China & Art Essay

China is probably the most influential and powerful civilization in Asia and is a good source of a very rich cultural and artistic heritage. In its early centuries, Buddhism, as the major religion of China has had a great influence in the country’s artistic imagery. Other art forms that thrived during this period were painting and calligraphy. It is also during this early time periods that China invented one of its greatest contributions to art and to the world – paper. Very early in during this period, the Chinese made what they called the mingqi. These are sculpted figures of soldiers, attendants, entertainers, and also of usual objects that people need and use such as houses, wells, stoves, and more. This is in part of their belief that even after death they would still need those things and continue living their usual routines as when they were still alive. Some of the early proofs of Buddhism in China were the carvings of Buddhist Images on the cliffs at Kungwangshan in Jiangsu Province. These images were dated back to around the 2nd century. At around 100 A. D. the Chinese had started working on developing paper. Rag paper (probably the first forms of paper) that was found was dated to as early as the 2nd century B. C. The first hemp paper however that had writings on it were dated to around 109 A. D. Cai Lun was one of those people who helped developed the method for mass-producing paper made from tree bark, hemp and linen. It was by the 3rd century that paper had been widely used in China. China also has their share of Ceramics. Ceramic products that hailed from the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu are most admired. These provinces also had reputation in the creation of burial urns shaped like animals. The period from 220 to 265 A. D. was the period of the Three Kingdoms. Known for its Chivalric and Romantic nature, it became the setting and inspiration of one of China’s favorite historical novel. Written by Luo Guanzhong entitled Sanguo zhi yanyi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) was published during the 14th century. Towards the end of these first 5 centuries at 317 to 420 A. D. , the arts flourished even more in China particularly at Nanjing in Jiangsu Province. It was also the period of development of Chinese literature. Some important Chinese personalities that arose from that time were Wang Xizhi for calligraphy, Gu Kaizhi for figure painting, and Tao Qian (aka Tao Yuanming) for poetry. And at the 5th century Xie He wrote the Guhua pinlu (Classification of Ancient Painters). Being one of the most famous Chinese critics, he wrote this book stating six laws which he thinks are the good characteristics of a work of art and the person who created it. His ideas have been recognized and considered in Chinese painting ever since. Conclusion It is quite apparent that in the three East Asian Cultures that were discussed, it seems that the Chinese really had a lot to contribute in terms of creating art and understanding art during the ancient times. And these contributions and ideas are still apparent even to the present day. Let us not fail to consider that other Asian cultures also had their own influences and contributions to , Asia and the World but China probably just had the most influential ones because they were probably the first in doing and developing many things also considering how big and powerful the Chinese civilization is. In looking for a commonality, it seemed that all three had their share of ceramic and pottery craft. Naturally, they did not yet have plastic back then and they were still quite new to metals which was why clay would be the main material they would likely use in creating things. They also had a different use for some pottery; they used some urns as sort of coffins in which they placed their dead. In understanding today’s culture, it would be good to look back and understand the ancient forms of art that had a great role in the development of a culture and how it influences other surrounding cultures up to the present days. Works Cited â€Å"China, 1–500 A. D. â€Å". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www. metmuseum. org/toah/ht/05/eac/ht05eac. htm (October 2000)†Haniwa Boar [Japan] (1975. 268. 418)†. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www. metmuseum. org/toah/ho/05/eaj/ho_1975. 268. 418. htm (October 2006) â€Å"Japan, 1–500 A. D. â€Å". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www. metmuseum. org/toah/ht/05/eaj/ht05eaj. htm (October 2000) â€Å"Korea, 1–500 A. D. â€Å". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www. metmuseum. org/toah/ht/05/eak/ht05eak. htm (October 2000)

Informatie Management

Does Telework increase productivity? Assignment 2: The proposition Bachelor Thesis â€Å" Does Telework increase productivity† Erasmus University Rotterdam Boudewijn Schuitmaker348393bs Robin Kettenes335450rk Marlot Sep 337273ms Bachelor Thesis â€Å"Does Telework increase productivity† Erasmus University Rotterdam Team: Group 6 (BA-02-06) Assignment number: 9 Date: 13-06-2012 Disclaimer: â€Å"This document is written by Marlot Sep, Robin Kettenes and Boudewijn Schuitmaker, who declare that each of them takes responsibility for the full contents of the whole document.We declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. RSM is only responsible for supervision of completion of the work but not for the contents. † Index Summary of the research proposal4 1. Preface6 2. Abstract7 3. Introduction8 4. Literature review12 5. Methods17 6. Results 19 7. Discussion26 Appendix28 Bibliography35 * Summary of the research proposal In this chapter a summary of the research proposal can be found. Summary| | Name instructor| Dhr. Nick van der Meulen| Team number| 6| Name student 1| Robin Kettenes|Name student 2| Boudewijn Schuitmaker| Name student 3| Marlot Sep| Proposition| Telework will lead to an increase in productivity| Focal unit| Employees who perform their work at other places than at the office itself, for at least one day a week| Theoretical domain| All employees who work at other places than at the office itself, for at least one day a week, in the Netherlands. | Concept 1 | Telework| Concept 2 | Employees’ Productivity| Type of relation | Causal| Minimum size of the effect for having managerial relevance| The minimal size of effect for having managerial relevance is 20 % increase of productivity. Typical parameter of effect size used in previous tests| Items scales difference in productivity means is used between t eleworkers and non-teleworkers. | Range of effect sizes obtained in the replication history| In the replication history on average an effect of productivity increase of 20% is measured by teleworking. (Newman, 1989), (Dubrin, 1991) and (Hartman, 1992)| Preferred research strategy| Longitudinal survey| Actual research strategy| Considering the research time (two months time) and the context of this research (a Bachelor thesis project) a cross-sectional survey is chosen. | Population that is surveyed, or from hich subjects are recruited| Population that is surveyed are executive employees of the department of Operations & Services of the organization of TNT Express Benelux in Houten, the Netherlands. The number of subjects is 22. | Expected pattern (or â€Å"hypothesis†)| The expected pattern for the hypothesis â€Å"teleworking will lead to more productivity† is a regression of 0. 20, meaning that an increase in teleworking will lead to an increase of 0. 20 in an amount of productivity. The expected pattern for the hypothesis â€Å"distraction will have a negative influence on the relation between teleworking and productivity† is a regression of -0. 0, meaning that an increase in distraction will lead to an decrease of 0. 20 in a amount of productivity, when teleworking. | Observed pattern| The observed pattern for the hypothesis â€Å"teleworking will lead to moreproductivity† is a negative relation with a regression beta score of -1,311,meaning that if the degree of teleworking increases with one unit, the productivity will decrease with 1,311. The observed pattern for the hypothesis â€Å"distraction will have a negative influence on the relation between teleworking and productivity† is a positive relation with a regression beta score of 0,188.Thus, for the increase of one unit distraction, the productivity will increase with 0,188. | Test result| Teleworking has a negative effect on productivity and distraction has a posit ive relation on productivity. | Non-response bias assessment (worst case analysis)| The number of missing cases is 5. The worst case analysis show that if the five respondents joined the survey, and where very different form the obtained ones, a positive effect of teleworking on productivity (2,775) and a negative effect of distraction on productivity (-0,173) could be found. Your contribution to what is known about the proposition| Our contribution to the proposition â€Å"Telework will lead to an increase in productivity† is that teleworking does not always lead a positive change in productivity such as suggested in many scientific articles. In our research a negative relation is found on productivity when teleworking. | Most important recommendation for further research| The most important recommendation is, in order to do a replication study, a longitudinal survey.The longitudinal survey enables the future researchers to measure the change in productivity that takes place at a later point in time when employees telework. In this research the measure of productivity towards teleworking is only done once. | Preface This bachelor thesis is written as part of our studies Business Administration at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The main subject of this thesis is â€Å"Telework†. We selected this subject out of many other subjects because we wanted to write our thesis about a topical subject and teleworking has become a major hype in the last few years.Many businesses implement teleworking in their company for various reasons. So, is assumed that teleworking will lead to cost reduction, more productive employees and more satisfied employees. But, the main question is does telework provide all these benefits? In this thesis we will look at the effect of teleworking on the productivity of employees. Abstract The relation between teleworking and productivity is of critical concern for organizations that might be planning to implement teleworking o f for those who have already done.In this research the relation between teleworking and productivity is examined, controlling for age, gender and family status. The effect of distraction on the productivity of employees was also measured. A survey among 17 teleworkers at TNT express was conducted online to gather data. In result of different multiple regression analysis’, a negative impact of teleworking on productivity was discovered. Furthermore, a slight positive impact of distraction on productivity was found. The results look paradoxical, but there are several reasons to explain these results and shed a new light on the telework-productivity research.Introduction In the last few years there has been an increasing demand for flexible work and flexible organizations. The concept of teleworking offers a solution to this increasing demand. At this moment 20 to 30 million people in the U. S. currently work from home at least one day a week (Telework Research Network, 2011). I n the literature several definitions of telework are used. The most common definition of telework defines telework as work performed at home, a satellite office or other places than the office itself, to reduce commuting (Shin, 2000).There are several motives companies could have to adopt the concept of telework. Obvious motives are cost reduction and increased productivity. Additional benefits for teleworking employees are increased job satisfaction and a better work-life balance (Harpaz, 2002). In this thesis a proposition, regarding telework and productivity, will be tested. The proposition that will be tested is: â€Å"Telework will lead to an increase in productivity†. In general this means that this research measures if employees have a higher productivity if they telework, and thus have the opportunity to work besides the office, than if they are office-bound.The increase in productivity is often measured due the comparison of output produced by a given amount of input , often office hours. If the employee, who teleworks, uses exact the same time as an office-bound employee for a job, while delivering a greater amount of work, an increase in productivity due telework can be concluded. The first who formulated the concept of telework in 1973 was Jack M. Nilles from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He defined Teleworking as â€Å"any form of substitution of information technologies for work-related travel† (Madsen, 2003).The one clear motive for the expansion of teleworking, mentioned by Nilles, was the reduction of transportation congestion, particularly in overcrowded urban areas. Although these public benefits were not sufficient enough to implement teleworking. Economic benefits like cost reductions, space savings and reduced rental rates for office space ensured that companies were more likely to introduce the concept of teleworking. According to Nilles productivity will increase as a result of working harder and worki ng more hours per day, because of less distraction, interruptions and stress (Nillis, 1988).After Nilles formulated the proposition that telework increases productivity for the first time, it has often been examined. Some articles stated that telework increased productivity. For example at AT&T, a telecommunication company, telework increased productivity with almost 10 percent, according to AT&T's annual telework survey among 1,500 employees. Another example of increased productivity is IBM where 87 percent of the employees report that they believe that their productivity have increased significantly (Apgar, 1998).In fact several articles stated that the productivity of employees is higher when they work at home. Only one research shown a decrease in productivity. However this decrease was later followed by an increase of productivity (Bailey, 2002). Despite several articles have examined the relation between telework and productivity, it is dificult to measure productivity. Like m entioned earlier, productivity is based on the relation between input and output. There have been problems when measuring the productivity of today’s knowledge workers. First of all, most knowledge workers do not produce â€Å"units† per given period (e. . per hour, day or month). Because output is often measured in â€Å"units†, the productivity of knowledge workers is hard to measure. Secondly, there is not a direct correlation between units of labor and units of output for these knowledge workers. Extra input from one additional worker does not necessary lead to more output. The classic definition does not enable to measure knowledge workers’ productivity, certainly not when measuring besides the office (Gordon, 1997). In the research on the relation between telework and productivitity a number of methodological weaknesses have been discovered.Most studies use self-report suverys to collect data from teleworkers. These self-report surveys can result in false responses from teleworkers in their productivity evaluations. This so called self-response bias has not been taken into account in many productivity research. Data collection from both, teleworker and manager will be a better way to measure productivity. Next to that sample populations are selected under specific personality and task criterea, which could be related to a higher work motivation and therefore contributes to increased productivity.Another explanation for increased productivity could be the relegation of other tasks to office-bound employees. Higher productivity can also be explained by the increase in working hours, due less commuting (Shin, 2000). Due the difficulties of measuring productivity some articles falsly claim the fact that telework increase productivity. Like mentioned earlier, productivity measurement for knowledge workers has been a dilemma. In measuring input and output the term â€Å"productivity† is inadequate for knowledge workers.Theref ore this research measures â€Å"productivity† not only due the quantity of work, but due several concepts. The concepts used in this research to measure productivity are: quantity, quality, timeliness and multiple priorities. The questions how much can be done (quantity), how well it is done (quality), when it is done (timeliness) and how many things can be done at once (multiple priorities) are being covered. Using multiple concepts enables to put the quantity factor in the context of a bigger picture and not just simply focus on an increase in output (Gordon, 1997).As stated earlier, there are several definitions for teleworking. Most definitions focus on the fact that employees have the possibility to work everywhere and not as much on the fact that employees can work whenever they want. In this research the most common definition of Shin, Sheng and Higa will be used. Shin et al. defines telework as work performed at home, a satellite office or other places than the offic e itself, to reduce commuting (Shin, 2000). Figure 1 Causality Model The causality model of this thesis, shown in figure 1, consist of two concepts: teleworking and productivity.The independent concept in the causality model is teleworking and the dependent concept is productivity. The focal unit of this research theory is the entity of which the range of values of one or more variable attributes is explained by the theory (Hak, 2011). The focal unit consists of employees who perform their work at other places than at the office itself, for at least one day a week. The minimum number of days teleworkers work besides the office is chosen because several instances use this minimum, like the Telework Research Network.The national average number of days a teleworker works besides the office is 2,4 days a week (Telework Research Network, 2011). The productivity of teleworkers is measured due the comparison of their productivity when working besides the office and when working at the offi ce. There is not chosen for the comparison of the productivity of teleworkers and office bound employees, because this is not valid. The variation in productivity between teleworkers and office-bound employees should not necessarily come from teleworking, but can be explained by several other factors for instance by personal ifferences. The theoretical domain of this research, the universe of instances of the focal unit, consist of all employees who work at other places than at the office itself, for at least one day a week, in the Netherlands. Literature review After Nilles claimed that productivity increased as a result of teleworking in 1973, it has often been examined. In 1982 Olson researched the effect of telework on productivity. Although there were no measures of performance data, employees and managers pronounced that teleworkers are more productive than office-bound employees.The study also revealed that teleworkers are more responsible and conscientious about schedules, h ad better documentation and scheduled their time better. Employees felt that they worked more efficiently or produced higher quality work, when working at home. Few employees found the office very distracting and therefore could be more productive at home (Olson, 1982). This results are consistent with Olson’s later longitudinal study of three pilot teleworking programs, which revealed that teleworkers believed that their performance was enhanced due teleworking (Olson, 1989).In 1989 Bailyn also researched the effect of telework on productivity among 89 system developers, including 49 teleworkers. More than a quarter of the software developers reported that their most productive work times fell out of the traditional office days. Bailyn assigned this productivity increase to the fact that teleworkers have individual control over time and the ability to allocate work over all time periods, including the weekends. The survey also indicated that employees needed quiet and privac y to be productive (Bailyn, 1989).Bailyn also noted that only tasks that do not require extensive interaction will benefit from teleworking (Bailyn, 1988). One year later Newman stated that teleworking is ideally for those whose jobs require them to handle a flow of information, like programmers, engineers, speechwriters and business analysts. The personality of the teleworker must include being capable of handling autonomy. According to Newman, experienced workers make the best candidates for teleworking. Similar to Olson, Newman stated that the work-at-home programs often result in increased output from staff, naming eing less distracted meant being more productive. In Newman’s study at the Travelers Insurance Company productivity increased with 20 percent. Despite of the increased productivity, limiting the geographic boundaries of the company’s hiring pool due offering work-at-home arrangements to employees was the prime reason for teleworking (Newman, 1989). In Du brin’s research the reasons for teleworking were to solve staffing, space, and other business problems including keeping motivated employees away from the distractions of other workers (McKee, 1988).According to Dubrin an implicit assumption about teleworking programs is that employees who work at home will be equally more productive that office-bound employees. Dubrin’s observation of company records suggests that home workers increased their productivity from 5 to 100 percent (Dubrin, 1991). Dubrin tested the hypothesis â€Å" telecommuters are more productive than are employees performing comparable work on company premises† among employees of the NPD Group. The participants in this research were mainly women.The fact that only women are represented in Dublin’s studies makes it difficult to separate findings between males and females. The degree of distraction was measured due different statements in the questionnaires. The questionnaire items ‘B eing able to keep busy all the time’ show that telework has a positive influence on the productivity. The work-at-home group scored significantly higher (13. 81) than the group in-house workers (6. 36) at the t-value of 4. 20. The research found that productivity was increased by 30% when projects were moved from company premises to homes.The productivity was measured in transactions per hour, occurred when a project was shifted from in-house to at-home. The results are consistent with findings of Newman. In Dubrin’s research the productivity findings showed that people who worked at home part-time are more productive than those who worked at home full-time. It is concluded that productivity increases when work is structured, repetitive and measurable. In order to conclude evidence that telecommuting increases productivity, it is necessary to move in-house workers into their homes and then measure the productivity changing (Dubrin, 1991).Accoring to Frolick, Wilkes, Ur wiler productivity is expected to increase when teleworkers work according to a flexible schedule in an informal setting. The question whether telecommuters are more productive than office-bound employees was researched in a semi-structured telephone interview among 45 individuals in 10 organizations. The average time that each of the interviewees had spent in the telework programs was 2,3 years. The results of the interviews revealed that every teleworker and every telework manager reported that productivity had increased as a result of their telecommuting programs.In each case the respondents stated that teleworker productivity was higher than the productivity of office-bound employees. The average increase of productivity was approximately 20 percent. This result is consistent with other researches like Niles 1990 (Frolick, 1993). Frolick et al. attributed this productivity increase to lack of interruption and the ability of the teleworker to schedule his or her work in a flexibl e manner. In this study all the teleworkers cited ‘fewer interruptions’ as a contributing factor to their productivity and 17 of them cited ‘greater flexibility’ in performing their jobs (Frolick, 1993).Hartman, Stoner and Arora noticed two fundamental problems in the previous study, namely an extraordinary small sample size and maintaining a broad, non restrictive definition of telecommuting that leads to clouded outcomes and conclusions. In their study telecommuters were selected from 11 different organizations, both public and private, including telecommunications, insurance, banking, publishing, and city an state governmental units. The research was done due a self-report survey among 262 telecommuters.Telecommuting productivity was measured by the respondent’s feeling about how the output per hour was changed, working at the office versus working at home. An overwhelming 84 % reported that productivity was increase while working at home, 12 % re ported no change and just 4% reported a lower productivity. Hartman recognized that the self-reported perceptions of comparative productivity might be biased, but the outcomes were consistent with the productivity increase in other studies (Hamilton, 1987)(Moody, 1986). Neufeld and Fang focused on the influence of distraction, gender and family status on teleworker’s productivity.Their research assumed that gender and family status (defined as social factors) are negatively correlated with teleworker productivity. When working at home, the family status is important because family is often around. Therefore they may have a large effect on the teleworkers, and their productivity. The results of the study are obtained by semi-structured interview. For measuring the social factors, direct questions are used (such as do you have children at home? ). For measuring distraction, questions are used like; is your environment distraction free?The results showed that teleworker producti vity is not associated with family status and gender, but on the other hand, a distraction free environment was associated with teleworker productivity (Neufeld, 2005). Another study of Derrick J. Neufeld, which examined productivity among four different kinds of organizations, showed that claims of a higher productivity correlated to teleworking are overblown. In this study, productivity is measured among 200 Canadian employees, and the results show that the increase in productivity is statistically insignificant.Cynics predicted that distractions from working at home will reduce productivity. But despite these distractions, productivity is not reduced, but slightly increased. This study of Neufeld shows that teleworking is significantly more correlated with organizational flexibility than with productivity (Cassiani, 2000). Kelley Butler also looked at the relation between distraction and teleworker productivity. Butler stated that the top 6 distractions, while working at home, ar e household chores, television, pets, errands, internet and children.The data was collected from a CareerBuilder survey. Some of the teleworkers (17%) was so distracted by these factors, that the distraction costs one hour of their working hours (Butler, 2011). Thompson, Vivien and Lim examined the differences in gender on the perception of teleworking. Their data was collected from a questionnaire survey among IT professionals in Singapore. Results showed that males perceived that teleworking improved the quality of life and their productivity in a greater extent than females.Also, in this research productivity increases while teleworking, because an employee can plan the work schedule during the hours when one is most productive. But on the other hand, the study also shows that distractions at home may be harder to solve than distractions at the office. An analysis of the covariance was used to measure the difference between gender, and the relation to the advantages and disadvant ages of teleworking. The results show that there is no significant difference in gender (Thompson, 1998). Author| Literature effect found|Olson, 1983| Preliminary evidence from the exploratory study shows that individuals can be as or more productive when working at home| Olson, 1988| Telecommuting experts and practitioners regularly cite at-home productivity gains ranging from 15-25%| Newman, 1989| Work-at-home programs often result in increased output from staff| Newman, 1989| The Travelers Insurance Company productivity increased with 20 percent among 80 commuting staff| Di Martino, 1990| A two-year pilot project (†¦ ) reported productivity gains averaging 43 per cent per participant.Teleworkers (†¦) noted productivity increases varying from 12 per cent to 20 per cent. State employees working at home have been rated (†¦) as 3 to 5 per cent more effective than they would have been if they worked from nine to five in the office. | Dubrin, 1991| Productivity was incre ased by 30% when projects were moved from company premises to homes| Dubrin, 1991| Observation of company records suggests that home workers increased their productivity from 5 to 100 per cent| Hartman, 1991| A significant negative correlation between the ratio of telecommuting hours to total work hours and telecommuting productivity was revealed. Hartman, 1991| The full-time employed telecommuters reported higher levels of productivity (3. 59) in comparison with part-time employed telecommuters (2. 65). | Hartman, 1992| Telecommuters were asked whether they felt their productivity (output per hour) at home was higher or lower than at the office. An overwhelming percentage (84%) reported higher productivity while working at home, only 4 % of the telecommuters reported lower productivity, and 12 % reported no change. Frolick, 1993| The findings indicate a significant increase in productivity (20%) among teleworkers| Apgar, 1998| 87 per cent of employees (†¦) report that they bel ieve their productivity and effectiveness have increased significantly| Baruch, 2000| How teleworking influences the way people work after opting to telework were examined (†¦).Compared with previous arrangements of work effectiveness 34 per cent and 42 per cent felt it was much better or better (respectively), totaling a positive impact for 76 per cent, with just 5 per cent suggesting no difference and 3 per cent worse. | Pearlson, 2001| A survey in 2001 of 150 executives in large U. S. companies found that 36 percent saw no difference in productivity levels between telecommuters and onsite employees, while 26 percent felt that telecommuting could compromise job performance| Table 1 Reported effect sized of the effect of Teleworking on ProductivityAuthor| Effect| Olson, 1983| Some of the individuals interviewed cited problems with motivation and numerous distractions at home that made concentration difficult| Newman, 1989| Work-at-home programs often result in increased output from staff, naming being less distracted meant being more productive| Hartman, 1991| Family disruptions and their association with telecommuting productivity and satisfaction, the correlation with productivity is -. 20 (p = . 06). Frolick, 1993| Most claims of productivity to date have been attributed to a lack of interruption and the ability of the teleworker to schedule his or her work in a flexible manner. | Baruch, 2000| Better performance was attributed mostly to the elimination of distractions, which are typical at the workplace and subsequently the ability to focus on work. | Young Lee, 2005| The results indicated no significant effect of perceived distractions on perceived performance| Wilson, 2004| Could be more productive without such ‘distractions’. Fonner, 2010| Results show that working remotely the majority of the time alleviates forms of stress and distraction including acting as a buffer from workplace injustice which may provide a more productive and s atisfying work environment| Table 2 Reported effect sized of the effect of Distraction on Productivity Methods The research strategy is to test the proposition that assumed that teleworking will lead to an increase of productivity. The replication history research has indicated that this theory has empirically been confirmed for various populations.If the proposition is true in the domain, then it must be true for the population in the domain. In order to claim whether a proposition is true, empirical evidence is required to show its correctness. This research deduces a hypotheses regarding teleworking, distraction and increasing productivity by an empirical research. Ideally a causal relationship between teleworking, distraction and productivity is measured in a longitudinal survey. The longitudinal survey is defined as a research strategy in which a change in value of the relevant concepts is observed in all members (or in samples) of a population of instances of a focal unit.In a longitudinal survey it is possible to find a population of comparable cases in the theoretical domain in which the value of teleworking (named here as variable X) has changed over time. A causal relation â€Å"X influences Y† (variable Y is employees’ productivity) is observed in the cases, if the value of Y has changed after the change of value X. Considering the research time (two months) and the context of this research (a bachelor thesis), this research uses a cross-sectional design to measure the relationship between teleworking, distraction and employees’ productivity.A scatter plot is a useful tool to show a possible correctness of the proposition. The cross-sectional design enables to concentrate on variations of cases within one particular population. In this research the population is a department within an organisation. The population consists of all executive employees of the department Process ; Policies of TNT Express Benelux in Houten, the Nether lands. The number of employees/cases is 22. #| Name employee:| | | | | 1| Bert Schut | 14| Koos Jansen | 2| Corne Vroegh | 15| Marielle Sitskoorn | | David Roofthoofd | 16| Marina Elegeert | 4| Erik van Duin| 17| Martijn Otte | 5| Geug Leendertse | 18| Maurice Hidma | 6| Guy Gevaers | 19| Mette Kok| 7| Harrie Dasselaar| 20| Michiel Bierman| 8| Henk Jansen | 21| Tessa Koster | 9| Jack Beks| 22| Thomas Goossens | 10| Jan Harmen Hietbrink| 11| Jef Kleinschmidt | 12| John Meisters| 13| John van Oeffel | Figure 2 Employees of the Process ; Policies department at TNT express In the cross-sectional research, qualitative and quantitative data of respondents is collected more or less simultaneously.The self-report survey will be sent out to all cases at the same moment and held during the same time of period. The independent variable (teleworking) is a quantitative variable measured in percentages. The other independent variable (distraction) is a qualitative variable, measured in likert sch ales with categories like: never, sometimes, regularly, often and always. Productivity is a qualitative variable. The controlling variables are gender, age and family status. Gender is divided into male and female (0=male and 1= female).Family status is measured in four different values, namely single, single with children, married or co-habiting, and married or co-habiting with children. The conceptual model of this research can be found in Figure 3. To test the five different hypothesis based on the conceptual model, a multiple regression analysis will be used. Figure 3 Conceptual Model The hypothesis concentrates on the relation between teleworking and the productivity. Assumed is that teleworking lead to an increase in productivity. This means that employees can do more work, do their work better, schedule their own work and do multiple things at once.The hypothesis is formulated as following: There is a positive relation between teleworking and productivity if the ? is ? 0,20. In the conceptual model age, gender, family status are taken into account as controlling variables. Gender could have an influence on productivity. Women, for example, are better in multitasking and could therefore have a higher score on â€Å"multiple priorities†, which influences the productivity. Family status could have an impact on distraction, therefore it is also used as controlling variable. This also accounts for age. The assumption is that lder employees are less productive compared to younger employees, which are more involved with technology. Two different regression analyses’ with different variables are plotted. * The variables teleworking / gender / distraction / age / family status in relation to productivity. (nain regression) * The variables teleworking / distraction in relation to productivity The main regression model is shown below: Productivity = ? + ? 1 Teleworking + ? 2 Gender + ? 3 Family status + ? 4 Age + ? 5 Distraction + ? ? ~ iin( 0, ? )Th e regression analysis will show which variable will have the highest influence on the dependent variable productivity, corrected for the influences of the other variables. The expectation is therefore that the beta of teleworking will be the highest in the model. Results The data in this research is collected due a self-report survey among employees of the Process ; Policies department of TNT Express Benelux. The self-report survey was conducted online on the Belgian website of â€Å"enquetemaken. be†. A textual version of this survey can be found in appendix 2.A link to this survey was send to the 22 employees of the department by mail. This research chose for an anonymous survey in order to ensure that respondents could be honest about their answers. This would secure the reliability of this survey. Besides that the interview was conducted in Dutch because all employees at TNT are Dutch. The employees filled in questions concerning telework and productivity. Several non-rel ated questions, concerning job satisfaction and work-life balance, were added in order to cover the real purpose of the research.In order to guarantee the reliability and validity of this research, the questions of the survey are based on questions used in other research. The productivity measurement is divided into four determents that are each tested individually. These four determents are quantity, quality, timeliness and multiple priorities (Gordon, 1997). Lee and Brand used questions like â€Å"Compared to my typical work right now, I would rate the quality of my work as† and â€Å"Compared to my typical performance right now, I would rate my job performance as† are being used.In the survey of this research four questions are used in order to measure work productivity. The exact questions can be found in the appendix. The questions in the survey concerning distraction, were like â€Å"How frequently are you unable to concentrate because of interruptions from your family? †. These questions were extended to other factors, like distractions from colleagues, phone calls/e-mails/texts, sounds and other factors (Neufeld, 2005). According to Young Lee ; J. L. Brand, is noise one of the main distractions (Lee et all, 2010). Therefore, we devoted one question on noise.Also, the question ‘I am easily distracted from my work’ is used in their research, which we decided to put in our own survey. In the article ‘from knowledge to distraction’, written by Jonathan Spira in 2007, is stated that knowledge workers are often distracted by e-mails, phonecalls, instant messages etc. For this reason, there is decided to investigate the amount of distractions by these influences in the survey. In this article, also is stated that ‘colleagues popping in’ might be a factor of distraction. This factor is also added to the survey.The last question regarding distraction, is about ‘other distractions’. This is to make sure that there are not any parts of distraction missed. The non-response bias of this survey was 22,7 percent. Five employees did not fill in the survey because they were not available in the two weeks the survey was online. If the non-response bias is very high it can effect the representativeness for the population. A data grid of the results of this survey can be found in table 4. A detailed calculation of the degree of productivity and distraction can be found in appendix 3.Total Work hours| Telework hours| Degree of distraction (1=low, 5=high)| Degree of Productivity (1=low, 5= high)| Gender (1=male, 0=female)| Age| Family status * | 40| 20| 3. 2| 4| 1| 58| 3| 50| 33| 3. 4| 3. 75| 1| 40| 1| 50| 30| 2. 4| 3. 5| 1| 53| 3| 42| 7| 2. 4| 3. 75| 1| 54| 3| 40| 5| 2. 4| 4. 5| 1| 48| 4| 50| 25| 2. 2| 4| 1| 44| 4| 40| 15| 2. 2| 3. 75| 0| 40| 4| 40| 25| 2| 3. 75| 1| 28| 3| 40| 32| 2. 4| 3. 5| 0| 32| 3| 40| 8| 3. 2| 4| 1| 42| 3| 45| 8| 2. 4| 4| 0| 32| 3| 40| 2| 2. 4| 3| 1| 32| 1| 45| 8| 2. 4| 3. 75| 1| 51| 4| 60| 36| 2. 6| 4| 1| 31| 3| 45| 8| 2. 6| 3. 5| 1| 36| 4| 45| 35| 3. 8| 4| 1| 38| 4| 50| 5| 2. | 4. 75| 1| 40| 3| 44. 82353| 17. 76471| 2. 623529| 3. 852941| -| 41. 11765| -| *= (1= single, 2=single with children, 3=married or co-habiting, 4= married or co-habiting with children)| Table 3 Data Grid of the survey at TNT Express The expected pattern Hypothesis 1: Teleworking will lead to more productivity The expected pattern for the first hypothesis â€Å"teleworking will lead to more productivity† is a regression of 0. 20, meaning that an increase of an hour teleworking will lead to an increase of 0. 20 in an amount of productivity. In the literature review several articles reported that teleworking increase productivity.However, there are also articles that claim a negative effect of teleworking on productivity. A summary of the reported effect sizes can be found in table 1 in the literature review section. The effect sizes of the relation betwee n teleworking and productivity, found in the literature, vary from a negative relation to a positive relation. The majority of effects are positive, which means that productivity was increased due to teleworking. Although the majority of effects were positive, the claimed productivity increase ranges from 5 % to 20 %, up to 100 %.There is one article by Hartman (1991) that claims a negative correlation between telecommuting and telecommuting productivity. Derived from the literature review the expected pattern, in which the hypothesis is true, is a regression coefficient of 0. 20 or more. This means that if the degree of teleworking increases with one hour, the productivity will increase with 0,20. The hypothesis 2: Distraction has a negative influence on productivity The second hypothesis is aimed at the independent variable distraction on the dependent variable productivity.The correlation is expected to be -0. 20, meaning that an increase of one unit distraction will have a decre ase of 0. 20 in the amount of productivity. In the literature several effects of distraction on productivity are found. A summary of the reporter effects can be found in table 2 in the literature review section. The effects found in the literature review suggest that distraction has a negative influence on productivity. The effects vary from no significant effect on performance to being more productive when distraction is eliminated.The expected effect of distraction on productivity is expected to be negative in this research. The correlation is expected to be -0. 20, meaning that an increase of one unit distraction will have a decrease of 0. 20 in the amount of productivity. The observed pattern Hypothesis 1: Teleworking will lead to more productivity The results of the main multiple regression analysis show that 26 per cent of the variance is declared by the model. The correlation between the observed and expected values of dependent variable is 0,509. In appendix 4 the SPSS outpu t of this research is shown.Surprisingly, the degree of teleworking has a negative influence on productivity. This can be interpreted by the beta of the quantity of teleworking, which is -1,311. This means that if the degree of teleworking increases with one hour, the productivity will decrease with 1,311. The hypothesis 2: Distraction has a negative influence on productivity Another surprising output is the influence of distraction on productivity, which has a beta of 0,188, where a negative beta is expected. Thus, for the increase of one unit distraction, the productivity will increase with 0,188.A partial regression analysis, without the controlling variables gender, age and family status, shows that there is a slight difference in the variance declared by the model and the correlation between the observed and expected values of the dependent variable. These figures fall to 0,259 and 0,067. The betas of the degree of teleworking and distraction fall to -1,287 and 0,148. For this reason, the controlling variables will be added to the other regression analyses. There are several ways to explain the surprising betas of teleworking and distraction.First of all, the results are based on the answers of only 17 respondents. In the partial regression plot (with the variables distraction and productivity) is clear that because of a few amount of outliners, the R2 linear is climbing a little. Without these outliers, there is a large possibility that the distraction beta will be negative, which was expected. Another explanation is that the employees of TNT express do not relate distraction to their productivity. They tend to give themselves a high overall score on productivity, regardless of the degree of distraction and teleworking.Another possibility is that the amount of distraction actually does not influence the productivity. Figure 4: The relation between distraction and productivity Because of the little number of respondents, the few outliers pull the mean of the productivity up. These respondents have a small quantity of teleworking, but tend to give themselves high scores on productivity. Therefore, the linear line of the quantity of teleworking is declining, where it would have been rising without these three outliners. This can be an explanation for the negative effect of teleworking on productivity.But on the other hand, it might be possible that the teleworking does have a negative effect on productivity. In a worst-case analysis, the five missing respondents could dramatically influence the results of the regression analysis. This would be, if the respondents all would score low on productivity and on high distraction (or vice versa), or if degree of teleworking among the employees is high and their productivity is high too (or vice versa). Figure 5: The relation between teleworking and productivityThe worst-case analysis of the effect of telework on productivity shows that, when the five missing respondents would have been very d ifferent from the ones obtained, there is a positive effect (2,775) of telework on productivity. This positive effect is shown in figure 6. This in contrast with the results of this research, without the missing five respondents, where a negative effect was discovered. If the five missing respondents participated in this research and were very different from the ones obtained they could have a drastic impact of the results of this research.The expected positive effect of telework on productivity could be discovered in this scenario. Figure 6: Worst-case analysis of the effect of telework on productivity The worst-case analysis of the effect of distraction on productivity shows that, when the five missing respondents would be very different from the ones obtained, there is a negative effect (-0,173) of distraction on productivity. The worst-case analysis is shown in figure 7. This negative effect corresponds to the expected effect of distraction on productivity, but not to the observ ed effect in this research.This means that if the five missing respondents participated in this research, the outcomes of this research could be dramatically different and the expected negative effect of distraction on productivity could be measured. Figure 7: Worst-case analysis of the effect of distraction on productivity Overall can be concluded that if the five missing respondents participated in this survey they could have changed the outcomes of this research dramatically. The expected effects of this research could be found when adding the five missing respondents.Discussion The test results found in the multiple regression analysis? , claim roughly that TNT express should increase the distraction among employees, and decrease the degree of teleworking. But, as shown in the results chapter, the results only show a slight negative relation. Which can be easily influenced by the missing data, as shown in the worst case scenario analysis?. Therefore, the results should be interp reted as if distraction does not have a high influence on the productivity of employees.There is not a valid relationship in the test results showing that distraction has a positive influence on productivity, because of the very low negative beta (as a result of the regression analysis’) and the possible influence of the missing values on the test results. The relationship between teleworking and productivity did show a large coherency. This large coherency was interpreted as if teleworking is not productive for TNT express. Thus, in this research, distraction is recommended and teleworking is discouraged.But it is recommended to keep in mind that the worst case scenario analysis’ (showing the missing values can turn around findings as much as possible) presume a positive influence of teleworking on productivity, and a negative influence of distraction on productivity. For further investigation it will be recommended to use more respondents, as much as possible. When m ore respondents are used, the results will be less influenced by outliers. A very low response bias is also recommended, so that a worst case analysis’ are not necessary and therefore will not show complete opposite results compared to the research.In this research, the response bias was 28 per cent. Another recommendation would be to make a connection between distraction and productivity for the respondents themselves. In this research, the respondents did not link distractions to their productivity (which can explain the divergent relation between distraction and productivity). When questions are formulated with the factors of distraction and productivity in one sentence, the link is automatically made for the respondents. Theorems for example like ‘when I am distracted by phonecalls, I feel like I can do less work’.Besides that all respondents report that they were very productive, even if they suffered from a lot of distraction. A solution for this self-respo nse bias, that often occurs in self-report surveys, is to involve the opinion of the manager of the respondents in the research as well. Because of time constraints this was not possible in this research, but it will be a good way to eliminate the self-response bias in future research. In previous research, many positive effects of teleworking on productivity were found. This research contradicts this and reveals a negative effect.Although the worst case analysis showed that there could be a positive effect, when the five missing respondents were very different from the ones obtained, the observed negative effect could also be an indication that there really is a negative relation between teleworking and productivity. In 1991 Hartman also claimed a negative correlation between teleworking and productivity. Because the research of Hartman also reported this negative effect, it could be true that teleworking has a negative impact on productivity.This would generate a new insight into the telework-productivity research, in which was assumed that teleworking increased productivity. In contradiction to earlier research on the effect of distraction on productivity, this research shows a slightly positive effect of distraction on productivity. The fact that more distraction leads to more productive employees seems contradictory, but interruptions are not necessarily bad. Little interruptions, for example, could provide a fresh new insight into someone’s work.Therefore the observed positive effect could be real and is interesting to further investigation. Because the observed effect is slightly positive and in the worst case analysis slightly negative, it could also be an indication that distraction has no effect on productivity. This is supported by the research of Lee and Brand, which indicated that there was no significant effect of perceived distractions on perceived performance. This finding could also contribute to the research on the effect of distractio n of productivity.In conclusion the findings of this research do not fully correspond to the main findings in the literature. This is actually very interesting because a new insight in the research on teleworking and productivity is generated. It can be questioned if the main findings in the literature are true. Maybe teleworking is not good for the productivity of employees and distractions are not as bad as everybody’s thinking. In order to do a replication research towards the effect of teleworking on productivity in the future a replication strategy is useful.The preferred replication strategy for the future is a longitudinal survey. The longitudinal survey enables the future researchers to measure the change in productivity that takes place at a later point in time when employees telework. In the longitudinal survey all members of a focal unit can be observed over time. Additional theoretical insight is advised in order to determine how much time should elapse between th e change in value of productivity and the subsequent change in the value of teleworking. * Appendix Appendix 1: Several definitions of Telework and/or Productivity | Author(s)| Definition of telework| Definitions of productivity| 1| Newman (1989)| Working home with the aid of computers, modems and facsimile machines. | | 2| Dubrin (1991) | Performing job-related work at a site away from the company, then electronically transferring the output to another location| | 3| Frolick, Wilkes, Urwiler (1993)| | The number of tasks effectively completed in a given timeframe| 4| Hartman, Stoner and Arora (1992) | Work arrangement where organizational employees regularly work at home or at a remote site one or more complete workdays a week instead of working in the office. Telework managers reported using ‘deadlines’ or ‘agreed upon deadlines’, and ‘on-time work and quality’ to manage and measure teleworker productivity. | 5| Nilles (1975)| Telework is any form of substitution of information technologies for work-related travel| | 6| Mokhtarian (1991)| Telework is defined as the use of telecommunications technology to partially or completely replace the commute to and from work. | | 7| Sing, Sheng, Higa (2000)| Telecommuting is the reduction of commuting distance by working home, in nontraditional satellite offices, in telecottages, or in neighborhood offices. | * Appendix 2: Self-report survey at TNT express. Onderzoek Het Nieuwe Werken bij TNT express. Voor onze bachelor thesis, onderdeel van de studie bedrijfskunde, doen wij onderzoek naar Het Nieuwe Werken bij TNT Express. Dit onderzoek is onderdeel van ons afstuderen aan de Erasmus Universiteit te Rotterdam. Voor ons onderzoek willen we graag uw medewerking vragen door middel van het invullen van een vragenlijst. Het invullen van de vragenlijst zal ongeveer 5 minuten duren. Deze vragenlijst is geheel anoniem. Alvast bedankt, Robin Kettenes, Boudewijn Schuitmaker en Marlot Sep __ ________________________________________________________________________ Het Nieuwe Werken is een breed begrip voor het tijd en plaats ongebonden werken, als gevolg van het gebruik van moderne communicatie technologieen. In ons onderzoek spitsen wij ons echter alleen toe op het plaatsongebonden werken. Het plaatsongebonden werken houdt in dat u zelf kunt bepalen waar u werkt. ___________________________________________________________________________ 1) Hoeveel uur werkt u over het algemeen per week? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. uur 2) Heeft u de mogelijkheid om buiten  kantoor te werken? Ja Nee ) Hoeveel uur per week werkt u over het algemeen buiten uw kantoor ? †¦. †¦.. uur 4) Op welke plaatsen werkt u als u buiten uw vaste werkplek werkt? Thuis Onderweg Internet Cafe Elders 5) Waar vindt u het het prettigst om te werken? Op kantoor Buiten kantoor 6) Ik ben makkelijk afgeleid van mijn werk Nooit Soms Regelmatig Vaak Altijd 7) Ik word tijdens mijn werk afgeleid door geluid No oit Soms Regelmatig Vaak Altijd 8) Ik word tijdens mijn werk afgeleid door telefoontjes/e-mails/berichten etc. Nooit Soms Regelmatig Vaak Altijd 9) Ik word tijdens mijn werk afgeleid door collega’sNooit Soms Regelmatig Vaak Altijd 10) Ik word tijdens mijn werk afgeleid door andere factoren Nooit Soms Regelmatig Vaak Altijd 11) Ik zou de hoeveelheid werk dat ik kan opleveren werk beschrijven als Erg veel Erg weinig 12) Ik zou de kwaliteit van mijn werk beschrijven als: Erg goed Erg slecht 13) Ik heb mijn werk altijd op tijd af Helemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 14) Ik ben in staat meerdere taken tegelijk uit te voeren Helemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 15) Ik vind het erg fijn om op kantoor te werken Helemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 6) Ik vind het erg fijn om thuis te werken Helemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 17) Ik vind het prettig werk en prive gescheiden te houden Helemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 18) Het is makkelijk voor mij werk en prive gescheiden te houden als ik op kantoor werk H elemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 19) Kunt u een schatting geven van de verhouding tussen de tijd dat u op uw  op kantoor  werkt en de tijd dat u buiten  kantoor werkt? (Bijvoorbeeld; 40-60 / 50-50 ) †¦. / †¦. 20) Wat is u geslacht? Man Vrouw 21) Wat is u leeftijd? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. jaar 22) Wat is u burgerlijke staat? AlleenstaandAlleenstaand met kinderen Getrouwd/samenwonend Getrouwd/samenwonend met kinderen Appendix 3: Detailed calculation of the degree of productivity and distraction Calculation: The Degree of Distraction|   |   | 3| 3| 4| 3| 3| 3. 2| 3| 4| 4| 4| 2| 3. 4| 2| 3| 3| 2| 2| 2. 4| 2| 2| 3| 3| 2| 2. 4| 2| 2| 3| 3| 2| 2. 4| 2| 2| 2| 3| 2| 2. 2| 2| 2| 3| 2| 2| 2. 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 4| 2| 2| 2. 4| 4| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3. 2| 2| 2| 3| 2| 3| 2. 4| 3| 2| 2| 3| 2| 2. 4| 3| 2| 2| 3| 2| 2. 4| 3| 2| 3| 3| 2| 2. 6| 3| 2| 3| 2| 3| 2. 6| 4| 4| 3| 4| 4| 3. 8| 3| 2| 4| 2| 2| 2. 6| 2. 647059| 2. 11765| 3| 2. 705882| 2. 352941| 2. 623529| Calculation: The Degree of Pr oductivity|   | 4| 4| 3| 5| 4| 4| 5| 2| 4| 3. 75| 4| 4| 2| 4| 3. 5| 5| 4| 2| 4| 3. 75| 4| 4| 5| 5| 4. 5| 4| 4| 3| 5| 4| 3| 4| 4| 4| 3. 75| 4| 4| 3| 4| 3. 75| 4| 4| 2| 4| 3. 5| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 4| 4| 3| 4| 3. 75| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 3| 3| 3. 5| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 5| 5| 5| 4. 75| 3. 941176| 4. 058824| 3. 294118| 4. 117647| 3. 852941| * Appendix 4: The SPSS Ouput Model Summaryb| Model| R| R Square| Adjusted R Square| Std. Error of the Estimate| 1| . 509a| . 259| -. 078| 1. 64400| a.Predictors: (Constant), SumDistr, Leeftijd, Status, MateTelewerk, Geslacht| b. Dependent Variable: SumProductiviteit| Coefficientsa| Model| Unstandardized Coefficients| Standardized Coefficients| t| Sig. | | B| Std. Error| Beta| | | 1| (Constant)| 10. 929| 3. 105| | 3. 519| . 005| | MateTelewerk| -1. 311| 1. 749| -. 212| -. 750| . 469| | Geslacht| . 288| 1. 177| . 071| . 244| . 811| | Leeftijd| -. 002| . 052| -. 013| -. 042| . 967| | Status| . 764| . 474| . 448| 1. 613| . 135| | SumDistr| . 188| . 193| . 287| . 972| . 352| a. Dependent Variable: SumProductiviteit| * BibliographyApgar, M. 1998, â€Å"The alternative workplace: changing where and how people work†, Harvard Business Review May- June, , pp. 121-136. Bailey, D. E. ; Kurland, N. B. 2002, â€Å"A review of telework research: findings, new directions, and lessons for the study of modern work†, Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 23, pp. 383-400. 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Analysis of front cover of best Essay Example for Free

Analysis of front cover of best Essay â€Å"Best† is published by ACP-NatMag and falls into the category of woman’s lifestyle magazine. Best has to compete with some other major magazines such as Reveal and Bella. Best’s front cover has to make an impression on its audience by making itself bright, bold and bubbly. This is achieved using different methods to entice the reader, with extremely eye-catching colours such as pink, yellow, blue and white which clash, using Fern Britton in the traditional picture used on every magazine, and through human interest stories as well as shocking stories which further invite the reader to buy the magazine The main story line ‘Drop 7lb Faster’ suggests that the magazine is trying to tempt the audience into learning the secrets of a celebrity diet, but actually only tells the reader a fraction of what to do on the inside. 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The television presenter, Fern Britton, is placed on the right side of the magazine, as the biggest photograph on the cover. The image of the presenter is conventional for this type of magazine, she is around the same age as the targeted audience, making her a potential â€Å"friend†, where she is acting as a symbol, almost as a mothering figure, someone you can relate to. She is a striking image compared to the bland white background which she is placed on. She looks straight out at the audience in a confident manner, smiling at the audience in a friendly way, reinforcing that the magazine is trying to make itself appear to be a friend to the reader. She is wearing a formal black dress which provides an interesting contrast between her and the background. Despite the celebrity status she appears to have in the photograph, she is pictured lower down to her right in a normal everyday situation with her child. The photograph almost makes the reader feel like that is her and can relate to her like family. The title next to the picture, ‘FERN – HRT has made me a NICER MUM’ is in a direct form of address which makes the audience feel like they are being spoken to directly. It is in a big, bright, contrasting colour compared to the background photograph. Also, the way the magazine refers to Fern, is almost as if the audience are close to her. As well as fulfilling some of the audience’s needs, i. e. makeshift friendship, it suggests that because the magazine refers to the presenter in a close way, the audience is getting advice from a celebrity. One of the cover lines is cleverly written to entice the audience even more than any other story. Because it offers simple ways for â€Å"9 EASY DINNERS†, most women would be interested in learning the secrets of quick appetising meals, as 5 dishes are displayed in images. However it is possible that the readers could somehow feel disillusioned because as they read on to they find that the meals actually take around 45 minutes to an hour. One other cover line â€Å"SISTERS OF COURAGE† stands out from the others, as it is not in big, bold multicoloured, yet in smaller red sans serif font, with bullet point styled border on a white background. This can make the impression that it’s a shocking story. The picture to the right of the cover line is of two normal looking sisters, together, with an exclusive tag underneath. This can make the reader feel smug as they are reading a story that other magazines may not posses. The phrase underneath the cover line is somewhat exaggerated slightly as it quotes â€Å"We broke our silence to JAIL our EVIL DAD†. The three words, JAIL, EVIL and DAD are in a dark red, bold font. As red is seen to be an evil colour, it emphasises the words more to make them more dramatic and shocking. â€Å"My 3 Miracles, mended my broken heart underneath† is a cover line with a photo of triplets. The three are placed on a bright pink background, easily noticeable. The triplets make a bold contrast as the colours are completely different to the background, making the image stand out. Yet as it does this, the photograph is a heart warming, enticing the reader to read on. Again, the way that the phrase is being displayed, it further reinforces that the magazine is your friend talking directly out to you in a informal manner, almost like the other person telling the story is there, next to reader. In conclusion, the BEST editor has used a proven publication model to entice the fickle public to purchase and read its magazine in preference to a competitor. Analysis of front cover of best. (2017, Aug 04).

In Support of the Distracted Driving Bill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

In Support of the Distracted Driving Bill - Essay Example The concern of others like Mr. Sauer have been heard. But our state congress has decided that it is not important an issue enough for them to pay attention to. But there are some, like state Sens. John McGee and Les Bock who sponsor the â€Å"Distracted Driving â€Å" bill . We need to protect our motorists from the misuse of the very technology was that created to help save lives before it claims any more lives in the future. Although the bill has widespread public support, it died because of politicking or, in the words of Conservative activist Wayne Hoffman who considered it a â€Å"â€Å"stupid law† that was difficult to enforce because no one can tell if a driver is texting or just twiddling his thumbs. â€Å" (Russel, 2010). The time has come however, to revive this bill and pass it in the state senate. Consider that cellular phones now come with hands free kits for cars and you begin to wonder why a driver would rather type out words while driving when he can always speed dial a number. The National Safety council statistics on texting while driving show that at â€Å"least 200,000 crashes a year are caused by drivers who are texting. â€Å" (Graham, 2011). These accidents are usually caused because texting drivers have proven to have a slower response time than drunk drivers. Texting while driving accidents also come at a financial cost to the driver. In these days of economic problems, the last thing one would want to see is an increase in his insurance premiums, which is exactly what happens each time a driver is involved in a distracted driving incident. further information from car insurance comparison.com (2011) explains that the economic impact is quite high and that , â€Å"avoiding accidents is the only way to keep rates manageable as even one accident boosts your premium by about 10%, subsequent accidents quickly mount to 30, 50 and then eventually almost doubling your costs by your third accident. â€Å" Then there are also the legal implications of the accident. Although there are only fines involved for such accidents, the guilty party will now have a police record and have to show up in court even if only to pay the fine and face the possibility of other punishments or legal actions that may be enforced within criminal or civil courts for any damage to property, or physical being that may have been incurred. The American culture of risk taking is definitely at the forefront of the distracted driving problem. Looked at in the historical context, texting while driving accidents comprise 21 % of adult driving accidents while 46% of teens admit to the same. (car insurance comparison.com, 2011). Even the leaders of the transportation sector see the need for specialized anti- texting while driving laws quoting the fact that â€Å"sixty Idaho fatalities resulted from distracted driving crashes in 2009, representing 27 percent of all crashes. â€Å" (2011). It is easy to see how such accidents can have a cost ly toll on the finances of a person. After all, distracted driving affects 3 driving components: visual, manual and cognitive. (Harmer, 2011). The Idaho Press Tribune (2011) states that those who do not support the bill do so because our police officers can issue tickets for violation of reckless driving due to â€Å"circumstances where the conduct of the operator has been inattentive, careless or imprudent.†

Critically assess the value, to a shareholder, of the information in Essay

Critically assess the value, to a shareholder, of the information in the Finacial Statement - Essay Example As of 2014, M&S owns 798 stores in UK, 455 stores in 54 international territories in Asia, Middle East and Europe and offers direct employment to more than 85,813 employees both in UK, and in stores located around the world. Despite recent economic recession and due to intricate market scenarios, M&S is still able to maintain steady sales growth in the recent past years. Thus, despite the difficult market situation, M&S is able to maintain a stable sales growth, mainly due to its strong business concept, which centers on its sustainability, innovation and quality policies. Although the products offered by M&S are somewhat costlier than those of its competitors and in the customary supermarket scenario, M&S is still able to attract a sizeable number of customers towards its brands. M&S is concentrating on the global market, particularly in the developing economies such as India and China, and this strategy helps to improve its international sales revenues as evidenced by the following graphs: M&S offers clothing under its own brands and M&S Simply Food shops are operated as supermarket chains. These retail chains offer a distinct , assorted variety of specialty products under M&S own brands. Financial statements published by a company are evaluated both internally by the management and externally by the creditors, investors and regulatory agencies. Management’s evaluation of company’s financial statements chiefly pertains to the functioning of various sections of the company. For decision-making purposes, these financial statements offer unique financial information and specific reports to the top management of the company. External users use these financial statements to make a decision about whether to invest in the company or not. The analysis of financial statements includes the application and analysis of various techniques and tools to extract useful investment decision from

Logistics & Supply Chain Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Logistics & Supply Chain Management - Essay Example This essay declares that the production department manufactures the clients’ required products during the next sales period, the production department must contact the purchasing department. The production department must check to determine if the purchasing department orders the minimum required raw materials needed to manufacture the goods needed by the marketing or sales department. In terms of defining the road map, the inventory management aspect of XYZ Company is one of the many activities under the road map. Inventory management includes the manufacturing department’s responsibility of filling the client’s current needs, wants, and caprices. This paper makes a conclusion that XYZ Company which is one synergetic section of a large multi-national American organization they assemble transmissions for the North American Truck market. Further, The inclusion of computers to trace the current location of the company’s purchase requests will increase the XYZ Company’s decision making policies. The incorporation of computer technology and computer tracking system will ensure just in time resolution of a current supply chain bottleneck or hindrance. The use of roadmaps will aid the company to easily make better connection between the arrival of the XYZ Company’s raw materials purchases to the production of much-needed finished goods and services. The timely delivery of the finished products and services will enhance the XYZ Company’s service quality image among its current and prospective customers.

Design Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Design Thinking - Essay Example This paper is going to discuss design thinking in relation to Mr Porter, an online retail shop for men’s clothing. Additionally the paper is going to survey the benefits of design thinking to Mr Porter as an online clothing shop. Finally, this paper is going to give illustrate how design thinking can be used to solve current problems and future problems in the design industry, specifically Mr Porter (AMBROSE & HARRIS, 2010). Description of the business organization (Mr Porter) Mr. Porter is an online based retail shop that sells men’s clothing only. It was established in the year 2011 and is among the leading men retail online shopping stores globally. Mr. Porter’s headquarters is based in London. The online company has three distribution points that is London, New York and Hong Kong. Employees at Mr. Porter serve customers via the internet using a service called net-a-porter under the website net-a-porter.com. Another website is the theoutnet.com which serves as a subsidiary branch. Apart from selling men’s clothing online, Mr. ... In addition to this, Mr. Porter also do free returns collections and exchanges on customers orders. Finally, Mr. Porter is widely known for its exemplary customer care. The customer care team includes personal online shoppers group that guide customers while ordering and advice on trends and fashion tips (Howell (n.d.), 2013). Concept of design thinking (criteria/process) innovation as a store of opp for eve of new nad unexpected changes for Mr. porter Design thinking is made up of six steps. The diagram below illustrates in depth the steps in design thinking as a tool fro business Porter (AMBROSE & HARRIS, 2010). Understand Design thinking relies heavily on the understanding part. This is because without understanding a solution cannot be found. In this step research and interviews are conducted to gain further insight on the situation. This gives out the base how to solve the problem at hand. In the understanding part, Mr Porter can use expert advice from other leading brands like Givenchy, Alexander McQueen, dolce and Gabbana and many others. This is because they have probably experienced the same problems sometime in their businesses. Observe Observation is a key step in design thinking. This is because by watching a company or an individual can learn a lot. Understanding of the problem and observing how other leaders run their business cause empathy. Mr. Porter should take the virtue of empathy in order to walk in the shoes of the customers. This will enable them to move with the trends and remain relevant in the industry. Furthermore, empathy on Mr. Porter’s side will boost sales in that empathy makes them creative enough to read the minds of the customers and give them what they want. This is in terms of convenience, prices,

Burger King Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Burger King - Case Study Example The commercial also sampled reactions from real customers who were offered an alternative burger from competitor brands after they had placed orders for the whopper burger from Burger King. This commercial went viral online and further its popularity was enhanced by television commercials and adverts online and in print. The blend of the online viral and television campaigns is indeed the genius part in Burger King’s â€Å"Whopper Freakout† marketing campaign. This marketing strategy captured larger markets than online or television campaigns, each used on their own, would capture (Eick). The television commercial was viewed by thousands and thousands of people and the marketing message reached not just the typical whopper bugger fan but so many other people who could potentially begin to prefer the whopper burger to other brand burgers. Burger King’s utilization of the â€Å"Whopper Freakout† television commercial in strategic slots such as during breaks in major sports tournaments was another genius move that captured the attention of numerous Burger King’s male customers and sports enthusiasts who were fans of the whopper bugger. The online campaign in the form of the viral video was also another brilliant move by Burger King. Although quite different in concept than other viral videos, the â€Å"Whopper Freakout† online campaign generated over 1.3 million views of the original 7.5 minute video (Eick). Reactions from real customers in the video â€Å"hit home† more for viewers whose reactions largely ranged between increased loyalty to the whopper bugger and interest in it from audiences who had not previously ordered the whopper bugger (Eick). It is also clear that Burger King’s â€Å"Whopper Freakout† campaign also hit the mark when buzz created from the television and online campaigns served to generate more interest on the video posted on Burger King’s whopperfreakout.com website and o n YouTube. The success of this marketing campaign can also be seen on analysis of how popular online searches for the keywords â€Å"whopper burger† and other words related to this product were in the period following the launch of the campaign. When considering online statistics, this marketing campaign is easily termed as brilliant based on how its online popularity, soon after the campaign was launched, ranked higher than the online popularity of one of the 2008 U.S top presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, at the same period of a peak political event. The hits for the â€Å"Whopper Freakout† video on whopperfreakout.com were ranked above the hits on hillaryclinto.com from people searching for information on this presidential candidate (Eick). On negative analysis, could Burger King’s marketing campaign have advertised the whopper burger so much to the loss of popularity of other products in its chain? There is a chance that this could have been the upsho t of the â€Å"Whopper Freakout† campaign. It could also show that Burger King achieved its marketing goal of proving that the whopper burger was central to the American food culture. Burger King’s â€Å"Whopper Freakout† campaign gave a whole new meaning to viral marketing and what it can do for a business and its products. From the Burger King case as well as from an entire marketing perspective, viral marketing has its pros and cons. Viral marketing is a great way for a business to gain exposure

Offshore Jobs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Offshore Jobs - Essay Example are some of the countries where MNCs from USA, UK, Germany and other developed nations have started outsourcing the jobs. This trend has picked up in a big way in the last 15 to 20 years. In fact, as this trend kept growing, a debate also started in the political spheres about the job losses taking place in USA, Germany, UK etc. In the recently concluded Presidential elections in the USA, outsourcing became a big issue, with the candidates spelling out their own versions of the truth on outsourcing by many companies. But as per the indications available the trend appears unstoppable in the immediate future. The high turnover rates amongst IT staff in some of the Indian cities points towards the availability of opportunities in this sector which propels the staff to switchover jobs from one company to another looking. The research conducted by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) points out that even after a huge hike in salaries in the outsourcing destinations, the salaries are still quite low as compared to the cities in the America and leading EU nations. While the criteria of selecting the sites depends on a variety of factors like, work culture, infrastructure availability, talent pool etc. besides the wages; the study points out that many companies have preferred to go for tried and tested nations like India and China. Though the infrastructure is far from satisfactory in some of the cities of India, still some of the companies have expressed their confidence in these cities based on their past experience and the availability of other similar companies in the vicinity. At the same time, the study points out that many companies like Amazon.com, Telefonica, Intel and Sakonnet Technology have preferred offshore centers in the African cities like Cape Town, Tangier, Cordoba, Rio de Jenerio etc. But in general it has been found out that some of the hot spots have become favorites of companies which have followed the trend observing the 'first mover's cost advantage'. But this trend also results in overheating of the job market in those cities and the infrastructure too starts deteriorating. Citing the example of Gurgaon, a place near the capital city of India the study finds out that the area has become very populous with many shopping malls, multi-story apartments etc. when leading companies set up their operational units in these cities. But gradually it has started taking its toll with paralyzing traffic congestions, frequent power cuts, communication network breakdowns etc. But, the fact that so far the reverse trend has not started, points towards the cost advantage still being favourable to the MNCs. The availability of huge numbers of unemployed educated youth at offshore hot spots makes these locations all the more attractive. MGI studied 28 low-wage countries and figur ed out that about 6.4 million young professionals are available in 2003 for far less number of jobs. It has been projected through the study that supply of college educated talent will continue to outstrip the demand from MNCs offshore operations for many-many years to come. In general some of the key factors identified for choosing a location include Cost, availability of skills, suitable political and legal environment; market potential of the region or country; risk factors; and infrastructure. Though destinations like Dubai have also been

Fast Food in the Cafeteria Essay Example for Free

Fast Food in the Cafeteria Essay Many people think that fast food is bad for our health and that it shouldn’t be allowed in school. More healthful options should be promoted but what’s the use of healthy food in school if the kids don’t want to eat it? Nobody least of all adults LIKE eating healthy if given a choice everyone always goes for the fast food. When we eat lunch at school we get the bad end of the stick. they feed us cardboard pizza, meat that isn’t even meat and has been washed in ammonia to kill bacteria, we get fries that aren’t fries, slimy ravioli, and lunch that generally looks unappetizing and tastes little better than that. the dilemma is should schools offer fast food such as KFC, Taco Bell or McDonalds? I say yes. Based on 2009 US Industry report, there were 303,989 fast food locations in the US alone. â€Å"Fast food was the main food source for up to 38% of children† stated researcher Shanthy Bowman, PhD, with the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland. She also demonstrated that when kids eat fast food, they eat more food all day long and over one year time period, a child can pack on 6 extra pounds because of high fast food eating. The result of overeating is a nation that is becoming obese and overweight. The result of obesity? More illness and soaring healthcare problems. When we say fast food, we are thinking junk food yum (insert drool here). Fast food has become one and the same from hamburgers to pizzas, to French fries, hot dogs and more. Fast food has high calories, fats, saturated fats, sugar and salt content. The fats, sugar, and salt in fast food draw us kids like a magnet and because fast food doesnt contain much fiber we dont feel full afterward so we tend to eat more later on. Compared with kids didnt eat fast food, fast food eaters ate an average of 187 more calories a day. At that rate, â€Å"the child would gain 6 extra pounds each year, if they didnt get enough exercise to burn it off†, wrote PhD Bowman. At the same time, fast food causes a number of health problems in children. The excess of sugar in fast food and sodas lead to diabetes in children; their bodies failing to produce the insulin that controls the sugar levels and metabolism. Fats and saturated fats lead to high levels of cholesterol in the blood, Cholesterol leads to various heart problems, These heart problems increase the risk of major heart diseases such as Coronary Heart Disease. Also the lack of vitamins can make the children become anemic, lethargic and get tired very easily. Deficiency in calcium makes their teeth, nails and bones weak. Many times the added preservatives and coloring agents used in fast food can cause cancer in children. The most common and the core cause of all the diseases in children, is obesity due to fast food. Obese children spend little time doing physical activities or sports, and this lack of activity leads to a sedentary lifestyle, which further on leads to mental stress and other emotional disturbances. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, results from 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey showed that 17 percent of children and teenagers ages 2-19 years are obese. That means one in 6 children is obese. Are you tired of eating nasty, dried, greasy, overcooked, overpriced cafeteria food? I know I am. Its time to make a change. It would be a good idea for a fast food chain to consider opening their newest location in schools because doing so would help students and increase money for the school. â€Å"As they try to keep pace with student taste, lunchrooms across the country have given up meatloaf and mashed potatoes for brand-name fast-food items. † (source B) Bringing in a fast food restaurant as a matter of fact would be good because it would help students. Students would stop skipping lunch a start eating in the cafeteria, Eating lunch is better than not eating. Studies show how test scores improve when students eat. When students like lunch, they’ll eat it! They won’t be tempted to throw it out or give it to another student. In addition to helping students, a fast food restaurant in the cafeteria would benefit the school because first of all, the restaurant would give a percentage of its profits to the school and secondly the restaurant might even participate in the Adopt-a-School program. With more students buying lunch, profits would increase, and if other students hear that that school has fast food in the cafeteria they might be attracted to the school because of the restaurant, increasing profits even more. All this extra money could be used for supplies, computers, or books, all of which would make our educational experience at school much better than it is now. Helping students and schools is something that everyone enjoys doing. Putting a fast food restaurant in place of cafeteria food would do both. Hopefully if we got this restaurant no one would ever think of the food as being nasty, greasy, overcooked or overpriced, everyone would be happy. Cafeterias are a vital part of a students high school career. It is a place of social interactions and various degrees of shenanigans, whether it is over breakfast, lunch, or walking to classes with friends. Cafeterias are not just for keeping societys niches alive, however, as school cafeterias are also used to provide a form of food for the general student body. Cafeteria food has been a theme of debate for years and will remain to be so for years to come. From the bagged-lunch versus the school-prepared dilemma, to the question of what exactly is in the meat-like substances cafeteria food has an air of mystery and intrigue. While there are admittedly many reasons not to consume the cafeteria food, it has a few redeeming qualities about it. Food provided through the public education system can sometimes have a less-than-savory flavoring when first chewed over, but soon becomes edible when the taste is acquired. Cafeteria food may be tasteless and inedible at times, but remember: what doesnt kill you, makes you stronger. After four years of consuming the bland entrees, students graduate high school with brand-new taste buds and an aversion to all things flavorful and delicious. If variety is the spice of life, cafeteria food is as spicy as a Flamenco dancer. One never knows what he or she will receive on Wednesdays- pizza, hotdogs, or a creative combination of the two. Not only is the student unsure of exactly where the chicken patties come from, or what they are really made of, but the school lunches provide an array of fruit and salad. Most students have no choice in what they eat for lunch they eat it because they are hungry and have no other option. fast food in the cafeteria though would change that. Students could eat what they liked and even if they paid for it the funds would go to the school and the school could use that money to buy things for the students that would enhance our learning experience. every student would go to lunch and actually eat the food even if they had to pay for it because it’s something they like to eat, not tasteless junk. So overall putting fast food in the cafeteria is a good thing but also a bad thing. It’s a debate that would probably go on forever but nobody would win. decide whether to put it in the cafeteria or not. either way it makes no difference except to our taste buds. BIBLIOGRAPHY Nicole Harms ehow contributor â€Å"obesity coronary heart disease† Monycutza007 â€Å"Children Adn Fast Food† 11/27/10 http://www. cyberessays. com/Term-Paper-on-Children-Adn-Fast-Food-23508/ Amy Kalafa August 22nd, 2011 â€Å"Whats in Your Childs School Lunch? † â€Å"The unsavory nutrition facts on cafeteria food† google. com fast food in the cafeteria.

Issues Surrounding Barriers To Leadership And Leadership Development Management Essay

Issues Surrounding Barriers To Leadership And Leadership Development Management Essay Current leadership practised today goes further than getting people to do what a leader wants them to do. Leadership today is concerned with bringing out the best quality of ability people have to offer and helping to focus an individuals energy and zeal along a united front to achieve common goals. Outstanding leaders assess their own abilities to lead. Todays leaders build teams and oversee the essential elements of teamwork-communication, cooperation, and collaboration. Effective leaders promote shared values among employees, such as open communication, honesty, quality, respect, and mutual support. A clearer understanding of what leadership and leadership development means is necessary in other to understand the issues surrounding barriers to effective leadership and development the construction industry. Leadership as a term has different meaning to different individuals and organisations. Prof. Kenneth Clark defined leadership as an activity or set of activities, observable to others that occur in a group, organisation or institution or institution involving a leader and followers who willingly subscribe to common purposes and work together to achieve them. (Philip 2003). Harry Truman also defined it as the ability to get men to do what they dont want to do and like it (Philip 2003). On the other hand, Leadership development refers to any activity that improves the quality of leadership within an organisation. These activities could range from courses offered in schools to seminars and retreats focused on developing the leadership skills and attitudes of individuals. In the world today, the construction industry plays a major role in the national economy of countries both developed and developing due to the high demand for industrialisation and urbanisation. Due to this fact, essential and effective leadership skills such as good communication skills, Strategic vision and an understanding of the industry are the most essential traits required. The right leadership in the construction industry results in self-managed teams and shared leadership among team members. Leadership development will be required for the advancement, growth, and continued existence of construction businesses in the next millennium. Unfortunately, from the research survey carried out by the chartered institute of building (CIOB) in 2008, the construction industry as a whole was lacking in leadership and most companies in the industry were lacking in developing leadership potentials of employees due to a lot of barriers. This essay is focused on identifying these barriers and critically discussing issues surrounding them. Looking at the construction industry in general, irrespective of country, it was discovered that the a lot of barriers hampered the growth of leadership and leadership development, based on a research survey carried out by the chartered institute of building (CIOB) in 2008, where questionnaires were administered to members of the institute and members of other organisations in the construction industry. Results obtained showed that the major barriers to leadership development and leaders reaching their maximum potential were a lack of opportunity and organisational culture. Other barriers identified were poor communication skills, lack of skills and training, lack of general management skills in work force, lack of incentives, political environment, society/national culture, self confidence, and autocratic management. Further barriers to leadership development where, lack of leadership development programs and individual/personal barriers. However, a lot of issues are what gives rise to these barriers which makes it impossible for proper leadership development in the construction industry. These issues in one way or another are inter related to all the barriers obstructing leadership. Many of the problems arising in an organisation are as a result of people failing to communicate properly which degenerates to confusions and leads to failure in project plan. Communication basically referred to as the exchange of information and ideas from one person to another. A lot of issues arise which make it impossible for leaders to communicate effectively with other members of the organisation in the construction industry. One of this is problem of perception, which adversely affects how we interpret a message gotten from another based on how we perceive the person and sometimes the wrong message is delivered and ultimately has an adverse effect on a project. Secondly, is the problems of culture, background and bias, which makes people to be prejudiced at times ultimately affecting the way a message is received and interpreted thus interfering with the communication process. Thirdly, is the personal attitude of an individual, such as focusing on ones self and feeling superior to others or defensive towards them and sometimes just plain ego hinders effective communication which results in conflicts and confusion arising. Other issues which also hinders effective communication could also be due to stress, as individuals tend to react differently when u nder stress and thus affects the way a message is received and understood for the proper instructions to be carried out. Organisational structure is another key barrier to leadership development in the construction industry. The organisational culture is simply referred to as the a system of shared values, attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of an organisation which has being acquired over a period of time which distinguish one organisation from another and affects the way in which members of the organisation react to the opportunities and threats affecting the organisation. Sometimes, this culture has an adverse effect on an organisation and acts as a barrier to change and diversity whereby, the culture is so ingrained that they are ok with the working dynamics and refuse to respond to change from a new leader trying to bring about change or introducing leadership development programme which will improve the organisation but prefer the status quo. Employees are thus, forced to conform to existing culture and potential leadership qualities in employees are subdued and never achieved which affects leadership development in the organisation. A clear example of this, is seen in the UK construction industry which is seen as a predominantly male (that is young white male) dominated, coupled with harsh working conditions which has been translated into a culture embodying crisis, conflict, masculinity and embracing a casual approach to working norms of commitment. This has being summed up accordingly by Harvey and Ashworth (1993)as construction having an image of being a difficult, demanding and unbecoming occupation with an adversarial culture. Gale (1992) also observed that,.it seems that it is in the interest of those who have chosen to work in the industry to maintain the maleness of the culture, thus keeping conflict and crises as preferred aspects of everyday working life. This culture of the industry makes it difficult for female, other ethnic minorities and better educated people from considering construction as a worthwhile career option which will bring about a change in the industry as a lot of this individual coul d have potential leadership qualities which will make the industry to be better organised and developed. This organisational culture has made it a particularly unattractive profession for potential individuals who might consider going into the profession as it is alleged to have a casual, fragmented and hierarchical nature which makes it incapable of functioning in a harmonized, homogenous way when dealing with issues relating to development, training, education etc. This fact has being recognised by professionals and clients in the industry and acts as a major barrier for potential change to occur in the organisation as members are strongly opposed to change occurring in the industry. The society/national culture also acts as a barrier to most leadership development and the potential for leadership to be developed in organisations. A typical example of this is seen the Nigerian context where the cultural characteristic of leadership in Nigerian society is mostly patrimonial-based on hereditary within members of a family. The leadership mantle is masculine which is mainly handed down to the first male child and where this is unattainable, other family members play a major role in the selection of predecessors to head the organisation. Family members also have strong influences on the decisions taken by these leaders who may or may not have acquired the proper training qualification or skills that is required from a leader. A notable case of patrimonial selected leadership can be seen in DANTATA SAWOE which is arguably the most prominent indigenous construction company in Nigeria. Like most indigenous companies, it is owned by a family with about fifty years of exi stence and its leadership has gone through the generations of the kin of the founder and is still expected to go down the lineage. With this style of leadership style, there is the tendency for individual leaders to try to distinguish themselves and carve out a niche for himself. This may lead either to the leader given diminutive chances for various individuals under him to participate and air their views in such organizations. Secondly, because the leadership consist of a group that shares similar beliefs and values, the organisation portray weakness in its cultural diversity and place more emphasis on their own culture. Further barriers to leadership and leadership development are a lack of opportunity and lack of skills and training in the industry. A general lack of opportunities exist in the industry for employees and individuals to improve their leadership skills and ability as most organisations under-invest in leadership development programmes and employees have no access to new experiences coupled with the fact that organisations failed to meet their employees expectation and needs all act as a barrier to improving leadership skills. From the survey carried out by the CIOB, it showed that 25% believed that a lack of opportunity was the greatest barrier to potential leaders becoming leaders and that about 45% of companies in the industry did not have a formal succession plan or leadership strategy. A lack of leadership development program in most organisation is a key issue as most organisations do not invest in training their employees or improving their skills by organising seminars or sending them on courses which in the long run benefits the company or organisation by enabling the company to be better organised and co-ordinated. In some other cases, where training is offered by the organisation, the leadership development methodology is often wrong as employees receive this training without development as sometimes what is learnt is not applicable to the industry directly or entirely different. Moreover, a shortage of skills in the industry also acts as a barrier to leadership development this is as a result of the poor image projected by the industry, low incomes and a lack of academic/vocational courses and apprenticeship where all contributing factors to a general lack of skill in the construction industry in UK. Also, a lack of general management skills in work force acts as a barrier to leadership development as poor management often result in leaders not delegating work properly and results in assigning the wrong people for the wrong job and at the wrong time, this is as a result of being disorganised and not being able to organise schedules. This barrier could arise as a result of not having the proper management skills such as, having a positive attitude to work which influences employees to have such attitude and work is done and finished on time. By not be trustworthy and honest also affects management skills. By not been arrogant or imposing but be able to listen to other views of individuals and reach a compromise. A typical example of poor management skill is seen in autocratic management in which only the leaders views are taken as utmost and final leaving no chance for subordinates to take initiatives but the leader prefers to hand down instructions which amounts to bad mentoring. This practice is very common with most construction companies in Nigeria specifically with the organisation CTA PARTNERS LTD where the companys head felt other members of staff where not competent enough to do particular work and refused to allow staffs use their initiative which often resulted in projects not being completed on time and acquired more cost for the client and all involved in the project. However, when proper management skills are administered in an organisation, it can result in an efficient, productive team of happy workers whereas if not it can lead to a general feeling of resentment, bad atmosphere, loss of productivity and loss of team morale. Further barriers also could be a lack of incentives in the industry such as not recognising and rewarding team members or employees who have made valuable contribution to the industry. As if this is done it motivates and inspires employees to take on more challenges to reach the organisations goal. In addition to all the barriers mentioned above is personal/individual barrier imposed by employees on themselves. Issues surrounding this barrier are numerous such as the unwillingness to developed or coached and employees assume that they know all whereas they are lacking in a lot of leadership abilities and skills. Another clear case is the inability or unwillingness to try something new and not being open to innovation but prefer to carry on with the way things are run in the industry. Closely followed by this negative reaction to feedbacks or change and refuses to change to make the company operate better. Next is the issue of being threatened by others (especially those below in rank or subordinates) this causes envy to arise and victimisation through creating obstructions that would make it impossible for their potential leadership skills to manifest. Other issues are sometimes our need for power and recognition coupled with greed makes it impossible for leadership skills to b e developed properly. In conclusion, having identified the barriers and issues surrounding leadership and leadership development, in other to resolve these issues, it is essential for leadership programmes to include education and training particularly in communication skills and general management training so that individuals can harness their leadership skills. A conclusion reached from the research survey was that recognition of effective and successful leaders within the industry would help to promote leadership and inspire others and these leaders could serve as mentors to the younger generation. Also, the perceived organisational culture of industry has to change so barriers which prevent opportunities for people to show leadership potential are removed and the industry is better organised and co-ordinated improving the working culture of the industry. Strategies for identifying potential leaders should also be in cooperated into organisations if the industry is to develop leaders. Another critical issue is addressing the shortage of skills in the industry; this can be remedied by making sure the industry strives to retain its skilled workforce, employing graduates and offering the appropriate professional development to achieve their potential for leadership management careers in construction and continuous training to ensure employees are competent enough to do the job. All these factors if addressed will provide a level ground for leadership potential to be developed in the construction industry REFERENCES Gale, A.W (1992), The construction industrys male culture must feminize if conflict is to be reduced: the role of education as a gatekeeper to male construction industry, in Fenn, P., Gameson, R. (Eds), Construction Conflict Management and Resolution, E. F.N. Spon, London. Harvey, R.C, Ashworth, A (1993), The Construction Industry of Great Britain, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Philip, S., (2003). Leadership (2nd Edition), Kogan Page Limited, London.