Virtue ethics Essay Example for Free

Virtue ethics Essay Today the Arms Procurement Commission began public hearings into what appears to be the biggest corruption scandal in the history of South Africa. Apply the Global Business Standards Codex and explain if and how the Defense Department used these principles, what they could have done differently if the Codex was applied GLOBAL BUSINESS STANDARDS CODEX. †¢ Fiduciary Principle (Diligence, Loyalty) †¢ Property Principle (Protection, Theft) †¢ Reliability Principle (Contracts Premises, Commitments) †¢ Transparency Principle (Thruthfulness, Deception, Disclosure, Objectivity) †¢ Dignity Principle (Respect for the Individual, Health and Safety, Privacy and Confidentiality, Use of Force, Associatiation Expression, Learning Development, Employment Security) †¢ Fairness Principle (Fair Dealing, Fair Treatment, Fair Competition, Fair Process) †¢ Citizenship Principle (Law Regulation, Public Goods, Cooperation with Authorities, Political Noninvolvement, Civic Contribution †¢ Responsiveness Principle (Addressing Concerns, Public Involvement). LEARNING OBJECTIVES (TOPIC 3) After completion of this topic, you will be able to: 1. Describe the main ethical theories and apply it to business scenarios  © iStockphoto. com/Dan Bachman ETHICAL THEORIES Three periods in history of ethics Greek period (500 BC-AD 500) †¢ The man who performed his duties as a citizen = good man †¢ Greeks – â€Å"Man is the measure of all things† – he decides for himself what is right and wrong †¢ Socrates, Plato and Aristotle emphasised the need and importance of understanding the nature of goodness †¢ Stoics emphasised that goodness is natural to man, laws of morality are the laws of nature – rational and comprehensive to human reason. ETHICAL THEORIES Medieval period (AD 500 – AD 1500) †¢ Attention was given to inner aspect of morality due to spread of Christianity †¢ Changed Greeks’ view that ethics is a part of politics †¢ The standard of right and wrong was according to God’s law in the Bible and was against any doubts ETHICAL THEORIES Modern period (AD 1500 onwards) †¢ Individualism more important that priests’ preaching and church principles †¢ Human freedom and human accomplishments more important than the Christian revelation †¢ The difference between right and wrong was subjective, depending on the attitude of the individual making the moral judgement ETHICAL CONCEPTS THEORIES. †¢ Developed by moral philosophers over generations to distinguish ethical from unethical behaviour †¢ Viewpoints from which guidance can be obtained along the pathway to a decision †¢ Each theory emphasizes different points in order to reach an ethically correct decision †¢ Theories are directed towards achieving a common set of goals (Ethical principles) ETHICAL CONCEPTS THEORIES ETHICS DEFINED The domain of ethics is centrally concerned with human CHARACTER (the kind of people we are) and CONDUCT (how we relate to others) Three key questions comprise the focus of this domain: 1. 2. What is good or bad for humans? What constitutes right or wrong conduct? 3. How ought we to live and treat others? ETHICS OF CONDUCTS CONSEQUENTIALISM The rightness/wrongness of an action is determined by its consequences or results The right action is the one that: †¢ Promotes the greatest happiness of the greatest number (maximizes social utility) = Utilitarianism †¢ Produces results that maximise a person’s selfinterest = Ethical Egoism CONSEQUENTIALISM UTILITARIANISM †¢ Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) Creator of Utilitarianism †¢ Goodness = human well-being – what benefits is good and what harms is evil †¢ Two concepts of importance: †¢ Pleasure and pain governs our lives †¢ Pleasure makes life happier and pain makes it worse †¢ Utility – net benefits. and usefulness produced by an action †¢ An action is right if the act is greater than the sum total of utilities produced by any other act †¢ Hedonistic Calculus – system to measure amount of pleasure and pain that an action produces CONSEQUENTIALISMUTILITARIANISM 7 Criteria Questions Asked 1. Intensity How intense/strong is the pleasure and emotional satisfaction? 2. Duration How long will the pleasure last? 3. Certainty How certain am I that pleasure will occur? 4. Propinquity How soon will the pleasure occur? How near is it? 5. Fecundity How likely is it that this experience will cause more pleasure in the future? 6. Purity Is there any pain that accompanies this pleasure? 7. Extent How many people will be affected? CONSEQUENTIALISMUTILITARIANISM. †¢ John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) – qualitative separation of pleasures †¢ Bentham treats all forms of happiness as equal, whereas Mill argues that intellectual and moral pleasures (higher pleasures) are superior to more physical forms of pleasure (lower pleasures) †¢ Mills argument is that the simple pleasures tend to be preferred by people who have no experience with high art, and are therefore not in a proper position to judge. CONSEQUENTIALISM – ACT AND RULE UTILITARIANISM †¢ Rule Utilitarianism an action is right if it conforms to a set of rules which produce the greatest balance of pleasure over pain †¢ Act Utilitarianism – an action is right if and only if it produces the greatest balance of pleasure over pain for everyone CONSEQUENTIALISM – ETHICAL EGOISM †¢ One’s self is, or should be, the motivation and the goal of one’s own action †¢ Three categories: individual, personal, and universal ? An individual ethical egoist would hold that all people should do whatever benefits them ? A personal ethical egoist would hold that he or she should act in his or her self-interest, but would make no claims about what anyone else ought to do ? A universal ethical egoist would argue that everyone should act in ways that are in their self-interest CONSEQUENTIALISM All is well that ends well, regardless of means used to produce results End justifies the means! NON-CONSEQUENTIALISM DEONTOLOGY †¢ Emphasis on rules, duty, rights †¢ Actions are right if they respect rules and wrong if they violate them †¢ Golden rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (human dignity, respect for people, obligation, duty) DEONTOLOGY. †¢ Morality and ethics are to be understood as systems of rules meant to govern and guide conduct †¢ Deontological ethical theories are agent-relative as opposed to agent neutral you have a duty †¢ If an action is of the wrong kind, it is forbidden, no matter how good its consequences are †¢ Rejects both Utilitarianism and Ethical Egoism DEONTOLOGY – KANTIANISM †¢ Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Ends, not mere means: don’t treat rational agents (others or yourself) as mere objects to be used or exploited Categorical imperative – everyone should be treated as a free person equal to everyone else (unconditional) Everyone has a moral right to such treatment and a correlative duty to treat others in this way Mustn’t sacrifice the few even to benefit the many †¢ †¢ †¢ DEONTOLOGY – KANTIANISM. †¢ Performing an action solely because it is our duty is what Kant refers to as a good will – being good without qualification Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will it that it should become a universal law of nature – offers consistency †¢ DEONTOLOGY – NATURAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS †¢ Another approach to Deontology and complementary to Kantianism †¢ Natural rights: ? Right to freedom/ liberty – freedom from coercive powerful rulers ? Right to ownership and property – each person has a right to ownership over own body and own labour and is free to decide what will be done with what he or she owns, without interference NATURAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS. †¢ †¢ Moral rights –by virtue of being human Each right has a corresponding duty and these duties may be perfect or imperfect Rights play an important role in business ethics – stakeholders have rights Many rights however come into conflict and it is difficult to decide whose rights receives priority (victims or criminals) †¢ †¢ DEONTOLOGY – JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS †¢ †¢ †¢ Fair and equitable distribution of opportunities and hardships to all Ask how fairly benefits and costs are distributed to everyone regardless of power, position, wealth, etc. Seven categories: ? Distributive Justice – concerned with fair distribution of society’s benefits and burdens ? Cooperation and competition – taking a proper share of some good ? Procedual justice – fair, decisive practices, procedures and agreements among parties DEONTOLOGY – JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS. ? Retributive Justice – just imposition of punishment and penalties upon wrong-doers – does the punishment fit the crime ? Compensatory justice – compensating people for losses they have suffered when they were wronged by others – losses due to Apartheid ? Corrective justice – laws themselves as instruments of justice should be considered as just ? Distribution – take into account who has suffered an unfair share of the costs of a policy and others who have unfairly benefitted from a policy RAWLS’ PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE †¢ All social values – liberty and opportunities, income and wealth, and the bases of self-respect – are to be distributed equally unless unequal distribution of any, or all of these values, is to everyone’s advantage. Two principles †¢ †¢ Basic freedoms Freedom of speech, liberty and pursuit of happiness Difference principle -There can be inequalities as long as it makes the worst person better off DEONTOLOGY â€Å"The end doesn’t justify the means. † ETHICS OF CHARACTER ARISTOTELIANISM – VIRTUE APPROACHES †¢ Examines a person’s moral character and whether or not this exhibits virtue †¢ Aristotle – a moral virtue is a habit that enables one to exercise reason in all actions †¢ Action of giving people goods they exactly deserve is justice (virtue) or giving too little/ too much is injustice (vice) †¢ Virtues are means to and constituents of happiness †¢ Virtue ethics makes being virtuous an essential element of leading a moral life SUMMARY ETHICAL THEORIES Utilitarian Model. ? When confronted with an ethical dilemma: †¢ Identify alternative courses of action †¢ Determine both benefits and harms of each alternative course of action for ALL stakeholders †¢ Most benefits and least harm to the greatest number of people ? The Utilitarian Model has a strong capitalistic orientation and supports: †¢ Profit maximisation †¢ Self-interest †¢ Rewarding hard work Weakness: Focus †¢ Competition on outcome rather ? Focus of ethical behaviour is around: than process which might be †¢ Organisational/ Public Services goals unethical †¢ Efficiency †¢ Conflicts of interest ETHICAL THEORIES Moral Rights Model ? When confronted with an ethical dilemma: †¢ Identify if any decision or behaviour violates the rights of an individual †¢ If it does, it is wrong Weakness: Focus only ? Focus of ethical behaviour is around: on individual †¢ Right to safety and not societal rights †¢ Right to know the truth †¢ Right to privacy †¢ Right not to engage in behaviours that are contradictory to a person’s moral or religious beliefs †¢ Right to freedom of speech ? Provides clear guidelines on moral individual rights ETHICAL THEORIES Justice Model ? When confronted with an ethical dilemma: †¢ Identify if any decision or behaviour violates the rights of both individuals and groups †¢ If it does, it is wrong ? Focus of three principles: †¢ Distributive Justice Principle ? Everyone needs to be treated the same, unless they differ in ways which are reliant to the situation †¢ Fairness Principle ? Obligations as a result of relationships †¢ Natural Duty Principle ? Accepting responsibility in exchange for certain rights Any questions?

Images of Black Christian Leaders Essay Example for Free

Images of Black Christian Leaders Essay African and Christian in the names of our denominations denote that we are always concerned for the well-being of economically and politically exploited persons, for gaining or regaining a sense of our own worth, and for determining our own future. We must never invest with institutions that perpetuate racism. Our churches work for the change of all processes which prevent our members who are victims of racism from participating fully in civic and governmental structures. † (Satterwhite, 1999) Race has been used by antebellum period social scientists to refer to distinctions drawn from physical appearance (skin color, eye shape, physiognomy), and ethnicity was used to refer to distinctions based on national origin, language, religion, food, and other cultural markers. â€Å"Race has a quasi-biological status and among psychologists, the use of race terminology is hotly debated In the United States, race is also a socially defined, politically oppressive categorization scheme that individuals must negotiate while creating their identities. † (Frable, 1997) This suggests racial motivation impetus more of a political-cultural propensity rather than a religious motivated trait. All along, even during the slavery, Americans of African descent, have consistently had a high sense of religious significance. The Christian Movement probably had a dramatic effect on the personal identity more so than the reference group orientation of black people as whole. African decedents as a whole, during this period in history, was observed as a singled reference group type orientation that determine behavior depended greatly on Black Christian leadership. The calls for religious framework forces one to consider the how the leaders was portrayed in current media of the period, i. e. newspapers, paintings photos, etc. What clearly points to the very success of black Christian leadership during the Civil War is indicated by the way unity was exhibited during this time black social and political culture. Both free black leaders and the masses of Southern slaves who rebelled against their masters turned a white war into a battle over slavery and racial injustice with religion as the foundational argument for both sides of the issue. Slaverys destruction, ironically, removed a common focus of protest, and more importantly, enticed certain black elites to accept the liberal concept of changing American political culture through religion by trying to join it and reform it from within. The black Christian movements of the late 1800s was a significant single indicator of common social beliefs that may simply be related with other dimensions and intangibles not yet discovered or even recognized during this time. In brief, due to the impact of during this forty to fifty year span, Black Christian consciousness and awareness had become so pervasive throughout the black population that single item common-fate solidarity was adequate to capture a fully politicized sense of group consciousness. The history of African American Christianity is bound up with the history of American slavery. African Americans encountered Christianity in the context of enslavement, and it was as captives that they began the long process of making the gospel their own. The process varied across time and space and defies generalization or easy description. Sometimes conversion came quickly, in explosive moments of awakening; more often, it unfolded over generations, as Christian belief and practices insinuated themselves into slaves daily rounds. â€Å"In some settings, the new creed seems almost completely to have displaced older religions, which survived only in a handful of disembodied beliefs and rituals. In other places, Christian usages were grafted onto still vital African religious traditions, producing dynamic, richly religion philosophical creeds. Yet whatever the pace or pathway, slaves across the Americas were drawn into the dialectic of conversion, transforming the religion of their captors even as it transformed them. † (Campbell, 1995) Preceding Any War As the antebellum period began, America was approaching its golden anniversary as an independent political state, but it was not yet a nation. There was considerable disagreement among the residents of its many geographical sections concerning the exact limits of the relationship between the Federal government, the older states, and the individual citizen. In this regard, many factions invoked concepts of state sovereignty, centralized banking, nullification, popular sovereignty, secession, all-Americanism, or manifest destiny. However, the majority deemed republicanism, social pluralism, and constitutionalism the primary characteristics of antebellum America. Slavery, abolition, and the possibility of future disunion were considered secondary issues. The history and sociopolitical influence of the African-American church documents an interminable struggle for liberation against the exploitative forces of European domination. Although Black religion is predominantly Judeo-Christian, its essence is not simply white religion with a cosmetic face lift. Rather the quintessence of African-American spiritual mindedness is grounded in the social and political experience of Black people, and, although some over the years have acquiesced to the dominant order, many have voiced a passionate demand for freedom now. The history of the African-American church demonstrates that the institution has contributed four indispensable elements to the Black struggle for ideological emancipation, which include a self-sustaining culture, a structured community, a prophetic tradition, and a persuasive leadership. The church of slavery, which began in the mid-eighteenth century, started as an underground organization and developed to become a pulpit for radicals like Richard Allen, (discussed in detail) and the platform for revolutionaries like David Walker. For over one hundred ears, African slaves created their own unique and authentic religious culture that was parallel to, but not reflective of the slave-owners Christianity from which they borrowed. Meeting on the quiet as the invisible church, they created a self-preserving belief system by Africanizing European religion. Commenting on this experience, Alice Sewell, a former slave of Montgomery, Alabama, states, We used to slip off in de woods in de old slave days on Sunday evening way down in de swamps to sing and pray to our own liking (Simms, 1970, p. 263). During the late 1700s, when slavery was being dismantled in the North, free Black Methodists courageously separated from the patronizing control of the white denomination and established their own independent assemblies. This marked the genesis of African-American resistance as a nationally structured, mass-based movement. In 1787, Richard Allen, after suffering racist humiliation at Philadelphias St. George Methodist Episcopal Church, separated from the white congregation and led other Blacks, who had been similarly disgraced, to form the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A. M. E. ) in 1816. The new group flowered. By 1820 it numbered 4,000 in Philadelphia alone, while another 2,000 claimed membership in Baltimore. The church immediately spread as far west as Pittsburgh and as far south as Charleston as African-Americans organized to resist domination. Through community groups, they contributed political consciousness, economic direction, and moral discipline to the struggle for freedom in their local districts. Moreover, Black Methodists sponsored aid societies that provided loans, business advice, insurance, and a host of social services to their fellow-believers and the community at large. In sum the A. M. E. Churches functioned in concert to organize African-Americans throughout the country to protect them selves from exploitation and to ready them for political emancipation. Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World During this same period, David Walker exemplified the prophetic tradition of the Black church with his Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, published between 1829 and 1830. Walker employed biblical language and Christian morality in creating anti-ruling class ideology: slaveholders were avaricious and unmerciful wretches who were guilty of perpetrating the most wretched, abject, and servile slavery in the world against Africans. To conclude, the church of the slave era contributed substantially to African-American social and political resistance. The invisible institution provided physical and psychological relief from the horrific conditions of servitude: within the confines of hush arbors, bonds people found unfamiliar dignity and a sense of self-esteem. Similarly, the A. M. E. congregations confronted white paternalism by organizing their people into units of resistance to fight collectively for social equality and political self-direction. And finally, the antebellum church did not only empower Blacks by structuring their communities; it also supplied them with individual political leaders. David Walker made two stellar contributions to the Black struggle for freedomhe both created and popularized anti-ruling class philosophy. He intrepidly broadcasted the conditional necessity of violence in abolishing slavery demanding to be heard by his suffering brethren and the American people and their children in both the North and the South. As churches grew in size and importance, the Black pastors role as community leader became supremely influential and unquestionably essential in the fight against Jim Crow. For instance, in 1906, when the city officials of Nashville, Tennessee, segregated the streetcars, R. H. Boyd, a prominent leader in the National Baptist Convention, organized a Black boycott against the system. He even went so far as to operate his own streetcar line at the height of the conflict. To Boyd and his constituents no setback was ever final, and the grace of God was irrefutability infinite. African Methodist Episcopal†¦Mark of Independence When Richard Allen was 17, he experienced a religious conversion that changed his life forever. (PBS, Allen) Even though born into slavery in Philadelphia in 1760, he became not only free but influential, a founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and its first bishop. Allen, recognize as one of the first African-Americans to be emancipated during the Revolutionary Era, had to forge an identity for his people as well as for himself. Richard Allen Allowed by his repentant owner to buy his freedom, Allen earned a living sawing cordwood and driving a wagon during the Revolutionary War. After the war he furthered the Methodist cause by becoming a licensed exhorter, preaching to blacks and whites from New York to South Carolina. To reconcile his faith and his African-American identity, Allen decided to form his own congregation. He gathered a group of ten black Methodists and took over a blacksmiths shop in the increasingly black southern section of the city, converting it to the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church hence, the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen was chosen as the first bishop of the church, the first fully independent black denomination in America. He had succeeded in charting a separate religious identity for African-Americans. Although the Bethel Church opened in a ceremony led by Bishop Francis Asbury in July 1794, its tiny congregation worshiped separate from our white brethren. In 1807 the Bethel Church added an African Supplement to its articles of incorporation; in 1816 it won legal recognition as an independent church. In the same year Allen and representatives from four other black Methodist congregations (in Baltimore; Wilmington, Delaware; Salem, New Jersey; and Attleboro, Pennsylvania) met at the Bethel Church to organize a new denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church. To be noted, the white Methodists of the New York Conference resisted the move toward independence, but those of the Philadelphia Conference, in Richard Allens territory, gave a conditional blessing, an irony that must have galled the Bethelites (as Allens group was popularly known). Of the two black denominations, the Bethelites enjoyed greater growth and more stable leadership in the pre-Civil War decades. The Great Awakening The Great Awakening as a marker for a cultural and religious upheaval did not appear immediately, but in scholastic research on religion in the eighteenth century, the time reflects the complexity of attitudes toward, and consequences of, religious activity in the African American communities. Taken in total, the landscape of Black Christian images presented a vast picture, still incompletely realized, from the earlier and persistent view of a monolithic vision accepted by many. Possibly only to save a few rationalists or extremists could see a different scenario. After his own religious conversion, Richard joined the Methodist Society, began attending classes, and evangelized his friends and neighbors. Richard and his brothers attended classes every week and meetings every other Thursday. A. M. E. leaders began to use both written biographical materials and public commemorations of Allens life to instill a sense of history and tradition among the largely illiterate masses. Their complementary use of public commemorations and written accounts of Allens life during this period suggest a more general attempt among Black leaders to bridge the overlapping worlds of morality and literacy in order to establish a sense of tradition, an empowering historical memory, and a pantheon of Black heroes who might one day gain their rightful place in the national pantheon. (Conyers, 1999) Notwithstanding its name, the AME Church was clearly the most respectable and orthodox of black American independent churches. While some recognizably African elements surfaced in services, AME leaders tended to disdain if not actively to suppress those beliefs and practices that scholars today celebrate as signs of Africas persistence in the New World. The whole point of racial vindication was to demonstrate blacks capacity to uphold recognized standards in their personal and collective lives and thereby to hasten abolition and full inclusion in American society. Surely people interested in connections between black America and Africa should look elsewhere than the AME Church. Historically, the first separate denominations to be formed by African Americans in the United States were Methodist. The early black Methodist churches, conferences, and denominations were organized by free black people in the North in response to stultifying and demeaning conditions attending membership in the white-controlled Methodist Episcopal churches. This independent church movement of black Christians was the first effective stride toward freedom by African Americans. Unlike most sectarian movements, the initial impetus for black spiritual and ecclesiastical independence was not grounded in religious doctrine or polity, but in the offensiveness of racial segregation in the churches and the alarming inconsistencies between the teachings and the expressions of the faith. It was readily apparent that the white church had become a principal instrument of the political and social policies under girding slavery and the attendant degradation of the human spirit. In all fairness, without exception, Richard Allen embodied the assertive free-black culture that was maturing in the North by the 1830s. Despite criticisms of his domineering manner and personal ambition, Allen had attained by the time of his death in 1831, a position of respect among his people that was rivaled by very few of his contemporaries. Mother Bethel Church Via Allen’s single minded influence, the denomination reached the Pacific Coast in the early 1850’s with churches in Mother Bethel Church Stockton, Sacramento, San Francisco, and other places in California. Moreover, Bishop Morris Brown established the Canada Annual Conference. Remarkably, the slave states of Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, and, for a few years, South Carolina, became additional locations for AME congregations.

Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management This study aims to examine the causal relationships among customer relationship management and customer retention. This paper will follow the main aspects, characteristics, dimensions and processes of Customer Relationship Management, and will analyze the challenges that the local companies will have to face. There is one independent variable (customer relationship management) and one dependent variable (customer retention) with sample size 100 as convenience data collection. In this study will test the targeted customer satisfaction to gain customer loyalty as well as. This study will be examining the effect of customer relationship perceptions and relationship marketing on customers relations. Customer relationship perceptions are considered evaluations of relationship strength and suppliers offerings. Research marketing instruments are aimed at to evaluate the relationship and help to differentiate between loyalty or reward programs promotions. The subjects for the proposed study were bank customers. A self administered questionnaire had been used for the proposed study. Introduction: This part will be helping reader to introducing the bigger picture of related topic which will be discussed in this study. The topic is related to customer relationship management and customer retention to study what would be the impact of good relationship between marketers and the final consumer and along with this drive to follow the topic. The capability of customer relationship management on customer retention in other words how it will has an impact to retain customer and to make him or her loyal this is the main purpose to study this topic and this will be the main focus of this research. We are conducting this research to study that either the customers would be influenced by good relationship management and how much the relationship management would be help them out to retain customers loyalty as well. Basically the main concept of customer relationship is relationship between the customer and the organization in other words how a company can achieve large number of potentia l customer who is willing to buy a particular brand of same company and then how they are going to retain in the long run. Nowadays companies are willing to deliver right brand or service to the right customer with right features and benefits or attributes when the wanted. To become a good organization it should to manage good relationships with its customer in order to make more customers or to attract them and also keep in view with companys changing environment. Consumers willing to buy benefits and also interested to get good services as well as if we are talking about here the tele communication industry so we have lots of examples of different companies services which they are providing innovatively to satisfied their customers needs, wants and requirements also. All the companied are coming up with different and innovative ideas and using as a method to compete with their competitors successfully and because of that consumers are getting more aware with different and lots of services which are also increasing customers needs. This research is actually focusing on two areas, first is to test is there significant impact of customer relationship perception on customer retention or not? And second is, there is significant impact of relationship marketing instruments on customer retention or not? Because every company has aim to retain their current customer as long as much and also try to steal away from their rivals, so this study is testing the impact of customer relationship perception and relationship marketing instruments on customer retention. I took tele-communication industry to test customer retention that how much good relationships and marketing instruments have an impact to retain customers on the long term basis. The current expansion in customer relationship marketing has more and more paying attention towards the valuable impacts of consumer retention. The idea of structuring customer relationships and providing good quality service to maintain or persuade reliability is possibly of specific si gnificance in the service segment where it is frequently discussed that consumer appeal costs are considerably more than retention costs. The main purpose of investment in the expansion of service quality and consumer relationships is the faith that these investments will improve loyalty, retention and productivity. This study will discover the relationship between service quality consumer relationships and consumer loyalty and retention. Customer relationship is playing an important part within the organization as they are the keys in order to increase the sales, market shares and net profit, marketers are more focused nowadays to attracting and making more customers and plus to retain them forever, customer relationship process is very significant strategy to retaining, pertaining and acquiring quality customers or potential customers to make superior quality for the organization and for the customers. Marketing productivity can be achieved by create marketing efficiency and creat e marketing effectiveness. Customer relationship management is playing a key role to improve organizations well known name also. The main idea of this study is to test the impact of marketing instruments and customer relationship perception and to test how these two techniques are effective to influence customers, either it works truly or maybe it is not. Through data collection and market research we will be able to finalize this argue. Customer relationship management must be understand the difference between the high value customer and low value customer on the basis of lifestyle, perception, preferences, age, culture background and education also. Being a marketer we should focused on loyal customers because they are more profitable key customers company should has to invest more on loyal customers to give them high quality service, benefits and incentives also to retain them and this would be good way to be a positive impact on customers perception. Companies nowadays are diligently working on this sector to improve companys services in order to attract more customers. Customer relationship management is simply a philosophy that keeps the customers in the heart of the business organization, as we all know that consumer is a king of marketing companies should have serve them as best as they can. A successful customer relationship management process can be done by understanding customers needs and requirements and to integrate them according to the organizations internal strategy changings time to time and also according to the external changings analysis. Therefore the main aim is should be to start customer relationship management initiatives is to look what company is doing right now and what it should be doing in future to improve its interface with its customers. Purpose of This Study This study is focused on the impact of customer relationship management on customer retention. In this research there will be multi nominal logestictechnique using to identify the impact of customer relationship management on customer retention, there is one independent variable (customer relationship management) and one dependent variable (customer retention) with sample size 100 as convenience data collection. In this study will test the targeted customer satisfaction to gain customer loyalty as well as. The organizations look for paths to deal with consumer relationships in the long term basis and to find the service providing ways customer to manage targeted customers relationship which becomes a key main concern. This study will be examining the effect of customer relationship perceptions and relationship marketing on customers relations. Customer relationship perceptions are considered evaluations of relationship strength and suppliers offerings. Research marketing instruments are aimed at to evaluate the relationship and help to differentiate between loyalty or reward p rograms promotions. Literature Review According to author nowadays in marketing the fashion to constructing or maintaining of relationships between the customers and the marketers is now become a continues process to build and grow to be strong and marketers have become gradually more involved to retaining consumers for the long time in future to make them loyal. Not amazingly, a lot of realistic and theoretical models of consumer retention have discover fulfillment of their needs as a way to addressed in consumers judgment to keep or leave or discontinue to the specific manufactured goods or service relationship or association. Certainly, fulfillment of needs can be measure have accounted for up to 40% of the difference in models of Consumer retention. (Lemon, 2002) Managers of many multinational companies are strongly believed that there is a wide and rising subject of study explores on consumer fulfillment that center of principally on person level of fulfillments of desires with specific merchandise or services. Moderately slightly concentration Is paying to the determinants of marketplace level of satisfaction, which is distinct here as the collective fulfillment of those who buy and use a specific good presenting. The researcher objective is to build and experiment an approach to reproduction satisfaction that connects to the market place prospect, supposed performance or worth and consumer satisfaction over time (Johnson, Anderson, Fornell) According to a researcher of this study that the main purpose of this study is that the consumer Gaining procedure has an effect on the consumer retention procedure. This study shows a method for discovering consumer retention which determinant for the effect the consumer gaining procedure has on the retention procedure infect although information on non obtain prediction are not accessible. In other words if we are talking about statically so this means that the planned technique at the same time addresses information will be editing. This is very significant to code that the center of this technique is not to address how companies should Obtain consumers. In its place, the purpose of this technique is to accurate for the partiality in the consumer retention study that answer from imagining that consumer attainment and retention Are independent procedure. evaluating the technique with a normal technique used in retention study, this study illustrates that the normal approach disregard the connection among attainment and retention, guides to wrong conclusion concerning the period of the consumer company connection and the productivity of a consumer and mystification concerning the effect of marketing strategy on the period of the consumer company association (Thomas, 2001) Now a days the fashion in marketing in the direction to making associations with consumers keep on to raise and managers have been now more and more paying attention in retaining consumers during the time. Not amazingly, a lot of realistic and academic representation of consumer retention has discovered fulfillment since an input determinant in consumers choices to remain or fall that is discontinued. In other words a known manufactured goods or service relationship. Certainly, fulfillment of desires procedures have determinant at least 40% of the variation in representation of consumer retention. In this study, we search for to know which further aspects might manipulate the consumers choices to remain or go down a manufactured goods or service, over and above satisfaction level (Lemon, White, Winer) Customer relationship management Customer relationship management (CRM) is a grouping of individuals, processes, and technology intended to recognize and deal with a companys affairs with consumers by emphasizing on relationship development and customer retention. Its intention is to increase profit by achieving a most favorable equilibrium among corporate investments and customer satisfaction. CRM applications help organizations analyze customer loyalty and profitability on measures such as repeat purchases, dollars spent, and longevity (Chen Popovich, 2003). CRM also analyzes its roots to relationship marketing, which is objected at improving profitability in the long run by deemphasizing captivating fresh consumers and emphasizing customer retention through efficient management of customer relationships (Christopher, Payne, Ballantyne, 1991). Relationship marketing refers to all marketing activities aimed at forming, increasing, and maintaining winning relational contacts. The management of customer relationships is precious for the company (Morgan Hunt, 1994; Webster, 1992). Customer Relationship Management has been around for the last 30 years, but it became very significant when companies altered their approach towards marketing function. These days, the cross-functional approach to marketing needs an organizational climate and culture that appreciates teamwork and support among departments. Individuals within the business must value their part in helping clients, internal or external one. CRM builds on the values of relationship marketing and recognizes that clients are a business asset and not just a commercial audience, implies the structuring of the company from functions to Processes, information are used proactively rather than reactively and form the one-to-one marketing approaches (Payne, 2006) chiefly CRM allows the company to realize who their purchaser is, isolate the best client (those with whom you wish to have old associations), form relationships stretching over time and linking multiple interactions, handle the bond to shared benefit, search for to obtaining more of those best clients. Inputs like marketing tactics, products and customer base, and regulation, competitors and staff skills are synthesized in a CRM programmer which forms outputs as customer service, customer retention, more share of wallet, customer referral, more expected revenues streams, better profitability, lesser costs and better fulfillment (Russell-Jones, 2003). CRM has its roots in Relationship Marketing, that is an over effort of exchange associates to make a long-term relationship, characterized by purposeful support and shared reliance on the growth of social as well as structural association (Pulde, 1999). Light (2003) acknowledged that CRM originated from business processes such as relationship marketing and the increased highlighting on better customer retention through the efficient management of customer relationships. A CRM system can be observed as an enterprise information system that includes all business processes in marketing, sales, , and after-sale service that entails the client. Levine (2000) points out that CRM systems use customer-related information or knowledge to convey related products or services to the companys clients. One of the most important definitions of a CRM system has been put forward by Davenport et al. (2001), stating that CRM systems are all the tools, technologies and actions to direct, progress or assist sales, support and linked relations with clients, prospects, and business associates all through the enterprise. In the same way, Parvatiyar Sheth (2002) speak of CRM systems as a co partnering with choosy clients to create better worth for the company and the clients. It involves the integration of marketing, sales, customer service, and the supply-chain functions of the organization to attain better efficiencies and competence in delivering customer value. CRM is about captivating and keeping clients and increasing your business. To do so, you must recognize and achieve insight into your most valuable clients so you can aim and personalize relations with them. You have to alter products and services based on their requirements and Preferences and construct long-term, beneficial relations with them. To encourage beneficial growth, your corporation must become a customer focused enterprise. You do so by designing and constantly improving business processes and communication channels to build and convey greater customer value and outstanding customer experiences across all touch points. You know that loyal customers are your most vital assets and that your business practices must hold and maintain such relationships. Your business must understand individual customer requirements, react rapidly to customer desires and altering wants, and offer high-quality service. You must also lessen the cost of interacting with clients and allow your workers to focus on doing what they do most excellent. Customer relationship management (CRM) is a mixture of individuals, processes, and technology designed to recognize and control a companys relations with clients by focusing on relationship development and customer retention (Chen Popovich, 2003). Its intention is to increase profit by obtaining an optimum equilibrium among corporate investments and client contentment. CRM applications assist organizations assess customer loyalty and productivity on Measures such as repeat purchases, dollars spent, and longevity (Chen Popovich, 2003). CRM traces its roots to relationship marketing, which is targeted at improving long run profitability by deemphasizing captivating fresh clients and emphasizing customer retention through efficient management of customer relationships (Christopher, Payne, Ballantyne, 1991). Relationship marketing refers to all marketing activities aimed at establishing, budding, and maintaining booming relational exchanges (Morgan Hunt, 1994). The management of customer relationships is precious for the corporation (Morgan Hunt, 1994; Webster, 1992). Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh (1987) points out those customer relationships grow over different phases that are associated to the customer lifecycle. Greve and Albers (2006) identify three customer lifecycle phases: Initiation, Maintenance and Retention. These phases are characterized by differences in attitudes and orientations and thus need different management relationship approaches at each phase (Srivastava, Shervani, Fahey, 1998). Many organizations chartered with implementing CRM are confused as to what CRM in reality means (Payne, 2006). Persons, teams and managers might be struggling with where to start on in the CRM process. In a lot of cases they might have acknowledged a directive to implement a CRM solution with slight direction on what this in reality means. Payne (2006) points out that some of this uncertainty may be due to the fact that there are many vendors who recommend CRM-based solutions for information management therefore skewing the definition of customer relationship management away from fostering customer relationships and on the way to technology. Customer retention is very vital for businesses to continue to be competitive. It has lately become more significant compared to customer acquisition. In this Study the customer retention was calculated by four proportions i.e. overall firm contentment, repeat purchase intentions, positive words of mouth and loyalty to the firm. Earlier researches showed that when clients were pleased with a firm quality of services, (Maxham III, 2000) clients delivered positive words of mouth and suggested the firm services to other potential and prospective clients ( Soderland, 1998; Susskind, 2000 ). They also come back more regular to the firm to purchase in bigger amounts or in another words the tendency to repeat purchase was very high ( Palmer et al, 2000 ). In addition pleased clients were loyal to the firm even though they were given better perks, discount and other promotional incentives by competitors. Pleased clients are loyal and tough to defect to competitors ( Foster Cardogan, 2002 ; Zins, 2001) Relationship management is superfluous if customers defect since there is further no relationship to deal with. To retain clients, merchants must carry on satisfying them. When consumers are pleased, they continue to stay loyal longer, purchase more, chat thoughtfully about the company and its goods, and price fewer to service since the transactions become more regular. In order to Keep customers content is price effective, as it outlays extra money to tempt a customer away from the rivalry than to maintain the present one (Kotler, 2000) Acquiring new customers can cost five times more than the costs engaged in pleasing and retaining existing customers (Reichheld, 1996). Further, there seems to be a direct association among retention and company profitability and customer worth, which is explained as an exclusive blend of benefits received by targeted buyers. These benefits include quality, cost, handiness, in time delivery, and both before-sale and after-sale service (Kerin, Hartley, Rudelius, 2007). Also, a content purchaser tends to tell at least three other individuals regarding their shopping experience while a discontented purchaser tends to complain to at least nine other individuals. Content buyers also tend to become loyal customers (Sheth, Mitral, Newman, 1999). Relationship marketing is suggested as an approach to beat service intangibility (Berry 1983) and may be suitable for credibility services that are the, services which are hard for consumers to counseling services are in this group. The customer may have an association with a firm itself and/or a particular contact individual, but personal relationships are assumed to result in larger commitment (Liechty and Churchill 1979). Customer Relationship Management (Payne, 2006) is based on the idea that in order for a company to make the most of long term profit, client requirements have to be understood and Leveraged (String fellow, Nie Bowen, 2004). Payne and Frow (2005) report that the definition of CRM differs broadly. One end of the range deals with very planned and targeted technology solutions while the other end considers customer relationship management a holistic and strategic approach in order to increase shareholder value (Payne Frow, 2005). Firms use relationship marketing instruments (RMIs), such as loyalty programs and direct mailings (Hart et al. 1999; Roberts and Berger 1999). Firms also aim to build close relationships with customers to enhance customers relationship perceptions (CRPs). Although the impact of these tactics on customer retention has been reported (e.g., Bolton 1998; Bolton, Kannan, and Bramlett 2000), there is skepticism about whether such tactics can succeed in developing customer share in customer markets (Dowling 2002; Dowling and Uncles 1997). Relationship marketing is in reality Database marketing with a pleasant, more intellectual face. Many database marketing types just utilize the database as a list and mail things to it; relationship marketing implies a deeper knowledge of the client and some sort of give and take. In relationship marketing, there is acknowledgement of a clients life cycle, and marketing is viewed as a practice rather than a sequence of apparently unrelated proceedings. The process is typically explained as a series of customer stages, and there are many different names specified to these stages, depending on the marketers viewpoint and the kind of business. For instance, working from the start of the association to the end of the association: Interaction > Communication > Valuation > Termination Awareness > Comparison > Transaction > Reinforcement > Advocacy Suspect > Prospect > Customer > Partner > Advocate > Former Customer in this process, you attempt to modify programs for individual customer groups and the stage of the process they are going all the way through; as opposite to some forms of database marketing where everyone would get nearly the same promotions, with possibly a vary in offer. The phase in consumer lifecycle determines the approach used in marketing. An uncomplicated example of this would be delivering fresh clients a greeting Kit. And in relationship marketing, you pay attention to the data and attempt to listen to what its telling you. OK, if you pursue the techniques in the book, you are doing relationship marketing, no hesitation about it. Relationship marketing with a currency, a store of value that attempts to maintain the client locked up with a business. In loyalty programs, customer profiling is used broadly to encourage to clients, apart from points are used in its place of discounts as the incentive for activity. Loyalty programs are costly and hard to do right, but can be successful, as long as these things are true: The rewards are desirable to the particular customer base. Generic loyalty programs with blah awards nearly all the time do not succeed. If you are doing a sports loyalty program and you suggest tickets to big games in place of over-priced cameras for rewards, you will do okay with the clients. The program is kept new and thrilling, with a continuous diversity of stuff to entail the client with, as well as refreshing of the rewards directory, point auctions, etc.The marketing does not focus on thoughts forming subsidy costs between finest clients. In the ideal world, you need to utilize points to create activity from little value clients, and you do not need your high value clients spending down their points to zero every time. Some marketers persuade the opposite and bankrupt their programs. Loyalty programs have extensively been a significant component of customer relationship management for firms in travel related industries such as airlines, hotels, and rental cars. Information technology that enables firms to put into practice individual level marketing has facilitated the extend of loyalty programs into such diverse industries as gaming, financial services, and retailing (Deighton 2000). Some academic researchers have started to analyze loyalty programs. Behavior leaning researchers, such as Soman (1998) and Kivetz and Simonson (2002), have study the consequences of postponed incentives on consumer decisions. A unique feature of loyalty programs is that their attractiveness might alter with dynamism with respect to a customers decisions. As purchases are being made, all together the customers investment in the program and the customers probability of earning an incentive also enhances. on the other hand, when a customer decides not to buy in a specified time, the probability of earning an incentive minimizes, as the customer moves no closer to the incentive threshold, and the time left to earn rewards shrinks. The evaluation of a programs attractiveness becomes more complex because customers usually have inadequate awareness of their future necessities and of the marketing policies of the firm. These dynamic factors are a challenge in the modeling of customer reaction to loyalty programs. Customer satisfaction has for several years been a key determinant in analyzing why clients Disappear or go on with with an organization. Each organization wants to know how to retain their clients, even if they show to be satisfied. Richards refers that a few unsatisfied clients may wish not to defect, because they do not look forward to be given improved service somewhere else and that some satisfied clients may look for other options if they think they can get improved services in another place. Customer satisfaction is viewed a significant indicator of customer retention but customer satisfaction is not all the time a guarantee of customer retention. Retaining customers is also dependent on various other variables such as choices, conveniences, prices, and incomes (Richards, 1996; Jones and Sasser, 1995). Understanding the association among organizational strategy and customer loyalty is the Next region of examination. Oliver (1999) describes that customer loyalty will keep up a customer coming back for upcoming buying in spite of situational influences and marketing Efforts having the probability to cause switching attitude. Several researchers consider that customer satisfaction is a principal driver of customer loyalty (Kotler Keller, 2006), on the other hand Oliver (1999) and McAlexander, Kim and Roberts (2003) caution that contentment is only one driver of customer loyalty and that other factors must be well thought-out, together with potential obstacles to creating and maintaining loyalty (Gurau, Ranchhod Hackney, 2003). Customer satisfaction For customer satisfaction to be far above the ground, promises and hopes must be met. This involves the firms capability to recognize customer prospect. The ability to deal with problems as they arise is a key ingredient to success. Also, the organization needs to consider complaints as a gift! Why? Customers who have an issue dealt with to their satisfaction have a 95% likelihood of repurchasing and telling 5 people about their experience; if they dont complain (as 96% of people do) they will tell at least 10 other people about their problem. The occurrence of problems can cause a 15-to-30-point drop in high-satisfaction responses and in loyalty indicators. This puts revenue at risk to the average tune of 11%. So, some techniques to maintain and improve satisfaction must be considered. An effective complaint handling system is an excellent defensive tool. Ongoing surveys to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty, and capture the voice of the customer are also essential. The biggest problem, however, is that companies do not manage the customer contact experience with sufficient detail. Therefore I often recommend my Customer Experience Workshop as an effective analytical and improvement tool. It is practical and leads to speedy outcome. Customer retention Havent we all heard the now-clichà ©d quote Customer is the king? Not only is this true for all service oriented businesses, but also increasingly relevant for all types of businesses like manufacturing, product based businesses etc. Never has been the customer more relevant to an organizations success than todays essentially buyer focused markets. It, therefore, makes immense business sense to keep your customers from choosing other providers (your competitors) over you. Not only does this ensure you the advantages of repeat business, but also creates a comfort zone for the customer, where they can predict the quality of products and / or services theyll receive from you. It thus pays to manage and effectively retain satisfied customers. Customer retention is a series of activities and/or strategies aimed at keeping customers from defecting to your competitors. Customer Retention marketing is the kind of approach that is tactically-driven and is based on customer conduct or attitude. It is the central activity going on at the back the scenes in relationship marketing, loyalty marketing, database marketing, permission marketing, and so forth. Here is the fundamental viewpoint of a retention-oriented marketer: 1. Earlier and Current customer conduct is the best analyst of Future customer conduct. imagine about it. Generally, it is more frequently right than not right, and when it comes to action oriented behavior like going for purchases and visiting web sites, the thinking truly shines all the way through. We are discussing about real conduct here, not implied conduct. For instance a 35 year old lady is not a conduct; it is a demographic trait. Acquire these two groups of prospective buyers who visit the Net: Individuals who are a perfect demographic match for your site, but have not at all purchased online anyplace. Folks who are outside the center demographics for your site, but have bought online often from various different web sites. Suppose if one sends a 20% o

Challenging The Institution of Sport and Its Values: The Costs and Benefits of Female Athletes in M :: Film Films Movies Sports Women Essays

Challenging The Institution of Sport and Its Values "Sport is not an expression of some biological human need," writes Michael Messner, "it is a social institution. Like other institutions, such as the economy, politics, and the family, the structure and values of sport emerge and change historically, largely as a result of struggles for power between groups of people" (8). Indeed, changing the structure of any the institution is a struggle that is not by any means easily won. The institution of sport presents a unique set of boundaries to overcome with regard to gender equality in male-dominated sports. Both men and women take big risks when they forge new ground by competing in a sport that is traditionally dominated by the opposite sex. This paper will discuss the costs and benefits of women competing in predominately male-dominated sports by examining Karyn Kusama's Girlfight and Pumping Iron II: The Women. In Karyn Kusama's Girlfight (2000), Diana Guzman is a tough young woman, struggling to get by in a low-income area of the Brooklyn. After continued disciplinary problems in school, Diana channels her aggression into training to become a boxer. She fights to assert herself both inside and outside of the boxing ring: inside the ring, she proves that she is a strong and athletically talented young (woman) boxer; outside of the ring, she fights to define and prove herself in a broken home. After proving her strength when she defended her brother Tiny in a sparring match at the gym, Diana asks Hector to train her to become a boxer. Hector replies, "You can train, but you can't compete...you just can't. Girls don't have the same power as boys." Hector's response, and the response of most of the men in her life is indicative of the function and effect of power in the institution of sport. Michael Messner argues: "The structure and values of sport are largely shaped by, and in the interests of, those who hold power...power is not simply a top-down, one-way process in which dominant groups assert and enforce their rules, values, and beliefs over dominated groups. Rather, power is a process in which dominated groups may partially accept, but also attempt to redefine, negotiate, or even reject, the ruling group's rules, values, and meanings" (12). Diana proves to Hector, and her competitors, that her strength and athleticism are not only comparable to her male counterparts, but often far exceeds them. Challenging The Institution of Sport and Its Values: The Costs and Benefits of Female Athletes in M :: Film Films Movies Sports Women Essays Challenging The Institution of Sport and Its Values "Sport is not an expression of some biological human need," writes Michael Messner, "it is a social institution. Like other institutions, such as the economy, politics, and the family, the structure and values of sport emerge and change historically, largely as a result of struggles for power between groups of people" (8). Indeed, changing the structure of any the institution is a struggle that is not by any means easily won. The institution of sport presents a unique set of boundaries to overcome with regard to gender equality in male-dominated sports. Both men and women take big risks when they forge new ground by competing in a sport that is traditionally dominated by the opposite sex. This paper will discuss the costs and benefits of women competing in predominately male-dominated sports by examining Karyn Kusama's Girlfight and Pumping Iron II: The Women. In Karyn Kusama's Girlfight (2000), Diana Guzman is a tough young woman, struggling to get by in a low-income area of the Brooklyn. After continued disciplinary problems in school, Diana channels her aggression into training to become a boxer. She fights to assert herself both inside and outside of the boxing ring: inside the ring, she proves that she is a strong and athletically talented young (woman) boxer; outside of the ring, she fights to define and prove herself in a broken home. After proving her strength when she defended her brother Tiny in a sparring match at the gym, Diana asks Hector to train her to become a boxer. Hector replies, "You can train, but you can't compete...you just can't. Girls don't have the same power as boys." Hector's response, and the response of most of the men in her life is indicative of the function and effect of power in the institution of sport. Michael Messner argues: "The structure and values of sport are largely shaped by, and in the interests of, those who hold power...power is not simply a top-down, one-way process in which dominant groups assert and enforce their rules, values, and beliefs over dominated groups. Rather, power is a process in which dominated groups may partially accept, but also attempt to redefine, negotiate, or even reject, the ruling group's rules, values, and meanings" (12). Diana proves to Hector, and her competitors, that her strength and athleticism are not only comparable to her male counterparts, but often far exceeds them.

The Reality of War and Death Depicted in Owens Poem, Dulce Et Decorum

If we look at the history of the world with a kaleidoscope, we can see the different aspects of war and what effect it had on the mind of different people and artists such as poets, painters and authors. Many poets romanticized war, luring it with their pen and giving it a beautiful look by glorifying death and obliging young blood to fight for their motherland. For example the poems â€Å"Peace† by Rupert Brooke and â€Å"Fall In† by Harold Begbie painted war with the highlights of glamorous and sensation. Apart from poets there are also politicians who achieved their aims with the help of war and violence while others who used the weapons of non violence to achieve their goals. The most famous example is of Adolf Hitler who took the aid of war to conquer the territories. The media also has a great impact on the mind of the public, like newspapers, televisions, radios arouses the public’s interest and motivates the young generation to join the army and fight fo r the nation. However, there are artists who look at war in its very naked form. For example the poet Wilfred Owen in his poem â€Å"Dulce Et Decorum Est† demonstrates that no sweetness or honor is earned in dying for one’s country, instead humanity is taken away during war. In the first stanza Owen uses strong metaphors and similes to convey a meaningful warning. The first line, â€Å"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks†, describes the soldiers tremendous exhaustion. They have been brought down to a beggar’s level and are being compared to low society. To reinforce this the speaker says, â€Å"And towards our distant rest began to trudge† (3). Everything seemed farther and so the troops desire for relaxation and peace. Owen uses metaphors:†Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots/B... ...Unlike other poets who glorified war and eluded people’s mind Owen brought the reality of war and death in front of people’s eyes. War is not just fighting for your nation and gaining victory, it is looking at death and inhumanity eye to eye and experiencing agony, suffering and reality. The name of heroes and heroism just remains in words but the reality is the inhuman situation faced during the war. In my opinion war is not a solution to all problems, there is no need for bloodshed, killing, violence and destruction. The problems, the difference of opinion and disputes can be settled by non violence, agreements and understandings. Mahatma Gandhi proved to the world that you can achieve your aim by means of non violence and peace. He rightly said: â€Å"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.†

Speech Community :: essays research papers

Speech Community Contribution There is an infinite amount of chat rooms available on the internet and each one can be defined as its own speech community. I have chosen to analyze a chat room that is devoted to the hit Fox reality show, American Idol. The transcript used was from a chat session that occurred at 10:00 PM on March 27, 2005. This online chat room seemed to be the source of a continuous flow of opinionated statements regarding the television show. Due to the anonymity of the internet, members of the many speech communities within are uneasily identified. Members tend to rely solely on â€Å"screen names† for identification purposes. With names such as TanBear251 and MegaBob12, most statistical information regarding the identity of participants is limited. The context and purpose of the chat room, however, allow for various limited conclusions to be drawn. For the American Idol chat room, it can be assumed that participants include people who watch the television show regularly. These people are likely to statistically fall into the show’s target audience in regards to age and income, among other factors. The target audience of American Idol consists of middle to upper-middle class viewers between the ages of 20 and 45 years of age. No physical location can truly be defined for this speech event. One participant may reside in Houston, Texas, while another may live in Puerto Rico. Due to the time of day, a casual setting can be assumed since it is likely that most participants are located within their own homes. Participation is fully voluntary and in most cases is for enjoyment purposes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For this chat room in particular, knowledge truly is power. The status of a participant grows with their expertise on a subject of discussion. The chat room â€Å"regulars† seem to hold a higher status that those who are entering for the first time. This is seen with the amount of posted messages a person makes. Those who regularly participate in the chat room from day to day dominate the discussion while newcomers tend to sit back and watch. In order to gain inclusion in a discussion, one must prove themselves as knowledgeable about the subject at hand.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some of the barriers that coexist with chat room communication include a limited ability to show emotion as well as a tedious typing requirement. To address these issues, many new abbreviated expressions have been introduced.

Breaking the Disney Spell Essay

Jack Zipes, in his essay â€Å"Breaking the Disney Spell†, directly addresses the issue of what happens when a story is taken from its original oral form and written down. Zipes discusses in depth what Walt Disney has done to fairy tales and the consequences of Disney’s actions. Zipes addresses many issues, including those of context, society, and alteration of plot. He accuses Walt Disney of attacking â€Å"the literary tradition of the fairy tale† (344). While many scholars disagree with Zipes’ accusations, his essay makes very solid and well-presented points that he promptly backs with fact. Regardless of what the scholars say, Zipes was right: Oral tradition is important, and Disney’s representations of historical folktales damaged fairy tales as we know them. When Walt Disney began his cartoon and film career in 1927, he might have been unaware of how the American public would rush to purchase his â€Å"original† creations. His first cartoon, a re-creation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that added a comedic spin, began his career in the cartoon industry and eventually spun his company into a billion dollar enterprise (Funding Universe). As Disney’s popularity grew, he continued to expand his film creations, but generally by copying or â€Å"re-creating† fairy tales or other historical literature. Many Americans believe that Walt Disney was the first person to create fairy tales, and Disney failed to recognize the original creators of the stories that made him so popular: the folk. Historically, fairy tales were told amongst people that historians and folklorists refer to as â€Å"the folk. † That is, the stories were shared orally, in what is commonly referred to as â€Å"sacred space† (Curry). Fairy tales were not intended to be read alone, in silence. Rather, they were created to be shared in a group of people, and, while fairy tales were saturated with meaning, that meaning could vary based on the storyteller. Fairy Tales were also often the holders of a warning or admonition that could be adjusted depending on the listener. One mother might have told her daughter one version of â€Å"Cinderella† in order to make a statement about her daughter’s life, whereas another mother might have told a completely different version of the same story. This, Zipes argues, is what made fairy tales unique and important. He comments, â€Å"A narrator or narrators told tales to bring members of a group or tribe closer together and to provide them with a sense of mission† (332). Fairy tales were told from an older generation to a younger generation. As mentioned previously, they were not shared in private, by oneself, alone with a book or videotape. Zipes comments, â€Å"This privatization violated the communal aspects of the folk tale† (335). The stories were a collective form of communication that occurred in a group setting, in a safe place, in a sacred space. Fairy tales, besides communicating moral and social messages, were a rite of passage. Martha C. Sims and Martine Stephens, both revered folklorists, make a statement about the importance of storytelling and teaching in their book Living Folklore. â€Å"Rites of passage mark notable dates or stages in a person’s life. Most rites of passage occur at times of change or transition: birth, puberty, entering adulthood or coming-of-age, marriage, and death, for example† (110). Fairy tales were used in rites of passage as a way to communicate with the younger generation about the changes that take place during puberty, adolescence, and marriage. Even in the written versions of Fairy Tales produced by the Brothers Grimm, Perrault, and other respected folklorists, scholars are able to grasp and to understand the importance of various elements that are present in the stories that show valuable truth about life adjustments and growing up. Many folklorists, however, consider Disney’s version of historical fairy tales to have stripped them of their meaning. Zipes is one of them. Zipes uses the example of Disney’s recreation of Puss in Boots to show that Disney altered the story to â€Å"use it as a self-figuration that would mark the genre for years to come† (343). Zipes argues that Disney changes the protagonist of the story from Puss to the â€Å"young king. † In the original version of the tale, the cat was the hero and the young boy he was friends with played a minor role in the tale. The boy in the original tale was not royalty at all: he was a commoner. Disney changed both the importance of the boy’s role in the story, as well as his social status. By adjusting the story, Zipes declares that Disney projected his own self into the story and presented it in a sort of auto-biographical fashion. Disney saw himself as the young king and projected that into the story. Disney did not see himself as simply an ordinary commoner: he was far above the peasant class, at least in his own mind. While many of Disney’s fans and viewers may argue that his recreation of fairy tales made little to no impact on the original meaning, Zipes believes otherwise. â€Å"Disney’s film is also an attack on the literary tradition of the fairy tale. He robs the literary tale of its voice and changes its form and meaning† (344). Disney not only adjusts the main elements of a story, but he also alters the point of view and the narrator, as we see in Puss in Boots. Instead of the story being told from Puss’ point of view, the â€Å"hero† of the story is the young boy. In Disney’s other fairy tale recreations, he often adds characters and makes them the hero or savior of the story. Often, instead of being told by a female point of view and being about women, as many fairy tales are historically represented, Disney projects a patriarchal view on the story and makes it obvious to his viewers that a woman’s life is meaningless without a man to guide her. Disney’s characters all understand the importance of waiting around for their prince to arrive and â€Å"save them† from the life that they so torturously endure. Instead of the bright, intelligent, and witty women that are evidenced in such tales as Italo Calvino’s The False Grandmother and Lasair Gheug, the King of Ireland’s Daughter, Disney’s heroines appear to be lacking not only spine, but brains as well. Many American children have grown up completely unaware that the concept of a prince saving a princess is a distinctly Disney idea. The classic fairy tales often involve feminine strength and an urging of women to be able to outsmart her predators. If a girl is not able to outsmart her attacker, she is simply killed. This is evidenced quite well in Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood and the Brothers Grimm tale of Little Red Cap. A comparison of the two stories will bring to light the idea that if a young girl is smart enough, she can outwit any predator – even a hungry wolf. The girl in Little Red Cap is able to do just that, and escapes with her life. Contrarily, the heroine of Little Red Riding Hood is not quite clever enough, and she is â€Å"gobbled up† (Perrault 13). The concept of women needing a savior is quite obvious in the Disney version of Snow White. Zipes notes, â€Å"Snow White was his story that he had taken from the Grimm Brothers and changed completely to suit his tastes and beliefs. He cast a spell over this German tale and transformed it into something peculiarly American† (346). Maria Tatar also notes the impact of Disney’s version on the American public as she comments, â€Å"Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has so eclipsed other versions of the story that it is easy to forget that hundreds of variants have been collected over the past century in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas† (74). In the oldest versions of Snow White, the heroine of the story does not need to be â€Å"saved† by a prince. The Brothers Grimm depict Snow White coming back to life by her coffin being jarred, which dislodged the apple in her throat (Grimm 89). Similarly, in the Lasair Gheug version of this tale, it is the king’s new wife who saves Snow White by picking the ice out of her forehead and palms (94). Disney, however, shows Snow White as a weak female who must be rescued by her â€Å"prince Charming. † She is saved, not by accident or by a minor character, but â€Å"when the prince, who has searched far and wife for her, arrives and bestows a kiss on her lips. His kiss of love is the only antidote to the queen’s poison† (Zipes 348). Disney’s portrayal of princesses or young girls as weak and frail leads Zipes to believe that Disney â€Å"perpetuated a male myth† which is, subconsciously, a celebration of his own destiny and success (348). Disney, although his primary characters are nearly always female, depicts them as weak and needy. It is only the secondary male character and the antagonist female in Disney’s stories who appear to have spines. By keeping his primary female characters weak, Disney is sending the message that women are helpless without men. Zipes, in accordance with this idea, notices that not only are the primary females in Disney’s stories kept weak, but that the male â€Å"heroes† of his tales are overly masculine and are the saviors of the stories. â€Å"In this regard,† notes Zipes, â€Å"the prince can be interpreted as Disney†¦ Snow White cannot be fulfilled until he arrives to kiss her†¦ † (349). Zipes argues that Disney, in his creation of weak females and strong male heroes, is making a statement that he, Disney, is a hero. Disney’s re-telling of these fairy tales is not simply adding his own perspective to the issue at hand. Rather, Disney completely rewrites fairy tales to mean what he wants them to mean. Most historical fairy tales have a common theme and moral in them, regardless of the story teller. From Perrault to the Brothers Grimm, much retelling is similar, with only slight variances. Disney, however, with his addition of â€Å"him† to the story, alters the story not only by point of view, but also in it’s moral and its core message. Some folklorists argue that a recreation and revision of historical folklore is necessary to ensure that the current generations retain their interest in the past. Many might argue that Disney’s retelling of fairy tales has not harmed the historical value of the stories. Benjamin Filene makes this argument in his work Romancing the Folk. â€Å"†¦ the backward glance can be more than nostalgic — that memory can create American culture anew† (236). While Filene may truly believe that it is important to incite interest in folklore amongst the youth of the current generation, Zipes disagrees. His research leads him to believe that this alteration, whether for personal gain or simply for popularizing any type of folklore, permanently hinders the message that is inherently present in the original version. Disney, in his new representations of fairy tales, loses sight of the original messages and completely removed the moral and meaning from the stories. Zipes, in Breaking the Disney Spell, provides clear evidence that Disney has violated the sanctity of fairy tales by rewriting them for his own personal pleasure and gain. By projecting himself into the fairy tales, Disney not only removes the moral message of the story, but also replaces the matriarchal values with patriarchal ones. Disney molds women to meet his standards of how women should behave, rather than portraying the strong and clever females that are visible in the original tales. While fairy tales were altered when they became a written tradition rather than an oral one, most stories still maintained their original moral values. Disney, however, strips the stories even of that in lieu of something â€Å"better†: his own pleasure and fame. After Disney, fairy tales will never be the same. Now, society is stuck with his egotistical creations that are beneficial to no one but himself. Instead of the stories being meaningful and a rite of passage, they are reduced to simply a meaningless tale of Disney’s life and goals. Zipes was right: Disney has damaged fairy tales and they will never be quite the same