Exploring Equality and Diversity Essay

You should use this file to complete your Assessment. †¢The first thing you need to do is save a copy of this document, either onto your computer or a disk †¢Then work through your Assessment, remembering to save your work regularly †¢When you’ve finished, print out a copy to keep for reference †¢Then, go to www.vision2learn.com and send your completed Assessment to your tutor via your My Study area – make sure it is clearly marked with your name, the course title and the Unit and Assessment number. Name: Nichola Craven 1. What is meant by diversity? Diversity is the way that everything and everybody is different. We all have various qualities that make us who we are. We all have our own individual set of qualities and we may share some of these with others we meet or have nothing in common at all. Diversity may be visible as in age or colour of skin or not immediately noticed until we have spent time with someone, this could include their religious beliefs or sexual orientation. 2. Describe the community you live in. Highlight some of the variations you may observe in terms of: †¢Interests †¢Beliefs †¢Ages †¢Lifestyles †¢Personal, social and cultural identities. I live in an inner city council estate. Many people on the estate are interested in watching the local teams play football and rugby. There is a community centre nearby and pensioners get together to do light exercise classes and children take karate or cheerleading classes. Groups of teenagers take turns to use the basketball court. It is very rare to see children or anyone over twenty using the courts. Some parents let their young children go to the local park alone but others will only let their children play in the back yard. At the back of the estate are the Wash lands where many people will walk their dogs but some people who live here have never walked that way. There are many different beliefs, in terms of religion and family values. The largest religious group are Christians, and the second largest is Muslims. Most of the Muslims in the community do not drink alcohol. Most of the houses are homes to young families on low incomes. There are very few elderly people in the council houses. Most people are White British or Asian British in terms of ethnicity, although lately there are a large number of Eastern European families on my street. I have noticed that over the last two years that their English has improved greatly and we are now able to communicate better. Many people on the estate have full time or part time jobs although there is a high number of unemployed and many single parents who stay at home to take care of very young children. 3. Explain how the variations in question 2 contribute to the diversity of the community. Where people have different interests such as playing or watching rugby, they are contributing to the entertainment in the community for those who like to watch the matches. Also, the children and men who are in the rugby teams are keeping fit and learning how to be team players. The people who watch rugby also hold fund raising events to keep up with the maintenance of the clubhouse as well has regular charity fundraisers to help local charities. Neighbours who celebrate different religious festivals will share their experiences by inviting others to parties and this helps everyone gain knowledge of how different people live. My neighbour often brings various Asian cuisines for my family to try and shares recipes. 4. Give some examples to explain how diversity: †¢Enhances your life †¢Enhances the local community †¢Enhances this country. Diversity enhances my life the most when I spend time with my brother. He is engaged to a Hungarian lady who has a large family living in my city. We often have parties in the summer where we eat from a big pot of goulash which is cooked outside in a cauldron over a fire. The drink of choice is palinka, a kind of fruit brandy although I can’t say I like the taste much. We sing and dance to modern and traditional Hungarian music and it is overall a fun time that I can’t experience with my English family. I see how diversity enriches the local community the most at the primary school where I work. The majority of the children do not have English as a first language and are all from different backgrounds and countries. Despite there being so much diversity and language barriers, there is a sense of camaraderie where the children help each other and are learning to live with and accept people who are different. The ethos of the school is that every child is valued and should be given the same opportunities as each other. The introduction of a Pride event in the city a few years ago has created a once a year festival where people celebrate their differences in sexuality and way of life. There is always a big crowd and everyone has fun. I think it helps people to learn about and accept those who lead different lifestyles to themselves when they are given the chance to integrate at a large event such as this. Diversity enhances this country because there is always something new we can learn from each other. The integration of various nationalities, interests and personalities mean we can better understand others and join in with their celebrations and appreciate different cultures. Our experiences in food and dining are enriched by the opening of different eateries and by supermarkets offering a wide range of international ingredients to cater for an increasingly diverse country. 5. Describe what it means to respect people’s differences and why it is important to respect differences. Respecting people’s differences means that we appreciate that others are different to us and just because we may not have anything in common or share their beliefs, we should accept them for who they are. When people do not accept others, it can lead to bullying, lack of communication and a general feeling of distrust. This can lead to unrest within communities. To be able to live in peace and harmony, everyone should realise that others have a right to be different. 6. For a person you know, describe the individual factors that make him / her who they are. Name: Defining factorsBrief description Physical characteristics A tall, well presented man in his early thirties. Emotions Very laid back, likes to help other people. Likes and dislikes Likes action films and playing computer games. Dislikes soaps and dancing. Values and beliefs Believes in God, doesn’t attend church on a regular basis. Family is very important to him. 7. Describe yourself in terms of: †¢Personal interests †¢Religion / culture †¢Geography. I enjoy reading, whether it is browsing the web or a book on my kindle e-reader. I enjoy socialising with my friends but my main interest lies within my family life. I love spending time with my three daughters, taking them shopping, to the park or the movies. When my husband isn’t working, we like to take the children and our dog for long walks. I am not very religious. I only go to church when occasion demands i.e. in the case of weddings, funerals or christenings. I attended a Church of England primary school and I still carry my beliefs and values from my time there and pass these beliefs on to my children. I live in Yorkshire on a medium sized social housing estate next to the city centre. The shopping centre, hospital and schools are all within walking distance from my house. 8. What is meant by having multiple identities? Give three examples in relation to people you know. Multiple identities are the way one person acts in different situations or with different people. Example 1: Sasha is a college student who likes to socialise with her friends and loves dressing in the latest fashions. When she comes home she changes into her jogging bottoms and old t-shirt and spends time with her little sisters helping them with their homework. Example 2: I take my children to visit my mum and we drink coffee and watch children’s TV and she does jigsaws with her grandchildren. When I visit my mum without my children, we drink wine and talk about adult things and listen to the music channel. Example 3: Claire is a single mum with two young children. Monday to Friday, she comes home from work, does the cleaning, cooking and looks after her children. At the weekend, the children stay with their father and Claire spends time with her friends going to the pub and having a good time in adult company. 9. What is meant by shared identity? Shared identity is where two or more people have one or more of a common characteristic. This could be that they enjoy watching football or that they come from the same town or city. They could be the same age or share the same taste in music. 10. Explain and give examples of how an individual can identify themselves as belonging to a number of different groups. An individual can belong to different groups by the fact that they have something in common with those people. An example is that of where a group of men are from the same area and they all go to watch a football match. If they were from Yorkshire and supported Leeds, they would be in that group of Yorkshire Leeds supporters. However, if they were not at the football match and were on holiday with their family, they would prioritise their identities differently. They would be from Yorkshire, and be fathers on holiday with their families. The football team they support may not even enter the equation in terms of how they perceive themselves or how others see them. 11. Describe yourself in terms of your multiple identities. I am mum to three children. Earlier this year I was a full time housewife with my youngest child in part time nursery. Now all of my children are in school and college, my role is less focused on being a housewife and I work in a school office. I find that now I work, my husband takes a more active role in the housework and care of the children, taking on some of my previous responsibilities. When the children are in bed, I take on administrative tasks for my husband’s plumbing business and become his book-keeper. At work, I am usually based in the office although I have to walk around school passing on messages and I have to look after sick children while we wait for their parents to take them home. When I get chance to see my friends, they see a different side of me as I like to make the most of my time away from work and other responsibilities and have a good time. They would say I enjoy a good time and I am a shoulder to cry on. 12. What is meant by stereotyping and labelling? When we first meet others, we can’t help judging them from our first impressions. If someone is wearing glasses, we may think wrongly or rightly that they are intelligent and studious. We may see two women together holding hands and we would think that they are gay. This is called labelling, when we pick out a characteristic and focus on it, drawing our own conclusions. Another example is when we see a woman pushing a pushchair. We label her as being a mother although she is also many other things. Stereotyping is where we make assumptions about people belonging to a certain group. An Asian friend of mine was shopping in the supermarket, and looking at cat food. A lady who was trying to be helpful tried to explain to her that cat food was not for human consumption and was shocked when my friend replied in broad Yorkshire that it was for her cat and she wasn’t thinking of eating it herself. This is an example of stereotyping – people assuming that people who are f rom ethnic minorities cannot read or speak English. 13. Explain why some people stereotype others. Stereotyping continues to be part of our society through the way families and social groups instil their beliefs on one another and the way that the media portray certain groups. When we see rioting on the news, we tend to see young people wearing hoodies to cover their faces. This leads to us thinking that all people who wear hoodies are dangerous when it is in fact not true. My daughter wears a hoodie and sometimes puts the hood up to keep her ears warm yet even though I know this, I still get scared if I see a group of teenagers in hoodies because of all the media stories. This is the case of the isolated behaviours within a small group that has lead to a stereotype. People will stereotype because they want to fit in with a particular group and will share their views on others. 14. Provide two examples of the damaging effects that stereotyping and labelling can have on people. Stereotyping can lead to fear within communities. Old people may fear young people because of they see on the news that a teenager committed a series of muggings. Travelling communities may be made unwelcome in pubs because of a few isolated incidents of trouble. People may avoid those who suffer from mental illness as many murderers claim to suffer from mental illness. This leads us to stereotype all people with mental illness as being violent which is untrue. This could have a damaging effect on them and lead them to withdraw from society. People continue to be ageist in society. They label elderly people as just being old and not as able as they once were and don’t consider other qualities that they have such as being kind and caring. Many non physical jobs do not rely on age such as being a good teacher yet sometimes; recruiters will choose a young person because they assume that youth will make them better at a job. Ageism damages society because we are taking away the diversity and personal qualities that older people can offer and also, when we treat elderly people as being useless, they start to feel useless and may become depressed. 15. Provide at least two examples of the way stereotyping is perpetuated in society. Stereotyping is perpetuated within families, the way your parents and other relatives perceive things can be passed on to you and so a cycle begins where people carry on stereotyping. I remember growing up in a family where we stereotyped all gay men as being flamboyant and effeminate. This was also due to the way that they were stereotyped on television programmes in the seventies and eighties. The views of peer groups can also carry on stereotypes. Some people see jobless people as being lazy benefit scroungers. This may be true of some of them but a discussion with your friends where they provide an example of such lazy scrounger and shows such as The Jeremy Kyle show where people are often presented in a negative way will make sure the stereotype prevails. 16. Define prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice occurs when a characteristic of an individual or group is reacted to in a negative way. It is an incorrect and unfair assumption that is based on little or no proof. People can be prejudiced against many characteristics such as race, gender or sexuality and have negative views about or act negatively towards those groups. Discrimination occurs when prejudice means that someone is treated unfairly because they possess one or more characteristic. 17. Explain how people may develop prejudices. People can develop prejudices from a bad experience with an individual. If someone sat next to an unhygienic overweight person at school, they may think that every overweight person is unhygienic. Someone may be influenced by the views of relatives or friends who they respect enough to accept their views whether they are good or bad prejudices. If someone is around people who believe that their prejudices are just, they are likely to take them on board themselves and transfer those views to other people that they come into contact with. 18. Describe the following types of discrimination. Type of discriminationDescription Dual discrimination Dual discrimination occurs when prejudice is aimed at two characteristics of someone or a group. If someone is a single parent and is out of work, they could be negatively thought of by someone who has bad views on single parents and of unemployed people. Multiple discriminationThis is where someone is discriminated against for having several characteristics. An overweight lady in a wheelchair could obviously be discriminated against on three points, being overweight, being disabled and being a woman. Positive discriminationPositive discrimination occurs when people are favoured because they possess certain characteristics. An example is where a housing association prioritises ethnic minority families against others in the same situation. Discrimination arising out of disabilityDiscriminating against a disability can mean that disabled [people are not given the opportunities in life that more able people are such as access to employment or education opportunities. Discrimination by associationThis is where someone is discriminated against for associating with a person or group whom the prejudice is aimed at. An example is a mixed race marriage here prejudice is held against one partners race but both partners suffer harassment. 19. What is meant by the term protected characteristics? Protected characteristics are legally recognised areas where discrimination is likely to occur. They are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and beliefs, gender and sexual orientation. This are characteristics that everyone posses and the law is there to protect individuals from unfair discrimination. 20. What is the difference between direct and indirect discrimination? Give two examples to illustrate your point. Direct discrimination occurs when someone is treated differently due to a personal characteristic that they possess. This could be an older person being denied the right of promotion despite being more qualified or equally qualified than someone younger than them. It could be that a woman mentions at a job interview that she has four children and the interviewer immediately says they would be unsuitable for the job because they would require a lot of time off. These examples are direct discrimination against older people and working mothers. Indirect discrimination occurs where certain groups of people are put at a disadvantage because their needs are ignored. This could be a lack of disabled access in a public building that means wheelchair users cannot make their way around. Another example is a workplace health and safety document being printed only in English when there are many workers who speak and read English as a second language or some who cannot read English at all. 21. Describe the effects that discrimination and prejudice can have on people. A main danger that arises from prejudice and discrimination is the kind of extreme hatred that causes people to be attacked and killed and in extreme cases, wars due to race, religion or sexual preferences. If there is prejudice within certain groups, it will lead to social conflicts and a less harmonious atmosphere. People who are discriminated against typically lose their sense of worth as they become more mistreated by other people and develope a negative view of themselves. If people are treated as second class citizens, they may begin to believe that they are. They will also distrust those who discriminate against them and this will lead to hostile environments. They will have a lower quality of life as they are denied promotions and training opportunities. Innocent people will suffer unnecessary anguish due to unfair discrimination. 22. Describe what equal opportunities means in relation to: †¢Education †¢Housing †¢Healthcare †¢Employment. Equal opportunities in education mean that everyone should be given the same chance to succeed no matter what their characteristics. In relation to schools, there may be single sex schools or schools that focus on a particular religion e.g. Church of England but this is not considered discrimination since there are plenty of other schools that cater for everybody. If someone is denied access to education, they are denied a better quality of life with better job prospects. It is important that everyone is given the opportunity to learn and achieve according to their abilities. It is against the law for landlords to specify that certain ethnic groups are not eligible to live in their properties. Equal opportunities in housing means that everyone should have the chance to live in homes suited to their needs and family size. If this law isn’t met, certain groups will lead a low quality of life and may well live in overcrowded conditions. Everyone is entitled to receive healthcare. Healthcare professionals should not prioritise treatment or refuse to treat someone on grounds such as skin colour or sexual orientation. Everyone should have an equal opportunity to receive healthcare and particular groups have a right to sensitivity. Equal opportunities in employment means that people should be recruited and promoted in relation to how well they can do a job, not be discriminated against positively or negatively in relation to their race or gender for example. Everyone should be treated fairly at work; equal pay should be given to those who do exactly the same job. 23. Outline the inequality problems that persist in terms of pay for men and women. A job should pay in terms of ability and attainment regardless of gender yet men are still on higher wages than women in many organisations. This happens when a woman is doing exactly the same job as a man or of a similar skill yet the man receives a higher wage. Inequality also occurs when men tend to get the highest paid jobs within organisations. 24. Identify and briefly describe two other signs of inequality. Inequality due to sexual orientation is common. Gay and lesbian couples have long been discriminated against in their quest to adopt or foster children or to get married. There are laws to prevent such inequality and in place of marriage, civil partnerships exist. Inequality can also exist in sport, where gender or disability can often cause restrictions to be placed. Less abled people should be given the chance to partake in and enjoy their chosen sport and sports played typically by men such as football and rugby made available for women to enjoy equally. Once you have completed this Assessment, go to www.vision2learn.com and send your work to your tutor for marking.

Craft-Oriented Objects Essay

We encounter many craft- oriented objects day to day. I do not think I really thought about how objects were made and their value in life until I received this assignment. As I was thinking about all of the things that are craft- oriented, I especially thought about things at work and my home. I actually work at a dress shop and I’ve thought about how those dresses were made. Every dress company has a location where they make their dresses, like China. Each dress is handmade and takes many hours and hard work to make. I believe this is an art of craft and has high value in a woman’s world. I also own many dresses of my own from going to prom and participating in various pageants. The next time I am wearing one of these delicate dresses I am going to take a minute to think about the hard work and long hours that it took to make my dress just for me. Another one of the many craft-oriented objects that I see and use every day is my home. My home is one of the most important places to me and it has several qualities that make it unique to me. It is amazing to think about all the hard work and the time that went in to building my house. Although my house has many craft-oriented objects in it, my house as a whole is a huge craft-oriented object in my everyday life.

The Different Styles of Narration

Narrators in Film and Novel In this chapter, Stam introduces the different styles of narrators in Novel. According to him, they vary from the first-person report-narrator to the multiple letter writers of epistolary novels, to outside-observer narrators of reflexive novels like Don Quixote and Tom Jones, to the once intimate and impersonal narrator of Madame Bovary, to the â€Å"stream-of-consciousness† narrators, on to the intensely objective/subjective obsessional narrators of Robbe-Grillet.What interests Stam is the fact that these different styles of narration cannot be really explained by the conventional terms that exist. That happens because language and grammar are the foundation of the traditional analysis of film and literature and in this context have leaded to a terminology based on them, a terminology such as first-person narrator or third-person narrator. This kind of grammar based terminology and approach, can create confusion and obscure facts like writers shif ting person and changing the relation between narrator and fiction.For Stam though, the most important issue is not the grammatical â€Å"person† as he says, but the control an author has over the intimacy and the distance and how he calibrates the access to a character’s knowledge and consciousness. Literary narration can be complicated through film because of the verbal narration (voice over/speech of characters) and the capacity a film has to present the different appearances of the world.Andre Goudreault says that filmic narration is more powerful than â€Å"monstration† (showing) and â€Å"narration† (telling) and that for him, editing and other cinematic procedures consist of the evaluation and the comments of the filmic narrator. This way films tell stories (narrate) and at the same time stage them (show). Stam explains that  «the film as â€Å"narrator† is not a person (the director) or a character in the fiction but, rather, the abstract instance of a superordinate agency that regulates the spectator’s knowledge ».In other words â€Å"le grand imagier† and the â€Å"meganarrator†, all names attributed to the narrator, can be considered as the conductor of an orchestra who uses the instruments of cinematic expression as musical instruments. The author (Stam) continues his chapter by explaining how a double play of forms can be made possible through sound cinema. Voice-over narration and monstration (showing) mutually reinforce each other like in Sunset Boulevard where the scene is supposed to be a visual manifestation of what Joe Gillis is saying. We will also come across that during my extract analysis.In more modernist films like India Song (1975) and Last year at Marienbad (1961) the two forms contradict each other, in a sense that what is told is not what is being shown. Since sound made its appearance in film, cinema has been as Chion says â€Å"vococentric†, it has an orientation toward the human voice, which, in the cinema, according to Stam can provide information and focus for spectatorial identification. A debate has started about whether a film can actually narrate. Film theorists believe that filmic â€Å"narration† is only a fiction of the human mind.They don’t argue of course about films being able to develop certain processes of â€Å"narration† but they state that these processes can only be considered as cheap copies of a â€Å"narrator†. This logic though can also be valid for novelistic narrators. Theorist like Christian Metz, consider film to be a deployment of â€Å"impersonal† narration in which case the narrator is both the one that provides the fictional world and the one that comments on this same world. Stam chooses to stand on another important matter of narratology, the relationship between the events told and the temporal standpoint of the telling.For example, whether the telling if the story is takin g place after the events of the story, which is called a retrospective narration, or prior, in which case, as he explains, we have an oracular or prophetic narration. In some cases, the telling and the events are simultaneous or even interpolated, meaning that they take place during the intervals between the moments of the main action. For Stam, the question is how all these different settings of time manage to be translated within adaptations. There is the case of â€Å"embedded narration†, where a story contains another story inside it, in a narrative mise-en-abyme.This is the case of the extract I have chosen to analyze. These substories go by the term of hypodiegesis. This occurs when a story contains a sub-story. For Genette, the term â€Å"diegesis† refers to three things, the time and space, the participants, and the events in a narrative. Around this term he creates terms such as â€Å"autodiegetic† (when the narrator generates and tells his own story), â€Å"homodiegetic† (when the narrator is part of the story but is not the protagonist) and â€Å"heterodiegetic† (when the narrator is not part of the story at all). â€Å"Autodiegetic† comes from the greek word â€Å" †, â€Å"homodiegetic† from â€Å" and â€Å"heterodiegetic† from â€Å" †. â€Å" † means â€Å"narrative† and â€Å" † has the meaning of â€Å"itself†. â€Å" †means it has a resemblance with something and â€Å" † that it is something different. So when the narrator is autodiegetic it means he is narrating himself, when he is homodiegetic, he narrating about something similar with him and when he is heterodiegetic he is narrating about something different that him. Stam adds that the narrator can be single or collective, a group narrator and that off screen narrators can be single, multiple or even contradictory like in the case of Citizen Kane.He also makes a distinction between living and dead narrators. A dead narrator would be when at the time the narrator is talking it has been known to us that he is already dead in the story. So the narration would probably take place after the events. Stam continues his analysis by referring to reliability. Narrators can be completely suspect (like Leonard in Memento, the movie I have chosen to analyze) ,more or less reliable, or serve as dramatized spokespersons for the implied author. The modern period has a taste for changing narrators and unreliable ones.This is the case of the bildungsroman, a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood and in which character change is extremely important. Sometimes, also, the reliability of a narrator as the governess in James’s Turn of the Screw can cause difficulty for literary interpretation. Cases of â€Å"lying narration† are also offered in the cinema. What is challenging for Stam, is to find a way to reproduce in a way all the ambiguity and readerly decipherment of the text, on a cinematic register.Self-obsessed neurotic narrators like Humbert Humbert in Lolita, tend to be relativized by adaptation in a severe manner. While the narrator in the novel is â€Å"autodiegetic†, in the film he switches to â€Å"homodiegetic†. The problem is that the discursive power an unreliable narrator possesses is drastically reduced by film because of the multitrack nature of the film. In a novel, there is only one track available and that is the verbal track, which is of course controlled by the narrator.In a film though, even if the narrator can partially control the verbal track by the use of voice-over or character dialogue, that same control remains subject to a great amount of constraints such as the presence of other characters, voices, objects etc. While it’s not impossible to portrait an unreliable first-person narration in the cinema, all the problems mentioned above lead us to understand that it would be extremely difficult and could only be succeeded by relentless subjectification in almost all the cinematic registers.Point of View This chapter of â€Å"The Theory and Practice of Adaptation† tries to answer questions concerning focalization and point of view which is a term that has been regarded as problematic. â€Å"Point of view† can either refer to an ideological orientation, an emotional stance or even to the angle from which a story is told. Unlike literature, this term in cinema is always literal because of the camera set-ups that are required. Nevertheless, it can be figurative too at the same time, through the use of cinematic means.For Stam, an authorial point of view can be sensed in films. He explains that the film’s multitrack and multiform nature are to be seriously considered if we want to understand the cinematic point of view since each and every filmic track and procedure can convey one. Next, Stam takes interest in the relationship between the knowledge of the character and that of the narrator, something that has been referred to as â€Å"focalization†. According to Todorov, three were the possibilities: narrators could either know more, less or as much as the characters.Of course, one might argue that quantity is not always the case, since the two can also know differently. Gennete chooses to make a distinction between narration (who speaks or tells) and focalization (who sees) and then separates this last term into three sub-terms. â€Å"Zero focalization† refers to narrators who know much more than the rest of the characters. â€Å"Internal focalization† occurs when events are filtered through a character and is subdivided into â€Å"fixed† for when it is limited to a single character or â€Å"variable† for when it’s passed from character to character.Finally, â€Å"external focalization† takes place when the rea der cannot access to point of view and motivations and can only be a simple observer of external behavior. Andre Goudrault and Francois Jost argued that the term of focalization can create problems when it comes to the visual medium of cinema since the sound film has the ability to show what a character sees and say what he thinks at the same time. They proposed a separation of these two functions by the use of two terms. The first term is â€Å"ocularization† and refers to the relation of what the camera shows and what the character is supposed to be seeing. Focalization† was used by the two narratologists to characterize the cognitive point of view adopted by the story. Stam also examines how â€Å"point of view† intersects with â€Å"style†. Adaptations have been considered less modernist than their sources but that is not the case with adaptations like the one of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando by Sally Potter in 1992 or Bunuel’s That Obscure Ob ject of Desire, where, in the contrary, the novel’s modernism is amplified. The author chooses to conclude this chapter not by answering questions, but rather by asking them.He is interested in the handling of temporality and wonders if instances of Genette’s â€Å"pause† take place in the novel and the adaptation, as montage sequences or as static close shots without action. He mentions Cristian Metz’s eight syntagmatic types in the cinema (one-shot sequence or autonomous shot, parallel syntagma, bracket syntagma, descriptive syntagma, alterning syntagma, scence, episodic sequence, ordinary sequence) and asks how these types are useful and wonders about the existence of any correlations with temporality in film and their nature.He questions the role of description in novel and film and wants to know if there is a possibility of pure (unnarrativized) description in any of these two mediums and finally sets the question of stylistic equivalences across the m. MEMENTO [pic] Memento is a film directed by Christopher Nolan and released in the year 2000. He wrote the story with his brother Jonathan Nolan, based on a short story published by Jonathan called Memento Mori. The whole film can be divided in 22 colored and 22 black and white sequences plus the opening sequence which runs backward and is shown in slow motion.In order to understand the analysis of the sequence chosen (1. 22. 58 – 1. 48. 43) a brief introduction to the movie’s plot is necessary: Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) is a former insurance investigator whose wife was killed during an assault in their home. During that assault he sustained a head trauma and now suffers from a memory dysfunction which makes him unable to create any new memories after the incident. He remembers of everything prior the incident though like who he is, what his job was and everything about his life with his wife.But each time he wakes up he can’t remember where he is, why he is there or what he did and who he met the day before. He cannot trust anyone and his whole life is one big constant puzzle solving. There is only one thing that motivates him and that is to hunt down and kill his wife murderer. To collect the facts needed to avenge his wife he has developed a strategy that consists of taking polaroid pictures of everyone he meets, of the place he lives in and so on while also getting tattooed on his body every important information he comes across. pic]Leonard’s tattooed body In his investigation he is helped by two persons, Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss). The viewers of Memento find out pretty fast that a mentally ill character like the one of Leonard Shelby is an extremely unreliable narrator. Nollan gives us hints about the unreliability of human memory . [pic][pic] We can also see Leonard being manipulated by others and making mistakes while collecting information on his wife’s murderer. [pic][pic] We can see here that he mistakes the I of the license plate for a 1What is very interesting in the revenge story In addition to Leonard’s revenge story is the embedded story of Sammy Jankis and his wife which we will encounter in the sequence I have chosen to analyze. [pic] EXTRACT ANALYSIS Introduction The selected movie extract (1. 22. 58 – 1. 48. 43) is a sequence shot in Scope like the entire film is and in black and white as half of the movie’s sequences are. Those sequences were shot that way in order to be separated from the colored ones. Black and white sequences are shown in a chronologically forward order whilst the colored ones are shown backwards and don’t have a linear narrative structure.In this specific extract, Leonard Shelby narrates part of Sammy Jankis’s story, probably the most important one because it describes how he killed his wife by giving her an overdose of insulin. As it is explained to the viewers earlier in the film, Sammy suffers of the same condition as Leonard. Leonard investigated his case when he was still healthy and working for the insurance company and refused Sammy’s insurance claim by proving it was a psychological condition rather than a physical one. Relation between Stam’s text and the Memento sequenceStam refers in his chapter Narrators in Film and Novel to the case of â€Å"embedded narration† and how embedded narratives generate hypodiegesis. Hypodiegesis occurs when a substory is embedded within stories. In the case of this extract, the story is the one of Leonard’s hunting down his wife’s killer while dealing with his condition , and the substory , the one of Sammy Jankis’s condition and how his wife tries to deal with it. In the sequence Leonard is speaking on the phone with someone yet unknown to the viewers who is supposed to be a police officer.During their conversation, â€Å"Lenny† talks about his condition while comparing it to Sammyâ €™s and decides to speak about what happened to him and his wife. This is when hypodiegesis occurs. [pic] Once this embedded narrative begins we are the scene is no longer situated in the same place and the characters have changed. As Leonard narrates the camera serves as a visual manifestation of what he is describing. We see him in a room with Sammy’s wife crying just after we hear him speaking about how she came to see him in his office.Then he talks about how, persuaded he could â€Å"snap out of† this mental condition, she put him through his final exam. [pic][pic] Then we are transported back to the Jankis’s home where Leonard does not describe the fact that she tricks her husband into giving her three consecutive insulin shots (as it is shown) but only talks about how she found a way to test him hoping she would call his bluff. As Stam says â€Å"a voice over narration gradually gives way to direct monstration, yet we somehow take what is monstrated to emanate from the initial narrative†.What makes this substory so interesting is the fact that the story of Sammy Jankis may in fact be the story of Leonard Shelby. Perhaps this whole parallel story wants to show the viewer that Leonard's own wife was killed not by a murderer but by Leonard himself. There are several hints that point out the lack of the character’s reliability and lead us to conclude that his substory is a fabrication of his own subconscious. Reliability is actually a very interesting issue for Stam and in this case our narrator belongs to â€Å"those who are almost completely suspect† as they are called in Stam’s text.There are three important moments in the sequence that help us understand Leonard’s unreliability. The first one is when he takes in his hands a picture of himself (which later we learn it was took the moment he killed his wife’s murderer) and turns it the other way so that he doesn’t see it anymore. At the same time he says â€Å"It’s completely fucked because nobody believes you, it’s amazing what a little brain damage will do for your credibility. I guess it’s some kind of poetic justice for not believing Sammy†. [pic][pic] The fact that he hides the picture shows the viewers that he does not want to see it.He does not want to see himself while he tells Sammy‘s story, because he wants to forget that it is actually his story. He is lying to himself and wants to believe his lies. His words have also great meaning. He says that nobody believes him and that he has no credibility. He is again talking about himself because it is he that does not believe himself and he knows that he is not credible. His subconscious is projected to the viewers, we can see how deep inside he knows he is lying and he is fighting to believe these lies.As he says he didn’t believe Sammy, or, maybe he didn’t believe himself? The second hint is given to the sp ectators when he looks at one of his tattoos which is â€Å"remember Sammy Jankis† and at the same time says on the phone â€Å"Like Sammy. What if I‘d done something like Sammy? †. [pic] In this case, a doubt is raised, both in our minds and in Leonard’s mind. What if he had done something like Sammy? What if he had killed his wife without knowing it? The ending will show that he actually did kill his wife exactly how Sammy is supposed to have.The tattoo reminds him of Sammy, he needs that tattoo, he needs to be reminded of Sammy, otherwise there would be no meaning for him to continue on leaving. He needs to mask the facts in such a way so that he’ll have a purpose to go on. Remembering Sammy Jankis means to forget about what he did. The last moment that points out to Leonard’s lack of reliability is the most visual one. While Leonard describes how Sammy was put in a home after the death of his wife, we can see Sammy sitting in a chair at t he exact home. The camera starts to zoom in on him, when, at a certain point, a doctor passes in front of him and we have a cut.When the action starts again, the doctor gets out of the way and we can get a glimpse (for exactly 2 frames) of Leonard sitting in that same chair instead of Sammy, just before the scene ends. It is obvious that Nolan wants the viewers to see that Sammy and Leonard are the same person and that Leonard is actually describing his own story. [pic][pic] Conclusion Memento is a film with unique narrative structure. The story behind it is rather simple but the narrative structure is extremely elaborate and constant attention from its spectators is needed.The lack of short memory of the protagonist and and the chaos following him and his attempts to put together the puzzle of his wife’s murder are linked to whole storytelling in a very intelligent way. The fact that the main plot’s narrative structure is backwards and that its conclusion is revealed in the opening sequence, along with the mix of color and black and white sequences, can sometimes confuse the spectators as much as the main character. The spectators are this way driven to identify themselves in Leonard, sharing with him the confusion and the feelings of each revelation, as well as those of the disappointing truth.

The End of Privacy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The End of Privacy - Research Paper Example The authorities have been involved in securing and establishing policies to minimize incremental advantages from such information. However, the ambivalence one experiences due to advance technology is quite right. Such technological tools do advent human kind, but they are also a main reason to erode personal privacy (Tavani, 162). Surveillance cameras, sensors, recording devices, monitors have the capability to store large amount of data. These day to day technological tools may seem inevitable due to the ease and security they have produced for the mankind, but they have also posed a threat towards the civil liberty and personal privacy of many. Although, violation of internet privacy is not an easy task, but hackers all around the world have obtain techniques to extract encrypted and encoded data. However, these technological shortcomings can only be resolved by the same mean (Buchanan,817). However, there are two main concerning aspects which USA government is trying to resolve t o its best. The obtainment of personal information by FBI for national security purposes and the emphasis individuals are exerting on the privacy of their information. Another security concern is possessed by the World Wide Websites through their ‘tracking cookies’, which get stored on the hard drive and extract personal information of the user (Dubrawsky, 38). ... ce, several bills have been presented before the Congress to retrieve this encrypted information for the national security means, as the security of state is integral than the privacy of few individuals. The key to decode such encrypted information is thus, a civil and humanistic right to the information possessor. Such encrypted information is mainly possessed by a firm or a contractor if he shares it with government then he violates the right of his clients, which is also a breach of law. Hence, it is an utmost priority of the law enforcement firms to responsibly obtain information, which could potentially lead to a threat and not to violate the confidentiality of an individual or organisation. Basic internet threat protection can be attained from firewall and anti- viruses. These software keep the privacy options of one’s PC high and do not let the pop-ups viruses and spywares to intrude or store information on one’s hard drive. The later changes the configuration of PC without the users consent. Therefore, it is much more detrimental than the former one (Caruso,1). Banks, Credit Card companies, Government agencies gather personal information of the client or public and store it in their database. Hence, this personal information given out to such firms can be exploited by the receiver. For instance, if an individual fills out a bank loan form he will insert all his personal information from family structure to preferences and potential worthy items (Liberti, 4057). However, this happens rarely, but information given out on World Wide Web is particularly detrimental for the donor. If such information is given out to a wrong or fraudulent source it can lead to maximum loss. It can all began from junk emails to pop up items and eventually it can lead to

The Misunderstood Motorcycle Rider Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Misunderstood Motorcycle Rider - Essay Example Initially, relevant statistics would be provided as a brief overview of motorcycle riders in the United States, prior into delving on the reasons for preference in this mode of transportation. The pros and cons of this particular endeavor would thereby be detailed, with specific support and references from riders who are members of identified registered motorcycle clubs in the country. Finally, a concluding portion would highlight the points that were discussed and present personal ideas based on the evaluation of issues that were expounded. Brief Overview of Motorcycle Riding The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is an organization that has been tasked to monitor data and information pertinent to motorcycle riders in the United States (NHTSA). Its mission is explicitly stated as â€Å"reducing crash-related injuries and fatalities while ensuring the highest standards of safety on the nation's roadways† (NHTSA par. 1). There were reportedly â€Å"a n estimated 7 million motorcycles on the US roadways each year, compared to approximately 130 million passenger cars† (NHTSA par. 2). ... emergency department (ED) for a non-fatal motorcycle-related injury† (par. 2), noted as an all time unprecedented high for motorcycle deaths that were exhibited and compared to other motor vehicle crash data during the stipulated period. Despite the alarming figures, there are riders who have signified preference for motorcycles for reasons discussed below. Benefits of Motorcycle Riding In a study written by Lawrence, Max & Miller for the NHTSA on â€Å"Costs of Injuries Resulting from Motorcycle Crashes†, the authors effectively revealed that motorcycles are comparatively categorized as one of the most cost efficient vehicles in terms of the amount and volume of fuel consumption needed to cover a destined location. Likewise, motorcycles provide speed and easy options to manuever through tight spaces between vehicles and other travel areas. In addition, joining motorcycle clubs have added benefits in terms of achieving some specifically identified mission or goals. For U .S. Military Vets MC (Michigan) club, for example, their organization which was reportedly established in 1987 explicitly stated the following objectives, to wit: â€Å"* To provide a club for qualified military veterans, which offers brotherhood and an opportunity to establish relationships with other military veterans who have served in the defense of the United States of America. * To establish and support a strong sense of pride in having served in the active military service of the United States of America. * To improve the image of military veterans and bikers to the general public† ( U.S. Military Vets MC (Michigan) 1). From their set of objectives, it was apparent that joining a motorcycle club provides the

WHAT HAVE I LEARNED ABOUT PHILOSOPHY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

WHAT HAVE I LEARNED ABOUT PHILOSOPHY - Essay Example Philosophy has been in existence with the coming of the first human being, and was present even before the ancient civilisations of Greece, China, India Egypt, and Mesopotamia had come into being. It started when the first man questioned ‘what is life?’, and slowly took a definite shape, as this questioning initially entered the realms of religious traditions and mythical aspects; then evolved further to become abstract in nature (initially wisdom was more religion oriented, and the philosophers/high priests were held in high esteem, thought to be in direct connotation with the Supreme Being, and thus not questioned by the common people, out of fear and reverence). Later, came the more secular thinkers (that is, philosophy which is not anti-religious in nature; but merely independent of religion), in and around 6th BC, that based their questions on reason and observation, rather than religion and tradition. It was then that philosophy took on a more humanistic form and a ppeal, and came down from the abode of the high priests and the Almighty God, to touch the lives of all the common people. These secular thinkers were thus the first true philosophers, the first seekers of true wisdom. Thus we can say that philosophy in its early form can be said to be a sort of inquiry that was secular in nature, and based on reason and logic. Some of the early well known thinkers were Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, sages from the ancient Hindu philosophy, and Buddha. Middle-ages philosophy saw the replacement of religion by science, and soon two branches of philosophy came into existence which soon separated from the mainstream philosophy; mathematics and science (referred to as the ‘natural philosophy’ till the late nineteenth century). Modern day philosophy deals with questions that fall beyond the scope of these two branches of sciences and cannot be solved by them. Well known philosophers from the middle ages

Sex and Violence in Popular Culture Research Paper

Sex and Violence in Popular Culture - Research Paper Example The paper focuses on the influence of popular culture on the controversial societal issues like sex and violence. Before going on the discussion, the terms sex, violence and popular culture will be defined first as the meanings contribute to the understanding of the subject matter. Sex is usually equaled to gender as they are interchangeably used in everyday conversations. In reality, sex and gender are different. The former relates to physiological characteristic as the latter is a social concept. Sex is also an act that shows physical contact for procreation. Gender depends upon sets of social norms affected by culture and tradition that set apart males from females (Wilson 1-2). The other term to define is violence. Violence responds to conflict as harm is afflicted physically, emotionally or mentally on other people as a result of human action. Violence includes social injustices such as racism and poverty (Daoust 290). Both of them are linked to popular culture. Popular culture deals with the everyday living of people as the theme reflects the lives of the common people (Browne 5). The study deals with the negative effects of the prevailing images shown by the popular culture to the increasing cases of sex and violence as the two societal problems occur in the recent years in response to what the majority people believe. As people throughout their lives seek for learning about the world and its meanings, interactions happen as the humans in the society share experiences. People have roles to play in their lives as the society dictates as standards and acceptable behavior. The roles do not have strict and rigid boundaries as people can have various roles that show flexibility. People can take charge of their lives and choose particular roles to play. Play is important in socialization and building of the personalities of people as personalities affect the roles that people play. In terms of personality traits, the gender is also affected. Nowadays the avail ability of television programs and video games are widely used by people for information and relaxation. Such popular media affect the roles of women as the video games portray women maintaining beauty and men protecting women even with the use of violence (Dietz 425-426). The portrayals in videogames become very blatant as more people, the young and the old make use of the high technology games for their relaxation. Video games pose hazards in the view and existence of sex and violence as they portray women as sex objects and men as aggressive in nature. The games also show some gender inequality as women are underrepresented in games according to several video game magazines used in the studies done by Dill and Thill. Both the magazines and the games featured there make use of stereotypes in portraying masculinity and femininity like scanty clothes for female characters and brutal weapons for male characters (Dill and Thill 858-859). Stereotypes generalize the categories for showi ng what men and women must be and what they must be not. In reality, it would be impossible to make use of those stereotypes as people are different from one another. Violence and sex were also seen in a particular videogame called Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the protagonist or the controllable in-game character is an African-American who encounters racism, violence, sex and all other societal problems on his way home. Black males were

LAN Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

LAN Networks - Essay Example According to Cache et al., some of the features, in terms of contrast purposes, are problematic due to the lack of a standardized criteria for comparison, such as the security needs of the transmission media format. They include factors such the different type of costs (purchase, maintenance and installation) and the security needs of the medium. This is because there are different types of security threats and each medium of transmission is susceptible to different risks. Some security threats pertain to the mode of intrusion detection or authentication and verification (Cache, J., & Liu, V. 2007). According to White, in terms of data transmission speed from the highest to the lowest with regards to fiber optic cable, twisted pair, satellite, coaxial cable and microwave, they are as listed below:- As an expert, I would advise the entrepreneur wishing to institute a global satellite radio framework in his business to purchase not less than two satellites (GEO). The GEO satellites would then be suspended in a strategic location to ensure adequate connection and data transmission. In addition, the strategic location will ensure that signals transmitted from the satellites are received by the radio satellite. If placed strategically, frequency the transmission frequency will be around 20 GHz and the satellite will orbit almost exponentially if there are no mechanical problems. The most appropriate analogy for a synchronous connection and how it functions is a lift and how it halts in each floor to allow people to enter or exit from the ground floor to the top most floor. Just like a lift, a synchronous connection has a large information amount (passengers entering the lift) in addition to the required data (passengers already in the lift). If the lift has fourteen floors, then the first six floors represent the input messages while the last eight floors are set aside for data

102 exam question 4 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

102 exam question 4 - Article Example Friedman assumed that focusing on open social investments was not proper for business well-being and this would divert the goals of the business. The ideal goal of the company is to provide a return to its shareholders. By focusing on external social responsibilities, the corporation is distracted from its sole purpose. Friedman asserted that corporations do not know how to properly invest in social causes (Friedman, 1970/2002). Friedman deemed this as a tax upon stockholders of which they have no decision regarding how it is spent. Consequently, he added that an individual is on liberty to pursue social responsibilities; this is because the corporate executive lacks the ability to properly perform such actions (Friedman, 1970/2002). On the other hand, according to Archie Carroll’s, adding on to making a profit and obeying the law, a company should endeavor to improve or solve societal needs. His view is generally advocated through stakeholder theory. This theory maintains that corporations should consider the effects of their actions upon other individuals at stake or of interest in the corporation such as customers, suppliers, general public, and employees (Carroll, 1987). Businesses cannot pursue their long term profit returns if they have poor relations with their stakeholders or the environment. Meanwhile, firms cannot meet all the needs of their stakeholders and continue making profits. It is therefore advisable that management decisions should be based on an objective ethical code of conduct. Using the money that shareholders have invested in the businesses to support unprofitable needs of the society is clearly wrong. Therefore, businesses should make profits, obey the law, act according to an ethical standard, and only pursue corporate social responsibility activities that improve long-term shareholder wealth. A  corporation  is a legal entity, meaning it is a separate entity from its

TEXTBOOK-Brinkley, American History, Connecting with the Past, Volume Essay

TEXTBOOK-Brinkley, American History, Connecting with the Past, Volume II, McGraw Hill chapters 16-19 - Essay Example Furthermore, a wonderful platform was provided for entrepreneurs to showcase their talent at the onset of this revolution. Steam power was introduced with the help of which railways came into being; water wheels were made use of in the manufacturing industry; the textile industry made use of the spinning jenny as well as various other equipments that brought about a revolutionary change in American society. These effects were not only confined to America but also spread through parts of Europe as well as North America, making America to be one of the fastest growing economies at the time. A number of powerful and wealthy industrialists came into being and were known as Robber Barons who sold their products at prices that were very questionable; this process included buying out the competition, paying the employees and workers very low wages, hiking up the prices while maintaining a monopoly in order to amass wealth. This practice was followed under the concept of laissez faire which has been discussed further during the scope of this paper however it was due to such a monopoly that the government in the country had to interfere in order to keep in check the welfare of the poorer sections of society from being exploited by these barons. â€Å"Laissez-faire† is a French word-combination that literally means ‘let them do’ and may be interpreted in the economic sense as ‘let them do as they will’ or ‘leave them to do as they please.’ The phrase was brought into question when M. Le Gendre, who led a group of French businessmen, was asked about the welfare of merchants in France and how they could contribute to the commercial structure of the country. Established in the 18th century, the concept of laissez-faire was used in order to oppose any government intervention in business affairs. In America private owners have had a bigger say in matters relating to trade and commerce. E.A.J Johnson wrote the following in his 1973 study on the economic principles established at the foundation of the United States: â€Å"The general view, discernible in contemporaneous literature, was that the responsibility of government should involve enough surveillance over the enterprise system to ensure the social usefulness of all economic activity. It is quite proper, said Bordley, for individuals to â€Å"choose for themselves† how they will apply their labor and their intelligence in production. But it does not follow from this that â€Å"legislators and men of influence† are freed from all responsibility for giving direction to the course of national economic development. They must, for instance, discountenance the production of unnecessary commodities of luxury when common sense indicates the need for food and other essentials. Lawmakers can fulfill their functions properly only when they â€Å"become benefactors to the public†; in new countries they must safeguard agriculture and commerce, e ncourage immigration, and promote manufactures.† (Johnson, E.A.J) One of the main aspects of the industrial revolution in America was the development of railways and railroads because this led to the formation of the backbone of the American economy to a great extent. It assisted in balancing out transport of essential commodities to destinations near and far in order to maintain the supply of

Cellular and Molecular Pathology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cellular and Molecular Pathology - Essay Example In obtaining the right tissue for the examination, there are two distinct methods that can be employed. That is the physical examination technique and the liver biopsy technique. During physical examination, the medical history of the suspected patient is checked and more attention is paid to the patient’s abdomen. Presence of lumps in the liver can be felt as a patient lies flat with the liver being swollen. Other cases present an enlarged spleen and ability to hear a unique sound/noise when a stethoscope is used to listen to the blood vessels. The noise is usually caused by tumor pressure on the vessels. Liver biopsy is the appropriate method that can be used in obtaining materials for the study. In this case, a definite diagnosis is provided. It is appropriate since it deals with the actual tissues and fluids from the liver thus giving appropriate results rather than the suspect results as provided by the physical method of testing. Liver biopsy is done through obtaining a sample of the liver or rather a tissue fluid using a fine needle. The obtained tissue or fluid is prepared and checked under the observation microscope for the presence of cancer cells. In many incidences, about 70% biopsy shows a positive result for cancer (Brown, 2010). However, in fewer situations, there are risks involved whereby about 0.4% of the cases, some patients develop severe blood loss since a number of tumors are supplied with major and numerous blood vessels thus the heavy bleeding. 2. Methods of fixation and processing that are most suitable for the studies to be performed a) Tissue fixation Fixation is the process by which obtained tissue samples are preserved in a life –like state preventing damage and distortions and is always carried out sooner after tissue removal through surgeries and immediately after death in the case of autopsies. There are several fixatives such as alcohols, mercurials, oxidizing agents, picrates and aldehydes. In this case I would pr efer the use of formaldehyde which is also regarded as a combination of formalin and glutaraldehyde. The choice is coherently based on the neutral nature of the formaldehyde solution and the ability to penetrate the tissues cells thus encouraging visibility during the observation time. Formaldehyde has a standard solution hydrogen potential at 10% buffered formalin. The buffer is significant in prevention of acidity that would in turn cause precipitation of the formol-heme tint in the tissues. Formalin has an osmotic pressure that is equal to that of the mammalian cells thus preventing the tissue structure changes due to its reaction. The ratio of the fixative to be used stands at 10:1 to the fixative tissue. The fixative specimen would also boost the fixation process. The process of fixation is also increased by altering the temperature which when increased increases all chemical reactions. In the event where the hematoxylin and esion tissues are to be obtained for a pathology test , formalin is a recommended fixative to be used in the preservation process of the tissues since it is more tolerant and harmless to the tissues (Pathol, 2010). Formalin and alcohol are considered as the best fixatives that penetrate the tissues. Penetration is faster in thin sections compared to thick sections of tissues. However, formalin is only recommended for shirt time fixation and cannot be used in the preservation of skeletal specimens since after a long duration it softens the bones and changes the color of

Roca Case Study Essay Example for Free

Roca Case Study Essay Roca Radiadores S. A. is an entirely Spanish-owned company which has achieved extraordinary international expansion. To answer the question what motivated Roca to start internationalization we need to pay attention to the history and further expansion of Roca. Roca began its activities in 1915 as Compania Roca Radiadores S. A, a company that exclusively made cast iron radiators for domestic heating at its factory in Gava, near Barcelona. Over the course of about 60 years, Roca established its first foreign subsidiary in France because by that time, all the possibilities of further expansion in the Spanish market were extremely limited. Roca’s capital is wholly owned by the family group arising from its founders. The shareholders currently comprise over 50 members of the Roca family. The total turnover has been increasing steadily, reaching now over 800 million euro, with profits over 35 million euro per year. Roca has a stable financial statement. Roca makes decisions very slowly, evaluating the risks involved. It hardly uses bank loans, thus financing its growth mainly on reserves. Roca sells its products in over 70 countries in the six continents. Roca began increasing its international commitments as exports volumes rose. It was extremely difficult to start up exports in different countries. It faced technical barriers, varying national customs in different countries, trading limits, social differences in different countries, but there were several factors which motivated Roca to start its expansion and thus gain from internationalization: 1.  All the possibilities of further expansion in the Spanish market were extremely limited. So, it explains desire to grow 2. Stable financial statement (Its growth is based mainly on reserves, not on loans) 3. Higher profitability after entering the international market 4. Obtain prestige in the domestic market 5. There is no information in the case study about competitors, but clearly there are always competitors and this fact must be taken into consideration in discussing Roca’s internationalization process. Assuming that there are competitors, Roca was motivated to internationalize its sales and operations because internationalization would help it reach greater economies of scale in order to be more competitive. Furthermore, Roca would want to move against other competitors in foreign markets Roca has successfully overcome through all the initial stages of internationalization process such as exports or licences and production capacity and now it is on the final fourth stage as a global and multinational company. Roca went beyond the limits of the domestic market in 1974, when it opened the first subsidiary of the ROCA FRANCE in France. Since then, the company has opened a number of subsidiaries in over 70 countries, not only Western Europe, but also the countries of Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Far East, and emerging countries. Since then Roca has became one of the largest exporters of Catalonia. Also, in order to reduce costs Roca inaugurated mostly export-oriented factories for the production of Roca goods; producing in countries such as Settat, Morocco where they entered into a number of external agreements. Roca is always careful when entering into a new country, choosing only those where there is strong demand for their products. With the development of the internationalization process Roca has established the Department of Expansion, which is responsible for gathering information about foreign markets, competition situation, consumers, as well as the economic situation in the country of concern. Also Roca always takes into account the features of each country, like differences in water pressure, type of waste pipes employed, national customs, etc. nd making modifications to production processes in each country. Roca is one of the worlds largest manufacturers of sanitary and heating division, air conditioning and ceramics, and so its organizational process cannot be identified only by one model. A combination of a global-centralized and a decentralized organizational structure is best for the company, since the decisions that Roca must make are highly specialized depending upon whether it pertains to managing the global company or managing a local subsidiary. The model Roca follows entails that the decisions of the global Roca company should be taken at the level of the parent company while at the subsidiary level decisions that must be made to reduce costs by acquiring information about partners, distributors, etc. are under the umbrella of the subsidiary. The parent company, Roca, must address the core issues of development of the whole company as well as control interest, establish new subsidiaries in new regions and look after the work for the company according to a variety of financial and managerial reports that it receives from the subsidiaries. It also should engage subsidiaries to the search for new ways of development on their localizations. In particular, while opening a new production or establishing relations in a new market, the parent company may enter into temporary contracts, which will operate until the subsidiary is established on a new location. These are the decisions that best made in a global-centralized organization structure. At the same time the main aim of each subsidiary is to be responsible to the parent company for a profit and loss basis. Unprofitable subsidiaries can be easily dropped off and their managers should understand it. Although subsidiaries are sovereign they benefit from any goodwill and recognition of the whole company. So the subsidiaries are interested in their profitability, each subsidiary should search for new contacts, watch out for the productive organization of work of the company and then file reports on their operations with their parent companies to the parent company. So each subsidiary is responsible for the reputation of the company on the local level while the parent company is doing it on the global one. Roca has chosen to create production subsidiaries as its entry strategy for various countries because subsidiaries allow the parent company to achieve a closer and more continuous contact with the market. The creation of a subsidiary also decreases the number of intermediaries and makes it possible for the parent company to obtain a deeper knowledge of the market. Financially, the production subsidiaries allow Roca to avoid import barriers, which in turn reduces the final price of the product. Production subsidiaries also provides Roca with a better understanding of the host market, and makes it easier and quicker to adapt products for the foreign market and to respond to market changes. With all these advantages associated with the usage of production subsidiaries, it is evident why Roca chose the creation of production subsidiaries as its entry strategy. Roca’s international organization is flat in order to give subsidiaries greater autonomy since subsidiaries are closer to its markets. This not only provides Roca with better insight into foreign markets but also allows Roca to commence international operations more rapidly since basic infrastructure already exists. Thus, Roca can beat out potential competitors. The flat organizational hierarchy means that decisions can be made more quickly, which is necessary when a company owns so many subsidiaries, as Roca does. From another angle, since one of Roca’s major advantages is its reputation for high-quality, durable products, production subsidiaries will allow Roca to maintain control over its production processes and therefore maintain the high quality of its product offerings. The factors that led Roca to choose creating production subsidiaries as its entry strategy for specific countries such as Portugal, China, India, and Poland because after considering factors such as local costs, market size, tariffs, laws and political considerations, these countries were likely the ones with conditions most amenable to foreign investment through establishment of production subsidiary facilities. These countries in particular have lower costs of production due to lower labor costs. For example, India has many resources and capabilities in the IT business, a high number of English speakers, and significant government support for foreign investment. Furthermore, since Roca has a large product range, it would be difficult to transport the different products from just a few central distribution centers instead of the production subsidiaries. Lastly, the nature of the hygienic furnishings industry is such that not much specialized technological know-how is necessary. There is not a lot of innovation that relates to hygienic furnishings and so there is not a lot to bar competitors from entering the market. Thus, production subsidiaries will allow Roca to begin selling in foreign markets more rapidly, thus preempting potential competitors. The most significant drawback to this method is the high cost involved with creating or acquiring production subsidiaries. Usually, acquiring firms overpay for the assets of the acquired firm. Furthermore, there may be issues of culture clash between Roca and the newly acquired company. Acquiring firms also requires many resources and effort on the part of Roca because Roca must first identify appropriate companies to acquire. Roca Radiadores has had tremendous success in regards to entering new markets. They achieved this by pursuing a strategy which entails primary integration through a distributor and later switching operations to a subsidiary. These tactics were employed by Roca Radiadores in: France, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, Argentina, Poland, China and India. To fully comprehend the success of Roca’s strategies we will dissect some of the big moves Roca made and found success in pursuing this strategy. The first international venture Roca pursued was Roca France, where Roca only employed a sales subsidiary, not a distributor. It would seem frivolous to employ a distributor in France due to its close proximity to Spain. However, the inclusion of the sales subsidiary was a wise tactic, enabling Roca France to isolate and accurately determine who their customer base was. The localized sales subsidiary was able to focus on infiltrating the market and broadening the scope of Roca’s presence in the French market without diverting attention away from Spanish operations. The sales subsidiary offered a means for Roca to exist in the French market, leading them to reduce the responsibilities of the distributor. The expansion into Portugal was the first venture which required cooperation between the distributors who was replaced by a subsidiary. Roca Portugal evolved over a series of years; initial entrance involved distribution of sanitary products and later heating and cooling products. Years after observing market performance and gathering information about the Portuguese market, Roca saw an opportunity to expand further by purchasing a porcelain factory to produce sanitary products; the purchase drove costs down for Roca and eliminated imports. As the process was redefined quality standards were reduced, but the reason for this is because the Portuguese market appeared to be insensitive to changes in quality, but adept to changes in price. Having employed a distributor provided Roca the ability to test their success in the Portuguese market, unlike the French market where they required high quality products similar to those sold in Spain. The switch to a subsidiary was facilitated through a merger with York Portugal, a company specializing in air-conditioning and heating systems and therefore established a new firm Roca York AR E Refrigeroca. To determine demand Roca relied on past performance of the porcelain company acquisition as well as the heating and cooling systems. The merger and the creation of the subsidiary both for sales and distribution allowed Roca to reduce costs of outsourcing responsibilities to third parties, expanding Roca’s scope of control over the product line and expansion process. Granted, by this point in time, Europe had removed any trade barriers and tariffs, but localizing the operation kept costs down and made Roca products highly competitive in the Portuguese market. Similar strategies were pursued in Italy and Latin America. The strategy Roca chose to pursue was tactically sound considering that they were capable of expanding both within and outside of the European continent. It was an ideal strategy for expansion because of said variables: gaining information about the market, competition, capable and knowledgeable sales force, legal knowledge, and language proficiency. This plan allowed Roca to easily identify who the customer base is, how to target them and what their user needs are. If Roca sought the advice of a market researcher, there would be high costs associated with the service. Distributors had a higher incentive to ensure that they reach the target customer; they stand to gain a portion of the sales. Information attained from the distributor will serve a means to gauge if it is worthwhile to subsidize and commit to the market. Distribution methods would allow Roca to accurately gauge who is their key competitor and determine how they can compete, either on price or quality. By valuing their competitors through the research provided, there will be a clearer image whether there is room for growth or if the market is saturated. Access to an experienced sales force provides knowledge as to how to engage the customers and will be knowledgeable of which channels of distribution need attention. Through observation of the distributor’s sales force, Roca can observe and later on replicate the methods they used when they expand to a subsidiary. The final two variables which emphasize why the tactic of entering through a distributor is ideal include fluency in the language and an all encompassing understanding of the legal structure. Language fluency is vital to success in a foreign country, especially where the language varies from the company’s place of origin. The distributor would be responsible for converting any and all information into the language spoken into that area, including: advertisements, websites, packaging, directions and more. Had the distributor not been in place to serve as an intermediary there would be huge costs incurred in an effort to customize informational and marketing processes. Having a reliable source to advise Roca about legal constraints will avert them from violating regulations as well as help them capitalize on all that the law has to offer to protect Roca and its products. Beyond the scope of the distributor is the responsibility of the subsidiary. A simple power transfer occurs where Roca regains control of the operation in the foreign location and reduces the role of the intermediary, the distributor. At this juncture issues with language barriers, legal issues, and customer identification have been dealt with. The subsidiary is therefore a means to solidify Roca’s presence in the market and further expand their market share in this area. There are some drawbacks to this model. Consider the fact that the distributor may be unreliable. Roca had to rely on the distributor to provide accurate information about the market and the customer base. Were the distributor reluctant or unsuccessful in ascertaining this, continued involvement in the market may lead to stagnant sales and possibly a failed international expansion. Furthermore, the strategy entails a significant power shift for Roca. In this case there is a possibility that Roca loses sight of the sanctity of the Roca brand therefore threatening the longevity of Roca. However, the greatest drawback can be expected from the sales force who are not salaried employees. The sales force has no incentive to be loyal to Roca, so there should be a swift transition from distributor to subsidiary to take on salaried employees who will be a bit more consciences about their performance and the success of the company.

Factors affecting employee commitment

Factors affecting employee commitment Over the last ten years, the study of commitment has advanced in many different directions. A variety of disciplines have adopted the topic as a theme in their research and these have offered fresh and significant insights. These recent advances include new approaches to both the conceptualization of employee commitment and the particular human resource practices intended to increase it. Current research concerning employee commitment highlights the pitfalls of viewing commitment as a one-dimensional construct that can be enhanced by a particular human resource policy. This assumes that a particular practice, for example offering flexible working arrangements or more training, will have a significant and beneficial effect on employee commitment. Unfortunately, in practice it is not that simple because there is no single solution. All employees wants and needs cannot be addressed by a single policy. The effective functioning of an organization highly depends on the commitment of its employees. In fact, the commitment of employees may be a key factor that determines the success of a company in the modern world since, in the situation of the growing competition and the constant implementation of new technologies a company needs to have well-qualified and reliable personnel to maintain its position in the market. At the same time, the effectiveness and productivity of work of employees still remain the major factors that can contribute to the progress of the company. On the other hand, nowadays it is obvious that financial stimuli solely can hardly motivate employees to work more effectively and productively. In such a situation, employees commitment turns to be of a paramount importance since it is due to the high commitment of employees they can perform positive results of their work, increase its effectiveness and productivity, while low commitment leads, as a rule, to poor results of the functioning of the entire organization. DEFINATION OF TERMS. COMMITMENT Meyer Allen 2001 define commitment as is a stabilizing force that acts to maintain behavioural direction when expectancy/equity conditions are not met and do not function. An obliging force which requires that the person honor the commitment even in the face of fluctuating attitudes and whims. (Brown 1996) The relative strength of an individuals identification with and involvement in a particular organization (Mowday et al 1979) According to Salancik (1977) commitment is a state of being in which an individual becomes bound by his action to beliefs that sustain his activities and his own involvement Allen meyer,1990, commitment is a psychological state that binds the individual to the organization. EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT It is the psychological bond of an employee to an organization, the strength of which depends on the degree of employee involvement, employee loyalty and belief in the values of the organization. As defined by Poter (1974) Employee commitment is the relative strength of the individuals identification with and involvement in a particular organization. It consists of three factors:A strong desire to remain a member of the organization; A strong belief in, and acceptance of, the values and goals of the organization A readiness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization MODELS OF COMMITMENT A THREE MODEL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF ORGANIZATION COMMITMENT. This model of organizational commitment model was developed by Meyer and Allen. According to the model, organizational commitment reflects at least three general themes. 1.Affective commitment to the organization 2.Continuance Commitment The perceived cost associated with leaving it 3.Normative Commitment- The obligation to remain with it. Affective Commitment Its the employees emotional attachment to, identification with and involvement in the organization. Employees with a strong affective commitment continue employment with the organization because they want to. Continuance Commitment The individual commits to the organization because he/she perceives high costs of losing organizational membership including economic costs (such as pension accruals) and social costs (friendship ties with co-workers) that could be incurred. The employee remains with the organization because he/she has to. I t refers to an awareness of the costs associated with leaving the organization. The potential cost of leaving an organization include the threat of wasting the time and effort spent acquiring non transferable skills, losing attractive benefits, giving up seniority based privileges or having to uproot family and disrupt personal relationships. It also develops as a result of lack of alternative employment opportunities. Employees in this category remain because they need to. NORTMATIVE COMMITMENTS Refers to a feeling of obligation to continue employment . Employees in this category remain in the organization because they feel they ought to. Organization can develop normative commitment by providing reward in advance e.g. paying college tuition. Normative pressures may also make an individual feel that they ought to remain within the organization. Acknowledging these investments makes employees feel a sense of obligation to reciprocate by committing themselves to the organization until the debt has been paid . One important point is that not all forms of employee commitment are positively associated with superior performance (Meyer Allen, 1997). For example, an employee who has low affective and normative commitment, but who has high continuance commitment is unlikely to yield performance benefits. The main reason such an employee remains with an organisation is for the negative reason that the costs associated with leaving are too great. THE HIGH COMMITMENT MODEL. ( IN STRATEGIC HRM.) This model embraces workforce commitment and identification with the organizations values and goals. The main features of high commitment model are 1. Development of career ladders and emphasis on trainability and commitment as highly characteristic of employees at all levels in the organization. 2. A high level of functional flexibility with the abandonment of potentially rigid job descriptions. 3. The reduction of hierarchies and the ending of status differentials. 4. Heavy reliance on the team structure for dissemination of information (team building) structure work and problem solving. 5. Job design as something management consciously does in order to provide jobs which have a considerable level of intrinsic motivation. 6. A policy of no compulsory layoff or redundancies and use of permanent employee with possible use of temporary workers to cushion fluctuation in the demand for labour. 7. New forms of assessment and pay system and more specifically merit pay profit sharing 8. A high involvement of employees in the management of quality. CONCEPTUALISATION OF COMMITMENT: MODEL DEVELOPED BY OREILLY AND CHATMAN. (1986) OReilly and Chatman(1986) developed their multidimensional framework on the basis of the assumption that commitment represents an attitude towards the organization. For them, commitment takes on three distinct forms, which they labeled 1. Compliance 2. Identification 3. Internalization Compliance occurs when attitudes and corresponding behaviors are adopted in order to gain specific rewards. E.g being very considerate towards people so that you get that promotion Identification occurs when an individual accepts influence to establish or maintain a satisfying relationship Relationship / Internalization occurs when influence is accepted because the attitudes and behaviors one is being encouraged to adopt are congruent with existing values. Employees thus become committed to organizations which they share value e.g. an organization that encourages integrity is likely to win the commitment of an individual who believes in integrity. TYPES OF COMMITMENT . OMalley (2000) contends that a review of the commitment literature produces five general factors which relate to the development of employee commitment: Affiliative Commitment: An organizations interests and values are compatible with those of the employee, and the employee feels accepted by the social environment of the organization. Associative Commitment: Organizational membership increases employees self-esteem and status. The employee feels privileged to be associated with the organisation. Moral Commitment: Employees perceive the organization to be on their side and the organization evokes a sense of mutual obligation in which both the organization and the employee feel a sense of responsibility to each other. This type of commitment is also frequently referred to in the literature as Normative Commitment. Affective commitment: Employees derive satisfaction from their work and their colleagues, and their work environment is supportive of that satisfaction. Some researchers (eg Allen Meyer, 1991) suggest that this is the most important form of commitment as it has the most potential benefits for organizations. Employees who have high affective commitment are those who will go beyond the call of duty for the good of the organization. In recent literature this form of commitment has also been referred to as engagement and is the form of commitment that is most usually measured by organizations. Structural commitment: Employees believe they are involved in a fair economic exchange in which they benefit from the relationship in material ways. There are enticements to enter and remain in the organization and there are barriers to leaving. This type of commitment is also frequently referred to in the literature as Continuance Commitment. FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT. The workplace is a dynamic field and to remain competitive, employee commitment is important..The following factors affect employee comittemnt: Workplace values. If employees believe that their organization values quality products they will engage in behaviors that will contribute to high quality. If employees are convinced that their organization values participation they will be more likely to feel as though their participation will make a difference. They will thus be motivated and be more willing to seek solutions and make suggestions to contribute to the organization success. Subordinate supervisor interpersonal relationship. Supervisors behavior include sharing appropriate information, allowing mutuality of influence, recognizing and rewarding good performance and not abusing the vulnerability of others . The extent to which the supervisor displays these behaviors will thus largely determine subordinate commitment level Job characteristics. The extent that a job is structured to provide regular feedback and autonomy as well as a sense of task completion An increase in perceived control strengthens emotional bonds with an organization. A heightened sense of personal control has a positive consequence for employees attitudes and behaviors at work. When tasks are Intrinsically satisfying, employees tend to be more committed. Commitment is low when employees are given repetitive routine tasks to complete. A job that allows a high degree of autonomy and the absence of close supervision increases commitment. Demographics AGE. A range of demographic variables have been found to be related to employee commitment (Mathieu Zajac, 1990). For a variety of reasons, age has been found to be a positive predictor of employee commitment. As Mathieu Zajac (1990) suggest, the older employees become, the less alternative employment options are available. As a result, older employees may view their current employment more favourably. Dunham et al. (1994) suggest older employees may be more committed because they have a stronger investment and greater history with their organization. GENDER: With regard to gender, a number of studies (eg Mathieu Zajac, 1990) have reported women as being more committed than men. This is typically explained by women having to overcome more barriers than men to get to their position in the organization. MARITAL STATUS Marital status has also been shown to relate to commitment, with married employees usually showing more commitment (Mathieu Zajac, 1990). However, it is suggested that the reason for this is because married employees will typically have greater financial and family responsibilities, which increases their need to remain with the organization. Note, however, that this refers to structural commitment (or continuance commitment) in that the cost associated with leaving the organization increases commitment to the organization. As mentioned previously, structural commitment does not necessarily relate to increased performance. Recruitment Procedures OMalley (2000) suggests that organizations need to pay more attention to addressing employees social need to affiliate and belong, in order to create commitment, the organization must have the right sort of employees in the first instance. Employees feelings of belonging start to develop long before employees join the organization. The following information should be shared with employee to enhance commitment à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ share details about the organization à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ provide employees with help and support throughout the recruitment and selection process à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ convey the interests and values that the organization shares with employees. Organizations need to be attractive to the right sort of people; thus the initial contact between the organization and the prospective candidate is very important. DEVELOPING AN EMPLOYER BRAND. As Troy (1998) points out, increasingly organizations are attempting to communicate with prospective employees in a coherent manner by developing an employer brand The brand should condense the basic nature of the organization, what its values are and what it would be like to work there. The principal purpose of the brand is to efficiently bring employers and employees together in order to establish a relationship. Thus, a good brand should convey both the unique benefits of the organizational environment and the type of person who is likely to do well in that setting. The organization must then ensure that it delivers these promises to its employees, or its efforts will have been wasted. Employers should, therefore, devote a portion of the selection process to assessing cultural fit. Met Expectations Employees will be more committed if there is a good match between what the person is looking for in a job, and what the job provides . Commitment will be greater when employees experiences on the job match their expectations. Unmet expectations are a source of low morale and dissatisfaction. Such expectations usually relate to the type of work employees are given to do and the opportunities they receive for training and development. Factors affecting commitment. By Kochan and dyan as cited by Armstrong 2005. 1. Strategic level -supportive business strategies -Top management value of commitment -Effective voice of HR in strategy making Supportive business strategies may include activities that increase employee involvement thus reinforcing commitment. When top management is commited to its employees the employees too become commited. Fair human resource policies e.g a policy of promotion based on merit will also increase commitment 2. Hr policy level -staffing based on employment stabilization investing on training and development -continent compensation that reinforces cooperation Training increases employees efficiency making them more commited because they enjoy what they do.(Affective commitment) 3. Workplace level Selection based on high standards -Job design and team work -employee involvement in problem solving -climate of cooperation and trust. Selecting people with the right skills for a job will ensure that the employee remains commited as they will be efficient in their duties. Efficiency increases commitment. Designinh jobs e.g allowing flexi time,job enlargement,job enrichment and job rotation ensures that monotony is kept at bay and commitment is enhanced Other factors that affect employee commitment by Purcell et al (2003 in Armstrong ,2005) include i. Received training last year ii. Are satisfied with career opportunities iii. Are satisfied with performance appraisal system Think managers are good in people management (Leadership) v. Find work challenging vi. Think their form helps them achieve a work-life balance vii. Are satisfied with communication or company performance Benefits of employee commitment High level of employee commitments means that employees are really enthusiastic about their job and, their performance will be better as well as the effectiveness and productivity of their work higher. Employee commitment also evokes a profound interest of an employee to his/her work. This means that he/she enjoys the job he/she does. Consequently, the level of employees satisfaction will be high if they are really committed to their work. Employee commitment may be also cost saving since committed employees are highly motivated that means that they do not need increasing financial rewards for their work, though it does not necessarily mean that employees should not receive financial rewards at all, but the expenses of the organization at this point may decrease. The performance benefits accrued from increased employee commitment have been widely demonstrated in the literature. To list but a few, these include: i. increased job satisfaction (Armstrong 2005) ii. increased job performance (Mathieu Zajac, 1990) iii. increased total return to shareholders . iv. increased sales (Barber et al., 1999) v. decreased employee turnover (Cohen, 1991) decreased intention to leave decreased intention to search for alternative employers (Cohen, 1993) vii. decreased absenteeism (Cohen, 1993, Barber et al. 1999) Employee commitment should be viewed as a business necessity. Organizations who have difficulty in retaining and replacing competent employees will find it hard to optimize performance. There are not only the immediate expenses of the recruitment process, but other hidden costs such as management time and lost productivity as new employees take time to become effective in their roles. Commitment also has the following effects: 1. I t results in self directed( self initiave) application to do the job 2. regular attendance, 3. nominal supervision 4. a high level of effort 5. it increases the intention to stay- loyalty NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF LOW EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT. Low commitment of employees may lead to negative results and undermine the normal functioning of an organization or, at any rate, decrease the effectiveness of work of employees considerably. The low employee commitment has a number of disadvantages which deteriorate the work of each employee and the entire organization (OMalley 2000). Low commitment leads to the low level of interest of employees in their work. Consequently, if employees are not sufficiently interested in their work they will naturally work worse than they can. In other words, the low commitment decreases the effectiveness and productivity of work for employees are not really interested in their work and its outcomes. Naturally, in such a situation, they can hardly be interested in a positive performance of the organization they work for. MEASURING EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT . This can be done through an attitude survey, employee satisfaction survey, employee commitment survey and performance appraisals. Questioners are usually administered to collect relevant data that management later uses when deciding ways of increasing employee commitment. Sample of a questioner attached(Annex 1) WAYS OF ENHANCING EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT Organizations can use various strategies to increase employee commitment. This strategies include: Induction and Training The induction programme should be the final step of the recruitment and selection process. A good induction programme will make new employees more familiar with and more at ease within the organization. Employees enter the organization with an assumption of compatibility and should be welcomed. Relationships with Managers This refers to how the quality of the relationship between managers and their employees relates to the development of commitment. Employees commitment reflects their day to day contacts with their line managers about their job, and the way in which objective targets are set. Effective communication on job-related issues is a key ingredient in securing individual performance. To a great extent, individual line managers are responsible for ensuring that these maintenance behaviours occur. With poor management, the most well developed organizational programme can break down at the point of transmission. Relationships with Colleagues Emotional attachment to colleagues in the workplace is an important element of commitment, though It is not enough on its own. Unless there is occasion for frequent and rewarding interaction, stronger feelings of belonging that can bind employees to the organization are unlikely to emerge. Organizations that want to build high levels of commitment should look for ways to build this through group activities both in and out of work Group Membership To build commitment, being a member of a particular organization must not only satisfy employees social need to affiliate and belong, but must also create a sense of collective identity that differentiates the group from other organizations. There are many situational features that contribute to a sense of group membership. The more exposure that employees have to these features, the more likely they will be to feel like a part of the group and to incorporate that membership into their concept of who they are. Organizational Justice and Trust It is also argued that employees evaluate their experiences at work in terms of whether they are fair and reflect a concern on the part of the organization for the well- being of the employees (Meyer, 1997). Treating employees fairly, communicates the message that management is commitment to the employees. This suggests that organizations wanting to foster greater commitment from their employees must first provide evidence of their commitment to their employees. When there is trust, employees are willing to suspend judgement and defer to the authority of others. In addition, trust permits organizational flexibility because a payback need be neither immediate nor of equivalent value. OMalley (2000) identifies four areas in which employees sense of trust in the employer can be increased: i. Growth: As most employees want to be more proficient in their job, a good way to instil trust is to attend to employees development needs. ii. Work-Life balance: Most employees would like organizations to allow greater personal time when needed. iii. Individual accommodation: Acts of organizational flexibility or benevolence toward employees. iv. Health and Safety: Organizations that are committed to protecting employees health and safety are more likely to be trusted Promotion Policies and practices concerning promotion can also affect commitment. . Among those who are considered for promotion, the outcome of the decision is likely to have an effect on commitment. But, for some, the perception of fairness in the decision-making process might be even more important. This suggests that organizations should communicate clearly how their decisions were made and why those who did not succeed were not suitable. Work-Life Balance A key issue emphasized by research, especially in recent years, is the extent to which employees perceive they are able to achieve the right balance between home and work. Organizations are beginning to recognize this, and are making more concerted efforts to introduce a host of programmes intended to ease employees burdens. These include initiative such as: flexible work arrangements; child care; time off policies; elderly care; healthcare; information and counseling; and convenience services to name but a few. Job Satisfaction How happy an employee is in a job has profound effects on behaviour and commitment. In relation to commitment, job satisfaction and work-life satisfaction are very important. Job satisfaction is an enormous area; however, to be concise a satisfying job typically has three properties: i. It has intrinsically enjoyable features: Mathieu Zajac (1990) found that the strongest correlation with commitment were obtained for job characteristics, particularly job scope (enrichment). ii. It provides an opportunity for growth and development. iii. It makes employees feel effective in their roles (that they can positively influence organizational outcomes). Pay and Reward As mentioned previously, employees may remain with an organization because there are constraints against leaving and incentives for staying. It is important for organizations to structure the economics of the relationship in a way that will not obstruct commitment. One of the reasons to stay in a relationship is because it makes sense economically. Pay makes continuation of the employment relationship worthwhile because there is mutual dependence. PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT Schein cited by (Armstrong 2005) defines commitment as attachment and loyalty Psychological contract is the degree people are committed to the organization (Schein 1965). It depends on 1. The degree to which their own expectations of what the organization will provide to them and what they owe the organization in return matches what the organization expectations are of what it will give and get in return The nature of what is actually to be exchanged e.g. money in exchange for time at work , social need satisfaction and security in exchange for hard work and loyalty Armstrong (2004) defines psychological contract as a system of beliefs which encompasses on one hand the actions employees belief are expected of them and what response they expect in return from their employer and on the other hand the behavior employers expect from their employees. It is implicit and dynamic ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT IN DEVELOPING EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT, (ARMSTRONG) 2005 1. During recruitment interviews present the unfavorable as well as the favorable aspects of a job in a realistic job preview.- This will enable the candidate have a clear and achievable expectation of the organization and thus avoid setting very high expectations that the organization is unable to meet,leading to low / decreased commitment 2. In induction programmes communicate to new starters the organizations personnel policies and procedures and its core values indicating to them the standards of performance expected this enables them to remain committed in achieving the expected performance 3. Issue and update employee hand books and intranet entries which reinforce the message delivered in induction programmes. 4. Develop performance management process plans which spell out how continued improvement of performance can be achieved mainly by self managed learning 5. Use training and management development programmes to underpin values that define performance expectations. 6. Ensure thorough manager and team leader training that managers and team leaders understand their role in managing the employment relationship through such processes as performance management and team leadership managers should be very committed so as to pass the same message of commitment to employees. 7. Encourage a maximum amount of contact between managers and team leaders and their team members to achieve mutual understanding. 8. Adopt a general policy of transparency ensuring that on all matters which affect them employees know what is happening and the impact it will make on their employment 9. Develop personal procedures covering grievance handling, discipline , promotion and redundancy. Ensure they are implemented fairly and consistently. 10. Develop and communicate personnel policies covering the major areas of employment, development, reward and employee relations DEVELOPING HR PRACTICES THAT ENHANCE COMMITMENT. According to Armstrong 2005 the following ten (10) practice contribute to increase of employee commitment. 1.Advise in methods of communicating the values and aims of management and achievements of the organization, so that employees are more likely to identify with it as one they are proud to work for. 2.Emphasize to management that commitment is a two way process employees cannot be expected to be committed to the organization unless management demonstrates that it is committed to them. 3.Impress on the management the need to develop a climate of trust by being honest with people, treating them fairly justly and consistently, keeping its word and showing willingness to listen to the comments and suggestions made by employees 4.Develop a positive psychological contract by treating people as stakeholders rely on consensus and cooperation rather than control and coercion and provision of opportunities for learning and career progression. 5.Advise on and assist in the establishment of partnership agreements with trade unions which emphasiz