Wednesday, November 27, 2019

My Body is My Own Business free essay sample

Naheed Mustafa’s is speaking to her sisters of Islam to pull away from western thought process of what is beautiful. She does this through using racially divisive hook, â€Å"I OFTEN wonder whether people see me as a radical, fundamentalist Muslim terrorist packing an AK-47 assault rifle inside my jean jacket†. Her tone is a sharp frustration of western culture. This literary style will most definitely attract people of her race and gender. â€Å"My Body is My Own Business† and â€Å"Chicken-Hips† discloses western cultures fallacies on what is beautiful. Naheed states that, â€Å"WOMEN are taught from early childhood that their worth is proportional to their attractiveness†. Catherine states, â€Å"I come from a culture in which it is almost unseemly for a woman to eat too heartily. It’s considered unattractive†. Both authors succeed in pointing out western cultures values on what is beautiful. Pigott’s write in a manner which is easier to digest for public reading. We will write a custom essay sample on My Body is My Own Business or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page If it were to be placed in a national newspaper it would printed on liberal and conservative papers. You feel you’re discovering what she is has learnt through her experiences in Africa. She does this my making her ironic state (being overweight but still under sized) delightfully humorous. Naheed’s essay if you were to place hers in a national newspaper it would only be print in a liberal paper. Her tone would be considered too brash for other racial groups. It was written not for the average person to understand. Her essay is more of a statement of, â€Å"who I am and I don’t care what you think of me†. She speaks in great detail how the hijab is a lightning rod for ridicule by others who are less enlighten. â€Å"I get the whole gamut of strange looks, stares, and covert glances†. However, it is her source of freedom to disengage from the physical values press upon women within western society. â€Å"My appearance is not subjected to public scrutiny, my beauty, or perhaps lack of it, has been removed from the realm of what can legitimately be discussed†. How I personally view this, she chose to carry a different cross of objectification for another. I see her hijab as a bunker from western values she bombarded with.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Politics Canadian Immigration essays

Politics Canadian Immigration essays In an age when the threat of terrorism has become an all to real reality for western nations, criticism has risen following the implementation of reforms to the Canadian immigration Act. Sept 11th focused Canadians attention on the flaws in the National immigration policy, and swift reform was required in order to combat the inherent problem with the countries policies. The government passed several resolutions, most of which analysts say have not done enough to successfully protect Canadian citizens, along with those of neighbouring countries, from the threat of terrorism. This paper will layout the new changes in contrast to the prior September 11th policies, and will also display the specific problems of the new policies. The focus will then turn to way in which the new legislation can be improved in order to focus on the important matters concerning immigration. Argument 1- The prior September 11th policies and the perceived flaws therein. Point 1- Canadas prior September 11th refugee policies as being much to lenient towards what determines refugee statues and the prosecution of people who break refugee probation regulations. Evidence- 1.Tom Fennel- Canadas open door: A new load of boatpeople sparks call for tougher stance on refugees 2001 Arg. -Leon Benoit says Canada is seen as soft touch, anyone can claim refugee status. -Explanation on how Canada can closer relate its policy to that of the United States or Australia. 2.The National- The Trail of a Terrorist 2001 Arg. -The case of Ahmed Ressam as an example of Canadas faltering refugee policy Point 2- Canadas immigrant grading system and the means of legally claiming immigrant status in Canada is slow and complicating, causing more immigrants to search for alternate means of coming to Canada. ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Effects of Rising Economic Role of China on High Levels of Essay

Effects of Rising Economic Role of China on High Levels of Unemployment in the EU and USA - Essay Example ble effects of China’s economic strength on unemployment rates in the European Union states and the United States can also be explored by understanding the primary causes of unemployment in the two regions because a review of factors into high unemployment rates in the region identifies vulnerability to a foreign economic force. The European Union states regulate their labour market and this influences unemployment rates among the Union’s states. Carbaugh explains that the level of inflexibility in a country’s labour industry is directly proportional to the country’s unemployment rates as employers manage regulatory constraints to ensure their fair share of profit. Laws for protection of employees’ rights and minimum wage laws are legal factors in the region that force employers to resort to alternative cost cutting strategies such as reducing number of employees. Strong labour unions also force pay and initiates similar counter measures into high u nemployment rates as employers struggle to balance their expenses. The relatively cheaper exports from China will however offer a more profitable venture and paralyse the regions’ production industries to increase unemployment rates (Carbaugh 2010, p. 257- 259). The types of unemployment that are significant among the European Union countries further identify microeconomic factors into the region’s high unemployment rates. â€Å"Frictional, structural, and seasonal unemployment† mean that economies are not flexible enough to align their human resource potentials with their dynamic labour markets. Payments for unemployment benefits in the region also accounts for significant rate of unemployment because people do not feel a mandatory need for work and may not make necessary efforts to gain necessary skills for... This essay aims to provide an economic outlook for the level of unemployment in the European Union and the United States, in connection with rising levels of their imports of goods and services from China. Effects of globalization have been significant in different regions of the world, both negative and positive. China has for example emerged to be an economic giant while western countries have continued to suffer from high unemployment rates. The trend in China’s economic growth is one of the indicators of the effects of its economy on unemployment rates in the European Union and the United States. China has continually expanded its economy and its exports, a factor that has undermined manufacturing activities in other countries Possible effects of China’s economic strength on unemployment rates in the European Union states and the United States can be explored by understanding the primary causes of unemployment in two regions. The level of inflexibility in European Union labour industry is directly proportional to the unemployment rates as employers manage regulatory constraints to ensure their fair share of profit. The US is poor in natural resources and heavily relies on imports for its production processes that utilizes natural resources and may also for the nation to import finished products from nations like China. It can only rely on technology and education to enhance its business activities and reduce its unemployment rates but is under significant threat to suffer from unemployment effects of globalization.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

CURRENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CURRENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES - Essay Example Three existing models are used to connect these communities of networked information; hybrid, co-op and federation. Federation combines enterprises that are self-sufficient and maintain an agreement to share and network and allow access to information via a peer to peer system. Co-op combines enterprises that are comprised of smaller enterprises using a combined data repository that share their technology and expenses. Hybrid is obviously a combination of the two which is more beneficial in larger areas where information is shared across geographical areas. Many are formed originally as non-profit and once established change to a profit status. Creating a health information network that is national should be centralized, available on the internet, be governed by both public and private organization and be patient centered, complying with all health information security protocols and standards. Cooperation between government and the public sector is essential and regional level networks need to include harmonization (Conn). Uses of health information can include quality assurance, clinical pathways, protocol development, outcome measurements, health plan performance and underwriting among many other attributes. A health information system can be used by patients, providers, case managers, drug manufacturers, insurance companies, and other payers. Despite technology advances healthcare electronic solutions continue to lag behind other areas in information technology. Electronic personal health care records allow patients to store, view, capture and share information about their health care needs. They are a combination of data, knowledge, and software tools which allow consumers to become more active in their case management. A 2009 survey indicated that 8 of 10 Americans are concerned about their health care data being used inappropriately (McGee). Medical costs are increasing patient exposure and

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Disscuss the relevance of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) to a Essay - 1

Disscuss the relevance of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) to a company seeking to evaluate its cost of capital - Essay Example The market risk or systematic risk is the unavoidable risk brought in by the economy wide perils (Brealy et al, 2005). The CAPM’s focus is on the method of measuring systematic risk and its effect on the required return and share prices. Though it was initially evolved for investment in equity, it is also used for evaluating company investments in capital projects now (Davis & Pain, 2002). Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) attempts to bring out a linkage between risk and return for the assets (Gitman,2006). The CAPM is built on the premise that well diversified investors dominate the stock market and their paramount concern being the market risk. The assumption is plausible in a situation in which large institutions and small investors can diversify at a low cost (Brealy et al, 2007). The CAPM builds on the proposition that additional risk requires a higher return. This return has two components: (1) what may be earned on a risk-free asset, such as a U.S. Treasury bill, plus (2) a premium for bearing risk. Since unsystematic risk is reduced through diversification, a stock’s risk premium is the additional return required to bear the non-diversifiable, systematic risk associated with the stock (Mayo 2007). The key input for the CAPM is therefore the excess return of the market over the risk free rate, which is the market (equity) risk premium. The practice adopted commonly has been to apply the historical average return over a long period as a measure of what investors expect to earn. As a substitute for the market portfolio, a broad equity market index is applied. Ke is the cost of equity capital, Rf is the risk free rate of return usually measured by the rate of return on US treasury securities, Rm is the market return of a diversified portfolio and I is the Beta co-efficient of the firm’s portfolio. The beta coefficient shows the volatility of the stock relative to that of an average stock. If it is 0.5, it is half as

Friday, November 15, 2019

Analysis of the Australian Healthcare System

Analysis of the Australian Healthcare System INTRODUCTION The health of people belonging to any nation is the prime topic of interest for the government of that very nation. On the same lines, it is very essential that the health system should be based on equity principle, such that no one is denied the right to utilize the benefits of the health care system. According to the National Health Reform Agreement, Australian Health care system is also founded on the concept of equity of access efficiency and effectiveness (Adityan2, 2013). It is found to be a world class system in terms of both effectiveness and efficiency. The population has a good health status, with the average life expectancy at birth of 81.4 years (women-83.7 and men- 79.2). This is the highest in the entire world. Still even with such statistics, there are certain groups like those of aboriginals and the Torres Islanders, who have a poor health status (AGDH, 2014). Australian government works under the scheme of medicare, which aims at providing help with high medical cost s and the hospital costs. Another scheme called the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) has also been implemented so that the costs of most of the medicines is subsidized. This essay describes the current scenario that prevails in the Australian democracy, regarding the status of equity of access, its effectiveness and the efficiency of the healthcare system. Effectiveness in this regard focuses on the ratio of outputs to outcomes. These three components form the basis of an ideal health system. In other words, a health system that if effective and efficient, is able to yield estimated outcome, is able to generate profitable outputs and is easily accessible (widely distributed), is an ideal health system for any country (NHHRC, 2009). The aim of this essay is to discuss the postulates of equity of access, effectiveness and efficiency in the Australian health care system and also throw light on the interrelationships among these concepts. EQUITY According to the US health and human rights academics Braverman and Gruskinn equity is an ethical concept with the baseline of distributive justice. With respect to healthcare, equity aims to eliminate unequal opportunites that are provided, to be healthy. Such opportunities are not given to those who have membership of socially less privileged groups like the poor people, handicapped, disenfranchised racial, cultural or ethnic groups. Mostly the people living in the rural areas are treated this way. If equity has to be considered with respect to the health care practices, then all the disparities or discriminations based on races, castes, origin, etc, should be eliminated completely. Thus, equity aims at diverting the attention of authorities towards the less privileged people of the nation (Braverman et al., 2003). As depicted by this definition, the requirement for medical health care depends upon the medical and social situation of an individual. In Australia, indigenous populati on is the one suffering from denial from health care services. They are generally linked with the economical, social, educational and cultural causes. The World Health Organisation has described inequity as follows,† Inequities are the differences or discriminations that are unjust, unfair, unnecessary and avoidable, but still persist in our society. It is not that every inequity is unfair, but yes all inequities are a result of unfair differences among the people. In the field of healthcare, just refers to the access permission for those who are not able to pay large sums of money, but are in desperate need of medical aid. Inequity should be prevented in granting access to medical aids for such cases depending upon the needs of various groups †. Gavin Mooney has defined equity as â€Å"equal access to equal care for equal need† (Mooney G., 2003). It was surveyed and found that the current health care facilities do not cater to the special needs of the indigenous people. There are many barriers to equity of access like the cost of care is very high, the fees of the consumer is again high, there is low health literacy among the people, poor access to health service information by the patients living in the remote areas, timely unavailability of the doctors, prevalence of quality services only in the posh parts of the country and lastly, the discrimination in giving the treatments. The last point itself explains the loopholes in the health care system. Some of the major reasons for such inequity are as follows: Most of the shopkeepers have closed their outlet in remote and poorer areas because there is decline in bulk billing. Patients who are willing to pay some extra amount are treated well while the rest are just ignored and left to die. Generally there are no hospitals in the remote areas. But even if some are there, they are too old that they need replacement/ Access to high technology treatments is doubtful in such areas and for such population. Richardson has shown the data statistics saying that the treatment of heart disease is thrice as common as in the insured patients. Also the provision of timely surgery is not applicable for public patients, as they have to wait in long queue and are treated once all the private patients have been taken care of. Better access to high quality services like that in dentistry and ancillary healthcare are offered to only those who either belong to the privately insured group or belong to a rich class. The Australians belonging to the White society are given the best possible treatment available in the world. While on the contrary, people belonging to the indigenous (Aboriginals and Torres Islander) population do not even have the facility to disclose their problem to a medical practitioner, leave apart getting the correct treatment. Australian Council of social Service (COSS) has implemented various strategies to overcome this gap by supporting the closing the gap priorities and promoting aboriginal health. EFFECTIVENESS Effectiveness can be defined as the measure of accuracy of a therapeutic method of treatment or success of the treatment when conducting the medical practice in remote location, or in the areas where sufficient funds or facilities are not available. Use of information technology in conjugation with high speed internet, is a ray of hope for managing patient’s records, health, finances, work force, advancements in medical field and delivery of services (Imran Muhammed et al., 2012). In this context, in order to introduce positive medical reforms, the government of Australia has implemented Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) as the e health solution in this country. Earlier, the records of the patients were stored electronically in an electronic health recorder (EHR) system. Such systems were managed by a health care official and it helped a lot in maintaining records of so many people and also provided safety of personal information. But the major drawback of this system was that it was limited to the institutional access. If the family or any other person wanted to look after the patient, he/ she didn’t have any access to these records (Perlin, Kolodner, Rosswell, 2004). To avoid this problem a more patient centered model of health care system was developed (Perlin et al., 2004). This new model was termed as electronic personal health record (PHR) systems. An example of this new technology is Australia’s Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR). PCEHR was introduced in July, 2012. PCEHR had the function of keeping all the key components of the patient’s health information in one database, in form electronic records. Only registered users and their medical service providers had the access to all the records and summary of the treatments and their medical history. The main aim of developing this kind of electronic database was to help the medical practitioners to take better decisions with respect to t he treatments to be given to the patients (Les Schumer, 2013). PCEHR has some basic postulates like voluntary participation, providing access under consumer (or patient’s) control and a source of authentic information. PCEHR is not a substitution for clinical records. Instead depending upon the interest of the patients, they can register themselves online and choose a health care provider to create and maintain their records. People can now view their very own medical history ranging from the time, type and duration of medications, allergies and adverse reactions as well (Les Schumer, 2013). EFFCIENCY Efficiency, when defined in relation to the healthcare, is a relative term. It can be used to refer to technical as well as productive efficiency or even social efficiency. The extent to which effort, cost and time can be used for the desired task or purpose, is the efficiency. It is the final stage of a logical process which comprises of three steps starting from efficacy to effectiveness and finally efficiency. Australian government aims in maximizing the health care outputs produced from a set of standard input and improving the input quality. Conversely, the government is incorporating some measures to ensure that the health care inputs in terms of cost are minimized. As mentioned there are basically three types of efficiencies that are considered in Australian health care system (James F. Burgess, 2011). Technical efficiency: It is measured by production of outputs by utilizing fewer inputs. The potential inefficiencies prevailing in the system are long duration of stay, drugs a nd IV fluids that have expired and unused CPOE system. Productive efficiency: It is measured by production of outputs at minimized cost. Some of the potential inefficiencies faced by Australia are the Positron emission tomography (PET) scan vs. standard imaging for Alzheimer’s diagnosis, high discharge cost and high cost of care. Social efficiency: It is measured by making an individual cope with the current ailment without harming any other person. Again the system is filled with potential inefficiencies like use of cardiac defibrillator in low risk patients and wrong scope and scale in hospitals. Palmer and Torgerson reported that efficiency is the realtion between resource inputs ( which can be costs arising from labour input, capital investment and equipments) and either intermediate outputs (number of patients treated, waiting time, etc) or final health outcomes (lives saved, life years gained, quality adjusted life years (QALYs)) with an ideal target on the final health outcomes. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY Efficiency is not possible without efficacy and effectiveness because both describe the extent to which the goal can be reached (Stephen Leeder, 2003). Keeping in view the Healthcare system of Australia, it is evident that even though the government is trying to reinforce new reforms into the healthcare system every now and then, yet there is lack of equity of access. The aim of such reforms is to improve the healthcare system and help it emerge as the high quality system. For this it is essential to have effective and efficient functioning of the system. But this is not the case. As said before, the health of the people in a particular nation, determines the progress or economic status of the country. And the health of people is determined by how quickly the treatment facilities are available for the patients. The aboriginals and the Torres Islanders are unable to access the medical institutions because of the discrimination and their location (which is generally outside the main ci ty or it is a remote location). The average life span of indigenous Australians is between 10-17 years of age, which is quite lower as compared to that in the non indigenous populations. Also, the rate at which the new born babies die (in indigenous populations) is two times higher than the rate in non indigenous and they also experience frequent situations of illness as well. Thus, it is need of the hour to seal this gap between the two populations so that equal rights and equal opportunities are provided to both the classes of people, irrespective of their origin, race, tribe, etc. Thus, there is a deep connection between equity of access, effectiveness and efficiency. When all the populations, whether indigenous or non indigenous, have equal access to all the medical facilities, the ratio of healthy to ill will definitely rise and the statistics will improve. But this is only possible when the medical facilities are effectively organized and made available in the remote areas too . Further, the successful execution of all these agendas will determine the efficiency of the Health care system. Thus, all the three terms go hand in hand. Without one, the other two are meaningless. CURRENT SCENARIO Many clinicians and the analysts do not consider it appropriate to include economics (costs) inbetween the medical decisions as they consider this as unethical. But they are definitely mistaken as one of the main advantages of health economics is that everything is transparent and all the concepts of equity, effectiveness and efficiency are maintained. It has been reported that the richer countries use the public funds more in the field of healthcare as compared to those used by the underdeveloped countries (Stephen Leeder, 2003). Since the investment made in health care demonstrates a country’s economic strength and its democratic values, it is both desirable and essential for a government to invest in health care. Secondly, the salaries offered to the doctors or other medical officers are very less as compared to what actually should be offered. Moreover, the funds given to the health care systems are not enough to procure the most appropriate treatments and thus this causes problems. Also since the funds are not sufficient, proper medical instruments are also not available for the treatment of chronic disorders. For an instance, there is no provision of NSAIDs which have an anitinflammatory effect on the disease. According to the Canadian social commenter John Ralston Saul, the governments that believe in corporatism, rationalism and cost reduction, as a means to improve the efficiency, become the main reason for the failure of the publically funded health care facilities (Stephen Leeder, 2003). The second scenario prevalent in Australian democracy is that even though the governments provide enough funds for the health care institutions, yet they do not guarantee equity of access. The big private sectors are generally biased and divert all the contribution from the government towards the richer institutions. CONCLUSION In order to place equity on the agenda of the health care policies of the Australian government, it is important to generate awareness about what Medicare and other public agencies actually fund for healthcare. It is also necessary to take the initiative and make the government realize that the topmost priority of any healthcare system should be to provide equity of access, as only then can the policies or treatments be implemented effectively and efficiently. The Australian Bureau of statistics health insurance survey and AXA/ National Mutual Data for NSW (1998), Spencer quoted that around $300 million of the public funds were used for dental care and allied health professional services (Stephen Leeder, 2003). Since dental care is not a luxury, but treatment of chronic illness is, therefore, the basic dental services for all the Australians should be subsidized. Secondly, the salaries received by the doctors from the bulk billed vs. the non bulk billed patients, should be redressed. Third, (hypothetically) a new body say National Council for Equity in Healthcare should be formed, so that it is directly answerable to the Australian Parliament and aim at making the Australian Health care more equitable (Stephen Leeder, 2003). Therefore, as discussed, it is very important to reform the current medical practices so that there is efficiency in the functioning of the health care department of Australia.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

William Isaac Thomas

The Thomas Theorem William Isaac Thomas (13 August 1863 – 5 December 1947) was an American sociologist. I decided to write about the W. I Thomas after reading about the other theorist I decided that W. I Thomas theory was much more intriguing and very controversial. W. I Thomas is well known for his quote: â€Å"If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. † In 1928, the sociologist W. I. Thomas formulated this statement which later became known as the Thomas Theorem. In other words, the interpretation of a situation causes the action. This interpretation is not objective. Actions are affected by subjective perceptions of situations. Whether there even is an objectively correct interpretation is not important for the purposes of helping guide individuals' behavior (http://en. wikipedia. org, 2011). The Thomas Theorem in my interpretation means that whatever you think or believe in it will become true. I agree with this theory to a certain extent that this only applies to some things in life and not all. For example if I think that I am going to be a millionaire it will not just come true I would have to do something in order to make my thoughts come true. How we view the world creates real and tangible outcomes in how we feel and what we do. W. I. Thomas (1863–1947) (1966) stated that whatever we believe to be real will become real in its consequences. So if we believe one religious or political group is right, we will act in a way that supports that view, and we may disagree with those who view things differently. We may try to convince them that our view is right (Vessling,2010). Although many people do not agree with the Thomas theory there are many who do. Law enforcement agencies use it to train officers in the handling of the mentally ill, and it’s been used effectively to explain everything from beauty contest outcomes to panic runs on bank deposits(soulshelter. com, Tim, 2008). The Secret, written by Ronda Byrne and As a Man Thinketh, written by James Allen are both self help books and based on this theory. Some say the formulation of the Thomas Theorem is ambiguous. It could mean, â€Å"The consequences of a situation follow from how it is perceived, not the way it really is,† or â€Å"The power to define a situation includes power over its consequences. † It also could simply mean, â€Å"Beliefs have consequences, regardless of whether they are true. † Whether Thomas was referring to self-fulfilling prophecies, or expressing skepticism about the existence of an objective world; depends on how the statement is interpreted (www. ehow. com, 2011). Frank Van Dun criticized the theorem, he goes on to say: â€Å"The consequences of a situation being believed to be true are the same as if it is actually true,† it is false, because one can't create or negate a reality by wishing for or denying it. If it means, â€Å"The consequences of a situation are real no matter how well it is defined,† it is trivial because that reduces to the aphorism, â€Å"Get real. † Besides the negative feedback from many, W I Thomas was also a pioneer of a psychological approach to social phenomena, and thus can be regarded, together with William Graham Sumner and Wilhelm Wundt, as a forerunner of cultural psychology. His The Polish Peasant was an important landmark in American sociological research. He used biographic data personal letters, autobiographies, diaries, and other personal documents developing the life-history method for which he became famous along with the ideas of George Herbert Mead, Thomas' concept of the â€Å"definition of the situation† later proved to be an important starting point for the revolution of symbolic interactionism against structural functionalism(http://www. ewworldencyclopedia. org, 2011) In conclusion I am a Christian so I believe in God, I also believe that if I ask God to do something that it will be done. The bible reads in Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (King James Bible). W. I Thomas theory maybe a little farfetched to some but this is truth to many. Based on my research I can relate more to the Thomas Theorem. References Alden, WH. 2007) William Isaac Thomas Retrieved from http://www. newworldencyclopedia. org/entry/W. _I. _Thomas Phillips, Colby. (2011). What is the Thomas Theorem of Sociology Retrieved from http://www. ehow. com/info_10068714_thomas-theorem-sociology. html Tim (2010) Understanding the life Through the Thomas Theorem Retrieved fromhttp://www. soulshelter. com/fortune/understanding-the-world-through-the-thomas-theorem-2/ Vissing, Yvonne (2011) An Introduction to Sociology

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Organizational Culture and Performance Essay

The concept of organizational culture has drawn attention to the long-neglected, subjective or ‘soft’ side of organizational life. However, many aspects of organizational culture have not received much attention. Instead, emphasis has been placed primarily on the cultural and symbolic aspects that are relevant in an instrumental/pragmatic context. The technical cognitive interest prevails. Culture then is treated as an object of management action. In this regard, Ouchi and Wilkins (1985: 462) note that ‘the contemporary student of organizational culture often takes the organization not as a natural solution to deep and universal forces but rather as a rational instrument designed by top management to shape the behavior of the employees in purposive ways’. Accordingly, much research on corporate culture and organizational symbolism is dominated by a preoccupation with a limited set of meanings, symbols, values, and ideas presumed to be manageable and directly related to effectiveness and performance. This is in many ways understandable, but there are two major problems following from this emphasis. One is that many aspects of organizational culture are simply disregarded. It seems strange that the (major part of the) literature should generally disregard such values as bureaucratic-‘meritocratic’ hierarchy, unequal distribution of privileges and rewards, a mixture of individualism and conformity, male domination, emphasis on money, economic growth, consumerism, advanced technology, exploitation of nature, and the equation of economic criteria with rationality. Instrumental reason dominates; quantifiable values and the optimization of means for the attainment of pre-given ends define rationality (Horkheimer and Adorno, 1947; Marcuse, 1964). Mainstream organizational culture thinking – in organizations but also in academia – tend to take this for granted. The values and ideas to which organizational culture research pays attention are primarily connected with the means and operations employed to achieve pre-defined and unquestioned goals. A second problem is that subordinating organizational culture thinking to narrowly defined instrumental concerns also reduces the potential of culture to aid managerial action. Organizational culture calls for considerations that break with some of the assumptions characterizing technical thinking, i.e. the idea that a particular input leads to a predictable effect. This chapter thus shows some problems associated with the use of the term culture that does not take the idea of culture seriously enough and presses the concept into a limited version of the technical cognitive interest. It argues for a ‘softer’ version of this interest as well as for thinking following the other two cognitive interests (as sketched in Chapter 1). A basic problem in much management thinking and writing is an impatience in showing the great potential of organizational culture. Associated with this is a bias for a premature distinction between the good and the bad values and ideas, trivialization of culture, overstressing the role of management and the employment of causal thinking. Premature normativity: the idea of good culture Associated with the technical interest of optimizing means for accomplishment of goals is an underdeveloped capacity to reflect upon normative matters. Viewing cultures as means leads to evaluations of them as more or less ‘good’, i.e. as useful, without consideration whether this goodness is the same as usefulness or if usefulness may be very multidimensional. The more popular literature argues that ‘good’ or ‘valuable’ cultures – often equated with ‘strong’ cultures – are characterized by norms beneficial to the company, to customers, and to mankind and by ‘good’ performance in general: Good cultures are characterized by norms and values supportive of excellence, teamwork, profitability, honesty, a customer service orientation, pride in one’s work, and commitment to the organization. Most of all, they are supportive of adaptability – the capacity to thrive over the long run despite new competition, new regulations, new technological developments, and the strains of growth. (Baker, 1980: 10) Good cultures are, according to this author, cultures that incorporate all good things in peaceful co-existence. Also many other authors eager to appeal to practitioners focus on highly positive-sounding virtues, attitudes, and behaviour claimed to be useful to the achievement of corporate goals as defined by management (e.g. Deal and Kennedy, 1982; Trice and Beyer, 1985). They are largely instrumental in character, without considering any ambiguity of the virtue of culture or what it supposedly accomplished in terms of goal realization. The assumption that culture can be simply evaluated in terms of right and wrong come through in embarrassing statements such as that ‘the wrong values make the culture a major liability’ (Wiener, 1988: 536) has already been mentioned. Similarly, Kilmann et al. (1985: 4) argue that ‘a culture has a positive impact on an organization when it points behavior in the right direction†¦. Alternatively, a culture has negative impact when it points behavior in the wrong direction’. According to Wilkins and Patterson (1985: 272): ‘The ideal culture †¦ is characterized by a clear assumption of equity †¦ a clear sense of collective competence †¦ and an ability to continually apply the collective competence to new situations as well as to alter it when necessary.’ Kanter (1983) talks about ‘cultures of pride’, which are good, and ‘cultures of inferiority’, which any sane person will avoid. This type of functionalist, normative, and instrumentally biased thinking is also found in Schein’s (1985) book, in which culture is seen as a pattern of basic assumptions that has ‘proved’ to be valid for a group coping with problems of external adaptation and internal integration. Basically, culture in this literature is instrumental in relation to the formal goals of an organization and to the management objectives or tasks associated with these goals (i.e. external and internal effectiveness). It is assumed to exist because it works – or at least used to work. Of course, changed circumstances can make a culture dysfunctional – calling for planned, intentional change – but the approach assumes that culture is or can be ‘good’ for some worthwhile purpose. As will be shown later ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are not, however, self-evident, especially when it comes to complex phenomena such as culture. A bias towards the ‘positive’ functions of culture and its close relation to issues such as harmony, consensus, clarity, and meaningfulness is also implicit in many of these studies (see Martin and Meyerson, 1988). Symbols and cultural aspects are often seen as functional (or dysfunctional) for the organization in terms of goal attainment, meeting the emotional-expressive needs of members, reducing tension in communication, and so on. Instrumental/functional dimensions are often emphasized, for instance, in studies of rites and ceremonies (e.g. Dandridge, 1986; Trice and Beyer, 1984). The typical research focus is on social integration (Alvesson, 1987). Culture is understood as (usually or potentially) useful – and those aspects of culture that are not easily or directly seen as useful remain out of sight, e.g. on gender and ethics. The most common ideas guiding organizational analysis draw upon such metaphors for culture as tool, social glue, need satisfier, or regulator of social relations. Problems include the premature use of moral judgement, in a way hidden behind technical understanding in which culture is viewed as a tool and presumably as easy to evaluate in terms of its goodness as a hammer. But few issues are simply good or bad, functional or dysfunctional. Some things that may be seen as good may be less positive from another angle. A ‘clear sense of collective competence’ – to connect to the citation above – does in itself sound positive and is good for self-esteem and commitment, but a high level of self-confidence may be a mixed blessing as it easily forms a part of, or leads to, fantasies of omnipotence, and may obstruct openness, reflection, willingness to listen to critique and take new external ideas seriously (Brown and Starkey, 2000). Cultural themes thus call for careful consideration, where normative judgement should be applied with great caution. Normative talk easily prevents more nuanced interpretation. Trivialization of culture As argued above, the consequence of the functionalist/pragmatic approach is that culture tends to be reduced to those limited aspects of this complex phenomenon that are perceived to be directly related to organizational efficiency and competitive advantage (see, e.g. Barney, 1986; Kilmann et al., 1985). This means a rather selected interest in organizational culture. But much worse is a tendency to emphasize mainly the superficial aspects of these selected parts of organizational culture. These superficial aspects have the advantage that they are compatible with technical thinking, presumably accessible to managerial interventions. Culture may even be equated with certain behavioural norms viewed as ‘an excellent vehicle for helping people understand and manage the cultural aspects of organizational life’ (Allen, 1985: 334). In marketing, market-oriented culture is frequently defined as the key to strong performances (Harris and Ogbonna, 1999), culture here implying certain behaviours. The problem, of course, is that norms are not the best vehicle for understanding culture. Whereas norms tell people how to behave, culture has a much broader and more complex influence on thinking, feeling, and sense-making (Schneider, 1976). Again, Barney (1986), Pfeffer (1994) and others argue that to serve as a source of sustained competitive advantage culture must be ‘valuable, rare, and imperfectly imitable’. If this statement is to make any sense at all, culture must be interpreted as highly normative, accessible to evaluation in terms of frequency (i.e. quantifiable), and capable of being copied a t will. This conception deprives culture of the richness that is normally seen as its strength. At the same time, any culture may be seen as vital for competitive advantage (or as disadvantage), as it is arguably, highly significant and not easy to imitate. As Pfeffer (1994), among others, notes, many of the earlier identified sources of competitive advantage, such as economies of scale, products or process technology, access to financial resources and protected or regulated markets, become of diminishing significance as a consequence of more fragmented markets with an increasing need for flexibility in production, shorter product life cycle, internationalizations and de-regulations. A company’s competence and ability to manage people – to a considerable degree overlapping organizational culture – are not easy to imitate. Even to describe and analyse culture is difficult, as indicated by all the management texts providing only superficial and trivial descriptions of culture, such as norms about ‘market-oriented’ behaviour. The trivialization of organizational culture is not, however, solely restricted to writings promising the quick fix. Despite an effort to define organizational culture on a deeper level, emphasizing basic assumptions, Schein (1985) in most of his empirical examples tends to address the more superficial aspects. One example concerns the acquisition of a franchised business: The lack of understanding of the cultural risks of buying a franchised business was brought out even more clearly in another case, where a very stuffy, traditional, moralistic company whose management prided itself on its high ethical standards bought a chain of fast-food restaurants that were locally franchised around the country. The company’s managers discovered, much to their chagrin, that one of the biggest of these restaurants in a nearby state had become the local brothel. The activities of the town were so well integrated around this restaurant that the alternative of closing it down posed the risk of drawing precisely the kind of attention this company wanted at all costs to avoid. The managers asked themselves, after the fact, ‘Should we have known what our acquisition involved on this more subtle level? Should we have understood our own value system better, to ensure compatibility?’ (Schein, 1985: 34–5) Here the problem seems to be lack of knowledge on a very specific point – what the company was buying – rather than lack of understanding of the company’s own value system. Most ordinary, ‘respectable’ corporations, whatever their organizational culture, would probably wish to avoid becoming owners of brothels. Prostitution is broadly seen as illegitimate, not only by those who Schein views as ‘very stuffy, traditional, moralistic’ people. Apart from the moral issue, there is of course the risk that bad publicity would follow and harm the company. Managerialization of culture Another aspect of adapting culture to technical concerns, and the reduction of complexity and depth contingent upon such concerns, is the confusion of organizational culture with the firm’s management ideology. Frequently what is referred to as organizational or corporate culture really stands for the ideals and visions prescribed by top management (Alvesson, 1987; Westley and Jaeger, 1985). It is sometimes held that the best way to investigate ‘corporate culture’ is through interviews with top managers, but the outcome of this approach tends to be a description of the espoused ideology of those managers that ‘only skim the culture that surrounds the top executives’ (Czarniawska-Joerges, 1992: 174). Denison (1984) in a survey claiming to study corporate culture, for example asked one manager per company in a large number of companies to fill in a questionnaire. Organizational culture and managerial ideology are in most cases not the same, partly due to the lack of depth of ideology compared to culture, partly due to variation within organizations and discrepancies between top management and other groups. To differentiate between corporate culture as prescribed and manager-led and organizational culture as ‘real culture’ and more or less emergent from below is one possibility (Anthony, 1994). However, management ideology is not necessarily very different from organizational culture – there are cases where management ideology powerfully impregnates cultural patterns (Alvesson, 1995; Kunda, 1992). But this needs to be empirically investigated and shown, and cannot be assumed. Management ideology is but one of several expressions of organizational culture. In most discussions of the relationship between culture and performance, authors focus on values espoused by senior managers, to a higher or lower degree shared by larger groups, while the complexity and variety of culture is neglected.1 From a management point of view, the managerialization of organizational culture immediately appears appealing; but arguably deeper, less conscious aspects of cultural patterns than those managers are already aware of and promote are more valuable, at least in the long run, to focus on. Rather than smoothing over differences and variations in meanings, ideas and values within organizations, highlighting the latter is significant as a basis of informed management thinking and action. Loosening the grip of premature practicality The three weaknesses of much organizational culture thinking reviewed above are related to the wish to make culture appear as of immediate interest to practitioners, and to fit into a predominantly technical cognitive interest in which culture is reduced to a tool. Cultural studies should be permitted to develop unrestricted by, or at least more loosely connected to, concerns for practicality. It is important here is to recognize the contradiction between sophisticated thinking and easily applicable practical concerns: The more rigorously (anthropologically) the term (culture) is applied, the more the concept of organizational culture gains in theoretical interpretative power and the more it loses in practicality. In the effort to overcome this contradiction the danger is that theoretical rigour will be lost in the interest of practicality. (Westley and Jaeger, 1985: 15) Even if one wants to contribute to practicality, rather than to anthropology, this still calls for another kind of intellectual approach than most of the authors cited above exemplify. Oversimplification and promises of ‘quick fixes’ do not necessarily serve narrow pragmatic interests, neither those of managers nor of others. Making things look clear-cut and simple may mislead. Practitioners might benefit much more from the pro-managerial and pragmatic organizational culture literature if it stopped promising recipes for how to manage and control culture and instead discussed other phenomena which managers might, with luck and skill, be able to influence – for example, specific cultural manifestations, workplace spirit and behavioural norms. Learning to ‘think culturally’ about organizational reality might inspire enlightened managerial everyday action rather than unrealistic programmes for culture change or bending patterns of meaning, ideas and valu es to managerial will. Before assuming that culture is functional or good for organizational or managerial purposes, it makes sense to distinguish among possible consequences and to recognize that they may conflict. Critical reflection and learning may be a good thing, consensus facilitating control and coordinated action another, and reduction of anxiety a third; but not all these good things may be attainable at the same time and they may contradict each other. Perhaps more important, contradictory interests – those of professions, divisions, classes, consumers, environmentalists, the state, owners, top management, etc. – may produce different views on what is good, important, and appropriate. Also within complex organizations, corporate goal-attainment may presuppose considerable variation in cultural orientations. Most aspects of culture are difficult to designate as clearly good or bad. To simplify these relationships runs the risk of producing misleading pictures of cultural manifestati ons. Instead, the focus must become the tensions between the creative and destructive possibilities of culture formation (Jeffcutt, 1993). Approaches to the cultureÂâ€"performance relationship There are different ideas regarding to what extent organizational culture can be used as a managerial tool. I will point at and discuss three versions of how managers can work with culture. These represent the relative significance of management versus culture: can management control culture or must management adapt to culture? Cultural engineering: corporate culture as managerial design In the most instrumentally oriented of these formulations, culture is conceived as a building block in organizational design – a subsystem, well-demarcated from other parts of the organization, which includes norms, values, beliefs, and behavioural styles of employees. Even though it may be difficult to master, it is in principle no different from other parts of the organization in terms of management and control. The term ‘cultural engineering’ captures the spirit of this position, which is sometimes called the ‘corporate-culture school’ (Alvesson and Berg, 1992). Kilmann (1985: 354) recognizes that there is considerable disagreement about what culture is but concludes that ‘it is still important to consider what makes a culture good or bad, adaptive or dysfunctional’. He describes culture almost as a physical force: ‘Culture provides meaning, direction, and mobilization – it is the social energy that moves the corporation into allocation †¦ the energy that flows from shared commitments among group members’ (p. 352) and ‘the force controlling behaviour at every level in the organization’ (p. 358). He believes that every firm has a distinctive culture that can develop and change quickly and must be managed and controlled: ‘If left alone, a culture eventually becomes dysfunctional’ (p. 354). The underlying metaphor then clearly comes from technical science. The crucial dimension of culture, according to Kilmann, is norms; it is here that culture is ‘most easily controlled’. More precisely, it is the norms that guide the behaviour and attitudes of the people in the company that are of greatest interest and significance, because they have a powerful effect on the requirements for its success – quality, efficiency, product reliability, customer service, innovation, hard work, loyalty, etc. This is the core of most (American) texts on corporate culture (e.g. Deal and Kennedy, 1982; Peters and Waterman, 1982; Sathe, 1985; Wiener, 1988). There are many difficulties with this model. Norms refer to a too superficial and behaviour-near aspect to really capture culture, at least as defined in this book. Norms and behaviours are affected by many dimensions other than culture. Within a culture there are a number of norms related to the enormous variety of different behaviours. The point with culture is that it indicates the meaning dimension, i.e. what is behind and informs norms. A related problem with this behaviour-near view on culture is the tendency to see culture as more or less forcefully affecting behaviour. For example, Sathe (1985: 236) argues that ‘the strength of a culture influences the intensity of behavior’, and the ‘strength’ of a culture is determined by ‘how many important shared assumptions there are’, how widely they are shared, and how clearly they are ranked. A ‘strong’ culture is thus characterized by homogeneity, simplicity, and clearly ordered assumptions. In a ‘complex’ culture – by definition any culture – assumptions will probably be very difficult to identify and rank, and it can even be argued that such a measurement approach distorts the phenomena it is supposed to study. As Fitzgerald (1988: 9–10) has put it: Values do not exist as isolated, independent, or incremental entities. Beliefs and assumptions, tastes and inclinations, hopes and purposes, values and principles are not modular packages stored on warehouse shelves, waiting for inventory. They have no separate existence, as do spark plugs in an engine; they cannot be examined one at a time and replaced when burned out†¦. They have their own inner dynamic: Patriotism, dignity, order, progress, equality, security – each implies other values, as well as their opposites. Patriotism implies homeland, duty, and honor, but also takes its strength from its contrast to disloyalty; dignity requires the possibility of humiliation and sham e.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Research Methodology on Hospitality and Tourism The WritePass Journal

Research Methodology on Hospitality and Tourism Introduction: Research Methodology on Hospitality and Tourism Introduction:Importance of the Research Topic:Literature ReviewResearch Method: Research Design:Sampling methods and Size:Data Collection:Qualitative Research:Quantitative Research:Questionnaire Design Process: Research Questions:  Main objectives of the research:Data Analysis:Referencing Sources:Conclusion:References:Related Introduction: The main purpose of the research is to evaluate or create exiting understanding, review and investigate existing situation or problems, find out the appropriate solutions to the problems as well explain new idea and generate scope of further research. Research on the issues on tourism sector is to focus on problems of the specified sector and find out appropriate solution of research. Tourism is now a global industry connecting hundred millions of people worldwide; which been recognised as a fastest rising sectors. These industries make it as a key column of economic development of any destination country. World travel and tourism council (WTTC) find out by their latest research in 2011 that from Travel Tourism industry’s direct input to global GDP growing by 3.3%, to US$1,770 billion at the year 2010. Running 2011, this upgrading is forecast to reinforce extra– by 4.5% to US$1,850 billion; where 3 million industry jobs will be created. As per research forecast by WTTC based on   Bangladesh; where shows countries GDP is expected to be BDT184.4bn (2.3% of total GDP) in 2011, increasing   6.3% pa to BDT339.2bn (2.3%) in 2021 from the direct contribution of Travel Tourism . Royal Danish Embassy (2008) explain Bangladesh as a tourist destination of South Asian region, where the smallest number of tourist arrivals and most minuscule income earned from its travel and tourism sector. As well they identified tourism is one of the rapidly growing for Bangladesh, which can make significant contributions on its economy. Bangladesh has some significant tourist attraction such as world largest unbroken sea beach Cox’s Bazar, leading world 7 wonder nominated mangrove forest Sundarban etc; but its fails to attract world tourist due to inadequate promotional actions which can bring brand country image on tourism. (Hossain Nazmin, 2006) explain that, Bangladesh holding enormous recourses to attract international tourists with affluent traditions, sunny beaches, archaeological attractions, cultural heritages, hills, mangrove forest, wild lives, tribal culture and architecture, colourful festivals etc. The international media most often focused on countries ongoing political instability, which made huge negative country image as a tourist destination. Instead of political valances Bangladesh has incredible prospects on its tourism sector. Due to political incidents tourism industry is seriously hampered. Master plan on future tourism in Bangladesh are not maintaining strictly. When the countries tourism got tourism friendly steady environment; the sector flourishes and at the same time increase arrivals. There are major problems on tourism in Bangladesh and huge opportunities to ensure continued tourism. In this research, I am going to examine how tourism of Bangladesh will thrive in spite of identified problems. Importance of the Research Topic: Many countries in the world are dependents on tourism sector for earning of foreign currency.   Where, every destination is trying to establish their country image to get more gain by rising tourism sector; Bangladesh is very slow to reach this goal. In this research, we are going to examine the problems and significant prospects of tourism sector in Bangladesh. As a citizen of the said country; It is an opportunity for me to find out the key barriers of the development of tourism in Bangladesh. It is very important for my country to identify the reasons for downturn of our tourism sector; where neighbor countries tourism growth is highly appreciable. (Akther , 2001) explain that, Bangladesh is beautiful and wealthy by its own natural attractiveness. Unluckily, the country are not steady to provide tourist friendly atmosphere. Lack of effectual initiatives, appropriate management plan; where countries political volatility is the main key barriers. Bangladesh has incredible prospects on its tourism sector to make a positive destination image in international tourism. But, at present scenario of tourism in Bangladesh is facing a lot of major problems; where political unrest is the vital issue to make its poor image in international tourism. Lack of socio-political commitments the country still suffering after four decades of independences. Bangladesh has awesome tourism attractions to establish a branding country image in the international tourism industry; regrettably, countries political unrest badly affects its growth on tourism. Unpleasant security and political disturbances within Bangladesh decrease both domestic and international tourists to explore the country. World tourists are feared to make their visit to a destination with political anxiety. Matter of regret that, even local tourist does not feel free to explore Bangladesh due to political uncertainty; where they found it much safe and secured to make an outbound trip to travel. The prospects of tourism in Bangladesh are gravely troubled by a number of problems. In this study we are mostly focus on the key barriers of tourism sector in Bangladesh and examine which is the significant way to recover its beauty. Here, the research findings will drastically expand the range of information on the topic of research and it would be the supplementary literature with the breathing academic literature. The finding of the research would be supportive to any of researcher to consider the more areas; which is not covered in this research. Literature Review ‘’Tourism: A Community Approach’’; A publications by Murphy’s (1985) which directly focused the basic requirements for the destinations communities to make a bridge between the development of tourism relating to local demands. Afterward many studies developed on the diverse associations amid tourism destinations and its communities (Richards Hall-2000). Tourism can be seen financially viable action which produces a variety of positive as well negative impacts. This is identified by his earlier study on tourism Swarbrooke (1999). In order to develop a sustainable plan on tourism and its socio-economic, environmental as well socio-cultural aspects of tourism should be well tacit. The well planed balance among financial profit and social and ecological expenditure; these are key factor of sustainable tourism development. The development of tourism depended on first-rate sustainable atmosphere. The future trends of tourism marketing should be emphasised on ecological reliability of socio-economic structure, natural resources and cultural heritages. Sustainable tourism will make a huge financial input to the destination and world economy Hassan (2000). Sustainability is one of the vital concepts of tourism development. Richards Hall (2000) identify the significance relations between the destinations community and sustainability. Local communities are the crucial motivation for tourists to travel by experiencing the different thought of life. The development of tourist destinations widely depends on its social responsibilities, political stability and well planned tourism future goal. These things can bring huge socio-cultural reimbursement; upgrade living standards of communities and economic growth come from its superb tourism distribution.   An alternative promising approach to avert those expansions is to encourage and spend in sustainable tourism. This is a concept of tourism that can defend socio-cultural and environment of tourist destination; which is called eco-tourism, Shaw Williams (2004). Safety and security reasons have changed the world travel tourism environment. The terrorist attack at September 11, 2001 in USA makes devastating impacts on world tourism industry. Now days the management of destinations closely think and should make their future tourism plan including such solemn issues destination recovery, risk and crisis management. As per crisis guideline of WTO for the tourism industry aware the tourist destinations that be organized before the emergency, minimise smash up during the disaster and recovering destination image and traveller confidence after the crisis. (WTO, 2003a) The development of tourism industries depends on destinations calm tourist friendly environment. Beirman (2003) identified a few core reasons that makes destination crisis. 1. Countries long-standing internal political violence. 2. International war or clash. 3. Terrorist attack on tourist and destinations. 4. Major criminal act. 5. Natural disasters such as Strom or Volcano, Flood, Earthwork. 6.   Health issues affecting tourist attractions Lepp and Gibson (2003) find out four key risk factor is seriously harmful for the destination tourism growth. These are Political violence, crime, health concerns and terrorism. International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC) identified global issues and challenges where upward worldwide uncertainty for safety and security got priority. Tourism industry of any countries would be suffered due to crisis and especially political instability.   Tourist never wants to travel certain place where several crisis going on. Country loosing economic growth from tourism as well creates a time long negative impact as a tourist destination.   Ankomah and Crompton (1990) state that, any crisis or domestic turmoil makes the country as an unsafe tourist destination where the tourist not to visit that country. While constraints on tourist movement the politics plays a vital role in the world tourism industry. Destinations positive political stability makes encouraging and involving nations. Political turmoil makes the destination unsafe and as a result imposing travel limits by others nations in that country. The unintentional expansion of tourism’s has spoilt many of tourist destinations normal nature and socio cultural environment.   Unwanted side-effects have lead to the rising alarm for the natural wealth, human interests and extended time economic feasibility of the destinations communities (Akis- Peristianis and Warner, 1996). Bangladesh is a beautiful tourist destination and it holding potential prospects on tourism sector. The country has significant attraction to catch the attention of world tourism. But in term of world tourism the present condition of this country is not enough for tourism distributions; where the political violence’s is the core issue which seriously affects its tourism Islam and Islam (2006). Pearson (2002) noted that without well planned risk or crisis management any tourist destination institute cannot escape from crisis. Organisation should take serious effort for its risk management. The way for the tourist destination to decrease crisis smash up to make effective preparation. Country should be taken towering concern for each business concerned in tourism industry. Bangladesh has got the top ten ranked as the Best Value Destination in the world for 2011by world’s leading travel guidebooks’’ Lonely Planet’’; which is owned by BBC worldwide. Lonely Planet mentioned that if any world tourists choose Bangladesh will be rewarded most and get the maximum â€Å"value for his money†. In the literature review, the distinguish authors has been well descried that the crisis or problems, how it affects countries tourism industry. Where, the following variables are extremely essential to improve tourism sector of the destinations:   Safety and security, political instability, branding destination image and way of sustainable tourism. Research Method: In this section, we will talk about the methods, which will be used for this study. Research issues such as research design, sample, population, procedure of sampling, questionnaires and numerical examination are presented. Research is an essential part of academics, â€Å"research is the systematic study of materials and sources etc. in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions† (Oxford Concise Dictionary). The process by which a research is written or carried out is very important because it has a huge impact on the conclusions reached at the end of the research. There are two major research philosophies which underpin the research strategy and the method that will be used to carry out a research (Collis and Hussey, 2009). They are the positivism and interpretive research paradigm. Positivism involves â€Å"working with an observable social reality and that the end product of such research can be law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists†, the assumption is that â€Å"the researcher is independent of and neither affects nor is affected by the subject of the research† (Remeneyi et al, 1998:32). Interpretive is â€Å"a philosophical position which is concerned with understanding the way we as humans make sense of the world around us, the underlying assumption is that by placing people in their social context, there is greater opportunity to understand the perceptions they have of their own activities† (Hussey and Hussey, 1997). Research Design: In general, the methodology of research and term of research design are seems to signify the equal thing, but actually they are not same. Research design is â€Å"a plan or a blue print of how a researcher intends to conduct a study†. The actual significance of research design is to direct the way of data collection procedure and examine the data in order to response for recognized research problem(s); but, the research methodology is to illustrates how something would be done. Research methods are two forms quantitative and qualitative method. Use of countable data is Quantitative. On the other hand, use of non-countable data is qualitative. In this research, we are using the combination of quantitative and qualitative data methods. Appropriate data collection for this research would be using a questionnaire which well structured open – ended questions. Data related to the previous exiting literature review of the research area were gathered from different secondary sources. Furthermore, Ghauri Gronhaug (2005: p109) mention that, a quantitative research is more scientific than a qualitative research. Below, the chart step shows the process of research. Sampling methods and Size: It is incumbent on the researcher to clearly define the target population. There are no strict rules to follow, and the researcher must rely on logic and judgment. The population is defined in keeping with the objectives of the study. Sometimes, the entire population will be sufficiently small, and the researcher can include the entire population in the study. This type of research is called a census study because data is gathered on every member of the population. Usually, the population is too large for the researcher to attempt to survey all of its members. A small, but carefully chosen sample can be used to represent the population. The sample reflects the characteristics of the population from which it is drawn.Sampling methods are classified as either probability or non probability. The significance of sample is ’’ A portion, piece, or segment of population that is representative of a whole†. For the quantitative research it is highly essential representative sample; where reflects the population completely so that conclusion can be done. To envoy the whole population sample should be big enough. A small size of will be enough to represent a homogenous population; but, representation of a heterogeneous population required  Ã‚   large sample size. On the basis of population types we need to be more cautious to selecting the sample size. Data Collection: The process of data collection is to collecting appropriate data about the research from particular population. There are various way of data collections method such as interviews, questionnaires, group interviews or conference and observation. Each of the individual’s methods has its own and sole features; some advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of questionnaire method is cost effectual, simple association and straightforward analysis predominantly in a quantitative research. Qualitative Research: The objective of the qualitative research is to gain qualitative understanding of the underlying reasons and motivations of the issue in hand. The procedures of qualitative research are classified either as direct or indirect, based on whether the true purpose of the research is known to the respondents. A direct approach is not disguised. The purpose of the project is disclosed to the respondents or is otherwise obvious to them from the questions asked. Focus groups and in-depth interviews are the main direct techniques. An indirect approach disguises the true purpose of the research. Projective techniques, the commonly used indirect techniques, consist of association, completion, construction and expressive techniques. Quantitative Research: The quantitative primary data in descriptive research. Both these methods require some procedure for standardizing the data collection process so that the data obtained are internally consistent and can be analysed in a uniform and coherent manner. A standard questionnaire or form will ensure comparability of the data, increase speed and accuracy of recording and facilitate data processing. A questionnaire is a formalized set of questions for obtaining information from respondents. Any questionnaire has three specific objectives.   (1) Developing questions that respondents can and will answer and that will yield the desired information is difficult. This objective is challenging. (2) A questionnaire must uplift, motivate and encourage the respondent to become more involved, to co-operate, and to complete the questionnaire. In designing the questionnaire, the researcher should strive to minimise respondent fatigue, boredom and effort to minimise incompleteness and non-response. (3) A questionnaire should minimise response error. Response error is defined as the error that arises when respondents give inaccurate answers or their answers are misreported or misanalyses. Struwig Stead (2001: p 89) stated that questions putted in questionnaires principally come through a review of literature on the area under discussion. On the other hand, Ghauri Gronhaug (2005: p127) suggest that the questions and question design could be depends on researcher and that would be simplify for analysis purpose; such as open or closed ended, multiple choice, grading system or Likert scale format etc. Questionnaire Design Process: Step 01: Specify the information needed; once the research problem is well defined and the objectives of the research are well set, the information needed to serve reaching the objectives have to be specified.   A clear idea of the target population is also essential, since, more diversified the respondent group; the more difficult is to design a single questionnaire appropriate for entire group. Step 02: Specify the type of interviewing method; how the questionnaire is going to be administered influences the questionnaire design. If the respondents see the questionnaire and interact face to face with the interviewer, then lengthy, complex and varied questions can be asked. In telephone interview, the questions have to he short and simple. If the questionnaires are mailed to the respondents, the questions must be simple and detailed instructions must be provided. Step 03: Determine the content of individual questions; Questionnaire should contribute to the information needed. If there is no satisfactory use for the data resulting from a question, that question should be eliminated. Once the researcher decides that a question is necessary, he or she must decide whether this question alone could fetch the required information or double barrelled questions are required to achieve the needed information. Research Questions: The research should be well organized to find out the appropriate data. In this research we have chosen the issues to tourist destinations tourism problems and prospects. Bangladesh tourism development and its barriers of the growth on tourism are our topics. On this study we will attempt to answer the following questions: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  What are the major and key impacts of tourism in Bangladesh? 2.  Ã‚  Which reasons behind the recognized problems? 3.   To explore how tourism will thrive in spite of identified crisis.   Main objectives of the research: Before doing a research it is highly masseur the excepted outcomes or objective of the research.The aim and objectives of the study are given below: To examine the barriers of tourism growth in Bangladesh. To investigate the possible ways of improvement of identified problems. To find out   the future development trends in Bangladesh tourism Data Analysis: The main objective of data analysis is to facts, identify patterns, build up explanations and test hypothesis. Various methods can be using for data analysis such as content analysis, thematic analysis, theoretical sampling, grounded theory etc. The aim of data analysis is to emphasize crucial information and advocate conclusions which help in result making processes. Data analysis is a process that aims to describe facts, identify patterns, develop explanations and test hypothesis. All of these help to highlight vital information and recommend conclusions which help in decision making processes. Data can be analysed using various methods such as content analysis, theoretical sampling, thematic analysis, grounded theory etc. Bernard (1952) defined content analysis as a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of manifest content of communications. Thematic analysis is an approach to dealing with data that involves the creation and application of ‘codes’ to data, there is a link between this method and the grounded theory method. Grounded theory was discovered by Glaser and Strauss (1967) as a method of analyzing data, it is a systematic analysis of data that aims to develop a higher level of understanding or generate theories regarding a social phenomenon. Referencing Sources: University students are expected to refer to the work of other authors to support the ideas. We need to mention whose work are using by citing it   in the text of your assignment and also in a list at the end of your assignment. References must be provided whenever someone elses opinions, theories, data or organisation of material. You need to reference information from books, articles, videos, web sites, images, computers and any other sources.   Harvard referencing style is now the most popular and standard for use in the University research. Reading lists in course handbooks should follow this style of referencing. The Harvard system has increased in popularity over the years and has the advantage of being flexible, clear and easy to use without the need for footnotes and chapter references as used in other systems. The importance of the referencing system is to acknowledge the work of other authors/writers. To exhibit the body of knowledge on which you have based your work and enable other readers to trace your sources and lead them on to further information. During my research works, I need many references and it is essential that to record as much detail as possible and be sure the information is exact. This will save you time later when re-tracing references or when you need to incorporate a reference into the bibliography. Proper referencing will enable the reader to do their further study on different related issues.    Conclusion: This research study will draw attention to the core problems and investigate key reasons for downwards trends of tourism industry in Bangladesh. In spite of the recognized problems how tourism will flourish towards its development. In the literature review we have got a clear scenario of the problems of tourism sector in Bangladesh as well we focused a few noteworthy attractions prospects to utilize and develop the future trends of tourism. In this case work, we find how the political influences effect the destination tourism growths. Without calm and tourist friendly environment none of the tourist destination in the world can expand their tourism sectors. We can take learning from a few Asian tourists destinations that are enormously affected by their internal political chaos and how it destroyed their tourism prospects and as well how the destination recovered their destination image in the international tourism.   The government of Bangladesh should take necessary initiative; w here collaborations with the opposition political parties are highly required. To make an sustainable master plan to develop tourism sector of Bangladesh; where political stability is the main and key tools of its success.   Bangladesh has holding a huge international attraction as well prospects on its tourism sector to contribute countries economy. References: Akis, S., Peristianis, N., Warner, J., 1996. Residents’ attitudes to tourism development: Thecase of Cyprus. Tourism Management, 17, p. 481-494. Akhter, Shelina (2001): â€Å"Tourism in Bangladesh: An Evaluation†, Journal of Bangladesh Asiatic Society Bangladesh, December, 2001. Ankomah, P., Crompton, J. (1990) Unrealised tourism Potential the case of sub-Saharan Africa. Tourism Management. Beirman, D., 2003, Restoring Tourism Destination in Crisis: A Strategic Management Approach, Allen Unwin, Crows Nest, Australia. Ghauri, P. Gronhaug, K. 2005. Research methods in Business studies. Dorset:Prentice Hall. Hossain, M. A. and Nazmin, S., (2006) â€Å"Development of Tourism Industry in Bangladesh- an empirical study on its problems and prospects† Centre for Tourism and Hotel management Research, Ga-1, Rashedul Hasan Bhaban, University of Dhaka, and Dhaka Lepp, A., and H. Gibson, â€Å"Tourist Roles, Perceived Risk and International Tourism†, Annals of Tourism Research,30(3),606–624 Islam, Faridul and Islam, Nazrul(2006).†Tourism in Bangladesh: An Analysis of Foreign Tourist arrivals†, http://stad.adu.edu.tr/TURKCE/makaleler/stadbah2004/makale040103.asp Struwig, F. W. Stead, G. B. 2001. Planning, designing reporting research.Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman. lonelyplanet.com/bangladesh/travel-tips-and-articles/76216 Sausmarez N., 2007, â€Å"Crisis Management, Tourism and Sustainability: The Role of Indicators†, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 5(6),700-714. S. F. Sonmez, â€Å"Tourism, terrorism, and political instability† Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 25, pp. 416-456, 1998. S. F. Sonmez, S.J. Backman, and L.R. Andallen, Managing Tourism Crises, Clemson University, London, Sage, 1994. Vassiliadis, Christos, 1996, â€Å"The Geek Tourism Marketing Policy to Foreign Countries through the scope to attract foreign visitors; Model of investigation: the Northern Greece destination†, (in Greek) Dissertation, University of Macedonia-Library, Thesssaloniki, Greece,p.165. W.J.Cook, â€Å"The Effect of Terrorism on Executives Willingness to Travel Internationally,† The City University of New York Unpublished doctoral dissertation 1990. World Tourism Organization, Handbook on Natural Disaster Reduction in Tourist Areas, Madrid: WTO. 1998. The Daily Star, Dhaka, Available: http://www1.voanews.com/policy/editorials/a-41-2006-07-10-voa5- 83108392, Sep. thedailystar.net/forum/2007/november/tourism.htm parjatan.gov.bd/function_nto.php thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=136220 espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/story/501499.html

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Andrew Jackson essays

Andrew Jackson essays Two years before Andrew Jacksons birth, the Jacksons and their first two sons made the crossing from Ireland and settled in the Carolinas. While clearing land one day in 1767, there was an accident, and his father was killed. A few days later, on March 15, Andrew was born and named after his father,(1, 2) The American colonies, unhappy with British economic exploitation, high taxes, and interference in their internal affairs, were fighting to overthrow the King's rule, (1, 2). The war reached the Jackson family quickly and completely. Andrew's oldest brother was killed in a battle in 1779. Jackson's mother became a nurse to American soldiers, and thirteen-year-old Andrew and a brother three years his senior joined the army. An exceptional horseman, Andrew was made a messenger. He impressed his commander so much that the man gave the boy a pistol. In April 1781 both boys were captured by British troops. One English officer ordered Andrew to clean his boots. The boy, already known for his fiery temper, refused, and the officer pulled his sword and smashed it into the face of the boy. The blade left on Andrew's forehead a long, nasty gash that, like his hatred for the British, never completely went away. (1, 2) Young Andrew received as good education as could be had, and in fact a considerably better one than most boys because his mother had her heart set on seeing become a Presbyterian minister, (2, 14). However, as Andrew Jackson: Soldier and Statesman states, Throughout his life he remained a man of narrow education. He knew little of science, history, or literature, and his spelling was always a wonder to behold (even when he was President he might spell the same word three or four different ways in a letter). By the age of twenty-two, he was attorney general, or chief law officer, for the territory. About this time he met a daughter of ...

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Personal Statement for international relations course - 1

For international relations course - Personal Statement Example It is my considered opinion that Russia has to perforce work with the comity of nations as a team member. The world is now more or less globalised, and no nation can afford to ignore the claims of international relations. It has been acknowledged that the people of my generation have to come forth and shoulder the onerous task of improving international relations. This is a sine qua non, and failure to do so will ensure the isolation of Russia within a short span of 10 years. The unswerving objective to embark upon this course is my primary motivator in life. In school, I became an acknowledged leader, as evidenced by my being offered the post of a prefect, within a year of my joining school. This served to render me more responsible, reliable and patient. I assiduously studied Economics, History, Mathematics and Politics, which enhanced my analytical and writing skills substantially. This enabled me to participate in the Royal Economic Society Competition of 2014, which demands superlative analytical and writing skills. My essay was titled â€Å"Is Independence Consistent with Scotland Keeping the Pound?† Moreover, I am experienced in international relations due to my tenure in a law firm located in China. This firm is one of the best in China, in the area of international conflicts. Consequently, I became an adept in international relations. Thus, I have become familiar with Chinese law, international law, and the reasons behind the emergence of disputes between nations. My Russian origin and employment in China made me proficient in several languages. As a result, I can research and analyse information from diverse sources and in different languages. Furthermore, this expertise has significantly improved my capacity to solve problems, evaluate arguments and separate facts from redundant and irrelevant information. My fairly considerable written and verbal skills have made me competent in presenting and

Friday, November 1, 2019

Strategic Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategic Leadership - Essay Example From the above definition or explanation, real strategic leadership therefore means taking responsibility for the future but not forgetting what is happening today. It involves creativity, planning, and intuition to help reach desired and set goals. This form of leadership contains aspects of direct and organization leadership but the difference leis in the fact that strategic leadership affects more people, commits more resources and has wider-ranging consequences in both space and time. Thus making it of prime importance when it comes to the success of businesses or organizations. The very first is that strategic leadership encourages and promotes feedback. He explains strategically led companies depend on free flow of information and opinion and given the fact that a company is a complex, self-organizing and self-correcting system, any breach in feedback loops will be a threat to the company and this will affect growth. In other words communication, free discussions between all levels within and without the organization is a necessity. This will encourage intergrity, identity and focus. Secondly strategic leadership encourages and promotes loyalty and prevents powers struggle. According to Christensen man is a territorial and hierarchical being. He defines his territory, defends it and esteems it above all. When he finds himself in a context where a common strategy is not defined and communicated to him, he will struggle to protect his personal interests at the expense of the company. Common strategy therefore must be defined and communicated to the entire staff so as to motivate them to perform and fight for the interest of the company against competitors. He goes further to say strategic leadership is important for organizations and businesses because it defines processes and patterns. In the absence of this power struggles, bureaucracy, demotivation and wasted time could result. The tasks and