Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Strategically Evaluate The Accor Expansion Plan Tourism Essay

Strategically Evaluate The Accor Expansion Plan Tourism Essay The author has to strategically evaluate Accors expansion plan of adding 10,000 rooms per annum in total during two years (2007-2008) in both established market chosen as United States of America and emerging market chosen as China. The author will also review the marketing, financial strategies that Accor has adopted in these markets till now and then suggest future strategies to expand in these markets. The author will also be suggesting about the brand that Accor should look forward to expand. Accor  is a large  French  multinational corporation operating in nearly 90 countries and Accor Hospitality, the Accor hotels branch, has more than 4,000 hotels worldwide. It starts from the most luxurious hotels to the most economic lodging solution. Under its belt there are brands like sofitel, novotel, mercure, ibis, red roof inns, etap, motel 6, studio 6 and formule 1. The group is looking to expand its hotel business in an established (USA) and establishing (China) market by adding 20,000 rooms over the period of two years. The author has to strategically evaluate and make suggestions to the group. With a corporate representation throughout the world, Accor Hotels have become one of the largest players in the industry. It is an intricate organisation with multiple brands and qualifications of hotels, as well as supplementary products and services. Accor finds it important to incorporate the small and medium-sized hotels in managing customers needs and requests as they are the direct link to the customers. Accor  is a large  French  multinational corporation operating in nearly 90 countries. Accor is the European leader in hotels (Accor Hospitality) and a global leader in corporate services (Accor Services). Accor Hospitality, the Accor hotels branch, has more than 4,000 hotels worldwide. It starts from the most luxurious hotels to the most economic lodging solution. (Reference: http://www.fundinguniverse.com) Aims Objectives: This report aims to develop international expansion plans for Accor in established and emerging market in the given span of time during the year 2007-2008. The objective is to provide rationale for the selection of markets, and propose branding, finance, and marketing strategy to the Board of ACCOR to add an additional 10,000 rooms per annum across both established markets (Europe, including France and North America) and other areas of the world (Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Asia/Pacific). Research Methodology: This report is based on the case study for the ACCOR group of hotels which is from the module study guide and is a piece of research by the The Centre for Hospitality Research at Cornell University. The various secondary sources accessed have been as following: internet, journals, professional reports, government reports and others to produce data for the targeted markets. In 1967 Gà ©rard Pelisson and Paul Dubrule opened their first Novotel hotel on a roadside near Lille in northern France. Travel was booming in France in the 1960s and the hotel industry had not yet expanded to meet the demand. French hotels, in general, were either rural inns or luxury hotels in city centers. Dubrule decided to build American-style highway hotels in the medium price range and collaborated with Pelisson, a former head of market research at IBM-Europe. Through Pelissons connections the partners were able to secure a bank loan, and the Novotel firm was launched. The companys ensuing success was in large part due to its being first to break into the unexploited European market for highway lodging. Each Novotel provided standardized rooms, ample parking facilities, and restaurants featuring local cuisine. Soon Novotels also were established at airports and popular vacation sites, such as the seaside and mountain areas. The acquisition of the Mercure hotel chain in 1975 pushed the company into metropolitan areas and the business traveler market, and these hotels varied according to regional demands in style, character, and restaurant offerings. By the end of the 1970s Novotel had become the premier hotel chain in Europe with 240 establishments in Europe, Africa, South America, and the Far East. Accors brand worldwide Formule1 Lowest rates on the market. Functional room for one, Two or three people. All-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. Round-the-clock check-in. Etap Pleasant convenient room for one, two or three people. Budget price. All-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. Round-the-clock check-in. Motel 6 The lowest price of any national chain. Red Roof Inn Renovated product. Low rates. Comfortable beds. RediCard Preferred Member loyalty program. Ibis Simple, reliable pricing policy. Always very well situated, in city centres, close to airports or near major tourist or business areas. Service quality (ISO 9001 certification and 15-minute satisfaction guarantee). Environmentally friendly waste, water and energy management systems. Teams on duty around the clock. Breakfast served from 4:00 a.m. to noon. Hot snacks available at any time. Mercure Shared values, such as a strong regional focus, a unique personality and an exceptional wine list. For business and leisure stays, in city centres, at the seaside or in the mountains. Novotel Open spaces featuring contemporary design, for rest and relaxation. Bright, spacious, pleasant rooms where guests can work or unwind in a comfortable setting. Customers can eat whatever, whenever and wherever they want. Offers adapted to the needs of all travellers. Suite Hotel Innovative, modern concept. 30-square-meter modular suites. With Boutique Gourmand, food can be purchased around the clock in the hotel lobby. Free relaxing massage every Thursday evening. The longer the stay, the lower the price. Smart cars made available free-of-charge to medium-stay customers. Sofitel Prime locations in leading business centres and resorts. Each hotel is unique in its design, architecture and culture. Sofitels exclusive MyBed concept, the guarantee of a good nights sleep. Restaurants offering innovative, contemporary cuisine that surprises diners, awakening their senses and stirring their emotions. Hotel Distribution Worldwide Accor has its 4,000 hotels in 90 countries. It has its presence all seven continents and in all mojor cities. (Reference: www.accorhotels.com) Europe Africa Asia Australia North America Andorra Algeria Cambodia Australia Canada Austria Benin China Fiji Islands Mexico Belgium Burkina Faso India French Polynesia USA Bulgaria Burundi Indonesia New Zealand Cyprus Cameroun Japan Norfolk Island Czech Republic Chad Laos France Egypt Malaysia Germany Equatorial Guinea Philippines Greece Gabon Singapore Hungary Ghana South Korea Ireland Guinea Thailand Italy Ivory Coast Vietnam Lithuania Mauritania Luxembourg Mauritius Monaco Morocco Netherlands Nigeria Poland Reunion Portugal Rwanda Romania Senegal Russia South Africa Spain Tunisia Development strategy Accors hotel business has continued its sustained pace of development. Most importantly, they devised a new, more efficient business model based on two foundations: Stronger brands those are now more visible, more attractive and more strategically aligned. An asset right real estate strategy, which consists of adapting operating structures to the profile of each country and market segment. Pelisson and Dubrule developed their expanding company with a decentralized management and a unique dual chairmanship. Although to comply with French law the partners took turns holding the official position of chairman, they made all decisions jointly and shared responsibilities, immersing themselves in all aspects of the business. The companys specialty became variety, providing hotel chains to fit every need. In 1973 Sphere S.A. was created as a holding company for a new chain of two-star, no-frills hotels, called Ibis; the first Ibis was opened the following year. During this time, the company also acquired Courte Paille, a chain of roadside steakhouses founded in 1961, which reflected many of the same priorities as Novotel: practicality, easy parking, consistent quality, and quick service. (Reference: http://www.fundinguniverse.com) Accor expanded at a far swifter rate than its international rivals, becoming the largest operator in Europe. It led the market in France and West Germany, and expanded in the medium and economy range in Spain, Italy, and Britain with its $75 million investment budget. The companys European base provided three-quarters of its revenue, with more than half coming from hotels and the rest from its foodservices. (Reference: http://www.fundinguniverse.com) In 1997, Dubrule and Pelisson decided to retire from active management and were succeeded by Jean-Marc Espalioux. Espaliouxs new management team focussed on relocating Accors cash. In an effort, to deleverage themselves and free resources to provide for expansion, Accor disposed of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬3 billion of real estate assets as part of a sale and leaseback programme. (Reference: http://www.fundinguniverse.com) Business Mix Accor S.A. operates in hotels and services sector worldwide. It provides luxury and upscale, midscale, and economy hotel services. It also designs, develops, and manages prepaid solutions, including food vouchers, welfare and assistance programs, family assistance solutions, gift vouchers and cards, loyalty programs and incentive campaigns, and expense management services to corporate clients and public institutions. In addition, the company operates restaurants and casinos, as well as provides onboard train services to the railway sector. Accor was incorporated in 1960 and is headquartered in Evry, France. Financial Performance Profit before tax rose to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬727 million in 2005, an all-time record, and the Groups balance sheet was more solid than ever. Based on these results, shareholders will be asked to approve an ordinary dividend of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1.45 per share, a 26.1% increase, plus an exceptional dividend of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1.50 per share, representing a total payout of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬320 million. This dividend policy is accompanied by a share buyback program that has had a positive effect on earnings per share. (Reference: www.accorhotels.com) Accors 2006 results were excellent, as can be seen in three key figures: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Revenue rose by 6.6%, the biggest increase since 1998. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Profit before tax rose by 28% to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬727 million, a record. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ EBITDAR margin, at 27.4%, was our highest ever. These figures prove that Accor is developing fast and enjoying very good financial health, as illustrated by their low level of debt. Another reason for satisfaction is that these improved results concern both the Services and the Hotels businesses. For the year, revenue was up 15.5% in Services and 6.1% in Hotels. And, if 2006 was a very good year, the outlook for 2007 is also very encouraging. With the two businesses growth potential, the economic turnaround (especially in Europe with the upturn in the hotel cycle) and the emerging markets of China and India, they have every reason to be optimistic. For 2007, Accor is on track to step up the pace of growth, with the goal of adding 200,000 rooms by 2008. (Reference: www.accorhotels.com) Strategy Very quickly too, it became apparent that there was a need for a clearer strategy that would enable the Group to more accurately identify its development priorities and, more importantly, focus its managerial and financial resources. In addition to this two-pronged strategic shift, senior management, under the leadership of Gilles Pà ©lisson, outlined a sustained expansion strategy combining acquisitions, notably in the Services business, and stepped up organic growth in the Hotels business with the opening of 200,000 new rooms between 2006 and 2010, especially in China, India and other fast-growing regions. Redefining the market positioning of the brands also made it necessary to reposition the Sofitel brand and create a new non-standardized banner in the economy segment, All Seasons. The brand strategy has led to a shift away from the Accor corporate banner toward the operating brands. Accor focuses repeatedly on a specific vision for growth and believes in sustainable, profitable growth through three pillars: A geographically and structurally balanced portfolio A disciplined, and results-oriented management of resources and assets A set of powerful, aligned brands (Ref: case study) The Right Approach became Accors strategic vision of its Hotels division focussed on making Accors Hotels business more profitable, less cyclical and well appreciated by its clients: To achieve these goals, five levers drive the Right Approach: Align the brand portfolio with customer expectations (The Right Brands) Redefine the networks around this brand portfolio (The Right Network) Improve hotel operating performance in the reconfigured business base (The Right Operating Performance) Adapt hotel operating structures to improve return on capital employed and reduce cash-flow volatility (The Right Asset Management) Shift the corporate culture to deliver the best value-added services to hotel owners (The Right Service Provider). Ownership Structure For the lower and mid segment hotels Accor can consider giving franchises or entering in joint ventures. However, for the high end segment hotels like sofitel and novotel, Accor should maintain ownership approach as these properties have higher profit sensitivity. In 2003, Accor opened 10 new properties under these brands, and they owned or leased these new properties. Accor should have less capital-intensive operating structures, which is a key to their success, especially in economically sensitive countries. While Accor owns and leases some properties, they also look to management contracts and franchising. (Reference: case study) Developed Market For the developed market the author has chosen three developed markets from which one will be shortlisted after the analyses. The author has chosen UK, France and USA as its markets for analysis. Accor has great presence in all the three markets. Accor has 125 hotels in UK mainly in the mid-segment. The demand for mid-segment hotels in the UK is strong and most of the Accor hotels are doing well. However, UK is not a big market compared to the US for Accor. Accor already has a good presence in the European market and hence there is limited scope of expansion. Similarly, in France Accor have a staggering number of hotels and resorts in all segments. It also has a lot of services in France. It has its strongest presence in France considering the size of France to the UK and the US. Accor already has a very good presence in France in all the segments. Hence it has little scope for growth. In the USA, Accor has motel 6 and studio 6. It is also present in the upscale market. However, it still has a large scope for expansion in all the segments as the US market is so vast and diverse. Therefore, in the developed markets, the author has shortlisted the US market for the addition of 10,000 rooms in the year 2007-08. Developing Market Like the developed market the author will choose three developing markets and shortlist one of them for the analysis. The developing markets are India, China and South Korea. South Korea is relatively a small country and the economic growth is not impressive enough for Accor to add 10,000 rooms in this market. Accor entered the Indian market in the early 80s and failed miserably. Accor has few operational hotels in India mainly business hotels. However, the political system in India is somewhat chaotic as compared to China. The third market chosen is China. China is a huge country in terms of land and is the fastest growing economy in the world. It has a stable government and its foreign policies towards the hospitality industry are very friendly. Therefore, the author has shortlisted China as its developing market. ESTABLISHED MARKET (USA) _______________________________________________________ Rationale The United States of America (commonly referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km ²) and with about 305 million people, the United States is the third largest country by total area and third largest by land area and by population. The United States is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of US$14.3 trillion (23% of the world total based on nominal GDP and almost 21% at purchasing power parity). (Reference: http://www.wikipedia.com) Geographical Location North America  is the northern  continent  of the  Americas,  situated in the  Earths  northern hemisphere  and almost totally in the  western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the  Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North  Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the  Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west by the North  Pacific Ocean;  South America  lies to the southeast. North America covers an  area  of about 24,709,000  square kilometres  (9,540,000  square miles), about 4.8% of the planets surface or about 16.5% of its land area. As of July 2008, its  population  was estimated at nearly 529 million people. It is the  third-largest  continent in area, following  Asia  and  Africa, and the fourth in population after Asia, Africa, and  Europe. (Reference: http://www.wikipedia.com) PESTLE Analysis Political A seldom-stated fact of life is that without political stability it is impossible to have economic progress. Until a nation has a stable political system in place, it is impossible for people to plan their lives, conduct business successfully and go about their daily routines with any hope for the future. The United States has enjoyed 135 years of political stability since the end of the Civil War. The United States is the oldest democratic republic. This is an incredible accomplishment. It is amazing that no other country has been able to copy the American system of government successfully. It is as if that system is uniquely suited to that single country. (Reference: http://www.wikipedia.com) With mass manufacturing long gone from America, hospiatality industry is one of the key generators of revenue. Hence the American government has given some concessions for the development and growth of the industry: Grant of Infrastructure Status for hotels Concession for Convention Centres Continuation of Concessions   Depreciation rate for hotel buildings Concession in Income Tax Act for the Hotel Industry (Reference: http://www.capitalmarket.com) Economical Fortunately for U.S. hotel owners and operators, actual RevPAR improvement through the first six months of 2004 has already reached 9.5 percent. Most encouraging was the 3.2 percent increase in ADR. Record-breaking growth rates for revenues and profits are certainly welcome news for U.S. hotel owners and operators. The industry leaders have forecasted growth in the coming years for hospitality industry in the USA. Also with backing of the US government the hospitality industry is believe to show good results in coming years. (Reference: http://www.wikipedia.com) Social The American population is comparatively young compared to other developed nations like Japan and Germany and a lot of young immigrant work force is also available in the country. Therefore, it is doubly beneficial for the hospitality industry, which is always on the lookout for young work force and customers. The American government safeguards the interests of its people through following agendas: the social inclusion process Coordination of social security schemes Anti-discrimination and relations with civil society Equality between women and men Social Agenda 2005-10 (Reference: http://www.childstats.gov) Technological The effective use of hospitality technology is one of the key factors in providing stellar customer service, since the proper implementation of this technology helps to ensure that key aspects of service are not accidentally forgotten or avoided. The hospitality sector in the US spent a total of $917 million in 2006 on RD activities, compared to $784 million in 2005. As the President outlined in his State of the Union Address, the ACI commits $5.9 billion in FY 2007 and more than $136 billion over 10 years to increase investments in research and development (RD), strengthen education, and encourage entrepreneurship and innovation. (Reference: http://www.capitalmarket.com) Legal The lobour laws in America are very stringent. Therefore, the hotel has to abide by the rules to avoid fines and getting into legal disputes. Some of the laws for the hospitality industry are as follows: Common Law System Right To Privacy American with Disabilities Act Safety and Security Food and Beverage Consumption Employment Workplace Contracts Travel and Tourism The international arrivals market for the United States has changed significantly since 2000. This goal of this analysis is to provide insights into changes affecting the top inbound markets to the U.S. The U.S. welcomed 56 million international visitors from 213 countries during 2006, up 10 percent from 2005. Total arrivals were also up 9 percent from 2000, the former record year for total non-resident visitation to the country. Arrival records were set by 72 countries, nine of which were among the top 20 inbound markets. Therefore, in 2007, the growth in arrivals was driven more from the emerging markets than the top arrival markets. Overseas arrivals (excluding Canada and Mexico) totalled 23.9 million during 2006, up 10 percent from 2005. Travel from overseas markets accounted for 43 percent of total arrivals to the U.S. and contributed significantly to the overall growth in international arrivals in 2007. Although overseas travel is rebounding from its low in 2003 it was down eight percent from its peak in 2000 (graph below). Fourteen of the top 20 overseas markets exceeded 2006 arrivals levels by double-digits: Germany, France, Australia, Brazil, Italy, India, PRC/HK, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Venezuela, Colombia, Sweden and Israel. (Reference: http://www.travelstatistics.com) Economic Growth In real terms, Americas economy grew by 3.7 percent in 2006, faster than most other developed economies around the globe and faster than the historical U.S. growth rate, since 1970, of 3.2 percent. The overall level of GDP was $9.89 trillion (in 2000) when Bush was elected and $9.87 trillion in the third quarter of 2006. Exactly three years later, GDP is $10.88 trillion, a 10 percent real increase. To put that in perspective, just the growth of the U.S. economy over the past three years is larger than half of the entire French economy. (Reference: http://www.economicreform.com) Brand Selection Headquartered in Dallas (Carrollton), Texas, Accor North America operates more than 900 upscale and economy properties including nationwide economy leaders Studio 6 and Motel 6 and the upscale Sofitel and mid-scale Novotel and Ibis hotel locations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Its flagship chain, Motel 6, caters primarily to vacationing families in the US and Canada with a limited menu of amenities. Accors plan for the U.S. should focus on Motel 6, Studio 6, Sofitel and Novotel brands. The company should plan to grow Motel 6 and Studio 6 aggressively. Were working on new prototypes for both brands, Le Mener said. We intend to be very aggressive with a goal to develop 70 to 75 properties a year, Mener added. Novotel should follow the growth plan of Sofitel, which is to have properties only in the top 20 to 25 markets in the U.S. We see Novotel as an international network, he said. Business travellers and families on a vacation are looking for budget hotels as they want the cheapest mode of accommodation. Accor has a great presence in the low budget segment and therefore, it should continue to grow its hold in this segment. However, it should also look at growing in other segments of the market. This will help Accor in creating brand awareness and also increase its market share in the US. Accor in USA Brand Hotels Rooms Managed/Franchised Motel 6 815 85,421 127 Red Roof Inns 360 39,622 101 Studio 6 37 4,714 2 Sofitel 8 2,633 1 Novotel 6 1,835 3 Total 1,226 134,225 234 (Reference: http://www.accor.com) Financial Strategy Accor USA was struggling with manual account reconciliation that postponed month-end accounting for its growing number of properties. Department inefficiencies and error-prone manual processes caused delays with the identification of exceptions like missing and late deposits. High turnover at properties and reporting delays exposed the company to expensive losses with annual write-offs averaging $1.5 million. Accor USA had no process for escheatment and a 2004 audit resulted in $3 million dollars in penalties for unclaimed property that had not been filed with the appropriate states. (Reference: http://www.accor.com) Accor USA faces a lot of financial problems that cannot be sorted out in a matter of time. It has very less cash left to fund its operation in the USA. Although, the funds from operations increased 7% to $906 million in 2005, it still struggles to keep up. Capital expenditure for renovation and maintenance rose by nearly 15% to   $326 million during the year, and represented 4.5% of revenues, versus 4.2% in 2005. Free cash flow amounted to $580 million. (Reference: http://www.accor.com) As seen above, Accor USAs debt is decreasing and cash flows are increasing, therefore it should concentrate on the expansion programme as the cash flows increase. However, it should focus on economy hotels like Motel 6 and Studio 6 as they require less money. To fund these projects Accor can raise cash money from equity market and some from its operations. With its more substantial financial resources, Accor should step up the pace of growth and enjoy greater financial flexibility. The initial three-year (2005-2007) expansion budget has been increased by 39%, to EUR 1.7 billion from EUR 1.2 billion, to fund the development of various hotel projects in the U.S. (Reference: http://www.accor.com) To improve its financial flexibility, Accor should undertake an innovative real estate management strategy designed to meet two main objectives: Reduce capital intensity in upscale hotels. Variable holding costs in the midscale segment. In the upscale segment (Sofitel), Accor wants to sell the hotel properties while retaining the management contract, sometimes with a minority stake, in order to reduce earnings volatility in a segment that is more sensitive to business cycles. The objective is for 75% of all Sofitel units to be under management contract in 2006, versus 62% in 2004 and 52% in 2000. (Reference: http://www.accor.com) In midscale hotels, fixed leases are going to be transformed into variable leases based on a percentage of revenues with no minimum guaranteed.   One of the objectives is to variable a proportion of the hotels fixed costs. Marketing Strategy Accors big-spender approach has made it the arch-collector of brands, and some observers wonder whether the group can continue being all things to all people without diluting its focus. Nevertheless, its an approach that has established the French company as the worlds third-largest hotel operator, and its coverage of multiple market sectors allows it to spread the risks of a downturn in any one part of its business. Accor group should be focussing on marketing its hotels through advertisements in magazines, television and Accors other services operational in the U.S. It has joined hands with various magazines and is actively participating in television adverts, which will help in marketing its product. Many customers locate and book their Accor hotel accommodation through www.accorhotels.com and associated brand-specific web sites, where they are offered the opportunity to opt-in to an online communications programme. Accors online relationship marketing strategy should aim to convert prospects into customers and build customer value through increasing the depth of relationship and growing revenues from repeat bookings, cross-sales, up-sales and referrals. Customer relationship and marketing director of Accor Hotels, Mathieu Staat, said, Online relationship marketing is an important, but complex activity for us. Accor have several hotel brands and offer online communications in up to five languages to subscribers across 15 target zones. They also run six different loyalty and subscription cards.

Monday, August 5, 2019

Effects Of Shift Work On Employee

Effects Of Shift Work On Employee 3. Why and how might shift work impact on the health of employees? What could be done to minimise the health risks of such work? In modern life shift work becomes a necessary part of life. Shift work is an employment schedule that is not in the usual daytime hours and in which two or more groups of workers work at separate times in the 24 hrs. (Finn, 1981).According to HSE(2006) approximately 14% of people in UK doing shift work in different shifts Some institutions like hospitals, ambulance services, police department, transport industry and some industries needs continuous 24 hrs shift work. But this shift work disrupts the circadian rhythm that can lead to reduction in alertness. The diurnal rhythms control pulse rate, the cardio-pulmonary system, composition of blood, blood pressure, secretions of endocrine glands, appetite and wakening and sleep cycle. So shift work interrupts these natural processes for which the human body is normally programmed. So this can cause compromise i n health and safety of the workers. Lack of adequate sleep has produce adverse affects including nervous system related disorders, physical problems which can lead to accidents on job. Fatigue is also the most common reaction in shift workers. Shift work is the main cause of fatigueness in combination with physical, mental and emotional factors that causes exhaustion in workers. Shift work affects the general health and performance of the employees. Because of shift work employees have not follow any routine in their eating habits and they have not regular pattern to sleep and this may produce health problems (Finn, 1981). According to health and safety perspective all the working hours are not same. Night shifts are more difficult and risky. Working overtime also raises the fatigueness in a worker. This can lead to other accidents. Some workers do shift work with their own choice but mostly do because of economic necessity (ACTU Guidelines on shift work extended hours, 2000). Mostly people dont know the extra stress that night shift workers have, is because of work in late night hours. When most people are in their beds, night shift workers are getting ready to work. Night Shifts put negative impact on health of workers because these shifts affect the circadian rhythms of the human body. These circadian rhythms change all over the day and night to regulate different biological functions of body. For example our cardiac rate and the temperature of body changes throughout 24 hrs and this is lowest at 4am and it is on the peak in the mid of afternoon. The circadian rhythms reset after 24 hrs by environme ntal factors like light and darkness. Temperature of body goes up with the day light and goes down at night. Thats why body is active during daytime, whereas in the night it is meant to sleep for recovering and replacing the energy of the body. But working at night disturbs biological clocks thats why sleeping becomes difficult so workers feel fatigue. Work during night shifts imbalance these rhythms in spite of their regular timing. Because of this, workers who can do night shifts come across problems in sleep, fatigueness, gaining weight and problems related to digestive system. Some of these problems also become chronic diseases. According to study done by the Journal of the National Cancer institute (2001) depicts that the females doing night shifts have more risk of breast cancer because of exposure to light during night which interrupts the production of melatonin (Victoria,2010).A study found that the breast cancer risk is 60% more in women doing night shifts. Because the mel atonin hormone mainly produced during sleep. However several studies found rhythmic adjustments to a new work schedule sets in 4 days to 2 days. The continuous change in day, evening and night shifts diminishes the normally programmed body rhythms. According to Sparks and Cooper et al (1977) the field of occupational health psychology, overtime fatigue is an important factor in the health conditions and working hours plan. Because of excessive work in shifts raises in backbone injuries, bacterial infections, three times increase in accidents on job after 16 hrs of work these all have related to fatigue and overtime in shift work (Rosa, 1995) To minimize the health risks of shift work: According to article how lifestyle changes can reduce shift work stress published in Sleep disorders guide (2006-08) suggests that workers have to follow some useful measures to tackle the shift work correctly. Workers should not take more than 2 night shifts regularly in one week. So that their body take rest and the workers are not faces fatigueness. Workers take frequent breaks from work when they feel tired and not able to stand in same posture for a long time. Keep entertaining by talking to your fellow colleagues if worker feel difficult to work during long hours in night shifts, but always follow the safety measures. Workers have to follow proper eating habits .Afternoon shift workers take their meal in the middle of day, not in middle of their shift. Workers are advised not take heavy meals when they go for night shifts and they take light meal throughout night shift and take moderate breakfast. A heavy meal compels the workers to s leep and this may lead to accidents and even discomfort in stomach. After completing the night shift workers have to take proper rest with adequate sleep. They have to avoid heavy exercise before going to bed because metabolism of body will still elevated for many hours and this will produce difficulty in sleep. While sleeping they relaxed their mind and keep their brain free from any disturbance. If they fail to sleep then read a book or listen some music. Workers should follow healthy life style according to their shift work and they should exercise 30-40 minutes daily. With doing regular exercise his mental and physical health remains good and this will reduces the health problems. Workers have to take proper diet to maintain their physical health. Workers drink more water in night shift. They have to socialize with other coworkers to minimize disruption in social life. Workers practices to reduce the stress. They have to schedule daily events by the calendar use. Workers choose the prioritize tasks and always tackle one task at a time (Stones, 1987). 4. Critically review the evidence that multiple roles in work and non-working life lead to negative outcomes for employees and organizations. Work culture changes rapidly in present days. Previously concept of work done is to fulfil basic human needs but now this is not the fact. The basic needs are not enough, but standard of living is also an essential part for doing work. According to Blekesaune (2008) unemployed people are at major risk of breakdown in personal relationships .Males and females who lost their jobs have similar impact. According to Work life Balance Survey(Hurst and Richards 2003) there were more than 1200 employees who took part in internet survey done in the form of questionnaire and each one ,out of the ten participants worked more than 70 hrs every week, whereas he is being signed for 35-40 hrs. 98% of workers took their office work t home. 17% of them skip their lunch break.97% workers found that it is difficult to balance work and life.70% of workers took work as main stressor (Work life balance survey, 2003). Work or nonwork conflict generally noticed when work and non work roles are not compatible with one another and participation in one role made difficult in participating in another role (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). The Spillover Model (Loscocco and Roschelle, 1991) guided well on present study related to work and non work conflict. In Spillover model, there is a positive relation given between work and non work roles to the limit of satisfaction or not satisfaction in one of the roles moves into other (Bond et al., 1998).Work and non work conflict influences the general health and mental wellbeing of workers and their families. As an example, a recent epidemiological study done in Australia establish that the parents who work regularly for long hours or back home stressed have develop more physical illness and other psychological problems(Earle,2003). According to Duxbury (2003) work and non work conflict impact on the ability of workers to bring up their families which results in lesser levels in family wellbeing and stability. Researchers found that policies which are designed to assist work and non work conflict can change workers behaviour which is good for the organization. Evidences found that the policies which are family friendly results in raises in back to work after the delivery (Squirchuk and Bourke, 1999). When we are talking about the effect of stressors on a person, few researchers analysed to divide the life of a person into separate functional fields. Like divided between the home and work place. Because in each area individual play more than one role. Like in family they have two roles spouse as well as parents and same in their workplace they follow different roles. Researchers found that in each field person suffers from stressors and strain. So if in a demanding job person becomes stressed at work place then its quite possible that he come back home in same state of mind, so this create difficulities in home atmosphere also. There are two major hypotheses proposed to explain the work -home relationship. The spillover hypotheses proposed that there are no hard boundaries between different life areas. The work and nonwork experiences will positively related to one another. So the persons, who changed, stimulate and satisfy work experiences will likewise same non work experiences. Thus stressful moments experienced in work makes person tired at work as well as when he came back home, this makes difficult to interact with the family and social life. Case studies based on early work approve this approach (Young Wilmott, 1973, Piotrokowski, 1978). According to compensatory hypotheses, in between home and work there will be negative relationship. As an example, for boarded and non stimulating work experience, a person compensates this with good experience at home or from other free activities (Wilensky, 1960, Rousseau, 1978). According to the compensatory hypotheses, a person majorly involved in work would be not involved at home or the other way around. Another immaterial approach is segmentation hypotheses which approve that work and non-work areas are essentially nondependent, separated psychologically and perform separate functions (Blood and Wolfe, 1960, Dubin, 1973). This was the primary formulation of work and home relationship but myth of separate worlds of family and work has exposed (Kanter, 1977). This model is now often dishonored. These models just gives idea that up to what extent behaviour in one area lead to same or different behaviour in other, or to which extent satisfaction or stress in one role is associated to similar feeling in other (Staines,1980). According to National Study of changing work force, 19% of fathers who are working and 38% of working mothers feel stress oftenly and very oftenly in the three month period of this study. The data shows that male and female both suffered by contrasting demands of the family and workplace to balance these two. These conflicts noticed in previous two decades, when labour work becomes more in organizations and females are equally take part in working in organizations. The increased ratio of working women splits their role in two areas. In studies of Work and family conflict mental health is always targeted. Mental illness is inability to cope with the surrounding environment and reality. These studies proved that mental health depends upon the variation of experiences in work and family (Forne, 2000). In work and family conflicts there is not any selective gender but mental problems for e.g. mood changes are more in females who are working then males (Kohn, Dohrenwend Mirotznik, 1998). In the midlife, work and family conflict and mental stress are comparatively stable. So if the worker is having mental health problems, this is not good for organization also. Worker not cooperated with co workers and the environment of work is always tensed. This will affect the production of the organization also. There is another major problem which occurs because of work and family conflict that is drinking. When a worker not balance his both roles and because of stress start drinking alcohol and become habitual then this make the situation worse. Because he could not take care of his family properly and even not concentrate on his work. Because of this he cut off from his family as well as from society and even from his co workers. He or she might become a victim of accident at work. Because of drinking problem he lost money and this also affects his financial condition. Marriage life of worker is also affected thats why now a days divorce rates are high, because of imbalance in family and work. When work and life conflict occurs care of children and elderly people becomes difficult. Sometimes person even thought about the suicidal attempt because of this worse situation. 5. Discuss and critically evaluate research that has examined the impact of bullying at work. Introduction Bullying at work is behaviour of annoying, offending or affecting negatively to a person in his work tasks (Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf Cooper 2003).According to HSE bullying at work is to ignore someone, circulating rumours, annoying somebody in front of others, giving somebody a task which is not achievable, constantly underestimating somebodys work .It is not a new behaviour but it was not much noticed till the end of twentieth century. Bullying was brought into the public arena by Andrea Adams, a journalist of UK, who wrote a book o bullying, in the year 1992.He also produced radio documentaries in which discussion was there on workplace bullying. In UK and Ireland bullying word is used whereas in Germany, Austria and Scandinavia it is called as mobbing and in US as emotional abuse. According to the study, Destructive conflict and bullying at work (Hoel Cooper, 2000) one in every ten people bullied on work within last 6months and the number increases to one in four in last five years. According to this study women are bullied more as compare to men. Managers or persons on senior post were culprit in 74.7% cases of bullying. The obvious experienced negative behaviour at work was somebody was not giving proper information, which gives negative impact to your performance or impossible targets or deadlines. Bullying was mostly associated with bad mental health and less satisfaction in organization (Hoel Cooper, 2000). Types of Bullying Bullying at work due to direct comments on employees causes harasses, humiliation and put negative impact on performance in work and this creates uncomfortable working atmosphere (Einarsen Rakness, 1997).It is found that usually bullying behaviour has two categories: personal and work related. Personal is an again and again offensive comment regarding you and your personal life. Work related is direct comments on your work task, not giving reasonable deadlines to complete tasks, non manageable load of work. According to Zapf (1999) there were five types of bullying behavior: A. Make the task more difficult. B. Stop communicating with somebody. C.Attack on anyones personal life. D. Humiliate and criticize in front of others. E. Circulate rum ours. Now a days physical bullying or sex abuse related bullying also found with women employees in workplaces. Impacts of bullying on psychological wellbeing Bullying at work put direct impact on persons psychological wellbeing. Psychological impacts are mental stress, anxiety, loss of sleep, less concentration in the given task or work, binge eating, addiction to alcohol or smoking, lack of alertness at work ,due to this sometimes accidents occurs. Psychologists noticed behavioural changes in workers, who face regular bullying at work. Worker becomes irritated, emotional, and aggressive. Some women who faced sexual bullying, later on gone into reverse personality. They become aggressive even on situations which are ignorable. They hate opposite sex either he is in his own blood relation. If a person continuously suffers from bullying he may develop Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Bjorkqvist et al, 1994, Leyman and Gustafsson ,1996). Impacts of bullying on physical wellbeing The person who faces regular bullying for long time also found physically ill. Because of this his blood pressure becomes high so he is suffering from hypertension and it is one of the indicators for cardiac diseases. Their immunity which helps him to fight with diseases or infections gone done. So he got infections more easily. Because of anxiety his digestive system also disturbs, so problems like diarrhea/constipation, stomachache, acidity occurs. Studies shows that continuous mental stress could also be one of the reasons of skin diseases like irritation, psoriasis etc. sometimes mental stress is the main reason of migraine. Sometimes lot of frustration could change persons mind towards suicidal attempt. Impact on organisations Bullying at work place also put impact on organizations by lowering the productivity of goods. Because workers are not work properly in organizations. Due to continuous bullying some workers often took leaves from work, which also put bad impact on work. Quality of production also gone down due to the bullying, because of this profit of organization also reduces. Studies show that work efficiency of workers also lowers because of bullying at work. At times this bullying at work place led the concern organizations to the court which is also harmful for the reputation of organization. 6. Compare and contrast the effectiveness of primary and secondary/tertiary stress management strategies in improving employee wellbeing. According to Richard Lazarus (1984) the definition of stress is that Stress is a feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize (Lazarus,1984). According to Dr. Mellisa Conrad Stopplers book, Stress, Hormones and Weight gain Stress is simply a fact of nature-forces from the outside world affecting the individual. The person responds to stress accordingly as it affect the person and his environment. Stress occurs because of external and internal factors. External factors are the environment, our home, personal relations, all outer situations, challenges, difficulties and expectations of life. Internal factors which affect your power to deal stress are nutritional status of a person, level of health and fitness, emotional status and how much rest and sleep a person got (Stoppler, 2007). Management of stress For managing the level of stress, organizations tried and do efforts for mental and physical health of the workers (Cooper Cartwright, 1997). The stress prevention done at primary, secondary and tertiary levels (Murphy, 1988). Primary intervention (preventive) Todays world is the world of globalization. In this world there is lot of competition, because of that stress becomes the biggest problem in employees in the organizations. Organizations are also affected due to stress level in employees. So organizations have low productivity and pay major cost for health care. For preventing the stress in organizations, primary interventions are there to reduce the level of stress. The major concentrate of primary intervention management is to search the causes of stress and to remove the causes. Primary intervention is also known as Stress prevention intervention. The main features of primary intervention stress management are, improving communication, re-scheduling or designing the structure of the tasks, give decision making chances to workers, lowers the work load, build cohesive teams, establish genuine policies of employment, sharing the rewards and contrast resolution skills. The primary intervention tries to modify or remove the causes of stress in the organizations so that workers work in good working atmosphere (Cooper et al., 2001). According to Wall, T.D. Clegg, C.W. (1981) study of work design done at confectionary company who faced troubles of demoralization in workers, gap in relations between workers and turnover problems. Organizations given the power of decision making, break for rest and after twenty eight months, they observe there was not any change in skill or not any progress in the task given to them. Secondary intervention (Creative) Secondary intervention is mainly related with the immediate detection and management of experienced stress by raising awareness and modifies skills of stress management of the worker with training programs (Cooper and Cartwright, 1997).In the secondary intervention workers have to manage their stress, not changing or removing the stressors. The Programmes of stress management assist and channelize the workers to know the symptoms of stress in them and other coworkers and try to get out of it. In the secondary intervention development of coping skills, management of anger, counseling and cognitive behaviour therapies are used. In the secondary intervention some class sessions or training programs are also there for increasing awareness and controlling the stressful conditions like training to do muscle relaxing exercises, educational seminars etc. Training to the workers to do their work could lower stress and improve their efficiency or creativity (Bunce and West, 1996). Cognitive behaviour therapy improves the mental wellbeing to well tolerate the harsh experiences without changing and controlling them (Bond and Bunce, 2000). Tertiary intervention (Reactive) Tertiary intervention assists the workers to give treatment, compensate and rehabilitate them who are suffering from illness due to stress. This intervention usually assist workers to come out from stress occurs due to their work. The main aim of these programmes is to treat the worker who is beneficial for the organizations. This intervention includes medical intervention, treatment and ongoing counseling also. So that worker returns to their work normally. These services are provided in house counselors or foreign agencies in the form of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPS). Employee Assistance Programs give twenty four hrs telephone services. Workers are easily access these services (Cooper and Cartwright, 1997). Meditation help to reduce stress, sleeplessness, anxiety and tensions (Alexander et al.,1993).For lowering their stress level, workers concentrate more on deep breathing and muscle relaxing exercises(Mcguigen,1994). Comparison of stress prevention interventions According to Kempier and Cooper (1999) now a days for stress management the secondary and tertiary interventions are more used as compare to primary ones. It was seen that these three interventions are effective in reverse order. In case of stress at the working place the primary intervention targets on the cause of stress in work place, secondary saw the effect of stress on worker and tertiary helps workers to rehabilitation and provide treatment in case of medical sickness due to stress. Secondary and tertiary level interventions play important role in preventing stress but they are not completely successful in stress management unless the cause of stress is not removed. Another limitation of secondary and tertiary interventions is that they dont address the area to control the stressor which is important. Secondary and primary interventions are not sufficient to maintain the health of workers without removing the cause as in primary intervention (Cooper and Cartwright, 1997). Conclusion The secondary and tertiary interventions are useful in stress prevention but without the removal of cause they are not much beneficial. These interventions have favourable affect on indivual level and organizational level.

Sunday, August 4, 2019

An Investigation Into Electrical Resistance :: essays research papers

Background Knowledge Resistance, in electricity, is a property of any object or substance to resist the flow of an electrical current. The quantity of resistance in an electric circuit determines the amount of current flowing in the circuit for any given voltage applied to the circuit. The resistance of an object is determined by the nature of the substance of which it is composed, its resistivity, accounting for its dimensions and its temperature. Resistivity is expressed in terms of Ohms / cm3 at 20Â ºC. An electrical conductor is any material that offers little resistance to the flow of an electric current. The difference between a conductor and an insulator, which is a poor conductor of electricity, is one of degree rather than kind, because all substances conduct electricity to some extent. A good conductor of electricity, such as silver or copper, may have a conductivity billions of times as great, or more, as the conductivity of a good insulator, such as glass or mica. Method We were set the task of investigating the factors that come into play when determining the resistance of a piece of wire. We would be provided with the necessary apparatus needed to carry out the investigations. The basic setup would involve a circuit with a set of cells connected in series with an ammeter and the piece of wire being investigated, and a voltmeter connected in parallel with the wire. The ammeter is placed in series with the wire. An ammeter has a low resistance, so that it introduces as little extra resistance as possible into the circuit. The voltmeter is connected in parallel with the wire. Voltmeters have a high resistance, so the current they take is usually negligible. We decided on the variables that could affect the resistance of a wire:  Length of the wire  Thickness of the wire  The material used as the wire  Temperature We were to investigate as many of these factors as possible given a limited period of time. We would carry out a set of experiments where in each one we changed one variable while keeping the others constant. In each case we would have to measure the current passing through the circuit and the potential difference across the wire; given these the resistance could be calculated using the formula R=v/i, where R is the resistance in Ohms, v is the potential difference in Volts, and i is the current in Amperes.

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice Essay -- Anne Rices Memnoch the Devil

Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice Killing, kidnapping and battles, all parts of Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice. The main character, Lestat, is a well-known and flamboyant vampire. In Memnoch the Devil, Lestat is faced with a grim reality, causing his world to collapse around him. He learns throughout this book, about the world, and the divine forces that encircle the world’s existence. This book illustrates how Lestat’s morals, ignorance and understanding are greatly affected by outside forces. In the beginning of the book, Lestat, the quick and cunning vampire referred to as â€Å"the Brat Prince† by his followers stalks a wealthy artifact smuggler. Lestat soon becomes obsessed with his mortal victim, Roger, following him and trying to live his life through Roger’s eyes. Lestat quickly develops a love for Roger, due to Roger's take on life, and his robust actions. Lestat comes to the reality that Roger is sick and evil, through his past was full of murders of family members and mercenary like acts. Even all of this added to the fact that Roger was a smuggler of godly artifacts, Lestat’s love for Roger still lived on. Lestat observes his own actions and concludes that he himself is sick and evil as well, due to his obsessive stalking. Lestat sees his morals are in fact worse than those of Roger, when he brutally slays and mutates his carcass. With this Lestat concludes that he was in fact the sick and evil one, more so than Roger was. Lestat is soon encountered by Roger’s a...

Friday, August 2, 2019

The Unethical Abuse of Todays Elderly Essays -- essays research papers

THE UNETHICAL ABUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE ELDERLY Waking up in the middle of the night frightened and shaken up is a terrible time that each one of us can remember feeling. Then having someone close to us who we trusted come in, pick us up, and hold us tight produced a sense of security. We were able to take that security, and build a dignified and confident person that grew wiser with age. It seems though that in some instances, as we grow older and wiser, some do not get the respect and dignity that is owed to them. The security that helped build their lives has been stripped from them. Seniors end up losing the human right of having dignity and security that they have come to enjoy and live with. Our human rights do not answer to the needs of today’s elderly, either through discriminatory acts, or acts of abuse. We should all be treated with the same free discriminatory human rights as well as the opportunity to equality, as stated in the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA). It declares that†¦ †¦[a]ll individuals should have an opportunity equal with other individuals to make for themselves the lives that they are able and wish to have and to have their needs accommodated, consistent with their duties and obligations as members of society, without being hindered in or prevented from doing so by discriminatory practices based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability or conviction for an offence for which a pardon has been granted.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To live in such a perfect world where everybody can have their needs addressed would be as though you were living a dream. But in the cruel reality, many people get discriminated against on an everyday basis; especially seniors. Many seniors today find themselves being taken advantaged of in a number of manifest and latent ways. The simple need of being treated with the same human rights as all other people is escaping our reality. As a person grows older they begin to experience the different classes of mistreatment. Although the CHRA tries to protect people with human rights, they themselves show and promote the act of discrimination. â€Å"Much of what we associate with aging is simply ‘socially constructed’† . Since the discrimination against elderly people is so characterized, it is not surprising that soc... ...manity, perhaps it should be our turn to sit and listen, rather than trying to force our realm of ideas upon them. Bibliography 1. Aitken, Brian, W. W. Ethical Issues for the Elderly: Study Guide. Huntington University, 1998. 2. Canadian Human Rights Act: Chapter H-6 3. Kosberg, Jordan, I. Abuse and Maltreatment of the Elderly: Causes and Interventions. Boston: John Wright, PSG Inc, 1983. 4. Shell, Donna, J. Protection of the Elderly: A Study of Elder Abuse. Winnipeg: Manitoba Council on Aging, 1982. 5. Supreme Court of Canada: McKinney v. University of Guelph (1990) 6. Wolf, Rosalie, S., Pillemer, Karl, A. â€Å"Helping Elderly Victims† The Reality of Elder Abuse. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989. 7. www.oaktrees.org/elder/define.shtml 8. www.oaktrees.org/elder/recog.shtml#rl 9. www.lcc.gc.ca/en/themes/pr/oa/spencer/spencer.html#chap3a 10. www.ohrc.on.ca/english/consultations/age-consultation-report_7.shtml 11. www.ohrc.on.ca/english/consultations/age-consultation-report_5.shtml 12. www.ohrc.on.ca/english/consultations/age-consultation-report_4.shtml 13. www.ohrc.on.ca/english/consultations/age-consultation-report_10.shtml

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Case: “Lessons on Leadership from Ann Fudge”

†¢ Openness to Experience: The way she approaches problems, learns new information, and reacts to new experiences are showing that she is open to new experiences and curious. For example, she willingly took 2 years off to travel and see the world—try new things—and define her life by more than her career (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy, 2012, p. 233). She exposed herself to new cultures and ideas. She is very strategic and has her eye on the big-picture which indicates her high level of openness to experience. Agreeableness: How does she get along with others, as opposed to getting ahead of others?Again, it is likely she would score high on this factor. She is about being out with people (customers and employees) and listening to them. She has the ability to interact effectively with all constituencies of a consumer business. She could engage all three constituents in the same day. She is approachable and optimistic. Extraversion: Fudge is self-confident, competitive, li kes being around people (and in a team environment), decisive, goal-oriented, and drives to make an impact. Neuroticism: How does she react to stress, failure, and personal criticism? Moderate to high on this factor.As her old boss pointed out, she is very comfortable with who she is and is not interested in pretending to be someone else (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy, 2012, p. 233). This indicates she can handle the personal criticism and deal with it. However, the fact that she decided to take some time off and do other things might show she was not dealing with the stress and pressure well. †¢ Analytic Intelligence: Although not as important in this case, her track record for high levels of success and performance indicates she likely has a high degree of general mental ability.Practical Intelligence: Also known as â€Å"street smarts,† has been important in her new job. She has used her knowledge of the business and industry to land some very big new clients to the firm ( i. e. , Microsoft, Toys R Us). †¢ Benefits: It allowed her to gain new and broader experiences. Perhaps, even it helped increasing her commitment to various and diverse ideas as a way to stimulate thinking and business. She was also true to herself about what she wanted to do to define her life. In addition, it also provided her with a chance to take a break and recharge her battery (and avoid urnout)—in the end this has the chance to make her more of an asset to her organization and employees. Drawbacks: Leaving the industry for 2 years could result in losing contact with the industry as well as updating the current trends. It might hurt her credibility in the sense that others thought she could not â€Å"hack it† when things were getting tough. The perceptions others have might be an initial hurdle, but Fudge appears to have cleared this and other potential drawbacks and is leading Y&R back to the top in this industry.

What Is It About Theories in the Human Sciences and Natural Sciences That Makes Them Convincing

When I was very young, my science teacher taught me Charles Darwin’s evolution theory, and I never doubted that theory since Darwin is a well-known scientist and the authority in the field of biology. Until one day, I became a Christian; I need to accept another theory which is that human beings are created by God. My knowledge had a crash. I have never seen neither earlier species develop to human beings nor God creates human beings by using mud. That is when I started to question the knowledge that I have acquired from all the areas of knowledge. Why I am convinced by the theories?What do I or should I really believe? When I was first introduced to Newton’s third law of motions which is the mutual force of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear; I doubted it for a very long time. Since every time when I play roller skate and hit to a wall, I am the one who falls and got hurt, then how can I believe the wall got the same mutual force f rom me as well? However, one day, my teacher brought two same sized basketballs to the class. He put both of them on the floor and called two students to push the balls.When the basketballs collided with each other; both of them started to move backward. That is how my teacher proved Newton’s third law of motion and that’s when I started to believe. My sight as one of the sense perception witnessed someone prove the law and based on the past experiences, my sense perception rarely lies to me ergo I accepted something that I did not believe in natural science because of my faith in the sense perception. Also, as an IB natural science student, I knew that there is a very strict systematic methodology (observation, hypothesis, experiment, law, and theory) in natural science.If some scientist wants to find a theory form his or her observation then he or she needs to follow the methodology precisely so that other scientist could use the same method to recreate the experimen t and to prove the theory. In other words, natural science is universal; the theory will not change because of culture, gender or age etc. just like playing piano, as long as one gets the piano sheets, the melody that he or she plays will be the same with others who are at the different age or have different cultural background.However, one’s emotion could effects the accuracy of the natural sciences sometimes. The natural scientists therefore are required to do the experiment over and over again also they try to control all the possible variables in order to avoid the result affected by the emotion. For me, I can prove theories in natural sciences by using the same method as the scientist did. No matter how many times I do the experiment. The result does not change. The strict and universally accept methodology makes me have a very strong faith in theories in natural sciences.Even though we can use different methods to justify most of the natural science theories, some of th e theories are so abstract that even some of the scientists cannot understand them. When facing those theories that I am not smart enough to question or to challenge, I am not a natural science student anymore, I became like an uneducated child, but I am still convinced by those abstruse theories. This is not blind faith, I used reasoning as a way of knowing to decide whether the knowledge is convincing.When I read â€Å"the Brief History of Time† by Steven Hawking I did not understand any theories mentioned in the book, but I still believe it. This is because that since a lot of Hawking’s theories had been commonly accepted, I believe that he is an authority in the field of physics and many other scientists are convinced by Hawking too. As he has been right for a long time ergo I assumed there is enough reason to believe he is right for this time as well. Since there are not many potions and are not many theories that I known of are competing with Hawking’s.I a m sometimes convinced by one natural science theory simply because that the scientist who came up with the theory is the authority and there are not any other theories to believe. If natural sciences are the studies of non-living objects then in my opinion human sciences studies the most vigorous objects, the minds of human beings. As I mentioned earlier, natural science is like playing piano, as long as people follow the symbol written on the piano sheets, they will get the same melody. In contrary, human beings