Human Resource Information Systems Essay

1. â€Å"Suggest how HR professionals can use online recruiting to more effectively support recruitment activities while reducing organizational costs.† Retaining and acquiring talent with high qualities is crucial to an organization’s success. â€Å"As the economy and job market heats up, so has the market for corporate recruiting and recruiting service and consultants† (Bersin, 2013). Therefore, the labor force becomes more competitive and available skills become more diverse, HR professionals need to be more selective when choosing the right candidate. Poor decisions made by recruiters can result into negative effects for the company. Another thing that can impact an organization as well as an employee’s morale is high training and development cost. For this reason alone, many companies have turned to e-Recruiting. â€Å"Online recruiting involves less human interaction, reaches a much broader audience, files records electronically, and provides select ion tools electronically† (Friend, 2014). Companies can conduct everything online while spending less money sending all employees to a training session or meeting off-site. Just by conducting meetings, training, etc. online saves the company a lot of money. For example, new hires really make up the majority of the cost because they need to be trained in every aspect of the job they are taking on. Also, training occurs with other employees besides new hires when a new product or service surfaces within the company. All employees need to learn about the new products or services in order to promote them to their clients. Online recruiting comes in handy since it’s a real money saver by having employees do everything online via internet instead of meeting each time for different things. Online recruiting is not only cost effective but it’s quick and easy to do. HR professionals can posts job postings anywhere there is an internet  connection and receive responses just as quickly. Online recruiting can become very convenient. 2. â€Å"Recommend four (4) strategies to mitigate the unintended consequences associated with e-Recruiting.† Four strategies to mitigate the unintended consequences associated with e-Recruiting include: Ensuring consistent high customer satisfaction online and maintaining consistent high service When e-recruiting, recruit and select applicants who appear to have out-going personalities that fit within the organizational culture This can be determined from likes/dislikes Express that training and incentives will be provided in order to encourage loyalty, motivation, and focus on doing whatever it may be to meet the needs of the customer, and create Create a consistent set of HR practices that work together to create a culture of customer service. A strategy is not always planned and HR professionals usually have to adopt this strategic plan. Maintaining excellent service and high customer satisfaction is a good look for the company. Also, it’s a great strategy to have to meet all the needs of the customers to ensure their returned business and for them to spread the good comments about the company to their family, friends, and co-workers. The last strategy to mitigate the unintended consequences is for HR to get their practices to work together for the good of the company. HR needs to put a process in place that will be successful and beneficial to the employees and the company. 3. â€Å"Propose one (1) approach in which online recruitment can help ensure the employee’s psychological contracts are fulfilled.† According to Kavanagh, Thite, & Johnson (2012), psychological contract fulfillment, employee satisfaction, and retention rates are three other important goals of the recruitment process. The employees’ beliefs about the obligations and promises between them and their companies are what the psychological contract refers to. It’s going to be important to explore the extent to which online recruitment can help ensure that employees’ psychological contracts are fulfilled. Information that is collected and distributed during the recruitment process shapes the expectancy that leads to psychological contract fulfillment, which directly affects employee satisfaction and retention rates. The numerous expectations that shape the psychological contract include the work role, such as job performance; social relations, such as co-w orker and customer interactions; economic  rewards (raises, monetary incentives), and company culture. According to Heneman and Judge (2006), one approach to use to ensure psychological contracts are filled is a realistic recruitment message. 4. â€Å"Suggest three (3) strategies you would use to attract high-quality candidates and members of diverse groups using an e-Recruitment approach.† One strategy to use to attract candidates would be through social media. Examples of social media would be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even email such as Hotmail, Yahoo, and Google, etc. Today’s world is very technical savvy and most people now use the internet for everything, these medias would be perfect for announcing job vacancies and announcements. For example, when I used to work for State Farm I made a Facebook page for the company and promoted different products and services that we offered. Another strategy I would use is at the end of applicants completing their work history, etc. before submitting to the job, a series of detailed questions would be asked that relates to specific job in which they are applying for such as years of experience performing that particular job, and skill competencies, etc., this would eliminate applicants that don’t have the necessary experience and skills and alleviate unwanted applications. One last strategy I would use to determine diverse groups is have the applicant fill out an optional survey informing of their race, gender, etc. The survey if completed or not would not have an impact on whether or not the applicant is interviewed and the applicant would also be informed of this as well. This would only be for survey purpose that will allow the organization to see if and how many people from diverse backgrounds are applying. 5. â€Å"Take a stand on whether or not the attributes of a Website (attractiveness, quality, and ease of use) would affect your motivation to apply for a job at that company. Justify your position with specific examples from two (2) business Websites that you are familiar with.† In my opinion, I find that when applying for positions the company’s attractive quality and ease of use website is very important. This lets me know that the company takes pride in their name and what to make an impression on the candidates that are applying. Even though they are the ones that are hiring, they need employees to work as well as a candidate needs a job. The first impression is a lasting impression, and if I’m impressed with the Website then chances are I’m going to be impressed with the company and would want to work for them. Two websites that I’m  familiar with are www.indeed.com and www.careerbuilder.com. I used these two websites frequently because they always have up to date posts on their websites every day and have a variety of positions available. Both sites are colorful, and allow you to type in key words related to the job of interest along with the city and state. Next, it will display jobs related to the key words that are entered. The jobs that are displayed list the job title, company name, and a brief description of the job that includes the range in job salary, for some. Both search engines are easy to navigate, the content of the information is relevant to what I’m looking for. Also, usability is a plus, because they both allow you to receive job alerts, creat user accounts, and answer frequently asked questions. 6. â€Å"Propose four (4) security controls you would put into place to prevent unauthorized access to data and unauthorized disclosure of data when using e-Recruiting systems.† One security control I would use is each applicant would have to set up their own personal username and access code. This should ease the mind of the applicant, because this is information that only the applicant would use and have access to. Next, I would design a security control that is time sensitive and require the user to sign back in if the computer is idled for a certain amount of it the user spends too much time in one area without moving on to the next area. Third, I would use an online security system that would prevent hackers and unauthorized access to applicant’s information. â€Å"The last security control that I might put in place would be some type of software where you have to answer personal related questions about your past that only that specific person would know† (Zeidner, 2007). For example, a multiple choice question might pop up and ask which of the following are related to you and the employee that is trying to gain access would have to answer the question correctly. According to Kavanagh et al, I would develop privacy protection policies that (1) restrict access to data, (2) restrict disclosure of data, and (3) ensure that only job-relevant data are collected for decision-making purposes. Everyone has to be careful nowadays, because hacking into computers is just as easy as breaking into a house nowadays. References Bersin, J. (2013, May 23). Corporate Recruiting Explodes: A New Breed of Service Provders. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2013/05/23/corporate-recruitment-transformed-new-breed-of-service-providers/ Friend, L. (2014). Advantages of Online Recruiting. Retrieved from Chron: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-online-recruiting-3093.html Heneman, H.G., & Judge, T. A. (2006). Staffing Organizations (5th ed). Boston: McGraw Hill (nd). Introduction to Online Recruitment. HRM: Guide Human Resource Management. Retrieved from: http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/recruitment/introduction_to_online_recruitement.htm Kavanagh, M. J., Thite, M., & Johnson, R. D. (2012). Human Resource Information Systems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Zeidner, R. (2007, December 1). HR Magazine: Making Online Recruiting More Secure. Retrieved from SHRM: http://www.shrm.org/Publications/hrmagazine/EditorialContent/Pages/1207hrtech.aspx

Development Administration

INTRODUCTION This paper seeks to identify and discuss the predicament of Development Administration as it relates to public administration in the Commonwealth Caribbean. It will seek to elucidate thought and provoke discussion on the topic by first of all taking a journey back to the period of colonial rule and the historical antecedents that impacted administration during that period.It will take a cursory glance at the independence period and the course of development taken by some of the Commonwealth Caribbean, utilizing mainly the Trinidad and Tobago experience (because of the exigencies of time and space). The exercise will attempt to look briefly at the origin of Development Administration and examine the thinking and writings of some of the leading theorists on subject. Additionally, it will focus on some of the reasons for the seeming failure of development administration in addressing some of the key problems and challenges of administration in the Commonwealth Caribbean.Further, it will look at some of the new approaches to public administration and finally it will attempt to provide some solutions and recommendations on the way forward. iBACKGROUNDIn looking at the predicament of development administration in the Commonwealth Caribbean, this paper will examine the topic under two (2) broad themes. These are: 1. The theoretical inadequacy of Development Administration; and 2. The inability of development bureaucracies to realise development goals, particularly the region under review i. . the Commonwealth Caribbean. Jamal Khan writing in 1982 probably encapsulates it best. He said â€Å"the Caribbean region with a visage all its own and located at the gateway the American continents, is a grouping of thirty-three (33) English, Dutch, French and Spanish speaking countries, all islands except the four (4) mainland countries Guyana and Suriname in the South America, Cayenne and Belize in Central America.The region is divided into three (3) main geographic groups: th e Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles consisting of the largest islands lying between Puerto Rico and the South American mainland and the Bahamas off the Florida coast is a string of islands, small cays and rocks of which a greater many are barren and uninhabited. † In looking at the region in its historical context, Khan notes that â€Å"the region born out of the conquest, settlement and colonisation had sustained numerous racial migrations, protracted imperial subjugations and enormous human tragedies.Historical forces have created a diversity of ethnicities, cultures, religions, traditions and loyalties. While parts of the region have moved through the process of de-colonisation other segments still retain ii dependency status. The Eastern Caribbean in particular is facing not only the usually problems of post-independence national development and transition from colonial status to independence but also the special problems created by geographic, political and economic fragmentation†.The paper attempts to look at this region and its unique history and examines some of the approaches that have been employed to treat with the thrust towards development. It reviews the work and pronouncements of the some of the leading thinkers and authors in areas of public administration and development administration and the effectiveness or lack thereof of these systems of governance. Development Administration emerged in the 1960s with the field of comparative public administration. It is a general theory of development and was esigned as a possible agent of change. The term represented those aspects of public administration that were needed to execute politics, programs and projects to improve social and economic conditions. Some countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean sought to adopt the model as a point of departure from the rigid, hierarchical and bureaucratic forms of public administration that existed after Independence. It was viewed as a â€Å"bes t fit† for the efficient running and functioning of the public service. iiiBut, as will be developed later in the paper, it was the history and culture of the public administration environment that made the adaptation to the model of development administration difficult, and contributed to the factors that accounted for the predicaments it faced. The analysis part of the paper will look at what attempts have been taken and the approaches to development administration in the Commonwealth Caribbean and the factors that accounted for the predicament and the eventual failure of the process in the region.In this context, it will cite briefly the experience of successive administrations in the case of Trinidad and Tobago and their approaches to development administration in the country. iv CASE A cursory glance at some of the definitions proffered by some of the leading thinkers and writers in the field of public administration may prove instructive and useful in placing the discuss ion on the predicament of development administration in its proper perspective as repeated reference will be made to the work of these during the course of the paper.Fred Riggs (1970) described development administration as â€Å"the methods used by large scale organisations, particularly government, to implement policies and plans designed to meet development objectives†. In his â€Å"Frontiers of Development Administration†, Riggs identified two (2) areas of focus in his approach to the subject: a. The development of administration and b. The administration of development Hope (1987) and Jean Claude Zamor (1973:422) examined development administration both from a conceptual and an operational point of view.They wrote that â€Å"development administration in this context is the bureaucratic process that facilitates or stimulates the achievement of socio-economic progress through the utilisation of the talents and expertise of bureaucrats. It involves the mobilisation of bureaucratic skills for speeding up the development process†. Hope (1987) also added that â€Å"development administration or the public administration of economic development applies to the activities of governments to achieve development or 1 modernisation.The administration of development in developing countries is effected primarily through politicians and the civil service operating within a ministerial system or government agency and is characterised by its purpose, its loyalties and its attitudes†. In his definition of development administration, Gant (1979) said that â€Å"the term development administration came into use in the 1950s to represent those aspects of public administration which are needed to carry out the policies, projects and programs to improve economic conditions†.In 1887, in his famous essay â€Å"The Study of Administration†, Woodrow Wilson states that â€Å"public administration is the detailed and systematic execution of the public law†. Wilson looked at public administration in one specific perspective and that is the ability of the bureaucracy to implement the policies of the legislator without political interference. Waldo proffered two (2) definitions. He saw public administration as â€Å"the organisation and management of men and materials to achieve the purposes of the state† and public administration as â€Å"the art and science of administration as applied to the affairs of the state†.Schaffer, in defining the concept, noted that â€Å"development administration is about programs, policies and projects in which there are unusually wide and new demands and in which there are peculiarly low capacities and severe obstacles in meeting them†. Schaffer’s specification of a â€Å"particular set of conditions and the particular task of development† 2 distinguished development administration from administration’s other forms, particularly generic admin istration.Edwin Jones defined administration as the model that places strong accent on change and opines that is primarily concerned with action oriented administration and places such administration at the centre of the attainments of development objectives. For Jones, development administration constitutes a progression of guiding public organisations towards the achievement of such objectives. It is a concept, he says, that places a strong emphasis on carrying out planned changes in the total system.He also outlined that a central concern of development administration aims at improving the capability of the public administration sector to manage change processes and innovation. The model, Jones add, places high value on the injection of relevant new ideas, procedures and structures and as such development administration as an activity must always challenge control centred management and centralised decision making. F. A. Nigro and L. G.Nigro in their book â€Å"Modern Public Adm inistration† identified public administration as â€Å"a cooperative group effort in a public setting† and â€Å"covers all three (3) branches: executive, legislative and judicial† and identifies the inter relationships as having a critical and significant role in formulating public policy and as such is part of the political process. For his part, Nicholas Henry, another writer on the subject offered his view of public administration by noting that â€Å"it is a broad ranging and amorphous combination of theory and practice, with its purpose to promote a superior understanding of government and its 3 elationship with the society. It governs as well as facilitates the creation of public policies more responsive to the social needs and to institute managerial practices attuned to effectiveness, efficiency and the deeper requisites of the citizenry†. Turner and Hulme said that â€Å"bureaucracy is another way of saying public administration†. They sai d whether one looks at the OECD countries, former and present communist countries of the nations of the third world, bureaucratisation is ubiquitous. They noted â€Å"that in many cases, the public service is blamed for poor developmental performance†.They concluded that despite this, â€Å"bureaucracy is an essential and vitally important instrument of development†. Their perspective on the particular problems of the colonial legacy of administration which was largely adopted by the Commonwealth Caribbean was probably summed up best in their observation that the colonial state is best characterised as â€Å"an administration unit, a bureaucratic state† and that bureaucracy has often been the strongest institutional inheritance of the post-colonial state.They noted however that â€Å"in the ideal Weberian model, bureaucracy is an efficient instrument of policy implementation, but in many developing countries the practice of implementation had been disappointing †. This they attributed to poor administrative capacity. Looking at the colony legacy, Mills had his take when he noted that â€Å"the Crown Colony systems which existed in the Caribbean before the fourth decade of this century, governors exercised executive powers with advice from councils of committees consisting entirely of officials and nominated embers (only in Barbados which retained elements of the old 4 representative system, did elected members of the legislative to sit in the executive committees). There were no well organised political parties and although labour organisations had existed for a number of years, trade unions had not yet become the important pressure groups†. Mills showed that the colonial overloads were primarily concerned with the maintenance of law and order and with tax collections. He noted that the colonial secretaries/governors were esponsible for the overall administration functions and were accountable only to the imperial governments or monarchies and were primarily concerned with their future careers than with the business of administration for development. Mills continues, following the social and political disturbances throughout the British Caribbean during the latter part of the 1930s and the report of the Moyne Commission, far reaching social, economical and constitutional reforms were introduced.He said the Commission recommended the institution of a semi ministerial form of government which would bring elected members into direct association with the work of departments, the old colonial secretariat to be divided into sections or departments with responsibility for areas such as health and education. Mills said the public now looked to the elected members as persons responsible for providing and maintaining services. But these members had no real power and authority as executive power continued to reside in the governor and senior civil servants.Mills showed that the sub dividing of the colonial secretar iat did not effect any real de-centralisation of decision making. He said the structures remained un-wielding and cumbersome centralised agencies. 5 Mills observed that after a while, West Indian governments began to adopt a different posture as they began expressing increasing concern of the need to modernise their societies and to undertake social economic programmes for providing employment and raising the living standards of their peoples.He noted that during the 1940s, the emphasis shifted with a tendency towards greater stress on economic development and the provision of facilities such as income tax and customs duty concession for creating a climate conducive to private enterprise development. He showed that all these activities resulted in a considerable growth of the public sector, a dramatic rise in public expenditure, the expansion of existing departments and creation of new public agencies, including public corporations and regulatory commissions.Mills noted that since t he introduction of ministerial systems, administrative and organisational evolution has continued with the process of what he termed â€Å"integration† of departments with ministries. He informed that both the larger and smallest countries have their own peculiar difficulties with respect to this. Mills identified three (3) broad inter related strands that have influenced the development of public administration and the operations of administrative systems in the region. 1. Westminster / Whitehall Heritage. 2.Political and constitutional changes during the past three (3) to four (4) decades with the transition from Crown Colony status through the internal self-government stage towards independence, coupled with the introduction of universal adult suffrage and the subsequent development of strong political parties and trade unions. 6 3. The current concern with programmes for social and economic development. Mills points out that these changes have stimulated or accentuated co nflict in a number of important areas and the public services are currently faced with challenges and demands which emphasises the need for reform and re-organisation.He identified the three (3) areas of conflict as: 1. Relations between ministries and officials, noting that this atmosphere of conflict has seriously hampered the effective functioning of governments; 2. Relations between administrators and technical personnel. He notes that this rational dichotomy engenders resentment, friction and frustration leading to a lowering of staff morale and 3. The relations between Central Government and Statutory Corporations.These are some of the key factors that have accounted for the predicament of Development Administration in the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean and will be further discussed in the analysis. 7 ANALYSIS After the attainment of Independence by most countries during the 1960s and the early 1970s, the new administrations comprised inexperienced government official s and ill equipped bureaucracies. With Independence came responsibilities of charting one’s own course of development through elected executive authority which now were the primary decision making bodies in most instances.All these responsibilities were previously the purview of the colonial administrators. These â€Å"new† governments were expected to give life and meaning to the demands of the new â€Å"free† societies. Such expectations were supposed to manifest themselves in policies, plans and programs designed to meet the needs of the people of the newly independent territories and raise their standards of living. With the attainment of Independence and a say in electing their own governments, the peoples of the Commonwealth Caribbean began to legitimately look forward to high levels of social and economic transformation.In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, for example, such lofty ideals were expressed through the People’s Charter developed in the 19 50s by the Williams’ administration and then through a series of five (5) year development plans conceived thereafter. One also recalls the process of nationalisation of several industries by the Burnham regime in Guyana during the 1970s and 1980s and Manley’s own experimentation with a form of democratic socialism in Jamaica. These may be viewed as the political directorate’s approach to effecting the process of development through attempts at economic reform. In most of the countries, development administration was seen to be viewed as the â€Å"ideal† model to achieve the expected outcomes and satisfy the demands of the newly independent nations. However, they were still steeped in the old systems and establishments of public administration which they inherited, systems that were not designed to be responsive to such demands for economic and social transformation now being demanded by the newly independent countries.The major predicaments that came alo ng with the inherited systems were a high degree of centralisations, a lack of high level manpower and planning, the sheer size of the countries themselves, economic growth or the lack of it within the societies themselves and the inability of government officials to successfully conduct the administration of development. Hope noted that â€Å"the lack of trained administrators in the less developed countries was a direct result of three (3) factors: 1.Chronic brain drain 2. Poor government recruitment policies and 3. A lack of proper manpower planning and assessment. The last factor Hope notes produced haphazard recruitment policies, under employment and unemployment and inevitably frustration on the part of the dew skilled administrators present that forced them to emigrate†. The top-down bureaucratic public administration model is one major predicament for development administration process to be successfully implemented. 9 While public dministration requires a high degree of centralisation on the one hand, the concept of development administration boosts modernization and transformation where desirable or necessary to achieve development goals and discourages adherence to the old norms that constitute a more rigid bureaucratic system. The purposes of development administration are to encourage and enable defined programmes of economic and social progress. The model lends itself to the ideals of change modernization and movement as contrasted with a desire to maintain the status quo.Additionally, development administration is designed to make the process of change desirable, attractive and possible through the application of policies and programs that evolve from creative, participative and democratic forms of decision making. It is also a process where at all levels, those involved feel a sense of belonging and ownership of the plans, policies and programs of the organisation and therefore are more highly motivated to work towards their achievement. The altitudes of those involved in a process of development administration tend to be more positive than negative. In emphasising this point, Gant further expresses the view that the â€Å"manifestations of development administration, its unique purposes, loyalties and attitudes are found in new and reoriented agencies and in new management systems and processes†. He adds that â€Å"these agencies include planning Boards to facilitate decisions about development policies and the allocation of resources towards the accomplishment of those policies. These new 10 inds of agencies are often needed for development and stronger public and private enterprise management systems as called for†. Gant further stated that â€Å"development administration encompasses the innovations which strengthen the capacity of the bureaucracy to stimulate and facilitate development and for these purposes the process requires its own supporting institutions, chiefly in the forms of training, r esearch and consulting agencies, but also in the form of an articulate and public expectation of good administrative behaviour and performance†.One of the major predicaments that continue to affect the growth of development administration in the Commonwealth Caribbean is the bureaucratic structure of the civil service and the excessive centralisation of authority and control reflected in the exercise of power by government ministers. The government ministers in most Commonwealth Caribbean countries assume total control of their respective ministries and departments in terms of decision making and pay little attention or mere lip service and provide very little opportunity for lower level public servants to participate in the process.This centralisation of decision strikes at the very heart of the purposes and ideas of development administration alluded to earlier in the discourse. This excessive centralisation also contributes to the destruction of the channels of communicatio n in the organisation. It also creates an environment in which there is a lack of coordination of policies among departments, as well as a lack of effective dissemination of information required for effective decision making. A perfect example is the coordination of works between the Water and Sewerage Authority and the Ministry of Works on road improvement initiatives and pipeline installations.There is absolutely no coordination between 11 the parties and this leads to road being paved today, and then pipelines being laid on the same road at a later date. This leads to wastage of time and resources and ineffective decisions resulting in an inconvenienced public. Hope notes that the â€Å"centralised nature of the civil service in most of the lesser developed countries has become an institution in which personal survival in terms of longevity of service sometimes depends on political affiliation, a situation that does not conform to the regulations governing the non-political natu re of the civil service†.Hope further analyses this phenomenon when he notes that â€Å"there exists a great deal of friction and mutual suspicion between government ministers and career officials. Both the ministers and the career officials have adopted an attitude towards the implementation of policy that has alienated the public and hampered the effective functioning of government. Career civil servants are in a position of great insecurity due to the erroneous powers of government ministers.Most of the career civil servants, if not all of them are usually better educated than the ministers (who are appointed primarily on their politics), and find it difficult to abide by the decisions of the ministers, whom they regard as inadequately educated and not competent enough to make decisions pertaining to the administration of development. The ministers on the other hand, conscious of their newly acquired powers determined to dispel any suggestion of inferiority, are anxious to assert their authority and to make it clear beyond doubt who are the masters (United Nations 1982:49-40).Inevitably then, for reasons of survival within the civil service, career civil servants have adopted a sycophantic and financial attitude toward their ministers; offering technical and administrative advice to these ministers and not in a firm and objective manner but by attempting to anticipate 12 what the minister want. The ultimate result of all these manifestations is a lack of coordination of policies among departments and a lack of dissemination of information for effective decision making.Invariably then, the few individuals at the decision making pyramid, namely the ministers are hard pressed to cope with the range of decisions they have to make. The effect then is either procrastination and long delays or one of After Independence, the bureaucratic, colonial oriented inadequate of inept policies. administration was transformed into a bureaucratic organisation that emph asised the sovereignty of politics rather than the supremacy of administration.Politics became the most important activity and the politicians came to occupy a position of supremacy in matters of decision making. (Duke 1964:233; United Nations 1982:49-50). Development Administration, therefore, put into a highly centralised environment will not work. This factor have accounted also for part of the model’s predicament in Commonwealth Caribbean countries, in that, after the attainment of Independence, the model was introduced holistically without consideration for other factors within the public environment which directly impact the development process.Development Administration as noted previously encourages and acknowledges decision making from middle and lower level subordinates, and by its nature, command high levels of innovativeness and flexibility. However, public administration, after Independence, did not allow for such changes to be effected as it met with a most unre sponsive public service. 13 Another factor which impacts the success of development administration is institutional building.However, it must be noted that the sheer small size economy of some of the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean means that they do not possess the resources to afford an adequate amount of specialists necessary for the effective and efficient operations of government organisations. Khan, in his work, pointed to some major problems that may occur due to small size. He says, â€Å"small size could indeed pose a problem for management system that is unwilling to keep abreast or is tardy in keeping pace with changing social conditions. Problems may accrue, inhibitory and unresponsive.Problems may also arise should the system continue to dispense favour and patronage and disregard achievement factors. Problems may also persist if decision making is timid, incident prone, marginal and incidental to the extent that the system proves unable to impact on the client , population and target group and to modify or alter the existing structure to the degree that it considered necessary to accelerate social change in a certain direction†. The latter part of Khan’s statement points to a factor that can impede the development administration process.Decisions made should reflect policies developed and as a result policies must be relevant to deal with the demands of a society. Development administration requires altering the existing structure to the degree that is considered necessary to accelerate social change in a certain direction and therefore decisions must be made to facilitate such change. It can be deduced that it is probably for this reason that administrations in the region are now looking outside the realm of the public service to seek alternative vehicles for the realisation of 14 evelopment goals and objectives. Case in point may cite the example of the move by the Trinidad and Tobago government over the last decade or so c reating several special purpose State Enterprises such as the Urban Development Corporation (UDECOTT, the National Infrastructure Development Company, the Education Facilities Company and more recent the establishment of Export TT in a bid to accelerate the rate of development to realise some of the ideals purported to exist in model of development administration.It could also account for the reason why the Trinidad and Tobago administration has also sought technical assistance through government to government arrangements, for example, that sought through a partnership with the Cuban, Filipino and Nigerian governments for doctors and nurses to provide effective and efficient health care services. Governments that seek to utilise such vehicles of development also hope that the ideal of greater accountability and transparency and a reduction in the levels of corruption that have beset other forms of development approaches in the Commonwealth Caribbean.Another of the predicaments that have beset the process to move towards development administration has been the sometimes half-hearted support from some of the political directorates in the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Administrative change inevitably involves a challenge to accepted modes of action and traditional value and prerogatives (Chikulo, 1981:56:57). Projects of administrative, reform if they are other than routine and minor must be backed fully by the chief executive of the nation and his or her Cabinet.If political leaders are to inspire a population and to direct the bureaucracy to higher levels of performance and development, their words and action must carry 15 an aura of legitimacy. Historically, political leaders of the region have been primarily concerned with maintaining their own existence as politicians and this has resulted in much confusion between the administrative and political functions in the decision making process and in the creation of political elites who alone cannot ex ecute the achieve developmental goals.Functional reform of development administration can only be brought about through a derived effort and critical support of the political leadership. The foregoing have been some of the major problems and predicaments that have plagued the model of development administration and its implementation in the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean. 16 Recommendations and Conclusions Although it was deemed at the time to be the â€Å"ideal† model for administrative reform, one can deduce from the study that this model of development encountered some major obstacles and problems which are still with us today.It was thought that development administration would be the panacea that will solve all problems of public administration as inherited from a colonial system of governance, these being the top-down bureaucratic structure and a deep centralisation of authority and decision making. And as we have garnered from the study, these problems are sti ll very much with the Commonwealth Caribbean today and very much a part of the system of public administration.Even though several reform methods have been tried and tested, including new public management, administrative reform and programmes associated with structural adjustments policies, there seems to remain some difficulty with achieving radical change and much of those problems stems from the colonial legacy which still persists in the cultures of the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Hope (1987) had offered some of his recommendations for development administration to achieve some level of success.These were listed as: 1. Major administrative reforms minus the western concepts. 2. An urgent eradication of the remaining features and characteristics of the colonial civil service through processes and re-education and reorientation to bring civil servants in line with the current development thrust. 17 3. Manpower planning and training. 4. Decentralisation and communicat ion. 5. Support of the political leadership. 6. Economic development.Judith Walker writing in her book â€Å"Development Administration in the 21st Century† notes that â€Å"As Caribbean nations of the Commonwealth move into the 21st century, they do so in a context of economic restructuring, incorporation into the internalisation of criminality and considerably challenges to the nationhood project launched in the early 1960s. Given this context, it is imperative that the role and function of administration be re-examined and discussed†.In her work, Walker, looking critically at the UNC government’s goal in the 1990s to create a total quality nation notes that â€Å"It was envisioned that a new type of public administration would set an example for civil society by becoming a symbol of patriotism and national pride. In short a total quality public administration is expected to lead a total quality nation. It was further envisioned that the public service and ci vil society will demonstrate a work ethic and organisational behaviour based on competence, performance, productivity, quality and high standards of service to the public and consumers†.Bissessar in her book painted a somewhat bleak picture for reform of the public service in Trinidad and Tobago. In â€Å"the Forgotten Factor† she states that â€Å"if an evaluation of the entire reform effort was to be carried out, it would reveal that no one system of New Public 18 Management has been successfully implemented in the public service of Trinidad and Tobago†. She argues however that â€Å"for any reform to achieve success, one vital ingredient that must be included in the reform package is the attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of those who are required to introduce and implement such reforms, namely the public service themselves†.Any meaningful change to the process of development administration must by necessity find ways of deepening the consultative proce ss to make it more inclusive for those whose job it will be to eventually carry out such policies. That process must include ways to decentralise the process of decision making and public servants and other technocrats must be made to feel a sense of ownership of the plans, policies and programs of administration that they are called upon to discharge on behalf of their respective societies.The political support must also be forthcoming from the political directorates and there should be structures in place that will treat with de politicising programmes of development so that they do not become the exclusive domain of any one political grouping. Tighter mechanisms of control and accountability need to be implemented to curb the tendency to corruption that so often beset programs of development. Perhaps Walker sums it up best when she noted that â€Å"Development Administration is not dead.It may have had an un-expectant past, and it certainly has had a handicapped 19 present, but is maturity and future is to be found in a dynamic process of theory building around recurring themes spanning from Fred Riggs to the World Bank†. 20 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Khan, Jamal. The Eastern Caribbean Experience. Leiden, Netherlands: Dept. of Caribbean Studies, Royal Institute of Linguistics an Anthropology; The Hague: Smits, 1982 (P. 3, 4, 5) 2. Kempe, Hope. The Dynamics of Development and Development Administration. London: Greenwood Press, 1987 (p. 7, 68, 69) 3. Wilson, Woodrow. The Study of Administration 4. Nigro, F. A and Nigro, L. A. Modern Public Administration 5. Nicholas, Henry. Public Administration and Public Affairs. USA: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004 6. Gant, George, F. Development Administration, Concepts, Goals Methods: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979 7. Bissessar, Ann Marie. The Forgotten Factor. Trinidad: School of Continuing Studies, 2002 (p. 5, 6) 8. Walker, Judith. Development Administration into the 21st Century. USA: Mc Millan Press, 2000 (p. 211 and 2 12).

Service quality management

This case study talks about the many service quality issues faced by a local mass transport company, SMRT. The company has to still remain functional amidst mass crltlclsrn amongst the public due to Inefficient communication networks, inefficient maintenance and various problems in the senior management. As a newly appointed senior manager, it is imperative that we work towards delivering a high quality service to our customers. There are many tools and quality improvement frameworks that we can use to improve existing service quality standards.The problems faced by the company start with over 10 breakdowns that have occurred In d span of two years. Due to repetitive service disruptions, the previous CEO, Ms. Saw Phaik Hwa who has apologized publicly and offered false promises, further causing more service disruptions affecting around 127,000 passengers including 1000 passengers stranded in each of the four trains that were stalled. Malntenance Issues This Is one of the main problems that have Impacted the quality of the services provided by SMRT.Various issues such as misalignment of tracks & lack of evacuation nd emergency plans have impacted the customers' health and have caused some of them a lot of inconvenience and stress There has been serious impact on the servicgs productivity due to the same problems as they have not been able to successfully carry out their promised service. Even when the breakdowns happened, the backup power systems did not turn on and this made the people stranded very uncomfortable and claustrophobic. Excuses were given once again to quickly dismiss these accusations.By using Deming's 14 Points of Management, we could find out the root causes of the problem. 1 . Management Commitment: The senior management had not been able to live up to the promises that they have publicly given mainly due to the Inefficiency of the senior management. Had the senior management a closer involvement In the lower-level operations, they might have be en able to take suggested actions. 2. Understand Inspection: Due to the various problems mentioned above, it was important for the senior managers to gather relevant information regarding the frequently occurring problems.This suggests that the communication networks are not very efficient and this wlll be further discussed later In the report, 3. Improve Constantly: The Jepanese have developed d technique called â€Å"Kdlzen†, which means â€Å"Continuous Improvement†. This could be used to ensure that quality standards and customer expectations are met by constantly developing all dimensions of the service prov10ea. 4. Institute Iralnlng: Atter one 0T tne DreaK00wns, around 60 maintenance staff were deployed to gather information and rectify the problem that had caused a 5 hour disruption in the services.However, their inefficiency to analyze and rectify the root cause of the problem suggests that SMRT need to invest in training. . Institute Leadership: Leaders shoul d be coaches and mentor staffs rather than checking on them. The senior management has clearly shown a lack in leadership skills as they have only been giving excuses and false promises. Inefficient Communication Networks: This is another factor that contributed to the reducing service quality of SMRT. Efficient communication between various levels of the business is very important to run an efficient and successful business.SMRT has been facing various barriers in communicating instructions and messages from senior management to the operating evels and vice versa. The problems that have been occurring have not been reported properly to the higher authorities and hence not been able to receive instructions from the senior management on how to proceed further and improve the quality of the service being provided. Using ISO standards as a benchmark, we can see that SMRT is not being able to maintain high service quality standards.Since ISO is internationally recognized, this serves as a suitable benchmark. There are few principles that need to be followed in order to get their certification: 1 . Customer Focus: SMRT needs to meet the equirements of the customers and exceed their expectations but they have failed to do so. They have not improved their service quality and hence, their customer experience. 2. Leadership: As mentioned earlier in the report, the leaders have not been able to achieve the goals set and have disappointed their very large customer base. . Factual approach to decision-making: Since the employees are inefficient and have not been able to analyze data and information, their supervisors have not been able to suggest proper course of action. 4. System approach to management: According to this principle, all processes are interrelated. Since there has been a lack of co-ordination amongst the employees of every level, SMRT has not been able to manage their technologically advanced systems.One other instance of lack of a coordinated communicatio n systems was the humiliating and controversial message template that SMRT sent to its taxi drivers asking them to seize the â€Å"income opportunity' that arose because of the MRT breakdown. The common citizenry has heavily criticized this inappropriate message further contributing to the declining public image of the company. uggested Improvements Using Malcom Balbridge National Quality Award's 7 Criteria of Performance Excellence as the benchmark, there are quite a few improvements that could be suggested.To begin with: Leadership: Effective leadership brings out the best out of every employee of the firm, since the resignation of the previous CEO, the current CEO will take some time to settle into the position and it is important to make sure that he/she receives timely communication and proper assistance from other managers. Strategic Planning: It was very clear that the previous management have ot defined their future strategies clearly and have not prepared proper contingenc y plans and this has made life difficult for the customers and the management of SMRT.To ensure that this does not happen in the future, SMRT could conduct a formal meeting with all stakeholders to develop a strong and effective strategy with the public's opinion also taken in mind. Also, regular track and train maintenance should be conducted to reduce the chances of such problems arising again. Customer Focus: Surveys could be conducted to understand the customer's xpectations and SMRT could work towards fulfilling them.The constant service disruptions have already caused the company's image to decline and to make sure that this does not happen in the future, SMRT could look into developing proper plans. Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management: The lapses in information and data have also caused grave problems to the company and SMRT should invest in training existing and hiring new skilled employees to analyze and report field data. Workforce Focus: It is important to cons tantly monitor, motivate and rain the workforce.As a happy workforce is more efficient and can provide higher service quality that an unmotivated one. This would also increase service quality. Process Management: Ensuring proper contingency, emergency and evacuation plans during service disruptions can help increase quality and reduce the risk to customer's, while indirectly improving the image of the brand. Results: Putting everything together, it is still important to get results and improve the customer's image of the company while maintaining very high standards of service quality.

Error types of NNs and the role of L1 in SLA Essay

Error types of NNs and the role of L1 in SLA - Essay Example This research wouldn’t be possible without your participation and I am incredibly grateful for your help. Thanks to Dr.Maggie for helping us in preparing, editing and general guidance through the research and process. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it brings together the various theories and views and the research findings in the rules and functions in the second language learning (SLL), second, it shows the importance of the first language in learning second language. SLA as the name suggests is the study of second language acquisition. This definition has being refined by Dulay, Burt & Krashen (1982, pp10) SLA is â€Å"the process of learning another language after the basic of the first have been acquired, starting at about five years of age and thereafter†. In order to define the error types it is first important to know what NNS is. A Non-Native Speaker (NNS) is a person who is learning a language other than his own. Any NNS belonging to any language can learn a foreign language’s rules and laws of grammar and spelling. But he/she cannot learn the idioms, expressions and word pairings of the language because they cannot be described by the rules or laws of the foreign language or they might require the memorization of special-case rules. Regardless of the knowledge acquired by NNS of the grammatical rules, NNS continue to make a number of language errors. These are the error types of NNS. These errors include (Park et.al. 2008): Apart from the errors types of L1, there is a significant role played by L1 in acquiring L2 in SLA. According to Krashen (1982) when he talked about the role of first language L1 in second language acquisition SLA that â€Å"the only major source of syntactic errors in adult second language performance was the performers first language†. Some of the errors that arise are related to the interlingual errors. It occurs when the NNS’s L1 habits such as patterns or rules prevent the NNS

Aircrafts Maintenance - A Commercial and Public Essential Annotated Bibliography

Aircrafts Maintenance - A Commercial and Public Essential - Annotated Bibliography Example The demand for its services, as with most transport, is a derived one that is driven by the needs and desires to attain some other, final objective. Air transport can facilitate, for example, in the economic development of a region or of a particular industry such as tourism, but there has to be a latent demand for the goods and services offered by a region or by an industry.† Since all major business operation, conducted an international scale by the multinational organizations require air traveling, the safety and protection of the crew and passengers is a matter of grave concern for the airline industry. Consequently, the companies pay due heed to the reparation and overhauling procedure on regular basis in order to ensure a safe journey on the one hand, and for minimizing the maintenance expenditures on the other. â€Å"Aircraft maintenance†, CAA states, â€Å"is an essential component of the aviation system which supports the global aviation industry. As air traffi c grows and the stringent requirements of commercial schedules impose increased demands upon aircraft utilization, the pressures on maintenance operations for on-time performance will also continue to escalate.† This annotated bibliography consists of five pieces of research on the need and significance of aircraft overhauling on regular basis in order to avoid any unpleasant and untoward state of affairs during the flight. First research has been made by Samaranyake et al in 2002, in which they have elaborated the importance of the structure and design of aircraft in the overhauling and reparation procedures. To conclude, it becomes evident that all the researches discussed above throw light upon the maintenance, reparation and overhauling systems of the aircrafts.  

The khipu system of the Andes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The khipu system of the Andes - Research Paper Example Through this main concept, there is the ability to understand how the Khipu System developed as a needed system in the Andes, as well as how it has developed into a writing system. The Khipu System of the Andes The concept of the Khipu System developed in the Andes as a formation of communication from the Incas. The system began with the belief in a need to record information and history as well as stories that were a part of the culture. This was combined with the visualization and symbols that were often attributed to the Incas and which were used in creating a sense of understanding through various shapes and forms that were recorded in the culture. The Incas developed the Khipu system specifically to create a recordkeeping attribute to the society and to tell the stories to others which could be passed down outside of oral storytelling and into the visualization and material goods which could keep records of those that were a part of the Inca society. The perspectives which were created were based on a combined effort with hieroglyphs, pictographic tests and a known form of early writing within the Andes (Boone, Mignolo, 5). The development of the Khipu didn’t just develop because of the need to pass down history and to have a form of writing. The formation of a knot system as communication came specifically because of the developments which the race already had. ... To record this, were also specific attributes associated with coordination of numbers and record keeping with the economic status. This particular form of record keeping with numbers then emerged into the political and social concepts which were a part of the main system. This was based on the use of symbolism and visualization which continued to accelerate into the system. The symbolic power of every material which was in society was an important concept and created a sense of significance, which led to the iconographic motifs in the Andes and eventually led to a mainstream system used in all cultures in the economy and within society. The Khapu system was able to combine the economics, numeral understand, symbolism of visualization and the use of the materials and visual relationships as creating a sense of meaning. These different attributes were able to lead to the evolution of the system and the approaches which were associated with the Khapu System (Henderson, 272). Evidence of the Writing System There are several areas of evidence that show that the Khapu system was a form of an earlier writing system and which led into an evolution of understanding specific stories, record keeping alternatives and associations with the time frame. The Spanish and European invasions of the Andes first presented the information about the writing system, specifically with an understanding that it was able to create a different form of communication. For instance, Naples documents from individuals such as Blas Valera, a mestizo Jesuit, presents the system and shows how it was a form of communication in the Andes. It was known that before this, the Incan culture and writing was thought to be lost; however, the work which was

Government and Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Government and Market - Essay Example Infrastructure is a very vital cog of any country, and hence takes a supremely significant position in the government's perception. Now, Rostow, who was a specialist in this field has made note and brought to light the fact that the inability of the governments to create infrastructure was one of the major road blocks that were faced during the process of modernization in Europe during the 19th century. In his argument, he says that the "creation of preconditions for take-off was largely a matter of building social overhead capital". This comes in line with the generally accepted argument that the cost of infrastructure or the social overhead capital compliments the industrial production process as this facilitates the transfer of goods, which leads to the creation of mobilization of markets on a national and international level. Haber, another esteemed expert in this field, has further developed the importance of infrastructural support in his arguments based on the case study of Me xico. Here, he offers the opinion that Mexico was unable to solve the problem of surplus capacity which it was facing in the 1980s by exporting goods to different countries around the world. All of this, he attributes to the lack of infrastructural support that was present in the country at that point in time. He cites Avisador Comercial de Havana which attributes this problem related to the exorbitant costs of transportation: "How, then, can merchandise be shipped to the coast at an advantageous price How can they [Mexican manufacturers] compete in foreign marketsif within their own borders they have incredibly high freight rates" [1] [5] In recent times, economic analysts have argued that the major difference between the growth differentials of different countries is infrastructure as highlighted by the case on India and China. Due to the importance infrastructure plays in the workings of a country and its non-excludable and unrivalled nature has further substantiated the claim for the need of governmental intervention to facilitate and hasten industrial growth in the country. On face value, one can see that this notion is somewhat not contestable in nature in that not many can refute the claim that has been put forward; however, some economists have also offered the notion of a private sector backed infrastructural growth. This notion certainly has immense promise in theory as this would basically remove the role of the government from this entire workup and would subsequently move the entire mechanisms onto a free market which would be highly appreciated in light of the concept at hand. However, that certainly doe s not appear to be a distinct possibility at the current point in time which is why infrastructural support has been ascribed to governments to this day and age. The rationale behind this is suggestions like the one offered are more likely to fail in the developing countries as private sector led infrastructural growth needs immensely advanced institutional or technological support in order to create and sustain excludable and rivaling properties. Due to this, infrastructure would remain severely under protected as well as remain under produced which would be due to the large number of externalities that cannot

Comparison of two Historical Buildings in the Greater Los Angeles Research Paper

Comparison of two Historical Buildings in the Greater Los Angeles - Research Paper Example It can be argued that the Forbidden City is the richest of the three classical buildings. It has vertical structural beams resting on raised stone pedestals that frequently rest on wooden piles.   The Thien Hau temple is raised as well though not as high as the Forbidden City. There are also large vertical structural beams as seen in both the Forbidden City and Thien Hau temple.   The vertical beams are made of wood and are set to rest vertically and as a result exert pressure on the ground to gain stability. The Chinese study center is also well founded as it has proven over time. Structural beams  Both the Thien Hau temple and the Forbidden City have large structural timbers which act as primary support of the roof.   Wooden timber is used as load-bearing columns and lateral beams for articulating and framing buildings to support the roofs. The Forbidden City is also outstanding as it is raised very high compared to the others.Structural connections  Ã‚  Timber frames are usually assembled with joinery and doweling alone, hardly ever using glue or nails. It is clear how the types of semi-rigid structural joints are put together when in the interior of the Thien Hau. The joints allow the timber structure to resist bending while under high compression. The long lasting buildings have proven to have structural stability which ensures longer duration. Amazingly, the weight of the timber structures doesn’t pull down the building. This further gives credit to the indigenous system of construction applied.

ICT AND CUSTOMER SERVICE Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 13000 words

ICT AND CUSTOMER SERVICE - Dissertation Example Analysis is given on the survey and comparisons made between survey findings and literature review. ICT is now an integral part of much of our lives and even when we go on vacation or on business trips too. Search terms: Hotel Customer Satisfaction (Amazon); hotel management systems; research studies on hotel ICT; ICT effects on hotel service; ICT and hotel service; hospitality and tourism research papers on ICT Table of Contents Acknowledgements 2 Abstract 3 Table of Contents 4 Section 1: Introduction 6 1.1 Introduction to the Research 6 1.2 Purpose 7 1.3 Statement of Objective 7 1.4 Research Question 7 1.5 Justification 7 1.6 Strategy 8 1.7 Limitations 8 Section 2: Literature Review 9 2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 Using Technology (ICT, PMS and CRM) 10 2.3 Experiential Marketing and ICT 12 2.4 Social Media and Applications (Apps) 13 2.5 Marketing with ICT Tools 14 2.6 Employee Motivation 15 2.7 Employee Rewards 17 2.8 Ideal Management 18 2.9 Impact of ICT on the Workforce 19 2.10 Front De sk Employees 20 2.11 Housekeeping and Food Services 21 2.12 Total Quality Management (TQM) 22 Section 3: Methodology 23 3.1 Introduction 23 3.2 The Journals and Books Process 23 3.3 The Online Survey and Questionnaire 24 3.4 The Overall Research Strategy 25 Section 4: Results and Findings 26 4.1 Introduction 26 4.2 Descriptive Information 26 4.3 Overtime Hours 27 4.4 Hotel Positions 27 4.5 Education Levels and Income 28 4.6 Experiential versus Experience on the Job 28 4.7 Training on the Job and for the Job 29 4.8 Decision Making Capabilities and Management Supervision 30 4.9 Management Supervision and Approval 31 4.10 Marketing and Technology as Part of the Job 31 4.11 Summary 34 4.11.1 SPSS Analysis –Descriptive and Correlation Analysis 34 4.11.2 Linear Regression Analysis 37 Section 5: Discussion 41 Section 6: Conclusion 44 Appendix 46 Resources 53 Section 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction to Research The hotel business is a major part of a person’s enjoyment experie nce, whether on a vacation or on business trips. Like anywhere else, there are problems to be solved on a daily basis, such as the traveller has to delay checking in by one day because of flight delays or even business delays. The ability for a customer to communicate directly with the hotel through electronic communications, such as an app on a smart phone, or through a laptop while at the airport, is essential to being able to solve a problem before it gets worse. As a consequence, the ability to take care of a customer through the electronic porthole (Buhalis & Law 2008; Buhalis 2008), means more satisfaction that things will be taken care of before the customer arrives and checks in. Additionally, customers can also order dinner when they land at the airport so that moments after checking in, if at night, dinner will be brought up to the room. The menu is accessible through the hotel’s website portal and registered customers can access inside with a key code, which is sen t when the reservation is made. This allows the customer to custom-define his or her preferences on specific accommodations (ADA 2006), such as the need for a portable fan, drinks, certain types of water and

Creation Myths Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Creation Myths - Essay Example God then created a beautiful garden Eden so that Adam could live in it. God then brought animals into the garden so that Adam can name them. So it was Adam, who was the first human being, responsible for naming the animals. Since Adam was the sole human being on earth he was given the power to dominate the animals. However, seeing his loneliness and lack of company God created the first woman and named him Eve. Adam and Eve were given the power to control everything on earth that was created from dirt. There was a tree in the center of the garden. Adam and Eve were forbidden by God to touch it. One day a snake entered the garden and tempted Eve to eat a fruit from the tree. The tree was known as the knowledge tree and provided knowledge to distinguish between the good and the evil. By eating the fruit Adam and Eve committed the first sin of disobedience. They failed to obey the order of God and this instilled in their minds a sense of guilt. When God asked Adam if he has eaten the fr uit he put the blame on Eve. â€Å"And the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate†. (Troyer, 2007, p.105) Similarly Eve blamed the snake for her own act of disobedience. â€Å"And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate†. ... The first living creature appeared when Ra who was the Egyptian sun god was born out of an egg. He had many names and they symbolize different positions of the sun. He was â€Å"Aten (sun disk), Khepri (the rising sun), Ra (supreme god of Heliopolis), and Atum (the setting sun)†. (The Egyptian Religion and Creation Myth, n.d., p.35) Egypt is a land of â€Å"eternal sunshine† and so it was natural for them to symbolize the sun god as the creator of the universe. The human beings were created from the eye of Ra. The eye got lost and Ra could not find it. His son Shu and daughter Tefnut went to fetch it but failed. There was a struggle between them which caused the eye to shed tears. Human beings were born from the tears. Therefore the eye of Ra symbolizes life. â€Å"The act of bringing the eye back to the creator was equivalent to healing the earth – the restoration of right and order†. (The Egyptian Religion and Creation Myth, n.d., p.33) Ra’s son S hu represented dry air while daughter Tefnut represented moisture. Together they are symbolized in the Egyptian culture as life and justice. In both the mythologies it was the male who first created. Adam and Ra were both representatives of the male. In both cases there is the event of sibling murder. In Egyptian mythology Set killed his brother Osiris while in the Genesis Cain killed his brother and in both cases the reason was jealousy. What role does sex play? After God created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden, God brought all the animals into the garden and authorized Adam to name them. So it was Adam who named the animals and not Eve. This authority was given to man by God and so it is more a man’s duty than a woman to fulfill the command of God. Since Adam was created before Eve and so

Literature Synthesis Paper-Case study Case Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Literature Synthesis Paper- - Case Study Example Example 1 is the most common word order in German; it is a declarative sentence and has only one main clause (Weyerts, Penke, Munte, Heinze & Clahsen 216). So the verb is in second position in a sentence that is complete and can stand alone; in other words in an independent clause. Weyerts, Penke, Munte, Heinze & Clahsen claim that â€Å" it is always a finite verb or auxiliary that appears in second position, and it only appears there in main clauses† (216). In sentence 3, the first or main clause follows the subject-verb-object order but because the second clause cannot stand alone and is dependent on the main clause the word order changes to subject-object-verb (Monaghan, Gonitzke & Chater 816). If however, the subordinate or dependent clause comes before the main or independent clause the word order is different again. For example: Sentence 4 begins with a dependent clause and because this subordinate clause is in first position it is considered to be the first part of the main clause and the word order is SVO. The verb in the main clause follows the verb in the subordinate clause because it is considered the second position in the sentence (Verstraete 616). The infinite verb in sentence 5 is ‘changed’ and has moved to the final position after the object but the finite verb ‘has’ stays in second position after the subject in main or independent clauses, which is different to English as can be seen in the translation. Another example to illustrate this ordering is Sentence 7 illustrates how instead of the finite verb being in second position and the infinite verb being in last position as seen in sentence 6, both verbs move and follow the object but the infinite verb precedes the finite verb (Monaghan, Gonitzke & Chater 816). Another example of this ordering is Sentence 8 includes a subject of the subordinate clause and further illustrates how the infinite verb follows the object and the finite verb follows the

Creating TV Drama Essay Example for Free

Creating TV Drama Essay The Public Defenders – We all know about the lives of top-league lawyers who rake in millions of dollars settling class action suits or representing celebrity clients. We all also realize, somewhere back in our minds that for every high-priced lawyer whos working to spin celebrity Q-ratings and turn high-profile crimes into high-tax bracket success, there are ten public defenders (PDs) sweating out in the innards of some state or federal building, working for peanuts to save the dregs of society from an indifferent and often unjust legal system . The Public Defenders chronicles the toll that long hours and short pay take on the personal lives of four PDs who walk a tightrope of action and suspense while balancing their self-sacrificing professional lives with their all-too-self-absorbed sex lives and driving ambitions. The viewer enters the world of The Public Defenders from the vantage point of the common citizen: first glimpsing the four PDs in their professional roles. Each episode begins with four short but conflict-heavy teasers representing the beginnings of four distinct, but sometimes interweaving cases. The bulk of each weeks episode is devoted to the resolution of the four cases, by each of the PDs respectively. In some episodes, a case will be left hanging to be resolved in a later episode or episodes. As in real life, the PDs will often represent the same client or clients on repeated cases and it is likely that many defendants and clients of the PDs will become running fixtures as minor characters throughout the series entirety. Each of the PDs: Emmanuel Gonzalez: a young Yale graduate who chose to work in the trenches, student Jonathan Smith: a closet alcoholic, Sara Kentowitz: a compassionate but highly sexual do-gooder, and Joann Bonier: an ambitious but flawed attorney, becomes embroiled with their clients, often in sexual or romantic entanglements and sometimes, events unfold so rapidly and chaotically that the PDs themselves may cross the lines of legality. The plot-lines for specific episodes are based on showcasing the thin line between subjectivity and objectivity. The scripts will show blatantly that attorneys are anything but neutral when it comes to pushing their cases and working for their clients. Instead they are either emotionally engaged or coldly indifferent form the start of their cases and their professional work shows the degree to which they are personally engaged, invested, and interested in their clients. Ongoing plot-lines which thread through all the episodes will help to flesh out the characters and add a linear narrative dimension to the episodic format. Emmanuel is dealing with the process of a complicated divorce from his wife of 7 years, coupled with a child custody battle while his soon to be ex-wife is dealing with extreme alcoholism. He is also defending a repeat offender on trial for murdering his brother. Sara deals with an abusive husband while defending a 16 year-old being charged with rape. Jonathan is scheduled to go before the disciplinary committee for a hearing followed by an altercation in court, and is currently the sole care-giver for is aging parents. His father is showing symptoms of the early stages of Alzheimers. His mother suffers with depression. Joann, who is single, struggles to balance her work-load with the needs of her co-workers and her desire to have a personal life. Each of these over-arching plot lines will continue to spin threads and exert influence over the individual episodes which, as previously mentioned, may or may not resolve individual plot-lines. To allow our targeted viewing audience to connect and identify with the characters, The Public Defender will be filmed in courtrooms, jail cells and in the homes of our characters, giving an in-depth real life feel for the struggles that the characters are dealing with. In stark contrast the personal scenes will be filmed in a romantic idealized style which emphasizes hope and humanity. The sub-text of these visual contrasts is that the shows characters draw their inspiration to keep fighting from their real life relationships and not from law-books or high-flying principles. In fact , The PDs are willing to subvert principles and even laws to win cases that have moved them or touched them personally because they have to do so to win. The deck is stacked against them: the are over-worked, under-trained, and representing those who are least able to defend themselves. The depth of the real life affects on the characters is intended to attract eductaed audiences of a predominantly mature demographic. The target audience would be compatible with that of Law and Order or West Wing. However, many of the shows minor characters and sub-plots will be devoted to youthful issues and themes which impact younger people, so it hoped that 18-25 year-old college students may also find the show worthy of attention. Crime buffs, CSI fans, and fans of courtroom dramas should also be targeted with advertising and scheduling as much as possible as it is hoped that this demographic will also prove fruitful for The Pubic Defenders. The hook for taking viewers out of the competitions time-slot is The Public Defenders no-holds-barred romanticism coupled with its no-hold-barred realism: the PDs love hard, they play to win but they lose just as often and their clients pay the price. Airing this program will allow the network to not only capture the targeted audience but hold them for each and every episode. It will be the talk of the campus, the office and coffee shops everywhere. Those that miss these episodes will be looking to see when the reruns will be airing.

Importance of Organization Behaviour in Modern Business

Importance of Organization Behaviour in Modern Business INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR Organizational Behavior is the identification, analyzing and application of knowledge about how individuals and groups act in organizations. It interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the person, group, organization, and whole social system. Objective of it is to build better relationships by achieving people objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives. It encompasses a wide range of areas, such as human behavior, Training and development, change management, leadership, teams, Group behavior etc. In the study of organizational behavior is helpful in gaining a complete understanding of the business. It is not the study of how organizations behave, but rather the study of individual behavior in an organization. This includes the study of how individuals be have alone as well as in groups. The main focus of the organizational behavior is to obtain a greater understanding of those factors which influence individual and group dynamics in an organization. Therefore individuals and the groups and organizations to which they belong may become more efficient and effective. Organizational behavior research is ultimately focused at providing human resource management professionals with the information and techniques which they need to select, train, and retain employees in a fashion which gives maximum benefit for the individual employee and for the organization. Organizational behavior is a modern interdisciplinary field. It draws most heavily from the psychological and sociological sciences and it also looks to other scientific fields. The interdisciplinary approach is used because the field of organizational behavior involves multiple levels of analysis, which are necessary to understand behavior within organizations as people influence their environment as well as people are influenced by their environment. The business organization based on vales, missions , visions, objectives, goals and management philosophy which drives formal or informal organizations towards culture social environment The culture decides the type of leadership, group dynamics, communication, within the business organization. The employee perceives this as the quality of work type which leads their quantity of motivation, which will benefited to employee performance, individual satisfaction, and personal development and growth. The combination of all above elements will lead to build the model that the organization operates from. Following are the main features of the organization behavior Organization behavior analyzing the relationship between organization, individual and the group. It more concern about people attitudes, perception, feelings, learning capabilities and specific objectives goals.(Distinctly humanistic orientation) It consists of different techniques, methods theories to evaluate the performances. (Multidisciplinary) It provides vital answers to questions which arise when managing organization. It analyses the factors influence the performance of a organization and describe the way of improve the performance. It uses the scientific method to analyze the performance which helps to identify the variables and relationships. It creates to achieve the path of business needs as it is concern in understanding of organization processes and skills. Factors Influence the Organization Behavior The feathers of people at work- attitudes, individual Differences, attributes, roles of the people and direction The way people are motivated Organizational commitment Employment engagement process The way organizations factions Culture of the organization Models of Organizational Behavior There are four main models organizations operate out of, Autocratic, Custodial, Supportive, and Collegial: Autocratic this model is power with the management. The employees are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss. The performance result is minimal. Custodial this model is monetary resources with a managerial direction of wealth. The employees in turn are leaning towards security and reimbursement and dependence on the organization. The outcome is passive cooperation. Supportive this model is leadership with a managerial direction of support. The employees are leaning towards job performance and contribution. The member of staff need that is met is status and appreciation. The performance outcome is awakening drive. Collegial this model is related with a managerial direction of teamwork. The team also work oriented towards responsible behavior and self-discipline. The performance result is moderate Even though there are several models, most of the organizations used combination of above models. The organizational behavior does not depend upon deductions based on gut feelings where as trying to collect details, information for issue in a scientific manner under controlled situations. It provides information for the findings so that the behavior of personnel and group could be canalized as desired. Majority of psychologists, social scientists and have carried out research on various aspects related to organization behavior. Job satisfaction and individual performance are determinants of achievement of employee and organizational goals. Organizations are set up to fulfill the requirement of the people. In modern competitive world, the organizations should have growth task-oriented which can achieve at the time of productivity is ensured with zero defect in quality. Employee turnover and absenteeism has a negative impact on efficiency and productivity. It is required to motivate retained the skill workers by enhancing the job satisfaction. In formal structure of organization all divisions have to function in a coordinated manner to accomplish the organizational goals, vision and objectives. Due to that it is require maintaining positive attitude towards work. Also it is more valuables for managers to develop the suitable work culture by using authority, delegation of certain powers to team members. Benchmarking, re-engineering, job re-design and empowerment are some of the valuables factors. LEADERSHIP Leadership is most important aspect of organizational behavior which can be define as ability to influence, motivate others to achieve the set of organizational objectives or goals. In todays context the managers now are leaders of their groups, their divisions. Event though it may require certain specialist knowledge, the human relations part of the management job. Currently People have more flexibility and more options in their careers, which are them selves more fluid, so keeping employee motivated is very important, due to that Leadership is also important in attempting to minimize employee dissatisfaction. Leadership consists of the effective process of delegation and empowerment. Broad classification of leadership styles There are several dimensions to leadership style and different ways of describing leadership styles such as, bureaucratic, benevolent, charismatic, dictatorial, unitary consultative, participative and abdicator. The different types of managerial leadership towards subordinate staff can be classified in following heading. Authoritarian style which focus on all interactions within the group move towards the manager due to power is with the manager, in this style manager him selves exercises decision-making and authority for determining policy, procedures and regulations for achieving set of objectives. Eg- The employees achieve the task will be given rewards others who have not achieved punishments. Chemanex group allocating certain objective to be achieved by each employee for a given time, then evaluate the performance based on the task achieved. Evaluation as follows Marks Category 81-100 Excellent 61-80 Good 41-60 Average Employee who perform excellently, entitle 4 month bonus, good category 3 months, average category 2.5monthe less than average No bonus at all. It shows how above style is applicable in todays context. Democratic style leadership functions are shared with other staff of the group and the leader and focus of power is more with the group as a whole and there is high integration within the group. All members have a high decision-making, determination of policy and procedure. Eg- Janashakthi Insurance organize the foreign trips based on high performance team for the year .Laissez-faire style manager are observing that subordinate of the team are working well independently. The manager, enhance them freedom of doing the objectives to carry out they think best and without interfering where as it is required to provide support if help is needed. Where as some confusion over this style, since the word of Genuine is emphasized since which is contrasted with the manager who could not care, of results keeps away from the problem points and manager does not want to get involved. Eg; Vertusa -Employee has given the freedom to achieve the certain task Most of the organization having combinations of above styles employees are not interest to work under the 100% authoritarian style There are 4 main types of leadership behavior available in accordance with goal path theory Directive Leadership- Which consist of the way of directing to the subordinates to achieve the goals by considering rules regulations. Eg- This model applicable in the most of the government organization (The Department head is giving the instructions for its subordinates achieve the task with in the circulars or based on government rules policies. Supportive leadership which consist of open and reachable manner and displaying the needs and welfare of subordinate. Participative leadership which consists of consult with their subordinates and the evaluation of opinions and different ideas before the manager makes the final decision. Achievement-oriented leadership consist of setting demanding goals for subordinates, looking for development in their performance and show confidence in subordinates ability to perform well. Leader should identify the people capability, proper execution and continuous improvement People capability It includes setting up the ability, competencies and skills required for the modern world, and how to accomplish those requirements, including competencies evaluation, gap analysis, job and role definitions and career development. Those will lead the modern business is key to the success of this activity. Execution This consists of delivery of the new model. It includes both hard deliverables in the form of project plans, progress reports and budget variances, stakeholder management and soft deliverables in the form of communications Continuous Improvement This consists of measuring the effectiveness of performances and which ensure opportunities for the further improvements. Balance score card, Reward alignment and performance management are the key methods of evaluating the performances Every organization the leadership should delegate the authorities to subordinates by considering the capability of the employees leader should lead the team, motivated, review the out come , continuous training evaluate the performance. GROUP BEHAVIOR The basic character of a group is that its members regard themselves as belonging to the group. Although there is no exact definition for group it can be defined as follows. A set of people who interact with one another are psychologically aware of one another; and perceive them selves to be a group. Simply a group can be define as a set of people who share most following characteristics a definable membership; group awareness; interdependence; common purpose; interaction; and ability to act in a unitary manner. A social system contains all the people in system and their relationships to each other and to the external world. It is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. The behavior of individual affect on the behavior of others directly or indirectly. Groups has basic feature of the working style of any organization. Group Members as well as the managers must co-operate each other to carry out works to achieve objectives of the organization as well as the individuals. Group pressures influence over the performance of the organization as well as the individual members of the organization. Group performance id directly related with the leadership which influence the behavior of the group members. Pleasant working relationships and good teamwork help to improve the morale of employees and work performance. Successful teamwork is a basic feature of modern management practices such as total quality management, empowerment, quality circles and change management. Teamwork is very important as it increases the competitiveness power of the organization in following ways; increase the productivity improve quality encourage innovation motivate employees and improve their commitment TRAINING DEVELOPMENTS Employee training is most important aspect in any organization. Employees are key assts of the organization there are is direct relationship with organizational performance employee performances. As a result of that employee should improve the skills, capabilities, and strength to compete with technological global changes. Due to that employee should develop following skills, Computer skills: employee should develop computer skills which is most important to negotiate with global environment. Customer service: In today customer satisfaction is most key area of business environment due to high competition of global market, due to that it is required to give proper training. Diversity: It consist of explanation about how people have different views and perspectives, and includes methods to value diversity Ethics: It consists of a view about social and corporate responsibility. Further, todays employees bring a wide variety of values and morals to the organization. Human relations: Presently organizational employees work under pressure more stress on work load. Therefore there may be lots of misunderstandings and conflicts. Proper training will minimized the unnecessary conflict misunderstandings. Quality initiatives: It consist of basic training requirement about the quality concepts, Guidance for qualities, procedures Eg; benchmarking, Total Quality Management, Quality Circles.. Safety: Safety training is more important specially for the employees undertaking risk jobs eg: working with heavy equipment , chemicals, Fuel, gas or Electricity related employments Most of the organization has given safety equipments when doing the risk operations Eg Hayleys ADC PLC operating chemical related productions employees are given safety manual, safety equipments proper training Sexual harassment: This includes training about sexual harassment on inappropriate behavior. Normally this is included in organizational policies. Why training is important and Benefits from Employee by proper Training and Development There are several sources that the employee can train develop them selves. They can use organizational policies, procedures, safety manuals, online information on training and development. Employees are benefiting by proper training developments. It may increase moral , job satisfaction, motivation of employee, Enhanced the productivity, efficiency of employee resulting financial benefit to the organization, Minimized the employee turnover, due to the new technologies methods enhanced the production capacity Diversity Diversity energizes customer service, employee motivation improvement of moral of employee, decision making team performances. With rapid change of global market employment relationships have also emerged from the changing work force, information technology, and globalization factors. Currently most of the organization more concentrates on corporate social responsibility to compete with standardization of values and ethics of other organizations. Currently organizational behavior pushes the competitiveness. Considering the above facts organizational behavior, play major role in todays context

British Colonialism In Daniel Defoes Roxanna English Literature Essay

British Colonialism In Daniel Defoes Roxanna English Literature Essay Max Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism claims that Capitalism educates and selects the economic subjects it needs through a process of survival of the fittest (Weber 154). Weber believes that there is a direct link between institutions and individual characters. In other words, one can say that Capitalism would not survive without economic men and also economic men could not maintain their social place without Capitalism. In the following the researcher tries to show that at least certain men and women, were swayed by the logic of Capitalisms productive possibilities. Defoe was intensely interested in capitalist modes of production, efficiency and improvements and in the exploitation and expansion of new markets along imperialist lines that would favor English trading interests. Defoe was also interested in the politics of his time and in the social issues. Defoe was a mature product of the cultural process initiated by Capitalism. In other words he is a master over circumstances, over nature. He has the confidence, despite his mediocre birth, to comment on the social, political, and economic affairs of his day. In turn, Roxana was a woman, who, despite her reverses and her own mediocre birth, could entertain princes and kings. In the beginning of this emerging capitalist interest, and with the thirst of reform, Defoe was able to synchronize in his own life Capitalisms vision of a new social order, of commerces role and change. All his novels are rich in content and context. Roxana has been called by modern critics Defoes darkest novel. Many critics have claimed that the greatest difference between Defoe last novel and his earlier works is Roxanas greater gravity. Many critics described it as a novel whose primary concern is with the psychological nature of Roxana and Amys sin. Roxana has most often been appraised as a story of moral decay, in which the heroine progresses from virtuous poverty to corrupt wealth. Roxana has also been criticized as a woman with a cynical attachment toward those who love her and whose rational self-interest places her as the embodiment of Defoes vision of a corrupt society. Roxana is a heroine who rushes toward material comfort and self transformation at the price of her soul. Roxanas internal world of memory and guilt concerning her various sexual partners, the death of her daughter Susan at the hands of Amy, and the like, becomes the price Roxana pays for the control she assumes in external world of financial and sexual interests. In this aspect, two factors about Roxana should be emphasized: the nature of Roxana as a new economic woman caught between profit and spirituality and the issues of empire and slavery which were not only important in the fictional life of Roxana, but also in Defoes life. Considering the above mentioned remarks, some examples are traceable in the novel. For instance, when Roxana discusses the dangers of marrying a foolish husband her remarks repeat one of Defoes favorite maxims about the nature of commerce, while also underlining the context of commerces international nature: I was a Warning for all the Ladies of Europe, against marrying of Fools; a Man of Sence falls in the world, and gets-up again, and a Woman has some Chance for herself; but with a FOOL! Once fall, and ever undone; once in a Ditch, and die in the Ditch; once poor, and sure to starve (ibid 96). Roxana addresses her comments to the Ladies of Europe, and Roxana like so many of Defoes novels is at the center of attention internationally and all these shows that Roxanas warning have larger international designs. Another example of this imperialist economic instruction can be found in Sir Robert Claytons disquisition on prudent money management. As he instructed Roxana, he talks about industry as such: If the Gentlemen of England would but act, every family of them would increase their Fortunes to a great degree (ibid 167). That international commerce and empire are part of the overall fabric of Roxana is also evident in the rituals of adornment which Roxana undergoes with each of her lovers. Because the English female body and female dressing were powerful motives of 18th centurys imperialist ideology. Roxanas Turkish dress is an example of this motif. This dress comes to the hands of Roxana from a Malthese Man of War, which had captured as spoils a Turkish ship and enslaved its passengers, one of which Roxana bought during her tour of Italy (ibid 173-174).This dress enables Roxana to market herself to English court culture. Roxana explains: that Notion of the King being the Person that dancd with me, puffd me upto that Degree that I à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ was very far knowing myself (ibid 177). Further, this dress is also, as Roxana emphasizes, a counterpart to the slave she purchases. She says: I bought the rich clothes tooà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦as a Curiosity, having never seen the like (174). Here Roxana confront s the other in the form of a person, and the material culture of that other. The dress is explained as extraordinary fine indeedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the Robe was a fine Persian, or India Damask à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ embroidered with Gold, and set with Pearl in the Work, and some Turquoise stones(ibid 174). Both the slave and the dress are also delivered to Roxana through the agency of imperialist aggression- by the acts of a Malthese Man of War (ibid174). Significantly, Roxana who is without Amy on her travels throughout Italy uses her slave as a means to put the dress, with its various decorations, on her body. In other words, she learned how to cover herself in the dress of the other with the aid of an other. Literally, Roxana is using the local knowledge of the Turkish womans material culture in order to use that knowledge to her advantage and this is a good example of the methodology of imperialist expansion. On the other hand, Roxanas dress is an important metaphor for imperial expansion; another important metaphor is her purchase of a slave. Defoe, like many of his contemporaries during the early eighteenth century, was ambivalent about the issue of slavery; in other words, Defoe was no abolitionist. Defoe demonstrated his ambivalence toward the slave trade by generally giving it strong support to increase his nations share of the market in human chattel, and in the African trade in general. Like Defoe, Roxana was also interested in what profits she could reap from the slave trade. She versed herself in the culture of the Turkish woman she bought from the Malthese, so one can assumes that Roxana did not find her slave, or her slaves manners, repugnant or distasteful. In dressing for her second husband, Roxana even set her picture in diamonds above her heart, which was a compliment among the Eastern peoples (ibid 247). In fact, in learning the language of the Turkish woman, Roxana sought to know this Turkish slave and her culture in a way that was far more intimate than most Westerners at this time could have claimed or even imagined. The knowledge Roxana acquired of her Turkish slave is used to advance her socially and for a time, in London court society. Therefore, for Defoe and Roxana alike, prosperity could be found in the slave trade, and in the monies and knowledge of the world found in that trade. Like Defoe, Roxana claims that I could give up my virtue, but not gi ve up my money (ibid147). In conclusion, while Roxana is a novel with an emphasis on the psychology of sin, that psychology is informed by more than just her own guilt, and her quest for individuality. It is informed by issues that concerned her creator: trade, imperialism, and slavery. Each was used to create networks of knowledge and power over the world within sight of both Defoe and Roxana. Like any other good capitalist, they both used knowledge to further their own ends. The acquisition of this knowledge was, in turn, directed toward populations of others- Africans, Arabs, Native Americans, etc. who could most readily serve their interests. For Defoe it was in form of improving Britains economy and social structure and for Roxana in the form of improving ones social status. Therefore, Roxana, as a creation of Defoe, mirrored Defoes life as a capitalist. Yet she mirrored it as a seeker of personal aggrandizement than as a person committed to seeing Britain flourish. In conclusion, this may ultimately ex plain Roxanas fall.