtained during the interview process would not be misused as this is the moral responsibility which would be maintained towards the participants. It is the duty of this research to protect the rights of the participants of the study as well as their privacy and sensitivity. The confidentiality of those involved in the observation would be maintained at all times, keeping their anonymity and privacy secure. Resources required for effective research The resources required to carry out the proposed research would require the support and co-operation of the supervisor in charge so as to provide guidance for submitting an effective research analysis report. Also would require permission from the industries chosen for the study of the research issue and the co-operation of its employees for conducting interviews. Adequate financial support would also be required to assist in the completion of the proposed research analysis report to cover the cost of commuting and resultant transportation fares. TIMETABLE TASK SELECTION OF INDUSTRIES FOR RESEARCH FOCUS DAYS 1-5 6-10 10-15 16-20 21-25 25-30 LITERATURE REVIEW/ CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY SOURCES OF DATA INTERVIEWING PROCESS INDEPTH STUDY OF VARIOUS SOURCES ASSESSING RESOURCE FOR CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK COLLECTION OF SECONDARY SOURCES OF DATA DEVELOPMENT OF RATIONALE FOR STUDY FINALLY FORMULATED RESEAERCH PROPOSAL REFRENCES Saunders, M., P. Lewis and A. Thornhill (2007) Research methods for business students, Harlow: FT, Prentice Hall (4th ed.) Blumberg, B., D.R.Cooper and Pamela S. Schindler (2008), Business Research Methods, London: McGraw Hill (second ed.) Wilson, J. 2010, Essentials of Business Research A Guide To Doing Your Research Project London: Sage Allio, M.K. (2005). A Short, Practical Guide to Implementing Strategy. Journal of Business Strategy, 26, 12-21. Beer, M., and Eisenstat, R.A(2000). The Silent Killers of Strategy Implementation and Learning Sloan Management Review, Summer, 29-42. Bourgeois à Ã‚ ¨, L. J., and Brodwin D.R. (1984). Strategic Implementation: Five Approaches to an Elusive Phenomenon. Strategic Management Journal, 5, 241-264 Govindarajan,V., and Fisher.J. (1990). Strategy, Control systems, and resource sharing: effects on business-Unit Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 33, 259-285. Heracleous, L. (2000). The Role of Strategy Implementation in Organization Development Organization Development Journal, 18, 75-86. Higgins, J.M. (2005). The Eight à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Sà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s of Successful Strategy Execution. Journal of Change Management, 5, 3-13. Lehner, J. (2004). Strategy Implementation Tactics as Response to Organizational, Strategic, and Environmental Imperatives. Management Revue, 15, 460-480 Noble, C.H. (1999a). Building the Strategy Implementation Network. Business Horizons, 19-27. Nutt, P.C. (1986). Tactics of Implementation. Academy of Management Journal. 29, 230-261. Nutt, P.C. (1989). Selecting Tactics to Implement Strategic Plans. Strategic Management

Puritan Society In Hesters Life :: essays research papers

The Godly beliefs and punishments followed by the Puritans stemmed from their English experience and complete involvement in religion. The Puritan society molded itself and created a government based upon the Bible and implemented it with force. Hester’s act of adultery was welcomed with rage and was qualified for serious punishment. Boston became more involved in Hester’s life after her crime was announced than it had ever been before—the religious based, justice system formally punished her and society collectively tortured her. Based upon the religious, governmental, and social design of the society, Hester’s entire existence revolved around her sin and the Puritan perception thereof; this association breaks way to society significantly becoming involved in her life. The importance of a social framework for the new society, where the Church would be all encompassing, developed from the teachings of such religious reformers as John Wycliffe and John Calvin. The Church would be directly involved in the running of the community and its regime. Enforcing such laws established by scripture read from the Bible, the government disciplined Hester for her committed sin. The Puritans considered the Bible as the â€Å"true law of God that provided guidelines for church and government†. They wished to shape the Church of England to meet their ideals, emphasizing Bible reading, prayer, and preaching in worship services. They simplified the ritual of the sacraments and also wanted more personal and fewer prescribed prayers. The Puritans stressed grace, devotion, prayer, and self-examination to achieve religious virtue while including a basic knowledge of unacceptable actions of the time. Obtaining virtue was expected to secure order and peace within the Puritan community. The Church officials, who played a direct role in the government, calculated the penalties for various sins. When sins arose, the government took the role as chief executive of corrective punishment and instituted castigation. Hester found herself very much a part of the local Church and government’s heavy hand. Everyone was aware of her sinful act, for she was placed on a scaffold amidst the entire people for a painful viewing. The religious morals instilled in the Puritan society caused her much pain long after the public humiliation. Permanently â€Å"symbolized as a sinner†, Hester was branded for life with a cloth letter worn on her bosom. For years after the letter was first revealed on the scaffold, Hester was associated with the sin and the scarlet letter. Because the Puritans contoured religion, social life, and government together, each member of the society was involved in the religion, social life, and government—everybody in Boston saw the â€Å"A† on Hester’s chest in the same light.

My Vision of Future Essay

Reimagining India’s Present most of us have a massive psychological barrier against looking seriously at the future. Many nurture the not unnatural, latent fear that any engagement with the future will turn out to be an acknowledgement of their mortality and the transience of their world. Different cultures handle this fear differently. In India’s middle-class culture, attempts to look at the future often end up as tame, defensive litanies of moral platitudes or as overly dramatic, doomsday ‘propheteering’. Even those who avoid these extremes usually view the future either as the future of the past or as a linear projection of the present. If one is a fatalist, one sees no escape from the past; if not, one often desperately tries to live in the instant present. Those who see the future as growing directly out of the present also often narrow their choices. When optimistic, they try to correct for the ills of the present in the future; when pessimistic, they presume that the future will aggravate the ills. If one views the future from within the framework of the past, one arrives at questions like ‘Can we restore the precolonial village republics of India as part of a Gandhian project?’ or ‘Should we revive Nehruvian nonalignment to better negotiate the turbulent waters of India’s inter- national relations in the post-cold-war world?’ If one views the future from within the framework of the present, one asks questions like ‘Will the present fresh water resources or fossil-fuel stock of the world outlast the twenty-first century?’ Important though some of these questions are, they are not the core of future studies. No environmentalist can claim to be a futurist by only estimating, on the basis of existing data, the pollution levels in India in the coming decades. Exactly as no economist can claim to be a futurist by predicting the exchange value of the Indian rupee in the year 2005. The reason is simple. The future—that is, the future that truly intrigues or worries us—is usually disjunctive with its past. Defying popular faith, the future is mostly that which cannot be directly projected from the present. Actually, we should have learnt this from the relationship  between the past and the present. The present has not grown out of the past in the way the technoeconomic or historical determinists believe. I often give the example of a survey done exactly hundred years ago, at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was done mainly as an exercise in technological forecasting during the Paris exposition. The respondents were the best-known scientists of the world then. In retrospect, the most remarkable result of the survey was the total failure of the scientists to anticipate scientific discoveries and changes the world would see in the twentieth century. Thus, for instance, the scientists thought the highest attainable speed in human transportation during the century was 250 miles an hour and among the innovations that they thought would not be viable or popular were the radio and television. Indeed, novelist Jules Verne’s fantasies often anticipated the future of science and technology more imaginatively and accurately. For a novelist’s imagination is not cramped by the demands of any discipline or the expectations of professionals, not even by hard empiricism. The present too is disjunctive with the past, though we love to believe otherwise. The past nowadays is available to us in packaged forms, mainly through the formal, professional narratives of the discipline of history. We feel that we have a grasp on it. History monopolises memories and offers us a tamed, digestible past, reformulated in contemporary terms. It is thus that 17 History monopolises memories and offers us a tamed, digestible past, reformulated in contemporary terms. No. 123 history fulfils its main social and political role—it gives a shared sense of psychological continuity to those living in a disenchanted world. You cannot do the same with the future, for the future has to be anticipated and it is more difficult to turn it into a manageable portfolio. Ultimately, Benedotte Croce’s aphorism—’all history is contemporary history’— can be applied to all genuine futuristic enterprises, too. All visions of the future are interventions in and reconceptualisation of the present. My quick  peep into the future of India, therefore, can only be a comment on India today. I offer it in the spirit in which my work on India’s pasts, too, has all along been an attempt to ‘work through’ or reimagine India’s present. The future of India in my mind is intertwined with the future of diversity and self-reflection, two values that have been central to the Indian worldview, cutting across social strata , religious boundaries and cultural barriers. I believe that during the last two hundred years, there has been a full-scale onslaught on both these values. Even when some have upheld these values during the period, they have mostly done so instrumentally. Thus, even when they have talked of unity in diversity, the emphasis has been on the former; the latter has been seen as an artefact or a hard, somewhat unpleasant, reality with which we shall have to learn to live. A modern nation-state loves order and predictability and its Indian incarnation is no different. Sankaran Krishna’s brilliant study of Indian intervention in Sri Lanka, Postcolonial Insecurities, shows that, even when the Indian state has gone to war in the name of protecting cultural identities and minority rights, its tacit goal has been to advance the hegemonic ambitions 18 of a conventional, centralised, homogenising nation-state. In response to the demands of such a state, modern Indians too have learnt to fear diversity. That fear cuts across the entire ideological spectrum and is ever increasing. Most Gandhians want an India that would conform fully to their idea of a good society, for they have begun to fear their marginalisation. The late Morarji Desai was a good example of such defensive Gandhism. But even some of the more imaginative Gandhians, the ones who cannot be accused of being associated with the fads and foibles of Desai, have not been different. They have absolutised Gandhi the way only ideologues can absolutise their ideologies. The new globalisers also have one solution for the entire world, though they sometimes lazily mouth buzzwords like ‘multiculturalism’, ‘grassroots’ and ‘alternative development’. The goal of their pluralism is to ensure the transparency and predictability of other cultures and strains of dissent. Likewise, I have found to my surprise that attempts to protect religious diversity in diverse ways is not acceptable to most secularists. They want to fight the monocultures of religious fundamentalism and religionbased nationalism, but feel aggrieved if others  do so in other ways. They suspect the tolerance of those who are believers and trust the coercive apparatus of the state. Secularism for In response to the demands of a centralised, homogenising nation-state, modern Indians too have learnt to fear diversity. such secularists serves the same psychological purposes that fundamentalism does for the fundamentalists; it becomes a means of fighting diversity and giving play to their innate authoritarianism and monoculturalism. Things have come to such a pass that we cannot now stand diversity even in the matter of names. Bombay has always been Mumbai, but it has also been Bombay for a long time and acquired a new set of associations through its new name. Bombay films and Bombay ducks cannot have the same ring as Mumbai films and Mumbai ducks. Nor can Chennai substitute Madras in expressions like bleeding Madras and Madras Regiment. Many great cities like London happily live with more than one name. Indeed, in the Charles De Gaulle Airport at Paris, you may miss a plane to London unless you know that London is also Londres. Until recently, we Calcuttans used to live happily with four names of the city— Kolikata, Kolkata, Kalkatta and Calcutta. Indeed, the first name is never used in conversations, yet you have to know it if you are interested in Bengali literature. In recent years, the city has been flirting with a fifth name, thanks to former cricketer and cricket commentator Geoffrey Boycott—Calcootta. But the Bengalis have disappointed me. Many of them now are trying to ensure that there is only one name for the city, Kolkata. The gifted writer Sunil Gangopadhyay has joined them, because he feels that the Bengali language is under siege from deracinated Bengalis, Anglophiles and Bombay—or is it Mumbaiya?—Hindi. I am afraid the change will not provide any additional protection to the Bengali language. It will only fuel our national passion for sameness. MANUSHI It is my belief that the twenty-first century belongs to those who try to see diversity as a value in itself, not as an instrument for resisting new monocultures of the mind or as a compromise necessary for maintaining communal or ethnic harmony. ‘Little cultures’ are in rebellion everywhere and in every sphere of life. Traditional healing systems, agricultural and  ecological practices—things that we rejected contemptuously as repositories of superstitions and retrogression have staged triumphant returns among the young and the intellectually adventurous and posing radical challenges to set ways of thinking and living. More than a year ago, in the backyard of globalised capitalism, the US citizens for the first time spent more money from their pockets on alternative medicine than on conventional healthcare. The idea of the diverse is not merely expanding but acquiring subversive potentialities. India of the future, I hope, will be central to a world where the idea of diversity will itself be diverse and where diversity will be cherished as an end in itself. By its cultural heritage, India—the civilisation, not the nation-state—is particularly well equipped to play a central role in such a world. However, the Indian elite and much of the country’s middle class seem keener to strut around the world stage as representatives of a hollow, regional super-power. They want their country to play-act as a poor man’s America, armed to the teeth and desperate to repeat the success story of nineteenth-century, European, imperial states in the twenty-first century. India is also supposed to be a culture deeply committed to selfreflection. During colonial times, that No. 123 commitment began to look like a liability. Many critics of Indian culture and civilisation in the nineteenth century lamented that the Indians were too engrossed in their inner life. Others argued that Indian philosophy had marginalised the materialist strain within it and become predominantly idealistic. Their tacit assumption was that the Indians were given to too much of self-reflection and too little to action. ‘We are dreamers, not doers’ came to be a popular, simplified version of the same lament. Whether the formulation is correct or not, it is obvious that we have overcorrected for it. We have now become a country of unthinking doers. Certainly in the Indian middle classes, any action is considered better than doing nothing. As a result, mindless action constitutes an important ingredient of the ruling culture of Indian public life. Even the few knowledgeable, nongovernmental hydrologists who support mega-dams, readily admit that most of the 1,500 large dams built in India are useless and counterproductive. Their main contribution has  been to displace millions of people in the last fifty years. And even these supporters are not fully aware that the millions displaced by dams, often without any compensation, now constitute an excellent pool for those active in various forms of social violence and criminality. Veerappan, son of a dam victim, is only the most infamous symbol of them. Likewise, even in the Indian army, many senior officers now openly say that Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple was worse than doing nothing. The price for that gratuitous intervention was a decade of bloodshed and brutalisation of Punjab. For years, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been ventured as an excuse for every phoney, useless intervention—in nature, society and culture in India. The last time I saw this ploy was when our bomb-mamas justified the nuclearisation of India in the name of Gandhi. The Indian middle 19 classes have always been uncomfortable with the father of the nation and have always believed him to be romantic, retrogressive, and antimodern. They have also probably all along felt slightly guilty about that belief. As a reparative gesture they have now begun to say, given half a chance, that Gandhi was a great doer; he did not merely talk or theorise. This compliment serves two purposes. It allows one to ignore Gandhi’s uncomfortable, subversive thought as less relevant— ‘Bapu, you are far greater than your little books’, Jawaharlal Nehru once said—and it atones for one’s hidden hostility and contempt towards the unconventional Gandhian vision of India’s future. Occasionally, some like philosopher T. K. Mahadevan have tried to puncture this selfcongratulatory strategy. I remember him once saying in a letter to the editor of The Times of India that Gandhi For years, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been ventured as an excuse for every phoney, useless intervention—in nature, society and culture in India. went out on the streets only twice in his life; the rest of the time he was thinking. Such interventions are always explained away as esoterica vended by eccentric intellectuals and professional iconoclasts. The dominant tendency in India today is to discount all self-reflection. It has turned India’s ruling culture into an intellectually sterile summation of slogans borrowed from European public culture in the 1930s. Our culture is now dominated by European ideas of the nation-state and nationalism, even  Europeans ideas of ethnic and 20 religious nationalism (mediated by that moth-eaten Bible of the 1930s, V. D. Savarkar’s Hindutva, modelled on the ideas of Mazzini and Herder). Shadow boxing with them for our benefit and entertainment are European ideas of radicalism and progress, smelling to high heavens of Edwardian England. In such a world, it is almost impossible to sustain a culture of diversity, particularly diversity as an end in itself. You learn to pay occasional h omage to diversity as an instrument that buys religious and ethnic peace, but that is mainly to hide one’s eagerness to deploy such ideas of religious, caste and ethnic peace to further homogenise India. I have now learnt to fear the use of any cultural category in the singular. For years, I wrote about ‘Indian civilisation.’ I thought it would be obvious from the contents of my writings that I saw the civilisation as a confederation of cultures and as an entity that coexisted and overlapped with other civilisations. Af ter all, some other civilisations, such as the Iranian and the European, are now very much part of the Indian civilisation. The Islamic and Buddhist civilisations, too, clearly overlap significantly with the Hindu civilisation. However, even the concept of civilisation, it now seems to me, has been hijacked in India by those committed to unipolarity, unidimensionality and unilinearity. Our official policy has been shaped by a vision of India that is pathetically naà ¯ve, if not farcical. It is that of a second-class European nation-state located in South Asia with a bit of Gita, Bharatanatyam, sitar and Mughal cuisine thrown in for fun or entertainment. Those who do not share that idea of earthly paradise are seen as dangerous romantics, Our culture is now dominated by European ideas of the nation-state and nationalism, even Europeans ideas of ethnic and religious nationalism†¦ MANUSHI continuously jeopardising India’s national security. No wonder that even many erstwhile admirers of India have begun to see it as a nucleararmed, permanently enemy-seeking, garrison state. Edward Said will never know that  few Occidentals can be as Orientalist towards India as educated, urban, modern Indians often are. In Indian public life, the standard response to such criticism is to reconceptualise Indian culture as some sort of a grocery store and to recommend that one should take from it the good and reject the bad. This is absurd and smacks of arrogance. Indian culture represents the assessments and experience of millions, acquired over generations. It has its own organising principles. My ideal India †¦ is a bit like a wildlife programme that cannot afford to protect only cuddly pandas and colourful tigers. transparent, because there cannot but be a touch of mystery in the world of cultures. My ideal India celebrates all forms of diversity, including some that are disreputable, lowbrow and unfashionable. It is a bit like a wildlife programme that cannot afford to protect only cuddly pandas and colourful tigers. It is an India where even the idea of majority is confined to political and economic spheres and is seen as shifting, plural and fuzzy, where each and every culture, however modest or humble, not only has a place under the sun but is also celebrated as a vital component of our collective life. That may not turn out to be an empty dream. I see all around me movements and activists unashamedly rooted in the local and the vernacular. They are less defensive about their cultural roots and are working to empower not merely local communities, but also their diverse systems of knowledge, philosophies, art and crafts. Underlying these efforts is a tacit celebration of everyday life and ordinary citizens. Everything in everyday life and ordinariness is not praiseworthy and many of these efforts seem to me harebrained, pigheaded or plain silly. But they represent a generation that is less burdened by nineteenth-century ideologies masquerading as signposts to a new era and at least some of them show the capacity to look at human suffering directly, without the aid of ornate, newly imported social theories. Ashis Nandy is Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. Diversity, to qualify as diversity, must allow those who represent the diversity to be diverse in their own ways, according to their own  categories, not ours. It cannot be used like an array of commodities at the mercy of casual purchasers. Diversity, to qualify as diversity, must allow those who represent the diversity to be diverse in their own ways, according to their own categories, not ours. We shall have to learn to live with the discomfort of seeing people using these categories, even when they are not fully transparent to us. For the true tolerance of diversity is the tolerance of incommensurable multiple worlds of culture and systems of knowledge. In this kind of tolerance, there is always the assumption that all the cultures covered by the idea of plurality are not and need not be entirely No. 123 MANUSHI Handsomely Bound in Maroon Leather in Nine Volumes Price for India, Nepal and Bangladesh : Vol. I Vol. II Vol. III Vol. IV Vol. V Vol. VI Vol. VII Vol. VIII Vol. IX : : : : : : : : : Nos. 1 to 19 (1979 to 1983) Nos. 20 to 37 (1984 to 1986) Nos. 38 to 49 (1987 to 1988) Nos. 50 to 61 (1989 to 1990) Nos. 62 to 73 (1991 to 1992) Nos. 74 to 85 (1993 to 1994) Nos. 86 to 97 (1995 to 1996) Nos. 98 to 109 (1997 to 1998) Nos. 110 to 121 (1999 to 2000) Postage in India : Rs 30 per volume All Other Countries: US$ 60 per volume (including air-mail postage) Send payment by cheque, draft or MO payable to Manushi Trust. : : : : : : : : :

Standard English Definitions and Controversies

Standard English Definitions and Controversies In the entry for Standard English in  The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992), Tom McArthur observes that this widely used term...resists easy definition but is used as if most educated people nonetheless know precisely what it refers to. For some of those people, Standard English (SE) is a synonym for good or correct English usage. Others use the term to refer to a specific geographical dialect of English or a dialect favored by the most powerful and prestigious social group. Some linguists argue that there really is no single standard of English. It may be revealing to examine some of the presumptions that lie behind these various interpretations. The following commentsfrom linguists, lexicographers, grammarians, and journalistsare offered in the spirit of fostering discussion rather than resolving all the many complex issues that surround the term Standard English. Controversies and Observations About Standard English A Highly Elastic and Variable Term [W]hat counts as Standard English will depend on both the locality and the particular varieties that Standard English is being contrasted with. A form that is considered standard in one region may be nonstandard in another, and a form that is standard by contrast with one variety (for example the language of inner-city African Americans) may be considered nonstandard by contrast with the usage of middle-class professionals. No matter how it is interpreted, however, Standard English in this sense shouldnt be regarded as being necessarily correct or unexceptionable, since it will include many kinds of language that could be faulted on various grounds, like the language of corporate memos and television advertisements or the conversations of middle-class high-school students. Thus while the term can serve a useful descriptive purpose providing the context makes its meaning clear, it shouldnt be construed as conferring any absolute positive evaluation. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, 2000) What Standard English Is Not (i) It is not an arbitrary, a priori description of English, or of a form of English, devised by reference to standards of moral value, or literary merit, or supposed linguistic purity, or any other metaphysical yardstickin short, Standard English cannot be defined or described in terms such as the best English, or literary English, or Oxford English, or BBC English.(ii) It is not defined by reference to the usage of any particular group of English-users, and especially not by reference to a social classStandard English is not upper class English and it is encountered across the whole social spectrum, though not necessarily in equivalent use by all members of all classes.(iii) It is not statistically the most frequently occurring form of English, so that standard here does not mean most often heard.(iv) It is not imposed upon those who use it. True, its use by an individual may be largely the result of a long process of education; but Standard English is neither the product of lingui stic planning or philosophy (for example as exists for French in the deliberations of the Academie Francaise, or policies devised in similar terms for Hebrew, Irish, Welsh, Bahasa Malaysia, etc); nor is it a closely-defined norm whose use and maintenance is monitored by some quasi-official body, with penalties imposed for non-use or mis-use. Standard English evolved: it was not produced by conscious design. (Peter Strevens, What Is Standard English? RELC Journal, Singapore, 1981) Written English and Spoken English There are many grammar books, dictionaries and guides to English usage which describe and give advice on the standard English that appears in writing...[T]hese books are widely used for guidance on what constitutes standard English. However, there is often also a tendency to apply these judgments, which are about written English, to spoken English. But the norms of spoken and written language are not the same; people dont talk like books even in the most formal of situations or contexts. If you cant refer to a written norm to describe spoken language, then, as we have seen, you base your judgments on the speech of the best people, the educated or higher social classes. But basing your judgments on the usage of the educated is not without its difficulties. Speakers, even educated ones, use a variety of different forms... (Linda Thomas, Ishtla Singh, Jean Stilwell Peccei, and Jason Jones, Language, Society and Power: An Introduction. Routledge, 2004) Although Standard English is the kind of English in which all native speakers learn to read and write, most people do not actually speak it. (Peter Trudgill and Jean Hannah,  International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 5th ed. Routledge, 2013) Standard English Is a Dialect If Standard English is not therefore a language, an accent, a style or a register, then of course we are obliged to say what it actually is. The answer is, as at least most British sociolinguists are agreed, that Standard English is a dialect...Standard English is simply one variety of English among many. It is a sub-variety of English... Historically, we can say that Standard English was selected (though of course, unlike many other languages, not by any overt or conscious decision) as the variety to become the standard variety precisely because it was the variety associated with the social group with the highest degree of power, wealth and prestige. Subsequent developments have reinforced its social character: the fact that it has been employed as the dialect of an education to which pupils, especially in earlier centuries, have had differential access depending on their social class background. (Peter Trudgill, Standard English: What It Isn’t, in Standard English: The Widening Debate, edited by Tony Bex and Richard J. Watts. Routledge, 1999) The Official Dialect In countries where the majority speak English as their first language one dialect is used nationally for official purposes. It is called Standard English. Standard English is the national dialect that generally appears in print. It is taught in schools, and students are expected to use it in their essays. It is the norm for dictionaries and grammars. We expect to find it in official typed communications, such as letters from government officials, solicitors, and accountants. We expect to hear it in national news broadcasts and documentary programmes on radio or television. Within each national variety the standard dialect is relatively homogeneous in grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation (Sidney Greenbaum, An Introduction to English Grammar. Longman, 1991) The Grammar of Standard English The grammar of Standard English is much more stable and uniform than its pronunciation or word stock: there is remarkably little dispute about what is grammatical (in compliance with the rules of grammar) and what isnt. Of course, the small number of controversial points that there aretrouble spots like who versus whomget all the public discussion in language columns and letters to the editor, so it may seem as if there is much turmoil; but the passions evinced over such problematic points should not obscure the fact that for the vast majority of questions about whats allowed in Standard English, the answers are clear. (Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, A Students Introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge University Press, 2006) The Guardians of Standard English The so-called native speakers of standard Englishes are those people who have somehow espoused a particular set of conventions that loosely have to do with the way English has been codified and prescribed in dictionaries, grammar books and guides to good speaking and writing. This group of people includes a large number of those who, having espoused the conventions, nevertheless do not consider themselves to be excellent users of those conventions. For many of these so-called native speakers the English language is a unique entity that exists outside or beyond its users. Rather than considering themselves owners of English, users often think of themselves as guardians of something precious: they wince when they hear or read uses of English that they consider to be sub-standard, and they worry, in their letters to newspapers, that the language is becoming degraded... Those who do feel they have rights and privileges, who have a sense of ownership of the English language and who can make pronouncements about what is or is not acceptable, as well as those to whom these attributes are accorded by others, do not necessarily belong to a speech community whose members learned English in infancy. Native speakers of non-standard varieties of English, in other words, the majority of native speakers of English, have never had any real authority over Standard English and have never owned it. The actual proprietors may, after all, simply be those who have learned thoroughly how to use a standard English to enjoy the sense of empowerment that comes with it. So those who make authoritative pronouncements about a standard English are simply those who, irrespective of accidents of birth, have elevated themselves, or been elevated, to positions of authority in academe or publishing or in other public areas. Whether or not their pronouncements will continue to be accepted is another matter. (Paul Roberts, Set Us Free From Standard English. The Guardian, January 24, 2002) Toward a Definition of SE From the dozens of definitions [of Standard English] available in the literature on English, we may extract five essential characteristics. On this basis, we may define the Standard English of an English-speaking country as a minority variety (identified chiefly by its vocabulary, grammar, and orthography) which carries most prestige and is most widely understood. (David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2003) SE is a variety of Englisha distinctive combination of linguistic features with a particular role to play...The linguistic features of SE are chiefly matters of grammar, vocabulary, and orthography (spelling and punctuation). It is important to note that SE is not a matter of pronunciation. . . .SE is the variety of English which carries most prestige within a country... In the words of one US linguist, SE is the English used by the powerful.The prestige attached to SE is recognized by adult members of the community, and this motivates them to recommend SE as a desirable educational target...Although SE is widely understood, it is not widely produced. Only a minority of people within a country...actually use it when they talk...Similarly, when they writeitself a minority activitythe consistent use of SE is required only in certain tasks (such as a letter to a newspaper, but not necessarily to a close friend). More than anywhere else, SE is to be found in print. The Ongoing Debate It is in fact a great pity that the standard English debate is marred by the sort of conceptual confusions and political posturings (no matter how poorly expressed) ...For  I think there are genuine questions to be asked about what we might mean by standards in relation to speech and writing. There is a great deal to be done in this respect and proper arguments to be made, but one thing is clear for sure. The answer does not lie in some simple-minded recourse to the practice of the best authors or the admired literature of the past, valuable though that writing is. Nor does the answer reside in rules for speech laid down by either the educated of any official body held to be able to guarantee spoken correctness. The answers to the real questions will be found to be much more complex, difficult and challenging than those currently on offer. For these reasons they might be more successful. (Tony Crowley, Curiouser and Curiouser: Falling Standards in the Standard English Debate, in Standard English: The Widening Debate, edited by Tony Bex and Richard J. Watts. Routledge, 1999)

The Facts About Cooperative Learning

The Facts About Cooperative Learning Cooperative learning is the use of small groups in the classroom so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning (Eggen, 279). The idea is not complicated. Class members are organized into small groups after receiving initial instruction from the teacher (Eggen, 280-281). They then work through the assignment together until all group members totally understand the concept and complete the work (Sadker, 106). Cooperative efforts require that students learn to labor together toward common goals, which develops social skills similar to those needed in the world outside school (Doll, 91-92).Positive interdependence is critical to the success of the cooperative group (Sadker, 106). This relationship helps students learn to give and taketo realize that some people have certain abilities and other people do not, yet still have other skills to offer. No one group member will possess all of the information, skills, or resources necessary for success.Gjermund Egg en etter 3-mila, VM pà ¥ ski i Oslo 196...Each group member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort. Realizing this creates a commitment to the success of the group members as well as one's self (Eggen, 279). A sense of interconnectedness can help students transcend the gender, racial, cultural, linguistic, and other differences they may sense among themselves (Sadker, 106). Cooperative learning also improves social acceptance of mainstreamed students with learning disabilities (Eggen, 277). Such interactive experiences are particularly valuable for students who are learning English as a second language, who face the challenges of language attainment, academic learning, and social adaptation all at the same time (Eggen, 277).Learning in a group environment does not end individual accountability as one may think. The group must be held responsible for achieving its goals and each member must be liable for contributing his or her share of the work (Eggen, 280). By keepi ng...

Gorbachev and the end of the Cold War essays

Gorbachev and the end of the Cold War essays In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed as a nation state. Although, in retrospect, this seemed the likely outcome after years of economic stagnation, political corruption, and most importantly, the collapse of all pro-Soviet communist regimes in Eastern Europe by 1989, no one expected it (Painter, 108.) The Soviet Union, ever since the death of Stalin in 1953, had experienced economic and nationalistic difficulties, but this had never led to such a drastic change of events. So why did it collapse so unexpectedly, and who or what is responsible for the disintegration? These questions have been the focal point of many debates in the historical and political arena, and this essay will take a closer look at one important issue. The issue at hand is, to what extent is Gorbachev responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union? Gorbachev came to power in March 1985 (Smith, 136) and, dismissing the Brezhnev era as years of stagnation, he announced strong intentions to radically transform the S oviet Union both politically and economically. Economically he aimed to radically restructure management and party through perestroika, and politically he intended to make the system more open to input and criticism through glasnost (Reynolds, 543.) Many historians claim that these two policies, which internationally became the catchwords of the Gorbachev era, caused the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Glasnost fueled dormant nationalistic sentiments throughout Eastern Europe and provoked public criticism of a failing political system, while Perestroika spelled deconstruction, not reconstruction of the economy. Other historians have turned the spotlight away from Gorbachev, focusing it on the hardliner President Reagan of the United States, who came to power after Jimmy Carter in 1981 (Cannon, online, 2001.) They argue that Reagan was the man who ended the Cold War through his national self-confidence, purpose, and optimistic m...

Is there anything we can do to save the environment Essay

Is there anything we can do to save the environment - Essay Example Various aspects of going green can be used in such an initiative. To begin with, the world should start by the initiative of planting trees. Over the last decade, the world has experienced massive deforestation, where many trees are used as a source of energy, raw materials, and other uses. This has had a dire effect on the climate change, especially when looking at the ratio of gases in the air. With massive deforestation, the numbers of trees that purify the air are reduced. As such, there will be excessive carbon in the air. This will pose a danger to environmental conservation, as the initiatives will not be optimized. To rectify such a situation, there is a need to reflect on the positivity of planting trees on large scale (Cook 140). For example, the late Professor Wangari Maathai initiated the Greenbelt movement. This was an initiative to help in conserving the environment from the forecasted climate change. Through the initiative, she was awarded a Nobel Prize. This shows tha t the world is appreciating such initiatives in ensuring the world is conserved to the highest limits. Secondly, there is a need to stop deforestation. Many countries across the globe have initiated strict penalties on deforestation, as it is a threat to the world’s ecosystems. Therefore, this initiative should be enhanced in the whole world, as it will be a prudent approach in conserving the environment. According to research, the population of trees in the world has been drastically reducing.

"Sony Pictures hacked by Russian blackhats, it now emerges Article

"Sony Pictures hacked by Russian blackhats, it now emerges - Article Example Companies require highly sensitive detectors to spot the attackers who get through their private information. The period to begin is before the attack hits: Sony could have managed well its workers well (Qamar, np). Their systems ought to have been under scrutiny of any attacker to keep their data and other third party information private. The worst private invasion in the Sony hack did not occur on to the stars or the executives, but the blameless workers who were used to daily sending and receiving of the system in the company. Consequently, they had their individual love lives, conversations, medical conditions, movie productions, and financial reports on exposure. The media may not have revealed the information but their relatives and colleagues peeked at it. Several personal tragedies unfolded during that period, all being an illustration of the compromised security systems. Information vulnerability can occur to any organization. People should not either reveal their personal details such as intimate conversations on Facebook, text or email to the company. Furthermore, they should not unleash their financial statements to their retailers. It is crucial that every person should be aware of the various crimes that do exist in the internet, and hence respond appropriately to remain safe. Most significantly, the Sony case study was quite a learning experience to both organization and their

Vodafone's sale of ownership of joint venture to Verizon Assignment

Vodafone's sale of ownership of joint venture to Verizon - Assignment Example It is expected that if the deal goes through successfully then it will be one of the biggest in the history of Merger and Acquisition (Financial Times, 2013). History of Joint Venture In 2004, Vodafone was close to sell their shares to Verizon Wireless but their initiative did not materialize then primarily due to Vodafone’s failure to bid for AT&T Wireless. The Chief Executive officer of Vodafone at that time, Arun Sarin, stated that both Verizon and Vodafone were interested in bigger stakes in their joint venture and both were unwilling to forego majority ownership (Yahoo, 2013). Vodafone entered the United States market in the year 1999 through a series of deals that ultimately resulted in the formation of Verizon Wireless in the year 2000, with Verizon Communications holding majority 55% stake and Vodafone the rest. ... Arun Sarin, who led Vodafone from 2003 to 2008, and the current CEO of Vodafone Vittorio Colao, has resisted the move by Verizon. The resistance of Vodafone was often made in the face of investor that demands for sale. Verizon Wireless became the largest telecom operator in the United States, a growing market that boasts higher prices and margins compared to Europe (BBC, 2013). The subsequent CEO of Vodafone Plc, Vittorio Colao, clearly stated that the company was still interested to sell the stake of Vodafone and dilute ownership but only when they get the right price in the sense that odds seeming favourable to owners of Vodafone Plc. Since then five years have gone by and it seems that Vodafone’s definition of the right time appears to be at present as evident from the official announcement made on the 29th of August 2013. The company has publicly announced that Vodafone Group Plc was officially negotiating with Verizon Communications to sell its stake in Verizon Wireless. In the past when Verizon initially offered to buyout Vodafone through Joint Venture, the company was valued at $ 100 billion. But the deal failed since Vodafone’s offer to sale its stake was valuing the entity at approximately a little over $130 billion. A popular article in The Wall Street Journal stated that Verizon Communications Inc. had lost a golden chance to get full control of one of the most active telecom companies in the world and its wireless joint venture. The company agreed to shell out billions more than it had to if the company had decided to buyout its partner in the past. As Verizon Wireless resumed dividend payouts, Vodafone has received $ 11.5 billion (? 7.34 billion) from the

Alternatives technologies to Gas flaring Dissertation

Alternatives technologies to Gas flaring - Dissertation Example The gas is emerged due to the drilling of oil and then separated from oil; it is released by pressure relief valves through vertical pipes. Gas flared through combustion affects the green house gases up to a considerable extent. The flaring and venting of gas from oil drills plays a very important role in emissions of greenhouse gas. The emission of greenhouse gas was at peak during 1970s around 110 million metric tons per year but it has been declined since then by more than three quarters and now estimated around 0.5% of all carbon dioxide emissions. As per the Kyoto Protocol, a carbon bonus had been announced for garbage collecting companies in some developing nations for installing combustion devices for the methane gas. These devices will help in preventing methane to reach the atmosphere by burning it. The burning effect converts the methane into water, carbon dioxide (CO2) and heat. As methane is twenty three times more powerful than carbon dioxide, it will also help in reduci ng greenhouse gas emissions with the same proportion. The gas flared and vented during the drilling process is very worth while and can be used for various purposes. According to a report by World Bank, "Over 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas are flared or vented annually, an amount worth approximately 30.6 billion dollars, equivalent to 25 percent of the United States’ gas consumption or 30 percent of the European Union’s gas consumption per year." The flaring and venting is condensed within some countries. According to the Wikipedia, "10 countries account for 75% of emissions, and twenty for 90%. The largest flaring operations occur in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The leading contributors to gas flaring are (in declining order): Nigeria, Russia, Iran, Algeria, Mexico, Venezuela, Indonesia, and the United States.[6] In spite of a ruling by the Federal High Court of Nigeria (that forbade flaring) in 2005, 43% of the gas retrieval was still being flared in 2 006. It will be prohibited by law as of 2008." Research Topic: The effects of gas flaring on the environment and to find alternative techniques to reduce its impact on green house gas emissions. Research Objectives / Purpose of study: The research objectives include some overall objectives that will be generalized and also some specific quantitative objectives as discussed under: To identify the risks associated with excessive gas flaring; To identify factors that influence the high and accelerated rate of greenhouse gas emission; To explore past trends of gas flaring; To identify strategies that have been implemented around the world to reduce gas flaring effect; To research and evaluate the possible alternate technologies that can be used to reduce the effect of gas flaring on the environment; & To identify the finest and environment-friendly technology for the purpose of gas flaring. Expected Outcome: The expected outcome of this research work is to achieve all the research objec tives stated above by testing the authentic and established approaches used previously for reducing emission of gas flaring and venting. Literature Review: According to the Fuel for thought: an environmental strategy for the energy sector (a report from the Environment Department of World Bank, 2000), there are many reasons of gas flaring and venting. The most significant one is the lack of resources to utilize the gas emitted

Sexuality is said to be both sacred and ordinary. Would there be any Essay

Sexuality is said to be both sacred and ordinary. Would there be any problems with persons understanding sex only as sacred, or - Essay Example This can be estimated from the fact that in our society, 4 per cent to 5 per cent of the juvenile girls are raped by their fathers, 33 per cent to 50 per cent of the women become the victims of completed or attempted rape and 1 in every 4 girls and 1 in every 9 boys experiences sexual abuse once in the childhood. Thus, criminals are using sex as a major means of violence in the society. A vast majority of women that become the victims of rape tend not to disclose the offence to their relatives or police with the fear of embarrassment and shame. They think that if they do file a case against the offender, it would highlight their sexual identity. Sexual abuse leaves the victim with scars in the mind for the whole life and is one of the major causes of depression among people in America. Much of the widespread sex-based violence can be attributed to the consideration of sex as a very sacred topic that can not be discussed openly. Such an understanding of sex is providing the criminals with innumerable opportunities of creating violence. Besides, consideration of sex only as ordinary and non-sacred topic is no less harmful for the society. This is so because consideration of sex as an ordinary matter is just not consistent with the level of secrecy and personalization ingrained in it. Sex essentially brings two people extremely close to each other physically. If sex is considered ordinary, people would be encouraged to doing sex in public which is against all standards of religion, ethics and humanity. Animals do sex in open. It is the superiority of mankind that makes human sex in public a very heinous idea.

Movie Review The Color Purple Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Color Purple - Movie Review Example Celie spends her time cooking and cleaning, caring for Albert's children, and putting up with Albert's father whom Albert all but worships and Celie hates. Celie makes a friend in tough Sophie, a young girl who marries a Harpo, a dapper young man. Even though Harpo's father is against the marriage, Sophie wins the battle and they are married in the small church. Sophie and Harpo squabble over who is the boss of the house, and one day when Celie is working in the yard, Harpo asks her how he should control Sophie. She tells him the only thing she knows: "Beat her." After Sophie bawls Celie out for the advice and Harpo shows up with a black eye, Sophie leaves Harpo for something better. Celie wishes she could leave like that, but she knows Albert would likely kill her if she even thought about it. Celie often thinks of Nettie, who had taught her how to read and write, since Nettie had gone to school and Celie did not. Unknown to Celie, Nettie was writing her letters, which she never saw but asked for often when the post was delivered. When Celie went to town, she often thought she saw her baby girl, whom she had named Olivia.

Alternatives technologies to Gas flaring Dissertation

Alternatives technologies to Gas flaring - Dissertation Example The gas is emerged due to the drilling of oil and then separated from oil; it is released by pressure relief valves through vertical pipes. Gas flared through combustion affects the green house gases up to a considerable extent. The flaring and venting of gas from oil drills plays a very important role in emissions of greenhouse gas. The emission of greenhouse gas was at peak during 1970s around 110 million metric tons per year but it has been declined since then by more than three quarters and now estimated around 0.5% of all carbon dioxide emissions. As per the Kyoto Protocol, a carbon bonus had been announced for garbage collecting companies in some developing nations for installing combustion devices for the methane gas. These devices will help in preventing methane to reach the atmosphere by burning it. The burning effect converts the methane into water, carbon dioxide (CO2) and heat. As methane is twenty three times more powerful than carbon dioxide, it will also help in reduci ng greenhouse gas emissions with the same proportion. The gas flared and vented during the drilling process is very worth while and can be used for various purposes. According to a report by World Bank, "Over 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas are flared or vented annually, an amount worth approximately 30.6 billion dollars, equivalent to 25 percent of the United States’ gas consumption or 30 percent of the European Union’s gas consumption per year." The flaring and venting is condensed within some countries. According to the Wikipedia, "10 countries account for 75% of emissions, and twenty for 90%. The largest flaring operations occur in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The leading contributors to gas flaring are (in declining order): Nigeria, Russia, Iran, Algeria, Mexico, Venezuela, Indonesia, and the United States.[6] In spite of a ruling by the Federal High Court of Nigeria (that forbade flaring) in 2005, 43% of the gas retrieval was still being flared in 2 006. It will be prohibited by law as of 2008." Research Topic: The effects of gas flaring on the environment and to find alternative techniques to reduce its impact on green house gas emissions. Research Objectives / Purpose of study: The research objectives include some overall objectives that will be generalized and also some specific quantitative objectives as discussed under: To identify the risks associated with excessive gas flaring; To identify factors that influence the high and accelerated rate of greenhouse gas emission; To explore past trends of gas flaring; To identify strategies that have been implemented around the world to reduce gas flaring effect; To research and evaluate the possible alternate technologies that can be used to reduce the effect of gas flaring on the environment; & To identify the finest and environment-friendly technology for the purpose of gas flaring. Expected Outcome: The expected outcome of this research work is to achieve all the research objec tives stated above by testing the authentic and established approaches used previously for reducing emission of gas flaring and venting. Literature Review: According to the Fuel for thought: an environmental strategy for the energy sector (a report from the Environment Department of World Bank, 2000), there are many reasons of gas flaring and venting. The most significant one is the lack of resources to utilize the gas emitted

Movie Review The Color Purple Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Color Purple - Movie Review Example Celie spends her time cooking and cleaning, caring for Albert's children, and putting up with Albert's father whom Albert all but worships and Celie hates. Celie makes a friend in tough Sophie, a young girl who marries a Harpo, a dapper young man. Even though Harpo's father is against the marriage, Sophie wins the battle and they are married in the small church. Sophie and Harpo squabble over who is the boss of the house, and one day when Celie is working in the yard, Harpo asks her how he should control Sophie. She tells him the only thing she knows: "Beat her." After Sophie bawls Celie out for the advice and Harpo shows up with a black eye, Sophie leaves Harpo for something better. Celie wishes she could leave like that, but she knows Albert would likely kill her if she even thought about it. Celie often thinks of Nettie, who had taught her how to read and write, since Nettie had gone to school and Celie did not. Unknown to Celie, Nettie was writing her letters, which she never saw but asked for often when the post was delivered. When Celie went to town, she often thought she saw her baby girl, whom she had named Olivia.

What Are the Humanities and Why Do We Study It Essay Example for Free

What Are the Humanities and Why Do We Study It Essay I went around asking multiple people what they thought Humanities was. Most of them kind of hesitated before they would come to a conclusion. I asked my friend, Gabe, what he thought humanities was. His response was, The study of humans and where they come from? He asked it in a question like he wasnt quite sure. Another person I asked was my friend, Amberly. She thought it was the study of humans health. She was also very hesitant when she responded to my question. My friend, David, response was, The study of cultures and how they express themselves. He was very quick to respond when I asked him. It didnt even take him a second to think about it. I finally looked up the word Humanities in the dictionary to find out the correct definition and this is what it read: a.the study of classical languages and classical literature. b.the Latin and Greek classics as a field of study. c.literature, philosophy, art, etc., as distinguished from the natural sciences. d.the study of literature, philosophy, art, etc.  Studying Humanities is important because individuals should be aware of the differnt cultures around them and be open to how people express themselves. There is a lot of judgemental people out in the world. I dont believe anyone should be given dirty looks for having piercings/ tattoos, dressing differently, being over/ under weight, etc. Everyone is unique and beautiful in their own way. Individuals should not have to change themselves because someone has made fun of them or looked at them differently.

Improve Customer Service In Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay

Improve Customer Service In Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay The main purpose of this report is to research the problems in customer service of hotel and promote substantive recommendations to solve the problems. The report comprises the special definition of service, analyses of problems and methods of solving the problems. In order to improve those weaknesses of customer service, this report also identifies some detailed strategies. 2.0 Introduction Along with rapid economic development, competition in hospitality industry is becoming more intense, and the customer service is becoming an important means of improving efficiency, building brand and expanding sales. The level of customer service will largely determine the outcome of competition. Guests check a hotel, buying not only the facilities, and guests have a dinner at the hotel, purchase is not limited to meals, more importantly, they want to receive high-quality and thoughtful service. Therefore, the hotels mission is to provide quality services for guests and to meet the needs of guests. It is common pursue of hotel manager that how to improve customer service quality and make the hotel in a dominant position in the fierce market. 3.0 Customer service definition Services can be defined as the sum of behavior effectiveness that hotel staff devoted their emotions to form with the basis of certain equipment and facilities and with the target of customers needs (Gavin B. and Gillian M., 2002). We can build a figure to explain the word service. Figure 1 As the figure 1 said that customer service contain eight means: smile, excellence, ready, viewing, inviting, creating, eye and giving (Joost P. M. Wouters, 2004). In fact, these are some of the dictionary explanation about service. It enables services definition more specific, more operational. It is a circle surrounding the center of hotel, and this circle form the definition of service. 4.0 Improving service quality is the survival basis for hotel Modern customer needs are diversified and personalized, and their requirements are also getting higher and higher. It requires the hotel starting from the customer needs and continuously improves service quality (Omar M. and Simon J. 2006). Fundamentally speaking, quality of service is the basis for survival and development of hotel. Competition among hotels, in essence, is the service quality competition. The reasons are as below: 1. Customers are sensitive to quality of service; 2. Customer satisfaction are positively related to service quality. 5.0 Customer service qualitys problems analysis 5.1 Level of service quality is low Many hotel staff lack of initiative. Smile service can not be carried out and lack of basic manners etiquette (Allan Yen-Lun Su, 2004), and the staff can not operate advanced equipments. Although the situation has been improved in recent years, it still does not meet customer satisfaction very well. 5.2 Lack of inter-departmental services co-ordination Hotel customer service products have the property of integrating and which is provided by different departments and staff. Hotel service quality is good or bad that depends on the degree of cooperation and coordination between different departments and staff. Many managers are more concerned with the performance of their departments, rather than the co-operation with other departments, the corresponding barrier will eventually rush the guests to turn to rival. 5.3 Service Quality Management is inefficient Hotel service quality products are not only the physical products, but also the intangible service. Intangible services principal is human-that is hotel staff  ¼Ã‹â€ Marianna Sigala, 2005). Regulating and controlling the conduct of staff is the fundamental way to improve the quality of services. 6.0 The implement measures to improve the quality of hotel customer service 6.1 Build support system of customer service level of hospitality industry Figure 2 (FL=foreign language skill OM=operation manage skill IK=information knowledge EK=etiquette knowledge) From the survey results, it is a must that strengthen the operation manage skill of high-star hotel staff, foreign language communication skills, as well as the growing populary information systems management knowledge and so on. Hotel should build the certification system of hotel industry staff training that implement a voluntary system of taking examination to post. Through scientific training, help new employees master certain amount of hotel industry business knowledge. 6.2 Hotel managers should strengthen awareness service quality The quality of customer service the centeral work in hotel daily management, thus all staff should have a sense of quality and managers must establish the concept of service quality. Only managers taken root deeply in the concept of customer service quality can he regard quality as the lifeblood of enterprises, and make staff recognize the importance of customer service quality (Ling-Feng Hsieh and Li-Hung Lin, 2008). 6.3 Establish perfact service quality management system Establish the organization of customer service quality management. Hotel should set up specialized organization of customer service quality management as ensuranment of service quality system. Specifically, it is that establish comprehensive, scientific and rational, and controlled service control system, and bring the hotel quality activities into a unified quality management system through a certain rules, methods and procedures. Make out quality standards and quality objectives. Hotel should make specific standards to daily management of each service item and service sectors, and make work norms and procedures to make employee have the rule to comply with. Hotel can accurately record service process of different positions and sectors, and then analysis carefully, further improve service according to quality manage requirement, finally rationalize it, and defined it with the form of text and graphics and then form a service program. 6.4 Implementing a system of first-staff being in charge As far as customers concerned, they visit hotel and spend money just for buying service, and they do not have interest in understand that with which thing they can turn to which person for help. They have the right to believe that any employee represents hotels and should solve problem for them. So this system means, any hotel staff working in the post, who is the first to be consulted by customers, will be the main person in charge of solving problems and request of guests (C. F. Cheung and W. B. Lee, 2003). 7.0 Conclusion In conclusion, many hotels need to improve customer service level. Therefore, control and review is required when implementing administration and marketing activities. The hotel has to establish business goals for controlling and reviewing.