Effective Active Listening Skills Essay

Effective active listening is a must in every communication process. Everyday, people engage in communication processes, but some fail to perform effective active listening skills. Neglecting this important aspect of communication can hamper communication. In the video clip, Planning to Promote Socially Appropriate Behavior, we see how effective active listening skills work to attain communication among the participants. Four teachers serve as participants in the video clip. They are kindergarten teachers who express the importance of teaching affective communication skills. Each teacher is given her chance to express herself to the group, while others listen intently. Notably, several factors affect the success of their communication process, among which is effective active listening. The communication takes place in the school. The teachers are seated along one edge of a long table. Although the table is long, they sit closely with each other, which makes it easy for them to hear the one speaking. This way, they did not have to raise their voices or stand to be recognized before they speak. The environment and position of the teachers notably affect the communication process. Since there is the absence of noise, we find the environment conducive to achieving communication. Obviously, the teachers have a common concept in mind of what needs to be discussed. This is very important in every communication situation. Setting a target for the group will help facilitate understanding. For instance, when holding a faculty meeting, the head should identify the agenda in advance. By doing this, concerns which are not relevant to the given topic may be avoided. Particularly in this meeting, the teachers are exchanging ideas on how to teach affective skills to students. One of the teachers expresses that most of the students she encounters do not show respect in communicating with peers. She feels that students should be taught the proper way to approach others, including their teachers. This statement serves as the lead for other participants to discuss ways on how they incorporate affective skills in their classroom. Aside from serving as the lead, this statement also limits the discussion to one single topic. As Lansberger (1996) notes, active listening requires focusing intentionally on who you are listening to in order to understand what the person is saying. This does not mean agreeing with, but rather understanding what is being said. Particularly, we can note that the teachers in the video achieve focus by speaking one by one. This makes the message come across clearly, making the flow of thought more comprehensible and organized, thus allowing for effective active listening. In the same way, this helps the audience summarize more easily the points raised. Also, according to Lansberger, active listening is present when the listener is able to repeat back in her own words what is said. This pertains to the feedback part. Before one is able to report what she listens to, there is the process of internal communication in which the person tries to â€Å"digest† the perceived ideas. For instance, when we are listening to a lecture, we sometimes hear ourselves repeat exactly what our teacher says. This is a sign that we are listening actively. In the video, we see that the teachers are able to follow the ideas of their colleagues. In addition, although they do not repeat what their colleague is saying, at one point, one teacher is able to complement the thought of the speaker. This is a sign of effective active listening, as the listener is able to construct the statement at the same time the speaker is trying to convey it. Another sign that demonstrates effective active listening is the listener’s facial reaction. As one teacher speaks, we can note that others react by nodding, winking, smiling, and sometimes even bending slightly towards the speaker to hear more clearly. Moreover, they take down notes while someone is speaking. Taking down notes can sometimes distract the speaker’s attention, thus some speakers prefer to give handouts to allow the audience to respond well during a lecture. However, in the video clip, we see that by looking at the speaker while writing, the teachers are still able to maintain the rapport with each other. Therefore, the gesture of taking down notes does not affect the communication process in this particular situation. Although the teachers in the video clip demonstrate evidences for effective active listening, there remain some points to be improved. In particular, the participants who have shared their views could elicit the views of one speaker who did not talk. While it is commendable for the others, especially the teacher wearing a black blouse, to share their views, it would also help if they give a chance to the other participant who has not talked. Eliciting one’s opinion or asking for clarifications (i. e. , asking, What do you think? ) can help detect signs of effective active listening. Through this, the speaker can check if the audience is truly listening. When the listener responds coherently to the speaker’s idea, we can note active listening signs. Otherwise, the speaker should find out factors that hinder effective active listening. Such factors may include outside noise, thoughts of the listener, or language barriers.

Destin Brass Products Co.

Problem Statement: Destin Brass president Roland Guidry is concerned with the competitive trends of the company products. He and his staff are worried that company profits are falling in regards to these competitive problems. Analysis: Destin Brass Company manufactures three items dealing with water purification systems: valves, pumps, and flow controllers. The company has been seeing some problems dealing with competition within some of the product markets they produce. Ronald Guidry had two basic questions they wanted answered dealing with this case: 1. Why was it so difficult for the company to stay competitive in the pump market? 2. Why has the company not seen any competition in the flow controller market even with a recent raise in their price to consumers? These questions aroused from Guidry when he realized that the company wasn’t making the standard 35% gross profit margin in pumps. This was the case because the company was forced to reduce the selling price in pumps away from the target price ($97. 10 to $81. 26) due to stiff competition. Management also realized the excessive gross profit margin of 42% in flow controllers even after a recent 12. % increase in price. [pic] The answer to the questions raised by management is directly related to how the company is accounting for their overhead relating to each product. The company had been using a traditional way of allocating overhead. (Exhibit 2) This was a simple and inexpensive way for the company to accomplish this task. However, it really didn’t accurately assign overhead to each product. Destin realized this and had it controller, Peggy Alford, design a revised way for allocating overhead. Exhibit 3) This revised system didn’t seem to answer any questions or alleviate any problems that Destin was having. Activity Based Costing (ABC) was another possibility to allocate overhead and helps answer the questions above. (Exhibit 4) Traditional Cost system: The traditional cost system that was currently being used was a fairly inexpensive way for the company to allocate overhead cost. This system was used to generate a standard unit cost that was then used to produce a target selling price based on the 35% profit margin set by the company. The structure used to assign overhead to each product to arrive at a standard cost was a very inappropriate method for the company to use. There are a number of reasons that this way was inappropriate. First, the only way overhead is allocated using this system is by assigning overhead to production to each product on the basis of production-run labor costs. [pic] The table above shows how the overhead rate was generated for use in the traditional cost system. Using this rate it allocates $4. 39 of overhead for every $1. 00 of run labor used in the product which the labor was applied. This per unit overhead rate is then added with a material and direct labor per unit cost. Adding these three cost up will give you the standard unit cost for producing each product. (Exhibit 2) This system basis all overhead on labor and therefore is not a very accurate way to distribute overhead cost to each product. Take for instance the flow controllers which have a labor usage of . 40 hours per unit. Using the overhead rate above of 439%, overhead allocated to each flow controller is $28. 10. This only takes into account direct labor and nothing else. This creates a problem because even though Flow Controllers take . 40 hours to produce they only use . 20 hours of machine usage. Compare this machine usage to . 50 machine hours to produce each valve which uses . 25 labor hours and . 50 hours to produce each pump which uses . 50 labor hours. This shows that flow controllers are incurring more cost then needed when dealing with machine usage. This problem of over allocating overhead to certain products is also true when dealing with machine depreciation. Machine depreciation accounts for $270,000 of the total overhead, a large percentage. With the overhead rate being determined by labor using this traditional system, machine depreciation is being determined by how much labor is being used to produce each product. In reality machine depreciation should be allocated to overhead using how many machine hour it took to produce each product. With 4,000 flow controllers being produced at a machine usage of . 20 hours they accounts for 800 total machine hours. This number is very small in comparison to valves and pumps which take 3,750 and 6,250 total machine hours to produce, respectively. This means that flow controllers should be allocated less machine deprecation overhead due to the relative small number of total machine hours used. However, since the overhead rate is only calculated using labor in the traditional system Flow controllers are being over allocated. The table below shows how much machine depreciation is being allocated to overhead using the traditional method based on labor hours. [pic] The table below shows what machine depreciation would be if it were calculated using the number of machine hours used produce each product line. [pic] Based on the previous two tables allocating machine depreciation based on direct labor hours can give the company a false cost on how much it cost to produce each unit of a particular product. Pumps are being allocated $19,350 ($175,600-$156,250) too much machine depreciation. With the company producing 12,500 pumps that’s a per unit over charge of $1. 55. While this is only showing the differences in machine depreciation, the other overhead cost associated with Destin producing it products also vary. With these overhead cost being miss-allocated for, there is the potential for Destin to be using bad data to price its products. This could help explain the competition problem the company is facing and will be discussed later in the paper. A second way that this traditional cost system is inappropriate for Destin to use is because it only gives the company one option in dealing with a price change. Since all overhead is figured using direct labor hours if Destin wanted to change it cost associated with overhead, then the only way would be to change the direct labor dollars. This severally limits the company by having only one â€Å"pool† to change prices. Revised Unit Cost System: Destin Brass Products controller Peggy Alford put together a revised cost allocating system in an attempt to better allocate overhead based on activities. This system separates material related overhead and labor related overhead and determines corresponding rates to plug into your unit costs. (Exhibit 3) The table below shows the separation of the two types of overhead used in the revised method. [pic] The revised system is better than the standard system that Destin Brass currently uses to allocate overhead. It takes into account the problem in the standard system which based all allocation of overhead only from direct abor dollars. In correcting this problem the revised structure now takes into account material related overhead which has no relationship to the labor costs of machining. While this dilemma was corrected in the revised system other problems aroused questioning the accuracy of the system allocating overhead to the right products. When looking at the â€Å"other overh ead† section in the table above packing and shipping overhead is included. This creates a problem when the overhead rate for this group of cost is determined using machine hours. Let’s use flow controllers again to better understand the problem that is created. In the revised cost system all overhead not dealing with materials is allocated to products using $42. 59 per machine hour used. With flow controllers taking . 20 hours of machine time to produce the â€Å"other overhead† is assigned to the standard cost at $8. 52 per unit. With valves and pumps both using machine time of . 50 hours to produce each unit, this systems creates an advantage for the flow controllers. Although flow controllers use less machine time they require more shipping and packing cost. Flow controllers require a total of 22 shipments to its customers compared to only seven for pumps and one for valves. With this being true the majority of the $60,000 assigned to packing and shipping overhead should be allocated as cost to flow controllers. Despite this fact the allocation can’t be done because of how overhead is assigned based machine hours used. The following table shows the current overhead assigned to packing and shipping based on the revised system of using machine hours as the basis for overhead allocation. [pic] The next table shows what packing and shipping overhead would be based on a percentage of total shipments company wide. [pic] The second way shown is the better way to allocate overhead based on packing and shipping costs because it takes into account how many shipments and necessary of each product line. Looking at flow controllers again you can see that this product line requires 22 of the 30 shipments. This is a cost of $44,000 that is directly related to the flow controllers. With the current revised system represented in the first table, flow controllers only were allocated $4,430. 0 of cost associated with packing and shipping. This is only 10. 1% of the cost that should be allocated. With this Revised System for costs Destin Brass would still be using bad data to set prices of it products. This could be one possible answer to the questions asked in the beginning by the company. Another problem that arises if this revised system is put into place is one that is similar to the p revious problem. Destin Brass manufacturing manger John Scott is quoted in the case as saying â€Å"(the company) probably spends one-half of our engineering effort on flow controllers. If this is the case, then like before flow controllers aren’t being allocated enough overhead with regards to engineering cost. This is shown in the following two tables. The table on the left shows the amount of engineering overhead being currently allocated to flow controllers. The table on the right shows what the allocation of engineering cost should be to flow controllers based on the estimated number of 50% of total engineering. [pic] [pic] This again is another possible reason for the competition and price problems that Destin Brass is facing. Both of the above methods really restrict the company from implanting changes in price and/or cost. The methods have few â€Å"pools† for management to implement changes using and result gives poor data. A System with the possibilities to implement changes easily is activity based costing. Activity Based Costing A system that would benefit Destin Brass greatly would be to implement activity based coasting as a means to allocate the overhead costs associated with its products. This method traces the costs of resources to the activities consumed. The problem identified in the two previous systems would all be eliminated if ABC where used at Destin. The ABC method is used by applying all direct cost (direct labor and materials) towards the product coast based on the coast summary. (Exhibit 1) Indirect cost (Indirect labor and materials and depreciation) are then applied to each product at a rate that set by the amount of the activity used to produce the good. The amounts used in this case are estimated based on how many transactions occur in total and are caused by each product. Exhibit 5) This way of allocating overhead better illustrates how much cost goes into each product based on the amount of components and runs is needed to complete each product. With this being true flow controllers now have representation to the cost being occurred and the overhead allocated to them. Flow controllers numbers are now more accurate because of the fact the all transactions needed to complete the product are used in generating an allocati on rate. Each flow controller is made up of 10 components and that are being produced in 10 runs. This will account for the company to have 100 transactions (10Ãâ€"10) in order to produce the good. The numbers that Destin came up with using this method are shown in Exhibit 4. With each overhead cost being rated by itself for each product, the company has better data to make sound decisions with. They also have better control on implementing changes. As with the previous methods management could only change labor or machine hours to effectively change coast. With the ABC method each cost is rated separately and therefore a change to a cost would be easily done. When comparing the product unit coast obtained from the three methods discussed in this paper, the companies’ problems dealing with competition and price are easily reasoned with. The following table shows these unit costs for each product line using each of the three methods: This comparison table shows that Destin Brass was allocating its overhead in a way that gave decision makers faulty data. By looking at the numbers obtained using the ABC method and comparing them to the two other methods answers to the two questions raised by the president can be answered. The first question of why was it so difficult for the company to stay competitive in the pump market is explained by the above chart. Destin had believed its production cost for pumps to be $63. 12. With this being said when Destin had to lower their price due to stiff competition the company felt they were no longer going to be able to obtain the desired 35% profit margin. However if Destin new the true cost of producing each pump unit was $37. 70 then lowing the price to stay competitive would have been no longer and issue because the company would still be over the 35% mark. The second question raised by management at Destin Brass dealing with why the company has not seen any competition in the flow controller market is also easily answered using the above table. Destin believed that its standard unit cost for producing flow controllers was $56. 50. Using this cost number the company set a target selling price of $86. 96 to obtain the desired 35% profit margin for the company. When potential competitors looked at this price they felt there was no way they could make a profit in this product line. The potential competitors most likely had a cost of producing a flow controller some where around the price we obtained using the ABC method of $100. 91. Even when Destin raised the price of flow controllers by 12. 5% to $97. 07 competitors would still not want to enter the market based on our selling price. These questions are also easily answered by looking at the following table which take the unit cost obtained using the ABC method and comparing them with last months selling prices: This table shows that the flow controllers were priced to low based our current cost. The company would have incurred a loss of 4% gross margin if this were the unit cost we used last month. Again this shows why now competition was forming because any other company using the ABS method would incur a loss as well. If Destin where however to make a 35% margin at its new unit cost of $100. 91 it would need to sell the flow controllers at $155. 25. This increase in price might fuel some competition. Potential competitors might see this new price Destin is selling at and feel it is a favorable market to get into now competition can sell above their production cost. Pumps are also easily analyzed using this table. Now that the company has an ABC unit cost of $48. 79 they can better compete in the price wars the take place in the pump market. At the price Destin was selling pumps at last month of $81. 26 the company would now be making a 40% gross margin using the ABC cost. This leaves Destin the option of lowering the price in pumps $75. 06 in order to stay competitive and maintain market share. At this price Destin would still be making the company desired 35% profit margin. Net income would not change in the flowing month if the ABC method were to be implemented. This is assuming there are no changes in production, sales, or costs. This is strictly saying that the way you account for overhead as no impact on net income. The ABC method total overhead costs, it only changes how those costs are allocated for internal purposes. With this information shown the ABC method for allocating overhead to products is far superior to anything Destin Brass had used before. The ABC method takes into account all overhead cost and the components involved in each product. In summary a company’s profitability of a product depends on the allocation rules used internally. Recommendations: I would recommend to Destin Brass president Roland Guidry to implement the ABC method for allocating overhead. This method alleviates the two problems he had at the beginning of the case dealing with the question of competition and price. The ABC method will also let Mr. Guidry better control his cost and prices by providing him with a way that’s easier and more effective. I would recommend to Mr. Guidry that he lower the price of the pumps in order to remain competitive in that market. He should lower pump prices as long as he stays at or above the 35% gross margin he wants. I would also recommend that he slowly raise the prices of flow controllers. With the unit cost a lot higher than where it was this price needs to raise and try to obtain the 35% margin. Mr. Guidry should keep a close eye on the competition in this market. As the price is increase potential competitors might enter the market. He should raise the price for flow controllers as long as competition stays to a minimal to retain the market share Destin has already obtained. [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic]

The Genealogy of Morals

The philosophical works The Genealogy of Morals, by Friedrich Nietzsche provides the reader with an opinion on what human morality means. The following paper will explore Neitzche’s l as implementation of analysis for his philosophy.   In Neitzche’s The Genealogy of Morals the concept of humanity and the way in which God produced or created humanity and gave them certain attributes of good or evil will also be represented in this paper.   In fact, the basis of Neitzche’s writing is about good and evil and the way in which humanity, history, religion, and philosophy have created, or manipulated these concepts to fit their own devices. Nietzsche restricts the presence of God in his equation by saying that the concepts of good and evil have changed with the progression of history and that these two paradigms of human behavior and secular code will continue to evolve toward the demands of a changing society. Nietzsche, therefore, makes the argument that morals are constructs of the times in which we will and have evolved much as human beings have over the ages, but that this is not necessarily a good thing because it is meant as a manner of preventing others from having control over us. This is because people inherently wish to exercise power over others and morals are a way of leveling things off so that the strongest members of society do not dominate, as Nietzsche emphasizes, The pathos of nobility and distance, as mentioned, the lasting and domineering feeling, something total and complete, of a higher ruling nature in relation to a lower nature, to an â€Å"beneath†Ã¢â‚¬â€that is the origin of the opposition between â€Å"good† and â€Å"bad.† (The right of the master to give names extends so far that we could permit ourselves to grasp the origin of language itself as an expression of the power of the rulers: they say â€Å"that is such and such,† seal every object and event with a sound and, in so doing, take possession of it.) In the Genealogy of Morals, Friedrich Nietzsche presents his idea about the morality of human beings and why it is flawed: Nietzsche begins by discounting many of society’s assumptions on how they function in life, as he believes that we tend to view things as having inherent meanings But all purposes, all uses, are only signs that a will to power has become master over something with less power and has stamped on it its own meaning of some function, and the entire history of a â€Å"thing,† an organ, a practice can by this process be seen as a continuing chain of signs of constantly new interpretations and adjustments, whose causes need not be connected to each other—they rather follow and take over from each other under merely contingent circumstances. Nietzsche uses punishment as an example in this case, as human beings tend to believe that punishment is an action that happens to a person as a result of that person doing something that he or she deserves to be punished, although counter to this Nietzsche also states that suffering is meaningless and therefore, punishment may also with Nietzche’s own philosophy be meaningless. He would argue that punishment is completely separate from this, however, as punishment is very often used as a way of showing off one’s power or in some cases, as an act of cruelty. This suggests that the punishment does not always fit the crime, as the clichà © is written, so those two things should not necessarily be associated with each other. It cannot be understood how these two things are the same thing, so it is necessary to keep them separate. Nietzsche then continues this argument to show how morality has arrived at the point that it is at right now. He believes that morals have become such an important thing in a person’s life because they have very sacred reasons for having these morals, which include religion, culture, and reason. These, morals, however, are flawed because what constitutes a good, bad, or evil act can change over the course of history in a social morality as situations change because there is no absolute truth to them. What this means is that an action could be considered either good or bad depending on the situation, so it is impossible for morals to be considered absolute as well. Nietzsche, rather than defining good and bad, looks at what helps to define what shape an action will take over the course of our lives. Nietzsche argues that all of existence, especially in human beings, is a struggle between different wills for the feeling of power. This means that society wishes to have some sort of control over their own lives and also over the lives of others. This is why competition and the nature of this in man is so prevalent in society, Rather, that occurs for the first time with the collapse of aristocratic value judgments, when this entire contrast between â€Å"egoistic† and â€Å"unegoistic† pressed itself ever more strongly into human awareness—it is, to use my own words, the instinct of the herd which, through this contrast, finally gets its word (and its words). And even so, it took a long time until this instinct in the masses became ruler, with the result that moral evaluation got downright hung up and bogged down on this opposition (as is the case, for example, in modern Europe: today the prejudice that takes â€Å"moralistic,† â€Å"unegoistic,† â€Å"dà ©sintà ©ressà ©Ã¢â‚¬  [disinterested] as equally valuable ideas already governs, with the force of a â€Å"fixed idea† and a disease of the brain). It is all a competition to achieve this power, even if there is no physical reward for winning these competitions. Nietzsche shows the constant changing of the ideologies of good and bad by stating that in past generations, the concept of good was defined by the strongest people in society. In barbaric times, anything that the stronger members of society did was defined as good, while the weaker members of society were seen as bad. This is not something that we would agree upon today, but members of these past societies would not agree with the way we do things either. Therefore, Nietzsche believes that to give anything an absolute interpretation does not work because as the times change, so will this interpretation. It is wills which define this, so as wills change, so will the apparent truth. If it is truly desirable to have free will, therefore, a person must not believe in any absolutes, but rather view the world as a constantly changing place and let our wills define the things that are occurring around and in society. This includes looking at things from as many different perspectives as possible in order to decide contingently upon personal perspectives which viewpoint a person wishes to make. This can also be applied to morality as, since nothing is absolute, morals are constantly changing as well. Morality is not something that was passed down from God to human beings, but is rather something that has evolved and changed since the beginning of time and will continue to do so. The only thing that has not change in human beings is that they inherently have the desire to achieve more power over their fellow human beings, because of the existence of free wills. This means that the present morality that human beings possess has been born due to hatred for those things that are stronger in the presence of society. Nietzsche argues that a person will have fear of things that could possibly have power over them, so a person must have developed this moral code in order to protect themselves from the stronger members of society. Nietzsche believes that a person must embrace these animalistic instincts because a person is currently hurting themselves by repressing them. Nietzsche says that morals are a result of trying to deter others from having power.   The notion of human morality is something that philosophers have debates over for centuries and will continue to do so as society progresses as well as thoughts of absolutes and God evolve. Work Cited Neitzche, F.   Genealogy of Morals.   Dover Thrift Edition.   New York.   2003.                  

The principles of ELISA and its application Essay

The principles of ELISA and its application - Essay Example The sensitivity of simple enzyme assays together with the specificity of antibodies/antigens aid in qualitative and quantitative determination of antigen or antibody concentration in samples. The various biological samples, like plasma, serum, urine, and cell extracts containing unknown antigen/antibody concentration can be analysed in ELISA. This biochemical technique employs polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies depending upon the specificity requirement for the sample to be assayed. The assays involving monoclonal antibodies increases specificity; and therefore give reproducible and accurate results. The enzymes employed in ELISA should be simple, easily analysed and should have a high turnover number. The substrates used for the enzyme assay should be stable, safe, inexpensive, and should generate soluble end products. The chromogenic colourless substrates are utilized which give colored reaction products after the reaction. This visible color reaction is quantified spectrophotomet rically. Other options for detection include analysis using fluorescent or radioactive probes.The most commonly used enzymes in ELISA are horse raddish peroxidase, alkaline phosphatase, urease, ÃŽ ²-galactosidase etc. (Axel 1999). When alkaline phosphatase is used for labeling the antibody, p-nitrophenylphosphate (pNPP) is used as substrate which forms yellow color product p-nitrophenol after the reaction. The chromogneic substrates employed with peroxidase are 2,2’-azo-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), o-phenylenediamine (OPD) and 3,3’5,5’- tetramethylbenzidine base (TMB), which gives end products with green, orange and blue colors, respectively. A 96-well microtiter plate is used to execute the ELISA constituted of polystyrene or PVC. Direct ELISA: In this technique, a sample containing the target antigen is adsorbed in a well of the microtiter plate. An enzyme labeled primary antibody reacts directly with the antigen. Direct ELISA excludes the use of

19-64 underinsured final paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

19-64 underinsured final paper - Essay Example ublic policy must take account of these cultural sensitivities, a willingness to recognize priorities and set limits seems to be proportional to the level of frustration with ever-increasing costs. A much-cited example of rational priorities for medical care comes from the state of Oregon, where a commission was appointed in 1989 to make recommendations to the state legislature on how to expand coverage and set priorities in the Medicaid program. Underinsured people were to be added to the Medicaid list to cover every resident whose income was below a certain level, but this could be afforded only by reductions in the benefit package. After much consultation with health professionals and public hearings and community meetings held throughout the state, the commission produced a list of almost 700 condition-treatment pairs grouped in 17 categories and ranked according to priority. According to the plan the Medicaid program would pay only for items above a certain cutoff point on the l ist, to be determined from time to time by the legislature. The plan was implemented in 1994 and has been politically popular among the general public and with Medicare recipients. As of 1998 it is limited to relatively poorer persons eligible for the state Medicaid program, and has not been extended to the general public. â€Å"Managed care has been the single most dominant force which has fundamentally transformed the delivery of health care in United States since the 1990s† (Shi, L. & Singh, D., 2004, p. 324). Once each year there is a major conference of representatives of the funds, the regional associations of physicians, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies, to work out the contribution rate and other details for the underinsured. The government does not provide any funding to the system but is very active in regulating and monitoring it. The basic features of the social-insurance-based health system have been adopted in many parts of the country. The welfare-oriented

Deconstructivism and Bilbao museum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Deconstructivism and Bilbao museum - Essay Example The new Guggenheim Museum designed by Frank Gehry which currently stands in Bilbao, Spain, is found to be an incredible piece of proof that exhibits how the theory of Deconstructivism may be exemplified at its finest, at least to the sensible findings of The Times’ critic Herbert Muschamp. It could well be an exact concretization of the core substance of Deconstructivism as many would expect based on the fundamental working definition. What Muschamp has come to discover as ‘The Miracle of Bilbao’, being the new Guggenheim Museum, is the reason behind the frequency of pilgrimage to the town at the Basque country’s northeast corner. Muschamp further expresses â€Å"Those who visit Bilbao, however, may come away thinking that art is not entirely remote from matters of life and death.† According to him, it is not Gehry’s structure nor the physical sight of it that causes the miracle to happen but that which bears the capacity of attracting pilgrim s is the â€Å"extravagant optimism† – a positive consequence in the attitude of watching the museum take shape then having a sort of perception that is bound to make an audience pass on a promising impression. Hence, among art intellectuals, a querying testimony of magnificence emerges where one is led to promote with conviction asking â€Å"Have you been to Bilbao?† and equivalently, â€Å"Have you seen the light? Have you seen the future?† Through Gehry’s creation in Bilbao, as featured in Muschamp’s discourse, the concept of Destructivism has been materialized via major work which turned out. to be an architectural entity capable of projecting a â€Å"broad range of meanings† that may serve to embody â€Å"contemporary social and cultural norms.† By theoretical endeavour, Destructivism challenges the typical objective of methodologists in art who are mostly concerned and accustomed to rely upon the established idea of certa inty or unified thoughts which would necessarily systematize the process of constructing the intended object or piece for which a fixed identity is given (Germizaj 1). Correspondingly, Guggenheim Museum speaks of such truth as Gehry employs â€Å"social fragmentation†, a sense of fashion in artistry that may seem strange to those who lack poststructuralist orientation or view of exploring socio-cultural meanings by which broad associations occur and criticisms naturally develop out of rich perspectives since ‘fragments’ are brought across instead of ‘unity’ or ‘wholeness’ which singularizes interpretation thereof. One looks into Gehry’s work in detail, exterior and interior-wise alike, with a possibility of confessing that while an aspect of his craft reminds of something, the rest entails something else as well, when thorough examination reveals that the parts are actually independent of each other in the context of culture or so ciety being conveyed within

A New Window of Opportunity for Viacom Case Study

A New Window of Opportunity for Viacom - Case Study Example In the USA, the cable networks industry makes revenue of around $ 56 billion with a 1.7 % growth over the past five years (Ibisworld, 2014). This paper is based on the cable networks and broadcast industry with particular focus on the marketing strategies of Viacom. It includes the strategies of the company to operate in the international market and to strengthen its core competencies. Â  Viacom is a TV broadcast and cable networks company, headquartered in New York. It owns some of the best-known television brands like MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, etc. Viacom also owns Paramount, which is one of the world’s largest media entertainment brands (Viacom, 2014a). The strategic planning of the company focuses on becoming the industry leading broadcasting company, which focuses on catering to its customers by developing new brands and enhancing the existing ones on a multiplatform strategy (Viacom, 2014b). Over the years Viacom has expanded itself by taking several tactical strategies so as to meet its long-term goals to expand itself in the media entertainment industry. In 1983, Viacom made its first major strategic move by establishing a joint venture with Warner Communication. In the next few years, the company eventually acquired the MTV networks. Acquisition of the MTV brand gave Viacom a major financial boost. It also made Viacom an attractive bus iness partner for other bigger companies; as a result in 1987, almost 87 % of Viacom was acquired by National Amusements with a financial consideration of $ 3.4 billion. Keeping in mind the high popularity of MTV, the company decided to introduce MTV in Europe. In 1994, Viacom made another major acquisition by taking over Paramount Communications with $ 9.9 billion. As a result, the company diversified into the movie production industry.

Developmental Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Developmental Psychology - Essay Example some people had turned out not to be extraordinarily uncomfortable or disagreeable, thereby tending to suggest that the theory of midlife crisis as a â€Å"universal age-related stage† is a myth. The text categorically states that most of the adults who go through some sort of crisis at this stage suffer from general psychopathological problems. Aside from this, adults experience some sort of fundamental change characterized by generativity at some point in their lives, but nothing approaching a universal crisis-level event. The transition rather takes the form of unique challenges and issues, which may be successfully negotiated by ego resilience. The age at which these transitions occur is not predictable, as such transition does not seem to be age-related (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2008). Some people may experience midlife crisis while others may not because individuals deal with the challenges and issues in different ways. Midlife crisis may be different for men and women. Women tend to perform the role of â€Å"kinkeeper† (one who keeps the family together), and therefore would experience midlife crisis more when the older generation becomes dependent and dies, or the younger generation become adults and leave the family home. Women tend to feel the crisis more with respect to their children, and men with respect to their parents. The changes are biological, sociological and psychological. Women experience the climacteric, a biological process during which menopause takes place. Men’s biological changes are more gradual. The hormonal changes cause responses in people’s psychological makeup. The changes for both genders are likewise sociological, because both men and women redefine their roles, in accordance with their cultural background, together with the loss of responsibility to children and to parents who pass on. (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2008:493). Question 2--- Drawing upon material from the text, respond to the following questions: How have workplace

Identify one or two coaching or organization challenges significant Research Proposal

Identify one or two coaching or organization challenges significant enough to be the focus of your project - Research Proposal Example In addition, the program is the foremost sports program meant to enhance the life of participants through the game of baseball. In my view, the rating of the program may be placed at 4 on the rating scale of 1 to 5. This is largely found on the view of what is required to aid, manage, and run a local RBI program assisted by volunteer managers or coaches, local financers, sponsors, and most significantly parents or guardians. The Charleston South Carolina Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities Baseball Program aims for brilliance through the mission of the program, which is to promote a diversified minority environment for youth and adults which is accommodating, demanding, friendly, fun and safe. It aims to endure that self-confidence can be nurtured as individuals grow and expand their skills in a wholesome surrounding off and on the field through the game of baseball. Through the mission, there has been a rise in interest, in the program, this year from a large number of participants of diverse backgrounds. As the Director of the program, I have attempted to recruit additional Historically Black Colleges and Universities coaches situated in the state of South Carolina, and hold an interest in recruiting young ones in the RBI program instead of recruiting children from different states. In addition, I aspire to see more professional and college scouts at our yearly RBI South East Regional. This is largely because not every child in the RBI program will be included or considered in the RBI national team list. They may also be missed with regard to their talent capacities. Nevertheless, the RBI scholarship program has turned out to be successful for learners who not have the capacity to pursue a professional or colligate baseball career, but have the academic capacities. The program has a former RBI participant who successfully accomplished the program and will be graduating at the Citadel Military College during the spring of 2013. The participant will be the foremo st recipient to receive the RBI for RBI scholarship, and graduate college. Moreover, this year, the program attracted 30 players who made up two teams, one, the junior team which comprised participants aged between 13 and 15 years, and, two, the senior team comprised participant aged between 16 and 18 years. The teams had to give a special request to take part in the South East Regional Tournament. Presently, there is a feeder system made up of children aged between 4 and 12 years through the Little International Charter which is made up of five teams, 2 Tee ball teams, 1 Coach Pitch team, 1 Boys Majors team 9-12 and 1 Girls softball team 9-12. Also, currently, the little league program has 4 players moving from the boys major team of 9-12 years to the RBI junior boys team of 13-15 years. We are also developing the girls softball team from the feeder system through the little league program. Nevertheless, there are a number of challenges which exist when contrasting this program wit h other rival programs and getting parents to assist and support the values of the RBI program domestically and countrywide. One, the program is facing stiff competition from rival programs. Therefore, due to the challenges posed by rival programs it has been demanding to create more than a single team in each age division. It has been largely argued that competition can make an organization, entity,

433Mod4SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

433Mod4SLP - Essay Example A common example of HCI which I experienced is GPS navigation system. This has proved to be beneficial for me as I often plan trips where locating my destination becomes important. The navigation system is a prominent example of human computer interaction approach (Wasson, 2006). My personal experience with this application has been good as it was completely a user friendly technology. I just had to enter my location and my destination and the system was so designed that it gave me the entire route map to reach the destination. The usability factor is a matter of concern as proper interaction would be only possible if users find it easy to operate on such application. Similarly I found the navigation system based on HCI approach possess high usability. When the application was installed in my mobile I was keen towards learning its facilities (Kirlik, 2006). It was designed in such comprehensive manner that before going to the main page the application introduced the user with a live example on how to operate such application. This proved to be helpful for me as I could identify the required steps which I need to take to locate my destination. On the contrary I feel that certain HCI applications are difficult to understand. Like for instance my brother installed a computer gaming software in my laptop and I was not able to operate that properly (Jaimes and Sebe, 2007). It comprised of some complicated instructions which a user cannot understand if he or she does not have some technical knowledge. This in turn I feel reduces the usability of a HCI application. I have noticed that in some organizations there are user friendly applications implemented in the system but there are certain programs which require some theoretical knowledge. However usability is an important factor when it comes to HCI and its applications. HCI is all about effective communication between machine and human and I think that this can be only possible if technological

CAPE Industrial Services - case study Essay Example for Free

CAPE Industrial Services case study Essay 1.0 Introduction In response to the increased importance of services, numerous articles on issues related to the effective management of service operations have appeared in both academic and practitioner based publications (Chase and Hayes, 1991; Karmarker and Pitbladdo, 1995; Kellogg and Nie, 1995; Lovelock, 1992; Roth and Van Der Velde, 1991). Several of these articles present typologies of services and provide directions for improving quality, productivity and operating efficiency, however relatively little has been done to test the proposed ideas. In order to understand more of these various service management typologies, an actual business organisation that focuses on providing services will be observed and analysed. In the discussion, the design and strategies of the selected company in the Oil Industry service sector will be taken into account. Recommendations for improvement will also be provided at the end of the discussion. 2.0 Model of the Service The variety of the service sector makes it complicated to come up with useful generalisations concerning the management of service organisations. Therefore, a considerable amount of research has been focused on developing service classification schemes. For example, Judd (1964) classified services according to three categories: rented goods, owned goods and non-goods services. Similarly, Rathmell (1974) categorised services according to type of buyer, buyer motives, buying practices, type of seller, and degree of regulation. Even though these classifications show how some services are different from the others, they do not provide much useful insight into the design and management of service processes from an operational perspective. More recent classification schemes have explored the complex nature of service delivery systems with the goal of identifying differentiating characteristics, which affect quality and process improvement, as well as service design. For example, Shostack ( 1977) and Sasser, Olsen and Wyckoff (1978) developed the concept of product-service-package based on the tangible versus intangible nature of services. More recent researchers however believe in an integrated approach to service management. For example, Thomas (1978) argues that a large part of manufacturing experience is irrelevant to the management of service operations because the supply services are very different from that of manufacturing. Sullivan (1981) and Bowen and Cummings (1990) also advocate an integrated approach to service management and suggest that operations management researchers must include organisational behaviour and marketing constructs and techniques to address service operations problems adequately. The means of classifying service models are indeed varied. For this particular analysis though, the model proposed by Schmenner (1986), also known as the Service Process Matrix (SPM), will be used. The SPM expands the customer-contact model and categorises services on two dimensions. One is labour intensity, and the other is customer contact and service customisation. Schmenner (1986) proposed a two-by-two service process matrix that classifies services as service factory, service shop, mass service, and professional service. Under these models, CAPE Industrial Services can be classified under the Professional Service category. Professional service is described as the provision of services with high customer contact and or customisation and high labour intensity. Labour intensity on the other hand is defined as the ratio of the labour cost incurred to the value of the plant and equipment. A high labour intensity business involves relatively small plant and equipment investment relative to a considerable amount of worker time, effort, and cost. The second dimension in the classification scheme combines two distinct concepts: customer interaction and customisation. A service with a high level of interaction is one in which the customer can actively intervene in the service process. A service with high customisation will work to satisfy an individuals particular preferences. The joint measure has a high value when a service exhibits both a high level of interaction and a high level of customisation for the customers. In the selected business, CAPES Operations management has a high contact with customers who need to be kept informed of the service range being delivered to them. Thus, high customisation or high selection on the services occurring in this type of Industry. Also, CAPE employ a high labour intensity as the Oil Industry service sector is located globally, in short the service range offered by CAPE is readily accessible, incurring fewer costs for equipment and labour. 3.0 Service Design and Delivery The contracts that are held by CAPE require daily customer contact on a personal level, having designated Business Delivery Managers for these contracts assist the customers with what they need for their services. So as to maintain the efficiency and speed of service, there are also designated project managers. These managers have constant contact with the offshore or onshore facility, this is handled in such a way that both the customer and the CAPE Business Delivery Manager are aware of all the daily operations that are on going. The services rendered by CAPE Industrial Services are a vast range of Multi-Disciplined Fabric Maintenance and Access techniques to Oil and Gas Sector. Charges built into the contract rates cover the costs of the additional project management. At times, services are requested that are not of the norm for CAPE, to service these Third party companies are brought in under the CAPE banner. While the cost of these services may vary much from the standard contract rates, excellent service is a must. Thus, extra costs are incurred for additional time and effort put into the contract by the CAPE managers. So as to make the services offered by CAPE more affordable and viable for their customers; the company tends to work on providing innovative ideas that will improve work ethics. Typical innovative ideas are the Introduction of Industrial Rope Access; this is a benefit to the customer as it cuts out the need for Scaffold or other means of conventional access solutions. Like other service companies, one of the common strategies of CAPE is to offer a volume discount or a reduced rate if the period of the contract can be extended. 4.0 Service Strategy Service companies in the Oil and Gas Industry have numerous strategies on how their rendered services can be better than competitors. Aside from maintaining quality and safety in service, one of the aims of the CAPE Industrial Services is to provide innovative ideas to their customers that will keep them ahead of their competitors whilst at the same time providing cost savings and improvements in quality to the customer. Improvements in the equipments and materials that are available in the Oil Industry also help in achieving the quality of service. Industrial Rope Access for instance, helps in reducing time scales for accessing work sites. Hence, this reduces costs to the customer. Using the appropriate tools in the work-site also helps to improve quality and time-scales. This goal of the company does not only facilitate in serving the customer appropriately, but most importantly it shows that the Oil and Gas Industry service area prioritises its customers. This in turn results to high customer satisfaction and loyalty. 5.0 Service Encounter: People in the Service Personnel working for CAPE Operations include Operations managers, Project Managers, QA/QC and HSE Managers, Technical Clerks and Secretarys. Each of these employees has their own designated duties and responsibilities in the area. This way, efficiency of service is maintained in the Company. Of course problems might occur in any type of businesses, a company is bound to make mistakes if there are no careful observations to their businesses. One of the problems that a company like CAPE might encounter is the companys personnel or human resource mistakes. The reason for this is the lack in the training it provides for its personnel. The training and development of each employee is very significant as this does not only help in providing confidence in work performance, but it also helps in maintaining quality service. So it is advisable for CAPE Industrial Services to train their employees well to provide their customers with better satisfaction. 6.0 Managing Service Expectation and Capacity In times when demands for services increase, CAPE Industrial Services tries to cope by conducting reliable forecasts. The company so as to keep track of its activities regularly keeps records of previous business operations. This aids the managers from predicting sudden increases of service demand. In order to cope with peak months for ad-hoc services, the customers managers are advised to make their project plans ahead of time. Through this system, CAPE is able to plan ahead for availability of equipment, consumables and personnel that will be used for upcoming projects. 7.0 Recommendations One of the problems that the organisation might face is the mistake their site personnel are committing because of their lack of training and development. As previously mentioned, this is a vital factor so as to maintain efficient service in the company and lessen the number of mistakes which can be made on one of the sites. In order to remedy this problem, the managers can plan an effective and appropriate program for each employee based on their respective duties within the company. The managers can also implement a system at the sites wherein the older workers with more site experience can assist newly hired employees. This can be a more appropriate method of training as the exposure of the workers to the actual work area can help them adjust to the nature of their job. Regular evaluation of the workers can help in improving the skills of the workers and keep them up to date of their current work performance. In this way, quality of service is maintained and skills are enhanced. Overall, the performance of CAPE Industrial Services is efficient. Considering its effective strategies and significant goals for quality service, it is enough to say that the services provided by CAPE are good and successful. However, there are other factors that are to be considered in this type of service. The consideration of these factors will not only help the company in serving their customers better, but it will also help them maintain quality and service provided to existing and potential new customers. 8.0 Operational Improvement Through the Use of Technology In reality, the world of a service company in the Oil and Gas Industry is changing. The expectations of people are different than those of past generations, Safety and Quality are becoming more important features of the industry each year, cost pressures continue to mount, and new information technologies have changed operational functions (Cushman and Shanklin, 1996; Bowers, 1987). As a result, the captive market plan concept is declining and the services are being exposed to a greater amount of competition than in the past. Due to these changes, the old strategies of a service company system must also adapt. This adaptation will definitely contribute to sufficient flexibility that will meet customers needs in an ever-changing environment while retaining the beneficial aspects of a Multi-Disciplined service provider. As CAPE is focused on giving their customers a quality service, one of the possible strategies that can be employed by the company is the application of the One Stop Sh op Fabric Maintenance service provider. As information technologies have advanced, the virtual organisation concept has been promoted as an alternative too traditional, vertically integrated organisational structures (Goldman et al, 1995). In virtual organisations, a lead entity creates an alliance with a set of other organisations (Grenier Metes, 1995). The tasks performed by the virtual organisation are divided among the entities that comprise it, based upon their respective competencies. Virtual organisations can produce superior results because they harness market forces to combine competencies in ways that traditional organisations, using internal mechanisms, cannot (Chesbrough Teece, 1996). Once constituted, the lead organisation operates the virtual organisation by co-ordinating parallel tasks through the use of sophisticated information technologies and management systems, thus creating a coherent system. A virtual organisations membership changes over time as market conditions and technologies shift and the strategies and resources of the constituent organisations evolve. While virtual organisations are most often found in high technology industries such as the development of new computer systems, some characteristics of CAPE Industrial Services make it amenable to the successful operation of a company that services the needs of the Oil and gas Industry. 9.0 Conclusion While CAPES Operations may take a lot of resources to maintain the business and the quality of service provided, the benefits that it can provide outweigh the expense incurred. Aside from that, the services offered by CAPE will definitely increase in quality, hence, greatly contributing to the goals of the company. Through careful and effective planning, budgeting and implementation, CAPE Industrial Services can begin on making little changes, improving the company one step at a time. The important thing is that constant adaptation to change is being done and that the Operations management is coming up with ways on how to improve the services that are provided by the company and keeping the customer coming back. 10.0 References Bowen, D.E., and Cummings, T.G. (1990). Suppose we took service seriously. In Service Management Effectiveness, New York: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1-4 Chase, R.B., and Hayes, R.H. (1991). Beefing-up operations in service firms. Sloan Management Review, 33 (1), 15-26 Chesbrough, H. W., and Teece D. J. (1996, January-February). When is Virtual virtuous?: Organising for innovation. Harvard Business Review, 65-73 Goldman, S. L., Nagel, R. N., and Preiss, K. (1995). Agile Competitors and Virtual Organisations: Strategies for Enriching the Customer. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Grenier R., and Metes, G. (1995). Going Virtual: Moving Your Organisation Into the 21st Century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR www.soc.napier.ac.uk/module.php3?op=getlecturecloaking=nolectureid=1935516 Karmarkar, U.S., and Pitbladdo, R. (1995). Service markets and competition. Journal of Operations Management, 12 (4), 397-411 Kellogg, D.L. and Nie, W. (1995). A framework for strategic service management. Journal of Operations Management, 13, 323-337 Lovelock, C.H. (1992). A basic toolkit for service management. In Managing services: marketing, operations, and human resources 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Roth, A.V., and Van Der Velde, M. (1991). Operations as marketing: A competitive service strategy. Journal of Operations Management, 10 (3), 303-328 Judd, R.C. (1964). The case for redefining services. Journal of Marketing, 28, 1 Rathmell, J.M. (1974). Marketing in the service sector, Cambridge, MA: Winthrop Schmenner, R.W. (1986). How can service businesses survive and prosper. Sloan Management Review, 27 (3), 21-32 Shostack. G.L. (1977). Breaking free from product marketing. Journal of Marketing, 41 (4) Sullivan, R.S. (1981). The service sector: Challenges and imperatives for research in operations management. Journal of Operations Management, 2 (4), 211-214 Thomas, D.R.E (1978). Strategy is different in service businesses. Harvard Business Review, 56 (4), 158-165

Genetically Modified Foods Essay Example for Free

Genetically Modified Foods Essay The topic of genetically modified foods is one that is hotly debated, but the problem is that the phrase GMO is very broad and encompasses techniques and modifications to food that you potentially should and shouldnt be concerned about. At this point in time there doesnt seem to be an overt benefit or risk to consuming GMO foods. According to the FDA, the big three GMO foods are soybeans, corn, and canola. But the FDA has also evaluated the safety of genetic modifications to flax, tomatoes, potatoes, cantaloupe, alfalfa, creeping bentgrass, papaya, sugar beets, wheat, squash, radicchio, and plums. The FDA lists consultations on GMO foods and what was genetically modified in the food to warrant the safety consultation on its website. GMOs, or â€Å"genetically modified organisms,† are plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals. These experimental combinations of genes from different species cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding. The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways: Pest Resistance: Crop losses from insect pests can be staggering, resulting in devastating financial loss for farmers and starvation in developing countries. Farmers typically use many tons of chemical pesticides annually. Consumers do not wish to eat food that has been treated with pesticides because of potential health hazards, and run-off of agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers can poison the water supply and cause harm to the environment. Growing GM foods such as B. t. corn can help eliminate the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market. Herbicide tolerance: For some crops, it is not cost-effective to remove weeds by physical means such as tilling, so farmers will often spray large quantities of different herbicides (weed-killer) to destroy weeds, a time-consuming and expensive process, that requires care so that the herbicide doesnt harm the crop plant or the environment. Crop plants genetically-engineered to be resistant to one very powerful herbicide could help prevent environmental damage by reducing the amount of herbicides needed. For example, Monsanto has created a strain of soybeans genetically modified to be not affected by their herbicide product Roundup. A farmer grows these soybeans which then only require one application of weed-killer instead of multiple applications, reducing production cost and limiting the dangers of agricultural waste run-off. Disease resistance There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases. Cold Tolerance: Unexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish has been introduced into plants such as tobacco and potato. With this antifreeze gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill unmodified seedlings. Drought tolerance/salinity tolerance: As the world population grows and more land is utilized for housing instead of food production, farmers will need to grow crops in locations previously unsuited for plant cultivation. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places. Nutrition:Malnutrition is common in third world countries where impoverished peoples rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. However, rice does not contain adequate amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated. For example, blindness due to vitamin A deficiency is a common problem in third world countries. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences have created a strain of golden rice containing an unusually high content of beta-carotene (vitamin A). Since this rice was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, a non-profit organization, the Institute hopes to offer the golden rice seed free to any third world country that requests it. Plans were underway to develop a golden rice that also has increased iron content. However, the grant that funded the creation of these two rice strains was not renewed, perhaps because of the vigorous anti-GM food protesting in Europe, and so this nutritionally-enhanced rice may not come to market at all. GMO is essentially the next evolution of crossbreeding. Common ingredients derived from GMO risk crops are; Amino Acids, Aspartame, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Ascorbate, Vitamin C, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Ethanol, Flavorings (â€Å"natural† and â€Å"artificial†), High-Fructose Corn Syrup, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Lactic Acid, Maltodextrins, Molasses, Monosodium Glutamate, Sucrose, Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), Xanthan Gum, Vitamins, Yeast Products. These ingredients are found in almost all the foods and snacks that we consume everyday and feed to our growing children. The notations above are just some examples of how GMOs could be helpful to our crops, but there are also risks as well. There is a growing body of evidence connects GMOs with health problems, environmental damage and violation of farmers’ and consumers’ rights. Grass roots organizations have been crying foul since GMOs were first introduced into the food system approximately 20 years ago. Many people believe the consumption of GMOs may contribute to serious health issues. In fact, recent studies raise serious concerns about the safety of GMOs and show they may contribute to the following conditions: Intestinal Disorders: An Australian study recently claimed that pigs fed genetically modified (GM) soy and corn displayed a 32 percent rate of severe stomach inflammation whereas pigs not fed a GMO diet only showed 12 percent. Infertility: A study performed at the University of Vienna showed that mice fed GM corn over a period of twenty weeks had impaired fertility. In addition, some of the offspring of the mice displayed decreased weight. Kidney and Liver Issues: The International Journal of Biological Sciences offers a study that showed certain varieties of GM corn to have a negative impact on kidney and liver function. As a result, the study concluded that some GM varieties may contribute to hepatorenal toxicity. Increased Allergies: While its hard to pinpoint the source of any food allergy, there is concern that new proteins in GM soy and corn crops might increase their frequency. Organ Toxicity: An abstract from the National Institutes of Health (PubMed) indicates that studies show most GM foods cause some form of toxicity to certain organs such as the pancreas, kidneys, and reproductive organs and also show hematological, biochemical, and immunological factors. They go on to mention that major studies over many years will be required in order to support these findings. GMO is essentially the next evolution of crossbreeding. Common ingredients derived from GMO risk crops are; Amino Acids, Aspartame, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Ascorbate, Vitamin C, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Ethanol, Flavorings (â€Å"natural† and â€Å"artificial†), High-Fructose Corn Syrup, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Lactic Acid, Maltodextrins, Molasses, Monosodium Glutamate, Sucrose, Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), Xanthan Gum, Vitamins, Yeast Products. These ingredients are found in almost all the foods and snacks that we consume everyday and feed to our growing children. If the risk of consuming GMOs are overall harmful to the human bodies; then all food containing ANY GMOs should be labeled specifically. This way each consumer is aware of that they are ingesting for their own personal health concerns or lifestyle. http://www. shape. com/healthy-eating/diet-tips/ask-diet-doctor-gmo-foods http://www. nongmoproject. org/learn-more/ http://touch. organicauthority. com/organicauthority/#! /entry/8-reasons-gmos-are-bad-for-you,516d81d0d7fc7b5670b377dc http://organic. lovetoknow. com/Why_GMOs_Are_Bad.

Event design and experience

Event design and experience Introduction Before we can discuss what an event is we must understand what the definition of event design is, for the purpose of this report we shall be employing a definition taken from EMBOK which we feel is the clearest definition. Event management is the process by which an event is planned, prepared and produced. As with any other form of management, it encompasses the assessment, definition, acquisition, allocation, direction, control and analysis of time, finances, people, products, services and other resources to achieve objectives. An event a mangers job is to oversee and arrange every aspect of an event, including researching, planning, organizing, implementing, controlling and evaluation and events design, activities and production. Silver (2004a) Update EMBOK structure. Chicago the theatrical musical was performed at the Kings Theatre, Glasgow and was attended on the 10th October 2009. For the purpose of this report we shall be looking at the how the event was staged and the interaction of the performers, audience members and stakeholders which when put together would hopefully make the experience a positive one for all those involved. The first known record of theatre was noted by historians in the performance of the sacred plays of the myth of Osiris and Isis in 2500 BC in Egypt. This story of the god Osiris was performed by the Egyptians annually at festivals throughout its civilization and thus marking the beginning of a long relationship between theatre and religion. Theatre has also played a large part in society by interacting with the public as well as entertaining and educating them. Description of Event The main purpose of modern theatre is to entertain the customer and as such that is the main reason why people in 2010 attend productions. Kings Theatre, Glasgow was opened in 1904 at such a time when Glasgow was one of the leading industrial cities in the UK if not the world and as such the building retains a sense of history for customers who attend performances today. The performance on the night lasted 2 hours 30 minutes with one standard interval of 15 minutes after the 1st act which is common place for all theatre productions. Seating in the Kings Theatre is over 4 levels and includes Stalls, Grand Circle, Upper Circle and the Gallery and shall seat a maxim of 1,785. On the night of the 10th October the cast was performing to a Full House as it was the productions last Saturday night performance before leaving Glasgow, this factor was an added bonus when it came to the atmospheric conditions for the customers or another word for it would be an Eventscape Analysis of Elements of Interaction Interacting people At an event such as a musical not only is it the cast and audience who interact but a whole host of other people which could include the stakeholders, ticket sellers, ushers, merchanance sellers. Rossman states that to; Understand the role that relationships play in the interaction of a programme and anticipating how they may contribute to or detract from client satisfaction is an important element of place. Programmers cannot simply assume that the best course of action is always to foster or create a relationship between individuals who attend an event Rossman (2003, p.38) As such event designers do not have to provide a relationship for everyone or different groups that shall take part in the production and subsequently if they do they run the risk of over complicating the event. First contact that a customer would have had in regards to Chicago the Musical would either have been the advertisement of the event or the online or telephone booking of tickets. This is where the customer will start to make expected expectations and where the event designer and the customer can differ in their expectations, which could lead to a shortfall for the customer and disappointment for the event designer. What would be the purpose of an event if people were not going to participating in the event! The answer would be none. People are what make an event; they are what make an experience by interacting with the customers or participants. Since this report is going to be in reference to a theatrical event I shall try to include references which will refer to the theatre. Relationships Jackson argues that, not only are characters and story line likely to have the biggest impact upon audiences but the metatext (Harris et al., 2003) is an important task that needs to be undertaken for events if they are to reach their experiential goal (2005, p.8). Taking this into account and having the currant fashion of casting celebrities in leading roles in order to capitalise on multiple audience avenues, this will offer the event designer the possibility of increased numbers for the run of the production. This extra dimension could offer another market base of potential audience members who had never previously considered going to the theatre. Their first contact would have maybe been an article in a newspaper or online advertising the fact that their favourite soup star would be performing in Chicago. In this case the soup fan feels that they already have a relationship with the character but this relationship runs the risk of failing due to pre-conceived ideas and expectatio ns when the soup character is confused with the theatre character or falls short of delivery. Rules Rules play a large part in everyday life and are a guide as to how we can interact with others or situations. Rossman, 2003 states that Rules through are also codified and ceremonial and there are also rules of everyday discourse that require understanding. Looking at the example of the theatrical performance of Chicago which was performed at the Kings Theatre Glasgow, this event ran to a widely accepted template of rules and rituals. Although there are rules which are in place for the purpose of legal or for behaviour reasons, there are also polite-ceremonial rules which are also in force throughout the performance. An example of this would be that it would be deemed inappropriate for an audience member to talk or leave their seats while the performance is still taking place. Another polite-ceremonial rule would be that it would be considered rude for any audience members to eat anything which would make a noise and distract other audience members from enjoying the performance. By having rules which govern the audiences interaction of the performance this would influence the experience that the audience would have. Common place for theatrical performances is to have everyone seated at least 5 minutes before the performance is due to start this is done by the means of a tannoy annoyisment of Ladies and Gentlemen, 5 minute to curtain call. There are also rituals which take place before, during and after a performance and would be expected by the audience, if they did not take place and audience could possibly feel disappointment or even that the performance was incomplete. Audience member through past experiences and expectations now assume that the all the cast should take to the stage for one last bow and then clear the stage to be left with the leading actors for a final bow and show of appreciation . If this was not to happen I feel that the audience would continue to sit in their seats with a feeling of confusion and disappointment. Objects There are three different types of objects as stated by and they are represented by social, symbolic and physical meaning. For the purpose of the Chicago performance the object which has become symbolic for the performance would be the score which was composed by Fred Ebb according to the Internet Broadway Database (www.ibdb.com). Without this particular music the performance for Chicago would not be Chicago, it would become something else completely. Looking at the physical objects of the musical this would include the Kings Theatre building in which the performance took place. Also the characters themselves in the musical would be a physical aspect for the objects as the characters are specific to this musical and could not be transferred to another. For the Social object for the performance the audience had come together for a shared experience with most having an appreatation for musicals. They would have had to have paid for their tickets and as such would have either purchased them online or direct at the ticket office at the Kings Theatre. Physical Setting Chicago the Musical was staged as discussed earlier at the Kings Theatre, Glasgow. Possible locations for a world renowned musical to be staged in Glasgow would only include the Kings and Theatre Royal, bookings for both theatres would have been made at least 1 year in advance. Venues for theatre or musicals can vary according to many factors which could influence the choice for the event designer. Physical Setting for the event designer would also look at catchment area for customers the reason why Glasgow was chosen would include the fact that it is Scotlands largest city and that the musical had already performed at the Edinburgh Playhouse. Fortunately the performance of the musical is not synonymous with the venue and this allows the act to travel to new locations. Although the venue does change, the set in regards to the performance shall stay the same no matter where the musical is performed. This means that there is no limit to where the event can perform but also that there is continuity for the customers who do attend the event at the different locations. According to Allen el al., 2005 The relationship between event and location is often fundamental to the experience, and one useful categorisation is that given to hallmark events where the event has become linked and identified with the spirit of a particular place. Also to be included in the Physical setting of the performance would be the temperature for the audience members, whether that to be too cold, too hot or it was an outdoor event if it was raining. On the night of the 10th October the Kings Theatre, Glasgow was a capacity sell out performance and the outside temperature was pleasant for the time of year. Unfortunately for the whole of both the first and second half of the performance the inside temperature of the theatre was unbearably hot which resulted in the side emergency exists being opened to although cooler air for the cast and audience members. This aspect resulted in audiences members having a negative experience throughout the performance which could have jeopardised the whole enjoyment of the event for the audience. Animation Graham Berridge states that animation in regards to events is the most difficult of the 6 elements which we have covered in this report. Some of the most successful events are the ones that appear to be spontaneous in their design for the audience, although this is rarely the case from the event designers point of view. In regards to a theatrical performance in the terms of animation all plays, operas, musicals and theatre productions must from both the audience and the actors perceptive have structure throughout the performances although for different reasons. For the purpose of theatre the performance must have structure in order for the event to run smoothly and on schedule, this must be planned in advance. Movement, dance and choreography must be planned and rehearsed and actors must learn their lines. All this once put together would allow the audience members to feel that the performance, although staged the overlapping elements will have a flow to the design. If an audience member were to purchase a Programme Guide on the night of Chicago they would have had clear written view of the structure of the performance and the actors as well as when they could anticipate the break in the show. Conclusion In order to fully understand an event the customer or audience member must be able to analyse what has happened at that event to completely experience the full effect from the event. For people in the events industry to try and understand an event, Solomon (1983) provides the industry with a definition which will allow us to break down the process of analyse; Symbolic interactionism focuses on the processes by which individuals understand their world. It assumes that people interpret the actions of others rather than simply react to them Solomon (1983) Audience members throughout the theatrical performance shall interpret different symbols and react to them in their own way which shall result in the event designer having to anticipate every possible reaction, which is extremely difficult. Was the event a success? This question shall be answered differently for each and every audience member as each person will interpret the event in their own way. Each of Rossmans six elements will go into their event analysis and will result in understanding the event better. The theartrcal performance of Chicago runs to a well oiled plan which is easily transferred from one venue to another and has run since 1975. This allows the cast and crew to have an easy tranison between locations and would show up any potential problems to the event designers. References Allen, Judy, The Business of Event Planning. 2004 edition. John Wiley Sons Canada Ltd Anglia Ruskin University, Harvard System of Referencing Guide, Available at http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm [Accessed 25/11/09] Berridge, Graham, Events Design and Experience. 2009 edition. Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann Blowdin Glenn, Allen Johny, OToole William, Harris Rob, McDonnell Ian, Events Management. 2nd Edition. Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann Internet Broadway Database, Available at http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=5654, [Accessed 20/12/09]

Female Characters in The Ivory Swing and The Tiger in theTiger Pit Essa

Female Characters in The Ivory Swing and The Tiger in theTiger Pit      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With " beautifully executed images", Janette Turner Hospital creates four vivid female character in her two novels.   The four characters are Juliet and Yashoda in The Ivory Swing and Elizabeth and Emily in The Tiger in theTiger Pit .   Each of the above is invested by Turner Hospital with a deep consciousness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the view of Janette Turner Hospital, women are immensely uncertain.   They are never sure of what they want. However, when it comes to dealing with external conflicts, they are very strong-willed.   On the other hand, she also indicates that maternal love is strong.   Women have passionate beliefs in the importance   of the family.   As the stories follow, these feminine personalities are gradually proved.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Before leaving for India, Juliet had a hard time deciding whether to stay with her professor husband, David, or move to Montreal to stay with her former lover Jeremy. Uncertain as usual, all Juliet wants is to " maintain the balancing act."  Ã‚   She could never summon up the courage to face new circumstances.   Her mind is never firm enough to challenge the present state.   So she makes her choice in the order of morality.   She stays with her husband and leaves for India with him.   It is more likely that the fate designated Juliet's future.   She is married to Dave on her own accord. Therefore, she does what a good wife is supposed to do.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1. Reviewed in : Booklist v.79 p.994 Apr 1, 1983   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2. " The Ivory Swing " p.18      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Kerala, where David is on sabbatical to study primitive Indian culture, the couple encounter... ...hat the situations are, women would suffer to protect their children.   Maternal love is always shown in the first place.   On top of the above, Tuner Hospital also implies that women have passionate belief in family.   Both of the two books The Ivory Swing and The Tiger in the Tiger Pit are written sensitively.   Yet the latter is not as successful as the former one.   " 50th wedding anniversaries and family reunions of any kind ought to be left to the manufacturers of greeting cards."      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   12. " Life with Father " by Judith Fitzgerald   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Reviewed in : Books in Canada v.12 p.33 Nov 1983    BIBLIOGRAPHY : HOSPITAL, JANETTE TURNER,THE TIGER IN THE TIGER PIT.   TORONTO, McCLELLAND & STEWART LTD. : 1987. HOSPITAL, JANETTE TURNER,THE IVORY SWING.   TORONTO, McCLELLAND & STEWART LTD. : 1982.   

moral Essays -- essays papers

moral For nearly thirty years he has amplified his Cognitive-Developmental theory of moralisation which has now become prominent in the field of moral development and its application to moral education. Kohlberg proposed that moral difficulties motivated their own development through a fixed sequence of increasingly adaptable kinds of moral reasoning. He conducted most of his work at Harvard University and developed his stage model in 1969. Working through the 1950’s and 60’s using longitudinal and cross sectional studies he proposed 6 stages of development (see Appendix 1) identified through the responses of children presented with moral dilemmas. Piaget, his former tutor, proposed only 2 stages of moral development these being the Hetronomous and Autonomous stages. He was not so much interested in the judgments made but the reasons for the judgment, differing from Piaget he saw the stages as part of cognitive development. He was interested in how people think rather than what they think. These reasons represent to Kohlberg the structure of judgment, centering around 10 universal moral issues or values. Piaget believed autonomous moral reasoning to occur between ages 10-12 whereas Kohlberg proposes adolescence or even adulthood. These values are punishment, property and law, roles and concerns of affection, roles and concerns of authority, life, liberty, justice, truth and sex. From its earliest transmission Kohlberg has not been without critics. Although his work is of unquestionable importance Peter’s (1971) warned: â€Å"There is a grave danger that they (Kohlberg’s findings) may become exhalted into a general theory of moral development† may be seen by some to have been fulfilled. Although Kohlberg’s work is vast, the following will look at universality, briefly at gender and morality and following this methodology. Kohlberg’s Universality The biggest challenge for Kohlberg’s theory is to explain how the process of self-creation and mental structures can be universal despite cultural, subcultural and environmental differences that exist in all of us. The principles of Kohlberg’s stage 6 is of universal justice and respect for individual rights Kohlberg (1969, 1971). Using his moral judgment interview he tried to address confounding factors of universality although latter admitted that the modal ages... ...ate Adolescence and Adulthood: A Critique and Reconstruction of Kohlberg’s Therapy; Human Development 23, 2 pp 77-104 Holstein, C. (1976) ‘Irreversible, Stepwise Sequence in the Development of Moral Judgment: A Longitudinal Study of Males and Females; Child Development’ 47, 1 pp 51-61 Lemming, J. (1974) ‘An Empirical examination of Key Assumptions Underlying the Kohlberg Rationale for Moral Education; ERIC Document Reproduction Service Number ED 093-749 â€Å"Willhel, F. (1977) ‘The Effects of the Extent of Training on Teacher Discussion behaviours and Children’s Moral Reasoning Development; Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Stage University of New York at Albany Modgil, S. & Modgil, C. (1985) Kohlberg, L. Consensus and Controversy, International Masterminds Challenge, Falmer Press England Pepperdine University http://moon.pepperdine.edu/asep/class/ethics/kohlberg/pro%26con_argumentsh+ml Woods, C. (1986) Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality 1996; Vol 24(4) 375-384 Wilson, R. (1995) Moral Interventions in Education Setting. http://www.interchg.vbc.ca/rw/psy413-1.htm Gross. R, (1996) Psychology The Science of Mind and Behaviour.Hodder and Stoughton.

Microsofts .Net architecture :: essays research papers

BY NOW YOU'VE read and heard plenty about .NET, Microsoft's new enterprise application strategy. A nuts-and-bolts rundown of .NET's features may leave you asking, "Does this have anything to do with me?" If you run Windows on desktops, .NET's impact will be minimal, and if you operate Windows servers, .NET could require making a few changes. But if you specify, design, develop, or implement enterprise software or Web applications, keep in mind that .NET drastically changes Windows' profile. You can't use the old rules to determine Windows' suitability for an enterprise task. The assumptions, design models, and development techniques that have worked since Windows NT 3.51 will soon be obsolete. In contrast to the poorly defined Windows DNA (Distributed interNet Architecture), .NET is a tangible and easily defined software product. It is an application framework, meaning that it provides applications with the system and network services they require. The .NET services range from displaying graphical user interfaces to communicating with other servers and applications in the enterprise. It replaces Windows COM (Component Object Model) with a much simpler object model that is implemented consistently across programming languages. This makes sharing data among applications, even via the Internet, easy and transparent. .NET also substantially improves application scalability and reliability, with portability being a stated but not yet realized objective. These are clear benefits demonstrated by the pre-beta edition of .NET. We've been testing the .NET pre-beta (now downloadable from msdn.microsoft.com/net) for several weeks. Attendees of Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2000 in Orlando,Fla., ourselves among them, received a stack of CDs with the .NET preview, plus a good deal of software not yet released. The combination of the .NET components adds up to a strikingly complete picture of what .NET will be on its release. With an uncharacteristically stable and feature-rich pre-beta, relationships already in place with third-party tools suppliers, and even books on .NET topics, Microsoft could drive .NET to market with head-spinning speed. But until Microsoft publishes its schedule for .NET's release, it's best to plan for a debut that's months rather than years awayWe've been testing the .NET pre-beta (now downloadable from msdn.microsoft.com/net) for several weeks. Attendees of Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2000 in Orlando,Fla., ourselves among them, received a stack of CDs with the .

Hydrophonics: An Agricultural Advancements

From cloned animals to herbicide-resistant seed, science-based technologies have never had a larger influence on agriculture than they are today and will likely continue to have in the future. The technological advancements in agriculture between 1960 and 1990 are often referred to as the Green Revolution. These innovations included the development and commercialization of high-yield seeds, the increased application of chemical pesticides and herbicides, and the widespread use of modern fertilizers and irrigation techniques. Soil Science is the natural resource science devoted to the thin layer of the earth's lithosphere (crust) responsible for supporting life. Soil Science includes the basic biological, chemical geological and physical characteristics of the soils of the world, as well as the management of soils to produce food and protect the environment. Hydroponics from the Latin ‘water working', is simply growing plants without soil. Hydroponics is as old as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Today this technology is widely used to grow lush, healthy indoor plants and premium grade vegetables, fruits and herbs. The physiological requirements of plants can be met without the use of soil or natural sunlight. Plants are rooted (and thus supported) in an inert medium and nutrition is provided by water soluble mineral elements. The corn borer is devastating for the farmer, costing growers more than $1 billion annually in the United States. Bt stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, which is a naturally occurring soil organism. Bacillus thuringiensis produces a powerful toxin protein that kills the European corn borer when ingested. In response to this observance, researchers modified the Bt gene that produces the protein in the organism. Then, they inserted the modified gene into corn germplasm. Scientists can even choose which part of the corn plant they want to display the Bt trait: in green tissue and pollen, or even corn leaves, sheath, stalk, ear shank, kernels and silks. As a result, the Bt gene-enhanced corn germplasm is able to kill the corn borer just as the Bacillus thuringiensis organism can.

Applying Servqual to Web Sites: an Exploratory Study

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management Emerald Article: Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen Article information: To cite this document: Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study†, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 Permanent link to this document: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 Downloaded on: 27-01-2013References: This document contains references to 26 other documents Citations: This document has been cited by 25 other documents To copy this document: [email  protected] com This document has been downloaded 2679 times since 2005. * Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: * Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory studyà ¢â‚¬ , International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 http://dx. doi. org/10. 108/02656710310493634 Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study†, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study†, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by UCSI EDUCATION SDN BHD For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www. emeraldinsight. com/authors for more information. About Emerald www. emeraldinsight. com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education.In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download. The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at http://www. emeraldinsight. com/researchregister The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www. emeraldinsight. om/0265-671X. htm NEW RESEARCH Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study Applying SERVQUAL 919 Jos van Iwaarden and Ton van der Wiele Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Leslie Ball and Robert Millen Received August 2002 Revised December 2002 Accepted December 2002 Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Keywords Worldwide Web, SERVQUAL, Electronic commerce Abstract In an effort to identify the quality factors perceived to be most important in relation to the use of Web sites, a survey was undertaken. The questionnaire utilized was based on the SERVQUAL instrument that identi? s ? ve quality dimensions in service environments. The results indicate that the quality dimensions found applicable in the service sector are also applicable to Web sites. The items that have been identi? ed as most important in relation to the quality of Web sites are tangibles (the appearance of the Web site, navigation, search options, and structure), reliability (the abi lity to judge the trustworthiness of the offered service and the organization performing the service), responsiveness (the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service), assurance (the ability of the Web site to convey trust and con? ence in the organisation behind it with respect to security and privacy), and empathy (the provision of caring, individualized attention to customers, including user recognition and customization). Introduction In the early 1990s three technologies (communications speed, memory capacity, and computer speed) were rapidly growing in terms of capabilities they had for over 20 years. However, their combined S-curve growths suddenly enabled one of the greatest technology revolutions ever seen – the explosion of the Internet.Originally designed as an information conduit, entrepreneurs soon saw the great power of a selling channel that enabled browsing, selecting, and buying without leaving the comfort of the home. Businesses realized that t hey could interact directly with other businesses over the Internet, as well. Additionally, government agencies caught on and began delivering services online, collecting payments for licenses and taxes, providing information, etc. The history of this explosion is well documented as both computer and Internet use have increased substantially in the past few years (US Department of Commerce, 2002).Since 1997 computer use has grown at a rate of 5. 3 percent on an annualized basis. Internet use has grown at a rate of 20 percent per year since 1998, and in the 13 months prior to the September 2001 survey by the US Department of Commerce, over 26 million more Americans went online. The authors are thankful to all anonymous referees for their valuable comments. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management Vol. 20 No. 8, 2003 pp. 919-935 q MCB UP Limited 0265-671X DOI 10. 1108/02656710310493634 IJQRM 20,8 920While there is a great talk about the â€Å"digital divide†, t he US Department of Commerce reported that 54 percent (or 143 million Americans) have access to the Internet in their homes and that nearly 100 percent of the US population has access through schools and libraries. Thousands of companies were formed to sell goods and services over the Internet during this period creating the â€Å"New Economy†. Subsequently, many of those companies are now gone as witnessed by the huge number of bankruptcies (Baldwin, 2002). Different experts might de? e e-commerce differently, but most agree on one thing: the sector represents a growing piece of the overall commerce pie, and its share is expected to increase steadily – though gradually – over the next ? ve years. Various parties have forecast different results. For example, Forrester reports that online sales in the USA accounted for $51. 3 billion in revenue during 2001, and revenue for 2002 is expected to a total of $72. 1 billion, a 41 percent increase over the previous year (Hirsh, 2002). However, this accounts for only 2 percent of the overall retail spending.It has been predicted that this share will grow by about three-tenths of a percentage point each year through at least 2005, marking a slow but steady climb. As for e-commerce sales, another projection estimates that online revenue will total about $90 billion in 2002, $160-$170 billion in 2004, and $287. 9 billion by 2006 (Hirsh, 2002). The value of the Internet goes beyond adding another selling channel. Researchers at McKinsey and Company report that the retention of customers online is easier than in traditional â€Å"bricks and mortar† companies where the online company spends three to ? ve times less to retain them.Companies that retained customers exhibited traits of reliable basic operational execution. Their sites downloaded quickly; they responded to customer queries quickly; they delivered more than 95 percent of their orders on time; and they made it easy for customers to retu rn or exchange purchases. One company raised its on-time delivery rates from 60 to 90 percent, and cut customer churn in half (Agrawal et al. , 2001). The Internet also can play a pivotal role in enhancing brand relationships and corporate reputations. Nike, Disney, Coke, and Toyota are all well-established brands that drive us to search for and ? d their products. Branding is a critical component of the design of Web sites. It is about building a brand or corporate reputation to create relationships with customers (Chiagouris and Wansley, 2001). â€Å"Branding is rede? ned online,† says Caroline Riby, vice president-media director at Saatchi & Saatchi Rowland. â€Å"We are moving beyond representing a brand to experiencing it† (Chiagouris and Wansley, 2001). The Web site must capture the attention of those people who know nothing or very little about the company, but are interested in its category.It must also build awareness of what the company does within the contex t of the industry in which it is competing. Earlier Web sites were developed by large corporations, which required that they adhere to the corporate logo and color scheme, attach to the corporate databases, and comply with several other corporate requirements. This translated to high cost and signi? cant development time. Others (those created for â€Å"Mom and Pop† operations and early entrepreneurial operations), built over the weekend, did not connect to large databases, and had no standards. While the company was in operation fast, the sites were often unattractive and dif? ult to use. Is it not surprising that the companies that are most successful selling over the Internet are the former and not the later? Certainly, we can ? nd examples of the up-starts that have succeeded, but they have usually adapted to the model of the corporation that requires high standards. Just as in the bricks and mortar world, companies have to offer excellent service on the Web. Web sites wi ll become very important to companies as more products and services will be bought either over the Internet or by making use of the Internet before purchasing in a bricks and mortar store.Therefore, companies need to have Web sites that live up to customers’ expectations. The purpose of our research is to provide empirical evidence on the factors that contribute to the quality of Web sites. Our most important research questions are: . How do customers distinguish a good Web site from a bad one? . What factors determine the quality of a Web site? Customer satisfaction Companies offer quality to satisfy their customers (Dale, 1999). Because a Web site is part of the connection between a company and its customers, it is evident that it should re? ct the quality efforts that are in place throughout the company. Besides this reason there is another reason why a company should provide high quality Web sites to its customers: there is no human contact through Web sites. The interact ion via the Internet between a company and a customer is always through technology. This means the â€Å"moment of truth† between a company and a customer is the Web site. Although companies may try to emulate human behavior with technology, the interaction remains different because some aspects of human interaction cannot be replaced with technology, e. g. ourtesy, friendliness, helpfulness, care, commitment, ?exibility and cleanliness (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002). The absence of these aspects of human interaction through which quality can be delivered to customers will have to be compensated by better performance on other quality factors or by excellent performance on â€Å"new† speci? c Web quality factors. A key aspect in customer satisfaction is the way a customer can attain satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a company’s service. If a company wants to satisfy its customers the ? rst question it needs to answer is what is it that Applying SERVQUAL 921 IJQRM 20,8 22 satis? es customers and, equally important, what is it that makes customers dissatis? ed with the company and its products and services. Satisfying customers depends on the balance between customers’ expectations and customers’ experiences with the products and services (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). When a company is able to lift a customer’s experience to a level that exceeds that customer’s expectations, then that customer will be satis? ed. Because customers have ever increasing expectations it is necessary for companies continuously to improve their quality and hence customers’ experiences with the company.The issue is what should be improved to keep the customers satis? ed. What customers experience is not just one simple aspect of a company, but a whole range of aspects. Some of these aspects are concerned with the way customers experience the company itself, some are concerned with the way customers experience the physical product and, ? nally, some are concerned with the way customers experience the service the company offers. Comparing customers’ expectations and their perceptions of actual performance can be done by making use of the SERVQUAL scale of Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml (Zeithaml et al. 1990). This scale has been developed for the service sector. It has ? ve generic dimensions or factors and are stated as follows: (1) Tangibles. Physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel. (2) Reliability. Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. (3) Responsiveness. Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. (4) Assurance (including competence, courtesy, credibility and security). Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and con? dence. (5) Empathy (including access, communication, understanding the customer).Caring and individualized attention that the ? rm provides its customers. In the SERVQUAL instrument, 22 statements m easure the performance across these ? ve dimensions. For each statement, the expectation and the experience of a customer is determined. There is some criticism on the long-term stability of the results of the SERVQUAL scale (Lam and Woo, 1997) and on the general applicability of the ? ve dimensions (Buttle, 1996; Crosby and LeMay, 1998). Although alternative models have been proposed for the measurement of service quality, e. . SERVPERF (Cronin and Taylor, 1992), the SERVQUAL scale has been widely used by academics and practitioners to measure service quality. Therefore, this model has been used as a point of reference in this paper. SERVQUAL dimensions in relation to e-business Tangibles Examples of the tangibles factor are â€Å"has up-to-date equipment†, â€Å"physical facilities are visually appealing† and â€Å"materials are visually appealing†. These aspects might be even more important in e-business as there is no face-to-face contact between the custome r and an employee.The visual aspects of the equipment (i. e. the Web site) are the only visual contact between a customer and an organization. Therefore, the need to have well functioning and good-looking Web sites is paramount. There are a great number of customers who abandon their shopping carts on the Internet because they get frustrated with the technology, or the design and lay out of the Web site interface (Hager and Elliot, 2001). The visual aspects of Web sites are also judged differently by the people of different age. While young people may be attracted by ? shy graphics, sounds and a high-speed interface, older people do not want blinking texts that are hard to read or animations that distract from the use of the Web site (Houtman, 2002). Although a number of Web sites offer users the opportunity to customise the Web site to their needs, this customization process is mostly aimed at the content of the Web site and not at the graphics, animations and sounds. Reliability S ome of the aspects in the reliability factor have to do with â€Å"doing what is promised† and â€Å"doing it at the promised time†.Although many organizations seem to think that the major reason why customers shop via the Internet is because of the low prices, this does not always need to be the case. Some organizations found out the hard way that there are also a lot of customers shopping via the Internet because of convenience considerations (Riseley and Schehr, 2000). If customers cannot trust an organization to do what they ask, those customers will be dissatis? ed. Priceline, for example, ran into big problems by the end of 2000 because of its focus on the lowest prices. People could buy a plane ticket at a very low price, but because of possible inconvenient ? ing times there was a big risk for customers. This resulted in dissatis? ed customers who were happy to trade off Priceline’s discounts for the convenience of a competitor (Riseley and Schehr, 2000) . Responsiveness One of the aspects in the responsiveness factor is â€Å"gives prompt service†. The amount of time it takes to download a Web page appears to be of great importance to the users of the Internet. Research in 1999 found that fewer than 10 percent of users leave a Web site if page response time is kept below 7 s. However, when it rises above 8 s, 30 percent of users leave.When delays exceed 12 s, a staggering 70 percent of users leave a Web site (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002). It can be assumed that people expect Web sites to be even more quicker than in 1999 because of the technological advances. Thus, it is very important Applying SERVQUAL 923 IJQRM 20,8 924 for organizations to have a Web site that is quick, but on the other hand users expect Web sites to be visually appealing. As the number and size of animations, pictures and sounds increase to make a Web page more visually appealing, the time it takes to download that Web page will also increase, which is judg ed negatively by users.Hence, there is a trade-off between the looks of a Web site and the speed of that site. Organizations will have to try to ? nd the right balance between good looks and speed. The trade-off between looks and speed is complicated by companies’ demand that their Web sites convey the corporate image (Manning et al. , 1998). The design department of a company wants Web pages to be easily recognisable as belonging to that company. In their view, Web pages have to display company and product logos as well as other graphics that underscore the corporate identity.These graphics add to the overall size of Web pages and thereby increase the download time for Internet users. It is questionable whether users are willing to accept slower pages in return for more logos and graphics that do not improve the functionality of the Web site (although they might improve the visual appeal). Assurance One of the aspects in the assurance factor is â€Å"knowledge to answer que stions†. Customers expect to ? nd everything they want on a Web site. In a bricks and mortar store, people feel comfortable with a limited inventory. On the Internet, people are not satis? ed if they cannot ? nd everything they want.Web shops need to have great depth of inventory and rich and relevant product information (Dayal et al. , 2002). Two other aspects in the assurance factor are â€Å"employees can be trusted† and â€Å"feel safe in your transactions with employees†. First, there is the risk for users to share personal information with an organization they do not know. Research on this topic (Statistical Research Inc. , 2001) shows that at least 50 percent of users are very concerned about: misuse of credit card information given over the Internet; selling or sharing of personal information by Web site owners; and cookies that track customers’ Internet activity.Second, the same research shows that two-thirds of active Web users typically abandon a site that requests personal information and one in ? ve has entered false information to gain access to a Web site. Aspects in the assurance factor that could be very important in e-business are (Daughtrey, 2001): . availability of a formal privacy and con? dentiality policy on a Web site; . secured access to a Web site (that customers are prompted to acknowledge); . general reputation of supplier; . certi? cations or guarantees of assurance; and . reports of experiences of other customers.The ? rst aspect in this list is also acknowledged by the International Organization for Standardisation in Geneva. The Code of Practice for Information Security Management (ISO/IEC 17799:2000) provides a basis for establishing and maintaining the means of handling sensitive data (Daughtrey, 2001). Certi? cations and guarantees of assurance are also important in e-business. More and more organizations are trying to obtain certi? cation by an objective, consensus-based standard, just as they did earlier with quality management standards (Daughtrey, 2001).These organizations are becoming aware of the advantages of such certi? cation in relation to customers’ trust in these organizations. Empathy In the dimension of empathy there are several aspects that are usually not found on a Web site. Because of the fact that there is no human interaction, Web sites normally do not offer personal attention. To achieve this, a number of Web sites have a design that can be personalized by the users of these sites, so people can have their own version of the Web site. This kind of Web site design is aimed at giving users the experience of getting personal attention.The idea is that the more a Web site is tailored to a particular customer’s needs, the more likely that customer will return again and again (The Economist, 2001). The most advanced technologies in this area aim to create a face-to-virtual-face interaction. A friendly looking face of a virtual assistant on your scr een is supposed to make customers feel more comfortable. With the use of arti? cial intelligence, the virtual assistant can suggest products or services that might be of interest to a customer based on previous purchases and on reactions to the questions of the virtual assistant.The latter possibility of asking users of a Web site questions via a virtual assistant will enable companies to tailor their offerings to the wishes of the user to prevent customer dissatisfaction. The only purpose of all these technological gadgets is to add one of the Web’s key missing ingredients: warmth (The Economist, 2001). Other aspects It seems that most of the dimensions and aspects that have been de? ned for general service environments are also important in e-business. Besides the ? ve dimensions as de? ned by Zeithaml et al. (1990), empirical evidence might come up with more speci? c dimensions related to e-business.Some preliminary research has been done in this area (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002; Fink and Laupase, 2000; Schubert and Dettling, 2001; Wan, 2000), but no de? nitive results have been attained. Hence, more research is needed (Zeithaml, 2002). Research methodology The research was conducted by means of a questionnaire survey. Employment of this approach provides a relatively easy means to study the perceptions and Applying SERVQUAL 925 IJQRM 20,8 926 opinions of a large group of people in a limited time frame and at low costs. The survey was undertaken with the student population at Northeastern University (NEU), Boston, USA.Students were expected to be familiar with e-business and the Internet. Students received an e-mail with a hyperlink to the Web site containing the questionnaire allowing them to respond to the questionnaire electronically and to submit by clicking a button. The purpose of the questionnaire survey was to develop empirical evidence on the quality factors of Web sites that are important to people who are familiar with the Internet and frequ ent Internet users. The survey comprised the following questions: . personal information (gender, age, academic discipline); . respondents’ use of Internet (equipment, frequency of use); . peci? c Web sites that are visited by respondents (a prede? ned list of 20 categories of Web sites); and . aspects of Web quality (a prede? ned list of 50 aspects). The core of the questionnaire consists of the list of aspects of Web quality. For every aspect we ask the respondent to indicate the importance of that aspect and at the same time we ask for their satisfaction with that aspect. The structure of the questions is based on the SERVQUAL scale (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). The aspects have been de? ned according to the categories of the model developed by Cox and Dale (2001, 2002) and are as follows: clarity of purpose; . design; . communication; . reliability; . service and frequently asked questions; . accessibility and speed; . product or service choice; . order con? rmation; . produc t purchase; . user recognition; . extra service; and . frequent buyer incentives. For each of these categories a number of aspects have been de? ned in the questionnaire. The questionnaire has been discussed with experts in the ? eld of quality management and a pilot study has been conducted amongst a small number of students. This lead to an improved questionnaire which has been used for the esearch presented in this paper. Survey results Sample and response rate All students who obtained a university e-mail account at NEU (approximately 6,000) received an e-mail about the study and the questionnaire. Responses were received from 293 students. The response rate for the direct mailings to students was rather low (approximately 5 percent of the number of e-mails sent out), although acceptable for this type of mailing. Applying SERVQUAL 927 Descriptive statistics In Tables I and II, the response sample is described in terms of gender and age, respectively.A comparison of the response sample with the total population at NEU leads to the conclusion that the response group is representative for the total population. The respondents were enrolled across many academic disciplines, and judged by the age of the respondents, most students were at the undergraduate level. Table III shows the respondents’ use of the Internet in terms of the quality of their own equipment. Overall the students are rather satis? ed with their equipment and do not seem to have problems with speed and download time. Table IV summarizes the frequencies of respondents’ Internet visits.They visit the Internet on an average 18 times per week, for about an hour per visit. So, it is clear that students make frequent use of the Internet. Male Female Total 104 188 292 Table I. Number of respondents by gender , 21 years 21-25 years 26-30 years 31-35 years . 35 years Total 192 71 19 4 7 293 Table II. Number of respondents by age PC Connection speed Printing from the Web Downloading from t he Web Notes: On a ? ve-point scale from very dissatis? ed to very satis? ed 3. 83 3. 59 3. 53 3. 57 Table III. Satisfaction of respondents with the equipment they use IJQRM 20,8 928 Table IV. The use of the WebIt is interesting to note the types of Web sites that are used most often by our respondents (Table V). The types of Web sites that are used most often are: search engines, university sites, daily news and entertainment sites. Web sites that are used less frequently are: e-shops and chat rooms. Sites with stock exchange information are not visited very often either. In Table VI (top ten) and Table VII (bottom ten) the importance (expectations) and the satisfaction (experiences) are summarized on prede? ned aspects related to the quality of Web sites. The top ten aspects seem to relate to reliability issues in pure e-commerce.Customers who buy a product on the Internet want Web sites and the organizations behind them to be trustworthy. E-commerce Web sites need to be fast, sim ple and always available. Customers want a clear overview and con? rmation of what they bought and what they have to pay for. Easy to ? nd desired Web site 3. 80 Easy to use Web page links 3. 92 Easy to ? nd relevant information 3. 38 Time spent on one site , 12 min Time on the Web per Internet visit , 60 min Number of Internet visits per week , 19 visits Note: If not indicated otherwise, on a ? ve-point scale from very dif? cult to very easy Mean Table V. Web sites ranked by requency of visits Search engines Daily newspapers Entertainment Universities Electronic libraries Personal Web sites Information portals Games Travel Sports Banking Company information E-shops Book stores Music stores Movie stores Second-hand products Stock exchange information Who is where Chat rooms Note: On a ? ve-point scale from never to once a day or more 4. 64 3. 63 3. 47 3. 38 3. 02 2. 99 2. 92 2. 82 2. 72 2. 62 2. 60 2. 58 2. 57 2. 41 2. 39 2. 27 2. 16 2. 02 1. 84 1. 76 Top ten with highest scores on importance Finding your way on the Web site is easya Access is fasta A complete overview of the order is presented before ? al purchase decisiona Tax and/or other charges are clearly detaileda The registration process is simplea Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all timesa All relevant order con? rmation details sent by e-maila Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three daysa Order-tracking details are available until deliverya There are well programmed search optionsa Importance Satisfaction mean mean Delta S-I 4. 61 4. 60 3. 44 3. 31 2 1. 17 2 1. 29 4. 55 4. 50 4. 50 4. 46 4. 46 3. 75 3. 47 3. 36 3. 18 3. 84 2 0. 80 2 1. 03 2 1. 14 2 1. 28 2 0. 62 4. 43 4. 40 4. 39 3. 24 3. 30 3. 08 1. 19 2 1. 10 2 1. 31 Notes: a Mean values on ? ve-point scales; difference between importance and satisfaction signi? cant at 0. 01 level based on a t-test (two-tailed) Bottom ten with lowest scores on importance Applying SERVQUAL Importance Satisfaction mean mean Searches on related sites are provideda 3. 81 The privacy policy is accessiblea 3. 79 The security policy is accessiblea 3. 76 The Web site contains company detailsa 3. 70 3. 68 Scrolling through pages and text is kept to a minimuma Links are provided to pages on related products and servicesa 3. 67 Web site animations are meaningfula 3. 52A customer platform is provided for exchange of ideas 3. 36 The user is invited into a frequent buyer programa 3. 31 Brand image is important 3. 22 Notes: a Mean values on ? ve-point scales; Difference between importance signi? cant at 0. 01 level based on a t-test (two-tailed) 3. 40 3. 52 3. 51 3. 32 3. 29 929 Table VI. Importance of and satisfaction with aspects of Web quality Delta S-I 2 0. 41 2 0. 27 2 0. 25 2 0. 38 2 0. 39 3. 40 2 0. 27 3. 21 2 0. 31 3. 29 2 0. 07 3. 08 2 0. 23 3. 29 0. 07 and satisfaction The bottom ten aspects seem to relate to extra service (e. g. customization of Web sites) and information (e. g. ecurity policy and c ompany details) that is provided to the customer. Apparently respondents do not ? nd these extras very important in their use of the Internet. Tables VI and VII also show the gaps between experiences and expectations (satisfaction minus importance). It can be concluded that the gap is widest for the aspects that respondents perceive as most important. The aspect with the largest gap is â€Å"access is fast† (satisfaction score 3. 31 and importance score 4. 60). In the top ten aspects there are no aspects with a positive delta, meaning Table VII. Importance of and satisfaction with aspects of Web qualityIJQRM 20,8 930 that for every aspect the experience is less than expected. In the bottom ten aspects there is just one aspect with a (very small) positive delta â€Å"brand image†. Factor analyses (varimax, principal components) on the importance data (KMO value ? 0. 91) and satisfaction data (KMO value ? 0. 93) based on Eigenvalues greater than one indicated 12 factor s olutions. These factors cluster the aspects more or less according to the structure of the questionnaire. Most of these factors also become too speci? c and do not disclose the underlying structure of customers’ perceptions of the quality of Web sites.The Scree plots indicated solutions with fewer factors, possibly around ? ve factors. A comparison of the results of factor analyses with varying numbers of factors led to the conclusion that ? ve-factor solutions ? t the data best. These ? ve-factor solutions were used to ? nd evidence for the existence of the ? ve dimensions according to the SERVQUAL scale (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). The results of these ? ve-factor solutions are summarized in Table VIII. In Table VIII we only include the aspects with factor loadings greater than 0. 5. The aspects are ranked under each factor according to their factor loadings.It can be seen from the table that the two ? ve-factor solutions (importance and satisfaction) come to the same conclusi ons regarding the clustering of the aspects. There are some minor differences in the clustering of the aspects between the two factor solutions; however, these differences are related to the aspects with low factor loadings. It can be concluded that the factor analyses on both the importance of the Web quality aspects and the satisfaction with the Web quality aspects are compatible with the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale. Correlation between Web sites and Web quality factors The importance of any of the ? e factors of the SERVQUAL scale might differ per type of Web site, just like it differs per service sector in the bricks and mortar world. Therefore, a correlation between the ? ve SERVQUAL factors and the different types of Web sites is useful to determine these differences. In order to categorize the fairly large number of different types of Web sites, a factor analysis (varimax, principal components, KMO value ? 0. 83) on the data on the use of Web sites (Table V) is conduct ed. The results of this factor analysis indicate that there are clearly ? ve groups of sites that form the underlying usage pattern.These are: (1) e-shops for books, music, movies, etc. (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 75); (2) university and study information (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 64); (3) games, entertainment, and sport (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 66); (4) company information, stock information, and banks (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 69); and (5) general information on daily news, travel, libraries, and search engines (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 58). Importance Satisfaction Factor 1 (Reliability) A complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision Tax and/or other charges are clearly detailed Different payment options are stated clearlyAll relevant order con? rmation details are sent by e-mail within 24 hours Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all times Terms and conditions of sales are accessible Order-tracking details are avai lable until delivery Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three days Full details of product or service pricing are available The registration process is simple Full product or service characteristics are available Registration process details are retained The Web site offers free shipping and handling within a set of rules Access is fast The user can make a purchase without Web ite registration Factor 1 (Reliability) All relevant order con? rmation details are sent by e-mail within 24 hours A complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision Terms and conditions of sales are accessible Order-tracking details are available until delivery Different payment options are stated clearly Tax and/or other charges are clearly detailed Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all times Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three days The home page features options for new and registered users Registration proce ss details are retainedFactor 2 (Tangibles) Finding your way on the Web site is easy Information is found with a minimum of clicks Navigation is consistent and standardized There are well programmed search options Instructions are directly available Opening of new screens is kept to a minimum Applying SERVQUAL Factor 2 (Tangibles) Finding your way on the Web site is easy Information is found with a minimum of clicks Navigation is consistent and standardized The number and type of links are meaningful The purpose is clear Scrolling through pages and text is kept to a minimum Instructions are directly available It is easy to print from the WebFactor 3 (Empathy) Factor 3 (Empathy) Links are provided to pages on related products Links are provided to pages on related products and services and services A customer platform is provided for the On travel sites a ? ight/hotel search is provided exchange of ideas A standard navigation bar, home button and On travel sites the user can customiz e seat and back/forward button are available on every meal preferences and the information is page retained (continued ) 931 Table VIII. Con? rmative factor analysis (? ve-factor solution) IJQRM 20,8 Importance Satisfaction It is easy to print from the WebOn travel sites a ? ight/hotel search is provided Web sites that focus on brand awareness have a store locator The user is invited into a frequent buyer program Factor 4 (Assurance) The security policy is accessible The privacy policy is accessible External validation of trustworthiness is important The Web site contains company details Brand image is important Page availability information is given on entry The user is invited into a frequent buyer program A customer platform is provided for exchange of ideas Factor 4 (Assurance) The privacy policy is accessible The security policy is accessibleThe Web site contains company details External validation of trustworthiness is important 932 Factor 5 (Responsiveness) The frequently ask ed questions and answers contain links that take the user to the relevant page(s) Information is provided to frequently asked questions and answers Queries or complaints are resolved within 24 hours User feedback is sought to measure customer satisfaction An e-mail address for queries and complaints is provided Table VIII. Factor 5 (Responsiveness) User feedback is sought to measure customer satisfaction Queries or complaints are resolved within 24 hoursThe frequently asked questions and answers contain links that take the user to the relevant page(s) Access is fast Opening of new screens is kept to a minimum Graphics and animation do not detract from use Full details of product or service pricing are available Notes: Principal component analysis. Varimax with Kaiser normalization. Rotation converged in nine iterations (importance) and ten iterations (satisfaction). Factor loadings . 0. 5, ranking based on factor loadings from high to low Table IX shows the correlation matrix betwee n the frequency of use of types of Web sites and the importance of the Web quality factors.Some results are as follows: . All ? ve quality dimensions are most strongly correlated with e-shops, indicating that frequent users of e-shops tend to have higher quality expectations. . An increase in the frequency of use of the types of Web sites is in all cases most strongly correlated with either empathy (E-shops), assurance (company sites and search engines) or responsiveness (study related sites, Reliability Coef. Sign E-shops (books, music, movies etc. ) Study-related sites Games and sports sites Company and banking sites Search engines, daily news, travel Tangibles Coef. Sign EmpathyCoef. Sign Assurance Coef. Sign Responsiveness Coef. Sign 0. 220 ** 0. 174 ** 0. 239 ** 0. 232 ** 0. 233 ** 0. 171 ** 0. 167 ** 0. 183 ** 0. 156 ** 0. 202 ** 0. 114 * 0. 124 * 0. 168 ** 0. 112 n. s. 0. 171 ** 0. 144 ** 0. 136 * 0. 151 ** 0. 166 ** 0. 144 ** 0. 122 * 0. 115 * 0. 115 * 0. 123 * 0. 115 * Note s: * Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 05 level (two-tailed); ** Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 01 level (two-tailed); n. s. ? no signi? cant correlation . Applying SERVQUAL and games and sports). More frequent users of the Internet tend to ? nd reliability and tangibles less important.All correlation coef? cients are positive, indicating that for all types of Web sites more usage leads to higher importance of all quality dimensions. The experienced user seems to have higher expectations of the quality of Web sites. Conclusion The results of this research can be summarised in the following way. Of a prede? ned list of Web quality aspects these aspects are considered to be the most important: access is fast; ? nding your way on the Web site is easy; a complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision; and the registration process is simple. Of the ? e factors that can be found by means of factor analyses (reliability, tangibles, empathy, assurance an d responsiveness) various aspects related to the factors reliability and tangibles are included in the top ten important aspects. Various aspects related to the factors empathy and assurance are included in the bottom ten aspects ranked according to their perceived importance. Both the importance of the Web quality aspects and the satisfaction with the Web quality aspects are compatible with ? ve-factor analyses that support the existence of the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale of Zeithaml et al. (1990).The importance of any of the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale differs per type of Web site, just like it differs per service industry in the bricks and mortar world. So far, it can be concluded that the quality dimensions developed by Zeithaml et al. (1990) for service environments are equally useful in e-business. 933 Table IX. Correlation between the frequency of use of types of Web sites and the importance of the Web quality factors IJQRM 20,8 934 Further analysis of the data is needed. While this research project yields a number of very interesting results, we believe that there are a number of things that should be done to con? m our results as well as to expand our hypotheses. First, with the number of Internet users now over one billion, our sample is relatively small. Therefore, research with larger samples that pose the same or similar questions would be appropriate. Second, Internet users come from all over the globe. One has to suspect that there are differences between a sample taken from students of the USA and what might be found among students elsewhere. Possible, language, culture, religion, and a host of other factors may be important to a user’s impression of the quality of a Web site.Finally, quality is an area of critical importance for commercial companies. Businesses need to understand what attracts people to their Web sites, what keeps them there, and what keeps them coming back. They need to understand the differences between the casual buyer versus the user who visits their Web sites on a daily basis. Web sites for companies like Dell, Cisco, Orbitz, and Covisint do millions of dollars of business each day. They need to understand the factors that keep these businesses growing better by understanding what encourages buying and what brings them back to the Web sites.Likewise, their competitors need to understand these factors even more to compete in this highly competitive marketplace. Due to the signi? cance of this to business, we expect that this type of research will be ongoing for many years to come. The results of that research will be easier to use Web sites that are more customer focused and evolving as the user evolves. A Chinese proverb says, â€Å"May you live in interesting times†. We are certainly living in interesting times. References Agrawal, V. , Arjona, L. and Lemmens, R. 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(1998), â€Å"Empirical determination of shipper requirements for motor carrier services: SERVQUAL, direct ques tioning, and policy-capturing methods†, Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 139-53. Dale, B. G. (1999), Managing Quality, 3rd ed. , Blackwell Publishers, Oxford. Daughtrey, T. (2001), â€Å"Costs of trust for E-business: risk analysis can help e-businesses decide where investments in quality and security should be directed†, Quality Progress, No. 0, pp. 38-43. Dayal, S. , French, T. D. and Sankaran, V. (2002), â€Å"The e-tailer’s secret weapon†, The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 2. (The) Economist (2001), â€Å"Talking heads†, The Economist, 24 March. Fink, D. and Laupase, R. (2000), â€Å"Perceptions of Web site design characteristics: a Malaysian/Australian comparison†, Internet Research, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 44-55. Hager, L. and Elliot, B. (2001), â€Å"Web quality tool can raise ROI on contact center investments†, Gartner First Take, 15 November. Hirsh, L. (2002), â€Å"How big is e-commerce? †, E-commerce Times, avai lable at: www. ecommercetimes. om/perl/story/18403. html (accessed 27 June). Houtman, J. (2002), â€Å"Webpagina’s instelbaar voor oudere surfers†, Emerce, 25 March. Lam, S. S. K. and Woo, K. S. (1997), â€Å"Measuring service quality: a test-retest reliability investigation of SERVQUAL†, Journal of the Market Research Society, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 381-96. Manning, H. , McCarthy, J. C. and Souza, R. K. (1998), Forrester Report: Why Most Web Sites Fail, Forrester, Washington, DC. Riseley, M. and Schehr, D. (2000), â€Å"Priceline’s problems result from poor execution in a niche market†, Gartner First Take, 8 November. Schubert, P. nd Dettling, W. (2001), â€Å"Web site evaluation: do Web applications meet user expectations? Music, consumer goods and e-banking on the test bed†, Proceedings of the 14th Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, Bled, pp. 383-403. Statistical Research Inc. (2001), â€Å"Even veteran Web users remain skittish about site s that get personal†, 7 June, available at: www. statisticalresearch. com/press/pr060701. htm (accessed 15 March 2002). US Department of Commerce (2002), A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet, US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, February.Wan, H. A. (2000), â€Å"Opportunities to enhance a commercial Web site†, Information and Management, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 15-21. Zeithaml, V. A. (2002), â€Å"Guru view†, Managing Service Quality, special issue on service excellence, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 135-8. Zeithaml, V. A. , Parasuraman, A. and Berry, L. L. (1990), Delivering Quality Service; Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, The Free Press, New York, NY. Further reading Cutler, M. and Strene, J. (2000), E-metric: Business Metric for the New Economy, NetGenesis Corp. Applying SERVQUAL 935