Frostbite Chapter 11

Eleven LISSA WAS UP AND GONE before I even stirred the next morning, which meant I had the bathroom to myself while I got ready for the day. I loved that bathroom. It was enormous. My king-size bed would have fit comfortably inside it. A scalding shower with three different nozzles woke me up, though my muscles ached from yesterday. As I stood in front of the full-length mirror and combed my hair, I saw with some disappointment that the bruise was still there. It was significantly lighter, however, and had turned yellowish. Some concealer and powder almost entirely covered it up. I headed downstairs in search of food. The dining room was just shutting down breakfast, but one of the waitresses gave me a couple of peach marzipan scones to go. Munching on one as I walked, I expanded my senses to get a feel for where Lissa was. After a couple of moments, I sensed her on the other side of the lodge, away from the student rooms. I followed the trail until I arrived at a room on the third floor. I knocked. Christian opened the door. â€Å"Sleeping Beauty arrives. Welcome.† He ushered me inside. Lissa sat cross-legged on the room's bed and smiled when she saw me. The room was as sumptuous as mine, but most of the furniture had been shoved aside to make space, and in that open area, Tasha stood. â€Å"Good morning,† she said. â€Å"Hey,† I said. So much for avoiding her. Lissa patted a spot beside her. â€Å"You've got to see this.† â€Å"What's going on?† I sat down on the bed and finished the last of the scone. â€Å"Bad things,† she said mischievously. â€Å"You'll approve.† Christian walked over to the empty space and faced Tasha. They regarded each other, forgetting about Lissa and me. I'd apparently interrupted something. â€Å"So why can't I just stick with the consuming spell?† asked Christian. â€Å"Because it uses a lot of energy,† she told him. Even with jeans and a ponytail- and the scar- she managed to look ridiculously cute. â€Å"Plus, it'll most likely kill your opponent.† He scoffed. â€Å"Why wouldn't I want to kill a Strigoi?† â€Å"You might not always be fighting one. Or maybe you need information from them. Regardless, you should be prepared either way.† They were practicing offensive magic, I realized. Excitement and interest replaced the sullenness I'd acquired upon seeing Tasha. Lissa hadn't been kidding about them doing â€Å"bad things.† I'd always suspected they were practicing offensive magic, but†¦ wow. Thinking about it and actually seeing it were two very different things. Using magic as a weapon was forbidden. A punishable offense. A student experimenting with it might be forgiven and simply disciplined, but for an adult to actively be teaching a minor†¦yeah. That could get Tasha in major trouble. For half a second, I toyed with the idea of turning her in. Immediately, I dismissed the notion. I might hate her for making moves on Dimitri, but part of me sort of believed in what she and Christian were doing. Plus, it was just cool. â€Å"A distracting spell is almost as useful,† she continued. Her blue eyes took on the intense focus I often saw Moroi get while using magic. Her wrist flicked forward, and a streak of fire snaked past Christian's face. It didn't touch him, but from the way he flinched, I suspected it had been close enough for him to feel the heat. â€Å"Try it,† she told him. Christian hesitated for only a moment and then made the same hand motion she had. Fire streaked out, but it had none of the finely tuned control hers had had. He also didn't have her aim. It went straight for her face, but before it could touch her, it parted and split around her, almost like it had hit an invisible shield. She'd deflected it with her own magic. â€Å"Not bad- aside from the fact you would have burned my face off.† Even I wouldn't want her face burned off. But her hair†¦ah, yes. We'd see how pretty she was without that raven-black mane. She and Christian practiced a while longer. He improved as time went by, though he clearly had a ways to go before he had Tasha's skill. My interest grew and grew as they went on, and I found myself pondering all the possibilities this kind of magic could offer. They wrapped up their lesson when Tasha said she had to go. Christian sighed, clearly frustrated that he hadn't been able to master the spell in an hour. His competitive nature was almost as strong as mine. â€Å"I still think it'd be easier to just burn them entirely,† he argued. Tasha smiled as she brushed her hair into a tighter ponytail. Yeah. She could definitely do without that hair, particularly since I knew how much Dimitri liked long hair. â€Å"Easier because it involves less focus. It's sloppy. Your magic'll be stronger in the long run if you can learn this. And, like I said, it has its uses.† I didn't want to agree with her, but I couldn't help it. â€Å"It could be really useful if you were fighting with a guardian,† I said excitedly. â€Å"Especially if completely burning a Strigoi takes so much energy. This way, you use just a quick burst of your strength to distract the Strigoi. And it will distract one since they hate fire so much. Then that's all the time a guardian would need to stake them. You could take down a whole bunch of Strigoi that way.† Tasha grinned at me. Some Moroi- like Lissa and Adrian- smiled without showing their teeth. Tasha always showed hers, including the fangs. â€Å"Exactly. You and I'll have to go Strigoi hunting someday,† she teased. â€Å"I don't think so,† I replied. The words in and of themselves weren't that bad, but the tone I used to deliver them certainly was. Cold. Unfriendly. Tasha looked momentarily surprised at my abrupt change in attitude but shrugged it off. Shock from Lissa traveled to me through the bond. Tasha didn't seem bothered, however. She chatted with us a bit longer and made plans to see Christian for dinner. Lissa gave me a sharp look as she, Christian, and I walked down the elaborate spiral staircase leading back down to the lobby. â€Å"What was that about?† she asked. â€Å"What was what about?† I asked innocently. â€Å"Rose,† she said meaningfully. It was hard to play dumb when your friend knew you could read her mind. I knew exactly what she was talking about. â€Å"You being a bitch to Tasha.† â€Å"I wasn't that much of a bitch.† â€Å"You were rude,† she exclaimed, stepping out of the way of a bunch of Moroi children who came tearing through the lobby. They were bundled up in parkas, and a weary-looking Moroi ski instructor followed them. I put my hands on my hips. â€Å"Look, I'm just grumpy, okay? Didn't get much sleep. Besides, I'm not like you. I don't have to be polite all the time.† As happened so often lately, I couldn't believe what I'd just said. Lissa stared at me, more astonished than hurt. Christian glowered, on the verge of snapping back at me, when Mason mercifully approached us. He hadn't needed a cast or anything, but he had a slight limp to his walk. â€Å"Hey there, Hop-Along,† I said, sliding my hand into his. Christian put his anger for me on hold and turned to Mason. â€Å"Is it true your suicidal moves finally caught up with you?† Mason's eyes were on me. â€Å"Is it true you were hanging out with Adrian Ivashkov?† â€Å"I- what?† â€Å"I heard you guys got drunk last night.† â€Å"You did?† asked Lissa, startled. I looked between both their faces. â€Å"No, of course not! I barely know him.† â€Å"But you do know him,† pushed Mason. â€Å"Barely.† â€Å"He's got a bad reputation,† warned Lissa. â€Å"Yeah,† said Christian. â€Å"He goes through a lot of girls.† I couldn't believe this. â€Å"Will you guys lay off? I talked to him for, like, five minutes! And that's only because he was blocking my way inside. Where are you getting all this?† Immediately, I answered my own question. â€Å"Mia.† Mason nodded and had the grace to look embarrassed. â€Å"Since when do you talk to her?† I asked. â€Å"I just ran into her, that's all,† he told me. â€Å"And you believed her? You know she lies half the time.† â€Å"Yeah, but there's usually some truth in the lies. And you did talk to him.† â€Å"Yes. Talk. That's it.† I really had been trying to give some serious thought about dating Mason, so I didn't appreciate him not believing me. He had actually helped me unravel Mia's lies earlier in the school year, so I was surprised he'd be so paranoid about them now. Maybe if his feelings really had grown for me, he was more susceptible to jealousy. Surprisingly, it was Christian who came to the rescue and changed the subject. â€Å"I suppose there's no skiing today, huh?† He pointed to Mason's ankle, immediately triggering an indignant response. â€Å"What, you think this is going to slow me down?† asked Mason. His anger diminished, replaced by that burning need to prove himself- the need he and I both shared. Lissa and Christian looked at him like he was crazy, but I knew nothing we said would stop him. â€Å"You guys want to come with us?† I asked Lissa and Christian. Lissa shook her head. â€Å"We can't. We have to go to this luncheon being hosted by the Contas.† Christian groaned. â€Å"Well, you have to go.† She elbowed him. â€Å"So do you. The invitation said I get to bring a guest. Besides, this is just a warm-up for the big one.† â€Å"Which one is that?† asked Mason. â€Å"Priscilla Voda's huge dinner,† sighed Christian. Seeing him look so pained made me smile. â€Å"The queen's best friend. All the snobbiest royals will be there, and I'll have to wear a suit.† Mason flashed me a grin. His earlier antagonism was gone. â€Å"Skiing's sounding better and better, huh? Less of a dress code.† We left the Moroi behind and went outside. Mason couldn't compete with me in the same way he had yesterday; his movements were slow and awkward. Still, he did remarkably well when one considered everything. The injury wasn't as bad as we'd feared, but he had the prudence to stick to extremely easy runs. The full moon hung in the blankness, a glowing sphere of silvery white. The electric lights overpowered most of its illumination on the ground, but here and there, in the shadows, the moon just barely managed to cast its glow. I wished it were bright enough to reveal the surrounding mountain range, but those peaks stayed shrouded in darkness. I'd forgotten to look at them when it was light out earlier. The runs were super simple for me, but I stayed with Mason and only occasionally teased him about how his remedial skiing was putting me to sleep. Boring runs or no, it was just nice to be outside with my friends, and the activity stirred my blood enough to warm me against the chill air. The light posts lit up the snow, turning it into a vast sea of white, the flakes' crystals sparkling faintly. And if I managed to turn away and block the lights from my field of vision, I could look up and see the stars spilling over the sky. They stood out stark and crystalline in the clear, freezing air. We stayed out for most of the day again, but this time, I called it quits early, pretending to be tired so Mason could get a break. He might manage easy skiing with his tender ankle, but I could tell it was starting to hurt him. Mason and I headed back toward the lodge walking very close to each other, laughing about something we'd seen earlier. Suddenly, I saw a streak of white in my peripheral vision, and a snowball smashed into Mason's face. I immediately went on the defensive, jerking backward and peering around. Whoops and cries sounded from an area of the resort grounds that held storage sheds and was interspersed with looming pines. â€Å"Too slow, Ashford,† someone called. â€Å"Doesn't pay to be in love.† More laughs. Mason's best friend, Eddie Castile, and a few other novices from school materialized from behind a cluster of trees. Beyond them, I heard more shouts. â€Å"We'll still take you in, though, if you want to be on our team,† said Eddie. â€Å"Even if you do dodge like a girl.† â€Å"Team?† I asked excitedly. Back at the Academy, throwing snowballs was strictly prohibited. School officials were inexplicably afraid that we'd throw snowballs packed with glass shards or razor blades, though I had no clue how they thought we'd get a hold of that kind of stuff in the first place. Not that a snowball fight was that rebellious, but after all the stress I'd been through recently, throwing objects at other people suddenly sounded like the best idea I'd heard in a while. Mason and I dashed off with the others, the prospect of forbidden fighting giving him new energy and causing him to forget the pain in his ankle. We set to the fight with a die-hard zeal. The fight soon became a matter of nailing as many people as possible while dodging attacks from others. I was exceptional at both and furthered the immaturity by catcalling and shouting silly insults at my victims. By the time someone noticed what we were doing and yelled at us, we were all laughing and covered with snow. Mason and I once again started back for the lodge, and our mood was so high, I knew the Adrian thing was long forgotten. Indeed, Mason looked at me just before we went inside. â€Å"Sorry I, uh, jumped all over you about Adrian earlier.† I squeezed his hand. â€Å"It's okay. I know Mia can tell some pretty convincing stories.† â€Å"Yeah†¦but even if you were with him†¦it's not like I have any right†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I stared at him, surprised to see his usual brash countenance turn shy. â€Å"Don't you?† I asked. A smile turned up his lips. â€Å"Do I?† Smiling back, I stepped forward and kissed him. His lips felt amazingly warm in the freezing air. It wasn't like the earth-shattering kiss I'd had with Dimitri before the trip, but it was sweet and nice- a friendly sort of kiss that maybe could turn into more. At least, that was how I saw it. From the look on Mason's face, it appeared his whole world had been rocked. â€Å"Wow,† he said, eyes wide. The moonlight made his eyes look silvery blue. â€Å"You see?† I said. â€Å"Nothing to worry about. Not Adrian, not anybody.† We kissed again- a bit longer this time- before finally dragging ourselves apart. Mason was clearly in a better mood, as well as he should have been, and I dropped into bed with a smile on my face. I wasn't technically sure if Mason and I were a couple now, but we were very close to it. But when I slept, I dreamed about Adrian Ivashkov. I stood with him on the porch again, only it was summer. The air was balmy and warm, and the sun hung bright in the sky, coating everything in golden light. I hadn't been in this much sun since living among humans. All around, the mountains and valleys were green and alive. Birds sang everywhere. Adrian leaned against the porch's railing, glanced over, and did a double-take when he saw me. â€Å"Oh. Didn't expect to see you here.† He smiled. â€Å"I was right. You are devastating when you're cleaned up.† Instinctively, I touched the skin around my eye. â€Å"It's gone,† he said. Even without being able to see it, I somehow knew he was right. â€Å"You aren't smoking.† â€Å"Bad habit,† he said. He nodded toward me. â€Å"You scared? You're wearing a lot of protection.† I frowned, then looked down. I hadn't noticed my clothing. I wore a pair of embroidered jeans I'd seen once but had been unable to afford. My T-shirt was cropped, showing off my stomach, and I wore a belly-button ring. I'd always wanted to get my belly button pierced but had never been able to afford it. The charm I now wore here was a little silver dangly one, and hanging at the end of it was that weird blue eye pendant my mom had given me. Lissa's chotki was wound around my wrist. I looked back up at Adrian, studying the way the sun shone off his brown hair. Here, in full daylight, I could see that his eyes were indeed green- a deep emerald as opposed to Lissa's pale jade. Something startling suddenly occurred to me. â€Å"Doesn't all this sun bother you?† He gave a lazy shrug. â€Å"Nah. It's my dream.† â€Å"No, it's my dream.† â€Å"Are you sure?† His smile returned. I felt confused. â€Å"I†¦ I don't know.† He chuckled, but a moment later, the laugher faded. For the first time since I'd met him, he looked serious. â€Å"Why do you have so much darkness around you?† I frowned. â€Å"What?† â€Å"You're surrounded in blackness.† His eyes studied me shrewdly, but not in a checking-me-out sort of way. â€Å"I've never seen anyone like you. Shadows everywhere. I never would have guessed it. Even while you're standing here, the shadows keep growing.† I looked down at my hands but saw nothing out of the ordinary. I glanced back up. â€Å"I'm shadow-kissed†¦.† â€Å"What's that mean?† â€Å"I died once.† I'd never talked to anyone other than Lissa and Victor Dashkov about that, but this was a dream. It didn't matter. â€Å"And I came back.† Wonder lit his face. â€Å"Ah, interesting†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I woke up. Someone was shaking me. It was Lissa. Her feelings hit me so hard through the bond that I briefly snapped into her mind and found myself looking at me. â€Å"Weird† didn't begin to cover it. I pulled back into myself, trying to sift through the terror and alarm coming from her. â€Å"What's wrong?† â€Å"There's been another Strigoi attack.†

American Romanticism

The Literary movement and story I decided to choose was American Romanticism, and â€Å"The Birthmark† by Nathaniel Hawthorne. American Romanticism is a literary period in American Literature that lasted from sass to sass. The movement itself started off as an offshoot of the European Romanticism artistic movement, â€Å"It arose as a reaction to the formal orthodoxy and Neoclassicism of the preceding period. It is marked by a freedom from the authority, forms, and conventions typical in Neoclassical literature.It replaced the neoclassic emphasis on reason with its own emphasis on the imagination and emotions, and the neoclassic emphasis on authority with an emphasis on individuality, which places the individual at the center of all life†(Cooperate). The American Romanticism movement began after the Revolutionary war ended when America wanted to separate themselves from Britain and the European form of Romanticism. American authors wanted to separate themselves from Bri tain and Europe because they wanted to be their own country and not looked at like the â€Å"little brother† country.One quote that shows that America wanted independence from Britain and Europe is, â€Å"It emerged within the United States after the Revolutionary ar when it was connected with the aspiration to forge a distinctive cultural identity correlative with the revolutions unprecedented political and social achievements†(Pease). If it was not for the Romanticism movement in Europe, and Britain, and the Revolutionary war, America would not have had the important American Romanticism literary movement.Many of the early authors who started the American Romanticism movement had close ties to the European form of Romanticism. There was two generation of American Romanticism authors, the first generation of authors were William Bryant, Henry Headwords, Henry Longfellow, James Cooper, and Catherine Sedgwick. The movement itself is about expressing individuality, emoti ons, and creativity which caused Americans to write about the American wilderness, science, and other creative ideas that tapped into their heads.American Romanticism has many major themes, some are highly imaginative and subjective, Emotion intensity, Escapism, common man as the hero, and nature as a refuge or source of knowledge. The second generation of American Romanticism authors were had a few very well known authors that started the movement like Nathaniel Hawthorn, Edgar Allen Poe, Ralph Wald Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller and, and Herman Melville. The authors were to separate themselves from the European movement, â€Å"Their representation of the new nation as basically innocent and purged of old world vices†(Pease).The authors also wrote stories about the conflicts of exploring nature. The second generation of authors wrote short stories, and books about exploring nature, philosophy, and the conflicts of science which made them different than the fir st generation of authors. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 and died in 1864. The famous author as born in Salem Massachusetts into a family whose ancestors were among the earliest of settlers. Hawthorne was born into a Puritan family, which meaner he was raised in a very strict lifestyle.After Hawthorne father died in a boating accident, Hawthorne and his mother then moved to Maine to live and work on a farm, â€Å"Hawthorne was the son of a sea captain when Nathaniel was four years old†(The Columbia Encyclopedia). When Hawthorne was nine years old, he suffered a severe injury leaving him hurt and immobile for three years, and this is when it was made clear that Hawthorne loved to read and write. Since Hawthorne could not move because of his injury, he started to read and write major, and he decided to become an author.Hawthorne attended Bowdon College from 1821, to 1825, and after graduating from Bowdon College Hawthorne decided to follow his dreams to publish an d write short stories, and novels. His first story he published was â€Å"The Collection Twice-Todd Tales†, published in 1837, and was found to be liked by Hawthorne, and only Hawthorne. After failing miserably, and having no confidence, Hawthorne got a Job at the U. S. Custom center house in Boston. Hawthorne only spent two years working at the center house to save money to move to Broke Farm for six months.In 1842 Nathaniel Hawthorne married Sophie Peabody who was familiar with Emerson, Thoreau, and Margaret Fullers writings. The married couple then moved to Concord where Hawthorne wrote â€Å"Mosses From the Old Manse,† then to Salem where he wrote his best known book, â€Å"The Scarlet Letter. † In these books Hawthorne started using his own themes and styles of writing, â€Å"Set in the 17th Century Puritan New England, the novel delves deeply in the human heart, presenting the problems of moral evil and guilt through allegory and symbolism.It is often con sidered the first American psychological novel. â€Å"(The Columbia Encyclopedia) What made Hawthorn's stories beautiful was every character had a different drive to find their destinies than any other stories published in the American Romanticism movement. Many of Hawthorne' short stories showed themes of ironic consequences, and how the desire for perfection can turn out very badly. Hawthorne would start the story of by showing the readers the characters doing something good, but the characters would always end up in bad situations.A short story that shows irony, and how Hawthorn's characters end up in bad situations is called â€Å"The Birthmark. † â€Å"The Birthmark† is about a scientist named Laymen who decided to leave science for spiritual reasons. â€Å"It was not unusual for the love of science to rival the love of a women†(Hawthorne 215). Laymen persuades a beautiful woman, who all the guys chase, to marry him. While he was married to Georgian, Layme n found the most slightest imperfection on her face, a birthmark annoying and ugly. Georgian was perfect except for the birthmark on her face that resembled a hand.The birthmark on Georgians face made Laymen think that she was not perfect, while the est. of the guys thought she was perfect besides the fact she had a birthmark that resembled a hand on her cheek. Laymen wanted to change Georgians imperfection through science because he wanted to â€Å"perfect† his wife. No matter the consequences Laymen wanted to challenge nature with science, and also change the culture. Laymen makes a potion that Georgian drink that makes the birthmark on her face start to disappear, but as the birthmark starts to disappear Georgian passes away.Georgian passes away because the birthmark on her face was the only thing that made her human, and peeping her in the human world because perfection cannot be obtained in a human, and without the birthmark on the cheek she was not human anymore. In Ala meda addiction for perfection, he lost his beautiful wife, and before he could think twice about what he did, Georgian was dead. This was very ironic because Laymen wanted to do something good by taking away the birthmark on her face, but ends up killing her on accident In American Romanticism some themes included culture of some form, nature, science, or the nature of perfecting something.Hawthorn's story â€Å"The Birthmark† wows how a man tries to perfect nature, but does not realize the consequences there was to trying to perfect something that cannot be perfected. Throughout the story Laymen was obsessing over Georgians birthmark, while other men of the story were saying how perfect she was with the birthmark, â€Å"If she were my wife, old never part with that birthmark† (Hawthorne 219). I believe that Hawthorne is trying to say that nothing is made to be perfect, so one should not try to perfect things that should not be perfected.I feel as though Hawthorne fath er dying is the reason behind some of the important deaths in his stories. Hawthorne writes about nature because it is something he has been interested in, and was a theme of American Romanticism. Hawthorne showed some other themes in â€Å"The Birthmark† like nature, science, the pursuit of perfection. Laymen was a scientist that wanted to perfect nature, even when more than half of his experiments have failed, he still tried to take the birthmark off of his beautiful wife's cheek.Laymen strives to get the birthmark off of Georgians cheek so much that he started to have dreams about ripping out her heart because he was obsessing over trying to perfect nature. Throughout the story it wows that Georgian Just wanted to please Laymen even though she thought that her birthmark resembled her, and all the guys loved it. Since Laymen started obsessing over the birthmark and hating it, this made Georgian start to hate the birthmark herself too, even though she knows that other men in the world find her birthmark beautiful.Since Laymen was being selfish and Just thinking about himself and perfecting nature he lost love, and his wife Georgian. In â€Å"The Birthmark† there is a spot in the story where Laymen obsesses over the birthmark on Georgians cheek so much, that he had a dream where he ripped out ere heart, â€Å"Laymen now remembered his dream. He had fancied himself with Indaba, attempting an operation for the removal of the birthmark.But deeper went the knife, the deeper sank the hand, until at length its tiny grasps appeared to have caught a hold of Georgians heart; whence however, her husband was inexorably resolved to cut it or wrench it away'(Hawthorne 217). I feel like this shows that no matter what Laymen did, he needed to take the birthmark off of Georgians face, even if that did mean he would have to take out her heart to do so. What Hawthorne is trying to say in his story is that not one man in the world could perfect tauter, and one sho uld not try because no one knows the consequences of doing so.Nathaniel Hawthorn's story â€Å"The Birthmark† showed themes of American Romanticism by showing how culture and nature are different. Hawthorne shows that Laymen wanted to perfect nature, even when nature did not want to be perfected. â€Å"The Birthmark shows how no one can control, and perfect nature without having dire consequences that could end up killing people. You can see how events in Hawthorn's life effected his writing, and how it influenced his publication in the American Romanticism movement. American Romanticism The American writers tried to figure out what ‘American’ could mean—they were out to find a unique personality, a separate identity to the American literature, and the way of life, that was distinctly American and not British. This struggle fired them and took them to the portals of creativity. Their vision was to outgrow the concepts of guilt, evil, salvation, providential aspects of Puritanism, and search about the fiery rhetoric of equality and freedom. In the glorious years of 1850-1855, emerged writers like Emerson. The materialistic approach unavoidable in the circumstances then prevailing cost America the mind and the spirit.To blend 150 communities into a Nation was not an ordinary job. Writers like Emerson, moved away from the influences of stern dogmas and looked out for new spiritual roots. Materialistic theories for education were resisted. Truth is a matter of intuition and individual experience, and it transcends the borders of reason. Human beings n eed to follow the dynamic spirit, without destructive approach. Good literature must not go by the rules and it should appeal to the heart. To such writers Christ in the heart was more important than the cross on the neck!The ideas of Cultural Revolution became popular, even though many did not understand its exact definition and implications. The ‘clash’ of writes of the time continued; they influenced each other, though each denied such influence to assert their right as romantic individualists. Poe (who died in 1849) wrote about Emerson in his works, Emerson bought his writings to a creative boil etc. The hero of American Romanticism was Emerson, the literary giant, who kindled the creative fires in his time. He touched all the sensitive parts of the American psyche. The sentiments of an individual on the same topic vary from time to time.An authentic quality about thinkers and genuine writers is that they are willing to think; give room to accommodate; willing to ac cept, when necessary and reject outright, when required to do so. Emerson’s ‘Moral Sentiment’ and Poe’s ‘Poetic Sentiment’ often clash. Emerson viewed Poe as a man of dissipation. This is just short of telling that he is an evil-incarnation. He also considered Poe as a man of stern reasons, without heart. Poe was the genius of imaginative literature, but he lacked humanity, so essential for the standard of living and standard of life of the society.The evil influences of Satan in the writings of Poe were seen by many contemporary writers, including Emerson. Soon other writers began to narrow down the margin of difference between the writings of Emerson and Poe. The gap between Poe’s â€Å"poetic sentiment† and Emerson’s â€Å"moral sentiment† was much narrower. Critics created such a controversy and erected artificial barriers without going into the merits of the case. The spirit of the age to which the poets and wr iters live counts a lot and it has profound influence on their writings. The ‘generation gap.’ in the wide sense does the trick. Also, their ideas on relationship between art and morality, were actually of little consequence, once the influence of time-element is deleted from their views and writings. Viewed impartially, Emerson’s â€Å"Moral Sentiment' and Poe's â€Å"Poetic Sentiment† are the alternative beats of the same heart. Both wish to transcend the borders of reason, as they are aware that the bliss of truth is available for experiencing only when the last hurdle of the mind is crossed. Experience divinity through moral sentiment or poetic sentiment—it is one and the same!It is reasonable to assume that once they reach the ‘beyond the mind’ state, the poetic sentiments and the moral sentiments merge, because in essence, they are one and the same. The mind level critics can not understand Emerson or Poe! Their position is like the Surgeon in the allegory! He once questioned a Realized Soul, â€Å"Revered Master, I am a surgeon of international reputation. In the course of my professional duties, I have cut each and every part of the human body. But I haven’t seen your God anywhere! † â€Å"Is it so? † asked the Realized Soul, â€Å"Then you must have at least come across human emotions like love, anger, greed, etc.when you performed those operations! †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ The perplexed Surgeon said, â€Å"These are mind-level emotions. How can one see them? † Now it was the turn of the Realized Soul to deliver the clincher. He said, â€Å"You are unable to see the emotions, which belong to the domain of mind. How can you see God, for experiencing whom, you need to transcend the borders of mind and enter the realm of divinity? † In fact, both Poe and Emerson wrote from the level of progression of their minds, and the time-element played an important role, as they tried to give the verbatim report of their intuitive experiences.Even the narrowest differences at the highest level become wide disagreements. It is not correct to conclude that Poe and Emerson always thought on identical lines. Apart from the above two sentiments, there are wide, irreconcilable differences between the two. Art takes the secondary position as far as Emerson is concerned. His main concern is Over-Soul. Art is just means to an end. For Poe, it is the end in itself. While asserting thus, he touches the portals of spiritual realm, but refuses to cross the last barrier of the mind.Perhaps it is this search for eternal truth that kindles the curiosity of Poe to create romantic hero like Auguste Dupin Poe is the undisputed ancestor of a detective genre of stories. The search in a fiction and real search in individual lives invite comparison. The reason for crime-perpetration (evil) is the age-old investigative querry of humanity. His detective story â€Å"The Murder in the Rue Morgueà ¢â‚¬  (1841) is the case in point. In this story Poe describes about the same pairs of opposites that govern and dominate human life, good and evil, which are important biblical subjects.Even today Dupin is the most admired and popular detective character. The most important asset of Dupin is his capacity for observation and ability to draw correct conclusions. His analytical mind was his natural gift which he used intelligently to arrive at decisions. Poe created this unique character when the detective genre of literature did not exist. One can observe similarities between the traits of seeker of truth and the detective Dupin who wishes to get at the truth of complicated issues. The time-element and the historical background have the dominant influence on the writings of an author.Viewed from this angle Emerson belonged to the volatile time of the American History, when the American society was going through convulsions. Such situations fire the mind of a creative author. Emerson has been hailed as the greatest prose writer of this century. There are solid grounds why Emerson’s essays are all-time greats. Such writing is possible for a brilliant mind, one who has the warm-heart and above all, one who has touched, and at times crossed the borders of reason-transcended the mind-barrier to enter the portals of divinity. He has definitely experienced the flashes of divinity within him!The sum and substance of his essays is– life is to be lived in its trials and tribulations its duty and beauty with total respect and surrender for the Over-Soul that looks after the smallest and biggest actions and aspirations of an individual. Don’t seek concession, but make relentless efforts for Self-Realization, argues Emerson. The important themes depicted in Emerson’s ‘Circles’, are too profound for the ordinary mind to comprehend. Theme number one is, there are no fixed points and the second one, that the key to every man is his tho ughts.The import of the first point can be understood not by intellectuals but by the spiritually-oriented. The concept is equivalent to that of Maya (a Sanskrit word, roughly translated-illusion) of the Advaita (Non-dualism) Philosophy of the East, more specifically India! By arguments and counter-arguments, this point can not be proved, and therefore the rationalistic mind would not accept this. For example, when Bertrand Russell said, â€Å"Mental fear creates God,† it actually doesn’t make any difference to God! Russell is speaking from his mental level.Emerson, talking about the essential and real nature of things can be explained through an example: Howsoever powerful and big may be the waves in an ocean, their essential nature is mere water! Mind is nothing but the bundle of thoughts. When the thought process is changed, the action process is also changed. When the thoughts are changed, the mind is changed, when the mind is changed; the man is changed; when the man is changed, the society is changed. There are inconsistencies in our perception and in our capacities for articulating ideas—this is bound to happen.Everyone speaks from the level of his progression, as cited in the example of Bertrand Russell, above. Such capacity is inborn as well as acquired. When Poe posits the figure of Auguste Dupin, whose perspective appears to supersede all partial perceptions, one needs to understand that he is thinking from the level of his perceptions about life. That can’t be and need not be truth. Poe’s conception of final intelligence is comparable with Emerson’s assertion that such finality is unattainable through the process and methods of intelligence and reason.That is the transcendental experience to be experienced, and no words can describe it for understanding by the masses. It is the level of unspeakable truth. It is the sweetest sound —the silence within! Auguste Dupin is an analytical genius. How come he became the genius? What is the secret behind his extraordinary abilities? Dupin lives in isolation, he is a completely detached individual, and this detachment gives him the extra power of close observation and he comes to correct conclusions. Police are in the middle of everything and are habituated to work in noise pollution (of the mind?) But Dupin works in ‘silence. ’ By depicting this style for working, Poe castigates the various social institutions, which are incapable of providing proper facilities and full justice to the people. Dupin is not attached to anybody and he is working without the motivated desires. =============== References Cited: Emerson, Ralph Waldo: Essays & Poems Emerson (Everyman's Library) Publisher: Orion Publishing Group, Ltd. (March 15, 1995) Poe, Edgar Allan: Thompson G. R. (Editor): The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe (Norton Critical Editions) Publisher: W. W. Norton; 1st edition (April 2004)

What Do We Do with Howard

â€Å"What do we do with Howard? † Synopsis:Tad Pierson had recently been appointed as a project engineer. As project engineer for one of Agrigreen’s plants, he is responsible for the operation of the plant surveying group. For some time now Tad had been aware of some performance, safety, and conflicts with personnel within the group. These issues appear to be escalating in frequency and are causing Tad concern regarding the safety of the employees, the production schedules, and possible actions that he might need to take. Agrigreen, Inc. s a company that manufactures a verity of agricultural fertilizer. With plants located in the western United States and Canada, Agrigreen employs certified surveyors to ensure quality and safety of each project. Eighteen years ago, Agrigreen’s survey crew was composed of part-time drafting personnel or project engineers. Howard Lineberry, a lead surveyor had been employed with Agrigreen for eighteen years. Over his tenure he had been supervised by five different managers, and had three surveyor’s helpers. Howard’s work over the years has caused multiple safety and production issues.He has also had conflicts with the engineering staff, his managers, and almost everyone he worked with. Mel Cutler, a surveyor’s helper, after being employed by the company for only a few years was assigned to assist Howard. Five years into this assignment, Mel began to notice problems due to Howard’s note keeping method. These problems contributed to the production and safety issues with several projects. Later Mel began to notice that Howard was taking an excessive amount of snack breaks, coming to work late and leaving early.He also noticed Howard taking naps on the job. When the opportunity presented itself, Mel accepted a part-time assignment away from Howard. This reassignment resulted in a new surveyor’s helper being assigned, Vince Adam. Vince, an impressible young high school graduate, took on several of Howard’s inappropriate habits. Tad is concerned that the performance, safety, and personnel issues in the plant surveying group is getting out of control and is considering what action(s) that he should take, if any, at this point to intervene and correct the situations.Finding of Fact #1:One of the key issues of concern that Tad faces is the escalating quality of work being performed by Howard. Howard’s inefficient work processes in his note keeping and time management has caused issues in both production as well as safety violations on the job sites. These continual issues have cost Agrigreen in both extra man power to rebuild and delays in production. By examining Howard’s work process Tad can better understand what needs to be done and work toward eliminating these errors. Recommendation #1:Howard’s performance at work is a product of miss management and poor attitude.When Howard was first employed, his manager, Jerry Givens [now r etired], supervised with an iron hand. His management style can best be described as Theory X. Jerry took a command-and-control approach to management based on a negative view of Howard’s knowledge, skills, and ability. [ (Hellriegel & Slocum Jr. , 2008) ] He told Howard what to do and how to do it. Upon Jerry’s retirement, the next manager, Paul Jackson, used the Theory Y approach to management. He took on an empowering approach with Howard. This is where the problem truly began.Howard, with his new found freedom took it upon his self to improve the process by working directly with the project engineers. Howard’s efforts increased the pace of the work which called for a number of last minute requests and frequent changes in work schedules. By not having an establish plan of action in place, errors were made which cost the company time and money. Over the years, Howard’s performance issues escalated and upon several attempts by different managers, he refused to change. Tad has his work cut out for him.Regardless of how Howard may feel, Tad is still his boss and he is there to work for Agrigreen. Howard’s performance is not acceptable in any manner. While the failures of the previous managers to confront Howard about his performance problems have cost the company money it is now up to Tad to correct this issue. In doing so, there are a few things Tad should keep in mind. First, Tad should have a plan of action as to how he is going to confront this issue. With this plan of action, Tad should set define time as to the expected behaviors and outcomes expected in Howard’s performance.Next, Tad needs to meet with Howard and be specific in defining the poor performance that occurred in the past, and remind Howard when each error occurred. Tad also needs to be specific as to the plan of action and the established time frame to correct these errors as well as the consequences of non conformance. Tad needs to focus on the p erformance required for the job and make sure that he reiterates the guidelines that have been outlined for the workplace. Tad should consider Howard’s personality and how he handles feedback.Regardless of how Howard has been performing, Tad should always be clear and straightforward during his communication with Howard. He needs to focus on the performance which Howard has control. At the conclusion of this meeting, Tad should check Howard’s understanding to avoid any miss communications. After the meeting with Howard, Tad should document this meeting from his notes. He should document the issue and the action that has been taken to correct or eliminate the problems. After summarizing this meeting a copy of Tad’s report should be given to Howard and the original placed in Howard’s file.Finally, timely feedback should be given to Howard as Howard works on improving his performance. Should Tad note that Howard needs additional training, he should check wit h the human resource department for additional training classes, or set Howard with a mentor. Tad should realize that confronting Howard about his poor performance is not going to be easy. But once he has a plan of action in place, he will fine getting Howard back on track is far better for the company than having to replace him. [ (Busines & Legal Reports, 2006) ]The above action is how we handled an employee in our office who was a poor performer. I was set as her mentor, and working one-on-one with her I had to re-train her in our processes to ensure that she had a full understanding as to what was required in performing our job. After a brief three months, she is now producing high quality of work. As a reviewer, this young lady’s work is â€Å"spot on. † She is now off corrective action and is no longer in jeopardy of losing her job. Finding of Fact #2:The next issue Tad faces is Howard’s attendance.Over the years of Howards’ tenure, he had becom e complacent. He has been increasingly taking additional snack breaks, arriving to work late, leaving work early, as well as fall asleep on the job. For years, under the previous management, Howard’s actions have been over looked. Tad had witnessed several of these company violations, and has also noticed Vince; Howard’s assistant has been following the same pattern as Howard. Recommendation #2:Identifying attendance issues are not a simple process. There may be underlying issues which could be the driver of Howard’s absenteeism.Tad needs to first research the company’s policy and gain a full understanding of what he can and cannot do to resolve the issue. Tad also needs to consult with the human resource department as well as the legal department to understand and educate himself on the potential legal issues that also are involved. Once Tad had educated himself, he needs to approach Howard to determine if there are underline reasons for the continuing a ttendance issues. It depends on why the Howard is late, absent, or taking frequent breaks will drive the action that Tad needs to take.During Tad’s conversation with Howard, if it is determined that the reason for this attendance problem is caused by some type of stress issues, violence and or family problem Tad may need to refer Howard to the Employee Assistance program (EAP) for assistance. If the reason is medical, Tad may suggest Howard use the benefits allowed to him under the American’s with disability Act (ADA) or the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Should the outcome be something else, Tad may need to take a different approach. (Vikesland) ] A good approach is to counsel with Howard of the important of keeping time and punctuality while driving down the corporate policy and procedures. A â€Å"carrot-and-stick† approach is a time-tested method of dealing with attendance issues. Through this approach, Tad can use a combination of reward and punishmen t. As with the plan of action, Tad created for the production issue, he may wish to either add the attendance issue to the original plan, or write a separate plan of action. Also, Tad should use the same method of communication, documentation, and feedback with this issue as e does with the production issue. [ (Nayab, 2010) ] I work with a person who appears to have an attendance problem. This person comes in at various times during the day. I cannot a test to when she leaves as I’m already on my way home while she is still in the office. At times, I’ve noticed that she takes two sometimes two and a half hour smoke breaks. The issue here is we are exempted employees. Since this person sits next to me I talk with her a great deal, so I know her attendance problem is mostly stress related. I have told her about our EPA program, but she has opted not to take advantage of their services.Finding of Fact #3:The final issue may appear to be one of the hardest for Tad. This is the moral of the plant’s surveying group. For years, Howard’s continued errors and attendance has caused issues with the other employees. Mel Cutler was originally assigned to work with Howard as a surveyor’s helper. A few years ago Mel began working on other projects away from Howard. Now that the temporary assignment is reaching its conclusion, Mel had expressed his concerns with working with Howard. Tad appears to understand, since he has known the original surveyor’s helper Dan Richards and the same concerns were expressed than.There also appears to be concerns being expressed by the engineering crews. It appears that they do not trust the work that Howard produces, and takes additional time (which cost extra money) to verify Howard’s findings. As Howard’s new supervisor, Tad needs to get a clear view of the situation from different perspectives and act on them accordingly. Recommendation #3:The plant surveying group at Agrigreen works closely with the project engineers. For some time now, anxiety, frustration, and resentment has been building in reference to the growing problems with Howard.This appears to be the major cause of the low morale and high levels of employee dissatisfaction within the plant. If left unchecked this issue will only accelerate the problem and the company will lose key personal. When Tad was assigned the group, he knew that there was a continual conflict brewing. He needs to confront this issue head on. This can be accomplished by fostering interpersonal communication within the group. Tad needs to become an active listener by paying attention to the concerns of the group withhold holding judgment on those who chose to share their thoughts.He needs to develop open communication between this cross-functional team. He need to develop clear and specific goals for the team to work through their concerns. As Howard’s performance and attendance issues are protected by employment laws and regulations as well as corporate ethical policies, the solutions to those issues cannot be shared with the team. For this reason, the team must learn to work past these issues knowing that Tad is on top of those concerns. [ (Hellriegel & Slocum Jr. , 2008) ] Conflict at times can be a good thing.However this is not the case with the plant surveying group. Tad will have his work cut out. He not only has to resolve the conflict within his team, but he also need to understand his own personal issues with Howard. Tad needs to get his team together to work through these concerns. He needs to set the stage by working on an agreement within the team that the conflict is a mutual problem for all and that it can best be resolved through open communication rather than allowing the issues to fester. Next, Tad needs to get to the underlying issues and/or concerns of the team.He should ask each team member for their view points and respect their opinions and feelings. He also should express that he will need their cooperation in solving the problems. If the team cannot reach a common perception of the problem, than the team needs to try to see the problem from the other members view point. Sometimes brainstorming sessions are a great way of getting to the key factors of the conflict. This session if worked correctly, is a great tool at working through these conflicts and reaching a viable solution. (Conflict Resolution) ] As for Tad and his interpersonal conflict in reference to Howard, Tad needs to keep his concerns in check while on the job. Now that he is Howard’s boss, additional training may be needed to improve his interpersonal skills. This is what I believe my former manager should be doing. In working with her for the past two years, it has become apparent that she lacks interpersonal skills. Another lady I work with who trained the major of the staff when we first was awarded our contract has more than ten years of experience.When our former manager t alks with her, she comes across as demeaning and at time condescending. It is no wonder why she is no longer a manager. I personally feel that she needs to re-educate herself on how to deal with people.Works Cited Busines & Legal Reports, I. (2006, October 12). 8 Rules for Dealing with Poor Performers. Retrieved December 5, 2010, from HR. BLR. com: http://hr. blr. com/shitepapers/Performance-Termination/Performance-Employee-Appraisal/8-Rules-for-Dealing-with-Poor-Performers/ Conflict Resolution. (n. d. ). Retrieved December 5, 2010, from Mindtools. om: http://www. mindtools. com/pages/article/newLDR_81. htm Hellriegel, D. , & Slocum Jr. , J. W. (2008). MGMT 362: Organizational Behavior Columbia College. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning. Nayab, N. (2010, October 10). Strategies for Dealing with Employee Time & Attendance Problems. Retrieved November 5, 2010, from brighthub. com: http://www. brighthub. com/office/human-resources/articles/90380. aspx Vikesland, G. (n. d. ). Ho w to Deal with Employee Absenteeism. Retrieved December 5, 2010, from Employer-Employee. com: http://www. employer-employee. com/absent. html

MICROECONOMIC THEORY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MICROECONOMIC THEORY - Essay Example 1-12). On the other hand, consumers will purchase expensive products whenever their income goes up and less expensive products when the income reduces. It is apparent that consumers normally make various choices with an aim of maximizing benefits they receive in return for the money they spend and the theory posits that consumers spend only the money they have without accounting for saved money as this writing explains. Dean (2009, p. 25-42) explains that the level of satisfaction that a consumer obtains from purchasing various products is based on utility function whose arguments affect consumer’s overall satisfaction level. There are trade-offs faced by the consumers while making consumption decisions and these can be explained with utility function. Diminishing marginal utility describes consumer’s preferences in a very significant way making some economic analysis to take it as a basic starting point. According to Levin & Milgrom (2004, pp. 5-15), consumer theory il lustrates that a consumer prefers a group of products packaged together called bundle and that a consumer would prefer a bundle and disregard the brand. The theory explains that consumers would rather base their purchase decision on the number of products in the bundle or the size of the bundle but not the product’s brand. Sassatelli (2007, pp. ... n bundle, if consumers decide to give up on one good, they would add more of another substitute as a way of maintaining their level of utility (Sassatelli 2007, pp. 57-60). Consumers normally substitute products for others even if the two goods are not the same and this describes most people’s preferences. Slope of an indifference curve shows the maximum number of units of a particular good a consumer is willing to substitute to acquire one unit of the other thus providing an economic way of understanding what the indifference curve really show. It is also worth noting that the slope of an indifference curve depends on the consumption bundle considered. The slope of an indifference curve represents the marginal rate of substitution between two products (Sirgy 1982, pp. 287-300). Summary of Simon Herbert Article Simon attempts to explain the link between psychology and economics by resting on a notion of economics as a science and a discipline (Simon 1959, pp. 253-260). He expl ains that economics as a science can be used in describing and predicting the behavior of various kinds of consumers and entrepreneurs. His research endeavor intended to understand the processes that participate in human decision making although despite his effort to investigate the issue he did not have a huge impact in the decision making (Zalega 2012, pp. 77-99). He rejected the assumption of perfect rationality made in the mainstream economics and he further emphasized the limitations of the cognitive processes. Simon (1959, pp. 255-265) points out that economics is widely preoccupied by normative economics while descriptive macroeconomics offers the scientific base for policy prescription. He explains how the theory of consumer demand was derived from indifference curve and considering of

Legal Aspects of Human Resource Management Essay

Legal Aspects of Human Resource Management - Essay Example t is of indefinite duration, the employer can terminate the employee for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all.† However, even the ‘at will’ employees are entitled to a number of legal protections against unlawful discrimination with regard to the termination of an employee. These are known as exceptions of the at-will employment. While discussing the exceptions of at-will employment recognized by the United States, there are three major types of exceptions commonly found in the states. First of all, there are public policy exceptions to employment at will through which the termination of an employee is considered wrongful if it violates the well-established public policies of the state. For instance, an employer cannot terminate an employee if the latter refuses to break the law at the request of the employer. Public policy exceptions are the most widely exceptions that are recognized in most of the states in the US. Then there are implied contract exceptions where the employer cannot terminate the employee if an implied contract is formed between the two even without a written instrument. In case the employer terminates an employee in violation of an implied employment contract, then possibilities are that the employer will be found liable for breach of contract. It is important to note that implied employment contracts can be created by the employer’s oral or written assurances regarding job tenure or disciplinary procedures. However, it is often found that the fired employee has to bear the burden of proof. The third type of exceptions are the covenant of good faith and fair dealing exceptions. Under this exception, an employer cannot terminate the employee in bad faith or motivated by any personal hatred. Courts that recognize such exceptions are found to have recognized two types of contracts - a) covenants implied in fact and b) covenants implied in law. For example, covenants implied in fact include repeated promotions and pay increases

Recession in Dubai 2008 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Recession in Dubai 2008 - Research Paper Example The average economic growth rate of the UAE economy between 2000 and 2007 was 7%. The economy is heavily reliant on petroleum and property investments (World Economic Forum, par 1). In particular, Dubai of the other emirates of the UAE was hit hardest. This is because the state (emirate) of Dubai is not as much endowed with oil resources as her sister emirates (Prasadjain, par 6). For this reason the state is left to attract foreign investment, partly in banking, construction and the real estate. It is the combination of these economic-supportive structures that the turmoil was founded in Dubai. Overall, Dubai came out heavily bruised by the crisis. Saif and Chucair (pp 3) argue that the UAE was not cautious enough so as to set up a ceiling for speculative investments that would in the end throw its banking system in disarray. In their view, Saif and Choucair (pp 3) this failure to caution the economy from the aforementioned investments led to serious problems in trying to deflate the growing property bubble. The onset of this situation meant a collapse of several foreign investment companies. To further complicate the situation, the UAE government failed in guaranteeing equitable working conditions for both local and foreign workers. The working conditions for foreigners, most of who worked for foreign companies that brought in substantial capital inflow turned for the worse, deplorable in the words of Saif and Churcair (pg 4). This was a major catalyst for an across-market shrug among these companies. A major walk out was imminent at this point, but the government was clever enough to secure the interests of its citizenry by placing them ahead of the foreign investors. This left these companies, which were initially troubled by failing prospects in their home countries, very little space to further influence events in the country. While foreign investment

MARKETING INTELLINGENCE Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

MARKETING INTELLINGENCE - Assignment Example 50). Example, when an individual feels thirst he or she will have need to buy water or a cold drink. Stage4: The decision of purchasing. After the consumer has gone through the above stages and evaluated the solutions, he will choose the brand that suits him according to his needs. Then the consumer will go ahead with the real purchase of the products. Stage5: Post purchase behavior and evaluation. After the consumer purchased the product, he or she will carry out customer’s analysis. This is to know whether the product is useful to you or not. And also knowing if it had fulfilled the needs or not (GERBER, 2008 p. 50). In conclusion, it’s very important for the consumer to carry out specific research and follows the five stages before and after purchasing a given product that he or she may need. This will enable him or her to have the right product without a regret. There are a number of theories which are in line with the buyer behavior in terms of individuals and market. These theories include environmental theory of buying behavior, generic theory of buying behavior, cultural theory and internal theory of buying behavior. This is explained below. Environmental Theory of buying behavior: Individuals can show different buying behavior basing on the situation and the environment the individual is in. The environment in which the individual is will make very big measure in the market in which the individual is in. Example an individual can be in the supermarket and buy a water bottle at a cheap price, but after a long day of working in a busy place the individual will buy that bottle of water at a higher price than it was in the supermarket (HOWARD, 1969 p. 45). Cultural theory of buying behavior: The individual and market behavior of a buyer can be affected by the culture in which the individual is in. When an individual was being raised and brought up in the family, the person’s behavior can be influenced by the family member. Example the

Domestic violence Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Domestic violence - Research Paper Example ic violence shelter has established several programs that can ensure the safety of domestic violence victims and provide the relevant support in an effort to eliminate domestic violence in the community. This paper will provide the details of all the processes and activities carried out by the program. The main objective of establishing a local, domestic violence shelter was to provide both short-term and long-term accommodation to domestic violence victims. Volunteers working in the shelter receive children, women, as well as men who have suffered domestic violence and can no longer live in their homes. Notably, women and children form the majority of domestic violence victims. Therefore, the local, domestic violence shelter receives children and women exposed to extreme domestic violence and present them with a safe place to live before situations return to normal. In some cases, the program organizes for long-term accommodation, especially for victims whose lives are at a risk. At the shelter, all the victims receive the relevant counseling from psychological experts. Domestic violence causes high levels of trauma in the victims. It can affect the normal development of children (Cook-Craig, Lane, & Siebold, 2010). Therefore, children who are exposed to domestic violence in the community can receive the relevant counseling and support in an effort to minimize long-term effects of domestic violence. In order to address issues related to domestic violence effectively, the volunteers indulge in a risk assessment process.The process sought to establish members of the community who are prone to domestic violence as well as establishing the potential causes of domestic violence in the community. All the volunteers recognize that it is impossible to address domestic violence effectively if the root causes of the problem are not identified (Cook-Craig, Lane, & Siebold, 2010). After identifying the social and community conditions that contribute to the increasing

Nursing Schizophernia in the UK Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Nursing Schizophernia in the UK - Assignment Example The key concept related to the two main parts of nursing I. e. Health promotion and disease prevention are individual care, promoting independence, self dependent and lifespan approach. The main questions related to nursing are how one individual does work; how to protect the health of the patients. Kulbok et.al. (2012) in their article mentioned the unique knowledge that a nurse needed to perform the work in the public health sector, community and also the importance of a good partnership the needed to effect care and treatment. Their article enlightened the historical perspective of both public health and community care from â€Å"sanitation and an infection control perspective toward challenging resources for the poor and underserved and now to its continued emphasis on participatory partnerships for effective intervention.†( Kulbok et.al, 2012). According to Burggarf (2012) transition in a core concept always play a major role and nurses are the integral part of it. Accord ing to him it is a passage between two relatively stable period of time with older patients diagnosed with dementia. Nurses play an important role in this phase to keep them mentally fit and healthy. In his article he also discussed about a patient navigation model for chronic disease which encapsulated into transformation for the health conceptual framework. This model was designed keeping in mind the behavioral changes and the concept of this model was based on the direct relationship between a patient and nurse. According to hi patient navigation , which was originally conceptualized on oncology , played a great role in the wider health care field including treatment of severe chronic diseases. (Burggarf, 2012) 2. Case study : Role of Nursing in Treatment of... Following is a summery of a case study   which is a clear indication about the fact that nurses are an integral part of the curative process for any person who is suffering from a chronic disease. Terry is a 26-year-old single female. She was a high school graduate and completed 1 year of college. She was born and bought up upper-middle-class family where academic and career success were extremely important as was their conservative Christian faith.   Terry was a good   hard working and self critical. After graduation,   Terry went out of state to college. In the first year of college, she received passing grades   but began to experience auditory hallucinations and delusions. She started to act in bizarrely and withdrew from people. At 18, she was hospitalized   1 month and dropped out of college. In the last   7 years was   hospitalized 12 tunes. There was no history of psychiatric illness in the family. Terry was discharged from a psychiatric hospital after 2 month s of inpatient treatment. Her diagnosis was schizophrenia, undifferentiated type, chronic. Her GAF at discharge was 30. She lived with her parents and was on SSI. Terry was referred by her nurse for ongoing psychotherapy as part of her discharge plan to help her adapt to the demands of community living and manage her illness. During her illness she was facing   auditory persecutory hallucinations and delusions as well as frequent cognitions such as "I'm no good,"I can't do anything." Behaviourally she was inactive, unable to work or live independently.

Alternative Assessment Essay Example for Free

Alternative Assessment Essay Consequently, assessment has also undergone a massive reform. This has led to a wider range of assessment now than there was twenty-five years ago (Gipps, 1994). Evidence has shown that educational systems have undergone assessment reforms, which are coincident with curriculum reforms (Nitko, 1995). A number of assessment methods have been applied in the Ghanaian educational system since the introduction of schooling in the country (MOE, 1987). The educational reform in Ghana began with the hope that learning was to be more practical and examinations should be based on practical oriented syllabus. What had emerged was that the cost and difficulties involved in assessing students’ practical work and the unreliability of teachers’ assessment had resulted in a return to the status quo, that is pen and paper tests. Currently, Ghanaian teachers tend to monitor students’ understanding through pen-and-paper tests and exercises in class, and move through the syllabus and textbook with little or no attempt to use new instructional strategies if students do not understand the material. The use of pen-and-paper tests has been used almost exclusively by schools to monitor students’ achievement. These tools have also dominated examination for the 1 professional certification of teacher and college admission. These strategies of assessing students have come under severe criticism by many educators (Wolf, 19891). The perception that much of what gets tested is not relevant or has not been taught to students has been a source of concern to many educators and parents. Such concerns have made educators direct their attention to a new approach to testing variously described as â€Å"performance assessment†, â€Å"authentic assessment†, portfolio assessment†, and â€Å"alternative assessment† (Winzer, 1992). The Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 1989) call for significant change in the way mathematics is taught. In conjunction with this demand for change in mathematics instruction, a change format for assessing students is needed. To document these new expressions of teaching and learning, alternative assessments have emerged as the vehicle by which students and teachers can organise, manage and analyse life inside and outside the school. One of the most exciting and liberating things about the current interest in assessment is the recognition that numerous assessment tools are available to schools, districts, and states that are developing new assessment systems. These tools range from standardized fixed-response tests to alternatives such as performance assessment, exhibitions, portfolios, and observation scales. However, in Ghana, alternative assessment is relatively an unknown concept and only few researches have been conducted in this area. Each type of assessment brings with it different strengths and weaknesses to the problem of fair and equitable assessment. Recognizing the complexity of understanding performance or success for individuals, it is virtually impossible that any single tool will 2 do the job of fairly assessing student performance. Instead, the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (1996) suggests that an assessment system made up of multiple assessments (including norm-referenced or criterion-referenced assessments, alternative assessments, and classroom assessments) can produce comprehensive, credible, dependable information upon which important decisions can be made about students, schools, districts, or states. Since the influence of testing on curriculum and instruction is now widely acknowledged, educators, policymakers, and others are turning to alternative assessment methods as a tool for educational reform. The movement away from traditional, multiplechoice tests to alternative assessments, variously called authentic assessment or performance assessment, has included a wide variety of strategies such as open-ended questions, exhibits, demonstrations, hands-on execution of experiments, computer simulations, writing in many disciplines, and portfolios of student work over time. These terms and assessment strategies have led the quest for more meaningful assessments which better capture the significant outcomes we want students to achieve and better match the kinds of tasks which they will need to accomplish in order to assure their future success. Billions of dollars are spent each year on education, yet there is widespread dissatisfaction with our educational system among educators, parents, policymakers, and the business community. Efforts to reform and restructure schools have focused attention on the role of assessment in school improvement. 3.  After years of increases in the quantity of formalized testing and the consequences of poor test scores, many educators have begun to strongly criticize the measures used to monitor student performance and evaluate programs. They claim that traditional measures fail to assess significant learning outcomes and thereby undermine curriculum, instruction, and policy decisions. The way in which students are assessed fundamentally affects their learning. Good assessment practice is designed to ensure that, in order to pass the module or programme, students have to demonstrate they have achieved the intended learning outcomes. To test a wide range of intended learning outcomes, diversity of assessment practice between and within different subjects is to be expected and welcomed, requiring and enabling students to demonstrate their capabilities and achievements within each module or programme. The aim of this paper is to provide a guide to the range of alternative assessment tools available, to discuss the potential benefits and difficulties in using the approach and suggest a process for its use. Alternative Assessment Alternative assessment is a generic term referring to the new forms of assessment (Winzer, 1992). It includes a variety of instruments that can be adapted to varying situations. The teacher and the students can collaboratively decide which procedures are to be used for assessment (Huerta Macias 1995). Individual students are also often given the responsibility of selecting specific products of their work on which they will be assessed. It provides the students with the opportunity to reflect on his/her learning 4 experience, pointing out what he/she understands, and the factors that contribute to his/her lack of understanding. The main goal of alternative assessment is to gather evidence about how students are approaching, processing, and completing â€Å"real-life† tasks in a particular domain (Garcia and Pearson, 1994). Alternative assessment may include interviews with students, journal writing by students, developing portfolios of students’ work and writing of reflections. Also, students are encouraged to engage in small co-operative group learning and may be assessed individually and jointly. Alternative assessment, most importantly, provides alternative to traditional assessment in that it; i. ii.does not intrude on regular classroom activities; provides multiple indices that can be used to gauge students progress; and iii. provides information on the strengths and weaknesses of each individual student (Huerta-Macias, 1995; p. 9) One of the major advantages of alternative assessment as a tool for assessing students is that it empowers students to become partners and decision makers in their learning (Smolen et al 1995). Curran (1997) in his study with middle level educators found that alternative assessment is most valuable for students’ involvement in metacognitive learning. Vlaskamp (1995) found that alternative assessment processes engage students to become active in learning. The processes offer them opportunities for reflection and to be thoughtful respondents and judges of their own learning. Lee (1996) 5 found that the real value of alternative assessment is an information source for teachers and a learning tool for the students. Alternative assessment includes a variety of instruments that can be adapted to varying situations. These instruments include the use of checklist of students’ behaviour or product, journals, reading log, videos of role plays, audio tape of discussions, self evaluation, questionnaire, work samples and teacher observation of anecdotal records (Huerta-Macias, 1995, p. 12). According to her, the teacher or instructor and students can collaboratively decide which procedures are to be used for assessment in a given class. Individual students are also given the responsibility of selecting specific products of their work on which they will be assessed. Portfolio Assessment The concept of portfolio assessment comes from the field of fine arts in which portfolios are used to demonstrate the depth and breath of an artist’s talents and capabilities. A portfolio is a systematic, well organised collection of evidence used to monitor the growth of a student’s knowledge, skills and attitudes (Bonnestetter, 1994). It is a purposeful collection of students work that exhibits to the students and others the student’s efforts, progress or achievement in (a) given area(s) (Reckase 1995). This collection according to them should include: ? Student participation in selection of portfolio contents ? The criteria for selection, and evidence of student self-reflection (p. 12) To fulfil the purpose of portfolio assessment as a methodology based on multiple measures and high content validity, the portfolio is to be composed of materials that 6 should be selected jointly by the student and the teacher to reflect the students work over the entire schooling period. activities. To help the students select materials for the portfolio, a set of guidelines should be made available to the students. The guidelines include how the content of the All work are to be taken directly from the classroom portfolio is to be selected and the criteria that would be used to assess the portfolios. The contents of the students’ portfolios are to include the following: i. ii. iii. iv. individual assignments (homework and tests); group assignments; self reflection on each selected student or group work group reflection on group work. The reflections are to indicate evidence of learning mathematics in the school, what they know and can do. They are also to explain what they have understood and the action that contributes to their understanding. They are to identify what they still do not understand and explain the cause of their lack of understanding and what they can do to change the situation. Journal A journal is a daily or weekly record of occurrences, experiences or observations (Berenson and Carter, 1995). Journal writing by students can be used to record the daily and weekly mathematics learning experiences and the attitude of students towards mathematics. The journal can be used to keep track of the students’ progress in  mathematics and to gain insight into the understanding and misunderstanding of the 7 student. The journal can also be used to document the students attitudinal changes during the project. Students are asked to write three sets of journals in each semester (term). The first one is to be written during the first week of the semester (term), the second in the fourth week and the third journal in the last week of the semester (term). At the beginning of the semester(term), the students should be asked to write journals to indicate their previous and current feelings about mathematics. They are also to assess their strengths and weaknesses in mathematics, pointing out the factors that contributed to their failure or success and describe what they need to do. During the fourth week of the semester, the students would be asked again to write journals to identify ideas they understood easily during discussions with the teacher or their colleagues, and then explain why it was easy for them to understand such ideas. They are to identify ideas, which are still difficult for them to understand, and explain why they thnk they are having such difficulties in comprehending these ideas. They are to comment on a homework or class test they did, and explain why they thought they did well or did not do well. They are to identify aspects of their work that needed improvement. They are also to explain what they learned from doing homework or taking a test and state what they would do differently if they are to do the homework or take the test again. During the last week of the semester(term), students are to write another journal. They should be asked to express their feelings of the test, classwork, homework etc, and their feeling about mathematics. They are to state whether there is any improvement in 8 their learning or understanding of mathematics, and identify things, which contribute to their understanding or lack of understanding. Journal writing can be used as means of regularly focusing on course progress and possible modifications. The journals are the first step in placing the responsibility for learning with the students. Research had found that the journal was an important diagnostic tool in three important ways. First, as a writing sample, it provided information about students’ strengths and weaknesses in mathematics. Second, the journals gave an indication of how the students perceived themselves, and finally, the journals revealed students’ perceptions of the mathematics learning process. The journal the students write will help teachers to know early in the course how students perceived themselves as mathematics learners and how they understood the learning process entailed. Whenever their work was seen, evaluations were made which either corroborated their assessment or highlighted their misconceptions. With this information, the students will be helped to become better more efficient learners. When misconceptions are discovered, students will be helped to establish realistic expectations about what mathematics skills they need to achieve their goals. In fact, the first journal they write is an important point of reference when working with individual students and helping them to identify their objectives during the learning process. Research findings show that journal writing provides the opportunities for the students to reflect on the learning process, and to develop new learning skills. These opportunities will help the students to identify differences between their school experiences and those they are encountering at college. 9 Challenges Testing for accountability purpose is essentially large scale testing and for this reason it relies on tests that are relatively cheap, brief, offer broad but shallow coverage, are easy to score and reliable (Gipps, 1994). Alternative assessment by contrast is timeconsuming, tends to provide detailed multi- dimensional information about a particular skill or area; (and because of time factor, depth may be exchanged for breadth), scoring is generally complex and usually involves the classroom teacher Standardisation of the performance is not possible and therefore reliability in the traditional sense is not high (Mehrens, 1992). However, alternative assessment in general, has become the cornerstone of educational reform movement. The arguments for using these forms of assessment to support instructional practice are that; (i) they engage students in tasks that are more comprehensive and consistent with the goals of a discipline or resonant with the desired outcomes of educational process; (ii) they provide detailed evidence about student’s thinking that enables more specific instructional decision making; and (iii) they encourage students to take active role in their own assessment enabling a sharing responsibility for learning (LeMahieu, et.al. 1995, p11) Many educators are of the view that alternative assessment must be held to the same stringent standard of reliability, validity and objectivity as those achieved by standardised norm referenced assessment, if it is to provide credible and legally defensible measure of learning and performance (Linn and Burtin, 1994). 10 Objections to alternative assessment are often voiced in terms of validity, reliability and objectivity. Questions that focus around these issues are: i. ii. iii. Does the instrument measure what it is supposed to measure? Is the instrument consistent in its measurement? Is the instrument unbiased? (Garcia and Pearson, 1994). Alternative assessment represents the best of worlds in that it looks at actual performance on real life tasks, such as writing, self-editing, reading, participation in collaborative work, and doing a demonstration in front of a group. These procedures are in themselves valid (Garcia and Pearson, 1994). As regards reliability of alternative assessment, Huerta Macias (1955), mentions triangulation as a means of ensuring reliability in a qualitative research. In qualitative research, triangulation refers to the combination of methodologies to strengthen a study design. When applied to alternative assessment, triangulation refers to the collection of data/information from three difference sources/perspectives teacher, student, and parent. On the question of objectivity of alternative assessment, research findings show that, standardised tests merely represent agreement among a number of people on scoring procedures, format or content. These individuals are not objective; they just collectively shared the same biases. In this regard, Huerta Marcias (1995) says that standardised test is not more objective than an alternative assessment. Other challenges of alternative assessment have to do with curriculum and instructional practice. Torrance (1993) reviewed the impact alternative assessment has on curricular and instructional practice in the context of the National Assessment in England and Wales. Among the concerns raised were exorbitant demands on teachers, adding up 11 to two to three hours of extra work daily. Teachers also reported dissatisfaction with managing assessment interactions with small groups of students while trying to maintain the focus of all students. Torrance (1993) concluded that teachers treated assessment as a special activity set apart from teaching, and they felt obliged to do this by the instructions they received, a vision at odds with the integrated assessment and instruction offered by alternative assessment advocates. The question of relative practicality of alternative and traditional assessment in terms of time consumption has been raised by many authors (Linn, 1993; Gipps 1994). Research results indicate that alternative assessment is not more time consuming than traditional assessment on the part of the students. Research has shown that students can cope with the time demands of the alternative assessment(Eshun Abledu, 2000). Educational Implications and Recommendations The following educational implications and recommendations are made for improving the academic performance and enhancing positive attitude of students in mathematics: i. Through alternative assessment processes, the teacher is given the opportunity to know from the students’ journals and portfolios the positive and negative points of his teaching process and work out strategies for his subsequent teaching. ii. Alternative assessment processes offer a chance for the development of better student- student and student-teacher relationship. During their group work and discussions of their journals with the teacher a friendly climate is generated which helps them to get to know one another better. 12 iii. With alternative assessment the teacher is given a chance to break the everyday monotonous teaching routine. Activities are organised for the students that create a pleasant and motivating atmosphere in the classroom, which revives the interest of the pupils for the subject. iv. Alternative assessment processes lead to discovery learning and planning. Thus, it is valuable for increasing and maintaining the efficiency of the skills and concepts that the students learn. However, it makes heavy demands on the teacher to plan activities for the students. v. Students who have language problems will be unwilling to communicate in writing with the teacher. Teachers who use alternative assessment processes should rely more on oral interview than the writing of journal. vi. The positive benefits of alternative assessment lie not only in its  implementation but also in the teachers’ ability to extend and enrich the curriculum through the activities he/she arranges for the students. Thorough planning and understanding of the skills students must develop are prerequisite to successful implementation of alternative assessment processes. Teachers must be trained to live up to the task. It is recommended therefore that pre-service teachers be introduced to the alternative assessment processes. In-service and induction courses on alternative assessment can be organised for teachers who are already teaching. This training is worthwhile since teachers will have the means to bring about higher achievement in mathematics and higher attitudinal changes in female pre-service teachers towards mathematics. 13 vii. Teachers need to provide many opportunities for students to explore and reflect on mathematical concepts. Having students talk and write about mathematical concepts and how these ideas are applied in various problems situation can strengthen their understanding and provide valuable information to the teachers. It is therefore recommended that mathematics concepts be presented to students through the alternative assessment processes. This will then enhance the current programme of promoting the interest of girls in Science, Technology and Mathematics Education (STME). viii. To evaluate our programmes and the progress students are making, me must look beyond the current traditional assessment alone, and find better ways of assessing students’ creativity, ability, and sensitivity in mathematics. The point is, continuous assessment ought to provide a more comprehensive view of pupils’ all-round performance. The Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ghana Education Service (GES) and other policy makers on education must adopt alternative assessment to improve female students’ performance and attitudes in mathematics. Conclusion Knowing mathematics is doing mathematics. We need to create situations where students can be active, creative, and responsive to the physical world. I believe that to learn mathematics, students must construct it for themselves. They can only do that by exploring, justifying, representing, discussing, using, describing, investigating, 14  predicting, in short by being active in the world. Alternative assessment is an ideal activity for such processes. Reference Brady, R. (1991). A Close Look at Student Problem Solving and the Teaching of Mathematics: Predicaments and Possibilities. School Social Science and Mathematics. 91(4), 144-150. Eshun B. A and Abledu, G. K. (2001): The Effects of Alternative Assessment on the Attitudes and Achievement in Mathematics of Female Pre-service Teachers. African Journal of Educational Studies. Vol. 1. p. 21-30 Garcia, G. E. Pearson, P. D. (1994). Assessment and Diversity. In L. Darling Hammond (Ed. ) Review of Research Education . 337-391. Huerta – Macias, A. (1995). Alternative Assessment: Responses to Commonly asked Questions. TESOL Journal. 5 (1) : 8-11. Smolen, L. et. al. (1995). Developing Student Self-Assessment strategies. TESOL Journal. Vol. 5(1) 22 27. Gipps, C. V. (1994). Beyond testing: Towards a theory of educational assessment. The Falmer Press, London. Lee, T. W. (1996). Mathematics portfolios. NCTM’s goals and students perceptions. A complex analysis. Abstract International 57 (6). Vlaskamp, D. C. (1995). Encouragement of Student Learning through a Portfolio Process. Dissertation Abstract International. 55(1). Mehren, W. A (1992). Using Performance assessment for accountability Purposes. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. 11, (1), 3-9. 15 Linn, R. L. Burton, E. (1994). Performance Based Assessment: Implications of Task Specificity. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. 13 (1) 5-8. Torrance, H. (1993). Combining measurement –driven instruction with authentic assessment: Some initial observations. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis,15, 18-90. 16.

The Tesco Loyalty Card Scheme

The Tesco Loyalty Card Scheme Today the businesses have become customer centric and the marketing mix of 4 Ps is now being replaced by 30 Rs (Gummeson2008). Companies are more focused on delivering the value demanded by the customers, they are creating exit barriers for the customers by maintaining good relationships with them to retain them and earn lifetime loyalty. Today in highly competitive markets getting new customers is costlier and more difficult than maintaining the existing ones. So, companies are putting more emphasis on Zero Defection Strategy and maintaining their customer relationship as best as possible. In this essay we will critically evaluate the loyalty scheme run by Tesco to manage its customer relationship and the RM techniques followed by the company with different target segments that whether they are successful or need some improvement in future. TESCO PROFILE: Tesco, a European based company is the biggest and the most profitable supermarket chain in UK. It is considered to be the fastest growing company and a successful supermarket in the world selling almost everything, from food to clothing and operating through both geographic locations and internet. (Retail loyalty scheme2003, Corporate profile Tesco2004). Tescos success so far is based on its marketing relationship strategies which it has maintained through the launch of Club cards in 1995(Mitchell, Peck2007). It has effectively used the scheme targeting different customers segments, for attracting and retaining them. Tescos main approach is to create value for the customers and earn lifetime loyalty and they try harder for customers than anyone else. (Corporate profile Tesco2004). They have taken advantage of major changes in the lifestyle and it is the key for their continuous success. Relationship Marketing: Gronroos has defined relationship marketing as, An approach to establish, maintain and enhance relationship with the customers and other partners at a profit, so that objectives of the partners involved are met and this can be achieved by mutual exchange and fulfilment of promise. Thus, relationship marketing is an approach to establish and maintain good relationships with the customers in such a way that, no party is in loss and there is a room for profit for both the parties. Keeping customers in the first line of defence and winning their loyalty is the main theme of RM. Loyalty ladder Model: The model was suggested by Kotler 1997 for categorising customers on the basis of relations formed with them or repetition of purchases. Partners Members Advocates Clients Repeat customers First time customers Prospects Tesco Company uses loyalty ladder and commitment based segmentation to retain its existing customers and it has categorised them in 6 different stages. These are: logged on cautionary developing established dedicated logged off (needs win back the confidence) Tesco works with them in the sequence upside down as believe that newest customers can make an impression or lose it. Tesco uses automated event messaging for encouraging them for regular purchase. Whenever customers register themselves, they are prospect and needs motivation to buy. After 2 days, receives a registration e-mail along with  £5 discount on first purchase and the journey begins. Now they are first time customers or cautionary buying for the first time at discount and receive an e-mail asking about their experience and then another discount on next purchase. They keep on receiving bi- weekly alerts and e-newsletter on exclusive and personalised offers. On the top of mailing procedures the company offers Clubcard loyalty schemes to the dedicated customers with variety of incentives such as shop with the partners of Tesco, doubling the points on regular purchase and memberships with the clubs offered by Tesco. Now they are the established ones word of mouth will increase companys reputation and brand equity. By joining the clubs they become members of the company. If company comes to know that a customer is not buying for a long period then a reactive e-mail is sent to survey if he is having some problem with incentive of  £ 5. These are the logged off needs winning back the confidence with further incentives. Thus Tesco manages its customers and try not to lose them. RM techniques of Tesco, the loyalty card scheme: Customers loyalty plays an important role in RM, as their loyalty through repeat purchase and word of mouth with other customers can not only bring higher revenue for the company but new customers also. Tesco has managed all this through its Clubcard scheme; this is a membership card which allows the customers to save their money on shopping at any store of Tesco group of the companies or its partner companies and getting price off vouchers or Club card vouchers after collecting 150 points. As they win points on every pound they spend on shopping and after a limit these points get doubled, so such a scheme motivate the customers to buy more and earn points. On the other hand generate good revenue for Tesco groups. Such a loyalty scheme has enabled Tesco to increase its market share in grocery (squid2009) and overtake Sainsbury as a number one retailer. Following Tesco, many other companies like ASDA, Safeway and Sainsbury tried to run the loyalty card scheme but were unable to manage and match the success of Clubcard and failed. How club card helped in retaining existing and attracting new customers: The biggest challenge faced by the companies is to make their loyalty scheme, effective and appealing to the customers. Retailers need to clearly define the target segments, anticipate their needs and fulfil them properly to be successful (McGoldrick2002). Same is done by Tesco, as per the promise made by the company to create value for the customers it has provided club cards to the members and created following clubs where the members can shop and save money. Tesco targets 10 years old buy to 80 years old man as its customer and effectively offers benefits and value to all its targeted segments through these clubs. Members get magazines on different issues and price off vouchers from these clubs creating a creditability and loyalty for the company in the heart of the customers. The clubs for different segments are: Tesco Kids Club: This club offers products and fun culture for kids of age 5 to 8 years and it is their parents choice to join the club for kids and buy gifts for them. They provide them with the tips for safety and health of the kids to the parents to create creditability and soft corner on parents heart. (harlequin1,2001) Tesco Baby and Toddler club: This club offers tips and advice about the child care and pregnancy tips to would be parents or pregnant ladies. Club provides them parking area closer to the store to facilitate the ladies and such a deed builds strong relations and trust for the Tesco Company and customers prefer the club for a long. Tesco Healthy Living Club: The club offers magazines and booklets for health tips and it is for the middle aged or old people who want healthier living. It also provide price off coupons on organic and dairy foods to promote its Healthy and Organic foods and win creditability as a health conscious retailer. Tesco World of Wine Club: it provides a good and new range of wine for those to like to drink and promotes it through price offs to attract some new customers too. It also gives information about what kind of food goes with which wine. Tesco Food club: it provides its members cooking tips and teaches them techniques to cook easy, enjoyable and tasty food. How To videos for cooking facilitate the members to watch and learn the making of the meal and even they get mails about ideas for simple weekdays meal and menu. Like these Tesco have some more benefits too like greener living cards, association with Air miles company etc but its success is more dependent on its partnership with many other companies like Powergen electricity and gas supplier, beefeater restaurants, National Tyres and Avis car hire etc and customers can use the clubcards to deal with these companies also. Besides this, online shopping, Tesco petrol stations, Tesco mobile and credit cards also add points for the customers. Thus integrated approach of Tesco for maintaining relations both with the businesses and the customers helps the company to win trust of the customers. Clubcard as a CRM Tool The loyalty card scheme presented by Tesco acts as a CRM tool for the company collecting necessary information about customers buying habits and their specific needs. For getting club cards, customers have to get registered through filling a form online, on paper or through telephone. This form seeks the necessary information about the customers helping the company to design their marketing strategies as well as develop new products and offer them to the customers in a cost effective manner. Every year, nearly all the transactions held at Tesco are linked with the customers profile and now it has become companys philosophy to maintain and retain good relations with customers (ICMR, 2003). By getting information about the customers, company is able to understand its customers better and can serve them in the best possible way. Tesco consider the scheme as a learning process through which it can know about the customers, what they want from the retailer and how they shop and provide th em the value and benefits asked by the customers and promised by the company. (Humby, 2003) The reward system of discounts and price offs has enabled the company to successfully maintain the relations with the customers. Critical evaluation: Clubcards loyalty schemes have enabled Tesco to grow as a no.1 retailer in UK market leaving the competitors behind who were not able to run such schemes profitably. The Clubcard customers are also benefited by the schemes as they can shop and earn points with Tesco partners. Company listens and modifies its activities on their recommendations such as Wine club and Kids Club. (Rowley2007). But it was not successful in all the target market such as student segment.(Retail loyalty Scheme2003) and not able to still attract the students segment by offering them the benefits like special discounts as many retailers in UK do such as Peacocks, Apple store etc.(aceltham.co.uk2010). Also the redemption process of the vouchers is time consuming as it is through post and not online. Even the redemption value of the clubcard points is also very low. (Tesco2010). Not that loyalty schemes really makes the customer loyal because customers pay for the service they received which contributes to store loyalty and repetitive purchase.(Turner Wilson2006) So, it is necessary for Tesco to emotionally appeal the customers and manipulate their interest as in the competitive world switching to the competitor costs very low for the customers. Would Tesco be successful without the ClubCard: Tescos success depends on its targeting different segments and fulfilling their needs by developing strategies and products as per the demand. All this it can manage through its loyalty schemes. Many others companies have also tried such schemes, as Nectar, managed by Loyalty Management UK Ltd also offers the rewards and points on shopping from its members(Rowley2005) but not as successful as Clubcard. Tesco considered as CRM champion after the launch of loyalty scheme because it was able to win trust and loyalty of their customers both in behavioural and attitudinal form. The whole credit goes to the Tesco management who has effectively formulated the strategies for the target segments, derive information about their needs through their profile and delivered the value with the help of its CRM tools (ICMR2003). Even the rewards and benefits gained by the customers from its partners also helps in retaining the customers as they found it costlier to switch to other company. So, we can say without Clubcard, Tesco would have to struggle a lot to become as successful as it is now. Recommendations: Track the polygamous loyalty customers and provide them with better incentives for their better word of mouth as they deal with many loyalty schemes and make them feel that Tesco is better than others. Take advantage of modern communication technology and allow online chat rooms. Regular emotional attachment with the customers will lead to behavioural and attitudinal loyalty. Attract student segment by offering them additional discounts more than other segments. It costs five times more to acquire a new customer than to retain the existing one so company needs to apply positive switching barriers for customer retention.(Gee, Coates and Nicholson2008) Appropriate monitoring is required to evaluate that customer defection is not covered up by customer acquisition. (Gee, Coates and Nicholson2008) Tesco can provide a combination of currency-points flexibility. (Strategic Direction 2007) Analyse the LTV or estimated profitability of the customers and then allocate companys resources to them such as marketing spend. (Day, 2003) . Conclusion: After going through the relationship strategies and loyalty schemes of Tesco, it can be said that with the help of single loyalty scheme, it was able to target and address customer segments of different age groups. Club cards act as a CRM tool for the company and company has adopted the culture to follow the customers needs and reward them accordingly. Tesco has effectively managed the loyalty scheme and was able to win the trust and loyalty of the customers in return which helped the company to grow so far. It is advisable that company should maintain its relationship marketing strategy and loyalty scheme and redesign them as needed to provide the differentiated advantage to the customers forever. References: Gummeson Evert. (2008). Total Relationship Marketing. p36-40, third edition. Elsevier ltd. Mitchell H. Peck H. (2007). Does Tesco hold all cards. Cranfield school of management. Peck, Payne, Christopher, Clark. (1999). Relationship marketing for competitive advantage, keeping and winning customers. Reed educational and professional publishing ltd. Retail loyalty scheme, myth or marvel, Tesco. (2003). 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TATA STEEL (B2B) CONTEXT Contents: Abstract 12 Introduction 12 Tata Steel Profile 12 Branding Steel 12 Customer Base Brand Equity Model 13-14 The Initiatives act as CRM tools 15 Benefits Reaped with Branding 16 Critical evaluation 16 Recommendations Conclusion 16 References 17 Abstract: The report is about the B2B relationship of Tata Steel Company that how they manage their relationships with their business customers and the techniques they apply for the same. Critical evaluation will be done of the techniques that whether these are appropriate or any recommendation required will be given to the company. Introduction: B2B marketing is the practise of doing business with other organisations or the businesses not the ultimate consumers. This practise is not new and is old as commerce itself but the concept of B2b marketing is quite recent. Companies sell their products to other companies and organisations to resell them or use the components or products for manufacturing the stuff, they are offering to the end users or support their activities. Today the focus is on maintaining relations with the customers as who is the customer today will be tomorrow also if they are being treated well. (Morgan Hunt1994)The organisation has to manage these relationships for acquisition and retention of the customers. For acquisition they need to create value for them and for retention they need to enhance the value offered or sustain it. (Morris, Pitt, Honeycutt2001). We will evaluate the B2B approach followed by the Tata Steel, the model followed to collect information about their business customers and strategies they followed to make their customer happy. Tata Steel Profile: Tata steel, a part is Tata Group is the worlds sixth largest steel producer operating in more than 20 countries. In past few years with the investment in Corus, millennium steel and NatSteel Holdings the company is able to create a marketing and manufacturing network in South East Asia, Pacific-rim countries and Europe with the capacity to produce every year 30 million tonnes of crude steel. (docstoc.com2010, Tata steel 2010) In year 2001 and 2005, it was ranked as worlds best steel company. (Kotler2006). The profitability of the steel companies depend on the business cycles, they can make profit in the times of boom in the economy and loose it in the recession. Even the external environmental factors also affects the revenue generation of the companies. So to reduce the dependence on the business cycles and make continuous flow of revenue Tata steel adopted the strategy of branding,(ICMR2004) so that customers would buy the brand and pay the premium for the value added services provided to them with the brands. Tata Steel has also launched various initiatives for promoting its brands such as CVM, RVM, CAMs and ecommerce. The strategy they follow to create relationships with the business customers is branding, CRM initiatives and e commerce. Branding steel: A successful business marketer knows the customer needs and offers them the same. Tata has also recognised its customers in two segments the end users and businesses organisations using steel for the manufacturing of their products mainly automotive industries such as Maruti, Ford, Telco, Honda etc and realised that 80% of the sales is being covered by these business sectors, so it formulated different strategies for B2B and B2C segments. The companys B2B customers are more knowledgeable and brands help to create good finance and public awareness for the company. (Kotler,2006). So, Tata steel branded its products under following brands: Tata Steelium for cold rolled steel Tata Shaktee for galvanized sheets Tata Tiscon for re-bar Tata Wiron for wires Tata Agrico for hand tools and implements Tata Pipes etc. Customer Based Brand Equity Model: The model was suggested by Keller(1993,2001,2003) and constitutes of four stages through which brand is created and built its equity and strong relations with the customers. The model can be used in both B2C and B2B context. The model is in form of ladder going upward and it is subdivided in form of blocks in pyramid. (Kuhn Alpert, Keller2001) Lets see how Tata Steel branding policy fits in the CBBE model. http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/cio/142401287 The model has four phases for creating, enhancing and maintaining relationship with the customers through brands. Creating identity for the company or the product: First of all the company needs to create awareness among the business customers about the product. Variety of steel is available in the Indian steel market and it becomes really difficult for the customers to differentiate that which one will be suitable for their use. Keeping that in mind, Tata Steel focused on customers need and then branded the steel to facilitate its business customers. Now they can order the variety or brand needed. Delivering value: The company realised that its B2B customers are more knowledgeable than ultimate customers, they dont buy the brand rather are keener about the quality, specificity and performance of the steel. So, for better performance of the product and satisfying customers psychological needs the company has promoted the brands in accordance with its usage as Tata Tiscon for constructional bars and Tata Shaktee for roofing and NatSteel for cold rolls etc. For making the scheme successful, brand management department has been created in 2002 to evaluate and train the staff and sales personnel accordingly. They focused on making more and more interactions with the customers to understand their needs and offer them the needful in a better and improved way. They made their branded products highly value added to beat the industry and take the company to new heights of success. (Kotler2006). Following the excellence model of Tata (TBEM), the company kept on making improvements in its offerings and undertaken many initiatives such as Retail Value Management, Customer Value Management and Customer Accounts Managers to help their business customers in brand promotion, building brand equity and solving their grievances.(Improvement initiatives,2009) Customers positive responses: It is related with the responses given by the customers on the basis of the judgement and feelings associated with the brand that how far the products were successful in satisfying their needs.(Keller2001) With the continuous improvement in the offerings and CRM initiatives the company was able to place itself as the Worlds Best Steel Company in 2001 and 2005,(Kotler 2006) by the studies done by World Steel Dynamics, USA. Its bearing division became the preferable supplier for Hero Honda and Toyota motors and they recognised the company as Zero ppm Supplier and Direct Online Supplier. (docstoc2010) Maintaining strong relationships: Tata steel was successful in making strong relationships with its business customers and 60% of its products are sold through contracts and company spend 1.3% of its turnover in maintaining its brands.(Kotler2006). Branding of steel is providing the business customers a stable price of the commodity which creates a good impact on the business customers mind. Aligning with the Tata Groups internationalisation initiatives, the company was able to acquire NatSteel Asia and Corus UK as both the companies were seeking to establish long strategic alliances with the reputed steel companies of the world and Tata was able to do so with its deep social commitment towards society, trusted and reputed relations with the stakeholders.(Noronha2006,2007) The initiatives for maintaining successful relationships: Along with the branding, some more customer centric initiatives has been undertaken by the company for better understanding of the customers and direct and continuous interaction with them to maintain strong relationships with their customers. (improvement initiatives2010) Retail Value Management: The initiative was started in 2002 to redefine the concept of retailing and build stronger relations with the rural retailers by educating them about the selling techniques and customers need. The company has planned to target the small retailers operating in the rural areas and enhance the retail chain to near about 4000 retailers and serve the rural market personally by integrating retailers in the program and research done by the company help the retailers in selling the product according to the customers specific need. (Media releases Tata,2006, High beam research2006) Customer Value management: Tata steel has started the initiative to retain and build strong relationships with its customers. These were designed to deeply understand needs of the business customers and deliver improved value added products. They build teams to study the value chain of operations like receiving, storing, deploying of steel by the customers and even rejection. The company was able to understand the problems related with the value chain and provide deep insights to solve them at an effective and less cost. Thus company was able to win loyalty of the customers by making the supply chain (sales team, dealers and retailers) more customer focused and customer sensitive (Pullanikkat 2010, Economic times 2007) Customer account manager: Company has maintained separate accounts for the customers for improvement and focus on business customers. The accounts were categorised as under: Enterprise accounts: potentially large and long term accounts. Commercial accounts: the key accounts Distribution: for the customers accessed through distributors. (docstoc2010) Such an initiative helped the company to classify their customers on the basis of their transactions and now they can deal with these customers accordingly. This also helped in solving their problems and grievances and increase interaction with them for better understanding. (Kotler2006, scribd.com2009) E business: Tata steel has started the initiative for e business looking forward to tap the opportunities of information technology. These are E-procurement and E-sales, the e- procurement allows the business customers to get multi dimensional information, such as online and offline quotations logging for auction, inbound supply chain, order placement, material receipt and delivery compliance monitoring. Some new and value added features like negotiation chat rooms for reverse auction, e-mail notifications and acknowledgement and FAQs are also offered. (E-procurement system, Tata steel 2010) Benefits Reaped: The Company is able to succeed so far due to the its relationship marketing through branding, strategic alliances as well as other initiatives focused on customers need and building long term relationships with them. Through its strategic alliances especially with Corus, the company has moved on from fifty sixth position to the sixth largest steel maker in the world.(Norohna2007). Mr Muthuraman, managing director, Tata Steel says Branding helped the company in gaining both the tangible benefits in form of pricing and intangible benefits in form of loyal customers. The successful RM startegy so far has made Tata Steel Worlds Best Steel company and has started co branding initiative in 2003 with the automobile companies such as Ashok Leyland and Telco (ICMR2004) and has decided to move on with co-branding in consumer durable sector. Critical evaluation: B2B customers focused more on functionality or performance rather than taste or aesthetics as customers on consumer market do. (Anderson Narus,1999). Tata steel has taken the initiative of branding steel to protect itself from fluctuations in business cycles and set a premium price on steel through brands. Through its regular upgrading and customer focus was able to become the most preferable brands in steel. But there are price sensitive customers in industry that seems steel as a commodity not a brand and are not ready to pay premium prices for that. The company needs to educate and create awareness among these customers.(Norohna2003). Tata steel is selling steel under different brand so it should be careful that customers may not be intense and actively loyal with all the brands, they may experience resonance with a particular brand.(Keller2001). Branding is related with making a promise to the customer and delivering it so far but if in any case company fails to deliver the bran d meaning it can lose its market position and customer may move on to the competitors. Online branding technique is now getting popular in western countries and as Tata steel operates in six continents why hasnt taken the initiative yet? The company also finds challenging, the management of the channel to sell the branded products in near future, says Mr Muthuraman. Conclusion and Recommendations: The above report shows the Tata steel strategy followed for B2B relationship marketing. The company has managed it with branding the steel and remained customer centric by adopting and launching various initiatives like CVM, RVM, CAMs and e-commerce. As, it has been noticed that branding has not only helped the company to generate regular flowing revenue but also helped in maintaining long term relationships with the customers and become the preferable supplier of the customers. Such initiative has also made feel the importance of relationship marketing to the other steel makers. Along with the success, relations with business customers have brought about new challenges for the company which needs some recommendations: Regular check on the product quality is needed as brands provide quantitative and qualitative satisfaction to the customers. Brand awareness among the price sensitive customers as among these some can turn to be the loyal customers. Online branding initiative should