Free Essays on David Levinsky

INTRODUCTION Published in 1917, The Rise of David Levinsky is considered to be the first American novel to chronicle the Jewish American immigrant experience at the end of the 19th century. Almost a century later, it can be difficult to imagine the significance of this book at the time of its publication and in the intervening years. Certainly before the turn of the last century, and undoubtedly since, we are proud to proclaim our nation a country of immigrants. We have developed an awareness of the immigrant experience through a variety of media- newspapers, books, magazine articles, television documentaries, radio shows and movies. We hardly can help but be aware, to some degree, of the unique challenges that have faced immigrants from such diverse places as Vietnam, Mexico, Cuba, China and Korea, to name a few. Even over the last thirty years within our own Jewish community we have come to appreciate the experiences of Russians, Iranians, Israelis, South Africans and South Americans starting their lives over in their adopted homeland. What became the book The Rise of David Levinsky originally appeared as four related short stories in the English-language McClure’s Magazine. Immediately, what might have otherwise been available only to the new Jewish immigrants themselves, if it had been published in Yiddish, ultimately engaged a readership far beyond the streets of the Lower East Side in New York. The struggle for success, the challenges of building a new life while your heart lives in another continent, and the support as well as distrust that existed within the Jewish immigrant community were all laid out for everyone- immigrant and American alike. In this way, America began to learn how a land of opportunity could also feel like a land of lost souls. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Abraham Cahan (1860-1951), the son of a rabbi, was born and raised in Vlinius, where he trained as a teacher in the Jewish Folk Schools. Steeped i... Free Essays on David Levinsky Free Essays on David Levinsky INTRODUCTION Published in 1917, The Rise of David Levinsky is considered to be the first American novel to chronicle the Jewish American immigrant experience at the end of the 19th century. Almost a century later, it can be difficult to imagine the significance of this book at the time of its publication and in the intervening years. Certainly before the turn of the last century, and undoubtedly since, we are proud to proclaim our nation a country of immigrants. We have developed an awareness of the immigrant experience through a variety of media- newspapers, books, magazine articles, television documentaries, radio shows and movies. We hardly can help but be aware, to some degree, of the unique challenges that have faced immigrants from such diverse places as Vietnam, Mexico, Cuba, China and Korea, to name a few. Even over the last thirty years within our own Jewish community we have come to appreciate the experiences of Russians, Iranians, Israelis, South Africans and South Americans starting their lives over in their adopted homeland. What became the book The Rise of David Levinsky originally appeared as four related short stories in the English-language McClure’s Magazine. Immediately, what might have otherwise been available only to the new Jewish immigrants themselves, if it had been published in Yiddish, ultimately engaged a readership far beyond the streets of the Lower East Side in New York. The struggle for success, the challenges of building a new life while your heart lives in another continent, and the support as well as distrust that existed within the Jewish immigrant community were all laid out for everyone- immigrant and American alike. In this way, America began to learn how a land of opportunity could also feel like a land of lost souls. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Abraham Cahan (1860-1951), the son of a rabbi, was born and raised in Vlinius, where he trained as a teacher in the Jewish Folk Schools. Steeped i...

How does Seamus Heaney use language to create a rural Irish scene in digging Essays

How does Seamus Heaney use language to create a rural Irish scene in digging Essays How does Seamus Heaney use language to create a rural Irish scene in digging Paper How does Seamus Heaney use language to create a rural Irish scene in digging Paper Essay Topic: Literature Seamus Heaney does a number of things to create the rural Irish scene. Some of the rhyming that he used would not rhyme unless done with an Irish accent, such as sound, ground and down. These are very special northern Irish sounds that have to be used. Also he is dispassionate during the poem like using the word rump instead of a nice word such as lower back. Also the farming aspect creates the typical Irish farmer vision, through generations and generations they are farming. Also he alliterates with buried the bright edge deep using allied consonants. Snug as a gun is assonance because snug and gun are very similar words. Seamus also reminisces about his father and his grandfather. The word lug is a very Irish word and is not commonly used in mainland English. Lug means the straight top part of the spade. Seamus describes how he is digging metaphorically with his pen, for his future generations to come. It is his equivalent of the families spade. Seamus avoids using euphemisms during his poem to produce the harsh reality of what is really there. Squelch and slap is an onomatopoeia meaning a word that sounds likes what it means. There is no regular rhyming pattern throughout the poem. Heaneys father has great skill when it comes to digging, levered firmly and By God, the old man could handle a spade. This shows the reader that country life is not all easy, and even to work on a farm, you need to have quite a lot of skill. The images produced by these words are very effective because they give the reader a picture of a man who is not only digging, but also doing it with immense skill, which is not something, which we usually associate with a job like that. This poem is also about the admiration and respect, which Heaney shows towards his father. The words such as straining show that Heaneys father was working very hard, as he did not break very often because he stooped in rhythm. It is these words, which conjure up such image of Heaneys father never stopping unless he has finished a job, so the images produced, are very effective, because they help us to understand the young boys admiration for his father. Country life is therefore seen as difficult, but there is also the family element too. Heaney wants to be like his father, but the difference between this poem and Follower is that Heaney realises that he has no spade to follow men like them. The continuation of farming from Heaneys grandfather, to Heaneys father, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man shows the reader that country life is very family orientated, and professions are often carried down from father to son. The images of Heaneys father being taught to dig by his father are very powerful and effective, because they show the reader the strong bonds between people on a farm, and in country life generally. The last line, The squat pen rests. Ill dig with it. show that in the country, it is often expected that people like Heaney will follow in their fathers footsteps, but Heaney is seen here to choose to be a writer. The images of Heaney digging out his memories with pen are very effective because the reader can visualise the likeness between poetry and farming. However, the image is also a surprise, because Heaney says in Follower that he wants to be like his father, but here he has changed his mind. There are three time stages throughout the poem. He talks about himself in the present tense. He speaks of himself in a poetic style. He talks about his father in both the past and present tense. For the present it is very poetic and skilled poetry he unromantically describes him as a straining rump but when he is talking of his father in the past tense it is a heroic, tense relationship. It is a vision of a small boy looking up at his father. The phrase bury the bright edge deep is like a scene out a gladiator in a battle. He talks about it very descriptively nicking and sticking going down and down. This poem consists of a free-flowing memory. It begins with him seeing his father in the present digging in flowerbeds, which then flows to the potato digging that, was done when he was a child, which flows to his grandfather digging up peat. This is like a self-justification of himself at the end of the poem, when he metaphorically digs with his pen like his forefathers did with a spade.

Health Resources and Policy Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Health Resources and Policy Analysis - Case Study Example While assisted living offers the above services, nursing homes offer full-time medical supervision and nursing care for the critical ill or patients with more acute conditions. Some of the residence services may include medical care, occupational, speech, and physical therapy, housekeeping, meals, help with medical care, and social activities (Sultz & Young 3 ). Assisted living is growing at a sharp rate in recent times because of their professional staff, who maintain companionship. While giving their services, one can actually note that the organization does what is assigned to do for the sake of the residents’ well-being and not for profit. According to Sultz & Young (5), there is also excellent patient care, remarkably nutritional meals, and attractive surroundings. Most important, its location is crucial to everything, making it easy and convenient for any person to visit. All these factors make the program the favorite of many, therefore grow rapidly. For a CSU student to prepare himself for a carrier as a CEO or administrator of an assisted living faculty, he should provide official transcripts from a recognized University or College of completion for averagely two years of training, two years of supervisory experience in a credible adult care home, or other residential or health care setting in five years before certification. Currently, there are 339 assisted living opportunities available. Some of the job opportunities include Hospice RN Patient Care Manager, Hospice Registered Nurse, and Licensed Practical

Philosophy of Film. Film as thought experiments Essay

Philosophy of Film. Film as thought experiments - Essay Example Thought experiments are an important part of many abstract theoretical sciences, and play a significant role in the field of philosophy in which the philosophers have to investigate and illuminate multifaceted issues and dense theories which they cannot experiment empirically. It is not wrong to say that thought experiments are themselves complicate to comprehend because they are a complex subject. The Trolley Problem is a famous thought experiment in the field of ethics (Thomson, 1985), which intends to discuss that in the physical world, there is often not a moral course of action that one can proceed with, given choices. It involves a madman who has tied five people on one trolley track, and one on another. A trolley is careening toward the five people and you, as a savior, can save either the five people or the one on the other track. When you save the five people, you are held guilty to have killed the other one, and when you do nothing you are accused of immoral act of doing no thing to save them. Another thought experiment is Monkeys and Typewriters that says that infinite number of monkeys, if given infinite time on infinite number of computers, can produce a work of Shakespeare (Sober 116). How film is considered as a thought experiment is an interesting topic. Film can prove philosophical in the same way as one of the thought experiments. Filmmakers have tried to incorporate thought experiments in many recent films like The Batman (The Trolley Problem) and The Dark Knight (The Prisoner’s Dilemma). Whether film can be regarded as thought experiments or as a piece of philosophy has been a hot topic of debate between the philosophers of modern times. The modern concept of filmmaking has this thing that film can do philosophy other than mere entertainment, and can be considered as legitimate works of philosophy. Wartenberg asserts that thought experiments are a strong bridge between film and philosophy, although they are not the philosophers’ realm entirely (57). He asserts that the strongest evidence that thought experiments provide a link between film and philosophy is â€Å"their reliance on hypothetical-i.e. fictional scenarios† (57). The film, the Matrix, is about the deception hypothesis in which whatever the characters of the film experience is such a reality that is in fact â€Å"a huge, interactive perceptual illusion†¦created and maintained by the computers that have taken over the world† (Wartenberg and Curran 276). The concept is based upon such a world that depicts time 200 years later, and it has been regarded as computers’ triumph against human beings in a distressing combat. Computers have been shown breeding humans as humans have been devising ways to breed animals. The philosophy in the film is that human bodies are shown generating more energy than they are consuming, and for this extra energy that is being expelled out, computers have been designed in such a way that they br eed humans that are kept in a skyscraper. The logic behind the concept is that â€Å"humans need to have their minds distracted while their bodies produce the required electrical energy† (Wartenberg and Curran). How the film raises the question that the whole perceptual experience of the

How Europeans Affected the Indians Essay Example for Free

How Europeans Affected the Indians Essay The arrival of the Europeans affected the Indians in several different ways. The Indians were exposed to new experiences such as diseases, religion, racism, land ownership, and trade to name a few. The Indians way of life changed forever with the arrival of the European colonists. Diseases were introduced to them as early as 1550 by European fisherman who stayed on the New England shores during the winter. The fisherman brought devastating illnesses which the Indians had little resistance to such as diphtheria, cholera, typhus, measles, and small pox. The coastal Indians were the first infected by these aliments and in turn, they spread them to the inland Indians. These diseases were ruinous and cost many Indians their lives. The Indians had their own customs and religions. They were introduced to the colonist’s religion, Protestant Christianity. They did not immediately take to the Puritan religion as the Indians took to Catholicism brought in by the Spaniards. They found it difficult to embrace a religion that taught that all but a few of them were damned to hellfire. Also, the Puritan or Anglican religion was complicated with English ways of eating, dressing, working, and looking at the world. The Indians that did embrace the Protestant religion were forced to adhere to the Protestant ways and abandoned their own. The Indian men were to farm and the women to weave, they lived in English houses and not wigwams, they were to barber their hair as the Puritans, and they were to stop using bear grease toward off mosquitoes. Racism was introduced to the Indians by the English colonists. Before the colonist’s arrival, they knew nothing of prejudice. Captives were adopted into the tribe, white prisoners as well as Indians born into another tribe. They were fully accepted as their brothers and sisters. Tribes would even raid other tribes and white settlements in order to increase their numbers. Extramarital miscegenation produced â€Å"half-breeds† which were consigned to the Indians. This was done in part because they were illegitimate, but mostly because of the consciousness of race that steadily grew in intensity in the colonial societies. The English referred to the Indians as savages because they were racially inferior. They abhorred their culture, morals, manners, and religion. They thought of all Indians as enemies. The Indians  were exposed to this narrow mindedness and bigotry which had been made by the colonist and so they learned of racism. The colonists assumed possession of lands that were vacated, like the site of Plymouth, on the justification of ancient legal principle that unoccupied land is anybody’s picking. The colonists did acknowledge the legal and moral rights of the tribes to own land they occupied and purchased what they could of it. The problem was that when the Indians sold land to the colonists, their understanding was that they were then willing to share their hunting grounds with them, just as they would with other tribes. They did not understand the concept of ownership. This was not a practice in which they had ever been exposed. This misunderstanding between the Indians and colonists caused wars between them which were inevitably won by the colonists. The Indians way of life was not suitable to live where the English lived due to the colonist’s agricultural ways. The Indians farmed by borrowing fields from the forest. They cultivated the soil for a few years and then moved elsewhere. The fields then reverted to hunting grounds. But the colonists did not allow this to happen. They destroyed the forests for hundreds of acres. They farmed these fields until the soil was depleted. Then they would turn the fields into pastures for their livestock. The livestock would renew the soil after several years. But during this time, the colonists would clear more hundreds of acres for their farming. This caused the flight of wildlife and game, which was vital to the Indians way of life. The Indians were anxious to trade with the colonists. They would trade furs for such things as beef, baubles, vessels, tools, iron tomahawks, woven wool blankets, liquor, and muskets. In order to trade with the Europeans, the Indians hunted and trapped for the hides of deer and the furs of other animals which the colonists wanted. Competition for furs between the tribes introduced a vicious kind of war between the Indians. The fur trade also resulted in the destruction of the ecological system of the area. Before fur trading with the Europeans, the tribes killed only moose, deer, beaver, and the other animals which were necessary and they had an immediate need. But with the need for more hides and furs, the Indians hunted until they had extinguished all the animals in their hunting grounds. The Indians then went into other tribes’ territories to hunt which in turn caused warfare between them. Another problem with trading with the colonists arose out of the Indians want of the liquor which the colonists provided. They took to the intoxicating effects of the liquor which in turn caused new problems within the tribes and with the people of the tribes. The colonist’s actions also caused another first for the Indians. The hanging of three Wampanoag’s at Plymouth for murdering Sassamon, a â€Å"praying Indian† caused the first pan-Indian attempt to preserve traditional culture. Metacomet, called King Phillip by the New Englanders, was the one to convince the other tribes to work together as he saw that the colonists with their ever increasing numbers were destroying the Indians way of life. Slavery was the involuntary capture of human beings who were sold and then owned by their masters. They were forced to work for their entire lives. Slaves had no personal rights and no hope of freedom. Slavery was first notable in the southern colonies. At first, colonists saw the indentured servants as better investments than spending money on the slaves. Later, they realized that the slaves seem to have a built up immunity to certain diseases such as malaria, which often killed the indentured servants in their care. The colonists came to see the slaves as an investment, worth the money for the outcome of a lifelong worker who could do manual labor, did not have to be replaced after a specific number of years of service, and also could assist in bearing children born into slavery which only would increase the master’s workforce. Eventually, all of the colonies became involved in owning slaves. Indentured servitude was an adaptation of the well established English means of training boys to be artisans and caring for orphans. Fathers would sign an indenture with a master of a craft. This bound the boy to the master for a period of years, usually seven years. In return for his labor, the master agreed to shelter, clothe, and feed his apprentice and teach him the craft. This institution of indentured servitude was also used to provide for orphans. Indentured servants were well suited for farmers who needed  laborers. People were recruited in England to sign indentures to work in the colonies as servants for an agreed number of years. In return for signing the indentures, the servant’s passage across the Atlantic was paid. Some servant’s were forced by English courts which sentenced convicts to transportation to the colonies. There they served out their sentences as bound servants. Unlike slaves, the indentured servants had personal rights. The term of the servitude was written down which varied from three to seven years. At the end of the agreed time, they were freed. They were given clothing, tools, a little money, and sometimes land.

Platos Apology Essay -- Apology by Plato

Plato's Apology Plato’s Apology is the story of the trial of Socrates, the charges brought against him and his maintaining of his own innocence throughout the process. At the onset of the trial, Socrates appears to challenging the charges, which included corrupting the youth, challenging belief in the gods that were accepted and reveled by the State, and introducing a new religious focus, but also belittles his own significance and suggesting that he will not attempt to disprove that he participated in the actions maintained by the court. In essence, Socrates appears almost self-effacing, and his defense surprises even his accuser, Meletus. But by the end of the Apology, Socrates becomes almost a different person, demonstrating his own value while refusing to beg for forgiveness even to save his own life. This view of Socrates presented by Plato demonstrates the difference between a man accused and a man condemned, and in the end, Socrates has nothing to lose by providing instructi on to the people through his remarks. At the onset of the trial, Socrates recognizes that the primary reason for the accusations are not that he himself did not have value or that he was instructing students in a way that had not happened in the past, but that circumstances surrounding the trial had led to the perception that men like Socrates were challenging the standards of government. Though Socrates suggests that his value for the State was unending through out the process, the fact that his teachings asked the youth to explore their values, their systems of thought, and to question authority was a significant problem for a sometimes wavering State. I think that it was right of Socrates to encourage the youth to think for th... ...h others can begin to understand his wisdom. Socrates suggests that if death is a journey where all must go, then he will simply take that journey, and at the end, spend his time assisting others in examining their lives. Socrates suggests not only that he accepts the outcome, but also that he himself will welcome the chance to do in death what he was condemned for in life. The completion of this sort of â€Å"examination† on the part of the few or the many is not possible. If a person or nation is to grow and move forward the process of self-examination will never be complete. The journey of â€Å"examination† in itself could provide the insight needed to make significant changes in today’s moral and political thinking. I think that Socrates â€Å"examination† leads to a scale of Christian ethical values that the United States and much of the world today is lacking.

Children learn in a variety of ways

In order to see why some kids are more successful as scholars than others it is necessary to see how success is to be defined. This is a peculiarly hard inquiry as a practician within an English secondary school, where two definitions presently persist. The National Curriculum ( the statutory model for instruction in England ) defines successful scholars as pupils who possess certain accomplishments[ I ]( see appendix A ) . This would connote that within English schools kids are deemed to be successful scholars depending upon whether they have developed the identified accomplishments. The accomplishments listed are non specific to any one topic and as such there is no demand for scholars to finish any traditional academic class. However, English schools are measured and judged by the criterions set by consecutive authoritiess. The current authorities has decided that a school ‘s success will be judged based upon their pupils ‘ public presentation in specified GCSE topics[ two ]( 5 A*-C GCSE ‘s including English, Maths, Science, Modern Foreign Language and History or Geography ) . This clearly shifts the focal point within English school from the accomplishments of successful larning back towards public presentation in traditional academic topics. Within this assignment a successful scholar shall be considered to be a pupil who achieves the English Baccalaureate. The writer acknowledges that the authorities ‘s current definition of success is controversial, non least of all as a consequence of the inclusion or exclusion of specific classs of survey. However this definition seems likely to be at the head of educational reform for the foreseeable hereafter and as such is of specific involvement to new practicians. This assignment seeks to critically analyze the consequence of theories of intelligence upon the success of a scholar. It is acknowledged that intelligence research is a monolithic field and that hence this assignment can non measure the full range of research. The focal point of this assignment will stay steadfastly grounded in the deductions of theories within instruction. If intelligence, nevertheless defined, were the lone finding factor upon the success of scholars so a simple trial should be able to accurately foretell the educational results for every kid around the universe. This is clearly non the instance. Individual pupils interact with the universe, and accordingly, the instruction system in a assortment of different ways. There are legion factors impacting upon this interaction which autumn outside of the range of this assignment. Nevertheless it is of import to retrieve that pupils ‘ ultimate success at school can be earnestly affected by factors such as the pupil ‘s motive, their cultural background and any Particular Educational Needs. By definition, it is clear that the whether or non a pupil achieves the English Baccalaureate does non take into history the single differences between scholars. There is no universally acknowledged definition of intelligence. A simple hunt in the Oxford English Dictionary reveals legion definitions, supported by quotation marks within written English dating back every bit far as the 1300 ‘s[ three ]. The word itself holds a curious topographic point within society, its importance is revered and yet its significance can non be easy defined. So what is intelligence? At its most limited definition, â€Å" intelligence is what intelligence trials step †[ four ]. A individual ‘s public presentation on a set on unrelated specified undertakings. However in order to follow this definition of intelligence it is necessary to cognize what it is that intelligence trials really test. At the clip that Boring made his statement ( 1932 ) his statement was genuinely round, neither he nor anyone else at the clip knew what the trials measured[ V ]. In regard of the deductions of intelligence theories on instruction trials began to be developed in France around 1904. Such trials were devised by psychologists such as Binet to foretell ‘success ‘ within the Parisian School system, to the extent that he abandoned the usage of any trial which did non separate between the kids irrespective of its conformity with his vague and traditional theory of intelligence. It would look that Binet ‘s work was non based upon any fresh theory of intelligence, simply the practical job of screening kids into those who could and could non execute in a traditional school scene. Binet ‘s ensuing trial was weighted towards mensurating verbal memory, verbal logical thinking, numerical logical thinking, grasp of logical sequences and an ability to province how one would work out the jobs of day-to-day life. An person ‘s trial mark age was so compared to their existent age. This work formed the footing of Stern ‘s develo pment of the â€Å" intelligence quotient † . The success envisioned by Binet and the Gallic Government at the clip is really similar to the success required by the current UK authorities. Therefore such trials will go on to be a forecaster of success today. Given Binet ‘s attack to the development of his trial, it would look that despite being credited as the Godhead of the first intelligence trial he was in fact the Godhead of a standardized appraisal trial. In recent old ages at that place has been increasing concerns over the impact of national trials. Standardized appraisal trials have been dropped at Key Stage 3 wholly and reduced to merely trials in English and Mathematics at Key Stage 2. In 2010 many primary schools took the extra measure of boycotting the national trials, directing their pupils to secondary schools with Teacher Assessed Levels. Whilst many argue that instructor appraisal leads to better truth than trials for which pupils are extensively prepared, how so can it be the instance that while many instructors are reasoning against the usage of SAT trials in UK schools, they continue to utilize the information provided from intelligence and cognitive ability trials. The usage of intelligence and cognitive intelligence proving within UK schools has increased dramatically within recent old ages. Within this field there are two chief trials which a big figure of pupils presently sit ( CAT and MidYIS/YeLIS ) . These trials are frequently used to help schools in the scene of mark classs and ability grouping without the coaching antecedently experienced in readying for SAT ‘s. Despite this being normal pattern in many schools, it remains controversial. The usage of such trials within schools strengthens the position of intelligence and intelligence-style trials as simply a method of finding success in school. The thought of ‘intelligence proving ‘ has been developed well in the United States since Binet ‘s original work and is now applied in a assortment of different ways, frequently with terrorizing consequences. The writers of The Bell Curve sparked monolithic contention with their work sing the IQ tonss of cultural groups within the United States. Their work seamed to back up the position that intelligence was unconditioned, that it could non be altered and that people with low IQ ‘s caused the jobs within society. This has caused monolithic concern around the universe and the potency for this system to be used to warrant societal segregation or worse can non be ignored. Whilst it is outside the range of this assignment to to the full measure the ongoing nature versus raising argument, it is the writer ‘s position that if a pupil can be ‘coached ‘ to better their consequences on the SAT ‘s trials so it is imaginable that they could be ‘coached ‘ to better their mark on an IQ trial. In response to the publication of ‘The Bell Curve ‘ concern began to turn sing the limited nature of intelligence, as measured by the ‘intelligence quotient ‘ , and any cultural prejudice within the trials. What is valued within a peculiar civilization has monolithic deductions of the development of its people and its construct of intelligence. The original intelligence trials were devised with Western school success in head and early illustrations contain clearly cultural and socio-economic based inquiries. In visible radiation of this concerns sing the US-centric intelligence research Stern berg kind to see the deductions of civilization upon theories of intelligence. In his article Culture, direction, and assessment Sternberg looked at his and other research workers work sing the impact of civilization. The research indicates that ; the act of assessment itself can impact upon an person ‘s public presentation as different civilizations have different outlooks of how they will be assessed, that persons in different civilizations may believe about constructs and jobs in different ways, that public presentation is improved when the stuff being assessed is familiar and meaningful to them, that academic accomplishments are non every bit valued in all civilizations peculiarly where certain practical accomplishments and cognition help them last in their environment. Whilst researching in Africa Sternberg found that many of the traditional positions of intelligence, valued in western so ciety, were frequently considered ‘stupid ‘ in different civilizations i.e. it was non the instance that they could non screen the points as required by the trial but they thought that do so was a mark of stupidity. In response to this find Sternberg developed his theory of successful intelligence ; nevertheless it is non the lone theoretician to review the current system culturally-loaded attack. Gardner MI â€Å" puting logic and linguistic communication on a pedestal reflects the values of our Western civilization and the great premium placed on the familiar trials of intelligence. † These cultural differences can non be forgotten and may function to foreground a failure on the portion of the Bell Curve to look into the grounds for the differences they identified. In a multicultural society how can we be certain that the trials are appropriate for the pupils sitting them? It is argued by the writer that without extended research into the cultural cogency of trials such as CAT and MidYIS, their consequences may take to pupils losing out on chances whilst could otherwise be unfastened to them. Whilst there has been increasing usage of intelligence proving within schools in recent old ages for all students, it has frequently been used to name larning disablements. What deductions for ADHD etc if a wide definition of intelligence had been accepted â€Å" adaptation to the environment † . Such trials are frequently performed by educational psychologists utilizing US-centric trial systems. In response to the increasing desire to label persons as ‘unintelligent ‘ due to their single differences, theories began to spread out the traditional position. Sternberg the â€Å" inclination to blend tonss on trials of intelligence with some sort of personal value † ( 2003b p13 ) . Many theoreticians have purported to follow a wider attack to the significance of intelligence, nevertheless few have really sort to use this to their ain actions or trials. A authoritative illustration of this can be found in the plants of Wechsler, who gives his name to a really traditional manner intelligence trial. Wechsler describes intelligence as â€Å" the sum or planetary capacity of the person to move purposefully, to thin rationally and to cover efficaciously with his environment † ( 1958 p7 ) . However his trial does non reflect this position. This highlights the trouble in inventing trials which match broader theories of intelligence. Given the jobs associated with traditional theories of intelligence, which all excessively frequently focused merely on accomplishments which are valued in the peculiar parts of society, theorists kind to promote a lodger position of intelligence. Sternberg â€Å" the clip possibly has come to spread out our impression and everyone ‘s impression of what it means to be intelligent † ( 2003b p 69 ) . This is an interesting pick of phrasing. It implies that it is non merely theorists which need to spread out their impression ‘of what it means to be intelliegent ‘ but the general populace every bit good. Sternberg proposed his theory of successful intelligence, backed by international research, to explicate why some of the most successful persons in the universe are non considered to be traditionally intelligent. â€Å" A cardinal facet of the theory is that success is defined in footings of a individual ‘s single ends with the context in which that individual lives, instead than in footings of more generalized ends that somehow are supposed to use to everyone. † TFSI â€Å" no affair how good traditional psychometric or cognitive theories account for public presentation on intelligence trials, they seem non to travel much beyond the trials in footings of their ability to account for intelligence in the mundane universe † p.317 â€Å" The triarchic theory is an effort to history for, in a individual theory, what in the yesteryear has been accounted for by multiple theories frequently perceived to be in struggle with each other. † P.325 â€Å" The point to be made, so is that intelligence is non a individual thing ; It comprises a really broad array of cognitive and other accomplishments. Our purpose in theory, research, and measuring ought to be to specify what these accomplishments are and to larn how best to measure and develop them, non to calculate out a manner to unite them into a individual, perchance nonmeaningful figure. â€Å" p. 327 p.335 beyond IQ â€Å" many bing theories of intelligence are uncomplete instead than incorrect † p.328 â€Å" each of the three subtheories of the triachic theory has received at least some empirical proof and amplification, although more empirical research and theory development are clearly needed. † p.334 â€Å" Our research, like that of others, is hindered by the deficiency of entirely satisfactory exeternal standards against which to formalize our theories and steps. † The trouble with bring forthing a wider theory of intelligence is at what point do you halt? What is included and what is non? Where is the line to be drawn? It would look that Sternberg believes that within the US the broadening of intelligence has gone excessively far. â€Å" In U.S. society, cognitive accomplishments have become practically equated with rational skills- the mental bases of intelligence. This equation is a error. † ( Sternberg, wisdom, Intelligence and Creativity synthesized 2003b ) On this point there is one theoretician who has been to a great extent criticised for spread outing this theory excessively far. Howard Gardner appears to hold an of all time turning list of ‘intelligences ‘ each one more vague and abstract that the following, many overlapping with his old classs. The chief expostulation which many people have of Gardner is his usage of the word ‘intelligence ‘ to depict what many would prefer to be known as abilities, accomplishments, endowments or capacities. In response to such unfavorable judgment Gardner explained that he realised, â€Å" that each of these words harboured booby traps, I eventually elected to take the bold measure of allowing a word from psychological science and stretching it in new ways aˆÂ ¦ I was suggesting an enlargement of the term intelligence so that it would embrace many capacities that had been considered outside its range † ( 1999 p33,34 ) . â€Å" There is nil charming about the word â€Å" intelligence † . I have intentionally chosen it to fall in issue with those psychologists who consider logical logical thinking or lingual competency to be on a different plane that musical problem-solving or bodily-kinesthetic aptitude. † ( Multiple intelligences ) â€Å" To name some â€Å" endowment † and some â€Å" intelligence † shows this prejudice. Name them all â€Å" endowments † if you wish ; or name the all â€Å" intelligences † . † â€Å" I think of an intelligence as a biopsychological potency. That is, all members of the species have the possible to exert a set of rational modules of which the species is capable. † â€Å" When I wrote Frames of Mind, I was excessively promiscuous in the usage of the term intelligence, and I applied it in countries where it would hold been preferred to deploy other nomenclature. † Cogency of MI â€Å" it surveys a broad assortment of independent research traditions: neurology, particular populations, development, psychometries, anthropology, development, and so on. The theory is a merchandise of the synthesis of this study. † â€Å" the contention that MI is non theory until the experiments are performed is indefensible. † â€Å" If other researches, looking at the same empirical informations or at new empirical informations, were to come up with a list of modules that were better supported, the current versions of MI theory would be called into inquiry. If there turned out to be a important correlativity among theses modules, as measured by appropriate appraisals, the supported independency of the modules would be invalidated. Furthermore, the theory could be partly disconfirmed on any figure of finer points. Possibly one or more of the campaigner intelligences will be found to be inadequately justified based on farther reappraisal. Possibly there are campaigners that I have non considered. Or possibly the intelligences are non about every bit independent as claimed. Each of these options can be through empirical observation verified and can supply agencies for disconfirming or redeveloping the theory, although in the instance of certain alteration, there might still be some public-service corporation to the theory itself. † The writer would travel as far to province that Howard Garner has non created a list of intelligences, but yet another list of larning manners. This averment is supported by the overplus of articles and books written on the topic in the US and throughout the universe. The application of the theory to the schoolroom puting reads merely as any text on acquisition manners, speaking about holding an consciousness of kids ‘s single form of intelligences, of learning in such a manner that all students have entree to the information in their preferable manner and of developing countries where kids may demo a failing. Sternberg ‘s work is besides non immune from such unfavorable judgment, in his work sing learning for successful intelligence besides describes the theory in a really similar manner to that of acquisition manners. â€Å" The theory of successful intelligence holds that some pupils who do non make good in conventional classs may, in fact, have the ability to win, if they are taught in a manner that is a better tantrum to their forms of abilities. † Teaching for successful intelligence. â€Å" One of the most utile things a instructor can make is to assist a pupil figure out how to do the most of what he or she does good, and to happen ways around what he or she does non make so good. † Coffield ‘s work in this country has found that there are far excessively many accounts of larning manners.

Singapore Airlines

The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/researchregister The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/0960-4529. htm MSQ 15,3 A case study of service failure and recovery within an international airline David Bamford Manchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester, UK, and 306 Tatiana Xystouri Ministry of Finance, Nicosia, Cyprus Abstract Purpose – This paper seeks to examine the effectiveness of internal processes of service quality recovery for an international airline. Design/methodology/approach – An action research methodology was adopted. The research involved: a review of available service quality literature; the identi? cation of causes of failure/errors within the host company; the development of key lessons and management guidelines. Findings – It is argued that, for service recovery to be effective, it must be external (to the customer) as well as internal (to the organisation). The need to incorporate employees and not overlook their signi? cance, power and in? uence on the delivery of quality service is highlighted. Through comparison with another airline the ? ndings re-assert that service quality excellence can only be achieved through employee satisfaction, commitment and loyalty as a result of senior management commitment, focus and drive. Research limitations/implications – The methodology applied was appropriate, generating data to facilitate discussion and from which to draw speci? c conclusions. A perceived limitation is the single case approach; however, Remenyi argues that this can be enough to add to the body of knowledge. For further investigation, there is an ongoing opportunity for future research n the area of service quality, failure and recovery, as well as the service quality gaps within the airline. Practical implications – Key lessons and management guidelines for improving service quality are presented. Originality/value – The paper describes how an international airline has tangible service quality failure and recovery systems in place, but fails to cap italise on the data and information generated. Keywords Customer services quality, Service failures, Service improvements, International travel, Airlines Paper type Research paper Managing Service Quality Vol. 15 No. 3, 2005 pp. 06-322 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0960-4529 DOI 10. 1108/09604520510597845 Introduction Services marketing and management literature widely acknowledge that keeping current customers and developing relationships with new ones is a key business strategy (Piercy, 1995). The growing sophistication of consumers does represent an ongoing challenge to all manner of service organisations. According to Zemke and Bell (1989) nothing is as common as the organisation committed more to lip service than customer service; more interested in advertising than action. This is not helped in the link between customer satisfaction and pro? s being neither straightforward nor simple. Zeithaml (2000) highlights three major problems in measuring relationships as: (1) the t ime-lag between measuring customer satisfaction and measuring pro? t improvements; (2) the number of other variables in? uencing company pro? ts such as price, distribution; (3) that other variables (such as behavioural issues) should be included in the relationship as they explain causality between satisfaction and results. However, a number of studies have demonstrated a clearly positive relationship between organisation performance and customer satisfaction/service excellence. Wirtz and Johnston (2003) highlight the positive correlation between the pro? ts and service excellence of Singapore Airlines (SIA). Commenting on the competitive nature of the airline industry, one of their interviewees states: [. . . ] it is important to realise that they (customers) are not just comparing SIA with other airlines. They are comparing us against many industries, and on many factors (Wirtz and Johnston, 2003, p. 11). A case of service failure and recovery 307 Van der Wiele et al. (2002, p. 191) ? d the same result for an employment agency, stating â€Å"perceived quality is related to organisational performance indicators in the same year and/or in the next year†. Service failure and the subsequent complaints from customers are a likely occurrence over a product/service lifetime and the rapid, effective handling of these has proven to be vital in maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Indeed, the importance of service recovery reinforces the need for or ganisations to ? nd approaches that are effective in both identifying service failure and in developing strategies to recover successfully. Service recovery should be the cornerstone of a customer satisfaction strategy. This paper examines the effectives of internal processes of service quality recovery for an international airline. Literature review The changing environment in the service sector ? According to Gronroos (1987) the dimensions of service quality are diverse and relate to both the basic service package and augmented service offering. Two important contributions in developing models for measuring service quality are from Johnson et al. (1995) and Silvestro et al. (1990, cited in Dale, 1999), who assessed service quality in the UK. They identi? d 15 aspects of service quality, and categorised them into three factors: (1) Hygiene factors: those expected by the customer. (2) Enhancing factors: those that lead to customer satisfaction, although failure to deliver is not likely to cause dissatisfaction. (3) Dual threshold factors: those whose failure to deliver will cause dissatisfaction while delivery above a sp eci? c level will cause satisfaction. While the above model gives a clear view of what criteria a customer may use to judge service quality, it is not as widely reported as the one proposed by Parasuraman et al. (1985) who condensed ten original factors into ? e categories (tangibles, ? responsiveness, reliability, assurance and empathy). Gronroos (1988a, b) later added a sixth factor and called it recovery. Parasuraman et al. (1985) also suggested quality consists of the gap between what the customer expects and receives and that this gap is affected by four gaps on the MSQ 15,3 308 provider side (customer expectations; management perceptions of consumer expectations; service quality speci? cations; actual service delivery). Unfortunately when customers are asked for feedback the methodologies used sometimes lack empirical rigor and are often a response to a speci? crisis in the organisation (Berman, 1996). This loss of data at the organisational level means that operational change s are not tied to customer priorities in a routine manner. Dale (2003) summarises three major changes in the service sector. Stating the present emphasis on the service encounter, in particular the contribution made by service providers in enhancing and maintaining service quality, arises from environmental trends relating to: . consumers’ awareness and expectations; . technological developments and sophistication; and . competitive elements. In terms of consumers’ awareness and expectations, as society gets wealthier and the marginal utility derived from additional increments of goods declines, people turn to service expenditures. The growth in ? nal demand from consumers may be attributed to consumer expectations of quality, which are believed and accepted to be increasing (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 1998). With regards to technological developments and sophistication, computerisation and technological innovations are radically altering the way in which many organisations do business with their customers. They can make a major contribution in the delivery of quality service. One view is that technological advances offer an opportunity to increase service in a variety of ways to improve the competitive stance (Schlesinger and Heskett, 1991). In terms of competitive elements, since entering the new millennium, it has become clear that most organisations are increasingly, in their quest for progress and advancement, interested in how they can achieve differentiation and competitive advantage (Verma, 2000). Globalisation and value driven business imperatives therefore mean that mistakes will not be tolerated. Services failures, recovering and learning The impact of active recovery strategies on a company’s revenue and pro? tability is dramatic. For example, Hampton Inn hotels in the USA realised $11 million in additional revenue from the implementation of its service guarantee and scored the highest customer retention rate in the industry (Ettorre, 1994). Research by the Of? ce of Fair Trading (OFT, 1990) illustrated when people make a complaint about goods and services and the complaint is satisfactorily resolved, three quarters of them will buy the same brand again. Where the complaint is not resolved, less than half will buy the same brand again. Clearly there is a pro? t to be made by retaining the customer loyalty of those whose complaints the company resolves (Citizen’s Charter Complaints Task Force, 1995). The ability to deal effectively with customer problems is closely related to employee satisfaction and loyalty. These are critical concerns in industries where customer relationships are closely associated with an individual service provider (Schlesinger and Heskett, 1991). Heskett et al. (1994) identi? s a number of factors that are considered important for employee satisfaction. These include: satisfaction with the job itself; training; pay; advancement fairness; treatment with respect and dignity; teamwork; the company’s interest in employees’ well-being; and the service worker’s perceptions of their abilities to meet customer needs. Of course the greatest barrier to effective service recovery and organisati onal learning is that only 5-10 per cent of dissatis? ed customers choose to complain following a service failure (Tax and Brown, 1998, p. 7; Dube and Maute, 1996). Instead, most silently switch providers or attempt to get even by making negative comments to others (Singh, 1990). Why are customers reluctant to complain? Several authors such as Dube and Maute (1996) and Singh (1990) uncover four reasons: (1) customers believe that the organisation will not be responsive; (2) they do not wish to confront the individual responsible for the failure; (3) they are uncertain about their rights and the ? rm’s obligations; and (4) they are concerned about the high cost in time and effort of complaining. To counter this several approaches have been highlighted that are effective in identifying service failures: setting performance standards; communicating the importance of service recovery; training customers in how to complain; and using technological support offered through customer call centres and the internet (Dale, 2003). According to Bitner et al. (1997) the level of customer participation in a service experience varies across services and customers can play a variety of roles. Through a review of the literature Bitner et al. 1997) identify three: (1) the customer as productive resource; (2) the customer as contributor to quality, satisfaction and value; and (3) the customer as competitor to the service organisation. These roles are not mutually exclusive, meaning individuals’ behaviours in a speci? c situation may apply to more than one of the three roles. What can ? rms do to improve recovery performance? Academic evidence, for example Hart et al. (1990), Mason (1993) and Bowen and Lawler (1995), suggests there are speci? practices that improve service-recovery effectiveness: hiring, training and empowerment; establishing service-recovery guidelines and standards; providing easy access and effective responses through call centres and maintaining customer and product databases. Bitner et al. (1990) in a study of 700 critical incidents found that it is not necessarily failure itself that leads to customer dissatisfaction, most customers do accept that things can go wrong. It is more likely the organisation’s response/lack of response to the failure that causes resentment and dissatisfaction. Boshoff (1997) surveyed 540 travellers, presenting them with a constantly negative service situation (a missed ? ight connection caused by ? ight delay) and looked for the most successful recovery strategies. They were: a fast response by the highest possible person in terms of seniority; a fast response accompanied by full refund plus some amount of compensation; a large amount of compensation provided by a high ranking manager. An apology was of limited use unless accompanied by some form of tangible compensation. A market-driven approach to service recovery consists of many tools in addition to identifying and responding to complaints: surveys; mystery shopping; focus groups; customer and employee advisory panels; and service operating performance data (Day, A case of service failure and recovery 309 MSQ 15,3 310 1994). In identifying opportunities to improve services, many ? rms integrate complaint data with data gathered through one or more of these research methods. Firms determining investment priorities in service improvement examine the impact of various options (e. g. ncreasing the speed of front-desk check-in versus expanding the room-service menu at a hotel) on customer satisfaction, repurchase intention, process cost, and market share. The goal is to identify those process improvements that will have the greatest impact on pro? tability (Rust et al. , 1995). Investment decisions should also be driven by customer pro? tability assessments. For example, United Airlines determined that business travellers account for 40 per cent of its business by headcount, but supply 72 per cent of its revenue; â€Å"mile-collecting vacationers† constitute 60 per cent of travellers but provide only 28 per cent of revenue. The most frequent business travellers, dubbed â€Å"road warriors†, generate 37 per cent of revenue even though they make up only 6 per cent of the passengers. United learned through complaints and survey results that the road warriors were the customers least satis? ed and most frustrated with air travel. Based on the data, the company invested $400 million to provide business travellers with better seats, food, and lounges; a pre-departure service to avoid long lines; more frequent-? ier bene? ts; and perks such as showers in terminals (Rust et al. 1995). The relationship between service recovery and organisational pro? tability can be clearly seen by examining the service-pro? t chain (Heskett et al. , 1994). This argues that pro? t results from customer loyalty, which results from customer satisfaction with the service system; customer satisfaction (value) is generated by satis? ed, loyal, and productive employees. The impact of service recovery can be traced through impro vements in the service system and through the direct effect on satisfaction of resolving a customer complaint. Resolving problems effectively has a strong impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty (McCollough and Bharadwaj, 1992). Conversely, poor recovery following a bad service experience can create â€Å"terrorists†, customers so dissatis? ed that they actively pursue opportunities to criticise the company (Heskett et al. , 1994). Loyal customers expect problems to be dealt with effectively and are disappointed when they are not, making service recovery key (Zeithaml et al. , 1993). Examples from the airline industry Wirtz and Johnston (2003), comment how SIA continues to get service quality right. They have consistently been one of the most pro? table airlines in the world and are routinely voted â€Å"best airline†, â€Å"best business class†, â€Å"best cabin crew service†, â€Å"best in-? ight food†, â€Å"best for punctuality and safety†, â€Å"best for business travellers†, â€Å"best air cargo carrier†, and even â€Å"Asia’s most admired company†. SIA seems to follow many of the normative models that are well researched and published in the service literature such as: a strategic focus on customers; adopting a â€Å"total company† approach to service excellence; incremental improvement and periodic process redesign; and continuous benchmarking. The company strives for a constant â€Å"exceeding of expectation† (e. g. Berry, 1995) and has active customer feedback systems (e. g. Berry and Parasuraman, 1997, Wirtz and Tomlin, 2000). SIA’s culture of service excellence at a pro? t is in line with the service pro? t chain (Heskett et al. , 1997) and the cycle of success (Schlesinger and Heskett, 1991). Final observations made by Wirtz and Johnston (2003, p. 18) include what they term as these â€Å"somewhat surprising ? ndings†: SIA’s holistic process perspective – a culture were all staff look at all processes all the ime to search for incremental improvement; SIA strive to maintain consistency in service excellence that meets the needs of every customer (maintaining the dif? cult balance between standardisation and customisation); a simultaneous focus on service excellence and costs/pro? ts, pushed right out to the front line staff. Their conclusion is that SIA has no secret formula for succe ss; they just follow widely known and applied frameworks and models. At British Airways (BA) in 1983, the then chief executive, Colin Marshall, launched the Customer First campaign. The cornerstone of the Customer First campaign was detailed research into what customers expect in terms of personal service. BA established monitoring mechanisms, which continually told them what the customers expect, and how well they were doing against these expectations. The market research covered both customers and staff, so as to form the starting point for a fully integrated campaign to improve standards of service. The training programmes included a personal development course looking at such aspects as handling feelings, understanding and coping with stress, and being assertive. The programme was then extended to embrace all non-customer contact staff. Great emphasis has been placed on teamwork and on an appreciation of the contribution that each individual and each role makes towards the success of the airline as a whole. Further, the Quality Assurance Unit, whose activities were to focus on de? ning detailed customer service standards, and develop quality control mechanisms by which BA could measure their local performance against customer expectations, monitored the progress of improving service quality. At the same time, a service quality audit was developed to meet the needs of overseas stations. The objective has been that all staff within the company becomes actively involved and committed to the corporate objective of improving customer service, with the slogan: â€Å"Putting our customers ? rst – if we don’t, someone else will† (Hamill and Davies, 1986). SAS suffered an $8 million operating loss in 1981. Within two years, they achieved a gross pro? t of $71 million on sales of $2 billion, although the industry as a whole lost a total of $1. 7 billion (Albrecht, 1985). The success story at SAS was claimed to come from an organisational commitment to manage the customer’s experience through so-called â€Å"moments of truth†, â€Å"the ? rst 15-second encounter between a passenger and the front-line people† (Carlzon, 1987, p. viii). Carlzon, SAS President at the time and later author of ‘Moments of Truth’, his take on successful customer service quality, put all 27,000 employees through a company-wide training programme. Everyone, from baggage handlers to company vice presidents received the training in a two-day workshop, speci? cally targeted to meeting the needs of their customers. According to Carlzon this cross-functional training is essential; if only front-line staff have it then their best efforts to satisfy customers may be blocked by back-room staff. He goes on to propose that the link between tactics and strategy is not made in many customer service organisations, ultimately resulting in failure of service quality. Research method An action research methodology was adopted (Remenyi et al. , 1998). Action research was developed during the 1960s and has proven particularly useful in the area of managing change and identifying areas for improvement (Remenyi et al. 1998). Moore (1999) states that to be properly regarded as action research, a project must contain a continuous thread of objective evaluation and a mechanism whereby the results of the A case of service failure and recovery 311 MSQ 15,3 312 evaluation and the lessons learned during the project can be fed back into the process so that it becomes something which is dynamic and constantly modi? ed in the light of experience. The main advantage of action research is that it is done in real-time; produces a concrete result and everyone in the organisation can see what is going on. This can have its disadvantages as well – mistakes made are very public, but on the whole it makes for research which has the support and backing of people who might otherwise have shown little commitment to the idea. Its distinguishing feature is that it integrates something of real, practical worth into an organisation. This has to be the case, otherwise the research would never have been sanctioned – ? rms do not have resources to spare and would not waste their own time and resources on a futile project. As detailed above, one potential weakness of the adopted research methodology might be its very public nature. If the project did not produce tangible real-time results, those supporting it may lose interest and bias any future initiatives. The applied methodology needed to be systematic so that it ? tted with the basic aims of the research. Informal interviews, observation and company documentation were all used. This investigations objective was to make an assessment of the airline’s process of service quality recovery with respect to service failure, driven by the goal of customer satisfaction and internal improvement. Once access was established key measurables, and causes of failure were identi? d through a detailed examination of company processes, informal discussion with Company personnel, and formal interviews with various employees. This process, over a period of time, allowed the identi? cation of sources of errors within the host company. The case study The research presented here involved full participation from an international airline. During the 1990s the airline concen trated on improving customer service, reducing costs and aggressive marketing. Signi? cant effort and new approaches were initiated to improve the quality of service delivered to the customer, in order that the organisation remains ompetitive in future years. A central pivot of the airline’s approach was a commitment to improve service to the customer and they subsequently won a number of passenger accolades. Service failure in the airline Among the key data was the record of passenger complaints during a four-year period. These records included the revenue-passengers carried by the airline, number of complaints received, number of complaints offered compensation and the amount of money paid out during each of the four years. They are represented in Table I. The number of recorded complaints increased by nearly 60 per cent and those offered compensation increased dramatically by 147 per cent during this period. The Year Revenue passengers carried Complaints received Instances paid Amount of money paid (? ) Table I. Passenger complaints records 1 2 3 4 1,298,000 1,355,000 1,346,000 1,400,000 545 684 715 870 253 403 462 626 22,736 47,048 70,253 73,869 manager of the complaints department commented on these numbers by asserting the increase re? cted â€Å"only a small extent of the increased passenger movement†, even in year three when a slight trough was observed, the numbers of complaints showed no sign of decline. The percentage â€Å"complaints paid† increased from 47 per cent in year one to 72 per cent in year four. The complaints department manager af? rmed that increasing customer complaints have been a factor for the previous decade indicating the complaints/passengers ratio has been st eadily increasing. In 1990 one complaint was recorded for every 2,700 passengers, a decade later, one complaint is recorded for just over 1,500 passengers. Figure 1 represents the number of complaints per 10,000 passengers during an 11-year period. In year 1, the complaints average was 3. 6 per 10,000 passengers, within ten years that became 6. 2. Due to this upward trend in complaints, the airline’s expenditure on compensation is increasing noticeably year-by-year, demonstrated in Table I. Expenditure on compensation increased by more than ? 50,000 in the period year eight to year 11, with the most fundamental increases being witnessed in ? scal years nine and ten. Table II demonstrates which recorded complaints are the most frequent and re? cts the main causes of recent service failure in the airline. Commenting on the ? gures of Table II, a senior manager identi? ed the majority of complaints concentrating around three areas: (1) delays, usually technical in nature; (2) service interruptions, e. g. through frequent strikes; and (3) complaints regarding the attitudes of ground staff. Complimentary letters were seldom received b y the airline and were never logged or recorded. Anecdotal evidence suggests when a passenger compliments an employee it is done face-to-face, not in writing. Interestingly, all current effort at the airline is put A case of service failure and recovery 313 Figure 1. Number of complaints per 10,000 passengers MSQ 15,3 Nature of complaint Act of God Cabin staff attitude Downgraded Flight cancellations/diversion of ? ights/delays Food and beverage Ground staff attitude Lack of facilities Mishaps during ? ight Overbooking Reservation problems Strikes Travelled on jump-seat Cases 1 4 6 544 5 103 7 17 18 39 124 2 314 Table II. Passenger complaints records into recording complaints not compliments; senior managers believed this was because the board of directors (BoD) expected complaint data to discuss ithin their meetings. The service recovery plan The airline’s activities for service recovery and in-house improvement are proceduralised through a detailed ? owchart shown in Figure 2. Monthly â€Å"service recovery†, â€Å"customer voice† and quarterly meetings with cabin crew supervisors take place to allow issues to be raised and discussed to seek improvement. Appreciation for outstanding performance is provided through gifts (e. g. free business class two-way tickets to any destination), and printed letters of appreciation, signed by the president of the airline. Discussion The research data revealed that 89 per cent of customer complaints resulted from 25 per cent of the problem areas, evidence of the Pareto principle in action. Evidence indicated the service recovery plan of the airline was not addressing these priority areas according to their signi? cance. Presented in Figures 3 and 4 are cause and effect diagrams (Dale, 2003) re? ecting the main service failures of the airline. With regard delays, diversions and cancellations, senior managers asserted that some causes, such as the weather, are predictable yet cannot be controlled – little can be done to avoid their consequences. According to the US Department of Transportation (1989) 70 per cent of delays in the commercial airline service are caused by weather. In addition, external factors beyond the immediate control of the airline can cause service failure (? ight diversion or cancellation due to air-traf? c congestion, a failure in another airport where the airline’s aircraft are engaged). For the airline the planned purchase of new aircraft and a scheduled upgrade of existing ? eet should reduced problems caused by purely technical failure. Service quality should improve and expenditure on compensation reduced. Findings here also con? rmed assertions from the literature that technological advances can offer opportunities to increase service in a variety of ways to improve competitive stance, and lead to cost savings (Mulconrey, 1986). Although this contrasts with the view that customers insist on â€Å"client-centred† performance as opposed to â€Å"technical-centred† A case of service failure and recovery 315 Figure 2. Flowchart of service recovery and in-house improvement processes performance (Kotler and Connor, 1977), the ? dings indicated that a reliable â€Å"personal touch† service is what the airline’s customers perceived as being good service quality. Findings indicated the perceived â€Å"bad attitude† of ground staff was a major area of service failure. The airline’s senior management team agreed that for employees to be competent in offering soft quality, rigorous se lection procedures and appropriate training was vital. However, research evidence suggests that these principles were not applied throughout the company. Dobbs (1993) af? rms that without formal training staff have few tools to meet the expectations of customers or managers. The level of consistent, appropriate and focused training was found to be a key issue within the airline. Ground staff were not suf? ciently trained for the highly MSQ 15,3 316 Figure 3. Cause and effect of delays/ diversions/cancellations Figure 4. Cause and effect diagram of bad ground staff attitude â€Å"customer centred† aspects of their jobs and therefore lacked appropriate key skills and diplomacy for handling the demands of customers. This is demonstrated in Figure 5. The ability to deal effectively with customer problems is closely related to employee satisfaction and loyalty (Schlesinger and Heskett, 1991). Customer satisfaction is also increased when company management attempts to couple the service recovery process with offering initiatives to the employees (Reichheld, 1993). However, within the airline employee satisfaction is not as important as customer satisfaction. That ground staff are perceived as having a bad attitude con? rms assertions from the literature (Heskett et al. , 1994, p. 164) that important factors for employees are: satisfaction with the job itself; treatment with respect; and the company’s interest in employees’ well being. A case of service failure and recovery 317 Figure 5. Ground staff attitude complaints Research ? ndings indicated a range of reasons for employee strikes. The diffusion of the single union 20 years ago (the Union of the Airline Staff) and the creation of several resulted, according to one senior manager, in â€Å"the power to in? uence events in the hands of an uncompromising few†. Employees who felt their needs were not taken into consideration used their union to make demands. Weak management support, in combination with discontented employees, results in continual strike action that gives an impression of a disorganised company (see Figure 6). The management of the airline failed to work towards a process of identifying and resolving the issues triggering employee dissatisfaction. Furthermore, the senior management team has been unsuccessful in attempts to improve internal company communications. Although researchers have studied the concept of service for several decades, there is no real consensus about the conceptualisation of service quality (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Rust and Oliver, 1994). Different researchers focus on different aspects of service Figure 6. Cause and effect diagram of strikes MSQ 15,3 318 quality. The most common de? ition is the traditional notion that views quality as the customer’s perception of service excellence (Berry, 1995; Parasuraman et al. , 1985). Attempts have been made to provide applicable conceptual models, see for example Zhu et al. ’s (2004) paper on â€Å"A mathematical model of service failure and recovery strategies† for an example. Of perhaps more direct use here is a simple comparison of how the Airline operates re service quality, with one of the best in the business, SIA. Table III offers a straightforward comparison between various service recovery elements of the two airlines. Taken from Wirtz and Johnston’s (2003) paper on SIA, which took SIA’s senior managements perspective on sustaining their service excellence, we used ten key service recovery elements. Of these, all of which SIA excel at, our research indicates the airline actively pursue only one, acknowledging the challenge of delivering service excellence. Disappointingly, they would appear to fail on every other element. As the two companies have similar systems in place the key difference would appear to be the level of senior management commitment. Indeed this comes across compellingly in the Wirtz and Johnston paper. If similarities exist in the perceived execution of objectives, a difference in perception of what the â€Å"long-term† view actually is may be key (see Bamford and Forrester, 2003). The research does indicate the airline BoD is actively trying to improve its service quality. Through enhanced organisational intelligence they are striving to improve the fundamentals of their service delivery. They can ? x what they can see; they can ? x what they can directly in? uence. New equipment is easy, though expensive to bring in; changing company attitudes is another issue. The comparison with SIA highlights key differences between a so-called â€Å"best in class†, in terms of airline service quality and an airline that is trying very hard to survive in an increasingly competitive market sector. Key lessons and management guidelines As business and management research is essentially a ? eld of applied studies it is appropriate that research of this type should convert at least some of its ? ndings into a series of practical management guidelines (Remenyi et al. , 1998). Therefore, although it Singapore Airlines (Wirtz and Johnston, 2003) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Service recovery element Acknowledge the challenge of delivering service excellence Adopt a â€Å"total† systems approach Strive for consistency with personalisation in service delivery Understand customers and anticipate their needs Listen to both customers and front-line staff Log compliments and complaints Continuously training and motivate the front-line staff Provide dedicated resources for communication and motivation Manage the organisation with an eye for the detail in everything Focus, above all, on delivering consistently high quality at a pro? t for the company The airline Yes No No No No No No No No No Table III. Airline service quality set-up and recovery comparison is not our main purpose to present prescriptions, the following maybe useful for practitioners. The key lessons presented below offer straightforward advice: . Do not lose focus of internal service quality: quality of the workplace; job content and variation; recruitment; selection and suf? cient training of employees; management support; rewarding employees for good job performance; recognising employees for good job performance. The latter is said to wield signi? cant in? ence over the quality of employee job performance (Piercy, 1995). . Put evaluation and reward systems into practice to ensure good performance is monitored and rewarded (e. g. with cash bonuses or free tickets). . Empower front-line employees. This is a tool for improving employee motivation, as having the power to own, manage and resolve a problem makes roles more meaningful and interesting. . Frequent ser vice education and training can enhance the ability of front-line staff to provide greater levels of customer care. It also prepares them for handling the differing demands of customers. A case of service failure and recovery 319 Conclusions This research has reported the main causes of service failure within an international airline and through comparison with another airline the ? ndings re-assert that service quality excellence can only be achieved through employee satisfaction, commitment and loyalty as a result of senior management commitment, focus and drive. The paper has assessed the organisation’s process of service recovery with respect to the main causes of service failure, in its goal to achieving customer satisfaction and internal improvement. The analysis of the ? ndings conformed to the Pareto principle, by which the majority of the organisation’s failure resulted from a small proportion of the problem areas (technical problems; strikes; ground staff attitude). The ? ndings indicated that for service recovery to be effective, it must be external (to the customer) as well as internal (to the organisation) so that internal improvement can be ensured. The ? ndings also substantiated previous claims of the need to approach service quality in a manner that goes beyond unsophisticated and narrow-minded practices that verlook the signi? cance, power and in? uence of the employee on the delivery of quality service and the smooth operation of the organisation’s activities. Finally, the ? ndings con? rmed previous assertions that employee satisfaction, commitment and loyalty require high levels of management commitment, as well as frequent communication. This research raises a number of implications for management. T he interactive concepts of external and internal quality and their importance raise issues of recruitment and training to achieve the right blend of employee skills and motivation. There appears to exist the need for the organisation to adopt management-employee relationship strategies, to ensure it manages and gets the best out of this key resource. Periodic review of performances and reward schemes are considered of vital importance, to aid the co-evolution of mutual understanding between managers and employees, and hence the development of superior service quality. A further implication for management is re? ected by the importance of understanding the positive effects of internal marketing on the pro? tability of the MSQ 15,3 320 rganisation. As the literature suggests (Albrecht, 1985; Hamill and Davies, 1986), satis? ed employees have all the means to make customers happy by offering superior quality service and thus reducing the occurrence of complaints substantially. The eventual result on the pro? tability of the organisation can only be encouraging, even at its most basic level fewer complaints mean less complaint expenditure and thus improved pro? ts. The methodology applied for collection of the research data was wholly appropriate and consistent with the perceived outcomes required. It generated ample data, which facilitated discussion and the drawing of speci? c conclusions. A perceived limitation is the adoption of a single case approach; however Remenyi et al. (1998) argues that this can be enough to add to the body of knowledge. As a result of this research the Airlines senior management team have recognised the need to address internal marketing in a manner that will be translated into the company’s philosophy and cultural attributes. This research has also provided a foundation for future work. Although many valuable insights were revealed through this research, there is an ongoing opportunity for future research in the area of service quality, failure and recovery, as well as the service quality gaps within the airline. References Albrecht, K. (1985), â€Å"Achieving excellence in service†, Training and Development Journal, Vol. 39 No. 12, pp. 64-7. Bamford, D. and Forrester, P. (2003), â€Å"Managing planned and emergent change within an operations management environment†, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 546-64. Berman, E. 1996), â€Å"Implementing TQM in state welfare agencies†, Admin. Soc. Work, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 55-72. Berry, L. L. (1995), On Great Service – A Framework for Action, Free Press, New York, NY. Berry, L. L. and Parasuraman, A. (1997), â€Å"Listening to the customer – the concept of a service-quality information system†, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 38, Spring, pp. 65-76. Bitner, M. J. , Booms, B. H. and Tetreault, M. S. (1990), â€Å"The service encounter: favourable and unfavourable incidents†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 54, January. Bitner, M. J. , Faranda, W. T. , Hubbert, A. R. and Zeithaml, V. A. 1997), â€Å"Customer contributions and roles in service delivery†, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 193-205. Boshoff, C. (1997), â€Å"An experimental study of service recovery options†, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 110-30. Bowen, D. E. and Lawler, E. E. (1995), â€Å"Empowering service employees†, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 36, Summer, pp. 73-84. Carlzon, J. (1987), Moments of Truth, Ballinger Publishing, Cambridge, MA. Citizen’s Charter Complaints Task Force (1995), Complaints Handling in the Public Sector: A Research Study Conducted by MORI, HMSO, London. Cronin, J. J. and Taylor, S. A. (1992), â€Å"Measuring service quality: a re-examination and extension†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56, July, pp. 55-68. Dale, B. (1999), Managing Quality, 3rd ed. , Prentice-Hall International, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Dale, B. (2003), Managing Quality, 4th ed. , Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. Day, G. S. (1994), â€Å"Continuous learning about markets†, California Management Review, Vol. 36, Summer, pp. 9-31. Dobbs, J. (1993), â€Å"The empowerment environment†, Training and Development, Vol. 47 No. 2, February, pp. 55-7. Dube, L. and Maute, M. (1996), â€Å"The antecedents of brand switching, brand oyalty and verbal responses to service failures†, in Swartz, T. , Bowen, D. and Brown, S. (Eds), Advances in Services Marketing and Management, Vol. 5, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 127-51. Ettorre, B. (1994), â€Å"Phenomenal promises that mean business†, Management Review, March, pp. 18-23. Fitzsimmons, J. A. and Fitzsimmo ns, M. J. (1998), Service Management: Operations Strategy and IT, Irwin/McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. ? Gronroos, C. (1987), â€Å"An applied service marketing theory†, Working Paper, No. 57, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Helsingfors. ? Gronroos, C. 1988a), â€Å"Service quality: the six criteria of good perceived service quality†, Review of Business, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 10-13. ? Gronroos, C. (1988b), â€Å"Assessing competitive edge in the new competition of the service economy: the ? ve rules of service†, Working Paper, No. 9, March, First Interstate Centre for Service Marketing, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Hamill, B. and Davies, R. (1986), Quality in British Airways: Are You Being Served? , Phillip Alan, Oxford, pp. 77-87. Hart, C. W. L. , Heskett, J. L. and Sasser, W. E. (1990), â€Å"The pro? table art of service recovery†, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 8 No. 4, July-August, pp. 148-56. Heskett, J. L. , Sasser, W. E. Jr and Schlesinger, L. A. (1997), The Service Pro? t Chain, Free Press, New York, NY. Heskett, J. L. , Jones, T. O. , Loveman, G. W. , Sasser, W. E. Jr and Schlesinger, L. A. (1994), â€Å"Putting the service-pro? t chain to work†, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 72, March-April, pp. 164-74. Johnson, R. L. , Tsiros, M. and Lancioni, R. A. (1995), â€Å"Measuring service quality: a systems approach†, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 9 No. 5, pp. 6-19. Kotler, P. and Connor, R. A. (1977), â€Å"Marketing professional services†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 1 No. 1, January, pp. 71-6. McCollough, M. A. and Bharadwaj, S. G. (1992), â€Å"The recovery paradox: an examination of consumer satisfaction in relation to discon? rmation, service quality, and attribution-based theories†, in Allen, C. T. , et al. (Eds), Marketing Theory and Application, American Marketing Association, Chicago, IL, pp. 102-7. Mason, J. B. (1993), â€Å"The art of service recovery†, Retailing Issues Newsletter, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 1-4. Moore, N. (1999), How to Do Research: The Complete Guide to Designing and Managing Research Projects, Library Association Publishing, London. Mulconrey, B. G. (1986), â€Å"High-tech that create high touch†, Best’s Review, October, pp. 28-33. Of? ce of Fair Trading (1990), Consumer Loyalty, OFT, London. Parasuraman, A. , Zeithaml, V. and Berry, L. (1985), â€Å"A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49, pp. 41-50. Piercy, N. F. (1995), â€Å"Customer satisfaction and the internal market: marketing our customers to our employees†, Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 22-44. A case of service failure and recovery 321 MSQ 15,3 322 Reichheld, F. F. (1993), â€Å"Loyalty-based management†, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 71, March-April, pp. 64-74. Remenyi, D. , Williams, B. , Money, A. and Swartz, E. (1998), Doing Research in Business and Management, Sage Publications, London. Rust, R. T. and Oliver, R. L. (1994), â€Å"Service quality: insights and managerial implications from the frontier†, in Rust, R. T. and Oliver, R. L. (Eds), Service Quality: New Directions in Theory and Practice, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA. Rust, R. T. , Zahorik, A. J. and Keiningham, T. L. (1995), â€Å"Return on quality: making service quality ? ancially accountable†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 59 No. 2, pp. 58-70. Schlesinger, L. A. and Heskett, J. L. (1991), â€Å"Breaking the cycle of failure in services†, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 32, Spring, pp. 17-29. Singh, J. (1990), â€Å"A typology of consumer dissatisfaction response styles†, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 66 No. 1, pp. 57-99. Tax, S. S. and Brown, S. W. (1998), â€Å"Recovering and learning from service failure†, Management Review, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 75-88. US Department of Transportation (1989), Federal Aviation Administration Airport Capacity Enhancement Plan, US Government Printing Of? e, Washington, DC, p. 3. Van der Wiele, T. , Boselie, B. and Hesselin, M. (2002), â€Å"Customer satisfaction and business performance†, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 184-93. Verma, R. (2000), â€Å"An empirical analysis of management challenges in service factories, service shops, mass services and professional services†, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 8-25. Wirtz, J. and Johnston, R. (2003), â€Å"Singapore Airlines: what it takes to sustain service excellence – a senior management perspective†, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 10-19. Wirtz, J. and Tomlin, M. (2000), â€Å"Institutionalising customer-driven learning thro ugh fully integrated customer feedback systems†, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 205-15. Zeithaml, V. A. (2000), â€Å"Service quality, pro? tability and the economic worth of customers: what we know and what we need to learn†, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 67-85. Zeithaml, V. , Berry, L. L. and Parasuraman, A. (1993), â€Å"The nature and determinants of customer expectations of service†, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 1, pp. 1-12. Zemke, R. and Bell, C. R. (1989), Service Wisdom: Creating and Maintaining the Customer Service Edge, 2nd ed. , Lakewood Books, Minneapolis, MN. Zhu, Z. , Sivakumar, K. and Parasuraman, A. (2004), â€Å"A mathematical model of service failure and recovery strategies†, Decision Sciences, Vol. 35 No. 3, p. 493. Further reading Zeithaml, V. , Berry, L. L. and Parasuraman, A. (1988), â€Å"Communication and control processes in the delivery of service quality† , Journal of Marketing, Vol. 52, April, pp. 35-48.

What fits by Eisen essays

What fits by Eisen essays What Fits is an extremely personal and candid hypertext novella authored by Adrienne Eisen. The novella is an intimate account of a period of hard times in a young womans life. As the main characters struggles with life, careers, and relationships are laid out the audience gets a better feel for some of the characters less than traditional ways of thinking and living. As Eisen develops her character a strong sexual theme is apparent and continues throughout the novella. The Characters less than traditional ways of thinking and living can be applied to the way she sees and deals with sexuality. Often times authors will use sexuality to express something about a character that might not be so obvious. Why did Adrienne Eisen choose to develop her character with this untraditional approach to sexuality and what does she want it to say about her character. From the beginning the main characters sexuality is prevalent. Nearly every screen alludes to sex or sexuality in some way, and usually in the most inappropriate way. This is where the non upon examining Tano one night the character states, He needs a hai...

Best Off-Campus Job Options

Best Off-Campus Job Options Its no secret that most college students work during their time in school because they have to, because they want to, or because they both want and have to. And while working on campus has some obvious benefits, working off-campus can be downright amazing. If youre thinking of working off-campus during your time in college, check out any of the following options: Coffee Shop It sounds so simple, but working in a coffee shop can be great for college students. It keeps you busy; youll meet a lot of people; youll likely get discounted, if not downright free, coffee; you can earn tips; and youll learn a skill that will transfer to wherever you live next. Additionally, some major chains offer benefits for part-time workers, which can be a serious bonus during your time in school. Wait Staff at a Nice Restaurant If youre going to wait tables, do your best to find a really nice restaurant. Your tips will be higher, your boss will likely be more experienced, and the little things like air conditioning during the summer will all add up to a nice work experience. Retail Retail can be great for college students, especially if you work at a major chain. The skills and training you receive in your college town, for example, will make you highly appealing to similar stores back in your hometown. Additionally, any discounts you receive on clothing or other items can come in extremely handy. Lastly, because retail stores are often open in the evenings and on weekends, you might be better able to find shifts that accommodate your class schedule than if you worked in a traditional, 9-5 office. Entry-level Administration Dont sell yourself short; even a semester of college might put you ahead of other administrators who dont have any college experience. Consider looking for entry-level administrative jobs that can help you build a resume and some important skills during your time in college. Ideally, when you do graduate, youll then have both the experience and the formal education to skip past entry-level jobs. In a Field Youre Interested In If youre extremely interested in a certain industry, try finding a job you can get during your time in school thats still in the field. True, you likely wont be able to start at the level youre hoping to after you graduate, but working in your desired field can help you confirm that youre aiming for the right place. (Additionally, any connections you make can help you once you do start looking for more advanced work.) In a Non-profit Non-profits can be amazing places to work because they offer so much. In addition to helping communities and individuals, non-profits offer some great benefits to their employees, too. Because most non-profits are small and/or understaffed, you can learn a lot of skills through just one job. You might do a bit of marketing, some community work, some financial management, and some supervision of projects and other people. Consequently, what seems like a small non-profit job just might end up being a huge opportunity for you to learn all kinds of skills. Any Job with Benefits Lets be honest; it can be hard to coordinate benefits like health insurance, retirement plans, and even tuition payments during your time in school. If youre lucky enough to find an off-campus job that offers these benefits (tuition reimbursement, anyone?!), leap on it. While you may not see the actual money behind these benefits in your paycheck, youll undoubtedly feel their advantages during your time in school. Any Job that Provides Housing Fortunately, there are some pretty great off-campus gigs out there that also provide housing. Being an apartment manager, for example, can be a great option during your time in school if you can great free or reduced-cost rent as part of your paycheck. Being a nanny, too, might also be an option, as long as your family is understanding and flexibly about your college commitments. Any Job Online Working off campus doesnt necessarily have to mean working in a traditional brick-and-mortar place. If you can find a job working online, youll have no commuting costs. Some online jobs offer flexible schedules while others require you to be available during specific days and times. Finding something that works for you can be key and a great way to experience an off-campus job without the traditional drawbacks. Any Job at a Place You Want to Work After Graduating Getting your foot in the door in an entry-level job still counts as getting your foot in the door. And while everyone has their dream job, most people also have their dream place to work. If you know where youd absolutely love to work after you graduate, see if you can get a job - any job - there during your time in school. You can meet people, build your reputation, and network in a way that youd never be able to do from the outside. And all of this will, of course, come in handy once you toss your graduation cap and are looking for full-time work away from campus.

Hamlet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Hamlet - Essay Example For Hamlet his controlling power is his words, they are not only his way of to express himself but also his weapon, in many situations he has come across as the king of wordplaying. However because of his contradicting nature his word might also lead to arresting him. Since he is an observer, his analysis may lead to exhaustion resulting in being indecisive. His words at point also lead him to not being able to take revenge for his father’s death. At some point Hamlet’s character portrayed madness too, he was in love with Ophelia but he would also end up abusing her verbally. It would almost seem like Hamlet is under the influence of a mask, so he can actually decide and pick the kind of character he would want to play. The most prominent quality in the nature of Fortinbras was his ability to prove his words through his actions. Even if some matters would not require him to react he would take an action without having to think twice about the consequences.Often in the play Fortinbras took decisions based on his emotions and did not think about what his action may cause. As compared to all the other main characters in the play Fortinbras barely speaks. Fortinbras has a strong emotional bonding with his family which is something thats differs him and Hamlet. It is this affection of his that leads Fortinbras to not welcome war. He could be easily manipulated by displaying respect and loyalty for his family. Fortinbras for sure is a soldier but he never believes in slaughtering and murdering people brutally. He is probably the only character who took the initiative to help repair the damaged. His action and his ability to speak his mind leads him to become a framing character. Calling Laertes hot-headed won’t be something wrong, his father’s death has caused him to feel so much anger and many people thought that his anger is his biggest strength. He has a very charismatic personality enough to appeal anyone, he is also