Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Compare and Contrast Texting vs Calling - 924 Words

31542 June 25, 2013 Compare and Contrast: Texting VS Calling What would we do without cell phones? Have you ever tried to leave your phone at home just to see how much it’s really needed in your everyday life? I have and it’s a lot harder than you think. Technology has grown so much in the past ten years then you would ever know. From little black and white flip phones to tablets with apps, games, music and pretty much anything you could ever want just in the palm of your hand. In 1973 the first cell phone was invented, and it took twenty-two years after that, 1995, to invent text messaging. Now it seems as though text messaging is among the most popular way of communication. Although texting and phone calls aim to accomplish the†¦show more content†¦The main advantage would be unlimited minutes for incoming and outgoing calls that could help save on your monthly statement bill. If you’re on a family plan this could definitely be a plus especially if you have a big family. Have you ever had to be put on hol d by the cable company, for example, and you waited ten minutes for a representative to pick up, and that moment you are waiting for the solution and beep, beep, beep the call was dropped. Nothing can be more annoying than having to call back and start all over, worried it will happen again. Having no service, just like when texting, and a call is needing to be made can cause anger/frustration in a person. Driving while talking on the phone can be just as distracting as texting, having only one hand on the wheel engaged in your conversation can cause distractions to paying attention to other drivers around you. In some states talking on a cell phone while driving can get you a ticket and fined. Texting VS Calling can only be judged by each individuals experience and preference. A teenager will most likely choose texting, to avoid awkward phone conversations, whereas, an old fashioned mom or dad would choose to call or vice versa, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Per sonally I enjoy using both, I will text when bored and want to prolong a conversation, and call if I need a quick and easyShow MoreRelatedComparison of the 4 Main Smartphone Operating Systems16546 Words   |  67 Pagesmore also smartphone’s OS delivers the framework to go beyond simply making a call, allowing it to run productively and media playing applications as well as operate on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.  The mobile phone is not just a calling device these days; it has evolved tremendously thanks to the operating systems (OS). Scott Cromar (2010) Mobile phones until sometime back, was determined only by the manufacturer it came from, in the past one would go to the store and ask forRead MoreDigi Strategic Management17488 Words   |  70 Pagesscreen in 3rd Quarter of 2009 2 3 6 market growth, DiGi managed to defend its revenue market share (compare to 2008) when Maxis lost substantial share to Celcom and some to DiGi (refer below figure from DiGi‟s 13th Annual General Meeting on 13 May 2010) despite having less 3G coverage. However, notice that numbers exclude broadband. 2nd Quarter of 2010 Updates The subsequent tables compare and contrast the same parameters (subscribers, revenue and EBITA) of Maxis, Celcom and DiGi in 2nd Quarter ofRead MoreFactors Influencing the Adoption of Mobile Banking49628 Words   |  199 Pagesmillion times per month. It was found that texting is not only used for general conversation, and greetings in New Zealand, but also for solving embarrassing situations such as firing employees, marriage proposals, asking for a date, and even gathering evidence of cheating. Paul Brislen, of Vodafone NZ said Kiwis were also world leaders when it came to downloading tunes to their handsets (Hudson, 2008). This implied that New Zealanders are more likely to use texting than many other populations in the worldRead MoreMarketing and E-commerce Business65852 Words   |  264 Pagesimportant new developments in each annual edition. You will not find a more current book for a course offered for the 2014 academic year. Many other texts are already six months to a year out of date before they even reach the printer. This text, in contrast, reflects extensive research through October 2013, just weeks before the book hits the press. Real-World Business Firm Focus and Cases  From Akamai Technologies to Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon, to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, to NetflixRead MoreFactors Influencing the Adoption of Mobile Banking49642 Words   |  199 Pagesmillion times per month. It was found that texting is not only used for general conversation, and greetings in New Zealand, but also for solving embarrassing situations such as firing employees, marriage proposals, asking for a date, and even gathering evidence of cheating. Paul Brislen, of Vodafone NZ said Kiwis were also world leaders when it came to downloading tunes to their handsets (Hudson, 2008). This implied that New Zealanders are more likely to use texting than many other populations in the world

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Burger King - 1185 Words

Case Study: Burger King Beefs Up By Janet Mosha Burger King is the world’s largest chain of flame-broiled fast food restaurants. Its core competency is its flame-broiled burgers; whereas other fast food hamburger joints serve fried burgers or no burgers at all, Burger King offers the unique flame-broiled burgers with any options that a customer might like, consumers have the benefit of having a burger they cannot find elsewhere. Initially Burger King only sold burgers, fries, shakes, and sodas; but they have chosen to expand to offering chicken, fish, salads etc. Although they offer these extra items, they have elected to stay true to their original flame-broiled burgers and their chosen strategy is to focus on the whopper as their†¦show more content†¦When people are in a center-like environment for example a mall then it is easier to pick whatever food is there rather than to look elsewhere and return to hang out or shop; therefore Burger King would have an upper hand if it is one of the foods available. Burger King is headquartered in Miami, because of its near proximity to Latin America. This strategic position has allowed Burger King to ensure its presence in the Latin community. The South Americans who make a pit-stop in Miami in order to enter the United States are familiarize themselves with the Burger King products, and Burger King is also able to test the products on indigenous Latin community, before expanding to the Latin countries without the fear of undergoing rejection. This location in Miami has simplified their entry into the Latin countries and businesses seeking franchises find it easier to work with them. Burger King has strengthened their global competitive position in the Latin countries, but we find that these countries are not heavily populated; they should also try to expand to denser populations like those of China, India, Nigeria etc. this could prove to be more profitable in the long run. Burger King can use the South American countries to understand how to expand appropriately in otherShow MoreRelatedBurger King1894 Words   |  8 PagesSince the 1950s, Burger King has been offering its famous flame-broiled fast food burgers throughout the United States and, eventually, the world. Burger King, also known by the initials B.K., has evolved from a small Florida-based hamburger chain to one of the most well-known and recognizable fast food franchises on earth. The first Burger King restaurant opened in Jacksonville, Florida under the name Insta-Burger King in 1953. In 1954, the Burger King Corporation was founded by Miami-basedRead MoreBurger King5869 Words   |  24 PagesENTRY MODE TO INTERNATIONAL MARKET | 4 | HOW DO CULTURE, MANAGEMENT STYLES AND BUSINESS SYSTEM OF BURGER KING HEADQUATER AFFECT BURGER KING IN MALAYSIA | 7 | ADAPTATION | 8 | STANDARDIZATION | 10 | MARKETING TARGET | 11 | MEDIA STRATEGY | 12 | POLITICAL AND LEGAL ENVIRONMENT IN MALAYSIA THAT AFFECT BURGER KING COMPANY | 12 | SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE COMPANY IN TERM OF THEIR 4PS | | * STRENGHT | 15 | Read MoreBurger King International1296 Words   |  6 PagesBurger King International MBA 6601 International Business By Wendy B. Machana Burger King International Burger King, previously known as InstaBurger King in 1954, is the world’s largest flame-broiled fast food restaurant chain (Daniels, Radebaugh Sullivan, 2011). Burger Kings core competency lays in the way it cooks its burgers- by its flame broiled method as opposed to grills that fry and also the option that it offers its customers as to how they want their burgers (â€Å"haveRead MoreBurger King Is The Best Burger Chain1063 Words   |  5 PagesSince then hundreds of burger chains have prospered; top competitors today are McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King. And this argument discusses why Burger King is the best burger chain among those three. By stating straightforward, Mcdonald s share the most in the hamburger industry. However, Burger King is much better than McDonald s business wise, taste wise, and charity wise. Burger King was founded in 1954, and is the second largest hamburger chain in the world. Burger King serves in 79 countriesRead MoreSwot of Burger King4020 Words   |  17 PagesBurger King in Malaysia In December 1997, BURGER KING returns to Malaysia with a different management group that operates under a new franchisee i.e. Cosmo Restaurants Sdn. Bhd. The first restaurant was located at Overhead Bridge Sg. Buloh. It was officiated by our former Prime Minister i.e. Y.A.B Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. To date, there are 20 restaurants including the latest restaurant opening in Taman Tasek, Jalan Tun Abdul Razak, Johor Bahru on December 20, 2007. Look out for more outlets inRead MoreBurger King Corporation6567 Words   |  27 PagesRev. February 27, 1998 Burger King Corporation The first Burger King restaurant in Miami in the mid-1950s featured a walk-up window, a limited menu (burgers and shakes for 19 ¢, sodas and fries for 10 ¢), and your food ready by the time you d paid for it. As one early manager recalled, Our windows faced front so we could see customers driving in. With the limited menu, we pretty much knew what they d order and we d have it ready. In the 1960s and 1970s, Burger King developed an assembly-lineRead MoreBurger King History1461 Words   |  6 PagesMarketing Strategies of Burger King in Introductory Stage . In 2008, Fortune magazine ranked Burger King Corp. among America s 1,000 largest corporations and Ad Week named it one of the top three industry-changing advertisers within the last three decades. The Burger King Corporation moves proudly into the future with over 50 years of experience tucked safely under our belt. As a brand, our company has never been stronger. We ve got millions of customers, who we love to bits. And our ExecutiveRead MoreI Have Chosen The Burger King Corporation.The Burger King1581 Words   |  7 PagesI have chosen the Burger King Corporation. The Burger King corporation main focus is on the customers they serve and the strategies they use to continue the growth and development of their company. Burger King uses the integrated cost leadership/Differentiation business strategy. Strategies in business are instrumental for the continued growth and expansion of a company. A strategy is a set of analytic techniques that are used to influence the direction of the firm s growth in the marketplaceRead MoreBurger King Assignment3472 Words   |  14 PagesIntroduction: James Lamore and David Edgerton in the year 1954, marked the beginning of Burger King restaurant in Miami, Florida which is widely known as Burger King Holdings, Inc. today (annualreports.com/company/2878). Over a period of time, Burger King became the household name in fast food industry and has bagged the second position in the fast food industry across the globe in the year 2010. Burger King expanded its operation to 12,300 locations in 76 countries catering to over 11 million customersRead MoreBurger King : A Great Place For Run A Business, Like Burger Kings Essay997 Words   |  4 Pagesgreat place to run a business, like Burger King. It has couples and families living in it with expanding income. Littleton is growing and is a main route with light rail to Denver. Our focus Burger King is located on University Boulevard, one of the busiest roads in the city. It is a free standing building in a strip mall and across the street from Arapahoe High School. On the other side i s a townhouse complex. Overall, this is an ideal spot for Burger King. Quicklook: Direct Competition - McDonald’s

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Characteristics Quantitative A Qualitative -Myassingmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Characteristics Quantitative A Qualitative? Answer: Introducation Effective communication skills help in solving various types of issues at workplace. Researchers are of the opinion that better the communication skills of the individuals, the better will be the scope of success of the operations (Neuliep, 2012). This assignment will mainly portray the communication skill that I lack. I will also conduct a literature review on the skills that I lack and will prepare an action plan accordingly. The first tool that I have used is the non-verbal immediacy scale self report. They mainly help in depicting the behaviors as well as the different cues that help in signaling positive feelings towards the other persons. The grading of this diagnostic tool varies being based on the gender and therefore since I am male, I have to follow the grading system of the male. Here, I have answered 26 situations with grading system from 1 to 5 with 1 being never and 5 states very often. After conducting the diagnostic test, it was seen that my total score was 82. In case of the males, lower non-verbal skill is represented when the grade is below 83 and in case of high non-verbal skill, the grade should be above 112. As I have received, a score of 82 that falls in the category of low non-verbal communication skills, I believe that I have to develop my non-verbal communication attributes. This is important for developing as a business professional who is not only perceived well by the others but is also able to communicate effectively with others. The second diagnostic tool that I have used is the talkaholic scale. This tool mainly helps measuring the capacity of an individual in compulsive communication. Presently researchers are of the opinion that high talkers are no more perceived negatively by the others (McCroskey Richmond, 1993). This category of high talkers does not include those individuals whose talks to irritate people or whose talks are not wanted to be listened by other subordinates. Subordinates perceive rather high talkers positively nowadays. Considerable research has shown that more the person talks, the more positively he is perceived and evaluated by others (McCroskey Richmond, 1995). They are more likely to be preferred as the leader by their subordinates as they seem more competent to them. Therefore, better the grade of the scale better is my chance of becoming an effective leader. There are 16 situations which I needed to fill with a scale of numbers from 1 to 5 where 1 denoted strongly disagree to 5 being strongly agree. I scored a value of 17 after the entire calculation. I saw that 17 lay in the category of low line talkaholics. The grades between the 30 and 39 are considered as borderline talkaholics and the score above 40 is marked as compulsive talkaholics. Therefore, I believe that I really possess a very low score and I need to develop my speaking skills, feedback giving and receiving skills, my social skills effectively so that I am positively perceived by all. The next diagnostic tool that I have used is called the Personal Report of the Intercultural Communication apprehension called PRICA. This tool mainly helps in measuring the anxiety that is developed by an individual when they try communicating with employees of other cultures (Neuliep McCroskey, 1997). Individuals mainly need to fulfill 14 important situations by a grading scale from 1 to 5. Here, 1 indicates strongly disagree and 5 indicate strongly agrees. After completing the scale, I saw that I scored 27. The scoreboard said that when the score is below 32, it indicates that the individual has low intercultural communication apprehension (CA). When the score is between 32 and 52, it states that the individual has moderate level of intercultural CA. When the score is above 52, it shows that the individuals have high intercultural CA. My score falls in the category of low intercultural CA. Therefore, it is very important for me to develop proper knowledge about how to develop int ercultural communication skills so that I can become an expert professional. The next tool that I have used is called the Personal Report of Public speaking anxiety. This tool mainly helps the individuals to measure their public speaking anxiety that they develop when they try to speak at a public level (McCroskey, 1970). It has 34 situations that the individuals need to fill with a grading system from 1 to 5. 1 denotes strongly disagree and 5 denotes strongly disagree. After filling the toll and calculating the mark, I got a score of about 108. The scoreboard says that an individual whose grade is above 131 will have a higher public speaking anxiety and that whose grade is below 98 has low public speaking anxiety. Those who have scored between the two grades are said to have moderate public speaking anxiety. I have a score of about 108 that fall in the moderate category. However, I believe that I need to develop myself more in public speaking skill so that it becomes one of my strength. Proper public speaking ensure that I will be able to develop attributes that will help me reach the leading position of the organization as I will develop the power to inspire and motivate people. The next tool that I have used is the Self Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC). In this tool, the individuals understand how well they have developed their communication competence in different situations (McCroskey McCroskey, 1988). Here, 12 situations are needed by individuals to analyze and provide marks following the grading system of 1 to 5. Here, individuals are expected to provide marks from 1 to 100 in each of the 12 situations. This score usually helps individuals to understand their efficiency of the communication skills and thereby help themselves to improve the attributes by proper learning resources. After filling up of all the situations with proper marks, the categories showed that I fall into the moderate category of SPCC. My scored revealed that I have moderate level of SPCC with that of the basic communication contexts in terms of public, meeting, dyad and group and with receivers like that with the strangers, friends and acquaintances. After using the diagnostic tools, I understood that I lack a number of skills that are extremely important for effective communication in workplace. From the non-verbal immediacy scale report, it became prominent that I do not have proper non verbal immediacy attribute and therefore I cannot behave professionally in my workplace. Therefore, my team members are not being able to develop positive feelings for me. They misunderstand me and therefore they try to avoid me. My expressions are quite harsh and I speak in loud voice due to my nature. However, they perceive it negatively and do not involve me in their planning or discussion. This attribute is also reflected in the non-verbal immediacy scale self report. Therefore, I have to develop this attribute so that I can work collaboratively with all others and help the organizations in receiving the goals. Besides, I also noticed that I have poor intercultural communication skills. This is quite evident from the apprehensions and tensio ns I develop whenever I have to face any clients coming from diverse cultural backgrounds. Moreover, also while interacting with team members of different cultures, I tend to hurt them unintentionally as I cannot develop proper knowledge about their cultural traditions, preferences and inhibitions. Therefore, they often get upset with me for which teamwork gets affected. As a result, I have to develop action plans for my improper nonverbal immediacy and intercultural communication attributes. I was assigned as the leader of a team that was failing to meet its productivity goals every month. The members of the teams used to be my friends in the university and so all were comfortable working with me. However, as days passed, they complained that I shout on them unnecessarily for minor reasons and that they do not want me as a leader. I was quite shocked as I felt that I had never shouted on them. I talked with one of them in details and I came to know that they feel that the tone with which I talk with them marketing them feel inferior. I was never aware of this, as I had never done so purposely. They also said that my body language is quite harsh and they felt inferior. I was quite shocked at the revelation and realized that my non-verbal immediacy is not proper to be an effective leadership. In order to be an effective leader or an expert business professional, I need to develop my behaviors and other non-verbal cues so that I am positively perceived, respected and loved by others in workplace. While during my placements, I was given an opportunity to work with an Asian representative of the organization. I had no idea about cultural likings and preferences of my teammate and approached him casually. I called him by his name that made him quite irritated. She told me that he does not like being called by the name. Another instance, I had to take interview of some Japanese officials. I had no knowledge of the importance of business cards by them. Therefore, when they offered their business cards, I kept it on the table casually. I also stated them that I do not need it as I have their contacts saved. Later they complained about this behavior and communication to my superior who called me and criticized me due to my lack of culturally awareness. Hence, I understood that I need to develop the knowledge effectively so that I can handle such situations effectively without disrespecting any traditions. Therefore, the above mentioned situations were eye-openers for me. I understood the skills that I lack in my professional attributes are improper intercultural communication skills and nonverbal attributes. I would thereby be preparing action plan so that I can overcome the barriers and turn my weakness into the strengths. According to research studies, immediacy in communication refers to the way by which an individual signals willingness, closeness, and positive feelings towards others (Kreps Neuhauser, 2013). Thus, immediacy involves both verbal and non-verbal behaviours or actions, which facilitate simultaneous communication of involvement, warmth, positive affect and psychological closeness. Evidences suggest that nonverbal immediacy is imperative to the way of interaction between different people, and also helps in evaluating their behaviour (Miller et al., 2014). It has been considered as a central concept in studies that focused on instructional communication. Findings further emphasise on teachers who are rated as nonverbally immediate, being viewed more favourably by students (Kerssen-Griep Witt, 2012). Thus, this immediacy assists the concerned individual to maintain close relationship owing to the fact that it establishes a sense of involvement, care and affection between people, thereby enhancing intimate feelings (Fallah, 2014). Studies have been conducted that examined the role of perceptions of a student related to nonverbal immediacy and clarity of their teachers. Results from such studies focused on structural equations that illustrated the role of nonverbal immediacy behaviour on influencing learning skills and perceptions of the students (Finn Schrodt, 2012). Furthermore, effects of such nonverbal immediacy behaviour have demonstrated significant learning gains in children during a human-robot interaction (Kennedy et al., 2015). Generally, nonverbal immediacy behaviours include reduction of physical distance between individuals by touching (haptics), using gestures, smiling, displaying relaxed posture, vocal variety and engaging in direct eye contact (oculesics). It also encompasses several aspects of chronemics or use of time (Bodie Jones, 2012). Most nonverbal interaction between individuals are classified according to three basic areas, namely, physical characteristics of key communicators, behaviours displayed by the communicators during interaction, and the environmentalconditions where the communication occurs. According to research evidences, such nonverbal immediacy includes involvement of unconscious and conscious processes related to encoding and decoding (Kreps Neuhauser, 2013). While encoding refers to the act of generation of information related to gestures, facial expressions, and body postures, decoding refers to interpretation of that information from the sensations that are received by the encoder. Thus, encoding particular information encompasses the process of utilization of signals that are considered universal. On the other hand, decoding some information is based on utilizing prior knowledge that a person has regarding the received sensations. Furthermore, according to research findings nonverbal communications represent nearly two-third of all kinds of communication and are responsible for portraying messages both with the use of appropriate body gestures and accurate vocal signs (Mazer Stowe, 2016). Thus, the major body signals consist of adequate physical features, mediation of personal space and the appropriate use of conscious andunconscious signals or gestures. Evidences illustrate the establishment of wrong messages due to failure of the body language conveyed by an individual to match with the verbal messages. Moreover, nonverbal immediacy has been found to strengthen the firstimpression of the concerned person in complex situations such as attending business interviews. Thus, nonverbal immediacy plays a crucial role in establishing impressions within few seconds of contact (Kelly Westerman, 2014). According to research evidences, adequate display of nonverbal immediacy by a leader helps in fostering good working relationship and attraction with the subordinates and co-workers (Kerssen-Griep Witt, 2012). Co-workers are generally able to interpret and perceive the intended messages of their leader through the display of effective nonverbal cues. Findings indicate that a leaders job usually involves creating a productive and innovative organization, which is accomplished through display of effective verbal and nonverbal skills. This in turn helps the leader to communicate the purpose, vision, and direction of the department or organization. Use of specific nonverbal cues creates better provisions for the leader to get the verbal messages accepted by the co-workers. According to research evidences, some iconic gestures play an essential role in conveying exact meanings (Bodie Jones, 2012). Such nonverbal skills have also been found to serve several functions such as, substitution, repetition, accenting, and complement. Thus, owing to the fact that non-verbal communications comprise more than 90% information that glean from individuals, there has been an increase in social psychological researches that focus on confident use of physicality for a clear and trust-inducing communication. The sign theory focuses on 3 fields namely, syntactic, semantics and pragmatics. While, semantics focus on use of signs as designators, syntactics and pragmatics refer to the organization of the aforementioned signs into system and their use in everyday life, respectively (Palmer et al., 2012). Moreover, according to the theory proposed by anthropologist Edward Hall, proxemics was considered as an important aspect of nonverbal skills. It refers to the study that illustrates construction and management of microspace or distance between individuals during everyday transactions (Marquardt Greenberg, 2012). In addition, Albert Mehrabian's communication model suggested that words make up negligible amount of direct communication. On the other hand, facial expression and non-lexical elements form the foundation of nonverbal communication (Velez Cano, 2012). In addition, intercultural communication refers to the discipline that focuses on the study of communication across different social groups and cultures. It also encompasses the study of the effect that culture creates on effective communication. These skills are considered imperative for sharing or communicating information between people belonging to diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Penbek, Yurdakul ?ahin Cerit, 2012). Findings state that such intercultural communication requires a sound understanding of the prevailing standards, customs, thought patterns and social mores across a wide range of ethic and cultural context. According to research studies, intercultural communication is regarded as the foundation for international businesses.Findings further suggest that cross-cultural business communication acts useful in the development and building of cultural intelligence through exhaustive training and coaching, thereby facilitating cross-cultural communication negoti ation, management customer service, multicultural conflict resolution, and organizational communication (Martin, 2015). Therefore, cross-cultural understanding most often encompasses the ability to negotiate, communicate, and effectively work with team members belonging to diverse cultures, which in turn enhances international business (Fall et al., 2013). The ever-increasing interconnectedness of global economy most often exposes all members of san organization to cultural differences. It also creates provisions for exchange of information with people belonging to diverse backgrounds. Scholars working on intercultural communication usually focus on different theories that assert on communication process (Martin Nakayama, 2015). Uncertainty in engaging in effective cross-cultural communication often results in anxiety, more commonly known as intercultural communication apprehension. These anxiety are produced due to cognitive disconnect that gets manifested both emotionally and physiologically. Presence of such apprehensions are related to hyper-vigilance towards bodily reactions, heightened physiolo gical arousal, perceived loss of control, fear of visual scrutiny and of revealing the anxious state (Neuliep, 2012). With an increase in such apprehension, individuals demonstrate less susceptibility to participate in interactions. This in turn reduces tolerance levels and increases contempt towards co-workers of different culture (Mak, Brown Wadey, 2014). Evidences also suggest that men are always at an increased likelihood of experiencing intercultural communication apprehension, upon comparison with women (Godwin-Jones, 2013). Moreover, although individuals with increased apprehension levels have been found to demonstrate low communication competence at the workplace, an elevation in cultural awareness often decreases associated apprehensions. The Uncertainty Management Theory (AUM) focuses on negative effects of intercultural communication and ethnocentrism on encounter satisfaction. According to research findings, educational level, gender and age have shown negligible effects on such apprehension. However, frequency of communication in proficient English acts as a major contributing factor ( Han, 2013). The cultural convergence theory refers to the fact that in a relatively closed social system with unrestricted communication, the entire system shows a tendency to converge towards a state of cultural uniformity (Kahan, 2012). Moreover, the co-cultural theory evaluates the strategic ways that can be used by team members to communicate with each other (Orbe Roberts, 2012). Furthermore, the standpoint theory illustrates the influence of the social group to which an individual belongs, on the knowledge and experience of communication behaviours (Edwards, 2014). Therefore, research studies emphasise on the use of appropriate words, gestures, pictures and avoidance of regional saying and slangs for an effective cross-cultural communication. Therefore, demonstration of competence with regards to nonverbal skills and intercultural communication are essential for an effective leadership. Proper manifestation of the aforementioned skills helps in managing conflicts at workplace and facilitates easy accomplishment of the intended goals or objectives of the organization (Oommen, 2014). Skills that I will be developing Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Timeframe Development of nonverbal communication skills I will be joining workshops and training classes in the community. This will be helping me to get chances of understanding the mistakes I am making and also develop knowledge on them so that I do not have repeat my mistakes as well. It will also help me to interact with the mentors of the training classes and the workshops and I will be able to realize the changes I require to develop as an effective professional. The workshops and the training classes hold practical examinations where the mentors would be providing me with marks. The marks will be helping me to understand how well I am developing my attribute. This grade provided by them weekly will help me to keep a track and measure my development in the areas of nonverbal communication. I would choose the workshops and training classes in ways that do not hamper my academic as well as professional lives. I will mainly select classes that fall on weekends so that I do not have to rush from my university in the regular days. I will attend the classes for longer hours on the weekends and this will not affect my academics and career. Therefore, the initiatives that I will take are easily attainable. Often researchers are of the opinion that individuals can succeed in developing non-verbal skills if they attend workshops and training classes whole-heartedly. Moreover, a workshop not only helps individuals to gather knowledge through theoretical systems but also allow them to participate in practical sessions that are of great help to the individuals (Velez Cano, 2012). Therefore, attending to different workshops and training classes help individuals in overcoming different communication barriers particularly non-verbal as well as verbal communication skills. The workshop will continue for one month. The training classes will continue for four to five months. I will try to achieve the proper non verbal communication skills within this time period only Development of intercultural communication skills I will be first noting down a number of websites from where I will be able to gather cultural knowledge about different nations with whom I have to participative in team work. I can achieve this cultural knowledge by collecting important research journals where the researchers have provided recommendation by which cultural knowledge can be developed. Some researchers also propose models that can be integrated by me in my regular workplace days so that I can develop a culturally competent care. I will be interacting with my mentor and interviewing business stalwarts so that I can understand how well I am developing myself in this criteria I will be taking effective feedback from my colleague and teammates in order to understand how well I have developed. Honest feedbacks from my team members will help me to measure whether the initiatives I have taken are helping me or not. Interaction with the members and interviewing of the business stalwarts would give me a framework and I will try to measure mu developed skills in accordance to the criteria mentioned by them. This would help me to measure how well I am developing in this arena. The initiatives that I had taken are indeed attainable. I would allocate myself fixed hours when I will be going through the internet resources and the different journals on cross-cultural communication. Moreover, these initiatives would be free of cost and therefore I will not have to plan financially. I would fix the meetings with my mentor and the interviews of business stalwarts in ways that do not hamper my regular schedules as well as do not cause inconvenience to the respected mentors and stalwarts. Only after the confirmation from them, I will arrange for appointments that will be not hampering my academic and professional lives. Therefore, these initiatives would be achievable. Researchers suggest that evidence based practice helps in developing cultural competency and therefore reading journals will help individuals to gather knowledge (OOnmen, 2014). Moreover the internet sites contain huge information on different cultures and so it becomes an easy procedure to develop cultural awareness. Moreover, the advices of mentors and life experiences of business stalwarts would help me give an insight about how different people have coped up with complex cultural situations effectively. Therefore, the initiatives are highly relevant I will be requiring about 4 t 5 months for completing the initiatives that I had taken. Activities Week 1 Week 4 Week 8 Week 12 Week 18 Week 24 Collecting of journal Start reading journals and internet resources Take short no verbal communication skills workshop and training courses Take training under a mentor and interview stalwarts Measure the different skills that I have developed in order to understand the success rate Start implementing the newly developed knowledge on both the attributes on personal and professional life References: Bodie, G. D., Jones, S. M. (2012). The nature of supportive listening II: The role of verbal person centeredness and nonverbal immediacy.Western Journal of Communication,76(3), 250-269. Edwards, G. (2014). Standpoint theory, realism and the search for objectivity in the sociology of education.British Journal of Sociology of Education,35(2), 167-184. Fall, L. T., Kelly, S., MacDonald, P., Primm, C., Holmes, W. (2013). Intercultural communication apprehension and emotional intelligence in higher education: Preparing business students for career success.Business Communication Quarterly,76(4), 412-426. Fallah, N. (2014). Willingness to communicate in English, communication self-confidence, motivation, shyness and teacher immediacy among Iranian English-major undergraduates: A structural equation modeling approach.Learning and Individual Differences,30, 140-147. Finn, A. N., Schrodt, P. (2012). Students' perceived understanding mediates the effects of teacher clarity and nonverbal immediacy on learner empowerment.Communication Education,61(2), 111-130. Godwin-Jones, R. (2013). Integrating intercultural competence into language learning through psychology.Language Learning Technology,17(2), 1-11. Han, Y. (2013). Research on fostering intercultural communication competence of foreign language learners.Cross-Cultural Communication,9(1), 5. Kahan, D. M. (2012). Cultural cognition as a conception of the cultural theory of risk. InHandbook of risk theory(pp. 725-759). Springer Netherlands. Kelly, S., Westerman, C. Y. K. (2014). Immediacy as an influence on supervisor-subordinate communication.Communication Research Reports,31(3), 252-261. Kennedy, J., Baxter, P., Senft, E., Belpaeme, T. (2015, October). Higher nonverbal immediacy leads to greater learning gains in child-robot tutoring interactions. InInternational conference on social robotics(pp. 327-336). Springer, Cham. Kerssen-Griep, J., Witt, P. L. (2012). Instructional feedback II: How do instructor immediacy cues and facework tactics interact to predict student motivation and fairness perceptions?.Communication Studies,63(4), 498-517. Kreps, G. L., Neuhauser, L. (2013). Artificial intelligence and immediacy: designing health communication to personally engage consumers and providers.Patient education and counseling,92(2), 205-210. Mak, A. S., Brown, P. M., Wadey, D. (2014). Contact and attitudes toward international students in Australia: Intergroup anxiety and intercultural communication emotions as mediators.Journal of cross-cultural psychology,45(3), 491-504. Marquardt, N., Greenberg, S. (2012). Informing the design of proxemic interactions.IEEE Pervasive Computing,11(2), 14-23. Martin, J. N. (2015). Revisiting intercultural communication competence: Where to go from here.International Journal of Intercultural Relations,48, 6-8. Martin, J. N., Nakayama, T. K. (2015). Reconsidering intercultural (communication) competence in the workplace: A dialectical approach.Language and Intercultural Communication,15(1), 13-28. Mazer, J. P., Stowe, S. A. (2016). Can teacher immediacy reduce the impact of verbal aggressiveness? Examining effects on student outcomes and perceptions of teacher credibility.Western Journal of Communication,80(1), 21-37. McCroskey, J. C. (1970). Measures of communication?bound anxiety. Speech Monographs 37,269-277 McCroskey, J. C., McCroskey, L. L. (1988). Self?report as an approach to measuring communication competence. McCroskey, J. C., Richmond, V. P. (1993). Identifying compulsive communicators: The talkaholic scale.Communication Research Reports,10(2), 107-114. McCroskey, J. C., Richmond, V. P. (1995). Correlates of compulsive communication: Quantitative and qualitative characteristics.Communication Quarterly,43(1), 39-52. Miller, A. N., Katt, J. A., Brown, T., Sivo, S. A. (2014). The relationship of instructor self-disclosure, nonverbal immediacy, and credibility to student incivility in the college classroom.Communication Education,63(1), 1-16. Neuliep, J. W. (2012). The relationship among intercultural communication apprehension, ethnocentrism, uncertainty reduction, and communication satisfaction during initial intercultural interaction: An extension of anxiety and uncertainty management (AUM) theory.Journal of Intercultural Communication Research,41(1), 1-16. Neuliep, J. W., McCroskey, J. C. (1997). The development of intercultural and interethnic communication apprehension scales.Communication Research Reports,14(2), 145-156. Oommen, D. (2014). The relationships among perceptions of social support, Intercultural Communication Apprehension (ICA), and conflict management preferences in the context of cultural adaptation.Journal of Intercultural Communication Research,43(3), 215-237. Orbe, M. P., Roberts, T. L. (2012). Co-cultural theorizing: Foundations, applications extensions.Howard Journal of Communications,23(4), 293-311. Palmer, S. B., Fais, L., Golinkoff, R. M., Werker, J. F. (2012). Perceptual narrowing of linguistic sign occurs in the 1st year of life.Child Development,83(2), 543-553. Penbek, ?., Yurdakul ?ahin, D., Cerit, A. G. (2012). Intercultural communication competence: A study about the intercultural sensitivity of university students based on their education and international experiences.International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management,11(2), 232-252. Velez, J. J., Cano, J. (2012). Instructor Verbal and Nonverbal Immediacy and the Relationship with Student Self-Efficacy and Task Value Motivation.Journal of Agricultural Education,53(2), 87-98.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Tourism And Economic Development In Singapore Tourism Essay Essay Example

Tourism And Economic Development In Singapore Tourism Essay Essay The Singapore Tourism Board ( STB ) is a taking economic development in touristry, one of Singapore s cardinal service sectors. The organisation is known for partnership, invention and excellence in doing it a cardinal economic driver for Singapore. ( STB, updated 2010 ) Based on the Singapore Tourism Board ( STB ) media release on April 23, 2009 and October 27, 2009, the cardinal statistics show that there is an unfavourable alteration in inflow of Singapore Tourism. Visitor reaching to Singapore has declined in earlier portion of the twelvemonth 2009 when compared to twelvemonth 2008. This is well caused by the lessening of tourer reaching from Singapore s top five visitor-generating markets which is besides deduction of the external forces by Political, Economical, Socio-cultural and Technology developments at the tourer bring forthing states every bit good as the finish state. Other major factors include the followerss ; We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism And Economic Development In Singapore Tourism Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism And Economic Development In Singapore Tourism Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism And Economic Development In Singapore Tourism Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The gap of boundary lines An addition in disposable income and holidaies Reasonable priced airfares An addition in the figure of people with clip and money More people with the impulse to go The weak public presentation in tourer reaching further leads to worsen in general economic system of the state as Tourism provides authorities with significant revenue enhancement grosss. As there is mutuality between assorted sections of touristry, public presentation by other touristry related sectors such as Hotel, Attractions, Restaurants, Theme Parks and other Resorts in Singapore faced the negative multiplier consequence of the lessening of tourer reaching in earlier 2009. Problem Identification and Analysis As at April 2009, Tourist reaching bead hotel industry public presentation bead in general compared to the same month in twelvemonth 2008 AOR / ARR/ Revpar/ room revenue/ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ There is a tendency in Singapore touristry harmonizing to functionary records that there is a well low inbounds in the first months of a calendar twelvemonth. These could moderately be caused by the agenda and modus operandis of a on the job mid-class visitants where there are least likely to be granted a holiday period. Another cardinal influence of the inflow is the planetary economic system crisis that took topographic point and effected world-wide economic system in 2008 which was triggered by a liquidness deficit in the United States banking system. It contributed to the failure of cardinal concern, diminutions in consumer wealth, significant fiscal committednesss incurred by authoritiess, and a important diminution in economic activity. Harmonizing to the statistics from October 2009, media release by Singapore Tourism Board, the visitant reachings to Singapore has picked up in a positive mark registering increase figure of 9,000 which was about 10 % of the reaching in earlier that twelvemonth. This is an deduction of cardinal part by top visitor-generating markets from Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan. These influences could be regarded as a consequence from public vacations at the tourer bring forthing states. Some factors include grant vacations and holiday period by the employer to bulk of the staff and being the most suited clip to unclutter the one-year leave by twelvemonth terminal. Some other factors may be attributed to attractive travel bundles and aggressive selling for major events in the finish state. Statement of Key jobs and Issues Based on the statistics from STB during the earlier months of twelvemonth 2009, there were issues between viing hotel industry. Mid-Tier hotel category, hotels located in premier commercial zones or instantly outlaying countries of Singapore, had achieved the highest AOR but low ARR †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Economy-Tier, hotels in budget section and are by and large located in outlaying countries of Singapore, faced lowest AOR but high ARR and Revpar †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ . Although the growing of tourer reaching improved by terminal of the twelvemonth 2009, the hotel industry remained slow in accomplishing the standard public presentation compared to old twelvemonth. There was a important addition in AOR by September 2009. However ARR/ Revpar decreased ensuing in bead of entire Hotel room gross when compared to twelvemonth 2008. This implies that touristry related sectors and concerns could non better public presentation in line with the tourer reaching as there are strong competition among the competition houses and sharing of market available at given chance. Upscale grade, which include hotels in upscale section and are by and large in premier locations or hotels with dress shop positioning in premier or typical locations, received a lower consequence with little diminution. This shows a certain section of the industry that is non every bit sensitive as other sections. Coevals and Evaluation of Alternative Solutions Hotels operation could avoid important impact by practising gross management†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Media consciousness in tourer bring forthing states, †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ . Travel publicity to be marketed and enforced by oversea tourer offices under STB, peculiarly establishing publicity run for the vacation periods. Government should put against the background of turning chances from both traditional out-bounds markets including the United States, Europe and Japan, and high growing possible markets such as China and India. Execution of Recommendations Should take to distinguish and market Singapore as a must see finish offering a concentration of enriching experiences. STB should transport out the actions to advance Singapore Tourism and the local tourer attractive force in order to stand out as a top finish in Asia Pacific and among the universe celebrated finish. Tour operators, Hotel directions and Food and Beverages concern should spread out their web by associating with more mediators such as travel agents and circuit operators. With current position and strong competition among the houses, concern operators from single touristry sections should understand the mutuality between the assorted sections of touristry as in Travel, Lodging, Food service, and diversion musca volitanss. If any chance given to bind in with one another, these sections should actively originate the bundle that would profit each and every section. For illustration, a travel agent offering air ticket along with room darks of a certain hotel, which will besides have a half twenty-four hours tour at the local attractive forces to lend the local community. It is besides of import to acknowledge the multiplier consequence in the Tourism industry where the money spent by tourers to go, to remain in a hotel or to eat in a eating house, is recycled by those concern to buy more goods thereby bring forthing further usage of the money which is favourable for the local community. Current and future tendency of Singapore Tourism Medical Tourism The addition in the figure of people to seek medical intervention in Singapore has been driven chiefly by cheap travel, a rise in the figure of persons with longer life anticipations and extra income. Furthermore, twosome with expensive and long waiting periods for domestic intervention in other Asia states and the information available through media and cyberspace has boost the inbound medical touristry for Singapore. Since October 2003, Singapore authorities had launched Singapore Medicine, a multi-government enterprise aimed at developing Singapore into one of Asia taking finishs for international patients. It targets to draw1million foreign patients to Singapore by twelvemonth 2012. In footings of gross, it sets to bring forth S $ 3 billion for the medical travel industry where the Economic Development Board ( EDB ) , Singapore Tourism Board ( STB ) and International Enterprise ( IE ) Singapore are portion of this enterprise. ( STB, 2004 ) Singapore Grand Prix Singapore GP is the major event go oning in Singapore which staged Formula 1, auto rushing get downing with the 2008 Season. Many of the F1 fans travelled to Singapore in order to take part in this major juncture, lending a important encouragement in Singapore Tourism. This sort of events has promoted the touristry of Singapore and brought in gross for other touristry related sectors such as Conveyances, Lodging and Food and Beverages. Completion of the two Integrated Resorts Marina Bay Sands and Resort World Sentosa, the two major undertakings had completed in 2010, lending a major addition in tourer reaching mostly from Asia parts and other Europe states. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Case Studies in Anthropology Essays

Case Studies in Anthropology Essays Case Studies in Anthropology Paper Case Studies in Anthropology Paper In chapter five of the book â€Å"The Yanamamo: Case Studies in Anthropology† by Napoleon A. Chagnon deals with political alliances, trading and feasting and how it fits into their culture and practices. Alliances between villages involve casual trading, mutual feasting and the exchange of women. Their power exists with the ideal that the stronger villages should take advantages of the weaker villages and this is shown by taking of the women of one village from another. Because of this military threat intervillage alliance is desirable and villages should behave in a strong fashion so trade alliances are very important. There are three distinct features of Yanamano trading practices. The first is that each item traded must be repaid with a different type of item. Who ever gets the gift must repay his partner and this is called no mraiha. This way of giving must be paid back and is a leverage to ask for a reciprocal gift. Second the gift is usually delayed. The ideal is that one trade will force the other and gives members of neighboring villages an excuse and opportunity to visit each other. The third is the specialization of the gifts. Each village has one or more specialized products to use in trade. The feast is a display of affluence and is a way to challenge the guests to give a feast of equal size at a later time and place. Sometimes so much food is offered that the guest will eat too much go and vomit and then return to eat more. Each feast calls for another. This is a way for allies to get to know each other during the dry season and over the years. Feasts are exciting and form a bond between the villages for years. Reference: Chagnon, N. A. (1997). The Yanamamo: Case studies in anthropology. N. J. : Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Possible questions for a test: 1. What is the importance of aggression in the Yanamano’s culture? (2-3 page answer) 2. What are the three features of trading practices among the Yanamamo culture? (short essay) 3. How are Women viewed in this culture? (Short essay).

Friday, November 22, 2019

Bring and Take

Bring and Take Bring and Take Bring and Take By Jacquelyn Landis Writers tend to get confused about when to use bring and take. Many think that the two words can be used interchangeably, but they do have two distinctly different uses. Which one you use depends entirely on your perspective for the action. Bring indicates action coming toward the speaker; take means action taken away from the speaker. So from your perspective, your kids will bring their homework to you to check, and then they’ll take it to school tomorrow. From your kids’ perspective, they’ll take their homework to you and then bring it with them when they go to school tomorrow. The trick is to think about your location. Something coming your way is brought to you. Something going away is taken from you. It can get confusing occasionally, and when it does you have to depend on the surrounding context to help you determine the point of reference. Check out these examples: Be sure to bring a jacket with you in case it gets cold. Be sure to take a jacket with you in case it gets cold. Both can be correct. In the former example, the meaning is to carry the jacket with you to where you are going. It’s likely that this would be something the person you’re joining would say to you. In the latter example, the meaning is to take it away from your starting point. It sounds a lot like something Mom would say as you’re running out of the house. To simplify the concept even more, think of it like this: you bring things here and take them there. It’s not an infallible method, but it works most of the time. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Types of Narrative ConflictIs There a Reason â€Å"the Reason Why† Is Considered Wrong?How to Style Legislative Terms

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Analyse some of the consequences that mobile phones have for everyday Essay

Analyse some of the consequences that mobile phones have for everyday life - Essay Example The social consequences of such an amazing technology have yet to be felt, and it is likely that we will be coping for decades. One of the most obvious impacts that mobile phones have on everyday life is the extreme temptation to talk on the phone while driving. Even when this doesn't reduce the hands someone has available for driving, it tends to distract. Many jurisdictions in America and the UK have created or are debating the drafting of laws that ban the usage of mobile phones in cars except for the usage of hands-free headsets. The fact that this would even be a problem was impossible to anticipate until recently: Mobile phones were once known as car phones, and in the UK they still often are. But mobile phones also have had more subtle effects. The ability to be contacted at any time has increased time pressures on people. In one Calvin and Hobbes comic, a comic from two decades go, Calvin's father complains that fax machines and other electronic devices don't increase leisure time by making work more efficient but decrease it by making people have expectations for faster service: Something that used to take a week and be considered a rush job would be considered unbelievably tardy. Mobile phones amplify this pressure. If they have GPS features, they can be used by the government or by parents to monitor someone's location, which can have wide-reaching privacy implications, as well as implications for criminals and police. But it might be possible, if an employee doesn't monitor auto-updating features that tell a server where someone is, to be caught lying to a boss about being sick, raising further privacy implications. Employers can call employees or text them constantly. This can cause employees to have even less time that they can perceive as their own. A mobile phone becomes an imposition sometimes, and people seeking out vacation or time off often try to turn off the phone so as not to worry about harassment. Another problem can be cyber-stalking o r, less intrusively, bothering by friends, family, spouses or loved ones. Being constantly available allows people to monitor people, or to exert relationship control, or to nag. Mobile phones have also transformed the ways we've communicated with each other. This is a step in a longer process of world-shrinking. When the only way to communicate with someone even a few hundred miles is a letter, one carefully considers what one has to say, knowing that the nearest response might be days, weeks or months away. But now that people can communicate not only through the mail but also on the phone, mobile phone, texts, e-mails, and instant messaging, communication can become trite or irrelevant. People can use Twitter to update each other on where they're going, what they're doing or how a sandwich at a local pub tastes. It often seems deplorable how communication is degraded and people speak to each other about trite, trivial, unimportant things. It has also degraded grammar and spelling : People use text speak in e-mails, instant messaging and texting, with acronyms and misspellings being ubiquitous. Ironically, however, the complaint that this is

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Importance of Financial Accounting of Government Affairs in World and Research Paper

Importance of Financial Accounting of Government Affairs in World and More Specifically in Africa - Research Paper Example Government accounting is the process that encompasses recording, analysis, classification, summary, communication, and interpretation of financial information about government conduct in financial domain in aggregate. It is detailed reflection of transactions and other economic events involving the receipt, payments, spending, transfer, usability and disposition of assets and liabilities (International Federation of Accountants, 2000). 1.2 Purpose of Government Accounting: Government disclosure in accounting provides citizen evidence and reasoning for the raising of funds from public and donors and domains where the said amount is made useful with its cost and benefits information also exportable from such statements. Government accounting is also an important source of information for national and international investors about how the economy is being run based on internal revenues, local or international debts. Information disclosed in government accounting statements are fulfillme nt of â€Å"their right to know† about the government strategy regarding the accounting and finance of the country (GASB 2006, p. 5). Government accounting, concisely, is required to serve the following three purposes based on their priority (Chan, 2003): BASIC PURPOSE: Basic purpose of government accounting is to prevent and detect public treasury from corruption and graft. Citing report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Development Association, Thomas (2001, p. 38) mentioned that countries with heavy debt and poor state of economic stability 'lack the practices and procedures necessary for budgeting, monitoring, and reporting on the use of public resources'. INTERMEDIATE PURPOSE: Intermediate purpose of government accounting is to ensure the robust and thorough financial management of public resources through budget planning and presenting actual activities. ADVANCE PURPOSE: The advance purpose of government accounting is to help government ensu re its accountability to public. To achieve this purpose it is required to have efficiency on three levels; accountability of the bureaucracy to the chief executive, of the executive to the legislature, and of the government to the people. Transparency in government accounts serves to ensure efficiency in economy and a weapon against government theft and frauds. Accounting information can be used to monitor and enforce the terms of economic, social and political contracts; when government conduct any market transaction its information from financial statements can be used for economic accounting of government. Similarly, when government levies any tax to finance its budgetary needs, details regarding its need and benefit can be assessed for political accounting of government (Chan, 2003).Hence, accounting for government is more for accountability as it involves public resources. Acknowledgment of the importance of government

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Hopes and dreams of becoming the champions Essay Example for Free

Hopes and dreams of becoming the champions Essay Football is truly one of the most brutal and exciting games we have in the world today. But it is also a game that requires the discipline of a soldier in battle. And no one knows this better than John McMurty who has observed the same thing in his years of playing the game. But is this primeval reflection of society the same in all sports? Not quite. There are two things that football has in common with all other sports: (1) in order to win you have to beat the other team, and (2) to even qualify for a competition intense drills and discipline is required of every player. In this sense, all sports is a lighter version of militaries all over the world going to war with the only difference of not literally killing the other person, but instead, killing their hopes and dreams of becoming the champions. The primal urge to take it all can be seen even in a sport that is entirely in another spectrum altogether. The sport of bowling, as demure as it might seem is of the same caliber as football. While the players in bowling don’t exactly scream bloody murder at one another, nor do they manhandle one another, in another plane, competitors want to beat the hell out of their competitors by taking the title and transferring all that pent-up fury into the swing of their arms, knocking down pins. These pins could even represent opponents the players want to crush, though they are merely representations. And unlike football players who receive punishing injuries at almost every game, bowlers receive theirs occasionally especially if they don’t do their forms right or they don’t throw the ball the way their coaches have drilled into them. This just goes to show that all sports are a reflection of society’s hunger for taking it all and is the military’s baby sister in instilling discipline and in drilling.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Bennet on Religion :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bennett sets up an unsettling depiction of today’s society. However, it seems as though he is merely trying to draw pathos out of readers. He mentions the most heinous crimes, and extreme situations and attempts to pass it off as a normal occurrence in society. He states over and over that â€Å"something has gone wrong with us.† Though some of the situations he speaks of are accepted as socially deviant but most all of society, some of it is extremely relative. He speaks a great deal on out of wedlock births. And further, he goes onto to include them in a list of things that â€Å"are not good to get use to.† To some people, out of wedlock births are not a horrible things. It is common for single women to want to have a child before they are no longer able to. He loses some ethos when he attacks this perspective, especially being that this viewpoint is becoming more and more accepted. Also, he speaks a great deal about our low achievement sc ores on the secondary education level, but fails to mention how our educational institutions are set up differently than other countries. For example, we, by law, require all minors to attend school, where as many other countries do not, and only educate the more intelligent students. Equal education oppurtunities cannot be a bad thing, or credited to social regression. Bennett also lays a great deal of blame on the media. He makes the transition from Bach and Buddy Holly to Guns ‘n’ Roses and 2 Live Crew. However, he left out nearly two decades of music which, in essence had the same types of messages as these two examples. He does not note any â€Å"social regression† during this era, so it seems to be an indirect correlation between social deviance and music.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bennett offers the solution of bringing religion back to educational institutes. He states that â€Å"we must have public policies that once again make the connection between our deepest beliefs and our legislative agenda.† It is unfair to assume that the morality set up by the ten commandments in the Bible is even an accurate distinction between what is and is not moral.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

How to Write Case Analysis

Read a case at your normal speed without stopping to take notes. Read the assignment at the end of the case (if there is an assignment), and then carefully read the entire case again, taking notes in the margins as you read. Your task is to identify problems in the case, formulate recommendations to solve these problems, and then write your analysis with the following four headings: 1. Summary of the facts presented. 2. Analysis of the problems. 3. Recommendations for solutions to the problems. 4. Implications your recommendations will have on the operation of the organization.Follow the above format even if there are Assignment questions at the end of the case. Important: Weave the answers to the Assignment questions into your â€Å"Recommendations† section. As you write your case analysis, you must include appropriate references to the assigned reading. Your references should be in the following formats: For books and articles, (Brandenburger & Nalebuff, 1996. p. 126) and fo r Web articles and material, (www. charleswarner. us/articles/BUDGETS. html. September, 2004). The date in the Web reference is the month you accessed a Web site.Do not include a bibliography or references section at the end of your case analysis unless you refer to books or articles that are not Required or Recommended Reading. Summary Begin your write-up with a concise synthesis of the facts in the case, under the heading â€Å"Summary. † Stick to one or two sentences and do not put any discussion of problems or recommendations for solutions in this section. Analysis The most important section of your case analysis comes next, under the heading â€Å"Analysis. † This section should be the longest, most thorough section of your write-up.Managers cannot solve problems unless they can first identify them. Recognizing problems and then understanding the nature of the problems is the proper beginning of all managerial action. Solutions generally fall in place relatively e asily once problems are recognized and understood. There are often several viable solutions to problems in a case, but you cannot implement any of them if you cannot identify the problems. It is important that there are references to the assigned reading in the Analysis section.Your grade will depend, to a large degree, on how many appropriate, relevant, references you include in your write-up. Recommendations Next, write your recommendations on to how to solve the problems in a section titled â€Å"Recommendations. † Put the solutions in order of priority. It is vitally important that you include references to the assigned reading in the Recommendations section, too. If there are questions or assignments at the end of the case, weave your answers into the Recommendations section of the case.Implications. Finally, in your â€Å"Implications† section you should elaborate what implications your recommendations will have on the operation of the organization in the short a nd long term and what broader policy implications your recommendations might have not only on your organization but also on the business community, if there are any. In other words, if your recommendations are implemented, what changes will the organization and the business community in general have to make in the way they do things now and in the future? Include appropriate references in this section, too.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Criminalistics Essay

Jennifer Humphrey Criminalistics Individual Work Week 3 1. Name two synthetic opiates and describe the purpose for which each is typically used. * Methadone is perhaps the best known synthesized opiate. A person that receives periodic doses of methadone would not get high if he/she then took heroin or morphine. It’s purpose is to eliminate an addicts desire for heroin, with minimal side effects. Mainly, heroin addicts receive methadone to reduce or prevent future heroin use.Some physicians also prescribe methadone for pain relief. * Oxycontin’s active ingredient is oxycodone, which is a synthetic drug closely related to morphine and heroin in its chemical structure. Oxycontin is an analgesic that has affects similar to those of heroin. Used to treat chronic pain. 2. What is a hallucinogen? Name three commonly used hallucinogens. Hallucinogens are drugs that can cause marked alterations in normal thought processes, perceptions and moods.Three commonly used hallucinogens are LSD, PCP, and Marijuana. 3. What is stimulant? Name two widely used stimulants, A stimulant is a drug that is used to stimulate, or speed up the central nervous system. Cocaine and methamphetamines (ICE) 4. What is crack and how is it produced? A particularly potent form of cocaine produced by mixing cocaine and baking soda and then water, and then heated, resulting in a solution. The material us then broken into tiny chunks that dealers melt as crack rocks.Crack gives a greater euphoria. 5. What is the difference between a screening test and a confirmation test? A screening test is a preliminary test used to reduce the number of possibility identities of an unknown substance. A confirmation test is a single test that specifically identifies a substance. References Saferstein, 2009, pages 286-287 Saferstein, 2009, pages 287-290 Saferstein, 2009, page 293-295 Saferstein, 2009, page 295 Saferstein, 2009, page 303

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Reasons Why U.S. Maintains Dependence on Foreign Oil Import (2005)

Reasons Why U.S. Maintains Dependence on Foreign Oil Import (2005) In 2005, the United State imports about 60 percent of its oil from foreign countries, and this rate is still continuing to grow. Some experts predict that by the time 2020, the U.S. oil import rate will excess 70 percent or even more. Look back to the history, the U.S. imported only 42 percent oil of its consumption in 1980, and in 2000, this number has risen to 52 percent (Feldstein). That means the oil imported rate is not only just growing, but also might grow faster and faster when the oil demands is increasing. The rate is increased by almost 20 percent in 20 years even tough the government wants to reduce the U.S. dependence on foreign oil import even since 1970s. Today, most of the world's oil reserves are located in the Mid-east countries; most of these resources are controlled by the OPEC members. And the U.S imports big amount of oil form OPEC, such as Saudi Arabia.English: Kingdom Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tak...In addition, not only U.S., but also other big countries in the world, such as Japan and Spain, these countries are also increasing their oil import from OPEC. In a public opinion survey, many people point out that they are afraid the future price of oil might become a "serious threat to the nation's economy and jobs, as well as to its standard of living, the environment, and their national security"(SUN DAY Campaign). Lots of people argue that the dependence of the foreign oil import is bad for American economy. The government in the United Stated always wants to be more independently on its domestic oil production. However, although President George Bush says that hydrogen power will lead the U.S. to energy independence, in fact, from the information upon, we knew that the oil import rate will not...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Definition and Examples of Crots in Composition

Definition and Examples of Crots in Composition In composition, a crot is a verbal bit or fragment used as an autonomous unit to create an effect of abruptness and rapid transition. Also called a blip. In  An Alternate Style: Options in Composition  (1980), Winston Weathers described crot  as an archaic word for bit or fragment. The term, he said, was revived by  American essayist and novelist  Tom Wolfe in his introduction to  The Secret Life of Our Times  (Doubleday, 1973). This is one of the few great ways that a fragment sentence can be used effectively - they are often used in poetry but can be used in other forms of literature as well. Examples and Observations in Literature New Years Eve on Broadway. 1931. The poets dream. The bootleggers heaven. The hat check girls julep of joy. Lights. Love. Laughter. Tickets. Taxis. Tears. Bad booze putting hics into hicks and bills into tills. Sadness. Gladness. Madness. New Years Eve on Broadway.(Mark Hellinger, New Years Eve on Broadway. Moon Over Broadway, 1931)The Crots of Mr. JingleAh! fine place, said the stranger, glorious pile - frowning walls - tottering arches - dark nooks - crumbling staircases - Old cathedral too - earthy smell - pilgrims feet worn away the old steps - little Saxon doors - confessionals like money-takers boxes at theatres - queer customers those monks - Popes, and Lord Treasurers, and all sorts of old fellows, with great red faces, and broken noses, turning up every day - buff jerkins too - matchlocks - Sarcophagus - fine place - old legends too - strange stories: capital and the stranger continued to soliloquize until they reached the Bull Inn, in the High Street, where the coach stopped.(Alfred Jingle in Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1837) Coetzees CrotsWhat absorbs them is power and the stupor of power. Eating and talking, munching lives, belching. Slow, heavy-bellied talk. Sitting in a circle, debating ponderously, issuing degrees like hammer blows: death, death, death. Untroubled by the stench. Heavy eyelids, piggish eyes, shrewd with the shrewdness of generations of peasants. Plotting against each other too: slow peasant plots that take decades to mature. The new Africans, pot-bellied, heavy-jowled men on their stools of office: Cetshwayo, Dingane in white skins. Pressing downward: their power in their weight.(J.M. Coetzee, The Age of Iron, 1990)Crots in PoetryAh to be aliveon a mid-September mornfording a streambarefoot, pants rolled up,holding boots, pack on,sunshine, ice in the shallows,northern rockies.(Gary Snyder, For All)Crots in AdvertisingTell England. Tell the world. Eat more Oats.  Take Care of your Complexion. No More War. Shine your Shoes with Shino. Ask your Grocer. Children love Laxamalt.  Prepar e to meet thy God. Bungs Beer is Better. Try Dogsbodys Sausages. Whoosh the Dust Away. Give them Crunchlets. Snagsburys Soups are Best for the Troops.  Morning Star, best Paper by Far. Vote for Punkin and Protect your Profits. Stop that Sneeze with Snuffo. Flush your Kidneys with Fizzlets. Flush your Drains with Sanfect. Wear Wool-fleece next the Skin. Popps Pills Pep you Up. Whiffle your Way to Fortune. . . .Advertise, or go under.(Dorothy Sayers, Murder Must Advertise, 1933) Menckens CrotsTwenty million voters with IQs below 60 have their ears glued to the radio; it takes four days hard work to concoct a speech without a sensible word in it. Next day a dam must be opened somewhere. Four senators get drunk and try to neck a lady politician built like an overloaded tramp steamer. The Presidential automobile runs over a dog. It rains.(H.L. Mencken, Imperial Purple)Updikes CrotsFootprints around a KEEP OFF sign.Two pigeons feeding each other.Two showgirls, whose faces had not yet thawed the frost of their makeup, treading indignantly through the slush.A plump old man saying Chick, chick and feeding peanuts to squirrels.Many solitary men throwing snowballs at tree trunks.Many birds calling to each other about how little the Ramble has changed.One red mitten lying lost under a poplar tree.An airplane, very bright and distant, slowly moving through the branches of a sycamore.(John Updike, Central Park)Winston Weathers and Tom Wolfe on Crots- In its most intense form, the crot is characterized by a certain abruptness in its termination. As each crot breaks off, Tom Wolfe says, it tends to make ones mind search for some point that must have just been made- presque vu!- almost seen! In the hands of a writer who really understands the device, it will have you making crazy leaps of logic, leaps you never dreamed of before.The provenance of the crot may well be in the writers note itselfin the research note, in the sentence or two one jots down to record a moment or an idea or to describe a person or place. The crot is essentially the note left free of verbal ties with other surrounding notes. . . .The general idea of unrelatedness present in crot writing suggests correspondence- for those who seek it- with the fragmentation and even egalitarianism of contemporary experience, wherein the events personalities, places of life have no particular superior or inferior status to dictate priorities of presentation.(Winston Weathers, An Alternate Style : Options in Composition. Boynton/Cook, 1980) Bangs manes bouffants beehives Beatle caps butter faces brush-on lashes decal eyes puffy sweaters French thrust bras flailing leather blue jeans stretch pants stretch jeans honeydew bottoms eclair shanks elf boots ballerina Knight slippers.(Tom Wolfe, The Girl of the Year. The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, 1965)MontagePart of the power of moving images comes from the technique [Sergei] Eisenstein championed: montage. Here the tables turn in the contest between the novel and moving images, for in switching rapidly between perspectives, it is those who share their imaginations with us by writing who are at a disadvantage.Because writers must work to make each view they present believable, it is very difficult for them to present a rapid series of such views. Dickens, with his marvelous alertness, succeeds as well as any writer has: the whistling of drovers, the barking of dogs, the bellowing and plunging of oxen, the bleating of sheep, the grunting and squealing of pig s; the cries of the hawkers, the shouts, oaths, and quarrelling on all sides [Oliver Twist]. But when attempting to capture the energy and chaos of this stunning and bewildering market-morning scene, Dickens is often reduced to lists: Countrymen, drovers, butchers, hawkers, boys, thieves, idlers, and vagabonds of every low grade or crowding, pushing, driving, beating, whooping and yelling.(Mitchell Stephens, The Rise of the Image, the Fall of the Word. Oxford University Press, 1998) See also: Collage EssayIn Defense of Fragments,  Crots, and Verbless SentencesListMinor SentenceSentence FragmentSuite Amà ©ricaine, by H.L. MenckenUsing Sentence Fragments EffectivelyVerbless SentenceWhat Is a Sentence?

Sunday, November 3, 2019

History of the Chernobyl Catastrophe Term Paper

History of the Chernobyl Catastrophe - Term Paper Example The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Number 4 located in the city of Prypiat in north central Ukraine exploded on April 26th, 1986 (Newtan 137). This is one of the world's worst and most catastrophic nuclear events. It is recorded to be at a scale ten times the magnitude of the atomic bomb explosion of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War (Brack 71). The explosion had a tremendous effect on the people living in the region as well as people living in nearby countries. This is because the radioactive substances of the explosion were transferred by wind to other nations in the then communist bloc of Eastern Europe. The subsequent evaporation of these radioactive materials led to tremendous suffering and detrimental effects on both humans, plants and animals in the region. A lot of subsequent events suggest that the Chernobyl disaster had a strong effect on the fetuses which led to the birth of deformed babies. Another issue was the prevalence of cancer and typhoid amon gst children. This paper examines the relationship between this nuclear incident and the political, social and environmental structures of the Soviet system. The paper views how the inactions and failures of the Soviet government led to serious consequences for the communities in and around the areas affected by the nuclear disaster. The paper goes on to identify the effects of the nuclear incident on the environment of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia that was affected by the radioactive substances... These three points indicate that there were significant and clearcut failures of the Soviet authorities in taking relevant steps to prevent and/or contain an incident of the magnitude of the Chernobyl disaster. Aleksievich & Gessen identify that there was a woman who clinched to her husband whilst he was dying. This was something that responsible health officials should have prevented. Although the nurses warned the woman saying â€Å"that is not a person anymore. That is a nuclear reactor† (51), the failed to stop the woman. This means that inevitably, the woman also suffered some kind of damage. If the nurses and the health authorities had the right measures in place, people would have passed on humanely in isolated conditions and there would have been less implications for the wider society. In an effort to contain the incident, hunters were dispatched to evacuate villages and killed household pets. This is something that is absolutely unprofessional and shows that the Sovi et regime concentrated more on other things and absolutely neglected disaster relieve organizations and agencies. On the site, there was strong evidence that the persons dispatched had little experience and materials to contain the effects of the reactor. Soldiers and engineers hurled lead and stones into the plant with the hope of containing the fire (Mould 17). This was clearly unprofessional and they were obviously not prepared for such an event. Also, there is clear evidence that the Soviet Authorities used propaganda to secure public confidence. This boils down to the complicated structure of governance of the Soviet Union which involved a desire to keep the system working at all costs (Carter & Christensen 202). In Alesievich & Gessen's accounts, the

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Research proposal on network optimization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research proposal on network optimization - Essay Example Data centers support and provide a variety of application services to the end-users such as cloud computing, grid application, video streaming, video gaming and many others services by providing platform that support all major hardware and soft ware.2 Data centers are located on different parts of a network. Thus the decisions on regulation and management of the application services and network play a big role in influencing outcomes of the application performance and state of the network. Most companies currently make application decisions with insufficient or no information regarding the underlying network that relay those services.3 Hence the maximum benefits of services and network utilization may not be reaped. This paper proposes a study program into cross stratum application with emphasis on the challenges and opportunities made available by the data center based applications and the communication networks. Based on the cross stratum optimization opportunities presented by the interactions between the data center based application services, this research project will be mainly on the following key opportunities: first, enhanced optimization of application and network resources. Additionally, rapid reaction to the fast transforming demands. Lastly, quality of application experience enhancement through proper usage of the existing resources. This project will involve qualitative research involving all essentials parties in CSO i.e. application provider, data center provider, network provider and end-user. The study will involve the following: first, the survey of the different ‘trust’ relationships that are exhibited between the various stakeholders in the application and the network stratum. Secondly, survey of the cloud based applications to compare their impact on network infrastructure. Thirdly, evaluation of the key interfaces their functionality and how they relate to the current standards and potential future standards. More

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Marketing Plan for Breads and Bakes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Plan for Breads and Bakes - Essay Example The experience and the knowledge of B&B owners, product variety, and skilled workers are the strengths of the enterprise. The weakness of the firm arises from its dearth of knowledge regarding the taste and preference of the local clientele. The firm has a prospect of benefiting from the mild competitive rivalry and the large consumer base in the locality. The competition arising from the well-established and prominent cafes are a major threat.The retail industry for food and beverages in the US is swelling rapidly. The increased demand for the freshly baked products, including muffins, bread, and beverages such as coffee arises from the cool business climate of Seattle. The low competition in the locality also increases the demand for products (U.S Department of Commerce, 2008). Large coffee chains and espresso bars are the main rivals of B&B. Nonetheless, the cafes often have limited clients because of the higher outlays with which they are associated. B&B is economical in its comp etitive price, acquiring more clients (Langlois & Csontos, 1993).The firm’s products are a variety of coffee, espresso, and freshly baked products. The firm will market the products to the locals, tourists, and travelers in the town.The local residents aged between 15 and 50 years are the target market of the firm. The firm also targets the tourists and the frequent travelers in the town.B&B will be different from other firms in terms of a wide variety of provisions and competitive pricing.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The Related Literature And Studies English Language Essay

The Related Literature And Studies English Language Essay Communication is an integral part of human existence and development. Engaging in it is inevitable particularly in a business setting as it is relative to promoting an idea, product, service, or organization to create value or make a sale (Khan). Successful businesses recognize the value of communication in the workplace which requires proficiency in oral and written communication skills. The latter is engineered to display information effectively on the page in order to get results, to inform, to request, to entertain, or to persuade (Holloway). In fact, 90% of all business transactions involve written communications (DePompa). Hence effective business communication demands ideas, thoughts, and concepts to be expressed and presented in an orderly, formal, and effective manner. English as Second Language (ESL) learners perceive business writing skill as far more challenging than that of oral business communication. The former requires the use of written English based on standards set by prescriptive authorities associated with publishing houses and schools (www.wikipedia.com). Teachers, like the researcher, are faced with the challenge of addressing students lack of business writing skills which emanates from their confusion and difficulty in understanding the concepts governing business writing. Business writing is a highly demanding process that necessitates an organization in the development of thoughts, ideas, and accuracy in word choices. The most common problem that confronts teachers of the writing class does not lie so much on what to ask students to write about; the difficulty is more on how to motivate the students to write interesting and effective materials. Writing for its own sake is a drag, and produces boring output (Ikeguchi). Writing only becomes an interesting activity when the teacher knows how to go about teaching it. One very important point the teacher can consider to increase motivation is to actually become a very good supporter and facilitator in the entire writing process. In this regard, the use of newspaper articles as intervention in the improvement of business writing is can be considered. The use of newspaper articles can be an effective intervention to implement in the writing-learning process because it can easily be adapted in Business Communication and Writing class. Newspaper articles offer situations that students are likely to encounter in real life. Through newspaper articles, they can use their experiences and prior knowledge to respond appropriately, and even creatively. This intervention can also help students with low English proficiency to arouse interest so they can actively participate in the class activities. The use of newspaper articles motivates students to write what they want, what they need, and what they feel. Because of the increased responsibility to participate through a variety of writing exercises, students may gain confidence in using the target language in general. Students are more responsible managers of their own learning (Larsen Freeman). This paper intends to find out whether the use of newspaper articles as intervention in the improvement of business writing skills of iACADEMY students is effective. Background of the Study Having the mindset of directly addressing the need for ready-to-hire graduates/applicants of both the information technology (IT) and business industries, Mr. Mitch Andaya, former Dean of the College of Computer Studies in DLSU and Vice-President of STI Colleges Head Office, together with the other founders, established the Information and Communications Technology Academy, now better known as iACADEMY, in March of 2002. The school acquired the first and third floors of the PhilCare Building in Ayala Avenue corner Dela Rosa Street in Makati City. At present, the school occupies the third to the fifth floor of the building that has been renamed iACADEMY. iACADEMY offers Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BSCS) with Specialization in Software Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) with Specialization in Digital Arts, and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) with Specialization in Marketing and Advertising Management, Bachelor of Science in Animation (BSA), Bachelor of Science in Game Development (BSGD), Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Arts and Design (AB MMA), and Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Design (ABFD). iACADEMYs library houses a good selection of hard-to-find and imported books, a generous number of local text books and reference materials, and half a dozen desktop computers equipped with the internet, the latest software for IT-related courses and electronic books (e-books) encompassing a variety of subjects to address the needs of its students across all degrees. It also has been on daily subscription with two of the more prominent Philippine broadsheets, the Manila Bulletin and the Philippine Star. Several copies of the daily issues of these broadsheets are accessible to everyone who works for or studies in the institution. However, based upon the school librarians personal observation, only a handful of individuals, most of whom are faculty members, take the time to read these newspapers. Students become interested with these learning materials only when the need arises, like when assignments necessitate them to read and photocopy articles in these newspapers. This study, which aims to improve the students business writing skills, also hopes to make students become active newspaper readers after they discover the real-life learning opportunities it can offer. The advent of computer and internet technology may have invited people to forgo handwritten letters, but definitely not letter writing itself. The existence of the computer and internet in fact has revolutionized letter writing, particularly its speed in creation, transmission, and feedback. And, with the development of electronic mailing system (e-mail), people probably write more than they actually used to. The internet may have decreased the interest of people to perform the task of hand writing but it has also increased peoples preference for written communication (Bly). Two decades or so ago, most managers dictated letters which their secretaries typed. Today, more professionals personally transcribe their letters as computer literacy, including a working knowledge on MS Word and Excel has become a basic managerial requirement (Bly). This goes to show that there is an increase in the number of individuals who are actively performing the skill of writing everyday; therefore, a call for more emphasis on teaching and learning writing skills is an imperative. Majority of iACADEMYs student population comes from the upper-middle to the high-class members of the society. Most of them are graduates of private or exclusive high schools. However, this alone cannot be taken as a guarantee of their English proficiency, both in oral and written communication. Business Communication and Writing course falls under the umbrella of English for Specific Purpose (ESP) course; therefore, it requires a higher level of English proficiency. This is why the course is set as the third English course to be taken by students while the first two English courses are its prerequisites. iACADEMY English faculty are alarmed with their students poor writing performance. These students barely pass or even fail their English subjects because they exhibit below average level of competency, particularly in writing; and when asked why they performed rather poorly, they blamed their very little exposure to the language and uninteresting English subjects as the culprits. English language educators have to admit that ensuring the students improvement in writing performance is in their hands. Writing only becomes an interesting activity when the language educator knows how to go about teaching it and by increasing students motivation in engaging students in the writing process. In this regard, the use of newspaper articles as intervention in the improvement of business writing of iACADEMY students is recommended for consideration. In the Philippines, there are very limited studies related to the topic. The researcher would therefore attempt to make a modest contribution to this area through a different approach by the use of newspaper articles as intervention in the improvement of business writing. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQ1hlxPb3YneR_uz6OCXzogtKzZuEWdCRBq5tQMluZ-gOeIm0oKzfBgUF1Y3mmZYIeMMatdDjpFSELhhdaNdVuG5jxAOxa-XdN8sRpxiT6PWKIF2vjOSKX679n1Fr7fY7zrD89PUAt2Hx/s1600/iACADEMY.jpg Map of the Location of Information and Communications Technology Academy Figure 1 Theoretical Framework The framework of this research is anchored on two approaches. First is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) or Communicative Approach (CA) or in its earlier stage, Notional Functional Approach; and second is the Craftsmanship approach in Business Communication. The CLT approach is the result of the works of educators and linguists known as the Council of Europe language experts (Bryam) in the early 1970s and was further developed by David Wilkins, a prominent linguist who used the term communicative approach in 1974 (Wilkins). It can be further traced to the work of Chomsky in the 1960s, when he advanced the two notions of competence and performance as a reaction against the prevalent audio-lingual method of the time. The central theoretical concept and goal of the CLT approach is communicative competence, a term introduced into discussions of language use and second or foreign language learning together with communicative language teaching in the early 1970s (Savignon). Communicative competence can be defined in terms of the expression, interpretation, and negotiation of meaning and looks to both psycholinguistic and socio-cultural perspectives in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research to account for its development (Savignon). Teaching writing in the SLA context is one of the main objectives of foreign language teaching and learning. It involves a preparatory phase known as the decision-making phase. This phase entails defining the rhetorical problem: establishing a purpose for writing, determining the audience and a topic. Secondly, the ensuing writing processes are then determined and established. These processes involve the planning, transcribing, and reviewing of the composed work (Lee). The CLT approach to writing is an effective approach because it allows students to draw from their prior knowledge, actively navigate their way through the various writing processes with the appropriate scaffolding, and finally present their understanding of the content. One application of CLT approach is the use of authentic materials. Proponents of CLT have advocated the use of authentic real-life materials in the classroom which include language-based such as newspapers, magazines, advertisements, or graphic and visual sources in which communicative activities can be built (Jin, Application of Communicative Approach in College English Teaching). The range of exercise types and activities compatible with CLT is unlimited. Moreover, it is not assumed in this approach that the teacher is the center of all classroom activities (Al-Mutawa); therefore, the CLT is a learner-centered approach to language learning; and that the teachers and learners motivation and positive attitude are crucial for effective teaching and learning. Finally, as each classroom is different and is composed of different types of learners, several techniques and strategies may be used to address individual learner differences within the SLA environment (Lee). The second theory that this study will use as framework is the Rhetorical Theory in Business Communication. This theory declares that the communication process is neither a single nor a linear process; but is rather continuous making the entire communication process clear to all parties involved. One of the major approaches that the rhetorical theory offers to business communication is the Craftsmanship approach, which is based upon the well-crafted sales letter. It posits that the purpose of the letter is to convince, inform, and arouse its readers interest; therefore, it should be written with the you attitude, wherein the writer attempts to identify with the readers needs, perspective, language, and desires. This then becomes the master strategy for planning means of stimulating the readers faculties in various letter situations (Brooks). The you attitude is given due attention and emphasis by George Burton Hotchkiss. He says that what is true of sales letters is equally true of all other kinds of business letters. He further suggests that the first thing the writer must do is to form the habit of looking at the subject of his message from the readers viewpoint and language; and more importantly, he must get what is called the you attitude. The ideas and concepts in a letter should be expressed from the point of view of the reader. Whatever is said must be expressed in language directed at the reader himself (Hotchkiss and Kilduff). Aside from the you attitude, principle, Hotchkiss also adds five concepts that should always be observed when writing a business letter correctness, clearness, conciseness, courteousness, and character (Hotchkiss and Kilduff). These concepts are known as the, 5 Cs of business writing, should be evident in any type of business letter. Conceptual Framework The researcher has come up with a conceptual framework (see Fig. 1) based upon the theoretical framework of this study. Experimental (treatment) and control groups are included in the framework design. The process to be used for the experimental (treatment) group will be from a pretest to the use of newspaper articles to the posttest that will provide data for the validation of the hypotheses. The control group will undergo the process of a pretest to the conventional pedagogy to the posttest that will provide data for validation of hypotheses. The teaching methodology to be applied for this group is lecture-discussions. Experimental Group Control Group Pretest Pretest Conventional Teaching Conventional Teaching Posttest Use of Newspaper Articles as Intervention Posttest Improved Business Writing Skills Research Paradigm Figure 2 Statement of the Problem The main purpose of the study was to look into the effectiveness of using newspaper articles as intervention in the improvement of business writing performance in the Business Communication and Writing class of iACADEMY during the third trimester of school year 2011-2012. More specifically, the study aimed to answer the following sub-problems: Based on the 5 Cs of writing, what were the writing performances of the experimental and control groups in the following: Pretest Posttest Was there any significant difference between the pretest and the posttest writing performance of the two groups: Experimental group Control group Was there any significant difference in the pretest writing performance of the two groups: Experimental group Control group Was there any significant difference in the posttest writing performance of the two groups: Experimental group Control group Hypotheses: There is no significant difference between the pretest and the posttest writing performance of the experimental group. There is no significant difference between the pretest and the posttest writing performance of the control group. There is no significant difference in the pretest writing performance of the experimental and control groups. There is no significant difference in the posttest writing performance of the experimental and control groups. Scopes and Limitations This study focused on determining the effects of using newspaper articles as intervention in the improvement of business writing performance of iACADEMY students. The research subjects were taken from two heterogeneous groups of students enrolled at the Information and Communications Technology Academy (iACADEMY) in Makati City during the third semester of school year 2011-2012 and who were officially enrolled in ENG103 Business Communication and Writing course. The lecture-discussions for this study were based on the ENG103 (Business Communication and Writing) syllabus designed by the researcher three weeks prior to the start of the third trimester. The institution where he teaches allows members of the faculty to modify the course syllabus provided that such modifications are geared towards better delivery of the much needed learning of the students. Both experimental and control group were provided with the same lectures but with differences in the pedagogical approach. The control group was given only the lecture presentations and practice drills while the experimental group had newspapers articles integrated in the class activities in addition to the usual lecture presentations and practice drills. The newspaper articles chosen by the researcher typified the following principles of CLT approach (Jin, Application of Communicative Approach in College English Teaching): (1) Communicative Principle; (2) Task Principle; and (3) Meaningfulness Principle. Significance of the Study The individuals, who can benefit from this study, include the students, the language and the literature instructors, the curriculum designers, and future researchers. Students. The implementation of the study will benefit college students since newspapers can help them develop not only their reading and speaking skills, grammar, and vocabulary, but also their writing skill. Newspaper articles are considered to be authentic learning materials that provide real-life learning that motivates students to utilize previous life experiences and prior knowledge of a given topic. It can also serve as a model for proper execution of the writing tasks. Language Arts Instructors. The use of newspaper articles as intervention in the improvement of the business writing skills of students gives English instructors more up-to-date teaching materials that are readily accessible to them and their students. Newspaper articles can also serve as good examples for students to improve their writing skills. Curriculum Designers. Inevitably, academicians who focus on innovating designs of the English curriculum would need to find better if not pioneering approaches to teaching English as a second language. It is in this light that such professionals might want to consider including and utilizing newspaper articles in developing curricula that would focus on both language and literature. Other researchers. This study can open new doors for researchers to investigate the effects of the use of newspaper articles in the improvement of the writing performance of students in the English classes, and probably in other disciplines as well, such as in science, history, and values education. Definition of Terms The following terms are defined operationally and conceptually in the study: Authentic Materials. These are materials which involve language naturally occurring as communication in native-speaker contexts of use, or those selected contexts where Standard English is the norm. Business Communication. This is sharing of information between people within an enterprise that is performed for the commercial benefit of the organization. In addition, business communication can also refer to how a company shares information to promote its product or services to potential consumers. Business Communication Skill. This is the ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently. Business managers with good verbal, non-verbal and written communication skills help facilitate the sharing of information between people within a company for its commercial benefit. Character. This is both an intellectual and emotional quality of the business letter that expresses the writers unique personality in a very natural way, with due regard for his subject and his reader, making the letter a more adequate substitute for personal representative. Clearness. This is an intellectual quality of the business letter that shows its quality of impression and is therefore always to be judged from the readers viewpoint. The writer always knows what he means if he means anything at all. If the reader, however, does not know what a statement means, such a statement lacks this quality of clarity. Communication. This is the two-way process by which information is being conveyed between two individuals, a sender and a receiver, through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior in order to reach mutual understanding and create a shared meaning. Communicative Competence. It is a situational ability to set realistic and appropriate goals and to maximize their achievement by using knowledge of self, other, context, and thereby to generate adaptive communication performances. Communicative Principle. This principle uses activities that involve real communication situations that promote learning. Conciseness. This is an intellectual quality of the business letter that demands as little as possible of the readers time and gives the kind of service that builds goodwill. Control group. This is a group of students to be used as standard comparison in a control experiment. Conventional Pedagogy. This is the standard way of providing learning to the students at iACADEMY, which incorporates PowerPoint presentations with lecture-discussions. Correctness. This is both an intellectual and emotional quality of the business letter. It is an intellectual quality because the words, spelling, grammar, and punctuation must all be in conformity with established usage. It is also an emotional quality because incorrectness distracts and irritates, and arouses contempt because it gives a bad suggestion of ignorance, carelessness, or haste on the part of the writer. Courteousness. This is an emotional quality of the business letter that is based upon consideration for the readers feelings and personality by the studious avoidance of any idea that would offend. A writer should have no difficulty in securing this quality if he has a genuine recognition of the readers equality with himself. ENG 103. This is the course code of Business Communication and Writing, which is the third English subject needed to be taken by the students after accomplishing the prerequisite English courses Communication Arts 101 and Oral Communications with Public Speaking. Experimental group. This is a group of students that will under study to determine the effects of using newspaper articles as intervention in business writing performance Learner-centered Approach. This is an approach to education focusing on the needs, abilities, interests, and learning styles of the students with the teacher as a facilitator of learning, rather than those of others involved in the educational process, such as teachers and administrators. Lecture-Discussion. This is a teaching model that uses what students already know by building their own background; presents information in a systematic manner; and uses teacher questioning to involve students actively in the learning process. Meaningfulness Principle. This involves language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process. Newspaper Article. This is a written work published in print for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis, or debate in a scheduled publication such as the broadsheets. Posttest. This is an achievement test that will be used to identify the students level of improvement in their writing skills upon attainment of learning in the given lecture-discussions and activities performed in class. Pretest. This is a diagnostic test which aims to determine the students preparedness in beginning a new course of study. The test helps in the assessment of the student needs in learning the topics to be covered in the instructional design. Proficiency. It is mastery of a specific behavior or skill demonstrated by consistently superior performance, measured against established or popular standards. Second Language Acquisition (SLA). This is the process by which people of a first language learn a second language in addition to their native language. Task principle. This principle involves activities in which language is used to carry out meaningful tasks to promote learning. Writing rubric. This is an assessment tool that attempts to communicate particular level of expected qualities in writing performance areas specifically based upon the 5 Cs of Business Writing. Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES Presented in this chapter are the foreign and local literatures and studies which are relevant to the present study because such contain written reviews or commentaries of other researchers, theorists, and professionals with regard to the use of newspaper articles as intervention in the improvement of business writing. As a result of some limitations, the researcher acknowledges the fact that there is a possibility that other relevant literatures are still unread, either due to time constraint or distance issues of the location of the resource materials. Despite this discrepancy, the researcher tries to exhaust, to its fullest capabilities, the internet that seems to augment and provide sufficient information to supplement the library materials available. Foreign Literature J.C. Richards (2006) states that the ever-growing demand for good communication skills in the English language has created a huge demand for teaching English and an enormous demand for quality language teaching materials and resources. Learners today set themselves the demanding goal of being able to master English on a high proficiency level. Even employers demand that members of the workforce exhibit good English language skills, both oral and written. The demand for an appropriate teaching methodology is therefore an imperative (J. C. Richards). According to Carol Rzadkiewicz, communication is vital in an organization because it not only connects members within a specific department but also connects them to those from other departments, from other branches, and, in todays global economy, from around the world. Moreover, communication can make the difference between success and failure for a company. Good communication helps ensure the efficient operation of all levels of an organization, from the lowest to the highest, whereas poor communication often results in inefficiency; and as successful business leaders know, inefficiency equals a loss of productivity and, consequently, a loss of profits (Rzadkiewicz). Lee believes that writing must first be given a clear definition so that a philosophy or an approach to teaching writing in SLA classroom maybe utilized. Writing as communication may be defined as how learners put thoughts down on paper and develop them into some kind of coherent text (p.245) (Lee). Writing skill is a difficult task for it requires prior knowledge of the language components such as morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. These components serve as broader aspects of language for the underlying foundation of language skills like vocabulary, capitalization, syllabification, punctuation, sentence structure, sequential order, and initiation and maintenance of thoughts (Brice). Beare (2012) revealed that for many ESL learners, learning to write fluently in English is much more challenging than learning to speak fluently. Even for advanced level learners, written communications can come much more slowly in English than spoken communications because written communication is more formal; spoken communication allows for more mistakes; less reflection goes into spoken English than written English; and expectations are much higher for formal written English. It is important when teaching written English skills especially for business English to be aware of the challenges that learners face when learning to function in a written English environment and considerations should be given to achieve this. One such consideration is that acquiring speech is an unconscious act, whereas learning to write takes a conscious effort on the part of the learner. Another is that written language must be filtered through a system, which can be phonemic, structural or representative, etc. The individual must not only learn to recognize the meaning of words orally, but also go through a process of transcribing these sounds. Lastly, the process of transcribing requires the learning of other rules and structures thereby cognizing a previously unconscious process (Beare). Widdowson ¼Ã‹â€ 1978 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °enumenrates two aspects in language; one is rules, such as grammar, that determine correctness, and the other is the performative ability that allows people to undertake meaningful communication. He labels the correctness as usage and the performance as use. Since the language functions systematically and communicatively, both spoken and written modes of language cannot leave out either the grammatical and communicative aspects (Widdowson). Communicative writing can be described as the act of corresponding. Of course, as Widdowson ¼Ã‹â€ 1978 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °acknowledges, the socially reciprocal setting of the written mode is different from that of the spoken mode because, unlike listeners, readers are not always available for immediate responses or, even worse, for any form of interactions whatsoever. However, communicative writing entails the presence of readers as target audience. The important point is that one can write following grammatical rules, and one can compose in order to communicate with others through writing, yet, if the one does not write with the target audience in mind, composition cannot be an act of communication. According to Richards and Rodgers (1986), the theory of CLT approach is holistic rather than behavioristic. It starts with a theory of language as communication which implies knowledge of the grammatical system as well as performance (Richards and Rodgers). Widdowson (1984) stated that in other words, such competence includes both the usage and use of the language (Widdowson). Richards, J. C. (2006) explains that communicative competence embraces three fundamental dimensions: first, the ability to use linguistic means to realize a variety of language functions; second, the ability to use language appropriately with due consideration of the social context in which communication takes place; and third is the ability to develop strategies to manage the negotiation of meaning. This specification of communicative competence is the hallmark of the CLT approach because it cannot be founding the theoretical framework of any other method of or approach to language teaching (J. C. Richards). The CLT approach to teaching writing in the second language acquisition (SLA) context introduces two essential phases: first, a decision-making phase and a second phase whereby the ensuing writing processes are determined and established (Lee). The decision-making phase entails defining the rhetorical problem. It involves establishing a purpose for writing, determining an audience and a topic, ac