Kicking The Habit Through Negative Reinforcement :: essays research papers

My dependence on nicotine advanced from easygoing social smoking to devouring two packs every week. In spite of the fact that I’ve just been smoking for around one year, I needed to stop before my habit turned out to be a lot more grounded. Like most smokers, I’ve attempted to stop without any weaning period on numerous events, yet the state of mind and the self control keeps going just until my neurotransmitters (nerve endings) begin shouting, crying, and begging my cognizant for a cigarette. The intendment of my journey was to observe the impacts on my smoking propensity and to check the physical and mental habit through the usage of explicit strengthened practices. Positive reinforcers make me smoke, and negative reinforcers keep me from smoking. By recognizing uplifting comments, I figured out how to stop smoking.      Before starting my investigation of my smoking propensities, I recorded the quantity of cigarettes smoked regularly. On a normal day I smoked 4-5 cigarettes. By building up my pattern execution on a regular week, I set out to locate the encouraging comments, which constrained me into smoking. The days that were generally productive in smoking were Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. The essential purpose behind the expansion in smoking was because of the get-togethers of that specific night, which incorporated the incidental liquor utilization, and friendship of individual smokers/companions. â€Å"Partying† drastically influenced my smoking propensity. Without a doubt my gregarious tricks influenced my smoking, yet the post-sex cigarette likewise added to the tally. By pinpointing these elements, I had the option to develop a fixed negative fortification calendar to lead me away from smoking and steer me towards a more advantageous way of life.      In request to build up a fixed negative support plan, I isolated my cigarettes into gatherings permitting myself just three cigarettes every day. I put my every day apportion of cigarettes into envelopes and marked them for every day of the week. I smoked one cigarette after lunch, one after supper, and one later around evening time. I would compensate myself with a cigarette in the wake of going to classes and having lunch. I would then reward myself with another cigarette after schoolwork and supper. Through the course of my week, I damaged my routine just twice. On Wednesday and Friday, I â€Å"bummed’ a cigarette from one of my companions. In the wake of feeling regretful about damaging my routine, I apologized for a considerable length of time, and vowed to myself that I was going to beat my fixation. Essential negative reinforcers likewise helped me stay with the arrangement, for example, improved endurance during physical exercise and more cash in my poc ket.

Meiji Era (1868-1912) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Meiji Era (1868-1912) - Essay Example The legislature industrialized the country with the help of putting resources into endeavors claimed by the state, advancement of the foundation for ventures and acquired innovation, hardware structure created countries, for example, European nations and privatization of enterprises. Japan's segregation from different pieces of the world didn't start industrialization as ahead of schedule as the other western European nations. The Japanese government at that point attempted to oppose western impact in exchange, and until 1853, they shut their exchanging guests and ports for any exchanging action with outsiders. They occupied with no remote contact except if it was strongly essential and the laws restricted any Japanese non military personnel to travel. Japanese government likewise guaranteed that there was just a single seaport open to exchange with any western country. The port of Nagasaki was the association point for any exchanging action with the western nations particularly the Dutch and Chinese ships.2 In 1853, the leader of America around then sent the American commando, Mathew Perry, with an armada of steam-fueled boats (the back boats) to constrain an exchange settlement with Japan and open the Japanese ports and visitors to exchange with different pieces of the world. Chief Perry gave the Japanese government one year of dynamic, and when he returned in 1954, the Japanese marked the settlement affected forcibly and cleared a path for the world exchanging. This meant that how the Japanese were frail in both economy and military.3 Creation of mechanical foundation The Japanese understood that they required a solid present day military to maintain a strategic distance from terrorizing by any remote country. Be that as it may, the old principle of Tokugawa didn't share the view modernizing their weapons and military. In 1968, the old Tokugawa government fallen, and denoted the start of the Meiji time when the Japanese started genuine thought of modernizati on. In any case, the military modernization and weapons store development couldn't come alone; it incorporated the industrialization and mechanical development of Japan and its head cities2. Despite the fact that, there were a few resistances against industrialization, the Meija government continued with the modernization procedure. The legislature started with supporting the message framework that associated the best urban communities in Japan, at that point they constructed streets and, shipyards rail arrange. The Meiji government likewise encouraged the structure of mines, material enterprises, weapons industrial facilities, exploratory production lines and agrarian stations. The pioneers reloaded their endeavors of military modernization including necessary military help for all men, foundation of little standing armed force and a huge save armed force framework to support their national security. They likewise occupied with remote military training and meeting from considering outside military, utilizing remote military consultants and sending cadets to another country Europe and America to contemplate military education4. The Meiji government’s boss point was to reestablish Japanese disconnection, yet at the same time keep in touch with the west.

4 Pitfalls of Remote Work (and How to Overcome Them)

4 Pitfalls of Remote Work (and How to Overcome Them) About 10 years ago, working from home (or anywhere away from the office) was virtually unheard of.As the internet became more ubiquitous and the knowledge-based economy started becoming mainstream, however, it became possible to work from anywhere in the world, and professionals started embracing the concept of working remotely.Still, a lot of people did not believe in this model of working. Since the adoption of remote work was chiefly driven by millennials, it was treated as another “annoying” millennial fad that would quickly fade away.Today, however, working remotely has become the future of work, giving millennials another chance to prove critics wrong.According to a Global State of Remote Work report by Owl Labs, which polled over 3000 workers from all over the world, 18% of employees work from home full time, 52% work remotely at least once per week, and 68% work remotely at least once per month.The same survey also reports that 16% of global companies are fully remote (no offices or headquarters.Everyone works from wherever they choose), while 40% of global companies use a hybrid model where employees have the choice of working either remotely or within the office.According to another worldwide remote workers survey by PGI, 50% of employees who work remotely part-time reported that they wanted to increase the number of hours they work remotely.In addition, 60% of employees who work remotely part-time said that they would leave their current positions for another job at the same pay rate if the new job allowed them to work remotely full time.Yet another survey by Stack Overflow found that 53% of developers reported that the ability to work remotely was a top priority for them when considering a new job.Below are some more statistics about remote work: Remote work statistics in the US. Source: SlideshareAll the above statistics show that remote work is fast becoming the preferred mode of working, and we can expect the number of people who work remotely to continue growing.But why is remote working becoming so popular?There are a number of reasons, which include: LESS TIME SPENT COMMUTINGLet’s face it.Commuting to and from work wastes a lot of time.In the UK, the average person spends about 60 â€" 80 minutes every day on the commute to and from work.Since this is just the average, there are people who spend up to two hours in traffic to and from work every single day.Not only does this waste time, it is also bad for the environment (increased carbon footprint) and may even lead to stress.According to a report by the UK’s Royal Society for Public Health, over 50% of workers experience stress that can be directly attributed to long commute times.Working from home saves workers from these long commutes, which translates into less t ime wasted (increased productivity), less environmental impact on the environment, and reduced levels of stress.FLEXIBLE SCHEDULEWorking remotely, especially for those who work remotely full time, means that you have the freedom to schedule your day as you wish.For instance, if you work as a content creator or a web developer, you have the freedom to do your work at whatever time suits you best, provided you don’t miss your deadlines.If you prefer working at night, you can do it without having to worry about the office being closed.Even for those who have to work remotely within the constraints of a normal work day, you still have the freedom to take breaks you wouldn’t be able to take at the office, and what’s more, you can use these breaks in ways you wouldn’t be able to at the office.For instance, if you are feeling strung after an hour of intense concentration on a project, you can take a 15 minute break to either take a refreshing power nap, do some yoga, or anything el se that helps you to rejuvenate yourself effectively.At the office, the most you can do is to go through your social media or take a bathroom/smoking break.INCREASED PRODUCTIVITYThis might come as a surprise, but working from home (or the nearby coffee shop) can also make you more productive.According to a survey conducted by Vodafone, 83% of respondents claimed that the flexibility that comes with working remotely makes them more productive.Another study conducted by Stanford professor Nicholas Bloom over a period of two years also found that employees who worked remotely were more productive compared to their colleagues who worked from the office.There are a number of reasons why working from home makes one more productive.First, since remote workers don’t have to waste their time in traffic, they actually work more hours than those who have to commute to the office.Second, remote workers can work without distractions from their colleagues.Video conferencing meetings also tend t o take less time compared to in-person meetings, which leaves remote workers with more time to work.Finally, the flexibility of working from home makes employees happier and increases their enjoyment of work, which in turn leads to a boost in motivation and productivity.IT SAVES YOU MONEYOnce you start working from home, you will notice a huge difference in how much money you spend every month.The most obvious source of savings is the money you would have spent on bus fare or gas in order to get to the office.However, there are several other opportunities for saving that come with working remotely.Since you are working from home, you will make your own food, which will save you from having to spend on the expensive lunches at that fancy café next to your office block.No buying coffees on your way to work in the morning.You also won’t need to purchase two sets of clothes, one for the office and one for everyday life.At home, you can even work in your pajamas if you so wish.THE PIT FALLS OF REMOTE WORKWhile working remotely certainly has a lot of advantages, this is not to say that it is not without its challenges.If you ask anyone who routinely works from home, they will tell you that it’s not all rainbows, butterflies, and unicorns.After numerous conversations with people who work remotely (I being one of them), I have noticed that there are four pitfalls of remote work that stand out. Below are the four pitfalls, and how to overcome them.1. Working Too MuchA lot of managers are reluctant about having their employees work remotely because they think that the lack of physical, in-person supervision means that the employees will slack off. Nothing could be farther from the truth.If anything, the opposite is what happens â€" employees working remotely tend to work more than they normally do at the office.Under the traditional model of working, leaving the office means that you have switched off work. People calling your office telephone won’t be able to rea ch you till the next morning.Similarly, work emails will go unchecked until you get to the office the next morning.When your work and your personal life take place within the same environment, however, it becomes harder to set boundaries between work and personal life.If you work from home, colleagues, bosses, and clients can easily reach you through your cell phone or home telephone, regardless of the time of day.Unlike at the office where you might want to leave early to catch the train or beat the evening traffic, you don’t have to worry about such things when working from home, which might lead to the temptation to work on that exciting project for longer than you would have done at the office.If you work from the office, anything you remember while after leaving the office will have to wait till you get to the office the next morning.When everything you need to work is right there with you, however, you are more likely to give in to the temptation to do one little thing just before bed, and before you know it, you are still working past midnight.When working from home, the lines between work and personal time blur and work becomes never-ending, something that can even lead to exhaustion and burnout.How to Avoid Working Too MuchIf you feel like you are working too much when working from home, below are some tips that will help you avoid exhaustion and burnout from too much work.Set appointments at the end of the work day: At the office, there will be always be something to remind you that the work day is over â€" other colleagues leaving the office, need to catch the bus or beat traffic, and so on. At home, without such things to remind you that the work day is over, it is easy to find yourself working past your normal work hours. A good way to prevent this is to have something scheduled for the end of the work day that forces you to stop working. This could be a daily evening walk, a daily trip to the gym, a book-reading appointment, and so on. Basicall y, have something that you need to do after work.Set up reminders for breaks: When working at home, it is also quite easy to forget about taking breaks. This is because you don’t have to walk around to consult colleagues, get to meetings and so on. To deal with this, you need to set up reminders to take short breaks every couple of hours. A good way is to schedule your day using the Pomodoro technique.Let your colleagues know when your day is done, then shut down your computer: One of the things that keeps remote workers working beyond the normal working day is requests from colleagues. A colleague who is working late will figure that, since you are working from home, you can handle a quick request from them, even if it is past working hours. After all, you are still “in the office.” To avoid this, make it clear to your colleagues that your working hours are over. Follow this with shutting down your computer, or at least logging off Slack, or whatever tool your organization us es to communicate. If you claim that your working hours are over but then stick around on Slack for an extra hour, someone is bound to ask you to do something for them.Have a physical boundary for your workspace: The best way of separating your work from personal time when working at home is to have a dedicated home office. This way, once you are done working, you can walk out of the office like everyone else. If you don’t have a dedicated home office, the next best thing to do is to put your laptop away so that you don’t end up being tempted to continue working.2. Lack of CommunityIf you are an introvert who’s happiest when you are enjoying your own company, you would probably give anything for the opportunity to work from home.Most of us, however, are not introverts. We thrive in situations that allow us to have interactions with fellow humans.Working within an office environment provides you with the perfect opportunity to interact with other people.You can talk to your col leagues when asking about a project, have moments of interaction at the water cooler, and perhaps even have lunch or after work drinks with them. Your colleagues form a social circle around you that keeps you going.Working from home, on the other hand, deprives you of this opportunity to interact with colleagues. There are no colleagues to talk to. There is no colleague to go for lunch or after work drinks with.During your short trip to the water cooler, the only thing living thing you will encounter is your cat â€" if you have one that is.If you live alone, you might even go for days without an in-person interaction with another human being.This can lead to a life of loneliness, or a hermit like existence where you even become scared of going out in public and interacting with other people. In extreme situations, it can even lead to depression.Granted, even as a remote worker, you can’t escape communicating with other people.You will have to write emails to clients, interact with your colleagues through phone calls and communication applications like Slack, attend the occasional video meeting, and so on.However, these interactions with other people through a computer screen do not create the sense of community and connection that comes with interacting with other people in person.How to Avoid a Life of Loneliness as a Remote WorkerIf you are the introverted type, working in solitude might not be a huge challenge for you.If you thrive from social interactions, however, you need to take some action to avoid falling into a reclusive life.Below are some tips on how to avoid a life of loneliness as a remote worker:Make social breaks a part of your schedule: Include activities that require you to spend some time outside your home into your daily or weekly schedule. For instance, you could schedule lunch or drinks with friends about two or three days a week. Even something as simple as going to the gym every evening can provide that connection to other people.Donâ €™t work from home every day: The beauty of remote work is that it can be done from anywhere. Instead of working all alone at home, why not carry your laptop to the library, a nearby coffee shop, or even a co-working space near you? Working from such spaces allows you to socialize with other people while still giving you the freedom that comes with working remotely.Find opportunities for socializing: Join a local group or organization with regular activities, take some dance classes, join a book club, or basically anything else that gives you a chance to interact with other people.3. MiscommunicationAs a remote worker, majority of your communication with clients, colleagues, and bosses is done online â€" email, communication tools, project management tools, text message and other instant messaging apps, and so on.With so many platforms through which communication can be made, it is very easy to miss some messages.In addition, communication through written text is not the most effect ive mode of communication.When talking to someone in person, the message is conveyed not only through what is said, but through non-verbal aspects of communication, such as tone of voice, facial expressions, gestures, and so on.When communicating through email or Slack, these non-verbal cues are not there, which makes messages prone to misinterpretations, leading to miscommunication and misunderstandings.If you work remotely while some of your colleagues work in the office, it is inevitable that there will be things that will be said informally that won’t make it to you.In such cases, it is very easy to assume that your colleagues are sidelining you and making decisions without your input.All these issues can break down the communication process and even lead to bad blood between you and your colleagues.How to Avoid Breakdown of CommunicationPreventing the breakdown of communication boils down to two things. First, you and your organization should decide on one chief mode of commu nication.For instance, if you decide that Slack is the main mode of communication, all communication should be made through Slack.This way, people will be less likely to miss messages sent on another platform. Second, you should get in the habit of seeking and providing clarification for anything that could be potentially misinterpreted.In addition, if there are some colleagues that work in the office while you work remotely, you should have someone in the office to update you on anything important that might have been said informally.4. Loss of Productivity Due to DistractionsI mentioned earlier that working remotely helps increase productivity by reducing distractions from colleagues.Sometimes, however, working from home might also have its own share of distractions that you wouldn’t encounter at the office.A neighbor might be playing excessively loud music, there might a very interesting program on the TV, a friend might drop by unannounced, or if you don’t live alone, family members might make it hard for you to concentrate on your work.This is especially true when you have small kids in the house. Small kids might not understand that you have to work and are not available for play.They will keep interrupting you and make it almost impossible for you to get anything done.How to Deal With Distractions at HomeWhile it is impossible to avoid all distractions, there are some strategies that you can still use to minimize distractions while working from home. These include:Set up a home office: This is the best way to minimize distractions. If you work from the couch or the kitchen, it can be quite a challenge keeping your family members from disturbing you while you work. If you have a home office, however, they will understand that you are in work mode and are not to be disturbed. You can even lock the door to ensure kids do not come barging in and distracting you.Have a signal to let others know you are in work mode: If you do not have a dedicated home of fice space and have to work from a shared space, have a signal that let’s your family members know that you are busy and are not to be disturbed. This could be something like putting on your headphones, placing a “do not disturb” sign on the kitchen/bedroom door, and so on.Get childcare: If you have very young kids, it is essential for you to get someone to care for the child, because it will be impossible for you to work when the child needs your attention.Explain to your family members that you need to concentrate: If your kids are older or if you have your spouse in the house with you, let them know that it is absolutely important for you to concentrate and that they should not disturb you. Have them find something to occupy themselves with while you are working.Find somewhere else to work: If it becomes utterly impossible for you to avoid distractions while working from home, find a place with less distractions to work from, such as the library or a co-working space.WRAPPI NG UPWhile the trend of working remotely is increasingly becoming very popular, it is not without its challenges.The four major challenges experienced by those working remotely are working too much, lack of community and social interaction, breakdown of communication and loss of productivity because of distractions.Despite these pitfalls, working remotely can be very rewarding, and the good thing is, we have already shown you how to overcome them.All you need to do now is to follow the tips shared above to enjoy the awesome benefits of working remotely.

Introduction. People With Mental Illness Are At An Increased

Introduction: People with mental illness are at an increased risk of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes than the general population (Happell, Stanton, Hoey, Scott, 2014). A study conducted by Bartlem et al. (2015), observed health risk behaviours that contribute to chronic disease amongst individuals with a mental illness and if they had an interest in changing them. The study focused on community mental health services and how health care providers can improve their care and implement preventative measures. The guidelines used for this critique are from the textbook written by Polit Beck (2014). Title: The study title is â€Å" Chronic disease health risk behaviours amongst people with a mental illness†. The title does not†¦show more content†¦The literature used referenced to three articles written before 2005, 13 articles written between 2005 to 2010 and 11 articles written after 2010. The range of articles used helps back up the study’s ideas and credibility, however a large percentage of the articles used could be considered outdated. The problem is clearly stated that further research is required to understand the level of interest in changing health risk behaviours. By doing so nurses and other health care professionals can gain an understanding of a clients interest and help them make beneficial changes. It can also be used to implement preventative care interventions that can be taught to clients to improve health risk behaviours. A Quantitative study is the best approach to solving this problem because the amount of clients interested can be counted. Method: The purpose of the study was to observe the correlation between mental health illnesses and participation in health risk behaviours. It is also to understand clients willingness to change their health risk behaviours. The study was a cross sectional survey which is an appropriate choice. The study is non-experimental research because the researchers did not provide interventions for any of the four modifiable health risk behaviours. The study sought out ethical approval from Hunter New England Human Research Ethics Committee and the University ofShow MoreRelatedThe Problem Of Mental Illness1412 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction There can be no gainsaying as to the fact that the problem of providing adequate mental care for mentally ill citizens is not new (Turnquist, n.d). As a matter of fact, according to the Center for Social Studies Associate Laboratory (2010), mental illness has always necessitated a challenge with regard to the society’s capacity to not only integrate such individuals, but also provide care to them. 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I will examine this agency and its policies, including its social agency history, mission, money stream, purpose, budget, overall purpose

How to Study for a Social Science Test

When you study for a test in one of the social sciences, like history, government, anthropology, economics, and sociology, you must keep in mind that three things are important. You must understand the vocabulary of your discipline.You must understand the concepts you encounter in each segment of your study.You must understand the significance of each concept. Students are sometimes frustrated after an exam in the social sciences because they feel they prepared adequately but discovered during the exam that their efforts didnt seem to make a difference at all. The reason this happens is because students prepare for one or two of the items above, but they dont prepare for all three. Common Mistakes When Studying Social Science Vocabulary   The most common mistake students make is studying the vocabulary alone - or mixing concepts in with vocabulary. There is a big difference! To understand this, you can think of your material as a batch of cookies that you need to prepare. The vocabulary words are the ingredients, like sugar, flour, and eggs.Each individual concept is a cookie. Each looks a little different from the others, but each one stands alone as important.Altogether, the cookies make up a batch. You must create an entire batch of comprehension when you study for an exam in social science; you cant stop with a collection of ingredients! Here is why this is so important: Vocabulary words show up as short answer or fill-in-the-blank questions. Concepts often show up as multiple choice questions and essay questions. Treat your vocabulary as a set of ingredients for understanding the concepts. Use flashcards to memorize your vocabulary, but remember that to fully understand your vocabulary definitions, you must also understand how they fit into the larger concepts. Example: Imagine that you are preparing for a political science test. A few vocabulary words are a candidate, vote, and nominate. You must understand these individually before you can understand the concept of an election cycle. Studying in Stages The bottom line for preparing for a test in any social science is that you must study in stages. Practice vocabulary, but also study concepts and understand how different vocabulary words fit into each concept. Your concepts will also fit into a greater collection of knowledge (batch), like a specific historical period (Progressive Era) or a certain government type (dictatorship). The concepts you study are as individual as your vocabulary words, but it will take time and practice to recognize concepts as entities because the lines can be somewhat blurred. Why? The idea of a single vote (vocabulary word) is pretty clear cut. The idea of a dictatorship? That can be defined as many things. It can be a country with a dictator or a country with a very strong leader who demonstrates unchallenged authority, or it can even be an office that holds control over an entire government. Actually, the term is used to define an entity (like a company) that is controlled by one person or one office. See how blurred the concept can become? To summarize, any time you study for a social science test, you must go back and forth studying vocabulary, studying concepts, and studying how those concepts fit into the overall theme or time period. To study effectively for a social science exam, you must give yourself at least three days of study. You can use your time wisely and gain a full understanding of both terminology and concepts by using a method called  3 Way 3 Day study technique.

Developing Yourself As An Effective HR Practitioner Free Essays

I am doing this HR course to further my career at work. I am supervisor. I am involved in HR in my job, as we do not have an HR department. We will write a custom essay sample on ï » ¿Developing Yourself As An Effective HR Practitioner or any similar topic only for you Order Now I work with my Manager at present to help conduct annual appraisals, disciplinary procedures and inductions. I have also been involved with redundancies. We are a medium sized company, which has expanded since I joined in 2000 but as we are growing we feel the need to have 1 person to take on the HR role so that all staff have someone official that they can go to with any problems that they may have. HRPM: this is an easy to use table containing behaviours, professional areas and bands of competence. It allows users to assess their capability in the HR role they have chosen – whether it is general or specialist. The two core professional areas are insights, strategies solutions and leading HR. As an example of insights in my role at work there are quite a few members of staff who are nearing retirement age and will retire within around two years of each other so we will be losing all the experience and knowledge that they bring to their roles within the business whether that be manufacturing cables or within our quality assurance department, So I have suggested that we employ younger people who we can train working closely with these people so that their knowledge can be passed on. This has been proven to work as we have two members of staff who joined us around 6 years ago straight from school and are some of our best operators as we have trained them in the way we work. The core of the map is about developing an understanding of the organisation that the user is working in, clerk of the works, contracts manager, and architect. Performance and reward – this allows individuals within a work place to use their own skills, behaviours and experience by using a reward scheme such as bonuses. Learning and Development: Build individual and organisational capability and knowledge to meet current requirements – in many industries it is necessary to train an re-train employees as companies become more diverse to keep up with competitors for example, at my place of work we are starting to build completely different types of cable harnesses to what we would have been building one year ago so there is a lot of re-training required for all shop floor staff. Band 1 of the HRPM is most essential in the company I work for, as it is customer orientated. When I am doing the HR role full time my main customers will be shop floor staff although I will be working for others such as Engineers, Our Receptionist and the Managing Director. There are 8 behaviours on the HRPM. Curious: This person is open minded and focused on the future of the business they are in, inquisitive and is always thinking of ways to add to their organisation, focused on the future of the business they are in and is always thinking of ways to add value to their organisation. Decisive Thinker: This person takes in data and information and is a fast learner. They use the information they receive in a structured way to identify options and make recommendations. Skilled Influencer: This person can influence stakeholders to gain commitment and support within the company/industry they work within. Personally Credible: This person uses professionalism to bring value to the whole company they work in including stakeholders and peers. Collaborative: This person works very well with other people within and outside of work. Driven To Deliver: This person is determined and resourceful and uses these skills to deliver the best results for their company. Courage To Challenge: This person will speak up for what they believe in even if confontated with resistance and unfamiliar circumstances. Role Model: This person always leads by example, has integrity and independence and balances personal organisational and legal matters very well. Activity 2 In my HR role, I have 4 main customers. These are shop floor staff which includes inductions for new members off staff, Engineers and Our Receptionist. Shop floor staff: I sit in on (and will conduct) appraisals. We have a written assessment, which the shop floor staff must fill out before attending the appraisal. This includes questions about personal development. In the appraisal we discuss the types of work they would like to do in the future, any pay/skills upgrades they may be getting and when they can expect to get them by. We also discuss any problems they may be having although we always encourage them to come to us (our manager, the other shop floor supervisor or myself) with any problems as they come up rather than waiting for the appraisal. The shop floor manager currently  conducts the appraisals and I sit in on them and take notes then type up all the outcomes of the appraisal with a copy to be given to the employee. I conduct Return To Work interviews for employees who have had any unauthorised absence(s). This is conducted using a form with set questions asked and recorded by my-self about the nature of the absence. The Employee and myself then sign it and it is then scanned into their personnel file. I have sat in on and taken the minutes for redundancy meetings. I have had a limited role in these. As well as taking minutes, I am there for moral support, as I know all of our employees personally due to My job as a supervisor and the number of years I have worked there. Engineers: When I am a full time HR practitioner, I will be able to support the engineers with any problems they may have with other members of staff such as conflicts about the way the engineers plan jobs and the way they are actually built on the shop floor. This can be an issue for both the engineers and shop floor staff as the engineers quote the times for each job but they are not always accurate so this means that the shop floor staff may appear to not build cables in the allocated time. New Employees: I will be conducting all inductions for new Employees – This includes a walk around the factory introducing them to key members of staff such as our other supervisor, first aid, fire marshals and the other members of staff who they will be working closest with. I will also show them the fire exits, evacuation points and show them the fireboard with everybody’s names on. I will tell them when the fire alarm is tested and register them on out hand scanner, which clocks everyone in and out of the building and is also used for payroll. I will show them where the toilets are and what times their breaks and lunch breaks are. New Employees have to read our health and safety handbook thoroughly. Conflicting Needs: I prioritise these by consulting with my manager and shop floor staff so that I am able to decide what to deal with first. For example, I would deal with a conflict between two or more employees by speaking to them separately away from their normal work environment and if appropriate, I would get them together to talk about the problem. This would take priority over an appraisal or other day-to-day activity. Communication: I use email to communicate at work. The advantage of this is that everything that is said between Myself and the person I am communicating with is in writing and can be referred back to if necessary. The disadvantage of this is that if it is something urgent, the person I am communicating with may not see the email straight away, as many members of staff are not desk bound. Verbal communication: this has the advantage of getting the message across immediately and being able to get an instant reaction both verbally and assessing through their body language. The disadvantage of this is that you would not be able to accurately refer back to the conversation at a later date, as verbal conversations are not always accurately remembered. Printed memo: I use these to communicate anything I need to tell the whole shop floor as they do not have access to email in their workplace. The advantage of this is that I can carefully think about and word the memo exactly how I want it to be put across. It is also good because it is in writing and can be referred back to at a later date. The disadvantage is that I cant always get an instant reaction to it as everyone gets it at the same time so will not necessarily inform me of any feedback unless I ask them. An example of all the above methods of communication is that when we unfortunately had to make redundancies some time ago, there was a memo given to every member of staff from their manager to let them know that everyone was at risk of being made redundant. My Manager and I then had to liase with our legal specialists via telephone and by e-mail. We then sat with each individual and let him or  her know if they were being made redundant or not. We felt that sitting down with everyone individually, they would be able to speak about any concerns they had whether they were being made redundant or not. How to cite ï » ¿Developing Yourself As An Effective HR Practitioner, Papers

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting

Question: Discuss about the Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting. Answer: Introduction Positive accounting research is one of the most debatable topics, and this article intends to focus on the human attributes that is directly associated with the utilization of hypothesis and statistical methodologies. In relation to the implementation of the positive accounting research, this article sheds light on the theory of knowledge, and the obstacles of the statistical methodologies like imperfect reproduction in order to establish effective confidence due to low-interest levels in the numerical specifications, model development on an informal basis, etc. On a whole, this article aims to highlight the significant points that result in insufficiencies, thereby, in turn, offering several substitutes that can assist in creating an effective positive accounting research. Hence, the main aspect of the article is to provide a strong balance to the research so that a strong policy can be formulated. No concept is devoid of limitations, the best way to boost the concept is to enhance the knowledge with newer ideologies. This paper begins with a proper assessment of human beings wherein their various traits in the distinct environment is taken into account. In addition, several other prospects that play a key role in affecting the reason making ability is also taken into consideration. Moreover, it can also be witnessed that the acts and practices are altogether affected by an infinite number of factors. It does not operate on its own rather influenced by various factors that have a major role to play. With the help of this article, the difference of human behavior in two different scenarios can be observed. Besides, this is the key aspect of research in the positive accounting (Davila Foster, 2007). It can be witnessed that an enlightened perspective affects a human being, and their reaction is entirely based on the scenario. Nevertheless, such behavior is observable in more than seventy percent of the situation. The reason why there is a drastic decline in human beings interaction is due to a technicality in accounting and its operations. Besides, there is a system, which controls everything, and hence, the reliance is primarily based on the system, thereby resulting in generating difficulties in determining the reasonable human objectives. The objectives are guided by several systems and subsystem. Nevertheless, this is because several perspectives influence such human behavior (Davila Foster, 2007). In other words, the behavior of humans is influenced by several prospects, thereby making it problematic to be adjudged. Therefore, the presumption taken into account plays a key role in disqualifying the positive accounting research in order to make an effective contribution towards the society. Moreover, the outcomes together with anticipations are also relevant. Therefore, this article intends to develop the research efficiency by offering various suggestions regarding positive research. The suggestions are provided for the benefits of the theory and ensure that the research is successful. Besides, several illustrations are considered by considering different models of research. Both the hypothesis and statistical methodologies are required to assess different scenarios, and the procedure of auditors reaction that is associated with the presumption of reasonableness (Dunmore, 2007). Hence, if the procedure is correct and reasonable then it is easy to conduct the research and derive at a course of an action. Further, the outcome of hypothesis aligns with the samples opted, and therefore, ultimate targets become unattainable. Ultimately, this article sheds light on the undetermined relationship by considering two different variables, but require more instead. Therefore, the key need is to assess the theories that play with each other, as opposed to evaluating a methodology for the hypothesis. It is, therefore, significant to evaluate distinct theories or methodologies so that it can highlight the present practice. This article intends to highlight a developed model and the methods must be effective enough to make the testing accurate. Accurate testing is the need of the hour because such a testing helps in making effective decisions. Models that lack the concept of effectiveness are unable to ensure a better place. This, in turn, leads to a better practice (Markarian, 2007). Furthermore, such testing must be free from biases and errors in order to make the model more effective. Connections of a more dependable nature must also be framed with proxies so that it can result in a determination of measurable strategies. Therefore, this clearly depicts that research paper plays a key role in emphasizing not only upon the hypothesis concepts but also upon an effective situation for the anticipation of parameters (Dunmore, 2007). Thus, development of innovative methodologies is relevant to ensure an enhanced research operation. Besides, this can result in a more enhanced outcome if substantial replica s that can align with the efficiency of the measurement play a key role in leading towards the analysis of the limitations or restrictions of the research. The evaluation of positive accounting research is the major question of research, and whether any strategies are prevalent, that can enable the performance of an auditor or accountant. Yet, it is vulnerable to several attackers. This means the entire concept is not free to operate rather various factors plays a predominant role. The hypothesis is examined by taking samples of audit fees that are liable to be charged, against the size of firm and complexity of audit procedure. This is a quantitative research that takes into account procedures of changeability of audit fees, thereby illustrating several policies, and use of methodologies of regression (Dahmash et. al, 2009). This model is prevalent to track the type I error, but it is notable that both testing and hypothesis cannot be perfect. The main aim of the hypothesis is to illustrate that nil hypothesis is imperfect as the outcomes are associated with the sample. The sample determines the real nature of the hypothesis. Therefore , it is clear that hypothesis testing plays a key role in offering an inappropriate proof in the scenario of the hypothesis of substitute nature. On a whole, the value of hypothesis is irrelevant in relation to positive accounting research (Kealey, 2007). Therefore, after taking into due consideration the research and other materials, it can be stated that this article primarily intends to focus on positive accounting research, and the literature review assists in finding whether such research can procure the prime objectives and goals. In addition, this research also relies on several models and factors (Antle et. al, 2006). Overall, the main aim of the article is to shed light on the concept of positive accounting research and ensure a practice that will be highly effective in the scenario. Theoretical framework There are various regulations in an auditing and accounting practice that are called accounting standards, or regulatory and taxation requirements, and compliance of these is significant to establish a constant framework of operations. Therefore, since these adherences to various rules and regulations are crucial, it facilitates in establishing a stagnant framework of operations but it must be noted that no relevant materials are disregarded in this process (Ashton et. al, 2004). However, auditors fail to adhere to such requirements, and these are established to interpret the causes for such differences. Several factors play a role in ascertaining these variations in anticipated action, like human traits that offer the reasonableness and independence of imagination of every performing individual. Moreover, biases and errors generate as such independence marks create a pattern and operate with preconceptions. Nevertheless, such trends can play a key role in altering the designed course of action (Tinker, 1982). For this article, such mentioned behaviors are a significant material and these can be investigated in order to prevent it from influencing the framework. A sample size is taken into account while working with a hypothesis, with a presumption that it highlights the population as a whole. Therefore, all possibilities must be carefully considered and misrepresentation can be framed after considering one item as a sample from every type, in order to make this measure to operate effectively. This can assist in avoiding checking off every kind, thereby depicting an aggregate crosscheck betwixt various scenarios. Nonetheless, utilization of one method cannot assure an appropriate outcome because every statistical measure is oppressed with its own restrictions and the qualitative investigation is not conducted. Furthermore, a single scenario can be taken into due consideration through a hypothesis, in contrast to an audit that can have more (Ittner et. al, 2003). Therefore, although being simple, an audit process can have many variables, that are very significant. Thus, since hypothesis takes into due consideration only a single variable, a point of concern arises, thereby creating a situation of making the research distorted in nature. Importance and limitations With the assistance of this article, various relevant points of discussion arise because of several flaws in the current system. Therefore, such research is crucial to establish a path for enhancements in the system. The research will enable the system to have a proper balance and leads to a strong practice. Moreover, as per studies, it has been shown that human behavior is generally reasonable in nature, and it attempts to enhance the advantages of a scenario (Hay et. al, 2006). Besides, this article also has its disadvantages. Firstly, it primarily concentrates on a vital part of the thesis, and it could offer better suggestions together with illustrations to enhance the efficiency of the research. It means the research can be optimized through various ways. Furthermore, this article primarily takes the present theories to be efficiently true in nature and implements such theories (Hogget et. al, 2012). However, in reality, such theories have developed over due passage of time, and have not been examined since then. Hence, the part of the examination is missing and does not provide adequate back up (Choi et. al, 2009). This, in turn, lessens the importance of the concept. Therefore, such enhancements are a clear proof that developments are in fact still incurring in this operation. However, such advancements are very crucial in relation to such theories because it can play a key role in restricting these limitations, and it cannot be done if the level of st udy and research is not enhanced. Various statistical measures can play a key role in representing distinct outcomes and since, accounting is a prime subject with innumerable limitations and variables, the errors of measurement must be given due consideration. It must be provided adequate emphasis so that a better stand could be taken. Furthermore, considering an effective representation of samples is equally crucial because it must shed light on a virtuous picture as much as possible of the complete population (Fogarty Markarian, 2007). However, making a judgment of an entire population through a sample can have its own disadvantages and restrictions, and that must be taken due care of prior to evaluating the required outcomes. On a whole, this is one of the prime disadvantages that must be given due consideration as the sample may fail to depict the real nature of the population, thereby failing to offer an effective piece of information. If the information is ineffective in nature it will destroy the effectivenes s of the result. Conclusion With the help of this article, it can be clearly understood that the intensity of the present research of accounting is insufficient in nature, and has failed to procure the same to operate it. Therefore, this generates an immediate requirement to undertake a more systematic and strong approach that is also incorporated with methodological measures. Moreover, analytical models and unguarded models are the key way towards progress with more rigorous examination and re-examination that can be attained by replication, thereby playing a key role in offering several positive or effective outcomes for the accounting research. The curbs and other limitations of this field can be used to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency. Furthermore, the different opportunities that are generated through this research can be utilized in order establish a more rigorous and theoretically appropriate framework (Humphrey, 2008). Moreover, since new and innovative methodologies have been developing with the due passage of time, these can play a key role in enhancing the validity and importance of such research, thereby granting it the potential to align freely to fresh scenarios. On a whole, this methodology of positive accounting research must have to proceed with the due passage of time. References Antle, R., Gordon, E., Narayanamoorthy, G., Zhou, L 2006, The joint de-termination of audit fees, non-audit fees, and abnormal accruals, Review of Quantitative Finance Accounting vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 235-266 Ashton, D., Dunmore, P., Tippett, M., 2004, Double entry bookkeeping and the distributional properties of a financial ratios, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 583-606. Choi, J.H., Kim, J.B., Liu, X., Simunic, D. A., 2009, Cross-listing audit fee premiums: Theory and evidence, The Accounting Review vol. 84, no. 5, pp. 1429- 1463. Dahmash, F. N., Durand, R. B.,Watson, J., 2009, The value relevance and re- liability of reported goodwill and identifiable intangible assets, The British Accounting Review vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 120- 137. Davila, A Foster, G., 2007, Management control systems in early-stage startup companies, The Accounting Review vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 907- 937. Dunmore, P.V 2009, Half a Defense of Positive Accounting Research, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand Fogarty, T. J., Markarian, G 2007, An empirical assessment of the rise and fall of accounting as an academic discipline, Issues in Accounting Education vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 137161 Francis, J. R., 2006, Are auditors compromised by nonaudit services? Assessing the evidence, Contemporary Accounting Research vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 747- 760. Hay, D. C., Knechel, W. R., Wong, N., 2006, Audit fees: A meta-analysis of the effect of supply and demand attributes, Contemporary Accounting Research vol. 23, no.2, pp. 141- 191. Hogget, J., Edwards, L., Medlin, C Tiling, M 2012, Financial accounting, 8th edition, John Wiley Humphrey, C., 2008, Auditing research: A review across the disciplinary Divide, Accounting, Auditing Accountability Journal vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 170- 203. Ittner, C. D., Larcker, D. F., Meyer, M. W., 2003, Subjectivity and the weighting of performance measures: Evidence from a balanced scorecard, The Accounting Review vol.78, no. 3, pp. 725-758. Kealey, B. T., Lee, H. Y., Stein, M. T., 2007, The association between audit- tenure and audit fees paid to successor auditors: Evidence from Arthur Andersen, Auditing vol.26, no. 2, pp. 95-116. Tinker, T, B. Merino, Neimark M 1982, The Normative Origins of Positive Theories: Ideology and Accounting Thought, Accounting, Organizations and Society vol. 2, pp. 167200.

Justice Essays (5562 words) - Dialogues Of Plato, Socratic Dialogues

Justice ABSTRACT: This paper has a two-fold task. First, I show that there are three types of individuals associated with the Thrasymachean view of society: (a) the many, i.e., the ruled or those exploited individuals who are just and obey the laws of the society; (b) the tyrant or ruler who sets down laws in the society in order to exploit the many for personal advantage; (c) the stronger individual (kreittoon) or member of the society who is detached from the many and aspires to become the tyrant. Second, I argue that if Thrasymachuss account of the perfectly unjust life of the tyrant is to be more than a theoretical ideal, then the stronger individual who aspires to the tyrants position would do well to lead a double lifenamely, pursuing private injustice while maintaining the public appearance of justice. My interpretation accords with that of Glaucon, noted at the beginning of Republic II. I want to extend Glaucons interpretation to include the stronger individual as well. I argue that the standpoint of the stronger individual, as distinct from the standpoints of the tyrant and the many, shows Thrasymachuss three statements regarding justice to be consistent with one another. I. In the beginning of Republic II, during a conversation with Socrates and Adeimantus about which individual is deemed happier, the one who is just or the one who is unjust, Glaucon states: For the extreme of injustice is to seem to be just when one is not. So the perfectly unjust man must be given the most perfect injustice, and nothing must be taken away; he must be allowed to do the greatest injustices while having provided himself with the greatest reputation for justice. And if, he should trip up in anything, he has the power to set himself aright; if any of his unjust deeds should come to light, he is capable both of speaking persuasively and of using force, to the extent that force is needed, since he is courageous and strong and since he has provided for friends and money. (361a-b)(1) I believe that Glaucon has captured the essence of the Thrasymachean position concerning the best way for the unjust individual to live. The one who pursues the life of injustice must at the same time be courageous and crafty, strong and shrewd, power-driven and persuasive. But most importantly, the unjust individual must be dastardly and deceptive. This deception is captured by Glaucon when he states that the perfectly unjust man must seem to be just. Appearances and reputations played a central role in the fifth century b.c.e. Greek polis and so it makes sense that Glaucon would cast light upon the idea of an individuals pursuit of the unjust life while providing for the greatest reputation for justice.(2) Such an individual leads a kind of double life and therefore has a double duty to perform in seeming to be just while actually being unjust. These comments regarding Glaucons view of the perfectly unjust individual hint at the purpose of this discussion. This paper has a three-fold task. First, I will show that there are three types of individuals associated with the Thrasymachean view of society: a) the many, i.e., the ruled or those exploited individuals who are just and obey the laws of the society; b) the tyrant or ruler who sets down laws in the society to exploit the many for personal advantage; c) the stronger individual (kreitton) or member of the society who detaches from the many and aspires to become the tyrant. Most commentaries dealing with Thrasymachus position give the tyrant and the many central roles in the discussion of justice and injustice.(3) My view draws out the role of the stronger individual in Thrasymachus account in order to show the activities associated with the genesis of the tyrant from the society. The stronger individual, in seeking the life of injustice, naturally detaches from the many and aspires to develop into the perfectly unjust tyrant. In the third section of this paper I shall argue that if Thrasymachus account of the perfectly unjust life of the tyrant is to be more than a theoretical ideal, then the stronger individual who aspires to become the tyrant would do well to lead a double

Cawow Essays

Cawow Essays Cawow Essay Cawow Essay California WOW Xperience Public Company Limited (CAWOW) is at first known as Thailand’s leading fitness center operating with 9 branch locations and 35,000 square meters of fitness facilities serving more than 80,000 members. CAWOW came into Thai market since the year 2000, first known as California Fitness Centers, the most complete and modern fitness center in Thailand. The company formed by Fitness Holdings International Corporation which is the company under 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide Inc, America, administrate by Eric Mark Levine. The first branch opened at Liberty Tower on Silom road since midyear of 2000. During the first three year, the number of club members reached about 12,000 people. Mr. Eric Mark Levine, CAWOW’s CEO and founder, a global fitness executive with more than 30 years of proven experience developing and building fitness companies. As CAWOW’s Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, Eric has developed a unique â€Å"Exertainment† (Exercise+Entertainment) concept combining fitness, fashion and entertainment within state of the art fitness centers that exude high levels of positive energy. CAWOW joined forces with Major Cineplex Group Public Company Limited (Major Cineplex) Thailand’s leading total lifestyle entertainment company which has strength in being the Entertainment Complex or Lifestyle Center not just cinema business like before, in 2003, 51% share holding by Mr. Eric group and 49% holding by Major Cineplex Group and change the name from Fitness Holdings International Corporation to Elite Power Holdings Inc. and FDE of the World Co. , Ltd. by Eric Mark Levine and also change the trademark from ‘California Fitness Centers’ to ‘California WOW Xperience Public Company Limited’ (CAWOW). This strategic partnership has enabled CAWOW to leverage the marketing and property development expertise of the Major Group to become Thailand’s leading Fitness Company. SITUATION ANALYSIS Market Analysis 1) STP Segmentation Demographically, CAWOW segments customers mainly according to their ages, which mostly categorizes as university students and working people in various ages. Psychographically, CAWOW segments customers focusing on lifestyle, mainly young people who are health conscious, interested in exercising, and care about their body image. Targeting CAWOW’s target group is the people of age 21-40 years old which can be categorize as university student and office people who looking to take care of their health. The target group also required to have a medium to high purchasing power in order to be able to afford the club fees. Apart from that, in tern of lifestyle, the target group of CAWOW is those people who care about putting up an appearance and health through exercising. Each branch also target on people who live around the area so the target group for the brand will be differ from place to place. As they segment according to the type of lifestyle, the age group leading the similar lifestyle will have different paths home and will have different locations in which they pass by. For university level target groups will have more focus upon classes like that of dance, and perhaps Yoga etc. however, in terms of first jobbers are those that have been working for a period of time, their focus will be upon Yoga and Pilates to maintain their healthy sense of mind and body. Positioning The positioning of CAWOW is the worlds’ number one fitness center, and the number one fitness center in Thailand. 2) Marketing Mix Product CAWOW’s fitness centers offer members hundreds of Group Exercise Classes per week, such as Body Balance, Body Jam, Body Combat, Step, Tai-Chi, Spinning, etc. They also offer Personal Training, Yoga and Pilates. Personal Training is a one-on-one service helping each member design the appropriate program to reach their fitness goals. Yoga is the highest growth service among these three services. CAWOW offers 2 forms of Yoga; Bikram Yoga and Planet Yoga with hundreds of Yoga classes offered per week. They also offer Pilates, the ultimate physical and mental conditioning program. They also provide lockers, sauna, and steam rooms for their members. Price Their prices are mainly determined according to both the degree of need of exercise and the qualities of a customer. The company uses the free floating membership price system which means that it does not have the published prices and there is no information on their website about pricing as well. The only way for customer who wants to know the price is physically going to their club and talk to their sales. The membership price will be different for each of customers. Some people may pay a cheaper or a higher price for the same membership that may receive variety of service package, being able to bargain with CAWOW salesperson. Place CAWOW has opened their branches in the high traffic point in Bangkok including Siam paragon, Silom, Chanegwattana, Pinklao, Sukumvit23, Sukumvit31, Ratchayothin, and Ratchada. After joining with Major Cineplex, they try to expand the branch into Major branch to save the cost under the fact that the company expects to gain more sales revenue in opening each new branch, especially in the first two year from opening. Since the contract of membership is at least one year, most of customers do not renew the contract and the customers who plan to play for long term paid for life membership so that a great way to gain the money is to find new customers is by opening new branch. Also, the location they choose are all able to see through glass windows so that other people can be able to see them working out. Promotion Their promotions are normally changing from time to time. They have weekly promotion that will change every week, and within the week also have another promotion which will give the customers more benefits such as free Yoga, free one time personal trainer, etc. The most common one is that if you pay for long term membership you will pay cheaper for each month. CAWOW also offers the member privilege; for example, discount for some spa and restaurants. Their promotion activities vary to make sure that it can effectively access to customers. These promotion activities include; Advertising Mass media: As a health, fitness and lifestyle company, CAWOW promotes their benefits to fitness enthusiasts’ via media channels thus increasing brand awareness and health consciousness in Thailand. The Company has launched the â€Å"Yoga For All† TV Series and their â€Å"California WOW 20 Minute Workout† broadcast on Chic Channel – True Vision, UBC which can target directly on the potential customers, as well as creating chic image for the brand. Magazine: CAWOW has launched the â€Å"WOW† Fitness Magazine with 50,000 copies circulated to their members and on newsstands each month to help promoting the brand and also create the health conscious trend. Personal selling Sales person offers several promotions to all the guests and current members either by phone or face to face. This kind of promotion is often be found after free trial of the current member’s guest where the sales person will offer special promotion for them and if they do not sign for membership that day, the sales person will continually calling them to offer more promotion and benefits. Website One of the tools that CAWOW often used to communicate to their current customers and other potential customers is through their website. CAWOW official website provides all sort of the company’s news, and any all other information about CAWOW. 3) SWOT Analysis Strengths Experience and reputation The founder of CAWOW is an experienced professional that has worked in the health and fitness industry for over 30 years. He, Mr. Eric Mark Levine is both the founder and the CEO and has intensive knowledge about the industry. Indeed, CAWOW is a well-known brand that expose in several countries. First-mover advantage In Thailand, the firm is the longest established fitness center. With their advertising and their locations, they have the highest brand visibility in terms of time frame. Their long establishment will also help building up a foundation in providing fitness services to their clients. In addition, the fact that they were established first helps them grab and maintai n a substantial amount of this industry’s market share due to the constant strong brand awareness. Benefit from alliance with Major Cineplex group CAWOW also entered into a beneficial joint venture with The Major Group. This provided several benefits for CAWOW as it helped increase the total amount of new customers for the fitness center. In addition, their fixed costs will have decreased because their cost on rent is shared with the Major group and its facilities. High level of brand awareness Since CAWOW choose â€Å"Lukked Metinee Kingpayom†, the famous star and super model as a presenter, it can create high level of brand awareness and image of good body shape and entertainment. As with most of the trends that come by into society, it is usually led by a celebrity. For Thailand, this famous celebrity is thought of to be a trendsetter in many ways, and is constantly kept in the spotlight. With her as the brand presenter will allow an optimal amount of attention to be fixated upon CAWOW. Not only will this help increase in the brand awareness but it may also lead to an increase in total consumers. This may result from the self-fulfillment of a self-concept by consumers that look to be like this celebrity. Hence, they will correlate the look and to be her as including CAWOW in their life day to day activities. Variety of exercises CAWOW offers members hundreds of Group Exercise Classes per week, such as Body Balance, Body Jam, Body Combat, Step, Tai-Chi, Spinning, etc. They also offer Personal Training, Yoga and Pilates for customer can choose the class they like. As the trend nowadays tends to lean towards exercise types that many of the celebrities take- Yoga and Pilates- CAWOW offers a substantial amount of classes. The main benefit of variety is that it can accommodate the need of members. High-quality equipment CAWOW’s facilities are well taken care of so that the equipment is not only easy to use, but also appealing to their consumers. Long opening hours CAWOW provides long opening period for their members. This longer period of opening time helps CAWOW as a categorical point of parity. This is because all CAWOW fitness centers are opening at all times of the day and night to cater to the needs of their different consumers. With longer working hours, it allows their consumers to use the club whene ver they want. Weaknesses Aggressive Sales person CAWOW’s sales persons are famous in selling their member packages too aggressively. That makes customers annoyed and potential customers who know about this behavior may avoid to talk to CAWOW’s sales persons. This also create bad image of the company when the customer feels like they are forced to buy the package that they do not need. Low customer service (After sales) Many customers complain that after sale service is not as good as before they buy the package. They think that the sales persons ignore them because they already paid for the package fee then it is not essential to take care them any more. In contrast, the trainers who can still get advantage from taking care of customers still keep calling them to go to the club and use the personal trainer service which they have to pay extra money. High-cost personal trainers CAWOW’s members have to pay extra money for personal trainer who will give suggestion to use the equipment in the most effective way. The fee is many times said to be too expensive that may make customers think that it is not worth to pay. Busy during peak hours During peak hours for CAWOW which is 18. 00-21. 00, the fitness centers are extremely crowded; for example, it is normal during peak hour to see people lining up in front of the lift. In addition, over crowdedness and lack of personal space within the fitness center will lead to less privacy which is not a preference that most consumers have. They prefer a substantial amount of proximity between one another, and to not waste more time lining up then actually working out. Opportunities Unsaturated Market From CAWOW’s research conclude that the ratio of Thai people who is fitness member is still much less than neighbor country such as Japan 4. 5% of the people is the fitness member, Hong Kong 4%, Taiwan and Korea 3%, while ,Thailand only has 1% of people who is fitness member. It is show that there is much chance for fitness industry to grow more than now. Health Conscious Trend Nowadays, people are becoming more concerned about their health. Therefore, exercising tend to become more popular among various activities during free time to satisfy the trend. Threats High competitive market CAWOW is the first in the fitness center market after that is Fitness First which expands their branches to the high traffic points of Bangkok and some branches near CAWOW branches which means that they target more or less the same gro up of customers around those locations. In addition, fitness centers like that of Fitness First seems to be a higher positioned fitness center. They also seem to have targeted a lot of CAWOW’s weaknesses. For example, their congested fitness center during peak hours is controlled by a slightly higher price. When one first applies to be a member of Fitness First, they give you a free personal trainer to help you get to know the equipment and to work out a suitable work out routine that is adapted to your personal needs. After that, there are a series of trainers around that remember you buy name and remember the type of activities that you need to complete in your routine and they help you out often providing service in after you’ve subscribed to be a member. Substitute activities For exercising there is much more substitute ways to do, especially those exercises that cost less that fitness center such as jogging in the park, riding a bicycle, or swimming.

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The Effects of Structural Adjustment Programs

The Effects of Structural Adjustment Programs INTRODUCTION At independence, most African countries had their economies rely heavily on the production of primary commodities especially agriculture. However due to a sharp increase of market prices of agricultural products such as cocoa, tea, coffee and many more in the global market in the 1970s. Many economies of African countries grew significantly for example the real GDP of Kenya grew by 6.5% a year, by about 15% in Zambia in 1964-73 (Adepoju, 1993). African governments responded to their newly acquired fortune by increasing government expenditures in their respective countries thus less government savings. As the world was plunged into the oil crisis of the 1970s, when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) increased world oil prices so as to generate more income which they invested in the banks of developed countries. As a result, these banks embarked on a mission to loan African countries so as to facilitate the purchase of products and services offered to African countries by developed industries. Therefore African countries were encouraged and manipulated into borrowing huge sums of money from western banks. However the money borrowed by African banks ended up in the pockets of corrupt government officials, unnecessary projects or on luxuries by leaders and very little was invested so as to attain sustainable economic growth (Toussaint and Comanne 1995: 15). Moreover, the loans given to African countries were accompanied with very low interest rates. However, the situation changed drastically as the United States of America and European states increased interest rates so as to stop inflation. Hence, African countries that had borrowed money from Western banks had to pay back their loans with huge amounts of interest. These culminated into inability to pay up the loans by African countries and therefore were forced to take up new loans to pay up the increased interests (George 1995: 21 cook). As a result of the need to take up new loans by developing countries, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank developed the structural adjustment programs, economic policies as condition for the provision of loans in the late 1970s. This paper will therefore aim to give a brief overview of the Structural Adjustment Programs, by putting into focus the key components and objectives of the programs. Furthermore, the paper will highlight on Structural Adjustment Programs in Kenya, the effects of the programs in Kenya and finally draw a conclusion of the overall effects of Structural Adjustment Programs in Africa. OVERVIEW OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGAMS Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) according to leftwitch (1996) is defined as a set of institutional and economic measures intended to solve the macroeconomic problems facing developing countries by correcting a country’s borrowing deficit, reducing the intervention of governments in the economy and opening up the state’s economy to the world market. The SAPs designed by the Bretton woods institution, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and later embraced by other major international financial institutions, were believed to consist of policies that would bring about reduction of poverty and sustainable economic growth. As underlined in the World health Organization website (2014), Structural Adjustment Programs echoes the neo-liberal ideology which pushes for globalization; hence was aimed at realizing a long-term economic growth in poor countries by encouraging the restructure and reduction of government intervention in the economy. Therefore, the components Structural Adjustment Programs as advocated by the IMF and the World Bank include: the devaluation of local currency, balance of payments management, government reduction of social services through cutting of public spending, social spending and budget deficit, reduction of tax on high earners, reduction of inflation, suppression of wages, lowering of import tariffs, tightened monetary policy. Governments were also encouraged or sometimes forced to lessen their role in the economy, hence privatize state-run industries, deregulate businesses and open up their economies to foreign competition so as to increase free trade. The Structural Adjustment Programs was a financing mechanism of the international monetary fund to support macroeconomic policies and reforms in low-income countries through low interest subsidizations and loans. According to (Finch 1985 cook), Structural Adjustment Programs were intended to provide long-term solutions to economic problems facing developing countries around the world by facilitating the achievement of sustained growth and economic stability. They were also designed to eliminate unsustainable external and internal imbalances of a countries economy. Finch further argues that, the champions of SAPs, believe it was a forward-looking and long-term solution to underdevelopment in Africa and Latin America, as it seek to increase the elasticity of an economy to have the ability to respond to changes, stimulate efficiency utilization and allocation of resources, elimination of trade deficits and finally balance the expenditure and revenue of the government. Therefore the prog rams were created as a result of the failures of the Band-Aid projects and programs which mostly responded to crises instead of enchanting a pre-emptive stance which would look into preventing crises before they arise. STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS IN KENYA Kenya gained independence in 1963, a period when the global economy was expanding and stable. This was as a result of the high prices of primary commodities that Kenya exported for example tea and coffee, therefore the country acquired a huge sum of foreign exchange which it reserved and thus could afford to deal any instability in the economy. Consequently, it can be deduced that the first decade after Kenya gained independence was a period of high aspirations and economic prosperity (Swamy 1994). The economic sector of Kenya in the first 10 years after independence had made tremendous progress, this is depicted by the fact that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had grown by 6.6%. Hence investments and savings for its per capita income were relatively high, thus Kenya could provide a better life for its citizens. For instance there was a tremendous increase in the number of schools between 1963 and 1982. Health services were improved with an increase of hospitals leading to an increase of life expectancy from 44 years at independence to 68 years in the 1980s whereas infant mortality had dropped significantly from about 220 deaths per 1000 new born to 70 per 1000 new born. With the facts mentioned, it is evident that Kenya was actually doing better than most sub-Saharan countries (Swamy 1994:196). However, as the world went into recession in the 1970s with the inflating oil prices, Kenya economic problems started after an experiment in expansionary fiscal policies which brought about a severe rundown of reserves. Like other African countries, the 1973 oil crisis worsened the living conditions of Kenyans. The situation was worsened with the dropping of prices of Kenya’s main export products, poor technology, high population growth, drought, and collapse of East African Community. In a bid to cub to emerging economic problems, Kenya successfully applied for a structural adjustment loan from the World Bank in 1980. The loan was aimed at helping Kenya correct the economic imbalances of its economy; implement institutional reforms for a sustainable and balanced economic growth. As Mwega and Kabubo 1994 argue, the loan was meant to finance structural changes in the industrial sector, promote the efficient use of external assets and enhance effectiveness of public assets. Moreover, the loan was given with conditions which required Kenya to reduce budget deficit, promote exports, liberalize trade, reform interest rate regime and cut down its funding on social services. The first structural adjustment loan was followed by another loan in in 1982 which was intended to accomplish similar objectives as the first loan. In 1986, Kenya applied for its third structural adjustment loans was aimed at implementing reforms in the agriculture sector so as to improve production, provide finances for the importation of agricultural inputs, improve agricultural research institutes and support reforms of parastatals in the restructure of publics assets and expenditure programs (Rono, 2002). Another structural loan was signed in 1988 which introduced reforms in the social service sectors especially in health and education. The policy reforms agreed upon included the introduction of cost-sharing in the provision of social services. This is where beneficiaries of services such as education and health were to pay for them either partially or fully. The reforms forced the government to withdraw its funding from health and education. Furthermore the policies forced the g overnment to retrench many civil servants in a bid to cut down its expenditure on the salaries of civil servants (Rono, 2002). EFFECTS OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS IN KENYA Structural adjustment programs have encompassed withdrawal or reduction of government expenditures on social services and basic needs mainly in the health, agriculture and education sectors. Competition from subsidized imported goods has been a major challenge for local products in Kenya due to the competition they bring about. As a result of this, the poor are continuously being exposed to austere socio-economic risks for instance retrenchment and unemployment. The effects of structural adjustment products cut across a number of sectors in the Kenyan society, however this paper will focus on the effects of structural adjustment programs on education, health, agriculture, and politics Education After independence, Kenya had been making remarkable progress in the education sector. This being measured by the number of education institutions, the rate of enrollment in universities, secondary and primary school, in addition to this, is also the level of literacy rate in the country. Education, at the time of independence was an inspiration to the human capital ideology, therefore was regarded as an important tool for economic and socio-political transformations for post-colonial Kenya. Hence the government took the sole responsibility of financing, controlling and providing free education to the citizens (Obamba, 2009). Education being given its due importance by the government, its key feature was the rapid growth of enrollment at every level of education institutions, leading to an increase in educational expenditure. For example, recurrent expenditure on education amplified from 15% in 1960s to about 40% in 1980s (Rono, 2002). However in the 1980s, after the Kenyan government started taking structural adjustment loans, there was significant swing in government funding of higher education arose due to the emergence of neoliberal economic policies of the structural adjustment programs that played a major role in policy-making of higher education. The government was forced to withdraw funding on education and further introduced tuition cost-sharing tuition fees (Obamba, 2009). The introduction of school fees led to an increased number of school dropouts, low enrollment, underdevelopment and inequality in that only the children of well off Kenyans could afford education at the expense of the poor Kenyan families. The students who failed to complete their education, failed to get employed hence the continuous degradation of standard of living in Kenya (Rono, 2002). Health Health being an important aspect of the socio-economic development of a country, Kenya after its independence embarked to address the issues of inequality brought about by the colonial development and administration. Therefore, the provision of health to all the citizens was a priority of the government. This commitment was evident with the fact that, the government provided free health services to members of the public. Moreover the public was encouraged to take part in construction of clinics, hospitals and medical training. This increased health personnel and medical structures in the country. As a result, life expectancy increased from 44 years at independence to 68 years in the 1980s whereas infant mortality dropped significantly from about 220 deaths per 1000 new born to 70 per 1000 new born (Rono, 2002). However, the economic pressures brought about in the 1980s by the structural adjustment programs placed a lot of pressure on the government’s expenditure. Subsequently, the government responded by cutting down on social services especially in health. The government introduced cost sharing whereby the beneficiaries of health services were to pay some amount of money before receiving health services for the medication and the government catering the cost of medical personnel. Thereafter medical quality has been deteriorating, thus affecting Kenyans and especially the poor and the vulnerable groups. This has led to the reduction of life expectancy rate of 68 years in the 1970s to 61 years in 2012 (Data: Life expectancy at birth, total (years), 2014) . Agriculture The structural adjustment programs on agriculture were meant to introduce reforms that would provide incentives of increased production to farmers. Although, there were improved policy reforms on implementation, agriculture and food production has been declining. SAPs were meant to remove government control and monopoly in agricultural products marketing, pricing, imports and distribution. Decontrol of prices, trade liberalization and deregulation of market encouraged the participation of the private sector in the production and distribution of agricultural products. However trade liberalization worked out to be a disadvantage of local farmers as it allowed for cheaper imports of subsidized agricultural commodities from western countries. This culminated in the collapse of certain agricultural industries in Kenya for example cotton (Nyangito, 2003). Politics Structural adjustment programs have had a mixed impact on the political arena of Kenya. It would be unfair to overlook the positive effects the programs have had on politics in the country. It is true to say that the program enforced by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund ushered in of political pluralism, greater democracy, respect for human rights and accountability of the government to the citizens. However the positive effects came accompanied with a list of negative impacts too. The programs are accused of heightening tribal tensions, polarizing communities and further increased ferocious ethnic clashes that have resulted in the death of hundreds of people and a lot being displaced as well. Moreover, the programs are said to have lessened national leaders to tribal chiefs leading to the infusion of tribalism in all sectors of development thus being an obstacle to growth and development (Rono, 2002). CONCLUSION Within the African context, the impacts of the structural adjustment programs have been a controversial issue. Presently, just about 20 years after the programs were introduced in Africa, they continue to be detested by the people because they were conveyed by a number of conditions that have worsened the living conditions of Africans. Scholars have argued that these conditions are based on economic models that are not fit for the social structure and situation of Africa. The programs were intended to improve the economy in the long run but in the short run, the social aspect of human development especially in the provision of social services has been ignored and suffered tremendously. African scholars should therefore with solutions to counter the problem brought about by structural adjustment programs rather than letting western scholars experiment programs with no reference to the social-cultural background of Africans. BIBLIOGRAPHY Adepoju, A. (1993). The Impact of Structural Adjustment on the Population of Africa. In A. Adepoju, The Impact of Structural Adjustment on the Population of Africa (pp. 1-6). London: Villiers Publication. Data: Life expectancy at birth, total (years). (2014, November 21). Retrieved from The World Bank Group : http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN Leftwich, A. (1996). â€Å"Two Cheers for Democracy? Democracy and the Developmental State.† In Leftwich, A. (ed) Democracy and Development: Theory and Practice. Polity Press: Cambridge. Mwega, F.W. and Ndulu K. (1994). Economic Adjustment Policies. In Barkan, J.D. Beyond Capitalism verses Socialism in Kenya and Tanzania, Nairobi, East African Educational Publishers. Nyangito, H.O. (2003). Agricultural Trade Reforms in Kenya under the World Trade Organization Framework. KIPPRA PP No. 25 Obamba, M. O. (2009). Myth and ceremony: Contested Marketization and Internationalization Regimes in Kenyas Higher education. Journal of Higher Education in Africa, 7(3), 125–149. Programs:World Health Organisation. (2014, November 21). Retrieved from World Health Organisation: http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story084/en/ Rono, J. K. (2002). The Impact of the Structural Adjustment Programmes on Kenyan Society. Journal of Social Development in Africa, 17(1), 81-98. Swammy, G. (1994). Adjustment in Africa: Lessons from Country Case Studies, Washington, DC, the World Bank Toussaint, E. and Comanne, D. (1995): Globalization and Debt. Notebooks for Study and Research 24/25. 1