...Technology: Self-checkout lanes hurting the economy and customer satisfaction During the 1900’s America was recognized as a national powerhouse with a strong economy that offered citizens careers and economic stability. Today, we are fighting unemployment and recovering from an unstable stock market. Although many factors have impacted the economy since then, one factor that goes unnoticed is the growth in technological advancements and how it is directly affecting employment rates and customer satisfaction. Machines used to be basic, and controlled by people, but since technology has progressed machines are now capable of performing jobs solely on their own. Police officers are being replaced by camera lights, cashiers by self-service checkout machines, and operators by automated voice recognition machines. Technology, more specifically self-checkout machines are directly affecting our economy; it’s eliminating jobs and leaves customers feeling unsatisfied. The problem with today’s technology is that it is self-reliant, such as the CHEC software program which runs all IBM self-checkout machines. IBM mentions on their website how it “Offers retailers a totally integrated self-checkout solution that can effectively manage and help lower total cost of ownership (TCO).” They are trying to appeal to managers that the total cost of operations will undeniably decline if you buy their product. Aside from lower total cost of operations these machines have their advantages and disadvantages...
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...Max Decker Period. 3 Pecha Kucha Script Slide 1 Introduction: In Central Europe lies Austria a landlocked country of about 8.5 million people. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous, preceding within the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 1500 feet. Despite its battle scarred history Austria has much cultural and natural beauty. Through the Federal Constitution of 1920 it became a parliamentary republic. Slide 2 Flag: The flag of Austria has three equal horizontal bands of red, white, and red. According to legend, the flag was invented as a consequence of fighting during the Siege of Acre. A soldiers white surcoat was completely drenched in blood, after a fierce battle. When he removed his belt, the cloth underneath was unscathed by it, revealing the arrangement of red-white-red. Slide 3 Government Federal: Austria is a federal republic state with a parliamentary democracy. The function to pass bills is the Cabinet’s most important constitutional responsibility. The Cabinet passes unanimous resolutions. Decision making is not decided by the majority. The current president of Austria is Heinz Ficher. Slide 4 Crime: Crime in Austria is apprehended by many different Austrian law enforcement organizations. It experiences a little overall crime rate and criminal endeavor is concentrated in the larger urban areas. Austria has a strong legal system, and most corruption cases are dealt with effective judgments. Slide 5 Climate Winter: It is set within a temperate...
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...ditches self-checkout in favor of human contact 1. The presence of self-service checkout lanes and or service employees are part of the physical surroundings in Albertson’s store atmosphere, or environment. a) Using the Typology of Service Environments in Fig. 13-2, describe where Albertsons would be positioned within the grid. A typical shopping trip to Albertsons is relatively short in duration and may serve both utilitarian and hedonic motives. Consumers require food, but they may also enjoy the shopping experience and the feelings they associate with the service. Thus, the average Albertson’s shopping trip is most likely in the top row, center cell of the typology. b) Does having more human contact and fewer self-checkout lanes influence Albertsons’ position? Having more human contact could satisfy social needs and influence customers’ behavior by transforming the service environment into a social surrounding. Therefore, this increased social aspect may lead to more hedonic, social motives being satisfied. Albertsons’ with more human contact may shift their position on the typology to the right (toward the hedonic end of the spectrum). 2. Chapter 17 discusses the relationship between involvement, sales personnel, and the likelihood of self-service. Cashiers are a basic form of sales personnel. Describe Albertsons service environment in terms of involvement and the appropriateness of sales personnel versus self-service. According to the text, self-service...
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...17 Purchasing Process and Outlet Selection Customer satisfaction is affordable and profitable because the customer becomes your salesman forever. The selection of outlet is given due importance by the customer. The reader must understand: • The importance and dimensions of the outlet • Customer characteristics and risks involved • Influences altering brand choice • Store atmospherics CHAPTER 17 Purchasing Process and Outlet Selection 17.1 Introduction As the number of products and brands are increasing in the market, so are the retail outlets, and it becomes very confusing for the customer to choose the retail stores. The selecting of a retail store also involves almost the same process as selecting a brand. A retail outlet relates to a service or a product which caters to the consumer. The retail trade occurs from the stores, but it also occurs from catalogues, direct mail via print media, television and radio. Retailing is also done in weekly markets which are put up in different areas of a city on different days. It is also done from consumer to consumer, by means of various media. It has become very challenging and exciting, both for consumers and marketeers. The consumer may give first preference to the store or the product or, he may give equal importance to both. Sometimes, one prefers a store first, where he can get friendly and logical advice to buy the product, and prefers to buy a product/brand of second priority, if he is assured of proper...
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...of the perspectives of others. Depending on what you decide can lead you on a road to success or failure, but it is the most crucial and important. Starting from your hygiene, eating habits, school, work, keeping your body in shape to just simple hobbies may have a big impact on your life's longevity and social aspect. The first step in building good personal responsibility, is by first realizing the flaws and mistakes that you have made, because although it is not an addiction we tend to create bad habits. From our early school years up until your set in your career we must have a schedule to keep us on track and at the same time develop self confidence and motivation to better our selves. Creating a physical work out routine will not only maintain your physical shape, but also provides more energy to the body acquiring more self motivation to keep active. Also while exercising your relieving stress from the body and the brain, establishing more space for knowledge and social view point, therefore, make it is easier to become more educated.When we think about how personal responsibility can be related to education we acknowledge that in order to succeed as a student one must form schedules to study and listen to the advice given to us by our teachers, hard work pays off. As a student eager to succeed in high school as well as college must know that asking for help when in doubt is also allowed. Building a foundation to communicate and interact with other people. Accepting...
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...and nibble on nuts apply potions and lotions, don helmets and hats: All at the behest of my skin. Drinking too much, sleeping too little, lying too long in the sun and I am compelled to feel guilty. Connor says ‘the skin is not a part of the body’ (Connor 2002, 4) and indeed, my skin is like a domineering despot. It petulantly exposes my neglect by painting dark circles under my eyes, smudging the glow and scattering blemishes. It is the reflection of my soul, separate but inseparable from myself - my ‘body’s twin’ (Connor 2002, 5). It is this ‘twin’ (Connor 2002, 5) or my ‘immaterial, ideal, ecstatic’ (Connor 2002. 5) imagining of my skin that constitutes what Cooley described as a ‘looking glass self’. (described by Coser 1997) This concept states that ‘an individual’s self-conception result(s) from assimilating the judgments of their significant others’ (discussed by Mikala, 2012). What we see in this mirror is not our carefully considered actions and the complex thought process that leads us to take them; We only see this ‘shadow’ (Connor 2002, 5) which becomes more than simply the living tissue. It is branded with our outward identity. And so, how we perceive others to view us in turn influences how we see ourselves. This attitude is present without an actual witness though. The...
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...vector of Chickering and Reisser’s theory “Establishing identity.” While one could argue the development of student identities takes place during the creation of a profile, the development of the students’ true identity is something that a profile is likely dependent upon. A student’s Facebook profile will not stay the same throughout the duration of a student’s career, but instead grows and changes with the student as they move along a path of self-discovery. It is through the assimilation of friends, relationships, activities, experiences, education and other factors that a student truly defines a sense of self that can be reflected both corporally and digitally. It is in this vector, among others, that the cyclical pattern of Chickering and Reisser’s developmental process stumbles. As most of the vectors concern processes that are ongoing throughout a student’s collegiate or university career and beyond, the development of identity is itself an ongoing, likely never-ending process students will not cease until some point of complete self-actualization....
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...M. Washington OMM 612: Managing in Social Change Experiencing Work as a Meaningful Activity Dr. L. Flegle December 2, 2012 Experiencing Work as a Meaningful Activity Why do people work? A person may work for various reasons. For some work is fun and full of meaning. For others there may be instances where work is viewed as a burden or an end to a means. When there is a lack of satisfaction, work will not be fun, fulfilling or meaningful. As stated by Harper and Leicht (2011), work is never experienced as a neutral activity. However, according to Budd ((2011), work can be viewed as intrinsically rewarding and not just as a source of income. When individuals have the tools to seek and achieve work as a personal fulfillment, we can better understand how people view and experience work as a rich and meaningful activity. There are no people in my immediate circle of friends and co-workers who view work as a meaningful activity. The most common reason people work is to support a lifestyle. A person works in order to provide for themselves as well as their family with the basic essentials (shelter, clothing, and food). According to Harper and Leicht (2011), a question that often gets asked is whether or not the American economy can make jobs available that allow employees to afford a middle-class lifestyle and the consumer components of the American dream. The recent recession that the American economy has faced adds to the doubt. More people are being laid off...
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...Individualism is the idea that the sense of self is greater than the community. It urges its supporters to explore the depths of their psyche, even if it challenges accepted doctrine. To moral criticism, individualism is its greatest enemy. At its core, moral criticism finds its strength through the community over all ideology. This desire for communal uplift allows the people to serve a common purpose when advancing the community. But because of this, the voices of the individual are lost to the wind. During the Age of Romanticism, the people had had enough of being silenced; they sought to wholeheartedly explore their inner self. Through their writings, Washington Irving and Herman Melville were two men fighting for the people’s individuality; much to the dismay of moral critics. Washington Irving, famous writer and individualist, sought to bring individualism to the forefront of society’s progression. He believed the exploration of one’s self was more important than seeking communal prosperity. Irving wanted the people to see the world through lenses untainted by God, religion and the established doctrines. For him, the world’s morality was meant to be created by the individual. This way of thinking was quite scary to the moral critics of this era. The sense of community was being lost in novels centered on individuals. These novels allowed the people to play God, and by doing so, they were able to concoct their own morality. Irving’s writings continued to propagate the...
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...The third theory have been used is The Self and Symbolic Consumption. Hellerich et al.(1998) states that endeavoring to create the self in contemporary society is inseparable from consumption, which is central to the meaningful practice of our everyday life (Wattanasuwan 2005). However, The Self and Symbolic Consumption theory is focus on the concept that we employ consumption not only to create and sustain the self but also to locate us in society (Elliott 1994 et al, cited in Wattanasuwan 2005). There have two main purposes to consumption of products, activities or beliefs, the first one is to satisfy ours needs, whereas the second one is to carry out out “self-creation project” in a saturated world (Wattanasuwan 2005). “Self-creation project” means that we desire for a sense of meaningfulness in our pursuit of “being” in order to feel “alive” in this world (Gergen 1991,cited in Wattanasuwan 2005). We can symbolically acquire it from our everyday consumption and to bridge the intermediate state between our selves and others in society. Therefore, in relation to our advertisement, a woman desires to have a beautiful and formal coloured hair within a limited time for a ball. Kao Kiese not only satisfy anyone whose demand to have a colour hair within a limited time, but also provide symbolism that a beauty image for female in a special occasion. Brown 1995 et al argue that so as to seduce consumers in a marketing campaign, the more those signs and images are detached from their...
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...literature can be ethically revealing is worth defending. At some level a great work of literature represents a form of human existence, to which we may respond as human beings. That there is a moral dimension to human existence I assume. Hence, it seems clear that literature may represent that dimension. Robert Bolt’s 1960 play can serve as an instance of how literature can stimulate ethical reflection. And, at the same time, it is not the kind of text where ethical themes are only marginally present; to the contrary, they are quite central and accessible. In this paper, my goal is to illustrate the potential of literature to stimulate ethical reflection by analyzing Bolt’s play. I will focus for the most part on three ethical themes: self and society, moral heroism,...
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...social world and how they build relationships/interact with others. Developmental psychologists believe that a sense of self develops at around 18 months and is the starting point when children begin to understand others, they also comment that in order for children to understand others first they must have an understanding of their self. Lewis and Brook-Gunn 1979 conducted a study on a group of mothers and their babies, aged 9-24 months. The aim of the experiment was to see what age a baby recognised itself in the mirror. The babies were placed in front of a mirror and observed to see how they reacted, then the mother would remove the baby and wipe their nose with red blusher (the mother would wipe the baby's face in a way that the baby would just think the mother was cleaning dirt off its face.) The baby was then placed back in front of the mirror and observed again. They found that babies under 15 months tended not to recognise the baby in the mirror as themselves, they may have found the reflection similar but there was no difference in reaction when they saw the red spot on their nose. By 21 months though the babies were actively trying to wipe the red mark off their face, this shows a heightened sense of self awareness compared to the 15 month olds as they recognised that the baby in the mirror was them. Researchers also studied childrens self-awareness to learn about the development of emotions such as embarrassment. Lewis conducted a further study in 2000, he...
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...Academic procrastination in college students: The role of self-reported executive function Procrastination is the intentional delay of due tasks. The term is a known phenomenon in a college setting so I decided it would be beneficial to examine an experiment that evaluated how procrastination hurts different aspects of a college student’s life. The experiment I found was by Laura A. Rabin, Joshua Fogel and Katherine E. Nutter- Upham and they hypothesized that procrastination can negatively impact learning, achievement, academic self-efficiency and quality of life and that understanding the factors that produce and maintain this behavior will improve things overall. In the experiment, 212 college students age 30 and below were asked to fill out a 20-item questionnaire that examines behavior tendencies to delay the start of completion of everyday tasks. They rate various statements on a five point scale (1 = extremely uncharacteristic; 5 = extremely characteristic). An example of this would be “I often find myself performing tasks that I had intended to do days before” or “I usually start an assignment shortly after it is assigned.” After doing that, participants rated the frequency of 75 problematic behaviors over the past month on a three point scale (1 = never; 2 = sometimes; 3 = often). A higher score indicated a greater degree of executive dysfunction. Then finally they filled out something that measured their behavioral regulation or the ability to not act on an impulse...
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...things get tough and has guided me to be the better person that I am. I also learned that I have to love myself first because if I don't have enough love for myself, I can't possibly have any to share. Another thing is that, were all happiest and have that sense of contentment when we're doing what we love. As for me , if I have some time to spare, I paint or play the flute and realizing that dong what we love that we feel most alive. Celebrate being beautifully imperfect! Another Agustinian values that I have developed is INTERIORITY. Before I have body issues and insecurities. But I realize that I need to developed my self-confidence and the first step to achieve that is to be grateful for what I am born with and that I need to embrace my uniqueness. I just need to believe in my self and that is possible. As what they said, "you are what you think you are". If we think that we are beautiful, our actions will follow our thoughts. I saw my true reflection from those people who loves me for who I am which are my family and...
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...The dictionary defines excess as “more than or above what is necessary, usual, specified; extra” (Dictionary). Americans, as a whole, deserve a prize for the amount of paraphernalia they hold. According to CBS News, three-fourths of middle-class American families cannot park their cars in the garage because of the vast amount of clutter hidden in every nook and cranny (Vanderkam). Additionally, the families had enough food to survive every natural disaster and 47% of families had a second fridge, cluttering the house with material excess of the house (Vanderkam). A similar study done by Becoming Minimalist found that the average American home had 300,000 items, and threw away sixty-five pounds of clothing a year (Becker). The amount of material goods is what Lars Eighner described as the “gaudy bauble” by the “rat-race millions” in the conclusion of his essay “On Dumpster Diving” (151). After reading Eighner’s “On Dumpster Diving,” I found myself reflecting on the amount of material goods I hoard in my dorm room and how I throw away items without thinking about it. I grew up in a house full of hoarders, where it was normal to have the basement, garage, and attic filled to the brim with material goods, which causes me to hold onto an excess ammount of material goods. My need to collect various objects began at a young age. The plethora of toys I owned were not only stored in my room, but were also in the hallway closest, cabinets of the playroom, and guestroom closet. I had...
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