American Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

American Literature - Essay Example It is orderly because that is what keeps people’s lives moving, is order. The story introduces the reader the traveling school master, Ichabod Crane, whose very organized life involves spending a week at a time at the homes of the local students, where he is well fed, sheltered, and has the opportunity to meet and perhaps marry a young woman who might inherit some means greater than his own. Ichabod’s organization is symbolic of the organization within which he lives. It is a very organized, chaotic free life that Ichabod leads. As the story departs from the historic, and begins to delve into the mystery of the urban myths, like that of the story of â€Å"Douffe Martling (65),† then the organization and sense of sleepy little town calm begins to dissipate. â€Å"But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and ap ­paritions that succeeded. The neighborhood is rich in legend ­ary treasures of the kind. Local tales and superstitions thrive best in these sheltered long-settled retreats; but are trampled under foot by the shifting throng that forms the population of most of our country places. Besides, there is no encourage ­ment for ghosts in most of our villages, for they have scarcely had time to finish their first nap, and turn themselves in their graves, before their surviving friends have traveled away from the neighborhood; so that when they turn out at night to walk their rounds, they have no acquaintance left to call upon. This is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear of ghosts except in our long-established Dutch communities (66).† It is only when we take ourselves out of the mundane daily life routines that it becomes really exciting, because then we can inject our environments with the sense of intrigue and suspense. Even if the characters are created by our social imagination, intended to create entertainment value, they are necessary to break the mundane daily routine. So we create ghosts and goblins, and those things that are

Recent European Foreign Debt Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Recent European Foreign Debt Crisis - Essay Example This saw down turn in small areas of financial systems, which ruined the structure entirely. There are a lot of factors that contributed to the recent European financial meltdown. According to some political economists, the European financial meltdown was bound to happen due to the trade policies adopted by the European Union (Jackson 1). In this regard, they argue that European Union is not proactive enough and act after the facts. This means that they provide response only after the situation has already occurred. The question that many people among them economist are asking is, why should the European countries care about the foreign debt crisis? This paper will explore the causes of the recent European sovereign debt crisis, what happened and why it is indispensable for the European countries to care about it. The foreign debt crisis in Europe occurred as a result of a number of factors. This include finance globalization, 2002-2008 easy credit condition which buoyant high-risk b orrowing and lending practices. Others include imbalance in international trade, bubbles of real estates, which have burst since then, slow growth in economy witnessed in 2008 and there after, government expense and revenue fiscal policy choices and bail out methods by nations for troubled banks and bondholders. Other notable causes include assuming private burdens of debts or socializing losses (Duthel 1). The crisis has had a lot of negative impacts to many countries in Europe. Jackson argues that initially, the crisis was viewed by European Union (EU) as a phenomenon of America. However, its devastating effects changed soon after the European countries saw its impact on the country. For instance, the crises led to a sharp decline in economic activities of European countries over a remarkably short time (Duthel 5). The worst being, it led to a sharp decline in global trade, eroding European prospects of trade. This in turn, provided safety regulator for local industries that are r educing their output. It is a mater of fact that many countries depend on trade for economic growth. This is one of the reasons as to why European countries should take stringent measures aimed at preventing such a recurrence in financial crisis. Economists still see sovereign debt crisis as something that is continuing in the European countries (Duthel 22). This has impact negatively on the countries affected since it makes it hard for some of the countries to be able to pay off their government debts without seeking third party assistance. This interferes with the smooth running of these countries and thus needs prevention and control measures to abate it. For instance, in 2009, there was growing fear of sovereign debt crisis among investors. This was because government debt levels were rising at an alarming rate across the globe coupled with government debt downgrading witnessed in some European countries (Jackson 4). The concerns grew from early 2010, calling on the finance mini ster of Europe to approve a package that could help rescue the nations. This culminated to approval of â‚ ¬750 billion for financial stability in Europe and establishing a European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). The concerns also lead to leaders from euro zone signing an agreement in October 2011 and February 2012 aimed at designing measures to help mitigate collapse of European member economies. The agreement signed includes measures requiring banks to make up to 53.5 percent write-off of debts in Greece owed

Under what circumstances are protest movements against authoritarian Essay

Under what circumstances are protest movements against authoritarian rule most likely to succeed in changing the regime - Essay Example While a protest movement is a collective endeavour and is generally expressive of the political views of large numbers of people, the failed uprisings mentioned above indicate that they may not necessarily be successful in every case. This study examines why these movements were unsuccessful in achieving their objectives. According to Thompson, democratic revolutions can be understood as â€Å"spontaneous popular uprisings – peaceful, urban-based and cross class in composition – which topple unyielding dictators and begin a transition process that leads to the consolidation of democracy.†1 Including fraternity organizations, guerrilla organizations or other sects under the umbrella of social movements would possibly be stretching the definition of social movements too far2, but such organizations have also managed to attract a sizeable number of followers. According to Zirakzadeh, a social movement comprises a group of people who (a) consciously attempt to build a radically new social order (b) includes people from a broad range of social backgrounds and (c) makes use of socially disruptive, politically confrontational tactics.3 In general, where the question of overthrow of a regime is concerned, dictatorial, authoritarian regimes are vulnerable to violent, radical revolutions, including coups, that may successfully achieve this objective4. According to Tilly, earlier trends in the growth of social movements are linked to economic and political changes, such as the emergence of Parliaments, proletariats and market capitalization5. Tilly also points out that social movements can also be a prime factor functioning as a propellant towards democracy, such as the ones which occurred in the USSR in 1990-91, Serbia in 1996/7 and 2000 as well as Ukraine in 2004. But more often, social protest movements have flourished after the country in question has become a democracy, because political rights as well as individual rights such

Loyalty Programmes in Hotels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 19000 words

Loyalty Programmes in Hotels - Essay Example This research attempts to achieve an insight into the value of loyalty programmes to businesses and more specifically examine the value of loyalty programmes to hotels. Review of secondary data is applied to understand the value of loyalty programmes to businesses while a survey among hotels is conducted to examine its value to the hotels. Loyalty Programmes are defined as â€Å"schemes offering delayed, accumulating economic benefits to consumers who buy the brand†. Satisfaction does not equal loyalty. A customer can be very satisfied with the product, but still be not loyal towards it. In order to encourage loyalty, firms develop loyalty programs. Typically, in a Loyalty Program, customers accumulate assets, points or rewards by accumulating their purchases from a local firm which is either exchanged for goods or the services, though not always associated with the firm. This generally adopts the system of points wherein the points can be exchanged for a variety of benefits s uch as free flyer points, gifts, trips, etc. â€Å"Airline frequent-flier programs have been a prototype for many of the schemes†. Such schemes are based on the concept of repeat purchase, and in most businesses today, a large part of sales results from repeat purchase. This fact is being increasingly recognized by enterprises that are implementing loyalty programmes to encourage such purchase pattern.  ... The literature in general helped in understanding various factors and concepts associated with loyalty programme and then those had to be applied to the hotel industry for the research. 34 3.4 Research Approach 36 3.5 Research Strategy 38 3.6 Sample selection 41 3.6.1 Administering the questionnaire 41 3.6.2 Analyzing the responses 43 3.7 Time Horizon 43 3.9.1 Reliability 47 3.9.2 Validity 48 Limitations 49 50 Ethical Considerations 50 4. Analysis and Discussion of Findings 51 4.1 Hotels' definition of loyal customers 52 4.2 Reason for launching loyalty programme 53 4.3 Target segment and benefits offered 55 4.4 Designing loyalty program for corporate segment 58 4.5 Loyalty programmes that attract maximum guests and justify expenses 59 4.6 Objective of loyalty programs 61 4.7 Managing loyalty programme 63 4.8 Delivery mechanism 64 4.9 Involving staff 65 4.10 Assessing the success of loyalty programme 66 4.11 Failure of loyalty programme 70 5. Recommendations 72 Introduction Brief overview and background This research attempts to achieve an insight into the value of loyalty programmes to businesses and more specifically examine the value of loyalty programmes to hotels. Review of secondary data is applied to understand the value of loyalty programmes to businesses while a survey among hotels is conducted to examine its value to the hotels. Loyalty Programmes are defined as "schemes offering delayed, accumulating economic benefits to consumers who buy the brand". Satisfaction does not equal loyalty. A customer can be very satisfied with the product, but still be not loyal towards it (Charles and Lamb, 2008).In order to encourage loyalty, firms

Reflective Report- Oticon the disorganised organisation Assignment

Reflective Report- Oticon the disorganised organisation - Assignment Example This research enabled Oticon to keep up with the pace of technology, as well as recognize customer’s demands and make the correct adjustments where required (Perlitz 2007, p.26). This case study is about Oticon that is undergoing or has undergone a change between the years 2010 and 2014. In addition, the essay will provide the description of the organization and industry in which the change happened, and the particular information. Moreover, it will give the environmental elements that impacted the change and chronology of the milestones. Furthermore, nine more reflections on the analyses associated to the topic of the week will be noted. The reflection will be based on Kolb Model of Learning. The Kolb’s cycle is the procedure that expands ideas from the way of encounter. In most situations, the procedure is comprehended on the basis of the events. In this model, there is a circle of reflective observation that evolves to solid encounter of occurrences in abstract conceptualization (Moon 2013, p. 24). The figure below represents the Kolb’s cycle of learning. This case study’s information is obtained from the annual records of the Oticon company and personal conversation with Lars Kolind the initiator of spaghetti organization between the year 2010 and 2011 (Cattani 2011, p.68). Oticon is a Danish corporation that began in 1904 and specializes in behind the ear hearing aid devices. The project-based organization (PBO) change happened in the company in a big way. A project based organization process plays the function of reacting to the unknown environmental factors. The Oticon Company indicated this form of organization change through spaghetti organization (Cattani 2011, p.61).The spaghetti organization assisted the company to manage it in a particular time of industry unstableness. In addition, it assisted the managers in their quest for a better framework to arrange innovation inside the corporation. The spaghetti organization got tests on two

A Policy Brief Addressing a Significant Health Problem Facing Essay

A Policy Brief Addressing a Significant Health Problem Facing California - Essay Example Yet as a society, we are not making adequate investments necessary to ensure the health and well-being of all of our youth. During adolescence, young people confront new issues that affect their physical and mental health. These could be attributed to a number of varying factors. Similarly, young adults continue to experience many of the same challenges to their health and well-being. The health issues of teens and young adults are easy to overlook because they are not, for the most part, acute illnesses or chronic diseases. Instead, they are largely behavioral and social issues. Unlike the issues related to general health conditions that confront the society at large, adolescent’s health problems relate more to the lacuna in the societal interventions. Adolescents confront health issues that have multi-dimensional characteristics and implications. Addressing these issues requires change at multiple levels—from service delivery, to funding priorities, to community resources and environments, and, more fundamentally, to the behavior and attitudes of California’s adults. The World Health Organization’s definition can be taken as the standard in all areas of public health. According to the World Health Organization, health is defined as more than just the â€Å"absence of disease,† but rather a state of â€Å"complete physical, mental, and social well-being.† This broad definition has a lot of significance to adolescent health. Adolescent health encompasses not only the prevention and treatment of disease and disability. It features behavioral and social issues on an equal scale. Issues of safety, social relationships, self-esteem, education and skill development all figure into good health of adolescents. Thus, to make progress in improving adolescent health, a combination of perspectives and approaches is needed. Besides the disease components, interventions must address societal and behavioral

How will technology and social media influence or change recruitment Essay

How will technology and social media influence or change recruitment and talent management in the future - Essay Example Social media has become a viable way of quick interaction between the recruiters and the candidates. The quality of staff members and their services in the hotel industry has a direct impact on the bottom line. Employees serve as the frontline brand ambassadors and their performance drives the true competitive advantage of the organization. To succeed, the employers need to recruit enthusiastic, accountable, and competent employees that should be kept motivated and engaged. To achieve this, many innovative firms are seeing the potential of improving the recruiting strategies with social media (Headworth, n.d.). The rapid advancement of technology and growth of the use of social media will bring drastic changes in the practices of recruitment and talent management in the hotel industry in the future. Historically, rates of employee turnover within the hotel industry have been remarkably high; turnover rates have been touching 50 per cent. â€Å"The American Hotel and Lodging Association has estimated that the turnover cost per employee is a minimum of $4100 per employee, and the American Management Association pegs this number at 30% of an employee’s annual salary† (Cobb, 2013). The high rate of employee turnover in the hotel industry can be partly attributed to lack of opportunities of training and development and inappropriate talent management that has led the employees to attrition and dissatisfaction. To combat the retention issues, hospitality organizations are in need of professional, motivated, committed, and developed graduates that would help them attain their immediate and long-term goals (Scott and Revis, 2008). The trends are expected to change for the better in the future. The continued growth of social media and technology has made room for the worki ng of more team activities and knowledge work remotely. Retention in the hotel