Marketing Evaluation

MARKETING PLAN EVALUATION WORKSHEETS Your task is to describe and evaluate the marketing plan of an automobile brand and model of your choice. For the marketing aspect of your evaluation focus on a particular model not the whole company: for example consider the Chevrolet Camaro, not GM as a whole. For the situation analysis you will need to consider more than just specific model, i. e. what is the situation of GM as a whole and how is this impacting the marketing of your particular model. You focus should be primarily Canada while recognizing that for the situation analysis especially, there may be issues globally (e. . world economy) that will be relevant. These worksheets are designed to assist you in your project. Worksheets are a useful tool because they help to ensure that important information is not omitted from your evaluation. Answering the questions on these worksheets will enable you to: 1. Organize and structure the data and information you collect during the situation a nalysis. 2. Use this information to better understand your firm's strengths and weaknesses and to recognize the opportunities and threats that exist in the marketing environment. 3. Identify if goals and objectives that capitalize on strengths. . Identify if a marketing strategy that creates competitive advantages. 5. Identify and critique a plan for implementing the marketing strategy. By downloading these worksheets in an electronic format, you will be able to change the outline or add additional information that is relevant to your situation. Remember that there is no one best way to organize an evaluation of a marketing plan. The outline was designed to provide an analytical framework and to be flexible enough to accommodate the unique characteristics of the company you are reviewing.It is possible that not everything in the worksheets will apply equally to your company. You could start by reviewing Figure 2. 6, the overview of the marketing planning process found on page 62 of the text. You should also review Table 2. 2 and appendix 2 of your text. As you complete the worksheets, you should refer back to the text of the chapters as suggested throughout. In completing the situation analysis section, be sure to be as comprehensive as possible. The viability of your analysis depends on how well you have identified all of the relevant environmental issues.Likewise, as you complete the analysis, you should be accurate and realistic about the firm's characteristics. Do not attribute strengths to the firm that it does really does not possess. Being accurate also goes for your listing of weaknesses. I. Executive Summary The executive summary is a synopsis of the overall evaluation. The executive summary is easier to write if you do it last, after you have written the entire evaluation . Include a description of the product, the target market, and the need for it in the market. You should give an overview of the main points of your evaluation.Most importantly, kee p in mind that this is your opportunity to sell your marketing plan and entice your audience to read the details of the report. Company Description and Input from Corporate Strategies (pp. 45 – 54) Include a description of the company’s recent history and successes and touch briefly upon the strategy for the organization as a whole. This may include elements such as: Mission Corporate objectives Strategic Business Unit (SBU) objectives (Figure 2. 1 on page 46 illustrates the stages in formulating a strategy for the company as a whole. )III. Situation Analysis A situation analysis considers the internal circumstances of the organization or product, the external environment, competitive activity, and characteristics of the customer that may be relevant to the marketing plan. A situation analysis includes: †¢ Internal analysis †¢ Environmental analysis †¢ Customer analysis †¢ Competitive analysis A. Internal Analysis Review of marketing goals and objec tives Identify the firm's current marketing goals and objectives. State whether these goals and objectives are: Consistent with the firm's missionConsistent with recent changes in the marketing or customer environments Leading to expected performance outcomes (sales volume, market share, profitability, awareness, brand preference) Review of current marketing performance Describe the firm's current performance compared to other firms in the industry. Is the performance of the industry as a whole improving or declining? Why? If the firm's performance is declining, what is the most likely cause (e. g. , environmental changes, flawed strategy, poor implementation)?Review of current and anticipated organizational resources Describe the current state of the firm's organizational resources (e. g. , financial, capital, human, experience, relationships with key suppliers or customers). How are the levels of these resources likely to change in the future? If resource levels are expected to ch ange: How can the firm leverage additional resources to meet customer needs better than competitors? How can the firm compensate for future constraints on its resources? Review of current and anticipated cultural and structural issuesIn terms of marketing strategy development and implementation, describe the positive and negative aspects of the current and anticipated culture of the firm. Examples could include: The firm's overall customer orientation (or lack thereof) The firm's emphasis on short-term vs. long-term planning Willingness of the culture to embrace change Internal politics and power struggles The overall position and importance of the marketing function Changes in key executive positions General employee satisfaction and morale B. Environmental AnalysisReview Chapter 4 Economic Growth and Stability Identify the general economic conditions of the country, region, province, and local area in which the firm operates: Political, Legal, and Regulatory Issues Identify any po litical activities that affect the firm or the industry: Changes in elected officials (domestic or foreign) Industry (lobbying) groups Consumer groups Changes in Technology Identify ways that changing technology has affected the firm's customers: Identify ways that changing technology has affected the way the firm or the industry operatesIdentify current technologies that the firm is not using to the fullest potential: Identify future technologies that may increase the risk of product obsolescence: Sociocultural Trends Identify changes in society's demographics and values that will affect the firm or the industry (if this becomes too broad, focus on the firm's target customers): Explain the changes that shifting demographics and values will have on the firm's: Identify any problems or opportunities that may be created by changes in the cultural diversity of the firm's customers and employees:Identify any ecological issues (pollution, recycling, energy conservation) that the firm or industry is facing: Identify the ethical and social responsibility issues that the firm or industry is facing: C. Customer Analysis Review Chapters 6 & 7 There are seven general questions that marketers should ask about their customers: 1. Who are our actual and potential customers? 2. Why do they buy our product? 3. Why do others not buy our product? 4. Where do our customers buy our product? 5. How do they buy it? 6. When do they buy it? 7. What do they do with our product?Who are the firm's current and potential customers? Describe the important identifying characteristics of the firm's current and potential customers: Demographic Geographic Psychographic Product usage Identify the important players in the purchase process for the firm's products: Purchasers (actual act of purchase) Users (actual product user) Influencers (influence the decision, make recommendations) Financial responsibility (who pays the bill? ) What do customers do with the firm's products? Where do customers purchase the firm's products?Identify any trends in purchase patterns across these outlets (e. g. , how e-commerce has, or could, change the way the firm's products are purchased). When do customers purchase the firm's products? Factors under the firm's control Factors not under the firm's control Why (and how) do customers select the firm's products? Describe the basic benefits provided by the firm's products relative to competing products: Describe the degree to which customers' needs are being fulfilled by the firm's products relative to competing products: Describe how customers' needs are expected to change in the future.Describe the relative importance of transactional (short, one-time) vs. relational (long-term, ongoing) exchange processes when customers make a purchase: Why do potential customers not purchase the firm's products? After answering these seven questions, then you can look at segmentation and positioning analysis (see p. 267 for positioning analysis and position ing maps). D. Competitive Analysis (pp. 121-12,; 295, 387) Identify the firm's major competitors (brand, product, generic) Identify the characteristics of the firm's major competitors: List any potential (future) competitors not identified in the preceding.IV. SWOT Analysis: The previous analyses should have uncovered the essential elements for a SWOT analysis. This is essentially a summary of the previous findings, and its format may shed further light on the current company situation (pp. 62 – 63; see Blackboard â€Å"Things to consider for a SWOT and PESTEL analysis; also review concepts from Comm 101). A. Strengths Strength 1: _________________________________________________________ How does this strength enable the firm to meet customers' needs? Does this strength make the firm different from (better than) its competitors? Repeat as needed to develop a complete list of strengths) B. Weaknesses Weakness 1: ________________________________________________________ How doe s this weakness prevent the firm from meeting customers' needs? Does this weakness make the firm different from (worse than) its competitors? (Repeat as needed to develop a complete list of weaknesses) C. Opportunities Opportunity 1: _______________________________________________________ How is this opportunity related to serving customers' needs? How can the firm capitalize on this opportunity in the short- and long-term? Repeat as needed to develop a complete list of opportunities) D. Threats Threat 1: ___________________________________________________________ How is this threat related to serving customers' needs? How can the firm prevent this threat from limiting its capabilities in the short- and long-term? (Repeat as needed to develop a complete list of threats) F. Matching, Converting, Minimizing, and Avoiding Strategies Describe ways that the firm does or can match its strengths to its opportunities to create capabilities in serving customers' needs.Does the firm convert i ts weaknesses into strengths or its threats into opportunities? If not, how can the firm minimize or avoid its weaknesses and threats? Does the firm possess any major liabilities (unconverted weaknesses that match unconverted threats) or limitations (unconverted weaknesses or threats that match opportunities)? If so, are these liabilities and limitations obvious to customers? Can the firm do anything about its liabilities or limitations, especially those that impact the firm's ability to serve customers' needs? V.Marketing Objectives and Strategies: from your analysis, what do you infer as the company’s marketing objectives? A. Marketing Goal A: __________________________________________________ Objective A1: ______________________________________________________ Be as specific as you’re able. Objective A2: ______________________________________________________ Be as specific as you’re able. B. Marketing Goal B: __________________________________________________ Objective B1: ______________________________________________________ Be as specific as you’re able.Objective B2: ______________________________________________________ Be as specific as you’re able. (Repeat as needed to develop a complete list of goals and objectives) VI. Marketing Strategies: based on your observations of the company activity, what are the marketing strategies being pursued? A. Primary Target Market and Marketing Mix (pp. 106-109) Primary target market: ________________________________________________ Review Chapter 7 This target's primary need: Identifying characteristics (demographics, geography, psychographics): Purchasing/shopping habits and preferences:Consumption/disposition characteristics: Product: _______________________________________________ Review Chapters 8 & 9 Major features and benefits: Sustainable competitive advantage: Differentiation / positioning strategy: Brand name and packaging: Customer service strategy: Complementary product s: Pricing: ________________________________________________ Review Chapter 10 Pricing objectives: Description of per unit costs: Discount/markdown policy: Distribution: ____________________________________________ Review Chapter 11 General supply chain strategy: Intermediaries and channels to be used:Elements of customer convenience: Promotion: _____________________________________________ Review Chapters 12 & 13 General IMC strategy: IMC objectives and budget: Elements of the advertising/publicity strategy: Elements of the personal selling strategy: Elements of trade sales promotion (push) strategy: Elements of consumer sales promotion (pull) strategy: Elements of the sponsorship strategy: B. Is there a Secondary Target Market? If so, repeat the above analysis VII. Marketing Implementation A. Structural Issues What organizational structure is being used to implement the marketing strategy:Describe any changes to the firm's structure needed to implement the marketing strategy (e. g . , add/delete positions, change lines of authority, change reporting relationships). B. Tactical Marketing Activities: what is the company doing specifically to implement the strategy that you have identified? |Specific Tactical Activities | | | |Product Activities | | | |1. |2. | |3. | | | |Pricing Activities | | | |1. | |2. | |3. | | | |Distribution Activities | | | |1. | |2. | |3. | | |IMC Activities | | | |1. | |2. | |3. | VIII. Evaluation and Control A. Formal Marketing Control Describe the types and levels of formal control mechanisms that should be used to ensure the implementation of the marketing plan. Summary and Conclusions Write approximately one to three paragraphs summarizing your analysis and providing a broad overview of the key actions recommended.

Plan: Realism in Great Expectations and Robinson Crusoe Essay

‘Realism falls short of reality. It shrinks it, attenuates it, falsifies it.’ (Eugà ¨ne Ionesco) Discuss the relation between realist literature and the world it represents. Actual Quote â€Å"Realism falls short of reality. It shrinks it, attenuates it, falsifies it; it does not take into account our basic truths and our fundamental obsessions: love, death, astonishment. It presents man in a reduced and estranged perspective. Truth is in our dreams, in the imagination.† Start by talking about realism and realist literature. Realism began in the 19th century? My interpretation of the question. Explain that the essay will respond to the quote with reference to Robinson Crusoe and Great Expectations. I will study how the texts attempt to construct reality with issues such as gender and race but do both have problematic features that support the argument raised by Ionesco. Realism began in the 19th century? Defoe seen as the father of realism Insert and analyse quotes where possible and respond to critics/opinions. Realism in Robinson Crusoe 1. Realism ‘The editor believes the thing to be a just history of fact; neither is there any appearance of fiction in it.’ (Preface to Robinson Crusoe) ‘Given its accumulation of ‘realistic’ descriptions and detail, its capacity to name and map out time and space as if it mirrored reality, realist fiction emerged as part of a culture obsessed with the truths and realities of an increasingly scientific and secular world’ (Sean Purchase, Key Concepts in Victorian Literature (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), p. 185) ‘According to Marxist critics, for example, realist Victorian fiction†¦ embodies middle-class ideologies and values, so that the very discourse of â€Å"realism† it provides is really a middle-class adaptation of reality from the outset’ (Purchase, p. 186) In The Rise of the Novel, Ian Watt identified the following elements as  characteristic of the early novel: A concern to account for probability; a concern to tell you who, what, why, where and when. Watt describes reading a novel as like listening to evidence in a court of law. Specific, recognisable and often present-day settings. Mixed characters, characters who change over time. Celebration of private, domestic (rather than public, heroic) virtues. Plain language.  (Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel, London: Chatto & Windus, 1957) Locate evidence of each of the above in Robinson Crusoe. You might wish to focus on the opening three pages of the novel but feel free to look at any section. Defoe’s â€Å"Robinson Crusoe† began the literary genre of realistic fiction. The aspects of his writing that define â€Å"realism† would be the immense detail he uses; descriptive language; and the flow of his narrative (dialect included). Defoe concentrates on the qualities of different objects, which provide us with a picture to accompany the words. His first clay pot, the crude fashion of his garments, and the grindstone are a few of the things we can almost touch when reading. Defoe not only introduced this genre, but I believe that in many ways he is still the master. daniel defoe expresses his work in realism via : – first person narrator. – using specific dates . – using real places – using details – fallibility – diaries http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/discuss-realism-robinson-crusoe-and-why-daniel-126439 Unrealistic Rob Cru Although we do not think too highly of the literary experience of the average 18th century reader, even he would remain sceptical after taking the author at his word. Defoe’s solution to this problem is most original: Fact is his strategy, and triviality his weapon. Of course, this technique of describing as many trivial events as possible to make the story seem more realistic, has (again) become a common aspect of almost every novel to date. In almost 400 years, we have gone from one extreme to another: From a time when it was revolutionary to introduce this formula in literature, to a time where it would be almost revolutionary not to. It may seem as if I am saying I am strongly inclined to believe that Robinson Crusoe is both a terrific book and a novel which set a new standard for literature in its time. This is true. However, I am not oblivious to some of the weaker points of the book. My foremost criticism is this; Robinson Crusoe is not a real person. He is a character, faintly disguised as a person. At first we are fooled, for all that happens seems realistic enough, but as soon as Robinson is marooned on the island, the illusion is fading. His way of living, his sudden belief, his entire way of looking at the world suggests that someone indeed did make this up. Partly, this has to do with the environment. When Defoe decided to write a more realistic novel than was usual at the time, he could have done better that to opt for an uninhabitated island. It is very difficult to make a character seem more realistic when he is completely alone. It is very hard to describe in detail solitude on such a large scale of time and still remain true to realism. Solitude may be something we have all experienced at one time or other, but Robinson’s long time completely devoid of any human contact whatsoever and his logical despair is incredibly hard to describe convincingly. Realism in Great Expectations Get presentation made in seminar real and unrealistic GE: TOPIC FOUR: Genre: Realism and sensationalism In what ways might we think of this as a realistic fiction i.e. as a fiction that represents the experience of living in the world (of materiality)? What specific features make this a ‘condition of England’ novel (if any)? You should come prepared to define this term. In what ways is this an unrealistic text? You should think about the characterisation; the plot resolutions; the theatricality of some of the scenes and events; the style in which some parts of the narrative are delivered. Find at least three examples to discuss. In considering the above, you might wish to comment on the serialised form of the original publication. Is it melodramatic? Episodic? To what extent do you feel that the more melodramatic or sensationalists aspects of the text undermine its social comment (if at all)? Realism was developed by the middle of the 19th century as a response to the idealistic world of romanticism which had dominated for the past half century. It was an aesthetic movement which attempted to hold up a mirror to its society to show a true reflection of reality. Although claiming to offer a slice of life by emphasizing chiefly in the importance of the ordinary amongst the middle and lower classes, realism is a relative concept, a representation of reality which adheres to a loose collection of conventions. Many of these are offered in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, which follows the life and struggles of the protagonist and narrator, Pip. Dickens uses techniques such as a chronological linear narrative, an omniscient narrator, the celebration of the ordinary, and the resolution of the enigma to drive the moral undercurrents of Pip’s everyday existence. This constructed realism is essentially a representation of reality based on Dickens ideology, offerin g social commentary and reflecting the values and attitudes of nineteenth century England. The basic structure of Great Expectations follows a chronological development of Pip’s life; from his childhood innocence, to his disillusioned expectations, finally his rejection of the high life and a circular succession ending back at the beginning. This chronological structure of which Dickens narrates exemplifies Pip’s learning process through his moral and emotional turmoil and complies with the opportunity to generate a realistic setting. For example, Pip’s description of London, â€Å"a most dismal place; the skylight  eccentrically patched like a broken head, and the distorted adjoining houses looking as if they had twisted themselves to peep down at me through it,† creates an archaeologically realistic description of London, and hints a sense of foreboding, foreshadowing the futility of Pip’s expectations. This ideology developed through Pips learning process is created through a†¦ Great Expectations a novel by Charles Dickens takes reader on an epic adventure filled with unexpected encounters with a myriad of people with vastly different backgrounds that ultimately shape Pip into the man that he becomes. Pip moves from the social class that he was born to, to one that he is elevated to by an anonymous benefactor. The two people that typify the conventional expectations of romanticism and realism are Pip the protagonist and Joe Gargery the humble blacksmith. Joe clearly shows his love for Pip the entire way through the book, a love that is only acknowledged or valued until the closing pages of the book. We will look at Pip’s journey from extravagance and utter self indulgence to his ultimate enlightenment and self fulfillment. Great Expectations is narrated by an older mature Phillip Pirrip or Pip and is his reflections and recollections of his childhood through his emerging expectation, to adulthood, often seen to make fun of his younger self. Pip was reared by hand by his older malevolent sister and her meek and submissive husband Joe Gargery, after the death of his parents. The protagonist always refers to his sister as Mrs Joe, showing the reader how domineering and heavy handed she is towards not only Pip but her husband Joe. She affords little compassion or kindness to either male and you start to see the difference between the characters and their reactions to her in relation to the conventions of romance and realism. Joe lending himself to looking at life through the eyes of a realist satisfied knowing his place, where as Pip being more romantic, dreams of escape and leaving the marches for a better life. Pip was apprenticed to his brother-in –law Joe the village blacksmith, when his direction in life was to change by the chance meeting of an escaped convict in the graveyard of his parents.

Pricing and Costing Methods Essay

Organizations today more than ever before must ensure that they reduce costs as well, as the time used to avail products and services to the market. Since planning as well as the estimation of costs are critical to businesses it is important that organizations chose the best pricing and costing techniques. (Seonen, 2006). The implication here is that the fundamental goal of any business concern is to minimize its costs of operation while maximizing its returns to the shareholders. In order to achieve this, there is need to put in place the best pricing policies as well as the most appropriate costing techniques. This paper will attempt to examine the various costing as well as pricing methods that are available for use by business organizations. Traditional costs estimation methods like marginal and absorption costing will be looked at. Equally the newer costing method, the activity based costing will be discussed alongside other pricing methods. (Seonen, 2006) Pricing Methods Average cost pricing One example of pricing methods is the average cost pricing. Average cost pricing as a cost method involves the calculation of average costs per unit. To obtain this, the total cost of goods available for sale is divided by the total units available for sale. The weighted average approach is applied to all the closing inventories. (Duffie, 1992) The disadvantage with this method is the fact that it ignores the effects of cost increases as well as decreases. This is usually due to the fact that cost of closing inventory calculated under this category is usually affected the prices paid in the entire year as well as the cost of the opening stock. The method thus ignores more recent costs which are more reliable in income determination and decision making. Pricing methods Cost plus pricing: this is one of the pricing methods where by the price for a given product or service is the sum of the actual cost of the product or service plus a profit margin. This method of pricing is mostly used as an interim contractual measure. (Lintner 1965) The major advantage of this method is that it’s easy to calculate and need little information in computing the project costs and thus mostly used in pricing government contracts. The other hand this method has come under sharp criticism for encouraging wasteful expenditures in government contracts coupled by corruption. The other pricing method is the option pricing method that is commonly used in the motor vehicle industry. (Birge, 1997 ) option pricing method is basically where by an organization prices its products in a way that it provides a base price for its products which in most cases is always low to attract customers who upon visiting the store find other product accessories that can be purchased and added to the product. For example most vehicle manufacturing companies will provide a base price for their cars and use their showrooms to market other product parts like the car music systems, alarms e. t. c. Capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is another pricing approach that can be used in the financial sector, (Lintner 1965, pp. 12-39) it basically based on the investors ability to invest in many other fronts (divest) without additional costs, this approach is advantageous in that any future cash flows can easily be monitored with only knowing the investments correlation with the market, market risk premium as well as the risk free rates. Comparable uncontrolled price method(CUP),this is a method that seeks to establish the ALP, through comparing the controlled and the uncontrolled transaction in relation to the asset or service that has been transferred, (Duffie,1992) this method is mostly used in provision of loan by financial institutions as well by other organizations that sell intangibles. Resale price method, this is a method that seeks to evaluate the process of activities performed or done rather than the eventual output (product) (Lintner,1965,pp. 2-37)its commonly used in instances where the reseller do not add any meaningful value to the finished product and no physical changes are made on the product, the eventual resale price is determined by the resale price of a commodity then subtracting the gross profit margin achieved from the resale as well as all the expenses incurred, before arriving at the resale price of the commodity Bid pricing: This is a method of pricing that is commonly used in the stock exchange markets. it basically involve the respective clients placing bids or prices they would like to purchase the stocks of shares, and with the buyers and the sellers, with the highest bidder purchasing the property, price movements at times in the stock market always leads to the uncertainty in the market prices. (Sharpe,1964,p. 425-442) Target pricing: This is a method of pricing where business organizations price their products differently basing on the different market segments that they target with their products, the products may not necessarily have diverse differences to justify the difference in prices but the underlying idea is to maximize on profit in market segments that can pay higher prices for the product as this helps to cover on the lower segment, where the product may be priced lower. (Dominick,2008,p. ) The basic advantage of this pricing method is that it enables a company to earn higher profits without necessarily increasing production costs since it’s the same product that is sold to different target markets, Target pricing is generally common in the mobile phone industry where the same gadgets with minor modification are actually sold to different target markets at different prices Costing Methods Marginal costing This method also known as the direct coasting method has the main characteristic of charging all the manufacturing or product costs to the product irrespective of whether the costs are variable or fixed. Lucey, 1993) This method is useful in pricing decisions that are short term in nature in determining the least price that can be charged to a product below which losses will occur. The implication here is that marginal or direct costing as a traditional costing method suffers from the major drawback of oversimplification because it tends to employ only the volume of the product. Job costing is the method of costing where the coast of a product or service is determined by allocating costs ton a particular unit, a batch or even to a lot of the product or service. It is more or less the same as batch costing. Precisely, job costing method is applicable where good and services are produced as a result of a series of continuous operations. It is thus considered a product costing technique in which case emphasis is laid on the determination of the cost of a unit product. (Sobngwi, 2007) Absorption costing It has been the practice of many firms to charge manufacturing overheads on the basis of direct costs like direct labour. The technique used tended to differ in terms of details as well as allocation bases. Some systems employ a single base like total direct cost while others use several bases like direct labour and raw materials. Absorption costing as a method of costing allocates all the costs to the objects of the cost. This usually happen based on direct costs or even physical output measures. Marginal cost allocations are important for many managerial decisions like the valuation of stock as well as calculation of profits. (Sobngwi, 2007) The method may however not be very appropriate for product range decisions since the net profit figure from this technique tends to be unsatisfactory base for product range decisions. Allocation of expenses between two departments may be difficult. One department may for example have a fully developed product which could require only a little development resources while the other department could be in need of full development. In such a case dividing the costs will thus be inaccurate. This has the implication that there is uncertainty as to whether dropping one product line would lead to a reduction of the total expenses allocated to that product. (Bjornlund & Rossini 2005). Activity Based Costing (ABC) The activity based costing (ABC) was developed as a reaction to the shortcomings of the marginal and absorption costing methods. This method gives a description of the activity in overhead departments which can be recognized by both the departmental managers as well being driven by cost factors. The cost factors are usually the characteristics of the products s well as other cost objects. ABC is usually a two step process. First, the costs of similar activities in various overhead centers are collected. In this case the total direct cost of each department is then charged to each activity based on its use of total capacity as well as the total of all the costs of all activities collected from all the departments in activity cost pools. Seonen, 2006) Second, the cost drives of each cost pool are identified after which cost drivers are quantified and the allocations to product costs derived. (Seonen, 2006) There are usually many varieties of cost drivers to choose from in an attempt to explain the costs of an object. The bottom line however is that they have to be capable of being quantified in terms of both the cost pool as well as the cost objects. Conclusion There is always need for consistency as well as standardization of the methods of financial pricing and costing methods have been recognized. Adam et el,2003) This has led to the innovations of many sets of guidelines for both economic evaluations and costs. In the final analysis therefore, variations in cost methods that are usually used in business organizations have raised many questions resulting into the inability to compare the results of various costing as well as pricing methods. However in order to achieve both the transferability as well be able to generalize results there is need to apply uniform cost pricing and estimation methods in order to minimize any chances of variations.

Using deductive and inductive reasoning write a paper stating why Term

Using deductive and inductive reasoning write a stating why teenagers should have a curfew - Term Paper Example Based on research teenagers under curfew have high moral respect for both their parents and other people. On the other hand, teenagers not monitored always fall in social problems. This includes violent crimes and prostitution related activities. It, therefore, is a non-disputed fact that having students in curfews shapes their future. Keeping teenagers in curfew is a means of curtailing their freedom while improving their future. The consequences of curfews for teenagers do not serve their purpose. They are lousy ideas, which force teenagers to do the exact opposite of what is expected. According to research, teenagers tend to violate rules of curfew to do the extreme. They arrive in school late and engage in indiscipline cases, to get notice from other students (Robert 68). Drawing boundaries for teenagers initiate a fight between the students and the set boundaries. Teenagers under curfew, therefore, are problematic that teenagers acting on a free will. Consequently, curfews derail teenagers from revealing their talents, which should be exploited adequately. Talents are extremely beneficial in the life of teenagers; therefore, teenagers need curfews for regulation. Students lacking curfews tend to waste their talents on non-relevant

Negotiation Planning Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Negotiation Planning - Case Study Example They provide an estimate with respect to the direct material and direct labour, and this puts the ball in their court despite the company or the buyer providing their estimates with regard to direct material and labour in order to make the modifications, because the sellers are the ones being used for their services. Furthermore, the sellers are in a better position because they are able to quote a price that covers damages caused during the process of making modifications and, thus, keeping aside a negligible amount for the same. They also have taken into account an estimate for spoilage, new items, etc. in order to be on the safer side, keeping their profit margin at the best possible rate for the buyers. 3. In a contract, each party will do its best to emerge as the winner and have the best possible consideration at his/her end. In this contract, the sellers are in a better position than the buyers; however, it must be understood that the two parties do have misconceptions regardi ng one another. First, the buyers are doing their best to decrease the material and labour costs as much as they can because of the price that they will have to pay. The sellers, on the other hand, are trying to negotiate the same in order to maintain a profit margin, as well as to keep room for damages and arrears. The sellers must understand that the optical instruments require modifications to be done within the best possible cost estimate in order to keep the buyers from shelling out much money. Nonetheless, the misconception that the buyers have that the sellers will give them a quote more than they expect may be considered outside the scope of negotiation because ultimately, the buyers need to look into quality and take into account that they would be ready to pay the estimate rolled out by the sellers in order to be left with the best possible end results which will, in turn, help them cover the investments that they made. It is yet again another misconception for the buyers or the Gilbert Company to estimate the overheads and material costs that will be required for the purpose of modification, because the sellers will be able to provide a better estimate knowing that they have to provide their services while keeping a 10% profit margin. 2. In the second answer, we need to analyse the data carefully to ascertain the elementary assessment of the information. Negotiation Plan for the Buyer: The buyer’s position over here is conceptually taken on a different role than the seller’s position. When Pilgrim asked for a cost analysis programme to be conducted for the product, there was a major difference between the cost analyses of Gilbert and Price Analyst. This catapulted Pilgrim to extract the date based on the report conducted by both the parties and a combination of the report between these two parties was evolved to determine the actual cost elements in the negotiation planning. Pilgrim finally called Price Analyst to conduct a negotiation plan for the company since there was an immense difference coming out of the analyses conducted by Gilbert and Price Analyst. The proposed price by Pilgrim was 225,893 USD. This was the price at which he ideally wanted to sell all his 45 optical instruments to the buyer, which is Gilbert Instruments. Price analyst in its analyses compared the labour rates, the GA rates and the Overhead rates which went in modifying the optical instruments at the peak of their prowess. At the current level which is designed by the Price analyst,

Java Programming Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Java Programming - Math Problem Example import java.awt.BorderLayout; import java.awt.Color; import java.awt.Container; import java.awt.FlowLayout; import java.awt.Font; import java.awt.GridLayout; import java.awt.Window; import java.awt.event.ActionEvent; import java.awt.event.ActionListener; import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter; import java.awt.event.WindowEvent; import javax.swing.JButton; import javax.swing.JDialog; import javax.swing.JFrame; import javax.swing.JLabel; import javax.swing.JMenu; import javax.swing.JMenuBar; import javax.swing.JMenuItem; import javax.swing.JPanel; import javax.swing.JTextArea; import javax.swing.JOptionPane; public class Calculator extends JFrame implements ActionListener { // Variables final int MAX_INPUT_LENGTH = 20; final int INPUT_MODE = 0; final int RESULT_MODE = 1; final int ERROR_MODE = 2; int displayMode; boolean clearOnNextDigit, percent; double lastNumber; String lastOperator; private JMenu jmenuFile, jmenuEdit, jmenuView, jmenuHelp; private JMenuItem jmenuitemExit, jmenuitemCopy, jmenuitemPaste, jmenuitemStd, jmenuitemSci, jmenuitemDigitGrp, jmenuitemAbout; private JDialog dialog; private JLabel display; private JButton button[]; private JPanel masterPanel; private JTextArea textarea; Font f12 = new Font("Times New Roman", 0, 12); Font f121 = new Font("Times New Roman", 1, 12); ... jmenuitemSci = new JMenuItem("Scientific"); jmenuitemSci.setFont(f12); jmenuitemDigitGrp = new JMenuItem("Digit Grouping"); jmenuitemDigitGrp.setFont(f12); jmenuView.add(jmenuitemStd);jmenuView.add(jmenuitemSci);jmenuView.addSeparator();jmenuView.add(jmenuitemDigitGrp); jmenuHelp = new JMenu("Help"); jmenuHelp.setFont(f121); jmenuitemAbout = new JMenuItem("About Calculator"); jmenuitemAbout.setFont(f12); jmenuHelp.add(jmenuitemAbout); JMenuBar mb = new JMenuBar(); // mb.add(jmenuFile); mb.add(jmenuEdit); mb.add(jmenuView); mb.add(jmenuHelp); setJMenuBar(mb); //Set frame layout manager setBackground(Color.gray); //adds menubar to frame (end) masterPanel = new JPanel(); display = new JLabel("0"); display.setAlignmentX(JLabel.RIGHT); display.setBackground(Color.gray); Container contentPane = getContentPane(); // Add components to frame contentPane.add(display, BorderLayout.NORTH); button = new JButton[23]; JPanel backSpace = new JPanel(); backSpace.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 1, 2, 2)); button[20] = new JButton("Backspace"); backSpace.add(button[20]); JPanel control = new JPanel(); control.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 2, 2 ,2)); button[21] = new JButton(" CE "); button[22] = new JButton("C"); control.add(button[21]); control.add(button[22]);

Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt - Essay Example Three other teenagers are convinced in committing the crime. Here are their names: Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley. There was much various evidence found in the trial to prove the guilt of the three young people. However, all of them seem to be just the police’s attempt to keep their reputation by means of solving the case. This fact can be easily proved by analyzing the key elements of the prosecution case. As for the evidence and witness testimony against Damien Echols and Jason Baldman, it is necessary to consider the following things: the lake knife, the fiber evidence, the testimony of Dale Griffis, the testimony of Michael Carson and the testimony of the girls from the snowball game. The first evidence against the accused boys is the knife found in the lake. According to Deanna Holcomb’s testimony, Echols was carrying the similar knife one day. The similarity of the knife was connected with the information that there were upside-down crosses in the boy’s room together with the journal about dead children. As for me, I think that seeing the knife in the boy’s hand is not firm evidence against him. I do not think that the one who killed three people is able to walk in the street with the same knife without the fear of being suspected in the crime. Perhaps, Deanna Holcomb saw something like toy knife of the similar size and thought that it was the tool of the murders. She had no opportunity to look at that knife closer and there is no evidence that the knife (if there was any) carried by Echols was the one from the lake. DNA analysis was one more important evidence. I think that it is central evidence in the whole trial. The results were the following ones: None of the genetic material recovered at the scene was Damien Echols’, Jason Baldwin’s or Jesse Misskelley. A hair found in the ligature applied in order to bind Michael Moore was consistent with Terry Hobbs (Steven branch’s stepfather). Genetic material taken from the penis of Steven Branch belonged to the individual other than any of the defendants or victims. A hair taken from a tree root or stump at the crime place was consistent with the hair of one of Mr. Hobb’s friends who was together with him when the crimes took place. It is not difficult to see that the results of analysis of fiber evidence have nothing in common either with Damien Echols or Jason Baldwin. To my mind, the court should have doubted this evidence at once. It is not against the accused, but it proves that the three teenagers are innocent and could not commit the crimes. Dr Dale Griffis was an occult expert who attended no primary classes. I do not understand why he was listened to at all. According to his words, there were a lot of various drawings of a pentagram and upside down crosses in Echols’s room. Griffis was sure that it is the sign of Satanism and the three boys were killed in order to perform some Satanist rituals. M oreover, the doctor frequently saw the accused children dressed in black, their nails and hair were also black and there were tattoos on their body. It was the sign that the teens practiced Satanism. As for this evidence and point of view, I do not think that it is a reliable one. Wearing black closes and having dark nails does not mean that a person (especially a child) is Satanist and killed somebody to perform a ritual. Moreover, it was a mistake to listen to a person who just pretends to be an expert in the occult, but does not have enough knowledge for this. From my perspective, it is one more mistake made by the police and justice. There was an important testimony given by sixteen-year old Michael Carson.

Arts Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Arts Administration - Essay Example Organizations are feeling the need to address the problem of the deficit brought about by the problems in the economy (Bonser, 2005). Arts administrators have been very much needed the past few years in various profit and non-profit organizations dedicated to the culture and the arts. This only proves that the society and the economy that caters to arts are already embracing the business component of their endeavors (Bonser, 2005). Choosing arts administration as a field of study can open up to various possibilities in the arts industry. It also promises a big contribution to the society. Arts administrators, dedicated and well-trained, are expected to help the arts institutions to confront the financial situation and organizational limits and to cater to the interests and needs of the clients and enthusiasts. At the same time, the arts administrators are also expected to have the understanding of what counts in the artistic community (Bonser, 2005). In the United States alone, there are various schools that offer Arts Administration program. These schools and universities offer considerable courses for their students and they have very comprehensive curriculum. These institutions are known for their strong commitment in developing the capabilities and skills of the students, thereby providing a strong support to the current state and the future of the arts community (Bonser, 2005). Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology or FIT is located in New York. The school is based in the middle of the city, just perfect for the institute which provides a link between creativity and commerce. It provides academic programs for students who want a career in the arts industry with at least 30 fields to choose from. The courses vary from the Master's to Bachelor's and Associate's Degree. The programs vary. There is the credit certificate program, online course and international programs (FIT, 2006). FIT recognizes the need to go beyond instilling among the students a good background in history of the arts. This is why a number of the programs FIT offers today also teach skills in technology and business. The Fashion Institute of Technology has Associate Degree and Bachelor of Science Degree Programs that have a comprehensive curriculum, covering a specific arts field and the other disciplines required in management for that specific field. Some of these programs are the Fashion Merchandising Management, Production Management and Visual Management. They incorporate the significant resources of the school in the field of Arts and Design, Liberal Arts, and Business and Technology. Through this, school aims to be able to develop the communication and business skills among the students (FIT, 2006). FIT also offers Arts Administration in its Graduate Program in Art Market: Principles and Practice. This was formerly known as the Gallery and Retail Art Administration. It prepares its students for careers in art galleries, auction houses, art market services or public art administration. There are classes in art history and history of collecting. There are also courses tackling practical disciplines like art law, professional ethics, design and management of galleries, business and marketing. Applicants for the graduate program must

The History of Jamaican Music in the 20th Century and its Influence on Essay

The History of Jamaican Music in the 20th Century and its Influence on 20th Century Music in the West - Essay Example The emergence of sound system dances allowed for the spread of Jamaican music throughout the Western world. Jamaican music evolved through commercialization, starting from a point of trying to appeal through human emotional issues, but eventually taking on the role as a central part of the political evolution of Jamaica during the latter 20th Century. As Bob Marley took on an international presence, he and others who followed brought reggae to the United States where it influenced the evolution of politically volatile rap music. The influences of Jamaican music on the Western world evolved from an island that was undergoing social and political change. Jamaican Music Development History of the Jamaican Sound The history of Jamaica is mixed between the African heritage and the colonialism of Europe. The main language of Jamaica of the island is English, but the traditional history of the region is that evolved from small villages on the island from the roots of an African heritage whi ch was untouched by European influence. From the evidence of the primarily European influences on daily life, it can be concluded that Jamaica is primarily a European influenced culture but has retained the flavor of Africa in its arts. According to Chang and Chen, â€Å"the performance style of authentic folk music in Jamaica is African, no matter what the origins of the music†.1 The proof of this is seen in Rastafarian renditions of European Bible hymns in which complicated percussive expressions and the insertion of syncopations not in the original music are decidedly African influenced. Additionally, the use of relaxed vocal timbre which obtains the sound from the face rather than from the head expresses an African style as opposed to a European influence.2 One of the more prevalent techniques that can be seen in Jamaica that is directly influenced from Africa is the call and answer group vocal technique. Most music in both the African and Jamaican format is conceived voc ally. This is so important that there exists a ‘sing-talk’ format that can be considered the precursor to rap. The call and answer form, which is fairly self-explanatory, is a core of African and Jamaican musical performance. Rural Jamaican music is rife with this format and it has been translated as an influential factor into ska, rocksteady, and reggae.3 The belief is that most of the African influences are from the period of time of colonial slavery, but this may not be the case. The theory that African influence is based solely on this time of slavery can be refuted when taken into consideration with the addition of indentured servants who came outside of slavery during the period between 1841 and 1865. The Rastafarians are defined by Ethiopian origins, by the Bongo Nation are influenced from ancestry in the Congo-Angola region of West Africa. What is now known by Rastafarians as Nyabinghi can be shown to be a direct result of the combination of theses traditions.4 According to Chang and Chen â€Å"Jamaican popular music has always mixed the rhythm of Africa and the melody of Europe†5 During the early 20th century Jamaica was beginning to create a post-colonialism world with a distinct national identity. In the 1930s music that was specific to Jamaica began to emerge as a defining element of the culture. As development workers began to work towards improving conditions of villages and towns, organizing a network in order to gain control over distribution of resources and to

The study on Human resources in a digital age Dissertation

The study on Human resources in a digital age - Dissertation Example Primary research is conducted for the study. This is done using the questionnaire method on a sample of 100 HR professionals across different sectors. They are primarily HR executives and HR managers in organizations. The analysis is done based on the responses collected from candidates and presented in the form of graphs and pie charts. The drawbacks and loopholes in the system are identified and suitable recommends are provided to eliminate them. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 5 Background 6 Research aims and objectives 7 Problem Statement 8 Literature Review 8 Impact of Information technology in human resources in organizations, changing trends 8 Human Resource Management using information technology and competitive edge of firms 13 Strategic constraints on human resource management in the digital age 17 Technology and training for human resource professionals 20 Research Methodology 24 Primary Research Study 24 Scope of Research 25 Data Collection methods and technique s 26 Research Limitations 27 Questionnaire design 28 Research Findings and Analysis 29 Quantitative Analysis 29 Qualitative Analysis 38 Recommendations 42 Conclusion 44 Reference 46 Bibliography 49 Appendix 51 Questionnaire 51 Introduction Globalization and global competition has been imposing great pressure on managers in organizations to make better and faster business decisions. Investments in information and technology have also been creeping up along with this pressure. Investments in the area of information and technology in considered being one of the critical means of improving and fastening up of management decision making. Even then, organizations have faced the great difficulty in realising the potential of investments in the areas of information and technology in businesses. This has been particularly visible in the business area of human resource management, despite the fact that longer lead times associated with changes in human resource management systems necessarily means HR accounts for a major candidate to derive benefits from information and technology. In order to emerge successful amidst the increasingly and global competition managers are constantly faced with the pressure of controlling labour costs, motivating employees and subordinates to provide high quality services, enhancing customer oriented performances and constantly searching for better and new ways of doing the jobs successfully. Circumstances make it mandatory for organizations to meeting these objectives against all odds in the face of a shrinking workforce and the global environment in which employees hail from diverse and multicultural backgrounds located across different parts of the globe. Even the routine and conventional tasks maintaining records of employees and regulatory and legal compliance have become increasingly geometrically intensified. In other words systems and operations in organizations have become more complicated and this consequently demands more sophis ticated technology applications which go much further beyond the conventional tasks of improving the routine task activities. Managers have their own stake in exploiting information technology for furthering and bettering human resource management. However, various managers have different views regarding the effectiveness of use of IT in human resource

Comparisons among 5 companies of retailer industry Essay

Comparisons among 5 companies of retailer industry - Essay Example It is still believed that the sector will grow by 15 percent in the next five years. By the year 2011, it is estimated that the annual sales of the industry would be around  £312 billion. The sector employs around 3 million people accounting for 11 percent of the total UK workforce. At the same time, the industry contributes 8 percent to the GDP of the country. (Invest in UK, 2010) According to the TNS World Panel grocery market share report as of 29th April 2009, the big three players of the retail industry in the UK are: Tesco with 31 percent market share, ASDA with 17 percent and Sainsbury with 16 percent. The retail industry in the UK has developed in all aspects and categories. The sector has shown tremendous growth and competition in all the allied sub-divisions: electrical, groceries, clothing and footwear, cosmetics, home-ware, floor coverings and furniture, gardening as well as e-retail. (Tesco, 2010) Tesco is a global grocery and merchandising store with headquarters based in UK. The brand is the largest grocery brand within the limits of United Kingdom with the market share of 31 percent. Tesco is globally ranked as the third largest retailer with respect to revenues and second largest with respect to profits. The brand is now well developed with stores in 14 different countries across Europe, Asia and North America. The company appeals to all the different segments of people by providing all kinds of products from grocery to appliances, tires to gardening, clothing to cosmetics as well as furniture. Tesco has added 502 new stores globally to its portfolio in the last fiscal year. (Tesco, 2010) Tesco sales showed an increase by 6.8 percent whereas it’s before tax-profit increased by 10 percent. The company has now transformed itself into a globally diversified business and is well positioned for consistent long term growth. (Tesco, 2010) Tesco plans to invest  £27 million to reduce its carbon footprint by 2020.

Vulnerable Adults Essay Example for Free

Vulnerable Adults Essay Introduction Health service is defined as a top most service that is related to the diagnosis and treatment of disease, or the promotion, maintenance and restoration of health (Capezuti, Siegler and Mezey, 2007). There are personal and non personal health services. In UK, National Health Service (NHS) launched in the year 1948. Now it is the world’s largest publically funded health service. The health service in NHS is adorned with efficiency and comprehensive to provide maximum help and support for the needed people. Social care is defined as a profession where people work in partnership with those who experience marginalisation or disadvantage or who needs special care and support, vulnerable people leaving in the community and in the residential care ( Miller, Vandome and McBrewster, 2009). The policies and the legislations for support the caring and supporting the elder people are very important and it should be cared by each health professionals and by the society (http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/socialcare/index.htm). Care quality commission provides the assurance for the quality of care and support for the residence in the care homes residential homes with the support of policies and legislations in the England. The aim of this essay is to identify the law that is related to vulnerable adults is the lack of resources. Literature review In definition, a vulnerable adult is a person aged over the sixteen and not able to protect or take care of himself. There are number of reasons behind it; they are illness, physical disability, mental illness, drug or alcohol dependency and old age. The children act 1989 offer social workers and local authorities a clear legal framework to go along with their duties and obligations. This act is to provide maximum help and support for the children with its significant resources. This act got passed on the basis of simplifying the child care legislation that is exciting (Gupta, Playfer and Bhowmick, 2008). However, it is clear that for vulnerable adults it is difficult to find out a unifying statue, but instead there is some fragmented legislation that is difficult to locate and implement in an effective way. As the reason for a social worker and other care provider it is difficult to carry their skill, knowledge, experience and sensitivity for the support of the vulnerable adults. In this particular area, mental health legislation and community care lead the provision of services offering some regulations and guidance. But there are some confusion can be found out these regulations and guidance for the health providers. As the result it is a confused area to provide the needed duties and obligations from the part of the care providers. It is clear that there are some specific written policies to support the vulnerable adults, however with the involvement of different agencies in the protection of vulnerable adults it is still in confusion thinking that who is the right responsible to provide help and support. To rectify all these problems, NHS trust, social service department and all other related health services organisation should work together for a better result. But unfortunately th is is not the case. Care in the community According to the Health and Social Care Bill 2011, it gives an importance to the care , general health and other social issues. The social issues and care is very important and it should be cared by the medical professionals and other publics. The care and support for the adults in the society is very important and it should be valued for each and every persons especially by the health professionals. The Health and Social Care Bill was introduced in 19 January in 2011 in the parliament and the major part of this include with the modernisation in the medical facilities and world class health care delivering by the health professionals. The caring of the adults is very important and it also very important to give the modern and effective facilities to the adults and the other public (http://www.info4local.gov.uk/documents/related-links/1820651). The community care is aimed to offer help and support for both the vulnerable adult and their carer. The first step is to provide help for vulnerable adults is the recognition of him. Since the lacking of collaboration with multi agency and resources in majority of the local authorities and primary care trusts it would be unrecognised with the arrangements or referrals for the assessments related to needs (Baggett, 1989). This problem takes place with the lack of information and knowledge of the care providers since they are lacking of knowledge with the present legislation. It leads to more spending and needless action to provide maximum help and support for the vulnerable adults in the needed time. Most of the vulnerable adults are unaware of the help that is to be provided; there should be an immediate action to prevent this situation from worsening. Most of the adults are too proud seeking their help and needs from the care providers (Backhaus, 2011). For example, the visitors of the adults in hospital give the more support to offer help and support from the care providers. But there are some adults those who are avoided especially in majority of situation and their condition is getting worsening. Section 46 of the National Health Service and community care act 1990 defines the care plans and services to be provided for the needed people. It includes with laundry services, meals on wheels, residential care and social work. This section is a leading one to uplift the quality of care provider to maintain his service and help for the needed people. According to the local authorities the meaning of need because of financial constraints it guides to procedural bias and restriction of services. It clearly defines that the lack of resources with the law related to vulnerable adults and this area needed a special care. Old age According to the ‘Promoting Health and Well Being’ that is a standard which used by the national service frame work in Wales, they care about the older people and they gives some guidelines and the standard line for the old age lives. The major points which include with this are strategy for the nutrition and the well being of the older people, active and healthy life style of the people who lived in Wales, frame works for actions and National service frame work for diabetes, mental health and coronary heart diseases (http://cymru.gov.uk/topics/olderpeople/health/?skip=1lang=en). In old age a person comes in to the position of vulnerability with the reasons of not been provided adequate services and help or being a victim of some kind of abuse or neglect. As far as the duty of a social worker is concerned with old people, there should be some kind of a special treating on the basis of respect to provide maximum help and support for the old age people. Their voice should be valuable and heard with its prior important. On the basis of human rights 1998, a social worker should respect the human rights of adults, right to privacy, right to liberty and right to fair trial. A social worker should be friendly and can work in partnership with service user to make eligible the service users to be feeling as comfortable and supported (Duquenoy, George and Kimppa, 2008). Their needs skills and professional judgement from the part of the social worker to provide the needs of the adults and also to protect them. Since there are no laws to old people but for children, child act 1989, a social worker should be capable of with the legislation from different areas to offer the better results for the service users. In clear words, if a social worker is trained with specialist knowledge he becomes more positive to offer his better result. It is unmistakably true that the availability of the resources in the local authority plays and important impact to provide support and care for the old people and it is different in regions (Kamp and Hvid, 2012). It shows that it takes place with the lacking of proper application of the law. For example, the health services and public health act 1968, (HSPHA)’s state that the local authority may take arrangements to offer some services that is based on the well fare of older people. This wording act can’t take a major part to provide the obligations on the local authorities related to their better services, but only grants them power to do so. It is evident that if there is some problem with funding or services there may be a lot of old people can’t access the needed help and support from it. The National Health Service and community service at 1990 (NHS, CCA) S46 needs that every local authority must have a plan for their community care and they should be regular to make sure for the well fare of older people. It is the legislation that is important in some manner but it is failure in opening an account about the solid duty that is related to the local authorities to offer the help and support for the older people. The National Health Service Act, 1977 (NHSA) schedule 8, is aimed for providing services for the elder people who live in the local authority. This help is include with shopping, cooking, cleaning etc. it appears that a fame obligation on the local authority to offer the help and support. When an old person is recognised as to be given help and support from the part of the local authority, it is questionable that local authority is capable of helping and supporting of needed person. But from the part of the serviced user, in most of the cases the ultimate help from the local authority is not in a full result. And as the reason, the service from the local authority is not as much as improved than they started from. Residential accommodation The national assistance act 1948 (NAA) S.21 defines about the duties and obligations of the local authority to offer the accommodation for residence. As far as most of the laws connected to the adults is concerned, all those ones is included the right duties and obligations to provide help for the older people from the part of the local authorities. For example, the NAA 1948 (Choice of accommodation) directions 1992 were introduced to make the adults with accommodation and other needs. However the needed people are paid a specified amount. As the reason, the freedom of choice is cancelled since there are financial implications. Residential care is provided as an easily accessible one to 24 hour care home like it is the carefulness of local authority. Since there is choice, majority of the people would like to stay in the home, it is hard for a social worker to balance the value of his social work based on oppressive practice empowerment with financial implications and partnership and to be a well service provider with maximum help and support for the service user (Williams, 1992). The liberty of an adult is given with much priority. However in some cases, it is unavoidable for their own health safety and safety of others compulsory removals have been done. It means that it is the duty of a social worker to offer maximum support and help in the home environment itself (Norman and Redfern, 1997). It is significant to clarify that in residential homes there should be a high quality of caring and supporting. In some cases people in residential care has been exploited with neglect and employee abuse. The care standard act 2000 got introduced in order to make sure a regulatory system that is able to capable of delivering a high quality service with all its concerns (Burchell, 2000). In April 2002 with upgrading the services for vulnerable adults and children national care standard commission regulated the services. It includes four main components. They are monitoring, providing national bench marks, representing the consumer and encouraging the development of better services. It guarantees a new protection for vulnerable adults and it make sure to avoid the unsuitable people is not allowed to work with vulnerable adults (Williams, 1992). It established a general social care council for England and care council for Wales. It came to action with its first step as an effective act but the lacking of funding and human resources stopped its implementation with full perfection. In the care standard acts 2000, it mentions that there should be high quality social care worker provided with high standards of training. But it became questionable with the lack of funding, qualified trainers. In the article done by David Brindle, mentions that in UK the number of abuse against elderly people is alarming and it is growing as a top most problem to be rectified. Research shows that when the staffs are well trained and educated the abuse against elderly people is restricted or no longer a problem in the social care field. It means there are some staffs that are stress, over worked and feels undervalued can be the reason for abuse on adults. Studies prove that in some working area the care workers are not valued well, in some working environment they are stressed highly with their over working and hard working (Lechner and Neal, 1999). These are the problems that lead them to unleash their anger on elderly people and it comes to a result like abuse. It is estimated that there are 800,000 untrained staffs are involved in working with older people. If there is an action on elder abuse it may cost 600 pound each to make sure that they had recognised qualifications according to the charity. There are some potential employees have become part in abuse. In that case it is difficult to identify them and it should be the duty of a social care worker to guide and control himself at first. He should do his best with the support of good practice and vigilance. There should be consistency from the part of the employers, rigour, thoroughness in the implementation of needed checks and procedures that are apt in each and every time. Lacking of time, money or resources may be the problem with the employees. In other case, lacking of qualified and skilled employees with their leaving jobs is another problem. All together it is difficult to maintain an employee in an organisation providing his basic things. First of all there should be advanced type of training from the part of the organisation for the employees. It should help the employees to get matured and to know the rights and responsibilities in their duties to be done. Secondly providing value of an employee offering good salary and to give him comfortable shifting time to work is essential. It will enable him to feel comfortable in his working environment and to follow the duties and responsibility of his work. Thirdly, to stop the quitting jobs of employees an organisation should find out some strategies and techniques to retain their employees in their organisation (Roit, 2010). As far as abuse on elders is concerned from the part of the social care workers, the above said things are significant to rectify the problem to a great extent. Mental Health There are a lot of policies and legislations which related to it in the case of older people are established by the governments in the European countries especially in England. The elder people should be cared and support by the other people and society in their final stage of life and the value of humanity is considered by the each legislation and policies that established by the government. The law on mental health is very much as same as the law that is related to the groups of vulnerable adults. It is needed updating and consolidation. The department of health defines that there are some changes in mental health services with new drug treatments, different patterns of care, which is commonly seen in people treated in the community than in institutions and also wider role for other therapeutic approaches, these things have made a different landscape. As the reason modern mental health legislation is needed to reflect that landscape. Since the law has got updated approved social wo rker should be able to aware of his power and duties under the mental health act 1983. It is clear that the numbers of mentally ill patients are alarming and the treatment they get within the community is not fulfilled with its perfection. It needs support networks, more approved social workers and also better home services. But it is sad that the mentioned things are working efficiently very scarcely and the government should be able to provide extra funding to support their care in the community (Fulmer, Foreman and Walker, 2001). The national assembly for Wales started the adult mental health services strategy with four main key points. They are (1) Equity- it means, mental health service should be provided for the needed people with its perfection. (2) Empowerment- it means service users and carers should work together to find out a better strategy to help and support the mental health patients. (3) Effectiveness – there should be some effective intervention provided by mental health services that is needed for improving the quality of life. (4) Efficiency- the services of mental health should be capable of using the resources perfectly and they should care the public money is spent with accountability. In England it is questionable that mentally ill patients are treated well or not. In the past years there were good help and support for mentally ill patients from the part of the hospitals providing 63,000 beds in the year 1988. But in the year 2000, it was halved with 34, 3000 beds. Considering this number of beds and above said reasons there should be well planned strategies to provide maximum help and support for the mentally ill patient and also they should be in secure accommodation. Conclusion In conclusion, legislations, policies and guidelines for the caring and supporting for the older people are very important and effective in providing good and standard service. The government in the England and other European countries are providing a lot of rules, legislations, and policies to provide the support and good caring and support for the elder people in the society. Most of the legislations and the principles are followed by the each and every health professionals and it support to provide a standard and supporting care for the elder people. It is difficult for a social worker to provide maximum help and support for the vulnerable adults, to check it the care workers should ask questions by themselves and value the judgements by them related to the services that they provided. They should be capable of understanding where a person is in capable of taking decisions especially like a mentally ill patient. It means, the care worker should be the ultimate health provider apart from policies and procedures from the government. It means the more a social care worker is capable of handling his duty with its full perfection, the more he becomes available to the needs of service users. In the case of skilled employees in a health care organisation, there are some problems like burnout; quitting their jobs etc. these problems should be settled in with the perfect strategies from the government and health organisations as well. As far as the vulnerability of the adults is concerned there are some lack of clear legislation that hinters the correct implementation of the law and also the ambiguity of the law and all these things contribute to the lack of resources. References Backhaus, P. (2011) Communication in Elderly Care: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Continuum International Publishing, Baggett, S. (1989) Residential Care for the Elderly: Critical Issues in Public Policy. Greenwood Publishing Group Capezuti, L., Siegler, and Mezey, M. D. (2007) Encyclopedia of Elder Care: The Comprehensive Resource on Geriatric and Social Care , Springer Publishing Company Duquenoy, P., George, C. and Kimppa, K. (2008) Ethical, Legal, And Social Issues In Medical Informatics . Idea Group Inc Fulmer, T. T., Foreman, M. D. and Walker, M. K. (2001) Critical Care Nursing of the Elderly. Springer Publishing Company Gupta, A., Playfer, J. and Bhowmick, B. (2008) Measurement Scales Used in Elderly Care. Radcliffe Publishing Kamp, A. and Hvid, H. (2012) Elderly Care in Transition: Management, Meaning and Identity at Work. A Scandinavian Perspective. Copenhagen Business School Press Lechner, V. M. and Neal, M. B. (1999) Work and Caring for the Elderly: International Perspective s. Routledge Miller, F. P., Vandome, A. F. and McBrewster , J. (2009) Elderly Care. Alphascript Publishing Norman, I. J. and Redfern, S. J. (1997) Mental Health Care for Elderly People. Elsevier Health Sciences, Roit, B. D. (2010). Strategies of Care: Changing Elderly Care in Italy and the Netherlands. Amsterdam University Press Williams, D. K. (1992) Residential Care Services for the Elderly: Business Guide for Home-Based Eldercare. Routledge

Career and Gender Discrimination in Bahrain | Case Study

Career and Gender Discrimination in Bahrain | Case Study Ellen Moore (A) Living and working in Bahrain Case summary The case describes the working life and career decision of Ellen Moore, an American expatriate in Bahrain in the 1980s. Ellen is an outstanding and capable person both in terms of academic and professional background. Right after graduation with an MBA degree, she followed her husband to work as a financial specialist in Bahrain. Bahrain is a country situated in the Persian Gulf and its modernization and economy are strongly associated with the oil industry. Expatriates have been playing an important role in bringing expertise and dynamics to its under-developed areas. Ellen came to Bahrain to work as manager because of her vast work experience, she really like the opportunity to be a teacher and work with other people, although some working style, professional capability, religion were different from her home country, she believed that the ability to handle different situation would be an important international experience for her. After two years hard working, Ellen was offered with two senior management options of career promotion, one in accounts control and another in customer service. She wanted to choose the accounts control position but was faced with an explicit discriminatory practice by her manager for being a woman. He said that because the position she chose would involve visiting Saudi Arabia and negotiating with men, as a female she would not be able to fulfill this position. So there are four possible solutions that Allen could choose: 1. Take the customer position that she does not like 2. Fight back 3. Remain her current position 4. Leave the company. 1. The Case core issues a) Gender discrimination in the Bahraini society reflected in the organisational culture After two years of successful work, Ellen was offered two new positions in different areas. After carefully evaluate the two positions, she decided to take the Accounts Control position. When meeting with the General Manager, she was told that the offer had been reconsidered and this position was not available for her anymore. The reasons were: As a woman, she would be subject to discriminatory practices in Saudi Arabia and would experience difficulty travelling alone there as it is one of the job requirements She would also have difficulty in obtaining entry visas Customers would not accept to negotiate with a woman In case of hostile outbreak, she could be in danger. b) International migration of qualified workforce In 1975 offshore banking began in Bahrain. Since the country did not have experts to develop this industry, expatriates from around the world, particularly from Western Europe and North America, were invited to conduct business in Bahrain; Expatriates who lived under residence permits gained on the basis of recruitment for a specialist position that could not be filled by a qualified and available Bahraini citizen; Bahrain became a multicultural country. Expatriates would interact not only with Arabic nationals, but also with managers from others parts of the world, and with workers from developing countries; No formal training, especially in the difference among management practices, was provided in order to better adapt expatriates to new country/culture. c) Managing in a different culture Several aspects of the Middle Eastern culture had tremendous impact on the way of doing business, especially for the western firms which located in Bahrain: What Western managers considered to be proof of an argument or factual evidence could be flatly denied by a Bahraini: if something was not believed, it did not exist. It seemed that the concept of time differed between Middle Eastern and Western cultures. Schedules and deadlines, while sacred to Western managers, commanded little respect from Bahraini employees. Islamic religion: praying five times a day and Ramadan working hours. There is no separation of church, state and judiciary. Attitude towards women: all women could work outside the home, with hours restricted both by convention and by the labour laws. They could only work only after got their husbands, fathers, or brothers permission, and could not take potential employment away from men. Work outside the home was additional to duties performed inside the home. Most women who worked held secretarial or clerk positions; very few worked in management. The truth to a Bahraini employee was subject to an Arab interpretation, which was formed over hundreds of years of cultural evolution. 2. Possible solutions that Ellen faced a) Take the Customer Services position: †¢ Strength: By accepting the Customer Service position, she is taking her career to a new level. With new challenges to face, more responsibilities to meet and huge number of employees to manage which she has proven herself to have the skills and qualifications in this new role. It could be an option to take her career further and even could be a role model for women in this country that want to be in management position. †¢ Weakness: By accepting this position, she is sending the message that she is accepting the discrimination that she experienced. She would be compromising her values, which is probably painful for her as an educated American woman, because her true personality has been violated. b) Fight Back: †¢ Strength: Fighting back can help Ellen remain her true personality. By seeking help from Senior Vice-president, Ellen may persuade the SVP to stand by her side, get the position that she dreamed of. Another way to do it is to try her chances in the Bahraini Labor Tribunals, if she wins the case in the tribunal, it will help her change the women unequal rights in the company or even to be a role model for women in the Bahraini society. †¢ Weakness: Stepping over the general manager and reaching the Senior Vice-President to solve the issue might affect her relationship with the general manager who trusted her and nominated her for senior management position. This may result in serious conflicts with the organization management and risk Ellens job. c) Stay in her current position: †¢ Strength: The option of keeping the current position could be a safe choice for Ellen to maintain good relationship with her manager, keep her own values; and also not give in to the general managers prejudices. Meanwhile, she could start considering other career options. †¢ Weakness: Gender discrimination in public life and workplace is a noticeable issue in Bahrain (Asian Center for Human Rights 2007), thus the opportunity for promotion could be reduced in the future if Allen refused this promotion. Also, according to Metcalfe (2007), in Arab nations where women are expected to resign from their jobs when they are married; the training and professional academic qualifications are prioritized for men. Additionally, by not accepting the goodwill from the general manager, Ellen could be risking her relationship with him. d) Leave the company: †¢ Strength: According to Hofstede cultural dimensions (1993), Ellen is a person with high Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) who aspires for professionalism and punctuality. Bahrain Society, on the other hand, has a low UA featured in greater tolerance in timing. The big differences in Uncertainty Avoidance and Power Distance traits between Ellens and Bahrain society might hinder Ellens ability to develop her career in the country. Moreover, the reasons for Ellen to prefer the Account Control position are to gain international experience, better pay and challenging opportunities and these can be found in other job positions. †¢ Weakness: In Bahrain, it is required to obtain a permission letter from current employer in order to seek or move to work for another employer. If the relationship between the employee and the employer is not in good terms, then there is a high possibility that the current employer will refuse to release the employee. If Ellen cannot find another job and leaves the country, her husband might also need to leave his current job and find an alternative solution for both of them. 3. Proposed solution We recommend that Ellen remain in her current position until other work opportunities arise for her. According to Hofstede (1993), Ellen possess low Power Distance (PD) trait that influences her desire for reaching the equality for both men and women in work and life. Staying in the same position and not accepting the Customer Service position will work better for her by keeping her values and refusing to accept the gender discrimination. Moreover, this option allows Ellen to express her strong interest in sharpening her financial expertise while possibly retaining good relationship with the supervisor. As Ellen came to Bahrain with the aim to train Bahrainis to take over her job this option would still facilitate her aspiration. Thus, staying in the company can give her more time to think and search for other alternatives and career prospects. According to Al-Lamky (2007), unequal policies, structures and programs in the organization that may obstruct womens employment and career growth, he mentioned that the best way to solve gender issues should involved policy and structure change in the organization. By remaining in her current position, Ellen could lobby some policy evaluation in the organization, continue advocate equal gender rights for women, some examples that she may like to lobby: implementing programs to increase sensitivity towards women; through work recognition and promotion to make top women visible in the organization; creating an organizational culture that is open and sensitive to differing styles in the workplace (San Dico Kleiner, 1999). Child care could also be an interesting program to be developed as it would be an auxiliary in helping women to perform the cultural responsibilities attributed to them (Al-Lamky 2007). With the power that she already had in the company and the help of her current fem ale employees, there is a great chance that she could win in this lobby battle. 4. Emic-concept and its influence in the decision making Aiming to investigate elements of the Bahrain culture that are relevant to the management field, we considered the Emic Concept in this case study is the gender discrimination. Throughout the case, the gender discrimination was highly observed in the workplace, Bahrain had difficulties accepting and acknowledging the contributions of women to management. In Ellens story, she suffered discrimination for being a woman in many situations. One of them that we have mentioned above was the career decision that Ellen had to choose, her general manager told her that the offer had been reconsidered because she was a woman and as such, would face difficulties executing the job. Such difficulties included women face discriminatory practices in Saudi Arabia and customers refusing to negotiate with her. Although she had the ability and qualification for the customer service position, she refused it because it was based on gender rather than competence. Another situation of gender discrimination in the workplace was in managing male employees. In the case, an employee named Fahad, would always refuse to listen to whatever Ellen had presented to him and he always disregarded Ellens ideas. However, with her continue effort she managed to resolve the problem and was able to perform with Fahad many successful projects. Because this case happened in 1980s, in your mind the gender discrimination situation would be better in this country in nowadays; however, if we looking at some statistics in recent years, you will realize that your judgment is too hasty. In 2006, women in Bahrain held only 9% of senior civil service posts although they constituted 11% of the private sector workforce and 42% of the government workforce (Asian Centre for Human Rights, 2007). It demonstrates that gender bias is still strong in the workplace, and women receive significantly low remuneration than their male counterparts, one of the reasons is the Arab societies are reluctant to abandon their traditional viewpoint of women, they thought that their primarily role should be in house and rise children (Mostafa 2005). However, things are not set in stone forever, some Arabic nations have seen considerable changes for women situation nowadays, According to Mostafa (2005), research on attitudes towards women roles â€Å"showed over the last two decades or so a universal trend of increasing liberalism and acceptance of more egalitarian role definitions, especially among women†. Women can be also found in positions such as ministerial and parliamentary positions, running businesses and siting as presidents in national universities, with increasingly figures in the work force and rising to managerial positions (Omair 2008). Given the facts learned from the case and recent researches just presented, the emic concept has influenced the process of decision making as the group understood that decision choosing to continue working in her current job would reflect less discriminatory practices. She would accept a position as customer service which was offered based on gender and, also, Ellen Moore would not be compromising her job and legal rights to remain Bahrain. 5. References Omair, K. (2008). Women in management in the Arab context. Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues. Vol. 1 No. 2. pp. 107-123. Al-Lamky, A. (2007) Feminizing leadership in Arab societies: the perspectives of Omani female leaders. Women in Management Review. Volume: 22. Issue:1 Asian Centre for Human Rights. (2007). Bahrain: Stakeholders Report, India. Hofsted, G. (1993). Cultural constraints in management theories. Academy of Management Executive. 7(1), 81-94. Metcalfe, B. D. (2007). Gender and human resource management in the Middle East. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 18:1,54 -74, p.12,13 Mostafa , M. (2005). Attitudes towards women managers in the United Arab Emirates, Journal of Managerial Psychology. Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 522-540. Sandico, C. and Kleiner, B. H. (1999). New development concerning gender discrimination in the work place. Equal Opportunities International. Volume 18 Number 2/3/4 .

Cross Linguistic Influence English Language Essay

Cross Linguistic Influence English Language Essay The research area of this paper is a cross-linguistic influence or as otherwise known transfer. Specifically, I propose to examine orthographic transfer and its potential effects on English native speakers pronunciation of segmentals in German as their second language. The fact that orthography can influence second language pronunciation is recognized by many foreign language teachers. Nevertheless, there is not enough evidence for such influence and more research is needed (Bassetti, 2008). Previous research on orthographic transfer has mainly looked at its effects on reading and spelling (Jarvis Pavlenko, 2008). Cook and Bassetti (2005) argue that writing system transfer is separate from language transfer maintaining that it is not so much aspects of the language that may be carried over as the attributes of a particular writing system (p. 29). Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008) concur with the above statement; however they also emphasize the importance of the connection between orthographic transfer and language use, since it relates to the orthographic effects on phonology and vice versa. According to Jarvis and Pavlenko, during the development of L1literacy skills, which uses the phonetic alphabet, important sound-letter correspondences are acquired which later can be transferred to the acquisition and use of the second language. Before proceeding any further, the discussion of two key terms that are extensively used in this paper as well as their definitions as proposed by the researchers in the field of SLA is required. The terms are writing system and orthography. The first term to define is writing system. Coulmas (1999) defines writing system (WS) as a set of visible or tactile signs to represent units of language in a systematic way (p. 560). There are various types of writing systems depending on what type of linguistic units they represent (Bassetti, 2005). Consequently, there are writing systems whose linguistic units are consonants hence the name consonantal WSs (for example, Hebrew and Arabic). Morphemic WSs are represented by morphemes (Chinese) and alphabetic WSs are represented by phonemes (English, German, and Spanish). In addition, there are also syllabic WSs whose linguistic units are syllables (Japanese). This paper will specifically focus on alphabetic writing systems of English and German languages which use the same script the Roman alphabet. The term writing system relates to orthography which is the second term and is defined as a set of rules for using script in a particular language, such as symbol- phoneme correspondences, capitalization, punctuation, etc. (Coulmas, 2003, p. 35). For example, in English orthography the letter Ë‚s˃ is read as /s/ and in German orthography as /z/ (Benware, 1986). Thus, the same script- the Roman alphabet- is used differently in the English and German orthographies. Orthographies of the same type of alphabetic writing system and script are also varied in their regularity of sound-symbol correspondences (Cook Bassetti, 2005). For instance, in English, the letter Ë‚a˃ maps to different phonemes in words such as park, bank, and ball, whereas in German the same letter Ë‚a˃ has only one pronunciation /a/ as in German nouns Park, Ball, Bank (Goswami, Ziegler, Richardson, 2005). English orthography is very inconsistent in terms of its sound-letter correspondences thus it is considered to have deep orthography. Languages such as German, Italian and Spanish have relatively consistent letter-to-sound correspondences, so their orthographies are shallow or as otherwise called phonologically transparent (Cook Bassetti, 2005). Thus, it should be easier for English native speakers to acquire German sound-letter correspondence rules than for German native speakers to acquire English sound-letter correspondence rules. Nevertheless, there has been observed a considerable number of segmental mispronunciations by English native speakers learning German as a foreign language. Therefore, the question arises whether the knowledge of L1 orthography has an effect on how English native speakers pronounce segmentals in German or are there any other factors such as cognate status or the age of acquisition that contribute to the orthographic transfer?. Literature review The focus of this paper is to explore whether the knowledge of L1 (English) orthography, namely its sound-letter correspondence rules, is transferred to L2 (German) and whether it has any positive or negative effects on L2 pronunciation of segmentals in adult language learners of different proficiency levels. The paper also aims at investigating whether there is a significant difference of orthographic transfer produced by learners at different proficiency levels (beginning, intermediate and advanced). Finally, the study will examine whether a lexical factor such as cognate status has either positive or negative effect on the acquisition and use of German as a foreign language. A number of studies have examined orthographic effects on either spelling or reading. Many studies also have looked at the effects of L1 orthographic experience on L2 word learning and decoding. However, there has been little research examining the effects of orthography on phonology and vice versa. According to Hayes-Harb, Nicol, and Barker (2010) no research has examined spelling conventions of the native and second languages where both share the same script. Although there is some evidence of the relationship between orthographic and phonological representations in learning new vocabulary, more research is needed to shed light on this phenomenon (Hayes-Harb et al., 2010). As this study examines orthographic transfer from English to German, the notion of cross-linguistic similarity should be taken into consideration especially given the fact that both languages share a significant number of cross-linguistic similarities in cognate, lexical, phonological, and writing systems areas. Ringbom and Jarvis (2009) discuss the importance of cross-linguistic similarities in foreign language learning. Specifically, they maintain that learners rely on their previous linguistic knowledge and look for similarities rather than differences between the L1 and the TL. Ringbom and Jarvis also state that second language learners refer to their previous linguistic knowledge mostly at the beginning stages of second language acquisition. Another important factor such as phonetic awareness and phonetic sensitivity should not be neglected. Piske (2008) maintains that children develop phonetic sensitivity to speech contrasts specific to their L1 long before they begin read and write and at the same time their ability to perceive non-native speech contrasts (L2) weakens with age. So for adult language learners perceiving non-native speech contrast and sounds that are particular to the target language is difficult. To develop phonological awareness and sensitivity would require an extensive practice and frequent exposure to target language. Considering this fact, Piske states that adult language learners are influenced by writing systems of their L1 during L2 acquisition. Consequently this results in learners pronunciation errors which are linked to the reliance on L1 grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules. Especially this refers to the cases when sound-letter correspondences are inconsistent between the L1 and L2. Odlin (1989) also provides ample evidence compiled from different studies that demonstrate the clear effect of first language influence on L2 speech production and orthography. Odlin states that similar writing systems in L1 and L2 represent a much easier task for learners acquiring a new language. The same however, cannot be said of pronunciation, as other variables may influence decoding of written symbols in L2. Flege, Freida, Walley, and Randaza (1998) examined whether lexical factors such as frequency, familiarity, cognate status and the age of acquisition have an effect on production. The authors provide an insight into what role the cognate status of words can play and how it effects speech production. More specifically, Flege et al. state that degree of perceived relatedness can vary depending on degree of cross-linguistic similarities the L1 and L2 share. Specifically, they point to the proximity of cognate pairs in L1-L2 in their meaning and especially in sound. This paper will also examine whether cognate pairs influence L2 pronunciation of target sounds. Based on these statements it is also likely that English-speaking learners of German will rely on their knowledge of English sound-letter correspondence rules when speaking or reading in the target language. This may result in either mispronunciation of certain sound-letter correspondences that are inconsistent with English orthography or it may have facilitatory effects on L2 phonology acquisition. In terms of findings several studies particularly stand out. Young-Scholten (2002)1 provides evidence of orthographic effects on the production of German consonants by English speakers. Another study conducted by Young-Scholten, Akita, and Cross (1999)2 also shows evidence of the effects of written representations on the pronunciation of consonant clusters in learners of Polish as a second language. These findings led the researchers to conclude that there is a relationship between orthographic representations and L2 phonology. Other studies investigating the effects of orthography on second language phonology demonstrate that second language learners pronunciation can be influenced by orthographic input (Bassetti, 2007). Bassetti (2007) examined the effects of pinyin (a romanized version of the Chinese language) on pronunciation in learners of Chinese as a foreign language. The author predicted that orthographic representation of pinyin would result in learners not pronouncing the main vowel in the rhymes whose transcription does not represent that main vowel as in rhymes /iu/ which maps to [iou], /ui/ [uei] and /un/ [uÓâ„ ¢n]. The results of the study suggest strong influence of pinyin orthographic rules on the pronunciation of Chinese rhymes. Specifically, learners of Chinese as a foreign language would delete the main vowel, which is not present orthographically; however they would always pronounce the same main vowel in the rhymes /you/, /wen/, and /wei/ (Bassetti, 2006; Bassetti, 2007). One of the most recent studies conducted by Hayes-Harb et al. (2010) provides some evidence of orthographic influence on the acquisition of the phonological forms of new words. In this study, Hayes-Harb et al. recreated conditions in which subjects experienced learning new vocabulary in a new language. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the presence of the written form of the new words affected the learning of their phonological form. Thus, native speakers of English were divided into three groups. The first group was provided with the written forms of new words that were inconsistent with English spelling. The second group was presented with words that were matching the English sound-letter correspondences. The third group had only an auditory input and no written forms of the new words were provided. The results demonstrated that L1 orthography interfered with students ability to learn new words especially when new vocabulary differed from English sound-letter correspo ndences. While Hayes-Harb et al. (2010) provide some evidence of orthographic effects in the process of learning new phonological forms of words, the authors admit that the method is a novel one and in the future should be controlled by learners spelling ability. Previous studies show clear effects of a relationship between orthography and phonology in second language acquisition. Much of the research has analyzed orthographies that use different writing systems, and as Hayes-Harb et al. (2010) point out very little research has been done investigating the effects of orthographies on L2 pronunciation within the same writing system and script. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate further the notion of orthographic transfer by analyzing the relationship between orthography and phonology of two languages that share the same script and the following research questions are addressed in this paper: Is orthographic transfer statistically present in the sample? Do results vary and are they statistically significant between different proficiency levels? What is the nature of relationship between error score and students perceptions of cognate status? Method 2.1 Participants The participants of this study were 28 undergraduate American English speakers from Ohio University. The students were enrolled in the 100, 200 and 300 levels of German as a foreign language. The levels differ by proficiency. The 100 level is offered to beginners, the 200 level is an intermediate level, and the 300 level is taught to the advanced students respectively. Each proficiency level consists of a three quarter sequence meeting four hours per week with regular homework assignments. Each year sequence of German series focuses on developing all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). 2.2 Materials and procedures The study consisted of two phases: the screening phase and the data collection phase. During the screening phase, students enrolled in all three proficiency levels volunteered to fill out an online language background survey. The purpose of this survey was to select potential participants for the study by controlling several variables that could have had an effect on the results. It was set up in such a way that participants could be screened based on their responses to the first three questions. Thus, those who did not qualify for the study were automatically eliminated without going over all of the survey questions. First of all, it helped eliminate the students with any reading or speech disorders. It also helped exclude those students who were taking another foreign language class along with German. The survey also eliminated the students who had taken a foreign language other than German less than a year ago, which could have contributed to transfer from that language into their knowledge and use of German. In addition, information such as students motivation, number of years they have studied German and the time spent in German speaking countries was collected through this survey. As a result, out of 63 students who had volunteered to fill out the survey, 28 were qualified and participated in the data collection phase. The selected participants included nine beginners, eight intermediate-level students, and eleven advanced-level students. The data collection phase consisted of three tasks administered in the following order: an informal reading aloud task, a formal reading aloud task, and a perception task. All three tasks were performed by the students during individual single session meetings lasting fifteen minutes. Reading aloud is considered to be the best way to test the knowledge of sound-letter correspondences. It provides good control and allows for comparison of speech samples from different subjects. Reading aloud is also a technique that is widely used in a foreign language class thanks to which participants feel more comfortable during data collection (Madsen, 1983). During the informal reading task, students were asked to read aloud a German text which was adapted in order to target certain German consonants and consonant clusters as detailed in Tables 1 and 2. The inventory sets (see Table 1) include incongruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences students presumably would have had the most difficulty producing. Table 1. Incongruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences Sounds exist in both languages, but are represented with different letters German phoneme-grapheme correspondences English phoneme-grapheme correspondences 1 Ë‚w˃ / [v] e.g., Wind [vÉ ªnt] Ë‚v˃ /[v] eg.: van [và ¦n] 2 Ë‚v˃ / [f] e.g., Vogel [foË gl] Ë‚f˃ / [f] eg.: fan [fà ¦n] 3 Ë‚s˃ / [z] e.g., sinken [zÉ ªÃƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¹knÃÅ' ©] Ë‚z˃ / [z] eg.: zone [zoÊÅ  n] 4 Ë‚s˃/[ʃ] when followed by e.g., Sport [ʃpɆrt] Ë‚s˃ / [ʃ] when followed by eg.: shine [ʃaÉ ªn] 5 Ë‚s˃ /[ʃ] when followed by e.g., Student [ʃtudɆºnt] Ë‚s˃ / [ʃ] when followed by eg.: shed [ʃɆºd] Sounds are different in both languages, but are represented with the same letters 6 Ë‚t˃/ [ts] e.g., Tradition [traditsioË n] Ë‚t˃/[ʃ] e.g., tradition [trÉâ„ ¢Ãƒâ€¹Ã‹â€ dÉ ªÃƒÅ Ã†â€™http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pngÉâ„ ¢n] 7 Ë‚z˃/ [ts] e.g., Zimmer [tsÉ ªmÉ ] Ë‚z˃ / [z] e.g., zone [zoÊÅ  n] 8 Ë‚ch˃/[à §] e.g., sportlich [ʃpɆrtlÉ ªÃƒ §] Ë‚ch˃/ [tʃ] e.g., rich [rÉ ªtʃ] Also is included a set of congruent phoneme-grapheme correspondences that exist in both English and German languages (see Table 3). Table 3. Congruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences Grapheme-phoneme correspondences existing in both languages German examples English examples 1 2 3 4 5 Ë‚b˃ maps to [b] Ë‚n˃ maps to [n] Ë‚l˃ maps to [l] Ë‚t˃ maps to [t] Ë‚p˃ maps to [p] Bank [baņ¹k] Nuss [nÊÅ  s] Land [lant] Tag [taË k] Park [park] Bank [bà ¦Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¹k] Nut [nÊŒt] Land [là ¦nd ] Tag [tà ¦g ] Park [pÉ‘rk ] To test students pronunciation of the targeted German segmentals in relation to potential transfer effects, each grapheme-phoneme correspondence listed in Tables 1 and 2 was encountered at least twice in the informal reading task and once in the formal reading task. Students readings in both tasks were recorded in a soundproof recording laboratory using audio recording software. During the first task, students had one minute to read the text silently before being recorded. The formal reading task followed the informal one and required the participants to read words with the targeted sounds in isolation. The words in the formal task were a subset of those used in the informal task and some of them were cognates with English. Finally, during the perception task students had to categorize a list of both cognate and non-cognate German words in terms of their similarity to any of the English words. Students had to rate the words on a three-point scale (1=same; 2= similar; 3= dissimilar) relying on their own perceptions. Table 3 below contains examples of words students rated in the perception task. Table 3 Categorization of cognate and non-cognate words Same meaning Form Same Similar Dissimilar Ger. Wind Eng. Wind Ger. Sturm Eng. storm Ger. Viel Eng. many Ger. Student Eng. Student Ger. Milch Eng. Milk Ger. Vogel Eng. bird Ger. Winter Eng. Winter Ger. Temperatur Eng. Temperature Ger. Zeit Eng. time Ger. Warm Eng. Warm Ger. Wetter Eng. Weather Ger. Zimmer Eng. room Ger. Sport Eng. Sport Ger. Naturlich Egn. Naturally Ger. traurig Eng. sad Ger. Tradition Eng. Tradition Ger. Sportlich Eng. sporty Ger. Information Eng. Information Ger. Sonne Eng. Sun Ger. Strudel Eng. Strudel Results from these tasks revealed whether the reliance on first language orthography had a positive or negative effect on students pronunciation of segmentals in German. The mispronunciations in the recordings were quantified, categorized and recorded in a data file. Their performance was then codified and entered in the data file. Finally, student survey responses and identifying information collected through the questionnaire were matched with participants reading performance results and the perception task. Once the survey information and performance results were merged, the data was de-identified to ensure the confidentiality of the participants. Data analysis and results In order to address the first research question of whether orthographic transfer is statistically present in the sample, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test, the nonparametric alternative to the paired-sample t-test was used to examine whether the participants pronunciation errors were statistically more prevalent in cases of incongruent sound-letter correspondences between the L1 and L2 than in cases of congruent sound-letter correspondences. That is, we tested whether the participants distribution of errors and successes is keyed to the specific ways in which the L1 and L2 are related in terms of sound-letter correspondences. The results of the test revealed that orthographic transfer is statistically present in the sample (p=.00). Students indeed produced more errors in cases of incongruent sound-letter correspondences and there were zero number of mistakes in cases with congruent sound-letter correspondences. In order to address our second research question concerning whether there is any difference in the mean scores between proficiency level groups, The Kruskal Wallis test was performed. This test was conducted on the results of the reading tasks of the experiment to test whether the subjects from the three proficiency level groups differed significantly in producing German segmentals [à §, f, ts, ʃp, ʃt, z, v]. It was assumed that the distribution of errors would be more prevalent in the beginner level group as opposed to intermediate and advanced level groups. The results demonstrated a significant difference in mean scores between all three proficiency groups for both informal and formal reading tasks (p =.009). The results of the descriptive statistics are summarized below in Table 5.   Table 5 Mean error scores for each proficiency level Beginners group mean score Intermediate group mean score Advanced group mean score Group Mean Informal reading task 22.50 15.58 8.00 14.83 Formal reading task 20.42 13.85 5.41 12.64 Cumulative error mean 43.37 30.43 13.41 27.90 Valid N 9 8 11 28 Finally, in our last research question we examined the relationship between students performance results in both reading tasks and their perceptions regarding cognate status of the words. For this purpose a correlation analysis was conducted to examine what kind of relationship there exist between the number of errors produced in the target sounds and the number of students rating the words as same or dissimilar. As a result, correlation coefficient between error score and a number of students rating the words as same revealed a weak negative relationship between these two variables, with correlation coefficient r = -.47. On the other hand, correlation analysis between error score and a number of students rating the words as dissimilar showed a moderate positive relationship between the variables with r = .57. Discussion The present study is exploratory in its nature yet the results show evidence of orthographic transfer in the sample. By that we mean that students do tend to rely on their L1 knowledge of sound-letter correspondence rules specifically in the cases of incongruent sound-letter correspondences between the L1 and L2. The results also indicate a significant difference in mean error scores at different proficiency levels. Thus, the beginner level students produced the highest number of errors in targeted segmentals than students from intermediate and advanced levels. These findings support the idea Ringbom and Jarviss (2009) stated that the second language learners rely more on their previous linguistic knowledge at an early stages of second language acquisition. This especially applies to the languages that share a significant number of cross-linguistic features in cognate, lexical, phonological and writing systems, as in case of English and German. The results of this study are also in line with previous findings of Piske (2008), which suggested that adult learners are influenced by the writing systems of their L1. A considerable number of errors were observed in producing in seven out of eight German segmentals [à §, f, ts, ʃp, ʃt, z, ts] with the exception of [v] which maps to Ë‚w˃ in German. For example, the highest number of errors students produced was the German consonant Ë‚g˃ in word final which maps to palatal fricative [à §] when preceded by front vowels as in traurig and consonantal cluster Ë‚ch˃ in word final which also maps to palatal [à §] in words such as Milch, natà ¼rlich, sportlich. Students produced these two sounds as [k]. They also confused German Ë‚v˃ which maps to [f] with its English counterpart [v]. The same was observed with the other two German consonants Ë‚s,z˃ which map to [z,ts] respect ively and were pronounced as English phonemes [s, z]. This can be explained by the fact that all German consonants mentioned above are represented by the same graphemes in English, which resulted in students mispronunciations. Interesting results were obtained from the words that contained labio-dental [v] which in German maps to Ë‚w˃ grapheme. None of the students had errors producing this sound despite the fact that the same grapheme /w/ maps to an approximant [w] in English. This could be interpreted as following: it appears easier for students to produce sounds that are far apart in terms of their place of articulation than for instance, the sounds that vary only in their voicing. Thus students in this study had difficulty to devoice fricative [f] in German because it is represented by grapheme Ë‚v˃, which in English maps to voiced fricative [v]. Participants of this study also struggled producing consonantal clusters Ë‚ st, sp Ã⠀¹Ã†â€™ which in German language map to [ʃt, ʃp]. Although English has phoneme [ʃ], it exists in different phonetic environment and is never followed by [p,t] phonemes in onset. Therefore students confused these two consonantal clusters with their English counterparts and produced them as [sp] for example English sport or [st] as in English student. Lastly, the perception task yielded somewhat ambiguous results. It appears that there might be a relationship between the error score and a number of students rating the words as dissimilar. Nonetheless, this needs to be investigated in the future research using a larger sample as there was insufficient amount of data to strongly support the findings. For more details regarding error score and the students perceptions see Table 6 in Appendix A. Conclusion The purpose of this study was to find out to what extent English-speaking learners of German rely on the English orthography and whether the presence of cognate words results in mispronunciation in the target language or vice versa helps learners to acquire L2 phonology. Given what was found (a) evidence that English orthography, namely its grapheme-phoneme rules interferes with learners pronunciation of German segmentals, (b) evidence that learners were influenced by L1 writing system mostly at the beginning stages of second language acquisition, and (c) some evidence of potential relationship between the errors produced and students perceptions of cognate status, we might consider some practical implications for foreign language classroom as well as future research implications. As Hayes-Herb et al. (2010) suggested language teachers might find it beneficial presenting new vocabulary using initially auditory input only. This may particularly refer to the non-cognates words as students in this study made more errors in words that they rated as dissimilar with English. At the same time, it may be helpful for learners to receive written input of the words that contain German Ë‚w˃ in word initial, as students produced zero errors, which might suggest that in this particular case written input positively influenced learners pronunciation. Therefore it is important for language instructors to be aware of orthographic transfer and its positive and negative effects so that they can address this information accordingly in their classroom. On the other hand more research is needed to support these findings. For this purpose a more comprehensive study with a larger sample would help to expand the current analysis of data and make the findings general izable for a larger population of students studying German as a foreign language. Teacher surveys might reveal whether language instructors focus on orthographic transfer or is it something new to them as well as to what extent they focus on pronunciation of those specific sounds that might be problematic due to the reliance on L1 sound-letter correspondence rules in their classroom. The results can provide valuable insights that can be applied to the teaching of German as a foreign language. Furthermore, given the scope of this study only eight German segmentals were investigated. Examining other segmentals whose orthographic representations exist only in German (for example, Ë‚Â Ã‚ ¢Ãƒâ€¹Ã†â€™, Ë‚Ã ¼, à ¶, à ¤ ˃) or segmentals whose sounds exist only in German but are represented by the same graphemes (for example German Ë‚r˃ which maps to several phonemes [Êâ‚ ¬, Ê , r] depending on the in word position) would clearly provide better results on the way English and German orthographies interact with German as a foreign language phonology. To conclude, while the this study attempted to address questions on how orthography of L1 and its sound-letter correspondence rules can be transferred to L2 phonology resulting in mispronunciation of certain segmentals still more research on this topic is needed.