Exploration Notes- as Level Drama and Theatre Studies Essay Example for Free

Exploration Notes- as Level Drama and Theatre Studies Essay 1) Discuss and compare the exploration of characterisation in Metamorphosis by Steven Berkoff and (A Doll’s House). Draw your own practical understanding of the skills used including use of language and voice to portray character. In our practical sessions of Modelling Gregor in â€Å"Metamorphosis†, we thought about how we would physically see Gregor. To do this, we had to individually create the shape of Gregor with our bodies. We all started off thinking about it really literally- â€Å"How would a beetle look?† rather than thinking about how our body represented Gregor and his feelings towards society. We then expanded on our thoughts about Gregor and then tried to empathise with him and think about how we would look if we were in his situation. My finished individual beetle was crouched/curled up on the floor on my side with my head down, hidden away- this represented Gregor’s vulnerability (a beetle on his back is helpless and cannot move, but a beetle has a hard shell which protects him; I was half and half because with my head down, I didn’t want to be seen by society and I was ashamed of what I had become however with my front/underside slightly showing, I was exposed to society and helpless but because you could see my back/shell, I was half protected by family- I think that throughout the show this would change and I would end up completely on my back because the family does end up abandoning/killing Gregor) , one of my arms was in a jerky/awkward position and the other was outstretched away from my body- the jerky arm represented Gregor changing and being abnormal and different, the outstretched arm however showed that I was reaching for someone to help and save me from what I was turning into; my legs were limp, lifeless and in an awkward shape to show that I was, again, turning into something new and weird but could not move and physically get away from it. After we made our individual beetle, we then worked in partners and modelled them into Gregor. I decided to use props for this (I used a chair). Hana (my model Gregor) ended up being positioned on her side, with her head under the chair and one of her arms reaching out onto it, her legs were crooked and awkward to show that she couldn’t move from her pain. After that, we raced our â€Å"beetles†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Hana lost.. but this showed that Gregor was in a good position because he found it difficult to manoeuvre himself and get away from what was happening to him- his movement was limited and awkward when he did so. Hana then modelled me, she had me stood up with my legs wide open (showing vulnerability) and one of my legs turned in and that knee bent (which looked awkward, abnormal and hard to move), my head was dropped and my stomach was contracted in. She placed my arms out to the sides in awkward positions, which was quite physically demanding as I was holding the position. We then used these positions for a scene of Metamorphosis. The dream scene; we incorporated our ideas of how Gregor felt and moved into this scene. We decided to have a narrator and an actor onstage being Gregor. I tried to capture the essence of Gregor’s franticness yet vulnerability in the way I directed Hana as Gregor. I did this by changing the speed and dynamics of how she was moving; this matched the way I was narrating as I also changed the tempo, dynamics and pitch of my voice to really capture how Gregor’s character felt. To create the family we thought about the physical features of a beetle and applied them to the metaphors of the family. We ended up putting Mr Samsa in the middle, seeing as he is the heart of the family; we then had Gregor again in the middle with his arms over Mr Samsa almost saying that he is protecting him and the family with his income but he is still exposed to society and therefore vulnerable. We had Mrs Samsa knelt in front of Gregor and Mr Samsa looking straight forward with a blank expression almost as if she hasn’t got much to say about the situation and is just disregarding Gregor. Greta was at the very front of the beetle as the antenna, looking out for Gregor and being his sense of feeling. The legs of Gregor were made up of society, but reaching out and away from the beetle and from Gregor. We also (as a practical exercise) held hands as a whole group and twisted ourselves into a character from the play each†¦ this ended up looking abnormal, as the family’s situation is and a lot of it also looked quite painful but we were as one as a unit, as the family is. In order to characterise Nora in a Doll’s House, we used the techniques of Stanislavski because A Doll’s House is a much more naturalistic play compared to Metamorphosis. We started with a focus exercise in which we lay down on the floor and concentrated only on our breathing and our body contact with the floor. We then got thought about some key words to describe Nora’s character and tried to focus on each of them individually, letting each emotion overwhelm our bodies. We then were counted down to stand up and walk around the room as Nora, showing her feelings through non- verbal communication. We also created some tableaux of the family in a dolls house. For this we used visual, aural and spatial techniques. 2) Discuss and compare the Visual, Aural and Spatial elements and the use of non-verbal communication techniques to present issues and ideas in both plays studied. Make reference to your practical work. Visual, aural and spatial elements either have an iconic or symbolic reference. Iconic is always visual, for example a prop; it is iconic because it is what it is and only serves its primary function (e.g. a stool is a stool and is used for sitting on etc.) However a symbolic reference is something that represents something and has a metaphor behind it (e.g. a chair could be symbolic for a particular person). Metamorphosis is an extremely abstract play and the visual, aural and spatial techniques used are very important. The play is commonly set with Gregor at the back on a platform above everyone else, slowly becoming more and more deformed. This is a very visual thing and represents the time’s changing and matters are slowly getting worse and worse for the family. The fact he is higher up than everyone else as well could also symbolise the fact he is hanging over everyone’s head and is a burden on the family. His height could also represent his status and the fact he is the cause for everything happening on stage and when he changes, everything else does as well. Another common way of positioning Gregor is to have scaffolding angling up to the back of the stage like this: This gives perspective; it also makes Gregor look further away but because of the angle, you are drawn in, giving a stronger emotional impact on you as an audience member. The scaffolding itself makes the whole aesthetic of the performance seem more skeletal; which Gregor is also slowly becoming. It is also, obviously, very structured which contradicts how the family’s situation is in the play. In the script it says that every prop is mimed other than 3 black stools places equidistantly of each other for the family to use. I think these proxemics show how the family are as a unit and detached from Gregor. In order to explore and interpret this, we created a series of 10 tableaux. In these 10 tableaux, we used visual, aural and spatial elements to show the subtext of the plot- we mainly focussed on the family and how Gregor’s change affected the family. We used a ladder laid down on its side for scaffolding in which Gregor spent a lot of the time in various awkward ways, becoming more and more deformed and trapped as the tableaux progressed. We thought we should only use the organic sounds from our movement and the ladder for our performance to represent the tension and how awkward the situation/plot/subtext was. In the changeover of each tableau, we decided to move a chair gradually towards the back of the stage to represent Gregor slowly distancing from his family. One element of these tableaux I was quite proud of was the proxemics of each member of the family compared to Gregor and the ladder/scaffolding. This is said ladder; as you can see, there is a divide across it. We used this as a barrier stopping the family from getting to Gregor; apart from in one tableau where we â€Å"broke† this barrier and Greta reached out to Gregor through the partition. Gregor was slowly becoming more and more deformed into the corner during the tableaux. Greta reaching over through the barrier to Gregor. Mrs Samsa reaching over to Greta trying to stop her from â€Å"breaking the barrier†. Mr Samsa: Back turned to Mrs Samsa and Greta (and obviously Gregor, wanting no part of it) Gregor was slowly becoming more and more deformed into this corner during the tableaux. We also used visual, aural and spatial techniques when studying A Doll’s House. Unlike Metamorphosis being abstract, A Doll’s House is much more realistic than Metamorphosis and therefore uses lots of props which are all in one way or another, symbolic of something and metaphorical. As a class we discussed the characters and props and what they may metaphorically represent: * Christmas Tree- The family’s relationships falling apart simultaneously with the pine needles falling off the tree. It could also show that looks can be deceiving because of the fact that while this tree is looking beautiful, the family is deteriorating. * Door- Freedom when Nora leaves. Trouble when she enters from the unknown outside world. * Dr Rank- Society hiding their decay. * Money- Power and all things bad and poisonous. * Nanny- The calm, security and support of Nora and the children. * â€Å"Skylark†- Nora is just a pretty singing bird with no other purpose than looking beautiful. Also the fact that a skylark cannot speak words, this is reflected in Nora; she is not allowed an opinion or it is not heard. * Stove- The characters always go back to it (especially Nora), this could stand for support and forgiveness, the warmth of friendship and loyalty because it is always there. * Macaroons- Nora’s deceit. * Lamp- The light of truth. * The Doll’s House- Nora is a kept woman, everyone’s play thing†¦or so they assume. It is actually Nora who plays with and manipulates the characters around her. Again, looks can be deceiving. Another way we explored visual, aural and special elements in A Doll’s House was when we studied the Tarantella scene. A tarantella is a traditional Italian folk dance. It gets its name from the venomous spider, the tarantula and it is supposed that when one gets bitten by this spider, the victims needed to engage in a frenzied dance in order to prevent death or disease, using very rhythmical music. Now, in context with A Doll’s House, I believe that the reason a Tarantella is danced by Nora is because she is trying to rid herself of the poison from Torvald, Krogstad and maybe even Dr Rank; or she could be trying to rid herself from lies she’s told as this is her poison. We re-enacted the tarantella scene with the proper script. We played with spatial awareness of characters, use of voice and visual effects. Nora’s movement gets gradually more and more frantic and her speech also more frantic and louder and high pitched. Torvald moves with purpose but in a much more organised and authoritative way compared to Nora; he is always keeping his eyes on her and making sure she does it ALL correctly. Mrs Linde comes in from side stage quite discretely, says her line to Nora then moves slowly and almost mysteriously to a chair in the LDF corner. Dr Rank, playing the piano, cannot keep his eyes off Nora but is fairly wary of Torvald’s presence so near him. Nora used a shawl while she was dancing which added to the visual effects and at the end of the dance she threw the shawl on the floor as if her freedom of dance had gone and the poison had come back. We then performed our own interpretive dance for the subtext of the tarantella and the whole play without any script work. We started with Torvald controlling Nora, almost as a puppeteer- for this we used music box doll music. The music then ran into Kashmir by Bond which starts with quite a distorted wave of sound which we used to show Nora slowly changing and fighting back with Torvald. Throughout the dance, Nora got stronger and less poisoned- instead, the poison was transferring into the other characters. After Nora had kicked Torvald to the floor, Mrs Linde came in and started controlling him alongside Torvald; after having liaised with Nora, she became poisoned and slowly deteriorated to the floor. Dr Rank then came into the picture, stepped over Torvald to get to Nora. They danced together until she pushed him away and transferred the poison. Finally, Nora ended up sat down on the floor, looking around almost like a child who had just broken all of her toys. Aurally, there is one very poignant moment in A Doll’s House where the door is slammed at the end by Nora. This gives the play a final point of closure where Nora has gone and has gone for good. Similarly in Metamorphosis, when the apple is thrown into Gregor’s back, this is a definitive sound of the end of the main plot. 3) Evaluate your understanding of the practitioners studied and their influences on Metamorphosis. Use your interpretation notes to aid this question making reference to the practitioners, playwright, and your own practical exploration. Leslie Steven Berkovitch, better known as Steven Berkoff, was born on the 3rd August 1937 to Russian Jews. He came from a poor family and because of their descent; he never fitted in as a child and found it hard to be a part of a group of friends. Growing up in the East End of London is a gritty, tough time for most people let alone someone of the likes of Berkoff. He was a badly behaved child and got kicked out of school a lot. You could argue he was the original â€Å"East Ender† until he then moved to New York- he lived in a 1 bedroom flat, shared with 3 other families (who were also outsiders in New York). Wherever he travelled, he could never fit in and never found anywhere to call home. He grew up to resent his family and moved back to London at age 13. As an outsider, a Russian Jew living in London, he wanted to be a gangster. He was in a stage of identity crisis where didn’t know where to belong and after being so badly influenced and behaved, he ended up in a young offenders prison which obviously made him extremely angry! After this, he changed his name to Berkoff because he didn’t want to be seen as a Jew or associated with his roots. He brought a whole new movement to British playwriting in British society. These plays he wrote commented on equality and people- they were often based in the home. When he came out of prison, he decided to go over to Europe and learn the skill of tailoring like his father had done. During his stay, he was given the book â€Å"Metamorphosis† by Franz Kafka. When he read this, he could instantly make connections between himself and Gregor. After this, he went back to the East End and started writing plays. Unlike his fellow playwrights John Osbourne and Edward Bond, he believed drama should still be abstract. Berkoff was influenced by Greek theatre; he was a â€Å"Megalomaniac of theatre styles† who loved over exaggeration and the use of masks to rid people of their identity. He loved the use of chorus (voices together) and poetic verse because it takes things out of context. I was inspired by Brecht and his political (borderline social) take on drama and the use of gestus and satire. He also like Artaud and his theatre of cruelty and the way he used the senses and sounds to put over metaphorical messages. He then travelled to France and worked under Lecoq who was a mime artiste and physical theatre worker and trained with him until he decided to move back to London. When he got back to London, he built up his manifesto of theatre. TOTAL THEATRE. Total theatre Greek theatre (chorus, unison, exaggeration), theatre of cruelty (loud sounds, harsh, gritty images and metaphors) and epic theatre (Brecht- teaches a message, gestus, stereotypes, alienation). Berkoff moulded all these ideas together and created his characters as comic and caricatures. Using the whole of the body was very important to him as he was an extremely physical director, well demonstrated with the character of Gregor in Metamorphosis. As a practitioner, Berkoff also wrote plays as well as acted and directed. He liked using lots of language and words (almost Shakespearian). He was extremely articulate and using beautiful language he talked about the gritty East End and reality of life. To put Berkoff’s views into practice, we had to pretend to be in love with a chair. We exaggerated our love and feelings and the chair was like a metaphor for our lover. We then had to flip our mood and become angry with the chair; it got us all to think how people would stereotypically act with someone you loved and then hated. We also had to pretend we were at a picnic on our own, slowly becoming more and more exaggerated with our eating and drinking, and gradually more grotesque. It really got us to focus into it and get into it, so when it was time to â€Å"fake wretch†, I actually felt physically sick! We also practiced slow motion. This was very physically demanding, like how Steven Berkoff would have directed. It was very important to control your movements but not forget that when you sped up the movements, they should look exactly the same as the slow ones. 4) Evaluate your understanding of the practitioner studied and his influence on A Doll’s House. Use your interpretation notes to aid this question making reference to the practitioners, playwright, and your own practical exploration. Henrik Ibsen was born in Norway in 1828 and died in 1906. He was from a well to do Merchant family, however his father’s fortunes took a significant turn for the worse and he ended up a moody, nasty man and turned to alcoholism which he then took out on his family. Ibsen subsequently, only wrote about money and marriage as this was influenced from his own life. His plays were seen as scandalous to many of his era because they were always touching on sensitive subjects like human rights. This then influenced many other playwrights and novelists such as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller and James Joyce. He is one of the founders of modernism in theatre. During his time, despite failing to achieve success as a playwright, he gained a lot of practical experience at the Norwegian theatre company. His play â€Å"A Doll’s House† is a realistic drama that highlights the cultural conflicts of the 19th century. The play was very controversial when it was first published as it was sharply critical of 19th century marriage norms. Her ended up having to change the ending of the original script because the leading actress didn’t like the idea of having to act out abandoning her children. It also manifests Ibsen’s concerns for women’s rights and human rights in general. This was widely considered as a landmark in the development of what would soon become a highly prevalent genre of theatre- REALISM. Realism was consequently realised. It wasn’t however until the likes of Stanislavski came along that realism became so well known and loved. He wanted a sense of realism in his work and he wanted his actors to really connect with their character. In his eyes, the actors WERE the characters. He believed REAL ACTORS=REAL ACTING. We used Stanislavski’s techniques to get into our roles when studying A Doll’s House. We began with a focus exercise, lying on the floor and zoning out our thoughts. We then thought about our character and let their feelings overwhelm our own like Stanislavski would have got his actors to. We then connected with their emotions, felt how they felt and immediately after, acted out a short scene between Nora and Torvald. This helped us all enormously because got us to lose out inhibitions and focus entirely on the story, situation and emotions of the characters. 5) Discuss the Social, Historical, Cultural and Political content of the texts studied and compare the impact on an audience and on yourself as a student of drama. In Metamorphosis, the social, historical and cultural background is made apparent in a number of ways throughout the play. Franz Kafka (the author of the original novel) took his inspiration for the characters from his own relationship between himself and his father. Unforgettable images of dislocation seem to represent both the madness of the modern world and his own desperate neurosis. Similarly, Berkoff wasn’t very close with his father. Practitioners like Brecht and Artaud influenced his work- this is clearly visible in Metamorphosis as he took Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty and gave it Brecht’s Epic Theatre attributes. Berkoff’s own unique style created this play incorporating his personal passion of mime and the genre of expressionism. Acknowledging what I know about both Berkoff and Kafka, it is blatent that the Social, Cultural, Historic and Political aspects in terms of the two writers were their personal experiences of suppression from society, the culture they were brought up in (Kafka brought up in the a Jewish community and Berkoff brought up in the lower class and status he was born into by Russian Jews). Metamorphosis can be seen as a reaction against society and its demands. Gregors physical separation could represent his alienation and understandable desire. He was crushed by authority and routine and had been imprisoned by social and economic demands: Just dont stay in bed being useless . . .† It prevents the forthcoming rebellion of the son against the father. Gregor had become strong as a result of his fathers failure. He destroyed his fathers self-esteem and took over the fathers posts and duties within the family. After the catastrophe, the same sequence takes place in reverse: son becomes weak, and father kills him. Gregor is shown as a symbol of anxiety and alienation who is a lonely character, isolated in his own mind from the community and true friendship (much like Kafka and Berkoff). Looking at where Gregor’s values were anchored: servant to the needs of an oppressive boss in order to meet the needs of a family that continuously exploits him. The metamorphosis was inevitable. Metamorphosis shows the views and attitudes of society. It isn’t necessarily the one we live in today, but looking at it from a historical point of view it could have been representing the society in the nineteen hundreds (1915) when metamorphosis was first published. Kafka was born in Germany and could be referring to the time of the war, and how the Jewish communities were discriminated against. In A Doll’s House, patriarchal ideals were supported and reinforced by a social structure in which women had very little political or economic power. They were economically, socially, and psychologically dependent upon men and especially dependent upon the institutions of marriage and motherhood. Motherhood within marriage was considered a woman’s highest possible achievement. It was a social responsibility, a duty to society, and therefore, a full-time job. Mothering was no longer something that came naturally, but was something that had to be learned. High infant mortality rates, particularly in urban areas, were solely blamed on mothers. Working class mothers were labeled neglectful, when in truth they struggled with both child care and feeding a family. The plot concerns the collapse of a middle class marriage. It sparked debates about women’s rights and divorce. It was considered innovative and daring because of its focus on psychological tension instead of external action. It also created a new acting style that required emotion be conveyed through small, controlled gestures, shifts in action, and pauses and it was groundbreaking in that it caused drama to be viewed as social commentary and not just entertainment. For me, I think that these factors in both plays have different effects on me because in A Doll’s House, the living situation is so much more common these days compared to the monstrosity it was back when it was written. I feel like I can however relate to Nora and how she’s feeling because she is quite feministic like myself. I become quite confused when thinking about how Metamorphosis affects me because it’s obviously a very abstract play but I can empathise with Gregor and moreover Greta because she just wants to help her brother but the higher members of the family won’t let her.

Project Management Definition And Importance Information Technology Essay

Project Management Definition And Importance Information Technology Essay This paper has the purpose to discuss about project management and its importance in the business world. It will then refer to project life management and the advantages of project management to companies. Another concept to be discussed is planning in the project life cycle and ways in which critical thinking and research is mandatory in planning. The paper will refer to project organizations, the importance of sponsorship and leadership, as well as project team building (and how to build and efficient and successful team). Work breakdown structures are also points of interest in this paper as they will be discussed at some point. Lastly, I will refer to project management software in large project and the advantages to use them. Project Management Definition and Importance According to Ohlendorf (2001), project management is a methodological approach to achieving agreed upon results within a specified time frame with defined resources. Project managers will make use of skills, knowledge, different tools and techniques to various activities to meet project requirements. So, the three constraints that project management is concerned of are: time, costs, and performance. Project management is important in businesses for various reasons, such as: compression of the product life-cycle, knowledge explosion, triple bottom line, corporate downsizing, increased customer focus, small projects represent big problems, and others. Project management is important because one of its purposes is to compress or to shorten the product life cycle. One of the projects that I have been part of was to mount a wind turbine on a field. This way a repeating project that has been implemented for more than 20 years. However, since project management concepts have become wide known we have focused on shortening the implementation of this type of project. Project management has helped in succeeding it. It is interesting that knowledge explosion represent the fact that the growth in knowledge has boosted up project complexity as projects tend to use latest advancements if their budget is appropriate. Take for example the fact that building a hotel 80 or 90 years ago was not so hard given the fact that there have not been so many regulations in this area. In the present days, it is a complex process as the builders and project managers need to take consideration of many building codes and also seismic codes to design and build a hotel. This is why the importance of project management has increased a lot. Another reason is triple bottom line which is represented by the planet, the people, and the profit. According to Larson and Gray (2011), business can no longer simply concentrate on the maximization of profits to the detriment of the environment and the society as well. Business have to be more socially and environmentally responsible in what concerns sustainability and durability because the preservation of life on earth and the preservation of earth itself has become one of the most important purposes in the past one hundred years. Project management is important because of the increased customer focus. This means that in the past years, since the competition became bigger and bigger, since more companies from the same industry join the same market, businesses tend to focus on their customers and on their wellbeing, most importantly on increasing the wellbeing for the purpose of reaching competitive advantage. Project Life-Cycle Management and Its Benefits According to Larson and Gray (2011), another way to illustrate the original nature of project work is through project life cycle, which is composed of four stages: defining stage, planning stage, executing stage, and closing stage. The first stage of the project is where the specifications are defined and the objectives are established. This is also the stage when teams are formed and responsibilities are assigned to each team member. The second stage of the project life cycle is the planning stage which is when plans are being created with the purpose of determining what the project will include, determining the schedule of the project, the ones to benefit from it, the budget, as well as the level of quality that is needed. The executing stage is where the work to complete the project takes place. This is when physical and mental work is needed. Most of the physical work is done by less intellectual prepared employees (however, they have good skills), while most of the mental work is done by knowledge base workers such as directors or managers. To make sure that everything goes according to plan, managers implement means of control and evaluation, such as: time measures, cost measures, and specification measures. The last stage of the project life cycle is represented by the closing stage, which according to Larson and Gray (2011), includes three activities: delivering the project product or service to the customers, redeploying some or all of the resources of a project, and post-project reviews. Through delivery methods we understand transfer of documents or customer training. Through redeploying resources we understand the ability of using the resources of the project in the completion of other projects. Through post-project reviews we understand assessment of performance and also capturing the lessons learned by getting the project to the completion date. There was once a project on one of my former workplaces where we had to build a house for someone. We had to create a work team for this project. I was in charge with leading the project. I remember that we used project life cycle to get this project to completion. In the defining stage of the project life cycle we assessed the specifications of the project such as the materials we would need, the time to complete each phase, the papers that we need to get from the authorities, and other specifications that were relevant to the project. We have also established the objectives for the project, we created work teams and we assigned responsibilities to everyone. I remember that the work teams created have been created in a smart way because people with qualities in the same area would be in the same team (for example people good at infrastructure would be in the same team). The planning phase was where we referred to specific details of the project and the level of quality that is desir ed while in the execution stage we did most of the work to get the house built. Several methods of control have been present and we compared the initial established standards with the results of our actions. This way we tried to keep a good level of quality. Lastly, in the closing stage we evaluate the way the project was undertaken and completed and we kept the results for future use when other similar projects will be needed. In the closing stage we have also delivered the house to the customer along with certain instructions of how to use it. Leadership and Sponsorship in Project Organizations According to Stanford University (2007), some of the roles of sponsors in projects are: accountability, strategic fit, resources, project financing, lead political change, and own the final product. Some of the specific duties related to these responsibilities are to: keep the project on track, be available when consultation is needed, to make sure that the project is in line with the strategic goals of the company, to provide or located project resources, to provide or locate project funding, to be clear and specific with the end results, and others. Project sponsors are important and they need to be treated accordingly because they are key players for the company as it tries to reach its objectives. Keeping the project sponsor informed and updated is also important because the sponsor has the power to cut or give extra resources and funds to a project. When it comes to leadership, Winston (n.d.) thinks that a leader can be one or more people to select, to train, to equip, and to influence one or more followers who have different abilities, gifts, and skills, and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“focuses the follower to the organizationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s mission and objectives causingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  them to expand energy to reach the organizational objectives. This may be a quite long definition; however, a leader is someone to inspire other people and the concept of leadership is really important in project management. Project Team Building and WBS Creating a project team may be a difficult task; nevertheless it is an important process that needs to be properly assessed if a company wants to reach positive results when it comes to different projects. According to Larson and Gray (2011) there are five stages in creating a good project team. These stages are: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. The first stage of the team creation is when members get to know each other and understand the purposes and scope of the project. This is when they need to identify rules that will be used with the team. The second stage, storming, is usually when members fight with each other as they try to find a way to get along and start working as a team. The third stage of team creation is norming and this is when the team members create closer relationships with each other and they form a cohesive team. The fourth stage is performing and it is when the team is fully operational and the team members have developed tight connections with each other. This is where the team works efficiently. Adjourning is the last stage in team creating and it is when team members prepare to separate from the team. As we can see, team creation is a process consisting of various stages that have to be browsed accordingly. Team building is important in project management because tight teams can provide more efficie nt parameters for project completion. To get the work done more efficiently, teams and project managers use work-breakdown structures. Successively subdividing project work into smaller work elements is creating a work breakdown structure which helps project managers in making sure that all work elements and products are identified in order to integrate the project with the organizations and also to determine a control basis. WBS is important in project management because it helps projects to become more understandable and it helps specific work elements to be assigned to people skilled on a certain area. By breaking down the work into smaller elements, WBS has provided clear and more comprehensive schedules and plans for managers, as well as for the people getting the work done. Project Management Software in Large Integrated Programs Along with work breakdown structures, large projects need software to assist them into getting the project to completion. This is also good for project management because it provides ways to better handle the projects and the activities related to them. Take for example software to handle work schedule for employees in a large company. These employees work in shifts and the shifts have to change now and then because some workers cannot work only at night while others during the day. Imagine how hard it is to manage this type of schedule without software to handle it, considering there are more than 1,000 workers to be included into this schedule. Also, project management software is useful in the areas of cost, time, and performance by trying to find ways to reduce the duration of certain stages in project life, reducing different costs related to these stages, as well as achieving higher level of performances through a better management of resources, a better management of quality, and a better management of human power. Conclusion This paper provided different concepts into understanding project management and ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s important in the corporate world. It referred to project life cycle, to team building along with its stages, to leadership and to the importance of sponsor in projects, and to work breakdown structures and the ways in which they can help projects be more comprehensible. Lastly, I have discussed about project management software and its critical importance in large companies undertaking large projects. It has to be concluded that project management has become a mandatory discipline in corporations that want the best out of their resources.

Pickering: The Victorian Gentleman

Pickering: The Victorian Gentleman Pickering the Victorian Gentleman: In the play many characters changed as the play went on like Pickering. Pickering in the play seemed to be a gentleman around others and also treated them as a gentleman would treat them. But in act 4 the reader sees that Pickering is not the man he seems to act or look like. In act 4 the reader sees a switch from being a gentleman to a disrespecting man. The first example is in act 4 where pickering is talking to Higgins, another gentleman who turned out to be a disrespectful man as well, about Liza while she is right in front of them. This demonstrates that instead of acknowledging Liza which is in the room during the conversation he in fact ignores her and then proceeds to talk about her and not in a good way but in a bad way. Before this happened the reader can see that Pickering treats Liza with respect and dignity but now we see that he in fact disrespects her in a very rude way. In act 5 we see pickering acts different towards Liza by acting very respectful towards her. In act 5 he talks to her in a calm very gentleman like way while Higgins goes off on Liza for her attitude in the ending of act 4. In act 5 the reader sees that pickering acts nice and confident towards Liza to convince her to go back to Higgins house to finish what he started. This demonstrates that pickering can act nice towards her Liza by acting like a gentl eman towards her. Pickerings relationship with other characters like Higgin and Liza are respectful and very gentleman like. With Higgins he treats him like an acquaintance or like a friend but nothing more. The reader can see this in act 3 when mrs.Higgin tells her son Liza is not ready to be presented to the public in which in response both Pickering and Higgins both praise Liza for she has become. Another example of Pickering with Higgins is in act 2 where we see that Higgins does not have any personal feelings towards Liza but only professional feelings. Pickerings attitude with Liza is also respectful in a professional and kind way. An example of this is in act 2 where we see when Pickering offers to pay for all the lessons to Higgins for him to transform Liza from a corner street flower girl to a perfect speaking younglady worthy of being in a high class environment. Another example where we see Pickering being very gentleman like to Liza is in act 5 where Liza is talking to Pickering about how he has helped her build the self-respect she had by Your calling me Miss Doolittle that day when I first came to Wimpole Street. That was the beginning of self-respect for me. And there were a hundred little things you never noticed, because they came naturally to you. Things about standing up and taking off your hat and opening doorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. During the victorian time majority of the men were gentleman or at least nice to other people. Pickering during this time found his role and responsibilities and played it well by being an almost perfect gentleman. The reader sees this in act 5 when Liza gave thanks to Pickering for being a gentleman and treating her like a lady. Your calling me Miss Doolittle that day when I came to Wimpole Street. That was the beginning of self-respect for me. Another way he showed a character that was nothing but a gentleman was when he offered to pay for the lessons that Liza would have to pay for herself with the money that Higgins threw at her in act 1. Pickering gave Liza the opportunity to turn into a high class woman with the ability to be around other high class woman and act like she belonged there. This illustrates that although Higgins only took it turning Liza to a high class woman as a joke, Pickering saw it as an opportunity to turn a flower girl to something much better and he gave h er that option. In the victorian time the culture for men where either respecting women or not respecting them. Like in act 5 Higgins does not respect Liza when confronted about what happened in act 4 but when Pickering does confront her also in act 5 he does so in a manner that respects Liza in a way that does not insult her or disrespect her in any way. In conclusion Pickering shows us that he was a gentleman through most of the play and does not disrespect her in any way because those are part of his values, that is how he treats the majority of characters, and during that time that was the culture at the time.

His Spirit is Soaring Free :: Personal Narrative, Personal Essay

The cold, steel bars of the headboard pressed painfully into my back, and I could no longer feel my legs. Yet I sat motionless, his head heavy on my collarbone, afraid the slightest movement would disturb him. I softly kissed the thin wisps of hair on top of his head as I cradled his frail, emaciated body. Every day spent with him was precious; he would soon be gone. In those silent pre-dawn hours, the harsh lighting and sterile hospital smell faded away as my mind wandered unrestrained, exploring unknown areas and probing into ideas which challenged my Southern upbringing, and returned with new knowledge which was to forever change my life. "Woo," as everyone knew him, loved God, family and the outdoors. He was always daring, climbing to the highest branches of any tree. When he was five years old, he grabbed the manes of our untamed horses to hoist himself onto their backs for wild, frenzied rides. At the age of nine he began a love affair which was to last his entire life—he earned to hunt. His truck roaring into the driveway invariably disrupted the entire household. The children jockeyed for position as they ran to the door laughing and screaming. They knew he would have Tootsie Rolls and Hershey Kisses in his pockets. As soon as his tall, lanky frame filled the doorway, strawberry blonde ringlets bouncing past his shoulders, they wrapped their little arms around his legs, forcing him to drag them into the room with him. He was always willing to play their favorite games, no matter how tired he was. One wanted to wrestle; his long, tapered fingers would dance across the child's ribs eliciting delighted squeals. Another wanted to play "Chin Music." Woo's beard tickled as he blew "raspberries" on their cheeks and necks. Many mornings at daybreak he stopped by for a cup of coffee and quiet conversation. He gestured animatedly when he talked; sparkling azure eyes belied the seriousness of any situation. Hung across his shoulder was the tattered, brown hunting pouch he refused to part with, his curls escaping the orange knit cap he always wore hunting. On those mornings he smelled of crisp, cold air and wild game. The morphine cocktails he was given on demand had stilled his work-callused hands and dulled his eyes.

The Last Samurai :: essays research papers

My Place of Refuge For a number of people visiting places of significance can be the channel for changing one’s point of view on life, recharging one’s emotional battery, or growing closer to one’s family and friends. These favorite places could have characteristics such as captivating beauty, sentimental value or a refuge of serenity. My favorite place where I find refuge is at Pomme De Terre Lake near Bolivar, Missouri. This is where I find a connection with my family and friends. The lake is a place to reflect on times spent growing up and now a place to make new memories with my family and friends. A place to find refuge from normal day-to-day life and take in the beauty of such a splendid area that God created. 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The smells surround me in an irresistible craving for the lake. A. The smell of the dew in the morning B. Smells of the campfires C. Waking up by the aroma of the bacon frying. 2. As I think of the aroma of the bacon frying it brings my to the sensational tastes created at the lake. A. The flavor of the bacon in your mouth. B. I take delight in the taste of the smoked turkey on July 4. C. The taste of a cold beer while spending a hot day on the lake or enjoying a late night game of cards. 3. The magnificent sights created at the lake. A. Blazing orange and red colors created by the flames of the campfire. B. The marvelous scene of an evening sunset. C. The view of our family enjoying time together at the lake. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The sounds of the lake create a refuge from the normal day-to-day life. A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The voices of my family talking and laughing B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The roaring of the engines of the boats racing up and down the water. C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While laying in the tent taking in the peaceful sounds of the night 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The lake makes me feel such an enjoyment. A. The feel of the salmon ski under my feet B. The control I feel while in the driver’s seat of the boat C. The feel of the dew under my feet People need to find a place that can cause a renewing to their body and their inner self. People need time to create significant memories with their family and friends. They need a place to reflect back on the beauty of our magnificent world that God created. We all need to find a way to recharge our emotional battery and grow closer to the ones we love.

Whole Food

Industry Analysis Dominant Industry Characteristics Since going public in 1991, Whole Foods has focused on acquiring other small owner-managed natural and organic food stores as well as opening new stores of their own. However in 2002-2006, they decided that instead of making acquisitions, Whole Foods growth strategy would be based on opening new stores. Whole Foods chooses upscale, urban metropolitan areas to place their stores. These locations are high traffic shopping locations, some are freestanding, some are in strip centers, and some are in high-density mixed-use projects.By the end of 1991 fiscal year Whole Foods had 10 stores and by the end of 2007 they had 276 stores. By 2008, Whole Foods had stores in 36 states. The most important industry characteristic would be the market size and growth rate. â€Å"The combined sales of foods and beverages labeled as ‘natural' or organic – about 62 billion in 2007 – represented about 7. 3 percent of the roughly 850 b illion in total U. S. grocery store sales. † 7. 3 percent of 850 billion total grocery store sales seem like a small number for a large market but the market is still growing. According to the Organic Consumers Association, sales of organic foods in the United States hit 17 billion in 2006, up 22 percent from 13. 8 billion in 2005. When natural foods and beverages (defined narrowly as those with no artificial ingredients) were lumped in with organic foods and beverages, the U. S. retail sales total came to 28. 2 billion in 2006, up from 23 billion in 2005. † All this information is a brief explanation on the industry's position and the product life cycle.By 2008 organic foods and beverages were available in nearly every food category and were available in over 75 percent of U. S. grocery stores. These numbers show that industry is most certainly in rapid growth concerning sales. Offering organic and natural food at most grocery stores other than specialty stores also sho ws growth. â€Å"While only about 1 percent of U. S. farmland was certified organic in 2005, farmers were becoming increasingly interested in and attracted to organic farming, chiefly because of the substantially higher prices they ould get for organically grown fruits, vegetables, and meat†. This shows that the industry is still in early development because farmers that are not growing organic crops are becoming interested and attracted to organic farming. Being able to charge a higher price and bring in more profit is an eye opener and it encourages farmers to start organic farming. Another industry characteristic in the organic and natural food industry is number of rivals.An important industry driving force is marketing innovations. â€Å"In October 2002 the U. S. Department Agriculture (USDA) officially established labeling standards for organic products, overriding both the patchwork of inconsistent state regulations for what could be labeled as organic and the differe nt rules of some 43 agencies for certifying organic products. † By establishing labeling standards for organic products concerning what could be called organic insures that people are receiving pure organic products. The new labeling program was not intended as a healthy or safety program (organic products have not been shown to be more nutritious than conventionally grown products, according to the American Dietetic Association), but rather as marketing solution. † By creating stricter standards it made it harder for growers, processors, exporters, importers, shippers and merchants to prove that their product were truly organic because they are required to provide a documentation verifying that they are certify to grow, process and handle organic products.With the issue of obesity becoming a bigger and bigger issue in our country, people are taking more interest of their personal health. Many companies are trying to appeal to that population by making health changes to their products such as eliminating the use of MSG. To reduce the risk of obesity in children many schools are also making changes to their daily lunch menus such as cutting out carbonated beverages and providing the students with healthier menu choices. Food Network stars such as Rachael Ray are also aware societies growing desire to eat healthier food so they trying to express this to their viewers.All of these examples reflect changing societal concerns, attitudes, and lifestyles. The new labeling system was not intended as a health or safety program but that is exactly what it is becoming. The association between natural and organic meant that it is safe to eat since these products are being held at a higher standard. Because of societal concerns there is a change in who buys the product and how they use it. For example more people are trying organic or natural food as a substitution to products that could be considered unhealthy. Instead of purchasing carbonated beverages consum ers are trying different type of flavored water and teasIndustry Key Success FacDue to the growth of natural and organic food industry, the products are becoming more easily accessible. By making the products more easily accessible the industry is finding that consumers want more knowledge on the product features and benefits. One marketing key success factor would be courteous, personalized customer service. â€Å"Whole Food spent about 0. 5 percent of its revenues on advertising, a much smaller percentage than conventional supermarkets, preferring instead to rely primarily on word-of-mouth recommendations and testimonials from customers. Employees at Whole Foods stores take pride in being knowledgeable of their product and are eager to provide excellence customer care. Having good customer relations helps them build clientele. Whole Foods also ensures that each department is staffed with an employee that is knowledgeable about their products and always ready to answer customer co ncerns and give feedback on the products. To provide excellence customer care they offer personal attention in every department in the store and when customers asked where an item was located, team members would often take them to the spot.The team members are quite knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their products and they take advantage of opportunities to inform and educate customers about natural and organic foods. Another success factor would be a talented workforce. Having team members that are skilled and capable of providing information about their product to consumers is very important. There are a couple sources consumers can gain knowledge on natural and organic foods and they are; the store, the internet and their peers.Information found on the internet is usually not reliable because anyone can post anything on there. Even though a blog or website might be dedicated to the industry it is still not reliable because the information on there can be written by anyone. Inf ormation from your friends and family may or may not be reliable. Since the industry is still growing it might be a challenge for new customers to find someone to give them information and feedback on a particular product. This leaves consumers relying on the stores to give reliable knowledge on a product.

Training and Development in Banking Sector – Research Articles

12 Extent of training in Banks and its Impact on employees motivation and involvement in job Muhammad Farhan Akhtar, Khizer Ali, Miss Shama Sadaqat, Shoaib Hafeez M. Com, Hailey College of Commerce, University of The Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lhr. , Pakistan.Abstract Banking sector of Pakistan is characterized by the high competition and in order to survive in the market place, employers have understood the need for ongoing training and development to equip their employee to better cope up with the demands of the dynamic environment today. This study seek to determine the impact of this training and development on motivation and job involvement along with what training methods are widely used in the banking sector of Pakistan. The primary data for this study was collected through a structured questionnaire that was tailored with the help of literature.The questionnaire comprised of 37 items, categorized into 5 sections, which are general perspective, motivation, job involvement, t raining & development and demographics. Survey was carried outon public and private banks of Pakistan (Punjab region). With the support of SPSS,Co-relation and regression analysis was conducted to generate results. We found that training and development has a positive association with both motivation and job involvement of the employees of banks in Pakistan. Moreover, job instructional training and informal learning are widely used techniques to impart the knowledge towards the employees in banking sector.These findings suggest that by boosting the training and development activities within the banking sector the employees could be motivated and get attached with their work. Keywords: Motivation, Training, Job Involvement, Banks 1. 0 Introduction With the extensive competition , greater demand for providing better product and services, continuously changing in technology and business environment in commercial banking sector demanding more than ever in the past the emphasis on traine d employees in order to meet the equirements of the customer and the business survival, banking industry now calling for up to date/latest and broader banking knowledge, skills, abilities for maintaining their existence and growth, which demand for the proper and effective training to the employees. There are so many situations where service can fall between the cracks. Is the representative at the information desk trained to find a replacement while she is away for a few minutes? No? There goes another customer who doesn't want to wait. (I know. I ve been there).Is the guard at the door trained to direct customers to the right people or does he curtly wave them over to wait at the end of the line at the Information Desk when he could have sent them to the platform person who opens accounts? Do you really think that the employees are well versed with the etiquettes, cultural norms, customer psychology? If you answered no to any of these questions about training, then money is walkin g out the door and you are certainly losing customers which are fuel of your business. Without the fuel you cannot run the train of your business.Due to the cutthroat competition, increased inclination of consumers towards quality oriented products and services, more customer orientation, rapid technological advancements resulting in COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 793 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 methodical alterations and an ever changing business environment signifies, more than ever, the need of training the employees in the banking industry of Pakistan.This research paper serves the purpose of acknowledging the need and importance of training to the bank employees in Pakistan. And whether the training really impacts the employees' performance and contributes to the productivity. 2. 0 Literature review So many studies are available on the subject, which seek to deter mine the impact of training on the motivation and commitment. Some are provided hereafter: Cooper et al. (1989) found a positive relationship between training programs and employees job involvement.He argued that if there are some recognitions and financial benefits for the high performers at the training programs, the feelings of reciprocity emerges in the high performing employees as well as in other ones which motivate them to extend themselves in many ways such as adapting new skills, knowledge and competencies which ultimately leads to improved organizational performance. Miller et al. (1996)examined the need and impact of training and development on the service sector employees is widely discussed topic in the literature.The literature review targets the trade journals, text books and various magazines that contain the information on training and development. Training needs assessment is the first step of an organization s training and development program. It identify the need s or performance requirements of the organization_ it determines whether there is gap between the actual performance and the standard performance set by the organization and if there is any discrepancy between the two, then training is required. After the needs assessment, the training objectives are determined . i. e. who needs training and what training is needed.Then the training is designed and implemented accordingly. At the end it isdetermined whether the training objectives were met. The evaluation system includes identifying participant reactions to the training process, how much participants learned and how well the participants transfer the training back on their respective jobs_ if employees subsequent performance would be better than the previous, then it can be said that the training has a positive impact(most of the time) on employees performance otherwise not Hughey and Mussnug (1997) found a positive correlation between the employee training and employee & job satisf action.Today, every organization provide some type of training to their employees after some intervals. Some companies provide formal trainings such as initial and ongoing training programs, some hire outside training consultants according to their requirements. So motivation for implementing training programs varies from company to company. A very few organizations provide effective trainings to their employees in order to improve their knowledge, abilities and skills, and the correlation of such training programs with job satisfaction is high.On theother hand , some companies provide trainings to meet health and safety regulations and some firms provide training only for appearance sake and the correlation of such type of trainings with motivation is not so high. Dowswell (1998) concluded that lack of time, growing age and other practical constraints demotivated the employees during the training. He found a negative correlation between training and motivation for aging employees a nd managers. He argued that the aging workers always want to maintain the status quo and if they are bound to adapt new skills and competencies through training, then their motivation levels decrease.COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 794 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 Lester (1999) said: Professionals must relearn and retrain to maintain the relevance of their skills . In this statement, he argued that changing nature of the corporate environment encourages the managers and employees to continuously relearn and retain new skills, knowledge and competencies in order to keep them up to date.He found a positive correlation between the training and the highest prior level of education gained which increase the employee motivation. He concluded that if employees perform well on the training and subsequent to the training, if they perceive that they have learnt something new which would be an enhancement in their CVs as well as beneficial for them to capture the future opportunities, then their motivation and involvement towards their jobs increase. Stephenson (1999) concluded that there are two basic factors which are very crucial to be present in the employees in this new changing economy i. . ability to learn and adapt and understanding of the new corporate environment which can be utilized by the corporations through continuous training programs in order to increase their motivation as well as involvement towards their jobs. He argued that continuous training and professional development is not a luxury but a necessity of today s changing economy, as employees can better understand that in order to cope with the changing corporate environment and to exploit the future job opportunities training programs are very useful to make them up to date.So most of the time there is a positive correlation between training and professional development programs and th e motivation of employees. Gregory (2001) concluded that training has a great impact on employee s subsequent job performance and the lack of training and development results in managers not familiar with the task requirements as well as the core competencies such as knowledge, skills and abilities which managers must possess to perform well the organization s tasks, as a result their performance as well as motivation level decrease.He suggested that the managers in service organizations must be knowledgeable in all newer functions that apply to their departments so that overall organizational objectives can be achieved effectively and efficiently in accordance with the new demands posses by the corporate environment.. A descriptive study conducted by a group of researchers. Roscoe (2002) said: No professional completes their initial training equipped to practice competently for the rest of their life .He argued that corporate environment is changing day by day and in order to cope with the level of changes, organizations implement various dynamic processes including the training programs which subsequently increase the motivation levels of employees as after the training process most of the employees seek promotions to higher level jobs which is the main cause of motivation. Garavan et al. (2003) found that training process is a more job oriented that can change employee attitudes and behaviors that motivate them to increase their knowledge and understanding of the job according to the dynamic corporate environment.Another researcher (Manu, 2004) suggested the desirable techniques and models which may prevent the failure of a training program. In this study, it is concluded that the organizations should choose those models of training and development that successfully fit into the organization s culture. Needs of training and essential business skills should be carefully assessed. Then appropriate managerial techniques as well as the comprehensive plans or mo dels should be implemented for the effective training and development program in order to motivate the employees, reduce the performance gaps and achieve the organizational goals effectively.Mathieson (2006) found a positive relationship between the training programs in which managers are participatively involved in setting the training design & motivation of employees. He argued that everyone should be involved in the journey of training program as in this way employees feel ownership of the process which add value to their performance which in return motivate them to COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 795 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 eliver the tangible organizational improvements. Morag Mathieson is the training and development manager at the Glenmorangie Company, Broxburn, West Lothian,Uk _ He said that the company s key objective is to design the training programs whic h fully utilize the employee s potential and motivate the employees to continuously adapt the new skills and competencies according to the changing corporate environment. He suggested that management buy-in to training and development through bottom-up-approach can be used for this purpose. Khattaket al. 2010) suggests that training and development is directly related with successful performance of managers, organizations and nations. The countries which spend more on training and development of human resources are relatively more developed as human resources contribute to productivity more than physical and other resources but there is a problem, population growth is inversely related with human capital investment, particularly in developing countries like Pakistan, so it should be controlled in order to spend more on training and development of human resources that make the more employees to get involved in their jobs and ncrease their subsequent performance A Questionnaire survey conducted on 1000 top companies of Malaysia where (Jamil & Som, 2007) concluded that changing nature of today s corporate environment and the intense global competition where consumers demand more quality services require the organizations to continuously train their human resources in order to maintain market competitiveness and business survival.The researchers argued that ad-hoc training approaches and the training programs without proper analysis leads to poor training investments, so three levels of analysis(individual, organizational and operational) as well as the multiple data collection methods and techniques should be used to analyze the training needs in order to effectively design and implement the training programs for motivating the employees and achieving the organizational goals more efficiently. Murphy et al. 2006) concluded that there is positive correlation between training programs and employee s motivation. He argued that are certain set of factors which motiva te the managers and employees to continuously adapt new skills and competencies according to the today s changing environment and also increase their subsequent motivation level. These motivators may include improving the confidence level and self esteem, higher levels of career satisfaction as well as more future promotion opportunities for those who show improved subsequent performance.He also identified some barriers in the way of training to motivation which may include lack of employer s financial support & recognition as well as insufficient knowledge about the training program. He suggested that the organizations should remove such barriers and promotes the motivators in order to effectively implement the training, obtain the required outcomes and subsequently increases employee s motivation and involvement towards their jobs.According to (Longenecker, 2010), there is a positive relationship between training programs and employee motivation which make the employees more invol ved in their jobs and subsequently results in better performance and productivity both for the employees as well as for the organizations. He argued that the organizations which want to attain long-term suitable results, spent huge amounts on training programs in order to make the employees up to date according to the dynamic corporate environment.He also added that employees can t improve their performance if they don t know about the need for change, so it is the responsibility of the supervisors to make the employees aware about the need for training in order to motivate them and obtain the desired outcomes. Adomi (2006) found that there is a positive relationship between training i. e. job rotation and employee motivation. He adopted survey method for the study in which he used questionnaire as data collection instrument. He argued that training programs such as job rotation reduce the COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 96 ijcrb. webs. com INTE RDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 boredom of the jobs and increase the motivation through diversification of the tasks. Employees get motivation and learn new skills through training which make them to have a broader view of the jobs in the organizations in which they work and in this way performance and productivity of both employees as well as the organizations tend to improve. Kushnir, Ehrenfeld and Shalish (2006) argued that there is a positive relationship between training programs i. e. oaching and motivation of employees. He used self report measures as research instrument and compared the experimental study ( graduates who got training ) with the control group ( graduates who didn t get training ) and found that training increased employee motivation, self-efficacy and professional performance among coaches but not in control groups. He also added that training enhances the professional development skills of coaches which mak e them to perform the complex job tasks easily and to get the desired outcomes for the organizations in which they work.Amorose and Butcher (2006) found that there is a positive relationship between training programs i. e. coaching and self determined motivation. He used cross-sectional survey method for the study during the training sessions. He argued that importance of the training programs is obvious as a lot of training factors such as perceived training needs, autonomy as well as sense of relatedness with the training programs affect the motivational outcomes.He also added that performance related feed-back as well as different type of rewards are provided to the employees on the basis of training evaluation which make the employees motivated and enhance their performance which subsequently results in increased productivity and performance of the organizations. 3. 0 Research Methodology 3. 1 Method: We conducted survey questionnaire for the collection of data in our study. The questionnaire consists of total five sections. First section shows the general prospective of training and development on employees.Second section tells about the impact of training and development on motivation of employees. Third section shows the relationship between job involvement and training and development. Fourth section depicts the type of training and development mostly used by banks. Finally, Last section tells the demographics of the respondents. 3. 2 Sample: We take the sample of 100 questionnaires for our study. The respondents of questionnaire are from different bank employees in Punjab region. We selected all types of banks including public banks and private banks.In private banks, we divided the banks also in Islamic banks and conventional banks. The respondents are of all age level with their respective experience level. The questionnaire used in this study is reported in Appendix-I 3. 3 Hypothesis: The study seeks to reveal the causal relationships between the f ollowing: H1: There is positive relationship between Motivation and Training and Development. H2: There is positive relationship between Job Involvement and Training and Development. COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 797 ijcrb. ebs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS 4. 0 Statistical results 4. 1 Demographics Table 4. 1 Type of Bank and Nature of Bank Nature of Bank Conventional Count Type of Bank Public Private Total 21 73 94 Islamic Count 0 6 6 APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 Total Count 21 79 100 Table 4. 1 shows the Type of bank and Nature of Bank taken in study. Type of bank consists of Public Banks and Private Banks. Nature of bank consists of Conventional banks and Islamic banks. Public banks refer to those banks which are owned by the Government.Conventional Banks are bank which use typical methods of banking. Islamic Banks are those banks whose operations are according to Islamic rules and regulation. In our surve y, in Public banks, 21 respondents are from Conventional banks and not a single respondent from Islamic banks. In private Sector, 73 respondents are from Conventional Banks and 6 respondents are from Islamic Banks. So in total, 21 respondents from Public banks and 79 respondents from Private Banks and total 94 respondents from Conventional Banks and 6 respondents from Islamic banks. Table 4. Level of Job with Gender and Qualification Qualification Graduation Count Level of Job Middle Level Gender Male Female Upper Level Gender Male Female Total Gender Male Female 18 6 3 0 21 6 Masters Count 48 9 13 1 61 10 Others Count 0 1 1 0 1 1 Total Count 66 16 17 1 83 17 Table 4. 2 depicts the respondent s level of Job into Higher level employees and Lower level employees, in which 66 male and 16 female respondents are from Middle level employees and 17 male and 1 female respondent from higher level employees. From Gender prospective, out of total 100 respondents, 83 respondents are male and 17 respondents are female.COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 798 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 From the Qualification point of view, 21 male and 6 female respondent have Graduation s qualification and 61 male and 10 female respondent have Master s qualification and 1 male and 1 female respondents have other qualification Table 4. 3 Experience, Experience with current job and Age N Experience Experience with current job Age Valid N (list wise) 98 87 95 85 Minimum 0 0 18. 00 Maximum 36 36 58. 00 Mean 8. 62 5. 7 32. 9053 Std. Deviation 8. 445 5. 963 8. 86311 Table 4. 3 shows the respondents Experience level, Experience with current job and respondents Age. Out of 100 respondents, 98 respondents respond to Experience answer with 0 and 36 years of minimum and maximum experience respectively. The mean value of experience employees is 8. 63 and standard deviation is 8. 445. Experienc e with current job respond by 87 respondents whose minimum experience to current job is 0 years and maximum experience to current job is 36 years. The mean and standard deviation of experience with current job is 5. 7 and 5. 963 respectively. Total 95 respondents give their age answer in with minimum age employee is 18 years with no experience and maximum age is 58 with 36 years of experience. The mean age of respondent is 32. 9053 and standard deviation is 8. 86311. 4. 2 Motivation: Table 4. 4 Model fitness for training and development and motivation Model Sum of df Mean square Square 1 Regression Residual Total F Sig. 10. 964 25. 670 36. 654 1 97 96 10. 964 . 265 41. 507 .000 The above table shows the overall fitness of the model and F stat of 41. 07 indicates that our model is good fit at 0% level of significance while the Sum of Square and Mean Square of model regression is 10. 964 and The Residual sum of Square is 25. 670 with a Mean Square of 0. 265 and a total Sum of Square o f model is 36. 654. COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 799 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS Table 4. 5 Regression results for training and development and motivation Unstandardized Standardized Coefficients coefficients Model B Std. Beta t Error 1 (constant) Training and Development 1. 42 . 602 . 382 . 093 . 547 3. 511 6. 443 APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 Sig. .001 . 000 This table shows the relationship between motivation and Training and Development. The results depict that Training and Development has 54. 7% positive impact on the motivation level of employees with regard to their job and this relationship is significant at 0% level of significance. Table 4. 6: Model Summary for training and development and motivation Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate Change Statistics R Square Change F Change df1 df2 Siq. F Change 1 .547 .300 .292 .51443 .300 1. 507 1 97 .000 Table 4. 6: The value of R for the model between the Motivation and Training and Development is 0. 547 and the value of R square for the model is 0. 300. The Adjusted R square for the Motivation and Training and Development is 0. 292. The Model Standard Error of the Estimate is 0. 51443. The model significance is 100%. The value of adjusted R square is . 292 that shows that out of total, 29. 2% variation in the motivation is explained by the training and development. 4. 3 Job Involvement: Table 4. 7 Model fitness for training and development and job involvement Model Regression Residual Total Sum of Square 5. 570 35. 057 40. 627 df 1 96 99 Mean Square 5. 570 . 358 F 15. 570 Siq. .000 The above table shows the overall fitness of the model and F stat of 15. 507 indicates that our model is good fit at 0% level of significance while the Sum of Square and Mean Square of model regression is 5. 570 and The Residual sum of Square is 35. 057 with a Mean Square of 0. 358 and a total Sum of Square of model is 40. 627. COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 800 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS Table 4. Regression results for training and development and job involvement Unstandardized Coefficients Model B 1 (constant) Training and development 2. 330 . 428 Std. Error . 444 . 108 . 370 Beta Standardized coefficients t APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 Siq. 5. 250 3. 946 . 000 . 000 This table shows the relationship between Job Involvement and Training and Development. The results depict that Training and Development has 37. 0% positive impact on the Job Involvement level of employees with regard to their job and this relationship is significant at 0% level of significance.Table 4. 9: Model Summary for training and development and job involvement Change Statistics Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate R Square Change . 137 F Change df1 df2 Siq. F Change 1 .370 .137 .128 .59610 15. 570 1 96 .000 Table 4. 9: The value of R for the model between the Job Involvement and Training and Development is 0. 370 and the value of R square for the model is 0. 137. The Adjusted R square for the Job Involvement and Training and Development is 0. 128. The Model Standard Error of the Estimate is 0. 59610.The model significance is 100%. Table 4. 10: shows the types of training methods result N Job instruction Informal Learning Coaching Special Tasks Job Rotation Case Studies Seminars Lectures Valid N (listwise) 99 100 90 91 91 99 99 100 89 Mean 4. 0808 3. 5600 3. 3889 3. 2306 3. 1538 3. 1414 3. 1212 2. 9900 Std. Deviation 1. 03684 1. 02809 1. 09846 1. 33397 1. 16355 1. 22899 1. 24763 1. 15902 COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 801 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 Table 4. shows the mostly used types of training and development methods in banks, in which 99 out of 100 respondents give job ins truction method the highest rank with the mean of 4. 0808 and standard deviation of 1. 03684. Second most widely used method is informal learning having mean and standard deviation of 3. 5600 and 1. 02809 respectively. 90 respondents give coaching training method on the third important level. Mean of Coaching in results is 3. 3889 and standard deviation is 1. 09846. 91 respondents gives special tasks average rating with the mean of 3. 2306 and its standard deviation is 1. 33397.Job rotation has the mean value of 3. 1538 and standard deviation 1. 16355 by the 91 respondents. Case studies get the values of 3. 1414 and 1. 22899 of mean and standard deviation respectively. At the end, Seminars and Lectures get the lowest numbers by respondents of mean 3. 1212 and 2. 9900 respectively and standard deviation is 1. 24763 and 1. 15902. 5. 0 Conclusion Training for employees of an organization is considered very much important in order to achieve excellence and competence. But does training plays any other role besides providing learning and equipping the employees with demanding competencies?Surely it does as indicated that training has a positive impact on both motivation and job involvement. There are certain limitations of the study as the sample size is 100, which is too small a large scale study would provide more reliability to the study. This study however, clearly emphasizes the need and importance of the training on the employees in the banking sector characterized by low morale due to high work stress. COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 802 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS ReferencesAPRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 Anglin, G. M. (2001). Company officer training and development – Maintaining consistency in dynamic environment , National Fire Academy, pp. 1-39. Dowswell, C. , Hewison, J. and Hinds, M. (1998), Motivational forces affecting participation inpost-registration degree c ourses and effects on home and work-life: a qualitative study ,Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28 (6), pp. 1326-33. Garavan, T. N. , Hogan, C. and Cahir-O Donnell, A. (2003), Making Training and DevelopmentWork: A Best Practice Guide, Dublin, Oak Tree Press.Hughey, A. W. , &Mussnug, K. J. (1997). Designing effective employee training programmes. Training for Quality , 5 (2), pp. 52 57. Jamil, R. , &Md. Som, H. (2007). Training Needs Analysis : Practices of Top Companies in Malaysia. International Review of Business Research Papers , 3 (3), 162-175. Khattak, M. A. , Bashir, F. , &Qureshi, T. M. (2010). â€Å"Training and Development paradigm, and its contribution in economic uplift of the country, A case from Pakistan†, 12th International Business Research Conference, pp. 1-16. Lester, S. 1999), Professional bodies, CPD and informal learning: the case for conservation ,Continuous Professional Development, 2(4), pp. 11-121. Manu, J. S. (2004). â€Å"Training and development techn iques for improving organizational performance for Ghanaian firms†. The Graduate School, University of Wisconsin-Stout , pp. 143. Mathieson, M. (2006). Improving organisational performance through developing our people , Industrial and commercial training , 38 (2), 70-77. Miller A. J. , SPHR, Osinski M. D. , SPHR. (1996), Training needs assessment Murphy, C. , Cross, C. , & McGuire, D. (2006).The motivation of nurses to participate in continuing professional education in Ireland. Journal of European Industrial Training , 6 (5), 365-384. Roscoe, J. (2002), Continuing professional development in higher education , Human ResourceDevelopment International, 5(1), pp. 3-9. Rusbult, C. , Farrell, D. , Rogers, G. and Mainus, A. (1988), Impact of exchange variables on exit,voice loyalty and neglect: an integrative model of responses to declining job satisfaction ,Academy of Management Journal, 31, pp. 599-627. Stephenson, J. (1999), Corporate Capability: Implications for the Style andD irection ofworkbased learning , National Centre for Vocational Education Research COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 803 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 Withey, M. and Cooper, W. (1989), Predicting, exit, voice, loyalty and neglect , AdministrativeScience Quarterly, 34, pp. 521-39. COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 804 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS Appendix I APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12Questionnaire: Dear Sir/Madam, I am a student of M. Com at Hailey College of Commerce. The following research is part of our degree program and conducted for purely academic purposes. The purpose of research is to find out the Extent of Training in banks and its impact on Employees Motivation and Involvement in Job. All the information collected through the questionnaire will be used only for contribution to knowl edge and kept secret/confidential. Please ensure that you mark all the given statements as incomplete responses will not fulfill researcher s requirements. General Perspective 1) Strongly Disagree (2) Disagree (3) Indifferent (4) Agree (5) Strongly Agree In my opinion, Training must be part of every employee s Job 1 2 3 In my opinion, Training must be provided on regular basis. 1 2 3 My organization considers the training program important for the employees 1 2 3 The training used by the organization is effective. 1 2 3 I am satisfied with the training program offered by the organization. 1 2 3 The training program is helpful in personal development. 1 2 3 The training program is helpful in professional development 1 2 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Motivation 1) Strongly Disagree (2) Disagree (3) Indifferent (4) Agree (5) Strongly Agree I have a generally positive attitude toward those holding positions of authority over me. I enjoy competition and striving to win for myself and my work group. I like to tell others what to do and have no problem with imposing sanctions to enforce my directives. I like being active, assertive, and protecting the members of the work group. I enjoy the idea of standing out from the group, behaving in a unique manner, and being highly visible. I am willing to perform routine, day-to-day administrative tasks and duties. 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 Job Involvement (1) Strongly Disagree (2) Disagree (3) Slightly Disagree (4) Slightly Agree (5) Agree (6) Strongly Agree The most important things that can happen to me is to get involved in my present job. To me, my job is only a small part of who I am. I am very much involved personally in my job. I live, eat, and breathe my job. Most of my interests are centered around my job. I have very strong ties with my present job which would be very difficult to break. Usually I feel detached from my job. 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 805 ijcrb. webs. com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS Most of my personal life goals are job oriented. I consider my job to be very central to my existence. I like to be absorbed in my job most of the time. 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 APRIL 2011 VOL 2, N O 12 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 The Type of Training Used by the Organization (1) Never (2) sometimes (3) Mostly (4) Often (5) AlwaysCOACHING (a senior guides the junior or new entrant) JOB ROTATION (Systematically the trainee is moved from one place to another) SPECIAL TASKS (Assigning tasks to employees to increase their knowledge base) LECTURES (Lectures on specific issues and topics) SEMINARS (Experts from outside organization are called to discuss specific issues) CASE STUDIES (Written material is provided regarding organization problems and events) INFORMAL LEARNING (Colleagues and friends discuss matters informally) JOB INSTR UCTIONS (Written instructions are provided regarding procedures) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Type of Bank ——— O Public O Private O O Nature of Bank —— O Conventional O Islamic O O Level of Job ———- O Middle Level O Top Level O O Experience (in Years) ______________ Experience with Current Job (in years) ______________ Qualification ——- O Graduation O Masters O Others O O O _____________________ Age (in Years) _________________________ Gender —- –O Male O O O THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME AND COOPERATION Female COPY RIGHT  © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 806