Causal Judgement and Blocking Experiment

Causal Judgement and Blocking Experiment Michael Arruzza Abstract Recent results of studies which aim to gain a greater understanding of how blocking works and the mechanisms involved have led to some conflicting results. Some research suggest that blocking may be the result of assumptions about the additive nature of outcomes. Others think that it may have more to do with associative learning. This experiment investigates blocking in causal learning with human participants with the aim to addresses two main questions. Is blocking affected by encouraging or discouraging assumptions about the additive nature of the outcome? How do the results differ if we separately measure the memory for specific cue-outcome pairings? Results of the study show that there is evidence for both ideas and they may both contribute to the phenomenon of blocking. Introduction A model of the blocking effect was first developed by Kamin in his work with conditioning animals (Kamin, 1969). Kamin identified that training with one cue considerably reduced performance to another cue that was added to the first cue, in a second phase of training. A typical example of blocking would go something like this. Cue A is paired with an effect (A+). In a second phase a compound of two cues, the former cue A and new cue B is paired with the effect (AB+). Decisions on the strength of cue B are effected or â€Å"blocked† by information about the causal relationship of cue A. This has been described as the blocking effect. He theorised that learning may be driven by surprise, if a cue did not provide new information about the contingency between events and the environment it was ignored. Others researchers more recently such as Lovibond (Lovibond P, 2003) have tried to explain blocking in terms of inferential reasoning based upon a relatively simple set of propositions where the observer can deduce though logic that the blocked cue is not a cause of the outcome. Using an allergic reaction to foods as an example this would occur if someone assumed that the patients allergies are additive. When two foods are eaten which cause an allergic reaction they should cause a greater reaction then if only one of the two foods caused a reaction. If one does not observe an increase in the severity of the outcome when B is eaten at the same time as the allergenic food A, then one can deduce that B does not contribute to the allergic reaction. For example if eating a banana causes an allergic reaction rated as 5 and eating a banana and an apple causes a reaction of 5, then the apple has not made the reaction worse and is not the cause of the reaction itself. Lovibond (Lovibond P, 2003) and his colleges also observed that pre-training with explicit instructions that encourage outcome additivity assumption enhance the blocking effect. It is possible that the blocking effect is product of deductive reasoning and it sometimes unreliable response might be due to some participants assuming outcome aditivity while others do not. However a statistically robust blocking effect has still been observed even after explicit non-additive pre-training (Mitchell Chris, 2006). But his blocking effect is significantly smaller than after additive pre-training. In this study done by Mitchell et all multiple blocked use and control cues were implemented. The study only used a non-additive pre-training group and did not include an additive group. This would have been beneficial as it would have been great to contrast the two groups. After non additive pre-training participants were worse off at recalling the outcome associated with the blocked cue. Mitchell goes on to suggest from the data that the blocking effect that has previously been observed after non-additive pre-training may be the result of a non-rational process such as a failure to retrieve the outcome associated with the blocked cue. The ‘blocking affect’ may results from a failure to encode the B–outcome relationship during training. This concept tried to explain blocking as an associative learning theory. This research aims to better understand the blocking phenomenon. In particular to reconcile the two somewhat contradicting explanations outlined above that either blocking is the result of deductive reasoning or it is a part of a failure to encode cue-outcome associations. Is it the product of one of these two ways of thinking about blocking, can they co-exist or are they mutually exclusive? Based on previous research: It is hypothesised that both additive and non-additive groups would show reliable blocking in memory for both groups It is also hypothesised that there will be a weaker causal attribution for blocked cues with additive pre-training Method Participants This trial was done by 120 undergraduate university student who were separated into two groups numbering 60 students in each. Of the sample 78 were female and 42 were male. The mean age of students who participated in the study was 21.7 years of age. Procedure All 120 participants sat a computer trial to determine which foods were causing a hypothetical ‘Mr X’s’ allergic reactions. This initially began with a training phase. On a number of trial participant had to predict whether an allergic reaction would occur by click on of two or three options on the screen. Next participants were then told whether an allergic reaction had occurred and how severe the reaction was on a scale ranging from 0 to 10. This was Stage 1 was done by participants 8 times. In stage 2 compounds were also presented 8 times each. Participants could choose from no reaction, or one of two alternative reactions. In stage 2 a reaction occurred could have a severity of either 5 or 10. Next the 20 cues were presented individually and participants were to make two ratings for each cue. First to pair the cue with the allergic reaction that had occurred. The cues A-H were blocked cues, S-Z overshadowed control cues, and K-N no outcome cues. Next they rated their confidence on a scale of 0-100, 0 being not confident at all and 100 very confident. On the same scale they then rated the extent to which that same cue actually caused the reaction on another rating scale. Assumptions on additive logical reasoning were manipulated on two two levels: One group (Additive pre-training) were given training trials before blocking training, which showed the effects of combining to other allergenic food cues. They also received 3 explicit instructions stating that the addition of two causal cues resulted in a more severe outcome. The other Non-additive pre-training group received the same pre-training except that two options that cause and reaction gave the same medium allergic reaction of 5 as each of these options individually. This group also received explicit instructions stating that the addition of two causal cues resulted in an outcome of the same severity. The purpose of this design is to evaluate if scores show a lower causal rating for the blocked cues than the overshadowing cues. Also whether participants were less accurate in recalling the outcome for the blocked cues than for the overshadowed cues. It’s also to understand the effect of pre-training on blocked and control cues. Results The results of the study indicate that some areas of the study produced statistically significant results while when comparing other groups no statically significant data was found. When comparisons across groups were assessed it would appear that cue type had a significant effect on blocking (F (1,118) = 99.596 p Figure 1: mean memory accuracy across groups which show no significant difference of blocking between different groups. Figure 2: mean causal reasoning which show a significant difference between groups in terms of blocking. Discussion Prior to the conduction of these experiments due to the results of previous studies it is hypothesised that both additive and non-additive groups would show reliable blocking in memory for both groups. It is also hypothesised that there will be a weaker causal attribution for blocked cues with additive pre-training. Just like in the research done by lovibond (Lovibond P, 2003) pre-training influenced causal reasoning as blocked cues in the experiment were judged as less causal in the additive group. A significant difference in the strength of the blocking effect between groups. This adds evidence to the idea that deductive reasoning about the additive nature of causal events may contribute to the blocking effect as previously thought by other researchers. However the data does still show that even though significant difference in the strength of the blocking effect between groups Blocking still evident after non-additive pre-training, product of associative learning. Another significant result of the experiment was the data showed a strong blocking effect on memory for correct outcome. The outcomes associated with blocked cues were recalled less well than the outcomes associated with the control cues. Pervious idea about the blocking effect (Mitchell Chris, 2006) had proposed that the effect may be due to a failure to encode the B-outcome during training. The fact that data showed a blocking effect for the correct outcome shows that this may be the case. It also helps to explain why it a blocking effect has still been found even though non-additive pre-training had been part of the experiment. Previous research has shown that there are two separate ways of thinking about the blocking, the process as a result of outcome aditivty or a failure to encode the B-outcome. Our research has shown that blocking might be the result of several quite different mental processes. The fact that blocking was still evident after non-additive pre-training suggests that it may be the product of associative learning. Even when measures are taken to discount outcome aditivity a blocking effect it was still present. This means that it is likely that they both contribute to the blocking effect. This experiment needs to be replicate by other studies to ensure this conclusion is valid. It should be extended to different groups of people not just the limited selection of university students in a more scientific setting then a classroom test. It may be that a group of university student with a mean age of 21.7 may not be the best representative same of the population. It may be the lack of scientific setting effected the degree of seriousness when participant undertook the test. It might also be interesting to evaluate something other than blocking to hypothetical allergic reactions as this may in tale different assumptions about food that may have not been controlled for in this study. However students were randomly allocated to different classes for university at the start of semester so that does help with the reliability of the results. Student were also unaware what condition they were in and what was being tested by the experiment which would help prevent a selection bias . Further studies of blocking would be encouraged to eliminate some of the experimental flaws included in this study. This study does show the room needed for further research into the area of blocking as theories of blocking do not appear to be mutually exclusive but underly an associative process that has not yet been discovered. References Dickinson, Anthony. (1984). Judgement of Act-Outcome Contingency: . Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 36A 29-50. Evan, L. (2006). The relationship between blocking and inference in causal learning. School of Psychology, University of Sydney. Kamin, L. (1969). Predictability, surprise, attention, and conditioning. Punishment and aversive behavior. Lovibond, P. (2003). Forward and backward blocking of causal judgment is enhanced by additivity. Memory and cognition, 133-142. Mitchell, Chris. (2006). Forward blocking in human learning sometimes reflects the failure to encode a cue–outcome relationship. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 830-844.

Causes and Effects of Absenteeism in Local Government (UK)

Causes and Effects of Absenteeism in Local Government (UK) 1.0- ABSTRACT Absenteeism can happen through authorised and unauthorised absence and these can be grouped into: situational, personal and attendance factors. Causes: headaches, hang-over cold flu, unchallenging jobs and poor management are common causes of absenteeism and managers generally suspicious of employees reasons for absenteeism. Effects: Unplanned absence is disorganising, frustrating and expensive for organisations. UK absenteeism rate in European is similar to Denmark, (see p11-12). Absenteeism is positively correlated with employee motivation and satisfaction. Combating absenteeism: absence can be minimised by providing challenging jobs, rewarding attendance and maintaining a zero tolerance to absence. Return-to-work interviews are empirically proven method of reducing absenteeism in local government. Adding, studying industries with lower absence rate may prove a useful tool for minimising absenteeism in local government. This report acknowledges that limitations such as privacy and Human Rights laws protects workers privacy from being invaded by organisations, HR managers ought to know there limitations. 2.0- INTRODUCTION Absenteeism is the avoidance of or failure to attend ones place of work hence unable to perform a contractual working obligation owing to absence. In other words, absenteeism is unplanned or planned absence created by an employee intentionally such as deliberately avoiding work through non-attendance for personal reasons or unintentionally like maternity leave, bereavement and ill-health. This research essay shall be confining the report to intentional or self created absenteeism which can be disruptive, expensive and difficult to manage, (Armstrong, 2006). Undoubtedly, this form of absenteeism is the worst nightmare of all managers because of having to deal with the same workload with limited workforces. According to Benington, (2000) site in (McHugh, 2001) the UK local government has become a ‘‘last chance saloon meaning failure to ‘put-up will require government takeover or privatisation. Furthermore, CBI, (2004) cited in Taylor (2005), acknowledged that absenteeism costs the UK government  £12 billion pounds yearly. Presenteeism is the opposite of absenteeism and it means ‘110% attendance with the view to impressing ones boss. The most regular mentioned ‘causes of absenteeism reported by employees especially in local government are: headaches, cold, flu, stress, back pain, food poisoning and family issues. It must be stated that other causes such as repetitive jobs, poor management, leadership, and organisational climate are factors. 3.0- LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1- CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM Public sector absenteeism has attracted much research especially in the local government probably because of better monitoring systems such as extensive documentation than the private sector. Noteworthy is the fact that there are no universally agreed causes of absenteeism however; there are some regular cited ones are claimed to contribute to absenteeism. According to Taylor, (2005), a research company called My Voice asserted that 56% of employees admitted to taking a ‘sickie. That is calming absence from work under false pretence. Interestingly, the real reasons stipulated by the survey for the absence includes: hung-over, stress and hatred for the job itself. Consequently, managers are generally suspicious of employees claiming absence on sick grounds based on the above survey. It is an undeniable fact that such findings breeds mistrust between managers and their employees. Obviously, one can understand why managers might be frustrated by employees absence because it brings disorder to management plans and the execution of scheduled activities. Gennard, Judge, (2005) are of the view that death, paternity leave, inability to return from planned holidays and ‘ alleged sickness are the main causes of absenteeism. It is abundantly clear that bereavement does cause absenteeism but on limited scale however, this report is less concern with that form of absenteeism because it is natural rather than intentional. Paternity leave being a cause of absence might sound baffling however, this report maintains that paternity leave even though a planned absenteeism, might potential cause some form authorised absence for reasons like a sudden developments- such as mother falling sick, babys health, family and family visits and gatherings. This report maintains that the possibility of this form of absenteeism being abused is not unlikely. Adding, planned holidays might degenerate into unplanned absence due to certain unforeseen circumstances. This is likely to affect those who take holidays abroad. This form of unplanned absence might be caused by flight delays and cancellations due to political issues like wars and protest as happened in Thailand, natural disasters such as disease outbreak, for example the pandemic ‘‘H1N1 Swine Flu which first broke out in Mexico and for that matter the quarantine of infected victims had to be done, earthquakes as happened in Indonesia. According to Armstrong, (2006), the causes of absenteeism could be broadly attributed to three (3) factors namely: ‘Situational factors, Personal factors and Attendance factors: ‘Situational factors include the nature of the job itself; is it repetitive and boring or interesting and challenging enough? Obviously, a repetitive job may generate stress and job resentment. The sort of leadership and organisational climate employees operate under may generate absenteeism. While agreeing to some extend that these situational factors might generate absenteeism, it is worth acknowledging that some people hate change and will always struggle to maintain the status quo. These people may rather prefer doing a repetitive job than a challenging one. ‘Personal factors are: the worth of an employee, his or her personality, age and sex may contribute to an employee absence. This research report concedes to the fact that these stated factors are influencer of absenteeism in local government based on a valid research: Barmby et al, ‘survey (1999) cited in Taylor (2005), p316 recorded that men were unlikely to be absent from work than their female counterparts and even more profound was the fact that England has lower absenteeism than any were else in the UK. Quite obviously, the wage disparity across the UK has a lot to with it hence the lowest rate (absenteeism) in England than anywhere else in the UK. Lastly, attendance factors include; the sort of incentives allocated to rewarding good employee behaviour like regular attendance as well as sickness policies. It is an undeniable fact that most people respond positively to incentives and rewards both in kind and in cash. According to Jacqueline A.-M et al, (2003), the ‘psychological contract plays a significant role in contributing negatively or positively to employee performance and attitudes in the local government. Absenteeism is gradually gaining the publicity it deserves in the local government according to CBI, (1999); Local Government Auditor, 1999) cited in (McHugh, 2001). This report is of the view that organisations either private or the local government can no longer afford to remain in a vacuum but rather to face up to the challenges like the unpredictability of the marketing environment. This means all local governments and organisations are compelled to make the necessary savings they can get from all areas in order to survive in this aggressive but compelling marketing environment called ‘the survival of the fittest. In fact, there has never been a century that has imposed and forced change on all manner of organisations like the 21st century. The present business environment is one that constantly says keep changing or you will be made obsolete. Furthermore, Johansson, Palme, (2002) proposed that a positive attitude to ‘a short- term sickness and taxes encourages absenteeism. In other words, encouraging ‘nanny culture such as paying for sick leave encourages local government workers to take off sick for private reasons other than genuine sickness. In short, such policies however well intentioned may rather be taken for granted and instead abused. IDS, (2001b, pp2-3) cited in (Taylor 2005), p329 proposed that the public sector workers records higher absenteeism than the private sector because, there are less punitive measures taken against public servants than their private sector counterparts. This research lends support to some extend to the argument however, contrary to the point; local government organisations do take longer time to act due to bureaucracies but does not necessarily mean that punitive measures are not exercised in the public sector as claimed. Adding, this report supports the view that absenteeism is more prevalent in the private than the public sector. This is due to the fact that public employees receive better treatment and are valued fairly than their private sector counterparts (the psychological contract), (Jacqueline A.-M et al, 2003). This report observes that certain councils are renowned for recording high rate of absenteeism for instance, Northern Ireland councils than those in England, (McHugh, 2002). In summary, there are disparities between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as regards to absenteeism. And in Europe as a whole, the UK is not doing badly according UK government statistics. Also, it is an undeniable fact that poor record keeping encourages absenteeism. If organisations and for that matter local government organisations like the NHS, keeps up-to-date records of all employee absence, it would discourage absenteeism because most people hate being monitored. Proper documentation and monitoring of employee absence is likely to generate the needed attention absenteeism deserves leading to a collective action against the perpetrators of absenteeism. Conversely, it is not an exaggeration that the costs of keeping up-to-date information on employee attendance are expensive and complicated because of the technology involved such as biometric data collecting systems like the ‘Swipe in Swipe out, ‘phone book-ins and finger and hand scanning are expensive systems which are not without disadvantages. For instance, an employee may give his or her card to a colleague to wipe them in discretely and on the other hand, an employee may genuinely forget to swipe in and out. 3.2- EFFECTS OF ABSENTEEISM The effects of absenteeism are difficult to quantify though various researches have attempted valuing it. Absenteeism costs the UK government  £12 billion pounds yearly, (Taylor 2005). That figure can be a full year budget for most developing countries especially in Africa and Asia. Adding to the above, Davis, Geddes, (2000); Blair, (1998) cited in (McHugh, 2001), p43 was reported to have issued a warning to local councils to stop wasting local government funds by providing ‘value for money services by combating preventable issues like absenteeism. Quite earnestly, absenteeism is an avoidable cost which if managed properly has benefits for all organisations both public and private firms. The US economic is on record for losing $40 billion dollars a year on absenteeism, (Dalton, Mesch, 1991; Unckless et al 1998) mentioned in (Gaudine, Saks, 2001).That money is enough to provide employment for hundreds of people especially under this current economic turbulence. Another disadvantage of employee absence, despite it being costly for the local government is that it also disrupts management plans and decisions according to Armstrong, (2006). Managers are usually provided with a specification tasks with limited time-frame within which to report back to their superiors for assessment. Consequently, an unplanned absence may significantly affect managers flexibility, time and the speed at which the work and for that reason, may cause irritation for management as a whole. Lastly, an employees sudden absence may stir up negative feelings among his fellow work- colleagues. It is a convincing fact that more often, managers are unable to fill in or organise a quick replacement for an absent employee but rather, overburden their subordinates with the same magnitude of workload. Nevertheless, they (managers) still expect their workforce to deliver the same level of performance without considering the manpower shortage. Consequently, this leads to the development of hatred and resentment among work colleagues which is not healthy for the organisation and for that matter the local government because, synergy may be lost in the process (working against one another rather than as a team or 2+2=5). Is absenteeism a function of employee motivation or dissatisfaction breeds absenteeism? This research report argues that a good psychological employment contracts is a recipe for a better employee attitude as in the case of local government employment than the private sector (Jacqueline A.-M et al, 2003). Obviously most government jobs are fairly stable and permanent hence the issue of job security is guaranteed as opposed to the private sector. Moreover, Martocchio, (1994); Johns, Nicholson, (1992) cited in McHugh (2001, p44), claimed that an employees commitment and dedication are a function of his or her motivation in the organisation. This report shall concede to this fact because people generally response positively or otherwise to incentives and rewards depending on their situation (perception). Ehrenberg et al, (1991) claims that students absenteeism impact on their academic performance especially during examinations. Now, if this assertion is true then, one can justifiably maintain that employee absence affects their work in terms of quality, speed and concentration. CIPD, (2006), cited in (Torrington et al, 2008), p339 found that absenteeism was high in food and drink sector, and in local government; however, NGOs, Media and the leisure sector had lower absence rate. Arguably, it is not surprising that voluntary and leisure organisations had better attendance because they are satisfying jobs with high commitment and goal congruence. According to the CBI, (AXA, 2005) and (CIPD, 2005) mentioned in (Torrington et al, 2008), UK absence is similar to Denmarks but lower than Norway, Sweden and Finland. This statistics were rather surprising to because, these three countries above beaten by the UK are usually among the top 10 countries for quality living hence they should have beaten the UK. 3.3- RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ABSENTEEISM AND MOTIVATION? Kass, et al, (2001) empirically concluded that unchallenging and uninteresting jobs profoundly determine the performance (poor) of an employee, their longevity in the organisation and even more importantly the frequency of absenteeism he or she exhibits. This reported utterly concedes to the above fact that boredom breeds laziness and the attitude of it because people who are boredom prone such as activists and kinaesthetic learners (hyperactive) performance may be hampered by unchallenging tasks and subsequently but inevitably lead to worker absenteeism. Interestingly, Wyatt, (1929) cited in (Kass, et al 2001, p318), concurred that performance, motivation and employee attitude to work are correlated (positively). This means that an employees performance is a function of the level of motivation he or she enjoys from the job. In other words, an unmotivated employee will obviously demonstrated a lackadaisical attitude to his or her job and for that matter the company. Furthermore, in Maslows theory, ‘man is an insatiably need driven animal who is always seeking for the fulfilment his or her present need but in a successive order of prominence, (Croft, Norton, 2005). Ultimately, Maslows needs theory shares light on employees behaviour in the sense that, it categorically emphasises studying and listening to the workforces in order to avoid being ‘out of touch and concluding that what motivates Mr. A will motivate Mr. B, as it were and even more importantly the theory advises a full analogy of an employee before concluding on sort of incentives that will induce a desired behaviour. The Hawthorne study supports that recognition of a workgroup motivates performance and arguably the Hawthorn enquiries are in line with Abraham Maslows needs theory. Another useful theory for analysing the relationship between motivation and performance is Herzberg et al (1957) two factor theory: Motivators- responsibility, recognition and achievement and Hygiene factors-wages or salaries, job security and supervision, cite in (Armstrong, 2006). The absence of hygiene factors results in worker dissatisfaction claims Herzberg. In other words, hygiene factors do not creates satisfaction by themselves but rather, their absences leaves employees dissatisfied according to Herzbergs theory. Now if Herzbergs theory is anything good to go by, an employees absence (regular) should trigger an investigation and a subsequent identification of the causes. For instance, employee absenteeism can be due to lack of job satisfaction because of repetitive and boring jobs, due to lack of recognition for the employees achievement also, poor leadership in the form of supervision may equally cause dissatisfaction. Herzbergs two factor theory failed to anticipated the change in the psychological employment contract which has shifted power away from the employer to employees consequently, Herzbergs assertion that money is not a motivator is debatable (untrue) today and for that matter, it leaves the famous two factor theory for criticism. Adding, it is an undeniable fact that money is a real motivator taking into account the actual causes of this current financial turmoil or the current recession across the world. It is emphatically clear that this recession was engineered by greedy people whose sole motivation was nothing rather than big bonuses, pay packages or simply put, money to be precise. If these outrageous financial institutions heads, bankers and money lenders were not motivated by money then what else brought this financial ‘meltdown to this world? Furthermore, Vroom et al (1960s) cited in (Croft, Norton, (2005), p16, states that persons motivations defines the measure of input he or she will expands. This means that the package (employment contract), the job itself and the organisational climate all have a definite role in contributing to the performance of an employee in a company. This report utterly agrees with this view because workers generally expect interesting and challenging jobs, good leadership, a fair pay for their work done and of course recognitions for their efforts. Consequently, the infulfilment of these expectations inevitably results in all sorts of attitudes and behaviours such as absenteeism. Porter and lawler, model (1968) mention in (Armstrong, 2006) is arguably complementary to Vrooms thought because it advocates that two instruments were central to the contribution of workers in an organisation: value of reward and the relationship between their efforts and the outcome taking into account the individual capability and expectations, (Armstrong 2006). In other words, when rewards are carefully crafted strategically taking into consideration the abilities and expertise of the individual then good performance is an inevitable outcome because there will be goal congruence between organisation and the individual which leads to superior organisational performance known as competitive advantage. Sometimes this sort of strategic fit between organisations and employees does make a company an ‘employer of a choice- a company which most people would love to work for due to several factors like good employee treatment, fairness and the organisational climate (good) for instance, British Airways, Microsoft Corporation, NASA (space centre) and the BBC. 4.0- COMBATING ABSENTEEISM. According to Taylor (2005), punitive solutions, using rewards and tackling the root causes of absenteeism is the answer to minimising absenteeism. Obviously, the use of the ‘carrot and stick method is being advocated and finding out the real triggers of absenteeism as well. However, this requires proper documentation and monitoring of employees attendance which can be expensive. Most research supports the view that using punitive styles like basing promotion and rewards decisions on employee attitudes (attendance) reduces absenteeism. This strategy creates and communicates a clear message to employees that their future especially in that organisation is a function of their contribution and commitment which convincing. Gennard, Judge (2005) also agreed that ‘return-to-work interviews are the most effective means of reducing absenteeism because it assertively notifies the worker that such attitudes would be punished if necessary. This strategy integrates investigation of the case with documentation as well as communicating to the perpetrators that they are being monitored which I think, must be applauded. According to Armstrong, (2006), absenteeism can be eradicated through management commitment, trust, and return to work interviews. Management commitment is about harnessing management support and commitment to abrogating absenteeism while nurturing and development trust through transparent policies, regular dialogue and communication between management and their subordinates. In resounding, local government absenteeism can be reduced by tackling stress by way providing training and development to management and leadership with the aim of inculcating and developing good leadership and people skills into leaders. Furthermore, boredom can be prevented from inducing absenteeism by making jobs interesting and challenging like providing job enrichment, job enlargement and the empowerment of workers. Rewarding attendance (100%) has been empirically proven to reduce absenteeism from 10-8 days, (Silcox, 2005d) cited in (Torrington et al, 2008). Finally, even though this report labours to avoid the ‘stick method of reducing absenteeism, it is conceding to note that return-to-word interviews are empirical proven beyond reasonable doubt that they are profoundly effective in reducing employee absence in both the public and private section organisations. 5.0- CONCLUSIONS Absenteeism is problem faced by all organisations and the causes include: hang-over, headaches, boring jobs and poor management however, management believes that most ‘alleged causes are non-genuine which costs organisations money. Some writers claimed that absenteeism is more prevalent in the public sector than the private sector. This report disagrees with that argument because, undeniably, absenteeism is positively related to motivation consequently, since the public sector gets be employment contract than their private sector counterparts, absence must be less prevalent than private organisations. Punitive measures such as return-to-work interviews are particularly effective in reducing worker absenteeism. Conclusively, this report maintains that absenteeism cannot be eradicated but rather minimised because providing a challenging jobs, rewarding attendance and good leadership cannot change personal habits cultivated over decades. Adding though return-to-work-interviews is an effective means of reducing absenteeism; the process cannot intrusively used due to privacy concerns. For instance, (IRS, 2002a) cited in (Torrington et al, 2008), p 349 emphasised that the Human Right Act, 1998 awareness is important. The report recommends a specific study into low absenteeism sectors: non-profit organisations, voluntary sectors, Media and recreational sector to ascertain the real causes of employee absenteeism. REFERENCES 1. Michael Armstrong, A Hand Book of Human Resource Management Practice, 2006, 10th Edition Kogan Page, London, UK. 2. Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Randy A. Ehrenberg, Daniel I. Rees and Eric L. Ehrenberg; School Leave Policies, Teacher Absenteeism and Students Achievement, 1991, journal of Human Resources, vol. 26. no. 1 pp 72-105 University of Wisconsin ,Press, URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/145717 3. Alice P.Gaudine1 and Alan M. Saks2, Effects of Absenteeism Feedback Intervention on Employee Absence Behaviour 2001; 1.School of Nursing, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Canada, 2. School of Administrative Studies, York University, Ontario, Canada, journal of organisation Behaviour, vol.22. No.1 Pp15-29. Feb., URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3649604 4. John Gennard and Graham Judge, Employee Relations, 2005, 4th edition CIPD, London. UK. 5. Jacqueline A.-M, Coyle-Shapiro and Ian Kessler, the Employment Relations in the UK Public Sector: A Psychological Contract Perspective, a journal of Public Administration Research and Theory; j-part, Vol. 13, no. 2. April 2003, pp213-230, Oxford University Press on behalf of the Public Management Research Association. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3525711. 6. Per Johansson, Martin Palme, Assessing the Effect of Public Policy on Worker Absenteeism, 2002, The Journal of Human Resource, vol. 37, no. 2, pp 381-409, University of Wisconsin Press, URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/ 3069652. 7. Marie McHugh: Employee absence: an impediment to organisation health in local government,2002 School of Management, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, International journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 14, no. 1, pp 43-58, MCB University Press, 0951-3558, URL:www.emerald-library.com/ft 8. Marie McHugh: Employee absence: an impediment to organisation health in local government,2001, School of Management, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, International journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 14, no. 1, pp 43-58, MCB University Press, 0951-3558, URL:www.emerald-library.com/ft 9. Stephen Taylor, People Resourcing, 2005, 3rd edition, CIPD, London, UK. 10. Derek Torrington, Laura Hall and Stephen Taylor: Human Resource Management, 7th Edition, 2008, Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, FT, England and Spain.

The tourism industry Essay -- essays research papers

Tourism is a major economic and social significant that has been recognized in both developed and developing countries. Tourism is the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence. The activities undertaken during their stay in these destinations by facilities are meant to cater the needs of the consumer. The act of traveling for pleasure is a luxury. Until recently only a restricted few had the time and money to travel. Increasing leisure, higher incomes and greatly enhanced mobility have combined to enable more people to partake in travel. The concept of wide-scale travel away from home is a relatively new phenomenon. In the past few people enjoyed free time, and any was usually attributed to religious reasons, hence the word holidays (holy days). Early travel often consisted of pilgrimages and later health spas became very popular. As social and economic development of countries accelerated, so did wages and work conditions. Railways in the nineteenth century made transportation easier and presently air transportation put the whole world at reach.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What motivates a tourist? The world is vast and ready to be explored and many people with the means to travel enjoy not only the relaxation aspect of vacationing but also exploring various geographical locations to benefit from learning of a different culture, society and practices of a diverse globe. The importance of consumer behavior within the t...

Political Cartoon Essay -- American History, Working Class

America has gone through different economical phases, especially when one of the big issues is the working class and the conditions that the working class faced. The most rigorous and grueling conditions were brought about in the era of 1870-1920. At this time the make up to the working class shifted drastically, the work expectation was not possible, and the working conditions were horrendous. The world of the ‘working class’ thus changed drastically. In the 1870’s, there was a flood of immigrants coming into the country. They had no skills, spoke broken English (if any), and were willing to work for virtually no pay. These immigrants began to make up the â€Å"new† working class, (Hollitz, 105). The work that these men did was not easy and by no means was it safe. Occupations varied from laborers to brakemen to coal miners to iron and steel workers, (Hollitz, 28-34). By the 1920’s jobs had become more specialized. In order to get hired, one needed to be a skilled worker with experience and an apprenticeship under their belt, (Bell, 30). Beginning in 1906, women began to take the work world by storm (Wright, 114). People began building allow women to go to work, rather than worrying about keeping the enormous houses clean (Wright, 115). Within thirty years, the average pay rose from ten cents an hour for hard labor on the railroads to fifteen cents an hour for a boy to work in a glass factory, (Bell, 224). Th e changes that happened in fifty years completely revolutionized the archetype of a working class family. In 1870, a working class family was poor and could barely afford to feed themselves. By 1920, the working class family could afford a decent sized house, a car, and to spoil themselves every once in a while. The working ... ... working class by getting involved in a war. Gompers recognized that there was unrest in the working class. There were problems with work hours, safety, and benefits. He believed the government was trying to cover up complaints by starting something bigger, so that the complaints were not the most important things on the hypothetical table. While Gompers did not completely understand the particulars of the war he did understand the main idea. He tried to scare the listeners by saying Chinese immigrants were going to come into our culture and take over. He compared immigrants to slaves saying, they would work for virtually no money. Therefore, bringing the wage rate down and making jobs harder to find. Samuel Gompers conveyed passion and spoke with confidence. He made people believe what he was saying, and scared them into wanting to take action against the war.

First Corinthians Essay examples -- essays research papers fc

First Corinthians In 146 B.C. the Roman general Mummius crushed Greece’s attempt towards independence by completely destroying the city of Corinth. For a hundred years the area of the city laid in ruins. Eventually Julius Caesar sent a colony of veterans and descendants of Freedmen to rebuild the city, and in a short period of time a new Corinth was created from the old ruins (Ancient Corinth p. 20). During the rebuilding of Corinth Caesar was assassinated and reconstruction was continued by Emperor Augustus (Background First Corinthians). Corinth is a Grecian city, located on the isthmus which joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. It is forty-eight miles west of Athens (Ancient Corinth p.16). The Isthmus is a strip of land that connects the lower peninsula of Greece with the mainland which is where the term â€Å"Isthmus† came from, in reference to any strip of land between two seas. The city was situated on a tableland two hundred feet above sea level (Zondervan Encyclopedia p.960-961) The location of Corinth helped to build its character to a great extent. It was a city that was excellently designed for shipping and trade. This fact invited a mixed population. There were two harbors in the city's position of control over the isthmus (Zondervan Encyclopedia p.960). Lechaeum provided for the westward side, facing the Corinthian gulf, and Cenchreae functioned as the harbor on the eastward side, facing the Saronic Gulf (Ancient Corinth p.40-41). In the 5th century B.C., Corinth was one of the three major powers within Greece, and they participated in all of the battles against Persia (Ancient Corinth p. 19) See map for Missionary Journeys. Paul came to Corinth for the first time on his second missionary journey toward the end of the year 51 A.D. (Zondervan Encyclopedia p.962). Paul wrote Romans while he was in Corinth and the list of Latin names found at the end of the letter agrees with historical statement that Corinth was a Roman colony. Jews naturally found a place in Corinth, and the Jewish population rose even higher when the edict of Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome. Along with many of the Jews came Paul, to the city of Corinth (History First Corinthians). Paul spent eighteen months in the city of Corinth, (Acts 18:11) and during the time he spent in Corinth, Paul laid down the foundation of the Church of Corinth. The congrega... ...p;  Ã‚  Ã‚  Baptism iii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Paul’s plans, final greeting, (16:19-24) Works Cited Bright, Hilda â€Å"Servants of Christ† December 2004, 14 March, 2005. Bucke, Emory S.†Corinth† and â€Å"First Corinthians† The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. New York: Abingdon Press, Nashville. 1962. â€Å"Corinth† and â€Å"First Corinthians† The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible Grand Rapids: Michigan, 1975. Guthrie, Donald New Testament Introduction United States, December 1975. Henderson, Charles â€Å"Christianity – General† 2005, 14 March, 2005. â€Å"History of the Book of First Corinthians† 2003, 14 March, 2005. < http://1corinthians.jesusanswers.com/ > Lenski, R.C.H. The Interpretation of I and II Corinthians Minneapolis: Minnesota, 1963. Papahatzis, Nicos Ancient Corinth The Museums of Corinth, Isthmia and Sicyon Athens 1981. â€Å"St Marks Berowra First Corinthians† 2003, 14 March, 2005. < http://www.stmarksberowra.org/sermons/1corinthians1.html> Smith, Gordon â€Å"New Testament Story Outlined in Maps† 14 March, 2005. The Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Illinois: Wheaton, 1996. Walvoord, John F. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. United States, 1986.

Czech Cultural Analysis

Cultural Analysis – Czech Republic Missouri University of Science and Technology ` table of contents table of contentsii 1. 0Czech vs u. s. Culture – hofstede’s model3 2. 0Czech business culture – trompenaaris classificaion7 3. 0U. S. Business culture change needed7 4. 0bibliography9 1. 0Czech vs u. s. Culture – hofstede’s model The Czech Republic has its roots as a former communist state known as Czechoslovakia. The fall of communism and the transformation to a democratic government has seasoned this country’s history. From the â€Å"Velvet Revolution† in 1989 to the charismatic leadership of the poet Vaclav Havel, the Czech Republic has developed well in the European cultures (Katz 2008). The Czech Republic had an estimated GDP of $288. 6 billion in 2011, which is ranked 45th against other world countries. Auto exports are the main economic driver with Germany being a large consumer of their export goods (The cia world, 2012). Context The classification of high-context or low-context gives us very useful cultural distinctions. A high-context culture relies heavily on unspoken cues in conversation. They tend to want to establish trust first in business negotiations, value a personal relations and goodwill, agree by general trust, and negotiate in a slow ritualistic manner. A low-context culture generally gets straight to the point and does not bother with ritualistic negotiations or getting to know one another personally before business deals. A low-context culture usually values expertise and performance, likes to make agreements with legalistic types of contracts, and negotiates as effective as possible (Kreitner, 2012). People in the Czech Republic tend to use body language sparingly with little physical contact. However, when communicating with them, silence could mean a problem, especially if they lower their eyes. The Czech people value punctuality and are a schedule oriented people. They like to schedule meetings in advance and require notification if one is going to be late. The Czech do like to get down to business, but the pace of business could be slow at first until you build relationship. The Czechs also prefer written terms and conditions when making business transactions (Katz 2008). All of these characteristics describe a low-context culture. The U. S. s a low-context culture as well (Kreitner, 2012), so doing business with Czech people will not seem too foreign to our U. S. company. Hofstede’s Model The Hofstede’s Model can be used to help classify the national culture of the Czech Republic and can give us insight into how the U. S. compares. With this information, we can determine if our company culture is a good fit for doing business in the Czech Republic. The 5 cultural dimensions of Hofstede’s model will be used: power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation and will be compared to our U. S. results. Power distance is defined as a dimension that deals with the fact that not all individuals in society are equal. This dimension captures the attitude of a culture toward this reality. A low score would mean that the culture has an attitude that people should be equal in society, and a high score would represent an attitude of acceptance of these large inequalities in society. The U. S. scores low on this dimension (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). We subscribe to the mentality of â€Å"liberty and justice for all,† which can explain the low score. The Czech Republic has a slightly higher score than the U. S. hich means that they have an attitude more acceptable of societal inequalities (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). This can probably be traced back to their roots as a communist country, where societal members had to get used to the one party government that was highly hierarchal. The individualism dimension captures the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members (Kreitner, 2012). The U. S. scores very high on the individualism dimension. We are accustomed to the idea that we need to take care of ourselves and our families. â€Å"Rugged individualism† is a characteristic of many Americans and politicians. The Czech Republic, on the other hand, score much lower score on individualism, and tend to value the mentality that â€Å"we are in this together. † This can be seen in their different types of advertising in their country. Their advertising constantly appeals to family happiness, togetherness, and friendship focusing on groups of people enjoying life together (Taylor, 2002). Masculinity is a dimension that characterizes a culture’s tendency toward valuing competition and success defined by winning at whatever the challenge, or the culture’s value of caring of others and quality of life. A high masculinity score would be the former and a lower masculinity score would be the latter. The Czech Republic and the U. S. have a very similar score here (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). They are both right in the middle of the scale and can be categorized as having a good balance between competition and striving to be on top as the winner, and caring for others along the way. Uncertainty avoidance is a dimension that captures a society’s way that they deal with ambiguity. The anxiety of an unknown future can lead to a societal out pour that creates beliefs or institutions to try to avoid this anxiety (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). In the Czech Republic, the older generations tend to want to avoid uncertainty and are reluctant to take risks. This can most likely be traced back to when the country was communist. The younger generations are, however, more open due to more international exposure, but the Czech Republic scores relatively high in this dimension (Katz 2008). The U. S. has a significantly lower score when it comes to uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). The U. S. is willing to take risks and accepts risk as part of life and business. The U. S. culture is more open to new ideas and is willing to try something new or different. The U. S. subscribes to the value of â€Å"freedom of expression. † Long-term orientation is the measure of where a society is focused. It can be defined as â€Å"the extent to which a society shows a pragmatic future-oriented perspective rather than a conventional historical short-term point of view† (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). Both the Czech Republic and the U. S. score low on this dimension. This means that business measure their performance on a short-term basis. They are focused on what they can earn right now, and can be seen in the fact that profits are calculated on a quarterly reporting basis. This drives people to struggle for quick results in the work place. The Czech Republic can be said to be competitive, but know the value of a long-term relationship (Katz 2008). Even with this said, the Czech Republic scores a lower score than the U. S. These five cultural dimensions described above can be seen graphically in the figures below (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). Figure 1: Hofstede dimensions of Czech Republic and U. S. 2. 0Czech business culture – trompenaaris classificaion The Czech Republic could be classified as having a Guided Missile corporate culture. Czechs highly value formal education and expertise. They recognize and value the power of knowledge (Katz 2008). The Czech people like the win-win negotiations and strive for this in business transactions. They place this mentality on business with a focus on task oriented business success (Katz 2008). Negotiations are competitive, but business men in the Czech Republic tend to hold their cards close to their chest and do not lie often (Katz 2008). Czech management is seen as a team leader with the organization predominantly a continuous process of solving problems successfully. This is in somewhat contrast as to the U. S. company. The U. S. Company is described as an Incubator. This company is person-oriented and values giving power to the individual (Trompenaars, 2003). This is in contrast to the more structured corporate structure of the Guided Missile. The Incubator has the main characteristics that value commitment of oneself and professional recognition, where the Guided Missile’s characteristics are more of paying for performance and management by objectives (Trompenaars, 2003). 3. 0U. S. Business culture change needed A culture change may or may not be needed for the U. S. Company to thrive in the Czech Republic. There will be some corporate cultural tension, however, which can be the catalyst or driving force for change according to Fons Trompenaars (Trompenaars, 2003). One way to manage corporate culture change when going from U. S. to the Czech Republics would be to restructure authority to managers who have show innovation and learning as their main objectives in their goals. Another way to foster change would be to make learning and improvement a part of day to day task descriptions. Finally it would be beneficial to the U. S. Company to describe rewards in terms of clearly stated innovation outputs. These techniques described above will help foster culture change in the U. S. Company to move toward a more ideal corporate culture from an Incubator to a Guided Missile (Trompenaars, 2003). 4. 0bibliography Katz, L. (2008). Negotiating international business – the negotiator’s reference guide. (2nd ed. , pp. 1-5). Retrieved from http://www. globalnegotiationresources. com/cou/CzechRepublic. pdf (2012). The cia world factbook. Washington D. C. : The U. S. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from https://www. ia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ez. html Kreitner, R. (2012). Organizational behavior. (10 ed. ). Arizona: McGraw- Hill. Hofstede, G. , & Hofstede, G. J. (2005). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind, by hofstede, 2nd revised and expanded edition. New York: McGraw Hill. Taylor, Charles (2002). Advertising in the Czech Republic: Czech perceptions of effective advertising and advertising clutter. Vol. Iss: 12, pp. 137 – 149. Trompenaars, F. (2003). A new framework for managing change across cultures. Journal of change management, 3(4), 361-375.

A Natural Consequence

As a natural consequence, trillions of spate in Iraq had no difficulty accept that it would be possible to get disengage of Saddam if the US, which had been bombing Iraq at that time, was in their own ranks.Although these riotsthe period that was sexual intercoursely unexpectedfaced by the Iraqi republican Guards agile and violent interventions. Saddams forces have erect life in a truly disturbing range, from destroy gas from helicopters to burning muckle to bombing hospitals where they were weakened.However, the support that the get together States implied at various levels did not puzzle at all. In grammatical constituenticular, Turkeys fear of a fragmented Iraq, and the diplomatic pressure on this issue, is to step back to support the riots that could get out in the US government declaring the license of the Kurds, and Saddams In response to the riots, it was enough to let tens of thousands of people die.The riots that began against a dictator in the region with this back step of the get together States suddenly trans bodyed into the biggest migration of the last 50 years.Only in troop and April, about two million Kurds began to flee to Iraqs northern border neighbors, Turkey and Iran, among the ruins of the war, which were suddenly part of their lives.The US, the UN, Turkey, and Irans inexperience in keeping the site under control has worsen the scurvy of the people trapped in the interests of the state. During the migration, thousands of people, loosely children, died from the weather conditions, hunger, thirst and health problems, as well as the shooting of helicopters at accomplishedian populations from time to time.According to estimates make by the United Nations data, an average of 2,000 Kurds per mean solar day was kil lead in a section of 1991. later on the Gulf state of war in 1991, roughly 470 thousand people fled to Turkey.The most dramatic examples in our recent memoir were in Bosnia and in our border neighbor Syria. In Syria, it is still ongoing in the form of domestic and foreign immigration.The Bosnian War is the most violent war in Europe since the second World War, in which a series of ethnic conflicts took orient between March 1992 and November 1995, and many war crimes, especially ethnic cleansing, were committed. According to the appointed sources during and after the war, only Turkey, 20.000 people had to emigrate. In addition, more than 1.5 million Bosnian-Muslim people had to go out their lands.About 20,000 to 30,000 women were raped. This war has passed on the history of the world as the bloodiest and systematic genocide. On the other hand, in Syria, approximately 400,000 people lost their lives in the civil war, which began with a small protest on March 11, 2011 and became one of the biggest catastrophes in the Middle East. sequence 3 million people were wounded in the civil war, 1 million people were disabled. Due to the Syrian civil war, millions of people fell to refugee statu s and the diachronic structures were destroyed as if they could not be repaired.With the process called Arab Spring, the overthrow of the 30-year Husnu Mubarak rule had deep affected the peoples of the region, not just Egypt.This historic revolution dominated Bahrain, Libya, Morocco and even Gaddafis death.During this period, when the peoples movements led to great revolutions, two female doctors verbalized their happiness about the situation maculation they were talking on the phone. These two women, who were listened to by the intelligence of the phones, were arrested, and their hair was shaved as punishment.On top of that, the 12-13 children, a relative of one of these women, wrote the slogan The people command the order to be demolished. The principal of the drill is complaining about these kids in intelligence. They order the children in and expose them to severe torture.