All About Red Maple Trees and Where to Plant Them

All About Red Maple Trees and Where to Plant Them Red maple is the state tree of Rhode Island and its Autumn Blaze cultivar was selected 2003 Tree of the Year by the Society of Municipal Arborists. Red maple is one of the first trees to show off red flowers in the spring and displays a most magnificent scarlet fall color. Red maple is a fast grower without the bad habits of fast growers. It quickly makes shade without the compromise of becoming brittle and messy. The most endearing ornamental characteristic of red maple is fall color including red, orange, or yellow which  sometimes on the same tree. The color display is long lasting over several weeks and often one of the first trees to color up in autumn. This maple puts on one of the most brilliant displays of any tree in the landscape with a great variety of  fall colors with variable intensities. Nursery developed cultivars are more consistently colored. Habit and Range Red maple transplants easily at any age, has an oval shape and is a fast grower with strong wood and grows into a medium-large tree of about 40 to 70. The red maple occupies one of the largest eastern north-south ranges in North America- from Canada to the tip of Florida. The tree is very tolerant and grows in nearly any condition. These trees are often much shorter in the southern part of its range unless growing next to a stream or on a wet site. This maple tree is far superior to its Acer cousins silver maple and boxelder and just as fast growing. Still, when planting the species  Acer rubrum, you would benefit by  selecting only varieties which have been grown from seed sources in your area and this maple may not do well in the southernmost USDA Plant Zone 9. The beginning of  leaf buds, red flowers, and unfolding fruits indicate that spring has arrived. The seeds of red maple are quite popular with squirrels and birds. This tree can sometimes be  confused with red-leaved cultivars of Norway maple. Strong Cultivars Here are some of the best cultivars of  red maple: Armstrong: Grows in all 50 states, has attractive silver-gray bark, columnar  in shape, spectacular  red to orange to yellow leaf color.Bowhall:  Grows in all 50 states,  somewhat pyramidal shape, very similar to Norway maple, red to orange to yellow leaf display.Autumn Blaze: Plant zones 4-8, hybrid of silver maple and red maple. Identification of Red Maple The leaves: deciduous, opposite, long-petioled, blades 6-10 cm long and usually about as wide, with 3 shallow short-pointed lobes, sometimes with two smaller lobes near the base, dull green and smooth above, lighter green or silvery beneath and more or less hairy. The flowers: pink to dark red, about 3 mm long, the male flowers are fascicled and the female flowers are in drooping racemes. The flowers are functionally male or female, and individual trees may be all male or all female or some trees may have both types, each type on a separate branch (the species technically polygamodioecious), or the flowers may be functionally bisexual. Fruits: winged nutlets (samaras) in a pair, 2-2.5 cm long, clustered on long stalks, red to red-brown. The common name is in reference to the red twigs, buds, flowers, and fall leaves.   From the  USDA/NRCS Plant Guide Expert Comments It is a tree for all seasons that develops into an attractive yard specimen under a great range of soil and climatic conditions. -Guy Sternberg, Native Trees for North American LandscapesThe red, red maple. Native to the wet soils of Americas eastern half, it has become one of the Nations favorite- if not the hardiest- street trees. -Arthur Plotnik, The Urban Tree BookReddish flowers appear in early spring and are followed by red fruit. The smooth gray bark is quite attractive, particularly on young plants. -Michael Dirr, Dirrs Hardy Trees and Shrubs P

Expectations

Expectations are crucial in determining the success of government policy on unemployment and inflation. Whatever people expect to happen, their actions will tend to make it happen. At the time that economic agents-households, firms, the government make choices, they are generally uncertain about the future. Assumptions about how these agents form expectations for the future shape the properties of any dynamic economic model. Great debates have gone on among economists and psychologists in recent years over the ways that economic agents actually formulate their expectations about their future and the ways that macroeconomists should assume they do this in their theoretical models. To make economic decisions in an uncertain environment agents must forecast such variables as future rates of inflation, tax rates, government subsidy schemes and regulations. A business firm contemplating an investment needs to know the future path of income that will result from the investment. However future earnings can be estimated only with considerable uncertainty. If there is a boom in the future, then the future earnings may be high and vice versa. But the actual exact future state of the economy is virtually unknowable. This is why households and firms have to formulate some expectations about the future in order to make choices. Indeed, they must often cope with complex assessments of the relative likelihood of many different possible events- the educated guesses that households have to make about the future value of income for example. >From a macroeconomic perspective expectation may well determine beliefs such as that an expansion of money supply will merely lead to inflation (the monetarist position), then it will. Firms and workers will adjust their prices and wages upwards. Firms will make no plans to expand output and will make no plans to expand output and will not take on any more labour. If, however, people believe that an expansion o...

Should America Provide Universal Health Care Taking a look at the Research Paper

Should America Provide Universal Health Care Taking a look at the Affordable Health Care Law 3 side to the issu - Research Paper Example Now, all of a sudden, panic has set across the entire nation and there is constant uproar from the citizens of US to bring about a positive change to the Health care system. The US government got its act together and in March, 2010, passed the Affordable Health Care Act, signed by President Barrack Obama. The response of the country to this law has been mixed. This section of the report discusses about the people who support the law and the reasons they provide for their stand. What is Affordable Health Care Act? The primary focus of this health care act is to account the health insurance companies for the maximum of the medical expenditures spent by their customers. The previous health reform acts were complained of having higher costs and hence this act intended to lower those prices and at the same time improve the quality of the treatment meted out to the citizens. (Detmer, 2010). The major provisions of this act were: To push most of the health expenditure to the insurance organ ization itself To improve the coverage prospects of citizens with their already existing plans. To give a better coverage of the prescription drugs which were lacking in previous health laws Medicare’s trust fund support has been extended up to 12 years Who supports it? The major support for this health care act was from President Obama and his administrators. The democrats are also on the same boat with Obama, supporting the law and its implications. Other social organizations like Plan Parenthood, Health & Human Services have offered their support to this law. (Novelli, 2009). In addition, there has been consistent support from attorney generals of several states including the state politicians. Why do they support it? According to the President, the health care act ensembles, â€Å"the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care.† (Stolberg&Pear, 2010). He is of the opinion that this law is what several generation s of American people were looking for to vitalize their life with a new sense of hope. He is also establishes the point that this bill would bring out the economic inequalities present in the US society, the first of its kind since its inception in the society, three decades back. Apart from the proposed health benefits the act has to offer, on the political front, it is an important bill for strengthening the president’s rule over country. Its success, on the political front would put Obama’s administration on a better perspective among the opposition party as well as to the people of America. Organizations like Plan Parenthood, Health & Human Services are of the opinion that the law would make way for an affordable prescription drugs and it would make the services to be person centered approach where the required doctors could be seen from a single place instead of running around several places to meet separate doctors. Canada offers one good example for a health car e system that has been universal in its approach, providing health care to all its citizens in an efficient way. It works in such a way that the public funds act as the major sponsors for the health care system, with minor contributions from the private sector. (Maddox, 2010). Several politicians, statespersons and attorney generals are of the view that this act has set US in the right course of action to provide a universal health care syste

The Nature and Role of Originality in Scientific Progress Term Paper

The Nature and Role of Originality in Scientific Progress - Term Paper Example At the same time, originality is not a quality that rigidly means that no one has ever performed that research before, indeed John Stuart Mill’s thesis, On Liberty, for the most part is actually a break-down of an ancestor’s work while Mill only interjects a few new thoughts. Although John Stuart Mill was not 100% original, he is still considered an original in his field because of a few breakthrough philosophies in economics: non-competing groups, joint products, alternative costs, the economics of the firm, supply and demand and Say’s law. These novel ideas although not entirely new are attributed to Mill because of his command of language and his analytic work. Originality is a measurement for scientific progress only if the originality accomplishes three things: it discovers a novelty or innovative piece of information; it adds more information to a theory, thus improving on it, or it can negate the truth of a widely-held belief. In all, originality has to ch arter man toward development and truth. Another criteria to evaluate the efficiency of originality is the closer investigation and refinement of theories already engineered. The purpose of originality is to necessary clash with an existing order since each new idea has to continually challenge man to question, revise and reform theories and accepted truths. Originality is not synonymous with development, however, it is positive because it carries a power that can revolutionize, shake and remake – a characteristic much needed in science. Also a risk that must be taken is the infiltration of error in the name of originality. â€Å"The Wealth of Nations (1776) is an intellectual watershed. Adam Smith’s System of Natural Liberty (Laissez Faire) represents a sharp break with the past with respect to the relations of citizens to government and the economy.† Composed by Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations is a historical text which advances the idea of capitalism and lai ssez-faire liberalism. Both philosophies manage to lay the groundwork for America’s government and economy. Adam Smith tends to revive a liberalism of a country’s local economy and the international market. Preceding capitalism and laissez-faire liberalism is a restrictive and imperialistic order controlled by the State. Smith stands out as a great economist since â€Å"great economists are those who influence the profession as a whole, and this they can do only if their doctrines do not involve too great a change from the views and knowledge of †¦the science† (Stigler 3). Smith blazes a trail in the field of economics advocating capitalism and laissez faire liberalism. His views are widely accepted because they fall in line with the predominant socio-political climate in America during the proclamation of independence and promote the interests of equality, meritocracy and industry in a society damaged by aristocratic prejudice and royalist oppression. Smit h’s view is to encourage a liberalization of the world market with no barriers to trade. Instead of an insular, local market, Smith lives and writes The Enlightenment period of world history during which the light of reason shines. Absolute control is no longer pleasing to the enlightened ear. Instead, independence obtains wide currency. In view of the change in American government from monarchy to democracy, Smith sees the need to break away from the old order of transacting business. The year is 1776 in which the rays of the Enlightenment burst forth; as a result, thinkers are developing new

Evolution of colouration in bird eggs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Evolution of colouration in bird eggs - Essay Example One key fact states that the more diversified a population becomes, the more likely it is to survive as a species. This increases its ability to occupy more territory and gain access to more sustenance, or to spread itself out and become more inconspicuous among predators. Several species of birds demonstrate this type of variation at the embryonic stage. The eggs they lay are coloured or spotted in particular ways, the complete reasons for which have been somewhat elusive to researchers for some time. In fact, birds are the only species that produce pigmented egg shells (Gosler, et al. 2005, p. 1105), and this leads scientists to believe that the pigmentation serves a discoverable purpose. Such reasons as crypsis and the prevention of parasites have been hypothesised. Other hypotheses have been based on sexual selection or on the chemical structure of the eggshell and its influence on eggshell fragility and vulnerability. Hybridization has also been suggested as a factor that influe nces egg colour. These hypotheses, though varied, have important implications on the evolution of the bird shells and can give insight into the reasons for the various pigmentations that birds' eggs carry. Safety is a very important issue for birds when it is noted that their eggs are prone to different forms of predation and parasitism. Two types of brood parasitism exist. Conspecific brood parasitism occurs when birds of similar species place their foreign eggs into the nest of a host. Interspecific brood parasitism occurs when birds of other species infiltrate the nest and place their own eggs in the clutch. This can be very dangerous to the existence of a particular avian species, since the some parasites are known to be vicious and ruthless. The most notorious of these parasites are cuckoos, and their parasitism is dangerous as they often hatch before the genuine brood and expel authentic eggs from the nest, terminating that attempt of the species to reproduce. This is truer of some species than of other, depending on the type of predation suffered by each. The great tit (Parus major), for example, does not expel parasites from its nest, and this appears to be contingent on the fact that it is not a host to the European cuckoo parasite (Gosler, Higham and Reynolds, 2005. p. 1105-6). Village weavers, on the other hand, do remove foreign eggs from their nests, and have therefore to learn the appearance of their eggs (Collias, 1993, p. 684). The implication of this fact is that the weaver eggs must have progressively developed a distinctive appearance in order to facilitate recognition. It has been observed that West African village weavers' spotted eggs have noticeable intraspecific differences, and hypotheses have been formed concerning the reasons for this. The first spots on eggs might have been achieve by one incidence of genetic mutation in the species, but this kind of spotting in weavers is now commonplace. Relying on the reasoning of the previous paragraph, it was predicted that within the weavers' clutches the diversity of colouration would be minimised in the absence of interspecific parasites and maximised in their presence. Researcher David Lahti found opportunity for an experiment involving these West African weavers in the fact that the species had

Spirituality and Leadership Essay Example for Free

Spirituality and Leadership Essay Leaders and organizations are uncomfortable talking about spirituality or any subject that can be interpreted as religious. There could be several reasons why, the separation of church and state, the organizations non-discriminatory policies, or the need to conform and not be seen as weird. Therefore, we find in the literature and in mainstream words such as: Synchronicity, Zen, Spirit at work, inner work, vision, intuition, enlightened leadership, 6th sense, meditation, visualization, awareness, mystic, and many more. All of these words are synonymous with spirituality. Leaders practice spirituality†¦ as long as they just dont call it spirituality. A more appropriate term could be Holistic Leadership. The purpose of this paper is to look at elements of spirituality and leadership and their relationship to each other. Spirituality, Religion, and Leadership Spirituality and leadership are two concepts that have broad meanings and interpretations. According to Conger spirituality like leadership are two very hard concepts to describe (1994, 27). So an exploration of these two words individually or in combination could be an exercise in frustration, especially for those who seek absolute answers. (Conger 1994, 63) There are many descriptions for leadership, spirituality, and religion. For the purpose of this paper I chose the ones that I felt were the most appropriate to the topic. Spirituality So how does the literature define Spirituality? Janet Dalton Honek in her article Spirituality in My Workplace?! Not that God talk! states that Spirituality in the Workplace is an emerging field of management. It encourages you to bring your whole being into your work. It offers you the place and opportunity to use your gifts and talents to their full potential in fulfilling your job responsibilities. It encompasses a variety of elements that can be expressed in a multitude of ways. For many people, it is a sense of personal satisfaction. Kathy Szaj, a writer living in New York City, in her article Sounds like Spirit defined Spirituality as: Spirituality is†¦wonderbuilt frame of reverence. Spirituality is the habit of heading for the innerness of people, places and things, and after visiting, leaving some small token of gratitude there. Spirituality is the vision that remembers that several billion earth creatures originate from and unite at one center; the practice of purposefully acting as if all thinking/feeling/being matters. And so it does†¦in-deed. Spirituality is consciously tending to all of the above so often that it becomes as natural and necessary as breathing. In a description of the book Capturing the Heart of Leadership. Spirituality and Community in the New American Workplace. by the Greenwood Publishing Group; Spiritual leadership is described as a dynamic, interactive process that is dependent on a recognition that leadership is a rela tionship. Leaders are leaders only as far as they develop relationships with their followers, relationships that help all concerned to achieve their spiritual, as well as economic and social, fulfillment. John-Brian Paprock in his article The Spiritual Part. Employment and Spirituality states: Spirituality does not really take time, rather it is being who one is. If a person has engaged a spiritual life, then it is personal integrity that brings spirituality wherever the person is. Whether through prayer or a prayerful consciousness or through meditation or a meditative consciousness or through cultural practices, work stations and offices can become personal sacred space. Obstacles and problems become opportunities of spirit. All of life becomes an integrated adventure. Spirituality becomes the whole of life, not an extra-curricular hobby reserved for the weekend. (1997, 2). John Buck in his article Leadership and spirituality connected states that the soul of leadership is spirituality, that spirituality grounds leadership, that it is impossible to separate leadership from the spiritual essence of a leader. It is spirituality that provides substance and solidarity to a person, not leadership. It grounds the leadership style and practice of a leader. (2000,2) In a recent study on spirituality, Wade Clark Roof, a religion professor at the University of California, found an interpretation of spirituality among middle-aged Americans: In its truest sense, spirituality gives expression to the being that is in us; it has to do with feelings, with the power that comes from within, with knowing our deepest selves and what is sacred to us, with, as Matthew Fox says, heart-knowledge.' (Conger, 1994,9). Religion The Encarta World English Dictionary has the following definitions of religion: 1. Peoples beliefs and opinions concerning the existence, nature, and worship of a deity or deities, and divine involvement in the universe and human life. 2. A particular institutionalized or personal system of beliefs and practices relating to the divine. 3. A set of strongly held beliefs, values, and attitudes that somebody lives by. Religion is not the same as spirituality. But when we discuss spiritual values, highly charged issues arise. Because of religious freedom and the freedom to practice and chose your own religion and beliefs, this area has been considered sacred ground. People are afraid that if the subject of religion or spirituality is approached, someone is going to influence a persons private and individual beliefs. Rutte is more direct by saying that some individuals would try to shove a particular point of view down their throats, and this approach will take away the individuals freedom to choose and the opportunity to search for his/her own truth. (Rutte, 1991, 3). Some of the issues why we do not discuss religion in the workplace include the fear of people being dogmatic and the conflicts that could arise, taboos, the separation of church and state, freedom of religion, separation of private and business life, and unreflected notions of the Divine. (Rutte,1991,1) Leadership Leadership is a process of working with people to get things done. Joseph Jaworski in his book Synchronicity. The Inner Path of Leadership states that leadership is about learning how to shape the future. Leadership is about creating a domain in which human beings continually deepen their understanding of reality and become more capable of participating in the unfolding of the world. Ultimately, leadership is about creating new realities. (1998, 3) Roger Fulton in his book Common Sense Leadership defines leadership as: †¦the art of influencing and directing people in such a way as to obtain their willing obedience, confidence, respect and cooperation. Leadership is not a mysterious phenomenon. It is a combination of skills and observable behaviors that can be learned. (Fulton, 1995, viii). Todays Leaders The Baby Boomers We, the so-called Sixties generation, the baby boomers, now the leaders, CEOs, managers, and parents, are leading the quest for the understanding of life issues. We have more and deeper questions about life. We are once again interested in the nobler ideals of world peace, economic equality, egalitarian civil rights, human potential, and spiritual enlightenment. (Green, 2000) All we have to do is to take a look at some of the best sellers books in the market. Small inspirational books such as: The One Minute Manager, The Greatest Salesman in the World, The Chicken Soup collection, Who Moved My Cheese, Fish, The Corporate Mystic, books on stress reduction, angels, prayer, visualization, vision quests, Feng Shui, and the long list of books published by Nightingale Conant. Books and materials that are nurturing the self, the soul, the leaders, and the organizations; materials that are giving permission to the executives, leaders, business people, and CEOs to be more open and to admit that spirituality is a part of their leadership style. Think about how many doctors, CEOs, leaders, and ourselves , in a moment of need, have taken a moment to pray, to ask for help from God, the Creator, the Force, the Universe? How many business leaders write their short and long term goals and then meditate and visualize them? How many people are joining study groups, meditation groups, spiritual study groups? There is a group in the Pentagon that meets weekly for meditation and prayer for world peace. Barrett in his articles on Spirituality and the World Bank addressed the creation of The World Bank Spiritual Unfoldment Society (SUS). The mission statement of SUS is: The Spiritual Unfoldment Society promotes personal transformation through self-knowledge, understanding, and awakening higher consciousness. SUS provides a safe forum for the exchange of beliefs and ideas that promote spiritual awareness. SUS seeks to create within the World Bank a consciousness of love and understanding that contributes toward transforming the way we interact with one another (and the way the organization interacts with the world). The SUS instituted monthly meditation sessions, created special interest groups, held two retreats, an international conference, and publishes two newsletters. Barrett states: The real significance of the conference and of the Spiritual Unfoldment Society was that the Bank staff now have permission to talk about spiritual values in development, and to bring their hearts and souls to work. (1998, 2) Spirituality is for some a taboo word, for others a way of life. The driving force of the Spirituality movement is the middle class, educated vanguard of the Baby Boom generation. (Lauerman, 2000, 2). Ancient religious traditions often combined work with spiritual practice and rituals. We are now coming full circle. In her article The Missing Link Anne Colby states that We spend more and more time at work, people have less time to spend outside social groups. Theyre interested in making spirituality practical and applied, rather than just something you do on the weekend. In the same article Colby quotes Judith Neal, and states As idealistic as it sounds, Neal said she sees many signs of renaissance in workplace spirituality. She estimates [Neal] that about 10% of the management consultants working with corporations today have a spiritual focus in the work. And spirituality in the workplace has become an open topic in the personnel trade journals. Elements, characteristics, and tools The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude. Be kind, but not weak. Be bold but not a bully. Be thoughtful, but not lazy. Be humble, but not timid. Be proud, but not arrogant. Have humor, but without folly. Jim Rohn Spirituality is not religion but a way of being. There is not just one definition of spirituality, but several key words appeared several times throughout the literature, words like: synchronicity, miracles, vision, from within, whole being, full potential, relationships, personal integrity, substance, feelings, meaning of life, and way of being. In attempting to explore spirituality in leadership several common areas, elements or characteristics were discussed in the literature. The table on Appendix A highlights those common areas encountered in several books and articles. The elements and characteristics of leadership and spirituality were concepts such as integrity, trust, creativity, communication, relationships, energy, vision, fun, creativity, change, and passion. Each column in the table of appendix A shows the characteristics, elements, or areas covered in each article or book. These are books such as Fish, Who moved my cheese, Jesus CEO, and the Corporate Mystic. The tools to achieve some of the characteristics and elements of spirituality and leadership are objects such as crystals, water fountains, and aromatherapy oils. Leaders are attending workshops that teach meditation, visualization, relaxation techniques, stress reduction techniques, vision quests, inner work, self-awareness and prayer groups. Retreats that are designed to balance body, mind, and spirit. There is a lot of information on energy, feng shui, tai chi, and Qi Gong. Organizations are becoming more aware of the trends in society. Spirituality in the workplace promotes an expression of talent, brilliance and genius. Baby boomers are seeking more meaning in their lives, including the place where they spend a lot of their time, work. The nature and meaning of work is undergoing an evolution. We are yearning for work to be a place in which we can experience and express our spirit. Companies are beginning to recognize employees as whole human beings and are exploring a full range of their needs and desires. Conversations are emerging around spirituality and how to nurture its potential in both the individual and the company. (Rutte, 1996, 1) McLaughlin in his article Seeking Spirituality†¦at work discusses the trends and indicates that the trend extends beyond individuals, that organizations and hundreds of companies are defining or clarifying their organizational values, universal ideas such as respect, honesty, and integrity. (1998, 2) Judy Neal, an associate professor of management at the University of New Haven, Connecticut, publishes a newsletter, Spirit at Work. In less than two years her base subscription grew to more than 1,000 professionals. When I received her bibliography on Spirit at Work it contained a list of 447 citations on Spirituality, a list that gets updated every three months. Ms. Neal fully understands the willingness of professionals to look beyond conventional sources for inspiration, insight, and imaginative ideas. She states: Developing ones own spiritual side offers a source of strength both on the job and off. Helping other employees develop theirs can make the workplace a stronger, safer and much saner, place to do business. (Brandt, 1996, 4) Holistic Leadership Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams: who looks inside, awakens. Carl Jung. I see Leadership and Spirituality as interrelated and yet distinct elements of the same issue. I related the issues of Leadership and Spirituality to the symbol of Yin and Yang. According to Chinese beliefs, every single thing that exists in the universe has two aspects, a yin and a yang. Everything has a front and a back, a top and a bottom, a left and a right, a beginning and an end. Night exists only in relation to day and cold exists in relation to heat. When I looked at spirituality in leadership I found a similar pattern. Spirituality is an internal process of looking in, self-awareness, being, and meaning. Leadership is an external process of doing things, actions, and accomplishing goals. Conger described as: †¦ the objective definitions lead us in different directions: spirit evokes images of an intangible and internal world, while leadership focuses on the visible and the external reality. Spirit is a matter of being and becoming, of creation and re-creation, while leadership is doing, acting, performing. The definition of spirit invites contemplation, analysis, and insight, while that of leadership directs our attention to visible results. (1994, 65) I believe that we are all spiritual beings that believe in something, be it God, the Universe, Money, Power, or Atheism. As human beings we are trying to find ways to be happy, respected, and loved. We live in a society that is attempting to balance life, family, work, while attempting to understand the meaning of life, and to find who we are. We find ourselves spending a lot of time at work, in traffic, and wishing we had more time to be with our families and friends. We are also finding that there is more to life and more to who we really are than just a description of the kind of work we do, the car we drive, the house we live in, or the amount of money we make every month. There is a part of us, inside ourselves that matter. It makes us who we are; unique individuals with needs and wants. When we go within, we find the beings that we are, our own Spirit, and our Spirituality. As I discussed with my husband, the fact that for a variety of reasons leaders do not like to identify with the word spirituality, we came up with a more appropriate term: holistic leadership. The Random House Websters dictionary defines holism as: the theory that whole entities have an existence other than as the mere sum of their parts. and holistic as: incorporating or identifying with the principles of holism. I looked at the leader as a whole person, with leadership and spiritual qualities. (See Appendix B). My own drawing resembled the Yin and Yang figure at the beginning of this paper. The circle represents the individual or leader with two distinct, separate, and identifiable parts, the leadership and the spiritual. The leadership moving the energy one way, while the spirituality is moving the energy in the opposite direction, yet both are a part of the same whole individual or circle. Buck expressed well when he wrote: It is impossible to separate leadership from the spiritual essence of a leader. It is spirituality that provides substance and solidarity to a person, not leadership. It grounds the leadership style and practice of a leader. Conclusion Spirituality and Leadership are becoming an important part of our culture and our organizational culture. The great spiritual search is in the mainstream. (Bird, 1994). Rutte states that new approaches in modern management theory such as productivity and quality improvement, human motivation, teamwork, and systems perspectives have markedly enhanced effectiveness. Yet there is another dimension that needs to be taken into consideration, and that is the one that relates management to fundamental matters of the spirit, which lie at the heart of all beings. If one of the trends in the workplace is to include and involve the whole person, not just the work role, then spiritual values can be included. Imagine working in an environment that includes and encourages respect, appreciates peoples discovery and living of their spiritual values, and that allows for a diversity of expression of individual life purposes. Rutte believes that within this spiritual frame the bottom line would be profitable, because productivity would be at once high, deeply satisfying, and responsive to world problems; and personal and corporate leadership would guide inspired by an appreciation of both the temporal as well as the infinite. Management in the survival mode has been based on command and control. The way you get people to produce is by telling them what to do and making sure it gets done. But in a spiritual workplace, productivity is achieved through nurturing the expression of the self and the spirit. Our job, as leaders, is to facilitate the discovery of spirit, to esteem it, to celebrate it, and to hold others accountable for their expression of it. Imagine what would happen if you had a company in which all the people were doing their lifes work. You would have more loyalty, more resilience, more creativity, more innovation, and a deeper sense of self-reliance, self-renewal and self-generation. (1991, 1-2) Todays leaders are using the tools needed to become more spiritual. The tools can help individuals look inward and start on their own path of self-discovery, self-fulfillment, and enlightenment. The research finds a great deal of evidence for the existence of Spirituality in Leadership. However, there is still resistance to calling it Spirituality. Instead, call it Holistic Leadership. Given the opportunity one evening, an average person with average aspirations asked a wise and spiritual person, What is the spiritual part of life. The wise and spiritual person responded in the expected peaceful and soothing voice, I am afraid you are mistaken. There is no spiritual part of life. After a stunned silence, I have paid attention to spiritual people all my life, I have read the sacred scriptures of my faith. How can it be that there is no spiritual part of life? The wise and spiritual person said, with the expected knowing grin, It is all spiritual.

Social Media Impact on Fast Food Chain (KFC)

Social Media Impact on Fast Food Chain (KFC) Uuse Table of Contents (Jump to) 1. Introduction 1.1 Research aim 1.2 Research Questions 1.3 Research objective 2. Literature review 2.1 Social media 2.2 Impact of social media 2.3 Fast food chain 3. Research methodology 3.1 Research design 3.2 Population and Sampling method 3.3 Data collection 3.4 Reliability and validity 3.5 Ethical consideration 3.6 Data analysis 3.7 Research limitation 4. Anticipated findings 1. Introduction This report is targeted on exploring and understanding the impact of social media on fast food chain, focusing on fast food companies of UK. So, we have chosen KFC for case study to carry out the research on this topic, as KFC is well known company in fast food industry not only in UK but worldwide. In today’s world, people are attached with the social media and defy on it while selecting any organization they need to deal to fulfill their needs. So, social media impacts on the buying behavior of customers and on selection of the organization. Social media is used by the companies in order to advertise their products and services. In this report, we first sort out research aims and research questions that start the plan for research. Then in literature review, the concepts on social media along with its impact and the fast food chain are discussed. Further, we choose research method and research design for this report and then we also choose the methods of data collection and data analysis. Finally, in this research proposal we discuss the anticipated findings that we could achieve from this research. KFC is a fast food company now owned by Pepsico and was established in the service station of USA serving chickens. The full form of KFC is Kentucky Fried Chicken, based in Lousville, it is one of the few brands in USA that can boast about having 59 year old history of success and innovation. KFC serves chicken along with varieties of other products like burger, mashed potatoes, and sandwiches also. It has been serving customers foods as prepared at home at very affordable price that could be bought by people of even low income also. It has opened its 15,000 outlets in 105 countries like Malaysia, China, UK and so on. In this report, we carry out our research in the outlets that are situated in different places in the capital city of UK that is London. KFC is famous for serving chicken with unique taste that has been able to win hearts of several people all over the world. It has many employees working through its outlets in several countries speaking different languages and from dif ferent cultures and tradition but are dedicated to the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. The unique taste of fried chicken of KFC as well as different flavors of chicken curry, tom yam chicken, hot and spicy and original recipe etc. has been unique feature of KFC which has made it popular among its customers and a successful company in the fast food industry. 1.1 Research aims This report is concerned on social media and the fast food chain, so the aims of this research are also based around it. This research aims to find following facts on the fast food chain, To understand the social media used by KFC. To find the impact of social media on customers. To find the impact of social media in the company. To find the effectiveness of social media. 1.2 Research Questions This report is determined to find out the answers to following research questions: What is the effect of social media on KFC? What is the social media used by KFC? How is social media being helpful to KFC? What is the impact of social media on customers? 1.3 Research objectives This report is based on the hypothesis on finding the impact of social media on fast food chain. So, it sheds light on the effects of social media on the fast food companies. This research has been carried out with certain objectives which are sorted out in following points: To gain knowledge on the use of social media by KFC. To understand the impact of social media on KFC. To study the impact of social media on customers and employees of KFC. 2. Literature review In literature review section of this report, we gain knowledge on social media, its use in fast food industry and also its impact on the organization. We also discuss about the fast food industry and the fast food chains. In this report the discussion is centered on the role of social media in daily life, its consumption, customer’s perceptions of advantages and disadvantages of social media, the acceptance and impact of social media advertising, the level of engagement of brand through social media and the role of other media in reinforcing social media communication. 2.1 Social media Social media has revolutionized the communicating methods of the individuals, community, organization or the whole world. It can be defined as,† a group of internet based applications that is build on the ideological and technological foundations that allow the creation of exchange of User Generated Content.† It has been convenient way of communicating with the people not only within a certain region but within the globe. It has become an essential part of an organization in order to communicate with its customers, suppliers, investors as well as its employees. Rapid use of social media by the customers has enforced the organization to use those media in order to communicate with their customers as well as to build solid relationship with them that helps in customer retention. So, they are using blogs, wikis, podcast, social networking sites, websites and you tube so as to stay in touch with their customers and to get informed of new offerings on the market. Most of the o rganizations are using social media for marketing and include these media in their marketing strategies and plans. As consumers are turning away from traditional sources of advertising like radio and television, social media has become modern solution for advertising within the mass and wide range of people. Blogs are a kind of social media where people post images, ideas or links. Social networks are places where people with common interest meet and form personal websites. Content communities are websites where particular content can be organized or shared with others. Forums are sites for exchanging ideas or information around particular interests. Some of the most popular social media that people use are facebook, twitter, You Tube, Flickr, and Wikipaedia. Social media sites have been attracting millions of users around the world and some researches also show that most of the people in the world remain in touch with the social media sites daily. Social media is combination of sev eral internet tools that enable users to generate, exchange and modify content continuously. Social media like facebook, twitter, instagram, you tube websites, mobile social media etc have overwhelming number of followers increasing day by day. As the fast food industry in UK has become very competitive along with entry of several players, it has increased the level of competition and challenged the marketing players. So, KFC though is very popular needs to use more advertising sources in order to get a competitive edge and to win over its rivals. Social media has been rapidly used by KFC in order to gain global access and also for reducing its transaction costs. Further, it also facilitates access to potential customers along with customization of products and services and exchange of service and information. It has also become easiest way of taking orders for the food items for the company as well as its customers due to overwhelming use of social media. 2.2 Impact of social media Social media as being used rapidly by the people around the world attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social network sites. It acts as a platform for everyone who has easy access of internet. Social media also serves as the best advertising media as it is driven by word of mouth and can be considered as earned media rather than paid media. It also helps in increasing brand awareness through increased communication activities. It can be helpful in marketing campaigns for the recognition of the organization in the newer market as well as existing market. Social media is an online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. It provides numerous opportunities for strengthening and expanding relationships to customers. Social media impacts the customers for the selection of the organization they want to deal in order to fulfill their requirements as they are closely related to these media nowadays and trust these media the most to get information. For this research, it is important to understand the effect of social media on the potential customers when they are deciding which product or services they want to acquire. Customers use social media to enable them to create and share content, and communicate with one another build relationship with other people. Social media has become major factor in influencing various aspects of customer behavior including needs, recognition, information acquisition, opinions and attitudes, purchase behavior and post purchase communication. Social media develop horizontal relationship ranging from customer service to customer retention and acquisition. Increasing use of social websites perceive as a tool in forming online communities of users. Also companies can obta in various feedbacks and comment regarding their services so that they can improve their service in order to meet the needs and satisfaction of customers. Development of social media has helped in growth and expansion of business of fast food companies like KFC. 2.3 Fast food chain Fast food industry was not been available since ancient times but it has now becoming rapidly growing industry along with busy and scheduled life of people. As its name this industry is famous within its customers in providing quick food service for the rush hour of rapidly moving people. Mostly fast food industry serves quick foods like hamburger, sandwiches and also meat contained product. This industry is one of the most competitive and saturated industry in developed countries like UK or USA. Fast food service has culture has been embraced by several people due to their busy schedule and also easy availability of food when they want. 3. Research methodology 3.1 Research design This research is based on fast food chains and needs to explore the facts on impacts of social media, so it follows positivism theory of research methodology and deductive approach as the process of this research arrives at conclusions based on the interpretation of the meaning of the results of data analysis. This research is of exploratory nature as less previous researches have been found regarding this subject and general nature of the problem along with factors related to it has to be discovered. So, this research is commanded by qualitative methodology as it is of exploratory nature. Through deductive process, this research aims to uncover rich and detailed descriptions with a holistic focus. 3.2 Population and Sampling method In the proposed study, the population to be studied has been first identified and sampling frame was developed. The population for this study comprises all the customers and employees who are related to KFC belonging to different levels of jobs they are employed to. As this research is carried in KFC stores located at London Chinatown and Marylebone in London, UK, the population for this report is the customers and employees who are related to the stores there. Further, non-probability sampling method will be used for this research as it doesn’t involve random selection which is not feasible for this research. This research is of exploratory nature, so convenience sampling method is appropriate where the samples are selected looking into the ease of their accessibility and interest for the study. As the name reveals, convenience sampling is selected because it is convenient and often saves time and effort of the researcher to select a random sample. 3.3 Data collection As per the need of the study, both primary and secondary data will be collected, but priority will be given to collection of primary data, which will be both quantitative as well as qualitative. Primary data will be collected by some of the popular techniques used in this field. Primary data will be collected via field study where the researcher will visit KFC stores in order to collect data. In KFC stores, the researcher will collect the data through questionnaire method by distributing questionnaires to the respondents and then after they finish collecting it. So, questionnaire will be designed in view of data requirements and will be distributed to the respondents in the field. The respondents will be convinced that their responses will be kept confidential and average time taken to fill the questionnaire will also be limited. Secondary data will be collected adopting various secondary means and through the access of some secondary sources available conveniently. It will be collected from previous researches, previous studies, published or unpublished documents, annual reports of KFC, journals on KFC and other related articles that can be useful for this research. Secondary information available will be useful in checking the validity and reliability of empirical field data. The methods adopted in the study to generate relevant data will be guided by research objectives, questions and type of data required for the study. 3.4 Reliability and validity A reliable measurement is one which gives consistent results on independent testing. If the findings of one piece of work can be replicated by another research group, or by the same research group at a later occasion, then it produces the same result, then it is deemed to be reliable. Though total reliability is difficult to be achieved, quantitative methods are likely to aspire to it. In order to eliminate the chances of error, it is always better, if there are repeated observations and the measurements of the same individuals or situations. Validity concerns whether a research method gives a true picture of what it claims to have recorded, and shows social realities as they really are. No matter how reliable data may be, it will always be limited in its validity if the researcher cannot show that it gives true account of what it is being studied. It is the strength of our conclusions, inferences or propositions. It is an element that addresses the issues of whether the researcher is actually measuring what they want to. Reliability estimates the consistency of measurement and validity estimates the accuracy of your measurement. A measure can be perfectly reliable but yet not valid, which shows that reliability and validity differ from each other. 3.5 Ethical consideration In present situation, researchers have to carry out their research along with the consideration of ethical issues as well as obligations regarding the people participating in the research as well as the organization. Researchers need to do everything in their authority to make sure that their research doesn’t harm the cultural or ethical respect of the participants. So, for the research, written permission to conduct it has been sought and the Code of Good Research Practice of KFC will be followed. The respondents will be chosen based upon their willingness towards the research. Privacy, anonymity and confidentiality (PAC) of the studied groups will be strictly maintained. The data collection method includes personal information of the respondent also, so the information will be kept confidential and will not be used for other purposes than the research. Further, data provided by KFC will be secured in files with password protection. The final reports will not be provided for other researches and will not be provided for wider circulation. The participants as well as the organization under study will be provided with the required information on the research as well as the researcher. Further, while doing research the researcher should also ensure that the participants will be provided with certain questions to be answered and given certain time which will be recorded by the researcher. Further, the rules and regulations of KFC as well as of the business schools shall be followed while carrying out the research. 3.6 Data analysis Data analysis is very decisive in research as researcher has to highlight how in what ways data has to be tabulated and analyzed. The data collected from secondary and primary sources will be analyzed to obtain findings of the research. Statistical procedures will be clearly indicated. Quantitative as well qualitative data will be analyzed using the techniques that are available and easy to use. Simple statistical techniques will be espoused for analyzing data such as charts, diagram, figures percentage rank etc. so, qualitative and quantitative data will be analyzed, categorized and tabulated according to the objectives of the research study. 3.7 Research limitation Like every other researches, this research is also bound into certain limitations that has to be followed and considered while carrying out this research. There are certain limitations for this research which binds this research in a small boundary with restricted time frame. Hence, major limitation of this research is termed as the timetable that limits this research in a boundary of time frame for completion of this research. Further, limitation of this research also has been observed in the research method to be used which is in the sampling method to be used in this research. The limitation also can be observed in the scope of this research. Also, the research methodology of this research is chosen for the shorter span of time and less time consuming method due to restriction of time. So, this research may not shed much light on the impacts of social media but can be useful in order to carry out other researches in future regarding the same subject matter. 4. Anticipated findings After the analysis of data collected from the research, this report may shed light on various facts on social media and its impact on the fast food chains. So, we can assume that we can be able to shed light on the following points of the subject topic: Reveal the involvement of KFC in use of social media. Provide information on impact of social media on KFC. Provide information on advantage or disadvantage of social media regarding fast food chains. Provide suggestions on use of social media for benefit of fast food chains.