Grapes of Wrath Journal Essay

Connection (Family) As the Joads ride on their journey to California, they travel as a whole, one unit, one family. And on one night they camp off the side of the road, and run into the Wilson’s, creating and merging into one large family, with one goal in mind, reaching California. But as the days of traveling continue, the family struggles to stay intact due to obstacles such as the staggering heat, lack of money, automobile breaking down, doubts brought upon by people who have been in California, and even death. But Steinbeck defines â€Å"family† as a unit with members who think of other members before themselves, and Ma expresses this idea clearly with Granma’s death. The Joads have a connection where each member truly has someone to have their back when in need. Tom shares this with Casy and Al, Ma and Granma, Pa with Granpa and Uncle John, Ruthie and Winfield, Rose of Sharon and Connie, but then there’s Noah who doesn’t feel the same love which is one of the rea sons that persuades him to depart from the family. They also have a structure in which Tom, Pa, Al, usually make family decisions and the eventually the final verdict is given to Ma. Overall, family is suppose to take care of each other when in time of need and work as one rather than individuals. Adaptation (Positives and Negatives) With the family traveling together, it’s evident that migration is a change that is supported and has to be overcome. And although the outcome of migration is suppose to be glorious, the journey to achieved the so call promise land gives the family a brutal beating of struggle, hunger, and even death. Granpa and Granma died due to lack of health and high heat, but then again the conditions were somewhat the same in Sallisaw. Then there was also the death of the Joads dog. With migration, the Joads needed leaders and this is where characters such as Tom and Ma come into play as the heads of the family. Tom in a way leads the men, especially Al, and Ma leads Granma, Rose of Sharon, and the kids. To conclude, adaptation or migration changed characters into leaders to lead the family to California but at great costs and struggle. Compassion Compassion is taking pity or seeing those in need and taking action in anyway possible to help them overcome their problems and obstacles. In Chapter 12, a general chapter, a story of a family of 12 who were forced off their land and had to carry their belongings in a trailer, waited on the side of the 66. They were eventually hauled by a man who took them to California and fed them. This act by the random stranger is compassionate because he sees the family in need of help and no way to get to California and offers to take them and even feeds them. It’s one thing to feed 4 or 5 people but 12, it must come from the heart. With the Joads, they do the same with the Wilson’s but the Joads are less compassionate because they use them for their car to ease the weight from their own car. Then there’s also the part where a man enters a diner and begs for some cheap bread and the worker is pressured by the cook to be compassionate and give the man bread at a discount. Another example of being compassionate is when Tom comes back from his venture for a con rod with Al and Casy and meets up with the family at a campsite but are forced to leave. When Tom leaves, he walks by a women cooking and comments on how he’d like some. The woman smiles and says when the foods ready, he can have some. Throughout the journey of the Joads we see that food is scarce yet this woman offers to share. And the final example is when the Joads decide to cross the desert leading to California and at the same time leaving the Wilson’s behind. Pa leaves behind cooked food and money for them, knowing how hard their desert journey will be. We see a sweeter side of Pa rather than the serious and quiet Pa that is usually portrayed. Overall, compassion is still around even with such devastation surrounding folks due to the dust bowl and overproduction causing foreclosures, the AAA telling farmers what they can’t farm. Many have lost their homes, land and past life, but some still have their heart. Symbols (Biblical Allusions) One thing that made be think of any biblical symbols or allusions that Steinbeck could have used was when the Joads formally entered California just after running over a snake. The snake part gave it away due to it usually referring or having to do with the devil along with the desert part. When the Joads spent a night traveling over the feared desert, it made me  think what they went through so far. They lost Granma, Granpa, their dog, and separated from Noah. They were traveling by force through the desert on a low budget, with little food, heat anxiety, and were crowded in their old jalopy truck. With the desert, what comes to mind is the desert that Jesus traveled through for forty days and forty nights, and as he traveled he was tempted numerous times by the devil. And one thing to keep in mind is that God forced Jesus to walk and pray in the desert. As Jesus was forced to travel in the desert so were the Joads by the officer. I see the temptations as the conditions that the J oads were traveling with, lack of food, heat, little money etc. Just like the temptations from the devil, and the conditions of the Joads, they were suppose stop them from continuing on with their journey and to give up. But instead just like Jesus did, the Joads overcame the desert and won against the devil and that’s where the running over the snake comes in. Antagonists (People along the 66) Throughout the section, businessmen, state officials, land, and migrates who have been in California add on to the already challenging journey to California with their sound business, anti-farming seizes, mountains, discrimination, and doubts. In chapter 12, a tire store raise their prices because they know it’s an essential for family to keep going, and in this case, the salesman lies to the customer about the condition of a tire just to get an extra buck. Throughout the journey, the fear of high slopes and the desert scare the Joads and Wilson of stopping them from reaching the promise land. And along with the fear of nature not playing on their side, the Joads hear all the same stories of California not being what people thought it would be like. One man tells them that jobs are in a sense free labor or slave like work because so many are migrating to California giving an abundance of workers to employers, giving the the chance to give them whatever wages and they want. The re’s also stories about not being able to farm or touch any fruit on trees, stories that it’s not worth going. The Joads meet a couple of families who were heading back home east, away from California. With these stories and testimonies, it’s hard for the Joads to have confidence and faith in their journey and destination. Characterization (Tom) In chapter 13, when Tom pulls alongside the road where a family is camping,, the Wilson’s, he politely asks if they have permission to camp along with them, even though the strip of land wasn’t under their ownership. With this action we see how kind hearted and friendly Tom is even though he killed a man. Another example depicting his traits is in chapter 16 when he proposes a plan that will split him and Casy from the rest, in order to fix their truck and have the others move along. His proposal and plan show his leadership skills. Another example is when he attacks the one eyed man for giving up on life due to losing his eye. Tom expresses his opinion that whatever defects or disadvantages a person has that they should make the best of it. Overall we see Tom as a generous, kind hearted, leader, that believes everyone has the opportunity to make something out of themselves. Quote a Passage (Unity) â€Å"When this family meets another family on the highway, they share their stories of loss†¦ For here ‘I lost my land’ is changed†¦ ‘We lost our land.’† (193). This quote is significant because it expresses the idea of unity that pushes the migrates to move as ahead as one. They share a common tragedy, the heartbreak of losing their land, home, or farm. A large part of the country is the same position, a dilemma, and the only solution is to head out west. And to do so, Steinbeck helps portray the families migrating as one by using â€Å"we† and â€Å"our† and if they want to achieve their prosperity, they must not only have the same issues but work together to solve those issues. In a way, the havok laid upon by the dust bowl, foreclosures, and overproduction can’t be solve by one individual but by the aid, work, and cooperation of many.

A study of Compensation Management Essay

In spite of the multiple benefits and advantages of compensation management and its impact on employee’s performance, it cannot still be said that having compensation management policy is a panacea for success in appraising, and managing employee’s performance. It is therefore the duty of all managers to ensure that the use of compensating policy meets employee’s expectation in order to have good and effective performance. The first basic requirement for effective and functional performance system is to have a common understanding of the standards of performance required from each job holder, performance required from each job holder and compensation management should be in relation with organizational goals and objectives. One of the primary responsibilities of management is to make compensation policy a veritable tool for optimizing the potentials of employees and human resources manager or practitioners should be in the driving seat in ensuring that the system is run in line with the principles of fairness and equity. SUMMARY The study was aimed at examining the impacts of compensation management practices on employees’ performance at the Nigeria Port Authority, Apapa. Questionnaires were administered to selected staff of Nigeria ports Authority, Apapa. The entire population was estimated at 340 people comprising of senior and junior staff and out of this population a sample of 100 respondents were randomly selected for intensive study and analyzed. The responses obtained from the questionnaire that was personally administered and the test of hypothesis Using chi square (x2 distribution) statistical method of analysis form the basis of the finding of this research survey. Some of the findings are, 1. That the Nigeria ports authority (NPA) has a well-organized and efficient compensation management system which is applicable to all the employees. 2. That compensation management system has a great impact on employee’s efficiency and performance at the Nigeria ports authority (NPA). 3. There is a relationship between compensation management policy and employee’s performance and that compensation management will lead to positive impact on employee’s performance. 4. That employee’s performance can also be determined through the use of some factors which are not monetary inclined like motivation, leadership, communication, objective, control, sense of belonging and decision making in relation to compensation management practices. 5. That despite the significant impact of compensation management system, performance of some employees is not up to the set standard of the organization.

Affirmative Action Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Affirmative Action - Essay Example The United States Department of Labor has implemented the affirmative action in a number of ways that include but are not limited to targeted recruitment, employee support programs, outreach campaigns, and management development. The American society has conventionally suffered a lot from racism and discrimination. There is a strong need to make such public organizations as the health care organizations, universities and the police increasingly representative of the needs of the respective populations that they cater for. Affirmative action has conventionally been subjected to a lot of debate and controversy. Policies implemented in the name of affirmative action including the gender quotas and the racial quotas for admission in the colleges in the USA have been identified as measures to promote reverse discrimination. Accordingly, the majority in the American constitution has rendered the implementation of these actions as unconstitutional. This paper supports the affirmative action because it is a way of increasing diversity in the American society at all levels, eradication of disparity in the earnings of people based on gender, and enhancement of the literacy rate of minorities in the USA. There is dire need of the affirmative action in the American society for the creation of diversity. ... John Stuart Mill asserted that the University intends to create diversity by providing people with frequent opportunities of interaction with people who differ from them. Diversity of students in terms of race, ethnicity, religion and culture is conducive for the development of a healthy educational environment in the schools and universities as it allows students to remove their differences and enhance their understanding of one another’s culture. This is particularly beneficial for the studies of sociology and psychology as students get to look at things from a wider perspective. Patricia Gurin who is the professor of psychology at the University of Miuchigan says that students in a diverse educational setting gain better learning and their tendency to play an active part in the democratic and pluralistic society after the end of their studies is enhanced. Therefore, affirmative action is the need of universities in America. Critics see diversity as a cause of dysfunctional conflicts among the organizational personnel. However, this is a very pessimistic and extremely biased assessment of the impacts of diversity upon the organizational culture. Although there is some possibility of arise of dysfunctional conflicts among the organizational personnel because of their cultural differences, yet this problem can be tackled with effective management and the conflict-resolution practices in place in the organization. Affirmative action is the need of the society because of the widespread lack of equality in the socioeconomic status of people in the USA. There are a lot of places where some people earn more than others simply because the former belong to the majority while the

Assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Assignment - Research Paper Example These people strive to gain more power upon the work setup and are best motivated by roles that require them to execute their leadership skills. The third need identified by McClelland is the need for affiliation. People who have this as the most important need are called as the n-aff people. These people seek to make friends in the workplace. The more they socialize, the more they are motivated for work. Putting these people in roles in which they feel isolated makes them lose motivation for work. Although the behavior of workers is a mix of all these needs, yet one of the three governs an individual’s behavior. This theory raises numerous new challenges for the managers. First of all, managers don’t have an objective means to confirm whether the three needs identified by the McClelland’s theory are sufficient to represent all needs. Some people value job security and salary more than power, affiliation or achievement. Even if managers assume that the McClelland ’s theory is sufficient to represent all needs, they don’t have a robust means to identify the way they are combined in different workers. In order to keep them motivated, managers need to be sure that a certain worker values certain need more than others. Then, there is no means to be sure that an individual’s need-combination would not alter with time. After all, people’s preferences in life keep changing from time to time. An individual who values power more than anything else at a certain point in time may start to value achievement more later on. Our likes and preferences are shaped by our daily life experiences. Hence, there is a lot of flexibility in out choice of needs. All these factors render it very difficult for a manager to address the individualistic needs of people and make them remain motivated for work. In this research, I tend to bring answers to the aforementioned doubts by exploring people’s needs in a certain work

Persuasive Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Persuasive Research Paper - Essay Example The idea of tabula rasa does not exist for them. Nurture theories, on the contrary, maintain that how people develop their children will determine the latter’s future. This paper argues that the environment is stronger than genetics in developing positive behaviors among children, even to the point of reducing genetic risks for negative behaviors. High quality early childhood education can nurture social and intellectual skills. Votruba-Drzal et al. studied the role of early education and child care experiences in influencing middle childhood behaviors for low-income children. They employed data from the Three-City Study, which is a longitudinal study that gets information about low-income children and families, using different data-collection methods. The Three-City Study investigates the effects of particular social welfare reforms on these children. Votruba-Drzal et al. provide findings, which show that high-quality early childhood care helped children develop less behavior problems, by the time they reach middle childhood. They notice that when children belong to more responsive, supportive, and well-designed early child care settings, they did not externalize bad behaviors, by the time they were middle-school students. Votruba-Drzal et al. stress that the results are predominantly salient for boys and African American ch ildren. A personal experience also shows that high-quality early child care results to positive behaviors. An uncle, three years back, complained of his two-year old son, Jimmy, who was very aggressive and naughty. Uncle Carlisle was already thinking that maybe it is his karma, since he was a very naughty boy before also. He enrolled Jimmy in a high-quality child care center that other parents referred him to. After one year after, Jimmy exhibited less aggression and became more sociable and obedient. Another example is a friend, who thought that her daughter has learning problems. At the age of two, she has very

Analysis of jungle book Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis of jungle book - Essay Example These stories all contain strong moral lessons, and can also be viewed as allegories of real life, not simply the animal life that they can be read as at one level. In the story the White Seal, Kipling uses a seal to portray the conflict within our own lives, and also gives us a look into what we humans are doing to nature. Just like all his other stories, Kipling opens the White Seal Tale with a song, the Seal’s lullaby. This song, which goes as follows â€Å"Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us, And black are the waters that sparkled so green. The moon, oer the combers, looks downward to find us At rest in the hollows that rustle between. Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow, Ah, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease! The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee, Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas!† helps set the tone for the whole selection, and also keeps with the Kipling tradition of the rest of the Jungle Book. This opening poem helps set the character for the white seal that is later introduce into the story. By including words such as â€Å"flipperling†, â€Å"rustle†, and â€Å"billow†, Kipling is able to use this poem to set the feel and mood of the rest of the piece. These tone words help set up the feelings of tranquility and peace, however it is this exact feeling that is set up here that is later disturbed. Kipling then uses the start of the story as an allegory against human beings and their many odd behaviors. He describes how the seals all flock to get the best piece of land, and spend many an months simply sitting there and fighting over the best piece of land. Looking into this, one can see the â€Å"high esteem† Kipling held for humans who fought over land, and acted just as stupidly as all of the seals did. It is also important to note that Kipling chose only

History of Christian Thought - Final Exam Questions Essay

History of Christian Thought - Final Exam Questions - Essay Example They were concerned with the future consequences of the kingdom. They identified themselves as â€Å"The Community of the Poor† and their social philosophies always favored the poor people (Frend, 27-28). Jesus Christ was given a violent death by his antagonists who crucified him onto a cross. The Jewish religion believed that the prophets usually sacrificed their lives as a martyr, and Jesus death occurred in a similar circumstance. Of course, being the â€Å"Son of God†, he resurrected himself within three days of his dying. Thus, his followers came to regard him as â€Å"the true and faithful martyr† who sacrificed his life for the salvation of mankind (Frend, 54). Paul, a religious genius, shifted the Christian ideology away from Palestinian Judaism to the Jewish cultural centers in Europe and Asia Minor. According to him, although Christianity was a reform movement within Judaism, one could become a Christian only through a formal process of baptism to the r eligion. However, Paul had not respected the Christian followers at Jerusalem and they naturally opposed his philosophies (Frend, 89). 2. During the 2nd century, Rome emerged as the leading center in Christianity. According to the account in Clement I, the Roman Church was governed by presbyter bishops, instead of a single authoritative bishop. Hermas’ account suggests that different religious officials were responsible of carrying out different tasks: Clement was in charge of the foreign correspondence of the Church while other bishops or overseers were asked to monitor the area of hospitality and other charitable activities of the institution. During this time, Rome also started implementing beneficial activities for communities living beyond the city (Frend, 130). During 130-180, the Christian religion experienced the advent of the Gnostic movement. The movement advocated a form of Gentile Christianity, which encouraged its followers to encompass all kinds of knowledge and experience in their ultimate aim of achieving salvation centering around the divinity of Christ. Basilides, Valentinus, and Heracleon were three of the pioneering teachers of the movement, who working in Alexandria, spread its influence to Rome, Italy, Asia Minor and the Rhone valley. The Gnostic philosophy laid the foundation for the Alexandrian school of theology and Christian Platonism, which flourished in the subsequent centuries (Frend, 195). During this time, the Christian religion was retained its presence although in a smaller scale. During the second century, Christians had become almost a minority in certain places of the western world. By this time, new religious movements were also emerging which differed from Christianity in their basic ideals. Religious fanaticism had reached such a peak that, Christians being a minority began to be persecuted at different places of the Roman Empire. 3. During the 2nd and the 3rd centuries, the Roman Empire started to witness evidence of religious syncretism among its citizens. During the ancient time, the empire had been under the pagan influence after which the Christian religion had become popular among the people. Now, influences of other religions had started percolating into Christianity and the people had started to include these new practices within their existing

Urban music and youth gang culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Urban music and youth gang culture - Essay Example Urban music is a prominently used term but the nature of its origin is not clear. Today, it is popularly known as a term used in referring to black music or music of black origin made by artists regardless of nationality or descent. Debates and arguments about the term and its wide scope is an ongoing topic among the music industry, music fans and artists across the countries.Urban music is a genre that is very broad. If you look underneath urban music, there are a number of core elements that include hip-hop, R&B, garage and into that obviously comes soul music. Urban music also includes reggae, rock n roll, blues and jazz but the term is most popularly attached or instantly linked to hip-hop. According to J. Decibel, urban music is a cultural movement among African Americans that began in New York City in the early 1970s but it was in the 1980s that urban music or hip-hop became popular1. In Hip-Hop and Youth Culture, Hip-hop is defined as mostly rhyming, rhythmic spoken word art-f orm known as rapping2. It includes a whole larger culture that involves rap, baggy clothing, break-dancing, graffiti, language and a lifestyle.Urban music or hip-hop in particular has become a common form of communication and enjoyed by young adults and children relatively throughout the world. Unlike in the earlier days, this music genre is no longer limited to plain art of music and dancing. In Hip-Hop and Youth Culture, it was mentioned that urban music has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry that has greatly manipulated a lot of industries like automotive design, fashion, television programming, collegiate and professional sports, media marketing and advertising3 . Music is essential in youth culture and in that sense urban music's potential to influence is rampant that it has stringed its way into young people's lifestyles particularly because it is a form of recreation that promotes creativity and self expression. Rapping in particular is a way of pronouncing one's pr ide in his/her community that also becomes a form of competition where a rapper can display his skills and support or defend their respective communities. It is unquestionable that adults tend to defer acceptance of this culture in comparison to young adults. Young adults are more inclined in adopting the culture when they are being reprimanded and especially when they know that adults don't understand nor like what they were into. Young black people embrace the culture because they sympathize to the music that is singing their lives. For young people that do not have any connection to the urban community or urban culture, there is still a lot of question as to why hip-hop or urban music fascinates them and this is nothing new especially for middle and upper-middle class young people. One apparent reason could be fascination to what is prohibited. Another could be that hip-hop music is exciting and offers a brutally honest view of life that embodied the prevailing values of society. Hip-hop and rap music started out as an art form to express social awareness and it did gather success in inspiring a certain amount of activism. It did not achieve the attention of the music industry and the music cable television program MTV though until it turned violent and unpredictable. The music industry became interested on the business possibilities that the music genre's hype could bring. Today with the upsurge of the billion dollar industry that this music genre has produced; unsettled prevalent consequences are emerging. One is the youth gang culture that is said to have influences from the "gangsta" life portrayed in violent lyrics and in the lives of some artists themselves. Violent lyrics pertain to offensive language, chauvinism, sexual promiscuity, fear and discrimination of homosexuals, parental and domestic abuse and the "gangsta" pride of refusing authority. As a result, popular culture readily identifies "gangsta" rap, hip-hop and in effect urban music as glorifying violence, rape, murder and drug

Wells Fargo & Co Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wells Fargo & Co - Essay Example Security and Exchange Commission is a US government administrative agency that was created by the congress to supervise and control the securities markets and protect investors. It is designed to enhance full public disclosure and to protect the investing public from fraud and exploitative actions in the securities markets. The securities act of 1993 was established by the congress to achieve two basic goals; to prohibit and prevent deceit and other fraud in the sale of securities and to ensure that investors get and other important information concerning securities being offered for public sale. The act empowers the SEC with wide jurisdiction over all aspects of securities industry including registering, regulating, overseeing brokerage firms, transfer agents and clearing agents, well defined services offered by the Wells and Fargo Co. Moreover, some of the acts of law governing the SEC include Trust Indenture Act of 1940 that applies to debt securities such as bonds, debentures and notes that offer public sale and Investment Advisers Act of 1940 that regulates investment advisers. The act requires that firms or sole practitioners compensated for advising others about securities investments must register with SEC to conform to regulations protecting investors. Through this different laws and regulation, the SEC has managed to prevent and control high risk gambles in banking to boost the economy (Sullivan 2003). In Business Law, all contacts are agreements but all agreements are not contacts. An agreement to be enforceable by law must possess the essential elements of a valid contract. The following are essential elements of a valid contact; Offer and Acceptance: In order to create a valid contract there must be a â€Å"lawful offer† by one party and â€Å"lawful acceptance† by the other party. This means that the offer must be accepted exactly as offered without conditions. Intention to create

Organisational strategy and decision making Essay

Organisational strategy and decision making - Essay Example It has also been observed that the company had set certain strategic directions for future, such as enlarging business in growing economies and empowering its competitive positioning among others. In order to mitigate the strategic issues and successfully attain the strategic directions for future, certain recommendations comprising both short and long-term have been provided. These include adopting, as well as utilising, the strategy of cost leadership and making substantial investments, especially in developing the performances of the entire workforce. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 4 Internal Audit–Strengths and Weaknesses 5 Strengths 5 Weaknesses 5 External Audit – Opportunities and Threats 6 Opportunities 6 Threats 6 Discussion 7 Evaluation 9 Conclusion 11 Recommendations 12 References 14 Introduction Strategies are fundamentally described as the ways that a particular organisation selects to compete with its key business market competitors or to comply with the requirements of the customers. In this similar context, organisational strategies are often defined as a pattern of effective policies, decisions, performances or programmes that support an organisation to accomplish its predetermined business goals and most significantly to attain significant competitive position over the major business market contenders (Rothwell, 1998). It has been apparently observed that the organisational strategies adopted as well as implemented by the organisations affect their decision-making procedures by a significant level. This is owing to the reason that the organisations deeply rely upon formulating effective strategies for the purpose of controlling as well as coordinating the information flow amid different parties such as the employees, stakeholders, investors and the customers (Fairholm, 2009). Tesco PLC is regarded as one of the biggest retailers in the entire globe which performs its business functions in 14 nations. The company employs nearly 5, 00,000 personnel and serves significant portion of customers every week (Tesco, 2013). The visions of the company are to attain utmost value from the customers that it serves and also the communities where it operates its different operational functions. Moreover, the other major vision of the company is to flourish itself as a pioneering as well as a modern company and grow its business in every region throughout the globe (Tesco, 2013). In this discussion, the internal audit of Tesco in the form of strengths as well as weaknesses and the external audit in the form of opportunities along with threats will be taken into concern. Moreover, a comprehensive analysis about the different strategic directions of the company will also be portrayed in the discussion. Internal Audit–Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths One of the major strengths of Tesco is that it is a leading organisation in the business market of the United Kingdom and is known as one of the best retail ch ains across the globe. Moreover, the other strengths of the company are strong brand recognition, increased business reputation and deliverance of superior quality products in accordance with meeting the requirements of the customers. In addition, the execution of e-retailing activities while conducting business is also regarded as the other crucial strength of the company. In this similar context, the company has acquired success due to its formulation

Tiny Little Hands Essay Example for Free

Tiny Little Hands Essay It was like any other night for Shelly Mason as she drove home from the office. Her journey took her through Black Cross Woods, the area where the infamous Black Cross murders took place. Legend had it that a man named Travis Burkton lured children into the woods and murdered them brutally. However the police investigation was discontinued some twenty years ago and nobody was ever arrested. Shelly saw a road sign ahead, illuminated by the glare of her cars headlights, it read, You are now entering Black Cross Please drive safely. Shelly hated these roads and always feared crashing on them, due to the fact there was nothingness for a good two miles in any direction. The roads were thin and wound through the dark, thick woodland of Black Cross. The road was lined with tall fir trees on either side, which meant none of the light from the moon reached the dark, dark road. Despite the fact Shelly was logical and strong-minded, she always felt a little unnerved when driving on this road. Perhaps it was the legend that scared her even thought she told herself it couldnt be true. She reached for a tape to listen to as she drove, that always relaxed her. The tape slipped out of her fingers and Shelly bent down to pick it up, keeping one hand on the wheel. When her head emerged she saw someone on the road in front of her car. Shelly instinctively swerved to avoid hitting the figure on the road and her car jack-knifed across the road and smashed into a tree. Smoke rose from the buckled bonnet of the car and the passenger window bore a large crack. Shelly instantly thought about the person in the road and knew she should check if they were all right. She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to get out of the car but screamed at what she saw. In the side window she saw the face of a young girl who looked no older that six, staring in at her. The girl eyes were wide and frightened and where her jawbone should be was a bloody void. Shelly panicked and backed away onto the passenger seat. The girl raised her bloodstained hands to the window of the car and rubbed them against the glass leaving tiny bloody fingerprints on the window. The thick stench of blood filled the cold car and Shelly knew she had to escape from this unnatural incident. Things she had heard about the Black Cross murders filled her head. People disappeared in these woods all the time, so people said, but Shelly hadnt believed them until now. She turned the key in the ignition to try and start the car again. The engine spluttered and groaned but refused to start; she was trapped. Shelly looked at the road again, looking for the lights of the nearest down. They were far in the distance, at least a mile to walk to. As her eyes darted around she saw figures emerging from the tree line on the other side of the road. They were walking slowly and as they grew closer Shelly realised they were all children. Each child had the same sickening features; a bloody hole instead of a jawbone, wide frightened eyes and bloodstained little hands. Shelly was petrified, she put her head down and prayed. God answered her as she noticed her cell phone was on the floor of the car. She quickly grabbed it and keyed in 911 and cried to the operator to send a police car to Black Cross woods. The operator said that the car was on its way and Shelly felt a degree of safety. She kept her head in her hands and her eyes screwed up tightly until a knock on her window caused her to jump back. Her comfort came when she heard, Its alright maam, Im a police officer. Shelly slowly opened her car door and stepped out into the cold, pitch-black night. What seems to be the problem? questioned the officer. T-They was here, all around the car. Shelly replied shakily. Who was here, miss? Asked the officer Theres nobody on these roads except you. Shelly looked confused but was relieved they had left her alone. She was even more relieved when the police officer offered her a lift back to town. In the drive in the police car nothing unusual happened. Shelly told the officer what had happened to her that night but he seemed unwilling to believe her. When the car pulled up outside the station in the town, the officer asked Shelly to come inside. Shelly obliged of course and was horrified to find that the officer wanted her to spend the night in a cell. Im not crazy! she yelled, I am not making all this up! Why wont you believe me? The officer stared at her for a moment then lead her to an empty cell. The cell was nothing more than a small room with a windowless steel door. Try and have some sleep miss, it is late. We can talk things over in the morning. Shelly sat in the corner of her dimly lit cell and tried to forget the events of this night, but knew they would haunt her for a lifetime. As the thoughts ran through Shellys mind, the bulb in the room flickered and went out and in the darkness she felt tiny little hands grasping at her throat. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

Social Exclusions Relationship With Poverty

Social Exclusions Relationship With Poverty Is The Term Social Exclusion Just A New Euphemism For Poverty? Introduction In some quarters the terms social exclusion and poverty are used almost interchangeably. This has led some writers to question whether social exclusion is a catch all term, and a new euphemism for poverty. In recent decades unemployment levels have risen dramatically and continue to do so. This has led to a rise in the number of those who are long-term unemployed. It has also meant that there are now a large number of people dependent on benefits. During the same period social changes and successive government policies have served to widen the gap between rich and poor. Field (1996) believes that under the Conservatives, there were fundamental contradictions in social security policy which continued up until 1997 when John Major was voted out of power. Conservatives vowed to get people back to work and to reduce the role of the ‘nanny state’. The Government targeted benefits, which became means tested, thus increasing dependency and putting people into a poverty trap fro m which it was difficult to escape. This Field (1996) contends is the major contributory factor to social exclusion and has, he states, led to the development of an underclass whereby some people are denied the social and citizenship rights enjoyed by other members of society. This paper will examine what is meant by social exclusion and compare this with some debates about poverty to assess whether the term social exclusion might be regarded as a new euphemism for poverty. Social Exclusion The Social exclusion unit was originally set up in December 1997. The Government’s approach, in setting up the unit is to find ways of tackling what they call the intractable problems of teenage pregnancy, deprived neighbourhoods and troublesome behaviour. The Unit aims to achieve this through the use of what they term a connective approach. New Labour’s social exclusion unit has produced a number of reports on the root causes of social exclusion and on initiatives intended to tackle them. Government documents[1] maintain that people who are economically disadvantaged are also liable to be disadvantaged in other areas. They may live in areas with the poorest housing, and have less access to decent schools and health services. Poverty is not just going without ‘things’ The Child Poverty Action Group has identified the fact that the poorest members of society suffer from poor health, stress and stigma. Theorists speak of the poverty trap because people become stuck in a never ending cycle of making do and mending in situations where people would choose differently, were they given the option. Poverty curtails freedom of choice. The freedom to eat as you wish, to go where and when you like, to seek the leisure pursuits or political activities which others accept; all are denied to those without the resources†¦poverty is most comprehensively understood as a state of partial citizenship (Golding, ed. 1986 quoted in Browne, 1998,p.61) Social exclusion is not restricted to the poor in society. Traditional families in rural areas may be excluded from leisure opportunities and cut off from basic services such as public transport (Giddens, 2001). Government policy often gives with one hand and takes back with another. On the one hand it initiates drives for social inclusion, many of them aimed at young people, on the other, there have been moves to restrict the amount of Local Authority Housing to young, lone mothers and the curtailment of benefits for those who are not regarded as actively seeking employment. Some of this is related to other Government policies, not least the pledge to strengthen families. The result has been that an increasing number of young, unmarried mothers and their children live with their parents thus shifting the responsibility back into the private sphere. The 2004 government report on tackling social exclusion maintains that exclusion is a generational problem and that those who have parents living on the margins of society are more likely to be among the socially excluded in society. The reasons for social exclusion are connected. Thus, poverty, unemployment, and a lack of education are all facets of the same problem. Government recognises that they cannot tackle social exclusion unless they adopt an approach that deals with all these issues together (ODPM, 2004). The report maintains that its efforts are paying off and that there is a reduction in the number of households where no adult is working and that what they see as the seemingly intractable problems of single parents and youth offending are being addressed (ODPM, 2004:6). It should be noted here that while the Government expresses concern, and pledges to help excluded groups, at the same time it labels them and crime and illegitimacy become increasingly linked with poverty in public consciousness. Poverty The Department for Work and Pensions Website published a paper on 8th April 2004, it states that the Government is determined to tackle poverty and its causes, not just its symptoms and that this will involve joined-up Government action across the board.[2] Definitions of poverty are highly contested however, and some sort of measure is needed if any practical application is to be achieved. The concepts absolute and relative poverty, are most commonly used, and raise heated debate as scholars fail to agree on the issue. Absolute poverty is the most minimum standard of resources that people could be said to need and is defined by the poverty line or poverty rate. Because standards of living vary widely between countries the poverty rate is calculated as relative to the standards that apply in a given country (Giddens, 2001). This is the poverty index. There are a number of indicators that are used to measure poverty in Britain and to assess whether a person is living in absolute or re lative poverty and the poverty index is widely used in policy decision making. This is problematic because Government measures of poverty are taken as relative to the household incomes of the whole population. The Institute for Fiscal Studies argues that this: obscures the true picture (because)..Previous predictions were too optimistic because they largely did not take into account the fact that the governments target measure of child poverty is a relative one (Guardian,25/6/03).[3] Since Townsend’s work in the 1970s many theorists argue that there are large numbers of people in Britain who live in a state of relative poverty. One of the problems with speaking of relative poverty is that societies do not remain the same, rather they change and develop and with this is the need for understandings of relative poverty to change also. Western society in particular is becoming increasingly more affluent and standards of relative poverty are adjusted upwards in response to this (Giddens,2001). The British Medical Journal (2000) report looked at absolute and relative child poverty in developed countries where household income is more than fifty percent lower than the average. The report found that in the league table of relative child poverty one of the four bottom places was held by the UK. Nickell (2003) contends that since 1979 increased unemployment coupled with a rise in benefit payments and earnings that are index linked to prices rather than wages, has re sulted in a massive increase in the number of people in the UK who are living in relative poverty.[4] The concept of relative poverty causes problems in a number of areas rather than using household income as the regulator it might be better if statisticians calculated the prices of basic goods and services (Daily Telegraph 27/08/02). Another approach to measuring relative poverty is through people’s perceptions of what constitutes the necessities of life. The work of Mack and Lansley (1985, 1992) identified a number of categories that were considered to be necessary to modern day life. There were twenty six things that most respondents considered important and included new clothes, heating, a bath and indoor toilet. Relative poverty was thus measured by the presence or absence of those things. The research found that there was a rise in the number of people living in poverty in the 1980s, this was defined by the lack of three or more of the basic necessities. Between 1983 and 1990 when the two studies were undertaken the number of people living in poverty rose from 7.5 millio n to 11 million and those living in severe poverty (lacking more than 7 items) from 2.6 to 3.5 million (Mack and Lansley, 1992). Poverty is also defined by people’s ability or inability to participate in social activities such as visits to the cinema or school trips. Social Exclusion and Poverty In recent years there has been a concentration on social exclusion, which does not look at poverty simply in terms of a lack of material resources, but at the wider picture of people’s ability to participate in society. The 2004 Report maintains that social exclusion is inter-generational and that such families are more likely to be headed by a lone mother, more inclined to be on the fringes of petty crime and to be long term unemployed. Children from these families often follow the same patterns as their parents and grandparents, There is, however, little concrete evidence to suggest that children of socially excluded parents always follow that pattern, there are many who do not. Unemployment, single mothers and homelessness are mentioned alongside rising crime levels, drug abuse and anti-social behaviour. Chambez (2001) Argues that single parent households are very often among the poorest. English speaking countries have the highest number of single parents, and those who ar e working are among the lowest paid. Employment chances are still limited for women with children because employers expect that motherhood is more important than a career (Walby, 1990). These are parents who are attempting to be self-reliant and while family working tax credits may seem like a good idea it is, arguably the case, that they serve to encourage a dependency culture for people who might prefer to be independent. Lewis (1992) has argued that Britain is a strong male breadwinner state with gendered welfare policies, for example its inadequate childcare provision. While no effort is now made to stop women working, the assumption is that women will be secondary wage earners and, despite the large numbers of women in paid employment, they tend to be in short, part-time, low status work (Lewis,1992:165). As Pierson (1998) contends women (and in many cases their dependent children), because of the way in which society works against their proper enfranchisement, are more reliant on the welfare state. This is a state which looks on them with less favour than it does the masculine majority because the latter are generally in more secure, long-term, and better paid employment. Such and Walker (2004) contend that public and policy debate on the lives of children and the family has increasingly centred around the idea of responsibility. The Prime Minister has gone on record as saying that people need to be responsible for themselves and their families and that New Labour was offering a hand-up rather than a hand-out. The Conservative Government had been voted out because they had failed to act and had not cared about the disadvantaged in society. Their values were wrong and the time had come for a new set of values where the better off and the disadvantaged worked together. There is a new u nderclass in Britain Tony Blair has said, who are cut off from mainstream society. He argued for a better society one where everyone was included, provided that if they wanted to get something out then they had to put something in. On the one hand Blair was handing out a vision of a utopian Britain while at the same time implying that if people were on the margins of life then by and large it was from their own rootless morality and they needed to act responsibly in order to be part of the new society that New Labour would create. What was termed anti-social behaviour is spoken of in the same light as criminal behaviour and Blair said that these things would be rooted out. The following excerpt from an early speech by the Prime Minister is, arguably, a central factor behind much of the Government’s agenda to those it deems to be on the margins: Now, at the close of the twentieth century, the decline of old industries and the shift to an economy based on knowledge and skills has given rise to a new class: a workless class. In many countries- not just Britain-a large minority is playing no role in the formal economy, dependent on Benefits and the black economy. In 1979 only one in twelve non-pensioner households had no-one bringing in a wage, today one in five are in that position  (Blair, T. 1997 no page number) This kind of rhetoric perpetuates the stereotypical view that people who live on benefits are work shy and thus quite happy to live on handouts. Walker (1994) argues that public conceptions that people on benefits have taken the easy option are misplaced, in the majority of cases life becomes a greater struggle. She contends that: Despite sensational newspaper headlines, living on social assistance is not an option most people would choose if they were offered a genuine alternative. Most find themselves in that position because of some traumatic event in their lives; loss of a job, loss of a partner or the onset of ill health (Walker, 1994:9). The Government’s 2004 report on social exclusion conflates it with poverty. In this way the Government resorts to nineteenth century views of the undeserving poor. Social exclusion has come to be a catch all term for anything that authority sees as detrimental to the workings of a capitalist society. It has become the new euphemism for poverty because in capitalist societies poverty has always been regarded as some sort of crime. Conclusion Poverty means that people are unable to afford the goods that are associated with an acceptable standard of living, social exclusion on the other hand, refers to more than the lack of resources to obtain commodities, it is, rather, a process of being shut out, totally or in part, from the social, cultural, political and economic systems which contribute to a person’s integration into society (Haralambos et al, 2000). Nolan and Whelan (1996) contend that, Talking of social exclusion rather than poverty highlights the gap between those who are active members of society and those who are forced to the fringe, the increasing risks of social disintegration, and the fact that, for the persons concerned and for society, this is a process of change and not a fixed or static situation (Nolan and Whelan, 1996:190). The effects of social exclusion, the 2004 Report further maintains, result in huge costs to society and to the economy. It would seem therefore that Government concerns over social exclusion are motivated primarily by budgetary concerns. Making social exclusion the new euphemism for poverty effectively criminalises those who in many instances are poor as a result of successive Government policies rather than through any fault of their own. Bibliography Alcock, P. 1997 2nd ed. Understanding Poverty. London, Macmillan. Blackman, S. 1997 â€Å"Destructing a Giro: a critical and ethnographic study of the youth underclass† in Macdonald R. ed. 1997 Youth, the Underclass, and Social Exclusion. London, Routledge Browne, K.1998. (2nd ed.) An Introduction to Sociology. Cambridge, Polity Press. Chambez, C. 2001. â€Å"Lone-Parent Families in Europe: A Variety of Economic and Social Circumstances† Social Policy and Administration 2001, 35, 6, Dec, 658-671 Field, F. 1996. Stakeholder Welfare. London, IEA Giddens, A. 2001. (4th ed). Sociology. Cambridge, Polity Press Haralambos et al 2000. 5th ed Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. London, Collins Mack, J. and Lansley,S. 1985. Poor Britain. London, George Allen and Unwin. Mack, J. and Lansley,S. 1992. Breadline Britain 1990s The Findings of the Television Series. London, London Weekend Television. Mack, J. and Lansley,S. 1985. Poor Britain. London, George Allen and Unwin. Mack, J. and Lansley,S. 1992. Breadline Britain 1990s The Findings of the Television Series. London, London Weekend Television. Nickell, S. RES conference paper April 2003 Poverty and Worklessness in Britain Nolan, B. and Wheelan, C. 1996 Resources: Deprivation and Poverty. Oxford, Clarendon Press Such, E. and Walker, R. 2004 â€Å"Being responsible and responsible beings: childrens understanding of responsibility† Children and Society 18 (3) Jun 2004, pp.231-242 Walby, S. 1986. Patriarchy at Work. Cambridge: Polity. Walker,C. 1994 â€Å"Managing Poverty†. Sociology Review April, 1994 p.9 The Daily Telegraph 27th August 2002 The Guardian Newspaper 25th June 2003 Townsend, P. 1979. Poverty in the United Kingdom. Harmondsworth, Penguin. Blair, T. 1997 The Will to Win, http://www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=59 (no page numbering) http://www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=44 Mental Health and Social Exclusion Consultation Document ODPM 2004. Count Me In http://www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id= ODPM. 2004 Tackling Social Exclusion: Taking Stock and Looking to the Future http://www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=13 page 17 Community Care, 2005 communitycare.co.uk/articles/article.asp?liarticleid=48388liSectionID=30sKeys=anti+social+behaviourliParentID=14th April (no page numbers). 1 [1]http://www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id [2] http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/2004/childpov-response/govt-response.pdf [3] Appendix One [4] http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp0579.pdf Nickell, S. RES conference paper April 2003

E Business Strategy: An Analysis

E Business Strategy: An Analysis Bank is an institution that deals with money as well as credit. It accepts deposits from the public, makes funds available to those who need then and helps in remittance of money form one place to another (Macesich, George, 2000, p-42). Modern banks today perform a wide range of functions that makes it difficult to give an apt and precise definition of it. One of the famous economists, Crowther had said, a bank collects money from those who have it to spare or who are saving it out of their incomes, and lends this money to those who require it. In short, the term bank in modern times refers to an institution that deals with money i.e. accepts deposits and advances loans; has the ability to create credit which basically implies expanding its liabilities as a multiple of its reserves; creates demand deposits and it is a commercial institution that aims at securing profits. Citibank is a subsidiary of Citigroup. Citibank was founded as City Bank of New York in the year 1918. According t o the latest statistics, it is now the third largest bank holding company in the United States by the total assets after Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. The bank has its retail banking operations spread over more than 100 countries and territories around the world (Harold, Cleveland Huertas, 1985). Apart from the standard banking transactions, Citibank offers credit cards, insurance and other investment products. Their online services have earned them appreciation from every nook and corner, making them the most successful in the field. The 15 million online users bear testimony to the stated fact. The key people involved in the management of the bank are: Vikram Pandit (CEO), John Gerspach (CFO), Douglas Peterson (COO) and Willliam R. Rhodes, the Chairman. Strategy literally means the way an action is planned to achieve the desired results. Every company has certain aims that it hopes to conquer. It has a vivid description of what it desires to achieve. The vision statement that company has is an idealized picture which inspires it, energizes its efforts towards directing its actions towards the expected goals (Hambrick and Chen, 2007, p 935-955). Strategic Decision Making, in context of a firm or an organization, is the framing of long term plan of action that aims at resulting in success and profits for the products and services marketed by the company, for instance (Triantaphyllou, 2000, p 320). Strategic decision making is important to outperform the various other competitors in the market. The process of determining appropriate courses of action for achieving organizational objectives and thereby accomplishing organizational purpose is known as Strategy formulation. In todays era of cut-throat competition in the business environme nt budget-oriented planning or forecast-based planning methods are insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. The firm must engage in strategic planning that clearly defines objectives and assesses both the internal and external situation to formulate strategy, implement the strategy, evaluate the progress, and make adjustments as necessary to stay on track (Kepner and Tregoe, 1965). A strategy thus formulated, should reflect on environmental analysis, basing on sustainable business. It should lead to the materializing of the vision of the organization, as to where the organization sees itself in the years to come and result in achievement of organizational objectives. It basically comprises of the following steps: Setting up mission and objectives: The mission statement describes the companys business vision, including the unchanging values and purpose of the firm and forward-looking visionary goals that would guide the pursuit of future opportunities and lead to its long term stance in the business world. Measures such as sales targets and earnings growth are the organizations financial objectives. Strategic objectives are related to the firms business position, and may include measures such as reputation in the market and market share. Environmental Scanning: The environmental scanning includes the internal analysis of the firm, external macro-environment and the analysis of the firms task environment. Various scientific analysis have been developed which assist in the process of environmental scanning. A deep rooted internal analysis of the firms strengths and weaknesses and external analysis of the threats and opportunities gives us a clear picture about the firms stance. And a profile of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is given by the SWOT analysis. It gives us proper information regarding the concerned firm which helps us in matching the firms resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates (Menon et al, 1999, p 18-40). Strengths are used in developing the rudiments for a competitive advantage. Strengths include exclusive access to high grade natural resources, patents, strong brand names, favorable access to distribution networks and good reputation among cus tomers. The weaknesses are high cost structure, lack of access to the best natural resources, lack of access to key distribution channels, a weak brand name and bad reputation among customers. Opportunities are chance occasions for growth and prosperity. They may include: removal of international trade barriers, loosening of rules and regulations, introduction of new technologies and an unfulfilled customer need (Hill and Westbrook, 1997, p 46-52). The changes in the external environment may pose serious threat to the organization. For instance, emergence of substitute products, new regulations, increased trade barriers and shifts in consumer tastes away from the firms products. The external macro environment can be tested on the PEST analysis scale. The acronym PEST (or sometimes rearranged as STEP) is used to describe a framework for the analysis of these macro environmental factors. It is the Political, Economic, Social and Technological analysis. Political issues include Governm ents policies and legal issues like Tax policy, employment laws, trade restrictions and tariffs and political stability. Economic growth, Interest rates, Exchange rates and Inflation rates determine the Economic conditions of the market. Social factors include career attitudes, age distribution, population growth rate, health consciousness and emphasis on safety. The various factors like Automation, research and development activity, technological incentives and the rate of change of technology, influence the technological aspect of the functioning of the organization. A framework developed my Michael Porter known as Porters five forces can also be used in drawing industrial analysis. Strategy formulation: Keeping in mind the strengths and the weaknesses of the organization, it charts out its strategy that helps it in optimizing its resources and gaining maximum profits out of it. Business trends analysis, Market analysis, Competitive analysis, Market segmentation, Marketing-mix, SWOT analysis, Positioning analyzing perceptions and Sources of information are all studied closely and accurately and then strategies are formulated on the basis of the three generic strategies. The Cost Leadership strategy focuses on being the low cost producer in an industry for a given level of quality (Chaffee, 1985). The firm sells its products either below the average industry prices to gain market share or at the average industry prices to earn a profit higher than the market rivals. In the situation of a price war, the firm can maintain some profitability while letting the competition suffer losses. Even without a price war, as the industry matures and prices decline, the firms that can produce more cheaply will remain profitable for a longer period of time. The cost leadership strategy usually targets a broad market. The internal strengths that lead to success in cost leadership strategy are: High level of expertise in manufacturing process engineering, Skill in devising products for efficient manufacturing, having access to required amount of capital for investing in production assets and efficient distribution channels. The second generic strategy, i.e. The Differentiation Strategy triggers the development of a product or service that offers unique attributes that are valued by the customers and that customers consider it to be better than or distinct from the products of the competition. That means it gives ultimate utility and satisfaction to the consumer. Factors like access to leading scientific research, strong sales team that has the inherent ability to put forward the perceived strengths of the product in the market, highly skilled and creative product development department and corporate reputation for quality and innovation, result in the success of Differentiation Strategy (Mulcaster, 2009, p 65-70). The third generic strategy that is the Focus Strategy, finds its essence in a narrow segment within which it tries to achieve either a cost advantage or differentiation. The basic idea is that needs of the group are better serviced by focusing entirely on it. Strategy Implementation: The strategy thus finalized is then implemented using budgets, programs and procedures. The firms resources are organized and allocated and proper motivation is given to the work force to achieve its objectives and thus the strategy is implemented. The way in which the work force perceives the strategy is different. It is logical, that the people who formulated the strategy and the people who will implement it are very different from each other and thus there might be a conflict of opinions, if proper care is not taken to communicate efficiently. Misunderstanding may lead to chaos. Evaluation and Control: The implemented strategy has to be followed up and monitored in every step, and adjustments, if any required, will be made to adapt to the changed scenario of the market. Evaluation would primarily revolve around defining parameters to be measured, defining target values for those parameters, performing measurements, comparing measured results to the pre-defined standard and making necessary changes. E-BUSINESS: The application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in support of all the activities of business is known as Electronic business or e-business(Louis Gerstner,1996, p 172). Commerce deals with the exchange of products and services between businesses, groups and individuals and can be seen as one of the most essential activities of any business. The application of Information and Communications Technology to enable the external activities and relationships of the business with individuals, groups and other businesses is what Electronic commerce is all about. Electronic business methods empower companies to link their internal and external data processing systems more efficiently and adaptably, to work more closely with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers (Timmers, 2000, p-31). In practice, e-business is far more than just e-commerce. While e-business refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions that occur using electronic capabilities, is a subset of an overall e-business strategy. E-commerce aims to gather revenue streams using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and nurture relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency (Miller, Roger, 2002, p741). Often, e-commerce involves the application of knowledge systems. E-business involves business processes spreading the entire value chain: electronic purchasing and supply chain management, handling customer service, processing orders electronically, and cooperating with business partners and catering to their needs online, via internet. Special technical standards for e-business enable the exchange of data between various companies. Basically, electronic commerce (EC) is the process of buying, transferring, or exchanging products, services, and/or information via computer networks, including the internet. EC can also be benefited from many perspective including business process, service, learning, community. EC is often confused with e-business. . E-business software solutions allow the integration of intra and inter firm business processes. E-business can be conducted using the web, the Internet, intranet and extranet or a combination of these. E-BUSINESS STRATEGIES: With the arrival of the Internet facilities and plenty of web development technologies all over the world, e-business is the new talk of businesses in todays world. E-business, like any other emerging field, is changing fast and in the process is changing the way businesses formulate their strategies and conduct their business through realization of those strategies. : E-business scores over the traditional sphere of business by adding speed to the business activities and giving a totally new dimension and definition to businesses worldwide be it whether partnerships, joint ventures or large corporations. It makes transactions quicker in this world of fast pace (Andam, 2003) . The intranet, internet, cellular networks and various other forms of digital technology have resulted in formation of a niche value chain among clients, employees, suppliers, stakeholders and traders coordinated and interlinked in the world of web marketing. The equipments and pillars of e-business strategies include acceptance of payments over the Internet, online advertising, on-line trading and auction deals over the Internet. E-business strategies differ for small and medium-sized businesses. Apart from regular sources, e-business strategies can generate revenue made from paid marketing alliances, revenues derived from franchisees and subscriptions and revenue from maintenance of current channel integrity. E- Business technology provides organizations with a great opportunity to nurture relationships with external and internal parties across its value and supply chains, to realise its competitive advantages. In doing so, however, the solution is not in the application of technology alone, to develop an effective e-Business strategy and for a successful implementation to be realised, existing business interactions must be modeled and scrutinized to trace the interactions that will benefit from this paradigm. The business processes supporting these interactions must be reformulated and designed to effectively perform the procedures behind the interactions. These changes to the business will drive changes to the supporting technology and to the stakeholders that perform the business processes using the technology. The use of Internet has helped and garnered the worldwide development of business that reaches out to a wider consumer base and advertises their products more effectively and ef ficiently. E business has been added as the latest domain in business and has become a must-have in the highly competitive technology driven open market. E Business Strategy can be summed up as the overall strategies that govern E Businesses through calculated information dissemination or scattering. Information dissemination has been widely regarded as the strongest attribute of e-business, which uses information technology in a most effective and exhaustive manner. Not only has e-business has come to play a significant role in the scenario of world trade; there is no business without an accompanying e-business in todays world. E business gives a business the opportunity, the chance to open its base to the global market and become a part of the global business community. The most important feature of e-business is that the helps businesses move on to the international scene at maximum efficiency using minimum cost. E-business has achieved unparalleled levels of success as business models (Business Software Alliance. 2001). For instance: Materials Requirement Planning (MRP), EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). The essential features of e-business strategies are Supply Chain management and email marketing. A state-of-the-art E Business Strategy would generally include: Supply chain management: According to Harland, the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision product and service packages as required by the consumer is known as Supply chain management. The supply chain spreads all over from governing the storage and movement of raw materials to the inventory of the production process and the finished goods, from the origin point till the point where it is finally consumed (Mentzer et al., 2007, p 1-25). The effective management of supply chain can be taken care of with the help of e-business strategies, which will ensure better coordination and understanding between the wholesalers and the retailers of various products that are launched into the market. Better integration of the supply chain right from the source till the final delivery of the product can be effectively put to work using e-business strategy (Hines, 2004). This also leads us to the point of e- commerce where a parallel network of selling and buying can be seen using dissemination or scattering of information over the Internet. Everything ranging from automobiles to electronic gadgets can be bought over the Internet in a hassle free manner under the aegis of sound supply chain management. Customer service and customer relationship management: Effective e-business strategies would involve better customer service and customer relationship management ensuring the highest level of consumer satisfaction. E business is targeted at providing the services that are customer friendly, which would include the delivery of goods right at the doorstep of the consumer, right on time. Inventory and service management integration: E business strategies can also help in improved inventory and service management integration through formulating certain specific plans for accumulation of inventory and purchasing of machinery and equipment which will avoid unnecessary purchases that would ultimately lead to higher expenditures and entail different tax implications. Tactical operations alignment: Tactical operations implying towards short-term goals as opposed to strategic planning aimed at long term goals can be better coordinated by implementing the e-business strategies. Implementing Business Strategy: Implementing e-business strategy is a major task and to ensure its success, from the beginning itself, objectives need to be identified and measurable goals need to be chalked down. This will include finding out steps in a business process, minimizing errors by eliminating paper-based transactions, introducing new market opportunities or improving information access among managers, departments or strategic business units. The costs and impacts of the establishment are measured in terms of resources, time and money. The impact of business should be anticipated, well ahead of time. The introduction of e-business technology across multiple strategic business units will require a major commitment of IT department. Since e-Business applications are transparent to all major hardware platforms, operating systems and databases, thus, using an open architecture configuration eliminates this concern (Charlesworth, 2009, p 49) . If an effort to make clarifications regarding the value of the strategy to the stakeholders is made, then the process of implementation becomes smoother. For instance, e-Procurement applications add value at the purchasing department level by reducing errors and streamlining the processes involved. At the organizational level value is added by facilitated purchasing in groups which cuts costs and vendors receive added value because they have quick and prompt access to information so they can track invoices and payments. The execution of the business interaction model is expected to place us in a position to clearly identify and apply values that can be quantified to the four issues discussed above, the net resul t of which is the formulated e-Business strategy itself. E-business strategy in Citibank: Banks today are up-to-date with both the pros and cons of the internet. They are aware of the opportunities and threats that are associated with the Web. Not a single traditional bank is brave enough to face investment analysts without an Internet strategy. But even a very thoughtful approach to the Web may do no good to the company/ organization. The main purpose behind launching online banking services is to provide the customer an alternative way which is more responsive and less expensive i.e. is cost friendly. CitiDirect is the centre of the Citibank global e-Business strategy. The Business strategy of Citibank is to : CONNECT their customers to their web enabled services, TRANSFORM their capabilities into new Internet offerings and EXTEND our reach into new markets via integrated infrastructure solutions and partnerships with technology companies or e-Commerce market makers. They have innovative e-business solutions like: 1) CitiPhone 24 hours Phone Banking Service 2) ATMs- Automated Teller Machines 3) CitiAlert GSM notifications service 4) E-Card Internet Shopping Card 5) CitiDirect Corporate Internet Banking Service, and 6) Citibank Online Retail Internet Banking Service. Citibank is committed to an e-business strategy-Connect, Transform and Extend-was to web enable its core services, develop integrated solutions and reach new markets. (McCauley Khan, 2002, p.1). Their strategy is to position Citibank as the embedded Financial Services engine that powers the Internet economy. Citibank tries to differentiate itself from competitors by using its customer service efficiently. Several services are offered to their clients. Citibank offers telephone hotlines, customer relations managers to give individual care and attention to address the issues of their customers, and service experts. Citibank has been investing in technology for the front and back end of the banking systems, consistently for a long time now. Citibank was also committed to its customers. According to the case study, Citibanks vision was to become the worlds leading e-business enabler. Citibank had over 268,000 employees located in over 100 countries and their focus was to embed their ser vices into the everyday lives of the local population. Its a bank that has its roots spreading all over the country as deep as any local indigenous bank, offering diverse products, building a broad customer base, actively participating in the social community and recruiting staff and senior management from the local population and hence guaranteeing employment and stability to the economy. Apart from being committed to employees and customers all over the world, Citibank has strong brand recognition and continues to invest in technology. The leading Citigroup formed alliances with Oracle, Commerce One, Inc., SAP AG, Wisdom Technologies and Bolero.net to help metamorphosis of its company to an e-business model, to place itself strongly within the technology sector. In 2000, four companies got together with Citibank to form Financial Settlement Matrix.com It is a company that connected buyers and sellers in e-marketplaces with credit, payment processing and other services through multiple participating banks and financial service companies. Citibank is always open to adjustments to adapt to the ever-changing business environment and thus it obtains the place of one of the most successful banking chains in the world. Citibank, in its pursuit of transforming its traditional assets to digital assets has established departments necessary to manage the process. Citibank form ed the Internet Operation Group which shouldered the responsibility of distributing Internet activities among e-Citi and all other business units. Shortly after that, e-Consumer and e-Business segments were established with the aim of infusing internet to the entire customer and corporate banking activities and services. After a while, e-Capital Markets and e-Assets Management departments were also established. The e-Business unit has the task of developing the software needed to set clients up with electronic business accounts, utilizing both IT and business people. The e-workplace gave a tremendous boost to Citibank when it was in its pursuit of transitioning from the traditional way of doing business to the electronic way. Constant attention is given to development in order to make upgrades in the e-business model. The key to manage the flow of money, for its corporate consumers through the World Wide Web was delivering an integrated solution that would enable its corporate custo mers to conduct transaction on-line. Citigroup desired to be the middle intermediary between buyers and sellers for any sort of transaction. Their strength is the customer-centered approach including response time, technology and support which gains the confidence of the customers on the products of the bank. Citigroup is dedicated towards creating products that cater to different industries and business needs by taking appropriate steps, be it investing thousands of millions of dollars in the online technology or starting e-business groups. By the end of 2000, customers had begun demanding electronic invoicing, online payments guarantees and digital receipts stored online and automatic application of payments to account receivables. Citibanks strategic intent is to convert its traditional money management business into an e-business framework. Porter had accorded two main ways for a company to compete on the global front. One was cost advantage and the other was differentiation {Po rter, M.E (1980)}. And Citibanks strategy was not to compete on price and was bored rooted to the differentiation aspect. Since there are many other companies which market similar products and services, Citibank bases its differentiation on customer service. Traditionally, offering telephone hotlines, product consultants who provided service expertise, relationship managers who understood clients needs and expectations, and most important, continuous involvement in investing in technology to support both the front-end and the back-end electronic banking systems. In order for the transformation of traditional assets into digital assets, to be successful, the company must maintain or enhance its differentiation. Since the companys differentiation is based on customer service, that means that in the transformation from traditional to digital assets the company must continue to be highly responsive to the customers current and future needs and cater to the expectations of every single c lient without any fail or bias, and must do so to a higher level than the competition and set a higher standard than that set by the other competitors in the market. The alliance with the four companies Oracle, Commerce One, Inc., SAP AG, Wisdom Technologies and Bolero.net helped the Citigroup to transform and grow. In earlier occasions, the company had invested millions of dollars on its own in multiple areas of e-business, and had miserably failed. As technology is not Citibanks field of expertise, it found keeping in sync dealing with constantly changing technology to be an expensive battle, which it ultimately lost. However, by 2000 Citibank learnt form its failure. Taking lessons from its experience it changed its strategy to one of garnering alliances and using its partners strengths to create the technological infrastructure that the company needed to access markets and meet its customers changing demands. Working through alliances increased its effectiveness, reduced Citiban ks risks and costs, and allowed it to remain pliable in meeting changing technological and customer demands. Both in the short term and long term, the customers demands vary. According to McCauley and Kahn (2002), one of the most important hurdles for Citibank to overcome in canalizing customers from traditional to digital service was addressing their deep seated concerns about security. While to some extent this troubled Citibanks efforts in rolling out Web-based applications, it did actively implement multi-layered security architecture public and private access keys, single-use passwords and multiple authorization controls in order to meet customer needs (McCauley and Kahn 2002, p. 9). To add to it, with digital processing it aspired to transform repeatable processes that could be commoditized into an efficient digital factory. The transformation of goods and services (or things that may not normally be regarded as goods or services) into a commodity is known as commoditization. Commoditizing repeatable processes improves efficiency, but also gives scope to resources for additional regional emphasis i.e. localization. The strong brand name of Citibank is a resource that translates into increased trust as a trusted provider when competing with Deutche Bank and other competitors. In fact, most Fortune 500 companies assign value to Citibanks specific offerings, and prefer it to other international payment providers. Citibank, then, offers multiple areas of value to customers. The evidences of constant work in the field of imbibing recent technologies and adjusting to the changing business environment are many. The cooperation of the software giant, Microsoft and financial giant, Citibank led to the reinforcement of high standards. With a global network spanning more than 100 countries, Citi will benefit from this collaboration because the CitiDirect BE platform will help monetize its best-in-class service offerings and broad geographic coverage, while taking f ull advantage of Microsofts expertise in platform engineering, development of independent software vendor communities, and product life-cycle management, read an article on internet. Thus the commitment of Citibank to deliver global services and enhanced value through world-class partnership and innovative e-business solutions that meets the customers expectations in very evident and worth trusting. But the question that is worth focusing on now, is whether this value translates into a competitive advantage which translates into additional profits. The focus now would shift to question how unique are the solutions offered by it. Soon the cutting edge technological capabilities might become hygiene factors which will be considered to be required and not a competitive advantage and thus would not qualify for differentiation. Potential growths in e-business are always happening and continuous developments are indispensable. More and more companies are willing and opting to do everything from banking to purchasing to marketing online. Thus it becomes very essential for Citibank to align itself with the right partners in order to maintain their standards and their sta nce in the e-business sector. Company executive Tom Edgerton stated, In the future, it wont be what your company can do, but what the network of companies you work with can provide. In order for Citi to continue to grow, it must evolve in its e-Business model and develop unceasing updates to its online products. Expanding on their existing good reputation, enhanced web features and exceptional customer service, would be the fundamental opportunities for Citibank. According to Edgerton, Citibank brings considerable value to potential alliance partners. Theyre interested in our brand, our financial services expertise, our global presence, our strong customer relationships and position as a trusted provider, as well as our knowledge of specific industries and international markets. The regionalization and specialized processing centers that Citibank has developed has provided them with scale and continual improvement opportunities. Like all other sectors and organizations, Citibank is also dedicated towards improving information management practices. This in turn improves the efficiency of business processes, the demands of compliance reg

Barclays’ Internal and External Customers :: Business Management Studies

Barclays’ Internal and External Customers Barclays offers a wide range of services to both internal and external customers. Internal customers are member of staff/colleagues that work in an organisation. Examples of internal customers in Barclays include: Small Business Managers, Customer Relations Team, telephone operators, Financial Planning Managers, Customer Service staff, Counter staff, Accountants, Consumer Relations Team, and Relationship Managers. External customers are the majority of individuals who lives in the local areas. Examples of external customers of Barclays include: disabled people, elderly, foreign people, parents, couples, widows, divorcees and students (from schools, colleges, and universities). Internal customers Barclays has number of internal customers who works for them, and also does banking with them. About 5% of accounts belong to Barclays’ staff. It is very important for Barclays to have internal customers because, without them, the financial organisation will have difficulties to meet the needs of external customers. For example, if you image the organisation as an iceberg, only 1/10th is above the water (the external customer), but 9/10th is hidden below the water (internal customers) which, is supporting external customers. This good example of importance of internal customers was extracted from the following website: www.citysun.ac.uk/newonline/customercare/task1/intro.htm. So, if you remove the bottom half of the iceberg (internal customers), top half of the iceberg (the external customer) will sink- in the other words, the whole organisation will come to an end. It is important for Barclays to treat their internal customers in the same way, as they treat their external customers. The advantages of having internal customers to employees: * Better working conditions * Better job satisfaction * Less stress * Having the ‘feel good’ factor * Being part of a good working team The advantages of having internal customers to the organisation: * Less waste and stoppages * Improved communications * A happier workforce * Fewer problems * Increased customer loyalty * Better service to external customers The advantages of having internal customers to the external customers: * A higher, sustained level of service * Faster responses times * Knows that the organisation cares As a result, internal customer care is based on good manners, knowing where your job fits in, working efficiently with colleagues, working as a member of a team, and respecting colleagues’ needs and rights. Organisations, such as Barclays believe that, there are three kinds of attitudes and behaviours towards colleagues that would be essential for quality internal customer care: 1. Caring for colleagues- this would include: making individuals feel good- this will help them to work better, they would become more cooperative, responding reasonably to their needs, and accepting a sense of shared responsibility 2. Cooperating with colleagues- this would include: can get things

The Jesus I Never Knew by Phillip Yancey Essay -- The Jesus I Never Kn

The Jesus I Never Knew by Phillip Yancey Yancey starts out with the image of Jesus. When he was young he had envisioned Jesus to have angelic features such as, young, handsome, and a compassionate face. It wasn’t until he entered into a Christian college, that he was introduced to the real image of Jesus. I had an immediate connection with Yancey. I too had an image of Christ in my head, which consisted of Hollywood portrayals and those in classical paintings. It wasn’t till I engaged myself at a Christian college, that I have now received a new and more accurate picture of Christ. His book, The Jesus I Never Knew, questions the reader with the thought, â€Å"How many Christians today are in the same position, not fully understanding Christ’s mission and purpose?† Yancey divides the novel into three main sections: â€Å"Who He Was,† â€Å"Why He Came,† and â€Å"What He Left Behind.† The section that I connected with was â€Å"Why He Came.† I enjoyed reading this section, because he points out key thoughts on Jesus’ life that we take for granted. I like how it explains the reason for His arrival on earth through the Beatitudes and His Resurrection. The chapter on the Beatitudes, Yancey covers a great deal of information that shows how Jesus cares for the less fortunate and humble. Yancey points out that the Beatitudes describe the present and future, a fact that I never realized. He tells of how they are a contrast on how we can succeed in the kingdom of Heaven verses the kingdom...

Non Profit Organizations Essay -- Nonprofits and Charities

Nonprofit Organizations The purpose of this research is to define nonprofit organizations, describe opportunities that are present in nonprofits, outline advantages and disadvantages of working in the nonprofit sector, and explain how you can determine if this is an area for you to consider as a career. WHAT IS THE NONPROFIT SECTOR? "Nonprofit" is a term that the I.R.S. uses to define tax-exempt organizations whose money or "profit" must be used solely to further their charitable or educational mission, rather than distribute profits to owners or shareholders as in the for-profit sector. The term is also used to describe organizations which are not a branch of -- are independent of -- the government and the corporate sector. This term refers to one of the most important uniqueness of a nonprofit organization: it is independent of both the public or government sector and the private or corporate sector. Nonprofits are organizations whose income is not used for the benefit or gain of stockholders, directors or any other persons with an interest in the organization. The nonprofit sector is very diverse; it includes tax-exempt organizations that are educational, scientific and cultural, as well as civic and social welfare organizations. Nonprofits usually work to advance a cause or interest or to accomplish some good work. Some job seekers overlook nonprofit organizations, assuming that opportunities are limited and salaries are uniformly low. This is not true. Respectable salaries, a wide range of opportunities and satisfying work abound in the nonprofit sector. Nonprofit organizations play significant roles at th... ... REFERENCES Ahmad, M M and Townsend, J G (1998). Changing fortunes in anti-poverty programmes in Bangladesh. Journal of International Development, No.10; pp. 427. Anonymous (1995). Make a Difference: An Outline Volunteering Strategy for the UK, Volunteering Unit, Home Office Public Relations Branch, London. Eberts, Marjorie and Margaret Gisler (1991). Careers for Good Samaritans and Other Humanitarian Types. Lincolnwood: VGM Career Horizons. Lewis, William and Carol Milano (1987). Profitable Careers in Nonprofit. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. McAdam, Terry (1986). Careers in the Nonprofit Sector: Doing Well By Doing Good. Washington: The Taft Group. Wilson, A. and Pimm, G. (1996). The tyranny of the volunteer: the care and feeding of voluntary workforces. Management Decision, Vol.34, No.4; pp.24.

Effects of Unresolved Conflict on Marital Satisfaction and Longevity Essay

Effects of Unresolved Conflict on Marital Satisfaction and Longevity   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Over the past decade, there has been tremendous interest in the processes in marriage, with a corresponding burgeoning of longitudinal studies on marriage. (Bradbury, 1998). Karney and Bradbury, in their 1995 review of the longitudinal research on marriage, included 115 studies consisting of 68 independent samples and more than 45,000 marriages. These studies give an in-depth understanding of when marital dissatisfaction sets in, how problems develop, and what leads to the consequence of marital dissolution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Longitudinal studies on the early years of marriage report a common phenomenon: Marital satisfaction declines and conflict increase (Huston & Houts, 1998; Kurdek, 1998; Leonard & Roberts, 1998; Lindahl et al., 1998). Kurdek found that marital satisfaction for husbands and wives decreased over the first 6 years of marriage, with the steepest drop occurring in the first 2 years. Lindahl et al. (1998), in their 9 year study of the development of marriage, found a similar rend. Marital adjustment significantly declined during the first couple of years and then leveled out by approximately the third to fourth years. Several factors seem to account for this decline: commitment, conflict, and communication. In particular, husbands and wives low faith in the marriage at year 1 predicted both spouses long- term low marital satisfaction. Spouses with low faith at the start of the marriage may report low marital satisfaction 6 years later because they lack the motivation or the skill to engage in the kinds of relationship maintenance behaviors that foster high levels of satisfaction (e.g., being accommodating during conflict, managing jealousy, and being willing to sacrifice). Many researchers attribute the decline in marital satisfaction in the early years to the couple’s transition to parenthood, and typically this factor has been a focus of their studies. However, this factor alone does not seem to account for the lower satisfaction, because many couples without children also experience a similar decline.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The occurrence of conflict appears as another critical variable in the course of marital satisfaction. Conflict is inevitable in any intimate relationship. How it affects satisfaction depends on the extent to which couples engage in conflict or withdraw from it. There are usually short-term negative effects to engaging in conflict, but there are long-term positive effects. If conflict is not openly addressed but is avoided, there are issues that can be left unresolved and further fuel feeling of resentment and anger. In their longitudinal study of 33 couples, Noller and Feeney (1998) found that, during the first 2 years of marriage, less happy couples made concerted attempt to improve their relationships during the first yea of marriage, but gave up these efforts by the time of the third assessment in the study. Noller and Feeney suggested that these new behaviors to improve the relationship were not being reinforced by the partner and hence did not become an integral part of the behavior repertoire. In particular, destructive conflict behaviors such as coercion, manipulation, and avoidance were likely to have negative effects on relationships.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Similarly, particular patterns of communication can have long-term effects on relationship satisfaction. In the Noller and Feeney study, communication behaviors predicted later satisfaction for wives only. Wives reports of negativity, disengagement, and destructive processes at Time 1 predicted lower satisfaction at Time 2. These destructive patterns of communication that cause problems later in relationships had developed before the couple became married. Although most of the couples in this study were not living together prior to marriage, it appears that their patterns of communication and resolving conflict were established before they even had to handle particular issues involved in living together in a marriage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Other researchers have also discovered that how couples behave prior to marriage indeed affects their satisfaction and stability during marriage. According to Lindhl et al. (1998), a variety of communication and conflict-related variables before marriage can predict who will stay married and who will divorce. In particular, they found that how couples communicate and regulate negative effect (anger, frustration, mistrust, and resentment) during conflict was significantly related to marital stability. The strategies that these couples used to handle conflict tended to improve over time. For example, the levels of withdrawal and verbal aggression decreased.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In their longitudinal studies of marital processes, Rusbult, Bissonnette, Arriage, and Cox (1998) found commitment to a relationship to be strongly predictive of feelings of satisfaction. Their study followed 123 married couples over the course of three and one half years. They concluded that commitment is a central relationship-specific motive that promotes a wide range of prorelationship behaviors and enhances dyadic adjustment. Strong commitment to a marriage promotes greater willingness to accommodate. Accommodation is defined as behavior in which individuals forgo self-interested behavior for the good of a relationship, place greater value on prorelationship behavior, and recognize the interdependence of the partners. It is one of several specific mechanisms through which committed individuals sustain their relationships.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As incompatibilities and problems surface during the marriage, partners either accept each other’s differences or the problem that are not resolved persist until the relationship dissolves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The perpetual problems model views couples behaving similarly during courtship as they do after they are married, and consequently the problems that arise during courtship often persist into marriage. Thus, problems that persist from courtship through marriage erode partner’s feelings toward one another. In contrast to the disillusionment model, the perpetual problems model proposes that courting couples are aware of each other’s strength and flaw as they enter marriage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Alternative models of relationship deterioration emphasize that particular personalities of the partners are root cause of marital happiness and distress. In these models, spouses view their partners, but not their own, personality as cause for marital disaffection. In particular, the partners with the personality trait of negative affectivity are more likely to be unhappy in their marriages. Negative affectivity reflects a tendency to be anxious and emotionally labile, to report distress or discomfort, to be introspective, and to dwell on one’s own and other people’s shortcomings. Husbands and wives high in negative affectivity tend to make more negative attributions for their partner’s behavior. In the Karney et al. study, there was a relation between husbands’ level of negative affectivity and their own and their wave’s marital satisfaction. On the positive side, a personality quality that is resulted to marital satisfaction is expressiveness, which is a communal orientation that includes being kind, gentle, aware of other’s feeling, warm, and emotional, and which might reduce conflict in relationships because one can respond constructively when one’s partners behaves poorly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is apparent that many of these disaffected spouses suffered in silence. They were reluctant to admit marital problems to friends and family. because the majority of respondents had experienced marital doubts during the first year of the marriage, it may have been too embarrassing to these spouses to admit dissatisfaction so early in their marriages. In addition, there is a taboo in Western culture that discourages spouses from talking about their marriages. This so-called intermarital taboo states that married sposes cannot talk openly to each other about their marriages. Unfortunately, because of this taboo, couples do not have the chance to share with one another the stresses of married life and the possible ways to cope effectively with them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the other hand, resolving conflict is part of family life. Husbands and wives disagree with each other, parents and children do not always see eye to eye and sibling relationships frequently involve rivalry. The characteristic ways in which families resolve conflict are an important part of the practicing family and influence child development. Children are sensitive to anger and conflict even when adults other than their parents express it. Unresolved marital conflict is more predictive of child functioning than marital satisfaction alone; suggesting that the specific ways that husbands and wives resolve conflict may be related to child social and emotional functioning. Not at all marital conflict is detrimental to children, however. Exposure to low levels of marital conflict may provide one avenue for children to learn how to solve interpersonal problems effectively.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Particular patterns of marital interaction have been found to be related to couples distress, the likelihood of divorce, and child behavior problems. Couples whose conflict is typified by mutually hostile exchanges, or one partner making demands while the other withdraws from further discussion, are less satisfied in their marriages and are at greater risk for divorce have proposed that children raised in families with high levels of marital conflict may become fearful that their parents are on the road to divorce and dissolution of important family relationships. Consequently, the child is motivated to reduce marital conflict by distracting the parent’s subsystem and decrease the conflict expressed in the marital subsystem. In this regard, the battling husband and wife are enlisted as cooperative mother and father, and the result is a temporary reduction in marital negative affect. Although there may be increased negative affect between parent and child, the system has retained its order and the subsystem of parent –child regulation temporarily overrides the marital subsystem and preserves the family as a whole.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Meanwhile, interactions in one portion of the family will more than likely influence other interactions in the family. The cost to children can be quite high when there is disruption in the marital relationships, as it effects the parents’ ability to engage in mutually pleasing interactions with their children. Marital difficulties are proposed to lead to inconsistent parenting and discipline, which in turn create situations conducive to child behavior problems. Externalizing problems in elementary-school-age boys have been found to be best predicted by a model of family stress (including marital satisfaction and divorce) mediated by negative maternal control and disciplinary interactions. In some cases, there is a cascading effect, where specific aspects of marital conflict spill over into parent-child interactions. When husbands withdrew in angry conflicts with their wives, the wives tended to be critical and intrusive with their children, which in turn were related to internalizing problems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Love, money, support, security, companionship, and validation are types of rewards desired in a close relationship. The cost of staying in a relationship may involve one’s time, energy, and various other efforts. During thee breakdown of a relationship, there is a drastic shift in perceived rewards or costs. This shift may be to the individual’s view of fewer rewards, such as less time together and less money, as examples, or what may have been perceived as a reward earlier in the marriages is no longer rewarding. For example, the continual care and attention given by a partner may have been viewed as rewarding in the beginning of the relationship, but later is viewed as smothering or manipulative. Although disappointed in the marriage, the disaffecting spouses were not contemplating leaving the marriage at this time, but were holding on to the hope that the marital relationship would improve. In general, the disaffecting spouses assumed responsibility for marriage problems. They tried to change the marriage by pleasing and accommodating their partners, trying to be a perfect spouse, in the words of one respondent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In coping with their marital dissatisfaction, respondents were primarily keeping silent and denying the gravity of the marital situations. Seeking support and help from their friends, family, or a professional helper rarely occurred. References Bradbury, T. N. (1998). The Developmental course of marital dysfunction. N.Y:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cambridge University Press. Huston, T. L., & Houts, R. M. (1998). The psychological infrastructure of courtship and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Marriage: The role of personality and compatibility in romantic relationships. In T. N. Bradbury (Ed.). The developmental course of marital Dysfunction (pp.114-151). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Kurdek, L. A. (1998). Development change in marital satisfaction:   A 6 year prospective longitudinal study of newly wed couples. In T. N. Bradbury (Ed.). The developmental course of marital Dysfunction (pp.180-204). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Leonard, K. E., & Roberts, L. J. (1998). Marital aggression, quality, and stability in the First year of marriage: Findings from the Buffalo newlywed study.   In T. N. Bradbury (ed.), The developmental course of marital Dysfunction (pp.44-73). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Lindahl, K., Clements, M., & Markman, H. (1998). The development of marriage: A 9   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Year perspective. In T. N. Bradbury (ed.), The developmental course of marital   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dysfunction (pp.2005-236). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Noller, P., & Feeney, J. A. (1998). Communication in early marriage: Response to   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   conflict, nonverbal accuracy, and conversational patterns. In T.N Bradbury (ed.),   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The developmental course of marital dysfunction (pp.11-43). Cambridge,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   England: Cambridge University press. Rusbult, C. E., Bissonnette, V., Arriaga, X. B. & Cox, C. L., (1998). Accommodation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   during the early years of marriage. In T. N. Bradbury(ed.), The developmental   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   course of marriage dysfunction (pp.74-113). Cambridge, England: Cambridge   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   University Press.