The Planetary Trust Essay Example

The Planetary Trust Paper The planetary trust: a flawed instrument of intergenerational equity Brown Weiss’s Planetary Trust concept is significant in that it presents a potential instrumental means for facilitating equity between generations. This section begins by outlining Brown Weiss’s Planetary Trust concept, setting it within the context of trust law more generally. It then presents a critique of the Planetary Trust on both a theoretical and practical level, before comparing the Planetary Trust concept to defined benefit pension funds, noting that any practical incarnation of the Planetary Trust is likely to face many of challenges that have all but defeated defined benefit funds. The Planetary Trust Concept While a number of theorists have attempted to establish a normative basis for justice between the generations, very few have suggested an instrumental means of governance for achieving justice between generations. An exception is Brown Weiss, whose theory ‘tries to anticipate the norms required to bring about justice between our generation and future generations’ with respect to ‘the natural and cultural patrimony of our planet’. Brown Weiss has suggested an instrument that legislators could adopt in order to give effect to the theory of intergenerational equity: the ‘Planetary Trust’. It is a normative framework which, if adopted and internalized by our political, economic and social institutions, might enable them to serve as vehicles for ensuring that future generations will inherit their just share of our global heritage. Its thesis is that the human species holds the natural and cultural resources of the planet in trust for all generations of the human species. The concept is, therefore, based in trust law. Brown Weiss describes the functionality of the Planetary Trust as follows: This Planetary Trust obligates each generation to preserve the diversity of the resource base and to pass the planet on in no worse condition than it receives it. We will write a custom essay sample on The Planetary Trust specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Planetary Trust specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Planetary Trust specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Thus, the present generation serves both as a trustee for future generations and as a beneficiary of the trust. In fulfilling our role as Planetary Trustees, we can draw on the law of trusts, a body of distilled teachings concerning intergenerational cooperation and conflict, to help resolve the challenges confronting our global heritage. As such, the Planetary Trust institution conceives the entire planet as a trust fund, which must be managed by trustees in the best interests of beneficiaries. Brown Weiss relies, in particular, upon the law of charitable trusts in order to constitute her legal framework for the Planetary Trust. Trust law originated in England as a means for transferring property from one generation of a family to the next, and remains a central feature of common law legal systems today. As noted in Chapter V, the trust institution was born of conscientious necessity: it was created to overcome situations in which existing legal obligations had failed to protect the property of minors from unscrupulous guardians. Thus from its earliest days, the trust had the makings of a bespoke institution of intergenerational justice. The situations in which this propensity can be realised, of course, are limited by contextual legal requirements. Under trust law in common law jurisdictions, a number of different types of trust exist (for example, expressed, constructive and resulting trusts). Here we will confine ourselves to outlining the law relating to charitable trusts, given Brown Weiss’s focus. A charitable trust has a number of features. These include the capital of the fund itself, beneficiaries, trustees, an explicit or implicit decision to create the trust, and rules governing the management of the trust. It is worth explaining briefly how each of these requirements is addressed in Brown Weiss’ theory of the Planetary Trust. First, at the heart of a trust fund is the trust property. The property of the Planetary Trust ‘includes both the natural heritage of the planet and the cultural heritage of the human species’. Second, trustees manage the trust fund on behalf of the beneficiaries. In charitable trusts, the beneficiaries do not need to be specific individuals. Instead, the trust should benefit society, or at least an appreciable and identifiable part of it. The beneficiaries of the Planetary Trust are to be ‘all human generations, born and unborn.’ Third, the trust must have trustees who manage the trust property with a high level of care, according to the requirements of fiduciary duty (described in detail in Chapter III). Under the Planetary Trust ‘each generation acts as trustee for beneficiaries in succeeding generations, just as past generations served as trustees for it’. Fourth, the purpose of the trust must be clear. The owner of the trust property must manifest an intention that it be held on trust for the beneficiaries. Brown Weiss argues that [t]he Planetary Trust is an inter vivos trust between generations of the human species. Its existence is implicit in the nature of the relationship between generations. It derives from an implied declaration by each generation that it holds the resources of the planet in trust for future generations. This intention is universally reflected in diverse human cultural and religious traditions. The Planetary Trust concept has several advantages. First, it sets out clearly the intergenerational problems inherent in natural resource management. Second, it emphasises the role that must be played by the current generation in ensuring future generations have access to a range of natural resources of a decent quality, and not just what is left over after thoughtless exploitation by the current generation. Third, and most importantly, it presents a theoretical framework upon which a functional instrument may be designed and managed. In Robert Merton and Zvi Bodie’s terms, it has a form and function. Despite the elegance of the notion of Planetary Trust in a symbolic sense, however, its practical application, when imagined, appears impossible. Upon closer examination, moreover, the theoretical underpinnings of the concept appear to be unworkable. Critique of the Planetary Trust Concept While Brown Weiss’s institution provides something of a seductive metaphor, the foundational arguments for implying the Planetary Trust are contestable in both their general sense and in their details. Broadly, Brown Weiss’ assumption that all humans intend to hold the planet on trust for all future generations is, of course, utopian. Her suggestion that this intention is universal and manifest in ‘diverse human cultural and religious traditions’ is, similarly, morally and practically contentious. It relies upon a belief that the regard one generation has for its children is natural in the sense that it is ahistorical and not contingent on culture and society and is repeated one generation to the next by reference to some undefined thread binding humanity. It also assumes the longevity and continuity in the institutional form and function of the trust institution itself. It ignores the fact that behavioural science has shown individuals to be motivated by the local – both in time and space – and fails to question whether conflict within and between societies threatens what uniform moral standards might exist. The details of Brown Weiss’s institution are, if anything, more problematic than its broad strokes. From a practical perspective, trust law does not exist in most countries outside the common law tradition. Even assuming that countries could overcome this impediment and accept the Planetary Trust institution, there are clear limitations on the extent to which the trust, as an institution, can facilitate intergenerational justice in a coordinated institutional manner, across political, economic, legal and geographic borders. Most importantly, in order for a trust to exist, an individual or group of individuals must want to act as settlors, that is, they must want to create a trust. In the context of the Planetary Trust, the significance of the will or intention of would-be settlors cannot be underestimated. A trust cannot be imposed upon a potential settlor. Secondly, under the common law, future property (for example expected future inheritance) cannot be owned or held on trust. Thus, trust property must be limited to existing property. It is unlikely that the planet, as an evolving system; a moveable feast, could be so narrowly defined. Finally, idea that a trust as complex as the Planetary Trust Brown Weiss describes could be implied from ‘diverse human cultural and religious traditions’ is so far-fetched that it might be better described as a hopeful rumination than constitutive of an institution. Indeed, it is unclear whether Brown Weiss intended this concept to be taken as anything more than a moral or ethical construct, but she did acknowledge the potential for a more formal institution: [w]hile no affirmative action need be taken to create the Planetary Trust as a moral obligation, to have legal force it must be effectuated by positive law. Thus, the members of each generation must confer legal status on the trust by enacting and enforcing positive laws affirming their obligation to future generations. Beyond the impracticability of the Planetary Trust concept lies a more serious flaw in the theoretical fabric of the Planetary Trust concept: the notion of the Planetary Trust sidesteps the (real) risk of intergenerational conflict between current and future beneficiaries of the trust. The maintenance of environmental resources for future generations may require the restriction of the current generation’s access to these resources. In such situations, Planetary Trustees would be forced to choose between the interests of their own generation (often vociferously present) and future generations (largely unrepresented). While Brown Weiss notes that the ‘dual role of trustee and beneficiary creates conflicts’, she does not offer a way of transcending this conflict other than evoking (once again) the natural relationship and commitment between one generation and its children. Even if plausible, in some quarters, it is not adequate as a means of joining generations many years removed, or those who are geographically and culturally distant. Obviously lacking in the Planetary Trust is a means by which people are able to give voice to their interests – assuming they have interests other than the shared welfare of their children. Comparison with defined benefit pension schemes The Planetary Trust institution bears a striking resemblance to funded pension schemes and especially defined benefit pension funds, which have, in recent years, revealed themselves to be largely unsustainable from a financial perspective. These schemes are trust funds set up by companies, organisations, or industries to provide an income to employees and their survivors after they retire. In defined benefit funds, employers agree to set aside a certain portion of employees’ current wages and pay them a certain income upon their retirement. As a result, employers bear the risks of the invested trust fund; if it underperforms against estimated liabilities, the employer has to reach into its own pocket in order to make up the deficit.In many plans, younger, middle-aged, and older generations of workers co-exist together, paying in their contributions with the employer or sponsor as those retired draw their entitled benefits. It functions well as long as no generation exploits the others, and the background sponsor remains solvent with respect to assumed liabilities and current contributions and obligations. As such, it can be a self-perpetuating trust joining the interests of different generations in their long-term welfare. Like the Planetary Trust concept, pension funds in common law legal systems are based on trust law. They have fund capital (that is, a pool of capital produced by the company or organisation creating the pension scheme), beneficiaries (employees of the company or organisation), trustees, trust purpose s, and evidence of the intention of the trust when created. These elements differ in fact from those Brown Weiss described with respect to the Planetary Trust, but from a conceptual point of view they are closely aligned. For instance, while the current beneficiaries of a defined benefit pension fund are ascertainable, being past or present employees of the company or organisation, the institution functions on the assumption that it will continue to accept new members not yet determined at the time the trust is created. Whereas all people are trustees of the Planetary Trust, the trustees of pension plans are representatives of those participating in the fund. Pension plans are bound by a trust deed; the Planetary Trust is presumably bound by a social contract which may have as much force if implicit as it would have if explicit. In addition to these structural similarities, defined benefit funds face a similar challenge to the Planetary Trust concept with respect to the management of conflicting intergenerational interests within the fund. It is arguable that the defined benefit pension fund institution has failed in the UK and the US in part because younger generations of workers have not valued the institution as highly as older generations of workers. Where salary-sacrifices have been asked of younger participants, they have opted, more often than not, for alternative forms of retirement saving that favour the short-term over the long-term. By contrast, older workers facing the same claim for resources have opted to make the sacrifices necessary to realise their long-term interests. Thus in general, older participants value the future far more than younger participants. Here, the trust institution contains competing interests which are nominally bound together by a shared commitment to the future. More subtly but perhaps more insidiously, short-term biases in trustees and asset managers lead them to focus on the short-term performance of a fund (either defined benefit pension fund or Planetary Trust). In practice, this strengthens the position of the generation of beneficiaries that benefits more immediately from the trust fund compared to those set to benefit in the future. Here, there are two options for trust funds with implications for the Planetary Trust. In the absence of common agreement over current sacrifices, the trust institution, through its trustees, may have to override some interests in favour of the notional ‘common good’. If this does not work the state which underwrites the formal status and legitimacy of the trust (in the sense that it facilitates the justice system as a whole) may intervene to enforce the common good, whatever it is determined to be. By this assessment, the Achilles heel of the Planetary Trust, like defined benefit pension funds, is its vulnerability to government intervention. If we rely on external sources to overcome the tensions within the trust fund, then the purposes of the trust, vested in the responsibilities of its trustees, are less sacrosanct. Granting the possibility that the enforcement of the Planetary Trust would require a government to intervene on behalf of future citizens, would the Planetary Trust be effective as a long-term investor on our behalf? The experience of the Murray Darling Basin suggests that the government would much more reliably intervene on behalf of current generations: its constituency. Next Page – Testing the Planetary Trust Previous Page – VI. Investing in the Future

Greatness of a simple tree essays

Greatness of a simple tree essays A Separate Peace, a novel written by John Knowles, has many great themes about competition, friendship, and growing up. The great symbol is a very tall tree by the Devon River. The tree symbolizes war, adulthood, and friendships. The tree is a great symbol to both Finny and Gene. Even though the tree doesnt say a single word throughout the whole book, it plays a huge character. There are many reasons on why something as simple as a tree can play a huge role in Finny and Genes life. War, adulthood, and friendship are three ways the tree is a huge symbol. First, it symbolizes war. During the time Finny and Gene were in the Devon school they were trying to get ready to fight in World War II. One day Finny and Gene went to the tree and saw many of the senior boys in Devon jumping out of it. When seeing them jump, Finny decides that they need to start training to fight in the war to. Finny is the first of the two to jump. When he gets to the limb he says, Well here is my contribution to the war efforts! (Page 8) and jumps. Gene is next; he reaches the branch to jump off of. He stands on the branch in fright. Finny waiting at the bottom of the tree yells, Come on, when they torpedo the troopships you cant just stand there admiring the view, JUMP!!(Page 9) Gene thought about this for a few more seconds and then jumps. The way the Devon boys are jumping out of the tree makes it a symbol of war. Next, it symbolizes adulthood. The author, John Knowles, created the ch aracter Leper Lepellier, someone that never thought about growing up. The author made it to where he never jumps out of the tree like everyone else does. Instead, he just watches everyone else jump. One day the Devon school had a recruit officer show a video where all the soldiers were skiing. Leper thought that if skiing was what the war was about then he wanted to get into it. After the movie he went and enlisted into the army. Not lon...

Why was television able to displace radio at the centre of the home in Essay

Why was television able to displace radio at the centre of the home in the late 1950s - Essay Example Talking about reasons we cannot take in consideration only technical progress and therefore technical reasons. When one media channel of information for mass perception is changed and replaced by another, not only practical and technical reasons are at hand but also people’s ability to adapt, social challenges, and general mood of the society. Radio was the most widespread, successful, and popular media source in the twenties, thirties, and forties in the United States and Europe. Historical changes and political collapses urged society to develop new and fast means of communication and entertainment. Radio as a mass media instrument quickly developed after the First World War because progress in communication was a necessary tool during the wartime. The Roaring Twenties masterfully inclined the idea of home entertainment and news broadcasting using radio transmissions (Mowitt, 2011) Of course, printing was at the high level too offering their consumers all the necessary package of global events, comic strips, home recipes etc. But with cinema being used only for the art and entertainment, collective consciousness quickly developed a new necessity for the ability to hear everything about anything without a need to leave their house. In 1936 Federal communications Commission’s first chief commissioner Anning S. Pral l named radio â€Å"a combination of the schoolhouse, the church, the public postrum, the newspaper, the theater, the concert hall – in fact all media devoted to the education and enlightment of the people† (Prall, 1936). Radio was the voice of the world, the voice of the time in the late period of the first half of the twentieth century, century of global and local breakdowns. Radio was used as a generator of public opinion, describing and uniting all classes and groups of people, creating the means of propaganda for the purposes of governments and entertainment for the average citizens. With cinema still being on the low level and considering

Intervene or not Intervene Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Intervene or not Intervene - Case Study Example Now the world leaders need to be more diplomatic and polite in dealing with other countries and leaders of the world in order to avoid any dispute. Since the September 11 attacks on the United States, most people in the world agree that the perpetrators need to be brought to justice, without killing many thousands of civilians in the process. But unfortunately, the U.S. military has always accepted massive civilian deaths as part of the cost of war. The military is now poised to kill thousands of foreign civilians, in order to prove that killing U.S. civilians is wrong. It is said in the media repeatedly that some Middle Easterners hate the U.S. only because of their "freedom" and "prosperity." Is it right? The U.S. deployed forces in the Persian Gulf after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which turned Washington against its former Iraqi ally Saddam Hussein. U.S. supported the Kuwaiti monarchy and the Muslim fundamentalist monarchy in neighboring Saudi Arabia against the secular nationa list Iraq regime. In January 1991, the U.S. and its allies unleashed a massive bombing assault against Iraqi government and military targets, in intensity beyond the raids of World War II and Vietnam. Up to 200,000 Iraqis were killed in the war and its immediate aftermath of rebellion and disease, including many civilians who died in their villages, neighborhoods, and bomb shelters. The U.S. continued economic sanctions that denied health and energy to Iraqi civilians, who died by the hundreds of thousands, according to United Nations agencies. The U.S. also instituted "no-fly zones" and virtually continuous bombing raids, yet Saddam was politically bolstered as he was militarily weakened. Other so-called "humanitarian interventions" were centered in the Balkan region of Europe, after the 1992 breakup of the multiethnic federation of Yugoslavia. The U.S. watched for three years as Serb forces killed Muslim civilians in Bosnia, before its launched decisive bombing raids in 1995. Even then, it never intervened to stop atrocities by Croatian forces against Muslim and Serb civilians, because those forces were aided by the U.S. In 1999, the U.S. bombed Serbia to force President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw forces from the ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo, which was torn a brutal ethnic war. The bombing intensified Serbian expulsions and killings of Albanian civilians from Kosovo, and caused the deaths of thousands of Serbian civilians, even in cities that had voted strongly against Milosevic. When a NATO occupation force enabled Albanians to move back, U.S. forces did little or nothing to prevent similar atrocities against Serb and other non-Albanian civilians. The U.S . was viewed as a biased player, even by the Serbian democratic opposition that overthrew Milosevic the following year. Even when the U.S. military had apparently defensive motives, it ended up attacking the wrong targets. After the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, the U.S. "retaliated" not only against Osama Bin Lad en's training camps in Afghanistan, but a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan that was mistakenly said to be a chemical warfare installation. Bin Laden retaliated by attacking a U.S. Navy ship docked in Yemen in 2000. After the 2001 terror attacks on the United States, the U.S. military is poised to again bomb Afghanistan, and possibly move

Acute vs Chronic abdominal pain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Acute vs Chronic abdominal pain - Essay Example As result, they experience acute abdominal pain. Diverticulitis is another common cause of acute pain among people in this age group. This is a condition whereby pouches develop on the walls of the colon. Older patients also experience bowel obstruction that may result from cancerous cells (Lyon & Clark, 2006). Common causes of acute abdominal pain in a 20-year -olds male may be due to indigestion, stomach irritation, and parasitic infections. Chronic abdominal pain in a 50-year-old male can be caused by colon cancer, gallstones or appendicitis. In a younger patient, chronic pain can be caused by pancreatitis, cholecystitis, hepatitis and liver disorder (Greenberger, 2014). In reference to diagnosis, it is more likely to misdiagnose a 50-year-old as compared to a 20-year-old. This is because older patients are prone to other co-existing diseases that may be the hidden cause of abdominal pain (Bryan, 2015). As compared to younger patients, diagnosis in older patients does not rely on symptoms such as fever, nausea and vomiting (Tazkarji, 2008). This is because most of them do not exhibit these symptoms. Older adults also present late symptoms. All in all, both young and old patients require specialized treatment (Penner, 2015). Greenberger, N. J. (2014). Chronic and Recurring Abdominal Pain. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. Retrieved from

Effect of Cultural and Racial Identity on Self-Image

Effect of Cultural and Racial Identity on Self-Image Many factors contribute to making up the identity of an individual, their self-image and how they portray themselves. Some of these factors include: beliefs, culture, gender, race, amongst others. Usually, people in a society tend to base their initial knowledge of other people on stereotypical generalizations that originate from these various aspects of identity. In many cases, these generalizations that hastily become the known myths do not necessarily tell the truth about a certain group of people with major similarities like cultural background or race. This ends up creating a standard that society indirectly confers on these people who in return, may or may not conform to these standards. Personally, I fall under the category of people that do not live according to what may seem like societal standards when analyzing the average Canadian teenager. My cultural and racial identity sum up the major aspects that influence my self-image because my physical characteristics causes soci ety to not see beyond my cultural background, gender and values. As an illustration, my cultural and racial background is physically evident because I have distinct features like my skin colour, that show I am Black. Also, when I talk my accent clearly depicts that I am a West-African, more specifically a proud Nigerian girl. This impacts my self-image tremendously because it serves as a constant reminder of my place of origin. Being a true Nigerian child comes with the training I get to enable me become a responsible lady in the nearest future. This is because I have certain responsibilities and standards to live by as a result of my upbringing as a child. For example, in my childhood the importance of working hard was constantly preached by my parents, elders at church, school and even my surroundings. House chores were seen as the primary duties of the children in the home and being the youngest of five did not really help this fact. My place in the family as the last born put me in the position of the errand person. My older ones were more lik e my supervisors and to them, having me assist whenever there was a need to wash clothes, cook, sweep the house and many more, made me more responsible as I grew older. Up until this point, this makes me see myself as an active role player in my life and maturation process. On the other hand, this is different from how the people around me would judge me. A recent example is when I moved into residence at York University. Being evidently African, a fellow student living on the same floor admitted she thought I would be really â€Å"ratchet†. By this, she meant her expectations of me were low. She thought I was the loud party girl that every guy knew and had sexual history with. She was surprised to find out I am actually a reserved and simple girl who is academic oriented. Her reason for thinking this way came from her encounters with few other Black girls in the past who did not act responsibly because of their issues with drugs, smoking and boys. This made her judge me befo re she even got to know me for who I truly am. Secondly, being a girl influences my self-image because it is one physical aspect of my identity that speaks for me before I do. As a female child born into a patriarchal society like that of the Nigerian society, your ideal stages in life have practically been laid out for you to follow. It starts from growing up being responsible and hardworking, then working hard to make sure you are academically successful because education is very important. After this, you get your career and at the â€Å"right time†, get married when your destined husband finds you. For instance, when I was a younger child growing up, my mum always told me stories of how being a good mother or wife is not easy, but worth it. She would always encourage me to watch her whenever she was cooking, serving my dad his food or arranging the house. She constantly emphasized on the importance of being industrious as a lady and potential wife. This means that as a female in the average Nigerian home, your purpose in life seems incomplete if you do not plan on getting married and having children. In other words, after you reach a certain age as a girl, you better start expecting the whole talk about marriage, having grandchildren for your parents and being a good wife, cook and mother when you marry. I do not have a problem with this in any way because I believe that part of the fulfillment of a woman comes from her marrying her true love, having a family and raising her children at some point in her life. Furthermore, my values which are a major component of my identity determine the kind of person I choose to be and eventually become. My main values include, my belief in Jesus Christ as my saviour, abstinence from sex, alcohol and any type of drugs. This makes me see myself as a misfit because I can hardly fit into my environment or society without having to change or compromise my beliefs a little. Most times, people see me as weird and find it hard to believe that I have never gone clubbing, smoked or at least done something â€Å"cool†. An occurrence that I do not think I will ever forget was in the summer of grade eleven which is about two years ago. I met a guy who happened to be a friend of my close friend. The three of us spent time together at the mall while the guy was trying to get to know me better by asking me questions about my school, background amongst others. I thought he was a nice person. Eventually, he asked if we could â€Å"chill† and I was not sure of what he meant. Regardless, I said no because and gave an excuse of having to go pick my nephew up from school. In all honesty, I did not feel like going out with a guy, especially someone I just met for the first time. To cut the long story short, he ended up walking halfway home with me because he claimed he lived in the same neighbourhood as me. Later on, I figured that by â€Å"chill† he meant he was sexually attracted to me and he just wanted to get something from me because he thought I was that type of girl. I could see disappointment written all over his face when I totally refused his advancements towards me. He said he had never been refused by any girl with a similar racial or cultural background as me. To say the least, I was disgusted at the fact that someone of the opposite gender would actually disregard my belief in sexual purity and abstinence then, judge me in such a disrespectful manner because of my skin color and cultural background. All in all, I believe that my body goes beyond my physical beauty and what I look like. It encompasses everything about me, ranging from the smallest to the biggest. The way I see myself is also as a result of a combinations of all these factors like how other people see me and judge me. I cannot blame society for their judgements of me, but I can expect better because a person goes beyond his or her cover which is the body. You have to remove the cover in this sense and see every single thing is contains beneath it. As a result of this self-image continuously develops as a person grows and this is my story. I know that despite what my cultural and racial identity entails, I will continuously amaze myself with personal growth and maturity. I will reach beyond the set boundaries and expectations.

Antonio Vivaldi :: essays research papers fc

Antonio Vivaldi was born on March 4th, 1678, in Venice, Italy, and died on July 28, 1741, in Vienna, Austria. His father, a barber and a talented violinist at Saint Mark's Cathedral himself, had helped him in trying a career in music and made him enter the Cappella di San Marco orchestra, where he was an appreciated violinist. In 1703 Vivaldi became a priest and acquired the nickname "The Red Priest", since he had red hair. He had become a priest against his own will because it was the only possible way for his poor family to obtain free schooling. In 1704 he was pardoned from celebrating the Holy Mass because of his ill health, and later became a violin teacher at an orphanage for girls called Ospedale della Pietà   in Venice. The orphans soon started to gain appreciation and esteem as Vivaldi wrote most of his concertos, cantate and sacred music for them. In 1705 the first collection of his works was published. He was a prolific composer and is most well known for composing over 500 concertos, 46 Operas, sinfonias, 73 sonatas, chamber music, and sacred music. His most famous work is said to be the Four Seasons. Vivaldi's music is particularly innovative as he gave brightness to the formal and the rhythmic structure of concertos. He repeatedly looked for harmonic contrasts, creating innovative melodies and themes. Vivaldi’ main goal was to create a musical piece meant to be appreciated by the wide public, and not only by an intellectual minority. The joyful appearance of his music reveals a transmittable joy of composing. These are among the causes of the vast popularity of his music. This popularity soon made him famous also in countries like France, at the time very closed into its national schemes. He is considered one of the authors that brought Baroque music to evolve into an impressionist style. The Four Seasons composed by Vivaldi was one of the earliest examples of program music and was also the most famous of all his concertos. Vivaldi wanted to depict the various seasons in the four concerti in Italian. When you listen to the Four Season, you feel as though he has created a whole another atmosphere with its own feelings. He seems to have used only the four major instruments that are usually present in an orchestra, which are the violin, viola, cello and bass, to depict this atmosphere effortlessly.

Dissertation: Fast Food Restaurants

ABSTRACT Organizational behaviour in fast food industry is an important area to analyze as fast food sector is growing rapidly. It has direct positive relation with organizational productivity. Around the globe, the penetration of fast food sector is enormous. A field study was conducted in order to evaluate the employees’ perception of various dynamics of organizational behaviour.The context selected was the fast food restaurants of Pakistan. A sample of 100 fast food restaurants’ employee was selected and data was collected using pre-printed structured questionnaires. The main data collection technique employed was factor loading using principle component analysis. It was performed on various constructs which were used to understand the organizational behaviour.The findings of this dissertation exerts organizational decision markers to focus on acceptance of change by managers and employees, being more responsive to customers’ suggestions, employees awareness a bout organizational mission, non-monetary appreciation by the colleagues and seniors, task prioritization, intra-team dynamics, workload adjustment, resource sufficiency, organizational justice in the form of fairness, imparting training to the employees, job relevant training to employees, provision of congenial work environment to employee, security at work place, coordination with employees, ensuring transparency while promoting people and elimination of biasness among employees. The accomplishment of these would have important bearings on overall organizational behaviour and will ultimately improve the productivity of the organization. Like many researches, this research also has some limitations. Future research should take in to account these short comings. Table of Contents ABSTRACT1 You can read also Classifications of RestaurantsCHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION OF DISSERTATION: AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF DISSERTATION5 1-1: A Brief Account of the Area of Interest:5 1-2: Choice Rationale of the Thesis Research:6 1-3: Aim of the Dissertation Research:7 1-4: Fast Food Industry of Pakistan – the Context:7 1-5: Research Questions of Dissertation:8 1-6: Research Objectives of Dissertation:9 1-7: Nature of Research Output and Final Outcome of Dissertation:10 1-8: Structure of the Thesis:11 1-9: Chapter Summary:12 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF ACADEMIC AND SCHOLARLY LITERATURE13 2-1: Organizational Behaviour– An Imperative issue for Businesses:13 2-2-1: Culture:15 2-2-2: Change:16 2-2-3: Customer Orientation:17 2-2-4: Rewards and Recognition:18 2-2-5: Leadership/Supervision:19 -2-6: Fair Treatment of Employees:19 2-2-7: Job Characteristics:20 2-2-8: Training:20 2-2-9: Work Environment:21 2-3: Summary:22 CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE DISSERTATION23 3-1: Theoretical Und erpinnings – Rationale:23 3-2: Research Aims and Objectives:24 6. 1. 13-2-1: Background Discussion:24 6. 1. 23-2-2: Research Aims:25 6. 1. 33-2-3: Research Objectives:26 3-4: Summary:32 CHAPTER 4: DESIGN, METHODOLOGY AND METHOD(S) OF DISSERTATION RESEARCH33 4. 1: Nature of Research Endeavours:33 4. 2: Type of Research:34 4. 3: Reference to Sampling Frame:35 4. 4: Population Attributes and Sampling Design:35 4. 5: Decision on Sample Size:36 4. : Characteristics of Data Collection Instrument:36 4. 7 Pre-Testing the Data Collection Instrument:37 4. 8: Field Survey and Data Collection – Primary and Secondary Research:37 4. 9: Data Analysis and Report Writing:38 4-10: Summary of the Chapter:39 CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS AND ASSOCIATED DISCUSSION40 5. 1: The Pakistani Fast Food Sector – Context of Dissertation:40 5-2: Reliability Analysis:42 5 – 3: Review of Dissertation’s Aim and Associated Objectives:43 5 – 4: Demographic Profile of the Employees:44 5 – 5: Primary Data Analysis:46 5 – 6: Research Objective 1: To explore the employees’ perception of culture of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 9 5 – 7: Research Objective 2: To explore the employees’ perception of change dynamics of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 52 5 – 8: Research Objective 3: To explore the employees’ perception of customer orientation of fast food restaurants of Pakistan56 5 – 9: Research Objective 4: To explore the employees’ perception of leadership dynamic of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 61 5 – 10: Research Objective 5: To explore the employees’ perception of rewards and recognition of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 64 5 – 11: Research Objective 6: To explore the employees’ perception of job characteristics of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 7 5 – 12: Research Objective 7: To explore the employees’ perception of fair treatment with employ ees among fast food restaurants of Pakistan72 5 – 13: Research Objective 8: To explore the employees’ perception of training among fast food restaurants of Pakistan75 Table 5 – 37 gives the rotated component matrix of training. It shows that two factor were extracted when factor loading was applied. The first was â€Å"number of trainings given to employees in last six months† (0. 959) and â€Å"number of trainings† given in last one month’ (0. 956). The factor could be termed as â€Å"recent training offered to employees†. The second factor extracted was loaded on two variables i. e. , â€Å"employees training on assessed needs† (0. 63) and â€Å"employees are trained to meet changes in job† (0. 873). The factor extracted could be named as â€Å"job relevant training†. 78 5 – 14: Research Objective 9: To explore the employees’ perception of work environment among fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 7 8 5 – 13: Summary:82 6-1: Conclusion of the Dissertation:84 6-2: Recommendations:85 6-2-1: Recommendation 1: Change Dynamics:86 6-2-2: Recommendation 2: Customer Orientation:87 6-2-3: Recommendation 3: Leadership Dynamics:87 6-2-4: Recommendation 4: Rewards and Recognition:87 6-2-5: Recommendation 5: Job Characteristics:88 6-2-6: Recommendation 6: Fair Treatment with Employees:88 6-2-7: Recommendation 7: Training:89 -2-8: Recommendation 8: Work Environment:89 6-2-9: Recommendation 9: Culture:90 6-3: Limitations of Research:90 6-3: Future Research Opportunities:91 REFERENCES92 APPENDIX101 QUESTIONNAIRE102 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION OF DISSERTATION: AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF DISSERTATION This is the first chapter of the dissertation. It will contribute a brief overview of the dissertation topic. It will also contribute the aims and objectives of the dissertation research. Further to this, this chapter will underscore the final outcome of the dissertation along with dissertation struc ture. In addition to this, the chapter will also contribute the structure of the dissertation.The chapter will end with the summary of the chapter. 1-1: A Brief Account of the Area of Interest: The world is at the verge of transition (Adler and Gundersen, 2008). This exerts enormous pressures on managers to sharpen their skills with reference to dynamic issues. Priem et al. (1995) suggested that environmental dynamism dictates the decision making process and firm performance. Thompson (1967) highlighted that organizations are open systems situated within an independent external environment. Garg et al. (2003) suggested that these environmental concerns are also closely related to the selection of senior managers in the organisation. Businesses are growing day by day. Increase in he size changes the ownership pattern and separated the ownership form the management of organization. There are different managers who work on the behalf of their owners and managers have other people who w ork for their managers. These managers assume responsibility of manipulating resources as well as day-to-day running of the enterprise so as to ensure the accomplishment of short-range and long-range plans. An organization is a group of people arranged in different teams and department in a particular manner. These people generally belong to the society where the organization is located. This collection of people generally holds for an extended period of time and work together towards accomplishment of organization’s long-term mission.According to Cartwright (1965), an organization can be regarded as a collection of related people arranged on the bases of their interdependence on each other yet with an emphasis on the whole. The behaviour of people within organization is controlled and can be forecasted quite often. The contribution of people or parts of the system would lead to the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives. Organizational behaviour involves study of activities of people and their behaviour that influences organizational performance. The core areas of OB include motivation, leader behaviour, group structure and processes, change process, job and work design and work stress (Bigelow et al. , 1999).Research in the domain of organizational behaviour corroborates an association between behaviour of an organization and its productivity level. The work of Hansen and Wernerfelt (1989) revealed that as compared to economic indicators of organizational performance, the factors associated with organizational behaviour have twice as much explanatory power as much the economic variables. The study of organizational behaviour draws attention to lot of areas which might be advantageous or cumbersome for the organization. It identifies issues like workforce diversity and offers solutions to manage it. The insights arising out of OB enables managers to harness the workers’ efficiency. This is generally accomplished through empowering employees.It also guides managers to design jobs and workplace in such a way as to facilitate achievement of organizational goals and objectives and reduce job stress (Robbins, 1998). 1-2: Choice Rationale of the Thesis Research: Organizational behaviour in fast food industry is an important area to analyze as fast food sector is growing rapidly. Fast food items can be cooked rapidly and thus can be obtained in no time. Around the globe, the penetration of fast food sector is enormous. It gives convenience for busy lifestyle yet it is high in calories, sugar and fat (Glanz et al. , 1998). Many people don’t have their eating schedule in terms of breakfast, lunch and dinner.It is generally defined as immediate consumption food available at premises or in specific eating areas (Data Monitor, 2005). Bender and Bender (2000) highlighted that fast food items do not have large variety of goods and generally adopts a unique production processes. Hamburgers, pizzas chicken and sandwi ches are specialized fast food products. Fast food industry is regarded as a basis for obesity. Many US fast food producing firms faced court trial because of public concerns on obesity (Adams, 2005). Importance of nutritional values of fast food was also analyzed by researchers (Nayga Jr, 1997, O Dougherty et al. , 2006). Further to this, Brown et al (2000) also emphasized the importance of understanding nutritional requirements and fast food for youngsters.The above discussion asserts the importance of understanding or studying the fast food organization. This dissertation will use the context of fast food industry and will analyze dynamics of organizational behaviour in the said context. 1-3: Aim of the Dissertation Research: This research focuses on analysis of the â€Å"perception of employees about various dynamics of organizational behaviour in fast food industry of Pakistan†. The fast food industry is growing rapidly in Pakistan. It incorporates mushroom growth of bot h international and national fast food chains in various parts of the country. This phenomenal growth gained prominence in 1993 and since then it has been unmatched. The various imensions of organizational behaviour envisaged for this dissertation research include organizational culture, change dynamics, customer orientation, leadership dynamics, rewards and recognition, job characteristics, fair treatment, training and work environment. 1-4: Fast Food Industry of Pakistan – the Context: In contrast to past, where the hotels and restaurants were serving traditional and local food, the trend is now shifting towards Western meals especially fast food. The fast and busy life of residents of Pakistan is leading to more and more people dining out. Now-a-days, one can find fast food and fast food restaurants in all parts of the country. People can find fast-food literally every where. Hospitals are serving fast-food. One can stop at a nearby shopping centre.Gas Stations added separ ate sections which serve fast food. University, college and school cafeterias are offering fast food. One may find huge crowds of people in fast food restaurants on weekends. The Pakistan’s fast food market comprises of global giants like Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Hardees, etc. In addition to these, Hilal Fried Chicken (HFC), Al-Najam Fried Chicken (AFC), Fried Chicks, Italian Pizza and many other small firms are also gaining popularity. People from all walks of life and from all ages are visiting these restaurants. Despite its nutritional value, the fast food is also becoming a status symbol.According to Health and Integrated Survey (2009), the average spending of a household on food and related is around 44 percent of the total spending. Moreover, the population of Pakistan has exceeded 170 million. This large size of population spending huge sum of money on their food and related item makes fast food sector really a lucrative area for investment. Pingali (2007) also reported that in Asian people are increasingly using western food and this trend is also influencing the food management system in this country. One of the trends out of this westernization of food in Asia is the outburst of fast-food restaurants in Asian countries. 1-5: Research Questions of Dissertation:The achievement of above stated research aim requires answering number of research questions. These research questions are given hereunder: 1) What is the employees’ perception of culture of fast food restaurants of Pakistan? 2) What is the employees’ perception of change dynamics of fast food restaurants of Pakistan? 3) What is the employees’ perception of customer orientation of fast food restaurants of Pakistan? 4) What is the employees’ perception of leadership dynamic of fast food restaurants of Pakistan? 5) What is the employees’ perception of rewards and recognition of fast food restaurants of Pakistan? 6) What is the em ployees’ perception of job characteristics of fast food restaurants of Pakistan? ) What is the employees’ perception of fair treatment with employees among fast food restaurants of Pakistan? 8) What is the employees’ perception of training among fast food restaurants of Pakistan? 9) What is the employees’ perception of work environment among fast food restaurants of Pakistan? For each of the above mentioned research question, research objectives are developed which are give in the next section. 1-6: Research Objectives of Dissertation: In order to achieve research aim and answering research questions, various research objectives were developed. These are based on selection of nine constructs that have been identified from the literature. It is envisaged that the disseration would encompass following research objectives: ) To analyze the employees’ perception of culture of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 2) To analyze the employees’ percep tion of change dynamics of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 3) To analyze the employees’ perception of customer orientation of fast food restaurants of Pakistan 4) To analyze the employees’ perception of leadership dynamic of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 5) To analyze the employees’ perception of rewards and recognition of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 6) To analyze the employees’ perception of job characteristics of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 7) To analyze the employees’ perception of fair treatment with employees among fast food restaurants of Pakistan ) To analyze the employees’ perception of training among fast food restaurants of Pakistan 9) To analyze the employees’ perception of work environment among fast food restaurants of Pakistan. 1-7: Nature of Research Output and Final Outcome of Dissertation: The accomplishment of this dissertation will facilitate organizational decision makers, particularly the sen ior management, in developing an understanding of various factors which are perceived to be important dimensions of organizational behaviour. This understanding could serve as a basis for various insights about evaluating their (senior management) current endeavours and subsequent decision making.By working on various dimensions of organizational behaviour, an organization can improve employees’ comfort level with the organization which has direct link organizational performance and profitability. The final outcome of the dissertation is a reduced list of factors which will be regarded as more important by the employees. The dissertation research involves identification of a number of factors from literature which are perceived to be the determinants of organization behaviour. These variables are reduced to few factors by using factor analysis. 1-8: Structure of the Thesis: This dissertation comprises of six chapters. At the outset of each chapter, the introduction of the cha pter is given.Similarly, each chapter ends with conclusion of the chapter. This section reveals a brief snapshot of each chapter. Chapter 1- Introduction of Dissertation: Aims and Objectives of Dissertation: This was the first chapter of the dissertation. This chapter emphasized the importance of studying organizational behaviour and importance of fast food industry. It also put forth the research aims and objectives. This chapter ended while elaborating the final outcome of the dissertation research and overall structure of the dissertation. Chapter 2 – Review of Academic and Scholarly Literature: This chapter will contribute the literature on importance of studying organizational behaviour.It will elaborate all the constructs (organizational culture, change dynamics, customer orientation, leadership dynamics, rewards and recognition, job characteristics, fair treatment, training and work environment) and related variables. It would also contribute an overview of global fast food industry with a particular emphasis on why it should be studied. This chapter will extract variables that will serve as the basis of development of theoretical framework. Chapter 3 – Theoretical Framework: This chapter will be linked with previous chapter (Review of Academic and Scholarly Literature) and will present the theoretical framework developed for this dissertation. It would dictate the methodology and associated areas of research.Chapter 4 – Methodology: This chapter will contribute the details of various research techniques which will be used for accomplishment of the dissertation research. Various sections that will be presented in this chapter will include population selection and sampling design, questionnaire development, pre-testing and piloting, overview of statistical techniques and other connected issues. Chapter 5 – Findings and Discussion: This chapter will present findings based on the dissertation research. These findings will be lin ked with the dissertation research objectives. Chapter 6 – Conclusion, Limitations and Future Research Areas: This will be the last chapter of the dissertation and would contribute conclusion, limitations and future research areas. 1-9: Chapter Summary:This chapter highlighted the overall aim of the dissertation and associated research objectives. It exerted the importance of understanding of organizational behaviour and identified various constructs which will be studied during the course of research. This chapter also contributed a snapshot of final outcome of the dissertation research and overall structure of the dissertation. The next chapter will contribute literature review on organizational behaviour and associated constructs. CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF ACADEMIC AND SCHOLARLY LITERATURE The last chapter gave the introduction of the dissertation. This chapter presents review of literature on various constructs which are subject of discussion of this dissertation.These include culture, change, customer orientation, rewards and recognition, leadership/supervision, fair treatment of employees, job characteristics, training and work environment. The chapter starts with the importance of understanding and studying organizational behaviour and ends with the conclusion. 2-1: Organizational Behaviour– An Imperative issue for Businesses: Adler and Gundersen (2008) suggested that present era is observing a high level of transition from one type of general and business practices to others. Kaplan and Norton (2001) suggested that in such hostile and dynamic environment, organizations attempt to perform better strategies as compared to their rivals. The key to perform better than rivals is to formulate better strategies as compared to the competitors firms.The organizations, in an attempt to compete in the industrial age, attempt to formulate and apply knowledge based strategies yet it has lot of challenges. In contrast to the previous century, where the envi ronmental change is incremental, the current era is characterized by a rapid change in organization’s environment. Saint-Onge (1999) commented on organizations’ abilities and suggested that in the wake of such speedy change, the key to shine out of the crowd is to be better informed as compared to your counter-parts. Further to this, Kennerley and Neely (2003) supported this idea and suggested that the dynamism of environment requires organizations to continuously change the course of action so as to match with the situation.Katz and Kahn (1978), long ago, referred to organizations as open systems. They further exerted that being an open system the organizations interact with the external environment and takes influence from the happenings in the external environment. Earlier, Thompson (1967) contributed similar idea. The work of Garg et al. (2003) suggested that these environmental concerns are in issue of primitive importance for the organization decision makers spec ially top management. Consequently, the changes in the external environment are closely monitored and their possible influence on the organization is also gauged. In the present times, the size of businesses is increasing.This brings additional challenges for the organizations as it also results in change in ownership and management pattern of the organization. Increasingly, the ownership and management of the organization is getting distinct. Organizations, being governed by the managers, instead of owners exerted that managers and employees are important stakeholders of the enterprise. They are the one who make important decision making about the enterprise’s resources. Moreover, they are the one who directs the working of the organization in certain directions so as to enable its ultimate purpose, the mission. Mintzberg (1980) regarded that organizations are coordinated units where people tend to synchronize their work with each other so as to make necessary mutual adjustm ent.Further to this, the work of Cartwright (1965) also highlighted the features of organizations as a collection of related people who are put together in such a way that they have certain level of dependence on each other. All of these people, if taken together, results in the full organization. The behaviour of the people in the form of their contribution towards attainment of organization goal is important. Such behaviour is often controlled and forecasted by the organizational decision makers. The working of people, their behaviour and the influence of behaviour on the organizational performance constitute organizational behaviour (OB). The study of organizational behaviour encompasses variety of areas that has to be studied.These include work stress, motivation, leader behaviour, group structure and processes, change process and job and work design (Bigelow et al. , 1999). A number of management studies revealed strong positive association between OB and organizational product ivity. Hansen and Wernerfelt (1989) revealed that as compared to economic indicators of organizational performance, the factors associated with organizational behaviour have twice as much explanatory power as much the economic variables. OB highlights both problems and new advantageous vistas for enterprises. It identifies issues like workforce diversity and offers solutions to manage it. OB has been quite influential in increasing the level of employees’ performance.It also guides managers to design jobs and workplace in such a way as to facilitate achievement of organizational goals and objectives and reduce job stress (Robbins, 1998). 2-2:Construct Definitions: The general understanding of the constructs and their various dimensions studied are given under each construct definition. 2-2-1: Culture: It refers to a widespread understanding of organizational value system by the people who form organization (Becker, 1982). As a concept, it has roots in social anthropology and has been extensively used to understand the behaviour of primitive societies (Kotter, 1992). It is concerned about the shared traditions and customs of an organization and organizational members’ feeling about these. Organizations should hire those persons that match with the organizational culture.If hiring is not aligned with organizational culture, it would lead to decrease in motivation and commitment of the hired (Reilly et al. , 1991). Misfit employees have more turnover than individuals who perceive a good fit (Sheridan, 1992). It has been widely used as â€Å"corporate† or â€Å"organizational culture†. The work of Denison (1984) and Furnham (1993) suggested that organizational culture can be used to achieved economic success. For this organization need to have a work force commitment towards various dimensions of organization culture including core values, beliefs and assumptions. This idea was furthered by Hofstede (1980). Moreover, Deal (1982) suggest ed that strong organizational culture is an important determinant of organizational performance.For the dissertation, the construct culture is broken down into various variables including â€Å"inter-group work coordination†, â€Å"intra-Group work coordination†, â€Å"biasness†, â€Å"people orientation†, and â€Å"innovation and risk-taking† (O'Reilly Iii et al. , 1991, Chatman and Jehn, 1994). Tjosvold et al. (1992) suggested that creating a culture in which people at same management level coordinates with each other is a difficult task however, it is critical for the organization. This issue becomes more important if the environment is turbulent. Beer et al. (1994) also highlighted that in the wake of changing external environment, the success of a change management program depends on the extent of coordination between various functional departments as well between various management levels.Similarly, Lemons and Jones (2001) and Meyer and Smith (2000) suggested that if any organization ensures transparency in its systems specially promotion, it would increase the commitment of employees with the organization. They suggested that despite the fact that every year companies spend lot of money in ensuring fair treatment with its employees; the biasness in promotion is still an imperative issue. Kaplan and Ferris (2001) suggested that if employees find problem in organization’s promotion system, it would evoke perceived organizational injustice. Koys (1991)suggested that organizations must maintain transparency in promotion as it is a legal requirement. 2-2-2: Change: Dynamic environment requires organizations to continuously update them as per the needs of the environment.Hall (1987) suggests that typically organizations do not prefer to change themselves and if they are posed to change, they show massive resistance. Organization’s survival depends on its ability to manage change. Similarly, an organization†™s success or failure depends on the things its employees do or fail to do. There are a number of changes that takes place in an organizational setting. This include change taking place in terms of social value system, educational change, political, technological, environmental, market, business, economical and religious, etc. For the purpose of the dissertation research, various dimensions of change that has been incorporated for study include â€Å"acceptance of change by individual†, â€Å"acceptance of change by senior management† and â€Å"rewarding of change†.Paterson and Cary (2002) highlighted that change management programs result in anxiety among employees. Iverson (1996) suggested that if an organization facilitates its employees during the times when a change is brought in, it would result in positive influence on organization. Kavanagh and Ashkanasy (2006) suggested that if senior management provides leadership in change management, it would facil itate change implementation and acceptance by employees. 2-2-3: Customer Orientation: Consumers/customers are at the heart of organizations. Traditional concept of customer’s satisfaction and customers being the profit centre is transforming into customer delight. Nowadays, the uyers are equipped with more information and are better aware in comparison to the past. They have variety of methods through which buyers can check organizational assertions and thus can make an informed decision (Urban, 2003). Customers always try to maximize their value commonly regarded as customers’ perceived value. It can be obtained by comparing a customers’ thinking about the benefits that he derives from a product and all associated costs that he incurred for obtaining that product. It also includes cost of foregoing related options. Those organizations which provide better value to its customers as compared to its rivals enjoy high level of customer loyalty.This idea was substan tiated by Hennig-Thurau (2004) who suggested that if an organization improves the customer orientation of its service employees, it would result in increased customer satisfaction. This would result in enhancement of customers’ commitment and organization would be better able to retain these customers. Brady and Cronin (2001) highlighted that if the employees maintain customer orientation, it would influence the perception of the customers towards quality of the products and services produced by the organization. So, that makes a strong point that organizations should focus on creation and provision of relatively better value to its customers (Learning, 1998).Shapiro (1988) suggested that customer orientation contends that customer related information should be transmitted at all levels across the organization. It should then be used in the strategic management and for tactical decision. Similarly, Kohli (1990) exerted that customer orientation deals with the extent to which information about the buyers is gathered and incorporated in decision making. similarly, Ruekert (1992) furthered this idea. The significance of customer orientation can be witnessed from its high recognition in management literature. Similarly, the work of Narver and Slater (1990) and Jaworski and Kohli (1993) substantiated that customer orientation brings economic benefits to an organization. employees’ empowerment to provide high value services†, customer feedback system† and â€Å"customer focused processes† were used to evaluate â€Å"customer orientation† construct for this dissertation research. 2-2-4: Rewards and Recognition: Despite the fact that in day to day life both recognition received from the management and the rewards given to an employee are used interchangeably yet both are not the same (Hansen et al. , 2002). The area has attracted a lot of discussion and had been topic of lot of research papers (Cooley and Lawrence, 2006, McDermo tt and O'Dell, 2001, Bessant and Francis, 1999, Johnson, 1996). However, it is regretful that despite a lot of attention in academic and scholarly literature, the traces of concept in business world are scarce.The evidence of use of rewards and recognition in developing employees’ motivation development is still not very evident. As a result of this, such organizational initiatives did not prove very fruitful. The work of Lewis (1998) and Parasuraman (1987) suggested that an organization can improve the quality of its service offering by linking the same with rewards that it offers to its employees. The same was also corroborated by Kotler (1999). Similar evidence arise from the work of Bowen (1999) who suggested that if employees were given rewards then they would have enhanced focus in managing the customers complaints. It’s a common phenomenon that one will feel dissatisfied if he/she is not rewarded or recognized for his/her good work.Monetary rewards are regarded as one of the top rated motivators (Locke et al. , 1980). Money is the mean which provides employees an opportunity of satisfying numerous desire. In addition to this, money can also act as a barometer through which an employee evaluate his worth in comparison with other employees who serve with them (Doyle, 1992). Moreover, money is not important to all employees. According to Maslow (1943), human beings have variety of needs categorized into various groups. He further exerted that high achievers are intrinsically motivated. For the purpose of this dissertation, the provision of â€Å"Monetary† and â€Å"Non-Monetary Rewards† were used.Where monetary rewards essentially takes the form of money, Govindarajulu and Daily (2004) suggested that non-monetary rewards takes various forms including appreciation, paid-vacation, preferred parking space, time-off from normal working in the office, etc. 2-2-5: Leadership/Supervision: Yukl (1994) highlighted that the concept of lea dership gained a lot of prominence through-out the century. Despite the fact that there a variety of leadership definitions are in place (Bass, 1990) yet the underlying meaning behind all of them is that it is meant to influence to influence organizational members towards attainment of goals and objectives of the enterprise.The leaders and founders of the organizations are also influential in setting the overall value systems and in shaping the culture of the enterprise (Schneider, 1987, Schein, 1990). Managers use formal strategic management process to identify and select appropriate goals and actions for the organization (Chandler, 1962). Determining the organization’s mission and goals is the first step of the planning process. Once the mission and goals are agreed upon and formally stated in the corporate plan, they guide the next steps by defining which strategies are appropriate and which are inappropriate (Pearce, 1992). The organization’s mission, objectives, s trategies and tactics must be communicated to everyone.Therefore, it is the responsibility of the supervisors that they should ensure that all efforts had been made in communicating targets, matters of importance and urgency, technical specifications, words of advice and motivation along with performance related feedback. Friendly and accommodating supervisors yield more satisfied and motivated employees. 2-2-6: Fair Treatment of Employees: People exert power and try to influence each other when they work in group. They try to find ways to influence others, earn rewards and advance careers (Culbert and McDonough, 1980). They exhibit or attempt to exhibit political behaviours to persuade the distributions of privileges and punishments (Mintzberg, 1984). Organizations protect the rights of all employees. It leads to respectful working relationships among employees, inculcates sense of ownership and provides a fair dispute resolution system.If a person is not treated fairly, he will fe el betrayed. It would possibly result in employee’s de-motivation and will adversely affect his/her performance. â€Å"Perception about fairness of disciplinary actions†, â€Å"proper allocation of training opportunities†, â€Å"fair dispute resolution† and â€Å"mutual trust† was included in this construct. Collier and Esteban (2007) suggested that if an organization treats its employee fairly, it would increase employee commitment with the organization and is an indicator that organization is fulfilling its corporate social responsibility. Engelbrecht et al. (2008) highlighted that in the present days the organizations have deputed a very diverse workforce.This diversity has lead to significant amount of conflicts in the organization. This demands that managers must treat all the employees fairly irrespective of their gender, age, ethnic background, etc. 2-2-7: Job Characteristics: Employees adopt attitudes and behaviours towards their jobs on th e basis of social information processing (Salancik and Pfeffer, 1978). People have the ability to adjust their attitudes and behaviour on the basis of their perception about the changing nature of job. Moreover, employees develop psychological contracts about their jobs that set out what management expects from the employees, and vice versa (Robinsons et al. , 1994).These physiological contracts, being an important determinant of employees’ behaviour should be clearly communicated to employees (Schein, 1980). â€Å"Skill variety†, â€Å"task identity†, â€Å"task significance†, â€Å"autonomy† and â€Å"feedback† proposed by Hackman and Oldham (1976) were used to observe job characteristics for the purpose of this dissertation. According to Morris and Venkatesh (2010), the job characteristics are strongly associated with job satisfaction and organization performance so organization must focus on job design and characteristics. Similarly, Woo d (2008) suggested job characteristics are often ignored while looking at job satisfaction.He suggested that organization must not ignore it as it is strongly associated with job satisfaction. 2-2-8: Training: Organizations are inefficient because they are managed by inefficient persons. Inefficient employees yield lower productivity and hence lower efficiency. It results in lower profitability and hence lower investment in Human Resources. This results into a vicious circle of inefficiency (Fani, 2005). Similarly, the work of Bettencourt (1996), Lewis (1998) and Yavas (1998) out forth that organization must focus on training its lower level employees not only to improve their technical capacity but also in improving the interpersonal skills of the employees.These skills would held them in coping with changing requirements of the buyers of products and services, handled different and complex personalities and adjusting themselves according to the situation so as to enable them deliv er enhanced value to the buyers. Boshoff (2000) exerted the training of employees and highlighted that if the employees are not equipped with relevant technical and behavioural skills, they would be unable to deliver competitive service and it would result in high level of customers’ grievance. This was further corroborated by Bitner (1990) who reported that around 43 percent of the complaints from dissatisfied customers were the outcome of the incapable people handlings customers’ affairs.Even, competent and skilled employees don’t remain competent and skilled forever. Due to increasing competition, technological changes and quest for improved production process, job roles changes and so does the required skills. Organizations all over the world spend billions each year on employees’ training. The money is generally used to educate employees, provide them with opportunities to learn new things so that they can do their job better and enhance their future career. Individualization of training programs increases their effectiveness (Kolb, 1976). â€Å"Training Need Analysis†, and â€Å"Previously taken training† were used to measure this construct.According to Dysvik and Kuvaas (2008), if an organization gives an employee training opportunities, the employee would not learn new things but would also become loyal and committed to the organizations. Both of these things will positively influence the organizations’ performance. Similarly, Schmidt (2007) suggested that if the employees of an organization are satisfied are with the workplace learning and formal training provided to them, it would positively influence their job satisfaction. 2-2-9: Work Environment: Nature of Job, physical environment and work space and characteristics of job can influence an employee’s work behaviour. Evidence indicates that even relatively modest variations in temperature, noise, lighting, or air quality can exert appreciable effects on employee performance and attitudes (Bell et al. , 1990).For instance, an increase in temperature can adversely affect both physical (Bell et al. , 1982) and mental performance of a person (Fine and Kobrick, 1978). Similarly, unpredictable noise interferes with an employee’s ability to concentrate and pay attention (Baron, 1994). Loud and unpredictable noises also tend to increase excitation and led to reduced job satisfaction (Bell et al. , 1990). Furthermore, right intensity of light is related with task difficulty and required accuracy (Wineman, 1982). â€Å"Workplace Cleanliness†, â€Å"Temperature†, â€Å"Ergonomics†, â€Å"Lighting† and â€Å"Ventilation†, and â€Å"workplace safety† were used in the dissertation for this construct.Biswas and Varma (2007) suggested that the firms should provide safe and healthy working environment to its employees. It would give employees a comfort factor in the organization and they b ecome more productive employees. Peek-Asa et al. (2007) suggested that organization should ensure that it has a comprehensive workplace security program 2-3: Summary: This chapter put forth the review of academic and scholarly literature on the dissertation area. It suggests that organizations are in a constant state of flux. External environment triggers organizational change. Such change in the organizations exerts their continuous study so as to observe the related phenomena. OB involves studying influence of people and their behaviour on organizations.The research in the domain of organizational behaviour encompasses research into variety of associated areas. These include work stress, motivation, leader behaviour, group structure and processes, change process and job and work design. A number of management studies revealed that there is a strong relationship between organizational behaviour and organizational performance. This chapter offers review of literature of various cons tructs. These constructs includes culture, change, customer orientation, rewards and recognition, leadership, fair treatment, job characteristics, training and work environment. The next chapter will give the theoretical framework of the dissertation. CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE DISSERTATIONThis chapter will contribute the theoretical framework for this dissertation research. It would use the literature contributed in the preceding chapter and will put forward the proposed model. 3-1: Theoretical Underpinnings – Rationale: Thompson (1967) and Katz and Kahn (1978) suggested that organizations are open systems. They further exerted that being an open system the organizations interact with the external environment and takes influence from the happenings in the external environment. Garg et al. (2003) argued that these environmental concerns are in issue of primitive importance for the organization decision makers specially top management. Presently, the size of busin esses is increasing.This brings additional challenges for the organizations as it may result in change in ownership and management pattern of the organization. Increasingly, the ownership and management of the organization is getting distinct. Organizations, being governed by the managers, instead of owners exerted that managers and employees are important stakeholders of the enterprise. They are the one who make important decision making about the enterprise’s resources. Moreover, they are the one who directs the working of the organization in certain directions so as to enable its ultimate purpose, the mission. Mintzberg (1980) regarded that organizations are coordinated units where people tend to synchronize their work with each other so as to make necessary mutual adjustment.Similarly, the work of Cartwright (1965) also highlighted the features of organizations as a collection of related people who are put together in such a way that they have certain level of dependence on each other. All of these people, if taken together, results in the full organization. The behavior of the people in the form of their contribution towards attainment of organization goal is important. Such behavior is often controlled and forecasted by the organizational decision makers. The working of people, their behavior and the influence of behavior on the organizational performance constitute organizational behavior (OB). The study of organizational behavior encompasses variety of areas that has to be studied.These include work stress, motivation, leader behavior, group structure and processes, change process and job and work design (Bigelow et al. , 1999). A number of management studies revealed strong positive association between OB and organizational productivity. Hansen and Wernerfelt (1989) revealed that as compared to economic indicators of organizational performance, the factors associated with organizational behaviour have twice as much explanatory power as much the economic variables. OB highlights both problems and new advantageous vistas for enterprises. It identifies issues like workforce diversity and offers solutions to manage it. OB has been quite influential in increasing the level of employees’ performance.It also guides managers to design jobs and workplace in such a way as to facilitate achievement of organizational goals and objectives and reduce job stress (Robbins, 1998). 3-2: Research Aims and Objectives: 1 3-2-1: Background Discussion: The fast food industry is growing rapidly in Pakistan. It incorporates mushroom growth of both international and national fast food chains in various parts of the country. This phenomenal growth gained prominence in 1993 and since then it has been unmatched. According to Economic Review (1998), fast food restaurants are penetrating in Pakistan. This upsurge of fast food restaurants is the results of rapidly changing culture of Pakistan and ever high level of globalization which brought wes tern value system to Pakistan.The life style of Pakistani people is becoming busier and busier. This left with very less time for cooking at home. At lunch times, people are using instant or fast foods. Similarly, Pakistanis have now easier access to western food. A large number of national and international fast food chains are opening a number of outlets all over the Pakistan. Initially, these fast food outlets were restricted to large and/or major cities of Pakistan, including federal and provincial capitals yet presently there operations have also been extended to other cities. 2 3-2-2: Research Aims: This section deals with the presentation of dissertation aims and objectives.The main purpose of this research, as envisaged in chapter one of this dissertation, was the analysis of â€Å"the perception of employees about various dynamics of organizational behavior in Fast food industry of Pakistan†. The various dimensions of organizational behavior envisaged for this disser tation research include organizational culture, change dynamics, customer orientation, leadership dynamics, rewards and recognition, job characteristics, fair treatment, training and work environment. For each of these dimensions, research objectives were developed. The achievement of these research objectives would ensure the fulfillment of overall research aim. The research model is presented here under: [pic] Figure 3-1: The Dissertation Model Figure 3-1 gives the theoretical framework for dissertation research.It shows that culture, change, customer orientation, rewards and recognition, supervision and leadership, fair treatment, job characteristics, training and work design are the factors that influence organization behavior. 3 3-2-3: Research Objectives: The overall aim of the dissertation is broken down into various research objectives. The research objectives of this dissertation are linked to nine constructs. The selection of these nine constructs is the result of the revi ew of academic and scholarly literature which was given in the second chapter of this dissertation. This section highlights research objectives along with the various variables which would be used to capture the perception of employees about various organizational dynamics.The research objectives along with extracted variables in diagrammatic form are given here under: Research Objective 1: To explore the employees’ perception of culture of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. [pic] Figure 3-2: Variables of Culture Construct Figure 3-2 gives the operational definition of the Culture construct. These variables would be the subject of inquiry through questionnaire. Research Objective 2: To explore the employees’ perception of change dynamics of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. [pic] Figure 3-3: Variables of Change Construct Figure 3-3 gives the operational definition of the Change construct. These variables would be the subject of inquiry through questionnaire.Research O bjective 3: To explore the employees’ perception of customer orientation of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. [pic] Figure 3-4: Variables of Customer Orientation Construct Figure 3-4 gives the operational definition of the Customer Orientation construct. These variables would be the subject of inquiry through questionnaire. Research Objective 4: To explore the employees’ perception of leadership dynamic of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. [pic] Figure 3-5: Variables of Supervision & Leadership Construct Figure 3-5 gives the operational definition of the Supervision and Leadership construct. These variables would be the subject of inquiry through questionnaire.Research Objective 5: To explore the employees’ perception of rewards and recognition of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. [pic] Figure 3-6: Variables of Rewards and Recognition Construct Figure 3-6 gives the operational definition of the Rewards and Recognition construct. These variables would be the s ubject of inquiry through questionnaire. Research Objective 6: To explore the employees’ perception of fair treatment with employees among fast food restaurants of Pakistan [pic] Figure 3-7: Variables of Fair Treatment Construct Figure 3-7 gives the operational definition of the Fair Treatment construct. These variables would be the subject of inquiry through questionnaire.Research Objective 7: To explore the employees’ perception of job characteristics of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. [pic] Figure 3-8: Variables of Job Characteristics Construct Figure 3-8 gives the operational definition of the Job Characteristics construct. These variables would be the subject of inquiry through questionnaire. Research Objective 8: To explore the employees’ perception of training among fast food restaurants of Pakistan. [pic] Figure 3-9: Variables of Training Construct Figure 3-9 gives the operational definition of the Training construct. These variables would be the subj ect of inquiry through questionnaire. Research Objective 9: To explore the employees’ perception of work environment among fast food restaurants of Pakistan. [pic]Figure 3-10: Variables of Work Environment Construct Figure 3-10 gives the operational definition of the Work environment construct. These variables would be the subject of inquiry through questionnaire. 3-4: Summary: This chapter gave the theoretical framework of the dissertation. This chapter linked the research aims and objectives with each other and also contributed the Dissertation model. Moreover, this chapter further linked each construct with the variables which have been deployed in order to operationalize each construct. The next chapter will give methodology of dissertation. CHAPTER 4: DESIGN, METHODOLOGY AND METHOD(S) OF DISSERTATION RESEARCHIn continuation to the previous chapter, which contributed the theoretical framework of the research, the current chapter will deal with the conduct of dissertation research. Major areas covered in the this chapter will be the selection of type of research, selection of population and sample size and sampling procedure, development of data collection instrument and actual conduct of research. 4. 1: Nature of Research Endeavours: In this section, the type of research will be highlighted. As it was suggested in the dissertation proposal, this research not only involves secondary research but also primary research. For secondary research, a detailed literature review was conducted using University’s library resources along with world-wide-web.Specifically, Google scholar and Emerald Insight ® were quite influential in identifying existing literature in the area of organizational behavior and related constructs. It enabled the dissertation candidate to be aware of the relevant domain of body of knowledge. Similarly, the primary research was conducted so as to capture the perceptions of employees about organizational behavior of fast food r estaurants. There are number of methods that can be engaged for the conduct of primary research including personal observation, interviewing, field survey, street ethonography, etc. The main method employed for the conduct of primary research was field survey.Primary research is advocated as compared to secondary research because primary research has more relevance to the issue as compared to secondary research. Further to this, the information generated can also be tailored in primary research and also provides direct and hands-on access to the issue. However, it generally entails more time and resources. It also requires specialized skills in designing the actual survey and subsequent analysis of the data. 4. 2: Type of Research: This section would describe the type of research engaged for this dissertation. For this, the typology suggested by Cooper and Schindler (2006) was engaged. They put forth a classification scheme for categorization of variety of research.This classificati on scheme include variables including data collection strategy, influence of the researchers in varying the research situation, respondents’ viewpoint about the research, points of time on which data was sorted from the respondents, prior crystallization of the research issue. On the basis of above mentioned criteria, the present dissertation is regarded as a descriptive research. This is advocated because of greater extent of crystallization of issue in hand. In primary research, a questionnaire was given to the fast food employee in order to tap their responses. This made this research as a communication sort. Moreover, the questionnaire was administered in the fast food restaurants and no deviation was made in the actual daily routine of the fast food employees.Consequently, the research design is ex post facto. Further to this, it is an inferential research as the insights originating from the survey will be generalized on fast food employees’ population. Moreover, it is a cross sectional research as the data was collected once. A field survey is a method of data collection in which the research goes into the actual place where the respondents, or items from which data is to be collected, are present. Cooper and Schindler (2006) advocated the use of survey for data collection. There are number of reasons for this. For instance, the field surveys are less risky as compared to laboratory experiments and stimulation.It is because the data is collected from actual field setting and is relatively reliable. In addition to this, in field surveys the surveyors reach respondents in their actual routines and own settings. In this situation, the respondents do not find any deviation and the response are highly valid. Further to this, in field surveys the surveyor has less control on the data collection whereas in simulation and laboratory experiments this is more. 4. 3: Reference to Sampling Frame: This section would cover issues related to sampling. Ex traction of sample refers to selection of a subset from the survey population. (Dr. Hani, 2010). Heckman (1979) and Emory (1980) advocated selection of such a subset on a number basis.For example, in lot of instances it is virtually impossible or very difficult to access all the members of population. Moreover, it would also be cumbersome to reach all members, attract lot of financial resources and time. On the contrary, selecting a sample would save lot of time and money. Studying a sample would be less cumbersome as compared to studying entire population. However, Heckman (1979) suggested that such sample should have the same attributes as that of population. 4. 4: Population Attributes and Sampling Design: This section would contribute the details about the population attributes. The population of this research encompasses all those people who are working in fast food chain.Fast food restaurants are those food manufacturers and sellers who serve food in last then 20 minutes. No r eference has been made to the age, gender or to some other demographic characteristics. The questionnaire employed in this research also collected demographic characteristics of the employees. It would be used for generating secondary insights so as to share the context in which research was carried out. The targeted population was employees of fast food restaurants of Pakistan. A convenience based, snow ball sampling technique was used to approach the sample. Goodman (1961), Frank and Snijders (1994) and Kaplan et al. (1987) advocated the use of snow ball sampling.This refers to a situation in which the desired characteristics of the population are scarce. In addition to getting information from sampling unit about themselves, they are requested to share information about other sampling units so that they can be accessed. Data was collected from three cities of Punjab which are Lahore, Gujranwala and Sialkot. The data collection instrument also collected the designation of the resp ondents yet during the initial stages of the survey; respondents show that they were not very comfortable with revealing their identity. This is because of the particular nature of the research topic. It was decided not to emphasize on this question. So, the designation related data was taken out of the analysis.However, on a broad spectrum, the employees interviewed for this dissertation include people who were engaged in cooking food, in-house serving staff, delivery-men and counter staff. Majority of these respondents belong to the restaurants in the posh localities. This is because of the fact that these restaurants exist in the form of a cluster in selected cities. 4. 5: Decision on Sample Size: This section will share insights about sample selection. A sample of 100 fast-food retailers was taken for this research. In taking this decision, cost and time considerations were kept in mind. Both of these issues and geographical distance, constrain the selection of a larger sample s ize.However, the factor loading technique (the main data analysis technique) is not confined to any specific sample size. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sample adequacy is a test that would be engaged to check the appropriateness of sample. Garson (2010) shared insights on deciding about the sample size for factor analysis. The sample size of this dissertation is consistent with his suggestions. 4. 6: Characteristics of Data Collection Instrument: A customized questionnaire was developed for this research. The questionnaire has two parts. First part captures responses of the fast food employees about their perception about organizational behavior.To facilitate the respondents, the questions were grouped on the basis of constructs. Part two of this questionnaire collects information about the demographic profile of the respondents. The questionnaire actually started with salutation and reveals the core aim of the research. It also introduced the dissertation candidate and his acad emic affiliation. The cover page of the questionnaire also shares the method of responding questionnaire by giving an illustration. The dissertation specifically revealed that the collected information would only be used for academic purpose and results will be disclosed in group. The respondents were thanked in anticipation for their support in accomplishing this research. 4. Pre-Testing the Data Collection Instrument: Before the actual start of the field survey, it was important to ensure that data collection instrument should bear certain characteristics. These include brevity, clarity and focus on the issue. Before the actual launch of survey, 3 questionnaires were given to actual respondents and were evaluated for desired characteristics. Certain insights related to use of words, questions sequence and length of questionnaire was adjusted. The questionnaire was improved and launched. The addition of survey filling instruction was an attempt to improve the conduct of the survey. 4. 8: Field Survey and Data Collection – Primary and Secondary Research:At the start of this research, it was envisaged that completion of this dissertation will require both secondary and primary research. Journals, magazine, online databases and library resources were quite influential. So far primary data was concerned; a soft copy of questionnaire was send to the managers of fast food restaurants. The managers of fast food chain were requested to support in accomplishment of dissertation by cooperating in collecting data. The managers were requested to arrange prints of them and share those with employees. The employees filled those questionnaires and retuned them to managers. The managers, on request of dissertation candidate, deputed an employee and get those entered in SPSS and emailed those back to dissertation candidate.As the questionnaires were to be returned to the organizational representative instead of dissertat

Salvador Luria essays

Salvador Luria essays Salvador Luria was one of the founders of microbiology, as we know it. He emigrated from here from his native country of Italy in 1940. His work in the United States is his best known. His work on bacteriophage (bacterial virus) here brought up many new topics in bacteriology, biochemistry, and virology. Born in 1912 in Turin, Italy Salvador Luria was born to David Luria and Ester Sacerdote. His father was a well-respected Jewish leader in his hometown. Salvador attended Liceo dAzeglio high school. This was one of Northern Italys most highly recognized schools. After he finished high school he enrolled in medical school at the University of Turin. In medical school he studied with nerve tissue expert Giuseppe Levi. He met Ugo Fano who later taught him calculus and physics in an after school class using astronomy as a base. The influence that Fano had on Salvador was so great that he decided to pursue basic sciences. He decided to go with Radiology, he believed this was the gap between physics and medicine. He received his medical degree in 1935. Although he had received his degree he was not happy. He believed Radiology was the most boring part of the medical world. Salvador was drafted into the Italian Army as a medic. This proved he was not made for a medical career. He was discharged in 1937 and moved to Rome. In Rome he study at the Physics Institute of the University of Rome. He was shown the writings of Max Delbruck, who had boldly stated a gene, was a molecule. Salvador later said that Maxs writings were the Holy Grail of biophysics. While living in an old broken down trolley car in the streets of Rome Salvador started a conversation with a microbiologist by the name of Geo Rita. Geo introduced him to bacteriophage, Salvador believed he could prove Maxs theory. He fled Europe in 1940 when the Nazi war machine was an approaching. He acquired an American visa and came ...