Book Reviewwho fights who cares :: Essays Papers

Book Reviewwho fights who cares The book was based on a wide range of contributions, written and verbal, and has been edited together by Alex de Waal. He does not represent any of the views of any individual or government. The book â€Å"Who Fights Who Cares† is a very interesting book. The focus of the book is mainly towards the continent of Africa. Just about every thing that has to do with blacks in Africa will in some way effect African Americans. The book is broken up in to little sections in each chapter. The book talks about the sixteen countries in central Africa. The book breaks down everything that is corrupt in Africa that has to do with blacks. The first main section in the book talks about why is there war in Africa. There has been many wars in Africa sense the 1970’s. In the 90’s alone there was something like twelve wars in Africa. Many of the wars had been going on for years about the same thing. In Africa they also have wars called the â€Å"war next door† meaning that an ongoing conflict in going on during the war. This is what happens in the first part of the book. The next main section in the book talks about Improvements in military interventions. The people in Africa are saying that they need the unity of command for an effective intervention. They are also saying that if the military in each country were stronger then civilians would not die. The book also says â€Å"interventions troops should have public relation officers and humanitarian sections in each part of Africa†. A non- neutral humanitarian assistance is the conclusion to the book. Many

Music Censorship is Not Needed Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Essay

Music Censorship is Not Needed    Marilyn Manson. Eminem. Limp Bizkit. Rammstein. All of these musical artists have been under fire in the past few years by government officials, the media, and activist groups. Supposedly, their music conveys too violent of a message. The sounds and words these artists have so carefully crafted have been targeted as the cause for violent acts, especially by young people. For example, Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold idolized German industrial bands such as Rammstein and KMFDM, as well as American shock rocker, Marilyn Manson. The public has been quick to blame these musicians for violence in the United States. People are calling for government regulations in the form of ratings, warnings, edited material, and even bans on such allegedly offensive music. But how far is too far? Should the government regulate what should rightfully be the responsibility - and the right - of parents or guardians?    It cannot be denied that there is an excess of violence in today's music. Eminem raps about spousal abuse and murder sprees, Marilyn Manson sings of anarchy, drugs, and atheism, and Limp Bizkit urges fans to "break stuff." Some critics argue that fans will take these words seriously, and act out on the urging of their beloved artists. However, if listeners aren't mature enough to know the difference between the fictional world these lyrics invoke, and the reality that they personally live in, perhaps they aren't mature enough to listen to it. If a young person seriously believes in the message he or she hears, perhaps it is because the parents have not done a sound job of teaching the difference between fiction and reality, between right and wrong. Too man... ...or what it is - entertainment, and not be taken so seriously as people try to make it. Music, be it rap, alternative, country, or bubble gum pop, is merely another form of expression. If you don't like what you hear, don't want your children exposed to it, or are offended by it, just turn it off. Thousands of people have attended concerts by the most hated artists in America. Millions watch Marilyn Manson prance about in music videos. Yet, the general majority of the population is not inspired to murder innocent people. Teens that are depressed, troubled, or rejected and taunted by their peers need to get help before they let their warped sense of fantasy and reality mix too far. Don't deprive more mature listeners all because it's something that frightens you. Music may be a huge influence, but it cannot be blamed for all of society's problems.      

Bell Rock Lighthouse Essay

5 WHERE THE MIND IS WITHOUT FEAR I. (i) The words ‘mind is without fear’ mean that one does not have any fear of oppression or compulsion. The poet is talking about the minds of the people of his country. He says so because his country was under the subjugation of the British, who perpetrated all sorts of oppression on his countrymen. (ii) The words ‘the head is held high’ mean to have self respect. The head is bowed down because of exploitation and oppression of the Indians by the British. It needs to be held high with pride and dignity which characterised the Indians before India was reduced to the status of a subjugated nation. (iii) By the words ‘Where knowledge is free’, the poet wants to say that in his country everyone should have the freedom to acquire knowledge without any restriction. The restrictions imposed on the spread of knowledge include the prejudices based on wealth, caste and religion. Further, the British imposed restrictions on the basis of the ruler (the British) and the ruled (the Indians). They curbed the freedom of speech and expression by putting restrictions on the Press. (iv) Due to the restrictions imposed on the spread of knowledge, people remained glued to their outdated customs and traditions and could not think rationally. (v) A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines divided into an octave (the ?rst eight lines) and a sestet (the last six lines). The octave presents an idea, raises an argument, makes a proposition or poses a problem, whereas the sestet gives a solution to the problem posed by the octave. The poem ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’ comprises an octave, in which the poet talks about the wonderful qualities his countrymen must achieve to make their country free and heaven-like. Since this poem is only a part of the complete song in his Nobel Prize winning work, Gitanjali, we can say that this poem is a part of the complete sonnet. II. (i) According to the poet, the narrow domestic walls or divisions based on caste, class, colour, religion, creed, region and superstitions break up the world into fragments or mutually exclusive compartments. (ii) The narrow domestic walls refer to narrow local divisions created 6TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS) by prejudices like caste, colour, creed, region and religion. They are called ‘narrow’ by the poet because they are based on age- old customs and traditions and not on the basis of rational thinking. (iii) The narrow domestic walls can harm the nation by creating divisions among people and thereby, undermining the unity and  integrity of the nation. (iv) The poet wants to say that his countrymen should be able to express themselves truthfully without any fear. He feels so because his countrymen at that time did not have freedom of expression as various restrictions were imposed on the freedom of speech and the Press by the British. (v) Examples of alliteration are: (a) Where the world (b) Where words (vi) The poet shows that he has a religious outlook by praying to God to let his country awake to a blissful heaven of freedom. III. (i) ‘Tireless striving’ means to work hard without getting tired to achieve perfection. The poet wants his countrymen to achieve  the highest goals, i. e. , freedom at all levels — political, religious, spiritual, moral and intellectual. (ii) Reasoning allows a person to have clarity of thoughts without being restricted by narrow domestic walls such as caste, colour, creed, religion, region and superstitions. That is why it has been compared to a clear stream which is free of all impurities. (iii) ‘Dreary desert sand of dead habit’ is a metaphor. Through this metaphor the poet wants to say that his countrymen should work for perfection in everything and should not be led astray from their goal in the dry desert of dead habits, i.e. , in a place where outdated customs and traditions are followed. (iv) According to the poet, the hurdles in achieving perfection include the outdated customs and traditions based on irrational thinking rather than sound reasoning and scienti? c thought. (v) The ? gure of speech in the third line of the given extract is a ‘metaphor’. For explanation refer to answer (iii) above. (vi) This poem by Rabindranath Tagore is taken from his original volume called Naibedya, which bears the title ‘Prarthana’, i. e. , prayer. In this poem, the poet prays to a universal father-? gure, i. e.  , God to let his country awake to a blissful heaven of freedom. Thus, the poem is a song of prayer. 7 IV. (i) ‘Thee’ refers to God. (ii) The mind of the poet’s countrymen is to be led forward to the ‘heaven of freedom’, i. e. , to an ideal state where there is total freedom at all levels — political, religious, spiritual, moral and intellectual. (iii) The phrase ‘Heaven of freedom’ means an ideal state, where the poet wants the Almighty to lead his countrymen to. The three qualities required to be able to attain the heaven of freedom include: (a) there is no oppression and people can hold their heads high in self-respect. (b) there are no prejudices based on caste, colour, creed, religion, region and superstitions. (c) people should work tirelessly to attain perfection in everything by following scienti? c thought and rational thinking, without being led to follow obsolete traditions and customs. (iv) ‘Father’ in the above extract is a reference for God. He will awake the country by leading the poet’s countrymen to a heavenly state where there are all kinds of freedom and where they can hold their heads high in self-respect, without any fear of oppression or compulsion. (v) The poet prays for his country to attain all kinds of freedom —  political, religious, spiritual, moral and intellectual. And only then it will attain the blissful heaven of freedom, an ideal state where his countrymen would be able to hold their heads high in self-respect, will not have a blurred vision based on prejudices and work tirelessly to attain perfection in every sphere of life. I. (i) The Inchcape rock is referred to in the extract. The rock lay hidden in the sea off the east coast of Scotland. It sometimes remained hidden under sea water during the high tide. (ii) The words ‘surge’s swell’ mean the sea-waves moved up and down and rose high due to the in? uence of tides. The warning  bell refers to the bell placed on the Inchcape rock by the Abbot of Aberbrothok, to give a warning to the sailors about the danger from the rock. The warning bell was placed on a buoy and during high tides the movement of waves made the buoy to ? oat and in turn rang the bell and warned the sailors. THE INCHCAPE ROCK 8TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS) (iii) The Rock was said to be perilous because many ships had been wrecked by it when it remained covered by sea water during a high tide. Sir Ralph’s ship struck against the Inchcape Rock and drowned in the sea. (iv) The Head monk of a monastery or church is known as an  Abbot. The mariners blessed the Abbot Aberbrothok because he placed a bell on the Inchcape Rock, which gave a warning to the mariners about the perilous rock and thus, saved them and their ships from drowning. (v) A ballad is a long narrative poem that tells a story. It is a heightened narration that uses narrative technique like rhyme and ? gures of speech. The two elements of ballad in the given extract are the following: (a) The rhyming pattern followed in this extract is aabb (Swell- Bell; Rock-Aberbrothok). (b) There is a repetition of consonant sound at the beginning of words (alliteration) to facilitate narration: 1. †¦.. surge’s swell 2. †¦.. then they II. (i) Sir Ralph was a rover or a sea pirate. He was a wicked and jealous man. (ii) The pleasant day in the spring season made the Rover sing. But the real reason was that in a such calm atmosphere he would be able to carry out his wicked plan of defaming the Abbot of Aberbrothok by cutting off the bell from the Inchcape Rock and thereby, loot the wealth from the shipwrecks. The given lines mean that the Rover’s heart was extremely joyful but his joy was due to his wicked plan. (iii) The Rover saw the buoy of the Inchcape Rock like a dark speck on the green ocean. He asked his sailors to lower the boat and row him to the Inchcape Rock. (iv) The Rover wanted to go near the Inchcape Rock to cut off the warning bell to spoil the fame and reputation of the Abbot of Aberbrothok, who has placed the bell there and to loot the wealth from the shipwrecks. (v) The Rover was in a joyful mood in the extract. His joyful mood is re? ected in the extract by his act of whistling and singing. At the end of the poem, the Rover was in a mood of despair and frustration. 9 III. (i) The boatmen rowed the boat to the Inchcape Rock. (ii) The Rover cut off the bell from the Inchcape Rock. He did so out of jealousy and self-interest. He wanted to spoil the fame and reputation of the Abbot of Aberbrothok, who has placed the bell there. It would also allow him to easily loot the wealth from the shipwrecks, caused by the Inchcape Rock. (iii) The Rover’s act of cutting the bell from the Inchcape Rock led to the collision of his ship with the rock and ? nally, the drowning of the ship with the Rover. (iv) After performing the wicked deed of cutting the bell from Inchcape Rock, the Rover said that from then onwards the mariners who used to thank the Abbot would no longer thank him. (v) The Abbot of Aberbrothok had kept the bell there. The bell was placed on the ? oat because the movement of the ? oat during the high tide would make the bell ring and warn the sailors of the danger from the rock. (vi) The sailors, passing by earlier, blessed the Abbot of Aberbrothok for placing the warning bell on the Inchcape Rock and thereby, saving them from the perilous rock. IV. (i) The Rover sailed away from the Inchcape Rock. He became rich by looting the wealth from the ships that struck against the Inchcape Rock. (ii) After amassing wealth, the Rover was sailing towards the shore  of Scotland. (iii) When the Rover was sailing, there was a thick haze over the atmosphere and no sun in the sky. There were strong winds and darkness all around. The weather conditions predicted that ?nally the Rover would meet his end in the sea. (iv) The Rover was a wicked man who was jealous of the fame and reputation of the Abbot of Aberbrothok. That is why he carried out his wicked plan of cutting off the warning bell on the Inchcape Rock, placed there by the Abbot. He was a robber who became rich by looting the wealth from the shipwrecks. (v) The Abbot was a kind and compassionate man, who placed a  warning bell on the Inchcape Rock to forewarn the sailors about the danger to their ships from the perilous rock. The Rover, on the other hand, was a jealous and wicked man, who cut off the warning bell on the Inchcape Rock to defame the Abbot and to loot the wealth from the shipwrecks. V. (i) When the Rover and his sailors were going towards the shore of Scotland, the weather was bad, with a thick haze over the atmosphere, no Sun in the sky and strong winds. THE INCHCAPE ROCK 10 TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS) (ii) The words â€Å"the breakers roar† mean the roaring of the sea waves, i. e. , the sound made when the sea waves break on the  shore. The breakers roar normally signify a high tide when the sea waves surge up and down with a great force. (iii) The sailors wished that they could hear the Inchcape Rock. The ringing of the bell would have indicated the presence of the perilous rock and thus saved the ship from colliding with it. (iv) The sailors could not see any land on the way to Scotland’s shore because of bad weather. There was a thick haze in the atmosphere and total darkness in the absence of the Sun in the sky. Sir Ralph was optimistic that the weather would improve by night when the moon would rise in the sky. (v) In the absence of the Inchcape Bell, no warning sound was heard by the sailors and the vessel struck against the Inchcape Rock. VI. (i) They could not hear any sound due to the absence of the warning bell on the Inchcape Rock, which the Rover had cut off. If the sailors had heard the normal expected sound of the warning bell from the Inchcape Rock, they would have saved the ship from striking against the rock. (ii) (a) the swell is strong: there are strong waves in the sea. (b) They drifted along: They moved slowly towards the shore. (iii) The vessel struck against the Inchcape Rock. It was a shivering  shock because the ship collided with the rock and the waves from all sides began to engulf it. (iv) Sir Ralph was in a state of despair and shock when he realised that his ship had struck against the Inchcape Rock. In his frustration, he pulled his hair and cursed himself. Sir Ralph’s ship struck the very rock from which he had removed the warning bell and sank in the sea. (v) Sir Ralph was a sea pirate. He was a wicked and jealous man. He used to loot wealth from the ships that fatally crashed against the Inchcape Rock. But when the Abbot of Aberbrothok placed a warning bell, he cut off the bell to defame the good Abbot  and put the other helpless sailors into trouble. However, he got caught in his own trap of mischief when his ship struck against the Inchcape Rock and sank in the sea alongwith him. (vi) The moral conveyed through this poem is—As you sow, so shall you reap. The Rover cut off the bell from the Inchcape Rock, but his own ship struck against the very Rock because of the absence of any warning sound and sank in the sea. 11 VII. (i) The Rover could hear the sound of his sinking ship, which seemed to him like the sound made by the Inchcape Bell. The sound was dreadful because there was no chance of surviving  the shipwreck. (ii) The sound of the Inchcape Bell was a forewarning of the danger from the perilous rock to the sailors and was thus life-saving. The dreadful sound, on the other hand was that of the sinking ship that signalled the end of Sir Ralph. Therefore, it appeared to be like a funeral bell being run by the Devil himself. (iii) The Devil below was ringing his knell mean that the sound which Sir Ralph was hearing appeared to him like the sound of the Inchcape bell. But actually the sound was that of the sinking ship. (iv) Sir Ralph, the Rover cut off the warning bell, which the Abbot of  Aberbrothok had planted on the Inchcape Rock as a forewarning to the sailors. But Sir Ralph’s own ship struck against the very rock due to the absence of any forewarning sound and drowned in the sea with Sir Ralph. Thus, the evil that Sir Ralph plotted for the Abbot and the other sailors, recoiled on him. (v) The Inchcape Rock is a ballad comprising adventure, valour and jealousy. Sir Ralph, the pirate, went on an adventure trip on the sea with his sailors. He had the valour to take the risk of cutting off the bell from the Inchcape Rock, which the Abbot of Aberbrothok had placed there to warn the sailors. He did this wicked act out of jealousy as he could not accept the popularity of the good Abbot and wanted to defame him. He also did so because of sel? sh motive as he used to make wealth by looting money from the ships that crashed after striking against the Inchcape Rock. I. (i) The merchants are in the bazaars of Hyderabad. They are selling their goods in the market. The words ‘Richly displayed’ mean that the goods to be sold in the market have been beautifully displayed by the merchants to attract the buyers. (ii) The goods on sale in this market included crimson and silver  turbans, purple brocade tunics, mirrors framed in brownish yellow colour and daggers with handles of jade. (iii) The poet begins the stanza with a question to elicit an answer from the vendors about the goods they are selling. This pattern IN THE BAZAARS OF HYDERABAD 12 TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS) of question-answer is used to bring out the splendour of the traditional bazaars of Hyderabad. The poet has used repetition as well as lyrics full of vibrant and colourful images to describe the scene. (iv) (a) Mirrors with panels of amber mean the mirrors having frames of brownish and yellow colour. (b) Scabbards of gold for the king mean sheaths of gold for the King to keep his swords in. (v) The King and his nobles are the likely customers of tunics of purple brocade and daggers with handles of jade. (vi) The visual imagery is stimulated by mentioning the various hues of colours in this stanza like silver, crimson, purple, amber and jade. II. (i) Chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard for playing the game of chess. Ivory dice refers to small cubes made of ivory, having six sides numbered by dots from one to six. These are used to play games. (ii) Saffron, lentil, rice, sandalwood, henna and spices are sold by  weight, whereas chessmen and ivory dice are sold by numbers. (iii) The sellers of various goods in the bazaars of Hyderabad are referred to as vendors and merchants. The sellers, who go about from place to place with their goods for sale are called the pedlars. (iv) Food items included saffron, lentil and rice. Cosmetic items included sandalwood and henna and the recreational items included chessmen and ivory dice. (v) The senses of sight are stimulated in this extract by the various colours of the items like saffron, lentil, rice, sandalwood, henna and various spices. The sense of taste is produced by the mention  of staple Indian food like lentil and rice and spices. III. (i) The jeweller’s shop is referred to in the extract. ‘Girdles of gold’ mean ornamental belt made of gold worn round the waist by the dancers. ‘Scabbards of gold’ refer to the sheaths of gold for the king to keep his swords in. (ii) The items of gold on sale included ornaments like wristlets, anklets, rings, belts of gold worn by the dancers and sheaths for swords used by the kings. The gold jewellery reveals that both the owners and the buyers belonged to the wealthy sections of the society. 13 (iii) Bells were tied to the feet of blue pigeons as ornaments as well  as identity marks. Sheaths of gold were used by the kings, girdles (belts) were used by dancers and wristlets, anklets and rings were used by other people. (iv) â€Å"Frail as a dragon-? y’s wing† means as delicate as the wings of a dragon-? y. Frail is an apt description for describing the delicateness of the bells tied to the feet of blue pigeons. (v) The poet has described the Indian goods at the Indian bazaars for two reasons: (a) to depict the splendour of Indian bazaars which beckon the customers with their sounds, scents and goods. (b) to extoll the Indians to buy Swadeshi goods and boycott  foreign goods. IV. (i) The fruits included lemons, pomegranates and plums, whereas the musical instruments included sitar, sarangi and drum. (ii) The poet asks the musicians what musical instruments they are playing and asks the magicians what they are chanting. (iii) Spells for aeons to come mean the magical spells used by the magicians to charm everyone till eternity with their chanting. (iv) The whole poem is Indian in context and presentation as it depicts the beauty and vibrance of a traditional Indian bazaar. The landscape, the characters, the images and the background is typically Indian — such as: (a) the mention of dresses worn by Indians such as turbans and tunics. (b) the gold ornaments worn by Indians like wristlets, anklets, rings and girdles. (c) the musical instruments played by Indians like sitar, sarangi and drums. (d) the food items like lentil and rice and spices and fruits like lemons, pomegranates and plums. (e) the use of fresh ? owers on both happy and sad occasions. (v) The magicians are present in the bazaar for chanting magical spells to charm the customers. (vi) The panoramic view of the Indian bazaars presented in the poem with its hues of colour, sounds, smells and sights has appealed  to me the most because it gives a glimpse of the Indian culture, society and prosperity. IN THE BAZAARS OF HYDERABAD 14 TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS) V. (i) The poet has highlighted the occupation of simple folks in India like the merchants, pedlars, vendors, fruit sellers, goldsmiths, musicians, magicians and ? ower girls. (ii) The ? owers are used on happy occasions like wedding for making garlands for the bridegroom and to decorate his nuptial bed. The ? owers are used on sad occasions such as death to pay the last respects by placing ? owers on the dead bodies or the graves. (iii) Crowns, chaplets and garlands were used for making garlands for the bridegroom and for decorating his nuptial bed. (iv) ‘Tassels of azure and red’ mean ornamental threads of sky-blue and red colour tied at one end to make garlands and nuptial beds for the bridegroom. (v) â€Å"To perfume the sleep of the dead† mean to place sheets of freshly gathered ? owers on the dead bodies or on the graves, which give pleasant smell. I. (i) The soldier boy was sitting underneath a tree during the war because he was fatally wounded and could not get up. (ii) The soldier was sitting calmly because he was fatally injured  during the war, was thirsty and could not get any help from anybody around. (iii) The soldier asked the narrator to come near him because he was thirsty and needed a sip of water. (iv) The battle had been long and hard can be discerned from the deep craters in the earth and the number of dead bodies of the soldiers, which the narrator could see lying all around. (v) In the above extract, the poet wants to convey the horrors of war and the agony of the soldiers, who ? ght it out on the battle? eld. II. (i) The narrator has been referred to by the soldier as ‘Sir’. He was on the battle? eld at that time. (ii) The soldier, according to the narrator, ‘smiled as best he could’ to hide his pain and suffering from him. It shows the spirit of a soldier, who gives up his life for his country, with a smile on his face. 15 (iii) The soldier wanted â€Å"A sip of water† because he was thirsty and fatigued for he had fought a long and tough battle throughout the night and was fatally wounded. (iv) The soldier could not take any rest because he had been ? ghting continuously day and night against the enemy. It tells us about the horrors of war and pain and suffering the soldiers had to endure on the battle? eld. (v) The soldier was having a pain in his chest because of the wound he had sustained during the ? ght on the battle? eld. Being a true soldier, who considers everything smaller than his duty for his country, the soldier called it as ‘small pain’. Further, in comparison to the soldiers, who had received larger wounds and had succumbed to their injuries on the battle? eld, his was a small pain. III. (i) The large stain on the soldier’s shirt was caused by a wound he received while ? ghting on the battle? eld. (ii) ‘warm blood mixed in with Asian dirt’ refers to the blood oozing  out from the wounds of the soldier and mixing with the dirt of the Asian soil as the war was being fought in Asia. (iii) By saying â€Å"Not much†, the soldier wanted to say that his wound was nothing in comparison to the wounds suffered by his fellow soldiers, who succumbed to their injuries. He said so because he was still alive. (iv) The soldier considered himself more lucky than his fellow soldiers because they died of the injuries sustained during the war, while he was still alive. IV. (i) The soldier was feeling weak and said that his weakness must be due to fatigue. His fatigue was caused by ? ghting day and  night on the battle? eld. (ii) The soldier smiled weakly because he had sustained fatal wounds and was in pain. It shows that though the soldier was in pain, he was trying to hide his suffering in the true spirit of a soldier. (iii) The soldier felt that he was getting old because he found himself weak and fatigued after battling it out on the warfront. (iv) The soldier felt cold despite the shining sun because the light of his life was fading, i. e. , he was about to die due to the fatal wounds that he had received on the battle? eld. (v) ‘The night exploded’ means that an explosion took place at night. As a result of the explosion the soldier got fatal wounds on his SMALL PAIN IN MY CHEST 16 TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS) body, whereas a number of his fellow soldiers died because of the injuries sustained during the explosion. V. (i) The narrator described the soldier’s smile as the brightest that he has ever seen because the soldier wanted to express his gratitude to the narrator for providing water to him as well as to hide the pain he was enduring. (ii) The soldier was suffering from fatal physical injuries sustained during the explosion at night on the battle ? eld. Due to these injuries he was feeling physically weak and fatigued. (iii) The soldier considered it silly to be defeated by a small pain in his chest because he was a young, healthy man, full of energy and enthusiasm, who could have defeated even death. (iv) The soldier felt ashamed of himself to think about his wife’s reaction when she would see her husband, a strong and grown up man, sitting there defeated. He felt that his mother would never have imagined during his childhood that one day his son would be sitting on the battle? eld, defeated by a small pain in his chest. (v) ‘HERE’ refers to the battle? eld. The soldier was undergoing a mental pain at the thought of the reaction his wife and mother would have on seeing him sitting defeated on the battle? eld. VI. (i) The soldier felt that it was getting dark earlier than it used to be because the light of his life was fading, as he was slowly losing consciousness because of the fatal injuries sustained on the battle? eld and seeing the darkness all around him. (ii) ‘He’ refers to the soldier. He winced up at the sun with an expression of pain on his face to ? nd out why was it getting  dark so early despite the shining sun. (iii) (a) In the given line, the soldier told the narrator that before he would start his journey further, he would like to take a little rest. It signi? es the soldier’s spirit to continue his duty after taking little rest. It is also symbolic of the ? nal journey, i. e. , death, towards which the soldier was heading. (b) The narrator said â€Å"I think I must have cried†. He said so because he could not recall what was his reaction when the wounded soldier died in front of his eyes. It signi? es that the narrator was petri?  ed on seeing the horrifying death of the soldier. (iv) When the narrator pulled the soldier towards himself he felt the wound in his chest and the gravity of the pain the soldier was enduring. 17 (v) The narrator said that he had a large wound in his heart compared to the small one in the soldier’s heart because he was hurt by the suffering of the dead soldier, and felt the guilt on the part of humanity at not being able to give up war and thereby, end the suffering of the soldiers. VII. (i) The expression ‘Asian dirt’ means Asian soil and this indicates that the war was fought in Asia. The two hardships experienced by the soldier included: (a) The physical pain caused by the fatal wounds sustained on the battle? eld. (b) The emotional agony at being lonely and surrounded by dead bodies and the thought of his family’s reaction on seeing him defeated. (ii) Despite sustaining fatal injuries during the war, the soldier did not leave the battle? eld because he considered it at his duty to continue the ? ght till the end and die smiling while performing his duty in the true spirit of a soldier. (iii) The phrase â€Å"a small pain in my chest† is a refrain which is  repeated throughout the poem to emphasise the pain and suffering a soldier undergoes on the battle? eld. (iv) Yes, indeed the poem has a poignant ending. It makes the readers—(i) feel the agony a soldier endures on the battle? eld; and (ii) realise the horrors of war and the need to give up wars for the sake of humanity. (v) Small Pain in My Chest is an anti-war poem that describes the horrors of war and conveys the message to shun hatred and warfare. I. (i) The speaker wants to say that all his children, i. e. , his sons are economically well off and his two daughters are happily married. (ii) By saying, â€Å"Both have cars†, the speaker wants to convey that both his sons are well off and have a status in society. It conveys that in Indian society the worth of an individual is measured more by his ? nancial status than anything else. (iii) The â€Å"other† is a reference for the speaker’s third son. The speaker says that he is not doing â€Å"so well† because in comparison to his THE PROFESSOR 18 TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS) other two sons, who have managerial jobs and are economically well off, he is not as successful as they are. (iv) By saying, â€Å"Every family must have black sheep†, the speaker  intends to say that in every family there is a person, who is different from the rest of the family and is an embarrassment to the family. The speaker considered his third son as the black sheep in his family because he was not as well off as his other two sons. (v) The extract shows that Indians value economic success more than academic success through the speaker’s attitude, who measures the success of his two sons by their managerial jobs and the cars they owned. II. (i) Sarala and Tarala are the speaker’s daughters. The practice of giving rhyming names to the siblings like ‘Sarala and Tarala’ is shown in this extract. (ii) The speaker says that his two daughters ‘Sarala and Tarala’ are happily married to nice boys. The speaker’s comment about the marriage of Sarala and Tarala hints at the gender bias prevalent in Indian society, which considers the success of a man by his economic status and a woman’s by getting married to a nice boy. (iii) By saying, â€Å"How many issues you have†, the speaker wants to enquire from his student about the number of children he has. He is directing this question to his former student. (iv) In reply to his former student’s remark that he has three children, the speaker says â€Å"That is good†. The speaker considers his student having three children as â€Å"good†. (v) The speaker is not against family planning. The irony in this statement is the fact that though the speaker says that he is not against family planning, yet he feels proud at having eleven grandchildren. (vi) The poem The Professor is a satire on the urban Indian way of life as it satirises: (a) the urban Indian society, which measures the success of a man by his economic success rather than his academic excellence. (b) gender bias present in Indian society which believes that woman should be happily married and con? ned within the.

Psychological Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior

It has been stated that â€Å"marketing management rests upon some conception or other of how consumers behave (Foxall 2001).† I will proceed to demonstrate, beginning with an overview of consumer behavior as it relates to the psychological factors that cause one to comply with a given request, through to an examination of the various trends in marketing which are reflective of consumers changing demands as they respond to world events and societal evolution, why it is vital that marketers understand and evaluate consumer behavior. I will also demonstrate, through the use of examples, how various organizations are employing specific strategies based upon their understanding of consumer behavior to produce record growth and profitability in the marketplace. Psychological Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior As one social psychologist has termed the â€Å"weapons of influence,† there appear to be certain driving forces in human nature, or automatic psychological triggers, that propel individuals to respond in predictable ways to given requests (Cialdini 1993, p.3). One such force is the principle of Reciprocation, whereby one feels obligated to return a favor that has been provided him (Cialdini 1993, p.17). This principle is most clearly evidenced by the consumer's natural tendency to buy a product from someone after he has been extended a kindness or favor from him. It has been demonstrated that this psychological principle of the pressure to return a favor with a favor is so strong, that it even surpasses the need to like the individual extending the favor (Cialdini 1993, p.21). One example of the rule of reciprocation at work has been evidenced by the wildly successful marketing strategy of the Hare Krishna Society, an eastern religious sect known for its solicitation of funds from passersby in public places (Cialdini 1993, p.22). Having been mostly unsuccessful at raising funds through traditional methods of chanting on the streets while begging for donations, the group devised a brilliant strategy that essentially invoked the principles of reciprocation (Cialdini 1993, p.22). As an individual would pass by, a Society member, rather than ask for a donation initially, would hand the unsuspecting person a flower, offering it as a free gift from the Society and not accepting its return under any circumstances. Only then would the Society member ask for a donation (Cialdini 1993, p.22). The response was overwhelming, and a testament to the extraordinary power of reciprocation. The individual, aware that he had been given a gift and feeling the pressure to reciprocate, was often compelled to respond with a donation (Cialdini 1993, p.24). Another powerful psychological principle in a marketer's arsenal of tools is the commitment and consistency factor (Cialdini 1993, p. 37). It has been discovered that people feel a very powerful drive to be consistent once they have committed themselves to something (Cialdini 1993, p. 37). An example of this principle at play is witnessed through the offering of testimonial contests by such big-name companies as Proctor & Gamble and General Foods (Cialdini 1993, p.39). In these contests, the companies ask participants to write short essays, often for large prizes, which include praise for the companies' products. Usually no purchase is required; what is more important is that by forcing potential customers to record, in writing, praise for the company's product, the company relies on the psychological drive of the individual to believe what he has written (Cialdini 1993, p 40). Apart from the psychological triggers that persuade individuals to comply with given requests, marketers must seek to understand the equally intriguing psychological processes at work in the unconscious mind that cause consumers to choose one particular course of action, or product, over another (Zaltman 2003, p.53). One example of such an unconscious process can be seen in the overwhelming tendency of customers to choose a product offered for $9.99 over an identical one offered for $10.00 (Zaltman 2003, p64). Consumer Need: Practicality Or Emotionality? It has been stated that, contrary to popular belief, people do not so much buy things they don't need, but that the need is often based more upon emotions and feelings than it is upon concrete physical necessity (Danziger 2004, p.1). Though the gross domestic product in the United States has largely been generated by consumer spending since 1929-a full 60 to 70 percent of it- â€Å"the way consumers [generally] spend their money has changed significantly over the past 70 years (Danziger 2004, p.3).† It is claimed that, â€Å"today, over 40 percent of consumer spending is discretionary†¦ based on wants, not needs (Danziger 2004, p.4).† Changing Trends And Their Affect On The Marketplace Another important factor in predicting consumer behavior involves changing trends in the marketplace. Marketers must be ever vigilant to customers' changing needs as society evolves and new events cause consumers' wants and needs to adjust accordingly. A clear example of this is witnessed by the fairly recent change in menu selections offered by fast-food chains such as McDonald's and Burger King. Responding to a concern over the rising tide of obesity in the U.S. and around the world and consumers' increasing desire to maintain healthier lifestyles, such fast-food conglomerates have been adding healthier choices to their menu selections which includes salads, apple slices instead of French fries, and so on (Plunkett Research 2005). Another example of a change in consumer behavior was reflected in consumers' response to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. The airline industry, facing huge setbacks as a result of consumers' new reluctance to travel by air for fear of another terrorist attack, was forced to undergo massive restructurings to accommodate the new environment imposed upon them (Plunkett Research 2005). Consumers, wishing to reconcile their fears and need to reduce expenditures with the desire to continue enjoying and experiencing life as usual, were searching for ways-and bargains- to enable them to do this. Hence, there began a shift in the airline industry away from luxury to economy, as discount airlines began setting the new standard for air travel by luring passengers with price, not perks (Plunkett Research 2005). With Southwest Airlines and JetBlue leading the pack, these airlines have achieved success and profitability responding to consumers' changed needs, mainly by cutting maintenance, operating and labor costs, such as by offering a single-plane platform and an open-seating policy (Plunkett Research 2005). In the meantime, of course, as full-service airlines have struggled to compete with the burgeoning success of the discount model, some, like Delta, have begun developing their own low-cost models, which manage to keep costs down by hiring younger flight crews. Another shining example of marketers' need to understand and predict consumer behavior comes in the form of the relatively recent phenomenon of online delivery and piracy-or theft-of copyrighted music and video files ((Plunkett Research 2005). Forced to adapt to this trend following a 2002-2003 decline in music revenues, music companies have been seeking ways to safeguard their files â€Å"from illegal download and distribution,† as well as to capitalize on the internet craze by finding methods by which to distribute their files through legal means via the internet (Plunkett Research 2005).† Responding to this need, iTunes Music Store, a digital service provided by Apple Computer, Inc.,was launched in 2003, and it offers music files for download over the internet (Plunkett Research 2005). On a different front, automobile manufacturers have been responding to consumers' rising concern over escalating gas prices, which reached a record-high in September 2005 of $3.01 per gallon (Plunkett Research 2005). After suffering huge losses on their lines of minivans, pickups and sport utility vehicles (SUVs), the â€Å"big three† U.S. manufacturers, Ford, GM and Chrysler, are focusing on raising fuel efficiency for these bigger models (Plunkett Research 2005). In addition, as foreign car companies like Toyota, Honda, and BMW have continued to steal sales away from U.S. automobile manufacturers, partially due to a reputation for producing higher quality cars, these American manufacturers have been responding by designing new product lines, such as the hugely successful Chysler 300C, with its â€Å"eye-catching grill and boxy, elegant design (Plunkett Research 2005).† In sum, whether responding to a consumer's instinctual drives, which dictate that he or she will likely react in a certain way to a given stimulus, or evaluating the marketplace and consumer behavior based on world events and changing needs, marketing management does indeed rest on a conception of how consumers will behave, now and in the future.

Many Of The Characters In Of Mice And Men Have Dreams Essay

John Steinbeck wrote the novel â€Å"Of Mice and Men† in 1937. The settings were personally related to the author himself. The Novel is set were he originally came from, around Salinas, California. It was written during the great depression which not only effected America, but Europe as well; however the novel only focuses on America. Steinbeck had his reasons for writing about it. He wanted to show the reality of the great depression as it struck everyone in different ways. He used realistic characters that represented the main groups of people living in America and what effects took place according to their status. One of the biggest problems was that twenty-five percent of the whole population was unemployed, leaving a mass of civilians to roam the streets, desperate to survive by any means. Others were forced to become itinerant workers. George and Lennie, the main characters, are two ranch workers. They are prime examples or itinerant workers due to the economic disaster they faced. They had slight difficulties maintaining a job as Lennie has a mental and almost physical disability. His child-like mind didn’t allow him to correspond well with his beastly physicality. This means he is unaware of how brutal and uncivilized his actions may be. It’s what always got him in trouble and George was the one always defending him. All they had was each other. As Itinerant workers they travelled far in search of work as did many others who were desperate to earn enough money to survive or perhaps support their family. They pretty much had no choice if they wanted to live. Work on a ranch did’t always pay well ; however, the workers were provided with the necessities which had already cover a lot of costs such as a roof over their head, cooked meals, bathing facilities, so they were grateful. All those small things are the things that are taken for granted, but to those times they were valued and appreciated. Whatever salaries they received at the end of each month they would send home to their families or spend it all on a cat house (prostitute house) and start all over again. George and Lennie had other plans which differentiated them from the rest. George and Lennie both shared a dream. Besides the fact that their relationship status was quite rare, the dream made it that little bit more special. Most people travelled alone and just had their minds set on surviving. George and Lennie had their hearts set on bigger things. â€Å"We could live off the fatta the lan’,† a quote used constantly by both George and Lennie. They are implying that they want to buy land in which they can live off everything they grow so they won’t have to rely on any one to survive. It’s a big change from working for someone to working for yourself; it’s more satisfying knowing they can do what they want for themselves. â€Å"We’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit-hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with going to work!† Their dream gets deeper with endless wants; to them it’s almost like an obsessive fantasy. However, their dreams are still realistic compared to a modern day dream which tends to be more selfish and greedy. A sense of freedom is what they are after which is highly understandable and admirable. Lennie also has an obsession with â€Å"tending rabbits†. Again his child-likeliness is getting the better of him; then again all children look forward to particular things they enjoy. Their dream is like a private sanctuary in their minds, an escape from reality, the one thing that no one can take from them. It’s their goal, the one thing that keeps them motivated to carry on. â€Å"Come on, George. Tell Me. Please, George. Like you done before.† George tells their dream like a story out of a fairytale to satisfy Lennie’s childish behavior. Lennie also repeats his sentences as a sign of enthusiasm. The dialect used gives quite a clear impression of what they sound like and helps to visualize their words and actions. What is said is written quite different from how we would write and speak today, so it emphasizes on how long ago this took place. The Ranch consists of more than just workers and one dream. George and Lennie weren’t’t alone; there were others with different occupations and completely different dreams. George and Lennie’s dream later developed into a larger dream including one other member. Candy, a former worker, who had lost his hand on the ranch so he wasn’t much use. He was aware that it wouldn’t’t be long until he would have no were to go, he was only getting benefits for his loss on the ranch, and no one wants a useless worker hanging about. When Candy over hears George going into story mode, he was overwhelmed knowing that there was some hope. â€Å"You know where’s a place like that?† and â€Å"How much they want for a place like that?† showed Candy was deeply interested by asking questions. Candy was interested by all of this because his life was slowly passing by and he was still not doing anything about it. So this dream of having a ranch and not working for somebody was a big eye-one for candy and seemed very interested in the dream. He stated obviously that he’s interested by saying, â€Å"S’pose I went in with you guys† and shows us how desperate he is by offering â€Å"three hundred an’ fifty bucks† which was more than half of the overall payment required. Just to sweeten up the deal even more he adds, â€Å"†¦I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some.† And â€Å"I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys in case I kick off,† Candy chose his words carefully letting George know it will benefit everyone rather than it being a selfish gesture. Just to make sure they kept him in he used a very short but never the less a very effective emotional line, â€Å"When they can me here I wisht somebody’s shoot me.† Automatically they feel sympathetic towards him because he lost his hand and his best friend, the dog. It was after that conversation that Candy gained hope after all. However, a serious incident occurred which lead George to kill Lennie for the good and safety of others. He gave up on the dream and decided to become a part of what everyone else already was. â€Å"then – it’s all off?† Candy asked sulkily. Without George, Candy couldn’t’t stand a chance making the dream come true alone and there was no persuading George to reconsider. Candy was vexed at Curley’s wife as she laid dead, â€Å"Ever’body knowed you’d mess things up†. He knew that if she didn’t disturb Lennie they would all be able to leave the ranch and have a good life together. Now that she had caused all these problems he had no respect for her at all and insulted her by using harsh names such as â€Å"lousy tart† and â€Å"bitch†. Women to those times weren’t seen as equals, they done what they were told and weren’t much use. Curley’s wife is a good example of a typical woman to those times. She is referred to as Curley’s wife and nothing else to show her lack of importance. She craves attention as no one pays her no mind, so she resorts to Lennie who listens too her dream. Her dream was to make something of her self by becoming an actress. â€Å"Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes – all of them nice clothes they wear. An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me.† she reminisces on the past were she had a chance of fulfilling her dream and all the materialistic things she would have had. She sounded ungrateful when she said, â€Å"I wouldn’t be livin’ like this, you bet† as if to say what Curley had to offer wasn’t good enough when that’s what nearly all women wish they could have. Her marriage to Curley was an escape from loneliness which seemed to have failed. As she was an attention seeker she used her sexuality to her advantage to lure in other men, even if they were at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Although the other men were aware of the sly schemes, Lennie was mesmerized by her beauty and was generally vulnerable. She even admitted that she was lonely to make Lennie feel sorry for her by saying, â€Å"Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.† She did this to make him feel sorry for her and give in to her cunning ways. She had finally found someone dumb enough to listen to her pitiful life story without passing a judgment on her and it all started from, â€Å"Maybe I will yet.† Then with such passion she let lose what she had bottled up inside for a while. She couldn’t care about what Lennie had to say when he included his own dream in the conversation, â€Å"she went on with her story quickly, before she could be interrupted.† For someone desperate to talk to someone she seemed awfully ungrateful and selfish. She was fully aware of what he was capable of yet she still took the risk of getting to close. â€Å"She took Lennie’s hand and put it on her head† she told him to â€Å"Feel right aroun’†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this was the biggest mistake she could have ever possibly made. â€Å"From the slightest jerk he began to panic. His child and animalistic side began to collide again. Like a child he held on and panicked, however, he didn’t realize he was hurting her and she wasn’t strong enough to struggle free. She died young and still could have made something of herself but she could never get another chance after that.† This quote is taken after Curley’s wife died, her dreams like the others but hers different of wanting to be famous were shattered. Crooks is just the isolated â€Å"nigger† at the bottom of the social hierarchy on the ranch who constantly got degraded by everyone. His status is even lower than any woman’s. Any black person to those times would have the most selfless dream, to be treated as an equal and to have freedom. George and Lennie were the only ones that communicated with Crooks so it probably made him feel somewhat wanted. Crooks also developed a desire to join the dream. Crooks constantly had to take everything thrown at him verbally by Curley’s wife as he had no status as a â€Å"busted-back nigger†. She constantly abused him and when he finally decided to stand up for him self he got knocked back down again. â€Å"Keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.† This shows that if Crooks did anything out of the ordinary it will be reported and he will be dealt with in harsh ways. It made him realise that he couldn’t take part in the dream, all hope had been lost thanks too the threat Curley’s wife made. Every character mentioned above presented their dreams in the form of a story to another character. Each of the dreams were different yet similar in many ways. All of the dreams resorted to freedom from somewhere or someone, and not to suffer from financial problems. They all wanted to be able to support themselves and survive from what they owned. The only difference being that some were unrealistic and they had different views of the dreams they wished too accomplish. In the past Curley’s wife was close to being an actress twice. Only thing that stopped her was her mother, who didn’t let this dream continue knowing what the consequences would be later on in life. George, Lennie and Candy were less than a month away from completing their task of obtaining the land. In the end Lennie accidentally ruined everything and didn’t even know what he had caused. Crooks wasn’t as close, he only had hopes of becoming apart of the dream, but nothing had been established officially. I think the situation on the whole affected George the most as it was originally his aim to work towards it and without it he felt like there was nothing left for him. He lost faith in his dream and his fellow companion. I believe Steinbeck looked at how the Great Depression affected the different people in America and sympathized on their behalf. All the characters represent all types of people in America; the elderly, disabled, women and the ethnic minorities. They all played important parts as they helped to show how major the issue was.

Quality Management: Cathay Pacific Airways Essay

Introduction Cathay Pacific Airways is an international airline registered and based in Hong Kong, offering scheduled cargo and passenger services to over 80 destinations around the world. They are deeply committed to Hong Kong, where the Company was founded in 1946. They continue to make substantial investments to develop Hong Kong’s aviation industry and enhance Hong Kong’s position as a regional transportation hub. In addition to their fleet of aircrafts, these investments include catering, aircraft maintenance and ground handling companies, as well as their corporate headquarters at Hong Kong International Airport; Cathay Pacific and its subsidiaries and associate employ 25,000 staff in Hong Kong. The airline’s two major shareholders are both Hong Kong companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as is Cathay Pacific itself. Cathay Pacific is the major shareholder in AHK Air Hong Kong Limited, an all cargo carrier that offers scheduled services in the Asia region, and is a shareholder in Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Limited. They are also a founding member of the one world global alliance whose combined network serves over 570 destinations worldwide. Other members of one world are Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, LanChile and Qantas. Quality Management Defined In a total quality setting, Quality is as determined by the customer and employees produce it. Thus quality of a service is the customer’s perception of the degree to which the service meets their expectations Six-sigma quality is a standard and a philosophy of customer satisfaction. The six-sigma philosophy requires an ongoing audit mechanism that identifies opportunities for improvement and changes in customer expectations. Emphasize the importance of customer satisfaction. Define a quality goals and objectives and translate these into actual service and service delivery activities. There are some types of goals and objectives need to consider. -To satisfy customers. -To encourage continuous improvement. -To respect social and environmental needs. -To foster a collective commitment to quality. -To improve the efficiency of service delivery. -To clearly define customer needs and expectations. -To look for opportunities to improve service quality. Define service quality responsibilities and give your personnel the authority to carry out these responsibilities. Make sure that senior management retains the responsibility for developing, measuring, auditing, and improving your service quality system. Various interviews and customer surveys conducted throughout the year, customers are invited to participate in the Cathay Pacific Voice of the Customer survey, conducted multiple times per year to determine where customers are satisfied and where they can improve. These survey results are then used to develop plans to act on your suggestions, improving the solutions and experiences customer get from Cathay Pacific. They greatly increased customer satisfaction with Cathay Pacific service. Customer Expectation In a total quality setting, customers define quality and employees produce  it. Customers were considered outsiders who used a company’s products and suppliers were outsiders who provided the materials needed to provide the good service. Every organization has both internal and external customers. An external customer is the one spoken to in the traditional definition. An internal customer is any employee whose work depends on that of employees whose work precedes theirs. Cathay Pacific Airways have much different kind of customers and with any age. Cathay Pacific have sponsor young people from Asia to attend a special ecological course in South Africa. Over 190 students from around the world have traveled here to study Chinese language and culture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In addition, they sponsor the student exchange programmers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the City University of Hong Kong respectively. Also they can be a businessperson or people who is going just for tourist. Each year Cathay Pacific sponsor wheelchair athletes from Hong Kong to compete in the 10km wheelchair race in Vietnam. The organization’s survival depends on the customer. Customers who are satisfied with the quality of their purchases from an organization become reliable customers. So customer satisfaction is essential. Providing high quality service ensures customer satisfaction. Companies have to look to customers when they set standards for measuring quality. Products and services need to be improved with time to meet the varying need of the customers. To clarify how customers perceive quality, there are summarizes the four foundations of perceived quality: Product Quality, Service Quality, Brand Image and Personal Cost. Customers perceive quality on the following basic tangible principles: 1. Performance 2. Features 3. Reliability 4. Serviceability 5. Durability 6. Appearance 7. Customer service Customers expect to have a best service with lower price. Therefore Cathay Pacific always believes in Service Straight from the Heart. From their front-line staff to those behind the scenes, the dedication of every person at Cathay Pacific remains the driving force behind our service. It’s about treating people as individuals and treating them like your best friend. They call it Service Straight from the Heart because it stems from within. Thus their staff led their personal lives in the same way they embrace their professional one with fervor, integrity and optimism This positive lifestyle may stem from an exercise regimen in the quest to stay fit and alert and always ready for the next big challenge and to deliver expectations. It could revolve around a continuous thirst for knowledge that leads to self-improvement and improving the lives of others. Or else it may be a personal passion for traveling that offers incredible insight on what makes an unforgettable travel experience. Reputation is something that can be good or bad for a Cathay Pacific by customers. It is built upon the competitive elements such as quality, reliability, delivery and price. Once a Cathay Pacific acquires a bad reputation for quality, it takes a very long time to change it. Reputations good or bad can quickly become national reputations. Customers tend to remember only the bad quality they receive. For example: If 99 % of flights arrives is on time, the customer will only remember the 1%  of flight arrives late. Quality and customer satisfaction may not be enough to hold on to customers. Cathay Pacific must also build relationships with customers. Customer retention is a more accurate reflection of an organization’s success than quality or customer satisfaction. Customer retention is affected by factors that the company can control, like service improvements, and factors that are controlled by the marketplace, like pricing flexibility. Strong relationships with customers can increase retention by asking customers the right questions, really listening to what they have to say, and providing feedback to them on the results of action plans. Quality and customer satisfaction are still very important, but customer retention should be the organization’s ultimate test of success. Customer satisfaction is achieved by producing high-quality services that meet or exceed expectations. The key to establishing a customer focus is to put employees in touch with customers so that customer needs are known and understood. Scholtes’s six-step strategy for identifying customer needs is as follows: speculate about results, develop an information gathering plan, gather information, analyze the results, check the validity of conclusions and take action. Customer needs are not static. Therefore, constant contact with customers is essential in a total quality setting. Whenever possible, this contact should be in person or by telephone. Written surveys can use, but they will not produce the level of feedback that personal contact can generate. Measuring customer satisfaction alone is not enough. Many customers who defect are satisfied. Cathay Pacific should measure customer retention. They should go beyond satisfying customers to creating value for them in every supplier customer interaction. Cost of Quality Cost of quality as defined by Crosby â€Å"Quality Is Free†, Cost of quality is the amount of money a business loses because its product or service was not done right in the first place. In early April, Cathay Pacific reduced their passenger capacity in response to the fall in passenger traffic arising from the SARS outbreak. They cancelled 45% of their passenger flights and parked 22 aircraft. The integrity of their network was maintained, although services to Fukuoka and Sapporo were temporarily suspended. This is the business loses by the suddenly SARS occur or a badly performed service, businesses lose money every day due to poor quality. Quality is the confluence of customer expectation and realization. It is essential that every organization is aware of the cost of quality, which awareness must. In Cathay Pacific, the lowest possible level of defects, which can be achieved only by an aggressive search for and elimination of the sources of error, is a prerequisite for an internationally competitive performance. There have four major areas of the cost of quality: Prevention, Appraisal, Internal Failure, and External Failure. Prevention involves costs of any effort to eliminate defects in service. When providing service, an excellent service with strong planning can certainly prevent the occurrence of errors and other problems down the line. Appraisal includes the cost of measuring, evaluating and auditing services to assure conformance with requirements. If a defect occurred on the assembly line, the defect was thrown out irrespective of the cost of materials and labor. Internal failure refers to costs required to evaluate or correct service not conforming to requirements prior to furnishing services. This could include rework, operations corrective actions, re-inspections, and labor losses. In Cathay Pacific, this can include the need for rescheduling different flights when they are interdependent and errors occur, e.g., in the computer system. Reports have to be rewritten. Other internal failure occurs when errors in  wrong data affect other departments within the Cathay Pacific. External failure refers to the cost of failure after furnishing services to customers. This includes complaints, liability, goodwill, and both lost sales and customers. If customers are lost, this type of failure is most expensive, especially considering that new customers are estimated to be five times as expensive to acquire as the cost to maintain existing customers. Quality Program The reason of SARS arising in early April, Cathay Pacific reduced their passenger capacity in response to the fall in passenger traffic. Cathay Pacific Airways have to implement preventive measures to guard against the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) at airports served, in provision of in-flight service, and related to its ground and in-flight personnel. In any business, also need to continuous improvement to keep survival in the world. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is an approach to continual improvement that brings customers into the design of services. It translates what the customer wants into what Cathay Pacific provides. A QFD matrix takes shape of a house. An example will show in the next page. QFD yields the following benefits to Cathay Pacific that is interested in continual improvement: customer focus, time efficiency, teamwork orientation and documentation orientation. QFD also makes use of several specialized tools including Affinity diagrams, which are used to promote creative thinking. The interrelationship diagraph is used to bring logic to the process of identifying relationships among ideas. The tree diagram identifies all tasks that must be accomplished to solve a problem. Matrix diagrams are used to identify connections among responsibilities, tasks and functions. Cathay Pacific can use QFD to closely monitoring the SARS situation in adjustments to its flight schedule, according to passenger demand. That’s why they can identify the problems of SARS and find out the solution to eliminating the problem happen occur again. Cathay Pacific can implement measures to guard against the spread of the SARS virus as follows: Protective measures for all staff in all functions: ?Wear surgical mask and latex gloves every time that work is conducted on the aircraft upon flight arrival from an affected country as determined by the World Health Organization (WHO). ?Check-in staff providing passenger service at airports in affected countries must wear surgical masks at all times when providing service provision. -After work has been completed, staff must cleanse their hands thoroughly with clean water and disinfecting soap. -Used surgical mask and latex gloves must be disposed of in a specifically designated container, labeled accordingly. -Disinfecting spray must be used on all flights returning from countries considered affected areas. Measures related to in-flight service provision: -Disinfecting spray must be used on flights departing from countries considered affected areas. -Cabin crew must observe passengers for SARS symptoms related to the respiratory system, such as high fever, coughing, sneezing, and provide surgical masks for passengers to wear. -Cabin crew must separate the passenger suspected to have SARS symptoms from other passengers, or separate the passenger in a designated area, and inform  the International Communicable Disease Control Office under Cathay Pacific, before the flight lands. Measures related to customer service: Check-in and boarding gate staff working at airports in Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, China ?in Hong Kong, must observe passengers for SARS symptoms. If passengers are observed to have high fever, coughing, and difficulty breathing, they must provide a doctor’s letter stating they are fit to travel. If the passenger does not have a doctor’s letter, the physician on duty at the respective airport must be contacted to examine the passenger with related symptoms. If there is any doubt to the nature of the passenger’s illness, the passenger may be denied boarding. Difficulties or Limitation Customer information is the most important for continuous improvement. We have to collect reliable information to identify the cause of problem. This is difficult to ensure all the information is reliable. Sometimes the information is according by the service-testing editor for magazine or newspaper gives the service a try and writes an article pointing out weaknesses. Customer information falls into two broad categories: feedback and input. Feedback is given after the fact. In Cathay pacific, this means after a problem has been occur. Feedback is valuable and should be collected. However, it comes too late in the process to help ensure that customer requirements are met. Input is obtained before the fact. In Cathay pacific, this means during the problem happening. Collecting customer input during service provides allows changes to be made before the worst problem occurs. Collecting input is more valuable than collecting feedback. Conclusion The outbreak in mid March of atypical pneumonia or SARS had a devastating impact on Cathay Pacific passenger business. The interim performance of Cathay Pacific Catering Services (H.K.) Limited was badly affected by the outbreak of SARS. The company implemented stringent cost controls. All overseas flight kitchens were impacted by SARS and also implemented cost control measures. SARS had little effect on the airfreight business and the company reported a satisfactory interim profit. Hong Kong Airport Services Limited reported an interim loss due to the large number of flight cancellations. After an air quality monitoring programmed, undertaken in aircraft cabins, showed that the air is of a good quality. A comprehensive programmed to sort and recycle paper materials such as newspapers and in-flight menu cards has been implemented on all inbound flights. The impact of SARS resulted in a concerted effort to reduce energy consumption in Cathay City. Measures taken include temperature adjustments, reduced lighting and restricted availability of lifts and escalators. We can see the SARS had a little effect to the Cathay Pacific. Hence they need to use QFD to continual improvement that brings customers into the design of services. It translates what the customer wants into what Cathay Pacific provides.

Best Practices for Protecting Healthcare Sector Networks and Data Research Proposal

Best Practices for Protecting Healthcare Sector Networks and Data - Research Proposal Example She successfully excelled in sales and was promoted to be a trainer of the sales vendors at the age of twenty-five. Sara Blakely has some key secrets behind her success. One of her positive influence to the excellence was her way of thinking recreationally in all aspects. She always gave herself an uninterrupted time to think. That amble time of thinking gave her opportunity to give attention to everything surrounding her and extract all the probable chances that are offered by the circumstances. Besides, these prospects gave her to focus on how to improve the opportunities and the product that she had. Sara Blakely cultivated the limitless vision. She had a belief that what an individual can thick one can do create it. While in high school, she informed her colleagues that she would at one-time feature at Oprah Winfrey Show. After that, she tirelessly worked towards it (Kidder, 2012). Sara Blakely sought the feedback from the right people not from anybody. She never hides her idea to the people whom she thought could impact to her idea positively. She never taught her idea to her friends or family, as she was aware that she could spend more time tr ying to explain to them the validation and telling it and fail to get to her heights. Sara Blakely failed to make to pursue her career in law that she longed to joined, but she changed her career. Again, at the time when she was selling the fax machines she was frustrated by the panty lines that were observed from her attire (Kidder, 2012). Sara Blakely has excellent leadership skills that made her who she is today. Sara Blakely delegated the responsibility of every department to all members who worked in the division. She used to remind every work that they were supposed to treat the area of work as theirs. She trusted herself alone, and always implemented her vision (Kidder, 2012). Sara Blakely was talented in sales as at the age of just twenty-five was promoted to the capacity of the