Argumentative Essay on Love

Flying around the world is an extravagance the majority of society may not be able to afford; life is chock-full of esoteric luxuries only a special association will enjoy fully. However, life does not have to encompass the additional commodities that people claim to be necessary. Throughout humanity there have been innumerous individuals who never delved into the most desired rarity-true love; much like the trips around the world, true love, is a nonessential of life. Although love is always sought after, as if life’s’ buried treasure, a human being can live in happiness without it.Many would argue that by not pursuing love, life would be eviscerated of its full meaning. Contrary to popular belief, it is an additional tangent of life that may or may not make matters foregoing. Strip a being of all â€Å"luxuries in life, and if you can [still] make someone smile and laugh, you have given the most special gift: happiness. † Having happiness present creates the sa me euphoric feeling that being in love can cause without running the risk of being emotionally dismantled by a divorce or breakup.More often then not love comes at much too high a price for every person to bare, not only can the cost be extraordinary but also at times a relentless barrage of sorrow. In order for someone to surpass the unrealistic goal of finding true love and obtaining it they must distract themselves. Society must focus on what is in front of it and remember, â€Å"We’re born alone, we live alone, [and] we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone. † As great as love presents itself to be, the majority of todays’ American community is divorced.These once happily married couples believed in the luxury of marriage until the price became more than they had bargained for leaving a bitter taste of resentment. As a person grows from child to adult there is a realization that true love does exist. This realization turns into a formulated question, ‘is the cost of love make the venture worthwhile. ’ For many people across all generations love has been a hopeless endeavor, in George Orwell’s novel 1984 Winston Smith embarked on an adventure that didn’t bode well â€Å"’I betrayed you’ she [, Winston’s previous love,] said baldly. ‘I betrayed you’ he said.†After betraying one another they part ways to live their lives in a better manner than before. Winston and the women, Julia, were lovers who when put to the test proved true love does not exist except for as a luxury the inner party could afford. All in all, love is a luxury that cannot be afforded by the mass. Even though it could portray itself to be beneficial, in the end it is not worth the cost. Surely true love is a product that even the people with the most acumen are dumbfounded. Happiness is something that serendipitously found a nd can egregiously affect a human’s life meanwhile true love is accompanied by painful hardship.

Pfizer Marketing Strategies Essay

Pfizer Inc., discovers, develops, manufacturers, and markets leading prescription medicine for humans and animals and many of the world’s best-known consumer brands. Their innovative, value-added products improve the quality of life of people around the world and help them enjoy longer, healthier, and more productive lives. The company has three business segments: health care, animal health and consumer health care. The top three worldwide pharmaceutical companies in sales are from GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Merck respectively. In 2001, Pfizer increased its’ market share and became the sales leader. They have continued to lead the industry since. The main reason for their tremendous growth is that their pharmaceutical products are able to improve the quality of life of their customers. Those products are Aricept, Celebux, Diflucan, Lipitor, Neurontin, Norvasc, Viagra, Zithromax, Zoloft and Zyrtec. Research and development is vital to the success of any pharmaceutical company. Pfizer spent 7.1 billion on research and development in 2003; this is the only pharmaceutical company that is capable of investing this much. Their future, as one company, with a single purpose and mission, is sharply defined. Pfizer Inc. wants to be the company that does more good, for more people, than any other on the planet. Innovation is critical to improving health and sustaining Pfizer’s growth and profitability. They are deeply committed to meeting the needs of their customers, and we constantly focus on customer satisfaction. Pfizer is now implementing a strategy to drive performance within the global business, building on the business model and management ethic that they applied in the United States. The most important priority is to improve sales performance through the launch of new pharmaceutical products, encourage doctors to continue to prescribe existing products, and attempt to increase consumption and enlarge the over-the-counter market. Pfizer is a strong and reliable brand, with a solid competitive position and diversified product line that appeals to a wide customer base. However, Pfizer needs to communicate with their clients more effectively in order to capitalize on their opportunities. Their current objective focuses heavily on increasing profitability and sales volume of the new products, such as Lipitor,  Norvasc, Celebrex and Neurontin. They are seeking to increase efficiency by reorganizing of the structure of the company. Pfizers’ focus on research and development is matched by an equally strong emphasis on marketing. The company promotes its human pharmaceutical products to health care providers including doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, pharmacy benefits managers, and managed care organizations. Pfizer also promotes its products directly to consumers in the U.S. via direct-to-consumer (DTC) print and television advertising. Pfizer has responded to the Food and Drug Administration’s 1997 decision to loosen restrictions on DTC advertising of prescription drugs by increasing DTC promotional spending each year Pfizer’s strong marketing and sales operations have enabled the company to become the â€Å"partner of choice† for the marketing of innovative products developed by others. Pfizer is extremely skilled in creating alliances with other pharmaceutical companies via co-promotion agreements. Through co-promotion and licensing agreements, Pfizer promotes and markets such highly promising products as Celebrex, Bextra, Aricept, and so on with alliance partners. Pfizer provides cash, staff, and other resources to further develop, market, promote, and sell the products in exchange for a share of revenues. For the over-the-counter market, Pfizer advertises in newspapers, magazines and uses outside media, especially for essential pharmaceutical products. An example would be the cardiovascular medicine â€Å"LIPITOR†. Potential customers gain product knowledge through advertisements when reading newspapers and popular magazines. For doctors, Pfizer spends a substantial amount of money for physician-type advertisements, such as small catalogs, relevant posters, printed 3D diagram regarding the specified product because the doctor is their main customer. Once the patient is exposed to the advertisements inside the clinic, they have more product knowledge and confidence. Pfizer continues to have sales promotions each year to support the 2-3 products they develop annually. These sales promotions are focused on  hospitals and general practitioners. Before the new product is going to launch, Pfizer announces relevant details to these people first and advises them of all of the available support. Once launched, a clinical study paper and samples are delivered to the doctors when Pfizer representatives are visiting them. Antibiotics are classified into four groups: Penicillin, Quinolones, Macrolides and Cephalosporins. Patients will develop a resistance through continued use of same antibiotic, which is why Pfizer continually develops new antibiotics. Sales promotion, advertising, and product knowledge are all very important aspects of marketing for Pfizer to launch their new products. While Pfizer has a number of strong products in its portfolio, it is Viagra that has received a large amount of attention recently and its success will be important for Pfizer. However, the huge cost of Viagra has been a highly discussed issue, with a number of governments struggling to reach decisions over reimbursement issues. However, Viagra’s high cost may lead to the use of cheaper, alternative treatment for the condition. There have also been a number of safety issues surrounding the use of Viagra. Because of the high consumer awareness of Viagra due to extensive media coverage, the continued safety concerns, combined with the impending launch of alternative oral treatments, this could have a significant adverse affect on the sales of Viagra. Pfizer appears to have continued high expectations for Viagra, possibly implying an over dependence on the success of one product. The high sales and marketing investment by Pfizer to promote Viagra could damage the company’s profitability if revenues from Viagra do not live up to expectations. Pfizer is a company that has a stronghold on its’ market, due to having superior research and development department, as well as one of the most innovative ways to approaching potential customers and business partners. All of this contributes to their competitive advantage and enables the company to always stay a step ahead of their competitors. Although the health care industry is ever changing and threats and opportunities often appear, Pfizer has a stable base for the future in this business field. As the company motto states: â€Å"Life is our Life’s Work!†

‘India’ a Hub for Medical Tourism

? ABSTRACT Medical tourism has become a popular option for tourists across the world. It takes into account primarily the biomedical procedures, combined with travel and tourism. Medical tourism has been coined by different travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly growing practice of travelling across international borders to obtain cutting edge medical care. Countries like India, Malaysia, and Thailand are promoting medical tourism aggressively. The key competitive advantages of India in medical tourism stem from the following: ?Low cost advantage. ?Strong reputation in the Advanced Healthcare Segment (Cardiovascular Surgery, Organ Transplants, Eye Surgery etc. ) ? The diversity of tourist destinations available in the country. The key concerns facing the industry include: ?Less Government Initiatives. ?Lack of a coordinated effort to promote the industry. ?No accreditation mechanism for hospitals and the lack of uniform pricing policies and standards across hospit als. Medical tourism or health care tourism is fast growing multibillion-dollar industry around the world.It is an economic activity that entails trade in services and represents the mixing of two of the largest world industries: Medicine and Tourism. The paper identifies the strengths of India’s medical tourism service providers and points at a number of problems that may reduce the growth opportunity of this industry. This paper focuses on the key issues and opportunities possessed by Indian medical tourism sector that enables it to overcome domestic and international barriers on upgrading its medical services.Finally, this paper analyses and concludes the main reasons why the developing country like India attracts foreign tourists for the medical treatment. Keywords: Medicine, Tourism, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Ayurvedic, Naturopathy. INTRODUCTION India has a bountiful of diverse tourism hotspots which enchant the recuperating visitors, their scenic beauty, historicity and soci o-cultural significance would be great harbingers of health to the ailing foreign visitors. In the recent years, government support, low cost treatment, improved healthcare infrastructure, and rich cultural heritage, have taken the Indian medical tourism to new heights.India has emerged as one of the world’s most cost-efficient medical tourism destinations, and hence, attained a position among the global leaders. According to â€Å"Booming Medical Tourism in India†, the heart surgery centers in the country offer treatment at a significantly lesser prices compared to North America and Europe. Superior quality of dental care and Ayurvedic Spa treatments are also attracting patients from across the globe. Each market segment describes the cost effectiveness compared to other countries.Though India’s reputation is not good on hygiene front, its state-of-the-art medical facilities and value for money offered attracts thousands of patients each year. In this way, the country holds enormous potential for growth in medical tourism in future. Extensive research and analysis has also revealed that quality-driven wellness centers, cord blood banking, and medical tourism facilitates medical tourism market. It has been observed that wellness tourism, alternate meditation, and the advantage of being the least competitive pricing have been the Unique Selling Point (USP) of the Indian medical tourism.Cardiac and Orthopedic procedures constitute the majority share of the market. This study reflects an in-depth knowledge of various government initiatives that provides a positive impact on the medical tourism market in India. The adoption of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model by the Indian Government at both central and state levels to improve healthcare infrastructure in the country through expertise of private sector and better support of public sector provided the extra thrust to medical tourism.We also observed that the regulatory structure in co nnection to the medical tourism industry has been quite liberal and supportive in the country so far. Considering all the positive insights of the analysis, it’s a hope that the analysis of current market performance and future outlook of the Indian medical tourism industry with the forecasts provided in the report will help in devising the rightful strategies and make sound investment decisions. Comparative Cost of Medical Treatment in Euros (1â‚ ¬ = 70. 24 Rs) Type of ProcedureUnited StatesIndiaThailandBone Marrow Transplant300,000 â‚ ¬ = 21,072,000 Rs24,000 â‚ ¬ = 16,85,760 Rs50,000 â‚ ¬ = 35,12,000 Rs Open Heart Procedure40,000 â‚ ¬ = 2,809,600 Rs11,000 â‚ ¬ = 7,72,640 Rs 35,000 â‚ ¬ = 24,58,400 Rs Knee Surgery13,000 â‚ ¬ = 9,13,120 Rs3,500 â‚ ¬ = 2,45,840 Rs5,500 â‚ ¬ = 3,86,320 Rs Eye Surgery2,400 â‚ ¬ = 1,68,576 Rs600 â‚ ¬ = 42,144 Rs 5,500 â‚ ¬ = 3,86,320 Rs Facelift6,500 – 16,000 â‚ ¬ = 4,56,560 – 11,23,840 Rs20 00 â‚ ¬ = 1,40,480 Rs 8,000 – 16,000 â‚ ¬ = 5,61,920 – 11,23,840 Rs Source: Business World India and Indian Brand Equity Foundation Comparative Picture of the Price of the Treatment in USD and Percentage ProcedureUSD in USA)USD (in India)Difference in Price Bone Marrow Transplant2500006920028% Liver Transplant3000006935023% Heart Surgery30000870029% Orthopedic Surgery20000630032% Cataract Surgery2000135068% Dental Procedure Metal Free Bridge550060011% Dental Implants350090026% Porcelain Metal Bridge300060020% Porcelain Metal Crown100010010% Source: IIMK Part IX – Medical Tourism CHALLENGES One of the major challenges for Medical Tourism Industry in India is the phenomenon of Crowding-Out where healthcare could become less accessible to the local population.The discrimination of care has been happening with the opening up of the healthcare market and has brought about for the residents of the destination countries. The revenue generated by developing countr ies providing medical services to foreign patients can be used to improve the access and quality of care available to the residents. However, concerns have been expressed over Medical Tourism Industry in India that it may seriously undermine the care of local residents by adversely affecting the healthcare workforce distribution.Critics addresses globalization as commoditization of worldwide healthcare where in the redirection of economic resources to support the foreign care industry makes an ill-effect on local health care as the lower income groups that have reduced access and longer waits for health services. So, instead of contributing to broader social and economic development the provision of care to patients from other countries might make worse, the existing in-equalities and further polarize the richest and poorest members of society.Healthcare spending in India accounts for over 5% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of which only 20% is provided by the governme nt. This reflects that the public healthcare is not only weak but also under-utilized and inefficient. Similarly contends that rising in-equalities in healthcare access across private and public systems encourages a domestic Brain-Drain (migration of healthcare professionals’ takes place from public to private sector) and increases dualism in healthcare in India.It is a fear that the remunerative Medical Tourism Industry in India might flourish at the expense of the treatment of endemic diseases (AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria) thus disregarding half of the disease burden in India which is primarily infectious diseases. Hence it is to be emphasized on the governments of destination countries to implement and enforce appropriate macroeconomic redistributive policies to ensure that the local residents of these nations actually realize the potential benefits of the Medical Tourism Industry in India.In addition, there is a rapidly increasing element of competition for India for m edical tourism income from other host countries such as Thailand and Singapore. Hence, one of the key factors for the host hospitals is the concept of efficient marketing to the developed countries offering innovative ideas like a holistic medical service and tourism package. It’s also a concern on the dependency of the developed nations on developing nations for healthcare provision.In addition, it is wondered if an established model of Medical Tourism Industry in India with the niche market which draws specific patients for designated procedures and can be followed by all developing countries. If multiple developing countries entered this market, the oversaturation of healthcare services would lead to severe price-cutting to the detriment of quality of healthcare. Another area of concern is the effect on the reputation of the destination country of the practice of soliciting patients for money.For example, Dr Kohli, an Indian pediatric cardiologist admitted to soliciting me dical tourists for money on the 60 Minutes. In addition, it’s warned that the quality of some of the services offered to medical tourists can cause significant risks due to the use of:- ? Older surgical equipment and inferior quality medications; ? Poorly trained health care providers; ?Inadequate emergency rooms and implanting older-generation medical devices.In a recent research conducted by Walsh, an antibiotic found amongst the UK medical tourists returning from India and Pakistan after undergoing cosmetic surgeries. The management of post-operative complications that occur after a patient returns to his home country and the consequent costs of this care are difficult issues that remain unresolved. Besides, hospitals catering to Medical Tourism Industry in India lack accreditation labels whereas there is an demand for oversight by neutral administrator such as (JCI and Patients beyond Borders) to attract foreign to the host country.Moreover, foreign patients have to bear the treatment cost out of their own pockets since the procedures performed under Medical Tourism Industry in India are usually not reimbursed by the insurance agencies with the exception of a few companies such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield in USA. Also, Medical Tourism Industry in India lacks stringent governance and regulatory policies. Consequently, faced with the choice of many medical institutions in diverse countries, medical tourists may find it very difficult to identify well-trained physicians and modern hospitals that consistently provide high-quality care.Lack of transparent pricing policies across hospitals, customer perception of some host countries as unhygienic and prone to terrorism with low coordination between the various Medical Tourism Industry in India operators such as airlines, hospitals, hotels and insurance companies are some of the other reported shortcomings. Since, Medical Tourism Industry in India is a relatively new phenomenon, some under-researched are as are observed in the available published literature such as: ?Limited statistical information; ?Impact of globalization on healthcare policies of Medical Tourism Industry in India; ? Challenges posed by Medical Tourism Industry in India like ethical and litigation issues; ? Public sector health inequity and post operative care of the medical tourists. Hence, a qualitative research is much needed to bridge this gap with a combination of primary (semi-structured interviews) and secondary (literature review) research. OPPORTUNITIESThe emergence of Medical Tourism Industry in India encouraged a reverse Brain-Drain where highly skilled medical professionals prefer to practice in their own countries rather than in the lucrative industrialized nations. One of the compensations for their move is the freedom to carry out rare medical procedures, such as hip resurfacing which have not yet been authorized in industrialized nations. There is an accompanying flow of patients as some citizens o f developed nations choose to bypass the care offered in their countries and travel to less developed areas of the world to receive a variety of reasonably priced medical services.As a result, regional and national governments in India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia regard Medical Tourism Industry in India as an important resource for economic and social development. The difference in treatment costs can be considerable; for example, the cost of an elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery is about $60,400 in California, $25,000 in Mexico, $15,500 in Bumrungrad, $10,000 in Thailand, and in India only $6,500 in Apollo.Hence, cost-conscious patients choose to accept the inconvenience and uncertainties of off-shore healthcare to obtain service at prices they can more comfortably afford. Medical Tourism Industry in India can be regarded as a tool for lessen the overburdened healthcare systems of industrialized nations. For example, in the US, there are 46. 6 million people with no medical insurance, inadequate coverage and those who are not eligible for Medicare. Moreover, overwhelming health-related expenses contribute to bankruptcies in the United States.Also, patients choose Medical Tourism Industry in India to circumvent the delays associated with the long waiting list in their native countries and to attain cosmetic surgeries such as dental reconstruction, fertility treatment not offered in their National Health Services such as in United Kingdom and Canada. Patients also travel overseas to access stem cell therapies which are restricted on ethical grounds in most industrialized countries but are available in the Medical Tourism Industry in India.The shortage of human organ supply available for transplant in the United States drives some patients to other countries to obtain organ transplants, a practice that has been referred to as transplant tourism. There is another category of patients who prefer Medical Tourism Industry in India for confidentiality of the treatment rendered such as plastic surgery, drug rehabilitation and reproductive tourism. Patients also prefer Medical Tourism Industry in India for more personalized nursing care offered owing to the lower labor costs in developing nations supplemented by travel to exotic locations.Recently, several Fortune 500 corporations such as Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. have been evaluating the feasibility of outsourcing expensive medical procedures to offshore healthcare destinations to reduce the financial burden of employee healthcare. In addition with these trends, the health insurance sector has potential commercial opportunity for foreign insurance firms. Insurance provider networks are being expanded to include physicians across the globe, and it is anticipated that within a decade a majority of large employer’s health plans will include off-shore medical centers.It is believed that if Medical Tourism Industry in India continues its meteoric g rowth, medical insurance plans could take advantage of its cost savings and begin offering lower-priced premiums if policyholders could be assigned to lower-priced countries for treatment. Hence, healthcare financing could become better calibrated to patients’ financial status. Consequently, medical tourism is a component of export-led economic growth, with the foreign currency earnings from international patients translating into output, jobs and income for developing countries with the added bonus of improving their public health systems.Supplemented by other factors such as: ? Low cost of administrative and medico-legal expenses; ?Medical visas being issued in lieu of travel visas for patients allowing an extended stay for medical reasons; ? Favorable economy. English being widely spoken due to India’s history as a British colony and enjoying a favorable Government support Medical Tourism Industry in India seems to be a promising sector for India. STRATEGIES ON INDI AN MEDICAL TOURISM ?Product ?Price ?Place ?Promotion ?People ?Process ?Physical Evidence SUGGESTIONS Role of Government: The government of India must act as a regulator to institute a uniform grading and accreditation system for hospitals to build consumers’ trust. ?Medical Visas: A simplified systems of getting medical visas should be developed in order to make travel across borders smoother. Visas can be extended depending on the condition of the patients. ?Holistic medical and diagnostic centers within the corporate hospitals: The hospitals have small spaces for the relatives to pray in, thereby wedding science with religion and traditional with modern medical practices. Setting up National Level Bodies: To market India’s specialized healthcare products in the world and also address the various issues confronting the corporate healthcare sector, leading private hospitals across the country are planning to set up a national-level body on the lines of National Associa tion of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the apex body of software companies in the country. It is therefore essential to form an apex body for health tourism – National Association of Health Tourism (NHAT). The main agenda for NAHT are: 1. Building the India Brand Abroad . Promoting Inter-Sectored Coordination 3. Information Dissemination using Technology 4. Standardization of Services ?Integrate vertically: Various added services may be offered to the patients. For example, hospitals may have kiosks at airports, offer airport pickups, bank transactions, or tie-ups with airlines for tickets and may help facilitate medical visas by the government. ?Joint Ventures / Alliances: In order to counter increasing competition in medical tourism sector, Indian hospitals should tie-up with foreign institutions for assured supply of medical tourists.CONCLUSION ?The First World’s Treatment at Third World Prices: India offers world-class healthcare that costs substantially less than those in developed countries, using the same technology delivered by competent specialists and attaining comparable success rates. ?India is receptively Less â€Å"Scary† Now: The author believes that a lot of entrusting medical care to different locations is about a psychological fear of the unknown. An important strategic challenge for developing-country hospitals is to reduce the psychological fear, which India has and is doing assiduously. Presence of a Collection of Medicine and Medicine Care: In India, the same depth of pool of talent for medicine exists as is the case of engineering and mathematical talent for software outsourcing. In the 1950s and '60s, the Indian government invested a lot in tertiary education. By now there are at least a small handful of medical institutes that are really first-rate, and the doctors they produce are extremely well trained. ?Strong Reputation in the Advanced Healthcare Segment: India has a plethora of hospitals offering wo rld class treatments in nearly every medical field of specialization. Portfolio of Indian Healthcare Tourism Offerings: This includes non-surgical medication complemented with Yoga therapies; unani and homoeopathic streams of medical care are in vogue. India is at an advantageous position to tap the global opportunities in the medical tourism sector. Its role is crucial to the development of medical tourism. The government should take steps in performing a role of a regulator and also as a facilitator of private investment in healthcare.Mechanisms need to be evolved to enable quicker visa grants to foreign tourists for medical purposes where patients can contact the Immigration Department at any point of entry for quick clearance. Tax incentives to the service providers, import duty reduction on medical equipment, committees to promote and foster medical tourism are some of the initiatives that can be devised. There is also a need to develop robust infrastructure in terms of transpo rt services to facilitate tourism in India. The tourism, health, information and communication departments need to work in tandem for efficient patient care.It should aim in building and promoting the image of India as high quality medical tourism destination, creating and promoting new combination of medical tourism products, keeping up the high standard of quality treatments at a reasonable price, providing informative online and offline materials and make them available to the potential customers. It should place a help desk and multi-lingual at different airports for medical tourists seeking information in various aspects. The fountainhead of India’s competitive advantage arises from the skillful use of its core competencies.These competencies are used to gain competitive advantage against rivals in the global market. Also attaining the accreditation/standard to reassure the quality of treatments as well as emphasizing on the needs and demands of the existing target marke ts must be incorporated. References ?Dr. Suman Kumar Dawn & Swati Pal, International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research ? Dr. R Gopal, The key issues and challenges in medical tourism sector in India (A Hospital perspective) ? Jyotsana Mal, Globalisation of Healthcare: Case studies of Medical Tourism in Multi-Specialty Hospitals in India ? Journals on HealthCare and Medical tourism

Organizational culture is fundamentally about symbolic meaning and as Essay - 4

Organizational culture is fundamentally about symbolic meaning and as such cannot be managed. Discuss - Essay Example Similarly, Hutch (2006) indicated that organizational culture is the unique principles, beliefs and behaviors that combine to give each organization a unique character. Essentially, these definitions point out that organizational culture is the pattern of behavior that is distinct to a particular organization. The culture of an organization is created by assumptions early in the life of an organization which become the modus operandi and are passed on to new personnel of the organization. The set of beliefs that form a company’s culture may be written or unwritten but they define the way in which people behave in the organization (Robbins & Judge 2007). It is imperative that culture is cultivated throughout the life of an organization and gives the organization a sense of identity. Symbolic Meaning of Organizational Culture Organizational culture may not be easily captured or defined within an organization due to fact that it is fundamentally of symbolic meaning. The manifesta tions of organizational culture differ from place to place. Culture in itself is a socially constructed phenomenon and it reflects meanings that are constituted through interactions among the members of an organization (Fineman et al 2005). An organization’s norms are built in an organic manner that eventually forms the basis for commonly accepted modes of operation. In organizations, culture is symbolic and it is described by stories and materials that are of significance within the organization. In this regard, the organizational culture is tied to symbolic meanings that are derived from the historical experiences in the organization. Verbal symbols such stories, myths and anecdotes can be used to symbolize company culture. Every organization has captivating stories that define its success and failures. The organization’s history can be captured in myths and anecdotes that are passed to newer employees. It is notable that communication is critical in any human engage ments. Verbal symbols create mythical heroes and heroines who serve as the yardstick for acceptable behavior in a particular organization. For instance, organizations can have symbolic stories on how the founders started in a college dormitory and worked on a shoe string budget during the formative years. This can be interpreted to create a culture of limited spending and avoiding exorbitant. The stories and myths are powerful tools that can help new employees to make sense of the organization’s environment and appreciate its ethos. It was noted that: Beliefs, values and ideology are at the heart of organizations. Individuals hold certain ideas and value-preferences which influence how they behave and how they view the behavior of other members. These norms become shared traditions which are communicated within the group and are reinforced by verbal symbols (Hatch 2006, p.265). Actions such as rituals and events may be used to symbolically show the beliefs and practices withi n an organization. For instance, team retreats may hold a symbolic value within an organization. Such an activity may serve as the springboard of all product and service ideas for a company. It may be a practice within the organization that employees have to go on annual retreats to unwind and come up with product innovations. Hatch (2006) indicated that rituals can also serve as a powerful tool symbolizing the culture. Some organizations may have rituals that determine how the orientation of new

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 48

Marketing - Essay Example Further, the retail store provides incentives coupons on its website periodically that can be used only in-store, thus prompting the online consumers to visit the bricks-and-mortar retail stores. The household catalog strongly iterates the availability of products online, providing promotional codes in the catalog that can be used online. The promotional function integrates all of the marketing messages so that customers find consistency in how the business is positioned against competition stemming from its different marketing channels. JCPenney positions on price and affordability against its competition, and the majority of integrated promotions for all three channels focus on pricing differentiation. It could confuse the brand concept if the business used multiple promotional strategies. Promotions are not different in-store, in the catalog, or online since the company maintains a very wide target demographic. Because the business carries products relevant to many different lifestyles and age groups, it must adopt a mass market promotional strategy rather than limiting the business to niche marketing or market

Summarization of Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Summarization of Organization - Essay Example As the discussion outlines the physician’s office is an independently run office that also functions as a business organization in itself, and it must compete with other local physician’s offices. The organization is named after the physician, Dr. Brown, and is referred to as â€Å"Dr. Brown’s Medical Office.† The medical office, which focuses in dermatology, has provided a good organizational structure to assist adult learners and those working to gain knowledge of the field. Trainees, for instance, are always working under somebody, and they usually participate in several aspects of examinations and do other jobs around the office. The training is a very hands on experience. The office also continues to offer training courses and opportunities to learn one on one with the doctor as necessary, thus encouraging the learners. The business is attempting to improve its prospects by moving its skin care products online and thus reaching a larger target audienc e, since it had always been recognized as a local business. Therefore, an analysis of this organization and its interactions with its adult learners is necessary to understanding how the business could better focus on use of technology and the Internet to achieve goals. This paper highlights that Dr. Brown’s office has been in business for twenty-one years. They are a local business venture and provide many services. Since the dermatology services offered at this office are not always covered by health insurance, the company must do what they can to keep prices low and attract customers. A variety of local advertising is used in local newspapers and pamphlets. The advertising focuses on the services offered, and the fact that the services here are usually better priced than services at other local offices. The company has been successful, even regardless of the recent recession. It has been able to retain its customers by offering price slashes and returning customer discounts.

Emerging issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Cash study Case Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cash - Case Study Example The growth in these sectors not only brings in additional income and revenue in the economy but also ensures that it remains stable. The decision by the Indian government to ease restriction on foreign ownership has attracted foreign players into the telecommunication, hospitality, aviation and transport industry. All these have led to economic growth thus making India a land of opportunities. The Indian government has continued to show a lot of interest in foreign investments. Policies intended to attract more investors have been passed. 2. The resources and capabilities of the international hotels are considered to be among the fundamental sources of competitive advantage within the areas they are operating in. Most of these international hotels have been in operation for quite a long time and they own several properties in various world locations. According to Enz (2010), international firms and hotels have resources that allow them to not only have an upper hand compared to local hotels but also attain superior performance. The advantage can be sustained over a long period of time to an extent that such hotels are able to protect themselves from resource imitation, substitution and even transfer. Armstrong (2011) points out that a company’s internal resources which include cash and other capabilities are more important than the external factors when it comes to achieving and sustaining competitive advantage. Resources like employee, experience and skills basically help in exploiting opportunities and also neutralizing potential threats. 3. India continues to grab headlines for its economic growth and boom. The high growth rates have not been ignored in the global discussion. International firms have therefore decided to open up their deep pockets as part of their investment strategies in the global markets. Despite the rising need for the services, the local firms and chains must come up with policies that will not only allow them

Critically assess whether a criminal justice system based on Essay

Critically assess whether a criminal justice system based on resolution and restoration would be more effective than the one based on punishment - Essay Example They need a second chance because many have not received even a first chance. Additionally, rehabilitation is by far the best option for them because of the way they would almost certainly be exploited and turned into hardened criminals if sent to prison. This paper will provide further background to the issue of rehabilitating juvenile offenders, and strongly argue that it is the right approach. The justice system fulfills an important symbolic function by establishing standards of conduct. It formally defines right and wrong for citizens and frees them from the responsibility of taking vengeance, thus preventing the escalation of feuds within communities. The system protects the rights of free citizens by honoring the principle that individual freedom should not be denied without good reason. Rehabilitation has as its objective the return of offenders to the community as cured and viable members of society. The rehabilitation efforts of the 1980s and 1990s were to a large extent unsuccessful. No program appeared to be any more effective in changing criminals than any other program, so a sizable portion of the people released from prison continued to return (Murphy 49). This led many to conclude that the best, and possibly only, alternative was simply to remove offenders from the community, precluding any further vexation and exploitation by them. Since criminals are though t to be more likely to commit crimes than those never convicted of a criminal act, it follows that some benefits will be derived from incarcerating convicted criminals. Incapacitation has the greatest potential as a method of crime control if it is a few hardened criminals who commit most crimes. If they can be identified, convicted, and incarcerated for long periods, a significant reduction in crime would be realized. Most advocates of punitive reform have this perspective on the criminal population. Blame for the majority

Buddhism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Buddhism - Essay Example It is considered that the religion was founded on teaching of Gautama Buddha (500 B.C.E). The traditional date of the birth of the Buddha is 560 B.C.E. The Buddha is believed to have been born in northeastern India, and was a prince. He followed ascetic way of life and devoted himself to meditations and spiritual development. One day, he meditated near the Ganges River, and came to conclusion that asceticism did not work and did not help a person to achieve spiritual development. He understood that a person should eat a sufficient amount of food to have a good heath, should take enough rest but not too much, and meditate. In 525 B.C.E, the Buddha achieved Enlightenment and began to preach (Lyons and Peters 1985). As with other major world religions, the history of Buddhism has long been characterized by an ongoing tension between attempts to preserve traditional ideals and modes of practice and the need to adapt to changing social and cultural conditions (Lopez 2002). Many developmen ts in Buddhist history, such as the infusion of esoteric rituals, the arising of forms of devotionalism and lay movements, and the assimilation of warrior practices, reflect the impact of widespread yet fundamental social and cultural changes on traditional religious structures. ... In 480 BC was established the first Buddhist Council at Rajagriha in Bihar. At this council, the Vinaya and Sutra texts were standardized. As with most religions, the early years of Buddhism are shrouded in obscurity. But the period between that event and the reemergence of Buddhism into the light of history around 250 B.C.E. is somewhat unclear. Buddhist tradition holds that there was a meeting, or council, held immediately following the Buddha's death (Lopez 2002). The major concern of this meeting was to stabilize the Buddhist scriptures by coming to an agreement as to what were the accepted scriptures as spoken by the Buddha. For a variety of reasons, no such agreement seems to have been reached, although there was some general agreement on the basic message of the Buddha. Leaving the canon, that is to say the total collection of Buddhist scriptures, open in this way was to lead to disagreements later in Buddhist history. The second Buddhist Council at Vaisali marked the first di vision of the Buddhist Order (386 BC). In 244 BC, the third Buddhist Council called by Asoka. This council fixed the canon of Theravadin Buddhism (Lyons and Peters 1985). To other regions of the world, Buddhist tradition was spread with merchants. For instance, Buddhism was introduced to Southeast Asia in C. 200. Since C. 300, Buddhism is a prominent religion in China and begins to penetrate Korea. c. 750 Buddhism officially established in Tibet (beginnings of the Vajrayana school). c. 800 Ch'an and Pure Land Buddhism become dominant schools in China; establishment of Tendai and Shingon schools in Japan. Only, in 1893 World Parliament of Religions

Human resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Human resource management - Essay Example She called attention to psychology as a measure to improve not only productivity, but also the welfare of the workers. Through this, she was able to advance the humanistic side of Psychology and its application to the industry. Among the key domains where HRM is oftentimes applied and executed are Performance Management, Motivation and Leadership. In these domains, HRM is able to exercise its goal of developing people skills and helping them work efficiently in order to improve organizational productivity. In the area of Performance Management, HRM strategically develops and improves performance through policies that emphasize customer needs and service quality through systematic monitoring, evaluation, rewarding, and instilling a sense of accountability among individuals and teams. In Motivation, HRM helps in identifying concrete steps to determine the primary motivators of the workers and to provide these motivators to ensure optimum performance of duties. Paul J. Meyer is known to have identified five warning signs for waning motivation, and he subsequently formed a 5-point plan to correct motivational problems and to help in maintaining its momentum. Finally, in Leadership, HRM helps leaders develop pr oper communication within and beyond the organization, establish an aware and responsive culture among its members, and promote high standards through setting examples (Gibbs, 2000). HRM goals should be in line with organizational goals, yet it should keep up with the needs of the individual workers and the constantly changing environment of the workforce, in response to the changing supply and demand. HRM models serve to outline the relationship of the essential elements needed to provide effective HRM, at least to grant concrete structure all throughout the face of continuing changes, and to guarantee that the basic aspects are being met. The traditional HRM Model by M. Hanada Keio involves a four-way system of grading – through rewards,

Housing Dhaka Essay Example for Free

Housing Dhaka Essay One of the major consequences of rapid urbanization in Bangladesh has been the persistent deterioration of housing situation in metropolitan areas. The concentration of the poor in such areas and the ever-widening gap between the demand for and supply Iand for housing have led to the deyelopment of of low_income settlements on environmentally sensitive and hazard-prone lands. The problem is particularly acute in Dhaka where the poor residents have been increasingly constrained to such marginal land, in preferred sites. The inabirity of the poor residents is largely attributed to the prevailing prolitical situation of the country, ineptitude public as they arc unable to buy or rent land of organizations, nonchalant altitude of the government and predatory nature of the formal land market in Dhaka. The urban poor ofDhaka have come to realise that they do not folm part of the privileged group(s) to which the city authoriries cater their service and that they have been left out to fend for themselves. With this realisation the poor have sought to  provide housing for themselves. In such attempts, unauthorised settlements have developed in various marginal places, especially along and over water regimes in Dhaka. Over the years development of settlements and deliberate encroachment by private and public sector development have led to the disappearance of lakes, canals, flood plains, etc. rhat existed within the city. In thls process numerous ponds and tanks have also disappeared, creating an ecological imbalance with Dhaka experiencing the worst flood in history in r9gg. Dhaka has arso rost much of its beauty and its natural heritage. On the other hand, atlempts to creare spaces or pseudo-land over and along water bodies and swamps without proper planning and design techniques have produced undesirable outcomes and red to serious decline in envrronmental conditions in the immediate and sunounding area where such spaces have been created. Life and health of local residents as well as the city residents have put been to risk. Considering the gravity of the problem the aim of this paper is to investrgate how the urban poor of Dhaka are constrained to marginal places and shed light on aspects which bring about this situation. This paper also aims to highlight the problems produced as a result of creation of spaces over water and suggests measure to reverse such hazardous living conditions of the urban poor in Dhaka. It is assumed that unprecedented urbanization and ineptitude ofconcerned authorities have produced conditions forcing the 55 56 U rbanization in Bangladesh urban poor to live in marginal places. The paper, thus, begins with appraisals of issues related to the urbanization of Dhaka such as its land value and the Prospect of housing provision for the poor in this city before investigating the actual problem of creating unplanned spaces for living. Information for this paper has been collected from both primary and secondary sources. The Exodus Towards Dhaka The rate ofpopulation growth for Dhaka has been. 3 percent, 9. 4 Percent and 7. 8 percent dudng the 196l-1974, 1974-1981 and l98l-1991 pe ods respectively (RAJUK, 1995). This has produced a number of unexpected outcomes in recent decades, such as rapidity of urban growth and mega-population of the city. The reason for such rapid growth is the status of Dhaka as a capital city and the centripetal nature of concentration of major activities and facilities within the city-as a result people from all over Bangladesh are atbacted towards this city. Added to it are the prevailing political situation of the country, stagnant rural economy and nonchalant attitude of the government towards decentralization. The result is that Dhaka is suffering from over-population while other towns and rural areas are suffering for want of industries, factories, etc. Informal job opponunities have declined in areas outside Dhaka The sheer number of people living in this city makes any son of business prosper and thrive. Thus, businesses or jobs mean chances for people to survive.

Analysis of Privacy Perception Among Open Plan Office Users

Analysis of Privacy Perception Among Open Plan Office Users CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION What is an Office? Offices are workspaces designed for regular use to achieve personal, group or organizational goals through the accomplishment of tasks. Sanders and McCormick, (2002) go on to state that these tasks can be grouped into cognitive, physical, social or procedural tasks. The office provides a location for contact and could also be a repository for tools, information and other resources required to meet business objectives. It is also a business resource, this a point most people fail to understand thus, the failure to properly design and evaluate work spaces. The work place or office is one of the places the modern man spends the bulk of his waking hours. Sanders and McCormick, (2002) say almost half of ones waking hours are spent in and around the office. This would provide explanation for research efforts into the design and utilization of offices. According to Myerson and Ross (2003) the office grew out of the factory and then followed the trend of bureaucratization of industry. Thus, offices have been viewed differently by users and companies. Some view it as an address, others as a necessary evil but to others it is considered to be an asset. Bjerrum and Bà ¸dker (2003) noted that the design of an office was mostly considered as a cost and done to support quiet work and also show peoples status. While the purpose of the â€Å"New office† is to be that of attracting and retaining staff as well as to revolutionalize corporate culture. Work places or offices have been described variously as; conventional, traditional, and closed or open plan offices. Some, group them as large or small, landscaped etc. (Sanders and McCormick, 2002). The general descriptions of workspaces fall under the categories of open plan and cellular offices and this is based on the architectural and functional features of the work spaces (Duffy, Laing and Crisp, 1992). Other descriptions and categorization of offices include the hive; which is suited to individual processes. The den; suited to group processes. The cell; designed for concentrated study while the club supports transactional knowledge (Sailer, Budgen, Lonsdale, Turner and Penn, 2009). There are other descriptions of office types for example, Myerson and Ross (2003) from an architectural point of view, showed that views of property and space as related to the office environment have been evolving and as such, they identify four thematic categories of offices namely: narrative which presents the â€Å"office as a brand experience.† Nodal where the â€Å"office as knowledge connector.† The neighborly theme sees the â€Å"office as a social landscape† and lastly nomadic â€Å"office as distributed work space† these grouping reflect more of necessity and corporate culture not necessarily a collection of generally practically replicable models. In another categorization of offices by Myerson and Ross (2006) is based on the fact that the offices evolved to suit knowledge workers, as such, the categories match each of the four â€Å"realms† of knowledge work namely: the academy â€Å"is likened to the corporate realm which is a more collegiate and collaborative approach to work†, guild â€Å"the professional realm in essence a professional cluster of peers sharing a skill or specialization†, agora â€Å"the public realm where the corporation is open to the city or the market place† and the lodge â€Å" the domestic or private realm more of the live and work setting†. In the general scheme of things offices are still broadly classified into open plan and private or cellular offices all other forms are variations of the two. Cellular Offices Also called closed offices, this type of offices are the traditional or conventional offices which are usually closed and private workspaces (Maher and von Hippel, 2005) i.e. they are designed with floor to ceiling walls, a door and dimensioned for a single user. This type of office is also called a cell-office and can be a shared room office, used by 2-3 persons (Danielsson, 2008). This has been the generally accepted, traditional or popular understanding of the place called an office. Open Plan Offices These are found to be a common workspace shared by a group of employees. The original concept of the open plan office has continued to evolve, but it is the absence of floor-to-ceiling walls that is said to be the primary characteristic of open-plan offices. The arrangements of office furniture, partitions, screens, office equipment, or plants mark out individual and functional work areas (Valesny and Farace, 1987). One of the strengths of the open plan office according to Bjerrum and Bà ¸dker (2003) is the openness and flexibility allowing one to move to where things are happening and allowing for â€Å"overhearing and over-seeing† (p. 207) thus enhancing peripheral participation. Other types of the open plan office include the bull pen office, action offices, landscaped offices (Sanders and McCormick, 2002). In the bull pen offices, the work desks are arranged in neat row as far as the eyes can see. In reality, most firms have a mix of office typologies ranging from cellular units designed for a single user to a small room office shared by a few people then the spaces shared with a large group with or without specifically assigned work places and with varying measures of visual and audio privacy. Recent Developments in Open Plan Offices It is safe to argue that, the open plan office has become increasingly popular (de Korte, Kuijt-Evers and Vink, 2007; Ding, 2008; Oldham and Brass, 1979; Pejtersen, Allermann, Kristensen and Poulsen, 2006 etc.) and several reasons could be advanced to explain the widespread adoption and use of the open plan offices and its variations. There is also a move to wards a reduction in open plan office workspaces especially in the United States of America due to the understanding that smaller workstations are cheaper to maintain (Dykes, 2011) this according to Veitch, Charles, Farley and Newsham (2007) is because there is a failure in understanding the full value of the physical office environment and related issues in open plan offices in particular. Advantages of open plan offices Searches through literature (Danielsson, 2008; Oldham and Brass, 1979; Pan and Micheal, 2007; Roper and Juneja, 2008; Valesny and Farace, 1987 etc.) present the following as reasons for the adoption of open plan offices. They include; Reduction in office space and cost decline: The price of real estate is predicated on the area rented and utilized. With organizations using rental spaces, it is cheaper to use the rented floor or floors as open plan offices. In most cases, the cost of partitioning is saved if an open plan set up is deployed fully or partly. Flexibility for organizational changes: The open plan office lends itself to easy restructuring of work areas. In most cases, it is easier to fit in one more members of staff (Sanders and McCormick, 2002). More efficient work flow and communication: Some jobs require continuous team work, face to face interaction and a relatively high level of routine procedures. For such work groups, the open plan office or variations thereof are usually recommended and deployed. The enhancement of some level of peripheral participation is one of the strengths of the open plan office. Possible enhancement of social facilitation: The enhancement of collaboration i.e. the fostering of a team spirit, where, work teams or task forces are close to one another and can quickly form a huddle to sort out problems without resorting to information technology provisions like the intercom, emails, phones, video conferencing or even the walk up to another office. Oldham and Brass, (1979) specifically examined interpersonal issues that included; intradepartmental and interdepartmental interaction, friendship opportunities, noting that supervisor and co worker feed back could be improved. Ease of supervision: There is an ease of supervision, in that, a look over the landscape of the office can give an idea as to who is present and what each member of staff is doing. Limitations of open plan offices. Regarding the limitations of open-plan office designs, Maher and von Hippel (2005) rightly point out the fact that in open plan office layouts â€Å"distractions and overstimulation are intrinsically linked to the design.† These issues have consistently been themain down sides of open plan offices and some of them include: Increased workplace noise (Pan and Michael, 2007). Increased disturbances and distractions. Increased feelings of crowding and loss of privacy. There is a reduction in autonomy and task identity and a reduction in supervisor and co worker feedback in certain cases (Oldham and Brass, 1979). One point of agreement in open plan office research is that there is a generally low level of perceived privacy in open plan offices, as interruptions and distractions of the visual and acoustic kind occur frequently in open plan offices. (Pejtersen et al. 2006; Roper and Juneja, 2008) Furthermore, researchers have observed that these negative outcomes resulting from the adoption of the open plan office design tends to result in dissatisfaction with work and the workplace thus, reducing functional efficiency, decreasing performance, especially, for non routine tasks and also, reduced feedback from supervisors due to some complexity with the freedom of communication (de Korte et al. 2007; Pejtersen et al. 2006; Sundstrom et al. 1982; Vischer, 2007 ). This understanding has led some organizations to begin returning to the traditional private offices i.e. with floor to ceiling partitions assigned to an individual (Roper and Juneja 2008). Evolving nature of office work Also worthy of note, is the evolution of work patterns. An increasingly large number of persons work mainly at or from home and visit the office sparingly. This has given rise to the several types of offices one of which is the flex-office, which is dimensioned for less than 70% of the total company staff to be in at the same time. Another design is the combi-office; where a member of staff is not assigned to a specific desk but sharing of common facilities provides the spatial definition of such an individuals work space i.e. the task and personnel at hand may determine the sitting arrangement of persons in the office (Danielsson, 2008). Thesis Overview The thesis is organized in to 5 chapters; Chapter one provides an introduction the concept of an office, its major types and variations. It then focuses on the open plan office and then highlights the strengths and limitations of the open plan office. Chapter two provides a literature review of the concept of privacy perception; it reviews the perceived benefits of privacy and then traces the expectation that privacy perception could be influenced by culture. Significant studies related to dissatisfaction with open plan offices are examined for possible links to culture. The discussion then moves to culture, its definition and then the attempts made in the classification of culture. The Hofstede paradigm is then discussed and some studies employing the paradigm are reviewed. The research motivation and hypotheses are presented. Chapter three discusses the methodology of the study, the survey method, issues noted and the challenge expected. The source and design of the questionnaire was presented and the analysis methods proposed. The statistical analysis tool was briefly introduced. Chapter four shows the procedure of the survey, documents the responses received, analyzed the data collected from the general information part of the questionnaire and then chronicles the statistical analysis of the second part of the questionnaire designed to elicit privacy perception in open plan office environments. Chapter five provides a discussion of the results obtained in chapter five and then presents the limitations of the current study while providing directions for further work. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This part of the thesis discusses the links between privacy perceptions and culture. It also includes definitions and explanations of some related terms. Lastly, it includes a presentation of some ideas relevant to the work and results of related studies. The chapter concludes with the research question, research hypothesis and the motivation for the study. Privacy Perception In order to facilitate a better understanding, the term â€Å"privacy† is defined firstly then the concept called â€Å"perception. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2011), privacy is said to be â€Å"the quality or state of being apart from company or observation†. Wikipedia defines perception as â€Å"the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information.† It goes on to say â€Å"what one perceives is a result of interplays between past experiences, including one’s culture, and the interpretation of the perceived.† Privacy is a very difficult concept or construct to define not to talk of evaluating, it has commanded interest from the fields of anthropology, architecture, cultural geography, environmental design, ethology, history, law, philosophy, and sociology, as well as branches psychology such as; clinical, counseling, developmental, educational, environmental and social psychology (Newell, 1995; 1998). Newell (1995) in her extensive review of the concept of privacy divided the perspectives of privacy into, people centered, place centered and the person-environment or the person-place interaction with the primary interest on the place, people or equally on the person and place and or with the interaction itself. Leino-Kilpi et al. (2001 p. 664) in another review of literature on privacy noted that perspectives applied to the analysis of the concepts of privacy to be: The units experiencing privacy. They go on to note â€Å"the unit experiencing privacy can be either an individual or a group, or both.† Desired – Achieved privacy. This is explained by the understanding that the concept of privacy is either seen as a subjective state or studied as an achieved state (Newell, 1998). Reactive – Proactive privacy. This is to say the control of communication and also the control of knowledge. Furthermore, they describe the dimensions of privacy to include: physical, psychological, social and informational thus, suggesting privacy dimensions to be made up of four quadrants of the diagram as shown in figure 2.1 below.. Source: Leino-Kilpi et al. (2001) It would be seen that in an open plan office all the dimensions of privacy as enumerated Figure 2.1 above are impinged upon; First, physical accessibility to the person is unrestricted. Secondly, the cognitive intrusions abound due to audio and visual distractions. Thirdly, it is more difficult to control social contacts for example, the choice of participants for interaction, the interaction frequency, length and content of the said interaction. Then finally, the ease with which certain private pieces of information about the person is easily accessible is a problem in open plan offices, after all, most open plan offices do not have a single route of access or a door to the work space. So, it is difficult to mark and protect ones territory and as such protect some form of private information from would be trespassers (Anjum, Paul and Ashcroft, 2004). In the light of these perspectives, one of the definitions of privacy suggested is that â€Å"privacy is a voluntary and temporary condition of separation from the public domain† (Newell, 1998, p. 357). Oldham, Kulick and Stepina (1991) highlighted the fact that individuals reacted negatively to environments characterized by few enclosures, closeness and high density because such environments exposed individuals to too many unwanted or uncontrolled intrusions. It is also agreed that, the perception of the work environment leads to satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the work and the work environment. Fischer, Tarquinio and Vischer (2004, p.132 ) posit that the there are three major categories of mediating influences on workplace satisfaction and these are, â€Å"individual differences like culture, age, professional or status, organizational context and environmental features.† All these issues could be further grouped into two; internal and external factors as relates to the individual. These two descriptions could be mapped to the two ingredients required for a need for privacy to exist i.e. a person or persons and a place. Sanders and McCormick (2002, p. 485) also point out that apart from the physical features of the built environment, â€Å"people are influenced by nonphysical features like social, cultural, technological, economic and political factors characteristic of the environment.† External Factors These are the place factors, usually described as the environmental or design issues which can lead to noise distractions, visual distractions, interruptions, crowding and accessibility issues (Ding, S. 2008). Due to the absence of internal walls, the low height of walls or partitions in open plan offices influences privacy; the more enclosures, the lower the people per given space and the higher the partitions, the higher the privacy perceived (Danielsson 2008; Oldham, G. R et al. 1991; Sundstrom, Herbert and Brown, 1982 etc.). Organizational context is also considered to be an external factor. This involves the type of industry involved by the organization. For example doctors consulting rooms should provide more audio privacy compared to an architectural firms offices or design studios. Internal Factors This grouping is based on the person factors or what goes on within the person, the suggestion that individual differences related to but not restricted to personality traits, gender, individual experience etc. affect ones perception of, and hence the evaluation of the work environment (external or place factors). Some studies have found that variations exist across gender in perception of privacy in the open plan office (Yildirim, Akalin-Baskaya and Celebi, 2007). Also, in a different cross cultural study of privacy, Newell (1998) found that privacy was more a condition of the person thus, the duration of the experience and the change on the person as a result of the experience leads to its suspected therapeutic effect. In general perceptions and attitudes to privacy, she found that gender also played a part especially within cultures. Maher and von Hippel (2005) and others before them showed that individual differences in the ability to handle overstimulation by the application stimulus screening and inhibitory abilities influenced the perceptions of the work environment. These inhibitory skills are cognitive in nature and such inhibitory skills are found to vary between individuals and even especially across cultures. For example, Hall (1966) points out that the Japanese are said to be content with paper walls as acoustic screens while the Dutch and Germans require thick walls and double doors to serve as acoustic screens. Benefits of Privacy in the work Environment Newell (1998, p. 359) relates the need for privacy to help in â€Å"maintaining healthy internal physiological and cognitive functioning subjectively described as ‘wellbeing’†. The study concluded that achieving the perceived privacy had some therapeutic effects. On the area of performance, especially for knowledge workers like engineers, accountants, software designers, decision makers etc., auditory and visual distraction have been found to be a cause of stress and even performance impairment (Roper and Juneja, 2008). Furthermore, Oommen, Knowles and Zhao (2008) point to the likelihood of aggression and increased instances of eye, nose and throat irritations while working in open plan environments. This in turn affects productivity. Culture Culture is said to be the way of life of a group of people. This, among other things covers their beliefs, values, norms and rituals. Specifically, Hofstede (2009 p. 1) points out that â€Å"culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from the others and it manifests itself in the form of symbols, heroes, rituals and values.† Earlier, an American anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his books, talked about language and especially modes of communication as a point of differentiating cultures (Hall E.T 1966; 1976). He even considered language to be the core of culture while, Geert Hofstede considers language as a part of the rituals of a particular culture (Hofstede, 2010). This goes to point out some of the existing disagreements about what culture is and even how it comes about. Culture is thus, studied as a means of understanding or shedding light into the behavior or reactions of individuals or people groups. Edward Hall in his book; the hidden dimension writes that â€Å"people from different cultures inhabit different sensory worlds, so that experience, as it is perceived through one set of culturally patterned sensory screens is quite different from experience perceived through another.† (1966, p. 2). This highlights and explains the link between culture and perception generally and in spatial terms especially. Classifying Cultures There have been several descriptions and models of culture (Matsumoto and Yoo, 2006; Hall, 1966; 1970), for example, Hall (1966) alludes to contact and non-contact groups or cultures in relation to spatial meanings and preferences within people groups . This is related to the social dimension of privacy (Leino-Kilpi et al. 2001), but he especially specifies high and low context cultures according to their ways of communicating. For the high context (HC) culture or communication for that matter, much of the information is implicit while, in the low context (LC) culture, nearly everything is explicit. He also wrote about the concept of time among cultures (Hall, 1976). Where there are polychronic (P-time) and monochronic (M-Time) cultures; the M-time society or culture would prefer to do only one thing at a time when serious i.e. for such persons, time is linear and segmented with each activity scheduled while, the individuals in a P-time culture can juggle several activities, they emphasize the involvement of people and the completion of tasks rather than schedules. Edward T. Hall coined the term â€Å"Proxemics† which he describes as â€Å"interrelated observations and theories of mans use of space as a specialized elaboration of culture† Hall (1966 p. 1). In explaining his observations in proxemic behavior (Hall, 1963 p. 1003) he notes that â€Å"what is close to an American may be distant to an Arab.† Many other researchers and individuals apart from Edward Hall had worked on other frameworks and dimensions of culture. Matsumoto and Yoo, (2006) lists some of these frameworks which are interestingly identified by the names of the researchers that discovered them and this list which is not exhaustive, includes; Hofstedes (1980) with subsequent revisions and dimensions added; Schwartz (2004) who presented seven universal value orientations, Smith, Dugan and Trompenaars (1996) had two universal value orientations; House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman and Gupta (2003) came up with nine value orientations related to leadership; Inglehart (1997) had two attitude-belief-value orientations, Bond et al. (2004) is said to have reported two social axioms. All cited in Matsumoto and Yoo, (2006 p. 239). The listing above does not mention each of the dimensions. The dimensions of each framework listed are found in Table 2.1 below. Table 2.1 Six Theoretical Frameworks for Universal Dimensions of Cultural Variability Framework Dimensions Hofstede’s (2001) dimensions of  work-related values Individualism vs. collectivism Power distance Uncertainty avoidance Masculinity vs. femininity Long- vs. short-term orientation Schwartz’s (2004) dimensions of  values Embeddedness Hierarchy Intellectual autonomy Affective autonomy Egalitarianism Mastery Harmony Smith, Dugan, and Trompenaars’s  (1996) dimensions of values Egalitarian commitment vs. conservatism Utilitarian involvement vs. loyal involvement House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, and  Gupta’s (2003) dimensions of  leadership values Performance orientation Assertiveness orientation Future orientation Human orientation Institutional collectivism Family collectivism Gender egalitarianism Power distance Uncertainty avoidance Inglehart’s (1997) dimensions of  attitudes, values, and beliefs Traditional vs. secular-rational orientation Survival vs. self-expression values Bond et al.’s (2004) dimensions  of social axioms (beliefs) Dynamic externality Societal cynicism Source: (Matsumoto, D and Yoo, S. H, 2006 p. 240) National versus Organizational culture As a society has a culture, so do organizations and such organizations employ staff who come from a particular culture(s). The organizations then require these individuals to work in offices. Apart from the culture description related to national boundaries, there is a culture that seems to characterize workplaces or organizations and this is called organizational or corporate culture. Barney (1986) notes that like culture itself, organizational culture has many competing definitions and then goes on to suggest that a generally acceptable definition of organizational culture to be â€Å"as a complex set of values, beliefs, assumptions, and symbols that define the way in which a firm conducts its business.† (p. 657). He goes on to point the pervasive nature of organizational culture in that, it helps to define the relationship of the firm to parties it comes in contact with through its business. This simply shows that culture within the work place especially geared towards profitability or the conferment of advantages could be termed organizational or corporate culture. Generally it will be assumed that the national culture will also play a part. Guidroz, Kotrba, and Denison (2009) from results of a study of multinational companies, claim that their study seems to point to organizational culture superseding national culture in diversity management practices. The issue in question in this thesis is not exactly a management matter but the individual perception of privacy in the open plan office environments and would suggest that both national and organizational cultures playing a part because according to (Brand, 2009) the design of the workspace or workplace communicates the corporate culture of the organization meaning, the adoption of the open plan environment can be tied to the organizations corporate culture. Hofstedes’ Cultural Dimensions This is a hugely popular cross-cultural model (Gerhart and Fang, 2005; Hofstede et al, 2010; Sivakumar, Nakata, 2001) currently in use, with its roots in industrial psychology (Meeuwesen, van den Brink-Muinen and Hofstede, 2009) is called the Hofstedes model of culture named after Geert Hofstede a Dutch emeritus Professor of organizational anthropology and international management in the Netherlands. Hofstedes work highlighted the fact that culture is manifested through symbols, heroes, rituals and values. But, Hofstede argues that values form the core of culture as represented by the Hofstede culture â€Å"Onion† in Figure 2.2. Figure 2.2 shows the onion structure graphically illustrating the manifestation of culture at different levels and even the interactions therein. As seen from Figure 2.2 above symbols, heroes and rituals are by themselves visible to all observers. It is the cultural meanings of the practices that are open to interpretation by the observer while, values are unseen or embedded within the person but they still subtly determine choices and much more (Hofstede et al., 2010). Hofstedes research studied value survey responses of similar respondents from different countries as to their approach, as related to four basic problems prevalent in most societies (Meeuwesen et. al, 2009) these included; Handling social inequalities in the society. The approach to dealing with uncertainty in general. The structure of the relationship between an individual and the group. The emotional role division between the male and females in a society. The initial data for Hofstedes culture study came about through an analysis of International Business Machine Company (IBM) staff surveys at a time, the company was called Hermes. He utilized the responses from routine staff surveys about values and related matters to provide ratings for countries on each of what he then called the four dimensions of culture. This was achieved by examining correlations between mean scores of questionnaire items at the level of countries. Other approaches, like analysis at the individual level did not provide much useful information (Hofstede, 2009). Later, certain studies showed the need for another dimension and this lead to the inclusion of a fifth dimension called, long term orientation. Each dimension of culture score for a country is calculated using a scale of roughly 0 to 100 for each dimension. A dimension of culture is an aspect of culture that can be measured relative to other cultures (Hofstede, 2009 p. 6) and the higher the score of a dimension, the more that dimension is exhibited in the society or nation in question while for lower scores the opposite pole of the dimension is more pronounced. Thus, the scores are therefore bipolar (Jones, 2007) In a 2010 book, Greet Hofstede, his son Gert Jan Hofstede and a research collaborator Micheal Minkov reviewed earlier works, alongside their recent studies and added a sixth dimension called indulgence versus restraint (IVR) to the previously known Hofstedes five dimensions of culture. The sixth dimension was largely as a result of the work of Micheal Minkov (Hofstede et al., 2010). The six dimensions of Hofstedes cultural model now include power distance (PDI), individualism (IDV), masculinity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance index (UAI), long term orientation (LTO), and the recently added indulgence (IVR). Power distance (PDI). This indicates the degree of inequality that exists and is accepted among the persons with and without power i.e. the leadership versus the followership respectively as normal and legitimate in any given society. If the power distance scores are high, it indicates a pyramidal or hierarchical system where the power is resident at the top while, lower scores indicate greater equality suggesting power is shared and spread within the group. Individualism (IDV). This is related to the se Analysis of Privacy Perception Among Open Plan Office Users Analysis of Privacy Perception Among Open Plan Office Users CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION What is an Office? Offices are workspaces designed for regular use to achieve personal, group or organizational goals through the accomplishment of tasks. Sanders and McCormick, (2002) go on to state that these tasks can be grouped into cognitive, physical, social or procedural tasks. The office provides a location for contact and could also be a repository for tools, information and other resources required to meet business objectives. It is also a business resource, this a point most people fail to understand thus, the failure to properly design and evaluate work spaces. The work place or office is one of the places the modern man spends the bulk of his waking hours. Sanders and McCormick, (2002) say almost half of ones waking hours are spent in and around the office. This would provide explanation for research efforts into the design and utilization of offices. According to Myerson and Ross (2003) the office grew out of the factory and then followed the trend of bureaucratization of industry. Thus, offices have been viewed differently by users and companies. Some view it as an address, others as a necessary evil but to others it is considered to be an asset. Bjerrum and Bà ¸dker (2003) noted that the design of an office was mostly considered as a cost and done to support quiet work and also show peoples status. While the purpose of the â€Å"New office† is to be that of attracting and retaining staff as well as to revolutionalize corporate culture. Work places or offices have been described variously as; conventional, traditional, and closed or open plan offices. Some, group them as large or small, landscaped etc. (Sanders and McCormick, 2002). The general descriptions of workspaces fall under the categories of open plan and cellular offices and this is based on the architectural and functional features of the work spaces (Duffy, Laing and Crisp, 1992). Other descriptions and categorization of offices include the hive; which is suited to individual processes. The den; suited to group processes. The cell; designed for concentrated study while the club supports transactional knowledge (Sailer, Budgen, Lonsdale, Turner and Penn, 2009). There are other descriptions of office types for example, Myerson and Ross (2003) from an architectural point of view, showed that views of property and space as related to the office environment have been evolving and as such, they identify four thematic categories of offices namely: narrative which presents the â€Å"office as a brand experience.† Nodal where the â€Å"office as knowledge connector.† The neighborly theme sees the â€Å"office as a social landscape† and lastly nomadic â€Å"office as distributed work space† these grouping reflect more of necessity and corporate culture not necessarily a collection of generally practically replicable models. In another categorization of offices by Myerson and Ross (2006) is based on the fact that the offices evolved to suit knowledge workers, as such, the categories match each of the four â€Å"realms† of knowledge work namely: the academy â€Å"is likened to the corporate realm which is a more collegiate and collaborative approach to work†, guild â€Å"the professional realm in essence a professional cluster of peers sharing a skill or specialization†, agora â€Å"the public realm where the corporation is open to the city or the market place† and the lodge â€Å" the domestic or private realm more of the live and work setting†. In the general scheme of things offices are still broadly classified into open plan and private or cellular offices all other forms are variations of the two. Cellular Offices Also called closed offices, this type of offices are the traditional or conventional offices which are usually closed and private workspaces (Maher and von Hippel, 2005) i.e. they are designed with floor to ceiling walls, a door and dimensioned for a single user. This type of office is also called a cell-office and can be a shared room office, used by 2-3 persons (Danielsson, 2008). This has been the generally accepted, traditional or popular understanding of the place called an office. Open Plan Offices These are found to be a common workspace shared by a group of employees. The original concept of the open plan office has continued to evolve, but it is the absence of floor-to-ceiling walls that is said to be the primary characteristic of open-plan offices. The arrangements of office furniture, partitions, screens, office equipment, or plants mark out individual and functional work areas (Valesny and Farace, 1987). One of the strengths of the open plan office according to Bjerrum and Bà ¸dker (2003) is the openness and flexibility allowing one to move to where things are happening and allowing for â€Å"overhearing and over-seeing† (p. 207) thus enhancing peripheral participation. Other types of the open plan office include the bull pen office, action offices, landscaped offices (Sanders and McCormick, 2002). In the bull pen offices, the work desks are arranged in neat row as far as the eyes can see. In reality, most firms have a mix of office typologies ranging from cellular units designed for a single user to a small room office shared by a few people then the spaces shared with a large group with or without specifically assigned work places and with varying measures of visual and audio privacy. Recent Developments in Open Plan Offices It is safe to argue that, the open plan office has become increasingly popular (de Korte, Kuijt-Evers and Vink, 2007; Ding, 2008; Oldham and Brass, 1979; Pejtersen, Allermann, Kristensen and Poulsen, 2006 etc.) and several reasons could be advanced to explain the widespread adoption and use of the open plan offices and its variations. There is also a move to wards a reduction in open plan office workspaces especially in the United States of America due to the understanding that smaller workstations are cheaper to maintain (Dykes, 2011) this according to Veitch, Charles, Farley and Newsham (2007) is because there is a failure in understanding the full value of the physical office environment and related issues in open plan offices in particular. Advantages of open plan offices Searches through literature (Danielsson, 2008; Oldham and Brass, 1979; Pan and Micheal, 2007; Roper and Juneja, 2008; Valesny and Farace, 1987 etc.) present the following as reasons for the adoption of open plan offices. They include; Reduction in office space and cost decline: The price of real estate is predicated on the area rented and utilized. With organizations using rental spaces, it is cheaper to use the rented floor or floors as open plan offices. In most cases, the cost of partitioning is saved if an open plan set up is deployed fully or partly. Flexibility for organizational changes: The open plan office lends itself to easy restructuring of work areas. In most cases, it is easier to fit in one more members of staff (Sanders and McCormick, 2002). More efficient work flow and communication: Some jobs require continuous team work, face to face interaction and a relatively high level of routine procedures. For such work groups, the open plan office or variations thereof are usually recommended and deployed. The enhancement of some level of peripheral participation is one of the strengths of the open plan office. Possible enhancement of social facilitation: The enhancement of collaboration i.e. the fostering of a team spirit, where, work teams or task forces are close to one another and can quickly form a huddle to sort out problems without resorting to information technology provisions like the intercom, emails, phones, video conferencing or even the walk up to another office. Oldham and Brass, (1979) specifically examined interpersonal issues that included; intradepartmental and interdepartmental interaction, friendship opportunities, noting that supervisor and co worker feed back could be improved. Ease of supervision: There is an ease of supervision, in that, a look over the landscape of the office can give an idea as to who is present and what each member of staff is doing. Limitations of open plan offices. Regarding the limitations of open-plan office designs, Maher and von Hippel (2005) rightly point out the fact that in open plan office layouts â€Å"distractions and overstimulation are intrinsically linked to the design.† These issues have consistently been themain down sides of open plan offices and some of them include: Increased workplace noise (Pan and Michael, 2007). Increased disturbances and distractions. Increased feelings of crowding and loss of privacy. There is a reduction in autonomy and task identity and a reduction in supervisor and co worker feedback in certain cases (Oldham and Brass, 1979). One point of agreement in open plan office research is that there is a generally low level of perceived privacy in open plan offices, as interruptions and distractions of the visual and acoustic kind occur frequently in open plan offices. (Pejtersen et al. 2006; Roper and Juneja, 2008) Furthermore, researchers have observed that these negative outcomes resulting from the adoption of the open plan office design tends to result in dissatisfaction with work and the workplace thus, reducing functional efficiency, decreasing performance, especially, for non routine tasks and also, reduced feedback from supervisors due to some complexity with the freedom of communication (de Korte et al. 2007; Pejtersen et al. 2006; Sundstrom et al. 1982; Vischer, 2007 ). This understanding has led some organizations to begin returning to the traditional private offices i.e. with floor to ceiling partitions assigned to an individual (Roper and Juneja 2008). Evolving nature of office work Also worthy of note, is the evolution of work patterns. An increasingly large number of persons work mainly at or from home and visit the office sparingly. This has given rise to the several types of offices one of which is the flex-office, which is dimensioned for less than 70% of the total company staff to be in at the same time. Another design is the combi-office; where a member of staff is not assigned to a specific desk but sharing of common facilities provides the spatial definition of such an individuals work space i.e. the task and personnel at hand may determine the sitting arrangement of persons in the office (Danielsson, 2008). Thesis Overview The thesis is organized in to 5 chapters; Chapter one provides an introduction the concept of an office, its major types and variations. It then focuses on the open plan office and then highlights the strengths and limitations of the open plan office. Chapter two provides a literature review of the concept of privacy perception; it reviews the perceived benefits of privacy and then traces the expectation that privacy perception could be influenced by culture. Significant studies related to dissatisfaction with open plan offices are examined for possible links to culture. The discussion then moves to culture, its definition and then the attempts made in the classification of culture. The Hofstede paradigm is then discussed and some studies employing the paradigm are reviewed. The research motivation and hypotheses are presented. Chapter three discusses the methodology of the study, the survey method, issues noted and the challenge expected. The source and design of the questionnaire was presented and the analysis methods proposed. The statistical analysis tool was briefly introduced. Chapter four shows the procedure of the survey, documents the responses received, analyzed the data collected from the general information part of the questionnaire and then chronicles the statistical analysis of the second part of the questionnaire designed to elicit privacy perception in open plan office environments. Chapter five provides a discussion of the results obtained in chapter five and then presents the limitations of the current study while providing directions for further work. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This part of the thesis discusses the links between privacy perceptions and culture. It also includes definitions and explanations of some related terms. Lastly, it includes a presentation of some ideas relevant to the work and results of related studies. The chapter concludes with the research question, research hypothesis and the motivation for the study. Privacy Perception In order to facilitate a better understanding, the term â€Å"privacy† is defined firstly then the concept called â€Å"perception. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2011), privacy is said to be â€Å"the quality or state of being apart from company or observation†. Wikipedia defines perception as â€Å"the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information.† It goes on to say â€Å"what one perceives is a result of interplays between past experiences, including one’s culture, and the interpretation of the perceived.† Privacy is a very difficult concept or construct to define not to talk of evaluating, it has commanded interest from the fields of anthropology, architecture, cultural geography, environmental design, ethology, history, law, philosophy, and sociology, as well as branches psychology such as; clinical, counseling, developmental, educational, environmental and social psychology (Newell, 1995; 1998). Newell (1995) in her extensive review of the concept of privacy divided the perspectives of privacy into, people centered, place centered and the person-environment or the person-place interaction with the primary interest on the place, people or equally on the person and place and or with the interaction itself. Leino-Kilpi et al. (2001 p. 664) in another review of literature on privacy noted that perspectives applied to the analysis of the concepts of privacy to be: The units experiencing privacy. They go on to note â€Å"the unit experiencing privacy can be either an individual or a group, or both.† Desired – Achieved privacy. This is explained by the understanding that the concept of privacy is either seen as a subjective state or studied as an achieved state (Newell, 1998). Reactive – Proactive privacy. This is to say the control of communication and also the control of knowledge. Furthermore, they describe the dimensions of privacy to include: physical, psychological, social and informational thus, suggesting privacy dimensions to be made up of four quadrants of the diagram as shown in figure 2.1 below.. Source: Leino-Kilpi et al. (2001) It would be seen that in an open plan office all the dimensions of privacy as enumerated Figure 2.1 above are impinged upon; First, physical accessibility to the person is unrestricted. Secondly, the cognitive intrusions abound due to audio and visual distractions. Thirdly, it is more difficult to control social contacts for example, the choice of participants for interaction, the interaction frequency, length and content of the said interaction. Then finally, the ease with which certain private pieces of information about the person is easily accessible is a problem in open plan offices, after all, most open plan offices do not have a single route of access or a door to the work space. So, it is difficult to mark and protect ones territory and as such protect some form of private information from would be trespassers (Anjum, Paul and Ashcroft, 2004). In the light of these perspectives, one of the definitions of privacy suggested is that â€Å"privacy is a voluntary and temporary condition of separation from the public domain† (Newell, 1998, p. 357). Oldham, Kulick and Stepina (1991) highlighted the fact that individuals reacted negatively to environments characterized by few enclosures, closeness and high density because such environments exposed individuals to too many unwanted or uncontrolled intrusions. It is also agreed that, the perception of the work environment leads to satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the work and the work environment. Fischer, Tarquinio and Vischer (2004, p.132 ) posit that the there are three major categories of mediating influences on workplace satisfaction and these are, â€Å"individual differences like culture, age, professional or status, organizational context and environmental features.† All these issues could be further grouped into two; internal and external factors as relates to the individual. These two descriptions could be mapped to the two ingredients required for a need for privacy to exist i.e. a person or persons and a place. Sanders and McCormick (2002, p. 485) also point out that apart from the physical features of the built environment, â€Å"people are influenced by nonphysical features like social, cultural, technological, economic and political factors characteristic of the environment.† External Factors These are the place factors, usually described as the environmental or design issues which can lead to noise distractions, visual distractions, interruptions, crowding and accessibility issues (Ding, S. 2008). Due to the absence of internal walls, the low height of walls or partitions in open plan offices influences privacy; the more enclosures, the lower the people per given space and the higher the partitions, the higher the privacy perceived (Danielsson 2008; Oldham, G. R et al. 1991; Sundstrom, Herbert and Brown, 1982 etc.). Organizational context is also considered to be an external factor. This involves the type of industry involved by the organization. For example doctors consulting rooms should provide more audio privacy compared to an architectural firms offices or design studios. Internal Factors This grouping is based on the person factors or what goes on within the person, the suggestion that individual differences related to but not restricted to personality traits, gender, individual experience etc. affect ones perception of, and hence the evaluation of the work environment (external or place factors). Some studies have found that variations exist across gender in perception of privacy in the open plan office (Yildirim, Akalin-Baskaya and Celebi, 2007). Also, in a different cross cultural study of privacy, Newell (1998) found that privacy was more a condition of the person thus, the duration of the experience and the change on the person as a result of the experience leads to its suspected therapeutic effect. In general perceptions and attitudes to privacy, she found that gender also played a part especially within cultures. Maher and von Hippel (2005) and others before them showed that individual differences in the ability to handle overstimulation by the application stimulus screening and inhibitory abilities influenced the perceptions of the work environment. These inhibitory skills are cognitive in nature and such inhibitory skills are found to vary between individuals and even especially across cultures. For example, Hall (1966) points out that the Japanese are said to be content with paper walls as acoustic screens while the Dutch and Germans require thick walls and double doors to serve as acoustic screens. Benefits of Privacy in the work Environment Newell (1998, p. 359) relates the need for privacy to help in â€Å"maintaining healthy internal physiological and cognitive functioning subjectively described as ‘wellbeing’†. The study concluded that achieving the perceived privacy had some therapeutic effects. On the area of performance, especially for knowledge workers like engineers, accountants, software designers, decision makers etc., auditory and visual distraction have been found to be a cause of stress and even performance impairment (Roper and Juneja, 2008). Furthermore, Oommen, Knowles and Zhao (2008) point to the likelihood of aggression and increased instances of eye, nose and throat irritations while working in open plan environments. This in turn affects productivity. Culture Culture is said to be the way of life of a group of people. This, among other things covers their beliefs, values, norms and rituals. Specifically, Hofstede (2009 p. 1) points out that â€Å"culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from the others and it manifests itself in the form of symbols, heroes, rituals and values.† Earlier, an American anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his books, talked about language and especially modes of communication as a point of differentiating cultures (Hall E.T 1966; 1976). He even considered language to be the core of culture while, Geert Hofstede considers language as a part of the rituals of a particular culture (Hofstede, 2010). This goes to point out some of the existing disagreements about what culture is and even how it comes about. Culture is thus, studied as a means of understanding or shedding light into the behavior or reactions of individuals or people groups. Edward Hall in his book; the hidden dimension writes that â€Å"people from different cultures inhabit different sensory worlds, so that experience, as it is perceived through one set of culturally patterned sensory screens is quite different from experience perceived through another.† (1966, p. 2). This highlights and explains the link between culture and perception generally and in spatial terms especially. Classifying Cultures There have been several descriptions and models of culture (Matsumoto and Yoo, 2006; Hall, 1966; 1970), for example, Hall (1966) alludes to contact and non-contact groups or cultures in relation to spatial meanings and preferences within people groups . This is related to the social dimension of privacy (Leino-Kilpi et al. 2001), but he especially specifies high and low context cultures according to their ways of communicating. For the high context (HC) culture or communication for that matter, much of the information is implicit while, in the low context (LC) culture, nearly everything is explicit. He also wrote about the concept of time among cultures (Hall, 1976). Where there are polychronic (P-time) and monochronic (M-Time) cultures; the M-time society or culture would prefer to do only one thing at a time when serious i.e. for such persons, time is linear and segmented with each activity scheduled while, the individuals in a P-time culture can juggle several activities, they emphasize the involvement of people and the completion of tasks rather than schedules. Edward T. Hall coined the term â€Å"Proxemics† which he describes as â€Å"interrelated observations and theories of mans use of space as a specialized elaboration of culture† Hall (1966 p. 1). In explaining his observations in proxemic behavior (Hall, 1963 p. 1003) he notes that â€Å"what is close to an American may be distant to an Arab.† Many other researchers and individuals apart from Edward Hall had worked on other frameworks and dimensions of culture. Matsumoto and Yoo, (2006) lists some of these frameworks which are interestingly identified by the names of the researchers that discovered them and this list which is not exhaustive, includes; Hofstedes (1980) with subsequent revisions and dimensions added; Schwartz (2004) who presented seven universal value orientations, Smith, Dugan and Trompenaars (1996) had two universal value orientations; House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman and Gupta (2003) came up with nine value orientations related to leadership; Inglehart (1997) had two attitude-belief-value orientations, Bond et al. (2004) is said to have reported two social axioms. All cited in Matsumoto and Yoo, (2006 p. 239). The listing above does not mention each of the dimensions. The dimensions of each framework listed are found in Table 2.1 below. Table 2.1 Six Theoretical Frameworks for Universal Dimensions of Cultural Variability Framework Dimensions Hofstede’s (2001) dimensions of  work-related values Individualism vs. collectivism Power distance Uncertainty avoidance Masculinity vs. femininity Long- vs. short-term orientation Schwartz’s (2004) dimensions of  values Embeddedness Hierarchy Intellectual autonomy Affective autonomy Egalitarianism Mastery Harmony Smith, Dugan, and Trompenaars’s  (1996) dimensions of values Egalitarian commitment vs. conservatism Utilitarian involvement vs. loyal involvement House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, and  Gupta’s (2003) dimensions of  leadership values Performance orientation Assertiveness orientation Future orientation Human orientation Institutional collectivism Family collectivism Gender egalitarianism Power distance Uncertainty avoidance Inglehart’s (1997) dimensions of  attitudes, values, and beliefs Traditional vs. secular-rational orientation Survival vs. self-expression values Bond et al.’s (2004) dimensions  of social axioms (beliefs) Dynamic externality Societal cynicism Source: (Matsumoto, D and Yoo, S. H, 2006 p. 240) National versus Organizational culture As a society has a culture, so do organizations and such organizations employ staff who come from a particular culture(s). The organizations then require these individuals to work in offices. Apart from the culture description related to national boundaries, there is a culture that seems to characterize workplaces or organizations and this is called organizational or corporate culture. Barney (1986) notes that like culture itself, organizational culture has many competing definitions and then goes on to suggest that a generally acceptable definition of organizational culture to be â€Å"as a complex set of values, beliefs, assumptions, and symbols that define the way in which a firm conducts its business.† (p. 657). He goes on to point the pervasive nature of organizational culture in that, it helps to define the relationship of the firm to parties it comes in contact with through its business. This simply shows that culture within the work place especially geared towards profitability or the conferment of advantages could be termed organizational or corporate culture. Generally it will be assumed that the national culture will also play a part. Guidroz, Kotrba, and Denison (2009) from results of a study of multinational companies, claim that their study seems to point to organizational culture superseding national culture in diversity management practices. The issue in question in this thesis is not exactly a management matter but the individual perception of privacy in the open plan office environments and would suggest that both national and organizational cultures playing a part because according to (Brand, 2009) the design of the workspace or workplace communicates the corporate culture of the organization meaning, the adoption of the open plan environment can be tied to the organizations corporate culture. Hofstedes’ Cultural Dimensions This is a hugely popular cross-cultural model (Gerhart and Fang, 2005; Hofstede et al, 2010; Sivakumar, Nakata, 2001) currently in use, with its roots in industrial psychology (Meeuwesen, van den Brink-Muinen and Hofstede, 2009) is called the Hofstedes model of culture named after Geert Hofstede a Dutch emeritus Professor of organizational anthropology and international management in the Netherlands. Hofstedes work highlighted the fact that culture is manifested through symbols, heroes, rituals and values. But, Hofstede argues that values form the core of culture as represented by the Hofstede culture â€Å"Onion† in Figure 2.2. Figure 2.2 shows the onion structure graphically illustrating the manifestation of culture at different levels and even the interactions therein. As seen from Figure 2.2 above symbols, heroes and rituals are by themselves visible to all observers. It is the cultural meanings of the practices that are open to interpretation by the observer while, values are unseen or embedded within the person but they still subtly determine choices and much more (Hofstede et al., 2010). Hofstedes research studied value survey responses of similar respondents from different countries as to their approach, as related to four basic problems prevalent in most societies (Meeuwesen et. al, 2009) these included; Handling social inequalities in the society. The approach to dealing with uncertainty in general. The structure of the relationship between an individual and the group. The emotional role division between the male and females in a society. The initial data for Hofstedes culture study came about through an analysis of International Business Machine Company (IBM) staff surveys at a time, the company was called Hermes. He utilized the responses from routine staff surveys about values and related matters to provide ratings for countries on each of what he then called the four dimensions of culture. This was achieved by examining correlations between mean scores of questionnaire items at the level of countries. Other approaches, like analysis at the individual level did not provide much useful information (Hofstede, 2009). Later, certain studies showed the need for another dimension and this lead to the inclusion of a fifth dimension called, long term orientation. Each dimension of culture score for a country is calculated using a scale of roughly 0 to 100 for each dimension. A dimension of culture is an aspect of culture that can be measured relative to other cultures (Hofstede, 2009 p. 6) and the higher the score of a dimension, the more that dimension is exhibited in the society or nation in question while for lower scores the opposite pole of the dimension is more pronounced. Thus, the scores are therefore bipolar (Jones, 2007) In a 2010 book, Greet Hofstede, his son Gert Jan Hofstede and a research collaborator Micheal Minkov reviewed earlier works, alongside their recent studies and added a sixth dimension called indulgence versus restraint (IVR) to the previously known Hofstedes five dimensions of culture. The sixth dimension was largely as a result of the work of Micheal Minkov (Hofstede et al., 2010). The six dimensions of Hofstedes cultural model now include power distance (PDI), individualism (IDV), masculinity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance index (UAI), long term orientation (LTO), and the recently added indulgence (IVR). Power distance (PDI). This indicates the degree of inequality that exists and is accepted among the persons with and without power i.e. the leadership versus the followership respectively as normal and legitimate in any given society. If the power distance scores are high, it indicates a pyramidal or hierarchical system where the power is resident at the top while, lower scores indicate greater equality suggesting power is shared and spread within the group. Individualism (IDV). This is related to the se