Decriminalization of Victimless Crime Essay

Laws exist within societies to deter and restrict people from harming one another and trampling on others’ inalienable rights. Crimes such as recreational drug use and prostitution do not directly harm other people, yet in the eyes of the law they are villified due to the possible consequences associated with a lifestyle filled with drug use and promiscuous sex. Should these supposed â€Å"victimless† crimes be allowed to go on unpunished even though they may still cause collateral damage? More importantly, does the government have the right to intervene with one’s behavior if it does not affect others? A better way to look at it would be to examine the efforts made to decriminalize these acts and the effects it has had on society. Prostitution is one of the oldest professions in the world and it is not likely to go away anytime soon. Just like any other job, it is a way for people to make a living and it has a supply and demand. Unfortunately, sex workers have terrible work environments. They are subjected to working in unsafe neighborhoods and the threat of violence is always near. Many are raped, abused and murdered while working on their own. If prostitution were decriminalized and regulated, we could decrease the negative consequences of being a sex worker. Legalized brothels in Las Vegas control and monitor their workers and customers much like other businesses. Sex workers are regularly tested and contraception is employed to avoid the transmittance of sexually transmitted infections and diseases. Services are also conducted in safe environments to eliminate the risk of violence. Although prostitution is certainly a less than ideal profession, it has and will continue to exist. Regulation of sex work wou ld greatly reduce the harm inflicted upon its customers and workers. Another criminal act which does not necessarily effect anyone else but the criminal is recreational drug use. Like prostitution, recreational drug use has gone on for hundreds of years and there does not seem to be an end in sight. Were recreational drug use to be decriminalized and regulated, the government could monitor dosage, reduce adulterants to reduce the risks involved with the consumption of said drugs. Decriminalization would also decrease activity in the illegal trade of drugs which is known to fund terrorist groups. Even on the street level of drug trade, much of it is associated with other violent criminal activity which could decrease if users had another way of obtaining what they would eventually seek out anyways. In 2001, Portugal radically changed their drug policies to include the decriminalization of possessing small amounts of drugs for personal use. They implemented needle exchange programs to reduce the spread of HIV and put more effort into finding treatment f or users instead of putting them through the penal system. Ten years later, studies showed that their efforts paid off and drug abuse rates had fallen to half of what they were before the policy change (Kain.) This should be evidence enough that the penal system does not help drug users in our society, it only puts them in a destructive cycle of jails and institutions that we as a whole end up paying for. Jail and prison sentences are not enough to stop or decrease taboo behaviors nor will they ever be, which is evident in almost all modern nations. These behaviors will continue to spread and the lifestyles associated with them will continue to effect all of society unless something changes. The â€Å"War on Drugs† has cost us billions of dollars and placed many non-violent offenders in prisons, when they should be in rehabilitation centers. We as a society need to accept that what we’re doing is not working and we should follow what has worked in other places. Bibliography Kain, Erik. â€Å"Ten Years After Decriminalization.† Forbes Magazine. Forbes, 5 July 2011. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. .

Eminem and Craig David

In this speech, I am talking about two very famous singers, Eminem and Craig David. They are both very brilliant at making songs but in there own and very different ways. Eminem is generally known for all the swearing in all his songs, well he is known for that by the parents at least. He has had to face the courts due to too many parents complaining that Eminem is too influential on there children in a very bad way. He always makes a clean version of his album so his daughter, Hailey can listen to his songs in her little cassette player. He always puts her first. He believes that fame is nothing without being able to share it with his daughter and wife. Eminem has made many friends in the music industry, such as his protà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½gà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, Dr Dre. He has also made a pact with snoop dogg, d12, dido and many other singers. Whereas Craig David has not made a song with anyone and has not shown that he has any celebrity friends, at least in his songs, this could mean he is a true solo artist, or he is a lonely person. Both of these artists had a low point in there career but the both eventually came back. Eminem came back with a song called ‘without me' saying that he is back and you should tell a friend, and that he has got through all his law suits. Craig David recently came back with ‘what's your flava' comparing ice cream to a lady, in the end his favourite flavour is chocolate. I did not really like this song. Craig David uses his vocal talent to a high extent to a create a beat that people like. He mainly talks about ladies in songs, like in his latest song, ‘eenie meenie'. Eminem does not really sing, he raps giving the song a great beat that has a lot of rhyming in it, you can feel his emotion when he sings in his songs, showing he has passion towards certain songs. He normally bases his songs on the way of life, past experiences he claims to have had, situations and things he loves or hates. In his album, the Eminem show, he has dedicated a song to Hailey showing that he really loves her. I think that Eminem's songs are brilliant but some might say that they are depressing and has bad influence on people, but I don't think that. Craig David is very good when he wants to be, his song ‘what your flava' was not that good in my opinion because he had not written a song in a while and I figure he was a little out of touch. But his other song eenie meenie is brilliant because he is mixing different styles of music making a brilliant tune in my opinion. Overall, I think that they are both good but Eminem is a lot better and down to Earth and has more meaning in his songs.

Communication with children Essay

There are many reasons why people communicate these are as follows: Building relationship, it is very important to build a relationship with the children, young people, colleagues and people around us. For instance in the setting I work, the nursery, we communicate all the time to the parents and children to have positive relationship so that we can work together in providing the children’s needs. Simple greetings to the parents will be the start of harmonious relationship and we can develop a partnership in working together towards the development of every child. In our setting we often ask the parents if their child has been ok at home, if any concern such as the child not feeling well or a bit upset, the parents will tell us and that we can understand or have any idea how to deal with the child. We communicate to build a secure, trusting and good relationship with colleagues. Read more:  Identify different reasons why people communicate  essay Every day we talk about our experiences and our lives just to build a bridge of friendship to all staff I work with. We communicate to solve issues or if any problems we experience along the way, we communicate to learn from each other sharing ideas etc. With the children as their carer in school we communicate to know get to know the child. And if the child knows us they feel secure and develop a trusting relationship. We communicate daily to the children to help them learn and enjoy their time in the nursery. Maintaining relationships, it happens to us every day with the people around us by just simply smiling or asking how they are doing, it maintains a good friendship and trust among staff and with the people we work with. In the nursery we communicate with the parents and the children everyday asking how they are feeling, how they are doing to know and understand their needs and that maintain a good relationship and trust. I work with 3-4 year old pupils, for them to stay on task and enjoy what we planned to do with them, a trusting relationship and respect should be establish, we start this as soon as the child starts nursery by communicating with them asking them about their likes and dislikes, then this will carry on everyday so the child will feel comfortable and at ease with you, and with that relationship it is easy for me to have some activities with them such as math game to teach them about playing fairly and the learning objectives. If there’s a problem or concern with the parents, children or colleagues a good communication will work it  out, resolve some issues to maintain a positive environment Gaining and Sharing Information, We need to gain information in the work settings not only with children, young peoples and their families but also with colleagues and other professionals. The information that we gain and share will help us in a way that we work. In the nursery, there was a child with asthma, the teacher and parents give me information about his condition and what to do during emergency, with that it helps me how to deal with the child and provide his needs. If a child has special needs a professional will come and asses the child, your information about the daily routine and behaviour of the child will be needed. Example of this was in the nursery there was a child with a statement for speech and language therapy, the chid sees his speech therapist and got some key words to practice every day, the speech therapist will provide us with a copy of the Childs keywords so that in the nursery we ask the child to practice those words every day. We gain information from the speech therapist about the words the child needs to practice and we share the feedback on how the Childs getting on with it. If a child has allergy, medications will be needed to be shared between parents and nursery staffs. In planning activities and making a child’s learning journey the teacher would like to know your observations , assessments with some children, any good work, likes and dislikes etc. In the end of the day ,nursery staff shares information to the parents regarding how their child has been, example when the teacher has given an activity, an information will be shared regarding how the child coping with the activities and the outcome of it. Gaining reassurance and acknowledgement With working with children and young people, we praise them if they have done good work good behaviour, this will make them proud of what they’re doing and continue the good work or behaviour. When talking to children , parents or colleagues, providing them eye contact or taking interest of what they say would give them reassurance and acknowledgement. We communicate to give reward to good work. A child who has been kind and sharing to his friends will have a smile and sticker from us, this acknowledge that what the child did was really good. Expressing needs and feelings As human beings we all need to express our needs and feelings without doing these it leads to frustration and isolation. A baby knows how to express their needs and feelings by crying or pointing to the object. A child in the nursery will tell a teacher or support staff if he is hungry thirsty, sad, frustrated, happy etc with this we can give their needs. Every day we communicate with children, they tell us if they are upset or if somebody has upset them we solve these issues with proper communication. We talk about our feelings as young children they still are developing to control their emotions, if a child is angry and hurting other children we give the child a timeout and after the time out we talk to them pointing out that its ok to be angry but it’s not ok to hurt other children and if next time he feels angry again, encourage the child to tall a teacher rather than acting out of the Childs anger. We express our needs and expectation to a child, if a child did a good work or behaviour we praise the child, â€Å"what you did today made me very happy†. We express our feeling and needs not only to a child but to other adults around as example children’s parents and our colleagues. Open communication within working environment is essential to maintain relationship. We communicate to understand and to be understood. Sharing Ideas and thoughts Humans have ideas that needs to be shared and thoughts that needs to be heard, example when we are doing Christmas party in our nursery, as a member of staff we put in our ideas and thoughts to this activity , having our ideas put in together we can come up with a brilliant fun party. In planning activities, communication is important to share your brilliant ideas, and if you got some expertise you can share them among other staff, and if you got some weakness other staff can help you. Parents ideas are welcome we welcome then by means of verbal communication or written communication example of this is a suggestion box we provide for parents . CYP 3.5-1.1,2.2 Children- Positive relationship with children is important so that the children will feel safe secure, happy, relax and will have trust in their carer in nursery. Positive relationship is the main ingredient for you to work with children, young people and their families. A relax , comfortable  and happy child can learn more effectively .We can built and maintain it by setting some rules and boundaries with the children, resolve issues with the children and parents if there’s any. Positive relationship with children can be built by asking how the child feeling, what play interest them, listening to them also by showing them good example as they learn through example, be a role model. Young people – Positive relationship with teenager is important for them to give their trust and with that you can work with them effectively. You can maintain and build it by listening and respecting their opinions, know their interest. Deal with issues with sensitivity, honesty and openness and make sure you give feedback. For instance if a young people shared an important information about themselves, show that you are interested by giving eye contact when they speak , body gestures, facial expression so that felt that they have been acknowledge and their ideas being valued. If a young people had shared some problems deal with it with an appropriate manner and made sure you give them appropriate feedback without judging them. Don’t pressure them to do things they don’t want to do, respect the young people’s opinion even if it contradicts your opinion. Parents/carers- Positive relationship with parents and carers is important so that we can build a trust and open relationship with them and with that partnership both school and home can work effectively and support the child’s development. In a nursery setting communication between parents and staff is important every day, so if there are any issues it could be resolve with open and honest communication. We can maintain positive relationship by being welcoming to the parent’s warm and friendly ready to listen to their concern. If a parent had opinions respects it and include parent’s ideas in planning their child’s learning journey. Good relationship with parents means a lot of support they give to our settings example parents voluntarily help during field trip, donation money for more books or anything for the children’s activity. Staff can also learn from parent’s expertise such as baking, etc. Agencies and Professionals –Positive relationship with agencies and professionals important as we work alongside with them as some children needs them. For example a speech therapist will work together with the teacher and staff in providing and giving the child information on how to help his speech development. In my work setting one child has keys words from his speech therapist and he needs to practice those key words every  day, so we communicate with the speech therapist about what the child needs what words he needs to practice. If a child has behavioural issues we can ask for help to the agencies and professionals as they are expert in that field. In the nursery we invited the community police officer to give the children an overview of what they do and how they can help. The children learn many interesting things about a community police officer and they even met a police dog which made the children very happy. SHC 31-1.2 Explain verbal communication and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication Verbal communication is simply the communication that is expressed through words. What you say is verbal communication. What you don’t say is nonverbal communication, example on nonverbal communications are physical gestures, facial expression, body language. Verbal communication example When a child comes to me and say â€Å" can i please go to the toilet†- the child using words and sound that’s verbal communication while non verbal communication is when a child needs a toilet , comes to me a, and just pointed the door of the toilet. The child using body language to say he wants to go to the toilet. I didn’t hear anything no sound produced but still sending the message. How to deal professionally with differences and disagreements As we work with our colleagues we may have different opinions and personality that may cause differences and disagreements to deal with it as a member of a team we should learn how to compromise, accept, listen and respect to other ideas, be diplomatic in everything you say and do, respect each other’s opinion and be discretional. If the there have been misunderstanding or have not used appropriate tone or style or communication a prompt and sincere apology can diffuse situations. When there is disagreements it is best to talk about it in a calm manner, in appropriate place and having a mediator will help. If there are any disagreements with my colleagues or children parents, I will diplomatically discuss and talk the issues with the person I had disagreements with in a proper place and time with sensitivity, tact and with open mindless. I will ask if there anything I did that made somebody upset, and I will apologise if there’s  any. If after trying to reconcile with the person I had disagreements with and there’s still an issue, I will forward it to our deputy head teacher, he the one dealing with issues among staff. Dealing with people with speech difficulties In dealing with people with speech difficulties we can use visual aids; this means we can use pictures to point things out. We can use strong body language facial expression, and hand gestures or learn sign language. The best way to help a child with speech problems is to give them constant support. Support alone can be tremendous in boosting their confidence, which will in turn help their speech. There was a child I was working with that stutters, so when that child speaks to me I listen and give that child time to finish what he/she saying without interrupting. We Avoid corrections or criticisms such as â€Å"slow down,† â€Å"take your time,† or â€Å"take a deep breath.† These comments, however well-intentioned, will only make the child feel more self-conscious. We make talking fun for that child let that child express and talk in his own time and pace. Different language Different language can be dealt with by body language, facial expression and good eye contact. We can use translation and interpreting services. In my working setting I am dealing with a child who cannot speak English as she was from other country, I dealt with it by providing pictures of our daily routines and a strong body language, and facial expressions. Working alongside with translation and interpreting service I had documents to the basic words of the child language, example, hello, good morning. In my work setting we have a child that comes from different country and don’t even speak English, I support that child during dinner time; I use pictures and strong body language to let her understand the rules during dinner time. I asked other child to be a model a good example to her, I reminded the children â€Å"this is how we line up properly, and we need to show our new friend how to stay in line†. During library times I let her choose a book and she was pointing at the pictures of the book telling me the story using her own language. I acknowledge the child and gave her smile and a sticker for sharing the book in her language. A strong facial expression that I am happy . SHC 31-2.2 Environment/Location, it is important to think about location to communicate effectively, it is easier to exchange personal communication when the location is quite and calm. Example of this is when you are talking to a parent about their child’s school performance, you find a quite room, away from the other children, usually the meeting room provided in school and discuss about the matter. When working with children, like reading stories you have to be in a familiar place provided a book area in the nursery, a calm and quiet place and cosy so they could listen effectively. You can’t effectively read stories to a child if you are in a noisy area or a place with lots of distraction. In circle time we gather all the children in the carpet big enough for them to sit down, then before talking we made sure the children sat still and quite. Appropriate place is needed when sharing private information; other people might only want to share the information to you. Exchange information – when changing information, appropriate place is needed, when communicating you should have good eye contact appropriate body gestures/ facial expression and be clear and concise so the information you are sharing is well understood by the receiver. Allow the receiver to clarify your information like asking questions and giving feedback. A good example of this is when the teacher will ask you to do some task with the children. You as a receiver will ask questions to clarify what the teacher ask you to do and how many children involve and the learning objectives. As a parent if you ask the nursery provider to continue your child’s medication, you tell the staff what medicine, what time and how much your child needs to give a clear instruction you can write it one piece of paper. Body language as a communicator is it important to be sensitive to the body language between you and the person you’re communicating with. A child who sucks their thumb may be indicating he is nervous or tired while the adult who are tapping their fingers on the desk sends out â€Å"I’m bored† or â€Å"I’m frustrated† signal. Crossed arms are usually interpreted as meaning you are irritated or unsure whereas open body language-hands on the side, for example-may signal that someone is feeling relaxed. We should avoid crossing our arms when talking to everyone as it may make the atmosphere tense. Facial expression is a strong element of communication and we can show how  we feel through our faces. If a child has done something good we show we are happy by showing a smile, we can’t say â€Å"very good† with a sad face. With working with young children it is important to show high level of facial expression so they can interpret what we are saying of to help them maintain interest. With adults it is important to show that we are taking in what they are saying and we are interested or trying to convey. When communicating to a parent, keeping body language open and relax is a good way to show professionalism and when a challenging situation it helps eases the tension. Smiling is important to show warmth and peace. Smiling when you first meet the parents and children is important to make them feel relax and secure and this will start a positive relationship. SHC 31-3.2 Environment – it can be a barrier to effective communication when the location is noisy, very warm room or not the appropriate place to share information. Example if you are trying to talk to a friend about your problems, you need an appropriate place so others can’t listen, with a conversation to be flowing you need to have a quite noise level, with too much noise you won’t be able to hear each other. If you are telling a story to a group of children you have to make sure the room not too cold or too warm, the children are comfortable and no distractions such as noise so they will listen, they are more likely to be distracted if they aren’t comfortable. Culture and family background-it can be a barrier to effective communication because different culture and family background affects the way people use the methods of communication. Example in different countries eye contact may not be as common in some cultures or may be interpreted differently. People in different countries has different language, with this barrier we have translation and interpreting service. In the Philippines, communicating with the elders has a different way to show respect and politeness example of this is adding â€Å"po† and â€Å"opo† to the end of every sentence. Family background makes a difference and every family has its own way of communication. Some children will have to hear swearing at home others may be hearing more than language. Some children may be vibrant and noisy. Disabilities is a barrier to effective communication, some people cannot speak, hear or some don’t have mental ability to understand but this barrier have lots of ways to deal with, lots of communication methods such as Makaton. Makaton uses signs, symbols and speech to help people communicate. Signs are used, with speech, in spoken word order. This helps provide extra clues about what someone is saying. Using signs can help people who have no speech or whose speech is unclear. Using symbols can help people who have limited speech and those who cannot, or prefer not to sign. Today over 100,000 children and adults, use Makaton symbols and signs. Most people start using Makaton as children then naturally stop using the signs and symbols as they no longer need them. However, some people will need to use Makaton for their whole lives.( http://www.makaton.org/aboutMakaton/) Babies and children’s communication are still limited, visual images including pictures and photographs can help them communicate but also understand what we are saying. Example of this is in our classroom setting everything has signs and labels with pictures on it, they have pictures of their daily routine and pictures of their pegs etc. We have speech and language services to help us find ways in communicating with children and young people. Blind or visually impaired people can access written communication by using Braille. Confidence and self-esteem is a barrier to effective communication when a person is not confident to speak out or express his feelings and thoughts and is not confident to share his ideas or give feedback. Some people shy away from direct face to face contact .Being unable to adequately express your emotions or ideas causes a lowered sense of self-esteem because you keep your feelings trapped inside. This can be extremely frustrating and can cause feelings of depression and isolation. People with low self-esteem generally have less satisfying relationships and more social difficulties than people with a healthy level of self-esteem. Working with children in the nursery, we always encounter shy children specially when it’s their first day in nursery, we deal with this by approaching (being warm and friendly)a child not pressuring the child to speak , and being attentive to a child’s body language so we can give what he needs or what he’s feeling. In circle time some children like to speak out some are shy and would rather share his ideas privately, we can encourage every child to speak and listen by passing a toy around giving them instruction that if they are holding the toy it’s their time to share their ideas. Children that are shy and refuse  to speak will be encouraged but he won’t be pressured to do it, in time he is ready and comfortable to speak out he will do it on his own time. Lack of literacy and ICT knowledge is a barrier to effective communication because some people can’t read or write, some people don’t have access to computers, some doesn’t know how to use computers. We should not make assumptions that all people can access their emails, text or can read English or find it easy to write. We deal with it by asking somebody how you’d like to receive information, such as newsletters in the nursery. With this we know who send emails with. With those people who can’t read and write we can ask extra support how to transfer the message to them or might be some prefer to receive message by phone calls. Use appropriate language when communicating with a person we should know who we are communicating with so we can use appropriate language. When communicating with children we should use simple and clear language. We should be a role model; we should speak clearly and use appropriate facial expression and body language to avoid misunderstanding. As a role model we should avoid swearing in front of children as they can easily pick up these things. We should talk to children with respect as we expect them to respect us. When communicating with parents we should always be tact polite and professional even in a difficult situation. Misunderstanding can happened easily if we don’t use appropriate language, if this happens an apology will do. SHC 31-41, 4.3 Confidentiality is a set of rules keeping certain information secret or private in order to respect people’s rights. Example of confidentially are as follows,  Before taking photographs of children in the nursery, there should be a parent consent usually signed by parents, some parents doesn’t want photographs of their children displayed for safety reasons. Working with children at work, should not be discussed with a close friend or any person who has nothing to do with a child. All written information that relates to a child should be kept securely, example of this children’s work. Information should not be shared to other person if somebody who is not the parent of the child asking for it always check with the parent and ask for consent. Data protection act 1998 the keeping of records, storing of data and passing of information is actually strictly regulated by the data protection act 1998. The act covers both paper-based and electronic records. The act is designed to prevent confidential and personal information from being passed on without a person’s consent. This act originally applied only to information that was stored on computers but it has been updated to include any personal information that is stored, whether paper or electronically. Example of this are the information such as name , address, date of birth, telephone number or any relevant information to our setting should not be shared to other people, it should be stored in a proper place where it’s safe , this act applies as well to computer data. If some random person ask for the child’s address, as the data protection act we are not allowed to give this information to that person. The Freedom of Information Act The Freedom of Information Act gives you the right to ask any public sector organisation for all the recorded information they have on any subject. Anyone can make a request for information – there are no restrictions on your age, nationality or where you live. If you ask for information about yourself, then your request will be handled under the Data Protection Act. Organisations you can request information from You can request information from publicly funded organisations that work for the welfare of the whole population, eg: †¢government departments †¢local councils †¢schools, colleges and universities †¢health trusts, hospitals and doctors’ surgeries †¢publicly funded museums †¢the police †¢non-departmental public bodies, committees and advisory bodies Government departments post responses to freedom of information requests online. You can search through previous responses. View the full list of public authorities covered by the Freedom of Information Act. You can contact an organisation directly by letter or email to make a freedom of information (FOI) request. When making your request, you should include: †¢your name †¢an address where you can be contacted †¢a detailed description of the recorded information you want You have certain rights to environmental information under the Environmental Information Regulations. For example, you can request information about air or water quality, noise and waste as well as any policies, decisions or activities that could affect them. (https://www.gov.uk) Paper based information are stored in a file cabinet, a room usually next to the reception office, it is usually lock and you ask the secretary or the head teacher if you want to access them. SHC 31- 41,4.3 Atmosphere in the setting would create a tension and this would impact the relationship and the development of children Concerns regarding child’s welfare, tensions arise when a parent doesn’t feel secure or lack of trust to the people looking after their child or the other way around such as abuse. To deal with this tension, it’s important to build a good relationship, respect and open communication between parent and carer and must work together for the best care of a child. As a staff, if a parent has problems or concerns about her child it it’s important to deal with it with calmness and follow the procedures laid down in the setting regarding such situations. Pass information directly and quickly to the person in another organisation that has responsibility for dealing such concern. Confidentially should be retained, other staff, parents etc will not necessarily know anything about the concerns that have been raised. Where a child or young person is suspected of committing abuse, example of this is in form of bullying, biting or hitting. This tension could affect children involved and the parents and carer. To deal with this is to refer the schools, or the settings policy with regard to bullying or any abuse committed by the young person. Follow the schools or nurseries Behavioural management, explain to the children what acceptable behaviour and deal with it calmly, or report it to your manager or head teacher. For instance of a child in our nursery scratched another child’s face, we deal with it by giving the child who scratched another child face a time out, usually 3 mins for their age 3-4 years old, after that we talk to the child, explain that  what he done is not acceptable behaviour and let the child understand why, and let him apologise to the child he hurt. Later on we inform the child’s parent about their child action. With the child who has been hurt we deal with it by comforting the child, if there’s a mark we let somebody who is a first aid have a look, then file an accident form. We inform the parent about the incident but not revealing the identity of the child who hurt their child. We ensure that parents that the incident has been dealt with and will investigate further so it won’t happen again. Staff member witnessing another abusing a child or young person, when this happens this will create tension in the setting it is important to report it to the safeguarding officer directly. If ever I witness another staff member abusing a child or a young person I will report it immediately to the safeguarding officer so the case will be look into. To maintain confidentially I won’t spread what I witness to other staff or any person who has nothing to do with the situation. Where a crime has been committed we have partnership with other organisations to safe guard children and young people. Example scenario of this when a child confides in you that he/she is being abuse; you can deal with it by telling your safeguarding officer about it or your line manager and maintain confidentiality. Disclose something if you think the child in danger, you will be doing the best for the child if you disclose such information of a sensitive nature even if you feel you are breaking a confidence. Follow your setting’s regarding disclosure of abuse. Parents should have seen your settings child protection policy which will state that information will be disclose if it is deemed that a child is in any danger.

Future of Electronic Commerce Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Future of Electronic Commerce Technology - Essay Example It allows manufacturers to buy at a low cost worldwide, and it offers enterprises the chance to sell at a global market right from the start. The major change it has gone through since the past 5 years is the growing market opportunity it has provided to the developing countries. E-commerce has helped them enter the prosperous global market place, and so it has helped reduce the gap between rich and poor countries. In the upcoming era the B2B e-commerce would create new and better job opportunities and placements and would be expected to grow at double the rate it is growing today. B2C (Business to Consumer) e-commerce, despite of all the benefits of new technology along with a lot of media attention, is still in its early stages. The reason behind the slow growth of B2C e-commerce is those threats and vulnerabilities that lead to critical security measures in this respect and are creating new risks and hypes for consumers as well as retailers. There is a need to secure online services along with the factor of "availability" as most shoppers prefer to travel umpteen distances rather than to do discounted shopping online, just because of the threat of security issues like hacking, stealing or losing their credit card numbers. This means there is a desperate need to update the security measures of e-commerce and if the issue resolves to some extent, there would be a drastic change in the slow performance of B2C e-commerce in the next 5-10 years. In this respect the upcoming technology would focus more on the client side security than on ordinary security measures. The information would be more protected and secured between the customer's system and the server, which would be seen as an outcome in the form of enhanced retailing and wholesaling. The security issues would be resolved and the threat to hack would be minimized resulting in the benefits of new technology not limited to only e-commerce companies. Consumers would also be empowered with the ability to counter many of the current micro-marketing tools. If the success of online dynamic pricing rests on the asymmetry of information between consumers and retailers, new technology may hold the promise of "blowing" such asymmetries to "bits" (Philip & Thomas, 2000). The explosion of shopping comparison Web sites and the prevalence of "shopping bots" used by consumers to track competitive prices are just two examples of how technology can be used by consumers to combat the potentially exploitive practices of dynamic pricing. (Jason, 2000) The Internet has already revolutionized the world of Investment and finance. E-commerce has enabled online stock trading to be done online by just logging on to the website and making a few key strokes along with few clicks of mouse to identify the stock and number of shares involved in the transaction, one can buy and sell securities in seconds. Several trading platforms has been built in order to revolutionize the concept of stocks and trading, e-commerce has enabled a common man to engage in any type of online business which in the other case had not been possible. However the major issue to be considered behind the spectrum of online trading is

What are the problem with the Aral sea Research Paper

What are the problem with the Aral sea - Research Paper Example Aral is translated in Kazakh to mean â€Å"island†. These islands form one important highway referred as the Silk Road, which lead all the way from Asia to Europe (STONE, 1999). In the recent years, Aral has attracted the world attention following its great degradation, a factor that has been termed one of the worst man-made disasters of this age. Currently, this sea is ranked the eighth largest after dropping four steps down from its previous fourth position. The problems experienced today are traced back to moves made in the past that saw water from rivers Syrdarya and Amudarya diverted for use in irrigation. Consequently, the sea underwent serious shrinkage that altered the climate and thus livelihood of many people whom once dependent on these sea. General Problem Background The period marking 1960s experience a robust increase in irrigation activities, this in turn posed serious implications on Aral ecosystem. Such is the case that the Amudarya delta that is situated on t he southern side of the sea formed a significant irrigation area approximated to cover about 28,000 sq. km. This area was used in the production of cotton and rice considered the most lucrative crops in the region. Following the onset of cold war, this region was set apart by former U.S.S.R to serve as a land that would offer freedom from the west. Although considered less productive, the planners never considered the possible desertification occurrence. Today, the Aral Sea faces a risk of vanishing after it retreated more than 100 km from its initial boundaries. People visiting this place will come across fishing boats abandoned and other marine equipment scattered all over the place. In addition, the area is marked by dusty plains that were once covered with water (Pala, 2005). The area began experiencing the negative effects after the water quantity diminished significantly to cause a rise in salinity. Consequently, the highly saline environment proved toxic to fishes and other w ildlife living in the sea. The first case of this drastic rise in salinity was reported between 1970 and 1974, when it was insinuated to have risen from 12 – 14 percent. By early 1980s, the salinity level stroked a 23 percent mark, a factor that left close to 60, 0000 people jobless due to reduction in fish. This period marked the end of commercial fishing and many other related businesses. Further reports insinuate that 200 species of the known 500 species of birds existing in the region have perished in the last four decades. As it is now, waters from Syrdarya in the north and Amudarya in the south hardly reach the sea, thanks to the heavy diversions to cater for the many irrigation activities in the region. The period between 1960 and 1995 realized a great decrease in the sea’s surface area following a loss of about three quarters of the total water volume (Pala, 2006).This also marked a significant reduction in the water depth which is placed at 19 meters. Another significant damage relates to NE winds that are said to blow off salty dust from the sea to area close and far. This process has been linked to transfer of millions of tons of salt dust every year. Such is the case that aerosols are blown into higher layers forming the atmosphere, which later spread across the globe (Glantz, 1999).This is true, as evidence gathered from Antarctic penguin showed traces of pesticides used in the Aral region. This dust forms from mixtures of agricultural chemicals and the frequently used fertilizer considered toxic to both humans and animals. In this region, the salt and pesticide used find its way deep into the ground water, a

Paper #1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Paper #1 - Essay Example I am interested in ‘straight’ sex. For example, â€Å"The Invention of Heterosexuality† interested me. I never realized that sexual identity had to do with the progressing cultures. What is acceptable today would have had you locked up in earlier times. Everyone knows heterosexuality started with Adam and Eve (Katz). I know I am heterosexual. The thought of being with a girl makes me uneasy. However I cannot show too much interest due to my fear of Brooke’s disapproval and my ultra preppy crowd’s opinion. I am interested in Freud’s psychosexual stages. The oral, anal, and genitalia stages made sense. I never thought that everyone is sexual at all ages, but I guess it is true. The sexual theories of Kinsey were boring. I do not need an answer to why my body reacts to Nathan. It just does. The science behind sex is useless. Chemistry just happens is my theory. I was extremely bored during this part of the reading. I walked away with a general understanding of the science behind sex, but Kinsey’s whole concept escaped me. The whole sex thing makes me uneasy. This topic is icky to me. I just wish I could be more comfortable with my sexuality at least as comfortable as my friends Brooke, Nathan, Rafe, Trenton, and our group. Maybe when I have sex with Nathan I will understand what it is all about. Being heterosexual or straight is not a choice for me. I feel attracted to boys. I have always been turned on by images of men. Nathan especially turns me on. Lately when I am around him all I think about is his physical presence. His smooth chest makes me want to touch it. His lips make me want to kiss and explore them. I have chalked all this up to hormones. It seems natural. Heterosexuality is my sexual identity. I have never thought about another girl. Since being with another girl makes me sick, I guess heterosexuality is for me. Gays and lesbians do not fit in with my crowd. No one at Acadia is openly homosexual.

Assesment, evaluation and feedback Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Assesment, evaluation and feedback - Essay Example The essay process can be quiet expensive on time but fulfils all the functions of assessment, on the other hand, seminar presentation is time saving and can fulfill the key functions of assessment even though they do not determine the student’s final grades. There is always the possibility that the assessments do not achieve their purpose, or the suitable method for assessment is being disregarded. Exercise 1 Assessment vs. Evaluation Assessment and evaluation are two terms that in majority cases are used interchangeably to mean the same thing, but in reality both terms do not seriously mean the same thing. Assessment is a classroom inquiry procedure to supply useful feedback in development better teaching and learning. Evaluation on the other hand, is concerned with grading and evaluating students’ degree of understanding, by using various methods and measures. The main difference is the direction of feedback; for assessment feedback is from students to instructor whil e in evaluation, the feedback is from the instructor to students. Assessment has four basic principles; Reliability, Validity, Relevance & transferability, and Criterion vs. Norm referenced assessment. These principles are usually used in various practices/classes of assessment. Assessment is grouped into six classes namely: informal and formal, formal usually involves written documents while informal is more of casual and may include portfolio assessment, rubrics and observations. External and internal, internal usually set and marked by the teachers of the school while external is set by a governing body and marked by unbiased professionals, Traditional assessment, Authentic, Standardized and finally ongoing assessment. Evaluation mainly deals with combined results for the reason of grading appraising and judging. Donald Kirkpatrick is a writer that has with several books talking about training and evaluation. One of his books published in 1959 Evaluating training Programs is bein g used widely across the world. The book’s theory was later updated into the four levels of evaluation (1998). These four essential levels in an evaluation model measure; the students’ reaction towards the training, the learning in terms of capability and knowledge acquired improvement in behavior, and finally the impact of the trainee’s performance on the business. As much as these two techniques; evaluation and assessment, possess different characteristics in the normal setting it would be hard to differentiate them. Exercise 2 There are quite a number of evaluation approaches just to mention a few; public relations, experimental research, testing programs, client centered, content analysis, policy studies, connoisseur and many others. In Aesthetics, we deal with nature and appreciation of art, beauty and taste. The best approach to conduct evaluations in this field is through connoisseur as this approach is characterized by conducting vastly developed profici ency on the subject of interest. It also works towards appraising, decisively describe and illuminate an object. Another appropriate approach in this field is the client centered because in this approach, the students are encouraged to carry their own evaluations. Assessment techniques Classroom

Constructing Narratives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Constructing Narratives - Essay Example Therefore, in order to enhance their narrative construction, ELL students need to be aware of various elements of language use. This paper will consider the function of storytelling in facilitating the ELL’s capacity to construct narratives, describing the various ways in which storytelling enhances these students’ capacity to recount events. This paper will also examine what ELL students need to be aware of regarding language use so as to enhance their construction of written and oral narrative. All over the world, people convey stories to their children. Storytelling is a universal action, which is perhaps the most dominant kind of discourse. Through making use of stories and storytelling, ELLs having different beliefs and religious and cultural backgrounds can exist harmoniously in the classroom environment. Storytelling and stories essentially provide students from different religious, cultural and linguistic backgrounds an effective mechanism for appreciating their world, connecting both with their cultures, as well as the cultures of other students and expressing themselves effectively to others (Diaz-Rico & Weed, (2006). The essence of storytelling is a communicative device, which requires the storyteller and listener to work together collaboratively as transmitters and receivers of both ideas and thoughts. Therefore, in the context of an ELL classroom, storytelling is a means of communication, which allows student storytellers and listeners to share, combine and exchange their experiences in order to create associations and connections. Storytelling helps construct narratives by teaching ELLs about life, about themselves and about other students. Storytelling creates cultural understanding, which, in turn, enhances the students’ capacity to explore various aspects of their lives, thereby creating narratives based on their cultural roots. Within the context of constructing narrative, storytelling allows ELLs gain insights into variou s values and traditions and consider new ideas. Furthermore, storytelling enhances children’s capacities to empathize with unfamiliar situations and places. The development of narrative is also possible through storytelling because stories enable children to reveal their commonalities and differences in the cultures represented in the ELL classroom, particularly by enabling children to open up with regard to their cultural roots. Storytelling and stories also promote narrative creation among ELLs by promoting students’ relaxation and overall well-being (Bruner, 2002). This is primarily because storytelling enhances the willingness of ELL students to communicate their feelings and thoughts. This, in turn, enhances the construction of narrative. Additionally, stories and storytelling encourage ELLs to participate actively in all aspects of their classrooms and lessons, for instance, the construction of narrative, particularly with regard to verbal narrative. Overall, mos t stories involve the explanation of various actions taken by the storyteller to achieve a certain result (Craig, Hull, Haggart & Crowder, 2001). As a consequence, storytelling typically entails an extensive use of words for recounting purposes. In essence, storytelling within the ELL classroom helps ELL students enhance their verbal proficiency, thereby enhancing their narrative capabilities. In addition, stories have

Question set 4-6 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Question set 4-6 - Assignment Example The project management system enables users to easily see that resources are applied to the right tasks at the right time. It assists managers to make sure that they have allocated ample time to the employees for the success of the project (R.Drew 2009). Project management system enables assigning of tasks which can be declined or accepted by the managers depending on whether they have the time and resources to perform the tasks. This in turn provides team work since one is not assigned tasks they cannot or do not what to perform. It also ensures that there is no overlap in resource assignment (R.Drew 2009). A project sponsor is the link between the project team and the organisation executive team. They own the project and have the ultimate responsibility for seeing that the intended benefits are realized to create the value of forecast in the business case (L. Bourne 2012). An escalation process ensures that the next level of management is informed periodically, if an issue cannot be resolved by the project manager. Examples of some of the issues that are usually escalated are resource conflicts; this is where during projects people are pulled out to go and assist resolve problems in their day to day work areas threatening the projects ability to meet its schedule. Another example is when the project team realizes that late in the project, there are issues with the project’s main deliverables and the team believes that the issue cannot be corrected within the original time (efor_blog 2009). The escalation process should be defined at the beginning of the project by setting expectations as to how certain issues will be raised to the project sponsor during the project to avoid conflict between the project team and the project sponsor. The project team should keep track of the issues, regularly reviewing them and determining their significance, so that teams see which should be escalated. This can

Wireless and Mobile Technologies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Wireless and Mobile Technologies - Assignment Example Basically, one can develop a mobile technology on mobile technology on a mobile device or on a computer to develop another mobile technology. For example, WAP is a mobile technology, and so are the mobile applications and SMS and mobile websites etc. These technologies are utilized by organizations in different ways so as to improve their efficiency. They are utilized by organizations so as to realize an unprecedented connectivity level between employees, customers, and/or vendors. Employees are able to download applications on their phones that enable them to connect via social media like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or the organization may utilize web-site based applications so as to facilitate for direct communication with their customers in different ways. Real-time communication in very important in realizing business benefits, like improved customer service, efficient use of staff time, and a range of products and services delivered (Smyth, et al. 2004). Because of the interactive nature of these technologies, organizations are able to get urgent feedback on products and services from their customers through sharing of information through this medium.Rapid development and business research are some of the results of efficient wireless communication technology. Besides, it offers a competitive advantage to firms in their different industries hence increased productivity and quality of output. In this respect, consumer community is also made to have a feeling of having a direct role in the development of a company. Mobile technology introduced fresh ways of product promotion and advertisements. There are apps incorporated in the mobile phones which enhance people’s awareness on various goods and services and market trends which effectively offer companies platform to promote diverse brands. Besides, prospective customers are able to read the required information by the individual on his/her mobile phone and it

Managing crisis in Nigeria Oil Sector Case Study

Managing crisis in Nigeria Oil Sector - Case Study Example held their gang members captive. Buerk rejects prospects to evaluate the classified descriptions other concluding remarks: that Shell "make worse conflict" through the issuing of stipends and contracts to those folks who live around delta as well as the offering of stay-at-home-benefits" for disoriented teenagers. The absentia of answerability promotes residents to wage war against Shell, and the whole scenario is abject pandemonium; feuds emerge in towering propositions, the rationale has always been to control a share of the proceeds coming from oil. On the extreme end felony has been propagated through version in the astringent development as well as the compensating through rescue, hence making felony a lucrative, money-spinning game. That Shell's Corporate Social function was flawed and no sooner than soon will it wither. The community living around delta lives under debilitating conditions despite the vast wealth generated from oil fields. Lay blame on oil companies that conspire with Nigeria's regime to drum up divisions flanking rival societal clusters in a move to annihilate oil proceeds from reaching them. Statements of Problem The oil predicament in Nigeria fastidiously what is happening around Niger delta has attracted so much prose writings from historians, political analysts, news media commentators, and many more. And yet less stands to be documented on the functions of the corporate organizations with a global presence; in reference to Shell and their role in establishing a ceasefire flanking the alarming parties of the remote setting, the regime and the Multi National Corporations. This study will endeavor to unearth the function and impact of the strategy as well as decision making by transnational administrators in containing the Oil predicament in Nigeria. Objectives the Study To decisively review the rationale for the existing disaster in terms of partners in the Nigeria oil industry. To inspect the observation of executives in the Nigeria oil commerce with a view to establish their belief on the oil predicament as well as the preeminent channels to resolving the same. To recognize resolutions and originate an approach for solving disaster. To discover key issues and make recommendations to government and industry for the execution of tactic. The Oil Crisis in Nigeria Rationale for the existing predicament Partners in the Nigeria oil Territory: Shell as a case in mind The oil pandemonium witnessed in Nigeria I presented with intricate truth of the Niger Delta- society discontentment, frail and a regime that does not respond to the needs of the people, safekeeping force mistreatments and inter-neighborhood aggression. The case of the environment In responding to allegations,

Einstein- Rosen Essay Example for Free

Einstein- Rosen Essay According to physicists worm holes which are also referred to as bridge of Einstein- Rosen are space time topological features that primarily create shortcut through time and space. A wormhole has a minimum of two mouths linked together by a single throat. Matter travels from mouth to mouth through the connecting throat. Wormholes that are intra universe links locations universe, by simply bending the space time and by allowing travel between different locations of the universe at a faster rate than light could take in order to cover the same distance through the normal space (McElwee, Para 2). Wormhole theory has been proven through the use of radio waves which are capable of detecting the wormholes. The white hole theory helps to explain the wormhole theory. The white hole is opposite of the black hole, whereas the black hole eats matter up the white hole splits it up. The wormhole acts like a tunnel that connects the black hole to the white hole. Since the existence of black holes and white holes is proven by use of radio waves to detect them, then the wormholes also exists to link them through a tunnel (Sexton, Para 4). The wormholes are also commonly referred to as Schwarzschild wormholes; they are bridges which are merely theoretical between space areas that are speculated to be in between the white holes and the black holes linking two universes. They only exists in equations especially those of Einstein. According to the equations the wormholes are found to be very unstable and would in fact fall instantly, the moment they are created. Other speculation also exists explaining that quasars are in fact white holes and not black holes which are super massive (McElwee, Para 5). It is not possible for the wormholes to exist since it is in fact impossible for a traveler to pass through the wormholes since it is not possible to pass a horizon in single direction. If non exotic matter form the traveler, then the moment they reach at the middle of the wormhole then it is impossible to leave through the other side and again it is not possible to leave using the entry route since the entry side must have been a black hole, this therefore, means that nothing can manage to escape once it has entered into the radius of the Schwarzschild. Thus the wormholes do not exist and are only a fiction feature and they can only be proven by theories with no practical to prove their existence (Sexton, Para 5). Black holes are basically deformation of the continuum of space time that appears once there is an explosion of a star in the scale of supernova with its remains becoming the black holes and neutron of stars. The gravitational force pulling the black holes is very powerful and cannot even be withstood by thousands of sun’s masses. The white holes on the other hand are opposite to the black holes. Their work is to split matter into smaller pieces instead of eating as it is the case for the black holes (McElwee, Para 7). Theoretically the white holes are reverse to the black holes; their being is implied by a solution of square root which is taken to be negative of the metric to the Schwarzschild. This metric is basically based on the time symmetry of general relativity. This implies that the best definitions of white holes which can be taken to be technical are primarily black holes running in the reverse direction. This is location of space time which is not possible to reach instead of failing to escape (Kruglinski, Para 6). Conclusion The wormholes, black and white holes can only be explained theoretically even though it is possible to detect them by use of radio waves. Their existence therefore, remains theoretical as it is not supported by substantial practical evidence. But this cannot be taken to mean that they do not exist since more research work is being carried out and may be their existence might soon be revealed practically. Work cited: Kruglinski, Susan; Discover Interview the Man Who Imagined Wormholes and Schooled Hawking (2007): Retrieved on 3rd June 2009 from, http://discovermagazine. com/2007/nov/the-man-who-imagined-wormholes-and-schooled-hawking/article_view? b_start:int=2-C=. McElwee, Jim; Do wormholes exist? (2005): Retrieved on 3rd June 2009 from, http://www. unexplainable. net/artman/publish/article_2145. shtml. Sexton, Timothy; Do Wormholes Really Exist? (2009): Retrieved on 3rd June 2009 from, http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/1453128/do_wormholes_really_exist. html.

Investigation Of British Airways PLC Strategy

Investigation Of British Airways PLC Strategy Flying an extensive route network of more than 300 different destinations in more than 70 countries, with nearly 250 aircrafts in service, British Airways is today the largest airline in the UK and the leader in terms of transatlantic flights globally. They are a group mainly based in Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick and Manchester, where they operate international domestic scheduled air services for carriage of passengers, freight mail. In addition, British Airways is part of the oneworld alliance that together comprises 700 destinations. Founded in 1999, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Lan Airlines, Malà ©v, Qantas and Royal Jordanian are also members of this association. The establishment of this kind of business partnership benefits customers expanding their access to a much wider network of destinations. In terms of shareholding, for instance, the group has participation of 13.5% in the Spanish airline Iberia and 15% in Flybe. According to Key Note (2009), other British Airways ventures include a 10% stake in Eurostar (UK) Ltd as part of the InterCapital and Regional Rail alliance. BA also operates a number of subsidiaries and franchises organisations, for example, British Airways World Cargo, BA Cityflyer and OpenSkies. BAs financial overview defined by Key Note (2009) says that in the year ending in 31st March 2008, British Airways PLC increased its turnover to  £8.76bn from  £8.49bn in 2007. Pre-tax profit increased to  £922m in 2008 from  £611m in 2007. In the year ending 31st March 2009, turnover was up to  £8.99bn and there was pre-tax loss of  £401m. The companys annual report of 2009 describes in more details that 87.1% of this revenue is from passenger traffic, 7.5 % from cargo and 5.4 remains from other activities. The great financial results in the year that anticipated the credit crisis, a record of profitability in BAs history, left the company in a good position to a much harder period that should arrive in 2008/09. The airline industry Key Note (2009) considers Aviation an important sector of the economy, enabling people to visit countries it contributes to the development of other sectors and to warm the economy in general. It is a competitive field which has been recently affected by the low-cost companies, specially the scheduled flights market, where price pressure has being on emphasis influenced by short-term issues as, for instance, the economic recession, oil price fluctuation, government taxation and international environmental and health concerns. In accordance to Key Note, the number of companies on the air travel market significantly increased since 2004, the main reason to explain the expansion was the increasing operation of non-scheduled flights, which represented 48.7% of the overall total on that year and 63.9% in 2008. Even though the rising demand stopped in 2008, this period was a continuous growth for airline enterprises, companies were still able to operate revenues of  £18.25bn that year, which means an increase of 6% on 2007 figures. In summary, all the positive results are certainly a consequence of globalisation, the airline industry has an important role in this process as it stimulates tourism, global trade, foreign investments and therefore despite the recent economic recession it remains a large and growing industry. Environmental Influences Political and Legal There have been some major political issues since the start of the millennium, which have affected the airline industry and British Airways in particular. One specific event was the September 11th 2001 terrorist attack to the world trade centre in New York and the London attack on July 7th 2005, which have resulted in introducing new regulation and security procedures in European countries and the United States. The new regulations have come into effect in 2006 to try to combat the threat of terrorism and illegal immigration which have indirectly affected the buyers travelling confidence (BAs Annual Report). In addition, the 2003 war in Iraq and, the political situation in the same nation have contributed to drive oil prices high and therefore, higher cost of fuel for airline companies were experienced. In recent years, substantial deregulations like open skies agreement 2008, has given more opportunity to airlines and also had a great impact on the long-term business strategies in British Airways. In addition, there are some legal factors affecting BA which are as the results of trade unions power in the UK. British Airways has suffered significantly from the strikes over the last decades which are believed to be taken place under the implication of trade unions. The strikes are mainly concerned with the employee rights, environmental and ecological issues (Clarke, 2007). According to Key Note, from November 2009 the new Air Passenger Duty (APD) will be implemented increasing charges applied for every passenger flying from an UK airport. This measure is going to be based on distance and will make long flights significantly more expensive, which consequently might reduce overseas travellers demand. Moreover, increasing government taxation might affect competitiveness against other transports in the domestic market, as can be observed in the economic effects below. Economic With the economic downturn in 2008 the demand for air travel declined, this is due to the lower demand by business travellers as a cost reduction strategy of their organizations. Key Note defines the effects of the current recession as one of the worst experiences passed by the air travel trading market, specially occurred because of the incremental rising of oil price in the recent past years. Companies were vulnerable to surges in oil price, what could easily affect their trading and profitability. Even though it has fallen since the peak of nearly $150 a barrel during 2008, many companies were locked with fuel bills acquired through hedging into higher prices. Lastly, the financial impact caused by the global recession might persist until 2010/11. Apart from the economic downturn, according to features presented by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), in comparison to other forms of transport, the air travel industry had its prices increased by more than a third (34.3%) in 2008, against for instance, annual increases of 4.3% and 6.8% of road rail and sea, respectively (Key Note, 2009). Social As BA is a global organization operating in different countries it needs to consider different social and cultural factors. These factors are important as they can affect customer needs and the size of potential market. Nowadays, for example, the changes in demographics has changed the customers needs with new life styles, tastes and fashions, customers seek opportunities to go for long-haul destinations interested in new holidays places. Since 2001, after the terrorists attacks in the US, Great Britain did not suffer such decline in the percentage of adults travelling by air. In the year ending in March 2008 this percentage fell to a 3-year low of 47.3%, making it the first annual fall in 8 years (Key Note, 2009). Despite the fact that the domestic demand suffered a considerable decline, air travel is very popular among UK costumers and often the only way of transport to international destinations. International scheduled flights are mentioned by Key Note as the growth sector of the airline industry. In 2008, more than 83 million passengers represented 5.1% increase in demand for international travels, a considerable part of that can be attributed to the large volume of tourists visiting the UK even in a time of economic crisis. Following the same idea, although the industry expected a decline on the number of passengers uplifted until the end of 2009, this situation will be surely recovered from 2010. The UK is a leading tourist and business destination and a boost is forecast on 2012 when the London Olympics should provide a significant increasing on air travel, therefore the number of passengers uplifted is expected to jump from 123.5 million in 2009 to 134 million in 2013, according to Key Note. Finally, an issue that was recently observed in a global perspective was the spread of diseases such as the Swine Flu; such phenomenon might reduce travel and tourism, consequently affecting the airline performance. Technological BA is not different from any company of the 21st century. The aviation sector has grown together with the fast advances in high technology systems, and nowadays it is considerably dependent on its IT structure. At the same time IT is a defining agent in BAs strategic position contributing to various facilities that comprise customers high expectations and satisfaction; on the other hand BA is exposed to a great risk whether this system comes to a failure. Hence, it is extremely necessary that the organization prepares itself through prevention and recovery plans in order to minimize reputation impacts among customers in case of disruption. For example, different strategies (operational, commercial and social) mentioned in this report could not be possibly implemented if the technology was not available; actually this tool is essential for the company to follow the rise in customer needs as well as their competitors innovations. In the aviation industry, technology plays a significant role. Premium airlines want to serve the passenger a convenience journey, starting from the booking to the entertainment onboard, what can only be possible through incremental advances in IT solutions. In addition, efficient engines can consume less fuel and gives more mileage. It can reduce the cost and fulfil quality. BA is trying to minimize the average noise per flight it operates by 15% by 2015 with the use of new technology. Lastly, all the investments in technology helps air travel to remain as one of the safest modes of transport. Environmental Regarding environmental concerns, Key Note (2009) states that the EU is planning to include aviation as part of its emissions trading scheme, this can be considered a reaction to respond critics received for the reluctance of airlines in taking climate-change initiative. Cooperation between BA and Virgin proposes a carbon trading agreement; they are among other companies who volunteer to initiate a process to develop the emissions trading system to the airline industry. Because of the global warming, protection of environment has become a substantial issue for the organizations to consider. Today many of the airlines are trying to reduce CO2 emission and BA is one of them. BAs long term goal is to reduce the Carbon Dioxide by 50% by the year 2050. BA also aims at zero waste to the landfill by the end of 2010 in the UK and reuse or recycling of all the waste. To the airline industry, severe changes in weather conditions represent lost of revenue, things such as heavy snow might disrupt air schedule and lead to operations disruption. Industry Structure and Attractiveness Porters five forces model facilitates an analysis on the competitive environment as well as identifying the forces that affect the level of competition in the airline industry. Existing Competitive Rivalry in the Industry Air travel industry is a large industry with high speed of growth which results in creating more opportunity for competition. According to the annual report, BA faces fierce competition in most of its markets whereby different routs have different levels of competition. The high Competition in short-haul market comes from the free market for internal flights, where European airlines are allowed to choose any route within Europe and set its own fares. Additionally, the emergence of no frills companies like EasyJet and Ryan Air contributes further to the intense rivalry in the short-haul market. The longhaul market is significantly influenced by deregulation. Due to the EU-US Open Skies liberalisations, which allow any EU or US airline to operate flights to US from Heathrow, the competitive environment on transatlantic routes increased dramatically. However, there are few international routs with competition restricted to national airlines. Threat of Entry Most new comers to the airline industry would find it difficult to enter the market as it needs high investments to establish a competitive structure, for example, an aircraft fleet covering the airlines route network. Over the last decade, however, there were a number of newcomers within the low-cost niche; EasyJet and Ryan Air in the European market have dominated the segment. Established airlines, while dominating the market, would not allow new companies to easily compete with them. They would always defend themselves strategically through price reductions, special offers and most of the times a better service. Lastly, these days, it is even more costly to adopt new requirements regarding legal concerning over health and safety regulations that are in evidence in this industry worldwide. The power of Buyer Due to the high competition and an increase in the number of airlines in todays market the buyer has got a large number of airlines to choose from and therefore, has got high power. Therefore, the quality of service the customers receive has become even more important these days. The switching cost for the leisure travellers is very low and so they can easily switch from one airline to the other. As a result, airlines like British Airways would focus on keeping loyalty of business travellers who tend to travel more frequently by introducing incentives such as air miles, hotel reservations or car hire. Power of Supplier Bargaining supplier power will be high with the dominance of Boeing and Airbus as the suppliers of aircraft and there is not much of competition amongst suppliers, therefore, there is a low possibility of vertical integration. Threat of Substitutes As the product and services in the airline industry are similar in nature, therefore, the threat of substitute is considerably high. This can be presumably higher for the local airlines for example for UK or French local airlines. Euro star as train service operating between London and Paris can be considered a threat. However, for the international airlines operating in long distances, trains and sea craft cannot be considered as substitution. Travelling with airplane is no longer a luxury; therefore, some people prefer to travel with cheaper airlines which are sometimes even cheaper than travelling by car or train. These cheap airlines have made the threat of substitutes lower than before. However, there is still higher expectation from airlines, therefore, better service and higher frequency of flights would help lowering the threat of substitute. Capabilities and Core Competences Strengths British Airways PLC is the largest UK airline with  £8.75bn sales in the year ending 31st March 2008, it is nearly four times the second-largest carrier, easyJet with  £2.35bn. This difference can become even greater as according to Key Note, British Airways is allowed by the Government to merge with Iberia and maybe become a Spanish company. What makes BA successful is the companys capability to effectively deploy its resources through its activities and processes. Although financially the company goes through very difficult times, operationally however, BA is achieving levels of excellence never experienced before. BA has made remarkable operational progress during the last year. In accordance to its annual report last year, improvement of 20% in punctuality is achieved and, nearly 82.5% of the flights at Heathrow, Terminal 5 have delay less than 15 minutes of their scheduled time. In addition, 72% less mislaid or misdirected bags during the year compared with the previous one (British Airways Annual report 2009). Furthermore, according to the companys investor relations website, British Airways launched a 32-seat flight from London City airport to New York that for the first time ever will provide internet services on a transatlantic flight, an exclusive service to attend the business demand. This can be certainly an example that any strategic change that will be taken by BA is going to happen gradually, without leaving behind the nature and history that makes the company a synonym of high quality services. In addition, a unique resource that underpins BAs competitive advantage and represents their major strength is the companys long-established brand, which is synonym of high quality services and represents BA as a high-performing, customer orientated, and global premium airline. During 2008 the satisfaction level across BAs network has risen to 72 per cent. Furthermore, the opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow and the way BA organises its operations and services at the new Terminal delivered a steady rise in customers satisfaction reaching 76 per cent at the end of 2008. During its first year of operation Terminal 5 has served 21 million passengers (British Airways Annual report 2009). Moreover, BAs participation in oneworld alliance builds unique relationships with other airlines and allows the company to offer its customers much wider network of destinations. This business relationship, along with the ability to manage effectively its resources represents a core competence, which helps BA to build its competitive advantage over other airlines. BAs strong fleet base allows the company to serve its robust rout network. At the end of 2008 the company possess 245 aircrafts. Although BA experiences difficult financial times, the company continuously invests in new aircraft, its lounges, a new in-flight entertainment system, cabin upgrades across their longhaul fleet and premium service training in order to further increase the customers satisfaction and sustain competitive advantage (British Airways Annual report 2009). Weaknesses Brand erosion The merge with Iberia and the joint ATI application could cause brand erosion, which will adversely impact relationship with customers and will result in decrease of revenues (British Air ways Annual report 2009).. Breakdown in the bargaining process (unionised workforce) BA planes to cut costs wherever it is possible in order to survive the difficult financial times. In this respect, the airline plans to cut 1,700 jobs and to freeze pay for current staff, in accordance to BBC News. This will increase the risk of workers strike actions, which will interrupt operations and adversely affect business performance (British Air ways Annual report 2009). Failure of a key supplier BAs sole source of in-flight meals at Heathrow was Gate Gourmet. In 2005 Gate Gourmet failed to supply BA with the necessary in-flight meals due to internal argument with its staff over working conditions, which led to a strike supported by BAs own workers. This caused major operational disruption in BA, which resulted in huge additional costs of 40 million  £ (Waters, 2007). This is one example for how a failure of a key supplier may cause disruption to the operations of the airline and adversely affect business performance. Another such example is BAs dependence on fuel supply. Any problem as contamination or breakdown in the infrastructure that provides jet fuel to Heathrow will cause a huge operational impact. Failure to prevent or respond to a major safety or security incident A major security failure could consequently damage the reputation of BA as a high secure airline (British Airways Annual report 2009). Failure to adopt an integrated environmental strategy BA markets itself as being a responsible airline. BA has set industry-leading targets for reducing its carbon emissions from 110 to 83 grammes per passenger kilometre between 2005 and 2025 and to halve its net CO2 emissions till 2005. Failure to implement this strategy could damage the reputation of BA as a responsible company (British Airways Annual report 2009). Substantial debt burden BAs net debt in 2009 is  £2,382 million, which represents an increase of  £1,072 million in comparison to the previous year. Accordingly, the companys net debt to total capital ratio is 27.6% higher than the previous year. The substantial increase in debt obligations means that considerable part of BAs operational cash flow will be spent on interest, principal and lease payments. This not only lowers the ability of the company to finance working capital and other general corporate requirements, but also limits its flexibility in planning and reacting to environmental changes (British Airways Annual report 2009). Overdependence on the European market According to Datamonitor 62.5% of BAs profit is made from serving the European Market. Taking into consideration the current unfavourable economic situation in European, the overdependence on this weak market will prevent the company from increasing its future profits. Organizational Structure and Processes There are major factors that influence an organizations strategic position, for instance, it might be its overall strategic purpose and corporate governance policy, expectations of stakeholders, social responsibility and ethics are also part of this list. The recent annual report 2008-2009 shows that BA places high importance on corporate governance. The Board is responsible for the leadership of the organization to the shareholders. Accordingly, The Board directs the Companys risk assessment, resource management, strategic planning and financial and operational management to ensure that obligations to shareholders and other stakeholders are understood and met (Annual report 2008-2009, p. 56). The principal-agent conflict might arise owing to the leadership of the business by managers, whereas they might put their interests first instead of meeting shareholders interests ladder (Johnson et al., 2009). The New Companies Act from 2006 aims to overcome this problem though. Authority and control responsibilities are determined by the clear organizational structure of BA. The companys personnel is highly qualified which is assured through the thorough recruitment process, the internal performance appraisal system and the appropriate training requirements. The performance of employees is evaluated according to action plans and targets established by the performance appraisal system to ensure that employees have all the skills necessary to complete their responsibilities. Clear and specific objectives are established for the staff in order to make their contribution to the overall performance of the company more transparent. This increases the motivation and the responsibilities awareness of the staff. Also the staff is trained to behave in a way that will create a warm and friendly atmosphere in the work place and that they are happy to work for BA. In order to measure its performance and to make its managers accountable for delivery of the set targets BA uses a comprehensive management accounting system. This system provides financial and operational performance measurement indicators which allow the company to regulate its expenses more accurately and make financial decisions more precisely. Customer recommendation carried out by an independent research company assessed the number of satisfied customers and is supposed to be a one of the most significant indicators due to the potential to affect the profitability in the future. Companys operations are evaluated via a broad scope of methods across a variety of levels; however, the most important is departure functionality. It consequently shows that the other processes are performed in a high standard and ultimately effects customer satisfaction. (British Airways Annual Report 2009). British Airways Current and Future Strategy Perspective Based on Porters generic strategies, British Airways strategic analysis is built under the importance of employing a plan through one of the three strategies, Differentiation, Overall Cost Leadership and Focus. Those three strategies are relevant factors on the process of outperforming competitors in the industry. Even though it is possible to pursue more than one strategy, this is rarely seen because of their own different characteristics as will be evident on this topic. After the initial analysis of British Airways current situation in the air travel industry, it is clear that during all its modern history as a passenger carrier, the company stayed committed to its principles and invested on what could enforce its plans to continue being very successful. As a leading airline company its brand was always associated with the best service and treat available to customers in the market. In this point of view, the company service differentiation strategies and development of new services appear to be the considerable competitive advantage to outperform its competitors. There are some authors that argue in favour that differentiation and overall cost leadership are not always mutually exclusive although it is very complicated to match both strategies in most industries. However, the market is showing a rising positive trend to companies with an overall cost leadership strategy and they are growing their market share considerably. It becomes obvious that BA could not ignore low-cost rivals if the company wants to sustain its market position. Therefore, BA established a low-cost company called Go, created in response to falling profits after 1998 due to the emerging no-frills companies. Go was later sold to easyJet in 2002 it was a proof that an opposite price-based strategy is difficult to be applied even creating a new company under the same governance. The cost leadership strategic failure pushed the company to focus on differentiating its services even more. Nevertheless, in some price sensitive segments the differentiation strategy might not be sufficient to compete successfully. Therefore, BA concentrates on long-haul flights where there are not no frills companies. Furthermore, the company operates slots on popular and convenient airports such as Heathrow, what further attracts some short-haul customers (Kumar, 2006). Additionally, BA has successfully segmented its markets by offering different ticket classes which allows them to attract price sensitive customers from no frills airlines as well as manage to cover costs and increase revenues. The airline also succeeded to reduce costs through the successful implementation and management of an online booking system. BA tries to increase the economies of scale by raising the frequency of flights to popular holiday destinations like Caribbean islands or seasonal increase in the frequency of flights to religious destinations like Mecca and Vatican (Kumar, 2006). All these strategies made BA very successful during the last few years (in 2007 BA achieved the highest profit in its history) and created competitive advantages over companys traditional and low cost competitors. Reducing cost activities are taking place since 2008 over the companys renewal strategies in order to fight against the short-term crisis effects. Job-cutting would increase profitability within the company in short term, but this could lead to decrease in the quality of customer service. Furthermore, job-cuttings would lead also to confrontations with unions and employee strikes, which will disrupt the companys operations. Hence, this change in the organisational structure could damage BAs image reputation as a premium service airline in the long run. Other problems are the companys  £2.7bn pension deficit and its high debt burden. On the other hand, in an innovation sense, after huge investments and improvements on operating activities, a proof of the continually effort to maintain its first quality standard is the new terminal in Heathrow airport, which brings lots of new facilities to customers and improvement of conditions at the working place to all its employees. Despite the impact of the recent recession, in comparison to easyJet, British Airways is focused on pursuing to offer its customers the best possible service that makes its brand a synonym of first class, the innovation appears into new customer needs, environmental forces and trends to reinforce its differentiation for which people are willing to pay more. To cope with future environment trends BA has started tuning its current strategy and differentiating itself from competitors according to new patterns of responsible attitude, especially within big companies. To adapt its structure to a green efficient standard is not an easy process and requires huge investments. The environmental concern is a topic highly discussed worldwide and has become a popular issue; BA is certainly paying attention to that and has the objective of becoming reference as the most responsible airline. Sustaining and developing its current strategy BA believes that is the right decision in order to achieve always the best possible satisfaction of its stakeholders. To illustrate British Airways future actions, for instance, Terminal 5 is a set of procedures already working that underpins BAs long-term goal of creating a world-leading global premium airline with a reputation for being the very best at meeting its customers needs, according to its website, for instance: à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€ž ¢ At T5, most of the rainwater will be collected and re-used for non-potable uses. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€ž ¢ 85% of T5s heat will be supplied by excess heat produced from the Heathrow heat and power station. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€ž ¢ 30,000 native woodland plants and 4,000 trees and shrubs are being planted around T5. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€ž ¢ Smarter runway and airport design means aircraft engines idle less, reducing emissions. Aircraft will do less taxiing too. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€ž ¢ T5 offers 96 Check-in Kiosks designed to eliminate queuing. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€ž ¢ The rapid transit system connection between the two buildings making up T5 means youll move swiftly and smoothly to where you need to be. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€ž ¢ The baggage system has been designed to move your baggage efficiently to the aircraft ready for departure and to minimise waiting time when you land. In addition to that, a new internal program developed in parallel with the 2012 Olympic Games spirit has definitely enforced the importance of BAs culture, which has the customer as its core. Compete 2012 aims to inspire the spirit of team work and competition in all corners of the company, and as a result establish a level of excellence that competitors aspire to. The strategy of being one of the UK sponsors and the official airline for the event matches BAs future vision and reinforce its credibility among its target customers. Above, they are examples of the evolution in British Airways culture that, when added to the companys capabilities and competences and the strengths earlier described, its value chain can be clearly understood. The evolution of BAs strategy easily refers to Porters conclusion that competitive advantage frequently comes from perceiving new ways to configure and manage the entire value system. In terms of suitability, BAs current strategy successfully exploits its core competences and unique resources and allows the company to respond appropriately to key environmental trends such as economic downturn, political and legal changes and changes in social perceptions. Also their strategy is aligned with their culture. However, the current differentiation strategy could prevent some of BAs weaknesses such as brand erosion. In terms of feasibility of the strategy, BA has the financial resources and competences to invest and differentiate furt

Factors for Motivation in Banking Employees

Factors for Motivation in Banking Employees CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND Understanding human behavior in workplace has been one of the most prioritized tasks for any organization. This is due to major changes like globalization and technological advancement that change in the structure of the business done, the workforce behavior and management of employees. To keep up the business state of the art and become successful, the organizations should acclimatize with these changes (Vercueil, 2001). So, it has become important for employers to know what motivates their employees rather than emphasizing them to increase productivity. The environment, in which the employees work as a team, should be created and sustained so that they are themselves driven towards achieving the common goals. Hence, motivation is given more attention in the organization to know employees and their behavior. In any organization, every staff is unique and performs the task based on their mental abilities and the extent to which they are applied at work (Mullins, 2007). Some people te nd to work really harder than others. If a staff is appreciated for his/her hard work, he/she is more likely to be motivated to high performance. Herzberg et al 1999 explained that employees show different attitudes depending on the nature of jobs assigned to them at workplace. Furthermore, they argued these attitudes towards their jobs have a significant influence on the survival of the organization. there is a famous saying which is based on Herzbergs thought that if an organization wants its employees to do a good job, give them a good job to do (Giancola,2010). To illustrate this, during the hard times of the organization, the morality among the workforce determines its success or failure provided that they are made feel as the essential resources of the organization and are given appropriate chances to prove themselves. Thus, motivated employees are more likely to contribute for the success and survival of the organization. In earlier days, motivation was considered as only a force that drives individuals to become committed in the job of their choice. The early approaches of motivation emphasizes on the needs of the individuals explaining their tendency to be motivated and the efforts exerted in order to satisfy those needs. There were some other approaches which highlighted on the employees goal setting. Modern approaches of motivation draws attention towards the values and long term goals set by the employees. Simons and Enz (2006) says now the employees perform the task not only to fulfill the basic needs but also to increase their values, become successful and satisfied from their performance. Motivation has been one of those areas which gained lots of interests from organizational psychologists and many scholars since 1930s. Yet, the in-depth understanding of motivation has been considered as a tough task (Locke and Latham, 2004). Thus, this research work is aimed to identify what motivates employees of Bank of Kathmandu by applying the concept of existing theories. 1.2 Background of the organization The organization chosen for research work is Bank of Kathmandu BOK, one of the renowned commercial banks of Nepal. BOK commenced its operation in 1995 with an aim to contribute in the economic development of Nepal. BOK is in a position to become â€Å"Bank of Choice† through serving and supporting its customers financially. Considering this vision, the bank has a total of 39 branches, 6 extension counters and 50 ATMs across the country. It has helped not only in promoting economic development but also it reduces unemployment problem to some extent by providing opportunities to local people. The basic reason behind selecting this particular bank is due to its distinct uniqueness and growing success and secondly, the researcher had an easy access to this bank. The research is carried out based on the responses given by the staff working in two branches of the bank. 1.3 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Employee commitment has been a matter of focus for companies to be successful and the committed employees are considered as the most important factors of organizational effectiveness (Robertson, et al. 2007). However, retaining committed employees within organization is not an easy task. The employees of modern era work to satisfy the needs as well as achieve their individual goals (Drake and Kossen, 2002). Gubman (2003) pointed out the increasing trend of employees doing many jobs at a time in their career and have become more mobile. Employees are no more working in organisations for a long term basis. Thus, it needs a proper understanding of what motivates and satisfies them at work to generate such commitments. 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS Motivation needs vary on individuals based on their level of needs, backgrounds, expectations and personal traits. In simple words, two different employees working in the same environment may have different level of satisfaction. Furthermore, human needs are always dynamic and change over time becoming sometimes stronger or weaker. According to Simons and Enz (2006), while attempting to motivate the employees, the managers make mistakes assuming wrongly that they understand the employees and their needs and expectations they want from their work. This research work, therefore, focuses on the factors motivating employees and helping managers to understand their employees. In this context, the questions related to the research are: What are the critical factors that motivate and satisfy employees in BOK? How do the factors of motivation influence staff satisfaction in BOK? What are the motivation strategy adopted by BOK for better management and performance of the staff? 1.5 Research aim The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that motivate workers and their impact on organizational performances in Bank of Kathmandu (BOK), Nepal. The study aims to analyse the factors that motivate employees to encourage them to give their best performances in order to increase the organizational effectiveness and achieve its goals. It also aims to know the extent to which BOK is successful in making its employees satisfied and committed. 1.6 Research objectives The study is an explanation about the employee motivation in Bank of Kathmandu BOK, one of the leading banks in Nepal. Hence, the objectives of this research can be listed as: To investigate factors of motivation and their impact on the performance of BOK. To critically analyse the factors of motivation and its effect on staff satisfaction in BOK. To develop motivation strategy for better management and performance for the staff in BOK. The research work would be significant to students, other researchers and the bank itself which can be taken as a source of reference. 1.7 Limitations of the research Motivation is a concept with a broad area of research. It contains a wide range of theories on factors that motivate people (content theories) along with theories that describe how behaviours are initiated, directed and endured (process theories). The research work focuses only content theories which identify the particular needs that drive the human behaviour to perform better or worse. The researcher has tried to present the impact of motivation and job satisfaction on employees mental health, social life, and family life in order to show the significance and scope of the research topic. However, they are only considered in the theory but not clearly shown on the observed part of the research. Apart from these limitations, there are some other limitations for the research as There was time constraint to complete this research work as the researcher has to complete the work within three months period. The budget allocated was less due to the researcher is a student. The data analysis is done based on the employees randomly selected from only two branches. 1.8 Outline of the study Chapter 1: introduction: The first chapter deals with the research topic, an overview of the company selected for research work followed by statement of problem, purpose of the study and limitations. Chapter 2: Literature Review: this chapter contains reviews of various theories of motivation and job satisfaction. The researcher has showed the relationship between motivation and variables like rewards, job satisfaction, job performance, trainings, behaviour and conflict. It also explained how positive motivation lead to Chapter 3: methodology: this chapter deals with the methods, different tools and techniques used in the research work for data collection, analysis and interpretation. Chapter 4: data analysis: the chapter covers the ways the collected data were compiled and analysed. The analysis is based on the literature review and survey done via questionnaires in order to best serve the purpose of the study. Chapter 5: conclusions and recommendations: this chapter contains three parts namely findings, recommendations and conclusion. 1.9 Conclusion In this chapter, the researchers has discussed about the introduction of employee motivation and its importance in organisations. The main reason behind conducting this research work, the problem area, and the limitations are clarified. A brief introduction of organisation is given on the basis of which this study is done. The basic knowledge of the contents of the research work is also discussed. Chapter 2 Literature review 2.1 Introduction This chapter explains about the facts, theories and models of motivation. Theories of motivation e.g. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, Pr. McGregors Theory X and Y, McClellands theory of needs, etc are discussed in depth to increase the understanding of the area under research. The introduction and importance of motivation, job satisfaction and opinions of various authors are elucidated by reviewing various academic books, magazines, journals and articles. The information presented below serves as foundation to the analysis of this research. this new era, every organisation treats its workforce as an important source of its competitive advantage. Employees are no more seen as only loyal members of the company but they like to be treated with respect and they want their companies to give them opportunities to prove themselves. Hence, Lawler (2003) says that it has become necessity for any company to treat people in a right way in order to success and survive in the business world. An organisation can increase productivity and improve performance only when it invests in employees (Gitman and McDaniel, 2008). For this reason, the company should be able to attract, retain and develop talented employees (Pittorino et al., 2005). Understanding the factors that motivate employees and maximize productivity has become a crucial job to be performed by managers. 2.2 Definitions of motivation Motivation is one of the highly complex but misunderstood concept. Mills and Forshaw (2006) supported this statement as though there are an abundance of motivational theories; the organisations are unable to apply the best theory of motivation due to human beings complexity and various factors influencing their behaviours. Nevertheless, the main concern of the study of motivation is with why people behave as they do (Mullins, 2007). Motivation is the drive to do something (Tileston, 2004); it can be defined as the direction and intensity of ones effort to satisfy his/her needs (Weinberg, et al, 2010). According to Jones and George, (2004), motivation is considered as the psychological force that shows a persons level of effort applied in order to persist with obstacles and achieve his/her target and the way he/she behaves in an organisation. Furthermore, Latham 2007) describes motivation as a process of cognitive resource allocation where a person allocates his/her efforts as per importance of motives or tasks. To support this statement, Robins (2005) says that individuals have various level of motivation varying times and situations. 2.2.1 Need and expectation at work No individuals are same and they perceive the same thing in different ways. Individuals have different needs and expectation which they strive to fulfil in different ways. If these needs and expectations are not fulfilled, it will make them dissatisfied and the consequences are turnover, absenteeism, etc. so motivating employees has been a tough task for managers provided that employees react in different ways in the jobs assigned (Beardwell and Claydon, 2007). Since managers are solely responsible for motivating employees, they should be capable of giving employees reasons to believe in themselves as well as organisation where they are working (Baldoni, 2005). Employees become dissatisfied and less motivated when managers fail to make employees know their driving forces. According to robins (2003), there are three relationships where employees are less motivated when their needs and expectations are not fulfilled. First relationship explains about the effort and performance of employees. Managers should make their employees believe that maximum effort exerted leads to the recognition in performance appraisals. This is not always correct as in some cases, employees do not believe that their effort will result in recognition and they are less motivated to perform. The second relationship is about the employees performance and organisational reward. The employees are made believe that they will be rewarded for their outstanding performance or performance appraisal. But there will be lack of motivation because employees know that they will not be rewarded by the organisation just for the performance. The last one is the relationship between reward received and reward expected. They are motivated only when they get what they desire for. If opposite happens, they become dissatisfied with the job. So It is managers who should know if the reward given matches with the one employees expect for. Hence, managers should keep these relationships as essential factors for employees to keep motivated and long lasting retention. Strengthening these relationships , the managers can motivate their employees and boost productivity. Sutherland and Canwell (2004) says it is the primary responsibility of managers to maintain motivation by creating such a work environment where employees will show positive attitude and become committed and loyal and where they believe that they are valued and the organisation gives crucial interest in them. 2.2.2 Sources of motivation Motivation is the driving force that comes within an individual to satisfy his/her unsatisfied needs. Needs and expectations are drivers that motivate an individual to achieve those needs. These motivators are often considered in terms of being internal or external. According to Mac and Sockel (2001), the internal motivators are related with intrinsic needs that satisfies an individual while external motivators are environmental factors brought up to individual by organisation. intrinsic motivation makes a person to be productive as it comes within him/her while extrinsic motivation results once the unmet needs have been achieved(Marquis and Huston, 2008). A person is intrinsically motivated when he/she engages in the activity that gives pleasure and satisfaction (Deci and Ryan, 2004). On the contrary, Deci and Ryan (2004) explained extrinsic motivation as an external control over a person who gets engaged in the activity, not for pleasure or satisfaction but for attaining a positive outcome or avoiding a negative outcome. Hence, a manager should strive to stimulate an employees intrinsic motives to complete a task given. Intrinsic motives can be satisfied by the work itself. Since the task given to an individual provides interest, challenges and opportunities for personal growth and development, it has been considered as the main source of motivation (Molander, 1996). 2.5 classification of motivation theories The main concern of all theories of motivation is the understanding of human behaviour. Drafke and kossen (2002:273) explains that â€Å"these theories provide the basis for both managers and employees to understand how to motivate others; how others are trying to motivate and how that person can engage more in his/her own motivation effort and others efforts in trying to motivate him/her.† In late 1930s, the Hawthorne study carried out by Frederick Taylor drew attention towards the study of motivation. (Locke and Latham, 2004). The purpose of this study was to examine how working conditions affect productivity (Hindle,2008). The study concluded working condition had no effect on the employee productivity and it was employees who were concerned with their work (Hindle, 2008). This result of this study made many managers and researchers focus on employees needs and motivation. According Robbins (2005), the development of the concepts of motivation was mostly seen in 1950s. during that time, several new models, referred as content theories, were emerged that mainly focused on identifying the factors related to motivation. (steers, et al. 2004). Maslows hierarchy of needs, Model of Herzbergs two-factor theory and McClellands achievement motivation theory are the content theories. The main focus of these theories is on the needs of people for which they direct their behaviour to satisfy them (smit,2007). 2.5.1 Needs:maslows hierarchy of needs Abraham Maslow developed a motivational theory named hierarchy of needs (Pride, et al, 2009). A need is required by every person. An individual fulfils his/her needs to get satisfaction and motivation is an effort to satisfy a need (Aldag and Kuzuhara, 2002). Maslow postulated that humans always seek to fulfil a variety of needs which are in sequential order as per their importance (Pride, et al. 2009). when one need is satisfied, it drecreases in strength and the higher need then dominates behaviour. The underlying needs for all human motives can be organised on five general levels depicted as a pyramid (diagram) listed from the lowest to the highest level of needs. Physiological and safety needs are on the lowest level of the pyramid as they are satisfied externally. The other three needs are internal and are therefore considered as higher-order needs. Di Cesare and Sadri (2003) state that the need must be met from the lowest and then move upward to satisfy the peak of the hierarchy. While implying Maslows Needs Hierarchy in management practice of BOK, it has various opportunitites to motivate its staff depending upon the needs. Some of them are listed below: Physiological needs: provision of sufficient breaks for lunch and recovery and payment of salary for fulfilling the basic essentials of life. Safety needs: provision of job security, conductive safety environment and threats freedom Social needs: generating a feeling of acceptance, belonging and community by reinforcing team dynamics. Esteem needs: recognition of achievement, assignment of projects and providing status to make employees feel valued and appreciated. Self Actualisation: offering challenge and meaningful work assignment that enable innovation, creativity and progress. 2.5.2 Herzbergs two factor theory Herzberg put forward the view that productivity of an employee is based not only the job satisfaction but also on work motivation Pattanayak(200). Robbins(2003) elucidates that according to herzberg, an individuals relation and attitude towards work can determine success or failure. People have two sets of needs that are related to job satisfaction and others to job dissatisfaction (Nelson and Quick,200). Elements of the job that led to job satisfaction are labelled as motivators and elements to dissatisfaction are labelled as hygiene factors. Intrinsic factors or motivators such as achievement, recognition, advancement, the work itself and responsibility are related to job satisfaction. Job dissatisfaction is the result of extrinsic factors or hygiene factors such as working conditions, job security, supervision, pay and organisation policies. Di Cesare and Sadri (2003) state that herzberg is interested in the extremes where employees either feel good or bad about the work, this lea ds to development of motivators and hygiene factors. Herzberg states that the opposite of job satisfaction is not job dissatisfaction and therefore, job dissatisfaction is not the opposite of job satisfaction. Herzberg(2003) suggests nine factors that motivate employees and they are reducing time spent at work, fringe benefit, sensitivity training, spiralling wages, two-way communication, job participation, human relation training, communication and employee counselling. He also compared motivation with that of internal self-charging battery suggesting that the energy or the positivity should come from within the employees to become motivated (Bassett-Jones and Lloyd, 2005). Herzberg argues that an employee is motivated to satisfy it growth needs; it is founded upon satisfaction innate of a sense of achievement, recognition, responsibility and personal growth. He further says that recognition is transformed into feedback, responsibility to self-regulation, authority to communicate, exercise control over resource and accountability and lastly, growth and advancement are transformed into the new expertise. Though hygiene theory is one of the popular theories of motivation, the findings done from past empirical studies show that pay, recognition and responsibility are classified as both a motivator and hygiene factors. 2.5.4 McClellands theory of needs (Richard L. Daft, Patricia G. Lane, 2007) put forward the theory stating that individual acquire certain type of needs during his/her lifetime. Individuals acquire these needs by learning and interacting with the environment (Montana and Charnov, 2000). theory focuses on three needs: Need for achievement: it drives to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards, to strive to succeed. Individuals with this drive desire to do something more efficiently overcoming challenges to achieve the objectives. Need of power: it is the need to make others behave in a way that they would not have behaved otherwise. Individuals with this need are placed in competitive situations to be concerned with gaining influence over individual, group or organization. Need for affiliation: it is the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationship. Individuals with this desire tend to have a strong desire to be liked or accepted by others and thus maintain harmonious relationship with others. Accoriding to smit (2007:340), these theories are based on needs of people and the factors that influence their behaviour. Process theory Process theory came into light in early 1960s. it was an approach that focused on how motivation actually occurs. (Smit 2007:347). These theories explained the way individual choose their behaviour to satisfy their needs (Lussier and Achua, 2009). it is more complex in compare to content theory. 2.5.3 Vrooms Expectation theory The expectancy theory, aimed at work motivation, is founded on the idea that an individuals motivation is based on his/her desire for an outcome and the probability that his/her effort will lead to required performance. Robbins (2003) defines expectation theory as, â€Å" the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outvome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual† (Robbins, 2003:173). Vrooms expectancy theory focuses on three relationships: Effort performance outcome Effort-performance relationships: the probability remarked by an individual that applying an extra effort will lead to performance. Performance-reward relationship: the degree to which the individual believes that extra effort exerted performance will lead to the accomplishment of desired outcome. Reward-personal goal relationship: the degree to which individuals goals are satisfied by organizational rewards and the degree to which individual is personally attracted to the rewards. Equity Theory J. Stacy Adams equity theory proposed that individuals are motivated when their inputs equal outputs (Lussier and Achua, 2009). This theory enables an individual to perceive a relationship between the reward he/she received and his/her performance.(Smit, 2007). individuals tend to make comparison of the inputs such as status, experience, effort, etc and outputs such as recognition, benefits, pay, etc with that of others which co-worker, a group of employees from different organisations, etc (Lussier and Achua, 2009:87). 2.5.6 Goal setting theory The goal setting theory proposed by Locke states that a person is likely to give a higher performance if the goals are specific and difficult. Besides these, there are also other factors along with feedbacks such as goal commitment, task complexity and national culture that influence the goal-performance relationship. Meyer,et al. (2004) elucidates that motivation comes from the goals an individual sets up based oh his/her needs, personal values and perception that shaped via experience at work. goals give people a sense of purpose to show the reason of working to achieve a task given (Lussier and Achua, 2009:90). Goals direct individuals attention to a specific target. If individuals have specific and difficult goals, then they optimise the performance (Huber,2006). Reinforcement theory Reinforcement theory is the relationship between the behaviour of individual and the consequences by modifying or changing it via use of rewards or punishments (Daft and Lane,2007). It consistently predicts job behaviour (Lusssier and Achua,2009). People learn behaviour through the experiences of positive and negative consequences. Behaviour is a function of its consequences (Griffin and Moorhead,2009). According to Daft and Lane (2007), managers use reinforcement to shape or modify employee behaviour in four ways: Positive reinforcement: employees are encouraged to continue their behaviour by offering consequences for desirable performance. If an employee receives positive reinforcement for certain behaviour, that employee is tend to be motivated to maintain or increase the frequency of that behaviour (Griffin and Moorhead, 2009). Avoidance reinforcement It is also known as negative reinforcement. The employees are given the opportunity to avoid an unpleasant circumstance once behaviour is improved. Extinction Motivating individuals and groups at work Theorists of motivation investigate the factors that direct and boost work related behaviour. They strive to understand activities that people enjoy and conditions that encourage them to apply efforts. As a result various motivation models were developed which main focus was on the needs and expectations of individuals. This models were best used in organisatons where understanding of behaviour of employees has been important. Due to change in structure of organisations, todays employees work in teams supporting each other sharing common interest to accomplish the common goals rather focusing on the achievement of personal goals. Ellemers, et al. (2004) employee motivation refers to the goals, needs and rewards of one whole team or the organisation where they work. this concludes that research on motivating group has been important for any organisation. The number of organisation, emphasising employees to work in teams, has steadily increased. Working in teams offers opportunities for job enrichment, decrease the workload of supervisors and enhance the performance. However, there may be some lazy members in team who exert less effort in performing the task. 2.5.5 Douglas McGregor Theory X and Y In this theory, Douglas McGregor assumes that the managers handle their employees based on their behaviours and nature. These assumptions are categorised as Theory X and Theory Y. theory X states that workers are lazy, incapable of taking responsibility , dislike work and need a constant supervision while theory Y assumes that people love work, complete task with less supervision and have responsibility ( Dzimbiri,2009). 2.6 Ways of motivating employee to ensure better performance The employees experiences at work show their feeling towards their jobs either positively or negatively. Employee motivation is taken into account by every organisation as one of the major challenging tasks. Motivation can be classified as positive or negative. The managers should encourage positive motivation to enhance performance. On the contrary, when the performance is demotivating, the approach adopted would be determined by persisting situation. Communication Communication is always an effective way to improve motivation and enhance productivity. There should be two-way communication between managers and staff that generate feedbacks on the performance. Job participation scheme Participation scheme enables staff to become a member of decision making team and express their views on organisational decisions. This leads staff to be responsible to increase their efficiency and productivity at work. Fringe benefit If an organization can retain the employees by providing them with the fringe benefit. This prevents turnover if effectively use and increase the productivity. Research methodology Introduction This research work is carried out to examine the factors that motivate and influence employees of Bank of Kathmandu and strategies adopted by the bank to enhance productivity by providing employees with optimum satisfaction. It highlights the procedures applied to understand research problem area and evaluate the result. The Research Process Customised research procedures are used by the researcher determining the exceptions of research regarding how vast the topic is. It starts with problem formulation along with the process that the researcher undertakes to get the result as solution to that problem. The problem of identifying what factors motivate employees in a particular bank namely, Bank Of Kathmandu. In this modern era, the way the employees behave at workplace has been changed. Job satisfaction has become more important than any other variables. For the success and survival of company in the competitive market, the most prioritised work of managers is to retain the skilled employees and motivate them to give their best performance. Nevertheless, employees are more interested in doing different jobs at the same time and are not willing to keep long term relationships with organisations. To add up, they are unlikely to be motivated as they use to be before. Once the research problem is defined, the objectives are formulated to achieve the solutions to the targeted problem. The hypothese Qualitative and quantitative research Survey questionnaire Questionnaires include open- ended questions, closed-ended or the combination of both. In open-ended questions, the respondents are allowed to give their own answers while the closed-ended questions provide the respondents with a set of alternatives and choose answer from that set (Saunders, et al. 2007). researchers use close-ended questions for they provide the greater control, make respondents easy to answer and short answers lead to quick results (Arthur,2006). The researcher, in this study, has used closed-ended questions using Factors for Motivation in Banking Employees Factors for Motivation in Banking Employees CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND Understanding human behavior in workplace has been one of the most prioritized tasks for any organization. This is due to major changes like globalization and technological advancement that change in the structure of the business done, the workforce behavior and management of employees. To keep up the business state of the art and become successful, the organizations should acclimatize with these changes (Vercueil, 2001). So, it has become important for employers to know what motivates their employees rather than emphasizing them to increase productivity. The environment, in which the employees work as a team, should be created and sustained so that they are themselves driven towards achieving the common goals. Hence, motivation is given more attention in the organization to know employees and their behavior. In any organization, every staff is unique and performs the task based on their mental abilities and the extent to which they are applied at work (Mullins, 2007). Some people te nd to work really harder than others. If a staff is appreciated for his/her hard work, he/she is more likely to be motivated to high performance. Herzberg et al 1999 explained that employees show different attitudes depending on the nature of jobs assigned to them at workplace. Furthermore, they argued these attitudes towards their jobs have a significant influence on the survival of the organization. there is a famous saying which is based on Herzbergs thought that if an organization wants its employees to do a good job, give them a good job to do (Giancola,2010). To illustrate this, during the hard times of the organization, the morality among the workforce determines its success or failure provided that they are made feel as the essential resources of the organization and are given appropriate chances to prove themselves. Thus, motivated employees are more likely to contribute for the success and survival of the organization. In earlier days, motivation was considered as only a force that drives individuals to become committed in the job of their choice. The early approaches of motivation emphasizes on the needs of the individuals explaining their tendency to be motivated and the efforts exerted in order to satisfy those needs. There were some other approaches which highlighted on the employees goal setting. Modern approaches of motivation draws attention towards the values and long term goals set by the employees. Simons and Enz (2006) says now the employees perform the task not only to fulfill the basic needs but also to increase their values, become successful and satisfied from their performance. Motivation has been one of those areas which gained lots of interests from organizational psychologists and many scholars since 1930s. Yet, the in-depth understanding of motivation has been considered as a tough task (Locke and Latham, 2004). Thus, this research work is aimed to identify what motivates employees of Bank of Kathmandu by applying the concept of existing theories. 1.2 Background of the organization The organization chosen for research work is Bank of Kathmandu BOK, one of the renowned commercial banks of Nepal. BOK commenced its operation in 1995 with an aim to contribute in the economic development of Nepal. BOK is in a position to become â€Å"Bank of Choice† through serving and supporting its customers financially. Considering this vision, the bank has a total of 39 branches, 6 extension counters and 50 ATMs across the country. It has helped not only in promoting economic development but also it reduces unemployment problem to some extent by providing opportunities to local people. The basic reason behind selecting this particular bank is due to its distinct uniqueness and growing success and secondly, the researcher had an easy access to this bank. The research is carried out based on the responses given by the staff working in two branches of the bank. 1.3 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Employee commitment has been a matter of focus for companies to be successful and the committed employees are considered as the most important factors of organizational effectiveness (Robertson, et al. 2007). However, retaining committed employees within organization is not an easy task. The employees of modern era work to satisfy the needs as well as achieve their individual goals (Drake and Kossen, 2002). Gubman (2003) pointed out the increasing trend of employees doing many jobs at a time in their career and have become more mobile. Employees are no more working in organisations for a long term basis. Thus, it needs a proper understanding of what motivates and satisfies them at work to generate such commitments. 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS Motivation needs vary on individuals based on their level of needs, backgrounds, expectations and personal traits. In simple words, two different employees working in the same environment may have different level of satisfaction. Furthermore, human needs are always dynamic and change over time becoming sometimes stronger or weaker. According to Simons and Enz (2006), while attempting to motivate the employees, the managers make mistakes assuming wrongly that they understand the employees and their needs and expectations they want from their work. This research work, therefore, focuses on the factors motivating employees and helping managers to understand their employees. In this context, the questions related to the research are: What are the critical factors that motivate and satisfy employees in BOK? How do the factors of motivation influence staff satisfaction in BOK? What are the motivation strategy adopted by BOK for better management and performance of the staff? 1.5 Research aim The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that motivate workers and their impact on organizational performances in Bank of Kathmandu (BOK), Nepal. The study aims to analyse the factors that motivate employees to encourage them to give their best performances in order to increase the organizational effectiveness and achieve its goals. It also aims to know the extent to which BOK is successful in making its employees satisfied and committed. 1.6 Research objectives The study is an explanation about the employee motivation in Bank of Kathmandu BOK, one of the leading banks in Nepal. Hence, the objectives of this research can be listed as: To investigate factors of motivation and their impact on the performance of BOK. To critically analyse the factors of motivation and its effect on staff satisfaction in BOK. To develop motivation strategy for better management and performance for the staff in BOK. The research work would be significant to students, other researchers and the bank itself which can be taken as a source of reference. 1.7 Limitations of the research Motivation is a concept with a broad area of research. It contains a wide range of theories on factors that motivate people (content theories) along with theories that describe how behaviours are initiated, directed and endured (process theories). The research work focuses only content theories which identify the particular needs that drive the human behaviour to perform better or worse. The researcher has tried to present the impact of motivation and job satisfaction on employees mental health, social life, and family life in order to show the significance and scope of the research topic. However, they are only considered in the theory but not clearly shown on the observed part of the research. Apart from these limitations, there are some other limitations for the research as There was time constraint to complete this research work as the researcher has to complete the work within three months period. The budget allocated was less due to the researcher is a student. The data analysis is done based on the employees randomly selected from only two branches. 1.8 Outline of the study Chapter 1: introduction: The first chapter deals with the research topic, an overview of the company selected for research work followed by statement of problem, purpose of the study and limitations. Chapter 2: Literature Review: this chapter contains reviews of various theories of motivation and job satisfaction. The researcher has showed the relationship between motivation and variables like rewards, job satisfaction, job performance, trainings, behaviour and conflict. It also explained how positive motivation lead to Chapter 3: methodology: this chapter deals with the methods, different tools and techniques used in the research work for data collection, analysis and interpretation. Chapter 4: data analysis: the chapter covers the ways the collected data were compiled and analysed. The analysis is based on the literature review and survey done via questionnaires in order to best serve the purpose of the study. Chapter 5: conclusions and recommendations: this chapter contains three parts namely findings, recommendations and conclusion. 1.9 Conclusion In this chapter, the researchers has discussed about the introduction of employee motivation and its importance in organisations. The main reason behind conducting this research work, the problem area, and the limitations are clarified. A brief introduction of organisation is given on the basis of which this study is done. The basic knowledge of the contents of the research work is also discussed. Chapter 2 Literature review 2.1 Introduction This chapter explains about the facts, theories and models of motivation. Theories of motivation e.g. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, Pr. McGregors Theory X and Y, McClellands theory of needs, etc are discussed in depth to increase the understanding of the area under research. The introduction and importance of motivation, job satisfaction and opinions of various authors are elucidated by reviewing various academic books, magazines, journals and articles. The information presented below serves as foundation to the analysis of this research. this new era, every organisation treats its workforce as an important source of its competitive advantage. Employees are no more seen as only loyal members of the company but they like to be treated with respect and they want their companies to give them opportunities to prove themselves. Hence, Lawler (2003) says that it has become necessity for any company to treat people in a right way in order to success and survive in the business world. An organisation can increase productivity and improve performance only when it invests in employees (Gitman and McDaniel, 2008). For this reason, the company should be able to attract, retain and develop talented employees (Pittorino et al., 2005). Understanding the factors that motivate employees and maximize productivity has become a crucial job to be performed by managers. 2.2 Definitions of motivation Motivation is one of the highly complex but misunderstood concept. Mills and Forshaw (2006) supported this statement as though there are an abundance of motivational theories; the organisations are unable to apply the best theory of motivation due to human beings complexity and various factors influencing their behaviours. Nevertheless, the main concern of the study of motivation is with why people behave as they do (Mullins, 2007). Motivation is the drive to do something (Tileston, 2004); it can be defined as the direction and intensity of ones effort to satisfy his/her needs (Weinberg, et al, 2010). According to Jones and George, (2004), motivation is considered as the psychological force that shows a persons level of effort applied in order to persist with obstacles and achieve his/her target and the way he/she behaves in an organisation. Furthermore, Latham 2007) describes motivation as a process of cognitive resource allocation where a person allocates his/her efforts as per importance of motives or tasks. To support this statement, Robins (2005) says that individuals have various level of motivation varying times and situations. 2.2.1 Need and expectation at work No individuals are same and they perceive the same thing in different ways. Individuals have different needs and expectation which they strive to fulfil in different ways. If these needs and expectations are not fulfilled, it will make them dissatisfied and the consequences are turnover, absenteeism, etc. so motivating employees has been a tough task for managers provided that employees react in different ways in the jobs assigned (Beardwell and Claydon, 2007). Since managers are solely responsible for motivating employees, they should be capable of giving employees reasons to believe in themselves as well as organisation where they are working (Baldoni, 2005). Employees become dissatisfied and less motivated when managers fail to make employees know their driving forces. According to robins (2003), there are three relationships where employees are less motivated when their needs and expectations are not fulfilled. First relationship explains about the effort and performance of employees. Managers should make their employees believe that maximum effort exerted leads to the recognition in performance appraisals. This is not always correct as in some cases, employees do not believe that their effort will result in recognition and they are less motivated to perform. The second relationship is about the employees performance and organisational reward. The employees are made believe that they will be rewarded for their outstanding performance or performance appraisal. But there will be lack of motivation because employees know that they will not be rewarded by the organisation just for the performance. The last one is the relationship between reward received and reward expected. They are motivated only when they get what they desire for. If opposite happens, they become dissatisfied with the job. So It is managers who should know if the reward given matches with the one employees expect for. Hence, managers should keep these relationships as essential factors for employees to keep motivated and long lasting retention. Strengthening these relationships , the managers can motivate their employees and boost productivity. Sutherland and Canwell (2004) says it is the primary responsibility of managers to maintain motivation by creating such a work environment where employees will show positive attitude and become committed and loyal and where they believe that they are valued and the organisation gives crucial interest in them. 2.2.2 Sources of motivation Motivation is the driving force that comes within an individual to satisfy his/her unsatisfied needs. Needs and expectations are drivers that motivate an individual to achieve those needs. These motivators are often considered in terms of being internal or external. According to Mac and Sockel (2001), the internal motivators are related with intrinsic needs that satisfies an individual while external motivators are environmental factors brought up to individual by organisation. intrinsic motivation makes a person to be productive as it comes within him/her while extrinsic motivation results once the unmet needs have been achieved(Marquis and Huston, 2008). A person is intrinsically motivated when he/she engages in the activity that gives pleasure and satisfaction (Deci and Ryan, 2004). On the contrary, Deci and Ryan (2004) explained extrinsic motivation as an external control over a person who gets engaged in the activity, not for pleasure or satisfaction but for attaining a positive outcome or avoiding a negative outcome. Hence, a manager should strive to stimulate an employees intrinsic motives to complete a task given. Intrinsic motives can be satisfied by the work itself. Since the task given to an individual provides interest, challenges and opportunities for personal growth and development, it has been considered as the main source of motivation (Molander, 1996). 2.5 classification of motivation theories The main concern of all theories of motivation is the understanding of human behaviour. Drafke and kossen (2002:273) explains that â€Å"these theories provide the basis for both managers and employees to understand how to motivate others; how others are trying to motivate and how that person can engage more in his/her own motivation effort and others efforts in trying to motivate him/her.† In late 1930s, the Hawthorne study carried out by Frederick Taylor drew attention towards the study of motivation. (Locke and Latham, 2004). The purpose of this study was to examine how working conditions affect productivity (Hindle,2008). The study concluded working condition had no effect on the employee productivity and it was employees who were concerned with their work (Hindle, 2008). This result of this study made many managers and researchers focus on employees needs and motivation. According Robbins (2005), the development of the concepts of motivation was mostly seen in 1950s. during that time, several new models, referred as content theories, were emerged that mainly focused on identifying the factors related to motivation. (steers, et al. 2004). Maslows hierarchy of needs, Model of Herzbergs two-factor theory and McClellands achievement motivation theory are the content theories. The main focus of these theories is on the needs of people for which they direct their behaviour to satisfy them (smit,2007). 2.5.1 Needs:maslows hierarchy of needs Abraham Maslow developed a motivational theory named hierarchy of needs (Pride, et al, 2009). A need is required by every person. An individual fulfils his/her needs to get satisfaction and motivation is an effort to satisfy a need (Aldag and Kuzuhara, 2002). Maslow postulated that humans always seek to fulfil a variety of needs which are in sequential order as per their importance (Pride, et al. 2009). when one need is satisfied, it drecreases in strength and the higher need then dominates behaviour. The underlying needs for all human motives can be organised on five general levels depicted as a pyramid (diagram) listed from the lowest to the highest level of needs. Physiological and safety needs are on the lowest level of the pyramid as they are satisfied externally. The other three needs are internal and are therefore considered as higher-order needs. Di Cesare and Sadri (2003) state that the need must be met from the lowest and then move upward to satisfy the peak of the hierarchy. While implying Maslows Needs Hierarchy in management practice of BOK, it has various opportunitites to motivate its staff depending upon the needs. Some of them are listed below: Physiological needs: provision of sufficient breaks for lunch and recovery and payment of salary for fulfilling the basic essentials of life. Safety needs: provision of job security, conductive safety environment and threats freedom Social needs: generating a feeling of acceptance, belonging and community by reinforcing team dynamics. Esteem needs: recognition of achievement, assignment of projects and providing status to make employees feel valued and appreciated. Self Actualisation: offering challenge and meaningful work assignment that enable innovation, creativity and progress. 2.5.2 Herzbergs two factor theory Herzberg put forward the view that productivity of an employee is based not only the job satisfaction but also on work motivation Pattanayak(200). Robbins(2003) elucidates that according to herzberg, an individuals relation and attitude towards work can determine success or failure. People have two sets of needs that are related to job satisfaction and others to job dissatisfaction (Nelson and Quick,200). Elements of the job that led to job satisfaction are labelled as motivators and elements to dissatisfaction are labelled as hygiene factors. Intrinsic factors or motivators such as achievement, recognition, advancement, the work itself and responsibility are related to job satisfaction. Job dissatisfaction is the result of extrinsic factors or hygiene factors such as working conditions, job security, supervision, pay and organisation policies. Di Cesare and Sadri (2003) state that herzberg is interested in the extremes where employees either feel good or bad about the work, this lea ds to development of motivators and hygiene factors. Herzberg states that the opposite of job satisfaction is not job dissatisfaction and therefore, job dissatisfaction is not the opposite of job satisfaction. Herzberg(2003) suggests nine factors that motivate employees and they are reducing time spent at work, fringe benefit, sensitivity training, spiralling wages, two-way communication, job participation, human relation training, communication and employee counselling. He also compared motivation with that of internal self-charging battery suggesting that the energy or the positivity should come from within the employees to become motivated (Bassett-Jones and Lloyd, 2005). Herzberg argues that an employee is motivated to satisfy it growth needs; it is founded upon satisfaction innate of a sense of achievement, recognition, responsibility and personal growth. He further says that recognition is transformed into feedback, responsibility to self-regulation, authority to communicate, exercise control over resource and accountability and lastly, growth and advancement are transformed into the new expertise. Though hygiene theory is one of the popular theories of motivation, the findings done from past empirical studies show that pay, recognition and responsibility are classified as both a motivator and hygiene factors. 2.5.4 McClellands theory of needs (Richard L. Daft, Patricia G. Lane, 2007) put forward the theory stating that individual acquire certain type of needs during his/her lifetime. Individuals acquire these needs by learning and interacting with the environment (Montana and Charnov, 2000). theory focuses on three needs: Need for achievement: it drives to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards, to strive to succeed. Individuals with this drive desire to do something more efficiently overcoming challenges to achieve the objectives. Need of power: it is the need to make others behave in a way that they would not have behaved otherwise. Individuals with this need are placed in competitive situations to be concerned with gaining influence over individual, group or organization. Need for affiliation: it is the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationship. Individuals with this desire tend to have a strong desire to be liked or accepted by others and thus maintain harmonious relationship with others. Accoriding to smit (2007:340), these theories are based on needs of people and the factors that influence their behaviour. Process theory Process theory came into light in early 1960s. it was an approach that focused on how motivation actually occurs. (Smit 2007:347). These theories explained the way individual choose their behaviour to satisfy their needs (Lussier and Achua, 2009). it is more complex in compare to content theory. 2.5.3 Vrooms Expectation theory The expectancy theory, aimed at work motivation, is founded on the idea that an individuals motivation is based on his/her desire for an outcome and the probability that his/her effort will lead to required performance. Robbins (2003) defines expectation theory as, â€Å" the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outvome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual† (Robbins, 2003:173). Vrooms expectancy theory focuses on three relationships: Effort performance outcome Effort-performance relationships: the probability remarked by an individual that applying an extra effort will lead to performance. Performance-reward relationship: the degree to which the individual believes that extra effort exerted performance will lead to the accomplishment of desired outcome. Reward-personal goal relationship: the degree to which individuals goals are satisfied by organizational rewards and the degree to which individual is personally attracted to the rewards. Equity Theory J. Stacy Adams equity theory proposed that individuals are motivated when their inputs equal outputs (Lussier and Achua, 2009). This theory enables an individual to perceive a relationship between the reward he/she received and his/her performance.(Smit, 2007). individuals tend to make comparison of the inputs such as status, experience, effort, etc and outputs such as recognition, benefits, pay, etc with that of others which co-worker, a group of employees from different organisations, etc (Lussier and Achua, 2009:87). 2.5.6 Goal setting theory The goal setting theory proposed by Locke states that a person is likely to give a higher performance if the goals are specific and difficult. Besides these, there are also other factors along with feedbacks such as goal commitment, task complexity and national culture that influence the goal-performance relationship. Meyer,et al. (2004) elucidates that motivation comes from the goals an individual sets up based oh his/her needs, personal values and perception that shaped via experience at work. goals give people a sense of purpose to show the reason of working to achieve a task given (Lussier and Achua, 2009:90). Goals direct individuals attention to a specific target. If individuals have specific and difficult goals, then they optimise the performance (Huber,2006). Reinforcement theory Reinforcement theory is the relationship between the behaviour of individual and the consequences by modifying or changing it via use of rewards or punishments (Daft and Lane,2007). It consistently predicts job behaviour (Lusssier and Achua,2009). People learn behaviour through the experiences of positive and negative consequences. Behaviour is a function of its consequences (Griffin and Moorhead,2009). According to Daft and Lane (2007), managers use reinforcement to shape or modify employee behaviour in four ways: Positive reinforcement: employees are encouraged to continue their behaviour by offering consequences for desirable performance. If an employee receives positive reinforcement for certain behaviour, that employee is tend to be motivated to maintain or increase the frequency of that behaviour (Griffin and Moorhead, 2009). Avoidance reinforcement It is also known as negative reinforcement. The employees are given the opportunity to avoid an unpleasant circumstance once behaviour is improved. Extinction Motivating individuals and groups at work Theorists of motivation investigate the factors that direct and boost work related behaviour. They strive to understand activities that people enjoy and conditions that encourage them to apply efforts. As a result various motivation models were developed which main focus was on the needs and expectations of individuals. This models were best used in organisatons where understanding of behaviour of employees has been important. Due to change in structure of organisations, todays employees work in teams supporting each other sharing common interest to accomplish the common goals rather focusing on the achievement of personal goals. Ellemers, et al. (2004) employee motivation refers to the goals, needs and rewards of one whole team or the organisation where they work. this concludes that research on motivating group has been important for any organisation. The number of organisation, emphasising employees to work in teams, has steadily increased. Working in teams offers opportunities for job enrichment, decrease the workload of supervisors and enhance the performance. However, there may be some lazy members in team who exert less effort in performing the task. 2.5.5 Douglas McGregor Theory X and Y In this theory, Douglas McGregor assumes that the managers handle their employees based on their behaviours and nature. These assumptions are categorised as Theory X and Theory Y. theory X states that workers are lazy, incapable of taking responsibility , dislike work and need a constant supervision while theory Y assumes that people love work, complete task with less supervision and have responsibility ( Dzimbiri,2009). 2.6 Ways of motivating employee to ensure better performance The employees experiences at work show their feeling towards their jobs either positively or negatively. Employee motivation is taken into account by every organisation as one of the major challenging tasks. Motivation can be classified as positive or negative. The managers should encourage positive motivation to enhance performance. On the contrary, when the performance is demotivating, the approach adopted would be determined by persisting situation. Communication Communication is always an effective way to improve motivation and enhance productivity. There should be two-way communication between managers and staff that generate feedbacks on the performance. Job participation scheme Participation scheme enables staff to become a member of decision making team and express their views on organisational decisions. This leads staff to be responsible to increase their efficiency and productivity at work. Fringe benefit If an organization can retain the employees by providing them with the fringe benefit. This prevents turnover if effectively use and increase the productivity. Research methodology Introduction This research work is carried out to examine the factors that motivate and influence employees of Bank of Kathmandu and strategies adopted by the bank to enhance productivity by providing employees with optimum satisfaction. It highlights the procedures applied to understand research problem area and evaluate the result. The Research Process Customised research procedures are used by the researcher determining the exceptions of research regarding how vast the topic is. It starts with problem formulation along with the process that the researcher undertakes to get the result as solution to that problem. The problem of identifying what factors motivate employees in a particular bank namely, Bank Of Kathmandu. In this modern era, the way the employees behave at workplace has been changed. Job satisfaction has become more important than any other variables. For the success and survival of company in the competitive market, the most prioritised work of managers is to retain the skilled employees and motivate them to give their best performance. Nevertheless, employees are more interested in doing different jobs at the same time and are not willing to keep long term relationships with organisations. To add up, they are unlikely to be motivated as they use to be before. Once the research problem is defined, the objectives are formulated to achieve the solutions to the targeted problem. The hypothese Qualitative and quantitative research Survey questionnaire Questionnaires include open- ended questions, closed-ended or the combination of both. In open-ended questions, the respondents are allowed to give their own answers while the closed-ended questions provide the respondents with a set of alternatives and choose answer from that set (Saunders, et al. 2007). researchers use close-ended questions for they provide the greater control, make respondents easy to answer and short answers lead to quick results (Arthur,2006). The researcher, in this study, has used closed-ended questions using