Comprehensive classroom management plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Comprehensive classroom management plan - Essay Example Philosophical Statement I believe that an effective classroom management puts into consideration the unique individual capability in need of a safe, supportive, and a motivating environment in which to improve socially, emotionally, and intellectually towards building a successful career. It is my wish as a professional educator to assist my students to reach their full potentials by providing the conducive and supportive environment, which encourage the sharing of various classroom and coursework ideas. I expect the students in my classroom to have diversified levels of learning desires in their preferred areas. I feel that a learning community is in a way that the students, teachers and parents, uncover an environment that encourages a positive student-teacher relationship and effective parent-teacher relations. It is my responsibility to ensure that there is no student isolated from accessing equal education in my classroom. Equally significant to students’ self-esteem and self-empowerment is have an opportunity to contribute towards relevant issues in classroom meetings. Scheduling regular classroom meetings helps identify individual student needs fostering confidence and support among students. Inviting students’ dialogue about what affects them and their contributions on the learning process contributes to learning directed towards the students’ needs and interests. I believe group work is a key to a supportive learning process in a classroom. My profession is engrossed to ensuring that individual students potential are nurtured efficiently and provide an environment that encourages talent growth for students academically, socially, and psychologically. I see my role as an educator as ensuring that course content knowledge is transferred to students. Moreover, I am committed cultivating the students’ critical thoughts capabilities by providing the relevant information and will strive towards instilling curiosity among students, which will create a challenging learning environment. Classroom Arrangement General classroom arrangement is as shown in the classroom map below, designed to ensure minimal distractions and a spacious student seating arrangement for ease of movement. On entering the classroom, the first thing the students see the bulletin placed direct situated directly to the entrance. This sets students mind on what to expect for the day such as lecture topic, assignments, and classroom meetings. On the entrance, a tray containing common commodities such as pencil sharpeners whereby students can pick one in case they left their sharpeners home. The carpet on the floor brings a sense of comfort to the students setting a comfortable learning environment (Fraser, 2012). The bags and other student belongings are packed at the back of the classroom to minimize distractions and ease movement. The desks are spacious and easily accessible to all students including those with physical disabilities (Hallah an et al, 2012). Several resources are strategically arranged in the classroom to facilitate studies and research carried by the students. The computers are placed on close to the walls to

Richard Pascale (the person who known as Honda Effect) Essay

Richard Pascale (the person who known as Honda Effect) - Essay Example The four dimensions incorporate the management of past, present and future. In addition to these dimensions, there is also the need for strategic intent as well as the need for agility on the management part as these are what will drive the sustainability of the organization in the future. Power is constant in the present and future, but the learning and identity development which was carried out in the past should be added on in the present as well as in the future. Contention will always be present and hence strategies to handle these conflicts should keep on being developed. Pascale further explains that not all moves an organization makes are calculated or based on years of positive research findings. He advocates for flexibility in the management as there is no on definite prescription to success. This is evident in the Honda story where they stumbled upon success in the US market despite market research eliciting negative findings. Sometimes success simply comes because of a series of unplanned effects but the most important thing is to be prepared to handle it once it comes and strategize on sustaining or even increasing it further (Pascal, 2000). The 7s theory model is relevant in all organizations and should be implemented by management. These include: style, strategy, skills, staff, shared values, structure as well as systems. The concepts mentioned briefly above are summarized in the table below and they all focus on using the past strategies to establish the present and build on the future. They are simply a guideline to the managers by Pascale for every organization on how to ensure that they not only succeed but they sustain the success in the future. Further issues to think about in management are the attitudes of the managers towards their jobs, employees and competitors. The job attitude matters a lot and especially for the new generation of managers whose patience is not their strongest

The Story Of Josie King Health And Social Care Essay

The Story Of Josie King Health And Social Care Essay The story of Josie King is one that shook the hospital health care system in 2001. Josie King was an 18 month-old that died from complications of treatment at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Josie was originally admitted to the hospital with second and third degree burns over 60 percent of her body. During care, Josie had received a lethal dose of methadone after which she died as a result of a cardiac arrest. As a result of this sentinel event, the Kings were awarded a settlement which they refused. Josies mother Sorrel wanted everyone to know what happened to her baby. Sorrel King has written an inspiring memoir Josies Story and has created a patient-safety program at Hopkins in addition to a foundation devoted to reducing medical errors. Sorrel King now advocates for patient and families affected by medical errors, and provide lectures to medical professionals countrywide. (www.josieking.org.) Medical errors have and continue to be an enormous problem in health care. Patients die from the wrong drug or wrong dosage, or perhaps an infection that could have been prevent with better hygiene practices. More attention was placed on the issue of medical errors in 2000 when the Institute of Medicine made available the well-known report titled To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. The report documented evidence of an estimated 44,000 people and as many as 98,000 people dying in hospitals from medical errors each year in the United States (IOM, 1999). Of the many medical errors, medication errors happen to be one that can not be overemphasized. Medication use have been found to account for at least 20 percent of adverse events in patients in hospitals. Out of every hundred medication orders, there is an occurrence of five adverse drug events (Tam, 2005). Malpractice claims due to adverse drug events can have negative effects on the hospital and the health care providers. The hospital and health care providers can have their reputation damaged, thousands of dollars are spent for the losses, there is time lost from work, not to mention the emotional stress involved (Rothschild et. al, 2002). The cost of preventable medication errors has been estimated between 17 and 29 billion dollars annually (Strohecker, 2003). As such, due to these alarming statistics, this paper focuses on some of the potential risks of medication errors, and some recommended interventions that can be implemented to help curb the incidence of medication errors. What is a medication error? A medication error is defined as any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer (Oren, 2003). The terms adverse drug events and medication errors though used interchangeably do not necessarily mean the same thing. An adverse drug event is an undesirable reaction after a drug administration that is not necessarily caused by the drug. Adverse drug events include adverse drug reactions and medication errors. Medication errors may lead to actual or potential adverse events. The potential adverse events are often termed near misses. For example, if a medication overdose is administered accidentally, it would be a medication error and not described as an adverse drug reaction (Oren, 2003). Potential Risks of Medication Errors Many of the factors leading to medication error are unfortunately human related (Etchells, et. al, 2008). A survey of 983 nurses working in acute care hospitals reported that among the many factors that would contribute to medical errors, illegible hand written prescriptions, distraction from the environment, exhaustion and stress happened to be the most weighted (Mayo Duncan, 2004). A study by Hodgkinson et.al that sought strategies to reduce medication errors cited the most common reason of medication error was due to the lack of drug information by the multidisciplinary team (2006). Inexperience and or lack of knowledge of the drug could lead to the physician ordering the wrong dose, the pharmacist incorrectly mixing the medication with the right concentration, and the nurse administering the medication with the wrong route such as giving an intramuscular injection instead of subcutaneously (Etchells, et. al, 2008). While human error is very important to consider, it is equally important to analyze the context in which errors can occur such as the clinical environment and patient population. The type of clinical setting in a hospital can be more prone to medication errors than others due to the patient population with respect to the severity of their illness, and number and type of medications needed to be administered. Critical care units for example, tend to be at a higher risk for medication errors. Critical care units provide for very sick patients who need to be attended to without delay, may require consults from various providers, and receive twice as many medications as compared to patients on general medical floors. Patients in intensive care experience an average of 1.7 medical errors each day. Medication errors are the most common type or error and account for 78 percent of serious medical errors in critical care (Camire et. al, 2009). In addition to the patients in critical care, pediatrics and the elderly also tend to be at high risk for medication errors since there require many medications when sick. Pediatric patients in particular tend to be very sensitive to most medications hence the need to calculate most of their medication dosages by weight (King, 2003). The least miscalculation could lead to an adverse drug event. Older adult populations, on the other hand, take many prescription medications for their chronic illnesses which need scrutiny to avoid contraindications (ANJ, 2009). However, regardless of whether the patient may be at risk of experiencing a medication error or not, all medication administration must ideally follow the seven rights which include the right patient, right medication, right dose, right time, right route, right reason, and right documentation (Schaeffer, 2009). Another factor which may influence the safety of medication administration involves medication reconciliation. When patients list of home medications and allergies are not collected upon admission, a medication error can occur when a medication being taken regularly at home is not continued during the hospital stay. If the patients medication reconciliation is not complete, the physician would not have full knowledge of the medications that the patients would need to be restarted on after being transferred or discharged from the hospital. At times there may be an oversight on the part of the prescribing physicians where brand and generic medication names are concerned. A physician may also duplicate order a medication that the patient may already be taking at home, and at times order an incorrect dosage (Landro, 2006). In recent times, there have been technological influences in health care, where there has been an effort to get rid of the paper documentation but the transition is not that complete. Many hospitals still document on paper and still creating the risk of medication errors by the use of error prone medication abbreviations. During transcription of written orders, the use of abbreviations can cause errors if not interpreted correctly. American Health Association News mentions a study discussed in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, medication errors that were reported to the national database made up 5 percent of all errors that occurred as a result of incorrect interpretation of abbreviations used during prescribing (2007). In this same study, an analysis of 30,000 abbreviations related- medication errors reported to the United States Pharmacopeias database was made. Most of the errors consisting 81 percent were made during the writing of prescriptions. The abbr eviation QD used in place of once daily was found to have caused more errors; 43.1 percent than any other abbreviation. The Joint Commission has a national safety goals report that include a do not use list of abbreviations that hospitals and other healthcare organizations can use as a reference (AHA News, 2007) Medication Error Risk Reduction Strategies In addition to the modified traditional seven rights for medication administration, hospitals are instituting additional evidence-based practices. According to an article in the ACCN monthly publication, the implementation of six best practice procedures for medication administration designed by the California Nursing Outcomes Coalition (CalNOC) significantly improved accuracy (2010). In this study, participating hospitals showed an 80.5 percent improvement in adherence to CalNOC best practices and an 81.4 percent score for combined administration accuracy and best practice improvements. The CalNOC six best practices include: compare medication to medical record, keep medication labeled until administration, check two forms of patient identification, immediately record medication administration in the chart, explain the medication to the patient, and minimize distractions and disruptions during the administration process (ACCN, 2010). Another technological invention to help reduce medication errors are the smart infusion pumps. These smart pumps have built-in danger alerts, clinical calculators, and drug libraries including information on the standardized concentrations of commonly used drugs. Though smart pumps have been designed to prevent mistakes, it only works for high alert intravenous medications. In cases where the smart pumps are not used appropriately, its purpose is not served. In a controlled trial study of smart infusion pumps, nurses were found to routinely ignore danger alerts and drug libraries as much as 25 percent of the time, sometimes administrating medications such as propofol, insulin, and heparin at rates 10 times as high as those ordered (Rothschild et.al, 2005). Smart pumps can work exceptionally and prevent errors if alerts are paid attention to used appropriately. The computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system is another technology that has been found to significantly decrease the danger of illegible handwritten orders and the need for transcription. According to Bates et. al, out of the approximately 28 percent of preventable adverse drug events are associated with medication errors, 56 percent occurred during prescribing (Bates, et. al, 1998).The computerized physician order entry (CPOE), computer based system where all orders are electronically written helps to ensure accuracy of writing orders. Most of these CPOE are accompanied by a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) which provides automatic alert to prescriber on drugs or doses that are contraindicated with the patients age, allergies, condition, and or diagnosis. Review of a systematic study by Kaushal et. al on the effects of CPOE with CDSS showed a considerable decline in the rates of medication errors (2003). A study at the Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston on the effect of CPOE on prevention of serious medication errors showed that the use of the CPOE system caught on to half the possible errors that may have lead to deleterious effects. The study showed a reduction in all the stages of the process; from ordering to dispensing to administration (Bates et.al, 1998). CPOE therefore proven to hold some promise as an intervention to improve patient safety but would require further data of the benefits of costs before implementation. Bar coding is another technological intervention that has been shown to decrease the rate of medication administration errors. Bar coding can alienate the possibility of nurses administrating medications without having a documented order. With bar coding, each time a physician ordered a medication, the order is automatically transmitted to the pharmacy where a unique bar code is generated. After verification of the order by the pharmacist, the labeled medications are sent to the floor/unit. The nurses who have to administer the medication would then have to scan the bar code on the patient identification band against the labels on the medications for comparison. Bar coding has shown to reduce medication errors by more than 50 percent, thus preventing preventable adverse drug events (Wright et.al, 2005). The Veterans Affairs hospital led the way in 1999 instituting a national bar coding program. Within a year of initiation the VA hospital documented a 24 percent decrease in the rate of medication-administration errors (Wright et. al, 2005). Although the ultimate goal is to protect patients, bar coding could also save hospitals lots of money. The average adverse event costs extra hospital days and additional services, not to mention the cost of litigation. Like every other measure there would be disadvantages for using bar coding, but once more research can show that the benefits outweigh the costs, more hospitals can join the increasing number of institutions that have embraced this technology. With medication errors responsible for many lost lives yearly, new national patient-safety standards require hospitals to have a mandatory formal medication reconciliation process for every patient admitted into the hospital. Medication reconciliation would take effect during the patients admission process and involves the recording of a patients allergies and thorough collection of all the patients home medications including over the counter drugs. This routine has been found to reduce medication duplication and avoid the effects of contraindication while the patients are hospitalized. This also aids the physicians on what medications to discharge the patient with. During the medication reconciliation process the need to educate the patients and their families is also import. Patients and families have to understand the rationale behind keeping handy a list of all their medications and being able to provide the list especially in emergent situations (Landro, 2006). Summary This paper has reviewed research on medication errors in hospitals with an emphasis on the prevalence, risk factors, and strategies to prevent errors from occurring. Although the immediate cause of medication errors is often as the result of human error, the majority of errors can be attributed to system failures made worse by the increasing complexity of patient care. A medication error can cause devastating results, threaten patients lives, and affect a providers confidence and job security. Hospitals also tend loose lots of money in malpractice law suits. The wide range of pharmaceutical products and dramatically changing technology adds to the complex situation. Many strategies including the CPOE and CDSS, smart pumps, and bar coding among other strategies have already been implemented by few hospitals. Research shows that these strategies that have been implemented targeting the reduction of medication errors have been found to be promising. However, due to the complexity of pat ient care, both human and technological influence may be able to control but never be able to completely put to death medication errors.

Digital Image Alteration and Photojournalist Ethics in China and USA Es

Digital Image Alteration and Photojournalist Ethics in China and USA Introduction Photography is a process where lights are recorded through chemical means(by film) or by an electronic device such as digital sensor. The resulting photograph represents a optically realistic portrait of a specific event at a specific location and time. This connection to reality allows people place a significant amount of trust on photographs and coined the phrase "the camera does not lie." Thus, photographs are used heavily in news reporting as a proof that a certain event has occurred. Recently, news agencies have begin to digitize their photographic process. Using digital photography allows journalists to send their pictures to the editor with faster speed and better reliability than using film. However, digital images are easily modifiable. People or objects may be added, rearranged, reversed, distorted or removed from a scene. Colors and brightness may be adjusted. Pictures can be sharpened or blurred. Yet, when a picture is altered, its link to reality, to that particular even t, may be weakened or completely severed. To many people, this is a form of deception by the news agency to the public because people assume that photograph is a faithful representation of an event. In addition, these changes are difficult to detect since there is no physical negatives to inspect. The public can only rely on the news editorial board to perform as they promised-- to uphold journalist integrity and to report facts as accurately as they can While news editors have a duty to report news truthfully ,they also have to deal with publishing constraints. Editors are constantly tempted to alter the picture to fit the layout, deliver pictures with stronger ... ...oynter Online. 2 Apr. 2003.http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=28082 New York Times, Guideline on Our Integrity, December 2000, http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?id=408 Tung-chiang Ch'iu, Literary Inquisition, Banned Books and "The Series of Si Ku Banned and Burned Books". http://www.lib.nccu.edu.tw/mag/admin/26/p28.html Guideline for Chinese News workers. http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2003-10-14/19271921005.shtml Identifying fake photographs. http://www.dpnet.com.cn/school/school_show_new.asp?id=1491 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Virtue Ethics. 18, July 2003.http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-virtue/ Kieran, Mathew. Media Ethics New York, NY: Routledge, 1998. Olen, Jeffrey. Ethics in Journalism Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998. Kieran, Mathew. Media Ethics: A Philosophical Approach Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997.

Applying Servqual to Web Sites: an Exploratory Study

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management Emerald Article: Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen Article information: To cite this document: Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study†, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 Permanent link to this document: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 Downloaded on: 27-01-2013References: This document contains references to 26 other documents Citations: This document has been cited by 25 other documents To copy this document: [email  protected] com This document has been downloaded 2679 times since 2005. * Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: * Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory studyà ¢â‚¬ , International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 http://dx. doi. org/10. 108/02656710310493634 Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study†, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study†, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by UCSI EDUCATION SDN BHD For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www. emeraldinsight. com/authors for more information. About Emerald www. emeraldinsight. com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education.In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download. The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at http://www. emeraldinsight. com/researchregister The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www. emeraldinsight. om/0265-671X. htm NEW RESEARCH Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study Applying SERVQUAL 919 Jos van Iwaarden and Ton van der Wiele Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Leslie Ball and Robert Millen Received August 2002 Revised December 2002 Accepted December 2002 Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Keywords Worldwide Web, SERVQUAL, Electronic commerce Abstract In an effort to identify the quality factors perceived to be most important in relation to the use of Web sites, a survey was undertaken. The questionnaire utilized was based on the SERVQUAL instrument that identi? s ? ve quality dimensions in service environments. The results indicate that the quality dimensions found applicable in the service sector are also applicable to Web sites. The items that have been identi? ed as most important in relation to the quality of Web sites are tangibles (the appearance of the Web site, navigation, search options, and structure), reliability (the abi lity to judge the trustworthiness of the offered service and the organization performing the service), responsiveness (the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service), assurance (the ability of the Web site to convey trust and con? ence in the organisation behind it with respect to security and privacy), and empathy (the provision of caring, individualized attention to customers, including user recognition and customization). Introduction In the early 1990s three technologies (communications speed, memory capacity, and computer speed) were rapidly growing in terms of capabilities they had for over 20 years. However, their combined S-curve growths suddenly enabled one of the greatest technology revolutions ever seen – the explosion of the Internet.Originally designed as an information conduit, entrepreneurs soon saw the great power of a selling channel that enabled browsing, selecting, and buying without leaving the comfort of the home. Businesses realized that t hey could interact directly with other businesses over the Internet, as well. Additionally, government agencies caught on and began delivering services online, collecting payments for licenses and taxes, providing information, etc. The history of this explosion is well documented as both computer and Internet use have increased substantially in the past few years (US Department of Commerce, 2002).Since 1997 computer use has grown at a rate of 5. 3 percent on an annualized basis. Internet use has grown at a rate of 20 percent per year since 1998, and in the 13 months prior to the September 2001 survey by the US Department of Commerce, over 26 million more Americans went online. The authors are thankful to all anonymous referees for their valuable comments. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management Vol. 20 No. 8, 2003 pp. 919-935 q MCB UP Limited 0265-671X DOI 10. 1108/02656710310493634 IJQRM 20,8 920While there is a great talk about the â€Å"digital divide†, t he US Department of Commerce reported that 54 percent (or 143 million Americans) have access to the Internet in their homes and that nearly 100 percent of the US population has access through schools and libraries. Thousands of companies were formed to sell goods and services over the Internet during this period creating the â€Å"New Economy†. Subsequently, many of those companies are now gone as witnessed by the huge number of bankruptcies (Baldwin, 2002). Different experts might de? e e-commerce differently, but most agree on one thing: the sector represents a growing piece of the overall commerce pie, and its share is expected to increase steadily – though gradually – over the next ? ve years. Various parties have forecast different results. For example, Forrester reports that online sales in the USA accounted for $51. 3 billion in revenue during 2001, and revenue for 2002 is expected to a total of $72. 1 billion, a 41 percent increase over the previous year (Hirsh, 2002). However, this accounts for only 2 percent of the overall retail spending.It has been predicted that this share will grow by about three-tenths of a percentage point each year through at least 2005, marking a slow but steady climb. As for e-commerce sales, another projection estimates that online revenue will total about $90 billion in 2002, $160-$170 billion in 2004, and $287. 9 billion by 2006 (Hirsh, 2002). The value of the Internet goes beyond adding another selling channel. Researchers at McKinsey and Company report that the retention of customers online is easier than in traditional â€Å"bricks and mortar† companies where the online company spends three to ? ve times less to retain them.Companies that retained customers exhibited traits of reliable basic operational execution. Their sites downloaded quickly; they responded to customer queries quickly; they delivered more than 95 percent of their orders on time; and they made it easy for customers to retu rn or exchange purchases. One company raised its on-time delivery rates from 60 to 90 percent, and cut customer churn in half (Agrawal et al. , 2001). The Internet also can play a pivotal role in enhancing brand relationships and corporate reputations. Nike, Disney, Coke, and Toyota are all well-established brands that drive us to search for and ? d their products. Branding is a critical component of the design of Web sites. It is about building a brand or corporate reputation to create relationships with customers (Chiagouris and Wansley, 2001). â€Å"Branding is rede? ned online,† says Caroline Riby, vice president-media director at Saatchi & Saatchi Rowland. â€Å"We are moving beyond representing a brand to experiencing it† (Chiagouris and Wansley, 2001). The Web site must capture the attention of those people who know nothing or very little about the company, but are interested in its category.It must also build awareness of what the company does within the contex t of the industry in which it is competing. Earlier Web sites were developed by large corporations, which required that they adhere to the corporate logo and color scheme, attach to the corporate databases, and comply with several other corporate requirements. This translated to high cost and signi? cant development time. Others (those created for â€Å"Mom and Pop† operations and early entrepreneurial operations), built over the weekend, did not connect to large databases, and had no standards. While the company was in operation fast, the sites were often unattractive and dif? ult to use. Is it not surprising that the companies that are most successful selling over the Internet are the former and not the later? Certainly, we can ? nd examples of the up-starts that have succeeded, but they have usually adapted to the model of the corporation that requires high standards. Just as in the bricks and mortar world, companies have to offer excellent service on the Web. Web sites wi ll become very important to companies as more products and services will be bought either over the Internet or by making use of the Internet before purchasing in a bricks and mortar store.Therefore, companies need to have Web sites that live up to customers’ expectations. The purpose of our research is to provide empirical evidence on the factors that contribute to the quality of Web sites. Our most important research questions are: . How do customers distinguish a good Web site from a bad one? . What factors determine the quality of a Web site? Customer satisfaction Companies offer quality to satisfy their customers (Dale, 1999). Because a Web site is part of the connection between a company and its customers, it is evident that it should re? ct the quality efforts that are in place throughout the company. Besides this reason there is another reason why a company should provide high quality Web sites to its customers: there is no human contact through Web sites. The interact ion via the Internet between a company and a customer is always through technology. This means the â€Å"moment of truth† between a company and a customer is the Web site. Although companies may try to emulate human behavior with technology, the interaction remains different because some aspects of human interaction cannot be replaced with technology, e. g. ourtesy, friendliness, helpfulness, care, commitment, ?exibility and cleanliness (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002). The absence of these aspects of human interaction through which quality can be delivered to customers will have to be compensated by better performance on other quality factors or by excellent performance on â€Å"new† speci? c Web quality factors. A key aspect in customer satisfaction is the way a customer can attain satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a company’s service. If a company wants to satisfy its customers the ? rst question it needs to answer is what is it that Applying SERVQUAL 921 IJQRM 20,8 22 satis? es customers and, equally important, what is it that makes customers dissatis? ed with the company and its products and services. Satisfying customers depends on the balance between customers’ expectations and customers’ experiences with the products and services (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). When a company is able to lift a customer’s experience to a level that exceeds that customer’s expectations, then that customer will be satis? ed. Because customers have ever increasing expectations it is necessary for companies continuously to improve their quality and hence customers’ experiences with the company.The issue is what should be improved to keep the customers satis? ed. What customers experience is not just one simple aspect of a company, but a whole range of aspects. Some of these aspects are concerned with the way customers experience the company itself, some are concerned with the way customers experience the physical product and, ? nally, some are concerned with the way customers experience the service the company offers. Comparing customers’ expectations and their perceptions of actual performance can be done by making use of the SERVQUAL scale of Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml (Zeithaml et al. 1990). This scale has been developed for the service sector. It has ? ve generic dimensions or factors and are stated as follows: (1) Tangibles. Physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel. (2) Reliability. Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. (3) Responsiveness. Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. (4) Assurance (including competence, courtesy, credibility and security). Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and con? dence. (5) Empathy (including access, communication, understanding the customer).Caring and individualized attention that the ? rm provides its customers. In the SERVQUAL instrument, 22 statements m easure the performance across these ? ve dimensions. For each statement, the expectation and the experience of a customer is determined. There is some criticism on the long-term stability of the results of the SERVQUAL scale (Lam and Woo, 1997) and on the general applicability of the ? ve dimensions (Buttle, 1996; Crosby and LeMay, 1998). Although alternative models have been proposed for the measurement of service quality, e. . SERVPERF (Cronin and Taylor, 1992), the SERVQUAL scale has been widely used by academics and practitioners to measure service quality. Therefore, this model has been used as a point of reference in this paper. SERVQUAL dimensions in relation to e-business Tangibles Examples of the tangibles factor are â€Å"has up-to-date equipment†, â€Å"physical facilities are visually appealing† and â€Å"materials are visually appealing†. These aspects might be even more important in e-business as there is no face-to-face contact between the custome r and an employee.The visual aspects of the equipment (i. e. the Web site) are the only visual contact between a customer and an organization. Therefore, the need to have well functioning and good-looking Web sites is paramount. There are a great number of customers who abandon their shopping carts on the Internet because they get frustrated with the technology, or the design and lay out of the Web site interface (Hager and Elliot, 2001). The visual aspects of Web sites are also judged differently by the people of different age. While young people may be attracted by ? shy graphics, sounds and a high-speed interface, older people do not want blinking texts that are hard to read or animations that distract from the use of the Web site (Houtman, 2002). Although a number of Web sites offer users the opportunity to customise the Web site to their needs, this customization process is mostly aimed at the content of the Web site and not at the graphics, animations and sounds. Reliability S ome of the aspects in the reliability factor have to do with â€Å"doing what is promised† and â€Å"doing it at the promised time†.Although many organizations seem to think that the major reason why customers shop via the Internet is because of the low prices, this does not always need to be the case. Some organizations found out the hard way that there are also a lot of customers shopping via the Internet because of convenience considerations (Riseley and Schehr, 2000). If customers cannot trust an organization to do what they ask, those customers will be dissatis? ed. Priceline, for example, ran into big problems by the end of 2000 because of its focus on the lowest prices. People could buy a plane ticket at a very low price, but because of possible inconvenient ? ing times there was a big risk for customers. This resulted in dissatis? ed customers who were happy to trade off Priceline’s discounts for the convenience of a competitor (Riseley and Schehr, 2000) . Responsiveness One of the aspects in the responsiveness factor is â€Å"gives prompt service†. The amount of time it takes to download a Web page appears to be of great importance to the users of the Internet. Research in 1999 found that fewer than 10 percent of users leave a Web site if page response time is kept below 7 s. However, when it rises above 8 s, 30 percent of users leave.When delays exceed 12 s, a staggering 70 percent of users leave a Web site (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002). It can be assumed that people expect Web sites to be even more quicker than in 1999 because of the technological advances. Thus, it is very important Applying SERVQUAL 923 IJQRM 20,8 924 for organizations to have a Web site that is quick, but on the other hand users expect Web sites to be visually appealing. As the number and size of animations, pictures and sounds increase to make a Web page more visually appealing, the time it takes to download that Web page will also increase, which is judg ed negatively by users.Hence, there is a trade-off between the looks of a Web site and the speed of that site. Organizations will have to try to ? nd the right balance between good looks and speed. The trade-off between looks and speed is complicated by companies’ demand that their Web sites convey the corporate image (Manning et al. , 1998). The design department of a company wants Web pages to be easily recognisable as belonging to that company. In their view, Web pages have to display company and product logos as well as other graphics that underscore the corporate identity.These graphics add to the overall size of Web pages and thereby increase the download time for Internet users. It is questionable whether users are willing to accept slower pages in return for more logos and graphics that do not improve the functionality of the Web site (although they might improve the visual appeal). Assurance One of the aspects in the assurance factor is â€Å"knowledge to answer que stions†. Customers expect to ? nd everything they want on a Web site. In a bricks and mortar store, people feel comfortable with a limited inventory. On the Internet, people are not satis? ed if they cannot ? nd everything they want.Web shops need to have great depth of inventory and rich and relevant product information (Dayal et al. , 2002). Two other aspects in the assurance factor are â€Å"employees can be trusted† and â€Å"feel safe in your transactions with employees†. First, there is the risk for users to share personal information with an organization they do not know. Research on this topic (Statistical Research Inc. , 2001) shows that at least 50 percent of users are very concerned about: misuse of credit card information given over the Internet; selling or sharing of personal information by Web site owners; and cookies that track customers’ Internet activity.Second, the same research shows that two-thirds of active Web users typically abandon a site that requests personal information and one in ? ve has entered false information to gain access to a Web site. Aspects in the assurance factor that could be very important in e-business are (Daughtrey, 2001): . availability of a formal privacy and con? dentiality policy on a Web site; . secured access to a Web site (that customers are prompted to acknowledge); . general reputation of supplier; . certi? cations or guarantees of assurance; and . reports of experiences of other customers.The ? rst aspect in this list is also acknowledged by the International Organization for Standardisation in Geneva. The Code of Practice for Information Security Management (ISO/IEC 17799:2000) provides a basis for establishing and maintaining the means of handling sensitive data (Daughtrey, 2001). Certi? cations and guarantees of assurance are also important in e-business. More and more organizations are trying to obtain certi? cation by an objective, consensus-based standard, just as they did earlier with quality management standards (Daughtrey, 2001).These organizations are becoming aware of the advantages of such certi? cation in relation to customers’ trust in these organizations. Empathy In the dimension of empathy there are several aspects that are usually not found on a Web site. Because of the fact that there is no human interaction, Web sites normally do not offer personal attention. To achieve this, a number of Web sites have a design that can be personalized by the users of these sites, so people can have their own version of the Web site. This kind of Web site design is aimed at giving users the experience of getting personal attention.The idea is that the more a Web site is tailored to a particular customer’s needs, the more likely that customer will return again and again (The Economist, 2001). The most advanced technologies in this area aim to create a face-to-virtual-face interaction. A friendly looking face of a virtual assistant on your scr een is supposed to make customers feel more comfortable. With the use of arti? cial intelligence, the virtual assistant can suggest products or services that might be of interest to a customer based on previous purchases and on reactions to the questions of the virtual assistant.The latter possibility of asking users of a Web site questions via a virtual assistant will enable companies to tailor their offerings to the wishes of the user to prevent customer dissatisfaction. The only purpose of all these technological gadgets is to add one of the Web’s key missing ingredients: warmth (The Economist, 2001). Other aspects It seems that most of the dimensions and aspects that have been de? ned for general service environments are also important in e-business. Besides the ? ve dimensions as de? ned by Zeithaml et al. (1990), empirical evidence might come up with more speci? c dimensions related to e-business.Some preliminary research has been done in this area (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002; Fink and Laupase, 2000; Schubert and Dettling, 2001; Wan, 2000), but no de? nitive results have been attained. Hence, more research is needed (Zeithaml, 2002). Research methodology The research was conducted by means of a questionnaire survey. Employment of this approach provides a relatively easy means to study the perceptions and Applying SERVQUAL 925 IJQRM 20,8 926 opinions of a large group of people in a limited time frame and at low costs. The survey was undertaken with the student population at Northeastern University (NEU), Boston, USA.Students were expected to be familiar with e-business and the Internet. Students received an e-mail with a hyperlink to the Web site containing the questionnaire allowing them to respond to the questionnaire electronically and to submit by clicking a button. The purpose of the questionnaire survey was to develop empirical evidence on the quality factors of Web sites that are important to people who are familiar with the Internet and frequ ent Internet users. The survey comprised the following questions: . personal information (gender, age, academic discipline); . respondents’ use of Internet (equipment, frequency of use); . peci? c Web sites that are visited by respondents (a prede? ned list of 20 categories of Web sites); and . aspects of Web quality (a prede? ned list of 50 aspects). The core of the questionnaire consists of the list of aspects of Web quality. For every aspect we ask the respondent to indicate the importance of that aspect and at the same time we ask for their satisfaction with that aspect. The structure of the questions is based on the SERVQUAL scale (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). The aspects have been de? ned according to the categories of the model developed by Cox and Dale (2001, 2002) and are as follows: clarity of purpose; . design; . communication; . reliability; . service and frequently asked questions; . accessibility and speed; . product or service choice; . order con? rmation; . produc t purchase; . user recognition; . extra service; and . frequent buyer incentives. For each of these categories a number of aspects have been de? ned in the questionnaire. The questionnaire has been discussed with experts in the ? eld of quality management and a pilot study has been conducted amongst a small number of students. This lead to an improved questionnaire which has been used for the esearch presented in this paper. Survey results Sample and response rate All students who obtained a university e-mail account at NEU (approximately 6,000) received an e-mail about the study and the questionnaire. Responses were received from 293 students. The response rate for the direct mailings to students was rather low (approximately 5 percent of the number of e-mails sent out), although acceptable for this type of mailing. Applying SERVQUAL 927 Descriptive statistics In Tables I and II, the response sample is described in terms of gender and age, respectively.A comparison of the response sample with the total population at NEU leads to the conclusion that the response group is representative for the total population. The respondents were enrolled across many academic disciplines, and judged by the age of the respondents, most students were at the undergraduate level. Table III shows the respondents’ use of the Internet in terms of the quality of their own equipment. Overall the students are rather satis? ed with their equipment and do not seem to have problems with speed and download time. Table IV summarizes the frequencies of respondents’ Internet visits.They visit the Internet on an average 18 times per week, for about an hour per visit. So, it is clear that students make frequent use of the Internet. Male Female Total 104 188 292 Table I. Number of respondents by gender , 21 years 21-25 years 26-30 years 31-35 years . 35 years Total 192 71 19 4 7 293 Table II. Number of respondents by age PC Connection speed Printing from the Web Downloading from t he Web Notes: On a ? ve-point scale from very dissatis? ed to very satis? ed 3. 83 3. 59 3. 53 3. 57 Table III. Satisfaction of respondents with the equipment they use IJQRM 20,8 928 Table IV. The use of the WebIt is interesting to note the types of Web sites that are used most often by our respondents (Table V). The types of Web sites that are used most often are: search engines, university sites, daily news and entertainment sites. Web sites that are used less frequently are: e-shops and chat rooms. Sites with stock exchange information are not visited very often either. In Table VI (top ten) and Table VII (bottom ten) the importance (expectations) and the satisfaction (experiences) are summarized on prede? ned aspects related to the quality of Web sites. The top ten aspects seem to relate to reliability issues in pure e-commerce.Customers who buy a product on the Internet want Web sites and the organizations behind them to be trustworthy. E-commerce Web sites need to be fast, sim ple and always available. Customers want a clear overview and con? rmation of what they bought and what they have to pay for. Easy to ? nd desired Web site 3. 80 Easy to use Web page links 3. 92 Easy to ? nd relevant information 3. 38 Time spent on one site , 12 min Time on the Web per Internet visit , 60 min Number of Internet visits per week , 19 visits Note: If not indicated otherwise, on a ? ve-point scale from very dif? cult to very easy Mean Table V. Web sites ranked by requency of visits Search engines Daily newspapers Entertainment Universities Electronic libraries Personal Web sites Information portals Games Travel Sports Banking Company information E-shops Book stores Music stores Movie stores Second-hand products Stock exchange information Who is where Chat rooms Note: On a ? ve-point scale from never to once a day or more 4. 64 3. 63 3. 47 3. 38 3. 02 2. 99 2. 92 2. 82 2. 72 2. 62 2. 60 2. 58 2. 57 2. 41 2. 39 2. 27 2. 16 2. 02 1. 84 1. 76 Top ten with highest scores on importance Finding your way on the Web site is easya Access is fasta A complete overview of the order is presented before ? al purchase decisiona Tax and/or other charges are clearly detaileda The registration process is simplea Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all timesa All relevant order con? rmation details sent by e-maila Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three daysa Order-tracking details are available until deliverya There are well programmed search optionsa Importance Satisfaction mean mean Delta S-I 4. 61 4. 60 3. 44 3. 31 2 1. 17 2 1. 29 4. 55 4. 50 4. 50 4. 46 4. 46 3. 75 3. 47 3. 36 3. 18 3. 84 2 0. 80 2 1. 03 2 1. 14 2 1. 28 2 0. 62 4. 43 4. 40 4. 39 3. 24 3. 30 3. 08 1. 19 2 1. 10 2 1. 31 Notes: a Mean values on ? ve-point scales; difference between importance and satisfaction signi? cant at 0. 01 level based on a t-test (two-tailed) Bottom ten with lowest scores on importance Applying SERVQUAL Importance Satisfaction mean mean Searches on related sites are provideda 3. 81 The privacy policy is accessiblea 3. 79 The security policy is accessiblea 3. 76 The Web site contains company detailsa 3. 70 3. 68 Scrolling through pages and text is kept to a minimuma Links are provided to pages on related products and servicesa 3. 67 Web site animations are meaningfula 3. 52A customer platform is provided for exchange of ideas 3. 36 The user is invited into a frequent buyer programa 3. 31 Brand image is important 3. 22 Notes: a Mean values on ? ve-point scales; Difference between importance signi? cant at 0. 01 level based on a t-test (two-tailed) 3. 40 3. 52 3. 51 3. 32 3. 29 929 Table VI. Importance of and satisfaction with aspects of Web quality Delta S-I 2 0. 41 2 0. 27 2 0. 25 2 0. 38 2 0. 39 3. 40 2 0. 27 3. 21 2 0. 31 3. 29 2 0. 07 3. 08 2 0. 23 3. 29 0. 07 and satisfaction The bottom ten aspects seem to relate to extra service (e. g. customization of Web sites) and information (e. g. ecurity policy and c ompany details) that is provided to the customer. Apparently respondents do not ? nd these extras very important in their use of the Internet. Tables VI and VII also show the gaps between experiences and expectations (satisfaction minus importance). It can be concluded that the gap is widest for the aspects that respondents perceive as most important. The aspect with the largest gap is â€Å"access is fast† (satisfaction score 3. 31 and importance score 4. 60). In the top ten aspects there are no aspects with a positive delta, meaning Table VII. Importance of and satisfaction with aspects of Web qualityIJQRM 20,8 930 that for every aspect the experience is less than expected. In the bottom ten aspects there is just one aspect with a (very small) positive delta â€Å"brand image†. Factor analyses (varimax, principal components) on the importance data (KMO value ? 0. 91) and satisfaction data (KMO value ? 0. 93) based on Eigenvalues greater than one indicated 12 factor s olutions. These factors cluster the aspects more or less according to the structure of the questionnaire. Most of these factors also become too speci? c and do not disclose the underlying structure of customers’ perceptions of the quality of Web sites.The Scree plots indicated solutions with fewer factors, possibly around ? ve factors. A comparison of the results of factor analyses with varying numbers of factors led to the conclusion that ? ve-factor solutions ? t the data best. These ? ve-factor solutions were used to ? nd evidence for the existence of the ? ve dimensions according to the SERVQUAL scale (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). The results of these ? ve-factor solutions are summarized in Table VIII. In Table VIII we only include the aspects with factor loadings greater than 0. 5. The aspects are ranked under each factor according to their factor loadings.It can be seen from the table that the two ? ve-factor solutions (importance and satisfaction) come to the same conclusi ons regarding the clustering of the aspects. There are some minor differences in the clustering of the aspects between the two factor solutions; however, these differences are related to the aspects with low factor loadings. It can be concluded that the factor analyses on both the importance of the Web quality aspects and the satisfaction with the Web quality aspects are compatible with the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale. Correlation between Web sites and Web quality factors The importance of any of the ? e factors of the SERVQUAL scale might differ per type of Web site, just like it differs per service sector in the bricks and mortar world. Therefore, a correlation between the ? ve SERVQUAL factors and the different types of Web sites is useful to determine these differences. In order to categorize the fairly large number of different types of Web sites, a factor analysis (varimax, principal components, KMO value ? 0. 83) on the data on the use of Web sites (Table V) is conduct ed. The results of this factor analysis indicate that there are clearly ? ve groups of sites that form the underlying usage pattern.These are: (1) e-shops for books, music, movies, etc. (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 75); (2) university and study information (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 64); (3) games, entertainment, and sport (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 66); (4) company information, stock information, and banks (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 69); and (5) general information on daily news, travel, libraries, and search engines (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 58). Importance Satisfaction Factor 1 (Reliability) A complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision Tax and/or other charges are clearly detailed Different payment options are stated clearlyAll relevant order con? rmation details are sent by e-mail within 24 hours Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all times Terms and conditions of sales are accessible Order-tracking details are avai lable until delivery Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three days Full details of product or service pricing are available The registration process is simple Full product or service characteristics are available Registration process details are retained The Web site offers free shipping and handling within a set of rules Access is fast The user can make a purchase without Web ite registration Factor 1 (Reliability) All relevant order con? rmation details are sent by e-mail within 24 hours A complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision Terms and conditions of sales are accessible Order-tracking details are available until delivery Different payment options are stated clearly Tax and/or other charges are clearly detailed Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all times Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three days The home page features options for new and registered users Registration proce ss details are retainedFactor 2 (Tangibles) Finding your way on the Web site is easy Information is found with a minimum of clicks Navigation is consistent and standardized There are well programmed search options Instructions are directly available Opening of new screens is kept to a minimum Applying SERVQUAL Factor 2 (Tangibles) Finding your way on the Web site is easy Information is found with a minimum of clicks Navigation is consistent and standardized The number and type of links are meaningful The purpose is clear Scrolling through pages and text is kept to a minimum Instructions are directly available It is easy to print from the WebFactor 3 (Empathy) Factor 3 (Empathy) Links are provided to pages on related products Links are provided to pages on related products and services and services A customer platform is provided for the On travel sites a ? ight/hotel search is provided exchange of ideas A standard navigation bar, home button and On travel sites the user can customiz e seat and back/forward button are available on every meal preferences and the information is page retained (continued ) 931 Table VIII. Con? rmative factor analysis (? ve-factor solution) IJQRM 20,8 Importance Satisfaction It is easy to print from the WebOn travel sites a ? ight/hotel search is provided Web sites that focus on brand awareness have a store locator The user is invited into a frequent buyer program Factor 4 (Assurance) The security policy is accessible The privacy policy is accessible External validation of trustworthiness is important The Web site contains company details Brand image is important Page availability information is given on entry The user is invited into a frequent buyer program A customer platform is provided for exchange of ideas Factor 4 (Assurance) The privacy policy is accessible The security policy is accessibleThe Web site contains company details External validation of trustworthiness is important 932 Factor 5 (Responsiveness) The frequently ask ed questions and answers contain links that take the user to the relevant page(s) Information is provided to frequently asked questions and answers Queries or complaints are resolved within 24 hours User feedback is sought to measure customer satisfaction An e-mail address for queries and complaints is provided Table VIII. Factor 5 (Responsiveness) User feedback is sought to measure customer satisfaction Queries or complaints are resolved within 24 hoursThe frequently asked questions and answers contain links that take the user to the relevant page(s) Access is fast Opening of new screens is kept to a minimum Graphics and animation do not detract from use Full details of product or service pricing are available Notes: Principal component analysis. Varimax with Kaiser normalization. Rotation converged in nine iterations (importance) and ten iterations (satisfaction). Factor loadings . 0. 5, ranking based on factor loadings from high to low Table IX shows the correlation matrix betwee n the frequency of use of types of Web sites and the importance of the Web quality factors.Some results are as follows: . All ? ve quality dimensions are most strongly correlated with e-shops, indicating that frequent users of e-shops tend to have higher quality expectations. . An increase in the frequency of use of the types of Web sites is in all cases most strongly correlated with either empathy (E-shops), assurance (company sites and search engines) or responsiveness (study related sites, Reliability Coef. Sign E-shops (books, music, movies etc. ) Study-related sites Games and sports sites Company and banking sites Search engines, daily news, travel Tangibles Coef. Sign EmpathyCoef. Sign Assurance Coef. Sign Responsiveness Coef. Sign 0. 220 ** 0. 174 ** 0. 239 ** 0. 232 ** 0. 233 ** 0. 171 ** 0. 167 ** 0. 183 ** 0. 156 ** 0. 202 ** 0. 114 * 0. 124 * 0. 168 ** 0. 112 n. s. 0. 171 ** 0. 144 ** 0. 136 * 0. 151 ** 0. 166 ** 0. 144 ** 0. 122 * 0. 115 * 0. 115 * 0. 123 * 0. 115 * Note s: * Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 05 level (two-tailed); ** Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 01 level (two-tailed); n. s. ? no signi? cant correlation . Applying SERVQUAL and games and sports). More frequent users of the Internet tend to ? nd reliability and tangibles less important.All correlation coef? cients are positive, indicating that for all types of Web sites more usage leads to higher importance of all quality dimensions. The experienced user seems to have higher expectations of the quality of Web sites. Conclusion The results of this research can be summarised in the following way. Of a prede? ned list of Web quality aspects these aspects are considered to be the most important: access is fast; ? nding your way on the Web site is easy; a complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision; and the registration process is simple. Of the ? e factors that can be found by means of factor analyses (reliability, tangibles, empathy, assurance an d responsiveness) various aspects related to the factors reliability and tangibles are included in the top ten important aspects. Various aspects related to the factors empathy and assurance are included in the bottom ten aspects ranked according to their perceived importance. Both the importance of the Web quality aspects and the satisfaction with the Web quality aspects are compatible with ? ve-factor analyses that support the existence of the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale of Zeithaml et al. (1990).The importance of any of the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale differs per type of Web site, just like it differs per service industry in the bricks and mortar world. So far, it can be concluded that the quality dimensions developed by Zeithaml et al. (1990) for service environments are equally useful in e-business. 933 Table IX. Correlation between the frequency of use of types of Web sites and the importance of the Web quality factors IJQRM 20,8 934 Further analysis of the data is needed. While this research project yields a number of very interesting results, we believe that there are a number of things that should be done to con? m our results as well as to expand our hypotheses. First, with the number of Internet users now over one billion, our sample is relatively small. Therefore, research with larger samples that pose the same or similar questions would be appropriate. Second, Internet users come from all over the globe. One has to suspect that there are differences between a sample taken from students of the USA and what might be found among students elsewhere. Possible, language, culture, religion, and a host of other factors may be important to a user’s impression of the quality of a Web site.Finally, quality is an area of critical importance for commercial companies. Businesses need to understand what attracts people to their Web sites, what keeps them there, and what keeps them coming back. They need to understand the differences between the casual buyer versus the user who visits their Web sites on a daily basis. Web sites for companies like Dell, Cisco, Orbitz, and Covisint do millions of dollars of business each day. They need to understand the factors that keep these businesses growing better by understanding what encourages buying and what brings them back to the Web sites.Likewise, their competitors need to understand these factors even more to compete in this highly competitive marketplace. Due to the signi? cance of this to business, we expect that this type of research will be ongoing for many years to come. The results of that research will be easier to use Web sites that are more customer focused and evolving as the user evolves. A Chinese proverb says, â€Å"May you live in interesting times†. We are certainly living in interesting times. References Agrawal, V. , Arjona, L. and Lemmens, R. (2001), â€Å"E-performance: the path to rational exuberance†, The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 1. Baldwin, S. 2002), Ghost Sites, available at: www. disobey. com/ghostsites (accessed 17 January). Buttle, F. (1996), â€Å"SERVQUAL: review, critique, research agenda†, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 8-25. Chiagouris, L. and Wansley, B. (2001), â€Å"Branding on the Internet†, available at: www. MarketingPower. com Cox, J. and Dale, B. G. (2001), â€Å"Service quality and e-commerce: an exploratory analysis†, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 121-31. Cox, J. and Dale, B. G. (2002), â€Å"Key quality factors in Web site design and use: an examination†, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 19 No. 7, pp. 862-88.Cronin, J. J. Jr and Taylor, S. A. (1992), â€Å"Measuring service quality: a re-examination and extension†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56 No. 3, pp. 55-69. Crosby, L. and LeMay, S. A. (1998), â€Å"Empirical determination of shipper requirements for motor carrier services: SERVQUAL, direct ques tioning, and policy-capturing methods†, Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 139-53. Dale, B. G. (1999), Managing Quality, 3rd ed. , Blackwell Publishers, Oxford. Daughtrey, T. (2001), â€Å"Costs of trust for E-business: risk analysis can help e-businesses decide where investments in quality and security should be directed†, Quality Progress, No. 0, pp. 38-43. Dayal, S. , French, T. D. and Sankaran, V. (2002), â€Å"The e-tailer’s secret weapon†, The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 2. (The) Economist (2001), â€Å"Talking heads†, The Economist, 24 March. Fink, D. and Laupase, R. (2000), â€Å"Perceptions of Web site design characteristics: a Malaysian/Australian comparison†, Internet Research, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 44-55. Hager, L. and Elliot, B. (2001), â€Å"Web quality tool can raise ROI on contact center investments†, Gartner First Take, 15 November. Hirsh, L. (2002), â€Å"How big is e-commerce? †, E-commerce Times, avai lable at: www. ecommercetimes. om/perl/story/18403. html (accessed 27 June). Houtman, J. (2002), â€Å"Webpagina’s instelbaar voor oudere surfers†, Emerce, 25 March. Lam, S. S. K. and Woo, K. S. (1997), â€Å"Measuring service quality: a test-retest reliability investigation of SERVQUAL†, Journal of the Market Research Society, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 381-96. Manning, H. , McCarthy, J. C. and Souza, R. K. (1998), Forrester Report: Why Most Web Sites Fail, Forrester, Washington, DC. Riseley, M. and Schehr, D. (2000), â€Å"Priceline’s problems result from poor execution in a niche market†, Gartner First Take, 8 November. Schubert, P. nd Dettling, W. (2001), â€Å"Web site evaluation: do Web applications meet user expectations? Music, consumer goods and e-banking on the test bed†, Proceedings of the 14th Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, Bled, pp. 383-403. Statistical Research Inc. (2001), â€Å"Even veteran Web users remain skittish about site s that get personal†, 7 June, available at: www. statisticalresearch. com/press/pr060701. htm (accessed 15 March 2002). US Department of Commerce (2002), A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet, US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, February.Wan, H. A. (2000), â€Å"Opportunities to enhance a commercial Web site†, Information and Management, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 15-21. Zeithaml, V. A. (2002), â€Å"Guru view†, Managing Service Quality, special issue on service excellence, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 135-8. Zeithaml, V. A. , Parasuraman, A. and Berry, L. L. (1990), Delivering Quality Service; Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, The Free Press, New York, NY. Further reading Cutler, M. and Strene, J. (2000), E-metric: Business Metric for the New Economy, NetGenesis Corp. Applying SERVQUAL 935

Visualize This

Visualize This (VT) is a small start-up company specializing in virtual reality and computer visualizations. Located in the research park of a major university, the company was founded by Isaac Trice, a university professor, and staffed with the brightest of his former students. By all accounts the technology is cutting edge. Facilities include a lab of 14 high-end computer workstations adjacent to a CAVE (computer-aided virtual environment) and a small office. A conference room and central lobby are shared with other tenants in the building. Originally the company had partnered with the Swedish firm Salvania to create virtual environments for medical and industrial design. Trice and his staff would develop the software for each application; create a visual database supported with engineering or medical data, and run design sessions for their clients in the CAVE. Salvania provided the capital, generated the clients, and handled the business end of the operations. In its first two years of business, VT completed four projects. With each project, VT advanced its skills in visualization and developed customized tools to help its clients design intricate products. The clients were pleased but did not anticipate repeating the intensive design process for several years. Unfortunately, Salvania was unable to remain solvent and dissolved its partnership with Visualize This. VT was able to keep its workstations (whose salvage value was low), but gave up its rights to the CAVE and furloughed all but three employees. To stay afloat, VT needed new clients and a steady stream of income. Trice hit the streets and came back with the following possibilities: †¢ Designing computer-based training sessions for bank tellers of an international finance institution †¢ Conducting software certification for the sales staff of a large software vendor †¢ Designing virtual reality tours through history for a major museum †¢ Developing Web-based virtual models for a women's clothing retailer †¢ Creating virtual catalogues in which a customer can enlarge, rotate, and dissect a product online. This isn't what I had in mind for my company,† Trice lamented as he shared the list with his employees. â€Å"I wanted to be developing the next generation of visualization tools in concert with the brightest minds in industry, not digitizing pictures of products and making them turn around, or teaching people to use software that's not even our own! †

Free Essays on Definition Essay

â€Å"Another Close Call at the Mall† An urban legend can be defined as a questionable story involving incidents of the recent past, often including elements of humor and horror, that spreads quickly and is popularly believed to be true. An urban legend, â€Å"Another Close Call at the Mall†, that circulated in 1998 was about a woman who goes into a parking lot and someone tries to abduct her. This urban legend fits Jan Harold Brunvand’s, the renowned folklorist who made "urban legends" a household word with his delightful series of books beginning with The Vanishing Hitchhiker in 1981, definition of a true urban legend. Brunvands criteria for an urban legend is that it must be set in recent past, involve real human beings, disseminated orally or on internet, believed to be true, and gain credibility from specific details. The urban legend â€Å"Another Close Call at the Mall† tells the reader to be careful who you trust and that we as Americans are afraid of the dangers in America today. In America today news travels fast. The urban legend â€Å"Another Close Call at the Mall† is an urban legend that was sent by e-mail in 1998 as a warning to woman that there are creepy people in the world that might do them harm. The urban legend starts by saying, â€Å"I received this email from a friend and since I care about all of you I wanted to share it. It is just a reminder to be aware when you are out and about. There are a lot of creepy people in this world, I am sad to say.† Also ending with, â€Å"Pass this along to every woman you have access too. Never let your guard down. Good story for women to know about although with the NUTS in today's world, everyone needs to be careful (not just women).† This urban legend’s beginning and ending give the reader the sense of a sincere warning and notice. The fact that it sounds sincere makes it believable which compels people to send it to others. After reading the body of the urban legend a... Free Essays on Definition Essay Free Essays on Definition Essay â€Å"Another Close Call at the Mall† An urban legend can be defined as a questionable story involving incidents of the recent past, often including elements of humor and horror, that spreads quickly and is popularly believed to be true. An urban legend, â€Å"Another Close Call at the Mall†, that circulated in 1998 was about a woman who goes into a parking lot and someone tries to abduct her. This urban legend fits Jan Harold Brunvand’s, the renowned folklorist who made "urban legends" a household word with his delightful series of books beginning with The Vanishing Hitchhiker in 1981, definition of a true urban legend. Brunvands criteria for an urban legend is that it must be set in recent past, involve real human beings, disseminated orally or on internet, believed to be true, and gain credibility from specific details. The urban legend â€Å"Another Close Call at the Mall† tells the reader to be careful who you trust and that we as Americans are afraid of the dangers in America today. In America today news travels fast. The urban legend â€Å"Another Close Call at the Mall† is an urban legend that was sent by e-mail in 1998 as a warning to woman that there are creepy people in the world that might do them harm. The urban legend starts by saying, â€Å"I received this email from a friend and since I care about all of you I wanted to share it. It is just a reminder to be aware when you are out and about. There are a lot of creepy people in this world, I am sad to say.† Also ending with, â€Å"Pass this along to every woman you have access too. Never let your guard down. Good story for women to know about although with the NUTS in today's world, everyone needs to be careful (not just women).† This urban legend’s beginning and ending give the reader the sense of a sincere warning and notice. The fact that it sounds sincere makes it believable which compels people to send it to others. After reading the body of the urban legend a... Free Essays on Definition Essay It’s a beautiful fall afternoon, and the cool wind has made the Illinois air fresh and crisp. A man takes his dog’s leash of the hook on the back of the laundry room door, and with a little jingle the dog comes running out of the living room right to the man’s feet. He clips the leash, and the dog is all over him until they get outside. They make for the path that starts in his backyard, but knows no end. As they get deep into the tunnel of reds, oranges, and yellows, the path they are walking on turns around the corner of a big rock, and into to a huge black bear. The man in his red flannel shirt and North Face vest freezes and the bear bats him to the ground with his paw. At this, the seventy-pound dog charges at the massive bear and again the bear raises his mighty paw to knock the dog up against a tree, and unconscious. After about an hour, the dog comes around to find his owner is laying dead in a pile of dried up leaves. The dog stands up with a bit of a limp, and makes his way over to his owner. He nudges him behind the elbow as if he wants the dead man to pet him. When there’s no reaction from the man, he circles around once, lies up against the man’s cold side, and closes his eyes. There are three parts to the definition of loyalty, and this dog displays all of them. The first part of the definition is unconditional love. As soon as the dog knew what the man wanted to do, he was at his feet. The second part of the definition is giving up rational thought and representing whoever or whatever you’re loyal to. Not only was it obvious that the dog had no chance against the bear, but he also could have easily ran to safety. The last part of the definition, is the willingness to lay down and die for someone or something. The dog could have found his way back home, but he didn’t want the home without his life long companion. The first part ...

serfs rights and responsibilities Essays

serfs rights and responsibilities Essays serfs rights and responsibilities Essay serfs rights and responsibilities Essay RESPONSIBILITIES The usual serf paid his fees and taxes in the form of seasonally labour. Usually a portion of the week was devoted to ploughing his lords fields, harvesting crops, digging ditches, repairing fences, and often working in the manor house. The remainder of the serfs time was devoted to tending his own fields, crops and animals in order to provide for his family. Most manorial work was segregated by gender during the regular times of the year; however, during the harvest, the whole family was expected to work the fields. A major difficulty ofa serfs life was that his work or his lord coincided with, and took precedence over, the work he had to perform on his own lands o When the lords crops were ready to be harvested, so were his own. On the other hand, the serf of a benign lord could look forward to being well fed during his service; it was a lord without foresight who did not provide a substantial meal for his serfs during the harvest and pl anting times. In exchange for this work on the lords demesne, the serf had certain privileges and rights, including for example the right to gather deadwood from their lords forests, an essential fuel source. In addition to service, a serf was required to pay certain taxes and fees. oTaxes were based on the assessed value of his lands and holdings. Fees were usually paid in the form of agricultural produce rather than cash. The best ration of wheat from the serfs harvest often went to the landlord. Generally hunting and trapping of wild game by the serfs on the lords property was prohibited. o On Easter Sunday the peasant family perhaps might owe an extra dozen eggs, and at Christmas a goose was perhaps required too. When a family member died, extra taxes were paid to he lord as a form of feudal relief to enable the heir to keep the right to till what land he had. Any young woman who wished to marry a serf outside of her manor was forced to pay a fee for the right to leave her lord, and in comp ensation for her lost labour. It was also a matter of discussion whether serfs could be required by law in times of war or conflict to fight for their lords land and property. o In the case of their lords defeat, their own fate might be uncertain, so the serf certainly had an interest in supporting his lord. POLITICAL RIGHTS Serfs in the middle ages had some form of political rights and were allowed to form their own village courts, known as Halimotes. They created regulations and codes of conducts to be adhered by the village members. Their laws pertained to every aspect of village life including: o Intermarriages, o Working in the fields o Festivities and celebrations The courts typically compromised of 12 representatives who had responsibilities of enforcing the martial laws. The common wisdom is that a serf owned only his belly o Even his clothes were the property, in law, of his lord † a serf might still ccumulate personal property and wealth, and some se became wealthi er than their free neighbors, although this was rare. A well-to-do serf might even be able to buy his freedom. A serf could grow what crop he saw fit on his lands. o Although a serfs taxes often had to be paid in wheat. The surplus he would sell at market. The landlord could not dispossess his serfs without legal cause and was supposed to protect them from the depredations of robbers or other lords, and he was expected to support them by charity in times of famine. Many such rights were enforceable by the serf in the manorial court.

Assassination Of Abraham Lincoln Essay Research Paper

Character assassination Of Abraham Lincoln Essay, Research Paper Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Kentucky. In 1818 he moved to Indiana. On November 4, 1842 Lincoln married Mary Todd. In 1832 Lincoln became a campaigner for province legislative assembly but he lost. Later that twelvemonth he was appointed to postmaster of New Salem, so subsequently became deputy county surveyor. Lincoln ran for the Illinois legislative assembly but was non successful. Two old ages subsequently Lincoln was elected to the Lower House for four footings as a Whig. After this he ran for a place in the U.S. senate but he was defeated. Lincoln so joined the freshly formed Republican Party. He was chosen to run against John C. Breckenbridge for U.S. president and he won and became the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes booth on April 14, 1865. Booth started be aftering to assassinate Lincoln in 1864. Samuel Arnold, Michael O Laughlen, John Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and David Herold helped Booth in assassinating Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth was a racialist and a southern sympathiser. Booth was against everything Lincoln represented. Lincoln was assassinated at the Fords theater in Washington D.C. Booth wanted retaliation for the south s ailments which he thought Lincoln brought. The Lincoln Assassination On April, 14 1865 President Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a public presentation of An American Cousin at Ford s Theater. President Lincoln died the following forenoon. The individual who had killed Lincoln was John Wilkes Booth. A few yearss before he was killed, Lincoln had told his partner about a dream he had, he saw a president shrouded on a catafalque in the east room of the White House. Even after this dream he attended An American Cousin at Ford s Theater. John Wilkes Booth thought the president was determined to destruct the fundamental law, set aside the rights reserved to the provinces, crush civil autonomies, and restore monarchy. He saw the Confederacy was the lone means to of continuing the values of the establishing male parents. He devoted much of late 1864 and early 1865 to a series of secret plans to kidnap Lincoln and utilize his gaining control to invalidate the Union s war purposes. Every strategy stoping in defeat. After Lee ha d surrendered to the Army of the Potomac, in the 2nd hebdomad of April, he saw that merely the most despairing steps offered any hope of salvaging the Southern Cause. Shortly before he went into the theater, he stopped at tavern for a drink. While in the bar an acquaintance jokingly remarked that â€Å"he would never be as great as his father,† Booth replied by saying â€Å"When I leave the stage, I will be the most talked about man in America.† The Atlanta Campaign of 1864 In the spring of 1864, Gen. W. T. Sherman concentrated the Union armies of G. H. Thomas, J. B. McPherson, and J. M. Schofield around Chattanooga. On May 6 he began to move along the railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Sherman had two objectives, one was to destroy the army of General J. E. Johnston and the other was to capture Atlanta. Johnston realizing that he was outnumbered started to retreat south. Sherman tried a direct assault on Johnston s forces and was repulsed. Johnston had retreated back to the south bank of the Chattahoochee river. On July 17, John Bell Hood replaced Johnston as General. He tried t o continue with Johnston s plan, but failed to stop the advance of Union troops. He retired to Atlanta, which Sherman soon had under bombardment. On September 1 Hood abandoned Atlanta, the next day Sherman moved in and burned it. The Maryland Invasion A year after the confederate defeat at Gettysburg. Robert E. Lee planned to invade the North again like he did in the campaigns of Antietam and Gettysburg. He hoped that this would be enough to get Grant to detach part of his army to protect Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington City, or to have Grant attach fortifications and risk heavy lose. Miscellaneous Fort Pillow Massacre: An incident that took place in Fort Pillow, Tennessee, April 12, 1864. Confederate troops commanded by General N. B. Forrest, stormed and captured Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River. The garrison of black soldiers and Tennessee Unionist held out beyond all possible hope. The joint committee on the Conduct of War investigated and charged that the Confederates indiscriminately slaughtered more than 300 black soldiers. General Sherman was ordered to investigate, but his report was never published. Battle of Franklin: November 30, 1864, a Civil War engagement in which the Confederate forces were defeated. After abandoning Atlanta, General Hood reorganized the Confederate army at Lovejoy s Station. His hope was too cut off Sherman s lines of communication.

Advantages for Young people live with out Parents Essay

Advantages for Young people live with out Parents - Essay Example Not having parents to live with would expose them to direct emotional and psychological pressures. The advantage here is that, the youth is getting an opportunity to face those early challenges and get seasoned to the turbulence of life. These experiences would make them sensitized to the importance of facing those challenges and seeking for opportunities to achieve. In other words, living without a support mechanism would make youth independent and self sustainable. One very important problem that the parent children relationship faces is generation gap. Generation gap is nothing but differences in ideologies and thought process. This would cause further distortion in the relationship between the parent and young children. Youth living without parents would not be influenced by and confined to the ideology of their parents. This would mean that they will develop an early individuality. At peer level, they will have an advantage of being relatively mature and able to handle complex things. This is very much important to be successful in

Essay on Artistic Appropriation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On Artistic Appropriation - Essay Example I focused on the historical background of the origin of appropriation practice and the methods of doing it in a way that it formed collage work. My work has a premise that is similar to the work of other scholars, nonetheless, it is unique in the way I have approached it. In order to develop my argument and to strengthen it along the way, I took help from the various literature that were available on the electronic journals and periodicals. These researches provided a strong base to this research and developed the initial path for this research to reach its destination. The culture of artistic appropriation in the historical times was compared with the modern to shed light on the differences that have arisen in terms of law, perspective and practice. My strong focus was on the legal history of copyright law. I surveyed the treaties and agreements that govern copyright law, domestically and internationally to develop an international view point instead of remaining limited to one aspe ct only. Significantly, my research is based on the United Kingdom’s copyright laws along with the international treaties. The study of the UK laws provided time and space to develop a strong analysis of the modern copyright law application. In case, the scope of study was spread over various countries, it would have become impracticable as well as less effective. The data collection from other countries would be time consuming, costly as well as of low quality. Therefore, I focused on the practice of copyright laws in UK and their impact on the UK artists only. I relied on the recent and landmark judgements related to the artistic appropriation cases both involving artist Jeff Knoos. The cases dealt with the act of copyright infringement through artistic appropriation and the related judgements which affected such cases in the future. Furthermore, I discussed the concept of fair dealing and fair use as perceived and practiced in UK. The study is purely legal and provides an argument that the modern copyright law has provided the artists with the method to get protected and at the same time continue with the artistic work under the fair use or fair dealing clause. Thus, providing an effective method to investigate the argument that the modern copyright law has not provided protection to the artists when they appropriate other artist’s copyright work. The research method adopted acted as a means of examining a myth from the legal perspective and from the perspective of the artists. The primary units of analysis are the artists, creators, sculptors, painters and intellectual property stakeholders having interest in the appropriation of artistic works. These stakeholders are the primary effected persons who have undergone the adverse effects of appropriation. Furthermore, the global bodies like World Intellectual Property Organization was also taken into consideration to answer the research questions and to achieve its objectives. The process of dat a collection is based on various processes like Sampling Frame. It provides the researcher with the option to collect data for the research expeditiously whilst remaining within budget to achieve effective and efficient results. A proper sampling frame includes age, color and location of the units that are analyzed. The sampling frame for artistic appropriation research design has the sample of Artists, Painters, Sculptors and International Bodies and

Three Types of Major Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Three Types of Major Networks - Essay Example The connectivity is generally made possible using a copper cable or optic fiber cable (OFC). The reach is further extended somewhat when we use the optic fiber. But that results in substantial increase in costs. Therefore in organisations where the purpose of LAN is not commercial and it is merely for information sharing, OFC is not a viable option. LANs are generally used to connect personal computers and sharing resources like printers. Generally LAN can work on speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps, with modern networks even working at somewhat higher speeds. The interconnections could be in Bus, Ring, Star or Tree topologies. Bus and Ring are the generally used ones’. The arbitration mechanism for resolving disputes is called Ethernet or IEEE 802.3. Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN): Such networks are called "metropolitan networks" because they are usually used for areas like metro-cities. It is a bigger version of LAN and normally uses similar technology. The coverage area of LAN could extend upto 10 kms. An organisation having couple of offices within a city can make use of MAN for interconnecting all such offices. MAN are also compatible with local networks. A Metro area network is also interconnected with one or two cables without any switching elements. Normally, this type of network is made a high speed network using optical fibre cable connections. Couple of LANs can be interconnected with the help of a MAN. The main reason for placing MAN into a separate category is that a standard has been adopted for them. This standard is called Distributed Queue Dual Bus (DQQB). DQQB is made up of two unidirectional buses (cables) to which all the computers are connected (fig 2). This standard is also known as IEEE 802.6. The key fea ture of MAN is that it allows ‘broadcasting’ i.e. one person/ node can messages for all the person/ nodes in the network simultaneously. This is possible because of the design of DQQB. Wide

Marketing Ogden Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing Ogden - Essay Example Motorcycle Classics is devotedly read by the young, middle aged and old aged people who are true motorcycle enthusiasts and live the dream of collecting and sharing information about the great iron rider. The marketing campaign for the chosen titles of Ogden Publications will be based on the concept of integrated marketing communications. According to Tony Yeshin (1998), integrated marketing communications refers to the coordination of several promotional techniques in a campaign in such a manner that the marketing objective is fulfilled. Ogden Publication needs to utilize a mix of integrated marketing tools such as public relations, direct selling, advertising, sales promotion etc. A very effective way for Ogden to promote and further strengthen its brand is through the effective use of social media marketing. The interactive form of PR will allow Ogden to communicate directly with its audience. Information about special issues, Ogden promotional fairs, sponsoring events and tips on adapting to a sustainable lifestyle will be delivered to the customers easily. The quick response about any new initiative by Ogden will serve as a feedback which would open doors for further improvement . The fans of Motorcycle Classics would find social media a great opportunity to exchange their knowledge and tips on bike riding, new and old models and finest motorcycle maintenance essentials. Fans of Mother Earth News and Utne Reader will share their views on a healthy lifestyle and personal DIY techniques effectively. It is a big challenge for Ogden to maintain the same feel and look across both online and print media. The most important way to do so is to identify the brand tone. This means that Ogden must decide if it wants to communicate in a formal or informal tone with its customers. Once identified and agreed, it must design marketing and PR campaigns in such a manner so as to maintain formality/informality in all online, print and face to face

Major Theories of Crime Causation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Major Theories of Crime Causation - Essay Example These units and theories have been around and in use from as early as the twentieth century. Over the years, theorists and researchers have engaged their minds in trying to find answers and possibly cab the high level of crime that the world faces today (Siegel, 2010). Many of the theories developed give varying analytical statistics on the causes that lead people to commit crimes; right from common crimes to high profile criminal offenses; this study aims at discussing two theories, one from choice theories and the other from trait theories. Throughout the discussion, details will be given in support of why crimes according to the two theories under study. The study and practice of criminology investigates matters regarding crime causation and the aspects that influence unlawful delinquency. There are various theories under the umbrella of choice theories of crime, which explain factors that highly influence or cause people, to engage in criminal activities. These theories rely on l ogin while trying to elucidate why an individual commits a crime and whether the criminal act emanates from lucid decision, interior tendency or peripheral traits. These theories influence how the law and the judicial system is structured and the functions entitled to it. Rational theory Under the choice theory, it is important to discuss the rational theory and its contribution in understanding the causes of crime among individuals in the society. Regarding the trait theory, oppositional defiant disorder as a theory of interest will answer the most underpinning questions regarding cause of crime. The rational choice theory undertakes a practical conviction, which affirms that man is an intellectual personality who examines resources and ends, comprising expenses and profits after which an individual makes a coherent choice. Developed by Cornish, this theory aimed at assisting the thoughts about situational crime prevention. In view of this theory, an assumption is made which relays that crime is a purposive conduct created or designed to meet the reprobate`s commonplace needs; money, status, sex, and excitement. Meeting these necessities encompasses the making of elementary conclusions and choices. Key elements in this theory reveal various critical issues important for understanding the causes of crime. Studies indicate that this theory relates to the previous drift theory; people employ techniques of counterbalancing to drift in and out of delinquent behavior. Further still, there is a proposal that failure by families and extended kin groups has the effect of expanding the realm of relationships that are not under the control of the community. Thus, this further undermines governmental controls, which leads to persistent systematic crime and delinquency. Such kind of ineptitude causes and stresses social customs and social struggles, which sustain disruptive activity (Cullen, 2010). Concerning this theory, for a misconduct to transpire, three essentials mu st be available; an inspired lawbreaker, an obtainable and appropriate target, and no power figure to impede the offense from taking place. The theory relates the pattern of offending to daily patterns of social interaction; where in the 1980s, women left homes to work and tis led to social disintegration. This was a repetitive of parting families unattended and with lack of authority character augmented probabilities of unlawful activity. The theory has key assumptions that relate to the offender and crimes, where the offender sees himself or herself as individual. Thus, persons have to exploit their objectives since they are self-centered. In many occasions, offenders think about themselves and they only