A Canticle For Leibowitz essays

A Canticle For Leibowitz papers Walter M. Mill operator depicts a thought of how he figures innovation will influence society numerous years later. This isn't really how we figure innovation will influence society. The job innovation has on human presence and the outcome that change has on mankind are illustrated and created all through the three separate pieces of the novel: Fiat Homo, Fiat Lux and Fiat Voluntas Tua A Canticle for Leibowitz. is set numerous years later, after the decimation of the Nuclear Holocaust and the Flame Deluge. The Holocaust has devastated any innovation known to man and constrained society to begin once again. The overcomers of the holocaust free society of any insight including specialists, researchers, and any who are taught. The survivors do this since they feel undermined by the information individuals have and become dolts. They likewise observe the informed as the reason for the holocaust in the in front of the pack, they feel that since researchers imagined atomic weapons, its their shortcoming they were utilized to crush the world. In the start of the novel the researchers utilize the church as a position of solace and intelligence. The priests translate all the remaining parts of the book print, into lit up original copies. These lit up original copies are basic to society since they are the main wellspring of information from an earlier time and can be utilized to anticipate what the future will hold. There are numerous subjects introduced in the initial segment of the novel that are created all through the novel; innovations job on human presence and the outcomes that change has on mankind. Almost 600 years after the fact is the point at which the second piece of the novel, Fiat Lux, happens. Mill operator shows how charming the intensity of innovation has become to society. It likewise appears the numerous results that the progression of innovation can cause. A character in ... <!

Agri Sba: Cabbage Production Essay

Cabbage develops best in cool climate, however certain cultivars are additionally adjusted for the hotter months. In the cooler zones of the nation, where ice for the most part happens early or late in the season, Glory of Enkhuizen, Kiaps Spits, Green Coronet and Gloria can be planted from January to March, and Green Star and Bonanza, from August to January. In the hotter territories of the nation, where practically zero ice happens, Glory of Enkhuizen, Kiaps Spits, Green Coronet and Gloria can be planted from March to May, and Green Star and Bonanza, from January to December. Cabbage develops best when plantlets are developed and afterward planted out. You can develop your own plants or get them from a nursery. Recollect that cabbage plantlets can't be planted out before the age of five to about a month and a half. In the event that you need to plant out toward the start of February, for example, you should as of now sow the seed in December. Cabbage will develop well on most all around depleted soil types. That implies that water must not lay on the ground surface too long after the plants have been watered. Where this is the situation, manure must be dove into the dirt. Shallow soils on a hard rough, clayey or lime layer, must be kept away from. Cabbage takes up many plant supplements from the dirt. We put plant supplements into the dirt by delving manure and compost into it. A lot of natural plant food, for example, fertilizer and excrement is important for the plant. At the point when the bed is burrowed more than, 4 kg of fertilizer or excrement per square meter (m2) of ground can be dove into the dirt. Coincidentally, 1 m2 rises to the size of a square meter, the sides of which comprise of spades. Fertilizer and excrement don't, in any case, furnish the cabbage plant with enough plant supplements. It likewise requires nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). It is most significant first to investigations the dirt to decide its supplement content. Keep in mind: an over the top measure of supplements will consume the plants and a too limited quantity will bring about poor development. In the event that a dirt examination has not yet been done, the accompanying amounts of compost might be applied: At planting: 75 g of 2:3:2 (30) per m2. These plant supplements are a blend of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. This implies three plant supplements are given to the plant all the while. These supplements must be dove into the dirt well, before planting. A month in the wake of planting: 25 g of ammonium sulfate per m2, or 20 g of limestone ammonium nitrate (LAN) per m2. When the plants start to shape heads, the accompanying can be applied: 25 g of ammonium sulfate per m2, or 20 g of limestone ammonium nitrate (LAN) per m2. Take care not to let the plant supplements contact the plants as this can consume the stems. Water the plants as quickly as time permits subsequent to having treated them, with the goal that the supplements can disintegrate and be washed into the dirt. Before the plantlets are planted, the dirt must be burrowed over, hunks, stones and weeds must be expelled, and the dirt must be leveled. The cabbage plantlets are planted in columns. In-push dispersing must be around 40 cm and between-push dividing must be 60 cm. The dirt wherein the plants were become must be wet when the plants are taken out to be replanted. They should be lifted cautiously out of the ground with the goal that the roots are not harmed. Pick short, durable, sound plants to plant out. After they have been taken out, they should be secured with a clammy fabric or hessian until they are planted. They should ideally be planted on cool, overcast days or late toward the evening. The plantlets must be planted in soggy soil which is then immovably pushed down around the plant. After the plantlets have been planted, they should be watered at the earliest opportunity. A mulch of grass clippings, dry leaves or straw between the plants forestalls dissipation of soil dampness and furthermore smothers weed development. On the off chance that the dirt is permitted to turn out to be excessively dry, and it is then watered, it might happen that the cabbage heads burst open. In cool climate, cabbage can be watered once every week; in sweltering climate, a few times each week. Cabbage can be collected when all around grew hard heads have shaped. There are at any rate four sorts of creepy crawlies that harm cabbages during the developing season. They are: * the American bollworm, * aphids, * the diamondback moth, and * The burst bug. The American bollworm and the diamondback moth eat gaps in the cabbage leaves. Aphids suck out the sap of the plant and the leaves turn yellow and become deformed. The burst bug likewise eats the leaves and causes incredible harm. Land planning Preceding planting, the dirt should be readied, normally by some type of culturing or synthetic â€Å"burn-down† to execute the weeds in the seedbed that would swarm out the yield or contend with it for water and supplements. Culturing techniques can be partitioned into three significant classifications, contingent upon the measure of yield buildup they leave on a superficial level. Buildup eases back the progression of run off that can uproot and divert soil particles. * Conventional culturing †Until the most recent decade or so the standard culturing practice for corn was utilization of the moldboard furrow for essential culturing followed by a few auxiliary tillage’s and mechanical development after the yield was up. * Reduced culturing is typically finished with an etch furrow and leaves 15% to 30% buildup inclusion on the dirt. * Conservation culturing leaves in any event 30% buildup inclusion on the dirt. Protection culturing techniques incorporate no-till, w here no culturing is done at all and seeds are put straightforwardly into the past season’s crop buildup; strip-till, in which just the limited portion of land required for the harvest push is worked; edge till; and mulch till. Soils †Cabbage develops well on a wide assortment of soils, yet a very much depleted sandy topsoil with high natural issue content is liked. Maintain a strategic distance from soils that dry quickly. Herbicides are utilized in every one of these techniques to execute weeds. A typical legend is that more herbicide is utilized with preservation culturing strategies, yet in truth ranchers depend on herbicides for weed control under all culturing frameworks, and the sum utilized is pretty much autonomous of culturing technique. Effects of soil disintegration Soil disintegration has both on-ranch impacts (decrease in yield and homestead pay) and off-ranch impacts (sullied water because of the silt and related pollution from supplements and pesticides carried on the dirt molecule). On-ranch impacts because of the loss of soil and supplements include: * lower richness levels * advancement of rills and ravines in the field * more unfortunate harvest yields * less water penetration into the dirt At the point when rich topsoil is lost, supplements and natural issue required by crops frequently are expelled alongside it. Disintegration will in general expel the less thick soil constituents, for example, natural issue, muds, and sediments, which are regularly the most rich piece of the dirt. Soil planning All brassica crops develop best in incomplete shade, in firm, prolific, free-depleting soil. * Start diving over your dirt in harvest time, expelling any stones you find and working in a lot of very much spoiled excrement or manure. * Tread on the dirt to evacuate any air pockets and make the surface firm. * Brassicas will fizzle if the dirt is excessively acidic so add lime to the dirt if vital, focusing on a pH of 6.5-7.5. Water system Because of their enormous leaf territory, cabbage requires at any rate a 25 cm (1 inch) of water every week to support great development. Over the top watering late in the season can cause head-parting. Lopsided soil dampness can cause vacillations in the take-up of supplements and lead to tip consume or head-parting. Soil ought to be kept at 60 to 70 percent field ability to guarantee great yields and head quality. The way that cabbage is a cool season crop demonstrates that it reacts well to bring down temperatures with sufficient measures of precipitation. Cabbage additionally requires all around depleted soil. Soil that isn't very much depleted ought to either have seepage tiles introduced or have some natural issue added to it to improve soil air circulation. Seeding Direct-seeded cabbage is normally planted in ahead of schedule to mid-May. Direct-seeded cabbages are planted 5 to 8 cm (2 to 3 inches) separated (1.1 kg/ha or 1 lbs. /air conditioning) and diminished later. Coming up next are seeding rates for transplanted cabbage: Early: * in-push dividing †25 to 46 cm separated (10 to 18 inches) separated * between-push dividing †0.76 m (2.5 feet) separated Mid-season: * in-push dividing †30 to 46 cm (12 to 18 inches) separated * between-push dividing †0.7 to 0.9 m (2  ½ to 3 feet) separated Late-season: * in-push dividing †46 to 61 cm (18 to 24 inches) separated * between-push dividing †0.7 to 0.9 m (2  ½ to 3 feet) separated Row dispersing will be subject to your culturing, planting and collecting hardware. Many cabbage producers in Saskatchewan use transplants to diminish seed costs, quicken crop improvement, increment yields, beat issues with cruciferous bug creepy crawlies crushing rising seedlings, dispense with costs related with diminishing the direct-seeded harvest and maintain a strategic distance from soil crusting issues in dirt soils. In warm, dry springs bug scarab populaces are sufficiently high that bug insects are now present on the yield as it develops. Harm at development harms the developing tip, causing shooting, distorted heads or passing. Cultivators who transplant have the choice of planting and afterward following behind with a bug spray treatment to execute the insect creepy crawlies before any harm can happen. The equivalent can and is accomplished for direct-seeded cabbage, however the producer must be progressively careful and intently watch for seedling development. They would then be able to make a go with a bug spray. A seed push treatment, for example, Di-Syston 15 G, can be applied during planting to control cruciferous insect scarabs. Seed Treatment Seed costs for cabbage have expanded in the course of the most recent 10 years, essentially due to the move to half breed types. Due to the seed’s higher worth, it is ideal to treat it with a fungicide, for example, Thiram 75WP, to forestall seedling scourge, damping off and seed rot. Boiling water treatment of the s

ICIC

ICIC With two weeks left until Bike and Build (donate donate donate!) I decided it was time to bring my casual bike ride form of training to the next level by joining the MIT Cycling Club for one of the Best Ideas Ever Intercollegiate Ice Cream (ICIC) Rides. Basically, some kids with bikes from Harvard and MIT meet up on Thursdays for a nice bike ride to a new ice cream place around Boston. Did you HEAR that?! Ice cream, biking AND inter-collegiate-ness. If thats not the best idea ever, I dont know what is. Its meant to be an easy, social ride, which was good for me because it was my first time riding in a group, and Im still a pretty novice cycler. About halfway through, I was kind of tired and really looking forward to that ice cream. A bit afterwards, I began to realize we had gone pretty far and had passed several perfectly respectable-looking ice cream shops already. Hmmm Several miles later, I began to wonder if there really *was* any ice cream, or if this was some cruel joke by the MIT and Harvard Cycling clubs. Then there was this huge hill oh man, it lasted forever! I just had to keep going higher and higher and higher. I must have been going half a mile an hour to get up it. Ive never biked up a hill like that. Halfway through, I was thoroughly convinced there was no ice cream and wondered what I had gotten myself into, but I kept going because I really had no choice I had no idea where I was. I finally reached the top and- man, that felt good. The small part of my soul that hadnt lost hope about the ice cream half-expected the ice cream to be at the top of this mountain, because, well, we surely wouldnt keep *going* would we? But we did. Luckily and quite literally it was all downhill from there. We passed one of those machines that tell you your speed on the road about halfway down, and whizzing by, I clocked a speed of 24mph. Going that fast was a such a great feeling Im really excited about this summer! Not long after and much to my surprise, we actually did end up at an ice cream place- The Chilly Cow- and I had one of the most deliciously rewarding smoothies ever. The ride back was surprisingly only five miles (for a total of 18 miles). We didnt have to go up the Hill of Death again, but if we had, I think I would have been okay. I hope you are all enjoying your summer days as much as I am, and if youre not, go biking and get some sun and ice cream. =)

Social Change Essay - 1040 Words

Social change is broadly defined as the transformation of cultural, economic, political and social institutions and relationships over time. Sociologists are interested in identifying how change is initiated, for what or whose purposes and with what consequences. While some aspects of social change create positive results for example democracy and human rights expanded in the aftermath of the American and French revolutions many have unintended consequences the expanded availability of communications technology blurs conventional boundaries between home and work. In fact, not all social groups view and respond to social change as positive. While social change might seem inevitable from a contemporary perspective, its causes and pace vary†¦show more content†¦Industrialization brought with it new living arrangements the growth of cities and population growth; intellectual and cultural change through the spread of ideas about democracy and equality via new media, such as penn y news sheets and increasing secularism as scientific thought challenged religious beliefs. Sociologists drew on and adapted scientific method and created models of social change to explain this broad transformation from simple homogenous societies to complex highly differentiated societies, broadly understood as modernization. In contrast to feudal societies, which remained static for a long period, or which were seen to change in cyclical ways, to be modern is to live with social change and in an environment in which all that is solid melts into air†. However, classical sociologists and social commentators have differed in their explanations for change and in their view of its consequences. First, late eighteenth century Enlightenment thinkers, such as David Hume and Adam Ferguson, argued that scientific reason would stimulate social change for the moral advancement of society. Concomitantly, social change became synonymous with the idea of social progress. Second,Show MoreRelated Entrepreneurship for Social Change Essay1304 Words   |  6 PagesEntrepreneurship for social change: Is the U.S. doing enough to encourage and support sustainable social innovation? Introduction: Throughout U.S. history the nonprofit and government sectors have addressed needs that are not being met by the marketplace through the provision of a variety of social goods and services ranging from health and human services to environmental conservation. 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Acute Human Immunodeficiency Virus ( Hiv ) Infection

Acute Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection is the small period of time after a person has been exposed to HIV and before they have seroconverted. Seroconversion is the process in which the body starts to create antibodies to fight the HIV virus (Pietrangelo, 2013). During this period of time, which is usually a few days, the virus replicates rapidly. The rapid replication results in extremely high amounts of HIV in the blood because the body has not had time to respond to the infection. As the viral load increases more CD4 white cells are destroyed. CD4 cells are a responsible in protecting the body from infection. When these cells are destroyed they no longer are able to adequately activate the body s immune system. (AIDS.GOV).†¦show more content†¦Signs/symptoms of Acute HIV Infection Including HP Not all patients with HIV will have signs or symptoms during the acute infection phase. If a patient is having symptoms they can often times think that they have the flu. Acute HIV infection symptoms can show up 2-4 weeks after exposure and last from a few days to several weeks (Cherney, 2014). If they are exhibiting symptoms they may present as having a fever, swollen lymph nodes, skin rashes, myalgia, diarrhea, oral ulcers or thrush, and fatigue. Lab results may also show leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, or an elevation in transaminase (DHHS, 2015). Differential diagnoses include the flu or Epstein- Barr Virus since these also present with similar symptoms. A thorough health history must be taken with patients before an exam in order to identify risk behavior. Important things to ask about are sexual history, partners and possible exposures, any drug use (especially intravenously), and any current STI’s (HRSA, 2014). Upon physical exam things to look for or may see with an acute HIV infection would be ecchymosis, purpura, petechiae, Kaposi sarcoma, lymphadenopathy, oral candidiasis, or hepatosplenomegaly (Aberg et al., 2014). Cultural Implications The numbers of new HIV infections per year has remained relatively the same since the 1990’s (CDC, 2015). Out of

The English Patient Free Essays

Max Cembalest SYA English, 6th Period March 7th, 2013 The Villa is Alive, But the Sand is Forever Barren. Lifeless. Considered one of the most hostile environments on the planet, the Sahara Desert takes away all meaning and identity and covers it with sand. We will write a custom essay sample on The English Patient or any similar topic only for you Order Now Amalsy, the so-called English Patient and one of the central characters of our story, thrusts himself into this empty land to dispose of the idea of nations. In this way the desert is an escape; a common void for those who wish to cede into the past rather than survive in the present. Lush. Alive. Arguably the nation with the richest history in the world, the Italian countryside encompasses a feeling of togetherness that brings our four main characters together. The villa they live in recovering from the atrocities of world war two not only gives them space to heal, but also itself exhibits the characteristics of healing through nature. In this way the villa exists among our four protagonists, and is one of the fragmented victims of war along with them. Michael Ondaatje, author of our novel The English Patient, focuses most of our front story in the Italian villa. Holes line the inner and outer walls, creating voids in the frescoes of outdoor landscapes. At first glance, war has reduced it to a fraction of its former grace and beauty. â€Å"The Villa San Girolamo, built to protect inhabitants from the flesh of the devil, had the look of a besieged fortress, the limbs of most of the statues blown off during the first days of shelling. † But as is a representative of a war victim healing with time, we see how nature slowly replaces the man made structures, eventually causing the villa to fade into the land. There seemed little demarcation between house and landscape, between damaged building and the burned and shelled remnants of the earth. To Hana the wild gardens were further rooms†¦ In spite of the burned earth, in spite of the lack of water. someday there would be a bower of limes, rooms of green light,† (p. 45). Ondaatje uses this beautiful image of a broken, fragmented house being consumed and reborn anew to show the proc ess of healing from war. The villa represents the hope Hana sees in the future; that even though everything is here life is burned, broken, and dead, someday she will recover just as the villa has. Then there is the desert. Despite being just across the Mediterranean, the Sahara Desert could not be more of a different environment then the countryside surrounding the Italian villa. It is arid, harsh, unforgiving. But even with the physical difference between the desert and Italy, the greater contrast lies in the history of each place. Italy, for thousands of years, has been owned and claimed over and over, by the Estrucans, Greeks, Romans, Barbarians, and Italians. But the desert belongs to no one, no single nation. All boundaries, all sense of difference between people that exists solely because of nations get swept away by oceans of sand. It is this aspect of the desert that draws Amalsy in. As he narrates to Hana, he says, â€Å"The desert could not be claimed or owned—it was a piece of cloth carried by winds, never held down by stones, and given a hundred shifting names before Canterbury existed, long before battles and treaties quilted Europe and the East†¦. All of us, even those with European homes and children in the distance, wished to remove the clothing of our countries. It was a place of faith. We disappeared into landscape,† (p. 147-148). Amalsy praises the desert for being sovereign, just as he himself strives to remain neutral and uninvolved during the chaos of World War II. The desert endures for centuries unharmed by human squabbling, since it is never contained or ‘held down by stones’. Amalsy flees to the desert to escape the ruthlessness of reality and to connect with the past contained in his books. Instead of a place of healing, for Amalsy the desert is a denial of the real world entirely. He is able to purge himself of his past life and leap into a new world in which the past and the present are no different. He steps in the same sand, traverses the same dune, embraces the very same realm that Herodotus so admired. In this environment, Amalsy and the other explorers can deny the war and remove the notion that one’s nation has any significance. The desert is stagnant. Any and all attempts to claim ownership are swiftly swept aside. The endurance represents the foolishness of war, how nothing that happens between nations has any meaning there. But Italy is change. It is life, death, and then rebirth. Italy is hugely affected by the war, but we see the recovery of its wounds and hope for the future. Each of these settings in The English Patient is a way for Ondaatje to communicate to us the drastic toll of war on our characters and the different way each person handles themselves. Hana remains in the thick of the war and is shattered by grief, but come the end of the novel we see the beginning of recovery and the hope for a happier life. Amalsy, however, escapes entirely in the hopes of avoiding the war and the pointless differences among nations. Even up to his death his mind is still among the sand. How to cite The English Patient, Papers The English Patient Free Essays Max Cembalest SYA English, 6th Period March 7th, 2013 The Villa is Alive, But the Sand is Forever Barren. Lifeless. Considered one of the most hostile environments on the planet, the Sahara Desert takes away all meaning and identity and covers it with sand. We will write a custom essay sample on The English Patient or any similar topic only for you Order Now Amalsy, the so-called English Patient and one of the central characters of our story, thrusts himself into this empty land to dispose of the idea of nations. In this way the desert is an escape; a common void for those who wish to cede into the past rather than survive in the present. Lush. Alive. Arguably the nation with the richest history in the world, the Italian countryside encompasses a feeling of togetherness that brings our four main characters together. The villa they live in recovering from the atrocities of world war two not only gives them space to heal, but also itself exhibits the characteristics of healing through nature. In this way the villa exists among our four protagonists, and is one of the fragmented victims of war along with them. Michael Ondaatje, author of our novel The English Patient, focuses most of our front story in the Italian villa. Holes line the inner and outer walls, creating voids in the frescoes of outdoor landscapes. At first glance, war has reduced it to a fraction of its former grace and beauty. â€Å"The Villa San Girolamo, built to protect inhabitants from the flesh of the devil, had the look of a besieged fortress, the limbs of most of the statues blown off during the first days of shelling. † But as is a representative of a war victim healing with time, we see how nature slowly replaces the man made structures, eventually causing the villa to fade into the land. There seemed little demarcation between house and landscape, between damaged building and the burned and shelled remnants of the earth. To Hana the wild gardens were further rooms†¦ In spite of the burned earth, in spite of the lack of water. someday there would be a bower of limes, rooms of green light,† (p. 45). Ondaatje uses this beautiful image of a broken, fragmented house being consumed and reborn anew to show the proc ess of healing from war. The villa represents the hope Hana sees in the future; that even though everything is here life is burned, broken, and dead, someday she will recover just as the villa has. Then there is the desert. Despite being just across the Mediterranean, the Sahara Desert could not be more of a different environment then the countryside surrounding the Italian villa. It is arid, harsh, unforgiving. But even with the physical difference between the desert and Italy, the greater contrast lies in the history of each place. Italy, for thousands of years, has been owned and claimed over and over, by the Estrucans, Greeks, Romans, Barbarians, and Italians. But the desert belongs to no one, no single nation. All boundaries, all sense of difference between people that exists solely because of nations get swept away by oceans of sand. It is this aspect of the desert that draws Amalsy in. As he narrates to Hana, he says, â€Å"The desert could not be claimed or owned—it was a piece of cloth carried by winds, never held down by stones, and given a hundred shifting names before Canterbury existed, long before battles and treaties quilted Europe and the East†¦. All of us, even those with European homes and children in the distance, wished to remove the clothing of our countries. It was a place of faith. We disappeared into landscape,† (p. 147-148). Amalsy praises the desert for being sovereign, just as he himself strives to remain neutral and uninvolved during the chaos of World War II. The desert endures for centuries unharmed by human squabbling, since it is never contained or ‘held down by stones’. Amalsy flees to the desert to escape the ruthlessness of reality and to connect with the past contained in his books. Instead of a place of healing, for Amalsy the desert is a denial of the real world entirely. He is able to purge himself of his past life and leap into a new world in which the past and the present are no different. He steps in the same sand, traverses the same dune, embraces the very same realm that Herodotus so admired. In this environment, Amalsy and the other explorers can deny the war and remove the notion that one’s nation has any significance. The desert is stagnant. Any and all attempts to claim ownership are swiftly swept aside. The endurance represents the foolishness of war, how nothing that happens between nations has any meaning there. But Italy is change. It is life, death, and then rebirth. Italy is hugely affected by the war, but we see the recovery of its wounds and hope for the future. Each of these settings in The English Patient is a way for Ondaatje to communicate to us the drastic toll of war on our characters and the different way each person handles themselves. Hana remains in the thick of the war and is shattered by grief, but come the end of the novel we see the beginning of recovery and the hope for a happier life. Amalsy, however, escapes entirely in the hopes of avoiding the war and the pointless differences among nations. Even up to his death his mind is still among the sand. How to cite The English Patient, Essay examples

Vitamins Essays - B Vitamins, Nutrition, Coenzymes, Alcohols

Vitamins Vitamin, any of the organic compounds required by the body in small amounts for metabolism, to protect health, and for proper growth in children. Vitamins also assist in the formation of hormones, blood cells, nervous-system chemicals, and genetic material. The various vitamins are not chemically related, and most differ in their physiological actions. They generally act as catalysts, combining with proteins to create metabolically active enzymes that in turn produce hundreds of important chemical reactions throughout the body. Without vitamins, many of these reactions would slow down or cease. The intricate ways in which vitamins act on the body, however, are still far from clear. The 13 well-identified vitamins are classified according to their ability to be absorbed in fat or water. The fat-soluble vitamins-A, D, E, and K-are generally consumed along with fat-containing foods, and because they can be stored in the body's fat, they do not have to be consumed every day. The water-soluble vitamins-the eight B vitamins and vitamin C-cannot be stored and must be consumed frequently, preferably every day (with the exception of some B vitamins, as noted below). The body can manufacture only vitamin D; all others must be derived from the diet. Lack of them causes a wide range of metabolic and other dysfunctions. In the U.S., since 1940, the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council has published recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Expressed in milligrams or international units (IU) for adults and children of normal health, these recommendations are useful guidelines not only for professionals in nutrition but also for the growing number of families and individuals who eat irregular meals and rely on prepared foods, many of which are now required to carry nutritional labeling. A well-balanced diet contains all the necessary vitamins, and most individuals who follow such a diet can correct any previous vitamin deficiencies. However, persons who are on special diets, who are suffering from intestinal disorders that prevent normal absorption of nutrients, or who are pregnant or lactating may need particular vitamin supplements to bolster their metabolism. Beyond such real needs, vitamin supplements are also often popularly believed to offer cures for many diseases, from colds to cancer; but in fact the body quickly eliminates most of these preparations without absorbing them. In addition, the fat-soluble vitamins can block the effect of other vitamins and even cause severe poisoning when taken in excess. Vitamin A Vitamin A is a pale yellow primary alcohol derived from carotene. It affects the formation and maintenance of skin, mucous membranes, bones, and teeth; vision; and reproduction. An early deficiency symptom is night blindness (difficulty in adapting to darkness); other symptoms are excessive skin dryness; lack of mucous membrane secretion, causing susceptibility to bacterial invasion; and dryness of the eyes due to a malfunctioning of the tear glands, a major cause of blindness in children in developing countries. The body obtains vitamin A in two ways. One is by manufacturing it from carotene, a vitamin precursor found in such vegetables as carrots, broccoli, squash, spinach, kale, and sweet potatoes. The other is by absorbing ready-made vitamin A from plant-eating organisms. In animal form, vitamin A is found in milk, butter, cheese, egg yolk, liver, and fish-liver oil. Although one-third of American children are believed to consume less than the recommended allowance of vitamin A, sufficient amounts can be obtained in a normally balanced diet rather than through supplements. Excess vitamin A can interfere with growth, stop menstruation, damage red blood corpuscles, and cause skin rashes, headaches, nausea, and jaundice. The B Vitamins Known also as vitamin B complex, these are fragile, water-soluble substances, several of which are particularly important to carbohydrate metabolism. B1 Thiamine, or vitamin B1, a colorless, crystalline substance, acts as a catalyst in carbohydrate metabolism, enabling pyruvic acid to be absorbed and carbohydrates to release their energy. Thiamine also plays a role in the synthesis of nerve-regulating substances. Deficiency in thiamine causes beriberi, which is characterized by muscular weakness, swelling of the heart, and leg cramps and may, in severe cases, lead to heart failure and death. Many foods contain thiamine, but few supply it in concentrated amounts. Foods richest in thiamine are pork, organ meats (liver, heart, and kidney),

Everything You Need to Know About Writing Awesome Email Subject Lines

Everything You Need to Know About Writing Awesome Email Subject Lines First impressions matter. This is certainly true for email subject lines. Theyre the first thing recipients see in their inbox.  When written well, they inspire readers to open your email  newsletters and click through to read more. If theyre off target, however, they  let your reader know your email is a waste of time and space. No pressure, though. To make matters worse, we all get too many emails. Whether theyre from a store you dont remember visiting,  or your parents are wondering why you dont write more often (you should really drop them a line), the pursuit of inbox zero is a fabled achievement for knowledge workers (including marketers). So, how do you write subject lines that make your emails stand out? Thats exactly what well cover in this post. Youll learn: The emotional elements of subject lines that drive clicks. Best practices on how to write subject lines. The best way to run A/B tests so you can gather your own data about what works best for you. Make yourself comfortable.  Were going to  write sharp subject lines that demand the attention your email deserves. This Is How To Write Better Email Subject Lines To Get More OpensSnag Your Email Subject Line Template + Resource Bundle This post is packed full of advice. To make it easier to implement while youre on the job, weve rounded up these free templates: Email Subject Lines Template: 43 fill-in-the-blank templates to practice sharpening your subject line writing skills. 500+ Power Words Cheat Sheet: We made this with headlines in mind, but the same words work to infuse emotion into subject lines, too. Power + Emotion Words Cheat Sheet: Another reference sheet loaded with emotional words to drive more engagement. Email Subject Line A/B Test Spreadsheet: A simple Excel file for storing the outcomes of your email subject line A/B tests. ... And Try Our New Email Subject Line Tester You get one chance to write the perfect subject line for your email. Of course, there's no way to be sure how it'll perform until you hit "send." But, wouldn't be great if you could tilt the odds in your favor? That's where our Email Subject Line Tester comes in. Like our popular Headline Analyzer, it's a free and simple tool for testing email subject lines. Enter your subject line: And get your score: Plus, you'll get a detailed breakdown on how to improve your results: Give it a spin now and start optimizing every subject line you write (before sending it to your list). Why Are Subject Lines Important? Like we stated previously, your subject line is the first thing recipients see. In that crucial make-or-break moment when users find your email in their inbox, it's what determines whether they'll click through, or simply ignore your message. Worse, they might even put your newsletter in the trash without even opening it up. Let's start by asking exactly why paying attention to subject lines is important.  Here are some interesting  stats: Source: convinceandconvert.com/convince-convert/15-email-statistics-that-are-shaping-the-future/ When it comes to subject lines, these numbers tell us a few things: Subject lines shouldn't sound overly sales-driven. No one wants to start their day with a blunt sales pitch. Stay out of SPAM folders by sounding natural. Avoid spammy-sounding subject lines. People will learn to avoid your emails, even if you make it into their inbox. Subject lines have a considerable influence on click-through rates. Sure, 35% isn't an astronomical number. However, it's high enough to show subject lines carry weight. Ignore them at your own peril. Writing #email #subject #lines? Commit these three stats to memory.Can You Show Me Some Examples of Great Email Subject Lines? Now, you're probably wondering what good email subject lines look and sound like. There are a ton of great examples and resources out there, and we've rounded up some of the best below: 101 Best Email Subject Lines of 2017 (Digital Marketer) 164 Best Email Subject Lines to Boost Your Email Open Rates (OptinMonster) 13 Insanely Clickable Email Subject Line Examples (Sumo) 40 Great Email Subject Lines (ThriveHive) That should be plenty to point you in the right direction. Three Mechanics of Strong Subject Lines So, you've seen some examples of good subject lines. But, what actually makes them, well, good? Let's break down some mechanics. Write Short Subject Lines For Mobile Devices According to MailChimp, there is little correlation between subject line length and clicks. However, keeping them short may help their appearance on mobile devices. Communicate a Clear Benefit No one will open your marketing email if there is no benefit to the reader. So, make it clear that your recipient will gain something from opening it. In most cases, the benefit of your email will be clear.   Here are some examples: Move snow faster with this plow (benefit: clearing your driveway quicker). Cut grass like a champ (benefit: make lawn mowing easier). Improve your living room for 40% less (benefit: upgrade your furniture, saving money). These are basic examples, but they give you the picture. Use Words That Positively Impact Open Rates The best subject lines use terms shown to drive action. Here's a quick look at 100+ words you should consider: How Do Emotional Appeals Impact Email Open Rates? Subject lines are a lot like headlines. The more emotional, the better. People want to know how their life will be better, easier, or more enjoyable because they read your email. Those kinds of benefits aren't necessarily easy to convey. However, they're essential for optimal open rates. So, how can you pull those emotional levers to get more opens? Start by understanding which emotions you want to invoke, and learn the language necessary to drive that action. Recommended Reading: How to Write Emotional Headlines That Get More Shares Which Emotions Can Email Marketers Tap Into? So, we've established the need to give your emails some feeling. But, which emotions or sensations should marketers focus on eliciting? Let's focus on the following four: Urgency. Why should I act fast (and what will happen if I don't)? Curiosity. How can you  include enough detail to get readers interested, but leave enough mystery that they have to click through? Excitement. Can your subject line hype up your email content (and can your newsletter can back it up)? Joy. What can your subject line do to promote a positive emotional result for your reader? How to Write Subject Lines That Inspire Urgency Let's take a look at some easy subject line formulas and templates you can use to get readers moving. Give Your Reader a Deadline to Act Deadlines and "limited time" messaging can inspire immediate action. Example: Successful marketers will open this ... before time runs out. Tap into FOMO (The Fear of Missing Out) The "fear of missing out" is real, and no one wants to miss out on something good. Example: Limited spots available! Claim yours now. Imply Negative Outcomes Due to Lack of Action What happens if the recipient doesn't take advantage of what's in your email? Example: Don't let your lawn suffer under the summer sun. How to Write Subject Lines That Inspire Curiosity Everyone enjoys a little bit of mystery from time to time, right? Here's how to infuse some suspense into your emails to get more opens. Try the Cliffhanger Approach Leave out enough detail to stoke interest without telling the whole story. Example: Bob's  lawn got greener than ever using ... Start With the End Offer readers a conclusion that leaves them wondering how the story starts. Example: How did Bob's lawn get so green? Use an Open-Ended Question One that can only be answered by opening your email. Example:  What's new at Bob's Lawn Care Emporium? How to Write Subject Lines That Inspire Excitement Get readers excited to open their email (or, well, as excited as you can get while reading email). Here's how to infuse some hype into your subject lines. Incorporate Strong Action Verbs Use language that encourages people to get up and do something. Example: Blast your abs for less at Dave's Gym Give Your Reader a Sense of Exclusivity Email subscribers love feeling like they have the inside track on exclusive deals and information. Example:  Can you keep a secret? Here's some cool news coming soon ... Make an Offer People Can't Refuse Use an accurate but hard-to-believe statistic or incredible offer to generate excitement. Example: Did you know 73% of clients see improvement using this tactic?   How to Write Subject Lines That Inspire Joy You know the saying, "People won't remember what you say, but they'll remember how you made them feel?" That absolutely applies to marketing, your brand, and your email subject lines. Make people feel good and reap the rewards. Use Emojis Intelligently A well-placed emoji can be great for getting a chuckle. Example: Look your best and feel your best :) (this isn't the best example, but pretend that smiley face is a much cooler-looking emoji) Work In Humor (Carefully) Laughter is good for your health. Put people in a good mood, and they'll react more positively to your content. Example: So three marketers walk into a bar ... Give People an Opportunity to Do Good Because it feels good to do good. Example: Make a difference with us for our local animal shelter Apply Your Knowledge: Write Better Subject Lines in Six Steps It's time to take what you've learned  and put it into action. Follow these steps to start writing. Identify the Topic and Purpose of Your Email What is your email newsletter about? Here are some common possibilities: Promoting a sale. Sharing your most recent content. Announcing a new product launch. Offering helpful how-to tips. Getting event registrants. If your email is part of a broader campaign, make sure your messaging is consistent, too. Know Your Audience If you're doing marketing correctly, you should know who your audience is. But, your audience may be comprised of several different market segments. So, make sure you know exactly who you're targeting. Then, craft messaging that will appeal to them. Identify Your Benefit or Value Proposition Why would someone open this email? Think about what's in it for your reader, as much as what's in it for your brand. Some examples could include: Saving money. Completing a task more easily. Doing something charitable. Narrow it down to one core benefit. Pick Your Emotional Appeal Remember Urgency, Curiosity, Excitement, and Joy? Choose one to focus on. Or, consider writing several options targeting different emotional appeals. Whichever you choose, have clear intent behind your words. Match the Message in Your Email Copy Message-match means making sure your subject line aligns with your email's content. Typically, it's a term reserved for digital advertising, ensuring ad copy aligns with a landing page. But, we can apply the same principle here. For example, if you're promoting a sale, make sure your subject line and body copy are consistent with one another. If you're promoting a piece of content, make sure your subject line's message matches what they'll find on the destination page. Write Several Options With the Email Subject Line Tester It's a good idea to try tons of different options before settling on one subject line. If you're writing for a client, you might even give them five or six to choose from. As you write different options, the tester will keep track of your scores: Plus, the tool will help you learn what works (and what doesn't). It's an easy way to Ten Templates to Write Your Own Email Subject Lines As an exercise, try filling in these templates. Then, use the Email Subject Line Tester to see how your efforts perform. The best [AUDIENCE] are using this [TACTIC] to [BENEFIT] Do [ACTION] [PERCENT] better Save [PERCENT] on [PRODUCT] before [NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCE] [NUMBER] Ways to [BENEFIT] Using [PRODUCT] Achieve [GOAL] [PERCENT] Faster With [PRODUCT] Help [ORGANIZATION] do [BENEFIT] before [DEADLINE] The smartest [AUDIENCE] will be at [EVENT] ... Register for [EVENT] by [DEADLINE] and save [PERCENT] Here's how [INFLUENCER] does [ACTION] with [PRODUCT] [NUMBER] secrets the best [AUDIENCE] use to [BENEFIT] These writing prompts are simple, but should help get your creative gears turning. Get More Opens By A/B Testing Email Subject Lines Nearly every email service provider lets you send A/B tests for your email subject lines. Whether you use MailChimp,  Campaign Monitor, or something similar, most provide A/B testing options when building email newsletters. This video is specific to MailChimp, but it covers a lot  of A/B testing basics that should apply to most platforms: However, what  makes a good A/B test? Let's dig into some tips. 5 Effective Tactics for Email  A/B Testing The key to a good A/B test is to choose variables that really are different from one another.  If you test two subject lines that sound too similar, you won't learn much. There needs to be a substantial difference between your two options. Consider these five different approaches when you run your next A/B test: 1. Test Two Different Value Propositions Let's say your email content is promoting a post that both: Shows readers how to save time. Shows them how to save money. These are two different value propositions. So, write two options, one focusing on each benefit. Then, see which performs best. The data will tell you which benefit your audience cares about most. That'll help you continue to write more effective subject lines in the future. The key to a good A/B test is to have options that are different from one another.2. Target  Two Different Emotions Your audience might respond better to curiosity than urgency. Or, maybe they're looking for something that will brighten their day. So, find out. Try  targeting different emotions and see what drives a better response. 3. Test Subject Line Length You might find different subject line lengths work best for you. Or, different lengths may work better for different types of messages. Consider experimenting with short  (one or two words)  versus long (seven or eight words). 4. Test Questions Versus Definitive Statements Questions can help get readers curious. However, definitive statements can express authority. Try both and see what happens. 5. Test Using Stats Statistics can drive email opens, especially when they're difficult to believe. If your email content includes an interesting stat, try incorporating one into subject line A. Then, write subject line B without a stat. Recommended Reading: What 10 Studies Say About the Best Time to Send Email Now, An Exercise In A/B Testing Now, let's try applying what you've learned to an actual A/B test. Write Your Email Content Start by writing your email copy. This will make it easier to write your subject lines. Identify Which Two Variables You'll Test Write two different subject line options. Try to emphasize something different in each one. For example, you could target two different emotions, in order to sell people on reading the same newsletter. Or, you could include an emoji or statistic in one, but not the other. Whichever you choose, the point is to know exactly what you're testing. See Which Does Best Once your email has sent, you'll see relatively quickly which outperformed the other. Use the Email A/B Subject Line Testing template we included in this post to track performance over time: Here are some specific things to monitor: Winning and Losing Subject Lines: Which options perform best? Do certain types appear to fail more frequently than others? Open Rates: How many people opened each email? CTR (Click-Through Rate): How many people click through on each subject line? You'll need to set up and measure A/B tests in your email marketing platform provider. Here's how, using several popular email marketing tools: MailChimp Campaign Monitor HubSpot Pardot Constant Contact Emma Measure Your Results Use the analytics tools built into your email platform to monitor open rates. Use the template included in this post, or create your own following the graphic below. Use it to  track your winner and loser from the test, the difference in the results, and scrutinize the reason why your winner performed the best. This may require some subjective judgment. When  assessing the reason one subject line outperformed the other, keep the following in mind: If you set up clear variables in your A/B test, the reason subject lines succeed or fail should be obvious. For example, if one option includes a statistic, while the other does not, then that's a good indicator that stats resonate with your audience. Look for  patterns. The more you test, the more consistent patterns should  emerge. The days and times you send email can impact results as well. Remember that the actual content of your email may influence open rates (and in turn, your email conversion rates, too. If people aren't interested in the topic of your email, then simply following best practices might not be enough to drive opens and clicks. Great content will get attention. Following proper mechanics and technique merely maximizes great content's ability to make an impact. When it comes to email marketing, your own data beats best practices. The recipients on your email list are  different from anyone else's. What works for another business, might not work for yours. This is why it's better to know how to gather your own data than to simply follow someone else's. Don't use other's data as your guide. Use it to inspire you to get your own data.Now, Go Write Better Subject Lines! It's easy to overlook subject lines when we're writing marketing emails. They're short, so they should be easy, right? Not exactly. It's often tougher to write short, punchy messages than long, rambling pieces. When you only have about 50 characters to work with, every word counts. We can't tell you exactly what messaging will work best in your email.  However, you're now equipped with the knowledge you need to start experimenting with your own subject lines. By following the tips and best practices in this post, you'll be able to dramatically increase your odds of success. Try different things. See what works. Ditch what doesn't. Repeat for success.

Parallel Structure with Prepositions

Parallel Structure with Prepositions Parallel Structure with Prepositions Parallel Structure with Prepositions By Mark Nichol Writers often mistakenly withhold repetition of prepositions with corresponding sentence elements in the erroneous belief that those elements can share a single preposition. In each of the following sentences, a repeated preposition is missing, and a discussion after each example explains the problem and a revision resolves it. 1. These developments are significant as the cost and influence of regulation on business models remain high in many industries. This sentence’s construction implies that cost can share the preposition of with influence, but it requires its own, because cost is parallel not to influence but to â€Å"influence of regulation on†: â€Å"These developments are significant as the cost of, and influence of regulation on, business models remain high in many industries.† 2. Such dysfunction can arise from incentives that do not encourage resiliency and management being out of touch with the customer. Similar to the problem in the previous sentence, from should be repeated before management so that the reader is not led to believe that management corresponds to resiliency rather than to incentives: â€Å"Such dysfunction can arise from incentives that do not encourage resiliency and from management being out of touch with the customer.† 3. They are designing preventive and detective control activities that are effective in the new environment, both from a risk-management and operational-scalability perspective. For the phrasal adjectives â€Å"risk management† and â€Å"operational scalability† to be fully parallel, legitimately sharing the noun perspective, the second phrase must, like the first phrase, be preceded by an article: â€Å"They are designing preventive and detective control activities that are effective in the new environment, both from a risk-management and an operational-scalability perspective.† (Better yet, do so and transpose both and from and repeat perspective after each phrasal adjective: â€Å"They are designing preventive and detective control activities that are effective in the new environment, from both a risk-management perspective and an operational-scalability perspective.†) 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 Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Types of Rhyme50 Idioms About Roads and Paths6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know

Multinational Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Multinational Finance - Essay Example The cost of capital is the expected return that is required on investments to compensate you for the required risk. However, the cost of capital of a company is affected by various factors. All these factors are discussed in detailed in the forthcoming paragraphs. Capital Structure decisions are a significant managerial decision which influences the risk and return of the investors. Basically, the main goal of any company would be none other than maximization of present shareholder value. In order to achieve this goal, the capital structure decisions that are taken by a company should result in positive net present value which means that the "present value of the expected cash inflow less the present value of the required capital expenditures (NetMBA.com, 2002)." The company will have to plan its capital structure at the time of promotion itself and also subsequently whenever it has to raise additional funds for various new projects (Blackwell publishing, 2003). Wherever the company needs to raise finance, it involves a capital structure decision because it has to decide the amount o finance to be raised as well as the source from which it is to be raised. The advent of globalization has also got its influence on the cost of equity capital of a company. Let us suppose that a firm is planning to raise equity in order to finance a particular investment. ... In order to succeed in this process, the managers initially need to convince the shareholders that the investment is worthwhile and it would yield cash flows that are expected but in reality, managers face a plethora of difficulties in convincing the shareholders. This is because due to the advent of globalization, the knowledge levels of managers of modern organizations have grown drastically and they have the information about the investments of the firm which the shareholders lack (Stulz, 1999). There are very many global risk factors which affect the cost of capital of a company. In order to investigate the effect of such factors over the cost of capital, alternative asset pricing models like international Capital asset pricing model etc, need to be assessed (Koedijk, et al., 2004)(Nagel, 2007). Exchange rates also have an impact on the cost of capital. Studies reveal that exchange rate flucutation have an impact on the relative wealth position of different countries of the world and hence they inturn effect the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) (Munisamy Gopinath, 1998). The wealth position of international investors/firms is increased in contrast with that of domestic investors when the dollar depreciates. This is becasue they hold their investments in non-dollar denominated currencies. However, this aspect reduces the relative cost of capital of international firms (Munisamy Gopinath, 1998). Net present value is the most important criteria on which most of the firms rely when planning to invest or undertake a new project. Some firms alternatively rely upon rules like the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Payback period and Profitability index

Teaching English Language Learners in the Content AreasMathematics Essay

Teaching English Language Learners in the Content AreasMathematics - Essay Example To address these challenges, there is need for teachers to employ specific strategies that can improve students learning experience and further improve performance among them (Egbert & Ernst-Slavit, 2010). To ensure that students engage meaningfully and that they benefit from each other when learning mathematics, I suggest collaborative learning to be applied in class. Under this strategy, the teacher forms groups of four or five students, with each group containing an English native speaker. It is also ensured that students work with diverse student backgrounds; a factor that allows each student to get exposed to different cultures. This strategy relies on the finding that collaborative learning among students can help break language barriers better compared to direct teacher-student interaction (Anahalt, Farias & Farias, 2009). One of the main benefits of collaborative learning is that it fosters friendship among students from diverse backgrounds. Students, therefore, learn to rely on each other in a positive way when solving mathematics problems. Collaborative learning, in this case, uses diversity as a tool for learning rather than a challenge for English language learners. Additionally, this strategy promotes socially constructed learning, where the teacher acts as a mediator. The teacher uses language to monitor interactions within social relationships that in this case are groups of students. This benefit relies on the proposition that what individuals are made up of and how they think are functions of their social relationships. This strategy equally provides a rich language, encourages thinking, and consequently yields high-level academic performance among ELLs (Anahalt, Farias & Farias, 2009). One of the technologies presented by Grandgenett, Harris and Hofer (2009), is the virtual manipulative that allows teachers and students to concretely represent abstract

Strategic business management

Strategic business management Introduction: Strategic business management has its roots in the thinking of the workforce; strategic thinking can no longer become a textual presence of words in the notebooks. The training programs and the meeting conducted at the sense of urgency do not mean that a company is on the right path. In the competitive era the stability of the market is doubted. Even though experts and analysts say the market is recovering from the slow down, the psychological impact that has changed the attitude of people had to be recovered, and it will take time on the long run. In this research of study certain tools and business strategies are used that exemplifies the impact that change bring in and how the company needs to manage the change. Resistance to chance would occur in the initial stages. The source of information that is used in this assignment. Comprises secondary data s by means of white papers, journals, magazines and case studies of the company were also used. The analysis part of this assignment includes the interpretation of psychological attitudes that exists when a change is implemented. And when a company decides to grow itself strategically impacts would be demographics and all the functional areas of the management such as production, operations, finance, human resource, marketing etc But all the outcomes of the results purely rely on the workforce and their attitude. The nature of the research is descriptive as the assignment examines the existing affairs of the company. And it also includes the Expost Facto method in sourcing of the datas. COMPANIES TAKEN IN TO CONSIDERATION FOR THE ASSIGNMENT: In this assignment as per the instructions laid down, as a must I have taken in to account the strategies and the process of International Business Machines one of the pioneers in information technology and computer hardware. And for the optional choice of opting the other company o have taken HONDA The power of Dreams, the reason I chose was personal and I always have a craze on the engine and the models of Honda. At the other end, Honda is known for its expansion and diversification in the recent past as they also pioneer in Intellectual Property Rights in getting the patent rights for their designs of engines. As this assignment needs a wide discussion on the change management I opted for Honda that has a strong workforce. TASK I SOURCES OF CHANGE AND ITS IMPACT CHANGE IS THE ONLY THING THAT CANNOT BE CHANGED without change it will be boredom for human beings and also for other living things. Liberalization, privatization and globalization all these have enhanced the frequency of occurrence of change. Competition exists everywhere smart people are defined by the way they adopt to change. Since the cultural impact plays a role in managing the change, traditional philosophy in the flow of communication in the management also defines the future. Information technology has created resistance to change, especially for the tradional and the baby boomers. As these generations of workforce stick on to the routine work and resist change. Not to blame them but its the responsibility for the management to sort out such things without dissatisfying. SOURCES OF CHANGE IN AN ORGANIZATION: PEST AND ITS ROLE ON CHANGE: Most of us would wonder the relation between a change and the PEST. _ SHAPE * MERGEFORMAT ____ POLITICAL: Legislative norms to be abided by the companies on the run might create a change in any of the management process. For example, few of the acts that had come in to enforcement like Paternity act and more had to be implemented by the human resource department. But the intentional movement and implications that are laid down by the ruling party should be abided by a company. This involves sudden change in the norms and the standard operating procedures followed by a company. But when again another party comes to ruling in the next 5 years another set of implications will be laid down at this time when a company is undergoing expansion it will face lot of resistance at this juncture. SOCIO CULTURAL: The employment opportunity that prevails in the current scenario is the worst of all times. The impact of the slowdown has thrown its roots psychologically in the mindset of the people and thus it has an impact on the productivity too. And the socio cultural patterns might also reflect on this as companies like Honda, IBM have a diversified workforce problems might arise when downsizing is done. The life style choices of the employees coming from various origins might also be reason to accept or refuse a change when a company diversifies its portfolio. And the cultural fit of new hires is also a subset that falls under this. TECHNOLOGICAL: Technological boom has helped the companies to automate work up to a great extent and the impact of the emerging technologies might have the urge to bring about a change in the organization. Internet intranet, remote and Tele Commuting has helped the workforce to balance their work and life. In order to beat the rivals and compete with them the Research and Development department has the key role and its is more or less dependent on the information technology. Change might also be viewed especially in this area. The transfer of technology when a company is in an expansion mode might also cause change and bring about problems. ECONOMICAL When a company is undergoing change either it is in an expansion mode the existing business cycle stage has its part for sure. Companies like HONDA, IBM are in the matured stage and so these factors contribute to the decisions that they take to opt for diversification. Pink slips and the unemployment rates along with the inflation and the growth rate have gone down. The U.S mortgage loan i.e., the sub prime crises has also hit the other markets and this is because of the reason the impact of globalization. The Labour costs and the availability of the manpower vs. the vacancies are also to be considered as these might force to bring about a change in an organization. TASK II INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES AND ITS CHANGE (STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT) International Business Machines pioneering in hardware, software and also in IT service this baby was born in the year 1896. Herman Hollerith being the founder he maintains about 398,455 employees globally. With enormous diversifications across the world it has one if the best strategic team that opens its ears across the changes form time to time. Recession is said to occur recently, but IBM had learnt on how to cope up the changes that occurs due to recession. In the late 1986, IBM faced a recession this is sadi to be one of the worst time the company had faced but to be http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1075217,00.html http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1075217,00. (date:21-12-09, time: 3.35p.m) IBM The recession in 1986: In 1986, the IBM has slum down its market capability. Since 1981, the sales have slipped about 35% to 29%. It has sales around 3 million in personal computer in the year 1981. The market has continuously slipped in the year of 1986. The profit has comes down as 4% and the sales also move slowly. The market share ranges as 133% to 125% in a week. 9,370 computers are launched for the customer during the period of 1986. But it is inefficient to transport the computers to other branches. The customer should not wait till the computer reach to them. Only Loyal customer may wait for that. The IBM has decreased the retail sales during this period and they sales to the NYNEY, the New York based company. The recession was followed by the launch of nearly 9370 computers in the market. In this case the value chain got struck as the lead time to reach the customers got delayed. The primary stream of the value chain was good still the secondary chain including the retailers, dealers was having some problem. This might be because of the mass production that the company was in to. This led to dissatisfaction among the new customers as the word of mouth turned bad and at the other end the loyal customers might also get dissatisfied. And this led to a decision of destructing the sales that IBM was handing over to retail sales. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1075217,00.html (date:22-12-09, time: 5.15p.m) The EXIM norms that were laid down at south Korea and Japan led to imports at low tariffs and the logistics returns were not goods the other end the rivals were opting for smart thinking with the emergence of laptops and mini computers the rivals were capturing the market share and at the end of the day IBM was forced to push down the selling of computers. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-158239452.html (date:23-12-09, time: 3.45p.m) DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS: In the case of IBM the fame that it had in its own origin was relatively high. It is very usual that the local market and the perceptions among the retailers and the customers would be positive. And at the other end, the corporate social responsibility that IBM has served to the origin would also serve as a catalyst for further prospects in the same region. And when it comes to the products competitive strength even though the value chain of IBM has proved to be poor, the product fitness is said to be quiet good an even it could be considered as a competitive edge. INFERENCE: The marketing strategies of IBM solely rely on the 4Ps Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. Hence, the inference from the analysis is that the competitors for IBM is more and even in the period of 1987, besides the decline they have grabbed lot of eco friendly awards for ensuring the hazardous wastes to be low. And to the surprise, IBM made it to a percentage of 96% which none of them scored. And the recent initiative that IBM had made in the name of GO GREEN IBM, in which when a project head shouts GO Green all the employees under his belt switches off the monitor they by reducing the green house gas content to the maximum. Coming to the market growth IBM is making ways to expand its market to a greater extent in the presence of competitors the strategies should be focusing on converting the strength at ease by making use of the opportunities. And also the intelligence team and the Research and development team should keep itself updated right starting from the job cuts and the cos t cutting impacts and its relation with the consumer behavior. IBM goes Green Business Week,29/12/09,06.00.p.m IBM IN THE EXPANSION MODE: The strategic team consisting of around 6-8 people in the IBM strategic department devised a growth strategy for expanding its services in all directions. At this juncture the management was much more concerned about ensuring the following things: Setting up a new R D plant in the areas to be diversified. The workforce at these places might consist of experts and also few people with a diversified mixture. The expansion should ensure that the resources by all means should be utilized effectively and efficiently. No room for psychological deviations should exist at the time of expansion. Headhunting a competent workforce candidates from the rivals at the area where the company is expanding After considering the golden rules IBM decided to sketch the road map for calking out the expansion. At the time of expansion IBM was concerned about achieving the growth by means of hike in sales, profits, assets and also the stake holder satisfaction by enhancing the value of returns. Cost cutting at the same of expansion was also a challenge that was hiding behind. Implementation of Total quality Management tools such as 6 sigma, 5S were the areas where IBM ensured perfection. For this a team of quality circles were also appointed and expenses over the Training and development were turning high but they were continuing it expecting Return on Investment through Proper Reinforcement that as possible only when IBM provides a conducive climate for working. This task was then focused towards the Human Resource Department. Several research and surveys were conducted to measure the existing working climate at IBM plants and necessary changes were also made to ensure the reinforcement is witnessed VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL GROWTH PLANS OF IBM Soon after the plans got devised IBM started working at full phase, it was concentrating on enhancing the value chain in the secondary stream especially in the distributors and suppliers (retailers)and at the recent statistics IBM has gone for serving the customers at the door step. The use if SAP by means if ERP made the suppliers and the retailers to get connected directly. ERP VERTICAL GROWTH OF IBM: The need of Enterprise Resource planning across the service points was very high. IBM understood this and soon it acted on the opportunity. The extent of interaction went to such a level where the suppliers could place an order from the desktop of their service point to the production plant. This growth base was not easy as the implementation of ERP brought about psychological barriers. ERP implementation and Change Management: Both the backward and the forward integration was possible was IBM on the use of ERP. Still, resistance to change occurred at IBM and the company was pushed to the process of managing change. IBM CHANGE MANGEMENT STRATEGY THE LEWINS 3 STEP MODEL: IBM was in the process of managing the resistance to change that raised in the diversification of the plants as well as the implementation of ERP. UNFREEZING: IBM mad the communication transparent and so it also conveyed the plans for the growth in the individual career growth plan and devised ways to unfreeze the change. MOVEMENT: IBM ensured that the new state will reach soon and it also happened as per the devised plan. REFREEZING: IBM ensured the HR practice and the climate after their companies expansion at different areas did not affect the emotional quotient of the employees. Counseling and work life policies were also designed and certain fringe benefits also were provided Horizontal Growth: IBM also moved through the phase of horizontal growth and the acquisitions with the other companies like TOKYO OKHLOA and KOGYO CO LTD turned to be one of the successful strategic alliances by means of working through low consumption of solar energy. Diversification @ IBM: IBM devised new product lines and perfect products with the help of research and development dept .The diversification was a combination of both concentric as well as conglomerate. As the first involved in enhancing the production process with marketing strategies through the sales force and the later involved the merger in to the solar business industry. The new products at IBM after the year 1986 and the recent collaboration with LENOVO has also paved way for the emergence of laptops and other devices. IBM now is trying to capture the market where it has been lagging earlier the restructuring process at IBM under the guidance of CEO Louis U. Gerstner who rearranged the brand and the logos and also incorporated the GO GREEN. TASK III An international company and pioneer in manufacturing of engines. Equal competitor for the German automobile companies when no one dreamt of it this company right now stands as a leader in the automobile industry. The company surprised the customers and delighted them by selling its product CIVIC HYBRID. Yes of course its HONDA THE POWER OF DREAMS. These dreams were made true when a simple mechanic named Soichiro Honda founded the company in the year 1940 at Japan. Incepting with a normal 50 cc bike Honda has now emerged as the core competitor for the rivals. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Honda-Passenger-Car-Industry/206913 http://www.1stgencivic.org/(date: 23-12-09, time: 5.45p.m) THE DOWNFALL OF HONDA: When we are asked to comment about HONDA we would say its leading company in the automobile industry, but the fact is like any other company Honda also faced a downturn and this was said to happen when the company failed to invest actual funds in to Research and development at the right time. This paved advantage to its competitors like Toyota and Nissan. As Honda was keen in designing the engine it failed to take in to account the customer perceptions and taste of the customers in other countries. Later, the company decided to opt for a strategic alliance to enhance the productivity and to capture the market share in the other countries other than its origin. When Hondas strategic alliance team was analyzing on which of the action to select it went for a mutual beneficial consortium with DONGFEN a Chinese company as this resulting in capturing of markets with cost cutting in the process that minimized waste of time and resource at certain levels. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/6259440/Hondas-UK-plant-is- leading-the-car-industrys-revival.html(date:24-12-09, time: 6.21p.m) OTHER ALLIANCES: Honda did not stop with a mutual consortium it also decided to take along step of opting for a Joint Venture with Siel Siddhartha and it produced nearly 38,849 and nearly 15.5 million engines and this decision turned to be one of the most important moves that actually leveraged the financial risk of Honda. Honda also opted for a joint venture with siel followed by a value chain partnership which actually has now made Honda to be one of the pioneers in automobile manufacturing with one of the best in class total quality management and it has now captured the customers and had made them to be at the top of ladder of loyalty. Thus these strategic alliances with the other companies by means of value chain partnerships and joint ventures followed by a mutual consortium. The following were the pros that Honda acquired because of the strategic alliance. Research and development team got stronger and the company was able to make focus on a specific target of customers that also paved way to a decline in the risk that is to be bared individually rather it turned to be mutual risk and profit sharing decision. Thus by holding hands through strategic alliance Honda was able to strengthen its base and acquire more of the market. http://www.myautoupdater.com/a29182-world-class-honda-car-parts-sold.cfm(date:24 -12-09, time: 5.35p.m) TASK IV ASSESSMENT OF RISK INVOLVED IN RUNNING A NBFC BUSINESS Risk is there everywhere, with out proper assessment of risk even a traditional company would collapse in a short span of time. Risk management has been given more importance in the field of non banking financial corporation. The recent slow down that has rooted out from the sub prime crises has made all the industry to rethink of its strategies in opening and sustaining in the existing market. The initial investments that is required to run the business is relatively high. Some of the risk factors are discussed below: The nature of the financial product might not be very attractive as the rivals will be more in number. Finding out the small gap in this segment would be the challenge. The negative of financing would be the competition that the company would face form the banking industry as customers are more aware of the shortcomings in this regard. In the team of marketing the attrition rate has witnessed to be very high amidst the financial crises. The fancy incentives are not stable and so the income and the job security are also not constant. The marketing department would sell of the loans to the consumers but the problem rises when the collection team keeps on insisting the customers to repay the amount when fails leads to loss in the concern. The present rates that is prescribed by the government of u,k to run a business related to non banking financial industry is quiet tough to maintain. And moreover the issues of the corporate governance and the disclosure of the financial statements are the issues. The policies are now made stringent rather it was lenient those days that led to the recession. The task of processing the loan for a new commercial vehicle becomes an important risk factor as the appraisal of the customer and his pay back ability could fail at any time and more over the loss incurred in case of the customer failing to repay the amount is relatively high than in that of refinancing. RECOMMENDATIONS: The recommendations that I would put forward in this issue would be to follow the risk management and assessment tools usage and also the use of porters competitive strategy would be an optimal solution for the NBFC business. Cost Leadership: The NBFC is a service oriented sector and so the cost would be much more on the interest rates and the IRR value that the company would yield on the long run. The implications that are laid down by the government should be followed strictly. And also the mortgage loans would have an impact. Differentiation: In order to differentiate the products the NBFC industry is all complicated with lot of products and the mode reaching the customers and converting them in to a loyal customer by offering special loans based on the track records would be the solution on this function. Cost Focus: Nothing much on the cost focus is needed provided the interest rates are low. The above strategies would find out an optimal solution for the business to run successfully. Sekaran Uma, Strategic Management, published by Tata Mc Graw Hill, 2005(date: 23-12-09, time: 6.14p.m) BIBLIOGRALPHY: Mcshane L. Steven VonGlinow Ann Mary Sharma R. Radha, Organizational Behaviour, Published by Tata McGraw Hill, 2006 (date: 22-12-09) Robbins Stephen P, Organisational Behaviour, 12th Edition, published by Prentice Hall Pvt. Ltd, 2000(date: 22-12-09) Sekaran Uma, Strategic Management, published by Tata Mc Graw Hill, 2005(date: 23-12-09) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1075217,00.html#ixzz0aFfXIqNW (date:21-12-09, time) http://www.1stgencivic.org/(date:21-12-09) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1075217,00.html (date:22-12-09) http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-158239452.html (date:23-12-09) http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Honda-Passenger-Car-Industry/206913 http://www.1stgencivic.org/(date:23-12-09) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/6259440/Hondas-UK-plant-is- leading-the-car-industrys-revival.html(date:24-12-09) http://www.carazoo.com/article/2908200801/Hondas-NewPlayers-in-the-Indian-Car-Industry(date:24-12-09) http://www.myautoupdater.com/a29182-world-class-honda-car-parts-sold.cfm(date:24-12-09) http://www.sme-blog.net/sme_blog/mediumsized_companies/(date:24-12-09) http://rd.kpmg.co.uk/mediareleases/19475.htm(date:24-12-09) http://www.pr-inside.com/financial-services-firm-edward-jones-sells-r1542966.htm(date:25-12-09)

Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Carrefour Egypt

The British University in Egypt Faculty of Business Administration, Economics and Political Science Exploring OCB and its variables, its evaluation and implementation: The case of Carrefour Egypt A Dissertation submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the award of B. A. in Business Administration, Human Resources Management Specialization 2008/09 By Seif Mamdouh Ezzeldin ID: 100558 Honours Level – Class of 05/06 Under the Supervision of Dr. Hadia FakhrElDin 1 Organisational Citizenship Behaviour has not been dedicated enough research. The topic is quite new to the HR professionals and challenging. It is also challenging to conduct research on the topic as it has been suggested that OCB is inconsistent and has been stated as an ill-defined science. This paper analysis previous literature done on OCB in parallel with conducting field research in a large multinational in Egypt – in attempt to measure their employees’ OCB and bring the suggested evaluation method into practice. It has been concluded that OCB is not consistent among all employees. However, guidelines to effective evaluate it across different employees have been suggested. Adding to this, the questionnaires in this paper provides a jumpstart for future researchers who wish to evaluate the level of OCB in an organisation. 2 Contents 1. Introduction 1. 1 Research questions 1. 2 Research aims 1. 3 Research Methodology 2- Literature review 2. 1 Definition and history of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour 2. 2 Variables of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour 2. 3 Organisational Citizenship Behaviour can be controllable 2. 4 Organisational Citizenship Behaviour examination is challenging 2. 4. 1 Clarifying in and out role conduct 2. 5 Types of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour 2. Literature Summary 3. Aims and methodology 3. 1 Aims 3. 2 Methodology 3. 2. 1 Questionnaire (1) 3. 2. 2 Questionnaire (2) 3. 3 The research place 3. 4 Advantages and limitation of the methodology adapted 4. Data analysis 4. 1 Questionnaire (1) 4. 1. 1 Highest ranking agreed-with statements (above 66. 6 %) 4. 2 Questionnaire (2) 4. 2. 1 Most agreed upon as in-role (above 66. 6 %) 5. Conclusion 5. 1 Key aims and findings 5. 2 Limitation of the study 5. 3 Directions for future research References Appendix 4 8 9 10 12 12 14 17 19 20 21 25 27 27 30 31 33 34 35 37 37 40 42 46 48 48 51 52 53 55 1. Introduction International trade, European Union, labour mobility, ease of cross border transportation, competition, globalisation, desire to a better living standard and striving for achievement are all factors to employees shifting jobs. Unlike salaries, working conditions, job descriptions and appraisals, these factors cannot be controlled by an organisation. This has all increased interest in Human Resources Management (HRM), careers and Organisational Behaviours (OB) as sciences. An organisation can retain an employee who is not satisfied with his pay by increasing the salary. However, it cannot retain an employee who does not feel committed to the organisation or does not actually feel the organisation is holding on to him/her or treating him as a valued asset; as human resources of organisations were recently categorised as assets since they contribute, develop, control, manage and add value all other different assets (Bisson & Branscombe, 2008) The external factors listed are usually considered threats to an organisation as it is always in fear of losing its human resources. Imagine an organisation purchasing very expensive high-tech machines that generated a lot of profit giving it up to a competitor. The consequences are more or less the same if those high-tech machines were top performing employees who may need stronger motivation than money or benefits. The motivation then comes from a newer HR term called Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). One of the characteristics of being a citizen is being committed (to the norms, cultures, behaviours, attitudes and rules). Commitment to an organisation is referred to as Organisational Commitment (OC). 4 OC has been defined as an attitude involving employee loyalty to the organisation with those employees who are committed being willing to contribute something of themselves to their organisations (Smith and Hoy, 1992). OC is one of the very first attitudes that lead to OCB. It is complemented by organisational trust, the degree of employee satisfaction, involvement in decision-making, sense of importance, career guidance and a sort of monetary motivation. What makes the study challenging is that OCB, an inexact science, is defined as discretionary, ‘extra-role' behaviour, not formally rewarded or punished by the organization, which, in the aggregate, benefits the organization by improving efficiency and/or effectiveness (Organ, 1988). Although OCB is not an obligation or not part of an evaluation process, employees who enjoy it find it an obligatory factor of the job. Free trade, common markets, economic and political unions – which all fall under the umbrella of globalisation is a main reason why organisations, locally and internationally are now seeking; new areas for sustainable competitive advantages and in the eyes of most, Human Resources are one of the most important factors that cannot easily be imitated by others, which defines a sustainable competitive advantage. As being referred to, OCB is a matter of personal choice that goes beyond the call of duty. It can be reflected in situations such as an employee having to decide on whether to attend an informal company event or spending the evening at home. 5 Below are some of the many types of OCB as identified by Bachrach et al. (2000: 516526) 1. Helping Behaviour or Altruism: Selfless concern to the help of others. For example, an employee may inform his/her absent colleague from a training about what has been missed 2. Sportsmanship: Knowing that there is no loss to a party when it comes to a win for the organisation 3. Organisational Loyalty: Promoting the organisation to outsiders as well as supporting and defending it against threats or attacks 4. Organisational Compliance: The behaviour of complying by the organisation? s rules and norms, considering that not every employee initially complies even though it is a must. 5. Individual Initiative: This entails engaging in task-related behaviours at a level beyond minimally required or generally expected levels that it takes on a voluntary flavour 6. Civic Virtue: This is showing willingness to actively participate in the organisation? governance It can now be said that OCB refers to the ability, willingness and motivation to react and perform in a behaviour that is not required and not aiming to be rewarded for it. One other reason why OCB is being an important issue at the moment is the existence of some countries such as Japan, where a person spends his or her entire life working for one organisation and affiliates his or her name with the organis ation. On the other extreme, there are countries such as Egypt where employees regard the organisation they work for part of their career. 6 Some research results indicate that desirable behaviour is determined and managed by the organization. With reference to the selected variables, this paper will justify whether they are in the controllable or uncontrollable environment of an organisation. 7 1. 1 Research questions The research is intended to answer the following questions through reviewing previous literature and conducting field analysis: What is an agreed upon definition for OCB? Why is OCB not disseminated among HR practitioners? Are there specific grounds for what is defined as in-role and out-role? What are the variables that can be related to OCB and influence the behaviour? Since there are variables that can influence the behaviour, can OCB be aimed for by an organisation or is it uncontrollable? How can the level of OCB be evaluated? 8 1. 2 Research aims The research aims to assess the willingness and level of OCB within a large multinational as Carrefour as well as showing the importance of OCB and briefly reviewing the emergence of HR in Egypt. This adds to the existing literature the justification of why OCB is not a well-known concept in organisations within the business sector of this economy. Moreover, clarification of the difference and the relationship between Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) and the variables outlined in addition to practically bringing the variables and type into field work is aimed for. This research also aims to integrate the different Human Resources (HR) activities that sum up and lead to OCB. ? OCB is an inexact science and the paper will try to identify factors which lead to this behaviour, that is desirable by all organisations, and how it can benefit them through examining the direct and indirect relation between OCB and the variables which include: ? ? ? ? Satisfaction Empowerment Involvement Trust Confidence Reaching a clear-cut agreement on what is regarded as in-role and out-role through employees, and checking the findings with other similar sources for consistency is also aimed for. 9 1. 3 Research Methodology ? Literature including internet research Academic research portals, case studies Questionnaires: Two questionnaires are used as part of the field research for this paper. The questionnaires were given to a sample of twenty-five employees at Carrefour Obour City, Egypt ? ? ? Targeting random levels of employees throughout the organisation to test and evaluate their understanding of OCB ? The survey will include questions that test the three main variables and sub points listed above and will be designed to be as consistent as possible through getting the same result in different ways. ? The questions criterion of the questionnaire will be categorised into questions that measure 1. Trust; that include dimensions of integrity, competence and dependability Commitment; which will reflect the variable of culture Satisfaction Loyalty The six types of OCB studied in the literature . 3. 4. 5. 10 The surveys shall then attempt to evaluate to what extent is there OCB in Carrefour Egypt based on the variables. The results will be compared to: 1. The management expectations The relationships of the variables and literature on the topic The existence of OCB in the organisation, considering the fact that the management are not fully aware of OCB as a science and are c onsequently not directly enforcing it or progressing towards it 2. 3. 11 2- Literature review 2. Definition and history of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour OCB literature originited in the work of Katz and Kahn who argued that an important behaviour required of employees for the effective functioning of an organisation is the undertaking of innovative and spontanuous activities beyond the prescribed role requirement. (Vigoda 2000). Organisational Cititeznship Behaviour is the individual behavior that is descritionary, not directly or explicitly recognised by the formal reward system, and that in the aggreagate promotes the effective functioning if the organisation (Organ as cited in Denis W Organ 1997). Organ in the same literature further clarifies that by descretionary, it is meant that the behavior is not an enforceable of the role or job description. It is is rather a matter of personal choice such that its ommision is not generally understood as punishable (1997: 86). Organizational citizenship behaviour has been the focus of attention from organizational behaviour researchers (Bachrach et al. , 2000; Organ & Ryan, 1995; Organ, 1997; George & Battenhausen, 1990 as cited in Chen; Huang; & Liu) since Organ in 1988 proposed that organizational citizenship behaviour could influence individual and organization erformance. There has, however, been very little interest in studying the topic. According to the research of Bachrach et al. (2000), very few interest and research was conducted on the topic before 1988. Bachrach et al. explain in their literature that an employee who religiously obeys all rules and regulations, even when no one is watching, is regarded as a â€Å"good citiz en† (2000: 524) 12 OCB construct has also been defined as â€Å"†¦ a general tendency to be co-operative and helpful in organisational settings †¦ (LePine, Erez, & Johnson, 2002 as cited in Ladebo). Eran Vigoda supports the argument that OCB is regarded as the extra-role activities employees pursue by saying that extra-role behaviours describe activities beyond formal job requirement that one chooses to do without expecting any direct reward (2000: 191). The author also defined in-role as the tasks employees pursue as an integral part of a job. Views of a sample of employees in this regard will be shown further in this paper. Previous studies on employment relations indicated that employees viewed the practice of such behaviours (OCB) as personal obligations to co-operate with co-workers in solving task-related problems and to assist the organisation to achieve its performance objectives (Kessler, Purcell & Shapiro, 2004; Buyens , De Vos & Schalk, 2001; Janssens, Sels, & Van den Brande, 2003 as cited in Ladebo). Hence, this raises the question of whether OCB is still a beyond-role activity or not. If the suggestion is valid; this means that organisations without those behaviours shall fail. Robbins and Judge stated that evidence indicate that organisations only benefit from those employees who have a sense or citizenship to the organisation and those organisations outperform those that do not (2007: 30) and referred to such employees as a need for any successful organisation. 13 2. 2 Variables of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Katz (1964) states that three basic types of employee behaviours are critical for the overall effectiveness of any organization: ? tempted to remain within the system. carry out their role assignments in a dependable manner. ? innovative and spontaneous activity in achieving There must be organisational People must People must be objectives that go beyond the role specifications. Behaviours (2) and (3) are examples of OCB (Organ, 1988). Other examples of OCB are a willingness to give time helping others who have work-related problems, taking steps to prevent problems with other workers, and obeying organization rules, regulations and procedu res even when no one is watching. Podaskoff has argued that although research on OCB is on the increase, some unfortunate consequences has been brought up (Podaskoff et al. as cited in Chen, Huang & Liu). Adler, 1989; Hofstede, 1980 as cited in Chen, Huang & Liu further argued that different people from different cultures will not necessarily conform to the same set of norms and will have different beliefs of what can be viewed as OCB. It has been noted that the many occasions in which organizational functioning depends on supra-role behaviour cannot be prescribed or required in advance for a given job. Such 14 behaviours are referred to as the gestures that lubricate the social machinery of the organisation (Bateman as cited in Katz and Kahn 1966). Some examples as portrayed by the authors include helping co-workers with a job related problem or tolerating temporary impositions without complaint. These were referred to as citizenship behaviours (Bateman 1983). The author has also concluded that there is a fundamental connection between satisfaction and OCB. Organisational citizenship behaviour is influenced by job satisfaction. (Bateman 1983). OCB Researchers in at least 15 independent studies as well found a reliable statistical relationship between OCB and job satisfaction (Dennis W. Organ, 1995). Bateman (Bateman 1983). Job satisfaction, especially intrinsic satisfaction, was directly related to OCB. Extrinsic satisfaction did not mediate the relationship between Job characteristics and OCB (SuFen Chiu and Hsiao-Lan-Chen, 2005). As some appraisal methods such as achieving sales quote or calls are related to pay and extrinsic rewards, others including citizenship behaviour and the out-role behaviour are mainly motivated and encouraged through intrinsic rewards and one? s emotions regarding the self. Job characteristics are the attributes of jobs that can have motivational functions for employees. The job characteristics investigated by this study primarily include Hackman and Oldham's (1975) five core job characteristics (or dimensions) as well as the job interdependence concept. The five core job characteristics are as follows: job variety (the extent to which an employee can use different skills in doing his/her work), job identity (the extent to which an employee can complete the whole or identifiable piece of work), job significance (the extent of the significant impact of the job on others), autonomy (the 15 extent of freedom, independence, and discretion of an employee to plan his/her work pace and method), and feedback (the extent to which an employee knows his/her own job performance from the job itself, colleagues, supervisors or customers (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). Job interdependence refers to the extent to which an employee in a team relies on others to complete his/her own tasks (Shea & Guzzo, 1987) (as cited in Su-Fen Chiu & Hsiao-Lan-Chen, 2005) The social exchange theory also suggests that when an employee feels satisfied with his or her job, he or she will reciprocate with positive behaviour (OCB) to benefit the organisation (Organ & Ryan, 1995). Organizations have become more reliant on interdependent social and departmental networks, which have changed the nature of core work activities within the individual work units (Ostroff & Smith, 1992). This suggests that it is not only enough for some employees to enjoy such behaviours; OCB must be transmitted across all employees as none work independently. 16 2. 3 Organisational Citizenship Behaviour can be controllable Previous literature suggested that the desirable behaviours, OCB, can be manageable by an organisation (Gene et al, 2000). A good social climate with involvement, fair and competent management, good communication, satisfaction with the organization, and an emphasis on good planning are suggested by the authors to implant this behaviour. Therefore, organisations are also part of the equation; not only the employees. Employees search for companies that are willing to be more committed to them, says Jan Stringer organizations who are more sensitive to their needs and who won't lay them off during economic slumps (2009). Committed employees tend to have personal values that are similar to those of the company. They are proud to be a part of their company, care about the fate of the company, and recommend the company as a great place to work. Stringer, in her article, suggests some factors in the workplace that influence commitment such as: ? ? ? ? ? Identifying the factors that satisfy employees Identifying factors that are source of dissatisfaction Ensuring that the recognition programmes are meaningful to employees Establishing clear career paths Establishing mentors to advise employees about career management inside the organization ? Identifying benefits that can be used to reward good performance. Ensuring the clarity of the organisation? values as well as ensuring its communication and practice across different organisational levels – clear values 17 help establish teamwork, cooperation and standards of behaviour within an organisation ? Examining the consistency and alignment of actions, policies, and procedures with values It has been argued that a leader? s fair or supportive behaviour may create a need in subordinates to reciprocate. One way to pay-back a leader for the support and fair behaviours is by performing better or engaging in citizenship behaviours (Vigoda 2000). Vigoda? s argument could be linked with the existence of the psychological contract that is concerned with an individual? s subjective beliefs, shaped by the organisation, regarding the terms of an exchange relationship between the individual employee and the organisation (Rousseau as cited in Beardwell & Claydon, 2007). It is of importance, however, to mention that some literature proposed an argument that OCB can be a threat to the internal health of an organisation. The literature suggests that OCB has more than two probabilities; present and absent – a third probability is that it can be of negative effect. Vigoda in his paper explains that supervisors and managers have direct influence over subordinates? behaviours by increasing fairness and equality in interactions with them. Hence, in organisations where there is political gamesmanships and power struggles, there will be low concern with values such as equity and fairness and this is where the in-role duties and OCB will be, for the first time, negatively related and result in dissonances (2000: 192). Empirical evidence indicates that employees, who perform less OCB, are likely to exhibit withdrawal behaviours, consider leaving the organisation (Ladebo, 2005 as cited in Ladebo). 18 2. 4 Organisational Citizenship Behaviour examination is challenging Valid evidence to why OCB is not a major concern to Human Resources departments in organisations as other HR focuses is the fact that the rewards that accrue to OCB are at best indirect and uncertain, as compared to more formal contributions such as high productivity or technical excellence or innovative solutions. Those contributions would have a greater likelihood of being expressly linked to the formal reward system. (Organ as cited in Denis W Organ 1997) Organizational citizenship is not a part of the formal evaluation and reward system therefore failure to engage in these behaviours cannot be formally penalized (Van Dyne, Cummings, & Parks as cited in Gene et al. , 2000) 19 2. 4. 1 Clarifying in and out role conduct There is a problem, however, that OCB aspects such as accepting tolerance and helping others would be considered part of the job (Organ as cited in Morrison 1994). Morrison concludes her study saying that OCB is ill-defined and varies from one employee to the next and between employees and supervisors. The greater an employee's perceived job breadth, the more activities he or she defines as in-role (1993:2). This supports the argument that OCB is an inexact science and is viewed differently by different people. The previous argument by Morrison suggests that a manager could define improving the morale of his team members as in-role yet a lower level employee would regard it as out-role. Hypothesis 1 in the article supports this. It has as well been suggested that one of the main problems with defining OCB is the fact that the concept of in and out role is inexact and unclear (Organ 1997) and this justifies the reason for experimenting what employees actually regard as in and out in this concern – theory on its own is a limitation in this regard. Vigoda? s literature as well supports that in and out-role is ill defined and varies from one employee to the other in her literature (2000: 191). 20 2. 5 Types of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour In an attempt to classify and breakdown OCB into different types, the author of this paper refers to Bachrach et al? literature (2000: 516). The authors organised different types of citizenship behaviours into seven main themes: (1) The helping behaviour involves voluntarily helping others with, or preventing the occurrence of, work-related problems and helping others by taking steps to prevent the creation of problems for co-workers (2000: 516, 517). Smith, Orga n & Near previously discussed this behaviour in the name of altruism (Becker & Vance, 1993). (2) Organ (1990b: 96 as cited in Bachrach et al. , 2000) has defined sportsmanship as â€Å"a willingness to tolerate the inevitable inconveniences and impositions of work without complaining. However, his definition seems somewhat narrower than the label of this construct would imply. The authors added to Organ? s definition that â€Å"good sports† are people who not only do not complain when they are inconvenienced by others, but also maintain a positive attitude even when things do not go their way are not offended when others do not follow their suggestions, are willing to sacrifice their personal interest for the good of the work group, and do not take the rejection of their ideas personally (2000: 517). (3) Organizational oyalty entails promoting the organization to outsiders, protecting and defending it against external threats, and remaining committed to it even under adverse conditions as well as 21 spreading goodwill and protecting the organization and acts of supporting and defending organizational objectives (2000: 517). (4) Organisational compliance regards the behaviour of complying to an organisation? s policy as a form of citizenship behaviour is that even though everyone is expected to obey company regulations, rules, and procedures at all times, many employees simply do not (2000: 517). The author of this article theoretically views this form of OCB inconsistent. However, because the authors argue that some employees do not originally comply by the policies and norms, the argument is considered valid. Smith, Organ & Near previously referred to organisational compliance by the term generalised compliance (Becker & Vance, 1993). (5) Individual initiative involves engaging in task-related behaviours at a level beyond minimally required or generally expected levels that it takes on a voluntary flavour. Such behaviours include voluntary acts of creativity and innovation designed to improve one's task or the organization's performance, persisting with extra enthusiasm and effort to accomplish one's job, volunteering to take on extra responsibilities, and encouraging others in the organization to do the same (2000: 524). (6) Civic virtue is projected by showing willingness to actively participate in the organisation? governance such as attending meetings and expressing opinion about what strategy the organisation ought to follow to monitor its environment for threats and opportunities such as keeping 22 up with changes in the industry that might affect the organisation, and to look out for its best interest even at great personal cost. These behaviours, add the authors, reflect an employee? s recognition of being part of a larger whole in the same way that citizens are members of a country and accept the responsibilities which this entails. The authors further outlines that this dimension has not received any empirical confirmation in the citizenship behaviour literature. However, it does appear to be a discretionary form of employee behaviour that is conceptually distinct from the other citizenship behaviour dimensions, and might be expected to improve organizational effectiveness through somewhat different mechanisms than the other forms of citizenship behaviour. All these behaviours are consistent with Organ? s definitions of employees going beyond the formal requirements. The literature portraying the seven types of OCB is regarded as very reliable and trusted as it is supported by arguments of several well known writers who provided literature on the same topic including George & Brief (1992), George & Jones (1997), Borman & Motowidlo (1993, 1997). Williams and Anderson (1991), Van Scotter & Motowidlo (1986) and (Organ, 1988) as cited in Bachrach et al. , 2000. As part of the field work for this research, results of a survey will be projected at a further stage showing what different employees regard as in-role and out-role. The actions that employees were asked to comment on were also formed in grouping of the first six types mentioned above, as the self-development? s limitation is that it cannot be measured. The questions constructed were mostly inspired from Morrison? s literature (1994: 1553). 23 However, the addition of the OCB types as measures is an added contribution in this paper. 24 2. 6 Literature Summary The thought about OCB originated with the argument of Katz and Kahn who argued that only the undertaking of innovative and spontaneous activities beyond the regular shall effectively function an organisation. Several authors pioneered by Denis W. Organ defined OCB as a behaviour that is of personal choice; it is discretionary, not intended for reward or recognition and considered beyond-role behaviour. As the term beyond-role was brought into existence, researches, academics and practitioners were not successful in finding agreed upon behaviour that is regarded in-role or out-role by everyone. Moreover, it has been stated that OCB is difficult to research and reach as it is not part of the formal evaluation and reward system. Authors agreed that different employees categorise the same behaviours differently: a manager could define assisting an intern in another department as in-role, while an employee in the same department as the manager would find it out-role. OCB has many related variables that were identified by several authors. Among them are job satisfaction, empowerment, commitment from both the employee and the organisation, involvement, feedback and others. Literature mainly stressed on the job characteristics and satisfaction. Some researches also argued that the OCB, the desired behaviour, can be achieved by an organisation? management through empowering and embedding their employees with toolkits that include research about determinants of satisfaction, dissatisfaction, loyalty, career advisement and behavioural modification. 25 Bachrach and other authors (2000) were able to define seven major types of OCB in their literature titled Organizational Citizenship Behaviours: A Critical Review of t he Theoretical and Empirical and Suggestions for Future Research that can provide great help to practitioners and researches attempting future research to classify, categorise and evaluate OCB within an organisation. 6 3. Aims and methodology 3. 1 Aims The research aims to assess the willingness and level or OCB within a large multinational as Carrefour. It has been observed that majority of the previous literature has either not recently tackled OCB practically and from a practitioner? s viewpoint or has not projected results in a manner simple and comprehended by some other researchers. Adding to this, the concept of OCB is not yet comprehended in the Egyptian business society. Human Resources itself is still considered a new concept. Since the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, employees were granted excess rights that employers themselves were complaining. The rights outweighed the duties and responsibilities. By 1980, the employment law in Egypt was passed and tried to maintain a fair balance between employer and employee rights and was regarded as successful. The law was majorly concerned with three stakeholders other than the employer and the employee; those were the employment office, health office and the social insurance office. Personnel and personnel affairs department (now named Human Resources) have started to exist in large hotels and banks in Egypt by mid 1980s. The concept started developing until what is now called Human Resources – ever since organisations begun realising that employees are one of the most valuable assets. The core duties of the Human Resources department, formerly known as personnel affairs, now include other sub departments such as compensation and benefits, equal opportunities, training and development as well as other functions. Despite the fact that the evolution of HR concepts in Egypt started tens of years earlier, the concept of OCB is not yet used between HR executives and personnel as other terminology is. 27 For this reason and for other reasons such as globalisation and free trade, foreign investment is on increase in the Egyptian economy and the requirement of valuable and durable staff is on the increase. Hence, awareness and application of this term is of extreme importance and this paper could initiate the action. The research also aims to answer the following: ? What is an agreed upon definition for OCB? o This question will be answered through reviewing previous literature and compiling the most important definitions of OCB. ? Why is OCB not disseminated among HR practitioners? o Literature review will be the main guide to answering this question. ? Are there specific grounds for what is defined as in-role and out-role? o The source depended upon for this aim is questionnaire (2) which will show what the sample studied regard is in and out role. ? What are the variables that can be related to OCB and influence the behaviour? Literature review will be the main guide to answering this question. ? Since there are variables that can influence the behaviour, can OCB be aimed for by an organisation or is it uncontrollable? o Literature review as well as questionnaires (1) and (2) will help answer this question as statements and questions in the surveys can guide HR professionals to find out where the loopholes are, and which areas employees need motivation or awareness at. 28 ? How can the level of OCB be evaluated? o The questionnaires given are one source of evaluating OCB. 9 3. 2 Methodology Reviewing the literature of renowned authors and writers about OCB and what has been previously said and published. Due to the fact that OCB is not widely discussed among HR academics and practitioners, extensive research was required to understand the origins, theories, implications and types of OCB. Furthermore, literature review provided solid grounds and a platform upon which the arguments are built. In addition to this, the review assisted the further field work carried on for this paper which will be discussed. The literature review also assisted the author to specify the scope of the paper as well as building knowledge base for future research. Two questionnaires were also used as part of the field research for this paper. Two different questionnaires were given to a sample of twenty-five employees at Carrefour Obour City, Egypt. The respondents were from random departments. However, it has been ensured that only employees and supervisors complete the survey – not workers, in order to ensure consistency and fairness of the results. An employee would find him/herself more committed to and rewarded by the organisation more than a security personnel – this is the present view of the business environment in this culture. 30 3. 2. 1 Questionnaire (1) This is a twenty-five question questionnaire that has been compiled and structured assessing the environment at Carrefour as a large multinational where employees are highly focused on their jobs and do not frequently interact with the top management. The questions were assessing dimensions of trust, integrity, confidence, empowerment, satisfaction, commitment and involvement. The choices for respondents were (1) Agree, (2) Neutral, (3) Disagree. The dimension of trust tackles issues of trust between the employee and his/her organisation, the treatment and his/her colleagues. The dimension of integrity is focused on whether the respondent feels that integrity is demonstrated within the actions and promises of the organisation or not. The confidence is primarily focused on whether the employee is confident about the organisation and management? s capabilities or not. Empowerment assesses whether or not the employee feels empowered enough to step outside his/her department, have opinions in other aspects of the organisation and encouraged to provide feedback in a decent manner even if not required. It has also been tested whether the employees are satisfied or not, in terms of the job, surrounding personnel, the organisation and job security. Commitment was not extensively focused upon in Questionnaire (1) as the primary focus of Questionnaire (2) is commitment – Organisational Citizenship Behaviour in particular. However, Questionnaire (1) assesses the commitment of the employees in the aspect of loyalty and feeling that the organisation is also concerned with him/her as an employee 31 Finally, the involvement dimension tests whether the employee is involved in departmental work, organisational activities, announcements and decision making or not. The results are to indicate whether the employees fulfil and find fulfilled the dimensions mentioned in the organisation and are willing to portray citizenship behaviour or not. 32 3. 2. 2 Questionnaire (2) This is an eighteen question questionnaire adopted from Morrison (1994). Adjustments were made and the questions are restructured and divided to serve the six types of OCB referred to in the literature – three questions assessing each type/component and the respondents mark whether they regard the statement written as in-role (part of what they regard as their formal duty) or outrole( referred to as OCB). The six types/components are individual initiative, organisational loyalty, sportsmanship, civic virtue, helping behaviour and organisational compliance. 33 3. 3 The research place Carrefour is a leading operator in the retail industry worldwide, French based. It has been lastly ranked in the second half of 2007 as the first among twenty-two competitors and the thirty-second most profitable organisation among five-hundred (Global 500, 2007). It is the second-largest retailer in Europe and the first in Egypt. The Carrefour group has fifteen-thousand stores company-operated and franchises. Carrefour Egypt is a franchise to Majid-Al-Futtaim (MAF Group), a renowned business man from the United Arab Emirates who also operates Carrefour in several countries other than Egypt. Carrefour International? s principles guiding the HR policy: 1. Freedom 2. Responsibility 3. Sharing 4. Respect 5. Integrity 6. Solidarity 7. Progress In values (1) to (5), the company included their employees as part of the principles and policy, expressing great concern towards them. In addition to this, points (2), (3), (4) and (5) in particularly is directly related, and part of OCB as have been discussed. 34 3. 4 Advantages and limitation of the methodology adapted Questionnaires as the main source for this field research where chosen as they carry the following advantages: ? As some of the questions are direct and the answers must be confidential, many respondents displayed relief as they found it there are no personal details required There is no risk of conflicting meanings – the questions are set and are not interpreted differently to different respondents. This makes translating a copy of the questionnaire into Arabic a valid action ? ? The questions do not differ from a respondent to another Questions can be re-organised and tackled with different manners after the surveys are c ompleted There is a written record of people? s responses ? ? ? Easier to administer Less time consuming Easier to analyze There are, however, some disadvantages as well: ? ? ? Some people were possibly not honest with their responses Some people might have not fully understood some of the questions Some people may left blank spaces There has been a possibility that some people were biased due to the perception or belief that there is a pre-suggested or pre-agreed upon answer 35 ? ? ? Continuation of fear that the questionnaires could be seen by the HR department The questionnaires and data analysis rely on the honesty of respondents Some of the respondents were confused as Carrefour Egypt HR carry out questionnaires to their personnel twice a year, once in June Limited questions equals limited analysis, which is always a limitation of questionnaires Due to the existence and awareness of these disadvantages and limitations, actions were taken accordingly: ? Extreme confidentiality w as given to respondents. The questionnaires projected the aim and privacy assurance to the respondents. Moreover, some of the respondents have been verbally re-assured that the surveys are kept confidential. ? In addition to this, further assurance was made to some of the respondents that the researcher is not affiliated with the organisation in any way and it has also been made clear by the HR personnel that this questionnaire has nothing to do with the company? s formal periodical evaluation. 36 4. Data analysis 4. 1 Questionnaire (1) This is a twenty-five question questionnaire that has been compiled and structured assessing the environment at Carrefour as a large multinational where employees are highly focused on their jobs and do not frequently interact with the top management. The questions were assessing dimensions of: ? Integrity and equal opportunity: This dimension tests whether integrity is demonstrated in actions by the management and employees of the organisation as well as testing fairness among employees and equal opportunities. Example statement: This organization treats its employees fairly and justly ? Confidence: This dimension measures the degree of confidence among employees about the skills and abilities of the organisation as well as confidence of being generally valued. Example statement: I feel very confident about this organization? skills ? Empowerment: This dimension evaluates the degree of empowerment, autonomy and freedom that employees feel they are equipped with. Example statement: My manager/supervisor encourages creativity/innovation by reducing the fear of failure 37 ? General satisfaction: This dimension questions the level of satisfaction employees have – satisfaction from the job, working conditions, job security as w ell as informal networks. Example statement: The organization fails to satisfy the needs of its employees like me ? Commitment : This dimension evaluates the degree of commitment in the organisation. Not only whether employees are committed; but also if they feel the organisation is mutually committed. Example statement: I feel that this organization is trying to maintain a long-term commitment to its employees and me ? Involvement: The involvement dimension evaluates to what extent are the employees involved in different aspects of the organisations – involvement in non-work related activities, company posts and updates, competitive position and information on other departments. Example statement: I am usually aware and my supervisor keeps me informed of the company? s ongoing situations The results of the survey are shown in Figure 4. 1 38 Agree Satisfied This organization treats its employees fairly and justly This organization can be relied on to keep its promises I believe that this organization takes the opinions of its employees like me into account when making decisions I feel very confident about this organization? skills I think it is important to watch this organization closely so that it does not take advantage of its employees and me I feel that this organization is trying to maintain a long-term commitment to its employees and me Compared to my previous workplace(s), I value my relationship with this organization more I feel a sense of loyalty to this organization I think other employees are happy in their interactions with this organization The organization fails to satisfy the needs of its employees like me I am aware of the company? overall s trategy I feel my department gets support and teamwork from other areas within the company My manager/supervisor encourages creativity/innovation by reducing the fear of failure My manager/supervisor demonstrates professionalism I understand how the company's strategy differentiates us from the competition I am usually aware and my supervisor keeps me informed of the company? s ongoing situations (ups and downs, etc) How satisfied are you with with your job? How satisfied are you with the morale of the people with whom you work How satisfied are you with your own morale? I feel that my work gives me a sense of personal accomplishment How satisfied are you that you receive appropriate recognition for your contributions? How satisfied are you with your overall job security? How satisfied are you with your informal life and networks within your organisation? Does your company show enough consideration to your personal time outside work? As an employee, I feel empowered to make decisions beyond my job description 14 13 7 23 6 18 23 21 5 2 18 16 19 23 20 15 21 12 16 20 12 14 8 12 7 Neutral 8 9 12 0 10 7 1 3 14 11 4 6 3 1 4 9 3 10 5 4 8 8 12 9 12 Disagree Dissatisfied 3 3 6 2 9 0 1 1 6 12 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 3 4 1 5 3 5 4 6 Percentage % Agree Neutral Satisfied 56 52 28 92 24 72 92 84 20 8 72 64 76 92 80 60 84 48 64 80 48 56 32 48 28 12 12 24 8 36 0 4 4 24 48 12 12 12 4 4 4 4 12 16 4 20 12 20 16 24 Disagree Dissatisfied 32 36 48 0 40 28 4 12 56 44 16 24 12 4 16 36 12 40 20 16 32 32 48 36 48 Figure 4. 1 Questionnaire (1) responses 39 4. 1. 1 Highest ranking agreed-with statements (above 66. 6 %) The highest ranking statements have been grouped into four categories: Job contributors, supervisory contributors, involvement contributors and commitment contributors. 1- Job: ? I feel that my work gives me a sense of personal accomplishment (80%) How satisfied are you with with your job? (84%) This shows that the majority of employees in Carrefour are both satisfied with their jobs there and feel that their jobs add to their sense of personal accomplishment. This can be attributed to the fact that Carrefour Egypt asks the employees for eval uations, said Mr. Hussein, which partially focus on weather an employee: ? ? ? ? Likes the job and likes the organisation Likes the job but dislikes the organisation Dislikes the job but likes the organisation Dislikes the job and the organisation – Supervisory: ? ? My manager/supervisor demonstrates professionalism (92%) My manager/supervisor encourages creativity/innovation by reducing the fear of failure (76%) This shows that the majority of employees are satisfied with their managers and supervisors in terms of being a „role-mode? within the organisation or being empowered 40 enough by them to be calculated risk-takers. This is attributed to the complex selection and recruitment at Carrefour Egypt, as well as a periodical corporate review. 3. Involvement: ? ? ? I am aware of the company? s overall strategy (72%) I feel very confident about this organization? s skills (92%) I understand how the company's strategy differentiates us from the competition (80%) This shows that employees across Carrefour are aware of the company? s strategy and therefore aware of the vision and mission statements. The result shown is possibly because of communication the vision and mission across the organisation, as well as the employees initiating eagerness to learn more about the organisation. 4. Commitment: ? I feel a sense of loyalty to this organization (84%) Compared to my previous workplace(s), I value my relationship with this organization more (92%) ? I feel that this organization is trying to maintain a long-term commitment to its employees and me (72%) The majority of the employees value Carrefour more than their previous employers as well as feeling they are loyal to this organisation. This goes back to the fact that commitment is shown both from the organisation and the employees at the same time. 41 4. 2 Questionnaire (2) This is an eighteen question questionnaire adopted from Morrison (1994). Adjustments were made and the questions are restructured and divided to serve the six types of OCB referred to in the literature – three questions assessing each type/component and the respondents mark whether they regard the statement written as in-role (part of what they regard as their formal duty) or out-role( referred to as OCB). The six dimensions are: ? Individual initiative: This dimension evaluates to what extension the employees themselves are eager to perform more duties than their job entails. Example statement: Thinking you should also think of what is best for the organisation even if not asked or involved ? Organisational loyalty: This dimension examines the level of loyalty employees possess. Loyalty in this case is examined by actions employees perform that are non-work related that prove they are, for no reward, loyal to the organisation. Example statement: Attending voluntary functions that help the organisation? s image ? Sportsmanship: This dimension tests to what extents could employees prioritise work requirements and exceptions even on their own expense. 2 Example statement: Not taking excess time off, even if you have extra vacation days ? Civic virtue: Other than fulfilling the job, some employees show willingness to participate or provide viewpoints in governing the organisations. Civic virtue tests this perspective. Example statement: Attending voluntary meetings considered important ? Helping behaviour: The helping behaviour is shown by employees through t he willingness to help others and as well prevent problems for occurrence. Example statement: Covering for co-workers who are absent or on break ? Organisational compliance: Although organisational rules and policies should be abided by, some employees still don? t. This dimensions, therefore, tests to what extent employees comply. Example statement: Not spending time on personal telephone conversations Based on questionnaire (2) and the responses, Figure 4. 2 shows the contribution of each dimension to the whole (OCB) as shown by the employees at Carrefour. Figure 4. 3 shows the results of Questionnaire (2) 43 Organisational Citizenship Behaviour The Dimensions Individual Initiative Organisational loyalty Sportsmanship %12 Civic virtue Helping behaviour Organisational compliance %19 %19 %31 %8 %11 Figure 4. 2 OCB components 44 Action Thinking you should also think of what is best for the organisation even if not asked or involved Keeping up with changes and developments in the organisation Helping people outside department when they have a problem Reading and keeping up with organizational announcements Helping organize departmental get-togethers Attending voluntary functions that help the organisation? image Coming to work early if needed Having to work overtime because of a colleague? s mistake, not you Not taking excess time off, even if you have extra vacation days Attending voluntary meetings considered important Volunteering to do things without being asked Helping orient new people even when not asked Covering for co-workers who are absent or on break Helping others with work when they have been absent Giving time to help others with work-related problems Being punctual everyday regardless of weather, traffic, etc Not spending time on personal telephone conversations Not spending time in non work related issues Regarded in-role 9 Percentage % 36 Dimension Individual Initiative 4 5 18 2 5 3 6 19 17 4 21 11 20 13 22 23 25 16 20 72 8 20 12 24 76 68 16 84 44 80 52 88 92 100 Individual Initiative Individual Initiative Organisational loyalty Organisational loyalty Organisational loyalty Sportsmanship Sportsmanship Sportsmanship Civic virtue Civic virtue Civic virtue Helping behaviour Helping behaviour Helping behaviour Organisational compliance Organisational compliance Organisational compliance Figure 4. 2 Questionnaire (2) responses Adopted from Morrison, E. W. 1994) „Role definitions and organizational citizenship behaviour: The importance of the employee? s perspective.? Academy of Management Journal, 37, 1556 45 4. 2. 1 Most agreed upon as in-role (above 66. 6 %) 1. Organisational compliance: ? ? ? Being punctual everyday regardless of weather, traffic, etc (88%) Not spending time on personal telephone conversations (92%) Not spending time in non work related issues (100%) It is clearl y observed the majority of employees regard complying with rules, policies and the psychological contract as in-role behaviours. In theory, organisational compliance has to be regarded as in-role already. However, due to the suggestion that not all employees comply, it has been surveyed. This proves the opposite of Morrison? s hypothesis that it might not be regarded as in-role – it is. The dimension of organisational compliance is the most agreed upon as in-role among the questioned employees and constitutes thirty-one percent of the OCB in Carrefour. Like in Morrison? s research, organisational compliance is the most agreed upon dimension as being in-role – 89, 80 and 68 percent respectively. . Helping behaviour: ? Helping others with work when they have been absent (80%) This may be attributed to the culture of Egyptian people more than for the business environment – people known to be helpful and cooperative. In Morrison? s research, agreement to this behaviour as in-role was 78 percent. 3. Civic Virtue: ? Attending voluntary meetings considered important (68%) 46 In comparison to the original research, the result here shows 18% higher agreement. This would further justify the 80% loyalty demonstrated in questionnaire (1). 4. Sportsmanship: ? Not taking excess time off, even if you have extra vacation days (76%) This is backed up by the fact that 80% of the respondents in questionnaire (1) agree to the statement which says that their work gives them a sense of personal accomplishment. Moreover, it supports the result in section 4. 4. 1 as job satisfaction is one of the highest contributors to the employees? commitment. The result in this research exceeds the original work by 10 percent. 5. Organisational loyalty: ? Reading and keeping up with organisational announcements (72%) The original research exceeds this result by 12 percent. However, 72 percent of employees regarding this statement as in-role is quite a satisfactory rate, especially that only 56 percent of the employees agreed to the statement that their manager/supervisor cares to keep them updated in questionnaire (1). Furthermore, loyalty has been also proved in several other statements. The general agreement between this research and the original research done by Morrison (1994) shows consistency and proof that these elements are regarded as in-role by most employees. 47 5. Conclusion 5. 1 Key aims and findings The research aims at defining OCB from an academic and a practical viewpoint as well as assessing the willingness and level of OCB within a large multinational as well as showing the importance of OCB and briefly reviewing the emergence of HR in Egypt. Moreover, clarification of the difference and the relationship between Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) and the variables outlined in addition to practically bringing the variables and type into field work is aimed for. This research also aims to integrate the different Human Resources (HR) activities that sum up and lead to OCB. The research questions: ? What is an agreed upon definition for OCB? (Chapter 2) Organisational Cititeznship Behaviour is the individual behavior that is descritionary, not directly or explicitly recognised by the formal reward system, and that in the aggreagate promotes the effective functioning if the organisation. It is also regarded as the extra-role activities employees pursue by saying that extra-role behaviours describe activities beyond formal job requirement that one chooses to do without expecting any direct reward. ? Why is OCB not disseminated among HR practitioners? Chapter 2) OCB is still regarded as a new term. Moreover, there has been a very limited number of literature on OCB in comparison with other HR terms. Adding to this the difficulty of defining the actions and conduct that is regarded as beyond-role. 48 ? What is defined as in-role and out-role? (Chapters 2 & 4) There has been agreed upon behaviours for what is regarded as in-role. As for out-role or beyond-re sponsibility conduct, it is concluded that the difference in employment level will always let individuals interpret in and out-role differently. Hence, it is also concluded that OCB varies proportionately with the level of employment which agrees with the common sense. Like most managers are more satisfied with their jobs (due to pay, prestige and benefits), they are also more committed and portray more citizenship behaviours. Furthermore, like a new employee is not used to the organisation and not regarded as loyal yet, his OCB is still in the introduction phase. ? What are the variables that can be related to OCB and influence the behaviour? (Chapter 2) The literature outlined many variables that are related and complements the favourable behaviour. Among these variables are job satisfaction, loyalty, commitment, sportsmanship, compliance and integrity. ? Since there are variables that can influence the behaviour, can OCB be aimed for by an organisation or is it uncontrollable? How can the level of OCB be evaluated? (Chapters 2 & 4) From the literature, it is concluded that organisations can focus more on studying the variables and elements that lead to the favourable behaviours desired such as identifying the factors that satisfy employees, establishing clear career paths and examining the consistency and alignment of actions, policies, and procedures with values. In addition this, the field research in chapter 4 summarises and adds the 49 contributors, variables and components of OCB which, if read and analysed by organisations, will provide assistance on how to modify their employees behaviours and enable them to reach the behaviour needed for success and prosperity of any successful organisation. The surveys conducted provide valid foundation to organisations who wish to evaluate their level of OCB as the surveys successfully reached this aim – with further modifications that suit every organisation. 50 5. Limitation of the study Due to the fact that OCB has not been granted enough interest from researchers and practitioners up-to-date, the amount of literature available was not of high assistance to the theoretical study. Moreover, direct help from the practitioners, especially in Egypt was difficult to find as they have not been informed of OCB and its implications. Adding to this, many organisations are not in favour of researcher s conducting surveys in their premises, especially of critical and confidential information such as commitment, loyalty, fairness and trust. Another limitation is the small number of sample as only one branch of Carrefour (Obour) was examined. This may influence the result as not to reflect the opinions of employees in Carrefour in Egypt, but only Carrefour Obour. However, the researcher has been assured that the same managerial and leadership style as well as working conditions are followed not only in Carrefour Egypt; however it is internationally abided by. The topic also limits researchers due to the fact that the level of OCB differs from one employment level to another. Finally, it is concluded that as a conduct or action is considered to be in the employment/psychological contract, it is automatically more regarded as in-role. Evidence of this is the fact that organisational compliance is the highest contributor to the OCB of the organisation while the all elements of the compliance are elements of any employment contract. 51 5. 3 Directions for future research It has been concluded in this paper that the level of OCB varies from an employment level and duration to another. As a result, the topic needs to be further expanded in future research. Future field research should assess different levels of employees as well as grouping employees that have been employed in an organisation for similar durations to maintain fairness and consistency. Furthermore, research in different types of organisations should take place. It is expected that in a service industry, the level of OCB should be higher than in others due to the fact that employees are more empowered as they interact more with their customers – the main source of revenue and sustainability. The future research should take place in different industries and questioning whether the results could or could not be compared against each other. Adding to this, conducting the research in a non-for-profit organisation would be a very good example of OCB for reasons that include the fact that NPOs do not compensate its employees, or the compensation is not profit generating. As a result, employees have more committing reasons than monetary rewards and motivation. This research was initially intended to research this issue. However, due to the limited time and resources, this has not been feasible. A suggested NPO is AIESEC (www. aiesec. org). An international NPO considered role model to NGOs and NPOs. Members of this organisation demonstrate the highest levels of OCB that can be observed. Word count 9,072 52 References Bachrach, et al. (2000) „Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: A Critical Review of the Theoretical and Empirical and Suggestions for Future Research.? Journal of Management, 26, 51. 1-61. 1 Bateman, T (1983) „Job Satisfaction and the Good Soldier: The Relationship between Affect and Employee †Citizenship†? 26(4), 587-595 Beardwell, J & Claydon, T (2007) Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Approach. Essex: Prentice Hall. Becker, T & Vance, R (1993) „Construct validity of three types of organisational citizenship behaviour: an illustration of the direct product model with refinements.? 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Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://EzineArticles. com/? expert=Jan_Stringer Vigoda, E (2000) „Internal politics in public administration systems: An empirical examination of its relationship with job congruence, organizational citizenship behaviour, and in-role performance.? Public Personnel Management, 29, 185-210 Interview with Mr. Amr Hussein, Carrefour Obour H. R. Manager. Dated May 12, 2009 at Carrefour Obour offices. (2007, 23 July) „Carrefour?. Fortune Global Five 500. Retrieved May 18, 2009 from http://money. cnn. com/magazines/fortune/global500/2007/snapshots/7881. html www. carrefour. com 54 Appendix Questionnaire (1) This is not a test. There are no „right? or „wrong? responses to the statements that follow. A response is only „right? if it reflects your personal opinion, and the strength of your reaction, as accurately as possible. Please indicate the level of your agreement with the following statements. Answers are to be kept confidential and shall only be used for academic purposes; no names or personal information required. It should not take more than 10 minutes to complete this questionnaire. This organization treats its employees fairly and justly Agree Disagree This organization can be relied on to keep its promises Agree Disagree Neutral Neutral I believe that this organization takes the opinions of its employees like me into account when making decisions Agree Neutral Disagree I feel very confident about this organization? skills Agree Disagree I think it is important to watch this organization closely so that it does not take advantage of its employees and me Agree Neutral Disagree I feel that this organization is trying to maintain a long-term commitment