Chernobyl Informative Speech

Attention Getter: There are currently 442 active nuclear power reactors worldwide according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Of all of the reactors worldwide, 14 have been classified as accidents where the public has been exposed to radiation. The most devastating of these incidents was the core meltdown of reactor 4 at Chernobyl, better known as the Chernobyl disaster. Introduction: Today I am going to tell you 3 things about Chernobyl.First, I am going to tell you what Chernobyl was.Second, I will tell you Why it happened and Finally, I will tell you what the effects were and why it’s relevant today.Body 1 â€Å"What was Chernobyl†? :April 26, 1986 in the early morning hours, an explosion rocked a thriving city near the heart of Ukraine.Within days 150 nearby towns had been evacuated.This explosion would become the beginning to the worst nuclear disaster in history.Chernobyl’s power reactors were graphic reactors, not commonly used anywhere outside of the Sovie t Union.In certain circumstances, the graphite reactors could speed up the nuclear reaction. This was a flawed Russian Design that ultimately led to the disaster.Chernobyl was classified as a category 7 nuclear event, the most severe classification according to the Nuclear Event Scale.Comparatively Three Mile Island was only classified as a category 5.Body 2 â€Å"Why did it happen? †:Next I am going to tell you why it happened.The disaster occurred due to an experiment which was being run by the reactor engineers.The purpose of the experiment was to determine whether electricity could be drawn from a turbine and redirected to the water pumps. High electrical demand during the day time meant they could not run the experiment until 11pm.The engineers grew impatient, reducing the rate of nuclear reaction too rapidly.Reducing the rate this quickly caused a rapid buildup of radiation poisons.To counteract this build up, the control rods were withdrawn. This meant they were no lon ger able to control the rate of reaction.These 2 critical errors (withdrawing the rods and slowing the reaction too rapidly) made the engineers incapable of increasing the power within the reactor. This was a safety precaution that the engineers overrode.Normally, in a situation where the reactor becomes unstable two fail safe measures were in place.   First, the power of the reactor could be increased to re-stabilize the nuclear reaction And Second, the engineers could wait 24 hours to allow the reaction chemicals to dissipateThe Engineers however, had already disabled the first failsafe be removing the control rods.The engineers also continued to turn off addition safety precautions including the emergency reactor cooling system. This system was designed to help stop the reaction if too much heat was generated.The emergency energy supply was also shut down, meaning there was no additional energy to run the plant.The experiment continued and the turbine generators were also shutdown.The electrical supply to the reactors water pumps was reduced as a result of the experiment, reducing the amount of cooling water passing through the reactor.Because of this, water within the reactor core began to boil.This was troublesome, since the cool water was used to reduce the heat of the reaction. As the rate of nuclear reaction continued to ac celerate, addition graphite tipped control rods were released by the engineers.Under normal circumstances, the control rods were designed to slow the rate of reaction.However, with the reaction already accelerating out of control, the insertion of the graphite rods further increased the reaction.After disabling or exhausting all potential failsafe methods, the engineers had run out of possibilities and had lost complete control of the nuclear reactor.Enough pressure had built up within the reactor to cause an explosion, leading to the collapse of reactor 4. Following the explosion, the engineers and reactor workers attempted to hide the incident from authorities.This meant that evacuation effort could not fully begin for 36 hours after the explosion.Because the incident was not immediately reported and the public was never made fully aware, farm produce, dairy and the air was contaminated with extremely high levels of radiation and extremely high levels of radiation and subsequently consumed by the residents in regions surrounding Chernobyl.Within hours of the explosion, residents of the nearby city of Prypiat began to fall ill.Body 3: How is it relevant to us? Finally, I’m going to tell you what the effects were and why Chernobyl is still relevant today.Hundreds of thousands of people were affected by the accident150 villages and towns were abandoned displacing thousands of people from their homes.As a result of the widespread release of radiation scientists estimate t hats 100,000 miles square miles surrounding Chernobyl had been significantly contaminated.Significant levels of radiation from Chernobyl were recorded at the Forsmark Nuclear power plant about 600 miles away from Chernobyl.Over 600,000 workers were involved in the cleanup of Chernobyl. Many of these workers received significant levels of radiation.The international atomic energy agency noted more than 1800 documented cases of thyroid cancer in children 14 and under immediately following the disaster, much higher than normal.Most of these were identified early and successfully treated.The disaster brought to light the severe effects of radiation poisoning on the body according to the international Nuclear safety group: â€Å"Krypton 85 affects the entire body and can increase the likelihood of developing cancer such as leukemia within two years of exposure. Cesium 137 can attack the entire body, centering on the liver, spleen and the muscles. Barium 140, gathers in the bones and can cause tumors as late as thirty years after exposure. Iodine 131 gathers in the thyroid. It can trigger cancer in the thyroid decades following exposure†.The event brought awareness to the dangers of radiation not only from nuclear reactors but also from everyday occurrences such as getting an X-Ray at the hospital.Conclusion:Nuclear reactors are used more today than ever. The nearest one is in Chicago, IL. The disaster of Chernobyl made people more aware of the dangers.More safety measures were put into place because of Chernobyl. These safety measures meant that containment and disaster relief was much faster and more effective during the 2010 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. In conclusion I have told you what Chernobyl is, why it happened, what the effects and why it is still relevant to us today.ReferencesChernobyl | Nuclear Reaction | FRONTLINE | PBS. (n. d. ). PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved  October  23, 2012, from http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/chernobyl. tmlChernobyl: Cause and Effect. (n. d. ). RichEast. Retrieved  October  23, 2012, from http://www. richeast. org/htwm/chernobyl/chernobyl. html International Nuclear Events Scale (INES). (2012, September 25).Nuclear Safety and Security. Retrieved  October  22, 2012, from http://www-ns. iaea. org/tech-areas/emergency/ines. asp Nuclear Energy Institute – U. S. Nuclear Power Plants. (n. d. ).Nuclear Energy Institute – Clean-Air Energy. Retrieved  October  23, 2012, from http://www. nei. org/resourcesandstats/nuclear_statistics/usnuclearpowerplants/

Making Research Decisions Essay

Chapter 12 – Discussion Questions (Making Research Decisions) # 5 a Yes—Depends—No: One problem would be that â€Å"depends† is very vague and doesn’t give reasons as to why someone would pick â€Å"no† at some point and â€Å"yes† at another. A way to make this better would be to add a â€Å"please describe† line or change the wording all together. There is no way to express â€Å"don’t know† or â€Å"undecided†. b Excellent—Good—Fair—Poor: One problem with this would be that it may not have as valid a measure as say an 8 point scale, â€Å"as the number of scale points increases, the reliability of the measure increases. Second, in some studies, scales with 11 points may produce more valid results than 3-, 5-, or 7-point scales† (Cooper and Schindler, 2011). What may be â€Å"good† to someone may be â€Å"fair† to another. c Excellent—Good—Average—Fair—Poor: People may have trouble telling the difference between â€Å"good† and â€Å"average† because shouldn’t â€Å"average† already be â€Å"good†? d Strongly Approve—Approve—Uncertain—Disapprove— Strongly Disapprove: An issue with this would be that it is an unbalanced scale, â€Å"unequal number of favorable and unfavorable response choices† (Cooper and Schindler, 2011). Chapter 5 – Discussion Questions (Terms in Review) # 1- 3 1. a Purpose: This is one way that managers can study and chose information. This way evaluates the â€Å"explicit or hidden agenda of the information source† (Cooper and Schindler, 2011). b Scope: The scope applies to the content of the information and the extent to which it covers such as any kind of limitations or time period sensitive data. c Authority: This factor looks at the quality and level of the information, for example what the source credentials are and whether it is primary, secondary or tertiary. d Audience: This has to do with the type, any specific characteristics, of people or groups of people â€Å"for whom the source was created† (Cooper and Schindler, 2011). e Format: This has to do with the way the data is presented â€Å"and the degree of ease of locating specific information within the source† (Cooper and Schindler, 2011). 2. Define the distinctions between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources in a secondary search. A primary source is one that uses a valid original work such as raw data and is the most valid type of data. Secondary sources interpret the data and research from a primary source, an example of this would be a textbook or news article. A tertiary source is one that presents and interprets data that has been found from secondary sources. 3. What problems of secondary data quality must researchers face? How can they deal with them? One of the biggest problems with secondary data is the fact that the information being citied is an interpretation of the original data. The best way to avoid a misinterpretation of the data is to look for the original or primary source that is referenced in the secondary source and directly quote or use the data from that. This will eliminate the chance of having misinterpreted data put into an important project and it will lend you an additional source. Researchers should evaluate and select information sources based on the 5 factors. Read the case study, State Farm: Dangerous Intersections. Answer discussion questions 1 through 5. 1. Identify the various constructs and concepts involved in the study. To answer this question we must define what a concept and construct is, â€Å"an image or idea specifically invented for a given research and/or theory-building purpose† (Cooper and Schindler, 2011). A concept is â€Å"a bundle of meanings or characteristics associated with certain events, objects, conditions, situations, or behaviors† (Cooper and Schindler, 2011). A construct of this study is that if State Farm gives money to the states of dangerous intersections to fix them this will decrease the amount of claims in that area due to the intersection becoming safer due to alternate construct. A concept would be that State Farm cares about their customers. Another construct would be that the amount of claims in a given intersection is due to poor construct. Another concept would be that State Farm wants to help states to improve their intersections. 2. What hypothesis might drive the research of one of the cities on the top 10 †¨dangerous intersection list? An example of a hypothesis that may influence the research of one of the top 10 dangerous intersection list would be â€Å"This intersection is one of the top ten most dangerous intersections in the United States† or â€Å"This intersection is where 50% of the states accident claims occur.† 3. Evaluate the methodology for State Farm’s research. I would say that State Farm’s methodology is concrete because it specifies exactly what the variables are and how the study is constructed. They also implemented a measurement system for classifying accidents. 4. If you were State Farm, how would you address the concerns of transportation engineers? I would provide suggestions of what the constructs of the safest intersections in a comparable size city are and help the engineers come up with a solid and safe plan to reconstruct the intersection. I would need to make sure the engineers understood the idea of future studies as well as how the grant could assist them. 5. If you were State Farm, would you use traffic volume counts as part of the †¨2003 study? What concerns, other than those expressed by Nepomuceno, do you have? My concerns would be out of date data. That data would be almost ten years old and may not be the most accurate at this point. I would want to complete more relevant data for say the last 5 years. I would think it as prudent to include traffic volume counts and compare them to different areas because if there is less traffic at a given site there is more then likely going to be fewer accidents. I would propose to use different studies that compare different volume counts in different geographic areas to make the statistics more complete.

Advanced Auditing Case 2.3

Advanced Auditing Case Assignment 2. 3 1. (a) When confirming year-end accounts receivable, auditors hope to accomplish the objective of obtaining evidence from third parties to evaluate the client’s assertions of year-end accounts receivable amounts. The client’s assertions that accounts receivable confirmation can effectively address are existence, rights, and valuation. b) When performing year-end sales cutoff tests, auditors hope to accomplish the objective of obtaining evidence from third parties to evaluate the client’s assertions of sales recorded for the period under audit. The client’s assertions that sales cutoff tests can effectively address are completeness and presentation. 2. Coopers & Lybrand made several significant errors of judgment in its effort to confirm the Wow Wee receivable at the end of 1995.These errors of judgment include ignoring or overlooking red flags including: the 69% change in the percentage of factored accounts receivable from 1994 to 1995, the $2. 4 million in sales to Wow Wee booked in the final day of fiscal 1995, the fact that Wow Wee is a manufacturing company, the fact that Wow Wee was left out of the top 25 customers list when it was among the top 5 based on recorded sales, and the clearly falsified bill of lading.Coopers & Lybrand failed to make the appropriate modifications to their planned audit procedures to examine these irregularities. Coopers & Lybrand also failed to follow up on the confirmation of the Wow Wee receivable that they accepted from Goldberg. These errors of judgment involve extreme negligence on the part of the auditors. I would classify these errors as reckless as there is no evidence to support that Coopers & Lybrand were involved in the fraud.I think that the auditors did not suspect that fraud would occur at Happiness Express in 1995 as they had previously audited Happiness Express in 1994 and rightfully issued an unqualified opinion. I think that the auditors believe d that these were simple mistakes that did not need to be further examined. The company’s revenue grew so significantly from 1994 to 1995 and because of this, I think that is was easy for the auditors to believe that the employees were simply overwhelmed by the company’s alarming growth and made mistakes as a result. . Yes Coopers & Lybrand should have confirmed the receivable from West Coast Liquidators at the end of fiscal 1995 because it represented 13%, a clearly material amount, of the total accounts receivable. They also should have included one or more of the sales to West Coast Liquidators in their year-end sales cutoff tests for 1995 as many of these transactions were booked in the final month of the fiscal year.Sales transactions occurring close to the end of the fiscal year are much more likely to be suspicious in nature or fraudulent than transactions occurring earlier in the year. 4. The alternative procedures that can be applied to a large receivable of a n audit client when a confirmation cannot be obtained include examination of subsequent cash receipts, the matching of such receipts with the actual items paid for, and examination of shipping, or other client documentation.The evidence provided by these methods may differ from the evidence provided by confirmation of a receivable depending on the client’s documentation of the transaction. Typically, in a company with proper internal controls and documentation, alternative procedures should be able to effectively address the same assertions that the confirmation of a receivable address. At very least, alternative procedures provide evidence for the existence assertion. 5. According to AU Section 317. 7, auditors should be aware of the possibility that illegal acts, such as insider trading, may have occurred however, an audit made in accordance with GAAS provides no assurance that illegal acts will be detected or that any contingent liabilities that may result will be disclose d. In the event that an auditor discovers evidence concerning the existence of possible illegal acts that could have a material indirect effect on the financial statements, they should apply audit procedures directed to ascertain whether an illegal act has occurred.

Rousseau and the Social Contract Tradition Essay

Rousseau and the Social Contract Tradition - Essay Example The major theme of Rousseau’s writings is based on this notion since he notes the way man’s own freedom has been compromised by the Civil Society’s formation. Rousseau favors the development of social contract that cannot be permeated by the stakes instead of social contract tradition. The main goal should be to promote human equality and individual liberty. Nevertheless, such a social contract can only be realized if the private interests are denounced by the members of society and if they commit to the general will’s cordons. It lies within the general will’s realms that Rousseau associates the legitimacy of political authority only with its alignment with the people’s desires. Any men who follow the general will’s principles cannot require their fellow men into activities which might betray their conscience. All men are free but they can obtain freedom only by following the laws which implement harmony and order in the society. In a ddition, Rousseau asserts that people should make conventions that develop lasting concords between social order and the liberty of people. It can be said that the propositions of Rousseau are sound philosophically. He has made realistic and reasonable suggestions. However, Rousseau has not accurately given examples of general will which leaves men with almost no option, but to advance the tradition of the social contract for progress. This is the reason why democracy still sustains even though he might not have chosen democracy for governance.

MSDS Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MSDS Project - Essay Example This is due to the then war’s intensity that saw even fertilizer plants used as explosive making centers to cater for more weaponry. This by employing Haber-Bosch process to get NH3 by combining N2 and H2 at high pressures, which were essential in making explosives (Libes 699). NH4NO3 is an essential component in the making of fertilizers and industrial explosives (Libes 699). Fertilizer in this case refers to an original or synthetic substance added in the soil to provide plants with the appropriate nutrients, hence enhance growth. Explosives refer to chemical substances that undergo certain process characterized by catastrophic release of energy, which in most cases results to destruction of something within the vicinity. In the case of NH4NO3, the substance is a strong oxidizer whereby in the presence of an ignition source, hot places or fumes will result to fire catastrophically thus cause destruction (Libes 699). It is also an odorless, crystalline and colorless substance soluble in both alcohol and water, which makes it an appropriate agent in making fertilizers (Ledgard 135). On heating at approximately 2100C, its liquid solution decomposes to NO or laughing gas (Ledgard 135). Despite numerous studies citing this compound is extremely explosive; its usage encompasses admixing with fuel oil, for instance, diesel or TNT. This implies one ought to be extra careful when both handling and preparing it. The latter is due hazardous due to inhaling of fumes, which are poisonous and might lead to serious complications. Based on current chemical studies, NH4NO3 compared to other substances does not have high levels of toxicity except when swallowed in large amounts by both humans and animals. This is especially through contaminated water or effluents that find their way into water sources unnoticed. Hence, implying it has a moderate toxicity though once swallowed the victim

Early Childhood LEarning through Play Assignment

Early Childhood LEarning through Play - Assignment Example According to this article it has mentioned the curriculum for preschool children should be age appropriate. To implement this objective one should consider the following factors. The child’s behavior The child’s behavior might differ depending on family backgrounds or sex of the child. Some kids are shy while others are not. The behavior of the child should be keenly observed to avoid lack of participation of some kids. The material needed to play The materials which are needed to play should be different as per the age of the kid. This is important because as the kids are growing they need more complex activities to suit their various development stages. Question2. Play is normally an active and self-driven activity. While the children are playing they should be actively involved and always self –driven to it. Play is a cherished part of childhood. This is what characterizes a play. The child will be in a position to express and cope with various feelings. For e xample while playing the child can shout or scream to express happiness or disappointment. This will enable you to understand the child emotional behavior. The child will also need to interact freely, ability to explore various activities and make choices on plays they want to play. Early childhood professionals are the persons with child development. This means that they know what is good for a child from the young age (infant) up to maturity which 18 years and above. For this scenario about value of play to the children, many professors would suggest that play to a child is like carbon dioxide to the plant. These professionals would emphasis that any child should be give freedom to play and interact with the other children in the area. The reason why they should express their opinion to be positive is because through play the child acquires numerous skills such, interaction, development of speech, social challenges and moral values. For instance, compare a child who stays always w ith her mother in a room and another child set free to the play with other in the street. The possibility that the one who is set free to play with others in the street develop a high thinking capacity will be very high. In addition, you find that the one who likes playing will be more civilized than one who lives with her mother. Therefore, play to the children has very big role to them. Hence, it is recommended that children must be play at any time. In another scenario, is that children who are brought up in urban portray characteristics of having high thinking capacity than those from the rural areas. Despite their different points of view they all agreed that play is very essential in the development of the children. The reasons why they supported play’s importance was because play helps the children to explore and create their own world that they can master as well as conquering their fears as well as helping the children in expressing their feelings such as anger or ha ppiness. They also stated that play aids in the development of a healthy brain. The reason that has influenced their opinions is the fact that they are professionally trained to deal with children affairs so they understand the benefits that can come out of childhood play encouragements. The fact that early childhood professionals are taught on the basic knowledge on the children behavioral determinants is the key attribute to their similarities in supporting the early childhood plays. For example jean

Wal-Mart on Becoming the World's Largest Company Essay

Wal-Mart on Becoming the World's Largest Company - Essay Example This was another great idea because store managers were more motivated to succeed and improve their individual stores. Another philosophy Walton had was locating his stores in small towns as opposed to large cities. This allowed him to avoid competition from larger retailers. He also created clusters of stores within a specific region and had giant warehouses built in the middle of these clusters in order to supply the stores in that region (â€Å"Wal-Mart,† 2009). These various strategies and management philosophies that Walton employed made Wal-Mart a tremendous success. Wal-Mart continued to expand in the 80s. Walton introduced â€Å"Sam’s Club† stores in 1983, which allowed customers to buy consumer goods at bulk-quantity prices. In 1987, Wal-Mart purchased a state of the art networking system that instantly communicated inventory and sales information across their network of stores. This greatly increased efficiency and gave Wal-Mart another edge over its co mpetitors. A year later, Wal-Mart introduced their first â€Å"Supercenter† which combined their retail store with a supermarket. They continued to grow in the 90s as they went international in 1995 and introduced the first â€Å"Neighborhood Market† stores, which specialize in groceries, in 1998 (â€Å"Wal-Mart,† 2009).

The effects of the Canadian residential school on the modern Essay

The effects of the Canadian residential school on the modern aboriginal people - Essay Example residential schools, they were subjected to different forms of torture ranging from physical to sexual abuse and provision of inferior education that was not competitive with the Euro-Canadians (Barth, 2008). Several effects of this treatment are being felt up to date by the modern aboriginals. One of the effects of this is the loss of the aboriginal culture that is passed down generations and this means that the modern aboriginals do not recognize fully their culture. The abuse these people passed through when young has affected their present whereby they become abusers or do not know how to maintain relations. Since the children did not get a chance to be nurtured properly by their parents since they were away in these schools, they also do not know how to nurture their own children. The abuse led them to have a low self-esteem and even feelings of worthlessness which has translated to a large number of them attempting suicide now that they are grown up (Episkenew, 2009). These effects will continue unless measures are taken sooner. Some of these measures are slow or not tailored to reverse some of these effects like culture loss which even with therapy will not come back (Austin and Boyd,

Development and Information System s Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Development and Information System s - Essay Example This has had an effect on my development as I tend to demonstrate similar characteristics when found in situations that lead to anger in me and I overreact sometimes to somewhat minor events. In addition, my social environment has also had an impact on my development as exemplified by the fact that I grew up in a tough neighbourhood and most of the friends that I surrounded myself with were filled with resentment and took every chance to always cause trouble or start a fight and this also grew in me by the mere association with my peers of the same character. There hence cannot be a clear and definitive line between heredity and environmental factors that separates then and gives superiority to one aspect as more responsible in influencing development in children as both do contribute accordingly. This two factors also played a major role in my personality development (Simanowitz& Pearce, 2003, p.56). For example, based on my family traits and the environment in growing up, I develop ed quite an ego and pride that made me always put myself first over others and in addition I developed a sense of self-defence when face with a problem that would potentially take an emotional toll on me. Information systems are the channels in an organisation or even an informal group of people by which information is relayed from one person to another within the group. An information system hence is basically a collection of people, data, technology and procedures that work together to produce information that is relevant to the activities of the organisation (Lucey, 2004, p.23). There are various types of information systems in organisations and in the organisation that I work in, the main types of information systems include, Transaction Processing Systems, Office Support Systems, Management Information Systems, Decision support Systems and Executive Information systems. These systems work in tandem to ensure that the flow and processing of information is kept relevant with all the information needed to be relayed to the necessary individuals being done on time and it should be of good quality. The Transaction processing systems are at the operational level. It is an information systems that obtains and processes data that ifs generated during the daily activities of an organisation and is performed mostly by the clerical and frontline staff in the organisation. These systems are aimed at helping an organisation to achieve its functionalities involving collection of data, processing it and transforming it into the required output for proper operation. Office support systems are designed to work in tandem with Transaction processing systems by enabling staff to perform their office duties with more ease and efficiency. The Management information systems in the organisation are the ones used by the middle level managers to aid them in ensuring that the organisation is and will continue to be run effectively both in the short run and in the long term. They ar e designed to enable the managers to perform comparisons in performance between present and prior time periods. The decision support systems in the organisation are used by the senior level managers to assist them in making decisions by allowing them to make projections of the aftermath of the decisions made in the future. Lastly, the organisation has an Executive information system. This is used by the executives and senior managers to aid t

Answers to Burger King case study questions Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Answers to Burger King questions - Case Study Example Franchising helps to increase the profitability of the business and eliminate unnecessary start up cost. The success of the fast food industry does not only depend upon the franchising method but also depends upon implementation of effective marketing strategies. To achieve global leadership in its industry a fast food restaurant needs to set a series of financial goal and strategic goals. Global leadership by a fast food restaurant can be attained if a company is adept at discovering the new market opportunities, establishing a strong presence in the international markets and securing a competitive advantage. Effective strategic planning is required for attaining profitability in the domestic and international markets. Firstly, the management of the company needs to clearly define its reasons for expanding its operation in the foreign market. A comparative analysis of the political social, cultural environment of different countries would be required for screening purposes. Critical Success Factors are strongly related to the mission and strategic goals of your business or project. ... e production process (How long the French fries must be fried?) 4) Hygiene standards must be maintained in all the branches of the fast food restaurant 5) Standardized menu must be available worldwide (Cao â€Å"Comparison of customers' perceptions of service quality between different management forms in fast food restaurants†). The other key success factor include proper distribution channels, innovative advertising strategies etc. It is a well accepted fact that fast food restaurants should have a sound understanding of the consumer behavior, tastes and preferences and fast food outlets and how it differs across various countries. Understanding the cultural differences between the countries will help the fast food restaurant to customize their menu as per the taste and preference of the local customers. For example McDonalds serves lamburgers in India because beef and pork burgers are not served for religious purposes. In USA and Canada people prefer to eat most of their mea ls outside their homes (Vivavegie â€Å"Fast food facts from the super size me web site†). It is observed that the consumer spending on fast food does not decrease even during recession due to the quick serving ability and its reduced price. The timing of the delivery of the food also plays a prominent role in the customer service of the fast food restaurants. Since obesity has become major health concern in the USA, UK and Canada, the fast food restaurants need to lay emphasis on nutritional requirement and calorie content of the fast food. Thus we can say that factors like 1) Taste of food 2) Hygiene 3) Service response time 4) Pricing of the product 5) Courtesy and behavior of the employees 6) Operating hours 7) Variety in menu 8) Nutritional requirement in the food 9) Amenity play an important

SHRD- HRD plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

SHRD- HRD plan - Essay Example The issue that has been highlighted mainly is related to challenges that the employees are facing sue to an unsustainable organizational culture. The solution to this issue would be development of employee engagement plans. In this context, the strategic human resource development (SHRD) concepts have been utilized. Based on the strategic human resource development theories, training and development would be the most suitable way to solve human resource management issues. This would also help in complete employee engagement. Various training programs at different levels in the organization have been recommended and detailed implementation plan has been suggested for the senior management to understand the recommendations and its usage easily. Also the goal-oriented approach has been suggested for evaluating the after affects of the training programs. 1. Introduction 1.1 Strategic Human Resource Development The motive of Strategic human resource development (SHRD) is to incorporate an effective process through training and development. This would help in improving the ability of the employees to perform their task and increase the productivity of the company. SHRD is planned to assist companies in meeting the needs of their employees and also for promoting the goals of the company (Grieves, 2003, p. 8). 1.2 Human Resource Development Plan (HRD Plan) HRD Plans are strategic oriented plans, which indicates how the resources would be allocated, and ascertain the activities which needs to be funded, implemented, and encouraged, so that the employee development objectives are achieved. So the HRD plans include the design of the framework of the activities where assistance of the employees is essential to achieve the objectives or goals of the company (Werner, and DeSimon, 2011, p. 107-108). 1.3 Issues Leading to Employee Engagement After analyzing the organizational culture of RACQ, it has been identifies that certain challenges related to creation of appropriate org anizational culture persist in the company. A culture of creativity, innovation, skill, etc should be triggered within the employees of the organization by the management, through right employee engagement plans. Employee engagement includes engaging employees to their job through motivation, performance appraisal, training, etc (Albrecht, 2010, p. 3-6). 1.4 Outline of the Study The aim of this report is to provide recommendations with relation to employee engagement for human resource issues in RACQ. Each recommendation would be analyzed by providing an implementation plan. This would assist the senior managers to understand the motive behind such recommendation and the evaluation of the effects that the implementation would have. Since employee engagement is considered as one of the best solution to achieve organizational goals with the help of human resource, so all the recommendations would be based on employee engagement. 2. Recommendations Table 1 includes the basic recommenda tions under employee engagement, to completely engage the employees, so that they fit in the organization culture of RACQ. The implications behind choosing such recommendations for the learning interventions are also explained below. Table: 1 Recommendations based on Employee Engagement Recommendations Activities Audience Duration Activities Objectives Program for building service culture Achieving excellence through service -Developing the right mindset

Death of a Salesman Detailed Analysis Essay Example for Free

Death of a Salesman Detailed Analysis Essay ARTHUR MILLER Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953) and A View from the Bridge Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, a period during which he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Prince of Asturias Award, and was married to Marilyn Monroe. SUMMARY It is important to bear that the story is told through the mind and memory of Willy Loman and there is a constant back and forth between two periods ,1928 and 1942.The first period is one of the happiness and contentment when Willy Loman is young and dynamic and the children ,Biff and Happy are running about in shorts ;the second is one of gloom and discontent -Willy is now old and ,virtually out of a job and the children are grown up and gone their different ways. The play is thus structured in such a way to show the pleasures of the past ,the dreams and hopes the characters had and how these aspirations had turned sour. Willy Loman had built his life in such a way that he had finally trapped himself in an impossible situation. Willy Loman ,the protagonist in the play was a travelling salesman in the services of the wagnor company for 34 years. When his old boss died ,his son Howard took over the administration of the company .Willys family consists of three other members ,his wife Linda, Biff,the elder son and Happy, the younger son. Willy unexpectedly returned on the same day he had left for New England territory on a business tour. Linda felt that her husband is thoroughly  exhausted both physically and mentally and he has almost reached the breaking point. Willy, who is 63, has driven the car off the road twice or three times and when he reached home he was found to be panic stricken ,desolate and shattered. Willy liked his eldest son Biff,who was wellknown as a football champion. Though he is 34 , it is unfortunate that he could not settle in life. Inspite of the fact that three colleges offered him scholarship in recognition of his proficiency in football, he did not join any college . Happy, the women chaser also could not settle in life. For the next two days, immediately after his unexpected return, Willys mind was rather disturbed with thoughts of todays realities inter mingled with yesterdays half forgotten episodes. He felt that it was mistake on his part not to have followed his elder brother Ben ,who dared his way into the diamond minds of Africa and amassed fabulous wealth . Willys guilty consciousness pricked him at the flash back scene of Boston hotel room, when his son Biff makes a surprise visit and finds his father having an affair with a strange lady .After this episode, Biff seemed to hold a grudge against his father and could never again bring himself to trust Willy. As suggested by Linda, Willy visits Howard, the young Boss and request for a change of job in the New York City office as he is physically and mentally incapacitated as a travelling sales man. When the request was unceremoniously turned down by Howard and Willy dismissed from service he protest You cannot eat orange and throw the peel away ; man is not a piece of fruit. Willy is very much frustrated and disillusioned at the behavior of capitalists who lacked the human milk of kindness, sympathy and gratitude. Biffs attempt to raise a loan from Bill Oliver, the proprietor of sports goods company also failed. Oliver, who once liked Biff immensely, now refused to recognise him now because Biff has stolen a fountain pen, Charley ,Willys neighbour extended a helping hand in those days of adversity. He ,not only advanced a loan to him but also offered him a job to him. But Willy refused to accept it with a false sense of dignity. The two sons invited the father for a dinner party at a prominent restaurant in the city. But Happy picked up two call girls and left the place along with Biff,  leaving Willy alone. Willy felt humiliated and this experience was shocking and unbearable when Biff and Happy returned home, Linda ordered them out of the house by the next morning. She was planning to commit suicide on a particular night .Willy was left alone while all others went upstairs. He has insured his life for 20,000 dollars. Once he dies, the family will be entitled to receive the amount from the insurance company. So Willy got into his car and drove madly through darkness, only to kill himself. His funeral was attended only by Linda, the two sons, charley and his son Bernard. Linda could not stand the strain of separation from her beloved husband; but still she stooped down and dropped flowers on the grave of Willy. DEATH OF A SALESMAN AS A TRAGEDY: According to the traditional views based on Aristotelian cannons, the tragic hero was to be a person of high rank and status. So that his down fall could produce an inevitable emotional effect on the audience. In ancient Greek tragedies, fate or destiny is mainly responsible for the downfall of human beings. But Shakespeare and Marlow attributed human misfortune mainly to the personal draw backs of the tragic heroes themselves and hardly to the hidden forces which we describe as fate or destiny. Miller generally departs from both these concepts of tragedy as in the tragic hero in the Death of a sales man belongs to the middle class. He does not hold the view that tragic effect can be produced only by the downfall of a highly placed individual in society. It matters not at all whether hero falls from a great height or small one, whether he highly conscious or dimly aware of what is happening ,if the intensity is their America grows like a giant in unimaginable proportions . Willy symbolically stands for all the low men in American business community not just salesmen -who in a way sell themselves. Willy sells himself and in the process wears himself out and he is finally discarded when he is no longer useful. Willy begins as a salesman 36 years ago, opens up unheard of territories to their trade mark, but in his old age they take his salary away. It is pity that once Willys energy is exhausted by the work that  society has assigned to him, he is thrown aside and dismissed by the son of his old boss. Willy protests, you cannot eat the orange and throw them peel . Man is not a piece of fruit no doubt ,Willy loman is a superannuated employee, but he is rejected and ill treated by his employer at the end of his career. Even a change of job with less travelling was denied to him. But still it may not be fully correct to say that Willy is wholly a victim of the prevailing social system. His own responsibility of his tragedy is by no means insignificant or negligible. In the first place he failed to realize his own limitations and short comings Willy has the conviction that success depends on personality, contacts and good cloths and that these will bring everything one wants in life. Obviously Willy is a prey to that magical book of Dale carnegies How to win friends and influence people we know that mistake is that Willy had chosen a wrong profession for himself under the impression that the selling profession is the best in the world. Secondly the sense of guilt which he carries with him due to his past infidelity to his wife has also serious repercussions in his mental stability .His affair with the woman in the hotel when he was visited by Biff hangs on his conscience. Biffs discovery of Willys infidelity marks the crucial turning point in the relationship between the father and the son .There after Biff no longer believes Willy . Another point to be noted is Willys incurable optimism .He has had higher expectation about the future of his elder son Biff who looks so charming as the Adonise in Greek mythology and who has earned high reputation as a good football champion. Biff has become disillusioned .For Biff ,life came to be an end with his match. He could neither make a mark in business nor could he go back to school to finish his course. Ironically Bernard who never represented University of Virginia, Bernard who pleaded to carry Biffs helmet or shoulder guards , prospered. Bernard wins glory by pleading before the supreme court ,but he does this without any pushing from his father. According to Willy, they ought to be success at all; for both Charley and Bernard were not well liked. These tragic experiences shatter Willys conception of American dreams. No human or super natural agency interfered his life .The sense of frustration and psychological neurosis upsets his  mental equilibrium and shatters him to pieces. CHARACTER LIST WILLY LOMAN: An insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman. Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves it. Nor do his sons fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed. When Willys illusions begin to fail under the pressing realities of his life, his mental health begins to unravel. The overwhelming tensions caused by this disparity, as well as those caused by the societal imperatives that drive Willy, form the essential conflict of Death of a Salesman. BIFF LOMAN: Willys thirty-four-year-old elder son. Biff led a charmed life in high school as a football star with scholarship prospects, good male friends, and fawning female admirers. He failed math, however, and did not have enough credits to graduate. Since then, his kleptomania has gotten him fired from every job that he has held. Biff represents Willys vulnerable, poetic, tragic side. He cannot ignore his instincts, which tell him to abandon Willys paralyzing dreams and move out West to work with his hands. He ultimately fails to reconcile his life with Willys expectations of him. LINDA LOMAN: Willys loyal, loving wife. Linda suffers through Willys grandiose dreams and self-delusions. Occasionally, she seems to be taken in by Willys self-deluded hopes for future glory and success, but at other times, she seems far more realistic and less fragile than her husband. She has nurtured the family through all of Willys misguided attempts at success, and her emotional strength and perseverance support Willy until his collapse. HAPPY LOMAN: Willys thirty-two-year-old younger son. Happy has lived in Biffs shadow all of his life, but he compensates by nurturing his relentless sex drive and professional ambition. Happy represents Willys sense of self-importance, ambition, and blind servitude to societal expectations. Although he works as an assistant to an assistant buyer in a department  store, Happy presents himself as supremely important. Additionally, he practices bad business ethics and sleeps with the girlfriends of his superiors. CHARLEY- Willys next door neighbor. Charley owns a successful business and his son, Bernard, is a wealthy, important lawyer. Willy is jealous of Charleys success. Charley gives Willy money to pay his bills, and Willy reveals at one point, choking back tears, that Charley is his only friend. BERNARD Bernard is Charleys son and an important, successful lawyer. Although Willy used to mock Bernard for studying hard, Bernard always loved Willys sons dearly and regarded Biff as a hero. Bernards success is difficult for Willy to accept because his own sons lives do not measure up. BEN Willys wealthy older brother. Ben has recently died and appears only in Willys daydreams. Willy regards Ben as a symbol of the success that he so desperately craves for himself and his sons. THE WOMAN Willys mistress when Happy and Biff were in high school. The Womans attention and admiration boost Willys fragile ego. When Biff catches Willy in his hotel room with The Woman, he loses faith in his father, and his dream of passing math and going to college dies. HOWARD WAGNER Willys boss. Howard inherited the company from his father, whom Willy regarded as a masterful man and a prince. Though much younger than Willy, Howard treats Willy with condescension and eventually fires him, despite Willys wounded assertions that he named Howard at his birth. STANLEY A waiter at Franks Chop House. Stanley and Happy seem to be friends, or at least acquaintances, and they banter about and ogle Miss Forsythe together before Biff and Willy arrive at the restaurant. MISS FORSYTHE AND LETTA Two young women whom Happy and Biff meet at Franks Chop House. It seems likely that Miss Forsythe and Letta are prostitutes, judging from Happys repeated comments about their moral character and the  fact that they are on call. JENNY Charleys secretary THEMES, MOTIFS SYMBOLS THEMES Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. THE AMERICAN DREAM Willy believes wholeheartedly in what he considers the promise of the American Dream- that a well liked and personally attractive man in business will indubitably and deservedly acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. Oddly, his fixation with the superficial qualities of attractiveness and likeability is at odds with a more gritty, more rewarding understanding of the American Dream that identifies hard work without complaint as the key to success. Willys interpretation of likeability is superficial-he childishly dislikes Bernard because he considers Bernard a nerd. Willys blind faith in his stunted version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological decline when he is unable to accept the disparity between the Dream and his own life. ABANDONMENT Willys life charts a course from one abandonment to the next, leaving him in greater despair each time. Willys father leaves him and Ben when Willy is very young, leaving Willy neither a tangible (money) nor an intangible (history) legacy. Ben eventually departs for Alaska, leaving Willy to lose himself in a warped vision of the American Dream. Likely a result of these early experiences, Willy develops a fear of abandonment, which makes him want his family to conform to the American Dream. His efforts to raise perfect sons, however, reflect his inability to understand reality. The  young Biff, whom Willy considers the embodiment of promise, drops Willy and Willys zealous ambitions for him when he finds out about Willys adultery. Biffs ongoing inability to succeed in business furthers his estrangement from Willy. When, at Franks Chop House, Willy finally believes that Biff is on the cups of greatness, Biff shatters Willys illusions and, along with Happy, abandons the deluded, babbli ng Willy in the washroom. BETRAYAL Willys primary obsession throughout the play is what he considers to be Biffs betrayal of his ambitions for him. Willy believes that he has every right to expect Biff to fulfill the promise inherent in him. When Biff walks out on Willys ambitions for him, Willy takes this rejection as a personal affront (he associates it with insult and spite). Willy, after all, is a salesman, and Biffs ego-crushing rebuff ultimately reflects Willys inability to sell him on the American Dream-the product in which Willy himself believes most faithfully. Willy assumes that Biffs betrayal stems from Biffs discovery of Willys affair with The Woman-a betrayal of Lindas love. Whereas Willy feels that Biff has betrayed him, Biff feels that Willy, a phony little fake, has betrayed him with his unending stream of ego-stroking lies. MOTIFS Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the texts major themes. MYTHIC FIGURES Willys tendency to mythologize people contributes to his deluded understanding of the world. He speaks of Dave Singleman as a legend and imagines that his death must have been beautifully noble. Willy compares Biff and Happy to the mythic Greek figures Adonis and Hercules because he believes that his sons are pinnacles of personal attractiveness and power through well liked-ness; to him, they seem the very incarnation of the  American Dream. Willys mythologizing proves quite nearsighted, however. Willy fails to realize the hopelessness of Singlemans lonely, on-the-job, on-the-road death. Trying to achieve what he considers to be Singlemans heroic status, Willy commits himself to a pathetic death and meaningless legacy (even if Willys life insurance policy ends up paying off, Biff wants nothing to do with Willys ambition for him). THE AMERICAN WEST, ALASKA, AND THE AFRICAN JUNGLE These regions represent the potential of instinct to Biff and Willy. Willys father found success in Alaska and his brother, Ben, became rich in Africa; these exotic locales, especially when compared to Willys banal Brooklyn neighborhood, crystallize how Willys obsession with the commercial world of the city has trapped him in an unpleasant reality. Whereas Alaska and the African jungle symbolize Willys failure, the American West, on the other hand, symbolizes Biffs potential. Biff realizes that he has been content only when working on farms, out in the open. His westward escape from both Willys delusions and the commercial world of the eastern United States suggests a nineteenth-century pioneer mentality-Biff, unlike Willy, recognizes the importance of the individual. SYMBOLS Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. SEEDS Seeds represent for Willy the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, both as a salesman and a father. His desperate, nocturnal attempt to grow vegetables signifies his shame about barely being able to put food on the table and having nothing to leave his children when he passes. Willy feels that he has worked hard but fears that he will not be able to help his  offspring any more than his own abandoning father helped him. The seeds also symbolize Willys sense of failure with Biff. Despite the American Dreams formula for success, which Willy considers infallible, Willys efforts to cultivate and nurture Biff went awry. Realizing that his all-American football star has turned into a lazy bum, Willy takes Biffs failure and lack of ambition as a reflection of his abilities as a father. DIAMONDS To Willy, diamonds represent tangible wealth and, hence, both validation of ones labor (and life) and the ability to pass material goods on to ones offspring, two things that Willy desperately craves. Correlatively, diamonds, the discovery of which made Ben a fortune, symbolize Willys failure as a salesman. Despite Willys belief in the American Dream, a belief unwavering to the extent that he passed up the opportunity to go with Ben to Alaska, the Dreams promise of financial security has eluded Willy. At the end of the play, Ben encourages Willy to enter the jungle finally and retrieve this elusive diamond-that is, to kill himself for insurance money in order to make his life meaningful. LINDAS AND THE WOMANS STOCKINGS Willys strange obsession with the condition of Lindas stockings foreshadows his later flashback to Biffs discovery of him and The Woman in their Boston hotel room. The teenage Biff accuses Willy of giving away Lindas stockings to The Woman. Stockings assume a metaphorical weight as the symbol of betrayal and sexual infidelity. New stockings are important for both Willys pride in being financially successful and thus able to provide for his family and for Willys ability to ease his guilt about, and suppress the memory of, his betrayal of Linda and Biff. THE RUBBER HOSE The rubber hose is a stage prop that reminds the audience of Willys desperate attempts at suicide. He has apparently attempted to kill himself  by inhaling gas, which is, ironically, the very substance essential to one of the most basic elements with which he must equip his home for his familys health and comfort-heat. Literal death by inhaling gas parallels the metaphorical death that Willy feels in his struggle to afford such a basic necessity. QUESTIONS The play Death of a Salesman revolves mainly around a conflict between ? What are the reasons for Willys failure as a business man? American dream in the play Death of a salesman. What is the central theme of the play Death of a salesman. The father son conflict in the play Death of a salesman. The hotel scene in the play Death of a salesman. The role of mother Linda Loman in the play Death of a salesman. Why did Biff Loman leave the school? The significance of the titleDeath of a salesman. Why did Willy commit suicide? The flash back scene in the play Death of a salesman. Millers play as a critique of the American way of life.

International Crime Statistics In Japanese Society Criminology Essay

International Crime Statistics In Japanese Society Criminology Essay International crime statistics indicate that the crime rates for most offences are significantly lower in Japan compared to those among Western European nations. To what extent could the relatively low Japanese crime rate be explained in terms of the social organisation of Japanese society?   When looking at comparative criminology, Japan is a good example. This is because the majority of the criminal justice system in Japan is borrowed from other countries and then adapted to fit in well with Japans cultural traditions. They look at the fundamentals of social institutions from other countries and adapt them to fit in with their heritage. By comparing and looking at the systems in other countries it can help to establish an appropriate and useful way of carrying out their justice systems. The increase in the economy in Japan in the 1980s and 90s drew interest from business people around the world. Also, along with this there was interest with justice officials on the success with Japan on responding to the crime problem. However, the accomplishments must be seen in light with its cultural heritage. Japans criminal justice system is interesting as they have successfully provided an effective response into the crime problem and have also adopted the guidelines and methods of the criminal justice systems in other countries to fit in with their own. I will be looking at informal social methods of control as this contributes greatly in keeping the crime rate low in Japan. The following statistics show crime rates in Japan compared with other western European countries: The Sixth United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems between 1995 and 1997 showed that in 1995 the total crimes recorded in Japan stood at 1,421 per 100,000 population compared with 8,168 in Germany and 4,331 in Switzerland (UNCJIN, 19th January 2001). Finch (2001) found, using statistics from the Heisei 0nen no Hanzai, that in 1994 the Japanese homicide rate stood at 1.0 (per 100,000 population) while France stood at 4.7 and the UK at 2.7. The 2005 survey showed that Japan had a corruption rating of 6.9 compared with 8.6 in the UK (Transparency International, 2005). It is thought that the decline of crime has been linked with the decline in the increase of population due to post-war industrialization and the continuing urbanisation and the fact that there were fewer younger children. In spite of this, there has been an increase in crime since industrialization and urbanisation in western countries.  This then shows that it does not explain that post war industrialization and urbanisation is the reason for the decline in crime in Japan. Japan has  changed in a similar way to western countries in this sense but the difference is that Japan has not undergone the same cultural transformations.    Although Japan is not a rich country it has become an industrial giant since World War 2. It is the only non-western country that has become industrialised and they export a number of products. The Japanese saw how expanding and becoming more industrialised would have a positive impact on their economy. They have been successful because of their competitive spirit. This style is rooted in the traditional cohesiveness of society marked by a sense of conformity and uniformity. This can then explain why a lot more attention is focused on the group rather than the individual. (Reischauer 1977) explains that the reliance upon the group is illustrated in a number of ways. For example, a person is valued more as a member of the team rather than for contributing individually. So the Japanese are very competitive but not creative. Also, parental authority and family ties are stronger in Japan than in western societies however this is beginning to change. There are a lot of qualities that we consider that may have an impact on Japans successful criminal justice system and the impact that Japans cultural values may have on societys response and their criminal act. They are the most homogenous of people in the world as they have common history, language and race. Ninety nine per cent of its population is Japanese. By being a homogenous society it can help explain the low crime rate as they all share the common norms and have similar values. By the residents agreeing on what signifies being Japanese, social control becomes a lot easier as they have the same values and beliefs. However, this does not mean that homogeneity itself can explain the low crime rates as there are other examples worldwide where people all agree on the same norms and values yet there are still people that are not conforming to them.    Due to the lack of Christian heritage, individuals that are in Japan arent guilt ridden when they do something wrong as their culture doesnt believe in them sinning. However, having a sense of belonging has a huge impact on an individual in Japan. Deviant behaviour is considered a rejection of the social norms to which individuals are expected to conform to as they are part of the countrys tradition. As a result, if an individual does something wrong they would feel shame because they have violated the norms in society. Informal social control plays a huge part in Japanese society. In Japan this is applied to families, traditional religion, schools and work place. This method of informal social control is likely to be an important factor.   The way of the groups and family in Japanese society is that there is collective responsibility and that everyone sticks together. Although there is individualism it is different in a way that identity in Japan comes from the group that they belong to. Individualism in Japan comes from the individuals ability to produce, continue and guard relationships. Theres part of collectivism whereby everyone is attached, for instance school, family, employer. This tie between the groups then creates a sense of obligation towards each of them. This is good as it can provide emotional support however it can also bring a lot of shame when a member of the group misbehaves. Parents are an example of this as they are seen to be responsible and apologetic of the behaviour of a fully grown child. Self control is something which is learnt earlier on for the Japanese. Developing self control is the most important stage of socialization in Japan. This differs from western countries where educating a sense of self is more important. In Japan the main ways of socialization are families, schools and companies. The Family play a significant role in how their children behave. Individuals act within the limits of their family and community roles and are easily humiliated when deviating from them. There is a strong obligation to humour their family, community and their nation. The Japanese learn that the group is an important part of their wellbeing. Family is an important aspect and is opposite to how most individuals handle things in other countries. Bayley (1991) states that, American mothers chase their children around the block to get them to come home; Japanese mothers are chased by their children so as not to be left behind. This shows that Japanese children respect their mothers and actively seek out their attention. Individuals act within the limits of their family and community roles and are easily humiliated when deviating from them.    Japanese children are under strict discipline at home. Most importantly they are taught to adhere to parental authority and so they are driven by parental expectations. For this reason they are allowed to depend on their parents. Japanese children have always had a lot of body contact with their parents, being carried on their mothers back, taking baths with parents and sleeping with them till around the age of four or five. This differs from western society where children are taught to sleep in their own beds in their own rooms at an early age. Japanese children are therefore treated as big babies instead of small adults. Because of this Japanese children are very dependent on their parents. Bayley (1991) is clear to point this out when describing how in western countries parents control badly behaved children by keeping them grounded in the home whereas in Japan parents threaten children by saying they will be locked out of the home. From this children learn their punishment b y being excluded from the uchi world. In schools pupils are around a lot of school regulations.  Ã‚  Those who disobey these regulations are not only criticized by their teachers but also by their peers. Through the hidden curriculum Japanese pupils develop social control. Schools completely encourage informal social control. Pupils even fear asking teachers questions as they might be seen as revolting against the teacher. Also, Japanese pupils learn to not control selfish behaviour. They are taught this through small group activities such as cleaning. Pupils are also taught solidarity with the group and a shared responsibility for poor performance in the group. From this, Japanese pupils then learn that it is more appreciated to be part of a group rather than being alone as this is how it is in the  uchi  world. The Japanese companies are described as Gemeinschaft Capitalism (Mawby 1990.) This is because all the local communities dont have an impact on individuals in contemporary Japan but companies have replaced this instead. Companies provide a lot of benefits and a sense of belonging to a big family as well as a sense of pride. So the companies then offer ontological security. This then means that the worker then must follow the strong informal control by their company and if they do not do so then they will be psychologically excluded from their colleagues and the company which will mean losing the ontological security. The appreciation for hierarchal arrangements among people is another element of Japanese culture. Empey (1982) noted the importance of Americans distrust in the 1960s of their social institutions. However, the Japanese do not share this experience. Archambeault and Fenwick (1988) state that, group consciousness combines with a sense of order to force cooperative relationships between most segments of the Japanese community and their justice agencies. The respect of ones positions leads to citizens to honour and trust the justice system employees. Police courts and correction officials are seen as guardians of the societys morals as well as enforcers of the law. Because of the peoples faith in the agent of the system and the belief that decisions will be made according to what best serves society. The Japanese response to criminal offenders may differ to the response of other countries. Western countries seek rehabilitation by encouraging the offender to become independent and responsible whereas the Japanese system looks at encouraging the offender to integrate voluntarily into the structured social order. The Japanese see the community as the best place for getting the voluntary integration. Prison is not seen as a useful way of achieving rehabilitation and this explains why there is such a low incarceration rate in Japan. Japans way of policing is effective as they have a working relationship between the citizens and their services. Those from western countries may be troubled by some of the ways that the relationship between them works. For example, there is a residential survey that is conducted twice a year by Koban officers. Policing in western countries wouldnt do this as it would mean sharing personal and neighbourhood information with police officers. Also, Parker (1984) writes how Koban officers that are on patrol will enter homes that are unlocked and leave calling cards warning occupants about their poor crime prevention habits. This is because police behaviour in Japan reflects a moral norm just as much as a legal one.    Jury trial is a failure in Japan. As Shibahra says Japanese people prefer to be tried by a judge rather than by their neighbour. This is because the decisions of the jury may not be binding as the judge can disagree with it. The judge can then put the case before different jurys and so this is why in most cases defence councils go before the judge.   Another reason for the effectiveness of Japans criminal justice system is because Japanese citizens tend to admit to misbehaviour. Another way that looks at explaining the effectiveness of policing is how the police respond to civilians with encouragement and support.  Ã‚  As Bayley (1991) put it, the Japanese police and their citizens believe that each have to work through the other in order to make society a civil place to live. This support requires the police to place importance on non-enforcement activities and to  work together with people not just the ones that are breaking the law. This then results in service orientation which helps to explain the effectiveness in policing. Bayley (1991) also compares the policing in America with Japan. An American policeman is like a fireman he responds when he must. A Japanese policeman is more like a postman; he has a daily round of low key activities that relate him to the lives of the people among whom he works Japan is unique because of its low incarceration rate. This is surprising as it has the same objectives as most other countries, rehabilitation and retribution. Although they have similar aims, Japan is different in how they meet that aim. The majority of western countries try to solve rehabilitation by encouraging individualism whereas Japan looks at social responsibility.   Although the success of the economy in Japan was an achievement they also had another by having a falling crime rate. The western countries believed that because of industrialisation and urbanization that this was the cause of the rising crime rate. Since the World War 2 the crime rate has continued to increase whereas in Japan they have experienced a falling crime rate in the same time. Japan has two different types of norm. One deals with members of the group where an individual belongs and the other deals with non members of the group where the individual belongs. The first consists of giri (Japanese traditional duty) but the later appears to be more like western concepts of rights. This combination is Japanese perception of social environment which can be represented as two concentric circles. The inner circle called uchi (home) and the outer circle called yoso (elsewhere). When the police catch criminals 99 percent of the time offenders that come before a judge are convicted and 99 percent of those that are convicted are sent to prison. The statistics can be misleading as informal controls are used at each stage regardless of the formal terminology. Although this does seem impressive around half of the 99 per cent convicted have their prison sentence suspended and a lot of the time the offenders arent even placed in supervision. Japanese houses are small and are built on narrow streets close to each other. This makes operating social control systems and recognising deviant behaviour easier as everyone in the community is known and it becomes hard to hide. Today you would see patrol cars being used as a modern way of policing but Japan doesnt agree with this method. Instead they believe in the deployment system of Koban. One fifth of patrol officers work in patrol cars whereas the remaining four fifths operate from Koban. The Japanese citizens favour the Koban and where there is a lot of congestion in cities it means that the Koban officers on foot or bicycle would be able to beat patrol cars to scenes where police response is needed. The services that are provided by the Koban and their officers reflect community policing. One of the major strengths with policing in Japan is the police box system. These boxes are staffed by an officer who lives in the resource with his family and becomes a part of the community. The residents have to be registered with the local stations. Officers frequently do home visits and even provide general assistance.   In order to answer the question on how the low crime rate can be explained in terms of the social organisation in Japan we have found that a lot of contributions are the cause of this. Japan has successfully taken laws from different counties and has adapted it to fit in with their own society. Also we have learnt that informal social control plays a huge part in Japanese society and can be the answer to why there is such a low crime rate in Japan. In Japan, individuals tend to feel more at home within a group be it at home with a family or with their peers in school or at work. They fear expulsion from these groups if they were to deviate from the norms and so are less likely to commit a crime. Referencing Adler, F. (1983) Nations Not Obsessed With Crime, Colorado: Fred Rothan Co.. Braithwaite, J. (1989) Crime, Shame and Reintegration, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CIVITAS (http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crimestats6.php) European Institute for Crime Prevention and Cntrol (http://www.heuni.fi/Etusivu/Publications/1266333832841 Komiya, N. (1999) A Cultural Study of the Low Crime Rate in Japan, The British Journal of Criminology, Vol. 39 No.3. pp. 369-389. Miller, S., Kanazawa, S. (2000) Order by Accident: The Origins and Consequences of Conformity in Contemporary Japan. Oxford: Westview Press. Reichel, P. (1994) Comparative Criminal Justice Systems, New York: Prentice Hall.  Ã‚   Appendix: Module Handbook Reichel, Philip L. (1999).  Comparative criminal justice systems: a topical approach. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Sheptycki, J. W. E., 1960- Wardak, Ali. (2005).  Transnational and comparative criminology. London: GlassHouse. Terrill, Richard J. (1999).  World criminal justice systems: a survey. 4th ed. Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing.

Citizen Service Centres (KEP): Perceptions of Customers

Citizen Service Centres (KEP): Perceptions of Customers 1. Introduction 1.1 Importance of the Research According to the philosophical bases of marketing customer wants satisfaction. As the consumer is the key for a firm, the voter is the central element for a government or party (Lock and Harri,1996).In this context the citizen voter wants satisfaction and searching his satisfaction from the services that are offered to him is ‘‘ a lens through which government and public managers can gain a better perspective on how citizens respond to the performance of public services, (Van Ryzin , 2004) and offers important findings for the policy makers. Citizen satisfaction surveys are frequently used by U.S. local governments and public administration researchers in order to measure the quality of local government services (Hatry et al., 1992; Miller and Kobayashi, 2000). A big number of U.S. cities use surveys regularly (New York , San Francisco, Phoenix etc.),in order to analyze in a descriptive and unvaried way , the level of perceived quality of services ,within a locality and over time (Van Ryzin et al., 2004). Recent studies have compared citizen satisfaction with benchmarks that were developed from data collected across many localities (Miller and Miller 1991; Miller and Kobayashi 2000), and have focused on the individual, jurisdictional, and city-specific determinants of citizen ratings of service quality (De Hoog, Lowery, and Lyons 1990; Hero and Durand 1985),like taxes and expenditure ,and also on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents such as race (Schuman and Gruenberg, 1972). Other investigations have negotiated the citizen satisfaction from the police according to their ethnoracial characteristics (Brad W. S. 2005), or satisfaction from the education system or from hospitals (Amyx,Bristow ,2001, Suda Anita D.,1998). The importance of the public services quality became popular in the United Kingdom at 1990s when the political parties put an emphasis on the subject ,but even in our days the need for quality services that meet â€Å"customer† citizens needs and expectations, is more and more obvious .This need for quality public services is even expressed by the European Social Fund, as the implementation of the strategy and policies of the European Committee at Member States ,is strongly related with the public service organizations, which many of them are responsible for (ESF,2009). And although, in the marketing research exist a number of well-developed models of approaching customer satisfaction, there has been little development of a model that would test citizens satisfaction. As a result, it would be valuable to test such a model in the framework of Greek public services. 1.2 The Research Objectives The overall objective of this research is to examine the Greek citizens perceptions and expectations of service quality concerning the Citizen Service Centres (KEP) -a Greek public service based on servqual model. From this overall objective a number of more specific aims can be identified: Investigate consumer expectations towards the service offered from public services Examine citizen perceptions about Citizen Service Centres(KEP) Asses the factors that play an important role in the service quality of Citizen Service Centres (KEP) 2. Literature Review 2.1 Politics and the marketing concept It has often been argued that the application of ‘marketing tools and instruments in politics is nothing new (Perloff, 1999; Baines and Egan, 2001).In the last twenty-five years what have changed about the political marketing is not just the size of political marketing management but also the belief that political actors act and think in political terms. Political actors are them that they try to do marketing management in a frame of integration of marketing instruments in a coherent marketing strategy (Newman, 1994a; Dermody and Scullion, 2001). It is supposed that the selling of politicians and the selling of a product is linked (OShaughnessy, 2001) and that commercial and political contexts are essentially similar (Kotler, 1999). Many marketers believe that the tools and concepts of marketing can be transferred directly to the political arena (Lock and Harris ,1996) .The applications of political marketing are used as a tool of managing politics, developing policy (Nimmo, 1999), or even governing (OShaughnessy, 2003). The marketing concept in commercial terms is based on the principle that all company planning and operations will be customer oriented. As such the philosophical basis of the marketing concept is that customer want satisfaction (OCass, 1996). When a political party or candidate applies this concept to the political process, they must be in a position to adapt to and satisfy voters needs (Mauser, 1983; Newman and Sheth, 1987; Reid, 1988). For major mainstream parties, the overriding objective is to attract voters, win elections and hold power (Lock and Harris, 1996).In this extent knowing the degree of satisfaction of citizens seems to be important. 2.2 Citizen Citizen is every person of a state that has the citizenship of it (New Encyclopaedia, 2006). According the place and the time different criteria were used to define the citizen .The genealogical criterion, which is the oldest, the legal criterion and the economic (taxation) criterion .According to the first, citizen is the son of citizen that hasnt lost his rights. This definition was used in the ancient cities in order to distinguish the mass from the public. According to the second criterion citizen is each one that is recognized like that from the law. And finally, according to the last , citizen is each one that owns property or a quantity of goods and contributes to the governmental budget (Encyclopaedia Papyrus Larousse Britannica, 1992).Citizens have some rights and obligations .Their rights are political such as the right to vote, to be member of the jury or public servant , and personal such as the right to live ,to have free speech , to work, to live in freedom ,etc . ,that are protected from the state and are given to everyone. Citizens obligations such as taxation are set in order to protect the privileges that are offered to citizens from the government and they emerge from the need of the States existence (New Encyclopaedia, 2006). One of the governmental works is the provision of goods and services. All the modern governments take part directly to the economy by providing goods and services , organising industrial enterprises I promoting economic activities .Providing sanitary, education, and social insurance services , is one of the modern states concerns (Heinz Eulau ,1992). 2.3 Citizens as Customers, Customers as Citizens The classic definition of customer is â€Å"one who purchases or receives a product or service† (Carlson, 1997). The concept of customer is often more complicated in the public sector. For example, the city of Coral Springs in Florida, refined the idea by considering two distinct categories of external customers. Moreover, a building permit applicant is a direct customer while the applicants neighbors are among the indirect customers who will benefit if the decision helps to ensure a safer city and more appropriate land use and construction practices. But even with these refinements, â€Å"citizen† sometimes has a broader meaning. Citizens enjoy rights and take on responsibilities that extend well beyond those commonly recognized to customers (Popovich, 1999). Despite the passage of generations, the fact that government cannot succeed without the peoples trust and support, is a true even today. These essential elements of civil society shape the capacity and help determine the actual performance of government. Societys efforts to accomplish its highest priority and most practical goals are likely to fall short in the absence of the peoples agreement in the functions of government. As the customer is the key for a firm, the citizen -voter is the central element for a government. 2.4 Public services A service is a non material product (education, health safety etc).The meaning of public services isnt constrained in the area of Public and Αdministrative law .The public service is a known significance in the economy, as an appropriate tool of the states expansion in the social relations, for the preservation of stabilized provisions for the welfare state. Beyond the needs of the of practical policy, the interest of the political science with the expansions of the political philosophy is expressed , as the public service is characterized as the expansion of the state in its social activity . In other words , it is the way by which the state contacts the citizens in order to cover their direct needs .After the two World Wars this phenomenon is observed in the European area .In Germany , this works as ‘‘Anstalten (institutions) and the ‘‘ offentlichen Unternehmungen (public enterprises) . The administration (the welfare state) undertakes and guarantees ben efits even for the preservation of life of human who live massively in big cities such as transportation ,cleanliness , water , electricity etc. ÃŽ ¤he principles of function of the public services are connected with the needs and social aims that are tended to fulfil. Therefore, services are provided to everyone in the same way in order to cover the needs, under conditions that change from time to time (Encyclopaedia Papyrus Larousse Britannica ,1992 ). According to the Europa Glossary that is being updated given the recent signing of the Treaty of Lisbon ,the concept of public service is >. At the same time the Europa Glossary defines that continuity of service quality security of supply equal access affordable prices social , cultural and environmental acceptability Article 16 of the EC Treaty, introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, confirms the role of public services in the European Union. The EU policy on operators of public services is still shaped by the desire to liberalise network public services and to widen the scope of competition on national markets, be this, in the areas of rail transport, postal services, energy or telecommunications>>. 2.5 Citizen Service Centres (KEP) The institution of KEP was founded in 2002, based on an idea of the Deputy Minister Mr Beno. The KEP were founded according to the article 31 of law 3013/2002 and were staffed with short term labour agreement workers, according to the processes of article 6 of law 2527/1997. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2007), over 60.000 of citizens visit every day Citizen Service Centres (KEP) for certified or not processes, ratifications of registrations, certifications of genuine signature and every kind of administrative information. The last three years 40 new KEP were founded and now they are 1035 at their total. The centres are open Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 20:00, and Saturday, 8:00 to 14:00. At Citizen Service Centres (KEP) citizens can:  · obtain information on what they need to do in order to manage their transactions with the municipality * submit applications for the processing of matters that involve the City that the KEP is registered and state agencies in accordance with joint decisions issued by the Interior Minister or other competent Minister >(City of Athens ,2007). Some of the procedures (about 1.014 at total) that Citizens can carry out at Citizen Service Centres are the following:  · The registration or transfer of registration of a passenger vehicle or motorcycle  · The issuance of a birth certificate duplicate  · The issuance of a criminal record duplicate for general or legal use  · The issuance of a marital status certificate  · The issuance of a birth certificate duplicate for those registered with the City of Athens  · The application for a rent subsidy for the year 2006 to Workers Housing Organisation beneficiaries (former recipients)  · The issuance of a registry birth certificate duplicate for an adult or minor  · The issuance of a public transport pass for individuals with disabilities  · The application for the seasonal unemployment benefit in accordance with Article 22 of Law 1836/89 OAED (Greek Manpower Employment Organisation)  · The issuance of a marital status certificate for individuals registered with the City of Athens (online)  · The application for a rent subsidy for the year 2006 to Workers Housing Organization beneficiaries (new recipients)  · The issuance of a marriage license duplicate  · The application for the OAED (Greek Manpower Employment Organization) family subsidy  · The issuance of a drivers license  · The issuance of a Type A military status certificate (full)  · The renewal of a drivers license  · The issuance of a registry death certificate duplicate  · The application for change in passenger vehicle or motorcycle ownership  · The issuance of a permanent residence certificate  · The issuance of a judicial interdiction certificate See Appendix 1 Progressively KEP were transformed to Centres of Completed Transactions, bringing the Public Administration more near to citizen. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2007), citizens trust KEP and are in general satisfied from them. Nowadays they have permanent staff which possesses about 2588 positions. The number of affairs that KEP handled the last years is presented at the table below: PERIOD NUMBER OF AFFAIRS SERVED CITIZENS 2006 3.042.509 1.154.554 2005 2.305.195 1.527.516 2004 1.643.313 1.316.505 2003 423.759 356.872 Medium number of affairs per day from Monday to Friday: 11.805 Medium number of affairs per day (Saturday): 821 According to the Ministry KEP are recognizable from about the 80% of citizens. Equally big are the visits to them that they exceed 60%, since they were enriched with new, more attractive for the citizen processes. But more interesting are the numbers linked with the subject of satisfaction of citizens, which according to the ministry exceeds the 90%. The problems that the Public Administration was facing when KEP were created were multiple. The most serious of them were the bad organization and the centralism of public services, lack of confidence in the government owned services, lack of evaluation, lack of meritocracy, weakening of ASEP, fragmentary, and consequently unsuccessful, efforts of application of Electronic Governing, absence of controls and sanctions and finally inflation of bureaucracy and corruptness. For this reason in 2007 a number of regulations of the article 15 of the law for Citizen Service Centres (KEP) were introduced, in order to fight the difficulties and dysfunctions of citizens service (Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2007). Some of the regulations were the following:  · The foundation of the Direction of Organization and Operation of KEP in the General Secretariat of Public Administration and Electronic Governing. The Direction was founded in order to guarantee the proper operation of KEP, but also their evolution in Centres of Completed Administrative Transactions, and the resolution of problems that emerges, because of their big number, the crowd of subjects and processes that they realize and the recent enlargement of their competences. The monitoring and the co-ordination of the operation of KEP is practiced , up today, at fragmentary way from the existing Direction of General Secretariat of Public Administration and Electronic Governing, fact which creates difficulties as far as it concerns the united confrontation of problems.  · The regulation of subjects of mobility of permanent personnel. The employees will stay in the KEP of their placement, for at least a five-year period, so that the experience, which has been acquired in the particular KEP, not to get lost.  · The simplification and acceleration of processes  · The restriction of joint responsibilities between the Ministries. It is indicatively reported that Minister of Internal Affairs does not act jointly in more than 25 different regulatory actions  · The obligatory deadline of 50 days for the transaction of the affairs of citizens  · The payment of complete compensation in the citizen in case of delay  · The self appointed search of supporting documents from the service on behalf of the citizen. 208 certificates can be requested from the service without the citizens presence, for 18 of them the self appointed search is obligatory. Indicative is the progress that took place in the case of self appointed search of certificates of birth from KEP, where, while in 2005 they had 231.327 certificates and medium time of transaction the 8 days, in the end of 2006 the transaction reached 432.188 certificates, that is to say almost double, with medium time of transaction the 5 days. Same is the acceleration as far as it concerns the certificates of familial situation, where while in 2005 were published 253.071 certificates, in 2006 until 2007, 373.219 certificates have been published  · The suppression of submission of supporting documents and their replacement with a personal declaration form for 7 cases  · The videoconference of administrative bodies  · The generalization of electronic communication and exchange of documents between the services. The network â€Å"SIZEFKSIS† ensures 50.000 digital certificates (under form of card) in civil servants equal in number. With this way is provided the possibility of electronic distribution of document, with simultaneous place of signature on this, with electronic way, without a problem of genuineness, after the distribution becomes from the above permitted employees with the use of digital certificate of (card). This electronic distribution involves big acceleration of process of publication and mission of document and contributes considerably in the fighting of bureaucracy.  · The application of a plan of restriction of state expenses and the enlarged public sector, by reforming the public services, so that they become more functional and effective  · The promotion of a regulatory reform, with the establishment of rules of good legislation as well as a system of evaluation of the results of legislative regulations in the competitiveness and the entrepreneurship The City of Athens operates a total of seven (7) Citizen Service Centres (KEP), one in each City District. Citizen Service Centres provide an online service for Athens citizens with regards the following: * City of Athens municipal roll certificates * Permanent residence certificates * Certification TAP property fee payment (in cases where agreement exists on the number of square metres registered with the Public Power Corporation and the contract of purchase) The Citizens Helpline 1595 provides information on documents required for all procedures processed by Citizen Service Centres. 2.6 Service marketing Usually marketing had been seen as having dual dimension.On the one hand, there is the notion which supports that the existence of an organization in economical and social content is based on the satisfaction of customer needs and wants, and on the other hand there is the â€Å" set of activities † which serve this philosophy in order to be implemented (CromptonLamb,1986). The marketing of services is a sector with particular characteristics .The expenditure on services is growing in most industrialized economies. According to the European Commission , â€Å"the percentage share of gross domestic product attributable to the services sector rose from 38 per cent in 1970 to almost 50 percent by 1990†. Crowell supports that â€Å"what is significant about services is the relative dominance of intangible attributes in the make up of the service product†. Services as a special kind of product usually they do not result in ownership but they can be linked to a physical good require special treatment. According to Jobber, as many offerings may combine tangible and intangible characteristics the distinction between them is >. For example, a marketing research study provides a physical good, which is the report that comes out, but also is the result of a number of service activities such as interviews with respondents, analysis of results, designing of the research, etc. Products such as a skirt or a pair of socks usually are not accompanied by a service so they can be characterised as pure goods, but also a visit to a doctor or psychotherapy can be regarded as a pure service as there is nothing tangible that the client receives. 2.6.1 THE NATURE OF SERVICES Service characteristics can be summarised to the following four: intangibility, variability, perishability and inseparability. 2.6.1.1 Intangibility As intangibility can be characterised the fact that services cant be smelled, touched, tasted or seen. Service is â€Å"a deed, performance or effort and not an object device or thing† (Berry, 1980). In other words customer cant evaluate a service before buying it and sometimes cant evaluate it even after consuming it. For this reason the challenge for the service providers is to prove the quality of the service by communicating tangible benefits to consumers. Another characteristic of intangibility is the fact that the service cant be owned so customers pay for the use of product or the performance. 2.6.1.2 Variability The provision of service quality may vary depending to the person who provides it. In other words important factors are the capabilities the person has, his physical and mental situation (tiredness, attitude etc.) the location the service is provided .So, in order to control quality variation , methods such as evaluation systems , tight quality controls and service standardization methods are necessary (Jobber,2004). 2.6.1.3 Inseparability In contrast with physical goods services cant be stored in order to be used later. Services are characterised by the â€Å"simultaneous production and consumption.† Because of this characteristic service providers role is very important to the satisfaction of consumer, as many times he is supposed to be himself the company in the eyes of customer (Berry, 1980). For this reason â€Å"the importance of service provider is an integral part of the satisfaction gained by the consumer†. The behaviour of the service provider is also important for the experience that the customer has for the provided service .So, great importance must be given to the training and rewarding of the staff and its selection (Aijo,1996). Another element that is connected to inseparability is the fact that the customer may experience the service in combination with other customers because of the nature of the service and the place it is offered. At this case marketing managers should take into consideration the role of customer interactions between them, but also the inter customer conflicts and nuisance (Barron et al., 1996). 2.6.1.4 Perishability Unlike the physical goods, services cant be stored in order to be used in the future or at peak times. So service providers should take into consideration the combination of demand and supply and use methods such as multi-skilling of the staff in order to be used at peak seasons or part time employees, supply flexibility, differential pricing and reservation system in order to minimize time waiting (Jobber, 2004). Today one of the greater challenges that the sector of services has to face is the increasing competition in combination with the growing expectations of customers and the developing demands of customers as service improves (Joseph Walker, 1988). 2.6.2 SERVICE MARKETING MIX Models had to explain the relationship between the market and the organisation in order to maximize the seconds performance (Gronrooss C, 1982). To certain extent managing services are more complicated than managing products, as products can be standardised. The standardisation of a service is far more difficult as there are more input factors i.e. process, people, physical evidence, to manage than with a product. The service marketing mix consists of the 7Ps model. These include except from the classical 4 Ps that stands for: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, three more Ps which are People, Process and Physical evidence. 2.6.2.1 People People participate and deliver the service experience, the efficiency and effectiveness, the availability and capability, the customer interaction and the internal marketing. Any provision of service includes as an essential part the use of appropriate staff and people. In order to gain an organisation competitive advantage it is important that it recruits the right staff that is well trained in the delivery of service. Usually consumers perceptions and judgements are affected by the employees they interact with. Consumers wait from the staff to have the appropriate attitude, service knowledge and interpersonal skills that they are paying for. So many organisations train their staff to certain standards. Physical Evidence Physical evidence concerns the place where the service is delivered, infrastructure, facilities, surroundings, essential evidence and peripheral evidence ,equipment and premises. It is an element of the service mix that contributes to the formation of the opinion of the consumer about the organization .So the judgments and the perceptions of the consumers are formed by the sight of the service provision .For example if you walk in an office you expect a friendly environment neat and tie. Process The systems used to assist the organisation in delivering the service, constitute the process. So process refers to the operating process that takes the customer through ,from the initial contact till the service experience and evaluation , database management, service delivery, queuing systems, ordering ,standardization .The customer usually expects efficiency and quickness at the process of the service delivery and this fosters consumers loyalty and confidence in the organization. 2.6.3 Quality Quality is important to business organisations and their consumers, because quality products or services can and will secure consumers business. In addition, linking quality with expensive spending is not absolute, as price will not determine always quality. The high or low quality of a product or service is usually determined, â€Å"by how it made the consumer feel and whether consumer expectations were satisfied or exceeded† (Kotler P. et al, 2008). Quality was very popular in the marketing literature,  « where the notion of satisfying the customer was a dominant model of quality of service provided and consumer satisfaction  » (Raftopoulos V., 2005). The US Strategic Planning Institute in 1972 developed the concept of relative perceived quality (RPQ),  «that is the perception of quality as defined by customers, relative to the offerings of competitors. In other words quality is what a customer perceives it to be and this is a dynamic and complex notion.  » 2.6.3.1 Public service quality The need for quality public services is also expressed by the European Commission through the European Social Fund in its program for 2007-2013.The reason is that the quality of public services affects the implementation of policies and the strategy design as public sector organizations are responsible for them at a big degree at the Member States ,e.g. government ministries , local authority departments and special agencies (ESF,2009). The fact of how important is the quality of public services and the need to be improved, became popular, in Britain, at 1990s when the Government gave clear > on the subject, by the proposal of the Conservative Prime Minister John Major enclosed in his Citizens Charter White Paper (Prime Minister, 1991). The issue faced great consensus from the political parties as the same year both Liberal and Labour parties published their own citizen charter proposals. The citizen driven improvement of the quality of public services was a fact (Black et al., 1994). This policy which faced the citizen as user and needed the reporting of performance from the service providers was continued for a long period it was enriched with best value new policies and was popular as>.According to this concept public services is better to be managed than administrated (Black et al.,2001). At the same time another reason that public service quality is important is that the needs and expectations of the users change and increase. Service quality and how to measure it developed to be a critical issue ,so during the 1990s performance measurement techniques developed as a result of >such as government legislation ,regulatory activity by industry keepers and major policy initiatives, as Black St. et al. , characterize them, and not as a result of the needs of the service provider. Meanwhile , all the efforts of understanding and measuring public service quality where characterized as weak and an increasing interest for quality improvement models techniques , certification and awards developed .So a number of new significances appeared such as total quality management and continuous improvement, process mapping techniques, Institution Standards and Charters. The revolution of the commercial service sector that took place the previous decades influenced also public sector organizations that faced the need to provide quality services that meet ‘customer needs and expectations. As Wisniewski remarks, > (Wisniewski, 2001). The notion of treating the customers has started to change as they dont receive passively uniform services without their voice or influence being considered (Skelcher, 1992). At the opposite side, the adoption of traditional methods may lead to the delivery of a service distant from customer needs. So organizations many times, after a more profound search, discover that the needs and values of customers are different from what they assume before searching (Farquhar C.R. ,1993). In order to discover customer perceptions and collect data concerning the attitudes o