Gun Control Proposal Essay

2013 has been embossed by recent incidents such as a Vegas shooting that ended the lives of three people, four gruesome murders in Orange County in California, and many more tragedies. It is estimated that there are 300 million guns in personal hands in the US today, many legally owned and others not (Neyfakh). Every year, close to four million guns find their way into the market (Nicolas and Nelson). This level of gun infiltration is alarming; it means that even the Supreme Court would find it hard to locate or seize these guns. Gun related violence has caused many to review their stances on the issue. In essence, gun violence is at an all-time high in the United States, as referred to by President Obama in the State of the Union Address; therefore, Unites States government should require criminal background checks for all gun sales, including those by private sellers that currently are exempt. Besides being at the top of Obama’s agenda, gun control is also an issue that has received enormous emphasis in the media. In his address, the president sought extensive support for comprehensive background checks to buy guns, an interdiction on high-capacity magazines and assault weapons. According to President Obama, the proposal will diminish the rampant gun violence in the country. This new plan aims to do the following: to seal background check escape routes to keep out guns out of the reach of criminals; to completely ban high-capacity magazines and military assault weapons, as well as other necessary steps to minimize gun violence; to guard schools and other public environments; and to improve access to psychological health services. Statistics reveal that up to forty-five percent of all households in the US have a gun in their possession (ProQuest Staff). This shows that guns are too easy to access and their abundance in the US ought to concern many Americans. Many of those who advocate for gun control measure want a total ban. They would prefer the United States to become more like her neighbor Canada. There are few guns per capita in Canada and all guns have to be registered with the national government. This approach to the ownership of firearms has many adv antages. Most of all, Canada’s rate of firearm homicide is a sixth to that of the US (Nicholas and Nelson). However, it is useless to argue for the application of the Canadian approach in the United States. Circumstances are extremely  different. It is difficult to determine whether, and to what extent, American values and culture can yield to embrace the characteristic benefits derived from Canadian-style gun control. Clearly, Americans should embrace the White House’s resolution to the propagation of gun-related bloodshed in the US. Many voters concur with the president with regards to the proposals, especially on universal background checks and harsher penalties for wrongful gun purchases. The president’s take is synonymous with that of Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leaders, who has a positive rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA). To reiterate his position on the need for gun control measures, the president cited a string of mass shootings, which have happened during his tenure. Those who listened to the State of the Union Address comprised groups of people who had been directly or indirectly affected by gun violence. Though background checks are required in the US., due to the still-increasing rates of gun violence have proven them to be ineffective because of the various loopholes which put these lethal weapons in the hands of criminals and people who suffer from mental disabilities. With the current method, anytime someone buys a gun from a federally licensed gun dealer, the dealer is required to run a check on the buyer by submitting the name to the federal database. That database consists of criminal records and mental health records as provided by federal and state courts and agencies (Feldmann). Convicted felons and those determined by the courts to be dangerously mentally ill are prohibited by federal law from buying firearms. Also, states have added their own categories of who is prohibited from buying a gun. The downside is that there are loopholes in the current federal background check system. Forty percent of all firearms purchased in the United States are sold without background checks because the guns aren’t purchased from a federally licensed firearms dealer (Neyfakh). Any purchases that fall under this category are processed without proper background checks. Despite the objections to this proposal, the rate of gun violence is increasing at such a rapid rate that the American people must prioritize in order to help prevent such tragic and avoidable events such as the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. They must put into perspective which of the following is more important to defend: the prevention of devastating mass  shootings that have led to the homicide of over 8,583 people in 2012 through the use of extensive background checks, or the possible violation of citizens privacy (Neyfakh). This idea is already accepted by over ninety-two percent of Americans, according to a poll taken by the Huffington Post in January 2013*. If an extensive background check on Adam Lanza’s mother-the owner of the guns he used to commit the shootings of twenty-six children and teachers-the government might have been aware that her son, who has autism, may gain access to her military-grade weapons. Any skeptics must put into consideration that more time than not, public safety is more important than personal privacy in regards to gun violence prevention. In conclusion, universal and extensive background checks may be the single most important gun violence prevention measure that the government could adopt. This plan closes the loopholes which have greatly contributed to the extreme amount of gun violence in the United States. It will prevent criminals and mentally ill people from gaining access to them. Approving this form of background checks is necessary because gun violence is at an all-time high in the United States; therefore, Unites States government should require criminal extensive background checks for all gun sales, including those by private sellers that currently are exempt. Past attempts at preventing this type of violence have been proven to fail due to the various loopholes and the ever-increasing rate of gun-related deaths. It is time for the American people to take action to significantly decrease-and eventually eliminate-gun violence in the United States. Works Cited Edwards-Levy, Ariel. â€Å"Gun Poll: Background Checks Supported By 92% Of Americans.†_The Huffington Post_. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Jan. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. Feldmann, Linda. â€Å"Key Omission from Obama’s State of the Union Address: Gun Control.† _The Christian Science Monitor_: 15. Jan 26 2011. _The Christian Science Monitor; Los Angeles Times; National Newspapers Core._ Web. 13 Feb. 2013 . Neyfakh, Leon. â€Å"Who Guns Really Kill.† Boston Globe. 20 Jan 2013: K.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 13 Feb 2013. Nicholas, Peter, and Colleen McCain Nelson. â€Å"Obama Urges Action on Expansive Agenda.† Wall Street Journal. 13 Feb 2013: A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 13 Feb 2013. ProQuest Staff. â€Å"Topic Overview: Gun Control.† ProQuest LLC. 2013: n.pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 13 Feb 2013.

The Military in New Kingdom Egypt

‘Explain the role and importance of the military in New Kingdom Egypt. ’ In New Kingdom Egypt, the military became very important. The army evolved from being a disorganised band of conscripted peasants into a lethal, professional outfit well equipped and ready for combat. Egypt became the most expansionist it had even been in its history. The emergence of Egypt’s army started in the 18th Dynasty when Ahmose expelled the Hyksos from Egypt. Tuthmosis I and Tuthmosis III and also Ramses II and Ramses III further maintained Egypt’s military strength in campaigns ranging from Nubia to Syria. Prior to the New Kingdom in Egypt, the country’s military was an unprofessional group made up at different times of peasants, Nubian and Greek mercenaries and the King’s personal troops. In the New Kingdom, this changed dramatically. For the first time Egypt had a standing army, and being a soldier brought prestige and social standing as it had not done in the past. With the advances in the way the army was made up, there were also major advances in the equipment they used. For the first time body armour was used, as well as the sickle sword. During the 18th Dynasty in Egypt, Ahmose brought military to the fore of Egyptian life. He was the first king of the 18th Dynasty and probably ruled from 1539-1514 BC. Ahmose attacked Avaris and subsequently the Palestinian fortress of Sharuhen to end the Hyksos’ reign over Egypt. Ahmose then turned to Nubia and Egypt’s land grew south to the Second Cataract. After this Ahmose returned his attentions to Palestine and may have led campaigns as far as the Euphrates. Tuthmosis I followed soon after Ahmose’s reign and was highly trained in military practises. He only ruled for a short time – around 1493-1481 BC. However Tuthmosis I was a very effective general and in several campaigns, Tuthmosis I reached Argo, the Third Cataract, in Nubia and also the Euphrates River – while fighting the Syrians. He also defended Egypt’s colonies against the Mitanni people. Tuthmosis III was also very focussed on military. It is possible he spent most of his younger years in the military as his stepmother and regent, Hatshepsut, took over the rule of Egypt when Tuthmosis III was only very young. Tuthmosis III only took over the governance of Egypt when Hatshepsut finally died, leaving him free to take his rightful place. He ruled from around 1504-1450 BC, although for part of that time Hatshepsut may have been ruling. However once Tuthmosis III was king of Egypt, he led many successful military campaigns. He has even been referred to as the ‘Napoleon of Egypt’. In the battle for Megiddo, Tuthmosis III led his troops to fight through a narrow pass where soldiers could only march single file. When the army emerged from the canyon it was discovered that the enemy troops has arranged their lines expecting an attack from the two easier routes, and the Egyptians subsequently defeated their enemy in battle. In other wars, Tuthmosis III and his army marched from Thebes along the Syrian coast and captured three cities. Every year after that, Egypt’s armies would march against Syria until dominance over Palestine was established. Tuthmosis III recorded the capture of 350 cities at Karnak and he finally took the Syrian city Kadesh in his 42nd year of rule. The military continued to play a part in Egypt’s affairs during the New Kingdom with Ramses II. He was part of the 19th Dynasty and ruled from 1279-1213 BC. His most well known campaign was the Battle of Kadesh, although he brilliantly maintained Egypt’s borders against the Sherden (pirates) and created a defensive line of forts along Egypt’s north western border. Ramses II also made a peace treaty with the Hittites, which led to Egypt prospering greatly. Furthermore, Ramses II secured the kingdom of Amurru to return to Egyptian influence, as it had been lost during his father’s reign. However the Battle of Kadesh was his most famous, although was neither a victory but more of a loss for the Egyptians. Ramses II advanced on the Hittite army from the south, but was led to believe by captured enemy scouts that the Hittites were still far away to the north. Ramses set up camp only to find that the Hittites had already arrived for battle, and tried to hurry the rest of his army forward. However, 2 500 Hittites ambushed them as they tried to meet up with Ramses’ forces and were defeated. The Hittites then attacked Ramses and his troops. According to documentation, Ramses almost single handedly held off the Hittites. However it may be the case that the Hittites were simply distracted by the riches in the camp. Ramses was then saved by the appearance of the Ne’arin, another body of troops, which Ramses had separated in order to approach Kadesh from the north. The armies may have fought again the next day, but the end result of the conflict was the peace treaty between the Egyptians and the Hittites. This then prevented Egypt from ever taking control of Kadesh. Ramses III was the last great Pharaoh of Egypt and ruled in the 20th Dynasty from 1184-1153 BC. In Ramses III’s reign, the Libyans attacked in the south but were crushed by the Egyptian army. However Ramses and Egypt had a more powerful threat to deal with: the Sea People, who had destroyed the Hittite empire. The Sea People moved in to Egypt from Syria with the intention of settling. Luckily for Egypt Ramses was quick to send his army to fend off the Sea Peoples and the crisis was averted at least for a time. Next the Sea People approached from the sea, a cleaver move considering Egypt’s poor naval force. However again Egypt fended off this attack and saved itself once more. Ramses again proved himself an effective general while defending from another attack from the Libyans and Meshwesh which left 2 000 enemy soldiers dead on the battlefield. However once the New Kingdom collapsed Egypt lost most (if not all) of it’s colonies and was mostly ruled by foreigner. No one ever saw the likes of what occurred in the New Kingdom again. The military in New Kingdom Egypt was an organised and prestigious machine unlike anything that Egypt had seen before. Several Pharaohs stood out from the rest in terms of what they did for Egypt: Ahmose, who expelled that Hyksos; Tuthmosis I and Tuthmosis III who led campaigns in Nubia, Argo, Syria and Kadesh; Ramses II and Ramses III were both excellent generals who maintained Egypt’s borders and fought to maintain the existence of Egypt. During New Kingdom Egypt the military became more important than it had ever been in the last years of power of the world’s most fantastic nations.

Holistic Family-oriented Treatment Research Proposal

Holistic Family-oriented Treatment - Research Proposal Example I thought that it is better to choose a topic that will have enough novelty, would be previously unexplored, has possibility of yielding useful results, and would tend to fill the gap of knowledge in an area of healthcare. It is evident that a topic related to holistic medicine would best serve the purpose. To this end given the growing problem of childhood obesity, it would be worthwhile to explore the means of intervention at behavioral levels, since the major problem of childhood obesity is behavioral in terms of control of diet and increase in physical exercise. Since these are matters of personal behaviors, which need to be implemented at the life-course level and given the fact that conventional biomedical models of interventions have failed to implement these interventions successfully, it is clear that there are needs to conduct research so the practice norms related to this area is delineated. The holistic medicine philosophies may have a clue to these, and thus this research could be useful in practice. Obviously, this may not be able to solve the problem of childhood obesity entirely, but it may suggest pathways for new research in order to reach a solution for this ongoing and increasing health problem. My personal belief is that the growing problem of ... These interventions should be evidence based while clinically applicable. Modern biomedical model of healthcare only promotes some concepts which while implemented fail due to incomplete understanding of the matter. Preliminary Review of Literature It was decided from the preliminary review of literature that this topic could be suitable, since there hardly are researches based on the concept and implementation points of views in the holistic health field. Parallel review in the biomedical research indicated failure of interventions to achieve adequate result. Moreover statistical and epidemiological studies indicated growing problem of childhood obesity across the affluent societies worldwide. Therefore, this identified gaps in current knowledge, lack of knowledge about the interactions of different obesogenic covariates, the mode of their interactions at holistic levels, and deficiency of guidelines for clinical practice. In my view, these establish the need for research in this area. Development of the Focus Question The research problem was thus broken into a series of concepts intended to better examine the problem. The basic questions were intended to justify the study in terms of real existence of the problem in childhood obesity, which are related to implementation of interventions. Literature Review Based on the concepts, the key words were decided, and based on these key words, the published literature in the area of childhood obesity, obesogenic factors, role of behavior and family in shaping the behavior, the results and pitfalls in existing interventions against childhood obesity will be reviewed very critically, so the gap in knowledge, fault in implementation, and consequences of lacks in interventions are delineated. In order to establish the

Is Globalization Americanization Part 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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The Equality Act 2006 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

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Lease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Understanding the International Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Understanding the International Economy - Essay Example The essay "Understanding the International Economy" represents an overview of the book â€Å"Globalization in Question† by Pole Hirst in the context of the international economy. It was brought forth in the book that it is an often-used word, globalization, used in social science to explain, describe and refer to a broad range of international, business, management and other disciplines. At the heart of their argument is the recent spread of interlinked economic ties between countries as heightened by a loosening of border restrictions as well as the Internet that has brought accessibility in terms of product availability and knowledge to consumers that did not exist in the early 1990s for the public at large. The increased sales and offering of services across national boundaries has intensified activity in the banking arena in terms of business to business transactions brought forth by the flow of funds in importation, export, direct sales and other exchanges that have called for increased banking interaction to finance these types of activities. As a result of heightened banking activities and risk the increased financial flows between countries from all quarters has seen the International Bank for Settlements out of Geneva, Switzerland make adaptations to the Basel Accords via Basel II that has set forth new capital adequacy standards for European as well as large banks in the United States and Asia. The implications of the foregoing are found in the central word of the subject of this study ‘economics’.

HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

HRM - Essay Example Both organizations are based in Yorkshire and provide financial services. In order to recruit the right workforce, both organizations are in direct competition with each other. For this purpose, both of them recruit graduates for their trainee programs. In order to place them on management or professional posts, both organizations have training programs. For the recruitment of graduates, both Goldstan and Hodell use visits and advertisements within universities in Yorkshire. Whereas, Goldstan further utilizes local newspapers and recruitment consultants in this regard, while Hodell utilizes professional journals and it also takes help from advertising. The Goldstan asks it applicants to submit the application form that is filled in by hand, not type written or printed. On the contrary, Hodell has adopted a very catchy technique to attract the graduates since the 1970’s. The company provides brochures to graduates that talk about the advantages of working with the organization and the prestige of the company. It requires Curriculum Vitae of the candidate with a covering letter. The selection process at Goldstan undergoes a single panel interview. The Head of the Department or Human Resource Manager conducts the interview where the recruit is required. The interviewee is asked to give a fifteen minutes presentation on a specific issue following the interview. If the candidate is found satisfactory with his performance and capabilities, then the employment offers are made. On the other hand, Hodell holds two interviews with the candidates. The first interview is conducted by the Human Resource Manager while the second one is conducted by the Head of the Department or with the senior employee / staff member of the department where the vacancy is available. Following successful interviews, the candidate is then supposed to complete personality and intelligence tests. Once the candidate passes these

Leadership - MAO ZEDONG Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leadership - MAO ZEDONG - Essay Example The story of Mao Zedong is one the Chinese reflect on to date. People understand that the situation of his growth to a national figure started by the decision to make a difference in the society. The idea was to allow people to understand they had rights. He wanted to show the society that even peasant farmers have a voice when it comes to making the choices within the society. He was born to wealthy farmer. From the beginning, Mao took up the nationalism sceptre as his guide towards the issues taking place within the organization. In many sessions, Mao was willing to lead the people towards a revolution and create a platform that would give them a say in the issues of the society (Shuyun, 2006). However, upon taking the leadership, he created the People’s Republic of China and stated that one party, the Communist Party of China, would control it. This reduced the participation of the people because only those accepted at the party level would have a chance at the leadership levels in the country. He played a psychological card that made it easy for him to consolidate his leadership in the country after taking up his position as the leader of the new republic (Shuyun, 2006). He wanted to see the country develop and his idea of the great leap forward was to see the country better managed, developing, and increasing its appeal to everyone across the world. People would get a chance to participate in the growth by learning new skills that would be essential for the general improvement of their lives. This set the country apart towards the achievement of greatness (Chang, & Halliday, 2005). A variety of leadership styles can be used to define the life of Mao as a leader of the great country of China. At the very start of his journey towards meeting the ideals of his people as a revolutionary, Mao was using a contingency theory of leader. Here, the leader knew that the only way of making it work in the country was by changing the leadership styles to

Management Questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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General Motors Essay Example for Free

General Motors Essay General Motors Company, known as GM, was founded in 1908 in Flint, Michigan by William C. Durant and Charles Stewart Mott. The present chairman and CEO is Daniel Akerson. Akerson joined GMs board in 2009 as the company went through a bankruptcy reorganization. He became CEO Sept. 1, 2010, and led GMs 2010 return to the stock market — at the time the largest initial public offering in U.S. history (Detroit Free Press, 2013). The headquarters for GM is presently located in Detroit, Michigan. GM specializes in designing, manufacturing, marketing and distributing cars, trucks and vehicle parts. The brands under GM include Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun, Holden, Isuzu, Jie Fang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM employs over 200,000 people and has 396 facilities on six continents. GM is divided into five business segments: GM North America, GM Europe, GM International Operations, GM South America and GM Financial. The two biggest markets for GM are the U.S. and China. According to Dan Akerson they continually do well in both markets and are making further progress in their European business (General Motors, 2013). In July, 2009, GM filed for bankruptcy. Later that year, GM emerged from a government backed Chapter 11 reorganization. Then in 2010 GM made an initial public offering (IPO) that was one of the world’s largest and helped them to return to making a profit later that year. An IPO is a type of public offering where shares of stock in a company are sold to the general public. Through this process GM, a private company, became a public company. Because of t he bankruptcy GM had to start from the beginning and figure out what caused them to go under previously and what they needed to do to become a top organization again. With the start of the â€Å"new† General Motors they were starting over so they created a new clearer vision and a new business model. As of 2012, GM was ranked among one of the world’s largest automakers. The company’s total worldwide vehicle sales were 9.3 million (The New York Times, 2013). GMs net revenue in the second quarter of 2013 was $39.1 billion up from $37.6 billion in the second quarter of 2012 (General Motors, 2013). Since their bankruptcy GM has been reporting record profits and has steadily climbed back up the ladder with customer satisfaction and productivity. Akerson said, So, here we are four years out of bankruptcy and weve made $25 billion (before taxes and interest). I think thats more than the companys ever made in a four-year period (Detroit Free Press, 2013). The company’s progress is indicative of a new business model that begins and ends with great vehicles. GM leveraged their resources to maintain stringent cost management while taking advantage of growth and revenue opportunities around the world, to ultimately deliver sustainable results for all of their stakeholders (General Motors 2010). Being one of the biggest markets for GM, General Motors North America (GMNA) has been a key contributor in bringing in a profit for the whole organization. They currently have 5,000 dealerships, 34 plants and employs over 68,000 people. The profits reported for GMNA for the second quarter was an adjusted EBIT of $1,976 million compared to $1,891 million for the same period a year ago. Total net sales and revenue was $23,495 million compared to $21,552 million for the same period a year ago. For the six months, the company reported adjusted EBIT of $3,390 million compared to $3,533 million for the same period year ago. Total net sales and revenue was $46,474 million compared to $44,727 million for the same period year ago (Bloomsburg Businessweek, 2013). The current president, Mark Reuss, of GMNA has recently revamped the organization. Attached is a copy of the previous organizational structure and the new structure. The old GMNA consisted of a vertical structure which is a hierarchical structure with many levels of authority and the jobs were grouped by function into departments. They were divided into different in dependent automakers. Each independent automaker was operated differently and competing with each other. The competition among its own independent automakers and lack of centralization was costly. When they restructured after the bankruptcy, GMNA adopted a flatter structure where accountability is key. The new structure is centralized and unified; a team versus several individuals working towards common goals. With this structure GMNA is running in a more streamlined manner and it’s a more cost effective way of running there organization. GM has a diverse listing of employment opportunities. The positions range from engineering and manufacturing positions to Human Resources and Research positions. According to several employees, past and present, GM provides great pay and hours. GM promotes employees to further their education and training. The work environment was fun, friendly and like working with family. Working in the plants many of the employees had to do shift work and heavy manual labor this didn’t seem like a deterrent they still enjoyed the job and the coworkers. The environment appears to be open when it comes to management and employee interaction. The CEO Akerson is a strong believer in management by walking around. Everywhere hes been you see pictures of him with employees. Hes a reminder that management is a contact sport, Merten says (Detroit Free Press, 2013). The reviews were mostly all positive. The only negative things that seemed to keep popping up were the long hours and the stress to meet deadlines. GM has enlisted their customers and employ ees to send them ideas to help improve vehicles, sales, marketing, etc. and they act on the ones that will improve their ability to serve the customers better. GM has come a long way since 2009. With the reorganization changes they have become quicker and more decisive so the customers’ needs are met and they are producing reliable vehicles. It seems like GM really is getting back into what they are best at; building vehicles and serving their customer’s needs. References Detroit Free Press. (August 5, 2013). General Motors CEO Dan Akerson Shares Top 9 Leadership Lessons. Retrieved August 21, 2013. http://www.freep.com/article/20130805/BUSINESS0101/308050088/dan-akerson-GM-CEO-leadership-lessons Jones, Gareth R. George, Jennifer M. (2013). Essentials of Contemporary Management. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. General Motors. (July 25, 2013). Investors: Earnings Releases. GM Reports Second Quarter Net Income of $1.2 Billion. Retrieved August 21, 2013. http://www.gm.com/content/gmcom/home/company/investors/earning-releases.conte nt_pages_news_emergency_news_072513-q2-earnings.~content~gmcom~home~company~investors~earning-releases.html General Motors. (2010). General Motors Company 2010 Annual Report. Retrieved August 21, 2013. http://www.gm.com/content/dam/gmcom/COMPANY/Investors/Corporate_Governance/PDFs/StockholderInformationPDFs/Annual-Report.pdf Indeed. (2013). GM Employer Reviews. Retrieved August 21, 2013. http://www.indeed.com/cmp/GM/reviews Bloomsburg Businessweek. (July 25, 2013). General Motors North America, Inc. Announces Earnings Results for the Second Quarter and Six Months Ended June 30, 2013. Retrieved on August 22, 2013. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=24368349 The New York Times. (August 21, 2013). General Motors. Retrieved August 21, 2013. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/general_motors_corporation/index.html?offset=20s=newest

Effective Communication in the Workplace

Effective Communication in the Workplace Communication is an important aspect of any work place. It can consist of verbal and nonverbal messages. Effective communication, especially in the field of computer technology, is essential to work place productivity. Communication is considered to be effective when both parties involved have the same understanding of the message being sent. Effective Communication doesn’t have to be a long, drawn out affair or an elaborate meeting. It can be short and simple; precise and to the point. It can be a manager walking down sending a short email to one of his assistants to request an update on the necessary protocols for a new system. Another example of effective communication could be a coworker reminding another coworker of a mandatory section meeting at 2:00 P.M. later the same afternoon. Neither of these exchanges took a long time, but they are direct and to the point. This is what makes for effective communication. (McIntosh, 2008) Verbal messages are one form of communication. Verbal messages consist of words spoken between two or more people. They can take place face to face or via the telephone or other electronic medium like video conferencing. Interpersonal communication makes up the majority of your every-day communication. This includes conversations with your family, friends, and coworkers. (Wood, 2014) One thing to remain aware of in your verbal messages is the clarity and ambiguity. A lot of problems in communication stem from simple misunderstandings. To avoid this, we must make a conscious effort to refrain from using ambiguous language in our conversations. Focusing on clarity and ambiguity reminds me of a time when I was in the military. In 1979, I was stationed in a remote location in Greece. I often worked with Greek personnel to accomplish daily jobs. During this time, I became very familiar with the saying â€Å"always tomorrow.† I found out early during my stay in Greece that the Greek work for tomorrow is pronounced, â€Å"av-iee-o†. When requests were made of our Greek counterparts, their answer would always be â€Å"av-iee-o†, meaning tomorrow. When the next day came, the work was expected to be completed. When the work was not received, a follow up would be made and the answer again was simply, tomorrow. I later found out that when requests were made, a specific time and date needed to be stipulated because â€Å"tomorrow† from my Greek counterparts equated to whenever they were finished. I truly found out the meaning of â€Å"always tomorrow† the hard way. After learning this, every request was given with an absolute time and date for expected completion. This scenario is not subject to just my experiences in the military. Misunderstandings like this can be avoided by utilizing as much clarity in your communication as possible. Other issues with clarity can stem from using slang and jargon. Using slang can be a slippery slope. While it may be perfectly fine for use with your friends and family in a less formal setting, it can leave your bosses and clientele with a negative impression of your competence. It can also be confusing if not everyone understands your slang. Jargon, on the other hand is more technical is sort of short-hand and can be quite useful on the job. Like slang, however, it can be confusing to people outside of your company or industry. So, it is not advisable to use jargon too much in formal communications, especially communications with clients or people from other industries. Keeping your communication clear, but concise can help avoid giving ambiguous statements that leads to confusion and misunderstandings. (Flood, 2008) Words can be an effective tool in moving people’s emotions. They can be used to motivate individuals to work harder. Conversely, they can evoke feelings of anger and provoke a defensive stance from the recipient. For this reason, another characteristic of verbal messages to avoid is using inflammatory language. â€Å"Inflammatory language is one of the most common causes of conflict escalation.† (Askin, 2003) The fact that words can evoke such negative feelings is enough of a reason to try to avoid the use of inflammatory language. It is obvious you should avoid words that promote negative feelings of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and more. Trigger words are so inflammatory that they can instantly invoke a severe emotional response. It is important to realize how inflammatory they can be. What might seem to be simple and innocent to you could in fact be a trigger word to someone else. You should first accept that you have trigger words of your own and learn to be aware of them. Then you can start to be more aware of the fact that others will have a reaction to what you say, be it negative or positive. What you say is not the only thing that matters in communication. You must also be aware of how you say it. Nonverbal communication includes the tone you use, your facial expressions, gestures, body language and more to help convey your messages and give them a deeper meaning. (Wood, 2014) It is all the ways you express yourself without actually using words. Nonverbal messages are extremely important, especially in work place communication. The way you say the words you use to communicate, your body language and gestures, even your posture can all contradict what you are actually saying. Some research has shown that people tend to believe the nonverbal cues displayed when someone’s verbal and nonverbal communication are not in sync. Friedrich Nietzsche once stated, â€Å"All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses.† (Smith, 2013) This can be applied to the importance of nonverbal communication. The overall morale of an office can have a great impact on its productivity. Nonverbal messages can have a significant impact on the morale. For instance, an employee gives a presentation to their manager. Throughout the presentation, the employee sees the manager yawning and fidgeting a lot. One thing this employee might think is that the manager is not interested in the presentation at all. This can cause the employee to lose some of their â€Å"zeal† for working there and lower their morale. With lowered morale, the employee’s production begins to slip over time. (Ray, n.d.) One of the â€Å"problems† with nonverbal behavior is that it can be somewhat ambiguous. It is easy to interpret someone’s body language the wrong way. For instance, in the example above, the employee could have mistaken the manager’s yawning as showing their lack of interest in the topic. However, the yawning could just as easily been caused by a lack of sleep the night before. The constant fidgeting could have been due to drinking too much coffee before the meeting to compensate for a lack of sleep. (Adler, 2014) Even though nonverbal communication can be easily misinterpreted, it is still important to be careful of the images you convey. Even though what you say through verbal communication is still very important, how you say it can determine how much your audience retains. Dustin York is an assistant professor at Maryville University. He conducted an experiment to determine how much of a factor nonverbal communication really played in the retention of information from presentations. During his experiment, he used 4 university classes totaling 80 students. Each of the classes had a guest lecturer giving the exact lecture. The wording and information was all the same, but each guess was instructed to vary their nonverbal cues throughout the lecture. Two lectures were instructed to use effective nonverbal communication in the presentations, while the other two were instructed to use poor nonverbal communication. The students were all given the exact same test after the lectures. York found that the students attending the lectures with effective nonverbal communication scored approximately 30% higher than students of the other lectures. (York, 2013) Effective communication requires both verbal and nonverbal communication to work together. It has been determined that nonverbal communication works with verbal communication to either reiterate the message, contradict the message, emphasize the message, or complement the message. You should be careful not to use nonverbal cues to contradict the message too much or you can appear to be untrustworthy. (Wood, 2014) Effective communication is a vital key to any successful workplace. In the computer technology field, coworkers rely on each other to relay accurate information. In dealing with clients, it is important to be able to communicate with them effectively. You must remember to speak clear and concise messages. This will allow you to improve your clarity and reduce any ambiguities. You must also be careful of what you say. Stay away from slang, jargon and inflammatory words, especially trigger words so that your audience can remain receptive to your message. Just as important, if not more, be cognizant of the nonverbal messages that you send. While your verbal messages are important, you must always be aware of the effect that your nonverbal cues add to them. Combining the effective use of both verbal and nonverbal communication can lead to increased productivity in the workplace. References: McIntosh, Perry, et al. Interpersonal Communication Skills In The Workplace. [New York?]: American Management Association, 2008. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 11 July 2014. Akin, Jennifer. Escalation-Limiting Language. . Beyond Intractability, 1 Sept. 2003. Web. 10 July 2014. http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/escalation-limiting-language>. Wood, Layne. Verbal Versus Nonverbal Communciation. . Live Strong, 12 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 July 2014. http://www.livestrong.com/article/157893-verbal-communication-vs-nonverbal-communication/>. Ray, Linda. Nonverbal Behavior in the Work Place. . Demand Media, n.d. Web. 9 July 2014. http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/nonverbal-behavior-workplace-2851.html>. Smith, Jacquelyn. 10 Nonverbal Cues That Convey Confidence At Work. . Forbes, 11 Mar. 2013. Web. 9 July 2014. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/03/11/10-nonverbal-cues-that-convey-confidence-at-work/>. York, Dustin. 5 Keys to Great Nonverbal Communication. . Ragans PR Daily, 31 Dec. 2013. Web. 11 July 2014. http://prdaily.com/Main/Articles/5_keys_to_great_nonverbal_communication_15623.aspx. Flood, Timothy E.. MBA fundamentals: business writing. New York: Kaplan Pub., 2008. Adler, Ronald B. Communicating at Work 11th Edition. : McGraw-Hill Education, 2014.

Explain How Motivation Can Affect Employees Commitment Commerce Essay

Explain How Motivation Can Affect Employees Commitment Commerce Essay The concept of motivation refers to a driving force within all individuals to attain or avoid some objectives (be the objectives tangible, money and goods or intangible; a person or relationship). Motivation is a psychological process that originates both within and also beyond an individual; it initiates work-related behaviour, and determines the form, direction, intensity and duration of employees behaviour. This essay provides an understanding of how managers can adopt different types of motivation theories in order to affect an employees commitment and performance at work. These motivation theories are categories into content theories (for instance, Hierarchy of needs, ERG-Model) and process theories (for instance, Equity theory, and expectancy theory). In addition, the essay explains how employees are intrinsically motivated and extrinsic and how pay affect commitment and performance. Managers must understand employees motives, as it affects the extent to which employees utilise their skills and ability at work. Motivation makes people try to achieve certain targets in order to satisfy a particular need or expectation. It affect and employees behaviour in a certain way and makes them make decisions to act in certain way and to continue with these actions until they satisfy their needs and expectations. Thus, a manager must adopt motivation theories in order to influence the behaviour and performance of employees. Once a manager satisfies the need of an employee production and commitment to the organization will increase. Abraham Maslow (1943) believed that is it human nature to want things. He claimed that what we want also depends on what we already have. According to Marlow, there is a five level hierarchy of needs; when an employee satisfies most of one need, he or she seeks to reach the next level. Beginning with the physiological need (such as hunger, sleep, sex) at bottom, a employees would move to the second stage; safety need (for instance shelter and security). Thirdly, love need; this involves an employee having a sense of belonging, (for instance, being a team member and sharing love). Fourth level consists of esteem needs, which are met by professional (or personal) achievement, recognition and respect. At the pick of the hierarchy is self-actualization needs; this is where employees realise their full potential. In striving, for achieving these needs, employees are motivated by those goals that are seen as attainable, and then eventually leading to self-actualization. Once at that level and employees performance will rise as well as show commitment to the organisation. Once a need is satisfied, it is no longer a motive. An employee striving for high level needs is unsatisfied. If an employee cannot achieve the next level of needs, their performance in the work place may suffer. If their needs cannot be met or have already been met, an individual may feel that they have nothing to work for and will therefore be unhappy in their job and want to change. Managers should provide tools and support to allow employees to reach the next level. Once at the top of the hierarchy (self actualisation), managers must promote and maintain psychological wellbeing at work. This increases an employees commitment to the organisation and allows them to utilise their skills effectively. However, Maslows hierarchy has been criticized for assuming motivation is hierarchical. Also, employees needs are so complex and different that motivation and job satisfaction may not be able to be generalised. Aderfer (1972) studied Maslows hierarchy of needs and created the ERG theory. This theory states that there are three core needs: Existence, Relatedness and Growth (ERG). He realised that some of Maslows hierarchy levels overlapped. He addressed this and reduced the hierarchy down to three levels. The first level, existence, is concerned with providing basic material existence motivators (physiological and physical safety needs). Relatedness is an employees need of interpersonal relationships, achieving group and team recognition. These align with Maslows social needs and the external component of Maslow esteem needs. Finally, growth needs relates to an employees intrinsic needs and personal development. This includes esteem and self-actualization. The ERG theory states that an employee is motivated by more than one need. The theory also addresses differences in culture and is an improvement of the Maslow theory. Also, the order in which needs are satisfied differs from individual to individual. A manager must understand that an employee has various needs to satisfy. If a manager solely concentrated on one need at a time, he or she is not able to effectively motivate an employee to commit to the organisation. Also the frustration-regression aspect of this theory has an effect on workplace motivation, meaning when an employees higher-order needs arent achieved, employees aim at lower-order needs which are easier to satisfy. For instance, if an employee is not provided with growth and advancement opportunities, they might address less important needs like socialization, if the environment permits it. When a manager realises this, steps can be taken in to fulfil these needs and encourage commitment and performance of the employee. In 2009 the Southeast airline was one of the most profitable airlines in the world. This was no accident, but phenomena of well-motivated employees. Managers used the key concepts of Aderfer motivation theory in order to develop and enforce company values. These values encompassed that employees come first and then customers and stockholder. Through this employee felt a sense of belonging (the Relatedness needs) which in turn increased an employees commitment and performance at work and lowered staff turnover for the Southeast airline company. Fredrick Herzbergs (1959) two factor theory, or motivation hygiene, builds on Maslows research on intrinsic motivation in the workplace. The first factor is hygiene or maintenance, the second one is motivators or growth. Based on his research, he concluded that there are some job conditions which dissatisfy employees, while other job conditions motivate and increase job satisfaction. Traditionally, managers saw the hygiene factors (extrinsic issues) as motivators for employees, but according to this theory these are potentially dissatisfying factors, as they dont really provide motivation for an employee, however the absence of these factors causes dissatisfaction with salary, working conditions and supervision. Motivation factors are intrinsic issues helping increase motivation and job satisfaction. To ensure commitment and performance of an employee, a manager ensures these factors are present as they affect the level of job satisfaction. These factors are achievement, responsibility and autonomy. Nevertheless, critics say it mainly relates to workers in unskilled jobs, or uninteresting, repetitive work. Maslows and Herzbergs theories are called content theories; a theory referring to what drives or pushes employees in relation to satisfaction and commitment to an organisation. There are also theories known as process theories that concern themselves with the process that involves motivation. This can be related to pay. Many employees are motivated by performance-based pay, an incentive linked to performance, acting as a motivator. These desires for tangible rewards are classified as extrinsic motivation factors. Many theorists think payment relates to performance. Graham and Sluckin (1954) and Opsal and Dunnette (1966) explained it is easy to find employees in an industry who value money highly, and when if people know salary is pay based, they will often work much harder. F.W Taylor (1991) also believed that those workers are solely motivated by monetary incentives, and they want to obtain the highest possible wage through working in the best and most efficient way. This approach is also known as the rational-economic concept of motivation. Some payment-performance theories are expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964), goal-setting theory (Lock and Latham, 1984, 1990). Vroom believed that individuals are motivated by the results of their action. To explain, he constructed a model with three variables: force, valence and expectancy. Force is the effort an individual uses to carry out a particular task. Valance is the attractiveness of the outcome and expectance is the employee expectation of the outcome. According to the theory, motivational force is a function of valence and expectancy (force=valence x Expectancy). The expectancy theory suggests individuals will adjust their behaviour only if the rewards are valued. However, unless rewards are perceived by individuals to be sufficiently attractive and worth the effort needed to achieve them, they will not act as a catalyst to encourage higher performance levels. The basis of goal-setting theory is that goals employees pursue are a significant factor in superior performance. For these to be motivators, the SMART principles (specific, measureable, agreed realists and timed) need to be applied. Lawler and Porters motivational model recognises individual abilities and role perception have to be taken into account in the wage/effort bargain. In 1998 a survey revolted that 40% of British companies used pay related performance system in their companies. Today, almost half of all British companies use this type of motivation. This can be especially seen in Global Banks such as Lloyds Bank TSB Group. Nevertheless Critics argue that pay is not the only source of motivation. Managers quote Herzberg view that the job in itself is a source of motivation. This is backed up with studies that reviled that pay is the fifth of their top ten motivations. Lawler (1968) gives an insight on job design and how it affects motivation. He argued that making jobs more challenging (job enrichment) and giving the individual more tasks (job enlargement) will increase an employees sense of accomplishment and achievement after a good performance. This will help satisfy their higher needs as described by Maslow. The correct job design for an individual will increase their satisfaction, in turn leading to motivation and significantly improved performance in the workplace. However, it is important to take individual differences into consideration as differences in motivation exist. The changes in the nature of jobs therefore vary in terms of how effective they are.For instance it is argued that the Japanese approached to job design contributed to the success of car manufacturing in the 1980s Certain types of motivation can also be described as intrinsic, where employees are motivated by a psychological reward, either by overcoming challenges or by individual achievement. Eton Mayo supports this idea of intrinsic Motivation. Through a series of studies at the Hawthorne plant, Mayo concluded that money was not the best way to motivate employees, and that group work and strong manager-team communication are better motivators. Taking this into account, businesses should re-organise or change production to encourage teamwork, and introduce personal departments to encourage greater manager involvement in employees interests. This would motive staff and improve individual and whole business performance. Individuals are also motivated by knowing that they are treated fairly at work. This treatment relates to salary, working conditions and promotion opportunities. This is the basis of Adams equity theory. This looks at how fairly people are treated in comparison to others. When people believe they are treated fairly, they consider different inputs and outcome. If an individual feels that they have not been treated fairly in the workplace, this has an adverse effect on motivation, their productivity is affected. If they think they are being treated fairly, this has positive effects on performance. Conclusion Recommendations for managers

Investigating Enzyme Activity :: Papers

Investigating Enzyme Activity PLANNING AIM === The aim of this experiment is to see how changing the concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) affects the rate of reaction of the enzyme Catalase. The reaction I am looking at is the breakdown of Hydrogen Peroxide into water and oxygen by the enzyme Catalase. The equation for this reaction is: 2H2O2 Ã   2H2O + O2 FACTORS ------- In this experiment I could change the following factors: Concentration of the Hydrogen Peroxide or Catalase, the time, the temperature and the Ph of the solutions. SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE (See appendix 1) PREDICTION ---------- My prediction is that the higher the concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide, the greater the amount of oxygen given off will be within a period of time. The lower the concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide the amount of oxygen given off will be less than if it was at a higher concentration. I think this because there are more particles in a substance to collide and react at a higher concentration. VARIABLES I am not going to change anything other than the concentration of the Hydrogen Peroxide. The concentration of the Catalase enzyme, the temperature of the laboratory and the Ph of the solutions will remain constant. EQUIPMENT Hydrogen Peroxide (concentration - 0.5 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5% and 3.0%) Safety Catalase Water trough, Burette, Stop clock, Delivery tube, Clamp stand, Conical flask, Syringe, Pipette Glasses/goggles, PROCEDURE 1. I will take the equipment drawn and set it up as shown. *(appendix 2) 2. I will fill the burette and water trough with water. 3. Using a measuring cylinder, I will put 10ml of Hydrogen Peroxide in the conical flask connected to the delivery tube. 4. Trying to prevent water from escaping, I shall turn the burette upside down and clamp it to the stand with the bottom of the burette in the water trough and feed the delivery tube through the burette.

Essay on Taming of the Shrew: Petrucio’s Desire for Katherine :: Taming Shrew Essays

The Taming of the Shrew: Petrucio’s Desire for Katherine  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      In the play The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Petrucio recognizes, respects and desires Katherine’s strength of character.   Petrucio is a clever man who sees beyond facades because he uses them himself.   (II, i 46) (II, I 283 - 89)   He is stimulated by Katherine’s sharp tongue and harsh actions.   He proves this many times throughout the play. Petrucio is not in desperate need of money, but comes to Padua to find a rich wife.   He says â€Å"To wive and thrive as best I may,† when he is telling Hortensio why he came to Padua.   He means that he has come to find a wife and get richer.   From Petrucios response to his friend Hortensio (I,ii 64 - 75), it might be said that Petrucio came to Padua to make himself richer by marriage no matter how wretched the woman.   I don’t believe this is true.   He also tells Hortensio that his father has died and that he is out in the world to gain experiences he cannot at home, and to find a wife secondary.   (I,ii 49 - 57)   Petrucio enjoys verbal sport and a non-conventional sense of humor.   Petrucio surrounds himself with neither tame nor conforming people.   You can even see this in his servants.   His servants like him very much and enjoy his entertainments.   An example of this is when Petrucio and his servant man Grumio get into a disagreement about knocking on the gate.   Reflective of this is Petrucio’s methods to â€Å"woo† Katherine.   His methods are game like and outrageous.   Such as when he beats up Grumio because Kate’s horse stumbles, or showing up late to the wedding.   While showing Katherine how ridiculous she is about things, he is also making her feel special, which is something she never felt in life.  Ã‚  Ã‚   He also says that â€Å"This is the way to kill a wife with kindness.†Ã‚   (IV,i 211)   This is his courting method of when he makes the wife feel to good for everything surrounding her. When they eat dinner once he complains à ¢â‚¬Å"Endanger choler planteth anger†¦. since of ourselves are choleric†.   (IV, I 177) While Petrucio may not agree with what society has determined to be   proper, he is aware of the importance to conform.   He knows the ways of society and that he must demonstrate this to Katherine, who has no regard for public presentation.

Mexicos War for Independence :: essays research papers fc

Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mexico is the northernmost country of Latin America. It lies just south of the United States. The Rio Grande forms about two-thirds of the boundary between Mexico and the United States. Among all the countries of the Western Hemisphere, only the United States and Brazil have more people than Mexico. Mexico City is the capital and largest city of Mexico. It also is one of the world's largest metropolitan areas in population. Hundreds of years ago, the Indians of Mexico built large cities, developed a calendar, invented a counting system and used a form of writing. The last Indian empire in Mexico, the Aztec, fell to Spanish invaders in 1521. For the next 300 years, Mexico was a Spanish colony. The Spaniards took Mexico's riches, but they also introduced many changes in farming, government, industry and religion. The descendants of the Spaniards became Mexico's ruling class. The Indians remained poor and uneducated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the Spanish colonial period, a third group of people developed in Mexico. These people, who had both Indian and white ancestors, became known as Mestizos. Today, the great majority of Mexicans are Mestizos, and they generally take great pride in their Indian ancestry. A number of government programs stress the Indian role in Mexican culture. In 1949, the government made an Indian the symbol of Mexican nationality. The war for independence is sometimes considered a revolutionary war. It is not, however. The war for independence was fought to end colonial rule. The war was based on politics and a separation of powers. In this essay I will start from the rising discontentment amongst the indigenous population and how the higher ranking classes exploited their failures for their own societal class gain in a system where they have always been favored more by societal leaders. Once New Spain settled in its new territory, inner cores were created as part of the system. New Spain, from now on, would be under direction of the mother country Spain. Its colonial system would be entrenched in the new colony and therefore, its economy would strive to gain profit and make Spain richer and stronger. The economy was based on agriculture, ranching, mining, industry, and commerce. The majority of labor that would go into doing these jobs would be from the indigenous people, or â€Å"Indians†. Although some â€Å"Indians† were paid decent wages, most were treated unfairly or poorly. They worked long, hard hours.

Music and Racial Formation in Leroi Jones’ Essay

In many ways, music is inseparable from culture. In the context of those cultures that have been dominated and marginalized by others, music takes on a special significance. Leroi Jones’ Blues People fit into the framework of trying to understand the role that music plays in the cultural lives of people who belong to displaced communities. In his book, he identifies the ways in which genres in music culture develop, which may be linked to Omi and Winant’s (1994) conception of racial formation. As Omi and Winant (1994) observed in their seminal theory on racial formation, â€Å"We define racial formation as the sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed† (p. 55). The authors debunk the accepted notions that race is either biological or an illusion, suggesting instead that it is a distinctly sociological phenomenon. Race is also identified as based on a power hierarchy, definable in terms of â€Å"the pattern of conflict and accommodation which takes place over time between racially based social movements and the policies and programs of the state† (p.78). This model of racial formation may be applied to Jones’ text, particularly in terms of their assertion that â€Å"racial formation is a process of historically situated projects in which human bodies and social structures are represented and organized† (pp. 55-56). In Blues People, the author examines how the process of being enslaved affects the people of Africa, situating the racial conflict in terms of geographical as well as historical contexts. Jones’ thesis rests on the concept of difference. He outlines the manner in which the slavery of Africans in America was different from other kinds of slavery. An important point that Jones raises is that slavery was prevalent in Africa as well, long before the whites arrived. He likens the process to the way in which the Greeks treated their slaves, showing us that in every other system of slavery, the enslaved people were allowed to retain their sense of cultural identity, but not so in the case of African slaves on the American plantations: Melville Herskovits points out, â€Å"Slavery [had] long existed in the entire region [of West Africa], and in at least one of its kingdoms, Dahomey, a kind of plantation system was found under which an absentee ownership, with the ruler as principal, demanded the utmost return from the estates, and thus created conditions of labor resembling the regime the slaves were to encounter in the New World. † But to be brought to a country, a culture, a society, that was, and is, in terms of purely philosophical correlatives, the complete antithesis of one’s own version of man’s life on earth — that is the cruelest aspect of this particular enslavement. (p. 1) As Jones points out, it was extremely difficult for Africans, who later became â€Å"African-Americans,† to retain a sense of cultural identity in a foreign culture that refused to give any validity to something it did not understand. According to Omi and Winant, racial formation may also be linked to the â€Å"the evolution of hegemony, the way in which society is organized and ruled† (p. 56). In such a hegemonic society driven by concepts of hierarchy and social superiority, the identity of a marginalized class may become problematic. Jones opines that music such as jazz and blues was in some ways the only medium through which Africans could try and retain a sense of who they were. In this context, the integration of music into their existence as slaves allowed Africans to retain a sense of the past, and also come to terms with the effect that the process of being enslaved had had on their psyches. Cultural domination was an insidious process of identity-negation, and music culture was one of the prominent ways through which the enslaved people could enable themselves to survive within a hostile foreign culture. In Blues People, an interesting aspect of performance is brought in when the author shows us a ‘typical’ American reaction to the African native in the form of an excerpt from the actress Frances Anne Kemble’s Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation: The only exception that I have met with yet among our boat voices to the high tenor which they seem all to possess is in the person of an individual named Isaac, a basso profundo of the deepest dye, who nevertheless never attempts to produce with his different register any different effects in the chorus by venturing a second, but sings like the rest in unison, perfect unison, of both time and tune. By-the-by, this individual does speak, and therefore I presume he is not an ape, orangoutang, chimpanzee, or gorilla; but I could not, I confess, have conceived it possible that the presence of articulate sounds, and the absense of an articulate tail, should make, externally at least, so completely the only appreciable difference between a man and a monkey, as they appear to do in this individual ‘black brother. ’ (pp. 2-3). The actress’ biased and judgmental perception of the natives places them in such a position as not to be considered human at all. Interestingly, she examines their tones of voices as indicative of the degree to which they are ‘human,’ or not; they all have voices of a high tenor. She says this is the manner that one might say that all dogs bark, or all lions roar. Language is almost completely redundant in this context. Unable to understand the languages of Africa, Kemble contents herself with ruminating on the tones in which the foreigners speak. The ‘exception’ to the other slaves is determined by Kemble on the basis of the fact that he has a bass voice, while the others use higher tones of voice. Even in this exception she says that it is only the absence of a tail that reluctantly, albeit wonderingly, forces her to accept that he is a human being and not an animal. Even under this extreme racial perspective, it is the musical tones of voice that the actress and performer relies upon to make her judgments.

Public Reactions to the Qantas Grounding Crisis

Despite a growing number of studies on crisis communication, there is very little research that examines corporate crises from a consumer perspective, particularly for crisis case studies within Australia. Using Yin’s (2002) framework for case study research methods, this research group conducted a qualitative content analysis of 1121 audience comments attached to three news articles on the 2011 Qantas grounding crisis.Using Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1986, 1995) and the qualitative content analysis software; Leximancer, we used these comments to deconstruct audience perceptions of the Qantas crisis and isolate different emotional, attitudinal and behavioural responses. Our first major finding indicated that the majority of audience members attributed the cause of the Qantas crisis to managerial decisions or union action. Working Conditions and Government policy was also found to be secondary factors to the crisis cause.We also found these four causal factors to be st rongly associated with audience’s responsibility judgments. The four key responsible stakeholder groups that emerged from our analysis were Alan Joyce (Qantas Management), Unions, Employees and the Labor Government. Another important focus of this study examined audience’s crisis emotions. Anger was found to be the predominant emotion that emerged from our analysis and was largely directed towards management and union stakeholders.Sympathy also emerged as a secondary emotion but was largely directed towards employees and management. Our final research finding uncovered a number of behavioural intentions within the audience comments. While the majority of these behavioural intentions centre around avoidance and negative purchase intentions, a few increased investment intentions also emerged. Although our Leximancer analysis was restricted by a number of technical limitations, these research findings indicate that Weiner’s Attribution Theory can be successfully ap plied to a real life crisis case study.Despite a growing number of studies on crisis communication, there is very little research that examines corporate crises from a consumer perspective, particularly for crisis case studies within Australia. Using Yin’s (2002) framework for case study research methods, this research group conducted a qualitative content analysis of 1121 audience comments attached to three news articles on the 2011 Qantas grounding crisis. Using Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1986, 1995) and the qualitative content analysis software; Leximancer, we used these omments to deconstruct audience perceptions of the Qantas crisis and isolate different emotional, attitudinal and behavioural responses. Our first major finding indicated that the majority of audience members attributed the cause of the Qantas crisis to managerial decisions or union action. Working Conditions and Government policy was also found to be secondary factors to the crisis cause. We also found these four causal factors to be strongly associated with audience’s responsibility judgments.The four key responsible stakeholder groups that emerged from our analysis were Alan Joyce (Qantas Management), Unions, Employees and the Labor Government. Another important focus of this study examined audience’s crisis emotions. Anger was found to be the predominant emotion that emerged from our analysis and was largely directed towards management and union stakeholders. Sympathy also emerged as a secondary emotion but was largely directed towards employees and management. Our final research finding uncovered a number of behavioural intentions within the audience comments.While the majority of these behavioural intentions centre around avoidance and negative purchase intentions, a few increased investment intentions also emerged. Although our Leximancer analysis was restricted by a number of technical limitations, these research findings indicate that Weiner’s A ttribution Theory can be successfully applied to a real life crisis case study. Abstract Tamara Dorrington (s4177314) | Sarah Natasha Raziff (s4275762) | Jasmine Soriano (s4272997) | Kate Fitzpatrick (s4201686) | Roxanne Lim (s4256084) Supervisor: Lyn McDonald The University of Queensland, 2012Tamara Dorrington (s4177314) | Sarah Natasha Raziff (s4275762) | Jasmine Soriano (s4272997) | Kate Fitzpatrick (s4201686) | Roxanne Lim (s4256084) Supervisor: Lyn McDonald The University of Queensland, 2012 Public Reactions to The Qantas Grounding Crisis, A Qualitative Content Analysis A corporate crisis often poses an unpredictable threat that can have resounding effects on an organization and its stakeholders (Coombs, 1999, 2010). These effects are largely dependent on how effectively the crisis is managed (Coombs, 2010) and upon stakeholder’s perceptions of the crisis cause (McDonald, Sparks & Glendon, 2010).To date there has been very little research on consumer reactions to corpora te crises (McDonald, et al. 2010), especially for crises  outside the United States (Lee, 2004). In order to understand the implications of this research project on crisis communication, one must first gain an understanding of the Qantas grounding crisis. As one of Australia’s leading domestic and international airline brands, Qantas has a well-established reputation for upholding â€Å"excellence in safety, operational reliability, engineering, maintenance and customer service† (Qantas, 2012, pp. 2).On October 2011, the company faced one of the largest corporate crises in its 95 years of history, a crisis that had widespread negative impacts on its reputation. After months of failed negotiations between management and union representatives, around 4000 Qantas employees took part in an organized strike, demanding greater job security, better wages and fairer working conditions. Qantas management responded by grounding its entire domestic and international fleet, lock ing out staff involved in the action and stranding around 68,000 passengers worldwide (Sydney Morning Herald, 2011).The Federal Government also became involved in the dispute, threatening to terminate strikes under the Fair Work Act if negotiations between union members and management proved unsuccessful (new. com. au, 2011) Our case study analysis adds to existing crisis research by analyzing 1121 audience comments attached to three news articles on the Qantas grounding crisis: 734 comments from the Sydney Morning Herald article (Live: FWA orders Qantas dispute terminated, 2011), 171 comments from the ABC article (Qantas grounds its entire fleet, 2011) and 216 comments from the news. om. au article (Qantas crisis: Who won and who's to blame). Using Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1986, 1995) as a theoretical framework, we used the comments from these three articles to deconstructed audience perceptions of the Qantas crisis and isolate audience member’s different emotiona l, attitudinal and behavioral responses. While studies into crisis communication are a popular area of research, much of the existing research has used experimental designs to examine the effectiveness of different types of crisis accounts or apologia.A case study analysis of audience reactions to the 2011 Qantas grounding crisis has many wider implications for crisis management strategies in future. First, by evaluating audience comments, this study provides an insight into stakeholder crisis reactions that may have greater generalizability than experimental studies. Second, knowledge of audience’s attribution processes will help future public relations managers to mitigate negative crisis outcomes and manage brand reputation more effectively. Literature ReviewTo date, there has been very little research on consumer reactions to corporate crises (McDonald, et al. , 2010) particularly for crisis cases outside the United States (Lee, 2004). The majority of existing literature has approached crisis communication from an organisational perspective, using experimental design to examine the relationship between different types of crisis accounts and consumer’s purchase intentions (Lee, 2004). Very little research has taken a content analysis approach, examining audience reactions to real life crises cases.In bridging this gap, it is relevant to examine real life audience perceptions of crisis cause their association with different emotional, attitudinal and behavioral responses. According to Lee (2004), taking a consumer orientated approach should provide valuable insights into how individuals understand and react to organisational crises. Such knowledge would help public relations managers to mitigate negative crisis outcomes and manage brand reputation more effectively.Theoretical Framework: Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1986, 1995) Our research was primarily guided by Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory (WAT), which examines the p sychological process by which individuals understand and react to external events. While WAT was originally used as a theoretical framework for examining interpersonal relationships, it has been successfully applied to the context of company crises (McDonald et al. , 2010). Adapting Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory (WAT) audiences bserve and interpret events, such as the Qantas crisis, making attributions about its cause along two causal dimensions: Locus (whether the cause was internal or external to the company) and Controllability (whether the cause was controllable or uncontrollable). The interpretation of crisis cause under these two constructs leads to a responsibility judgement that, in turn, results in emotions, which then influences behaviors (McDonald et. al. , 2010).Weiner (1995) also suggests that mitigating circumstances or personal relevance may also impact the individual’s responsibility judgement or the strength of their emotional reaction. The relationship between the various components of Weiner’s (1986, 1995) theoretical framework is depicted in the flow chart below. Mitigating Circumstances Mitigating Circumstances In order to successfully apply Weiner’s (1986, 1195) Attribution Theory (WAT) to the context of the 2011 Qantas grounding crisis, we first examined the individual components of this theoretical framework.A)   Attributions of Cause (Locus and Controllability) As previously discussed, Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory (WAT) suggests that audiences evaluate an event and make attributions about its cause along two dimensions. The Locus dimension refers to the location of the crisis cause as being either internal or external to the organisation (Lee, 2004). Controllability refers to whether the crisis cause is within the control of the organisation or not (Lee, 2004). According to Lee (2004) a crisis cause that is within the boundaries of an organisation (internal locus) is also ofte n perceived as controllable.Likewise, a crisis cause that judged to be outside the organisation (external locus) is often viewed as uncontrollable (Lee, 2004). However Coombs (1995) and McDonald et. al. (2010) both hypothesised that crises could be internal and controllable (neglected maintenance), internal and uncontrollable (employee sabotage), external and controllable (failure to comply with government regulations) as well as external and uncontrollable (terrorism sabotage). The graph below represents the causal matrix summarized by McDonald et. al. (2010) | Internal| External|Controllable| Neglected Maintenance| Failure to comply with government regulations | Uncontrollable| Employee Sabotage | Terrorism Sabotage| In the context of the Qantas crisis, this leads us to the following research questions: Research Question 1: What are the audience perceptions of the key contributing factors to the crisis cause? Research Question 2: Are these key factors internal and controllable or external and uncontrollable? According to Coombs (1995) the causal dimensions of Locus and Controllability have a direct impact upon an audience’s crisis response.A study by Folkes (1984) found that locus and controllability had separate effects on customers’ responsibility judgments, emotions and behavioral intentions. Lee (2004) also suggested that, in a crisis context, events that were perceived to be internal and controllable were viewed more negatively by audience members than those that were considered external and uncontrollable (Lee, 2004). Although separating these two constructs was challenging in analyzing audience comments, the following research questions aided us in mapping out ideas for our Leximancer data analysis.Research question 3: What crisis causes are associated with negative and positive crisis reactions? B)   Ã‚  Responsibility Judgment The next step in Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory is the process by which individuals attribu te responsibility. Social psychologists Fincham and Jaspars (1980) noted that, in an interpersonal context, individuals would often go beyond the attributions of causality to make judgments about who should be held accountable for an observed outcome.Likewise, audiences will assign crisis responsibility after a causal attribution (Lee, 2004). The direction and degree of responsibility judgment will therefore depend upon the audience’s attributions of crisis cause (Lee, 2004). Coombs and Holladay (1996, 2002) and Jorgensen (1994, 1996) both used Weiner’s (1986, 1995) causal dimensions of locus and controllability as the foundation for their studies into crisis communication. All found perceptions of crisis cause to be a major determinant of responsibility judgments and subsequent stakeholder reactions.Of particular relevance to our current study, Lee (2004) found crises that were perceived to be internal (locus) and controllable (controllability) were more likely to bri ng about responsibility judgments aimed at the company and its managers. On the other hand, audiences tended to attribute less blame to the company in situations where the crisis cause was viewed as external and uncontrollable, instead reacting with sympathy and support (Lee, 2004).In analysing audience comments through the use of the Leximancer program, we aim to uncover public sentiment and reveal what major stakeholder groups or individuals are held responsible for the 2011 Qantas crisis. This leads us to the following research question: Research question 4: What stakeholder groups are perceived to be responsible for the crisis? C)   Ã‚  Crisis Emotions According to Choi and Lin (2009) there is a strong need to explore a variety of crisis emotions, in particular the impact that crisis emotions have upon attitudes toward the company and upon subsequent behavioral intentions (McDonald et. l. , 2010). Several studies (e. g. Coombs ; Holladay; 1996, 2002, Jorgensen; 1994, 1996 and Lee; 2004) have used Weiner’s causal dimensions of locus and controllability, finding causal attributions to be a major determinant of stakeholder crisis emotions. McDonald et. al. (2010) found that crisis controllability was the single strongest predictor of anger, sympathy and negative attitude while Lee (2004) found that in cases where crises were viewed as uncontrollable, pity was elicited.In McDonald’s (2010) study, internal crises were found to correspond with fear and surprise while external crises were more likely to result in a sympathetic emotion response (McDonald et al. , 2010). These findings validate the concept within Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory that causal attribution precedes responsibility judgment, which in turn affects crisis emotions. This leads us to the following research question for our Qantas crisis analysis: Research question 5: What audience emotions have emerged? D)   Ã‚  Behavioral IntentionsWhile responsibility judgm ent affects emotions, emotions, in turn, impact upon behavioral intentions (Weiner, 1995). Several studies have investigated the relationship between crisis emotion (anger, fear, sadness, joy, surprise) and consumer’s behavioral intentions. A review of previous literature by McDonald et at. (2010) found that anger influences punitiveness (Jorgensen, 1996), negative purchase intentions (Coombs ; Holladay, 2007), negative word of mouth (Coombs ; Holladay, 2007) and indirectly lowers investment intentions (Jorgensen, 1996).Sadness lead to a higher reliance on emotional support while fear was associated with venting intentions or avoidance (Jin, 2009). Coombs and Holladay (2007) also found that dissatisfied customers were more likely to voice negative sentiments about a product or service than happy customers. This leads us to our final research question regarding the application of Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory to audience’s Qantas crisis response: Resea rch Question 6: What audience behavioral intentions have emerged?Based upon the review of existing literature, the current case study examined how Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory can be applied to a current crisis case in Australia using actual stakeholder comments. In particular, we expect to uncover associations between Weiner’s (1986, 1995) causal constructs (locus and controllability), judgments of responsibility, emotions and behavioral intentions within the context of audience comments. Methodology According to Yin (1994), case studies involve a methodical way of looking at an instance or event within its real-life context.It is a process of collecting data, analyzing information, and reporting the results in order to gain a sharpened understanding of why a particular event occurred, and what might be relevant to future research in the area (Yin, 1994). This research project involved the development of a case study analysis that followed a reputation cri sis faced by the Australian national airline, Qantas, in October of 2011. By conducting a content analysis of 1121 audience comments, this group was able to deconstruct the crisis narrative and examine audience’s attribution process during the 2011 Qantas crisis.Yin defined the research design as a sequence that links data to the study’s research questions and findings. In order to address our research questions, this group adopted a variation of Yin’s (1994) case study design, collecting appropriate evidence, analysing the data and reporting on the findings. Step one of Yin’s (1994) case study research methods involved the collection of data for content analysis. Yin (1994) noted that data collection could rely on many sources of evidence, one of which includes documentation such as media articles.Following Yin’s (1994) data collection guidelines, this group collected 1121 reader comments attached to three news articles on the Qantas crisis, inclu ding 734 comments from the Sydney Morning Herald online (Live: FWA orders Qantas dispute terminated), 171 comments from the ABC website (Qantas grounds its entire fleet) and 216 comments from news. com. au (Qantas crisis: Who won and who's to blame). We then inputted the 1121 audience comments into an excel spreadsheet, organising them on the basis of media source and comment characteristics.The second step in Yin’s cases study research methods is data analysis. This involves examining and categorizing evidence that is relevant to the study (Yin, 1994). To achieve this, we conducted a content analysis, aided by the concept association software; Leximancer. According to Hsieh and Shannon (2005) a qualitative content analysis is one of numerous research methods used to analyse text data. Qualitative content analyses go beyond a simple word association and instead involves an in depth classification of language into an efficient number of categories with similar meanings (Weber, 1990).Leximancer is a software program designed to perform this conceptual analyses of text data in a largely independent manner (Smith, 2003). It is able to analyse large volumes of comments and to statistically assess the association between words, identifying emergent themes in the body of text. The basis for Leximancer’s qualitative data analysis is a concept association matrix that is built from frequency data (Rooney, 2005). The result is a visual map and insight dashboard that identifies the relational characteristics of key concepts (Middleton, Liesch & Steen, 2011).However this raw Leximancer data requires further human analysis. By further analysing these Leximancer results we were able to analyse audience reactions to the Qantas grounding crisis under the construct of Weiner’s (1986, 1995) attribution theory. The final phase of Yin’s cases study research methods involves reporting the results and checking their validity. According to Yin (1994) conte nt analyses involve a danger of committing what has been called the narrative fallacy.This fallacy consists of a propensity to simplify data through a preference for compact stories over complex data sets (Yin, 1994). In case study research, the way to avoid the narrative fallacy is no different from any other error: the usual consistent checks for validity and reliability in how data is collected, analyzed and presented. Therefore it was important to conduct a thorough check of the Leximancer results, correlating Leximancer findings with contextual examples within the article comments and providing exemplar samples of audience statements. Research ResultsLeximancer is able to generate two types of sentiment analysis reports: a visual concept map showing a detailed assembly of prominent concepts, and an insight dashboard which provides quantitative rankings of concepts and their associated terms (Middleton, et al, 2011). The insight dashboard generates information about the data set by analysing the frequency, strength and prominence of reoccurring terms within the text. It then organises these terms into ‘categories’, which are groups of recurring sentiments, and ‘concepts’, which are ideas that bear a strong contextual link to these categories (Middleton, et al, 2011).Leximancer also automatically identifies ‘compound concepts’, which are two terms that are mentioned adjacent to one another within the context of a larger category (Middleton, et al, 2011). Leximancer analyses the data set using a default thesaurus which it uses to identify terms as ‘positive evidence’ towards a certain sentiment or category. The user can also adjust the focus of the output results by controlling a number of manual settings within the program. By adjusting these settings, results in answer to our research questions were analysed.Research Question 1 asked â€Å"what are the audience perceptions of the key contributing factors to the crisis cause? † In order to answer this research question, a preliminary Leximancer analysis, examining key causal factors, was conducted. The concept map in figure 1 was generated by inputting all 1121 audience comments into the Leximancer program and adjusting the thesaurus settings to recognise related terms (such as ‘Alan Joyce’ and ‘AJ’). The resulting concept map clearly illustrates the key causal categories and maps their association with surrounding terms.The main causal concepts that emerge from figure 1 are ‘union action’, ‘managerial decisions’, ‘working conditions’ and ‘industrial action’. These four terms appear as prominent categories from which smaller, related concepts stem. Figure 1: Leximancer concept map The concept map in figure 1 forms the foundation for the subsequent graphs 2 and 3, where these key concepts are examined in more depth using related data from the insight dashboard. Examining these four main causal categories and their related terms, we can begin to deconstruct the narrative surrounding the Qantas crisis.In particular, we can begin to analyse audience member’s attribution process in terms of Weiner’s theoretical framework. Figure 2 (below) is a pie chart, isolating the four main causal categories and their associated terms. The terms surrounding each main category represent the associated concepts that appeared with relative frequency and strength under each main causal category. Terms such as ‘pathetic’, ‘appalled’ and ‘abominable’ were linked strongly with Managerial Decisions, while Union Action was associated with concepts such as ‘bloody minded’, ‘bashing’ and ‘dominated’.Industrial Action was positioned within the context of government policy with related terms such as ‘Gillard’, ‘Fair Work Act’ and ‘Labor ’. Finally, ‘Working Conditions’ can be seen positioned alongside key terms like ‘employees’, ‘pay’ and ‘unreasonable’ Figure 2: Four key crisis factors and related terms Figure 3 shows a further breakdown of each of the four main causal categories. Each pie chart was generated using the quantitative data in the insight dashboard, which outlines the strength, frequency and prominence of the four key categories and their related terms.The first of the four pie graphs explores the category of ‘Managerial Decisions’. Here we can see that the two major concepts associated with the managerial decisions category are MGMT (an acronym for management) and Alan Joyce. ‘Brand’, ‘restructures’ and ‘failures’ are secondary concepts that also appeared in association with Managerial Decisions. The second pie graph depicts the breakdown of concepts associated with the category of Industria l Action. Here, industrial action is positioned closely with concepts such as ‘Gillard’, ‘Fair Work Australia’ and ‘Federal Government’.Therefore it is evident that this causal category refers to the impact of government policy on the Qantas crisis. In the working conditions pie graph, the strong association between terms such as ‘employees’, ‘afford’ and ‘earn’ with terms such as ‘pay rise, ‘wages, and ‘salary’ indicate that one of the causes of this crisis involved current pay schemes and unfair working conditions. Finally, ‘Union action’ is also identified as a main contributing factor to the crisis cause. This pie graph explores this category by highlighting some of its key associated terms.In particular, one can see the clear association between ‘unions’, ‘demands’ and ‘striking’. In the context of the Qantas crisis, union gr oups made a number of demands regarding current working conditions and this was responsible for a large majority of subsequent employee strikes. Figure 3: graphs exploring the compound categories of managerial decisions, working conditions, Industrial action, and union action Research Question 2 was concerned with the application of Weiner’s (1986, 1995) causal dimensions of Locus and Controllability.It asked whether the key causal factors in the Qantas crisis (identified in figures 1 – 3) could be classified as internal and controllable or external and uncontrollable. As previously discussed in our literature review, past studies on crisis communication have shown that crises can be either be internal and controllable (neglected maintenance), internal and uncontrollable (employee sabotage), external and controllable (failure to comply with government regulations) or external and uncontrollable (terrorist sabotage). If we adapt our understanding of McDonald et al. 2010 ) we can apply the following attribution matrix to the current Qantas case study. Figure 4: Qantas’ attribution matrix . Research question 3 asks â€Å"what crisis causes can be associated with negative and positive crisis reactions? † Figure 5 addresses this research question by using Leximancer insights to compare the appearance of favourable and unfavourable terms within the context of audience comments. To justify the results, Leximancer’s insight dashboard provides examples of each sentiment with comments directly from the data set.The graph below shows that audience comments carry both favourable and unfavourable connotations towards the concepts of management, industrial action, and employees. The balance of favourable and unfavourable terms for all four causal concepts (managerial decisions, union action, working conditions and industrial action) is consistent with our preliminary sample of audience comments. Figure 5: unfavourable vs favourable terms Fi gure 6 addresses research question 4 (What stakeholder groups are perceived to be responsible for the crisis? by using a Leximancer visual concept map depicting the major stakeholder groups identified in the audience comments. The main stakeholder groups that are identified in this visual concept map are: * Alan Joyce * Employees * Unions * Government * Qantas customers * Australians in general Figure 6: Responsible Stakeholder clusters Based on the information obtained in figure 4, we can take a step further and categorise these major stakeholder groups as either internal or external to the company. As the CEO and head of the Qantas company, Alan Joyce is identified as largely responsible for managerial decisions.Baggage handlers, ground staff and cabin crew are grouped under the stakeholder heading of employees, while the Australian Licenced Engineers Union (ALAEA), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Australian and International Pilots Union (AIPA) are grouped under the sta keholder heading of unions. Finally, the government is also identified as a responsible stakeholder group, with many audience comments citing the role of Julia Gillard, the Labour government and the Fair Work Act in failing to mitigate the industrial dispute. Figure 7: Responsibility JudgementFigure 8 is a visual representation of the crisis emotion that have emerged from our anlaysis of audience comments. This graph is based on the information taken from Leximancer’s insight dashboard about the strength, prominence and frequency of various sentiments. Anger was the predominant emotion that emerged from the data set and was directed toward all stakeholders, particularly ‘unions’ and ‘management’. While ‘sympathy’ emerged as another primary meotion, it was used to express empathy towards workers’ plights while ‘Sorry’ was used in relation to customers, employees, and industrial action. Support’ was also a prodom inant sentiment that emerged and was expressed toward all parties in relatively equal degrees. Figure 8: Audience emotions Due to the informal nature of comments and the variation in sentence structure, it was challenging to isolate behavioural intentions from the data set using the Leximancer software. However, a preliminary manual analysis uncovered a number of trends in consumer’s behavioural intentions. Major findings indicated that of the 4% of comments that implied a behavioural intention, most were negative, while a small number showed positive purchase or investment intentions.Figure 9 shows a cross selection of comments extracted from the data in response to research question 6. This conceptual depiction summarises the main behavioural intentions that emerged from the Qantas crisis. Figure 9: Behavioural intentions Figure 10 is based on a manual analysis of comments over all three news sites, and shows the frequency of behavioural intentions that have emerged from th e data set. The category ‘miscellaneous intentions’ refers to behaviours such as buying shares, venting action, or switching carriers.Figure 10: Behavioural intentions frequency Discussion This case study analysis uncovered a number of key findings that are relevant to crisis communication research. First, our research found that audiences perceived the key contributing factor to the Qantas crisis to be ‘union action’, ‘managerial decisions’, ‘working conditions’ and ‘industrial action’ with the majority of comments attributing the crisis to managerial decisions and union action.When analysing these key causal factors under Weiner’s dimensions of Locus and Controllability, managerial decisions can be interpreted as both internal and controllable to the company while ‘Union Action’ can be seen as both external and uncontrollable. If we analyse ‘working conditions’ in the context of its r elated terms, we can understand that this cause is about employees’ observations of their working conditions and the resulting strikes.In particular, this casual factor is about employees being unhappy with current circumstances and demanding better working conditions from Qantas management. While employees are internal to the company, their objections to their working conditions and the ensuing strikes can be understood as relatively uncontrollable. Finally, ‘industrial action’ in seen within the context of government policy and work place regulation. While the government is external to Qantas, the company’s compliance with government regulations is certainly within management’s control.Therefore we classify this causal concept as both external and controllable. These findings build upon previous research by Coombs (1995) and McDonald et. al. (2010) – that Locus and Controllability can have separate effects on audience’s attribution p rocess and that crises may not only be internal/controllable and external/uncontrollable but also internal /uncontrollable and external /controllable. The second major finding of this research project linked causal attributions to audience’s responsibility judgements.When audiences identified the major causal factor as ‘managerial decisions’ they also tended to attribute blame to Qantas management, in particular to Qantas CEO; Alan Joyce. The resulting emotions that emerged from this attribution were anger towards Qantas management and support for unions and employees. This sentiment is exemplified in the audience comment â€Å"As a QF F of 20+ years †¦ I wish to register my total support for the staff and crew at QF over their current legitimate and understandable attempts to prevent Management from destroying the airline which I hold so dear. This customer is sick and tired of being exploited by senior management and the board. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (ABC. net. a u, 2011). These findings are similar to those of Lee’s (2004) who stated that crises that were perceived to be internal (locus) and controllable (controllability) would bring about responsibility judgements aimed towards the company and its managers. Another key trend in the data identified ‘union action’ as the main cause of the crisis. These audience members tended to attribute blame to unions and employees involved in striking action.When union action, which we identified as external and uncontrollable, was attributed as the primary cause of the crisis, audience members tended to respond with anger towards unions and employees and sympathy towards the company and its managers. One example of this is conveyed in the audience’s comment: â€Å"Well done Alan Joyce. Striking is the lowest form of human behaviour in my opinion†¦. I hope all these lazy striking staff lose their jobs and are replaced by hardworking people, †¦ who unlike Qantas emplo yees appreciate their jobs, rather than expect that they are their god given right† (ABC. et. au, 2011). The third major finding in our case study uncovered a number of audience crisis emotions. While we anticipated finding negative audience emotions such as anger and helplessness, we also uncovered a number of positive emotions that expressed support and sympathy towards all stakeholder groups. One such comment that expressed empathy towards the Qantas brand was sourced from the Sydney Morning Herald (2011), â€Å"Qantas made the right decision and any company which has a strong union presence should do the same if their future is threatened by them.The Australian dollar is strong and to remain competitive globally, hard decision must be made. † This leads us to our final major research finding. As could be expected, positive audience emotions were found to be associated with favourable behavioural intentions while negative emotions were found to predict negative purch ase intentions. While 81% of behavioural intentions centred on avoidance, complaint and negative purchase intentions, another 14% of the behavioural intentions indicated that the audience intended to continue flying with Qantas, signifying the audience’s loyalty to the brand.An example of such positive behavioural intentions is evident in the following audience comment from new. com. au: â€Å"I have always flown Qantas and always will, and to those who say they will never fly them again, you know you will let all those FF perks go to waste Good on you Mr Joyce. † (News. com. au, 2011, pp. 8). Although the technical limitations of Leximancer restricted our study, our research project successfully applied Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory to audiences’ attribution process in a real life crisis case.These research findings provide valuable insights into how individuals understand and react to organizational crises in the real world. Knowledge of this type will assist public relations managers in creating effective reputation management strategies in the future. Limitations Although our case study can be considered largely effective, we did encounter several limitations that impeded the progress of our research. Most of the limitations we encountered involved the technical capabilities of Leximancer.Of particular relevance to our content analysis was Leximancer’s inability to comprehend tone and colloquialisms. This meant that a comment that Leximancer identified as positive might actually be a sarcastic remark meant as a negative. We also found that the informal nature of comments was problematic, since there were multiple ways of expressing a particular sentiment. The data set too was limited by the individual news site’s comment system. The anonymity of contributors made it hard to clearly identify an audience member’s level of involvement, unless it was explicitly mentioned in the comment.The anonymity m ay have led to audience responses phrased more assertively and argumentatively than they would have been if they were named. The news sites also censor the time frame of the comments. By identifying the time stamp attached to each comment, future studies could examine how audience crises responses changed over the crises lifecycle. This would be particularly important as it would reflect the dynamic nature of audience’s crisis response (McDonald et. al, 2009) – particularly in this study where the online commentary between the audiences is a highly interactive exchange.Conclusion Based on Yin’s (1994) case study research methods and the theoretical framework of Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory, this research project found that managerial decisions and union action were the two key contributing factors to the 2011 Qantas grounding crisis. We also identified the main responsible stakeholder groups to be Alan Joyce (Qantas management), employees, uni ons and the government. Our findings have shown that the primary crisis emotion that emerged was anger, and that this was targeted primarily towards the management and unions.This was followed by sympathy, which empathized with the worker’s plights, and sorrow which was used in relation to Qantas customers. However, contrary to expectations, â€Å"support† also emerged as a dominant emotion and was expressed towards all stakeholder parties involved in the crisis. These findings suggest that, despite the negative sentiment that has emerged from the grounding crisis, there is still an existing group of passengers who remain loyal to the Qantas brand. Qantas should also take a lesson from these findings in order to better safeguard the interests of their stakeholders in future.This may include being mindful of employee moral and considering the plight of the passengers before taking such drastic measures in the future. Acknowledgments Supervisor: Lyn McDonald Course Coord inator: Aparna Hebbani References ABC News. (2011, October 29). Qantas grounds entire fleet. ABC News. Retrieved from http://www. abc. net. au/news/2011-10-29/qantas-locking-out-staff/3608250 Ackoff, R. L. (1981). Creating the corporate future. New York: John Wiley & Sons Colgan, Paul. (2011, October 31). Qantas Crisis: Who won and who’s to blame? News. com. au. Retrieved from