Analysis of the story “Shakespeare in the bush” Essay

In the story Shakespeare in the Bush, author Laura Bohannan has an argument with a friend about the interpretation of Shakespeare’s literature. Her friend stated that Shakespeare was â€Å"a very English poet† and that people of other cultures could certainly misunderstand his literal meanings. The author then argues that the plots and motivations of Shakespeare’s tragic plays will always be apparent because human nature is more or less universal through out the world. She does however take into account that the customs and translation of his works could produce slight differences in their interpretations. The argument remained a stalemate as she was preparing to travel to Africa. Her friend gave her a copy of Hamlet as a parting gift with hopes that perhaps she would find the true interpretation. On her trip to Africa the author finds out that custom, translations, and culture play a larger role in the interpretation of Shakespeare and that his meanings were not as universal as she previously thought. During her stay with the Tiv in Africa, Bohannan gets a chance to relay the story of Hamlet to the tribe. She began the tale with the appearance of Hamlet’s fathers ghost. Right away the elder questioned this. The concept of someone having a ghost or living after they die was very foreign to them. They were convinced that the author had gotten the story wrong because the only explanation for a spirit could be that it was an omen sent by a witch. Horatio was also viewed as a fool for not bringing such an important matter before a person with proper knowledge of such omens. The Tiv’s perspective was that hamlet this matter should have never been brought to Hamlet’s attention. It is obvious that their customs and traditions were already biasing their interpretation of the story. If Hamlet were not informed of this â€Å"omen† he would have never sought revenge for the death of his father, thus changing the plot dramatically. Another major complication with the story the Tiv had, was Hamlet’s uncles’ succession to the throne. In Tiv society it is only natural for the brother of the chief to become chief in the event of his brothers death. The Tiv also commended the speed with which Hamlet’s mother remarried after the death of her husband. A wife of one of the elders overheard this part of the story and explained that a quick remarriage is ideal. She stated that  without a husband the farm would not be cultivated, therefore a quick remarriage was essential so that lack of food would not occur. It was obvious to the Tiv woman that the mother had done this in the best interests of the family so Hamlet had no reason to feel negatively about it. The author tried in vain to explain why these things would make Hamlet miserable. Fear of famine was not on the mind of Hamlet’s mother for she was powerful enough not to rely on her husband for food. Western society would view this remarriage as a form of incest and would not be socially acceptable. Also a mourning period would be expected before a widow could be remarried and this was not done. In the elders minds these were normal events and which should not motivate anyone to be depressed. This proves that the authors’ argument of motivation of the greater tragedies being clear everywhere is flawed. The Tiv elders had many explanations for the behavior of Hamlet, which held the authors interest. They all agreed that Hamlet was being bewitched and this was the cause of his strange behavior. They clarified that only a male member of ones family had the power to bewitch people therefore it was clearly king Claudius who was behind this. The Tiv also had an explanation for he supernatural events that occurred. They believed the presence of his fathers ghost was understandably an omen sent by a witch to Hamlet to tell him the truth of his father’s death while trying not to offend the current king. Although these answers were not the same the author viewed she found them fascinating and she modeled the remaining parts of the story around them. Bohannon was learning that the Tiv culture and belief systems did not allow the storyline to progress in the same way as Shakespeare wrote it. After hearing of the death of Ophelia from the author, the Tiv elder wished to know whom her male relatives were in order to find who was responsible. Upon hearing that Laertes, Ophelia’s only living male relative, had returned from France the elder was bold enough to offer his prediction for the end of the story. He proceeded to tell how Laertes was scheming to get money to pay off his debts. According to the elder, Laertes had bewitched his sister in order to sell her body to the witches. The Author protested to this by saying that the body was in fact buried and Laertes had jumped into the  grave and was followed by Hamlet. The elder then concluded that Hamlet had jumped in after him to prevent Laertes from snatching the body. He continued to say that the son of a chief would not want to see another man to become rich and powerful. He said Laertes would be angry with this and try to kill Hamlet. Bohannan had to agree with this although it may not have been exact; Laertes did wish to kill Hamlet. Perhaps the elder’s abstract interpretations of the story had led him to universal conclusion after all. In his own eyes, the elder understood the meaning of the story correctly even though his thoughts did not match with the authors. After the stories conclusion the elder added his thoughts about the tales finish. The poison beer that killed Hamlets mother was obviously meant for the winner of the fight. According to him if Laertes won the duel, the great chief would have given him the poison. This way no one would no that the king arranged Hamlets death. In addition the elder claimed that the chief would have done this also for fear of Laertes witchcraft. Someone who kills his own sister with witchcraft is potentially very dangerous. Very pleased that he had correctly interpreted the story, the elder told Bohannan that she should tell them more stories from her country. The elders would then instruct her about the true meaning of the stories so that she could return home unlighted by their wisdom. The Tiv felt that the author was the one Reexamining the argument, which fueled this story, it is clear to see that the author’s friend was correct. The difference in culture had a large impact on the interpretation of Hamlet. The argument Laura Bohannan presents is flawed. Even though the Tiv elder was able to loosely predict the outcome of the story, Bohannan failed to prove that the plot and motives of Shakespeare’s great tragedies were universal. The Tiv had very different rationalizations for the plot progression and the character motives. The author did not take seriously enough the enormous impact the Tivs different customs and traditions would have on their analysis of Hamlet. Through out this story you can see that human nature does plays no part in the Tivs interpretations of Hamlet. The author learns that culture is the main reason for these differences of opinion. Taking into account the cultural differences of the author, her friend, and the Tiv it seems clear why they  would interpret Shakespea re in very different ways.

Greek Mythology: Naricissus relevancy to today Essay

Many tales have been told of Narcissus, the son of a god who fell to his peril due to his own vanity and love for himself. The story is told according to The Mythology Guide, and this is how it goes: Narcissus was cruel not in the case of Echo alone. He shunned all the rest of the nymphs as he had done poor Echo. One day a maiden, who had in vain endeavored to attract him, uttered a prayer that he might some time or other feel what it was to love and meet no return of affection. The avenging goddess heard and granted the  prayer. There was a clear fountain, with water like silver, to which the shepherds never drove their flocks. Nor did the mountain goats resort to it, nor any of the beasts of the forest; neither was it defaced with fallen leaves or branches; but the grass grew fresh around it, and the rocks sheltered it from the sun. Hither came one day the youth fatigued with hunting, heated and thirsty. He stooped down to drink, and saw his own image in the water; he thought it was some beautiful water spirit living in the fountain. He stood gazing with admiration at those bright eyes, those locks curled like the locks of Bacchus or Apollo, the  rounded cheeks, the ivory neck, the parted lips, and the glow of health and exercise over all. He fell in love with himself. He brought his lips near to take a kiss; he plunged his arms in to embrace the beloved object. It fled at the touch, but returned again after a moment and renewed the fascination. He could not tear himself away; he lost all thought of food or rest, while he hovered over the brink of the fountain gazing upon his own image. He talked with the supposed spirit: â€Å"Why, beautiful being, do you shun me? Surely my face is not one to repel you. The nymphs love me, and you yourself look not indifferent upon me. When I stretch forth my arms you do the same; and you smile upon me and answer my beckonings with the like.† His tears fell into the water and disturbed the image. As he saw it depart, he exclaimed, â€Å"Stay, I entreat you! Let me at least gaze upon you, if I may not  touch you.† With this, and much more of the same kind, he cherished the flame that consumed him, so that by degrees he lost his color, his vigor, and the beauty which formerly had so charmed the nymph Echo. She kept near him, however, and when he exclaimed, â€Å"Alas! Alas!† she answered him with the same words. He pined away and died; and when his shade  passed the Stygian river, it leaned over the boat to catch a look of itself in the waters. The nymphs mourned for him, especially the water-nymphs; and when they smote their breasts, Echo smote hers also. They prepared a funeral pile, and would have burned the body, but it was nowhere to be found; but in its place a flower, purple within, and surrounded with white leaves, which bears the name and preserves the memory of Narcissus.(paraphrased from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book III, Narcissus and Echo, lines 477-745) Vanity and the need for outward beauty must have always been an issue in the lives of men and women for this story of Narcissus to ring true even today. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines beauty as, â€Å"The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.† Interesting definition in light of what men and women strive for in what they believe to be beautiful. The internet, magazines, television and the movies tell us what we should look like and what we should be striving for. What all the hysteria toward perfection has meant is billions of dollars spent with in the world of plastic surgery. A person that is dissatisfied with their outward appearance can easily have any part operated on, or filled with fat, or injected with silicon or collagen and viola, perfection! Well not exactly, in fact most people that have plastic surgery want more. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, â€Å"43% of all patients have two and three procedures done within the first three years of their first procedure.† The number one procedure in the Unites States in 2003 was Rhinoplasty, which is the reshaping of the nose. Three hundred thousand Americans had this type  of surgery, with Liposuction running a close second taking three hundred thousand twenty people having their fat sucked out from different areas of their bodies. Leaving breast implants, tummy tucks and eye lid lifts coming in next with over eight hundred thousand surgeries done a year. A quarter of all breast implants are later removed because of complications or concern of future complications. Many of the people interviewed state that they want these surgeries so that they can feel better about themselves, but really more often then not it seems that it is more about what others think. This brings us to media and the pressure for beauty that is beamed into our living rooms daily. Television shows such as The Swan, supposedly takes, self-proclaimed â€Å"ugly ducklings† and they are given the unique opportunity to realize their dreams on an unscripted series that turns a fairy tale into reality. In its first season, THE SWAN became the No. 1 makeover show on television among Adults 18-49. THE SWAN promises to take women who are stuck in a rut and revitalizes them by revealing their beauty and confidence. It offers them an incredible opportunity to undergo physical, mental and emotional transformations and follows them through the process. This series culminates in a spectacular pageant in which one woman ultimately is crowned â€Å"The Swan.† Each contestant is assigned a team of specialists – a coach, therapist, trainer, cosmetic surgeon, and dentist – who work together to design the ideal individually tailored program for her. The team assists the contestants in an overall transformation that is not just about physical change. Two contestants, who compete for a place in the pageant finale, are featured in every episode. The reveals of their individual transformations are especially dramatic because the women are not permitted to see themselves in a mirror during the three-month process. Thus, not only do they find out who has been selected to compete in the Swan Pageant and who will go home to her family, but they see themselves anew for the first time. This sounds so harmless while being life changing. Are these women really ugly ducklings and according to who? The description of the show sounds like it might be actually helping people feel better about themselves. It is the process and competition that makes the whole idea rather unappealing to so many not to  mention narcissistic, for in the end of each show the women finally get to see themselves after three months of dieting, exercise, plastic surgery from head to toe, tooth bleaching or veneers, hair coloring, cutting, and make-up, to reveal, â€Å"I’m so pretty† and then many of them say to the host of the show that they can not stop looking at themselves. They are admiring the outside appearance that has just taken a huge transformation. Then in the end there can only be one Swan and of course the other sixteen finalists are left to feel like they were not good enough or beautiful enough to be chosen, and all though they reinvented themselves they have been lowered back down to be losers yet again. Similar to The Swan is a makeover show on MTV called I Want a Famous Face, where people have plastic surgery to look like their favorite celebrity. Shows such as these inadvertently train people that it is acceptable to change their bodies so other will be happier with the way they look, and so that they can love themselves for the first times in their lives. In these days of plastic surgery to redefine ourselves there would not be a balance in the universe without a psychological diagnosis for these kinds of behaviors. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary describes Narcissism as, â€Å"excessive love or admiration of oneself, or a psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem. Some narcissism could be healthy, â€Å"an individual’s existence would be in jeopardy if some narcissistic traits were not present. These traits protect the ego from severe damage inflicted by others.†(7,Vankin) In this case it can be protective to have some self love and overall it is important to have a healthy self image. Vankin goes on to further explain what true narcissism is, a pattern of traits and behaviors which signify infatuation and obsession with one’s self to the exclusion of all others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one’s gratification, dominance and ambition. According to Vankin, most narcissists (75%) are men. Sam Vankin, Ph.D. has written a book on the subject of Narcissim, entitiled, Magnificent Self Love, in this book he describes narcissism as a personality disorder with distinguishable traits. Feels grandiose and self-important (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents to the point of lying, demands to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements) Is obsessed with fantasies of unlimited success, fame, fearsome power or omnipotence, unequalled brilliance (the cerebral narcissist), bodily beauty or sexual performance (the somatic narcissist), or ideal, everlasting, all-conquering love or passion Firmly convinced that he or she is unique and, being special, can only be understood by, should only be treated by, or associate with, other special or unique, or high-status people (or institutions) Requires excessive admiration, adulation, attention and affirmation – or, failing that, wishes to be feared and to be notorious (narcissistic supply) Feels entitled. Expects unreasonable or special and favorable priority treatment. Demands automatic and full compliance with his or her expectations Is â€Å"interpersonally exploitative†, i.e., uses others to achieve his or her own ends Devoid of empathy. Is unable or unwilling to identify with or acknowledge the feelings and needs of others Constantly envious of others or believes that they feel the same about him or her Arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes coupled with rage when frustrated, contradicted, or confronted Obviously it is fair to say that there are people in this world that could be so in love with themselves that it could be to their own demise. It is also good to know that although there is not a tremendous amount of research on the disorder that there is help out there for these individuals. The story does not end here, there is more to our hero Narcissus. The author goes on to say that when Narcissus dies, the goddess of the forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears. â€Å"Why do you weep?† the goddess asked. â€Å"I weep for Narcissus,† the lake replied. â€Å"Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus,† they said, â€Å"for though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand.† â€Å"But†¦ was Narcissus beautiful?† the lake asked. â€Å"Who better than you to know that?† the goddesses said in wonder. â€Å"After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!† The lake was silent for some time. Finally it said: â€Å"I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.† This story contains the essence of the impact we can have on others without even knowing it. People should remember that the reflection of ourselves, in the eyes of others during our communication with them, is usually the one that we put there ourselves. Perhaps Thoreau said it best: What a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate† – Henry David Thoreau

Asses whether it is accurate to label the american revolution as a Essay

Asses whether it is accurate to label the american revolution as a political revolution and the french revolution as a social revolution - Essay Example in rebelling against despotic structures and systems were witnessed in Europe and beyond; citizens rose up together to overthrow unpopular tyrannical regimes leading to a complete transformation. U.S and France are among the countries that witnessed remarkable revolutions. As indicated, revolutions can be generated and developed based on social or political grounds or both. The question that has puzzled many is the nature of the revolutions that occurred in America and France; whether they were social or political revolutions. The question is, was the American Revolution a political revolution? What about the French revolution, was it a social revolution? This paper aims at assessing evidence to prove that indeed the American Revolution was a political one while France, on the other hand, experienced social revolution. While there are many similarities in the two revolutions, what stands out is that American upheaval was politically driven unlike the French one that saw an uprising in response to inadequate social order and stability (Editorial Notes, 1959). One thing that distinctly justifies the American Revolution as politically instigated was government instability at that time. The gravity with which demonstrations were organized to overthrow the British regime justifiably attributes this revolution to political causes. The American colonialist sought to scrap the British oppressive systems that levied high taxes from the citizenry. 1776 was the year when Americans said enough was enough for political oppression leading to the transformation of political structures in the country. The French Revolution, however, was primarily based on the poor social structures and systems. Although it had shreds of political motives, the prime reason for effecting change was to revolutionize the existing social order (Cogliano, 2010). The France’s social stratification in three distinct estates brought up feuds. The larger estates that comprised of a large population

Rhetorical Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rhetorical Analysis Paper - Essay Example So many Pidgin pessimists," gives a lot of promise. And he's not stopping, now or in the foreseeable future. "Can you come up wit one more positive way of looking at dis piece o'wot Try tink. Right on. Ho, you get 'em. Das how. We get ONE Pidgin optimist in da house" is as convincing as the essay itself those who will oppose the guy will have a difficult time. "In da real world get planny Pidgin prejudice, ah. Dey, da ubiquitous dey, dey is everywea brah; dey say dat da perception is dat da standard english talker is going automatically be perceive fo' be mo' intelligent than da Pidgin talker regardless wot dey talking, jus from HOW dey talking," he complains as he spars biases. And one imagines a Huck, with slumped shoulders and head cast downward trying to avoid people at daylight, processing his thoughts in his own world dominated only by an African American slave Jim, and at times, by the more acceptable and lovable Tom Sawyer. It's kine lonely, if one sees through it, so much like the cause Pidgin Guerilla Tonouchi is fighting for. Biases ran amuck in a global culture of majority rules as Tonouchi might strongly be shaking his head as he asserts that, "but I no need really look da studies, cuz I can see dis happening insai my classrooms" "Oh Frazier, you're so smart. ... He recalled the experience of his Oriental parents in the 50s to 60s, "If dey talked Pidgin in school den da teachah would slap 'em wit da ruler. Ka-pow. Ow, ow, ow" up to his generation, "You gotta enunciate and tell, "May I please use the restroom" And if you no tell 'em li'dat, den you gotta hold your shishi, brah." He is standing up. "If I knew den wot I know now, HO, I would've SUED da DOE for da kine cruel and unusual punishment. Million dollah settlement right dea," and he depreciates in kine funny, if not yet hilarious manner. He's shaking his head, "wuz equating talking Pidgin to smoking cigarettes cuz he gotta "cut back." If he talk too much Pidgin, den he going get Pidgin cancer and he going DIE, brah. Pua ting. Sad yeah, da tinking" but he's not giving up, nor going away and turn from his cause. In fact, he is facing the challenge head on as he asked his class, "Try tell me all da tings dat people told you ova da years dat you CANNOT do wit Pidgin." And dis wot dey came up wit: Dey Say if You Talk Pidgin You No Can . . . be smart be important be successful be professional be taken seriously be one teacher be one doctor be one lawyer be a government worker be big businessman be da Pope be the president be the wife of the president Dey say if you talk Pidgin you no can . . . communicate eat at fine dining restaurants enter a beauty pageant (and win)" and the list is endless, but he is not stopping. And he is proving the Pidgin detractors wrong. "but I tink so people jus find 'em funny cuz dey know lot of da tings on da list is not true. Bogus li'dat. Why Cuz dey know Pidgin people who eat at fancy restaurants, cuz dey know Pidgin

Boston Matrix Tool with Product Life Cycle Management Assignment

Boston Matrix Tool with Product Life Cycle Management - Assignment Example It will manage to impact on its ten years strategic market share plan for the system since it will incorporate mature market. This means that the company is not a new entrant in the market, and it can only move on without challenges that can hinder it to develop the strategic market plan for the next ten years. The company has the opportunities of using drones and Geographic Information System for managing oil, gas theft and spillage along the pipelines and their goals is likely to be achieved within the specified timeline. Since the company has been operational for a longer time, challenges are solved when they emerge and thus the ten-year strategic plan being obtained by the specified deadline. Since the enterprise has established a strategy to deal with theft and spillage of the pipes, prevention of environment degradation is one of the impacts that are going to be achieved. For example, air and water pollutions are going to be minimized since the industries can embark on the stra tegies set. For example, pollution will be controlled through immersion of carbon (Henderson, 2004). Water is polluted due to spillage of oil, and this can only be curbed if pipes that transport oil are going to be lick proof and use the synchronization mode of oil transportation.

Anthropology and kinship with Dr. Mindy Morgan Essay

Anthropology and kinship with Dr. Mindy Morgan - Essay Example Anthropologists study kinship relations because it structures and influence the lives of many individuals and family organization, which affect larger cultural, political, and economic institutions. Family organization influences the larger cultural institutions because cultural practices such as weddings are referred to as total social phenomena (Rosman, Rubel and Weisgrau 114). Consequently, Different cultures hold diversified norms, values, and beliefs, which in return bring into play the political organization as well as the economical activates. Increasing gay lifestyles has led to a heated debate on the definition of marriage and family. Gay marriage constitutes of two men with sexual relationship, which is outlawed by statutes of many states. However, part of the American culture has consented to the anthropologists study on marriage and says marriage cannot be defined in such that it excludes the relationships of same-sex couples, which raise questions on the parentage and childbearing process (Rosman, Rubel and Weisgrau 150). Biologically, two men cannot reproduce; hence, even though there are other innovations to have children, the gay family will not have adopted children, redefining marriage and family through only one aspect, love (Rosman, Rubel and Weisgrau

Take-Home Exam Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Take-Home Exam - Term Paper Example In other words, shots must record what is in a scene for a successful video production to take place. For instance, the short scenes below are taken for the movie gossip girl. Establishing shot – when an action is to take place in a hall, every area or point that would be used in the process of video production are covered first before the exact shooting begins. For instance, there is random aerial coverage of a city of investigation in the CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) Productions. Wide shot – a boy standing leaning on the wall, and the shot reveals his feet almost close to the bottom of the frame and his head close to the top of the frame. The boy’s height appears to consume almost the whole of the width of the shot. Medium shot- a girl standing next to a window, her head can be seen, part of her arms, a small part of the window and that of the wall around. Her gestures can be seen though not clearly. More attention of the shot is on the girl more than the surrounding environment or the setting. Medium close-up – the girl standing next to the window is brought out through a slightly sharp attention. The camera brings her out more clearly but still section of her arms, head and belly still visible. I would prefer to produce an action movie but with romantic scenes. The sources of my ideas would be the professionals in the movie production industry, newspapers and magazines, a collection of movies may be in a movie store. The available resources would also contribute significantly in determining the type of movie to produce. This is because it is important to match the depth of the available resources with the requirement of a particular genre of a movie. There are movies that are expensive to produce since they require many resources (Aronson, 2006). It involves the planning of the movie project in terms of creating

Texan Foods Case Study 2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Texan Foods 2 - Case Study Example Success in this project would have created significant saving for the Texan foods and as such, my team was highly energized and optimistic of exploiting the chance. As you had made it clear to me, the success of this project would have presented a very good opportunity to show case my skills and expertise to bring reputation to Texan Food. As such, I was very confident that the pilot project would have succeeded. With our collaboration counterpart, the Valley, we laid ground work where we agreed on the product to be piloted and the exact level of collaboration. Important details were agreed upon and the project was destined to have a blasting start. Texan wanted to start slowly by sharing little information at a time while the Valley wanted the collaboration to give all information at once. This created differences hence halting the implementation process Challenges were experienced as the link technology failed to connect the two companies. This was basically due to non-connective and non-synchronized technologies. This issue was, however, solved when the two companies settled for common software. Despite experiencing the aforementioned predicaments, it is noteworthy that the project made some incredible achievements. The two sides were able to utilize their resources economically. Additionally, their inventory counts were more accurate. Texan has also improved on inventory accuracy by 0.6%. The sale representatives for the two entities also related very well as a result of the project. Based on the findings that have been presented here, it is clear that most of the challenges that the project faced can be controlled through proper planning and correct control system. The two companies can come up with clear scope of operations to prevent future discrepancies. As such, they will be able to agree before hand on the amount of products from each company to be tried in the project.

Exploring the use of outdoor play to support children's development in Dissertation

Exploring the use of outdoor play to support children's development in a nursery in Beckton - Dissertation Example Being able to play outdoors was perceived to be good for one’s health and well-being. The respondents reported that supervision of outdoor play entailed challenges in keeping the environment safe for the children, adding variety to their play and keeping them appropriately dressed for whatever weather there is during their outdoor play. Analysis of the data led to recommendations of using a bigger number of participants, improvement of the questionnaire and using focus group interviews to yield more qualitative insights from practitioners in the early years. Purposes and Aims This study purports to explore how outdoor play supports children’s development in one nursery school in Beckton. This children’s centre caters to very young children aged two to five years. Being aware that play serves many purposes for children (Bruce, 2004; Eden, 2008; Wood & Attfield, 2005), this research wants to explore first-hand, what teachers, practitioners, parents and children the mselves think about outdoor play and how it is beneficial to them and children’s growth and development. Most studies focus on the benefits of play, however, not many studies specifically refer to outdoor play, especially those which are unstructured. Some studies focus on the safety of outdoor play (White, 2008; Clements, 2004).Allowing young children to play freely out in the sun without much physical constraints offered indoors may yield behaviours and outcomes which are not usually studied. This is the rationale for the choice of research – to find out more about what outdoor play can do to support children’s early development and how adults around them view outdoor play Outdoor play is differentiated with indoor play by the venue and nature of the play experience. As the word implies, outdoor play is held outdoors, with less physical constraints and more space to move around. The literature likens the outdoors to a garden (Herrington, 2001; Froebel, 1898; W ood & Attfield, 2005) where large motor play is encouraged (Wellhousen, 2002). Outdoor play has been found to provide several benefits for children, among these, physical gains, promotion of spirituality, independence, critical thinking and enhancement of children’s love for nature (Lindon, 2000; Faegre et al, 1958). It also is a natural motivation for social interaction with peers. This research will be useful for teachers, parents, caregivers and other adults involved in the care and education of young children. Their young wards are at the stage when they are curious, physically active and restless to find out more about their world. This research attempts to bring light to the topic of outdoor play and provide ideas to adults on how they can use outdoor play to support the children’s over-all growth and development. This research is conducted to find out the following: How is outdoor play used to support the children’s development? What are the possible bene fits of outdoor play? What are the possible challenges in provision for outdoor play? Data Results and Discussion of Findings This section presents the results of the study as well as discusses its implications for outdoor play and its significance in the development of young children as viewed by teachers and practitioners, parents and the children themselves. Presentation of findings culled from raw

Group discussion and leadership Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Group discussion and leadership - Research Paper Example The best leaders in any environment are transformational leaders since they are inspiring and have the capacity to empower and develop the confidence of their followers. Therefore, when a leader embodies such traits their followers tend to respect them more and this results in more successful teams. Group facilitation often requires one to have strong leadership attributes so they can not only control and manage the group but also discipline and act as the mediator when there are problems between the members (AHRQ 11). A leader should strive to set an example for the members and thus they should exemplify the attributes that the want the members of their group to embrace (Wright 30). For instance, if one wants group members to be diligent and punctual they should ensure they engender these virtues so they set an example thereby leading from the front. When a leader walks the talk, his followers are likely to admire and copy them as opposed to when they just issue instructions and ord ers without adhering to them and expecting their followers to comply. When facilitating a group it is crucial that the leader is well informed on the subject matter; however, not implying that they should necessarily be more knowledgeable than everyone else should, but they should at least have the basic information. A good leader must be competent in the field they expect to lead otherwise they will lose their authority and respect and as a result, their effectiveness and legitimacy as leaders would be seriously jeopardized (Bui). During my experience as a group leader, I was not very keen on gathering the prerequisite information and I made the mistake of assuming that since everyone else will have carried out his or her own background research, I would not be conspicuous in my ignorance. This turned out to be a costly assumption since most of the members had either carried out narrow research and some completely neglected theirs. Thus, during one of the meetings I realized that t he majority of the members expected the few diligent researchers to do the legwork for the rest of the group that was contrary to our group’s rules. Normally, I would have heavily reprimanded them, but in this case I was no different from them and when they realized I had not done my part they seemed to feel justified in their non-compliance. Additionally one should be a good time manager so that they can manage the activities of the group and divide the time efficiently so that each activity and each member is allocated enough time. Facilitation further calls for one to be a very good listener, as in this case they can understand the needs of the individuals in the group by listening objectively without interrupting or being judgmental. Therefore, one can discern the members concerns and learn to listen for and spot common grounds, and use them to create unity by taking advantage opinions or views shared by all the members. Much of a facilitator’s job involves plannin g and organizing; thus, to effectively lead a group one must have good managerial skills so they can plan ahead for group activities as well as prepare contingencies by considering all possible scenarios. I believe I presented most of the qualities mentioned herein apart from the aforementioned incident where I had neglected my research, as I always planned for the group activities, researched exhaustively on the subject and even prepared other activities just in case the initial plans did not materialize. During my

Wire affects its resistance Essay Example for Free

Wire affects its resistance Essay Current: Current is the movement of electrical charge the flow of electrons through the electronic circuit. Current is measured in AMPERES (A). A current is a flow of electrons, the higher the current the more electrons flow round the circuit every second. Batteries can make electrons move. They can push electrons through wires made of copper and other metals. Materials like copper let electrons flow through are called conductors. The tiny electrons squeeze between the atoms in the wire. Some materials stop electrons passing through, these are called insulators. Plastics and rubber are insulators. The voltage will be measured so I will be able to calculate the resistance using Ohms Law. The current will be kept the same throughout the experiment and then will be used also to help me find the resistance using Ohms Law. (`Wires Wires warm up when a current flows through. Thin wires warm up much more than thick ones, and some types of wires warm up more than others. They warm up because of collisions inside the wire generating heat. If too much current were passed through a wire it would melt. (`ElectricityElectricity is lots of tiny particles called electrons moving along a wire. Electrons are much smaller then atoms. In fact, they are parts of atoms, so there are electrons in everything. (`Circuit A circuit is a path for electrons to flow through. The path is from a negative terminal power source, through the various components and onto the positive terminal. Think of it as a circle, the paths may split of here and there, but they always form a line from the negative to the positive. NOTE: Negatively charged electrons in a conductor are attracted to the positive side of the power source. This helped me to set up my circuit. ( `Conductor A conductor is a material (usually a metal) that allows electrical current to pass easily through. The current is made up of electrons. This is apposed to an insulator, which prevents the flow of electricity through it. Even good conductors have some resistance to flow through it. The conductor that I am going to use is copper wire, which has resistance. Electrons need energy from the power source (in this case a power pack) to travel. The further they have to travel, the more energy it takes so the resistance increases. In Metals The Current Is Carried By Electrons 1. Electric current will only flow if there are charges, which can freely move. 2. Metals contain a sea of Free Electrons (which are negatively charged). And flow throughout the metal if they are given energy. 3. This is what allows electric current to flow so well in materials. ( `Resistance Resistance is anything that causes an opposition to the flow of electricity in a circuit. It is used to control the amount of voltage and /or amperage in a circuit. Everything in a circuit causes a resistance (even wire). It is measured in OHMS (? ). Resistance occurs when the electrons travelling along the wire collide with the atoms of the wire. These collisions slow down the flow of electrons causing resistance. Resistance is a measure of how hard it is to move the electrons through the wire. The resistance of a wire depends on the number of collisions the electrons have with the atoms there will a larger number of collisions which will increase the resistance of the wire. If a length of a wire contains a certain number of atoms, when that length is increased the number of atoms will also increase. E. g. If there is a wire that is half the length of another wire it would also have half the number of atoms, this means that the electrons will collide with the atoms half the amount of times. Also if the length of the wire is trebled or quadrupled then the resistance would also treble or quadrupled. My prediction was derived from this information. All of this information I collected originated from the Website, www. studentcentral. co. uk from encyclopaedias such as The Oxford Childrens Encyclopaedia and computer encyclopaedias such as Encarta. (This scientific information relates to my experiment by stating that the longer the lengths of wire the higher the resistance. (Preliminary Results Length Of Wire (mm): Voltage (V): Current (A): Resistance (? ). (Therefore this information supports my prediction that the longer the length of wire the higher the resistance. Obtaining Evidence: (The variables I kept the same are: (The same material used for the wire, (The same cross-sectional area of wire, (And the same temperature of the wire. (The potential difference from the power pack: 2V. (The current, which measured the rheostat, was kept at: 0. 5A. (The lengths of the copper wire: (0 mm, (100 mm, (200 mm, (300 mm, (400 mm, (500 mm, (600 mm, (700 mm, (800 mm, (900 mm, (1000 mm. (The readings from the voltmeter and the ammeter were measured to two decimal places. Test One: Length Of Wire (mm): Voltage (V): Current (A): (These tests are reliable because you can see patterns, which is as the length increased the resistance increased. (It is a suitable range of lengths because I have done over six sets of results (0 1000 millimetres), so I will be able to identify a line of best fit to show my results. (My results are accurate, as they show as the length of the wire increased the resistance increased proportional to it. Averages: Length Of Wire (mm):Voltage (V): Current (A): Resistance (? ). (To find the resistance I divided the voltage by the current, e. g. Length of wire 100mm: Resistance = 0. 02 0. 5 Resistance = 0. 04 ? (My results show as the length of the wire increased the resistance increased proportional to it. I know this because my graph shows a fairly strong positive correlation, which tells me that as the length of the wire increases the resistance of the wire increases, proportional to it. (Also my results show when I started at zero (0 millimetres) it was a good control to show no change. (The results were not exactly proportional as I expected, but the graph still justices my prediction that as the length increases the resistance increases also. This was because the longer the wire the more electrons there were, subsequently it was more likely that the electrons were going to collide with other electrons, thus there was a higher resistance. (The resistance depends on the number of collisions there were between the atoms of the material, which was copper. The length of the wire affects the resistance because the number of atoms in the wire increases as the length of the wire increases in proportion. Hence there is a higher resistance. Evaluating Evidence: (I think that the procedure of the experiment was fairly accurate as I recorded my results to two decimal places and also because on my average table of results the increase in resistance could be easily identified. Overall I think that my procedure during the investigation was well planned out. (The main problem I had was when I was reading the ammeter and the voltmeter as the readings kept fluctuating and took time for the readings to settle down, which as a result affected my results. (The ranges between my results were small and fairly close on the tables, which indicated accuracy. Although when I converted my results into a line graph I found that six out of the eleven results were anomalous results, which was probably due to human error and probably due to defaults in the meters, as they were battery powered. Also the sensitivity of the meters as they were not very sensitive and therefore my results were affected by this. (Even though there were anomalous results they were fairly close to the line of best fit as they were either just above or just below the line of best fit. Therefore the results were quite accurate and so I felt that I did not need to repeat any of the results and that I did not need to record any more results, as the results still justified my prediction. (Furthermore I could have changed the line of best fit so that more of the results fitted in with the line. (The improvements I could have made to make the results more accurate would be to use a much more sensitive ammeter and voltmeter, so I could have recorded my results to three or four decimal places, which would have made my results more accurate. Moreover I could have had shorter length ranges to show better accurate results, to see how a small increase in length affected the resistance compared to a large increase in length. So I could have use the range of lengths from zero millimetres to twenty millimetres to 40 millimetres and so on rather than the range I chose, which was zero millimetres to 100 millimetres to 2000 millimetres and so on, which therefore would have affected the results (resistance). As a result this would have shown the pattern better, clearer and easier to point out and it would have improved the line of best fit. Wednesday 27th 2001 F. Nazmin Hussain 10. E.

Employee Motivation Levels in Hospitality Industry

Employee Motivation Levels in Hospitality Industry INTRODUCTION The most important intangible product in service industry is the employee itself. Losses caused due to replacing them adds up to the economic s. One of the important tools of employee management ‘Motivation has been missing out of ‘TO DO list from the organisation directors. They seems to believe that since there are less jobs outside available due to recession in todays job market, employee would not leave and we are in favour to keep them. Fewer turnovers experienced from employee side but what about the productivity of employee. Can that be tackled by forcing the employee to do whatever as the contract always says, ‘duties could vary according to business requirements, or disciplinary follow? Organizations become better places to work through improving leadership skills and corporate culture change. Businesses working on a network of hierarchies imagine a business like a triple-decker bus, the directors of the business are on the top deck, the managers are on the middle deck and the employees are on the lower deck. As the bus runs on its normal day to day business, down the normal streets picking up normal day to day people. What is happening is that the bus should be stopping at various bus stops in order to recruit new employees and managers, so that they can come on the bus and of course obviously let the team members off the bus if they decide to leave. The directors would begin to become conscious that the number of employees leaving the bus is increasing and they are not really quite sure why? So they decide what they should do is to commission an employee survey. Now the cost of the employee turnover is obviously something that is an issue or can be an issue for va rious businesses. All organizations heavily invest in the human resource department. The cost of interviewing, hiring, training, developing, maintaining and retaining employees are very high. Therefore, managers at all costs must minimize employees dissatisfaction and take every step possible to reduce it. Although, there is no standard framework for understanding the employees turnover process as whole, a wide range of factors have been found useful in interpreting employee turnover (Kevin, 2004). Therefore, there is need to develop a fuller understanding of the employee turnover, more especially, the sources. What determines employee turnover, affects and strategies that managers can put in place to minimize turnover. During this weakened economic condition and heightening competition, organizations must continue to develop tangible products and provide services which are based on strategies created by employees. These employees are extremely crucial to the organization since their value to the orga nization is essentially intangible and not easily replicated. Therefore, senior managers must recognize that employees are major contributors to the efficient achievement of the organizations success (Abbasi, 2000). Managers should control employee turnover for the benefit of the organizations success. AIM Critically analyse employee motivation level in hospitality industry with a particular focus on operations management. OBJECTIVE 1. To investigate the need of motivation in hospitality industry 2. To examine the damage caused with de-motivation 3. To critically access alternatives in reducing employee turnover 4. To provide strategic evaluation for motivating operations management whilst smooth running of the business RATIONALE Several businesses now days are easily slipping into administration; it is not only several job loses but also a huge loss of efforts made by operating team to bring the business to a certain stage to employ that many employees. Truly speaking, businesses are not built solely to provide jobs and the best comfortable environment for people within the community. They are out there to make money and progress which could be any industry. The purpose of this dissertation is to focus on hospitality industry, where we need to find the root of employee turnover. It is easy for a staff at lower level to move in and out of an organisation in relation to the operating management team. What causes that to happen at first place? Do line managers not see the importance of increasing motivation during difficult times? Are management in need of motivation themselves? Are they much more worried about there own survival? So if the upper management team is satisfied, they would certainly be in a positi on to furnish their head of departments easily. Global economic condition is struggling and has to face continues challenges with competitions growing. It cannot be right for a profit organisation to just vanish with small bumps of recession. Of course, both employee and business are affected with these downfalls. A need has aroused to look into this matter because as its a fact that turnover has always been one of the high business expenses, thus at the time of recession as the economic conditions are not stable, businesses should do something to beat this cost in hand. Motivation is the cure that spurns employees eagerness to work without pressure. To say that nobody can motivate a team employee at work is like saying there are no influential leaders, there are no effective managers, there are no motivational speakers, the psychologists in sports management teams are useless and that motivation is not achievable. Motivation has been used by effective managers to prompt ordinary people to achieve uncommon results in all fields of endeavours. LITERATURE REVIEW Vast amount of literature is available in how to motivate your employee, and it would be applicable in the real world around. Simple definition of Motivation by Lindner, J. R. (1998) can be as â€Å"the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals.† Understanding what motivated employees and how they were motivated was the focus of many researchers following the publication of the Hawthorne Study results (Terpstra, 1979). Five major approaches that have led to the understanding of motivation are Maslows need-hierarchy theory, Herzbergs two- factor theory, Vrooms expectancy theory, Adams equity theory, and Skinners reinforcement theory. According to Maslow, employees have five levels of needs (Maslow, 1943): physiological, safety, social, ego, and self- actualizing. Maslow argued that lower level needs had to be satisfied before the next higher level need would motivate employees. Herzbergs work categorized motivation into two factors: motivators and hygienes (Herzberg, Mausner, Snyderman, 1959). Motivator or intrinsic factors, such as achievement and recognition, produce job satisfaction. Hygiene or extrinsic factors, such as pay and job security, produce job dissatisfaction. Vrooms theory is based on the belief that employee effort will lead to performance and performance will lead to rewards (Vroom, 1964). Rewards may be either positive or negative. The more positive the reward the more likely the employee will be highly motivated. Conversely, the more negative the reward the less likely the employee will be motivated. Adams theory states that employees strive for equity between themselves and other workers. Equ ity is achieved when the ratio of employee outcomes over inputs is equal to other employee outcomes over inputs (Adams, 1965). Skinners theory simply states those employees behaviours that lead to positive outcomes will be repeated and behaviours that lead to negative outcomes will not be repeated (Skinner, 1953). Managers should positively reinforce employee behaviours that lead to positive outcomes. Managers should negatively reinforce employee behaviour that leads to negative outcomes. Motivation defined by some of the authors is the psychological process that gives behaviour purpose and direction (Kreitner, 1995); a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs (Buford, Bedeian, Lindner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and the will to achieve (Bedeian, 1993); and also more. Employee turnover is the rotation of workers around the labour market; between firms, jobs and occupations; and between the states of employment and unemployment (Abassi et al. 2000). Whereas the term â€Å"turnover† defined by (Price (1977) as: the ratio of the number of organizational members who have left during the period being considered divided by the average number of people in that organization during the period. Frequently, managers refer to turnover as the entire process associated with filling a vacancy: Each time a position is vacated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, a new employee must be hired and trained. This replacement cycle is known as turnover (Woods, 1995). This term is also often utilized in efforts to measure relationships of employees in an organization as they leave, regardless of reason. â€Å"Unfolding model† of voluntary turnover represents a divergence from traditional thinking (Hom and (Griffeth, 1995) by focusing more on the decisiona l aspect of employee turnover, in other words, showing instances of voluntary turnover as decisions to quit. Indeed, the model is based on a theory of decision making, image theory (Beach, 1990). The image theory describes the process of how individuals process information during decision making. The underlying premise of the model is that people leave organizations after they have analyzed the reasons for quitting. (Beach, 1990) argues that individuals seldom have the cognitive resources to systematically evaluate all incoming information, so individuals instead, simply and quickly compare incoming information to more heuristic type of decision making alternatives or a more rule of thumb type of decision making. Most researchers (Bluedorn, 1982; Kalliath and Beck, 2001; Kramer, 1995; Peters., 1981; Saks, 1996) have attempted to answer the question of what determines peoples intention to quit by investigating possible antecedents of employees intentions to quit. To date, there has been little consistency in findings, which is partly due to the diversity of employees included by the researchers and the lack of consistency in their findings. Therefore, there are several reasons why people quit from one organization to another or why people leave organization. The experience of job related stress (job stress), the range factors that lead to job related stress (Stressors), lack of commitment in the organization; and job dissatisfaction results in employees deciding to quit (Firth et al. 2004). This evidently indicates that these are individual decisions that cause employees to quit their jobs. They are other factors like personal agency refers to concepts such as a sense of powerlessness, locus o f control and personal control. Locus control refers to the extent to which people believe that the external factors such as chance and other powerful people are in control of the events which influence their lives Firth et al. (2004). (Manu (2004) argue that employees quit from organization due economic reasons. Using economic model they showed that people quit from organization due to economic reasons and these can be used to predict the labour turnover in the market. Good local labour market conditions improve organizational stability (Schervish, 1983). Large organizations can provide employees with better chances for progression and higher wages and hence ensure loyalty towards the organization (Idson and Feaster 1990). Trevor (2001) argues that local unemployment rates interact with job satisfaction to predict turnover in the market. Role stressors also lead to employees turnover. Role ambiguity refers to the difference between what people expect of us on the job and what we fe el we should do. This uncertainty is usually caused due to inadequate and blurred communication, As a result, it causes uncertainty about what our role should be. It can be a result of misunderstanding what is expected, how to meet the expectations, or the employee thinking the job should be different (Kahn et al. Muchinsky, 1990). Insufficient information on how to perform the job adequately, unclear expectations of peers and supervisors, ambiguity of performance evaluation methods, extensive job pressures, and lack of consensus on job functions or duties may cause employees to feel less involved and less satisfied with their jobs and careers, less committed to their organizations, and eventually display a propensity to leave the organization. If roles of employees are not clearly spelled out by management and supervisors, it would accelerate the degree of employees quitting their jobs due to lack of role clarity. And that is what happens at the lower level of the Bus organisation. Voluntarily vs. involuntary turnover There are some factors that are, in part, beyond the control of management, such as the unforeseen event of death of an employee or incapacity of a member of staff. Other factors have been classed as involuntary turnover in the past such as the need to provide care for children or aged relatives. Today such factors should not be seen as involuntary turnover as both government regulation and company policies create the chance for such staff to come back to work, or to continue to work on a more flexible basis (Simon, 2007). Organizational factors Organizational instability is one of the leading factors of a high degree of employee turnover. Indications are that employees are more likely to stay when there is a predictable work environment and vice versa (Zuber, 2001). Moreover, In organizations where there was a high level of inefficiency there was also a high level of staff turnover (Alexander 1994). Therefore, in situations where organizations are not stable employees tend to quit and look for stable organizations because stable organizations enable the employees to predict their career advancement. The imposition of a quantitative approach to managing the employees led to disenchantment of staff and hence it leads to labour turnover. Therefore senior management should not use quantitative approach in managing its employees. Adopting a cost oriented approach to employment costs increases labour turnover (Simon, 2007). All these approaches should be avoided if managers want to minimize employee turnover an increase organizational competitiveness in this environment of economic downturn. Employees have a strong need to be informed. Organization with strong communication systems enjoyed lower turnover of staff (Labov, 1997). Employees feel comfortable to stay longer, in positions where they are involved in some level of the decision-making process. That is employees should fully understand about issues that affect their working atmosphere (Magner, 1996). But in the absence of sharing information, employee empowerment the chances of continuity of employees are minimal. (Costly, 1987) points out that a high labour turnover may mean poor personnel policies, poor recruitment policies, poor supervisory practices, poor grievance procedures, or lack of motivation. All these factors contribute to high employee turnover in the sense that there is no proper management practices and policies on personnel matter s hence employees are not recruited scientifically, promotions of employees are not based on spelled out policies, no grievance procedures are in place and thus employees decides to quit. (Griffeth, 2000) noted that pay and pay-related variables have a modest effect on turnover. Their analysis also included studies that examined the relationship between pay, a persons performance and turnover. They concluded that when high performers are insufficiently rewarded, they quit. If jobs provide adequate financial incentives the more likely employees remain with organization and vice versa. There are also other factors which make employees to quit from organizations and these are poor hiring practices, managerial style and lack of recognition, lack of competitive compensation system in the organization (Abassi, 2000). Effects of employee turnover Employee turnover could be very expensive from the organizations point of view, and affects could be more during the hard-hitting period of recession. There are mainly two factors that effect employee turnover. Voluntary quits which represents a mass departure of human capital investment from organizations and the following replacement process entails manifold costs to the organizations (Fair, 1992). The replacement costs would include, search of the external labour market for a possible substitute, selection between competing substitutes, induction of the chosen substitute, and formal and informal training of the substitute until he or she attains performance levels equivalent to the individual who quit (John, 2000). In addition to these replacement costs, output would be affected to some extend or output would be maintained at the cost of overtime payment. The reason so much attention has been paid to the issue of turnover is because turnover has very significant effects on organiz ations (DeMicco and Giridharan, 1987; Dyke and Strick, 1990; Cantrell and Saranakhsh, 1991; Denvir and Mcmahon, 1992).Many researchers argue that high turnover rates might have negative effects on the profitability of organizations if not managed properly. Moreover, turnover can play a key role in de-motivating employees, resulting in low productivity, inefficient output and therefore loss. Turnover has many hidden or invisible costs (Philips, 1990) and these invisible costs are result of incoming employees, co-workers closely associated with incoming employees, co-workers closely associated with departing employees and position being filled while vacant. And all these affect the profitability of the organization. On the other hand turnover also affects customer service and satisfaction (Kemal, 2002).Catherine (2002) argue that turnover include other costs, such as lost productivity, lost sales, and managements time, estimate the turnover costs of an hourly employee to be US $3,000 to $10,000 each. This clearly demonstrates that turnover affects the profitability of the organization and if its not managed properly it would have the negative effect on the profit. Research estimates indicate that hiring and training a replacement worker for a lost employee costs approximately 50 percent of the workers annual salary (Johnson, 2000) but the costs do not break off there. Eac h time an employee leaves the firm, we presume that productivity drops due to the learning curve involved in understanding the job and the organization. Furthermore, the loss of intellectual capital adds to this cost, since not only do organizations lose the human capital and relational capital of the departing employee, but also competitors are potentially gaining these assets (Meaghan, 2002). Therefore, if employee turnover is not managed properly it would affect the organization adversely in terms of personnel costs and in the long run it would affect its liquidity position. However, voluntary turnover incurs significant cost, both in terms of direct costs (replacement, recruitment and selection, temporary staff, management time), and also and perhaps more significantly in terms of indirect costs (morale, pressure on remaining staff, costs of learning, product/service quality, and the loss of social capital (Dess, 2001). Cost of turnover One simple method to calculate the turnover rate of any business is to divide the number of employees who have left the organization within a year, by the total number of employees who work for that company in the same year. Lets say there were 100 employees at the beginning of the year, and 100 employees at the end of the year, and at the end of the year, 84 of those employees were the same ones as were there the previous year. You might say that the turnover rate was 16%. = 16% But suppose one of those 16 who left was actually replaced three times. The employee quit in January, the replacement quit in April, and another person was hired who lasted only until November. Then you might want to count every time an employee left the company and another one was hired in this case youd get 18%. Another complication: suppose the work force is 100 at the beginning and 90 at the end of the year. Perhaps 16 people have left, but only 6 have been hired during the year, while 2 more were hired and retired within the same year. You might define turnover as 18/100 or as 18/90, or as 18/95, since 95 is the average of 90 and 100. Instead of 95, you might want to do a fancier average, where you actually add up the number of employees on each day of the year, and divide the total by 365. Strategies to minimize employee turnover Strategies on how to minimize employee turnover, confronted with problems of employee turnover, management has several policy options like changing (or improving existing) policies towards recruitment, selection, induction, training, job design and wage payment. Policy choice, however, must be appropriate to the precise diagnosis of the problem. Employee turnover attributable to poor selection procedures, for example, is unlikely to improve were the policy modification to focus exclusively on the induction process. Equally, employee turnover attributable to wage rates which produce earnings that are not competitive with other firms in the local labour market is unlikely to decrease were the policy adjustment merely to enhance the organizations provision of on-the job training opportunities. Given that there is increase in direct and indirect costs of labour turnover, therefore, management are frequently exhorted to identify the reasons why people leave organizations so that appropria te action is taken by the management. Hence, accurate analysis of the cause of turnover is vital to implement the necessary strategy. Extensive research has shown that the following categories of human capital management factors provides a core set of measures that senior management can use to increase the effectiveness of their investment in people and improve overall corporate performance of business: Employee engagement, the organizations capacity to engage, retain, and optimize the value of its employees hinges on how well jobs are designed, how employees time is used, and the commitment and support that is shown to employees by the management would motivate employees to stay in organizations. Knowledge accessibility, the extent of the organizations collaboration and its capacity for making knowledge and ideas widely available to employees, would motivate employees to stay in the organization. Sharing of information should be made at all levels of management. This accessibility of information would lead to strong performance from the employees and creating strong corporate culture (Meaghan, 2002). Therefore; in formation accessibility would make employees feel that they are appreciated for their effort and chances of leaving the organization are minimal. Workforce optimization, the organizations success in optimizing the performance of the employees by establishing essential processes for getting work done, providing good working conditions, establishing accountability and making good hiring choices would retain employees in their organization. The importance of gaining better understanding of the factors related to recruitment, motivation and retention of employees is further underscored by rising personnel costs and high rates of employee turnover (Badawy, 1988; Basta and Johnson, 1989; Garden, 1989; Parden, 1981; Sherman, 1986). With increased competitiveness during recession, managers in many organizations are experiencing greater pressure from top management to improve recruitment, selection, training, and retention of good employees and in the long run would encourage employees to st ay in organizations. Job involvement describes an individuals ego involvement with work and indicates the extent to which an individual identifies psychologically with his/her job (Kanungo, 1982). Involvement in terms of internalizing values about the goodness or the importance of work motivated employees not to quit their jobs and these involvements are related to task characteristics. Workers who have a greater variety of tasks tend to stay with the job. Task characteristics have been found to be potential determinants of turnover among employees (Couger, 1988; Couger and Kawasaki, 1980; Garden, 1989; Goldstein and Rockart, 1984). These include the five core job characteristics identified by (Hackman and Oldham (1975, 1980): skill variety, which refers to the opportunity to utilize a variety of valued skills and talents on the job; task identity, or the extent to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work that is, doing a job from beginning to end, with visible results; task significance, which reflects the extent to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people, whether within or outside the organization; job autonomy, or the extent to which the job provides freedom, independence, and discretion in scheduling work and determining procedures that the job provides; and job feedback, which refers to the extent to which the job provides information about the effectiveness of ones performance (Tor, 1997). Involvement would influence job satisfaction and increase organizational commitment of the employees. Employees who are more involved in their jobs are more satisfied with their jobs and more committed to their organization (Blau and Boal, 1989; Brooke and Price, 1989; Brooke et al., 1988; Kanungo, 1982). Job involvement has also been found to be negatively related to turnover intentions (Blat and Boal, 1989). Job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and organizational commitment reflect a positive attitude towards the organization, thus having a direct influence on employee turnover intentions. Job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment are considered to be related but distinguishable attitudes (Brooke and Price, 1989). Satisfaction represents an effective response to specific aspects of the job or career and denotes the pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from an appraisal of ones job or career (Locke, 1976; Porter, 1974; Williams and Hazer, 1986).Organizational commitment is an effective response to the whole organization and the degree of attachme nt or loyalty employees feel towards the organization. Job involvement represents the extent to which employees are absorbed in or preoccupied with their jobs and the extent to which an individual identifies with his/her job (Brooke, 1988).The degree of commitment and loyalty can be achieved if management they enrich the jobs, empower and compensate employees properly. Empowerment of employees could help to enhance the continuity of employees in organizations. Empowered employees where managers supervise more people than in a traditional hierarchy and delegate more decisions to their subordinates (Malone, 1997). Managers act like coaches and help employees solve problems. Employees, he concludes, have increased responsibility. Superiors empowering subordinates by delegating responsibilities to them leads to subordinates who are more satisfied with their leaders and consider them to be fair and in turn to perform up to the superiors expectations (Keller and Dansereau, 1995). All thes e factors ensure employees commitment towards the organization and chances of quitting are minimal. Strategic guidelines for motivating staff whilst smooth running of the business When the economy is on a slippery slope and when spirits are down, how do managers pick themselves and others up, so that they can meet the ongoing challenges? Hotels still have to operate, and services still need to be provided by employees who are working harder than ever before just so that their organization can survive. Therefore companies need to have some strategic policies to deal with employee motivation during hard times. Lend a listening ear Now, more than ever before, the manager needs to listen to what employees are saying, not only to what may seem to be the surface issues, but also to the underlying issues. Roxanne Emmerich, President of The Emmerich Group, stated in an article for the Indiana Bankers Association that, â€Å"Guilt, fear, paranoia—as well as a few other destructive emotions—can freeze peoples performance during tough times. The natural response is for a leader to click his or her heels with the hopes of ending up in Kansas. Denial is the natural response when things get tough, but many leaders never move beyond that. The thought of talking about feelings openly sends shivers down the spines of many managers, and ignoring these emotions only causes greater challenges.† In the November 7, 2008, issue of The Wall Street Journal, Jim Harter co-author of â€Å"72; The Elements of Great Managing† and a researcher with Gallup, stated in an interview about motivation that, â€Å"O rganizations have to put more attention into it. They have to communicate more.† Hence if we wish to motivate the staff during tough times, managers need to communicate more, not less. Be an advocate rather than an adversary Brian Mclvor, author of â€Å"Career Detection: Funding and Managing Your Career† stated in an interview published in the The Irish Times, on February 9, 2009, â€Å"You need to be honest and realistic with people organizations are changing all bets are off.† However, while discussions with employees may have to be framed against that background, news doesnt have to be all gloom and doom. Managers need to be advocates for their organizations and realistic about opportunities within the organization. The manager should be an advocate for the future rather than an adversary against the future, which can be an un-stabilizing influence in the organization. Emmerich states, â€Å"Lead your people to the understanding that even during the darkest of times, many do well, and you intend to be one of those. Your team needs to shift out of their doomsday story and into one of possibilities. When people say We cant because, the broken record response needs to be, Well, how CAN we ?â€Å" Therefore, be an advocate for the vision rather than an adversary against the vision. Look for the silver lining In the February 27, 2009 issue of Business Week, there is an interesting article by Patricia OConnell. The article discusses a first look at a recent Accenture survey that reveals that women and men feel they have more to offer their employers. OConnell states, â€Å"Managers looking for an edge amid a dismal economy, likely hiring freezes, and even staff cuts may have a hidden resource—their own underutilized staff. According to a winter 2008 Accenture survey, 46 percent of women and 49 percent of men worldwide believe they are insufficiently challenged in their jobs.† This affords unique opportunities to organizations that will reap possible benefits for employees as well as employers. This may be a time to review the opportunities and challenges of an organization and how the skill sets of individual employees may be used to enrich jobs and the workplace. Armelle Carminati, Managing Director of Human Capital and Diversity at Accenture, stated, â€Å"Companies should shy away from the one size- fits-all approach with workers The art of tailoring a career offering is the new space where employers have to go and will be the key to both employees and employers success.† As time gets tighter and the work force slimmer, this presents a unique opportunity for employers and employees to sit down as a team and evaluate the possibilities for the future. It is amazing the skill sets and aptitudes that may be uncovered when people are challenged to rise to the occasion. When things go downhill, up-skill â€Å"Up-skill† is a term used in The Irish Times article cited earlier that basically encourages coordinated training during tight economic times. For companies to survive and for employees to retain their jobs, it Employee Motivation Levels in Hospitality Industry Employee Motivation Levels in Hospitality Industry INTRODUCTION The most important intangible product in service industry is the employee itself. Losses caused due to replacing them adds up to the economic s. One of the important tools of employee management ‘Motivation has been missing out of ‘TO DO list from the organisation directors. They seems to believe that since there are less jobs outside available due to recession in todays job market, employee would not leave and we are in favour to keep them. Fewer turnovers experienced from employee side but what about the productivity of employee. Can that be tackled by forcing the employee to do whatever as the contract always says, ‘duties could vary according to business requirements, or disciplinary follow? Organizations become better places to work through improving leadership skills and corporate culture change. Businesses working on a network of hierarchies imagine a business like a triple-decker bus, the directors of the business are on the top deck, the managers are on the middle deck and the employees are on the lower deck. As the bus runs on its normal day to day business, down the normal streets picking up normal day to day people. What is happening is that the bus should be stopping at various bus stops in order to recruit new employees and managers, so that they can come on the bus and of course obviously let the team members off the bus if they decide to leave. The directors would begin to become conscious that the number of employees leaving the bus is increasing and they are not really quite sure why? So they decide what they should do is to commission an employee survey. Now the cost of the employee turnover is obviously something that is an issue or can be an issue for va rious businesses. All organizations heavily invest in the human resource department. The cost of interviewing, hiring, training, developing, maintaining and retaining employees are very high. Therefore, managers at all costs must minimize employees dissatisfaction and take every step possible to reduce it. Although, there is no standard framework for understanding the employees turnover process as whole, a wide range of factors have been found useful in interpreting employee turnover (Kevin, 2004). Therefore, there is need to develop a fuller understanding of the employee turnover, more especially, the sources. What determines employee turnover, affects and strategies that managers can put in place to minimize turnover. During this weakened economic condition and heightening competition, organizations must continue to develop tangible products and provide services which are based on strategies created by employees. These employees are extremely crucial to the organization since their value to the orga nization is essentially intangible and not easily replicated. Therefore, senior managers must recognize that employees are major contributors to the efficient achievement of the organizations success (Abbasi, 2000). Managers should control employee turnover for the benefit of the organizations success. AIM Critically analyse employee motivation level in hospitality industry with a particular focus on operations management. OBJECTIVE 1. To investigate the need of motivation in hospitality industry 2. To examine the damage caused with de-motivation 3. To critically access alternatives in reducing employee turnover 4. To provide strategic evaluation for motivating operations management whilst smooth running of the business RATIONALE Several businesses now days are easily slipping into administration; it is not only several job loses but also a huge loss of efforts made by operating team to bring the business to a certain stage to employ that many employees. Truly speaking, businesses are not built solely to provide jobs and the best comfortable environment for people within the community. They are out there to make money and progress which could be any industry. The purpose of this dissertation is to focus on hospitality industry, where we need to find the root of employee turnover. It is easy for a staff at lower level to move in and out of an organisation in relation to the operating management team. What causes that to happen at first place? Do line managers not see the importance of increasing motivation during difficult times? Are management in need of motivation themselves? Are they much more worried about there own survival? So if the upper management team is satisfied, they would certainly be in a positi on to furnish their head of departments easily. Global economic condition is struggling and has to face continues challenges with competitions growing. It cannot be right for a profit organisation to just vanish with small bumps of recession. Of course, both employee and business are affected with these downfalls. A need has aroused to look into this matter because as its a fact that turnover has always been one of the high business expenses, thus at the time of recession as the economic conditions are not stable, businesses should do something to beat this cost in hand. Motivation is the cure that spurns employees eagerness to work without pressure. To say that nobody can motivate a team employee at work is like saying there are no influential leaders, there are no effective managers, there are no motivational speakers, the psychologists in sports management teams are useless and that motivation is not achievable. Motivation has been used by effective managers to prompt ordinary people to achieve uncommon results in all fields of endeavours. LITERATURE REVIEW Vast amount of literature is available in how to motivate your employee, and it would be applicable in the real world around. Simple definition of Motivation by Lindner, J. R. (1998) can be as â€Å"the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals.† Understanding what motivated employees and how they were motivated was the focus of many researchers following the publication of the Hawthorne Study results (Terpstra, 1979). Five major approaches that have led to the understanding of motivation are Maslows need-hierarchy theory, Herzbergs two- factor theory, Vrooms expectancy theory, Adams equity theory, and Skinners reinforcement theory. According to Maslow, employees have five levels of needs (Maslow, 1943): physiological, safety, social, ego, and self- actualizing. Maslow argued that lower level needs had to be satisfied before the next higher level need would motivate employees. Herzbergs work categorized motivation into two factors: motivators and hygienes (Herzberg, Mausner, Snyderman, 1959). Motivator or intrinsic factors, such as achievement and recognition, produce job satisfaction. Hygiene or extrinsic factors, such as pay and job security, produce job dissatisfaction. Vrooms theory is based on the belief that employee effort will lead to performance and performance will lead to rewards (Vroom, 1964). Rewards may be either positive or negative. The more positive the reward the more likely the employee will be highly motivated. Conversely, the more negative the reward the less likely the employee will be motivated. Adams theory states that employees strive for equity between themselves and other workers. Equ ity is achieved when the ratio of employee outcomes over inputs is equal to other employee outcomes over inputs (Adams, 1965). Skinners theory simply states those employees behaviours that lead to positive outcomes will be repeated and behaviours that lead to negative outcomes will not be repeated (Skinner, 1953). Managers should positively reinforce employee behaviours that lead to positive outcomes. Managers should negatively reinforce employee behaviour that leads to negative outcomes. Motivation defined by some of the authors is the psychological process that gives behaviour purpose and direction (Kreitner, 1995); a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs (Buford, Bedeian, Lindner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and the will to achieve (Bedeian, 1993); and also more. Employee turnover is the rotation of workers around the labour market; between firms, jobs and occupations; and between the states of employment and unemployment (Abassi et al. 2000). Whereas the term â€Å"turnover† defined by (Price (1977) as: the ratio of the number of organizational members who have left during the period being considered divided by the average number of people in that organization during the period. Frequently, managers refer to turnover as the entire process associated with filling a vacancy: Each time a position is vacated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, a new employee must be hired and trained. This replacement cycle is known as turnover (Woods, 1995). This term is also often utilized in efforts to measure relationships of employees in an organization as they leave, regardless of reason. â€Å"Unfolding model† of voluntary turnover represents a divergence from traditional thinking (Hom and (Griffeth, 1995) by focusing more on the decisiona l aspect of employee turnover, in other words, showing instances of voluntary turnover as decisions to quit. Indeed, the model is based on a theory of decision making, image theory (Beach, 1990). The image theory describes the process of how individuals process information during decision making. The underlying premise of the model is that people leave organizations after they have analyzed the reasons for quitting. (Beach, 1990) argues that individuals seldom have the cognitive resources to systematically evaluate all incoming information, so individuals instead, simply and quickly compare incoming information to more heuristic type of decision making alternatives or a more rule of thumb type of decision making. Most researchers (Bluedorn, 1982; Kalliath and Beck, 2001; Kramer, 1995; Peters., 1981; Saks, 1996) have attempted to answer the question of what determines peoples intention to quit by investigating possible antecedents of employees intentions to quit. To date, there has been little consistency in findings, which is partly due to the diversity of employees included by the researchers and the lack of consistency in their findings. Therefore, there are several reasons why people quit from one organization to another or why people leave organization. The experience of job related stress (job stress), the range factors that lead to job related stress (Stressors), lack of commitment in the organization; and job dissatisfaction results in employees deciding to quit (Firth et al. 2004). This evidently indicates that these are individual decisions that cause employees to quit their jobs. They are other factors like personal agency refers to concepts such as a sense of powerlessness, locus o f control and personal control. Locus control refers to the extent to which people believe that the external factors such as chance and other powerful people are in control of the events which influence their lives Firth et al. (2004). (Manu (2004) argue that employees quit from organization due economic reasons. Using economic model they showed that people quit from organization due to economic reasons and these can be used to predict the labour turnover in the market. Good local labour market conditions improve organizational stability (Schervish, 1983). Large organizations can provide employees with better chances for progression and higher wages and hence ensure loyalty towards the organization (Idson and Feaster 1990). Trevor (2001) argues that local unemployment rates interact with job satisfaction to predict turnover in the market. Role stressors also lead to employees turnover. Role ambiguity refers to the difference between what people expect of us on the job and what we fe el we should do. This uncertainty is usually caused due to inadequate and blurred communication, As a result, it causes uncertainty about what our role should be. It can be a result of misunderstanding what is expected, how to meet the expectations, or the employee thinking the job should be different (Kahn et al. Muchinsky, 1990). Insufficient information on how to perform the job adequately, unclear expectations of peers and supervisors, ambiguity of performance evaluation methods, extensive job pressures, and lack of consensus on job functions or duties may cause employees to feel less involved and less satisfied with their jobs and careers, less committed to their organizations, and eventually display a propensity to leave the organization. If roles of employees are not clearly spelled out by management and supervisors, it would accelerate the degree of employees quitting their jobs due to lack of role clarity. And that is what happens at the lower level of the Bus organisation. Voluntarily vs. involuntary turnover There are some factors that are, in part, beyond the control of management, such as the unforeseen event of death of an employee or incapacity of a member of staff. Other factors have been classed as involuntary turnover in the past such as the need to provide care for children or aged relatives. Today such factors should not be seen as involuntary turnover as both government regulation and company policies create the chance for such staff to come back to work, or to continue to work on a more flexible basis (Simon, 2007). Organizational factors Organizational instability is one of the leading factors of a high degree of employee turnover. Indications are that employees are more likely to stay when there is a predictable work environment and vice versa (Zuber, 2001). Moreover, In organizations where there was a high level of inefficiency there was also a high level of staff turnover (Alexander 1994). Therefore, in situations where organizations are not stable employees tend to quit and look for stable organizations because stable organizations enable the employees to predict their career advancement. The imposition of a quantitative approach to managing the employees led to disenchantment of staff and hence it leads to labour turnover. Therefore senior management should not use quantitative approach in managing its employees. Adopting a cost oriented approach to employment costs increases labour turnover (Simon, 2007). All these approaches should be avoided if managers want to minimize employee turnover an increase organizational competitiveness in this environment of economic downturn. Employees have a strong need to be informed. Organization with strong communication systems enjoyed lower turnover of staff (Labov, 1997). Employees feel comfortable to stay longer, in positions where they are involved in some level of the decision-making process. That is employees should fully understand about issues that affect their working atmosphere (Magner, 1996). But in the absence of sharing information, employee empowerment the chances of continuity of employees are minimal. (Costly, 1987) points out that a high labour turnover may mean poor personnel policies, poor recruitment policies, poor supervisory practices, poor grievance procedures, or lack of motivation. All these factors contribute to high employee turnover in the sense that there is no proper management practices and policies on personnel matter s hence employees are not recruited scientifically, promotions of employees are not based on spelled out policies, no grievance procedures are in place and thus employees decides to quit. (Griffeth, 2000) noted that pay and pay-related variables have a modest effect on turnover. Their analysis also included studies that examined the relationship between pay, a persons performance and turnover. They concluded that when high performers are insufficiently rewarded, they quit. If jobs provide adequate financial incentives the more likely employees remain with organization and vice versa. There are also other factors which make employees to quit from organizations and these are poor hiring practices, managerial style and lack of recognition, lack of competitive compensation system in the organization (Abassi, 2000). Effects of employee turnover Employee turnover could be very expensive from the organizations point of view, and affects could be more during the hard-hitting period of recession. There are mainly two factors that effect employee turnover. Voluntary quits which represents a mass departure of human capital investment from organizations and the following replacement process entails manifold costs to the organizations (Fair, 1992). The replacement costs would include, search of the external labour market for a possible substitute, selection between competing substitutes, induction of the chosen substitute, and formal and informal training of the substitute until he or she attains performance levels equivalent to the individual who quit (John, 2000). In addition to these replacement costs, output would be affected to some extend or output would be maintained at the cost of overtime payment. The reason so much attention has been paid to the issue of turnover is because turnover has very significant effects on organiz ations (DeMicco and Giridharan, 1987; Dyke and Strick, 1990; Cantrell and Saranakhsh, 1991; Denvir and Mcmahon, 1992).Many researchers argue that high turnover rates might have negative effects on the profitability of organizations if not managed properly. Moreover, turnover can play a key role in de-motivating employees, resulting in low productivity, inefficient output and therefore loss. Turnover has many hidden or invisible costs (Philips, 1990) and these invisible costs are result of incoming employees, co-workers closely associated with incoming employees, co-workers closely associated with departing employees and position being filled while vacant. And all these affect the profitability of the organization. On the other hand turnover also affects customer service and satisfaction (Kemal, 2002).Catherine (2002) argue that turnover include other costs, such as lost productivity, lost sales, and managements time, estimate the turnover costs of an hourly employee to be US $3,000 to $10,000 each. This clearly demonstrates that turnover affects the profitability of the organization and if its not managed properly it would have the negative effect on the profit. Research estimates indicate that hiring and training a replacement worker for a lost employee costs approximately 50 percent of the workers annual salary (Johnson, 2000) but the costs do not break off there. Eac h time an employee leaves the firm, we presume that productivity drops due to the learning curve involved in understanding the job and the organization. Furthermore, the loss of intellectual capital adds to this cost, since not only do organizations lose the human capital and relational capital of the departing employee, but also competitors are potentially gaining these assets (Meaghan, 2002). Therefore, if employee turnover is not managed properly it would affect the organization adversely in terms of personnel costs and in the long run it would affect its liquidity position. However, voluntary turnover incurs significant cost, both in terms of direct costs (replacement, recruitment and selection, temporary staff, management time), and also and perhaps more significantly in terms of indirect costs (morale, pressure on remaining staff, costs of learning, product/service quality, and the loss of social capital (Dess, 2001). Cost of turnover One simple method to calculate the turnover rate of any business is to divide the number of employees who have left the organization within a year, by the total number of employees who work for that company in the same year. Lets say there were 100 employees at the beginning of the year, and 100 employees at the end of the year, and at the end of the year, 84 of those employees were the same ones as were there the previous year. You might say that the turnover rate was 16%. = 16% But suppose one of those 16 who left was actually replaced three times. The employee quit in January, the replacement quit in April, and another person was hired who lasted only until November. Then you might want to count every time an employee left the company and another one was hired in this case youd get 18%. Another complication: suppose the work force is 100 at the beginning and 90 at the end of the year. Perhaps 16 people have left, but only 6 have been hired during the year, while 2 more were hired and retired within the same year. You might define turnover as 18/100 or as 18/90, or as 18/95, since 95 is the average of 90 and 100. Instead of 95, you might want to do a fancier average, where you actually add up the number of employees on each day of the year, and divide the total by 365. Strategies to minimize employee turnover Strategies on how to minimize employee turnover, confronted with problems of employee turnover, management has several policy options like changing (or improving existing) policies towards recruitment, selection, induction, training, job design and wage payment. Policy choice, however, must be appropriate to the precise diagnosis of the problem. Employee turnover attributable to poor selection procedures, for example, is unlikely to improve were the policy modification to focus exclusively on the induction process. Equally, employee turnover attributable to wage rates which produce earnings that are not competitive with other firms in the local labour market is unlikely to decrease were the policy adjustment merely to enhance the organizations provision of on-the job training opportunities. Given that there is increase in direct and indirect costs of labour turnover, therefore, management are frequently exhorted to identify the reasons why people leave organizations so that appropria te action is taken by the management. Hence, accurate analysis of the cause of turnover is vital to implement the necessary strategy. Extensive research has shown that the following categories of human capital management factors provides a core set of measures that senior management can use to increase the effectiveness of their investment in people and improve overall corporate performance of business: Employee engagement, the organizations capacity to engage, retain, and optimize the value of its employees hinges on how well jobs are designed, how employees time is used, and the commitment and support that is shown to employees by the management would motivate employees to stay in organizations. Knowledge accessibility, the extent of the organizations collaboration and its capacity for making knowledge and ideas widely available to employees, would motivate employees to stay in the organization. Sharing of information should be made at all levels of management. This accessibility of information would lead to strong performance from the employees and creating strong corporate culture (Meaghan, 2002). Therefore; in formation accessibility would make employees feel that they are appreciated for their effort and chances of leaving the organization are minimal. Workforce optimization, the organizations success in optimizing the performance of the employees by establishing essential processes for getting work done, providing good working conditions, establishing accountability and making good hiring choices would retain employees in their organization. The importance of gaining better understanding of the factors related to recruitment, motivation and retention of employees is further underscored by rising personnel costs and high rates of employee turnover (Badawy, 1988; Basta and Johnson, 1989; Garden, 1989; Parden, 1981; Sherman, 1986). With increased competitiveness during recession, managers in many organizations are experiencing greater pressure from top management to improve recruitment, selection, training, and retention of good employees and in the long run would encourage employees to st ay in organizations. Job involvement describes an individuals ego involvement with work and indicates the extent to which an individual identifies psychologically with his/her job (Kanungo, 1982). Involvement in terms of internalizing values about the goodness or the importance of work motivated employees not to quit their jobs and these involvements are related to task characteristics. Workers who have a greater variety of tasks tend to stay with the job. Task characteristics have been found to be potential determinants of turnover among employees (Couger, 1988; Couger and Kawasaki, 1980; Garden, 1989; Goldstein and Rockart, 1984). These include the five core job characteristics identified by (Hackman and Oldham (1975, 1980): skill variety, which refers to the opportunity to utilize a variety of valued skills and talents on the job; task identity, or the extent to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work that is, doing a job from beginning to end, with visible results; task significance, which reflects the extent to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people, whether within or outside the organization; job autonomy, or the extent to which the job provides freedom, independence, and discretion in scheduling work and determining procedures that the job provides; and job feedback, which refers to the extent to which the job provides information about the effectiveness of ones performance (Tor, 1997). Involvement would influence job satisfaction and increase organizational commitment of the employees. Employees who are more involved in their jobs are more satisfied with their jobs and more committed to their organization (Blau and Boal, 1989; Brooke and Price, 1989; Brooke et al., 1988; Kanungo, 1982). Job involvement has also been found to be negatively related to turnover intentions (Blat and Boal, 1989). Job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and organizational commitment reflect a positive attitude towards the organization, thus having a direct influence on employee turnover intentions. Job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment are considered to be related but distinguishable attitudes (Brooke and Price, 1989). Satisfaction represents an effective response to specific aspects of the job or career and denotes the pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from an appraisal of ones job or career (Locke, 1976; Porter, 1974; Williams and Hazer, 1986).Organizational commitment is an effective response to the whole organization and the degree of attachme nt or loyalty employees feel towards the organization. Job involvement represents the extent to which employees are absorbed in or preoccupied with their jobs and the extent to which an individual identifies with his/her job (Brooke, 1988).The degree of commitment and loyalty can be achieved if management they enrich the jobs, empower and compensate employees properly. Empowerment of employees could help to enhance the continuity of employees in organizations. Empowered employees where managers supervise more people than in a traditional hierarchy and delegate more decisions to their subordinates (Malone, 1997). Managers act like coaches and help employees solve problems. Employees, he concludes, have increased responsibility. Superiors empowering subordinates by delegating responsibilities to them leads to subordinates who are more satisfied with their leaders and consider them to be fair and in turn to perform up to the superiors expectations (Keller and Dansereau, 1995). All thes e factors ensure employees commitment towards the organization and chances of quitting are minimal. Strategic guidelines for motivating staff whilst smooth running of the business When the economy is on a slippery slope and when spirits are down, how do managers pick themselves and others up, so that they can meet the ongoing challenges? Hotels still have to operate, and services still need to be provided by employees who are working harder than ever before just so that their organization can survive. Therefore companies need to have some strategic policies to deal with employee motivation during hard times. Lend a listening ear Now, more than ever before, the manager needs to listen to what employees are saying, not only to what may seem to be the surface issues, but also to the underlying issues. Roxanne Emmerich, President of The Emmerich Group, stated in an article for the Indiana Bankers Association that, â€Å"Guilt, fear, paranoia—as well as a few other destructive emotions—can freeze peoples performance during tough times. The natural response is for a leader to click his or her heels with the hopes of ending up in Kansas. Denial is the natural response when things get tough, but many leaders never move beyond that. The thought of talking about feelings openly sends shivers down the spines of many managers, and ignoring these emotions only causes greater challenges.† In the November 7, 2008, issue of The Wall Street Journal, Jim Harter co-author of â€Å"72; The Elements of Great Managing† and a researcher with Gallup, stated in an interview about motivation that, â€Å"O rganizations have to put more attention into it. They have to communicate more.† Hence if we wish to motivate the staff during tough times, managers need to communicate more, not less. Be an advocate rather than an adversary Brian Mclvor, author of â€Å"Career Detection: Funding and Managing Your Career† stated in an interview published in the The Irish Times, on February 9, 2009, â€Å"You need to be honest and realistic with people organizations are changing all bets are off.† However, while discussions with employees may have to be framed against that background, news doesnt have to be all gloom and doom. Managers need to be advocates for their organizations and realistic about opportunities within the organization. The manager should be an advocate for the future rather than an adversary against the future, which can be an un-stabilizing influence in the organization. Emmerich states, â€Å"Lead your people to the understanding that even during the darkest of times, many do well, and you intend to be one of those. Your team needs to shift out of their doomsday story and into one of possibilities. When people say We cant because, the broken record response needs to be, Well, how CAN we ?â€Å" Therefore, be an advocate for the vision rather than an adversary against the vision. Look for the silver lining In the February 27, 2009 issue of Business Week, there is an interesting article by Patricia OConnell. The article discusses a first look at a recent Accenture survey that reveals that women and men feel they have more to offer their employers. OConnell states, â€Å"Managers looking for an edge amid a dismal economy, likely hiring freezes, and even staff cuts may have a hidden resource—their own underutilized staff. According to a winter 2008 Accenture survey, 46 percent of women and 49 percent of men worldwide believe they are insufficiently challenged in their jobs.† This affords unique opportunities to organizations that will reap possible benefits for employees as well as employers. This may be a time to review the opportunities and challenges of an organization and how the skill sets of individual employees may be used to enrich jobs and the workplace. Armelle Carminati, Managing Director of Human Capital and Diversity at Accenture, stated, â€Å"Companies should shy away from the one size- fits-all approach with workers The art of tailoring a career offering is the new space where employers have to go and will be the key to both employees and employers success.† As time gets tighter and the work force slimmer, this presents a unique opportunity for employers and employees to sit down as a team and evaluate the possibilities for the future. It is amazing the skill sets and aptitudes that may be uncovered when people are challenged to rise to the occasion. When things go downhill, up-skill â€Å"Up-skill† is a term used in The Irish Times article cited earlier that basically encourages coordinated training during tight economic times. For companies to survive and for employees to retain their jobs, it