Project Management Process Groups and the Six Questions in Pmlc

Mapping the six (6) questions to basic Process Groups of the PMBOK methodology. According to Wysocki (2012, p. 25) ‘Project management is a set of tools, templates, and processes designed to answer the following six questions: What business situation is being addressed by this project? What do you need to do? What will you do? How will you do it? How will you know you did it? How well did you do it? ’ Wysocki (2012, p. 4) also added that; ‘In addition to answering the six questions that a valid project management methodology must answer, whatever project management life cycle model you use must contain all of the following Process Groups; Scoping (PMI calls the Initiation), Planning, Launching (PMI calls the Execution), Monitoring & Controlling and Closing. The process groups will each be completed and in sequence, some or all of them may be repeated a number of times’.PMI recognized the five process groups and nine knowledge areas to make up the Project man agement Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). PMI also identified the five process groups as building blocks of every project management life cycle. Scoping is identified by PMBOK as Initiation. Projects brainstorming, client need analysis, resource requirements, documentations and management approval are handled at this stage. This stage clearly answers questions like; â€Å"what business situation is being addressed? † and â€Å"what needs to be done? †.Key inputs at this stage can include contracts from the clients, deliverables from a company’s annual business plan, policy, procedure and other social factors where the project will be cited. The outputs of scoping process group are Project Charter and Preliminary Project Scope Statement. Scoping is aimed at addressing the business situation at hand by indicating what needs to be done. For example, IT projects scoping in NLNG activities are handled by a multi-disciplinary team of subject-matter experts (SMEs) – in cluding IT eams from Strategy and Planning. The whole team reports to IT projects review team of senior management positions to secure management approval on the project. Planning follows Project Charter and Preliminary Project Scope Statement produced by the scoping activity to establish project objectives and how to go about achieving such objectives within the project scope. Planning will answer the questions; â€Å"what to do? † and â€Å"how to do it? by setting clear objectives for the project, allocating resources, identifying the best-fit model, setting milestone/targets throughout the project lifespan, etc. A Project Management Plan is drawn up at the end of the planning process. For example; in NLNG a three-year IT projects plan document is updated with latest approvals, milestones and closeouts to produce what is called â€Å"IT Master plan for the year† which various project managers use throughout the year in implementing IT projects.Launching/execution w orks with the Project Management Plan to deploy human and material resources to ensure all deliverables are achieved as planned. The question of; ‘how will you do it? † gets answered here. Project management plan is the only input here and it must be strict to objectives, targets and specifications. The output at this stage a performance according to plan. In NLNG, IT project teams work across company locations in line with IT Master plan all through the year.Monitoring and Controlling process group ensures projects are run in line with targets by identifying KPIs for periodic monitoring – based on client’s requirements in the project plan. Changes to project scope, budget performance, maintenance/repairs to project equipment, etc, are all represented here in an attempt to answer the question; ‘how will you know you did it†? Project deliverables are only recognized at this stage. Key inputs to this process group are KPIs of the launching/executi on group while their output is the project delivery/milestone status.In NLNG, various teams are involved in monitoring and controlling projects. Ranging from the Cost Controller who monitors budget and reports cost (work-in-progress), through quality assurances and process auditors who ensure compliance with procedure, risk management and corporate governance. Closing process group collates all deliverables and closes all sub-process when a project is adjudged completed. Contracts and procurements, manpower engaged, work-in-progress close out and so many other project administrative supports are rounded up here.At this stage, the final product derived from the project is presented to the client according to specifications. The question of â€Å"how well did you do? † will be answered when client approves of the output, asset/output gets installed, audit tests post-implementation status and a final report submitted. In NLNG for example, IT projects are closed with a report and a â€Å"go-live† activity. In conclusion, the questions of what business situation to address and what needs to be done are critical success factors to any project.The Project Charter and Preliminary statements derive from such questions and are therefore essential to how a project plan is developed with achievable objectives, what resources are required to launch/execute the project, how to monitor and control parameters and when to identify project ending and close out. Wysocki (2012, p. 9) aptly captures this in his definition of project as; ‘a sequence of finite dependent activities whose successful completion results in the delivery of the expected business value that validated doing the business’.Therefore, until a business need is identified, there cannot be a project. Reference: 1. Project Management Institute (undated). Available online at; http://www. pmi. org/pmief/learningzone/KCMA_Curricula_Documents/Lesson_1-Five_Processes_Definitions. pdf (Accesse d 23rd March, 2013) 2. White, D. (undated) ‘The 5 project management process groups’. Articles Dashboard, Available online at; http://www. articledashboard. com/Article/The-5-Project-Management-Process-Groups/484871 (Accessed 23rd March, 2013)

Analyzing Supply of Demand Simulation

Analyzing Supply of Demand Simulation ECO/365 January 31, 2010 Analyzing Supply of Demand Simulation Supply and demand is a significant element of business procedures thus this paper will evaluate how supply and demand affects a business via a simulation provided by the University of Phoenix. In this paper, I will talk about the reasons for changes that occur in supply and demand. I will talk about how shifts in supply and demand influence the organization’s decision making process as well. I will also cover the four key points established within the reading assignments and how they relay to the simulation and how every theory can be related to situations in a workplace environment. This paper will establish how price elasticity of demand influences the decisions of the consumer and the organization. Changes in Supply and Demand There are quite a few factors that influence supply and demand in the simulation. These factors demand for the apartments, the availability of the apartments, the price of the apartments, the quantity of people or renters who are interested. According to the simulation, a demand curve is downward sloping. During the simulation, as the price of the apartments decreased, demand for them increased. The supply curve, however, is sloping upwards. The number of two-bedroom apartments increased as the price increased. An excess in the industry for the apartments make use of downward demands on the price for the apartments. So therefore in order for GoodLife to attract renters, they would need to lower their prices. Shifts that Affect Decision Making The different shifts in supply and demand affects decision making in several ways in regard to the simulation. In the simulation the changes that GoodLife were trying to make as well as the changes in the population of Atlantis had an effect on the supply and demand of the simulation. Since the renters changed their preferences, the demand for the apartments that GoodLife offered decreased. GoodLife then decided to renovate the apartments and make them into condominiums that they could for sell. By doing this, GoodLife caused a decrease in the supply as well as a decrease in the demand. Given that, the supply and demand curve equally moved to the left. Four Key Points Four key points in the simulation were supply and demand, equilibrium, shifts in the supply and demand, and price ceilings. The simulation is based on supply and demand and is very helpful in understanding the different factors that can affect it. According to the simulation, a demand curve is downward sloping. According to our text, a demand curve illustrates how a â€Å"change in the price level will change aggregate expenditures on all goods and services in an economy† (Colander, 2010). In reference to the simulation, as the price for the apartments decreased, demand increased. The supply curve, on the other hand, is upward sloping. The number of two-bedroom apartments increased as the price increased. Equilibrium is a concept in which opposing dynamic forces cancel each other out. In other words, equilibrium can be described as the position at which quantity demanded meet up with the supply that is presented. The quantity demanded will surpass the quantity supplied which can possibly lead to shortages, if prices are below the equilibrium point. At this point, the prices have a tendency to rise in order to increase the supply until the equilibrium is met. A shift in the demand curve can occur because of a change in the income, a change in the price or a change in tastes. A shift in the supply curve can because of change in the costs of production, a change in technology, or a change in price of goods. A price ceiling takes place when the government places a legal limit on how high the price of a product can be. In order for a price ceiling to be successful, it must be put below the market equilibrium. Applying Simulation to Workplace The impact of supply and demand changes can have a big influence over the software industry. The technology involved in the software industry never really stays at the same level because technologies constantly change. However, if you were to take a closer look at things, computers and software evolve about every six months to a year and half; hence the reason technology is the constant factor that prompts change in the software industry. Elasticity of Demand Price elasticity of demand refers to the way prices change in correlation to the demand. People with lower incomes are inclined to have lower price elasticity because they have less money to spend. People with a higher income are inclined to have higher price elasticity since he can afford to spend more money. In both cases, â€Å"ability to pay is negotiated by the intrinsic value of what is being sold. If the thing being sold is in high demand, even a consumer with low price elasticity is usually willing to pay higher prices† (WiseGeek,  2010). Basically, goods or services presented at a lower price lead to a demand for greater quantity. Price elasticity of demand also explains that price becomes more elastic, because consumers can always choose to buy a good or service that is cheaper, in this case, prices will change with demand. In addition to this, completion for a certain good or service can also affect price elasticity of demand because it keeps prices lower. In summary, according to the simulation process, the demand curve is sloping downward, which causes the quantity demand to increase as the price decreases. The suggestion was for the management company to decrease its rental rates, which would therefore increase the demands for apartments. The supply curve is sloping upward, so therefore the quantity supplied increases as the price decreases. As stated, the quantity demanded balances out the quantity supplied at the equilibrium point. Nevertheless, when prices are below equilibrium, the quantity demanded surpasses the quantity supplied. In retrospect, when prices are above equilibrium, quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded, which cause an excess. References 1) WiseGeek. (2010). What is Price Elasticity of Demand?. Retrieved from http://www. wisegeek. com/what-is-price-elasticity-of-demand. htm

Why Do I Want to Teach

I was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. I attended NYC Public School 77, JHS 127 & Alfred E Smith Technical & Vocational HS. The Glee Club under the direction of Edna Floyd was my first step in to the world of music. It was in elementary school, that I received valuable training in singing as well as music theory and history. I marched in the drum line as a member of the New York Lancers Jr. Drum & Bugle Corps based in the Bronx where many of my instructors where themselves, public school educators. After 3 years with the Lancers, I decided to Audition for the Garfield Cadets, a drum corps from Garfield, NJ. Garfield competed on a national level where the competition level was very high. We captured the world championship title four out of six years as a marching member and one of two years as an instructor. We won the best percussion trophy twice scoring a perfect score for one of the wins. It was at Garfield where I began to develop very valuable teaching skills under the direction and guidance of some of the best educators in the activity. I have taught many young people in various places of different ages, races and economic position. Young people want to be challenged and they love to develop skills they never knew they had. Most of all, they love to play music. The benefits conveyed by music education can be grouped in four categories: * Success in society * Success in school * Success in developing intelligence * Success in life I can teach & train your percussion ensemble if one already exist, or we can start one up, either way the students get great training and information but most of all we have fun. We can have the group training culminate with a recital where the musicians get to perform live. Students learn a combination of marching and hand percussion techniques. It’s fun for those looking for a musical outlet as well as those who desire to study music in college. I believe that music education is a very important element to the development of a young mind. Scientific evidence proves that an education in the arts makes for better math and science students and enhances spatial intelligence.

SHELL ETHICAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS Coursework

SHELL ETHICAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS - Coursework Example cial markets are the key to explaining the large influx of foreign capital into emerging markets as well as its rapid departure during times of crisis. Transparency in global financial markets prevents foreign investor overreactions due to unclear market signals, quicker and smaller adjustments by investors in responding to new information, advance planning by local firms in supervising investment flows, and greater market efficiency. Global investors also demand greater market transparency, hoping that the greater flow of information regarding the actions of governments and firms in emerging market economies will allow them to better manage their investments. While few governments, banks, or private firms disagree the imporant need for an increased level of transparency, transparency still proves to be an elusive goal. These international financial institutions rely on their multilateral mandates for surveillance, financial data collection, and data diffusion. In addition, these institutions also have to contend with a whole panorama of transnational, multinational, domestic, and international persons regarding the preparation of financial information and the dissemination of the financial information. Transparency in busines is an excellent global governance strategy. Transparency needs to standardize all of the regulatory processes through which financial information is prepared for the global investor. The regulators also need to examine the specific procedures that govern the diffusion of this data. The financial information that helps investor decision encompass credit ratings, bond ratings, and measures of interest rate and exchange rate risk. The data is useful when the processes through which this information is produced are standardized across markets. The data must also highly accessible to the global markets. (Shuster, 2000) Banking can be a hugely profitable endeavor. In addition, the synergies between commercial banking and investment banks merge:

Demography of Yemen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Demography of Yemen - Essay Example It is to be noticed that this huge economic gap between the Arab countries is a recent phenomenon. In 1960s this gap was quite narrow with the exception of Kuwait and Libya. In 1968 the per capita GNP in Sudan was $130, $190 in Egypt, $290 in Syria and $500 in Saudi Arabia. But five following factors dramatically widen the gap since 1970s. (Winckler, 2005) The important factor of the poor socioeconomic condition in Yemen is political instability which hampers the socioeconomic development plans. Thus, despite the extensive natural resources of oil Yemen remains the poorest countries of the world. Encarta defines demography as "the study of human populations, including their size, growth, density, and distribution, and statistics regarding birth, marriage, disease, and death" The term demography hoists many images. Some people take it as set of numbers and tables to others it is a target group of commercial organizations trying to sell their products. All these views support the static entity of population. But to demographer it has dynamic aspect for the population is changing in many facets. (Winckler, 2005). The changing factors are fertility, mortality and migration. "Other dynamic aspects are the spatial distribution and various socioeconomic characteristics of the population that affect each of the demographic parameters of any given society." (Hameuchad, 1995) The population growth rate remained close to 3. 5% and it makes Yemen the fastest growing country in the region. "Yemen's estimated population of 20m is projected to grow to 70m by 2050." (Oxford Business Group, 2008) Yemen: Economic and Demographic Indicators. 2006-11 Population Population Growth % GDP At current prices GDP Per capita (at PPP) Average household size Labor force Unemployment Rate % 2006 21,622,000 3.08 19,106 884 710 7,287,212 26.2 2007 22,290,000 3.09 21,664 972 710 7,578,593 27.7 2008 22,978,000 3.09 25,863 1,126 710 7,881,885 29.9 2009 23,678,000 3.09 31,577 1,333 710 8,197,253 27.3 2010 24,398,000 3.00 34,261 1,404 710 8,349,000 27.1 2011 25130,000 3.00 35,511 1,453 710 10,612,036 27.1 Source :(Oxford Business Group, 2008) Indicators 2008 1995 2005 2015 2025 Population Midyear population (in thousands) 23,013 14,864 20,745 29,193 39,696 Growth rate (percent) 3.5 3.0 3.5 3.3 2.8 Fertility Total fertility rate (births per woman) 6.4 7.4 6.7 5.8 4.7 Crude birth rate (per 1,000 population)

Hershy's Strategic Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hershy's Strategic Planning - Essay Example This promotional strategy was the biggest marketing activity of the company which became one of its strongest core competencies. Other major competencies include its purchase of British candy maker Cadbury Schweppes PLC’s US business in 1988 and many other candy, pasta and ice-cream manufacturers in the United States. Continuous new product developments other than chocolate through acquisition of different confectionery product manufacturers in US have become its major core competency as well as a competitive advantage. Hershey has maintained the leadership position in the global chocolate industry through effective brand presence in sixty countries in the world. It has 43% market share in the chocolate market and 18% market share in the non chocolate candy market. The company is globally recognized by top brands like Hershey itself, Kisses, Kit Kat, Reese’s, Almond Joy, Twizzlers, York and Jolly Rancher. Hershey’s has retained 30% market in the global confection ery market that is near about double of its nearest competitor. Hershey’s has the opportunity to expand its areas of core competencies in other areas of its business which are: strong distribution channel through franchises, efficient management, product quality and many impressive brands. These can become its competitive advantage. The company exports its product to most of its foreign markets. So, it can manufacture in different countries to cut down the cost of distribution mainly to reduce the price which might be one of the competitive advantages to compete with the domestic brands of each foreign market. The Hershey’s brand is well popular for its quality and it needs to concentrate on low fat and calories product and also sugar free candies so as to attract a particular demographic segment of customers who do not enjoy chocolate because of health consciousness (Zhang, 2001, p.26). 2. Internal strategies The company’s internal strategies lie in different a reas of its business, like innovation in the product quality with respect to change in lifestyle and food consumption habits of the worldwide consumers. Also, an important strategy would be environmental free packaging as a way of taking on effective social responsibilities. ‘Hershey’s’ needs to concentrate on the quality differentiation of the existing products with respect to competitors’ product rather than focusing on the product differentiation. The brand has a market presence in more than sixty different markets in the world but they have to consider the similar taste and preference of the consumers. It needs to differentiate taste and preference with respect to consumer’s choice of each different location so that it can compete with the local players in foreign markets. Apart from categorizing product by geographic segmentation it also needs to concentrate on producing low fat and sugar free products to extend its target to a different segmen t of people who do not like chocolate and other confectionary product for health considerations. Most of the Hershey’s products have packaging that is not environmental friendly. The packaging is also one of the major criteria for the food products especially for the confectionary products. Although the brand have attractive packaging which is essential for promotion as well as being a quality indicator but they also need to

Poetic Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Poetic Analysis - Essay Example And, there is a proportion among poets who bring these situations and incidents into a written form, using the realistic or fictionalized version of the real life happenings as the base. Beautifulness and tragedy in poem comes out in the words that are used, objects that are handled, concepts that are discussed, etc. Likewise, the English poets, Felicia Hemans and Lord Byron have penned poems bordering on both beautifulness and tragedy, particularly about human relationships influenced by the events they knew. So, this paper will contrast and compare the treatment of relations between men and women in Hemans’ â€Å"Indian Womans Death Song" and Byron’s â€Å"Don Juan†. Felicia Dorothea Hemans is the 19th century English poet, who wrote a lot of poems basing most of them on the travails of women. In her works, she brought out the different problems faced by the women of those times, both in their personal fronts and from the society. So, most of her works bordered on sentiments, with â€Å"Casabianca,† being the well known one. In her other famous work, â€Å"Indian Woman’s Death Song†, Hemans again focused on the tragic problems faced by a married Indian woman due to the extra martial relationship of her husband. Driven to despair because of husband’s abandonment, the woman with her child takes a deadly ride in a canoe down the Mississippi river. While rowing the canoe only, she sings a mournful death song. The death song gets overpowered by the river’s sound, as she gets drowned in the raising water. On the other hand, George Gordon Byron, the English poet, focused on the travails of a male protagonist. Lord Byr on in his poem â€Å"Don Juan† discusses the legend of Don Juan, but with a slightly different perspective. That is, he portrays Don Juan not as the stereotypical womaniser but as a gullible person, who can be easily seduced by women. That

John Rawls' Theory of Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

John Rawls' Theory of Justice - Essay Example This social contract is the basis in which people can live in harmony and is necessary because humans are social animals and the absence of any social contract will tend to destroy any society as there will be deviants in it. A theory of justice as propounded and conceptualized by John Rawls depends on two things: the original position which is highly hypothetical in that the principles of justice are selected and implemented from his so-called â€Å"veil of ignorance† in which people lack any ulterior aim or motive and therefore presumed to act in the best interests of everybody in that society. In his theory, the original position assumes everyone starts out being equal initially and gradually in turn seeks out the best possible solutions in which possible gains are maximized and possible losses are minimized (the maximin principle) in a heuristics fashion (a trial and error method). Everyone works for the betterment of everyone and disregards any probable gains for oneself (without hidden agendas or ulterior motives whatsoever). The veil of ignorance presumes a lot in a world in which men are naturally greedy and works against the principle of basic instinct in which the rule of self-preservation often prevails. I would dare say it is not a workable idea at all since it assumes complete innocence and conflates all people into one (Freyenhagen

I want to buy health insurance by myself Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

I want to buy health insurance by myself - Essay Example Thus, this factor underlines the case importance of medical cover, which comes in a variety of programs for an individual to make a choice. As students, we also need to plan for any misfortune, since we cannot tell of future occurrences. However, what happens when you cannot rely on a program meant to help you in case of a misfortune? Does such a program guarantee you a safe future? While acknowledging the Oklahoma Christian University Administration’s noble intentions in their medical cover program, this expose posit that the cover does not meet its intended purpose and hence the administration should allow students to arrange for their own cover. The initial purpose of any health insurance, or a medical cover, is to ensure that there was proper care of an individual’s body and health. In this regard, a medical cover should be a permanent arrangement that we can all rely on and avail at the appropriate time in case of a serious health disorder. In this regard, an individual’s health is at risk once the medical cover is not dependable. Case in point, our University’s medical cover is not one of the reliable. For instance, a colleague became sick, while in school, and we had to dig deep into our pockets and arrange for an ambulance, which took him to the hospital. This is despite the fact the colleague had paid for medical cover in the University. Thus, the failure of the University to meet such basic costs underlines the undependable nature of the medical cover. At this instance, we pause and ask the question of what would have been the consequence of us not raising money for the ambulance. This can only m ean that the investable would have happened. While medical cover should keep you insured against serious illnesses, our University cover does not cover even the most of basic illnesses like vision and teeth. We all know that

Innocent Drink Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Innocent Drink - Essay Example The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategies that had been adopted by Innocent Drinks to become one of the most popular brands in the fruit smoothies market. The aim is to evaluate ways in which a company had implemented its strategies to rise from a humble beginning and becoming a major market player. One of the most interesting facts about this company is that its organizational structure has gone through massive changes that had impacted overall business. The organizational structure of a company refers to its shape or hierarchical structure. The organizational structure describes allocation of tasks, supervision and coordination that helps in achieving desired goals. In case of Innocent Drinks, the company was set up by Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wrigh and was initially funded by Maurice Pinto (a wealthy businessman). The company had a little more than hundred staff while commencing the operations. There was minimal hierarchy in the organization. The unique feature about Innocent Drinks is that it does not own any of the juicing facilities. The company simply contracts the work of manufacturing smoothies to different sites. The growth of the company in first six years of its establishment is nothing less than a success story. By 2005, the company became the fastest growing smoothie company in U.K. Constant product innovation has been one of the most important factors that had contributed to growth of the company. The reason behind growth of the smoothie market in U.K. can be assessed with the help of PESTLE factors. Political: The political environment in the U.K. is stable that had enabled fast growth of the fruit smoothie industry. The U.K. government required a smoothie manufacturing company to state whether the products that is being produced is either concentrated fruit juice or pure fruit juice. Also, the government had been promoting anti-obesity campaigns and promoting development of health drinks (Rao, 2004). Economic:

Hulu Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Hulu - Research Paper Example This paper will discuss the history of Hulu, as from 2007 to 2012. The name or phrase Hulu came from two Mandrin Chinese words, hu and lu meaning interactive recording (Hulu 1). The Hulu venture was made public in March 2007. Its main partners were MSN, AOL, Facebook, MySpace, Comcast and Yahoo. The company’s CEO was and still is Jason. He was made CEO in June 2007 (Barnett 1). The phrase Hulu was selected in August 2007, when the website was made official and started to stream. Hulu first invited its users to give them their email addresses for an upcoming beta test. Hulu began, in October 2007, the private beta testing through invitations (Barnett 1). After that, the network allowed its users also to invite their friends to the website. However, Hulu first launched for public access on 12th March, 2008, in the United States (Hulu 1). The first product to launch was HULU Syndication network. The network was developed and designed by the NBCUniversal team from New York. Hulu.com destinations site was the second product to be launch by Hulu ( Barnett 1). The network started an advertising campaign in NBC’s show of Super Bowl XLIII, with an ad featuring Alec Baldwin. The advertisement was titled Alec in Huluwood. The advertisement, aimed at humorously portraying the shocking secrets behind Hulu, made the site to look like an evil plot planning to destroy the globe. The ad suggested that Baldwin was, in fact, an alien in disguise (Barnett 1). However, advertisements kept on flowing throughout the media with media personalities such as Seth MacFarlane, Will Arnett, Eliza Dushku and Denis Leary. Disney made public, on 30th April, 2009, that it would be joining the venture and purchased a 27% share of Hulu (Hulu 1). During an industry conference, on 21st October, 2009, Deputy Chairman of News Corporation, Chase Carey argued that Hulu needed to advance in order to have a significant subscription

Blind people on China Essay Example for Free

Blind people on China Essay There are 5 million blind people in the whole world. And China is taking the first place of this problem. China accounts about 18% of blind people. Most of them can’t live independent; they all need someone’s help. Also we can know that 90% of blind people are living in modern cities. For example: Beijing (capital), Shanghai and etc. Ð ¢he total number of blind people in China at any given time expressed as a percentage of the total population is around 0. 4%. According to the facts from internet, the countrys ever-increasing blind population has already exceed the total population in such countries as Denmark, Finland or Norway. In the whole world main problem ob blindness is cataract. Because of only the cataract blindness accounts 2. 5 million people in the world. Each year about 400,000 people become blind in one moment because of it. Cataract predominantly a disease associated with ageing. According to the famous Chinese websites, we can know that the reason of blindness in China not only cataract but also it include cornea diseases, trachoma, glaucoma. I took some interviews from 2 Chinese people. When I talked to my Chinese teacher from high school I was pretty surprised. First she told me about problems of blind people. It started past years ago, when with time there are more and more blind people was with the same objects to government. Chinese population doesn’t respect blind people. They are behaving to them very bad. Population doesn’t see any personality in them. They are acting to blind people like to animals. And every time people’s words were such a: â€Å"Blind people-they are not independent, they can’t help to our country. They can’t do anything. They are not useful for China. † So in my mind first thought was government in China need people only for useful thing? It’s so selfish and not correct. I think everyone will agree with me. Nowadays there’s so many ways to cure blind people. According to the facts from the Internet 80% of blindness possible to cure. It was many accidents when even young people didn’t help to blind old person. And with years there are more and more problems. How my teacher said government first didn’t take it such a big problem, but with time when there are more people with objects and arguments to them, they started to pay more attention to blind people. In 2011 many of them were really angry to the government. Hundred blind people want government to allow them come with dogs to public places. Because how I said before they all need help. They thought if they can’t come with dogs, they couldn’t even come inside of any places. Some of them can’t do it only with walking stick or every time hope to theirs hearing. And till now they are trying to get an access for that. Only part of public places allowed them come with dogs. But they are also good people who are trying to make blind people’s life easier. For example my guardians Chinese friend said that, one Chinese scientist developed a cheap e-notebook for blind people. He told me only that information, without any details, so I searched in Internet more about that e-notebook. The e-notebook, called B-Notes, allows people to take notes or memos using Braille or by recording speech. It is similar in size to a mobile phone. B-Notes makes use of technologies developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Computing Technology (ICT), including translation software. Prototype e-notebooks were trialed on ten blind people last month. Wang Xiangdong, technical leader of the ICT team that developed the device, says that Braille can be conveniently input using a panel on the e-notebook. And when [B-Notes is] connected to a computer, the Braille-Chinese translation software can be used to convert Braille into Chinese characters automatically, he says. Currently, there are almost 39 million blind people in the world, according to the WHO. And according to the China Disabled Persons Federation, there are more than 12 million visually disabled people in China. Wang said that the basic technological research for the e-notebooks has been completed and they are expected to be available in China later this year at a cost of 500 to 800 RMB. The e-notebook has three main features. First is the Braille input. The e-notebooks input panel has an array of mini keys that allows users to type. Second is the intelligent translation system, which is up to 95 per cent accurate. When the e-notebook is connected to a computer, pre-installed software moves all Braille in the device over to the computer and translates it into Chinese characters. Third, the e-notebook has a voice interface. There are voice prompts to guide users through the devices various operations. Currently, the notebook can only translate Chinese Braille to Chinese characters. But Wang says that if other countries express an interest in the device, it will be possible to produce e-notebooks that translate other versions of Braille into other languages. The blind people who tested the prototype notebooks told developers that they found them portable and easy to use. According to WHO website The goal of the Chinese Ministry of Health over the coming years is to reduce the prevalence of blindness in the country to less than 0. 3%, i. e. almost by half. And it really makes happy that, government paying more attention to blind people nowadays. How I read with every year they are opening more school for blind people. Also it is increasing accounts of hospitals where people can help to this nondependent people and make theirs life easier. They were some accidents when some of them cured of blind. Also I heard that most professional people who are doing massage all are blind. China has some hospitals with this course. Where they are teaching them. In my opinion, they have to pay more attention to blind people. And give them more good conditions. Make rules that everyone should respect each other, especially blind people. Government should ask them what they need, what help they want from government. China should open more clinics and hospitals for poor people. Who can’t pay to theirs treatment. They also need help from others. They should allow to blind people come with dogs in public places. And I can make conclusion from all of it that government should heed to them.

Intelligence Test Use Bias Education Essay

Intelligence Test Use Bias Education Essay Bias in test use occurs when deficiencies in the test itself or the manner in which it is used result in different meanings for scores earned by members of different identifiable subgroups (American Educational Research Association [AERA], American Psychological Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, 1999, p. 74). Bias in testing has been of interest since the origin of testing. Students referred for an assessment to determine special education eligibility are given standardized cognitive and achievement tests administered by a school psychologist or educational diagnostician. These tests are part of a comprehensive assessment which includes measuring general intellectual ability, specific cognitive abilities, scholastic aptitude, oral language, and academic achievement. Data from these tests are important in determining eligibility for special education placement. This paper will review the literature that addresses the test bias associated with intelligence test use as it is used to assess special education students for initial and continued eligibility for services. This literature review will examine race, culture and gender as it relates to test bias. In addition, it will briefly review the literature surrounding the significant litigation pertaining to test bias in intelligence testing of special education students. The literature dealing with standardized testing is broad and includes some issues of testing non-disabled students because many issues are relevant to all students. Far from being a neutral practice, intelligence testing perpetuates and intensifies educational inequities in two ways: through the misuse of test scores; and because test bias works against the interests of students from low-income groups, racial and ethnic minorities, girls and young women, and students with disabilities (Froese-Germain, 1999). The goal of this research is to identify the major theories and opinions related to intelligence test bias and issues relating to the use of these tests with respect to overrepresentation in special education. Intelligence Test Use Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, mandated free and appropriate public education for children, ranging in age between 3 and 21, who have disabilities (Mercer, 1991) and identified eleven qualifying categories. In 1990, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) included two more categories in the definition of disabilities for a total of thirteen. As these disabilities are categorized, testing, classification, and placement in special education programs are unavoidable (de la Cruz, 1996). The primary criterion in identifying students with learning disabilities is the discrepancy between achievement and intelligence (Mercer, 1991). Siegel (1989) disagreed with this fact and stated that IQ tests are inaccurate and irrelevant in the qualification of learning disabilities. The use of IQ tests for the purpose of qualifying students for special education placement is at the forefront of the test bias controversy. Despite this fact, IQ tests continue to be used to identify students for special education. Racial Bias Jensen (1980) has published what may be the most comprehensive review of racial bias in psychometric tests. His review, with others (Brown, Reynolds, Whitaker, 1999; Cole, 1981) concluded that there was little or no evidence of bias against minority students in intelligence tests. Gutkin Reynolds (1981) agree that there is no evidence of bias with respect to ethnic background when interpreting IQ scores. Rock Stenner (2005) measured intelligence tests as a predictor for achievement test and came to the same conclusion. They found no evidence of racial bias. Brown, et al, further concluded that the major constructs underlying intelligence tests are comparable across ethnic groups. Weiss, Prifitera, and Roid (1993) researched the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III; Wechsler, 1991). They concluded that WISC-III scores predicted grades and achievement test scores for samples of Hispanic-American and African-American students as well as they did for White students. Critical surveys and critical analyses of available studies have failed to support the hypothesis that ability tests are less valid for African-Americans than for Whites in predicting educational performance and similar results have been obtained for Hispanic-Americans (Anastasi, 1998, p. 197.) Assessment bias in special education is part of the larger debates about race, intelligence, and inequality in society (Herrnstein Murray, 1994; Mensh Mensh, 1991; Snyderman Rothman, 1988). In the Journal of Black Psychology, Onwuegbuzie Daley (2001) claimed that Herrnstein Murray subscribed to the hereditarian or classicist theory of intelligence. They further elaborated on the eight premises linked to this theory. Suzuki Valencia (1997) stated that although hereditarians claim that African American and Hispanic students are classified as special education due to genetics, evidence suggests that environmental factors such as racism and poverty are to blame. Shephard (1987) argued that item response theory explained a small but significant portion of the variance in Black-White test score discrepancies. Blanton (2000) determined that there was race and class bias in intelligence testing with respect to Mexican Americans and African Americans when compared to white students. However, some of the bias is attributed to the unintentional racism of the testers themselves. Cultural Some of the literature addressed the issues of test bias with respect to race and ethnicity as cultural. However, Curran, Elkerton Steinberg (1996) studied the use of intelligence testing with American Indian children. In this study, they used two different intelligence tests in an attempt to identify test bias in the most widely-used measure of intelligence, the WISC-III. Their study did not determine a significant difference. Therefore, no test bias was identified in the use of these tests for determining intervention needs. As the United States population becomes more diverse and multicultural, more controversy regarding assessment bias in special education is expected (de la Cruz, 1996). The results of studies regarding the cultural bias of standardized tests have not had unanimous outcomes. Valencia Aburto (1993) studied the use of intelligence testing with respect to Chicano students. They found that this testing played a role in ability-level grouping and tracking in elementary and secondary schools. However, no test bias was found between Chicano and white students with respect to construct validity (terms tend to be more familiar to one group than another.) This is consistent with Reynolds Gutkin (1979) study of Anglo and Chicanos students referred for psychological assessment. Gender Stone Jeffrey (1991) studied the use of intelligence tests to predict achievement for males and females. Their study concluded that intelligence tests predicted achievement equally for each sex. In addition, they found the intelligence tests were not biased and not responsible for the disproportionate number of male students in special education. Maller (2001) studied differential item functioning (DIF) with respect to males and females. Although one-third of the items she studied presented DIF, she reported that the WISC-III did not exhibit test bias. Hale Potok studied the sexual bias in the WISC-R with respect to the overrepresentation of boys in special education classes. They found that girls scored five points higher than boys. Although the results were statistically significant, they were not practically significant. Interestingly, the sample was entirely white children of lower to middle socioeconomic status from a rural area. Litigation Surrounding Testing Bias The direction of special education has been influenced by the court decisions on test bias. Test bias concern, coupled with overrepresentation in special education led to court cases concerning minority disproportionality. The California Department of Education agreed in Diana v. State Board of Education (1970), to (a) test bilingual children in both English and their primary language; (b) delete unfair verbal items from the tests; (c) reevaluate all Mexican-American and Chinese students enrolled in classes for individuals with educable mental retardation, using nonverbal items and testing them in their native language; and (d) make IQ tests that incorporate Mexican-American culture and are standardized only on the Mexican-American population (Salvia Ysseldyke, 1995). Many of the facts pointed out in Diana v. State Board of Education found their way into P.L. 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975) according to MacMillan, et al, 1988. Zurcher, 1998 states that the regulations arising out of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (IDEA; the reauthorization of P.L. 94-142) state that testing and evaluation materials and procedures used for the purposes of evaluation and placement of children with disabilities must be selected and administered so as to not be racially or culturally discriminatory (section 300.530). The case of Larry P. v. Riles (1972, 1974, 1979, 1984) brought attention to test bias. In this case, six African-American students in the San Francisco Unified School District complained about the unconstitutional number of African-American students that were identified with educable mental retardation and placed in special education classes. The presiding judge in Larry P. v. Riles (1972/1974/1979/1984) agreed with this concern. Thus a court order banned the use of standardized IQ tests in California stating that they disproportionately assign Black and other minority children to special education programs. Additionally, Larry P. v. Riles brought the stigma associated with classification as a predictor of educational failure. Reschly (1980) stated that the banning of IQ tests may prevent single factor discrimination, but would negatively impact the economically disadvantaged minorities who may require a disproportionately greater share of special education services. Therefore, this decision may help some students, but may also hinder the opportunities of other students. In PASE (Parents in Action on Special Education) v. Hannon (1980), the ruling was that one item on the Stanford-Binet and a total of eight items on the WISC [Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children; Wechsler, 1949] and WISC-R [Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised; Wechsler, 1974] were culturally biased against African-American students, the use of those items does not render the tests unfair, and would not significantly affect the score of an individual taking the tests (as cited in Rothstein, 1995, p. 102). This case did not see the same results as Larry P. v. Riles because they were not the only bases for classification beca use multifaceted testing was also used (Turnbull, 1993). Additionally, the evaluation procedures section of the IDEA regulations outline specific procedures to address difficulties that culturally diverse students may have with language on tests: States and other evaluation agencies shall insure, at a minimum, that: tests and other evaluation materials are provided and administered in the childs native language or other mode of communication, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so (section 300.532). MacMillan and Balow (1991) focused on inconsistencies with the state of Californias protocol for testing African-American students which led to their conclusion that the Larry P. v. Riles case does not apply to students of other backgrounds. In addition, MacMillan, Hendrick, and Watkins (1988) determined that the Diana v. State Board of Education and Larry P. v. Riles cases did not serve in the best interest of minority students in spite of being favorable rulings. Larry P. v. Riles was revisited in 1993. The issue at that time was the discrimination against African-American students because the use of IQ tests had been previously prohibited. One of the main determinants for students being qualified as learning disabled is a significant discrepancy between ability and achievement. Without the use of an IQ test to determine ability, African-American students were not able to meet the criteria for learning disabilities. The judge allowed the administration of intelligence tests to Afri can-American students (Salvia Ysseldyke, 1995). Standardization with Respect to Testing Traub (1994, p. 5) states that Standardization means that the scores of all students tested can be fairly compared, one against the other à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the essential requirements are that the conditions of administration and scoring be the same for all the students who are tested so that their scores can be compared. There is a great deal of research to support the flaws in standardized tests. FairTest (the National Center for Fair Open Testing in Massachusetts) states that a standardized test (all students take the same test under the same conditions) consistently under-predicts the performance of women, African-Americans, people whose first language isnt English and generally anyone whos not a good test-taker. This group would clearly include those individuals receiving special education services. Froese-Germain (1999) contends that there are eight consistently identifiable reasons that standardized tests are inadequate for assessing student learning and development: (1) Many ty pes of student ability are not captured by a standardized test; (2) Tests may be standardized, but students are not; (3) Standardized tests designed for large numbers of students are of necessity very general in nature; (4) Standardized tests typically measure lower-order recall of facts and skills, and penalize higher-order thinking; (5) Because standardized tests are designed to sort individuals into groups, test questions are chosen on the basis of how well they contribute to spreading out the scores, not on their centrality to the curriculum or their predictive validity; (6) Test performance is shaped by individual characteristics not related to content knowledge; (7) Test preparation and administration take up valuable classroom time that could be used for teaching; and (8) Teachers are induced to teach to the tests rather than for learning with the result that curriculum is becoming increasingly test-driven (Meaghan Casas, 1995). Additional factors identified by Meaghan Casa s (1995) include costs, inability to identify and improve ineffective school programs, and the shifting of responsibility over curriculum to the government and the testing industry. All of these factors involve bias at some level toward the test taker. Overrepresentation in Special Education In 1980, Reschly reported that a great deal of attention has been devoted to enhancing the usefulness and fairness of assessment in classification/placement decisions in recent years. In 1981, Reschly stated that IQ tests were only a small part of the problem of overrepresentation in special education. In 1984, Reschly reported that although the literature stated that overrepresentation was due to bias in tests and possibly even racism, a very small percentage of minority or majority students had been placed in educable mentally retarded programs. Additionally, no significant disproportionality exists with more severe handicaps with respect to race, social status, or gender (Reschly, 1981.) He further reported that overall, IQ test use protects many students of all races, social statuses, and genders from erroneous and inappropriate classification. Conclusion All tests and/or testing/evaluation procedures have limited value with reference to certain individuals or certain groups within the overall population. This is true particularly regarding economically deprived and/or minority group children, and when age/grade norms are used, with male children as well. (Magliocca Rinaldi, 1982). This argument goes to the credibility of using multiple assessments to determine special education qualification, not simply standardized tests. To address the influx of current buzzwords pertaining to multi-factored assessment with regard to current evaluation and placement procedures, Magliocca Rinaldi state that there is simply a greater need to implement procedural safeguards to prevent possible discriminatory practices in this process. This would, in turn, reduce test bias concerns. Snyderman and Rothman (1987) found that the school psychologists and education specialists they surveyed believed that intelligence and standardized tests appropriately measure the significance of success in society. However, although Snyderman and Rothman believed these tests held significance, they also viewed the tests as racially and socioeconomically biased. These viewpoints substantiate how some tests simply do not measure what they are being used to measure. Tests do not tell us anything; their data always require interpretation in the case of an individual child (Mearig, 1981). In summation, Standardized test scores are becoming the mechanism that facilitates a number of questionable education practices that contribute to education inequity. (Froese-Germain, 1999). The misuse of standardized testing is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦moving us away from a more inclusive model of education. (Meaghan Casas, 1995). Additionally, it à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦accounts in large part for the disparity in achievement observed between American White students and those from minority groups, as well as between students from higher- and lower-income groups (Darling-Hammond, 1991). Oakes (1985) concluded that misuse of standardized testing hurts low-income and minority group children, and that it not only reflects but perpetuates class and racial inequalities in the larger society. Using a method of testing already biased against certain groups of studentsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦only adds insult to injury. Gardner (1983) stated that only if we expand and reformulate our view of what counts as human intell igence will we be able to devise more appropriate ways of assessing it and more effective ways of educating it (p.4).

Developing Wireless Communications to Space Essay example -- Science O

A big potential problem in the future is developing a wireless communications network in outer space. In this paper we will discuss the problems presented with this and the potential solutions to these problems using existing and some futuristic technology. We have broke this into two main parts, one being earth to satellite to planet and back, and the other being planetary ground transmission to and from astronauts to rovers to space stations. The solution has already started being implemented and will continue rapidly into the near future. It is called the Interplanetary Internet. As of now it is an array of floating 'nodes' or satellites scattered around in space that can communicate with each other. In the future a backbone of satellites is envisioned with their own high speed protocols. There will also be large antennas on earth and possible other planets hundreds of feet high, amplifiers scattered throughout space, photovoltaic powered satellites, and high precision equipment on multiple planet surfaces. The architectural concept to this is deceivingly simple. The first part is developing Internet protocols to form local networks in quiet environments with little delay. This could be done with free flying spacecraft here on earth or another planet. The second part is to develop a deep space structure of satellites interconnecting LANs. This includes multiple space based data relay satellites. The third part is implementing a new overlay a new protocol concept called bundling to tie together the Internets. This is based on a routing concept in which multiple messages will be bundled and sent through a series of Internets. The problem with this is not the same as here on earth. Here it is billi... ...face devices completed the elements of the hardware setup. (NASA Takes..) In conclusion the improvements to the current inter-planet system of communication involves increasing the number of nodes in space, development of peer to peer hardware nodes and improvement of protocols to deal with long delays and interference. Works Cited NASA Takes the Internet into Space. 13 Dec 2003. TechNewsWorld. 10 April 2007. . Mars Wants Wi-Fi!. 15 Jan 2004. Wi-Fi Planet. 10 April 2007. . NASA tests WiFi mesh networks. 22 March 2004. GCN. 10 April 2007. . NMSU researchers helping NASA develop systems to transmit data from Mars. 14 Oct 2004. SpaceRef. 10 April 2007. .

Heaneys Poem Follower Essay -- Heaney Follower Essays

Heaney's Poem "Follower" Follower is a poem about the poets love and admiration for his father. It is also about the changes that occur between father and children as children move out from their parent’s shadow. In the first half of the poem the poet draws a vivid portrait of his father as he ploughs a field. The poet, as a young boy, follows his father as he goes about his work and, like most boys, he idolises his father and admires his great skill, ‘An expert. He would set the wing and fit the bright steel – pointed sock’. In the poem, Heaney looks up to his father in a physical sense, because he is so much smaller than his father, but he also looks up to him in a metaphorical sense. This is made clear by the poet’s careful choice of words. An example of this is in the lines, ‘His eye narrowed and angled at the ground, mapping the furrows exactly.’ These words effectively suggests his father’s skill and precision. We are also told that young Heaney ‘stumbled in his hob – nailed wake,’ which brings to our mind a picture of the ploughman’s heavy boots, the carefully ploughed furrow and the child’s clumsy enthusiasm. The poet uses onomatopoeic words to capture the details of his father as he works the plough. At the end of the first stanza he describes him leading the team of plough-horses, instructing them with his â€Å"clicking tongue†. In the second stanza his father guides the horses with â€Å"a single pluck Of Rains†. It is interesting that the onomatopoeia here emphasises the great skill with which the poet’s father controls and guides his horses. It shows again his â€Å"expertise† and ease with the animals as he ploughs the field into furrowed lines. In the second half of the poem, the focus shifts... ... burst" shows growth and reproduction. Heaney's school teacher, Ms Walls, is hiding the reality of reproduction from the young children as they are not yet ready to accept the reality of the situation. He is disgusted at the thought of reproduction because he sees things through the surrealistic eyes of a child because of the stage he is at. He isn't ready to accept sex. He can't rationalise. Puberty makes him feel guilty. In the end he runs away, "I sickened, turned and ran", which shows that he has not fully grown up. In this poem, Heaney uses terms we do not expect to see in poetry, and presents nature as the very opposite of beautiful. Heaney shows how children are very ingenuous and naà ¯ve and see the world as being very pure and wholesome just as it is in their imagination. He also shows that there is a transformation from childhood to adult hood.

Goodisons Absolute Essay example -- essays research papers

Goodison’s Absolute In For My Mother: May I Inherit Half Her Strength, Goodison publicizes the private issue of her parents’ less-than-perfect marriage, and, in turn, unfolds a powerful dialectic on female self-sacrifice and subjectivity. She wonders at the prolonged strength of her mother- a woman who, regardless of being the victim of an unfaithful marriage, neither confronts nor flees her fate. And at the core of Goodison’s poem is her own conflicted decision, as the female product of this union, to define her mother’s attitude as unwavering strength, worthy of reverence, or as passivity, masked by nonchalance. The title of this work illustrates this ambiguity: does the clause â€Å"may I inherit half her strength†, translate into â€Å"may I be permitted - by the same mysterious influence that affected my mother - to remain strong just like her† or â€Å"may I never allow myself to be quite as tolerant as she was.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the first stanza, Goodison suggests that the â€Å"absolute,† â€Å"my mother loved my father,† had governed her perspective of her parents’ marriage for twenty-nine years. Its indisputability may have functioned as a motivation for her father’s on-going extra-marital affair(s). But even more explicitly, this absolute implied that despite the pain inflicted by her father, â€Å"whom all women loved†, Goodison’s mother’s love remained unshakably loyal, and that that was somehow all that really mattered. At least, up until Goodison wrote this poem. â€Å"In this my thirtieth year/ the year to discard absolutes† signals Goodison’s revolt against this belief that had relentlessly threatened to break her mother’s â€Å"straight-backed,† fronted dignity and that absolved the indifference of her father’s â€Å"always smile†. The lack of control of Goodison’s writing in the first stanza points to something deeper about her relationship to this absolute. Since absolutes are characteristically irrefutable and deemed factual, I had expected that Goodison’s writing would have illustrated the finiteness of this absolute by sealing it with a full stop. However, here, in the most transparently opinionated stanza of her entire poem, there is no punctuation whatsoever; each distinct thought simply spills into the next, and even farther into the following stanza where her topic diverges. It is difficult to say whether or not Goodison’s omission was deliberate; noneth... ..., â€Å"on her wedding day she wept† and at its setting. She endured â€Å"better† and â€Å"worse† and at last, â€Å"she fell down†¦to the realization that she did not have to be brave, just this once.† Her tears functioned to honor the sacrifices of â€Å"her body†¦ twenty years permanently fat,† of her sewing machine, the emblem of her livelihood, to pay her daughter’s â€Å"Senior Cambridge fees,† but also to purge â€Å"the pain she bore with the eyes of a queen.† Nevertheless, mingled with Goodison’s mother’s sorrows, are tears of love for the husband that betrayed her. For My Mother makes a complete revolution, in that it begins with the acknowledgement and criticism of Goodison’s mother’s love for her mother and ends with the reverence for this kind of love that, a seemingly astonished Goodison, cannot comprehend. Even after giving justifications of why her parents’ marriage was far from ideal, the absolute that she so wanted to discard in the first place looms over her unaffected and, of course, undisputed. In an alpha and omega fashion, this absolute in Goodison’s work proves its place amongst other absolutes as an unfathomable force that refuses to be contested and most assuredly, will not be discarded.

In what ways and to what effect, does Milton use comparison in Paradise Lost Book II? Essay

Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems of the 17th century, written by John Milton. This is a poem of twelve books describing the fall of man in blank verse, in a manner that is at par with Virgil’s Aeneid for the Romans and Homer’s Iliad for ancient Greece. Milton has several ways of using comparison, which he uses profoundly throughout Book II. Allegory, allusions, contrasts, the comparison between heaven, earth and hell, and the different arguments in the book are the most significant and prominent in his poem, and both pertain to his grand style as well as his motifs. Towards the end of book II, Milton presents an allegory of the two figures Sin and Death at the gates of hell who represent their respective abstract ideas and principles, which he develops throughout the entire poem. As they are abstract ideas, they cannot be visualized, thus Milton gives them physical attributes to further allude to the ideas they represent. Sin is described as â€Å"†¦ woman to the waist, and fair, But ended foul in many a scaly fold Voluminous and vast, a serpent armed With mortal sting.† (II.650-53) With this description, it’s clear to see that Sin is an allegory of Eve because Eve is also beautiful and â€Å"fair† on the outside, but deep inside is evil and tempted by a â€Å"serpent†, even if she is not composed of one. Also, Sin explains how she was seduced by Satan, and as a result of their fornication, conceive Death. She then explains how Death raped her â€Å"†¦in embraces forcible and foul† (II.793) and created monsters that are â€Å"hourly conceived And hourly born, with sorrow infinite To me;† (II.797-99) Both Eve and Sin are seduced by Satan, have excruciatingly painful labor, and bring about the beginning of mortality for all of mankind as a result of sin. Milton has created Sin as an allegory of the whole concept of sin, and furthermore, suggested that women accomplish their sin by being seductive and beautiful, yet evil and serpent-like. Death on the other hand, is a shadow-like creature, described as having a â€Å"†¦head The likeness of a kingly crown had on.† (II.672-73) He is allegorically the consequence of both Sin and Satan’s sin. Interestingly enough, Death is in control of his condition, and instead of enduring suffering himself, he enjoys inflicting human pain. This can clearly be seen as a symbolic, comparative representation of death on earth and how it often inflicts human pain, as well as the way in which us humans are not in control of it. The effect of this comparative literary technique enables the reader to stretch the imagination in order to effectively draw symbolic conclusions and make logical deductions. Another effect of this technique is that it introduces multiple interpretations. For example, another interpretation of Sin and Death is that they could be the pathway for humans to enter Hell through Death, and Sin could simply be one who has paved that way by giving birth to eternal mortality, or alternatively they could be an allegory of The Holy Trinity. These different interpretations lead to a deeper understanding of t he poem, and make it all the more intriguing. As well as making allegorical allusions, Milton also makes allusions to other literary works. The first allusion he makes is in the first two lines of Book two; â€Å"High on a throne of royal state, which far Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (II.1-2) are an allusion to Ormus and Ind. Ormus is an island in the Persian Gulf, and Ind is an abbreviation for India. He makes reference to these places because they’re highly celebrated for their pearls and jewels. â€Å"Sage he stood, With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear The weight of the mightiest monarchies;†(II.305-7) is another allusion to the Greek mythological figure Atlas, who was able to carry the world. Milton uses references to specific people and places in order to emphasize and reinforce the grand stature of the character(s) he Is referring to, which in the above examples, would be Satan and Beelzebub respectively. Another purpose of his allusions is to further extend the reader’s imagination and understanding, whilst creating vivid imagery in the reader’s mind, through comparisons. Lastly, these allusions are important in his work because they not only make his writing exotic, but they also add a lot of weight and grandeur to his style. Another comparative literary feature that is quite prominent in Milton’s works is the use of contrasts, such as antitheses and oxymoron’s. These figures of speech are important in Paradise Lost because they are used to convey and accentuate vivid, yet unorthodox imagery. â€Å"To that bad eminence† (II.6) and â€Å"†¦this darkness light†(II.220) are among his many uses of oxymoron’s. This poetic device not only extends the imagery of the poem, but it also heightens the message or emotion behind it in a non-literal sense. A powerful example of antithesis which is not in Book II, but was still discussed in class is, â€Å"Hee for God only, Shee for God in him†. This is a powerful example because Milton has conveyed sharply contrasting ideas in an emphatic, yet adorning way. Accompanying this feature are the contrasts between light and dark to convey good or bad. With this, his contrasts also include high and low (in terms of altitude or status), and God and Satan. Milton’s strong imagery of light and darkness to convey these contrary ideas could be attributed to his blindness. Although he describes Satan as a powerful being, he generally describes hell as dark, fiery and very low, as opposed to heaven which is described as light and highly exalted. This can be noted in â€Å"What can be worse Than to dwell here, driven out from bliss, condemned In this abhorred deep to utter woe; Where pain of unextinguishable fire†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (II.85) and a few lines later he states â€Å"He from Heaven’s higth†(II.190) Contrasts like these are important because they help us to further extend our understanding of Milton’s paradigms of food and bad, and from this, we can deduce that the absence of light in Hell and in Satan symbolize the absence of God in all his glory. Milton’s contrasts of light and dark, and high and low to convey good and bad are also used to contrast Heaven, Hell and Earth. Milton presents a hierarchy based on the proximity to God. Heaven is at the top of the hierarchy where â€Å"Heaven’s high Arbitrator† (II.359) sits, and the primary quality is light. Hell is at the very bottom of the hierarchy and is portrayed as the antithesis of heaven, which is primarily dark. â€Å"As he our darkness, cannot we his light†(II.269) Is a phrase which best portrays the strong contrasts between the two places. Earth is depicted as the young, vulnerable middle-ground connected to both Heaven and Earth. It is also the battlefield that Beelzebub suggests they try to corrupt because he knows that although there is goodness on earth, it is not at par with that of Heaven’s, and is thus able to be defeated. It is portrayed as the neutral middle-ground by Beelzebub who states that the new race of man is â€Å"To be created like to us, though less In power an excellence, but favoured more Of him who rules above;† (II.349-351) Also, Milton’s geographical description of hell has similar physical features as earth (Mountains, rivers, valleys), however, the only difference is that hell has the worst in nature. Milton describes hell as â€Å"†¦dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land Thaws not,† (II.588-90) with streams â€Å"Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.† (II.581) By knowing that Hell is the degenerated form of nature, and that Earth is the middle-ground, we can deduce that Heaven is the more natural and aesthetically pleasing form of nature. This further highlights the hierarchical contrast between the three places. An interesting observation I made was that Earth is connected to heaven with a gold chain and connected to hell through a dark gulf (Chaos and Night). This shows the contrast between the journey to Heaven and Hell. Milton is implying that throughout life, Man must choose to make the difficult, strenuous journey up the gold chain into Heaven, or take the easy way and perambulate down to Heaven through the wide gulf. These hierarchical contrasts and comparisons not only give clarity to the settings in the poem, but also give us a deeper understanding of the nature of the characters in the story. Most importantly, it provides a philosophical and theological context for the poem and it gives us deeper insight into the beliefs and prin ciples that Milton adheres to, without being persuasive. The hierarchy and balance of good and evil are also portrayed and compared through the different speeches given by arch devils Moloch, Belial, Mammon and Beelzebub. Milton seems to depict a certain balance between good and evil or Heaven and Hell, and from that, it is clear that he believes that good will always reign over evil. The first arch devil to speak is Moloch. He proposes open warfare on a battlefield. He believes they have nothing to lose because â€Å"What can be worse Than to swell here, driven out from bliss, condemned In this abhorred deep to utter woe;† (II.85-87) So he clearly believes that nothing can be worse than living in hell anyway. Lastly, he says even if they are defeated in the battle â€Å"†¦if not victory, is yet revenge†(II.1.5). The second speaker is Belial who disagrees and suggests that they stay in hell in the hope that God will forgives them, or over time, they will grow used to the eternal pain and suffering. He has based his reasoning on the belief that even if God could kill them, he never would, and because he is almighty, he can see everything they are doing, and thus, they might be subjected to an even worse hell. The third speaker, Mammon, disagrees to both proposals and suggests that they build a kingdom in hell that will someday be equal to Heaven, because open warfare would be unavailing, and they would not want to go back to living in heaven eternally anyway. Finally, Beelzebub proposes that they do neither. He states that war will be futile because there is no place where God does not reign, so instead, Beelzebub tells them of a new race that God created called â€Å"Man†, and suggests that they seek revenge against him by seducing Man to their side. This is the decision that is unanimously agreed upon. All these proposal’s present Milton’s views about the balance of good and evil, as well as his theological beliefs. The first proposal is rejected because open warfare between Heaven and Hell would be ineffective as Heaven and righteousness will always conquer evil. Belial’s proposal is dismissed because the fallen angels would never be forgiven by God because evil will never go away, thus, the fallen angels will always exist. Finally, as Mammon suggests, there will never be peace between Heaven and Hell because Hell will never match up to Heaven’s greatness, and although Hell will always exist, it will always be under God’s control. The reason Beelzebub’s proposal is agreed upon is because Milton believes that Earth, and therefore Mankind, is the neutral, middle-ground between Heaven and Hell, Angels and Devils, as well as good and evil. It therefore serves as an effective battleground for good and evil forces on earth, as well as in the souls and consciences of mankind. The effect of these comparisons gives us further insight into the beliefs of the philosophical and theological elements in Milton’s time period, as well as the relative forces of good and evil, and how they effect the lives of mankind. In conclusion, there are various ways that Milton uses comparison in Paradise Lost, which each have different effects that range from the introduction of multiple interpretations, to simply extending our understanding of the story through vivid imagery. The comparisons that Milton uses are so complex that they are all connected in some way or other, and this alone gives us an even deeper understanding of the theological and philosophical messages conveyed in the poem. Ultimately, Milton’s intension was to tell the story of Man’s fall, and with his comparisons, he has managed to do much more than just that.

What Influenced Joseph Haydn’s Music

Joseph Franz Haydn was an amazing man. He was a very ambitious, hard working, a never give up type of guy. From what Louis Nohl said, Haydn started singing by age six and he was part of church choir. With all the fame and greatness, he would still achieve success coming from a poor family living in a peasant cottage. What really grabbed my attention was how Haydn loved practicing music and though with his many struggles Haydn always kept positive and a strong attitude. He would go against his family’s wishes along with starving himself throughout his youth to be part of music.Haydn taught me that do what you love to do and you will be great at doing what you love. Haydn’s organization and neatness in his music comes from his childhood, where he was taught from an early age very strictly to have a habit of organization and cleanliness (Nohl 8). His family would also sing together at the end of each day and Haydn loved music so much that he would practice the violin with a little stick who a neighbor noticed he had precise time and tone during the age of only 5 at the time (Nohl). I believe he is very organized from the music I listen to from him, an example is his movement 2 in his symphony #22 where you can hear the order of the melodies he performs. Haydn’s influences also came when he was in Vienna starting in 1750. (Nohl, Hadden). Haydn would receive nothing but music into his life; from books, to people he lived with, and to places he went. One of the people he studied under, according to Nohl, was a teacher of Italian opera named Nicolo Porpora. The Italian opera dominated Europe during that time. Fluid melodies along with clear and simple harmonic structure were the main points of the school. There were many works of the Italian opera made for the Prince at that time. Haydn had to compose operas for special events including marriages for the prince’s neice and later for his son in 1777. With the new development in music that Haydn made, Nohl also states that Haydn improved in his singing, compositions, and his Italian. Accordingly, Haydn developed a more refined melody and clearer harmonies in his works. Hadden shows that Haydn received many different types of musical influences; one being a poet by the name of Metastasio. Haydn had a lot of teaching and that strengthened his music skills and one of the students being taught the Harpsichord by him (Hadden). Haydn devoted himself to taking care of him self righteously, the Vienna Hofcappellmeister were his textbooks and he put them aside for weeks while continuingly reviewing them until he mastered them (Nohl 44). Haydn also played for Von Furnberg, the councilor at the time had Haydn compose him string quartets and gave him wonderful music for his chamber music. I think I learned a lot from Haydn not just from his music. It seems his success comes from his love for music and also his dedication to his work. I think anyone looking to become successful from a standpoint of low or middle class need to work very hard as Haydn did. Haydn was very interested in making money. In their sources, Haydn looked to play for weddings, churches, teach music, and more. Therefore, money had a large influence on Haydn and his music; another instance was his position with the count in 1759 where he was positioned as the Director. The symphony at the time consisted of an allegro, adagio, and a second allegro, which is three movements. According to Nohl, part of the reason Haydn became symbolized as â€Å"The Father of Symphony† was because he transferred three movements to the quartet and added the minuet, which became the fourth movement. Unfortunately, Haydn married a woman who was bad for his health, it was the count’s eldest daughter and she continually complained, asked for purchases that were more than Haydn can afford, and in many instances offended Haydn (Nohl 51). Haydn finally left her and found boarding for her but not after long years of toil and hearing her distress constantly, surprisingly for the most part Haydn kept his cool and still made wonderful music. Due to certain circumstances with the count, Haydn had lost his position there but shortly after Prince Esterhazy hired him, this was an important impact because Nohl said this secured Haydn as a composer for the rest of his life. Here, there were music of all types and Haydn was able to practice in peace and quiet (Nohl). Based on these circumstances, I believe that this gave a huge influence to Haydn with him surrounded by a versatility of music and the ability to focus composing because the lack of distraction. This is where Haydn had more than enough influence and his music life (or you can just say his life) took a turn in an immensely positive direction because Elaine Schneider writes that in Prince Esterhazy’s house he had to do administrative work for the musicians along with making compositions for the orchestra, chamber music, and opera performances. Prince Esterhazy knew Haydn after he performed his first symphony that he also composed and the Prince was impressed. Robbins/Landon 25) While working under Prince Esterhazy, had 11-12 string players, a flautist, two oboists, two bassoonists, two horn players, and a timpanist in the orchestra. There were also two violinists, a cellist, trumpeters and drummers. Sometimes all these instruments would come together for a special occasion. Haydn had a great sense of humor and that also influenced his music, you can hear his â€Å"surprise symphony† where it was very goofy and lazy melody to it. (Robbins/Landon 25) He would like to also have sudden outbursts of dazzle and high spirits in his music. His neatness and orderliness helped him get the most out of different types of music. With symphonies, he realized that instrumentals were more stronger and intellectual, as for serenades it was more suited for slow and sensuous instrumentals. Haydn was the first to invent inborn, free expressive, natural art to music and this is what Beethoven admired about him. You can hear in his music the emotions, characteristics, and expressions involved in almost all of them. Sadness, happiness, anger, humor, is some of the examples he puts up when he makes music. Nohl 79) Haydn executed works of art by expressing his ideas, thoughts, and feelings. This was particularly rare in that time; which was shortly after the Baroque era and the famous Bach along with other composers of the time mainly making church music. This attributed to his fame and success along with his constant love and perseverance throughout life. For this element of music he created, it aroused many including Beethoven and Mo zart. An example of his love and perseverance is when the musicians and singers sabotaged Haydn’s Italian operas in 1776 when he composed for the king’s court. Nevertheless, he still performed his works back at the house of the prince but not much because the prince’s house became on fire. After it took fire, Haydn already had copies made back in his house. This also helped me learn to have back up documents for my work at all times. Another large reason for Haydn’s musical excellence is due to his love of music. With this strong emotion, he was able to stand out from other musicians by being able to hold and develop an idea or feeling in his works. Many other composers would jump too fast and did not make an impact the human feeling. Many of his works comprise of human nature and characteristic to it. No. 5 is of complete buoyant human health and clearness. No. 7 gives a dark and strange twist and gives the feeling of an uneasy person. No. 8 has a beautifully melody along with a creative and intellectually composed harmony. His masterpieces would go to deeper depth, which included the operas; he was exceptional at bringing about problems and then solving them through intelligence without losing the feelings involved in the opera. A great influence on his music was Prince Nicolaus who during 1775 to 1785, who had Haydn compose so many Italian operas that Haydn barely had time to make other works (Robbins/Landon 53). The works he did compose outside of Italian operas, were very minimal and were less popular than most others. Though there were benefits with composing many opera works, it had enriched his technique and left him with new ideas that could be worked out in other forms, this way all his music benefitted from his concentration on music for the theatre. Haydn stated the works for his string quartets were made in a new and special way. Haydn stated that Mozart was the person who had an effect on him the most in his musical compositions and his rise to stardom (Nohl 93). The feeling was mutual; from Mozart’s letters he admired Haydn since he was a child. Around 1782, when many of Haydn’s works reached Italy it was all kept with joy and love, which influenced Haydn to make the same. Also, Mozart made six quartets for Haydn for his admiration along with writing a letter to him. Though Haydn never missed an opportunity to listen to Mozart’s works. At the end of 1790, the Price of Esterhaz had died and thus Haydn finally was able to leave Esterhaz and went to London. In his new location, Haydn now broadened his intellectual horizon and expanded on his development. Haydn later recognized some of Beethoven works and uniquely distinguished that his music had more developed and patterned symphonies, sonatas, along with quartets (Nohl 112). Haydn had done a lot of influencing to musicians and composers as well. Though Beethoven eventually became a more popular composer than Haydn, Beethoven was first a scholar of Haydn (Nohl 179). Haydn became a wealthy, famous person, known and visited from many high rank noblemen. He was asked by many kings and queens across Europe to perform music or work for them. The even greater aspect of all of this is that Haydn came from a small cottage house in lower Austria with not very much money and his father just a wheelwright. He is recognized in Europe as one of the best musicians who ever lived, even ranked close to Beethoven. What made Haydn’s music so amazing and wonderful was that it contained natural life and expression through them. He had a connection with nature in his music and he was a constant worker. He once stated in his old age how he is humble and grateful of all the luxuries he receives because of his success, but no one really know strenuous and the toil he has dealt with due to his hard work. Haydn’s musical success came from many different influences, the main factor being the love of music. It all started when he was a young boy when the family had everyone sing together, to studying in different schools, being taught by many including the famous poet Mestasio, and the constant work at Esterhaz.

Are we too dependent on technology? Essay

Our ever-advancing technological world is subjected to both amazement and criticism. Technology has manifested itself into a form like a virus imprinted into us. As a result of which a question is posed to all of society, or those mainly in use of technology, are we too dependent on technology? There are those who believe that technology has taken over our daily lives, those who think that it only stands to benefit us and some who don’t think or care about its effects. The consensus that we are becoming too dependent on technology is one not so unbelievable. We all know for the most part that technology has integrated itself to just about everything that we do. For example, how many times do you check your phone, or go online to check your email or even play a video game. These are common examples of things we do daily without even realizing that these technologies have taken over our lives. Read more: People Have Become Overly Dependent on Technology Technology can be viewed as a beneficiary to our lives rather than monster waiting to bear its fangs. It goes without saying that technology has both greatly improved our lives by making it simpler. Yes, technology has deprived us of some skills such as doing simple chore but the benefits outweigh its cost. For instance, the invention of the phone has revolutionized the way we communicate with others worldwide. Technology is only meant to make our lives easier. Being on the fence is a simple concept to understand, simply just can’t pick a side or don’t. Simply there are those who enjoy the use of technology, those who find it deprives us of mental growth and those who don’t care what happens when it’s used. Though technology can have a strong grip on our lives we aren’t stupefied without it. The matters of whether technology controls us or benefits us shouldn’t make a difference on how we live. We choose to live life like this and may or may not have known what might have happened, but once chosen there is no turning back. Overall, society today has accepted all technologies in one form or another.

Informatie Management

Does Telework increase productivity? Assignment 2: The proposition Bachelor Thesis â€Å" Does Telework increase productivity† Erasmus University Rotterdam Boudewijn Schuitmaker348393bs Robin Kettenes335450rk Marlot Sep 337273ms Bachelor Thesis â€Å"Does Telework increase productivity† Erasmus University Rotterdam Team: Group 6 (BA-02-06) Assignment number: 9 Date: 13-06-2012 Disclaimer: â€Å"This document is written by Marlot Sep, Robin Kettenes and Boudewijn Schuitmaker, who declare that each of them takes responsibility for the full contents of the whole document.We declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. RSM is only responsible for supervision of completion of the work but not for the contents. † Index Summary of the research proposal4 1. Preface6 2. Abstract7 3. Introduction8 4. Literature review12 5. Methods17 6. Results 19 7. Discussion26 Appendix28 Bibliography35 * Summary of the research proposal In this chapter a summary of the research proposal can be found. Summary| | Name instructor| Dhr. Nick van der Meulen| Team number| 6| Name student 1| Robin Kettenes|Name student 2| Boudewijn Schuitmaker| Name student 3| Marlot Sep| Proposition| Telework will lead to an increase in productivity| Focal unit| Employees who perform their work at other places than at the office itself, for at least one day a week| Theoretical domain| All employees who work at other places than at the office itself, for at least one day a week, in the Netherlands. | Concept 1 | Telework| Concept 2 | Employees’ Productivity| Type of relation | Causal| Minimum size of the effect for having managerial relevance| The minimal size of effect for having managerial relevance is 20 % increase of productivity. Typical parameter of effect size used in previous tests| Items scales difference in productivity means is used between t eleworkers and non-teleworkers. | Range of effect sizes obtained in the replication history| In the replication history on average an effect of productivity increase of 20% is measured by teleworking. (Newman, 1989), (Dubrin, 1991) and (Hartman, 1992)| Preferred research strategy| Longitudinal survey| Actual research strategy| Considering the research time (two months time) and the context of this research (a Bachelor thesis project) a cross-sectional survey is chosen. | Population that is surveyed, or from hich subjects are recruited| Population that is surveyed are executive employees of the department of Operations & Services of the organization of TNT Express Benelux in Houten, the Netherlands. The number of subjects is 22. | Expected pattern (or â€Å"hypothesis†)| The expected pattern for the hypothesis â€Å"teleworking will lead to more productivity† is a regression of 0. 20, meaning that an increase in teleworking will lead to an increase of 0. 20 in an amount of productivity. The expected pattern for the hypothesis â€Å"distraction will have a negative influence on the relation between teleworking and productivity† is a regression of -0. 0, meaning that an increase in distraction will lead to an decrease of 0. 20 in a amount of productivity, when teleworking. | Observed pattern| The observed pattern for the hypothesis â€Å"teleworking will lead to moreproductivity† is a negative relation with a regression beta score of -1,311,meaning that if the degree of teleworking increases with one unit, the productivity will decrease with 1,311. The observed pattern for the hypothesis â€Å"distraction will have a negative influence on the relation between teleworking and productivity† is a positive relation with a regression beta score of 0,188.Thus, for the increase of one unit distraction, the productivity will increase with 0,188. | Test result| Teleworking has a negative effect on productivity and distraction has a posit ive relation on productivity. | Non-response bias assessment (worst case analysis)| The number of missing cases is 5. The worst case analysis show that if the five respondents joined the survey, and where very different form the obtained ones, a positive effect of teleworking on productivity (2,775) and a negative effect of distraction on productivity (-0,173) could be found. Your contribution to what is known about the proposition| Our contribution to the proposition â€Å"Telework will lead to an increase in productivity† is that teleworking does not always lead a positive change in productivity such as suggested in many scientific articles. In our research a negative relation is found on productivity when teleworking. | Most important recommendation for further research| The most important recommendation is, in order to do a replication study, a longitudinal survey.The longitudinal survey enables the future researchers to measure the change in productivity that takes place at a later point in time when employees telework. In this research the measure of productivity towards teleworking is only done once. | Preface This bachelor thesis is written as part of our studies Business Administration at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The main subject of this thesis is â€Å"Telework†. We selected this subject out of many other subjects because we wanted to write our thesis about a topical subject and teleworking has become a major hype in the last few years.Many businesses implement teleworking in their company for various reasons. So, is assumed that teleworking will lead to cost reduction, more productive employees and more satisfied employees. But, the main question is does telework provide all these benefits? In this thesis we will look at the effect of teleworking on the productivity of employees. Abstract The relation between teleworking and productivity is of critical concern for organizations that might be planning to implement teleworking o f for those who have already done.In this research the relation between teleworking and productivity is examined, controlling for age, gender and family status. The effect of distraction on the productivity of employees was also measured. A survey among 17 teleworkers at TNT express was conducted online to gather data. In result of different multiple regression analysis’, a negative impact of teleworking on productivity was discovered. Furthermore, a slight positive impact of distraction on productivity was found. The results look paradoxical, but there are several reasons to explain these results and shed a new light on the telework-productivity research.Introduction In the last few years there has been an increasing demand for flexible work and flexible organizations. The concept of teleworking offers a solution to this increasing demand. At this moment 20 to 30 million people in the U. S. currently work from home at least one day a week (Telework Research Network, 2011). I n the literature several definitions of telework are used. The most common definition of telework defines telework as work performed at home, a satellite office or other places than the office itself, to reduce commuting (Shin, 2000).There are several motives companies could have to adopt the concept of telework. Obvious motives are cost reduction and increased productivity. Additional benefits for teleworking employees are increased job satisfaction and a better work-life balance (Harpaz, 2002). In this thesis a proposition, regarding telework and productivity, will be tested. The proposition that will be tested is: â€Å"Telework will lead to an increase in productivity†. In general this means that this research measures if employees have a higher productivity if they telework, and thus have the opportunity to work besides the office, than if they are office-bound.The increase in productivity is often measured due the comparison of output produced by a given amount of input , often office hours. If the employee, who teleworks, uses exact the same time as an office-bound employee for a job, while delivering a greater amount of work, an increase in productivity due telework can be concluded. The first who formulated the concept of telework in 1973 was Jack M. Nilles from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He defined Teleworking as â€Å"any form of substitution of information technologies for work-related travel† (Madsen, 2003).The one clear motive for the expansion of teleworking, mentioned by Nilles, was the reduction of transportation congestion, particularly in overcrowded urban areas. Although these public benefits were not sufficient enough to implement teleworking. Economic benefits like cost reductions, space savings and reduced rental rates for office space ensured that companies were more likely to introduce the concept of teleworking. According to Nilles productivity will increase as a result of working harder and worki ng more hours per day, because of less distraction, interruptions and stress (Nillis, 1988).After Nilles formulated the proposition that telework increases productivity for the first time, it has often been examined. Some articles stated that telework increased productivity. For example at AT&T, a telecommunication company, telework increased productivity with almost 10 percent, according to AT&T's annual telework survey among 1,500 employees. Another example of increased productivity is IBM where 87 percent of the employees report that they believe that their productivity have increased significantly (Apgar, 1998).In fact several articles stated that the productivity of employees is higher when they work at home. Only one research shown a decrease in productivity. However this decrease was later followed by an increase of productivity (Bailey, 2002). Despite several articles have examined the relation between telework and productivity, it is dificult to measure productivity. Like m entioned earlier, productivity is based on the relation between input and output. There have been problems when measuring the productivity of today’s knowledge workers. First of all, most knowledge workers do not produce â€Å"units† per given period (e. . per hour, day or month). Because output is often measured in â€Å"units†, the productivity of knowledge workers is hard to measure. Secondly, there is not a direct correlation between units of labor and units of output for these knowledge workers. Extra input from one additional worker does not necessary lead to more output. The classic definition does not enable to measure knowledge workers’ productivity, certainly not when measuring besides the office (Gordon, 1997). In the research on the relation between telework and productivitity a number of methodological weaknesses have been discovered.Most studies use self-report suverys to collect data from teleworkers. These self-report surveys can result in false responses from teleworkers in their productivity evaluations. This so called self-response bias has not been taken into account in many productivity research. Data collection from both, teleworker and manager will be a better way to measure productivity. Next to that sample populations are selected under specific personality and task criterea, which could be related to a higher work motivation and therefore contributes to increased productivity.Another explanation for increased productivity could be the relegation of other tasks to office-bound employees. Higher productivity can also be explained by the increase in working hours, due less commuting (Shin, 2000). Due the difficulties of measuring productivity some articles falsly claim the fact that telework increase productivity. Like mentioned earlier, productivity measurement for knowledge workers has been a dilemma. In measuring input and output the term â€Å"productivity† is inadequate for knowledge workers.Theref ore this research measures â€Å"productivity† not only due the quantity of work, but due several concepts. The concepts used in this research to measure productivity are: quantity, quality, timeliness and multiple priorities. The questions how much can be done (quantity), how well it is done (quality), when it is done (timeliness) and how many things can be done at once (multiple priorities) are being covered. Using multiple concepts enables to put the quantity factor in the context of a bigger picture and not just simply focus on an increase in output (Gordon, 1997).As stated earlier, there are several definitions for teleworking. Most definitions focus on the fact that employees have the possibility to work everywhere and not as much on the fact that employees can work whenever they want. In this research the most common definition of Shin, Sheng and Higa will be used. Shin et al. defines telework as work performed at home, a satellite office or other places than the offic e itself, to reduce commuting (Shin, 2000). Figure 1 Causality Model The causality model of this thesis, shown in figure 1, consist of two concepts: teleworking and productivity.The independent concept in the causality model is teleworking and the dependent concept is productivity. The focal unit of this research theory is the entity of which the range of values of one or more variable attributes is explained by the theory (Hak, 2011). The focal unit consists of employees who perform their work at other places than at the office itself, for at least one day a week. The minimum number of days teleworkers work besides the office is chosen because several instances use this minimum, like the Telework Research Network.The national average number of days a teleworker works besides the office is 2,4 days a week (Telework Research Network, 2011). The productivity of teleworkers is measured due the comparison of their productivity when working besides the office and when working at the offi ce. There is not chosen for the comparison of the productivity of teleworkers and office bound employees, because this is not valid. The variation in productivity between teleworkers and office-bound employees should not necessarily come from teleworking, but can be explained by several other factors for instance by personal ifferences. The theoretical domain of this research, the universe of instances of the focal unit, consist of all employees who work at other places than at the office itself, for at least one day a week, in the Netherlands. Literature review After Nilles claimed that productivity increased as a result of teleworking in 1973, it has often been examined. In 1982 Olson researched the effect of telework on productivity. Although there were no measures of performance data, employees and managers pronounced that teleworkers are more productive than office-bound employees.The study also revealed that teleworkers are more responsible and conscientious about schedules, h ad better documentation and scheduled their time better. Employees felt that they worked more efficiently or produced higher quality work, when working at home. Few employees found the office very distracting and therefore could be more productive at home (Olson, 1982). This results are consistent with Olson’s later longitudinal study of three pilot teleworking programs, which revealed that teleworkers believed that their performance was enhanced due teleworking (Olson, 1989).In 1989 Bailyn also researched the effect of telework on productivity among 89 system developers, including 49 teleworkers. More than a quarter of the software developers reported that their most productive work times fell out of the traditional office days. Bailyn assigned this productivity increase to the fact that teleworkers have individual control over time and the ability to allocate work over all time periods, including the weekends. The survey also indicated that employees needed quiet and privac y to be productive (Bailyn, 1989).Bailyn also noted that only tasks that do not require extensive interaction will benefit from teleworking (Bailyn, 1988). One year later Newman stated that teleworking is ideally for those whose jobs require them to handle a flow of information, like programmers, engineers, speechwriters and business analysts. The personality of the teleworker must include being capable of handling autonomy. According to Newman, experienced workers make the best candidates for teleworking. Similar to Olson, Newman stated that the work-at-home programs often result in increased output from staff, naming eing less distracted meant being more productive. In Newman’s study at the Travelers Insurance Company productivity increased with 20 percent. Despite of the increased productivity, limiting the geographic boundaries of the company’s hiring pool due offering work-at-home arrangements to employees was the prime reason for teleworking (Newman, 1989). In Du brin’s research the reasons for teleworking were to solve staffing, space, and other business problems including keeping motivated employees away from the distractions of other workers (McKee, 1988).According to Dubrin an implicit assumption about teleworking programs is that employees who work at home will be equally more productive that office-bound employees. Dubrin’s observation of company records suggests that home workers increased their productivity from 5 to 100 percent (Dubrin, 1991). Dubrin tested the hypothesis â€Å" telecommuters are more productive than are employees performing comparable work on company premises† among employees of the NPD Group. The participants in this research were mainly women.The fact that only women are represented in Dublin’s studies makes it difficult to separate findings between males and females. The degree of distraction was measured due different statements in the questionnaires. The questionnaire items ‘B eing able to keep busy all the time’ show that telework has a positive influence on the productivity. The work-at-home group scored significantly higher (13. 81) than the group in-house workers (6. 36) at the t-value of 4. 20. The research found that productivity was increased by 30% when projects were moved from company premises to homes.The productivity was measured in transactions per hour, occurred when a project was shifted from in-house to at-home. The results are consistent with findings of Newman. In Dubrin’s research the productivity findings showed that people who worked at home part-time are more productive than those who worked at home full-time. It is concluded that productivity increases when work is structured, repetitive and measurable. In order to conclude evidence that telecommuting increases productivity, it is necessary to move in-house workers into their homes and then measure the productivity changing (Dubrin, 1991).Accoring to Frolick, Wilkes, Ur wiler productivity is expected to increase when teleworkers work according to a flexible schedule in an informal setting. The question whether telecommuters are more productive than office-bound employees was researched in a semi-structured telephone interview among 45 individuals in 10 organizations. The average time that each of the interviewees had spent in the telework programs was 2,3 years. The results of the interviews revealed that every teleworker and every telework manager reported that productivity had increased as a result of their telecommuting programs.In each case the respondents stated that teleworker productivity was higher than the productivity of office-bound employees. The average increase of productivity was approximately 20 percent. This result is consistent with other researches like Niles 1990 (Frolick, 1993). Frolick et al. attributed this productivity increase to lack of interruption and the ability of the teleworker to schedule his or her work in a flexibl e manner. In this study all the teleworkers cited ‘fewer interruptions’ as a contributing factor to their productivity and 17 of them cited ‘greater flexibility’ in performing their jobs (Frolick, 1993).Hartman, Stoner and Arora noticed two fundamental problems in the previous study, namely an extraordinary small sample size and maintaining a broad, non restrictive definition of telecommuting that leads to clouded outcomes and conclusions. In their study telecommuters were selected from 11 different organizations, both public and private, including telecommunications, insurance, banking, publishing, and city an state governmental units. The research was done due a self-report survey among 262 telecommuters.Telecommuting productivity was measured by the respondent’s feeling about how the output per hour was changed, working at the office versus working at home. An overwhelming 84 % reported that productivity was increase while working at home, 12 % re ported no change and just 4% reported a lower productivity. Hartman recognized that the self-reported perceptions of comparative productivity might be biased, but the outcomes were consistent with the productivity increase in other studies (Hamilton, 1987)(Moody, 1986). Neufeld and Fang focused on the influence of distraction, gender and family status on teleworker’s productivity.Their research assumed that gender and family status (defined as social factors) are negatively correlated with teleworker productivity. When working at home, the family status is important because family is often around. Therefore they may have a large effect on the teleworkers, and their productivity. The results of the study are obtained by semi-structured interview. For measuring the social factors, direct questions are used (such as do you have children at home? ). For measuring distraction, questions are used like; is your environment distraction free?The results showed that teleworker producti vity is not associated with family status and gender, but on the other hand, a distraction free environment was associated with teleworker productivity (Neufeld, 2005). Another study of Derrick J. Neufeld, which examined productivity among four different kinds of organizations, showed that claims of a higher productivity correlated to teleworking are overblown. In this study, productivity is measured among 200 Canadian employees, and the results show that the increase in productivity is statistically insignificant.Cynics predicted that distractions from working at home will reduce productivity. But despite these distractions, productivity is not reduced, but slightly increased. This study of Neufeld shows that teleworking is significantly more correlated with organizational flexibility than with productivity (Cassiani, 2000). Kelley Butler also looked at the relation between distraction and teleworker productivity. Butler stated that the top 6 distractions, while working at home, ar e household chores, television, pets, errands, internet and children.The data was collected from a CareerBuilder survey. Some of the teleworkers (17%) was so distracted by these factors, that the distraction costs one hour of their working hours (Butler, 2011). Thompson, Vivien and Lim examined the differences in gender on the perception of teleworking. Their data was collected from a questionnaire survey among IT professionals in Singapore. Results showed that males perceived that teleworking improved the quality of life and their productivity in a greater extent than females.Also, in this research productivity increases while teleworking, because an employee can plan the work schedule during the hours when one is most productive. But on the other hand, the study also shows that distractions at home may be harder to solve than distractions at the office. An analysis of the covariance was used to measure the difference between gender, and the relation to the advantages and disadvant ages of teleworking. The results show that there is no significant difference in gender (Thompson, 1998). Author| Literature effect found|Olson, 1983| Preliminary evidence from the exploratory study shows that individuals can be as or more productive when working at home| Olson, 1988| Telecommuting experts and practitioners regularly cite at-home productivity gains ranging from 15-25%| Newman, 1989| Work-at-home programs often result in increased output from staff| Newman, 1989| The Travelers Insurance Company productivity increased with 20 percent among 80 commuting staff| Di Martino, 1990| A two-year pilot project (†¦ ) reported productivity gains averaging 43 per cent per participant.Teleworkers (†¦) noted productivity increases varying from 12 per cent to 20 per cent. State employees working at home have been rated (†¦) as 3 to 5 per cent more effective than they would have been if they worked from nine to five in the office. | Dubrin, 1991| Productivity was incre ased by 30% when projects were moved from company premises to homes| Dubrin, 1991| Observation of company records suggests that home workers increased their productivity from 5 to 100 per cent| Hartman, 1991| A significant negative correlation between the ratio of telecommuting hours to total work hours and telecommuting productivity was revealed. Hartman, 1991| The full-time employed telecommuters reported higher levels of productivity (3. 59) in comparison with part-time employed telecommuters (2. 65). | Hartman, 1992| Telecommuters were asked whether they felt their productivity (output per hour) at home was higher or lower than at the office. An overwhelming percentage (84%) reported higher productivity while working at home, only 4 % of the telecommuters reported lower productivity, and 12 % reported no change. Frolick, 1993| The findings indicate a significant increase in productivity (20%) among teleworkers| Apgar, 1998| 87 per cent of employees (†¦) report that they bel ieve their productivity and effectiveness have increased significantly| Baruch, 2000| How teleworking influences the way people work after opting to telework were examined (†¦).Compared with previous arrangements of work effectiveness 34 per cent and 42 per cent felt it was much better or better (respectively), totaling a positive impact for 76 per cent, with just 5 per cent suggesting no difference and 3 per cent worse. | Pearlson, 2001| A survey in 2001 of 150 executives in large U. S. companies found that 36 percent saw no difference in productivity levels between telecommuters and onsite employees, while 26 percent felt that telecommuting could compromise job performance| Table 1 Reported effect sized of the effect of Teleworking on ProductivityAuthor| Effect| Olson, 1983| Some of the individuals interviewed cited problems with motivation and numerous distractions at home that made concentration difficult| Newman, 1989| Work-at-home programs often result in increased output from staff, naming being less distracted meant being more productive| Hartman, 1991| Family disruptions and their association with telecommuting productivity and satisfaction, the correlation with productivity is -. 20 (p = . 06). Frolick, 1993| Most claims of productivity to date have been attributed to a lack of interruption and the ability of the teleworker to schedule his or her work in a flexible manner. | Baruch, 2000| Better performance was attributed mostly to the elimination of distractions, which are typical at the workplace and subsequently the ability to focus on work. | Young Lee, 2005| The results indicated no significant effect of perceived distractions on perceived performance| Wilson, 2004| Could be more productive without such ‘distractions’. Fonner, 2010| Results show that working remotely the majority of the time alleviates forms of stress and distraction including acting as a buffer from workplace injustice which may provide a more productive and s atisfying work environment| Table 2 Reported effect sized of the effect of Distraction on Productivity Methods The research strategy is to test the proposition that assumed that teleworking will lead to an increase of productivity. The replication history research has indicated that this theory has empirically been confirmed for various populations.If the proposition is true in the domain, then it must be true for the population in the domain. In order to claim whether a proposition is true, empirical evidence is required to show its correctness. This research deduces a hypotheses regarding teleworking, distraction and increasing productivity by an empirical research. Ideally a causal relationship between teleworking, distraction and productivity is measured in a longitudinal survey. The longitudinal survey is defined as a research strategy in which a change in value of the relevant concepts is observed in all members (or in samples) of a population of instances of a focal unit.In a longitudinal survey it is possible to find a population of comparable cases in the theoretical domain in which the value of teleworking (named here as variable X) has changed over time. A causal relation â€Å"X influences Y† (variable Y is employees’ productivity) is observed in the cases, if the value of Y has changed after the change of value X. Considering the research time (two months) and the context of this research (a bachelor thesis), this research uses a cross-sectional design to measure the relationship between teleworking, distraction and employees’ productivity.A scatter plot is a useful tool to show a possible correctness of the proposition. The cross-sectional design enables to concentrate on variations of cases within one particular population. In this research the population is a department within an organisation. The population consists of all executive employees of the department Process ; Policies of TNT Express Benelux in Houten, the Nether lands. The number of employees/cases is 22. #| Name employee:| | | | | 1| Bert Schut | 14| Koos Jansen | 2| Corne Vroegh | 15| Marielle Sitskoorn | | David Roofthoofd | 16| Marina Elegeert | 4| Erik van Duin| 17| Martijn Otte | 5| Geug Leendertse | 18| Maurice Hidma | 6| Guy Gevaers | 19| Mette Kok| 7| Harrie Dasselaar| 20| Michiel Bierman| 8| Henk Jansen | 21| Tessa Koster | 9| Jack Beks| 22| Thomas Goossens | 10| Jan Harmen Hietbrink| 11| Jef Kleinschmidt | 12| John Meisters| 13| John van Oeffel | Figure 2 Employees of the Process ; Policies department at TNT express In the cross-sectional research, qualitative and quantitative data of respondents is collected more or less simultaneously.The self-report survey will be sent out to all cases at the same moment and held during the same time of period. The independent variable (teleworking) is a quantitative variable measured in percentages. The other independent variable (distraction) is a qualitative variable, measured in likert sch ales with categories like: never, sometimes, regularly, often and always. Productivity is a qualitative variable. The controlling variables are gender, age and family status. Gender is divided into male and female (0=male and 1= female).Family status is measured in four different values, namely single, single with children, married or co-habiting, and married or co-habiting with children. The conceptual model of this research can be found in Figure 3. To test the five different hypothesis based on the conceptual model, a multiple regression analysis will be used. Figure 3 Conceptual Model The hypothesis concentrates on the relation between teleworking and the productivity. Assumed is that teleworking lead to an increase in productivity. This means that employees can do more work, do their work better, schedule their own work and do multiple things at once.The hypothesis is formulated as following: There is a positive relation between teleworking and productivity if the ? is ? 0,20. In the conceptual model age, gender, family status are taken into account as controlling variables. Gender could have an influence on productivity. Women, for example, are better in multitasking and could therefore have a higher score on â€Å"multiple priorities†, which influences the productivity. Family status could have an impact on distraction, therefore it is also used as controlling variable. This also accounts for age. The assumption is that lder employees are less productive compared to younger employees, which are more involved with technology. Two different regression analyses’ with different variables are plotted. * The variables teleworking / gender / distraction / age / family status in relation to productivity. (nain regression) * The variables teleworking / distraction in relation to productivity The main regression model is shown below: Productivity = ? + ? 1 Teleworking + ? 2 Gender + ? 3 Family status + ? 4 Age + ? 5 Distraction + ? ? ~ iin( 0, ? )Th e regression analysis will show which variable will have the highest influence on the dependent variable productivity, corrected for the influences of the other variables. The expectation is therefore that the beta of teleworking will be the highest in the model. Results The data in this research is collected due a self-report survey among employees of the Process ; Policies department of TNT Express Benelux. The self-report survey was conducted online on the Belgian website of â€Å"enquetemaken. be†. A textual version of this survey can be found in appendix 2.A link to this survey was send to the 22 employees of the department by mail. This research chose for an anonymous survey in order to ensure that respondents could be honest about their answers. This would secure the reliability of this survey. Besides that the interview was conducted in Dutch because all employees at TNT are Dutch. The employees filled in questions concerning telework and productivity. Several non-rel ated questions, concerning job satisfaction and work-life balance, were added in order to cover the real purpose of the research.In order to guarantee the reliability and validity of this research, the questions of the survey are based on questions used in other research. The productivity measurement is divided into four determents that are each tested individually. These four determents are quantity, quality, timeliness and multiple priorities (Gordon, 1997). Lee and Brand used questions like â€Å"Compared to my typical work right now, I would rate the quality of my work as† and â€Å"Compared to my typical performance right now, I would rate my job performance as† are being used.In the survey of this research four questions are used in order to measure work productivity. The exact questions can be found in the appendix. The questions in the survey concerning distraction, were like â€Å"How frequently are you unable to concentrate because of interruptions from your family? †. These questions were extended to other factors, like distractions from colleagues, phone calls/e-mails/texts, sounds and other factors (Neufeld, 2005). According to Young Lee ; J. L. Brand, is noise one of the main distractions (Lee et all, 2010). Therefore, we devoted one question on noise.Also, the question ‘I am easily distracted from my work’ is used in their research, which we decided to put in our own survey. In the article ‘from knowledge to distraction’, written by Jonathan Spira in 2007, is stated that knowledge workers are often distracted by e-mails, phonecalls, instant messages etc. For this reason, there is decided to investigate the amount of distractions by these influences in the survey. In this article, also is stated that ‘colleagues popping in’ might be a factor of distraction. This factor is also added to the survey.The last question regarding distraction, is about ‘other distractions’. This is to make sure that there are not any parts of distraction missed. The non-response bias of this survey was 22,7 percent. Five employees did not fill in the survey because they were not available in the two weeks the survey was online. If the non-response bias is very high it can effect the representativeness for the population. A data grid of the results of this survey can be found in table 4. A detailed calculation of the degree of productivity and distraction can be found in appendix 3.Total Work hours| Telework hours| Degree of distraction (1=low, 5=high)| Degree of Productivity (1=low, 5= high)| Gender (1=male, 0=female)| Age| Family status * | 40| 20| 3. 2| 4| 1| 58| 3| 50| 33| 3. 4| 3. 75| 1| 40| 1| 50| 30| 2. 4| 3. 5| 1| 53| 3| 42| 7| 2. 4| 3. 75| 1| 54| 3| 40| 5| 2. 4| 4. 5| 1| 48| 4| 50| 25| 2. 2| 4| 1| 44| 4| 40| 15| 2. 2| 3. 75| 0| 40| 4| 40| 25| 2| 3. 75| 1| 28| 3| 40| 32| 2. 4| 3. 5| 0| 32| 3| 40| 8| 3. 2| 4| 1| 42| 3| 45| 8| 2. 4| 4| 0| 32| 3| 40| 2| 2. 4| 3| 1| 32| 1| 45| 8| 2. 4| 3. 75| 1| 51| 4| 60| 36| 2. 6| 4| 1| 31| 3| 45| 8| 2. 6| 3. 5| 1| 36| 4| 45| 35| 3. 8| 4| 1| 38| 4| 50| 5| 2. | 4. 75| 1| 40| 3| 44. 82353| 17. 76471| 2. 623529| 3. 852941| -| 41. 11765| -| *= (1= single, 2=single with children, 3=married or co-habiting, 4= married or co-habiting with children)| Table 3 Data Grid of the survey at TNT Express The expected pattern Hypothesis 1: Teleworking will lead to more productivity The expected pattern for the first hypothesis â€Å"teleworking will lead to more productivity† is a regression of 0. 20, meaning that an increase of an hour teleworking will lead to an increase of 0. 20 in an amount of productivity. In the literature review several articles reported that teleworking increase productivity.However, there are also articles that claim a negative effect of teleworking on productivity. A summary of the reported effect sizes can be found in table 1 in the literature review section. The effect sizes of the relation betwee n teleworking and productivity, found in the literature, vary from a negative relation to a positive relation. The majority of effects are positive, which means that productivity was increased due to teleworking. Although the majority of effects were positive, the claimed productivity increase ranges from 5 % to 20 %, up to 100 %.There is one article by Hartman (1991) that claims a negative correlation between telecommuting and telecommuting productivity. Derived from the literature review the expected pattern, in which the hypothesis is true, is a regression coefficient of 0. 20 or more. This means that if the degree of teleworking increases with one hour, the productivity will increase with 0,20. The hypothesis 2: Distraction has a negative influence on productivity The second hypothesis is aimed at the independent variable distraction on the dependent variable productivity.The correlation is expected to be -0. 20, meaning that an increase of one unit distraction will have a decre ase of 0. 20 in the amount of productivity. In the literature several effects of distraction on productivity are found. A summary of the reporter effects can be found in table 2 in the literature review section. The effects found in the literature review suggest that distraction has a negative influence on productivity. The effects vary from no significant effect on performance to being more productive when distraction is eliminated.The expected effect of distraction on productivity is expected to be negative in this research. The correlation is expected to be -0. 20, meaning that an increase of one unit distraction will have a decrease of 0. 20 in the amount of productivity. The observed pattern Hypothesis 1: Teleworking will lead to more productivity The results of the main multiple regression analysis show that 26 per cent of the variance is declared by the model. The correlation between the observed and expected values of dependent variable is 0,509. In appendix 4 the SPSS outpu t of this research is shown.Surprisingly, the degree of teleworking has a negative influence on productivity. This can be interpreted by the beta of the quantity of teleworking, which is -1,311. This means that if the degree of teleworking increases with one hour, the productivity will decrease with 1,311. The hypothesis 2: Distraction has a negative influence on productivity Another surprising output is the influence of distraction on productivity, which has a beta of 0,188, where a negative beta is expected. Thus, for the increase of one unit distraction, the productivity will increase with 0,188.A partial regression analysis, without the controlling variables gender, age and family status, shows that there is a slight difference in the variance declared by the model and the correlation between the observed and expected values of the dependent variable. These figures fall to 0,259 and 0,067. The betas of the degree of teleworking and distraction fall to -1,287 and 0,148. For this reason, the controlling variables will be added to the other regression analyses. There are several ways to explain the surprising betas of teleworking and distraction.First of all, the results are based on the answers of only 17 respondents. In the partial regression plot (with the variables distraction and productivity) is clear that because of a few amount of outliners, the R2 linear is climbing a little. Without these outliers, there is a large possibility that the distraction beta will be negative, which was expected. Another explanation is that the employees of TNT express do not relate distraction to their productivity. They tend to give themselves a high overall score on productivity, regardless of the degree of distraction and teleworking.Another possibility is that the amount of distraction actually does not influence the productivity. Figure 4: The relation between distraction and productivity Because of the little number of respondents, the few outliers pull the mean of the productivity up. These respondents have a small quantity of teleworking, but tend to give themselves high scores on productivity. Therefore, the linear line of the quantity of teleworking is declining, where it would have been rising without these three outliners. This can be an explanation for the negative effect of teleworking on productivity.But on the other hand, it might be possible that the teleworking does have a negative effect on productivity. In a worst-case analysis, the five missing respondents could dramatically influence the results of the regression analysis. This would be, if the respondents all would score low on productivity and on high distraction (or vice versa), or if degree of teleworking among the employees is high and their productivity is high too (or vice versa). Figure 5: The relation between teleworking and productivityThe worst-case analysis of the effect of telework on productivity shows that, when the five missing respondents would have been very d ifferent from the ones obtained, there is a positive effect (2,775) of telework on productivity. This positive effect is shown in figure 6. This in contrast with the results of this research, without the missing five respondents, where a negative effect was discovered. If the five missing respondents participated in this research and were very different from the ones obtained they could have a drastic impact of the results of this research.The expected positive effect of telework on productivity could be discovered in this scenario. Figure 6: Worst-case analysis of the effect of telework on productivity The worst-case analysis of the effect of distraction on productivity shows that, when the five missing respondents would be very different from the ones obtained, there is a negative effect (-0,173) of distraction on productivity. The worst-case analysis is shown in figure 7. This negative effect corresponds to the expected effect of distraction on productivity, but not to the observ ed effect in this research.This means that if the five missing respondents participated in this research, the outcomes of this research could be dramatically different and the expected negative effect of distraction on productivity could be measured. Figure 7: Worst-case analysis of the effect of distraction on productivity Overall can be concluded that if the five missing respondents participated in this survey they could have changed the outcomes of this research dramatically. The expected effects of this research could be found when adding the five missing respondents.Discussion The test results found in the multiple regression analysis? , claim roughly that TNT express should increase the distraction among employees, and decrease the degree of teleworking. But, as shown in the results chapter, the results only show a slight negative relation. Which can be easily influenced by the missing data, as shown in the worst case scenario analysis?. Therefore, the results should be interp reted as if distraction does not have a high influence on the productivity of employees.There is not a valid relationship in the test results showing that distraction has a positive influence on productivity, because of the very low negative beta (as a result of the regression analysis’) and the possible influence of the missing values on the test results. The relationship between teleworking and productivity did show a large coherency. This large coherency was interpreted as if teleworking is not productive for TNT express. Thus, in this research, distraction is recommended and teleworking is discouraged.But it is recommended to keep in mind that the worst case scenario analysis’ (showing the missing values can turn around findings as much as possible) presume a positive influence of teleworking on productivity, and a negative influence of distraction on productivity. For further investigation it will be recommended to use more respondents, as much as possible. When m ore respondents are used, the results will be less influenced by outliers. A very low response bias is also recommended, so that a worst case analysis’ are not necessary and therefore will not show complete opposite results compared to the research.In this research, the response bias was 28 per cent. Another recommendation would be to make a connection between distraction and productivity for the respondents themselves. In this research, the respondents did not link distractions to their productivity (which can explain the divergent relation between distraction and productivity). When questions are formulated with the factors of distraction and productivity in one sentence, the link is automatically made for the respondents. Theorems for example like ‘when I am distracted by phonecalls, I feel like I can do less work’.Besides that all respondents report that they were very productive, even if they suffered from a lot of distraction. A solution for this self-respo nse bias, that often occurs in self-report surveys, is to involve the opinion of the manager of the respondents in the research as well. Because of time constraints this was not possible in this research, but it will be a good way to eliminate the self-response bias in future research. In previous research, many positive effects of teleworking on productivity were found. This research contradicts this and reveals a negative effect.Although the worst case analysis showed that there could be a positive effect, when the five missing respondents were very different from the ones obtained, the observed negative effect could also be an indication that there really is a negative relation between teleworking and productivity. In 1991 Hartman also claimed a negative correlation between teleworking and productivity. Because the research of Hartman also reported this negative effect, it could be true that teleworking has a negative impact on productivity.This would generate a new insight into the telework-productivity research, in which was assumed that teleworking increased productivity. In contradiction to earlier research on the effect of distraction on productivity, this research shows a slightly positive effect of distraction on productivity. The fact that more distraction leads to more productive employees seems contradictory, but interruptions are not necessarily bad. Little interruptions, for example, could provide a fresh new insight into someone’s work.Therefore the observed positive effect could be real and is interesting to further investigation. Because the observed effect is slightly positive and in the worst case analysis slightly negative, it could also be an indication that distraction has no effect on productivity. This is supported by the research of Lee and Brand, which indicated that there was no significant effect of perceived distractions on perceived performance. This finding could also contribute to the research on the effect of distractio n of productivity.In conclusion the findings of this research do not fully correspond to the main findings in the literature. This is actually very interesting because a new insight in the research on teleworking and productivity is generated. It can be questioned if the main findings in the literature are true. Maybe teleworking is not good for the productivity of employees and distractions are not as bad as everybody’s thinking. In order to do a replication research towards the effect of teleworking on productivity in the future a replication strategy is useful.The preferred replication strategy for the future is a longitudinal survey. The longitudinal survey enables the future researchers to measure the change in productivity that takes place at a later point in time when employees telework. In the longitudinal survey all members of a focal unit can be observed over time. Additional theoretical insight is advised in order to determine how much time should elapse between th e change in value of productivity and the subsequent change in the value of teleworking. * Appendix Appendix 1: Several definitions of Telework and/or Productivity | Author(s)| Definition of telework| Definitions of productivity| 1| Newman (1989)| Working home with the aid of computers, modems and facsimile machines. | | 2| Dubrin (1991) | Performing job-related work at a site away from the company, then electronically transferring the output to another location| | 3| Frolick, Wilkes, Urwiler (1993)| | The number of tasks effectively completed in a given timeframe| 4| Hartman, Stoner and Arora (1992) | Work arrangement where organizational employees regularly work at home or at a remote site one or more complete workdays a week instead of working in the office. Telework managers reported using ‘deadlines’ or ‘agreed upon deadlines’, and ‘on-time work and quality’ to manage and measure teleworker productivity. | 5| Nilles (1975)| Telework is any form of substitution of information technologies for work-related travel| | 6| Mokhtarian (1991)| Telework is defined as the use of telecommunications technology to partially or completely replace the commute to and from work. | | 7| Sing, Sheng, Higa (2000)| Telecommuting is the reduction of commuting distance by working home, in nontraditional satellite offices, in telecottages, or in neighborhood offices. | * Appendix 2: Self-report survey at TNT express. Onderzoek Het Nieuwe Werken bij TNT express. Voor onze bachelor thesis, onderdeel van de studie bedrijfskunde, doen wij onderzoek naar Het Nieuwe Werken bij TNT Express. Dit onderzoek is onderdeel van ons afstuderen aan de Erasmus Universiteit te Rotterdam. Voor ons onderzoek willen we graag uw medewerking vragen door middel van het invullen van een vragenlijst. Het invullen van de vragenlijst zal ongeveer 5 minuten duren. Deze vragenlijst is geheel anoniem. Alvast bedankt, Robin Kettenes, Boudewijn Schuitmaker en Marlot Sep __ ________________________________________________________________________ Het Nieuwe Werken is een breed begrip voor het tijd en plaats ongebonden werken, als gevolg van het gebruik van moderne communicatie technologieen. In ons onderzoek spitsen wij ons echter alleen toe op het plaatsongebonden werken. Het plaatsongebonden werken houdt in dat u zelf kunt bepalen waar u werkt. ___________________________________________________________________________ 1) Hoeveel uur werkt u over het algemeen per week? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. uur 2) Heeft u de mogelijkheid om buiten  kantoor te werken? Ja Nee ) Hoeveel uur per week werkt u over het algemeen buiten uw kantoor ? †¦. †¦.. uur 4) Op welke plaatsen werkt u als u buiten uw vaste werkplek werkt? Thuis Onderweg Internet Cafe Elders 5) Waar vindt u het het prettigst om te werken? Op kantoor Buiten kantoor 6) Ik ben makkelijk afgeleid van mijn werk Nooit Soms Regelmatig Vaak Altijd 7) Ik word tijdens mijn werk afgeleid door geluid No oit Soms Regelmatig Vaak Altijd 8) Ik word tijdens mijn werk afgeleid door telefoontjes/e-mails/berichten etc. Nooit Soms Regelmatig Vaak Altijd 9) Ik word tijdens mijn werk afgeleid door collega’sNooit Soms Regelmatig Vaak Altijd 10) Ik word tijdens mijn werk afgeleid door andere factoren Nooit Soms Regelmatig Vaak Altijd 11) Ik zou de hoeveelheid werk dat ik kan opleveren werk beschrijven als Erg veel Erg weinig 12) Ik zou de kwaliteit van mijn werk beschrijven als: Erg goed Erg slecht 13) Ik heb mijn werk altijd op tijd af Helemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 14) Ik ben in staat meerdere taken tegelijk uit te voeren Helemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 15) Ik vind het erg fijn om op kantoor te werken Helemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 6) Ik vind het erg fijn om thuis te werken Helemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 17) Ik vind het prettig werk en prive gescheiden te houden Helemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 18) Het is makkelijk voor mij werk en prive gescheiden te houden als ik op kantoor werk H elemaal juist Helemaal onjuist 19) Kunt u een schatting geven van de verhouding tussen de tijd dat u op uw  op kantoor  werkt en de tijd dat u buiten  kantoor werkt? (Bijvoorbeeld; 40-60 / 50-50 ) †¦. / †¦. 20) Wat is u geslacht? Man Vrouw 21) Wat is u leeftijd? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. jaar 22) Wat is u burgerlijke staat? AlleenstaandAlleenstaand met kinderen Getrouwd/samenwonend Getrouwd/samenwonend met kinderen Appendix 3: Detailed calculation of the degree of productivity and distraction Calculation: The Degree of Distraction|   |   | 3| 3| 4| 3| 3| 3. 2| 3| 4| 4| 4| 2| 3. 4| 2| 3| 3| 2| 2| 2. 4| 2| 2| 3| 3| 2| 2. 4| 2| 2| 3| 3| 2| 2. 4| 2| 2| 2| 3| 2| 2. 2| 2| 2| 3| 2| 2| 2. 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 4| 2| 2| 2. 4| 4| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3. 2| 2| 2| 3| 2| 3| 2. 4| 3| 2| 2| 3| 2| 2. 4| 3| 2| 2| 3| 2| 2. 4| 3| 2| 3| 3| 2| 2. 6| 3| 2| 3| 2| 3| 2. 6| 4| 4| 3| 4| 4| 3. 8| 3| 2| 4| 2| 2| 2. 6| 2. 647059| 2. 11765| 3| 2. 705882| 2. 352941| 2. 623529| Calculation: The Degree of Pr oductivity|   | 4| 4| 3| 5| 4| 4| 5| 2| 4| 3. 75| 4| 4| 2| 4| 3. 5| 5| 4| 2| 4| 3. 75| 4| 4| 5| 5| 4. 5| 4| 4| 3| 5| 4| 3| 4| 4| 4| 3. 75| 4| 4| 3| 4| 3. 75| 4| 4| 2| 4| 3. 5| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 4| 4| 3| 4| 3. 75| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 3| 3| 3. 5| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 5| 5| 5| 4. 75| 3. 941176| 4. 058824| 3. 294118| 4. 117647| 3. 852941| * Appendix 4: The SPSS Ouput Model Summaryb| Model| R| R Square| Adjusted R Square| Std. Error of the Estimate| 1| . 509a| . 259| -. 078| 1. 64400| a.Predictors: (Constant), SumDistr, Leeftijd, Status, MateTelewerk, Geslacht| b. Dependent Variable: SumProductiviteit| Coefficientsa| Model| Unstandardized Coefficients| Standardized Coefficients| t| Sig. | | B| Std. Error| Beta| | | 1| (Constant)| 10. 929| 3. 105| | 3. 519| . 005| | MateTelewerk| -1. 311| 1. 749| -. 212| -. 750| . 469| | Geslacht| . 288| 1. 177| . 071| . 244| . 811| | Leeftijd| -. 002| . 052| -. 013| -. 042| . 967| | Status| . 764| . 474| . 448| 1. 613| . 135| | SumDistr| . 188| . 193| . 287| . 972| . 352| a. Dependent Variable: SumProductiviteit| * BibliographyApgar, M. 1998, â€Å"The alternative workplace: changing where and how people work†, Harvard Business Review May- June, , pp. 121-136. Bailey, D. E. ; Kurland, N. B. 2002, â€Å"A review of telework research: findings, new directions, and lessons for the study of modern work†, Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 23, pp. 383-400. 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