Barry Lopez “Learning to See”

The article by Barry Lopez â€Å"Learning to See† is a masterpiece of the author’s feelings during his numerous trips into the wild. It is a valuable essay included in the collection â€Å"About This Life. † Furthermore, it is a manifestation of sincere adornment by the nature on the whole and the author’s reasoning on it, in particular. In fact, the article was not that spontaneous for the author, because Barry Lopez got through a long process of reasoning on why people should learn to see the features of nature as being put in deeply in their minds.The author makes emphasis on that the nature can be vividly recollected through positive vision. It is something to get through personal feelings, not just to take a photograph. Going over this thesis statement, Barry Lopez encourages a reader to get into the matter of his article. In fact, it is dedicated to an individual’s reasonable impression of any photo exhibition which once made the author reflec t his own ideas on why people are apart from the gist of nature as such.The author is highly motivated to answer the question of why personal reflections on what an individual can see is more precious than reflecting such episodes of nature or life events on a photograph. The author is at a dead-end when meditating between what he saw and what he wanted to write down to a notebook (Lopez, 2010). The question is that the wanderer and writer, Barry remarked a difference between what a painter or a photographer sees and what he/she draws thereafter. That is the conclusion which Barry Lopez comes to in his rumination on the value of the scenes around.The reasons to state such a strong conclusion fall into the author’s personal meditation on what he once saw at Robert Adams’s exhibition â€Å"To Make It Home: Photographs of the American West, 1965-1985† performed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in June 1989 (Lopez, 2010). Looking at these photographs, Barry remembe red eventually his trip to Arctic when he was as close to a polar bear as never before to fix all details of such an encounter (Lopez, About This Life, 1998). However, Barry provides some ambiguity in his assumptions.Thus, after he has been closer to a polar bear, he admits that it is more convenient to fix details of nature in memories and on a sheet of paper than through photographs (Lopez, About This Life, 1998). In its turn Barry convinces then in the value of photography, as he is a photographer himself. Hence, there is a scope of values and assumptions represented in the author’s discussion. It is seen when Barry Lopez compares clarity of what is described on photographs and paintings with a spectacular story told to him in the childhood (Lopez, About This Life, 1998).The aesthetical feature is amplified many times in Lopez’s meditation. As might be seen, Lopez’s discussion lacks more facts from the real life about how people described their feelings from what they saw. Conversely, Lopez focuses strictly on his own experience. It is possible to assume such reasonable conclusions, as: taking advantage of what memories give would complement the way photographers choose the right foreshortening in order to bring a numinous atmosphere of reality to viewers.As for me, a value assumption on the Lopez’s essay is that it has many things to do with teaching people to nuzzle close to the nature every now and then so as to never lose this connection. The article’s argument could be exceeded by dint of what have the applied art and artistic thought at large achieved so far. Thus, the essay is of aesthetic and teaching value. Reference Lopez, B. (1998). About This Life. New York, NY: HarperCollins. Lopez, B. (2010, May 27). Learning to See. Retrieved June 6, 2010, from About This Life: http://www. barrylopez. com/_i_about_this_life__i__44670. htm

Describing of how Accessing a Aange of Services and Facilities can be Beneficial to an Individual’s Wellbeing

An individual‘s well-being may benefit in a number of ways through the accessing of range of service and facilities, these may include a benefit to their physical well-being, when they can easily and encouraged to access facilities such leisure centres to exercise. And sometimes this can improve their physical stamina in dealing with some of physical limitation. As the session in the swimming pool at the day center, where service users with physical limitation try to force themselves in movements to enjoy the time that they spend inside the pool.Identify barriers that individuals may encounter in accessing services and facilities Barriers that individuals may encounter in accessing services and facilities are; -Distance. Not all transports are provided to get access to wheelchairs therefore it require a special vehicle -Education. Lack of information is a barrier for an individual to access services -Opportunity cost. Cost may be prohibitive or there may not be staff available to give support. Also cultural and social barriers may affect the individual in accessing to services and facilitiesDescribe ways of overcoming barriers to accessing services and facilities -Providing specialist transport such a vans with ramps for wheelchair access or team of specially trained people who know how to professionally escort people with mental issues in accessing other facilities and service -Lack of information is a barrier and can be addressed by presenting as much information on the type of the services, who the service is for and the proper use of facilities.-Special equipment such hoist are required for some individual and a number of well trained staff to allow service users to benefit of it -With our multicultural world there has been a rise in the need for interpreters and this has been recognised in most government institutions where they facilitate for those that may be not able to understand English and may need an interpreter. Explain why it is important to support individuals to challenge information about services that may present a barrier to participationSupporting individuals who challenge information about services that threaten participation help to encourage more people into participating. Finding out which things put a hamper on participation will help to make more associate themselves with the activity. How to ensure individuals’ rights and preferences are promoted when accessing and using services and facilities The most effective way to ensure individual’s right and preferences is always asking them permission. Explain well, in the clerer way what we are going to do, and asking them if the are agreed on that.

Egyptian Cuisine

The Egyptian culture is as much festive as it is longstanding and complex. Egypt has been collectively influenced by just about every great civilization in Africa and Eurasia and still stands as the media, economic, and socio-cultural focal point of the Arab World. This stems from the fact that Egypt has stood as the cultural hub of the near East since the Greek’s Golden Age. This historical reality is transmuted into every facet of Egyptian society and Egyptian food in particular.The majority of contemporary Egyptian cuisine is influenced by the agriculture of the land. Egypt boasts a consistent harvest because of its geographical plane- namely, the NILE which runs through the entire country. Egyptian farmers have yielded a multitude of crops including dates, chickpeas, figs, grain, olives, barley, beans, and peas. It’s yearly harvest of staples once provided for the entire Roman Empire, and have left the Egyptian people with a long history of bread and beer production .Also, fish and poultry are plentiful in the region and nutritious foods such as fava beans and spinach have kept this nation-state sustained for millennia. A few well-known examples of Egyptian cuisine are Foul Madammas, which are Fava beans cooked in olive oil accompanied by vegetables, goat cheese, and sometimes poultry eggs. Nile fish has been prepared for centuries either cooked or dried.The dried fish is seasoned with salt and left out to dry in the blistering, Arabian sun and called Faseekh. Spinach is prepared into a stew called Molakheya and can be served with rice or bread. The Egyptians are also fond of herbal teas and, due to the Ottoman invasion, boast various forms of Baklava including: Baklawa made with Phyllo pastry layered in between sugar, coconut, and pistachio and covered with a honey glaze and Basboosa- a light yellow cake coated with a sugar glaze .There are many more examples and variations of Egyptian foods. Egypt was gifted with a cornucopia of fruit, vegeta ble, and staple harvests as well as a yearly flooding of the Nile. The people of the land have known about these gifts for centuries and have capitalized. This is why Egyptian culture is as influential as it is and moreover, why Egyptian cuisine is so delicious!

The last lecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The last lecture - Essay Example Randy Pausch was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His speech that he made on September 18, 2007 ‘’ The Last Lecture’’ received worldwide fame and is till now inspiring people to achieve their childhood dreams, to manage their time well and much more. Pausch was diagnosed with cancer in August 2006, he was told that although he has the option of chemotherapy on regular basis but he still has only 3 – 6 months of good health. Pausch seems to be a very optimistic person. Instead of focusing on his terminal illness and getting depressed about it all the time, he decided to contribute back to his college in particular and the community in general. In his talk on Time Management, first he talked about clarifying the goals and objectives of our tasks , dealing with difficult projects that are more time consuming and ugly looking. Pausch talked about using technology in more efficient way so as to save our time, for example, in his talk he discussed about speaker phones that could be of great advantage if we use it for time saving purposes. Setting up proper plans and goals to achieve ones task can help in proper time management. As he says ‘’ failing to plan, is planning to fail’’. One way to do this is to make a to- do list, that will help in keeping a track on where you are and what you are going to do in next few days, months and years. Avoid procrastination; do not do things at the last minute.if u r youngest u will be pampared in first half of ur childhood and in second half u wil be scolded for being spoild child...in ur early teens u have to prove that u r respectful to ur siblings and their in-laws...and in ur adulthood u have to serve them and their kids.....in betwen all this ur designation is no more then a "Chottha" who works as waiter in a hotel or an

Cross Cultural Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cross Cultural Communication - Essay Example Brandl, J. and Neyer, A. 2009. APPLYING COGNITIVE ADJUSTMENT THEORY TO CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING FOR GLOBAL VIRTUAL TEAMS. Human Resource Management, 48 (3), 341-353 Anxiety and uncertainty in global virtual teams can be overcome when feeling of mutual trust is developed among the members, according to Brandl and Neyer. The type of cross-cultural training can influence cognitive adjustments in virtual teams. Training should equip the team members to deal with uncertainties instead of enforcing ready-made concepts of culture. Horak, S. 2010. Does The Individual’s Culture Play A Role In The Value Perception Of Members Of Small Multinational Teams? Business and Economics Journal. Horak investigated and found that the culturally influenced work values at country level as discovered by Hofstede do not play a significant role in small multicultural teams. Students being young and dynamic adapt to an international environment and respond positively to convergence of cultures. Kirkman, BD, and Shapiro, DL. 1996. THE IMPACT OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON EMPLOYEE RESISTANCE TO TEAMS: TOWARD A MODEL OF GLOBALIZED SELF-MANAGING WORK TEAM EFFECTIVENESS. Academy of Management Proceedings, 53-59 Kirkman and Shapiro evaluated the impact of national cultures on self-managed working teams (SMWT) and found that national cultures can create different conceptualizations of organizational justice. Moreover, members of SMWT may require different forms of compensation, appraisals, and decision-making structures to reduce resistance due to differences in perceptions of fairness. Mockaitis, AI., Rose, EL. and Zettining, P. 2007. THE DETERMINANTS OF TRUST IN MULTICULTURAL GLOBAL VIRTUAL TEAMS. Academy of Management Proceedings, Mockaitis, Rose and Zettining focused on the development of trust in multicultural virtual global teams and found that national culture, conflict, task interdependence, and communication play a vital role. However, diversity – cultural or demographic – has minor relationship in the development of trust. Cultural diversity is not a barrier to trust. Newell, S., David, G. and Chand, D. 2007. An Analysis of Trust Among Globally Distributed Work Teams in an Organizational Setting. Knowledge and Process Management, 14 (3), 158-168 Newell, David and Chand analyzed trust among IT work teams based on the Newell and Swan threefold typology of trust and found that due to situational factors and socio-psychological dynamics, and ‘Us versus them’ attitude undermines the development of trust. Relationship management can minimize the impact of an inter-group perspective. Puck, J., Rygl, D. and Kittler, M. 2006. Cultural antecedents and performance consequences of open communication and knowledge transfer in multicultural process-innovation teams. Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change, 3 (2), 223-241 Puck, Rygl and Kittler evaluated the performance of process-innovation teams necessary in the ever--changing bus iness environment. The study found that national cultural diversity had no significance on intra-team communication and knowledge transfer but both these elements have significant influence on different measures of performance as performance is perceived differently by team members. Sivakumar, K. and Nakata, C. 2003. Designing global new product teams - Optimizing the effects of national culture on new product development. International Marketing Review, 20 (4), 397-445 Since cultural diversity has both positive and negative impact on global new product teams (GNPT), Sivakumar and Nakata developed a framework containing four factors that would

Ethics in Financial Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Ethics in Financial Markets - Essay Example Futures have a tendency to goad traders to borrow money so as to purchase the commodity making the deal to go sour should the price of the commodity dip, hence has a major impact on the   stocks and the overall economy as a whole. Another form of the financial market is the Hedge fund.   Hedge funds have over the years become popular due to the high returns it offers to the high end investor.   Hedge funds do invest heavily in the futures and some analysts have argued that they help check the volatility of the stock market and in extension the US economy. Hedge funds though are being blamed for the 2009 recession. Financial markets therefore do involve the financial institutions that are the banks, insurance companies, stock brokers and other closely related institutions.  Ethics is perceived as a set of societal standards of conduct and moral judgment that encompasses the norms of a given community. Ethics are a personal set of values used by an individual, a group or a prof ession;  Ã‚   so as to guide them in their action and help them fulfill or carry out their obligation. Its subjective rather that objective and its relative to our perception of reality   dependent on circumstances and life   experiences of the individual or group, thus making it a continuously evolving   code of conduct. It addresses issues pertaining to morality, i.e. good and bad; right or wrong etc.   Capitalism has been accused to be Darwinian in nature due to the market volatility that is brought by competition and the natural forces of demand and supply.  ... Its subjective rather that objective and its relative to our perception of reality dependent on circumstances and life experiences of the individual or group, thus making it a continuously evolving code of conduct. It addresses issues pertaining to morality, i.e. good and bad; right or wrong etc. BODY Financial markets ride on the premise of free market where the market is left to regulate and correct itself based on the principle of demand and supply enhanced through competition. The cost of the goods and services plus the overall state of the market is determined through the action of consumers and suppliers. Capitalism has been accused to be Darwinian in nature due to the market volatility that is brought by competition and the natural forces of demand and supply. Companies that are fit do survive while those that are unfit collapse especially during a recession. During recession bad debts is wiped out of the market leaving those who remain the task of rebuilding the market making the process to be cyclic and this is how market correction occurs. Competitive markets has made companies to do everything in their power so as to maximize profits by engaging in monopolistic practices, offering minimum wages and commercialization of everything making capitalism to be amoral as it pri zes the self above others and the natural checks and balance that capitalist have been advocating for in most cases than not has always not emerged. Capitalism is generally volatile thus fails from time to time and the correction mechanism has proven to be wanting during financial crisis prompting governments to artificial correct the markets.This counters the notion of

Change Work Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Change Work Diversity - Essay Example An organization could be structured to make sure that each department runs autonomously, but also collaborates with others to achieve its objectives. The structural breakdown in an organization is essential in ensuring accountability of each department so that the areas of weakness could be detected and corrected early. This is important for the growth and development of the organization. Sometimes, various departments may initiate competition aimed at increasing the overall productivity in the organization. In such scenario, none of the departments would lag behind in adopting progressive approaches to develop the respective section (Bartlett & Beamish 2011, p.74). One could understand the kind of interdepartmental relationships that the organization has. For instance, the human resource, finance and production departments are very critical to the organization and have to work closely to make sure that the company achieves its objectives. Moreover, they have to relate to other depar tments so that the production system does not halt. The procurement department also works closely with the production and export counterparts to harmonize the production system. On the other hand, the IT department also works closely with that of training, research and development to increase innovation and improve efficiency. Finally, all the departments have to coordinate with security docket to ensure that the operation is not threatened from external aggression and internal conflict. Implementing a Resource Accountability Matrix (RAM/RACI) In project management, resource accountability matrix is a way of ensuring transparency in implementing the project. Accountability reduces the amount of resources being wastage because the managers would utilize the available materials prudently. It shows commitment of the managers as they implement the project and it outlines the materials to be used (Hochschild 1983, p.64). This makes such information available for the people affected by th e project. The matrix includes a number of variables, which have to be applied in project management. For instance, the performance data during the project’s implantation is crucial when analyzing and presenting the achievements and steps made by the implementers. Similarly, project allocations are equally important when evaluating resource accountability so that the financiers might consider extending the aid or intervention. In order to ensure accountability, awarded amounts for each program from resource acquisition to its completion must be documented. This includes the cost of labor, procurement of materials and transportation cost. The contract period should be clear to facilitate planning and accountability for the available resources. This is significant because it facilitates the distribution of available fund equally during the project. Mostly, projects depend on the available funds to finance its projections, depending on the period it will last. Moreover, projects that cover large area are difficult to manage if the implementers are not conversant with the program units. Each unit must be accounted for, including its budget, accessibility and the kind of activity to be carried out there. Resource accountability matrix encompasses the management of the project materials and funds to ensure its successful completion (Bateman & Snell 2010, p.112). Analysis of the British Airways Change Management Plan In making sure that the British Airways achieves its change management plans, it has to consider the

Engagement of Students in the learning process Essay

Engagement of Students in the learning process - Essay Example The research concludes that all these factors play a major role in determining a student’s achievement in school. Introduction All educational institutions have the aim of promoting students achievement. There are different factors that positively or negatively affect the achievement of students. These factors can be either, social, economic, environmental or political. In students’ achievement, different individuals have to pull forces to ensure that there is success in the process. These individuals include, teachers, parents and students. This paper analyses the positive effects of different factors that affect students’ achievement. A student’s achievement is influenced by several factors such as class size, family, motivation, teacher’s attitudes, a school’s culture and gender and therefore teachers should put these factors into perspective when teaching. Individual factors that affect students’ achievement Engagement of Students in the learning process Gross (2009) states that engagement of students in the process of learning is vital in ensuring achievement. Students can engage in the learning process through submission of assignments and agreeing to teachers instructions. Another form of students’ engagement in the learning process can be seen through class attendance. A teacher acts as a guide towards students’ engagement in class. ... Teachers who ensure effective engagement of the students experience less problems in managing their classes. Students’ interests can be boosted through application of different resources that interest students (Gross, 2009). Role of motivation to students’ achievement Motivation of students has always led to high achievement among learners. There are two major types of motivation that help to promote achievement in students. These are extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation mainly involves a student’s drive or desire towards learning. Intrinsic motivation helps a student in defining the importance of achieving highly academically. This type of motivation mainly depends on a student’s goal. There are those students who work hard in their schoolwork with an aim of having a good career in future. The students will therefore put efforts towards achievement of this goal. Another type of motivation is the extrinsic motivation. This ty pe of motivation comes from the external environment of the learners. Individuals who promote this type of motivation can be teachers, parents and other students. A teacher can promote extrinsic motivation in a learner by constantly reinforcing good character. Reinforcement can be done through offering incentives like sweets, books or pens (Gross, 2009). A teacher can motivate students who perform well by offering them gifts to ensure that they maintain their performance. Poor performers on the other hand, can be encouraged to perform well by constantly complementing them whenever they make an improvement. Teachers’ effectiveness towards students’ achievement Students’ performance can be used to assess teachers’

Contemporary Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Contemporary Management - Assignment Example Organisations are established with the aim of being successful in meeting set objectives for the management. Being successful in Organisational management requires interplay of many factors. It is a whole process ranging from people management to successful application of strategies that deliver expected outcomes. In addition, there are many interpersonal and intrapersonal skills which when effectively implemented, are crucial towards achieving success in established organizations. In order to appear effective and successful, most Organisational managers themselves competitive advantages by scouting for best talents in human resources. In doing this, they hope that the key personnel can successfully achieve business objectives and deliver quality work to attract clients, hence becoming successful (Right Management 2014, para 1). Generally, there are many tools, strategies and formulas available to managers on how they can effectively work with both human and non-human resources to meet strategic goals and achieve Organisational objectives. Many of the tools available to managers will always present an extensive analysis of a single tool giving it more preference. When managers apply this tool it becomes strength to the organisation. Having wide knowledge about a certain concept is a huge advantage since it gives an organisation a competitive advantage. When the challenge arises it is usually effectively tackled and the organisation continues with normal operations without worries and doubts (British Quality Foundation, n.d, para, 2-3). However, the above approach is not very desirable in effective organizational management, there are many areas that drive overall success in organizations. Being good in one area alone means there are many others sidelined. This may bring a scenario where benefits from a particular initiative may not be celebrated or shared in the entire business organisation. Quality standards stipulate that

Maroon Societies in Colonial Brazil Research Paper

Maroon Societies in Colonial Brazil - Research Paper Example This means that they wanted to have their own social, political, religious, and economic organization. It should be noted that once slaves had been recruited by their masters, there was no definite time they would be freed. This means that they were certain of staying in their slavery in their entire lives. However, from the beginning of 1500s, slaves started looking for ways of forming their own free society. It was during this time that the Maroon society came into existence. In this paper, an in-depth outlook on the Maroon society of Brazil will be considered. The considerations will involve a detailed outlook of literature review dealing with the foundation of the community while looking at the political, religious and military aspects of the community. The term Maroon, also Quilombo is used to denote a group of Runways slaves in American. As a result, the runway slaves later came to form a society that is referred to as Maroon. The formation of the Maroon society is an important feature in the history of the world because the society enables the contemporary world to grasp the history of slave trade that begun towards the end of 1400 and ended in 1888. The term Maroon is derived from Spanish word ‘cimarron’ meaning feral cattle. The term was later used on runaway slaves because they were slaves that could no longer be tamed. The societies of Maroon were common in Brazil and Caribbean. The North America and other parts of South America were occupied by the Maroon. The Maroon society posed a serous threat to the organization of slave trade and also to slave owners. Their presence and organization meant that it would not be easy to have slaves for their usual purposes or for trading functions. On the other hand, the maroon society was a relief to slaves. It marked a sign of relief, hope and emancipation from their slavery. Currently, the Maroon community is not known by the term Quilombo. Instead, the community is currently termed as Mocambos. Th e Maroon community had myriads of societies that settled in Brazil. One of the most dominant communities in Brazil was Palmares, also called the palm nation1. This community was formed in early 17th century. The Palmares was well-organized politicaly, socially, and economically. Just like other communities, it was ruled by a king called Zumbi. This community existed for over a decade until it was conquered by the Portuguese. History of the Formation Process of the Maroon Societies As early as 1552, Brazil was practicing slavery in its administration and legal institution. During this time, Brazil was had a large demand for labor for its sugar and tobacco plantations. As a result, the demand for slaves from Africa increased. More slaves were taken from Africa to Brazil. During the period between 1570 and 1670, slavery was at its peak in Brazil. At the same time, brutality was at its peak in the slavery industry. Slaves were beaten, given impossible quotas to meet, and subjected to po or and abusive working and living conditions2. Given these conditions, slaves were forced to look for an escape route from their conditions. Following the harsh slavery conditions, slaves started escaping from the firms in Brazil and forming their own settlements. Despite the escape, slave owners, such Freidrich Won Weech, saw their escape attempts as another process of initiating into a new form of slavery. This is because as soon as they escaped, they were pursued and caught and thereafter subjected to some worse kind of

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and Mira Nair Movie Review

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and Mira Nair - Movie Review Example The Namesake is directed by Mira Nair, with Jhumpa Lahiri helping out with the screenplay along with Sooni Taraporevala. Kal Penn plays Gogol, who the title of the movie is after. His parents Ashima and Ashoke are played by Tabu and Irrfan Khan respectively. They have another child, a girl called Sonia who is acted by Sahira Nair. The story starts off with Ashoke travelling in a train, reading a book written by the Russian author Nikolai Gogol. A brutal accident takes place in which almost everyone dies. However, Ashoka survives and is only discovered because of the fluttering page of the book he was reading earlier. His recovery follows his marriage to Ashima – a girl chosen to be his bride by his parents – and they move to the States. It is hard for Ashima to live at a place which is completely different from the place where she had spent all her life at. Life in New York City is poles apart than life in Calcutta. Yet she does manage to try her best to fit in. An Indian wife is nothing if not willing to change herself, her lifestyle just for the sake of her husband. What was fortunate for Ashima was that Ashoke actually fell in love with her and her with him, which made adapting comparatively easier. She knew the English language, but not fluently. But she worked it all out just to make her husband happy. Life away from her parents, everything that was familiar, was not easy, and she particularly felt the absence at the birth of her first child named Gogol when there was no one around but her husband. Ashima adjusts to the new environment but seeing her children so utterly unconscious of all the traditions and values that she was brought up with pains her. She tries to smile it off, fully aware of how things were different now that they were not living in their native land, with their elders to guide them. She was told to stay close to her family whereas her children were moving out. Their dressing, the songs they blasted were miles apart.  Ã‚  

A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen Essay Example for Free

A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen Essay Happiness is a state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. In â€Å"A doll’s house† by Henrick Ibsen, the feelings concerning the home are not mutual. Torvald thinks that they have the ideal home and a perfect, happy life; Nora realizes that their life is far from perfect. Their home is like a playground, it is only all fun and games—there is no real love or care. A home that is like a playground, and not filled with love and care, is not a happy home. From the very beginning, Torvald treated Nora like a baby. Is that my little lark twittering out there? † (5). â€Å"Is it my little squirrel bustling about? † (6). Before all things that Torvald called Nora, he would put the adjective â€Å"little† before it, meaning it in a patronizing manner. He looked down on Nora from the start, but that’s how she thought it was supposed to be. He treated her like a little kid, and did not love her and care for her like she needed to be loved and cared for. Nora says to Mrs. Christine Linde that she was living a happy life. â€Å"The last eight years have been a happy time for me, I can tell you. (82). Nora believed that she was supposed to be treated like a little girl, just as Torvald treated her. She was not aware that she deserved to be treated like an adult and not a little kid. She deserved to be treated with kindness, respect, love, and care. At this point of the story, she has not yet realized how a husband is truly supposed to act. Nora compares their house during the past eight years she has spent with Torvald to a playroom; they had been like little kids just playing around, not a married couple. Our home has been nothing but a playroom†¦That is what our marriage has been, Torvald. † (288/289). Nora now realizes that they have not been living a truly happy life. Their marriage has been just like little kids playing ‘house’; they had been playing a ‘game’ and not truly acting like a married couple should. Nora decided that she wanted a husband who would love her and care for her, not one that just treated her like a little doll. â€Å"It was then it dawned upon me that for eight years I had been living here with a strange man. (302/303). This is when Nora realized that she wanted something better in her life and that Torvald was not right for her. She realized that Torvald was only a stranger, not really her husband. Spouses are supposed to love you with everything they have, care for you and adore you. All Torvald cared about was money; he thought money could buy happiness. Nora knew this was not true and she could not take it anymore, so she stopped considering him her spouse. Nora and Torvald think they have the ideal life, until Nora comes to the realization that Torvald’s life revolves around money and material objects. She realized that Torvald didn’t show her the love and care that he should have. So in order to be happy, she needed to be free from Torvald, so she divorced him. Divorcing him gave her the capability to go find somebody else to marry, and have a home with true love and true happiness. The key to having a happy home is having a home filled with love and care.

Educational Social Policy In Britain After WW11

Educational Social Policy In Britain After WW11 The following essay will attempt to analyse and highlight the development of educational social policy in Britain after the post-second world war era. It will be important for the essay to illustrate how the secondary school system was changed by the 1944 Education Act, and how this impacted on secondary schooling in the decades that followed. The essay will attempt to illustrate and highlight the key developments within the education system such as the move back from local authority to more centralized government control. Finally, the essay will analyse social policy implemented by New Labour and in particular how the policy changes have affected secondary schools in the most deprived areas of the country. The essay will also focus on the continuation of specialist schools from the Conservative party to New Labour and aim to review the criticisms on the schools. After the Second World War in 1945, Clement Attlees (1945-1951) Labour government implemented the Education Act 1944 which created a three tier school system involving secondary schools, and for the first time in Britain ensured the provision of free education for all children. The new system of secondary schools would cater for children aged between the ages of 11 to 15 years old, and divide the children in to three distinct types of schooling. These were Grammar, Technical and Secondary modern schools, entry to the schools would be determined via a universal examination, known as the eleven-plus (Bochel et al, 2009, p.238). In theory this would allow children to be allocated the school which best suited their academic ability. So a pupil who scored highly in the eleven plus would go to the grammar school and the pupil who was more suited to a technical career would go to the technical school, the others would be sent to the secondary modern schools. Essentially the Education Act of 1944 allowed the Labour Government to provide the provision of financial support to local authorities, thus allowing the local authorities to control the education in their areas and gave them the freedom to manage their schools as they wished. Within these schools there was to be a sense of academic balance. But in reality, there were few technical schools, which meant the system was more two tiered rather than three tiered. Since grammar schools were selective, and secondary moderns took the rest, there was never a sense of academic balance. According to Bochel et al (2009, p. 239) during the 1960s Labour government policy changed and they began to introduce non-selective or as they were known comprehensive schools gradually. The arguments for comprehensives are they reduce the likelihood of discrimination or disadvantage on the basis of class, and that they improve the prospects of children of middling ability. The main argument against is that the selective system may be more consistent with the idea of equality of opportunity. Working class children who went to grammar schools did better than those who go now to comprehensive schools. Another factor that contributed towards the transformation of secondary schooling between the 1940s and the 1970s was due to the fact that Britain did not want to fall behind in terms of economic reasons. Hence, the rise of technical school in order to compete against her European neighbors in the job markets. By 1979 the Conservative government had gained power in Britain and Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, during this period Britain had been suffering from an economic slump. Improving the state of Britains economy was the fundamental and overriding pledge of the Conservative government during this period. The Conservative based it principles on the Neoliberal or New right as it commonly known, consisted of believing that job of education should mainly be concerned with promoting economic growth through improving the basic skills of the future work force. This could be achieved by encouraging competition in the educational market place, which in theory would raise schools in regards to efficiency and educational standards (Blackmore Griggs, 2007, p.139). According to Bochel et al (2009, p. 241) the first educational policy the Conservatives put in place was the Education Act 1980 which gave the local authority the freedom to introduce the Assisted Places Scheme and not continue with the comprehensive education system of secondary schooling. The Assisted Places Scheme allowed high academic attaining children from poor family backgrounds to be eligible to attend fee-paying private schools. However, the biggest change in educational social policy under the Conservative government came in 1988 with implementation of the Education Act 1988. In contrast with the 1940s social democratic Labour government thinking which gave the freedom to local authorities to develop their own plans on how to manage schools in their area, and the funding to support those ideas. The Conservative government of the late 1980s centralized control of state schools by the process of Grant maintained schools. The concept involved allowing state schools to opt out of local authority control if the enough parents voted to support his move. The idea behind this concept was to free up schools and allow them to specialize in subjects or attract higher achieving pupils. The Conservatives hoped this would offer a real choice for parents, and encourage schools to compete in the educational marketplace (Baldock et al, 2007, p391). As well as, offering schools to opt out of local authority control, the Education Act 1988 also gave parents the right to send their children to the school of their. Once again the Conservatives believed that Open enrolment would encourage a marketplace in which schools would have to compete against each other and improve their results. In conjunction with this piece of legislation was another piece of legislation which identified that under the new system the financing of schools would be dictated by the number of pupils that had enrolled there. For example, schools that were seen as being successful would attract larger numbers of pupils thus they would receive more funding. This would in theory act as a boost to underachieving schools to improve (Alcock, 2008, p.43). In order for parents to ascertain which secondary schools were the most successful it was necessary for government to instigate a way of testing and assessing how the school were performing. The Education Act 1988 policy makers developed the national curriculum in order for the results to be published and establish league tables to help provide information to parents so they could make an informed choice. In 1997 the Labour government came back in to power under the reinvented name of New Labour, one of New Labours manifesto pledges was Education, Education, Education. New Labour have developed and built on the Conservatives 1988 Education Act. New Labour were influenced by their socialist roots and in 1998 decided to develop the Education Action Zones which were set up to help raise educational standards and combat social exclusion in some of Britains most deprived areas (Ellison Pierson, 2003, p.186). In order to help alleviate this social inequality, Labour decided to design academies to replace failing comprehensive schools in lower income and inner city areas. This social policy had been devised to dramatically improve the educational standards within these deprived areas, the academies work by being sponsored by wealthy individuals, religious faiths, charities, businesses and by city education authorities (Ellison Pierson, 2003, p.186). Although, there have been some improvements in GCSEs at the academies, there has been some strong criticisms levelled against them. There have been reports of academies taking less students with special or students with behavioural problems. Another criticism made against the academies involves the influence of sponsors, how far can a sponsor dictate what the school can teach or not teach? Would a deeply religious sponsor allow certain scientific ideology to be taught if they conflicted with the sponsors beliefs? As well as developing the inner city academies, New Labour also continued to use Conservatives policy on grant maintained schools, as they also believed it would provide diversity and choice within the educational market-place. Labour social policy believed in schools specializing in particular subject areas rather then a single type of school for everyone. For a state school to attain specialist status it would need to raise  £50,000 in funding from the private sector sponsors. In 2005, the House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Skills published a report on a two-year study in to secondary education. The study showed that specialist schools tend to have a higher ratio of middle-class pupils than non-specialist schools. So this may account for their better results. The report also highlighted schools in low income areas have difficulty in raising funds to become a specialist school. Research also indicates that some specialist schools will select those they view as being the most able students in order to enhance their results, and these students tend to come from a middle class background and not from a poorer background. In conclusion, the development of education during the last six-five years has seen dramatic changes. The post-second world war establishment of the tripartite school system; broke the mould in Britain by offering free access to secondary school to all children aged 11-15 years old. It was conceived to offer children a chance to fulfil their potential by way of dividing them in to the appropriate category according to their abilities. But this was shown to be a divisive system and catered only for children who had shown some academic ability whilst taking the eleven plus exam. It eventually highlighted the inequalities within the tripartite system due to the fact there were few technical schools, and most children who were not academic high fliers were consigned to study at secondary modern schools. This was also coupled with the fact that the exclusive grammar school were selecting on high academic potential. During the Conservative era of power and especially in the Education Act of 1988 again highlights the inequalities of educational social policy. Making schools publish their exam results in league tables would further establish the haves and the have not within society. Although, the league table would offer parents a better insight in to the better performing schools, this would also have a negative effect on the poorly performing schools. As the best schools would have an enormous amount of people trying to enrol in to them, it would only harm the least performing schools in as much as that the more students you could have at the school the more funding the school would receiving from the local authority. When New Labour came in to power in 1997, the nation expected the dismantling of the Conservative policy on education; but New Labour continued to use certain aspects of the Education Act 1988. One of the policies that they have continued is setting up specialists schools, but this has also been shown to up the inequality between student enrolments. As the 2005 House of Commons Selective Committee has eluded to that the high rankings in the league tables could be due to the fact that are more likely to admit pupils from middle class backgrounds than working class backgrounds. New Labour policies on raising educational standards in the more deprived areas of major inner cities by implementing academy status on failing secondary comprehensive schools does seemed to have worked in small amounts. Although, there is some concern that sponsorship of the academies could be divisive due to fact that it really does depend on who the sponsor is and what they want to add on to the curriculum.

Analysis of Word Processing Programmes

Analysis of Word Processing Programmes WORD PROCESSING:Â  AN INTRODUCTION Word Processing is a computer application which allows a document to be created, edited, stored and printed. By clicking within any document with your mouse you can add or delete content and graphics. There are several different types of Word processing programs. Microsoft Word is one of the most popular and frequently used applications. It is generally the best package to buy because it is part of Microsoft Office Suite, which includes PowerPoint and Excel; it is also cost effective and is easy and practical to use. [2] Text Manipulation is being able to change the appearance of the text in a word document using the Font Icons. These icons are; fonts, size, font styles and enhancement (such as colour). These changes can be done by highlighting specific text, whole paragraphs or the entire document and clicking on the appropriate icon in the tool bar. [3] Work Processing has a default writing style and size. In order to change either of these, click on the down arrow and different fonts will appear. Select the font desired. To the right of the font box, the size of the font can be selected and changed by using the down arrow and selecting the size suitable for the document you are working on. Sizes 10 and 12 are the most commonly used for letters and documents and larger sizes are used for headings.[4] The Font styles found in the toolbar are Italic, Bold, Underline, Strikethrough, Superscript and Subscript. Text effects, Highlight and font colour are also here. BOLD style can be applied by selecting the text to appear in bold and pressing the B button. Similarly, using the italics and underline button can change the appearance of the text. Colour can also be found here and used to enhance the appearance of the document. Formatting a document is the layout of a document. There are several applications that can help in doing this. Alignment Margins Spacing Indenting Layout Borders Headers Footers The Alignment of text in a document shows where the text sits in that document. Text can be aligned in several different ways. Left Alignment: This the default position in word processing where the text is lined up with the left edge of the page. It is often used for the date and address on letters. Right Alignment: the text is lined up with the right edge of the page. This can also be used for addressing letters. Centre Alignment: the text is placed in the middle of the document. This is used for headings, where centering is required. Justification Alignment: text is lined up with both left and right hand edges of the page. This layout is seen in newspapers.[5] To use Alignment on text, highlight the section to be aligned. To highlight the full document use Ctrl + A. Then click on the Home page; go to the Paragraph box and click on the alignment needed.[6] Using the arrow on the right hand corner of the paragraph box, alignment can be set manually also. Line spacing in Word Processing can be set as a single space between lines of text in a paragraph, to any appropriate space needed. The default space setting is 1.15, which makes text more readable. Go to Home in address bar. Click on the downward arrow. A list of options allows a line spacing value to be chosen. Specific spacing options can be chosen. Click on the downward arrow in the corner of the Paragraph box. The menu allows specific line-spacing values to be set from the Spacing area of the menu. The Multiple Line Spacing menu, along with At, allows spacing to be customised. Click ok when values are chosen.[7] Go to Mailings in the ribbon bar. Click on the Start Mail Merge arrow. Select Labels from the drop-down menu. Within the application that opens, choose the appropriate sized label and click ok. Â   Â   The label selected will appear in box. Go to Select Recipients and select from the drop-down menu that appears. Click on the appropriate line. This will link both labels and addresses. Ensure cursor is present in the first cell. Click on Insert Merge Field and insert each line of address. Click on Update Labels and this address will appear in each cell. Click on Preview Results to check addresses are correctly placed. To change the alignment of address, highlight all the cells; go to Tools Bar; click on Layout and choose appropriate alignment. Click on Finish Merge icon.[8] Tabs are used for lining up text. Set by placing the cursor on the ruler bar across the top of the page. Click at each point on the lower line where a tab is needed. The pre-set tabs will disappear and the tabs needed for the document are left. When the tab key is pressed, the cursor will move to the next tab point.[9] Tab stops can be set precisely to customise a document by using the Tabs dialog box. Go to Page Layout Click on the corner downward arrow in the Paragraph box. In the dropdown Menu, click on Tabs button. Set parameters in the Tab box: In Tab stop position, select location of Tab. In Alignment, select type of Tab stop. In Leader box select type needed. Click Set. Graphics is the display and manipulation of pictures in Word Processing. Word Processing allows pictures to be drawn or imported from several different sources; e.g., Online pictures, personal photos stored on the computer, Clipart, SmartArt, and Screenshots. Graphics are used to support text, to make it more interesting and to enliven the document.[10] Go to INSERT on the address bar. In the Illustrations box, graphics can be accessed from the different sources. To Access graphics from the Internet Go to Illustrations. Click on Online Pictures. Type in Search box required image. Select image and click Insert. [11] Tables in Word Processing are made-up of rows and columns. They are easy to create and using tables in Word Processing is made easy by the variety of features present which allows the user to present professional looking tables.[12] Creating a Table Place your cursor where you want the table to be. Go to INSERT in the address column. Click on downward arrow in Table box. Click on Insert Table Insert Table dialog box appears Put in parameters required Click ok. Table now appears in document[13] To increase the number of cells, rows and columns can be done with the click of a button. To add a row to a Table place your cursor in the cell above where you want the row to appear. Go to Table Tools click on Layout Click on Insert below To add a column, place the cursor in the column beside which you the column to appear. Go to Table Tools Click on Layout Click on Insert Right or Insert Left[14] File Handling and File Management File management and Handling is how data is organised on a computer system. By naming, storing and handling files logically, they can be retrieved easily and conveniently.[15] There are several functions in file management /handling that allow creating, deleting and maintaining files.[16] Folders Save Save As File Type; e.g. Word 2010, PDF Folders To create a folder Right click on the desktop Click on New in the dropdown menu Name Folder Each Folder has a unique name. Sub folders can be create within a folder. Files are stored within folders. Save Save As The Save button is used when you are making changes to an existing document and you want to save the changes you make. Save As is used when you have saving information into a file. [1] https://tepfenhart506.wordpress.com/lesson-plan/ accessed 28/09/16 [2] http://techterms.com/definition/wordprocessor [3] Creative Training, Word Processing QQI level 5 accessed 29/09/16 [4] http://www.nuim.ie/staff/dpringle/gis/HDip/hdgis04.pdf accessed 30/09/16 5 Creative Training, Word Processing, QQ1 Level 5 accessed 30/09/16 [5] Creative Training, Word Processing, QQI Level 5 accessed 04/10/2016 [6] https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/Format-a-document-in-Word-2016-780772c6-9506-4081-afd1-aff9aab19f5f [7] Creative Training, Word Processing, QQI Level accessed 06/10/16 [8] Creative Training, Word Processing, QQI Level 5 accessed 05/10/16 [9] www.compukiss.com/tutorials/word-processing-basic-terminology.html accessed 05/10/16 [10] http://howtogeek.com/school/microsoft-word accessed 05/10/16 [11] http://year9top10.wikispaces.com/top+ten+web+pages [12] http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse_new/software/word_processor/miniweb/pg14.htm accessed 06/10/16 [13] Creative Training, Word Processing, QQI Level 5 accessed 06/10/16 [14] Creative Training, Word Processing, QQI Level 5 accessed 07/10/16 [15] http://www.dpbestflow.org/file-management/file-management-overview [16] https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop.aspx

Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot: Existentialism and The Theatre of t

Every person is responsible for themselves. In society, people are responsible for their actions; good deeds will accede to rewards while bad deeds will lead to demerits. Humans live in a world where they are told what to do and how to do it, and faced with what is considered right and what is seen as wrong, but at the end of the day, humans have the freewill to do as they please and make their own choices, which leads them to being responsible for those actions. Everyday, humans are faced with these choices and decisions to make only to know deep down inside that they will either have positive or negative reactions to their choices, and it is this key idea that led to a specific philosophical concept in the 19th century, existentialism. This philosophy can clearly be seen in everyday life as well as in theatrical movements in the past and present. By examining the works of Samuel Beckett, evidence of existential thinking will be brought forward proving the progress of this philosoph ical movement. It will illustrate how existentialism has influenced Beckett, especially through his play, Waiting for Godot. The Theatre of the Absurd is another theatrical concept being examined proving that Samuel Beckett integrated the philosophy into his works through the Theatre of the Absurd. Whether or not Beckett justified existentialism or remodelled the theory, especially through the expression of â€Å"existence precedes essence†, will also be examined which will eventually lead to the result of whether this philosophical concept was seen as only a movement through a specific time, or a daily life exercise. Through the examination of existentialism and the idea of "existence precedes essence", it can be proved that this movement is still prog... ...amined and quoted, by different philosophical movements and theories, yet Existentialism is one concept that can always be evident in Beckett’s play. The Theatre of the Absurd will always be associated with Existentialism as they both revolve around the human conditions and meaning (or lack there of) of life. In today’s time, it doesn’t really matter if you believe in the existence of God, or whether or not you understand and accept the meaning of life, but the overall concept of Existentialism is apparent in everyone’s life. People are responsible for what they make of their life every action has their consequence, and we exist first and it is our own purpose to give our own life meaning and become our own person. Beckett, Samuel. Waiting For Godot. 3rd ed. N.p.: CPI Group, 2006. Print. Vol. 1 of Samuel Beckett: The Complete Dramatic Works. 4 vols

Catherines Inner Self in Henry Jamess Washington Square :: Henry James Washington Square

Catherine's Inner Self in Henry James's Washington Square Much is said of the internal reality of the characters in Henry James's novel Washington Square. It is seen as a "psychological novel" where most of the action takes place in the minds of the characters. In an essay titled, "Washington Square: A Study in the Growth of an Inner Self," James W. Gargano addresses the internal reality of the character Catherine Sloper. Within the essay, Gargano argues that "James anatomizes the process by which Catherine's active, secret existence transforms her into an imaginative woman" (129). Although a few of his premises seem far-fetched, I agree with the major arguments of his critique. Most of his examples support his thesis well. Early in the essay Gargano states that, "in James's fiction, naivete may wear the look of an empty mind, but it is often the ideal preparation for receiving life fully and impressionably" (130). Gargano then tells us that Catherine will feel more intensely because she has not known strong emotions before. According to him, "her ingenuousness is the key to her genuineness and her sense of seeing, feeling, and judging life for the first time" (130). I feel this is a key element in understanding Catherine. Gargano also brings out how well James "traces [Catherine's] developing insight" (131) into her own nature. He refers to the part in the novel where James writes, "She watched herself as she would have watched another person, and wondered what she would do" (qtd. in Gargano 131). Then Gargano adds, "it is hard to write off as dull a young woman with such a vivid 'contact' with her own development" and Gargano also felt that "James intended the dullness to be ascribed to the bright people around her who never even glimpse her hidden abysses" (131). This is an interesting viewpoint, which, when applied to the novel, adds a deeper perception of the characters. Some of Gargano's other premises were not as insightful for me. For example, I had trouble with what Gargano called Catherine's "transcendentalizing imagination" that causes her to create "beautiful figments" of Townsend that possess her and become the "paramount value of her life, and other attachments, no matter how strong, must somehow accommodate themselves to it." (132). This contention tends to belittle Catherine's intelligence as well as her grasp of reality. I also disagreed with one of Gargano's conclusions that, "loss is the real goal for which James's central characters are secretly striving, that they engage life only to see that it falls below their lofty expectations and that mastery and transcendence are gained by renunciation" (135).

Behaviour of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden Commentary Essay

In the poem â€Å"Behaviour of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden† by Keith Douglas, a beautiful woman uses the power of seduction to attract many men. Douglas uses simile to describe the woman as a â€Å"white stone† while calling men different types of fish like â€Å"magnate, an important fish† and â€Å"flat-eyed fish†. Throughout the whole poem, Douglas seems to use the word â€Å"fish† many times. It seems he is describing the environment as an aquatic environment. Since it is third person limited, the reader does not know what the males are thinking, but using imagery the reader can know how they look at her and it is clear that the males are attracted to her. The poem contains seven stanzas with four lines in each stanza. It is a narrative poem because it has a plot about a beautiful woman trying to use her ways of seduction, but the men are too threatened of it and they soon run off. There is no rhyming scheme although there are some rhymes like â€Å"afternoon† and â€Å"spoon†. Each stanza does not have rhyming endings, only four out of seven stanzas have a rhyming scheme. An interested thing that the readers might notice is that each line has about nine or ten syllables. In stanza one, Douglas introduces the woman as a â€Å"white stone† and she â€Å"draws down the fish† (L.1). The first line describes the woman’s beauty and how it attracts the attention of all of the men in the room. The woman is most likely sitting and trying to look beautiful so all the men would want her. The woman â€Å"Draws down men’s glances and their cruel wish for love.† (Line 3) The woman is not doing anything and yet she has already done so much. Not only did she make the men look at her, but it seems they are also thinking about her and how they want to be with her. In stanza two, the reader learns about the woman’s way of seduction. â€Å"Slyly her red lip on the spoon/ slips in a morsel of the ice cream† (L.4, 5). Most men have a dirty mind, so when she put that spoon full of ice cream in her mouth, she got the men’s full attention. She is also wearing many different cosmetic accessories. She is wearing red lips stick and red nail polish while looking white or a â€Å"milky stone† (L.6). There is this one man in stanza three that seems to have a little bit more interest in the woman.†A cotton magnate, an important fish† seems to like her since he is looking from across. The man was going to walk out, but after seeing her one more time he decided to stay to watch her some more. The next man in stanza four is an old man described as a â€Å"crustacean old man† who is sitting near her. As he is there staring at her just like every other man, he tries not to stare anywhere else but her face. He â€Å"might see her charms through the fissures where the eyes should be or else his teeth will parted in a stare† (L.14-16). What the author is saying is that if the man looks below the neck region, his jaw will drop because of his perverted thoughts. A third man known as the â€Å"lean dark mackerel† tries to look as if he does not care too much about the woman. â€Å"The flat-eyed fish sucks on a straw, staring from its repose, laxly.†(L.19, 20) He is still attracted to her since he turned around to look at her, but he seemed calm and cool because he was resting and looking at her in a peaceful manner. In stanza six, they talk about a man who is stepping up and attempts to do what every man wants to do with her. Every man wants to be with her, but everyone is threatened. The man is â€Å"circling and passing near the white attraction.† (L.22) The man is trying to have to get the confidence to ask her out, but he never does. He was to afraid of what would happen so he never had the opportunity. Since the ice cream is now gone, the men don’t seem to be attracted to her anymore. â€Å"The fish swim off on business/ and she sits home alone at the table† (L.26, 27). Douglas is saying that the woman lost her power of seduction and she is no longer the attraction and every man has left since she is not as beautiful anymore. She is a â€Å"white stone/ useless except to a collector, a rich man.† (L. 27, 28) The quote means she is no longer the thing that the men are interested in and the only way she will get someone to be with her is if she becomes a trophy wif e. In the end of the poem, it comes to a sad end. The woman is lonely as the men go on with their busy lives. Throughout the whole poem, she was trying to use the power of seduction, but ended up teasing everyone away. As a reader, it comes to no surprise that she did not get anyone because being a tease is no way to get a man or a woman. Therefore, justice has been served as she ends up alone.

What Are the Effects of Poor Communication in a Project

Faculty of Business Department of Management and Project Management Baccalaureus Technologiae Project Management Project Research IV Lecturer: L. Jowah RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PROPOSAL TABLE OF CONTENTS Hypothesis – The matrix management structure hinders the project manager when executing a project. 1 Research Question 1 Topic 1 KEY WORDS 1 CONCEPT DEFINITIONS 1 2 CHAPTER ONE BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM ORIENTATION 2 1. 1 INTRODUCTION 2 1. 2 BACKGROUND TO STUDY 3 1. 3 PROBLEM FORMULATION 4 1. 4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 5 1. 4. 1 Primary objective 5 1. 4. 2 Theoretical objectives of the study 5 1. 4. Empirical objectives 5 1. 5 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 6 1. 5. 1 Literature review 6 1. 5. 2 Target population 6 1. 5. 3 Sample selection and method of sampling 6 1. 5. 4 The method of data collection 7 1. 5. 5 Statistical Analysis 7 1. 6 CHAPTER CLASSIFICATION 7 1. 6. 1 Chapter two: Literature review 7 1. 6. 2 Chapter three: Research Design and Methodology 7 1. 6. 3 Chapter four: Res ults and Findings 7 1. 6. 4 Chapter five: Conclusions and Recommendations 8 1. 7 SYNOPSIS 8 REFERENCES 9 Questionnaire 11 Part A – Project Planning†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 1 Part B – Organisational Support†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 12 Part C – Organisational Characteristics †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 13 Hypothesis – The matrix management structure hinders the project manager when executing a project. Research Question – How does the matrix structure affect the project manager's effectiveness? Topic – Organisational structures influence the effectiveness of a projec t manager. KEY WORDS organisational structures management project management CONCEPT DEFINITIONS Project: According to the PMBOK – A temporary endeavor ndertaken to create a unique product or service. Temporary means that every project has a definite beginning and a definite end. Unique means that the product or service is different in some distinguishing way from all similar products or services A project management guide, and an internationally recognized standard, that provides the fundamentals of project management as they apply to a wide range of projects. PMBOK – Project Management Body of Knowledge: Management Organisational structures: 1. Effective use and coordination of resources such as capital, plant materials and labour to achieve defined objectives with maximum efficiency. . People responsible for directing and running and organisation. 1. Arrangement of the work of the organisation into units and management positions between which there are defined relat ionships involving the exercise of authority and the communication of instructions and information. 2. Determination and specification of appropriate operational and functional roles and the resulting relationships. The aim of organisational structuring is to provide for an effective organisation structure which enables the best use to be made of the minds, judgements and energies of the members of the organisation. CHAPTER ONE BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM ORIENTATION 1. 1 INTRODUCTION Project management is the discipline of planning, organising, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives (Cleland & Gareis, 2006:1-4). According to Burke (2007:28-30), modern day project management started in the early 1900’s with Henry Gantt’s development of the barchart, and project management techniques which were specifically developed for the military and aerospace projects of the 1950’s and 1960’s in America and Britain. Today, companies are encouraged to change their management systems to adapt to the project management environment. A project is defined as a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service (PMBOK, 2004:4). According to Sandhu & Gunasekaran (2004:673-690), a project is a set of inter-related tasks that are undertaken by an organisation to meet defined objectives, that has an agreed start and finish time, is constrained by cost, and that has specified performance requirements and resources. Projects are usually led by a project manager who is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project. However the project manager has to interface with the line management, according to Kerzner (2006:7). Projects are performed by people and managed through people, so it is essential to develop an organisation structure which reflects the needs of the project (Burke, 2007:304). Organisations use project management to bring key people together to achieve specific goals (Palmer, 2002:101-105). According to Gido & Clements (2003:336-339), Conflict can arise from poor or organisational issues can cause conflict in a project. mbiguous project communication, lack of information sharing, or failure to make timely decisions. Problems caused by conflict include: confusion; waste of time, money and opportunity; diminished productivity; de-motivation of individuals and teams; internal conflicts and power struggles and ultimately project failure (Box & Platts, 2005:370-387). 2 Due to the numerous working interfaces, complicated networks, and diversified team members of a large project, coordination efficiency among members of the team is vital to the project’s success (Cheng, Su & You, 2003:70-79). One of the simplest, yet most effective things upper management can do is to set out the company’s policy for project management; thus establishing the vision for how the company wants to best utilise project management concepts and gives a clear downwards communication (Eve, 2007:85-90). Successful executives and managers must maintain an appropriate balance between strategic and operational concerns, as they conduct the affairs of their organisation in a project management environment (Czuchry & Yasin, 2003:39-46). The first and most basic lesson learnt regarding project management implementation, is that top management must demonstrate its unequivocal and visible support for a transition to the project management way of goal achievement (Brown & Botha, 2005:1-7). When senior management place the responsibility for project success with the project manager, without providing adequate authority and at times, implemented changes that further undermine the project manager’s authority; it leads to project failure (Kennedy & Marx, 2009:368-373). The starting point for ensuring that matrix structures work effectively is to ensure that there is a genuine need for them (Rees & Porter, 2004:189-193). Matrix structures should not be introduced simply on the basis that they are fashionable. It is also important to note that work teams do not exist in a vacuum, but are part of a larger organisational system with distinct cultural and structural characteristics (Tata, 2000:187-193). 1. 2 BACKGROUND TO STUDY An organisational structure is a mainly hierarchical concept of subordination of entities that collaborate and contribute to serve one common aim. Organisational structure allows the expressed allocation of responsibilities for different functions and processes to different entities such as the branch, department, workgroup and individual. 3 A hierarchical organisation is an organisational structure where every entity in the organisation, except one, is sub-ordinate to a single other entity. This arrangement is a form of a hierarchy. In an organisation, the hierarchy usually consists of a singular/group of power at the top with subsequent levels of power beneath them. This is the dominant mode of organisation among large organisations; most corporations, governments, and organized religions are hierarchical organisations with different levels of management, power or authority. Organisations have recognised that performing organisational projects has increased both organisational efficiency and effectiveness, thus organisational projects are becoming more of a norm than an exception these days. Each type of organisation has advantages and disadvantages pertaining to project implementation. The organisation should establish firm, standardized project management systems. The matrix structure leads to institutionalised conflict which, if properly channelled, should lead to a number of advantages, such as efficiency and flexibility in used of resources, technical excellence of solutions, motivation and development of employees and the freeing of top management from routine decision making (Rowlinson, 2001:669-673). According to Brown (2008:1-9), a seven step organisational process needs to be formally instituted in an organisation through a thoroughly planned strategy to ensure that appropriate project management processes and tools. . 3 PROBLEM FORMULATION In recent years, managers of for-profit private organisations have been under considerable market pressures to re-orient the strategies, operations and business models of their organisations. In a response to these pressures, the organisational structures of these organisations have been steadily re-engineered from mechanistic, rigid and closed system-oriented to a more organic, flexible and open sy stem-oriented (Gomes, Yasin & Lisboa, 2008: 573-585). 4 Most managers focus on how the project methodology can adapt to it’s organisational context, however, in doing so, they sacrifice the flexibility and dynamism of the project approach for the bureaucratic, control-based view of functional organisations (Thiry, 2006:22) The questions to be addressed in this study are as follows: †¢ How does the organisational structure affect the project manager's effectiveness? †¢ To what degree is the effectiveness of the organisational structure sabotaged by the human factor? †¢ Which organisational structures are best suited for project management? 1. 4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY . 4. 1 Primary objective The purpose of this study is to verify whether organisational structures influence the effectiveness of a project manager. 1. 4. 2 Theoretical objectives of the study The following theoretical objectives were established in order to support the primary objective. †¢ Conducting management. †¢ Conducting a literature stud y on factors of influence in project management. †¢ Reviewing organisational structure models commonly employed by companies in the project management environment. †¢ Contrasting the literature studied with observations in the industry in practice. 1. 4. Empirical objectives The following empirical objectives were formulated in support of the primary and theoretical objectives. †¢ Identifying key elements of influence on project management success. a literature study on organisational structures in project 5 †¢ Identifying organisational structures employed by companies to ensure support project management. 1. 5 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 1. 5. 1 Literature review Published material in the form of books, journals, magazines, newspaper articles, government publications and the Internet formed part of establishing a well-informed theoretical background. . 5. 2 Target population The population was restricted to companies in the Western Cape Province, for econom ic reasons; as most companies are within easy reach. The population comprised project management practitioners. For the purpose of this study, project management practitioners are persons practising project management, who are given the responsibility and accountability for implementing projects in an organisation. In industry, the title varies from company to company. The commonly used titles are Project Supervisor and Project Manager. The companies to be included in the study must be practising project The companies must have a formal project management for more than five years. management structure in place. It is anticipated that many companies may not be keen to share information on this subject. Therefore, to increase the probability of reaching the required sample size, organisations in the entire province were chosen. 1. 5. 3 Sample selection and method of sampling A combination of convenience and judgement sampling was used, in light of the geographical dispersion of the organisations. Care was taken to include a broad variety of project management practitioners. The organisations were grouped according to industries. In the absence of previous research, a minimum sample size of one hundred project management practitioners will be chosen for the study. The sample size has been determined on the basis of the cost of the exercise and accessibility to the various companies. 6 1. 5. 4 The method of data collection The survey method will be used. A personal interview using a structured questionnaire will be used to obtain the required information. This method was chosen as it is simple and allows for clarity of questions. 1. 5. 5 Statistical Analysis Descriptive statistics will be used for the initial analysis. The MoonStats package will be used for data analysis. Cross-tabulation and correlation will be used to establish simple relationships between the organisational structure and it’s effects on project management in the business. 1. 6 CHAPTER CLASSIFICATION 1. 6. 1 Chapter two: Literature review An overview is provided of strategies, strategic business levels ad their relationship to each other. This chapter concentrates on organisational structures, competencies and the dynamics of project management. It also explores the need for strategic organisational decisions to further support project management objectives. structures are also highlighted. Different organisational 1. 6. 2 Chapter three: Research Design and Methodology The emphasis of this chapter is on the design of the research, the measuring instruments and population target. employed are outlined. The data analysis procedure and the statistical techniques 1. 6. 3 Chapter four: Results and Findings In this chapter data is analysed, interpreted and evaluated. 1. 6. 4 Chapter five: Conclusions and Recommendations The recommendations emanating from the study are suggested. limitations of the research are highlighted. The benefits and 1. 7 SYNOPSIS This paper is primarily addressed at the decision makers about project management in an organisation. In the arenas of business and management, the principles of project man agement are relatively simple and much of it actually common sense. However, this paper aims to confirm that the implementation and acceptance thereof, in a functionallyonly structured organisation, is quite a complex process. The paper’s prime purpose is herefore to highlight, that after the decision to implement project management is made, a number of not so obvious implications for the organisation, as well as structural, organisational culture and systems changes, have to be thoroughly managed to ensure success. In this chapter the background and scope of research are described. The Research objectives are utilized in an effort to address the research problem. In the next chapter the literature used as background for this study, will be discussed, while the different levels of project management organisational structures and how they are interrelated will be outlined. REFERENCES Cleland, D. , Gareis, R. 2006. Global project management handbook: Planning, McGraw-Hill Organ izing and Controlling International Projects, Second Edition. Professional. Project Management Institute. 2004. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge – 3rd edition. Pennsylvania: PMI Publications. Burke, R. 2007. Project management Techniques college edition. South Africa; Burke Publishing. Gido, J. and Clements, J. P. 2003. Successful Project Management – Second Edition. USA. South-Western. Kerzner, H. 2006. Project Management – Ninth Edition, A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. Hoboken, New Jersey. John Wiley & Sons. Sandhu, M. A. and Gunasekaran, A. 2004. Business process development in projectbased industry. Business Process Management Journal. Vol. 10 No. 6:673-690. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Box, S. and Platts, K. 2005. Business process management: establishing and maintaining project alignment. Business Process Management Journal. Vol. 11 No. 4:370-387. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Palmer, M. 2002. How an effective project culture can help to achieve business success: establishing a project culture in Kimberley-Clark Europe. Industrial and Commercial Training. Volume 34. Number 3:101-105. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Czuchry, A. J. and Yasin, M. M. 2003. Managing the project management process. Industrial Management and Data Systems. 103/1 :39-46. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. 9 Rees, W. D. and Porter, C. 2004. Matrix structures and the training implications. Industrial and Commercial Training. Volume 36. Number 5:189–193. Emerald Group Publishing Limited  · ISSN 0019-:189-193 Gomes, C. F. , Yasin, M. M. and Lisboa, J. V. 2008. Project management in the context of organizational change. International Journal of Public Sector Management. Vol. 21 No. 6:573-585. Tata, J. 2000. Autonomous work teams: an examination of cultural and structural constraints. Work Study. Volume 49. Number 5:187-193. MCB University Press. Rowlinson, S. 2001. Matrix organizational structure, culture and commitment: a Hong Kong public sector case study of change. Construction Management and Economics. 19, 669-673. Spon Press. Brown, C. J. and Botha, M. C. 2005. Lessons learnt on implementing project management in a functionally-only structured South African municipality. South African Journal of Business Management. 36(4):1-7 Cheng, M. Su, C. and You, H. 2003. Optimal Project Organizational Structure for Construction Management. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. January/February:70-79. Brown, C. J. 2008. A comprehensive organisational model for the effective management of project management. South African Journal of Business Management. 39(3):1-8. Kennedy, D. A. and Marx, T. 2009. Going Against Traditional Wisdom: Running Proj ects in a Functional Structure. Proceedings of the 2009 Industrial Engineering Research Conference. 368-373. Thiry, M. 2006. The Matrix Evolves. PM Network. Apr. 20,4:22. Eve, A. 2007. Development of project management systems. Industrial and Commercial Training. Vol. 39. No. 2:85-90. 10 Questionnaire For each planning product written, please mark the most suitable answer referring to the projects you were recently involved in, according to the following scale: 54321ABThe product is always obtained The product is quite frequently obtained The product is frequently obtained The product is seldom obtained The product is hardly ever obtained The product is irrelevant to the projects I am involved in I do not know whether the product is obtained Please choose between 1-5 and A or B. Part A – Project Planning Planning Product Never Always Do not know Irrelevant 1. Project Plan 2. Project Deliverables 3. WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) Chart 4. Project Activities 5. PERT or Gantt Chart 6. Activity Duration Estimate 7. Activity Start and End Dates 8. Activity Required Resources 9. Resource Cost 10. Time-phased Budget 11. Quality Management Plan 12. Role and Responsibility Assignments 13. Project Staff Assignments 14. Communications Management Plan 15. Risk Management Plan 16. Procurement Management Plan 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B 11 Part B – Organisational Support Planning Product Never Always Do not know Irrelevant 17. Project-Based Organisation 18. Extent of Existence of Projects’ Procedures 19. Appropriate Project Manager Assignment 20. Extent of Refreshing Project Procedures 21. Extent of Involvement of the Project Manager during Initiation Stage 22. Extent of Communication between the Project Manager and the Organisation during the Planning Phase 23. Extent of Existence of Project Success Measurement 24. Extent of Supportive Project Organisational Structure 25. Extent of Existence of Interactive InterDepartmental Project Planning Groups 26. Extent of Organisational Projects Resource Planning 27. Extent of Organisational Projects Risk Management 28. Extent of Organisational Projects Quality Management 29. Extent of On Going Project Management Training Programs 30. Extent of Use of Standard Project Management Software (e. . Ms-Project) 31. Extent of Use of New Project Tools and Techniques 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 A A A A A A B B B B B B 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 A A A A A A A A A B B B B B B B B B 12 Part C – Organisational Characteristics a. Organisation type: ? (1) Engineering ? (4) Construction ? (7) Services ? (2) Software ? (5) Communications ? (8) Government ? (3) Production ? (6) Maintenance ? (9) Other: ______ b. Project type: ? (1) Engineering ? (4) Construction ? (7) Services ? 2) Software ? (5) Communications ? (8) Aeronautics ? (3) Electronics ? (6) Mechanics ? (9) Other: _____ c. Evaluate the following indexes in the scale of 1 to 10 (1-low, 10-high): Index Low High Quality of planning of project you are involved in Project performance at the end of the projects Customer satisfaction at the end of the projects Risk level at the beginning of the project 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 d. Your personal involvement in projects: ? Project Manager ? Project Team Member ? Other: _______ 13

Creating Customer Value: General Concept Questions

Chapter 5: Creating Customer Value, Satisfaction, and Loyalty GENERAL CONCEPT QUESTIONS Multiple Choice 1. ________ are adept at building customer relationships, not just products; they are skilled in market engineering, not just product engineering. a. Profit-centered companies b. Customer-centered companies c. Production-centered companies d. Sales-centered companies e. Promotion-centered companies Answer: bPage: 119Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking 2. The opening vignette on Ritz-Carlton shows that successful marketers are the ones that fully ________. a. understand promotional strategy b. diversify their product line . divorce themselves from a production mentality d. satisfy their customers profitably e. understand the sales concept Answer: dPage: 120Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking 3. In the modern customer-oriented organizational chart, which of the following is considered to be at the top of the organizational pyramid? a. Sales b. The president c. Front-line people d. Customers e. Middle management Answer: dPage: 121Difficulty: Medium 4. ________ is the difference between the prospective customer’s evaluation of all the benefits and all the costs of an offering and the perceived alternatives. a. Perceived usefulness . Failure avoidance rate c. Report rating d. Customer-perceived value e. Competitors’ market share rate Answer: dPage: 121Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills 5. Total customer benefit is the perceived monetary value of the bundle of economic, functional, and ________ benefits customers expect from a given market offering. a. psychological b. intangible c. realized d. fabricated e. advertised Answer: aPage: 121Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills 6. The bundle of costs customers expect to incur in evaluating, obtaining, using, and disposing of the given market offering is called the ________. a. rganizational expense ratio b. shopper’s fatigue c. total customer cost d. analysis paralysis e. comparison shopping to comparison buying ratio Answer: cPage: 121Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 7. In applying a customer’s perceived value to a decision, a seller who is at a disadvantage with respect to customer-perceived value has two alternatives: to increase total customer benefit or ________. a. increase a cash-back bonus b. decrease total customer cost c. lose the sale to the competitor d. advertise more frequently e. offer an extended warranty Answer: bPage: 123Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 8. The final step of customer value analysis is to ________. a. identify the major attributes and benefits that customers value b. assess the company’s and competitors’ performances on the different customer values against their rated importance c. examine how customers in a specific segment rate the company’s performance against a specific major competitor on an individual attribute or benefit basis d. monitor customer values over time e. assess the quantitative importance of the different attributes and benefits Answer: dPage: 122Difficulty: Medium 9.The ________ consists of the whole cluster of benefits the company promises to deliver; it is more than the core positioning of the offering. a. customer promise b. mission statement c. corporate pledge d. corporate-perceived value e. value proposition Answer: ePage: 123Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 10. A company’s ________ includes all the experiences the customer will have on the way to obtaining and using the offering. a. value proposition b. value delivery system c. customer-value analysis d. total customer benefit e. total customer cost Answer: bPage: 123Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 11. Total customer satisfaction is measured based on the relationship of ________. a. anticipated and real performance b. perceived performance and expectation c. advertised outcomes and real outcomes d. past experience and present experience e. customer attitude and salesperson’s attitude Answer: bPage: 124Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 12. The ultimate goal of the customer-centered firm is ________. a. high customer satisfaction b. high profits c. low costs d. maximum stakeholder satisfaction e. none of the above Answer: ePages: 124–125Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 13.Buyers form their expectations from all of the following EXCEPT ________. a. past buying experience b. friends and associates advice c. marketers’ information d. competitors’ information e. governmental newsletters Answer: ePage: 125Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 14. A customer’s decision to be loyal or to defect is the sum of many small encounters with the company. In order for all these small encounters to add up to customer loyalty, many companies, such as Joie de Vivre Hospitality, strive to create ________. a. a reward program b. a comprehensive customer database c. a branded customer experience . strong word-of-mouth promotions e. a top-notch advertising campaign Answer: cPage: 125Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 15. One key to customer retention is ________. It would be wise for a company to measure this factor frequently. a. heavy promotion b. deep discounts for intermediaries c. to have an ethics officer d. customer satisfaction e. to have customers on the board of directors Answer: dPage: 125Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 16. ________ can track customer satisfaction directly and also gauge consumers’ willingness to recommend the company and brand to others. . Periodic surveys b. Mystery shoppers c. Customer loss rates d. Customer focus statements e. All of the above Answer: aPage: 126Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills 17. Studies of customer dissatisfaction show that customers are dissatisfied with their purchases about 25% of the time, but only about ________ complain. a. 1% b. 5% c. 10% d. 15% e. 20% Answer: bPage: 128Difficulty: Hard 18. Of customers who register a complaint, ________. a. the majority will do business with the company again because they are unwilling to dedicate the effort required to find another vendor b. one will do business with the company again c. customers whose complaints are satisfactorily resolved spread more word of mouth than those who continue to be dissatisfied d. the speed of resolution has no impact on the likelihood of repeat business e. between approximately half and three-quarters will do business with the company again if their complaint is resolved Answer: ePage: 129Difficulty: Hard 19. ________ is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. a. Performance b. Value c. Quality d. Customer retention e. Ð ¡ustomer loyalty Answer: cPage: 129Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills20. Total quality is the key to value creation and customer satisfaction. A marketing manager has several roles to play in a quality-centered company, including ________. a. participating in cross-functional team building b. correctly identifying customers’ needs and requirements c. ensuring costs are adequately controlled during order fulfillment d. setting expectations both internally and externally e. working closely with the sales team to create a dynamic sales message Answer: bPage: 130Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills21. The 20–80 rule reflects the idea that ________. a. the top 20% of customers often generate 80% of the company’s profits b. the top 20% of customers are highl y satisfied and 80% of customers will recommend the company to a friend c. 20% of customers are unprofitable, and 80% make up a company’s profits d. 20% of the company’s profits are generated by the top 80% of customers e. any new product offering will be accepted by 20% of the customers immediately, but 80% of the customers will be up for grabs throughout the product’s life cycle Answer: aPage: 130Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills22. Most companies have learned that the ________ are often the most profitable because of service expectations and their willingness to pay almost full price. a. large-size customers b. midsize customers c. small-size customers d. niche customers e. target market customers Answer: bPage: 130Difficulty: Medium23. A(n) ________ customer is a person, household, or company that over time yields a revenue stream that exceeds by an acceptable amount the company’s cost stream of attracting, selling, and servicing that customer. a . profitable b. semiprofitable c. unprofitable d. niche e. target Answer: aPages: 130–131Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills24. Customer profitability analysis (CPA) is best conducted with the tools of an accounting technique called ________. a. input-output analysis b. factor analysis c. revenue-based costing (RBC) d. activity-based costing (ABC) e. future date costing (FDC) Answer: dPage: 131Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking25. ________ describes the net present value of the stream of future profits expected over the customer’s lifetime purchases. a. Activity-based costing b. Customer profitability analysis c. Customer value analysis . Customer-perceived value e. Customer lifetime value Answer: ePage: 132Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills26. The aim of customer relationship management (CRM) is to produce high customer ________. a. value b. loyalty c. profitability d. satisfaction e. equity Answer: bPage: 133Difficulty: Medium27. A customer touch point in the airline industry would include an item such as ________. a. reservations b. mechanics’ ability to service the airplanes c. ease of access to the airport d. the value of air travel versus surface transportation e. competency of a travel agent Answer: aPage: 133Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking28. Customer relationship management enables companies to provide excellent real-time customer service through the effective use of _______. a. reports from mystery shoppers b. survey data from customers who have defected c. market research into overall consumption trends d. individual account information e. demographic trend data Answer: dPage: 135Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking29. All of the following would be among the Peppers and Rogers’s four-step framework for one-to-one marketing that can be adapted to CRM marketing EXCEPT ________. . customizing products, services, and messages to each customer b. interacting with individual customers to l earn their needs c. always offering the lowest price d. differentiating customers in terms of their needs and value to the company e. identifying your prospects and customers Answer: cPage: 135Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills30. Winning companies improve the value of their customer base by excelling at each of the following strategies EXCEPT ________. a. retaining all customers regardless of profitability b. reducing the rate of customer defection c. ncreasing the longevity of the customer relationship d. making low-profit customers more profitable or terminating them e. focusing disproportionate efforts on high-value customers Answer: aPage: 136Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking31. Harley-Davidson sells more than motorcycles and accessories. Its dealerships also sell branded clothing and licensed goods. This expansion of dealership sales offerings is an attempt to increase the value of the customer base by ________. a. reducing the rate of customer defection b. incr easing the longevity of the customer relationship . enhancing the growth potential of each customer through cross-selling d. making low-profit customers more profitable e. terminating low-profit customers Answer: cPage: 136Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking32. Although actual costs vary from business to business depending on the complexity of the sales process, the most expensive customer acquisition method based on cost per solicitation is ________. a. personal selling b. direct mail c. telemarketing d. banner advertisements e. e-mail Answer: aPage: 137Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills33.Another term for high customer ________ is customer churn. a. retention b. defection c. value d. perception e. belief Answer: bPage: 137Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills34. People with the motivation, ability, and opportunity to make a purchase are known as ________. a. potentials b. advocates c. members d. prospects e. partners Answer: dPage: 137Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Ana lytic Skills35. Customers who enthusiastically recommend the company and its products and services to others are known as ________. a. potentials b. advocates c. members d. prospects e. partners Answer: bPage: 137Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills36. Satisfied customers constitute the company’s ________. a. customer relationship capital b. customer churn c. prospects d. high-value customers e. customer touch points Answer: aPage: 138Difficulty: Medium37. Acquiring new customers can cost ________ times more than satisfying and retaining current customers. a. two b. three c. five d. seven e. 10 Answer: cPage: 138Difficulty: Hard38. All of the following are methods to form strong customer bonds EXCEPT ________. a. creating superior products, services, and experiences for the target market b. aking it easy for customers to reach the appropriate company personnel and express their needs, perceptions, and complaints c. organizing and making accessible a database of informati on on individual customer needs, preferences, contacts, purchase frequency, and satisfaction d. running award programs recognizing outstanding employees e. concentrating the planning and management of the customer satisfaction and retention process within the marketing department Answer: ePage: 138Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking39. When companies provide rewards to customers who buy frequently and in ubstantial amounts, this is referred to as ________. a. benefit programs b. frequency programs c. satisfaction programs d. loyalty programs e. quality programs Answer: bPage: 139Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills40. Typically, ________ gains the most benefit from introducing a frequency program. a. the first company to introduce a frequency program in an industry b. the fast follower, who is second to introduce a frequency program in an industry, c. the industry sales leader d. the niche player in the industry e. the low-cost leader in the industry Answer: aPage: 140Diffi culty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking41. All of the following are CRM imperatives EXCEPT ________. a. acquiring the right customer b. crafting the right value proposition c. instituting the best processes d. motivating employees e. learning to make profits through marginal customers Answer: ePage: 141Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills42. CRM technology can help motivate employees by ________. a. analyzing customer revenue and cost data to identify current and future high-value customers b. better targeting the company’s direct marketing efforts c. racking customer-service satisfaction levels d. aligning employee incentives and metrics e. developing new pricing models Answer: dPage: 141Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Reflective Thinking43. According to Stanford’s business guru Jeffery Pfeffer, â€Å"the best companies build cultures in which frontline people ________. † a. can refer serious problems to senior management b. have strictly limited freedom to deviate f rom standard operating procedures c. are also consumers of the company’s products d. are empowered to do what’s needed to take care of the customer e. ive in the communities they serve Answer: dPage: 142Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking44. An organized collection of comprehensive information about individual customers or prospects that is current, accessible, and actionable for such marketing purposes as lead generation, lead qualification, sale of a product or service, or maintenance of customer relationships is called ________. a. a customer database b. a customer mail list c. target market segments d. customer segments e. relationship markets Answer: aPages: 142–143Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills45.The process of building, maintaining, and using customer databases and other databases for the purpose of contacting, transacting, and building customer relationships is called ________. a. data warehousing b. datamining c. database marketing d . custom marketing e. electronic marketing Answer: cPage: 143Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills46. A _____________ is simply a set of names, addresses, and telephone numbers. a. customer database b. customer mailing list c. call-waiting list d. psychographic list e. demographic list Answer: bPage: 143Difficulty: Easy47. A customer database should contain all of the following EXCEPT ________. a. customer’s past purchases b. demographics c. psychographics d. mediagraphics e. an assessment of competitive strengths and weaknesses Answer: ePage: 143Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Skills48. A ________ would contain such items as past volumes, prices, profits, buyer, status of current contacts, and an assessment of competitive strengths and weaknesses. a. customer mailing list b. contact list c. customer database d. business database e. general corporate database Answer: dPage: 143Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills49. Savvy companies are capturing information every time a customer comes into contact with any of its departments. As a marketing manager all of the following would be available customer touch points for your consideration EXCEPT ________. a. a customer purchase b. an online query c. a mail-in rebate card d. an ad run on a national television network e. a customer-requested service call Answer: dPage: 143Difficulty: Medium50. Using his company’s ________ lets a telemarketer respond to customer inquiries more effectively because he or she can see a total picture of the customer relationship. a. data warehouse b. call back list c. call rejection list d. corporate database e. Better Business Bureau contacts Answer: aPage: 143Difficulty: Medium51. Through ________, marketing statisticians can extract useful information about individuals, trends, and segments from the mass of data. a. data accumulation b. target market information supplied by the government c. datamining d. data management e. data marketing Answer: cPage: 143Difficulty : MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills52. ________ involves the use of sophisticated statistical and mathematical techniques such as cluster analysis, automatic interaction detection, predictive modeling, and neural networking. a. Data management b. Data marketing c. Target market analysis d. Data accumulation e. Datamining Answer: ePage: 143Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills53. In general, companies can use their databases in all of the following ways EXCEPT ________. a. to predict competitive strategies and plans b. to identify prospects c. to decide which customers should receive a particular offer d. to deepen customer loyalty e. to avoid serious customer mistakes Answer: aPages: 143–145Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills54. Susan Lefferts’ company advertises widely. Ms. Lefferts uses business reply cards attached to her company’s magazine ads to build her company’s database. In which of the following ways would Ms. Lefferts most likely use the dat abase? a. To deepen customer loyalty b. To reactivate customer purchases c. To avoid serious customer mistakes d. To determine if up-selling is appropriate e. To identify prospects Answer: ePage: 143Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking55. Phil Langston has just ordered a number of expensive executive gifts that he will be sending as an appreciation token to a select few customers from his client database. In which of the following ways is Mr. Langston most likely using his database? a. To identify prospects b. To decide which customers should receive a new sales offer c. To deepen customer loyalty . To avoid serious customer mistakes e. To beat the competition to a sale Answer: cPage: 145Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking56. Royal Caribbean uses its ________ to offer spur-of-the-moment cruise packages to fill all the berths on its ships. It focuses on retired people and single people because they are more able to make quick commitments. a. advertising b. database c. mail catalogs d. public relations department e. radio advertising Answer: bPage: 145Difficulty: Easy57. Which of the following is considered to be one of the four problems that can deter a firm from using CRM (customer relationship marketing)? . Competitors can often hack into CRM systems. b. Building and maintaining a customer database requires a large investment. c. It is very difficult to find and train database employees. d. Long-term results of such systems are still unproven. e. Focusing too much on databases separates a company from its customers. Answer: bPage: 145Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking58. Building a database would not be worthwhile for a company in all of the following cases EXCEPT ________. a. where the product is a one-in-a-lifetime purchase b. where customers show little loyalty to a brand c. here the company already has an above average relationship with its customers d. where the unit sale is very small e. where the cost of gathering the informati on is too high Answer: cPages: 145–146Difficulty: Hard59. All of the following are examples of the perils of CRM EXCEPT ________. a. implementing CRM before creating a customer strategy b. the enormous cost that might eventually drain significant profits from the organization c. rolling out CRM before changing the organization to match d. assuming more CRM technology is better e. stalking, not wooing, customers Answer: bPage: 146Difficulty: Medium60.Marketers from which of the following are most likely to use database marketing? a. An airline b. A candy bar manufacturer c. A grand piano maker d. A toothpaste manufacturer e. None of the above would use database marketing. Answer: aPage: 146Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking True/False61. Managers who believe the customer is the company’s only true â€Å"profit center† consider the traditional organization chart to be obsolete. Answer: TruePage: 120Difficulty: Easy62. The modern customer-oriented organi zation chart places top management at the top of the pyramid as long as they can think like consumers. Answer: FalsePage: 120Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking63. There are two determinates of customer-perceived value: total customer benefit and total customer cost. Answer: TruePage: 121Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills64. Customer-perceived value is the perceived monetary value of all the purchases a customer makes on an annual basis. Answer: FalsePage: 121Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills65. Consumers tend to be value maximizes—they estimate which offer will deliver the most perceived value and act on it. Answer: TruePage: 121Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytic Skills66. At the heart of a good value delivery system is a set of core business processes that help to deliver distinctive customer value. Answer: TruePage: 123Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills67. Professional buyers and purchasing agents operate under various constraints and occasional ly make choices that give more weight to their personal benefit than to the company’s benefit. Answer: TruePage: 123Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking68. The value proposition is stated in the price of a product and readily recognized by the average consumer. Answer: FalsePage: 123Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills69. The value delivery system includes all the experiences the customer will have on the way to obtaining and using the offering. Answer: TruePage: 123Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills70. For a consumer to be delighted with a product or service he or she must perceive that performance exceeds expectations. Answer: TruePage: 124Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytic Skills71. The ultimate goal of the customer-centered firm is to create high customer satisfaction. Answer: FalsePage: 124Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Reflective Thinking72.One key to customer retention is customer satisfaction. Answer: TruePage: 125Difficulty: Easy73. Consumers’ expe ctations result exclusively from past buying experiences. Answer: FalsePage: 125Difficulty: Medium74. A highly satisfied customer generally stays loyal longer, pays less attention to competing brands, and is less sensitive to price. Answer: TruePage: 125Difficulty: Medium75. Price perception is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Answer: FalsePage: 129Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills76. Conformance quality and performance quality is essentially the same thing in a marketing sense. Answer: FalsePage: 129Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills77. Two products with very different performance qualities can have the same conformance quality if both products deliver their respective promised quality. Answer: TruePage: 129Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills78. Marketers have found that pricing plays the most essential role in defining and delivering high-quality goods and services t o target customers. Answer: FalsePage: 130Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective Thinking79.The midsize customers for most organizations receive good service, pay nearly full price for the products and services they purchase, and are often the most profitable. Answer: TruePage: 130Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking80. A profitable customer is a person, household, or company that over time yields a revenue stream that exceeds by an acceptable amount the company’s cost stream of attracting, selling, and servicing the customer. Answer: TruePages: 130–131Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills81. The best thing a company can do in the face of company mistakes is to discourage the customer from complaining. Answer: FalsePage: 129Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective Thinking82. Quality is the key to value creation and customer satisfaction. Answer: TruePage: 130Difficulty: Medium83. The least profitable 10% to 20% of customers can reduce profits by 50% to 200% per acc ount. Answer: TruePage: 130Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills84. Most companies measure customer satisfaction and individual customer profitability. Answer: FalsePage: 131Difficulty: Medium85. Unprofitable customers who defect to a competitor should be encouraged to do so. Answer: TruePage: 131Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking86. Customer profitability analysis (CPA) is best conducted with the tools of an accounting technique called activity-based costing (ABC). Answer: TruePage: 131Difficulty: Medium87. According to customer profitability analysis (CPA), platinum customers spend the most money with the organization, thereby making them valuable. Answer: FalsePage: 131Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills88. Customer lifetime value (CLV) describes the net present value of the stream of future profits expected over the customer’s lifetime purchases. Answer: TruePage: 132Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills89. A good illustration of a personal touch in the hotel business would be if the hotel employees (e. g. , registration, maid service, et cetera) call a guest by his or her name. Answer: TruePage: 133Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective Thinking90. A customer touch point is the time when the customer makes a purchase. Answer: FalsePage: 133Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills91. The aim of customer relationship management is to keep the costs of meeting and tracking consumers as low as possible. Answer: FalsePage: 133Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking92.All companies should practice one-to-one marketing. Answer: FalsePage: 135Difficulty: Medium93. A key driver of shareholder value is the aggregate value of the customer base. Answer: TruePage: 136Difficulty: Medium94. Customer churn is how rapidly a store can move customers through its checkout facility or process. Answer: FalsePage: 137Difficulty: Medium95. The average company loses 25% of its customers each year. Answer: FalsePage: 138Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analy tic Skills96. A customer database is simply a listing of a customer’s name, address, and phone number for credit reference.Answer: FalsePages: 142–143Difficulty: Easy97. It’s often easier to reattract ex-customers (because the company knows their names and histories) than to find new ones. Answer: TruePage: 142Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking98. Cluster analysis is a good example of a statistical technique that might be employed in datamining. Answer: TruePage: 143Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills99. It always costs less to serve loyal customers than to attract new ones. Answer: FalsePage: 146Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills100.Database marketing is most frequently used by business marketers and service providers (hotels, banks, airlines, and insurance, credit card, and telephone companies) that normally and easily collect a lot of customer data. Answer: TruePage: 146Difficulty: Medium Essay101. Compare and contrast the traditional o rganization chart for an organization against the modern customer-oriented organization chart. Suggested Answer: For a visual comparison, see Figure 5. 1. With respect to a written description, students should note that the modern customer-oriented organization chart is inverted (see the traditional model [e. g. top management—middle management—frontline people—customers]). Customers are at the top, followed by frontline people, then middle management, and, lastly, top management. Students might also provide some discussion on why the inversion is beneficial. Pages: 120–121Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills102. Provide a customer-centered definition of the term quality. Suggested Answer: Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on the ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. This is clearly a customer-centered definition. Page: 129Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective Thinking103.Differentiate betwee n performance quality and conformance quality. Give an example of two products that have different performance quality but are of equal conformance quality. Suggested Answer: Performance quality is the quality of the product’s attributes. Conformance quality is the extent to which the product delivers the performance quality promised to consumers. A Lexus provides higher performance quality than a Hyundai: The Lexus rides smoother, goes faster, and lasts longer. Yet both would deliver the same conformance quality if both delivered their respective promised quality. Page: 129Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills104. The case for maximizing long-term customer profitability is captured in the concept of customer lifetime value. How is customer lifetime value calculated? Suggested Answer: Customer lifetime value describes the net present value of the stream of future profits expected over the customer’s lifetime purchases. The company must subtract from its expected reve nues the expected costs of attracting, selling, and servicing the account for that customer, applying the appropriate discount rate (depending on cost of capital and risk attitudes). Page: 132Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills105.Peppers and Rogers outline a four-step framework for one-to-one marketing that can be adapted to CRM marketing. What are those four steps? Suggested Answer: The four steps are: (1) Identify your prospects and customers; (2) differentiate customers in terms of their needs and their value to your company; (3) interact with individual customers to improve your knowledge about their individual needs and to build stronger relationships; and (4) customize products, services, and messages to each customer. Page: 135Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills106. A key driver of shareholder value is the aggregate value of the customer base. Identify the five strategies employed by winning companies to improve the value of their customer base. Suggested Answer: Win ning companies improve the value of their customer base by excelling at the following five strategies: (1) reducing the rate of customer defection; (2) increasing the longevity of the customer relationship; (3) enhancing the growth potential of each customer through â€Å"share-of-wallet,† cross-selling, and up-selling; (4) making low-profit customers more profitable or terminating them; and (5) focusing disproportionate effort on high-value customers. Page: 136Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Reflective Thinking107. Today, companies are increasingly concerned about customer defection. There are three main steps a company can take to reduce the defection rate. Characterize those three steps. Suggested Answer: The three steps are: (1) The company must define and measure its retention rate; (2) the company must distinguish the causes of customer attrition and identify those that can be managed better; and (3) the company must compare the lost profit equal to the customer lifetime value from a lost customer to the costs to reduce the defection rate. Page: 137Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills108. Discuss the concepts of a data warehouse and datamining. Suggested Answer: Data are collected by the company’s contact center and organized into a data warehouse. Company personnel can capture, query, and analyze the data. Inferences can be drawn about an individual customer’s needs and responses. Through datamining, marketing statisticians can extract useful information about individuals, trends, and segments from the mass of data. Datamining involves the use of sophisticated statistical and mathematical techniques. Page: 143Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills109.Assume that a marketing manager of a small company is in the process of implementing the use of a database to assist his or her company in its marketing efforts. Considering the information found in the text, list five ways that the marketing manager might be able to use the database for marketing efforts. Suggested Answer: Five ways to use a database for marketing efforts include: (1) to identify prospects; (2) to decide which customers should receive a particular offer; (3) to deepen customer loyalty; (4) to reactivate customer purchases; and (5) to avoid serious customer mistakes. Pages: 143–-145Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking110. Describe four situations or cases when building a customer database would not be worthwhile for a company. Suggested Answer: Four situations or cases when building a customer database would not be worthwhile for a company would be: (1) where the product is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase; (2) where customers show little loyalty to a brand; (3) where the unit sale is very small; and (4) where the cost of gathering information is too high. Pages: 145–146Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective ThinkingAPPLICATION QUESTIONS Multiple Choice111. John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, said, â€Å"Make your customer the ce nter of your culture. † Customer-centered companies are adept at building customer relationships, not just producing products; they are skilled in ________, not just product engineering. a. service engineering b. market engineering c. cultural engineering d. innovation engineering e. management engineering Answer: bPage: 119Difficulty: Medium112. Immediately below the customers in a modern customer-oriented organization chart, we would expect to find the ________ of an organization. . top management b. marketing department c. middle management d. frontline people e. service department Answer: dPage: 121Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytic Skills113. All of the following are considered to be customer costs EXCEPT ________. a. financial cost of acquiring the product b. financial cost of disposing of the product c. time spent acquiring the product d. the risk of social stigma associated with acquiring the product e. All of the above are considered to be customer costs. Answer: ePage: 121Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking114.When a consumer considers a product or service, he or she will choose whichever product or service delivers the highest ________. a. customer-perceived value b. customer-perceived cost c. consumer discount d. consumer relationship e. consumer synergy Answer: aPage: 121Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills115. Buyers do not always make logical or rational decisions. They might purchase the most expensive and least quality item for example. Which of the following would be another good example of this behavior? a. The buyer is not seen by the seller as being very intelligent. b. The buyer might be under orders to buy at the lowest price. . The buyer might be underage. d. The buyer might be under pressure to resist sales messages. e. The buyer refuses to listen to or read any advertising. Answer: bPage: 123Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking116. If a company were to focus its marketing efforts on all the experiences the customer will have on the way to obtaining and using the offering, it would be focusing its marketing efforts on the customer’s ________. a. perception system b. cost versus benefit system c. demand d. psychological system e. value delivery system Answer: ePage: 123Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills117. _______ is defined as â€Å"a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a preferred product or service in the future despite situational influences and marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching behavior. † a. Customer satisfaction b. Customer value c. Loyalty d. Customer profitability e. Quality Answer: cPage: 123Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills118. Whether the buyer is satisfied after purchase depends on the offer’s performance in relation to the ________. a. buyer’s reactions b. buyer’s expectations c. seller’s delivery d. seller’s expectations e. both the buyer’s and seller’s demand s Answer: bPage: 124Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills119. Buyers form expectations in all of the following ways EXCEPT ________. a. from past buying experience b. from friends’ and associates’ advice c. from marketers’ information d. from competitors’ information e. from inherited traits Answer: ePage: 125Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytic Skills120. Field Grocery is considering using _________ to pose as customers and report on strong and weak points in customer service at Field Grocery stores. a. intelligence agents b. covert operatives c. mystery shoppers d. market mavens e. opinion leaders Answer: cPage: 126Difficulty: Easy121. 3M makes it easy for dialog to occur with its customers. 3M claims that over two-thirds of its product-improvement ideas come from listening to ________. a. customer suggestions b. entrepreneurial product ideas c. customer complaints d. media feedback e. customer reactions to competitive products Answer: cPage: 129Difficu lty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills122. According to GE’s former chairman, John F. Welch Jr. , â€Å"________ is our best assurance of customer allegiance, our strongest defense against foreign competition, and the only path to sustained growth and earnings. † a. Quality b. Customer satisfaction c. True value d. Sustainable enterprise e. Motivation Answer: aPage: 129Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills123. With respect to customer profitability analysis, ________ customers are the most likely dropped as customers because of poor profitability. a. granite b. wood c. iron d. plastic e. lead Answer: ePage: 131Difficulty: Medium124. Jim is a residential construction contractor. Although one particular realtor provides Jim with a large volume of work, the realtor frequently demands discounts for sending him customers. This realtor is best described as a(n) ________ customer. a. latinum b. gold c. lead d. iron e. ivory Answer: dPage: 131Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking125. Harrah’s has used effective ________ to almost double its share of customers’ gaming budgets by targeting offers to specific customer segments. a. customer relationship management b. customer lifetime value c. customer profitability analysis d. customer satisfaction analysis e. customer-value delivery Answer: aPage: 135Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills126. Many banks and phone companies now charge fees for once-free services to ensure minimum customer revenue levels. This is an example of ________. . reducing the rate of customer defection b. making low-profit customers more profitable c. enhancing the growth potential for each customer through cross-selling d. increasing the longevity of the customer relationship e. focusing disproportionate effort on high-value customers Answer: bPage: 136Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking127. When Bob found out his friend was thinking about buying a new car, he strongly recommended that his friend lo ok into the newest line of Ford sedans. Bob is best characterized as a(n) ________ for Ford. a. first-time customer b. member c. partner d. advocate e. rospect Answer: dPage: 137Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking128. Carol is currently considering buying a Motorola cell phone offered by her service provider in conjunction with a two-year service contract. Carol is best characterized as a(n) ________ for Motorola. a. first-time customer b. member c. partner d. advocate e. prospect Answer: ePage: 137Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking129. Southwest Airlines offers a Rapid Rewards program, an example of a ________ that allows customers to count flights they have taken toward free future flights. a. value proposition b. value delivery system c. lub membership program d. one-to-one marketing program e. customer churn Answer: cPage: 140Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytic Skills130. The skillful use of database marketing and ________ has made catalog house Fingerhut one o f the nation’s largest direct-mail marketers. a. everyday low prices b. expanded home delivery options c. relationship building d. competitor’s mistakes e. retailer alliances Answer: cPage: 145Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills Short Answer131. What do modern managers believe is their company’s only true â€Å"profit center†? Suggested Answer: Managers believe the customer is their only true profit center. Page: 120Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytic Skills132. Customer-perceived value is based on two components. What are those components? Suggested Answer: The two components of customer-perceived value are total customer value and total customer cost. Page: 121Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills133. What is the definition for customer-perceived value (CPV)? Suggested Answer: Customer-perceived value (CPV) is the difference between prospective customer’s evaluation of all the benefits and all the costs of an offering and the perceived alter natives. Page: 121Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills134. Using European automobile giant Volvo as your illustration, create a value proposition for the company. Suggested Answer: Students may have several answers; however, any value proposition must be built on their stated positioning objective of â€Å"safety. † Other benefits that might be worked into a value proposition could be a long-lasting car, good service, and a long warranty period. Basically, the value proposition is a statement about the total experience customers will gain from the company’s market offering and from their relationship with the supplier. Page: 123Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking135. How do customers determine their level of satisfaction with a product? Suggested Answer: In general, satisfaction is a person’s feelings of pleasure or disappointment that result from comparing a product’s perceived performance to the customer’s expectations. Page: 124Di fficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective Thinking136. Give an example of a â€Å"branded customer experience. † Suggested Answer: Students may have several answers. One example from the book is that of Joie de Vivre Hospitality Inc, which operates a chain of boutique hotels, restaurants, and resorts in the San Francisco area. The boutique concept enables hotels to offer personal touches, such as vitamins in place of chocolates on pillows. Page: 125Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Reflective Thinking137. Companies need to be especially concerned today with their customer satisfaction level. Why? Suggested Answer: Companies need to be especially concerned today with their customer satisfaction level because the Internet provides a tool for consumers to quickly spread bad word of mouth to the rest of the world. Page: 126Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective Thinking138. Identify three ways companies with customer complaints can recover customer goodwill. Suggested Answer: Five methods are identifie d in the text. Students should present three of the following: (1) Set up a 24/7 toll-free â€Å"hotline† to receive and act on customer complaints; (2) contact the complaining customer as quickly as possible; (3) accept responsibility for the customer’s disappointment; (4) use customer-service people who are empathic; and (5) resolve the complaint swiftly and to the customer’s satisfaction. Page: 129Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills139.Define the term quality. Suggested Answer: Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Page: 129Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytic Skills140. What are the three ways that customer profitability can be assessed? Suggested Answer: Customer profitability can be assessed individually, by market segment, or by channel. Page: 131Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills141. What are the four classifications (tiers) of customers in cus tomer profitability analysis using activity-based costing? Suggested Answer: The tiers would be platinum customers (most profitable), gold customers (profitable), iron customers (low profitability but desirable), and lead customers (unprofitable and undesirable). Page: 131Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills142. What is a customer touch point? Suggested Answer: A customer touch point is any occasion on which a customer encounters the brand and product—from actual experience to personal or mass communications to casual observation. Page: 133Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills143. One-to-one marketing is not for every company. For whom does this style of marketing work best? Suggested Answer: One-to-one marketing works best for companies that normally collect a great deal of individual customer information, carry a lot of products that can be cross-sold, carry products that need periodic replacement or upgrading, and sell products of high value. Page: 135Difficulty: Ha rd AACSB: Reflective Thinking144. A 5% reduction in the customer defection rate can increase profits by 25% to 85%, depending on the industry. Explain how this is so. Suggested Answer: Acquiring new customers can cost five times more than satisfying existing customers. Customer profit rate also tends to increase over the life of the retained customer due to increased purchases, referrals, and price premiums and reduced operating costs to service. Page: 138Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking145. Explain how a company frequency program might work. Suggested Answer: Frequency programs are designed to provide rewards to customers who buy frequently and in substantial amounts. Frequency programs acknowledge the validity of the 20–80 rule. Page: 139Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills146. Describe the process of database marketing. Suggested Answer: Database marketing is the process of building, maintaining, and using customer databases and other databases (products, suppliers, resellers) for the purpose of contacting, transacting, and building customer relationships. Page: 143Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills147. How do companies use their databases to identify prospects?Suggested Answer: Many companies generate sales leads by advertising their product or service. The ads generally contain a response feature, such as a business reply card or a toll-free phone number, and the company builds its database from customer responses. It sorts through the database to identify the best prospects, then contacts them by mail, phone, or personal call to convert them into customers. Page: 143Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking148. Give an illustration of how a company can use a customer database to reactivate customer purchases. Suggested Answer: Companies can install automatic mailing programs that send out birthday or anniversary cards, Christmas shopping reminders, or off-season promotions. Other illustrations by students should be in a similar vein. Page: 145Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking149. One of the main problems that can prevent a firm from effectively using CRM is that some of the assumptions behind CRM may not always hold true. Give an example of one of these assumptions that might not always hold true. Suggested Answer: It may not actually cost less to serve more loyal customers. Page: 146Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Analytic Skills150. According to information provided in the text, what are the four main perils of CRM? Suggested Answer: The four main perils are: (1) implementing CRM before creating a customer strategy; (2) rolling out CRM before changing the organization to match; (3) assuming more CRM technology is better; and (4) stalking, not wooing, customers. Page: 146Difficulty: Hard AACSB: Analytic Skills