Jazz: Urban and Rural Reactions In the 1920s Essay

Subject Area: Music and American CultureTopic: Jazz: Urban and Rural Reactions in the 1920sIn parallel with the uproar of jazz during the 1920s came the commotion of different critics from various geographical settings. Many of the white people living in rural areas disliked and rejected jazz as a musical genre. However, the urban city-dwellers were more fond of it; therefore, it was more generally accepted and frequently found in city nightclubs and radio stations. Several characteristics of cities also allowed jazz to survive in urban areas over the rural ones, such as: diversity, tolerance, a more progressive attitude, technology (media, radio), more entertainment locations, and a more educated populace. Cities were known for the more relaxed and less-religious atmosphere; in contrast with cities, the rural setting was dominated by a more religious and conservative mood with a homogenous population that was more opposed to the cultural liberalism found in the cities, jazz, and the black society in general. Unlike the rural areas of the time, the socio-cultural dynamic of urban areas, with respect to tolerance, diversity, education, nightlife, and the media, allowed jazz to thrive and become a huge part of American culture. The formation of jazz occurred between the years 1897 and 1917. When jazz bands started playing, they had no way of recording their music until 1917; and even then, the quality of these recordings were atrocious. Another aspect of early jazz was that anything that was played was ever written. Jazz evolved from the blues, ragtime, brass band music, and other musical works that were all around the United States. â€Å"One important factor that existed only in New Orleans, namely, the black Creole subculture† allowed jazz to emanate from the mentioned city (Weinstock). Another aspect of New Orleans that allowed jazz to thrive in this city was the medley of â€Å"ethnic, cultural, and musical conditions [†¦] [and] the necessary philosophical impetus for [j]azz i.e., [†¦] freedom of individual expression supported by group interaction† (Weinstock). This implies that New Orleans was one of the cities, and most likely one of the first, that hosted the new counter-culture that would soon spread throughout the United States. â€Å"The preeminence of New Orleans as a Jazz center came to an end in 1917 during World War I as a result of still another ordinance when Storyville [(an area of New Orleans that was full of dance halls and bordellos where Jazz was the  dominant music)] was closed by the Navy Department† (Weinstock). As a whole, the United States embraced jazz, but there were still many groups of people who disliked jazz and all that it represented. These close minded people, especially those in small-town America, were afraid of the fast changes that were occurring in society and that jazz was the â€Å"cause of [the] loosening [of] morals and frightening dislocations† (Roaring 1). The New York American published an article expressing the views of many conservative, white Americans who thought that â€Å"moral disaster [was] coming to hundreds of young American girls through the pathological, nerve-irritating, sex-exciting music of jazz†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Roaring 2). White audiences in the southern part of the States were ruthless towards black people and their music. The north appeared to be more tolerant, but there were still many confrontations between blacks and whites. Jazz was a part of modernism which helped pave the way for liberals who felt pinned down by the older conservative generations. It also served as a medium for white musicians searching to liberate themselves from the conservative constraints of their time. One can see that the northern part of the states, where cities were mostly located, accepted jazz more easily and quicker. The predominance of racism and general intolerance towards the black culture was another aspect of rural areas that did not allow jazz to thrive. Since jazz was also rejected because of its African American origins, and not only because of the supposed moral decay that it provoked in the youth of America, racism also tied into the calumniation of jazz. This also affected the conservative populace of the suburbs who were afraid their young girls were mesmerized by the â€Å"black music.† Jazz was so closely tied with to African American culture that it was often referred to as being â€Å"the accompaniment of the voodoo dancer† (Roaring 2). By referring to jazz in this manner, critics were trying to degrade and undermine everything that it meant to the black community. They were also trying to lure white Americans into their train of thought and trying to get them agree with their mind mapping accusations. â€Å"Many [†¦] Americans were appalled to see their children dancing to music that was believed to have emerged from [†¦] [the] Negro brothels of the south†(Roaring 2). In addition, a plethora of jazz critics  became famous for voicing their dislike of jazz. But in fact, they hid behind their critiques of jazz in order to express, not the dislike of the music, â€Å"but the social and political dislike of the black population† (Anderson 135). The problem that worried white conservatives the most was interbreeding between black and white young people who were really into jazz mainly because it belonged to the new counter-culture. Jazz served as the highway that joined blacks and whites. Whites were not only racists towards blacks emotionally, but their prejudice expanded to influencing their physical behavior as well. Many times did the racist, anti-jazz white population try to sully jazz to something much dirtier than it truly was. Since jazz came from the black population, who were once slaves, jazz was not socially accepted as a real musical genre. It often occurred that jazz musicians were characterized as viruses that tried to infect the general population through their music. Jazz was labeled Mumbo-Jumbo (meaning non-sense) by many critics, and by this discounting jazz as any kind of music where talent is needed. It seemed like the white trend was being against jazz and it’s black producer. According to an article in the September 1918 issue of the Current Opinion: â€Å"One touch of [j]azz makes savages of us all† (Anderson 138). The goal of white critics was to undermine black music and culture. Hate towards jazz and jazz musicians in general came to such extremes as to where they were threatened through magazine articles. These articles suggested lynching, kidnappings, and murders, among others, to scare the black population. Even though that by the 1920s and early 1930s jazz had gained an international reputation and was already part of the American culture, the â€Å"racial innuendoes in articles on jazz continued† (Anderson 141). The white population continuously tried to limit jazz’s growth, by letting the jazz musicians know that their music was not welcome through critical and controversial magazine and newspaper articles. The main goal of the critics who published articles dehumanizing blacks and bashing jazz was to disenfranchise the jazz industry and to label blacks as savages who wanted to recruit more and more people to their music. â€Å"[M]usic soothes the savage beast, but we never stopped to consider that an entirely  different type of music might invoke savage instincts†(Anderson 141-42). With this, Anderson is trying to imply that blacks are savages and those who listen to jazz will turn into savages as well. By the latter part of 1924, jazz had gained many white musicians and had also grown in popularity among the white crowd. The white population came to believe that notion that â€Å"[†¦] when white people play jazz, it is jazz music, but when black people play jazz, it is jungle noise† (Anderson 144). So, in order to accept this, many critics came to the conclusion that white and black jazz were different and that white jazz was pleasing while black jazz tried to make music but only succeeded in producing noise. Critics played a huge role in dehumanizing jazz and the black population. During the late 1920s to early 1930s, Jazz became so big that it came to shape and represent the new American culture of the cities and the people of this time. â€Å"Jazz music [†¦] became a symbol for all the modern innovations that traditionalists despised[:] the new leisure, city life, Freud, and other elements of the 1920s cultural modernism†(Peretti 2). Peretti is implying that jazz became a huge part of America in a way that it helped shape the culture to what it is today. In fact, it became such a big influence, that during the 1930s white jazz musicians tried to get all the credit for jazz and succeeded in many places. Audiences would consider many white performers (i.e. Benny Goodman) symbolic to jazz. However, in big cities like Chicago, blacks were credited with the invention of jazz and their seemed to be more cooperation between black and white musicians. Chicago was one of the main destinations for black musicians who moved from rural to urban areas of the country in order to play and promote their music. It is speculated that white musicians only exploited jazz because of the commercial gain and the huge public attention that it had. It is also believed by some that they played the music in parody: in order to mock the black musicians and jazz. In many places, whites tried to take all the spotlight for inventing jazz while whites in other locations stepped out and let the black culture shine. The big cities of America were famous for their animated and wide ranging nightlife that allowed jazz to be heard by a manifold of people. Many clubs  around the states opened their doors to jazz and jazz musicians from various ethnicities, though mainly white and black. Jazz nightlife reached its peak in Harlem, New York during the 1920s. This era was also known as the Harlem Renaissance. During this time one of the most eminent clubs in that area was the Cotton Club. The elite would frequently congregate at this location which was famous for having alcohol, during the age of prohibition, and because of its jazz. Although jazz and black jazz musicians were welcomed and most of the time the protagonists on the stage, they were not allowed to be part of the regular crowd or mingle with the white throng; admission to the Cotton Club was strictly limited to whites. This was an example of how the white population discriminated the black people but embraced their music and part of their culture. American cities, like New Orleans, New York, and Chicago, were the birthplaces of jazz and allowed jazz to spread throughout the other states. Another northern city that was also affected by the ‘big bang’ of jazz music and its culture was Chicago. This was also a scene where prohibition loomed and nightclubs defied it. Big jazz bands were many times features in lavish shows put on in cabarets. Many Chicago residents turned to these destinations in search of a fun night. For many city-dwellers, joining the jazz scene was a way of protesting against prohibition. â€Å"Biting and incisive, jazz personified this protest, this direct, raw approach to life, which offended the â€Å"solid† citizen and was looked upon as sinful by puppeteers and preachers and as cheap and tawdry by small-minded classicists†(Dexter 34). Chicago was not only the scene of protest against prohibition, but also the place where many young musicians moved to with a goal to start and succeed at their own musical careers. Many prospered, but many more did not; Chicago became such a hotbed for jazz, that there were too many musicians trying to spread their sounds. One of the places where musicians could go to listen and talk to other musicians was the Three Deuces (later known as the Off-Beat Club). It was a â€Å"convenient and cheap place to meet and jam between jobs†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Dexter 38). When jazz was on the verge of expansion, numerous small clubs appeared in many cities were jazz musicians could congregate and listen to different songs and interpretations. The invention of the â€Å"talkie†, an early form of the jukebox, had a great impact on the spread of jazz. At first, many musicians had no idea how the talkie could revolutionize the music scene. At this time, the only way to listen to music was to presence it live. The talkie allowed for a raunchy reproduction of several tunes, which became the perfect tool for the spread of the popularity of jazz. These talkies were soon spotted and nightclubs, diners, bars, and other locations, for their customers to listen to jazz (or any form of music) freely. The talkie sparked a new interest for jazz, which later led to the dispersion of many musicians from Chicago who moved on to accept jobs in other cities (especially New York). The invention of the talkie gave people from all around the country access to jazz anytime they pleased. Jazz owes all its fame, glory, and expansion to the great cities of the 1920’s America. Full of diverse people, vast places for entertainment, the radio and a more educated populace that yielded more tolerance to new ideas and forms of expression, cities opened their doors to jazz and all that this new music represented. They were responsible in allowing for the formation of jazz to what it is today; embedded in the American culture, jazz has become the only true American form of music. Though often challenged by close-mindedness, jazz managed to prosper. Jazz has not only maintained its original form through the interpretation of some talented musicians but it has also evolved to influence the popular music of today. Works Cited Anderson, Maureen. â€Å"White Reception of Jazz in America.† African American Review. 8.1 135-145 (Spring 2004). Dexter Jr., Dave. The Jazz Story: from the ’90s to the ’60s. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964. Peretti, Burton W. Jazz in American Culture. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1997. Peretti, Burton W. The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, and Culture in Urban America. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992. â€Å"Roaring Twenties – History in the Key of Jazz.† PBS – Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns. 7 September 2004. Weinstock, Len. â€Å"The Origins of Jazz.† The Red Hot Jazz Archive. 29 January 2005.

Hr Case Study

Table of Contents Executive summary2 Problem identification and analysis 3 Statement of major problems4 7. Generation and evaluation of alternate solutions 5 7. 1 Reducing reliance on sales force5 7. 2 Introduce team based targets and reward systems5 7. 3 Survey sales force on time allocated for different job aspects6 7. 4 Set maximum amount of voluntary additional work hours6 8. Recommendations7 9. Implementations 8 10. Concluding Remarks9 11. References10 12. Turnitin Originality report11-12 Executive summaryAnnette, the newly appointed HR manager feels that Terry, the company sales manager, despite loving his job and being passionate about the work he does, is a workaholic. She is afraid that Terry will not be able to keep up with this hectic schedule and that it would soon affect his health and work life balance. Even though his working habits shine a positive light on the company, it gives a certain peer pressure to his sales team to work equally long hours even when Terry does not insist that anyone work as long as him.Furthermore, Annett does not agree with what the CEO intends to do, to give Terry recognition and reward for his dedication and outstanding result, as it is a result of extreme work habits. However, the CEO feels that no one is forcing Terry to work long hours, and might think of it as legal as it is a voluntary effort. Problem identification and analysis Harvard Analytical Framework for Human Resource Management Stake holder Long term Individual well-being disrupted burn out internal departmental stress unnecessary pressure from Terry leads to team resignation societal effect educes effectiveness of sales team from undue pressure Long term Individual well-being disrupted burn out internal departmental stress unnecessary pressure from Terry leads to team resignation societal effect reduces effectiveness of sales team from undue pressure HR outcomes Commitment to work long hours due to rewarding of extreme work attitude Non compliance to leg islation due to voluntary long hours Creates competent work force in short run due to extra hours HR outcomes Commitment to work long hours due to rewarding of extreme work attitude Non compliance to legislation due to voluntary long hoursCreates competent work force in short run due to extra hours Choices rewarding behavior job design Possible lack of technology in job Uses new sales as main cash flow generator Choices rewarding behavior job design Possible lack of technology in job Uses new sales as main cash flow generator Interests CEO HR manager TerryHRM policyHR outcomesLong-Term Sales Forcerewarding behavi Job desginCommitment Individual Compliancewell-being Situational Factors * Long work hours * Legislation * Business Strategy * dependant on sales and conditions * sales target philosophy * Task Technology * societal values Situational Factors * Long work hours * Legislation * Business Strategy * dependant on sales and conditions * sales target * philosophy * Task Technology * societal values Human resourceCongruenc Source: Beer et al (1984) One of the principal problems that are shown in the case is the willingness to reward extreme work behavior in the organization. This positive reinforcement of Terry’s working behavior will be indirectly showing to others that to gain recognition in the company, you would have to adopt extreme working behaviors like Terry.Furthermore, there is legislation that defines the working hours of a full time employee. However, the main problem is that organization allows voluntary increased working hours as it is deemed beneficial for the company. A third problem is that the company is relying heavily on its sales force to generate profit. These could be due to high sales targets given by management which Terry can only achieve by increasing working hours excessively. Statement of major problems It can be derived that the company is relying heavily on its sales force, possibly on direct sales and new customers inste ad of recurring and retention of customers.This would be directly linked to the perceived need for Terry to increase working hours dramatically to fulfill his individual sales targets. Another Critical issue lies in the voluntary non-compliance of legislation. This, coupled with higher management of not only accepting extreme work habits, but with the intention of rewarding, would indirectly tell other employees that reward and recognition comes with extreme input of work hours. Furthermore, the sales force is obliged to work equally long hours like Terry, which would eventually result in this being custom and practice.This could be due to the setting of difficult individual performance measurements in terms of sales clinched per month. 7. Generation and evaluation of alternate solutions 7. 1 Reducing reliance on sales force. There is a heavy reliance on sales force to secure customers for the company. Instead of constantly sourcing new customers to meet individual targets, the sale s force could work on retaining existing customers by practicing relationship marketing as it is more cost effective to do so.Relationship marketing is most applicable when the customer has choices of their suppliers and switching is coming and there is a continued need for the service (Berry. 2002). A great example would be the research done by Moon-Koo (2004) on Korean mobile telecommunications services which showed that the industry believes that the crucial future marketing strategy was to try to retain existing customers by increasing customer loyalty and customer value.Payne and Adrian (1994) concluded that securing of new clients is merely the first step in the marketing process, the crux lies in retaining the customer, with organizations often confirming that existing customers are not only more profitable than new customers, but also easier to sell to. The company should come up with customer loyalty schemes to retain customers, which will help the sales force with achievin g sales targets 7. 2 Introduce team based targets and reward systems Another alternate solution would be to reduce individual target and rewards, and introduce team based sales target and reward system.Hackman & Walton (1986) suggested that successful group work will contribute to the growth and personal well-being of team members. By reducing individual target and reward systems, not removing, it would ensure the sales force meet the minimum amount. However, with the team based targets and rewards in place and scaled slightly higher than the sum of all individual targets, the sales force would be motivated to strive towards achieving team based goals. Research has shown teams with difficult goals perform optimally when incentives are offered (Knight, 2001).Performance is directly influenced by goals, but incentives did not. The offer of an incentive increased the commitment of most teams with difficult goals, proving to be highly beneficial (Knight, 2001). 7. 3 Survey sales force o n time allocated for different job aspects It would be best to survey the sales force to define which area of their job takes up the most time. Asking for the employee’s feedback to improve the work system has always proved invaluable, with research showing that 360-degree feedback boosting communications and performance of their managers and organizations (Bernardin & Beatty, 1987).The 360-degree approach shows that without feedback there can only be minimal change, and that various constituencies can provide diverse viewpoints and information (London, 1993). In the research done by Marshall (1999), there is a change in communication-related technology, especially in the 1990s where there was an improvement in communication between salespeople and customers due to the reduction in salespeople travel requirements. By asking the sales force for their opinions, new systems, process and new technologies can be developed to help save time and energies.If these new technologies ar e inserted into the right parts of the job, such as online video calling existing customers to confirm advertising orders instead of travelling to meet them, a large portion of time would be saved without compromising on the quality of customer service. 7. 4 Set maximum amount of voluntary additional work hours According to Fairwork Australia website, a full time employee work an average of 38 hours per week, also under the National Employment Standards, Maximum eekly hours of work is 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours. Terry is working 60 hours a week, 22 hours more than required. Even though it is voluntary, it is still a considerable health hazard to overwork consistently. Sparks et al. (1997) suggests that there is a small but significant positive trend that links increased hours of work to increased health symptoms. Buell & Breslow (1960) also found that employees who work in sedentary positions for extended hours suffer from health problems due to the lack of exercise.Having research proving that overworking consistently provides a multitude of health hazards, it can be determined that Terry is not taking reasonable care of his own health and safety which can be found under the work health and safety act Division 4 section 28- Duties of workers, while at work, a worker must: (a)   Take reasonable care for his or her own health and safety. A solution to prevent employees from voluntary overworking is to set a maximum amount of voluntary additional work hours.Regardless of whether employees are meeting their sales target within the normal working hours, they are allocated a maximum set of extra hours to either over perform or chase up to their sales targets. Recommendations In order to maintain the efficiency of the business while not impacting the overall performance of the sales department, it is recommended that a maximum amount of additional voluntary work hours be set in order to prevent working excessive extra hours as custom and p ractise.A 360 degree feedback should be carried out on the sales force to ascertain the most time consuming aspects of the job, and to develop solutions and put in place technology to save time to increase the efficiency of the sales force. Higher management would need to review the key performance indicators of the sales force, and reduce individual goals and set in place challenging team goals with additional incentives to motivate the sales force to achieve more in synergy.This would go hand in hand with the creation of customer loyalty schemes to retain existing customers, and training for the sales force would be needed to allow them to utilise the loyalty schemes to the company’s advantage. Implementations Reward Terry for dedication to firm| ASAP| Set in maximum additional voluntary work hours and explain to organization and work life balance| Immediately after rewarding Terry| 360 degree feedback of sales department| Depending on how big the sales department is. Estim ated 6 months. Review KPIs and restructure to team settings| 1 year| Creation of customer loyalty schemes| In conjunction with restructuring to team goals| Terry would need to rewarded for his stellar performance for the company, where the recognition need to be structured politically correct as to prevent others from thinking Terry is being rewarded due to him putting in excessive hours. A follow up to that would be to implement maximum additional voluntary work hours after a clear work life balance talk to the company.This would put in place that to over achieve is good, but the organization does not support extreme work behaviors. The next step would be to hire an external agent to conduct a 360 feedback on the sales department to seek to reduce time hoarding elements of the job. It is essential to review new technologies and how they would assist the department in carrying out their jobs. Proper training would have to be provided to ensure the sales forces are kept up to date wi th the new technologies.After the aspects of the job have been redefined, higher management should review the KPI of the sales department and restructure more into collectivism with individual hybrid elements to motivate the sales force to work in teams to achieve even harder goals that is ever achievable by their own. This would go in conjunction with the sales force developing customer loyalty schemes as the sales force would know what attracts their clients the most and would thus be the best equipped to develop the loyalty schemes. Concluding remarksIt is of paramount importance to not undermine the value of Terry’s work; however measures must be put in place to curb extreme work habits. The core structure of the a salesperson job aspect would need to be reviewed, so as to determine areas which can be revised with the addition of new technology to help save the time and energies of the work force. This, coupled with the restructuring the performance indicators to embrace a more collective approach by placing difficult team goals which when achieved, give higher incentives. This would motivate employees to work together in teams.Lastly, the organization needs to realize that retaining existing customers is more profitable than attracting new customers, and the company will benefit from requesting the sales force to create a customer loyalty scheme, and to incorporate it into a core component of the sale’s department duties. References 1. Bemardin, J. H. , & Beatty, R. W. (1987). Can subordinate appraisals enhance managerial productivity? Sloan Management Review, 28(4), 63-73. 2. Bud, P. & Breslow, L. (1960). Mortality from coronary heart disease in California men who work long hours. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 11, 61 5-626. 3. Hackman, J. R. amp; Walton, R. E. (1986) Leading groups in organizations. In: Designing Effective Work Groups, Goodman, P. (ed. ), pp. 72 ±119. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco 4. Kim, Moon-Koo  (03/2004). â⠂¬Å"The effects of customer satisfaction and switching barrier on customer loyalty in Korean mobile telecommunication services†. Telecommunications policy  (0308-5961),  28  (2),  Ã‚  145. DOI:  10. 1016/j. telpol. 2003. 12. 003 5. Leonard L. Berry (2002): Relationship Marketing of Services. Perspectives from 1983 and 2000, Journal of Relationship Marketing, 1:1, 59-77 6. London, Manuel  (1993). â€Å"360-degree feedback as a competitive advantage†.Human resource management  (0090-4848),  32  (2-3),  Ã‚  353. DOI:  10. 1002/hrm. 3930320211 7. Marshall, Greg  W  (01/1999). â€Å"The Current State of Sales Force Activities†. Industrial marketing management  (0019-8501),  28  (1),  Ã‚  87. DOI:  10. 1016/S0019-8501(98)00025-X 8. Knight, D. (04/2001). â€Å"THE RELATIONSHIP OF TEAM GOALS, INCENTIVES, AND EFFICACY TO STRATEGIC RISK, TACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION, AND PERFORMANCE. â€Å". Academy of Management journal  (0001-4273),   44  (2),  Ã‚  326. DOI:  10. 2307/3069459 9. Sparks, K. , Cooper, C. , Fried, Y. and Shirom, A. (1997), The effects of hours of work on health: A meta-analytic review.Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 70:  391–408. doi:  10. 1111/j. 2044-8325. 1997. tb00656. x 10. Payne, Adrian  (1994). â€Å"Relationship Marketing – Making the Customer Count†. Managing service quality  (0960-4529),  4  (6),  Ã‚  29. Turnitin Originality Report OHS case study  by Yuxuan Huang From Individual Work health and Safety Case (BUS320 – BUS320 Advanced Human Resource Perspectives (s1, 2013)) * Processed on 12-Mar-2013 5:19 PM WST * ID: 311507218 * Word Count: 2170 Similarity Index 16% Similarity by Source Internet  Sources: 12% Publications: 9% Student  Papers: 12% sources: 1 2% match (Internet from 17-Apr-2012) ttp://onlinelibrary. wiley. com/doi/10. 1111/j. 2044-8325. 1997. tb00656. x/abstract 2 1% match (publications) Stacie Furst . â€Å"Virtual team effectiveness: a proposed research agenda†, Information Systems Journal, 10/1999 3 1% match (Internet from 21-Jan-2013) http://www. monarorfs. org. au/new-machi? limitstart=15 4 1% match (publications) Kate Sparks. â€Å"The effects of hours of work on health: A meta-analytic review†, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 12/1997 5 1% match (student papers from 30-Apr-2012) Submitted to University of Sydney on 2012-04-30 6 1% match (student papers from 08-Sep-2011)Submitted to Macquarie University on 2011-09-08 7 1% match (Internet from 06-Jul-2010) http://jom. sagepub. com/cgi/content/refs/36/1/5 8 1% match (Internet from 06-May-2009) http://members. chello. nl/~e. vanoverveld/images/Thesis. PDF 9 1% match (publications) Warech, M. A.. â€Å"Self-monitoring and 360-degree ratings†, The Leadership Quarterly, 199824 10 1% match (Internet from 10-Mar-2013) http://ro. uow. edu. au/cgi/viewcontent. cgi? article=1301&context=comm papers&sei- 11 1% match (student papers from 12-May-2010) Submitted to University of Western Sydney on 2010-05-12 12 1% match (publications) Marshall, G.W.. â€Å"The Current State of Sales Force Activities†, Industrial Marketing Management, 199901 13 1% match (student papers from 25-Oct-2009) Submitted to Curtin University of Technology on 2009-10-25 14 1% match (Internet from 02-Apr-2010) http://www. wairc. wa. gov. au/Agreements/Agrmnt2005/PBF016. doc 15 1% match (publications) Karjaluoto, Heikki, Chanaka Jayawardhena, Matti LeppA ¤niemi, and Minna PihlstrA ¶m. â€Å"How value and trust influence loyalty in wireless telecommunications industry†, Telecommunications Policy, 2012. 16 1% match (student papers from 11-Sep-2009) Submitted to Univerza v Ljubljani on 2009-09-11 7 < 1% match (Internet from 16-Apr-2009) http://dissertations. port. ac. uk/357/01/BelliardC. pdf 18 < 1% match (Internet from 20-Feb-2009) http://www. busmgt. ulster. ac. uk/modules/bmg775m2/fig . doc 19 < 1% match (Internet from 18-Jan-2013) http://www. aom. pace. edu/amj/April2001/knight. pdf 20 < 1% match (Internet from 29-Apr-2012) http://www. vawo. nl/documents/OccupationalstressAustraliauniversities. pdf 21 < 1% match (publications) Lee, Hyung Seok. â€Å"Major Moderators Influencing the Relationships of Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty†, Asian Social Science, 2013.

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Communication in Economics - Essay Example omic policy is based on the pioneering work of many economists who are of the view that raising income taxes specially and taxes generally are beneficial to the long term viability of the economy. It means raising income taxes will ensure that our future generations will have strong economy to build on when they will find that they money their forefathers have sacrificed in creating and developing the economic infrastructure of this very great country of ours. I must tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that cutting taxes means curtailing essential services like curtailing school hours, less Medicaid as well as result in tuition fees at public universities if government’s targets for raising the targeted revenue is not achieved and as for as I know, lowering income taxes is one of the biggest contributors towards not achieving the revenue targets by the government. Ladies and gentlemen, the current recession which our country is facing due to issues like credit crunch caused by sub-prime mortgage market can really be avoided if government increase fiscal expansion and fiscal expansion can only be achieved if we raise taxes so that money raised through these taxes is ploughed back into our economy to make this economy running on solid footings again. I also would like to point out towards the economic theories of Herbert Hoover who advocated the balancing of budgets in short term despite the facts that this can damage the economy. In a sluggish economy the only option left to economy is to increase the demand for goods and services. Due to sluggishness of the economy, firms tend to carry over excess capacities therefore in order to reduce these excess capacities, the demand for good and services need to increase. However, raising income taxes in such a way that those earning in higher bracket are taxed higher so that those are in the lower inco me groups can benefits of the distribution of nation’s wealth without sacrificing cuts in government spending on essential

Youth cell phones compasny Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Youth cell phones compasny - Essay Example Why do you think the YCP Company had been able to grow in just over five years? The first five years of YCP were marked by strong growth for a number of reasons. An important factor is the strong growth of the market for mobile and internet technology, as this was the period of commercial introduction and fast development in these areas, so the rise in demand was strong, particularly in its chosen niche (young mobile and internet customers) and the industry still generally open to new entrants. Based on data provided, the following information was computed: YCP performance for the last five years Year ended Revenues (MUSD) No. of Subscribers Ave. rev. per subscriber 1998 80.0 100,000 800.00 1999 200.0 195,000 1,025.64 2000 270.0 330,000 818.18 2001 380.0 680,000 558.82 2002 750.0 1,970,000 380.71 The first three columns were data provided, form which the average revenue per subscriber was computed in the last column. It was evident that from the third year onwards, the sales growth a chieved by YCP was on the basis of attracting new volume by lowering prices. While the cost figures are not given for us to compute the breakeven point, it is sufficient to note that by 2001, the firm was offering its services for prices below its introductory rates in 1998, which may indicate that the company is operating at below breakeven prices. 2) What impression have you formed of corporate governance in YCP Company? For the first two years, there appeared to be no indication of major lapses in corporate governance. ... failure, is irregular in the case of YCP because the bonuses are explicitly stated to be based on the appreciation of the company’s stock value rather than on its earnings, which is an untenable basis on which to compute executive compensation. Executive pay and bonuses are anchored on the firm’s earnings, not its market capitalization; therefore, this is a matter to be investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 3) What is your opinion of the ownership structure in YCP, in light of the fact co-administrators Kong and Watson retain 60% of the voting equity. Can group of small shareholders make a significant contribution to the governance of the company? What about large shareholders? As far as ownership structure is concerned, there is no legal or ethical problem in Kong and Watson holding 60% of the equity. A strong controlling interest properly discharged can even articulate business strategy more clearly and create a stronger business (Ozer, et al., 2010, p. 18). It is clear that based on voting rights, Kong and Watson clearly have controlling ownership of the firm. There should be no conflict of interest, however, in their being members of the board, as the board represents the shareholders’ interests which is their own. Being members of the board, however, they are charged with the duty of due diligence and of acting in the interests of all shareholders, not only their own. This does not mean that groups of small shareholder or even large (though minority) shareholders are powerless against decisions but the majority shareholders that are patently inimical to the corporation’s interests. They still are entitled to a full disclosure and complete information about how the company is run, violation of which could be the basis for litigation. SEC

Attempts to Save a People Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Attempts to Save a People - Essay Example One of the problems with the advanced way in which human beings think is that great ideologies and mythologies about life can be envisioned. This means that there are great waves of innovation that sweep through political systems, scientific communities, and communities of those who wish to find something to believe in so that they can better understand their world. The problem comes when the thoughts of one people comes into contradiction with those of another. An assumption is made that the differences between two peoples means that one is right and one is wrong.  One of the problems with the advanced way in which human beings think is that great ideologies and mythologies about life can be envisioned. This means that there are great waves of innovation that sweep through political systems, scientific communities, and communities of those who wish to find something to believe in so that they can better understand their world. The problem comes when the thoughts of one people come s into contradiction with those of another. An assumption is made that the differences between two peoples means that one is right and one is wrong.   In particular, the rise of Western culture has created a definition of what is ‘civilized’, thus creating a great number of cultures outside of this definition for whom groups of people in the West have endeavored to find a way to ‘save’ them from the ‘backward’ nature of their culture. In addition, Christianity has been considered by many members of the religion to be the only way of life, thus furthering the interference that the West has made into indigenous populations.   Therefore, the attempts that the European settlers have made to interfere with the Native American populations created great changes that devastated those tribes. The nature of their culture was forever changed, through the introduction of disease, war, and vilification that took place during the great migrations of Euro peans into the Americas. Reforms that were attempted were too late and without effect as the tribes are now relegated to near extinction, their cultures almost completely lost, and their existence a mere fragment of their former rich heritage. The nature of the Native American in regard to his or her culture is to be lost within a world in which their culture and the rituals that defined that culture are now scattered. The Native American is an American, his or her existence defined by trying to fit the round peg of his ancestry into the square hole of the American landscape.   One of the concepts of anthropology is that one cannot study a culture without affecting it through the influence of one’s presence. The Native American tribes had more than the affect of someone looking at their culture.  

Discuss why you wish to pursue a career in Nursing and two most Essay

Discuss why you wish to pursue a career in Nursing and two most challenging issues facing Nursing practice today and why - Essay Example Nursing career In the continuously modernizing world and growing body of knowledge, it is not new that there is a shortage of nurses, and that this dilemma is constantly being pursued upon for solutions. The personal choice of taking nursing as a career is inspired by the need to answer to the call of health care delivery. Presently, the health care delivery system desires providers who could meet the needs of the client while taking into consideration his or her wholeness, and not merely the physical aspect focused on by medicine. Undeniably, this could be satisfied by competent nurses. Nursing is full of career opportunities. One may decide to be involved in a specific area, whether in nursing education, administration, community, or clinical practice, or participate in several areas at the same time. Trending career opportunities nowadays also involve nursing informatics and nursing research. Despite these diversities, the goal of nursing to provide care is still the backbone of t he profession. Challenges in Nursing The idea that change is inevitable implies that the continuous evolution of the world also poses challenges to society, including the field of nursing. Nursing leaders play essential roles in the performance of their staff.

Thorough distribution plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Thorough distribution plan - Essay Example Things that will be accounted include permission to distribute the product, certificate of quality assurance provided by the concerned authority and legal requirements that have to be met like registration of the product. The availability and vicinity of the distribution centers in these countries have to be accounted for. The global entry strategy into these countries will be through franchising. Franchising will facilitate speedy distribution of the product. Franchising involves the granting of a franchise. In this case, the product will be franchised to a franchisee; the franchisee will supply the capital and labor and operate the franchised business. The approach of franchising will be; authorization of a number of retail stores to sell the product. The advantage of using franchising is that the product will be able to reach the targeted population in the shortest time possible and within their favorite shopping places. The supply chain is vertically integrated and will include a manufacturer, a distribution center and a retailer. The manufacturer will manufacture the product and franchise it to the distribution centers and retailers. A distribution center will assist in the supply of the product as needed and be able to ship the product to the required destinations that are outside United States and Canada. This means that it has both the local and international advantage in supply of the product. Vertical integration method has advantages such as low transaction costs, high investment opportunities and the ability to monopolize the market through market foreclosure. Another advantage is quick supply of goods and being able to meet the demand in the market. Retail partners will be supermarkets, chemists, drug stores, cosmetic shops, and electronic stores. These are common places for many shoppers in the United

The History of Slavery in Virginia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The History of Slavery in Virginia - Essay Example During the initial days, the black people were treated as slaves. They performed their duties just as normal citizens. Others even had properties to their names. A good number of them resided on plantations. It is during the 1660’s after the laws regarding slavery for the blacks were enacted that the situation for the blacks in Virginia turned to a new phases (Journal of the House of Delegates 15). Slave trade in Virginia went on for about 200 years, until around 1808 where the activity faced a ban in accordance to the constitution of the US in Article I, Section 9. Although the issue of slavery was put to an end according to the court’s decision, the government was in support of slavery (Journal of the House of Delegates 27). Tobacco was Virginia’s chief agricultural product, and it was a success for the state. Virginia saw the ban of slaves as an opportunity for the state since they had slaves in excess because of their fast rate of reproduction. They knew they could make money out of the ban. This is so because the shortage in supply would result to an increase in demand for the slaves, and so Virginia would sell them to the southern states at an increased price. However, there were several attempts by the slaves to rebel against their masters. In each attempt of rebellion made by the slaves, the government would immediately enforce the laws to become more severe as a way of punishing them and preventing them from assembling. It was through that activity that the government of Virginia would ensure to reduce the threat of having the slaves rebelling against them (Morgan 35). It was during 1831 that Nat Turner facilitated a successful slave rebellion. This was by far the biggest rebellion ever experienced in the history of United States. The rebellion was motivated by the success of the revolution that was experienced in Haiti in 1790 that saw the French Rule being overthrown. Turner was inspired by the Haitian achievement and

The Phenomenon of Harmful Algal Blooms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Phenomenon of Harmful Algal Blooms - Essay Example Among these species, some comes out as a harmful breed for other aquatic animals and human who comes in contact with them because they release toxins which disables certain aquatic lives to breathe or can be dangerous because of their accumulated biomass. These harmful algal blooms are formerly known as â€Å"red tides†, because many were found composed of dinoflagellates with red pigments, which cause discoloration of water in red, but can also discolor water into brown or green. Algal blooms refer to a large concentration of marine microorganism and they get harmful when they start excreting poisonous toxins and become as a contributing factor in hundreds of mortalities of aquatic mammals, fishes, birds and other marine and coastal species which happens at the exposure of a potent neurotoxins. Excretion of toxins can result in deaths of a large number of aquatic species. Harmful Algal Blooms also put a negative impact on natural beauty and have bad odors produced by the deca ying of biomass. Theory Researchers and investigation teams are still unable to know the root cause and it is still controversial. Some theories are underlined, for explaining some of the causes that might be the reason of such dangerous Algal Blooms, threatening millions of aqua marine lives. It is believed that toxin blooms are often in result of one or more species of Cyanobacteria which are blue and green algae and grow on nutrient pollution. These spread during warm season of the year and produces both green (chlorophyll) and blue (phycocyanin) which appears as blue and green discoloration of water. It was previously referred as Red Tides, but with the passage of time, things got clear that these harmful algal blooms are not associated with the movement of tides and can vary in color from red to brown, green and blue, therefore they are now known as HABS (Harmful Algal Blooms). They are dangerous because of their toxins or the manner in which the physical structure of the cell affect co occurring species and alter food web process. It can be extremely dangerous when the water is clear with low concentration of cell in the presence of toxic HABs. Micro or Macro-algae is termed for seaweeds as well which sometimes out grows and causes serious ecological problems like habitat alteration, indigenous species and lowers oxygen level in deep water. Moreover, some HABs are not algae but small animals, who do not grow with photosynthesis but get their nutrition by grazing. A continuous research is going on since decades to get to the root cause of harmful algal blooms. Things are getting clear with the study but root issues are still inapproachable. Contributing Factors A study was carried out to find out the factors that contribute in the massive growth of harmful Algal Blooms. In some coastal regions, they appeared to be completely natural with a seasonal coastal upwelling and with the movement of ocean currents but in some areas, it is noticed that human activi ties are helping them grow massively. They are getting nutrition through human loading. Coastal pollution is the biggest factor, helping HABs to develop at large scale through systematic increase in water temperature and human waste disposal. Iron rich dust influx from large deserts can highly promote the cause of HABs. It is still unclear that what initiates this dangerous algae but research is still going on to reach the root issue. They grow quickly with an abundance of nitrates and phosphates which gets to coastal areas through agricultural run outs or storm water runs, coinciding with warmth which ultimately provide the best atmosphere to grow. Once the bloom is initiated it travels or spread hundreds or thousands of kilometers through coastal currents by wind deviation. Threats It

The Strategic Control Process Essay Example for Free

The Strategic Control Process Essay Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Facts   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a holding company that allows only in possessing outstanding shares of other companies to own and control a number of various companies. The core business of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is to offer insurance, which comprise of property, casualty and reinsurance services. Also, it is engaged in specialty substandard insurance policies. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is owned by the ‘world’s famous greatest stock market investor of the modern times’, Warren Edward Buffett. He is the current chairperson and the Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. According to Anthony Bianco, author of the article ‘The Warren Buffett You Dont Know’, Warren Buffet considered Berkshire as his baby. He had purchased Berkshire Hathaway that amounts to $11 million in the year 1965. The legendary investor handled his business bearing in mind the investors and managers. However, he managed the holding company the way it is suitable with him. (BIANCO, July 5, 1999)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Warren Edward Buffett is the second richest person next to Bill Gates in the whole world. He just started with a vanishing textile manufacturer and he made good use of the cash flows of his business into an enormous assortment of businesses that is stable and profitable. He invested from insurance and building equipments to clothing and furniture trading. The Insurance and finance subsidiaries are consisted of National Indemnity, GEICO Corporation and General Re, which is a mammoth reinsurance company. Other companies include See’s Candies, Dairy Queen, Clayton Homes, and Flight Safety International. And in the year 2006, the Business wire which is a press release distributor, and Russell, a sportswear company, were added to the list of subsidiaries that Berkshire Hathaway bought. Furthermore, ISCAR Metalworking, a manufacturer of metal cutting tools which was based in Israel was the primary foreign-based company that has been part of the Berkshire Hathaway Inc.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Warren Buffett possesses the 38 percent share of stock of Berkshire Hathaway. His trusted friend, Mr. Charles Munger is the co-owner and Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc holding also big enough share of the company. However, the two principal stock holders of the Berkshire Hathaway business do not engage in a conversation that much anymore. Nevertheless, they did not argue on the matters that concerns the operation of the holding company.   As a matter of fact, the two investors are engaged in different leisure pursuit, Buffett on his dedicated way of continuous developing of Berkshire and Munger on his charitable works. (BIANCO, July 5, 1999) Strategic Management Strategic management is functioned as the most advanced and modern stage of the whole management process. It assists in directing employees’ sense of direction toward the accomplishment of the company’s goal. It is the fusion of strategic planning, implementation and controlling management where strategic control is to be focused.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strategic control organization supports the implementation of the strategic plans. This aims to identify and fix the occurrence of problems that leads away from the main goal of the company without affecting the inventiveness and ingenuity of the process.(Lecture E-Strategic Planning,) This is connected with the monitoring progress towards strategic targets of the company (What is Strategic Control?, 2001). Almost every investments made by the Berkshire Hathaway prospers like gold. With this ability of Buffett, he was entitled as the modern – day Midas, a Phrygian king in Greek mythology, who has the power to turn everything that he had touched into gold. (BIANCO, July 5, 1999) But what makes Warren Buffet the world’s famous and greatest inventor of the modern time? How did Buffet manage Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., the holding company that finances his investments in public quoted stocks and buying companies? As mentioned in page above, Mr. Buffet is the owner and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and Mr. Munger, the Vice-Chairman of the same holding company. The two managing partner of Berkshire Hathaway holding company delegate the responsibility of operating the business to the managers of every company subsidiary. Buffet and Munger left the key manager run their businesses as that is how those key managers like to operate. All the decisions regarding the functioning of the business operation is assigned to the managers. They would just turn over the excess profit that they have generated to the headquarters thus allowing them to concentrate on their responsibilities of the organizational cash flow and not with the diverse temptations. Furthermore, to gain the loyalty and commitment of the subordinates of the Berkshire Hathaway Inc., they comprehend the need to deal with the key managers specifically in the fairest manner possible. Because this is how they wanted to be treated if the situation is inverted. (BUFFET, 1996) As a matter of fact, Buffett intercept less in the operation of the business and rather oversee the whole operations from the top. He cultivated to initiate communication with the company’s executives and waited for them to report to him the things that were likely to cause trouble. He allowed his higher subordinates to directly contact him anytime they want. With that, many believed that the famous Warren Buffet is utilizing the laissez – faire management style. Laissez – faire style of leadership is where delegation of all duties and tasks is placed to the management staff while the role of the leader is just tangential. This is true in the case of how Warren Buffett manage the Berkshire Hathaway. Furthermore, less communication takes place in this type of leadership, the same with what Buffet is executing within the company. It is known that applying this type of leadership style generally leads to poor management, deficient in concentrating and sense of direction toward the main goal of the company. However, the opposite of the result is correct with what is happening in the Berkshire Hathaway management. With Laissez – faire style of leadership implemented in Buffet’s management of the holding company, professionalism and creativity in the group of employees is inculcated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the contrary, there is no absolute thing in the world. So the weak point of the Laissez – faire leadership type of Buffet surfaced. According also to the article of Pallavi Gogoi in his article â€Å"Buffet: Right Again?’, in 2002, General Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company which provides insurance for insurance company and the also the major subsidiary of the Berkshire Hathaway crediting for about 25 percent of the revenue of the holding company, got into intensifying reduction of profit and unfortunate operation. These losses are contributed in the desire to put policies in the competition out of business to increase the market share. The company had neglected the fact to allocate enough savings as for the compensation of the maintenance.   (GOGOI, MARCH 4, 2002)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Buffet set down the management to the Ronald Ferguson, the CEO of General Re for a long period of time. He was confident enough of General Re CEO. However, it turned out that Ferguson had ignored the early indications of weaknesses thus resulting to the misfortune losses.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nonetheless, the business had the chance to rise again after the incident with the occurrence of the September 11 bombing tragedy. There was a sudden increase in the first – class income of the entire insurers. From that time on and for that specific reason, Warren Buffet took an active role in the operation of the reinsurance company. He had abandoned the hands – off rule in dealing with his business. (GOGOI, MARCH 4, 2002) Business Principles   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Warren Buffett arranges 13 basic business principles to recognize the management approach. This is made by Mr. Buffett himself in his ‘Owner’s Manual’. (BUFFET, 1996)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first principle is stated that even if the Berkshire Hathaway is a corporation, the managerial approach is the same with partnership with the shareholders of the holding company as owner – partners. The second principle said that a principal fraction of the company’s net worth endowed in the business is shared to majority of the directors thus both the owners and the shareholders get the advantage and disadvantage of the business operation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With this comes the ‘long – term economic goal’ of Berkshire Hathaway of making the most of the average annual rate of gain (AARG) through progress and development. Thus, this gives the third principle. Going on the fourth regulation is the acquisition and branching out of varying businesses that could produce earning beyond average returns on capital. The fifth is providing seemed – essential earning reports of the main businesses for individual decision makings. And the sixth code is that the operation and the decision for allocation of resources are indeterminate of the result of any financial reports.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The seventh attitude is by organizing fixed – rate basis in a long period of time when borrowing loans as to be fair with the policyholders, lenders and many equity holders. Protection of the shareholder interest is considered in purchasing whole businesses and by which the eighth rule applies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The ninth conduct is the regular inspection of the retention earning results. The tenth standard implies the issuing of common stock to the deserving businesses that in return generate the same business value. The issue of selling any company of good performance under Berkshire is the eleventh conduct thus maintaining the loyalty of the shareholders.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The assurance of being truthful with the reports given to the shareholders is the twelfth code. And lastly, the thirteenth principle that Warren Buffet organize is in the degree level of lawfully necessity conferring about the business pursuit in profitable safety. â€Å"I love running Berkshire, and if enjoying life promotes longevity, Methuselah’s record is in jeopardy. â€Å" – Warren E. Buffett, Chairman References BIANCO, A. (July 5, 1999). The Warren Buffett You Dont Know [Electronic Version], 54. Retrieved May 17, 2007 from http://user.chollian.net/~hwangone/notice/notice20040830.htm. BUFFET, W. (1996). â€Å"An Owner’s Manual† [Electronic Version]. Retrieved May 17, 2007 from http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/ownman.pdf. GOGOI, P. ( MARCH 4, 2002). Buffett: Right Again? [Electronic Version]. Retrieved May 17, 2007 from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_09/b3772094.htm. Lecture E-Strategic Planning [Electronic Version]. Retrieved May 17, 2007 from http://www.ee.uwa.edu.au/~ccroft/em333/lectures97/lece.pdf. What is Strategic Control? [Electronic (2001). Version]. Retrieved May 17, 2007 from http://www.2gc.co.uk/pdf/2GC-FAQP02.pdf.

Machine Learning in Malware Detection

Machine Learning in Malware Detection 1.0 Background Research Malware was first created in 1949 by John von Neumann. Ever since then, more and more malwares are created. Antivirus company are constantly looking for a method that is the most effective in detecting malware. One of the most famous method used by antivirus company in detecting malware is the signature based detection. But over the years, the growth of malware is increasing uncontrollably. Until recent year, the signature based detection have been proven ineffective against the growth of malware. In this research, I have chosen another method for malware detection which is implementing machine learning method on to malware detection. Using the dataset that I get from Microsoft Malware Classification Challenge (BIG 2015), I will find an algorithm that will be able to detect malware effectively with low false positive error. 1.1 Problem Statement With the growth of technology, the number of malware are also increasing day by day. Malware now are designed with mutation characteristic which causes an enormous growth in number of the variation of malware (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). Not only that, with the help of automated malware generated tools, novice malware author is now able to easily generate a new variation of malware (Lanzi, A. et al., 2010). With these growths in new malware, traditional signature based malware detection are proven to be ineffective against the vast variation of malware (Feng, Z. et al., 2015). On the other hand, machine learning methods for malware detection are proved effective against new malwares. At the same time, machine learning methods for malware detection have a high false positive rate for detecting malware (Feng, Z. et al., 2015). 1.2 Objective To investigate on how to implement machine learning to malware detection in order to detection unknown malware. To develop a malware detection software that implement machine learning to detect unknown malware. To validate that malware detection that implement machine learning will be able to achieve a high accuracy rate with low false positive rate. 1.3 Theoretical / Conceptual Framework 1.4 Significance With Machine Learning in Malware detection that have a high accuracy and low false positive rate, it will help end user to be free from fear malware damaging their computer. As for organization, they will have their system and file to be more secure. 2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Overview Traditional security product uses virus scanner to detect malicious code, these scanner uses signature which created by reverse engineering a malware. But with malware that became polymorphic or metamorphic the traditional signature based detection method used by anti-virus is no long effective against the current issue of malware (Willems, G., Holz, T. Freiling, F., 2007). In current anti-malware products, there are two main task to be carried out from the malware analysis process, which are malware detection and malware classification. In this paper, I am focusing on malware detection. The main objective of malware detection is to be able to detect malware in the system. There are two type of analysis for malware detection which are dynamic analysis and static analysis. For effective and efficient detection, the uses of feature extraction are recommended for malware detection (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). There are various type of detection method, the method that we are using will b e detecting through hex and assembly file of the malware. Feature will be extracted from both hex view and assembly view of malware files. After extracting feature to its category, all category is to be combine into one feature vector for the classifier to run on them (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). For feature selection, separating binary file into blocks to be compare the similarities of malware binaries. This will reduce the analysis overhead which cause the process to be faster (Kim, T.G., Kang, B. Im, E.G., 2013). To build a learning algorithm, feature that are extracted with the label will be undergo classification with using any classification method for example Random Forest, Neural Network, N-gram, KNN and many others, but Support Vector Machine (VCM) is recommended for the presence of noise in the extracted feature and the label (Stewin, P. Bystrov, I., 2016). As to generate result, the learning model is to test with dataset with label to generate a graph which indicate detec tion rate and false positive rate. To find the best result, repeat the process using many other classification and create learning model to test on the same dataset. The best result will the one graph that has the highest detection rate and lowest false positive rates (Lanzi, A. et al., 2010). 2.2 Dynamic and Static Analysis Dynamic Analysis runs the malware in a simulated environment which usually will be a sandbox, then within the sandbox the malware is executed and being observe its behavior. Two approaches for dynamic analysis that is comparing image of the system before and after the malware execution, and monitors the malware action during the execution with the help of a debugger. The first approach usually give a report which will be able to obtain similar report via binary observation while the other approach is more difficult to implement but it gives a more detailed report about the behavior of the malware (Willems, G., Holz, T. Freiling, F., 2007). Static Analysis will be studying the malware without executing it which causing this method to be more safe comparing to dynamic analysis. With this method, we will dissemble the malware executable into binary file and hex file. Then study the opcode within both file to compare with a pre-generated opcode profile in order to search for malicious code that exist within the malware executable (Santos, I. et al., 2013). All malware detection will be needed either Static Analysis or Dynamic Analysis. In this paper, we will be focusing on Static Analysis (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). This is because, Dynamic analysis has a drawback, it can only run analysis on 1 malware at a time, making the whole analysis process to take a long time, as we have many malware that needed to be analysis (Willems, G., Holz, T. Freiling, F., 2007). As for Static Analysis, it mainly uses to analyze hex code file and assembly code file, and compare to Dynamic Analysis, Static Analysis take much short time and it is more convenient to analyze malware file as it can schedule to scan all the file at once even in offline (Tabish, S.M., Shafiq, M.Z. Farooq, M., 2009). 2.3 Features Extraction For an effective and efficient classification, it will be wise to extract feature from both hex view file and assembly view file in order to retrieve a complementary date from both hex and assembly view file (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). Few types of feature that are extracted from the hex view file and assembly view file, which is N-gram, Entropy, Image Representative, String Length, Symbol, Operation Code, Register, Application Programming Interface, Section, Data Define, Miscellaneous (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). For N-gram feature, it usually used to classify a sequence of action in different areas. The sequence of malware execution could be capture by N-gram during feature extraction (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016).   For Entropy feature, it extracts the probability of uncertainty in a series of byte in the malware executable file, these probability of uncertainty is depending on the amount of information on the executable file (Lyda, R.,Hamrock, J,. 2007). For Image Representative feature, the malware binary file is being read into 8-bit vector file, then organize into a 2D array file. The 2D array file can be visualize as a black and gray image whereas grey are the bit and byte of the file, this feature look fo r common in bit arrangement in the malware binary file (Nataraj, L. et al., 2011). For String Length feature, we open each malware executable file and view it in hex view file and extract out all ASCII string from the malware executable, but because it is difficult to only extract the actual string without extract other non-useful element, it is required to choose important string among the extracted (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). For Operation Code features, Operation code also known as Opcode are a type of instruction syllable in the machine language. In malware detection, different Opcode and their frequency is extracted and to compare with non-malicious software, different set of Opcodes are identifiable for either malware or non-malware (Bilar, D., n.d.). For Register feature, the number of register usage are able to assist in malware classification as register renaming are used to make malware analysis more difficult to detect it (Christodorescu, M., Song, D. Bryant, R.E., 2005). For Application Programming Interface feature, API calling are code that call the function of other software in our case it will be Windows API. There are large number of type of API calls in malicious and non-malicious software, is hard to differentiate them, because of this we will be focusing on top frequent used API calls in malware binaries in order to bring the result closer (Top maliciously used apis, 2017). For Data Define feature, because not all of malware contains API calls, and these malware that does not have any API calls they are mainly contain of operation code which usually are db, dw, dd, there are sets of features (DP) that are able to define malware (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). For Miscellaneous feature, we choose a few word that most malware have in common from the malware dissemble file (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). Among so many feature, the most appropriate feature for our research will be N-gram, and Opcode. This is because it is proven that there two feature have the highest accuracy with low logloss. This two feature appears frequently in malware file and it already have sets of well-known features for malware. But the drawback using N-gram and Opcode are they require a lot of resource to process and take a lot of time (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). We will also try other feature to compare with N-gram and Opcode to verified the result. 2.4 Classification In this section, we will not review about the algorithm or mathematical formula of a classifier but rather their nature to able to have advantage over certain condition in classifying malware feature. The type of classifier that we will review will be Nearest Neighbor, NaÃÆ' ¯ve Bayes, Decision tree, Support Vector Machine and XGBOOST [21] (Kotsiantis, S.B., 2007) (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). As we need a classifier to train our data with the malware feature, we will need to review the classifier to choose the most appropriate classifier that are able to have the best result. The Nearest Neighbor classifier are one of the simplest method for classifying and it is normally implement in case-based reasoning [21]. As for NaÃÆ' ¯ve Bayes, it usually generates simply and constraint model and not suitable for irregular data input, which make it not suitable for malware classification because that the data in malware classification are not regular (Kotsiantis, S.B., 2007). For Decision Tree, it classify feature by sorting them into tree node base on their feature values and each branch represent the node value. Decision Tree will determine either try or false based on node value, which make it difficult to dealt with unknown feature that are not stored in tree node (Kotsiantis, S.B., 2007). For Support Vector Machine, it has a complexity model which enable it to deal with lar ge amount of feature and still be able to obtain good result from it, which make it suitable for malware classification as malware contains large number of feature (Kotsiantis, S.B., 2007). For XGBOOST, it is a scalable tree boosting system which win many machine learning competition by achieving state of art result. The advantage for XGBOOST, it is suitable for most of any scenario and it run faster than most of other classification technique (Chen, T., n.d.). To choose a Classification for our malware analysis, we will be choosing XGBOOST, as it is suitable for malware classification, it also recommended by winner from Microsoft Malware Classification Challenge (Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016). But we will also use Support Vector Machine, as it too is suitable for malware classification and we will use it to compare the result with XGBOOST to get a more accurate result. References   Ahmadi, M. et al., 2016. Novel Feature Extraction, Selection and Fusion for Effective Malware Family Classification. ACM Conference on Data and Application Security and Privacy, pp.183-194. Available at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2857705.2857713. Amin, M. Maitri, 2016. A Survey of Financial Losses Due to Malware. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Information and Communication Technology for Competitive Strategies ICTCS 16, pp.1-4. Available at: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2905055.2905362. Berlin, K., Slater, D. Saxe, J., 2015. Malicious Behavior Detection Using Windows Audit Logs. Proceedings of the 8th ACM Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Security, pp.35-44. Available at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2808769.2808773. Feng, Z. et al., 2015. HRSà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¯: A Hybrid Framework for Malware Detection. , (10), pp.19-26. Han, K., Lim, J.H. Im, E.G., 2013. Malware analysis method using visualization of binary files. Proceedings of the 2013 Research in Adaptive and Convergent Systems, pp.317-321. Kim, T.G., Kang, B. Im, E.G., 2013. Malware classification method via binary content comparison. Information (Japan), 16(8 A), pp.5773-5788. Kà ¼Ãƒ §Ãƒ ¼ksille, E.U., Yalà §Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±nkaya, M.A. Uà §ar, O., 2014. Physical Dangers in the Cyber Security and Precautions to be Taken. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Security of Information and Networks SIN 14, pp.310-317. Available at: http://dl.acm.org.proxy1.athensams.net/citation.cfm?id=2659651.2659731. Lanzi, A. et al., 2010. AccessMiner: Using System-Centric Models for Malware Protection. Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security CCS10, pp.399-412. Available at: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1866353%5Cnhttp://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1866307.1866353. Nicholas, C. Brandon, R., 2015. Document Engineering Issues in Document Analysis. Proceedings of the 2015 ACM Symposium on Document Engineering, pp.229-230. Available at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2682571.2801033. Patanaik, C.K., Barbhuiya, F.A. Nandi, S., 2012. Obfuscated malware detection using API call dependency. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Security of Internet of Things SecurIT 12, pp.185-193. Available at: http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84879830981partnerID=tZOtx3y1. Pluskal, O., 2015. Behavioural Malware Detection Using Efficient SVM Implementation. RACS Proceedings of the 2015 Conference on research in adaptive and convergent systems, pp.296-301. Santos, I. et al., 2013. Opcode sequences as representation of executables for data-mining-based unknown malware detection. Information Sciences, 231, pp.64-82. Stewin, P. Bystrov, I., 2016. Detection of Intrusions and Malware, and Vulnerability Assessment, Available at: http://dblp.uni-trier.de/db/conf/dimva/dimva2012.html#StewinB12. Willems, G., Holz, T. Freiling, F., 2007. Toward automated dynamic malware analysis using CWSandbox. IEEE Security and Privacy, 5(2), pp.32-39. Tabish, S.M., Shafiq, M.Z. Farooq, M., 2009. Malware detection using statistical analysis of byte-level file content. Proceedings of the ACM SIGKDD Workshop on CyberSecurity and Intelligence Informatics CSI-KDD 09, pp.23-31. Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1599272.1599278. Lyda, R.,Hamrock, J,. 2007.Using Entropy Analysis to Find Encrypted and Packed Malware. Nataraj, L. et al., 2011. Malware Imagesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¯: Visualization and Automatic Classification. Bilar, D., Statistical Structuresà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¯: Fingerprinting Malware for Classification and Analysis Why Structural Fingerprintingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¯? Christodorescu, M., Song, D. Bryant, R.E., 2005. 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Review Of Motivation In Volunteering Commerce Essay

Review Of Motivation In Volunteering Commerce Essay The objective of this literature is to attempt some discussions of Motivation in Volunteers, a complex difficulty, facing the NGOs and Humanitarian Aid Agencies of today. Studies specifically relating to this area started in the early years to the present day. The actual dissertation will go through a much more comprehensive literature scan. In the concerned world economy and wide blow stricken regions of the world today, Volunteerism seems more relevant today than the more frequently employed tools relating to Typical Employment methodologies of the past and present. In the last century preceded by the great Industrial Revolution and followed by the great Information Age, much has been said and done regarding employee motivation and the ways to augment or harness it to achieve superior organization goals. It started with the Hawthorne Studies of the 1920s (McCarney R, Warner J, Iliffe S, van Haselen R, Griffin M, Fisher P (2007) which in detail were initially carried out to determine the effects of Light on employee output, however by the way reflected the importance of working as a group, having a concerned supervisor and work credit were indeed the real drivers of efficiency. Thus started the long research in Human Motivation, culminating in such great works as Maslows Hierarchy Theory (A.H. Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 1943) and Herzbergs (1959) motivational hygiene theory to name a few. However it wasnt until the 1970s that work on Motivation in Volunteers began. while having much in common with motivation in employees if compared particularly to Herzbergs motivational hygiene theory, there are indeed some unique factors such as reciprocity, self esteem, personal growth, recognition and social understanding (Developing the Volunteer Motivation Inventory to Assess the Underlying Motivational Drives of Volunteers in Western Australia, a research project carried out by Dr Judy Esmond et-al; 2004). Notable work (other than those cited in the quoted study) on this was Motivation of volunteers (Wiehe, Vernon R.; Isenhour, Lenor Journal of Social Welfare. Win 1977, 73-79. Of 490 persons contacting a volunteer recruitment and referral center requesting to be referred to a group of people agency for post as volunteers, 249 questionnaires were returned asking them to spot t heir motivation for seeking to be volunteers. Four categories of motivation were ordered by partakers in the research on the basis of most to least important: personal satisfaction, self-improvement, altruism, and demands from outside. Implications for the assignment and recruitment of volunteers are noted. Motivation is the fundamental element of the theme of this research. The investigation of motivational factors in a group, individual in public sector surroundings is central to developing ways to better performances in an organization. The motive why motivation should be investigate in generic organizational behavior terms as well as public service and volunteer terms for this research is that there are some aspects of motivational theories that are related irrespective of the sector and industry. An understanding of motivation in broad terms, public service terms and volunteer terms in the literature review will go a long way in making sure that there can be a constructive influence on the public sector volunteer workers performance levels. Terpstras model of motivation (1979) drew its inspiration from the motivational model presented as the hierarchy of need laid down by Maslow (1954). Maslow talked about five need levels in a motivational framework known as the physiological need, the safety need, the social need, the ego need and the need for self actualization. According to this model, the most essential needs had to be fulfilled before the next need of the human being comes into the play. Terpstra looked into this theory of Maslow from the angle of the industrialized age. Maslow assumed that the most vital need was the physiological need. It is only after the accomplishment of this particular need that the role of other factors comes to the equation. In the case of our research of the volunteer fire fighters, the want for safety as laid behind in the need hierarchy holds significance. The individual mind and senses are more motivated to do better in an environment where the safety measures are good. This is why the primary research of the fire fighter volunteers and their motivation will also consider the element of safety in their work environment and job design. Gidron (1978) carried out a wide research in an understanding of volunteering motivation. For this reason he based his research on the studies and theories of Herzberg two factor theories. This two factor theory, as reviewed above, focused on both the intrinsic as well as extrinsic motives behind a working person. Gidron was one of the first researchers who believed that extrinsic factors might be found in the general drive to work in volunteers. He believed that volunteers were working for either the intrinsic motives which focused on self accomplishment and working towards the growth of a positive relationship with the society or towards things that are extrinsic, in an indirect way. This might comprise the need to gain some work experience that may come in handy in the future. For this reason he carried out a study which involved 317 volunteers across four different institutions. The call for was to be able to spot the co relationship that might exist between different motivation factors and the age of the individual. He rounded it up that volunteers who were grown-up were actually more interested in volunteer work for intrinsic factors and it was the younger volunteers where work experience and indirect extrinsic factors also played some part on the whole motivation . To better know how to attract and retain volunteers, it is imperative to identify key motives of individual volunteers and their effect on pro-social attitudes toward helping behavior (Bussell and Forbes 2002). (Reed, Aquino, and Levy 2007), theories of altruism and helping behavior suggest that intrinsic rewards and satisfaction from helping others are primary motives for volunteering The theory laid down by Vroom with respect to the performance of employees, efforts made and returns seen is also highly relevant (Vroom, 1964). Vroom believed that the prize that is seen at the end of an effort is the root of motivation in a human being in the work setting. This compensation may come in different forms. A positive compensation will reinforce the behavior of better efforts in the work setting. This compensation may or may not be financial. A compensation can also be something intangible such a recognition of services or a public acknowledgement of the efforts made by an individual. Brewer et al. (2000) built up their research on the grounds of the 40 articles listed down by Perry and verified motivational attributes. They came up with four categories of motivation in the public services two of which are highly relevant in our study as well i.e. humanitarians and communitarians. The subject that often revolves around Public service motivation is whether it can be actually used for the good of positively influencing the motivation level of employees in public service. This work now more looks into the way the human resource management and higher performance could be ensured through better thoughtful of motivational factors in public service. Basics such as recruitment, selection, screening, retention, job performance and satisfaction are important to understand in public service context as per the research scope of this paper. In the case of nonprofit organization, more than 60 percent employees in a research carried out by Paul (2002) said that they worked in the organization with the motive to make a difference in the community. The lesser the economic incentive for working in an organization, the more probability there is that the intrinsic factors constitute the motivational force for the workers. His research concluded that workers in such environments e mphasize on making a difference as well as a shared vision of the work place (Paul, 2002). Compared to workers in the private sector, these employees and workers were more responsive to factors such as being of help to the public, being able to make a difference to the community and doing a job which has meaning. As all these entail commitment to serve the community. The role of fire fighter entails a commitment to doing a job: fighting fires and taking care of communities. Jules Naudet (2002), a filmmaker who filmed the fire command activity in the World Trade Centre, said, Theyre fire fighters, theyll put the fire out, that is what they do. Fire fighters did their job on September 11 because it was their job. They identified with the job and with the role the job of fire fighter imposed on them; they were committed to that identity, and it predicted their behavior. Commitment is a multidimensional construct that links individuals in varying ways to a superior, to a work group, to an organization, and finally, to a served community. We will test this four-dimensional measure of commitment on a small sample of firemen. This study suggests a direction for research into the connection between commitment and behavior. In the CBS documentary 9/11, a probationary fire fighter comments on his very small payroll check, saying that if he wanted money, he would have been a lawyer, but I wanted something that I could live with for the rest of my life. I can live with this. In the same documentary, a fire chief says that when he gets up in the morning he wants to feel good and to look in the mirror and know that I am doing something with my life. Dennis Smith (2002) reports a story about a retired fire marshal who bemoaned the death of a fellow fire fighter who was repelling when a rope broke. Another fire fighter responded by saying, Remember this, its part of the job (50). Fire fighters commit to an identity that requires heroic behavior. Identity theory dictates that they act altruistically because that is what is expected. Fire fighters do their job in order to maintain internal congruence and because others expect them to act as their job requires.1 In these cases, we see commitment directed toward the role-most notably, a job that entails responsibility to safeguard the welfare of others. Fire fighters are not the only professionals in this category. We include other public-sector careers, such as police officers, teachers, and military personnel, and private-sector occupations, such as flight attendants and doctors. These jobs require the person to uphold a higher standard, and they are expected to do what is required to maintain the safety of their charges. They do well because it is their job to serve the community. Volunteerism also plays a critical role in the functioning of marketing systems, and therefore investigating volunteer activities on an individual level has important micromarketing implications (Laverie and McDonald 2007). During the year ended September 2006, 61.2 million Americans volunteered for an organization at least once, representing 26.7 percent of the population (U.S. Department of Labor 2006). In Australia, 5.2 million people (or 34 percent of the Australian population) participated in voluntary work in 2006 by contributing 713 million hours to the community (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007). These volunteers now recognize they have the freedom, capabilities, and confidence to address chronic social problems in their societies, such as inadequate health systems, entrenched poverty, environmental threats, and high-crime rates among other social ills (Bornstein 2004). For example, volunteer numbers at the Olympic Games have gone from almost zero in the 1980s to 40,917 accredited volunteers used in conducting the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney (Green and Chalip 2004). In retrospect, researchers have concluded that without these volunteers, the Sydney Olympic Games could not have been produced. An additional dimension for societies that host special events such as the Olympics is that such events are now used in the economic and social development strategies of cities, regions, and countries to win positioning as a favourable destination for business, investment, and tourism. It is well understood that volunteering can also have a positive impact on the volunteer themselves, as well as on society as a whole. Volunteers live longer, have better mental health, have higher occupational prestige, and have greater employment opportunities than those who do not volunteer (Wilson and Musick 1999). Brooks (2008, 183) notes that charity brings happiness for psychological reasons because it gives individuals a sense of control, while volunteering time can provide an important way to mentally reboot and redirect energy away from personal problems. These benefits translate into reduced health care costs, greater productivity, and higher QOL, directly benefiting society as a whole. DECLINING VOLUNTEERS The National Association of state foresters [1993] affirmed that since the early 1970s, state and local governments have been concerned with the decline in volunteer firefighters. A 1993 study published by the National Association of State Foresters reported a national drop in active volunteer firefighters from 884,600 in 1983 to 815,500 in 1993, an 8 percent decline in 10 years. Explanations for declines in volunteer firefighters have been attributed to national social changes, difficulties in finding new volunteers, and problems with retaining existing volunteers. According to a 1998 National Volunteer Fire Council and United States Fire Administration report, Retention and Recruitment: Problems and Solutions, 11 factors have contributed to reductions in the number of men and women joining and remaining in the volunteer fire service. These 11 factors included time demands, training requirements, increasing call volume, changes in the nature of the business of firefighting, changes in urban and suburban populations, changes in sociological conditions (two-income families and time demands), leadership problems, federal legislation and regulations, increasing use of combination departments, higher cost of housing (in affluent communities), and aging communities. The Pennsylvania fireman [2004] asserted that the impact of these and other factors has made it more difficult for VFCs to recruit and retain members. A 1992 survey by the Pennsylvania Department of Community Affairs (now the department of Community and Economic Development) found that 79 percent of the responding VFCs reported problems with recruiting, 51 percent reported active membership declines in the prior decade, and 37 percent reported no growth in membership over the prior decade. One implication of this decline was that 61 percent reported problems with insufficient volunteers responding to Monday-to-Friday daytime emergencies. The study concluded: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.requirements on volunteer time has increased. If there are no more or even fewer volunteers, then there are fewer people bearing a larger share of the workload. Prolonged situations like this lead to disenchantment and burn-out. The 1998 National Volunteer Fire Council and U.S. Fire Administration report, mentioned previously, also found that volunteer fire service is a tradition in many generations of firefighting families, but that, unfortunately, it is also a tradition in danger of weakening and possibly even dying out. The report also says: Fire departments can no longer count on the children of current members following in their parents footsteps. Nor can they count on a continuous stream of local people eager to donate their time and energy to their volunteer fire department. Departments cannot even rely on members staying active in the volunteer fire service for long periods of time. Recognizing that many VFCs are facing a recruitment problem, the council noted that recruitment solutions must begin with an assessment of VFCs staffing needs and the volunteer skills and abilities most needed to maintain VFC performance. The report found that person-to-person recruiting by active volunteer firefighters was the most successful recruiting method and that many retention problems could be traced to the following sources: demands on volunteer time and the need for increasing firefighter training requirements, additional call volume, changes in economic and social conditions in suburban and rural areas, and VFC leadership problems and internal conflicts within the fire company. Participants targeted leadership issues as the most important problem for retention across the country. This sentiment was echoed in numerous other studies that pointed to poor leadership and management practices as one of the main reasons volunteers left the fire service. An unpublished State University of New York at Buffalo Ph.D. Dissertation (Sargent, 1992) on satisfaction and retention of volunteer firefighters found that altruism ranked first as the most satisfying reason for volunteering. The eight top reasons for active firefighters to stay on the job were altruism, skills, thrills, work environment, management, social relations, material issues, and recognition. Retention policies identified as important by the active volunteers were management quality and skill development, quality of the work environment, and altruism. The researcher also noted that the lack of VFC leadership and management skills might be retention issues worthy of further investigation. Fire service reports written over the past 30 years indicate Pennsylvania VFCs were experiencing increased difficulties in recruiting and retaining sufficient active fire company members. Furthermore, there is a distinct risk that some rural VFCs lack sufficient active firefighters to adequately respond to all emergency service calls. The Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institutes 2001 report, Funding for Pennsylvania Emergency Services à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Beyond 2001, stated a concern that VFCs were experiencing a steep and steady decline in the number of volunteers attracted to these vital services in Pennsylvania. The continuing decline in the number of active rural volunteer firefighters may eventually force Pennsylvanians to pay directly for fire protection. In July 1999, DCED reported that the average wage and benefit compensation for a paid firefighter was $55,000. The Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute (2001) calculated that staffing 2,000 fire companies would cost municipalities about $2.2 billion. Fire service studies [1994] suggested the most serious fire company problems involve recruitment, retention and volunteer availability to respond to calls, followed by a lack of funding sources, absence of community support, issues involving insurance costs, training requirements, and government regulations. Rural VFCs vary greatly in their ability to recruit and retain volunteer staff. To encourage recruitment and retention, most published reports suggested financial benefits be used to recruit and retain volunteer firefighters. While volunteer fire chiefs and firefighters encourage public and private financial incentives to support their firefighting mission, financial benefits represent only one part of a complex story. According to the volunteer fire service [1998] although money may assist and encourage volunteer firefighters to join and remain active members in their VFC, financial benefits are not the primary reasons why individuals choose to become and remain volunteer firefighters. While many fire service reports reviewed provided policy suggestions, these reports did not prioritize their suggestions. Furthermore, no field tests were conducted to discover which recruitment and retention policies were most effective in influencing individuals to become volunteers and remain active. Therefore, little empirical data concerning volunteer firefighter motivation exists. Todays Volunteer Fire Companies According to the U.S. Fire Administration [2005], in 2005, there were 17,438 all-volunteer fire companies in the U.S., or 72 percent of the nations 24,294 fire companies. The states with the most VFCs were Pennsylvania, New York, and Texas, each with more than 950 VFCs. On a per capital basis, however, the states with the most VFCs were North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont, each with more than 25 VFCs per 100,000 residents. Nationally, Pennsylvania ranked 17th in the number of VFCs per capital. United States Fire Administration [2001] data showed there were nearly 431,500 volunteer firefighters nationwide. Forty percent of these volunteers were found in Pennsylvania and the six surrounding states of Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. On a per capita basis, the most volunteers were in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont, each with more than 450 volunteers for every 100,000 residents. Nationally, Pennsylvania ranked 8th in the number of active volunteer firefighters per capital. Throughout the U.S., the average VFC had 25 active members. The states with the most active firefighters per VFC were Delaware, New York and Maryland, each with more than 50 active members per VFC. Among the 50 states, Pennsylvania had 33 active members per VFC, or the 8th highest number in the nation. Benefits Provided to Volunteer Firefighters According to National volunteer fire council [1998] among the 50 states, volunteer firefighters received a variety of benefits. Benefits were grouped into five categories: workers compensation, death benefits, retirement pension, property or income tax rebates, and health care benefits. According to data from several sources, 44 states, including Pennsylvania, provide workers compensation benefits for volunteer firefighters injured or killed while on duty. Twenty-seven states provide death benefits, and 20 states provide retirement pensions. Seven states provide income tax or property tax rebates and only one state, Louisiana, provides volunteers with health care benefits. It is important to note that not all benefits were mandated and some VFCs do not participate. According to national fire protection association [2001] survey of State Fire Officials through the interviews with 41state fire officials in 32 states, the researcher found general agreement about the increasing problem of finding volunteers who would respond to Monday-to-Friday daytime emergencies. For example, an official from Illinois estimated that 25 percent of VFCs sometimes were unable to respond to daytime emergency calls, while officials in Delaware, Nevada, and Texas said up to 50 percent of VFCs were sometimes unable to respond during weekdays. To solve this problem, an Ohio official said that his state is looking into paying part-time firefighters to cover trouble areas during weekdays, but funding may be a problem. When asked why there were not enough firefighters available during the weekday, the officials said that in rural areas more volunteer firefighters must commute long distances to their jobs and thus are unavailable for daytime fire emergencies. Current critical issues Willing [1994] asserted that state officials suggested that volunteerism, in general, was decreasing, and thereby negatively effecting recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters. Other critical issues included funding, firefighter deaths by heart attack, increased firefighter training and qualification requirements, and new responsibilities for homeland security. State officials also mentioned the need for additional technical training for new hazards, such as biological and chemical spills. Many state officials suggested that communication with local community and municipal leaders needs to be improved. Firefighter Training According to the interviews, most states required little or no formal training or qualifications to serve as a volunteer firefighter. Officials explained that since most states do not fund firefighting training, they have no power to enforce any training requirements. VFCs are community-based and do not pay much attention to state training requirements unless there are financial incentives. Most states had a formal state fire academy that provided free or discounted training and certification for volunteer firefighters. State fire academy courses were offered free in 18 states, including Pennsylvania. Other states offered training at low or reduced costs. One of the more innovative education programs was in Kentucky, where a fleet of trucks delivers free comprehensive firefighter training to local VFCs. This mobile fire academy provides local training without the expenses of travel, food, and lodging. Pennsylvania has an Academy on the Road program that has prove d quite popular with rural VFCs. Volunteer Firefighter Incentive Benefits Officials said they believe nonfinancial incentives are more effective at motivating and retaining volunteer firefighters than financial benefits. A common opinion was that financial benefits do not motivate volunteers; however, constant fire service related expenses made it difficult for volunteers, especially those with lower incomes, to continue their volunteer service. One of the most essential research methodologies and survey was done by McEwin and Jacobsen-D`Arcy in 1992. The research methodology and principle will also aid in the research work in assessing motivation of fire fighters as volunteers. The research carried out by McEwin and Jacobsen consisted of around 280 volunteers who came from a wide array of organization. The research was based on three separate stages. The first stage was focused on 40 volunteers who came from two organizations. They were given checklists, asked open ended questions and given the liberty to explain why they volunteers as well. On the basis of the participants and a literature review, there was the development and formulation of the final questionnaire with 15 categories. In the next stage, this survey was distributed to over 200 volunteers based on which the volunteer motivation inventory was developed consisting of forty statements. They came up with 8 motivational factors on a 5 point Likert scale which the research have decided to use in this research work. The eight motivational factors that were utilized include values, career, personal growth, recognition, hedonistic, social, reactive and reciprocity. Let us look into each one of this factor for a better understanding of the inventory Values: The individual might have strong personal or family values which have a relationship with volunteering. Every human being has a set of values and volunteering might be a constituent of this set Career: The individual might be taking part in volunteer services for the purposes of acquiring experience and field. These volunteering services might in the end help them in their professional career or help them in finding jobs Personal Growth: The individuals personal growth needs are often met by the volunteering services Recognition: The individual might be motivated by the ultimate recognition that might be received for the volunteering services that are given. This means a satisfaction of the recognition of contributions that are made to the society Hedonistic: This is associated with the happiness that might come with the act of being of assistance to the community Social: This a way of finding a pleasant feelings in the social construct of volunteering where they interact amongst each other and build their personal relationship network Reactive: The individual might be taking part in volunteer services as a reaction to a past incident. Therefore, this act might in fact be a need to address a personal past issue Reciprocity: The individual might see it as an equal exchange and views it as an act of higher good Pennsylvania Volunteer Fire Companies According to a 2005 report by the Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, there are 2,354 VFCs in Pennsylvania; 40 percent are located in rural counties. Fire Chief Interviews The researcher interviewed 35 fire chiefs from across rural Pennsylvania. The chiefs were asked to comment on volunteer firefighter retention, recruitment, training, certification, leadership, female firefighters, financial support, and municipal relationships, and to offer recommendations for fire company best practices. The chiefs identified career requirements as the main factor affecting the retention of volunteers. Firefighters who move away for job pursuits or who must commute long distances for work affect volunteer turnover the most. Adding to the turnover rate is the realization of how much time is required to obtain training and assist with fundraising. These requirements put too many time constraints on firefighters and keep them away from their families. Several chiefs offered that both good and poor leadership would affect retention of volunteers. Successful recruitment often stems from a new volunteer having a family member or friend already involved in the fire company. The chiefs offered that active firefighters must make a concerted effort to recruit new community residents and not simply rely on existing residents. Some also noted their success in recruiting college students. The chiefs expressed some skepticism about recruitment programs that rely too heavily on newspaper ads, open houses, or apparatus demonstrations. A personal one-on-one approach was cited as the best recruitment method. A wide variety of perspectives were offered with regard to female firefighters. Some chiefs expressed concerns about the physical demands of the job, while others were confident of a womans ability, citing active and successful recruitment of women. Many volunteer fire companies recruit members in the 14-to-18- year-old age bracket as a result of visiting local schools and youth groups, such as the Scouts. Some chiefs also mentioned that a number of volunteers referenced presentations made while they were in elementary school as having a lasting impact. For many VFCs, part of the recruitment screening effort involves an interview, a criminal background check and, for some VFCs, a drug test. The degree of screening varies among fire companies from a written process to a personal interview. Oftentimes, members vote to accept or reject new recruits. Chiefs said that during the selection process, it is imperative to present a realistic description of the demands of volunteer fire service, including the need to complete the 88-hour training requirement. All chiefs cited the need for physical conditioning and many did not view age as an issue. The cost of maintaining a fire company is of great concern to the chiefs participating in the interview. They said volunteers understand that active service costs money, since many must purchase their own safety gear. This prompted statements about the need for financial support to cover the cost of firefighter training. Chiefs said that while most volunteers do not want to be paid for their services, they would like to have funding for new apparatus and equipment. Some chiefs suggested state income tax credits, educational tuition assistance, a pension program, and free license plates as legitimate incentives and rewards for people to serve as volunteer firefighters. It was evident from the interviews that some rural VFCs have mixed relationships with municipal officials. Some chiefs enjoyed strong working relationships that included significant financial support. Others stated that municipalities within the VFC service area do not accept any responsibility for funding. The chiefs discussed conflicts over how