Parallels Between the Gilgamesh Surge Account and the Scriptural Surge Account - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 1 Words: 374 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/06/24 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Gilgamesh Essay Did you like this example? There are numerous parallels between the Gilgamesh surge account and the scriptural surge account starting specifically with God picking a noble man to construct an ark because of an approaching extraordinary surge. This surge or flood was meant to get rid of all humans because God or gods were displeased with them. In the two records, all types of creatures were to be on the ark, and winged animals were utilized after the downpours to decide whether surge waters had dried up anywhere and uncovered dry land. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Parallels Between the Gilgamesh Surge Account and the Scriptural Surge Account" essay for you Create order In both the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Hebrew bibles story, the flood was caused because the humans were behaving badly and had to be punished. This then lead to death, destruction, and rebirth all caused by billions of gallons of water flooding the earth. These texts share unusual themes with key elements occurring in the same order and sequence, and we cannot brush this off by simply saying that this was just an instance of the same combination of uncommon unrelated motifs in the same sequence. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods decide to destroy mankind by causing a fatal flood that lasted for six days and six nights. In the Hebrew bible, also known as the old testament, God also decides to flood the earth due to the humans bad behavior, only for a longer time. In Genesis the storm lasted for 40 days. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights (Genesis 7:12). These two details are very parallel to each other, along with many other similar details in both texts. For a long time, there has been a controversy around the very similar details, and whether one copied from another. The situation at hand definitely makes it seem as if the Hebrew bible consciously and purposely derived ideas and motifs from the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic of Gilgamesh emerges as one of the soonest known works in the mankinds history. It is an epic sonnet whose exposition portray the story rotating around the life of a man named Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was the King of Urukthe superb Sumer ian city that is situated in present day Iraq. This noteworthy wonderful bit of writing really originates before Homers most punctual works by 1500 years.

Early Detection Of Breast Cancer - 971 Words

In women worldwide, more than 1 million women were diagnosed in 2012, making the breast cancer the most commun cancer (1). In United States, breast cancer represent 29% of new cases expected to be diagnosed in 2015 of all cancer, and is one of the most common cancer diagnosed after skin cancer. It is also unfortunatley the second cause of death cancer within women, and 17% death cases are expected in 2015 for invasive breast cancer (IBC), among the new cases (2). Among the 61% of the breast cancer diagnosed at a confined stage, the 5-year survival rate is up to 99%, whereas it can drops to 25% when metastasis can be seen at time of diagnosis(2). The early detection of breast cancer is made by a clinical breast exam and a mammography for most of women, and has shown to reduce mortality since many years (3) with an incidence rate staying stable among women, which is the results of improvement of technics of detection for early diagnosis and treatement (2). Breast cancer can be categorized by many ways such as clinical features, histologic type, or expression of tumor markers. Invasive breast cancer has two major histological types, invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), which is the most common one and the invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC). ILC is more difficult to detect than IDC because of subtle lesion characteristics(4)(5). Among breast cancer, 20% are breast carcinoma in situ which is realtively common with more than 60000 cases expected to be diagnosed in 2015 (2). The mostShow MoreRelatedBreast Cancer : A Shocking And Very Serious Disease1696 Words   |  7 PagesBreast cancer is a horrifying and very serious disease that should not be underestimated. It is a common cancer in women but the majority of women that are affected by this disease do not know that it can be treated in all sorts of ways or that breast cancer rarely ever appears in the same form more than once. As one of the leading causes of death in the United States, breast cancer is affecting tons of people. Orenstein, a breast cancer survivor, discusses the awareness and education of breast cancerRead MoreBreast Cancer Essay1178 Words   |  5 PagesAbstract: Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide. The most common type of breast cancer is ductal carcinoma, which arises in cells that lines breast duct. Many imaging techniques are used for the screening and diagnosis, but typically patients are diagnosed at advanced stage only, and the prognosis is associated with early detection. At present serum and protein biomarkers improving early detection of breast cancer, these make better treatment options with a better responseRead MoreLeah Wyrick. Ms. Basinger. Ap Language And Composition.1685 Words   |  7 PagesLeah Wyrick Ms. Basinger AP Language and Composition 12 May 2017 Breast Cancer Breast cancer is a disease in which most commonly occurs in all women no matter their size, shape, race, or ethnicity. About one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every year, a fatal disease if not discovered early. Early detection of breast cancer is key so that cancerous cells found in the breast do not spread through other parts of the body. On a positive note, however, significant advances have beenRead MoreBreast Cancer : A Disease1737 Words   |  7 PagesWyrick 1 Leah Wyrick Ms. Basinger AP Language and Composition 12 May 2017 Breast Cancer Breast cancer is a disease in which most commonly occurs in all women no matter their size, shape, race, or ethnicity. About one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every year, a fatal disease if not discovered early. Early detection of breast cancer is key so that cancerous cells found in the breast do not spread through other parts of the body. On a positive note, however, significant advancesRead MoreEssay on Advanced Technology of the Treatment of Breast Cancer1696 Words   |  7 PagesTreatment of Breast Cancer nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; This year 203,000 women will be diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and 40,000 of them are expected to die. Breast Cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death among women the ages of 35-54. There are numerous ways breast cancer can be treated if found early. The key to treating breast cancer is early detection, beast self-exams, and early mammograms. One out of every eight women will get diagnosed with Breast Cancer this year; thereforeRead MoreThe Treatment Of Breast Cancer1309 Words   |  6 Pages Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common malignant disease occurring in women in Saudi society. After study and research, it found that two-thirds of the injuries in the Saudi society are diagnosed in advanced stages. The reasons for that are the lack of education for necessary of Self-examination and clinical examination annual, leading to the spread of the disease further. In addition to genetic changes, environmental pollution, bad lifestyle , Obesity ,Lack of exercise are also factorsRead MoreThe Survival Rates Of Breast Cancer1373 Words   |  6 Pages Breast Cancer is the most common misfortune in women and second leading cause of death by cancer. Today, woman with breast cancer have a 90% chance of surviving for five years post-diagnosis. However, African American women have a national survival rate of 79%. Socioeconomic barriers and lack of access to health services have crippled African American women in breast cancer advancements. Studies have show that African American women tend to be diagnosed with a higher-stage of cancer because ofRead MoreWomen Should Have 3d Mammograms1394 Words   |  6 Pagestelephones have gone from rotary style with party lines to individual wireless phones the size of your palm. Similarly, mammograms have gone through a transformation due to technological advances. In the past, mammograms were performed by compressing breast tissue, and a series of 2D pictures were taken. This process took a long time and was very painful and uncomfortable. This made many women reluctant to go through the process of mammography; however, in the last few years, a new form of mammographyRead MoreA Brief Look at Breast Cancer Essay1736 Words   |  7 PagesBREAST CANCER Introduction/Background Cancer is characterized by unregulated/uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. The etiological factors of Cancer include both external factors (tobacco, infectious organisms, chemicals, and radiation) and inherent factors (inherited mutations, hormones, immune conditions, and mutations that occur from metabolism). The etiological factors may act together or in sequence to trigger the development of cancer. It may take several years for the manifestationRead MoreMammograms: Powerful Breast Cancer Essay885 Words   |  4 Pagessafe, low-dose x-ray of the breast. A high-quality mammogram is the most effective tool for detecting breast cancer early. Early detection of breast cancer may allow more treatment options. It could even mean saving your breast or your life. Mammograms are probably the most important tool doctors have to help them diagnose, evaluate, and follow women whove had breast cancer. Mammograms dont prevent breast cancer, but they can save lives by finding brea st cancer as early as possible. There are four

Providing Safe Health Care Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Question: Discuss about theProviding Safe Health Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Answer: Introduction A good and safe health care is the right of every person, but the health care services are not enjoyed by all the people with so much ease. There are some obstructions and barriers that restrict some people from fully availing the health care services. There are various components that account for a culturally safe health care. In this essay, I am going to discuss various problems faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people and how better health care services can be provided to them. Barriers to health care access experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders There are certain factors that hinder the access to health care services (Chapman, Smith and Martin, 2014). I have mentioned some of them below: Language: According to the statistics provided by ABS, it is observed that in 2008 around 13% of the Aboriginal and Torres Islanders (in the age group 15 and above) speak languages other than English and about 15% of this group faced difficulty in communicating in English. So, the language sets a barrier in accessing quality health care services as a person from the aforementioned group is not able to discuss his health condition properly (ABS. Gov. au, 2016). Trust: This is another factor that causes people to avail the health care services. Data provided by ABS revealed that about 80% of adults have strong belief in their local doctors and hospitals (Abs.gov.au, 2016). Transport facilities: Around 71% adults live in the remote area where there is a lack of local transport facilities and they are not able to reach the health care providers when needed (Abs.gov.au, 2016). Telecommunication facilities: Majority of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders does not have internet access and this causes a problem in locating the health care providers in the vicinity (Nangala, 2008). Creating an Interpersonal Relationship I believe that the beliefs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people vary from the healthcare providers. Aboriginals focus on issuing respect and developing an interpersonal bonding between them and the healthcare provider. On the other hand, the healthcare providers are more interested in making the people comfortable to the physical environment changes. I think one should respect the culture and beliefs of others. Developing an interpersonal relationship is as important as making the patient comfortable with the system and physical environment changes. The patient should be treated with dignity, and there should not be any assault on an individuals identity. Every individual is different with a different perspective and the health care providers should respect that. They should be treated as they want themselves to be treated and not the way you want to treat them. As a health care provider, I think following the above-mentioned principles would help me treat my clients in a better way. They would be more comfortable in sharing every detail of their health conditions if they have a strong interpersonal relation with me (Hayman and Armstrong, 2014) Cultural Safety in Health Care Cultural safety is defined as an environment where an individual enjoys spiritual, social, emotional, and physical safety. An individuals identity is not challenged, assaulted, or denied in a culturally safe environment. Cultural safety is about sharing respect, knowledge, and learning together. The concept of cultural safety was started in 1980 in New Zealand to improve the quality of health care services provided to Maori people, who are the indigenous people of New Zealand. Now the concept of cultural safety is being introduced in the Australian nursing system also through educational institutions (McBain-Rigg and Veitch, 2011). People who feel culturally safe are more likely to avail health care services frequently, discuss their health concerns with ease. They tend to follow their health care providers routinely. As a result, cultural safety ensures increased patient outcomes (Willis, Smye and Rameka, 2006). I think the patients should not be asked to focus on any cultural dimension that does not belong to their own culture. Instead, we should be more flexible in our thinking and attitude towards different cultures. The people who do not possess a good command over the same language that we speak should be treated with patience. We should try to understand their concerns. Some of the key points to create a culturally safe environment are that one should reflect ones own culture, beliefs about others and attitude. I think establishing trust with the patient helps to achieve a more comfortable environment. One should recognize and avoid the stereotypical barriers that cause hindrance in providing quality hea lth care services (Sajiv, 2013). Improving Health Care Services I believe there is still a rift between the ideal health care quality and the actual health care that is being provided (Fredericks, 2006). There are certain factors that define ideal health care quality viz. safety, efficiency, equity, timeliness, patient-centeredness and effectiveness. Most important of these factors is equity, which aims at ensuring quality health care services for all regardless of their ethnicity, race or any other personal characteristic of the patient (Hayman, 2011). Other factors can be defined explained as: Safety: to treat the patient safely without causing any care related injuries. Timeliness: to reduce waiting time and delays for the person seeking care to provide quality services on time. This can avoid severe health conditions. Efficiency: to avoid any waste of resources such as the waste of equipment, energy, and supplies. Patient-centeredness: to provide care that respects the values, beliefs and preferences of the patient. Effectiveness: to provide health care services based on the scientific knowledge so that the patient could get most benefit from the health care services. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people have as much right over the quality health care services as any other citizen of our country. They should be treated equally in a culturally safe environment where they do not feel reluctant in sharing their health concerns. Their values and beliefs should be honored. Programs that include Aboriginal studies should be introduced in the education system at the base level so that health care providers can understand the culture and protocols of the Aboriginal people in depth (Molloy and Grootjans, 2014). Conclusion Every individual of our country demands an equal right to avail good health care facilities, but the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people are still not getting the quality care services. Unfortunately, the inborn racial attitude and colonial mentality towards the Aboriginal people of our country are taking some time to change. There are various barriers such as language, culture, lack of local transport system that restricts the Aboriginal people from availing the quality health care services. Health care providers are not fully aware of the protocols of the Aboriginal people and thus, I think education regarding the cultural safety is needed to be introduced at the root level in the education system. References Chapman, R., Smith, T. and Martin, C. (2014). Qualitative exploration of the perceived barriers and enablers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people accessing healthcare through one Victorian Emergency Department. Contemporary Nurse, 48(1), pp.48-58. Nangala, S. (2008). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health: today's challenges, tomorrow's opportunities. Aust. Health Review, 32(2), p.302. Abs.gov.au. (2016). 4704.0 - The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Oct 2010. [online] Available at: https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/lookup/4704.0Chapter960Oct+2010 [Accessed 8 Aug. 2016]. Hayman, N. and Armstrong, R. (2014). Health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: handle with care. Med J Aust, 200(11), p.613. McBain-Rigg, K. and Veitch, C. (2011). Cultural barriers to health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Mount Isa. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 19(2), pp.70-74. Sajiv, C. (2013). Cultural considerations when providing care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI) opting for conservative care. Nephrology, p.n/a-n/a. Hayman, N. (2011). Improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's access to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Aust Prescr, 34(2), pp.38-40. Willis, E., Smye, V. and Rameka, M. (2006). Advances in indigenous health care. Sydney: EContent Management Pty Ltd. Molloy, L. and Grootjans, J. (2014). The Ideas of Frantz Fanon and Culturally Safe Practices for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Australia. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 35(3), pp.207-211. Fredericks, B. (2006). Which way? Educating for nursing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Contemporary Nurse, 23(1), pp.87-99.

Land Pollution in Ibadan Essay Example

Land Pollution in Ibadan Paper Human activities are the main factor and their misuse of land resources. Arbitration and industrialization are major causes of land pollution. Indiscriminate disposal of domestic (solid and liquid) and industrial wastes, exploitation of minerals, and improper use of soil by inadequate agricultural practices are a few factors. Taking Abidjan as a case study, we are going to discuss the causes of land pollution in Abidjan, the effects, the remedial measures and how effective they are. Abidjan was historically an Gab town. The Gab occupants were forced to leave the town and moved to present-day Absolute under the leadership of Stocked when the surge of Oho refugees flocked into the towns as an aftermath of the fall of Oho Kingdom. Abidjan grew into an impressive and sprawling urban center so much that by the end of 1 829, Abidjan dominated the Your;b; region militarily, politically and economically. The military sanctuary expanded even further when refugees began arriving in large numbers from northern Oho following raids by Flank warriors. After losing the northern portion of their region to the marauding Fulfils, many Oho indigene retreated deeper into the Abidjan environs. The Flank Caliphate attempted to expand further into the southern region of modern-day Nigeria, UT was decisively defeated by the armies of Abidjan in 1840. The Abidjan area became a British Protectorate in 1 893 and by then the population had swelled to 120,000. The British developed the new colony to facilitate their commercial activities in the area, and Abidjan shortly grew into the major trading center that it is today. We will write a custom essay sample on Land Pollution in Ibadan specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Land Pollution in Ibadan specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Land Pollution in Ibadan specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer At independence, Abidjan was the largest and the most populous city in Nigeria and the third in Africa after Cairo and Johannesburg. It is located in south-western, 128 km inland northeast of Lagos and 345 km southwest of , the federal capital and is a prominent point between the region and the areas to the north. The population of Abidjan was 2,550,593 according to 2006 census results, including 1 1 local government areas. The principal inhabitants of the city are the Yours. Waste also includes garbage, construction debris, commercial refuse, sludge from water, control facilities and other discarded materials. Most of the solid wastes, like paper, plastic containers, bottles, cans, and even used cars and electronic goods are not bio-degradable, which means they do not get broken down through inorganic or organic processes. Thus, when they accumulate they pose a health threat to people. Decaying wastes also attract household pests and result in urban areas becoming unhealthy, dirty, and unsightly places to reside in. Moreover, it also causes damage to terrestrial organisms, while also reducing the uses of the land for other, more useful purposes. Some of the sources of solid, liquid and gaseous waste that cause land pollution are: *Wastes from Agriculture: This comprises of waste matter produced by crop, animal manure, and farm residues. *Wastes from Mining: Piles of coal refuse and heaps of slam. *Wastes from Industries: Industrial waste matter that can cause land pollution can include paints, chemicals, and so on. Solids from Sewage Treatment: Wastes that re left over after sewage has been treated, biomass sludge, and settled solids. *Ashes: The residual matter that remains after solid fuels are burned. *Garbage: This comprises of waste matter from food that are decomposable and other waste matter that are not decomposable such as glass, metal, cloth, plastic, wood, paper, and so on. WASTE GENERATION IN ABIDJAN Solid waste Although it is generally agreed that enormous quantities of solid waste are generated in Abidjan daily, the exact figures have not been determined, probably owing to the use of diverse methods of calculation. Mackerel International Ltd (1970) found that the average per capita quantity of solid waste generated was 0. 37-0. 5 keg/day for the traditional areas of the city and 0. 53 keg/day for the newer areas. According to Juniors (1986), 38 million keg of solid waste was collected in the suburbs of Abidjan in 1986. The suburbs constitute about 21% of the city. On this basis, it can be estimated that 181 million keg of solid waste was generated in the city as a whole in 1986. This gives a per capita waste-generation rate of 0. 31 keg/day, using the 1986 estimated population of 1. Million for the city. In 1982, PA Associates corded the volume and weight of solid Waste generated per household per day in Abidjan. The study revealed that waste generation varied according to land use, with residential land use taking the bulk of the share. The generation rates were 3. 4 keg/household per day in the traditional areas, 3. 2 keg/household per day in the newer areas, and 3. 3 keg/household per day in the whole city (altogether giving a per capita generation rate of 0. 33 keg/day). Several researchers have studied the volume of refuse generated in the city. For example, Mackerel International Ltd (1970) estimated this volume at 182 00 t. The latest study, conducted by Hastening and Seasoned Associates (1994), estimated the per capita rate at 0. 6 keg/day, with a density of 300 keg/ mm. The projections are based on an annual growth rate of population per year The solid-waste composition in Abidjan comprises leaves, paper, food waste, tins, glass, and rags (Mackerel International Ltd 1970). This is because Abidjan is located in the heart of a rich agricultural land and has a large old and unplanned section.

Freedom to Wed essays

Freedom to Wed essays Same-sex marriages are illegal in California, as well as many other states. Two people in love, no matter what their sexual orientation, race, or status should be allowed to wed. The institution of marriage has been controversial for centuries. It was only after the civil war that African-Americans could wed in the United States. People of different races were not allowed to marry until 1967, when the US Supreme Court ruled they could. People in same-sex relationships are facing the same battles fought and won by African-American and mixed race couples of the past. Marriage is a basic human right and the state should not interfere with a couples choice to wed. By interfering and condemning same-sex marriages and unions, the state is discriminating against those in such a relationship. Most people do not understand that marriage comes with benefits and privileges that same-sex couples are denied. When a heterosexual couple marries the state grants them about 400 rights and the federal government grants and additional 1,000 benefits. Some of these benefits are taken for granted by heterosexual couples. Why does a married man have the right to visit his dying wife in the hospital while in a similar situation, the partner of another man must sit in the waiting room and be treated like a stranger? If we asked people if this was fair, most would say no. But, by not allowing same-sex marriages we are denying couples this privilege. People that are against same-sex marriage have said that by allowing same-sex couples to marry we are undermining the sacredness of marriage. I do not see how. How is it any less sacred for two loving people, who happen to be of the same sex, to take vows and commit to their relationship than it is for two people of the opposite sex? What I find more harmful to the sacredness of marriage is when two people whom are not committed to each other get married. What is sacred ...

Research Paper Topics

Research Paper Topics Research Paper Topics Research Paper Topics If you are assigned to write a research paper you should first define a research paper topic. You may investigate different spheres such as humanity, social science, history etc. Research paper in sciences generally involves recognizing a scientific problem to be solved, setting up an experiment design to yield useful data, and interpreting the data in the context of scientific knowledge. While writing research paper, you should use library resources, they help you to understand what is known about a given phenomenon, what experiment or project were already done on the chosen subject in science. You should read large volume of scientific literature before research paper writing. However, you will notice that there is wealth of resources which are not relevant to your research paper topic.   You should avoid using them as well as set yourself apart from unreliable article.   From this perspective, articles from peer-reviewed journals are the most appropriate.   While writing res earch paper and looking for scientific materials, you should choose search terms carefully, work from the most recent publications to earlier ones, sorting out schools of thought. Reading a scientific literature helps you to find out the most important and relevant information for your research paper topic. Consult a librarian to determine which resources are the best for your research and whether they are available. Research Paper Topics Tips While writing research paper for humanities class, you have to interpret a text or a work of art within a historical and cultural context, make connections, explore the attached meaning, and uncover contradictions. While writing a research paper, resources are collected for the three purposes:  to obtain primary information to be interpreted or analyzed, to find secondary sources to put primary sources in a critical context, to seek answers to specific questions that arise during research. Writing research paper is often interdisciplinary, crossing boundaries between literature and history, philosophy and art, or music and religion. Because the subject areas are hard to categorize, the terminology used in humanities research may be less solid and agreed upon than in other fields. Researchers in the humanities are more likely to draw material from texts and artifacts than from original data gathering and experimentation. They must be prepared to be flexible, both in search terminolo gy and in search strategy writing research paper, tolerant of multiple perspectives on the same object of study, prepared to use citations from relevant texts to locate other material and clarify connections among works, willing to return to the library as new questions arise. Research paper format is usually specified by the tutor and can be very different, however, the basic components should be preserved:   introduction, research hypothesis, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, analysis, recommendation, and conclusion. Custom Written Research Papers Looking for help with research paper writing?   writers are here to help you with any stage of research paper writing.   We are experienced and dedicated to your academic requirements.   Every custom written research paper we deliver is accompanied with free plagiarism report and bibliography list.

What does true friendship require Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

What does true friendship require - Essay Example Since Finny trusts Gene as his friend, he does not believe what h says concerning the fall. In ‘The Hobbit’, true friendship is helping the ones in need such as the case in the book in which Gollum helps Bilbo to escape from the tunnel (Falconer 3). True friendship means helping one another and loving the other person in any difficult situation. In the ‘Thank you M’am’ the fat woman helps the boy with 10 dollars for buying Swede shoes (Hughes 5). The act shows true friendship as Mrs. Luella shows some affection to the poor boy who tried to steal from her. In the book ‘A Separate Path, Finny cannot believe that is the best friend can cause him to fall and break his legs. Finny loves his friend so much and his ready to help him by advising him to train as an athlete (Knowles 4). In the book, The Hobbit Gollum assists Bilbo to get out of the cave, and Gandalf rescues the team when it goes underground (Falconer 3). The theme of friendship and love is evident considering the help Bilbo gets from Gollum and the rescue. In the three books, the themes of friendship and love are portrayed clearly. In conclusion, true friends love each other as demonstrated by the themes of the three stories. In the first case, the fat woman helps the boy while in the second book Finny does not believe that his true friend can betray him causing him to fall. In the Hobbit, the team gets help from Gandalf and Bilbo gets help from Gollum, which portrays a lot of love and

Compassion fatigue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Compassion fatigue - Essay Example The condition can affect an individual at a personal level and professionally as noted by Figley (1995). The effects of the condition include reduced productivity, reduced ability to focus, self doubt and feelings of incompetence. Other signs of the disorder include isolation, substance abuse and bottled up emotions. Caregivers need to realise that just one story that overwhelms their ability to sensualise an event can lead to compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is mainly caused when caregivers witness marks of trauma in other people’s lives to an extent that they get overwhelmed (Van & Rothenberg, 2009). Some of the common causes of the disorder include working with suicidal ideation, hearing stories of child abuse, dealing with people suffering from terminal illnesses, providing care to people who have suffered the loss of a loved one , and providing care to rape survivors, just to mention a few. For caregivers to provide high quality services without succumbing to compassion fatigue, they should take care of their physical, spiritual and emotional needs. They should be in good physical health so as to be able to overcome the physical pressures that are exerted on them in the course of work. Emotionally, nurses get affected as they handle different cases, some of which are traumatic. The nurses need to find a way of easing the emotional stresses that they experience taking measures to ensure that these do not build up gradually or progressively. Yet again, nurses need to get in touch with their spiritual selves so as to have an assurance of being under the protection of a superior being. In as much as compassion fatigue can cause a lot of suffering and pain, caregivers can overcome its effects by learning its symptoms and taking appropriate actions to avoid or overcome the disorder in case it takes root

Dr jekyll and mr hyde Essay Example for Free

Dr jekyll and mr hyde Essay This again shows that he wants no company and wants to be left alone. The next example, which shows secrecy, is the fog, when Utterson goes to Soho. The fog is described as, embattled vapours and swirling wreaths. Also it says The fog lifted a little and showed him a dingy street. This portrays secrecy because it is as if the fog reveals to him the street as if he didnt know it was there. Another point of the fog being secretive is where it says and the next moment the fog settled again upon the part. This was the home of Henry Jekylls favourite. This shows secrecy as well because the fog has cut him off from everything else apart from this building which he goes into. Both these points show how the fog has a secretive impact on the story. Jekylls property contributes to the theme of duality this is because it has two sides to it both different. On the one side is the big grand house which is decorated nicely, however the other side which is the laboratory, has barred windows and appears very spooky. The last example shows secrecy. It is Jekyll stating in his will which says In case of the decease of Henry Jekyll, all his possessions were to pass into the hands of his friend and benefactor Edward Hyde as well as In the case of Dr Jekylls disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar months This is all very secretive and when the readers read this they do not know why Jekyll would do this and why he actually has. It is all very secretive. R. L Stevenson was influenced to focus on duality and secrecy; these influences were from the Victorian times. Some men were highly respected, wealthy, married and successful men however they just like Jekyll lead a secret life, they went to prostitutes and lead lives secretly which no one knew about and definitely wouldnt have expected. A lot of people like grave robbers were skulking around, and in the Victorian times scientists were all experimenting trying new medicines and different potions and constantly experimenting like Jekyll. All of this Shows Duality and secrecy and shows how he got the influences to focus on the themes. In this section I will compare two characters and to see what they are like, what language is used to describe them and how does the characters relate to the themes. First of all Hyde is like an animal and the language used to describe him is inhumane, in the story, the phrases used to describe him are: like a cornered animal, like an animal evil looking, out of control like a wild animal and unpredictable. These all make him sound savage and a very evil man. However when you compare him with Carew the two are very different. Carew is described as: an aged beautiful gentleman, pretty manner of politeness and innocent. Carew is portrayed as a very kind gentleman who wouldnt hurt anyone and the language used to describe him is very innocent because of his kind personality. When you directly compare the two they are like complete opposites berceuse of where Hyde is evil and animal like, but whereas Carew is very kind. One of the moral ideas in this story is be careful what you wish for. This is because Jekyll wanted to be free of a moral conscience, however when he did and became Hyde it overpowered him, and then he wanted to be free of the thing he wanted in the first place, so much so he even took his own life. Another moral idea is not to overlook anyone because they dont know if they lead double lives like in the story Utterson knew Jekyll and never couldve guessed he could have done what he did. The message for the reader at the time was that the well respected gentlemen are not what they seem to be and should not be overlooked. The story is still relevant to the modern society because men are having affairs that people are not aware of, so this relates to the theme of duality which is expressed in the story. Also because of the moral decline in modern society the story is important because of the good men in the story, which relates to respectability which is shown in the story, for example Jekyll is well respected for being a well known doctor, however in modern times people are not very well respected because there are less morals and as people are turning to drugs or alcohols and the crime levels many people are not respected and possibly less, than in the story. Morals from the story involving secrecy and duality and nowadays I think they are still very valid. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE John Steinbeck section. Download this essay Print Save Not the one? Search for

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T. S. Eliot: Metaphysical Poetry, Prufrock and Hollow Men In the essay â€Å"The Metaphysical Poets,† T. S. Eliot explicates and praises the anti-Romantic and intellectual qualities of metaphysical poetry which Johnson had disapproved. Eliot writes â€Å"the poet must become more and more comprehensive, more allusive, more indirect in order to force, to dislocate if necessary, language into his meaning.† Eliot praised the metaphysical poets’ ability to find the verbal equivalent for states of mind and feeling while using clear, simple, pure language, and unexpected analogies to makes their reader sit up and consider a thought or emotion in a completely nuanced way, such language of metaphysical poetry is evident in Eliot’s poems, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and The Hollow Men. Eliot states that the term metaphysical has been used as a term of abuse or as the label of a quaint and pleasant taste. Johnson himself, who employed the term ‘metaphysical poets’ with the poet Donne chiefly in mind, remarks, â€Å"the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together.† Johnson apprehended the metaphysical style where the â€Å"effects are due to a contrast of ideas, different in degree, but the same in principle.† The force of Johnson’s argument lies in his belief that the metaphysical poets could only correlate dissimilar ideas with violence, and that they could not fuse their analogies into a whole. Eliot remarks that this, however, is not the case and that many of the metaphysical poets have succeeded in combining heterogeneous ideas. Eliot quotes from Bishop King, Herbert and Cowley and other such poets to support his assertion. Thus, Eliot concludes that the fault Johnson references is not valid and the unity of heteroge neous ideas is com... ... as corrosive and cowardly. In the final lines of the poem, the prickly pear rhyme ends in a song about the end of the world. And this is how the world ends in the realm of the hollow men, â€Å"not with a bang, but with a sad and quiet whimper.† Eliot creates a desolate and alienated world where the hollow men dream of a kingdom that could release them from the constant state of nothingness. He focuses on the hollow men’s inability to transcend although it is their only hope. He uses the imagery of disembodied eyes and fading stars to depict the state of the men’s consciousness. Aspects of the form copy the characteristics of the hollow men, as well. The speakers desire to avoid speech and his inability to complete full sentences are shown in the final lines of the poem. Eliot deploys, the hollow men represent all humankind, and their tragic existence concerns everyone. Essay -- T. S. Eliot: Metaphysical Poetry, Prufrock and Hollow Men In the essay â€Å"The Metaphysical Poets,† T. S. Eliot explicates and praises the anti-Romantic and intellectual qualities of metaphysical poetry which Johnson had disapproved. Eliot writes â€Å"the poet must become more and more comprehensive, more allusive, more indirect in order to force, to dislocate if necessary, language into his meaning.† Eliot praised the metaphysical poets’ ability to find the verbal equivalent for states of mind and feeling while using clear, simple, pure language, and unexpected analogies to makes their reader sit up and consider a thought or emotion in a completely nuanced way, such language of metaphysical poetry is evident in Eliot’s poems, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and The Hollow Men. Eliot states that the term metaphysical has been used as a term of abuse or as the label of a quaint and pleasant taste. Johnson himself, who employed the term ‘metaphysical poets’ with the poet Donne chiefly in mind, remarks, â€Å"the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together.† Johnson apprehended the metaphysical style where the â€Å"effects are due to a contrast of ideas, different in degree, but the same in principle.† The force of Johnson’s argument lies in his belief that the metaphysical poets could only correlate dissimilar ideas with violence, and that they could not fuse their analogies into a whole. Eliot remarks that this, however, is not the case and that many of the metaphysical poets have succeeded in combining heterogeneous ideas. Eliot quotes from Bishop King, Herbert and Cowley and other such poets to support his assertion. Thus, Eliot concludes that the fault Johnson references is not valid and the unity of heteroge neous ideas is com... ... as corrosive and cowardly. In the final lines of the poem, the prickly pear rhyme ends in a song about the end of the world. And this is how the world ends in the realm of the hollow men, â€Å"not with a bang, but with a sad and quiet whimper.† Eliot creates a desolate and alienated world where the hollow men dream of a kingdom that could release them from the constant state of nothingness. He focuses on the hollow men’s inability to transcend although it is their only hope. He uses the imagery of disembodied eyes and fading stars to depict the state of the men’s consciousness. Aspects of the form copy the characteristics of the hollow men, as well. The speakers desire to avoid speech and his inability to complete full sentences are shown in the final lines of the poem. Eliot deploys, the hollow men represent all humankind, and their tragic existence concerns everyone.

Steve Jobs : Book Review

STEVE JOBS BY WALTER ISAACSON Dear all dignitaries and peers present here, Welcome to this hall, where we are all presented with the rarest opportunity on hearing about various respected and popular members of this world. On given an opportunity, I wondered what should be the theme of my speech. Should I go for the Nobel laureates or the most popular figurines or people who changed this world? Nobel laureates are historic, and popular people as noted are already quite popular. So, let’s hear about a person who changed the way we look at technology now. The way he drove a multibillion dollar company, the way he became a symbol of youth GOD!Yes, I’m here to talk about the authorised biography, the i-bio of the master, STEVE JOBS by Walter Isaacson. ‘Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography' was one of the most eagerly awaited books of the year 2011. The book is a journey into the life of a legend who revolutionized the way people saw technology. Walter Issacson brings to life, the innovator, the dreamer and the devil within Steve Jobs. An absolutely must read! In my mind the sole purpose of reading non-fiction is to learn, and if you learn something, by definition you will be changed. So, what did I learn from this book? 1.I have a better understanding of Apple products and understand why they enjoy premium pricing. 2. Jobs ability to focus on only 2-3 things at once with absolute intensity. I, like many, have too many interests and hobbies and could benefit from a tighter focus on just a few. 3. Jobs was able to get the most from his employees, but sometimes with tactics that I wouldn’t be comfortable using, including intimidation and tearing down of others. 4. His goal was to surround himself with  Grade A minds. Surrounding yourself with the best is not a bad motto. 5. Life is short-treat time with your family as if you are aware of your short time on earth.So, How does the author portray the genius Was he unbiased? Well, to the authorà ¢â‚¬â„¢s credit, Walter Issacson  is a biographer and a writer. He is also the director of Aspen Institute and has been the Managing Editor of TIME. Issacson has previously written the biographies of Henry Kissinger and Albert Einstein. As a  biographer of Albert Einstein  and Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Isaacson knows how to explicate and celebrate genius: revered, long-dead genius. But he wrote â€Å"Steve Jobs† as its subject was mortally ill, and that is a more painful and delicate challenge. He had access to members of the Jobs family at a difficult time.Mr. Isaacson treats â€Å"Steve Jobs† as the biography of record, which means that it is a strange book to read so soon after its subject’s death. Some of it is an essential Silicon Valley chronicle, compiling stories well known to tech aficionados but interesting to a broad audience. Some of it is already quaint. Mr. Jobs’s first job was at Atari, and it involved the game Pong. (â€Å"If youâ€⠄¢re under 30, ask your parents,† Mr. Isaacson writes. ) Some, like an account of the release of the  iPad  2, is so recent that it is hard to appreciate yet, even if Mr. Isaacson says the device comes to life â€Å"like the face of a tickled baby.    And some is definitely intended for future generations. â€Å"Indeed,† Mr. Isaacson writes, â€Å"its success came not just from the beauty of the hardware but from the applications, known as apps, that allowed you to indulge in all sorts of delightful activities. † One that he mentions, which will be as quaint as Pong some day, features the use of a slingshot to launch angry birds to destroy pigs and their fortresses. So â€Å"Steve Jobs,† an account of its subject’s 56 years (he died on Oct. 5), must reach across time in more ways than one. And it does, in a well-ordered, if not streamlined, fashion.It begins with a portrait of the young Mr. Jobs, rebellious toward the parents who raised him a nd scornful of the ones who gave him up for adoption. (â€Å"They were my sperm and egg bank,† he says. ) Although Mr. Isaacson is not analytical about his subject’s volatile personality (the word â€Å"obnoxious† figures in the book frequently), he raises the question of whether feelings of abandonment in childhood made him fanatically controlling and manipulative as an adult. Fortunately, that glib question stays unanswered. As far as the making of the book, that in itself is a wondrous story.During the summer of 2009, Walter Isaacson got a phone call from Steve Jobs. It so turned out that Jobs wanted Isaacson to write a biography of him. After  Steve Jobs  anointed  Walter Isaacson  as his authorized biographer in 2009, he took Mr. Isaacson to see the Mountain View, California, house in which he had lived as a boy. He pointed out its â€Å"clean design† and â€Å"awesome little features. † He praised the developer, Joseph Eichler, who bu ilt more than 11,000 homes in California subdivisions, for making an affordable product on a mass-market scale. And he showed Mr.Isaacson the stockade fence built 50 years earlier by his father, Paul Jobs. â€Å"He loved doing things right,† Mr. Jobs said. â€Å"He even cared about the look of the parts you couldn’t see. † Mr. Jobs, the brilliant and protean creator whose inventions so utterly transformed the allure of technology, turned those childhood lessons into an all-purpose theory of intelligent design. He gave Mr. Isaacson a chance to play by the same rules. His story calls for a book that is clear, elegant and concise enough to qualify as an iBio. Mr. Isaacson’s â€Å"Steve Jobs† does its solid best to hit that target.Mr. Jobs promised not to look over Mr. Isaacson’s shoulder, and not to meddle with anything but the book’s cover. (Boy, does it look great. ) Steve Jobs asked for no right to read it before it was published and had no control over what was being written before it was published. He also encouraged people to speak honestly. In the book Jobs sometimes speaks brutally and candidly about the people he worked along with and also his competitors. And he expressed approval that the book would not be entirely flattering. But his legacy was at stake. And there were awkward questions to be asked.At the end of the volume, Mr. Jobs answers the question â€Å"What drove me? † by discussing himself in the past tense. His friends, colleagues and foes offer an unparalleled view of the perfectionism, passion, artistry, obsessions, compulsions and devilry that shaped his approach to the innovative products and business that resulted. Within hours of Steve Jobs's death in October, impromptu shrines began to appear outside Apple Stores – flowers, half-eaten apples and iPhones and iPads with images of flickering candles. The man whose company had always attracted a cult following was fast becoming a saint.But, no more than a day later, the backlash began. Jobs was not a saint or even a genius, just, in the words of AN Wilson, ‘a clever backroom boy who got lucky'. What Walter Isaacson's masterful biography reveals is that both the true believers and the cynics got Jobs wrong. In a warts-and-all portrait that continually had this reader recoiling in disgust at the petulant pioneer's behaviour, he shows that Apple's co-founder was very far from being a saint. As a teenager, he browbeats his kindly parents into sending him to a college they cannot afford – then drops out after a year. After teaming up with the rilliant but naive engineer Steve Wozniak he cheats him out of his share of a bonus they get for designing a game. ‘Ethics matter to me,' the always tolerant Wozniak tells the author, ‘but, you know, people are different. ‘ And as a tyrannical leader, he is either screaming at Apple staff about their appalling inadequacies or stealing their ideas and taking the credit for them before an adoring public. Throughout, we see the cranky food habits, the misguided belief that a fruit diet means you only need to shower once a week and an almost wilful disregard for the feelings of others, including those of his family.But, hey, Henry Ford was not the world's nicest man and Thomas Edison was apparently a ruthless egomaniac. Those who aspire to change the world are almost always difficult people, and Isaacson, while obeying the instructions of Jobs's wife not to whitewash his life, presents a compelling case for his genius. Yes, he was a magpie, snatching the idea for the graphical user interface from Xerox Parc, the iPod concept from other MP3 players, the iPad from Microsoft's tablet computer. But, as he said: ‘Picasso had a saying – â€Å"good artists copy, great artists steal† – and we've always been shameless about stealing great ideas. It was what he did with those ideas that proved his genius f or spotting where technology might head next and shaping it to his will. The perfectionism meant driving his executives to distraction with constant demands for tiny adjustments – a different font, a paler shade of green – before anything could be shipped. Jobs was not a quarter the engineer that Wozniak was or as gifted artistically as Jony Ive, the designer whose close but somewhat tortured relationship with his boss is an interesting subplot in the latter half of the book.But his creative imagination changed a series of industries – computers, mobile phones, music and, with Pixar, the movie business. His greatest creation, though, was Apple itself, a company that always wanted to be about more than technology. ‘It is in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough,' he said at the unveiling of the iPad 2. ‘We believe that it's technology married with the humanities that makes our hearts sing. ‘ Cynics would say that it has been not the hu manities or the arts but a ruthless attention to marketing and margins that has enabled Apple to put more than $70bn in the bank.But the Jobs strategy of management remained pretty constant throughout his career, and it was always centred on product not profit. At its core was complete control over hardware and software and of every stage of the product's life cycle, from conception through to the retailer. We see that strategy triumph as early Apple products define home computing, then fail as Microsoft's rival philosophy of licensing its software prevails. Then in 1996, with Apple on the ropes, its co-founder returns.This amazing book takes you on a rollercoaster ride into the ferociously intense personality of a passionate and creative entrepreneur whose powerful drive and vision revolutionized six industries: music, personal computers, phones, animated movies, digital publishing and tablet computing. Steve Jobs also re-imagined and tried to revamp retail stores, but it did not t urn out to be as revolutionary. Instead, he paved the way for an entirely new market for app based digital content. This is a book that's mainly about innovation.Steve Jobs stands tall as the sole icon of imagination, sustained innovation and inventiveness. His vision was very clear; if you want to create value in the industry, connect technology with creativity. A company called Apple was built on this vision, which changed the entire face of technology with its imagination blended with remarkable feats of engineering. Often driven by his demons, Jobs could make those around him lurch in despair and fury. His products and personality were interrelated and his life was cautionary and instructive at the same time.Apple's rise to that position has been characterised by a management style that is now right out of fashion – the egomaniac CEO, the obsessive secrecy, the total disregard for market research, the suspicion of collaborative ventures. Walter Isaacson has written an ent hralling history of the birth of our modern digital world and the company that may have done more than any other to shape it. And, in his obnoxious, smelly, ranting, impatient, intuitive, creative and inspirational Steve Jobs, he has presented us with the greatest business genius of the past 30 years. Mr.Jobs, who founded  Apple  with Stephen Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976, began his career as a seemingly contradictory blend of hippie truth seeker and tech-savvy hothead. â€Å"His Zen awareness was not accompanied by an excess of calm, peace of mind or interpersonal mellowness,† Mr. Isaacson says. â€Å"He could stun an unsuspecting victim with an emotional towel-snap, perfectly aimed,† he also writes. But Mr. Jobs valued simplicity, utility and beauty in ways that would shape his creative imagination. And the book maintains that those goals would not have been achievable in the great parade of Apple creations without that mean streak.Mr. Isaacson takes his reade rs back to the time when laptops, desktops and windows were metaphors, not everyday realities. His book ticks off how each of the Apple innovations that we now take for granted first occurred to Mr. Jobs or his creative team. â€Å"Steve Jobs† means to be the authoritative book about those achievements, and it also follows Mr. Jobs into the wilderness (and to NeXT and Pixar) after his first stint at Apple, which ended in 1985. With an avid interest in corporate intrigue, it skewers Mr. Jobs’s rivals, like John Sculley, who was recruited in 1983 to be Apple’s chief executive and fell for Mr.Jobs’s deceptive show of friendship. â€Å"They professed their fondness so effusively and often that they sounded like high school sweethearts at a Hallmark card display,† Mr. Isaacson writes. Of course the book also tracks Mr. Jobs’s long and combative rivalry with Bill Gates. The section devoted to Mr. Jobs’s illness, which suggests that his canc er might have been more treatable  had he not resisted early surgery,  describes the relative tenderness of their last meeting. â€Å"Steve Jobs† greatly admires its subject. But its most adulatory passages are not about people. Offering a combination of tech criticism and promotional hype, Mr.Isaacson describes the arrival of each new product right down to Mr. Jobs’s theatrical introductions and the advertising campaigns. But if the individual bits of hoopla seem excessive, their cumulative effect is staggering. Here is an encyclopedic survey of all that Mr. Jobs accomplished, replete with the passion and excitement that it deserves. Mr. Jobs’s virtual reinvention of the music business with iTunes and the  iPod, for instance, is made to seem all the more miraculous (â€Å"He’s got a turn-key solution,† the music executive Jimmy Iovine said. ) Mr. Isaacson’s long view basically puts Mr.Jobs up there with Franklin and Einstein, even if a tiny MP3 player is not quite the theory of relativity. The book emphasizes how deceptively effortless Mr. Jobs’s ideas now seem because of their extreme intuitiveness and foresight. When Mr. Jobs, who personally persuaded musician after musician to accept the iTunes model, approached Wynton Marsalis, Mr. Marsalis was rightly more impressed with Mr. Jobs than with the device he was being shown. Mr. Jobs’s love of music plays a big role in â€Å"Steve Jobs,† like his extreme obsession with Bob Dylan. (Like Mr. Dylan, he had a romance with Joan Baez.Her version of Mr. Dylan’s â€Å"Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word† was on Mr. Jobs’s own iPod. ) So does his extraordinary way of perceiving ordinary things, like well-made knives and kitchen appliances. That he admired the Cuisinart food processor he saw at Macy’s may sound trivial, but his subsequent idea that a molded plastic covering might work well on a computer does not. Years from now , the research trip to a jelly bean factory to study potential colors for the  iMac  case will not seem as silly as it might now. Skeptic after skeptic made the mistake of underrating Steve Jobs, and Mr.Isaacson records the howlers who misjudged an unrivaled career. â€Å"Sorry Steve, Here’s Why Apple Stores Won’t Work,† Business Week wrote in a 2001 headline. â€Å"The iPod will likely become a niche product,† a Harvard Business School professor said. â€Å"High tech could not be designed and sold as a consumer product,† Mr. Sculley said in 1987. Mr. Jobs got the last laugh every time. â€Å"Steve Jobs† makes it all the sadder that his last laugh is over. Perhaps the funniest passage in Walter Isaacson's monumental book about  Steve Jobs  comes three quarters of the way through.It is 2009 and Jobs is recovering from a liver transplant and pneumonia. At one point the pulmonologist tries to put a mask over his face when he is deeply s edated. Jobs rips it off and mumbles that he hates the design and refuses to wear it. Though barely able to speak, he orders them to bring five different options for the mask so that he can pick a design he likes. Even in the depths of his hallucinations, Jobs was a control-freak and a rude sod to boot. Imagine what he was like in the pink of health. As it happens, you don't need to: every discoverable fact about how Jobs, ahem, coaxed excellence from his co-workers is here.As Isaacson makes clear, Jobs wasn't a visionary or even a particularly talented electronic engineer. But he was a businessman of astonishing flair and focus, a marketing genius, and – when he was getting it right, which wasn't always – had an intuitive sense of what the customer would want before the customer had any idea. He was obsessed with the products, rather than with the money: happily, as he discovered, if you get the products right, the money will come. Isaacson's book is studded with mome nts that make you go â€Å"wow†. There's the  Apple  flotation, which made the 25-year-old Jobs $256m in the days when that was a lot of money.There's his turnaround of the company after he returned as CEO in 1997: in the previous fiscal year the company lost $1. 04bn, but he returned it to profit in his first quarter. There's the  launch of the iTunes store: expected to sell a million songs in six months, it sold a million songs in six days. When  Jobs died, iShrines popped up all over the place, personal tributes filled Facebook and his quotable wisdom – management-consultant banalities, for the most part – was passed from inbox to inbox. Thisbiography  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ commissioned by Jobs and informed by hours and hours of interviews with him – is designed to serve the cult.That's by no means to say that it's a snow-job: Isaacson is all over Jobs's personal shortcomings and occasional business bungles, and Jobs sought no copy approval (though, typic ally, he got worked up over the cover design). But its sheer bulk bespeaks a sort of reverence, and it's clear from the way it's put together that there's not much Jobs did that Isaacson doesn't regard as vital to the historical record. We get a whole chapter on one cheesy ad (â€Å"Think Different†). We get half a page on how Jobs went about choosing a washing machine – itself lifted from an interview Jobs, bizarrely, gave on the subject to  Wired.Want to know the patent number for the box an iPod Nano comes in? It's right there on page 347. Similarly, the empty vocabulary of corporate PR sometimes seeps into Isaacson's prose, as exemplified by the recurrence of the word â€Å"passion†. There's a lot of passion in this book. Steve's â€Å"passion for perfection†, â€Å"passion for industrial design†, â€Å"passion for awesome products† and so on. If I'd been reading this on an  iPad, the temptation to search-and-replace â€Å"passionâ €  to â€Å"turnip† or â€Å"erection† would have been overwhelming.Isaacson writes dutiful, lumbering American news-mag journalese and suffers – as did Jobs himself – from a lack of sense of proportion. Chapter headings evoke Icarus and Prometheus. The one on the Apple II is subtitled â€Å"Dawn of a New Age†, the one on Jobs's return to Apple is called â€Å"The Second Coming†, and when writing about the origins of Apple's graphical user interface (Jobs pinched the idea from Xerox), Isaacson writes with splendid bathos: â€Å"There falls a [sic] shadow, as TS Eliot noted, between the conception and the creation. † But get past all that pomp and there's much to enjoy.Did you know that the Apple Macintosh was nearly called the Apple Bicycle? Or that so obsessed was Jobs with designing swanky-looking factories (white walls, brightly coloured machines) that he kept breaking the machines by painting them – for example bright bl ue? As well as being a sort-of-genius, Jobs was a truly weird man. As a young man, he was once put on the night-shift so co-workers wouldn't have to endure his BO. Jobs was convinced his vegan diet meant he didn't need to wear deodorant or shower more than once a week. His on-off veganism was allied to cranky theories about health.When he rebuked the chairman of Lotus Software for spreading butter on his toast â€Å"Have you ever heard of serum cholesterol? â€Å", the man responded: â€Å"I'll make you a deal. You stay away from commenting on my dietary habits, and I will stay away from the subject of your personality. † That personality. An ex-girlfriend – and one, it should be said, who was very fond of him – told Isaacson that she thought Jobs suffered from narcissistic personality disorder. Jobs's personal life is sketchily covered, but what details there are don't charm.When he got an on/off girlfriend pregnant in his early 20s, he cut her off and aggres sively denied paternity – though he later, uncharacteristically, admitted regretting his behaviour and sought to build a relationship with his daughter. Jobs himself was adopted, and seems to have had what Americans call â€Å"issues around abandonment†. He cheated his friends out of money. He cut old colleagues out of stock options. He fired people with peremptoriness. He bullied waiters, insulted business contacts and humiliated interviewees for jobs.He lied his pants off whenever it suited him – â€Å"reality distortion field† is Isaacson's preferred phrase. Like many bullies, he was also a cry-baby. Whenever he was thwarted – not being made â€Å"Man of the Year† by Time magazine when he was 27, for instance – he burst into tears. Nowadays we are taught that being nice is the way to get on. Steve Jobs is  a  fine counter-example. In 2008, when  Fortune magazine  was on the point of running a damaging article about him, Job s summoned their managing editor to Cupertino to demand he spike the piece: â€Å"He leaned into Serwer's face and asked, ‘So, you've uncovered the fact that I'm bad.Why is that news? ‘† Well.. that’s the story. Sorry if I had given out a few spoilers on the book.. but they were essential to bring out the nature of an awesome personality! The book is well written and an easy read. To tell the story of Jobs’ complete life, the cast of characters is large. Mr Isaacson identifies the importance of those he included and what influence they had on Jobs. So, in a nut shell, this book, to use a few words from Job’s dictionary, is a ‘Must read! ’

Abbey policy holders Essay

But the massive loss suffered by Abbey in 2003 has affected shareholders. At a time where other banks are making record profits (Royal Bank of Scotland recorded 6.2 billion profit before tax9), the Abbey shareholders may not even receive any spare capital that has came from the sale of assets in the wholesale bank. As Abbey sold off over 80 per cent of the assets of the wholesale bank, analysts were hoping that Abbey could return between 1.2bn and 1.5bn to investors via a special dividend or share buy back. However, the chief executive of Abbey, Luqman Arnold was said to be â€Å"increasingly cautious† about the amount of cash that would be released due to regulatory changes. Whether or not this will affect the position of the shareholders is still unknown. Customers are an important group of stakeholders for Abbey. They are outside stakeholders. Communicating with them is a vital part of Abbey’s strategic plan. They do this by advertising on various mediums, (television, radio, etc). This has proved successful in the past, as Abbey have won various awards for their â€Å"Plain English† approach. This strategy of not using banking terminology was very successful. However, should customers not be satisfied, there is also a customer relations unit available to help solve disputes. But a recent development regarding profits has upset many customers. For the second year in a row, those customers with a â€Å"with-profits† policy will not receive their annual bonus. There will also be higher exit penalties for those who choose to leave the with-profit policy, which could reach up to 10 per cent. This affects nearly 400.000 of Abbey policy holders.  According to Abbey’s employee report â€Å"Employee involvement and effective communication remain vital to {our} success.† 10 There are various means of communication, from an intranet site, to a quarterly magazine (abbeyview). There are a growing amount of concerns among the staff in Abbey however, in the amount of job losses that are occurring within the organisation. As part of their return to traditional banking, Abbey has been cutting a vast number of jobs, many in the fund management sector. Many jobs have gone abroad to India. This has caused conflict not only amongst employees, but among the general public also, who are outside stakeholders of Abbey also. They see it as downsizing and taking jobs away from Britain. Recently, eight executive directors of Abbey have been paid à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2.8 million made up of cash bonuses and shares between them, at a time when the company has suffered massive losses. The bank’s staff got an average of about six percent of their salary as a bonus last year, which was a rise of two percent from a year earlier. A member of the ANGU, (Abbey National General Union) said â€Å"Staff were very pleased with the bonus that was paid out in a difficult year. However, in light of what management received it wasn’t very much†. This could lead to further problems in the future. Conclusion Abbey are still in the middle of a three year turnaround, so are asking their stakeholders to bear with them. But with the massive losses, and the seeming disregard for employees, shareholders and customers alike, they may find that it will take longer than three years to have their strategy.

Reduce the Use of Of

Reduce the Use of Of Reduce the Use of â€Å"Of† Reduce the Use of â€Å"Of† By Mark Nichol How long can you go on writing without using of? You’ll quickly find that it’s an invaluable word, but writers often take it for granted, and its repeated use is a sure sign of prolixity. Of is a preposition, a word positioned before its object: In â€Å"a stroke of luck,† for example, of is the preposition of luck. We rely on such constructions often and, in moderation, they’re perfectly acceptable but we can easily overuse them. Fortunately, they’re (usually) easily revised: For example, with a few strokes of the pen (or a few taps on the keyboard), â€Å"a stroke of luck† becomes â€Å"a lucky stroke.† The formula is easy just convert the second noun in a â€Å"(noun) of (noun)† phrase to an adjective and move the first noun after the adjective. But such a strategy isn’t always elegant: â€Å"A pen’s stroke† might appeal to a computer seeking the most concise, efficient phrasing, but it is jarring to a human mind, which prefers â€Å"a stroke of the pen.† One’s goal, however, should be to reduce, not eliminate, use of of: After you’ve written a document, search for of, and if you find that you have used it more than once in a sentence or several times in a paragraph, consider revising one or more phrases in which it appears. For example, a sentence with an in-line list, such as â€Å"Information theory has been crucial in the invention of the compact disc, the technology of mobile phones, and the development of the Internet† can be revised to â€Å"Information theory has been crucial in the invention of the compact disc, the technology behind mobile phones, and the Internet’s development.† Note, however, that of is sometimes mistakenly omitted: â€Å"He took a couple days off† is acceptable in casual writing, but â€Å"He took a couple of days off† is correct, and regardless should always be followed by of, as in â€Å"I’m supporting her regardless of whether she’s right or wrong† (though â€Å"regardless of† is redundant to whether and might better be eliminated from the sentence). This post lists some wordy prepositional phrases that can be easily replaced by single words or shorter phrases, and this one suggests strategies for achieving more concise writing by avoiding prepositional phrases altogether. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About Legs, Feet, and ToesHow to Punctuate with â€Å"However†The Uses of â€Å"The†

A Guide to Caring for Pet Millipedes

A Guide to Caring for Pet Millipedes If youve never cared for an arthropod pet before, a millipede is a good first choice. Millipedes are herbivorous, so they are easy and inexpensive to feed. Theyre fairly low maintenance pets and can be handled even by young children, with supervision, of course. Many pet stores sell African giant millipedes, which grow to 10 inches or more in length. You can also try keeping millipedes you collect in the wild, but keep in mind that brightly colored millipedes usually secrete hydrogen cyanide, which can cause an unpleasant burning sensation on sensitive skin. Things You Should Know About Keeping Pet Millipedes Before bringing home any live animal, its important to know what to expect. Does a millipede require a lot of care? Can you keep more than one in the same enclosure? Do they bite or sting? Though pet millipedes are a good choice in most circumstances, you should weigh the pros and cons of keeping them before you bring one home. Choosing a Millipede at the Pet Store As with any pet, its important to choose a healthy individual. In general, millipedes have few health issues, and youre unlikely to find sickly millipedes at your local pet store. Still, its good to know how to recognize an unhealthy millipede before you make a purchase, so you can avoid problems once you bring one home. Housing Your Pet Millipede The key to caring for millipedes successfully is to provide them with the appropriate habitat. Millipedes require ample floor space, while the height of the terrarium is less important. You can use a number of different materials for the substrate. An appropriate water source for your millipede is important as well. Maintaining the Proper Environment for Your Pet Millipede Most large millipedes you can purchase from pet stores or science catalogs come from the tropics. They require a higher temperature and humidity level than other arthropods commonly kept as pets. All pet millipedes need adequate moisture, which means you must use a proper substrate and mist the terrarium regularly. Feeding Your Pet Millipede The herbivorous millipede will happily munch on almost any fruit or vegetable you offer, although they do have favorites. They also require calcium in their diets in order to molt and grow properly. Youll need to know how to prepare their food, how to supplement their diet with calcium, and how often to feed them. Handling Your Pet Millipede Even a millipede can feel nervous! You should always strive to keep your millipede feeling secure and comfortable, even when you are handling it. Its also important to know how millipedes defend themselves, in the event your pet millipede does feel threatened in your hands.

The Federal Aid to Highway Act of 1956 Case Study

The Federal Aid to Highway Act of 1956 - Case Study Example The Act was an amendment of the earlier Act of 1916. It proposed a hike in the gas tax by one to two cents. With the help of this Act, interstate highway system was expanded from 1,600 km to 66,000 km. The conference committee of House Senate included several features of Fallon and Gore bill into the Act. The main idea behind this Act was to reduce the ever-increasing pressure of interstate traffics in surface transportation. This regulation provided the provisions of uniformity in the interstate highway design standards (Code of Federal Regulations, 2009, pp. 23-25). The regulation law was enacted for the larger interests of the US people and defense services. According to the Law, on the interstate highway speed limit of the vehicles is 80.5kmph in the mountain terrain. In case of flat terrain speed limit is 112.7 km per hour. During his tenure as an army person President Dwight D. Eisenhower realized that interstate highways of USA should be improved for providing better transport ation services to the citizens and the defense forces of the country. Impacts of the Federal Aid to Highway Act of 1956 were obvious. In the last 40 years population percentage of America increased by 70% and employment rate increased by 100%. Primary requirement of the increased population is superior transportation. Over the years the interstate high way system has become the work horse for the nation. The above data is clearly indicating that the law has impacted the transportation system of the country in a positive fashion. According to the data, highway system takes care of almost one fourth of total roadway traffic. The Act has made the lives easier for the American people. The highway system carries almost one trillion person miles  per year. The Act was revolutionary and the importance of the Act is increasing day by day. In case of intercity and rural logistic facilities the system is undoubtedly the best. According to a survey, 45% of country’s large trucks

Political science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Political science - Essay Example This is because public philosophy that originates from protection of freedom of individuals can be used to denounce or support the intervention of the government in the economy. Conversely, Jeffry Frieden argues that the downfall of the effectiveness of the US government in managing its domestic economies was caused by the international economy growth and evolution. The growth and evolution of the international economy impacts directly or indirectly on the ability of functionality of a nation’s government to manage the domestic economy, hence resulting to the downfall of the local economy of the country. Rapid growth and evolution of the international economy in the 1970s reduced the US’s governmental effectiveness in managing its domestic economy because it affected the domestic political cleavage of the nation. This implies that the relationship between political performance and growth and evolution of the international economy is crucial. In evaluating the relationship between the two aspects, focus is directed towards a future of democracy that is achieved through civic virtue and self-governance. Democracy indirectly affects the development of a high and more stable domestic economy. Because of the increased growth and evolution of the international economy during the 1970s, the scope of marketing of the US broadened. Consequently, the effectiveness of the government to manage its domestic economy reduced. This is because America decided to sell commodities across borders. This was because of the many dimensions that the nation had to justify. The government has a significant role of protecting and contributing to the growth and development of the domestic economy of its nation. This is achieved by implementing various laws and regulations for the purpose of protecting local markets and domestic economic growth. However, due

Price Elasticity Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Price Elasticity - Research Paper Example The greater the percentage of income the commodity represents, the greater the elasticity because it will attract people’s attention as a result of its high cost (Moschandreas, 2000). If a commodity represents a small percentage of the consumer’s income, on the other hand, it will have little effect on demand, and is deemed to be inelastic. Therefore, the purchasing power of the consumer affects elasticity a great deal. Necessity also profoundly affects elasticity. If a product is necessary, that is, if one cannot do without a product, elasticity is reduced because people will still buy the product irrespective of the change in price (Ferrell, 2010). The availability of alternative goods affects elasticity. If a substitute good is close and readily available to the market, elasticity will be high since people will have the choice to switch to the attractive alternative. This can be necessitated by the slightest of changes in prices, and therefore largely affects elasticity (Ferrell, 2010). Substitute goods availability and reach is a factor that many companies look at in price consideration due to its massive impact on elasticity. Some factors have the least effect on elasticity. Though relative, the effect that these factors have is thought to be negligible. Time is one such example. Price changes that persist for short time periods affect the demand for a good, and subsequent sales far much less than price changes that hold for a long time. If a price change holds for a long time, elasticity is likely to be high since the customers will have time to find suitable alternatives (Moschandreas, 2000). Loyalty to a specific brand affects elasticity. This is so because if a consumer is loyal to a brand, elasticity is low as the variables that affect the product will not affect its demand. However, it s worth noting that with time and availability of better alternatives, loyalty eventually

Customer Relationship Management Systems

Customer Relationship Management Systems Abstract: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) focuses on customer retention through development of sustainable relationships. Establishment of these relationships is based on customer satisfaction and an organisations ability to sustain high standards that identify them from competitors. CRM is also concerned with attracting new customers. In order to ensure customer satisfaction, there is need to understand customer requirements through studies which is essentially the function of CRM. Evolution of information technology has given rise to CRM systems which make this function even easier so that long-term profitability resulting from customer loyalty and cost cutting is realized. The use of these systems has proved invaluable so that higher education institutions are highly being encouraged to make use of them in order to enhance their ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers. Executive summary The use of Customer Relationship Management Systems is a strategy that has been received with high levels of enthusiasm in the business world. Many businesses have embraced the use of Customer Relationship Management Systems; simply known as CRM systems to enhance satisfaction of existing customers and to attract new customers. This has been referred to as a shift from transaction-specific to cumulative customer oriented satisfaction through incorporating information technology in CRM. CRM systems are attributed to the growing concept of customer-centrism which focuses more on customer satisfaction to increase profitability. Institutions of higher learning have not been left behind and several of them have already turned to the use of these systems. The high level of competitiveness in institutions of higher learning as more investments are made in the sector has prompted them to adopt more proactive approaches to customer attraction and retention. Constant changes in customer expectations and demands have also played a big role in the adoption of these systems in order to help in meeting these needs. It is however notable that many institutions are still stuck with the traditional manual system of customer care. This is mostly due to the unavailability of funds or ignorance of the benefits that they are likely to obtain from CRM systems. This paper aims at filling this knowledge gap so that institutions of higher learning may realize how much they stand to gain from investing in CRM systems. It clearly demonstrates how they can use these systems to retain existing customers and recruit new ones. A study conducted in various universities and colleges revealed that customers would appreciate the use of CRM systems which would ensure that their queries are solved efficiently. The fact that CRM could help in saving time made it even more important to the customers. The study which incorporated high school seniors, university and college students, parents, staff and alumni in a study sample made note of the importance that customers placed on efficiency citing that long procedures are tiring and demoralising. Most respondents were quick to note that websites eliminate a great deal of unnecessary inquiries since most of the information required about the institution was likely to be available from the website. This way they did not have to contact the administration when they had questions. This study reveals that the use of CRM could actually save institutions from the unnecessary expenses resulting from customer dissatisfaction. This is done through the identification of customer needs which are then assimilated into the institutions strategy to meet these needs. This way, complaints are eliminated which saves the institution from loss of customers and loss of money. Stefanou and Sarmaniotis (2003: 623) note that dissatisfaction of customers is not only costly to the institution but to the customer as well. When a customer loses in a deal, the probability that he or she will utilize an organisations services again is greatly reduced. CRM systems could help institutions of higher learning to cut on their costs significantly thereby improving their profitability. In the study, the question of costs is raised and it is considered one of the limiting factors towards the acquisition of CRM systems. On the same note however, the study establishes that the cost involved in the acquisition is worth considering the benefits that the institution is likely to obtain in the long-run once the system is in place. In concluding the study, the need for caution during the selection of CRM systems to be used in the institutions is also emphasised. Chapter 1 Introduction/Background 1.10 Statement of the problem Institutions of higher learning are often overwhelmed by the high numbers of customers that they have to handle. Consequently, they end up not satisfying every customers need and instead opt for ways to collectively address customer needs. This however could be detrimental to the institutions because needs vary from one customer to the other. Further, there is a risk of losing customers as a result of the high number of colleges and universities that have emerged thereby raising the level of competition. In public institutions, it is common for customers who are mainly students being taken for granted. The administration is likely to be tempted to assume that it is the students who require education and hence demand their services and not vise versa. Conant (2003: 3) however notes that this kind of ignorance could culminate into deleterious effects on the institutions performance and even loss of customers. This according to Cleary (2001: 33) would be quite unfortunate because even t he best institution is ineffective when its customer focus is lost. Every student, parent, alumni and any other type of customer that the institutions serve is of great importance and deserves to be treated right. For this reason, understanding their needs and integrating this with the company strategy to better satisfy them is quite inevitable. Whenever such kind of a proposition is put forward, several questions are bound to arise: What options do institutions of higher learning have in ensuring that their customers needs are properly taken care of? Can any given institution cope with the ever changing customer needs in order to satisfy them? What about the ever rising levels of competition? Which is the right criterion to address these issues? Is it possible to gain positive results from their implementation? How much will it cost the institution? These are some of the problems and queries that this paper seeks to demystify. Many options are available when a company needs to meet its customers needs. A customer care strategy that caters for the present as well as the future needs of customers is what any modern organisation requires in order to survive the rising levels of competition. The most recent strategy and whose popularity is growing at a high rate among organizations not necessarily in the education sector is the use of customer relationship management systems. As put forth by various studies, customer relationship management systems will undoubtedly help in the provision of better services, management of existing customers and recruitment of new ones in higher education institutions. A proper understanding is however necessary if these institutions are to use CRM systems as their customer care strategy. This study is therefore justifiable and its findings will come in handy in ensuring that higher education institutions can manage their customers better. 1.20 Justification of the study Increase in competition among institutions of higher learning has been on the rise hence the need for strategies aimed at retaining current customers and attracting new ones. Just like in any other business entity, institutions must aim at satisfying their customers. This way, they are assured of increased profitability. This study will form a discussion on customer relationship management which is in essence a sophisticated way of ensuring customer satisfaction through establishment of sustainable customer relationships. This study could therefore be of great importance to institutions of higher learning which have not yet embraced the use of CRM systems into their programs. There is a general agreement that technology is advancing at a high rate and that customers are now turning towards information contained on the internet to make their purchasing decisions (Bull, 2003: 593-594). This new trend calls for a change in strategies used by companies to attract and retain new customers. By the use of the internet, customers can now get information about products and services, their prices and unique characteristics which they can then compare to others available over the internet. Making such information available over the internet is therefore very vital in todays business world. This applies perfectly to prospective students and staff who are likely to make use of the internet information to make important decisions about their school of choice. By making use of CRM systems, institutions are able to attract new customers and their customer base can be improved. A study focusing on the importance of CRM systems which are basically computer-based strategies is therefore justifiable as it will help institutions to better understanding of its working and importance. 1.30. Objectives of the study To make this study plausible in addressing the research issues and concerns, several objectives were set to guide the study. The major objective was to determine characteristics of customer relationship management systems that make them useful to higher education institutions and why institutions should adopt them to improve their competitiveness. Other objectives included: To find out whether costs of CRM systems impact on organisation ability to attain the systems. To establish whether there are any risks involved in the use of CRM systems. 1.40. Research questions What constitutes of customer satisfaction according to customer satisfaction theories? Does ensuring customer satisfaction contribute to the business effectiveness, productivity and profitability? What is meant by Customer Relationship Management Systems? Is there a relationship between Customer Relationship Management and customer satisfaction? Are they useful in higher education institutions? If so, how can they benefit from adopting Customer Relationship Management Systems? 1.50. Methodology outline This study makes the use of reliable sources of information through conducting interviews and using secondary data from previous studies conducted by various scholars in the same field. By making use of an example of Imperial College, this study will show that adopting the use of CRM systems could lead to a tremendous transformation in an institutions service delivery. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1. The customer satisfaction theory 2.1.1. Customer satisfaction Customer satisfaction forms the core in the attraction and retention of customers into a business. It is for this reason that customer satisfaction is often considered very vital for business survival. Customer satisfaction is used to refer to contentment, happiness or well-being of an organisations customers (Anderson, 1973: 38). It is all about doing what is desirable to a customer. In the classical definition however, the degree of correspondence between a customers expectations and what is actually provided in the perceived product or service is what constitutes customer satisfaction (Stefanou and Sarmaniotis, 2006: 619). Should the service or product exceed expectations or just fulfil it, customer satisfaction is deemed to have occurred. The level of at which the product meets the customers needs then determines whether the customer is satisfied, moderately satisfied, highly satisfied and so on. Depending on the customers attitude, this could work well towards improving the busi ness customer loyalty. If a product or service is below the customers expectations, dissatisfaction occurs and the probability of losing the customer to competitors increases (Anderson, 1973: 38-39). In measuring customer satisfaction, a comparison between the expected and the perceived quality are objectively compared. The expected quality is what the customer expects from the company and which should be provided by the company. It is what represent the customers wishes, expectations and needs and is referred to as the Should factor (Wilson 1991: 152). On the other hand, what the business actually gives the customer is what is referred to as the perceived quality. Perceived quality is known as the is factor (Wilson, 1991: 152). The basic factors are those referred to as must have aspects or dissatisfiers. Basic factors do not afford the customer any satisfaction and they are deemed to be obvious. In other words, the characteristic is in essence what the customer wants and if this is not there then he would not even buy the product or service in the first place (Croteau, 2003: 25-26). For example, any customer will expect that an institution of higher learning provides education as a prerequisite and is bound to take this for granted. This characteristic does not trigger any sort of excitement from the customer as it is considered normal (Kano, Seraku and Tkahashi, 1984: 40). It is other factors that drive the excitement towards making a particular choice. This leads us to the excitement factors which are also known as satisfiers. These factors are the attractive characteristics of a good or service meant to generate delight in the customer (Croteau, 2003: 26). They are also considered as the factors that di stinguish an organisation from its competitors. It is these same features and characteristics that an organisation should emphasise on when advertising their goods to prospective customers so that they choose them over their competitors. Finally, the performance factors serve the purpose of providing the explicit needs of the customer (Conant, 2003: 7). When the performance is high or when the customers needs are completely met, the result is customer satisfaction. If there is low level of performance however, customer dissatisfaction results and this could cause detrimental effects on the company through loss of customers. 2.1.2. Significance of customer satisfaction Numerous empirical findings are of the view that customer satisfaction forms the basis of establishing competitive advantage. It is through customer satisfaction that the business can be assured of a bright future through repeat sales (Kano, Seraku, Takahashi and Tsuji, 1984: 39-41). Customer satisfaction helps to gain loyalty and hence retain current customers besides attracting new customers to a company. Unsatisfied customers are likely to leave because as Wilson (1991: 156) notes, only four out of every one hundred customers come back to complain. Instead, they go on and switch companies opting to keep the discontentment to themselves. This is to mean that satisfaction is extremely vital for the survival of any business and should therefore be highly regarded. Stefanou and Sarmaniotis, 2003: 619) contend with the fact that retaining the existing customers is much easier than attracting new ones hence the need to build strong customer relationships through striving to satisfy thei r needs and meeting their expectations. Consumer satisfaction is therefore vital for any organisations success and should be taken seriously. With this kind of knowledge, business strategies are now being inclined towards customer satisfaction. To do this, Customer Relationship Management has been embraced by many businesses (Grant and Anderson, 2002: 36; Conant, 2003: 21; Light, 2003: 607; Kirker, 1994: 12). Recommendations made by customers are said to attract almost the same number of customers that the business attracts on its own. This happens through recommendations. Wilson (1991: 103) notes that every satisfied customer is bound to say something positive about the product to her friends and relatives. These individuals could eventually end up being loyal customers to the business thus increasing customer base. Dissatisfied customers will complain and talk ill of the product or service such that prospective customers are discouraged and may never take the companys product following negative remarks from those that had used it before (Wilson, 1991: 157). 2.2. Understanding Customer Relationship Management The survival of any business is to a large extent determined by the level of customer satisfaction. This understanding has seen the rise in the customer-centrism strategy as a means to retain and attract new customers (Patterson, 2007: 5-6). The rise in globalization has led to high levels of competition so that every business must work towards addressing customer needs to keep them from turning to competitors. According to Oliver (1996: 88) customers are likely to move to competitors if they feel that they are not obtaining what they want. Loss of customers could be detrimental since a business cannot exist without customers. In this kind of competition for customers, the notion of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has gained an important role in business management. Light (2003: 603-604) refers to CRM simply as the management of company-customer relationships while Stefanou and Sarmaniotis (2003: 617) call it relationship marketing. Seeman and OHara (2006: 25) add that CRM aim s at increasing customer satisfaction by customizing the service provided to each consumer. Further, Seeman and OHara refer to CRM as the process by which business information and consumer information are brought together through a centralized system. Major components of CRM include communication management, marketing, recruitment, customer support and service among others. It is a strategy that places the customer as the major focus in the organisation. Stefanou and Sarmaniotis (2003: 613-617) refers this as a customer-centric strategy where understanding the customer life cycle is essential. There is also need to understand the ever changing customer needs triggered by changes in lifestyles and income changes. CRM has often been described as a shift from the transaction-specific to cumulative customer satisfaction through relational orientation (Raab, 2008: 132). In order to satisfy this prerequisite, CRM has been divided into two major procedures; the operational function and the analytical function. While the operational function involves the collection of data from customers, the analytical function is concerned with analysis of data in order to understand the customer needs so that they can be effectively addressed (Peelen, 2005: 63). Data can be collected through the use of interviews and questionnaires, customer feedback, complaints and physical reactions among others. Using this kind of information, the customer service department can easily determine whether customers are satisfied with their products or not (Kirker, 1994: 14). If they are not satisfied, strategies aimed at addressing the various needs must be formulated. With the increasing level of globalisation, technological advances are being strongly felt in the business world. Further, customer relationships have become more complex due to consumer mobility and the rise of suburbs (Milliron, 2001: 52). Customer tastes and preferences are changing by the day as people embrace the modern world. In response to this, more companies have taken up technology-led techniques to further enhance their performance. It is for this reason that the CRM systems have emerged and companies are now turning from the manual CRM to computerised CRM. 2.3. Customer relationship management systems The use of Customer Relationship Management in institutions of higher learning is a relatively new genre of technology operations whose popularity is growing at a high rate (Light, 2003: 605). The application which is computer-based has aided in making sure that the relationship between customers and businesses can be effectively managed (Peelan, 2005: 79). Information Technology advances have been a catalyst in customer relationship management systems. Traditional analysis of data is slowly becoming outdated and the use of software to perform such duties is being adopted by the day. CRM systems have gained widespread popularity especially with the so called forward thinking managers(Croteau, 2003, 29). These systems not only analyze customer needs effectively but also make work easier for managers thus saving the time required for data analysis. Bradshaw and Brash (2001: 522) define CRM systems as a combination of discrete software tools which serve the purpose of enhancing customer satisfaction, reducing costs, identifying new opportunities, increasing revenue and attraction new customers among others. They note that organisations have no reason to fear initial costs of acquiring these systems because the benefits to be gained in the long-run exceed the costs incurred in the acquisition. Research shows that sophisticated technology has brought about the emergence of more advanced CRM systems (Milliron, 2001: 51). Further, it is notable that organisations that are currently using these sophisticated CRM technologies are gaining competitive advantage over their competitors who make use of basic data collection approaches (Abbott, Stone and Buttle, 2001: 27). Information Technology has aided companies to effectively customise their customer care procedures so as to ensure that they are well served. Following the emergence of CRM which aims at individualising customer needs, companies are now demanding technologies which make it easier to keep records about individual customers. This eliminates high numbers of record which have to be retrieved every time a customer visits the business (Bull, 2003: 31).Using the various CRM systems available in the market, it is possible for companies to collect all available data about a certain customer which is then saved in the company database. Whenever an enquiry is made by this customer, the customer care representative just needs to feed the necessary details in the database to retrieve everything about the consumer (Grant and Anderson, 2002: 26). This way, it is becomes easier to address these customers needs depending on the situation at hand. The use of web technology is one of the most prevalent applications of CRM technology (Milliron, 2001: 52). Savvy managers have realised the high rate at which the world is suddenly becoming computerized. The ease of internet navigation and development of broadband services has turned customers into active internet users. To maximise on this, internet marketing has emerged with more companies now displaying their goods in popular web pages such as networking sites (Kotler and Fox, 1995:96). It is not only the goods that they advertise on the internet however, websites containing company information have been developed so that customers can easily access any information they desire from the website (Light, 2003: 605). Most websites often have customer inquiry sections where questions can be asked and complaints deposited (Light, 2003: 606). The use of chat rooms to answer customer questions directly from the help care desk is also used in certain sophisticated websites. While websites are likely to serve customers who are already familiar with the company, new ways of directing prospective customers have been established. In popular web pages for example, clicking on a certain advertised good or service takes the prospective customer to the companys website where he or she can now access more information on about the company and other goods and services offered by the company. This is to mean that while company websites were previously used by companies to showcase their activities and other information about the company, they are now doubling up as marketing tools to retain existing employees and obtain new ones (Light, 2003: 606). 2.4. Customer relations in institutions of higher education Starting the mid-80s and into the late 90s, many higher education institutions engaged themselves in restructuring and engineering their administrative operations so that costs were reduced and consequently better services could be provided (Grant and Anderson, 2002: 24). The focus is slowly shifting from these operational changes meant to improve service delivery to identification of customer needs. These needs are then being used to identify the areas that need to be improved in order to effectively satisfy customers. This has been described as a proactive action because institutions can learn what their customers want then work towards satisfying these needs before they lose them to other institutions which meet such needs (Bull, 2003: 593). Customer relationship management (CRM) is fast gaining popularity as more institutions realize that maintaining healthy relationships with customers is vital for business success. Organisations that make use of customer relationship management report increased sales resulting from the good relationships established with their customers (Croteau, 2003: 29). Customer relations management (CRM) enables the analysis of past customer behaviour in a bid to anticipate future trends and hence do everything in their capacity to ensure that customer needs are met. While many institutions have embraced CRM, few have ventured into the use of customer relationship management technologies (Conant, 2003: 3-5). For some, it is because of inadequate information about customer relationship management (CRM) systems while for others is because of fear of initial costs associated with installing such systems. Seeman and OHara (2006: 26) note that at least 75 percent of the students entering higher education institutions have a substantial exposure to technology. The new generation of students are described as technology savvy students due to their undeniable contact with technology. As a result, their expectations about technology resources available in the institutions are very high (Milliron, 2001: 16). From what they have learnt over the internet and other technology literature, technology has been used to make procedures easier for customers unlike when manual systems were used. In their minds, institutions of higher learning should fall under this group that has acquired these systems in order to serve them better. Their absence therefore could frustrate their expectations which could culminate to serious consequences (Croteau, 2003, 31). For existing students, they could change schools and discourage their counterparts from joining the school. The use of CRM also serves the purpose of unifying the university or college administration such that the needs of customers can be catered for without having to move from one office to another. Many businesses today have now introduced websites through which they serve their customers needs. In the same trend, colleges and universities should take on this innovative method of communication to reach out to their customers without necessarily requiring them to visit the institution physically (Kotler and Fox, 1995: 96). This reduces physical and geographical barriers through providing all the information that current and potential customers would like to know about the institution. In designing a website, the technician involved must collect all the information that the institution wishes to put on the site (Milliron, 2001: 17). This information is then arranged in such a way that given links can lead the customer to the desired departments so as to access the required information. Chapter 3 Methodology Introduction This section of the paper quantifies the ability of the study to effectively satisfy the set objectives. Besides giving the procedures, methods and samples used in the study, it also outlines major limitations faced during the study. 3.1. Research scope The essence of this study is to establish whether Customer Relationship Management Systems could be of help to higher education institutions. As such, the study delimits itself to the role of customer relationships in institutions of higher learning. The importance of Customer Relationship Management systems forms the basis for this study and hence the advantages of this strategy form a core subject of the study. Due to the large geographical coverage of institutions and financial constraints, only schools in Madrid and Canterbia in Spain were used for the study. 3.2. Data and data collection Collection of data forms influences the outcome of the study to a large extent. For this reason, the data collection procedure was applied in the best way possible to enhance efficiency and to give the most accurate results. Both primary and secondary data were applied in the study. a) Primary data Factual information from the respondents was vital in making effective conclusions. To obtain this information, two separate types of questionnaires were set. These focused on current customers and potential customers. For simplicity, senior high school students who are most likely going to join universities and colleges after graduating were interviewed to determine the qualities they considered important in a college. Further, they were required to suggest the various components they would like incorporated in the college and university CRM systems. Current customers included students at colleges, staff, parents and alumni. The questionnaire directed at this group was aimed at finding out the application of CRM in their schools and how they thought it could be better improved to by incorporating technology. For those whose schools had already adopted CRM systems, they were asked to give the advantages they had witnessed and the difference with what they heard from colleagues in oth er schools not using CRM systems. Questionnaire were read out and filled by the researcher as the respondent gave their views. b) Secondary data Equally important was the use of secondary data which gave the study a theoretical background. Without the use of books, journals and periodicals among other written works, there was no way of justifying the concept of Customer Relationship Management Systems. The literature review in particular was solely dependent on previously published works. As such, secondary data was highly employed in the study. 3.3. Sample selection, technique, and size The study sample consisted of ten college students, ten university students, twenty high school seniors, twenty staff members and a random selection of twenty parents and alumni of various colleges and universities. Due to the large population of probable respondents, a method for selecting a sample had to be identified. The strategic sampling method was used to identify respondents for the study. 3.4. Ethics of the research methodology Before the beginning of the study, an objective of reducing respondents compromise as far as possible was set. The views contained in the questionnaires were for research purposes only and no third party was allowed to come into contact with them. With such an assurance, respondents felt free to give out information considered sensitive. For privacy purposes, no respondent was required to give out his or her name during the interviews. This raised confidentiality as required in scholarly research. 3.5. Limitations of the study As mu Customer Relationship Management Systems Customer Relationship Management Systems Abstract: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) focuses on customer retention through development of sustainable relationships. Establishment of these relationships is based on customer satisfaction and an organisations ability to sustain high standards that identify them from competitors. CRM is also concerned with attracting new customers. In order to ensure customer satisfaction, there is need to understand customer requirements through studies which is essentially the function of CRM. Evolution of information technology has given rise to CRM systems which make this function even easier so that long-term profitability resulting from customer loyalty and cost cutting is realized. The use of these systems has proved invaluable so that higher education institutions are highly being encouraged to make use of them in order to enhance their ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers. Executive summary The use of Customer Relationship Management Systems is a strategy that has been received with high levels of enthusiasm in the business world. Many businesses have embraced the use of Customer Relationship Management Systems; simply known as CRM systems to enhance satisfaction of existing customers and to attract new customers. This has been referred to as a shift from transaction-specific to cumulative customer oriented satisfaction through incorporating information technology in CRM. CRM systems are attributed to the growing concept of customer-centrism which focuses more on customer satisfaction to increase profitability. Institutions of higher learning have not been left behind and several of them have already turned to the use of these systems. The high level of competitiveness in institutions of higher learning as more investments are made in the sector has prompted them to adopt more proactive approaches to customer attraction and retention. Constant changes in customer expectations and demands have also played a big role in the adoption of these systems in order to help in meeting these needs. It is however notable that many institutions are still stuck with the traditional manual system of customer care. This is mostly due to the unavailability of funds or ignorance of the benefits that they are likely to obtain from CRM systems. This paper aims at filling this knowledge gap so that institutions of higher learning may realize how much they stand to gain from investing in CRM systems. It clearly demonstrates how they can use these systems to retain existing customers and recruit new ones. A study conducted in various universities and colleges revealed that customers would appreciate the use of CRM systems which would ensure that their queries are solved efficiently. The fact that CRM could help in saving time made it even more important to the customers. The study which incorporated high school seniors, university and college students, parents, staff and alumni in a study sample made note of the importance that customers placed on efficiency citing that long procedures are tiring and demoralising. Most respondents were quick to note that websites eliminate a great deal of unnecessary inquiries since most of the information required about the institution was likely to be available from the website. This way they did not have to contact the administration when they had questions. This study reveals that the use of CRM could actually save institutions from the unnecessary expenses resulting from customer dissatisfaction. This is done through the identification of customer needs which are then assimilated into the institutions strategy to meet these needs. This way, complaints are eliminated which saves the institution from loss of customers and loss of money. Stefanou and Sarmaniotis (2003: 623) note that dissatisfaction of customers is not only costly to the institution but to the customer as well. When a customer loses in a deal, the probability that he or she will utilize an organisations services again is greatly reduced. CRM systems could help institutions of higher learning to cut on their costs significantly thereby improving their profitability. In the study, the question of costs is raised and it is considered one of the limiting factors towards the acquisition of CRM systems. On the same note however, the study establishes that the cost involved in the acquisition is worth considering the benefits that the institution is likely to obtain in the long-run once the system is in place. In concluding the study, the need for caution during the selection of CRM systems to be used in the institutions is also emphasised. Chapter 1 Introduction/Background 1.10 Statement of the problem Institutions of higher learning are often overwhelmed by the high numbers of customers that they have to handle. Consequently, they end up not satisfying every customers need and instead opt for ways to collectively address customer needs. This however could be detrimental to the institutions because needs vary from one customer to the other. Further, there is a risk of losing customers as a result of the high number of colleges and universities that have emerged thereby raising the level of competition. In public institutions, it is common for customers who are mainly students being taken for granted. The administration is likely to be tempted to assume that it is the students who require education and hence demand their services and not vise versa. Conant (2003: 3) however notes that this kind of ignorance could culminate into deleterious effects on the institutions performance and even loss of customers. This according to Cleary (2001: 33) would be quite unfortunate because even t he best institution is ineffective when its customer focus is lost. Every student, parent, alumni and any other type of customer that the institutions serve is of great importance and deserves to be treated right. For this reason, understanding their needs and integrating this with the company strategy to better satisfy them is quite inevitable. Whenever such kind of a proposition is put forward, several questions are bound to arise: What options do institutions of higher learning have in ensuring that their customers needs are properly taken care of? Can any given institution cope with the ever changing customer needs in order to satisfy them? What about the ever rising levels of competition? Which is the right criterion to address these issues? Is it possible to gain positive results from their implementation? How much will it cost the institution? These are some of the problems and queries that this paper seeks to demystify. Many options are available when a company needs to meet its customers needs. A customer care strategy that caters for the present as well as the future needs of customers is what any modern organisation requires in order to survive the rising levels of competition. The most recent strategy and whose popularity is growing at a high rate among organizations not necessarily in the education sector is the use of customer relationship management systems. As put forth by various studies, customer relationship management systems will undoubtedly help in the provision of better services, management of existing customers and recruitment of new ones in higher education institutions. A proper understanding is however necessary if these institutions are to use CRM systems as their customer care strategy. This study is therefore justifiable and its findings will come in handy in ensuring that higher education institutions can manage their customers better. 1.20 Justification of the study Increase in competition among institutions of higher learning has been on the rise hence the need for strategies aimed at retaining current customers and attracting new ones. Just like in any other business entity, institutions must aim at satisfying their customers. This way, they are assured of increased profitability. This study will form a discussion on customer relationship management which is in essence a sophisticated way of ensuring customer satisfaction through establishment of sustainable customer relationships. This study could therefore be of great importance to institutions of higher learning which have not yet embraced the use of CRM systems into their programs. There is a general agreement that technology is advancing at a high rate and that customers are now turning towards information contained on the internet to make their purchasing decisions (Bull, 2003: 593-594). This new trend calls for a change in strategies used by companies to attract and retain new customers. By the use of the internet, customers can now get information about products and services, their prices and unique characteristics which they can then compare to others available over the internet. Making such information available over the internet is therefore very vital in todays business world. This applies perfectly to prospective students and staff who are likely to make use of the internet information to make important decisions about their school of choice. By making use of CRM systems, institutions are able to attract new customers and their customer base can be improved. A study focusing on the importance of CRM systems which are basically computer-based strategies is therefore justifiable as it will help institutions to better understanding of its working and importance. 1.30. Objectives of the study To make this study plausible in addressing the research issues and concerns, several objectives were set to guide the study. The major objective was to determine characteristics of customer relationship management systems that make them useful to higher education institutions and why institutions should adopt them to improve their competitiveness. Other objectives included: To find out whether costs of CRM systems impact on organisation ability to attain the systems. To establish whether there are any risks involved in the use of CRM systems. 1.40. Research questions What constitutes of customer satisfaction according to customer satisfaction theories? Does ensuring customer satisfaction contribute to the business effectiveness, productivity and profitability? What is meant by Customer Relationship Management Systems? Is there a relationship between Customer Relationship Management and customer satisfaction? Are they useful in higher education institutions? If so, how can they benefit from adopting Customer Relationship Management Systems? 1.50. Methodology outline This study makes the use of reliable sources of information through conducting interviews and using secondary data from previous studies conducted by various scholars in the same field. By making use of an example of Imperial College, this study will show that adopting the use of CRM systems could lead to a tremendous transformation in an institutions service delivery. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1. The customer satisfaction theory 2.1.1. Customer satisfaction Customer satisfaction forms the core in the attraction and retention of customers into a business. It is for this reason that customer satisfaction is often considered very vital for business survival. Customer satisfaction is used to refer to contentment, happiness or well-being of an organisations customers (Anderson, 1973: 38). It is all about doing what is desirable to a customer. In the classical definition however, the degree of correspondence between a customers expectations and what is actually provided in the perceived product or service is what constitutes customer satisfaction (Stefanou and Sarmaniotis, 2006: 619). Should the service or product exceed expectations or just fulfil it, customer satisfaction is deemed to have occurred. The level of at which the product meets the customers needs then determines whether the customer is satisfied, moderately satisfied, highly satisfied and so on. Depending on the customers attitude, this could work well towards improving the busi ness customer loyalty. If a product or service is below the customers expectations, dissatisfaction occurs and the probability of losing the customer to competitors increases (Anderson, 1973: 38-39). In measuring customer satisfaction, a comparison between the expected and the perceived quality are objectively compared. The expected quality is what the customer expects from the company and which should be provided by the company. It is what represent the customers wishes, expectations and needs and is referred to as the Should factor (Wilson 1991: 152). On the other hand, what the business actually gives the customer is what is referred to as the perceived quality. Perceived quality is known as the is factor (Wilson, 1991: 152). The basic factors are those referred to as must have aspects or dissatisfiers. Basic factors do not afford the customer any satisfaction and they are deemed to be obvious. In other words, the characteristic is in essence what the customer wants and if this is not there then he would not even buy the product or service in the first place (Croteau, 2003: 25-26). For example, any customer will expect that an institution of higher learning provides education as a prerequisite and is bound to take this for granted. This characteristic does not trigger any sort of excitement from the customer as it is considered normal (Kano, Seraku and Tkahashi, 1984: 40). It is other factors that drive the excitement towards making a particular choice. This leads us to the excitement factors which are also known as satisfiers. These factors are the attractive characteristics of a good or service meant to generate delight in the customer (Croteau, 2003: 26). They are also considered as the factors that di stinguish an organisation from its competitors. It is these same features and characteristics that an organisation should emphasise on when advertising their goods to prospective customers so that they choose them over their competitors. Finally, the performance factors serve the purpose of providing the explicit needs of the customer (Conant, 2003: 7). When the performance is high or when the customers needs are completely met, the result is customer satisfaction. If there is low level of performance however, customer dissatisfaction results and this could cause detrimental effects on the company through loss of customers. 2.1.2. Significance of customer satisfaction Numerous empirical findings are of the view that customer satisfaction forms the basis of establishing competitive advantage. It is through customer satisfaction that the business can be assured of a bright future through repeat sales (Kano, Seraku, Takahashi and Tsuji, 1984: 39-41). Customer satisfaction helps to gain loyalty and hence retain current customers besides attracting new customers to a company. Unsatisfied customers are likely to leave because as Wilson (1991: 156) notes, only four out of every one hundred customers come back to complain. Instead, they go on and switch companies opting to keep the discontentment to themselves. This is to mean that satisfaction is extremely vital for the survival of any business and should therefore be highly regarded. Stefanou and Sarmaniotis, 2003: 619) contend with the fact that retaining the existing customers is much easier than attracting new ones hence the need to build strong customer relationships through striving to satisfy thei r needs and meeting their expectations. Consumer satisfaction is therefore vital for any organisations success and should be taken seriously. With this kind of knowledge, business strategies are now being inclined towards customer satisfaction. To do this, Customer Relationship Management has been embraced by many businesses (Grant and Anderson, 2002: 36; Conant, 2003: 21; Light, 2003: 607; Kirker, 1994: 12). Recommendations made by customers are said to attract almost the same number of customers that the business attracts on its own. This happens through recommendations. Wilson (1991: 103) notes that every satisfied customer is bound to say something positive about the product to her friends and relatives. These individuals could eventually end up being loyal customers to the business thus increasing customer base. Dissatisfied customers will complain and talk ill of the product or service such that prospective customers are discouraged and may never take the companys product following negative remarks from those that had used it before (Wilson, 1991: 157). 2.2. Understanding Customer Relationship Management The survival of any business is to a large extent determined by the level of customer satisfaction. This understanding has seen the rise in the customer-centrism strategy as a means to retain and attract new customers (Patterson, 2007: 5-6). The rise in globalization has led to high levels of competition so that every business must work towards addressing customer needs to keep them from turning to competitors. According to Oliver (1996: 88) customers are likely to move to competitors if they feel that they are not obtaining what they want. Loss of customers could be detrimental since a business cannot exist without customers. In this kind of competition for customers, the notion of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has gained an important role in business management. Light (2003: 603-604) refers to CRM simply as the management of company-customer relationships while Stefanou and Sarmaniotis (2003: 617) call it relationship marketing. Seeman and OHara (2006: 25) add that CRM aim s at increasing customer satisfaction by customizing the service provided to each consumer. Further, Seeman and OHara refer to CRM as the process by which business information and consumer information are brought together through a centralized system. Major components of CRM include communication management, marketing, recruitment, customer support and service among others. It is a strategy that places the customer as the major focus in the organisation. Stefanou and Sarmaniotis (2003: 613-617) refers this as a customer-centric strategy where understanding the customer life cycle is essential. There is also need to understand the ever changing customer needs triggered by changes in lifestyles and income changes. CRM has often been described as a shift from the transaction-specific to cumulative customer satisfaction through relational orientation (Raab, 2008: 132). In order to satisfy this prerequisite, CRM has been divided into two major procedures; the operational function and the analytical function. While the operational function involves the collection of data from customers, the analytical function is concerned with analysis of data in order to understand the customer needs so that they can be effectively addressed (Peelen, 2005: 63). Data can be collected through the use of interviews and questionnaires, customer feedback, complaints and physical reactions among others. Using this kind of information, the customer service department can easily determine whether customers are satisfied with their products or not (Kirker, 1994: 14). If they are not satisfied, strategies aimed at addressing the various needs must be formulated. With the increasing level of globalisation, technological advances are being strongly felt in the business world. Further, customer relationships have become more complex due to consumer mobility and the rise of suburbs (Milliron, 2001: 52). Customer tastes and preferences are changing by the day as people embrace the modern world. In response to this, more companies have taken up technology-led techniques to further enhance their performance. It is for this reason that the CRM systems have emerged and companies are now turning from the manual CRM to computerised CRM. 2.3. Customer relationship management systems The use of Customer Relationship Management in institutions of higher learning is a relatively new genre of technology operations whose popularity is growing at a high rate (Light, 2003: 605). The application which is computer-based has aided in making sure that the relationship between customers and businesses can be effectively managed (Peelan, 2005: 79). Information Technology advances have been a catalyst in customer relationship management systems. Traditional analysis of data is slowly becoming outdated and the use of software to perform such duties is being adopted by the day. CRM systems have gained widespread popularity especially with the so called forward thinking managers(Croteau, 2003, 29). These systems not only analyze customer needs effectively but also make work easier for managers thus saving the time required for data analysis. Bradshaw and Brash (2001: 522) define CRM systems as a combination of discrete software tools which serve the purpose of enhancing customer satisfaction, reducing costs, identifying new opportunities, increasing revenue and attraction new customers among others. They note that organisations have no reason to fear initial costs of acquiring these systems because the benefits to be gained in the long-run exceed the costs incurred in the acquisition. Research shows that sophisticated technology has brought about the emergence of more advanced CRM systems (Milliron, 2001: 51). Further, it is notable that organisations that are currently using these sophisticated CRM technologies are gaining competitive advantage over their competitors who make use of basic data collection approaches (Abbott, Stone and Buttle, 2001: 27). Information Technology has aided companies to effectively customise their customer care procedures so as to ensure that they are well served. Following the emergence of CRM which aims at individualising customer needs, companies are now demanding technologies which make it easier to keep records about individual customers. This eliminates high numbers of record which have to be retrieved every time a customer visits the business (Bull, 2003: 31).Using the various CRM systems available in the market, it is possible for companies to collect all available data about a certain customer which is then saved in the company database. Whenever an enquiry is made by this customer, the customer care representative just needs to feed the necessary details in the database to retrieve everything about the consumer (Grant and Anderson, 2002: 26). This way, it is becomes easier to address these customers needs depending on the situation at hand. The use of web technology is one of the most prevalent applications of CRM technology (Milliron, 2001: 52). Savvy managers have realised the high rate at which the world is suddenly becoming computerized. The ease of internet navigation and development of broadband services has turned customers into active internet users. To maximise on this, internet marketing has emerged with more companies now displaying their goods in popular web pages such as networking sites (Kotler and Fox, 1995:96). It is not only the goods that they advertise on the internet however, websites containing company information have been developed so that customers can easily access any information they desire from the website (Light, 2003: 605). Most websites often have customer inquiry sections where questions can be asked and complaints deposited (Light, 2003: 606). The use of chat rooms to answer customer questions directly from the help care desk is also used in certain sophisticated websites. While websites are likely to serve customers who are already familiar with the company, new ways of directing prospective customers have been established. In popular web pages for example, clicking on a certain advertised good or service takes the prospective customer to the companys website where he or she can now access more information on about the company and other goods and services offered by the company. This is to mean that while company websites were previously used by companies to showcase their activities and other information about the company, they are now doubling up as marketing tools to retain existing employees and obtain new ones (Light, 2003: 606). 2.4. Customer relations in institutions of higher education Starting the mid-80s and into the late 90s, many higher education institutions engaged themselves in restructuring and engineering their administrative operations so that costs were reduced and consequently better services could be provided (Grant and Anderson, 2002: 24). The focus is slowly shifting from these operational changes meant to improve service delivery to identification of customer needs. These needs are then being used to identify the areas that need to be improved in order to effectively satisfy customers. This has been described as a proactive action because institutions can learn what their customers want then work towards satisfying these needs before they lose them to other institutions which meet such needs (Bull, 2003: 593). Customer relationship management (CRM) is fast gaining popularity as more institutions realize that maintaining healthy relationships with customers is vital for business success. Organisations that make use of customer relationship management report increased sales resulting from the good relationships established with their customers (Croteau, 2003: 29). Customer relations management (CRM) enables the analysis of past customer behaviour in a bid to anticipate future trends and hence do everything in their capacity to ensure that customer needs are met. While many institutions have embraced CRM, few have ventured into the use of customer relationship management technologies (Conant, 2003: 3-5). For some, it is because of inadequate information about customer relationship management (CRM) systems while for others is because of fear of initial costs associated with installing such systems. Seeman and OHara (2006: 26) note that at least 75 percent of the students entering higher education institutions have a substantial exposure to technology. The new generation of students are described as technology savvy students due to their undeniable contact with technology. As a result, their expectations about technology resources available in the institutions are very high (Milliron, 2001: 16). From what they have learnt over the internet and other technology literature, technology has been used to make procedures easier for customers unlike when manual systems were used. In their minds, institutions of higher learning should fall under this group that has acquired these systems in order to serve them better. Their absence therefore could frustrate their expectations which could culminate to serious consequences (Croteau, 2003, 31). For existing students, they could change schools and discourage their counterparts from joining the school. The use of CRM also serves the purpose of unifying the university or college administration such that the needs of customers can be catered for without having to move from one office to another. Many businesses today have now introduced websites through which they serve their customers needs. In the same trend, colleges and universities should take on this innovative method of communication to reach out to their customers without necessarily requiring them to visit the institution physically (Kotler and Fox, 1995: 96). This reduces physical and geographical barriers through providing all the information that current and potential customers would like to know about the institution. In designing a website, the technician involved must collect all the information that the institution wishes to put on the site (Milliron, 2001: 17). This information is then arranged in such a way that given links can lead the customer to the desired departments so as to access the required information. Chapter 3 Methodology Introduction This section of the paper quantifies the ability of the study to effectively satisfy the set objectives. Besides giving the procedures, methods and samples used in the study, it also outlines major limitations faced during the study. 3.1. Research scope The essence of this study is to establish whether Customer Relationship Management Systems could be of help to higher education institutions. As such, the study delimits itself to the role of customer relationships in institutions of higher learning. The importance of Customer Relationship Management systems forms the basis for this study and hence the advantages of this strategy form a core subject of the study. Due to the large geographical coverage of institutions and financial constraints, only schools in Madrid and Canterbia in Spain were used for the study. 3.2. Data and data collection Collection of data forms influences the outcome of the study to a large extent. For this reason, the data collection procedure was applied in the best way possible to enhance efficiency and to give the most accurate results. Both primary and secondary data were applied in the study. a) Primary data Factual information from the respondents was vital in making effective conclusions. To obtain this information, two separate types of questionnaires were set. These focused on current customers and potential customers. For simplicity, senior high school students who are most likely going to join universities and colleges after graduating were interviewed to determine the qualities they considered important in a college. Further, they were required to suggest the various components they would like incorporated in the college and university CRM systems. Current customers included students at colleges, staff, parents and alumni. The questionnaire directed at this group was aimed at finding out the application of CRM in their schools and how they thought it could be better improved to by incorporating technology. For those whose schools had already adopted CRM systems, they were asked to give the advantages they had witnessed and the difference with what they heard from colleagues in oth er schools not using CRM systems. Questionnaire were read out and filled by the researcher as the respondent gave their views. b) Secondary data Equally important was the use of secondary data which gave the study a theoretical background. Without the use of books, journals and periodicals among other written works, there was no way of justifying the concept of Customer Relationship Management Systems. The literature review in particular was solely dependent on previously published works. As such, secondary data was highly employed in the study. 3.3. Sample selection, technique, and size The study sample consisted of ten college students, ten university students, twenty high school seniors, twenty staff members and a random selection of twenty parents and alumni of various colleges and universities. Due to the large population of probable respondents, a method for selecting a sample had to be identified. The strategic sampling method was used to identify respondents for the study. 3.4. Ethics of the research methodology Before the beginning of the study, an objective of reducing respondents compromise as far as possible was set. The views contained in the questionnaires were for research purposes only and no third party was allowed to come into contact with them. With such an assurance, respondents felt free to give out information considered sensitive. For privacy purposes, no respondent was required to give out his or her name during the interviews. This raised confidentiality as required in scholarly research. 3.5. Limitations of the study As mu