How to lose your weight Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How to lose your weight - Essay Example We try sometimes to keep attending the gym or going for five laps around the field every day. But, how many times do we find ourselves missing due to many excuses and being tired? All these only show us how much we struggle to lose weight, by putting on the willpower, but many a times we are weakened by our programs and weaknesses. Everyone likes being lean, especially ladies. Being lean helps us to live healthily with less susceptibility to dangerous diseases such as obesity, high-blood pressure, heart attack and cardiac arrest among others. We, therefore, employ various practices to help us lose weight to achieve this state. However, some of the practices we employ have other effects on us, if we dont do them right. In this essay, our main focus will be on some practices we employ to help us lose weight and their possible effects on our health. One main reason people gain weight faster is the excess amounts of food they intake, especially the carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are rich in calories that can make us fat very fast. To help us avoid increasing weight due to excess intake of carbohydrates, we can kill our appetite to allow us take less food and eat appropriately. Adequate portions of food should be taken, and this should be balanced for a balanced diet. We should reduce the number of times they eat per day and get used to leaner diets. A lot of proteins should be included in every food portions one would server. In as much as this method works to help people lose weight, some people overdo it, which causes negative effects to their health. Instead of just reducing the quantities of food that they take, some people end up starving since they want to lose weight faster. Starving has negative effects that will leave one very weak and susceptible to many diseases still. Conditions such as ulcers may also come in when one starves too much. Some people also decline to take carbohydrates and any food portion with fat at all. This may also make one grow

Overview of the UK Sugar Market From the Case Study Assignment

Overview of the UK Sugar Market From the Case Study - Assignment Example The main source of revenue for UK confectionery market is jellies and gum sector, which accounted for over 28% of the market values. In terms of value, this sector amounted to $ 633 millions worthiness in the year 2003. Despite being a leading position, both gum and jellies segments outperformed by medicated sector. On the other hand, hard-boiled sweets segment generated the second largest revenue reaching $528 billions, which was equivalent to 23% of the overall market value. In the UK, sugar confectionary sector is fragmented, with two companies winning a market share in double figure. Nestle UK and Cadbury Trebor Bassett which are the market leaders, where as Master-foods, Adams, Dunhill’s, Haribo confectionery and Bendicks, all are in stronger positions. John Foster Ltd manufactures a range of products ranging from the basic ingredients to complete meals, which are savory, dietetic, sweet and infant foods. The company also has growing interest in pet care, pharmaceuticals and beverages. In addition, John Foster Ltd other brands in the market include, Fruit gums, Jelly-tots, Raw-trees, and polo as well as fruit pastilles. Even with the emergence of sweeteners in the entire market, sugar has remained to be the most widely consumed caloric food in this country. Its exceptional value for improving health becomes so evident everyday, especially when it is being used in the refined form. The economies of scale which is afforded by international resources of this leading sugar industry makes it increasingly hard for smaller national players to compete effectively in terms of distribution, price marketing spend and range of product. According to Euromonitor (2003) he attributes this increase to leading... This paper stresses that the art of forecasting for the future has always been a human attribute as human beings are thinking individually. In essence, a project can easily be captured on the paper with a few elements i.e. the commencement date, termination date, the tasks that must be undertaken and when should they be finished bas well as some ideas of resources which will be required during the course of the project. This essay makes a conclusion that control is therefore, referred to a device mechanism that is used to guide or regulate the operation of the system. All organizations including sugar firms use controls to regulate their individual business processes which include finance, production and distribution. This control helps the organization to correct and restrain a typical behavior, reduce and prevent the spread of errors. Control is described as solitary of the four fundamental functions of the management that includes planning, organizing and coordinating Merchant and Kenneth (2011). It is used to evaluate performance and monitor progress of the entire business. Controls are implemented through technology, internal controls, culture and social structure. It is the corporate structure that establishes appropriate internal process management and financial control. In addition, board of directors of the company has to set out corporate governance guidelines so as provide framework in or der for management as well as the board to operate efficiently and effective together to achieve the stated company objective.

Ohio State University Essay Example for Free

Ohio State University Essay Cynthia Ozick is a daughter to Celia Regelsion and William Ozick who was born on 17th April, 1928 in New York. She has a strong educational background. She is a BA degree holder from the university of New York and Masters degree (MA) holder from Ohio State University. She is a respectable and an outstanding writer who has written several fictions and essays and particularly on the life of Jewish Americans. Some of her works such as the novel entitled ‘Heir to the Glimmering world’ that was released in 2004 made her to become popular in the world especially in the United Kingdom. Ozick has achieved many awards due to her unmatched writing skills for example she won the 1986’s Rea Award for the short story writer. She was also on the limelight in 2005 when she won the Man Booker International award. As if this was not enough, she won herself the PEN award in honor of her excellent short story writing skills. Her writing career did not occur to her overnight in fact there are some historical factors that motivated and shaped her life to what she is now. This research paper is going to delve deeper into Cynthia Ozick’s historical background and try to establish the exact factors that influenced her to become a writer of her caliber. The paper will also give brief background information of her life and then conclude with a quick summary of the main points that have been discussed. In the very last page of this paper is a list of all the resources that have been consulted while conducting this research and are properly formatted in accordance with MLA formatting style. Cynthia Ozick was a second born in her family and her father owned a drugstore where Cynthia would assist him in delivering prescriptions. She hailed from a family that greatly valued education and that is why she ended following the path she took, wring novels, poems and plays. Her father was a great Jewish scholar while her uncle was a renown Hebrew poet whose work was widely read. It is her uncle who for the first time introduced her in the field of literature thereby laying the foundation of her future career. (Rothstein) She attended school at a time when anti-Semitism was on the highest degree. She first experienced it while she was schooling at Pelham Bay section where she would receive anti Semitic slurs and attacks especially when Christmas carols were sung in class for she would not sing along as it was her principle. (Jiffynotes. com) She never gave up with school life instead she read books of her older brothers and would get others from a mobile library that passed by their drugstore. Her life took a new dimension when she joined high school at Hunter College where she found the situation being different from that in primary school life in that her education excellence was respected and greatly appreciated something that paved way for her to pursue higher education in 1949 at New York University and later to join Ohio State University for her Master’s program. (Fallon, E. 320-22) Generally speaking, though her life was good at home it was not the same in public. It was in accordance with Jewish culture that young children in America be taken for religious instructions and Cynthia Ozick was no exception. She experienced her first childhood pain at the age of five and half when her grandmother took her for those classes at Yiddish only to be disappointed by the Rabbi who refused to accept the girl arguing that there was no need to educate females. â€Å"Take her home, a girl does not have to study’ (Lowin) Rabbi had no idea whom she was sending away because the girl was bright. Though she was sent away, her grandmother never gave up in fact she took her again the next morning and she was accepted. Rabbi later discovered that the girl was a quick learner and through Rabbi Cynthia came to learn Yiddish knowledge. The experience of her being sent away from school by Rabbi who believed that girls were dispensable to be educated motivated Cynthia in one way or the other. She says that her feminism cropped up due to this treatment. (Lowin J.) Another thing that motivated her to write novels was the memories of how she was treated at school in Bronx. Though the girl was intelligent there are other things that made her feel inadequate, ‘While Ozick describes the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx as a lovely place she found it ‘brutally’ difficult to be a Jew there she remembers having stones thrown at her and being called a Christ-killer as she ran past the two churches in her neighborhood† (Lowin J). she recalls how she was treated so many years down the line something she confirms in her novel, The Cannibal Galaxy which where she describes her life in school that she was suffering like a little worm in school perhaps because she was an immigrant child left under the hands of a teacher who cared less about her life. According to Fallon (323), though Cynthia would not relate well with other children at school there was another option and a better one, books. After school she would burry her head in books that she got from a mobile library that passed by their drugstore once in a week. She says that the mobile librarians would take their cup of coffee at Park View Pharmacy after they were through with their work and she would pick two big books and magazines which transferred her completely to another world, a world different from what she experienced in school, a world of books where no one would interfere with her life. It could be said that harassment she experienced at school was a blessing in disguise because it made her to study more thereby increasing her level of intelligence. She was motivated to spend more of her time reading as she could not relate well with other students who would even criticize and throw stones at her while passing by them. (Fallon 324) The books she received from the traveling library magically transformed her life from that of a doltish schoolgirl to a reader and a prominent writer. She started by going through fairly tails and ended up being a renown novelist. The other motivational force came from her uncle Abraham Regelson, a poet who was admired for his outstanding composing and writing skills. She says that Regelson paved a way for her to follow what she refers to as a strange career. She says, â€Å"It seemed quite natural to belong to the secular Id of literature† (Lowin). She attributed her career choice to her gender arguing that if she was born a boy may be she would have pursue something else instead of what she did. She felt more motivated when she joined high school at Hunter College, Manhattan. The school atmosphere was different from that of the primary school. Here it was academic excellence that made one to be recognized and for the simple reason that she was extremely bright, she felt like she was part of the big elite group. She clearly describes those feelings in her short story book â€Å"An Education. † After she successfully completed her high school education, she proceeded to the University of New York for her BA degree and after that joined Ohio state university for her Masters degree where she wrote her thesis ‘Parable in the Later Novels of Henry James’. In her peace of work entitled, According to Lowin, the lesson of the Master Cynthia Ozick explains how she was influenced by the work of Henry James such that she became a worshipper of literature. She says, â€Å"A worshipper who had to choose between human entanglement, real life and exclusive devotion to art, chooses art. She chose art over life, she says to her eternal regret† (Lowin). Her definition in work of art was confirmed when she directed all her efforts to what she referred to as ‘High Art’ and she embarked on writing philosophical novels such as Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love (MPPL). After that she stopped writing novels and committing herself to other pieces of work like writing Jewish literature. She also got culturally transformed and became what could be termed as Jewish autodidact (Rothstein, M. ). Later, she would further be influenced by the work of Heinrich Graetz – History of the Jews and thereby she took another dimension as far as writing was concerned. She started writing more about Jews and came to be referred to as a Jewish writer. She wrote many poems with Jewish themes and also published another piece of work entitled the Pagan Rabbi in 1966 which made her very popular as it was widely read. It is from this time that her character in the field of writing started to shine internationally. She won several awards and her stories were chosen as the best in the yearly American Short Stories. She also won the Faultner Award and the National Book Award plus other dozen grants and awards that were only coveted by many not mentioning the several honorary degrees she was warded by various universities. (Associated Press) Though she was not a direct victim of the Jewish Holocaust, she would recall how Jews were killed by deadly gas by the ruthless Nazis and particularly in Germany. These memories have also become another motivating force behind her career as a Jewish writer because she has spent a great deal of time and energy writing about what was happening during that time. In conclusion it can be said that Cynthia Ozick’s career was to a large extent shaped by anti-Semitism attacks she met at school. The fact that other students were isolating her and openly criticized opened another door for her. She found solace in books which she received from a mobile library that passed by their drug store. Again having come from a family with people who valued education, she got motivated to study harder than others. Later was later influenced by the work of Regelson and Heinrich Graetz. Again the memories of how the Jews were treated during the First World War reawakened her conscience something that made her to switch to a Jewish leader. Works Cited: Associated Press. Author Cynthia Ozick wins to lifetime achievement awards. Times Record News. April 24, 2008. Accessed at http://www. timesrecordnews. com/news/2008/apr/24/author-cynthia-ozick-wins-2- lifetime-achievement-a/? printer=1/ Lowin, J. Cynthia Ozick. Jewish Virtual Library. 1928. Available at http://www. jewishvirtuallibrary. org/jsource/biography/Ozick. html Fallon, E. A Readers Companion to the Short Story in English Society for the Study of the Short Story. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001 Jiffy notes . com. Cynthia Ozick. Thomson Gale, 2006. Available at http://www. jiffynotes. com/a_study_guides/book_notes/ssfs_0000_0022_0/ssfs_0 000_0022_0_00022. html Rothstein, M. Cynthia Ozicks Rabbinical Approach to Literature. New York Times. March 25, 1987. Available at http://query. nytimes. com/gst/fullpage. html? res=9B0DE5D91330F936A15750C0 A961948260sec=spon=pagewanted=all

SERVQUAL MODEL as a Service Quality Measure

SERVQUAL MODEL as a Service Quality Measure 1.0 Introduction A great deal of service-quality research in recent decades has been devoted to the development of measures of service quality. In particular, the SERVQUAL instrument (Parasuraman et al., 1988) has been widely applied and valued by academics and practicing managers (Buttle, 1996). However, several studies have identified potential difficulties with the use of SERVQUAL (Carman, 1990; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Asubonteng et al., 1996; Buttle, 1996; Van Dyke et al., 1997; Llosa et al., 1998). These difficulties have related to the use of so-called difference scores, the ambiguity of the definition of consumer expectations, the stability of the SERVQUAL scale over time, and the dimensionality of the instrument. As a result of these criticisms, questions have been raised regarding the use of SERVQUAL as a measure of service quality. 1.1 The SERVQUAL scale When the SERVQUAL scale was developed by Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988), their  aim was to provide a generic instrument for measuring service quality across a broad range of service categories. Relying on information from 12 focus groups of consumers, Parasuraman et al. (1985) reported that consumers evaluated service quality by comparing expectations (of service to be received) with perceptions (of service actually received) on ten dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, communication, credibility, security, competence, understanding/knowing customers, courtesy, and access. In a later (Parasuraman et al. (1988) work, the authors reduced the original ten dimensions to five: (1) tangibles (the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, and personnel); (2) reliability (the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately); (3) responsiveness (the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service); (4) empathy (the provision of individual care and attention to customers); and (5) assurance (the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence). Each dimension is measured by four to five items (making a total of 22 items across the five dimensions). Each of these 22 items is measured in two ways: (1) the expectations of customers concerning a service; and (2) the perceived levels of service actually provided. In making these measurements, respondents are asked to indicate their degree of agreement with certain statements on a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 strongly disagree to 7 strongly agree). For each item, a so-called gap score (G) is then calculated as the difference between the raw perception-of-performance score (P) and the raw expectations score (E). The greater the gap score (calculated as G  ¼ P minus E), the higher the score for perceived service quality. Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.0 Introduction Despite the widespread use of the SERVQUAL model to measure service quality, several theoretical and empirical criticisms of the scale have been raised. Buttle (1996) summarised the major criticisms of SERVQUAL in two broad categories theoretical and operational. Theoretical issues comprise: Paradigmatic objections: SERVQUAL is based on a disconfirmation paradigm rather than an attitudinal paradigm; and SERVQUAL fails to draw on established economic, statistical and psychological theory. Gaps model: there is little evidence that customers assess service quality in terms of P E gaps. Process orientation: SERVQUAL focuses on the process of service delivery, not the outcomes of the service encounter. Dimensionality: SERVQUALs five dimensions are not universals; the number of dimensions comprising SQ is contextualized; items do not always load on to the factors which one would a priori expect; and there is a high degree of intercorrelation between the five RATER dimensions. Operational criticisms include: Expectations: the term expectation is polysemic; consumers use standards other than expectations to evaluate SQ; and SERVQUAL fails to measure absolute SQ expectations. Item composition: four or five items can not capture the variability within each SQ dimension. Moments of truth (MOT): customers assessments of SQ may vary from MOT to MOT. Polarity: the reversed polarity of items in the scale causes respondent error. Scale points: the seven-point Likert scale is flawed. Two administrations: two administrations of the instrument cause boredom and confusion. Variance extracted: the over SERVQUAL score accounts for a disappointing proportion of item variances. The above criticism will be discussed below. 2.1: Paradigmatic objections (Theoretical Criticisms) Two major criticisms have been raised. First, SERVQUAL has been inappropriately based on an expectations disconfirmation model rather than an attitudinal model of SQ. Second, it does not build on extant knowledge in economics, statistics and psychology. SERVQUAL is based on the disconfirmation model widely adopted in the customer satisfaction literature. In this literature, customer satisfaction (CSat) is operationalised in terms of the relationship between expectations (E) and outcomes (O). If O matches E, customer satisfaction is predicted. If O exceeds E, then customer delight may be produced. If E exceeds O, then customer dissatisfaction is indicated. According to Cronin and Taylor (1992; 1994) SERVQUAL is paradigmatically flawed because of its ill-judged adoption of this disconfirmation model. Perceived quality, they claim, is best conceptualised as an attitude. They criticise Parasuraman et al. for their hesitancy to define perceived SQ in attitudinal terms, even though Parasur aman et al. (1988) had earlier claimed that SQ was similar in many ways to an attitude. Cronin and Taylor observe: Researchers have attempted to differentiate service quality from consumer satisfaction, even while using the disconfirmation format to measure perceptions of service qualityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ this approach is not consistent with the differentiation expressed between these constructs in the satisfaction and attitude literatures. Iacobucci et al.s (1994) review of the debate surrounding the conceptual and operational differences between SQ and CSat concludes that the constructs have not been consistently defined and differentiated from each other in the literature. She suggests that the two constructs may be connected in a number of ways. First, they may be both different operationalisations of the same construct, evaluation. Second, they may be orthogonally related, i.e. they may be entirely different constructs. Third, they may be conceptual cousins. Their family connections may be dependent on a number of other considerations, including for example, the duration of the evaluation. Parasuraman et al. (1985) have described satisfaction as more situation- or encounter-specific, and quality as more holistic, developed over a longer period of time, although they offer no empirical evidence to support this contention. SQ and CSat may also be related by time order. The predominant belief is that SQ is the logical predecessor to CSat, but this remains unproven. Cronin and Taylors critique draws support from Olivers (1980) research which suggests that SQ and CSat are distinct constructs but are related in that satisfaction mediates the effect of prior-period perceptions of SQ and causes revised SQ perceptions to be formed. SQ and CSat may also be differentiated by virtue of their content. Whereas SQ may be thought of as high in cognitive content, CSat may be more heavily loaded with affect (Oliver, 1993). Cronin and Taylor suggest that the adequacy-importance model of attitude measurement should be adopted for SQ research. Iacobucci et al. (1994) add the observation that in some general psychological sense, it is not clear what short-term evaluations of quality and satisfaction are if not attitudes. In turn, Parasuraman et al. (1994) have vigorously defended their position, claiming that critics seem to discount prior conceptual work in the SQ literature, and suggest that Cronin and Taylors w ork does not justify their claim that the disconfirmation paradigm is flawed. In other work, Cronin and Taylor (1994) comment that: Recent conceptual advances suggest that the disconfirmation-based SERVQUAL scale is measuring neither service quality nor consumer satisfaction. Rather, the SERVQUAL scale appears at best an operationalisation of only one of the many forms of expectancy disconfirmation. A different concern has been raised by Andersson (1992). He objects to SERVQUALs failure to draw on previous social science research, particularly economic theory, statistics, and psychological theory. Parasuraman et al.s work is highly inductive in that it moves from historically situated observation to general theory. Andersson (1992) claims that Parasuraman et al. abandon the principle of scientific continuity and deduction. Among specific criticisms are the following: First, Parasuraman et al.s management technology takes no account of the costs of improving service quality. It is naÃÆ' ¯ve in assuming that the marginal revenue of SQ improvement always exceeds the marginal cost. (Aubrey and Zimbler, 1983., Crosby., 1979, Juran., 1951 and Masser., 1957) have addressed the issue of the costs/benefits of quality improvement in service settings.) Second, Parasuraman et al. collect SQ data using ordinal scale methods (Likert scales) yet perform analyses with methods suited to interval-level data (factor analysis). Third, Parasuraman et al. are at the absolute end of the street regarding possibilities to use statistical methods. Ordinal scales do not allow for investigations of common product-moment correlations. Interdependencies among the dimensions of quality are difficult to describe. SERVQUAL studies cannot answer questions such as: Are there elasticities among the quality dimensions? Is the customer value of improvements a linear or non-linear function? Fourth, Parasuraman et al. fail to draw on the large literature on the psychology of perception. 2.2: Gaps Model A related set of criticisms refer to the value and meaning of gaps identified in the disconfirmation model. Babakus and Boller (1992) found the use of a gap approach to SQ measurement intuitively appealing but suspected that the difference scores do not provide any additional information beyond that already contained in the perceptions component of the SERVQUAL scale. They found that the dominant contributor to the gap score was the perceptions score because of a generalised response tendency to rate expectations high. Churchill and Surprenant (1982), in their work on CSat, also ponder whether gap measurements contribute anything new or of value given that the gap is a direct function of E and P. It has also been noted that: while conceptually, difference scores might be sensible, they are problematic in that they are notoriously unreliable, even when the measures from which the difference scores are derived are themselves highly reliable (Iacobucci et al., 1994). Also, in the context of CSat, Oliver (1980) has pondered whether it might be preferable to consider the P E scores as raw differences or as ratios. No work has been reported using a ratio approach to measure SQ. Iacobucci et al. (1994) take a different tack on the incorporation of E-measures. They suggest that expectations might not exist or be formed clearly enough to serve as a standard for evaluation of a service experience. Expectations may be formed simultaneously with service consumption. Kahneman and Miller (1986) have also proposed that consumers may form experience-based norms after service experiences, rather than expectations before. A further issue raised by Babakus and Inhofe (1991) is that expectations may attract a social desirability response bias. Respondents may feel motivated to adhere to an I-have-high-expectations social norm. Indeed, Parasuraman et al. report that in their testing of the 1988 version the majority of expectations scores were above six on the seven-point scale. The overall mean expectation was 6.22 (Parasuraman et al., 1991b). Teas (1993a; 1993b; 1994) has pondered the meaning of identified gaps. For example, there are six ways of producing P E gaps of -1 (P = 1, E = 2; P = 2, E = 3; P = 3, E = 4; P = 4, E = 5; P = 5, E = 6; P = 6, E = 7). Do these tied gaps mean equal perceived SQ? He also notes that SERVQUAL research thus far has not established that all service providers within a consideration or choice set, e.g. all car-hire firms do, in fact, share the same expectations ratings across all items and dimensions. A further criticism is that SERVQUAL fails to capture the dynamics of changing expectations. Consumers learn from experiences. The inference in much of Parasuraman et al.s work is that expectations rise over time. An E-score of seven in 1986 may not necessarily mean the same as an E-score in 1996. Expectations may also fall over time (e.g. in the health service setting). Grà ¶nroos (1993) recognises this weakness in our understanding of SQ, and has called for a new phase of service quality research to focus on the dynamics of service quality evaluation. Wotruba and Tyagi (1991) agree that more work is needed on how expectations are formed and changed over time. Implicit in SERVQUAL is the assumption that positive and negative disconfirmations are symmetrically valent. However, from the customers perspective, failure to meet expectations often seems a more significant outcome than success in meeting or exceeding expectations (Hardie et al., 1992). Customers will often criticise poor service performance and not praise exceptional performance. Recently, Cronin and Taylor (1992) have tested a performance-based measure of SQ, dubbed SERVPERF, in four industries (banking, pest control, dry cleaning and fast food). They found that this measure explained more of the variance in an overall measure of SQ than did SERVQUAL. SERVPERF is composed of the 22 perception items in the SERVQUAL scale, and therefore excludes any consideration of expectations. In a later defence of their argument for a perceptions-only measure of SQ, Cronin and Taylor (1994) acknowledge that it is possible for researchers to infer consumers disconfirmation through arithmetic means (the P E gap) but that consumer perceptions, not calculations, govern behavior. Finally, a team of researchers, including Zeithaml herself (Boulding et al., 1993), has recently rejected the value of an expectations-based or gap-based model in finding that service quality was only influenced by perceptions. 2.3: Process orientation SERVQUAL has been criticized for focusing on the process of service delivery rather than outcomes of the service encounter. Grà ¶nroos (1982) identified three components of SQ: technical, functional and reputational quality. Technical quality is concerned with the outcome of the service encounter, e.g. have the dry cleaners got rid of the stain? Functional quality is concerned with the process of service delivery, e.g. were the dry cleaners counter staff courteous? Reputational quality is a reflection of the corporate image of the service organization. While technical quality focuses on what, functional quality focuses on how and involves consideration of issues such as the behaviour of customer contact staff, and the speed of service. Critics have argued that outcome quality is missing from Parasuraman et al.s formulation of SQ (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Mangold and Babakus, 1991; Richard and Allaway, 1993). Richard and Allaway (1993) tested an augmented SERVQUAL model which they cl aim incorporates both process and outcome components, and comment that the challenge is to determine which process and outcome quality attributes of SQ have the greatest impact on choice[1]. Their research into Domino Pizzas process and outcome quality employed the 22 Parasuraman et al. (1988) items, modified to suit context, and the following six outcome items: (1) Dominos has delicious home-delivery pizza. (2) Dominos has nutritious home-delivery pizza. (3) Dominos home-delivery pizza has flavourful sauce. (4) Dominos provides a generous amount of toppings for its home-delivery pizza. (5) Dominos home-delivery pizza is made with superior ingredients. (6) Dominos prepared its home-delivery pizza crust exactly the way I like it. These researchers found that the process-only items borrowed and adapted from SERVQUAL accounted for only 45 per cent of the variance in customer choice; the full inventory, inclusive of the six outcome items, accounted for 71.5 per cent of variance in choice. The difference between the two is significant at the 0.001 level. They conclude that process-and-outcome is a better predictor of consumer choice than process, or outcome, alone. In defense of SERVQUAL, Higgins et al., (1991) have argued that outcome quality is already contained within these dimensions: reliability, competence and security. 2.4: Dimensionality Critics have raised a number of significant and related questions about the dimensionality of the SERVQUAL scale. The most serious are concerned with the number of dimensions and their stability from context to context. There seems to be general agreement that SQ is a second-order construct, that is, it is factorially complex, being composed of several first-order variables [2]. SERVQUAL is composed of the five RATER [3] factors. There are however, several alternative conceptualizations of SQ. As already noted, Grà ¶nroos (1984) identified three components technical, functional and reputational quality; Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) also identify three components interactive, physical and corporate quality; Hedvall and Paltschik (1989) identify two dimensions willingness and ability to serve, and physical and psychological access; Leblanc and Nguyen (1988) list five components corporate image, internal organisation, physical support of the service producing system, staff/customer interaction, and the level of customer satisfaction. Parasuraman et al. (1988) have claimed that SERVQUAL: provides a basic skeleton through its expectations/perceptions format encompassing statements for each of the five service quality dimensions. The skeleton, when necessary, can be adapted or supplemented to fit the characteristics or specific research needs of a particular organization. In their 1988 paper, Parasuraman et al. also claimed that the final 22-item scale and its five dimensions have sound and stable psychometric properties. In the 1991b revision, Parasuraman et al. found evidence of consistent factor structure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ across five independent samples. In other words, they make claims that the five dimensions are generic across service contexts. Indeed, in 1991, Parasuraman et al. claimed that SERVQUALs dimensions and items represent core evaluation criteria that transcend specific companies and industries (1991b) [4]. 2.5: Number of dimensions When the SERVQUAL instrument has been employed in modified form, up to nine distinct dimensions of SQ have been revealed, the number varying according to the service sector under investigation. One study has even produced a single-factor solution. Nine factors accounted for 71 per cent of SQ variance in Carmans (1990) hospital research: admission service, tangible accommodations, tangible food, tangible privacy, nursing care, explanation of treatment, access and courtesy afforded visitors, discharge planning, and patient accounting (billing)[5]. Five factors were distinguished in Saleh and Ryans (1992) work in the hotel industry conviviality, tangibles, reassurance, avoid sarcasm, and empathy. The first of these, conviviality, accounted for 62.8 per cent of the overall variance; the second factor, tangibles, accounted for a further 6.9 per cent; the five factors together accounted for 78.6 per cent. This is strongly suggestive of a two-factor solution in the hospitality industry. The researchers had initially assumed that the factor analysis would confirm the [SERVQUAL] dimensions but this failed to be the case. Four factors were extracted in Gagliano and Hathcotes (1994) investigation of SQ in the retail clothing sector personal attention, reliability, tangibles and convenience. Two of these have no correspondence in SERVQUAL. They conclude the [original SERVQUAL scale] does not perform as well as expected in apparel speciality retailing. Three factors were identified in Bouman and van der Wieles (1992) research into car servicing customer kindness, tangibles and faith [6]. The authors were not able to find the same dimensions for judging service quality as did Berry et al. One factor was recognized in Babakus et al.s (1993b) survey of 635 utility company customers. Analysis essentially produced a single-factor model of SQ which accounted for 66.3 per cent of the variance. The authors advance several possible explanations for this unidimensional result including the nature of the service, (which they describe as a low-involvement service with an ongoing consumption experience), non-response bias and the use of a single expectations/perceptions gap scale. These researchers concluded: With the exception of findings reported by Parasuraman and his colleagues, empirical evidence does not support a five-dimensional concept of service quality. In summary, Babakus and Boller (1992) commented that the domain of service quality may be factorially complex in some industries and very simple and unidimensional in others. In effect, they claim that the number of SQ dimensions is dependent on the particular service being offered. In their revised version, Parasuraman et al. (1991b) suggest two reasons for these anomalies. First, they may be the product of differences in data collection and analysis procedures. A more plausible explanation is that differences among empirically derived factors across replications may be primarily due to across-dimension similarities and/or within dimension differences in customers evaluations of a specific company involved in each setting. Spreng and Singh (1993) have commented on the lack of discrimination between several of the dimensions. In their research, the correlation between Assurance and Responsiveness constructs was 0.97, indicating that they were not separable constructs. They also found a high correlation between the combined Assurance-Responsiveness construct and the Empathy construct (0.87). Parasuraman et al. (1991b) had earlier found that Assurance and Responsiveness items loaded on a single factor and in their 1988 work had found average intercorrelations among the five dimensions of 0.23 to 0.35. In testing their revised version (Parasuraman et al., 1991b), Parasuraman and colleagues found that the four items under Tangibles broke into two distinct dimensions, one pertaining to equipment and physical facilities, the other to employees and communication materials. They also found that Responsiveness and Assurance dimensions showed considerable overlap, and loaded on the same factor. They suggested that this was a product of imposing a five-factor constraint on the analyses. Indeed, the additional degrees of freedom allowed by a subsequent six-factor solution generated distinct Assurance and Responsiveness factors. Parasuraman et al., (1991a) have now accepted that the five SERVQUAL dimensions are interrelated as evidenced by the need for oblique rotations of factor solutionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to obtain the most interpretable factor patterns. One fruitful area for future research, they conclude, is to explore the nature and causes of these interrelationships. It therefore does appear that both contextual circumstances and analytical processes have some bearing on the number of dimensions of SQ. 2.6: Contextual stability Carman (1990) tested the generic qualities of the SERVQUAL instrument in three service settings a tyre retailer, a business school placement centre and a dental school patient clinic. Following Parasuraman et al.,s suggestion, he modified and augmented the items in the original ten-factor SERVQUAL scale to suit the three contexts. His factor analysis identified between five and seven underlying dimensions. According to Carman, customers are at least partly context-specific in the dimensions they employ to evaluate SQ. In all three cases, Tangibles, Reliability and Security were present [7]. Responsiveness, a major component in the RATER scale, was relatively weak in the dental clinic context. Carman also commented: Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry combined their original Understanding and Access dimensions into Empathyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ our results did not find this to be an appropriate combination. In particular he found that if a dimension is very important to customers they are likely to be decomposed into a number of sub-dimensions. This happened for the placement centre where Responsiveness, Personal attention, Access and Convenience were all identified as separate factors. According to Carman, this indicates that researchers should work with the original ten dimensions, rather than adopt the revised five-factor Parasuraman et al., (1988) model. 2.7: Item loadings In some studies (e.g. Carman, 1990), items have not loaded on the factors to which they were expected to belong. Two items from the Empathy battery of the Parasuraman et al., (1988) instrument loaded heavily on the Tangibles factor in a study of dental clinic SQ. In the tyre retail study, a Tangibles item loaded on to Security; in the placement centre a Reliability item loaded on to Tangibles. An item concerning the ease of making appointments loaded on to Reliability in the dental clinic context, but Security in the tyre store context. He also found that only two-thirds of the items loaded in the same way on the expectations battery as they did in the perceptions battery. Carman supplies other examples of the same phenomena, and suggests that the unexpected results indicate both face validity and a construct validity problem. In other words, he warns against importing SERVQUAL into service setting contexts without modification and validity checks. Among his specific recommendations is the following: We recommend that items on Courtesy and Access be retained and that items on some dimensions such as Responsiveness and Access be expanded where it is believed that these dimensions are of particular importance. He also reports specific Courtesy and Access items which performed well in terms of nomological and construct validity. Carman (1990) further suggested that the factors, Personal attention, Access or Convenience should be retained and further contextualised research work be done to identify their significance and meaning. 2.8: Item correlations Convergent validity and discriminant validity are important considerations in the measurement of second-order constructs such as SERVQUAL. One would associate a high level of convergent validity with a high level of intercorrelations between the items selected to measure a single RATER factor. Discriminant validity is indicated if the factors and their component items are independent of each other (i.e. the items load heavily on one factor only). Following their modified replication of Parasuraman et al.,s work, Babakus and Boller (1992) conclude that rules for convergence and discrimination do not indicate the existence of the five RATER dimensions. The best scales have a high level of intercorrelation between items comprising a dimension (convergent validity). In their development work in four sectors (banking, credit-card company, repair and maintenance company, and long-distance telecommunications company) Parasuraman et al., (1988) found inter-item reliability coefficients (alphas) varying from 0.52 to 0.84. Babakus and Boller (1992) report alphas which are broadly consistent with those of Parasuraman, varying from 0.67 to 0.83 (see Table III). In their 1991b version, Parasuraman et al. report alphas from 0.60 to 0.93, and observe that every alpha value obtained for each dimension in the final study is higher than the corresponding values in theà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦original study. They attribute this improvement to their rewording of the 22 scale items. Spreng and Singh (1993), and Brown et al., (1993) are highly critical of the questionable application of alphas to difference scores. They evaluate the reliability of SERVQUAL using a measure specifically designed for difference scores (Lord, 1963). Spreng and Singh conclude that there is not a great deal of difference between the reliabilities correctly calculated and the more common [alpha] calculation, an observation with which Parasuraman et al., (1993) concurred when they wrote: The collective conceptual and empirical evidence neither demonstrates clear superiority for the non-difference score format nor warrants abandoning the difference score format. 2.9 Expectations (Operational Criticisms) Notwithstanding the more fundamental criticism that expectations play no significant role in the conceptualization of service quality, some critics have raised a number of other concerns about the operationalization of E in SERVQUAL. In their 1988 work, Parasuraman et al. defined expectations as desires or wants of consumers, i.e. what they feel a service provider should offer rather than would offer (emphasis added). The expectations component was designed to measure customers normative expectations (Parasuraman et al., 1990), and is similar to the ideal standard in the customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction literature (Zeithaml et al., 1991). Teas (1993a) found these explanations somewhat vague and has questioned respondents interpretation of the expectations battery in the SERVQUAL instrument. He believes that respondents may be using any one of six interpretations (Teas, 1993b): (1) Service attribute importance. Customers may respond by rating the expectations statements according to the importance of each. (2) Forecasted performance. Customers may respond by using the scale to predict the performance they would expect. (3) Ideal performance. The optimal performance; what performance can be. (4) Deserved performance. The performance level customers, in the light of their investments, feel performance should be. (5) Equitable performance. The level of performance customers feel they ought to receive given a perceived set of costs. (6) Minimum tolerable performance. What performance must be? Each of these interpretations is somewhat different, and Teas contends that a considerable percentage of the variance of the SERVQUAL expectations measure can be explained by the difference in respondents interpretations. Accordingly, the expectations component of the model lacks discriminant validity. Parasuraman et al. (1991b; 1994) have responded to these criticisms by redefining expectations as the service customers would expect from excellent service organizations, rather than normative expectations of service providers, and by vigorously defending their inclusion in SQ research. Iacobucci et al. (1994) want to drop the term expectations from the SQ vocabulary. They prefer the generic label standard, and believe that several standards may operate simultaneously; among them ideals, my most desired combination of attributes, the industry standard of a nominal average competitor, deserved SQ, and brand standards based on past experiences with the brand. Some critics have questioned SERVQUALs failure to access customer evaluations based on absolute standards of SQ. The instrument asks respondents to report their expectations of excellent service providers within a class (i.e. the measures are relative rather than absolute). It has be

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

It is with great pride and honor that I represent the class of 2012 of County High School. I do not want to brag or boast, but in my opinion, this class is just awesome! What do you guy's think? Our class has many amazing athletes and scholars who excel in their own capacities and musicians and artists who paint our world with their own language. The class of 2012, you should stand tall and be proud to sit here and be a part of such a talented and unique class. You cannot get an Annie Everett who has lettered 12 times from her athletics in just any typical class of seniors. You cannot find a more spirited guy with the skinniest and longest legs than Beau Hannifious, and you definitely cannot find a nicer, peppier person than Katie Burns in just any class of seniors. What I am trying to say is the class of 2012 is definitely a one of a kind, authentic kind of class. Family and friends, teachers and administrators, you have come here this evening to share this lifelong memory with us t oday. Thank you so much for being a part of this moment. Today, Friday the thirteenth of June, marks our very last day as high school seniors. We will soon begin a new chapter of our lives. Therefore, strap on your seatbelts and hold on tight, as we ride the most adventurous and bumpiest ride of our lives. After this moment, we will all go onto different paths. Some of us will go and further our education and become doctors, lawyers, engineers or some of us might join the military or navy and become soldiers to represent our country. Whatever paths you choose to follow, and whatever you choose to do, make sure you do what you want to do and become whoever you want to become. Success is a word that comes into many different meanings, shapes and size... ... goals. Do not let anyone stand in the way of your dreams or tell you what to become. The word "hawk" comes from the Middle English word hafoc, which means "to grasp or seize." Today, grasp and seize this moment of overflowing accomplishments and be proud of yourself. Grasp this moment especially because after today, we will fly our separate ways into the world. To all of the teachers at Roger High School, thank you. Thank you for flying with us for the four years we have been at Terrace and guiding us into our accomplishments. You have given us the most valuable gifts anyone can receive: the gift of knowledge. We are more intelligent and prepared for the world because of you. To the class of 2003: we did it. Savor this moment because there is not a more deserving class that deserves it more than the class of 2003 of Roger High School. Thank you, and God bless. Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address It is with great pride and honor that I represent the class of 2012 of County High School. I do not want to brag or boast, but in my opinion, this class is just awesome! What do you guy's think? Our class has many amazing athletes and scholars who excel in their own capacities and musicians and artists who paint our world with their own language. The class of 2012, you should stand tall and be proud to sit here and be a part of such a talented and unique class. You cannot get an Annie Everett who has lettered 12 times from her athletics in just any typical class of seniors. You cannot find a more spirited guy with the skinniest and longest legs than Beau Hannifious, and you definitely cannot find a nicer, peppier person than Katie Burns in just any class of seniors. What I am trying to say is the class of 2012 is definitely a one of a kind, authentic kind of class. Family and friends, teachers and administrators, you have come here this evening to share this lifelong memory with us t oday. Thank you so much for being a part of this moment. Today, Friday the thirteenth of June, marks our very last day as high school seniors. We will soon begin a new chapter of our lives. Therefore, strap on your seatbelts and hold on tight, as we ride the most adventurous and bumpiest ride of our lives. After this moment, we will all go onto different paths. Some of us will go and further our education and become doctors, lawyers, engineers or some of us might join the military or navy and become soldiers to represent our country. Whatever paths you choose to follow, and whatever you choose to do, make sure you do what you want to do and become whoever you want to become. Success is a word that comes into many different meanings, shapes and size... ... goals. Do not let anyone stand in the way of your dreams or tell you what to become. The word "hawk" comes from the Middle English word hafoc, which means "to grasp or seize." Today, grasp and seize this moment of overflowing accomplishments and be proud of yourself. Grasp this moment especially because after today, we will fly our separate ways into the world. To all of the teachers at Roger High School, thank you. Thank you for flying with us for the four years we have been at Terrace and guiding us into our accomplishments. You have given us the most valuable gifts anyone can receive: the gift of knowledge. We are more intelligent and prepared for the world because of you. To the class of 2003: we did it. Savor this moment because there is not a more deserving class that deserves it more than the class of 2003 of Roger High School. Thank you, and God bless.

The Effects of Second Hand Smoke Essay -- Smoking Tobacco Health Lung

The Effects of Second Hand Smoke Did you know that 3,000 American non-smokers will die this year from lung cancer? Those deaths are entirely preventable. Their lung cancer is caused by second hand smoke. Second hand smoke is smoke they have breathed in from other people's cigarettes. It is also known as involuntary or passive smoking. There is nothing passive however about the effects of this smoke. It is lethal and it is dangerous. It may give as many as 300,000 children under the age of one and half bronchitis and pneumonia. It could even be responsible for more than 35,000 deaths from heart disease. Smoking causes lung cancer. This fact is indisputable. What is sometimes disputed is the extent to which the smoke from other people's cigarettes damages those around them. Some in the tobacco industry play down this effect. They say that passive smoking is at worst a minor irritant. They say the recorded illness, deaths and cancers of those who have to live and work with smokers is a coincidence. They even have the audacity to suggest that those illnesses may be caused by diet or other environmental factors. Let us look at the facts. There are two ways in which passive or second hand smoke can affect non- smokers. Mainstream smoke is that smoke that has already been inhaled and then exhaled by the smoker. Sidestream smoke is the smoke that comes off the burning end or tip of the cigarette. Both of these sources are responsible for passive smoke inhaled by non-smokers. Second hand smoke is chemically similar to that inhaled by smokers. After 30 minutes exposure to second-hand smoke the blood flow to the heart is reduced. On top of this a non-smoker who is regularly exposed to second hand smoke has a 20 to 30% increased risk of lung cancer. Tobacco smoke contains 4,000 chemicals in the form of particles and gases. 200 of those chemicals are very poisons. 43 of those chemicals are proven to cause cancer. This lethal combination is what causes tobacco smoke to be classified as a Group A carcinogen. Incredibly 85% of the smoke from a cigarette will not be inhaled by the smoker. Instead it will fill up the room. That means only 15% of the smoke from a cigarette is actually inhaled by the person smoking it. On top of this, many of the toxic poisons and gases in sidestream smoke are present in higher quantities than in mainstream smoke. The poisons an... ... a welcome move. It means that we can start to look forwards to a smoke free environment for ourselves and our children. Unfortunately the statistics tell us that there are still many millions of people who still insist on their 'right' to smoke. The children who are exposed to their smoke do not have such a choice. Protecting children and non-smokers from the effects of second hand smoke must be a priority for everyone. A smoker chooses to smoke but a non-smoker's risk is involuntary. Exposure to second hand smoke is a real and present threat to our health. As a result there are many non-smokers who are needlessly dying from heart disease and lung cancer. Second hand smoking causes asthma, reduces lung function and bronchitis, pneumonia and causes middle ear infections. Many of these illness are inflicted upon small children. Bans on smoking in workplaces exist. So do bans on smoking in restaurants. Unless they are rigidly enforced they won't make a difference. Smoking, unfortunately, cannot be banned in homes. Passive smoking should be shown for exactly what it is, a dangerous killer. Maybe then non-smokers, especially children, will not suffer from second hand smoke.

Negative Self-Image

Negative Self-Image: Orientation Reading in Frankincense by Mary Shelley Frankincense is one of popular science-fiction in the early 19th century. A novel written by Mary Shelley , she is started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley name appears on the second edition, published in France in 1823. A novel is about Victor Frankincense who try his an unusual scientific experiment.From his experiment, making a gigantic creature that shortly afterwards he fears and he hates. Because of the appearance of this being is scary so then Frankincense's monster become rejected by Frankincense his self and the people. When the monster travel to find a place and people that can accept him the way he is. I read this story especially on Frankincense's monster perspective, I saw there is subjective view on East on characters Sane and her father (Arabian). So I'll choose to an alyze it by Postcolonial approach: Orientation.According to Tyson, as a domain within literary studies, post-colonial criticism is both a subject matter as theoretical framework. Tyson, pig 418) So that main assumptions of postcolonial theory is offering an order to analyze and understand more deeply about the oppression of human beings the same with other theories such as feminism, Marxism. The studies was marked by appearance of the book Orientation by Edward Said in 1978. Orientation by Edward Said is a canonical text of cultural studies in which he has challenged the concept of orientation or the difference between east and west. Khalid's 2011, www. Renaissance. Com) Said argues that Orientation can be found in current Western depictions of â€Å"Arab† cultures as irrational, menacing, untrustworthy, dishonest, anti-Western and most importantly prototypical. Orientals discourse discuss and criticize that East is something more inferior than West. The West spread their ide ology about East widely through media, discipline, law, technology, and so on to show that they are superior that the East. European (colonizer) teach continuously their cultural value to the colonized people that they considers colonized people have no culture.In addition, there also in some literature is often concerned with colonization and imperialism. â€Å"Orientation rescaling texts which, while their form, content, aims, genre, and disciplining origins may be widely divergent, still work with negative, stereotyped or unexamined†. (Child's and Williams â€Å"post-colonial theory', pig 115) In Shelley Frankincense, although she offend the East in briefly period through character Sane and her father. I think it can be caused large influence for the reader when realize about Eastern culture is so primitive and cruel.Sane describe as a passive Arabian women, who clearly dependent on her religion and the culture of her nation. In the â€Å"third-world†, feminist ide ology is shown less to the woman because hat is subordinated by patriarchal system which is ingrained in their culture and power in their country. Can be seen the difference between sane and European community, when she was involved in much pressure from patriarchal system ( her father ) and system in her society ( Arab ). But Cane's action show that she does not like her family tradition and religion of her time.Political, cultural, and Arabian religion shaping her mind increasingly to pay attention to the domestic ideology of the European. When the monster tell the story about Cane's mother is a Christian Arab who were taken as a slave by the Turkish because of her beautiful Cane's father marry her. She teach Sane about kindness of being Christianity and forbid Sane to follow Muhammad thought. We can see in this sentence â€Å"She instructed her daughter in the tenets of her religion, and taught her to aspire to higher powers of intellect, and an independence of spirit, forbidden to the female to followers of Mohamed. Page 127) My opinion about this statement is clearly viewed that negative image or a stereotyped of Muhammad thought as primitive teaching and many oppression to the woman. Cane's love to Felix is also a symbol that Safe already has been in love to another culture and religion. We can see in Frankincense page 127 â€Å"The prospect of marrying Christian and remaining in a country where women are allowed to take a rank in society, was enchanting her†. This is the implication of cultural colonization which is the colonizer thought about colonized has not the high uncivilized like them.And also, Cane's father described as a cruel Arabian man through his action that are untrustworthy, dishonest, and anti-Western. Associated with the opinion of Said † One would find kind of procedure less objectionable as a lattice propaganda which is what it is, of course were it not accompanied by sermons on the objectivity, the fairness, the imparti ality of real historian, the implication always being that Muslims and Arabs cannot be objective but that Orientations†¦ â€Å".In Monster's perspective, Cane's father become the cause of the ruin of De Lackey's family life. There also subjective view about Turkish man that they are bad people. (chapter 14) Begin from Felix is falling in love with Sane, and her father was caged because of his fault to the France government. Then Felix come to save ether of Safe in order to marry Sane, because Cane's father already promise to Felix to married off Sane and Felix. But actually father of Sane does not allow that his daughter live together with Felix.So that when Felix save his life, he make a plan to take his daughter to come back to their native country. We can see in â€Å"The Turks allowed this intimacy to take place and encouraged the hopes of the youthful lovers he loathed the idea that his daughter should be united to a Christian; if he should choose to betray him to the It alian state which they inhabited. (Frankincense, g 128) The monster, it's self also a symbol of colonized people. Said explains â€Å"how the science of the orientation developed and how the Orientals started considering the Orientals as non-human beings. ( Khalid's,2011. Winnipesaukee. Com ) I think when the monster is rejected from Victor and other people (colonizer) because his scary body and face, different from other (colonized), it's implied colonizer refuse that non-western include into human beings. At first, the monster born with no education and culture, I also think that it is the gap that was created, which is the colonized ere barbarians who had no civilization, does not have system of government, religion, and customs.Thus the monster studying language from France family, and also reading book from white people, this is the implied meaning of colonizer had high civilization. A brief conclusion, Orientals were come in 19th by Edward Said, and he also argues that Orient ation is a critics to reject the long tradition about the Western is more superior than the Eastern. In Frankincense written by Mary Shelley, there some Orientals issues that appear in, the â€Å"concept of tethering† and negative elf-image of the Western way of thinking about Eastern which put Eastern as an object.