Essay about Edgar Derby and Simon Life, Beliefs, and Death

The lives, deaths, situations, and beliefs of Edgar Derby, from the novel, Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut, and Simon, from the novel, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, are equally alike and unalike. Even though these characters are from different books, they represent the absurdity of death and the importance of speaking up for what you believe. Both of these characters live in hostile and confining environments, attempt to deliver a vital message, and are unfairly killed. Edgar Derby and Simon suffer dissimilar murderous, undeserved, and undignified deaths; however, the ideas and values that they stood for as well as the lives and experiences leading up to their sadistic deaths are similar in that they reveal the callousness†¦show more content†¦Due to the weak mental and physical states of many of the prisoners of war, they are easily controlled and persuaded; however, Edgar Derby and the British prisoners attempt to remind the American prisoners of their val ues, morals, and hygiene. Like Edgar Derby and the other American prisoners of war, the boys in Lord of the Flies are stranded with no way to return to civilization. As the boys, specifically Piggy and Ralph, find out that they are stranded on the island with no adults, Piggy says, â€Å"They’re all dead†¦ an’ this is an island. Nobody don’t know we’re here. Your dad don’t know, nobody don’t know† (Golding 14). The island holds the boys, including Simon, captive while the reef serves as a barrier between them and the â€Å"dark blue of the sea†, enabling savagery and allowing them to witness and even participate in murder (Golding 14). While the description of the world beyond the reef sounds pleasant, the world war that is taking place in the adult world encourages the boys to fight over leadership positions, behave primitively, and even murder each other. The island and the reef â€Å"set up the right conditions for an ‘experiment’. Here, in other words, representative humanity (or at least

360-Degree Performance Reviews Provide Greater Feedback in Healthcare Free Essays

string(31) " multiple sources is required\." Abstract Healthcare organizations have a unique set of challenges, particularly when it comes to measuring performance and understanding development needs. Some are strong at measuring clinical or functional skills. Yet few are equally adept at assessing the non-clinical skills that are so important to overall success in a healthcare organization. We will write a custom essay sample on 360-Degree Performance Reviews Provide Greater Feedback in Healthcare or any similar topic only for you Order Now 360-degree feedback can play a significant role in understanding the other side of performance, those skills that are not directly tied to day-to-day, job specific ability. Rather than relying on the perceptions of one individual, 360-degree feedback takes into account multiple perspectives. This is especially important when one person (i. e. , the employee’s manager) does not have the opportunity to observe all areas of the employee’s performance. Those working alongside the employee, along with the supervisor, are generally able to provide a more comprehensive look at the employee’s behavior and/or performance. 360-Degree Performance Reviews Provide Greater Feedback in Healthcare I. Introduction Performance of individual employees is central to the long-term success of an organization. Healthcare organizations have a unique set of challenges, particularly when it comes to measuring performance and understanding development needs. Some are strong at measuring clinical or functional skills. Yet few are equally adept at assessing the non-clinical skills that are so important to overall success in a healthcare organization. Clinical, or functional, ability is at the base of healthcare performance. However, possessing these skills does not always ensure success. Unfortunately, many organizations ignore â€Å"soft side† skills like communication and relationship management, viewing these interpersonal and behavioral skills as â€Å"nice to have† qualities. Yet lack of interpersonal performance is something that generally cannot be compensated for by even the strongest of clinical skills (Maylett, 2009). II. Expectations of the Consumer Issues of performance and productivity are continuously being scrutinized by the leaders of healthcare organizations. Although cost is urrently the driving force for health care system reform, there is still great concern for the quality of the health care provided. Consumers of healthcare services are now asking â€Å"How can I get the best care for the least amount of money? † This means that for an organization to gain competitive advantage, they must make sure that not only is the quality of care high, but the cost must al so be reasonable when compared to other providers of similar services. Equally important for the healthcare organization to recognize is that the definition of quality performance is not â€Å"value-neutral†. Standards are continuously evolving to reflect changes in values, new scientific findings, new technology, changes in regulatory requirements and laws and changes in the healthcare market place. The changes in these standards reflect the differences between the purchaser and the patient. The healthcare purchaser is concerned how effectively their dollars are spent and getting the most care for their money, while the patient expects the healthcare provider to be responsive to their individual needs (Popovich, 1998). Currently, the Joint Commission requires accredited healthcare organizations to assess, track and improve the competence of all employees (Fried Fottler, 2008). In addition, the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Awards best business practices includes a model that is being increasingly followed by the healthcare industry that addresses key human resource practices directed toward creating a high performance workplace and toward developing staff by performance management systems (Kuzmits, Adams, Sussman Rabo, 2004). As cost stabilizes and becomes more aligned across providers, quality will become more important in deciding which organization or provider to use. According to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, â€Å"accurate, complete and relevant performance data can provide users of organizational services with objective evidence on which quality judgments can be based. † Patients and consumers now consistently assess the performance history of healthcare providers, organizations and systems. Therefore, those providers should be assessing their performance to help identify opportunities for improvement (Popovich). III. Performance Assessment and Management Having a well-functioning performance management system can help the organization determine several things, including the effectiveness of their selection process, the effectiveness of their training mechanisms and whether the organization’s compensation program is effective at driving employees to perform at a higher level. Performance management refers to a set of tools and practices that consists of setting goals with employees, designing strategies to make and sustain improvement, monitoring progress toward achieving goals, ongoing feedback and coaching by supervisors and peers, and measuring individual performance. Supervisors and employees tend to be uneasy about performance management and reviews, considering the process uncomfortable, highly unproductive and sometimes even unnecessary. Managers are often uncomfortable with sitting down to discuss concerns about performance with employees and employees often feel as though their managers are being critical and condescending during the process. Complicating matters is that performance appraisals and reviews can be extremely emotional, especially when directly tied to an employee’s potential compensation. Traditional performance appraisals have involved the employee’s manager collecting information about the employee, observing their performance and then sharing that information back with the employee. The review may include discussions about promotion, change in compensation, disciplinary action, transfer or recommendations for training. One concern with these types of assessments is that they are often subject to the biases and subjectivity of a single individual. Given the complexity of most healthcare jobs, it is often unrealistic for one individual to accurately describe the employee’s performance. In addition, traditional performance appraisal done purely for administrative reasons may be less than adequate for encouraging development, career planning or performance improvement (Jackson Greller, 1998). Another concern with the traditional single source performance appraisal is that supervisors only view performance from one perspective and often cannot directly observe employee performance. Furthermore, supervisor-based appraisal systems do not easily capture many important employee contributions, such as helping and training coworkers and being good team players (Fedor, Bettenhausen Davis, 1999). IV. Multi-source, or 360-degree, Performance Reviews Assessing performance in today’s complex health care environment resents a challenge to the healthcare profession. In order to effectively evaluate performance within this complex and evolving environment, evaluation from multiple sources is required. You read "360-Degree Performance Reviews Provide Greater Feedback in Healthcare" in category "Papers" Among the most useful ways to collect job performance information is to use multiple sources, or 360-degree feedback. This method recognizes that for most positions, relying on one source of information about an employee’s performance leads to incomplete and often inaccurate information. This is especially important when one person (i. e. the employee’s supervisor) does not have the opportunity to observe all areas of the employee’s performance. Those working alongside the employee, along with the supervisor, are generally able to provide a more comprehensive look at the employee’s behavior and/or performance. Feedback is a vital part of performance, growth and development. Understanding ourselves and how we interact with others helps us to understand what impact we have on those around us. A 360-degree assessment provides a comprehensive summary of an employee’s skills, abilities, styles and job-related competencies. The logic underlying 360-degree feedback is that there are many sources of information in organizations, and much of that information is available both to the manager and to the employee. Co-workers, customers, other managers and even the employee themselves can be sources of feedback (Jackson Greller). Simply put, 360-degree feedback is a method for evaluating an employee’s performance based upon feedback from everyone with whom the individual comes in contact – supervisors, coworkers, partners, subordinates, even the general public. This type of feedback helps employees see themselves as others see them and allows them to seriously examine their behavior. It allows them to understand how others view their effectiveness and become more cognizant of how their effectiveness as an individual, co-worker or employee is perceived by others. It can reveal areas in which employees are performing particularly well and those areas in which there is room for improvement. 360-degree feedback provides the employee and the organization with a wealth of information including the following: †¢ an increase in self-knowledge for the employee encourages continuous learning †¢ stimulates the employee to enhance their strengths †¢ identifies areas that need development or improvement †¢ provides guidance for positive change †¢ supports coaching and mentoring initiatives This information helps to build a partnership between the individual and the organization to maintain the process of continuous growth (Bentl ey, n. d. ). This review process is also helpful for the supervisor – it can provide a more accurate assessment of an employee’s performance and help eliminate accusations of favoritism. The process provides greater objectivity and because it is submitted anonymously, it provides a supervisor with the most unbiased and accurate information from which to draw performance conclusions. This new level of understanding is invaluable as employees develop professionally. Recent studies suggest that a large percentage of workers who have participated in 360-degree reviews feel that the feedback was more accurate and more reflective of their performance than feedback from just one supervisor (Gallagher, 2008). Additionally, this information provides great benefits to the healthcare organization as well: †¢ it enhances employee morale †¢ aids in assigning work †¢ stimulates employees to improve their work †¢ provides a basis for employment termination for sub-standard performers †¢ assists in determining who should be promoted, transferred or given additional compensation †¢ reveals exceptional employee talents and skills †¢ uncovers weaknesses in the training program †¢ promotes confidence in employer’s fairness †¢ helps resolve disputes in arbitration cases †¢ offers a basis for employee guidance and counseling (Harrison, 1978). In healthcare organizations, multisource appraisal, or 360-degree feedback, can play a significant role in understanding the other side of performance, those skills that are not directly tied to day-to-day, job-specific ability. These include such things as how well the individual collaborates with other health professionals to achieve desired outcomes, how well they improve their knowledge and understanding of their own performance, how they keep up to date with new developments and the degree to which they are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses (Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario, 2009). Partly in response to concerns about performance and patient safety, and partly in response to demands for accountability to patients and funding agencies, the assessment of healthcare employee competence has received much attention. These concerns have shifted the concept of competence from a narrow definition of â€Å"clinical competence† or the ability to perform technical medical acts to â€Å"behavioral competence† which includes interpersonal and communication skills, judgment, relationship management and professionalism (Lockyer, 2003). Healthcare worker performance is recognized as being complex, multi-factorial and non-linear in nature. It is clearly influenced by the fact that healthcare workers perform within teams and systems and that their performance oftentimes is a reflection of the performance of the broader environment in which they work (Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario). While there is wide acknowledgement that faulty systems and processes within the delivery of health care may adversely affect patient safety, individual failures can also contribute to patient injuries and complications. At a minimum, healthcare worker competency must be assured to maximize patient safety, as well as to ensure that the highest quality of patient care is provided. In addition, providing feedback that helps coworkers develop their interpersonal and task-related skills can improve work unit performance and, possibly, make one’s job easier and their environment more pleasant (Fedor, Bettenhausen Davis). As a result of individual performance assessments, 360-degree performance feedback in healthcare has the added advantage of identifying organizational improvement opportunities. Individual performance problems may identify larger systems or team challenges within a department or organization. The identification of these issues may be useful in guiding quality improvement initiatives that can be undertaken by the healthcare organization (Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario). Multisource feedback is seen as potentially more useful than supervisor-only evaluations, especially in environments like healthcare organizations where the organizational structure is more flat and team-based (Rynes, Gerhart Parks, 2005). Most 360-degree feedback programs are strategic initiatives resulting in a tested method of improving productivity and job satisfaction. They are designed to support increased competitive advantage, development of leaders, increases in productivity, improved morale and job satisfaction and retention of high-performing employees (Bentley). Using 360-degree performance review models provides for ongoing measurement of healthcare delivery performance and subsequent assessment of the quality of that care. In addition, the models can be revised as needed to reflect the changes in the healthcare system and in the perspectives of the different sources that determine the standards that must be met and the resulting performance assessment. The 360-degree evaluation will help employees identify their strengths so they can build on them at the same time it addresses their skill gaps. It is a process that leads to continuous learning, team building, growing self-confidence and improved productivity. V. Conclusion A changing healthcare environment has resulted in an increased focus on performance, both at the organizational and individual levels. Healthcare managers and leaders face an increased need to focus on both operational, or clinical, performance as well as non-clinical performance such as communication, leadership and interpersonal skills. Performance measured solely from a clinical skills perspective misses a critical factor – behavior skills, or the â€Å"soft-side† of performance (Maylett Riboldi, 2008). Managers lacking in the non-clinical/non-functional side of leadership typically experience significant issues that eventually lead to decreased overall performance. On an organizational level, this could potentially result in high turnover, disengaged employees and lack of teamwork which will eventually impact patient care. Healthcare leaders are under increased pressure to raise the performance bar. Consumers and patients are demanding healthcare organizations deliver superior customer service and patient care in an often difficult environment. It is vital that healthcare leaders look at both elements of performance – the clinical AND the interpersonal. Each element plays a critical role in the overall effectiveness of the employee, manager and the organization and ultimately in the organization’s competitive advantage. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bentley, T. (n. d. ). Cumulative 360 Data Guides Strategic Planning. Panoramic Feedback. Retrieved from http://www. panoramicfeedback. com/shared/articles/hrdotorg. html. Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario. (2009). 360-Degree Physician Performance Review Toolkit. Ontario, Canada. Fedor, D. ,  Bettenhausen, K. ,  Ã‚  Davis, W. (1999). Peer reviews: Employees’ dual roles as raters and recipients. Group Organization Management,  24(1),  92-120. Retrieved January 25, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:  39161423). Fried, B Fottler, M. (2008). Human Resources in Healthcare: Managing for Success. (3rd ed. ) Chicago, IL. Health Administration Press. Gallagher, T. (2008). 360-Degree Performance Reviews Offer Valuable Perspectives. Financial Executive, 24(10), 61. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database. Harrison, R (1978). Performance Evaluation in a Medical Environment. Medical Group Management, Sept. /Oct. 1978, 22-23. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database. Jackson, J. , Greller, M. (1998). Decision Elements for Using 360 ° Feedback. Human Resource Planning, 21(4), 18-28. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database. Kuzmits, F. , Adams, A. , Sussman, L. , Raho, L. (2004). 360-feedback in health care management: a field study. Health Care Manager, 23(4), 321-328. Retrieved from CINAHL with Full Text database. Lockyer, J. (2003). Multisource feedback in the assessment of physician competencies. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 23(1), 4-12. Retrieved from CINAHL with Full Text database. Maylett, T. 2009). Healthcare Leadership Looking Beyond the Clinical Side of Performance. DecisionWise Leadership Intelligence. Retrieved from http://www. decwise. com. Maylett, T. Riboldi, J. (2008). Guide to Using 360 Degree Feedback for Performance Reviews. Retrieved January 18, 2010 from http://www. decwise. com/pdf/DecisionWise-Whitepaper-Guide-to-Using-360s-for-Performance-Reviews. pdf Popovich, J (1998. ) Multidimen sional Performance Measurement. Journal of Nursing Care Quality. 12(4):14-21[Article: PDF Only]Retrieved from CINAHL with full text database. Rynes, S. , Gerhart, B. , How to cite 360-Degree Performance Reviews Provide Greater Feedback in Healthcare, Essays

Develop Teams and Individuals Program

Question: Discuss about the Develop Teams and Individuals Program. Answer: Introduction: As identified by you and other Board members, there are certain areas in the organization that needs to be focused on and employees should be put under training in order to perform in a better manner. Certain new technologies and approaches have been adopted by the company under the changing circumstances and the employees need that competence level in order to respond in a positive way through supportive supervision from senior executives and trainers (Falola, Osibanjo and Ojo 2014). Through this report, I as the Manager of this company would brief you along with others about the training plan of the employees. The training needs as identified are: -Observing the normal duties as performed by the workers. -Recognizing the performance problems -Studying the regular routine reports along with their job descriptions -Interviewing workers along with others The company boasts of a workforce that is diversified in nature where communication becomes a major issue which sometimes leads to lack in motivation. From a teams perspective, training should be in a manner which continuously improves the performance. According to Silberman and Biech (2015), development and changing of practices needs an environment which should be conducive to work along with appropriate resources for learning and motivational strategies. The process of training should be based on eventuality and the required ability of the company people to work as per the required standard. The training of personnel in pharmaceutical management would be based on the four major objectives: -Increasing and developing knowledge about the special contemplation in association to the pharmaceutical systems. -The attitude about the magnitude of the pharmaceutical management needs improvement which in turn will improve the environment for a change. -Building and strengthening of skills required in tasks to be completed for competent execution of the pharmaceutical system. -Improving the work behavior so as to make people function in a better way at activities which are assigned to them, thus fulfilling their potential. All these objectives would be directed towards increasing the quality of the pharmaceutical services and products. Determining the Learning Program: A training program consists of activities which are scheduled with the learning objectives, goals of the training, methods of assessment and places. A good training program is always designed and focused on the performance problems like having long delays in getting medicines from the suppliers. Training needs estimation and a pertaining acquaintance and assessment of skills in helping plan an efficient training program (Pervaiz et al. 2016). Management training in Pharmaceutical can only be successful if all the areas related to the supply system of pharmaceutical industry are assessed in a proper manner. An assessment in knowledge is based on inspection of a worker performing the regular duties. Both the strengths and weaknesses are being taken into consideration. There can be interviews with different supervisors, administrators and workers assisting in determining the areas where there exists the performance problems and the skills required to be taught and developed. The training cannot go forever; it should be valued after a period of time for knowing how much the employees are able to learn from the training. A period of 15 days should be estimated for the training process and that too within the stipulated budget as thought of for this training process within 10,000 AUS$. Learning Methods: Certain learning experiences can be put into use in training inclusive of Brainstorming, Discussion, Demonstration, Role Playing and Distance Learning. Brainstorming: Members comprising of the large or small group are confident in contributing any sort of suggestions that they can think of on a given subject. Discussion: In this method participants indulge in discussing with one another with proper guidance from facilitator. Demonstration: The facilitators direct the learners on how and what should be done explaining matters like where and when an action is to be taken. Distance Learning: A system which is designed in building knowledge and expertise of learners of receiving training who cannot be physically present on site. Role Playing: A given situation is provided where participants act out the roles. Evaluating the result of training: Evaluation and monitoring in assessing the presentation and development of the contributors is one of the major roles of the trainer. All the training outcomes should be quantifiable, based on performance which is aimed at the objectives of the training program. There should be a proper time frame for completion of the activities related in the training of the employees. Curriculum mapping is one of the measures in evaluating the links between the content of the courses and the outcomes. While performing training, formative assessment is vital in aiming the itinerary towards improvement of performance (Mehralian et al. 2013). It is the duty of the trainer in helping people learn in a quick manner. Feedbacks can be used from all these evaluations in adjusting the content and measures of training to meet the needs of the accomplices. Employees can go for self-evaluation where they need to answer certain questions, the answers of which will directly help them in knowing where they stand and how they are performing in the current scenario. The records and results of this training process should be kept for future references in knowing who still lacks in what areas and where they need improvements. Employee having customer service problem In many organizations customer service is an important feature which is often the most challenging part and also the neglected area in the management area. From a customers perspective the service quality of customers should determine whether to buy and whether to be there as a customer. An employee can have problems at any time; it is up to the management to help him out in solving the problem like providing him with the required training and supervision so that he gets through that difficult phase and learn things for his and companys benefit. He should be put through role plays and discussion techniques along with proper guidance from his seniors on how to improve on his customer service skill which is important (Goetsch and Davis 2014). He should be provided with in-house situational role plays where he can gain confidence before he goes in for the real deal. It may happen that he has a communication problem, so it is important to identify his problem and then work on it. References: Falola, H.O., Osibanjo, A.O. and Ojo, S.I., 2014. effectiveness of training and development on employees'performance and organisation competitiveness in the nigerian banking industry.Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series V,7(1), p.161. Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014.Quality management for organizational excellence. pearson. Mehralian, G., Rasekh, H.R., Akhavan, P. and Ghatari, A.R., 2013. Prioritization of intellectual capital indicators in knowledge-based industries: Evidence from pharmaceutical industry.International Journal of Information Management,33(1), pp.209-216. Pervaiz, U., Imran, M., Arshad, Q., Haq, R. and Khan, M.K., 2016. Human resource practices and knowledge sharing: The moderating role of trust.International Journal of Organizational Leadership,5(1), p.15. Phillips, J.J. and Phillips, P.P., 2016.Handbook of training evaluation and measurement methods. Routledge. Silberman, M.L. and Biech, E., 2015.Active training: A handbook of techniques, designs, case examples, and tips. John Wiley Sons.

Threat of New Entrants in the Mobile Phone Industry free essay sample

The mobile phone industry is already a well established market and the threat of a new entrant is quite low, as the technology needed to rival the devices already available is quite advance if they want to differentiate from them The barriers to entry in the mobile phone industry is high because any new entrants will need high investments in RD, technology and marketing in order to compete with the established organisations. New entrants want to take market share from the larger organisations but Nokia hold 29% of the market share in the industry, the highest market share in the industry. (BBC News, 2011) The threat of new entrants into the mobile phone industry is very unlikely as the start up cost of entering into the market at a high level needs a lot of investments and time to be considered a respectable competitor of the already established organisations. Nokia currently hold a 29% of the entire mobile phone market worldwide and for a new competitor to obtain some of their market will take either a very long term plan or something that is truly innovative and unseen before. We will write a custom essay sample on Threat of New Entrants in the Mobile Phone Industry or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This is because realistically the new entrant will need very high investment for RD and marketing, and would not be able to publish positive result for a long time as they try to build a customer base and a name for itself in an established market. In conclusion the threat of new entrants is very low and not a factor which Nokia will have to worry about in the near future.

Free Essays on Speech

Candidate Speech Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing! By saying this I don’t mean winning the playoff basketball game or even receiving the gold medal in the Olympics, instead I am speaking about winning in life. We are all faced with our own challenges, whether they are big or small, as an individual or in a group. It is important that we face these challenges with open minds and pure hearts. Today, members of Business Professionals of America, you are presented with a challenge, a challenge of electing your new state officers. This decision is not to be taken lightly. Our organization needs someone who will stand up for what is right and lead Texas on to success. As a candidate for state officer I am also running in one of life’s races. Although everyone in this race runs, only few receive the prize. As an athlete undergoes discipline and strict training for his race, I have also strictly trained and disciplined myself for this position I am running fo r. I run straight toward the goal with purpose and strength in each step, hoping to win the race. If you elect me as your state officer, then I would be presented with a new race, one which requires hard work and dedication, which I am fully capable of. I want to focus on forgetting the past, which is now behind us, and instead look forward to what lies ahead for our organization. I am ready to step up as your leader, but the future of Business Professionals of America lies in your hands and it is now up to you to choose a winning group of leaders for the upcoming year. When you are making your decision remember: â€Å"You’ll win with me, vote Allison Lee.†... Free Essays on Speech Free Essays on Speech Self-Critique Informative Speech Going into my speech I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I felt good about the amount of research I did on my topic. On the other hand, I didn’t feel confident about the amount of time I had spent actually practicing my speech. I spent so much time finding sources and putting together a well-developed outline, that I left myself little time to practice performing my speech. This lack of preparation made me slightly nervous. I felt okay though, giving my first formal speech because we had some practice when we did the expert speeches. When I sat down after my speech, I felt disappointed in my performance. I was fairly certain I didn’t do too great, and I could have done better. My speech sounded well organized for the most part. The introduction was pretty good. One element my introduction lacked, however, was a strong attention-getting device. Other than that, I feel it covered most of what a decent introduction should. My thesis was fairly easy to pick out. I tried to pause briefly before and after my thesis. In attempt to establish credibility, I revealed that I was a fan of the music group, Nirvana, which was the topic of my speech. However, I could have stated the fact that I had conducted thorough research on the topic instead of assuming the audience already knew. In my introduction, I stated the main ideas I intended to address during the speech. These three main topics were clear, and in the body of my speech I distinguished between the ideas as I moved from one to another. In my conclusion, I didn’t necessarily refer back to the introduction or restate my thesis exactly. Instead I made a few statements that I felt summed up the m ain message of my speech. While my conclusion didn’t follow specific guidelines, I think it provided a sense of closure. Overall I think the speech was easy to follow as a listener. After watching the video of my speech, I see that the... Free Essays on Speech Candidate Speech Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing! By saying this I don’t mean winning the playoff basketball game or even receiving the gold medal in the Olympics, instead I am speaking about winning in life. We are all faced with our own challenges, whether they are big or small, as an individual or in a group. It is important that we face these challenges with open minds and pure hearts. Today, members of Business Professionals of America, you are presented with a challenge, a challenge of electing your new state officers. This decision is not to be taken lightly. Our organization needs someone who will stand up for what is right and lead Texas on to success. As a candidate for state officer I am also running in one of life’s races. Although everyone in this race runs, only few receive the prize. As an athlete undergoes discipline and strict training for his race, I have also strictly trained and disciplined myself for this position I am running fo r. I run straight toward the goal with purpose and strength in each step, hoping to win the race. If you elect me as your state officer, then I would be presented with a new race, one which requires hard work and dedication, which I am fully capable of. I want to focus on forgetting the past, which is now behind us, and instead look forward to what lies ahead for our organization. I am ready to step up as your leader, but the future of Business Professionals of America lies in your hands and it is now up to you to choose a winning group of leaders for the upcoming year. When you are making your decision remember: â€Å"You’ll win with me, vote Allison Lee.†...

Spontaneous Process Definition and Examples

Spontaneous Process Definition and Examples In a system, whether it be in chemistry, biology, or physics there are spontaneous processes and nonspontaneous processes. Spontaneous Process Definition A spontaneous process is one that will occur without any energy input from the surroundings. It is a process that will occur on its own. For example, a ball will roll down an incline, water will flow downhill, ice will melt into water, radioisotopes will decay, and iron will rust. No intervention is required because these processes are thermodynamically favorable. In other words, the initial energy is higher than the final energy. Note how quickly a process occurs has no bearing on whether or not it is spontaneous. It may take a long time for rust to become obvious, yet when iron is exposed to air, the process will occur. A radioactive isotope may decay instantly or after thousands or millions or even billions of years. Spontaneous Versus Nonspontaneous Energy must be added in order for a nonspontaneous process to occur. The reverse of a spontaneous process is a nonspontaneous process. For example, rust doesnt convert back into iron on its own. A daughter isotope wont return to its parent state. Free Energy and Spontaneity The change in Gibbs free energy for a process may be used to determine its spontaneity. At constant temperature and pressure, the equation is: ΔG ΔH - TΔS Where ΔH is the change in enthalpy and ΔS is the change in entropy. If ΔG is negative, the process is spontaneous.If ΔG is positive, the process is nonspontaneous (but would be spontaneous in the reverse direction).If ΔG is 0 then the process is at equilibrium and no net change is occurring over time.

Individual Report Style Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Individual Report Style - Assignment Example For this reason, these businesses need to devise viable ways through which they can address all concerns in a sustainable manner. One of the problems that affect current international businesses includes cultural concerns. The ability of the business to survive and thrive after encountering relative challenges is dependent on the manner in which they address these challenges. In essence, successful businesses need to review their structural models and align these to the cultural expectations of the markets that they wish to explore. It is against this background that this paper analyzes cultural differences between the Swedish and UK markets. To enhance coherence, it also underscores the strategic impact that the differences have on the international marketing mix strategy of the film products. The paper begins by providing a comprehensive review of the film product and its performance in this market. As part of the entertainment industry, it is widely agreed that film actually drive s this industry. In the UK market, statistical evidence indicates that film contributes a significant 100 million pounds to the gross domestic product. Although studios generate their revenue from different windows, theatrical window reportedly offers the best opportunities because it sets the pace and establishes standards for home video, television products cable provisions and pay-per-view packages. In addition, successful establishments offers substantial opportunities for merchandising, licensing as well as a host of other entertainment products like books, television shows, and theme park attractions, plays and so forth. Although the film market is relatively volatile, we wish to pursue this field because of the opportunities that it offers. Sweden is a country that offers various opportunities for exploration by the film industry. Its economy is developed and comparatively, the film industry has not been fully established. Market trends indicate that film producers in this co untry assume only 45% of the entertainment market dominance. Yet the industry contributes close to 100 million dollars to its gross domestic product. Market analyses according to Rodgers also indicate that the country has a broad consumer base. Consumer preferences in this regard show positive attitudes and a strong urge to adopt English mannerisms (Brooks, 2008). Therefore, its exploration would probably yield beneficial outcomes. In particular, this investment venture wishes to produce films for the teenagers who seem to be greatly influenced by the English culture. It will enter the market through theatre which has proven to be more productive from the market analyses. As indicated earlier, culture has direct impacts on the behaviours and mannerisms that the consumers adopt. Just like in the United Kingdom, culture influences consumer attitudes and preferences in Sweden too. This is exhibited through various modes that range from language and social values to attitudes and religi ous practices. At this point, it is worth appreciating that the preceding factors are imperatively important because of the direct influence that they have on critical marketing mix elements such as pricing, placement of the product, promotion and the quality of the products. To begin with, language is an important aspect of culture that would have direct effects on the success of this film venture. It aids in communication and is very useful in eliminating inconsistencies

Give an account of the main causes of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Essay

Give an account of the main causes of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and its impact on African societies - Essay Example 177). The other cause of the trade was because the labor from Africa was cheap unlike the labor they used to get back in the colonies. This therefore increased the trade even more as more laborers who were cheaply bought in auctions and ship paddocks were easily available. The higher the demand, the more the Africans were captured in Africa and shipped over only for them to go and become slaves being mistreated and humiliated by their white employers and being worked mercilessly and tirelessly. The other cause was that the African traditional leaders such as the chiefs wanted prosperity and they sought it through selling off some of their people to the European traders to be shipped over as slaves in return for getting riches such as ivory, gold, beads, clothes, shoes among others. These goods they were given in exchange with the slaves were not commonly available and hence brought about not only wealth but prestige and more power to the leaders. The slave trade caused conflicts among the African themselves splitting some communities, resulting into deaths and permanent rift that is still present in some West African states to present. These conflict were brought about because he slaves were captured during raids of communities and once the raid took place, then conflicts between the communities ensured resulting in more fighting, death, destruction of property and political system among other negative consequences (Green, 2012, pg. 179). Male slaves that were muscular and energetic were the ones sought after to be sold and this happened in large numbers as slave trade was at one point the main source of export in West Africa. This resulted in disproportion in the male population as well as break-up of the traditional family setup as women were forced to be the heads of households as well as offer security to their homesteads in addition to being the bread winners. Without strong males, the Africans became vulnerable to attacks as well as dwindle in farm

Martin Luther King vs. Malcolm X Essay Example for Free

Martin Luther King vs. Malcolm X Essay Malcolm X Vs. MLK JR Extremist, or peace maker? That is the true difference between the beliefs, and ideals of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Both men were African-American civil rights activists during the 1950’s and 1960’s, and both wanted to be accepted for their race, but they wanted that acceptance in very different ways. The two men had very diverse beliefs, Malcolm being a devout Muslim and King being a Baptist clergyman, their religions played a big part in each of their views and how they went about achieving their goals. This is where their ideas differed, and why they wouldnt technically be considered same, or â€Å"fighting for the same cause†. Malcolm X was considered an extremist for a few main reasons, one being that he wanted complete segregation from the white race. He believed that African Americans were so mistreated that they should be completely shut off from the white Americans. In his Declaration of Independence (1964), he states that the â€Å"best solution is complete separation, with our people going back home, to our own African homeland†. He wanted himself, and all other blacks to be sent to their ancestors land of Africa where they could live among other blacks, where they wouldnt be thought of as a lower class, but as equals. Although Mr. X wanted equality for blacks and whites, he still believed that there should be segregation; he wanted both races to be â€Å"separate but equal†. In the sense of violence, X didn’t promote the use of violence, yet he did believe that man should be able to â€Å"defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks†. In the end, Malco lm wanted a place of acceptance, and a place where he could be somewhat at peace with what he considered his own kind. Peace is what brought Martin Luther King power in his speeches to the people of America. Like extremist Malcolm X he wanted acceptance for himself, and all of as hed put it â€Å"brothers, and sisters†. The Kings speeches were very motivational during their time, and so uplifting that its generally believed if not assassinated complete freedoms for African Americans wouldve been accomplished much sooner. King believed he could achieve his dreams and goals of having whites and black living together in harmony and peacefulness through nonviolent protesting and also by educating the public. Martin Luther King wanted acceptance just as Malcolm X did, but they wanted it in two very different ways. King wanted it through peace and unification with his fellow Americans, while Malcolm wanted it through rioting, and force of opposition. It might seem like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X fought for different things for the African American people, but in all reality it comes down to the simplest form of an idea. They wanted acceptance. Without acceptance both causes were completely lost, no matter the arguments made, and the battles fought. Till acceptance was granted, all was lost. Thats why the differences of Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr.s differences are what united them, giving them their ultimate similarity.

Othello And Desdemona :: Literary Analysis, Othello and Desdemona

Obsidian and Alabaster: Othello and Desdemona Othello and Desdemona’s marriage was doomed from the start. Even considering the racial nature of the marriage, his lack of a constant home, and the improper method of his courting, there is another reason why their marriage would never have worked. Othello’s label of Desdemona prevents him from considering her a person. He thinks of her instead as superior to himself in every way, to the point that she is a god. Her race, beauty, and status make her godly in his mind. Because Othello thinks of Desdemona as â€Å"Alabaster†(5.2.5) he will never consider her capable of responding to his love. Because Othello is at his wit’s end when he refers to her as â€Å"Alabaster†, he is speaking out of his heart. After Othello reads the letter from Venice, he begins to speak in less cohesive manner. For instance the line, â€Å"Pish! Noses, ears, and lips. Isn’t Possible? Confess! Handkerchief! O devil!†(4.1.42) contains none of Othello’s former eloquence. He begins to speak with word association, rather than in complete sentences. For instance, the word â€Å"confess!† brings up the word â€Å"Handkerchief!†, and â€Å"devil!†. Because Desdemona, the handkerchief, and the sense of maliciousness were on his mind so much, he begins to express with abstract words and ideas instead of sentences. Although this makes his lines harder to read, they show us what he is constantly thinking of. Instead of clear and concise lines, they are a torrent of his true feelings. Therefore when he describes Desdemona as â€Å"Alabaster†, we can be sure it is his inner picture of her. Alabaster’s beauty gives you an idea about his feelings of bodily inferiority to her. Alabaster is a naturally beautiful stone, used by ancient Egyptians and Chinese to make statues and vases. This word choice gives the reader a sense of his feelings of inadequacy to Desdemona. He is never said to be ugly, on the contrary, he is described as â€Å"far more fair than black†(1.3.291). He must have felt some sensitivity about his physical appearance. In contrast, he describes her face as â€Å"fair as Dian’s visage†(3.3.389), Dian most likely being the god of healing in Celtic mythology. This implies both beauty and health. He then goes on to say â€Å"begrimed and black as mine own face†(3.3.390). Othello superimposes her clean and young white face with his grimy old black face. The fact that he believed her to be unfaithful with Cassio further proves his insecurity.

Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism.

A nation that used to be so great crashed both politically and economically. To restore order and stability to this nation, there has to be a complete transformation of the whole government. In order to have that, there will be great sacrifices that will be made. If I have to choose one of Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism as a governing system. The most effective system would be Legalism, because it's stable, strict and strong. Which would led to a powerful nation. The people of the nation would be fully devastated because of the disorder in their country.In order to have their luxurious lives back, they would make as much effort, to help with the recovery. Legalism would bring stability back to a devastated nation. For example, in the past Legalism brought back stability to China, after the warring states. There would be agricultural surpluses and people working very hard on improving the cultivation. Second, the strict and harsh punishments would result in a decrease of crime rat es. People would be scared to act stupid and commit a crime. The severe punishments would be enough to stop most violence.Also, Legalism is about strengthening the military. A nation with a great army means an undefeatable, respected and a feared one. Other nations would be intimidated by how powerful the military is. It would be a strong nation, both politically and economically. Confucianism wouldn't be a good way of restoring order to a broken nation, but not a GREAT way. Recovering fast is really important. I believe that Confucianism would take some time to do so. The whole system focuses on the improvement of each individuals' morals.It would be hard to focus on each individual. Another reason is, Confucianism doesn't say anything about protecting the state. It says that to create an ideal government you need advanced education and moral integrity. I agree with that, it doesn't mention anything about the military. Which I think is really important for a nation. Daoism would be the worst and least effective system. Daoism is very understandable of nature and the world. The system's motto would be † less government the better†.Disagreeing with that, I would say, without government there would constant violence and chaos. That’s the total opposite of what Daoism represents. There has to be limits for everything. Daoism also states that working hard for something only leads to chaos. Actually, working hard for something is totally worth it. Especially, when there would be good results later on. Hard work always pays off. It would be a waste of time for everyone in the nation to devote their full time, caring about nature and the world. Instead, it would be better to build your nation through hard work.Honestly, other nations wouldn't take this system seriously. The system seems vulnerable and easy to destroy. When you look at these three systems, Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism, one of them stands out the most. Legalism would be the fas test and most effective system to restore stability to a nation. Compared to Confucianism and Daoism, it would be very different and much stronger. If a nation follows the beliefs of Legalism, It would be strong, stable and strict. Eventually, it would result in a powerful and an undefeatable nation.

Review on Currency Number Recognition

Reappraisal on Currency Number Recognition Abstraction Over the past old ages, a great technological progresss in colour printing, duplicating and scanning, forging jobs arrived. In the yesteryear, merely the printing house has the ability to do imitative paper currency, but today merely by utilizing a computing machine and optical maser pressman at house, it is possible to publish imitative bank notes. Therefore the issue of expeditiously separating forgery bills from echt via automatic machines has become more of import. Counterfeit notes are job of every state. Thus such a system is required, which is helpful in confirmation and acknowledgment of paper currency notes with fast velocity and less clip demand. These currencies will be verified by utilizing image processing techniques. This consists of image processing with feature extraction of paper currency. Image processing includes the nature of an image to better its ocular information for human reading. The consequence will be whether currency is echt or forgery. General FootingsImage Processing:Digital image processing has become of import in many Fieldss of research, industrial and military applications. The processing on planar informations, or images, utilizing a digital computing machine or other digital hardware.Feature Extraction:Feature extraction method is for bettering velocity and truth between two factors. Most normally used characteristic extraction method is image processing. It effects on design and public presentation of the system intensively. Keywords MATLAB Image Processing Toolbox, GUI ( Graphical User Interface )1. IntroductionFeature extraction of images is the disputing work in digital image processing. The feature extraction of Indian currency notes involves the extraction of characteristics like consecutive Numberss, watermarking of currency. Feature extraction is that of pull outing the natural information from the given information. Probabilities of paper currencies with assorted states are likely rises progressively. This is a challenge for conventional paper currency acknowledgment systems. The acknowledgment of the consecutive Numberss of the Indian paper currency such as 100, 500 or 1000 can be detected utilizing assorted methods. The consecutive Numberss are used as identifiers that average IDs of bills.2. CURRENCY RECOGNITION METHODS2.1 A Reliable Method for Paper Currency RecognitionBy Junfang Guo, Yanyun Zhao, Anni Cai, IEEE Transactions, Proceedings of IC-NIDC2010,978-1-4244-6853-9/10. A Reliable Method for Paper Currency Recognition is based on LBP that means traditional local double star form ( LBP ) method, an improved LBP algorithm, besides called block-LBP algorithm, which is used for characteristic extraction. LBP tool is used for texture description. Advantages of this method have simpleness and high velocity. 2.2 Feature Extraction for Paper Currency RecognitionH. Hassanpour, A. Yaseri, G. Ardeshiri aˆâ€ ¢Feature Extraction for Paper Currency Recognition, IEEE Transactions, 1-4244-0779-6/07,2007. In the techniques for paper currency acknowledgment, three features of paper currencies include size ; colour and texture are used in the acknowledgment. By utilizing image histogram, with the mention paper currency plenty of different colourss in a paper currency is computed and compared. 2.3 Feature Extraction for Bank Note Classification Using Wavelet Transform Euisun Choi, Jongseok Lee and Joonhyun Yoon presented this paper in March, 2006 at IEEE International conference.In this paper probe to have extraction for bank note categorization by working the ripple transform. In the proposed method, high frequence coefficients taken from the ripple sphere and are examined to pull out characteristics. We foremost perform border sensing on measure images to ease the ripple characteristic extraction. The characteristic vectors is so conducted by thresholding and numeration of ripple coefficients. The proposed characteristic extraction method can be used to sorting any sort of bank note. However, in this paper scrutiny of Korean won measures of 1000, 5000 and 10000 won types. The textured parts of different measure images can be easy described by break uping the texture into several frequence sub-bands. In the proposed method, high frequence bomber sets are explored to pull out characteristics from transformed images. 2.4 Texture Based Recognition Techniques Texture is a most utile characteristic for Currency acknowledgment. Textural characteristics related to human ocular perceptive are really utile for characteristic choice and texture analyser design. There are some set of texture characteristics that have been used often for image retrieval. Tamura characteristics ( saltiness, directivity, contrast ) , Tamura saltiness is defined as the norm of coarseness steps at each and every pel location inside a texture part. These characteristics can calculate straight from the full image without any similarity. In general the public presentations of this characteristic are non satisfactory. The saltiness information utilizing a histogram should be considered. The Gabor characteristic usage filters to pull out texture information at multiple graduated tables and orientations. As for texture characteristics, there is a comparing of the public presentation of Tamura characteristics, border histogram, MRSAR, Gabor texture characteristic, and pyram id-structured and tree-structured ripple transform characteristics. Harmonizing to author the experimental consequences indicated that MRSAR and Gabor characteristics perform other texture characteristics. However, to accomplish such good public presentation from MRSAR, the Mahalanobis distance based on an image-dependent Covariance matrix has to be used and it increases the size of characteristic and hunt complexness. The extraction of Gabor characteristic is much slower than other texture characteristics, which makes its usage in big databases. Generally Tamura characteristics are non every bit good as MRSAR, Gabor, TWT and PWT characteristics. 2.5 Placement Rule In the yesteryear, there were some troubles in texture analysis due to miss of equal tools to qualify different graduated tables of texture efficaciously. There are some texture based techniques. The work done in this country was carried out by Tamura. Harmonizing to him, for ocular texture is hard. Its construction is attributed to the insistent forms in which elements are arranged harmonizing to a arrangement regulation. Hence it can be written as f= R ( vitamin E ) , Where R is denoting a arrangement regulation ( or relation ) and e is denoting an component. There is a set of characteristics utilizing this all input forms are measured and gives good distributed consequences. So it is required to hold both extremes defines for each characteristic. e.g. , harsh versus mulct for saltiness. Coarseness is a extremely of import factor in texture. In order to better the other characteristics, its consequences should be utilized. 2.6 Pattern Based Recognition Techniques The Pattern acknowledgment is based on anterior cognition as a characteristic. This is the categorization of objects based on a set of images. These techniques are focused on Vector quantisation based histogram mold. Vector quantisation ( VQ ) is a method of trying a d-dimensional infinite where each point,tenJ, in a set of informations is replaced by one of the L paradigm points. The paradigm points are selected such that the amount of the distances ( deformation ) from each information point,tenJ, to its nearest paradigm point is minimized. The work in this country was completed out by Seth McNeillIn et Al. Author gives the method for acknowledgment of coins by pattern acknowledgment. This differentiates between the bald bird of Jove on the one-fourth, the torch of autonomy on the dime, Thomas Jefferson ‘s house on the Ni, and the Lincoln Memorial on the penny. First collects the information, during the informations aggregation phase assorted background colourss, including bl ack, white, ruddy, and blue, were tested for segmentability. Adobe Photoshop was used to find the RGB values of the coin and its background. Then Segmentation was applied to these images. After the informations aggregation next is Coin Segmentation and Cropping. In this measure coins were segmented from their backgrounds by utilizing some alteration of Nechyba’s codification. Croping plan was implemented to turn up the borders of coin. After this Features were extracted from the coins by texture templets with each image, with border sensing templets. and The consequence of this method is 94 % accurate. 2.7 Color Based Recognition Technique The Wei-Ying Maetal. in describes Color histogram ( CH ) method for an image. It is created by numbering the figure of pels of each colour. Histogram describes the colour distribution in an image. It is easy to calculate and is insensitive to little alterations in sing place ( VP ) . The calculation of colour histogram involves numbering the figure of pels of specified colour. Therefore in an image with declaration m*n, the clip complexness of calculating colour histogram is O ( manganese ) . It overcomes some of the jobs with colour histogram techniques such as high-dimensional characteristic vectors, spacial localisation, and indexing and distance calculation.3. SYSTEM OVERVIEW3.1 Flow of Image Processing Fig 1. Flow of System This system is designed by using image Processing tool chest and other related Matlab tool chest. The system is divided into some subdivision to back up the hereafter acknowledgment procedure.4. RecognitionsA thesis work of such a great significance is non possible without the aid of several people, straight or indirectly. First and foremost I have huge felicity in showing my sincere thanks to my usher, Prof. Vishal Bhope for his valuable suggestions, co-operation and uninterrupted counsel. I am really much thankful to all my module members.5. Reference[ 1 ] Hanish Aggarwal and Padam Kumar, â€Å"Localization of Indian Currency Note in Color Images† , ICCCNT 2012. ( Unpublished ) . [ 2 ] Wei-Ying Ma and HongJiang Zhang, â€Å"Benchmarking of Image Features for Content-based Retrieval† Hewlett- Packard Laboratories, 1501 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1126. [ 4 ] Hideyuki Tamura, Shunji Mori, and Takashi, â€Å"Textural Features Matching to Visual Perception† , Member IEEE. [ 5 ] Seth McNeill, Joel Schipper, Taja Sellers, Michael C. Nechybaâ€Å"Coin Recognition utilizing Vector Quantization and Histogram Modelling† Machine Intelligence Laboratory University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611. [ 6 ] Michael C. Nechyba, â€Å"Vector Quantization a confining Case of EM† , EEL6825: Pattern Recognition Class Material, Fall 2002. [ 7 ] Jing Huang, S Ravi Kumar, Mandar Mitra, Wei-Jing Zhu, Ramin Zabi, â€Å"Image Indexing Using Color Correlograms† , Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853. [ 8 ] John R. Smith and Shih-Fu Chang, â€Å"Tools and Techniques for Color Image Retrieval† , Columbia University Department of Electrical Engineering and Centre for Telecommunications Research New York, N.Y. 10027.

The beggar women and the seduction Essays

The beggar women and the seduction Essays The beggar women and the seduction Essay The beggar women and the seduction Essay Both the beggar woman and the seduction deal with attitudes towards women and love, and the relationship between the sexes. In this essay I am going to explore these ideas and look at the similarities of the two poems although they were written over 100 years apart. The beggar woman was written in the 17th century by William king, and Eileen McAuley wrote the seduction in the 1980s. The beggar woman is a poem about a man who goes hunting and comes across a beggar woman who he finds attractive, he then asks the beggar woman into the woods with him, she agrees but instead of having sex with him she leaves him with her baby to look after to teach him a lesson. The seduction is about a girl who goes to a party and falls in love with a boy, he takes her down to the docks where he gets her drunk to have sex with her, as a result of this she gets pregnant. The two poems are similar as they both portray women as the sex although, in the beggar woman, the woman turns the tables and becomes the stronger character. I did not expect the poems to be as similar as they are because of the time gap in between their creation; both the poems deal with the themes of attitudes towards women, love and the relationship of the sexes making them very similar. The mood of both the poems is uncomfortable from the start. Both the poems have an unpleasant atmosphere. The moods of the poems are different because the beggar woman is more light-hearted than the seduction. In the beggar woman the mood is jolly, this created with rhyming couplets, and this in turn makes the serious point have more impact, although in the last few lines the mood changes to more serious mood as the message of the poem becomes apparent. The mood in the seduction changes from a happy, jolly mood when the characters are at the party to a more sombre mood, when the boy and the girl go to the docks. Then the mood changes again at the pivotal point in the poem where the girl finds she is pregnant, its here that the mood becomes dark and angry, which causes the reader to sympathise with the girl because she is alone and pregnant. I dont think the moods of the poems relate although they deal with the same issues the beggar woman tries to bring across these ideas in a comical mood where as the seduction treats the issues with more stern seriousness. The characters in both the seduction and the beggar woman are very similar. In the beggar woman the female is portrayed as weak at the beginning of the poem just like the girl in the seduction although, the female character in the beggar woman becomes powerful towards the end of the poem unlike the female in the seduction as you can see from this quote And she ripped up all her My Guy and her Jackie photo-comics Until they were just bright paper, like confetti, This shows that the girl is still the weaker sex as she is hiding behind dreams of weddings and romance even when she finds she is pregnant its as if she is trying to forget shes pregnant and go back to being a little girl dreaming of romance. The female in the beggar woman seems similar to the girl in the seduction but as she becomes powerful near the end of the poem you see that she is different to the girl in the seduction because, she knows what she is doing and shows that she has knowledge of how the world works and doesnt hide dreams of a young girl. The men in both the poems appear powerful. The man in the beggar womans power is symbolised by him ridding the horse in front of the woman, instead of letting her ride or walk alongside him also at the time in history the poem was written men had the right to demand the services of women at any time, especially if the woman was of a lower class than the man, also the poem refers to the woman as game, this is shown in the quote: For he himself had other game in view: The word game is a hunting metaphor making the woman sound like prey for the man. The male in the seduction remains the powerful all the way through the poem he is similar to the man in the beggar woman as he shares the same views on women and how they should be treated this can be seen in the quote: She giggled drunk and nervous, and he muttered little slag' This shows he only wants the girl for sex and that he doesnt feel that women have equal rights as men. Both the beggar woman and the seduction are third person narrative, this means that the narrator should give an equally balanced view on all characters in the poem using he/she/they; although both the beggar woman and the seduction are biased they are both in favour of the woman. The beggar woman is biased towards the female out of pity because of the way she is treated by the man then at the end of the poem her actions are applauded, the poem its self would most likely have been ignored if it had been written by a woman because of the era in which it was written where women were the weaker sex. The seduction is also biased towards the female because all the feeling of the girl are shown in her actions where as after the pivotal point in the poem the boy isnt mentioned, also the boy is made to look bad by his comment on the girl where he calls her a little slag and how he gets her drunk to have sex with her. Both the beggar woman and the seduction are narrative poems. This means that they tell a story, this makes them more entertaining so people will read them. The beggar woman has rhyming couplets making a comic style, which adds impact when the moral of the story becomes apparent at the pivotal point in the poem. The seduction is written in four line verses with the second and fourth lines rhyming, the rhyme scheme for the seduction is ABCB this is a ballad rhyme scheme. The seduction is story like, making it easy to read also the fact that it follows a chronological sequence through the girls life making it easy to read.

Should You Submit Your SAT/ACT Scores?

College applications are rarely straightforward, and as the process evolves over time, aspects that used to be fairly standard are becoming less so. This is especially true of standardized tests. While some colleges still place a great deal of weight on SAT or ACT scores, sometimes even using them as an initial screening tool, other colleges no longer require them at all. This leaves some college applicants wondering when and if they should submit their SAT or ACT scores. In this post, we’ll discuss how to decide when to submit your scores and when to withhold them. If you’re planning to apply to college this season, don’t send those score reports without reading this post first. Testing policies are different at each school. Some colleges require that you submit every score from every test you’ve taken. Some want to see only your highest section scores. Other colleges want to see only your highest composite score. It can all get a little confusing when you’re trying to apply to seven or eight different schools. Luckily, checking the score policy at each college is usually fairly straightforward. For one, when you log onto the CollegeBoard’s Score Report page and begin to select the schools you’d like to send your scores to, the form will automatically suggest which scores to send based on that specific school’s testing policy. This is a great tool, but it’s no substitute for doing your own research. The admissions page for each college generally lists its testing policy in an obvious place. If you can’t find it, check the FAQ page or contact the office of admissions directly. Â   The bottom line is that you need to understand the specific testing policy at every school you apply to in order to make an informed decision. Before you send any score reports, research the testing policy at each school on your list and come up with a score report plan for each school individually. Our students see an average increase of 250 points on their SAT scores. At , we recommend choosing only one standardized test and sticking with it. This means that if you choose the ACT, you should focus exclusively on the ACT, and the same vice versa if you choose the SAT. We know, though, that sometimes students choose to take both tests. In this case, you might have a trickier time deciding which score to submit, or wondering if you should submit them both. Â   You should only submit both scores if both are exceptionally impressive. Submitting both scores still won’t necessarily set you apart from someone who submits only one equally as impressive score, but at least it can’t hurt. If you’re not sure how impressive your scores are, you should look up how they compare to the test scores of last year’s admitted students. You can generally find this information through a simple web query. Your scores are considered impressive if they place comfortably above the 75th percentile of admitted students. Â   If your scores on the ACT and SAT are not equally impressive, do not submit both. Instead, only submit the scores that place you higher amongst other admitted students. Again, use the information available from a web query to see how last year’s admitted students faired. Then, select the scores that place you closer to the top. For example, if your SAT scores place you at the 75th percentile of admitted students, but your ACT scores place you at the 50th percentile, stick with your SAT scores. Even though your ACT scores are comfortably within the acceptable range, they aren’t as impressive as your SAT scores, and submitting them could take away from the good impression left by your SATs. Test optional schools are one of the scenarios that elicit the most questions about submitting test scores. While testing policies used to be fairly black and white, test optional schools definitely leave a gray area. In general, when a college application lists smoothing as optional, you should considered it required unless it will ultimately be a big strike against you. Basically, this means that you should still submit your best SAT or ACT score to a test optional school, unless it is poor enough to really count against you. You can determine this by checking the scores of admitted students from last year. If your score places you below the 25th percentile, think twice about submitting it. It might be best to discuss your options with your guidance counselor or eliciting advice from ’s Applications Guidance service. Here, you will be paired with a personal admissions specialist from a top a college who can provide step-by-step guidance through the entire application process, including selecting which, if any, scores to submit. To learn more about test optional schools, check out our post What Test-Optional Means for College Admissions . Of course, your best offense is always a good defense, so we suggest avoiding any questions about submitting test scores by maximizing your SAT or ACT performance from the get go. If you achieve a score you’re proud to submit, you won’t have to worry about it. For advice about preparing for standardized tests, check out these important posts: For more help preparing for your standardized tests, consider the benefits of ’s full service, customized SAT Tutoring Program , where the brightest and most qualified tutors in the industry guide students to an average score increase of 140 points.

Discussion Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 18

Discussion Question - Essay Example A conjunction, disjunction, negation or ordering relation is all naturally available in practical examples so that it is basic to make use of this relationship. General approaches from duality can also be applied in order theory to Boolean algebras. The order dual of every Boolean algebra obtained by interchanging AND and OR is also a Boolean algebra. By interchanging 0 with 1, the law that applies to Boolean algebras can be changed into another valid dual law. Each Boolean algebra (A, AND, OR) produces a ring (A,,*) that defines a + b = (a AND b) or (b AND a) and a * b = a AND b. the 0 element of this ring matches the 0 of the Boolean algebra while the multiplicative identity element is the 1 of the Boolean algebra. a *a = a for all the rings in A. such rings are called Boolean rings. On the other hand, given a Boolean ring A, this can be turned into a Boolean algebra by the definition x OR y = x +y + xy and x AND y = xy. We can conclude that every Boolean algebra rises from a Boolean ring and vice versa. Goodstein

Family Genogram Family and Consumer Science Essay

Family Genogram Family and Consumer Science - Essay Example The women respect their husband’s decisions but they have control over a lot of things, especially regarding their children. Having dinner together is only one of the many practices that Israeli families have. This tradition helps to make the family intact. Family is central to Israeli life. Raised in an Israeli family, I observed a number of family traditions that are uncommon to other cultures. In my 18 years of existence, I have seen how my parents give importance to our extended family. Coming from ancestors whose history is dimmed by the horrific events of the Holocaust, my parents, especially my mother, have always valued their siblings. They maintained connection with each other despite the geographical distances and preoccupations at work. For instance, my father makes it a point to communicate with his mother and two sisters every day. Every Friday, my grandmother lights up two candles before sunset and prepares dinner for the whole family. We go to our grandmotherâ⠂¬â„¢s house to have the Shabbat dinner where we spend time to get to know other Israelis. Most of my father’s relatives are in Israel; despite this, I and my cousins have established a close relationship by communicating a lot through Facebook. Moreover, we visit our relatives in Israel once a year, which gives me time to bond with my cousins and other relatives. As Lamanna and Riedman (5) claim, my family serves as the â€Å"center of love and support† (5). My parents provide my physical as well as emotional needs. They encourage me and my sister to tell stories at dinnertime but as it is with other teenagers, I feel more comfortable to tell stories to my cousins. My concept of family is that of an extended family composed of my immediate family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. As a family, I and my cousins openly share our thoughts, dreams and experiences to each other. Although I am also close to my mother, the nature of the Israeli family makes it more c onvenient to open up to my cousins and because I am used to having an extended family, I can tell my cousins secrets and dreams, which I cannot tell my parents. I can relate well to the class discussion about individual and communal values. Our family has communal values that each member should uphold. These communal values which emphasize needs, goals, and identity of the group (Lamanna and Riedman 13) are mostly related to the Jewish culture. Each part of the family or group is important, for every one contributes to the Jewish society and culture. As members of the Jewish society, we have to act based on the values and laws set in our religion. Part of these laws is being a Batz Mitzvah. When I was thirteen, I was declared as a Batz Mitzvah. In the Jewish culture, this means being accountable for one’s actions and decisions, thus, the tradition is similar to considering young people to be in the legal age. At this point, I am expected to act and base my plans and decisions in accordance to our religion. I am not totally rebellious; in fact, I always find it sound to obey my parents because they only want what is best for me but there are times when my personal preferences would disagree with my parents’. Living in the American culture for more than 11 years, I cannot help but be influenced by my environment. Thus, there are times when I want to obtain something, like material things, but my parents would disagree, and

Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 89

Reflection - Essay Example Moreover, we chose a crew chief Eric who gives each one different task. The team leader writes down the requirements’ for me and responds to questions discussed while finding solutions. This is more efficient in this course because, for example, someone who do not know how to cut the handgrip from the racket, we can solve it together. I am not good at writing; the team leader helps us to fix the grammar. Consequently, I am unable to achieve the primary objective of Senior Design Projects, utilize knowledge as a senior student, and perform an important open-ended design project. The object of this project is to improve the treatment method for the patient that needs a lot of professional knowledge. For example, we need to design games for this project and still I have not learned how to compile a complete 2-D game. However, for the 3-D design, I can use Abaqus CAE, which I learned, from Miami University to develop the initial model for the handgrip. I also used the knowledge from physics class to cut the handgrip from the rocket (Marshall 1). The course achieved the Miami Plan requirements for a capstone experience. It provided a real business environment while doing the project. First, we need to understand context by defining and considering the boundary of the problem through conducting research and considering realistic constraints. The limitations include technical and economic factors, social implications, and environmental considerations. Secondly, thinking critically by solving open-ended problems, establishing objectives and criteria by brainstorming ideas and alternatives. Finally, we need to communicate designs and results effectively with Birkdale Pediatric and Neuro Clinic. For this project, I have limited professional knowledge such as neural therapy. Besides, I never contacted the neural therapy before I entered the Birkdale Pediatric and Neuro clinic. Real business industrial environment, designers improve the function

Motivational Theories for Travel and Tourism

Motivational Theories for Travel and Tourism Abstract The purposes of this dissertation are to demonstrate how the motivational theories in travel and tourism can be used as a foundation for research into ceasing participation in organized leisure activities, and to discuss methodological implications that emerge from such an approach. The research problem is the identification of three motivational factors that mostly influence the choice of leisure activity in the Lebanese tourism sector. The dissertation will rely heavily on literature review and primary research that used university students and a focus group of industry professionals in Lebanon. The theoretical background of this study is structured according to Iso-Ahola’s motivational theory. Iso-Ahola’s theory asserts that personal escape, personal seeking, interpersonal escape, and interpersonal seeking motivate tourism and recreation. This dissertation operationalizes and empirically tests Iso-Ahola’s theory for similar tourism and recreation experiences. The motivation dimensions are monitored using scenario-based data for sporting events, beaches, amusement parks, and natural parks. The first investigation used confirmatory factor analysis to explore the efficacy of six competing motivational structures. Three of these competing models achieved superior and similar fit statistics, with one model incorporating the most parsimonious structure. This model gave equal and direct salience to each of the four motivations. The second investigation examined the differences in motivation levels for tourism and recreation experiences. Tourism experiences exhibited higher levels of motivation, particularly for the personal seeking and personal escape dimensions. The third investigation found no relationship between the number of recent domestic and international vacations and tourism motivations among the subjects. Chapter I Introduction This dissertation seeks to explore the rationale for, and difficulties of operationalizing, the measurement of tourists’ satisfaction with their experiences in particular destinations. It suggests that the on-going systematic measurement of satisfaction with destinations is a valuable exercise that will have tangible benefits, but acknowledges the difficulties of doing this in a meaningful manner. The principal argument presented is that the measurement of tourists’ satisfaction with a particular destination involves more than simply measuring the level of satisfaction with the services delivered by individual enterprises. There needs to be a much broader, more encompassing means of measuring satisfaction, one that relates closely to the motivations which tourists have for visiting the destination in the first place. The tourism industry consists of a number of different sectors including the travel, hospitality and visitor services sector. Within each of these sectors there are a number of individual enterprises that provide a range of services to people who are traveling away from their home environment. This travel could be for a variety of reasons including for pleasure, to visit friends and relatives, to work on a short term basis, to attend conferences, to participate in business activities, or any of a number of specific reasons. While the industry distinguishes between the various groups according to their purpose for travel, convention has it that all these short-term travelers are defined as ‘tourists† Likewise, the industry distinguishes between various ‘markets’ according to their place of origin (international, domestic, intra-state, interstate, etc). These distinctions are not relevant to this paper which is concerned with all these forms of tourism. Tourists visit destinations and engage in various activities while there. These destinations can be classified in various ways and at various scales of analysis. For example, Lebanon could be regarded as a destination for international visitors while Beirut could be one for people from northern Lebanon. At a different scale, a city or even a region could be regarded as a destination. This paper is concerned with all these levels. It is not concerned with individual enterprises which exist within certain destinations. As noted below, there appears to be adequate analysis of tourism satisfaction at the individual enterprise level. What is missing is a broader view that looks at the way tourists respond to the totality of their experiences in a particular destination irrespective of the particular activities that they engage in. I am going to provide an explanation of the Lebanese tourism economy because this market is the model that this dissertation uses as the benchmark for testing Iso-Ahola’s motivational theory. I have chosen this country due to its reputation of being the jewel of the Middle East and one of the most desired destinations in the region. The understanding of the characteristics of this market will play a critical role in laying the foundations for the research and would allow to increase the integrity and reliability of this research. Moreover, the market is highly concentrated and the geographic area is small; this aspect would play a paramount role in diminishing sources of error; and in case of their occurrence it would be easier to isolate and rectify. In addition, being my home country; I view studying this market as a personal passion which would allow me to present with a high â€Å"motivational† level. I will start by providing a review of the state of Lebanese tourism and highlight the trends, review precious research findings, and pinpoint the market characteristics. Tourism in the Lebanese Economy Over the last decade the tourism industry has emerged as a significant sector of the Lebanese economy generating approximately $5 billion in income, employing 1 in 9 Lebanese and contributing about $1.5 billion in export earnings. While approximately 55% of tourism activity involves domestic travel, the fastest growing sector is in-bound travel. This has been increasing significantly over the last decade with Lebanon receiving 1.1 million visits in 2004. Despite the recent downturn in the economies of major source countries, and the unstable political landscape visitor arrivals to Lebanon are expected to grow at an average annual rate of between 5.7 and 7.8 per cent to reach between 1.4 and 1.7 million visitors in 2010. Being a relatively new industry characterized by growth, the focus has been on marketing, visitor numbers, and length of stay, expenditure patterns and other measures of consumption. As the industry has begun to mature in the last five or so years; there has been an increasing interest in such things as quality of service, accreditation procedures, and measurement of client satisfaction. The issues discussed in this paper should be seen as part of this maturation process in which the industry is looking to achieve long-term sustainable growth that generates benefits for the industry, the clients and the community as a whole. Methodology of Research Collecting data in marketing research often involves several different strategies, such as interviewing and analyzing documents (Merriam, 1998). Using multiple sources of information is useful in our research since we have doubts that a single source of information will provide a complete and comprehensive understanding of the research problem, so in our research we use multiple sources of information. Basically, there are two forms of data: primary and secondary data. While writing the dissertation, I will use several different sources when collecting data in order to increase the validity of the collected data. Secondary data is the data that has been previously collected and published. The secondary data used in the beginning of our research, originated from various sources. In the preparatory period, we have started by studying literature related to relationship tourism marketing, tourism buying and motivational behavior and motivational marketing concepts in order to get deeper insight into and understanding of the researched area. The other sources used for collection of our secondary data were: newspaper and magazine articles, course materials, on-line sources (Internet databases) and tourism companies’ materials (internal and external). The methodology used for primary research will be depicted at greater length in the third chapter. Current Measurement of Tourist’s Satisfaction Levels Despite the large body of literature available on satisfaction research in general, only a few academic studies have focused directly on customer satisfaction amongst tourists. Of these, an even more limited number have been undertaken in Lebanon. The major studies include Fick and Ritchie (1991), Reisinger and Waryszak (1994), Arnold and Price (1993), Crompton and Love (1995), Geva and Goldman (1991), Maddox (1985) and Ryan (1995). Because of the limited material available in the academic literature, a preliminary survey of organizations that may have investigated tourist satisfaction was undertaken. Given the broad focus of the paper and the limited space, no attempt was made to look at individual tourism enterprises measuring the satisfaction level of clients as part of their on-going quality assurance program. The most common example of this is the questionnaire that is left in individual hotel rooms. These vary from single response questions to sophisticated instruments designed to elicit quite detailed responses from guests. Most of these are diagnostic in the sense that they are aimed at identifying specific measures that can be taken to improve the service. Some specifically enquire about customer’s perceptions of the service’s value for money. In some instances, particularly amongst 5 star hotel chains, these are used for benchmarking or as performance indicators. Because of this decision to exclude individual enterprises, the preliminary survey focused on the following organizations: Academic departments of Lebanese universities State tourist offices Non-government tourist industry organizations and associations The search found a range of studies has been completed most of which are primarily data-gathering research exercises rather than conceptual studies. The prime studies are described in appendix I. It is clear that some work has been done in this area by a smattering of agencies each of which approaches it from a quite different perspective. Despite acknowledgement of the potential value of the data, current efforts are not coordinated resulting in a lack of comparability that makes it impossible to identify trends and monitor changes in a systematic fashion. More importantly, the diversity of approaches demonstrates a need for substantial conceptual work on the nature of tourist satisfaction in general and the measurement of tourist satisfaction with destinations in particular. What is required is further exploration into the application of concepts and ideas drawn from the broader consumer literature to the specific challenge of measuring the satisfaction of tourists with particular destinations. This may require a quite different approach to that adopted for other services. Why measure satisfaction at the level of the destination? There are a number of reasons why it would be appropriate to look at extending the measurement of tourist satisfaction to the more global level of the tourist destination. It is critical to understand the underlying motivational factors in order to be able to get a clearer barometer for the measurement of satisfaction of tourists. Without pre-empting the nature of this measurement, these reasons include: Millions of dollars are spent each year on destination marketing by national and state tourism offices, airlines and regional tourism bodies. This includes detailed surveys of potential markets as well as extensive advertising and promotional campaigns in source countries. While there is considerable research into the impact of the promotional effort through awareness studies, tracking studies, etc, these all concentrate on the inputs (i.e. has the campaign reached its target audience?). What is missing is an understanding of the client’s reaction to the product offering, in particularly whether it meets the needs of the target market. This would become an integral part of the understanding what the market(s) is/are seeking. Peak organizations in the tourism industry recognize the need to encourage both new and repeat business. The latter can best be achieved by ensuring that our current offerings are satisfying the needs, expectations and desires of current tourists and their propensity to recommend the destination to others. The measure could become a barometer of the ‘health’ of the industry for strategic planning purposes. The tourism industry itself is grappling with the issue of service quality and recognizes that this is the key to long term success. At present its focus is on establishing accreditation mechanisms to ensure that individual firms conform to appropriate standards. Monitoring tourists’ satisfaction at the more global level would provide a valuable framework for this and enable comparison between the efforts of the individual enterprise and those of the industry as a whole. Government agencies are now recognizing the value of assessing the success of their programs in terms of outcomes rather than inputs. As Lebanese government agencies move in this direction the need for the systematic collection of the type of data proposed will increase. In the case of tourism, this is particularly relevant to national, state and regional tourism development bodies responsible for destination marketing. Using the level of satisfaction experienced by visitors to their destination as a measure of success would transfer the focus away from the efforts of the organization towards their achievements. Governments of all persuasions are looking critically at their financial commitments and questioning whether they should continue the traditionally high level of support. If the industry can demonstrate a relationship between the level of support and the satisfaction of visitors to their destination then the argument for continued support would be strengthened greatly. This would complement other measures such as visitor numbers, expenditure, etc. With an appropriate measurement instrument it could be possible for individual sectors of the industry to be compared with other sectors. In an industry where the success of the whole depends on the contribution of each part, this information will help to identify those sectors that need to improve. Recent developments in consumer protection have extended into the area of satisfaction. The 1993 European Union Directive on Travel has required member states to implement laws giving tourists the right to obtain compensation from packaged tour operators in the event that they are ‘dissatisfied’ with their holiday. This applies in all destinations, including Lebanon. The results of the proposed survey will help to focus the attention of the industry on this issue and provide data on how the industry is going and what needs to be improved. Perspectives on Measuring Tourists’ Satisfaction with a Destination Measuring tourists’ satisfaction with a destination is conceptually different from measuring satisfaction at the transaction specific level. Moreover, it is contended that while satisfaction at the destination level is influenced by the various transactions that occur at that destination, an individual’s level of satisfaction is influenced by much broader, global factors, some of which are beyond the capacity of the tourism industry to affect. The purpose of this section is to outline some ideas that should be taken into account when developing a method to measure satisfaction at this relatively abstract level. Johnson, Anderson et al., (1995) have distinguished between two different general conceptualizations of satisfaction: transaction-specific satisfaction and cumulative satisfaction. The former is concerned with â€Å"satisfaction as an individual, transaction-specific measure or evaluation of a particular product or service experience† (Johnson, Anderson et al. 1995). Cumulative satisfaction, on the other hand, is â€Å"a cumulative, abstract construct that describes customer’s total consumption experience with a product or service† (Johnson, Anderson et al., 1995). As a customer’s overall evaluation of the purchase or consumption experience, cumulative satisfaction is the most relevant conceptualization when the focus is on the tourist’s evaluation of their overall experience at a destination. This is sometimes referred to as market-level satisfaction. The literature suggests that satisfaction measurement must be treated differently at these two levels of abstraction. Moreover, when considering consumer satisfaction with their consumption experiences, a major distinction has been made between the consumption of goods and services (Lovelock, 1991). Measures of satisfaction are not the same for these different consumption experiences, largely because of the role of the consumer in the service encounter. It could also be argued that tourism is a ‘special’ service in that, like recreation or education, it is largely self-produced (Williams, 1988). The individual plays a central role in determining the experiences achieved and the benefits derived. The ‘special’ nature of tourism can be understood by adopting the behavioral perspective first developed within the recreation and leisure literature. This literature demonstrates the value of perceiving recreation as activity that creates experiences which, in turn, result in benefits for the individual (Driver and Tocher, 1970; Mannel and Iso-Ahola, 1987). This created a focus on the factors which determine the quality of those experiences and the benefits derived. Measurement of satisfaction has therefore involved an assessment of whether the experiences have resulted in the desired benefits sought by the individual. In his seminal paper (Wagar 1966) suggested that the quality of recreation experience depends upon how well desired outcomes are realized. Satisfaction is therefore more a function of the needs and interests of the individual than the attributes and characteristics of the service provided. These ideas have gradually become the basis of the conceptualization of the tourist experience and informed much of the work about tourist motivations and expectations (Crompton and Love, 1995; Ryan, 1995). Therefore tourist experiences can be regarded as the result of an active endeavor by the individual to create a situation in which to achieve satisfaction. It is this active involvement of the individual in the creation of his or her personal experiences that needs to be acknowledged. In a similar vein, the early recreation literature also recognized the implications of this approach for the assessment of recreation service quality. It was recognized that â€Å"the quality of the experiences can be influenced by input factors provided by managers . . . but to a considerable extent the quality of experiences depends upon choices made by recreationists and how they use the many factors of production† (Brown, 1988: 413). In other words, the satisfaction levels experienced by recreationists are recognized as being a function of a number of different variables including those brought by the recreationist him/herself which are beyond the influence of the service provider. Drawing on the consumer literature, it is too easy to assume that the outcomes of the tourist activity are solely the creation of the tourist operators/industry. However, it is perhaps more enlightening to adopt a ‘transactional perspective’ outlined in the recreation literature. Here, the tourist â€Å"actively creates the recreation(tourist) experience, through a transaction with the physical and social setting, including what the recreationist (tourist) brings to the process in terms of history, perceptions, companions, skills, equipment, identities, hopes and dreams† (Williams, 1988). With this perspective, more emphasis is placed on the behavior of the individual and their role in creating the experience. Not all the responsibility for creating high levels of satisfaction rests with the service deliverer. With this in mind, (Crompton and Love, 1995) make a distinction between quality of opportunity and quality of experience. â€Å"Quality of opportunity is defined as qualities of the attributes of a service that are under the control of a supplier. Evaluation is concerned with judgments about the performance of the leisure opportunity supplier. . . . In contrast, quality of experience involves not only the attributes provided by a supplier, but also attributes brought to the opportunity by the visitor or recreationist. . Quality of experience is a psychological outcome or emotional response. . Satisfaction is measured by how well leisure activities are perceived to fulfill the basic needs and motives that stimulated the idea to participate in the activity (Crompton and Love, 1995:12)†. When the objective is to measure satisfaction with a holiday in a particular destination, it will be important to note this distinction and ensure that both aspects are included in the assessment. We have been reasonably good at assessing tourists’ perceptions of the quality of opportunity but largely ignored the question of quality of experience. A further perspective that could be of relevance here is that of Herzberg (1966). While his work mainly focused on the workplace, his theory of motivation has relevance to the expenditure of discretionary time such as going on a holiday. Herzberg (1966) suggests that all aspects of an experience can be classified as either a motivational or a hygienic factor. Motivational factors are those that positively encourage people to do something. For example, a desire to make new friends may motivate people to go on an organized tour rather than travel alone. On the other hand, hygienic factors are those things which would not encourage one to travel, but their absence would discourage such travel. A good example is the availability of clean drinking water. Having this available is unlikely to motivate someone to travel, while its absence could cause someone to not choose a particular destination. According to Roger James Associates (1996) â€Å"the absence of motivational factors does not lead to ‘dissatisfaction’ but rather to ‘unsatisfaction’ a sense of emptiness rather than a sense of anger or disappointment. On the other hand, the absence of a hygienic factor will lead to dissatisfaction. The presence of such a factor will not lead to ‘satisfaction’ but rather to ‘satisficing’, that is, a passive (albeit benign) feeling† (Roger James Associates, 1996 : 34). If we adopt this framework it could be suggested that we have tended to focus on the hygienic factors which are represented by the measurement of how well the services (hotels, airports, travel companies, etc) are provided. These are important because without these being done well, the customer would be very dissatisfied. However, we have not also measured the motivational factors. These are akin to the experience factors how well the destination facilitates the satisfaction of personal needs. The best way of ensuring that we are providing this is to understand the client’s needs, etc and to develop product that is relevant to these. In turn, this is linked to the benefits to be derived from the experience thus creating satisfaction. The work by Arnold and Price (1993) confirms the role that needs and desires play in the consumer’s evaluation of a particular experience. They present very clear evidence that the satisfaction of participants in this recreational (or possibly tourist?) activity is related to the extent to which the experience enhances their individual cultural script and are â€Å"interpreted within the broader narrative context of the consumer’s life† (Arnould and Price, 1993). They suggest that â€Å"satisfaction with river rafting . . . does not seem to be embodied in attributes of the experience such as amounts of time spent freezing in wet clothes, uncomfortable toilet facilities, bad food or any summary index of specific attributes of the trip† (Arnould and Price, 1993). These general thoughts appear to be in line with the fundamentals of the marketing concept most commonly described as â€Å"satisfying the needs and desires of the consumer† (Keith, 1960 :38) and the whole notion of benefit segmentation which suggests that purchases are selected on the basis of the benefits derived by consumers (Haley, 1968). It is also consistent with the recent work of Spreng and his associates which emphasizes the role that desires, as opposed to expectations, plays in determining satisfaction within the disconfirmation framework (Spreng, Mackenzie et al., 1996). Proposed Path Space does not permit an exhaustive examination of the extensive literature outlining the various models used as the basis for measuring customer satisfaction and gauging the behavioral aspects (see Parasuraman, Zeithaml et al., 1994). However, a review of this literature has uncovered a model that could be developed to provide a satisfactory method of evaluating tourists’ satisfaction at the level of the destination and their motivational map. This model has been developed by Iso-Ahola and has become the basis of extensive work at the national and international level. The index provided by the Iso-Ahola model provides a cumulative evaluation of a sector’s market offering coupled with individual evaluation of a specific transaction. Called the ‘Customer Satisfaction Index/Barometer’, it has been introduced in: Sweden, Germany and the United States of America (Fornell, Johnson et al, 1996). Taiwan and New Zealand are also in the process of introducing a similar national satisfaction indicator. While much work still needs to be done, the framework provided by Iso-Ahola model provides a good starting point. It should be possible to make the necessary changes required to produce a useful index that will contribute to the on-going development of this important industry. Chapter II Literature Review It is imperative to start with a review of literature that addressed motivation in the travel and tourism industry. By adopting this approach we will be able to present a much more comprehensive and inclusive approach to understanding the theories of motivation in the travel and tourism industry; and thus, we will be able to lay the foundations of clear parameters that can help scholars and decision makers measure the satisfaction of tourists and the underlying motivational factors. This part of the paper is dedicated to reviewing the literature that currently assesses the main theories of motivation. These theories span across a wide spectrum; therefore we will tackle the various theories of travel motivation in the first part and then we will focus our discussions on Iso-Ahola’s motivational theory. The main theories of travel motivation Knowledge of peoples travel motivations and its association with destination selection plays a critical role in predicting future travel patterns. The essay talks about the various theories propounded by the theorists and analyses their practical benefits for the tourism industry. Tourist motivation can be defined as the global integrating network of biological and cultural forces which gives value and direction to travel choices, behavior and experience. (Pearce, Morrison Rutledge, 1998) as cited by Allan R. Rhodes Espinoza. According to Seaton (1997) motivation is a state of arousal of a drive or need which impels people to activity in pursuit of goals. Once the goals have been achieved the need subsides and the individual returns to the equilibrium-but only briefly because new motives arise as the last one is satisfied. Krippendorf (1987), as cited in Seaton (1997) suggests that the motivation of the individual person to travel, to look outside for what he cannot find inside have been largely created by society and shaped by everyday life. People who live in cities, for example, are motivated to travel as tourists to wilderness areas because they need to escape from an artificial, monotonous environment. (Dann Matley, 1976) as cited in Mansfeld 1992). Grays travel-motivation theory, as noted by Mansfeld (1992), gives us two motives about why people go to natural settings. The first motive is the desire to go from a known to an unknown place, called in Grays theory wanderlust. Secondly, a place which can provide the traveler with specific facilities that do not exist in his or her own place of residence, referred in Grays theory as sun lust (Mansfeld, 1992). It is a common practice to consider traveler or tourist types as potential market segments for travel and tourism marketing (Smith, 1989 as cited in Theobald, 1996).Some of the motives which determine their travel choices are recreation, pleasure, new experiences, cultural interest, shopping. Any reader of literature of tourism motivation cannot help being struck by the similarity in findings by many researchers. The adjectives and categorizations of tourists based upon motivations may differ in number, but recurrent themes emerge. For example the need to escape from everyday surroundings for the purpose of relaxation, and discovering new things, places and people are often alluded to. According to Crompton (1979), as cited in Bello Etzel (1985), the need for relaxation, exploration, social interaction and enhancement of kinship relationships act as dominant push motives in the vacation decision. Reversely, pull motives are aroused by the destination and include factors like scenic attractions, historical sites. Push factors are thought to establish the desire for travel and pull factors are thought to explain actual destination choice. Seaton (1997) suggests that the push factors include avoidance of work, cultural/social pressures at home. The pull factors include seeking leisure /play, freedom and escape. Maslow (1943) identified two motivational types: tension-reducing motives; arousal-seeking motives. According to Maslow, there are five needs forming a hierarchy, progressing from the lower to the higher needs. Maslow argued that if the lower needs [physiological {hunger, thirst, rest}, safety {security}, belonging and love {affection, giving and receiving love}] are fulfilled the individual would be motivated by needs of the next level of the hierarchy [esteem {self-esteem and esteem for others}, self-actualization {personal self-fulfillment}]. Cooper et al(2005) criticizes Maslows theory saying that why and how Maslow selected the basic five needs remain unclear, although Page(2003) feels that it has relevance in understanding how human action is understandable and predictable compared to research which argues that human behavior is essentially irrational and unpredictable. Cooper et al (2005) also questions the arrangement of the needs. Though Cooper et al (2005) criticizes much about Maslows theory, he feels that tourism industry has borrowed a lot from Maslow because he provides a convenient set of containers that can be relatively labeled. Hudman (1980) as cited in Davidson and Maitland (1997) argue that Maslows (1943) hierarchy of needs provides a useful framework for understanding psychological motivational factors in tourism. Thus, for example, although the apparent purpose of a trip may be to visit friends and relatives, the underlying psychological motivation may be a need for belonging Motivational Theories for Travel and Tourism Motivational Theories for Travel and Tourism Abstract The purposes of this dissertation are to demonstrate how the motivational theories in travel and tourism can be used as a foundation for research into ceasing participation in organized leisure activities, and to discuss methodological implications that emerge from such an approach. The research problem is the identification of three motivational factors that mostly influence the choice of leisure activity in the Lebanese tourism sector. The dissertation will rely heavily on literature review and primary research that used university students and a focus group of industry professionals in Lebanon. The theoretical background of this study is structured according to Iso-Ahola’s motivational theory. Iso-Ahola’s theory asserts that personal escape, personal seeking, interpersonal escape, and interpersonal seeking motivate tourism and recreation. This dissertation operationalizes and empirically tests Iso-Ahola’s theory for similar tourism and recreation experiences. The motivation dimensions are monitored using scenario-based data for sporting events, beaches, amusement parks, and natural parks. The first investigation used confirmatory factor analysis to explore the efficacy of six competing motivational structures. Three of these competing models achieved superior and similar fit statistics, with one model incorporating the most parsimonious structure. This model gave equal and direct salience to each of the four motivations. The second investigation examined the differences in motivation levels for tourism and recreation experiences. Tourism experiences exhibited higher levels of motivation, particularly for the personal seeking and personal escape dimensions. The third investigation found no relationship between the number of recent domestic and international vacations and tourism motivations among the subjects. Chapter I Introduction This dissertation seeks to explore the rationale for, and difficulties of operationalizing, the measurement of tourists’ satisfaction with their experiences in particular destinations. It suggests that the on-going systematic measurement of satisfaction with destinations is a valuable exercise that will have tangible benefits, but acknowledges the difficulties of doing this in a meaningful manner. The principal argument presented is that the measurement of tourists’ satisfaction with a particular destination involves more than simply measuring the level of satisfaction with the services delivered by individual enterprises. There needs to be a much broader, more encompassing means of measuring satisfaction, one that relates closely to the motivations which tourists have for visiting the destination in the first place. The tourism industry consists of a number of different sectors including the travel, hospitality and visitor services sector. Within each of these sectors there are a number of individual enterprises that provide a range of services to people who are traveling away from their home environment. This travel could be for a variety of reasons including for pleasure, to visit friends and relatives, to work on a short term basis, to attend conferences, to participate in business activities, or any of a number of specific reasons. While the industry distinguishes between the various groups according to their purpose for travel, convention has it that all these short-term travelers are defined as ‘tourists† Likewise, the industry distinguishes between various ‘markets’ according to their place of origin (international, domestic, intra-state, interstate, etc). These distinctions are not relevant to this paper which is concerned with all these forms of tourism. Tourists visit destinations and engage in various activities while there. These destinations can be classified in various ways and at various scales of analysis. For example, Lebanon could be regarded as a destination for international visitors while Beirut could be one for people from northern Lebanon. At a different scale, a city or even a region could be regarded as a destination. This paper is concerned with all these levels. It is not concerned with individual enterprises which exist within certain destinations. As noted below, there appears to be adequate analysis of tourism satisfaction at the individual enterprise level. What is missing is a broader view that looks at the way tourists respond to the totality of their experiences in a particular destination irrespective of the particular activities that they engage in. I am going to provide an explanation of the Lebanese tourism economy because this market is the model that this dissertation uses as the benchmark for testing Iso-Ahola’s motivational theory. I have chosen this country due to its reputation of being the jewel of the Middle East and one of the most desired destinations in the region. The understanding of the characteristics of this market will play a critical role in laying the foundations for the research and would allow to increase the integrity and reliability of this research. Moreover, the market is highly concentrated and the geographic area is small; this aspect would play a paramount role in diminishing sources of error; and in case of their occurrence it would be easier to isolate and rectify. In addition, being my home country; I view studying this market as a personal passion which would allow me to present with a high â€Å"motivational† level. I will start by providing a review of the state of Lebanese tourism and highlight the trends, review precious research findings, and pinpoint the market characteristics. Tourism in the Lebanese Economy Over the last decade the tourism industry has emerged as a significant sector of the Lebanese economy generating approximately $5 billion in income, employing 1 in 9 Lebanese and contributing about $1.5 billion in export earnings. While approximately 55% of tourism activity involves domestic travel, the fastest growing sector is in-bound travel. This has been increasing significantly over the last decade with Lebanon receiving 1.1 million visits in 2004. Despite the recent downturn in the economies of major source countries, and the unstable political landscape visitor arrivals to Lebanon are expected to grow at an average annual rate of between 5.7 and 7.8 per cent to reach between 1.4 and 1.7 million visitors in 2010. Being a relatively new industry characterized by growth, the focus has been on marketing, visitor numbers, and length of stay, expenditure patterns and other measures of consumption. As the industry has begun to mature in the last five or so years; there has been an increasing interest in such things as quality of service, accreditation procedures, and measurement of client satisfaction. The issues discussed in this paper should be seen as part of this maturation process in which the industry is looking to achieve long-term sustainable growth that generates benefits for the industry, the clients and the community as a whole. Methodology of Research Collecting data in marketing research often involves several different strategies, such as interviewing and analyzing documents (Merriam, 1998). Using multiple sources of information is useful in our research since we have doubts that a single source of information will provide a complete and comprehensive understanding of the research problem, so in our research we use multiple sources of information. Basically, there are two forms of data: primary and secondary data. While writing the dissertation, I will use several different sources when collecting data in order to increase the validity of the collected data. Secondary data is the data that has been previously collected and published. The secondary data used in the beginning of our research, originated from various sources. In the preparatory period, we have started by studying literature related to relationship tourism marketing, tourism buying and motivational behavior and motivational marketing concepts in order to get deeper insight into and understanding of the researched area. The other sources used for collection of our secondary data were: newspaper and magazine articles, course materials, on-line sources (Internet databases) and tourism companies’ materials (internal and external). The methodology used for primary research will be depicted at greater length in the third chapter. Current Measurement of Tourist’s Satisfaction Levels Despite the large body of literature available on satisfaction research in general, only a few academic studies have focused directly on customer satisfaction amongst tourists. Of these, an even more limited number have been undertaken in Lebanon. The major studies include Fick and Ritchie (1991), Reisinger and Waryszak (1994), Arnold and Price (1993), Crompton and Love (1995), Geva and Goldman (1991), Maddox (1985) and Ryan (1995). Because of the limited material available in the academic literature, a preliminary survey of organizations that may have investigated tourist satisfaction was undertaken. Given the broad focus of the paper and the limited space, no attempt was made to look at individual tourism enterprises measuring the satisfaction level of clients as part of their on-going quality assurance program. The most common example of this is the questionnaire that is left in individual hotel rooms. These vary from single response questions to sophisticated instruments designed to elicit quite detailed responses from guests. Most of these are diagnostic in the sense that they are aimed at identifying specific measures that can be taken to improve the service. Some specifically enquire about customer’s perceptions of the service’s value for money. In some instances, particularly amongst 5 star hotel chains, these are used for benchmarking or as performance indicators. Because of this decision to exclude individual enterprises, the preliminary survey focused on the following organizations: Academic departments of Lebanese universities State tourist offices Non-government tourist industry organizations and associations The search found a range of studies has been completed most of which are primarily data-gathering research exercises rather than conceptual studies. The prime studies are described in appendix I. It is clear that some work has been done in this area by a smattering of agencies each of which approaches it from a quite different perspective. Despite acknowledgement of the potential value of the data, current efforts are not coordinated resulting in a lack of comparability that makes it impossible to identify trends and monitor changes in a systematic fashion. More importantly, the diversity of approaches demonstrates a need for substantial conceptual work on the nature of tourist satisfaction in general and the measurement of tourist satisfaction with destinations in particular. What is required is further exploration into the application of concepts and ideas drawn from the broader consumer literature to the specific challenge of measuring the satisfaction of tourists with particular destinations. This may require a quite different approach to that adopted for other services. Why measure satisfaction at the level of the destination? There are a number of reasons why it would be appropriate to look at extending the measurement of tourist satisfaction to the more global level of the tourist destination. It is critical to understand the underlying motivational factors in order to be able to get a clearer barometer for the measurement of satisfaction of tourists. Without pre-empting the nature of this measurement, these reasons include: Millions of dollars are spent each year on destination marketing by national and state tourism offices, airlines and regional tourism bodies. This includes detailed surveys of potential markets as well as extensive advertising and promotional campaigns in source countries. While there is considerable research into the impact of the promotional effort through awareness studies, tracking studies, etc, these all concentrate on the inputs (i.e. has the campaign reached its target audience?). What is missing is an understanding of the client’s reaction to the product offering, in particularly whether it meets the needs of the target market. This would become an integral part of the understanding what the market(s) is/are seeking. Peak organizations in the tourism industry recognize the need to encourage both new and repeat business. The latter can best be achieved by ensuring that our current offerings are satisfying the needs, expectations and desires of current tourists and their propensity to recommend the destination to others. The measure could become a barometer of the ‘health’ of the industry for strategic planning purposes. The tourism industry itself is grappling with the issue of service quality and recognizes that this is the key to long term success. At present its focus is on establishing accreditation mechanisms to ensure that individual firms conform to appropriate standards. Monitoring tourists’ satisfaction at the more global level would provide a valuable framework for this and enable comparison between the efforts of the individual enterprise and those of the industry as a whole. Government agencies are now recognizing the value of assessing the success of their programs in terms of outcomes rather than inputs. As Lebanese government agencies move in this direction the need for the systematic collection of the type of data proposed will increase. In the case of tourism, this is particularly relevant to national, state and regional tourism development bodies responsible for destination marketing. Using the level of satisfaction experienced by visitors to their destination as a measure of success would transfer the focus away from the efforts of the organization towards their achievements. Governments of all persuasions are looking critically at their financial commitments and questioning whether they should continue the traditionally high level of support. If the industry can demonstrate a relationship between the level of support and the satisfaction of visitors to their destination then the argument for continued support would be strengthened greatly. This would complement other measures such as visitor numbers, expenditure, etc. With an appropriate measurement instrument it could be possible for individual sectors of the industry to be compared with other sectors. In an industry where the success of the whole depends on the contribution of each part, this information will help to identify those sectors that need to improve. Recent developments in consumer protection have extended into the area of satisfaction. The 1993 European Union Directive on Travel has required member states to implement laws giving tourists the right to obtain compensation from packaged tour operators in the event that they are ‘dissatisfied’ with their holiday. This applies in all destinations, including Lebanon. The results of the proposed survey will help to focus the attention of the industry on this issue and provide data on how the industry is going and what needs to be improved. Perspectives on Measuring Tourists’ Satisfaction with a Destination Measuring tourists’ satisfaction with a destination is conceptually different from measuring satisfaction at the transaction specific level. Moreover, it is contended that while satisfaction at the destination level is influenced by the various transactions that occur at that destination, an individual’s level of satisfaction is influenced by much broader, global factors, some of which are beyond the capacity of the tourism industry to affect. The purpose of this section is to outline some ideas that should be taken into account when developing a method to measure satisfaction at this relatively abstract level. Johnson, Anderson et al., (1995) have distinguished between two different general conceptualizations of satisfaction: transaction-specific satisfaction and cumulative satisfaction. The former is concerned with â€Å"satisfaction as an individual, transaction-specific measure or evaluation of a particular product or service experience† (Johnson, Anderson et al. 1995). Cumulative satisfaction, on the other hand, is â€Å"a cumulative, abstract construct that describes customer’s total consumption experience with a product or service† (Johnson, Anderson et al., 1995). As a customer’s overall evaluation of the purchase or consumption experience, cumulative satisfaction is the most relevant conceptualization when the focus is on the tourist’s evaluation of their overall experience at a destination. This is sometimes referred to as market-level satisfaction. The literature suggests that satisfaction measurement must be treated differently at these two levels of abstraction. Moreover, when considering consumer satisfaction with their consumption experiences, a major distinction has been made between the consumption of goods and services (Lovelock, 1991). Measures of satisfaction are not the same for these different consumption experiences, largely because of the role of the consumer in the service encounter. It could also be argued that tourism is a ‘special’ service in that, like recreation or education, it is largely self-produced (Williams, 1988). The individual plays a central role in determining the experiences achieved and the benefits derived. The ‘special’ nature of tourism can be understood by adopting the behavioral perspective first developed within the recreation and leisure literature. This literature demonstrates the value of perceiving recreation as activity that creates experiences which, in turn, result in benefits for the individual (Driver and Tocher, 1970; Mannel and Iso-Ahola, 1987). This created a focus on the factors which determine the quality of those experiences and the benefits derived. Measurement of satisfaction has therefore involved an assessment of whether the experiences have resulted in the desired benefits sought by the individual. In his seminal paper (Wagar 1966) suggested that the quality of recreation experience depends upon how well desired outcomes are realized. Satisfaction is therefore more a function of the needs and interests of the individual than the attributes and characteristics of the service provided. These ideas have gradually become the basis of the conceptualization of the tourist experience and informed much of the work about tourist motivations and expectations (Crompton and Love, 1995; Ryan, 1995). Therefore tourist experiences can be regarded as the result of an active endeavor by the individual to create a situation in which to achieve satisfaction. It is this active involvement of the individual in the creation of his or her personal experiences that needs to be acknowledged. In a similar vein, the early recreation literature also recognized the implications of this approach for the assessment of recreation service quality. It was recognized that â€Å"the quality of the experiences can be influenced by input factors provided by managers . . . but to a considerable extent the quality of experiences depends upon choices made by recreationists and how they use the many factors of production† (Brown, 1988: 413). In other words, the satisfaction levels experienced by recreationists are recognized as being a function of a number of different variables including those brought by the recreationist him/herself which are beyond the influence of the service provider. Drawing on the consumer literature, it is too easy to assume that the outcomes of the tourist activity are solely the creation of the tourist operators/industry. However, it is perhaps more enlightening to adopt a ‘transactional perspective’ outlined in the recreation literature. Here, the tourist â€Å"actively creates the recreation(tourist) experience, through a transaction with the physical and social setting, including what the recreationist (tourist) brings to the process in terms of history, perceptions, companions, skills, equipment, identities, hopes and dreams† (Williams, 1988). With this perspective, more emphasis is placed on the behavior of the individual and their role in creating the experience. Not all the responsibility for creating high levels of satisfaction rests with the service deliverer. With this in mind, (Crompton and Love, 1995) make a distinction between quality of opportunity and quality of experience. â€Å"Quality of opportunity is defined as qualities of the attributes of a service that are under the control of a supplier. Evaluation is concerned with judgments about the performance of the leisure opportunity supplier. . . . In contrast, quality of experience involves not only the attributes provided by a supplier, but also attributes brought to the opportunity by the visitor or recreationist. . Quality of experience is a psychological outcome or emotional response. . Satisfaction is measured by how well leisure activities are perceived to fulfill the basic needs and motives that stimulated the idea to participate in the activity (Crompton and Love, 1995:12)†. When the objective is to measure satisfaction with a holiday in a particular destination, it will be important to note this distinction and ensure that both aspects are included in the assessment. We have been reasonably good at assessing tourists’ perceptions of the quality of opportunity but largely ignored the question of quality of experience. A further perspective that could be of relevance here is that of Herzberg (1966). While his work mainly focused on the workplace, his theory of motivation has relevance to the expenditure of discretionary time such as going on a holiday. Herzberg (1966) suggests that all aspects of an experience can be classified as either a motivational or a hygienic factor. Motivational factors are those that positively encourage people to do something. For example, a desire to make new friends may motivate people to go on an organized tour rather than travel alone. On the other hand, hygienic factors are those things which would not encourage one to travel, but their absence would discourage such travel. A good example is the availability of clean drinking water. Having this available is unlikely to motivate someone to travel, while its absence could cause someone to not choose a particular destination. According to Roger James Associates (1996) â€Å"the absence of motivational factors does not lead to ‘dissatisfaction’ but rather to ‘unsatisfaction’ a sense of emptiness rather than a sense of anger or disappointment. On the other hand, the absence of a hygienic factor will lead to dissatisfaction. The presence of such a factor will not lead to ‘satisfaction’ but rather to ‘satisficing’, that is, a passive (albeit benign) feeling† (Roger James Associates, 1996 : 34). If we adopt this framework it could be suggested that we have tended to focus on the hygienic factors which are represented by the measurement of how well the services (hotels, airports, travel companies, etc) are provided. These are important because without these being done well, the customer would be very dissatisfied. However, we have not also measured the motivational factors. These are akin to the experience factors how well the destination facilitates the satisfaction of personal needs. The best way of ensuring that we are providing this is to understand the client’s needs, etc and to develop product that is relevant to these. In turn, this is linked to the benefits to be derived from the experience thus creating satisfaction. The work by Arnold and Price (1993) confirms the role that needs and desires play in the consumer’s evaluation of a particular experience. They present very clear evidence that the satisfaction of participants in this recreational (or possibly tourist?) activity is related to the extent to which the experience enhances their individual cultural script and are â€Å"interpreted within the broader narrative context of the consumer’s life† (Arnould and Price, 1993). They suggest that â€Å"satisfaction with river rafting . . . does not seem to be embodied in attributes of the experience such as amounts of time spent freezing in wet clothes, uncomfortable toilet facilities, bad food or any summary index of specific attributes of the trip† (Arnould and Price, 1993). These general thoughts appear to be in line with the fundamentals of the marketing concept most commonly described as â€Å"satisfying the needs and desires of the consumer† (Keith, 1960 :38) and the whole notion of benefit segmentation which suggests that purchases are selected on the basis of the benefits derived by consumers (Haley, 1968). It is also consistent with the recent work of Spreng and his associates which emphasizes the role that desires, as opposed to expectations, plays in determining satisfaction within the disconfirmation framework (Spreng, Mackenzie et al., 1996). Proposed Path Space does not permit an exhaustive examination of the extensive literature outlining the various models used as the basis for measuring customer satisfaction and gauging the behavioral aspects (see Parasuraman, Zeithaml et al., 1994). However, a review of this literature has uncovered a model that could be developed to provide a satisfactory method of evaluating tourists’ satisfaction at the level of the destination and their motivational map. This model has been developed by Iso-Ahola and has become the basis of extensive work at the national and international level. The index provided by the Iso-Ahola model provides a cumulative evaluation of a sector’s market offering coupled with individual evaluation of a specific transaction. Called the ‘Customer Satisfaction Index/Barometer’, it has been introduced in: Sweden, Germany and the United States of America (Fornell, Johnson et al, 1996). Taiwan and New Zealand are also in the process of introducing a similar national satisfaction indicator. While much work still needs to be done, the framework provided by Iso-Ahola model provides a good starting point. It should be possible to make the necessary changes required to produce a useful index that will contribute to the on-going development of this important industry. Chapter II Literature Review It is imperative to start with a review of literature that addressed motivation in the travel and tourism industry. By adopting this approach we will be able to present a much more comprehensive and inclusive approach to understanding the theories of motivation in the travel and tourism industry; and thus, we will be able to lay the foundations of clear parameters that can help scholars and decision makers measure the satisfaction of tourists and the underlying motivational factors. This part of the paper is dedicated to reviewing the literature that currently assesses the main theories of motivation. These theories span across a wide spectrum; therefore we will tackle the various theories of travel motivation in the first part and then we will focus our discussions on Iso-Ahola’s motivational theory. The main theories of travel motivation Knowledge of peoples travel motivations and its association with destination selection plays a critical role in predicting future travel patterns. The essay talks about the various theories propounded by the theorists and analyses their practical benefits for the tourism industry. Tourist motivation can be defined as the global integrating network of biological and cultural forces which gives value and direction to travel choices, behavior and experience. (Pearce, Morrison Rutledge, 1998) as cited by Allan R. Rhodes Espinoza. According to Seaton (1997) motivation is a state of arousal of a drive or need which impels people to activity in pursuit of goals. Once the goals have been achieved the need subsides and the individual returns to the equilibrium-but only briefly because new motives arise as the last one is satisfied. Krippendorf (1987), as cited in Seaton (1997) suggests that the motivation of the individual person to travel, to look outside for what he cannot find inside have been largely created by society and shaped by everyday life. People who live in cities, for example, are motivated to travel as tourists to wilderness areas because they need to escape from an artificial, monotonous environment. (Dann Matley, 1976) as cited in Mansfeld 1992). Grays travel-motivation theory, as noted by Mansfeld (1992), gives us two motives about why people go to natural settings. The first motive is the desire to go from a known to an unknown place, called in Grays theory wanderlust. Secondly, a place which can provide the traveler with specific facilities that do not exist in his or her own place of residence, referred in Grays theory as sun lust (Mansfeld, 1992). It is a common practice to consider traveler or tourist types as potential market segments for travel and tourism marketing (Smith, 1989 as cited in Theobald, 1996).Some of the motives which determine their travel choices are recreation, pleasure, new experiences, cultural interest, shopping. Any reader of literature of tourism motivation cannot help being struck by the similarity in findings by many researchers. The adjectives and categorizations of tourists based upon motivations may differ in number, but recurrent themes emerge. For example the need to escape from everyday surroundings for the purpose of relaxation, and discovering new things, places and people are often alluded to. According to Crompton (1979), as cited in Bello Etzel (1985), the need for relaxation, exploration, social interaction and enhancement of kinship relationships act as dominant push motives in the vacation decision. Reversely, pull motives are aroused by the destination and include factors like scenic attractions, historical sites. Push factors are thought to establish the desire for travel and pull factors are thought to explain actual destination choice. Seaton (1997) suggests that the push factors include avoidance of work, cultural/social pressures at home. The pull factors include seeking leisure /play, freedom and escape. Maslow (1943) identified two motivational types: tension-reducing motives; arousal-seeking motives. According to Maslow, there are five needs forming a hierarchy, progressing from the lower to the higher needs. Maslow argued that if the lower needs [physiological {hunger, thirst, rest}, safety {security}, belonging and love {affection, giving and receiving love}] are fulfilled the individual would be motivated by needs of the next level of the hierarchy [esteem {self-esteem and esteem for others}, self-actualization {personal self-fulfillment}]. Cooper et al(2005) criticizes Maslows theory saying that why and how Maslow selected the basic five needs remain unclear, although Page(2003) feels that it has relevance in understanding how human action is understandable and predictable compared to research which argues that human behavior is essentially irrational and unpredictable. Cooper et al (2005) also questions the arrangement of the needs. Though Cooper et al (2005) criticizes much about Maslows theory, he feels that tourism industry has borrowed a lot from Maslow because he provides a convenient set of containers that can be relatively labeled. Hudman (1980) as cited in Davidson and Maitland (1997) argue that Maslows (1943) hierarchy of needs provides a useful framework for understanding psychological motivational factors in tourism. Thus, for example, although the apparent purpose of a trip may be to visit friends and relatives, the underlying psychological motivation may be a need for belonging