Sun Country Airlines Case Study Essay - 1528 Words

Sun Country Airlines Sun Country Airlines was started in 1982 by a small group of pilots and flight attendants in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. After Braniff shutdown in 1982, Ken Sundmark approached Bob Daniels, a cofounder of Mainline Travel Incorporated about forming a charter service that would combine the assets of Mainline and the airline expertise of the now unemployed Braniff crew. Eleven Braniff pilots, two cabin attendants, an attorney, and a financial consultant (Links to an external site.) shared 49 percent ownership and Mainline s principle owners, retained the other 51 percent. Sun Country Airlines was incorporated in July 1982 but implementation of service was delayed by higher than expected start-up costs. Sun Country s inaugural flight was from Sioux Falls to Las Vegas. The company quickly became profitable. The headquarters were located in an old freight building. That space and the rented hanger had once been Braniff s. Sun Country flew only flew one aircraft in the beginning, a Boeing 727-200. During the early days, Sun Country employees had multiple roles to perform. Company executives flew aircraft. Flight attendants acted as receptionists and even baggage handlers when necessary. Pilots updated manuals and cleaned the company s aircraft. Sun Country was unlike other U.S. charter companies in that it depended primarily on vacation travel business, and was concentrated around the Midwest s peak tourist season, January through mid-April. InShow MoreRelatedCase Study : Sun Country Airlines Essay1440 Words   |  6 PagesThis case study looks at Sun Country Airlines’ (SY) only hub/domicile of Minneapolis/Saint Paul (MSP) International Airport. This study will analyze some of the challenges Sun Country Airlines faces currently and in future growth. This study will look into terminal issues such as gate space and expansion capabilities. It will identify difficulties Sun Country Airlines faces as a small airline at one of Delta Air Lines’ major hubs. It will also discuss traffic congestion associated with MSP, the growthRead MoreHow A Midamerica Airport As A Low Cost Alternative1126 Words   |  5 Pagesto this problem would be to market MidAmerica Airport as the only low cost alternative in the region. This type of marketing paired with its already low facility charges, could be the answer to attracting new carriers like Sprit, JetBlue, and Sun Country to the region. To fully understand how this solution could be implemented, first the history of MidAmerica Airport must be discussed, next why marketing the facility as the only low cost alternative in the region should be explored, and finallyRead MoreMalta Tourism Authority1564 Words   |  7 PagesIn every tourism policy, one can find different issues and challenges that a particular country is facing or has to face as a destination which is trying to manage and compete with other countries all over the word especially those who offer basically the same product to the tourists. A tourism policy shows a number of policy responses and a number of aims and tasks which the government of that particular destination is committed to do in a stipulated number of years. In Malta, the government togetherRead MoreEssay On Summer And Winter1047 Words   |  5 Pageshave those nights that seem like they go too fast. So you just want to get away from it all and go to a warm weather place if you are from a cold weather state such as Minnesota, or North Dakota. There are many to different places to go if that is the case for you. Most people go to Florida if they tend to live in a cold winter month state. But if you do not have the money to travel in the winter or summer there are many different types of activities between summer and winter. During Summer, there areRead MorePublic Health Problem : Light Coming From The Sun1315 Words   |  6 PagesPublic Health Problem â€Å"Radiation is energy that travels as a wave or particle (Thompson E.G., Hahn C, 2013). Different types of radiation exists, light coming from the sun being the most common source known to people. Thus, society is exposed to radiation on the daily basis. Ionizing radiation, in particular, can be harmful - depending on the source and the degree of exposure. (Thompson E.G., Hahn C, 2013). DNA mutations can occur when ionizing radiation is absorbed by a human cell, causing theRead MoreSupply Chain Management : Strategic Objectives2699 Words   |  11 Pagesdecision making. Implementation of outsourcing in different industries As mentioned before, outsourcing of activities is regularly adopted by a plethora of different industries from both the public and the private sector. In this section, numerous case studies from various industries will be presented, so as to illustrate the benefits or blockages generated by the implementation of outsourcing and its impact on the firm’s overall performance and competitive aims. AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY The automobile industryRead MoreManagement and Outrigger Hotels Essay1249 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Information systems for managers Case study: Outrigger Hotels and Resort The solution is here†¦ Magic Data The solution is here†¦ Question 1-The current IS resources of Outriggers:    1. Technical Resources:    * Hardware(Personal computers; Routing equipment).    * Software (Stellex, in 1987; Stellex 2.0, in 1992; centralized IT systems; E.Piphany; JD Edwards). – Appendix 1    * Networking comportments of IT infrastructure (XML interface; Electronic interface; IBM AS 400 Platform; WindowsRead Morecase study of South west airline Essay3247 Words   |  13 Pages1. Background of Southwest Airlines†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..1 2. Induction of The Practice†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦1 3. Justification of Framework†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..2 4. Explanation of Framework†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦2 5. An Analysis of The Practice†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..4 6. Conclusions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...7 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..8 An Analysis of Organisational Culture 1 Background of Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines is a major American airline and pioneer in low-fare air transportationRead MoreCompany Case13378 Words   |  54 PagesEmerging Markets Case Studies Collection Emerald Case Study: Kulula.com: now anyone can fly in South Africa Stephanie Townsend, Geoff Bick Article information: To cite this document: Stephanie Townsend, Geoff Bick, Kulula.com: now anyone can fly in South Africa, Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 2011 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/20450621111126792 Downloaded on: 06-11-2012 References: This document contains references to 19 other documents To copy thisRead MoreMarketing as an Impact of the Internet Essay2756 Words   |  12 Pagessatisfaction with a purchase. In order to develop a line effectively, market research is conducted to study consumer behaviour. Changing attitudes and modes of living directly affect the demand for products. For example, the trend towards informal dress has changed clothing styles dramatically. Market research involves the use of surveys, tests, and statistical studies to analyse consumer trends and to forecast the size and location of markets for specific products or services

The Origin Of Electricity And Magnetism - 1023 Words

The Origin of Electricity and Magnetism This paper is mainly about the origin and discoveries of electricity and magnetism. It is solely a summary of two natural phenomenon which have changed everything about our way of life and has ushered us into a remarkable new age. First and foremost, it is about the fundamental idea of how electricity and magnetism came about, then, the development and discoveries of sources of electricity and magnetism by many inventors and the latter discoveries of mega-production. When I was a little boy, I used to wonder what causes lightning and thunder. When rain comes, I sometimes see intermittent lightning for a while before you can hear the sound of a spark which is like two short-circuited power cables. At school, we all learnt about matter, which consists of atoms and molecules and every atom has a nucleus and electron(s), inside the nucleus contains an equal number of protons and neutrons. The electrons revolve round the nucleus of the atom in order to keep it stable. Protons are positively charged particles, neutrons are neutral and electrons are negative charge particles. The nucleus is surrounded by shells; these are simply orbitals in which an electron(s) can be found. The number of orbitals depends on how many electrons the atom has. The electrons which are in the outer most orbitals have a tendency of being lost or shared by another atom in order to create a more stable configuration. Long before any knowledge of electricityShow MoreRelatedThe Origin And Discoveries Of Electricity And Magnetism1044 Words   |  5 PagesThis paper is mainly about the origin and discoveries of electricity and magnetism. It is solely a summary of two natural phenomenon which have changed everything about our way of life and has ushered us into a remarkable new age. Firstly and most importantly, it is about the underlying idea of how magnetism and electricity have come about, also it outlines and maps out the development and discoveries of sources of electricity and magnetism by many inventors and the latter discoveries of mega-productionRead MoreThe Science of the Spud1088 Words   |  5 Pagesnot least, there’s the potato battery. Who on earth invented the electric spud? Why does it work? For that matter, why would anyone want to see if a potato could conduct electricity in the first place? Well, we may never be able to answer some of the questions this quirky experiment raises, but a brief overview of the possible origins, quirky chemical compositions and remarkable staying power of the grin-inducing oddity that is the potato battery is sure to be worthwhile. The potato battery: notRead MoreEngineering Essay1652 Words   |  7 Pagesthe standard of living. Electricity was one of these identified ways. The development of electricity led to the creation of electrical engineering, a challenging vocation that changed and improved our way of life. In this paper I will discuss the history of electrical engineering, the preparation for becoming an electrical engineer, and the actual career. The history of electrical engineering is rather recent, but it is based on ancient ideas. Electricity and magnetism are the two bases for electricalRead MoreThe Pursuit of a Theory of Everything1489 Words   |  6 PagesField Theory. Despite the all-encompassing implication of the name, this theory is limited to explaining the sources of physical forces. If discovered, it would reconcile seemingly incompatible aspects of various field theories, namely gravity and electricity with the strong and weak nuclear forces, in order to explain the nature and behavior of all matter and energy in existence (Hawking and Mlodinow). For clarity, a force is a push or a pull acting upon an object due to its interaction with anotherRead MoreElectricity and Magnetism5927 Words   |  24 PagesElectricity and Magnetism History Electromagnetism Originally electricity and magnetism were thought of as two separate forces. This view changed, however, with the publication of  James Clerk Maxwells 1873Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism  in which the interactions of positive and negative charges were shown to be regulated by one force. There are four main effects resulting from these interactions, all of which have been clearly demonstrated by experiments: 1. Electric charges attractRead MoreThe Compass: How a Small Navigational Instrument Changed the Face of the Earth1595 Words   |  7 Pagesall nations. Lastly, the compass played a fundamental, albeit indirect, role in the sciences. As mentioned before, the compass originated from the pre-existing knowledge the Chinese had of the magnetic properties of lodestone. The discovery of magnetism, the very core concept of the compass, was a major advancement in the field of science. From the compass, humanity learned of the magnetic deviation of the compass, which in turn led to the discovery of the magnetic poles and the true poles. It ledRead More The Steam Engine and Electricity Powered the Industrial Revolution1704 Words   |  7 PagesThe Steam Engine and Electricity Powered the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was an extremely important historical process in which the societies and cultures in the West, and then throughout the world, transformed under the influence of technological and scientific progress. The Western world, as industrialized as it is today, is the final result. Two major inventions, the steam engine and electricity, were both crucial parts of the technological progress that turned the wheelsRead MoreThe Three Industrial Revolutions1740 Words   |  7 Pagesimproved and working hours were cut down due to new inventions and machines The first Industrial Revolution could not have developed without machine tools, for the enabled manufacturing machines to be made. The manufacture of textile machines is the origin of the modern engineering industry. Machines were built by various craftsmen. Because of the difficulty of manipulating metal and the lack of machine tools, the use of metal was kept to a minimum. Wood framing has the disadvantage of changing dimensionsRead MoreThe Theory Of Science And Technology1454 Words   |  6 Pagesvarious natural specialties. In 1858, after many years of his scientific investigation, Darwin shared his belief of evolution publically in a letter read at a meeting of the Linnean Society. He published a detailed explanation of his theory, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, on November 24, 1859. Charles Darwin is very important in the development of scientific ideas because he made people aware of their place in the evolutionary process. He found that the most powerful and intelligentRead MoreThe Discovery Of The Higgs Boson1580 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Higgs Boson was in the early 1970s when physicists discovered a connection between the electromagnetic force and the weak force, which can be described inside the same theory. This connection suggests that some types of radioactivity, electricity, magnetism, and light are all illustrations of the underlying force known as the â€Å"electroweak† force. This is known as the Unified Theory. There was one problem with the â€Å"electr oweak† force though, while the Unified Theory explained much of it, the theory

Casino and American Gaming Association Free Essays

Gambling is the betting of money on a random outcome. It includes bingo, lotteries, some card games, slot machines and of course many other games that are played in casinos. It is what people consider a personal choice and a form of entertainment. We will write a custom essay sample on Casino and American Gaming Association or any similar topic only for you Order Now People should not be denied an activity that they enjoy, legalizing gambling would bypass that statement; as for the regulating, addition to the age restriction, government should prevent fraudulent acts from taking place and protect the players. Gambling can create jobs and help the country’s economy; however, the economic benefits are exaggerated and jobs created are usually low paid. It creates jobs in casinos such as security guards and dealers. The jobs are not only in casinos, there are also in hotels and many tourist locations. Gambling is also often used to raise money for the states and good causes by taxing the winnings. However, George Molyneaux, coach of the Scotland schools debating team stated, â€Å"The economic benefits of gambling are exaggerated. They generally created low paid jobs for local people and it is immoral for the states to raise money by exploring stupidity and greed†. This states that jobs created by casinos and gambling are low paid and do not do any good. This statement is not true because casinos actually helped to regenerate places with unemployment, such as Atlantic City in New Jersey. According to American Gaming Association â€Å"In 2002, the commercial casino industry provided more than 350000 jobs in the United States, with wages and benefits totaling $ 11 billion. An estimated 400000 additional jobs are supported by casino industry spending†. In one year that is a lot of employment. And the paychecks aren’t that low. That is more than an elementary school teacher income which is $24,030. â€Å"In 2004, the median earnings of a casino security guard were $24,510† (collegegrad. com). Thus, really gambling helps more that it damages. Gambling is an entertainment, it is a leisure pursuit that people enjoy, but some time it can be addicting resulting in a loss of money. Gamblers know that they are likely to lose money. They still gamble because it is enjoyable. They even get excited about a possibility that they might win, even if they lose they enjoy the experience. However, George Molyneaux claims â€Å"Gambling is addictive; many people start gambling without thinking. Once they get addicted, it is too lateâ€Å". True, gambling can be addictive but adults can control themselves. After all the limiting age is 21, meaning when 21, one is considered an adult and is capable of making comprehensive and conscious choices. According to USplayers. com â€Å"Unlike Drugs, gambling is not physically addictive, it is only psychologically addictive. Treatment programs can address those who are addicted†. People are well aware of the risks of addiction and gambling and should be able to choose how to spend their money. Legalizing gambling would let people to do what they enjoy more freely and in more places. Spending 20 dollars on a 2 hours movie has the same amount of pleasures as betting 20 dollars gambling for 2 hours. One could at least win some money back in gambling. The point is that people enjoy gambling and should not be stopped from doing so, when it actually has benefits. Bottom line, legalization and regulation of gambling are beneficial to both parties: government and the gambler. Work Cited http://www.collegegrad.com/careers/servi24.shtml http://www.usaplayers.com/gambling/questions/why-online-gambling-should-be-legal-in-usa.html How to cite Casino and American Gaming Association, Essay examples

Local Color and Huckleberry Finn free essay sample

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn exemplifies the characteristics of a local color writing in several different ways, through the use of narration, dialect, local customs, and characters. Mark Twain’s use of several different dialects and local customs really helps the reader gain a just perspective on the people, places, and events that took place in the story as wells helps demonstrate the characteristics of a local color writing. The use of a narrator in Huckleberry Finn, as in most local color writings, usually uses an educated person as the narrator to help give distance between the locals in the story and the more urban audience who the story was intended. However, in this case Mark Twain uses a 14 year old boy, Huckleberry Finn, who is ignorant to the proper ways of the time. On the other hand, with his naive and innocent nature he accomplishes the same separation as he struggles through his own personal issues, which reflect the issues of the era. We will write a custom essay sample on Local Color and Huckleberry Finn or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page For example when Huckleberry says, â€Å"Then I thought for a minute, and says to myself, hold on; s’pose you’d a done right and give Jim up, would feel any better than what you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad – I’d feel just the same way I do now. Well, then, says I, what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong. † In this example Huck is struggling between doing what is morally right and what is socially right during this era, thus showing his moral maturity, which compensates for his lack of education and â€Å"proper ways†. It is this moral maturity that separates Huck up on to a higher platform, so to say, that exemplifies the characteristic of local writings. Just like the use of a narrator, Twain’s extensive use of dialect, also displays the characteristics of local color writings. As stated in the Explanatory by Twain himself there are seven different dialects in the story. Theses dialects help set up the characters in the story while contributing to the over credibility of the story itself. An example of this would be when Huck sneaks up on Jim in chapter fifteen, Jim says, â€Å"No, you ain ‘ dead! It’s too good for true, lemme look at you chile, lemme feel o’ you. No, you ain’ dead! You’s back agin, ‘live en soun’, jis de same ole Huck – de same ole Huck† By using different levels of dialect from the narrator Huck, to Jim and other characters of the story, it allows the reader to get a better understanding of the region through the words of a â€Å"local yokel†. This is an important characteristic of local writing because it helps set the foundation for the characteristics of the people in the region. Another characteristic of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and local color writing is the use of local customs and beliefs to help build the overall character and characters of the region. By doing this Twain is able to paint a picture of the area and the people in it to give the reader a better idea of what life is like in that particular region. For Example in Chapter 2 when Huck says â€Å"Afterwards Jim said the witches bewitched him and put him in a trance, and rode him all over the State, and then set him under the trees again, and hung his hat on a limb to show who done it. And next time Jim told it he said they rode him down to New Orleans; and, after that, every time he told it he spread it more and more† This gives the reader insight into the superstations and beliefs of the slaves and regular folk of the region. Therefore, and like in most color writings, using the characters and the local customs to help the reader gain a better understanding of the locale. In summary, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are a good display of local color writings. Through the use of narrative, extensive dialect, and local customs, Mark Twain paints a portrait of the region in order for the reader to gain a better understanding; while tugging on the moral issues of the time, like slavery. It is by doing this that the story demonstrates the characteristics of local color writing.

Many Agree That The Cuban Missile Crisis Was The Closest The World Eve

Many agree that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war; but exactly how close did it come? The Crisis was ultimately a showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union from October 16 to October 28, 1962. During those thirteen stressful days, the world's two biggest superpowers stood on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. The Crisis started as a result of both the Soviet Union's fear of losing the arms race, and Cuba's fear of US invasion. The Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, thought that both problems could easily be solved by placing Soviet medium range missiles in Cuba. This deployment would double the Soviet arsenal and protect Cuba from US invasion. Khrushchev proposed this idea to Cuban Premier, Fidel Castro, who, like Khrushchev, saw the strategic advantage. The two premiers worked together in secrecy throughout the late-summer and early-fall of 1962. The Soviets shipped sixty medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) along with their warheads, launch equipment, and necessary operating personnel to Cuba. When United States President, John F. Kennedy discovered the presence of these offensive weapons, he immediately organized EX-COMM, a group of his twelve most important advisors. They spent the next couple of days discussing different possible plans of action and finally decided to remove the US missiles from Turkey and promise not to invade Cuba in exchange for the removal of all offensive weapons in Cuba. On October 28, Khrushchev sent Kennedy a letter stating that he agreed to the terms Kennedy stated, and the crisis ended. The Cuban Missile Crisis can be blamed on the insecurity of Cuba and the Soviet Union. After the United States' unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Castro and end communism in Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Castro was fearful of another US invasion. The US Armed Forces conducted a mock invasion and drafted a plan to invade Cuba to keep Castro nervous. As a result, Castro thought the US was serious, and he was desperate to find protection. This protection came in the form of sixty Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles. (Detzer 30-32, 39, 55, 68, 87) During his presidential campaign, Kennedy repeatedly stated that the US had less missiles than the Soviets, contradicting the Pentagon's claim that the opposite was true. However, during the summer of 1961, when Khrushchev constructed a wall around West Berlin, the Kennedy Administration revealed to Khrushchev that the US. did, in fact, have more missiles than the Soviet Union. What worried Khrushchev the most, though, was that the Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe, but the US missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. He worried that if the Soviet Union lost the arms race that badly, it would invite a nuclear attack from the US. Khrushchev needed a way to counter the United State's lead. (May 49) In April of 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev came up with the idea of installing medium-range missiles in Cuba. Cuba was close enough to the United States that the Soviet missiles would be an effective deterrent to a potential US attack against either the Soviet Union or Cuba. Castro accepted Khrushchev's offer, since it would protect Cuba and, therefore, solve Castro's previous dilemma. In mid-July of 1962, the Soviet Union began its buildup of offensive weapons in Cuba. The Soviets spent most of the late-summer and early-fall of 1962 ferrying launch equipment and personnel necessary for the preparation of missiles to Cuba. Since they could not use military ships (for fear of being discovered) the Soviets used civilian vessels. However, even with this caution, their actions were detected. As the US monitored the suddenly increased shipping activity to Cuba, rumors started in Washington. On August 10, John McCone, director of the CIA, sent the President a letter stating his belief that the Soviets were placing MRBMs in Cuba. On August 29, a U-2 on a reconnaissance flight over Cuba revealed the presence of SA-2 SAM (Surface-to-Air-Missile) sites. On September 4, to calm the Congress and public, Kennedy announced that there were Soviet missiles in Cuba, but that since they were defensive and not offensive, the US had nothing to worry about. Pressured by Congress, Kennedy ordered another U-2 flight over Cuba for October 9. However it was delayed until Sunday, October 14. After the pictures from the reconnaissance flight were analyzed, the National Photographic Interpretation Center found what at first were thought to be more surface-to-air missile sites. A closer look, however, showed six much larger SS-4 nuclear missiles; each 60 to 65 feet long. They now knew they

Pizza Colosseum Essays

Pizza Colosseum Essays Pizza Colosseum Essay Pizza Colosseum Essay Mr Suits is the owner of a pizza restaurant Pizza Colosseum. Mr Suits wants to open up new branches. At the moment his restaurant only has a very dull looking and unattractive menu. It is simply a list of the food available typed up using a word processor. Although he has many regular customers, many of his customers judge the restaurant when they see the uninspiring menu. He needs a new menu in order to attract more customers to raise enough profit to expand.Sometimes, the customers want to know whether a dish is vegetarian or not, spicy or not. They also want to know what ingredients are in the pizza, sometimes the waiters/waitresses are busy and do have the time to answer these questions or do not actually know them. Consideration of Alternative Solutions One solution could be to produce an attractive menu by hiring an artist to draw up an eye-catching menu. This could then be colour photocopied and distributed. However, colour photocopying is very expensive and a hand drawn menu does not seem very professional. Every time the menu has to be updated, the artist has to be hired again and the design photocopied all over again.Another solution could be to use the current word processor method but add the extra needed content such as description of dishes and suitable for vegetarian symbols. Multiple copies could than be printed and put in the restaurant. This would definitely be more effective than a hand drawn menu. But a word processor is not as suitable for this task as a desktop publishing program.The final option is to use a desktop publishing program; it contains many features, which are suitable for the production of a menu. It can print the menu in special folds such as three-fold. Images can also be easily rotated and cropped to fit the page, text and images can be layered over each other and arranged to fit the page. Multiple copies can be printed and placed in the restaurant or even posted to residents in the area.Following considerations of the possible solutions I find that a desktop publishing program would be the most appropriate solution. This is because it contains all the features that are very useful for the making of a menu. There is more control over the way text is arranged and formatted. A desktop publishing program is more sophisticated than word-processing software because complex page layouts can be produced which are needed to produce a menu with folds. Frames can be used to insert text and pictures into, these can be moved around and resized. Simple formatting can be done on pictures such as rotation. It is also relatively cost effective as printing costs much less than colour photocopying; it can also be easily changed when prices or dishes change.User RequirementsMr Suits has gave me some necessities for the menu, these objectives must be implemented: 1. The menu must be able to fit into a pocket 2. The menu must be printed on to a sheet of A4 3. The sheet of paper must be printed on both sides 4. The menu must include a map of the restaurant 5. The menu must contain a correct list of dishes and description of them 6. The menu must include a picture of a pizza 7. There must not be any spelling or grammatical errors 8. It must contain the restaurant logo 9. The file must be password protectedPart Two Analyse Introduction Using Microsoft Publisher, I will create a menu the names, description and prices of dishes and other information about the restaurant. This will include a description map of the location of the restaurant, opening times and how to contact it.Appropriate Software and HardwareThe most important program that I will be using is Microsoft Publisher version 2000. Publisher is the most widely used desktop publisher program and comes with Microsoft Office, which Mr Suits currently has. I will use the Microsoft Windows XP operating system in which it runs, Jasc Softwares Paint Shop Pro 7 to manipulate images, for example place an arrow on the scanned in map and create the companys logo on computer. Microsoft Internet Explorer will be needed to obtain clip art pictures from clips online. Compression software with password protection is needed to save hard disk space, a menu does not have to be altered regularly so extracting the file will not be too much of a bother. A virus checker is needed to protect the menu stored on the hard drive from virus attacks and a firewall to protect against unauthorised access by hackers.The hardware required will be a PC, a AMD Athlon XP 2000+ processor- with a Nvidia GeForce Ti 4200 graphics card, 60GB hard disk, 256MB RAM, 19.0 CRT screen which Mr Suits bought a few months ago. The PC is suitable for the creation of this website as the processor is relatively fast and Publisher does not require a particularly fast computer. I will also need a simple mouse for performing commands and a keyboard for inputting text and a scanner to scan the location map of the restaurant. I will need a digital camera to take the picture of a pizza. A colour inkjet printer is needed to print the menu as colour would be more attractive to customers and would appear more professional.Data InputMr Suits will give me all the information I need for the menu: names of dishes, description of dishes, restaurant information, terms and conditions, logo. The text information will be using a keyboard. This information will be proof read and spell checked. A digital camera will take the picture of a pizza made in the. I will remake the logo using Paint Shop Pro. I will scan a map in and add an arrow to show the exact location of the restaurant.I will get a clip art of a chilli (which represents a hot dish) through the World Wide Web from Microsofts clips online as there are no clip art of chillies in Microsoft Clip Art gallery, however there is pizza and a photo of peppers which I will use. I will obtain picture of credit cards accepted from the Internet also. I will draw using Paint Shop Pro, the pictures that will be part of the design of the menu. All pictures needed for the menu will be saved in the JPEG format to ensure good quality when printed before being inserted into the menu.

Statistical significance, hypothesis testing, Type I and Type II Essay

Statistical significance, hypothesis testing, Type I and Type II errors - Essay Example When completing hypothesis testing there are two types of errors that may occur: a Type 1 or a Type 2 error. A Type 1 error occurs when the null hypothesis is rejected even though it was true (Bluman 2003). A Type 2 error occurs when the null hypothesis is accepted or not rejected even though it was false (Bluman 2003). An example of a Type 1 error would be a pregnancy test that indicates a person is not pregnant when they actually are. A Type 1 error probability is denoted by an alpha or the Greek symbol of ?. This is in contrast to the Type 2 error, which is denoted by beta or the Greek symbol of ?. An example of a Type 2 would be a pregnancy test that indicates a person is pregnant when they are not. According to the article entitled â€Å"Statistics Tutorial: Power of a Hypothesis Test,† â€Å"the probability of not committing a Type II error is called the power of a hypothesis test†(â€Å"Statistics tutorial: power of a hypothesis test†). Finally, the statis tical significance relates to the probability level of â€Å"committing† the Type 1 error within a hypothesis test (Bluman 2003). The power of a particular statistic, in contrast, is helpful in determining the likelihood of committing a Type 2 error.

Mise-En-Scene And Metaphors In Visual Literature Movie Review

Mise-En-Scene And Metaphors In Visual Literature - Movie Review Example Another use of metaphor can be found in the scene where Belfort describes the introduction of sexual activity in his office. The description of the first day at office shows a man enjoying sexual favor from a colleague in the elevator while Belfort and his associates are standing on the ground floor. The gradual upward movement of the elevator and the characters’ activity inside it indicates Belfort’s rise and what it consisted of. That the common man will always remain gullible and hungry for money is suggested by the last scene of the movie which is preceded by the voiceover asking "wouldn't you like to learn how to make money" and we are led to the voice introducing Jordan Belfort to a room full of people interested to listen to his sales training. From long shot to mid-long shot to medium shot the camera brings us closer to the young group of people who are eager to make quick money. The pedestal movement of the camera shows the curious faces of many such young face s who want to become a Jordan Belfort one day. A movie, therefore, is not a monolithic narrative but a visual literature created by directors, cinematographers, editors and screen players. From lighting to camera angle, to costume and movement of characters in a movie does have a meaning associated with it. The understanding of the mise-en-scene, therefore, provides an insight into the mind of the director. Both "Gravity" and "The Wolf of Wall street" are meshed with metaphors guiding the judgments of the viewers.

Hitlers table talk Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hitlers table talk - Term Paper Example In August 1941, when someone had committed murder in Berlin, Hitler argued that offenders did not need an imprisonment but rather corporal punishment. He argued that the penal system of the time had given the first sentence unnecessary importance. These people deserved corporal punishment only. Sending one to jail would only give them an opportunity to perfect their art of breaking the law. He argued that in prisons other prisoners teach people new tactics. This is the sad truth in most of the prisoners in the world today. However, corporal punishment is not supported in the human rights law code and therefore inapplicable. It is worth noting other prisoners do honestly transform. He concludes that the criminal should just disappear so that they do not face trial. If all criminals disappear into society, crime would rise terribly. It is worthwhile to lock them up in prison but implement strategies that will ensure they transform. On August 19, Hitler mentioned that for the good of their country, the Germans should wish for war after every fifteen to twenty years. These wars would make sure that their army was preoccupied and not just playing with the soldiers. He further elaborates that he did not regret losing some of the soldiers in war because war creates an opportunity for Germany to enlarge their territory and therefore increase in number. This principle does not comply with the international law.

The Meaning of Life -Opinion Essay Example for Free

The Meaning of Life -Opinion Essay My beliefs on the meaning of life in religion and interpretation of such things. In approaching the question of the meaning of life we have to examine the nature of meaning itself. Meaning, is by definition the point, or the intended goal. Consider the point of humans and the universe as seen from monotheistic religion. If life and the universe is some sort of toy or form of entertainment for some greater being, his point, his own entertainment, would then be the meaning of humans and the universe. Consider the goals of the deities of various cultures. Some strive for a balance between the forces of good and evil. This balance seems to simply be a choice of the deity, the way he thinks it ought to be. The concept of a greater being as a source of the meaning of life is flawed, because in talking about an actual point to absolutely everything, we are simply considering the goals of a being more powerful than ourselves who has chosen one of many possible goals that humans can conceive. This is to say that, if a god like this exists, his goal for life and the universe is not necessarily valid as a meaning of life, the universe, and himself. For instance, the Bible claims that the Christian deity created the universe and placed humans in it that they might be in awe of his power. If this is so, why is worship the correct response? The meaning of the universe as created by God is the entertainment of God, but what is the meaning of the larger system containing God and his creations? We could conceive of an even greater being, but that simply takes us all the way back into the wall of infinite regression. When I first read the Bible, it struck me as neutral on the idea of worship. The Bible flat out tells you that God created humans so that they would be in awe of him, which amounts to saying God created us to inflate his ego. We are to God as our pets are to ourselves, sources of unconditional love. In the book of Job, God essentially makes a gentlemans bet with Satan that Jobs worship is genuine and not inspired by Gods kindness. In other words, you throw a rock at my dog and Ill swing my arm so it looks I threw it, and well see if he still comes when I call him. In the end, Job is not simply the dog, because he questions Gods throwing of the rock. Gods response is consistent with his goal of inspiring awe. Even though the idea of a bet with Satan is well within Jobs grasp, God claims that his purpose was inconceivable to Job. God is simply fortifying the concept that is critical to the continuance of human worship: that with inconceivable power comes incredible intelligence and unknowable purpose. The narrator of the Bible, which is supposedly God himself, speaking through humans, never directly says that he should be worshipped. This is merely the interpretation of humans, who may be created in Gods image with one crucial difference, the need to worship. Perhaps then, God is after the meaning of life. Imagine a being so powerful as to be able to create and mold the universe, who, like Roman and Greek gods, is only marginally more intelligent than his creations. Perhaps God, in all his ridiculous power, cannot change himself. In order to find the meaning of his own existence he creates the human race so that we might evolve to an intelligence greater than his own, in much the same way that a computer programmer wishes to create true AI, an intelligence greater than human, which might evolve within a computer. We are given the title of pet and the instinct of worship while the creator waits for a companion in the search for meaning. Of course this is wrong, or I would have been struck by a lightning bolt during that last sentence and brought to Gods side. Or perhaps God is not aware of his own success yet, or perhaps I am not the first to uncover Gods purpose, and my predecessor is debating meaning with God as we speak. Or perhaps I am intended to continue to search from the perspective that has proved so useful. In any case, this may amount to Christianity being a giant misunderstanding. At the very least, it means I can walk up to a Christian, tell him I believe in God and everything in the Bible, and ask him what the candles and the cathedrals are for. Back again to the one and only point: if a meaning exists it is not necessarily the purpose of our creation or existence. It has a larger scope, and can refer to the meaning of the existence of the being or force creating us, if such a force exists. This whole essay may seem simply a chance to bash Christianity and give intelligence even more of a right to inspire ego. Yet is it not the egotistical nature that is present in celebrating the most God-like trait in man, his intelligence, more forgivable and less blinding than the egotististical nature of comparing the meaning of ourselves to the meaning of the universe?

Anti-Death Penalty Essay -- Papers Against Capital Punishment Essays

Anti-Death Penalty History: The death penalty is not a new idea in our world. Its origins date back 3,700 years to the Babylonian civilization, where it was prescribed for a variety of crimes (Kronenwetter p.10). It was also greatly used in the Greek and Roman empires. In ancient Roman and Mosaic Law they believed in the rule of â€Å"eye for and eye.† The most famous executions of the past included Socrates and Jesus (Wilson p.13). It continued into England during the Middle Ages and then to the American colonies where it exist still today. In the colonies, death was a punishment for crimes of murder, arson, and perjury. Although today the death penalty is used for murder. Common ways of execution in the past where stoning, crucifixion, burning, breaking of the wheel, draw and quartering, beheading, garroting, shooting, and hanging (Wilson p.89). Today these styles of execution are thought to be cruel and unusual. Today in the United States, the death penalty is used in five different ways. These five ways are the firing squad, hanging, gas chamber, electric chair, and lethal injection. The United States applies these styles of execution because they are thought to be not torturous for execution. The death penalty has been accepted in the United States, but was not always approved by the people. In the late eighteen hundreds there was enough attention gathered to the death penalty to lead to restrictions. Many northern states abolished the practice all together like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island (Wilson p.45). Pennsylvania in 1794 decided to revises its laws on the death penalty. The state decided to use the penalty mainly for first-degree murder. Around this time many states where deciding t... ...ald J. â€Å"Reports: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel and Lack of Due Process in Death Penalty Cases.† Human Rights Winter 1995. Whittier, Charles H. â€Å"Moral Arguments For and Against Capital Punishment.† CRS Report For Congress 1996 Wilson, Josh, M. â€Å"Death Penalty History†. New York: Fletcher Press. 1998 http://www.time.com/time/magagzine/archive/1994/940523.crime.html http://listserv.american.edu/catholic/church/us/nybish.death http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+†¦/pageitems=[body] http://mtsd.k12.wi.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/gregg.htm http://mtsd.k12.we.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/furman.htm http://mtsd.k.12.wi.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/thompson.htm Http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+†¦pageitems=[body]

My personal Experience of Globalization Essay

Globalization is process of expanding trade and commerce all over the world by creating a frontier-less market. Although globalization is an economical process but it has many social and cultural aspects in our daily life. For example, I am using a nokia cell phone that was designed in Finland and assembled in China. I am writing this assignment by using a HP laptop that was also assembled in China and designed by USA, and this laptop runs by â€Å"Windows 7† operating system – which is a product of famous US software company â€Å"Microsoft†. I also use Qubee Broadband of Augere Wireless Limited that is owned by a multinational company of United Kingdom. I have a Nikon DSLR camera that was designed in Japan and assembled in China from components made in Japan, Germany, China and Malaysia. I am dependant on several products such as Head and Shoulder (Procter and Gamble-USA), Dove (Unilever-England and Netherland), Tang (Kraft Foods-USA), Pepsi (USA) etc. All these products in my hand is a result of process of globalization.KFC and Pizza Hut are two US based restaurant chain that become popular in our country. Globalization has been associated with a range of cultural consequences. Globalization is increasingly exposing people to different ways of thinking. We know instantly what is happening on other part of the world through satellite channel. Cultural effects of globalization have seen in lifestyle of urban people, selection of apparel, consumption of food and celebration of different festivals or occasions that are not associated with our culture. I celebrate friendship day, watch Hollywood movie and become a fast food lover, which are clearly cultural impacts of globalization. Through the process of globalization the economic interdependence has been increasing day by day. Now Bangladeshi women are the major contributors in national export earnings. In Bangladesh, 77 per cent of the foreign earnings come from the Ready Made Garment (RMG) sector and around 80 per cent of the workers in this sector are women. Last year my uncle brought a Reebok jacket from Malaysia that is labeled as â€Å"Made in Bangladesh†. Although economic development is the primary objective of globalization but it also bring many changes in our social and cultural life.

Biopsychosocial Perspective Essay

Psychologists past, present, and future desire the answer to one basic question; â€Å"what factors influence a person’s physical and mental health are they related if a relationship exists†; thus Health Psychology emerged. In pursuit of the answer several models or perspectives came about. Over time psychologist realized that focusing on one causal factor results in partial information for analysis of health and illness. Thus, the biopsychosocial model became the primary perspective used and is the focus of this paper. â€Å"This perspective recognizes that biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces act together to determine an individual’s health and vulnerability to disease; that is, health and disease must be explained in terms of multiple contexts† (Straub, 2012, p. 16). Achieving an understanding of biopsychosocial perspective requires a description of the systems and three contexts of this theory, examination of the influence of this theory on the biomedical viewpoint, and examination of how the interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors influence a person’s health. Through a hypothetical scenario an illustration of the ways in which all three factors interacts and influences an individual’s health and well-being will emerge to reaffirm understanding. Three systems and contexts The biopsychosocial model consists of systems and three contexts: immune system, endocrine system, nervous system, and cardiovascular system, as well as biological context, psychological context, and social context. As most humans know the immune system is how people fight off disease and illness. If the immune system is weak then the disease or illness will take over and weaken its host. The endocrine system is the glands within the body and the hormones produced by the glands. The nervous system controls the glands  through stimulation. The hormones released from the glands interact throughout the body to maintain homeostasis. The nervous system comprises the brain, the sensory organs, the spinal cord, and all the nerves connecting these organs with the rest of the body. The primary job of the nervous system is controlling the body and communication within its parts. The cardiovascular system is the blood, blood vessels, and the heart. The primary job of the cardiovascular system is to carry oxygen, nutrient, cellular waste products, and hormones within the body. All these systems work together to keep the body functioning and healthy. If any system is weak for any reason the body is vulnerable to disease and illness. The systems work together within the human body, but they also interact with the biological context, psychological context, and social context to influence health and well-being (Albery & Munafo, 2008). The biological context examines how genetics influence health. The psychological context examines how psychological influences (coping strategies) affect health and illness. The social context examines how social influences (culture, family, society†¦.) affect health and illness. These systems and contexts work together like the gears of a clock to influence an individual’s health and well-being. If a gear gets nicked the clock starts to slowly lose time, but repair the gear and the clock is good as new. This is true of the biopsychosocial model of health and well-being also. The biopsychosocial model was not the first model psychologist used to explain health and well-being it was the biom edical model. Influence on Biomedical Model The biomedical model considers the absence of disease is physical wellness. This model is good practice but it has limitations. The biomedical model focuses on health and well-being as biological issues with biomedical solutions (Sutton, Baum, & Johnston, 2005). On the other hand, the biopsychosocial model takes into account the whole person leading to extensive research in many aspects of wellness. It addresses more than physical well-being as many people now are ill but they have no presence of disease. Socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity and generational differences all play important roles in this model of wellness (Marks, Murray, Evans, & Estacio, 2011). The biopsychosocial model is an expansion of the biomedical model. This new model agrees that biological issues influences health and  well-being, but also believes that psychological and social issues influence health and well-being as well. Three factors influence on health and well-being A 30 year old mother of four children under 10 goes to her physician complaining of extreme fatigue and a loss of energy. Many people would say â€Å"of course you are tired. You have four young children†. She has high blood pressure, but her medication controls it so that is ruled out as the cause of her fatigue. Her doctor runs blood work, sends her for a sleep study, and asks questions about social and psychological issues that could be bothering her. When all the results are in there is no answer for her fatigue so the doctor diagnosis her with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which means that no one knows why you are tired. Over the next several years she is in and out of her doctor’s office. The fatigue has such a toll on the woman that she gets sick easily and more often. Until she turned 30 this woman only had seasonal allergies and never got the flu or a cold. Now she seems to be sick more than not. Using the biopsychosocial model to examine this woman’s health and well-being will show how the biological, psychological, and social contexts as well as the systems are interacting to influence her health. When the doctor was questioning the woman about her psychological and social well-being he was ruling out depression as the cause. The woman is not fatigued because she is a busy mom rather the cause is a deficiency of a chemical in the brain. Through the numerous visits to her doctor she learns of a vitamin D deficiency, an underactive thyroid, and finally the root cause of her fatigue; Narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder which affects an individual’s waking hours as a result of insufficient sleep. This disorder leaves the woman needing to take medication to sleep and medication to stay awake, but still feeling fatigued about half the time. The systems involved in this individual’s health issues are the nervous, endocrine, and cardiovascular. Looking back at the clock analogy, three of the gears of her clock have nicks. Since three of her systems are weak this woman is vulnerable to disease and illness. The biological context of her health is the deficiency of t he chemical within the brain. The psychological context of her health is how she copes and over comes the issues surrounding her disorder. The social context of her health is how her family, friends, and  community react to her disorder. On a daily basis she struggles to function adequately. She is now 37 years old and works as a substitute teacher, working on her masters, wife, and mother. Every day she wakes up feeling as though she could go back to sleep and did for the first two years. She could sleep eight to nine hours at night get her kids off to school then sleep all day till her kids get home. With the medication she takes now the day time sleepiness is not as severe, but can still be overwhelming some days. Imagine the social issues that can arise as a substitute teacher if her medication is not working and she falls asleep while with students. Trying to function with narcolepsy when life previous to the disorder consists of outdoor activities, energy, and multi-tasking can cause psychological issues. Having a strong social support system, following medical advice, and a strong will to succeed keep the woman psychologically strong. The woman does struggle in her academic life, but refuses to give up. So tir ed and rundown daily she fights thru any issues that arise from the disorder that now runs her biological, psychological, and social life. Although, her clock may lose time as a result of the nicked gears, she duck-tapes the nicks and reset her clock daily. Narcolepsy is a life altering, mysterious neurological disorder that can pose serious problems for the ones affected by it.   Although, there is no cure for narcolepsy research shows that with medication, education on the disorder, counseling, support from family members and friends, that there can be some relief from the symptoms. Conclusion Over time psychologist realized that focusing on one causal factor results in partial information for analysis of health and illness. Thus, the biopsychosocial model became the primary perspective used and was the focus of this paper. An understanding of the biopsychosocial perspective attained through a description of the systems and three contexts of this theory, examination of the influence of this theory on the biomedical viewpoint, and examination of how the interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors influence a person’s health. The hypothetical scenario looked at a woman with narcolepsy and the issues she faces daily from a biopsychosocial perspective. References: Albery, I. P., & Munafo, M. (2008). Key Concepts in Health Psychology. Thousand Oaks, Ca: SAGE Publications. Marks, D. F., Murray, M., Evans, B., & Estacio, E. V. (2011). Health Psychology: Theory, Research, and Practice 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, Ca: SAGE Publications. Straub, R. O. (2012). Health Psychology: A Biopsychosocial Approach 3rd Edition. New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Sutton, S., Baum, A., & Johnston, M. (2005). The SAGE Handbook of Health Psychology. Thousand Oaks, Ca: SAGE Publications.

How To Learn Chemistry Fast

How To Learn Chemistry Fast The first step in learning chemistry fast is to determine exactly how long you have to learn chemistry. Youll need a lot more discipline to learn chemistry in a day compared with a week or a month. Also, keep in mind you wont have great retention if you cram chemistry in a day or a week. Ideally, you want a month or longer to master any course. If you do end up cramming chemistry, expect to review the material if you need to apply it to a higher level chemistry course or remember it for a test further down the road. A Word About Chemistry Lab If you can do lab work, thats fantastic, because the hands-on learning will reinforce the concepts. However, labs take time, so most likely youll miss this segment. Keep in mind labs are required for some situations. For example, you have to document lab work for AP chemistry and many online courses. If you are doing labs, check how long they take to perform before getting starting. Some labs take less than an hour start-to-finish, while others might take hours, days or weeks. Pick short exercises, whenever possible. Supplement book learning with videos, which are readily available online. Gather Your Materials You can use any chemistry textbook, but some are better than others for fast learning. You could use an AP Chemistry book or Kaplan Study Guide or a similar book. These are high quality, time-tested reviews that cover everything. Avoid dumbed-down books because youll get the illusion that you learned chemistry, but wont master the topic. Make a Plan Dont be haphazard and dive in, expecting success in the end! Make a plan, record your progress and stick to it. Heres how: Divide your time. If you have a book, figure out how many chapters youre going to cover and how much time you have. For example, you may study and learn three chapters a day. It may be a chapter an hour. Whatever it is, write it out so you can track your progress.Get started! Check off what you accomplish. Maybe reward yourself after pre-determined points. You know better than anyone else what it will take to get you to get the job done. It may be self-bribes. It may be fear of an impending deadline. Find what works for you and apply it.If you fall behind, try to catch up right away. You might not be able to double your work, but its easier to catch up as fast as possible rather than have the studying snowball out of control.Support your study with healthy habits. Make sure you get some sleep, even if its in the form of naps. You need sleep to process new information. Try to eat nutritious food. Get some exercise. Take walks or work out during breaks. Its important to switch gears ev ery so often and get your mind off chemistry. It may feel like wasted time, but its not. Youll learn more quickly if you take brief breaks than if you study, study, study. However, dont let yourself get sidetracked where you dont get back to chemistry. Set and keep limits regarding time away from your learning. Helpful Tips Try to review prior material. Even if its just a quick review, planning a set amount of time to go over old material will help you retain it.Work through problems. At the very least, make sure you can work example problems if you have time (days or weeks instead of hours), work problems. Working problems is the best way to learn how to apply the concepts truly.Take notes. Writing down important points helps you learn the information.Recruit a study buddy. A partner can help keep you motivated, plus you can offer each other support and put your heads together when you encounter hard problems or challenging concepts.

John Woo as a film auteur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

John Woo as a film auteur - Essay Example In addition to that, John Woo is a very popular and fashionable film director. His actions films are working and bringing money. John Woo is a global iconic figure who has mastered the art of choreographing action sequences, Mexican standoffs and the use of slow motion technology. He used also these techniques in the course of creating his films what helped this person to create a highly alluring cinema that kept audience glued to the screen till the very last second of the film. His main achievement is his ability to incorporate his own unique style. John Woo simply controlled all stages of film production what enabled him to give his films a personal and a distinctive touch. John Woo is known for his constant effort aimed at resurfacing Hong Kong cinema of the 1980’s and 1990’s. The choice of this approach helped John Woo to acquire status of a cult director in Hollywood. Renowned American film theorist and film critic, David Bordwell, has reviewed a number of Wooâ₠¬â„¢s films. After reviewing John Woo’s films he gave the following evaluation to this person: â€Å"Personally, I do like the idea of giving Woo films a new rush of life, however, the man was, and still in many ways is (although it can be debated as to what extent) an auteur, in the truest sense of the word". (South Korean Remake Of John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow Meets Cold Response From Hong Kong Moviegoers) David claims that Woo uses a variety of skills in his films. The choice of this strategy makes John Woo the most remarkable and unique director in his area. David Bordwell also mentioned the fact that while watching Woo’s films in a theatre, you would be so engrossed that your focus would keep shifting from the background to what’s happening in the foreground as well as from left to right. Woo is well known for his habitual action sequences what gives his movie a highly fascinating yet a disciplined style. He is also known for re-inventing action seq uences. This measure helped to improve the quality of his films and to increase the number of people watching the movies of this film director. Regarding the issue of Woo’s technique, I can definitely say that Woo refined the techniques that his predecessors introduced to cinema during the initial stages of its development. The heightened standards of cinema, that he has set is still seen as a goal for modern films. After reviewing John Woo’s film, â€Å"A Better Tomorrow†, Stephen Teo, a filmmaker, critic and film historian, stated that, John Woo â€Å"reintroduced themes of brotherhood, honor and vengeance in the movie, making it boldly appealing for the audience to watch.† (South Korean Remake of John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow Meets Cold Response From Hong Kong Moviegoers) Further he stated that â€Å"Woo borrowed from the theatrical choreography seen in the Wuxia films of the 1960s and 1970s, by incorporating the same style into his shootout sce nes.† (John Woo and the Art of the Action Movie) While critics argue whether or not Woo’s participation in filmmaking should be placed under the Hong Kong new wave or if it falls under the Hong Kong studio system, one cannot deny the fact that Woo has made a big contribution into the development of modern cinema and has made an enormous impact on the manner in which filmmakers produce their films across the world. Hong Kong new wave was a brief period of experimentation for Hong Kong cinema. During this period filmmakers got a chance to

From Copycats to Innovators Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

From Copycats to Innovators - Case Study Example After knowledge acquisition, the multinationals then focus on mid-tech innovative products thus leading to affordable products through the reverse innovation process. Good examples of new innovations are China's BYD, a battery maker that has attained huge market in developing electric cars and Tata’s Nano Car that is cheaply priced at approximately $ 2,500 and mass-produced across the globe (Peng, 2013). Another core capability of emerging multinationals is the ability to adapt the emerging technologies to small-scale markets of the developing economies. In this case, the company is capable of developing a specialized variation of the product and incrementally improving the product in order to meet the needs of the niche market (Peng, 2013). For instance, Samsung of Korea and Acer from Taiwan have built their global reputation and market share through adapting the technology to the domestic markets and focusing on specialized variations of the mainstream products offered by mu ltinationals in developed economies (Peng, 2013). Emerging multinationals enjoy cheap labor and access to natural raw materials in their production process (Peng, 2013). Developing countries enjoy the high number of semi-skilled and skilled labor that offer their services at low wages and huge natural raw materials thus reducing the overall costs of production. In addition, the companies face lenient government regulation due to low concerns about climate change, product quality standards and pollution in the economy (Peng, 2013). The emerging multinationals have more freedom in initiating new structures and values, unlike the established global players that have long histories and static cultures (Peng, 2013). The multinational from developed countries enjoy certain core resources and capabilities that enable them to compete effectively in the market.

Strategic Human Resources Planning. Investigation Research Paper

Strategic Human Resources Planning. Investigation - Research Paper Example HR is a department within the organization that entirely manages people (Wood, 2009). It thus serves the purpose of recruiting, managing, and directing workforce. This is because it HR is the department that possesses knowledge, skills, creativity, ideas, and aptitudes within the organization. Any problem within the organization is solved through this department. Therefore, any organization that considers success an option must put in place human resource managers with the necessary skills to enhance progress of the organization. Like any other organization, Hilton Hotel has a HRD that has seen the organization provide unequalled services far and wide. This paper discusses corruption as a common problem in Hilton Hotel. Overview of the Problem Corruption has been a common problem in many organizations especially the big and diversified firms. From history, over 75% of companies have reached a shut down point as a result of corruption. The continued growth of Hilton Hotel has seen the emergence of this deadly vice. Within every organization, corruption has lead to several consequences that if not taken care of will result to organizational failure (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). In Hilton, just like any other organization, the highest levels of corruption were at the staffing function of the HR Department. It is important that in performing this role, recruits be selected in reference to their competence. This will definitely see the organization achieve since the recruited staff is in possession of the equipments. However, this has not been the case. Evidently, many of the newly recruited staff do not have the professional requirement, and necessary experience simply because they have a link to senior managers in the organization. In such a case, the definite outcome is failure. Environment Analysis Environmental analysis is a crucial aspect within an organization. It is important to evaluate the impact that Political factors, Economic factors, Socio-cultural factors , and technological facts to the organization (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). For political factors, the changes that are incorporated in the legislation and the political instability in some countries have negatively impacted Hilton Hotel. On economic factors, interest rates, cross-border pricing, and the charges by the banks have been a challenge in executing the objectives that the Hotel has put in place. Technology has played a big role in the promotion of better services to clients. Hilton has kept up with the changing technology to ensure it gives up to date services. Business people consider socio-cultural factors as the key elements in building the society. They influence the choices people maker and include beliefs held by certain communities, attitudes towards certain aspects and values. There Hotel has looked into demographic changes and the perception the clients have on their products thus achieved in delivery. Financial Analysis The only way through which Hilton Hotel has ma naged to survive despite this problem is through proper financial management. The financial department has largely worked in collaboration with other departments to ensure that the organizational finances arte properly cared for. For instance, remuneration is a function for the HR Department, but the financial department ensures that it properly evaluates every financial proposal before signing. Further, still, it is in this department that purchases and sales are managed thus

Learning English Essay Example for Free

Learning English Essay As an international student, learning English was a big challenge. For one thing, I grew up speaking my native language most of the time, and I only speak English when just necessary, such as talking to American or English strangers. This is why I found it hard to learn English, and there is still room for many improvements. At first I thought that once I studied English, I would learn quickly. But I found out it was hard because my tongue got used to speaking my native language. The hardest part was mastering the subject-verb agreement. Every time I speak, I struggle with evaluating whether the subject and the verb match. Sometimes I use verb with s when I refer to plural subjects. I also had difficulty understanding sentences that have very long subjects. For instance, A mountain range that sits between two larger mountains overlooking the valley is/are very beautiful. When my friend or anyone I talk to use this kind of sentence, I easily get lost from what he means to say. Thus, sometimes I misinterpret what he says. I guess the learning process took longer for me. But I am thankful that my experiences were training ground for the changes that took place. Also, the formalized learning from the classroom helped me a lot to learn another language (Smith). Little by little, I learned the right pronunciations of words. My teacher and my classmates and friends correct me when I wrongly pronounce a word or my sentence is grammatically incorrect. Reading has also helped greatly. I tried to understand what I read, and apply what I learned. I have also read short stories and I studied the way sentences are constructed. Learning from reading is advantageous. Aside from learning grammar, spelling, and understanding meaning from the books I read, reading has also opened my eyes to the many things that remained undiscovered to me. I can say that until the present time, I’m still learning. It has helped me greatly in dealing with day to day issues in the United States. Work Cited Smith, Mark K. 2003. â€Å"Learning Theory. † 26 February 2009 http://www. infed. org/biblio/b-learn. htm.

High Employee Turnover in the Retail Industry

High Employee Turnover in the Retail Industry Executive Summary This dissertation has been written to determine why the employee turnover in the retail industry is so high. The reason for this is that managers are not following the basic human resource principles such as offering employees competitive wages, opportunities of promotion or challenging work in order to keep employees motivated. As individuals are not motivated at work, they look elsewhere for better paid jobs where they can develop themselves further so they can progress with their careers. The researcher has also recognised that employees want flexibility at work. This is due to many of the participants of the survey having personal priorities that are more important to them such as children or studying while working. There are clear recommendations for employers stating what can be done with the intention of reducing the employee turnover rate. The most vital are that managers find out specifically why employees are leaving, this can be done by using exit interviews. Once this is determined, they will be able to pinpoint the causes for employees leaving them so that they can then make the necessary changes to keep staff attracted to the job. The study has also shown that it is of vast importance for employers to offer more flexibility in the workplace in order to be able to cater for the employees requirements. The estimated basic turnover cost for a retail assistant is  £1,425 per individual. (Taylor, S 2002:47) This total only includes the expenses of the employee leaving i.e. the paper work and the recruitment process to replace the individual. The total does not account for overtime being paid out to the individuals colleagues or temporary staffs who may be hired to fill the vacancy on a short-term basis. The employee turnover rate for people working in retail is considerably high at 31.3%; retail has the highest employee turnover rate throughout all sectors. (CBI Labour and Absence Survey 2004) The researcher has been working in sales for almost four years now and it is of great interest to the individual as to why staff turnover is so high and what can be done to prevent it and how the company can benefit from retaining staffs. To the researcher, it seems more practical to retain staffs rather then recruit new employees. If employers invested money into staffs, they may find that this will save a lot of money in recruiting and training new staffs. Aims The aims of the dissertation are to: Identify the cause of high employee turnover rates within the retail sector Find out what employees in this sector want from an organisation Establish what can be done by employers to retain people in this particular segment of the labour market. Rationale This dissertation seeks to inform businesses of how high employee turnover can be costly and time consuming which is why the well-known idiom can be used to express the basis of the dissertation: â€Å"prevention is better then cure.† In the business context, this relates to investing more in staff in order to retain them rather then recruiting, selecting and training new staff. High staff turnovers can influence a businesses performance as it is the employees who are in direct contact with the customers and if they are not satisfied with their jobs, they will not be providing the best service possible to the customers. Limitation: This dissertation is concerned with the retail sector as motivation and retention methods vary in different environments. The proposal does not focus on a particular company but on the retail segment as a whole in order to establish the factors, which account for retention within the sector. The study will be based in London; and will focus on individuals who have had experience of working within the retail sector. Literature Review 7.1 Definition of Employee Turnover When employees leave an organisation, several factors need to be considered which all lead to expenses on behalf of the organisation. The organisation will need somebody to cover the workload of the employee that has left the company and the process of recruiting will need to take place in order to fill the vacancy. The higher the employee turnover rate is of a business, the higher the costs will be to replace these workers which is why it is so important for businesses to calculate. To evaluate the labour turnover, the following calculation can be used: (CIPD 2004) â€Å"Crude Wastage Method† ___Number of leavers in a set period_____ x100 Average number employed in the same period Once labour turnover rates have been identified, it will then be possible for the organisation to recognise the extent that staff turnover can affect them by. Reducing labour turnover will mean that less people are leaving the organisation therefore; there will be less wastage of employees so that money can be saved, as less people will need to be recruited. However, not all organisations calculate the cost of employee wastage. In fact, over 50% of organisations believe that this information is not relevant and 31% believe that it takes up too much time and is not worth the effort. (Recruitment, retention and turnover Survey, CIPD, 2004:33) If organisations do not calculate the employee turnover rate, it will be difficult for them to distinguish its affect and recognise the benefits of reducing it. 7.2 The Effect of Employee Turnover on Staff When an individual leaves a job, either a temporary replacement is hired or the workload is split between the individuals colleagues until a suitable replacement is found. Hiring temporary staff can be expensive while at the same time, giving the individuals colleagues, an increased workload will cause them further stress. If this was to happen consistently, it could be another cause for people leaving the organisation. The graph shows how employee turnover can have a knock on effect because of the impact it has on staffs. (Employee retention report, Reed, 2003:4) The employer must ensure that people are replaced as soon as possible to prevent other staffs from being put under additional stress and pressure. However, if employers tried harder to retain staffs then they would have to put less time and resources into replacing the workforce. 7.3 The Effect of Employee Turnover on the Organisation The impact of employees leaving organisations is that it leads to expenses. Replacing staffs takes up time and money, which are both valuable resources that should be saved wherever possible in order to achieve a more efficiently operated business. When a position is vacant, the amount of paid overtime can rise up to 25%, which accounts for the usual workload that is to be completed by less staffs. (Employee retention report, Reed, 2003:4) The graph shows the adverse affects that happen because of employee turnover. Reducing employee turnover will decrease expenses as the company will not have to spend as much money to hire temporary staffs, recruit new staffs or pay so for so much overtime. 7.4 The Importance of Retention from the Recruitment Stage It is important in an organisation to recruit the right person with the right skills and qualifications for the job. â€Å"People who represent the best ‘match in terms of their personality attributes, skills and experience are those who are likely to perform best in the job against a range of criteria. They are also the people who are most likely to remain employed for some time and the least likely to take the first available opportunity to leave.† (Taylor, S 2002:171) This is essential as recruiting a person whom is inadequate to do the job would be pointless as they would not be able to complete the tasks of the job to meet the expectations of the company. Therefore, recruiting a person who is not right for the job would be a waste of time and money as the right person for the job will still need to be found for the long-term. 7.5 The Importance of Inductions Once a suitable candidate is found and hired, they will require preliminary training, which is known as an induction. This is where the employee is introduced to the company, its culture and procedures. This will help to familiarise the employee with the company and the job requirements. As a result, the employees will learn the various procedures of how the company wants to operate. Inductions are used to welcome the new employee into the organisation and ensure that they feel comfortable in performing their job role successfully. â€Å"Labour turnover is frequently highest amongst those who have recently joined an organisation. The term ‘induction crisis is used to describe the critical period when new starters are most likely to leave. A well planned induction course can help to decrease labour turnover by ensuring that new starters settle quickly in their jobs and reach an efficient standard of performance as soon as possible.† (Kenney, J and Reid, M 1990:241) The induction is a very significant part of training as if it is not carried out it can lead to the new employee feeling pressured and may lead to feeling that the job difficult to undertake. Poor or even no induction training can be the result of an employee leaving the company within the first few days or weeks of the start date. 7.6 Affects of a Quality Induction Programme Clarks is a well-established shoemaker company that has developed a valuable induction programme to ensure that its store employees are capable of achieving the companys targets. Just over 40% of the companys retail staff has already taken part in the training scheme called Shine. The programme is significantly recognised as it won a UK National Training Award. The scheme is part of a strategic plan to improve performance, productivity and employee retention. New starters receive Shine on the first day off work as on-the-job training. The new trainees are given a workbook which is similar to an employee handbook as it covers safety, the job, pay, hours, rules, selling steps, finding stock and equipment knowledge of products, shoe-care, deliveries, credit cards, cheques and refunds. The programme encourages teamwork and helps the new employees to bond together. It is clear that Clarks has recognised the importance in induction training in order to retain employees which is why the com pany has devised such a satisfactory training scheme. (â€Å"Shoe shop staffs shine! In training† 2004:91) 7.7 Retention Plan In order to retain employees, the company must first find out what is causing them to leave. As there can be a wide variety of reasons for people leaving a company, the plan is broken down into key factors: Pay and benefits: the company must be able to offer a competitive rate of pay. This is essential as if an employee can perform the same job and be paid more elsewhere then they will most probably leave the company. The company must be able to keep compete with the pay and benefits offered by rival companies. These benefits can consist of; share options, pension schemes, retention bonuses and flexible benefits Recruitment and selection: when recruiting employees it is crucial to ensure that the employees skills and abilities match what is required of the post in the company. If this is not done then the employee will have problems in carrying out the job role successfully. It is also vital to produce a truthful image of the job as if it is made to sound more glamorous or exciting then it actually is, the employees expectations will not be met therefore they will not be fulfilled in the new job thus causing them to look for a better job elsewhere. Training and development: a good induction process is imperative. Employees also need to have the chance to progress through promotion so that they will not feel like they have to be trapped in the same job. Job design: the work may be too boring or undemanding therefore the position may need redesigning or a new approach such as teamwork. This makes it easier for job-share therefore employees will be able to work when it suits them better as the job will be flexible. Management: ensure that managers and supervisors have the skills and ability to manage effectively and fairly. (Bevan, S. 1997) These are the key features, which the organisation has the control to change. The company has no control over circumstances such as people wanting to move to a different location or ill health therefore these factors cannot be influenced in order to retain employees. Motivation With the intention of retaining employees, keeping individuals motivated is another way to prevent them from leaving the organisation and to ensure that the employer is getting the best from each individual. â€Å"Boredom and frustration at work is often the result of an employees lack of involvement with the companys goals and feelings that their ideas are not wanted or listened to. Companies that involve their employees in achieving company goals are able to motivate employees.† (Chapman, M 1997) For individuals to fulfil their full potential this must be motivated thus The harder an employee works, the more / bigger reward(s) they should gain which will keep them motivated to continue working hard. Motivated staffs lead to a more productive workplace therefore; it will be more profitable. (Maslows Hierarchy 1954) states that people first needed to fulfil there basic needs before they can progress to achieve self-actualisation. This is best shown in a pyramid, each person first starts from the bottom and through work, the individual fulfil each stage and works his or her way up. (Maslows Hierarchy of Needs 1954) Physiological needs: food, water, air, rest Safety needs: security, job security Social needs: affection, love and friendship Esteem: recognition, achievement and status Self-actualisation: personal growth and self-fulfilment. The hierarchy of needs shows that: Employees need money to pay for necessities such as food, rent etc. This is the basis of satisfaction Employees need to know that their job is safe so that they do not have to worry about looking for a new job. It is best to work in teams to encourage socialising between employees as individuals can learn from one another and share knowledge. Employees will be motivated to work harder if they know there is a possibility of promotion. This is the hardest to achieve, as most people want to be the boss. This will take a lot of time and very hard work to achieve. Maslows theory explains how individuals have needs and by employers meeting these needs, they are able to motivate them to keep on progressing. It is vital for the needs of individuals to be met as if they are not it will lead to individuals feeling unfulfilled thus leading them to look elsewhere for another job. (Herzbergs Two Factor Theory 1968) This consists of satisfiers and hygiene factors. A satisfier is what motivates an employee, e.g. achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, personal growth and the actual work itself. Hygiene factors are elements that do not motivate people e.g. pay and conditions, status in the organisation, job security and benefits. The theory expresses that employees will be motivated by good wages, promotion and other benefits etc. Employees are not motivated by poor wages, poor working conditions, no job security etc. Ultimately, employers need to offer staff satisfiers to motivate them to work hard. As long as individuals are happy and fulfilled in their jobs and feel that they are progressing, they will continue to work hard and stay within the organisation. 7.9 How to find out why Employees are Leaving The organisation needs to find out why its staffs are leaving so they can then devise a plan to try to prevent this from reoccurring in the future. The methods of finding out why employees are leaving can consist of: Exit interviews: these interviews are normally held soon after the employee has resigned. The interviewer can take the opportunity to find out why the employee is leaving, the conditions under which they would have stayed and improvements the company can make in the future. Leaver questionnaires: these are either completed during the interview or sent to people once they have left the company and normally consist of closed questions to make it easier to analyse. (Leavers questionnaire are also known as Attitude Surveys) â€Å"The exit interview is an increasingly common procedure when an employee leaves an organisation. Ostensibly these are conducted to gain information about the reasons for the employees departure, information which can then be used to improve human resource management.† (Furnham, A 2001) Once the reasons for employees leaving has been established, they can be put into separate categories so the organisation can see what the most popular reasons are for people leaving. They can then go on to make relevant changes in order to help retain workers. 7.10 Conclusion of literature Overall, it seems that in order for the retail industry to grow, organisations must improve their retention methods to ensure they have enough employees to cope with the increase in productivity. It is the sales assistants that have the majority of contact with customers which is why it is so vital to ensure that they receive sufficient training in order to serve customers effectively and efficiently while at the same time providing a service to encourage them to come back. A key way to reduce employee turnover is to keep staffs motivated, so the industry will be investigated to find out how this is done and how successful current methods are. The employee turnover rate is so high within the industry so there must be something that is going wrong to cause such a high turnover rate. Exit interviews seem to be the most crucial method of finding out why people are leaving the industry. It is vital to find out why people are leaving so that action can be taken to prevent staffs to from leaving for the same reasons in the future. Therefore, it will be important to find out if retail organisations carry out exit interviews; and if they do not, then why not? 8. Methodology 8.1 Introduction There are varieties of methods that can be put into practice to assist the researcher to seek out relevant information in order to find out the answer to the research question. Examples of such methods are; observations, case studies, interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. If would be difficult to make observations to find out why people are leaving their retail jobs as people resigning can happen randomly so its not guaranteed to happen when the researcher has scheduled to make an observation. Case studies will not be used as the dissertation is based on the retail industry as a whole, not on specific shops or department stores. Interviews will not be used either as although they lead to a large amount of information being uncovered, they take up quite a lot of time of so the amount of people being interviewed will be limited. A broad selection of peoples opinions need to be taken into consideration therefore, the researcher has chosen to use focus groups and questionnaires in order to obtain both qualitative and quantitative information. As the study is based on the whole retail industry, a wide variety of people who have worked or still work in retail need to be targeted to find out the main causes of employee turnover within the sector. The study will be based on primary research, which will be put into practise to find out peoples viewpoints of the topic. 8.2 Primary Research It will be ideal to use questionnaires to find out information, as it seems to be the most efficient way to use a large sample so a wide amount of information can be collected. Another advantage of using questionnaires is that they are not very time-consuming therefore; more people are likely to respond to them. In addition, they are relatively cheap to produce so the researcher will not need to worry too much about the costs. The questionnaires will be anonymous so people will not feel obliged to answer in a specific manner; hence, they will be able to express their own opinions without feeling obligated. An additional feature of a questionnaire is that people can randomly be asked to fill one out as long as they have had a job in retail. This means that no appointments need to be arranged and that the survey can be conducted at any time or place. However, there are some disadvantages with questionnaires such as the structure of the questionnaire needs to be simple and easy to understand so that people do not get confused. This could ruin the results of the questionnaire as if people misunderstand the questions or the layout they will not answer or complete it properly. If people have literacy problems, it may make it difficult for them to complete the survey accurately. Some people may leave out some of the questions, which could cause a problem when recording the data. This could also lead to the wrong conclusions being drawn to as if people skip questions the results will differ. Consequently, this will need to be taken into consideration when recording the results of the survey. Another possible problem is that the response rate is not guaranteed to be one hundred per cent so some questionnaires maybe wasted. The questionnaire will need to be short and straight to the point, if there are too many long questions it may disc ourage people from completing it as they may feel that it will take up too much of their time. One more problem with questionnaires is that they are limited so people will only be able to give feedback on what they have been asked so a different perspective may be overlooked. With the intention of preventing any issues being overlooked, two focus groups will be instigated before the questionnaires are created. This will be done with the intention to stimulate the topic and look at it from a variety of angles. The focus groups will allow for the upward and downwards approach to be put into use, as the information gathered from the focus groups will then be used to develop the questionnaire. One focus group will be made up of university students whom have worked or still work in retail; therefore, the viewpoint of part-time retail workers whom have other commitments can be established. The other focus group will consist of full time retail workers so that their perception of the issues raised can be distinguished. These group members may have responsibilities such as children, another job, a mortgage etc that is why the researcher feels it is relevant to use two focus groups. Each focus group will have between four to six group members. The focus group will be started by introducing everybody to each other, followed by a summary of the topic. A Dictaphone will be used to record the discussion so that all the information can be recorded so that nothing is left out. The following questions have been prepared to ensure that the discussion is kept on track; Q1) Where does everybody work? / Where has everybody worked? Q2) How long have you all been at these jobs? Q3) Do/did you enjoy it? Q4) What do you like best about it? Q5) What do you hate about it? Q6) Do you feel that your organisation seems to constantly be recruiting new people? Q7) Do you feel that this affects you? i.e. do you have to help train them? Are you often left with a bigger workload? How does this make you feel? Q8) When you have left a job did u receive and exit interview? Q9) Do you think this procedure would help the organisation to find out why they are loosing staffs? Q10) If you were the manager, what would you do to retain staffs? A copy of the minutes of the meeting is available in appendix A. The problems associated with focus groups are that some of the members may feel uncomfortable, as they do not know each other so they may keep their opinions to themselves. However, the researcher will introduce all the members to each other and start the conversation off in a relaxed way to help everyone feel more at ease. Another problem is that it may be difficult to get all the members together at the same time as some people maybe working or have other responsibilities like studying or children. 8.3 Pilot Study When the focus groups have been carried out, the information will be used as the foundation for the first draft questionnaire. This will then be tested in order to get feedback on it for improvements. This process will continue until all feedback has been taken into account and all the necessary changes have been made. When this is all completed, the questionnaire will go through a pilot study of about ten people to ensure that all the questions run smoothly and are not misunderstood. The final version of the questionnaire is available in appendix B. 8.4 The Survey After the required changes if any have been edited, the survey will be carried out at Charing Cross train station on a sample of one hundred people whom work or have worked in retail as a sales assistant. The people completing the survey must meet the specific criteria, which are that everybody who takes part must work or have worked in retail. The location was chosen as it is very busy and it should be easy to find a variety of people that meet the criteria that could spare five to ten minutes to fill out the questionnaire while waiting for their train. 8.5 Analysis of Data Once the survey has been carried out, the data gathered would be entered into an Excel spreadsheet where the data will be put together to analyse it and to find out what are the main reasons for employee turnover within the industry and what can be done by employers to reduce the amount of employee wastage. The data will then be evaluated in order to identify if there are any trends or relationships that can be established. This information will then be examined to find out what the industrys employees require so that employee turnover can be reduced. 8.6 Limitations It was too difficult to get a group of full time workers from different retail segments together at the same time to hold the second focus group. Some people refused to be part of it and others who said they would participate were not able to agree to a specific time where they would all be free. Therefore, only one focus group of university students could be conducted. The survey will be carried out on one hundred people whom have worked in the retail industry. In addition, the survey will be based in central London, if the survey was carried out around the whole of England, the results could differ. 8.7 Secondary research The dissertation focuses on primary research carried out by the researcher however, secondary data in the form of academic books, reports, articles and CIPD studies have been used to look at the existing trends in the labour market. Information has been gathered from various human resource textbooks to look at employees behaviours more closely and to define what factors motivate individuals within the working environment. The Internet was used to find out reliable facts and statistics about the retail industry in order to examine it closer and determine what has already been established so the researcher could identify if these trends were also shown in their research. 9. Analysis and Findings 9.1 Introduction From the information found out through the focus group, the researcher decided to use open-ended questions in the questionnaire as a means to find out what people really thought. Peoples opinions have then been categorised so that relationships can be identified more easily. One hundred questionnaires were handed out and fifty-four were handed back fully completed thus the response rate for the survey is 54%. 9.2 Demographics The results from the survey show that out of the fifty-four respondents, only 22% were male. In 2003, the retail workforce was made up of 63% females and only 37% males. (Learning and skills, research report, 2004:8) According to the survey, just over a third of the industry was made up of men meaning that women dominated the workforce. These results are not biased, as the researchers sample resembles the trends in the industry, as just over three-quarters of the sample are female. Therefore, although the gender is not evenly split, it will not affect the findings of the survey. The results of the survey also showed that the majority (fifty per cent) of the sample fell between the twenty-one to thirty age-range. However, the sample did consist of a variety of ages as shown in the graph below: This graph clearly shows that women dominate the sample and that no men over the age of forty-one took part in the survey. In fact, only seven per cent of the sample are over the age of forty-one. The under twenty category is the only age range which shows there is an even gender split; nine per cent are male and eleven per cent are female. Overall, the survey was completed by respondents with a variety of ages to ensure that different generations of workers could give their viewpoints on employee turnover within the sector. The majority of participants have no children under the age of fourteen: only seventeen per cent have children; forty-four per cent are male and fifty-six per cent are female. Out of these candidates, fifty-six per cent are married, twenty-two per cent are single and twenty-two per cent are divorced. Forty-four per cent have left the industry due to having children while twenty-two per cent are working full time and thirty-four per cent are working part-time. The thirty-four per cent that are working part-time consist of the individual that are single or divorced. These candidates have to work part-time as they are single parents and they have their children to care for. 9.3 The length of time people have worked in the industry and the amount of different retail jobs they have experienced Almost a third of the participants have worked in retail for between three to five years and only four per cent of participants have worked in the industry for ten years or more. This is a very small amount considering that the most amounts of jobs undertaken in retail by a participant were twelve. This was by only one person who worked in the industry for between five to seven years. Seventy-six per cent of respondents have had between one to four retail jobs which seems to be fairly high considering the fact that over a quarter have worked in retail for a year or less. Out of the whole sample of respondents, only eighteen per cent are still in the retail industry, which means that just over two thirds of the sample have actually left the sector and changed careers. 9.4 The reasons for employee turnover Seven per cent of the survey is still in their first retail job, of which, eighty-five per cent have only been in the first job for one year or less. These candidates are all under twenty, therefore the reason they may still be in their first retail job is that they are so young and are just coming to terms with working life. The research has shown that older candidates are likely to have had more jobs in retail as High Employee Turnover in the Retail Industry High Employee Turnover in the Retail Industry Executive Summary This dissertation has been written to determine why the employee turnover in the retail industry is so high. The reason for this is that managers are not following the basic human resource principles such as offering employees competitive wages, opportunities of promotion or challenging work in order to keep employees motivated. As individuals are not motivated at work, they look elsewhere for better paid jobs where they can develop themselves further so they can progress with their careers. The researcher has also recognised that employees want flexibility at work. This is due to many of the participants of the survey having personal priorities that are more important to them such as children or studying while working. There are clear recommendations for employers stating what can be done with the intention of reducing the employee turnover rate. The most vital are that managers find out specifically why employees are leaving, this can be done by using exit interviews. Once this is determined, they will be able to pinpoint the causes for employees leaving them so that they can then make the necessary changes to keep staff attracted to the job. The study has also shown that it is of vast importance for employers to offer more flexibility in the workplace in order to be able to cater for the employees requirements. The estimated basic turnover cost for a retail assistant is  £1,425 per individual. (Taylor, S 2002:47) This total only includes the expenses of the employee leaving i.e. the paper work and the recruitment process to replace the individual. The total does not account for overtime being paid out to the individuals colleagues or temporary staffs who may be hired to fill the vacancy on a short-term basis. The employee turnover rate for people working in retail is considerably high at 31.3%; retail has the highest employee turnover rate throughout all sectors. (CBI Labour and Absence Survey 2004) The researcher has been working in sales for almost four years now and it is of great interest to the individual as to why staff turnover is so high and what can be done to prevent it and how the company can benefit from retaining staffs. To the researcher, it seems more practical to retain staffs rather then recruit new employees. If employers invested money into staffs, they may find that this will save a lot of money in recruiting and training new staffs. Aims The aims of the dissertation are to: Identify the cause of high employee turnover rates within the retail sector Find out what employees in this sector want from an organisation Establish what can be done by employers to retain people in this particular segment of the labour market. Rationale This dissertation seeks to inform businesses of how high employee turnover can be costly and time consuming which is why the well-known idiom can be used to express the basis of the dissertation: â€Å"prevention is better then cure.† In the business context, this relates to investing more in staff in order to retain them rather then recruiting, selecting and training new staff. High staff turnovers can influence a businesses performance as it is the employees who are in direct contact with the customers and if they are not satisfied with their jobs, they will not be providing the best service possible to the customers. Limitation: This dissertation is concerned with the retail sector as motivation and retention methods vary in different environments. The proposal does not focus on a particular company but on the retail segment as a whole in order to establish the factors, which account for retention within the sector. The study will be based in London; and will focus on individuals who have had experience of working within the retail sector. Literature Review 7.1 Definition of Employee Turnover When employees leave an organisation, several factors need to be considered which all lead to expenses on behalf of the organisation. The organisation will need somebody to cover the workload of the employee that has left the company and the process of recruiting will need to take place in order to fill the vacancy. The higher the employee turnover rate is of a business, the higher the costs will be to replace these workers which is why it is so important for businesses to calculate. To evaluate the labour turnover, the following calculation can be used: (CIPD 2004) â€Å"Crude Wastage Method† ___Number of leavers in a set period_____ x100 Average number employed in the same period Once labour turnover rates have been identified, it will then be possible for the organisation to recognise the extent that staff turnover can affect them by. Reducing labour turnover will mean that less people are leaving the organisation therefore; there will be less wastage of employees so that money can be saved, as less people will need to be recruited. However, not all organisations calculate the cost of employee wastage. In fact, over 50% of organisations believe that this information is not relevant and 31% believe that it takes up too much time and is not worth the effort. (Recruitment, retention and turnover Survey, CIPD, 2004:33) If organisations do not calculate the employee turnover rate, it will be difficult for them to distinguish its affect and recognise the benefits of reducing it. 7.2 The Effect of Employee Turnover on Staff When an individual leaves a job, either a temporary replacement is hired or the workload is split between the individuals colleagues until a suitable replacement is found. Hiring temporary staff can be expensive while at the same time, giving the individuals colleagues, an increased workload will cause them further stress. If this was to happen consistently, it could be another cause for people leaving the organisation. The graph shows how employee turnover can have a knock on effect because of the impact it has on staffs. (Employee retention report, Reed, 2003:4) The employer must ensure that people are replaced as soon as possible to prevent other staffs from being put under additional stress and pressure. However, if employers tried harder to retain staffs then they would have to put less time and resources into replacing the workforce. 7.3 The Effect of Employee Turnover on the Organisation The impact of employees leaving organisations is that it leads to expenses. Replacing staffs takes up time and money, which are both valuable resources that should be saved wherever possible in order to achieve a more efficiently operated business. When a position is vacant, the amount of paid overtime can rise up to 25%, which accounts for the usual workload that is to be completed by less staffs. (Employee retention report, Reed, 2003:4) The graph shows the adverse affects that happen because of employee turnover. Reducing employee turnover will decrease expenses as the company will not have to spend as much money to hire temporary staffs, recruit new staffs or pay so for so much overtime. 7.4 The Importance of Retention from the Recruitment Stage It is important in an organisation to recruit the right person with the right skills and qualifications for the job. â€Å"People who represent the best ‘match in terms of their personality attributes, skills and experience are those who are likely to perform best in the job against a range of criteria. They are also the people who are most likely to remain employed for some time and the least likely to take the first available opportunity to leave.† (Taylor, S 2002:171) This is essential as recruiting a person whom is inadequate to do the job would be pointless as they would not be able to complete the tasks of the job to meet the expectations of the company. Therefore, recruiting a person who is not right for the job would be a waste of time and money as the right person for the job will still need to be found for the long-term. 7.5 The Importance of Inductions Once a suitable candidate is found and hired, they will require preliminary training, which is known as an induction. This is where the employee is introduced to the company, its culture and procedures. This will help to familiarise the employee with the company and the job requirements. As a result, the employees will learn the various procedures of how the company wants to operate. Inductions are used to welcome the new employee into the organisation and ensure that they feel comfortable in performing their job role successfully. â€Å"Labour turnover is frequently highest amongst those who have recently joined an organisation. The term ‘induction crisis is used to describe the critical period when new starters are most likely to leave. A well planned induction course can help to decrease labour turnover by ensuring that new starters settle quickly in their jobs and reach an efficient standard of performance as soon as possible.† (Kenney, J and Reid, M 1990:241) The induction is a very significant part of training as if it is not carried out it can lead to the new employee feeling pressured and may lead to feeling that the job difficult to undertake. Poor or even no induction training can be the result of an employee leaving the company within the first few days or weeks of the start date. 7.6 Affects of a Quality Induction Programme Clarks is a well-established shoemaker company that has developed a valuable induction programme to ensure that its store employees are capable of achieving the companys targets. Just over 40% of the companys retail staff has already taken part in the training scheme called Shine. The programme is significantly recognised as it won a UK National Training Award. The scheme is part of a strategic plan to improve performance, productivity and employee retention. New starters receive Shine on the first day off work as on-the-job training. The new trainees are given a workbook which is similar to an employee handbook as it covers safety, the job, pay, hours, rules, selling steps, finding stock and equipment knowledge of products, shoe-care, deliveries, credit cards, cheques and refunds. The programme encourages teamwork and helps the new employees to bond together. It is clear that Clarks has recognised the importance in induction training in order to retain employees which is why the com pany has devised such a satisfactory training scheme. (â€Å"Shoe shop staffs shine! In training† 2004:91) 7.7 Retention Plan In order to retain employees, the company must first find out what is causing them to leave. As there can be a wide variety of reasons for people leaving a company, the plan is broken down into key factors: Pay and benefits: the company must be able to offer a competitive rate of pay. This is essential as if an employee can perform the same job and be paid more elsewhere then they will most probably leave the company. The company must be able to keep compete with the pay and benefits offered by rival companies. These benefits can consist of; share options, pension schemes, retention bonuses and flexible benefits Recruitment and selection: when recruiting employees it is crucial to ensure that the employees skills and abilities match what is required of the post in the company. If this is not done then the employee will have problems in carrying out the job role successfully. It is also vital to produce a truthful image of the job as if it is made to sound more glamorous or exciting then it actually is, the employees expectations will not be met therefore they will not be fulfilled in the new job thus causing them to look for a better job elsewhere. Training and development: a good induction process is imperative. Employees also need to have the chance to progress through promotion so that they will not feel like they have to be trapped in the same job. Job design: the work may be too boring or undemanding therefore the position may need redesigning or a new approach such as teamwork. This makes it easier for job-share therefore employees will be able to work when it suits them better as the job will be flexible. Management: ensure that managers and supervisors have the skills and ability to manage effectively and fairly. (Bevan, S. 1997) These are the key features, which the organisation has the control to change. The company has no control over circumstances such as people wanting to move to a different location or ill health therefore these factors cannot be influenced in order to retain employees. Motivation With the intention of retaining employees, keeping individuals motivated is another way to prevent them from leaving the organisation and to ensure that the employer is getting the best from each individual. â€Å"Boredom and frustration at work is often the result of an employees lack of involvement with the companys goals and feelings that their ideas are not wanted or listened to. Companies that involve their employees in achieving company goals are able to motivate employees.† (Chapman, M 1997) For individuals to fulfil their full potential this must be motivated thus The harder an employee works, the more / bigger reward(s) they should gain which will keep them motivated to continue working hard. Motivated staffs lead to a more productive workplace therefore; it will be more profitable. (Maslows Hierarchy 1954) states that people first needed to fulfil there basic needs before they can progress to achieve self-actualisation. This is best shown in a pyramid, each person first starts from the bottom and through work, the individual fulfil each stage and works his or her way up. (Maslows Hierarchy of Needs 1954) Physiological needs: food, water, air, rest Safety needs: security, job security Social needs: affection, love and friendship Esteem: recognition, achievement and status Self-actualisation: personal growth and self-fulfilment. The hierarchy of needs shows that: Employees need money to pay for necessities such as food, rent etc. This is the basis of satisfaction Employees need to know that their job is safe so that they do not have to worry about looking for a new job. It is best to work in teams to encourage socialising between employees as individuals can learn from one another and share knowledge. Employees will be motivated to work harder if they know there is a possibility of promotion. This is the hardest to achieve, as most people want to be the boss. This will take a lot of time and very hard work to achieve. Maslows theory explains how individuals have needs and by employers meeting these needs, they are able to motivate them to keep on progressing. It is vital for the needs of individuals to be met as if they are not it will lead to individuals feeling unfulfilled thus leading them to look elsewhere for another job. (Herzbergs Two Factor Theory 1968) This consists of satisfiers and hygiene factors. A satisfier is what motivates an employee, e.g. achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, personal growth and the actual work itself. Hygiene factors are elements that do not motivate people e.g. pay and conditions, status in the organisation, job security and benefits. The theory expresses that employees will be motivated by good wages, promotion and other benefits etc. Employees are not motivated by poor wages, poor working conditions, no job security etc. Ultimately, employers need to offer staff satisfiers to motivate them to work hard. As long as individuals are happy and fulfilled in their jobs and feel that they are progressing, they will continue to work hard and stay within the organisation. 7.9 How to find out why Employees are Leaving The organisation needs to find out why its staffs are leaving so they can then devise a plan to try to prevent this from reoccurring in the future. The methods of finding out why employees are leaving can consist of: Exit interviews: these interviews are normally held soon after the employee has resigned. The interviewer can take the opportunity to find out why the employee is leaving, the conditions under which they would have stayed and improvements the company can make in the future. Leaver questionnaires: these are either completed during the interview or sent to people once they have left the company and normally consist of closed questions to make it easier to analyse. (Leavers questionnaire are also known as Attitude Surveys) â€Å"The exit interview is an increasingly common procedure when an employee leaves an organisation. Ostensibly these are conducted to gain information about the reasons for the employees departure, information which can then be used to improve human resource management.† (Furnham, A 2001) Once the reasons for employees leaving has been established, they can be put into separate categories so the organisation can see what the most popular reasons are for people leaving. They can then go on to make relevant changes in order to help retain workers. 7.10 Conclusion of literature Overall, it seems that in order for the retail industry to grow, organisations must improve their retention methods to ensure they have enough employees to cope with the increase in productivity. It is the sales assistants that have the majority of contact with customers which is why it is so vital to ensure that they receive sufficient training in order to serve customers effectively and efficiently while at the same time providing a service to encourage them to come back. A key way to reduce employee turnover is to keep staffs motivated, so the industry will be investigated to find out how this is done and how successful current methods are. The employee turnover rate is so high within the industry so there must be something that is going wrong to cause such a high turnover rate. Exit interviews seem to be the most crucial method of finding out why people are leaving the industry. It is vital to find out why people are leaving so that action can be taken to prevent staffs to from leaving for the same reasons in the future. Therefore, it will be important to find out if retail organisations carry out exit interviews; and if they do not, then why not? 8. Methodology 8.1 Introduction There are varieties of methods that can be put into practice to assist the researcher to seek out relevant information in order to find out the answer to the research question. Examples of such methods are; observations, case studies, interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. If would be difficult to make observations to find out why people are leaving their retail jobs as people resigning can happen randomly so its not guaranteed to happen when the researcher has scheduled to make an observation. Case studies will not be used as the dissertation is based on the retail industry as a whole, not on specific shops or department stores. Interviews will not be used either as although they lead to a large amount of information being uncovered, they take up quite a lot of time of so the amount of people being interviewed will be limited. A broad selection of peoples opinions need to be taken into consideration therefore, the researcher has chosen to use focus groups and questionnaires in order to obtain both qualitative and quantitative information. As the study is based on the whole retail industry, a wide variety of people who have worked or still work in retail need to be targeted to find out the main causes of employee turnover within the sector. The study will be based on primary research, which will be put into practise to find out peoples viewpoints of the topic. 8.2 Primary Research It will be ideal to use questionnaires to find out information, as it seems to be the most efficient way to use a large sample so a wide amount of information can be collected. Another advantage of using questionnaires is that they are not very time-consuming therefore; more people are likely to respond to them. In addition, they are relatively cheap to produce so the researcher will not need to worry too much about the costs. The questionnaires will be anonymous so people will not feel obliged to answer in a specific manner; hence, they will be able to express their own opinions without feeling obligated. An additional feature of a questionnaire is that people can randomly be asked to fill one out as long as they have had a job in retail. This means that no appointments need to be arranged and that the survey can be conducted at any time or place. However, there are some disadvantages with questionnaires such as the structure of the questionnaire needs to be simple and easy to understand so that people do not get confused. This could ruin the results of the questionnaire as if people misunderstand the questions or the layout they will not answer or complete it properly. If people have literacy problems, it may make it difficult for them to complete the survey accurately. Some people may leave out some of the questions, which could cause a problem when recording the data. This could also lead to the wrong conclusions being drawn to as if people skip questions the results will differ. Consequently, this will need to be taken into consideration when recording the results of the survey. Another possible problem is that the response rate is not guaranteed to be one hundred per cent so some questionnaires maybe wasted. The questionnaire will need to be short and straight to the point, if there are too many long questions it may disc ourage people from completing it as they may feel that it will take up too much of their time. One more problem with questionnaires is that they are limited so people will only be able to give feedback on what they have been asked so a different perspective may be overlooked. With the intention of preventing any issues being overlooked, two focus groups will be instigated before the questionnaires are created. This will be done with the intention to stimulate the topic and look at it from a variety of angles. The focus groups will allow for the upward and downwards approach to be put into use, as the information gathered from the focus groups will then be used to develop the questionnaire. One focus group will be made up of university students whom have worked or still work in retail; therefore, the viewpoint of part-time retail workers whom have other commitments can be established. The other focus group will consist of full time retail workers so that their perception of the issues raised can be distinguished. These group members may have responsibilities such as children, another job, a mortgage etc that is why the researcher feels it is relevant to use two focus groups. Each focus group will have between four to six group members. The focus group will be started by introducing everybody to each other, followed by a summary of the topic. A Dictaphone will be used to record the discussion so that all the information can be recorded so that nothing is left out. The following questions have been prepared to ensure that the discussion is kept on track; Q1) Where does everybody work? / Where has everybody worked? Q2) How long have you all been at these jobs? Q3) Do/did you enjoy it? Q4) What do you like best about it? Q5) What do you hate about it? Q6) Do you feel that your organisation seems to constantly be recruiting new people? Q7) Do you feel that this affects you? i.e. do you have to help train them? Are you often left with a bigger workload? How does this make you feel? Q8) When you have left a job did u receive and exit interview? Q9) Do you think this procedure would help the organisation to find out why they are loosing staffs? Q10) If you were the manager, what would you do to retain staffs? A copy of the minutes of the meeting is available in appendix A. The problems associated with focus groups are that some of the members may feel uncomfortable, as they do not know each other so they may keep their opinions to themselves. However, the researcher will introduce all the members to each other and start the conversation off in a relaxed way to help everyone feel more at ease. Another problem is that it may be difficult to get all the members together at the same time as some people maybe working or have other responsibilities like studying or children. 8.3 Pilot Study When the focus groups have been carried out, the information will be used as the foundation for the first draft questionnaire. This will then be tested in order to get feedback on it for improvements. This process will continue until all feedback has been taken into account and all the necessary changes have been made. When this is all completed, the questionnaire will go through a pilot study of about ten people to ensure that all the questions run smoothly and are not misunderstood. The final version of the questionnaire is available in appendix B. 8.4 The Survey After the required changes if any have been edited, the survey will be carried out at Charing Cross train station on a sample of one hundred people whom work or have worked in retail as a sales assistant. The people completing the survey must meet the specific criteria, which are that everybody who takes part must work or have worked in retail. The location was chosen as it is very busy and it should be easy to find a variety of people that meet the criteria that could spare five to ten minutes to fill out the questionnaire while waiting for their train. 8.5 Analysis of Data Once the survey has been carried out, the data gathered would be entered into an Excel spreadsheet where the data will be put together to analyse it and to find out what are the main reasons for employee turnover within the industry and what can be done by employers to reduce the amount of employee wastage. The data will then be evaluated in order to identify if there are any trends or relationships that can be established. This information will then be examined to find out what the industrys employees require so that employee turnover can be reduced. 8.6 Limitations It was too difficult to get a group of full time workers from different retail segments together at the same time to hold the second focus group. Some people refused to be part of it and others who said they would participate were not able to agree to a specific time where they would all be free. Therefore, only one focus group of university students could be conducted. The survey will be carried out on one hundred people whom have worked in the retail industry. In addition, the survey will be based in central London, if the survey was carried out around the whole of England, the results could differ. 8.7 Secondary research The dissertation focuses on primary research carried out by the researcher however, secondary data in the form of academic books, reports, articles and CIPD studies have been used to look at the existing trends in the labour market. Information has been gathered from various human resource textbooks to look at employees behaviours more closely and to define what factors motivate individuals within the working environment. The Internet was used to find out reliable facts and statistics about the retail industry in order to examine it closer and determine what has already been established so the researcher could identify if these trends were also shown in their research. 9. Analysis and Findings 9.1 Introduction From the information found out through the focus group, the researcher decided to use open-ended questions in the questionnaire as a means to find out what people really thought. Peoples opinions have then been categorised so that relationships can be identified more easily. One hundred questionnaires were handed out and fifty-four were handed back fully completed thus the response rate for the survey is 54%. 9.2 Demographics The results from the survey show that out of the fifty-four respondents, only 22% were male. In 2003, the retail workforce was made up of 63% females and only 37% males. (Learning and skills, research report, 2004:8) According to the survey, just over a third of the industry was made up of men meaning that women dominated the workforce. These results are not biased, as the researchers sample resembles the trends in the industry, as just over three-quarters of the sample are female. Therefore, although the gender is not evenly split, it will not affect the findings of the survey. The results of the survey also showed that the majority (fifty per cent) of the sample fell between the twenty-one to thirty age-range. However, the sample did consist of a variety of ages as shown in the graph below: This graph clearly shows that women dominate the sample and that no men over the age of forty-one took part in the survey. In fact, only seven per cent of the sample are over the age of forty-one. The under twenty category is the only age range which shows there is an even gender split; nine per cent are male and eleven per cent are female. Overall, the survey was completed by respondents with a variety of ages to ensure that different generations of workers could give their viewpoints on employee turnover within the sector. The majority of participants have no children under the age of fourteen: only seventeen per cent have children; forty-four per cent are male and fifty-six per cent are female. Out of these candidates, fifty-six per cent are married, twenty-two per cent are single and twenty-two per cent are divorced. Forty-four per cent have left the industry due to having children while twenty-two per cent are working full time and thirty-four per cent are working part-time. The thirty-four per cent that are working part-time consist of the individual that are single or divorced. These candidates have to work part-time as they are single parents and they have their children to care for. 9.3 The length of time people have worked in the industry and the amount of different retail jobs they have experienced Almost a third of the participants have worked in retail for between three to five years and only four per cent of participants have worked in the industry for ten years or more. This is a very small amount considering that the most amounts of jobs undertaken in retail by a participant were twelve. This was by only one person who worked in the industry for between five to seven years. Seventy-six per cent of respondents have had between one to four retail jobs which seems to be fairly high considering the fact that over a quarter have worked in retail for a year or less. Out of the whole sample of respondents, only eighteen per cent are still in the retail industry, which means that just over two thirds of the sample have actually left the sector and changed careers. 9.4 The reasons for employee turnover Seven per cent of the survey is still in their first retail job, of which, eighty-five per cent have only been in the first job for one year or less. These candidates are all under twenty, therefore the reason they may still be in their first retail job is that they are so young and are just coming to terms with working life. The research has shown that older candidates are likely to have had more jobs in retail as