Easter Celebrations Origins and Customs

The meaning of the many different customs observed during Easter Sunday have been buried with time. Their origins lie in both pre-Christian religions and Christianity. In one way or another all the customs are a salute to spring marking re-birth. The white Easter lily has come to capture the glory of the holiday. The word Easter is named after Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. A festival was held in her honor every year at the vernal equinox. People celebrate Easter according to their beliefs and their religious denominations. Christians commemorate Good Friday as the day that Jesus Christ died and Easter Sunday as the day that He was resurrected. Protestant settlers brought the custom of a sunrise service, a religious gathering at dawn, to the United States. Who is the Easter Bunny? The Easter Bunny is a rabbit-spirit. Long ago, he was called the Easter Hare, hares and rabbits have frequent multiple births so they became a symbol of fertility. The custom of an Easter egg hunt began because children believed that hares laid eggs in the grass. The Romans believed that All life comes from an egg. Christians consider eggs to be the seed of life and so they are symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why we dye, or color, and decorate eggs is not certain. In ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia eggs were dyed for spring festivals. In medieval Europe, beautifully decorated eggs were given as gifts. Easter Egg Photo Gallery Continue Egg Rolling In England, Germany and some other countries, children rolled eggs down hills on Easter morning, a game which has been connected to the rolling away of the rock from Jesus Christs tomb when he was resurrected. British settlers brought this custom to the New World. Dolly Madison - Queen of Egg Rolling Easter Parades Good Friday is a federal holiday in 16 states and many schools and businesses throughout the U.S. are closed on this Friday. Continue Strange Easter Patents

The State Of Nature By Thomas Hobbes And Jean Jacques...

For centuries the question whether war is a product of Man s nature or an outcome of nurture has been a source of intellectual debate. In the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries each of the political philosophers, Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau took different stances regarding this issue in their deduction of the state of nature; a concept describing people s lives before the existence of civilized societies and laws. Thomas Hobbes imagines a state of nature where each person is naturally fully free to do whatever he wants and to act as he thinks right regardless what others think. In the absence of authority and laws to put an end to the aftermath disputes, Hobbes imagines that people lived in a state of war. In such a situation, people have natural right to do anything to protect their lives and properties, they are in that condition which is called warre; and such a warre as is of every man against every man. As a result life is a brutish, short and a poor one (np.). Hobbes described this natural condition as war of all against all. On the other hand, Jean-Jacques Rousseau challenged Hobbes view in the eighteenth century He believed that people were born as a blank sheet, and later society and the environment influence their characters and attitudes as good or bad. In Rousseau s state of nature, people do not know each other to begin serious conflicts, and they have normal values. Kathe Callahan in War Narratives: Framing Our Understanding ofShow MoreRelatedThe State Of Nature : Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, And Jean Jacques Rousseau902 Words   |  4 Pages　 The state of nature is the state were humans existed before government was ever created. There once was a period were there were not any rules, or laws to obey. In a state of nature there are no social goods. No farming, housing, technology, or education. With a state of nature there must be guaranteed that no one will harm one another, and people must rely on other s to keep their word, and not go back on what they say. Living in a state of nature was no way to live honestly. A state of natureRead MoreModern Liberalism and Political Policies1337 Words   |  6 PagesModern Liberalism Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau’s political philosophies and theories each differ from one another’s, but these three philosophers have all staked their claims as to what man would be like, prior to the formation of the state. This is the State of Nature. Their notions on the social contract reflect their position on the political spectrum. These three philosophers also examine the purpose and function of the government to individuals of the state. Modern liberalismRead MoreThe Social Contract Theory Essay1249 Words   |  5 Pageswill further elaborate in this paper. In the book Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes was one of the first to discuss the social contract. Hobbes explains that all human beings are born in â€Å"the state of nature†, which means that all men used to live in the primitive state before the advent of society. In the state of nature, men needs two things in their life. First, it is to self-preserve themselves, since it is in men’s human nature to survive, similar to animals. Secondly, men are self-regarding,Read MoreComparison of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau Essay1092 Words   |  5 Pages Human nature and its relevance in determining behaviors, predictions, and conclusions has caused dispute among philosophers throughout the ages. Political philosophy with its emphasis on government legitimacy, justice, laws, and rights guided the works of the 17th and 18th century philosophical writings of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Through Thomas Hobbes world-renowned publication Leviathan and Rousseau’s discourses on basic political principals and concepts, each man validated theirRead MoreRousseau s View On State Of Nature1551 Words   |  7 Pagesargument of the state of nature often comes into discussion. However, two mainstream philosophers Thomas Hobbes and Jean- Jacques Rousseau have similarities, but mostly have multiple different ideas on this theory. Although Hobbes makes valid points Rousseau s view on state of nature is more realistic then Hobbes. Rousseau’s view on the state of nature is interpreted as a forest, and refers to the â€Å"savage man†. He begins by explaining how he relates man to an animal he states â€Å"when I strip thatRead MoreViews of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau815 Words   |  4 PagesArden Bentley AP Euro 3/9/13 Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Racques Rosseau were philosophers who stated their belief of human nature and how we should govern mankind. Although Rousseau was born a different time than Hobbes and Locke, they all had a very strong influence on the way governments should function. They created a revolutionary idea of the state of nature, the way men were before a government came into play. Each philosopher developed guidelines and responsibilities that the governmentRead MoreThe Meaning Of Human Nature870 Words   |  4 Pagesof Human Nature The social contract seems to be open to be an ideology that is left to interpretation by everyone that has either wrote or read about it based on their individual definitions of what it means to be in the state of nature. Throughout this course we began with Thomas Hobbes, whose beliefs seemed quite ridiculous at times, but his ideas about what it meant to be a person in the state of nature, were supported by what he believed to be true. Much like when Jean-Jacques Rousseau statedRead MoreModern Practices Of Hobbes And Rousseau Core Humanities Paper No1470 Words   |  6 Pagesï ¿ ¼University of Nevada, Reno Modern Practices of Hobbes and Rousseau Core Humanities Paper No. 1 Kimberly Martin CH 202 Joe Taglieber September 22, 2015 Martin !1 ï ¿ ¼Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were philosophers from the 16th and 17th centuries. Hobbes and Rousseau developed theories that explained the development of human nature and how men govern themselves given the circumstances around them. Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau both have become the most influential philosophers ofRead MoreThe Seatbelt Law, By Thomas Hobbes, And Jean Jacques Rousseau1262 Words   |  6 PagesUnited States commute daily to work, and to run their errands. In almost every state in the United States, wearing a seatbelt is required. Many people ask why they should have to wear a seatbelt in their private vehicles, while others agree that everybody definitely should wear their seatbelt. Should the government be able to create and enforce this laws such as this one on the public? This paper will discuss the seatbelt law, the views of philosophers Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, andRead MoreEvolution and the Modern Social Contract Theo ry : Essay Outline1050 Words   |  5 Pagesof the state over the individuals. We will describe the social context in which the modern social contract theory has originated and how this theory has influenced political thinkers of the time. Secondly, we will identify the key thinkers in the development of the theory by introducing each of them and discussing their respective political theory of the subject. The main thinkers that we will introduce in his essay are Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Thesis

Disc Golf free essay sample

Disc Golf Research paper By Joshua Solar Disc golf is an incredibly addictive game that can be played by anyone who can throw a frisbee. The sport provides a fun and challenging outdoor activity that tests a players mental skills of concentration, focus and patience. Disc golf is becoming popular in Elementary Schools, Junior Highs, High Schools and College campuses. Disc Golf provides a low-impact exercise that requires focus on mental strategy and provides an avenue for people of every skill level to play together. In addition to offering a fun activity, educational facilities are introducing the sport into their curriculum with an emphasis on physical fitness, ecology and planning. In addition to the mental challenge of disc golf the sport provides a great way to get or stay in shape. Disc golf is a low impact exercise that can ease you into a higher level of fitness and health. Using disc golf as a low impact exercises will help you build strength, stability and balance. A disc golf course can be anywhere from one or two acres to a few dozen acres long. Walking is known to reduce your risk of a heart attack by lowering LDL cholesterol and raising HDL cholesterol as well as managing blood pressure and reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The rules are quite similar to the rules used in the game of Club Golf, including the matter of courtesy. It is only fair that your opponent’s turn to throw be without distraction, just as you would like it to be for yours. Do not throw your disc until you are sure its flight or landing, will not distract another player. Tee off order on the first tee will be by mutual arrangement or by flipping discs. The printed side is heads and the odd man should be first. Tee off order on all subsequent holes is determined by the score on the previous hole. The player with the lowest score tees off first. A marker disc is used to mark every throw and should be a special disc, like a pocket mini disc model that is not used in normal play. The thrown disc is always left on the lie, (where it came to rest,) until the marker disc is placed on the ground directly in front of and touching the disc. The thrown disc is then picked up. Proper foot placement when throwing will require some practice. The foot that you put you weight on when you throw the plant foot, must be as close as is reasonable to the front line of the tee or to the marker disc: in no case ahead of the line or disc, or more than 1 foot behind the line, or disc. The other foot can be any place you choose as long as it is no closer to the hole than the rear of the marker disc. Follow through, (stepping past marker disc after throwing), is allowed on any throw except when putting, (any throw where the rear of the marker disc is within 10 meters of the hole). Falling forward to keep your balance after a putt is not allowed. This infraction is called a falling putt. If the disc is stuck in a tree or a bush more than 2 meters above the ground, the marker disc is placed exactly beneath it and it is carefully removed from the tree. You have also just added one throw to your score. This is called a penalty throw. You may now proceed; however, take extreme care not to damage the tree or bush, or reshape them in any way to improve your throwing conditions. Some courses have out of bounds areas; or for the safety of the players. Observe the boundaries carefully and try to stay out. If your disc is out-of-bounds you can see out-of-bounds area between the edge of your disc and the inbounds line, place your marker disc inbounds at the place where your disc went out-of-bounds and give yourself a one throw penalty. Again, please be careful of natural vegetation. Water hazards are to be avoided because your disc will sink! If, however, you have been so unfortunate as to land in the water, play it like you do the out-of-bounds throw, and don’t forget to take a one throw penalty. If the disc is touching any shore above the water , it is inbounds. Standing water or mud on the course that is caused by sprinklers or rain is not considered out-of-bounds and the disc may be relocated to a dryer area no closer to the hole with no penalty. A mandatory dog-leg is sometimes used to keep players out of alternate-use areas or to make a particular hole more difficult. It is normally designated as such on the tee sign. The arrow indicates the side and direction the disc must pass. If your disc goes on the wrong side, it can be thrown back on either side of the dog-leg and then passes as the arrow indicates. Unfortunately, there are usually litterbugs found on every disc golf course. Hopefully, everyone else will get the idea sooner or later. Modern day disc golf started in the late 60s. The early frisbee golf courses were object courses, using anything from trees, trash cans, light poles, chicken wire baskets, pipes to fire hydrants as targets. The roots of the sport begin when â€Å"Steady† Ed Headrick designed the modern day Frisbee (US Patent 3,359,678, issued 1966) while working for Wham-O Toys back in the 60aâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. Captivated by the flight and feeling of control he could master with the Frisbee, Ed saw potential for the disc well beyond what anyone had envisioned or imagined. The game was formalized when Headrick invented the first Disc Pole Holeâ„ ¢ catching device, consisting of 10 chains hanging in a parabolic shape over an upward opening basket, (US Patent 4,039,189, issued 1975). The Disc Pole Hole became the equivalent to ball golfs â€Å"hole† and was installed in the first standardized target course (what was then known as Oak Grove Park Pasadena, California). Ed had said one of his many inspirations for the Disc Pole Hole invention was so he and his friends could get on with playing instead of arguing over whether or not someone actually had hit one of the objects in their imporvised object courses.

Senior Citizen Interview free essay sample

A face to face interview was held with Mr. C. Mr. C. is an 82 year old African American male. Physically looking at interviewee he does not look that age at all he looks like he is in his early sixties. Part I: Questions amp; Answers Q-How old are you? A-I am 82 years old. Q-When will you be 83? A-I will be 83 in mid-July Q-Are you married? A-I am a widow and have been for almost 53 years. Q-Do you have children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren? A-Yes I do. I had three children, eight grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren. Q-Do you live alone? A-No I do not, my youngest son lives with me. Q-Tell me a little about your background? A-I was born in the south and raised in the north by an aunt. Both of my parents died when they were fairly young. My mother at 56 and my father at 42. They were both ill the reason for their passing’s. We will write a custom essay sample on Senior Citizen Interview or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I graduated high school at age 17. I am a retired restaurant worker for 21 years now. Q-What are no most memorable experiences that you have had? A-The most memorable experiences that I have had are a few good ones. My marriage is one, the birth of my children and grandchildren, and buying my own home. Q-What are the most significant life’s events for you? A-The death of my wife the mother of my three children, the death of my oldest son, my parents, and the death of my domestic partner was another significant stressful event for me. Q-If you had the opportunity to change anything would you and what would that be? A-Of course I would change the passing of my family members besides that it would be the type of job that I choose and when. I would have choose one that gave me better financial security and job happiness. Part II: Senior Citizen Developmental History There is a saying that says â€Å"once a child twice a man†. There a many stages in the development of the human lifespan. In middle and late adulthood people tend to look at things in quite a different prospective as they reflect back on the journey of life. This paper and reflective interview will address the many developmental histories of a senior citizen. Mr. C. is an 82 year old African American who lives along with his adult son. Mr. C. is a widow whom had fathered three children one of which is deceased. Mr. C is the oldest of five children whom are all males. He was born in Virginia and raised in New York since he was age 13 with his aunt. He has been living in New York since then. He was educated in New York’s city public school system where he graduated high school at the age of 17. Married at age 27 and widowed at age 30. Mr. C. ’s father died at age 42 making Mr. C 15 years of age and at the passing of his mother he was 36 years old his mother was 56. Mr. C. never remarried he really never got over the death of his wife and children’s mother. Mr. C. lost his oldest son when the son was 27 years old. Mr. C. was in a domestic partnership many years after the death of his wife. After multiple years in the domestic partnership yet again he was faced with another death, the death of her. Chronologically Mr. C is 82 and is an imperfect indicator of his functional age. Mr. C looks like he is in his sixties. People age biologically at different rates Mr. C. eems younger than he really is (Sutin, Wethington, et al. , 2010). Mr. C was so gracious to disclose his medical status with me. He is a survivor of prostate cancer, his cancer has been in remission on and off for 12 years. He suffers from congestive heart failure which he developed a few years ago. Not an indication of heart disease at all genetics and environment play a big role in the aging process and disease (Beck, 2010). During the duration of the interview when speaking about the deaths of his family members Mr. C. ecame a little emotional and seem to drift back into time a moment of reminiscence is what I think he was doing, trying to relive those moments in time. I asked him how he felt about their deaths. He responded by saying that he came to terms with it and that he was powerless over what had happened and that everyone has an appointment with God and his faith is what sustains him to carry on every day. According to ((Sutin, Wethington, et al. , 2010) the events that individuals define as stressful and how they cope with these events change across the lifespan (  Aldwin, Sutton, et al. , 1996). Starting in late adolescence, the ability to reconstrue negative experiences as positive develops, but it is not until young adulthood that this experienced wisdom is translated into a touchstone for coping with future situations (  Bluck amp; Gluck, 2004). The most surprisingly response in the interview process was the interviewee’s ability to remain powerless and come to terms about death. He spoke about what he wanted his son and daughter to do when the time came when he passed on in this life, He accepts death and knows that it is inevitable that it cannot be avoided no matter who you are. He keeps his faith in God to help deal with the end of life situations. Religious affiliations and psychological aids are helpful in handling depression and may improve the quality of life of aging individuals (Butler, Fujii, et al. , 2011). The birth of his children and grandchildren played a major part in the interviewee’s life. While interviewing he always said family first. I gathered the impression that he is a very family orientated person. In the bedrooms, living room, and hallway of the interviewee’s apartment is pictures of all family members, recent and the throw backs that is what the younger generation calls old pictures. A different demeanor hovers over the interviewee when he shows me family pictures and speaks about his family. I sense it brings him back to his more youthful days, days where he was the ruler of full independence. I asked Mr. C. did he belong to any senior citizens centers and his reply was no and he further elaborated for me. He wanted to be around younger people not people his age that constantly reminded him of what reality was indeed about but to feel vivacious for if only a moment when youth was on his side. He stated that is why he loved for his daughter to bring her youngest grandchild over. He loved the sound of the baby especially when he heard it cry it reminded him of youthfulness and independence. Aging is inevitable; becoming wiser with age is not. Researchers, theorists, and clinicians have noted that older adults approach their lives in one of two ways: Either they draw on their strengths and live life to the fullest, or they magnify their weaknesses and restrict their lives to succumb to lifes inevitable end  (Gilbin, 2011). From listening to stories about when Mr. C. as much younger and able to take full control of his independence that making the transition from young adult and middle adult to the latter being late adulthood was the hardest to come to terms with and except fully. Hot cocoa was made for me and coffee was made for him by none other but Mr. C. I offered but that was not an option he insisted upon doing so. He maneuvered around his home with no assistance from anyone and when I attempted to do so he refused. I see that he is like a person with a special need and you opt to do it or help they respond by simply saying they can do it. He spoke about being able to do chores around his home that he no longer could do, his failing eye sight and the need for a therapeutic bed, he has difficulty getting up from lying flat. No longer being able to reach items that are on his top shelf in the kitchen cabinets was a hindrance at one time Mr. C. uses ingenious items to help around his home with activities of daily living. Self-efficacy allows one to develop and carry out a plan of action, allowing for a sense of competency (Butler, Fujii, et al. , 2011). His cognitive skills are on point and sharp and he held on to the conversation that he and I shared foe quite some time for a senior citizen his age. The second premise of successful aging is maximizing high physical and cognitive functioning, with these two factors partnering to optimize overall functioning. Physical function is maintained with moderate exercise and a network of support from family and friends. Cognitive function can be sustained with mental exercises and active engagement through conversation (Butler, Fujii, et al. , 2011). The most valuable information that I received from this interview  is to make sure that I take care of myself health wise, choose a career that I get satisfaction from, and live life like it is golden. Do what I want to do like life is a bucket list. At the end when life is almost near the end you hold no regrets.

Tara IvyEnglish 100 Wedemeyer June 26, 2018 Song A Essays - Music

Tara IvyEnglish 100 Wedemeyer June 26, 2018 Song Analysis Dyke, fag, or switch hitter are just some of the many derogatory terms used to refer to people of the LGBTQ+ community. How many times have you or someone you know used the verbiage " no homo " or " that ' s gay " as a means to express a heterosexual stance on a topic or during a discussion? Why has such verbiage become the norm for our society? How can we as a people not see that this verbiage should be viewed as hateful and revolting? Terms like these are systematic and aid the social injustices of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2012 Ben Haggerty a hip-hop artist, better known as Macklemore teamed up with his group mate Ryan Lewis and singer, songwriter Mary Lambert to create one of the most powerful songs and videos in support of the LGBTQ+ community. The song titled Same Love advocates equality, it discusses the false perceptions of homosexuality, the use of derogatory words in the med ia and music, and how society should stop fighting against sexual equality and move forward in support of the movement. Macklemore opens the song instantly pointing out that the world has distorted views on what it means to be gay. Macklemore shows how we can put labels on certain activities and actions making them gender biased and shaming the opposite sex for participating in them, by calling a man gay for painting or a woman a dyke for playing football or basketball. He is effective in getting his message across by, showing a young homosexual male playing football with his friends in the Same Love video, which usually is pre-conceived as a heterosexual activity. He does this with hopes of changing the way society categorizes activities, pointing out that there is really no one idea or action that is " gay " or " straight " . The song touches bases on one of the biggest misconceptions about homosexuality, which is the idea that being LGBTQ+ is a choice and ca n be changed. Society needs to understand that being gay is not a sickness and it cannot be healed. In the song, he says, " The right-wing conservatives think it ' s a decision and you can be cured with some treatment and religion / Man-made, rewiring of a pre-disposition. Playing God / Ahh nah, here we go /America the brave/Still fears what we don't know / And God loves all his children it's somehow forgotten / But we paraphrase a book written 3, 500 hundred years ago " . These lyrics address the core of the predispositions in our societies, religion, and politics. The right-winged conservations believe that homosexuality is bad and should be fixed. He points out that churches think that the " gay " can be prayed away, which is exemplified when he says, " And God loves all his children are somehow forgotten, but we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago " . The song dances around the fact that many people use the bible and religion to ju stify hate against homosexuals, even though the ideals of homosexuality in the bible are very outdated and no longer applies to all of society today. At this point in the song, Mary Lambert sings, " And I can ' t change, even if I tried, even if I wanted to " . Through this catchy upbeat chorus is where the lyrics of the song further supports the idea that being LGBTQ+ is not a choice. The chorus is meant to grab the listener ' s attention. Her high pitched tone is a big shift from the monotoned voice of Macklemore ' s, which made me pay attention to what Mary is saying and recognize that homosexuality is not a choice, and there is no way to change that. Macklemore ' s powerful communication of the truth about homosexuality continues as he shifts the conversation from politics toward the hip-hop industry and its lack of support for the LGBTQ+ community. During a radio interview on " The Angie Martinez Show " at the two-minute and two-sec ond mark, Macklemore states that he felt the hip-hop community plays a

Act 4 scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet is very emotional and dramatic Essay Example

Act 4 scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet is very emotional and dramatic Essay Example Act 4 scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet is very emotional and dramatic Essay Act 4 scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet is very emotional and dramatic Essay Essay Topic: Amy Tan Short Stories In my essay, I shall write about certain features of the performance Romeo and Juliet by the distinguished dramatist William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet falls into one of three main categories of Shakespeares plays, as it is a tragedy. A tragedy is a play with an unhappy ending usually due to a fatal flaw in the main character(s). This in turn leads to a final catastrophe, which brings the tragedy to an end. In particular, I shall focus on Act 4 Scene 3, which is a very dramatic and emotional scene.I shall state the ways in which this is achieved and the ways in which the play is effective as a tragedy. Additionally, I shall cross-reference this scene with other events in the play to show how they contribute to the emotion and drama of Act 4 Scene 3 and in doing so I shall write about the ways in which this scene fits in with the rest of the play. Lastly, I shall try and direct Act 4 Scene 3 with the intention of showing the ways in which this scene is emotional and dramatic and at tempt to make it even more gripping for any potential audience.The first thing to understand when writing my essay is the actual plot of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet takes place in the Italian City of Verona, where two star-crossed lovers meet. Romeo and his friends gatecrash at Capulets feast, where Romeo and Juliet meet. They are prevented from being together by the fact that they belong to two quarrelling families; Juliet is a Capulet whereas Romeo is a Montague. Romeo and Juliet, however, decide to get secretly married.Juliet confides in her faithful nurse and Romeo in Friar Laurence, the marriage performer. Their married bliss is cut short when on the same day, Romeos friend Mercutio is slain in a challenge by Juliets cousin Tybalt. Full of grief and anger, Romeo seeks vengeance and goes after Tybalt subsequently killing him. The Prince of Verona punishes Romeo by banishing him to Mantua. Juliet is pushed to the limit with the death of her beloved cousin and the banishmen t of her newly wedded husband.Furthermore, her father is adamant she marries an honourable nobleman, Paris. Juliet visits the Friar where she is presented with a potion, which will make her appear dead. That evening, after great deliberation, Juliet consumes the potion and is discovered the next morning as dead. Romeo hears of Juliets death, unaware of the Friars plan. He purchases some poison from a local apothecary and heads for Verona where he vows to kill himself by his wifes grave. Romeo encounters Paris by Juliets tomb and kills him. Next, Romeo swallows the poison, killing himself. Juliet awakens and discovers that Romeo is dead, and so she commits suicide with Romeos dagger. Friar Laurence, the Prince and Romeo and Juliets parents arrive on the scene greeted with terrible commotion. The Friar explains everything that had happened in the past few days. Capulet and Montague reunite, aware of the high price they have had to pay in order to gain this.The events immediately befor e Act 4 Scene 3 were very tense. Without Romeo by her side, Juliet was put under immense emotional strain. Previously, the audience learn of the plan the Friar has devised to prevent Juliet being forced to wed Paris. During Act 4 Scene 1, the friar presents Juliet with a distilled liquor. He tells Juliet to go home, be merry and give consent to marry Paris.That evening, she is to go to sleep, making sure that the nurse is not present and she is to then consume the potion. This potion will make Juliet appear cold and drowsy with no warmth and no breath. The potion will deprive her of any supple government. (I.e. she will not be moving). The friar explains that she will remain in this state for two and forty hours. (42 hours). On appearing dead, a funeral will be organised and she will be placed in the family vault. Juliet is to sleep until Romeo arrives from Mantua to rescue her.Then, on awakening, Romeo will take Juliet to reside in Mantua in secret. The friar, however, also warns t hat his plan is not foolproof and it is quite possible that things could still go wrong. When Juliet returns home, she puts the plan into action. She approaches her father and begs for forgiveness. She uses several exaggerated phrases including henceforth I am ever ruld by you and beg your pardon. Pardon, I beseech you!. Juliet attempts to assure her father she will be obedient and puts on a very convincing performance. This is known as dramatic irony and indicates that the audience is more aware of the real situation in comparison to other characters; Juliet says she will marry Paris but the audience is aware of the friars plan whereas the other characters are not. This is not the first time Juliet has made use of dramatic irony.Previously, when conversing with her mother on Romeos banishment, Juliet stated that she rather marry Romeo than marry Paris, which is ironic, as that is exactly what has happened. Ironically, Juliet is so convincing, Lord Capulet arranges for have the wedd ing to be bought forward by one day to the next day, Wednesday, since he thinks Juliet is genuinely in love with Paris. Due to the fact that the wedding has been bought forward, it gives Juliet less time to consider what she is going to put herself through. This means that the next scene, (Act 4 Scene 3) will be emotional and dramatic as Juliet has less time to think everything through.It is important to make clear the amount Juliet has been through in such a small period of time. Juliet has encountered love, experienced her marriage ceremony, grieved for her deceased cousin and has had to chose between loyalty to her husband and loyalty to her family. She had been tested numerously and has had to find the courage to do all this. Juliet realises she is playing with her future. On top of this, she is still only 13 years old and this, in consideration with other factors puts her in a very distressed emotional state.During the opening of Act 4 scene 3, Juliet informs the nurse and her mother that she is preparing to go to sleep. She asks them to leave by stating that she needs to pray. Juliet also tells her mother that she has selected everything for the wedding the next day. This is a further example of dramatic irony, as Juliet knows there will be no wedding. Lady Capulet is preparing for a wedding, when in reality, she ought to be preparing for a funeral. Juliet carries on pretending to be an obedient child by using flattering phrases such as gentle nurse and For I am sure you have your hands full. This gives the impression that Juliet has no doubts and is actually excited about the wedding taking place.The fact that Juliet had not confided in her nurse about the friars scheme implies that their close relationship has deteriorated considerably compared to previous situations. Previously, Juliet had always told her nurse everything as the nurse was like a surrogate mother to her. A good example of this is in Act 1 Scene 3. This is the first time that the nurse is introduced to the audience. The nurse speaks of Juliet in a very endearing manner and mother-like manner. We also discover that the nurses own daughter, Susan, died and so this makes her even more devoted to Juliet. As well as Juliet and the nurses closeness, another characteristic of the nurses personality is that she is very comical. She uses very humorous language but it can also be rude and quite crude. Shakespeare breaks up the tension of the play by introducing speech from the nurse and therefore most of the performances entertainment derives from the nurse.This makes Act 4 scene 3 more dramatic as the audience are aware of the fact that this is the first time that Juliet has not confided in her nurse. Juliets relationship with her mother has essentially remained the same Juliet still has not felt as though she can confide in her. For instance, the first time Juliets mother is introduced to the audience, her language suggests her awkwardness in the situation. She uses phr ases such as we must talk in secret to suggest that she is fearful of what the nurse will think of her as a mother as Juliets mother has not always played the role of the mother well. Their relationship has got slightly closer as during Act 4 Scene 3, Juliet and her mother speak in a very civilised manner, however this is only because Juliet is lying to her. This deception adds to the drama and emotion, as the audience is uncertain as to whether Juliet will get caught out.Following the exit of Juliets mother and nurse, Juliet is alone on stage and commences her long speech. This speech is known as a soliloquy as she is the only person present on stage. A soliloquy is a device, which allows any individual to speak their private thoughts out loud. The character can tell their secrets and true feelings about the situation out loud hence allowing the audience to be in a better position to judge in comparison to other characters. This particular speech is written in blank verse, which me ans it does not rhyme and makes use of several emotive words and phrases. Juliet expresses her terror using long incomplete sentences. The inclusion of incomplete sentences makes the speech more believable as nobody in Juliets situation would speak in verse and so this difference creates a dramatic effect. This speech consists mainly of rhetorical questions to which she has no convincing answers and focuses on her response and feelings.Juliet opens her speech in a very moving way with a passionate outburst. All alone, she cries out: God knows when we shall meet again/ I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins. Juliet says this since she will be with Romeo and it may be sometime before she meets everyone again. This makes her scared and hence it freezes up the heat of life. She feels afraid of being alone and this makes her very emotional. She feels unable to cope without her nurse there to assist her and she contemplates calling her back again to comfort her. She then, howev er, realises that her situation is dismal and even with the nurse present things cannot be improved. She believes that from now on, she cannot trust the nurse as she was very hypocritical before. The nurse told Juliet to consider marriage to Paris as Paris is a superior gentleman compared to Romeo, and being in Mantua, Romeo is of no use to her. Juliet felt betrayed as the nurse had praised Romeo many times before and she was now putting him down. Juliet feels that she must remain on her own.This scene is made more dramatic because Juliet is in possession of a dagger. She decides that if the plan should go wrong, and she has to marry Paris, the dagger shall forbid it. Juliet is prepared to kill herself rather than to commit bigamy and destroy Romeos trust and loyalty.By now, the seriousness of the circumstances she got herself into has struck her considerably. Juliet starts to feel increasingly nervous and frightened. She begins to question everyones motive, even the Friar, whom sh e has never doubted before. Juliet is concerned that the potion is actually a poison which the Friar subtly hath ministerd to kill her. She believes this is because if the friar has Juliet killed, he will not have to marry Juliet and Paris since this is bigamy and is therefore against all religious standards.She answers her own question as to whether the friar has given her poison instead of a potion intentionally. She replies I fear it is. She comforts herself by telling herself that the friar could not do such a thing as he is a holy man and he is true to his word. Additionally, Juliet is petrified of the potential dangers she may encounter while imprisoned in the vault. She thinks she could be stifled, as there is no healthsome air to breath and she might die strangled before Romeo arrives.Juliet considers two possible scenarios she may face while in the tomb. She thinks that she can either suffocate, or will be scared to death as a result of the terror of the place. She is also aware that her ancient and buried ancestors will be present in the vault and that the vault will be packd. She knows that she will be trapped and crammed into a very small space. This creates a dark image of restriction and isolation. Shakespeare uses vocabulary such as strangled, horrible, terror and packd to build a sinister and dark image of the tomb. This in turn creates more tension and produces sympathy from the audience for Juliet.Juliet also reiterates the phrase where frequently (where refers to the tomb). Shakespeare uses it to emphasise the tomb and secure the image in the audiences minds. An image of death and horror is built up and thus creates a lot of drama and tension. She is frightened that Romeo will arrive before she awakens. She remembers that bloody Tybalt will be present in the tomb and that he had only been placed in the tomb recently. The usage of the word bloody depicts a very deathly location. Juliet knows that Tybalts body will be rotting, smelling and fes tering in his shroud. As well as this, his body will be in full view, as it is not fully buried, merely covered in a shroud. Another factor that alarms Juliet is the stories, which Juliet has heard about. She has heard that there are spirits which reside in the tomb that apparently come out at some hours in the night. This frightens her considerably.Juliet expects that if she wakes too soon, the loathsome smells will make Juliet shriek like mandrakes. (Mandrakes were plants which when pulled out of the earth, screamed and it was thought that if a human heard these screams, they would lose their senses). This section of the play is very sensory, as there are numerous references to sight, smell and now, sound. Shakespeare does this to appeal to the audiences senses. Shakespeare wants to draw out emotions and for the audience to sympathise with Juliet in her dire situation.This reinforces the fact that the plan is a desperate one and that Juliet is prepared to go through a lot for Rome o. Juliet declares that she will be distraught if she wakes up to early. She will be feeling stressed, depressed and in a bad state of mind. Juliet considers what she may do to herself in a fit of madness. She pictures herself playing with her forefathers joints (bones) and in her rage, she may use one as a club and dash out her desperate brains. Many violent images are displayed and therefore creates a sense of drama and emotion.In her moment of madness, Juliet hallucinates and imagines seeing her cousins ghost. (Tybalt). She can see him seeking out Romeo, looking for revenge as Romeo arrives at the tomb for Juliet. She calls out to Romeo, as if she is in the tomb, trying to protect him from Tybalt. This makes Juliet become hysterical. This creates substantial drama as the audience know that with all the factors taken into consideration, (Juliets hallucinating and hysteria), Juliet may do something foolish that she may end up regretting, or fail to follow the plan accurately.Ultima tely, she toasts Romeo and consumes the potion. This line is ironic as later on, when Romeo himself commits suicide, he toasts Juliet. The scene concludes with Juliet falling upon her bed within the curtains.If I were to direct this particular scene, there are many things that I would do in order to try to create an increased feeling of drama and emotion. The first thing I would consider is the appearance of the stage. I would set the stage as Juliets bedroom using a variety of techniques. Firstly, I would decide on the props which I would make use of. I would lay an old-fashioned bed at the end of the stage with the end of the bed slightly off stage. The bed should possess a lavish bedspread and pillow to reflect the familys wealth and high status in society.Adjacent to the bed, I would place a small, finely carved, brown wooden table with three large lit candles. I would do this because it is night so some lighting is required and, during the time in which the play was written, th ere was no electricity. Three candles however, would not be appropriate to light an entire stage so, off stage, I would make use of a few murky, white lights. These would be placed so that it gave the appearance of light flickering through a window. Additionally, to show Juliets wealth, I would place a shelf on the wall with finely carved ornaments and trinkets, which had been constructed using gold. Juliet should also have some clothes scattered across a solid wooden table in the foreground to indicate to the audience that Juliet has been treated well.The clothes should be mainly black, gold, purple and red, as these colours are usually associated with royalty and a higher class of people. Furthermore, the clothes should be made of a delicate material, such as silk, with small stitching and extravagant designs. Additionally, there should be four chairs dispersed around the room to create suitable seating areas for the characters. Finally, I would place entrance/exit on the stage. T his would be at the top-left of the stage and there would only be one as a bedroom has usually only one entrance/exit.I would cast three actresses to enact the roles in this scene. There should be an older woman of about 35 to play the nurse, a slightly younger one of about 30 to play Juliets mother and a girl of about 13 to play Juliet herself. The mother has to be quite young as, in the play, Juliets mother clearly states that she was a mother at Juliets age (13). Juliets mother should be dressed in a stylish, red gown to display her wealth and to show that she is superior to Juliet and the nurse. The nurse ought to be wearing a simple light brown dress, protected by a dirty white apron and a black bonnet. This is to give the impression that she is not that wealthy and that she is a nurse. Juliet herself should be dressed in a navy-blue dress with two pockets to conceal the dagger and the vial. Her hair should be styled in two plaits to show that she is still quite youthful.I woul d have some gentle classical music being played in the background and have the nurse and Juliet enter, with the nurse carrying a pile of Juliets clothes. Juliet should say her lines using a confident speaking tone to show that she has nothing to worry about but as she is lying to the nurse, she should also avoid any direct eye contact with the nurse. When Lady Capulet enters, she should enter at a brisk speed to indicate she has a lot to do in a short space of time. Whilst Juliet and her mother are talking, the nurse should be arranging Juliets clothes on the tables and should be folding them. Juliet should request for her nurse and mother to leave using a tender tone of voice. She can do this whilst saying the lines so please you, let me now be left alone and I am sure you have your hands full. When Juliets nurse and mother do finally depart, they should also leave using a normal walking pace, to show that they are following Juliets wishes.The opening lines to Juliets soliloquy, Fa rewell! God knows when we shall meet again. should be spoken in a passionate tone of voice. Juliet should use gestures such as showing two open arms to suggest she wants someone to come to her. This also ties in when she says, Ill call them back to comfort me. She should say come vial in a slow but certain tone of voice. The vial should be taken out from her dress pocket along with the dagger and the bottle should be green as green is associated with the unnatural.The dagger should have a rusting metal blade and handle. The line this shall forbid it Should also be said in a slow but certain tone of voice. And the dagger should be placed slowly onto the table. Prior to continuing her speech, she should glance around to make sure that no one is eavesdropping, and she should have an uncertain facial expression.Then, Juliet should continue her speech, using gestures such as having her hand on her heart. The words poison, ministerd and dishonourd should be emphasised as these are dramati c words which will grab the audience attention. She should pause slightly before carrying on with her speech to show that she in thinking about the answer to her question. (If the friar is trying to poison her or not). I fear it is should be spoken whilst shaking her head and also a disbelieving tone should be used to give the impression that Juliet is not sure of anything anymore. Juliet should use movement such as walking around her room in a slow yet uncertain manner while she is answering her own question.The next thing to deliberate, is the way in which Juliet would respond while she thinks about waking up before Romeo arrives to escort her to Mantua. She should modify her movements by shifting to the front of the stage to be nearer to the audience. To add more drama, Juliet should halt whilst facing the audience, with a look of disbelief on her face to give the impression that she has just had a terrible thought. She should say, How if, when I am laid into the tomb, I wake bef ore the time that Romeo Come to redeem me? in a slow and nervous fashion.Then, she should say the next few lines progressively getting faster, louder and more passionate. The music should stop now to create a petrifying silence and, the lights should also fade slightly. Again, words like stifled, foul, strangled, horrible, conceit and terror should be emphasised as these are very moving words. She should sound distressed as she says where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth to show that she still cares for her recently deceased cousin. Once more, she should start to get louder and almost hysterical as she talks about the mandrakes being torn out of the earth and her concern that she may dash out her desperate brains with her forefathers joints.When she imagines seeing Tybalts ghost, she should move back to imply she is running away from something and she should also put her arm out to suggest she trying to prevent someone from coming towards her. Gradually, she should move back an d huddle down on the floor just in front of the bed whilst excitably screaming stay, Tybalt, stay! and Romeo, I come. She should then be frantically trying to open the vial and then as she is getting up, she should drink the potion and fall upon the part of her bed, which is out of view to the audience. Juliet should drop the vial so it lands under the bed to make sure that when she is discovered, the vial is not found and so does not cause any suspicion. The lights should gradually fade to darkness to indicate that the scene had concluded.In conclusion, there are many ways in which Romeo and Juliet is emotional and dramatic, especially Act 4 Scene 3. A great deal took place and there are many ways in which this scene fits in with the rest of the play.

Sports recreation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Sports recreation - Essay Example Notational analysis has emerged in the recent past and has proven to be a technique that can improve the level of professional sports. The technique is aiming at designing a competitive advantage. The game is analyzed by annotating players and matches for techniques and tactics using a technique commonly known as Notations.In order to examine advances taking place in the area of evaluating the effectiveness of the coach, we first examine how formal teaching effectiveness has been evaluated. Research on teaching effectiveness has developed since man acknowledged education as a quality value in life. The interaction between the student and the teacher is important in measuring effectiveness. This focus is directed towards a critical element in the learning process which is effective if it is positive. Coaches are required to outline key factors in performance, categories under which the factors will be classified and the criteria for success and unsuccessful performance. They are requi red to know the objectives in which they want to inflict on their students. The model of coaching requires a coaching practice plan in education programmed. An analysis is a new technique of recording performance, it facilitates identification of critical events in a specific performance and these events can later be grouped in terms of reliability and consistency. It enables qualitative response which is objective and accurate. This technique ensures that there is no alteration in performance without feedback records.

International and National Relief Efforts - BHS412 Module 4 - Case Essay

International and National Relief Efforts - BHS412 Module 4 - Case - Essay Example By first establishing a consensus on the plan of action as well as ensuring that all stakeholders are working towards a common purpose it could be that the relationship would foster better communication as well as ensure more effective results. From one perspective it could be argued that when both parties operate independently, there may be both redundancies in operations as well as serious deficiencies. When time is a critical factor there needs to be strong coordination. Is there a difference between the relationship when responding to a domestic disaster relief effort as compared to an international relief effort? In principle this may not be the case however practice may be different. In international operations workers must take into consideration a number of externalities (FEMA, 2011) For example perhaps the infrastructure is not as well developed as the workers are used to. Perhaps there is a language barrier, or the local customs prevent actions that would be considered acce ptable in the home nation. Although it could be argued that relief efforts should not be hindered by cultural customs the reality is that by violating these traditions there may be very serious long term consequences. Moreover by not preparing for a language barrier there may be serious delays in getting real services running and accessible to all people.

I know why the caged bird sings (Author- Maya Angelou) Essay

I know why the caged bird sings (Author- Maya Angelou) - Essay Example Maya related whiteness to beauty since in the society she lived; white people were perceived as beautiful and gorgeous (Angelou, 14). Similarly, in the real world, many black skinned individuals go for the option of using bleaching chemicals to make their skins white believing that they would look good. In chapter 1, Maya describes her stay in the south as putting a razor to one’s throat because of being a black girl. She went through hard times since racism was rampant at the time (Angelou, 10). Many issues are brought out in because of racism such as frustration, embarrassment, and disillusionment. She felt that black people were not seen as full Americans, and her alienation with her people made her feel displaced and unwanted. In relating to the real world scenario, racism still exists, and many black Americans feel that they are displaced in their own country (Angelou, 3). For this reason, black Americans and other minor races living in America, are discriminated; hence, do not share the country’s resources equally. In chapter 7, Momma was scared of speaking rudely and harshly to the white people. She could only do this while generically referring to the whites as ‘they’. Maya further refers Momma as a realist rather than a coward in the society for this reason (Angelou, 18). Relating to the scenario to real world it is true that some black Americans are oppressed and forced to believe that whites are superior in the society. They believe that high ranks in the government are only for

Types Of EC Transactions Used By Dell

Types Of EC Transactions Used By Dell B2B transaction is an e-commerce business between two businesses/companies such as manufacturers and suppliers or wholesalers. This is the type of e-commerce which takes care of relationships among businesses. This type of e-commerce is now recognized as the E-commerce segment with major /the biggest potential. The B2B market has two primary components: e-frastructure and e-markets. E-frastructure is the architecture of B2B, primarily consisting of the following: Dell provides business to business (B2B) transactions which helps to low procurement costs of an organization. Within a B2B transaction, you can shop online from within your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) procurement application and return the contents of your shopping session back to your ERP system electronically. No longer are you required to enter duplicate information in order to purchase. The electronic requisition can now be routed through your standard ERP workflow where it can be approved electronically. Once this electronic requisition is approved, it can become an electronic purchase order and be transmitted instantly to Dell. These orders flow directly into Dells manufacturing system where your orders are built immediately, saving you hours or days in processing time. This brings you the latest technology at the quickest pace. Dell defines B2B Integration as server-to-server communication over the Internet integrating both systems and business processes to dramatically transform the way we conduct business with our partners, suppliers, and customers. By electronically integrating these processes, we not only benefit in process efficiency and information accuracy, we also increase our ability to respond and interact with each member of a business relationship. Dells has two objectives with its B2B integration initiative: To quickly integrate with customers who are capable today To help customers build a B2B solution for rapid deployment and connectivity Dell has built a solution that extends its existing Internet infrastructure and E-Commerce capability to easily integrate with any customer who supports open, industry document standards of XML (such as cXML based on Ariba, xCBL based on Commerce One) and EDI. This allows Dell to provide the same customized catalog most customers use today with Premier Pages, and integrate this dynamic commerce functionality into their internal procurement systems. If a customer is not currently capable of integrating their procurement systems and processes with their suppliers, Dell can provide the necessary hardware, software, and consultation to help build and deploy a solution that not only connects the customer to Dell, but one that can to connect to even other suppliers or customers. Benefits: Better align Dell with customer procurement processes Ease the purchasing process and reduce errors by eliminating duplicate data entry Reduce costs for clients by eliminating paper purchase order/fax processes Reduce customer cycle times for ordering approval and payment Process controls for shoppers versus buyers B2C: Business-to-consumer (B2C, sometimes also called Business-to-Customer) transaction is when businesses such as companies and retailers serve their products and services to individual consumers directly. This transaction can be done online by consumers using shopping carts in the website. It is the earliest form of electronic commerce and the largest after B2B transaction form. By enhancing customer access to information and make it easier to customers to find a competitive and economical price for some products and services, B2C can decrease transactions costs. Moreover, constructing and maintaining a website costs much less than installing a brick-and-mortar structure for a firm; therefore, B2C e-commerce also reduces market entry obstructions. Its origins can be traced to online retailing (or e-tailing).13 Thus, the more common B2C business models are the online retailing companies such as Amazon.com, Drugstore.com, Beyond.com, Barnes and Noble and ToysRus. In the case of information goods, B2C e-commerce is even more attractive because it saves firms from factoring in the additional cost of a physical distribution network. Moreover, for countries with a growing and robust Internet population, delivering information goods becomes increasingly feasible. B2B2C: Business-to-Business-to-Consumer e-commerce (B2B2C) : It is when a business sells products and services to client businesses. The business provides products and services to client businesses to maintain its own customers. This can be when a business provides products and services to agencies, which are considered as business partners, sell it to customers. (Efraim Turban, Electronic Commerce, 2006) Dell uses e-procurement services and offers it to its agents who purchase the products. Customers visiting the agents website will find a link which connects the user to Dells website. After that when the customer buys a product, the agent receives a commission which is a percentage of the price of the product bought by the customer. B2G: Short for business-to-government, B2G is the exchange of services and products from one company to a government agency. Business-to-government e-commerce is generally described as commerce between companies and parts of a countrys economy which is controlled or supported financially by the government. B2G e-commerce form indicates a large market potential since the public sector plays an important role in establishing e-commerce, also, to make the procurement system effective, the public sector need the public sector has the greatest need for making its procurement system more effective Business-to-Government e-commerce (B2G) is a type of transactions where the government buys information, products, or services from businesses. (Electronic Commerce, Efraim Turban, 2006) Dell sells its products and services to governments. It provides a separate section called public sector in its website which serves several divisions within a government. The company offers special products and services to government divisions and areas supported by government such as State government, Local government, Federal government, Higher education and Healthcare. Government agencies can buy the offered products and services from the companys website online and the delivery service is provided by Dell. http://www.dell.com/content/segmenter.aspx//pub?c=uscs=2684l=ens=pub~ck=mn B2E: E Collaboration: Collaborative commerce should help companies forge long-term relationships while reducing the costs of cooperation, says Lisa Williams, an analyst at The Yankee Group in Boston. For example, a Web server hub could substitute for distributed groupware for jointly managing projects such as constructing a building. Instead of all the partners buying the same groupware product, theyll all just sign on to the Web site, she says. But while collaborative commerce has the potential to be the next big trend in partneringits just beginning to take shape, says Stan Lepeak, an analyst at Meta Group Inc. in Stamford, Conn. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/46547/Collaborative_Commerce Collaborative Commerce In todays global commerce environment, the need for accurate, standards-based information is critical for conducting business efficiently. By standardizing the way information is communicated, and by having all trading partners accessing the same information, the opportunity for errors decreases dramatically, costs are reduced, and supply chains operate more efficiently. http://barcodes.gs1us.org/dnn_bcec/Solutions/CollaborativeCommerce/tabid/195/Default.aspx Collaborative commerce is a technology that enhances a companys communications with its business partners electronically. It enables companies and organizations to share information between each other, including Coolaborative commerce helps/provides companies and organizations a variety of benefits and opportunities by reducing service costs, Key business issues: Decreased service costs Faster cycle times Increased customer satisfaction Streamlined operations Enhanced flexibility and responsiveness Rapid, reliable fulfillment Improved planning through better system visibility In a collaborative environment, organizations and individuals can work together, share sensitive information, protect their privacy, and collaborate on activities and projects efficiently and effectively. Dell provides support forums for users and customers to refer in order to gain information from experts who bought Dell products and services. In this way, customers will be able to know how to buy and which product or service they should choose. It will also avoid buying products and returning it to Dell if it was not suitable due to the lack of knowledge. (http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/default.aspx) Collaborative commerce (or c-commerce) can be regarded as the next evolutionary step beyond the more basic process of electronic commerce (or e-commerce). It is an emerging area that is based on interactions enabled by Internet technology. The business models used by Dell: EC business models can differ depending on the industry and the companys strategy. According to Weill and Vital methodology/framework (2001), there are eight elementary e-commerce business models combines to create Online Direct Marketing: online direct marketing is very inexpensive, especially as postage rates continue to raise. With a little effort, it can also generate enough responses to be equally successful. Generally, online direct marketing focuses on creating communication between you and your customers, giving you the opportunity to target specific customers with relevant promotions. Read more: How to Be Successful in Online Direct Marketing | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2103036_be-successful-online-direct-marketing.html#ixzz1AqFb2CsV 1- Online Direct Marketing: It means selling products and services online directly to customers. This E-business model reduces costs and makes the distribution/dispersion of procurements more efficient, where sales are direct from the manufacturer or retailers to customers without processing through/using agents and physical stores. Dell offers e-procurement service to customers and businesses willing to buy products or services from the company. It allows buyers to browse, buy and order stocks through the Dell website which offers to buyers a chance to contact their staff for any guide. In premier B2B; another more developed version of e-procurement; authorized users of British Airways staff are provided with e-procurement tools to be able to access the intranet service and request for a product or order stocks from Dell Company. (Electronic Commerce, Efraim Turban, 2006) Electronic Tendering Systems: E-tendering is used for large-value purchases which are usually made by large organizations or public organizations. Conducting such a tendering online through Dells website will consume less time and money. Government agencies use e-tendering in most of their procurement to buy products and services efficiently. E-tendering can be applied on B2C business transaction as well as B2B transaction. In this way, Dell can become more popular and gain more customers to the company. Also many government agencies recommend tendering in most of their e-procurements. (Electronic Commerce, Efraim Turban, 2006) Dell established an e-procurement model to share it with business partners, such as British Airways. Electronic Tendering help them in requesting for bids when buying from sellers. Dell uses e-tendering in buying large quantities of components for their products. In this case, Dell will be to save more money when buying products through tendering. (Electronic Commerce, Efraim Turban, 2006) Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing: Affiliate marketing is an internet-based marketing where an arrangement is made between the company and a marketing partner which is refered/called affiliate , . The affiliate will place/display an online advertisement of the company on his website by placing a banner ad or the companys logo or its link. A commission will be given to the affiliate partner every time a customer visits/refers to the selling companys website or makes a transaction/purchase through the advertisement placed in the affiliate website. the publisher (also known as the affiliate) It is a pay-for-performance model which means if an affiliate does not generate sales, it represents no cost to the merchant Those methods include organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, and in some sense display advertising. On the other hand, affiliates sometimes use less orthodox techniques, such as publishing reviews of products or services offered by a partner. Dell appoints affiliate partners to link their websites to Dell website (dell.com). This partner receives 2 to 4 percent of the price of the product sold, if the buyer used the link of Dell website at the partners website. (Electronic Commerce, Efraim Turban, 2006) Online Auctions: Online auctions are sales transactions conducted online where shoppers make bids for products and the highest bidder wins the auction and gets the product delivered to him. The participants could be consumers, retailers or companies. The functionality of buying and selling in an auction format is made possible through auction software which regulates the various processes involved. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_auction_business_model Dell auction has renewed Dells computers and other products at dellauction.com. Whereas the online auction is important sales channel in 2006, Dell has opened physical stores, mostly in reaction to customer demands. (Electronic Commerce, Efrim Turban, 2006) Viral Marketing: Dell has support forums in its website where buyers and users can refer to gain knowledge and information about Dell products. Customers of Dell who bought products and services will be able to help those who do not know what to buy, as they can make use of their experience from what they bought. In this way, Dell can gain more customers by encouraging their customers to inform others about Dell products in the forum. Also loyalty can be gained from customers by Dell when they find specific and accurate information is provided. (http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/default.aspx) Supply Chain Management: E-supply chain management: e-supply chain management is a joint technology used- to improve the processes of B2B transaction along with improving agility, speed, real time control and customer satisfaction. Vi Dells Website Dells suppliers The customers E-customer service Mass customization Dell IT has successfully implemented this solution for Dells Americas, Brazil, Europe, and Asia Pacific/Japan regions. By using the same processes for disaster recovery, backup, and monitoring across all Dell operations, Dell IT has achieved a cost-effective and readily supported deployment model. January 2007 Page 5 Dell Enterprise Technology Center This article describes in depth how Dell IT made the transition from proprietary Unix-based servers to running mission critical supply chain management applications on Dells own hardware. The problem being solved by these database applications is described in detail in Section 3. The old solution and the Dell-on-Dell solution are described in Section 4 and Section 5. Finally, measured performance improvements are shown in Section 6. Dells Supply Chain Management The sheer number of transactions and pieces of information that the supply chain management system needs to handle is impressive. Each of the core components of the supply chain management (SCM) system are heavily used and relied on to keep Dells operations running smoothly. Configuration Management: The Configuration Management system manages over 1 million Dell part numbers across approximately 200 product families, and over 2 million Bills of Materials (BOMs) per year. BOMs listing component part numbers are created for manufacturing to build assemblies and sub-assemblies to produce Dells products. Procurement: The Procurement system manages nearly 1.8 million Purchase Order lines per year, from more than 5,000 suppliers worldwide. To streamline the procurement process Dell uses an automated application which includes workflow approvals and vendor communication, and provides for services such as defective part warranty replacement. Cost: The Cost component of the system runs mostly in batch mode to calculate the costs to Dell for all Bills of Materials. These batch jobs run weekly, monthly and quarterly, with each run rolling up total material costs. Inventory: Between all sites there are more than 3 million inventory movements daily from stock rooms to the factory floor. A corresponding 3 million messages are transmitted to various systems for reporting, analysis and factory scheduling. Accounts Payable: Accounts Payable handles approximately 15,000 items per day including payments to Dell suppliers, invoices and receipts. Vendor information includes number, location, negotiated terms and contact information. On top of these order-related transactions, there are several batch process jobs that need to be run to rollup data every week, month or quarter. The longest of these, the end-of-quarter (EOQ) rollup, took 31 hours under the Unix-based solution. In Dells Americas region the SCM Oracle database application consists of approximately 3,000 database objects (functions, packages, procedures, triggers, tables, and views). The same SCM system is also supported by 6 Dell PowerEdge 2650 application servers, 5 internally developed web-based applications, more than 50 system-to-system integrations, approximately 125 batch jobs, and about 500 user interfaces deployed to support the entire SCM application. Dells Supply Chain Management (SCM) System allows customers to make their own orders. This feature involves the customer directly and cuts down costs for Dell salesmen salaries at the same time. Furthermore, Dells SCM system allows customers to build up their own computer systems with all provided options. Thus, customers will be forced to review all the available options along with adding components and parts they might not have thought of adding initially. When customers can review all of the possible options at their own pace, without direct sales pressure from a salesperson, Dells can benefit from additional component sales. Dell is also striving on establishing good communication and better customer service. The company now is providing easy access to support through its web site. Customers can find answers to frequent/common problems without the need of Dells technical assistants which helps the company to reduce its payroll costs. Dell also provides other opportunities like online chat, email and phone to make it easier for customers to contact the companys customer service for enquiries and to solve problems that are not mentioned in the website. Dell uses chat groups and users groups to keep customers involved with the company, which help to retain customers for future components sales from satisfied customers. Dell has established a web site that provides wide information options for its customers. In order to make it easier to its customers, The company has splitted the home page into a number of main customer groups; 1- Home Home Office, 2- Small Business, 3- Medium and Large Business and 4- Government, Education Healthcare. (Dells Website Flowchart I made illustrates this perfectly.) In each group, customers will find particular products and services that are suitable to their usage. Classifying the website shows that Dell realizes each customer groups needs and saves consumers time by displaying the products and services that concern them only. Dell also devoted a particular division for customer service and support on its website, which shows the companys high priority to customer satisfaction. Dell has provided Service Support group and its duplicated in all customer group pages. Dell makes it possible for the customer to do a significant amount of research on their own. The website contains a large deal of information that will address their needs and answer most of their enquiries and questions. Dells customer support and service field is greater than its competition in comparison to other companies (Dell.com). Recommendation: Industry advisory firm, Technology Business Research (TBR), issued a report on support satisfaction among corporate buyers and has indicated that Dells satisfaction ratings have slipped to 80.98, down from 83.4 in the third quarter of 2003. TBR questions buyers on eight aspects of support, including their overall satisfaction with a companys support service, and assigns each one a weighted score for a total of 100 possible points. Although Dell still topped rivals HP and IBM in the TBR survey, its score was the lowest seen since the research firm began tracking Dells satisfaction levels in the first quarter of 2001. According to the TBR report, IBM outscored Dell in the fourth quarter of 2003 based on product design/features and long-term durability. From polling customers that have switched from Dell to IBM, customers stated that their reasons for changing companies were product performance, pricing and support. Although Dell has maintained its strong leadership posi tion in the fourth quarter of 2003, Dell needs to address their customer loyalty and keep customers from changing companies. As a result of these polls, Dell is working toward reversing the declining customer satisfaction trend and to return to the industry leader in the area of customer service. Dell is aware that the PC business is becoming increasingly commoditized, marked by similarly equipped machines and price erosion. By cutting out the middleman, Dell believes it has established a closer relationship with its customers. One way to stand out from the crowd is to appeal to existing and new customers by offering better service and support than competitors (4Q03). Although US consumers have condemned Dell in some fields, Dell is still doing extremely well in other countries. According to Technology Business Research (TBR) reports report in September 2003, the France Customer Satisfaction Study determined Dell is the No. 1 ranked desktop and notebook vendor in France and is tied No. 1 server vendor. Dell was significantly ranked higher than other vendors within most notebook categories in loyalty and satisfaction. Moreover, customers in France consider that Dell provides excellent long-term durability hardware. Dells General Manager in France, Thierry Labbe stated These results, and recent strong market share gains in France, show this is starting to pay off. We will however, constantly drive value up and prices down, and focus on providing a great customer experience, giving customers plenty of reason to continue choosing Dell (Customer Satisfaction in France).

Examples of Differences in University Education :: Teaching Education

Examples of Differences in University Education You know, there is not all that much I would actually change about this university. Sure we could use some better facilities and the more diversity the better, but those changes have to take place over time, sometimes a long time. For now I am content with the prospect of throwing out ideas used by other universities to either increase student recruitment or enhance the image surrounding our college, that has without doubt been tarnished in past years. One example of how we could increase the ease on the perspective student milling around our website is to take a note or two from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. The university of Oklahoma is seen as a highly academic institution along with having an advanced sports program. The Oklahoma Sooners went undefeated this past year. The good thing about their website is that it is very easily navigational, which is a plus because prospective students aren’t in the mood to have to siphon through presents addresses and alumni paraphernalia to get to what dorms they will be living in. The website also has a clearly defined area for the different colleges that are found with the walls of the University. One thing I myself had a problem distinguishing when I first started to look at Washington State University. Along my web based trip through colleges in the United States I also came across Plymouth College in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Now although this college seems to have a lot of the same basic attributes we do here at Washington State I found that they facilities they provide to their students to be far above our own. Not only do they provide the typical state of the art computer labs and rec. center, but also in some halls they have sectioned of soundproof music rooms for those students participating in things such as the symphony orchestra or band. In one hall they even have a ski tuning room , maybe a little more of a necessity in that part of the country but still really cool. I think the more exciting and significant part of my glimpse into this college was the fact that in every hall the students were allowed to enhance their living space by doing pictorials or murals on the walls.

Impact of Employees Turnover

A Conceptual Model of Expatriate Turnover Author(s): Earl Naumann Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 23, No. 3 (3rd Qtr. , 1992), pp. 499-531 Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals Stable URL: http://www. jstor. org/stable/155094 . Accessed: 09/10/2012 02:27 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www. jstor. org/page/info/about/policies/terms. jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive.We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email  protected] org. . Palgrave Macmillan Journals is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of International Business Studies. http://www. jstor. org A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER Earl Naumann* Boise State University Abstract. Many factorsmay contributeto the high rate of expatriate turnover experienced by U. S. ultinational corporations. The objective of this article is to present a comprehensive model of the expatriateturnoverprocessby identifyingthe key contributing factors and suggesting intermediate linkages and relationships. The model appears to have both managerial and theoretical implications. The majority of U. S. multinationalcorporations(MNCs) suffer from an abnormally igh turnover ateamongexpatriate anagers, articularly hen h r w m p t T compared o bothforeign-based NCsanddomesticoperations. he turnover M ate commonly falls in the 20%-50%range for expatriatetransfers[Black 1988; Black and Stephens 1989; Copelandand Griggs 1985; Mendenhall and Oddou 1985;Tung 1988;ZeiraandBanai 1985], althoughturnover ay m be as high as 70% for some firns, particularlyn less developed countries i [Desatnick and Bennett 1978; Lanier 1979]. The problem of expatriate i turnovers more evidentamongU. S. -basedMNCs thanamongforeign-based MNCs. Tung [1982] noted that turnoverrates among U. S. MNCs are two to three times higher than foreign MNCs. For example, Tung's research M ndicatedthatonly 3%of European NCs and 14%of JapaneseMNCs had turnoverrates greaterthan 10% of expatriatetransferswhile 76% of U. S. MNCs had turnoverrates exceeding that level. b t Althoughdirectcomparisons etweendomestic(U. S. ) andexpatriateurnover ratesaredifficult,expatriateurnover atesappear o be at leasttwice domestic t t r rates. â€Å"Expatriateturnover†or â€Å"expatriatefailure† typically includes all individualswho quit or transferback to the U. S. priorto the completionof theirexpectedforeignassignments. ome researchersontendthat†expatriate S c turnover†may also occur up to a year or more after repatriation[Adler 1986; Harvey 1989].Conversely,virtuallyall domestic studies of turnover refer to the separationof the emp loyee from the organizationwith the o o t T preponderancef the studiesconcentratingn voluntaryurnover. o illustrate, in McEvoy ndCascio's 1987]meta-analytic a reviewof turnoverndperformance, a [ *Earl Naumannis Professorof Marketingat Boise State University. He received his Ph. D. from ArizonaState University. The authorwould like to thankthe reviewersfor their effort and contributions hich helped signifiw cantly improvesome crudeideas. Received: September1990; Revised: February,June, September1991 & January1992; Accepted: February1992. 499 500JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 twenty-four studies involving 7,717 individuals were cited. External turnover rates varied from 3% to 106% annually with a median of 22%. However, the subjects in the studies were drawn from nineteen rather generic job s categories including aerospace employees, pharmaceutical cientists, engineers, navy enlisted personnel, nurses, bank tellers, and small business new hires, for examp le. None of the subjects are directly comparable to expatriate managers. If the assumption can be made that expatriate managers are more similar to individuals such as engineers, scientists, and exempt lectronic employees than to individuals such as nurses, enlisted personnel, or small business new hires, the â€Å"normal domestic† turnover rate is more likely to approximate 10% annually [McEvoy and Cascio 1987]. This figure is consistent with the average of 12% for 303 firms reported by Mercer [1988]. Further, turnover rates typically decline at higher organizational levels so managerial turnover rates are likely to be less than the overall average figure. Thus, while no empirical research exists that directly compares turnover, the expatriate turnover rate appears to be at least twice the domestic rate.The extreme expatriate turnover rate results in high direct and indirect costs to U. S. MNCs. The direct costs associated with each expatriate turnover are estimated to be be tween $55,000 and $150,000 [Copeland and Griggs 1985; Harvey 1985; Mendenhall, Dunbar and Oddou 1987; Misa and Fabricatore 1979; Zeira and Banai 1985]. Therefore, the aggregate direct costs for expatriate turnover for U. S. MNCs are quite high [Copeland and Griggs 1985]. Additionally, the indirect costs associated with expatriate turnover are estimated to be even greater [Harvey 1985].The indirect costs include items such as reduced productivity and efficiencies, lost sales, market share, competitive position, unstable corporate image, and tarnished corporate reputation. While turnover is costly in domestic operations, turnover is apparently even more costly and troublesome in overseas operations. Due to the relatively high frequency of expatriateturnoverand the associated costs, the international business literature has been punctuated with efforts to isolate the factors causing difficulty in cross-cultural-adjustment.The three areas receiving the greatestinteresthave been the sele ction of the â€Å"ideal† expatriate manager [Abe and Wiseman 1983; Church 1982; Mendenhall and Oddou 1985; Mendenhall, Dunbar and Oddou 1987; Tung 1982, 1988; Zeira and Banai 1985], the underdeveloped state of expatriation and cross-cultural training programs [Black 1988; Black and Mendenhall 1990; Brislin 1979; Mendenhall and Oddou 1985; Kohls 1985; Schwind 1985; Torbiorn 1982; Tung 1982, 1984], and the difficulties encountered by the expatriate's spouse and/or family [Black 1988; Black and Stephens 1989; Grain and Cooper 1981; Harvey 1985; Tung 1982].While these factors are undoubtedly contributors to the turnover problem, study of these variables in isolation or jointly is likely to result in very little advancement of the understanding of the expatriate turnover problem. The reason for the low probability of significant improvements flowing from this stream of research is that there are CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATE TURNOVER 501 t t manyothervariableshatinfluence heturn over rocess. pecifically, onceptual p S c a models of the domesticturnover rocesshave pursued more comprehensive p pproachthan that found in the international usiness literature,and these b r i modelshavebeen generally alidated y subsequent esearchn organizational v b behaviorand appliedpsychology. While there have been numerousattemptsto model the domestic turnover process, two turnovermodels have received the strongestsupportbased on the frequency of citations in subsequentliteratureand on the number of attemptsto empiricallyvalidatethe constructsandrelationships. he model T of Mobley, Griffeth,Handand Meglino [1979] suggestedthatcharacteristics of the organization,he individual, ndthe environmenthapean individual's t s perceptionsand satisfactionleading to the formationof intentionsto stay or quit. The Steers and Mowday [1981] model addedadditionalconstructs of job performancelevel, efforts to change the situation, and non-work influences. In addition, he SteersandMowdaymodel exp andedthe affective t responsesto the job to includejob satisfaction,organizational ommitment, c andjob involvement. The satisfaction,commitment,and involvementof an w t individual ould lead to the formation f intentions o stay or quit. Together, o these models have guided or influencedturnoverresearchfor a decade.In thattime, both models have generallystood the test of empiricalvalidation. Thus,it appearsthatconstructs entralto these models may be generalizable c to the internationalnvironment ndhelp explainexpatriateurnover. y using e a t B theoretical odelsfromthe areaof appliedpsychology,this approach ttempts m a to address the criticisms of the internationalliteraturefrequentlyvoiced [BlackandMendenhall 990;Kyi 1988;Newmann, hattandGutteridge 978]. B 1 1 These authors ave notedthatthe internationalusinessliterature ften is not h b o integratedinto a theoreticalframeworkand appearspiecemeal and ad hoc.The purposeof this articleis to presenta model of expatriate urnover ased t b o n constructs entralto the Mobley,et al. [1979] andthe Steersand Mowday c [1981]models. Additionally,he expatriateurnover odelattemptso integrate t t m t concepts from the international usiness literature here possible. By purb w suing a more comprehensive heoreticalapproach nd recognizingthe comt a plex interactiveand longitudinaleffects, an improvedunderstanding f the o expatriateturnoverprocess may result. This improvedunderstanding ay m contributeto the developmentof retentionstrategiesthat would reduce the high turnoverrate.Lee and Mowday [1987] provided several reasons for the value of comprehensive odelsof turnover. irst,comprehensive odels m F m identify and categorizethe variousfactorsthatpreviousresearchhad found to be important. Second, models provide directionfor empiricalresearch, thus imposing discipline on researchers nd reducingthe occurrenceof an a ad hoc researchagenda. Finally, models help managersthink heuristically about a broaderrange of causes of turnoverrather than concentratingon one or two factors. Therefore,the model of expatriateturnovermay be of value to both researchers nd practicingmanagers. 502 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 THE MODEL The basic rationale that underlies this model is that the fundamentalconcepts associated with the turnover process in domestic situations can be adapted to model the expatriate turnover process. Thus, the discussion of major constructs will summarize the existent body of research where possible although there is an absence of empirical studies of a variety of unique international factors. Also, the model of expatriate turnover is implicitly oriented toward middle to upper level managers.These organizational levels appear to be most commonly represented among expatriates [Tung 1981]. While many of the constructs will also apply to operatives, the propositions and discussions adopt a managerial orientation. The discussion of the model (Figure 1) will flow from the predicto rvariables through intermediate linkages to the turnover decision. The sequence of discussion is intended to follow the direction of predominant causality in this turnover model. Three categories of predictor variables have received general empirical support domestically as being important elements of the o mployee turnoverprocess:job/task characteristics, rganizationcharacteristics, three groups of variables collectively and worker characteristics. These influence an expatriate's degree of job satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and involvement in the achievement of the organization's goals. These attitudes are formed with respect to the parent organization, and, since most expatriates are initially transfers from domestic positions, the attitudes have probably been formulated predominantly in a domestic environment.The expatriate's general satisfaction with, commitment to, and involvement in the organization may be moderated by perceptions of the career path resulting fr om the international assignment or by the overall level of cross-culturaladjustment. The expatriate's satisfaction, commitment, and involvement may also be moderated by the employee's family situation and the family's overall satisfaction with the international experience or by o the characteristics f the countryto which the expatriateis assigned.Collectively these factors will lead to the modification of satisfaction, commitment, and involvement with respect to the organization in the foreign assignment. Due to the developmental state of the international business literature and the small percentage of international human resource articles appearing in leading business journals [Black and Mendenhall 1990; Boyacigiller and Adler 1991; Rosenzweig and Singh 1991], the specific international variables influencing expatriateattitudes are largely unknown.However, these attitudes toward the organization in the foreign assignment may result in the expatriate clarifying the intent to change employers, stay with the same employer but transfer â€Å"home,† or stay in the international assignment. The expatriate's intentions may be modified by perceptions of both external and internal employment alternatives. The intentionsmay result in explicit search behavior, ultimately resulting in an initial turnover decision. The turnover decision, even if the choice is to stay, may result in changes in the employee's job CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 03 0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0c U 0~~~~~~~0 0 .. 1 I=- I z0 LL †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ E 0 4) ll l la E L, k . ; ~~~~0 , 504 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 and career expectations and influence subsequent performance. A decision to leave may not be manifested for an extended time period and may result in other withdrawal cognitions. To assist in clarifying the expected relationships in the model, research propositions are presented after each discussion. The degree of detail in each propos ition is largely a reflection of the existent body of research.If research is available that suggests specific relationships and the direction of influence, the propositions are relatively detailed. If research is lacking and the expected relationships are based instead on intuitive reasoning, the propositions are stated very generally. Also, although this is a model of expatriate turnover, only a few of the propositions deal explicitly with turnover. The reason for this is that turnover is the behavioral outcome of a complex process and the propositions address the specific antecedent relationships among variables. Each of these variables will be addressed individually.However, clarifying the relatively ambiguous concept of â€Å"turnover† may be useful first. Turnover Turnover among domestic operations typically refers to the separation of the individual employee from the firm. This definition is too narrow for the international environment and must be broadened to include several other dimensions of turnover since expatriate turnover often involves transfers internal to the organization. Turnover may be categorized as external or internal, voluntary or involuntary, and functional or dysfunctional. External turnover occurs when an individual leaves an organization to seek employment elsewhere.While this type of turnoveris most common domestically, there is no research indicating the frequency of external turnover as a component of total expatriate turnover. By any measure, external turnover is costly and results in reduced short-term efficiency, at the very least. Internal turnover occurs when an individual changes positions but remains in the same firm. This situation is apparently more common in international operations than in domestic situations [Tung 1984]. Essentially this occurs when an expatriate manager is transferred back to the U. S. or another internationallocation.Research has indicated that many expatriate managers find the repatriation process much more stressful and frustrating than the initial expatriationand repatriationexperiences may be a cause of subsequent turnover [Adler 1980; Harvey 1989]. Also, many expatriates may develop an intention to quit while on foreign assignment and view the transfer â€Å"home† as simply an intermediate step to leaving the firm [Harvey 1989]. Turnover may also be voluntary or involuntary (from the employee's viewpoint). Voluntary turnover occurs when the employee quits or requests and receives a transfer.Involuntary turnover occurs when an employee is fired or transferred at the will of the organization. By integratingthese concepts, a four-celledmatrixcan be developed (Figure 2). The turnover models of Mobley, et al. [1979] and Steers and Mowday CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 505 r [1981] and much of the subsequentdomesticturnover esearchin organizational behavior and applied psychology concentrateon cell 1, voluntary external turnover,and to a lesser degree, on cell 2, involuntaryexternal f turnover. The international usiness literature ocuses primarilyon cells 3 b i a and4, voluntary ndinvoluntarynternal urnover, ith little or no distinction. t e Very little discussionin the international usiness literature xists of cell 2, b involuntaryexternal turnover,or cell 1, voluntaryexternal turnover. The model presentedhere will apply generally to all four types of turnover. f While the model is conceptuallymost appropriateor both types of voluntary turnover,the model also has implicationsfor both types of involuntary w turnover. he implicationsor the varioustypes of turnover ill be addressed T f in subsequentsections of this article.Turnovermay also be conceptualizedas functionalor dysfunctionalto the firm. Functionalumoveris typicallyviewed as beneficialto the organization. t An example might be when a low-performingexpatriatequits or is fired, t thus creatingan opportunity o staff the position with a more capable indit vidual. Anotherexampleo f functional urnover ightbe the internaltransfer m and/or promotionof a high-performing xpatriate. There appearsto be a e dark side of functional turnoverthat may be easily overlooked. When a t â€Å"low performing†expatriate eaves the organization, he departure ay be l m he organization s a resultof the individual'snability o effectively a t viewedby i o make the cross-cultural djustment r as a result of spouse or family proba lems [Tung 1982]. However, it appearslikely that the cause of â€Å"low performance† may be mistakes made by the organizationin many cases. To illustrate,the selection criteriafor expatriatemanagersmay be inappropriate, expatriation raininginadequate or nonexistent),the job may be poorly t ( designed, the performanceexpectationsunreasonable,or the performance W appraisal rocessinadequate. hilethe expatriate ay be a â€Å"low performer,† p m he low performance ay be due to the organization'smismanagednternam i tional efforts,not the expatr iate'sncompetence. ennings[1985] noted that i J companies are often the cause of their high turnoverrates due to poor managementdevelopment and misuse of talented people. Failure by the t organization o use the skills developedin the international nvironment y e b a the expatriates apparently commonsourceof dissatisfactionmongrecently i a repatriated anagers [Harvey 1989]. If an expatriateis viewed as a low m t t perforner,identifying he causesof low performancesppears o be important. a oViewing the departure f a low perfonneras a good thing may, indeed, be very simplistic. Dysfunctionalturnoverdamagesthe firm in some way by having a valued employee quit or requestan early transfer. Dysfunctionalturnoveris most as commonly onceptualized beinginitiated y theemployee lthoughnvoluntary c b a i internaltransfersare also undoubtedly ysfunctionalin the short tenn. d The functional/dysfunctionalonceptualization ould apply to all four types c c of turnoverin Figure 2. The point to be made h ere is that not all turnover 506 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992FIGURE 2 Types of Turnover Voluntary (For the Employee) External (To the Organization) Involuntary (For the Employee) I Quit! You're Fired! 12 34 Internal (To the Organization) Transfer Me! You're Transferred! is bad; some turnover may actually be beneficial and afford the organization an opportunityto improve. However, since a significant portion of expatriate managers are initially â€Å"internal transfers† from a domestic assignment rather than â€Å"new hires,† the expatriates are likely to be high performers in the domestic environmentdue to the expatriateselection process.Specifically, a manager's â€Å"domestic track record† is often a major factor in the expatriate selection process [Mendenhall and Oddou 1987; Tung 1981]. Thus, it may be hypothesizedthat dysfunctionalturnoveris more common among expatriates than among domestic managers (i. e. , losing valued empl oyees). A further complication to the traditional approach to turnover research also t appearsnecessary regardingthe appropriate ime horizon. Turnovermay occur significantly after repatriation but be caused by the international experience or the repatriationprocess.An expatriatemanager may become disenchanted while on the international assignment and actually formulate an intention to quit [Adler 1986]. However, the expatriate may simply â€Å"gut it out† until b transferred ack to the U. S. , and a new job is found. Alternatively, a expatriate may become disenchanted with the organization due to events occurring during the repatriation process and subsequently leave the organization. However, turnover after repatriation introduces many issues not addressed in the expatriate turnover model presented here.Therefore, the discussion in this article is limited to turnover that occurs while an expatriate is actually on the foreign assignment. The model does adopt a decidedly tempo ral dimension, however. Steers and Mowday [1981] contend that the intention to quit is usually manifested behaviorally within a year and that the relationship between intention and turnover subsequently weakens. The reason that an extended time horizon is necessary in turnover studies is the existence of gradual changes in worker attitudesleading to behavioralchanges, a phenomenareferredto as â€Å"progression theory† [Rusbult, Farell, Rogers and Mainous 1988].Specifically, declining CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 507 workerattitudesdo not instantlyresultin the formationof intentionsto quit. For example,an expatriate ay experiencelow levels of attitudes or several f m monthsbeforethinking boutquitting ndthenultimatelyormingthe intention a a f to quit. Likewise, an employee may have low levels of attitudes,but the t situationmay improve,resultingin an intention o stay with the organization. Since the expatriateturnover ate appearsto be roughlytwice the domestic r ate, a variety of unique internationalfactors apparentlycontributeto a gradualdeterioration f worker attitudesover a period of time for many o expatriates. anyexpatriates ay have positive attitudesinitiallybut graduM m ally develop more negative attitudes. Thus, a longitudinalperspective is t important o the model. t Regardlessof the type or timing of turnover, he ultimateturnoverdecision is precededby antecedent ariablesandintermediateinkages. The predictor v l variablesof job/task,organization, nd workercharacteristics re the initial a a startingpoint in many studies of employee turnover.Job/Task Characteristics Of the threebroadcategoriesof predictorvariables,job/taskcharacteristics have received the most researchattentiondomestically[Glisson and Durick 1988] while receiving very little attention internationally. eceiving the R strongest support as predictorsof employee attitudes are role ambiguity [Teely, French and Scott 1971; Lyons 1971; Abdel-Halim 1981; Bedeian and Armenakis 1981 ] and skill variety [Bartel 1982; Marsh and Manari 1977; Price and Mueller 1981; Dewar and Werbel 1979; Gerhart 1987; Glisson and Durick 1988; Blau and Boal 1989].Thus, the greaterthe role clarity and the more diverse the skills needed, the more likely the worker is to be satisfied,committed,and involved. Additionally,the characteristics of role conflict, task identity, and task significance have received support as predictor ariables. It appears,therefore, hatissues relatedto the specific v t task environmentcan influence the satisfaction,commitment,and involvement of workersat a variety of organizationalevels. l The uniquenessand dynamismof international nvironments ay lead both e m to more role ambiguity and task variety among expatriates.The volatile externalenvironment ay cause MNCs to have less clarityin theirposition m descriptionsas managersrequiremore flexibility to respond to changes. m Therefore, orerole ambiguity ay exist whichmay lead to reducedsatisfacm tion amongexpat riate anagers. owever,overseasassignments ftenrequire m H o managersto use a broaderrange of general managementskills than their domestic counterpartsCzinkota,Rivoli and Ronkainen1989; Edstromand [ Galbraith1977]. This implies that increasedtask varietywill contributeto a higher level of satisfaction among expatriatemanagers.Thus, job/task characteristics ay offset one anotherin theircontributiono an expatriate's m t workattitudes. Withone exception,these constructs enerallyhave not been g investigatedin the international nvironment. e 508 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 While most of the studies cited above utilized domestic U. S. subjects, Black [1988] found that role ambiguity, conflict, overload, and discretion were related to the cross-cultural adjustment of American expatriates in Japan. The direction of Black's findings was generally consistent with the domestic literature.A potentially importantconsideration in the international situation is the similarity of the domestic and foreign jobs performed by the expatriate [Dowling and Schuler 1990]. If the foreign job requirementsare quite similar to the domestic position previously held, the transition and work adjustment should be easier. If the domestic and foreign positions are highly divergent, the expatriate must adjust to both a new work environment as well as a new cultural and physical environment. Another job/task characteristic that may be of importance internationally is the concept of work grouphomogeneity. Althoughusing a domestic U.S. sample frame, O'Reilly, Caldwell, and Barnett [1989] found that aspects of work group homogeneity were related to the degree of social integration which was negatively related to turnover. Since foreign work groups in U. S. MNCs are often composed of U. S. expatriates, host country nationals, and third country nationals, a good deal of work group heterogeneity is likely to exist. This diversity is likely to inhibit the individual soci alization process and result in lower levels of cohesiveness. The lower level of social integration may contributeto reduced attitudesthat would ultimately lead to increasedturnover.Work group homogeneity may also be conceptualized on a broader, more macro level. In addition to the fit between the expatriate and other job associates, the degree of homogeneity between the foreign subsidiary and parent corporation may be important [Brittain and Freeman 1980; Lincoln, Olson and Hanada 1978]. The more similar the composition and functioning of the foreign work group to the parent, the more positive the expatriate's attitudes are likely to be. Milliman, Von Glinow and Nathan [1991] contend that MNCs attempt to apply isomorphism to foreign subsidiaries as a mechanism of control and continuity.Based on the literature that addressed job/task characteristics, both domestically and internationally, the following propositions were developed. Proposition 1 There is a positive relationshipbetwee n skill variety, task identity, autonomy, and task significance and expatriate satisfaction, commitment, and involvement. b Proposition 2 Thereis a negativerelationship etweenrole ambiguity and role conflict and expatriate satisfaction, commitment, and involvement. Proposition 3 The degree of similarity between the expatriate's domestic and foreign jobs is positively related to xpatriate atisfaction,commitment,and involvement. s CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 509 Proposition4 There is a positive relationship between work group homogeneity and expatriate satisfaction, commitment,and involvement. OrganizationCharacteristics Behavioral, structural,and demographiccharacteristicsof organizations have received researchattentionas predictorsof satisfaction,commitment, and involvement. Behavioralissues such as participationn decisionmaking i have received strong support [Gladstein 1984; Glisson and Durick 1988; Millerand Monge 1986].Leadership onsideration as also receivedsupport c h [Morrisand Sherman1981;Batemanand Strasser1984; Glisson andDurick 1988; Blau and Boal 1989]. Dimensions of organizationstructuresuch as centralization Child 1972; Hage and Aiken 1969], differentiation Redding [ [ and Hicks 1983; Bimbaum and Wong 1985], and formalization[Redding andHicks 1983;Child1972;HageandAiken 1969]havealso beenempirically validatedas predictors f attitudes. emographic rganizationalactorssuch o D o f as organization ge, workgroupsize, andtype of industry ave receivedweak a h upportas predictive variables. Cotton and Tuttle's [1986] meta analytic review providesa more comprehensive eview of these variables,and their r findings indicated U. S. studies differed from non-U. S. studies in several ways. In U. S. studies, an employee's genderhad less impacton satisfaction and unions had more influence on turnover. Satisfactionwas less reliably tled to turnoverin non-U. S. firms. In the internationalnvironment varietyof othervariables ppear otentially e a a p A import ant. s Dowling and Schuler[1990] noted, a firm's structure, ontrol c echanisms, and human resource policies are linked to the evolutionary P processof globalization. ucik[1985] also notedthatthe evolutionary rocess p is continuousas organizationscontinuallyadapt to dynamic international environments. Although there are several organizationchange models, the concept of organizationlife cycles (OLC)has been applied internationally Adler and [ Ghadar1989; Milliman, Von Glinow and Nathan 1991]. As organizations progressfrom one stage to another fouror five stages are typicallyincluded) ( an MNC's strategy, structure,and human resource policies also need to change.Milliman, Von Glinow and Nathan [1991] noted that change is needed so that MNCs can optimizetheir â€Å"fit. † There is a need to optimize the externalfit of the foreign subsidiaryto the local environmentand the parent ompanyto the domesticenvironment. hereis also a need to optimize c T the internalfit between the parent and foreign subsidiary. Complicatingthe optimizationof both externaland internalfit is the need for flexibility due to environmental ifferencesand changes. For example,Black, Mendenhall d and Oddou [1991] noted that flexibility in the work environmentis related to aspects of cross-cultural djustment. illustratethe importance f these T a o concepts, when an organization becomes more experienced internationally, 510 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 the amount of role conflict and role ambiguity may be reduced as the a s organization trategically daptsmore effectivelyto the foreignenvironment. ( c m Also, the adaptation ay lead to a differentstructural onfiguration foreign sales agent versus foreign sales office versus vertically integratedforeign operation)that could enhance satisfaction,commitment,and involvement though improvedjob design. t uThe open systems approach sed by manyorganizationalheoryresearchers [Lawrenceand Lorsch 1967; Pfeffer and Salancik 1978; Thompson 1967] d clearly implies that the natureof the environment ictates the appropriate e w S structure. ince most researchers ould agreethatinternationalnvironments a t relative o the U. S. , thenmoreflexible,decentralized,utonomous aredynamic, T foreign structureswould be appropriate. his view of more decentralized foreignsubsidiariesis also consistentwith the trendtowardflatterstructures in the U. S. and with the trend of workerempowerment. Specifically, as a rganizations ttemptto become more innovativeand responsive,decisionl making authorityis often forced to lower organization evels. While these variablesare intuitivelylogical predictorsof satisfaction,commitment,and e involvementand may be relatedto a firm's multinational volution in the been very little empiricalinvestigationor international ontext, there has c validationof these constructs. h training ave receiveda good deal of attention a Expatriationnd cross-cultural D business literature. espite the rapidincreas ein world in the international o e tradeflows in the pasttwentyyearsandtherelated mergence f multinational f e corporations, xpatriation rainingfor managersin U. S. multinationalirms is still in its infancy. Specifically, in multinationalcorporations,training a programs re generallysuperficialand incompleteor nonexistent. In Tung's [1981] study, only 32% of respondingfirms had formalizedtrainingprot t grams. Furthermore,he focus of the formaltrainingprograms endedto be t c on environmental oncerns. Country-level rainingin cultureand language was uncommon. DunbarandEhrlich[1986] and Schwind[1985] also found t that the majorityof firms had no formalexpatriation rainingfor managers. i thatthe stateof expatriation rainingn U. S. multinational Tung [1981]suggests corporationsis a major reason for expatriateturnoverrates in U. S. firms a being two to threetimes the level of those in European nd Japanesefirms. That is, the resultof underdeveloped xpatriationrainingprograms ay be m t e that expatriate anagers xperiencevery high levels of initialrole amtbiguity m e f P s and conflict which in turnreduces workattitudes. roviding upport or this t position is Black and Mendenhall's[1990] review of cross-culturalraining i research. They noted that cross-culturalraining s positivelyrelatedto skill t a development, djustment,ndperformance. t c An additionalfactorthatmay be an important ontributoro turnoveris the c t conceptof corporate ulture. Organizationsypicallydevelopa predominant, identifiableculturealthoughit is rarelystatedexplicitly [Wilkinsand Ouchi 1983]. Also, an organization'sculture can vary across functional areas, CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 511 operatingdivisions, or geographicallocations [Gregory1983; Wilkins and Ouchi 1983]. Since most expatriatemanagersare internaltransfersrather than new hires, the assumptionprobably can be safely made that most i xpatriates ave been socially integrated nto the parentfirm's predominant h culture. If the work gro up at the foreign location has developed a unique and differentcorporateculture,the expatriatemay experience adjustment c difficultiesdue to the divergent otporate ulture. pecifically,the expatriate's c S w valuesandorganizationaleliefs may be incongruent ith the local operation, b hence decreasedwork attitudesmay result. While this issue is conceptually similar to work group homogeneity, subunit corporateculture is a more p b training rograms. pervasiveconceptandcouldbe influenced y cross-cultural bProposition5 There is a significantrelationship etween dimena sions of a foreign subsidiary'sstructure nd expatriatesatisfaction,commitment,and involvement. t The moredecentralizedndautonomoushe foreign a subsidiary,the more positive the work attitudes. b Proposition 6 Thereis a positiverelationship etweenthe quality of expatriationrainingand expatriate atisfaction, t s commitment,and involvement. b Proposition 7 Thereis a positive relationship etween an organization'sstageof multination al evolution, articipation p in decisionmaking,leadershipconsideration,and s a expatriateatisfaction,ommitment,ndinvolvement. Proposition8 There is a positive relationshipbetween the similarity of a firn's predominantcorporateculture and local foreign corporatecultureand expatriate satisfaction,commitment,and involvement. Worker Characteristics o Empiricalinvestigationdomesticallyof characteristics f the workerhave o a c yielded mixed resultsas predictors f satisfaction, ommitment, nd involvement. Personality[Staw and Ross 1985; Staw, Bell and Clausen 1986], age [Dewar and Werbel 1979], being female [McNeely 1984], and job tenure [Coverdaleand Terborg1980] have received weak supportas predictorsof satisfaction.However, personality [Hulin and Blood 1968; Steers and Spencer 1977], marital status [Porterand Steers 1973], age [Morris and Sherman1981], tenurein the organization Stevens,Beyer and Trice 1978], [ and education[Steers 1977] have received strong supportas predictorsof commitm ent. Age, tenure, and maritalstatus (being married)are usually y w positivelyassociatedwith commitment hile yearsof education, earsin the samejob, and alternative mployment pportunitiesre negativelyassociated o a e with commitment. Althoughmicro level contingencytheory models would contend that individual characteristicswould be importantpredictorsof 12 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 attitudes in different work contexts, there is apparently little research that provides consistent direction in this area [Glisson and Durick 1988]. The level of performance of the employee is also a possible predictor of satisfaction, commitment, and involvement. Research has generally supported the contention that performance leads to satisfaction [Ivancevich 1978; Lawler and Porter 1967; Sheridanand Slocum 1975]. Therefore,an individual's performance level is generally thought to be positively associated with satisfaction, commitment, and involvement.In the international context, a variety of worker characteristics have been discussed or empirically investigated. Worker characteristics postulated as important to expatriates are technical competence [Hawes and Kealey 1981; Tung 1982], relational abilities [Tung 1982; Mendenhall and Oddou 1986], and stress reduction [Abe and Wiseman 1983; Hammer, Gundykunst and Wiseman 1978; Barrettand Bass 1976; Ratiu 1983]. Other possibly important workercharacteristics re personality[Torbiom 1982; Dapsin 1985; Mendenhall a and Oddou 1986] and tolerance for ambiguity [Hammer, Gundykunst and Wiseman 1978; Ratiu 1983].Another worker characteristicthat may be positively associated with intemational success is the individual's years of previous international experience [Black and Stephens 1989; Church 1982]. An individual who was unsuccessful in a previous international ssignmentwould likely limit subsequentinternational a assignments. Conversely, an individual who has experienced success internationally may be more re ceptive to subsequent international assignments. Thus, simple trial and errormay result in an expatriate's years of international experience being positively related to satisfaction, commitment, and involvement.Somewhat related to internationalexperience, particularlyin a specific country, is an expatriate's linguistic ability. The more fluent the expatriate in the language of the host country, the easier the social integration to both the work and general environment. Thus, linguistic ability should be positively related to work attitudes. Two other rather controversial types of worker characteristics exist, an expatriate's sex and marital status. The majority of expatriates are male, 97% in Adler's [1984] study, and most are married [Black 1988].Since most expatriatesare male, does the high turnoverrate caused by an expatriate's gender, coincidentally vary with it, or is it totally unrelated to it? Unfortunately, this topic has not been empirically investigated in an international environment. Thai and Cateora [1979] noted that being a woman expatriate can be a significant liability due to the culturalbias in some foreign countries (i. e. , in the Middle East, Latin America, and Japan). However, Adler [1984, 1986] and Adler and Izraeli [1988] contend that cultural bias against women in management often does not apply to expatriates.Cultural views of women are often restricted primarily to women of that country. A woman expatriateis usually viewed predominantlyas a foreigner,who also incidentally happens to be a woman. In some cases, being a woman was enough of a CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 513 novelty to be viewed as a positive asset. As Adler and lzraeli [1988] noted, the overwhelming conclusion about women expatriatesis their scarcity. While there are more U. S. women managersand expatriates(as a percentage of the total workforce) thanin most countries,the proportion f women o anagersin almost all countriesis low due to the same general reasons: culturalsanctions, educationalbarriers,legal restrictions,corporateobstacles, and women's disinterestin pursuingmanagerialcareers. Due largely to the scarcity of women expatriates,there is no data that suggests that women would have more, or less, positive work attitudesthan men. Maritalstatus has also received researchattention,but with mixed results. i Some authors ontendthatbeing marrieds a stabilizing actorfor expatriates, f c while otherscontendthatspouse and family problemsare the leading cause of expatriate ailure[Tung 1984].While some MNCs develop cross-cultural f f i trainingprograms or an expatriate's pouse, the assumption s usuallymade s thatthe expatriate s male andthe spouse is female [Adlerand Izraeli 1988]. i t o Unfortunately, he literature f the impact of maritalstatus is scarce so no directionof relationshipcan be inferred. SteersandMowday[1981]contended hatworker xpectations ay be related t e m to subsequentattitudes. Their discussion focused on â€Å"met expect ations,† or the extent to which pre-employmentexpectations were subsequently fulfilled by job expenrences. n arguingfor realismin pre-employmentnterI i iews, Steersand Mowdayfelt that â€Å"met expectations† nd workerattitudes a were positively related. The same concept may apply internationally. f a I manager's pre-international xpectations differ greatly from subsequent e experiences,an expatriate'sattitudeswould likely decline. While expatriation trainingmay provide an opportunity or a realisticjob preview, other f techniquessuch as preview trips, may also help clarify expectations. Proposition9 Thereis a positive relationship etween an expab triate's tenure, organizationlevel, performance, yearsof previousinternationalxperience, inguise l tic ability,age, andrelational bilityand expatriate satisfaction,commitment,and involvement. Proposition10 Thereis a positiverelationship etweenthe degree b to whichan expatriates9sre-intemational p expectaaremetin subsequentnterna tional tions i experiences and satisfaction,commitment,and involvement. a T t C Satisfaction, ommitmen4nd Involvement owardhe ParentOrganization a i l Satisfaction,commitment, nd involvementare importantntermediateinkages between predictorvariablesand employee tumoverdecisions. Because of theirimportance, hese constructs ave receivedextensiveconceptualand t h empiricalattention. Models of employee turnover ave explicitly addressed h heirrole [Blau and Boal 1987; Bluedom 1982; Mobley, et al. 1979; Steers 514 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 and Mowday 1981; Price 1977]. Additionally, over one hundred empirical studies have validated these constructs and have indicated the strength and direction of intermediate linkages (see Miller and Monge [1986] and Cotton and Tuttle [1986] for meta analytic reviews). Therefore, only a brief definition and discussion of these variables will be presented here. Job satisfaction has been defined as â€Å"the positive emoti onal state resulting from the appraisalof one's job or job experiences† [Locke 1976].Organization commitment is defined as the worker's â€Å"strong belief in the organization's goals and values, a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization, and a strong desire to remain a member of the organization† [Mowday, Porter and Steers 1982]. Job involvement is defined as â€Å"the extent to which an individual identifies psychologically with her/her job† [Blau 1985]. Although these constructs are related, each is distinct due to measurement of attitudes about the individual (satisfaction), the job (involvement), or the organization (commitment) [Blau and Boal 1987; Morrow 1983].For example, employees with high job satisfaction may feel positive about their jobs due to fulfillment of personal needs and values [Miller and Monge 1986]. For individuals with high levels of job involvement, the job is important to the worker's self-image [Kanungo 19 82]. Workers with a high level of organizational commitment feel positive about their employer, identify with the organization,and wish to maintain membership in it [Porter, Crampton and Smith 1976]. While these constructs are conceptually distinct, interactive effects have been shown to exist between commitment and involvement [Blau and Boal 1989], nd satisfaction and commitment [Glisson and Durick 1988] and satisfaction, commitment, and involvement [Lee and Mowday 1987]. However, satisfaction, commitment, and involvement generally complement one another as intermediate linkages between predictor variables and turnover [Blau and Boal 1987]. Attempts have been made to identify a causal orderingbetween these attitudinal variables. The implicit assumptionof these attemptsis thatsince satisfactioncan be formulated quickly, satisfaction leads to commitment and involvement which are more long lasting and enduring [Steers 1977; Stevens, Beyer and Trice 1978].Attempting to test this conten tion, Williams and Hazer [1986] found strong interaction between satisfaction and commitment but could not infer causality due to the cross-sectional nature of the data. However, Farkas and Tetrick [1989] used a longitudinal design but were unable to identify causal direction. They did identify that satisfaction and commitment are differentially related over time, and the relationship may be cyclical or reciprocal. Therefore, the model presented here assumes that these variables are strongly and positively related to one another, but does not assume any causal relationship.Since the majority of expatriates are internal transfers ratherthan new hires, the workers have probably achieved some degree of social integration into CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 515 the organization. Accordingly,the argumentis made that expatriatesstart theirinternational ssignmentwith attitudesthatare reasonablywell formua lated. Also, as transfers,expatriates ay have reasonablypositive attitudes m initially. Althoughthereis no empiricalsupportfor this contention,it seems intuitivelylogical that a disgruntled mployee would be an unlikely candie t date for an internationalransfer.The situationfor new hires is more complex. While new hires apparently constitutea small portionof expatriates,new hires' attitudesare probably more formative than internaltransfers. Since new hires would have little i b t opportunityo achievesocial integrationntothe organization eforedeparting for the foreignassignment, he local foreignorganization ould be relatively t w i more importantn shapingworkattitudes. Also, pursuingthe logic of Steers and Mowday [1981], pre-employmentexpectations would be relatively more importantin shaping new hires' work attitudessince expectations w a regarding oththe organization ndthe foreignassignment ouldbe clarified. Whetherthe expatriateis an internaltransferor a new hire, the expatriate initially arrives in the foreign assignmentwith some level of satisfaction, b co mmitment nd involvement. dditionally, ased on the domesticresearch, a A these three attitudesare positively relatedto one another. Proposition 11 Thereis a positive elationshipmongan expatriate's r a satisfaction,commitment,and involvementwith respectto the organization. Attitudestowardthe Organizationin the Foreign AssignmentThe traditionalturnovermodels of Mobley, et al. [1979] and Steers and Mowday [1981] postulatethat satisfaction,commitment,and involvement collectively result in an employee formulatingintentions to stay in the organization r to quit. In the international ontext,an expatriate anager's o c m a family situation,the careerpathingperceptions,countrycharacteristics, nd the degree of cross-cultural djustment ppearto be moderatingvariables. a a Thus, the employees' attitudetowardthe parentorganization ay be modim fied to resultin attitudestowardthe organization n the foreign assignment. These attitudeswould still conceptuallyinclude satisfaction,commitment, and involve ment,but the constructswould be more directlyinfluencedby the international xperience. e Supportfor the changes in an expatriate'sattitudestowardthe organization in the international ontext is providedby Gregersonand Black [1990a]. c Their researchindicatedthat expatriatesare often differentiallycommitted to the organization nd local foreignoperations. urthermore,on-jobfactors a F n were significantly related to local commitment. These findings appearto f t and c rovide upportorthecontentionhatcountry haractenrstics an expatriate's s family situationwill affect the expatriate'ssatisfaction,commitment,and involvementwith respectto the organizationn the international ssignment. i a 516 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 Unfortunately,the concept of dual commitments, or dual attitudes in general, has received very little research attention internationally. Therefore, it is unknown whether attitudes toward the parent organization or attitudes toward the local f oreign organization would dominate in the formation of behavioral intentions.However, the model explicitly assumes that the expatriate's initial attitudes do not remain constant. As suggested by the high expatriate turnover rate, the expatriate's attitudes generally deteriorate due to a variety of unique internationalfactors. Some of the factors were discussed previously within the three categories of predictor variables. The remaining unique internationalfactors of family situation, country characteristics,career pathing, and cross-cultural adjustment appear quite important and will be addressed individually in the following sections.The assumption is made, however, that there is a â€Å"spill-over effect† between an expatriate's attitudes toward the parent organization (probably formulated domestically) and attitudes toward the international assignment. Expatriates with very positive attitudes toward the organization in general are also likely to have more positive attitude s internationally. Expatriates who possess lower levels of attitudes toward the organization in general are likely also to have lower levels of affective responses internationally.This explicitly assumes that each of the three attitudes can be formulated at a more macro level toward the organization in general or at a micro level that is more closely related to the foreign assignment. While the dual levels of commitment and satisfaction have been well identified in the domestic literature, it seems intuitively logical that the same could be said for job involvement. For some expatriates, attitudes toward the organization may remain positive while negative international attitudes may develop. Such a situation may result in an internal transfer.For other expatriates, initially positive attitudes toward the organization may deteriorate internationally leading to external turnover. Proposition 12 There is a positive relationship between job satisfaction,commitment,and involvement (with respect to the organization) and expatriate satisfaction, commitment, and involvement (with respect to the international assignment). Expatriate's Family While an employee's family situation may not be central to the domestic turnover process, the family situation is apparently a critically important oderatingvariable in the expatriateturnoverprocess. Harvey [1985] contends that the family situation may be the most important contributorto expatriate turnover. Supportfor Harvey's contentionis providedby Tung's [1982] research that indicated that two of three most frequently cited causes for expatriate failure were family related. Specifically, â€Å"the inability of the expatriate's family/spouse to adjust to a different physical or cultural environment† and CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 517 â€Å"otherfamilyrelatedproblems†receivedstrongsupport. espitethe apparent D mportanceof the family, less than half of MNCs interviewthe spouse in the expatriate election p rocess [Black and Stephens1989; Tung 1981] and s expatriation rainingfor the family is very rare [Black and Stephens 1989]. t If a spouse or family memberis undergoingcultureshock or experiencing t difficulty in makingthe cross-cultural djustment, he morale,performance a and work attitudesof the expatriatemanagermay be adversely affected [Harvey 1985; Mendenhall,Dunbarand Oddou 1987; Tung 1982]. Since the majority of expatriatemanagers are male [Adler 1984], the greatest impact of a foreign relocationmay be experiencedby the wife [Gaylord 1979].The wife may experiencehigh levels of stress due to a disruptionof i children'seducation,loss of self-worthand identity,particularlyf she was previouslyemployed, lack of contactwith friends and relatives, and social or culturalostracism in the foreign country [Harvey 1985]. Furthermore, children are often resistantto moving, even domestically. The problems faced by childrenregarding ducation,linguisticdifferences,social relatione ships, and c ulturalvalues also can be the sourceof stress and conflict. Thus, the greaterthe numberof children,the more likely adjustment roblemsare p o occur. Also, older children such as teenagers are more likely to have t developedstrongpeer social relationships nddisrupting hose relationships a for an internationalransfer ay have negativeresults. Despite the apparent t m importanceof these variables,there is apparentlyittle empiricalinvestigal on expatriateturnover. tion of the impactof the family situation However,as noted by Black and Stephens[1989], the family situationis an e t intuitivelyimportant lementof the expatriate urnover rocess. They noted p t hatthereappearso be botha positiveandnegative†spillovereffect†between expatriatesand their spouses' perceptionsof an international ssignment. a w Specifically, expatriateand spouse adjustment ere significantlyand positively correlated, nd were relatedto the expatriate'sintentionto stay in the a foreign assignment. Even if an e xpatriatemanageris very positive about the foreign assignment, a transfer â€Å"home† may be the result of family dissatisfaction. Conversely,a positive family situationis likely to enhance an expatriate's attitudes and cross-culturaladjustment,and increase the probabilityof a successful foreign experience.Theredoes appearto be a potentialproblemin evaluatingthe impactof the spouse or family situationon turnover. Attributingexpatriateturnoverto the failure of the spouse to adjustmay be simplistic [Dowling and Welch 1988]. Expatriatesmay use their spouses as scapegoats,ratherthan admit theirown failuresto adjust. This may reducethe negativecareerimplications of an early transferhome. Likewise, top level corporateexecutives may attributeexpatriatefailure to the expatriate'sfamily ratherthan critically evaluatetheir own firm's expatriation rogramswhich may be deficient. p There are many dimensions of an expatriate'sfamily situation that may w oderate orkattitudes. nfortunately, ost of these variables ave received h m U little or no researchattention. Therefore,the following propositionhas been 518 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 stated very generally as a global measure of â€Å"family satisfaction,† which is undoubtedly a multifaceted concept. Proposition 13 The expatriate's family satisfaction with the international experience has a positive moderating influence on the expatriate's job satisfaction, commitment, and involvement with respect to the organization in the foreign assignment. The more ositive the expatriate's family attitudes, the more likely the expatriate is to develop positive work attitudes internationally. Proposition 14 The fewer the number of children that relocate with the expatriate, the more positive the expatriate's work attitudes. Proposition 15 The younger the children that relocate with the expatriate, the more positive the expatriate's work attitudes. CountryCharacteristics All foreign assignme nts are not created equal. Dramatic differences exist both between and within countries that can influence expatriates', and their families', cross-cultural adjustment and their subsequent attitudes.In many cultures, foreigners are viewed with distrust and skepticism. As a result, building social relationships with local nationals may be impossible. For example, few western women find the Arabic countries enjoyable due to the constrained role of women in those societies [Thai and Cateora 1979; Dowling and Schuler 1990]. As a result, some companies may prefer to select managers who are unmarried for foreign assignments in the belief that a single person will have fewer adjustments.However, many single male expatriates are socially ostracized, and they may have a more difficult social adjustment than a married couple who can provide each other mutual support. In addition to social and cultural factors, expatriates can experience dissatisfaction due to living conditions and health prob lems. A foreign oil company executive with extensive international experience expressed his preference for having Americans on international projects because they were always the first to get sick if a health problem existed. The Americans were his â€Å"miner's canary† that served as an early warning of potential health problems.Issues such as these have been referred to as â€Å"cultural toughness† and â€Å"cultural novelty† [Black and Stephens 1989; Mendenhall and Oddou 1985; Torbiorn 1982]. Cultural toughness describes the difficulty that a western expatriate would have adapting to certain cultures. For example, Torbiorn [1982] noted that western expatriates experienced higher levels of dissatisfaction with assignments in India, the Middle East, North Africa, CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATE TURNOVER 519 East Africa, and Liberia. Thus, some cultures are very different from western cultures and are also very difficult to adjust to.Other countries may have a ve ry different culture, but are much easier to adapt to for expatriates and their families. The concept of culturaldifferences influencing the cross-cultural adjustment process is intuitively logical. However, there appears to be a lack of consensus regarding conceptualizations of this factor. For example, the terms â€Å"cultural toughness,† and â€Å"cultural novelty,† appearin the international business literature. Unfortunately, tightly developed definitions and consistent research operationalizations are generally lacking. Hofstede [1980] perationalized â€Å"cultural distance† along four indices of work-related values, but most researchershave used a broader,more macro level approach. Harbison and Myers [1959] conceptualized cultural differences in stages of economic development and the role of the firm in that process. Farmer and Richman [1980] conceptualizeddifferences along socio-cultural,legal-political, economic, and educational dimensions. Nath [1988] described behavioral differences that included cultural factors such as attitudes, beliefs, value systems, behavioral patterns, and management philosophies.Negandhi and Prasad [1971] evaluated differences in the task environment such as distributors, suppliers, employees, consumers, government, and community. Consensus regarding the appropriatedimensions to use in measuring cultural differences is lacking, but there is apparently strong support for the general concepts of cultural toughness, cultural novelty, and/or cultural distance. Each country presents the expatriate, and the expatriate's family, with a unique set of adjustmentproblems. The more divergent a foreign assignment and location from the home country environment, the greater the potential of experiencing culture shock.Indirectly supporting this contention was Beamish's [1985] finding that MNCs are more likely to be dissatisfied with the performance of operating units located in less developed countries that are likely to be â€Å"culturally tough. † The more â€Å"culturally tough† a foreign country, the more likely the expatriate's work attitudes will be negatively affected. Therefore, the following proposition was developed. Proposition 16 The culturaland environmentalsimilarity of home and host countries has a positive, moderating influence on expatriate satisfaction, commitment, and involvement (with respect to the international assignment).The more similar the foreign culture and environmentto the home environment, the more positive the impact on expatriate satisfaction, commitment, and involvement with respect to the organization in the foreign assignment. Career Pathing Research on the career value of foreign assignments in MNCs is inconsistent. The inconsistency may result from the fact that the human resources function constitutes the weakest link in the overall strategic planning process in 520 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 most U. S. MNCs [L orange and Murphy 1983; Tung 1984].Thus, many foreign assignments appear haphazard rather than part of a planned process to develop certain managerial skills. As a result, international assignments appear to be avoided by some high performing managers due to potential negative career consequences [Adler 1980]. For example, Edstrom and Galbraith [1977] suggested that expatriates often viewed the purpose of their overseas assignment as development for future executive responsibility. However, Gonzalez and Negandhi [1966] found that about half of former expatriates were in low level positions fifteen years later.Howard [1973] and Harvey [1989] found that a good deal of uncertainty and conflict surrounded the expatriation and repatriation process and skills developed by expatriates were seldom used after their return home. These results led Mendenhall, Dunbar and Oddou [1987] to note that the â€Å"overseas assignment is a haphazard, ill-planned affair that is usually accompanied with vertical advancement. † They concluded that the impetus for overseas staffing seems to be more to meet immediate manpower needs than to create an integrated career development strategy for future corporate executives.This lack of career path clarity may cause expatriate managers to reevaluate their own career goals and the congruity of those goals with the organization. Since career counseling is very rare regarding international transfers, many expatriates are probably unaware of some career issues until they are actually on foreign assignment.