Two Sided Fallacy Essays - English-language Films,

Two Sided Fallacy Jud Van Matre Eng 12 Honors Period 2 November 3, 2000 The Two-Faced Citizen The focal point of this essay is to define the life of Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the transformation he went through in becoming Edward Hyde. Dr. Henry Jekyll is a physician in London. He is very well respected and is currently experimenting the dual nature of man kind. Edward Hyde is a manifestation of Dr. Jekyll's personality. He is accused of committing evil acts throughout the novel. The first scene consists of Mr. Richard Enfield's and Mr. Utterson walking along a street in London. Mr. Enfield has a recollection of a previous incident in which he witnessed an extremely unpleasant man trampling upon a small screaming girl while this man was running somewhere. A large crowd had gathered around and they saw the man, Edward Hyde. The crowd forced the man to give money to this girl for trampling over her. Hyde did not run over her for any reason. He just did it out of spite and evil. He represents all the evil in the world. The reaction of others to him is one of horror because while looking at him, others feel a desire to strike out at him and kill him. His physical appearance brings out the worst evil in other people. Since Hyde represents evil, he is symbolically represented as being much smaller than Dr. Jekyll. I believe Dr. Jekyll created Hyde because he had a theory that man has a good side and a bad side. While investigating this, he developed a potion that could release the evil in a person in the form of a totally different person. Then this person could commit any evil act it wanted, and then drink the potion to return back to normal. The only problem with this is the fact that he drank this potion so many times, he was no longer able to control this process. He was unable to transform back into Dr. Jekyll. Another example of Hyde's evil is in the killing of Sir Danvers Carew. Sir Danvers appears to have been killed for no apparent reason. The murder of Sir Danvers was seen by a maid who was working nearby. She states that Hyde meet with a man in the street. After the two exchanged words, Mr. Hyde lifted his heavy walking stick and clubbed the old man to death. This tells us the reader that Mr. Hyde has grown in fury. From trampling over a child in the first scene, he now commits murd er for no reason. I believe Hyde killed Sir Danvers because Sir Danvers was described as being a peaceful and good man. Hyde represents pure evil, so naturally he would hate good gentlemen. The only reason why Sir Danvers dies, was because he was a good man. He not only killed Sir Danvers', he had to trample over him. The goodness of Sir Danvers brings out the most intense evil in Hyde. From the source Selves and Shadows we receive an indepth look into the novel. David Hume asks the question, Would any man, who is walking along, tread as willingly on another's gouty toes, whom he has no quarrel with, as on the hard flint and pavement? Well, here is that man, and his total blindness to any feeling but his own is central to his character. As Jekyll puts it, when he is eventually driven to attempt a choice between his two lives. It is very obvious that no man would want to start a fight, if there is no reason to fight. Since Mr. Hyde represents the evil in men, Dr. Jekyll releases his evil through his other side, Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is Jekyll's way of releasing his anger. In the final chapter called, Jekyll's Full Statement Jekyll reveals everything. He states, No one but me knows my true nature. All these years, the public has seen only a veneer of my real self. This is so very true due mostly to the fact that no one knew Mr. Hyde was a part of Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll constantly emphasizes the greatness of his background. He reminds us of his wealthy family, and great education. But he

the patriot essays

the patriot essays The Patriot, directed by Roland Emmerich has to be one of the most patriotic films I have ever seen. This film focuses on merit, and how people of all backgrounds worked together for one cause: freedom. The movie for the most part is accurate, even though most commentators have a different standpoint. Many of us are aware of the revolution and other important historical events. But, what we have to put into perspective is they the way all of these historical events have been perceived. The movie's protagonist is Mel Gibson playing the role of Benjamin Martin. Benjamin Martin is a South Carolina planter who is still haunted by his notoriously brutal past as a soldier in the French and Indian War. When the American Revolution comes, he chooses not to fight for the Continental Army because he wants to protect his family. But when the British Colonel Tavington threatens their welfare and kills one of his sons, he chooses to enlist. Martin becomes the leader of a makeshift militia, which consists of peasants, slaves, a minister, and other irregulars. During the war Martin and his men discover that they will pay a steep personal price for their rebellion, but are still willing and will go in with it. Thanks to their courage and bravery since July of 1776 through the Declaration of Independence every American is granted rights that must be enforced. There were great war scenes, good emotional scenes, good directing, good music, good acting, funny parts, there were no slow or boring parts plus it was different than other war movies made recently (since Saving Private Ryan). What do I mean by that you wonder, well to understand that you have to acknowledge that this war was very different from World War II in it's whole setup. Here there were ideals involved in which men strongly believed and thought these beliefs were worth fighting for, so they enlisted in the army out of free will (almost all of them). In World Wa ...

Sybil Ludington, Possible Female Paul Revere

Sybil Ludington, Possible Female Paul Revere Sybil Ludington (April 5, 1761–February 26, 1839) was a young woman who lived in rural Dutchess County, New York, close to the Connecticut border, during the American Revolution. The daughter of a commander in the Dutchess County militia, 16-year-old Sybil is said to have ridden 40 miles into what is today Connecticut to warn members of her fathers militia that the British were about to attack their neighborhood. Fast Facts: Sybil Ludington Known For: Warning the Colonial militia that the British were comingBorn: April 5, 1761 in Fredericksburg, New YorkParents: Col. Henry Ludington and Abigail LudingtonDied: February 26, 1839 in Unadilla, New YorkEducation: UnknownSpouse: Edmond OgdenChildren: Henry Ogden Early Life Sybil Ludington was born on April 5, 1761, in Fredericksburg, New York, the eldest of 12 children of Henry and Abigail Ludington. Sybils father (1739–1817) was a prominent figure in Fredericksburg- he had taken part in the Battle of Lake George in 1755 and served in the French and Indian War. He owned about 229 acres of undeveloped land in what is today New York State, and he was a mill owner. As a farmer and mill owner in Patterson, New York, Ludington was a community leader and volunteered to serve as the local militia commander as war with the British loomed. His wife Abigail (1745–1825) was a cousin; they married on May 1, 1760. As the eldest daughter, Sybil (spelled Sibel or Sebel in documentary records) assisted with childcare. Her ride in support of the war effort is said to have taken place on April 26, 1777. Sybils Ride According to the story as reported in a 1907 biography of Colonel Ludington, on Saturday night, April 26, 1777, a messenger arrived at Colonel Ludingtons home, saying that the town of Danbury had been burned by the British, and the militia was needed to furnish the troops for General Gold Selleck Silliman (1732–1790). The members of Ludingtons militia were scattered in their homes, and the Colonel needed to stay at his residence to muster the troops. He told Sybil to ride for the men and tell them to be at his house by daybreak. She did, riding on a horse with a mans saddle, bearing the news of the sack of Danbury. By daybreak, nearly the whole regiment was mustered at her fathers house and they went out to fight the battle. Mapping the Ride In the 1920s, historians of the Enoch Crosby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) mapped the possible route of Sybils ride using a list of the locations of the militia members and a contemporary map of the region. It was estimated to have been about 40 miles, three times as long as that of Paul Reveres ride. By some accounts, she traveled on her horse, Star, through the towns of Carmel, Mahopac, and Stormville, in the middle of the night, in a rainstorm, on muddy roads, shouting that the British were burning Danbury and calling out the militia to assemble at Ludingtons home. The 400-some troops were not able to save the supplies and the town at Danbury- the British seized or destroyed food and munitions and burned the town- but they were able to stop the British advance and push them back to their boats, in the Battle of Ridgefield on April 27, 1777. Becoming a Heroine The earliest report of Sybils ride we have is from over a century later, an 1880 account in a book named History of the City of New York: Its Origin, Rise and Progress by Martha J. Lamb. Lamb said she had gotten her information from the family and had used a wide array of correspondence and interviews with private individuals, as well as genealogical references. The 1907 reference cited above is a biography of Colonel Ludington, written by historian Willis Fletcher Johnson and privately published by Ludingtons grandchildren, Lavinia Ludington and Charles Henry Ludington. Sybils ride only takes up two pages (89–90) of the 300-page book. The surmised route for the ride was marked by historical markers to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the American Revolution: theyre still there today, and theres a tale about the existence of Sybils Oak and that her horse was called Star. Writer Vincent Dacquino reports that according to records assembled in the 1930s, George Washington visited the Ludingtons to thank Sybil, but letters describing that visit were lost even then. Legacy of Sybil Ludington In a 2005 article, historian Paula Hunt tracked down the available information about Sybil, and describes the growth of the story in importance throughout the 20th century, setting its various meanings within the context of current events. In the Victorian era, the American Revolution was an important meme about nativism: groups like the DAR (established in 1890), the Colonial Dames of America (1890), and the Mayflower Descendants (1897)  all were situating descendants of people in the original 13 colonies as real Americans, in comparison to new immigrants. During the Great Depression, Sybils ride became an icon of the ability for ordinary people to perform extraordinary feats during times of adversity. In the 1980s, she represented the growing feminist movement, highlighting the way womens roles in history have been forgotten or downplayed. When those tales compared her favorably to Paul Revere (three times as long as Reveres ride, and she wasnt captured by the British), the story was attacked as fraudulent and feminist-biased: in 1996, the DAR refused to put a marker on her grave establishing her has a recognized patriot. The group eventually changed its mind in 2003. Its a Great Story, But... Sybil Ludington was a real person, but whether her ride happened or not has been debated. Since the original publication of the tale nearly a century after it is said to have occurred, Sybils story has been embellished: there are numerous childrens books, television programs, and poems written about her. A 4,000-pound sculpture of her ride was erected on the shores of Lake Gleneida in 1961, a U.S. postage stamp featuring her was issued in 1975, an episode of the PBS TV Series Libertys Kids featured her; and there has even been a musical and an opera performing her story. The Annual Sybil Ludington 50 / 25 K Run has been held in Carmel, New York every year since 1979. As Paula Hunt puts it, the Sybil story, whether it actually happened or not, indicates that people are, despite their reputation, interested in the past. Sybils ride has become a dramatic origin myth about American identity, as a heritage and as civic engagement, it embodies courage, individuality, and loyalty. Marriage and Death Sybil herself married Edmond (sometimes recorded as Edward or Henry) Ogden on October 21, 1784, and afterward lived in Unadilla, New York. Edmond was a sergeant in the Connecticut regiment; he died on September 16, 1799. They had one son, Henry Ogden, who became a lawyer and a New York State Assemblyman. Sybil applied for a widows pension in April 1838 but was turned down because she couldnt provide evidence of their marriage; she died in Unadilla on February 26, 1839. Sources Dacquino, Vincent T. Patriot Hero of the Hudson Valley: The Life and Ride of Sybil Ludington. Charleston SC: The History Press, 2019.  Sybil Ludington. Forgotten Voices. JCTVAccess KJLU’s News Department, YouTube, February 19, 2018.Hunt, Paula D. Sybil Ludington, the Female Paul Revere: The Making of a Revolutionary War Heroine. The New England Quarterly 88.2 (2015): 187–222.Johnson, Willis Fletcher. Colonel Henry Ludington: A Memoir. New York: Lavinia Ludington and Charles Henry Ludington, 1907.

Innovation and Technology Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Innovation and Technology Management - Essay Example Finally in the last context, the essay will analyze the rapid growth of technological advances of companies that often tend to favour them, but not the individuals of the society. It would not be possible to achieve such perilous economic growth in today’s world without the essence of technological improvement. The learnt from the essay will help to analyze the evolution and modernization of the state of economic affairs in the contemporary commercial world. Situation Analysis Question 1: Discuss all elements of ‘The TQM Philosophy and its possible impact of each element to your university or college? What might be the benefits? Total Quality Management Approach is a special management segment that primarily concentrates on the quality-related attributes of an organization. It is also based on the participation of the individuals in an organization for long term success. For a corporate organization, quality management can be achieved by attaining customer’s satis faction and maximizing the society’s welfare. In the current epoch, TQM philosophy is related to the task of managing a commercial or a non-commercial organization in a manner that the concern can effectively and efficiently cater to the satisfaction of the stakeholders without altering the ethical values. The primary elements that are involved in TQM are factors that are related to customer-focusing, employee involvement, process-centred, integrated system, strategic, systematic, continual improvement, fact-based decision making and communications. In this era of ‘consumerism’, the ultimate decision makers to analyze the nature or quality of an organization are the customers. Regardless of improvements made by a firm in terms of its different factors of production, the... The essay will throw light on the types of intellectual property rights available to the companies. The essay would use at least three illustrations for each type of property right. Property rights are indispensible business facts today as they are the norms that protect the competitive rights of the companies in the market. The essay will analyze the rapid growth of technological advances of companies that often tend to favour them, but not the individuals of the society. It would not be possible to achieve such perilous economic growth in today’s world without the essence of technological improvement. The learnt from the essay will help to analyze the evolution and modernization of the state of economic affairs in the contemporary commercial world. This article makes a conclusion that that the state of business affairs in the modern days have changed to a large extent. The contribution of TQM has been priceless in the commercial field. Business firms have benefited from TQM elements to such an extent that the managers of the educational institutes are also willing to govern on the basis of the primary elements of TQM. It is believed that quality management in the higher educational institutes would help to nurture efficient individuals, who would facilitate the promotion of the growth in the economy’s commercial sector. Today, the business firms have highly developed in terms of business operations, but this progress is largely boosted by the protection of the intellectual property rights.

Saudi Airline Served Donkey Meat Research Paper

Saudi Airline Served Donkey Meat - Research Paper Example It has been revealed by many sources that Saudi Airline had been serving donkey meat during their flights in the past few months. 2. Reality Behind the Incident 2.1 Ignored Warnings from a Local Body In the month of June 2011, several sources reported that Saudi Airline had been serving donkey meat to their customers as a result of negligence to the warnings given by concerned authorities. A senior inspector at the Saudi Airlines supply department said that the airlines had received many warnings from Saudi Arabia’s General Food and Drugs Authority about their imports from Tunisia since the respective country was suffering from contagious diseases among their cattle (â€Å"Donkey meat on Saudi Arabian airline?†). The warnings also included aspects about the common sale of donkey and horse meat in the Arab country but the Saudi Airlines management did not pay attention to any of these warnings and reports. The senior inspector further said that these warnings made the ai rline stop importing meat from Tunisia when it had already been served to their customers for nearly a month. However, Chusid stated that the donkey meat was being served as beef and it continued for more than a single month. Alongside the possibility of it being donkey meat, the presence of diseased meat in Tunisia also did not alarm the authorities to stop the supply of the meat on an urgent basis. He stated that one of the reasons for such a late reaction can be the low price for which the meat was being bought. One factor that may have led to the lowering price of the meat was that the meat was near its expiration dates. Therefore, it can be stated that low priced meat was preferred by the management irrespective of the animal it came from. Lesser expense on the purchase of food might have increased their revenues but can certainly cause a crash in their customer loyalty. 2.2 Unexpected Behavior from a 3-Star Airline Saudi Airlines is a 3-Star airline (â€Å"The World’s 3-Star Airlines†). As per the standards of SkyTrax that has been set to provide rating for different airlines, 3-Star airlines provide â€Å"satisfactory standard† of mission critical services in numerous travel categories†. Food is one of the most important categories in the rating of any airline. Donkey meat is not expected to be served by any airline and definitely not from a 3-Star one as it is expected to meet certain criteria. Customers avail the services of airlines on the basis of their ratings; such irresponsible and appalling behavior from a 3-Star airline makes the customers doubt the credibility of the ratings, along with the respective airline. Chusid stated that it could not be known from the reporting of the local newspapers if it was served to the business class, the economy class or both. 2.3 Prohibition to Eat Donkey Meat in the Country’s Religion Saudi Airlines is owned by Muslims and is considered to be flag carrier airline of a Muslim c ountry, Saudi Arabia. Muslims follow the religion of Islam; Islam has allowed some foods, whereas some types of foods are forbidden for its followers. Donkey meat is considered to be forbidden to be eaten by Muslims (â€Å"The Fiqh of Halal and Haram Animals†). Their Holy Book of Quran states that these animals are designated for being ridden on, not for consumption. The usage of a forbidden meat in an airline of Muslim origin

Efficient Pricing of Geomarketing Internet Services Essay Example for Free

Efficient Pricing of Geomarketing Internet Services Essay Abstract Geomarketing information is information which enables the user to take better and faster decisions about marketing and sales activities. The main source of information are geographic, demographic, and statistic data. These data are usually collected and maintained by several institutions and come in a variety of forms and formats. The final integrators acquire datasets, sort, filter and organize them, and offer in advance defined analyses. In this paper we focus on geomarketing services offered on the Internet where usually no physical good is exchanged. The subject of trade is geomarketing information the user is able to extract from the datasets. The main issue is how to set a Pareto efficient price for geomarketing information. The situation is Pareto efficient when the sum of user’s and service provider’s surplus is maximized. We investigate nonlinear pricing strategies and their efficiency to serve mass markets and attract users with different willingness to pay. Nonlinear pricing is used in a broader sense to include the practice of selling the same information product on various vertical markets at prices that are not in proportion to the differences in marginal cost. The market research for the GISMO project (Krek et al. 2000) showed that the US market differs substantially from the European. It has characteristics of a commodity market, where providers offer very similar or equal products at similar prices. This is feasible only if the prices for raw datasets, which represent the main barrier to enter the market, are low or zero. Competition among service providers drives prices down and enables them to successfully serve a mass market. The European approach is mostly determined by the high prices of datasets and restrictions on the copyright forced by the National Mapping Agencies. This prevents further production and creation of information products and serves only a narrow group of users with high willingness to pay. We list the most i mportant conditions for Pareto efficient nonlinear pricing of geoinformation services. 1 Introduction Price is a very important element of trade. It can only be discussed in relation to what is offered, how much value the potential user attaches to the product and how much he is willing to pay for it. A geomarketing service in this paper serves as an example for a geoinformation service in general where a Geoinformation product is traded. A Geoinformation product is defined as a specific piece of geoinformation which provides an answer to a particular user’s question. The provider of a geoinformation service has to select the medium of delivery and the price for the service. We concentrate on geomarketing services provided online through the Internet. The service is mostly done automatically, and not by a human. Usually no physical good is exchanged. Gathering information about the product, placing the order, and payment is done over electronic network. In the sections 5 and 6 we analyze different pricing strategies for geographic information and their Pareto efficiency. The s ituation is called to be Pareto efficient when the user’s and service provider’s surplus is maximized. We review marginal cost and nonlinear pricing and explain in which cases they conform to the Pareto efficiency. Setting a price equal to marginal cost is not economically viable since such a price does not cover fixed cost. Some examples of nonlinear pricing, such as quantity discounts, term-volume commitments, and list of price options satisfy the Pareto efficiency requirement if certain conditions are satisfied. We conclude with the list of the most important conditions for the Pareto efficient pricing of geomarketing service. They can be applied to geoinformation services in general. 2 Geomarketing Services A geomarketing service is a service of providing geomarketing information to the user. Geomarketing information is information which enables the user to take better and faster decisions about marketing and sales activities. This information can be delivered to the user in a different form, format and through different media. Geomarketing information is gathered from internal company’s data, which are combined with external demographic, statistic and geographic data. A geoinformation that satisfies a particular information need in a specific decision making situation is called a Geoinformation product. 2.1 Geomarketing Data Geomarketing data consists of internal company’s data and external data. Internal data (the rate of sale, current customers profiles, etc.) is collected and maintained by the company itself. External data comes in a variety of formats and forms, as a collection of numbers, reports, maps, etc., and is gathered by different institutions. Demographic and statistic data is collected and maintained by Statistical Offices and aggregated to a certain extent. Geographic data is provided in Europe mostly by National Mapping Agencies, in USA by the US Geological Survey (USGS). Because of this broad variety of data, their structure, content and formats, they cannot be easily integrated and are not straightforward usable by a non-technical user. 2.2. Geomarketing Information: a Product The source of geomarketing information is geomarketing data. Specialized companies collect the data from different sources, combine them, sort and filter them. For example, the statistical and demographic data have spatial dimension, which is usually given by the street name and house number. This data has to be geocoded in order to link the attributes (purchasing power, age, educational structure, etc.) with geographic data. The providers identify dimensions of data that are valuable for a certain group of users, package them and offer them as a Geoinformation product. A Geoinformation product is a specific piece of geoinformation which provides an answer to a particular user’s question. The answer to the question can come in many different forms; as a selected dataset, combination of datasets, a report, a map, etc. To make the geomarketing service feasible, some in advance designed steps and analyses are offered to the user. The most common are customer profile, site selection, and market penetration. 3 Internet as a Medium of Delivery The Internet changes the way transactions are done. User and seller can enter an electronic relationship without personal contact. The buyer can place an order any time (from the seat at home, late in the evening) and can take as much time as he wants or needs to take the decision about the purchase. Searching for the right product over e-network, he can get comparable information about similar products from other companies, their characteristics and prices. Cooperation with potential and current users of geoinformation services is important. In the Internet world, the gap between service-consumers and services-providers blurs. â€Å"Consumers become involved in the actual production process, their ideas, knowledge, information become part of the product specification process† (Tapscott 1996). In a geomarketing service, usually no physical good is exchanged. The user gets o the result of nly the analysis, the answer to his question. Even more advanced geomarketing services offer the possibility of uploading the data of the user on the provider’s server and combining these data with the collection of the data on the server. A service offered via Internet involves less administration, paper work, and less human resources, which reduces transaction costs. Direct connection to the computer accounting system can provide systematic and efficient registration of the transactions. Security and protection mechanisms enable the service provider to follow and control transactions. Selecting a proper pricing policy in order to attract widespread use of the service is of great importance. In the next sections, we review marginal cost and nonlinear pricing, and analyze their Pareto efficiency. 4 Pareto Efficiency The situation is Pareto efficient if there is no way to make both the user and the service provider better off. The sum of the user’s and provider’s surplus is maximized. It can be a understood lso as maximizing the difference between economic benefits and costs which appear on the user’s as well as on the provider’s side. The economic benefits are the benefits of using the product on the product has to him with his willingness to pay for the marginal unit of the product. If he expects high benefits, he will be willing to pay a high price for the product. Cost incurred on the provider side is mostly high fixed cost of designing and creating the Geoinformation product and enabling the service, and low marginal cost of providing an incremental unit of the product. The user’s cost is the price he pays for the product, the transaction cost and the cost associated with acquiring the information about the product. 5 Marginal Cost Pricing and Pareto Efficiency Marginal cost pricing is pricing where the price equals the marginal cost. The cost of an economic good is an important determinant of how much the producer will be willing to produce. The concept of â€Å"marginal† or â€Å"extra† cost is crucial for the situation on the market of economic goods. It has an important role in appraising how efficient or inefficient any particular price and production pattern is (Samuelson 1967). This observation is valuable for the standard economic good where the total cost of producing the product depends on the quantity produced. The cost structure a Geoinformation product substantially differs from the cost structure of the standard economic good. The total cost of producing the product is mostly a high fixed cost of collecting the data and designing the product, and is not recoverable if the production is halted (sunk cost). The marginal cost of producing t e second and each additional copy of the product is h very low or zero, mostly the cost of disseminating the product. The share of the marginal cost in the total cost of production is negligible. Marginal cost pricing of a Geoinformation product would according to the marginal cost pricing scheme imply very low or zero price. â€Å"Pricing at marginal cost may or may not be efficient: it depends on how the consumers’ total willingness to pay relates to the total cost of providing the good† (Varian 1999). At the first stage of the production, the datasets have low value to most users and they have low willingness to pay for them. The high cost of producing the datasets cannot be recovered. M arginal cost pricing does not imply efficiency because it does not cover the total costs of producing a Geoinformation product. 6 Nonlinear Pricing and Pareto Efficiency Pricing is nonlinear when it is not strictly proportional to the quantity purchas ed. Different prices are charged to different groups of buyers or the same product. Nonlinear pricing is also used in a f broader sense to include the practice of selling the same product on different markets at prices that are not in proportion to the differences in marginal cost. Good examples are phone rates, frequent flyer programs, and electricity (Wilson 1993). The first notion about charging different users differently for the same product was called price discrimination (Pigou 1920) and distinguished among three different forms of discrimination. 6.1 Price Discrimination Pigou (Pigou 1920) first used the term price discrimination and he described the following forms of nonlinear pricing: †¢ First-degree price discrimination The first-degree price discrimination is sometimes known as perfect price discrimination. The producer sells different units of output at different prices and these prices may differ from buyer to buyer. The buyer pays the maximum price that he is willing to pay, irrespective of the cost of production and supply. Usually it is difficult to determine what is the maximum price someone is willing to pay for the product. †¢ Second-degree price discrimination The producer sells different units of output at different prices, but every individual who buys t e h same amount of the good pays the same price. Second-degree price discrimination is much more common in practice. Good examples of this discrimination are volume discounts and coupons. †¢ Third-degree price discrimination The producer sells the output to different people at different prices, but every unit of output sold to a given person sells at the same price. Customers are divided into more groups, which have different demand curves and different price elasticity. The highest price is charged to the groups with the lowest elasticity. Examples of this discrimination are student discounts. 6.2 Two-part Tariff Two-part tariff is an example of a nonlinear pricing and consists of two parts. The first part of the tariff usually comes in the form of a membership, an annual or monthly license and is supposed to cover fixed cost. The second part of the tariff is related to the usage (number of reports transferred, number of bits, layers, etc.) and covers the incremental cost. This pricing scheme is often used in telecommunication. Users are charged for the connection to the network and additionally for the usage. Two-part tariff pricing scheme can be very naturally applied to a geomarketing service. The first part of the tariff represents a membership fee, an annual or monthly licence for access to the data, reports and maps; the second part is a n additional fee usually based on the volume transferred. Price P for a geoinformation service is then P = p0 + p v.q where p0 pv q fixed fee (annual, monthly, membership, etc.) price set for a volume transferred quantity transferred. The revenue collected from the first part of the tariff (p0 ) is supposed to cover the fixed cost of producing the first copy of the Geoinformation product. The price of u sage (pv ) should cover the incremental cost and the cost of transaction. The combination of the membership and usage constructed for the predicted demand is set so that the company’s total cost is recovered. How high the fixed fee and the price of usage s hould be is an important question. Availability of the raw data at low price will change the nature of the market. The price for both parts of the tariff (p0 and pv ) will form according to the equilibrium rules of supply and demand. 6.3 Pareto Efficiency of the Two-part Tariff Two-part tariff can disadvantage a certain segment of the users. Imagine a geomarketing service company offering geographic data over the Internet. For the simplicity of reasoning, imagine there exist two segments of users; those who use data on a regular basis and have a high willingness to pay (governmental institutions, ministries, utilities, etc.), and those who seldom need data (students, individuals, small and medium companies, etc.) and have low willingness to pay. In this case, a high fixed fee excludes the users with low willingness to pay, occasional users who need only a small volume of the data and are not willing to pay an annual membership fee or a license. The necessary condition for Pareto efficiency is not satisfied. 6.4 Quantity Discounts Quantity discounts are a form of a nonlinear price where the provider charges a lower price for a higher volume purchased. The opportunity of selling high volumes at a low price is often neglected in geoinformation business. Increased revenue from the higher volume at lower price enables the provider to improve the service and reduce prices for all users. The quantity discounts are usually designed in order to stimulate sales, but can complicate the billing and accounting system. Pareto efficiency of quantity discounts depends on the volume-price categories offered by the service provider. This pricing strategy might disadvantage users with low willingness to pay, not being able to pay nor interested in purchasing higher volumes. 6.5 Term-Volume Commitments According to this strategy the user agrees with the service provider to pay a certain amount of money for the service in advance. The payment is set according to the predicted demand for the service. This kind of agreement usually involves some discounts, because the whole payment is done at once and at the beginning of the period. Short-term contracts involve lower reduction in price than longer contracts. This strategy reduces billing and accounting cost and is often used by Internet providers. For example, â€Å"a one-year-term commitment to spend $2000/month obtains a discount of 18%â€Å" (Gong and Srinagesh 1998), for the 5 -year contracts the Internet providers use up to 60% discount. Term-volume commitments satisfy the Pareto efficiency requirement if the user can choose among different schemes and are designed indiscriminately. 6.6 List of Price Options Different pricing options can be combined and offered as a list of price options. In geomarketing services, the two-part tariff is often combined with an additional pricing option, the uniform pricing scheme. Under the uniform pricing scheme, the user pays the price (p2 ), which is proportional to the data transferred. Usually the tariff per volume purchased (p2 ) is higher in the uniform pricing scheme than the price (p1 ) proposed in the two-part tariff scheme, but the user need not pay an annual membership fee or license. The user profits if he is an occasional user, who needs a small volume of data. The sum he is willing to pay in this case is lower than the annual membership or license fee plus the cost of the data transferred.

Invisible Man Essay: Identity and Invisibility -- Invisible Man Essays

Identity and Invisibility in Invisible Man      Ã‚  Ã‚   It is not necessary to be a racist to impose 'invisibility" upon another person. Ignoring someone or acting as if we had not seen him or her, because they make us feel uncomfortable, is the same as pretending that he or she does not exist. "Invisibility" is what the main character of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man called it when others would not recognize or acknowledge him as a person.    The narrator describes his invisibility by saying, "I am invisible ... simply because people refuse to see me." Throughout the Prologue, the narrator likens his invisibility to such things as "the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows." He later explains that he is "neither dead nor in a state of suspended animation," but rather is "in a state of hibernation." (Ellison 6) This invisibility is something that the narrator has come to accept and even embrace, saying that he "did not become alive until [he] discovered [his] invisibility." (Ellison 7) However, as we read on in the story, it is apparent that the invisibility that the narrator experiences, goes much further than just white people unwilling to acknowledge him for who he is.    While searching for his true identity, the narrator frequently encounters different people who each see him differently. "Who the hell am I?" is the question that sticks with him as he realizes that nobody, not even he, understands who he really is. At some points in his life, identities are given to him, even as he is still trying to find himself. While in the Brotherhood, he was given a "new identity" which was "written on a slip of paper." (Ellison 309) He was told to "starting thinking of [himself] by that name ... so that eve... ... Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1971.   45-63. Ellison, Ralph.   Invisible Man.   New York: The Modern Library, 1994. Holland, Laurence B.   "Ellison in Black and White: Confession, Violence and Rhetoric in 'Invisible Man'."   Black Fiction: New Studies in the Afro-American Novel since 1945.   Ed. A. Robert Lee.   London: Vision Press, 1980.   54-73. Klein, Marcus.   "Ralph Ellison."   After Alienation: American Novels in Mid-Century.   Cleveland: World Pub., 1964.   71-146. Langman, F.H.   "Reconsidering Invisible Man."   The Critical Review.   18 (1976) 114-27. Lieber, Todd M.   "Ralph Ellison and the Metaphor of Invisibility in Black Literary Tradition."   American Quarterly.   Mar. 1972: 86-100. Major, Clarence.   American Poetry Review.   Nov/Dec. (1973) 17. Morris, Wright. "The World Below."   The New York Times Book Review 13 Apr.1952: 5.   

Internal Factors Affect Change of Leadership in Organization

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/1753-8351. htm IJWHM 2,1 Work-related health attributions: their impact on work attitudes ? ? Sara Goransson, Katharina Naswall and Magnus Sverke 6 Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to introduce the concept of work-related health attributions and investigate the effects of such perceptions as well as of health status on work-related attitudes and turnover intentions.Design/methodology/approach – Building on attribution theory, the study tests the assumption that negative work-related health attributions impair employee work-related attitudes and intentions, and moderate the relation between health status and work-related attitudes. Cross-sectional questionnaire data from 785 Swedish retail white-collar workers are collected to test these assumptions by utilizing moderated regression analyses.Find ings – The results show that negative work-related health attributions are related to lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment as well as higher levels of turnover intention, even after controlling for demographics, work climate variables, and mental distress. Further, the signi? cant interaction between attributions and mental distress indicates that it makes a difference for employees’ turnover intentions if an individual with high mental distress attributes it to work or not.Practical implications – Work-related health attributions should be taken into account in order to avoid impaired levels of employee work motivation. The measure introduced renders it possible to identify and help those individuals who believe that work affects their health negatively. Originality/value – The results underscore the relevance of how individuals think their health is affected by their work, and contributes to the understanding of how health stat us relates to work-related attitudes.Since the measure of work-related health attributions is easily administered it is also valuable for practitioners working with employee health and attitudes. Keywords Personal health, Job satisfaction, Employee turnover, Sick leave, Sweden Paper type Research paper International Journal of Workplace Health Management Vol. 2 No. 1, 2009 pp. 6-21 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1753-8351 DOI 10. 1108/17538350910945974 1. Introduction The high rates of sick leave and the evidence regarding the effects of work on employee health in general have received increased attention in both research and media as of ? ate (Catalan Matamoros et al. , 2007). This increased attention, along with the importance of work and health to individuals, is likely to have contributed to an increased interest among employees in how work actually affects their health (Harding and Hikspoors, 1995; Harpaz, 2002; Kallenberg and Larsson, 2000). The Third European Study on Wor king Conditions indicates, for instance, that 27 percent of employees believe that their health and safety are at risk because of their work (European Foundation, 2001).Further, a Swedish study on persons on long-term sick-leave found that 66 percent of those asked named work as the underlying cause for ? their sick-leave (Goransson et al. , 2002). Moreover, Ettner and Grzywacz (2001) found that individuals’ perceptions of how work affects health tend to differ between different work situations, even after dispositional differences were controlled for. None of these studies, however, have studied how employee attitudes and behavioral intentions may be affected by such a negative view of how work affects health.We introduce the concept of work-related health attributions, which we argue may add to the understanding of the factors that contribute to variation in job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and the will to stay with the organization. Whereas numerous studies hav e documented ill-health at work to be related to low job satisfaction (Bradley and Cartwright, 2002; Fairbrother and Warn, 2001; Judge and Watanabe, 1993; Spector, 1997; Wright and Bonett, 2007), low organizational commitment (Leong et al. 1996; Mathieu and Zajac, 1990), as well as turnover cognitions and behaviors (Houkes et al. , 2001; Lee, 1988; Wright and Bonett, 2007), a closer examination of these studies reveals that there are differences in the strength of the association between ill-health and various outcomes depending on the measures used, but also between studies using the same measures. We propose that work-related health attributions can be an important part of the mechanism determining the relationship between ill-health and various outcomes.It is likely that an individual who is not feeling well and who attributes this to factors at work will be less satis? ed with work, less committed, and more prone to leave the organization, compared to an individual with same lev el of ill-health but who does not associate their health status with factors at work. The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether negative work-related health attributions are separate from ill-health, and if the concept contributes to the understanding of negative attitudes towards the job and the organization, and turnover intentions. . 1. Work-related health attributions Work-related health attributions concern the degree to which the individual considers working conditions to be a strong contributing factor to her health status. The perceived contribution of work to health can be positive, negative, or none at all. We propose that work-related health attributions represent an important factor in explaining the link between health and work-related attitudes.By taking work-related health attributions into account it is possible to study differences between those who experience ill-health and attribute this to working conditions and others with ill-health which they do not believe is caused by work. According to attribution theory, people tend to look for causes for events and situations they experience (Michotte, 1963; Weiner, 1985; Stratton, 1997), especially when the outcome is negative, such as in the case of ill-health.Work-related health attributions, then, can be viewed as a type of attribution, since they entail the individual’s explanation of events (in this case how work in? uences health). Furthermore, work-related health attributions focus on how the individual evaluates the contribution of work to her current or future health status, implying that even if the individual currently does not experience any ill-health due to work, she may see a risk of work affecting her health negatively if the situation does not change.Drawing on theories on social representation (e. g. Moscovici, 2000), we also suggest that beliefs are formed from individuals’ experiences as well as socially created and shared ideas and knowledge in gr oups. Such knowledge may consist of health complaints and sickness absence among people surrounding an individual, as well as the way work and its in? uence on health is discussed in research and media (see, for ? example, Catalan Matamoros et al. , 2007), and is important in shaping the individual’s perceptions of the impact of working conditions on health.Thus, negative work-related health attributions may arise both from an individual’s own experiences of a negative impact of work on health and from the individual’s awareness of a connection between Work-related health attributions 7 IJWHM 2,1 8 work and ill-health in the organization and society. The social aspects in the formation of attributions have been observed in previous research such as, for instance, a study where it was found that norms and social debate affected the overall attitude towards absenteeism in organizations (Van Vuuren et al. 2003). At this point, one important distinction should be ma de. We consider work-related health attributions to be separate from actual ill-health at work. Actual ill-health is a general concept and takes a person’s current health status and well-being into account, including such factors as problems with social functioning, sleeping problems, low self-esteem, and depression. Work-related health attributions, on the other hand, are work-focused and entail to what extent individuals perceive that work in? ences health, and do not have to be connected to actual symptoms or health status. Work-related health attributions can, in other words, be negative in spite of a person being in good health. Conversely, an individual can have symptoms of ill-health but believe that work has nothing to do with these symptoms. This discrepancy between health status and work-related health attributions may be due to early signs of health problems, or a conviction that the current work situation is not bene? ial to one’s health in the long run, bu t it is ultimately based on the individual’s evaluation of the situation. Figure 1 summarizes the relation between ill-health and work-related health attributions, and how they are expected to relate to work attitudes and turnover intentions. 1. 2. Consequences of work-related health attributions Expectancies and beliefs, of which work-related health attributions are one example, tend to affect attitudes and behaviors (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Holland et al. , 2002; Weiner, 1985).In addition, the value placed on an object of interest plays an important part in shaping the attitudes toward that object (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Since health is important and highly valued by most individuals, we expect that individuals with negative work-related health attributions also hold more negative attitudes towards work, such as lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and higher levels of turnover intention, compared to individuals with less negative work-related health attributions.In all employment relationships, it is the employer who is responsible for providing a decent work climate, preventing health risks at work, and making efforts to keep the employees healthy (Walters, 2002). Employees expect to stay healthy at work because of labor legislation which emphasizes the employers’ responsibility for occupational safety and health. Employers who take measures to safeguard the work environment show that they value their employees and care about their well-being, and reinforce the Figure 1. The relation between ill-health and work-related ealth attributions and their impact on work-related attitudes employees’ expectations of fair treatment in the employee-employer relationship. In response to such support from the organization, employees may develop more positive attitudes toward the job and increase their loyalty towards the organization (see Robinson et al. , 1994; Shore and Wayne, 1993). However, employees with negative work-rel ated health attributions probably hold their employer more or less responsible and exhibit strong negative reactions toward the organization (cf.Robinson and Morrison, 2000; Shore and Tetrick, 1994). Such reactions can include feelings of anger, disappointment, or resentment toward the party perceived as being responsible, which can be manifested as lowered satisfaction with the job and decreased commitment to the organization. Moreover, it has been argued that employees (especially those most quali? ed) tend to leave the company when they experience unfavorable working conditions (e. g. Hirschman, 1970; Pfeffer, 1998).The same might apply to individuals high on negative work-related health attributions; those who have the option may very well leave the organization if the employer does not take steps to remedy the conditions perceived to be threatening the individual’s health. We suggest that work-related health attributions should be taken into account when studying the rel ation between employee health and attitudes toward the organization, especially given that previous research on this relation has found differing results.However, the studies conducted consistently indicate that employee health may have a negative impact on job satisfaction, commitment and the intention to remain with the organization (see, for example, Leong et al. , 1996; Wright and Bonett, 2007). We believe that work-related health attributions make up an important part of the mechanism between employee health and its potential outcomes. 1. 3. The present studyThe purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of work-related health attributions in the context of mental distress and work-related attitudes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) and behavior (turnover intention). We propose that low employee well-being and negative work-related health attributions, respectively, are associated with lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and higher levels of turnover intention.We also propose that work-related health attributions moderate the relation between mental distress and work-related outcomes, in the sense that the negative effect of ill-health on work-related attitudes is stronger among individuals who hold negative work-related health attributions than among those with more neutral work-related health attributions. Since work-related health attributions can be considered a rather new empirical construct, we analyze its conceptual relation to mental distress before going on to testing our propositions.Research has shown that characteristics of the work environment are important in shaping attitudes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Fairbrother and Warn, 2001; Parker et al. , 2003), and turnover intention (Griffeth et al. , 2000; Lambert et al. , 2001). In order not to overestimate the effect of work-related health attributions on outcome variables, we control for factors describing the climate at work (job autonomy, quantitative role overload, qualitative role overload, workgroup cohesiveness, and job challenge), in addition to demographic characteristics (gender, age and education).The research model is graphically represented in Figure 2). Work-related health attributions 9 IJWHM 2,1 10 Figure 2. Research model 2. Method 2. 1. Participants and procedure Data were collected within the framework of a project investigating how to attract, develop and retain white-collar workers in the Swedish retail and wholesale sectors. A random sample of 1,589 individuals was drawn from the membership roster of the Union of Commercial Salaried Employees (HTF), which is af? liated with the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO).The HTF, which is the union representing white-collar employees in this particular sector, has a unionization rate of approximately 80 percent (Kjellberg, 2001). Questionnaires were mailed to the members’ homes during the spring of 2 002. A cover letter explained the general aim of the study and included information about compensation for participation in the study (a gift certi? cate was raf? ed off among the respondents) and that participation was voluntary. Participants returned their questionnaires in pre-addressed, postage-paid envelopes. Two follow-up mailings were administered to increase the response rate, one with a new questionnaire.The response rate after two follow-ups was 52 percent (n ? 829). After listwise deletion of missing data, the sample comprised 785 persons. The mean age of the participants was 44 years (SD ? 11), women made up 54 percent of the sample, 14 percent had a university exam, and the average organizational tenure was 11 years (SD ? 10). 2. 2. Measures Table I presents the correlations, mean values, standard deviations, and reliability estimates (Cronbach’s alpha) for all study variables. In general, the measures exhibited adequate reliability (alpha exceeding 0. 70), with the exception of qualitative role overload (alpha ? . 59). 2. 2. 1. Demographics. Gender (1 ? woman, 0 ? man) and education (1 ? university degree, 0 ? lower education) were assessed as dichotomous variables. Age was measured in years. 2 Mean SD Minimum Maximum Alpha 0. 54 0. 50 0 1 – 43. 57 1. 92 21 65 – Gender (woman) – Age 2 0. 06 – Education (University) 0. 01 2 0. 04 Job autonomy 2 0. 15 0. 13 Quantitative role overload 2 0. 08 0. 00 Qualitative role overload 2 0. 09 0. 05 Work group cohesiveness 2 0. 04 0. 04 Job challenge 2 0. 17 0. 15 Negative work-related health attributions 0. 01 2 0. 10 Mental distress 0. 12 2 0. 10 Job satisfaction 2 0. 03 0. 15Organizational commitment 2 0. 04 0. 23 Turnover intention 2 0. 03 2 0. 20 1 0. 14 0. 35 0 1 – – 2 0. 05 0. 00 2 0. 09 2 0. 02 2 0. 03 0. 02 2 0. 04 2 0. 08 2 0. 11 0. 08 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3. 54 0. 90 1 5 0. 78 3. 44 0. 91 1 5 0. 78 2. 22 0. 78 1 5 0. 59 3. 74 0. 96 1 5 0. 84 3. 57 0. 8 7 1 5 0. 74 2. 52 1. 08 1 5 0. 84 9. 19 5. 56 0 32 0. 88 3. 74 0. 91 1 5 0. 88 3. 08 0. 94 1 5 0. 71 – 2 0. 13 – 2 0. 08 0. 31 – 0. 32 2 0. 09 2 0. 13 – 0. 38 0. 14 0. 13 0. 35 – 2 0. 40 0. 42 0. 35 2 0. 35 2 0. 20 – 2 0. 37 0. 28 0. 27 2 0. 34 2 0. 26 0. 56 – 0. 63 2 0. 09 2 0. 11 0. 47 0. 55 2 0. 52 2 0. 49 – 0. 48 2 0. 02 0. 03 0. 8 0. 53 2 0. 34 2 0. 32 0. 71 – 2 0. 39 0. 10 0. 10 2 0. 35 2 0. 35 0. 50 0. 40 2 0. 65 2 0. 56 4 Notes: – Not applicable; for r . 0. 06, p , 0. 05; r . 0. 08, p , 0. 01; r . 0. 10, p , 0. 001 (n = 785) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Variable 2. 04 1. 06 1 5 0. 80 – 13 Work-related health attributions 11 Table I. Correlations and descriptive statistics for the variables in the analysis IJWHM 2,1 12 Table II. Results of con? rmatory factor analysis of work-related health attributions and mental distress 2. 2. 2. Work climate. All climate variables were measured using a ? ve-point Likert scale (1 ? strongly disagree; 5 ? trongly agree). Job autonomy was assessed with a ? three-item index (Sverke and Sjoberg, 1994), including items (e. g. â€Å"I have enough freedom as to how I do my work†) drawn from Hackman and Oldham (1975) and Walsh et al. (1980). Quantitative role overload was measured using a three-item scale (Beehr et al. , 1976), consisting of items such as â€Å"I often have too much to do in my job†. Qualitative role overload was measured with three items (e. g. â€Å"I consider my responsibilities to be unreasonable;† Sverke et al. , 1999). Three items drawn from Nystedt (1992) were used to assess work group cohesiveness (e. g. Members stick together in my work group†). Job challenge was measured with a three-item scale (e. g. â€Å"I’m learning new things all the time in my job†) developed by Hellgren et al. (1997). 2. 2. 3. Health-related variables. We used the short version of the General Health Questionn aire (GHQ-12) to measure mental distress (Goldberg and Williams, 1988). The 12 items (e. g. â€Å"Have you been feeling unhappy and depressed during the last two weeks? †) were scored on a scale ranging from 0 (never/hardly ever) to 3 (always/almost always). Work-related health attributions were measured with a three-item scale developed for the present study.The items (â€Å"I believe that my work affects my health in a negative way†; â€Å"I think I can continue to work as I do now and remain healthy in the long run† [reverse coded]; â€Å"If I had another job my health would probably be better†) were scored on a ? ve-point Likert scale (1 ? strongly disagree; 5 ? strongly agree). The scale measuring work-related health attributions demonstrated a satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 74), and we went on to investigate whether work-related health attributions and mental distress represented two distinct constructs. This was tes ted using con? rmatory factor analysis.Three subscales with four GHQ items in every scale were constructed (see Mathieu and Farr, 1991) creating three parallel indices. The GHQ subscales and the items measuring work-related health attributions were then subjected to the con? rmatory factor ? ? analysis procedures in Lisrel 8 (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996). The chi-square value did not indicate a perfect ? t between the two-factor model and the data (see Table II), but since the chi-square test is sensitive to sample size (Bentler and Bonett, 1980), we also relied on other indicators to determine model ? t. The adjusted goodness-of-? t index ? ? AGFI; Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996), the normed ? t index (NFI; Bentler and Bonett, 1980), the Akaike measure (AIC; Akaike, 1987), the standardized root mean square ? ? residual (SRMR; Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA; Browne and Cudeck, 1993) indicated that the two-factor model provided an improveme nt in ? t as compared to a model that tested for a single factor. Thus, our results indicate that work-related health attributions and mental distress represent two distinct constructs. The factor loadings ranged from 0. 78 to 0. 81 Model df x2 RMSEA SRMR AGFI AIC NFI Ddf Dx 2 Null 1 factor factors 15 9 8 2,851. 07* 426. 74* 7. 11* 0. 49 0. 24 0. 10 0. 42 0. 09 0. 04 0. 23 0. 64 0. 92 2,863. 07 450. 74 96. 11 0. 00 0. 83 0. 97 – 6 1 – 2,424. 33* 356. 63* Notes: * p , 0. 05; – not applicable for mental distress, and from 0. 73 to 0. 76 for work-related health attributions, indicating good local ? t. The inter-factor correlation was 0. 68. 2. 2. 4. Work attitudes. All attitude variables were measured using a ? ve-point Likert scale (1 ? strongly disagree; 5 ? strongly agree). Job satisfaction was assessed with a three-item measure (e. g. â€Å"I am satis? ed with my job†) developed by Hellgren et al. (1999) on the basis of Bray? ld and Rothe (1951). Organiz ational commitment was measured using three items (e. g. â€Å"The company means a lot to me personally†) from Allen and Meyer’s (1990) scale re? ecting the affective dimension of commitment. Three items were used to assess turnover intention (e. g. â€Å"I am actively looking for other jobs†). The scale is based on items from Lyons (1971) and Cammann et al. (1979), and ? modi? ed and translated to Swedish by Sjoberg and Sverke (2000). 2. 3. Analyses Three moderated hierarchical regressions were conducted with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention, respectively, as dependent variables.The interaction term between mental distress and work-related health attributions was formed by centering the predictors and calculating the product term, following the procedure described by Cohen et al. (2003). The control variables were entered in the ? rst (demographics) and second (work climate) steps. The main effects of mental distress and work- related health attributions were entered in the third and fourth step, respectively, while the interaction term was entered in the ? fth and last step. 3. Results Table III contains the results of the hierarchical multiple regression analyses.The demographic variables (gender, age, and education) explained 3 percent of the variance in job satisfaction. When the work climate variables were added in the second step, the total amount of explained variance increased substantially to 58 percent, and an additional 2 percent was explained by mental distress in the third step. In the fourth step, when negative work-related health attributions were entered, a total of 62 percent of the variance was explained (DR 2 ? 0. 02). However, the interaction term between mental distress and work-related health attributions (Step 5) did not contribute signi? antly to the explained variance. The regression coef? cients from the last step showed that women and those without a university degree were more satis? ed with their job. Furthermore, autonomy, quantitative overload, work group cohesiveness, and job challenge were positively related to job satisfaction. Of most importance to the present study was the ? nding that both mental distress and negative work-related health attributions were negatively related to job satisfaction and that they remained signi? cant predictors of job satisfaction when demographics and work climate variables were controlled for.In the next analysis, where organizational commitment was the dependent variable, the demographics explained 7 percent, the climate variables another 36 percent, and mental distress added 1 percent to the explained variance. Negative work-related health attributions added another 1 percent to the explained variance, whereas, again, the interaction effect was found to be non-signi? cant. Taken together, the model variables explained 43 percent of the variation in organizational commitment. All three demographics evidenced signi? cant effects in the last step; being a woman, beingWork-related health attributions 13 IJWHM 2,1 14 Table III. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses (standardized regression coef? cients from the last step) Dependent variable Step 1 Gender (woman) Age Education (university) DR 2 Step 2 Job autonomy Quantitative role overload Qualitative role overload Work group cohesiveness Job challenge DR 2 Step 3 Mental distress DR 2 Step 4 Negative work-related health attributions DR 2 Step 5 Mental distress* Negative work-related health ttributions DR 2 Model R 2 adjusted Job satisfaction Organizational commitment Turnover intention 0. 2*** 0. 02 2 0. 06** 0. 03*** 0. 10** 0. 14*** 2 0. 08** 0. 07* 2 0. 13*** 2 0. 11*** 0. 07* 0. 05*** 0. 36*** 0. 05* 2 0. 01 0. 14*** 0. 31*** 0. 55*** 0. 24*** 0. 04 0. 06 0. 12*** 0. 34*** 0. 36*** 2 0. 13** 2 0. 08* 2 0. 04 2 0. 09** 2 0. 16*** 0. 24*** 2 0. 11*** 0. 02*** 2 0. 05 0. 01**** 0. 11** 0. 04*** 2 0. 20*** 0. 02*** 2 0. 12*** 0. 01* ** 0. 35*** 0. 07*** 2 0. 04 0. 00 0. 63*** 2 0. 00 0. 00 0. 43*** 0. 06* 0. 00* 0. 39*** Notes: * p , 0. 05; ** p , 0. 01; *** p , 0. 001 older, and having a lower education were all associated with higher levels of organizational commitment.All climate variables except quantitative overload were positively related to organizational commitment. Mental distress was unrelated to organizational commitment, whereas negative work-related health attributions were negatively related to the criterion. The demographic variables explained 5 percent of the variance in turnover intention in the ? rst step and the work climate variables in Step 2 added 24 percent to the variance explained. Mental distress in Step 3 added 4 percent and negative work-related health attributions another 7 percent in the next step.In the last step, when the interaction term was included, the variance explained increased by 6 units and the total model explained 39 percent. The interaction term was signi? cant; indiv iduals high in mental distress and reporting negative work-related health attributions exhibited the strongest intentions to quit whereas those with low levels of distress and less negative work-related health attributions expressed the strongest willingness to stay within the organization. This indicates that it makes a difference for the intentions to turnover if an individual with high mental distress attributes it to work or not.There were small effects of the demographic variables, indicating that men, younger persons, and individuals with a university degree had stronger intentions to leave the organization. In addition, most work climate variables, as well as mental distress (those high in mental distress reported higher levels of turnover intentions), predicted turnover intention. The strongest standardized regression coef? cient was found for the relation between negative work-related health attributions and turnover intention. 4. DiscussionDespite the increased research in terest in work-related stress and health problems, little attention has been paid to whether, or to what extent, individuals’ attributions of ill-health due to work (making negative work-related health attributions) affects attitudes towards work and the organization. Those few studies that have investigated this phenomenon (see for example Ettner and Grzywacz, 2001) have not studied how these work-related health attributions contribute to the understanding of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention.The present study indicates not only that the construct of negative work-related health attributions is distinct from subjective mental distress, but also that it has important implications for employee attitudes and behavioral intentions. Our results show that employees who reported negative work-related health attributions also expressed less satisfaction with their job, less commitment to the organization, and stronger intentions to leave the organiza tion – even after demographics, mental distress, and factors related to the work climate were controlled for.We proposed that there would be an interaction effect between mental distress and work-related health attributions on attitudes and turnover intention, such that the relation between mental distress and the outcome variables would be stronger for those with more negative work-related health attributions than for those not attributing their mental distress to their job. This proposition received partial support. While work-related health attributions failed to moderate the effects of mental distress on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, the interaction term was signi? ant for turnover intentions. This indicates that individuals with negative work-related health attributions and mental distress were more prone to leave the organization compared to individuals with the same level of mental distress but positive work-related health attributions. Hence, whether the individual attributes ill-health to work or not appears to be important for the effect of health status on outcomes, at least in the case of the intention to leave the organization.This result indicates that the concept of negative work-related health attributions may play an important role in explaining employees’ work-related behavioral intentions, and should be taken into account when the relation between health and outcomes is investigated. Another notable ? nding is that work-related health attributions were more important than mental distress for the prediction of work attitudes and withdrawal cognitions. In contrast to mental distress, which only predicted job satisfaction and turnover intentions, work-related health attributions predicted all three outcomes.That mental distress only appears to contribute to a limited extent is contrary to previous arguments that health status is important for employee work motivation and behavioral orientations (e. g. Hom, 2002). One explanation for our ? ndings may have to do with the fact that work-related health attributions concern perceived health risks that are associated with the overall work situation, whereas measures of ill-health, such as mental distress, may concern any aspect of an individual’s life, not only factors related to the job. As long as the individual does not hold negative work-related healthWork-related health attributions 15 IJWHM 2,1 16 attributions, it is conceivable that subjective health and well-being are only marginally predictive of attitudes towards work. Negative work-related health attributions may therefore be a better predictor of work-related attitudes and behaviors, and should be included in future research on work-related outcomes. The construct of work-related health attributions can thus have great practical utility, since it in a rather simple and direct way captures how individuals perceive that their work affects their health.This is also in agreement wi th Harter et al. (2003), who suggest that researchers have conceived employee well-being too broadly and often in a way which is not intuitively actionable for managers and employees. It is also important to note that negative work-related health attributions predicted work attitudes and turnover intention after controlling not only for mental distress and demographics, but also for characteristics of the psychological work climate.Our data from Swedish white-collar workers showed that, consistent with meta-analysis ? ndings (Parker et al. , 2003), job autonomy, role overload, work group cohesiveness, and job challenge were associated with lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The present study also goes beyond previous research by suggesting that the evident effects of work climate variables remained after subjective well-being and work-related health attributions had been taken into account.The fact that negative work-related health attributions emerged a s one of the strongest predictors of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention clearly indicates that models for the predicting of employee attitudes and behavior could be improved by the inclusion of work-related health attributions. The results from the present study and previous research (see for example ? European Foundation, 2001; Ettner and Grzywacz, 2001; Goransson et al. , 2002) indicate that attributions of work-related ill-health can be understood in terms of psychological contract theory (e. . Rousseau, 1989). Most employees expect that their employers will strive to provide a healthy workplace, and such an assumption is typically sustained by labor law regulations and collective bargaining agreements. If employees experience a work situation which they deem as likely to bring about ill-health, it will be in contrast to their expectations, and thus most likely be perceived as a breach of the psychological contract with the employer (see Robinson and Morrison, 2000).Perceptions of a breach of the psychological contract are likely to result in negative work-related attitudes and withdrawal behaviors (Davy et al. , 1997; Turnley and Feldman, 1999). The ? nding that negative work-related health attributions were associated with impaired job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, and stronger turnover intention may be interpreted as the result of a perceived breach of the psychological contract. However, while psychological contract breach was not the main focus in the present study, future research may bene? from explicitly including this concept in the explanatory framework. 4. 1. Limitations and future research Although the results of the present study point to the relevance of the concept of work-related health attributions, our conclusions may be affected by a number of methodological issues. For instance, we utilized data from a single point in time, thus prohibiting the study of temporal order between negative wor k-related health attributions and its postulated consequences. However, cross-sectional research is a necessary ? rst step to empirically explore theoretical hypotheses before investments in ongitudinal data are fruitful (Spector, 1994), and two events must be found to co-vary with one another before the causal link can be explored. Furthermore, our results were based on Swedish white-collar employees in a particular service industry, and a replication of the present study using longitudinal data as well as data from different industrial sectors in different countries would be necessary before any ? rm conclusions concerning the generality of the ? ndings can be drawn. All variables were assessed using questionnaires, thus potentially making the results susceptible to mono-method bias (Campbell and Fiske, 1959).Even though meta-analytic research suggests that method variance represents less of a problem than has been assumed in the past (Crampton and Wagner, 1994), the use of other types of data, such as interviews or diaries, would contribute to a better understanding of the role played by work-related health attributions. In addition, while we controlled for a number of factors known to be related to job satisfaction (Loher et al. , 1985), organizational commitment (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990), and turnover intention (Griffeth et al. 2000), it would be relevant to take additional control variables, such as personality characteristics, into account in order not to over-estimate the effects of work-related health attributions. Finally, only three potential outcomes of negative work-related health attributions were considered. Despite the consistent associations found between negative work-related health attributions and employee attitudes and turnover intention, it might be that negative work-related health attributions are less predictive of other factors, such as job performance, safety behavior, and more importantly, occupational injuries and sick-leave. . 2. Concluding remarks Despite these potential limitations, the results of the present study clearly suggest that the investigation of employees’ negative work-related health attributions is an important avenue for future research on work and well-being. The results suggest not only that individuals evaluate how work may affect their health and well-being, but also that such perceptions may have important implications for their attitudinal and behavioral orientations toward work.The measure of negative work-related health attributions could be used as a diagnostic instrument for identifying those individuals who are more likely than others to perceive health-threatening conditions at work. The construct can be useful for employers in order to identify and help employees who experience threats to their health due to their jobs. Given that power imbalances may inhibit the direct communication of interests with an employer (Rousseau, 2001), such that more vulnerable individuals, for instance temporary employees, are less likely to share ? nformation on health risks at work (Aronsson and Goransson, 1998), the collection of information regarding work-related health attributions could be one means for employees to communicate this important information with their employer. Work-related health attributions may also constitute a more direct way of assessing the effect of work on health, and may therefore be more useful as a complement to research which gathers information on aspects of the work situation in order to predict health.An important area for future research is how individuals may take these work-related health attributions into account when making decisions regarding their Work-related health attributions 17 IJWHM 2,1 18 work situation, such as changing work tasks, work setting, or even occupation. 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Sara Goransson can be contacted at: [email  protected] su. se To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprint[email  protected] com Or visit our web site for further details: www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints Work-related health attributions 21

Change Speech

Today I am here to talk to you about change, and a few different texts that have challenged my thinking and broadened my understanding of change. Change, we have all experienced it change at one stage of our life, for the better or maybe even for the worse. But change is a normal part of our life’s, and we have to deal with it the best we can. After studying these texts, Raw by Scott Monk, Andrew Denton’s interview with Aron Ralston, and the short storey the Final Game by Olivia Coleman. My understanding of change has broadened and i am now much more aware of people’s experiences and how they have overcome and dealt with change. Aron Ralston was a young mountaineer. While he was on a mountaineering trip through Blue John Canyon in Utah in April 2003, a boulder crushed his right arm, pinning it against the cliff wall. Aron did not inform anyone of his trip, so he knew that nobody would be searching for him. He spent five days slowly sipping his only small amount of water left, while trying to dislodge his arm. Assuming that he would die, he ran out of water and began to drink his own urine. He video tapped his last goodbyes to his family and friends with a little camcorder he had in his backpack. Aron, so sure that he would die now, carved his name and date of death into the cliff face. After surviving the fifth day, he decided that there was only one way out of here alive. He was forced to amputate his own arm. Using the chalkstone as a vice he managed to snap both bones in his arm. Then using a dull two dollar pocket knife he began to slice through the skin in his arm. Using a pair of pliers to twist and snap his tendon, it was a miracle he didn’t pass out from the pain and blood loss. Once free Aron had to make a 65foot rappel down a sheer drop, then hike seven miles out of the canyon in the hot midday sun to reach his car. After surviving all those odds, he was told he had a bone infection and only had a fifty – fifty percent chance to live. Luckily Aron survived the infection and made a full recovery and lives on with a prosthetic arm. Aron has gone on to design many attachments for not only his arm, but other handicapped people as well. ‘Between a Rock and a hard place’ was the book that Aron published to tell his story and share his experience with others. Aron has shown us that a extremely negative situation can change your life for the positive, and it has certainly changed his life. We see this during his interview on the show Enough Rope with Andrew Denton that his personality has changed; he has a greater sense of patience and has come to appreciate his friends and family more. Even with just one arm Aron says that he has a greater ability to tackle everyday situations and problems, because he knows that he can overcome anything that life throws at him. In another text Raw by Scott Monk, shows us that different people relate to change in different ways. Two characters in particular, Brett Dalton and Josh Collins. Josh is a young man that is open to change and we see this when he says â€Å"Sam doesn’t order me to do anything, He’s my friend, I live on his farm, I do what he says†. Sam is the owner of The Farm, and institute were troubled boys go to seek help in straightening out there life. Brett was sent to The Farm after committing several crimes against the law. There’s one problem though, Brett doesn’t want anything to do with The Farm, he doesn’t want to do what he’s told, he doesn’t care what anyone thinks, and he just doesn’t want to change. To make things worse he feels trapped and alienated from the other boys, and doesn’t fit in. Sam, the owner of the farm, puts up with Brett’s ‘shit’ for as long as he can. He knows that he can change Brett, and won’t give up until he does. Fortunately for Brett, the farm slowly changes his personality to a more positive and caring young man. He begins to fit in with most of the boys, but there will always be one or two that don’t like the way he acts. After some time on the farm Brett seemed to have turned his life around. But it was no happy ending for Brett, as the cops found him after someone dobbed him in for trespassing. Brett was going back to a jail thinking that all this was just a waste of time, but it wasn’t. He still had his friends that he’s made, and the lessons that he had learned along the way. Brett was given the chance to start again, a fresh start to do things right from the beginning. He had changed his own life, something he thought he could never do. Change doesn’t always have to be a positive thing, as shown in the short story by Olivia Coleman called The Final Game. The Final Game is a story about a young man that has a love for football and is very good at it. He is only ever referred to as ‘He’. The author has used this technique to show that ‘he’ can refer to any young man his age. Although he is extremely good at what he does, a serious knee injury is holding him back. Finding it hard to make friends and get selected for the top footy teams, he always things quite negatively about himself. To make things worse, he has a dream to one day couch a footy team, but his parents are only holding him back from this dream. We see this when his dad says â€Å"sorry mate we can’t afford it, you’re stuck here† and â€Å"that’s for wankers, decent blokes stay on the land†. This only creates more negative feelings within him. Until one night he couldn’t take it anymore and took off in his dads Ute. Speeding down the dark road, he lost control of the vehicle. He found himself dangling upside down from the seatbelt, he could feel his legs, and at that moment he realised that his life had changed forever. These three texts have challenged my thinking and broadened my understanding of change. They each show change from a different perspective. From Aron Ralston retelling his story of survival to â€Å"The Final Game† which showed that change might not always turn out positive. I hoped that you all learnt something from these texts, because I sure have. And I hoped you enjoyed my speech on change.