Organizational Culture And Its Functions - 863 Words

INTRODUCTION Organizational culture involves systems of beliefs and values that guide the behavior of individuals within the organization and how they shape behavior (Kummerow, 2013). Organizational structures, on the other hand, dictate the assignment, coordination and control of roles and responsibilities to achieve organizational goals (Pathak 2011). For a company to perform effectively it needs to grow, organizational development is one element of growth that focuses on practice an research focused in expanding effectiveness and the knowledge of individuals. In order to grow, a firm needs to transfer, create ad retain knowledge within its staff members and people affiliated to it through organizational. The aim of this paper is to analyze the concepts of organizational, culture, structure, development, and learning and evaluate how this concept relates to Jaguar Company. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND ITS FUNCTIONS According to Kummerow and Kirby (2013), organizational culture is patterns of shared values, beliefs and assumptions developed by an organization as it looks for ways to cope with issues of internal integration and external adaptation. Consequently, it will govern how individual behave within the organization and the culture is tough to any new member of the organization so that they know the correct way to think, feel and perceive issues within the organization. Culture is an important part of any company, it provides and controls the way staff members behave inShow MoreRelatedOrganizational Culture : An Organization Function1188 Words   |  5 PagesOrganizational Culture The organizational culture is essentially the personality of the company. Each workplace has a unique atmosphere because of the different types of people that work there. These people bring their experiences into the office and through interaction, create a culture within the company. It is important to recognize the organizational culture just like it is important to recognize a country’s culture; it makes business interactions go smoother when you are informed about theRead MoreGoogle s Organizational Structure And Organizational Culture1564 Words   |  7 PagesOrganization Structure Organizational structure is the framework around the different groups which is organized. It is like a manual that tells your organization and the customers how the organization operates and what is obtained in order to keep the business moving towards success. Structure gives the customers a clear guideline on how to proceed and binds them together. It is important to deal with structure when the organization is developing and think about the flow at the beginning whenRead MoreThe Importance Of A Vision Mission And Vision Statement1036 Words   |  5 Pagesof organizations are very important on developing a desirable environment. In developing organizations, it often times requires quality details on creating a format feasible to the organizational needs. The qualities of a vision, mission, goals, objectives, and strategies must align with concepts of the organizational desire. In developing a mission and vision statement, they become paramount to the success within organizations. JEnelle Evans describes 3 key points with a quality mission and visionRead MoreHuman Resource Management : Hr Professionals1528 Words   |  7 Pages(HR) roles can be integrated into the new position by the HR function in companies. Human Resource Management (HRM) can be defined as â€Å"a strategic, integrated and coherent approach to the employment, development and well-being of the people working in organizations† (Armstrong, 2014, p.5). HR professionals’ works are regarded as employee training, recruitment, personnel administrative, reward management, service delivery, and organizational performance. It is typically believed that HR practitionersRead MoreProject Essay699 Words   |  3 PagesProject Oxygen using the functions approach, Mintzbergs roles approach, and the skills approach. I feel the function approach is one of the methods used in classification of activities that occur in marketing processes by breaking down the processes into functions. A marketing function is defined as a major specialized activity performed in accomplishing the marketing process, buying function, transportation function, processing function, storage function and selling function. Mintzberg approach containsRead MoreOrganizational Behavior ( Ob ) Studies The Influence That Individuals, Groups, And Organizational Structure1486 Words   |  6 PagesOrganizational behavior (OB) studies the influence that individuals, groups, and organizational structure have on behavior within organizations. More succinctly, it is the study of how people interact in organizations. This paper will briefly review the following five topics that are included in the organizational behavior study process: 1. Managerial Functions 2. Corporate Culture 3. Organizational Culture 4. Strategic Planning 5. Tactical Planning â€Æ' Managerial Functions Management is theRead MoreThe Collective Behavior within an Organization624 Words   |  3 PagesOrganizational culture is a way to describe the collective behavior within an organization, the values, norms, language, symbols, status, and beliefs and habits. We can also view organizational behavior as the collection of behaviors within an organization that cause those members to perceive their organization and others. In fact, organizational culture affects the way individuals and groups interact with each other, clients, stakeholders and the public. Because people are so individualistic, itRead MoreOrganizational Culture : Organisational Culture Essay729 Words   |  3 PagesOrganizational Culture Defined In accordance with the Business Dictionary, organizational culture (similarly entitled Corporate Culture) is the standards and conducts which subsidize to the distinctive communal and the psychosomatic atmosphere of an establishment. Organizational culture incorporates an establishment s expectancies, knowledges, perspective, and principles which sustain it, collectively, and is articulated in its individual-representation, internal workings, collaborations with theRead MoreOrganizational Culture and Structure965 Words   |  4 PagesORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE STRUCTURE Outline Prepared By: Marnela Kathleen V. Pasamba, RN MSN I I. Organizational Culture A. Definitions 1. Gareth Morgan: set of beliefs, values and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and personalities, that represents the unique character of the organization and provides the context for action in it and by it. 2. Edgar Schein: a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group has learned as it solved its problems that has worked wellRead MoreLeadership Theory And Organizational Culture1361 Words   |  6 Pagesmotivation. Organizational culture is exists in all organizations and influences the work environment. Researchers have studied leadership and organizational culture individually; however there have been less focus on gaining an understanding of the relationship leadership and organizational culture. In this paper, I will explore various leadership theories and relationship with organization culture. I will also reflect on the type of leadership style that promotes a positive organizational culture.

The Casket Of Amontillado . Edgar Allan Poe’S “The Cask

The Casket of Amontillado Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† is a short story illustrating how pride leads to the downfall of two men. At the story’s heart is the tale of Montresor, the protagonist, getting revenge on a former friend, Fortunato. Poe’s characterization of Montresor shows a sinister, proud man, obsessed not only with his revenge but also not getting punished himself. â€Å"It must be a perfect revenge, one in which Fortunato will know fully what is happening to him and in which Montresor will be forever undetected† (Morsberger 334). Poe’s portrayal of Montresor and his revenge depends mainly on his use of three artistic tools: a first-person narrative, dramatic irony, and symbolism. A brief examination of these three†¦show more content†¦At the carnival, when Montresor meets Fortunato and tells him about the amontillado, he states, â€Å"As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi,† referring to Fortunato being inebriated. Fortunato insists that, â€Å"Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry† (Poe 361). â€Å"Knowing his victim’s vanity, Montresor baits him by saying that some fools argue that Luchresi’s taste is as fine as Fortunato’s† (Morsberger 334). The use of the first-person narrative lets Poe change how readers view the characters. By telling the story through Montresor’s point of view, readers never get the chance to hear Fortunato’s side of the story, meaning one never discovers if Fortunato truly wronged Montresor. This prevents the reader from having sympathy for either character. Charles May says, â€Å"The reader has no way of knowing what these ‘thousand injuries’ and the mysterious insult are and thus can make no judgement about whether Montresor’s revenge is justifiable† (qtd. in Baraban para. 6). Third, and perhaps most importantly, the first-person point of view lets the rea der know ahead of time about Montresor’s plan for revenge, setting up the use of irony in the story. A second tool Poe used in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† is dramatic irony. Poe used irony multiple times in this story, largely due to using the first-person narrator. A â€Å"major plot dynamic of Poe’s great story† is â€Å"Montresor’s menacing irony, andShow MoreRelatedFor the Love of God, Poe! Essay1359 Words   |  6 PagesIt is not at all surprising that so many of Edgar Allan Poe’s works explore such themes as death, eyes, the power of the dead over the power of the living, retribution, the human conscience, and especially death and murder. From his disturbingly morbid short story â€Å"The Telltale Heart† to the mysteriously supernatural poem â€Å"The Raven†, Poe’s tales are a direct byproduct of the mayhem experienced in his life, as well as his (arguably) psychologically-tormented mind. Though all of this au thor’s piecesRead MoreEssay about Foreshadowing Fate in Cask Of Amontillado1508 Words   |  7 PagesForeshadowing the Fate in The Cask of Amontillado In Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe presents a murderous tale of revenge revealed as the confession of a man who murdered another man over fifty years ago because of an insult. During a carnival festival, the murderer led his companion to the catacombs where he buried the man alive. The charter of Montresor lures his victim, Fortunato with the promise of a fine sherry, amontillado. As Poe’s character of Montresor guides the wine connoisseurRead MoreCask of Amontillado1545 Words   |  7 PagesForeshadowing the Fate in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† In â€Å"Cask of Amontillado,† Edgar Allan Poe presents a murderous tale of revenge revealed as the confession of a man who murdered another man over fifty years ago because of an â€Å"insult.† During a carnival festival, the murderer led his companion to the catacombs where he buried the man alive. The charter of Montresor lures his victim, Fortunato with the promise of a fine sherry, amontillado. As Poe’s character of Montresor guides the wine connoisseurRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe1575 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado.† Montresor plots and kills an unwary friend/foe during carnival time for motives that are unclear. The author of this tale, Edgar Allan Poe, influenced by his somewhat tragic life and one of the most influential Gothic writers, uses symbolism and irony to show the multitude of complicated motives of the narrator in his famous horror story. Upon examining Edgar Allan Poe’s life, one is not surprised that he chooses to write such gloomy and sinister stories. Poe’s life isRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe Is A Well Known American Author. His Pieces2020 Words   |  9 PagesEdgar Allan Poe is a well known American author. His pieces are remembered by their innovative and ground breaking plots and characters that left readers more disturbed than previous works of literature did. Poe is often called a pioneer when it comes to his stylistic pessimism and darkness. The people and hardships that filled Edgar Allan Poe’s life leave their mark on many of his greatest works such as â€Å"The Oblong Box†, â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†, â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†, and The Narrative of ArthurRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe Was A Master Of The Literary Elements And1092 Words   |  5 PagesEdgar Allan Poe was a master of the literary elements and used them greatly in all of his works. In the story, â€Å" The Cask of Amontillado,† Poe uses these literary devices to really grab the audience and keep them wanting more. This skillful building of suspense is what makes this story so interesting and easy to keep reading. Poe drops small hints throughout the story in order to give the reader a little glimpse of how the story will come to an exciting end. With all of these elements coming togetherRead MoreThe Cask of Amontialldo1026 Words   |  5 PagesNever Have Too Much Pride The insult had been done, and Montresor was out for revenge on Fortunato. Not a soul but Montresor knew what the insult may have been, but this is what makes the short story â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† by Edgar Allan Poe. The story is about a man, Montresor, who receives a wine that Fortunato, the wine expert, is looking for. During a carnival, Montresor persuades Fortunato to take him to his personal wine cellars, located in the catacombs. Fortunato became impaired, MontresorRead MoreExamples of Irony and Symbolism in The Cask of Amontillado1334 Words   |  6 Pagesarm, there is nothing great in breaking an arm. In the short story â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† Montresor who has been so humiliated by Fortunato that the only way Montresor can be satisfied is with revenge. So Montresor decides that Fortunato is going to get the worst punishment ever. Therefore the night of the Carnival Montresor invites Fortunato to this palazzo. He tells him that he needs help with an Amontillado (sherry wine) because he has doubts about it. Montresor decides to tease FortunatoRead MoreGothic Literature : The Dark Side Of Romanticism1518 Words   |  7 PagesGothic literature is the dark side of Romanticism. The theme of Gothic stories is either mysterious, horror, or even death. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe are authors that demonstrate Gothic literature. Some of their work include, â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† written by Edgar Allan Poe and â€Å"The Birthmark† by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Cask of Amontillado tells how the narrator Montresor seeks revenge on his acqu aintance, Fortunato. Montresor to desperate measures and did not catch. However, in â€Å"TheRead MoreSituational Irony The Cask Of Amontillado Essay1034 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† is a unique story in many ways. There are many literary elements present throughout this story. One of these literary elements is irony. Irony can influence the portrayal of a character in a story. Irony can also add intrigue and excitement to the plot of the story. In Edgar Allen Poe’s story, he uses the literary element of irony to add to the plot and influence how the characters are portrayed throughout his story. One of the first examples of irony Poe utilizes in his

Society Is Corrupt And Wisdom And Goodness Free Essays

Immediately the audience learns that despite it being against their fathers will, and despite Orlando being deserving of it, Oliver deprives him of his right to be a gentleman â€Å"mines my gentility with my education† to the extent that even Oliver’s â€Å"horses are bred better. This comparison reveals the brutality of his brother, who lives in an urban-town setting, thus highlighting his greed for power along with the depth Of the anger and new he feels towards Orlando. Shakespeare has entwined three of the deadly sins: greed, anger and envy in his play, primarily in the first act, not only because the deadly sins are conventionally used in dramatic comedy but also because they widely reflect the corruption of society. We will write a custom essay sample on Society Is Corrupt And Wisdom And Goodness or any similar topic only for you Order Now In comedy we often see society’s customs exposed as foolish, and thus corrupt. An example f this is the idea of inheritance. It is made obvious that Orlando is the more deserving brother to gain his father’s inheritance, as even Oliver admits he is â€Å"full of noble devise†. However Oliver, who unintentionally reflects himself as â€Å"an envious emulator of every man’s good parts† when attempting to describe Orlando to Charles, has dangerously inherited power despite this. Society customs effect everybody. This is not problematic if the outcome is beneficial, however if the custom is negative an individual alone is not affected but a society as a whole. When the sibling rivalry between the Dukes lead to the encashment of Duke Senior and the new ruling of Duke Frederick, everyone he now rules over in court suffers from his moody and suspicious nature â€Å"Thou art thy father’s daughter, there’s enough. Those who serve him fear him rather than love him. It is apparent that such customs as ruling and leadership are unfair, as Frederick has not proven fit for such a title as ‘Duke’. The unfairness seen here reflects the corruption of society. The character of Touchstone, regardless of the fact he is a ‘foolâ €™, has ironically been constructed by Shakespeare to outwit the majority of characters and much of is speech can be seen as surprisingly sensible. Many of the audience are accustomed to the ways of society and therefore find difficulty in noticing or identifying issues with it. Touchstone is often used to manipulate the audience into questioning such traits. This is seen when he raises the awareness that â€Å"fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly†, insinuating that although he is a fool- meaning that he is employed to expand his speech to that of a sarcastic and mocking nature- he is also restricted and therefore lacks freedom of speech also, â€Å"Speak no more of him†. Those in the audience deemed unimportant in society would have faced severe punishments for speaking out of turn, like Touchstone who is threatened by Roseland ‘You’ll be whipped for taxation† when he goes too far in offence to her father. The lack of freedom in speech highlights the inequalities between the classes in society, as only those deemed important could speak their mind. Therefore, as it is so unequal and lacks freedom, it can be argued that society is court opt. However, despite his criticisms of society over the duration of the play Touchstone is often seen defending court life, including hen he first enters the Forest of Arden and states â€Å"at home I was in a better place†. This suggests that society may not be as entirely corrupt as first thought, otherwise Touchstone, who has consistently held truth in his words, would find no difficulty in preferring the Forest of Arden. It is also apparent that society is not completely corrupt, otherwise it is unlikely it would be possible for Roseland and Orlando to meet in town yet experience the genuine love they feel towards each other in Act 1 , â€Å"love him†. Love itself if not at all associated with negativity or corruption and as many individuals in society fall in love it would be unfair to say that all aspects of society are corrupt. Nature in ‘As You Like It’ is seen primarily through the location Of the Forest of Arden. Nature is often associated with positivist, including goodness and wisdom â€Å"woods more free from peril†. Shakespearean play has largely conformed to this association. Indirectly, Shakespeare has compared the Forest of Arden to the Garden of Eden. Not only are these two natural, rural locations related through the fact that they share a similar sound, but they are both based on fantasy and mythology, containing creatures and lands of wide, unlikely versatility: from a â€Å"palm-tree† to an â€Å"oak† tree, and a â€Å"deer† to a â€Å"lioness†. In addition to this, both the Forest of Arden and the Garden of Eden hold religious references, such as when Shakespeare entwines ‘the penalty of Adam† in Duke Senior’s first main speech. Shakespeare has used the biblical knowledge of the Elizabethan audience to reflect the goodness of the Forest of Arden knowing that people would associate it with the goodness of the Garden of Eden, and thus goodness is found in nature through these references. A central idea used by Shakespeare in his dramatic comedy ‘As You Like It’ is that of Fays ‘Green World’. Notably, the ‘Green World’ consists of a natural, rural environment where time is forgotten due to the combination of the absence of clocks, and the merging of mythology and reality. Through this, those in the Forest of Arden are theoretically able to enjoy a sense of freedom: the freedom to no longer have to adhere to the expectations of society such as that of status as there is no hierarchy in the forest â€Å"free of public haunt†, the freedom of speech, which in urban society was extremely limited, and the freedom from worry. Due to the absence of surrounding influences such as that of law, the redeem in Arden permits individuals to form opinions for themselves and allows them to expand their capacity of thoughts because there are no longer boundaries or restrictions to this in the forest, and thus wisdom is increased through nature. An example of this can be seen through the character of Duke Senior who has spent a lengthy duration in the forest. This becomes apparent when he states that there is â€Å"goodness in everything’. It is clear that the positive influence of his natural surroundings has enabled him to forget the weight of the heavy negativity in society and he focuses instead on the oddness of the world. It is nature that has inspired him to do this, showing that nature holds much goodness and increases wisdom dramatically. Previously in Act 1 it was suggested that an education is required in order to hold the goodness of a gentleman. Oliver shows signs of confusion about how his brother possesses such a trait despite his poor education â€Å"never schooled†. It is a common expectation that teaching and schooling are required to gain an education. Duke Senior however, offers an alternative interpretation in Act 2 when he makes it clear that the Forest of Arden revised a spiritual education and emphasizes that people do not need the formality of urban schooling to be ‘good’: â€Å"books in the running brooks† People such as Oliver and Duke Frederick, who have both been educated in urban society and yet been made by Shakespeare to be the villains of the play show that education does not necessarily increase the ‘goodness’ of an individual. Characters introduced in Arden such as the shepherds however, who have not been formally educated and yet are extremely good natured, emphasize the goodness of rural society and nature. The good nature of the shepherds s seen first when Silvia expresses his love towards Phoebe â€Å"love so heartily† and remains kind despite the fact the love is unrequited. This is seen secondly when Coring wishes â€Å"peace† to the newcomers â€Å"to you, gentle sir, and to you all. † This suggests that perhaps Shakespeare, bred in a semi-rural environment, may be indicating this as a personal belief. Imperfections in nature are highlighted when Duke Senior speaks of the death of the deer which â€Å"from the hunters aim had eaten a hurt†, and the negative â€Å"icy fang’ of winter, which connotes that nature is not entirely good. Also despite being in Arden, a timeless place with no hierarchy, Touchstone brings both of these elements into the forest when Jacques speaks of his conversation with him â€Å"It is ten o’clock† and when he informs the shepherds that he and his company are their â€Å"betters†. Overall I believe that Shakespeare does wish to portray nature with a larger amount of wisdom and goodness and less corruption then society. He does this by using various techniques including structure, language and character influences. He deliberately focuses Act 1 entirely on town life in socio and Act 2 primarily on the rural, natural setting of the Forest of Arden. How to cite Society Is Corrupt And Wisdom And Goodness, Papers

Lincoln Savings and Loans Essay Sample free essay sample

The high audit fee is a direct fiscal involvement that can do prejudice. The larger the sum of audit fees paid by the audit client company to the audit house. the more likeliness that it will impair. The hearer may hold to compromise their independency in many ways to guarantee that they maintain that peculiar client. since that client provides them with comparatively larger gross. To turn to this. the regulators should enforce a new demand that the entire fee from one individual client should non transcend a certain per centum ( lt ; 15 % ) of the entire turnover of the audit house. The ordinance could diminish fiscal dependence and self-interest menace to independence. 4. Control environment besides called â€Å"internal control environment. It is a term of fiscal audit. internal audit and Enterprise Risk Management. It means the overall attitude consciousness and actions of managers and direction sing the internal control system and its importance to the entity. Control environment is the first of the 5 constituents of the COSO model for the direction of internal control. The control environment sets the tone of an organisation. act uponing the control consciousness of its people. It is the foundation for all other constituents of internal control. supplying subject and construction. Failing: 1. Rather than admit to company’s insolvency. Charles Keating and the direction squad invented originative accounting schemes that turned their concern that looked extremely profitable. 2. Board of managers and internal control section failed to oppugn Lincoln’s loaning activity from residential mortgage loans to bad land ventures and commercial development undertakings. 5. A nonrecourse note is a note that prohibits the loaner from trying farther damages from the borrower in instance of default. That means that the Lincoln may non have farther compensation for a default loan. Lincoln can merely take back the point that was loaned as compensation for a default. Their most profitable and most scrutinized trade came with the Hidden Valley Transaction that took topographic point in 1987. This dealing allowed Lincoln to enter a net income of 11. 1 million on their book and similar minutess produced net incomes of over 135 million over the two old ages. Lincoln neer expected to be paid the balance of the nonrecourse note. Lincoln executives arranged the loan merely to let the nest eggs and loan to book a big paper addition. 6. In a fiscal audit. direction averments or fiscal statement averments is the set of information that the preparer of fiscal statements is supplying to another party. During the audit. Arthur Young should nest trial direction fiscal statement averments for fixed plus minutess. Minutess ( income statement ) : * Occurrence – the minutess really took topographic point* Completeness – all minutess that should hold been recorded have been recorded * Accuracy – minutess were recorded at the appropriate sums * Cutoff – the minutess have been recorded in the right accounting period * Classification – minutess have been recorded in the proper histories Keating and his associates repeatedly used fake existent estate minutess to bring forth tremendous additions for Lincoln. Arthur Young should hold attempted to confirm Occurrence and Classification for Hidden Valley minutess. Auditor could inspect back uping paperss like bills or contracts to corroborate that gross revenues did occur and arrange for house’ proprietor to corroborate in composing the inside informations of the sum owing at balance day of the month as grounds of notes collectible in a liability. Auditor could besides do enquiries of direction about the collectability of customers’ histo ries. Hearers besides should analyze records or paperss and utilize ain judgement harmonizing to the U. S GAAP to find whether the Hidden Valley minutess could be classified as gross revenues 9. An hearer has a reasonability to garner information needed to place hazards of stuff misstatement due to fraud and buttocks these hazards after taking into history an rating of the Lincoln’s direction and internal control. Hearers need to get the better of some natural inclinations – such as overreliance on client representations. In this instance. the hearer failed to put aside the stopping point relationship between battle spouse and Lincoln direction. Lincoln violated the substance- over –form construct by prosecuting in accounting-driven trades among related parties to fabricate illusive net incomes. At least 15 minutess in inquiry were all really big and. jointly. accounted for one-half of Lincoln’s pretax net incomes during 1986 and 1987. Arthur Young besides failed to include processs to place related-party minutess that are material to Lincoln. Incentive/Pressure: William Gladstone. the co-managing spouse testified that the 1987 audit required 3 0. 000 hours to finish. which created significant clip force per unit area. The engagement audit spouse. Jack Atchison built the stopping point relationship with Keating and Atchison seemed to drop the auditor’s traditional stance of independency. Hearers from Arthur Young were loath to dispute their old foreman. William Gladstone. who worked for Lincoln in 1987. Rationalization: Former Lincoln battle spouse at Arthur Anderson told replacement hearer that he had no ground to oppugn the unity of Lincoln’s direction and that no major dissensions preceded the surrender of his house as Lincoln’s hearer. Current battle squad could apologize their determination that took less attempt to carry on significant trial the questionable minutess. Hearers would apologize their audit grounds and conclude that they have fulfilled their duties even though these assessments were obtained from valuators. Opportunity: Hearers failed to observe the fraud because they excessively relied on the questionable documental grounds provided by Lincoln employees. If Arthur Young could corroborate the assessments obtained from the 3rd party. it reduced the chance for the hearers non to observe the implicit in fraud.

It Is Better to Have Tried and Failed, Than Not to Have Tried at All Essay Example

It Is Better to Have Tried and Failed, Than Not to Have Tried at All Essay â€Å"It is better to have tried and failed, than not to have tried at all. † Do you agree? When one tries and fails, one has gained more knowledge than the one who has not tried at all. The person who has tried, will instead possess a greater understanding over the one who has not. However, that person must have tried his best in order for this statement to be applicable. Therefore, i agree with this statement provided that the person has tried his best. Firstly, in the process of learning as we grow up, we face different obstacles and challenges as we work towards our goal or dream. During these times of difficulty, we tend to stop in our tracks. Not many people would continue persevering and move forward to take their best shot. Even if we fail after trying, we would be able to realise the mistakes that we have made. As compared to not even trying at all, failing will benefit us in such a way that we can keep on improving ourselves to become better. In short, we will be able to learn from the mistakes that we made the first time we tried and failed Secondly, not trying at all will leave you with greater regrets than trying and failing. We will write a custom essay sample on It Is Better to Have Tried and Failed, Than Not to Have Tried at All specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on It Is Better to Have Tried and Failed, Than Not to Have Tried at All specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on It Is Better to Have Tried and Failed, Than Not to Have Tried at All specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer When you grow older, the amount of regrets for not trying would pile up. As you think back into your past, those regrets could have actually turned into valuable experiences. At least when you try, you attain new knowledge which will help in your future endeavours. The knowledge and experience you encountered could mean the difference between tasting the sweetness of success, or the bitter taste of failure. On the contrary, In some circumstances, it is better not to try if the end result is obvious. For example, it is a futile attempt to try and woo a girl that does not like you in return. In this case, trying to do so will just lead to disaster. Moreover, you may end up losing a friend, embarrassing yourself and possibly giving her discomfort. Sometimes a chance is never a chance at all and you should not bother to try knowing that the outcome will be a negative one which will cause both parties to suffer. Thirdly, failure is the mother of success. Ask any successful person you know whether they have experienced failures, and they will definitely reply you with a nod of the head or a resounding yes. Indeed, the path to success is riddled with failures and setbacks, but those who are able to stand back up and learn from these experiences are the ones who will be guaranteed success. The world famous Thomas Edison had to try one thousand times before successfully inventing the light bulb. One of his famous quotes include,† I have not failed a thousand times but rather have found a thousand ways that do not work. † This optimistic and enduring attitude is another thing which successful people have in common. Thomas Edison was able to learn from his mistakes and effectively improve on them, this is why he was able to succeed. Theodore Roosevelt puts it amazingly well: Its not the critic who counts; Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit goes to the one who is actually in the arena; Who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; Who knows the great devotions, the great enthusiasms, and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and, at the worst, if he fails at least he fails while daring greatly; so that his place will never be among those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and everything that one person does may not necessarily mean success, but it is certain that different experiences will bring in different benefits. These experiences can carve the person’s personality and attitude to a better person as they continue forward and learn from his or her own mistakes. To round off , failures will give a person experience and a person who does not try will not gain these experiences at all. Therefore, it is better to have tried and failed, than not to have tried at all.

Litter problem essay Essays

Litter problem essay Essays Litter problem essay Essay Litter problem essay Essay As a proposal to help with the littering problem on campus, I suggest more trashcans in the parking lots and other high trafficked areas, some motivational propaganda to promote awareness of litter problem and arsenal student initiatives to help keep campus clean. Lets look a little more at the main reasons people give for why there is litter on campus. The first reason given is laziness, they dont feel like walking to a trashcan to throw away their garbage this is also a lack of motivation. Some think that since there is maintenance it is their job to pick up trash anyway so they are helping provide them a job. Also they let it pile up in their car or they throw it in the back of their truck and the valid blows it out of the vehicle. Another reason given for littering is the lack of available trashcans in a parking lot or other high traffic areas. As a cause of this Students, Patrons, and visitors just throw their trash in the parking lot instead off trashcan. As Mr.. Ray Gillespie has said a big problem as far as littering is from the movement of trash as its being collected. Trash often ends up flying out the back of the Gators that are used to transport trash bags collected in between buildings and from dumpsters as they are being emptied by the garbage trucks. My Proposal to help with the litter problem on campus is to first provide more trashcans in and around the parking lots and high trafficked areas. The trashcans should be highly visible, so bright attention grabbing colors would be preferable, so as to encourage people to use them. Another way to help with the litter problem is to create awareness of the problem using motivational propaganda, such as posters, bulletins and other signage. Also by having clean up days that involve students and faculty, especially clubs that are on campus this will help create more awareness. A possible way to encourage student involvement as well would be the possibility of incentives. The incentives could range from a free lunch to extra credit in one of their classes if the teacher is willing. In conclusion, to help with the litter problem on campus, we need to find ways to encourage students to have a personal incentive to keep the campus clean. Create motivational propaganda to create awareness of the litter problem. Provide more trashcans and make them visible to encourage students, patrons, and visitor: to throw trash in trashcans instead of on the ground.

Training and Development Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Training and Development - Article Example While on the job methods rely on training within the organization at the expense of the same, off the job methods refer to external sources where an employee may obtain training. In this regard, this paper will seek to assess the benefits derived from various on the job training strategies that revolve around soft skills and other communication skills. This is owing to the fact that without the relevant interpersonal skills, there will be no development and there will be scope for constant conflict through misunderstanding and wastage of resources. Therefore, this paper will study the benefits of training through the theoretical and empirical frameworks within which training strategies are decided upon, so as to carry out an assessment of the very roots where training and development begins and to propose a contextual point of judging responses and development areas. From here, the paper will examine various areas of operational value on the basis of which training and development ma y be assessed. This paper thus starts on the assumption that human resource development must have strong relevance with corporate strategy, in order to encourage employees to apply skills that have been imbibed in them during the development programs. Thus, when applied in a systematic manner, organizations ensure that they derive maximum benefit from training and development programs, as these adhere to positive mobilization of resources for optimum use and goal achievement within the organization within the framework of motivation of employees for a better future. (Wentling et al, 1999) Through a special focus on training in the area of soft skills and communication skills, this paper traces the recent developments in human resource management and management training. Training and Development Patterns The Manpower Services (1981) Commission, which was set up by the 1973 Employment and Training Act until it was replaced in 1988, defined training as: "A planned process to modify attitude, knowledge or skill behaviour through leaning experience to achieve effective performance in an activity or range .of activities. Its purpose, in the work situation, is to develop the abilities of the individual and to satisfy the current and future needs of the organisation". In this context, it is impetrative to assess the beneficial nature of training strategies in context of the theory applied for determining the need for such training. Therefore, the process of assessing the needs before planning the training strategy involves the following steps: (Marquardt, 1996) ( i ) Identification of needs - an analysis of needs addresses the problems at hand besides anticipating future demands. The benefit of this step lies in the fact that it considers the best and most cost effective way to meet those training needs right at the onset, which make the training strategy planning and implementation process more fluid. ( ii ) Definition of specific knowledge requirements - this stage to examines the skills and knowledge level that is required to be developed in order to meet the new objectives identified by the training needs. This helps the management gain perspective as to which kind of training strategy will be the most effective one when adopted for the

Nike and its Approach to Corporate Responsibility' Case Study

Nike and its Approach to Corporate Responsibility' - Case Study Example al., 2010). It has been apparently observed that the significance of corporate responsibility has been rising considerably in the modern day context. This can be justified with reference to the fact that the business corporations or firms possessing superior level of corporate responsibility ultimately help them towards attracting its entire workforce through lessening the turnover rates of the personnel and recruitment expenses among others (Cramer & Bergmans, 2003). In this paper, a critical evaluation about the approach of Nike towards corporate responsibility will be taken into concern. Various aspects like how Nike could best manage the situation and move towards corporate responsibility emphasizing upon certain important aspects will also be discussed in this paper. The aspects comprise leadership as well as structure of corporate responsibility, hiring procedure and centralization along with the process of decentralization. A Brief Overview of Nike Nike, Inc is regarded as one of the foremost innovators especially in the business segment of athletic footwear, equipments, accessories and clothing. The company is typically an American based multinational business corporation that deals with the design and the marketing of sports utensils, athletic footwear and various other recreational brands. The mission of the company has been viewed to inspire the athletes across the globe with incessant innovation (Nike, 2013). Conversely, the vision of the company is to become worldwide leader especially in the aforementioned business segment in the entire world. In this similar context, the company has been noted to develop its business by focusing more upon the significant aspects of sustainability along with innovation (Nike, 2013). It is worth mentioning that according to the performance rankings in the Climate Counts, Nike has acquired topmost position particularly in the business segment of footwear, clothing as well as accessories (Nike, 2013). Approaches of N ike towards Corporate Responsibility Nike undertook several approaches concerning corporate responsibility with the motive of becoming the worldwide leader particularly in the business segment of sporting footwear, clothing and accessories among others. The different approaches of Nike towards corporate responsibility have been noted while designing and manufacturing its broad array of products. In relation to designing products, it has been apparently observed that Nike has outlined and developed restricted substances lists (RSLs) in order to safeguard its entire workforce, suppliers and most importantly the consumers. The lists ultimately support the company towards effectively directing its different suppliers in the making of the brands which are safe and lawfully compliant. Moreover, apart from preparing and developing RSLs, the company executes environmentally preferred materials (EPMs) while designing its different products. According to the company, EPMs are principally desc ribed as the materials that extensively lessen the adverse environmental

Capital Crime in an Incident of Mass Shooting Essay

Capital Crime in an Incident of Mass Shooting - Essay Example It was broadly anticipated that his attorneys would try defending him by entering a diminished capacity plea. However, in the preliminary hearing, they said they needed more time because they were not yet ready to enter such a plea yet (Ingold 2). A plea of diminished capacity is a defense excuse in which the accused agrees to have broken the law but argues that they cannot be fully liable of the crime due to compromised, diminished or impaired mental functionality (Mandery 45). According to Bronner (1), Holmes’ attorneys said in the preliminary hearing that they required more time to review and peruse the huge pile of documentation regarding the case. The presiding Judge in the preliminaries, William Blair Sylvester of Colorado State District Court, also wary of moving the case too fast due to the possibility of eventual appeal that could gather its support from the manner in which the case was handled agreed to a later date rather than proceeding with the arraignment. After the attorney of the accused claimed that Holm was unprepared to enter any plea on March 12, 2013, the Colorado judge entered the not guilty plea (Ingold 2). According to Ingold (2), two weeks later on March 12, the accused attorneys communicated their intention of pleading guilty in order to avoid the death penalty. On the next day, the prosecutors said that they would not accept that offer. Therefore, on 2013 June 4, Holmes pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity. The judg e accepted this plea thereafter scheduling the trial for 2014 October. Considering the whole matter from Holmes’ attorney point of perception there are two options for his defendant. His client may plead diminished capacity or he may plead insanity, which he already has. Diminished capacity, which was a possibility in the early stages of the case is now not an option for the defense team.  

Patients Education Of Psoriasis Patient Nursing Essay

Patients Education Of Psoriasis Patient Nursing Essay The society requires attaining, maintaining and recovering from disease, ailments accidents. This calls for specialized care from a trained professional. In most case, care givers at home may lack this expertise. This calls for people who are trained, specialized and understand the medical aspect of the patients condition, such as nurse. The best suited group of people that can deal appropriately with these problems are nurses. Nursing is a health care profession and hence, their services are oriented to this direction. In their duty, they give care to all members of the societies; both individual and families (Braverman, 1998). Nursing care is understood as being particularly crucial during patients recovery from serious illness or injury. Classically, it was thought that people requiring these services were probably people who were bed ridden. The objective of health services delivery is not only to care for bed ridden people but also anybody else that have a condition that is reducing their quality of life. It is known that some diseases significantly reduce the quality of life led by individuals and not by necessarily sending them to bed. The aim of healthcare today is to assist any person with any disease, ailment or any form of suffering to recover and have a joyous and creative life. Another factor that makes a nurse to be specifically suited to their job is because they are trained about community care. They deliver care in the context of the whole community. They are able to reach the society or community and teach or assist them on the best way to care for various people needing care in a society. Psoriasis is a non-contagious disease that affects a peoples skin. It is found in a class of diseases that are described as immune mediated. It occurs when a persons body starts sensing the skin cells that are foreign cells of disease causing microorganisms hence reacting against them. For this reason, the body responds to this faulty signal by producing more skin cells. The patients skin cells in the affected places divide up to 10 times faster and lead to accumulation of dead cells on the surface. The skin of the patient appears to have a red plaque that is covered with white rashes. This disease is particularly acutely irritating and is probably the most frustrating and unpredictable skin disorder. This disorder is also the most inexplicable and continual skin illnesses. Some parts of the body are more affected by this disease than others. These include the scalp, elbows, and knees. Some other parts are affected but on rare instances. They include the soles, the palms, and the fee t (Roenigk Maibach, 1998). Commons symptoms of psoriasis include reddening of the skin with white or silvery scales occurring at the top. These areas can be exceedingly sore and may crack and bleed occasionally. In most cases, the affected patches expand and coalesce forming large and continuous patches. In other instances, this disease may affect the nails where nails become rough, crumbled or even detached from their bed. Another symptom that health care providers look for in diagnosing psoriasis is crusts, scales or plaques on a persons scalp. There are various aspects of care that a nurse considers during care delivery. These are sometimes utilized by professional nurses as a checklist to ensure that the care is all inclusive, and the process of recovery is holistic. The main aim of this assignment is to address the nursing care of a patient with psoriasis based on two aspects of care which include patient education and discharge planning and process. Patients Education of Psoriasis Patient It is essential in the nursing care process of a patient with psoriasis to be educated and advised on how to live with the society, to avoid psychological torture and lastly to meet the prescribed medical instruction. The Patients are reported to face stigma and antagonism by such other people in the society. They become less indispensable resource to the society and hence said to experience negative attitude for the firsthand. They have seen how a single look on them initiates talks among people among other forms of stigmatization. Nurses teach patients to become ambassadors of truth. The society mistreats its members through stigmatization because of ignorance. The nurses also educate patients on how to protect friends, relatives and other members of the community (Smith et al, 2002). Moreover in Medical care, the nurse give educational care techniques including assistance on the application of the medicine, monitoring the progress of the patient and advising the patients on the fa ctors that aggravate psoriasis. Secondly, the nurses have noticed that the patients due to stress are currently suffering from psychological disorders such as post traumatic stress disorders and anxiety. They feel neglected and thus they need psychological education. Some of the nurses collaborate with psychologists to educate both the society and the psoriasis patients. In most case, nurses find themselves in a situation where the psychological health of the patient is crucial. Some patient feel like their image has been dented after they suffer from a psoriasis attack. The nurse has to respond to this by educating the patient on how to deal with these psychological problems. Sometimes, the patient is so psychologically affected that the nurse has to refer the patient for specialized counseling among other interventions. Bearing in mind the wide spread nature of psoriasis nurses come up with a way of assisting the society. The challenge that nurses face is lack of an elaborate system of reaching the society in order to educate them. The patients are advised on how to live healthy and boost their self-esteem. Nurses take this opportunity to educate parents and guardians how to handle the case and enhance the recovery of the patient. These educational programs are currently found to improve the health of the patient and to reduce stigmatization directed to the skin infections victims. Also in some cases, nurses organize members of the public into groups which have initiated some sports or even meditation. Other benefits of these sports are they help to deal with behaviors such as scratching. Furthermore other patients educational campaigns carried out by the nurse are to educate the patients and the society on the symptoms and origin of the disease thus clearing misconceptions in peoples mind. For example, some people believe that psoriasis is a sign of a curse, due to this they fail to take the medication and the advice seriously (Mitchel Panzer, 2005). It jeopardizes the process of treatment exceedingly and seriously. It may even increase stigma; people do not want to get close or in contact with a cursed person. Even when such people should be giving care, they stay away due to unreasonable fear. It becomes the responsibilities of nurses to shed more light on psoriasis. Friends, family, and people living with the affected individuals are educated to provide the necessary support for the patient. Lastly, the nurses are currently educating the patients who ignorantly fear to access the medical services due to been noticed that medical services will save them a lot from the disease. In some cases, it may disappear, in others it does not; thus, medical help is required. Additionally, it may leave an individual with extraordinarily large psychological problems that require specialized assistance. In most cases, nurses know specialists who can counsel and help the patient to fully recover. Nurses offer their advice regarding medical care and refer the patient for further counseling and peer support. In home care, the nurses are also educating the patients on how to handle stress. Medically, it is known that the careless and irresponsible behaviors that people develop during the stress cause psoriasis. Such behavior may include rubbing of hands and face. Stressed people have destructive tendencies of holding into anything and bringing things in contact with their faces. During care of a patient or other members of the community, the nurses shed more light on these issues so that people can lead a more informed life. They are also advised to protect themselves against excessive exposure to sunshine that can aggravate psoriasis especially during the summer periods. It is a method of illnesses prevention in a community, as observation of such basic rules can keep psoriasis at bay, at least for some people for some time (Walji et al, 1994). Thus in summary, the nurse has been carrying out the patients education across the medical services, stigmatizations and stress from other people, misconceptions and myths about the origin of the disease, treatment methods, society approach to psoriasis victims and lastly on how to handle psychological perception found to affect them adversely. Discharge Planning and Processing of Nursing Care Acute based care hospital discharge planning and process starts immediately upon admission in the hospitals. In most cases it is found to ensure that the nurses follow the right psoriasis disease medical guidelines and system (Fabian et al, 2011). It is defined as a multi-disciplinary nursing approach by the nurses and other medical practitioners to the patients signs, treatment process and discharging means. It involves several planning process, as described below. Immediately after admission of the patient, the first step in the nursing care designing planning and process is to examine the skin in general circumstances. The nurse should contact this within three hours. At the same time the patient is prepared for discharging through contacting the Medicare organizations such as insurance. At the same time the nurse should interview the patients about the problems linked to the disease, when did it start, what are some of the medications the patient accessed before and lastly, whether they have any hereditary problem of the disease across their family lineage. The next planning process is the nurse to describe the information given in line to the prevailing psoriasis diagnosis where the patient is taken for laboratory medical examination. At this process, the patients are instructed not to scratch themselves even if they are itching and home cares prepared for discharging process .This help to reduce more infections and complications. Moreover, in this stage, the patients are instructed to isolate themselves from other people in the society, utilize their own clothing and even take bath using bath oils. Moreover, the patient should avoid any skin injury that is going to complicate the medical process (Walji .Kingston, 1994) Third step in the discharge of nursing care planning method include keeping the skin moist. The nurses are trained to apply epidemiological prescription to ensure the patient skin is moist and thus not to itch. This involves reducing the scales by applying the necessary medical bath oils and staying in a cool place free from any dust and high temperature. The patients are also provided with some injections and clothing necessary to reduce itching, smell and pain. In the next stage, the patients are nursed in a manner as to keep the wounds clean and to apply the necessary antibiotics carefully and skillfully. This ensures that the patients do not have pain and itching is reduced. The nurses take this opportunity to educate the family members on how to prescribe the medical drugs to the psoriasis patients and thus improved services. At this moment, the nurses must monitor the risk of infections, outcomes of the disease and lastly the implication of the bath oil to the skin (Papadopoulo s Walker, 2003). Lastly, some of the patients found to be stressed, stigmatized and psychologically affected are provided with advices or even referred to psychologists for guidance and counseling. The nurses have a goal to improve the mind perceptions of the patients and to positively impact on their health. The nurses consider some numerous patients factors in the process of discharging the duties. They have to make necessary recommendations in line to the Medicare guideline so as to ensure that psoriasis patients enjoy the best Medicare services (Braverman, 1998). In the process, they must have insurance and Medicare eligibility so as to ensure that the psoriasis patient has in-patient services and hospitalized for at least three consecutive calendar years for observation purposes. Secondly, they must observe the cognitive status and especially their safety awareness while in the discharging process. This helps in reducing unnecessary infections to both the nurses and other patients. The clothing and bed sheets of the psoriasis infections must be handled with a lot of care (Camisa, 1994). Lastly, the nurses should observe the illness history and the future falls of the patient. Moreover, other factors that should be observed in the planning and discharge of psoriasis patients includes; age, living situation and lastly the daily nutrition and activities of the patients. Conclusion The nursing process of any psoriasis patient does not just require observation of the two aspects discussed above. Rather than that, it require all the nurses and medical practitioners to maintain people medical services to the patients, educate them and plan for the discharge process well. This will help to improve the health of this skin condition victim and reduce society misconception about the disease.

Socrates and Socrates: A Philosophical Pair for the Ages Essay

In Walter Mosley’s Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, the reader is introduced to Socrates Fortlow, an ex-convict who served twenty-seven years for murder and rape. Fortlow is plagued by guilt and, seeing the chaos in his town, feels a need to improve not only his own standards of living, but also those of others in Watts. He attempts this by teaching the people in Watts the lessons he feels will resolve the many challenges the neighbourhood faces. The lessons Fortlow teaches and the methods by which he teaches them are very similar to those of the ancient Greek philosopher for whom Fortlow was named: â€Å"‘We was poor and country. My mother couldn’t afford school so she figured that if she named me after somebody smart then maybe I’d get smart’† (Mosley, 44). Though the ancient Greek was born to be a philosopher and Fortlow assumed the philosopher role as a response to the poor state of his life and Watts, both resulted in the same requir ed instruction to their populations. The two Socrates’ both utilize a form of teaching that requires their pupil to become engaged in the lesson. They emphasize ethics, logic, and knowledge in their instruction, and place importance on epistemology and definitions because they feel a problem cannot be solved if one does not first know what it is. Socrates was essential in first introducing these concepts to the world and seemed to be born with them inherent to his being, Fortlow has learned the ideals through life experience and is a real-world application in an area that needs the teachings to get on track. While the two men bear many similarities, their differences they are attributed primarily as a result of their circumstances provide the basis of Fortlow’s importance in Watts and as a modern-... ...Devious or Divine." Greece & Rome 2nd ser. 32.1 (1985): 32-41. Web. . Groeller, Alison D. "From Rage to Reason: Race and Politics In Walter Mosley's Socrates Fortlow Novels." Crossroutes: The Meanings of "Race" in the 21st Century. Ed. Paola Boi and Sabine Broeck. Munster: Lit Verlag, 2003. 161-72. Google Scholar. Web. Mosley, Walter. Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. New York: Washington Square, 1998. Print. "Socrates." Free Study Guides for Shakespeare and Other Authors. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. . "Socrates." The Basics of Philosophy. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. . Taylor, C. C. W. Socrates. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print. Wilson, Charles E. Walter Mosley: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2003.

College Goals Essay

Attending college is the first step to a better future. Throughout life there will be many goals to accomplish but some of the most important goals to accomplish will be during the time you are in college. My first goal is to pass every class this semester. After completing this goal my next goal to complete will be to graduate from Hudson County Community College with an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts. Finally my last goal to complete is to further my education and get the job I want. Passing every class this semester will help me feel positive and confident about my future and future goals. In order to complete this goal I will have to attend every class and be on time. By missing one class I will miss out on a lot of work and may not be able to catch up. I will have to finish every assignment on time because if I write the best essay I could possibly write but hand it in late, my grade will drop dramatically. Finally I will have to ask for help if I need it. Even though it is my first semester of college and I do not know what to expect, asking for help is easy and can help improve my college experience. To be able to obtain my Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts by August 2015 I will have to work harder than I ever have. I will have to be sure to complete all my assignments and be sure to attend all my classes. I will have to put school first in life and avoid activities that will have a negative impact on my education. Prior to achieving this goal I also want to choose the career I want so I can know what direction my life is going. My final long-term college goal is to go on to obtain my Bachelor’s Degree and possibly my Master’s Degree, depending on the career I choose. I have not chosen the career I want yet but I want to have the best education possible to qualify me for the job. To be able to obtain the best education possible I want to keep my grade point average high and be able to attend a good university. I have not really thought about all the details since I have not chosen a career yet but I am going to better my education as much as I possibly can. After completing all my education I will have the job I want and be happy and financially stable. In conclusion, my college goals are some of the most important in my life because they greatly help shape my future. By passing all my classes this semester I will have the confidence to continue my education and do well. By obtaining my Associate’s Degree I will be able to go on and obtain my Bachelor’s and possibly Master’s Degrees. And finally when I finish completing all my education I will be able to get the career I want and be happy with my life. My entire future depends on the choices I make in college.

Free An Analysis of Wise Blood Essay

Free An Analysis of Wise Blood Essay An Analysis of Wise Blood I am an enthusiastic believer of OConners beautiful, unique, harrowing, surreal and poetic Southern Gothic book Wise blood It is a novel that is small in length but large in content, ideas, eccentricities and character. Despite the huge focus on evangelism, spirituality and in spite of shedding a huge spotlight on eccentrics, outcasts, the abnormal and grotesque, it somehow introduces and depicts characters that have the same desires as everyone else; the need to receive love, affection, acceptance and recognition for who they are and their achievements. A great gothic tale is one that is about psychology and is riddled with deep suspense, grand places and remarkable characters that develop the frisson of darkness and danger. OConner delivers the book with a very powerful undercurrent of deep desire of acceptance and understanding. The Southern Gothic style has always had the unusual effect of making the hair on the back of the readers neck stand up, and OConner manages to strike all he right cords through her literary ingenuity to ensure that the nature and character of the 20th century South is appropriately captured. However, several elements of the book are lacking such as the use of her prose style in terms of discussing sensitive topics such as gender. The period the book was written in was a time characterized by women being viewed as highly conservative and considered their status in society in high regard. OConners depiction of the characters in Wise blood is profoundly unfeminine, unemotional, highly unladylike but deadly clinical, more so after considering the heavy gender stereotyping and perceptions of the time. In the middle of the twentieth century, the masculine prose style followed the laconic models of such renowned writers as Hemingway and the tough-boiled discipline of pulp fiction. The feminine style was however correspondingly much softer. {t_essay_order} A brutal irony is introduced through her writing with a slam-bag humor that is both entertaining but somehow distasteful and balefully direct. The use of the N word in referring to the black American race was particularly popular in the gothic literary materials written in that period; however, this shows how the some would consider her a racist in the modern era. Although her technique of telling of the story is morally absolute, she manages to capture the character of the grotesque gothic era through the use of the direct sentences that manages to raise outrage and indignation in the readers until they is able to immerse themselves completely in the ignorable disasters that was the South. The principal character and reluctant saint, Hazel Motes, is one of the most improbable dullards ever to grace the covers of a Gothic genre of American novels. He is undoubtedly the king of the anti-social characters in the book, leading the way in explaining the prevalent and deep rooted nature of the 1950s south. Hazel Motes is so repulsive that it is hard to even like his character, but the intrigue that surrounds his journey is so deep that one cannot help to keep reading in order to find out the final destination of his endeavors and crusade against God. There is no doubt that some of his behaviors are completely insane and utterly moronic, one more so than the next; he decides to blind himself with lime in his quest to completely absolve of the ills of society. He retorts to what some would consider completely overreacting to a situation: finding that blinding himself the only logical and available solution to the fact that a mean-spirited police officer has pushed his unlicens ed vehicle off a cliff. Clearly, this reaction does not make any sense in terms of the severalty of the action and is a clear misunderstanding of what the author was trying to relay about Motes. Perhaps some of the bewilderment about the main characters exploits arises from the mystified and sometimes dark nature of the Southerners. A reader who might approach the book as though it is a part of naturalistic fiction is bound to have their expectations greatly confounded. Wise blood is much closer to the allegory of religion than it is to the naturalistic fictional genre. It is impossible to analyze the work of OConner without at least viewing her book in comparison with other literary heavy weights of her era. The southern gothic style, a subgenre of the Gothic literary technique, was a popular and unique style in American literature. This style utilizes the tools of dark tales, supernatural events and irony to guide the plot. This style is utilized in the plot not for the purpose of suspense, but for the exploration of the social issues as well as the cultural and religious character of the American South. The fact that the author was a Southerner, and the nature and grotesqueness of her characters adds fuel to the perception that she was writing in a southern gothic style. OConner is no doubt one of the most startling women to come out of those parts, with her mode of fiction writing seldom challenged by critics. She proved to be an important and lasting contributor to the grotesque literary influences of southern decadences.

Free Essays on The International Astronomical Union Circular

Article Summary The International Astronomical Union Circular #6837 released by Brian Marsden on March 11 was published to report the findings Marsden’s group had come across. Marsden stated in the publication that â€Å"the chance of an actual collision is small†¦but one is clearly not out of the question† (Marsden). Marsden’s group has supposedly come across evidence that supported that the asteroid 119XF11 could possibly collide with the earth. Just one day later, evidence dismissing the report was found and published. I think the scientists should not have published their original data, which showed the small possibility of the asteroid 1197XF11 colliding with the earth. Their theories should not have been published without months, maybe years of lose observation of the asteroid and its orbit. A closer investigation of the asteroid showed that there was no chance at all that the asteroid would collide with the earth. If the astronomers had waited to further investigate their â€Å"discovery,† they would have known that there were pictures of the asteroid taken in 1990, pictures which provided hard evidence that the asteroid would in fact not collide with the earth. The sad thing is, the day after the report’s publication, this news broke out. The astronomers had caused a media frenzy over nothing. The media had a field day with the astronomer’s report of the possibility of an asteroid colliding with the earth’s atmosphere. The media always blows its reports of pain and suffering out of proportion, so the bare thought of our human race sharing the same fate the dinosaurs were believed to have had is bound to be over exaggerated. I think a lot pf people overreacted, and I think they should have. Most of us have heard the theories of the dinosaurs’ extinction being caused by a meteor collision with earth. The thought of the same fate for mankind in 2028 would scare almost anyone. The media also has a... Free Essays on The International Astronomical Union Circular Free Essays on The International Astronomical Union Circular Article Summary The International Astronomical Union Circular #6837 released by Brian Marsden on March 11 was published to report the findings Marsden’s group had come across. Marsden stated in the publication that â€Å"the chance of an actual collision is small†¦but one is clearly not out of the question† (Marsden). Marsden’s group has supposedly come across evidence that supported that the asteroid 119XF11 could possibly collide with the earth. Just one day later, evidence dismissing the report was found and published. I think the scientists should not have published their original data, which showed the small possibility of the asteroid 1197XF11 colliding with the earth. Their theories should not have been published without months, maybe years of lose observation of the asteroid and its orbit. A closer investigation of the asteroid showed that there was no chance at all that the asteroid would collide with the earth. If the astronomers had waited to further investigate their â€Å"discovery,† they would have known that there were pictures of the asteroid taken in 1990, pictures which provided hard evidence that the asteroid would in fact not collide with the earth. The sad thing is, the day after the report’s publication, this news broke out. The astronomers had caused a media frenzy over nothing. The media had a field day with the astronomer’s report of the possibility of an asteroid colliding with the earth’s atmosphere. The media always blows its reports of pain and suffering out of proportion, so the bare thought of our human race sharing the same fate the dinosaurs were believed to have had is bound to be over exaggerated. I think a lot pf people overreacted, and I think they should have. Most of us have heard the theories of the dinosaurs’ extinction being caused by a meteor collision with earth. The thought of the same fate for mankind in 2028 would scare almost anyone. The media also has a...

US politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

US politics - Essay Example The United States still pollutes more than any other nation, and still represents the epitome of a consumerist society: producing little more than nothing, and consuming a large quantity of the world’s goods. The Environmentalist movement, even though it has achieved mainstream status, remains unable to show progress in curbing these trends. In fact, the mainstream status of the movement puts the movement itself in some jeopardy. That is, the Environmentalist movement in the United States has been quite â€Å"successful†, but not successful in the way many of the original environmentalists and conservationists had hoped: commercially successful, which many believe has corrupted the movement beyond repair. American Environmentalism took root in the open frontiers of the untamed West in the 19th century when principles of conservation ran contrary to abusive practices in mining and railroad construction. The role of the environment in American politics changed in 1901 when President Roosevelt instituted practices, like the Reclamation Act, to conserve land and resources across the country (Silveira, 2003). The split between conservation (using resources efficiently) and preservation (not using resources at all) fragmented the environmentalist movement in the 20th century, which provided a source of diversity among these groups. Early environmentalism was an upper-class movement to preserve resources for recreation (Silveira, 2003). Modern Environmentalism primarily began in 1962 with the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, which detailed the devastation of industry on nature. Taken with other social movements in the 1960s, the Environmentalist movement became one more means to infuse particular values into society as a whole. However, rather than attempting social change during this time, Environmentalists sought government intervention to protect the

Engineering Environmental Sustainability- Take Home FINAL EXAM Assignment

Engineering Environmental Sustainability- Take Home FINAL EXAM - Assignment Example been subjected to uniform surcharge of 50kPa applied on the surface of soil deposit, which was later removed causing both the sand and clay layers in the current states to be over consolidated. For a 15-m- long, 500-mm drilled shaft and a geometrically identical closed-end steel pipe pile, calculate (a) the shaft capacity due to the clay layer ( divide the clay into ten sub layers of equal thickness in your calculations), (b) The shaft capacity due to the sand layer, (c) the total shaft capacity, (d) the ultimate base capacity, (e)the ultimate load capacity of the pile, (f) the allowable load based on a suitable factor of safety (without consideration of the strength of the pile cross-section), and (g) the allowable load if the compressive strength of the concrete is 15 MPa. Let us first divide the clay layer into 10 sub layers. The current vertical effective stress at each layer and past maximum vertical effective stress for each sub layer can be calculated from given data. The allowable axial load for the drilled shaft from geotechnical consideration is less than the allowable structural load, so, integrity of the cross section is not a concern. Therefore, the final allowable load of drilled shaft is obtained as We can now calculate the fundamental soil properties (undrained shear strength for clay and relative density for the sand layers.) Let us first calculate undrained shear strength of the clay layers. Following

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International Marketing - Essay Example Fast food restaurants are reflecting greater flexibility in adapting to the local tastes and cultures and also in generating price ranges for the products through evaluation of the economic potential of the people. Global fast food companies like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and Dunkin Donuts to name a few are observed to take resort of the localization strategy to help gain an effective penetration in the local markets. Fast food restaurants pertaining to America are observed to produce food products of hybrid varieties relating to the different countries in which they have opened up their branches. Customization and localization are generated in the food products by the fast food restaurants like that of McDonald’s that produces McKroket a beef and bun product for the Netherlands market while selling shrimp with cocktail sauce in Germany. For Greece and Israel, McDonald’s has its own set of Greek Burger and McKebab respectively. KFC operating in the Ch inese market aims to produce food products for the breakfast menu catering to regional preferences and tastes. Similarly, Dunkin Donuts operating in the South Korean market is observed to market breakfast foods like bagels and doughnuts which contribute in attracting potential customers (Sten, 2010). Federal Republic of Brazil is identified as the largest nation compared to other Latin American countries measured in terms of population and also the size of its geographical territory. Brazil tends to attract potential tourists from different nations owing to its natural and social diversity. Cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro reflect a larger population mix owing to the growth of urban and industrial development. Brazil also reflects to be the sole country in the whole of America that has a Portuguese speaking population. The continuous inflow of tourists in the Brazilian region owing to the existence of social, cultural, ethnic and biodiversity is observed as a

Understanding the Motives and Benefits of Volunteer Vacationers Essay Example for Free

Understanding the Motives and Benefits of Volunteer Vacationers Essay With the growing trend of volunteer vacations, research has been warranted in regard to understanding the motivational factors of individuals who participate in such endeavors. With this understanding, the goal is to increase these travel offerings in the industry, which will bring better understanding between cultures. This study examines different travel motivation factors for someone who chooses to use part of their vacation participating in volunteer or humanitarian activities. Considering that ‘mission’ often has connotations of a religious purpose, the phrase ‘travelling with a purpose’ brings on even more significance as this concept expands. To understand travel motivation in general, a variety of scales and theories have been researched. Maslow, Dann, Iso-Ahola, Plog and Pearce are some included in the Literature Review. A qualitative focus group and semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted. The analysis of the data revealed that four main themes for why people traveled with a purpose emerged. Cultural immersion was a strong objective; the desire to give back; the camaraderie that occurs on volunteer vacations; and the fourth theme focused on family. Non-verbal communication and bonding occurs at several levels with the local people and family members. This is a good example of cultivating peace through tourism. Keywords: volunteer tourism, travel motivation factors, benefits, impacts Introduction The concept of ‘volunteer tourism’ is a growing trend in the tourism industry and is starting to draw attention from researchers and marketers alike (Wearing, 2003). In the United States, for instance, a broad variety of organisations offer volunteer vacations. They vary from tour operators to non-profit organisations. One of the longest published guides to these organisations, Volunteer Vacations, by Bill McMillon et al., listed only 75 such organisations in its first edition in 1987 (Campbell, 1999). In its newest edition, published in 2003, the number of organisations increased to 275. These organisations offer a wide spectrum of volunteer vacation experiences. Volunteer vacation destinations range from local to regional to global reach. Volunteer vacation costs range from $100 and under to $3000 and above, with project length from under one week to six months or more. While summer appears to be the most predominant travel season, there are packages and programmes pro vided in all seasons. Analysing how an organisation positions itself within the volunteer tourism sector may reveal factors that influence a potential tourist’s organisational choice. The organisational types of volunteer vacation experience suppliers are comprised of a mix of non-profit organisations and for-profit tour operators. Some examples 1368-3500/05/06 0479-19 $20/0  are ‘Cross-Cultural Solutions’ (www.crossculturalsolutions.org), ‘The American Hiking Society’ (www.americanhiking.org), and ‘Earthwatch’ (www.earthwatch. org). Types of projects offered for volunteers vary widely and include agriculture, archaeology, community development, conservation, construction, education and teaching, environmental protection and research, technical assistance, historic preservation, medical and dental, work camps. The nature of volunteer vacation offerings appear to be closely allied with the organisations’ respective missions and mandates. For instance, Ambassadors for Children (AFC), a not-for-profit charitable organisation based in Indianapolis, Indiana, offers global volunteer opportunities by providing trip opportunities for hands-on interaction with disadvantaged children of the world, balanced by opportunities for sightseeing and experiencing the native culture of the destination (www. ambassadorsforchildren.com). AFC has facilitated volunteer activities for passengers travelling to destinations like Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Kenya, Haiti, Ecuador, Peru, Alaska, Vietnam, Belize, Guatemala, N ative American Reservations, and other communities in need. Humanity International seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world. Volunteers build houses together in partnership with families in need. Global Volunteers offer opportunities that include teaching conversation English, nurturing at-risk infants and children, renovating and painting community buildings, assisting with healthcare, and natural resource projects. Other organisations are geared more towards ecotourism such as Catalina Island Conservancy and Wilderness Volunteers, both giving back through stewardship of organising and promoting volunteer services. The commonality of the volunteer vacation suppliers appears to be the singularity of volunteering theme-focused experiences that reinforce organisations’ overall mission. Despite the growing popularity of volunteer tourism, systematic academic research in this field, particularly from the perspectives of the volunteer vacationers, is still in its infancy stage. Preliminary research appears to sugge st that volunteer tourism can take two different forms based on participants’ mindsets: the ‘volunteer-minded’ versus the ‘vacation-minded’ (Brown Morrison, 2003). The ‘volunteer-minded’ individuals tend to devote most or all of their vacation time to volunteer activities at the destination. Volunteerism is the central notion for them. This type of volunteer tourism is often called a mission or service trip. The second form of volunteer tourism takes on a lighter undertone where the individual is largely ‘vacation-minded’, but spends a small portion of the vacation on volunteer work at the destination. The term ‘VolunTourism’ refers to this type of tourism experience where a tour operator offers travellers an opportunity to participate in an optional excursion that has a volunteer component, as well as a cultural exchange with local people. These brief encounters have often proved to be the highlight of the individuals’ vacations. This latter form of volunteer tourism has gained popularity among tourists. While this classification scheme takes a simplistic approach, it provides a baseline for typology development of volunteer tourists. While there has been increasing research on volunteerism which sheds insights on motivational and destination choice factors of the ‘volunteerminded’ service trip participants, very little research has been con ducted on the ‘vacation-minded’ volunteer tourists. There is lack of conceptualisation and fundamental understanding of why individuals take part in volunteer work while  on a vacation trip. What motivates them? What benefits do they derive from the volunteer experience? What are the highlights of the volunteering experience? How do the volunteer activities influence their overall vacation experience and satisfaction? As a result, more research is warranted to fully understand this growing form of volunteer tourism. The focus of this research was on the ‘vacation-minded’ volunteer vacationers. The purpose of this study was to examine the motives that drive vacationers to participate in some form of volunteer or humanitarian activities while on a leisure vacation trip and the benefits that the volunteer tourists derive from the experience. This study also sought to broker the link between motivations for the general form of tourism and those for the volunteer vacationing. The outcome of this research was expected to contribute to better understanding of the destination choices and tourism experiences sought, thus bearing important implications for organisations that are targeting this particular market segment. Literature Review The literature review of this study was intended to provide some contextual background for the research. It centred around two key components of volunteer vacation: the tourism component and the volunteer component. More specifically, it dealt with the general leisure travel motivations and how they pertain to and interplay with volunteer tourism. Motivational scales To understand travel motivation, a variety of scales and theories have been proposed and empirically tested in tourism literature. The importance of motivation in tourism is quite obvious. It acts as a trigger that sets off all the events involved in travel (Parrinello, 2002). Many researchers have used motivational theory to try to interpret the motivations of tourists. On the premise that motivations derive from a real or perceived need, it is justifiable to analyse tourist choices of destinations and activities as a consequence of need deficiency (Burns Holden, 1995). Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs’ – self-actualisation, esteem needs, love needs, safety needs, and physiological needs forms the basis for further development and applications to understand travel behaviour and demand for tourism (Maslow, 1954, 1970). The decision to visit a destination is a complex amalgam of needs, motivating an individual to set and prioritise goals in a belief that achiev ing these will satisfy the perceived needs. One of the main reasons for the popularity of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is probably its simplicity (Hudson, 1999). This hierarchy could be related to the travel industry in the sense that unless individuals have their physiological and safety needs met, they are less likely to be interested in travelling the world to make a difference. Self-actualisation can, in fact, be considered the end or goal of leisure (Mill Morrison, 2002). Vacations offer an opportunity to re-evaluate and discover more about the self, to act out one’s self-image as a way of modifying or correcting it. Echoing Maslow, Pearce (1982, 1993) suggested that travel behaviour reflected a hierarchy of five levels of travel motives. The five levels of the Travel Career Ladder are: relaxation; stimulation; relationship; self-esteem/development; and fulfillment. As with a career at work, people start at different levels  and are likely to change levels during their lifetime. Pearce explicitly recognised that tourists’ travel motivation can be self-directed or other-directed; they do not always seek the same type of f ulfillment from travel, and that people can descend as well as ascend on the ladder. To what extent tourists do so from one trip to the next, or whether this only occurs over longer time periods, is not quite as clear (Oppermann, 2000). Classifying tourists into different typologies is an approach to link psychological motives to behaviour. The earliest model that forms the basis of tourism typology theory was established by Stanley Plog (1974). He constructed a cognitive-normative model based upon psychographic types. At one end of the continuum are psychocentric tourists and at the other end allocentric tourists. The allocentrics are explorers and adventure seekers, who tend to choose remote and untouched (by tourists) destinations. Middle-centrics are likely to display characteristics of a limited adventurer, but they want home comforts. It is this group that represents the mass tourist market. Psychocentrics dislike destinations that offer unfamiliarity or insecurity. It is suggested that the psychocentric is dominated by safety needs. Dann (1977) made a significant contribution in suggesting a two-tiered scheme of motivational factors: the ‘push’ and the ‘pull’. The push factors social-psychological motives that drive the desire to travel. The pull factors are external factors that affect where a person travels to fulfil the identified needs or desires. Dann suggested that anomie and ego-enhancement were the basic underlining reasons for travel. Crompton (1979) agreed with Dann’s basic idea of push and pull motives but went further to identify nine motives for travel. They were: the escape from a perceived mundane environment; exploration and evaluation of self; relaxation; prestige; regression; enhancement of kinship relationships; facilitation of social interaction; novelty; and education. He classified the first seven motives as push factors, and the last two as pull factors. There was no mention of the need for the authenticity of the destination. Mayo and Jarvis (1981) suggested that travel motivations could be divided into four categories: physical motivations such as rest, cultural motivations such as the desire for knowledge, interpersonal motivations such as the desire to meet people, and status and prestige motivations such as the desire for recognition. In 1983, Beach and Ragheb developed a model called the Leisure Motivational Scale, which sought to summarise motivators into four components, based on the work of Maslow. The four types of components were intellectual, social, competence-mastery, and stimulus-avoidance. The most recent motivational theories are founded on very complex interactive  models, which are based on personal and situational factors (Graumann, 1981; Schmalt, 1996). Behaviours are increasingly associated with life satisfaction, or perceived quality of life (Kernan Unger, 1987). Kernan and Domzal  (2001) believe that people express who/what they are, to themselves and to others, by engaging in action–leisure activities. Swarbrooke and Horner (2003) believe the main factors determining an individual tourist’s motivation are probably: personality, lifestyle, past experience, past life, perceptions and image. Changes which occur in an individual’s life stage may also have an impact on travel motives. Having a child, an increase or reduction in income, worsening health, and changing expectations or experiences as a tourist are circumstances that will affect motivation. Swarbrooke and Horner stated that no tourists are likely to be influenced by just one mo tivator. They are more likely to be affected by a number of them at any one time. Bello and Etzel (1985) investigated the role of novelty in pleasure travel. They argued that people with a low level of arousal in their daily routines seek a higher level of arousal in their vacation (a novel trip), whereas those people who lead a hectic, fast-paced life with frequent problems and challenges seek vacations that provide a minimum of stimulation and/or a familiar environment. Similarly, Wang (2000) emphasised  that holidaymaking is an institution of escape. It is freedom from the modernised mode of existence that is associated with rigid schedules, deadening routines, and stressful deadlines. People on holiday have entry into an alternative track of tempos and rhythms. They have freedom to change. The motivation to travel is to have a specific lifestyle separate from the routines of daily life. Understanding tourism motivation is important. It acts as a trigger that sets off all the events involved in travel (Parrinello, 2002). In other words, it represents the whys and the wherefores of travel in general, or of a specific choice in particu lar. The extensive literature on leisure travel motivation provides a solid theoretical background and some guidelines for studying the volunteer vacation phenomenon in this general tourism motivational context. Volunteering and volunteer vacations Volunteering has been a buzzword for some time for many socially oriented individuals both in the US and throughout the world. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 63.8 million people volunteered from September 2002 to September 2003, an almost 7% increase from the previous year. Women are more likely than men to volunteer, and individuals between the ages of 35 and 44 years old make up the largest group of volunteers (Kellicker, 2004). Stebbins defines volunteering as ‘un-coerced help offered either formally or informally with no or, at most, token pay done for the benefit of both the people and the volunteer’. Similarly, other definitions of volunteering have included the recognition that volunteers are those who provide assistance, or unpaid service, usually for the benefit of the community (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1986). Others emphasise the characteristics of the action perceived as freely chosen, without financial gain and generally aimed at hel ping others (Stebbins, 1982, 1992; Van Til, 1979). In terms of the volunteering process, the ‘American model’, proposed by Leopold (2000) starts with what is needed and then recruits volunteers to do the work. In Europe there is a membership tradition where everything starts with the members. It is up to the members to decide what to do. Regardless, volunteering has been viewed as beneficial to the well-being of the  volunteers (Cnaan et al., 1996; Stebbins, 1982; Thoits Hewitt, 2001). Volunteering gives participants a  sense of purpose, provokes serious contemplation, encourages concern for others, provides the opportunity to further an interest, and generates a sense of deep personal fulfilment (Stebbins Graham, 2004). Stebbins (1992) suggests that volunteering bears durable benefits for the volunteer such as self-actualisation, self-enrichment, recreation or renewal of self, feelings of accomplishment, enhancement of self-image, self-expression, social interaction and belongingness. Thoits and Hewitt (2001) empi rically examine how volunteering affects six different dimensions of well being: levels of happiness; life satisfaction; self-esteem; sense of control over life; physical health; and depression. Their research reveals that people who are in better physical and mental health are more likely to volunteer, and conversely that volunteer work is good for both mental and physical health. People of all ages who volunteer are happier and experience better physical health and less depression. Broad (2003) suggested that volunteers were more open to positive attitude changes when exposed to a different culture, which may explain why volunteers frequently reported becoming more broad-minded, content, and relaxed, and less selfish and psychocentric as outcomes of volunteering, along with a changed way of looking at the world. Stebbins  (1982, 1992, 2004) has conducted some pioneering work in conceptualising volunteerism in the context of leisure. There continues to be much research in regard to serious leisure volunteers and their motivation to volunteer as well as the fulfilment they derive from their diverse pursuits. Stebbins believes that the motivational reasons and socioeconomic conditions vary vastly with different demographic categories of people taking up volunteering. Each category is rather differently motivated, but the twin motives of altruism and self-interest are common to all categories. In his consideration of ‘serious leisure’, Stebbins points out that it is an important part of people’s lives in its relation to personal fulfilment, identity enhancement and self-expression (1982). Since volunteering in many cases involves some form of travel, the phenomenon has been examined closely in the context of tourism. The term ‘volunteer tourism’ refers to tourists who volunteer in an organised way to undertake holidays that involve ‘aiding or alleviating the material poverty of some groups in society, the restoration of certain environments, or research into aspects of society or environment’ (Wearing, 2001). Volunteer tourism has also been viewed as a form of alternative tourism or ecotourism emphasising the sustainable, responsible and educational undertone of the activity (Moskowitz, 1995; Wearing, 2001). Wheelan (1991), for instance, suggested that ‘ecotourists represent a potential army of recruits with free time and money to spend on sustainable development efforts’. Further, volunteer tourism experience has been viewed as a contextual platform for the intertwining interactions among the ecotourism element, the volunteer element, and the serious leisure element (Stebbins, 1982, 1992; Wearing, 2001). Travelling overseas as a volunteer appears to have begun around 1915 (Beigbeder, 1991; Clark, 1978; Darby, 1994; Gillette, 1968). Although most of the literature in this field has focused on profiling the volunteering tourist ( Brown Morrison, 2003; Wearing, 2003), there has been increasing interest in understanding vacation volunteers’ motives and the benefits derived. Exploratory research on volunteer vacationers suggests that their motivations appear to be similar to long-term volunteers, but the relative value of various factors can differ, with  self-actualisation being very important for short-term volunteers (Gazley, 2001). Brown and Morrison (2003) propose that a volunteer vacation helps heal ‘corporate burnout’ by providing the individual with a sense of accomplishment outside the workplace. The role of peace appeared to be another discussed benefit. And, according to Bud Philbrook (pers comm), president and CEO of Global Volunteers, volunteer service engenders hope and friendship, both of which are crucial to waging peace: ‘The more people volunteer all over the world and make friends with local people, the more peaceful the world will be.’ However, alongside ‘service trips’ or ‘mission trips’, where the primary purpose of the trip is volunteering and individuals spend the majority of the trip participating in volunteer work at the destination, there is also a lighter form of volunteer vacation that is gaining popularity. Here, the main purpose of the trip remains largely as a leisurely vacation, but the tourists also spend a small component of their leisure time on volunteer work at the destination. This form of volunteer vacation, although not a new practice, has gained increasing popularity. Rather than taking up a trip just for volunteer work, these groups of individuals join leisure-oriented vacation packages that provide a volunteering component as part of the itinerary. Tourism theories and research have ranged from micro-social-psychological  explanations to macro-social explorations concerning the globalisation of tourist venues. Given the rise of volunteer tourism, tourism practitioners have begun to strategically incorporate volunteering activities into their product planning. Some market-sensitive travel companies are offering leisure tour packages with optional excursions that allow tourists to participate in volunteer work. However, empirical research for this type of volunteer vacation is very limited. Many questions remain to be answered. For instance, what motivates vacationers to spend part of their vacation working at the destination? Are their motivations similar to the service trip or mission trip volunteers? What benefits do vacationers derive from participating in volunteer activities? And what are the highlights of the volunteer experience? Does the volunteer experience enhance the overall vacation experience? This research, there fore, was aimed at further exploration of these important issues. Study Objectives The objectives of this study were threefold. They were to discover: (1) What are the motivational push factors that drive some leisure tourists to seek volunteer experience during their leisure trip? To what extent do these motives differ or coincide with the general tourism motives? (2) What are the perceived benefits that vacation tourists derive from participating in volunteering activities at the destination? To be more specific, what are the immediate impacts participacting has on the overall vacation satisfaction? To what extent does it transcend the temporal boundary and exert long-term influence on the individuals? Methods This research adopted focus group and in-depth personal interview approaches, instead of a more quantitative approach such as structured surveys. The researchers believe this is an area of investigation that is at its exploratory stage. There are no proven measurements or theories for researching this particular phenomenon. In addition, unlike traditional quantitative research, focus group and in-depth personal interviews are centrally concerned with understanding attitudes rather than measuring them. In an academic sense, the goal of a focus group or personal interview is also to gain access to more inclusive sets of feelings and emotions that a structured instrument could not capture. These research methods are more direct, sensitive, and interactive in nature in assessing attitudes, motivations and opinions. Thus, it was believed that qualitative research methods would facilitate better in-depth understanding of motivational factors of volunteer vacationers instead of merely obtai ning the distant panoramic view through quantitative channels. It was hoped that that these approaches would draw out the ‘motivational factors’ behind the ‘top of mind’ opinions – which is critical to understanding what is driving volunteer vacation. A focus group session was conducted in May 2004. The focus group was composed of nine people with ages ranging from 40 to 72: four males and five females. All were married. The focus group attendees  were from a variety of life situations ranging from an engineer, healthcare consultant, and business owner, to a retiree, stay-home mother, and community volunteer. While university education appeared to be the norm for the group, the participants’ educational background varied by level from high school education to PhD. The diversity in backgrounds of the participants was intended to reveal different insights and opinions on the volunteer tourism issue. A few commonalities brought the group together. They all had extensive leisure travel experiences. They had a shared interest and passion for travel. All had participated in volunteer work while on a leisure trip. The volunteer experience ranged from visiting an orphanage and volunteering at local hospitals to participating in Habitat for Humanity projects. The volunteering experiences occurred during leisure vacation trips but the volunteering locations varied from domestic desti nations such as New Mexico and Alaska to international destinations such as Guatemala, Cuba, and Brazil. The focus group participants were asked to share their thoughts. The discussion centred around three issues: (1) Why would an individual become involved with using part of his or her vacation for volunteering activities? What are his or her motivations? (2) What are the highlights of the volunteer experience? (3) What are the benefits and impacts of the vacation volunteering experiences? In order to separate motivational factors from beneficial factors resulting from volunteer vacation experience, we conducted a second focus group session that  was made up of three males and three females who were first-time participants of volunteer vacation. This focus group was conducted in June 2004, before the individuals departed for their first volunteer vacation trip. Both focus group sessions were video and audio-taped. Transcripts were made by a graduate research assistant who was also present at both focus group sessions. Following the focus group sessions, the researchers conducted 10 in-depth personal interviews with individuals who had participated in volunteer work on a vacation trip. The interview sessions lasted approximately 30 minutes each and were audio-taped and subsequently transcribed. The purposes of supplementing the focus group sessions with in-depth interviews were three fold: (1) it was felt that in-depth personal interview allows more time and space for personal reflection on the part of the interviewee; (2) it was logistically flexible to include and capture the viewpoints of the younger individuals that felt underrepresented in the focus group sessions; and (3) employing a multi-method approach (focus group plus in-depth personal interview), researchers could cross-validate the themes and patterns of the findings from the focus group sessions. Based on the review of literature in volunteerism and volunteer tourism, as well as the results of the focus group session, the personal interviews took on a semi-structured format with a list of 15 open and semi-open questions that centred on motivational factors and impacts of volunteer vacation. All 25 study subjects were members of Ambassador Travel Club, the largest travel club in the US, and were recruited to participate in the study on a voluntary basis. The researchers considered different approaches for the text data analysis. Text analysis software tools such as CATPAC were initially considered. However, the researchers felt that the computer-aided, more quantifying approach does not seem to handle well the complexity of language context, the dynamics of the group interaction and the richness of relationships revealed in the text data. As a result, a decision was made to use the more traditional approach of content analysis. Both researchers analysed the transcripts simultaneously but independently. The results were later compared and compiled together. This effort, while more time consuming, resulted in a more consistent interpretation of the text data and increased the reliability of the study. Results The motivator: Why volunteer while on vacation? Using the multi-method approach, four major motivational themes appear to take shape concerning why individuals volunteer while on a leisure trip: cultural immersion, giving back, seeking camaraderie and seeking educational and bonding opportunities. Cultural immersion When asked, ‘Why volunteer while on vacation?’ it was found that being able to physically and emotionally immerse oneself in the local culture and community is a strong motivational factor. It was a common sentiment from the research subjects that participating in volunteer work provided the travellers with invaluable opportunities to immerse themselves in a local culture to a degree that would not be possible without the first-hand interaction with the local people  and community through volunteer work. These volunteering experiences enable travellers to experience and learn beyond the typical tourism platform, where one is surrounded by staged settings typified by beautiful beaches and fancy resorts, to see the people as they really are, their lives and their living environment. It appeared that volunteer travellers tended to attach strong value to seeking and experiencing authenticity of a place. They also demonstrated their insatiable curiosity about other people a nd places and their belief that working and interacting with the local people and communities leads to opportunities to become immersed in local culture and connect with the local people in a more profound way. As a result, long-term relationships and friendships were built between the hosts and the visitors as testified by the participants: I’m a doer, you know. I like to do stuff for people and it gave me a chance to do that. And also, you know, as other people said, to really get immersed into the community and I think when you work with people you really can see the real aspects of the population there much more so than, you know, in a hotel lobby. And so on even if you are friendly and outgoing and so on, you just don’t get to really know what peoples’ lives are like and this gave us such an opportunity to do that and get acquainted and make relationships. Giving back and making a difference The second motivational theme that emerged was the desire to give back and reach out to the less privileged. Many participants felt that they do well in life and wanted to give back. Spending time to help people in need is a good way to just do that. ‘A trip with a purpose’ is appealing to participants because it offers them a chance to help with the less fortunate instead of pure self-enjoyment. It appears individuals who are seeking a ‘purpose-driven life’ as put by one of the focus group participants, are drawn to the notion that volunteer vacation serves as a means to give back to society. So I decided to do it because I do well in life and I like to give back. I enjoy doing that kind of work and so I think my main reason was it’s time to start giving back again.  My daughter and I went. My husband and I have been lucky enough to travel a lot, and I just got to thinking that it’s really nice to go just and lay on the beach and have people wait on you and I really enjoy it, don’t get me wrong. And we also enjoyed immersing yourself in the culture through taking bicycle trips but it just seemed to be kind of selfish, so I thought maybe it would be nice to be a little unselfish. Seeking camaraderie A third motivational theme attests to the camaraderie that is sought on volunteer vacations. For well-travelled individuals, these trips bring together the ‘most enjoyable groups’, according to half of the study subjects. Meeting and interacting with people from the same travel group who share common interests and values appear to be major motives behind volunteer vacation. Many interviewees and focus group members concurred that travelling with people with similar minds and making friends certainly added value and enjoyment to the overall leisure trip experience. ‘Working with fellow group members in the volunteer And you know you are working side by side with a lot of good people. It also shows other cultures that Americans are willing to give in a physical way, in terms of getting down and dirty. Folks from Guatemala were taken back by the fact we were working. I think it is just another way of making ourselves ambassadors for the good people in our society. Seeking camaraderie appeared to be a sentiment voiced by the majority of the first focus group as a stronger motivator for volunteer vacations. However, considering the first focus group participants were composed of individuals who had various levels of prior volunteer vacation experiences, the researchers were concerned that seeking camaraderie could be attributed more to a ‘benefit’ factor than a ‘motivational’ factor. That is, would individuals actually choose volunteer vacation because they anticipate building new friendships or was it a benefit realised in retrospect resulting from the vacation volunteer experience? The researchers conducted a second focus group with six individuals prior to their first volunteer vacation. The second focus group appeared to confirm that meeting with and having a good time with people of similar interests was one of the motivational aspects that they were looking forward to. As one participant put it: ‘It is about blending good hard work and volunteering with some fun activities wrapped around it and know that there will be some pretty neat people doing the same thing.’ Seeking educational and bonding opportunities for children The volunteer vacationers appear to be also motivated by the educational and family-bonding opportunities that volunteer vacation experience presents. In the case where volunteer vacationers travelled with their children, informants agreed that the volunteer experience was an opportunity for them to impart their value system to their children. They believed that the volunteer experience they shared with their children can teach children that there are people in the world who are less fortunate, that there is broad diversity in the world, and that material items should be of minimal importance. Informants also believe that the volunteer experience helps teach children the value of giving, an important component in life. It is  apparent that participating in volunteer work with children while on vacation is perceived as having an educational component for the younger generation as testified by one participant: Well, in conjunction with the father–daughter bonding quality time to spend with my daughter, the thing that appealed about Ambassadors for Children for me was that many of our children live in a privileged world compared to the rest of the world. And I wanted my daughter to understand the environment, the social issues, the lack of any kind of parenting that some of these children are exposed to, just to give her a better understanding of the world outside, of course, the sheltered environment that many of us live in. And Ambassadors for Children sort of fit that bill. It was something that I could actively participate in instead of serving on a committee. That attracted me to Ambassadors for Children initially and  now it is that I can have hands-on experience with the children and share those experiences with my family also. Another related, but distinct, motivational factor is seeking better bonding opportunities with children. Volunteering together with children appears to be a very good interacting context for parents and their children and/or  grandchildren. For many interviewees and focus group members, it is very important to be able to spend quality time with loved ones, especially children or grandchildren, and taking a volunteer vacation together appears to enable them to achieve that goal. A volunteer experience builds a special shared experience with children, as echoed by one father: Initially I became involved with Ambassadors for Children because I’m a father and I have daughters. And there were so many things I could do with my son athletically. I coached sports. I’m involved obviously in games and things with my son all the time. But for a father sometimes there are limits how he can interact with his daughters. So I wanted to look at something my daughter and I could do together other than going to the mall or going shopping or going to the beach. So I looked into Ambassadors for Children and that’s how I initially got involved in it. The benefits and impact of volunteer vacations It appears to be consensual among all participants that the volunteer component of the vacation became, in fact, the highlight of the total vacation experience: This personal interaction with the family, and their obvious appreciation of having a home and having people that they didn’t know willing to help them – that made the whole experience. I think again that the self-fulfillment and the memories you bring back of what happened between you and the people that you met to me are wonderful. And you think of travel and the beautiful sites you’ve seen, but the kids’ faces are the most beautiful. I think the vacation was fun! I just think it (the volunteer experience) was another element to bring to it that was even neater. It just gave you a little more culture and that puts you in direct touch with the people and that helps you talk to them a little more. It was a lot of fun. I think there’s a great number of people who are looking for new experiences. In other words you can only lay on the beach so many times, you can only stay in nice hotel so many times and although that’s good and it’s good to  get away I think people many people are looking for new experiences and here’s an opportunity for you to travel to have a vacation experience and at the same time take a small time out of that vacation experience and do something that is meaningful, and do something that last in your memory and do something that makes a difference. The volunteering component of the leisure vacation seems to have become a vacation experience enhancer in multiple ways. First, meeting and interacting with people with shared interests from the same travel group has added value to  the overall leisure trip experience. It was brought out repeatedly that participants genuinely enjoyed the interaction and group dynamics of their travel companies. This type of travel companionship and interaction appears to enhance the enjoyment of the overall leisure trip. Second, volunteer vacationers discovered that material needs were of minimal importance and the little things that happen such as the exchange of love, care, curiosity, understanding, and appreciation were the highlights of their trips. Third, in a broader sense, the volunteer vacationers became the ambassadors for their own country. The helping and commitment appeared to provide a window for international communities to understand the American people, projecting  the friendly, g enerous and helpful American image as was attested by one informant. . . . But I always want the children to know and understand that we’re from the US, that we represent American people that we’re being American interest there . . . People have done things for them that they didn’t have to do. They’ve taken their time their money and their energy to help these people. And maybe some day that will make a difference. Maybe instead of someone having bad thoughts about the US they can remember there were people that came here for me and helped me from a dental standpoint, from a medical standpoint, from a clothing standpoint, or whatever, and maybe they won’t have such a negative bias towards the US like so many people do these days. When asked whether there were any enduring benefits or impacts from their volunteer vacation experiences, the study participants also agree that the impact permeates beyond the vacation trip itself. A sense of self fulfilment and personal growth are among the most mentioned enduring effects: You go thinking you are going to help people makes their lives better. But you end up getting far more out of it than you put in. It is a real blessing. I don’t know how to put it into words but it went above and beyond my expectations I guess. What I expected to get out of it and how it still affects me today three years later and my friend that went with me how its changed her life dramatically its just one of those things that blows me away when I look back it was just a beginning point for what I can see myself doing in the future and for her as well. Another common sentiment is that the shared volunteering experience appeared to have an enduring effect on enhancing family relationships. Well its helped me to in some ways to communicate with my children that the life that they have is a very privileged life and a lot of people don’t have even the percentage of opportunity or life that they’re able to enjoy. I don’t think children get that by seeing it on television, I think children have to have a personal relationship with particularly young children have to have personal experiences to help you communicate with them. The one thing that I do notice is we have a lot of stuff around the house. We’ve collected bits and pieces. But stuff that we’ve gotten on these trips has fairly prominent locations and all of it tends to say, ah . . . that was a neat  experience. They are reminders. There’s a Guatemalan embroidery here, and a Cuban picture there, and a picture from Brazil. It’s a great shared experiences when you get back to, you know, talk about it. When we talked and shared pictures with friends and so on to remember the, you know even if we didn’t always do the same thing. We were there at the same time and saw a lot of the same things and met a lot of the same people and had very much the same feelings. That’s a neat thing to share and compare. Many informants also emphasised the realisation of the stark differences in material life: ‘how privileged we are versus them’. The transcending effect is especially apparent among the younger informants. In the individual in-depth interview sessions with individuals in their teens and early 20s, informants agreed that the volunteering experience went beyond their expectations for the trip, and impacted their lives in a profound way. For instance, several interviewees said that their future career choices would be influenced as a result of their volunteering experiences. It challenged me. It opened my eyes to other parts of the world. My passion for children and missionary work has grown. My friend who went with me is now in Uganda on a mission! It just brings you back that basic humanity with everything else stripped away, we are just the same and that is exciting and encouraging. I see them in God’s eyes. We’re all the same. We have the same needs, the same wants, the same desires and same fears. They want family just as much as I do. Discussions and Conclusion Using qualitative focus group and personal interview approaches, this study examined the motivational and benefit factors of volunteer tourism from the perspectives of vacationers who spend a small proportion of their trip volunteering at the destination. More specifically, we sought to understand what the underlying psychological factors are and whether they are similar to or different from two phenomena: (1) volunteerism – those of pure missionary or service trips where individuals devote the entire or the majority of their time to volunteer work, and (2) mainstream tourism where individuals travel for pure leisure purposes. The goal of the research was to broker the linkages between volunteer vacation motives, mainstream tourism motives, and volunteerism travel motives. The findings of this research appear to suggest some similarities as well as differences between the ‘volunteer-minded’ travellers and the ‘vacationminded’ travellers. The motivatio ns of the volunteer vacationers appear to be conforming to some degree to volunteering motives in general in such aspects as ‘personal fulfilment’, ‘identity enhancement and self-expression’ (Stebbins, 1982, 1992, 2004), ‘promoting peace’ (Philbrook, pers comm) and ‘cultural exchange’(Broad, 2003). However, this study also revealed factors that appear to be specific to the phenomenon of volunteer vacationing. For instance, volunteer vacationers appear to attach high values to the opportunities for educating children and bonding with family members. Seeking camaraderie also appears to be a strong sentiment that is reflected in both motivational and benefit discussions  among the participants. Further, volunteer vacationers seem to be driven by sense of adventure and desires for exploration and novelty, that are not as prominent with the more serious volunteer travellers. Borrowing Plog’s (1974) theorisation, the volunteer vacationers can also be labelled as allocentrics – explorers and adventure seekers, who tend to choose remote and untouched destinations. While both groups have demonstrated certain altruistic motives, the notion of altruism for the volunteer vacationers is much less apparent. Using an ethnographic case study approach, Broad (2003) examined the relationship between volunteers, their volunteering experiences and the outcomes that eventuated. Broad’s study subjects were serious volunteers in Phuket, Thailand. His study found that just under two-thirds of volunteers were motivated by an ‘altruistic desire to help’, although other motives similar to the volunteer vacationers were also present such as working with like-minded people, or a desire to develop personality as a result of volunteering. Interestingly, serious volunteers also indicated that their volunteering was at least partly motivated by a desire to travel and a chance to experience a new culture. This study also revealed some intriguing patterns of the interplay between the general leisure travel motivation and motivational factors underlining  volunteer vacation. It appears that the motivational factors for volunteer vacation intertwine with multiple layers of general leisure vacation motivation. While volunteer vacationers demonstrate that there is a definite notion of self-actualisation and authenticity, the highest level of needs as per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, the volunteer vacationers appear to also be strongly motivated by lower-level factors such as love and social needs as well as learning needs. Another interesting observation is that the volunteer vacation motivational factors appear to follow the directional argument about self- and others-directed motivations, as proposed by Pearce (1982) in his ‘travel career ladder’ model. This investigation showed that the motivational factors were largely driven from two different aspects: sel f-directed – acquaint, learn, feel better, self-actualise; other-directed – help, connect, understand. The benefits resulting from the volunteer vacation experience also seem to align with the directional argument. They can be grouped as self-enhancement (such as becoming a better person) and other-enhancement (such as imparting values on children). This study also adds a new dimension to this post-modern tourism phenomenon and is in line with trends that mass tourism is in more of a spiritual search and a desire for travel opportunities that increase the sense of place. While the increasingly popular ecotourism experiences emphasise the notion of learning, environmental obligation and social responsibility, which breaks away from the mass commodified tourism products, volunteer vacations present an altruistic theme in which participants can make a difference and help others. What is the significance of spending only a small proportion of time volunteering during a holiday? The volunteer vacation purports an infusion of an ideological divergence from the market-driven priorities of mass tourism. This divergence, however unintentional, seems to converge well with the societal needs of the fast-paced, stress-driven contemporary world. Individuals are in fact increasingly using tourism, especially experiences with a strong spiritua l notion, as a means of improving their home life, rather than merely escaping from it. This  could explain the rapid growth of volunteer vacation as a travel phenomenon in recent years. The benefits derived from the volunteer vacation appear to be temporary or enduring in nature. Temporary or immediate benefits could be having a higher level of satisfaction with the overall leisure trip as a result of the volunteering experience. The enduring benefit effects centre around the developments of both self and others, as well as social relationship enhancement. The social interactions pertaining to the volunteer vacation domain appear to enhance relationships in a multifaceted manner: (1) Interacting with people from the destination community promotes mutual understanding and appreciation and friendship. (2) Interacting with travel group members with similar interests and values promotes friendship and peer bonding. (3) Interacting with family members, such as spouse and children, promotes healthier family relationships and tighter bonding. This research contributes to the tourism literature by brokering the linkages between the volunteering, volunteer vacationing, mass tourism vacationing and motivation to travel. The volunteer vacation phenomenon appears to bridge the altruistic motives of volunteering with the general commodified tourism experiences. In this regard, the outcome of this research also bears some practical implications for the tourism industry practitioners.  Volunteer vacation seems to provide a new avenue for tourism satisfaction. As demonstrated in this research, this concept brings about a higher level of trip satisfaction for the participants. We are identifying a new and unique market segment that is neither a pure leisure trip nor a pure volunteer experience. Implementing this concept will create authentic cultural experiences unlike any other in the industry. This philosophy and practice of volunteer tourism can be linked to the mainstream tourism with its focus on market priorities. The outco me of this hybridised approach in the global marketplace of tourism can potentially generate new market dynamics and promises while enabling every traveller to be an ambassador for peace. The authors acknowledge that while this research presents an interesting snapshot of the emerging volunteer vacation phenomenon, the generalisability of the research outcome is limited, as it is based on a small sample from one organisation with qualitative methodologies such as focus groups and personal interviews. Substantially more research is needed in this area to better attempt to understand the dimensionalities of the motivational and benefit factors of volunteer tourism and the interplay of mass tourism motives and volunteer motives. To achieve this goal and increase internal and external validities of the research findings, more stringent measurement scales will be developed based on the qualitative analyses and extensive literature review. 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