Air France

In an airline industry, companies had been suffered with low returns, bankruptcies and ever-fluctuating demand. Air France has been preventing the situation by developed strategies such as a progressive operating lease, short- or medium term lease of substantial part of fleets to reduce capacity and cost. Since 2006, the traffic of air travel has been growing rapidly, which created a competitive landscape in the airline industry and also the emergence of e-commerce as a direct to consumer sales.Air France took those opportunities by providing online services on direct website, but after a while aggregators and metasearchers who offer beyond services appeared, which make the direct website had difficulty to compete. Media Contact, hired by Air France, has been developing strategy to optimize performance on Search Engine Marketing campaign to increase net revenue gained through online channel and return on investment spending, as well as efficiency of driving visitors to site and conve rt them to consumers through the conversion funnel at the minimum cost.The Media Contact uses sponsored search of six search engines, global- and US-based, and advertises on metasearchers and aggregators as well. As shown in the publisher performance table below, from exhibit 6, Google US earns highest impressions, mostly from branded keywords, and volume of bookings, also at highest cost but the conversion rate is relatively low. On the other hand, MSN has lowest investment but it turned out that MSN give the outstanding conversion rate than any others.Another publisher such as Yahoo US and Overture US has higher conversion rate than others that has more funding. T The bubble chart below illustrates the performance of each publisher, based on the complete data set, according to their average cost per click on Y-axis and probability of bookings on X-axis. The size of each bubble represents funding spent on each publisher. The first quadrant represents high cost-per-click, publishers , which are Google US and Google Global. These publishers has high impressions but theClick-Through-Rate is relatively low, The Media Contact should arrange strategy that can lower cost such as modifying bid strategy, keyword selection, and match type. The funding for these publishers should also be lowered. In the upper-left quadrant shows publishers who have lowest conversion rate at highest cost, no publisher is in this category and should not be. Overture Global and US are in the third quadrant that demonstrates publishers with low probability of booking.Publishers in this quadrant must be converted to the forth quadrant by considering keyword selection, ease of completing transaction, and complication of website and applications, for example. The highest probability of producing a booking come from the forth quadrant where Yahoo US, MSN Global, and MSN US rely on. This quadrant not only gives Air France high probability of bookings but also at the lowest cost. The Media Contact should focus on this quadrant by increasing funding for these three publishers from budget deducted from the first quadrant.In order to gain visitors from aggregators, Air France should consider about creating two- or three-in-one service by offering hotels, car rental or promotional packages. This strategy could increase sales occurred in direct website and reduce cost of advertising on aggregators website. Air France could also earn revenue from advertising of hotels and car rental services. By optimizing sponsored search and implementing strategies, Cost-Per-Click will be reduced and number of bookings will be higher. The Media Contact can deliver higher net revenue and Return on Investment to Air France.

Huntsville Project Team Meeting

HUNTSVILLE PROJECT TEAM MEETING As the Huntsville project manager to effectively coordinate and host a progress meeting with team members. There are three things that must be accomplished: meeting objectives; use the minimum amount of time; and participants should leave with a sense of direction and effectiveness in the meeting process. With these criteria in mind, the process of structuring, planning, preparation, and execution of the Project Progress Team Meeting will be a definite success. Predetermine the outcome and purpose of the meeting.Prior to setting the meeting objectives, I have to decide the end results or what I want this meeting to accomplish; whether it’s decision based, to generate ideas, update the status of the project, etc. so that it maximizes the allotted time and all participants can come prepare. Under all the stress of schedules, and time constraints; time is a precious resource during the life of a project and it should be used wisely. Therefore, duri ng the planning stage of this meeting, I owe it to my team members and myself to streamline the meeting in the most effective way to meet and cover all objectives in the least amount of time.In doing so I would prepare the agenda with the following factors in mind: priorities the agenda to determine what absolutely has to be covered; define the end result (what I want the meeting to accomplish); identify who needs to be in attendance and if required consider previously scheduled obligations so that I pick the superb time and date for max participation. With solid objectives, a tight agenda and a commitment to involving the meeting participants in the planning, preparation, and execution of the meeting, it’s a common curtsy to circulate the agenda to participants (team members) to get their feedback and buy-in.This gives them the sense of belonging and lets them know they’re actively contributing to the success of the project. Prior to closing the meeting I think itâ₠¬â„¢s important to reintegrate the highlighted points of the meeting and identify any team member due out so that everyone leaves the meeting on the same accord. Sending out meeting notes to assure objectives were met, would be the icing on the cake.

Maintaining Reliability

If you do your banking online you will find that occasionally when you go to access your account information, it is sometimes not available†¦usually during odd hours of the night or early morning. An error message may appear on the screen advising you that the information requested is not currently available due to system †maintenance†. Later, when get back online to check on your account, all of your account information, such as balance and items posted, has been updated. With something as important as finances, the reliability you depend on with your bank is what the bank’s reputation rides on. The bank’s ability to maintain your account in a reliable manner is what keeps your business at that particular bank. Not limited to banking, reliability and maintenance are important in business operations. Many business-specific meanings for the words â€Å"reliability† and â€Å"maintenance† exist, but overall, everything boils down to one standard: without reliability and without maintenance, business is not business as usual. Generally defined, reliability is the ability of a system to perform and maintain its functions in routine circumstances, as well as hostile or unexpected circumstances (Wikipedia, 2006). From a business perspective, simple words such as â€Å"dependable†, â€Å"trustworthy†, â€Å"consistency† and â€Å"repeatability† can better explain what reliability’s meaning really is (Trochim, 2006). A long time client continues business with an organization for the â€Å"reliability† the organization provides†¦for the organization’s ability to either provide the same results time and again, or to provide improved results. With this in mind, the term â€Å"maintenance† comes into play. Maintenance is defined as the act of maintaining or the state of being maintained, and the work of keeping something in proper condition (Webster, 2006). To ensure reliability, an oorganization must maintain the manner in which they provide a service. Microsoft, for example,  is constantly â€Å"tweaking† the software programs they provide to home and businesses users. They do this to ensure that their customers can continue to enjoy a secure, hassle-free (for the most part) experience with today’s computer technology. In addition to hiring computer programming and IT experts to maintain their product, Microsoft provides a link on their main website for customers to report any problems they may encounter while using their product, which assists in covering all aspects of performing proper maintenance (Microsoft, 2007). Those little â€Å"system update† pop-up’s you receive while doing work on your computer are Microsoft’s way of maintaining your computer software for you†¦you don’t even have to set a reminder or perform time-consuming research to ensure that your computer has the latest versions of programs available. Maintenance is not simply about improving a product, but also about making sure that the product continues to be reliable. The â€Å"behind the scenes† maintenance of ensuring a great product is what makes a business reliable and successful. In the end, you can have a great product, but if your business is not reliable, you won’t have a business to run. References: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Merriam-Webster Research Team. (2006) Definition of Maintenance. January 2007 www.webster.com/dictionary/maintenance 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Microsoft Corporation (2006) Microsoft Help and Support. January 2007 www.support.microsoft.com/gp/ContactUsSecHome. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Trochim, William M.K. (2006) Theory of Reliability. January 2007 www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/reliablt.htm. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wikipedia Writing Staff. (2006) Definition of Reliability. January 2007 www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability.   

Toasting the Rebellion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Toasting the Rebellion - Essay Example In the eighteenth century, men were seen drinking socially, regularly and considered drinking as a part of healthy diet. For the women belonging to the elite class, drinking was limited to just the wine and the toast that was raised. Public consumption was seen as a taboo for the women. Taverns and coffeehouses were considered as the best places for the male guests to indulge in heavy drinking and exchange their ideas over drinks and music in the background. The colonial Americans introduced a concept of drinking songs which they brought along with them from the musical heritage of Europe, Africa and India. This traditional folk music became so popular because it was very easy to compose and sing; anybody who had a knack for rhyming and satire can very well compose the lyrics and come up with hummable tune. A perfect example of acquired musical tradition is the song â€Å"Yankee Doodle† which actually has its origin in the British Army but it is supposed to be the American qui ntessential patriotic song for generations now. America has been a witness to a series of event that brought about the revolution; The violent display of confrontation between the crowd and the British officials, the Riots that emerged due to the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, The Boston tea party are to name a few.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 121

Assignment Example This method has been proven to effective in treating PSTD (Coble 60). In conducting a Systemic desensitization for a survivor of 9/11, Cognitive behavioral therapy is highly recommended. This is a common type of metal health planning in which a psychotherapist in a structured way and holds a number of session with the patient. This process helps to make sense of the overwhelming problem by breaking it down into smaller parts (Coble 64). It will help the patient to see how they are connected and their effect. A situation, which is the problem this is closely followed by thoughts, emotions, physical feelings then lastly actions. The most effective treatment in this case is the flexible application of a manualized cognitive behavioral therapy. Treatment delivery ranges from about 12- 25 sessions. Relaxation is an imperative component of CBT. It deals with the process of learning about somatic cues, after which the body is taught to relax. In progressive relaxation, the patient first learns the relaxation skills and latter he and the therapist create the anxiety hierarchy. He is able to provoke the situation in a gradual process. He faces the situation progressively by developing a consistent paring of relaxation. Gradual desensitization closely follows. Virtual reality exposure has proved to more effective than mental imagery (Coble

Strategic Management and Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Strategic Management and Leadership - Essay Example The major European countries where General Motors has strong sales network are Britain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Turkey, France, Spain and Ukraine. Chevrolet, Cadillac, GM Daewoo, Buick, â€Å"Opel, Vauxhall and Saab (Europe), Saturn, Hummer, Pontiac, Wuling and Holden are among the major brands that Company is offering to its clients. In Europe, GM has been offering Saab in Sweden, whereas it offers Opel and Vauxhall brands in France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and others. It must be highlighted that GM planned to sell its European Operations because of huge losses it incurred due to uncertain business conditions but then rejected the offers of some buyers or corporations which were interested in purchasing General Motors majority stake. (Company’s report, 2009) I will first discuss this issue in detail in this paper using relevant frameworks such as PEST, Porter’s five forces, Core Competences and Financial Analysis for external and internal analysis respectively. I will then present SWOT analysis, Product-market expansion grid or Ansoff matrix and finally an analysis of key stakeholders of General Motors. The paper will be supported with relevant references, tables and charts. As I mentioned in the above section that General Motors offers Opel and Vauxhall as the major brands in Europe. Although the GM constantly developed, assembled and marketed new vehicles yet it was unable to earn respectable profits from its European operations due to uncertain economic climate that I will elaborate later. The end result was that GM announced its bankruptcy because of unbearable costs and also decided to either close or sell off its Opel/Vauxhall units to avoid further losses. It must not be forgotten that Gm Europe remain involved in restructuring in past to control mounting losses. The decision to sell off European Operations was

Nanotechnology and acne Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nanotechnology and acne - Research Paper Example Nanotech medication can be devised that have strong antimicrobial properties to treat this infectious skin disease. The use of encapsulated benzoyl oxide in chitosan-alginate nanoparticles is used for the purposes of improving the activity as well as the tolerability of the anti-acne agent. Biodegradable and biocompatible nanoparticles are used in the synthesis of nontoxic anti-acne agents 6Ï€(d1 - d2)gr2/ÃŽ ·.These drugs will use stokes law once they have dissolved in the body fluid to diffuse to the target site of action. As the nanoparticles will be sinking into the body fluid forces will be acting on it. The force that will be acting in resistance of the particle will be equivalent to 6Ï€rÃŽ ·v, where r represents the radius of the blood vessel, ÃŽ · is the body fluid viscosity, and v represents the velocity at which the nanotech drug will be moving along the blood vessels. The force acting downward is equal to Ï€r2 (d1 - d2)g, where d1 represent the density of the body, d2 is the density of the blood, and g represents gravitational force. Upward and downward forces are always in balance at any constant velocity of fall. Stokes law finds its application in several fields hence its validity in the use of nanotech drugs in the treatment of acne is authentic. Therefore, when the formula is combined together, the velocity at which the nanotech drugs will be t=moving at will be v = 6Ï€(d1 - d2)gr2/ÃŽ · (Farokhzad & Langer, 2009) useful in the treatment.

K Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

K - Assignment Example rk therefore highly informs my current topic choice by nature of ability to dig deep into the echelons of a particular knowledge area and unearth as much information as possible. The desire to pursue this investigation therefore rests on the fact that this is a topic with wide knowledge and also interesting to follow. The unit also informs much on the research questions initially created very widely. In essence, there was knowledge of coming up with open ended questions that never gave an in-depth knowledge of information about a particular topic. The initial research questions were set widely but at this final stage, answers are coming up. The work also informs the initial research questions by virtue of the ability to categorize them into specified sections for a specified search for answers. The initial questions were wide but at this stage, there is a specified concentration on ways used to quit smoking. There are several issues that hope to be achieved during my time with this topic. From the information so far achieved, there is a lot of information of personal importance that has been realized. By learning about the in-depth questioning, there has been a revelation of the in-depth effects of smoking. It also outlines how the addiction is created through the content chemicals in the cigarette. Moreover, the knowledge goes on to extrapolate the collection of diseases that the body would be susceptible to. This is caused by the more than 4700 chemical compounds in the cigarette. In avoiding a cigarette, personal life would be highly enhanced. Moreover, this does not stop there. There are excessive effects to the environment and the people around. Avoiding this situation, by virtue of the in-depth analysis created in the topic, the health of other people would also be enhanced. The content, specificity, depth and level of personal investment in this topic have turned out to be different from earlier topics. If a comparison is to be drawn with the ‘Dream

Policy Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Policy Issues - Essay Example The foreign policy focuses more on the international relationships between countries. All policy makers should be wary of any unintended negative outcomes of policy decisions made. The world experienced the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 describe by rise in inflation, loss of the dollar value to other foreign currencies and general stagnation of the US economy. This called for government involvement in saving the economy and other adverse effects of the recession. The then president, George Bush instructed government officials to come up with measures to save the economy. An economic policy was devised where the government used economic interventions such as comprehensive tax rebate, control of business entities and funding the Toxic Asset Relief Program. Controlling of businesses received significant amounts of resistant from conservative economists (Lind, & Tamas, 2006). This is because, they believed that businesses have the ability to act rationally and maximize efficiency and profit. As a result, profitability in business will eventually stabilize the economy. However, Bush’s administration was keen to indicate that the government played a role in the private sector business. Economists and conservative policy makers viewed the recession issue as a result of inadequate regulation in the financial industry of the USA. The perception on economic regulation changed since it offered an opportunity for recovery. Consequently, the policy makers decisively concluded that economic regulation would maintain a good level of equity in the country’s economic system. The regulation aimed at changing some tax laws, adjusting ownership of property, an implementing the concepts of individual accountability. However, the issue of ownership of property was believed to have led to the supreme mortgage crisis. Moreover, there were minimal measures to regulate the financial institutions especially for the individuals who could not afford owning property. The

Critical review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical review - Essay Example In the final outcome of the research, they incorporated â€Å"rich perspectives gained from the teacher-researchers and theoretical frameworks associated with resistance, habits and learning to teach by co-teaching. The paper advocates co-teaching as an essential component of teacher education programs.† (Tobin, Seiler, and Smith, 1992, 69). Therefore, the study by Tobin, Seiler, and Smith highlights the several critical dilemmas that face teacher education programs in urban settings and others that are fairly more all-encompassing. This paper undertakes a critical review of the theoretical and methodological features of the study and main findings and conclusions in order to determine the various strengths and limitations of the study. In a reflective exploration of â€Å"Educating Science Teachers for Socio-Cultural Diversity of Urban Schools†, it becomes lucid that the researchers undertake an important area of study with regard to socio-cultural diversity in teaching environment. Significantly, the study attempts to bring out the conflict between theory and practice for the use of student teachers who learn to teach in urban schools. Based on the field experiences in a variety of urban placements, they come up with their practical conclusions about the aspects that can best contribute to an effective teaching program in these schools. All through their study, they make the case for an approach to science teacher education, essentially based field studies and they provide some insights into the challenges of learning to teach science in urban schools as well as some suggestions for change. They also provide theoretical framework with regard to teaching as experience or practice. â€Å"One way to characte rize the problems we experienced with the methods course this semester is that so much of it involved talk and words, albeit in a context of ongoing daily student teaching experiences. This is one

Research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Research Paper Example The study objectives of this study include the analysis of the status of internet marketing in Hong Kong, to examine the effectiveness of internet marketing at Hong Kong, and to examine the behavior and the viewpoints of consumers, towards internet marketing (Anderson, Claes, & Lehmann 53). Introduction There is no doubt that the internet continues to shape consumer trends not only in Hong Kong, but also in the rest of the world. The internet has grown into a crucial source of information for the entire population. In response to this trend, and the growing influence of the internet, advertisers and marketers found it a useful tool to reach target consumers. Due to the integrated nature of the role of the internet in marketing, the effectiveness of online advertising has remained an issue of debate among consumers, scholars and advertisers (Charlesworth 33-334). This paper will be an analysis of the status of internet marketing in Hong Kong and its effectiveness in shaping purchasing behaviors of Hong Kong consumers. Basically, the paper will analyze the role played by internet advertizing in influencing Hong Kong’s consumer behavior. ... ance publication of 2008 noted that the amounts spent on internet advertising in Hong Kong are in the range of HK$ 172 million, for the opening quarter of 2008. Of the total expenditure, electrical and computer appliances grouping contributed the most, giving a total of HK$ 30 million. During this quarter of 2008, more than 1000 advertisers advertised their wares over the internet: 5.5 billion internet-advertising impressions and 2800 campaigns. Previous studies show that advertising – directly or indirectly influences the purchasing behavior of consumers. According to Charlesworth, customers with a fair outlook towards advertising are more likely to be influenced by advertising – into making purchases (67-69). Undoubtedly, there are many types of advertisements, which people can use to advertise their products and services. Currently, internet advertising has proved to be the most effective method of marketing products. The emergence of the internet as a tool for marke ting has so far proved to be one of the most effective methods of boosting consumer behavior. It is imperative to note that internet use began in 1980s and has since grown tremendously throughout the world. The emergence of new technologies such as fiber optics has even led to the increase of business opportunities, but its use as well. All over the world, over 150 million people use internet for various purposes, and the numbers keep on increasing each day. Today, through internet, the world has become a global village where consumers use the smallest gadgets—mobile phones—to buy products and services (Faber, Lee, and Xiaoli 447). From internet banking to money transfer to online purchasing, the internet has become a powerful device in the consumer industry. Various governments are busy putting

Renewable Energy Essay Example for Free

Renewable Energy Essay Renewable energy is energy from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, these resources are naturally replenished. Renewable energy does not harm the environment or deplete any of our natural resources like fossil fuel. Renewable energy is not subject to sharp price changes because it comes from natural resources. Biomass is currently the largest U. S. renewable energy source with more than two hundred existing bio power plants providing energy for one point five million American homes, according to renewable energy specialist Davor Habjanec. The first time I heard the political differences about renewable energy was the last presidential debate. President Obama stated that he has and will continue to invest in renewable energy, like windmills and solar power. His opponent, Mitt Romney accused Obama of not using more fossil fuels found in America, from building a pipeline in Alaska to investing in oil and natural gas. Romney also claimed that the Obama administration was not expanding research of renewable energy. President Obama’s economic stimulus package included a number of incentives like thirty percent tax credit for renewable energy. Even though coal, oil and natural gas is limited and prices for it reflect that limitation there are still some disadvantages to renewable energy it cannot be stored like fossil fuels. Even though solar power can be stored for a short period of time and if there is no sun light for a number of days you will have no power from solar energy, same for wind energy. The research of renewable energy is very expense. With the economy being as bad as it is forcing cuts to be made in school programs and social programs some believe that we should not be investing so much in renewable energy. They do not dispute that investment in renewable energy does not create jobs. They believe that the same investment should be used on other parts of the economy and that investment will create more jobs and higher payback. According to the U. S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, a million dollars invested in job creation can generate nine point seventy-eight jobs.

Needs Assessment And Its Analytic Tools Information Technology Essay

Needs Assessment And Its Analytic Tools Information Technology Essay This report is based on research onto Needs assessment and its analytic tools. In addition, this paper critically examines the nature and role of needs assessment as a tool in consulting practice. Needs Assessment A Needs Assessment is a systematic exploration of the way things are and the way they should be. These things are usually associated with organizational and/or individual performance (Stout, 1995). A needs assessment should be designed to identify and prioritize needs, while a need analysis should break and identified need into its component parts and determine solution requirement. Practical and pragmatic needs assessments provide a process for identifying and prioritizing gaps between current and desired results (Kaufman, 1979). Need Assessment is defined as an investigation, undertaken to determine the nature of performance problems in order to establish the underlying causes and the way in which training can be addressed. Goldstein (1993) describes need assessment as the phase of the instructional process that provides the information necessary to design the entire program. A training gap is defined as the difference between the required standard of the job and incumbents performance. Need identification is the starting point in any training and development activity. Need identification or assessment is not a routine function, because it should conduct carefully and in a diagnostic manner. The assessment begins with a need which can be identified in several ways but is generally described as a gap between what is currently in place and what is needed, now and in the future. The purpose of a training needs assessment is to identify performance requirements or needs within an organization in order to help direct resources to the areas of greatest need, those that closely relate to fulfilling the organizational goals and objectives, improving productivity and providing quality products and services. Indeed, there are various reasons why needs assessment is not conducted as it is described as being a difficult process, time consuming and lack of resources in carrying out the tasks (Miller Osinski, 1996). On the other hand, Desimone and Werner (2002) argued that incorrect assumptions are usually made about needs analysis being unnecessary because the available information already specifies what an organizations needs are. According to Miller and Osinski (1996) the needs as sessment is the first step in the establishment of a training and development Program. It is used as the foundation for determining instructional objectives, the selection and design of instructional programs, the implementation of the programs and the evaluation of the training provided. These processes form a continuous cycle which always begins with a needs assessment. A needs assessment is a systematic methodology used to locate the need before we intervene with the solution. The assessment helps us to locate the gaps in the plan of action or the existing strategy and helps us manage at the micro and macro levels. A needs assessment is carried out for an individual, an organization, team and even society issues. Some of the scenarios where needs assessment is widely used are organization development, disease outbreak, war/terrorism, drug abuse, poverty, sports etc. Needs assessment gives us a fair amount of insights about the situation that we are dealing with, before we go ahead and intervene. Gap could be easily determined with the use of analytical tools possessed by Needs assessment. They are used to identify strategic priorities, define results to be accomplished, guide decision related to actions considered and creates an evaluation criterion to judge the success and also have continual improvement within the organization (Stout, 1995). Models of Needs Assessment There are plenty of different models proposed by the eminent researchers. Needs assessment models are based on the variety of profession and applications. All the different models and a small description of these models are mentioned below: Arthurs Performance Evaluation Matrix: (Arthur, L.1993. Improving Software Quality. New York: John Wiley and Sons) The context of Arthurs Performance Evaluation Matrix is usually used for the development or improvement of softwares. Bottom to top assessment is what this model emphasizes on. The assessment begins with very end-users such as the customers and suppliers. The model deals with identifying the defects created in the cycle and usage of data to identify the causes of the defects. It does not answer the society or the organizational results, but focuses on the development and improvement of their products (Anonymous, Models, n.d) Burton and Merrills Four Phase Model: (Burton, J. Merrill, P. 1998, Needs Assessment: Goals, Needs And Priorities) Internal and External factors are recognized by this four phase model.   Additionally, this model focuses on the application of needs assessment in the development of instructional materials at the level of a course and intentionally does not address societal and organizational results.   It avoids the society and the organizational results, because the authors Burton and Merill believe that their assessment tool helps in development of instructional materials (Anonymous, Models, n.d). Gilberts Performance Matrix: (Gilbert, T. 1978, Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance) The Performance Matrix, provided by Gilbert focuses on the process improvement. He provides two types of performance matrix, a Full scale model and a truncated version. The author believes that any research on performance needs to be carried out at the higher level. The author begins his discussion at the Philosophical level and then gets down to the Tactical and Logistical level and then the study is reduced to a Simplified performance matrix (Anonymous, Models, n.d). Gordons Front End Analysis Model: Gordon, S. (1994)  Systematic Training Program Design: Maximizing Effectiveness and Minimizing Liability. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. This model identifies the unavailability of resources or any faulty shortcomings. Gordons Front End Analysis Model can be used to document and analyze an individuals performance and cannot be extended to the societal or organization level (Anonymous, Models, n.d). Darraughs Six step Model: (Darraugh, B. 1991. It takes six.(six step model). Training and development journal, v45, n3, p21) The Six step model is very much similar to the Rossetts Training needs assessment model. Darraugh provides a set of fifteen question for conducting the assessment. These questions orient towards the needs but are not determine the link to the societal, organizational or individual accomplishments. Therefore this model does not provide complete guidance in conducting the needs assessment (Anonymous, Models, n.d). Ostroff and Fords Levels Perspective Model: (Ostroff, C. Ford, J.K, 1989, Assessment training needs: Critical levels of analysis) This model is based on the three content areas, Organizational, Task and Person given by Mc Gehee and Thayer. Ostroff and Fords model elevated the model to the next level by introducing a Levels dimension, which includes Organizational sub-units and Individual. Twenty seven discreet analyses can be carried out based on the similarities and differences between each level. This model is considered to cover almost every possible theory (Anonymous, Models, n.d). Hannum and Hansens Needs Analysis Model: (Hannum, W. Hansen, C. 1989, Instructional systems development in large organizations) Their model supports a top-down, Societal needs assessment. Their model can be used to examine only an individuals performance and can be used to document the process insufficiencies. The model is strong on the research methods and helps to collect hard as well as soft data (Anonymous, Models, n.d). Johnsons Training Requirements Model: (Johnson, D. 1996, Take two classes and call me in the morning: the case for training wellness) Johnsons Training Requirement Model focuses majorly on the Training requirements planning. It does not focus on the performance problems. The model utilizes the Market Survey to identify the desired training programs. Based on the survey, the requirements are to be Defined and Analyzed. The evaluation continues with short-term and long-term feedback (Anonymous, Models, n.d). All the above models are used widely. Analysis and the collected data is used to provide soulution, this are the major purpose of the above mentioned models of needs assessment. Reason for Needs Assessment The major reasons behind using Needs Assessment are as follows: Gives us the information of what will be accomplished. Expected changes in performance. Tactical solutions/requirements Economics involved (Stout, 1995) Any kind of developmental initiative needs a lot of money to be invested. Some organizations tend to implement a solution in a hurry without considering whether they are the correct intervention. This will result in heavy losses, especially if it involves huge capital or operational expenditures. Organizational development programs are one such solution that needs a thorough analysis before any intervention is carried out. A wrong solution can result in loss of lot of money and at times destabilize the working atmosphere (Stout, 1995) Process of Needs Assessment According to Stout. D (1995) the needs assessment is carried out as a Four Step Process Step 1: Perform a GAP analysis: Performing a gap analysis is the first stepping stone in performing needs assessment. Actual performance of the organization is checked and compared with the theoretical standards set already. This step involves, Analyzing the current situation: The current goals, internal and external constraints, environment and knowledge of the employees are determined. In short as the same suggests it analyzes the current overall situation of the organization. The desired situation: The desired conditions for the organizational and personal success needs to be identify. Jobs/tasks, the knowledge, skills and abilities required to attain that goal are the prime focus of this analysis. Gap between the current situation and the desired outcomes are identified once this step is completed. As we perform the GAP analysis, we look for the problems or deficits, impending charges, opportunities, strengths and different mandates such as government or foreign policies. SWOT analysis provides us with the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. Whereas, the PEST analysis provides us an insight into the Political, Economical, Social and Technological factors (Stout, 1995). Step 2: Identifying Priorities and Importance: The next step begins with the analysis of the collected data. Depending on the importance of the need which was achieved by step 1 the concerns are prioritized. Example: Legal mandates and Cost effectiveness becomes a priority compared to the Executive pressures. We have to focus on those needs that have more value and will have a great impact (Stout, 1995). Step 3: Identifying opportunities: Major concerns and the development/improvement opportunities are indentified once the needs are prioritized. Solution for specific needs has to be analyzed in this step. This step involves a detailed investigation and analysis at the organizational and individual level. This step not only enables the organization to handle the current situation but also prepares it for the future (Stout, 1995). Step 4: Implementation of solutions and growth opportunities: This is the final step and it involves the implementation of the solutions for the specific issues. Some of the solutions that can be implemented are, Training program: Programs such as one on one or group coaching, Mentoring, Classroom, Video learning, Workshops, Active learning, Vendor course, CBT etc. are considered as alternatives for solutions. Organizational Development program Organizational Programs include, Strategic planning exercises, Organizational restructuring, Performance management and effective team building are the different alternatives which are highlighted as solution alternates (Stout, 1995). Advantages and Disadvantages of Needs Assessment The table below summarizes the key advantages and disadvantages of major methods of assessing training and performance needs. The table below is used from (McCoy, McCoyTraining.com, n.d) which explains the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of needs assessment. Method Advantages Disadvantages Organizational Documents à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provide relevant, quantifiable data à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Fast à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Inexpensive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May built management Involvement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Dont build employee involvement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Not necessarily focused on HRD à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May not identify causes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May not provide visibility Questionnaire and Surveys à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Reach many people in short time à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Build involvement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Relatively inexpensive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Yield relevant, quantifiable data that are easy to summarize à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Anonymity may encourage Honesty à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Require time and skill to develop à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Low response rates or inaccurate responses à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ No opportunity to clarify à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May restrict freedom of response à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May lead to unrealistic expectation Group Interviews à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Build involvement and support à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provide relevant data à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provide visibility à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May elicit key topics not expected à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ On-the-spot sharing synthesis of different view à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Moderately time-consuming (but less so than individual interviews) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Moderately expensive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Difficult to conduct à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May be difficult to analyze and quantify data Individual Interviews à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Build involvement and support à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Allow for clarification à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provide relevant data à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Easier to conduct than group interviews à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May uncover information that wouldnt be brought up in a group à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Expensive in terms of time and travel costs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Require interviewing skills à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May be difficult to analyze and quantify results à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May make interviewees self-conscious Advisory Committees à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Build management involvement and sponsorship à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provide visibility à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Inexpensive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Allows synthesis of opinions of key decision-makers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Can help identify resource à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Time-consuming and difficult to manage logistically à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Fails to build lower-level employee involvement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Poor source of quantifiable data à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May lead to groupthink or turf war Observation of Work Situations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Builds employee involvement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provides excellent information when coaching an individual à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Builds your credibility à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Generates relevant, quantifiable data à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May provide excellent stories à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Requires a skilled observer à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Does not involve management à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Time-consuming à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May change performance or be perceived as spying à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May be logistically difficult Benchmarking and Independent Research à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Learn from industry leaders and competitors à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Can build your credibility à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Availability of free data on internet à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Avoid rediscovering what is know à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Does not build involvement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ May not be directly relevant à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Data from different organizations may be misleading à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Requires significant Analysis Table 1: Advantages and Disadvantages of Needs Assessment, Adapted from Managing a Small HRD Department, by Carol P. McCoy. McCoy Training and Development Resources, 1993, p. 23. Needs Assessment as a tool for Consulting Practice and Critique for Best Practices Methods of needs assessment can be classified into seven main types, each of which can take many different forms in practice. The different types of needs assessment approaches are as follows: Gap or discrepancy approach Reflection on action Peer review Observation Critical incident review Practice review Learning for needs (Grant, 2001) According to Grant (2001) Peer review is rapidly becoming a favorite method for needs assessment. Grants report was accepted in 2001 by the National Center for Biotechnological Information. In peer review doctors assess each others practice and give feedback and perhaps advice about possible education, training or organizational strategies to improve performance. Internal, external, informal, multidisciplinary and physician assessment are the five different type of peer review described in a good CPD guide. (Grant, 2001). However this peer review method for needs assessment comes with ample of drawbacks. Some of these drawbacks are mentioned below: Double Blind system is rarely used due to its impracticality. Reputation of the author always have some impact on the way others judged the paper this is the most common accusation made. An uncontroversial and poor paper written by an established researcher pass the review process whereas an excellent paper written by a new and upcoming scientist can be rejected (Anonymous, Disadvantages of Peer review, 2008). Editors posses lots of decision making power who are very well connected by the author and referee. At times these authority possessed by the editors is misused. Many times their lots of omission by the editors and therefore, editors are often accused of arbitrarily rejecting manuscripts before they reach their readers (Anonymous, Disadvantages of Peer review, 2008). Source of the researchers funding is one of the major conflicts of interest which needs to be spotted by the peer reviewers. However, the research is accepted if it follows all the researching protocols (Anonymous, Disadvantages of Peer review, 2008). Peer reviews have no grading system and different journals have their own standards. This makes it difficult to rank and judge the expertise and quality of the editors and reviewers (Anonymous, Disadvantages of Peer review, 2008). A consultant is hired by a company either during a time of distress or simply to improve an existing system. Very often it is due to the peer nature of the issue that an external source is required to solve it. A consultant has a lot of pressure to solve the problems that he/she has been asked to look into. A Needs Assessment provides the consultant with insights to what he/she is going to deal with. A thorough needs analysis is essential for a large-scale learning initiative to succeed.   Needs assessment  consultants will seamlessly work with your company to interview subject matter experts and other key stakeholders, diagnose the learning gaps and help you specify learning objectives that support your business goals. Consultation is a very tricky job. When a consultant is asked to address an issue, the credibility of that consultant is at stake. Since the money involved is high, an organization expects the intervention to work wonders for them. It is the consultants job to collect the required information by using a technique that suits the organization and also the issue that is dealt with. An issue can range from sales decline to rebellious employees to scandals. The test of choice depends upon the situation. A questionnaire can be used among the employees to get information about a sales drop, but a personal interview or focus group is required to address an issue such as a rebellion or a scandal. The best practices that should be followed by the consultants with regard to prove efficient and effective for its clients are as follows: First of all the consultants need to familiarize themselves with the work environment and the culture of its clients before deciding on the method of research. The consultants need to have a different perception of its clients. Being bias would impact the performance and would hamper to analyze the problem effectively. While conducting interviews the consultants need to give enough space to the informants so that they could gather as much information as possible. Once the informants are comfortable the core of the problem could be identified. Proper mind mapping and stake holder analysis also gives a clear picture about the client and may help in further analysis of distortion which may be the reason of the clients issues. The questionnaires should be easy to understand and should not lead to conclusions. In addition, the consultants need to avoid use of buzz words and should simplify the question for easy and better understanding of the participants. I would like to conclude that needs assessment is one of the most important tools for the consultants as it helps for evaluate the situation and gives an insight of the organization. Needs assessment forms the foundation for resolving clients problems as it helps to reach the core of the problem instead of artificial makeovers. The outcome of the consultants intervention has tremendous impact due to the approach, method or techniques used for needs assessment. It is the nervous system which helps to rectify the cause of distorted heart beat of the organizations body.

Ryanair and GE Total Quality Management (TQM)

Ryanair and GE Total Quality Management (TQM) Quality Management : History and Purpose All businesses are concerned with quality, usually because they have come to understand that high quality can give a significant competitive advantage.[2] Good quality products and services reduce the costs of rework, waste, complaints and returns and, most importantly, generate satisfied customers. [1] It is noticed that quality is considered as one of the most important factor as a competitive tool. Total Quality Management (TQM) that became popular with all types of business in the late 1970s and 1980s has its roots in earlier work by several management thinkers. Feigenbaum popularized the term total quality management in 1957. After that it was developed through the work of several quality gurus including Deming, Juran, Ishikawa, Taguchi and Crosby. TQM can be viewed as a logical extension of the way in which quality-related practice has progressed. [2] Originally quality was achieved by inspection screening out defects before customers noticed them. Then the quality control (QC) concept developed a more systematic approach to not only detecting but also solving quality problems. Quality assurance (QA) widened the responsibility for quality to include functions other than direct operations, such as Human Resources, Accounting and Marketing[2]. Quality management has also made increasing use of advanced statistical quality techniques since 1980s through Six Sigma process input-output improvement to deliver quality. Some organisations such as Ryanair, Toyota etc. suggests and favour TQM as an outstanding turn around strategy where as some organisations such as GE, GM, Honeywell etc. has attained success through laying down Six Sigma in all its functional chains and processes and they firmly believe and live Six Sigma. Executive Summary This report follows my conclusions and understanding from readings and abstract from various reliable sources mentioned in the headers, footers and the dedicated referencing part of the report. The report introduces us to the quality approaches followed by Ryanair and GE who are from different industry having different orientations. The report also suggests why Ryanair has tag on TQM and how innovations, changes in business environment and competitiveness  are affected and later it is critically discussed that improvement is necessary in Ryanairs quality management to compete. Since the fashionable peak of TQM and Six Sigma, in general there has been some decline in its status, yet, many of its ideas included in this report, have become accepted quality practice. [2] Reflection in the Report: My perception before I started my studies and research into this subject matter, the Quality, was that the quality is found only in the expensive and branded products and that the Quality Control is the out put focused single method of quality management. My tutor, Mr. Sotunde, the guide to Operations and Process Management by Slack N. and co authors, various readings from Quality and Business magazines have clarified me the concept of quality and how it can be managed effectively. Firstly, I learnt that the quality is a value in product and/or service and it can be established by the customers expectations that are to be matched with the actual product and/or service. Secondly, quality cannot be measured with price alone as price is the major factor of companies strategy to exploit or to compete in the market and it is the financial factor to affect the profitability. But, quality can be found in low price products or services as well such as in Value for Money goods and services or it is found as a value that a company can deliver in its product or services for a justifiable price. I learnt that the quality function is not limited to the out put but it can be practised through out the organisation in to all its processes to produce or provide goods and services of the consistent quality as per the expectations of the customers. As it has to be practised universally it is the responsibility of all and the value of the quality should be understood and  communicated within and outside the organisation for example to the suppliers and distributors. Additionally, there are varieties of approaches to the Quality that are practised by different organisations. Though having similar functions, organisations in the same industry or in direct competition, it is seen that two different organisations follow different quality management approach and both are successful in terms of the quality goods and services it produce or provide. Establishing quality standards and following/meeting them sincerely is not enough for the organisations to stay longer on the edge because they could be copied or imitated by our competitors or new entrants or customers quality expectation might change. So, it is very much essential for organisations that they make every effort to improve their quality aspect. I have also learnt that the quality approach developed within the organisation such as TQM by Toyota and formalised Six Sigma by Motorola are difficult to be copied exactly overnight and if concepts adopted completely than too one cant beat them in their own game because they are constantly improving their functions and process to excel the customers perceptions, keeping them always a step ahead. It is also seen that quality standards are formalised by organisations such as ISO and ISI and organisations help each other by affiliations such as EFQM to improve the quality aspects in production or provision of goods and services. RYANAIR:[3] Ryanair, currently, Europes original and still largest low-fare, no frills airline with workforce of over 5,000 employees, around fleet of 250 aircrafts including new Boeing 737-800 aircrafts provide services to around 12m passengers every year to over 1,100 low-fare routes across 26 European countries. According to the CEO, Michael O Leary, Our customer service is about the most well defined in the world. We guarantee to give you the lowest air fare. You get a safe flight. You get a normally on-time flight. Thats the package. We dont, and wont, give you anything more. Are we going to say sorry for our lack of customer service? Absolutely not. If a plane is cancelled, will we put you up in a hotel overnight? Absolutely not. If a plane is delayed, will we give you a voucher for a restaurant? Absolutely not. [The other key information about Ryanair Ltd., please refer to Appendix 1] GE: [9] GE is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the worlds toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, medical imaging, and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. Their businesses fuel the global economy and improve peoples lives. Their global research team with more than 2,500 researchers working towards the next breakthrough, GE is positioned to continually innovate, invent and reinvent. General Electric (GE) says that its commitment to quality is based on the ideas of globalization and instant access to information, and products and services that continue to change the way its customers conduct business. Their quality mission statement reads, in part, Todays competitive environment leaves no room for error. We must meet our customers needs and relentlessly look for new ways to exceed their expectations. Ryanair v/s GE Quality Philosophy and approach: For both Ryanair and GE, quality means the consistent conformance to customers expectations by laying down the concepts of service quality, process management, quality assertion and quality perfection, but, their approach to quality management is quite different. Ryanair and TQM: Ryanair offers value for money, point-to-point air travel and aims nothing close to luxurious service. Quality provision at Ryanair is intended from their point of view giving adequate consideration to the expectations and perceptions of their targeted segment for the fare it is offering and it is seen that Ryanair is delivering these expectations by its on time journeys, passenger and baggage safety, good appearance and attitude of crews, the way it meets the industry challenges and resolves the service failures. Since 1997, it has adopted and living the total quality management to deliver its quality objectives through its Lowest Fares and Passenger Service Charter. [6] The up to date highlights (non-exhaustive, for complete list please follow Appendix 1) from this charter stating their significant commitments are: To offer the lowest fares at all time on all routes. To notify passengers of known delays, cancellations and diversions. To allow reservation changes. To respond quickly to passenger complaints and provide prompt refunds. To take measures to speed up check-in. The success and growth that Ryanair is currently enjoying is due to providing the best value for money service as right first time in all its functions from booking the ticket to the baggage handling. It is universally understood within the organisation that little extra effort will bring big results and these efforts do not require a huge investment in training. The Ryanair control its functions and processes through its industry benchmarking and setting its own internal quality standards. It uses Servicemail and other performance statistics to evaluate their position in their highly competitive aviation industry. GE and Six Sigma: Most of the GE business segments are involved in large scale manufacturing activities at a greater extent. In 1988 with a program called Work-Out, GE started focusing on quality issues that has helped them to open its corporate culture to established ideas from any quarter regarding quality management that later created an environment that eventually led to Six Sigma. Work-Out was used to identify and eliminate unneeded processes and tasks by development teams from multiple departments to find a solution to a problem. Now, Six Sigma is embedding quality thinking into every level of operation around the globe. These uses statistical tools and systems to monitor and control processes and functions to have outputs close to zero defects. The three key elements that GE focuses to their quality initiatives are customers, processes and employees. Everything the company does in its quest for world-class quality focuses on these three essential elements. Customers are at the centre of GE universe and they define quality by their expectations of performance, reliability and other factors. To attain the level of quality that their customers require, GE conducts what it calls Outside-In Thinking. Outside-In Thinking calls on GE to look at its business from its customers perspective. By understanding the transaction lifecycle from the customers needs and processes, we can discover what they are seeing and feeling. With this knowledge, we can identify areas where we can add significant value or improvement from their perspective, GEs quality statement reads. The employees are a key to the quality approach and at GE, quality is embedded as the responsibility of every employee. Keeping this in mind, all GE employees are provided training in the strategy, statistical tools and techniques of Six Sigma Quality. Variety of training courses are offered at different levels including basic awareness to Six Sigma; basic tool introduction to equip employees to participate on Six Sigma teams; Master Black Belt, Black Belt and Green Belt Training for leader managers; and Design for Six Sigma training. Summing-up: Both, Ryanair and GE are trying to deliver exceeding quality products and services to both their internal and external customers, clearly understanding that quality is a consistent versatile activity having both quantitative and non-quantitative attributes such as re-visiting customer? Yes/No. They have emphasised and communicated throughout the organisation that quality is the responsibility of every individual and through these responsibility they ensures that all processes, inputs and outputs, maintain and produce consistent confirmative level of quality products and services. Is TQM really good for Ryanair? Ryanairs business strategy is based upon the product orientation for its air travel and quality strategy as the customer orientation. Ryanair is constantly trying to keep its costs as low as possible to transfer benefits of cost savings to its passenger in the form of low fares. The common misconception is that the quality comes for price. Critically, it can be argued that quality can be delivered for the low price service as well, rather again to say simply, Quality in Price. In these past 25 years, Ryanair has well balanced the expectations and perceptions by introducing revolutionary and innovative ways of providing low fare air travel. Keeping its target market in centre, they have defined and communicated the quality of their services in their own terms. Ryanairs customers know what they will get and their job is to deliver these expectations at its best by managing each and every, direct and indirect processes that are related to the passengers which are later judged by passengers experience. Ryanairs approach to its quality management as different from other successful organisations such as GE has serious implications on its innovations, changing business environment and competition. Innovations in Ryanair: Putting an innovative thought into quick action is the core competence of Ryanair. Most of the Ryanair innovative ideas have brought the revolution in the way people perceived travelling by air. For many successful companies such as GE, innovations has cost them fortune and these costs were recovered from customers in the higher prices, but, for Ryanair innovations were implementing a simple ideas bringing additional revenues that in turn benefiting customers in lowest price tickets. Firstly, with its turn around strategy of mid 1990s, Ryanair, apart from no frills has introduced no class, single model air crafts. These fleets of hundreds of aircrafts were ordered often and bought at a heavy discount. The overhead cost of training and cleaning were brought down to nominal because of these standardised aircrafts. The focus and resources were diverted to introduce new routes, increasing customer base and harnessing quality factors in its provision of services. From 2000 and onwards it started using the e-commerce tools and websites for online booking, check-in and informing customers about the special offers on its tickets. Ryanair was first to advertise third parties advertisement on its boarding pass and flights. The customer service were improved by introduction of web application, Bing, that updates air fares directly to its customers computer and by implementing a Servicemail, a point of contact and response for customers. Servicemail is then extended to collect data regarding customer choices, preferences, trend analysis and measuring KPIs. In future: The fare charged by Ryanair reflects the price of travelling from point A to B. It offers other ancillary services such as in flight meals, drinks, baggage costs etc. at a charge for those who want it. The lasting visionary CEO, OLeary has a vision that in coming years travel by Ryanair will be free and all its revenue will be streamed by providing ancillary services, third party advertisements, holidays, insurance, hotels and connections bookings sold through Ryanair website. Change: TQM approach adopted by Ryanair is a flexible approach to a change in external circumstances as it has to just focus do new thing at its best but at lower cost. Customers: Ryanair is a focused cost leader and open to customer fatigue so it has to understand that in the long run it has to move along with the taste of the customer that might be affected by pressure groups, regulators, EU and other regional governments. Currently, Ryanair is managed by an aggressive approach to capture market and in future it might require strategic rethinking, but, its approach to quality can stay the same to entice and satisfy passengers. [Please refer to Number 1 Customer Services Statistics in the Appendix 4][8] Suppliers: The advantage to Ryanair is that within UK and Europe, each major region of the countries has more than one airport, which can accommodate Ryanair at competitive rates on landing and handling fees, leaving Ryanair with the upper hand. The traffic at these secondary airports is low increasing the quality level of airport handling services and on-time departures enjoyed by the passengers. The other suppliers are caterers, maintenance and repair contractors. It is natural that Ryanair must be managing its suppliers relationship through service level agreements with a backed hefty compensation for the breach of service term(s). EU and Local Governments: The growth of the Ryanair rooted due to EUs deregulation of the aviation industry. EU court decision can negatively impact upon the way Ryanair is functioning. For instance, Ryanair was forced to refund against its non-refund policy for flight cancellations due to Icelandic volcanic eruptions and was charged 3m Euros by Italian Government for not helping passengers after its flight cancellations. To stay in business and avoid fines Ryanair has to comply with such unavoidable regulations but it could not impair its quality approach as others too have to comply. Quality and Competitiveness: Of course, quality products and services are the competitive advantage and Ryanair keenly has laid down this aspect into it air flights and routes. The key to success of Ryanair is implementing different marketing strategies over a period of time to survive the cut throat competition in the aviation industry. Ryanair is recognised as the most punctual flight from Dublin to London and Ryanair is top rated against its close competitors such as EasyJet, Virgin and British Airways. People made it possible statement is true for Ryanair because the success of Ryanair is behind its crew members as they are in the direct contact with the passengers. Ryanair has not spent much on the training but is paying modestly to its crew and this has encouraged them to behave as pleasantly as possible on the flights. There are concerns raised from some unsatisfied customers and dissident that the ancillary services provided by Ryanair are priced high and are of poor quality. Ryanair should deal with this issue as early as possible as the success of total quality management lies upon delivering quality in all aspects of its activities. Despite all cutting corners to save on ticket prices, more and more people are flying Ryanair, which, in the end, might be the ultimate validation of OLearys assessment of what travellers really want and how Ryanair is delivering it. [Please refer to the Appendix 3: The Customer Feedbacks][7] However, TQM is not the end in itself. Ryanair should continuously strive upon improving its quality standards that can help them to further reduce costs, increase revenues, reduce risks and improve the way it helps handle complaints and dissatisfied passengers. Improving Quality in Ryanair The ultimate aim of operations and process management is the performance improvement and Ryanair should consider this as an ultimate objective to improve its quality objectives of on time flights, speed, ancillary services and dependability. Despite of all efforts to manage its quality, Ryanair is seen and blamed that it sacrifices the quality in pursuit of minimising costs and that it fails to align the interests of its passengers well. These issues could be addressed by setting the minimum performance standards and outperforming them, as well said, promise little and deliver above expectations. One way Ryanair could win its goal to become worlds biggest and cheapest airliner is by aligning all its functions within the organisations to commit to quality levels and agreeing the quality deliverables with its contractors. Kaizen aka Continuous Improvement if adopted could blend well with the current TQM approach followed by Ryanair, however, this could affect the innovations, change an d current competitive position in a favourable manner. Kaizen involves focus on small but never ending improvements that will become part of normal culture for all operations. Innovations: We are aware that since 1997 Ryanairs passenger base is growing at a tremendous 20% average every year and it still has an appetite for growth and market to expand. It has become increasingly important that Ryanair addresses the improvement issue in its quality management to satisfy this increased demand, number of new routes, destinations and growth prospects with Kaizen. Ryanair could extend or assign the responsibility towards quality improvement to the regional processes owners affecting passengers quality perception. These processes owners would identify the performance gaps and recommend actions to fulfil them by innovative actions or contribute ideas for further analysis. A close contact is required with the crew members who will bring them the stories or experience they had with customers and how they overcame the demands or problems of different customers. We have Servicemail as a point of customer contacts and correspondences, but, we may need a system for internal communications that could be called a Central Information System (CIS). Through CIS every crew teams, employees and contractors as a lean system, directly submit key ideas, stories, experience to their respective process owner, who in turn filter the messages and re-post it that shall be compulsorily viewed, shared, commented and recommended upon by all regional process owners for further analysis that may involve the PDCA cycle or DMAIC cycle approach. This simple CIS should not cost much as it could be readily available or produced upon demand by the tendering process. Assuming that majority of them are computer literate and CIS very user friendly will require bare minimum costs for informing or training. The most contributing team or processes should be measured with process excellence index aka EPI and rewarded on quarterly basis. The other direct and simple approach for improvement is to circulate a postcard size blank form on flight with two columns to list down by passengers good about and dissatisfied about travelling with Ryanair. The employees should be encouraged to identify and forward negative feedbacks only using CIS with a confidence and surety that they will not be judged in any case against negative feedbacks and that the forms will be used for general improvement of quality standards as a whole. Change and Competitiveness: The improved quality means increased revenue and profits due to increased turnover. The Kaizen approach in low cost EU and UK Airline service segment will identify, distinguish and advantage Ryanair from its competitors. If, Ryanair act now and fully implement Kaizen by December 2011 then they could become a cost-cum-service leader, a fully innovative airliner, with the cheapest fares simply covering quality cost of travel and chargeable ancillary quality efficient services with a minimum premium for those who want them. This development will help Ryanair to become a worlds popular brand and will advantage Ryanair in 2012 when the number of international passengers will increase more than double due to London Olympics. In many instances Ryanair was criticised by the regulators and competitors for not giving any or enough quality in passengers safety and ancillary services. Now, with Kaizen all will be reversed and Ryanair will be considered as the industry leader setting the industry landmarks for benchmarking. Ryanair has publicly announced that by 2014 it will enter the long haul destinations market and this will require them for a parallel strategic thinking as this segment will bring new challenges in terms of quality management. These routes are proposed to be separately managed, perhaps with most traditional form of flights and some compulsory on board services which will require Ryanair to establish new service standards. There is a scope of success in this segment if it can effectively extend and use of then well functioning Servicemail, CIS and other critical success factors such as brand, price and well established quality standards using Kaizen. Word count: Executive Summary 121 Reflection in the Report 493 Ryanair and GE Introductions 297 Ryanair v/s GE 732 Is TQM good for Ryanair 1,117 Improving Quality in Ryanair 819 Total : 3,579

History Atomic Bomb Essay -- essays research papers

In early August 1945 atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These two bombs quickly yielded the surrender of Japan and the end of American involvement in World War II. By 1946 the two bombs caused the death of perhaps as many as 240,000 Japanese citizens1. The popular, or traditional, view that dominated the 1950s and 60s – put forth by President Harry Truman and Secretary of War Henry Stimson – was that the dropping of the bomb was a diplomatic maneuver aimed at intimating and gaining the upper hand in relations with Russia. Today, fifty-four years after the two bombings, with the advantage of historical hindsight and the advantage of new evidence, a third view, free of obscuring bias and passion, can be presented. First, the dropping of the bomb was born out of complex infinite military, domestic and diplomatic pressures and concerns. Second, many potentially viable alternatives to dropping the bombs were not explored by Truman and other men in power, as they probably should have been. Lastly, because these alternatives were never explored, we can only conjecture over whether or not Truman’s decision was a morally just one, and if indeed it was necessary to use atomic energy to win the war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The war in Asia had its roots in the early 1930s. Japan had expansionist aims in Eastern Asia and the Western Pacific, especially in Indochina2. In July of 1940 the United States placed an embargo on materials exported to Japan, including oil in the hope of restraining Japanese expansionism. Nevertheless, tensions remained high in Asia, and only increased in 1939 when Germany ignited World War II with an invasion of Poland. America’s determination to remain isolated changed abruptly following Japan’s â€Å"surprise attack† on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. Military strategists and politicians poured the majority of American war effort into the European theater, and before the United States could fully mobilize most of South-East Asia had fallen to Japan, including the Philippines. Slowly, the United States recaptured the many small islands invaded by Japan, including Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. These à ¢â‚¬Å"Japanese forces waged a stubborn, often suicidal battles were ferocious; although the Americans won each, resistance.† They demolished the Japanese fleet and establis... ...it was without doubt a savior of lives, it seems most reasonable to conclude that we simply can not tell. Furthermore, Truman became President only weeks before making his monumental decision, he seems to have dropped the bomb simply because he never considered not dropping the bomb47. Together with his advisors, Truman never thought to rethink the basic principles established under the Manhattan Project’s inception under Roosevelt, and therefore, dropped the bomb because they believed in their heart it was the right thing to do, and never reconsidered. There is no way we can know for certain whether the approach of seeking alternatives would have ended the Pacific was sooner, and with fewer lives. But one may regret that such an attempt was not made. Had the attempt failed, the continuing blockade of supplies, Soviet invasion, and the atomic bombs were still available. However, anyone tempted to use the atomic bomb would have done well to share the hesitancy agreed upon T ruman and President Roosevelt. Dwight Eisenhower was right, when he commented on the atomic bombings on Japan -- â€Å"It wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing.† (Ike on Ike, Newsweek, 11/11/63, pg. 108).

What is an Inteferometer :: physics light optics

A Michelson Interferometer is a device used to measure the speed of light in precise optical measurements. It does this by splitting light into two or more beams that recombine and interfere with each other causing the interference fringes. The interferometer basically consists of a light source, a beamsplitter, and two (or more) mirrors to reflect the light. The interference pattern for a Michelson interferometer is circular-- that is, it produces concentric circles of light and dark "fringes". When one mirror on the interferometer is moving, the path difference between the two split beams of light changes, and the interference pattern is seen Interference is a phenomenon that occurs when two photons of light interact with each other in such a way that their waves sum to either increase or decrease their total amplitude. Complete constructive interference occurs when two electromagnetic waves are of the same frequency and in phase; destructive interference occurs when two electromagnetic waves of the same frequency have a phase difference of one-half wavelength. When complete destructive interference occurs, no light can be detected. Similarly, complete constructive interference results in intensity quadrupling (intensity is proportional to the square of amplitude). The following picture demonstrates these effects. Originally, the inventors of the interferometer produced it to measure the speed of light so they could determine the existence of ether. Since then it has been important in measuring the wavelengths of light, using the wavelengths of light to measure very small distances (up to 0.5 microns), to measure extremely small times (up to 1x10-15 seconds), and to study optical media. Albert A. Michelson (1852-1931) The Michelson interferometer was invented by American Physicist Albert A. Michelson in 1887. Michelson was born in Strzelno (Poland) in 1852 and moved to American in 1855. When he was 17, he joined the United States Naval Academy in Anapolis, Maryland where he excelled in science subjects. Michelson later became a science instructor at the academy, but moved on to become a professor of physics at several universities. During the years of 1923-1927, he was president of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1907, he was the first American to be awarded the Physics Nobel Prize for his many efforts in optics. Michelson began experimenting with the interferometer in April of 1887. He came up with a system of mirrors and semi-transparent mirrors (or beamsplitters) for merging separated beams of light, which are coming from the same source. The system was set up so that the beam of light was split in two, sending each split perpendicular to each other, and then merging back so they â€Å"interfered† with each other.

Beauty in Nature Essay

The world has come to a point where there is no turning back; where we can’t undo what is already done. We have forgotten the importance of the use of natural resources we need to survive. We have also forgotten our responsibility to the world, so that it can remain healthy and alive. I fear if we continue polluting our environment and not help it improve itself, we are going to have nothing towards the end. The world needs a better place for everyone to enjoy, no matter what living situation you are in. Everything relates to one another, water, air, energy, sun light, humans, and specially animals; we are all useful to one another. However, I believe that it is possible for us to improve our living situation, and make our world healthier to live in. It is not impossible to do, but if everyone is willing to work together and start making changes there will be a positive effect towards the world. We live and breathe toxic and factory pollution in our everyday lives without even realizing the damage that we have caused. Every year the atmosphere thickens with air pollution and lakes are becoming more toxic with the waste that we dump. Not realizing what we have done to the world and what we are taking advantage of, should be the red flag for us, telling us that we need to change our living situations now. However, being asked to cut down on some of our resources that we use in our everyday life would be difficult to do because some wouldn’t know how to survive without them. We need the supplies that we are used to because it is what we know and what we are used too. On the other hand, what is the harm on trying something new; taking shorter showers, picking up trash that is around you in public areas, buying recyclable pencils, or plastic bottles? Humans are not the only ones who live on the world; animals are very much involved too. Animals need to feel safe; they need a home to live in, and cutting down trees destroying their homes are not the ans wers. Animals suffer every day to find a home. For example Polar bears are going extinct because there is it too much heat in the atmosphere, heat is beginning to melt off the remaining ice that is left for them. Forest animals are being forced to live in different habitats because trees are being cut down for shelter and living supplies for the humans. If the world  continues to cut down trees and make more land for people to live on, there are going to be no trees left. Animals are defenseless against humans; they don’t have a voice as humans do. Someone needs to speak up for the animals, and protect their homes. Nature can be seen as a beautiful thing, yet we are killing off those beautiful things in the world. We do not do it intentionally, but we are killing off our natural resources just by living our daily lives. We are killing off our trees, so we can have paper and money so we can spend more on paper, houses, and fire. When one tree falls, another should be planted. This can help and we wouldn’t run out of trees. Cows, chicken, pigs, animals are getting killed off so we can have food on our plate, and have clothes on our backs so we won’t freeze during the winter nights. Even though we need nature to survive there is always a negative effect using it. There are many ways that we can improve our world. Although it might be difficult to fix the damage that was already caused there is still hope for improvement. If we start off small and work ourselves to the top improving the environment would become easier each year. We should turn off the lights after exiting the room, and install sensor lights in every house making sure that energy is not being wasted. We can cut back on our water supply when we are in the shower or washing the dishes and watering the grass, by setting a timer on when to stop. We can create new technologies, so we are able to manage the amount of smoke that comes out in factories. We can also help the environment by getting others to join beach cleanups. Having more people picking up trash can help in many ways. Cleaning up the beach made me think about the other things that can help this world to survive a bit longer. It is not impossible to do because humans are the main source; we are the ones that need little something from everything and from everyone. It is not hard to pick up unwanted trash around you at the park or the streets, it is rare when people do that but little things like that can change a lot. Picking up a broken glass from the beach might have saved someone’s foot from running into it; picking up the burned rubber from the fire pit might have saved a bird from shocking to death. One thing leads to another, everything matters in life weather if it is the smallest thing in the world. Picking up trash in the beach made it look cleaner and made it look like a beach that people would enjoy going to. Going to the beach has encouraged me to go back and enjoy  the sound the waves do when they hit the surface. The beach clean was a fun experience to have because it can make you love nature even more by the smell or the sound that it makes. One can enjoy the view of the dolphins when they pass by in little groups, going up and down as if they are saying hi and goodbye each time their head pops out. Protecting and enjoying the beach is important because it is something that was created for us to enjoy the fresh air, and ignore the ugly in the world. In conclusion, if we make small changes now in the way we live, we can avoid huge changes in the future. Scientists, governments and individuals must work together to overcome this threat. Keeping the environment clean and healthy can save many lives infants, teens, and the elderly. Cleaning earth and making it a better place is not in overnight process, it will probably take years to fix, but it is possible.

Romulus and the Lost Thing Short Answer on Belonging

The need to belong to a community, society or environment can shape ones behaviour, action and attitude, Through the experiences and the choices made in the processes of belonging, an individual’s identity will develop but may create barriers which they must overcome to be accepted. Romulus my father' by Raimond Gaita, biographical memoir that retells the story of his father, Romulus Gaita who migrated from Germany, to Melbourne Australia and must adapt and therefore belong through thick and thin to this new environment, and ‘The Lost Thing’, a picture book by Shaun Tan which revolves around the belonging of a bizarre machine-like animal when it is found by a curious boy in an industrialised town after being ‘lost’ from home are both texts which closely examine the concept of belonging under difficult circumstances.The story of Romulus, My Father closely, personally and accurately details the struggle of immigrants during and after the Second World Wa r, and how these adversities were faced and sometimes overcome. Romulus, being an immigrant himself, faces this personal struggle to overcome these challenges as he attempt to find a new home for himself and his family. Romulus attempts to connect to a place (Australia) which is disparate to what can be referred to as his natural homeland.The Lost Thing revolves around a creature whom is met with indifference by the rest of society. The bright red colour of ‘the thing’ immediately catches the reader’s eyes, drawing their attention to it thus effectively enabling reader’s to instantly explore as to why the creature is ‘lost’ within an industrialised town unlike it's natural surroundings. This creates a sense of isolation and seclusion which follows the picturesque storyline.

Media Violence Essay

Television, magazines, radio, movies, and music are all forms of today’s modern media. Is it possible that our modern media could be causing crime rates to rise? Back in the 1920’s, these media’s came out so that people could stay connected with what was going on around the world. Soon, the media became a form of entertainment. Over the last five decades, the rules and guidelines of media have changed dramatically. When the media first came out, it was completely prohibited to even say something small like â€Å"pregnant† on TV, or cursing in music. However, eventually the new entertainment became old, and the producers of the media had to find ways to keep our interest. Therefore, the media starting making the previous prohibitions, non-prohibited so that they could keep our interest. In result, today the producers the media are showing mass murders and other violent things on TV, like showing murders and crimes. Music artists sing about violent actions. In many people’s eyes, the world we know as media has left a state of innocence and entertainment, to a world of violence and indecency. A plethora of people would say that change in the media has created new issues. Often times, people blame our media for crime rates that have been skyrocketing in the last five decades, especially in adolescences. In fact, violent crimes in adolescence living in America have more than doubled since the 1990’s. For this reason, we must ask, is media violence the reason for this aggressive behavior? After reading many essays, such as Mike Males essay, â€Å"Stop Blaming Kids and TV,† and Sissela Bok’s essay, â€Å"Agression:The Impact of Media Violence,† I realized that people cannot just pinpoint violent media as the cause of this new epidemic, because in reality the environments that kids live in nowadays plays a much bigger role. Therefore, through these essays, it became very clear that media violence is not the biggest issue for violence, but perhaps these children’s homes and families. The first essay I read, â€Å"Stop Blaming Kids and TV,† by Mike Males, explains to the reader that the new profound aggressive behaviors of children have little to do with our new media and more to do with their home environments. To begin Males’s essay, he starts by stating that many people believe that media violence is the cause of the new crime rate increase. Males then starts to list various groups that are strong believers of media violence being bad for kids and gives us many examples such as, â€Å"Progressives are no exception. Mother Jones claims it has proof that TV makes kids violent. And the institute of Alternative Media emphasis, the average American child will witness 200,000 acts of (TV) violence by the time that child graduates from high school† (253). Males then goes on to argue that point by stating, â€Å"None of these varied interests not that during the eighteen years between a child’s birth and graduation from high school, there will be fifteen million cases of real violence in American homes grave enough to require hospital emergency treatment† (253). He then continues by telling us that the Department of Health and Human Services said that there are over 500,000 cases of abusive parents reported each year. After the Department reported this fact, this report disappeared from the news completely after only one day (253). Another point that Males argues is that the Japanese and European kids have media just as violent as ours here in America and yet their crime rates are not nearly as high as ours. In fact, it is said that their crime rate are so low that their 17 year olds create less crime than our 77 year olds in America. Furthermore, Males then tells about his own personal experiences and what he has watched over his years of working with children. Through his own studies, he found that many of the kids who showed any acts of aggression or violence had an unstable or bad home life. For example: kids who have parents in jail or kids who have alcoholics in their families. Next, he tells us about the survey that he conducted in los angles from 400 middle school students. From this study he got that most kids’ parents are there biggest influence. Thus, when a kid sees his/her parents doing something, or acting some way, they are far more likely to act just like their parents did. To back this statement, he provided us with yet another study from the Centers for Disease Control, where they found that â€Å"75 percent of all teenage smokers come from homes where their parents smoke† (255). Males then goes on to conclude his essay by stating, â€Å"Millions of children and teenagers face real destitution, drug abuse, and violence in their homes†¦. Yet these profound menaces continue to lurk in the background†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (256) Males’s main purpose of this essay was to persuade the reader that violent media such as TV is not the only cause for why kids are violent. This essay was very effective because he used many outside sources besides himself. He used a lot of logical appeals and even a few emotional pieces throughout his essay. For his logical appeals he used university, departments, and programs that deal with the youth. These sources tend to be very credible and reliable. As the reader that makes us feel like what he is saying is very factual because he got his information from good sources. In addition He researched other countries and media violence in their countries, which was really good because what he found in those countries, was that even though those countries play the same violence and aggression on their TV’s, they have a lower crime rates which really helps back up Males’s point. Thus, for these reasons this essay was very effective in persuading the reader that TV is not to blame for this aggression. The second essay that caught my attention, â€Å"Aggression: The Impact of Media Violence,† by Sissela Bok, also explains how there is not just one thing that affects why kids are so violent but a myriad of things. As Bok begins her essay she states, â€Å"Even if media violence were linked to no other debilitating, it would remain at the center of public debate so long as the widespread belief persists that it glamourizes aggressive conduct, removes inhibitions toward such conduct, arouses viewers, and invites imitation. † (224). Next, she goes on to tell about how 21 percent of the American public blames television more than any other factors for teen violence. It is said that the media makes up for 5-15 percent of the societal violence. Furthermore, she then writes about Centerwall’s study which was published in 1989 which states that if television had not been created he believes we would have 10,000 less homicides each year (227). However, Sissela fights back to this statement by addressing that Mr. Centerwall did not take into consideration of other things that were going on at the time, like shifts in policy and population. Therefore, she persuades us that media is not a for sure topic to blame for the increase homicide rate. She continues her argument against blaming media violence by writing, â€Å"We may never be able to trace, retrospectively, the specific set of television programs that contributed to a particular persons aggressive conduct†¦. How can anyone definitively pinpoint the link between media violence and the acts of real life violence? †(228). Nevertheless, Mrs. Bok tells about her research on homicides in America and how the children homicide rates have escalated greatly, and then concludes her essay by saying: America may be the only society on earth to have experiences what has been called an â€Å"epidemic of children killing children,† which is ravaging some of its communities today. As in any epidemic, it is urgent to ask what is it that makes so many capable of such violence, victimizes so many others, and causes countless more to live in fear. Whatever role media are found to play in this respect, to be sure, is part of the problem. Obviously, not even the total elimination of media violence would wipe out the problem of violence in the United States or any other society. The same can be said for the proliferation and easy access to guns, or for poverty, drug addiction, and other risk factors. As Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith puts it not an either or. It’s not guns or media or parents or poverty. (228-9) Bok’s main purpose was to persuade the reader that media violence is not the only contributing factor into this new profound violence in children. She explains that there are many other factors like these kids’ home environments. This essay was effective because Bok used a lot of really good sources such as associations, psychologists, and studies, as well as many statistics that she provided for us. She also made it very clear that she had researched this topic quick deeply by going way back into the history of children’s violence in previous decades. She provided us with a very well displayed argument and even showed some of the opposing side. However, she always fought back with the opposing arguments with a better argument really building her argument into a good one. In consequence, Bok’s essay was a very effective essay and does persuade the reader into believing that media violence is not the main cause of aggression in children. Overall, Mr. Males and Mrs. Bok both had very good arguments. They both expressed their opinions and the found facts and proof to help back there thesis. While these essays did not completely take the same stand, these authors had similar views to an extent on media violence. In both of essay’s they uses logical and credible sources. In addition, in Mr. Males essay he also included a few emotional pieces, about his work with the children. Both of these essays specifically focused on the outcome of the kids and how media violence has affected them. However, both essays would like to say that media violence is not the pinpoint cause of why kids are being more violent nowadays, as opposed to in the recent decades. After reading these essays I do have to say that now I don’t believe that media violence is the may cause for aggression in adolescence. Furthermore, so who is to say that media violence is causing this aggression since there is no evidence? Better yet, why aren’t we looking at other oppositions such as children’s home environments? Either way this is an epidemic now, and it’s time we learn how to change it. It’s time for the community’s to get involved in helping to stop this epidemic. Perhaps this could be through offering more rehab programs for parents, or counseling to the children with deep levels of anger and hatred. Maybe it’s through offering anger management programs through schools, or spreading awareness, because in any situation, no matter the cause, this violence is happening, and we can’t stop it until we try. So like Sissela Bok and Mike Males, let’s look at other oppositions, and learn how to stop this violence before it gets even more out of control.

Act 3, Scene 4 provides a great opportunity for visual spectical Essay

QUESTION. Act 3, Scene 4 provides a great opportunity for visual spectical. Discuss how â€Å"The Banquet Scene† has been realised on screen and consider the effectiveness of its portrayal. ANSWER. Shakespeare was born in 1564 when Elizabeth the First was Queen of England. Shakespeare did not go to university when he left school; instead, he worked. He married Anne Hathway when he was eighteen and she became the mother of his daughter, Susanna, and also of twins. Although there are many public documents concerned with his career as a writer and a businessman, Shakespeare has hidden his personal life from us. A nineteenth century poet, Matthew Arnold, addressed Shakespeare in a poem and wrote: â€Å"We ask and ask – Thou smilest, and art still†. There is not even a portrait of the world’s greatest Dramatist. I am going to look at the banquet scene, in my opinion, one of the most important scenes in â€Å"Macbeth†; it shows many sides to both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The scene opens with the couple welcoming all the guests to their Banquet, the atmosphere is warm and jolly, and everyone is joking and enjoying themselves. The atmosphere becomes more sombre when one of Banquo’s murderers arrives with news for Macbeth. Although Banquo is â€Å"safe†, Fleance on the other hand has † ‘scap’d â€Å". Macbeth tries to â€Å"Act like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t† in front of his guests, but this does not last for long, the guilt gets the better of Macbeth and causes him to hallucinate. The Lords were all very confused, and so, Lady Macbeth tries to cover-up for her husband by telling them all that Macbeth suffers from an illness, which causes him to behave in such a manner. â€Å"Sit, worthy friends – My Lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth†. She continues by saying â€Å"The fit is momentary – upon a thought he will be well again†. The two productions I am going to look at are Roman Polanski’s 1971 Production along with Gregory Doran RSC production. In Gregory Doran’s production, Macbeth’s house resembles a prison. The front foyer is very bare, with lots of different entrances: this is trying to show us that Macbeth is imprisoned in his world of guilt. Macbeth is dressed as a soldier, which gives me the impression he is at war, maybe Doran is trying to put across the fact that Macbeth is trying to fight against all of the evil. Roman Polanski dressed Macbeth in beautiful robes; Macbeth is also wearing his crown. This makes me think Macbeth is in total control of everything. Both producers hold the Banquet in a large, dull, cold room, this symbolises the fact that Macbeth has nowhere to hide; it also creates a tense atmosphere. In Polanski’s production, Macbeth sees Banquo and he goes mad! â€Å"Avaunt! And quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!† He continues to rant and rave at this ghost of Banquo, whom only Macbeth can see. He frightens and startles not only the lords, but also Lady Macbeth. We know this by the look of worry on her face. She then pulls her husband aside to try and help him see sense. He sees what she is trying to say and returns to normality, but this only lasts for a matter of moments, and then Macbeth resumes to his fit of madness again. Macbeth is gradually loosing control. While Macbeth moves back, Banquo continues to advance. As both men keep moving, the camera becomes Banquo. We see high angle shot of Macbeth; it seems as though Banquo is looking down upon Macbeth and that he is now the one in control. Lady Macbeth tries to make excuses for her husband’s behaviour by saying â€Å"Sit worthy friends: My lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat: the fit is momentary: upon a thought he will be well again†. We then see a long shot of the lords at the table; they all look very puzzled and confused. By this time, Macbeth is in a corner, on the ground with Banquo towering over him, he moves in closer and closer, then Banquo is cut, and Macbeth is left sitting on the ground, a trembling wreck. Gregory Doran’s RSC Production is very similar to Polanski’s. He also shows Macbeth being overpowered by Banquo. When Lady Macbeth pulls Macbeth aside to try and snap him out of his â€Å"fit†, he is unable to look her in the eye, he keeps watching the ghost of Banquo. He realises what his wife is trying to say, and so he returns to his normal self again. The way that Macbeth is changing personalities so suddenly in this scene reminds me of a schizophrenic, it’s almost as though he has some kind of mental disorder. Macbeth tries to laugh it off and composes himself. However, this only lasts for a moment. When Macbeth sees Banquo again, he drops his chalice, and the white wine spills onto the floor. This is an interesting observation because all the other products I watched used red wine, a sign of evil and danger, but white reminds me of innocence. Maybe Gregory Doran feels that Macbeth was innocent and this is why he uses white wine rather than red. He may feel it was the witches, or maybe Lady Macbeth’s influence that encouraged him to do all those evil things. Personally, I feel it was Lady Macbeth that caused him to go through with Duncan’s murder, but yet again, how many could be talked into murder without desiring it themselves?