Choose promt in attachment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Choose promt in attachment - Essay Example The latter has seen a lot of improvement in the film industry for women. Also important was the Civil Rights Movement. Mulvey’s theory in which she stipulates that women are just sexual fantasies for males in earlier films supports this argument. Laura Mulvey is renowned for her ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ where she analyses the production technique of Hollywood films. According to her ‘gaze theory’, most of the films produced have a masculine approach. This implies that the films use women as objects that provide visual pleasure for men (Hemery, 2013). In films today, there still exist forms of objectifying women, even though they are also given major roles involving active participation. Examples of films that portray women as sexual objects include 100 Girls, National Lampoon’s Dorm Daze and I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. In 100 Girls, there are women who are in the film to fulfill the actor’s sexual desires. In today†™s films, especially those meant for children, the female gender is not represented equally as their male counterparts. However, when they appear in such films, they are either passive or over-attractive. For instance, women in animated films are portrayed as extremely thin, with small waists and hourglass figures. In films such as Pretty Woman, women are portrayed as escorts who are paid for their companionship services. A rich businessperson, Edward, pays Vivian Ward, played by Julia Roberts. Later on, they fall in love. They are also adorned with alluring clothes. Men, on the other hand, are presented as saviors, warriors, breadwinners, and protectors of the world in films. For example, in the film, The Avengers, the pictorial cover portrays five men and one woman. Apart from the unequal representation of women, the picture also portrays her carrying the smallest of the weapons. According to research findings, only 32.8% of speaking characters are female while the remaining 62. 7% of the characters are male. In total, less than 17% of films in the industry are balanced in terms of gender (Smith, 2008). Similarly, in the directing and producing areas for every one female there are approximately five males. This is alarming, especially since almost half of the society is made up of females. Film Industry in the early 1950s was marred with various stereotypes, including the traditional role male and female. In the few instances that women were represented in films, they appeared as homemakers, with a lot of babies and household chores. Films today have however revolutionized women’s role a little bit (Hemery, 2013). This could be attributed to modernity and westernization that has seen women pursue their careers and still play their roles as wives and mothers, like in Strike back. Jodhi May is portrayed as a survivor in the male dominated world of military, and she climbs to the top. Many females are also portrayed as having a great affinity for romant ic relationships. For instance, The Ugly Truth portrays Abby Ritcher as a romantically challenged woman, who lashes out her list of how her dream man ought to be. Most films also show women as weak, and no matter who wrongs the other in film, the woman always forgives and gets back with her male partner. An example here is Project X, a high school themed film. Films like Clueless depict the nature of girls as shallow. The reasons for this is because all they do is shop and enjoy

Ink and Paper Communication Essay Example for Free

Ink and Paper Communication Essay People say that the art of letter writing is dead. But my idea of heaven is writing a letter to a dear friend in a far away town, a note to my cousin saying â€Å" thankyou † for the dinner we had this weekend, a fan letter to the writer whose story I read and admired. I love to write something, be it a short story, a poem, a serious article or just letters. It is so magical to gather the right words and put them together on the paper†¦ I write a couple of letters a day, and suffer from bouts of guilt, thinking I may perhaps be over burdening my friends and relatives with my written material. Letters have been very important in my life, those that I have written and received. I have treasured the ones which are very dear to me, to read them again and again reveling in the magical spell they cast on me every time unfolding something new. It was a hobby that started from my childhood, when I wrote letters to my school friends, teachers, relatives and strangers as well. I std lX, when suddenly half the nation was consumed by the passion of acting, I too was one of them. I wrote my first fan letter to the great ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ and received from him a typed reply and his autographed photograph. His letter, the special handmade greeting card, and the letters written by my friends are the most treasured possession. Recently when I revealed my letter writing habbit to my friend, I was told, †but my dear, no one writes letters anymore! Where’s the time?† Agreed! I know people who never write letters for whom its just a waste of time. How easy it is to reach for the telephone type a few digits and talk to person miles away from you†¦ no pondering over thoughts no addressing of envelopes and no waiting for response. No doubt, the telephone is more efficient and instant but I doubt whether it is, on the whole as effective as a letter. Letters have a certain power, your heartbeat ticks rhythmically with every comma and a full stop†¦ you can preserve a letter , read it study it, carry it around like a cherished possession. It is not momentary as a telephone call, quickly done and quickly forgotten. As I have grown over years, I have matured and hopefully become wiser. I have learned to think twice before dropping a letter written in a melancholic mood. I have regretted it because by the time the letter is received the gloominess is banished and then one is left anxiously thinking about the reaction at the other end. There were moments when shyness led me to writing letters. I would have never been able to make friends with strangers had I not been a keen writer. I cannot dream of calling up a writer, actor, painter whose work I admire, until and unless I know them personally. But without hesitation I write them letters of appreciation, and if my letter is welcomed, it is answered and if not, I’ve got nothing to lose. Its funny but I’ve maintained friendships solely through letters that may, I fear, break if there is a face to face encounter. So keep in touch. The pen and paper you use does not matter the voice coming from the heart does. The next time when you write a letter notice for a second the magical tune that your pen plays on your paper , the rhythm of the flow of your thoughts, like the first raindrops touching the mother earth. You feel as if you are actually sitting in front of the other person reading out thoughts, collecting thoughts, coloring them with ink and presenting them paper to loved ones†¦.. anxiously waiting for the reply†¦. Letters have their special brand of magic.

Business Essays Literature Customer Retention

Business Essays Literature Customer Retention Literature Customer Retention Introduction In compiling this literature review, the author has deliberately cast a wide net. This has not only included both major and less prestigious journals, but also practitioner magazines and self-help websites. Customer retention is clearly marketing topic of considerable current and practical interest. Whilst some of what has been written is of dubious value, and some isnt actually even about customer retention at all, it is felt that ideas put forward should be allowed to stand on their merits. Insights by practitioners can often provide useful illumination of academic theory, and it is only by bringing them together that the full picture can be appreciated. The Rise of Customer Retention The sole purpose of a business Peter Drucker (1973) once famously claimed was â€Å"to create a customer†. Marketing has traditionally focused on market share and customer acquisition rather than on retaining existing customers and on building long-lasting relationships with them (Kotler, 2003). However, keeping the customer has become regarded as equally, if not more important, since (Badgett et al., 2004) reported that a 5 per cent increase in customer retention generated an increase in customer net present value of between 25 per cent and 95 per cent across a wide range of business environments. Research done by Gupta et al. (2004) found that a 1 per cent increase in customer retention had almost five times more impact on firm value than a 1 per cent change in discount rate or cost of capital. As a result of these researches, the business case for marketers to focus on the management of customer retention became more clearly established. Because of this, there is a growing recognition now that customers, like products, have a life-cycle that companies can attempt to manage and they can be acquired, retained and grown in value over time. Freeland (2003) points out that customers climb a value staircase or value ladder from suspect, prospect and first-time customer, to majority customer and ultimately to partner or advocate status. In response to these changes there has been a new emphasis on defensive marketing, which focuses on holding on to existing customers and getting more custom from them (higher â€Å"share of customer†), in contrast to activities which focus on winning new customers. One of the reasons for the great popularity of customer retention is the recognition that losing a customer means in fact more than a single sale: It means losing the entire stream of purchases that this particular customer would make over a lifetime of patronage (Kotler and Keller,2006). More recently, market share has been gradually losing its importance as marketing’s wisdom of focusing solely on customer acquisition (hoping that this effort will compensate for high levels of defection) is now being seriously questioned and considered as very high risk since ever more players enter an increasingly crowded marketplace (Baker,2000). Todays banks find themselves more and more in a situation in which they have to build professional customer retention management systems. There are two main reasons for doing so; on the one hand, the costs of gaining new customers in highly competitive markets are increasing considerably. On the other hand, the profitability of an individual customer grows permanently with the duration of the business-relationship (Liu Lai, 2004 ; pg 398). Customer retention attempts to win a slightly larger share of the customer’s spend than would otherwise be the case (McAlexander,2006). In spite of this, according to Weinstein (2002, p. 259), most companies spend a majority of their time, energy and resources chasing new business. 80% or more of marketing budgets are often earmarked for getting new business† (Weinstein, 2002, p. 260). This is in line with Payne and Frow’s (1999) finding that only 23 per cent of marketing budgets in UK organizations is spent on customer retention. Aspinall et al. (2001), in contrast, found that 54 per cent of companies reported that customer retention was more important than customer acquisition. Support for retaining customers in the marketing literature (e.g. Ahmad and Buttle, 2002) is extensive. The benefits of retaining customers to the organisation are higher margins and faster growth, derived from the notion that the longer a customer stays with an organisation, generally the higher the profit. The significance of retaining customers is not new to marketing, as Drucker (1963) believed that marketing is as much concerned with retaining as well as acquiring customers. However, as competition has intensified and markets become saturated, an awareness of the benefits of retention has grown, particularly in the retailing of financial services. Benefits of Customer Retention Dawes and Swailes (1999) explain that successful customer retention circumvents the costs of seeking new and potentially risky customers, and allows organizations to focus more accurately on the needs of their existing customers by building relationships (p36). Researchers have also pointed out that customer retention has a significant impact on profitability and positive customer satisfaction and leads to superior financial performance. This is because firms with high customer retention rates tend to have lower costs, maintain more profitable long-term relationships, and enjoy substantial word-of-mouth advertising (p92). Reynolds (2002) suggests that once a company acquires a group of customers, it can retain that group by making them feel special through customer recognition. Reichheld (2006) in his article ‘Learning from Customer Defections’ identified that longer a customer stays with a company, the more they are worth as in the long-term customers buy more, take less of a company’s time, are less sensitive to price, and bring in new customers. If a customer is retained in a business there is certainly a steady flow of revenue to the business, moreover, there are chances to increase the existing revenue by cross selling or up-selling activities. In addition to this, acquiring a new customer can be a much more onerous and expensive task than keeping an existing one. When banks focus on individual customers by establishing a relationship and encouraging satisfaction and loyalty they have more chances to increase and retain their customer base. Relation banking can be seen as a vehicle to increase single-brand loyalty, decrease price sensitivity, induce greater consumer resistance to counter bank offers or counter arguments (from advertising or bank sales-people), dampen the desire to consider alternative banks, encourage word-of-mouth support and endorsement, attract a larger pool of customers, and/or increase the amount of product bought. It can lead to more purchases more often, give the ability to mass customize communication, minimize waste, helps promote trust and attempts to win a slightly larger share of the customer’s spend (Ongena, S., and Smith,2000). Relationship leads to loyalty, and loyal customers are supposed to buy more, pay higher prices and bring in new customers through word-of-mouth support (Morgan et al.,2000). However, some of these â€Å"profitability-arguments† related to relationship banking have been challenged by Reinartz and Kumar (2002), who compared the behaviour, revenue, and profitability of more than 16,000 individual and corporate customers over a four-year period, concluding that they discovered little or no evidence to suggest that customers who buy on a steady basis are necessarily cheaper to serve, less price sensitive, or particularly effective at bringing in new business. They also found that a considerable amount of loyal customers were only marginally profitable, while a large percentage of short-term customers were very profitable. Woolf (1996) argues that greater success comes from a strategy based firmly on understanding customer economics and only secondarily on customer loyalty and building relationships. However, despite their criticism, even critics themselves have suggested that customer loyalty (relationship) is a worthy contributor to the shareholder value of a company(Houston, 1999;pg33), and that â€Å"firms are encouraged to study their position and options in the pursuit of this goal†(Oliver,1999; pg37). The Lifetime Value Concept Customer retention has also given rise to the concept of Customer lifetime value (CLV or LTV) which represents the net present value of profits, coming from the individual customer from a flow of transactions over time. Novo (2006) describes Customer lifetime value (LTV) as the present value of the stream of future profits expected over the customers’ lifetime purchases. Companies can look at their investments in terms of cost per sale, rate of customer retention and also conversion of prospects. LTV is also used as a convenient yardstick of performance, however, it has tended to become a bit too much of a holy grail for corporate, marketing and sales executives, to the extent that entire conferences and seminars are often devoted to helping optimize it (Romano Fjermesta, 2003; pg 233). It is important to retain customers, but not at the cost of other essential marketing activities. Putting customers into key categories helps to clarify analysis and acts as the basis for marketing activities designed to improve customer lifetime value. While the importance of calculating the Customer Lifetime value in deciding the retention strategies cannot be questioned, some writers are of the view that measuring the lifetime value can sometimes be complicated as it involves a lot of analytical forecasting. Knox et al (2003; pg 207) argue that ‘calculating Customer lifetime value is problematic because it involves forecasting what amounts of what products customers will buy in the future years, and what the sales, administration and logistics costs will be. Because profits in future years are progressively less valuable (because of inflation) and less certain, a discount rate has to be applied. The higher the discount rate, the less valuable future profits will be’. Customer Retention and the rise of relationship banking (RM) The objectives of relationship marketing is to identify and establish, maintain and enhance and, when necessary terminate relationships with customers and other stakeholders, at a profit so that the objective of all parties involved are met. This is done by a mutual exchange and fulfillment of promises. Kabiraj et al. (2004) in their study of relationship practices in India noted that the Indian banking sector can only stay competitive by building lifelong partnerships with their customers. Relationship banking techniques can be employed to develop an ongoing dialog with customers, integrated across all contact points. Knox et al. (2003, p. 19) addressed that RM is a strategic approach designed to improve stakeholder value through developing appropriate relationships with key customers and customer segments and involves an enterprise-wide marketing strategy and technology platform. If done correctly, it enables organizations to retain the loyalty of their customers. It is about managing and monitoring customer behavior and has the potential to change a customers relationship with the banking organization and increase revenue (Dyche, 2002, pg.4). In todays economic condition, relationship banking can help to provide a sense of personal service without an actual person (Seybold, 2007). They allow banking organizations to integrate customer interaction channels and provide consistency in their interactions with customers, generate better customer intelligence, customize their offerings and communications to customers, manage customer interactions and relationships more effectively, and manage the customer portfolio by assessing the lifetime value of customers (Ely, 2006). Relationship Marketing/banking is not a new concept, its roots lie in the marketing basics of repeat purchase, customer retention and customer loyalty. Traditionally followed by retailers, the concept is slowly spilling over to the banking and financial services industry. Berger (2005) describes relationship banking as an attempt to advance the sales culture in bank marketing beyond order taking to a more pro-active form of direct selling which includes knowing more about the customer needs and tailoring products and services to suit individual requirements. Its goal is to establish a long term, intimate and relatively open relationship between banks and its customers. Eg Commercial banks and other financial institutions attempt to apply the concept of relationship banking through Personal Banker and Private Banking programs (Stauss Schoeler, 2004; pg 147). In this way, they are able to understand their customer, give personal advice and develop proximity with the customer. Customer retention has been shown to be a primary goal in firms that practice relationship marketing (Coviello et al., 2002). While the precise meaning and measurement of customer retention can vary between industries and firms (Aspinall et al., 2001) there appears to be a general consensus that focusing on customer retention can yield several economic benefits (Buttle, 2004). As customer tenure lengthens, the volumes purchased grow and customer referrals increase. Simultaneously, relationship maintenance costs fall as both customer and supplier learn more about each other. Because fewer customers churn, customer replacement costs fall. Finally, retained customers may pay higher prices than newly acquired customers, and are less likely to receive discounted offers that are often made to acquire new customers. All of these conditions combine to increase the net present value of retained customers. Lindgreen et al. (2000, p. 295), computed that it can be up to ten times more expensive to win a customer than to retain a customer and the cost of bringing a new customer to the same level of profitability as the lost one is up to 16 times more. Although a number of authorities have suggested that relationship marketing represents a paradigm shift (Christopher et al., 1991; Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995) from a longer established transactional orientation to customer management, Gronroos (2000, p. 23) noted that the relational perspective on marketing is in fact â€Å"older than the transaction perspective in marketing† and is â€Å"probably as old as the history of trade and commerce†. There has been growing interest in relational aspects of customer management. Relationship banking permits businesses to leverage information from their databases to achieve customer retention and to cross-sell new products and services to existing customers which is why they are synonymous to existing customer promotion. It is believed that companies that implement relationship banking practices make better relationships with their customers, achieve loyal customers and a substantial payback, increased revenue and reduced cost (Blery Michalakopoulos, 2006). Relationship banking when successfully deployed can have a dramatic effect on bottom-line performance. There are two main aims of relationship banking. One is to increase revenue by raising purchase levels and/or increasing the range of products. A second aim is more defensive, by building a closer bond between the banking organization and current customer banks hope to maintain their customer base (retention). The whole idea of relationship banking is based on the argument that profits can be increased significantly by achieving either of these two aims. In todays economic climate building relationships can help banks to do more with less by providing a sense of personal service without an actual person. (Roberts, 2004) Relationship banking seeks to identify and talk to individual customers on a massive scale and this torrential flow of live transactional data offers the possibility to transform how banks manage their business. While it is not important to retain customers, it is important to retain the right customers in the business. Overtime, choices must be made as to which customers to acquire, which ones to develop and which ones to retain. It is true that not all customers are worth retaining, since from a long-term perspective not everyone is equally profitable. It is important to know if a currently unprofitable customer would generate a future profit stream, if an investment were made in enhancing the customers’ satisfaction. These problems can be addressed by profiling customers and making investments in those who offer the desirable growth and profit potential. (Subhash C. Jain 2005, p278) Relational Exchange and Customer Loyalty RM forms the bridge between the banking organisation and the customer, by means of reinforcing linkages, responding to customer needs and serving micro-segments (Berry, 2002; Hennig-Thurau, 2000). Freeland (2003) who has observed and contributed to this body of literature, comments: ‘Marketing practice has increasingly turned towards alliances, partnerships and other forms of relationship marketing, whose success requires effective co-operation. Interpretations of RM vary (Brodie et al., 1997), but common themes are that relationships are based on power being distributed equally between partners (Liu Lai, 2004) and that both the buyer and the seller are active in a rich, multi-dimensional exchange. Further elements that mediate successful relationships are trust and commitment (Garbarino and Johnson, 2006) in which trust is conceptualised as a belief that the partner in the exchange will fulfil the perceived obligations of a relationship. Where the focus is on individual customers, loyalty and retention initiatives can be seen as vehicles to increase single-brand loyalty, decrease price sensitivity, induce greater consumer resistance to counter offers or counter arguments (from advertising or sales-people), dampen the desire to consider alternative brands, encourage word-of-mouth support and endorsement, attract a larger pool of customers, and/or increase the amount of product bought( Bolton et al., 2000) Two aims of customer retention programs stand out, one is to increase sales revenues by raising purchase/usage levels, and/or increasing the range of products bought from the supplier. A second aim is more defensive, by building a closer bond between the brand and current customers it is hoped to maintain the current customer base. Loyalty and retention initiatives can lead to more purchases more often, give the ability to mass customize marketing communication, minimize waste and help promote trust. It attempts to win a slightly larger share of the customer’s spend than would otherwise be the case if the additional value of the scheme were not offered (McAlexander,2002). Research will analyze in greater detail the ways in which retention initiatives can transform the bank’s business and help make strategic business decisions, which is the purpose of the research (to evaluate retention as a key marketing strategy). One of the reasons for the great popularity of customer retention is the recognition that losing a customer means in fact more than a single sale: It means losing the entire stream of purchases that this particular customer would make over a lifetime of patronage – also known as the â€Å"customer lifetime value†(Kotler and Armstrong,2001). Role of Employees Within the Retention Process Another area of research would be the employee involvement in the customer retention process. In the Journal of Marketing Management, Buttle (2004) stresses on the importance of the front line employees. He argues that employees have the power to take actions which provide immediate customer satisfaction and thereby reinforce customer retention. This necessitates actively managing interactions between customer and staff and instigating improvements to the external quality of service by increasing the levels of internal service which staffs receive from within the organization from support departments and technology. (p153) Robert Heller (2005; og 117) insists that the most vital statistic for retaining a customer in any business is its employees. He quotes â€Å"that a satisfied worker creates a satisfied customer and higher financial returns: and that, by the same token, disgruntled staff lead to customer dissatisfaction†. A research by staff at Sears, the US retailing giant in 2006, established a convincing and clear correlation between employee attitudes, customer attitudes and financial results. The research showed that for every 5 units of improvement in employee attitudes, there were 1.3 units of gain on the customer impression index. Moreover, the latter added up to a 0.5% increase in sales over what they would otherwise have been.This outlines the obvious linkage between employee attitudes and customer retention. Therefore, if a business wants to retain its customers, along with devising strategies for customer satisfaction, it has to bear in mind that, employee satisfaction is equally important. The reseserch will analyze the role played by employees in Citibank in promoting customer retention. Researchers have argued that both customer facing and back office staff have a role to play in customer retention. The study will examine the ways in which the staff in Citibank performs their role and the effect it has on customer retention. Customer Clubs Some banks make the use of customer clubs as a strategic instrument for creating customer retention. Customer clubs are communities of current customers that are initiated and organized by companies (Diller, 1997; Butscher, 1997; Butscher and MuÈller, 1999). The current customers are approached for a potential membership to enable a steady direct communication and to intensify the relationship during the total time of business relation (Tomzcak and Dittrich, 1999). As an institutionalized form of added-value services, they aim at offering club members a wide range of benefits and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. The goal of customer club is to improve the general operational profitability by customer retention. A customer club is regarded as a suitable platform to increase the interaction frequency between the bank and the customer (customer interaction effect) by creating contact and feedback opportunities. By doing so, a close contact is built around the client throughout the entire customer life cycle (Coviello et al., 2002; pg 8). A central objective of customer clubs is the augmentation of organizational knowledge about the customer (customer knowledge effect). With each customer contact starting from account opening the organization receives detailed information about the personal situation, interests and demand structures of the account holders. These insights are collected in a global member data base and linked with further customer data, which form the basis for individualized marketing measures (Ganesh et al., 2006; pg 65). However, some argue that it has to be considered that the set up and development of a customer club requires considerable investments. Whereas the cost effects of these investments are obvious and can be calculated rather easily, there is no certainty with respect to the existence and degree of the expected loyalty effects. Also, the customers willingness for a membership depends on the fact whether a distinct advantage is offered to them as customers are only willing to supply data and participate actively in the club membership, if their individual cost-benefit-calculation leads to a positive result (Gupta et al., 2005; pg 7). Therefore the customer club must offer a bundle of exclusive services, which are attractive for the target group from either a financial, material or communicative perspective. Retention measures and process Banking organizations in the vanguard are making several proactive changes in their service capabilities. They are developing diagnostics to understand what their customers need and value. They are examining what they need to do to retain customers and then train their people accordingly and are reinforcing service-oriented behaviours. Banks are exploring how to anticipate and respond successfully to differences in customer requirements between geographies. They are leveraging the intimate product knowledge of technical people and other staff and teaching them about the critical role they play in customer retention. Some financial service organizations are also teaming up sales, service and technical experts much farther upstream in a customer relationship in ways that are cost-effective and value added (Johnston, 2005; pg 211). It is also worth pointing out that the service component of forward thinking banking organizations is no longer relegated to one department containing the lowest-paid people. Major Banks use technology to accomplish menial tasks quickly, allowing everyone in the organization the time to enhance their skills as salespeople, research and development contacts and potential consultants on complex jobs (Morrman et al., 2002; pg 314). Research done by Nyer (2007) showed that everyone who interacts with customers must become an active agent for customer retention. A number of organizational processes can be associated with customer retention, including customer satisfaction measurement process, customer retention planning process, quality assurance process, win-back processes and the complaints-handling process. The notion that companies should engage in planning if they want to achieve desired business outcomes is deeply embedded in modernist management literature. Retention metrics Despite the scarcity of research into customer retention planning, investigators and commentators have begun to report on a number of related questions, such as how to define and measure customer retention, how to segment customers for customer retention efforts, and what strategies to employ to recover at-risk or lost customers. Aspinall et al. (2001) investigated the issue of definition and measurement of customer retention. They found that customer retention was particularly an issue in larger banking organizations but absence of measurable indicators makes it harder to gauge the impact of strategy implementation on customer retention. Buttle (2004) found that banks can employ one or more of several types of retention-related KPIs – raw, sales-adjusted, or profit-adjusted customer retention metrics. Banks that adopt raw customer retention metrics focus on the retention of a given percentage or number of customers, regardless of value. Banks that use sales or profit-adjusted retention metrics will focus their efforts on customers that generate higher levels of sales or profit. Coyles and Gorkey’s (2002) research also notes the significance of focusing on the retention of profitable customers, rather than all customers. They suggest that it may be more important for banks to focus on managing the overall downward migration of customer spending than customer retention in its own right. They note that many more customers change their behaviour than defect, so the former typically account for larger changes in value (Coyles and Gorkey, 2002, p. 80). They report the case of one bank that lost 3 per cent of its total balances when 5 per cent of checking account customers defected in a year, but lost 24 per cent of its total balances when 35 per cent of customers reduced the amounts deposited in their checking accounts. Another question that researchers have attempted to answer concerns the focus of companies’ customer retention efforts (Koch, 1998; Ganesh et al., 2000). Should retention of every customer be the goal, or should retention efforts be focused on subsets or even individuals? A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (2002) observes that poor management of customer churn is a major value destroyer and that the key to prevention is to predict and avert attrition of the â€Å"right customers†. The â€Å"right customers† are those that contribute most significantly to the achievement of the company’s objectives. The implication of there being â€Å"right† and â€Å"wrong† customers to retain is that companies are advised to segment their customer base for retention efforts in much the same way that they would segment the market for acquisition efforts (Weinstein, 2002). Evans (2002) suggests that the right customers are those with the highest residual lifetime value. Although there has been little investigation of customer retention planning processes, there has been considerable attention paid to assessing the role and effectiveness of retention strategies and tactics directed towards valued, at-risk or lost customers. For example, a number of researchers have examined the contribution of relationship marketing instruments such as loyalty programs and customer clubs to customer retention outcomes (O’Brien and Jones, 1995; Dowling and Uncles, 1997; Stauss et al., 2001; Verhoef, 2003). Others have examined the development of customer attachment to organizations (Moorman et al., 1992; Oliver, 1999; Hofmeyr and Rice, 2000). The research will look into the retention KPIs of Citibank and assess whether the KPIs accurately measure retention. Type of banking relationships Banking relationships can be economic and social. Economic content deals with the economic benefits and costs of participating in the relationship. Customers are only willing to participate actively in a relationship if their individual cost-benefit calculation leads to a positive result (Stauss Seidel, 2005). Social content suggests that although economics may indicate a prosperous relationship, no relationship can be successful in the long-term without a social environment that nurtures communication, honesty, fair play and an awareness of mutual interests and therefore relationships should accommodate opportunities for interactions so that friendships may be developed. Building a customer retention strategy Setting up a strategy around customer retention requires careful planning and should include detailed plans and methods for customer identification and registration, segmentation and reward design. In order to be a source of sustainable competitive advantage, the banking organization developing the strategy must always take into account what its loyal customers value, since loyalty and retention is inextricably linked to the creation of value (Morgan et al, 2000). The strategy should make sure that it directly supports the value proposition. A value proposition is â€Å"the full positioning of a brand , the full mix of benefits upon which it is positioned† and the answer to the customer’s question â€Å"Why should I buy your brand?†(Kotler Armstrong,2001). Moreover, in order to be viable, a retention strategy must build and sustain noticeable differences in its offerings that are difficult to copy, since a lack of differentiation removes any potential of competitive advantage – which is anything but easy in banking., where first movers are quickly imitated (Morgan,2001). It must be considered that the retention strategy do not exist in a vacuum, but should be a coherent element of the bank’s overall strategy and capabilities. The strategy should take into account the nature of the business, its market position, goals, and the competitive landscape. There is still some confusion regarding the nature, scope, role and influence of customer retention initiatives. From a functional perspective, many marketers believe

Skating on Thin Ice :: essays research papers

Skating on Thin Ice   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Olympic Games have been around for hundreds of years. They are something that people everywhere around the world look forward to all year long. Athlete or not, everyone knows what the Olympics are. With the extreme popularity comes extreme broadcasting. Millions of people turned on their televisions and radios, read newspapers and magazines, and searched the web to hear the results and news about the games this winter. Broadcasting feeds people. They crave to hear the latest scandal, see footage of the most recent event, and be informed of what is going on in the world that they live in. This year the figure skating competition drew a particularly enormous audience. Because a scandal was involved, figure skating received special attention, which left the sport with a new reputation. Media is a powerful thing; this was proven this year during the winter Olympic games.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A lot was heard, and learned, about figure skating during the past month of Olympic coverage. This year, a problem with judging and secret deals caused two gold medals to be given out; one to the Russians and one to the Canadians. What happened off the ice seemed juicier than the actual competition, according to many sources of media. What is interesting, is that controversy is not uncommon to the sport of figure skating. A Newsweek article, â€Å"The Sleazy Side of Skating,† gives many examples of past figure skating scandals. In 1908, at the London Olympics, Russian Nicolai Panin withdrew from competition, saying the judges were stacked against him. At the 1936 Games, a Hungarian judge placed the Hungarian skaters second and third, which stood out when no other judge had placed them higher than seventh. In 1927 at the World Championships in Oslo, a Norwegian skater placed first, thanks to three Norwegian judges. That led the International Skating Union to restrict each country to one judge. Although these are significant examples of figure skating trickery, they were not really important until now. Journalists are researching the history of figure skating, and making known scandals that had occurred in the past. In 1993, Tonya Harding’s husband paid $6,500 to have Nancy Kerrigan injured so his wife could have an advantage. The Harding-Kerrigan scandal was this country’s first real taste of the drama that goes on with figure skating. Because a scandal involving money and crime took place, it was shown all over television, and talked about on the radio.

Individual human identity Essay

It also means that importance of social class decreasing, but instead of class the role of status increased rapidly. For instance to show status people buy expensive cars and exclusive clothes. Differences in social classes could influence personal identity, because identity related to social groups to which the identity belongs, for example nationality, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, gender and class. First of all identity is â€Å"a sense of self that develops as the child differentiates from parents and family and take a place in society† (Jary and Jary, 1991:p665). Identity also formed through some combinations of individual choice and structured group membership (for example in Arab countries Muslim women can`t drive the car). In additional, people could express their aspects of identity in a different way. For example clothing, which clothes choose to wear to show gender, post – modernism or class; language, which words to use when people speak with fiends to show class, educational background and gender. It is goes without saying that even though ‘class’ no longer exists, but we could easily identify person`s class, status and possessions from their clothing and way of behaving. The principle of the identity is closely linked to the idea of culture. As I have already mentioned identities could also be formed through the cultures to which people belong to. â€Å"Culture is the language, beliefs, values and norms, customs, dress, diet, roles, knowledge and skills which make up ‘the way of life’ of an individual society â€Å"(Ralph Linton, 1945). For example norms and diet, in the UK at 17 o`clock most people have their couple of tea. Culture includes teaching and learning such process like socialization. We gain our identity through â€Å"socialisation†. Socialisation is the process by which we, as individuals, become members of our society or culture. We are also active participants in this process – we decide what to accept or reject. Process of learning culture or socialization includes family, school, peer, media and religion. For example: family, your parents give you name, first beliefs and tastes; school, teaches person rules and gives knowledge; religion, teach people to appreciate some values; peers, teach person how to socialize; media, gives people ideas about gender, status and class. Modern sociologists also think that being of a different class may involve differences in culture, economic circumstances, educational status, dietary preferences, housing conditions, property ownership and power. For example, differences in culture, people who are from middle and upper – middle class in free time visit museums and theatres, whereas working class visits pubs. One of the important factors in people’s culture and identity is social mobility, the ability to move from one class to another. For example, moving from the working to the middle class. Nowadays class, gender, sex, race and kinship have less influence on human identity. It is becoming more important human`s talent, knowledge, ambition and hard – working abilities for achieving a good position in the class system. World sociology has changed greatly, beginning of the XXI centuries gave to the UK a lot of new. New national socio – economic classifying statistics (NS – SEC), which replaced Registrar Generals classification. New sociologists have another view on dividing society into social classes. For instance class has been defined consisted of eight major classes. The first four is middle class, which include higher managerial and professional occupations, lower, intermediate occupations, small employers and own account workers. The other four is manual workers, including lower supervisory and technical, semi – routine occupations, routine occupations and never worked people. A big and new tendency had happened in modern Britain: the number of manual workers declines year by year. If for example in 1911 a percentage of manual workers was about 81%, in the year 2000 this percentage twice declined and become about 40% of total workforce. This become possible first of all because of developing new technologies: technique makes most manual work. Secondly because of changing of economical situation such as increasing life standards and education system. Traditionally social classes have been the main concept for understanding society, its behaviour or social conflicts, and predict the main movements of social behavior. Today`s sociologists in developed countries see classes like a historical phenomenon. The same view on social classes has Pakulski and Waters. They thought that class is no longer important factor in a human identity. According to Pakulski, we could pick out four main features such as cultuaralism, fragmentation, autonomization and resignification. For instance autonomization, which means that today`s people are not told what to do, they do what makes sense to them. For example, British working class is less likely to vote for the British Labour Party than it once was. To sum up, in this essay we discussed the different aspects of inequalities; we have seen that the UK is one of the most unequal societies. Inequalities of wealth, which means that one tenth of the UK population owns more than seventy percent of total wealth. Inequalities of income are significant, but welfare policy of the government such as taxation does have a huge effect in reducing the incomes between rich and poor. Finally, because of the government policy and developing new technologies, class has lost its power in the collective sense, however class would still remain fundamental to culture and human.

The Middle Stone Ages Most Advanced Stone Toolmakers

The Middle Stone Age's Most Advanced Stone Toolmakers Howiesons Poort and Stillbay industries of southern Africa are among the most advanced stone tool industries of the African Middle Stone Age, identified at a handful of archaeological sites, mostly caves in South Africa. Recent investigations at Sibudu Cave, as additional data supporting the earlier excavations, have achieved a timeline of between ~77,000-70,000 years before the present for Stillbay and ~66,000-58,000 bp for Howiesons Poort. Howiesons Poort and Stillbay Living These sites contain lithic stone industries that are comparable to European Upper Paleolithic in their sophistication, yet they date fully 20,000 to 30,000 years earlier than the UP. Stone tools from these industries include crescent-shaped blades (arguably hafted) and lanceolate projectile points. Bone artifacts include tools, perhaps even bone arrow points. Other advances shown by Howiesons Poort individuals include abstract portable art, in the form of ochre which has been engraved in a cross-hatched pattern. Some scholars have pointed to similarly sophisticated industries in eastern Africa and Asia, at dates ranging about 30,000 to 50,000 BP. This may thus represent the migration of Early Modern Humans from South Africa beginning about 60,000 years ago along the Southern Dispersal Route, well before the European colonization by Africans leading to the European Upper Paleolithic. Dating the Middle Stone Age in South Africa Recent examination of dates from several sites in South Africa by Jacobs and colleagues found that Howiesons Poort and Still Bay are clearly separate cultures, separated by several thousand years. Howiesons Poort/Still Bay sites South Africa: Pinnacle Point, Rose Cottage Cave, Blombos Cave, Border Cave, Klasies River Caves, Sibudu Cave Sources This glossary entry is a part of the About.com Guide to the Middle Paleolithic, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.Backwell, Lucinda, Francesco dErrico, and Lyn Wadley 2008 Middle Stone Age bone tools from the Howiesons Poort layers, Sibudu Cave, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(6):1566-1580.Henshilwood CS, and Dubreuil B. 2011. The Still Bay and Howiesons Poort, 77-59 ka: Symbolic Material Culture and the Evolution of the Mind during the African Middle Stone Age. Current Anthropology 52(3):361-400.Henshilwood, Christopher S., et al. 2002 Emergence of Modern Human Behavior: Middle Stone Age Engravings from South Africa. Science 295:1278-1280.Jacobs, Zenobia, et al. 2008. Ages for the Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa: Implications for Human Behavior and Dispersal. Science 322(5902):733-735.Lombard, Marlize, and Justin Pargeter 2008 Hunting with Howiesons Poort segments: pilot experimental study and the functional interpretation of archaeological tools. Jour nal of Archaeological Science 35(9):2523-2531. McCall, Grant S. 2007 Behavioral ecological models of lithic technological change during the later Middle Stone Age of South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 34(10):1738-1751.Mellars, Paul 2006 Going East: New Genetic and Archaeological Perspectives on the Modern Human Colonization of Eurasia. Science 313(5788):796-800.Mellars, Paul 2006 Why did modern human populations disperse from Africa ca. 60,000 years ago? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (25):9381-9386. Free downloadWadley, Lyn and Moleboheng Mohapi 2008 A Segment is not a Monolith: evidence from the Howiesons Poort of Sibudu, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(9):2594-2605.

Media essays

Media essays The case that I decided to focus on is an older abuse case, but it has recently been resolved in the courts. It is a child abuse case involving James and Bonnie Zeleski. They were both charged with abusing their infant daughter. The child was brought to the hospital with a fracture in each leg, a fracture in each arm, a thigh fracture, three broken ribs, a ripped esophagus, pneumonia, malnourished and several other cuts and bruises. The girl was transferred to an Omaha hospital. The father, James, was charged on June 3, 1998 with Class 4 Felony Child Abuse. His wife, Bonnie, was later charged and convicted of a Class 3 Felony. James was sentenced to three years probation and six months in jail. His wife was sentenced to 15 to 18 months in prison. I think that this case was fairly portrayed by the media. I know at the time, there were several letters to the editor and opinion printed on the subject, but the Grand Island Independent seemed to be fair and stick to the facts. It was a horrible crime and I think they did a good job being unbiased. I think that it is a good idea to publicize crimes like this. From my other studies, I have learned that the informal sanctions, public humiliation and shame, are far more effective than the formal sanctions in preventing crime. When people who are having a hard time dealing with being a parent see something like this in the media, they may stop to think about their actions. A good idea would be to run several articles on where parents can go to for help. The combination of the two, may help prevent this from happening to another child. As a mother I have a definite interest in this crime. I cannot even begin to understand how anyone could do something like that to someone so helpless. I am also interested in this case from the legal perspective and how the case was resolved in the court system. I personally think that the sente...

Can I Learn to Like It essays

Can I Learn to Like It essays Can I learn to like this music and really want to listen to it? This question, or a question of similarity, was asked in my Music 100 class by a fellow student. He was asking our instructor if he could really learn to like classical music. Other students laughed at his insistence to know if he set forth effort, would he desire listening to the music as he did popular music of today. The answer to this question can be found in the article, Learning to Like Classical Music from Etude Magazine. The article states you need to understand background about the music to better appreciate it and desire listening to the music. The article had this to say about learning to like classical music, Most certainly it can be done, and to the same extent and with the same success that any set of earnest students will learn to enjoy good literature. The article states that you acquire a taste for the music just like any other artistic form, and with this effort a reward of something beautiful will be obtained. The article offers this advice however, By way of caution, do not try to scale Parnassus at a bound. Another words, you need to learn slowly and begin with music that is easier to understand. It mentions selections from Schumanns Album for the Young, and others that offer simpler movements and characteristics easier to listen for. Some of the characteristics it states you should look for are compositions offering attractive melodies, good harmony and pleasing rhythm. The article also discusses a musical idea involving hearing real language within a piece of music. Although it is not mentioned in the article, we have learned in class that this is called word-painting. This involves listening to the music and hearing what is taking place within the story of the music. The article uses the hooves of galloping horses in Schumanns Reiterstuck as ...

Business Opportunities in Food and Beverage Industry Essay

Business Opportunities in Food and Beverage Industry - Essay Example Food is a very defining element of a culture. Eating different kinds of foods does more than just satiating the craving for taste; it provides a greater insight into other cultures. This paper discusses a business idea of establishing a South Asian Tea Restaurant in New York. Americans generally like the South Asian foods a lot. â€Å"one should not be surprised if a seven-year-old American kid walks up and asks for aloo mater samosas and his mom is keen on having the complimentary chai† (Deccan Chronicle, 2013). Popular food items include but are not limited to samosas, pakoras, halwa poori, murgh cholay, and lassi. These foods are not only very tasty, they also have a high nutritious value since they are all made from natural products and do not include the use of any preservatives or chemicals that is a big plus point. â€Å"Everything is made right there, even the samosas(no frozen boxed samosas here), pakoras, and chutneys(not jarred like most places serve) are all made fresh here and delicious† (Justin, 2013). The fundamental purpose of establishing any business is to make money. Most of these food items are extremely cheap to make and yet sell for a very large price primarily because of their nutritional value, their exceptional taste, their exotic looks, and their cultural affiliations. Even more, when these food items are made in bulk, they become all the cheaper to make and more profitable to sell at the same time. At a famous Indian restaurant, â€Å"While Samosa and Idli Sambar are available for $5.50, one has to spend $7 for Masala dosa and $7.5 for two pieces of gulab jamun† (First Post, 2012). Considering the ingredients used in the making of a samosa, one samosa might cost the owner no more than $0.15. Comparison of this to the amount it sells or provides evidence of the profitability of the business. The other food items are similarly cheap but with a huge profit margin. It takes careful planning and strategy to establish s uch a business at the right point. The owners should look for an area where the population of South Asians is relatively higher as compared to other regions in America since the prime consumers of this business are people from such countries as Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. Such areas are not hard to find since most of these families tend to live together in neighborhoods since they have common cultural values and find one another helpful in America. In order to have an edge over other such restaurants, the owners need to pay special attention toward ambiance. Songs of old legendary singers like Noor Jehan, Lata, Rafi, Mukesh, and Kishore can provide the place that extra boost that it requires to appeal massive in-pour of consumers. South Asians mostly like to have samosas and pakoras with tea during the lunch breaks and as snacks, so these items should be available all day long whereas other items like halwa poori and murgh cholay should be made available in the breakfast. Menu for lunch and dinner can be decided depending upon how large the owner wants the business to be. Establishment of this business successfully imparts the need to advertise it in such a way that the benefits of these food items in general and what they offer in comparison to the typical Western food, in particular, are easily noticeable for the audiences. To achieve this, the contemporary issue of diseases caused by consumption of chemicals needs.

System Overview of Banks Global Market Business Term Paper

System Overview of Banks Global Market Business - Term Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that in the present scenario, the banking industry has changed in an immense manner owing to different factors that include technological innovation and international market competitions. Additionally, there are other factors that include increased disintermediation, corporate behavioral changes, and deregulation in relation to financial services. The banking crisis is also accountable for changes in banking operations as well as structures. The changes are adopted by global banks with the intention of ensuring that business operations are conducted in a stabilized manner. Subsequently, global banks are identified to develop alliances with domestic as well as foreign-owned banks in order to minimize risk exposure. Presently, global banks in response to the changing business scenario have adopted different measures which include enhanced quantity along with a quality of capital and risk coverage with the aim of ascertaining that the banking operations are conducted successfully. Moreover, global banks are identified to develop strict regime based on risk management and enhanced regulatory framework in order to manage bossiness operations for better sustainable growth. The global banking sector is developing in a rapid way. The banking sector is also identified to face critical challenges that include customer demand and increased operational costs among others. In this changing competitive business scenario, global banks are required to conduct their operations abiding by adequate financial regulations with the aim of performing business operations systematically. Correspondingly, the global market business of banks comprises different systems which include booking system, valuation system, sub-ledger system and general ledger system.

Debt and Equity Financing - Advantages and Disadvantages Research Paper

Debt and Equity Financing - Advantages and Disadvantages - Research Paper Example It is of great significance that the ratios must be benchmarked against a standard in order for them to possess a meaning. Keeping that into account, the comparison is usually conducted between companies portraying same business and financial risks, between industries and different time periods of the same company. The company under consideration is Marvel Toys, and in this report the analysis of the financial performance of the company over the last seven years has been conducted in order to draw attention to various financial trends and significant changes over the period. The analysis is divided into three main categories: namely Profitability, Liquidity and Gearing. Profitability ratios identify how efficiently and effectively a company is utilizing its resources and how successful it has been in generating a desired rate of return for its shareholders and investors. Liquidity ratios measure the ability of the company to quickly convert its asset into liquid cash to settle its sh ort term liabilities. Whereas, the Gearing ratios identifies the extent to which the company is financed through debt and to what degree the operations are being conducted from the finance raised through raising equity capital or otherwise2. Following ratios have been used in order to evaluate the financial outlook of the company: Current ratio Acid-test (quick) ratio Collection period Inventory turnover Debt to total asset ratio Times interest earned Return on assets Return on Equity Fixed Asset turnover Total Asset turnover Gross Profit margin Net Profit Margin The profitability ratios of the company appear to be stable, but the company is facing liquidity problem as apparent from the ratios. Also, the company has more than 50% of its assets financed through debt. But the company has great earning potential based on which it has been decided to sanction the long term loan facility to the company. Answer to part A Financial Analysis Profitability Ratios    2011 2010 2009    Pro fitability Ratios Gross profit margin 20.18% 19.23% 20.14% Net profit margin 6.88% 6.15% 7.50% ROE 11.68% 12.20% 35.71% ROA 4.50% 4.36% 7.03% Fixed Asset Turnover (times) 2.04 2.27 2.53 Total Asset Turnover (times) 1.27 1.35 1.57 Gross profit margin is an analyzing tool which assists in identifying how effectively and efficiently the company is utilizing its raw materials, variable cost related to labor and fixed costs, such as rent and depreciation of property plant and equipment3. The ratio is calculated by dividing the sales revenue by the gross profit. The gross profit margin of the company was quite stable in the financial year 2009, but moving forward in the financial year 2010, the ratio has seemed to decline a bit. The decline in the ratio was primarily due to the decrease in the net sales of the company by 9% which caused the gross profit margin to decrease by around 0.91%. But the ratio appeared to show an inclining trend again the financial year 2011 as the company was ab le to curtail and manage its cost of sales although the quantum of its sales

The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 Research Paper

The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 - Research Paper Example A whistleblower is a person who makes a disclosure that evidence improper or illegal activities in an employment setting (Whitaker, P1). On the other hand, King defines the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 as a United States of America’s federal law that protects federal whistleblowers or government employees who report any misconduct by a federal agency. An example of a famous whistleblower was Jeffrey Wigand, Brown & Williamson’s former research and development vice president in 1966, who disclosed that cigarette companies’ executives were aware of the fact that cigarettes were addictive and increased the amount of nicotine deliberately to make them even more addictive (King, para5). The Whistleblower Protection Act/WPA was enacted in 1989, following apparent weaknesses in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, which was an earlier attempt to protect whistleblowers. This law led to the creation of the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates complaints from government employees that they received punishment after reporting about abuse, fraud or waste in their agencies to Congress. This office has jurisdiction over whistleblower reprisal allegations that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission employees make. The Congress passed the Act with the intention of strengthening and improving Federal employees’ rights protection, to end retaliation and to aid in the eradication of unlawful activity within the government. It mandates that workers should not go through adverse consequences because of personnel practices that are prohibited  and establishes that the Office of Special Counsel’s primary role is protecting workers, particularly whistleblowers, from forbidden personnel practices.

Is Facebook Response for our Loneliness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Is Facebook Response for our Loneliness - Essay Example During her last days, she looked for companionship from fans whom she met through Internet sites and fan conventions. When news of her death got out, she was the subject of over 16,000 posts on Facebook and more than 800 tweets. In â€Å"Is Facebook Making Us Lonely,† published in the May 2012 edition of The Atlantic magazine, Stephen Marche looks at the phenomenon of Facebook and how it affects our relationships as human beings. In a similar way to most of us, Vickers’s network of communication had increased yet decreased at the same time. Many of us can be easily accessed but yet we live in isolation. In recent years, technology has moved us to a way of life (technology) that we wholesomely rely on. In the extreme, several miles of fiber-optic cables were installed between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and New York Stock Exchange in order to increase the speed of transmission during trading by three milliseconds (Marche 2012). But, in spite of absolute and instant c ommunication, we can suffer from loneliness. The more the new socializing modes, the less of an actual society exists. The more the connection, the lonelier we become. As of last year, Facebook had over 800 million users and revenue in excess of $3 billion (Marche 2012). The company further aims to be the largest internet IPO ever. Although it is the first site to have more than a trillion page views in a month, the way in which it is used is causing harm to its users without them knowing (Lushing and Atwan 45). Even Facebook’s owner, Mark Zuckerberg, who is one of the youngest billionaries in the world, experiences loneliness like the rest of us. As can be seen in the film The Social Network, his loneliness is evident when he sends a friend request to his ex-lover and then waits for a response while refreshing the page (like many of us have desperately done). Unlike the Friends circle in Google+, which suggests that people only include his or her real friends, Facebook has c reated a cyber world that includes people with whom we have never interacted. This depicts the interference that Facebook has brought about in relationships—it promotes the isolation that it was designed to overcome. Many people thought that Facebook was developed as a solution to people suffering from loneliness. This innovation seemed to be a solution at the time; however, recent studies show that loneliness rates in American have significantly increased. Additionally, isolation has increased unhappiness in the U.S. To understand the real effect social media forms have caused, we need to realize there is a difference between loneliness and being alone. Being alone is a beautiful thing. On the other hand, loneliness is a sad thing; it is also a psychological condition. Analyzing data from Dutch twins in 2005 showed that they both had similar genetic conditions as they did psychological problems (Marche 2012). Nonetheless, loneliness is difficult to explain. The UCLA loneline ss scale is the best tool to measure the loneliness of a person. Studies using the scale have shown that loneliness is increasing rapidly within a short time. A leading American study shows about 20 percent of Americans suffer from loneliness (Marche 2012). Single people suffer from loneliness more than married couples who are confidants. Another study found that active believers who perceived God as helpful and nonfigurative were less lonely than those who saw God as wrathful. Due to increased rates of loneliness there is a fear of an epidemic across Europe, as suggested by health experts. Loneliness and bein

Wal-Mart for a stratgic mangement and business policy essay

Wal-Mart for a stratgic mangement and business policy - Essay Example It has driven lesser retailers out of commerce; forced companies to be well-organized, commonly leading these suppliers to move industrial jobs overseas; and changed the routine that yet large and reputable productions do. Wal-Mart has existence over all the customer supplies industries that endure in the US, for the reason that it is the number-one supplier-retailer of the majority of our customer goods, not still toys, clothes, shoes but home applications, electronic goods, sporting products, food, bicycles, groceries (Anderson, 2003). Business strategy: By viewing the universal compaction and such a huge working structure of the Wal-Mart, I will suggest that they need to adopt low cost leadership theme for Wal-Mart. The reason behind this business strategy selection is that: in the present era we are facing a very hard competition from lot of competitors and the low prices Business strategy is the only solid and more attractive strategy in present environment (McCune, 1994). How this business strategy will facilitate and help the Wal-Mart in becoming a well established business? By this business strategy they can emphasize on selling high-quality. Wal-Mart low price philosophy will cut advertising expenses and reduce other expenses. It will create an image of reliability and fair play in the minds of clients. This Business strategy will become a defense against competition in the industry. Next I will present the program and main decision that they should take for the successful implementation of the strategy. They should develop a mechanism by which management controls the processes for directing, development, scheming, organizing, and controlling program operations. They should create a financial control that comprise comparison of what they have really accomplished with what they have premeditated in their budget and as such it is individual business task amongst a lot of, and encompasses but one facet of the wider practice of management

The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 Research Paper

The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 - Research Paper Example A whistleblower is a person who makes a disclosure that evidence improper or illegal activities in an employment setting (Whitaker, P1). On the other hand, King defines the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 as a United States of America’s federal law that protects federal whistleblowers or government employees who report any misconduct by a federal agency. An example of a famous whistleblower was Jeffrey Wigand, Brown & Williamson’s former research and development vice president in 1966, who disclosed that cigarette companies’ executives were aware of the fact that cigarettes were addictive and increased the amount of nicotine deliberately to make them even more addictive (King, para5). The Whistleblower Protection Act/WPA was enacted in 1989, following apparent weaknesses in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, which was an earlier attempt to protect whistleblowers. This law led to the creation of the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates complaints from government employees that they received punishment after reporting about abuse, fraud or waste in their agencies to Congress. This office has jurisdiction over whistleblower reprisal allegations that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission employees make. The Congress passed the Act with the intention of strengthening and improving Federal employees’ rights protection, to end retaliation and to aid in the eradication of unlawful activity within the government. It mandates that workers should not go through adverse consequences because of personnel practices that are prohibited  and establishes that the Office of Special Counsel’s primary role is protecting workers, particularly whistleblowers, from forbidden personnel practices.

Wal-Mart for a stratgic mangement and business policy essay

Wal-Mart for a stratgic mangement and business policy - Essay Example It has driven lesser retailers out of commerce; forced companies to be well-organized, commonly leading these suppliers to move industrial jobs overseas; and changed the routine that yet large and reputable productions do. Wal-Mart has existence over all the customer supplies industries that endure in the US, for the reason that it is the number-one supplier-retailer of the majority of our customer goods, not still toys, clothes, shoes but home applications, electronic goods, sporting products, food, bicycles, groceries (Anderson, 2003). Business strategy: By viewing the universal compaction and such a huge working structure of the Wal-Mart, I will suggest that they need to adopt low cost leadership theme for Wal-Mart. The reason behind this business strategy selection is that: in the present era we are facing a very hard competition from lot of competitors and the low prices Business strategy is the only solid and more attractive strategy in present environment (McCune, 1994). How this business strategy will facilitate and help the Wal-Mart in becoming a well established business? By this business strategy they can emphasize on selling high-quality. Wal-Mart low price philosophy will cut advertising expenses and reduce other expenses. It will create an image of reliability and fair play in the minds of clients. This Business strategy will become a defense against competition in the industry. Next I will present the program and main decision that they should take for the successful implementation of the strategy. They should develop a mechanism by which management controls the processes for directing, development, scheming, organizing, and controlling program operations. They should create a financial control that comprise comparison of what they have really accomplished with what they have premeditated in their budget and as such it is individual business task amongst a lot of, and encompasses but one facet of the wider practice of management

Wireless devices and applications Essay Example for Free

Wireless devices and applications Essay 1.0 Introduction Most of mobile organizations make use of wireless operations this is because they know that with this operation it is a bit simple to use and the costs that is related to it is not very high. This has the indication that most of the organizations are ready to make use of it because they have assurance that it has privacy protection. With change in the technology in the whole world most of customers want privacy and better connectivity at the same time that are not mutually exclusive. There is a broad acceptance of WDA in countries that elected to include wireless numbers in the DA database from the inception of the wireless industry. (Green, 2002) 2.0 Wireless Device Application The wireless devices are common as they are more in front line with assurance of sales and service provision this has the indication that most of the companies ensure that they make use of the wireless devices so that they can be in a position to come up with the right communication to their employees. In this I mean that the employees who are employed in sales organization have to make use of this communication so that they can be in a Position to information their customers what are required. Therefore they have to be in contact with customers if they have to succeed in their sales, this is because lack of functional bridge between the office communications infrastructure and the mobile environment will cause a lot of problems for mobile employees, their organization and their customers which will result to communication delay that will slow down the operation of a business.   Most of the problems that arise are multiple contact numbers, frequent missed calls, voice mail jail, multiple voice mail boxes and expensive conferencing. Most of the organizations are spending a lot of income in the wireless communications service in every data this is because it is a communication that has to be funded so that they can keep their customers informed. This will mean that if they fail to pay everything that is required by the wireless communication company then they will not be in a position to inform the customers about the company products which will not affect the growth of the company. There are numerous carrier services like long distance sertivices. These problems that take place like many missed calls come about because the customers, suppliers and employees do not know which phone   number to call   so that they can reach the mobile employee. In other words this will mean that with many numbers they are not in a position to know which number will reach a targeted customer this will mean that they will just call numbers which will not be effective and the customers will not be reached as it is required. Therefore the employees will face difficulties in dealing with these problems mainly due to the fact that they should be in a point of receiving the calls of the most important customers but instead they get calls of people who are not important to the organization in terms of raising its sales. The problem of unnecessary voicemail jail come in due ton the fact that the mobile users attempt to connect with callers after missing the original call attempt. (Green, 2002) This will mean that employees will face a lot of problems due to the attempt to connect with customers   as   the first call has failed then one will switch off to other calls meaning that they will not be in a position to get the   customers in a easy way. The problem of wasted time and wireless usage expense which is caused by constant calls ins to check mail by out of office employees. The most pressing problem is the expense that has to be taken by a organization that makes use of the wireless communication this will mean that this communication is not that simple as they might think of it because there are charges that are supposed to be paid failure to which an organization will not be in a position to have expansion in its operations. The charges that are supposed to be paid by an organization will be in office or their home calls and still the calls that are made between the employees where a company has to make long distance rates at a high cost. This will mean that a company will have high charges as it tries to conduct most of the employees and important people that are supposed to be in the organization in other words there are people who are supposed to ensure that the organization is not facing problems in its operations these people have to be conducted and this will mean that wherever they have to be reached any time when they are required. Still a high cost will be in the large administrative effort in that the managers and all the officials in an organization have to ensure that they come up with the approval of wireless expenses meaning that each person who is involved in the organization must be conducted. Therefore they will have to ensure that the expenses that are spend  Ã‚   are in line with the operations of the organization meaning that the managers may not be able to approve the expense and this will lead to lack of communication because these costs have to be paid and a lot of time is wasted in conducting every official in organization. (Dipietro, 2004) Still the organization will face the expenses of inability to control mobile communications meaning that these devices have to be checked frequently and this is a cost that is to be incurred in an organization. Therefore the expense that is required to be covered in the wireless communication is very high and most of the organizations will end up failing in operations because they will not be able to curb the expenses. The problem of wireless devices and applications lies on the expenses that have to be incurred in an organization. This will mean that if it is a sales organization it has to ensure that the customers are informed of the costs of products and convince them that the product is the best. This will take time because most of the customers can not be easily convinced therefore what they end up doing will be to have high expenses that will be charged by the wireless company.   The expense problem has coverage of every activity that is carried out if it is   missed calls then still there are charges that have to be charged meaning that organization should have a plan on the use of wireless   devices so that they can reduce the costs. The other charges are on the maintenance of these devices this is because these devices are very delicate and should be taken with a lot of concern therefore what one has to do will be to ensure that they have the right maintenance to reduce costs of repair but the problem is that they have to be checked frequently meaning that when there is a problem a high cost has to be invested if they have to communicate well with their customers. This problem of expense leads a company to a point in which it has to make a decision so that there can be a solution to the problem because a company that operates without keeping in mind the costs that have to be incurred then it will not be able to succeed in all the operations and expansion of such organization is very hard. Therefore a sales company should have a plan that will give it guidelines as they have to make use of this wireless devices because it is a fast way that can be used to inform the customers but the problem of expense has to be dealt with so that they can be sure that even if they have to spend in the wireless devices they are sure that costs is not very high. (Dipietro, 2004) The communication efficiency solution will be to come up with the best applications that will lead to a solution to this problem. Like for example there is the blue butler which is a suite that is unique and has powerful communication applications. This suite is designed so that it can increase the business processes for the enterprise so that they can drive revenue and improve the service delivery, ensure that a company will have customer retention and competition is maintained. This is a software platform that enables the communication to be effective in an organization and it is made effective through ensuring that the existing and evolving communication infrastructure are maintained. The organization is in a position to get the   benefits   of the latest communication   efficiencies   not minding about the equipment, network services or the communications   devices that are in use now or in future   which an  Ã‚   organization will be able to deploy. This will mean that a sales organization that has to succeed in its operations will have to use this blue butler so that it can have benefits that are supposed to be received if it has to operate   Ã‚  without facing problems of communication delays. The implementation plan that is taken by a sales company will be targeted to the blue butler   which is affordable   digital call recording technology that   ensure that the  Ã‚   company will benefit from the recording   calls. In the implementation plan that what is put in place is the dramatic quality improvement in that a sales company will be in a position to have high quality goods this is because the employees are at their professional be st in knowing that management is right this has the indication that the employees have to treat the customers with respect and professionalism so that the customers can know that they are part of the organization and have to keep everything the way it is required. (Chris, 2005) Therefore the staff will have limited time that is lost in unproductive activities as the internal calls will be focused on business issues. Another thing is that   Ã‚  the   Ã‚  delivery is continuous, feedback and best practice training in that the training of staff is done on the best practices that will lead to expansion in an organization. In the training they know the behavior that is accepted by all customers and how to improve the operational results that is through effective telephone practice. This will mean that in the use of the   telephone then the customers will be free as they will be given what they require in other words in the training that is offered to them then they are in a position to know what they have to do so that they can   reach the customers without delays. There will be fast dispute   resolution in that incase a company is involved in problems then the solution will be tackled without wasting time this is because they   know   what they are supposed to do so that they can have reduced   conflict if they have to   win many customers. This means that they will have reliance on face based recordings to eliminate no win confrontations that will lead to time wastage in unproductive activities. There is reduction of errors and omission claims that are can take place in a sales organization this will mean that there will be maintenance of good customer relations that will be referred to facts rather than hearsay cases. This will imply that the errors that can be involved in an organization due to  Ã‚   simple mistakes will be catered for this is because they are in a position to know what is required of them in other words if the organization requires high sales then this has to be received only through cooperation and relations with each other in an organization. The customers should be taken as a part of organization which will lead to high expansion of organization. (Chris, 2005) In the implementation plan there will be streamlining of order processing in that with the use of recorded phone verifications that are used as audio signatures to book then it means that an organization will be able to eliminate wastage of time and errors that are likely to take place in organization. This means that the order processing will be done with a lot of concern and in the time that is required. The organization will be able to ensure that they comply with  Ã‚   costs that are charged this is only opposable if an organization is in a position to come up with the best  Ã‚   communications in other words in the implementation plan that organization will be in a position to ensure that they will not face high expenses of communication that might interfere with the operations of organization.   The organization will be in a position to ensure that they come up with the right access to the customers this is because in the plan they have dealt with the problems that might arise in the organization itself, staff and employees therefore the organization will access the problems that may raise and deal with them before they lead to more harm. In this I mean that an organization that makes use of blue butler as a solution to the problem of expenses that are faced in organization due to use of wireless communication then they will be in a position to ensure that they are able to operate with limited cases of lack of operations and at the same time they will have high costs. Therefore all organizations should ensure that the problems that are linked to wireless devices and applications are dealt with so that they have high expansion. The technology improvements will enable the building of information systems which can be used in any place at any time. (Basili, 1990) This imply that companies that make use of mobile devices will be in a position to   rise its production, ensure that the procedures are flexible and change the services that are given to their customers and   ensure that information is accurate for decision making. Generally what I mean is that organizations have to face a lot of problems but what they have to do so that they can deal with their problems will be to adopt a service that will be less costly and will deal with problems that are faced   in an organization. In a sales organization most of the problems that are related to communication will be to reach employees and customers so that they can have high sales. Therefore no organization will be able to reach all the customers without a link to communication therefore with the technology changes that are taking place in the world today the organizations should be in a position to change with the technology so that they will not be left out in expansion. In this I mean that the customers want to be reached and convinced about a product therefore to make sure this is reached then it is only their the use of the right communication measures that will ensure that they are   given information that is best but the problem is cost that has to be incurred. A company has to choose a communication linkage that will reach many customers in a short time and with limited costs incurred. This is mainly because they are supposed to ensure that they reach all and the only way through will be  Ã‚   wireless devices and other devices that are in use today. Therefore a company that has to come up and be successful in its operations will be through the use of communication that is not very expensive and will reach many customers. (Basili, 1990) 3.0 Conclusion In the use of wireless devices and applications there are many dangers that might come up but the solutions will be that the company will have high production because the customer will be reached with limited time lost. Therefore companies should make sure that in any information system that is to be used then they have the right procedure taken so that they have communication channel been complete. In this I mean that with high costs in communication many companies will not be in a point of reaching all their customers but to deal with this problem then what they will have to do will be to come up with communication that is less costly and will cover many customers.

Broad Classification Of Work Motivational Theories Commerce Essay

Broad Classification Of Work Motivational Theories Commerce Essay The work motivation theories can be broadly classified as content theories and process theories. The content theories are concerned with identifying the needs that people have and how needs are prioritized. They are concerned with types of incentives that drive people to attain need fulfillment. The Maslow hierarchy theory, Fredrick Herzbergs two factor theory and Alderfers ERG needs theory fall in this category. Although such a content approach has logic, is easy to understand, and can be readily translated in practice, the research evidence points out limitations. There is very little research support for these models theoretical basic and predictability. The trade off for simplicity sacrifices true understanding of the complexity of work motivation. On the positive side, however, the content models have given emphasis to important content factors that were largely ignored by human relationists. In addition the Alderfers ERG needs theory allows more flexibility and Herzbergs two-fa ctor theory is useful as an explanation for job satisfaction and as a point of departure for job design. The process theories are concerned with the cognitive antecedents that go into motivation and with the way they are related to one another. The theories given by Vroom, Porter and Lawler, equity theory and attribution theory fall in this category. These theories provide a much sounder explanation of work motivations. The expectancy model of Vroom and the extensions and the refinements provided by Porter and Lawler help explain the important cognitive variables and how they relate to one another in the process of work motivation. The Porter Lawler model also gives specific attention to the important relationship between performance and satisfaction. A growing research literature is somewhat supportive of these expectancy models, but conceptual and methodological problems remain. Unlike the content models, these expectancy models are relatively complex and difficult to translate into actual practice. They have also failed to meet the goals of prediction and control Motivation Theory 1 Adams Equity Theory of Work Motivation The theory explains that a major input into job performance and satisfaction is the degree of equity or inequity that people perceive in work situations. Adam depicts a specific process of how this motivation occurs. Inequality occurs when a person perceives that the ratio of his or her outcomes to inputs and the ratio of a relevant others outcomes to inputs are unequal. Our Outcomes Our Inputs Others Inputs Our Outcomes = Others Outcomes = Equity Our Inputs Others Inputs Our Outcomes > Others Outcomes = Inequity (over-rewarded) Our Inputs Others Inputs Both the inputs and the outputs of the person and the other are based upon the persons perceptions, which are affected by age, sex, education, social status, organizational position, qualifications, and how hard the person works, etc. Outcomes consist primarily of rewards such as pay, status, promotion, and intrinsic interest in the job. Equity sensitivity is the ratio based upon the persons perception of what the person is giving (inputs) and receiving (outcomes) versus the ratio of what the relevant is giving and receiving. This cognition may or may not be the same as someone elses observation of the ratios or the same as the actual situation. If the persons perceived ratio is not equal to the others, he or she will strive to restore the ratio to equity. This striving to restore equity is used as the explanation of work motivation. The strength of this motivation is in direct proportion to the perceived inequity that exists. Research suggests that individuals engage in illegal behaviors to maintain equity in relationships, either with their employing organization or with other people (Greenberg, 1990). The theory was later expanded with the concept of Organizational Justice. Organizational justice reflects the extend to which people perceive that they are treated fairly at work. It identified three different components of justice: distributive (The perceived fairness of how resources and rewards are distributed), procedural (The perceived fairness of the process and procedures used to make allocation decisions) and interactional (The perceived fairness of the decision makers behavior in the process of decision-making). (Copanzano, Rupp, Mohler and Schminke, 2001). Critiques: Equity theory is descriptive and it reflects much of our everyday experience. As a theory however equity is only partial in analysis and as a predictor. There are many societal and institutional variables (inequalities) that we all navigate. The theory ignores peoples natural resilience, their competitiveness, selflessness and selfishness, their ethical dilemmas in decision-making and their passions. It does not adequately explain interactions in close relationships such as marriage or emotional labor where we may provide care to others at a burdensome cost of declining personal well-being and self-denial. Norms of equity and reciprocity are often discounted in close and romantic friendships or where there are deep family bonds. In the social exchanges of business, causal, or stranger relationships, there may be more of a dominant assumption that inputs are offered with the expectation of a like response. There is more of a formal contract of tangible and intangible reward. A promise unfulfilled, without proper reciprocity incurs a debt of honor. A promise is broken. In our community, obligations of reciprocal response operate. We are expected to apply the Golden Rule and to help where we can an act ably demonstrated by the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Social exchange theory assumes rational, calculated action involving an expected pay-off. We do not always act rationally. Many will not be as selfish as rational action may suggest. Indeed our reward may be the inner glow of respecting oneself and living to ones own values. Such altruism, albeit self-referential, does not sit easily under the assumptions of the rational, economic-person model. Implications It is necessary to pay attention to what employees perceive to be fair and equitable. For example: In my company, one of my colleagues was assigned to a project that required him to work during non business hours frequently. He worked three days at the office and two days at home in a week for a month and half. This caused others to start working from home during business hours. Allow employees to have a voice and an opportunity to appeal. Organizational changes, promoting cooperation, etc. can come easier with equitable outcomes. Managements failure to achieve equity could be costly for the organization. For example: One of my technically team members was not very competent. He took double the time to complete any give work when compared to the others. Management failed to take any action; instead the others were given more work. Eventually, even the competent workers took it easy to restore equity causing project delays. Motivation Theory 2 Vrooms Expectancy Theory of Motivation: Expectancy theory provides a framework for analyzing work motivation, which is eminently practical. It provides a checklist of factors to be considered in any managerial situation and it points to the links between the relevant factors and the direction, which these factors tend to follow in their interrelationships. (Tony J. Watson, Routledge Kegan Paul, 1986). Expectancy theory holds that people are motivated to behave in ways that produce desired combinations of expected outcomes. It can be used to predict motivation and behavior in any situation in which a choice between two or more alternatives must be made. (Kreitner R. Kinicki A., Mcgraw Hill, 7th Edition). Vroom gave the following equation of Motivation: Motivation (M) = Valence (V) x Expectancy (E) Valence stands for the preference of an individual for a particular outcome. Thus, when an individual desires a particular outcome the value of V is positive. On the other hand when the individual does not desire a certain outcome, the value of V is negative. The value of expectancy ranges between zero and one. When a certain event will definitely not occur the value of E is zero. On the other hand when the event is sure to occur the value of E is one. Since its original conception, the expectancy theory model has been refined and extended many times. The better know of all is the Porter-Lawler model. Although conventional wisdom argues that satisfaction leads to performance, Porter and Lawler argued the reverse. If rewards are adequate, high levels of performance may lead to satisfaction. In addition to the features included in the original expectancy model, the Porter-Lawler model includes abilities, traits, and role perceptions. Critiques: Vrooms theory does not directly contribute to the techniques of motivating people. It is of value in understanding organizational behavior. It clarifies the relation between individuals and the organizational goals. The model is designed to help management understand and analyze employee motivation and identify some to the relevant variables. However, the theory falls short of providing specific solutions to the motivational problems. The theory also does not take into account the individual differences based on individual perceptions nor does it assume that most people have the same hierarchy of needs. It treats as a variable to be investigated just what it is that particular employees are seeking in their work. Thus the theory indicates only the conceptional determinants of motivation and how they are related. Research studies have confirmed that the association of both kinds of expectancies and valences with effort and performance. The motivated behavior of people arises from their valuing expected rewards, believing effort will lead to performance, and that performance will result in desired rewards. The expectancy theory explains motivation in the U.S. better than elsewhere and therefore may not be suitable for other regions. Implications This theory can be used by the managers to: Â · Determine the primary outcome each employee wants. Â · Decide what levels and kinds of performance are needed to meet organizational goals. Â · Make sure the desired levels of performance are possible. Â · Link desired outcomes and desired performance. Â · Analyze the situation for conflicting expectations. Â · Make sure the rewards are large enough. Â · Make sure the overall system is equitable for everyone. Motivation Theory 3 Maslows Theory of Hierarchy of Need: Maslow believed that within every individual, there exists a hierarchy of five needs and that each level of need must be satisfied before an individual pursues the next higher level of need (Maslow, 1943). As an individual progresses through the various levels of needs, the proceeding needs loose their motivational value. The basic human needs placed by Maslow in an ascending order of importance can be summarized and shown as below: The desire to become what one is capable of becoming. These are the needs to be held in esteem both by oneself and by others. These are the needs to belong and to be accepted by various groups. These are the needs to be free of physical danger. The safety needs look to the future. These are the basic needs for sustaining human life itself, such as food, water, warmth, shelter, and sleep. Maslow in his later work (Maslow, 1954) said: 1. Gratification of the self-actualization need causes an increase in its importance rather than a decrease. 2. Long deprivation of a given need, results in fixation for that need. 3. Higher needs may emerge not after gratification, but rather by long deprivation, renunciation or suppression of lower needs. 4. Human behavior is multi-determined and multi-motivated. Critiques: Part of the appeal of Maslows theory is that it provides both a theory of human motives by classifying basic human needs in a hierarchy and the theory of human motivation that relates these needs to general behavior. Maslows major contribution lies in the hierarchical concept. He was the first to recognize that a need once satisfied is a spent force and ceases to be a motivator. Maslows need hierarchy presents a paradox in as much as while the theory is widely accepted, there is a little research evidence available to support the theory. It is said that beyond structuring needs in a certain fashion Maslow does not give concrete guidance to the managers as to how they should motivate their employees. Implications: The need hierarchy as postulated by Maslow does not appear in practice. It is likely that over fulfillment of anyones particular need may result in fixation for the need. In that case even when a particular need is satisfied a person may still engage in the fulfillment of the same need. Furthermore, in a normal human being, all the needs are not always satisfied entirely. There remains an unsatisfied corner of every need in spite of which the person seeks fulfillment of the higher need. A person may move on to the next need in spite of the lower need being unfulfilled or being partly fulfilled. Conclusion No single motivation theory can suffice in todays workplace. Each motivational theory has its pros and cons. A theory may get the highest performance from an employee but may not from another employee. The organizations workplace has changed dramatically in the past decade. Companies are both downsizing and expanding (often at the same time, in different divisions or levels of the hierarchy). Work is being out-sourced to various regions and countries. The workforce is characterized by increased diversity with highly divergent needs and demands. Information technology has frequently changed both the manner and location of work activities. New organizational forms (such as e-commerce) are now common. Teams are redefining the notion of hierarchy, as well as traditional power distributions. The use of contingent workers is on the rise and globalization and the challenges of managing across borders are now the norm. These changes have had a profound influence on how companies attempt to attract, retain, and motivate their employees. Yet we lack new models capable of guiding managers in this new era of work. As management scholar Peter Cappelli notes, Most observers of the corporate world believe that the traditional relationship between employer and employee is gone, but there is little understanding of why it ended and even less about what is replacing that relationship (Cappelli, 1999). I believe that the existing work motivation and job performance theories are inadequate to cater to the present era of such diverse workforce. New theories of motivation are required to commensurate with this new era.