Corporate Sponship in Event

Thanks to increases in leisure time and discretionary spending nowadays, community groups as well as individuals are becoming enthusiastic in events according to their interests. Events have occupy our newspapers and television screens as well as much of our free time and enrich our lives (Bowdin et al. , 2011). Moreover, events have a substantial contribution to the national economy. In UK, the event industry generates over ? 36 billion every year, which sustain at least 530,000 full-time jobs (Bladen et al. 2012). Under the trend, the business sector has take events and events’ sponsorship into consideration when making their marketing strategies. Globally, expenditure on event sponsorship has been escalating each year – from USD 44 billion in 2009 to an estimated USD 51. 1 billion in 2012 (IEG, 2013). The overall sponsorship spending in the UK each year is around ? 934 million, made up of sports (51%), arts and business (18%), broadcasting (20%) and others (10%) (Mer miri and South, 2009).Before analyzing the relationship between sponsorship and event, the two concepts should be clarified first. An event can be defined as â€Å"an organized occasion such as meeting, convention, exhibition, special event, gala dinner, etc. an event is often composed of several different related functions† (Getz, 2005, p. 16). According to International Events Group (IEG, 1995), sponsorship is â€Å"a cash and/or in-kind fee paid to a property in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with the property†.In this essay, the scope of the event industry and main types of sponsorship will be introduced at first. Then, the importance of corporate sponsorship in the event industry will be examined by considering the benefits to both sponsors and events. Next, the essay will critically analyze the risks of corporate sponsorship and discuss other sources of event funding. Finally, the conclusion can be drawn as corporate sponsors hip plays a significant role in the event industry but potential risks such as ambush marketing should not be ignored.In addition, other sources of funding are essential to successes of events. The event industry has a large scope; here, only some key components will be presented. Event organisations, staging or hosting events, are core element of the event industry. Besides, professional groups or individuals who organize events on behalf of their clients are called event management companies are emerging with the event industry. There are also various suppliers covering staging, lighting , transport, accommodation and security of the event industry.External regulatory bodies and publications have tight relations with the event industry as well (Bowdin et al. , 2011). As for types of sponsorship, cash is the most common source provided by sponsors to support the event (Wagen & Carlos, 2006). Sponsors can also offer ‘value in kind’ by providing free goods and services t o events (Wagen, 2007). Other sponsorship may cover the media coverage, IT support, entertainment speaker sessions and etc.From the sponsor’s perspective, sponsors have objectives that fit into one or more of these areas: to increase product or brand awareness, to develop corporate image, to drive sales, or to develop market strategy (Yeoman et al. , 2004). To begin with, sponsors can gain benefits from marketing area through sponsoring the event industry. Sponsorship is acting as a more effective way of market promoting, sales driving and reaching the target market (Bowdin et al. , 2011).Among various traditional marketing promotion methods such as advertising or personal selling, sponsorship is argued to be one of the most effective means of communicate and form relationships with consumers and business partners (Grey and Skildum-Reid, 2003). Siegel (2001) investigated the sponsorship of tobacco industry and found that despite a federal ban on tobacco advertising on televis ion, tobacco companies achieve the equivalent of more than $150million in television advertising per year through their sponsorship of televised motor sports events.From 1997 through 1999, tobacco companies achieved 169 hours of television advertising exposure and $410. 5 million of advertising value for their products by sponsoring motor sports events. In addition, events provide sponsors with an environment where consumers are relax and better accept marketing message; therefore, sponsorship is key driver of product sales (Bowdin et al. , 2011). There are two main ways for companies with products achieve high sales goals including an exclusive in-game presence at sporting events or exclusive rights in their product ategory at a festival. For instance, Tiger Beer sponsors the Tartan Asian Extreme Festival and distributes samples of their beer to attendants as part of an integrated marketing campaign which also included the launch of The Tigers’ awards to celebrate Asian film s in the UK (Anon, 2005c). The Stongbow Rooms, an online game company, launched the Scottish Courage Strongbow Rooms concept resulted in an estimated increase in 12% monthly sales gain (Scottish Courage, 2005). The sponsorship of the event industry is an emerging new channel of sales driving for sponsors.Moreover, events also help sponsors get access to specific niche/target markets. For example, O2 sponsored music concerts to appeal to a youth market and establish itself as the biggest mobile network in the youth market (Carter, 2004). Saudia Private Aviation (SPA), an affiliate of Saudi Arabian Airlines, has renewed its sponsorship of the 6th edition of EXCS International Luxury Motor Show. The company believed that the event offer a platform for them to reach prominent people and the high-class segment of the community, who SPA targets through its marketing programs. (AMEinfo, 2012).Next, brand awareness and brand image of sponsors’ can also be created and developed throug h sponsorship, especially for companies expanding into new international markets (Noordin et al. , 2011; Bowdin et al. , 2011; Yeoman et al. , 2004; Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000; Cornwell et al. , 2001). Perceptions of a brand are increasingly linked to consumers’ experience with the brand. Thus, in brand strategy, delivering a comprehensive brand experience is becoming paramount, whereby ‘‘marketing and external communications help build the brand, but nothing is more powerful than the customer’s actual experience’’ (Berry, 2000, p. 36). The case of Vodafone entering New Zealand mobile telecommunications market is a suitable example to illustrate the effectiveness of brand awareness and image building in the new markets through sponsorship. The initial step of Vodafone setting into the New Zealand mobile telecommunications market was in 1998, and it had dominated 45% of the market until 2003. Sponsorship was an integral component of Vodafon e’s brand strategy. Vodafone sponsored Rugby, New Zealand’s national mass-audience sports, in order to quickly and effectively reated brand awareness among target groups when entering the new market. Then Vodafone use sponsorship as a platform to let customer experience products and develop emotional connections. Thus, it not only create broad awareness alone but also build brand personality among consumers and create links to popular youth culture, facilitating much closer bonds between customer and the brand (Cliffe & Motion, 2005). Besides obvious financial benefits, sponsorship allow sponsors to build up corporate images Bowdin et al. , 2011. Corporate image and brand image are two different concepts.Corporate image may or may not be related with its products or services and usually be associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Godfrey, 2006). Usually, companies support charity events to create goodwill in the community. For example, NPower became headl ine sponsor for Macmillan Cancer Relief World's Biggest Coffee Morning improve to its brand perception (Anon, 2004). Wu (2002) added that companies such as petroleum, tobacco and weapon industries whose image need some polishing were likely to offer sponsorships to arts, culture and charity events to leave good impressions to the public.Furthermore, sponsorships are also used as incentives for a company’s workforce and create better employee relations IEG (2008). Companies often perceive event sponsorship as a way to offer their employees access to the events or corporate rewards to motivate them. For example, Royal Bank of Scotland’s and Edinburgh International Festival secured New Partnership funding from Arts ; Business which enabled the bank’s staff to take part in ‘Royal Bank Turn Up and Try It’ workshops.By involving staff in the arts sponsorship, the bank wanted to form more creative thinking, dealing effectively with customers or colleagues of their employees (Royal Bank of Scotland, 2003). The business involving staffs events aims to creating more intensive inter-staff relationships and loyalty to companies as well as staff moral and the like (Godfrey, 2006). From the event’s perspective, the financial investment, in-kind support and media exposure are three main benefits that event organizers seek from sponsors (Watt, 1998).Watt (1998) argued that events could not be successful happen without adequate financial support. Financial investment is the most obvious and direct income for events. The 2004 Edinburgh International Festival received around ? 1. 73 million from sponsors and donator, accounting for 27% of the total income (Bowdin, 2006). Except for cash, in-kind support is vital to event organizers as well. Crompton (1994) summarize four main types of in-kind services including product support, personnel support, communication resources and expertise and intangible benefit of â€Å"institutional cloutâ⠂¬  conferred on the event.According to the research done by Cultural Ministers Council (2002) on cultural sponsorship in Australia, in-kind support approximate 83% of organizations’ sponsorship commitment. Over 60% of respondents provide in-kind services covering legal and financial advisory services, IT support, auditing, marketing and management expertise and etc. (Richards ; Palmer, 2010). As for â€Å"institution clout†, if an event links to a sponsor with a strong, positive public image, then sponsorship may help legitimize the event and improve its public profile (Crompton, 1994).In addition, media exposure is also beneficial for events by not only promoting events to the public but also securing financial sponsorships easier (Crompton, 1994). In addition, media exposure is also beneficial for events by not only promoting events to the public but also securing financial sponsorships easier (Crompton, 1994). In 2000 Sydney Olympics, Nike, one of official sponsor s, launched its pre-Olympic advertising campaign, which not only promote its own brand but also the Sydney Olympic Games (Tripodi and Hirons, 2009).In spited of all the benefits brought to both sponsors and event organizers, there are still a number of potential risks associated with implementation of sponsorship, which should be paid enough attention to (Wagen, 2007). For the sponsors, first and the foremost is the â€Å"ambush marketing† issue. McKelvey (1994) describes it as â€Å"a company's intentional effort to weaken or ambush its competitor's official sponsorship and seek to confuse the buying public as to which company really holds official sponsorship rights. Ambush marketing reduces the effectiveness of the sponsors message as well as pose a threat to sponsorship agreements (Meenaghan, 1996). In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the torchbearer was Li Ning, a former gymnast and now the chairman of Li Ning company, which easily made the greatest 2 or 3 minutes of fre e advertising for Li Ning company. Although Adidas was the official footwear sponsor other than Li Ning, 67. 4% respondents incorrectly recognized Li Ning as the official footwear sponsor (Pitt et al. , 2010). Moreover, the ‘fit’ between a sponsor and an event is vital for the success of the sponsorship (Wagen & White, 2010).Not every company is the potential sponsor for every enent (Decker, 1991). Inappropriate sponsorships not only cannot achieve the desired outcomes of sponsors’ but also waste time and money or may even negatively influence their brand images. For example, Southland Corporation, the former owner of 4,000 7-Eleven convenience stores, sponsored cycling events. There was no obvious link between the stores and cycling so that the target audience did not get the marketing information of the company thus no significant increase in sales(Crompton, 1994).For the event organizers, it is well worth remembering sponsors are temporary and unstable for var ious reasons such as economic recession or government ban. For example, the government ban tobacco sponsorship in sport; thus, event organizers will lose all sponsorship from tobacco companies immediately (Bowdin et al. , 2011). In addition, sponsors are a stakeholder that event organizers have to make additional efforts to satisfy their requirements (Crompton, 1994). Sometimes, sponsors can be more trouble than they are worth.Significant time can be spent in servicing sponsorship and sometimes this time would be useful to the event if it were devoted to other forms of support (Watt, 1998). Finally, the image of sponsors’ may also leave bad impression on audience due to unpredicted failure, which may result in jeopardize the event itself (Crompton, 1994; Walker et al. , 2011). Therefore, other types of funding are essential to success of events. Ticket sales are one of the major revenue generating strategies for the event organizer to adopt in the modern events market (Raj et al. 2009). In the 2012 London Olympics, the ticket sales was reached 587,294 million (London 2012 Organising Committee, 2012). Moreover, government grants are keen to provide support to events not only for financial reasons but also expert advice and information (Raj et al. , 2009). Selling merchandises, broadcasting rights, perceiving donations and other types of funding can also act as financial support for the event industry. In conclusion, corporate sponsorship is important in the event industry for both event organizers and sponsors receive benefit from it.On the one hand, event organizers gain finical support, in-kind services and media coverage from sponsor, which can secure the income of events. In addition, intangible benefits such as positive influence from sponsors’ brand images are also pointed out. On the other hand, sponsors invest on events in exchange of more effective marketing strategy for financial purposes, brand building, better corporate image and facil itating employee relation. However, some pitfalls associated with sponsorship for both sponsors and event organizers are also critically discussed.The ambush market and â€Å"fit† theory between sponsors and events are two main issues that sponsors should take into consideration before investing on events. The unstable feature and sponsors’ influence on events’ performances are critical to event organizers when seeking for corporate sponsorships. Last but not the least, other sources of funding such as ticketing and government grants are vital financial support for events. It can be conclude that corporate sponsorship is important in the event industry, but the drawbacks should not be neglected and other types of funding are also necessary.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Inspiration isn't always a matter of ghosts moving magnets around on refrigerator doors, and on Tuesday morning I had a flash that was a beaut. It came while I was shaving and thinking about nothing more than remembering the beer for the party. And like the best inspirations, it came out of nowhere at all. I hurried into the living room, not quite running, wiping the shaving cream off my face with a towel as I went. I glanced briefly at the Tough Stuff crossword collection lying on top of my manuscript. That had been where I'd gone first in an effort to decipher ‘go down nineteen' and ‘go down ninety-two.' Not an unreasonable starting-point, but what did Tough Stuff have to do with TR-90? I had purchased the book at Mr. Paperback in Derry, and of the thirty or so puzzles I'd completed, I'd done all but half a dozen in Derry. TR ghosts could hardly be expected to show an interest in my Derry crossword collection. The telephone book, on the other hand I snatched it off the dining-room table. Although it covered the whole southern part of Castle County Motton, Harlow, and Kashwakamak as well as the TR it was pretty thin. The first thing I did was check the white pages to see if there were at least ninety-two. There were. The Y's and Z's finished up on page ninety-seven. This was the answer. Had to be. ‘I got it, didn't I?' I asked Bunter. ‘This is it.' Nothing. Not even a tinkle from the bell. ‘Fuck you what does a stuffed moosehead know about a telephone book?' Go down nineteen. I turned to page nineteen of the telephone book, where the letter F was prominently showcased. I began to slip my finger down the first column and as it went, my excitement faded. The nineteenth name on page nineteen was Harold Failles. It meant nothing to me. There were also Feltons and Fenners, a Filkersham and several Finneys, half a dozen Flahertys and more Fosses than you could shake a stick at. The last name on page nineteen was Framingham. It also meant nothing to me, but Framingham, Kenneth P. I stared at that for a moment. A realization began to dawn. It had nothing to do with the refrigerator messages. You're not seeing what you think you're seeing, I thought. This is like when you buy a blue Buick ‘You see blue Buicks everywhere,' I said. ‘Practically got to kick em out of your way. Yeah, that's it.' But my hands were shaking as I turned to page ninety-two. Here were the T's of southern Castle County, along with a few U's like Alton Ubeck and Catherine Udell just to round things out. I didn't bother checking the ninety-second entry on the page; the phone book wasn't the key to the magnetic crosspatches after all. It did, however, suggest something enormous. I closed the book, just held it in my hands for a moment (happy folks with blueberry rakes on the front cover), then opened it at random, this time to the M's. And once you knew what you were looking for, it jumped right out at you. All those K's. Oh, there were Stevens and Johns and Marthas; there was Meserve, G., and Messier, V., and Jayhouse, T. And yet, again and again, I saw the initial K where people had exercised their right not to list their first name in the book. There were at least twenty K-initials on page fifty alone, and another dozen C-initials. As for the actual names themselves . . . There were twelve Kenneths on this random page in the M-section, including three Kenneth Moores and two Kenneth Munters. There were four Catherines and two Katherines. There were a Casey, a Kiana, and a Kiefer. ‘Holy Christ, it's like fallout,' I whispered. I thumbed through the book, not able to believe what I was seeing and seeing it anyway. Kenneths, Katherines, and Keiths were everywhere. I also saw Kimberly, Kim, and Kym. There were Cammie, Kia (yes, and we had thought ourselves so original), Kiah, Kendra, Kaela, Keil, and Kyle. Kirby and Kirk. There was a woman named Kissy Bowden, and a man named Kito Rennie Kito, the same name as one of Kyra's fridgeafator people. And everywhere, outnumbering such usually common initials as S and T and E, were those K's. My eyes danced with them. I turned to look at the clock didn't want to stand John Storrow up at the airport, Christ no and there was no clock there. Of course not. Old Krazy Kat had popped his peepers during a psychic event. I gave a loud, braying laugh that scared me a little it wasn't particularly sane. ‘Get hold of yourself, Mike,' I said. ‘Take a deep breath, son.' I took the breath. Held it. Let it out. Checked the digital readout on the microwave. Quarter past eight. Plenty of time for John. I turned back to the telephone book and began to riffle rapidly through it. I'd had a second inspiration not a megawatt blast like the first one, but a lot more accurate, it turned out. Western Maine is a relatively isolated area it's a little like the hill country of the border South but there has always been at least some inflow of folks from away (‘flatlanders' is the term the locals use when they are feeling contemptuous), and in the last quarter of the century it has become a popular area for active seniors who want to fish and ski their way through retirement. The phone book goes a long way toward separating the newbies from the long-time residents. Babickis, Parettis, O'Quindlans, Donahues, Smolnacks, Dvoraks, Blindermeyers all from away. All flatlanders. Jalberts, Meserves, Pillsburys, Spruces, Therriaults, Perraults, Stanchfields, Starbirds, Dubays all from Castle County. You see what I'm saying, don't you? When you see a whole column of Bowies on page twelve, you know that those folks have been around long enough to relax and really spread those Bowie genes. There were a few K-initials and K-names among the Parettis and the Smolnacks, but only a few. The heavy concentrations were all attached to families that had been here long enough to absorb the atmosphere. To breathe the fallout. Except it wasn't radiation, exactly, it I suddenly imagined a black headstone taller than the tallest tree on the lake, a monolith which cast its shadow over half of Castle County. This picture was so clear and so terrible that I covered my eyes, dropping the phone book on the table. I backed away from it, shuddering. Hiding my eyes actually seemed to enhance the image further: a grave-marker so enormous it blotted out the sun; TR-90 lay at its foot like a funeral bouquet. Sara Tidwell's son had drowned in Dark Score Lake . . . or been drowned in it. But she had marked his passing. Memorialized it. I wondered if anyone else in town had ever noticed what I just had. I didn't suppose it was all that likely; when you open a telephone book you're looking for a specific name in most cases, not reading whole pages line by line. I wondered if Jo had noticed if she'd known that almost every longtime family in this part of the world had, in one way or another, named at least one child after Sara Tidwell's dead son. Jo wasn't stupid. I thought she probably had. I returned to the bathroom, relathered, started again from scratch. When I finished, I went back to the phone and picked it up. I poked in three numbers, then stopped, looking out at the lake. Mattie and Ki were up and in the kitchen, both of them wearing aprons, both of them in a fine froth of excitement. There was going to be a party! They would wear pretty new summer clothes, and there would be music from Mattie's boombox CD player! Ki was helping Mattie make biscuits for strewberry snortcake, and while the biscuits were baking they would make salads. If I called Mattie up and said Pack a couple of bags, you and Ki are going to spend a week at Disney World, Mattie would assume I was joking, then tell me to hurry up and finish getting dressed so I'd be at the airport when John's plane landed. If I pressed, she'd remind me that Lindy had offered her her old job back, but the offer would close in a hurry if Mattie didn't show up promptly at two P.M. on Friday. If I continued to press , she would just say no. Because I wasn't the only one in the zone, was I? I wasn't the only one who was really feeling it. I returned the phone to its recharging cradle, then went back into the north bedroom. By the time I'd finished dressing, my fresh shirt was already feeling wilted under the arms; it was as hot that morning as it had been for the last week, maybe even hotter. But I'd be in plenty of time to meet the plane. I had never felt less like partying, but I'd be there. Mikey on the spot, that was me. Mikey on the goddam spot. John hadn't given me his flight number, but at Castle County Airport, such niceties are hardly necessary. This bustling hub of transport consists of three hangars and a terminal which used to be a Flying A gas station when the light's strong on the little building's rusty north side, you can still see the shape of that winged A. There's one runway. Security is provided by Lassie, Breck Pellerin's ancient collie, who spends her days crashed out on the linoleum floor, cocking an ear at the ceiling whenever a plane lands or takes off. I popped my head into Pellerin's office and asked him if the ten from Boston was on time. He said it 'twas, although he hoped the paa'ty I was meetin planned to either fly back out before mid-afternoon or stay the night. Bad weather was comin in, good gorry, yes. What Breck Pellerin referred to as ‘lectrical weather. I knew exactly what he meant, because in my nervous system that electricity already seemed to have arrived. I went out to the runway side of the terminal and sat on a bench advertising Cormier's Market (FLY INTO OUR DELI FOR THE BEST MEATS IN MAINE). The sun was a silver button stuck on the eastern slope of a hot white sky. Headache weather, my mother would have called it, but the weather was due to change. I would hold onto the hope of that change as best I could. At ten past ten I heard a wasp-whine from the south. At quarter past, some sort of twin-engine plane dropped out of the murk, flopped onto the runway, and taxied toward the terminal. There were only four passengers, and John Storrow was the first one off. I grinned when I saw him. I had to grin. He was wearing a black tee-shirt with WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS printed across the front and a pair of khaki shorts which displayed a perfect set of city shins: white and bony. He was trying to manage both a Styrofoam cooler and a briefcase. I grabbed the cooler maybe four seconds before he dropped it, and tucked it under my arm. ‘Mike!' he cried, lifting one hand palm out. ‘John!' I returned in much the same spirit (evoe is the word that comes immediately to the crossword aficionado's mind), and slapped him five. His homely-handsome face split in a grin, and I felt a little stab of guilt. Mattie had expressed no preference for John quite the opposite, in fact and he really hadn't solved any of her problems; Devore had done that by topping himself before John had so much as a chance to get started on her behalf. Yet still I felt that nasty little poke. ‘Come on,' he said. ‘Let's get out of this heat. You have air conditioning in your car, I presume?' ‘Absolutely.' ‘What about a cassette player? You got one of those? If you do, I'll play you something that'll make you chortle.' ‘I don't think I've ever heard that word actually used in conversation, John.' The grin shone out again, and I noticed what a lot of freckles he had. Sheriff Andy's boy Opie grows up to serve at the bar. ‘I'm a lawyer. I use words in conversation that haven't even been invented yet. You have a tape-player?' ‘Of course I do.' I hefted the cooler. ‘Steaks?' ‘You bet. Peter Luger's. They're ‘ ‘ the best in the world. You told me.' As we went into the terminal, someone said, ‘Michael?' It was Romeo Bissonette, the lawyer who had chaperoned me through my deposition. In one hand he had a box wrapped in blue paper and tied with a white ribbon. Beside him, just rising from one of the lumpy chairs, was a tall guy with a fringe of gray hair. He was wearing a brown suit, a blue shirt, and a string tie with a golf-club on the clasp. He looked more like a farmer on auction day than the sort of guy who'd be a scream when you got a drink or two into him, but I had no doubt this was the private detective. He stepped over the comatose collie and shook hands with me. ‘George Kennedy, Mr. Noonan. I'm pleased to meet you. My wife has read every single book you ever wrote.' ‘Well thank her for me.' ‘I will. I have one in the car a hardcover . . . ‘ He looked shy, as so many people do when they get right to the point of asking. ‘I wonder if you'd sign it for her at some point.' ‘I'd be delighted to,' I said. ‘Right away's best, then I won't forget.' I turned to Romeo. ‘Good to see you, Romeo.' ‘Make it Rommie,' he said. ‘Good to see you, too.' He held out the box. ‘George and I clubbed together on this. We thought you deserved something nice for helping a damsel in distress.' Kennedy now did look like a man who might be fun after a few drinks. The kind who might just take a notion to hop onto the nearest table, turn a tablecloth into a kilt, and dance. I looked at John, who gave the kind of shrug that means hey, don't ask me. I pulled off the satin bow, slipped my finger under the Scotch tape holding the paper, then looked up. I caught Rommie Bissonette in the act of elbowing Kennedy. Now they were both grinning. ‘There's nothing in here that's going to jump out at me and go booga-booga, is there, guys?' I asked. ‘Absolutely not,' Rommie said, but his grin widened. Well, I can be as good a sport as the next guy. I guess. I unwrapped the package, opened the plain white box inside, revealed a square pad of cotton, lifted it out. I had been smiling all through this, but now I felt the smile curl up and die on my mouth. Something went twisting up my spine as well, and I think I came very close to dropping the box. It was the oxygen mask Devore had had on his lap when he met me on The Street, the one he'd snorted from occasionally as he and Rogette paced me, trying to keep me out deep enough to drown. Rommie Bissonette and George Kennedy had brought it to me like the scalp of a dead enemy and I was supposed to think it was funny ‘Mike?' Rommie asked anxiously. ‘Mike, are you okay? It was just a joke ‘ I blinked and saw it wasn't an oxygen mask at all how in God's name could I have been so stupid? For one thing, it was bigger than Devore's mask; for another, it was made of opaque rather than clear plastic. It was I gave a tentative chuckle. Rommie Bissonette looked tremendously relieved. So did Kennedy. John only looked puzzled. ‘Funny,' I said. ‘Like a rubber crutch.' I pulled out the little mike from inside the mask and let it dangle. It swung back and forth on its wire, reminding me of the waggy clock's tail. ‘What the hell is it?' John asked. ‘Park Avenue lawyer,' Rommie said to George, broadening his accent so it came out Paa-aak Avenew lawyah. ‘Ain't nevah seen one of these, have ya, chummy? Nossir, coss not.' Then he reverted to normal-speak, which was sort of a relief. I've lived in Maine my whole life, and for me the amusement value of burlesque Yankee accents has worn pretty thin. ‘It's a Stenomask. The stenog keeping the record at Mike's depo was wearing one. Mike kept looking at him ‘ ‘It freaked me out,' I said. ‘Old guy sitting in the corner and mumbling into the Mask of Zorro.' ‘Gerry Bliss freaks a lot of people out,' Kennedy said. He spoke in a low rumble. ‘He's the last one around here who wears em. He's got ten or eleven left in his mudroom. I know, because I bought that one from him.' ‘I hope he stuck it to you,' I said. ‘I thought it would make a nice memento,' Rommie said, ‘but for a second there I thought I'd given you the box with the severed hand in it I hate it when I mix up my gift-boxes like that. What's the deal?' ‘It's been a long hot July,' I said. ‘Put it down to that.' I hung the Stenomask's strap over one finger, dangling it that way. ‘Mattie said to be there by eleven,' John told us. ‘We're going to drink beer and throw the Frisbee around.' ‘I can do both of those things quite well,' George Kennedy said. Outside in the tiny parking lot George went to a dusty Altima, rummaged in the back, and came out with a battered copy of The Red-Shirt Man. ‘Frieda made me bring this one. She has the newer ones, but this is her favorite. Sorry about how it looks she's read it about six times.' II ‘It's my favorite, too,' I said, which was true. ‘And I like to see a book with mileage.' That was also true. I opened the book, looked approvingly at a smear of long-dried chocolate on the flyleaf, and then wrote: For Frieda Kennedy, whose husband was there to lend a hand. Thanks for sharing him, and thanks For reading, Mike Noonan. That was a long inscription for me usually I just stick to Best wishes or Good luck, but I wanted to make up for the curdled expression they had seen on my face when I opened their innocent little gag present. While I was scribbling, George asked me if I was working on a new novel. ‘No,' I said. ‘Batteries currently on recharge.' I handed the book back. ‘Frieda won't like that.' ‘No. But there's always Red-Shirt.' ‘We'll follow you,' Rommie said, and a rumble came from deep in the west. It was no louder than the thunder which had rumbled on and off for the last week, but this wasn't dry thunder. We all knew it, and we all looked in that direction. ‘Think we'll get a chance to eat before it storms?' George asked me. ‘Yeah. Just about barely.' I drove to the gate of the parking lot and glanced right to check for traffic. When I did, I saw John looking at me thoughtfully. ‘What?' ‘Mattie said you were writing, that's all. Book go tits-up on you or something?' My Childhood Friend was just as lively as ever, in fact . . . but it would never be finished. I knew that this morning as well as I knew there was rain on the way. The boys in the basement had for some reason decided to take it back. Asking why might not be such a good idea the answers might be unpleasant. ‘Something. I'm not sure just what.' I pulled out onto the highway, checked behind me, and saw Rommie and George following in George's little Altima. America has become a country full of big men in little cars. ‘What do you want me to listen to? If it's home karaoke, I pass. The last thing on earth I want to hear is you singing â€Å"Bubba Shot the Jukebox Last Night.†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ ‘Oh, it's better than that,' he said. ‘Miles better.' He opened his briefcase, rooted through it, and came out with a plastic cassette box. The tape inside was marked 7-20-98 yesterday. ‘I love this,' he said. He leaned forward, turned on the radio, then popped the cassette into the player. I was hoping I'd already had my quota of nasty surprises for the morning, but I was wrong. ‘Sorry, I just had to get rid of another call,' John said from my Chevy's speakers in his smoothest, most lawyerly voice. I'd have bet a million dollars that his bony shins hadn't been showing when this tape was made. There was a laugh, both smoky and grating. My stomach seized up at the sound of it. I remembered seeing her for the first time standing outside The Sunset Bar, wearing black shorts over a black tank-style swimsuit. Standing there and looking like a refugee from crash-diet hell. ‘You mean you had to turn on your tape-recorder,' she said, and now I remembered how the water had seemed to change color when she nailed me that really good one in the back of the head. From bright orange to dark scarlet it had gone. And then I'd started drinking the lake. ‘That's okay. Tape anything you want.' John reached out suddenly and ejected the cassette. ‘You don't need to hear this,' he said. ‘It's not substantive. I thought you'd get a kick out of her blather, but . . . man, you look terrible. Do you want me to drive? You're white as a fucking sheet.' ‘I can drive,' I said. ‘Go on, play it. Afterward I'll tell you about a little adventure I had Friday night . . . but you're going to keep it to yourself. They don't have to know' I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the Altima ‘and Mattie doesn't have to know. Especially Mattie.' He reached for the tape, then hesitated. ‘You're sure?' ‘Yeah. It was just hearing her again out of the blue like that. The quality of her voice. Christ, the reproduction is good.' ‘Nothing but the best for Avery, McLain, and Bernstein. We have very strict protocols about what we can tape, by the way. If you were wondering.' ‘I wasn't. I imagine none of it's admissible in litigation anyway, is it?' ‘In certain rare cases a judge might let a tape in, but that's not why we do it. A tape like this saved a man's life four years ago, right around the time I joined the firm. That guy is now in the Witness Protection Program.' ‘Play it.' He leaned forward and pushed the button. John: ‘How is the desert, Ms. Whitmore?' Whitmore: ‘Hot.' John: ‘Arrangements progressing nicely? I know how difficult times like this can ‘ Whitmore: ‘You know very little, counsellor, take it from me. Can we cut the crap?' John: ‘Consider it cut.' Whitmore: ‘Have you conveyed the conditions of Mr. Devore's will to his daughter-in-law?' John: ‘Yes ma'am.' Whitmore: ‘Her response?' John: ‘I have none to give you now. I may have after Mr. Devore's will has been probated. But surely you know that such codicils are rarely if ever accepted by the courts.' Whitmore: ‘Well, if that little lady moves out of town, we'll see, won't we?' John: ‘I suppose we will.' Whitmore: ‘When is the victory party?' John: ‘Excuse me?' Whitmore: ‘Oh please. I have sixty different appointments today, plus a boss to bury tomorrow. You're going up there to celebrate with her and her daughter, aren't you? Did you know she's invited the writer? Her fuck-buddy?' John turned to me gleefully. ‘Do you hear how pissed she sounds? She's trying to hide it, but she can't. It's eating her up inside!' I barely heard him. I was in the zone with what she was saying (the writer her fuck-buddy) and what was under what she was saying. Some quality beneath the words. We just want to see how long you can swim, she had called out to me. John: ‘I hardly think what I or Mattie's friends do is any of your business, Ms Whitmore. May I respectfully suggest that you party with your friends and let Mattie Devore party with h Whitmore: ‘Give him a message.' Me. She was talking about me. Then I realized it was even more personal than that she was talking to me. Her body might be on the other side of the country, but her voice and spiteful spirit were right here in the car with us. And Max Devore's will. Not the meaningless shit his lawyers had put down on paper but his will. The old bastard was as dead as Damocles, but yes, he was definitely still seeking custody. John: ‘Give who a message, Ms. Whitmore?' Whitmore: ‘Tell him he never answered Mr. Devore's question.' John: ‘What question is that?' Does her cunt suck? Whitmore: ‘Ask him. He'll know.' John: ‘If you mean Mike Noonan, you can ask him yourself. You'll see him in Castle County Probate Court this fall.' Whitmore: ‘I hardly think so. Mr. Devore's will was made and witnessed out here.' John: ‘Nevertheless, it will be probated in Maine, where he died. My heart is set on it. And when you leave Castle County the next time, Rogette, you will do so with your education in matters of the law considerably broadened.' For the first time she sounded angry, her voice rising to a reedy caw. Whitmore: ‘If you think ‘ John: ‘I don't think. I know. Goodbye, Ms. Whitmore.' Whitmore: ‘You might do well to stay away from ‘ There was a click, the hum of an open line, then a robot voice saying ‘Nine-forty A.M. . . . Eastern Daylight . . . July . . . twentieth.' John punched EJECT, collected his tape, and stored it back in his briefcase. ‘I hung up on her.' He sounded like a man telling you about his first skydive. ‘I actually did. She was mad, wasn't she? Wouldn't you say she was seriously pissed?' ‘Yeah.' It was what he wanted to hear but not what I really believed. Pissed, yes. Seriously pissed? Maybe not. Because Mattie's location and state of mind hadn't been her concern; Rogette had called to talk to me. To tell me she was thinking of me. To bring back memories of how it felt to tread water with the back of your head gushing blood. To freak me out. And she had succeeded. ‘What was the question you didn't answer?' John asked me. ‘I don't know what she meant by that,' I said, ‘but I can tell you why hearing her turned me a little white in the gills. If you can be discreet, and if you want to hear.' ‘We've got eighteen miles to cover; lay it on me.' I told him about Friday night. I didn't clutter my version with visions or psychic phenomena; there was just Michael Noonan out for a sunset walk along The Street. I'd been standing by a birch tree which hung over the lake, watching the sun drop toward the mountains, when they came up behind me. From the point where Devore charged me with his wheelchair to the point where I finally got back onto solid ground, I stuck pretty much to the truth. When I finished, John was at first utterly silent. It was a measure of how thrown for a loop he was; under normal circumstances he was every bit the chatterbox Ki was. ‘Well?' I asked. ‘Comments? Questions?' ‘Lift your hair so I can see behind your ear.' I did as he asked, revealing a big Band-Aid and a large area of swelling. John leaned forward to study it like a little kid observing his best friend's battle-scar during recess. ‘Holy shit,' he said at last. It was my turn to say nothing. ‘Those two old fucks tried to drown you.' I said nothing. ‘They tried to drown you for helping Mattie.' Now I really said nothing. ‘And you never reported it?' ‘I started to,' I said, ‘then realized I'd make myself look like a whiny little asshole. And a liar, most likely.' ‘How much do you think Osgood might know?' ‘About them trying to drown me? Nothing. He's just a messenger boy.' A little more of that unusual quiet from John. After a few seconds of it he reached out and touched the lump on the back of my head. ‘Ow!' ‘Sorry.' A pause. ‘Jesus. Then he went back to Warrington's and pulled the pin. Jesus. Michael, I never would have played that tape if I'd known ‘ ‘It's all right. But don't even think of telling Mattie. I'm wearing my hair over my ear like that for a reason.' ‘Will you ever tell her, do you think?' ‘I might. Some day when he's been dead long enough so we can laugh about me swimming with my clothes on.' ‘That might be awhile,' he said. ‘Yeah. It might.' We drove in silence for a bit. I could sense John groping for a way to bring the day back to jubilation, and loved him for it. He leaned forward, turned on the radio, and found something loud and nasty by Guns ‘n Roses welcome to the jungle, baby, we got fun and games. ‘Party 'til we puke,' he said. ‘Right?' I grinned. It wasn't easy with the sound of the old woman's voice still clinging to me like light slime, but I managed. ‘If you insist,' I said. ‘I do,' he said. ‘Most certainly.' ‘John, you're a good guy for a lawyer.' ‘And you're a good one for a writer.' This time the grin on my face felt more natural and stayed on longer. We passed the marker reading TR-90, and as we did, the sun burned through the haze and flooded the day with light. It seemed like an omen of better times ahead, until I looked into the west. There, black in the bright, I could see the thunderheads building up over the White Mountains.

An Experience of My Friendship with a Narcissist

An Experience of My Friendship with a Narcissist I became friends with Jillian in the summer of 2016, because we both worked at our town’s Parks and Recreation day camp. We became very fast friends, largely due to our willingness and ability to express ourselves to each other, including our honest thoughts and opinions. This summer, things were different. Where our relationship had flowed freely the summer before, we ran into personality and conversational conflicts. I was initially very confused, because I thought that I understood our friendship well. However, we had spent the school year apart, only seeing each other over the occasional break, which led to us experiencing very different circumstances. She had also entered a relationship during the summer, and I largely missed how it affected her life throughout the school year. When I returned home and we started hanging out again, there were subtle differences in her personality that I noticed; a tendency to be more irritable, a lower likelihood to question me in depth about issues I was dealing with, accompanied by a tendency to talk about herself and her relationship problems a disproportionate amount. It was a topic that began to dominate our conversations, and I eventually grew frustrated. I am the type of person that likes to discuss a problem in order to work through it and hopefully come to a solution. This was not Jillian’s intent. She just wanted somebody to vent to about her frustrations, and then hopefully validate her actions. This lead to asymmetrical communication, which â€Å"occurs when people exchange different kinds of information† (GAA 19) and can muddle the lines of communication between two people. Problems started to arise for me when we would cycle through the same behavioral patterns and both Jillian and her significan t other would predictably repeat actions that would create conflict. When things became very tense between the two of them and it began to severely impact her daily life, I asked her if she might want to contemplate the overall health of the relationship. In the months since my return home I had seen her personal health and self-care declining. She began abusing prescription medications, which became a very touchy subject. Since beginning this class, I have come to the tentative conclusion that Jillian could be diagnosed as a narcissist. Narcissism is defined in terms of â€Å"having an exaggerated sense of self-important and a focus on oneself at the expense of others† (G.A.A. 68). She is a very kind and caring personher initial career choice was that of a nursebut a lot of the time she did not realize how disproportionate her focus on herself was. She is beautiful, and has a history of being attracted to others who deeply admire her. She constantly seeks this admiration through her use of dating applications, work interactions, and other various means of communication. Part of her problem with Matt, her long-term boyfriend, was that he was not good at long distance communication. He was not very attentive to his phone throughout the day, which is the complete opposite of Jillian. She had a prescriptive expectancy that he would be responsive to her text messages, because most people of our gene ration usually are. When he did not give her the attention that she anticipated, her expectancies were violated in a negative manner; â€Å"when negative violations occur, people might become angry and dissatisfied with their relationships† (GAA 103). This is precisely what happened, and so when she could not get attention from him, she would pursue other avenues. Men would become infatuated with her, and with her entertaining their advances while feeding off of their compliments, falling in line with the idea that â€Å"narcissists are more focused on the short-term rewards they get from relationships, and therefore look for someone who provides them with immediate admiration rather than long-term mutual liking† (Emmons, 1989; Morf Rhodewalt, 2001). This was something that we discussed openly, I think because she sought validation for her behaviors. I made it a point never to shame her for her actions, because she was very sensitive to my judgement and I did not want to alienate her or make her feel bad about herself. However, I think that there were many instances of misinterpretation between us, which resulted in her feeling criticized and accused, a potential outcome of expectancy violations (GAA 105). I will provide a sample conversation that we had a few months into the summer. I had just apologized for not always understanding her explanations of her behaviors, while explaining that I was currently going through a hard time in my life. It quickly became a heated discussion: Me: â€Å"I need you to be there for me a little bit more. I have a hard time communicating when I am struggling, and I need you to reach out to me for.† Jillian: â€Å"You should have told me sooner. I’m sorry for being such a shitty friend.† Me: â€Å"It’s okay. We’re all shitty friends sometimes.† Jillian, voice raised and with a sharper tone: â€Å"Wow, okay. Sorry I’m just an absolute piece of shit and the worst fucking friend ever. Thanks for that.† At this point I pause, considering my next words. She interprets this as me agreeing with what she said, and is further angered. Me: â€Å"That’s not what I said.† As you may be able to imagine, I was a bit perplexed by this interaction. While my intention was not to upset Jillian, I also did not want to validate her behavior. She had been a rather inattentive friend to me in my time of need, and I saw this as an opportunity to have an honest discussion about how we could both be better friends to each other. I hoped that we would both leave the conversation with a better understanding of each other and our individual needs. Instead, she misinterpreted both my words and my silence, resulting in an intense backlash. I shortened the dialogue in this example, but it continued along the same pattern for about 20 minutes after. I would apologize when I misspoke try and explain my thinking, and she would become angrier as a result. I truly did not understand how to correct this negative behavioral pattern, and I felt stuck in a destructive loop of interactions between us. Clearly, I was not putting enough consideration into how Jillian would react to my words, and there were times where I regretted speaking at all. Narcissists â€Å"have relatively low self-esteem and seek self-esteem boosts,† (GAA 68) a descriptor that falls perfectly in line with her behavior. She has admitted to me on various occasions that she suffers from low self-esteem, something that we can bond over, and that she actively seeks out self-esteem boosts to help make her feel better about herself. I brought up the idea that we want to be able to boost our own self-esteem, rather than relying on the opinions and words of others; or if we did rely on others, they should be friends and other loved ones who know us very well and place true meaning behind their words. I could only bring this up once or twice before she became very defensive. As you can probably deduce, a negative behavior pattern formed between us where she would admit to what I perceived to be behaviors non-conducive to healthily boosting her self esteem and improving her mood. Slowly but surely, a gap began to form between us. Since we mostly talked ab out her problems, there wasn’t as much of an opportunity to discuss my own shortcomings. This created an environment where most of our interactions were centered around her difficulties. making it seem as though I had less flaws than she did. I am also the type of person who will feel compelled to offer advice and aid, which I have come to realize is an area to work on in my own character. These factors together created an air of tension between us where she felt judged and looked down upon by me. I committed what she perceived to be as many social violations, where I â€Å"fail[ed] to act in relationally appropriate ways and instead engage[d] in rude, cold, critical, or condescending behavior† (GAA 108). As you can imagine, this put quite a wedge in our friendship and our ability to positively communicate with each other. The path to recovering our friendship has been a slow one. We took a break from seeing each other for about a month in order to reorient ourselves. I had to develop new expectancies for how Jillian would react to my words and actions, and I imagine that she did the same for me. Our frequency of communication has slowly been increasing again, and she has made more of an effort to ask me how I’m doing. I have also tried harder to open up and share my weaknesses, to both of our benefit. I still need to take breaks from Jillian for periods at a time, but I truly consider her to be a close friend and I hope to work hard with her so that our friendship can last.

Organizational Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Organizational Development - Essay Example Two definitions that more aptly represent the thrust of organization development today are: "Organization development is a system-wide application of behavioral science knowledge to the planned development and reinforcement of organizational strategies, structures, and processes for improving an organization's effectiveness." (Cummings et al, p.2) An astute organization development practitioner would carefully evaluate the working systems with set targets to identify pitfalls and suggest holistic changes for improved effectiveness. One of the key components of organization development is change management. Change management is a complex system which involves judicious and intelligent application of a range of ideas from the fields of business, engineering, sociology, and psychology. As organizations face stiff competition, changes in the organizations become imperative for survival. It becomes more and more necessary for the organization to implement a robust change management system to help the organization grow and sustain and meet the challenges that it faces from within and without. A change management system in its broad outline may be regarded as a "structured process that will cause proposed changes to be reviewed for technical and business readiness in a consistent manner that can be relaxed or tightened to adjust to business needs and experiences." (Indiana University, 2009) A robust change management practice would involve the convergence of two predominant fields of thought: the mechanical focus to change and the human focus on change. Till recently, a lot of companies had likened the different functions of their business to a mechanical clock made up of individual mechanical pieces which they could alter or change to suit a specific situation and produce the desired results. This change could be radical or gradual as was deemed necessary. The need for change management concepts was not realized till their projects faced serious hurdles to implementation or encountered stiff resistance. Change management has now come to mean "the process, tools and techniques to manage the people-side of business change to achieve the required business outcome, and to realize that business change effectively within the social infrastructure of the workplace." (Change Management Learning Center, 1996-2008) The foundation stone to the human side of change management was laid by William Bridges in his book named Transitions. (Ed Batista, 2008) Though he relates human behavior to change in a workplace only a few times in his book, this work brought a new perspective to change management and resulted in two schools of approach to business practice, measurement of success and perspectives of change: the engineer's approach or the mechanical approach and the psychologist's approach. The table below summarizes the major differences in the two approaches: Engineer Psychologist Focus Processes, systems, structure People Business practices BPR, TQM, ISO 9000, Quality Human resources, OD Starting point Business issues or opportunities Personal change, employee resistance (or potential for resistance) Measure of success Business performance, financial and statistical metrics Job satisfaction, turnover, productivity loss Perspective on change "Shoot the stragglers, carry

Treasury profile of glaxo smithline pharmaceutical company Essay

Treasury profile of glaxo smithline pharmaceutical company - Essay Example rofile shown in the appendix at the end of this paper gives a bird’s eye-view of the company’s treasury management framework and is considered the best suited to the present day environment the company is operating under. The major five functions reviewed in the main text shows that the company is managed conservatively and that it is not engaged in speculative activities. Treasury function in an organisation is essential in order to maintain liquidity in funds flow. Liquidity will be affected due to various risks involved. The management must foresee unavoidable risks involved and provide for such risks by structuring the fixed capital and working capital suitably. (ACT) Company Glaxo Smith Kline PLC, UK‘s case is taken up for study of its treasury management. A brief outline of the company’s treasury profile is furnished in appendix at the end of this paper. Aim and objective of this study therefore is to ascertain the risks faced by this company and how it has designed its capital structure to manage its treasury functions in order maintain its liquidity and whether the current practice of treasury management is adequate or not. Treasury functions encompass capital markets and funding, cash and liquidity management, corporate financial management, Risk management and treasury operations and control. (ACT) The role of the treasury department is to maintain company’s liquidity. The treasurer has to monitor current and projected cash flows and make use of the information to suitably invest excess funds and also be in readiness for additional borrowings or equity in case of capital shortage that may be encountered any time. It should safeguard the existing assets by prudent investment of funds available and also guard against excessive losses arising out of interest rate and foreign exchange fluctuations. Cash forecasting, working capital management, cash management, investment management, treasury risk management, management advice, credit rating

The growth and impact of 'temporary' employmen Research Paper

The growth and impact of 'temporary' employmen - Research Paper Example Department of Labor 1). The current paper hereby aims to present the growth and impact of temporary employment in the U.S. through initially providing a brief historical overview of temporary employment, prior to presenting current statistics on the subject. The causes and effects of temporary employment on the plight of employment condition in the country would also be examined, prior to a concluding portion would wraps up the points that were discussed. Recent economic difficulties in the country and all over the world have affected the tenure, status, and working conditions of the labor force. There are rampant news that reveal increasing levels of unemployment globally and more workers seeking temporary and part-time employment to be able to support a variety of needs. According to Villarreal and Swanson (2011), aside from economic factors that influence the rate of employment, the concerns about future imposition of taxes and the costs of health care in the country preclude optimistic growth potentials for supporting and sustaining permanent employment. As such, greater numbers of people seeking employment resort to part-time jobs and temporary employment. The characteristics of benefits eligibility for temporary employees have been explicitly indicated by DOL, to wit: â€Å"Temporary employees are eligible to earn leave and are covered by Social Security and unemployment compensation, but do not receive the other fringe benefits provided to career civil service employees. Current law allows temporary employees to purchase health insurance after they have one year of temporary service, but the employee must pay the full cost with no Government contribution. Employees are not eligible for coverage under the Federal Government Life Insurance program or the Federal Employees Retirement System† (U.S. Department of Labor par. 2). Thus, the disparities between a permanent from a temporary employee

Motivational Needs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Motivational Needs - Essay Example This includes food, sleep, water, exercise, clothing shelter and so forth (Iigo, 2000). Coon (2000) stated the three major categories of motives. Primary motives- which are based on biological needs that must be met for survival. The most important primary motives are hunger, thirst, pain avoidance, and needs for air, sleep, elimination of wastes, and regulation of body temperature. Love and Belongingness Needs. When the individual has minimum satisfaction of his survival and security needs, belongingness needs become important to him. The need for love, acceptance and approval by others - his family, friends those with whom he works (Cawaon, 1999). Cognitive Needs. We live in a decade where the source of power is information and education. Never in the lifetime of man has learning resources exploded and expanded to a phenomenal degree as today. Knowledge is everywhere and technology is facilitating our means of getting to it and using it (Puangco, 2005). Bandala et al. (1996) students motivation in general is high although students achievement motivation had a higher degree of motivation than the other areas. This suggests that students are continually striving, changing and trying to achieve their goals in life.

Jencos Information System Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Jencos Information System - Assignment Example Diversifications into other businesses are very important for business continuity and should be taken care really well to fetch more customers and provide them better and allied services for retention and indirect marketing. Most importantly the services can be rendered to a large variety of customers across a geographical region with B2B and B2C models. The feedback system can also be added so that future caterings can be handled better. The total sales and profit can be easily captured and produced to management with ease reducing a lot of manual operations. Why is it necessary for the organisation to become an e-business The reasons for converting 'bricks and mortars' into 'click and mortars' is as follows: 1. The visibility is improved which means more people get to know about it and often want to try it out for a change. Even if 10% of the people try it out in UK, it will generate huge sales. 2. The e-marketing helps to let people know about its various services it caters. 3. The business can spread in diverse fields so as to provide ancillary services to the customers along with grocery items so that they get served better. Helps for greater retention. 4. The supply chain management is better rendered through e-business. 5. People can access the online store at their convenience and make payment through loyalty card it wishes to introduce. What technology/systems can support good customer/supplier relations It is increasingly important to maintain good supplier and customer relations for business continuity and long term survival. Jencos have built their reputation from customers and need to continue doing the great job. The Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems could be used to track the... Diversifications into other businesses are very important for business continuity and should be taken care really well to fetch more customers and provide them better and allied services for retention and indirect marketing. The Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems could be used to track the production, procurement and logistics processes to supply goods and services from their source to final delivery to the customer. (Laudon, 2002) It eyes on Tesco which is an online grocery store and delivery service selling computers and furniture's, house dcor, entertainment stuff like DVD's and others and books, finance and insurance, phones and broadband services, flowers and other accessories. Tesco also provides a Tesco Clubcard for earning points on purchases where Jencos wants to introduce loyalty card. It also desires to get close to Sainsburys another supermarket giant which caters a lot of services besides grocery. It also incorporates a forum which puts across many interesting blog which a customer can participate and also acts like feedback, precisely a business strategy by the company. Creating a good market in other items than grocery will not be easier as others have already created the space really well.

Company Law shareholders Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Company Law shareholders - Case Study Example Remedies available to Samantha are bringing action section 994 (old459) of the Companies Act meant for Minority Shareholders' petitions against the directors' misrule etc. and also a derivative action. From time immemorial, minority shareholder has been discouraged to take action against the directors on the grounds of company being run on majority concept and on the basis of action if any should be taken only by the Company on the directors and not the shareholder in individual capacity. In Foss v Harbottle1, it was observed by the court that minority should rather take necessary action through the internal forum of company meetings. Wigram VC stated that in view of the majority rule, any unlawful conduct of the directors was capable of being ratified by the majority and that it was not possible for the court to intervene. The only exception to the rule as observed by Jenkins LJ in Edwards v Halliwell(1950)2, could be that the minority shareholder should show that the directors accused of fraud were actually in control of the company rather than merely maintaining that majority could not lawfully ratify the wrong acts of the directors.3 In Ebrahimi v Westbourne Galleries Ltd4, th e minority shareholder Ebrahimi sued on the basis oppression of minority and winding up on just and equitable grounds. The second one was accepted by the court holding that individual's rights should be respected and the rights were not necessarily submerged by the artificial corporate entity context. The minority shareholder Samantha is of the opinion that the purchase of the property of Pastry Products for 450,000 by Filo Ltd is prejudicial to its interests and now she has learnt that both the directors are together holding 44%(each 22%) of shares of that company and the proceeds of the sale of the property have been used for payment of that company's dividends. Regulation 81(a) of Table A of Articles Filo Ltd has adopted, governs removal of directors along with other regulations from 81(b) to (e). Regulation 81(a) says "the office of a director shall be vacated if-(a) he ceases to be a director by virtue of any provision of the Act or he becomes prohibited by law from being a director"5 Besides, a director enjoys immunity as per regulation 118 which indemnifies every director against liability incurred by way of defence to any civil or criminal proceedings in case of judgment or reliefs in his favour. On the other hand a person conducting shareholder litigation has to meet costs from his own sources in case of the derivative claim being rejected by the court. As per the new Act's section 172 which came into force from October 1, 2007, directors must "promote the success of the company for the benefit of the members as a whole"6 as against the earlier parallel provision that they should act "in the best interests" of the company. Government has clarified that "to promote the success" means "long-term increase in value" though this is subject to being confronted by a competing definition from potential litigants. Under Section 175 of the new Act, director has duty to avoid conflict of interests. There should not be a situation involving exploitation of any property, information, or opportunity whether or not they are advantageous to the company. The acquisitioning of the property by Filo Limited from Pastry Products in which both of the directors hold 44% of shares falls under this section. Further it has been stated that

The effects of single Parenting in women House-Holds Essay Example for Free

The effects of single Parenting in women House-Holds Essay Abstract This essay focuses on the issue of single parenting as one of the most effective family problems. A single parent is a parent who lives with one or more children without the second parent it could be either a dad or a mom. Usually the definition of single parenting depends on the local laws throughout different states, but there are other circumstances as well that could lead to single parenting, for example if a parent is left alone after getting divorced, if one of the parent just leaves the family or the child, if one of the parent is put to the jail or dies. Sometimes the single parent might not be the real father or mother of the child, some people decide to adopt a child or become a parent through implantation of babies or just take care of a family member child, who was abandoned by his real parents. The household of a single parent is very different from a normal household. But all the circumstances are distinctive, some Parents decide to become single parents if they see a relationship is not going well or if they see there might be a lot of family problems that might affect the child, and some have to do it if something happens like the loss of a the second parent. There are a lot of negative effects about being a single parent. For example, making decisions can be really hard sometimes and most of the time parents need that second person there to be able to make the best decision that will benefit the child and the parent. Frequently single parents do not have sufficient time to do all the house work and this involves children from the early age in doing house jobs which takes time away from them to do school work or other things. Single parents have to tell most of house problems to a child which doesn’t not help the child, they have to discuss these problems like if the child was an adult. If the other parent is alive they have to make the arrangements to take the child either to the other parent’s house or to jail if the parent is in jail which is not good because the  child will not have a stable home life and this will cause confusion. Single parenting starts with the divorce of a couple who have children, with the loss of a parent abandonment of a child or many other reasons. Most of the parents that become single parents are women. Non-custodial fathers usually don’t have much connection with their children, and contribution usually declines as time goes by I have seen this a lot in my job since I work with children I have seen how some parents just forget about their children mostly the male parents forget about their kid and stops communicating with them . Since most single-parent households are females their income are less that of a man, this causes economic issues on the mother and the child has less opportunities on being involved in activities after school or sports. Economic limitations may limit growth improving experiences of a child. Even the children that their fathers pay their child support check that they’re obligated to pay monthly still see limitations on outside activities. But there are a lot of parents that do not pay their monthly child support checks to their children which makes it even harder for a single mother. A lot of children strongly dislike divorces because having the most important people in your life live separated affects their lives greatly. For some children, divorce is not something that they will forget about quickly, but it’s something that will affect them for the rest of their lives. This is a traumatic experience for the child because it leaves them feeling alone, as if nobody in the world cares about them. I have experienced this a lot as well in my job. I have a lot of children that seek for my attention a lot, and I also have a lot of children that call me â€Å"dad† because they don’t have the male figure in their family. Single parenting affects each child differently depending on the childs age which ranges in four stages; infants, young children, the elementary school age and teenagers. Infants and young children can feel abandoned by the decision of parents to get divorced. Most of them need to feel, hear, and see both parents in order to bond wi th their parents. This connection is important for the parent and child relationship later on in the childs life â€Å"is the challenge for school age children, who are learning to make things use tools, and acquire skills for the adult life, children who fail these lessons of mastery and competence may come out of this stage feeling inadequate and inferior† (Erikson 1950). Parenting is hard at this age  because this young child requires a lot of love, and attention from the parents if a children fails in a situation like this it’s hard for the children to receive support since the parent barely has time for the child. Single parents don’t have time to give the appropriate amount of love and attention because they are forced to work and take care of the home responsibilities alone and the parent becomes very stressed since they worry about their children getting adequate attention. Family organization has changed has changed a lot in the last fifty years according to the research done. With higher percentages of marriage ending in divorce single parent families are growing quickly. â€Å"Seventy percent of all the children will spend all or part of their lives in a single-parent household† (Lindblad-Goldberg, M. 1989). These studies show that the children of single parenting families are affected greatly in a negative way. Women head the majority of single- parent families and as a result, children experience many social problems from growing up without a father. Some of these problems include lack of financial support and various emotional problems by not having a father around, which may contribute to problems later in life. One of the problems that they might face are anger issues a lot of the male boys that I mentor have a lot of anger issues and I believe that the cause of these issues is the missing of the male figure which is a symbol of authority in the house. Today, most researchers state that both models were not quite correct and are still not correct now. During the years 1860-1920 the black immigrant families could not afford only one earner for the family and these ideals were appropriate only for white middle class families. By the year 1893 more and more women were taking up jobs an d the number of divorces increased. â€Å"In 1950 – about 22% families had both working parents, in 1980 – the number increased to 42 %† (Morgan, K. 1993) Since the year 1980 the divorce rates were twice as big as before. This means that about one-third of all children lived in single parent families or in adoptive families. The statistical studies at that time showed that 25 % of all families didn’t have children at all 25% of all families lived in couples 25% of families were headed by females 4 % of families were extended (Lindblad Goldberg, M.1989). We can come to a assumption that as well as the family principles were changing, the amount of single-parent families were changing too. If we were to count the number of single mothers in the  difference to single fathers â€Å"the ratio is nine to one† ( Ceballo, R., Borquez, J. 1994) that means that children in most cases are left with their mother instead of their fathers. In my job most of the times all I see are single young mothers instead of single fathers taking care of their children which prove this ratio. It is clear that mothers are regularly closer to thei r children and care more about their children, but there are some exceptions, but there are a lot of difficulties that single mothers have to face. The problems of income are extremely difficult for single mothers headed households. All low earnings money families have economic problems, but in cases of single mother parenting women have to raise their children on top of these issues. Studies showed that â€Å"about 50 % of all households in poverty were female-headed. It is not only because of low wages that women get, but mostly because of the lack of another earners in the family, as a result there are cases when children start to work early in order to help their mothers† (Amato, P. R. 1993). This affects children a lot when they have to go and work at an early age it affects their studies and it prevents them from doing any extracurricular activity after school or participate in any sports team. These studies demonstrate that the wages of women from single female-headed households and from two-parent households are similar, but women from single female-headed households had to take additional hours or even work more than one job to support the family. There is often a problem of single mothers among teenagers. Young girls are left with their kids and their fathers just disappear. Then there are a lot of problems connected not only with finance but many others as well.The financial situation is not that hard by African-American single mothers, as the percentage of their income to the whole income of the family was bigger, but they have little chance to receive any child support money or other state payments. About â€Å"25% of Spanish households in Los Angeles, California and Arizona were headed by women, about 17.3 % of Hispanic households also had a female head† (Morgan, K. 1993). To draw a conclusion to this part we should mention that the cases of female-headed households happen more often, the problems they face are lack of finances and the need to spend a lot more of time at work. Fathers make about 13% of single parents in the USA. Currently fathers are more used to take some female roles at home. They are more involved with their children and in house responsibilities. Before men were  primary caregivers, only some of them had to raise their c hildren alone due to the death of their wives. As men typically have higher positions at work they have greater earnings as well, so they rarely face the same economic complications that single women do. On the other hand fathers do not always prosper in finding common language with their children and the results are that children raised by a single father are more likely to start using drugs or developing drinking habits, or start early sexual life since fathers are more flexible. Even though there is a common belief that fathers are stricter than mothers, they are often not able to converse with their children as well as the mothers can do it. Sometimes father are disciplined themselves or are not organized, it is not surprising if they cannot help their children to develop such qualities. I have been studying one of my children’s dad and the children has taken a lot of bad traits from his dad because the dad is not a great example he is not disciplined himself. A good father could be a good example for his son, and a go od model of behavior. A lot of single mothers have problems with their children at some time of their lives because they lack the strong influence of a man. The ratio of young fathers is lower in comparison with teenager girls who have kids. In the twentieth century the number of female-headed households enlarged significantly among Latino, Asian and Other race households. It’s a statement that single families are not the Americans. The number of single parent households increased greatly in England and in Australia during 1990s. â€Å"In the UK lone-parents families formed about 3.3% of all households, the percentage of them in Australia was even higher – 7.6%.Talking about other countries we should mention: Belgium – 1.8 – 2.7 % Ireland – 2.8 % Luxemburg – 2.2 % Japan – 5.1 %† (Borquez, J. 1994). In all countries most of single parents are women. Such countries as Greece, Portugal and Italy have more conformist opinions about family disputes even t hough they have a lower percentage of single parent families. Raising a child alone without any help from a second parent is pretty hard and a stressful experience, single parents have to put in a lot of work in order to follow an organized schedule that helps the parent as well as the child. The parents depend on many factors and have more responsibilities for their children. Being a single parent does not mean that a person should separate themselves from the whole world and isolate themselves with their complications and  problems. They should look for help provided by the government and any support that their family might provide. Single parents should never be embarrassed and they should never let their self-importance make complications for the support they can get from other people. If there is a lot of support from family members, friends or organizations it will be easier for the single parent to cope with all the problems. There are numerous areas where single parents need solid support from their friends, Family, or organizations. Throughout this paper we discussed the effects of single parenting. The effects that a child faces and the effects that a parent faces as a single parent are difficult. Both the child and the parent go through tough situations and difficulties that affect their lives greatly. There are some positive outcomes that come out from single parenting but there are more negative outcomes than positive outcomes. I have seen all of the negative outcomes in my job, I have experienced all of these things and all most of them are true children that come from single parenting families tend to have a lot of difficulties and problems in their lives, but these problems could diminish with good mentorship, and good support from other family members. References Amato, P. R. (1993). â€Å"Children’s adjustment to divorce: Theories, hypotheses, and empirical support.† Journal of Marriage and the Family, 55, 23-58. Bogenschneider, K., Kaplan, T., Morgan, K. (1993). â€Å"Single parenthood and children’s well-being.† Wisconsin Family Impact Seminars Briefing Report. Combrink-Graham (Ed.) Children in family contexts. New York: Guildford. Erikson, E.H. (1950). The Developmental stage of Erik Erikson. New York: Norton. Carole Wade. Carole Tavris. Tenth Edition Grossman, A. S., Hayghe, H. (1982). â€Å"Labor force activity of women receiving child support or alimony.† Monthly Labor Review, 105, 39-41. McLoyd, V. C., Jayaratne, T. E., Ceballo, R., Borquez, J. (1994). â€Å"Unemployment and work interruption among African American single mothers: Effects on parenting and adolescent socioemotional functioning.† Child Development, 65, 562-589. Lindblad-Goldberg, M. (1989). â€Å"Successful minority single-p arent families.† In L. Combrink-Graham (Ed.) Children in family contexts. New York: Guildford.

Community Empowerment Can Genuinely Benefit The Community Social Work Essay

Community Empowerment Can Genuinely Benefit The Community Social Work Essay In society, some groups are more vulnerable than others the poor, the disabled, battered women, etc. NGOs working at the grassroots levels are best suited to deal with the vulnerable groups. However, NGOs and the Government can join hands to find the most suitable strategies to use, to empower those who are potentially weak in the social structure. The Government of Mauritius has put in place an NGO Trust fund to help these people to lead a decent life. Community empowerment can genuinely benefit the community. However, along the way community organisations encounter several obstacles which hamper the empowerment process. This called for a review of the community empowerment strategies. Most of the limitations of empowerment strategies occurred due to the lack of training in leadership development and lack of capacity building skills. On the other hand, NGOs were found to be limited in their actions due to the lack of resources and dependence on the Government. Moreover, the Government sometimes attributes more importance to the needs of stakeholders, rather than the needs of the community thus failing the whole purpose of community empowerment. So, to increase community involvement, organisations have altered their way of doing things. Some examples are : strengthening relationships with the community by developing a deep understanding of community issues, undergoing training, implementing creative strategies to encourage participation, among others. 1 What is community empowerment? Community empowerment is the local governments core business (cdz changes, 2008). Community empowerment enables people to play an active role in the decisions that affect their environment (cdx changes, 2008). According to Rappaport (1987), empowerment is meant to enhance the possibilities for people to control their own lives. Cochran (1986) believes that people understand their own needs far better than anyone else and as a result should have the power both to define and act upon them (John at al, 1993). Community empowerment refers to the process of aiding communities to gain control over their lives. Communities consist of groups of people sharing common interests, concerns or identities. Through empowerment, people are able to control the factors and decisions that define their lives. By increasing their assets and building their capacities, they can therefore broaden their networks. People cannot be empowered by others as such, but by themselves (WHO, 2012) Community empowerment encompasses involvement, participation and commitment to the society. It is only possible when people feel a sense of belonging to the community and it aims mostly at social and political changes. In another words, community empowerment is a way of re-negotiating power to achieve more self-control (WHO, 2012). Community empowerment covers the social, cultural, political and economic aspects of society. With the advent of globalisation, actions at the local level heavily impacts actions at the global level. This is why partnerships are required to finding collective solutions (WHO, 2012). Communication is the key to successful community empowerment. It helps to raise awareness and increase knowledge of the people to encourage discussions and debates, so that people gain insight on the controlling forces acting upon their lives and initiate their own decision making process (WHO, 2012). Empowering communities also includes empowering the individual. Empowerment at the individual level starts with defined needs and aspirations and focuses on available resources. 2 It is the process of taking control, which eventually leads to fulfilling ones potential. It comprises of certain factors; self-reliance, participation in decision making, dignity and respect, belonging and contributing to the community. The empowerment of communities involves a higher degree of individual empowerment, a strong sense of belonging to the community, participation in political activities, leadership in decision making and access to resources (WHO, 2010). The community empowerment process is very complex and requires understanding and commitment from the part of all stakeholders. Community empowerment progresses gradually. Therefore it requires constant learning and consistent building of a communitys capacity (Donnelley, 2009) 2.1 How to empower a community? In order to empower a community, that is to involve groups of people in engagement activities, it may be necessary to develop a campaign. However, we should bear in mind that a campaign based on other motivational grounds besides community welfare, fails the whole purpose of community empowerment. Community engagement involves the active participation of individuals and community representatives in all aspects of the campaign. It is very important for the community to be active participants, instead of passive ones (Kirklees Partnership Involving Communities Framework, n.d). Empowering people is not an easy task. Individuals often do not have the time, energy, resources, expertise to develop and implement such campaigns. Community engagement demands certain criteria, namely resources to enable empowerment such as political and legal rights, funding and the social capacity to create mobilisation networks, opportunities such as those provided by institutional arrangements and finally motivations for people to exert their rights (Paul, 2010). Social workers, both voluntary and professional, are assets to the success of these campaigns. Since human nature is complex, the staff leading the campaigns should let go of aspects that 3 may threaten the purpose of the campaign. Instead volunteers, community organisations and partner agencies should participate in the design and implementation process. Here empowering social workers might be another important aspect of community empowerment (Kirklees Partnership Involving Communities Framework, n.d). The Government should include the community at all stages of development projects to increase community engagement and community participation. Capacity building strengthening skills, potential and abilities of people in developing societies so that they can step out of their misery, and community participation actively engaged in designing, implementing and evaluating strategies to address a particular problem are essential to community empowerment (Debra, 2002). Both NGOs and the Government understand the need for community empowerment in Mauritius. Here are some examples of how the community is empowered: The Government has proposed to introduce a Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) with the objective of facilitating the community to make use of ICT to fully participate in the socio-economic development of the country. The CEP in line with the Government encourages the development of local content and creativity. The purpose of this initiative is to democratize access to information, provide comprehensive information about the country, namely its economic and social structure and stimulate the development and production of local content on the internet. This will enable Mauritians to use the internet more effectively and find solutions to the challenges in the community. It will provide a common platform for sharing local knowledge, a marketplace for project proposals, and discussion forums. People will also formulate and implement their own development projects by collaborating with other stakeholders (NCB, n.d). Another example would be the Work done by the Bel Ombre Foundation for Empowerment, which was founded in 2008. Their vision is to create an enabling 4 environment where each individual can realize his potential. This organisation aims at empowering the inhabitants of Bel Ombre to catch the development pace by investing in training, entrepreneurship and social integration. Ongoing projects include adult literacy programmes, supporting the local artisans and the fight against poverty (Bel Ombre Foundation for Empowerment, n.d). People should feel free to act upon their own ideas for the benefit of the community, so that they can be more creative and productive in their endeavours. For instance educating people is one initiative of community empowerment, which can be understood as aiding the individual to better understand his/her needs as well as societys needs, and find proactive measures to the challenges that society faces, without controlling the latter. At the same time, they feel a sense of belonging to the community. 2.2 Whom to empower? It is true that we are all part of society, and that we have needs, but there are other people who are in precarious situations and need a boost. However, it does not mean that they deserve better treatment than the common man. They should just be given a hand. For example; poor people, battered women, minority groups, the disabled and so on. Empowerment is also about sensitizing people who are in vulnerable positions or who are potentially weak in the social structure. As mentioned earlier, community empowerment sometimes necessitates campaigns to reach the target audience. However, there are sensitive issues that touch a large group of people and are not often discussed openly. E.g. Battered women. Hence, both the Government and NGOs focus on preventive measures. Due to the division of labour and stereotypes, women often occupy an inferior position in society and are victims of injustices by man. So, one initiative of the Government was to empower women. 5 Empower women According to reports from all over the world, women constitute a majority among activists in the community and a minority in leadership in the community (Sadan, 1997). The Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare insists on the reinforcement of capacity building of women, which can be achieved through education and training. The Government also provides the necessary support for women to launch businesses (Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, 2010). The Ministry has organised workshops for women under the National Women Entrepreneur Council to enable them to develop their managerial skills and provide support to potential women entrepreneurs wishing to launch their own enterprise (Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, 2010). The Women Entrepreneurship Development Programme has been launched in several regions of Mauritius, namely in Quartier Militaire, Triolet, Le Morne, Terre Rouge, Camp Thorel, Lallmatie, Ernest Florent and Pont Lardier and some 1800 women have benefitted from the programme (Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, 2010). Empower the poor Since NGOs work at the grassroots level with the poor, they have been able to establish reciprocity, mutual understanding and build trust. The Government of Mauritius works in hand with NGOs to combat poverty. All stakeholders have come to realize that actions at the local level can be a first step to a national solution (Hurbungs, n.d). One of the first conditions for getting people out of the poverty trap is to make them take full responsibility for their lives. They should also be included in all stages of community projects, so that they feel valued and gain confidence. Another initiative adopted by the Government of Mauritius is developing actions based on the aspirations of the poor. For instance the poor prefer receiving aid to send their children to school with all the necessities 6 instead of receiving financial support to feed their hungry stomachs (Hurbungs, n.d). NGOs should help the poor become aware of their current realities and empower them to make their own choices about the future, initiate actions for their development and adopt a healthy lifestyle (Hurbungs, n.d). 2.3 Benefits of empowering a community When a community is empowered, people feel free to act within the society and at the same time associate a sense of belonging to it. Through community participation and capacity-building, they rediscover their own potential and gain confidence. They also feel worthy of the community, for the help they are providing to make a change. Community empowerment can initiate actions at individual level, which can reach community or even national levels. For example, someone victim of an accident, can gather a group of people it can be close friends, family, or even strangers who have joined for a good cause and help to sensitise others on road safety measures (Dr. Glenn, 2009). Development of small groups can initiate collective actions. It is also a means for practitioners to gain community service skills, leadership skills for some, management skills, develop empathy, broaden networks, form partnerships and bring about social cohesion (Dr Glenn, 2009). Community organisations offer the means to resolve societal problems. They include young groups, faith groups, community councils and associations. They have the power to mobilise resources. They development of community organisations requires some form of leadership and those who serve the community have better chances of developing community capacity and can become future leaders (Dr Glenn, 2009). Empowered individuals are able to influence the direction and implementation of a programme through their participation. They progress from a personal action to the point that 7 they are collectively involved. This can lead to gaining the power to influence economic, political and social action. They can therefore help others to empower themselves and gear them towards capacity building (Dr Glenn, 2009). 2.4 The role of the Government and NGOs in community empowerment The Government of Mauritius has the responsibility of catering for the people and has formulated laws to protect them and safeguard their rights. The Government acts as an authority figure. The political and administrative environment of a community directly affects the empowerment process (Phil, 2007) The environment includes a series of factors such as the laws, rules and regulations and practices of the civil society. The environment also covers the policies and practices of relevant Non-Governmental Organisations (Phil, 2007) In this regard, their task is to encourage community activities that enable the community to develop itself to be empowered. They should also help the community to initiate actions towards self-reliance, community empowerment and eradication of poverty (Phil, 2007). The Government should be able to modify Ministry regulations, modify legislative policies, support legislative committees responsible for legislative reform, provide guidelines and empower NGOs active in the related sectors, raise awareness through conferences, workshops, competitions and so on and pass relevant information through public media posters, radio, local TV, newspapers, and advertisements (Phil, 2007). NGOs are increasingly involved in capacity development. They lean towards developing skills and tools to strengthen the society. NGOs can have a significant impact on community development. However not all NGOs are in good terms with the Government and very often they lack resources and face many obstacles and unless they become partners with the Government, capacity building initiatives will continue to fail (Inger, 2009). 8 The Government should also offer training to practitioners so that they are well equipped at all phases of the process. More importantly the Government should provide support to NGOs which can lead to consistency and integration with each other. Support could be of financial and technical assistance for meetings, working committees and campaigns. According to the Mrs Sheila Bappoo (Â  Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity and Senior Citizens Welfare Reform Institutions), the Mauritian Government fully acknowledges the role of NGOs in community development. The Government has put in place an NGO Trust Fund which has the objective of helping vulnerable groups of the society so that they can lead a decent life. The Government provides support to numerous organisations who are actively involved in community empowerment. One such example is the the Youth Empowerment Programme which was implemented by a group of students from the University of Mauritius and the Force Vive des Quartier Reunies. The project had the objectives of developing leadership skills among children and at the same time encouraging community service by University students (MEF, 2011). The Government is actively involved in many such initiatives, and as we can see community empowerment begins with the common man. All we need is an idea and the will to bring about change. 9 3.0 Community empowerment strategies Community empowerment strategies include community development, community engagement, community participation and capacity building (Peter, 1996). Community development helps people to recognise and develop their abilities and potential and organise themselves to respond to problems and needs which they commonly share. It supports communities that control and use assets to promote social justice and help to improve the quality of community life (SCDC, n.d). In Maritius, the Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project has been implemented by the Government and its budget extends to approximately 4 million Rupees. Community development requires the knowledge of people, their values and culture. People should be empowered to generate their own knowledge and use it to improve the quality of life. Therefore participation is necessary for community empowerment. Community development walks in hand with management. Community Services Management is a relatively new approach and it aims at empowering community workers and stakeholders to better assess and implement community based projects efficiently and cost effectively. Community Development also requires General Organisational Skills including financial skills. The emergence of professional management in such organisations denotes power. Community practitioners should be aware of the structure of the organisation to develop the required skills to effectively achieve its objectives. Finally, we cannot ignore the concept of Sustainable Development when speaking about development in Mauritius. The Government, NGOs, and the private sector recognise recognize that the environment, the economy and equity are irrevocably linked (Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, 2005). Community engagement is the process of involving people in decisions that affect them. This can mean involving communities in the planning, development and management of services. Moreover it consists of empowering the community to make decisions and to implement and manage change (DSE, 2011). 10 The Government envisioned the creation of a sustainable society with the implementation of the project Maurice Ile Durable (MID). In this regard, the Government encourages community members to initiate partnerships with multiple stakeholders and facilitates community engagement that supports people to express their vision for the community and initiate shared responsibility (Anneleos at al, n.d). Community participation refers to active engagement in designing, implementing and evaluating strategies to address a particular problem (Debra, 2002). The Government stresses upon the integration and participation of the youth in many aspects of the society. The Government also provides the opportunity for youngsters to engage in voluntary activities. One such programme is the National Youth Award which was launched in Mauritius in 1996. It is a sort of training programme which encourages personal delivery and growth, self-reliance, perseverance, responsibility to themselves and the community (Ministry of youth and sports, 2012). This programme under the Ministry of youth and sports supervised numerous activities which involved the participation of many national projects, namely Jeux de Lavenir, Jeux de Lespoir, Environmental Projects, Community Services and special vacances (Ministry of youth and sports, 2012). Capacity building involves strengthening the skills, potential and abilities of people in developing societies so that they can get out of their misery. Capacity-building programmes were established in Mauritius in view of poverty reduction. Since 2000, the IFAD (Funded Rural Diversification Programme) has been reaching out to more the 15 000 poor people. The programme has helped the poor to diversify their incomes and improve their standard of living. Under the Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, the Government adopts an approach to help the poor to get out of their own misery, by providing them with opportunities to generate their own income by empowering them (Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, 2005). 11 3.1 Limitations of community empowerment strategies Community empowerment strategies encompass several areas and require the participation, involvement, and commitment of various stakeholders. Implementing empowerment strategies also demands much time and effort. However they are good initiatives to empower the community, as explained previously. Community empowerment strategies have brought about numerous improvements in sectors such as poverty, health, environment, and society in general. The major obstacle to successful community empowerment is the lack of training in leadership development and organisational capacity building (Peter, 1996). NGOs NGOs have the possibilities to pass on information either by directly providing them to the public or helping the community to acquire access to information sources. NGOs can improve organisational assets by establishing new community organisations or improve on existing ones. They can also help people to get financial aid and material assets based on their needs and rights. Moreover, they do a great job in sensitizing and gathering people through health and education activities community engagement. Finally, since NGOs work at the grassroots level, they are more experienced and have genuine knowledge of the difficulties people find themselves in (Selibu, 2006). However, very often many obstacles hamper the empowerment process. Limitations to empowerment activities of NGOs arise from many sources. To start with, NGOs are constrained by the fact that they have little access to resources and less influence on policies and the law. Another factor would be that most NGOs are dependent on the developments made by the Government. NGOs are in most cases not in good terms with the Government, and this directly impacts their actions. Moreover, NGOs are limited by local factors such as inefficient institutional frameworks, weak relationships with the community and organisational problems within themselves. Consequently, in trying to respond to donors, the Government often lose sight of genuine empowerment needs of the community and cater for other demands from stakeholders (Selibu, 2006). 12 Risks factors When implementing empowerment strategies, risk factors should be anticipated and well-managed. The risk factors include time and planning limitations, possible lack of cooperation from stakeholders, incompatibility among methods used, diminished interest from community leaders, lack of additional funding and possible lack of resources for community leaders to impart their knowledge and skills (Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, 2005). Community organizations face enormous obstacles to repairing the social fabric of their communities, especially if society faces serious issues (e.g. high crime rate). This limitation is due in part to organizations inability to develop strategies and due to lack of resources (Peter, 1996). Moreover it is quite difficult to foster community participation and engagement, because people are not always free to participate in activities even if they can benefit from them. The community is also reluctant to form partnerships with stakeholders due to lack of trust. The community sometimes expects too much from the Government, and therefore is left with only aspirations and dreams. People have responsibilities and other concerns and they view community engagement and participation as an added burden. It can also be that information and whereabouts of campaigns and workshops are not evenly spread, considering low-budget organisations. Sometimes community leaders themselves are not committed to the project. Very often community activities are merged with politics, and are a means to monetary gain and enhanced image. As a matter of fact, community empowerment strategies fail their very own purpose due to lack of community involvement/participation/engagement. 3.2 Alternatives to increase community engagement and participation If an organisation wants to be truly accountable, it needs a strong system of organisational governance. Without a clear focus, it is impossible for community organisations to achieve significant impact. Hence, community organisations should be able to develop the element 13 of trust with the community (ICD, 2005). They should implement creative strategies so that the community is motivated to work with them. Both NGOs and Government organisations should address the different strategies including capacity building, physical projects, research and information and networking (ICD, 2005). Organisations should also display reliability, leadership and transparency. Empowerment programmes are not always easy to achieve. This is why organisations should review their own strategies. Participation and continuity It is necessary to work with the community in bringing awareness of the proposed activities and their benefits. It is also of significant importance to maximise community participation in planning, design, and implementation stages so that people develop sustained interest and ensure continuity of the particular project (Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, 2005). Management, supervision and monitoring The success of the projects will depend on proper management, supervision and monitoring. Practitioners should be given appropriate training in the field of project management. Progress should be monitored, to ensure that objectives are being fully achieved (Community Development and Poverty Alleviation Project, 2005). Engagement Community engagement is achieved if projects bear better outcomes. It is also very important to strengthen the relationship with the community. Community organisations should project the reputation of the organisation through their actions. Moreover they should develop increased understanding of community issues to form partnerships and broaden their networks (DSE, 2011). Leadership training Social workers and staff should possess the right skills to be able to reach the audience. Some practitioners often feel a lack of motivation and discontinue their service. Dealing with 14 people can be exhausting and frustrating. Therefore the Government should provide access to training sessions, information and networks. More than 20 training centres have been successful in teaching community organizations the skills needed to develop leaders and build strong community organizations in the US (Peter, 1996). Target vulnerable groups The Government should display involvement in the community. It should tackle issues that are of concern to the community education, emancipation of women, poverty, etc, and provide support by empowering them. E.g. Implementing poverty alleviation strategies. The Community organisations should also work with those who are potentially weak in the social structure. For example by educating the illiterates, providing economic support to vulnerable women, reduce vulnerability to HIV/AIDs and other health issues, and by collaborating with other organisations (SEM, 2012). Community organisations should themselves be empowered to adopt the best suitable approach to deal with people. The Government should promote community access to technology and information and also allocate a budget for community organisations to implement community empowerment programmes, for sensitization campaigns, workshops and working committees. Moreover, since media plays an important role in conveying information, media coverage of community initiatives should be improved. The common man should also be empowered to initiate action on a small basis and eventually be monitored for potential innovative ideas. It is also primordial to promote laws and regulations that give communities a voice (Peter, 1996). The Government of Mauritius has implemented the National Empowerment Foundation in this regard and has extended support and empowered numerous people. Some examples include; The Integrated Social Development programme setting up housing units at La Valette Bambous accounting to a total cost of Rs. 205 million and benefitted 200 families ; around Rs 1.1 billion allocated for programmes which include facilities for unemployed women, Integrated Social Development, circular migration, technical assistance to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) (NEF, 2009). 15 4.0 Critical Analysis Community empowerment strategies are effective measures to empower a community. Through community engagement, community participation, community development and capacity building, people are able to identify their potential and discover their abilities, participate in group discussion and activities, engage in implementation of important projects and can empower themselves so that they can overcome difficult social situations. As mentioned in the previous sections, community empowerment can benefit the community on a small basis as well as nationally. Community empowerment enables people to initiate actions based on their day-to-day experiences. It also creates a chain where the empowered individual in turn helps others to empower themselves by sharing experiences and forming partnerships. Community empowerment is a means for the community to broaden their networks and meet new and influential people. An empowered community can influence the social and economic aspects of a country to seek their rights. Moreover, when working with others for a collective cause, individuals acquire a sense of worthiness. Those actively involved in community work and community service can eventually become tomorrows leaders. Since community empowerment strategies deal with people, unforeseen events may arise. It is true that community empowerment is beneficial to the individual and the community, however people are not always free to engage in community activities. Moreover people are reluctant to indulge in community activities due to lack of trust, because very often activities are based on selfish grounds. For example; political parties showing interest in social activities for the sole purpose of enhancing the image of the Government. Other limitations of empowerment strategies include lack of cooperation from stakeholders, lack of funding and diminished interest from community leaders themselves. Finally, NGOs are limited in their actions due to lack of resources and dependence on the Gover