McDonalds Restaurant

Fast food businesses managed to survive the global financial crisis that the entire world faced since 2007. However, the fast food businesses too began to suffer the consequences of the crisis. In 2009, some fast food chains closed some of their branches as they posted low sales levels. McDonald’s, Yum Brands, KFC and Pizza Hut all posted decline in sales in 2009. The crisis intensified competition in the fast food industry.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on McDonald’s Restaurant specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Participants in the industry tried to beat competitors through the introduction of new products and prices. McDonald’s is one of the companies that participate in the fast food industry. It faced stiff competition from numerous competitors worldwide. Some of the key competitors include Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Hut and Yum Brands. McDonald’s can use product pos itioning to ensure that it leads in the fast food industry. It can use this strategy to enhance its brand and lead other companies in the industry. This strategy requires that it pays close attention to the needs of the customers (The Times 100 1). This is essential because there is international promotion and export, psychological and sociological issues that can affect the position of a product in a market. This paper examines product-positioning strategies that McDonald’s can use to promote itself and stay ahead of its competitors in the international market. It mainly focuses on India and Africa as segments of the international markets. Additionally, it considers the international markets as areas outside the United States. Background of McDonald’s McDonald’s is a well-known brand internationally. It is a company that has international operations. Two brothers, Dick and Mac, established the company in 1937. In 1948, the company began to sell fries, hamburger s, soft drinks and shakes. In 1953, the company began to franchise the business. The first franchises were in California and Arizona. The brothers adopted a system of operations that was efficient and ensured fast movement of customers. Currently, the company operates approximately 31000 restaurants internationally. Moreover, the company has employed about 1.5 million individuals in its restaurants. The company has operations in more than 120 countries.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The advantage that the company has had is that it uses a system that ensures efficiency in operations. The company uses intense media hype to support the efficient process that it adopted. The media hype has been a campaign strategy that the company adopted. Product Positioning Product positioning involves stimulation of a company’s brand and its services. The brand image of a c ompany shows how clients perceive an organization. Companies promote their brands to develop personalities of their organizations. Product positioning and branding are effective only if a company maintains consistency (The Times 100 1). Consistency is important in promotion strategies that a company adopts. Images and colours that a company uses in promotions like adverts provide a brand with distinguishable features. McDonald’s uses the Golden Arches logo to position its products in the fast food industry. McDonald’s faces stiff competition in all the markets in which it has operations. In addition, it faces other challenges in its international operations. Economic statuses of some of the countries in which it operates pose promotion challenges. Technological and legal challenges also affect the operations and competitiveness of McDonald’s. Success of McDonald’s in some countries is also affected by social factors. These challenges necessitate the need for identification of market needs. McDonald’s must identify the needs of customers to develop effective promotion strategies. After identification of the needs of customers is when it can position its products appropriately within each market (Mueller 29). Through identification of the needs of the customers, McDonald’s has a better chance to satisfy the market compared to its competitors. The company has to identify its customers before it positions its products in the market. It must identify possible clients in all the markets in which it has business operations. To achieve this, McDonald’s must perform market research. After McDonald’s has identified its target population, it has to develop a promotion mix that appeals to the recognized group. It has to develop a promotion strategy that incorporates price, product and place characteristics. The company has to ensure that its products are well received in the market, and the clients are able to afford the set prices (The Times 100 1).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on McDonald’s Restaurant specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Additionally, the company has to identify the television programmes that the targeted population like to watch. Identification of these programmes also assists the company to position its products appropriately. The identification of a promotion strategy and mix helps McDonald’s to improve sales and increase consumer loyalty. Market research also assists McDonald’s to identify factors that influence the behaviours of its customers. There exist factors that influence the purchase decisions that people make. Thus, McDonald’s has to know that these factors complement the features of the products that it offers to the customers. These factors can be psychological, sociological or economical. All these factors are vital in product positioning. Moreover, these f actors can be crucial to the customers than the products sold. Through identification of these factors, McDonald’s can shape the minds of the customers. Hence, it can determine how to position its products appropriately within a market. Key Issues McDonald’s faces a number of challenges in its attempts to position its products within the international markets. The challenges can be in terms of prices, perception and competition among others. The issues can be classified into three broad categories. These categories are international promotion and export management, psychological and sociological. International promotion and export management relate to price strategy and methods of operations that a company uses in its overseas operations. McDonald’s faces challenge in the establishment of the appropriate price for its products in some of the markets in which it has operations. Poverty and low amount of disposable income are key issues that the organization has t o tackle. The products that the company offers are perceived as expensive in some countries. In Africa and India, for example, many people cannot afford the prices. Additionally, the company has to target cities only with the products that it offers. People in semi urban regions are unable to afford the products sold by the company. They have low levels of disposable incomes and most of them practice agriculture. The layout of McDonald’s is also a source of challenge in some of the international markets. Some societies are used to the hotel environment and not the fast process system associated with McDonald’s operations. This challenge emanates from the consumption patterns of such societies. They are used to consumption of breakfast, lunch and supper. Normally, lunch and supper involves consumption of a balanced diet meal.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The composition of breakfast depends on the culture of a household. However, the layout of McDonald’s restaurants promotes the consumption of burgers and other fast foods. However, Burgers are not considered as healthy foods for consumption, especially at lunchtime in these societies (Misra and Yadav 27). Psychological challenges faced by the company in international markets relate mainly to religion, personality and lifestyle. McDonald’s sells hamburgers that contain beef or pork. However, extremely few people in some countries in which it operates consume beef and pork. In India and some Arab countries, cows are considered sacred (Tiffany 1). Hence, it is a challenge for the company to enter these markets and increase overall sales revenues. Many people in such countries are vegetarians. They cannot consume the burgers that the company sells. The company has to find ways through which it can capture these markets. These markets have high populations and can assist th e company to increase revenues. India, for example, has a population of over one billion people (Misra and Yadav 28). The perception and lifestyles of many people in international markets is also an issue that brings challenges to McDonald’s promotion strategies. Perception and lifestyle patterns are sociological issues. However, they affect the strategies that the company can use to position its products within some of the international markets. Consumption patterns, for example, affect the strategies that the company can use to promote its products. People in some societies prefer to eat together at lunchtime. However, the pattern that McDonald’s has adopted encourages people to eat away from home. This is not common in some societies especially in Africa and India. Analysis of the Issues Based on the challenges described above, McDonald’s must identify suitable solutions. It must identify the challenge that it faces in each market and formulate a strategy tha t will position its products appropriately. One psychological factor that McDonald’s can identify is vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is widespread in some of the countries in which it has operations. Some of these countries have high populations and promise high sales returns. The company must identify a strategy through which it can position its products in these markets and increase its sales revenues. This can assist it to stay ahead of its competitors like KFC and Pizza Hut. For example, in India, consumption of beef is prohibited. However, India has a large population and can assist McDonald’s to increase its sales revenues. Muslims and Indians do not consume beef or pork. Furthermore, they consider cows sacred. However, McDonald’s was interested in the high population of the country. Hence, it developed a product that was able to position itself appropriately within the Indian market. KFC and Pizza Hut do not have a product that can position itself in the Ind ian market like the Aloo-Tikki burger developed by McDonald’s (Amoako-Agyei 1). The Hamburgers that McDonald’s normally produce are made of beef. However, since many people in India are vegetarians, the company developed Aloo-Tikki. It is made of potatoes and spices and with no beef. The company also made hamburgers made of chicken and fish fillets. Moreover, the company separated the preparation processes of the hamburgers. This was done to promote the â€Å"vegetarian experience† idea that the company developed for the market. Thus, the company managed to position its products after it identified the needs of the market. It understood the psychological factors associated with beef consumption in the Indian market (Tiffany 1). One sociological factor that influences product positioning is consumption habits. In many countries, people like to eat out only on extraordinary circumstances. In Africa, for example, people meet and eat at home to share their experienc es during the day. However, due to globalization, growth of cities and increase in full time employment opportunities, the trends have changed. The growth of cities has promoted the need for fast food restaurants. However, consumption behaviour in Africa is different from that of western societies. Hence, McDonald’s had to develop new products and services for the African market. The strategy positioned its products before those of its competitors. Many African countries are used to the restaurant environment and not the streamlined structure of fast food businesses. Additionally, consumption pattern in many African countries involve breakfast, lunch and supper. Lunch and supper involve consumption of meals that provide appropriate nutritional balance. Breakfast is normally based on a household’s culture. McDonald’s had to develop a strategy that considered these factors. The strategy has helped the company to position its products appropriately within the Afric an market (Amoako-Agyei 1). Product positioning is also influenced by international promotion and export management factors. Valuation of food in monetary terms is a sensitive matter in some of the countries in which McDonald’s operates. McDonald’s had to adopt a strategy that focused on the ability of customers to pay. Normally, the strategy of McDonald’s is to enhance sales volume. It normally provides its products and services at prices that are considered affordable. However, many people perceive the prices that it offers as high. Therefore, it has targeted certain sections of the populations with its products in international markets. For example, in India and Africa, it targets the wealthy and the upper middle class people with its products. These people have the ability to pay for products offered by the company (Amoako-Agyei 1). Moreover, it targets people who have been exposed to western culture. It also operates in principal cities only in India and Af rica. People in semi urban areas are not able to afford the set prices. This strategy has helped the company to position its products appropriately within international markets. The strategy has ensured that the company operates in urban areas where there is continuous growth in disposable incomes. This has enabled the company to maintain leadership in the fast food industry. Hypothetical Strategies There exist hypothetical strategies that the company can use to tackle the challenges identified. The company can determine an appropriate promotion strategy that can assist it to position its products in the international markets. It must identify the objectives of a promotion strategy that it can use. Objectives express the goals that a company hopes to achieve through a promotion strategy. Objectives also direct the promotion plans adopted by a company and are vital in the assessment of the strategy used. Objectives can focus on acquisition of market share or improvement of sales volu me and so on. The company has to identify its long term and short-term objectives to position its products. Notably, the long-term objectives can be divided into short-term objectives. Hence, in India, the long-term objective can be to increase sales while the short-term objective can be to introduce the products in the market. On the other hand, the short-term objective in Africa can be to change consumption patterns while the long-term objectives can be to increase sales (Mueller 29). The second step is to define the methods that can be used to achieve the objectives formulated. In this hypothetical strategy, a promotion mix can be used. McDonald’s has to offer products that clients want. The company has to ensure that there are numerous choices for its potential clients. It must also be ready to change products regularly to ensure that clients are satisfied. Hence, in a market like India where people do not eat beef, the company can develop numerous alternatives to product s that already exist. However, it has to ensure that it does not interfere with the sales growth of a product that customers already know. Thus, it is essential for the company to monitor the life cycle of a product that it has developed for each market. Additionally, the company has to use adverts to position its new products within the international markets. The promotion mix that the company can use also has to consider prices of products sold. The company has to consider the psychological aspects associated with prices of products. It must consider the perception of customers about the prices that it charges for products sold in the restaurants. Hence, the company should charge relatively uniform prices in all markets even though some customers may feel that they are high. Low prices may make certain sections of the markets feel that the quality of the products is low. Thus, the company must protect the image and integrity of McDonald’s brand in its price strategy. Low pr ices may also make competitors like KFC match with the costs of McDonald’s. This may not result into an increase in demand for products offered by the company. Hence, price reduction is not an effective strategy that McDonald’s can use to improve the position of its products within different markets. Promotion mix that the company can use should include all communication methods. Adverts are the most effective method that the company can use to tackle sociological and psychological issues that affect a product’s position. The company can use radio and television adverts to promote the products that it sells. The company can then use adverts and other promotion methods like displays at the point of trade and fidelity schemes. McDonald’s can develop a communication strategy that involves different promotion methods. This can assist the company to tackle the challenges posed by sociological and psychological factors associated with different markets. For exa mple, television adverts can inform Indian clients that the hamburgers sold at McDonald’s do not contain beef. On the other hand, newspaper adverts can provide the same Indian customers with more details about the hamburgers. Additionally, it is essential that the messages provided by the different promotion methods complement each other. Any contradictions may confuse the customer and affect the position of products sold by the company. The promotions that the company adopts must also catch the attention of the customers. The adverts must ensure that psychological, sociological and other issues are tacked. The adverts must inform potential clients the benefits that the company provides. For example, it can inform customers that the fast process system saves their time. It saves their time so they can be punctual at their work places. This can make customers who prefer to go home at lunchtimes reconsider their actions. Finally, the company has to use layouts that are efficien t and that make customers comfortable. The place of operation is vital in the promotion of a product. The place of operation has to consider many features other than the layout and points of distribution. McDonald’s must consider social aspects that are essential to some communities. For example, some communities like to eat together. On the other hand, McDonald’s like a system that is fast and efficient. Hence, in such communities, the company can adopt a layout that considers the sociological needs of clients and at the same time ensures speed and efficiency in service delivery. The area of operation also has to consider the ease in management of all the activities that take place within the restaurants. Implementation Procedures The first step is to conduct a market research. This can assist the company to identify the potential customers, their ability to pay and their characteristics. Additionally, the company can determine psychological, economic and sociological aspects of the markets that can affect the position of the products that it offers. Secondly, the company can determine the best market entry method. The company can identify the best method based on the features and beliefs of the potential customers. It can develop and promote products that meet the needs and features of the customers. The company can then develop promotion methods that explain to the customers why the products suit them (Doole and Lowe 8). In this way, the company will tackle issues that it identified through market research. The promotion strategies used must also ensure that the international brand of the company is not compromised by the modifications made on the products offered to the customers of a region. Expected Results The implementation of the hypothetical strategies described should assist the company increase the volume of sales. The strategies can assist the company to shape the minds of clients and at the same time meet their needs. The strategies can enable the company to maintain international standards in promotion and export and tackle sociological and psychological issues associated with different international markets. The strategies can also enable the company to develop new versions of products that it normally sells (Doole and Lowe 8). The new versions can suit the needs of different segments of the international markets. Finally, the strategies can assist the company to maintain leadership in the fast food sector. This can be achieved since the strategies can assist the company position all its products appropriately within the different markets in which it has business operations. Conclusions The goal of this paper was to determine ways through which McDonald’s could position its products within international markets. It examined ways through which the company could do so by identification of effective strategies. It considered international promotion and export, psychological and sociological issues that c an affect the position of products offered by the company. It then provided different examples in Africa and India and provided strategies that could be applied to solve the problems posed. Additionally, this paper provided hypothesized strategies that can be used to improve the position of products offered by McDonald’s. It discussed promotion strategies that the company can employ to tackle the challenges posed by the different markets. It also discussed the advantages that can be realized through implementation of the strategies. Finally, it provided a brief procedure that can be used to implement the hypothesized strategies and the expected outcomes of the plans. Works Cited Amoako-Agyei, Erika, Egypt’s McArabia: How McDonald’s and other global firms integrate into African markets. 2011. Web. Doole, Isobel, and Lowe, R. International Marketing Strategy: Analysis, Development and Implementation, London: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print. Misra, Sanjay, and Yadav, P. International Business: Text and Cases, New Delhi: PHI learning, 2009. Print. Mueller, Barbara. Dynamics of International Advertising: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives, New York: Peter Lang, 2011. Print. The Times 100, The marketing process: A McDonald’s Restaurants case study. 2012. Web. Tiffany, Hsu, Vegetarian McDonald’s: Its first non-meat restaurant to open in India. 2012. Web. 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Sovereign and Self Regulating Nations

Sovereign and Self Regulating Nations Free Online Research Papers Every state wants to be sovereign and self regulating like America, but today invisibly and imperceptibly America is looking no more sovereign , because of too much influence and interference of Israeli lobby in US. As two conservative American political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt writing an article in 2006 about the influence of Israel lobby in American politics, say and warn that â€Å"its decisive role in fomenting the Iraq war is now being repeated with the threat of action against Iran†. In 2006 former UN weapons inspector in Iraq â€Å"Scott Ritter† claimed that certain Israelis and pro-Israel elements in the United States has been trying to push the Bush Administration into war with Iran. Recently a leading American scientist Stewart Nozette has been arrested and charged with espionage .He had been working in Top Secret clearance which included nuclear weapon design information at the Department of Energy. The US Justice Department said that h e had been tried to pass on top secret information to an Israeli Intelligence Officer. As in past Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal which is also known as the AIPAC espionage scandal which claims that information regarding United States policy towards Iran was passed to Israel through staff members associated with American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) which directly lobbies the legislative branch of the US Government. Besides the fact that two former AIPAC employees has also been accused but US officials have been constantly stressing that Israeli government has not been involved in it. While as a matter of fact the US government’s current operating budget is dependent on foreign financing and money creation. The enormous scale of foreign borrowing and money creation has been compulsory to finance US’s wars which have been sending the dollar to historic lower rate. It has been reported that dollar even experienced large declines relative to currencies of third world countries such as Botswana and Brazil. While at the same time US has been roughly giving three billion per year military and economic support to Israel, although it is a relatively rich country that receives more foreign aid than any other country. US also used its veto power in UN all the time to the critics of Israel and finally the resolution was turned down due to the negative vote of the permanent member of Security Council. The US, as a staunch ally of Israel, has so far vetoed over 40 anti-Israel resolutions sought by the council since 1972.Because of this same reason UN Security Council has been unable to force an end to Israel attacks against Gaza due to the intervention of the United States. So it seems that US is not using its veto power but it has been used by Israel, which is an open secret. Similarly inside US there is a powerful interest group, who has been deeply committed in shaping American foreign policy that benefitted Israel. Especially the US policies in Middle East have been pursued because of immense force used in decision making process from Jewish lobbies. There is a dire need to think, why former President Bush used to say that â€Å"a free, prosperous and secure Israel is in this nation’s interest? Noam Chomsky, political activist and professor writes that â€Å"there are far more powerful interests that have a stake in what happens in the Persian Gulf region than does AIP AC [or the lobby generally], such as the oil companies, the arms industry and other interests whose lobbying influence and campaign contributions far surpass that of the much-vaunted Zionist lobby and its allied donors to congressional races.† One can easily judge how much American media has been free by the statement of the American journalist Michael massing, he argues that there is a lack of media coverage on the Israel lobby and the main obstacle to covering these groups is fear. The most important in this is that one does not dare to debate this issue in America and the same feelings had been expressed by Colonel L.Wilkerson Chief of staff Colin Powell. So it provide evidence that proper elements of the Israel lobby consists of organized lobby groups, political action committees, think tanks and media watch dogs has been operating in US .Is this sovereignty? Is this democracy? So whether the connections between America and Israel is so strong and great that geo-strategy, political strategy, economic strategy has been coinciding up to the level of grand strategy? If that is so then why US official has been trying to hide the involvement? While Jewish lobbies not only influences their foreign policies, political system but their judicial system and media also. Which institution left that makes States sovereign? 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Competition is Better than Cooperation In the Relations Between Essay

Competition is Better than Cooperation In the Relations Between Criminal Justice Agencies - Essay Example Intervention in regard to criminal justice system refers to the process of preventing or reducing the incidence of crime, as well as acts that minimize the potential adverse consequences of convicted offenders in the society (Gough, 2010, p. 22). Similarly, supervision in the criminal justice system is defined as the process of overseeing the tasks and behaviours of the convicted offenders within the correction component of the criminal justice with the view of ensuring that the imposed sanctions yield the desired outcomes. Supervision in the criminal justice system has also been defined as the process of regulating and controlling behaviours of the convicted through restrictions or rules with the aim of ensuring that at the end they can become responsible persons who can easily re-integrate into the society without posing any serious public safety threats (Church, 1985, 456). Over the years, there has been raging debate on whether competition is better than cooperation in relations between criminal justice agencies. The persistent question has been which between competition and cooperation facilitates effective achievement of objectives of the criminal justice agencies, and ultimately those of the criminal justice system. This paper will seek to address this question by focusing on the intervention and supervision stages of the criminal justice process. It will show that indeed competition is better than cooperation in the relations between criminal justice agencies. Customarily, the criminal justice system has not been operating as a coordinated whole. Instead, criminal justice agencies have heavily been emphasizing on their core legislative independence and functions, as well as on their operational imperatives. This arrangement has been informed by a wide range of factors. The first factor is that the criminal justice agencies have differing goals, functions, purpose, and roles and as such no single agency handles the case throughout the entire system. Seco ndly, the system is defendant focused, case and incident-based, an arrangement that makes the agencies to operate separately in order not to deviate from this arrangement (Gough, 2010, p. 25). Thirdly, a range of procedural and legal constraints keep information that had been obtained before out of the court consideration. As such, information held by a particular criminal justice agency about an incident, victim, or defendant is progressively filtered as it moves through various agencies of the system. The other factor that has contributed to the criminal justice system not to work as a coordinated whole is the power dynamic within the criminal justice agencies hierarchy and their widely diverse professional culture (Gebo, et al, 2006, p. 425). The criminal justice system has been witnessing myriad of challenges especially in regard to law enforcement and corrections. In particular, the rise of the rate of crimes such as burglary cases and rape and overcrowding in the correctional facilities has been some of the main challenges facing the criminal just

Comparison between to art works Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparison between to art works - Essay Example The first painting was composed and painted by a post-impressionist artist seeking to apply modern art features to describe the innate landscape of his surroundings. Perhaps, the artist focused on uniqueness to bring out the outstanding layout of creation that is normally ignored, but observed by very few people. The first painting has been composed using thin brushstrokes that bring out the magnitude of each feature in the paintings object. The painting appears to be a small gathered and dried up bush swaying with the wind. This bush stands out from the rest of the landscape and above the rest of the vegetation surrounding its concentrated features. The paint used is thin impasto paint applied in a similar manner as sculptor strikes clay onto a relief. Abstraction plays a major role in defining the theme of the artwork. This is because the bush and vegetative outline of the artwork comes from an observation perspective, and interest perpetuated in the middle dried up and black bush. Uniqueness is another feature that is focused on by the artist who painted the first art piece. It is also valid to state that the painting’s objects can relate with the artist background or enthusiasm. Simple landscape formation has managed to penetrate the observation and concentration of a mid-1900s artist (Ruskin 236). The focus on the shadowing aspects of the black bush intrigues the people viewing this portrait. Besides the burnt out bush in the middle of the page, other distinctive features in the portrait is the day-aspect of the blue sky that lights up the surrounding vegetation. The features, objects and characteristics of each object in the painting are not overelaborate and embellished. The scene in the portrait is very real because the objects included are real and existing through authenticity. The scene is also able to offer a sensation of comfort and belonging

What's your Dangerous Idea Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

What's your Dangerous Idea - Research Paper Example A sample such a situation is a college who, during exam week, chose to party every night instead of study. During his exams the next day he is unprepared and without answers to the questions being asked in the exam form. He is unable to answer enough right questions that would result in his passing the exam. The result of his first 2 previous actions determined that he would fail the test and thus, fail the class as well. Events such as the aforementioned situation prove the philosophy that all naturally occurring events will happen due to the laws of nature. In essence, all the events that take place in a persons life and its results are all part of a naturally occurring system in a persons life that is based upon a persons choices and decisions that are influenced by the motives of a person. In other words, the collective human actions will create conditions that will result in the occurrence of an event. No other event can result from the actions that a person executed. These actions are, as seen in the example above, to be considered pre-conditions that help determine the course and results of a previous event in a persons life. Such events are then defined to be a part of Causal Determinism which is understood to mean cause and effect. Theoretically, (causal) determinism is believed to be composed of moral choices that preclude free will. The reason that determinism is believed to take precedence over free will is because humans will act in a certain manner whether they like it or not. Factors combine in order to make people follow a certain path with a pre-determined result for them at the end of it. Therefore determinism necessitates that antecedent events and conditions come together like atoms in the laws of nature. It is because of these existing reasons that Determinism has been thought to have a deep connection with mans understanding of the physical sciences and its explanatory ambitions and our views about human

Impacts Of Social Networks On Social Behaviour

Impacts Of Social Networks On Social Behaviour Social network sites have become a global phenomenon that plays important roles in our society today. It is a social milieu that allows individuals to present themselves, communicate with one another and to maintain relationships. These SNSs (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and MySpace) are rapidly increasing visibly among the University students. Social network does not only influence students learning outcome but it also help the University students to attain social acceptance as well as adapting to University culture which may play central role towards improving their learning outcome. Several researchers revealed that SNS as technological tools can be used to effectively improve student-student and student-teacher interactions in higher institutions. In this regards SNS plays a prominent role in learning environment as a major conduit for getting resources, knowledge, and social support and also provides help for students preparing for or/ finding employment. On the other hand, many researchers observed that students spend several hours in a day attending to different social network sites even during lecturers and library sessions thus creating distractions and reducing the time to focus on their studies. This discourse therefore reviews the benefits and obstacles of social networks on social behaviour and academic performance of students. It also reviews the attitude of students towards the use of technology, SNS and how social network can improve learning style as it portends great promise towards enhancing their academic performance. 1.0 Introduction Academic institutions all over the world especially in developed countries have made tremendous investment in computer and internet infrastructure with the hope that this would result in the utilisation of web-based knowledge resources which may leads to significant increase in academic performance and productivity of students or staff (Oskouei, 2010) . However, this investment may not have yielded the desired goals of increasing learning quality and productivity of the students because these resources are used for both academic and non-academic works (Oskouei, 2010). It has been estimated that young adults are the highest computer and internet users in the world population today, about 46% of them uses it for completing school assignment, 36% for e-mail or instant messaging and 38% for playing computer games (DeBell and Chapman, 2006). Social network sites which are online communication tool that have existed less than a decade allows its users to create public and private profile thus enabling them to interact with people in the same network (Boyd and Ellison, 2008). Social networks can be defined as web-based activities that allow individuals to build public and/or semi-public profiles within a confined system; articulate and connects to list of other users with which they are connected; view and check their list of connections with the ones created by others inside the system(Boyd and Ellison, 2008, Kirschner and Karpinski, 2010). Examples of the new phenomenon of social networks are MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Facebook is the leading social network in many countries followed by Twitter and LinkedIn in popularity. It has been reported that Facebook have 901 million monthly users and more than 125 billion friends connected at the end of March, 2012 (Karpinski et al., 2013). The positive and negative impacts of social network on students social behaviour and academic achievement can be examined by their engagement, collaborative work, creativity, distraction, and grade point average (GPA). Research has shown that students participation on social networks have a positive connection to their engagement, and negative connection to their academic performance. Many researchers indicate that students academic performance can be increased by enhancing their engagement, and it has been stated that students engagement has a significant predictor of their academic performance (Wise et al., 2011). The relationship between students academic engagement and their academic performance is in agreement with (Junco, 2012). They reported that students engagements are powerful forces for psychosocial development and academic success. Social networks have the potentials of improving learning styles, as they provides alternative to traditional teaching format such as creation of online classroom community, and also enhancement of student-teacher and student-student interaction (Merchant, 2012) Social network increases social interactions and allows easy communication between, families, friends, neighbourhoods and global communities. Most social networks incorporate lots of communication tools like mobile connectivity, blogs, photos and video sharing which allows cross-posting to each other as desired by the users (Merchant, 2012) It has been reported that social network interactions allows quality relationships, connectedness, positive behaviours and also sharing of relevant information have been observed on social network sites (Martin Dowson, 2009). Forkosh-Baruch Hershkovitz, (2012), also reported that lecturers, learners, system/software designers, decision makers and students are coming to social network sites for significant educational activities, and also establishes new innovations using interactive and collaborative online journals. Griffith and Liyange (2008) reported that students use social network in their academic studies such group and team based works. In this regards social network plays a central role in learning environment as a major conduit for getting resources, knowledge, social support and socialization for learning distribution (Cho et al., 2007). It provides help for students preparing for or finding employment (Connelly, 2011). On the other hand, researchers have shown that high level of internet usage among adults of certain age group (16-24 years) for social and emotional advancement could be regarded as internet addiction or pathological internet users for the group (Odaci and Kalkan, 2010). Internet addiction is the inability to limit internet usage despite its detrimental effects on social behaviour and academic performance; and also cause of anxiety when internet accessibility is restricted (Odaci, 2013). Young adults that experience difficulties in communication skills in the real life have reported significantly reduction while using social network but in real life their social skill is inadequate and therefore problematic in social behaviour and academic performance (Caldwell Cunningham, 2010; Caplan, 2010; Odaci, 2013). Social behaviour is an indispensable constituent of social psychology that can either be positive or negative. It consists of social determinant such as attitude, self-concept, collaboration, communication, violent behaviour and conflict reduction etc (Bertram, 2009). Social network helps to provide information on direct friendships and also generates a better global modelling for social organisation which determines how individual patterns of social behaviour correlate to group characteristics. The behaviour of an individual can affect the behaviours of others within the same social networks. Social behaviour can, for instance, influence flow of information or behaviours throughout a group (Makagon et al., 2012). Social networks do not only provide an assessment of popularity, but they can also be exploited as a vehicle to gain or access important information (Fetta et al., 2012). According to Lewis et al., (2007), the mass movement of people to the use of social network has instigated researchers into investigating impacts of social networks. It may not be an exaggeration if we say that many modern day young adults, especially students, make use of social network on a daily basis (Boyd Ellison 2007). According to Bryant Bryant (2005), the internet possesses the capability to influence our young adults and students behaviour very easily. This researcher has had experiences with youths/students in the library and classes that spend most of their time chatting and watching sexually explicit resources that might produce negative effects on their behaviour. Arising from the fore going, this researcher intends to study the postgraduate students attitudes as regards the use of social network during formal classes and library in Heriot-Watt University. At the end of the research, recommendations will be made based on the students response. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter are chosen for this research study because of the large number of students that use these online social networks for chatting and sending messages (Cheung et al., 2010; Golder et al., 2007; Stutzman, 2006). It is essential for the academic institutions to know the positive and negative impacts of social network on students behaviour and academic performances. Benefits and obstacles of social network on educational system Social network sites (SNS) has become one of the useful tools that can revolutionized educational sector to suit requirement to improved knowledge for both student-student and student-teacher interaction. As an effective new culture of learning, social network site (SNS) offers students opportunity to use informal ways to communication, learn and collaborate independent of time and space (Zaidieh, 2012). It also helps teacher to keep constant communication and get feedback from students which improves learning efficiency. Social network sites play major role between students-teachers by allowing students to be in constant connections with other students, educators, alumni, administrators within and outside the academic environment (Jiang and Tang, 2010; Zaidieh, 2012). SNS has the ability to attract, motivate and engage students in meaningful academic practices, content exchange and other collaborations (Mills, 2011). SNS provides student-teacher flexibility in learning, teaching and also the ability to join groups in specific subjects or disciplines and enable them to connect, view photos, videos and instructional activities established by other users of the network (ELI, 2007). SNS gives students and teachers the possibility of repetition i.e to either retrieve information immediately or later which is hard when using traditional methods of teaching (Dobrzanski and Brytan, 2007). In contrast to SNS the non-SNS method such as blackboard and module are much focused and lack personal touch and network capacity of SNS. SNS has the potentials to actively encourage online community building and extend learning beyond the boundaries of the classroom (Smith, 2009; Brady et al., 2010). It provides unique opportunities for educators and instructors to facilitate a very strong sense of community within students and encourages creation of new knowledge and collective intelligence by personal interactions. SNS provides shared forum where students can post or share, and engage in collaborative discussion while sharing common sources like links, video and photos (McCann, 2009). It represents a defined shift towards social and community web-based application that can cultivate and sustain subject specific social networking. It does not only attract people but also hold their attention, propel them, to contribute and bring them back time without number all to get desirable qualities for educational purposes. SNS makes it easy and quick to access, review, update and edit learning materials any time and everywhere (Cheong, 2002) and allows students and teachers to select desirable materials from large quantity of course offered on online. It allows easy distribution of learning materials and reduces stress and increases satisfaction among students. It gives students opportunity to study at their own self-pace and allow them to join bulletin board discussion any time while visiting classmates and instructors remotely in chat room. It overcomes the limitations of space and time in education and allows accessibility of available materials in their sites and also helps to resolves time table conflicts (Zaidieh, 2012). The major challenges of SNS in education sector including lack of privacy, miscommunication and taking up times. Privacy is the major obstacles of SNS in education. Nissenbaum, (2004) described privacy as the contextual integrity which refers to the rules of appropriateness, in confines of the nature and types of information about different individuals within a given context, that is allowed, expected, or demanded to be revealed, and the rules of distribution, in confines of the movement, or transfer from one person to another. It simply means that in social network interaction; individuals have expectations concerning what information is deem appropriate to collect and circulate. Thus, specific types of information are appropriate for sharing among a certain groups of friends but may not be good to open to other social network users outside that group (Pai and Arnott, 2012). Its users express concern about privacy of their personal information and are most vigilant about safeguardin g it (Dwyer et al., 2007). In social network site (SNS), people have lots of friends and the quality and integrity of these friendship are always in question because they are not always 100% honest and reliable and cannot actually verify personal details (age and location) of their members. It also allows accurate and positive self-profile that can be potentially abused by the openness (Zaidieh, 2012). Miscommunication: In most cases, learner (students) face difficulties in expressing their ideas and views in writing as most of them prefer to express their ideas and views orally, the approach they are used to for many years of their studies. Face-to-face allows one individuals to perceive physical clues like tones, reflection, body language in an online environment (Zaidieh, 2012). Taking up time: Social network users spent much time in Internet, and more time online for their studies and works. Most times this causes lack of motivation towards learning and can be bored sitting in front of a computer for a very long time especially when the learning materials presented is free of audio and visual effects that can attract learner towards learning (Zaidieh, 2012). Lenhart et al., (2010) reported that half of the users are idled online for hours from time to time. This finding suggested that the more online time, the more SNS users, took their toll on information consumption through the social network platforms. According to Zhong et al., (2011), more than half of the social network users stated that reading information and watching videos online gave them short time for using non-SNS materials, such as broadcast and printed documents, indicating a move in trend of information from non-SNS to SNS, especially among students. Many researchers observed that students spend several hours in a day attending to different social network sites even during lectures and library sessions thus creating distractions and reducing the time to focus on their studies. For example, in the lecture or library, most students leave their mobile phone on and silently chat on the social network sites and when the lecturer sets an examination, with high expectation of good grades; majority of the students will not do well. This scenario is ominous for both the students involved and the society at large. If this situation is not put under control, it will affect the students focus towards academics and possibly increase the number of students dropping out of school. Pempek, et al., (2009) studied College Students social networking experiences on Facebook using 92 scholars. The study revealed that the students spend minimum of 1 hr. on daily bases with social network. The researchers reported that students spend more time reading the contents from their friends responses, uploading pictures and to keep in touch with friends. Other researchers however, observed that there is no relationship between time spent on the use of social network and students academic performance. Hunley et al., (2005) opined that there is no significant between the time spent on the social networks and the Grade Point Average (GPA) of students. This finding is in agreement with Kolek and Saunders (2008) which observed that social network usage and the GPA of Users have no relationship. On the other hand, Verden Boogart, (2006), reported that social network users have lower GPAs more than non-users. This finding correlates with the report by Flad (2010) that 32% out of 35% of the students that use social network have poor academic performance, and concluded that social network is good for students socialisation but negatively impact on their academic performance. Barratt et al., (2009), observed that many students log onto Facebook many times in a day, thus spending valuable time, if spent on their studies would lead to excellent academic performance. It is necessary to examine whether or not social network involvement by students improves their academic works and social behaviour. How Social network Improves learning style? In the world today, higher institutions explore emerging technologies such as social network sites as a new or improved tool to enhance teaching and learning. Social network sites support student, and boost the integration in the higher education classes. Even though the infrastructures to support social network presently exist in most universities, instructors are slow in adapting to the tools as an educational one. Recently, Sadaf et al., (2012) studied pre-service teachers beliefs about their intent to use social network in their future classrooms. The results opined that half (51%) were committed to the new technology as an instructional tool because it increases student engagement. Brady et al., (2010) studied the use of social network at North Carolina State University. Seventy percent agreed with the notion that SNS made communication skill possible between peers than a comparable face-to-face class. Nearly (82%) indicated that SNS help them communicate outside the class as we ll. Most users (74%) also agreed that SNS allows them to reflect and comments on other peoples work more effectively than a face-to-face class. In addition, Ajjan and Hartshorne, (2008), reported that Social network sites are viewed as useful tools to improve students satisfaction (32%) and also increased student-student interaction (56%). For instance, SNS enables scholars and teachers to remain current in their research areas, and also to explore recent approaches to teaching through networking with colleagues, interacting with different individuals, discussing their research/or work, and also expose their work or research interest to greater audiences. For example scholars use SNS such as blogs to support their scholarly endeavours. Researchers have identified that blogs are used; i) as a debate platform for scholars who seeks a live public intellectuals, (ii) for recording or sharing logs of pure research, (iii) as a type of tongue-in-cheek i.e water cooler to which analytical discussions of only scholarly experience can occur (Kirkup, 2010). Blog usage extends beyond research to include teaching endeavours (Deng and Yue n, 2011). Cho et al., 2007 reported that early Twitter users used Twitter for making instructional information and provide students with opportunities to communicate with professional communities outside the classroom. Future usage of social network In the past few years, social network sites have attracted the interest of researchers which examine the role this technology plays in higher education. Few of the work have showed the affective outcomes of social network site integration. Some of the studies examined learning outcomes and students achievement as related to the educational usage of social sites in college courses. King et al., (2009) described the recent development of an inter-professional team work in the healthcare field that shows how to integrate social networking. The researchers stated that in future integration of an educationally structured social network sites will facilitated growth toward the concept of effective communication which will overcome barrier of distance in learning. Some researchers have also reported that in future social network sites could foster scholarship that is social (Chong, 2010; Greenhow, 2009), conversational and open (Oblinger, 2010; Pearce et al., 2010). Social scholarship is the practice in which the use of social tools is an integral part of the research and publishing process that is characterised by openness, fast conversation, and collaboration, accessible, sharing, cheaper and transparent revision (Pearce et al., 2010). Social network sites which provide digital scholarship is more than just using information technologies and communication skill to research for materials; teach students and collaborate with other, but also to embrace the open values, ideologies and potentials of technologies essential for peer-to-peer networking and also a way of working in order to profit both the academic work and society at large. Picking up the mantle, Greenhow et al., (2009) suggested that todays student experienced different online identities due to new digital technologies at hand (for example; role playing sites, and virtual worlds). They opined that this new development presents a fundamental shift from the non-SNS to SNS and concluded that in future learners participation will be evidenced by inter-connections, content creation and participation attitudes in and out of the classroom. QUESTIONNAIRES A modified questionnaire instrument designed will be used in other to arrive at a general perception as regards to students opinion to the use social networks, behaviour to academic pursuit and social behaviour (Goodson et al., 2005; Pascarella et al., 2009). Considering the advantages of the quantitative approach, the researcher uses questionnaires to get many responses on the students behaviour towards the use social networks during classes and library sessions. There are 18 questions designed to elicit the participants opinion on the use of social network during classes and library sessions, social behaviour and time spent using social networks. Figure 1. Basic model of social behaviour and academic performance of students using social network (Adapted from Paul et al., 2012) The questionnaires measuring each of the following constructs; time spent on social network, predictors of behaviour, time management skills, academic competency, attention Span, student characteristics and academic performance were developed from literature and discussions with supervisor. For example, questions that best describe the factors which explain studentsonline networking behaviour were adopted from Cameron, (2010). Questionnaires that are related to factors such as academic competency, Information on GPA, time management skills, study strategies, student characteristics, etc. are adopted from Mizerski and Pettigrew, (2003); Sansqiry et al., (2004); Paul et al., (2012). The questionnaire adopted five point Likert scale of Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree, Strongly Disagree (Ary et al., 2000). The adaptation of this method is to provide correct and simple grammar in other to achieve the research objectives and also provide answers to the research questions. CATEGORIES OF SOCIAL NETWORK SITES There are many social network sites that exist today. The most popular sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn are free registration. All that is required from the prospective users is to provide their profile picture. Social network sites have several categories which are available in the World Wide Web (WWW) (Brown, 2011). Social network categories are the class given to a large groups based on certain functions, features, forms and meaning. Each of the social network categories has their specific focus and functions but all have common characteristics. They have features such blogs, videos, records of members, journal and many more (Othman et al., 2011). Thelwall (2009), reported that social network tools have three main categories as regards to friendship connections, (Fig1.2). The first Category social network is for social communication among members. Facebook, MySpace, twitter, etc. have this feature. Category two, with LinkedIn as example aims at searching for new contacts. Category three is the social navigation network through which specific types of information or resources can be obtained. Figure 1.2 shows about 22 categories available in social network like discussion, education, and library. Most of the website falls into more than one category such as MySpace which can be categories into music and friendship category. Facebook Facebook was originally introduced in 2004 as an online Harvard social network site which allows students living on University residential halls or students from other faculties of the University to register as users and communicate with their fellow students (Zywicas and Danowski, 2008). In 2006, Facebook was made public for everybody (Urista et al., 2009); and in December 2006 it had over 12 million users and at the end of December 2009, the active users increased to 350 million (Hew, 2011). Today Facebook is the most populated social network site in the majority of the countries with more than 400 Million users. In March 2011, Europe had the highest number of Facebook users 234.6 million followed by 163.9 million in North America (Karpinski et al., 2012). Facebook is a social network site in which individuals or groups can share photographs, personal information, and communicate with friends (Hew, 2011). Facebook is also considered as the leading social network site used among college students. For example, Ellison et al., (2007) reported that in USA, 90% of the Undergraduate students Participate on Facebook. In British undergraduate students, Facebook has also become the most popular SNS used (Madge et al., 2009). Munoz and Towner, (2009) suggested that Facebook can have positive impact on college students life, and further stated that students can use Facebook to communicate with other students concerning their assignments, group work or project, or teachers communicating their students regarding useful information on a specific course links. On the other hand, researchers have shown concern in regards to possible negative impacts of Facebook usage among college students. For example, Kirschner and Karpinski, (2010) reported that students spending hours on Facebook may adversely affect their academic performance. Facebook profile can be classified into four main groups: i) control elements, ii) referents elements, iii) preference elements, iv) contact elements. Control elements are fields like the gender of the user, length/period of Facebook membership, and their institutional status. Referents elements include hometown, residence and high school which are based on profile fields or common points of contact among the users. Preference elements are simply based on expression of personal interest and self-descriptive information of the user. For example, About Me, my interests, my favourite Music, favourite movies, favourite TV-shows, favourite books, favourite quotes, and my political views. Contact elements are profile fields such as e-mail address, instant messenger screen name, and the relationship status (Cain, 2008; Lampe et al., 2007). Facebook users can also create groups and become a fan of a particular page of their interest organization such as football clubs, and celebrities thus allowing users with common goal to get together and support the organization or the celebrity. Facebook also serve as sources of entertainment because of the availability of games and other applications. Examples of such games and applications are Crazy Taxi, My Fairyland, and Facebook for iPhone (Hew, 2011). MYSPACE MySpace is one of the popular social networks sites in the world today. It was launched in California in 2003 to compete with other networks like Friendster and Xanga etc (Anderson, 2007). It grew rapidly by taking advantage of Friendsters mistake and failure. According to Anderson, (2007) Indie-rock bands that were expelled from Friendster because of profile problems; moved to MySpace network and began to attract users. There were several advertisements by most popular clubs in MySpace. It is believed that music was not only the key issue that attracted users of MySpace but rather there were symbiotic association between music bands and fans that helped to expand MySpace beyond expectation. MySpace is unique because it allows addition of features based on the users interest (Boyd, 2006). Boyd said that teenagers started using MySpace in 2004 to connect to their friends and not just for the reason that they belong to the bands. MySpace site achieved its highest growth rates with three different groups, namely, the musicians, teenagers and undergraduate students. Among SNS, MySpace gives greater self-expression than the popular Facebook and Twitter. It allows the users to customize their virtual space through an open format in which the designed elements, like text, video, music, graphics and photographs can be used to display their users online personality. With this feature users can create self-image that can be communicated to the mass audience. MySpace also gives the users more anonymity by providing the option of using a nickname. (Kane, 2008; Boyle and Johnson, 2010). Twitter Twitter is a free social network site and micro blogging service which enables the users to read and post short text-based message that is not more than 140 words, called tweets. Some people tweet with micro-blog platform, while others regard it as a social networking site (Bake, 2009). A Web service which allows people to post brief messages to other users of the same service is micro-blogging. It derived its feature from Instant Relay Chat (IRC) including instant messaging and handsets. According to Bake (2009), Twitter is one of the social network web-based applications that allow its users to build their own profile either publicly or semi-publicly. Twitter uses the exact basic features like find people profile and uploading pictures on profile etc. The traditional contacts in twitter are followers and following categories. Twitter does not belong to only SNSs socializing category but also to networking with navigation, (Thelwall, 2007). This network allows you to follow users (following) and also followed by other users (followers) without any authorization. Messages sent are automatically published on the front page of the users (timeline) (Torreente et al., 2012). Any user may reply or retweet any tweet, which can generate public debate and conversation. Links can also be added to the tweets in order to create additional information beyond the 140 words. Some key potentials of Twitter are that it is a window to the unlimited source of information and can be regarded multi-focal. It gives the opportunity to create lists of manage tweets by themes, authors and tags which helps users to manage the information and also easier to follow a particular topic. It is an ideal tool to disseminate information and to broadcast live events such as conferences, and any event worldwide. Twitter is fast and viral i.e. anyone can tweet and the spread of information can be unstoppable. One of the features of Twitter is the ability to include links which makes it easier to move from particular content to another (Torreente et al., 2012). Influence of social network on social behaviour of students Social behaviour is a kind of influence from specific group of people which may positively or negatively affec

Albert Camus :: essays research papers

Albert Camus is one of the most renowned authors in the twentieth century. With works such as Caligula, The Stranger, Nuptials, and The Plague, he has impacted the world of literature to a great extent. This great success was not just "given" to him "on a silver platter" however. He endured many hardships and was plagued with great illness in his short life. Camus is a great role model and idol for us all. 	Camus was born into poverty on November 2, 1913 in Mondovi, Algeria (a former French colony in Africa). His mother, Catherine Sintes, was a cleaning woman, and his father, Lucien Camus, was a farmhand. Only a few months old, Albert lost his father in the horrors of World War I in 1914. After the loss of his father, him, his brother and his mother moved in to his grandmother's three-bedroom apartment with his two uncles. The only way Albert "escaped" from this harsh reality was on the beaches of Algiers. At the age of fourteen, Camus was diagnosed with the first stages of tuberculosis. This disease plagued him for the rest of his life. At age seventeen, Albert moved in with his uncle by marriage, Gustave Acault, who provided Albert with a better environment as well as an actual father figure. After enduring the hardships of his childhood, Camus began writing at age seventeen. 	Camus wrote many influential works and gained much success, starting at age seventeen, when he decided to strive to become a writer. Albert's first "literary experience" was gained as a member of the "North African Literary Group." By 1932, he was writing articles for the magazine entitled Sud. Albert entered the University of Algiers on scholarships in this same year. As an art critic, he wrote articles for the newspaper Alger-Etudiant in 1934. In the same year he married Simon Hie who was wealthy but was plagued with a drug addiction. This marriage only lasted for about two years. After earning a degree in 1935, Camus was awarded the diplome d'etudes superieures with his thesis "Christian Metaphysics and Neoplatonism." In 1934 he became a member of the Communist Party, but this only lasted until 1937. Albert was also a successful journalist, writing for the Alger Republicain, the Paris-Soir, and the Combat. On December 3,1940, Albert Camus marr ied for the second time to Francine Fautre. After all of this success, some fabulous works followed.

Political Participation in the UK Essay

In a country based on representative democracy, a ‘fair’ system, it is questionable to say we as the public make the most of this opportunity. Whilst other nations are fighting against the intense grips of dictatorships, as we have seen recently in Libya and Egypt, we live in a system in which to instigate change, we simply have to turn up at a ballot box and cast a vote. But with voting numbers continuously dwindling, does the United Kingdom have a participation crisis? The most efficient way to judge this is to go straight to the figures, and on first glance the statistics are startling. The percentage of people that voted in 2001 was an astonishing record low of 59%, down over 10% from the previous election in 1997. Comparing both of these results to a 83.9 voting percentage of 1950, shows a dramatic change in the value the British people place in their vote. The two recent elections however in 2005 and 2010 have bucked this trend, achieving percentages of 61.5 and 65 giving the impression that voting is on the rise. But with only these two results showing increases in recent history, it is impossible to view this as a positive correlation. When looking at these figures we have to look at the groups of people who didn’t exercise their right to vote, with the majority of them falling in to the 18 to 24 year old category. Only 44% of the 18 to 24 age group casted a ballot in the 2010 election in comparison to the 76% turnout figure of the over 65’s. The general consensus of the political spectrum of the youth population is that it is firmly to the left. Given these facts it is arguable to say that if the turn out for the 2010 general election had been higher, we could have easily had a Labour or Liberal Democrat government which would have had major effects on the current policies in place in the UK. To go even further, if the voting percentage had been 100% in all the previous elections, it is claimable that every government the UK has had would be different, effectively changing nea rly every policy that has been put into place in the past. When looked at with this perspective, we can see the incredible importance of voting and political participation has in our lives. When looking simply at the turnout figures of the recent general elections we can see that participation in the UK is in a dangerous decline. Another factor we need to take into consideration is the decline of party membership in the UK. Similar to the steady decline of voting figures since 1950, all three major parties membership has dropped significantly over the last six decades. The Conservative party has seen the most severe decline in membership, from having over 2,900,000 members in 1951 falling to a mere 250,000 in 2008. This trend is shown within the ranks of the Labour and the Liberal Democrat parties as well, with the only noticeable exception is the rise in the Labour party in 1997, rising from 280,000 to 405,000. This however, can be contributed to the rise of Tony Blair with ‘New Labour’ and ‘Blairism’ which gripped the country in the late 20th century. Following this though, the Labour parties membership continued to fall and by 2008 had reached a low of 166,000. Tony Blair’s biographer Anthony Seldon has made the link between declining levels of public trust in formal politics and the decline in party membership, however it is difficult to prove a simple link such as this exists. With these dramatic declines in voting participation and party membership, some would claim that it is difficult to argue that there is not a political participation crisis gripped the UK. On the other hand though, there has been rises in other forms of political participation. Whilst collective acts such as party membership has been on decline, individual direct action, in some cases has been on the rise. With consumer issues being one of the main causes the public has more intensely rallied around. The Power inquiriy in 2006 highlighted these changes in political participation, with traditional forms such as party membership seeing dramtatic decreases, whereas involvement with pressure groups and protest movements seeing dramatic increases. In the year 2000, 31% of the public claimed that they had boycotted products for ethical reasons, whether this can be contributed to the rise of the media and social desirability or not it shows a dramatic rise from the 4% that boycotted products in 1984. This shows perhaps that although a part of society has lost faith in the political process and the value of their votes, they instead prefer to take actions they believe that they will be directly making a difference and contributing politically. The phenomenon of the rise of the media and the internet over the last 60 years has allowed new systems of political participation to develop. An example of this is e-petitions. E-petitions are an easy way for anyone to influence government policy in the UK. With anyone being able to create an e-petition about anything that the government is responsible for, it allows people to get involved at a more direct level and definitely attracts the younger generation to get involved. If a petition gets at least 100,000 signatures, it will be eligible for debate in the House of Commons. These ways of participation makes it easier for people to get involved and allows the public to voice their opinions on particular subjects, almost seeming like a direct democracy in comparison to the representative democracy we have in the UK. Another argument that there is not a participation crisis in the UK is the huge turnouts in political protests over the last decade, with possibly the most poignant of these being the protests against the Iraq war in 2003. With over one and half million people taking to the streets of London, the British public showed they are not afraid to have their voices heard. A more recent example of a political protest, is the student tuition fees demonstrations in 2010, with over 50,000 taking to the streets. A British Election Study stated that in 1979, 20% of respondents would be willing to go on a protest demonstration, this number had risen to 33 % by 2000. Added to this, an increase in illegal political demonstrations, notably the London riots earlier this year, shows us that people are much more likely to take to the streets to demonstrate than they were in previous decades. This shows that although different forms of political participation are on the rise, they are arguably much less important than voting. Taking into consideration that the government merely acknowledged these particular protests and continued with their policies anyway, shows us the lack of impact these forms of participation have in contrast with voting. In the UK today we can see a growing trend of a decrease in traditional participation, but an increase in new forms and less traditional participation. This can be contributed to a number of factors, including the decline in public trust in formal politics and the rise of the media and internet, which allows people to organise and take part in other types of participation. This shows that generally there is not a participation crisis in the UK, with the majority of the public getting involved in some sort of political participation, with only 15% taking no political actions in the year 2000. However, the forms of participation that are growing in popularity are shown to have less effect on the political process of the UK, with the Iraq demonstrations of 2003 and the Student Protests of 2010 resulting in no change of political policy and the e-petitions only resulting in a political debate. This highlights the importance of traditional participation and the problems with the more popular forms of participation. Perhaps a more poignant question would be, does our representative democracy really represent the views of the public, as in reality these new forms of participation should have resulted in more of an effect on UK policy. To describe the current political participation as a crisis is far to extreme, as the figures show the majority of the British public readily get involved. At the present time there is not a crisis in the UK’s political participation, but if the trends continue, we could be faced with one in the coming years, but as long as the public remain involved at some level there can be no crisis.

Free Essays on Blood

Beep, beep, beep, beep. â€Å"You were traveling to class in the morning, it was very foggy. Without warning you saw a car in front of you as you slammed on your brakes your car started to spin and eventually rolled four times. The ambulance came and rushed you to the hospital. During the accident you suffered a head injury and are going to need a blood transfusion to compensate for the blood you have lost.† Beep, beep, beep, beep sounds the heart monitor. Throughout the world, everyday people are being deprived of life. Why? Because the need for donated blood is at devastatingly high levels. Did you know only about 5% of Americans eligible to donate blood, actually donate every year. I have been donating my blood since I was 16 years old, when my mother signed a waiver in order for me to donate my blood to my best friends mom who was very ill. I have done research on the topic of blood donating and today, I will persuade you to take an active role in saving someone’s life by donating blood. According to the American Red Cross every three seconds someone in the United States needs blood. With the occurrence of car accidents, shootings, and other medical emergencies blood is an invaluable resource. Blood is essential to life and there is no artificial substitute that can replace human blood. The National Blood Data Resource Center states that about 10,000 people receive blood transfusions every day and many of them are in jeopardy due to the declining rate of blood donations. All blood types are needed especially the â€Å"universal blood† type O blood, which can be received by anyone. The American Red Cross estimates about 12 million units of whole blood are donated in the U.S. every year and on any given day, approximately 33,000 units are needed. When calculated that leaves an estimated 45,000 units of blood still needed every year. I would be devastated if one of my friends, family members or myself needed some of the 45,000 un... Free Essays on Blood Free Essays on Blood Beep, beep, beep, beep. â€Å"You were traveling to class in the morning, it was very foggy. Without warning you saw a car in front of you as you slammed on your brakes your car started to spin and eventually rolled four times. The ambulance came and rushed you to the hospital. During the accident you suffered a head injury and are going to need a blood transfusion to compensate for the blood you have lost.† Beep, beep, beep, beep sounds the heart monitor. Throughout the world, everyday people are being deprived of life. Why? Because the need for donated blood is at devastatingly high levels. Did you know only about 5% of Americans eligible to donate blood, actually donate every year. I have been donating my blood since I was 16 years old, when my mother signed a waiver in order for me to donate my blood to my best friends mom who was very ill. I have done research on the topic of blood donating and today, I will persuade you to take an active role in saving someone’s life by donating blood. According to the American Red Cross every three seconds someone in the United States needs blood. With the occurrence of car accidents, shootings, and other medical emergencies blood is an invaluable resource. Blood is essential to life and there is no artificial substitute that can replace human blood. The National Blood Data Resource Center states that about 10,000 people receive blood transfusions every day and many of them are in jeopardy due to the declining rate of blood donations. All blood types are needed especially the â€Å"universal blood† type O blood, which can be received by anyone. The American Red Cross estimates about 12 million units of whole blood are donated in the U.S. every year and on any given day, approximately 33,000 units are needed. When calculated that leaves an estimated 45,000 units of blood still needed every year. I would be devastated if one of my friends, family members or myself needed some of the 45,000 un...

Total Quality Management (TQM) 5 performance objectives

Total Quality Management (TQM) 5 performance objectives Free Online Research Papers Q a) Explain the 5 TQM performance objectives. Discuss these with the help of a real life example of a process involving products services, and analyze how the process can be improved upon? b) Illustrate explain your chosen process with the help of a transformation model. Answer a) â€Å"Many methodologies and techniques for improving operational performance have been developed over the years – these provide structured ways of improving company performance, but they do not explicitly tell us where to start. To be able to improve performance effectively, it is important to identify the particular factors of performance to work with. Furthermore, it is important to find those factors that have a high impact on performance.† (www.emeraldinsight.com) Performance improvement highlights processes and systems that need to be improved. Then, there is a follow-up with an action plan to improve the outcomes. The five main performance objectives are: Speed Cost Quality Dependability Flexibility We will discuss these five objectives using the drive-thru process of McDonalds: Speed- How much time does a customer spend in McDonalds drive-thru? McDonalds’ drive-thru target is 90 seconds. But, is it really able to achieve this target? No, not all the time. Many people have complained about drive-thru errors, waiting for their meals in busy times, being stuck in the queue, etc. As the line gets longer, more people choose to bypass the restaurant and dine elsewhere. So, how can McDonalds overcome these problems? ? Proper drive thru management: Since queuing is on a strict first-in first-out basis; later customers are generally not served until all previous customers have been taken care of. Therefore, a whole line of people with quick orders can be held up by a single complex order. McDonalds can instead have a dual line layout if the second customer’s order is ready first, then a green light can be used to signal the second car, so that the person takes his/her’s order goes. Service times are improved dramatically for short orders, yet not impacted for longer orders due to multiple wait queues. The disadvantage of adopting the dual line layout is that it will take up a lot of time be costly for McDonalds to change the layouts of all their restaurants. Plus, some customers will get really annoyed if they came in first but served second. To overcome this, McDonalds can have two windows (both left right), the left one for large orders the right one for small orders. Again, the question is how the small order meals will be bought to the right window if the kitchen is on the left side. Well, an employee can be especially dedicated to transfer the meals from the left window to the right one! ? Introduction of the use of mobile order entry terminals: will allow a restaurant employee to physically go to the drive-through lane and enter orders, which increases through-put by providing two points of entry: the menu sign and the mobile order entry terminal. Problems associated with this option include: (1) interfacing the mobile entry terminal to the current POS (Point of Sale) system; (2) supporting multiple languages and interfaces; (3) constant menu changes and additions; (4) safety of the employee; (5) weather conditions; (6) hardware costs; (7) order sequencing; and (8) the customer is unable to review the menu prior to ordering. ? Adopt a new system: McDonalds can also adopt a new system called Delphi Order Confirmation where a digital camera is attached to the drive-through menu system. â€Å"When an order is placed, a photo is taken of the car and/or the driver from approximately the same angle and distance that the drive-through employee would view when the car is at the payment or presenter window. The digital photo would be matched to the order record created by the POS system. The photo and order record could be presented in a variety of fashions, including a print out on the receipt with the itemized order and number. Alternatively, a touch screen with the patrons picture and order record for each of the cars currently in the drive-through, and when the order is complete, the presenter would tap the photo on the touch screen indicating the order has been filled and the photo record would be removed from the system. This system will help shave about eight seconds from the order to delivery time. Besid es order accuracy, it will also aid in speeding up the drive-thru process and address customer courtesy issues. Specific benefits to this system include easy installation and implementation with existing QSR (Quick Serve Rest) drive-through installations; minimal ongoing support required; limited risk of hardware loss/damage; increased employee safety; fully supported in multi-language settings; and continues to provide the customer an opportunity to review the menu!† (www.freepatentsonline.com) People will be uncomfortable: with the idea, that theyre being photographed every time they make a quick stop for a double cheeseburger with fries. Though, it’s a non-invasive procedure the photos arent stored in the system. Theyre deleted as soon as the order is completed. A lot of restaurants already have surveillance cameras on their premises that photograph people. Another trouble is that it will be costly for McDonalds to implement this system. But then again, it will show good results in the long run! Cost- Is McDonalds charging a lot to its customers? Can they bring down its costs further? ? Value meal strategy: McDonalds can employ the value meal strategy which allows customers to buy a sandwich, french fries, and beverage at a discount when purchased together. Moreover, it can also offer daily specials of special menu items, such as â€Å"9 Dhs Happy meal on Thursdays, from 4:00 PM 8:00PM† or other similar specials. More number of people will be attracted by such offers hence McDonalds’ average cost will decrease. However, the limitation is that these daily specials will bring in a lot of customers but also make it harder for McDonalds’ staff to handle so many people together serve quickly!!! So, they should anticipate having so many customers moulding their operations according to that. ? During busy periods, McDonalds requires more than two to three people who are dedicated to the drive-through process. If it adopts the Delphi order system mentioned on page 2 3, it will not require a lot of employees to take the orders, enter in the system make mistakes in matching the orders with the cars, hence cutting down on its costs. However, this might lead to some employees being made redundant. ? Use Customer order Display: When a drive through worker is taking an order, it can be displayed automatically on a screen available to the customer outside, called the Customer Order Display (COD). The customer can review the COD and correct any mistakes, thus making the ordering process more precise. More precise orders eliminate time wasted from correcting mistakes the cost arising from order errors. ? Energy management: Energy costs represent a significant portion of restaurant expenses. Parking-lot lighting, cooking appliances, ventilation systems, other utility expenses can add up. These are very real costs that impact the profitability of a restaurant. McDonalds can invest in new equipment (which might be costly but beneficial in the long run), maintenance practices and revising some operating procedures. â€Å"Some cost-cutting strategies include are, investing in energy-saving equipment, securing long-term energy contracts, joining energy co-ops, controlling lighting schedules more efficiently, tinting windows, contracting with new energy providers, hiring energy consultants and decreasing deliveries, regular cleaning and upkeep of refrigerator coils. Furthermore, a calendar with the recommended maintenance dates for all parts and equipment, including monthly, quarterly and annual checks can be made.† (www.restaurant.org) Quality- Where does McDonalds stand in terms of is service? Not as good as it used to be. Probably the meals are okay, but what about the employees serving the customers the overall experience which the customers go through? ? Surprise quality checks: For sure, all McDonalds restaurants already go through periodic inspections in terms of quality checks, but they can have more surprise checks if the store fails to pass the inspection the second time, the corporate can take over the store and bring in better employees to ensure that the proper processes and equipment are being used properly. ? Improve the training process taking care of employees: McDonalds can include online e-learning tools for its restaurant staff. In addition to this, it should make sure that the needs of its staff are met they are given recognition for good performance. Once this is done, automatically they will be happy to do their jobs of course happy employees will lead to a better service eventually happy customers! Dependability- How can McDonalds make its processes more reliable? ? If McDonalds opts for dual line layouts a reliable system like Delphi order confirmation system (mentioned on pages 2 3,) then without any doubt its customers can rely on its operations. They will be sure that their meals will always be ready within a specified time without any errors they’ll be able to get out quickly with the dual line layout. Flexibility- Can McDonalds adjust its processes to meet customer requirements? ? Multiple trained staff: McDonalds can have a multiple trained staff in order to be flexible. Again, this will cost money but be beneficial in the long run. ? Ordering on a toll free number: McDonalds can give their customers the option to place their order by calling on a toll free number giving them a unique order number so that their meals are ready when they come to pick them up. The drawback is that an employee will have to be specially delegated to take the orders when customers call! Answer b) â€Å"A transformation process is any activity or group of activities that takes one or more inputs, transforms and adds value to them, and provides outputs for customers. Where the inputs are raw materials, it is relatively easy to identify the transformation involved, as when milk is transformed into cheese and butter.† (openlearn.open.ac.uk) Where the inputs are information/people, the nature of the transformation may be less obvious. For example, a hospital transforms ill patients (the input) into healthy patients (the output). Figure 1: The transformation model Source: (openlearn.open.ac.uk) The transformation model of a McDonald’s drive-thru process will look something like this: Feedback Figure 2: Transformation model of McDonalds drive-thru A customer enters the drive-through in his/her vehicle along a path and stops at a sign/menu-board that contains a menu. The customer is prompted by an order-taker to order his/her’s desired meal. Once the order has been confirmed, the driver proceeds (while his/her meal is prepared packed) toward a drive-through pickup window, in queue behind any previous cars, where the driver submits his/her payment to a window person and then receives his/her food. Some restaurants use a two-window system during busy times, whereby the driver pays at a payment window and receives his food at the pickup window. Figure 3: Drive-thru process shown in pictures Source: (www.google.com) Inputs Output Some inputs are used up in the process of creating goods or services; others play a part in the creation process but are not used up. Three types of resource that may be transformed in operations are: materials – the physical inputs to the process information that is being processed or used in the process customers – the people who are transformed in some way. Many transformation processes produce both goods and services. For example, McDonalds provides a service, but also produces goods such as food and drinks. Transformation processes may result in goods/services (output) that are designed to deliver. Feedback A further component of the transformation model in Figure 1 is the feedback loop. Feedback information is used to control the operations system, by adjusting the inputs and transformation processes that are used to achieve desired outputs. For example, a chef relies on a flow of information from the customer, through the waiter, about the quality of the food. Adverse feedback might lead the chef to change the inputs (for example by buying better quality potatoes) or the transformation process (for example by changing the recipe or the cooking method). Feedback is essential can come from both internal and external sources. Internal sources include testing, evaluation and continuously improving goods and services; external sources include those who supply products or services to end-customers as well as feedback from customers themselves. To sum up, operations performance is an important functional area because it plays a crucial role in determining how well an organization satisfies its customers. Moreover, an understanding of the principles of operations management is important for all organizations, because they provide a systematic way of looking at its processes. Furthermore, the overall transformation process can be further broken down into a series of micro-processes. Attention to processes ‘within’ organizations can provide a powerful tool for understanding organizational performance minimize errors. Bibliography 1. emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType=ArticlehdAction=lnkhtmlcontentId=851437 2. www.freepatentsonline.com 3. http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=161703 4. http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=161697 5. restaurant.org/news/story.cfm?ID=349 Research Papers on Total Quality Management (TQM) 5 performance objectivesRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfThe Project Managment Office SystemOpen Architechture a white paperIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductDefinition of Export QuotasResearch Process Part One

Communication Technology and Its Impact on Social Interaction Research Paper - 1

Communication Technology and Its Impact on Social Interaction - Research Paper Example Technology has been able to develop working conditions in all industries, personal interactions have been shaped and more so the aspect of the social networking through social sites has taken over the communication industry. Â  This topic tries to expound on the technology employed in communication from a social interaction perspective. This process does not precisely refer to face to face interaction but as opposed to technology, mediated interaction. In another case, the main aim of this study is to try and explain why the degree of collective innovation within the work communities has decreased and the way workplace interactions have become more functional. The need to expand new competences caused social tensions and conflicts. On the other hand, the introductions of technology seem to have been the long-awaited answer to people’s problems. These problems are like information problem solving that was elicited in a hot way and took place mainly evolving, but in some cases also stable, social networks. In this case, the information communication technology has both the negative and positive effects on the users. Especially the emergence of Email as a medium of conveying messages from one person to the other via the use of mobile phones and computers.2 Â  Technology has changed the nature and conditions of work both in the offices and out in the fields. Although technology facilitates information transport and extensions of social networks, both inside and outside organizations it reduces face to face interactions. Employees spent most of their times on computers using emails to pass information from one part to the other rather than with their fellow colleagues.

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows Server, IAAS Essay

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows Server, IAAS - Essay Example Cloud computing can be stated as a model for facilitating on-demand, convenient and ubiquitous access to shared pool of computing and configurable resources. This resource sharing platform helps in achieving economies of scale and coherence. The concept of cloud computing is based on a broader aspect of shared services and converged infrastructure. Cloud resources are also dynamically reallocated along with being accessed by multiple users. The entire approach of cloud computing has shifted focus towards OPEX model from basic infrastructure of CAPEX model. This study would reflect upon one of the cloud computing services, known as IAAS. Infrastructure as a service or IAAS is a basic cloud service platform. This mainly refers to online services which abstract user from data partitioning. There are some additional resources offered by IAAS clouds such as raw block storage, firewalls, disk-image library, load balancers, virtual local area networks, software bundles and object storage. W indows Server is a known technology or application based on the concept of IAAS. It is a brand name given to bundle of server operating systems, which are launched by Microsoft. The first server edition was named as Windows NT 3.1; however, there have been advancements in developing Windows Server. This study shall analyse key vulnerabilities witnessed by Windows Server and mitigation strategies implemented over the years. There are some general approaches too that can safeguard the system from external threats.