Critically analyse how the Global Energy Assessment pathways represent future socio-technological change in the energy system, focussing on the building sector.

Abstract There has been growing concern surrounding climate change over recent years and much emphasis has been placed upon the ways in which the environment can be protected. Accordingly, because of how important it is for organisations and individuals to adopt environmentally friendly practices, effective environmental controls are vital. There is much debate as to the extent to which the Global Energy Assessment pathways represent future socio-technological change in the energy system, yet this study intends to find this out by focussing on the building sector. Introduction The government has placed a great deal of emphasis upon climate change in recent years by exploring the different ways it can be tackled (Department for International Development, 2011: 13). The Department of Energy and Climate Change aims to make sure that the UK has â€Å"secure, clean and affordable energy supplies† (DEEC, 2014: 1) and seeks to promote international action in order to eliminate climate change. In 2012 the Global Energy Assessment (GEA) was therefore launched and a new global energy policy agenda was established (GEA Writing Team, 2012: 4). The GEA intended to change the way society uses and delivers energy in order to mitigate climate change. In doing so, it brings together hundreds of international researchers to provide an analysis of the current issues that exist and to identify the possible options that can be taken in tackling climate change. Technology options and policies are also included in the GEA and are considered vital in protecting the environ ment and maintaining sustainable development (GEA, 2014: 1). As noted by Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development: â€Å"The long-term effects of climate change threaten to undermine progress in reducing global poverty† (Department for International Development, 2011: 3). This is the main reason why the UK is committed to helping developing countries adapt to climate change in a positive way by ensuring that they take up low carbon growth and effectively tackle deforestation. This study will therefore examine some of the Global Energy Assessment pathways, by focusing on the building sector, in order to consider the effects these will have upon the energy system in the future. Socio-Technological Change in the Energy System In order for climate change to be tackled effectively, socio-technological changes are needed within the energy system. This can be ascertained by reviewing the different sectors which impact the environment and then considering what socio-technological changes are required. The building sector has a significant impact upon the environment because of the fact that it accounts for one-third of the planet’s total energy use (Global Alliance, 2012: 1). Technological improvements to buildings are therefore a cost-effective way of mitigating climate change. By using existing proven technologies we have the ability right to â€Å"reduce energy consumption in new and existing buildings by 30-50 percent at extremely low or no cost, and usually at negative cost (Global Alliance, 2012: 1). Increased building efficiency is therefore the future for the building sector because not only do greener buildings help to promote sustainability but they are also better for the consumer in that th ey are more comfortable and cheaper to maintain (NAR, 2014: 1). The pathways for transition that have been explored in the GEA therefore need to be followed if the building sector is to become more energy efficient. This is important given that GHG emissions are expected to nearly double by the year 2030 under a high-growth development scenario (Metz et al; 2007: 6). The GEA supports sustainability in the building sector by helping decisions makers address the challenges associated with building development (CCCSEP, 2012: 1). Energy Efficiency Barriers in the Building Sector The building sector can contribute to tackling climate change through socio-technological change in the energy system, yet there are many barriers towards improved efficiency in this sector. One of the main barriers that exists is a lack of technical, economic and general knowledge about the energy sector. Not only does this knowledge gap apply to consumers but it also applies to building designers, architects and politicians (Urge-Vorsatz, 2012: 702). Because of this lack of knowledge, it is very difficult for many of the technologies and practices that exist in this area to be implemented. Furthermore, although energy efficient practices are considered cost effective, they are not being widely adopted due to the high initial start-up costs. The high upfront costs are thus discouraging, especially when there is a lack of knowledge that exists in this area and unless greater awareness is provided, it is unlikely that the GEA pathways will have much of an influence in the future. Mark et failures also provide barriers to energy efficiency because of the failures in the way the market operates (Urge-Vorsatz, 2012: 702). Such flaws prevent the trade-off between energy efficiency investments and energy saving benefits. Behavioural barriers are also a problem for energy efficiency in the building sector as the behaviours of individuals and companies may be difficult to change. For example, individuals may fail to turn the lights off in their homes, whilst organisations may fail to identify energy saving opportunities, especially if they do not benefit directly from them. An example of this can be seen in relation to green leases since these are one of the main pathways to energy efficiency. Green leases thus impose obligations on landlords and tenants to achieve targets for energy consumption. This ensures that the energy use of commercial buildings is minimised through â€Å"better measurement, greater awareness and systematic management† (All Party Urban Development Group, 2008: 2). There are a number of different green lease shades which represent different commitments to the green agenda: light green leases represent a modest commitment to the agenda, whilst dark green leases reflect a much more serious commitment (Bright, 2008: 158). Regardless of the benefits green leases have on the environment, however, they are not being used as much as they should. This is largely the result of the â€Å"conventional relationship between the landlord (as building owner) and tenant (as occupier)† which generally neglects â€Å"environmental co nsiderations† (Hinnells et al; 2008, 1). The extent to which green leases represent future socio-technological change in the energy system is therefore unclear and it seems that further changes are required if a more robust system is to be implemented. Green leases should be used more frequently than they are at present, yet it is questionable whether this is likely to happen given that â€Å"change may be rapid, disruptive and challenging (Hinnells et al; 2008: 1). Bright believes that capital investment will allow for more efficient equipment to be introduced that will allow for better energy savings to be made (Bright, 2008: 158). This will encourage landlords and tenants to enter into a green lease if they can identify the real benefits that are associated with them. Consequently, it is evident when looking at green leases that one of the main barriers towards improved energy efficiency is the lack of awareness that exists. In order to remove this barrier to energy efficiency, campaigns and sector learning networks could be introduced in order to increase the current awareness of GEA’s (Carbon Trust, 2005: 16). Furthermore, actions could also be taken that raise the attention of building owners such as; tax incentives and low interest loans (Rezendes, 1994: 41). This will allow greater access to energy efficient equipment and will encourage individuals to take advantage of the opportunities that are available. Another barrier towards energy efficiency in the building sector is transaction costs and the limited availability of capital. Because building owners do not generally have spare capital available to make their buildings more energy efficient, they are less likely to take the GEA pathways into consideration (Ecofys, 2012: 3). Furthermore, as has been pointed out; â€Å"financial barriers to the penetration of energy efficiency and building integrated distributed generated technologies include factors that increase the investments costs and/or decrease savings resulting from the improvement† (Urge-Vorsatz, 2012: 698). Arguably, building owners are unlikely to make energy efficient changes if they are not also cost-effective despite the fact that the equipment is more efficient. This could also be rectified through tax incentives and low interest loans, yet economic instruments could also be introduced that reduce the overall costs of the equipment. Energy prices could also be increased so that going green would be more of an incentive than it is at present. This is because, unless there are significant cost benefits of becoming more energy efficient, it is unlikely that individuals will be actively encouraged to do so. Market misalignment is another barrier that prevents â€Å"the consistent trade-off between specific energy-efficient investment and the societal energy-saving benefits† (The Carbon Trust, 2005: 16). An example of this can be seen in relation to tenant-landlord relationships where companies have no direct control over the premises and so are reluctant to invest in energy effi ciency. This barrier could be overcome through the provision of split-incentives. This would encourage landlords to become more energy efficient if they were being incentivised to do so. If the GEA pathways are implemented, the environment will benefit significantly from this and the passivhaus standard will be applied in the building sector. This standard is the robust approach to building design which seeks to minimise the heating demand of buildings by building houses that have exceptional thermal performance (Passivhaus, 2011: 1). Unless it is less costly for builders to employ the passivhaus standard, there will be no incentive for them to do so as they will not benefit from the reduced energy savings. GEA Pathways for the Energy Efficiency Transition Because of how important it is to protect the environment, it is necessary that the multiple objectives outlined in the GEA are being met through environmental control. The main objective of the GEA pathways is to understand the combination of measures, time scales and costs that are needed to transform the energy system. In understanding this, however, it is necessary to first identify the energy efficiency barriers that exist so that appropriate measures can be implemented to alleviate them. Reducing thermal energy use is achievable through a number of different pathways such as; best practice in building design, construction and operation; the elimination of energy poverty; the increase of living space and economic development ((Urge-Vorsatz, 2012: 703). Before these pathways can be incorporated, it will be necessary to for significant investments to be made as well as the introduction of new appliances and technology and discounted energy saving costs. Because this will require h igh start-up costs, increased knowledge of the GEA pathway benefits will be needed so that individuals and organisations will be incentivised to adopt such pathways. Hence, many approaches have already been implemented to manage pollution-generating processes (Stuart, 2006: 1), yet it cannot be said that the obligations placed upon individuals under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the EU’s Council Directive 96/61/EC to control the environment are being realised (McEldowney and McEldowney, 2010: 48). This is likely to be the result of market failures and behavioural barriers since individuals and organisations may not be able to identify when an energy saving opportunity arises. Nevertheless, since the Climate Change Act 2008 was first enacted various mitigation and adaption strategies have been introduced, such as the Government’s ‘Green Deal’. The objective of this deal was to limit greenhouse gas emissions so that the increase of global tempe rature could be decreased. The Green Deal has been considered a welcoming development because of the fact that it has enabled the energy efficiency of many households and businesses to be improve â€Å"without consuming so much energy and wasting so much money† (DEEC, 2010: 1). This is beneficial for consumers and is likely to reduce the initial startup costs. The Green Deal is also effective in increasing the awareness of energy saving benefits, which is likely to remove any subsisting behavioral barriers. Conversely, it has been argued that the implementation of the GEA pathways may actually lead to further energy use, through the so-called rebound effect (Gillingham et al, 2013: 474). Although the GEA have identified the possible re-bound effect the implementation of their pathways may have, it seems as though little consideration has been given to this (GEA, 2012: 1573). Accordingly, it cannot be said that the barriers to energy efficiency have been given much thought and unless the behaviour of individuals and organisations change, it is unlikely that the GEA pathways will have much of an impact in the future. There are both direct and indirect rebound effects that are likely to occur. The direct rebound effect happens when people consume more energy as a result of the low costs, and the indirect rebound effect happens when people use savings from lower energy costs to spend on other energy intensive activities (Sorrell, 2010: 636). In view of this, is thereby essential that rebou nd effects are taken into consideration when evaluating how beneficial energy efficiency really is. As noted by Giillingham et al; however: â€Å"Empirical evidence indicates that the direct rebound effect will dominate in the near term† at around 10-30 per cent (2013: 476). Regardless of this, it was also pointed out that rebound effects are not necessarily bad since the overall well-being of society will be improved as a result. Therefore, even if the re-bound effect does not lead to a significant reduction in energy use, societal well-being will be improved. It is unclear whether the target of 80 per cent emission reductions by 2050 will be achieved since there are a number of different changes that need to be implemented in order for the barriers to energy efficiency to be overcome (Bell and McGillivray, 2008: 531). In effect, whilst many implementations have been made towards establishing a sustainable future in the energy sector, the extent to which these have proven su ccessful remains largely unclear. If the barriers to energy efficiency are removed and the GEA pathways are followed, there is a possibility that the emission reductions will be reduced by 2050, yet it remains to be seen whether this will be by 80 per cent. This is because as put by Riahi et al; â€Å"although the GEA pathways have shown that such a transformation is possible, the task remains and ambitious and will require rapid introduction of policies and fundamental policy changes that lead to coordinated efforts to integrate global concerns† (2012: 1300). Consequently, the barriers to energy efficiency will need to be overcome before the GEA pathways can be implemented, yet this is likely to prove extremely complex. Increased awareness would be the first step as this will lead to behavioural changes that will ensure the GEA pathways are being adopted. Conclusion Overall, whilst there are a number of different GEA pathways that are intended to make effective socio-technological changes in the energy system, the extent to which these will prove successful remains unclear. This is because, whilst many of the pathways are considered effective ways of creating an environmentally friendly energy system, it cannot be said that the current mechanisms are being employed by all. This is evidenced by the introduction of green leases, which are aimed at establishing energy efficient ways of occupying commercial property. Whilst these leases do seem rather beneficial to both landlords and tenants, their place in the market has not yet been established. The lack of incentives may be one reason for this, which signifies how further benefits ought to be made available. In addition, the future of the mitigation and adaption strategies that have been implemented into the building sector is also unclear because of the fact organisations do not always co-operat e in the implementation of such strategies. The re-bound effect is also not being given enough consideration and thus needs to be taken into account when analysing the GEA pathways. Consequently, in order to maintain sustainable development and minimise climate change, it is vital that the GEA pathways are being promoted a lot more so that the impact the building sector has on the environment can be minimised, yet in doing so the re-bound effect should be taken into account in order to ensure that a more realistic approach is undertaken References All Party Urban Development Group., (2008). Greening UK Cities Buildings; Improving the Energy Efficiency of Our Offices, Shops and Factories. A Report Delivered by the Officers, (2008), 20 March 2014. Bell, S. and McGillivray, D. (2008). Environmental Law, 7th edn Oxford University Press. Bright, S., (2008). Going Green. 158 New Law Journal 1135, Issue 7333. CCCSEP. (2012) ‘Global Energy Assessment: Energy-Efficient Building Modelling Scenarios’ Centre for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policy, Centre European University, 29 March 2014. DEEC. (2010). ‘What is the Green Deal?’ (2010) The Department for Energy & Climate Energy, Accessed 20 March 2014. Department for International Development. (2011) ‘Tackling Climate Change, Reducing Poverty’, UK International Climate Fund, Accessed 19 March, 2014. Dowden, M., (2008). Property/Landlord & Tenant: Contentious Carbon158 New Law Journal 1707, Issue 7348. Ecofys. (2012) ‘The Benefits of Energy Efficiency – Why Wait?’ Sustainable Energy for Everyone, Accessed 30 March 2014. Gillingham, K. Kotchen, M. J. Rapson, D. S. and Wagner, G. (2013) ‘The Rebound Effect and Energy Efficiency Policy’ Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, [Online] Available: http://www.yale.edu/gillingham/ReboundEffectLongForm.pdf [03 April, 2014]. Global Alliance. (2012) Why Buildings, Global L-eadership in our Built Environment, Accessed 20 March 2014. Global Energy Assessment (GEA) Writing Team. (2012) Global Energy Assessment, Towards a Sustainable Future, New York: Cambridge University press. Global Energy Assessment (GEA). (2014) ‘Global Energy Assessment’ International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Accessed 19 March 2014. Hinnells, M., Bright, S., Langley, A., Woodford, L., Schiellerup, P., and Bosteels, T., (2008). McEldowney, J. and McEldowney, S. (2010) Environmental Law, 1st edition Longman. NAR. (2014) ‘What is Green Building’ National Association of Realtors, Accessed 14 March 2014. Passivhaus. (2011) ‘The Passivhaus Standard’ [Online] Available: http://www.passivhaus.org.uk/standard.jsp?id=122 [03 April 2014]. Rezendes, V, S. (1994) Geothermal Energy, DIANE Publishing. Riahi, K., et al; (2012) Global Energy Assessment, Chapter 17, [Online] Available: http://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/research/Flagship-Projects/Global-Energy-Assessment/GEA_Chapter17_pathways_lowres.pdf [03 April 2014]. Sorrell, S. J. (2010) ‘Dimitropoulus, The Rebound Effect: Microeconomic Definitions, Limitations and Extensions’ Ecological Economics, 65(3): 636-649. Stuart, R. (2006) ‘Command and Control Regulation’, The Encyclopaedia of Earth, Accessed 20 March 2014. The Carbon Trust. (2005) ‘The UK Climate Change Programme: Potential Evolution for Business and the Public Sector’ Making Business Sense of Climate Change, Accessed 29 March 2014. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DEEC). (2014) What we do, Gov.uk, Accessed 20 March 2014. The Greening of Commercial Leases. Emerald Group Publishing Ltd, 20 March 2014. James, R., (2010). Not Easy Being Green. Property Law Journal 22, 20 March 2014. King, V., (2009). Is My Lease Green32 Company’s Secretary Review 24, Issue 24. LRCI., (2009). Guidance: Green Commercial Leases. Low Carbon Research Institute Convergence Programme, 20 March 2014. Urge-Vorsatz, D. (2012) ‘Energy End Use: Buildings’ Accessed 29 March 2014.

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Intervention process - Essay Example Therapist and psychologist dealing with intervention must be careful about the practice to prevent any legal problems that may occur from the act of organizing an intervention. There are laws regarding psychotherapist/patient privilege which govern their actions when it comes to the situation regarding a client dangerousness to self, others, and property of others (Sonkin & Liebert). The therapist has to take every possible precaution to ensure the intervention session does get out of control. He must prepare the team well and may have to enforce some type of security measures such as a guard if the client profile justifies such a preventive measure. Ethics are a part of psychology and their different ethical aspects that must be considered during interventions. Three ethical considerations during this affair are veracity, beneficence, and fidelity. Veracity refers to telling the truth (McGuinness). During an intervention, the persons involved might have to tell the patient harsh wor ds and relive very emotional and personal events that occurred due to the addiction of the patient. The harshness of the message of the group is an ethical dilemma to consider. Beneficence involves making decisions for are incompetent and do not have the faculties to decide for themselves (McGuinness). Intervention with drug addicts has beneficence dilemmas associated with them. The addict, in reality, is not competent to make his own decision since the drugs have full control over his reasoning and judgment.

International & Comparative Employment Relations Essay - 3

International & Comparative Employment Relations - Essay Example 57). These approaches have various effects on the labour standards. This paper analyses the approaches to regulating labour standards in a particular context of Multinational corporations (MNCs). Multinational corporations are business organizations that operate in at least one country apart from their home country. The paper will also consider the effectiveness of current approaches and their sustainability over the long-term. In response to the race to the bottom in labour standards the International Labour Organization decided to focus on what they thought had articulated as core labour standards. This led to a Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work which defined the fundamental rights of workers to be: freedom to associate and the right to collectively bargain to be recognized; illegalization of any type of compulsory or forced labour; abolition of underage labour; and illegalization of discrimination when it comes to occupation and employment (Weil & Mallo 2007, p. 799). International Labour Organization’s member states are supposed to make sure that these fundamental rights are promoted within their territories. This can be said to have been the beginning step toward making sure that the race to the bottom in labour standards is properly dealt with. However, there have been some concerns with regard to the ability of the International Labour’s ability to influence the regulation of labour standards. Despite the fact that the ILO is charged with the responsibility of setting international labour standards it has been observed that these role is in most cases educational, promotional, and normative (Williams & Williams 2014, p. 123). This is because they can only encourage member states to adopt the international labour standards that they propose. They can also be of assistance when it comes to the implementation of these labourstandards. Therefore, it should be noted that

The Anatomy of Decisions Essay Example for Free

The Anatomy of Decisions Essay †¢ In the real world managers are paid to make decisions on a daily basis, on how your firm’s resources are controlled to meet goals that have been set by higher managers or by yourself. †¢ There are some essential characteristics that manager’s share when making a decision; they are usually made with someone else’s money and need to be justified, they build on one another, the outcome is important to other people, and they are also forgettable. †¢ Decisions with other people’s money: As a manager and not being a self-financed entrepreneur, your job is to make decisions with the money of others, therefore a justification has to be provided to the financers. I believe this puts a pressure on the managers to make sure they make the right decision, since they are not using their own money. That is the reason why managers tend to make their decisions based on instinctive judgment. Previous experiences can save managers from telling their shareholders that they lost money based on the rational and analytically defendable decision. †¢ Decisions that build on each other: Previous experience can be very influential at the time of making the right decision. Managers are asked to â€Å"do their homework† before making an important decision, therefore they look back into previous decisions that have led them to the actual one and analyze what would benefit the firm the most according to previous decisions. Each decision is taken as more information becomes available. †¢ Decisions that matter: Every decision made weather is a good one or a bad one is valid and it matters. Bad decisions are the ones that push managers and the world to become better and keep working to make the right decision on future opportunities, in other words bad decisions are ways to keep progressing. †¢ Decisions that will be forgotten: The way memory works is very beneficial to managers when a good decision has been made. â€Å"Hindsight bias is a tendency to believe that we predicted what actually occurred, when in fact we forecasted the opposite†. After a decision was made and the outcome is positive, managers tend to forget what would have happened if the wrong decision were made. When a bad decision is made and a project fails, partners and other managers who supported the failure decision will claim that they always knew the plan was going to fail. They will believe that they were right all along the way, but never actually tried to convince the other manager to over look at different options before making a decision. In conclusion to this chapter managers are told by different texts and books diverse ways to be great decision-making managers. However, the best decisions yet made, have been made not taking in consideration the characteristics taught to managers through texts. â€Å"The challenge as a manager is not to denying our instincts and following rational theories that cannot work in the real world, but by understanding the strengths and weaknesses of how we do make decisions and by learning to handle uncertainty†. Great managers focus on success and forget failures.

Customer Delight In Banking Sector Marketing Essay

Customer Delight In Banking Sector Marketing Essay One important question which arises in every single managers mind is how he/she can leave an ever lasting mark in the mind of a customer, to make sure he/she comes back and remains loyal to ones organization. Now as services uniqueness life has shortened, every single Bank is providing the same services like its competitor. The only solution for the said question is to delight the customers, which competitors and said banks have failed to do so. Achieving the customer delight and experience requires the organization to realize that it is dynamic and merely represents moving targets or ambitions. However, there is no flat target to accomplish customer delight. This is the age of customer delight where customers receive more than they deserved or have ever imagined. Customer delight in banking sector was never researched till now, as we have found out how the account holder of banks can be delighted not just by their services but by reaching beyond the expectations of the customers. Our research started with exploratory investigation to indentify the elements, which create delight in the mind of customers, which enable us to create a customer delight model with eight variables. They become the fundamentals of a customer delight model. Delight model was tested on Bank account holders, which provided us the successful validation of our research. Customer delight model in Banking provides fundamental elements for creating customer delight for the Bank account holders as Management can focus on eight variables for making sure the customers remain Loyal and remain profitable for the organization. Keywords: Customer Delight, Beyond Customer satisfaction, Delight is banking Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 INTRODUCTION 4 Literature Review 6 Research Methods 16 Qualitative Development of Delight measure 16 Exploratory Investigation 16 Focused Interviews 16 Insights from Exploratory Investigation 17 Insight from Focus Interviews 17 Establishing of Customer Delight Model 18 Customer Delight Model 19 Quantitative Testing of Delight measures 21 Empirical Study 21 Data Collection: 21 Respondents profile 21 24 Data Analysis 24 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH 28 References 29 INTRODUCTION The authors investigated the concept and factors which influence delighting the customers in banking. Exploratory research investigated the factors and elements, which will create customer delight, researched based on focused group interviews, which lead to establishing a customer delight model and later on tested on 300 respondents. This recognized a concrete successful validation of the customer delight model. For establishing a delight model, Customer delight researched based on eight variables, which were investigated by asking open ended questions from various customers, which brought them to the state where they have felt over excited from service or in other words felt delighted from Bank services. Once all the data was gathered then every answer was categorized into Specific categories, which brought us the eight variables. These brought the customer delight in the mind of customer from bank services. Can bank delight its customers with its services? Seems like a simple question but in fact is a hard one to answer as every single bank is providing the same service and life cycle of creating competitive edge which has shortened a mile! Currently banks are concentrating on satisfying the customer from their services but in todays fast moving world, customers cant only be satisfied in just 1 single way in order to remain royal to the bank as all the banks are providing the homogenous services. Even if a single bank comes with unique service then its competitive advantage life time shortens as all follow suit. If the customers cannot remain loyal by being permanently satisfied then how can they become (removed word) permanently loyal to their bank? The solution to that is to delight the customers from their services, now how banks can delight the customer? This, the banks are still unable to discover, this is what actually our research is all about. Eight variables filtered by our initial exploratory research, create the customer delight in the mind of bank account holders from their banks. We emphasize that if these 8 variables are implemented in banking system for their customer; it will create delight and will create an ever lasting effect on the customer, instead of all of the banks providing same services which can not create a room for halting the change loyalty from one bank to another. Customer satisfaction the individuals perception of the performance of the product or service in relation to his or her expectations (Schiffman and kanuk, 2004) era has end and now customer delight profoundly positive emotional situation generally resulting from having ones expectations go beyond to a surprising degree. (Oliver, Rust, and Varki 1997) has started implementing on customers retention. Customer delight is the ever long-lasting answer to success. Customer cannot be delighted if until or unless he/she is not satisfied from the presented services, the factors or eliminates of delightness comes after the fulfilling of satisfying consumer needs. The delighted customer is more valuable for the company as it will help the organization to compete with its competitors. The age of customer delight has started where a customers satisfaction is no longer considered as Bank success or the service provided by it. Competitive edge is no longer applicable because almost every bank is providing the same services in term of quality as well as in quantity. The difference which makes between the banks success is how they fulfill their customer required services at the time when they required the most. Customer delight creates the ever lasting edge for the bank in Red Ocean of banking sector. Now the question arises on how to delight the customer when every bank is providing the same services which cannot be distinguished from each other. This question has a unique set of characteristics because it contains the customer delight process which has never been researched until now. Delighting a customer is not just a simple question to answer because customer delight is not just for overall customers; its for every individual customer of the bank. Literature Review Delighting the customer is very debatable topic as critics has suggested that if once raised the customer expectation bar, later it becomes impossible to give same level of experience to that customer, which in long run will also hurt the companys reputation as explained by Oliver and Rust 2000. Customer delight is a rising concept in marketing and little work has yet been done on it. As such, no consensus is reached about delight but it is generally posited as customer response to unexpectedly good performance from a service firm (Keiningham and Vavra 2001; Kumar 1996). Customer satisfaction is extensively recognized as a key authority in the formation of customers future purchase intent (Taylor Baker, 1994). According to Patterson (1997) customer delight involves going beyond satisfaction to delivering what can be best described as a pleasurable experience for the client. Michael Arthur Johnson explained on his customer delight website that When some one create WOW then you have place a very special peg in the recollection of the customer that is easy to recollect. It creates the opportunity of the customer telling the story regarding their WOW incident to many friends, acquaintances and strangers. It creates the free publicity that you cant place a temporary value to. Customer delight creates a cycle of coming back again and again for the customer. It creates the word of mouth publicity to draw new customers without spending any extra money on advertisement. It brings the firm at the top of the list among the competitors with a unique place in the mind of customers and differentiates one firm from the rest. It permits you to sell your products or services for additional money than the competition. It allows you to make extra return on your investment. Delighted customers are those where you foresee their needs; present solutions to them before they request and where you monitor to see if new or supplementary expectations are mandatory to be deployed. Whats wrong with just providing the customer service to customers when they require as explained by Michael Arthur Johnson. Michael Arthur Johnson says the difference between success and failure is only customer delight. Traditionally delight has been thought of a blend of joy and surprise (Kumar, A., Olshavsky, R.W. and King, M.F. (2001). However a recent study suggests that customer can be delighted without being surprised (Kumar et al., 2001). Although joy remains an important element of delight, the study suggests that a greater number of people are exhilarated, thrilled and to a lesser extent exuberant (Kumar et al., 2001). Satisfied customers are not necessarily leave with a firm; they are purely at ease. Delighted customers on the other hand have greater admiration for the firm and its services. Paul (2000) states: Unfortunately, people dont talk about adequate service. Instead, they tell anyone who will listen about really bad or really delightful services. Paul says that delight generate more positive word -of- Mouth for the company. Being only satisfied with a firms product or services does not necessarily mean that customer will prefer the company or rejects it but its just simple expression of acceptance. Delighting customers is about providing a product and services that are outstanding and stimulates customers preference towards a firm or its services. Companies are also realizing that loosing a customer means loosing more than a single sale: it means loosing the entire flow of purchases by the customer made over a lifetime of purchase. It has also been anticipated that as the level of satisfaction increases, so does customer become loyal to the firms product and services (Kotler and Amstrong 2001). Kumar et al., 2001 explain that these studies found that customers who where extremely satisfied were more loyal than customers who says they where satisfied. From many years customer satisfaction is used for the indicator of organization health and success. In recent times it has been argued that in order to succeed in red Blue Ocean of competitive environment it become a necessity to do more than just satisfy the customer but now organizations have to delight the customer for staying alive in the competition.. Delighting customers is a splendid ideal, but what kind of impact does it have on the company? Does customer delight lead to increased success and good monetary health of the firm? According to Rust and Oliver (2000) Research reviewed here strongly suggests that delight cannot be accomplish without surprisingly positive levels of performance, which as noted previously, require additional effort on the part of the firm or its agents. As Rust and Oliver (2000) explain that delighting the customer for organization can be harmful as the expectation of the customer extends and the customer does not get the level of services he is expecting from the organization. In the end the customer become dissatisfied from the organization. Satisfied customers will also tell others about their favorable experiences and therefore connect in positive word of mouth advertising (Richens, 1983; File Prince, 1992). Customers, who are dissatisfied, are most likely to switch brands and become active in the negative word of mouth advertisement of the brand. Furthermore, behaviors such as replicate purchase and word-of-mouth straight influence the feasibility and profitability of a firm (Dabholkar, P.A., Thorpe, D.I. and Rentz, J.O, 1996), A study was conducted by the Levesque and McDougall (1996) confirms and resistant the idea that unsatisfactory customer service results in a drop of customer satisfaction and hesitation to recommend the services to others. This would lead to large number of customer switching rate of customer to another brand as well as the negative word of mouth. A well known academic article on customer delight is by Oliver, Rust and Varki (1997). The authors give delight both hypothetical and an applied perspective, Delight appears as resulting from a Blend of pleasure and arousal. In their article they have presented a model and a test which has both delight sequence and a satisfaction sequence which leads to intentions of the customers. Model was tested using two consumption experiences a recreational wildlife theme park and a symphony concert. In the test the direct and indirect effects on both consumption experiences and on intentions of delight were not constant to its experiences. His indicates the probable effect of the moderating variables on the impact of delight on behavioral intentions. The model tested in Oliver, Rust and Varki is essentially a conceptual psychological model of the process of delight that can occur within consumption experiences of the customers. From the model of Oliver, Rust and Varki (1997) provide the evidence that delight has three direct antecedents such as Surprising consumption, Arousal or Heightened activation and Positive affect, all these three leads to customer delight. Model develops new insight concerning that produce delight when situation triggers surprise in a content of positive effect and arousal. The conservative wisdom is that if you have satisfied customers then you will have loyal customers. It sounds right, but actually its wrong said by Dr. John T. Self. Not only satisfaction of customer can create loyalty but its more than just satisfying the customers. As further he explains that in his opinion loyalty frequently develops when customers get concerned with the company over the ordinary transaction. Means that all the companies are providing the homogenous services and now customers require other than normal services provided by the company. Hence, customers looking beyond expects more from the services so that they can feel delight and be over whelmed. Berman, B. (2005), suggested that organization have to do more than what the customer expects from them and delighting the customer rather than just satisfying them. Berman differentiate customer delight and satisfaction. As satisfaction relate to the meeting the expectation of the customers or exceeding their expectations as customer delight on the other hand customers receive a positive surprise or delight that is afar their expectations. While comparing the satisfaction, customer delight is more toward the customer positive and emotional response against the service. In customer delight the emotional response as compare to the satisfaction has less memory for customer as compare to the delight. Delight a phenomenon that represents the highest level of satisfaction, leading to a stronger intent to repurchase (Jones and Sasser 1995).Customer delight has never happened without high performance and such performance brings not only benefits to customers but also makes them excited (Kwong and Yau 2002). To delight customers, it necessitates a superior and endless effort from firms to deliver extraordinarily high-quality services. This effort has to be recognized and cherished by customers. The major reason to chase delighted customers is the belief that they are more profitable to serve because they are more loyal, that is to say, they tend to have a stronger intent to repurchase. In general, they are apostles who give unfailing support to the firm (Oliver H. M. Yau and Kenneth K. Kwong 2007). Behaviourally, delighted customers tend to view the firm positively and prefer to buy from it (Keiningham et al. 1999; Schneider and Bowen 1999).Rust et al has stated financially, this preference translates to a profit and represents a stream of future income to the focal firm (Rust et al. 1994). In sum, these positive propositions imply that customer delight is a valuable business goal to pursuit (Rust and Oliver 2000). Customer service is what organization do for the customers but customer delight is what the customer has experience when he has been indulgence with way he wanted to. Customer delight does not come from giving additional services but comes from the quality of services make available to customer at the time he or she required most. Opportunities to delight customers also lay in service provider capability to go above and beyond in service delivery. Long-term relationships with customers offer the opportunity, through personalized service, to go beyond the customers expectations and delight them (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003), Delight is more likely to occur in state where customers are vastly involved, where service quality is uneven, and where overwhelmingly exceptional performance is unexpected (Oliver et al., 1997). According to Peter, P.J. and Olson, J.C. (1996) Pre-purchase prospect are beliefs about predictable performance of the product; disconfirmation transfer to the variation between pre-purchase prospect and post purchase perception. Customer satisfaction is usually illustrate as the full meeting of ones expectations (Oliver,1980).but Delight is a positive consequence of exceeding the customers expectations (Keiningham and Vavra, 2001),Customer delight create the difference between the only satisfied customer and overwhelmed customer who are more loyal to organization Jack Mitchells latest book Hug Your Customers (2003) provides many instances that illustrate the long-term financial benefits that derive from construction those emotional bonds with customers. He suggests that competitive advantage is built in the course of providing both physical and psychological hugs to customers, eventually delighting them with consistent, zealous and committed customer service. Delighted customers are more likely to inform others that they are delighted, which in turn may draw other consumers to do business with that organization. The delighted customers might also be more likely to increase their own spending with the delighting organization, and exhibit increased customer faithfulness (Keiningham and Vavra, 2001). The possibility of delighted customers to repeat a purchase is known to be about six times more than satisfied customers (Reichheld and Sasser 1990). It represents the highest level of satisfaction, leading to a stronger intent to repurchase (Jones and Sasser 1995). Customer delight is never happened without high performance and such performance brings not only benefits to customers but also makes them excited (Kwong and Yau 2002).This effort has to be acknowledged and appreciated by customers. Customer delight is, therefore, defined as an emotional response creating a much pleasured state concerning a firms soaring performance in service delivery, which is then highly praised (Kwong 2006).Behaviorally, delighted customers tend to view the firm positively and prefer to buy from it (Keiningham et al. 1999; Schneider and Bowen 1999). Financially, this preference translates to a profit and represents a stream of future income to the focal firm (Rust et al. 1994). Long-term relationships with customers present the opportunity, through personalized service, to go beyond the customers expectations and delight them (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003).Therefore, despite the fact that delighting the customer can be a profitable business practice (Rust and Oliver, 2000), Delight is going beyond simply satisfying the customer to delivering a higher level of satisfaction through exceeded expectations (Oliver et al., 1997). This concept of a higher-level of satisfaction is seen by many practitioners as the way to provide a distinct advantage to the company that does it first and does it well consistently (Chandler, C.H. 1989, p. 30, quoted in Oliver et al., 1997). Delighted customers are more likely to tell others that they are delighted, which in turn may attract other consumers to do business with that organization. The delighted customers may also be more likely to boost their own spending with the delighting organization, and exhibit increased customer loyalty (Keiningham and Vavra, 2001). Prof. Kano, the Kano Model categorizes customer needs into three types of feature. Customers are asked a series of questions that identify the importance of their needs and the following typology of features can be arrived at durability of a car might be considered Basic qualities. They do not satisfy when present, but do dissatisfy when absent. (Elmar Sauerwein, Franz Bailom, Kurt Matzler, Hans H. Hinterhuber 1996) Oliver, Rust and Varki (1997) squabble that delight is a combination of pleasure and arousal (whereas satisfaction is a mixture of pleasure and disconfirmation), and show that both satisfaction and delight can manipulate repatronage intentions. According to Berry, L.L., Parasuraman, A. Zeithaml, V.A. (1988) service quality has become a great competitor and the most powerful competitive weapon which many leading service organizations possess. Service business success has been associated with the ability to deliver superior service (Gale, 1990; Rudie Wansley, 1984). Leading service organizations strive to maintain a superior quality of service in an effort to gain customer loyalty (Zeithaml Bitner, 1996).Evaluating the impact of service quality through customer retention will help companies to gauge the financial impact of service quality (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Customer satisfaction no longer constitutes the convincing focus for success; it has been replaced by customer delight (Brown, W.S., Bowen, D.E. Swartz, T.A. 1992). In todays competitive environment, customers expectations and technological innovation demand that service leaders distinguish them selves from the competition by truly delighting the customer (Kandampully, 1997). Customers perception of exceptional service is often associated with the personal interaction of the employees (Kandampully, 1993). Services management literature has repeatedly emphasized the significance of the human element in the delivery of higher service (Crosby Stephens, 1987; Gronroos, 1990b; Parasuraman et al., 1985; Solomon, m.r., Surprenant, c., Czepiel, j.a. Gutman,(1985)). We now live in a service economy where relationships are becoming more important than physical products (Albrecht Zemke, 1985a), in terms of both our business and our personal lives. Business is nothing but relationship (McCormick, M. 1988) and, within service industries, this relationship is an interactive process (Booms Bitner, 1981). The challenge for todays organizations is not merely to reach the top, but to stay there. If that is an organizations aim, its primary focus should be not just to attract customers, but to gain their loyalty and, thus, their patronage, not merely for the current, but also for the long term. This loyalty, however, is the end result of an on-going, long-term relationship. Such relationships are founded on an organizations ability to maintain and extend its relationships with customers (Gummesson, 1994). According to Levitt (1983), buyer ± seller interaction is similar to a marriage; the quality and duration, however, depends predominantly which the organization manages the relationship. Customer supplier relationships are central to exceeding customer expectations (Parasuraman et al., 1991c). Thus, it is apparent that customers cannot `try out services; they purchase a service prior to experiencing it and must trust it to deliver the perceived service promise (Berry Parasuraman, 1992). According to Kanos theory of attractive quality (2001), success cannot be gained only by listening to what customers say. What needs to be gained is a deeper under-standing of the customers latent needs. He has described the factors that influence customer purchase decisions as a model with three main factors: basic (must-be), performance (more is better or one-dimensional) and delight (excitement or attractive). Additional factors are indifferent and reverse, but these add relatively little to this context. The basic factor must be met; otherwise the customer will react with disappointment or disgust. If all basic factors are met, the customer reaction is neutral. Research generally supports the claim that word of mouth is more influential on behavior than other marketer-controlled sources. Indeed, it has been observed that WOM can be more influential than neutral print sources such as which and Consumer Reports (Herr, P.M., Kardes, F.R. and Kim, J. (1991). Arndt, J. (1967) was one of the earliest researchers into the influence of WOM on consumer behavior. He characterized WOM as verbal, person-to-person communication between a receiver and a communicator whom the receiver perceives as non-commercial, concerning a brand, product or service. Customer delight can be defined as an emotion, characterized by high levels of joy and surprise, felt by a customer towards a company or its offering (product/ service) (Kumar 1996). Thus, customer delight is defined as a rather positive emotional state towards the purchase/consumption experience, generally derived from the surprisingly positive disconfirmation level of perceived performance (Oliver et al. 1997; Rust and Oliver 2000). Delight would be characterized as an emotion made up of cognitive and affective aspects, including here surprise (Kumar 1996). In this sense, Izard, Carroll E. (1977), clarifies that even the cognitive concepts inherent in satisfaction and, consequently, in customer delight such as need and desire -, and its comparative standards are considered affective by nature or, at least, as having an affective component. The differentiation basically occurs at an arousal level of the positive emotional response: at a low level there lies satisfaction; at a high level, delight (Oliver and Westbrook 1993). As Plutchiks, Robert (1980) research and the circumflex model of emotions appears to be one of the earliest and most common source for labeling delight as a mixture of joy and surprise, we review the work of which led Plutchik to conclude that delight was comprised of joy and surprise.Plutchik carried out two studies to determine what emotions resulted from the different combination of pairs of basic emotions. Basic emotions were supposed to be emotions that were instinctual and universal among all the human begins (or even among all mammals) and Plutchik had eight emotions which were considered basic and made up one layer of his circumflex model of emotion. Research Methods Qualitative Development of Delight measure Exploratory Investigation Till now the literature for customer satisfaction has only been studied and proved but the customer delight has never been researched upon. For sound conceptual background and for investigation of customer delight in the banking sector, qualitative study was undertaken to investigate the delight concept especially in the minds of their customers. Almost all the banks are providing homogenous services; our main emphasis is on the customer reaction towards the services provided and the experience they faced when they felt excited and delighted from their banks. Focus interviews with the customers was the main part of our research. This provided us with the exact moment or situation, which created customer delight in the mind of a customer. Creating the base for our focused interviews, we distributed an open ended questionnaire, in which the customers were asked to write down the situation where they felt excited or delighted by the service which their respective bank has provided to them when they really required it. We received many situations described by the customer, where they received the service which made them delighted or when they felt excited. Every single response was carefully studied and put under a category, where situations were the same. Focused Interviews Focused interviews consisted of respondents from all walks of life including Housewives, Businessman, Employees, and students. Every focused interview was based on the category which responded a particular response in the questionnaires. Discussions regarding their response to the questionnaire provided the opportunity for the respondent to explain in detailregarding their moment(removed letter) of getting excited or delighted from their banks service. Discussions were based to bring the respondent to the exact reason or moment on why the customer felt delighted. Every respondent was provided the opportunity to elaborate their experience to reach the moment or reason of delight that they felt from the service. Insights from Exploratory Investigation From the exploratory investigation a remarkably completely different pattern of customer delight came out, which was totally different from the nominal services provided by the banks to the customers. Account holders were satisfied from the service provided by the bank as almost all the banks are providing the same type and quality of services but what made the customers delighted, were the occasion when they were offered or received an out the way service from their bank ,which they never expected or ever received before. All the delights of the customers were situations and occasions based on what they had experienced in their daily routine. Outcomes were categorized into the related fields as to what made a customer feel delight from the service. Insight from Focus Interviews Interviews were summarized in categories of the situation or the time when a customer felt delighted from the banks service. Outcomes were surprising as the customers felt delighted not from the homogeneous services provided by the banks but from the acts which customer had received from the banks other than their normal routine practice. Account holders explained in detail regarding the situations that they have felt from their bank, which caused delight. Customers replies were investigated to reach the exact moment in the time in which they received a delightful service from their bank. As the respondents were from different walks of life so their perception toward delight were also different. If the respondent was already getting same service from his bank then there was no reason to be delighted from the instrument we have purposed. Reactions were very important of customer toward the situation they were asked about, as delight is all about the over whelming experience for the customer. Every focused interview session were categories under eight variables, which become the fundamental elements of the customer delight model. Respondent reached the concession that eight variables, which were the outcome from the exploratory studies were eliminates, made them delight from the service. Establishing of Customer Delight Model After completing the focused interviews and gathering the data of the interviews, we came to an understanding on how to establish the customer delight model as per the outcome of the respective customers interview. Model, which consists of eight variables, was sub defined as per the perception of the respondents. Among these eight variables, six of them had clear understanding in the minds of the customers that it is the factor or eleme

The Beginnings Of Prescriptive Rules In English

The Beginnings Of Prescriptive Rules In English This research paper traces the beginnings of prescriptive grammar in the English language. It shows how the beginning of prescriptivism is closely connected with the changes in the society of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The invention of printing press, better social mobility and better education, in one way or another helped bring English to its standard level. Prescriptive efforts of the above mentioned centuries were also helpful in codifying the English language and setting this language as the standard one. INTRODUCTION My research paper traces the beginnings of prescriptive rules in the English language. The thesis is that prescriptive rules came into existence in the nineteenth century. However, after reading above mentioned works, I discovered that its beginnings could be traced before this time. Furthermore, the other assumption is that the rise of prescriptivism has been set into motion by changes in philosophy and economy, and subsequently in society, and we shall try to prove this assumption to be right throughout this essay. Also, some of the rules most commonly known as prescriptive rules will be mentioned. PRESCRIPTIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE In this introduction we will define what prescriptive rules are, and point out its counterpart decriptivism (agreement). These terms are used in linguistics and both have (not only prescriptive and descriptive rules, but also prescriptive and descriptive grammars) avid supporters, for instance R.A. Lafferty and David Foster Wallace, respectively. In linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing the usage of a particular language. These rules can cover such topics as standards for spelling and grammar or syntax, or rules regarding what is deemed socially or politically correct. Prescription includes the mechanisms for establishing and maintaining an interregional language or a standardized spelling system. It can also include declarations of what particular groups consider to be good taste. If that taste is conservative, prescription may be resistant to language change. If it is radical, prescription may be productive of neologisms. Prescription can also include recommendations for effective language usage. As already mentioned, prescriptivism has its counterpart descriptivism. Descriptive methods observe and record how language is used in practice, which is the basis of all linguistic research. scholarly descriptive work is usually based on text or corpus analysis, or on field studies. However, the term description includes each individuals observations of their own language usage. Descriptive linguistics eschews value judgments and makes no recommendations. In short, descriptive linguists do not think that something can be deemed wrong in language usage. These approaches to language are seen by many as opposites because one declares what language should be like, while the other states how language really functions in everyday society. We can also claim that they are complementary, because popular debates around language issues revolve around the question how to balance them. THE STUDY As mentioned above, my original thesis was that prescriptivism first appeared in the nineteenth century. I based this thesis on the fact that the nineteenth century, or more precisely the Victorian period, was the time of great social change, which led to greater social mobility. My interest in this period and some previous essays I wrote about the mentioned period had led me to take this stand. Studies conducted by Dr. Shadya A.N. Cole (The Rise of Prescriptivism) and Laura Wright (The Development of Standard English), made me think otherwise. Different events, historical and social, contributed to the rise of prescriptivism, which means that prescriptivism did not develop outside society. Cole states that most prescriptive rules were made between 1650 and 1800 (Cole 2003:119). This covers a big time span to consider, but this was an era that saw some of the most interesting changes take place. In that time frame, the UK witnessed change in the political arena. The absolute monarchy was transformed into constitutional monarchy  [1]  . This was the result and a sign of the growing power of the middle class. Power of the middle class could best be seen in the English Civil War (1642-1651), also known as the Puritan Revolution, and by the establishment of the Commonwealth. One of the things that also had a significant impact on the dawn of prescriptivism was the expansion of the colonies, which provided the Kingdom with vast amounts of money and resources needed for industry, and also made the middle class more affluent. All of these events led to social mobility, which was something that had not been seen before (Cole 2003: 119). The new emerging middle-class was formed and it strived for social betterment. This betterment, along with good etiquette, included language. In search of such modes of behavior, which characterized the nobility, the middle class had to look outside their own customs. It might be advisable to mention here William Caxton and the year 1476. This is the starting point of the English printing press. It carries importance because it opened the doors to vernacular works, which were designed for the middle class and nobility, and also provides a precise beginning for the tracing of orthographic reform during the late fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. One of the most important works of that time was the printing of the Bible into the vernacular language and that, consequently, opened the doors to preaching in the vernacular. Printing press, without any doubt, helped to diffuse knowledge much faster and in all levels of the society. At this point all kinds of printed material became available, from newspapers, journals, pamphlets, to books. Along with this rose the number of literate people. As commercial middle-class came into prominence, it spread literate education through wider circles of society and encouraged the study of modern foreign languages (Cole 2003: 121). The separation of the Anglican Church from the Church of Rome in 1533-34 made significant changes in the characteristics of the universities. Before, universities had been the professional schools of the clergy, but now education expended into the sciences and humanities. Latin and Greek were still the languages needed to be learnt, but demand for the English language to be taught was also growing. The demand for learning English marks a turning point. Before that time, the upper-classes insisted on their children being fluent in Greek and Latin along with French. On the other hand, with the rise of the middle-class the tide started to turn because English was getting appraisal and education was aimed at producing speakers of correct English (Cole 2003: 121). Again, this demand can be traced to the changes in the society. As the middle-class grew, two sub-classes started to emerge. Those were the more genteel merchant class and the less genteel trading class. The decisive factor in their separation was the way they spoke and wrote. Thus, the teaching of the English language became necessary for the acceptance into genteel society. Philosophy and the current way of thinking considerably impacted linguistic research. The influential new stream in philosophy was rationalism which was manifested in the tendency to attempt to settle disputes by using logic and it became dominant in the language usage. English language started to gain prominence. Variations, that had arisen through years were no longer being looked at with as great tolerance as before. Latin and Greek still carried a great importance. They were the languages on which English grammar was modeled. However, Latin had more influence over English than any other language. Latin conventions and examples were carried over into English to make it more appealing. One of the reasons for this was that Latin grammar was seen as an appropriate pattern upon which to model an English grammar (Cole 2003: 119). The early books written in English were textbooks for the instruction of a foreign language or books that provided a basis for the study of Latin. Now that books were being written for the instruction of English, the authors basically applied the same pattern as they did for Latin. Linguists were trying to force English into a linguistic mold that was no longer suitable for a living language. They wanted to have the same logi c, clarity and force in English as they had when they were using Latin. British writers were worried that English would bring chaos and instability, and would destroy the ease of communication afforded by the stable classical language. One of the early proponents of the call for the authorative regularization of English was John Dryden  [2]  . Eventually, this regularization led to the common acceptance of prescriptive outlook on the language and the rules of correctness. From what was said before regarding the new middle-class, we can conclude that the popularity of the authoritarian movement was due to the popular demand of the middle class for guidance on how to use English properly. Elizabeth Bohnert claims that the need for the proper usage of English also affected speech patterns. What she argues is that the speech patterns of the educated and aristocratic in the capital were naturally considered to be superior throughout the 16th and 17th centuries (Bohnert 2008: 1). It w as not until the age of prescriptivism that certain accents began to be considered faulty. As the middle-class increased in wealth, they desired to have the education and the manners of the ruling class. Their basic assumption was that variation in language was undesirable and printers catered to the need of the wealthy by producing various handbooks. Since material possessions no longer carried the stigma of class, the manner of speaking, pronunciation and grammar became useful in making distinctions among classes. In the late 18th century a few writers from diverse linguistic backgrounds took it upon themselves to distinguish between proper and improper pronunciation, which was a way to instruct the provincials on how to imitate the speech of Londoners. Latin influence eventually became more widespread, which decreased the freedom and individuality of English. English style and elegance reflected those of classical Latin. If there were differences found between the two languages, English was always referred to as faulty, because Latin was after all a classical language. What Latin offered was the definite rules that writers could appeal to and rely on (Cole 2003: 121). English was not reliable because it had no grammar, or at least that was the common assumption. Some writers, when writing in English, had to transform their thoughts or ideas first into Latin so that they could see what the best way of converting them into English was. Borrowing of Latin words greatly enriched English vocabulary, even though this was not something new. However, there were those who thought that such words were redundant. This led to the famous inkhorn  [3]  controversy. This controversy came at the time when English was replacing Latin as the mai n language of science and learning in England. Inkhorns were new words that were being introduced into the language by writers, often self-consciously borrowing from Classical literature. Critics regarded these words as useless as they required knowledge of Latin or Greek to be understood. They also contended that there were words with identical meaning already in English. Many of these so-called inkhorn terms, such as dismiss, celebrate, encyclopedia, or ingenious stayed in the language and are nowadays commonly used. We must stress here that even today Latin and Greek words can be found in formal and scientific writing, but as Cole said those are polysyllabic words (Cole 2003: 122). As English gained prominence, a new fear emerged among learned people. They thought that making English more linguistically rich would lead to ineloquent, imprecise, and ambiguous communication (Cole 2003: 123). The assumption was that English had no codified grammar, which made learned people uneasy, but at the same time gave them a new goal to reach to define English by a set of rules. These rules, for instance about sentence structure and world choice, would be agreed upon by all. However, usage differed very greatly because every writer had his own individual judgment on what was correct and what was not. In spite of their differences, linguists did agree on one fact, which was that English had a prior age when it was pure. It was thought that this former pure state could be restored. However, this turned to be more difficult because every writer had his own period which he considered pure. Some considered Chaucers writing as ideal, some Shakespeares or Swifts. In the 15th century there was an attempt to establish an English Academy, which would deal with linguistic problems. This academy would be modeled on the French academy. The suggestion for setting up such an institution was made by John Barret in the preface of his dictionary. The greatest proponent of this idea was Jonathan Swift. He claimed that language usage could and should be governed by an arbitrary authoritarian body (Cole 2003: 125). Likewise, this proposal brought objections. Some, like John Oldmixon (a poet), though that such an academy would impose its ideas of the language usage on others. Many contemporaries thought the same and the interest slowly waned. Nonetheless, the desire for the language to be ascertained, refined and fixed remained a popular sentiment. Now, the idea of private dictionaries came to be popular. The idea was to make a dictionary that would include all the words of English and a grammar that would detail the proper usage of such words. The two most important works were created in the second part of the 18th century: those were Samuel Johnsons Dictionary of the English Language (1755) and Robert Lowths Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762). Decisions about what to put in a dictionary and what to exclude were based on a lexicographers ideology. And every lexicographer has got/had one. One thing that directly comes to mind while going through these linguistic beginnings is that most of the writers sought ways to petrify a language in a certain time. Almost all of them were afraid that their works would not be read by future generations because they would not know how. They could not grasp the fact that it is quite normal for a language to change through time and in contact with other languages. There were attempts for English syntax to be explained. The handbooks were the work of individuals who believed that reforms were necessary and that they were the ones to make them. Most of the reformers had no particular training or qualifications other than the belief that they had a right do declare what was right and wrong about the English language. Some of them were members of the clergy and had knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Because they were all classically trained, they forced English into a classical mold. However, there were exceptions, like Joseph Priestleys The Rudiments of English Grammar. In it Priestley recognized the usage of reputable writers as the standard for linguistic propriety. The eighteenth-century grammarians wanted to prove that English was capable of being described systematically. They did not allow any variations in usage and were strictly against any uncertainty. Many of them based their pronouncements upon their personal preferences. Whenever Latin could not settle any disputed points in the grammar, they would turn to the authority of usage. It is safe to say that they were part prescriptive and part descriptive. By the 18th century, most grammarians agreed that usage must be the factor governing correctness in language. However, they could not agree whose usage should be standard. One that seems to stand out is George Campbell. He wrote Philosophy of Rhetoric in 1776, and in it he defined English as reputable, national and present. He then explains what he means by these definitions. National means that language is neither rural nor foreign (he means Latin or French). Present usage means not the usage of the moment, but it is the usage of the recent past, which has stood the test of time. Reputable means the usage of the best writers. Some of the most notorious prescriptive rules came from this period. Examples of these are the usage of pronouns, It is I or It is me (the correct form is It is I because verb to be always has a nominative case after it). Other rules would be the difference between verbs lie and lay. Lie is a verb that does not require an object, whereas lay requires an object. Users were discouraged from using the modal verbs shall and will interchangeably. Shall should be used only with first person singular and first person plural, and will with second and third persons. The eighteenth century is responsible for the final stamp of disapproval on multiple or double negatives (Cole 2003: 138). Lowth explicitly stated the rule that two negatives are equivalent to an affirmative (We dont need no education). Another rule was that of ending a sentence with a preposition. It was John Dryden, the 17th-century poet and dramatist, who first promulgated the doctrine that a preposition may not be used at the end a sentence. Grammarians in the 18th century refined the doctrine, and the rule has since become one of the most venerated maxims of schoolroom grammar. But sentences ending with prepositions can be found in the works of most of the great writers since the Renaissance. In fact, English syntax not only allows but sometimes even requires final placement of the preposition, as in We have much to be thankful for or That depends on what you believe in. Efforts to rewrite such sentences to place the preposition elsewhere can have comical results, as Winston Churchill demonstrated when he objected to the doctrine by saying This is the sort of English up with which I cannot put. Split infinitives have been condemned as ungrammatical for nearly 200 years, but it is hard to see what exactly is wrong with saying to boldly go (The American Heritage ® Book of English Usage.). In fact, the split infinitive is distinguished both by its length of use and the greatness of its users. People have been splitting infinitives since the 14th century, and some of them include John Donne, Daniel Defoe, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Johnson, William Wordsworth, Abraham Lincoln, George Eliot and Henry James. The only rationale for condemning the construction is based on a false analogy with Latin. The belief is that because the Latin infinitive is a single word, the English infinitive should be treated as if it were a single unit. But English is not Latin, and people split infinitives all the time without giving it a thought. I have already mentioned that prescriptivism also impacted the way people spoke. By the late 19th century prescriptivism had transformed into an effort to expunge any hint of accent that would betray regional distinction, including that of London. This created an environment of linguistic anxiety. During this time the term Cockney transformed into the most condemning term for improper speech in the 19th century. It came to denote somebody who is vulgar and ignorant. The whole 19th century London was riddled with Cockneyism. Prescriptivists described the Cockneys as the prime culprits of language degeneration, and a threat to all gentility and grace. Today, many linguists agree that this were mostly scare tactics aimed at the middle-classes, whose social insecurities made them a ready market for prescriptive coercion. Some such rules governing pronunciation were /h/ dropping (improper /h / usage was associated with the uneducated and illiterate, as proper usage required a knowledge of where h was made in spelling), /h/ insertion (came about as the hypercorrection of /h/ dropping), or post-vocalic /r/. The spate of books, magazines and newspapers that began flowing to the newly developed and fast growing class of literate readers accelerated stabilization and by the beginning of the 20th century the process of standardization of English was stabile. The 20th century gave many manuals written by authors of sufficient scholarship to make those manuals authoritative. One such example is The Kings English (1906) by the Fowler brothers and this was followed by Modern English Usage (1926). CONCLUSION The most important consequence of prescriptive grammar was that people could no longer claim that English had no rules. In addition to that, the distinction between the standard and non-standard usage was made visible. Standard usage is the one we still learn in schools today. Prescriptive grammarians fixed a number of disputed usages in language, even though they started off very indecisive on what the correct form was. Grammarians of that period emphasized rules that are still highly regarded today. Rules like the usage of pronouns I and me, double negation, or splitting the infinitive. After the invention of the printing press, English was promoted as a common language and some attempts at assigning formal structures to the language began to appear. Prescriptive rules have their ultimate justification in the communitys need to make their language meaningful. By making it meaningful, linguists tried to mirror English on the languages they thought were the most appropriate. They thought that classical languages were the best choice. In the end this led to some outrageous rules. The rule against split infinitives, for instance, is a consequence of the peculiar fact that English grammar is modeled on Latin even though Latin is a synthetic language and English is an analytic language. Nevertheless, the linguist of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries helped lead English into a codified and standard position by showing that it had grammar and rules that need to be obeyed.

Use of the Epigraph in George Eliots Middlemarch Essay -- Eliot Middl

Use of the Epigraph in George Eliot's Middlemarch The epigraph is an unusual, though not uncommon, form of citation. It is a part of the text yet distinct from it. White space and specialized formatting, such as italics, separate the epigraph from the main text, thereby challenging the reader to determine the relationship between the two. Unlike a typical quotation, which dwells in the midst of the text, illuminating one point in the argument, the epigraph's unique positioning prior to the body of the text highlights particular ideas, words, or images and thereby guides the reading of the entire argument. In essence, its shadow falls across and affects the reading of the text it precedes. This shadow looms large because it is formed not only by the body of the epigraph but also by the scholar, philosopher, or poet, and textual source from which it is taken. Like all citations, the epigraph creates an intertextuality and a dialogue with another author. The heuristic function of the epigraph may seem relatively simple when looking at a journal article that begins w...

THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPT OF GOD Essay -- essays research papers

THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPT OF GOD Christians claim that their concept of God is found in the Bible. Known as classical theism, this view of God has long been considered the orthodox theistic position of the Western world. Though there are numerous divine attributes that we could examine, for our present purposes it is sufficient to say that the God of classical theism is at least (1) personal and incorporeal (without physical parts), (2) the Creator and Sustainer of everything else that exists, (3) omnipotent (all-powerful), (4) omniscient (all-knowing), (5) omnipresent (everywhere present), (6) immutable (unchanging) and eternal, and (7) necessary and the only God. Let us now briefly look at each of these attributes. 1. Personal and Incorporeal. According to Christian theism, God is a personal being who has all the attributes that we may expect from a perfect person: self-consciousness, the ability to reason, know, love, communicate, and so forth. This is clearly how God is described in the Scriptures (e.g., Gen. 17:11; Exod. 3:14; Jer. 29:11). God is also incorporeal. Unlike humans, God is not uniquely associated with one physical entity (i.e., a body). This is why the Bible refers to God as Spirit (John 4:24). 2. The Creator and Sustainer of Everything Else that Exists. In classical theism, all reality is contingent on God — that is, all reality has come into existence and continues to exist because of Him. Unlike a god who forms the universe out of preexistent matter, the God of classical theism created the universe ex nihilo (out of nothing). Consequently, it is on God alone that everything in the universe depends for its existence (see Acts 17:25; Col. 1:16, 17; Rom. 11:36; Heb. 11:3; 2 Cor. 4:6; Rev. 4:11). 3. Omnipotent. God is also said to be omnipotent or all-powerful. This should be understood to mean that God can do anything that is (1) logically possible (see below), and (2) consistent with being a personal, incorporeal, omniscient, omnipresent, immutable, wholly perfect, and necessary Creator. Concerning the latter, these attributes are not limitations of God's power, but perfections. They are attributes at their infinitely highest level, which are essential to God's nature. For example, since God is perfect, He cannot sin; because He is personal, He is incapable of making Himself impersonal; because He is omniscient, He cannot forget. All th... ...o right action. Natural evil confers no additional benefits that moral evil cannot accomplish to the same degree and extent, and in fact natural evil is not even adequate to foster interpersonal moral virtues, such as forgiveness and tolerance. A benevolent God would allow no more evil than is absolutely necessary to achieve his ends. Because natural evil is gratuitous, its existence is incompatible with the existence of God. God, if he existed, could conceivably alter the laws of nature so that evil would only result when triggered by human action. However, manifest natural evil independent of human will, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tornadoes, and disease, undeniably exists. Since the existence of God and the existence of natural evil are incompatible and natural evil exists, the following revised argument from evil is both valid and sound, entailing a true conclusion: 1) If God exists, then there exists a being who is omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good. 2) If there existed a being who were omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good, then there would be no natural evil. 3) But there is natural evil. C) God does not exist. http://hem.passagen.se/nicb/evil.htm