Comparison of The Crucible and After Liverpool Essay Example for Free

Comparison of The Crucible and After Liverpool Essay For this assignment I am going to be comparing two plays both of which I have studied and preformed. The first play, which I studied, was the crucible by Arthur Miller and After Liverpool by James Saunders. Each of the two plays are naturalistic but are set in two very different times. The Crucible is set in Salem Massachusetts in 1642 and After Liverpool is set in the 70s. The two are quite contrary in how they were set out first of all After Liverpool was made up of 23 small scenes some only having a few lines some having quite a few but most of them were short. The main things used in the setting for each scene are very basic. The scene was made up of a coffee table, a few chairs and a sofa. It os so basic as everyone has these things and this type of thing could happen to anyone of us at any time. This produces the effect that relationships are similar and that in this performance the only thing that maters is the relationship between the actors whereas on the other hand The Crucible is quite different. This is made up of four long acts. This uses lots of sophisticated props for example detailed furniture and crockery. This is all needed to set the time in which the crucible is set. Whereas in After Liverpool the setting is not irrelevant but is not as important. After Liverpool was made up of two characters of not much significance and a series of duologues bar one. After Liverpool is about the lack of communication that can develop over time. The short scenes in this piece are somewhat symbolic to the nature of relationships today. The speed and the fact that long term relationships are not as common. Also most of them are based on sexual attraction, which is now an important thing when looking for a partner. The crucible has many different characters and each of the characters are described and are of quite significance. Compared to After Liverpool where there is no description of the characters. There is no description of characters as it is irrelevant of who you are in this piece as all people are involved or could be involved in a relationship. The crucible is based on a true story and some of the characters were real people. The crucible is an allegory and was written as Arthur Miller wanted to express his views but couldnt so he uses The Crucible as an allegory to do so. Miller wanted to express his views about the McCarthy communist hunts in America. What he was saying was that if America is so great and believes in freedom why is it that you were killed or exiled for believing in a contrary government to Americas own. Also The Crucibles main theme was mass hysteria and the community being ruled by the church and religion. After Liverpool also uses symbolism in the apples by this is mean is that the apple is representing the forbidden apple from the story of Adam and Eve. Both of theses plays are similar as both are about gaining power in a relationship in the crucible Abigail gains power over John Proctor leading to his death. After Liverpool this is about relationships and communication between couples. It is preformed entirely in chronological order with no flash backs unlike The Crucible tells you about past events. In After Liverpool each scene is wholly about the couples relationship and the communication or lack of the couples lack any past and never refer to the future. The Crucible is very detailed in its explanation of characters, which gives you an idea when performing of how to play each character. In After Liverpool there is no indication and it is entirely down to the person performing the piece. So it is an indication of how the performer sees the scene happening and maybe an indication on how they view relationships. The fact After Liverpool is written like this is also symbolic in that everyone can be in a relationship that is why the characters are labelled M and W. The reason they are labelled M and W is that it can represent anyone, which is rue as anyone can be in a relationship. The scenes did not have to be in any order this is also symbolic that the relationships in the play do not get anywhere they always end up asking the same questions. They had no specific chronological order as everything was happening in the present. Having looked at both plays it has given me an insight of two very effective ways of portraying relationships both of them very different from each other. I preferred performing After Liverpool as I could use my own drama skills to play each character, which I think is a lot better, and I enjoyed it more. Also I found it easier to understand, as it used more modern language, which was easier to learn.

Advantages of E-banking

Advantages of E-banking Chapter 1: Introduction Introduction Nowadays, Malaysia is a multi sector economy and technology development based on the presence of many technological inventions. Traditional banking act as physical bank and delivery channel which to give customers to place or get their money out of the bank safety deposit boxes, managing checking or current accounts, paying cheques drawn by customers. However, e-banking is one of the technological inventions that give conveniences to customers to manage financial transactions on a secure website performed by retail or virtual bank, credit union or building society. E-banking is also called electronic banking which is the automated delivery of new banking services and products directly to customers through electronic, interactive communication channels. It brings many benefits and capabilities to customer compared to traditional banking. E-banking is fast and convenient way of using computer to easy access to the bank in 24hours. E-banking utilizes the internet system as the delivery channel by which to accomplish banking activity, for example, paying bills, transferring funds, viewing checking and savings account balances, paying mortgages and purchasing financial instruments and certificates of deposits (Haque et al, 2009). Internet banking enable customers to access their general information and accounts of bank products and services through PC or other intelligent device using web browser software on 24 hours a day and 7days a week, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft internet explorer (Mohamad, Hanudin, Suddin, Noren, 2007). The development in information technology have had an tremendous effect in development of more flexible payment methods and more user-friendly banking services in the world of banking (Serkan, Safak, Eda, 2004). There are some features that fall into several categories of internet banking which are transactional, non-transactional, financial institution administration, support of multiple users having varying levels of authority, transaction approval process and wire transfer. In transactional, e-banking act as account and financial transactions, pay bills, wire transfer and apply for loan or new account, investment purchase or sale and others. Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) is an electronic billing which customer can pay bill and receives payment easily, faster, and conveniently over anywhere and any times. Customer perception is interpretation of sensory mind and experienced by customer. The convenience of e-banking are attracted customers and provided no cost charged to customers. Customers have started accepting this internet service and assessing the banks based on their easy to access and convenience. With great confidence toward e-banking, customers are willing uses the internet banking to transfer fund, pay bills, and lot more with a excellent-secured system. It also can establish the relationship between trust and loyalty of customer toward e-banking. Internet banking in USA and Europe The dramatic growth in internet usage has generated a segment of customers with the ability and desire to conduct banking transactions completely online (Mathew and George, 2003). The internet explosion in the late-1990s brings people more convenience with various applications over the web. In the mid-1990s, customers using internet as monetary business transaction over the web as the financial institutions had implemented e-banking. The majority of US-based banks are escalating their investment in technology and hedging their bets while research specifies that a substantial portion of the customer base may always demand the type of personal interaction that can only be provided by individual branch personnel (Alstad, 2002). TowerGroups prediction is highlighted by CRMToday on IT spending by large banks in USA, which the amounts is 24.1 billion in 2004 as compare to 22 billion in 2002. Besides that, many US banks, such as Bank of America and Umpqua Bank are lending from social media channels, offering social networking, pod casting, web casts and other interactive tools. Now competitors can establish an internet bank for as little as $6 million in the USA compared to the cost of setting up a traditional brick and mortar bank (estimated at between $25 and $30 million) (Nathan, 1999). CRMToday (2003a) also stated that without major consumers adoption internet banking would not achieve as profitable as promise although there are increasing in amounts of online banking customers. According to the European Central Bank in 2002 (centeno, 2003), the level of services and its quality differ according to the country and the banks even though all main banks provide internet banking services. Bughin, 2001 investigated that the adoption rate is examined to be averaging only 17% of internet users or less than 6% of total bank customers. The author also stated that there are 60% internet customers do not have subject in buying books, CDs or low valued item through online but are reluctant to create online banking transactions. Furthermore, there are differences of internet banking adoption also existed among some countries in Europe. Around 18-25% of populations in Estonia are utilizing internet banking services whereas Italian bank had about no on-line customers by early 2000, banks in Malta initiated internet banking services in December 2002 (Centeno, 2003). Furthermore, there are differences of adoption among banks within the same country. Bughin (2001) stated an example, a leading banks in France have diffusion rate over 11% while minor bank such as the credit commercial de France have translated only 2% of its customers to online for the same period. Internet banking in Turkey In Turkey, there are over 18% of banking customers using e-banking actively (Jamaluddin, Osman, Sukru and Kemal, 2008). Since 1997 internet banking has been recognized as a feasible alternative distribution channel by Turkish commercial banks due to the deregulation in the financial sector, escalation of computer literacy, the rapid diffusion of electronic commerce, strong commitments to reduce operating costs, changing customer demands for innovative financial products and services and create customer convenience (Hakan, 2008). Due to the low cost of attracting customer to utilize internet banking and retaining existing innovation-demanding customers during the past two decades, most of Turkish commercial banks found it irresistible to invest large amounts in online banking although the customer take up of internet banking appeared to be very slow. In addition, the actual number of utilizing e-banking users appeared to be between 1 and 1.2 million (30%) in 2003 although 2million people (50%) were forecasted to utilize e-banking by 2003 (Akinci, 2004; Celik, 2002; Ozkan, 2003). Furthermore, in turkey the numbers of active internet banking accounts are escalating from 150,000 in 2000 to 5.5 million in 2007 and grew annually by 68 percent (Higgs, 2000). In comparison, although this illustrates that internet banking has experienced strong and sustained growth since its inception, Turkey has a lower internet banking penetration rate than that of many European countries. The research on internet banking by individual customers in the country has been required to improve customers understanding of how their particular beliefs or motives affect their utilization of the services. Internet Banking In Australia Internet banking growth continued rapidly in Australia with a 26 % increase in the internet banking customer population to 5.5 million users (approximately 34% of the adult population) going on over the 12 months to May 2005 (ACNielsen, 2005). The report stated there are over 7.2 million consumers accessed 27 millions accounts in 2003 which is an increase of 31% compared to 16.2% in 2002 (MISC, 2004). The report showed that users are more efficient in utilizing Internet banking services and transacting more amounts utilizing fewer sessions. Furthermore, internet banking services are increasingly attracted among users women and 50+ years age group is the highest growing in all category. There are 54% of Australian adults were utilizing telephone banking and an estimated 25% of employed internet banking after a period of strong electronic banking market development between 1997 and 2002. Small and medium banks in USA provide more user-friendly services than larger banks and achieved well in the area of personal internet banking, and website reliability and transactional capabilities while larger banks in Australia offer more variety services than smaller banks. Nevertheless, small and medium sized banks in Australia have found to provide more user-friendly services than larger banks and are successful in offering personal banking services. Internet Banking In Malaysia Since achieving independence in the 1957 banking activities in Malaysia has changed enormously with appearances of new technology application. In the 1980, the first Automated teller Machines (ATMs) was introduced which was be the most visible piece of evidence of the emerging electronic banking in Malaysia. ATM is a computerized telecommunications device that used for transfer funds between checking, balance enquiry, cash withdrawal, savings and credit card accounts, bill payments, making cash and check deposits and making payments to application for initial public offerings in Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. This technology brought the revolution were longer banking hours which unlimited beyond office hours (BNM Annual Reports, 1985-1997). Apart from this, the next changes in this evolutionary process will be the telebanking and PC-banking in the 1990s. In the early 1990 telebanking was introduced in Malaysia as delivery channel for branch financial services via telecommunications devices connected to an automated system of the bank where customers can perform retail banking transactions through using Automated Voice Response (AVR) technology. The functions of telebanking are almost similar to the ATM services except withdrawal and deposit of cash. Telebanking brings convenience, extended access and significant time saving to the customers. The insufficiency of cash withdrawal function in telebanking leads to the poor customer response to telebanking. In the 1990s, ten local commercial banks are offering PC-banking or home banking services. PC-banking is an online banking device which customer can utilize their computers in anywhere anytime for account transactions by subscribing and dialing into the banks intranet proprietary software system. PC-banking can raise speed, decrease cost and enhance flexibility of business transactions which is more suitable among corporate customers. In the half of 1990, the number of customer that utilizes this service still small. This is because they faced some problems, such as risk in transacting on the internet, lack of trust and loyalty of customer and poor of product and service quality. In this table indicates that frequency of familiarity and usage of using ATM is the highest and PC-banking is the lowest percentage. ATM can attracted all of banking customer to use this service because it really brings convenience to the customer since it can save time, reduce difficulty, and enhance flexibility of business transaction to customers. There are 80% that not using telebanking because this service cant provide any cash withdrawal function. However, PC-banking also faced lack of attraction from banking customers due to the new banking service that introduced to this country, which most of customer still unable to accept this new internet service. When customer utilize PC-banking, they may face some problems, such as risk in transacting on the internet, lack of trust and loyalty of customer and product and service quality. Furthermore, e-banking in Malaysia is become increasingly popular on developments in information technology and telecommunications. In Malaysia internet banking service (IBS) was established in six years ago (The Star, 2005). IBS is a convenience and new physical banking service which is to attain more potential customers as it allows bankers to deliver banking services to a wider segment of customers through electronic and interactive communication channels (Goi, 2005), with 12 domestic banks offering IBS to 4.5million subscribers currently (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2007). So surprisingly internet banking has become one of the popular services with 51 percent out of 8,000 of total respondents once a month. In the beginning, there are 5 Malaysia banks have invested millions of ringgit in online banking but these banks are still functioning as dial up intranet facilities. The online service is still unavailable for customers because of the insufficiency of legal framework and security concerns. The investment may be wasted due to the deficiency of important business understanding to support customer adoption if a bank introduces Internet Banking Services without a clear understanding of factors influencing customer adoption (Goi, 2005; Pires and Aisbett, 2002). In table 1 it illustrates the demographic characteristics of the internet bank users and the non-internet bank users among the sample respondents was analyzed. Mean monthly income is the only significant difference appears which it assumed that the internet bank user monthly income is highly than non-internet bank user. It also shows that there is no significant difference between the mean age of the internet bank users and the non-internet bank users. These two groups are equal in percentage of graduates and undergraduates in which both of the groups are nearly about 85%. Background of study The purpose of this research is to identify and evaluate the consumers perception toward e-banking. Consumer perception is important to bankers because of that banker can only understand and determine what customer actually wants to and how e-banking service shall satisfy them. There are some variables will be discussed which are affecting the growth of e-banking in Malaysia. From the customers perspective, internet banking assists a convenient and effective approach to control personal finances without visiting the bank and from any locations, as it is accessible 24 hours a day and 365 days in a year (Rotchanakitumunai and Speece, 2003). Through this report we will discuss about different countries have different customers perception about e-banking. This research also studies whether service or service quality will influences the trust and willingness of customer for using e-banking. Besides that, we also explore the factors which are taken to assess customer perception toward various application of internet banking. The factors that will be assessed are convenience of account transaction, flexibility, reliability, save time and cost. Internet banking is convenient, no geographical barriers, low cost and isnt bound by operational timings (IAMAIs, 2006). More than 50% of total respondents agreed that e-banking is convenient and flexible ways of banking and it also have a variety of transaction related advantages (Divya and Padhmanabhan, 2008). The purposes of internet banking consist of customer convenience through personalized service, cost containment through decline in operating cost, revenue expansion through better quality and additional non-financial services, and performance enhancement by making the service from any location (Bradley Stewart, 2002; Chau Lai, 2003; Frust et al., 2000; Suganthi Balachandran, 2001). How saving of cost and time affect the p erception of customer toward e-banking are also analyzed. So this research main purpose is to examine the variables of the actual perception of customer toward e-banking. Problem statement This research explores and examines some topics which are important elements that help in consumers perception toward e-banking. Banker should understand the need of customer so that they can improve the insufficient of the services. Banker should find out the way to attract more customers to utilize their services. In line with global trends, most customers are not focusing on this internet application. So, we need to solve this problem regarding the importance of the e-banking among customer in the local area. Customer should learn to use internet banking which can bring conveniences without going to the bank. Then customers will obtain satisfaction with the system when it provides them maximum convenience while bank transaction is occurred. The convenience of internet banking is contributing to changing patterns in cash withdrawal and day to day money management and assisting people gain greater control of their finances (Beer, 2006). On the other hand, there are few factors that lead to this problem occurrence. Firstly, not many people start to use e-banking because they still not trust on the system through internet. They will worry and always have a doubt about whether their money is safe. In addition there are few cases of fraud have been reported in online banking. The hacker wills forgery information by entering person information without the owner knowing and takes out his/her money. Secondly, there are lacks of social contact because internet banking dont have any assistance will be served to customer. It will create difficulty to the customer since in the bank there will be banker which will helps and assists customer needs. They will easily give up since there are many lack of skill problems occurred when utilizing the systems. Besides that, it is difficult to do survey since there are a lot of public are faced limitation of time, because it may take times to explain to the public. Research objective To identify what influence consumers perception toward e-banking To determine the factors that affecting consumer perception toward e-banking To find out how service quality influences internet banking user To identify the reason why customer use internet banking To solve the problem customer face toward internet banking To increase the knowledge of customer toward internet banking To improve the insufficient of the internet banking services To enhance the loyalty and trust between consumer and e-banking Significance of study This research is contributed to give customers to better understand about e-banking. There are many features and characteristics of the e-banking that many people still no realize about it. Through this research, we will interview a numeral of people and will explain about internet banking to give consumer to better understand the services that already provided to help them to ease their life. For example, CIMB offers CIMB Bank AirAsia Savers Account, a paperless account which customer will directly enjoy the convenience of viewing their account statement online without require a passbook (AirAsia Berhad, 2007-2010). Such a good service provided by bank, customer wont know about it if they no utilize internet banking. This study has combined varieties of factors from past research to study consumers perception toward e-banking. Both practitioners and academics can obtain the advantages by to better understand the consumers perception in the value of internet banking services. Furthermore, they can also identify the deficiency of the service in e-banking through this research so that the service would be improved to match customers requirement. Hence, customer can properly understand and adapt the problem that they face as necessary. In Malaysia, Maybank has become the first bank to introduce internet banking services (Maybank2u.com) and an combined web-based cash management portal on June 1, 2000. The online banking services will allow customer to perform bill payment, banking enquiry functions, funds transfer, credit card payment and accounts summary as well as transaction history (Suganthi, Balachandher and Balachandran, 2001). However, the influence of consumers acceptance e-banking in Malaysia seems more challenging because of the deficiency of information and academic in e-banking. Scope of study The scope of study is only concentrate about consumer area and perception toward e-banking. In this study, the research will be focus on MMU student, CIMB banking users and businessman that will regularly using banking service. The reason that we choose MMU student is because MMU student will often using online banking systems to pay tuition fees, transfer fund to their friends, check for their transaction account anywhere anytime. Apart from this they can teach their parent to use these services since it is very convenience and saving time, especially to those parent that very busy with their work. Besides that, we also focus on CIMB bank users which they can provide some information through interviews or questionnaires. Then, we will determine how depth the respondents understand about internet banking and what their comment regarding e-banking. Through this research we will resolve the inadequate and insufficient of service of internet banking. In addition to this, for sure business man they want to utilize something that very fast, time-saving, and can assist to their business. They can conduct most of their business on the internet and make transactions between their businesses without going to the bank. It can guarantee service quality for users conducting business transactions while utilizing IT applications and infrastructure. Through this research we can ask for some suggestion or any dissatisfied regarding internet banking from different view of business man, CIMB bank users and MMU student. Limitation of the study The extension of this study include there are large amounts of people still dont have the internet connection in their home and some dont know how to use e-banking services which will result in lack of internet banking users. There is a need for public knowledge to deal with computers and browsers since there are a lot of public still unable to use the internet applications. Besides that, it will lead to the difficulty of development of e-banking in the country. Customer may prefer visiting the bank branch because there are lacks of social contact regarding e-banking will creates difficulty to the customer since in the bank there will be banker which will helps and assists customer needs. Then it may take some time to learn and get to use to internet banking, as it requires a lot of procedures. If banks server down, customer may not access to the website. Secondly, the limitation that I faced is the difficulty of communication with the respondents when interviewing and collecting data for my research. Some of the people will resist for doing the research survey because they thought I wanted to promote or sell something. The thing that I frequently faced is meeting people who reject to answer any question before I start to talk about my research purpose. Organization of research In chapter 1, the main title is introduction which is a beginning section that states the internet banking among difference countries. Background of study explaining what about of a particular topic is placed. Problem statement is focus on the attention of the problem solving team. Research objective is writing about the purpose of this research. In significant of study, I will shift from the particular to the general, and present the importance of the study from target beneficiaries to the people in the community, to the people in the region and nation. Scope of study is focus on the coverage of areas in this research such as student and businessman. The limitation of study is about the restriction that I facing during doing this research. In addition, Chapter 2 is literature reviews. In this chapter reviews and introduces the previous journals related age, income, education, gender, convenience, perceived ease of use, reliability, saving time and cost, service or service quality and trust. I will focus on how these independent variables influence consumers adoption of internet banking. There will be an overview of some journals about consumers adoption toward e-banking will be presented which will used to examine the relationship between independent and dependent variables. In Chapter 3 it is about research methodology that including theoretical framework, hypothesis of study, data collection and data analysis. In Theoretical framework, I will suggest the integrative interrelationships among important variables in the research which is includes age, income, education, gender, convenience, perceived ease of use, reliability, saving time and cost, service or service quality and trust. There are four method are used in data analysis, which are frequency distribution, Pearsons correlation coefficient, cross tabulation and descriptive analysis. Chapter 2: Literature Review Introduction In this chapter 2, I review many journals about this topic in the various area of e-banking. In the 2.2 those journals are investigating about demographic affects the consumers adoption toward e-banking. In the 2.3, those journals are investigating the factors that influence the consumers adoption toward e-banking. In the 2.4, those journals are investigating about the service or service quality which will influence consumers adoption. In the 2.5, those journals are investigating about influence of trust toward consumers adoption. Demographic According to Kim,Widdows and Yilmazer (2005), age were influencing the attitude of consumers towards internet banking and their ability for learning how to do investment. The younger age groups of consumers are more likely to invest the time to learn to utilize internet banking because this group of consumers can generate more advantages through time saving. Besides that, higher income of consumers will have higher value of time than consumers with lower income, so higher income of the consumer can generate more advantages through adoption of internet banking. More educated consumers may involve fewer training in response to technological change if their general skills facilitate them to be taught the new technology (Bartel and Sicherman, 1998). They also indicated that adoption internet banking of well educated individuals is faster than less educated individuals due to the internet banking, new technology, and warrantees reduction of the time required for money transactions. In Padachi, Rojid and Seetanah (2007) report examined that the younger generation the more they like to utilize the new technological advancements as they are more prefer to adopt e-banking compared to the older generation. Mean age of internet banking users is 45 and 47 for non-internet banking users. Furthermore, the higher of education and income ladder will lead to the greater the probability of customer adopting internet banking. There are 57% of respondent having an education level in the category post graduate and 33% in the category of undergraduate utilizes the service. There are 48% of people using the internet banking that have the income group of Rs 30000 to 49000, which means the higher income earners are more sensible in utilizing internet. In the Jane, Jeanne and Marianne (2004) report explores the discoveries of demographic correlates of technology acceptance have constructed varying results with respect to important relationships to adoption. Men and women show to have dissimilar acceptance rates of specific computer technologies which men will more prefer on adopting technologies application(Gefen and Straub, 1997), but gender appear not to be found to have a direct on adoption of technology in general (Taylor and Todd, 1995; Gefen and Straub, 1997). The research show that the probability of higher income households ($75000 or more) being current users of ABP was 15 points higher than low income households (under $25000) and was more likely to adopt e-banking. However, research examined younger persons are being more likely to adopt which has also linked age and adoption of technologies (Zeithaml and Gilly, 1987; Trocchia and Janda, 2000; Karjaluoto, 2002; Lee, 2002). The research shows that the age of 65 of respond ents were less likely to adopt phone banking and PC banking compared to medium and youngest group. People with married status are more likely to adopt than single males or females because when it comes to bank accounts, married couples may have jointly held accounts. In region variable households living in the northeast were more likely than in the midwest to have adopted or to intend to adopt phone banking or ABP. In the Demographic characteristics of Western Australian users of electronic banking journal published by Catherine, Simone and Katherine (2005) explored that most online banking customers were male while the majority of telephone banking customers were females. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2001 stated that consumers of Western Australia, who are between 18 and 24 years of age, employed, male, have higher levels of education, and higher incomes have been examined to be more likely to use information technology that those are older, unemployed, lower incomes and have lower levels of education. The authors also examined 58.4% of the internet banking users are being in professional, administrative, managerial or para-professional occupations. This is because males in these occupations often utilize technologies such as computers and the internet in the workplace, providing them access to the required hardware and possibly encouraging a preference for online interaction with pr oviders. Filoto, Tanzi and Saita (1997); Jayawardhena and Foley (2000); Thornton and White (2001); Pereira (2002) have found these customers may be on higher incomes due to their more educated and/or highly skilled and therefore they are in occupations that need them to be more practiced at using technology-based service delivery modes. Mitchell (1998) and Tan (1999) stated that education may not be an important aspect for EFTPOS users because transactions are usually performed in retail settings and they involve retail personnel who assist the completion of transactions for consumers. Jayawardhena and Foley (2000), Orenstein (1998) and Thornton and White (2001) argued that online banking consumers are more likely to have higher than average education and they may frequently be students because of their higher exposure to technologies such as internet and computer. Councils on the Ageing (2002) stated that in some studies have recommended that older consumers may be discouraged from the utilization of electronic banking by issues such as limitation of mobility and visibility. In Jun Wu, 2005 report examined that the products and services people purchase varies during the different stages of their lives. The result of demographic age profile in this research shows that the 21 to 29 age group is dominant. Furthermore, consumers that more educated will have more money available to spend because of better education, and this influences their life-styles. Wilkie (1990) stated that it will influences which type of products they purchase, what kind of stores to purchase them in, and what prices they are willing to pay as people achieve higher education. Customers with better educated be likely to have better paying occupations than not well educated customers (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000) because a persons level of education can affect strongly on their ability to create income and their consumer spending potential. Polatoglu and Ekin (2001) explored that high levels of education improve a consumers ability to process more complicated information and make decision s. Income is a famous demographic variable for segmenting markets due to the income levels affect consumer wants and determines their purchasing power (Lamb, 2000). Purchasing power is influenced by inflation, recession, the international valu Advantages of E-banking Advantages of E-banking Chapter 1: Introduction Introduction Nowadays, Malaysia is a multi sector economy and technology development based on the presence of many technological inventions. Traditional banking act as physical bank and delivery channel which to give customers to place or get their money out of the bank safety deposit boxes, managing checking or current accounts, paying cheques drawn by customers. However, e-banking is one of the technological inventions that give conveniences to customers to manage financial transactions on a secure website performed by retail or virtual bank, credit union or building society. E-banking is also called electronic banking which is the automated delivery of new banking services and products directly to customers through electronic, interactive communication channels. It brings many benefits and capabilities to customer compared to traditional banking. E-banking is fast and convenient way of using computer to easy access to the bank in 24hours. E-banking utilizes the internet system as the delivery channel by which to accomplish banking activity, for example, paying bills, transferring funds, viewing checking and savings account balances, paying mortgages and purchasing financial instruments and certificates of deposits (Haque et al, 2009). Internet banking enable customers to access their general information and accounts of bank products and services through PC or other intelligent device using web browser software on 24 hours a day and 7days a week, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft internet explorer (Mohamad, Hanudin, Suddin, Noren, 2007). The development in information technology have had an tremendous effect in development of more flexible payment methods and more user-friendly banking services in the world of banking (Serkan, Safak, Eda, 2004). There are some features that fall into several categories of internet banking which are transactional, non-transactional, financial institution administration, support of multiple users having varying levels of authority, transaction approval process and wire transfer. In transactional, e-banking act as account and financial transactions, pay bills, wire transfer and apply for loan or new account, investment purchase or sale and others. Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) is an electronic billing which customer can pay bill and receives payment easily, faster, and conveniently over anywhere and any times. Customer perception is interpretation of sensory mind and experienced by customer. The convenience of e-banking are attracted customers and provided no cost charged to customers. Customers have started accepting this internet service and assessing the banks based on their easy to access and convenience. With great confidence toward e-banking, customers are willing uses the internet banking to transfer fund, pay bills, and lot more with a excellent-secured system. It also can establish the relationship between trust and loyalty of customer toward e-banking. Internet banking in USA and Europe The dramatic growth in internet usage has generated a segment of customers with the ability and desire to conduct banking transactions completely online (Mathew and George, 2003). The internet explosion in the late-1990s brings people more convenience with various applications over the web. In the mid-1990s, customers using internet as monetary business transaction over the web as the financial institutions had implemented e-banking. The majority of US-based banks are escalating their investment in technology and hedging their bets while research specifies that a substantial portion of the customer base may always demand the type of personal interaction that can only be provided by individual branch personnel (Alstad, 2002). TowerGroups prediction is highlighted by CRMToday on IT spending by large banks in USA, which the amounts is 24.1 billion in 2004 as compare to 22 billion in 2002. Besides that, many US banks, such as Bank of America and Umpqua Bank are lending from social media channels, offering social networking, pod casting, web casts and other interactive tools. Now competitors can establish an internet bank for as little as $6 million in the USA compared to the cost of setting up a traditional brick and mortar bank (estimated at between $25 and $30 million) (Nathan, 1999). CRMToday (2003a) also stated that without major consumers adoption internet banking would not achieve as profitable as promise although there are increasing in amounts of online banking customers. According to the European Central Bank in 2002 (centeno, 2003), the level of services and its quality differ according to the country and the banks even though all main banks provide internet banking services. Bughin, 2001 investigated that the adoption rate is examined to be averaging only 17% of internet users or less than 6% of total bank customers. The author also stated that there are 60% internet customers do not have subject in buying books, CDs or low valued item through online but are reluctant to create online banking transactions. Furthermore, there are differences of internet banking adoption also existed among some countries in Europe. Around 18-25% of populations in Estonia are utilizing internet banking services whereas Italian bank had about no on-line customers by early 2000, banks in Malta initiated internet banking services in December 2002 (Centeno, 2003). Furthermore, there are differences of adoption among banks within the same country. Bughin (2001) stated an example, a leading banks in France have diffusion rate over 11% while minor bank such as the credit commercial de France have translated only 2% of its customers to online for the same period. Internet banking in Turkey In Turkey, there are over 18% of banking customers using e-banking actively (Jamaluddin, Osman, Sukru and Kemal, 2008). Since 1997 internet banking has been recognized as a feasible alternative distribution channel by Turkish commercial banks due to the deregulation in the financial sector, escalation of computer literacy, the rapid diffusion of electronic commerce, strong commitments to reduce operating costs, changing customer demands for innovative financial products and services and create customer convenience (Hakan, 2008). Due to the low cost of attracting customer to utilize internet banking and retaining existing innovation-demanding customers during the past two decades, most of Turkish commercial banks found it irresistible to invest large amounts in online banking although the customer take up of internet banking appeared to be very slow. In addition, the actual number of utilizing e-banking users appeared to be between 1 and 1.2 million (30%) in 2003 although 2million people (50%) were forecasted to utilize e-banking by 2003 (Akinci, 2004; Celik, 2002; Ozkan, 2003). Furthermore, in turkey the numbers of active internet banking accounts are escalating from 150,000 in 2000 to 5.5 million in 2007 and grew annually by 68 percent (Higgs, 2000). In comparison, although this illustrates that internet banking has experienced strong and sustained growth since its inception, Turkey has a lower internet banking penetration rate than that of many European countries. The research on internet banking by individual customers in the country has been required to improve customers understanding of how their particular beliefs or motives affect their utilization of the services. Internet Banking In Australia Internet banking growth continued rapidly in Australia with a 26 % increase in the internet banking customer population to 5.5 million users (approximately 34% of the adult population) going on over the 12 months to May 2005 (ACNielsen, 2005). The report stated there are over 7.2 million consumers accessed 27 millions accounts in 2003 which is an increase of 31% compared to 16.2% in 2002 (MISC, 2004). The report showed that users are more efficient in utilizing Internet banking services and transacting more amounts utilizing fewer sessions. Furthermore, internet banking services are increasingly attracted among users women and 50+ years age group is the highest growing in all category. There are 54% of Australian adults were utilizing telephone banking and an estimated 25% of employed internet banking after a period of strong electronic banking market development between 1997 and 2002. Small and medium banks in USA provide more user-friendly services than larger banks and achieved well in the area of personal internet banking, and website reliability and transactional capabilities while larger banks in Australia offer more variety services than smaller banks. Nevertheless, small and medium sized banks in Australia have found to provide more user-friendly services than larger banks and are successful in offering personal banking services. Internet Banking In Malaysia Since achieving independence in the 1957 banking activities in Malaysia has changed enormously with appearances of new technology application. In the 1980, the first Automated teller Machines (ATMs) was introduced which was be the most visible piece of evidence of the emerging electronic banking in Malaysia. ATM is a computerized telecommunications device that used for transfer funds between checking, balance enquiry, cash withdrawal, savings and credit card accounts, bill payments, making cash and check deposits and making payments to application for initial public offerings in Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. This technology brought the revolution were longer banking hours which unlimited beyond office hours (BNM Annual Reports, 1985-1997). Apart from this, the next changes in this evolutionary process will be the telebanking and PC-banking in the 1990s. In the early 1990 telebanking was introduced in Malaysia as delivery channel for branch financial services via telecommunications devices connected to an automated system of the bank where customers can perform retail banking transactions through using Automated Voice Response (AVR) technology. The functions of telebanking are almost similar to the ATM services except withdrawal and deposit of cash. Telebanking brings convenience, extended access and significant time saving to the customers. The insufficiency of cash withdrawal function in telebanking leads to the poor customer response to telebanking. In the 1990s, ten local commercial banks are offering PC-banking or home banking services. PC-banking is an online banking device which customer can utilize their computers in anywhere anytime for account transactions by subscribing and dialing into the banks intranet proprietary software system. PC-banking can raise speed, decrease cost and enhance flexibility of business transactions which is more suitable among corporate customers. In the half of 1990, the number of customer that utilizes this service still small. This is because they faced some problems, such as risk in transacting on the internet, lack of trust and loyalty of customer and poor of product and service quality. In this table indicates that frequency of familiarity and usage of using ATM is the highest and PC-banking is the lowest percentage. ATM can attracted all of banking customer to use this service because it really brings convenience to the customer since it can save time, reduce difficulty, and enhance flexibility of business transaction to customers. There are 80% that not using telebanking because this service cant provide any cash withdrawal function. However, PC-banking also faced lack of attraction from banking customers due to the new banking service that introduced to this country, which most of customer still unable to accept this new internet service. When customer utilize PC-banking, they may face some problems, such as risk in transacting on the internet, lack of trust and loyalty of customer and product and service quality. Furthermore, e-banking in Malaysia is become increasingly popular on developments in information technology and telecommunications. In Malaysia internet banking service (IBS) was established in six years ago (The Star, 2005). IBS is a convenience and new physical banking service which is to attain more potential customers as it allows bankers to deliver banking services to a wider segment of customers through electronic and interactive communication channels (Goi, 2005), with 12 domestic banks offering IBS to 4.5million subscribers currently (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2007). So surprisingly internet banking has become one of the popular services with 51 percent out of 8,000 of total respondents once a month. In the beginning, there are 5 Malaysia banks have invested millions of ringgit in online banking but these banks are still functioning as dial up intranet facilities. The online service is still unavailable for customers because of the insufficiency of legal framework and security concerns. The investment may be wasted due to the deficiency of important business understanding to support customer adoption if a bank introduces Internet Banking Services without a clear understanding of factors influencing customer adoption (Goi, 2005; Pires and Aisbett, 2002). In table 1 it illustrates the demographic characteristics of the internet bank users and the non-internet bank users among the sample respondents was analyzed. Mean monthly income is the only significant difference appears which it assumed that the internet bank user monthly income is highly than non-internet bank user. It also shows that there is no significant difference between the mean age of the internet bank users and the non-internet bank users. These two groups are equal in percentage of graduates and undergraduates in which both of the groups are nearly about 85%. Background of study The purpose of this research is to identify and evaluate the consumers perception toward e-banking. Consumer perception is important to bankers because of that banker can only understand and determine what customer actually wants to and how e-banking service shall satisfy them. There are some variables will be discussed which are affecting the growth of e-banking in Malaysia. From the customers perspective, internet banking assists a convenient and effective approach to control personal finances without visiting the bank and from any locations, as it is accessible 24 hours a day and 365 days in a year (Rotchanakitumunai and Speece, 2003). Through this report we will discuss about different countries have different customers perception about e-banking. This research also studies whether service or service quality will influences the trust and willingness of customer for using e-banking. Besides that, we also explore the factors which are taken to assess customer perception toward various application of internet banking. The factors that will be assessed are convenience of account transaction, flexibility, reliability, save time and cost. Internet banking is convenient, no geographical barriers, low cost and isnt bound by operational timings (IAMAIs, 2006). More than 50% of total respondents agreed that e-banking is convenient and flexible ways of banking and it also have a variety of transaction related advantages (Divya and Padhmanabhan, 2008). The purposes of internet banking consist of customer convenience through personalized service, cost containment through decline in operating cost, revenue expansion through better quality and additional non-financial services, and performance enhancement by making the service from any location (Bradley Stewart, 2002; Chau Lai, 2003; Frust et al., 2000; Suganthi Balachandran, 2001). How saving of cost and time affect the p erception of customer toward e-banking are also analyzed. So this research main purpose is to examine the variables of the actual perception of customer toward e-banking. Problem statement This research explores and examines some topics which are important elements that help in consumers perception toward e-banking. Banker should understand the need of customer so that they can improve the insufficient of the services. Banker should find out the way to attract more customers to utilize their services. In line with global trends, most customers are not focusing on this internet application. So, we need to solve this problem regarding the importance of the e-banking among customer in the local area. Customer should learn to use internet banking which can bring conveniences without going to the bank. Then customers will obtain satisfaction with the system when it provides them maximum convenience while bank transaction is occurred. The convenience of internet banking is contributing to changing patterns in cash withdrawal and day to day money management and assisting people gain greater control of their finances (Beer, 2006). On the other hand, there are few factors that lead to this problem occurrence. Firstly, not many people start to use e-banking because they still not trust on the system through internet. They will worry and always have a doubt about whether their money is safe. In addition there are few cases of fraud have been reported in online banking. The hacker wills forgery information by entering person information without the owner knowing and takes out his/her money. Secondly, there are lacks of social contact because internet banking dont have any assistance will be served to customer. It will create difficulty to the customer since in the bank there will be banker which will helps and assists customer needs. They will easily give up since there are many lack of skill problems occurred when utilizing the systems. Besides that, it is difficult to do survey since there are a lot of public are faced limitation of time, because it may take times to explain to the public. Research objective To identify what influence consumers perception toward e-banking To determine the factors that affecting consumer perception toward e-banking To find out how service quality influences internet banking user To identify the reason why customer use internet banking To solve the problem customer face toward internet banking To increase the knowledge of customer toward internet banking To improve the insufficient of the internet banking services To enhance the loyalty and trust between consumer and e-banking Significance of study This research is contributed to give customers to better understand about e-banking. There are many features and characteristics of the e-banking that many people still no realize about it. Through this research, we will interview a numeral of people and will explain about internet banking to give consumer to better understand the services that already provided to help them to ease their life. For example, CIMB offers CIMB Bank AirAsia Savers Account, a paperless account which customer will directly enjoy the convenience of viewing their account statement online without require a passbook (AirAsia Berhad, 2007-2010). Such a good service provided by bank, customer wont know about it if they no utilize internet banking. This study has combined varieties of factors from past research to study consumers perception toward e-banking. Both practitioners and academics can obtain the advantages by to better understand the consumers perception in the value of internet banking services. Furthermore, they can also identify the deficiency of the service in e-banking through this research so that the service would be improved to match customers requirement. Hence, customer can properly understand and adapt the problem that they face as necessary. In Malaysia, Maybank has become the first bank to introduce internet banking services (Maybank2u.com) and an combined web-based cash management portal on June 1, 2000. The online banking services will allow customer to perform bill payment, banking enquiry functions, funds transfer, credit card payment and accounts summary as well as transaction history (Suganthi, Balachandher and Balachandran, 2001). However, the influence of consumers acceptance e-banking in Malaysia seems more challenging because of the deficiency of information and academic in e-banking. Scope of study The scope of study is only concentrate about consumer area and perception toward e-banking. In this study, the research will be focus on MMU student, CIMB banking users and businessman that will regularly using banking service. The reason that we choose MMU student is because MMU student will often using online banking systems to pay tuition fees, transfer fund to their friends, check for their transaction account anywhere anytime. Apart from this they can teach their parent to use these services since it is very convenience and saving time, especially to those parent that very busy with their work. Besides that, we also focus on CIMB bank users which they can provide some information through interviews or questionnaires. Then, we will determine how depth the respondents understand about internet banking and what their comment regarding e-banking. Through this research we will resolve the inadequate and insufficient of service of internet banking. In addition to this, for sure business man they want to utilize something that very fast, time-saving, and can assist to their business. They can conduct most of their business on the internet and make transactions between their businesses without going to the bank. It can guarantee service quality for users conducting business transactions while utilizing IT applications and infrastructure. Through this research we can ask for some suggestion or any dissatisfied regarding internet banking from different view of business man, CIMB bank users and MMU student. Limitation of the study The extension of this study include there are large amounts of people still dont have the internet connection in their home and some dont know how to use e-banking services which will result in lack of internet banking users. There is a need for public knowledge to deal with computers and browsers since there are a lot of public still unable to use the internet applications. Besides that, it will lead to the difficulty of development of e-banking in the country. Customer may prefer visiting the bank branch because there are lacks of social contact regarding e-banking will creates difficulty to the customer since in the bank there will be banker which will helps and assists customer needs. Then it may take some time to learn and get to use to internet banking, as it requires a lot of procedures. If banks server down, customer may not access to the website. Secondly, the limitation that I faced is the difficulty of communication with the respondents when interviewing and collecting data for my research. Some of the people will resist for doing the research survey because they thought I wanted to promote or sell something. The thing that I frequently faced is meeting people who reject to answer any question before I start to talk about my research purpose. Organization of research In chapter 1, the main title is introduction which is a beginning section that states the internet banking among difference countries. Background of study explaining what about of a particular topic is placed. Problem statement is focus on the attention of the problem solving team. Research objective is writing about the purpose of this research. In significant of study, I will shift from the particular to the general, and present the importance of the study from target beneficiaries to the people in the community, to the people in the region and nation. Scope of study is focus on the coverage of areas in this research such as student and businessman. The limitation of study is about the restriction that I facing during doing this research. In addition, Chapter 2 is literature reviews. In this chapter reviews and introduces the previous journals related age, income, education, gender, convenience, perceived ease of use, reliability, saving time and cost, service or service quality and trust. I will focus on how these independent variables influence consumers adoption of internet banking. There will be an overview of some journals about consumers adoption toward e-banking will be presented which will used to examine the relationship between independent and dependent variables. In Chapter 3 it is about research methodology that including theoretical framework, hypothesis of study, data collection and data analysis. In Theoretical framework, I will suggest the integrative interrelationships among important variables in the research which is includes age, income, education, gender, convenience, perceived ease of use, reliability, saving time and cost, service or service quality and trust. There are four method are used in data analysis, which are frequency distribution, Pearsons correlation coefficient, cross tabulation and descriptive analysis. Chapter 2: Literature Review Introduction In this chapter 2, I review many journals about this topic in the various area of e-banking. In the 2.2 those journals are investigating about demographic affects the consumers adoption toward e-banking. In the 2.3, those journals are investigating the factors that influence the consumers adoption toward e-banking. In the 2.4, those journals are investigating about the service or service quality which will influence consumers adoption. In the 2.5, those journals are investigating about influence of trust toward consumers adoption. Demographic According to Kim,Widdows and Yilmazer (2005), age were influencing the attitude of consumers towards internet banking and their ability for learning how to do investment. The younger age groups of consumers are more likely to invest the time to learn to utilize internet banking because this group of consumers can generate more advantages through time saving. Besides that, higher income of consumers will have higher value of time than consumers with lower income, so higher income of the consumer can generate more advantages through adoption of internet banking. More educated consumers may involve fewer training in response to technological change if their general skills facilitate them to be taught the new technology (Bartel and Sicherman, 1998). They also indicated that adoption internet banking of well educated individuals is faster than less educated individuals due to the internet banking, new technology, and warrantees reduction of the time required for money transactions. In Padachi, Rojid and Seetanah (2007) report examined that the younger generation the more they like to utilize the new technological advancements as they are more prefer to adopt e-banking compared to the older generation. Mean age of internet banking users is 45 and 47 for non-internet banking users. Furthermore, the higher of education and income ladder will lead to the greater the probability of customer adopting internet banking. There are 57% of respondent having an education level in the category post graduate and 33% in the category of undergraduate utilizes the service. There are 48% of people using the internet banking that have the income group of Rs 30000 to 49000, which means the higher income earners are more sensible in utilizing internet. In the Jane, Jeanne and Marianne (2004) report explores the discoveries of demographic correlates of technology acceptance have constructed varying results with respect to important relationships to adoption. Men and women show to have dissimilar acceptance rates of specific computer technologies which men will more prefer on adopting technologies application(Gefen and Straub, 1997), but gender appear not to be found to have a direct on adoption of technology in general (Taylor and Todd, 1995; Gefen and Straub, 1997). The research show that the probability of higher income households ($75000 or more) being current users of ABP was 15 points higher than low income households (under $25000) and was more likely to adopt e-banking. However, research examined younger persons are being more likely to adopt which has also linked age and adoption of technologies (Zeithaml and Gilly, 1987; Trocchia and Janda, 2000; Karjaluoto, 2002; Lee, 2002). The research shows that the age of 65 of respond ents were less likely to adopt phone banking and PC banking compared to medium and youngest group. People with married status are more likely to adopt than single males or females because when it comes to bank accounts, married couples may have jointly held accounts. In region variable households living in the northeast were more likely than in the midwest to have adopted or to intend to adopt phone banking or ABP. In the Demographic characteristics of Western Australian users of electronic banking journal published by Catherine, Simone and Katherine (2005) explored that most online banking customers were male while the majority of telephone banking customers were females. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2001 stated that consumers of Western Australia, who are between 18 and 24 years of age, employed, male, have higher levels of education, and higher incomes have been examined to be more likely to use information technology that those are older, unemployed, lower incomes and have lower levels of education. The authors also examined 58.4% of the internet banking users are being in professional, administrative, managerial or para-professional occupations. This is because males in these occupations often utilize technologies such as computers and the internet in the workplace, providing them access to the required hardware and possibly encouraging a preference for online interaction with pr oviders. Filoto, Tanzi and Saita (1997); Jayawardhena and Foley (2000); Thornton and White (2001); Pereira (2002) have found these customers may be on higher incomes due to their more educated and/or highly skilled and therefore they are in occupations that need them to be more practiced at using technology-based service delivery modes. Mitchell (1998) and Tan (1999) stated that education may not be an important aspect for EFTPOS users because transactions are usually performed in retail settings and they involve retail personnel who assist the completion of transactions for consumers. Jayawardhena and Foley (2000), Orenstein (1998) and Thornton and White (2001) argued that online banking consumers are more likely to have higher than average education and they may frequently be students because of their higher exposure to technologies such as internet and computer. Councils on the Ageing (2002) stated that in some studies have recommended that older consumers may be discouraged from the utilization of electronic banking by issues such as limitation of mobility and visibility. In Jun Wu, 2005 report examined that the products and services people purchase varies during the different stages of their lives. The result of demographic age profile in this research shows that the 21 to 29 age group is dominant. Furthermore, consumers that more educated will have more money available to spend because of better education, and this influences their life-styles. Wilkie (1990) stated that it will influences which type of products they purchase, what kind of stores to purchase them in, and what prices they are willing to pay as people achieve higher education. Customers with better educated be likely to have better paying occupations than not well educated customers (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000) because a persons level of education can affect strongly on their ability to create income and their consumer spending potential. Polatoglu and Ekin (2001) explored that high levels of education improve a consumers ability to process more complicated information and make decision s. Income is a famous demographic variable for segmenting markets due to the income levels affect consumer wants and determines their purchasing power (Lamb, 2000). Purchasing power is influenced by inflation, recession, the international valu

Cultural And Crop Related Festivals

Cultural And Crop Related Festivals Agriculture is the prime and predominant occupation of tribals and the culture of the tribal communities is reflected in their agricultural practices. Their main entertaining modes or ways are the celebrations of different festivals in different seasons that relate to and depend on agriculture produce. The study was made in Seethammapeta Mandal tribal areas on their socio- cultural traits influenced by the crops and forest mining produce that they acquire. This paper details the analysis of how influential the crops and F.M.P. are on the tribals socio-cultural activities in Seethammapeta Mandal and understanding the thematic perception of each festival that the tribes celebrate in different seasons as well as to analyze the concept of cultivation based much on spiritual confidence rather than logical process of production. The encouragement and support from the government legislation for the progress of tribal music and dance have inculcated a new sense of pride in their music and so cial ethos play an important role. KEY WORDS: Crops F.M.P., Primitive tribal groups, Spiritual confidence, Time cycle, Tribal culture. INTRODUCTION The tribes generally have a group of families living together and these groups have pre-historic economy, with several rituals and customs. Certain tribal languages have no script except speech. They live in interior forest areas far away from the civilized world. They have slash burn cultivation and hunting of the wild animals as the way of life. They have a common religion, common customs and live as a community. In general tribes are of peculiar type of people living all over the world. Agriculture is the prime and predominant occupation of tribals and the culture of the tribal communities is reflected in their agricultural practices. The agro-climatic conditions and the resource potentialities differ from one tribal area to another. This is due to the nature of soil, fertility, availability of water etc. Due to prevalence of unemployment and underemployment, agriculture alone cannot sustain them throughout the year. So the tribals must rely on labour works and the forest produce which occupies and play an important role in their daily life. Hence the tribal economy may rightly be called as agro forest based economy. The isolated location of the tribes from the main stream of life is hindering their economic activities. The illiteracy among the tribals and the rich forest produce tempted the money lenders and small traders to exploit the tribals. India ranks the second in having the tribal concentration in the world next only to Africa. India holds unique position in the concentration of tribal communities. Andhra Pradesh is one of the States where the tribals with different cultures especially in Seethammapeta Mandal of Srikakulam District, the important tribes are Savara (Hill and plain) and Jatapu. Savara are one of the important Mundari speaking tribes of India, on linguistic and ethnological grounds. Savara can be considered as pre-Aryan and pre-Dravidian. Though, there were so many sub-divisions among Savara, broadly they are treated as Konda Savara (Malia Savara) and Kapu Savara. Savaras are divided into a number of endogamous tribes. It has been noted that among sub-tribes the Konda Savara tribe have restricted themselves to the tracts of hill and jungle covered valleys. But as the plains are approached, traces of amalgamation become apparent, resulting in a hybrid race, whose apperance and manners differ but little from those of the ordinary citizens. The culture of the hill Savara is very ancient and they are considered by government as primitive tribal groups (PTG) and the Sa varas in plains are not considered as PTG in the Srikakulam district. The researcher has observed considerable differences between Konda Savaras and plain Savaras and also they are equally numbered in tribal population of the district. The other important tribes residing in Seethammapeta mandal are Jatapu, who are socially, economically and culturally advanced tribe in the Seethammapeta mandal. Actually, the other tribes residing in Seethammpeta mandal are insignificant in number. Konda Savara, plain Savara (hereafter mentioned as Savara) and Jatapu are in equal proportion and they consist of nearly 92 per cent of the total tribal population of the Seethammapeta Mandal. Their main entertaining modes or ways are the celebrations of different festivals in different seasons that relate to and depend on agriculture produce. Objectives To analyze how influential the crops and F.M.P. are on the tribals socio-cultural activities in Seethammapeta Mandal To understand the thematic perception of each festival that the tribes celebrate in different seasons. To analyze the concept of cultivation based much on spiritual confidence rather than logical process of production. Present Study The study was made in Seethammapeta Mandal tribal areas on their socio- cultural traits influenced by the crops and forest mining produce that they acquire. Tribal celebrate most of the festivals with respect to the crop grown at particular seasons and throughout the year. In the survey throughout the year, it is revealed that in all the 12 months, they celebrate different festivals by which they worship their traditional gods and godesses in association with agricultural and forest mining produce. This paper deals with wholesome information about how different cultural traits, traditional festivals are influenced by the crops (Agricultural F.M. Produce) in Seetampeta Mandal, Srikakulam District. TIME CYCLE REPRESENTING CULTURAL AND CROP RELATED FESTIVALS January: January is an important month for all Hindus of Andhra Pradesh for the most auspicious festival Sankranthi is celebrated in a grand way, similarly tribals also celebrate it, but the way and process of celebration is somewhat different .They accompany the crop red grass with Sankrathi, conventionally called as Redgram week festival. They have the custom of tasting newly cultivated redgram only after this celebration refers that it should be presented to the god first. Sankranthi in this month is also celebrated in a distinguished way that the entire tribals worship village Godesses regionally called as GRAMA DEVETAS by sacrificing crows and continue the procession of the Godess with all relatives. Another festival in this month called Tiger Festival which they call as PULI PANDAGA in which a goat is sacrificed to the Yojjos in the name of the persons who got expired in the family. They enjoy by taking part in dances like Dhinsa, ancient orchestra and tribal games in this fest ival. Dancing in the villages provides them opportunity for collective rejoining as well as inculcates in them a sense of cultural solidarity. February: Siva Ratri is pretty famous in this month even for tribals and their customary practice is to celebrate the flowers festival (POOLA PANDAGA in their language) in such a way that all the tribals gather flowers from all corners of the forest to worship the Godess and then onwards flowers are used for other personal and commercial purposes. This month is famous for marriages which are generally arranged under the direction of villege Jannad in a formal and traditional way. There is a celibration of cereal week where no cereal produced is tasted till the celebration is held. Another festival in this month is Toku festival in which they construct a small hut in the middle of the villege for their traditional priest called Yojjodu as a representative of the God, is decorated with the feathers of peacock proceeded with a grand procession afterwards. There is another festival called Solapur festival celebrated for the productive growth of cultivation by getting away from the evils, envious deeds and harmful thoughts from others. March: New amavasya is pretty famous and tribals celebrate by being articulated as bear with appropriate make-up and Jannod the formal priest store seeds in a swing. Later all taste the newly cropped mongo .Then follows other festivals in this month called New Jaggary, Jakaramma Temple and tamarind festival are also celebrated. April: There is a festival called Ujjamma Godess festival for the welfare of the villege in which they make a cart and fill it with a kind of fruits called Palli and worship with chik sacrifice and represent the same at the outscirts of the villege. They also celebrate Perantal celebrations for the welfare of the earth, forest and water which give better existence of them. May: Tribals are very busy with agriculture in this month where Seeds Festival is celebrated. All the tribals gather and clean all the agri-utencils and tools and worship them with water melted with rice powder .They also gather sample seeds from every family for puja (worship) with an animal sacrifice and then distribute seeds to all farmers assuming that the permission granted from the God to continue the process of cultivation. June : In this month there are two festivals called Tenka festival and Corner festival (Mula Panduga) in which all tribals taste seeds firstly and celebrate with riped mango by digging them at the corner of every house .This is one of the important festivals for them as the crop of mangos from the forest give them good return. July: There is a festival called Mokkalu Fest in which all tribals take out the unwanted plants in their fields to prevent deceases and increase the productivity of the crop. In this festival a cow is sacrificed to the God. August : The major and important tool they use for the preliminary process of cultivation is ploughing and tribals celebrate PLOUGH WEEK where the plough is neatly cleaned with turmeric powder, decorated with bangles and worship with again a cocks sacrifise so as they start cultivation ploughing with a new instrument. September: ANKUDA Leaves festival is celebrated is this month to get away from the dangerous mosquitos and bees which cost their health. In this Connection they gather every different flower from the forest and worship their God. October: DURGA FESTIVAL traditionally called DASARA is also celebrated by them just as every one of us does. They decorate all the tools, weapons, utensils and furniture with turmeric powder in order to worship the God. Another festival called NANDAMMA Godess Festival is also held at the time of the corp has been handed over from the fields. They celebrate this festival with articulations and roleplays by making up like their traditional Gods. They also worship JAKARI with potatoes and then the corp is taken back to home. November: There is a different festival in the way of games called KANDI GAMES in which they play with their skills of playing withaxes and dancing DHINSA and the tiger festival as refered before also celebrated in this month. December: CHUKKALA Festival is celebrated exclusively by the person who married second time after the dimise of first wife .In order to the former wife should be satisfied in the heaven and assuming that there will be a problem if it is not celebrated , they present four animals sacrifice to the God. There is another festival called AGAMA festival for preventing unnecessary demises is the family. At the end of the month KANDA festival starts and new red gram is tasted by all and will be continued to Redgram week in the month of January. Findings and conclusions: In most of the festivals there is a common practice of presenting animals like cock, cow and goat to the God or Goddess whom they worship. The basic source of their lively hook is either agriculture or acquiring Forest Mining Produce, so they worship the God or Goddess with newly originated produce or endowrsed to the God and afterwards they enjoy by eating and selling them. Most of their practice of enjoying every festival with non-vegetarian, liquor, Dinsa dance articulations. They celebrate festival for the most consumed crop or produce that is directly helpful and gainful to their livelihood such as redgram, cereals, tamannad custard apple and etc. They also give much importance to the utensils, tools and weapons in some festivals as their process of cultivation or FMP starts with them only. There are many superstitions they believe in and very proud to follow the traditional practices in every festival. They respect the mythological master called YOJJODU and JANNADS whom are believed as the representatives of the God or Goddess. They do not generally allow other castes to join their festivals as they look into them as almost their utmost responsibility much associated with community. They believe much in nature and in every festival they worship pancha bhutaas (Five Survivors i.e. air, earth, water, sky, and fire) for their survival is depended on them. The participation in every festival is found from every small village, every house and every person in the family. There is nothing like one exclusive festival is for one separate segment. Fishing hunt is one of the livelihoods for them exclusively for the tribals who reside at the bank of any river. It is found almost all the tools used by them for cultivation, hunting, and gathering produce from the forest are manufactured by them only. Step irrigation is the main system that they proceed with for cultivation. There are famous Gods and Goddess named Gramadevata, Durgadevi, Nandemma Goddess, Goddalama Goddess, Vijjamma Goddesses and etc. Traditional music and dance is slowly becoming less popular among the literate sections of the tribal society. The encouragement and support from the government legislation for the progress of tribal music and dance have inculcated a new sense of pride in their music and social ethos play an important role and significance of socio-cultural factors cannot be ignored in formulation of schemes for their all-round sustainable development. The degree of change with respect to traditional practices and celebrations of festivals is more in Jatapu and Kapu Savaras who are residing in the surroundings of Seethammapeta and in roadside villages. However, the degree of change for the same among these tribes is limited in the interior villages which are not having any transport or communication facilities.

The Quakers and Arts in Utopian Societies :: Essays Papers

The Quakers and Arts in Utopian Societies Today, we can still find many examples of past utopias. A utopia is an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, moral and legal aspects.1 They do not approve of any actions that are superficial and unnecessary. In addition to these beliefs, people from utopian societies are strong believers in God. Sharing many of these same ideals, the Quakers are a group with a strong faith. Despite the fact that Quakers feel art is a luxury and a frivolous thing that they should not take part in, many great artists and writers are members of the Quaker society. George Fox founded the Quakers also known as the Society of Friends in 1650. This was a time of religious turmoil in England due to people searching for an uncorrupted version of Christianity. For their form of religion, the Quakers relied primarily on spiritual searching done by individual members, congregations and meetings. The Quakers were mainly involved in humanitarian work, seeing the good in everything. They sought to practice total Christianity, with their main opposition toward slavery. During the civil war, "the Quakers took the lead in the abolitionist movement and in running the Underground Railroad, which aided runaway slaves."2 In 1671, William Penn, a leader of the group, worked solely on expanding the Quakers and joining them with other groups.3 Fox developed the idea of "Inner Light". This is found within each person, and is a divine inspiration that brings joy and an enlightened conscience. It is God’s spirit found in every human soul. Fox felt that "following the inward light would lead to spiritual development and towards individual perfection." He taught the members to worship in silence and people only spoke when they felt moved by the Holy Spirit when they were in their meetings. George Fox promoted simple living; he was against alcohol, holidays, sports, theater, and jewelry. They thought of themselves as friends of Jesus and later, the Quakers also became known as the Society of Friends.4 The Quakers have been associated with the color gray, or drab, because of the simple living that they remain faithful to. Drab is a color that is a mixture of yellow and gray, or a dull light brown. The Friends found colors to be a distraction, using gray to avoid the excitement that was looked down upon. This was also used to keep the divine inspiration within themselves.

Bermuda Triangle Essay -- Science Exploratory

Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda triangle, or the devil’s triangle, is an imaginary area located off the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States. It is the greatest modern mystery of our supposedly well understood world. It is noted for a very high incidence of unexplained losses of ships, small boats, and aircraft. The tips of the triangle are generally thought to be Bermuda, Miami, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Many theories attempting to explain the many disappearances have been offered throughout the history of the area. The most practical seem to be environmental and those that involve human error. Some reports even go as far as to saying that there are UFO’s kidnapping ships and planes, and that the lost city of Atlantis is below the Bermuda triangle. Weird disappearances and sightings in the Bermuda triangle date back to 1492, when the first voyage to America took place. Christopher Columbus when sailing through the imaginary place called the Bermuda triangle wrote of weird sightings in the ship log. He recorded that he and his crew had observed a large ball of fire fall into the sea and that the ship's compass was behaving differently. On October 11, which is the day Columbus landed on Cuba, Columbus and another man saw a light over the water, which disappeared suddenly. Within hours land was sighted. These incidents have been thought to be the first known indications that the Bermuda Triangle is filled with bizarre happenings, Columbus himself was not apparently bothered by what he had seen. The ball of fire might have been a meteor, a fire on the shore, a torch in an Indian's boat or even a hallucination. Whatever it was, Chris Columbus provided the Bermuda Triangle with a five hundred-year story. (3) Many ships and planes have been lost in the triangle. Of unexplained stories, the most famous of them all is of flight 19. The mission called for the thirteen men to fly due east fifty-six miles to Hens and Chicken Shoals to conduct practice-bombing runs. When they had completed that objective, the flight plan called for them to fly an additional sixty-seven miles east, then turn north for seventy-three miles and finally straight back to base, a distance of 120 miles. This course would take them on a triangular path over the sea. About an hour and a half into the mission Lt. Taylor reported that his compass was not working. Planes t... ...pearances occurred. Each was a world away from the other. One was off Australia, the other off Puerto Rico in the Bermuda Triangle, yet both were very similar. Both pilots were sober, one was a US Marine. Both reported a strange object harassing or, at the very least, very interested in their aircraft. Both could not describe exactly what it was. But in both cases, when it came in closer, it apparently caused a disruption of radio communication and cut out electro-magnetic power, causing the engine to sputter. Neither aircraft left any trace. Both carried ELTs, automatic alarms that are jettisoned when the aircraft impacts. This triggers them to send their electronic SOS signals, guiding rescuers to the point of the incident. Yet in both these incidents they were hushed, for no signal was ever picked up. (2) The Great Bermuda Triangle is one of the biggest mysteries still alive today. It has created many stories, some true, some untrue; there have been many unexplained disappearances in this imaginary place. Peoples lives have been lost, and ships and planes seemed to enter and never come out. Whatever it is, it will always be a mystery, a mystery of the Great Bermuda Triangle. Bermuda Triangle Essay -- Science Exploratory Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda triangle, or the devil’s triangle, is an imaginary area located off the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States. It is the greatest modern mystery of our supposedly well understood world. It is noted for a very high incidence of unexplained losses of ships, small boats, and aircraft. The tips of the triangle are generally thought to be Bermuda, Miami, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Many theories attempting to explain the many disappearances have been offered throughout the history of the area. The most practical seem to be environmental and those that involve human error. Some reports even go as far as to saying that there are UFO’s kidnapping ships and planes, and that the lost city of Atlantis is below the Bermuda triangle. Weird disappearances and sightings in the Bermuda triangle date back to 1492, when the first voyage to America took place. Christopher Columbus when sailing through the imaginary place called the Bermuda triangle wrote of weird sightings in the ship log. He recorded that he and his crew had observed a large ball of fire fall into the sea and that the ship's compass was behaving differently. On October 11, which is the day Columbus landed on Cuba, Columbus and another man saw a light over the water, which disappeared suddenly. Within hours land was sighted. These incidents have been thought to be the first known indications that the Bermuda Triangle is filled with bizarre happenings, Columbus himself was not apparently bothered by what he had seen. The ball of fire might have been a meteor, a fire on the shore, a torch in an Indian's boat or even a hallucination. Whatever it was, Chris Columbus provided the Bermuda Triangle with a five hundred-year story. (3) Many ships and planes have been lost in the triangle. Of unexplained stories, the most famous of them all is of flight 19. The mission called for the thirteen men to fly due east fifty-six miles to Hens and Chicken Shoals to conduct practice-bombing runs. When they had completed that objective, the flight plan called for them to fly an additional sixty-seven miles east, then turn north for seventy-three miles and finally straight back to base, a distance of 120 miles. This course would take them on a triangular path over the sea. About an hour and a half into the mission Lt. Taylor reported that his compass was not working. Planes t... ...pearances occurred. Each was a world away from the other. One was off Australia, the other off Puerto Rico in the Bermuda Triangle, yet both were very similar. Both pilots were sober, one was a US Marine. Both reported a strange object harassing or, at the very least, very interested in their aircraft. Both could not describe exactly what it was. But in both cases, when it came in closer, it apparently caused a disruption of radio communication and cut out electro-magnetic power, causing the engine to sputter. Neither aircraft left any trace. Both carried ELTs, automatic alarms that are jettisoned when the aircraft impacts. This triggers them to send their electronic SOS signals, guiding rescuers to the point of the incident. Yet in both these incidents they were hushed, for no signal was ever picked up. (2) The Great Bermuda Triangle is one of the biggest mysteries still alive today. It has created many stories, some true, some untrue; there have been many unexplained disappearances in this imaginary place. Peoples lives have been lost, and ships and planes seemed to enter and never come out. Whatever it is, it will always be a mystery, a mystery of the Great Bermuda Triangle.

Classroom Observation Reflective Summary Essay

Throughout my class lectures and discussions in many of my classes, I recall one of my professors accenting the fact that teachers need to be flexible in their schedule and need to conform to the changes that are associated with the career. Upon hearing this, I didn’t accept this fact she was giving me and never associated the term, â€Å"teacher† and â€Å"flexible† together. Nevertheless, after my observations this semester in the classroom, I understand why you need to be flexible in the teaching profession. Every class I observed this semester was dissimilar from each other. Some class’s harbored students who comprehended the material better, were ethnically diverse, special education, motivated and lazy students. Each time I observed, there were particular occasions that I had anticipated to occur and other instances that I was astounded. I found it intriguing to see how the teacher responded when something in the classroom did not go as planned and t hen observe them trying to not let it affect their teaching plan for the day. After my observations, I am self-assured and avid that I want to become a teacher and will be a good one at that. As a teacher, I believe you need to set the tone of the classroom and let them know that you are in control. The medium or atmosphere of the classroom needs to be accepting and eager to learn. All of the classes that I observed had great classroom atmospheres. By saying â€Å"great classroom atmospheres†, I mean that most of the students were attentive to the teacher, eager to learn, asking questions and that no one person in the class was omitted from the class discussion or the learning of that particular day. Being the â€Å"student observer†, I was curious to see how the students would act toward me and treat me in their class. Infrequently, I caught a couple gawks during instruction from prying students. For the most part, I was much embraced in their classrooms, as they frequently asked me questions about their school work or of me in general. I remember my first observations, I was very nervous upon entering the classroom. After that day I always felt comfortable in the classroom. During my observations, I never saw the teacher leave any students out of the lecture that they taught to their students that day. I was very impressed to see that no students were neglected, but instead were incorporated into the learning plan for that day and got a chance to ask questions of the teacher to help further their learning. Throughout my  time in the classrooms with different teachers, I observed many different lessons that each teacher was teaching to the students. Some of the lessons included daily math skills, reading tasks, and working together at recess to rescue a dog. One of the most important aspects of being a teacher is having a good teacher-student interaction. All of the classes I observed had a good interaction between the students and teachers. As a future educator, I believe my biggest challenge will be trying to become flexible with my schedule and trying to motivate each student to learn and be active in class. Much of this depends on where I will be teaching, whether that is urban, rural, or city. I’ll address these challenges by becoming more organized and doing projects where participation is graded and required, so then each student will be learning and never feel left out. My strengths include being very determined, goal driven, hard working, learning, good people skills and motivating others. I will use these strengths to the best of my ability when I have my own class in the future. I want to continue with my teaching and learning process and obtain my teaching certificate in the near future. After observing this semester, I realized that I would like to work with 5th grade students because I think I would respond better to them. These observations were very interesting and helped me better appreciate the teaching profession.

Alex Sanders

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM * How can Sam Glass channelize and bring out Alex Sander’s competencies so that he can contribute more effectively to the progress of his product team at Landon Care Products? * In what ways can Landon Care Products Inc. restructure its 360  ° performance review such that it can help employees achieve their highest leadership potential? SWOT AnalysisSTRENGTHS * enthusiastic in his work and never wears out * talented and highly qualified * driven by his sense of achievement and brings results * good learning ability and grasping power * undaunted by new challenges * appreciative of good work| WEAKNESSES * pushy and demanding * short tempered * inflexible at work * expects everyone to work according to his style of working * creates a stressful work atmosphere by asking people to work overtime| OPPORTUNITIES * Has entrepreneurial ability, is a go getter, identifies and implements tasks within the given time frame and has passion for learning new skills and filling any gaps in knowledge. Using this skill, he has the opportunity to start his own successful venture. * Possibility of improvementTaking his 360 degree feedback positively, Alex may try to improve on his working style and motivate and mentor his team to help them work effectively. This will aid in creating a high performance team and would result in success of the rebranding project of Nourish. THREATS * Can lose his jobDue to his continued arrogance and over confidence, his 360 degree feedback could turn unfavorable to his cause; he may lose a possible promotion or would have to leave the organization. * Efficiency of the team could be hampered Alex’s team could crumble under constant work pressure and hostile work environment as created by Alex and would become lax or inefficient in their tasks. This might hamper the successful rebranding of the upcoming and crucial project of Nourish| Economical condition European companies entering into the American skincare a nd beauty segment. Cultural condition The takeover by a European company brought in changes in the work culture Detailed Analysis of the problem We can look at this from the perspective of Herzberg’s two factor theory,Alex Sander accounts for almost all of the context factors such as Salary, supervision, etc. , but does not satisfy the content factors of motivation which involves recognition of achievement, responsibility and advancement. The absence of these caused de-motivation amongst the team members. Alex has high task orientation but low people orientation. But he was able to prove himself with successfully re-branding two skin care products. Problems in working style of Alex * He always used to come up with the right answer without involving the team which undermined a lot of people * Aggressive in nature * Expects the same output from his reportees and thus creates stressful atmosphere at workplace. * Glass’ concerns for AlexAlex asked Glass that he wanted to g et into broader planning areas of the organization -â€Å" making strategic decisions † where he wanted to learn how the division’s products were formulated and building on that knowledge he wanted to understand the global market as well as the relative importance of the U. S. market. After a week Glass mentioned about this to Alex in a conversation where he mentioned to him that his feedback is contradicting in what he says and what he is doing. This problem was could turn into a very big challenge for Sam where he has to find ways to deal with Alex’s attitude issues which is creating a lot of problem for other team members (as reflected in some of the inputs mentioned by his own team members in feedback) as he was aware about Alex’s potential and wanted to retain him .So, he had to come up with a way to channel Alex’s talent in the right way which would ensure success for product group in the long run. Problem with 360 ° performance review This was being conducted for the first time in the organization and a lot of people in the division are not clear on how this feedback is going to help with development or performance appraisal. There is a possibility that the results will be tainted in some way or other. Even Alex was least interested about this feedback and didn’t want to waste his time on this exercise as he was aware as who would Sam ask for inputs about him. When he was hired by Sam he was asked to shake up the product team and launch products quickly. Decision Criteria and Alternative Solutions Option 1-If company fires Alex?This option is not suitable because Alex is known to bring results to the projects and at present the company is at a crucial juncture, where successful launch of Nourish is very much needed. A new hire would take up time to get adjusted to the organization culture and may not bring results as quickly as expected. Option 2- If Alex starts his own entrepreneurial project (start-up), whic h gives him complete autonomy. Alex is known to demonstrate entrepreneurial instincts and work tirelessly on his own. He expects same level of commitment and performance from his team and does not suffer inefficiencies. He might do well in his start-up initially but this is not a sustainable option because if Alex’s working style does not change; he is bound to create hostile feelings with his colleagues sooner or later.Option 3- A personality development and team building program for Alex 1. Alex should be made aware of the importance of the feedback process and needs to take his feedback in good light. 2. Alex should undergo some training in team building activities and should be encouraged to interact with his teammates more frequently. He should be trained to give some autonomy to his team and respect his fellow mates, which will result in high performance teams. 3. There should be continuous interactions between Alex and Senior level managers whereby he can take up any g rievances and also look for challenging opportunities that will keep him motivated and satisfied. RecommendationsWe recommend company should choose to go for option 3 in the light of all the pros and cons mentioned above. Even Sam Glass knew that Alex was someone who would create waves in the organization but he had hired him because Alex was a potential candidate and therefore Sam was ready to compromise on this. Agreed, Alex has attitude and behavioral issues. But nevertheless being the youngest product manager he had proved his mettle by successfully rebranding two national skin care products. These issues can be resolved if Alex undergoes some training in team building activities. He is competent enough in technical skills but lacks in attitude, which can be set right if he is mentored accordingly.