Organizational Culture and Performance Essay

The concept of organizational culture has drawn attention to the long-neglected, subjective or ‘soft’ side of organizational life. However, many aspects of organizational culture have not received much attention. Instead, emphasis has been placed primarily on the cultural and symbolic aspects that are relevant in an instrumental/pragmatic context. The technical cognitive interest prevails. Culture then is treated as an object of management action. In this regard, Ouchi and Wilkins (1985: 462) note that ‘the contemporary student of organizational culture often takes the organization not as a natural solution to deep and universal forces but rather as a rational instrument designed by top management to shape the behavior of the employees in purposive ways’. Accordingly, much research on corporate culture and organizational symbolism is dominated by a preoccupation with a limited set of meanings, symbols, values, and ideas presumed to be manageable and directly related to effectiveness and performance. This is in many ways understandable, but there are two major problems following from this emphasis. One is that many aspects of organizational culture are simply disregarded. It seems strange that the (major part of the) literature should generally disregard such values as bureaucratic-‘meritocratic’ hierarchy, unequal distribution of privileges and rewards, a mixture of individualism and conformity, male domination, emphasis on money, economic growth, consumerism, advanced technology, exploitation of nature, and the equation of economic criteria with rationality. Instrumental reason dominates; quantifiable values and the optimization of means for the attainment of pre-given ends define rationality (Horkheimer and Adorno, 1947; Marcuse, 1964). Mainstream organizational culture thinking – in organizations but also in academia – tend to take this for granted. The values and ideas to which organizational culture research pays attention are primarily connected with the means and operations employed to achieve pre-defined and unquestioned goals. A second problem is that subordinating organizational culture thinking to narrowly defined instrumental concerns also reduces the potential of culture to aid managerial action. Organizational culture calls for considerations that break with some of the assumptions characterizing technical thinking, i.e. the idea that a particular input leads to a predictable effect. This chapter thus shows some problems associated with the use of the term culture that does not take the idea of culture seriously enough and presses the concept into a limited version of the technical cognitive interest. It argues for a ‘softer’ version of this interest as well as for thinking following the other two cognitive interests (as sketched in Chapter 1). A basic problem in much management thinking and writing is an impatience in showing the great potential of organizational culture. Associated with this is a bias for a premature distinction between the good and the bad values and ideas, trivialization of culture, overstressing the role of management and the employment of causal thinking. Premature normativity: the idea of good culture Associated with the technical interest of optimizing means for accomplishment of goals is an underdeveloped capacity to reflect upon normative matters. Viewing cultures as means leads to evaluations of them as more or less ‘good’, i.e. as useful, without consideration whether this goodness is the same as usefulness or if usefulness may be very multidimensional. The more popular literature argues that ‘good’ or ‘valuable’ cultures – often equated with ‘strong’ cultures – are characterized by norms beneficial to the company, to customers, and to mankind and by ‘good’ performance in general: Good cultures are characterized by norms and values supportive of excellence, teamwork, profitability, honesty, a customer service orientation, pride in one’s work, and commitment to the organization. Most of all, they are supportive of adaptability – the capacity to thrive over the long run despite new competition, new regulations, new technological developments, and the strains of growth. (Baker, 1980: 10) Good cultures are, according to this author, cultures that incorporate all good things in peaceful co-existence. Also many other authors eager to appeal to practitioners focus on highly positive-sounding virtues, attitudes, and behaviour claimed to be useful to the achievement of corporate goals as defined by management (e.g. Deal and Kennedy, 1982; Trice and Beyer, 1985). They are largely instrumental in character, without considering any ambiguity of the virtue of culture or what it supposedly accomplished in terms of goal realization. The assumption that culture can be simply evaluated in terms of right and wrong come through in embarrassing statements such as that ‘the wrong values make the culture a major liability’ (Wiener, 1988: 536) has already been mentioned. Similarly, Kilmann et al. (1985: 4) argue that ‘a culture has a positive impact on an organization when it points behavior in the right direction†¦. Alternatively, a culture has negative impact when it points behavior in the wrong direction’. According to Wilkins and Patterson (1985: 272): ‘The ideal culture †¦ is characterized by a clear assumption of equity †¦ a clear sense of collective competence †¦ and an ability to continually apply the collective competence to new situations as well as to alter it when necessary.’ Kanter (1983) talks about ‘cultures of pride’, which are good, and ‘cultures of inferiority’, which any sane person will avoid. This type of functionalist, normative, and instrumentally biased thinking is also found in Schein’s (1985) book, in which culture is seen as a pattern of basic assumptions that has ‘proved’ to be valid for a group coping with problems of external adaptation and internal integration. Basically, culture in this literature is instrumental in relation to the formal goals of an organization and to the management objectives or tasks associated with these goals (i.e. external and internal effectiveness). It is assumed to exist because it works – or at least used to work. Of course, changed circumstances can make a culture dysfunctional – calling for planned, intentional change – but the approach assumes that culture is or can be ‘good’ for some worthwhile purpose. As will be shown later ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are not, however, self-evident, especially when it comes to complex phenomena such as culture. A bias towards the ‘positive’ functions of culture and its close relation to issues such as harmony, consensus, clarity, and meaningfulness is also implicit in many of these studies (see Martin and Meyerson, 1988). Symbols and cultural aspects are often seen as functional (or dysfunctional) for the organization in terms of goal attainment, meeting the emotional-expressive needs of members, reducing tension in communication, and so on. Instrumental/functional dimensions are often emphasized, for instance, in studies of rites and ceremonies (e.g. Dandridge, 1986; Trice and Beyer, 1984). The typical research focus is on social integration (Alvesson, 1987). Culture is understood as (usually or potentially) useful – and those aspects of culture that are not easily or directly seen as useful remain out of sight, e.g. on gender and ethics. The most common ideas guiding organizational analysis draw upon such metaphors for culture as tool, social glue, need satisfier, or regulator of social relations. Problems include the premature use of moral judgement, in a way hidden behind technical understanding in which culture is viewed as a tool and presumably as easy to evaluate in terms of its goodness as a hammer. But few issues are simply good or bad, functional or dysfunctional. Some things that may be seen as good may be less positive from another angle. A ‘clear sense of collective competence’ – to connect to the citation above – does in itself sound positive and is good for self-esteem and commitment, but a high level of self-confidence may be a mixed blessing as it easily forms a part of, or leads to, fantasies of omnipotence, and may obstruct openness, reflection, willingness to listen to critique and take new external ideas seriously (Brown and Starkey, 2000). Cultural themes thus call for careful consideration, where normative judgement should be applied with great caution. Normative talk easily prevents more nuanced interpretation. Trivialization of culture As argued above, the consequence of the functionalist/pragmatic approach is that culture tends to be reduced to those limited aspects of this complex phenomenon that are perceived to be directly related to organizational efficiency and competitive advantage (see, e.g. Barney, 1986; Kilmann et al., 1985). This means a rather selected interest in organizational culture. But much worse is a tendency to emphasize mainly the superficial aspects of these selected parts of organizational culture. These superficial aspects have the advantage that they are compatible with technical thinking, presumably accessible to managerial interventions. Culture may even be equated with certain behavioural norms viewed as ‘an excellent vehicle for helping people understand and manage the cultural aspects of organizational life’ (Allen, 1985: 334). In marketing, market-oriented culture is frequently defined as the key to strong performances (Harris and Ogbonna, 1999), culture here implying certain behaviours. The problem, of course, is that norms are not the best vehicle for understanding culture. Whereas norms tell people how to behave, culture has a much broader and more complex influence on thinking, feeling, and sense-making (Schneider, 1976). Again, Barney (1986), Pfeffer (1994) and others argue that to serve as a source of sustained competitive advantage culture must be ‘valuable, rare, and imperfectly imitable’. If this statement is to make any sense at all, culture must be interpreted as highly normative, accessible to evaluation in terms of frequency (i.e. quantifiable), and capable of being copied a t will. This conception deprives culture of the richness that is normally seen as its strength. At the same time, any culture may be seen as vital for competitive advantage (or as disadvantage), as it is arguably, highly significant and not easy to imitate. As Pfeffer (1994), among others, notes, many of the earlier identified sources of competitive advantage, such as economies of scale, products or process technology, access to financial resources and protected or regulated markets, become of diminishing significance as a consequence of more fragmented markets with an increasing need for flexibility in production, shorter product life cycle, internationalizations and de-regulations. A company’s competence and ability to manage people – to a considerable degree overlapping organizational culture – are not easy to imitate. Even to describe and analyse culture is difficult, as indicated by all the management texts providing only superficial and trivial descriptions of culture, such as norms about ‘market-oriented’ behaviour. The trivialization of organizational culture is not, however, solely restricted to writings promising the quick fix. Despite an effort to define organizational culture on a deeper level, emphasizing basic assumptions, Schein (1985) in most of his empirical examples tends to address the more superficial aspects. One example concerns the acquisition of a franchised business: The lack of understanding of the cultural risks of buying a franchised business was brought out even more clearly in another case, where a very stuffy, traditional, moralistic company whose management prided itself on its high ethical standards bought a chain of fast-food restaurants that were locally franchised around the country. The company’s managers discovered, much to their chagrin, that one of the biggest of these restaurants in a nearby state had become the local brothel. The activities of the town were so well integrated around this restaurant that the alternative of closing it down posed the risk of drawing precisely the kind of attention this company wanted at all costs to avoid. The managers asked themselves, after the fact, ‘Should we have known what our acquisition involved on this more subtle level? Should we have understood our own value system better, to ensure compatibility?’ (Schein, 1985: 34–5) Here the problem seems to be lack of knowledge on a very specific point – what the company was buying – rather than lack of understanding of the company’s own value system. Most ordinary, ‘respectable’ corporations, whatever their organizational culture, would probably wish to avoid becoming owners of brothels. Prostitution is broadly seen as illegitimate, not only by those who Schein views as ‘very stuffy, traditional, moralistic’ people. Apart from the moral issue, there is of course the risk that bad publicity would follow and harm the company. Managerialization of culture Another aspect of adapting culture to technical concerns, and the reduction of complexity and depth contingent upon such concerns, is the confusion of organizational culture with the firm’s management ideology. Frequently what is referred to as organizational or corporate culture really stands for the ideals and visions prescribed by top management (Alvesson, 1987; Westley and Jaeger, 1985). It is sometimes held that the best way to investigate ‘corporate culture’ is through interviews with top managers, but the outcome of this approach tends to be a description of the espoused ideology of those managers that ‘only skim the culture that surrounds the top executives’ (Czarniawska-Joerges, 1992: 174). Denison (1984) in a survey claiming to study corporate culture, for example asked one manager per company in a large number of companies to fill in a questionnaire. Organizational culture and managerial ideology are in most cases not the same, partly due to the lack of depth of ideology compared to culture, partly due to variation within organizations and discrepancies between top management and other groups. To differentiate between corporate culture as prescribed and manager-led and organizational culture as ‘real culture’ and more or less emergent from below is one possibility (Anthony, 1994). However, management ideology is not necessarily very different from organizational culture – there are cases where management ideology powerfully impregnates cultural patterns (Alvesson, 1995; Kunda, 1992). But this needs to be empirically investigated and shown, and cannot be assumed. Management ideology is but one of several expressions of organizational culture. In most discussions of the relationship between culture and performance, authors focus on values espoused by senior managers, to a higher or lower degree shared by larger groups, while the complexity and variety of culture is neglected.1 From a management point of view, the managerialization of organizational culture immediately appears appealing; but arguably deeper, less conscious aspects of cultural patterns than those managers are already aware of and promote are more valuable, at least in the long run, to focus on. Rather than smoothing over differences and variations in meanings, ideas and values within organizations, highlighting the latter is significant as a basis of informed management thinking and action. Loosening the grip of premature practicality The three weaknesses of much organizational culture thinking reviewed above are related to the wish to make culture appear as of immediate interest to practitioners, and to fit into a predominantly technical cognitive interest in which culture is reduced to a tool. Cultural studies should be permitted to develop unrestricted by, or at least more loosely connected to, concerns for practicality. It is important here is to recognize the contradiction between sophisticated thinking and easily applicable practical concerns: The more rigorously (anthropologically) the term (culture) is applied, the more the concept of organizational culture gains in theoretical interpretative power and the more it loses in practicality. In the effort to overcome this contradiction the danger is that theoretical rigour will be lost in the interest of practicality. (Westley and Jaeger, 1985: 15) Even if one wants to contribute to practicality, rather than to anthropology, this still calls for another kind of intellectual approach than most of the authors cited above exemplify. Oversimplification and promises of ‘quick fixes’ do not necessarily serve narrow pragmatic interests, neither those of managers nor of others. Making things look clear-cut and simple may mislead. Practitioners might benefit much more from the pro-managerial and pragmatic organizational culture literature if it stopped promising recipes for how to manage and control culture and instead discussed other phenomena which managers might, with luck and skill, be able to influence – for example, specific cultural manifestations, workplace spirit and behavioural norms. Learning to ‘think culturally’ about organizational reality might inspire enlightened managerial everyday action rather than unrealistic programmes for culture change or bending patterns of meaning, ideas and valu es to managerial will. Before assuming that culture is functional or good for organizational or managerial purposes, it makes sense to distinguish among possible consequences and to recognize that they may conflict. Critical reflection and learning may be a good thing, consensus facilitating control and coordinated action another, and reduction of anxiety a third; but not all these good things may be attainable at the same time and they may contradict each other. Perhaps more important, contradictory interests – those of professions, divisions, classes, consumers, environmentalists, the state, owners, top management, etc. – may produce different views on what is good, important, and appropriate. Also within complex organizations, corporate goal-attainment may presuppose considerable variation in cultural orientations. Most aspects of culture are difficult to designate as clearly good or bad. To simplify these relationships runs the risk of producing misleading pictures of cultural manifestati ons. Instead, the focus must become the tensions between the creative and destructive possibilities of culture formation (Jeffcutt, 1993). Approaches to the cultureÂâ€"performance relationship There are different ideas regarding to what extent organizational culture can be used as a managerial tool. I will point at and discuss three versions of how managers can work with culture. These represent the relative significance of management versus culture: can management control culture or must management adapt to culture? Cultural engineering: corporate culture as managerial design In the most instrumentally oriented of these formulations, culture is conceived as a building block in organizational design – a subsystem, well-demarcated from other parts of the organization, which includes norms, values, beliefs, and behavioural styles of employees. Even though it may be difficult to master, it is in principle no different from other parts of the organization in terms of management and control. The term ‘cultural engineering’ captures the spirit of this position, which is sometimes called the ‘corporate-culture school’ (Alvesson and Berg, 1992). Kilmann (1985: 354) recognizes that there is considerable disagreement about what culture is but concludes that ‘it is still important to consider what makes a culture good or bad, adaptive or dysfunctional’. He describes culture almost as a physical force: ‘Culture provides meaning, direction, and mobilization – it is the social energy that moves the corporation into allocation †¦ the energy that flows from shared commitments among group members’ (p. 352) and ‘the force controlling behaviour at every level in the organization’ (p. 358). He believes that every firm has a distinctive culture that can develop and change quickly and must be managed and controlled: ‘If left alone, a culture eventually becomes dysfunctional’ (p. 354). The underlying metaphor then clearly comes from technical science. The crucial dimension of culture, according to Kilmann, is norms; it is here that culture is ‘most easily controlled’. More precisely, it is the norms that guide the behaviour and attitudes of the people in the company that are of greatest interest and significance, because they have a powerful effect on the requirements for its success – quality, efficiency, product reliability, customer service, innovation, hard work, loyalty, etc. This is the core of most (American) texts on corporate culture (e.g. Deal and Kennedy, 1982; Peters and Waterman, 1982; Sathe, 1985; Wiener, 1988). There are many difficulties with this model. Norms refer to a too superficial and behaviour-near aspect to really capture culture, at least as defined in this book. Norms and behaviours are affected by many dimensions other than culture. Within a culture there are a number of norms related to the enormous variety of different behaviours. The point with culture is that it indicates the meaning dimension, i.e. what is behind and informs norms. A related problem with this behaviour-near view on culture is the tendency to see culture as more or less forcefully affecting behaviour. For example, Sathe (1985: 236) argues that ‘the strength of a culture influences the intensity of behavior’, and the ‘strength’ of a culture is determined by ‘how many important shared assumptions there are’, how widely they are shared, and how clearly they are ranked. A ‘strong’ culture is thus characterized by homogeneity, simplicity, and clearly ordered assumptions. In a ‘complex’ culture – by definition any culture – assumptions will probably be very difficult to identify and rank, and it can even be argued that such a measurement approach distorts the phenomena it is supposed to study. As Fitzgerald (1988: 9–10) has put it: Values do not exist as isolated, independent, or incremental entities. Beliefs and assumptions, tastes and inclinations, hopes and purposes, values and principles are not modular packages stored on warehouse shelves, waiting for inventory. They have no separate existence, as do spark plugs in an engine; they cannot be examined one at a time and replaced when burned out†¦. They have their own inner dynamic: Patriotism, dignity, order, progress, equality, security – each implies other values, as well as their opposites. Patriotism implies homeland, duty, and honor, but also takes its strength from its contrast to disloyalty; dignity requires the possibility of humiliation and sham e.

Regilion and Moral Flaws in Young Goodman Brown

Alexandria Harris Mrs. Thompson Eng. 101 TR. 10:15-12:15 Good vs. Evil the Moral Flaws in Young Goodman Brown In Salem, Massachusetts religion was very prominent in the 1700s, especially during the Salem Witch Trials. Salem, Massachusetts was known for the numerous witch trials, and the persecutions. Many people were accused for practicing witchcraft, being bewitched, and for making covenants with the devil. Nathaniel Hawthorne introduces Goodman Brown as a newlywed husband who is going to embark on a tedious journey into the forest. This journey into the forest was to meet the Devil, and to establish a covenant with him.As he travels, Brown is faced whether to go against his morals, beliefs, and religion. Goodman Brown realizes not everything is what it seems, and he learns about the true morality of the people around him. In â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† Nathaniel Hawthorne reveals the common differences between good versus evil, and the weakness of public morality, As the sto ry begins we meet Goodman Brown, and his newly wed wife Faith. The couple is talking about the journey Brown is going to take, and Faith is trying to convince him to stay until the morning to travel into the forest.Faith then tells Goodman that â€Å"A lone woman is troubled with suck dreams and such thoughts that she’s afraid of herself sometimes. † When Faith says that it is to let Brown know that she is scared to be alone at night, nor does she want him to tarry off to the forest at the moment. She would rather him stay with her so that she can feel safe, secured, and unharmed. Brown assures her that everything is okay, and that it is going to be a one nigh endeavor. Goodman clings on to this idea of Faith as he starts his journey into the forest. He hopes that as long as Faith stays holy, he can somehow find himself to resist the devil.Goodman Brown feels that the good in Faith’s heart will keep him making irrational decisions. The good that is in faith is s hown so that Goodman can travel without worrying about her. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Goodman’s wife Faith to represent her purity as a woman. In the 1700s, a pure woman was the best thing in the world. If the woman was pure it made her worth more than anything that an impure woman could offer. Brown states that â€Å"she’s a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven. Hawthorne is trying to convey that even though Brown has done wrong in his life Faith’s purity could save him from a life of sin. It was known in these times that the men would leave the family for religious purposes. Faith’s purity brings the well-being out of Goodman Brown because he knows that he can’t go wrong with her. Brown realizes that her purity is what keeps him in line, and it is why he insists on remaining good. If he remains on this path, remembers the purity of Faith, and resist wrong doing then he can remai n faithful to his religion.The ribbons that Faith puts on her hat also represent her purity. The color pink is often used when newborn baby girls are born to symbolize that they are young, innocent, and pure. As little girls get older they tend to like this color more than the rest. Pink is used frequently to show the feminine side of girls, and how they are different from boys. The pink ribbons are associated with innocence and modesty. Faith is considered pure because at the beginning she shows to Goodman that she doesn’t want him to leave her alone. The newly wed wife would rather have her husband around her than him travel afar.Hawthorne mentions the ribbons several times in the beginning, and this states her youthfulness as well as her happiness. Traveling into the forest is when the tone shifts from innocent and kindhearted to gloomy and melancholy. Angie Sole states that, â€Å"Goodman Brown’s experience in the dark, evil forest correlated and would have been r ecognized by Puritans as a symbol of mistrust of their own corrupt hearts and faculties. † Soler says this because it represents the deceit, and the darkness of man’s heart. Brown walking into the forest that was gloomy, dark, and the shadows he saw were fighting him.Brown felt like he couldn’t trust the figures because they were deceiving him by their looks. The evil in the story the forest was just like the evil in all the movies, and in the plots of story books. Going into a dark forest doesn’t symbolize anything good. Being in the forest, Brown knew he couldn’t trust his own self, nor could he trusts his desires to keep from doing wrong. The forest with all its evil, deceit, and darkness shows Brown that he doesn’t need to follow in to the path of evil. As Brown travels deeper into the forest, a man who informs him that he is late approaches him.The second traveler with Brown is much older than he is, and Hawthorne describes him to be â⠂¬Å"Considerable resemblance to him, though perhaps more features still they have been taken for father and son. † This is because they looked alike in similar ways. Older man carried a rod hat resembled â€Å"A great black snake. † This snake is the significance in the story because it is known for being a deceiver. In the Old Testament, the snake deceived Eve into eating the fruit from the Forbidden tree. The snake lay to Eve and Adam because the snake was sneaky, mischievous, and deceitful.This is why Eve was easily persuaded to the fruit. Another â€Å"rod/snake† reference is when Moses was trying to convince Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go. When meeting with Pharaoh, Moses casted out his rod, and it turned into a snake. Hawthorne describes the rod in the story as like it was somewhat alive. The snake represents the common evil Brown face throughout the story. Hawthorne uses the weakness of morality throughout the story. This shows how Brown was ashame d of what he was doing as well as what the people around him were doing.Going in the forest is when Brown recognizes the familiar faces. He notices the minister, deacon Gookin, and Good Cloyse traveling into the forest as well. As they are walking, Brown quickly throws his staff, and goes out of sight. It was as if he vanished into the deepening of darkness. Hiding behind the tree, Brown is staying out of sight of the three Salem church members. Making sure that the familiar people of town Brown uses the branches to hide do not see him. He didn’t want as much as a shadow of him to be seen, and while he was hiding Brown begins to pray.As he praying the atmosphere changes, and the clouds start to shift. The Brown hears the indistinct voices laughing, and conversing among each other. This is when he notices something floating in the sky, and this is when he realizes that is its Faith’s pink ribbon. Goodman Brown proclaims â€Å"My Faith is gone! There is no good on earth ; and sin is but a name. Come, devil1 for to thee is this world given. † He says this in spite of the possibility of Faith being in harm’s way. Faith being alive is how Brown was so comfortable with making this journey to speak with the Devil.Her being safe, secures, and out of harm’s way is what made the trip easier, and he used her faith to allow him to resist into temptation. Brown begins to continue walking at a faster pace because he wants the journey to be over with. Getting closer to his destination he comes across an open space that has poles lit up with fire, and this is followed by the thunderous cry of people chanting hymns. Brown comes to the space, and he notices some of the Salem towns people were there too/ He see the minister, Deacon Gookin, and Goody Cloyse, but Faith is nowhere to be found.Brown is confused with what he is seeing. There were two figures that were vaguely noticeable, but Brown thinks they are his parents. Nether the less, he was seized by the arms by the minister and the deacon. They start walking him to the blazing rock where he sees the unveiled. The morality of the people had been changed because Goodman Brown thought all the people were of one faith when they weren’t. The people all walk to the middle of the open space, and the woman who was wearing the veil followed them. A voice begins to speak and this is led to believe that it is the Devil.He calls everyone to attention letting the people know that things are about to come to order. The woman under the veil then reveals herself, and she is no other than Faith. Brown realized that she is a part of the demonic meeting he speaks to her and says â€Å"Look up to the heaven, and resist the Wicked one. † Brown feels that Faith shouldn’t go down the path that he was going down. Since Faith is believed to be the only pure soul in his life, and he wants her to stay in that shape, form, and fashion Regardless of the temptation that she is faced he wants her to resist it.Brown returns to the Salem village the next morning with a new perspective about everyone. The people surrounding him seemed to be coming off as unrealistic, and this is when he starts to think that everything is not supposed to happen. Goodman feels that not only were his morals changed, but the people around him did too. Their morals, beliefs, and religions have changed because before he went into the forest. Brown felt that he was the only one doing wrong, but until he goes into the forest is when he sees the true nature of the people.Hawthorne reveals man weakness to their moral, religion, and beliefs could easily be different†¦ Hawthorne shows that the holiest man could very well be a sinner. Not one man is subjected to being holier than the other. Brown saw the further he went into the forest the more vulnerable to following into evil. Once Faith sees Goodman Brown she runs up to him with joy of knowing that he returned without being harme d. After being in that forest for a night, Brown could not decipher what was right, and he could not tell if what he was seeing was wrong.Being release from Faith’s embracing hug he can not look at her the same. The look was so stern, and sadly given to her, that he passed her without even acknowledging her with a proper greeting. Her female purity was once sacred to Goodman Brown, and he felt that if she kept her faith he too could to right in his life. With the feeling of being deceived, lied to , and bamboozled her purity is no longer void, and it dissolves into nonexistence. Goodman’s innocence left him as he began the journey into the forest, but doing this made him feel corrupted beyond reasons explainable.This shows that everything Brown has seen could very much be a figment of his imagination. In conclusion, Goodman Brown sees that there is more than meet the eye, and that no man is far from sin. Nathaniel Hawthorn shows that your faith may betray you, but it i s also the truth of a waking experience. In this short story Hawthorne uses the differences of good versus evil, and the weakness of morality to convey how people were in the 1700s. By using Goodman Brown, he was able to show the understanding of sin, and to let go of world dependence, and to strive for the life without sin.

Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 9

Psychology - Essay Example Aggressive behavior takes up a violent pattern, where aggression becomes a part of the person’s conscious and subconscious behavior. From smaller issues to bigger issues, aggression becomes a normal act. The literal meaning of covert and overt is secretive and obvious, respectively. Hence, the meanings give an outlook about the terms. Covert behaviors are the one which can’t be easily determined by someone. Overt behaviors are traits that are easily recognizable by anyone observing the person. Cognitive behaviors include thoughts, perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs. Much of this behavior is described as â€Å"self-talk,† the things that people say to themselves (or â€Å"think†) in response to antecedent and consequent stimuli (â€Å"Behavior Change in Human Services† Pg12). These can be secret actions carried out by a person as well, for example; stealing, lying, and deceiving. Overt responses are often loud and visible; some common examples are, screaming, yelling out in public and public displays of affection. 4. Sherry had throat surgery and could not talk for days. She worked with a speech therapist to increase her voice loudness. The therapist used an instrument to measure increases in the loudness of her voice. What dimension of behavior was the physical therapist recording? The instances or recordings are recorded and counted in order to establish how many times the behavior occurs, the rate at which she (Sherry) could maintain that level and finally the therapist used this dimension in order to record and examine how her performance varies over time. As it always said, â€Å"excess of everything is bad†, so does it is proved in the case of behavioral excess. Behavioral excess is the state where the intensity of the action has to be reduced to a desirable amount or range. For Example: A basic and quite explanatory example of behavioral excess is that of chain smokers. Their behavior to smoke rapidly is not only bad for

America as an Imperialist Power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

America as an Imperialist Power - Essay Example Imperialism is the policy or practice in which one country starts to enforce an indirect control over other weaker nation. The reason behind a weak nation being controlled by imperialists is because they have unbalanced economy, governance, and infrastructure. Imperialism comes into practice, when a stronger nation for the sake of economics and other political benefits take over the indirect control, which involves the use of power beyond its border on weaker nation. The cause of imperialism includes the unwillingness of the victim nations to control which is due to weak economics, foreign political structure and a threatening repute of strong holding states. The world still is suffering the consequences of imperialism, which took place in the last decades of the nineteenth century. It can be noticed that imperialism is applied by countries such as US or Germany, which has helped these countries to become significant influence in the global political and social setup. To understand the entire study of empire system, it is important to first comprehend the word â€Å"empire†. The term empire comes from a Latin origination. Empire means power or authority, a control that associates to a kingdom, a state or an emperorship. Empire system basically intends to control over the sovereignty of other state by forceful means. An imperial system of government aims to acquire and get hold on colonies and lands of weak individual states due its ethnic, national, cultural, and religious diversification. Historically, an empire system emerges due to strong political – military dominance of population over the weak cultural and ethnic group. The system resembles a structure where power inflates and weak gets into biased retribution. This is to serve the agenda of emperorship and submerge a powerful geopolitical influence on other victimized nations. In contrast the empire system resembles the ancient roman emperorship, where cruelty, ruthlessness an d brutality floated throughout the global political system (Howe). The study of empire helps in understanding, the developments and changes that took place around the world. It was just a swirling revolution where empire system dominated and passed on to the world politics. Scholars have firm believe that even today the ongoing changes and developments around the world are due to the presence of an empire system. Through researchers’ analysis it can be evidenced that empire rules have existed in the history and still are prevailing. The imperial system has been continually evolving with developments and instances that took place in historical eras. Thus, the definition of empire cannot be evaluated by one factor since it has numerous reasons to cope up with. As Stephen Howe’s states that the world has a complex history and intertwined equally with contested words such as colonialism, globalization, and imperialism (Howe). History of empires is to a great deal of worldà ¢â‚¬â„¢s history. In fact it is being noted by researchers, that almost the entire history is associated with imperialism or colonialism. The significant study of empire is essential as it covers up all aspects related to countries originations and their contemporary situations. As some scholars consider that the world is becoming more and more flat due to cultural import and globalization by means of people, technology, and commerce. Moreover, study of empire explains the modern and historical migration, found in the world today such as cultural import, trade, religion practices, they all trace back to historical empires (Howe). Imperialism Context of Empire: Imperialism has been the most influential power during the last four to five centuries in the world history. In

Quantitative Research Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Quantitative Research - Article Example sures that the researcher is neutral and not biased to the positive or even the negative side but stands neutral in order to solve the problem at hand. The literature review should be relevant to the problem being looked into and well understood to the researcher. The researcher must be in a position to understand what is really required of him so as to solve the problem at hand. The review might as well as include some other investigations that have been carried out on the problem or a problem related to the one in question. After having understood the problem the researcher should be able to identify the variables that affect or interfere with the research. If the variables have an effect on the outcome, then he or she ought to have to ways to neutralize or reduce the effect of the variables to achieve the desired results. The variables may either be dependent or independent variable, where the independent variable is the effect variable set by the investigator and it may also be considered to as the factor while the dependent variable is the observed or effect variable that is not set by the investigator. The tentative prediction or explanation of relationship between two or more variables to the problem at hand must also be looked into. It helps the investigator to translate the statement of the problem into a precise and ambiguous prediction of the outcome. Some research ideas may not have a definable hypothesis especially when they are descriptive. Hypothesis statements are most applicable in intervention and evaluation studies where comparisons are done on correlation for relationships. The objective in the research on English language learners is to help them achieve a better academic performance so that they may be in a get together with their peers in terms of class performance. Questions on how to achieve the objective should be formulated and suitable answers to obtained. In the English language learners case the major question should be how to

Privacy and Security Issues Online Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Privacy and Security Issues Online - Essay Example Conducting business via the internet has been referred to as e-commerce or electronic commerce (Kalakota and Whinston, 1997). According to Kalakota and Whinston, â€Å"it endeavors to improve the execution of business transactions over various networks† (1997, p. 4). Ecommerce has really made business easier and enjoyable. This has resulted to more performance, better quality, greater customer satisfaction, and better decision making among the consumers and sellers (Kalakota 1997). ...The UK government believes that if e-commerce was a sector by itself, it would be larger than the sectors of utilities and agriculture (UK Cabinet Office Staff, 2011). However, apart from bringing many profits to business owners, it has brought about breaches of privacy and security to consumers and businesses. 1. Various Privacy and Security Issues experienced by Consumers and Businesses Online The ever increasing use of the internet has resulted in many consumers giving too much information wit hout even realizing it and has been viewed as a tempting treasure, especially for marketers. For example, when a consumer visits a particular company’s website, he might unwillingly provide to the company with even confidential information. If the website utilizes cookies and other tracking devices, companies usually gather even more information, which if not properly handled, results in security and privacy issues. Computerized interactions between businesses and their clients have helped in building more sophisticated businesses. As more information is being shared with others, some clients’ personal information ends up in the wrong hands and might be used in wrong ways bringing up problems between consumers and businesses (Selis, Ramasastry, Kim and Smith, n.d.). The nature of online activities has been seen to threaten the privacy of consumer’s and the businesses taking place online. Every move the consumer or a business owner makes on the internet, whether on smartphones, tablets, or laptops, turn out to be information that trackers have been able to access, and used to their advantage.

Prenatal Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Prenatal Development - Essay Example The paramount relevance of prenatal care in reducing infant deaths has been over and over again reported in studies and the connection between Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and prenatal development corresponds, most obviously, to this factor. The impact of drug consumption during prenatal development is, therefore, highly perilous and the connection between prenatal development and FAS draws attention to the same danger. The relationship between prenatal development and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome offers one of the stimulating topics of profound analyses in the area and it is important in such analyses to determine when and how the fetus is affected. Therefore, this paper mulls over the various pertinent areas of the relationship between prenatal development and FAS in order to determine the proper utility of such analyses. In a reflective analysis of the broader picture of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in the modern world, one becomes aware of the immensity of the issue and the prenatal exposure to alcohol is the single most cause mental retardation in the US today. Important studies on prenatal development prove that the use of alcohol during this period have a venomous impact on the growing facial features, the central nervous system of the fetus, the growth rate and birth weight. "Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can result in full-blown fetal alcohol syndrome or a host of fetal alcohol effects that include a wide range of mild to severe cognitive, behavioral, and growth delays. Fetal alcohol syndrome occurs in about 1 of 750 births in the United States. Many thousands more are born with fetal alcohol effects." (Sloboda and Bukoski, p 330). In fact, the widely recognized human teratogen called alcohol has been the prime producer of FAS and the other related effects in children. Alcohol, among all the substances of abuse, is the most dangerous and serious manufacturer of neurobehavioral effects in the fetus. While the nature of the substance used in the prenatal development period has a vital role in causing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, it is more imperative to analyze the timing of the exposure alcohol as it is a major variable influencing FAS. As mentioned before, one of the most vital variables predicting the effect of the consumption of alcohol during the prenatal development has been the timing of the exposure to the substance. Thus, the exposure of the fetus to a substance can have different types if impact when it either coincides with or misses a period of peak sensitivity to the substance. "For example, fetal exposure to alcohol, even at relatively low doses, has its greatest impact on development if it occurs early in the first trimester or at any time during the third trimester. This is because the developing fetus has different periods of peak sensitivity to alcohol." (Sloboda and Bukoski, p 330). Therefore, it is vital to relate to the timing of the exposure alcohol when the fetus is affected the most in prenatal development. The broad period of prenatal development is often divided into three periods for the sake of convenience, i.e. the pre-differentiation period, the period of the embryo, and the period of the fetus. In the total span of prenatal devel

Influence Of Obstruction On Fire Protection Operations Essay

Influence Of Obstruction On Fire Protection Operations - Essay Example Prevention of fire out brake start with the identification of the fire hazards. First to prevent fire outbreaks, accumulation of combustible waste materials should be prohibited around fire places. When these materials are allowed to accumulate around the locations with fire the then the risk of fire is increased. Under favourable environment, the build-up of dust fire very flammable materials like woods, plastics or even certain metal operations can cause explosion of fire very easily. Construction debris should be disposed of properly so as to eliminate the chances of fire out breaks. There should be a safe clearance that exist between ignition sources for example light fixtures, heaters and any other device that is producing flame should be properly maintained. Fire rated doors are mostly found at any opening to corridors, stairwells, storage rooms and even electrical equipment rooms. Trying to block the fire rated doors may allow fire and smoke to spread very quickly through the building block and may deny occupant an opportunity to quickly evacuate the room during fire outbreak(Morten, Glaso, Stig, Eid, & Einarsen, 2013). These fire and smoke rated doors are only allowed to be propped open only at the time of maintenance and housekeeping operations when the attendance is available. It is prudent to have fire and smoke rated doors that are well equipped with a self-closing devices that are internally installed so as to prevent fire from spreading in the whole building.

Discuss the relative merits of workplace parking charges and Essay

Discuss the relative merits of workplace parking charges and congestion charging as a basis for reducing car dependency in British cities - Essay Example imposed on Private Non-Residential (PNR) car parking at workplaces that in past have been free as a practical fiscal measure to discourage car based transport for the staffs, to and from the workplace. Car based commuting has in the past propelled the level of road congestion. The charges are aimed at discouraging the staff to adopt other modes of transport like walking, cycling or adopting car club strategy which gives people access to vehicles on pay-as-you-go basis. Congestion charging involves levying every vehicle based on the trip length in terms of travel time or travel distance and trip externalities related to a vehicle contribution to congestion and air pollution. Currently the continuous fees charged, based on mileage is best for all vehicles types; ranging from the commercial motor bikes, commercial vans, and trailers to the private cars. Proposal is under way to use a MOBB (Mobile Operated Black Box) that is based on solution which would identity the details of the vehicle and the driver. Implemented as a mobile handset using the UK mobile network and employing the Location Based Service mobile application to locate the coordinates, which help determine whether the vehicle is within the charging zone or just in the entire road network then transmit the data to the congestion charges operational center that is either local or national. It has seen decrease in the traffic congestion in the charging zones in the various cities of British. Taking London for example employed the London Congestion Charging Scheme (LCCS). From the table below gives the changes in the number of different types of vehicles entering and leaving the charging zones. The large improvement of London bus network has seen people switching to the use of the bus, they have increased the number of the buses with combination of more frequency and good network, this has seen car user avoiding to pay the congestion charges switch to public transport. Taking for example of the data

Health Care Reform Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Health Care Reform - Term Paper Example levels of income and working for diverse employees, since they will be given greater opportunity to access cheaper and more expansive health insurance coverage (Jackson & Nolen, 2010; Thoma, 2010). People who will not benefit that much or will be negatively affected by the health care reform are: 1) Illegal immigrants who cannot participate in the reform and its insurance exchange, even when they fully pay for their expenses (Jackson & Nolen, 2010); 2) This group composes about â€Å"one third of the 24 million who will remain uninsured† (Thoma, 2010); 3) The insured will also be adversely affected, since this can increase their premiums; 3) Doctors will not largely benefit, due to lower Medicare payment rates; and 4) The wealthy will foot the bill of those who will benefit from the health care reform, since there will be a â€Å"0.9% increase in Medicare payroll taxes† for those who earn higher than $200,000 per annum and the rich will also be taxed 3.8% on their investment income by 2013 (Wingfield, Whelan, & Herper, 2010, p.3) The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (2009) will focus on attaining the information needs of the Health Care Reform, such as identifying who will receive additional Medicare and Medicaid services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will also be involved in the reform activities, because it will provide medicine discounts for senior citizens, and expand Medicaid to include more families and childless adults, beginning in 2014 (Jackson & Nolen, 2010). The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) (2011) will ensure that insurance providers will not deny insurance to covered children due to â€Å"preexisting conditions† (Jackson & Nolen, 2010) and that they will allow children to be part of their parents insurance until the former are 26 years old (Jackson & Nolen, 2010). Paradis, Wood, and Cramer (2009) reported that there will be higher demand for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) as a

Live Theatre Critique of Junie B. Jones Essay Example for Free

Live Theatre Critique of Junie B. Jones Essay It wasnt fancy like most theatres. It reminded my of a high school auditorum. They had the stage set up like a class room for the scene they were doing first. The first part of the play was set up like an classroom, and the second part pf the play was set up like a bookstore. The pre-show music that was playing was soft chrismas music. Not much singing just mostly instumental. As I was expecting, there were more children then teenagers. Parents and grandparents were there, but as for ages that attended, it was mostly children. Before the show began, the producers asked everyone to turn off their cell phones and anything with a distracting light. The show was mostly dark so any bright lights would distract the play. The play ran smoothly nothung distratcing happened. The plot of the play was about a girl named Junie B. Jones who was stuck between buying gifts for others or herself. Her parents gave her enough money to go to the book store and buy gifts for her family. Once she went to the book store, she laid her eyes on something she wanted for herself. The toy was called a squeeze a burp. Meanwhile, in class the teacher decided for the students to draw names of others in the class to buy gifts for. With her luck, she drew Mays name. May is a girl in Junie B. class that does not get along with her. They always fight and get in trouble. Junie B. just had to have that toy for herself. She went home and asked her grandpa Miller for some money and he gave it to her. She now had enough money to buy gifts for her family and herself. She decided that she was going to give May some ashes because she was a mean girl and didnt deserve any gifts. She end up buying the squeeze a burp toy for herself. As the children were putting the gifts in each other stocking she stated to think to herself is what she doing is right. Junie B. decided to do right so she could be on Santas nice list and gave May the squeeze a burp toy. The girls ended up being friends at the end and they played with the toy that Junie B had bought. The characters in the play behaved exzactly like they should have for this play. They portrayed a typical child in school. Selfish and argumenative with each others at time. The main characters of the play were Junie B. Jones, played by Brooke Bryant and May who was played by Cori Anne Laemmel. I think the genre of the play was comedy. Many of the scenes acted out in the play had not only the children laughing, but also the adults has well. Throughout the play Junie B and May did not get along as much. Junie B was also being selfish towards others than herself. The play was trying to accomplish friendship between the two girls and also teach Junie B not to be selfish, but giving. Through out the play they played christmas music, and music that inspired the things that were going on during that scene. They also played special effects sounds for certain parts. The part where Junie B gets into trouble, they played a noise that you would expect to here when someone is getting in to trouble or is doing something they shouldnt be doing. They also had great use of the lighting effects. There were parts of the play were Junie B would talk to her self as she were talking in her head. They would put a spot light on her and black everything else out so that you know that it is ment only for the audience to here and not the other characters. The director Peter Vann did a wounderful job in directing the play. He made sure that it felt as if the characters were actually children instead of adults. They played it well putting their self in a childs place. Each character acted out their lines perfectly. If any mistakes were made I didnt notice. Their tone and body language went well with their emotins and expressions that they had to act out. Having a little knowledge about Junie B, I would have never expected for her to buy May a gift or for them to get a long in the play. Brooke Bryant did a great interpetation of Junie B. Her voiced matched her personality of a snooty, selfish girl that thinks she knows it all. I think that Brooke Bryant and Cori Laemmel held their chacter of the girls very well. There were parts of the play whene they had to do or say funny things and they did it without laughing and remained in character. Brooke Bryant broke the forth wall in a scene where she was in the spot light talking to her self. But I think that it was part of the play for her to do that. Maybe to get the audience involved or just to make contact with the children to make them laugh. I noticed that many of the children enjoyed the play. The costume designer Patricia Taber did a good job designing the costumes. Each costume fitted each of the characters personalty that was being portrayed. Their was a rich girl in the class named Lucille and her costume was a pretty dress that looked expensive. Since her charcter was a rich girl, her fancy dress showed that she came from money without her having to say anything about it. I would definatly recommed this play to a friend or a family memeber that has children or have read any of the Junie B Jones books. The play ended on the note that Junie B and May finally got along and Junie B felt proud of herself for doing what she did. After that scene I thought the play was over. Brooke Byant, the character of Junie B began to sing. I didnt expect to her such beautiful singing. All the charcters joined togther and began singing a christmas song. They said Merry christmas and bowed and then the play was over. My favorite part of the play was at the end when they start singing. I didnt expect for them to sing at all and especially not the way they did. The play was a huge successe and I would defintaly go see it again.

Values, Goals and Good Journalism Essay Example for Free

Values, Goals and Good Journalism Essay Power of the press†¦ Glory of the byline†¦ Thrill of being among the first to know†¦ These are just some of the legendary benefits that a person gets when he or she takes journalism for a profession. The public looks up to journalists as those who do very interesting things – meeting the rich and famous, having access to powerful people, experiencing heady encounters and getting paid for doing these things. However, power is always accompanied by a corresponding responsibility. Ideally, a journalist should present the truth about an event or issue. He must be well-grounded in the standards and ethics of journalism before he even attempts to write a story. He must bear in mind the importance of confidentiality, objectivity and fairness. He must understand that journalism is a presentation of facts and facts alone. There really are some instances when a writer tends to inject personal bias in the story he is writing. These happen when he inserts personal feeling and opinion and when he sees himself not as an observer but a participant in the event that he is covering. There are also cases when a journalist stacks the facts so as to prove one side of the story or to take the position the paper prefers. Personal biases must be set aside when presenting a news. What one writes reflects who he is. If his commitment to journalistic principles and public service is compromised with financial gains, this may lead to offenses such as libel, sensationalism, invasion of privacy, obstruction of justice, and obscenity. To prevent getting charged of any of these, the good values of a journalist must urge him to exercise good judgment which eventually shapes credibility. The best way to be the best writer, however, is to treat journalism as a vital calling. Every writing must be inspired by the manner the Bible was written. The Bible emphasizes the necessity of objectivity in reporting. As Luke writes: Since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. Objectivity must be transparent in all kinds of reporting. In recent years, priests’ involvement in sex scandals had been a sensitive topic worldwide. This is just right as journalists must carry out their duty of presenting even the dark side of the news. The Bible describes God as a creator and man as His image-bearer. Sometimes, a journalist needs to report on the contrast between man’s sinfulness and God’s holiness. Journalists do not have to preach in stories; however, they can work towards honest selection of details. There is no question about God’s involvement in human history. In Deuteronomy 29, Moses addressed the Israelites: Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. With your own eyes, you saw those great trials, those miraculous signs and great wonders. But to this day, the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear. In writing his own piece, a writer must provide the context but must follow the Bible in depicting God’s grace and man’s sinfulness. If in the Bible Jesus says to Thomas, â€Å"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed,† same goes to a journalist who does not go to press even when ten people tell him the same thing. In conclusion, good journalism entails truth-telling even when it hurts. For him to become the best journalist he can be, a journalist must possess only two things: commitment to truth and a biblical worldview in apprehending reality accurately. Reference Brucker, Herbert. Communication is Power: Unchanging Values in a Changing Journalism. New York: Oxford University Press. 1973.

Pestle analysis of indian tourism industry

Pestle analysis of indian tourism industry PESTLE Analysis of Indian tourism industry Introduction about the topic : It is time for Indias Tourism sector. Driven by a surge in business traveller arrivals and a soaring interest in India as a tourist destination, the year 2006 has been the best year till date. Incredible India !! India is probably the only country that offers various categories of tourism. These include history tourism, adventure tourism, medical tourism (ayurveda and other forms of Indian medications), spiritual tourism, beach tourism (India has the longest coastline in the East) etc. Explore India choose the locales of your choice, and see what each state has to offer. Lose yourself in the wonder that is India. Meander through lands steeped in chivalry and pageantry that begin before recorded history. Explore modern cities that have grown organically from the roots of a multi-hued past. Make a pilgrimage to holy shrines that echo with tales of antiquity. Frolic on a vast array of golden beaches that dot an enviable coastline, washed by two seas and an ocean. Sport with adventure in style. Let the jungle lure you to a fascinating world at a diverse array of wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. this is the wonder that is India. Indian Tourism industry is one of the most important export industries of the country. Although the international tourist inflow is relatively low, India has found tourism emerging as an important sector of its economy. Tourism yields substantial foreign exchange for India. It is turning into a volume game where a large number of participants are contributing to the revenue of the industry. Segments such as hotels, tour operators, airlines, shipping etc. Growth period of Indian tourism industry The tourism industry in India is substantial and vibrant, and the country is fast becoming a major global destination. Indias travel and tourism industry is one of them most profitable industries in the country, and also credited with contributing a substantial amount of foreign exchange. This is illustrated by the fact that during 2006, four million tourists visited India and spent US $8.9 billion. Several reasons are cited for the growth and prosperity of Indias travel and tourism industry. Economic growth has added millions annually to the ranks of Indias middle class, a group that is driving domestic tourism growth. Disposable income in India has grown by 10.11% annually from 2001-2006. Thanks in part to its booming IT and outsourcing industry a growing number of business trips are made by foreigners to India, who will often add a weekend break or longer holiday to their trip. Foreign tourists spend more in India than almost any other country worldwide. Tourist arrivals are projected to increase by over 22% per year through till 2010, with a 33% increase in foreign exchange. The Tourism Ministry has also played an important role in the development of the industry, initiating advertising campaigns such as the Incredible India campaign, which promoted Indias culture and tourist attractions in a fresh and memorable way. The campaign helped create a colorful image of India in the minds of consumers all over the world, and has directly led to an increase in the interest in tourism industry has helped growth in other sectors as diverse as horticulture, handicrafts, agriculture, construction and even poultry. Welcome to Incredible India Namaskar, Welcome to Incredible India! A journey into mysticism through the land of the unexpected. Bounded by the majestic Himalayan ranges in the north and edged by an endless stretch of golden beaches, India is a vivid kaleidoscope of landscapes, magnificent historical sites and royal cities, misty mountain retreats, colorful people, rich cultures and festivities. Modern India is home alike to the tribal with his anachronistic lifestyle and to the sophisticated urban jet-setter. It is a land where temple elephants exist amicably with the microchip. Its ancient monuments are the backdrop for the worlds largest democracy. If youre planning a holiday to India, looking for hotels and accommodation and events information or simply interested in India as a country you are sure to find many insights on the multifaceted travel options to India here.The timeless mystery and beauty of India can be experienced only by visiting this ancient Land. Theres just one thing youll need to travel through 5000 years of culture and tradition- A comfortable pair of shoes. The following table provides the major tourist attractions in India by state: < Tourist Attraction State Charminar Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Kaziranga National Park Assam Qutub Minar Delhi Mangueshi Temple Goa Shimla Himachal Pradesh Dal Lake Jammu and Kashmir Jog Falls Shimoga District, Karnataka Kovalam Beach Kerala Amarkantak Madhya Pradesh Ajanta Maharashtra Puri Orissa Golden Temple Amritsar, Punjab Jaipur Rajasthan Chennai Tamil Nadu Badrinath Temple Uttarakhand Varanasi Uttar Pradesh The various segments within tourism are: Medical Tourism It is one of the fastest growing segments in India. India has been able to leverage on certain advantages it has over other countries like highly skilled doctors, cost effective treatment, improved quality of private healthcare etc. Some of the common treatments for which overseas patients to come to India are heart surgery, knee transplant, cosmetic surgery and dental care. Indias traditional rejuvenation therapy like yoga and ayurvedic therapy are also becoming popular. Eco Tourism It is relatively new segment in India. It involves visiting natural areas without disturbing the fragile ecosystem. Eco tourism generates wealth for the local people, who in turn take measures to conserve and protect the environment and natural resources. India with its natural diversity is one of the pristine places in the world for eco tourism. The Himalayan region, Kerala, Northeast, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep islands the Western and Eastern Ghats are some of the hot spots for eco tourism in India. India has some of the best wildlife reserves in the world, rich in flora and fauna. Heritage Tourism Heritage tourism is a very lucrative segment in India. It is widely believed it would emerge as the most important segment within tourism in terms of revenue generation by 2010.India has a rich cultural history and reflection of its glorious past is still visible in its numerous forts, monuments, palaces, places of worship etc. Heritage tourism itself can be further classified as colonial heritage, urban renewal, religious tourism, industrial heritage and ethnicity. The Indian government must show keen interest in preserving the heritage sites from a tourism perspective. Adventure Tourism Indias varied geographical and climatic conditions offer excellent opportunity for adventure sports. In recent times the popularity of adventure tourism has increased. Adventure sports like river rafting, rock climbing, mountaineering, trekking, skiing, snow climbing, scuba diving and angling can be undertaken in the country and the country offers multiple locations to choose from. The trans Himalayan region, the Garhwal and Kumaon mountains, the Western Ghats, deserts of Rajasthan, Andaman and Lakshadweep islands are some of the most popular destination for adventure tourism. Future trends The real GDP growth for travel and tourism economy is expected to be 0.2 per cent in 2009 and is expected to grow at an average of 7.7 per cent per annum in the coming decade. Earning through exports from international visitors and tourism goods are expected to generate 6.0 per cent of total exports (nearly $16.9 billion) in 2009 and expected to increase to US$ 51.4 billion in 2019. According to the Ministry of Tourism, Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) for the period from January to March in 2009 was 1.461 million. For the month of March 2009 the FTAs was 472000.The reason for the decline is attributed to the ongoing economic crisis. In spite of the short term and medium term impediment due to the global meltdown the revenues from tourism is expected to increase by 42 per cent from 2007 to 2017. PESTLE Analysis of tourism industry Definition The PESTLE framework is an analysis tool that is used to identify the key drivers of change in the strategic environment (Johnson et al., 2008). PESTLE analysis includes Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental factors. Political effect on tourism industry- Political violence has done considerable damage to tourism in Asia and the Pacific over the past few years. But industry experts say the damage is not necessarily permanent. Governments and industry leaders say much can be done to rebuild tattered tourism reputations. As the world watched, a small band of terrorists killed scores in Mumbai last November. Although India has often suffered from political violence, this attack aimed largely at travelers and foreigners was a new horror. The globally televised attack, coming during an international economic slump, contributed to an eight percent fall in tourist arrivals this year. In Thailand, tens of thousands of anti-government protesters laid siege to Bangkoks airports late last year, essentially trapping more than 350,000 travelers in the country for a week. Before that shock had worn off, a few months later, another group of protesters led violent riots in Bangkok. The two incidents added to the damage from the world economy cut tourist arrivals to Thailand by 20 percent in the first six months of 2009. Phornsiri Manoharn, the chairwoman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, says many tourists still worry that Thailands political tensions could spoil their visits. When people saw any demonstration like that they associate with the closing of the airport, said Manoharn. Even [though] we dont close [the airport] but they look like the demonstration, that they might and thats why theyre afraid. Tourism is important to the Asia-Pacific region. In Southeast Asia, it contributes over three percent to economic output. In some parts of the region, tourism accounts for 10 percent of employment; in the Pacific island nations of Fiji and Vanuatu, the figure is over 30 percent. But as India and Thailand have seen, violence and instability quickly scare away visitors. Recovery comes, but usually more slowly than after natural disasters. John Koldowski is PATAs communications director. What we have seen in many cases is where there is some sort of intervention effect its been natural or no fault of anybody the rebound has been very quick, he said. Where there has been intent to cause harm as in the case of a say terrorist attack and where there has been a long history of such attacks occurring in that destination or nearby destination, it takes a little longer to come back. But with the right government and industry responses, visitors will return. For instance, in October 2002, bombs set off by Islamic militants on the island of Bali killed more than 200 people, most of them foreigners. The island, one of the worlds most famous tourist destinations, saw arrivals fall by 36 percent in 2003. Koldowski said the first bombings shocked the tourism industry. Bali is a classic case there it took some time [to recover] because it had never occurred there before it was so dramatic and affected specific western tourists, he said. But the Indonesian government cracked down on terrorists and boosted security. And tourism industry professionals worked hard to woo back visitors. When another attack three years later left 20 people dead, PATA reported that tourist arrivals were little affected. And twin bombings at international hotels in Jakarta last July are expected to do little damage to tourism. In South Asia, Sri Lanka and Nepal hope the end of long-running conflicts will entice more visitors. Sri Lankan officials say the end of a civil war earlier this year brought a surge of interest from foreign investors and hotel operators. Dileep Mudadeniya, Sri Lankan Tourism Promotion Bureau managing director, says there are opportunities for tourism, particularly in areas long closed off by the war. North and east, which have not actually taken any kind of development for the last 20 years, virgin beaches, land, monuments is available and the people also come and exploit something or look at something totally undiscovered, said Mudadeniya. We are going on the line which is undiscovered, unspoiled, an island of authenticity, which we can offer. In Nepal, political agreements have ended a Maoist insurgency that lasted more than a decade. The minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sharatsingh Bhandari, says Nepals transition from conflict to peace is in itself a tourism draw. Now we are going to form a new Nepal. So giving the message for the New Nepal and inviting the people to see, not only the prospect of tourism itself but even the process of transition of the political system from bullet to ballot. That was done successfully by the Nepalese themselves, he said. Industry analysts say tourism in Asia is likely to expand rapidly over the next few years. But, the key, they say, is that governments find ways to prevent political violence, and act quickly to calm fears when it does happen. Economic effect on tourism industry- The service economy is driving growth in most OECD countries. It represents a large part of economic activity and its importance continues to grow. Tourism, a large, complex and fragmented industry which is still very difficult to define and measure, is a key component of the service economy (30% of international trade in services in the OECD area). In terms of revenue, OECD countries generate about 70% of world tourism activity. Tourism, which has expanded dramatically over the past 30 years, looks set to continue growing as societies become more mobile and prosperous. Obtaining better information on services, the least developed side of statistics, is an important challenge for statistical agencies and a necessity for political analysis. Measuring tourism is part of a wider move to improve our knowledge of how economies work, what they produce and what changes occur over time. It is no longer enough to measure physical flows (arrivals and overnight stays) and monetary data (revenue and expenditure relating to international tourism). In the early 1980s, the OECD began work to set up a model acceptable at international level which gave rise to the OECD Tourism Economic Accounts, which measure certain socio-economic aspects of tourism. While developing this tool, the OECD produced a more precise definition of tourism, visitors and tourist expenditure [Note: OECD (1996), OECD Tourism Statistics Design and Application for Policy]. Despite its economic importance, governments, especially in developed economies, still do not adequately recognise tourism. For this reason, the OECD has developed and recently approved the OECD Guidelines for a Tourism Satellite Account and an Employment Module. These integrated statistical tools aim to measure the economic aspects of tourism (value added, jobs, revenue, investment, profits) in order to provide a more convincing demonstration of this activitys economic significance. Furthermore, together with the United Nations, the World Tourism Organization and the European Commission (Eurostat), the OECD has developed a UN-WTO-OECD-EUROSTAT Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework, approved by the 25-member United Nations Statistical Commission on 1 March 2000. A publication is available. Other work undertaken in this area includes statistical research. OECD and Eurostat regularly organise international forums on tourism statistics to share ideas, experiences and concepts with Member and non-members countries, the scientific community and the tourism industry. The United Kingdom, with the support of Eurostat and the OECD, organised the Fifth International Forum on Tourism Statistics (Glasgow, 20-23 June 2000). Similar forums have been organised in Vienna (1994), in Venice (1995), in Sintra (1996) and in Copenhagen (1998). Technological effect on tourism industry- Definition of Tourism Technology The convergence of industries has forced people to create terminology such as information technology, biotechnology, ubiquitous technology and even cultural technology to explain frequently talked about topics. Tourism Technology is a term that encompasses all social, cultural, managerial, and value-adding activities of the tourism industry. Tourism Technology also incorporates and encourages technological advancements and economic development in the tourism industry. The Origin of Tourism Technology Tourism Technology, initially based on the concept of cultural technology, is a more comprehensive term covering knowledge used to add to the value of tourism products on a micro level and the management of the travel and tourism industry on a macro level. New tourism products are also the end result of tourism technology combining with other industries. These include medical tourism, educational tourism, agricultural tourism, marine tourism and the application of information technology to the travel and tourism industry. Application of Tourism Technology The term technology can easily call to mind scientific achievements, computer graphic skills, special effects and other engineering-related images. However, Tourism Technology encompasses the integrated fields mentioned in the previous paragraph, statistics, managerial and socio-cultural know-how, and skills that the tourism industry can adopt to design, produce, and market various tourism products. In addition to coordinating various aspects of human resources in the travel and tourism industry, â€Å"Tourism Technology† describes a comprehensive field containing but not limited to such widely referred to subjects as entertainment technology, contents technology and creative technology. Software for Tourists One of the latest applications is software that permits tourists to customize their visits according to their preferences. Luis Castillo Vidal, computer engineer of the University of Granada and one of the authors of the study, points out that, in order to design the customized visit plans, they have used Artificial Intelligence techniques, â€Å"a science that provides computers with abilities to solve problems which, in principle, can only be solved by humans†. Users must have access to the internet, either through a computer, a mobile phone or a PDA, in order to be able to access a web where they can define their preferences and needs, such as their artistic, cultural and gastronomic preferences, their lifestyle and favourite hours, whether they are disabled or not and the spending capacity. Environmental effect on tourism industry- The quality of the environment, both natural and man-made, is essential to tourism. However, tourisms relationship with the environment is complex. It involves many activities that can have adverse environmental effects. Many of these impacts are linked with the construction of general infrastructure such as roads and airports, and of tourism facilities, including resorts, hotels, restaurants, shops, golf courses and marinas. The negative impacts of tourism development can gradually destroy the environmental resources on which it depends. On the other hand, tourism has the potential to create beneficial effects on the environment by contributing to environmental protection and conservation. It is a way to raise awareness of environmental values and it can serve as a tool to finance protection of natural areas and increase their economic importance. Three main impact areas: natural resources, pollution, and physical impacts Environmental impacts at the global level Other industry impacts on tourism How tourism can contribute to environmental conservation Social effect on tourism industry- Jamaica is primarily a sun, sea and sand destination and, therefore, the primary recreational activities of visitors include sun and sea bathing on the beaches. Tourists who visit Jamaica are, therefore, primarily involved in activities such as going to the beach, snorkelling, scuba diving and glass-bottom boating. Jamaicas tourism product is dependent on the coral reefs and their associated ecosystems such as seagrass beds and mangroves. These ecosystems are, however, threatened by natural causes and human behaviour such as coastal pollution, rapid coastal development, over-fishing and global warming. All parties involved (the citizens, the tourism industry and the visitors) have a vested interest in the management of the environmental resource base and an obligation to do their part to support this management. If the environment is degraded all parties stand to lose visitors will fail to come (or will be willing to pay less) and the countries will lose an important source of economic benefit. In other words the environment will produce reduced economic, ecological, and amenity benefits. Microeconomic theory is essentially the study of the equitable distribution of scarce goods or benefits. In this example the scarce benefit is the Jamaican beach tourism product. The economic theory provides approaches to making the demand and supply of these scarce benefits more efficient. Demand of the good in this case is the beach-lust (sun, sand, sea) tourism of Jamaica. This is in contrast to the wonder-lust tourism such as safaris, mountain climbing, cultural and heritage tourism that is observed in other parts of the world. The good is supplied at a cost which would include the traditional costs of, labour and capital etc. However when the cost of the provision of the good does not take into account negative externalities such as environmental damage, this results in market failure. If this market failure is not corrected it will result in a loss in social welfare (dead-weight loss). Jamaicas current tourism model is based on the construction of mega super inclusive resorts, which often require engineering solutions such as dredging, groyne construction and limestone blasting in order to create swimming beaches, and construct buildings a few meters away from the high water mark. Construction and operation of tourist facilities such as hotels and other attractions also result in significant alterations to the terrestrial environment, trees, insects, birds etc. Operation of these entities also results in the diversion of resources such as water and electricity which could have been used elsewhere in the society. MARKET FAILURE Increased construction activity in the coast provides relatively short term and low-skilled employment. The intermittent demand for this pool of labour often results in the proliferation of unplanned settlements and squatter communities that are established close to the resort areas. These settlements are typically located in the hills and mountains above the coast. The creation of these communities results in the destruction of the watershed in these areas as well as inadequate sewage treatment and solid waste management. All of which contribute to reduced environmental quality; for example, reduced water quality as a result of increased nutrients and turbidity in the coastal waters. The simple economic analysis of Jamaicas tourism model outlined above suggests that market failure exists. The fundamental reason for the market failure associated with Jamaicas tourism model is the fact that the economic rent associated with the natural environment is not captured by the people of Jamaica. Economic rent is an excess return on an asset, a profit above normal market rates of return. Rents usually arise from assets that are scarce and fixed in supply. Beachfront property is a very good example of the type of assets that will yield economic rent. Or another example is the higher property costs in Coopers Hill or Beverly Hills when compared to Havendale or Mona, the economic rent (or value added) in this case being a view of the city. It can be argued that economic rents such as the beauty and natural environment should accrue to the people of Jamaica and not to foreign tourists or tourism operators. Rents are essentially a type of payment for the use of the resource. So the first reason for market failure is that there is no real capture of economic rents. A second example of market failure is that these tourism entities that are currently gaining all of the rents are also not accounting for the negative externalities of their activities. For example, hotels do not pay for the true costs of pollution and negative impacts associated with the use and operation of their facilities. However the problem of market failure does not stop here. As with several other Caribbean nations, the development of the tourism industry is heavily subsidised by the Jamaican government. Hotels and attractions are given tax holidays (e.g. no taxes for 10, 15, 20 years), duty is waived on imports of construction materials among other things. Additionally, the Governments facilitation such as fast-tracking permit requirements and their suspected role in circumventing environmental and planning regulations can reduce costs to investors and also be viewed as a subsidy. So in addition to the non-capture of rent and ignoring negative externalities, government subsidies to the tourism industry through tax holidays and other waivers also exacerbate the problem of market failure. This in turn means that the welfare of the society i.e. the Jamaican people is even more reduced. POSSIBLE REMEDIES As was highlighted above correcting market failures can be achieved through the implementation of taxes. In the case of Jamaicas coastal tourism this would mean that investors are forced to internalise environmental costs. This would theoretically lead to better environmental management and sustainable development of the tourism industry. However, given the current political climate in Jamaica and the influence of the tourism industry players this suggestion is likely to be received with hostility. Given this fact a more feasible way of capturing some of the economic rent is to capture a small portion of the benefits that accrue to the visitors to the island. This would be through the use of the existing system of arrivals taxes from cruise and stopover visitors to the island. However, unlike the current system where the charges are often hidden in room surcharges or airline tickets the additional environmental tax should be explicitly identified. HIDDEN COSTS There are, of course, wider questions of the true economic contribution of tourism. Clearly tourism is very important to Jamaicas economic sustainability. The Jamaican tourism industry accounts for 32 per cent of total employment and 36 per cent of the countrys GDP according to many studies. However, based on some of the market failures described above, are there more costs that are not being considered? Tourism has many hidden costs, which can have unfavourable economic effects on host countries such as Jamaica. The direct income for a country is the amount of tourist expenditure that remains after taxes, profits, and wages are paid and after imports are purchased; these subtracted amounts are called leakage. For the all-inclusive tourism model, studies show that about 80 per cent of travellers expenditures go to the airlines, hotels and other international companies, and not to local businesses or workers. In addition, significant amounts of income actually retained at the destination level can leave again through leakage. For example, the profits gained by foreign-owned tour operators, airlines, hotels, are repatriated to their home countries. Estimates made for Third World countries range from 80 per cent in the Caribbean to 40 per cent in India. In laymans term, on average, of each US$100 spent on a vacation tour by a tourist from a developed country, only about US$5 actually stays in the developing-country destinations economy. The current tensions between local craft vendors, restaurants and other service industries and large resort chains are all too common and point to the problem of leakage. Super inclusive hotels do not encourage guests to venture outside the walls of the hotel and so most of the tourists experience is limited to the entertainment as well as the sun, sea and sand activities available at that location. One could say that Jamaica the country is not the destination, it is actually the resort that is the destination. More comprehensive studies on this issue are urgently required by our academic institutions in the region. Caribbean researchers have a responsibility to provide balanced information that can enrich the discourse between all the relevant stakeholders. Much of the discourse is driven by short sightedness and politics on one side and passionate advocacy on the other. Too often the arguments of the contending parties (developers versus environmental advocates) are not supported by balanced information. Legal effect on tourism industry- MUSCAT Tourist traffic into the Sultanate is projected to scale new highs next year on the back of a raft of major initiatives, most notably an aggressive campaign targeting new markets, according to the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism Mini

Interpreting The French Revolution Essay -- European History

The year 1789 proved to be a pivotal and historical epoch of political upheavals, radical social movements, and the demolition of the old age monarchy in France. The Tennis Court Oath, storming of the Bastille, passage of the Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen, and an unprecedented assault on Versailles as well as the use of the guillotine defined the spirit and historical meaning of the French Revolution. Due to the significance of the tumultuous political and social overhaul that took place, many stances have been taken on interpreting the revolution. The ideas formed regarding the interpretation of the causes and effects of the French Revolution are important in understanding the birth of new political ideologies that changed the landscape of European political order. Conservative, liberal, and revisionist political ideologies have produced multiple perspectives surrounding the events of the French Revolution. The following will address each ideology through analys is of causes and effects of the French Revolution. The characteristics of the conservative ideology made the aristocratic and clergy members of French society hostile to the rapidly changing political landscape. On June 17 1789, the Third Estate drafted a constitution and created the â€Å"National Assembly† in response of being locked out of the regular meeting of the Estates Generals (Doyle, 2002). The pressure applied by the National Assembly forced King Louis XVI to change the voting procedures in the Estates General. Instead of voting by status class the Estates General voted based on each individual’s choice. Conservatives regarded this event as anarchy and began a counterrevolutionary movement in order to secure the survival of the monarchy (Os... ... of government and a letter concerning toleration. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Mannheim, Karl. (1936). Ideology and Utopia. London: Routledge. McGarr, P. (1998). Socialist review index. Retrieved from http:// pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj80/france.htm Mithium, B. (n.d.). 18th century history. Retrieved from http://www.history1700s.com/articles/article1096.shtml Osen, James (1995). Royalist Political Thought during the French Revolution. London: Greenwood Press. Soman, E. (n.d.). Orthodox and revisionist interpretations of the french revolution. Retrieved from http://ebeysoman.hubpages.com/hub/Interpretations-of-the-French-Revolution The socialist party of britain. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/ socialist-standard/1980s/1989/no-1019-july-1989/1789-france’s-bourgeois-revolution Interpreting The French Revolution Essay -- European History The year 1789 proved to be a pivotal and historical epoch of political upheavals, radical social movements, and the demolition of the old age monarchy in France. The Tennis Court Oath, storming of the Bastille, passage of the Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen, and an unprecedented assault on Versailles as well as the use of the guillotine defined the spirit and historical meaning of the French Revolution. Due to the significance of the tumultuous political and social overhaul that took place, many stances have been taken on interpreting the revolution. The ideas formed regarding the interpretation of the causes and effects of the French Revolution are important in understanding the birth of new political ideologies that changed the landscape of European political order. Conservative, liberal, and revisionist political ideologies have produced multiple perspectives surrounding the events of the French Revolution. The following will address each ideology through analys is of causes and effects of the French Revolution. The characteristics of the conservative ideology made the aristocratic and clergy members of French society hostile to the rapidly changing political landscape. On June 17 1789, the Third Estate drafted a constitution and created the â€Å"National Assembly† in response of being locked out of the regular meeting of the Estates Generals (Doyle, 2002). The pressure applied by the National Assembly forced King Louis XVI to change the voting procedures in the Estates General. Instead of voting by status class the Estates General voted based on each individual’s choice. Conservatives regarded this event as anarchy and began a counterrevolutionary movement in order to secure the survival of the monarchy (Os... ... of government and a letter concerning toleration. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Mannheim, Karl. (1936). Ideology and Utopia. London: Routledge. McGarr, P. (1998). Socialist review index. Retrieved from http:// pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj80/france.htm Mithium, B. (n.d.). 18th century history. Retrieved from http://www.history1700s.com/articles/article1096.shtml Osen, James (1995). Royalist Political Thought during the French Revolution. London: Greenwood Press. Soman, E. (n.d.). Orthodox and revisionist interpretations of the french revolution. Retrieved from http://ebeysoman.hubpages.com/hub/Interpretations-of-the-French-Revolution The socialist party of britain. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/ socialist-standard/1980s/1989/no-1019-july-1989/1789-france’s-bourgeois-revolution

Speech Recognition -- Technology Computers Essays

Speech Recognition Speech recognition is a computer application that lets people control a computer by speaking to it. In other words, rather than using a keyboard and mouse to communicate with the computer, the user speaks commands into a microphone that is connected to a computer. By speaking into the microphone, users can do two things. First, they can tell their computers to execute some commands such as open a document, save changes, delete a paragraph, even move the cursor, ­ all without touching a key. Second, users can write using speech recognition in conjunction with a standard word processing program. When users speak into the microphone their words can appear on a computer screen in a word processing format, ready for revision and editing. Although many modern speech-recognition programs and devices voice-enable their systems, the terms voice recognition and speech recognition are not synonymous. While both use technology to capture the spoken word, voice recognition and speech recognition have different goals, and run different technologies. Speech recognition is continuous, natural language processing. In contrast, voice recognition uses recordings to determine an individual's identity, a twist on today's social security number and fingerprint. There are two kinds of speech recognition software now available; discrete speech and continuous speech. The older technology, discrete speech recognition, requires the user to speak one word at a time. A newer technology, continuous speech recognition, allows the user to dictate by speaking (at a more or less normal rate). As the user speaks, the software puts one or more words on the screen by matching the sound input with the information it has in the user's voice... ...ms and software for their homes and actually speak to their computers. Although it is still rather new for computers to be able to understand and transcribe the imprecise speech of humans, it is possible and systems are only continuing to improve. Sources Bates, Regis J and Gregory, Donald W. Voice and Data Communications Handbook. Capron, H. L. Computers, Tools for an Information Age, Upper Saddle River: Addison Wesley, 2002. Newman, Dan. The Dragon Naturally Speaking Guide, Berkeley: Waveside Publishing, 2000. Newman, Dan. Talk to Your Computer: Speech Recognition Made Easy, Berkely: Waveside Publishing, 2000. . . . .