Personal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 8

Personal - Essay Example They are generally talkative and the best way for them to understand a concept is by talking about it (Bixler, 2010). The Kinesthetic learner, on the other hand, learns best by going through an activity. They prefer carrying out the activity in a practical way rather than listening to a teacher giving a lecture or carrying out a demo. As a student, it is important that one understands his or her learning style as it will help them adopt study habits that are in line with their learning style. This will not only make the learning process easy but will also go a long way in ensuring that the student performs better in his or her studies (The Center for New Discoveries in Learning, 2012). Being a public relations student, the major reason for seeking a college education is to ensure that I can obtain the required knowledge for public speaking and handling clients because my job will entail a lot of that. Therefore, as the study indicates that I am an auditory learner, I totally agree with it because I best learn by hearing and speaking. As I listen to the lecture, I form a mental picture of what is being said, and as I read, I internalize the whole concept that is being taught. This is important because as a student I should be able to picture the whole concept of what is going on (Bixler, 2010). In the public relation sector, listening and talking is key, therefore, while developing this skill, I am laying a good foundation for my future career. As a public relations officer I should be able to listen carefully and get the whole concept of what is being discussed. Furthermore, I should be an eloquent speaker who can relate well to the clients, understand the whole c oncept and relay the necessary solutions. It can be concluded that many people use or prefer varied learning styles that come with various techniques. While many may have learning styles that can be said to be

10 Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty Essay Example for Free

10 Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty Essay Innocence and the Death Penalty The wrongful execution of an innocent person is an injustice that can never be rectified. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty, 139 men and women have been released from death row nationally. The High Cost of the Death Penalty It costs far more to execute a person than to keep him or her in prison for life. Death Penalty Can Prolong Suffering for Victims Families Many family members who have lost love ones to murder feel that the death penalty will not heal their wounds nor will it end their pain; the extended legal process prior to executions can prolong the agony experienced by the victims families. International Views on the Death Penalty The vast majority of countries in Western Europe, North America and South America more than 139 nations worldwide have abandoned capital punishment in law or in practice. Inadequate Legal Representation Perhaps the most important factor in determining whether a defendant will receive the death penalty is the quality of the representation he or she is provided. Deterrence Scientific studies have consistently failed to demonstrate that executions deter people from committing crime anymore than long prison sentences. Arbitrariness in the Application of the Death Penalty Politics, quality of legal counsel and the jurisdiction where a crime is committed are more often the determining factors in a death penalty case than the facts of the crime itself. Religious Perspectives on the Death Penalty Although isolated passages of religious scripture have been quoted in support of the death penalty, almost all religious groups in the United States regard executions as immoral. Racial Disparities The race of the victim and the race of the defendant in capital cases are major factors in determining who is sentenced to die in this country. In 1990 a report from the General Accounting Office concluded that in 82 percent of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, i.e. those who murdered whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks. Alternatives to the Death Penalty In every state that retains the death penalty, jurors have the option of sentencing convicted capital murderers to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence is cheaper to tax-payers and keeps violent offenders off the streets for good.

Emotion And Disgust As A Moral Emotion Psychology Essay

Emotion And Disgust As A Moral Emotion Psychology Essay This research study aims to explain the relationship between feelings of disgust, cleanliness, and moral judgments, and also their potential impact on willingness to pay for fair trade products. In our experiment, participants watched a video including disgust issues and according to their cleanliness priming they cleaned their hand with a sanitizer, with hand wipe, or no cleaning. In the control condition, they only answered questions without seeing the movie. Based on literature review we proposed that there is a negative correlation between state of moral cleanliness and their willingness to pay for ethical products. If people are too moral, their willingness to pay decreases or if they feel immoral, their willingness to pay increases for fair trade products. The findings were not supporting the idea that cleanliness make moral judgments less sever and willingness to pay for fair trade products decreases. Keywords: emotion, disgust, morality, moral judgment, embodiment; embodied cognition, moral licensing, moral cleaning, fair trade products, willingness to pay. How can Disgust Feelings Impact on Purchasing Decision of Fair Trade Products? We do our decisions either rational or emotional. Now think about the scene that you are in a store and standing in front of shelves, and you fetch the fair trade labeled product. After coming home, you realize that you bought so many fair trade labeled products. Normally, you do not buy these kinds of products, but today was different. Does fair trade labeled product make you feel better? Do you think that you are more ethical now? There might be a significant correlation between your instant emotional state, moral judgments and your decisions. Previous studies demonstrated that decision process is related with emotions. In this paper, we want to study the impact of emotions on decision making process. In this research paper, we want to focus on disgust as emotion and its possible association with moral judgments and influence on decision making process. We especially want to focus on economic decisions, because we want to see if it is possible to implement marketing campaigns of fa ir trade product based on moral judgments related issues. Emotion and Disgust as a Moral Emotion Emotions are crucial both in shaping moral judgment and behavior and as reactions to morally-relevant behavior. For this reason, there are so many studies addressing emotions (e.g., fear, anger, disgust, etc.). According to the social intuitionist model of moral reasoning (Haidt, 2001), emotions are the primary driver for shaping moral judgments. This perception is closely in same line with other study, it emphasizes on quick and automatic valuations, in other word intuitive-emotional processes, are critical in the judgment process (Greene Haidt, 2002). People use their affective feelings as a source of information and interpret their conditions in the environment. According to the state of their feeling (e.g., positive or negative), peoples interpretations show differences when making evaluative judgments. In other words, people usually like when they feel positive and dislike when they feel negative about the situation (Schnall, Benton, Harvey 2008). This concept is similarly sta ted in the affect-as-information framework; there is a relationship between emotion and cognition (Schwarz Clore, 1983, 1988, as cited in Schall et al, 2008). According to Niedenthal et al. (2005), social information processing involves embodiment, where embodiment refers both to actual bodily states and to simulations of experience in the brains modality-specific systems for perception, action, and introspection (p.184). Processes of embodied cognition is both online and offline. While online embodiment uses physical objects, offline embodiment has to do with abstract objects in the surroundings. In order to make a meaningful interpretation of symbols, individuals have a count on the relevant, first online embodiment (Niedenthal et al., 2005). Herein, we want to stress on disgust more specifically because it is more related with the focus of our research subject. We often use disgust in a food related concept, but it is also proper for socially immoral people, situations, and behaviors. For instance, a violation of a moral issue regarding to purity has been shown to stimulate disgust feelings (Rozin, Lowery, Imada, Haidt, 1999). Especially, its evolutionary position as a protective emotion, disgust seemed to be a particularly significant emotion concerning moral judgment (Pizarro, Inbar, Helion, 2011). There is also other research addressing the same mechanism of disgust with another remark. According to Rozin, Haidt, and McCauley (2000), the mechanism of disgust has been changed from being a protection of body from harm to being a shield for the soul in case of harm. At this level, disgust becomes moral sense and powerful form of negative socialization. Several studies underlined that pure disgust and moral disgust not only create a similar impact in body, i.e., face expression and physiological activation (Rozin, Lowery, Ebert, 1994 as cited in Zhong Liljenquist, 2006) but also have a place in particularly same brain areas, essentially in the frontal and temporal lobes (Moll et al., 2005, as cited in Zhong Liljenquist, 2006). In order to understand the moral judgment mechanism, we should look at a bit closer the social intuitionist model. According to this model, people usually make their moral judgments according to their feelings (Haidt, 2001). For instance, previous studies showed that moral disgust has immediate impact on judgments and make moral judgments more severe (Schnall et al., 2008; Wheatley Haidt, 2005). Social intuitionist model proposes that moral judgments are shaped by various factors including intuition and instinct, and hardly because of a cognitive process. In other words, intuitions and emotions do not require effort, and they are instant; and that we are not aware of the process consciously. Intuition with reasoning is purposeful, conscious, and to have need for several steps. Moreover, emotional state may play a role, but they do not affect the moral judgment in a straight line. The roles of moral reasoning might be looking for a reason to defend own instant instinctive responses, using logic to share judgments with others and influence them to agree, and counting on reasoning in case of no initial intuition or conflict situation in intuitions(Haidt, 2001). In their study, Schall et al., (2008) stated that disgust feelings can be conveyed to objects for which they are not related. This shows that judgments are under the effect of disgust emotions even it is not interrelated with the situation or object. For instance, Lerner, Small, and Loewenstein (2004) investigated the relationship between emotions and their impacts on endowment effect. They showed that induced disgust emotion by former, unrelated situation had carry-over-effect to normatively independent financial decisions. As a result of inducing disgust when it compared with being in a neutral mood reduced the capital amount that participants were willing to pay for certain objects and endowment. Additionally, the research results of Schall and colleagues (2008) point out a causative relationship between physical disgust feelings and moral criticism. In their experiment, participants made their moral decisions while going through extraneous feelings of disgust. Manipulation of dis gust performed by a bad smell, working in a disgusting room, recalling disgusting experience, and watching a disgusting video clip. In common, the results indicated that disgust causes to moral judgments more severe when it compared to the control condition. More specifically, the participants who were exposed to the unpleasant smell had more severe in their judgments. Additionally, people who showed a high level of body consciousness were more severe in their moral judgments. Cleanliness and Moral Judgments The consideration of cleanliness helps to form a key moral judgment that developed from the need to protection from possibly hazardous materials (Haidt Joseph, 2008, as cited in Schnall et al., 2008). Investigation of the relationship between physical cleansing and moral judgments by (Schall et al., 2008) helped out to understand the importance of cleanliness over moral judgments. They observed that, after washing their hands with cleanser and water participants can reduce their moral judgment severity of video clip including disgust issues. Based on this finding, they assumed that physical cleansing can reduce feelings of disgust and the severity of the moral judgments. With similar viewpoint Zhong and Liljenquist (2006) conducted a study in order to investigate an interchangeability relationship between physical and moral purity, to put it in a different way, physical cleansing acts as a substitute for moral purification. They asked participants to recall a moral or immoral action from their past, as a result of an immoral action came up with more words with cleaning related than those who remembered a moral act. Afterwards, they examined whether a hidden treat to moral cleanliness creates a psychological desire for cleaning; they observed that copying the immoral story amplified the interest of cleansing products. In their next experiment, the possibility of taking an antiseptic cleansing wipe after remembering a moral or immoral act. Not surprisingly, most of the participants who recalled an immoral act took the disinfectant wipes as a gift. In the last experiment, participants described an immoral act from their past. After that, they either cle ansed their hands with an antiseptic wipe or not. They finished a survey regarding with their current emotional state before asking to participants if they would be eager to help for a different research study without pay. Participants, who had preferred to clean their hands, were less willing to be a volunteer to help. The possibility of expressing feeling of guilt, regret, shame or discomfort was eliminated with cleaning. According to the findings; we can conclude that physical cleansing repairs moral self-image. The desire for cleaning is a human coping mechanism, which has changed to reduce feelings of guilt when we act unethically. In a different paradigm, to figure out the importance of sense on behaviors Holland, Hendriks, and Aarts (2005) conducted a study. The result of the research demonstrated that scent can have non-conscious influence on both thought and behavior and makes participants more sensitive to moral-related words. In addition, pleasing fragrances activate and expose positive memories, information and moods, which leads to increased ease of access of information, and information processing depth. On the other hand, their study did not clearly address the role of odor in moral judgments and moral cleansing. The research study by Liljenquist, Zhong, and Galinsky (2010) also demonstrated that clean smell both motivates clean behavior and increases moral behaviors such as mutual trust as well as proposing help for charity. Moral Licensing and Moral Cleaning Researchers Khan and Dhar (2006) describe the phenomena of moral licensing as an unconscious effect that provides a moral enhancement in oneself self-image. They point out the significance importance of prior choices in activating and improving oneself self-image. It helps us to understand the preference mechanism of human among the set of alternatives. In addition, results of the research demonstrate that a primary altruistic intent enhancing the relevant self-concept can free a person to pick a more indulgent possibility. It is an valuable outcome for understanding the influence of priming on a self-concept for the next choices. According to this research results (Merritt et al., 2010) moral licensing is not only decrease prosocial enthusiasm, but also less inhibit ethically doubtful behavior. The study conducted by Sachdeva, Iliev, and Medin (2009) also demonstrated compensatory and regulatory behavior of people. It suggests that with high moral self-worth people can behave immora lly. Also, people can show opposite behavior in other area of their life because their ample self-image in some way forces them to balance out all that goodness. In other words, we adjust our sense of self-worth by doing moral self-regulation continuously. For example, when we think that were too moral, we feel that we have the right to be immoral for a moment. On the other hand, if we think that we act immoral, we feel necessity for doing something moral to feel better again about ourselves. This type of reactions can be thought of as moral licensing. Principally, thinking of positive behaviors increases ones self-worth while negative behaviors decrease it. In the experiment, conducted by Sachdeva et al. (2009), participants thought that they took part in a handwriting test. All experimentations involved positive traits and negative traits behaviors condition. By asking participants to think of both positive and negative behaviors connected with them, they manipulated participants degree of self-worth, and they also were asked if they have a desire for contributing for a charity with money on hand. Participants who had higher self-worth donated low amount of money to charities than participants with lower positive self-image. They observed that priming people with positive and negative deeds strongly affected ethical behavior. Participants, who wrote about their moral behavior, donated the lowest amount, while participants who wrote about immoral behavior donated highest amount. Dissimilarity, participants, who were in the negative condition and wrote about their immoral story, gave more than those who wrote a unethical story about others. Participants showed a need for the moral-cleansing or moral-licensing only when they wrote about themselves. To put it in a different way, changes in self-concept would take place when participants think about themselves, rather than thinking about another person. In short, talking about themselves activated the occurrence of the moral-cleansing and moral-licensing effects on people. Merritt et al. (2010) claim that when individuals have had a chance to establish their kindness, generosity, or compassion, they should worry less about engaging in behaviors that might appear to violate prosocial norms (p.346) and behaviors that establish ones morality can disinhibit people to act in morally dubious ways (p.354). Sachdeva et al. (2009) said If people feel too moral they might not have sufficient incentive to engage in moral action because prosocial behavior is inherently costly to the individual (p.524). The other research study (Jordan, Mullen, and Murnighan, 2009, as cited in Merritt et al., 2010) found similar outcomes using prosocial intentions as a dependent measure. After asking participants to describe their past activity in terms of their ethical, unethical and neutral themes, they indicated the probability of their engagement in each of numerous prosocial activities (i.e., money donations, giving blood, and volunteering). Participants who remembered their ethical act stated less prosocial intentions than the control group, representative of moral licensing while prosocial intentions of participants, who recalled a their unethical act, were higher than the control group. This performance referred as a moral cleansing. In the second experiment, they asked participants if they would cheat on a math exam. Participants, who recalled a past good action, were most probable to cheat than people who recalled a past immoral action. Horberg and colleagues (2009), propose that disgust can polarize moral judgments, leading people to judge other people and their behaviors as more morally negative when the behaviors or people are themselves objectively negative, and more morally positive or commendable when the behaviors or people are themselves objectively positive. Hypotheses As we discussed in the previously, cleansing has a significant effect on moral judgments in other words, making them less harsh and we make our decision according to these instant emotions. We also know that disgust induced emotions effect can be carried over to unconnected economic decisions. Economic decisions show differences according to persons moral self-worth need (moral cleansing and moral licensing). Based on this logic, we set hypotheses as following: The first hypothesis stated that participants in the sanitizer condition will be less willing to choice for fair trade product when it compared to those in the movie condition. The second hypothesis stated that participants in the sanitizer condition will be less willing to pay for fair trade and regular products when it compared to participants in the movie condition. The third hypothesis stated that participants in the sanitizer condition will be less severe in their moral judgment for moral dilemmas when it compared to participants in the movie condition In this present research we measure the effect of cleanliness on moral judgments and economic decision by constructing dependent variables: willingness to pay (to what degree that participants willing to pay for fair trade and regular products), product choice questionnaire (to what degree that participants choose fair trade products), moral dilemmas (to what degree that participants moral judgments are affected by cleanliness priming), and chocolate sheet (to what degree that participants choose fair trade chocolate). We defined four dependent variables according to their possible relationship with moral judgments by sourcing former studies. Method Participants In total 149 (71 male, 78 female, M age= 24.32, SD=4.67) undergraduate students, a great majority of them were studying in the University of Bern, participated in the experiment individually. Participants of the study were recruited at the UniS cafeteria at the University of Bern. They were asked if they would like to participate in the short experiment attempting to investigate the consumer behavior. They were also told that they would get 3 Swiss Franc for their participation. Research Design The experiment was designed as a combination of between and within subject design. It employed 4 cleanliness (sanitizer, hand wipe, movie and control) x 2 product categories (fair trade and movie) in a mixed factorial design. In the experiment, independent variables (short video, hand cleansing and hand wipe) were manipulated between subjects and dependent variables (product choice and willingness to pay (WTP)) were manipulated within subjects (regular and fair trade products). By combining different independent variables with each other, we defined four different conditions. These conditions were the video-hand sanitizer condition, the video-hand wipe condition, the video clip condition and the control condition. The control condition was used for manipulation check. Materials Independent Variables A Short Video- Ninety seconds scene from the film Trainspotting that was presented to stimulate in disgust (Schall et al., 2008), was used to show the participants in the related conditions. Hand sanitizer (branded as Nexcare) an alcohol-based disinfection gel It works in 30 seconds and 99.9% protection against bacteria, fungi and viruses. Hand wipes (branded as Coop Fresh Clean)- for gentle cleaning and pleasant refreshment. Product Evaluation Questionnaire- By using a 5-point Likert-type scale from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good), participants were asked to evaluate the related product which they were given to use (hand sanitizer or hand wipe). The questions asked were: How well did the hand sanitizer / hand wipe clean your hands?, How clean do your hands feel after the using hand sanitizer gel/ hand wipe?, How pleasant was the usage of the hand sanitizer gel/ hand wipe? Dependent Variables Willingness to Pay (WTP) Questionnaire- Participants were asked to define their price level for the 8 different regular and the 8 fair trade product types. Products were banana, chocolate, oranges, pineapple, ice cream, coffee, gummy bears and rice. Participants were given 15 different prices with the reference price (market price) in the middle of the price scale. Increment for prices in the scale was +/- 10% of the reference price. Product Choice Questionnaire- Once finished the part related to willingness to pay, participants were asked to indicate that how often (scaled as 0 to 10 purchases) they would buy the fair trade products. In this part, same 8 product kinds used similarly in the WTP Part. Moral dilemmas- Directly after completing the product choice part, participants continued with rating five moral dilemmas (Schall, Haidt, Clore Cordan, 2008). Short stories were used to associate whether disgust related scenarios would be judged more severely than scenarios involving no disgust. Participants indicated their judgments about how wrong each of five moral dilemmas by using the 9-point Likert-type scales from 0 (perfectly OK) to 9 (extremely wrong). The rating scale label was reversed to simplify the interpretation of results, with higher ratings indicating higher levels of moral disapproval. We assumed that two out of five of these vignettes involved a moral violation with disgust: Dog (a man who ate his dead dog), Plane Crash (starving survivors of a plane crash consider cannibalism). The rest of vignettes involved a moral violation with no disgust: Wallet (finding a wallet and not returning it to its owner), Resume (a person falsifying his resume) and Trolley (prevent ing the death of five men by killing one man). The instructions told participants to go with their initial intuitions when responding. Chocolate sheet- It was including 12 different types of chocolate types with pictures (6 regular and 6 fair trade products). Participants were asked to choose 5 chocolates in total without limitation. Control Variable Private Body Consciousness Questionnaire- After finished the moral judgment vignettes, participants completed the Private Body Consciousness Questionnaire (Miller et al., 1981), which contained five items. Participants used a 6-point Likert-type scale from 1 (disagree strongly) to 6 (agree strongly). The items used were: I am sensitive to internal bodily tensions, I know immediately when my mouth or throat gets dry, I can often feel my heart beating, I am quick to sense the hunger contractions of my stomach, and I am very aware of changes in my body temperature. Procedure When the participant arrived to the PC room, first it was asked to sign a consent form. After participants had signed the form, it was showed to a sit at the computer desk which was isolated from other computer desks with a cabin in order to prevent disturbing the participant by others during the experiment. Before each participant entered to the PC laboratory, the room was ventilated in order to be sure there had been no smell from the sanitizer or the hand wipe as a result of the previous experiment session. First, participants were told to wear the headphone when they were watching the video. In the video-sanitizer condition, participants watched a short video which was previously mentioned in the material section and then they were given a hand cleansing to clean their hand for 30 seconds. The next part of the experiment was framed as product evaluation and participants answered the product evaluation questionnaire which was mentioned in the material section. In the video-hand wi pe condition, participants followed same steps like in the video- hand sanitizer condition. However, they were given hand wipe to clean their hand and asked to make the product evaluation based on hand wipe with the same questions. In the video clip condition, participants watched only the video clip and continued to do the experiment with a willingness to pay part. For the control condition, participants directly started to do the experiment from the willingness to pay part. From the point of willingness to pay questionnaire, all participants of all conditions followed the same path until the end of the experiment. In the first part of the willingness to pay, participants were asked to define their price over eight different regular products (banana, chocolate, oranges, pineapple, ice cream, coffee, gummy bears and rice). Same procedure was repeated for the fair trade products. Afterwards, participants were asked to indicate that how often (out of 10 purchases) they would buy the fair trade products with product choice part. In the product choice part, the same eight product types were used also in the willingness to pay part. After completing this part participants rated five moral dilemmas. Immediately after the priming task, participants finished the experiment by completing the Private Body Consciousness Questionnaire. After participants had finished the experiment, they were given a chocolate sheet (including six regular and six fair trade chocolate kinds with pictures) and asked to choose 5 chocolates in total out of 12 different kinds of chocolate. The number of fair trade choice was noted down. At the end of the experiment, participants were remunerated with 3 Swiss Franc for their participation and asked to sign the receipt of reward to confirm the payment. They also got the chocolates which they chose as a part of the experiment. Results Choice of Fair Trade Products In order to test whether the cleanliness priming had an impact on the choice of fair trade products at the end of the experiment, we analyzed results by independent t- test with the priming (movie vs. sanitizer) as a factor. The result of group statistics indicated the choice of fair trade product in sanitizing condition (M = 4.61, SD=2.21) and the movie condition (M=4.15, SD=1.87). To make a valid conclusion from this result, we looked at the results of t-test for independent samples (t (78) =0.98, p =0.32). Significance level indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the choice of fair trade products for sanitizer and movie conditions. By looking at this result, we summarize that cleanliness priming did not show any influence over the fair-trade product choice. WTP for Fair Trade Regular Products In order to investigate the impact of the cleanliness priming (movie and sanitizer) over willingness to pay for fair trade and regular products, results were analyzed by ANOVA. The results were in the same way with hypothesis. WTP for fair trade products was higher in movie condition when it compared to the sanitizer condition. In a 2 (willingness to pay for fair trade and regular products) x 2 (sanitizer and movie conditions) mixed factorial analysis of variance the interaction was significant, F (1, 78) = 6.54, p = 0.012. We can say that there was a significant interaction between willingness to pay and conditions. Also looking at the significance value of WTP in tests of within subject contrasts (F (1) = 132.4, p = 0.000) shows us that there was a significance difference WTP of fair trade and WTP of regular products. Participants were more willing to pay more for fair trade products when it compared to regular products (Figure 1). Figure 1- Willingness to pay for fair trade and regular products according to sanitizer and movie conditions. In order to analyze if there is a real connection between the condition type and the willingness to pay for fair trade and regular products, we carried out independent t-test. According to the result of it, there was no significant difference for willingness to pay for fair trade products between sanitizer (M =8.57, SD =1.87) and movie condition (M = 8.67, SD = 1.87); t (78) =-0.216, p = 0.829. We can interpret this as; there was no effect of conditions on participants willingness to pay for fair trade products. On the other hand, there was marginally significant difference between sanitizer (M = 6.92, SD = 1.88) and movie condition (M = 7.61, SD = 1.70); t (78) = -1.71, p = 0.09 for willingness to pay for regular products. We can only say that conditions had an effect on willingness to pay for regular products. Participants were willing to pay more for regular products in movie condition than the sanitizer condition. When we look at the effect of the movie and sanitizer conditions on willingness to pay for fair trade and regular products, we see no significant main effect of conditions (F(1, 78) = 0.98, p = 0.32). Moral Dilemmas We calculated the average composite ratings for all moral dilemmas as a first step (Figure 2). We assumed that participants who cleaned their hands after watching the disgusting video would make less severe judgments than participants who did not clean their hands. We used an independent-samples t-test to compare the severity of moral judgments in sanitizer and movie conditions. There was a significant difference in the scores for sanitizer condition (M = 6.80, SD=1.49) and movie condition (M = 6.09, SD = 1.13); t (78) = 2.39, p = 0.019. These results indicated that conditions had an impact on moral judgments. Specifically, sanitizing hands had on the effect about making moral judgments more severe than in the movie condition. Cronbachs alpha was calculated as 0.31, which indicated a low level of internal consistency with regards to moral dilemmas. This value showed lower bound for reliability, and moral dilemmas were not measuring the same phenomena. Figure 2- Average composite ratings for moral dilemmas in the experiment for sanitizer and movie condition. Discussion The present study examined the role of cleanliness on moral judgments, more specifically on purchase decision and willingness to pay for fair trade products. We used experimental method in order to have evidence for our predictions, but we observed relatively inconsistent support for our hypotheses. We found that there was no significant difference regarding participants choice of fair trade products in the movie and sanitizer conditions. Consequently, one of our hypotheses about the cleanliness was unsupported. We did not see any influence of cleanliness on moral judgments and more specifically on the choice of fair trade products. On the other hand, it did not mean that our research finding challenges the validity of influence of cleanliness on moral judgments. The concept and identity of fair trade products might have a bias effect on the choice of them. For example, the price of fair trade products is higher than the regular products. Price can be a powerful influence on the deci sion of fair trade products purchase. We did our study mostly with university students who have low purchasing power and. Second finding of our research was about willingness to pay for fair trade and regular products in terms of two cleanliness conditions (movie and sanitizer). We saw significant interaction between conditions and willingness to pay at first look. When we looked in detail, we saw that there was no effect of condition on wiliness to pay in general. We looked at the results again because at first sight we saw an interaction between conditions and product types. The main aim was to figure out the interaction in individual level both fair trade and regular products. It was obvious that participants were willing to pay more for fair trade products than regular products. We observed that there was no effect of condition on willingness to pay for fair trade products. We assume that there were other influences triggering this effect. As we mentioned before, fair trade products have high in price value and this might have bias effec

Alien And Sedition Acts :: essays research papers

ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1798, when Congress passed both the Alien and Sedition Acts, it was very much constitutional. These acts were definitely in the best interest of America. America was a significantly young nation, at the time, and could not afford to create problems caused by foreigners coming to America. They did not have enough national power to sustain order if everyone was attacking the newly created laws, and many of those rebels being citizens from foreign countries, nevertheless.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These acts were, of no questions asked, surly constitutional. The Federalist Party presented these acts, later consequently passed by Congress, because they were and fair and just laws in accordance to the nation at that time. For the sake of argument, the nation and government was very inexperienced, and did not know what to expect in their near future. John Adams became the second president of the United States of America, subsequently, having to accept many challenges and responsibilities to fulfill the job in office. He had the task of making sure that the newly founded nation kept running smooth. That is a big burden if there are activities going on in the country that one has no control, nor knowledge of (i.e. foreigners coming into the nation and starting trouble by disrupting the form of government, or having radicals trying to protest and perturb the running government in office-Federalists, at this time). John Adams was smart enough to realize the signif icance of these factors. Thus, taking his duty of President of USA seriously, he, along with the Federalist-controlled Congress, took action to protect the new country. Hence, were the creation and passing of the four, debate-causing laws (Naturalization, Alien, Alien Enemies, and Sedition Acts).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These all made sense to be in effect for the time and date because many of the immigrants coming to the USA were Irish exiles (for plotting against British rule), British radicals, and French people (wanting to rebel against Adams). On these grounds, and many more, President Adams and the Federalist-controlled Congress had reason to believe that they had to protect their country from stirring troubles. In view of that, the government was permitted to the authority of deporting or imprisoning any foreigner that he saw fit. This is a very sensible power that the president ought to have had back then, given the particular situation. They also were entitled to enforce such laws to protect against from just any, unintelligent foreigners from intruding in their country to vote and such for legally binding decisions of the nation.

Mind and Body, Dualism vs Neuroscience Essay

The idea of the human beings having a soul, spirit or mind has long been used; although religions started using it four thousand years ago for different reasons, some people that simply had a thirst for knowledge started seeking a true answer to this question not that long ago. Indeed, this question has seriously been thought about and logically questioned in the last 400 years starting with Descartes who thought that human beings do have an immaterial mind (mind and body dualism). However, in the face of recent discoveries in neuroscience, it is not possible to maintain the theory of mind and body dualism as neuroscience has proved the brain to be the seat of mental faculties that are believed by dualist to come from the mind. First of all let us talk about mind body dualism in order to fully understand why it is now an obsolete theory. Dualists believe that the mind is non-physical and is separate from the brain which is physical. Moreover, they see the brain to be simply the location of where the mind operates (where the mind interacts with the physical world). Also, the body itself (brain included) is thought to have a different nature than that of the mind as one is physical and the other isn’t. On the other hand, we have physicalism. Physicalists think that everything that exists is physical and therefor what we call the mind does not exist as it is not physical. Descartes’ arguments for his mind and body dualism theory are however convincing if we ignore today’s recent discoveries and concentrate on philosophical reasoning; his first argument is that you can doubt everything in the material world but you cannot doubt that you are a thinking thing and exist. Let me explain this further: one of Descartes’ experiments was called Meditations. In his meditations he started assuming (for the purpose of his experiment and not in reality) that there was an evil genius that would deceive him on everything he though was true. Therefor everything he wasn’t absolutely sure was true had to be considered as untrue because he did not want to build up logic or reasoning on a weak foundation. In this way of thinking, he managed to doubt that the world, his hands, his body, and everything in the physical world was not true (because he would consider that the evil genius could make him think that he actually saw things that didn’t really exist). However, one thing could not be doubt, at this precise moment and since his birth, Descartes was thinking†¦ This simple truth could not be doubted; he had a mind and was using it to think. Descartes’ concluded that because one could be doubt and the other not, mind and body were of different nature. One of his more simple arguments, which is called the divisibility argument, is that as physical things such as bones, flesh, brain tissues and etc. occupy space in the physical world; thought-like things such as emotions, thoughts and the mind as a whole do not, and therefore are not physical. Moreover, Descartes has another argument called the conceivability argument which states that a human being can exists as a thinking things without his extended (physical) body existing (a mind or soul without a body) and that everything that can be conceived is logically possible. Therefor if it is logically possible that X exist without Y, then X is not identical with Y. Now that a background of information on mind and body dualism has been set, let us see why and how recent discoveries in neuroscience make it impossible to maintain dualism as a theory. The way I see things, neuroscience has provided evidences that we do not need to suppose the existence of an immaterial mind to explain life and behavior of human beings and also has proven that a lot of the mental faculties dualist attributed to the mind are in fact attributed to the brain. Contemporary neuroscience has greatly improved our understanding of the brain’s functioning; new imaging techniques enables scientists visualize the human brain in action and produces images that define the brain regions responsible for attention, memory, and emotion. The latter is the one of most interest in the present debate as emotions are believed to come from the mind. Emotional responses have been proved to be centralized in the limbic system. In this system we may find the amygdala and the hippocampus which are the primary areas managing emotions. Then there is the element of decision making. Any dualist would attribute the element of decision making or free will to the mind, however neuroimaging allows us to detect some decisions up to 10 seconds before the actual decision is taken by the individual with monitoring of brain activity (CAT, MRI or PET scans for example). This questions dualism because as dualists consider the mind to be immaterial, a good question is raised: how can the mind (immaterial) which supposedly makes the decision, be observed and predicted with material tools? Furthermore, a property of mind according to dualists is â€Å"behaviour†. Research studying victims of brain damage have found correlation between lost faculties or behavioural abnormalities and changes and localized damage in the brain. Phineas Gage is often the best example for this argument. Gage survived an iron rod that destroyed part of his left frontal lobe but suffered from severe personality change. It is noteworthy to specify that the personality change was big enough that his friend would no longer see him as Phineas Gage but as someone else. Even though Descartes’ philosophical reasoning is worth considering, contemporary neuroscience shows on different levels that what is believed to be an immaterial mind is actually the physical brain. Following Descartes’ own logic, it is necessary to consider all doubtful knowledge as false and start building from information that are certain â€Å"in order to establish anything firm and lasting in sciences† (Descartes, Meditation I). This being said, contemporary neuroscience is based on experimental proofs while dualism is based on theoretical thinking. However, neuroscience has not convinced everyone, where do you stand?

Management matters in retail Essay

Management matters in retail Management matters in retail Working paper 13, APRIL 2010 The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity is an independent not-for-profit organization established in 2001 to serve as the research arm of Ontario’s Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress. The mandate of the Task Force, announced in the April 2001 Speech from the Throne, is to measure and monitor Ontario’s competitiveness, productivity, and economic progress compared to other provinces and US states and to report to the public on a regular basis. In the 2004 Budget, the Government asked the Task Force to incorporate innovation and commercialization issues in its mandate. Working papers published by the Institute are intended to inform the work of the Task Force and to raise public awareness and stimulate debate on a range of issues related to competitiveness and prosperity. The Task Force publishes annual reports to the people of Ontario each November. How to contact us Executive Director To learn more about the Institute and the Task Force please visit us at: www. ompeteprosper. ca James Milway 416 920 1921 x222 j. milway@competeprosper. ca Should you have any questions or comments, you may reach us through the web site or at the following address: The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity 180 Bloor Street West, Suite 1000 Toronto, Ontario M5S 2V6 Telephone 416. 920. 1921 Fax 416. 920. 1922 It is the aspiration of the Task Force and the Institute to have a significant influence in increasing Ontario’s competitive ness, productivity, and capacity for innovation. We believe this will help ensure continued success in creating good jobs, increasing prosperity, and building a higher quality of life for all Ontarians. We seek breakthrough findings from our research and propose significant innovations in public policy to stimulate businesses, governments, and educational institutions to take action. Researchers Tamer Azer 416 920 1921 x228 t. azer@competeprosper. ca Katherine Chan 416 920 1921 x231 k. chan@competeprosper. ca Anam Kidwai 416 920 1921 x238 a. kidwai@competeprosper. ca Lloyd Martin 416 920 1921 x223 l. martin@competeprosper. ca Aaron Meyer 416 920 1921 x224 a. meyer@competeprosper. ca Comments on this working paper are welcome and should be directed to the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity. The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity is funded by the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. Adrienne Ross 416 920 1921 x230 a. ross@competeprosper. ca Ying (Sunny) Sun 416 920 1921 x227 s. sun@competeprosper. ca Copyright  © April 2010 The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity ISBN 978-0-9809783-6-0 Project Team Design Hambly & Woolley Inc. www. hamblywoolley. om Illustration Blair Kelly Daniela Scur Project Manager Jack Bolland Supervisor Sean Brandreth Supervisor Blaise Bolland Joshua Booth Vadim Dorfman Raswinder Gill Alison McMeekin Nikolina Miljevik Alam Aguilar-Platas Scott Sameroff Management matters in retail Working paper 13, APRIL 2010 Exhibits Exhibit 1Pressure and support drive all three elements of the Innovation System13 Exhibit 2 Managers pl ay an important part in creating Pressure and Support in all elements of the Innovation System14 Exhibit 3 Canadian managers are less well educated than their US counterparts5 Exhibit 4New management techniques are associated with increases in productivity and prosperity16 Exhibit 5 Canada’s retail management matches US performance25 Exhibit 6 Most of Canada’s best managed retail operations are US-owned multinationals26 Exhibit 7 Canada trails the US in adoption and implementation of best practice operations processes26 Exhibit 8 Canada lags world’s best performers in most operations management questions27 Exhibit A Manufacturers are better managed than retailers in the three countries surveyed28 Exhibit B Manufacturers out perform retailers29 Exhibit 9 Canada is among the leaders in best practice for setting and managing goals30 Exhibit 10In performance management, Canada scores very well, but still has improvement opportunity30 Exhibit 11In people management, Canada is not statistically different from the US31 Exhibit 12In people management, Canada performs well32 Exhibit 13 Better managed firms have more educated managers32 Exhibit 14 Multinationals out perform non-multinationals in all countries33 Exhibit 15 Larger firms tend to be better managed4 Exhibit 16Publicly held firms are significantly better managed than privately held or family-owned firms everywhere35 Exhibit 17Ontario retailers trail US peer states, and match Western and Atlantic Canada38 Exhibit 18Ontario under performs counterparts in US peer states, particularly in operations management38 Exhibit 19In operations management, Ontario retailers lag peer state counterparts39 Exhibit 20In most areas of performa nce management, Ontario retailers are not statistically different from counterparts in peer states40 Exhibit 21In people management, Ontario retailers lead in retaining high performers41 Contents Foreword and acknowledgements4 Executive summary6 Strong management delivers prosperityManagement talent is important in the Innovation SystemCanada lacks sufficient sophisticated management capabilitiesManagement innovation delivers higher productivityManagement practices can be measured11 12 14 15 Lean Retailing is best practice operating strategy17 17 19 Canada’s retailers score well but have opportunities to improveWhere can Canadian retailers improve? Public policy and business strategies lead to strong management24 26 31 Ontario trails US peers and matches most other Canadian regions37 Opportunities to strengthen managementEnsure businesses aspire to excellence in management42 43 44 44 References46 Previous publications48 International research evaluates management practicesBroaden innovation policy to include management skillsEmbrace international competition in our economy policy4 institute for competitiveness & prosperity Foreword and acknowledgements I am pleased to present Working Paper 13 of the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity. In this Working Paper, we extend our study of the impact of management talent on our economic prosperity. Last year, we presented the results of the first-ever research on the quality of Canada’s and Ontario’s management in the manufacturing sector. This Working Paper focuses on management capabilities in the retail sector. Strong management is a critical element in the innovativeness of our economy, and hence its productivity and prosperity. Strong management drives the demand for innovation through well developed and ably executed business trategies; it affects the ongoing supply of high quality innovation by setting research priorities and orchestrating technical resources; and it is key to the financing of innovation by assembling resources and allocating them wisely to promising investments. Research in the United Kingdom indicates that better management leads to higher sales per employee. â€Å" Strong management is a critical element in the innovativeness of our economy, and hence its productivity and prosperity. † But government innovation strategies in Canada do not take adequate account of the importance of management. They still focus on increasing scientific and technical resources that drive new-to-the-world inventions; but they do not adequately consider innovations that create economic value in meeting societal needs by drawing on existing technologies and knowledge. Both are important for our prosperity, and we need public policies that attend to each. Our findings for the retail sector are consistent with the research on manufacturing management. Better educated managers produce better performance. For manufacturers and retailers, in Canada and internationally, the link between managers’ education and business performance is powerful. We also find that large-scale, multinational retailers are better managed than those focused only on their home market. This holds true in Canada and other countries. Firms that expand globally have dramatically better management, though identifying cause and effect is difficult. More than likely, there is a virtuous circle at work. Firms with global aspirations need effective management to expand, and expanding firms attract better managers.5 The research indicates that Canadian retail managers are as effective as their US counterparts whether they are working for a multinational or a domestic-only company. Yet, our overall retail productivity, as measured by sales per employee and our retail wages, trails the US retail sector significantly. So we have to acknowledge that the management of store level operations may not be the major challenge we face in improving our retail productivity. However, the quality of corporate management is an important factor; our Canadian retail sector has generated only one global leader – Couche-Tard – while we have twenty-three global leaders in our manufacturing sector. Other factors, such as population size and density as well as competitive intensity, are also likely at play. In public policy, we continue to recommend that our innovation strategies become more sophisticated and balanced. We need to recognize that supporting science for new inventions is not enough; we need to create an environment where business people draw on new science and many other disciplines to innovate products, services, and processes. We need to ensure that our markets are as open as they can be to foreign competition and foreign investment, because they improve the level of management and innovation in Canada. And we need to be investing adequately in post secondary education to develop world-class management talent. We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing funding support from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. We look forward to sharing and discussing our work and our findings. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Roger L. Martin, Chairman Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity Dean, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto 6 institute for competitiveness & prosperity Executive summary C ompetitive and prosperous countries in the world, as defined by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Ontario, in turn, is also one of the most prosperous jurisdictions in the world. Still, we are not realizing our full prosperity potential. For eight years, the Institute has been reporting on a persistent and growing prosperity gap with the United States, which stands at $8,700 for Canada and the United States, and $7,000 for Ontario and our US peer stat es. anada is one of the most Our major challenge is to raise our productivity and innovation performance. The two sources of higher prosperity are working more hours and producing more output per hour of work. On the former measure, hours worked per capita, we are near the top of developed economies – through a combination of high rates of participation in the labour force, low unemployment rates, and high hours worked per worker. But on the latter measure – that is, the value we add per hour worked – we trail many developed economies. management matters in retail 7 We have already identified some of the factors behind this poor productivity and innovation performance. While Ontario has a mix of industries that are by their nature productive and innovative, these industries do not operate as effectively as their counterparts in the US economy. Some of these factors relate to broad economic factors – we tend less to live in metropolitan areas, and we are less well educated than our counterparts in the United States. But some other factors relate to how our businesses compete. For example, compared with their US counterparts across the economy, Canadian managers invest less in productivity enhancing machinery nd equipment, particularly information and communication technology (ICT), and they produce fewer patents. Our past research and the work of others indicate that our senior and middle managers do not have fundamentally different attitudes from their US counterparts toward competition, risk taking, and innovation. But our innovation and productivity performance is inhibited by limited management capabilities – such as lower educatio nal attainment and less diffusion of best management practices – and by context – such as lower competitive intensity in the markets and fewer sophisticated customers. Effective management leads business innovation. Innovation is the result of the ongoing interaction of three elements – the supply of innovation, the demand for innovation, and the financing of innovation – in an Innovation System. These elements are driven by competitive pressure and broad support that activate the Innovation System. Effective management provides pressure and support across the Innovation System in strengthening demand for innovation, providing supply of innovation, and driving the quantity and quality of financing for innovation. It is safe to conclude, therefore, that management is an important factor in the prosperity of a jurisdiction. But hard evidence to support this conclusion has been limited. In one research initiative, University of Toronto professor Michelle Alexopoulos has developed a methodology for measuring the diffusion of innovative management techniques, going as far back as Taylor’s scientific management in 1911. Her measures track Library of Congress management book publication records, supplemented with counts of relevant academic journal articles, to determine the adoption of management techniques. Her research indicates that increased diffusion of new management techniques is correlated with growth in productivity, measured by Total Factor Productivity (TFP), and prosperity, measured through GDP. She concludes that economic growth results not only from increases in â€Å"tangible technology† (R&D, machinery & equipment) as most economists agree; but it also is the result of advances in â€Å"intangible technologies,† like management techniques and new processes disseminated in part through publications. 8 nstitute for competitiveness & prosperity In another initiative, in 2008, the Institute partnered with Stanford professor Nick Bloom to extend his pioneering global research in measuring management practices to Canada. His research started as a detailed approach to evaluating how well manufacturing operations have implemented advanced management techniques. It encompassed the level of managers’ knowledge of these techniques, the company-wide commitment to setting targets, measuring and monitoring results, and managing people well. In the manufacturing sector, the research had already been conducted in advanced economies, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, and developing economies like China, India, and Brazil. The quality of management, as captured by this study, correlates well with firm and industry productivity. The results of our research were published in the Institute’s Working Paper 12, Management Matters. We found that the Canadian manufacturing sector is among the best managed in the world. Our production management teams are leaders in implementing specific techniques in the area of Lean Manufacturing. They are solid performers in effecting good performance management, though with room for improvement. But, while they match management teams in other leading economies in people management, Canadian firms trail US practices significantly. Our results also indicated that some of the key variables that drive – or at least are correlated with – better management are education, ownership, and winning global strategies. In Ontario, our results indicated that the quality of manufacturing management is higher here than in the other regions of Canada, and that the province’s results are within statistical range of US results overall. Nevertheless, against the fourteen US peer states we have identified, Ontario under performs, especially in the area of people management – the willingness of managers to keep and promote high performers and to deal promptly with poor performers. In this Working Paper, we further extend this management research into another important industry in our economy: our retail businesses. In the summer of 2009, a team of analysts at the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity interviewed senior managers at 661 retail outlets in total – 409 in Canada, 152 in the United States, and 100 in the United Kingdom. The research was slightly adapted to fit the retail sector, but still remains largely comparable to that in manufacturing in approaches to measuring and monitoring operations performance, setting and achieving performance targets, and managing people. management matters in retail The results for Canada are encouraging. The overall results indicate that we are among the leaders in retail management, scoring statistically no differently than the United States. Results vary across the three sub-indexes that make up the overall measure. In operations management, we stand statistically behind the United States, but ahead of the United Kingdom. In performance management, we tie with the United States for the top spot and stay statistically ahead of the United Kingdom. In people management, though our score is lower than the US result, it is not statistically different, and we stand statistically ahead of the UK score here as well. Some of the key variables that are correlated with better management in manufacturing are also important in retail, such as education and global reach. More highly educated management teams out perform other retail managers. Retailers who have successfully expanded beyond their borders are much better managed than those who are still domestic competitors only. We also found that firm size and scale are important in explaining better management – larger retail firms are better managed. Our results indicate that quality of retail management in Ontario is not statistically different from that in the rest of Canada. Ontario scores statistically worse than our fourteen peer states group; however, unlike our manufacturers, the retailers’ disadvantage is strongest in store operations and not statistically significant in performance and people management. In summary, this Working Paper reinforces our conclusion that management capabilities are important contributors to provincial and national prosperity. And our Canadian retail management is among the best. Ontario, however, while being no different than the rest of Canada, trails the US peers significantly. Overall, our retail businesses have significant opportunities to improve. 9 10 institute for competitiveness & prosperity The implications for Ontario and Canada are clear: If we want an economy built on innovation, we have to include managerial education in our policy development. Developing our cientific and technical skills is important to our prosperity – but not building the capabilities of our managers is an oversight that holds back our prosperity.  ¦ Consistent with the recommendations of the Competition Policy Review Panel, chaired by Red Wilson in 2008, and our own research, we need to encourage an openness to foreign investment in our industries. This Working P aper shows how such investments attract best management practices and performance in our economy.  ¦ At the same time, we need to encourage the global aspirations of our successful companies. In turn, global expansion will drive he development of stronger management in Ontario and Canadian firms.  ¦ management matters in retail 11 Strong management delivers prosperity C its full prosperity potential. Relative to the United States, the economy most similar to ours and our largest trading partner, we have a growing prosperity gap. Canada’s lag in GDP per capita grew from $2,600 in 1981 to $8,700 in 2008. 1 This growing gap reflects a failure to reach our full economic potential. It means that our generation has not created as much economic value as possible from the human, natural, and physical resources endowed to us. nada is not achieving A key component of closing our prosperity gap is for Canada to broaden its approach to innovation. Strong management practices are a cr itical contributor to more innovation. So we need stronger commitment to strengthening the capabilities of our business managers to implement best practices. Following on our work in manufacturing, in this Working Paper, we extend our exploration of management capabilities in Canada and Ontario to the retail sector. 1 2007 Canadian dollars; US dollars converted at 2007 Purchasing Power Parity. 12 The retail sector is full of innovation. One classic example lies in the success of Walmart and its pioneering introduction of â€Å"cross-docking† at its distribution centres. This revolutionary system enabled Walmart to achieve excellent productivity and customer responsiveness without the usual inventory and handling costs attached. By enabling its goods to be continuously delivered to its warehouses, then immediately selected, repackaged and transferred to their stores, Walmart has been able to streamline its inventory pipeline by crossing its goods from one loading dock to another without its goods ever spending valuable time and space in the arehouse. 2 Through effective management and innovation, Walmart was able to transform itself from a small niche retailer to the largest and most profitable retailer in the world today. Other examples of innovation in retail include big box retailers with a focused, but very expansive product selection, and Carrefour, which ushered in the concept of combining supermarket an d department store into one roof, known today as a â€Å"hypermarket. † It should be noted that these examples and other specific ones in this Working Paper are from business literature and in no way indicate that they were mong the companies we interviewed in our research. Such information is confidential. The benefits of improved management practices also apply in many other sectors. For example, a Washington Post article describes a study conducted in hospitals in the United States, where they implemented a simple management tool, a â€Å"surgical checklist† in surgical procedures. The â€Å"low-cost, low tech invention† led to a decrease of in-patient deaths by more 2G. institute for competitiveness & prosperity than 40 percent and a fall in the rate of serious complications of 36 percent. The article captures the essence of this ool very well: â€Å"The human brain can’t remember everything, so it’s best to focus on the complicated challenges and leave the simple reminders to a cheat sheet. †3 Management tools such as the surgical checklist, the equivalent of the retail store’s â€Å"daily to-do list,† are small changes that can substantially decrease the rate of waste in a business – be it of time, resources, or lost revenue because of product shortages. In this Working Paper, we focus on management capabilities in the retail sector. We define â€Å"retail† as those firms engaged in the selling of consumer goods to the public, ranging from utomotive and furniture stores to pharmacies, clothing, and grocery stores. We first briefly review the importance of management talent for innovation and prosperity. 4 We then set out key findings from research we have recently conducted into the current state of management capabilities in Canada’s and Ontario’s retail sector, and how retail fares against the manufacturing sector in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Ma nagement talent is important in the Innovation System As we have discussed in previous reports,5 innovation is a result of the ongoing interaction of three elements supply, demand, and financing of innovation – in an Innovation System. These elements are driven by competitive pressure and broad support (Exhibit  1). Each of the elements is critical for success, but all three need to work together in balance. The supply of innovation includes the factors dedicated to increasing the stock of innovation, including highly qualified personnel, businesses’ facilities, resources, and activities. The demand for innovation is the combination of customer insistence on new products and process breakthroughs and corporate demand for innovation within a firm. The financing of innovation is an important bridge between demand and supply since, even if these two factors are in balance, significant funding is typically required to commercialize new ideas and scientific breakthroughs. Innovation requires pressure and support in each of these areas. Strong management is important in each element of the Innovation System. The management function includes goal setting, organization building, resource allocation, and monitoring of results. It also includes actions in enterprise finance, sales and promotion, production and delivery, and people evelopment (Exhibit  2). Hence, in building an innovative firm or an innovative economy, management talent matters. Senior managers in successful companies develop strategies where innovation is a critical component. Innovation strategies typically follow one of two paths: †¢ Innovation to reduce costs. Cost reductions can be realized in two ways. – First, improved management and operating proce sses can reduce the producer’s costs. For example, Harlequin determined that producing romance novels consistently with the number of pages that coincided with one sheet on the printing press would educe its printing costs, standardize shipping requirements, and simplify display for the retailer. Harlequin also determined that mail order distribution would cut costs and build Stalk, P. Evans, and L. Shulman, 1992, â€Å"Competing on capabilities: The new rules of corporate strategy,† Harvard Business Review, Mar/Apr, 1992, p. 58, available online: http://my. execpc. com/~jpurtell/HBR-CompetingonCapabilities. pdf Washington Post, January 15, 2009, â€Å"Surgery checklist lowers death rate†, available online: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR2009011402831. tml 4 For a more extensive discussion see Roger Martin and James Milway, Strengthening management for prosperity, Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity, 2007, available on line: http://www. competeprosper. ca/images/uploads/ManagementPaper_May07. pdf 5Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity, Working Paper 12, Management matters, March 2009. 3 13 management matters in retail repeat purchase behaviour among loyal customers. The lower operating costs could be passed on as lower prices for consumers. But true innovation means that the producer captures some of the value added by not reducing prices at the same rate s costs. –Second, innovation can reduce costs for retailers or other parts of the distribution channel. McCain’s became one of Canada’s global leaders by eliminating the need for restaurants and food service operations to buy whole potatoes and peel them. Instead, they could buy fully prepared frozen fries from McCain’s and simply finish the frying. †¢ Innovation to enhance customer experience. Four Seasons, the world’s leading luxury hotel chain, has succeeded by relentlessly studying what its guests wanted and by improving the customer experience. Cirque de Soleil, the world’s leading ircus company, recognized the customers’ experience of circuses left much to be desired and reinvented the circus world to delight them. Such innovations draw as much on management capabilities – competitive analysis, customer research and segmentations, cost analysis – as they do on technological capabilities. Indeed, our research into high technology firms in Canada shows that, as these firms succeed and mature, the importance of technical skills at the top of the organization is matched by the importance of other skills, including management capability. 6 And below the CEO level, evidence is mounting hat the economy is requiring greater numbers of sophisticated conceptual thinkers and those with the strong analytic and people skills required to lead innovation and upgrading. 7 Exhibit 1 Innovation system has three components Exhibit 1Pressure and Support drive all th ree elements of the Innovation System The Innovation System PRESSURE PRESSURE Strong Management Source: Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity. 6 7 Demand for Innovation SUPPORT Financing of Innovation SUPPORT Supply of Innovation The Strategic Counsel, â€Å"Assessing the Experience of Successful Innovative Firms in Ontario,† 2004, p. 1, available online: http://www. competeprosper. ca/images/uploads/InnovationInterviewStudyRep. pdf Ibid, p. 41 14 institute for competitiveness & prosperity Canada lacks sufficient sophisticated management capabilities An important opportunity for improving Canada’s innovation and productivity performance is to strengthen management talent in our economy. In our research over the years, we have consistently found that our managers generally have lower educational attainment than their US counterparts, and CEOs of our largest corporations are less likely to have formal business education at the graduate level. Half of US managers hav e a bachelor’s degree or above compared to just over a third of Canadian managers (Exhibit 3). Further, innovative, hightech firms report disadvantages in access to management talent as a key constraint. 9 A key part of Canada’s prosperity under performance is attributable to its lack of management talent. Management skills are a critical complement to science and engineering skills in creating a high quality supply of innovation, driving sophisticated demand for innovation, and putting in place the required quantity and quality of financing to make the Innovation System work effectively. Exhibit 2 Managers play an important part in creating Pressure and Support in all elements of the Innovation System The Innovation System PRESSURE PRESSURE Strong Management Source: Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity. 8Institute 9R. Demand for Innovation SUPPORT Financing of Innovation SUPPORT Supply of Innovation for Competitiveness & Prosperity, Working Paper 6, Reinventing innovation and commercialization policy in Ontario, October 2004, p. 40 Martin and J. Milway, Strengthening management for prosperity, p. 11 15 management matters in retail Management innovation delivers higher productivity Contemporary research often focuses n two measures of productivity: †¢ output per unit of labour input, such as hours worked or employment; and †¢ total factor productivity (TFP), which measures the extent to which actual economic output is higher than capital and labour employment data would suggest. Many researchers and policy makers believe that productivity changes are i ntimately linked to changes in technology in the traditional sense; that is, productivity growth results from improvements in machinery, equipment, or techniques of production. Thus, the key to higher productivity is technological advances, as evidenced in higher R&D expenditures or more patents. Professor Michelle Alexopoulos of the University of Toronto presents an alternative, though less intuitive, view. 10 She argues that anything that improves producers’ ability to transform inputs into final goods and services deserves the title â€Å"technology. † For her, productivity is indeed influenced by the traditionally understood types of technology – such as machinery and new products – that she calls â€Å"tangible. † But productivity is also influenced by â€Å"intangible† technology – such as management techniques and production processes. She posits that it is important to distinguish between these wo types of technologies, since they affect the types of policies governments may want to put in place. It is generally agreed among management experts that changes in intangibles – such as corporate work rules, team structures, communication channels, morale, or managerial leadership – raise productivity and workfo rce efficiency. While this is not a controversial statement, quantifying the effect of improvement in management techniques at the aggregate level is extremely difficult because of measurement issues. Professor Alexopoulos’ measure tracks the development and diffusion f management techniques through a count of Library of Congress management book titles, supplemented with counts of relevant academic journal articles. She has demonstrated that changes in management techniques are an important factor in US productivity growth. 11 With the index of management book publications serving as a proxy for diffusion, her regression analyses reveal that available management books are positively associated with growth in an economy’s TFP and GDP. In particular, following the introduction of a new management technique that causes a 10 percent increase in new management books, GDP and TFP Exhibit 3 Canadian managers are less well educated than their US counterparts Managers’ educational attainment, average 2005–2007 12% 18% Advanced degree 35% Bachelor’s degree 26% Some post secondary 18% High school 23% 39% 19% 7% Canada 3% United States Less than high school Source: Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity analysis based on Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, and U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey 10M. Alexopoulos and T. Tombe, â€Å"Management Matters,† forthcoming working paper, University of Toronto. 11Ibid. 16 institute for competitiveness & prosperity row at statistically significantly higher rates than average for approximately six years. In fact, the impulse response estimates suggest that by year five, GDP would be 2. 1 percent higher and TFP would be 1. 4 percent higher in an economy with innovation in management techniques (Exhibit 4). A 2 percent increase in our GDP per capita would increase avera ge disposable income per family by $1,500 in Canada and Ontario. 12 Alexopoulos does not assert that the research definitively leads to this direct impact – but it does suggest that improved management has a significant effect on a region’s or nation’s prosperity. She concludes that Canadian managers, have access to the same resources as our American neighbours, but many lack the expertise to employ the most productive management innovations. Increasing the number of graduates from economics, business, or management programs and raising funding for research in business management and related fields may help alleviate this deficiency. This kind of â€Å"business R&D† is to management what science is to engineering, and deserves more attention from the government. It is intuitively likely that stronger management capabilities lead to more innovation and higher rosperity. But the impact of management capabilities on regional prosperity has not been well studied. Our research and that of others indicate that management matters. The development of improved management techniques, their diffusion, and their implementation by capable managers lead to higher prosperity. Exhibit 4 New management techniques are associated with increases in product ivity and prosperity Effect on Gross Domestic Product and Total Factor Productivity Response to a 10% increase in management publications Percentage increase 2. 5 % Gross Domestic Product 2. 0 1. 5 Total Factor Productivity . 0 0. 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 Years following unanticipated increase in management publications Source: M. Alexopoulos and T. Tombe, â€Å"Management Matters,† forthcoming working paper, University of Toronto. 12Calculation based on a 2 percent increase in the Canadian 2008 income per capita, personal disposable income as a percentage of GDP, and average household size. 6 management matters in retail 17 Management practices can be measured C learly, good management is an important factor in firm innovation and productivity and, to the extent that a region’s firms are well managed, overall prosperity will be higher. But economists and management researchers have paid little attention to measuring effective management practices and their impact on firm productivity. A major stumbling block has been the lack of useful, consistent measurements of the quality of management across firms and countries. While researchers recognize the importance of effective management, they typically refer to it as an empirically unobservable variable in their research to account for the differences in productivity across firms within the same country and industry. International research evaluates management practices To fill this research gap, professors Nick Bloom, John Van Reenen, and Raffaela Sadun developed a methodology to measure management practices first within a manufacturing operation,13 and now have expanded this methodology to include 13 See, for example, N. Bloom and J. Van Reenen, â€Å"Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries,† NBER Working Paper No. 12216 and N. Bloom, J. Van Reenen, â€Å"Why do Management Practices Differ across Firms and Countries? † Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 203–244. 18 institute for competitiveness & prosperity the retail sector as well as forthcoming esearch on management of schools and hospitals. They have applied this methodology since 2004 and have interviewed over 7,000 firms in eighteen countries,14 including developed economies, such as the United States, Germany, and Japan, and developing economies like China, India, and Brazil. The Institute collaborated closely with Pro fessor Bloom to interview Canadian manufacturing firms through the summer of 2008. In 2009, the Institute further collaborated to extend the methodology to the retail sector, for the first time in a large-scale project, including Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Bloom, Van Reenen, and Sadun’s ethod to measure management practices in the firm is based on an interview evaluation tool that scores firms on a scale of 1 to 5, indicating from worst practice to best practice across eighteen management practices, developed originally by McKinsey & Company, a leading international management consulting firm. The management practices cover three distinct, but related areas of management: †¢ Adopting effective operations management approaches. How well have firms implemented retailing management systems that are generally regarded by academics and consultants as best practice? â€Å"Lean Retailing† is a fairly recent concept erived from the original â€Å" Lean Manufacturing,† which is generally regarded as the most effective management system. Based on the production methods developed by Toyota, but applicable beyond the automotive (and manufacturing) industry, Lean achieves highly efficient operations through a relentless drive to reduce waste of time and resources. It is characterized by an ethos of 14For continuous improvement, backed by close tracking of the operation to identify problems and improvement opportunities. †¢ †¢ Managing targets effectively. Do firms’ management teams set stretch yet realistic targets, monitor performance against these targets, and ake corrective action when necessary? Effective management in this area means that companies are finding the right balance of targets to aspire to for maximum achievable performance. Setting targets too low means under performance; setting them too high will discourage improvements by workers and managers. Effective management also means determining how to measure performance and to follow through with actions when targets are not met. Managing people well. Are companies promoting and rewarding employees based on performance, and systematically trying to hire and keep their best employees? The cliche that people are a firm’s most mportant asset is true. Skilled workers and effective people management together are an important element of productivity in firms and across the economy. Well managed firms are able to attract and retain their top talent through effective reward and incentive programs. They also deal effectively with problem performers. Professor Bloom and his team designed the research process according to rigorous academic research standards. Our analysts, who were business and economics students, were trained to conduct the interviews consistent with analysts in other countries. We randomly selected retail locations for elephone interviews from a comprehensive industry list of firms categorized by Standard I ndustrial Classification (SIC) retail codes. 15 The analysts conducted telephone interviews that lasted an average of fifty-seven minutes with the most senior store managers available and occasionally district managers. Through a series of structured, but open-ended questions, the analysts scored each company on a scale of 1 to 5, across eighteen factors. These results generated scores on each of the three factors described above, which in turn generated an overall score for the quality of management at the operation. The structure of the retail interview followed the manufacturing one, in which sixteen out of the eighteen topics were comparable between the two sectors. Analysts also â€Å"double scored† fourfifths of the interviews. That is, while one analyst conducted the interview, another, who was not taking part in the interview, listened and independently scored the company. Subsequent comparisons of the scores showed a high degree of consistency between analysts. We conducted interviews from June to August 2009 from a central location in Toronto. To ensure the comparability of the retail scores with the previous year’s anufacturing scores, our analysts were trained using the same methodology, and two analysts from the previous year’s manufacturing project returned to supervise and double-score the interviews. Thus we conclude that, as much as possible, the retail interviews were scored in the same way as those in the manufacturing sector, and therefore are comparable to the rest of the management sample. Further, the distribution of completed interviews across Canada and the United States matches the distribution of actual retail locations. more information on the research methodology, see Professor Nick Bloom’s website: http://www. tanford. edu/~nbloom/index_files/Page371. htm on the Dun & Bradstreet database, using SIC codes 50–57 and 59. For more information, see http://www. dnb. ca/ 15Based 19 management matters in retail Lean Retailing is best practice operating strategy Lean Retailing is an example of a best practice operating strategy that management needs to adopt to maximize the efficiency of the retail operation process. including those in insurance companies, hospitals, airline maintenance organizations, government agencies, retail industries, and many others. 16 In the retail sector, the same Lean approach as now developed to improve operations flows; these principles are known as Lean Retailing. What is Lean Retailing? H ow does Lean Retailing work? Business success lies in effective management. This is especially critical today, as retailers continue to face the increasing challenge of competing against falling prices alongside rising operating and labour costs. Now, more than ever, retailers are turning toward adopting a more Lean approach in their management operations to improve profitability. At the core of Lean Retailing is a dedication to the elimination of waste. Similar to the manufacturing sector, the ajor types of waste targeted by the Lean approach include excess inventory, product defects, unnecessary motion, under used employees, and wait times. Managers can now apply similar tools and principles to identify these forms of waste to improve their operations efficiency. These Lean techniques include: But what is Lean Retailing? Lean Retailing refers to the operating strategy that seeks to maximize efficiency by identifying and eliminating waste. It focuses on simplifying the work process to eliminate wasted effort, time, materials, and motion. By adopting a Lean approach, managers who employ these tools and principles are able to educe non-value adding activities, detect and prevent problems early, and improve overall operating flow. †¢ †¢ Using â€Å"pull† to drive replenishment. Ensuring that the supply of goods is pulled by actual demand of customers as opposed to forecast or estimated demand so that inventory levels are kept low and space is conserved †¢ Removing bottlenecks through the supply chain. Eliminating inefficiencies to shorten delivery times, lower transportation costs and defects, and improve product flow and operational performance †¢ Today, the Lean approach has evolved from the manufacturing industry to apply to operations of all kinds, 16S. To win in this increasingly competitive environment, retailers need to adopt a relentless focus on delivering value cost effectively. For, despite steadily falling prices, store operating costs are trending upwards because of more expensive operating overheads and labour costs as well as higher investments in shop fittings to match increasing trends to improve the customer experience. 17 Retailers must pursue a Lean perspective in their core operations, including best practices in operations management, performance management, and people management. (See A guide to best practices in Lean Retailing. ) Doing so will produce a more fficient cost structure, more productive workers, less waste, lower effort, and shorter wait times – all of which generate significant improvements in store profitability and customer satisfaction. Today, more and more businesses are focusing on streamlining their key operations to reduce unnecessary processes and waste and to improve customer experien ce. Lean Retailing is a best practice that, once implemented, can improve productivity and contribute to higher overall economic performance. Our research allows us to measure the quality of retail management through the lens of Lean Retailing – and to provide guidance for retailers in dentifying and implementing Lean Retailing best practices. Eliminating wasted effort, time, materials, and motion. Identifying the core value of operations by eliminating excess motion, time, and materials used in the process flow to reduce and prevent extra work, problems and wait times Where did Lean Retailing originate? Pioneered by Toyota Motor Corporation, the concept of Lean was conceived as a set of tools and methods to eradicate waste and inefficiency in their manufacturing system, famously known now as the Toyota Production System (TPS). This revolutionizing manufacturing strategy fuelled Toyota’s rise from a ash-strapped company to becoming one of the most successful automobile manufacturers in the world. Simplifying work design. Organizing individual work processes to be more feasible and manageable so that these efforts have clear start and finish points Why is Lean Retailing important? Corbett, â€Å"Beyond Manufacturing: The evolution of Lean production,† McKinsey Quarterly, 2007, 3, pp. 94-96. Voisin, â€Å"The ‘Industrial revolution’ of European retailers in underway,† McKinsey Quarterly, 2004, available online at: http://www. mckinsey. com/practices/retail/knowledge/index_full. asp? startval=20&sort=title 17Jean-Baptiste 0 institute for competitiveness & prosperity A guide to best practices in Lean Retailing For each topic in the study, we define the best practice and provide an example drawn from the 661 retail interviews conducted across North America and Europe Operations management Rationale for Lean retailing techniques Adoption of Lean practices store operations Has the store implemented all the major Lean store ope rations practices? For example, does the manager have a standard to-do list to follow daily? Is there an automated inventory control system determined by the pull of demand? Is the backroom organized systematically? Example of best practice: A Canadian bookstore has a point-of-sale system that automatically orders an item as soon as it is sold. The managers and employees check off every item on their set to-do list every morning. The manager has a â€Å"store clock,† where she plans for what is happening in the store every hour of the day. Some inventory is kept, and what is on hand in the backroom is organized by aisle with bin codes, keeping the backroom clutter-free. scheduling Has the store implemented all major Lean scheduling practices? Is the scheduling done automatically, based on store traffic and transactions data? Are there defined roles within the staff? Example of best practice: Scheduling at a US supermarket is based on a computer system that is linked to its sales results system. The computer system bases the schedule on transactions per hour and allocates more labour to peak hours. Roles in the store are clearly defined, and employees rarely have to respond to unexpected traffic increases. What was the reasoning behind the adoption of any or all Lean Retailing techniques? Were managers implementing changes because all their competitors were doing it? Did managers believe it would merely reduce costs and thus ecided to make the switch? Or did Lean fit the businesses’ goals, which often include increasing quality, reducing waste, and reducing injuries while increasing profits? Example of best practice: A UK specialty apparel store introduced techniques to improve customer service, raise product availability, decrease waste, and increase efficiency and productivity. Process problem do cumentation If an operational/procedural problem in the store occurs, what happens? Do managers wait for problems to happen to address them or do they search for ways of improving processes and avoiding potentially costly product shortages or mistakes? Is there a specific way that shop floor workers, who are executing most of the tasks, can suggest process improvements? Example of best practice: A UK supermarket uses a checklist system for checking the store every hour. Managers document all issues and have weekly business strategy meetings to discuss them and identify solutions. Action plans encompass targeted completion dates and everything is reported to corporate headquarters. There is a standard system whereby employees can suggest improvements, and managers review them weekly with potential rewards for the employee whose suggestion gets implemented. management matters in retail atters Operations performance tracking What types of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the managers tracking? For example, do managers only track sales per day or does the set of KPIs include a comprehensive list of all productivity factors, such as average transaction value and conversion rates? And are these KPIs available for all to see, or is i t only the senior managers who are privy to this information? Example of best practice: A Canadian bookstore manager tracks all major performance indicators daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Sales are tracked by shift, and if targets are not being met, the manager follows up mmediately with the sales staff to improve performance. All information is posted for employees to see and updated as new data become available. Operations performance review Does a manager review KPIs with other managers and staff? Is there a meeting to review them? Who is involved in these meetings? Who gets to see the results of this review? What are the typical next steps after a meeting? Example of best practice: A hardware store in Canada has weekly management meetings to review the basic KPIs, and routinely invites floor staff to attend as well. Every meeting, they create a follow up plan with five to six main oints they have to focus on in the coming week with specific timelines and accountability. Res ults are tracked daily and shared with employees in small team huddles and storewide meetings twice a week. The managers keep a scorecard to help track how they are doing. a 21 Operations performance dialogue Here managers are asked to describe a KPI meeting. Is there a set structure to the meeting; for example, a set agenda used every week? If KPI data are needed to discuss specific issues, are the data always available? Do discussions lead to the root cause of problems? Example of best practice: The manager at an American eneral merchandise store has a set agenda for the meetings (part of it from corporate, part of it open to managers’ discretion), which is distributed ahead of time. All involved are expected to have reviewed it and to come prepared for discussion. Problems are identified and conversations are only finished when the root cause is found. The manager often uses root cause analysis tools such as fishbone diagrams and the 5Ys. a All items are documented and fol lowed up on. Consequence management How do managers deal with a business unit that is under performing? What are the consequences for the under performing unit? Are there parts of the business that seem to fail repeatedly to carry out agreed actions? Example of best practice: A general merchandise store in Canada has a computerized system where follow-up plans are logged. Outstanding items are flagged (red, yellow, or green). In-store issues have a â€Å"sundown rule,† where problems need to be fixed by sundown. External issues require progress reports, and status is frequently reviewed until the item is no longer red-flagged. 5Ys is a management technique used to solve problems by asking â€Å"why† five times. By the time the fifth why is asked, the root cause of the problem has already been found. 2 institute for competitiveness & prosperity Performance management Types of goals What types of goals are set for the company? Are there specific goals for the store? Are there any non-financial goals? Example of best practice: A hardware store in Canada has a range of financial and operational goals in place, and also has specific non-financial goals for community involvement (charitable donations/fundraising) and environmental targets. The manager was concerned with â€Å"making money† but felt that supporting their community was just as important. Interconnection of goals Is there a clear motivation behind the goals? For instance, oes the company clearly communicate goals, such as â€Å"we want to be the leader in the industry† or â€Å"we want to grow by 4 percent in the next two years†? How are the goals cascaded down to the individual workers? For example, are workers aware of how their work fits within the larger framework of the company? Example of best practice: The motivation behind a US general merchandise store’s goals is to create shareholder value and deliver customer satisfaction. Corporate headquarters divides goals by region, division, and store. The manager then further divides those goals by department and individual associates, so that all ave personal targets l inked to the store’s overall goal. Company goals are communicated through storewide meetings and newsletters. Time horizon What is the time scale of the targets? Do managers focus more on short-term or long-term goals? Do the short-term goals form a â€Å"staircase† to the long-term goals? Example of best practice: A Canadian department store has daily, weekly, quarterly, annual, three- and five-year goals and ten-year strategic goals. The goals are all linked in a staircase; if the store meets all the short-term goals, they will inevitably meet the long-term goals. Setting stretch goals How tough are the goals? Do managers feel pushed by them? Are any goals obviously too easy or too hard? In other words, are there goals that are always met and some that are never met? Do all departments have the same level of difficulty in the targets or do some get off easy? Example of best practice: A UK clothing store has rigorous goals for all departments, based on a specific store growth plan. The manager feels the targets are very tough, but attainable. She meets them between 75 to 80 percent of the time. Clarity of goals Do all employees in the store know what their personal targets are? Does anyone complain that the targets are too omplex – that is, not that they are too stretching, but that they are difficult to understand? Is performance between teams or shifts openly compared to others? Example of best practice: A Canadian bookstore manager sets clear individual targets for her employees and keeps them accountable to them during weekly huddles. She posts performance in the break room and e mployees are encouraged to compare individual performance, as the manager believes this leads to friendly competition. Instilling a talent mindset Do senior managers discuss attracting and developing talented people? Do managers get any rewards for the talent ool they create? Are managers held accountable for creating a talent pool? Example of best practice: Managers at an American department store participate in university/college job fairs, and actively seek talented people to join the company. The company has a â€Å"human capital report,† and the number and quality of the people a manager hired are important in his appraisal and affect (positively or negatively) his bonus at the end of the year. management matters in retail 23 People management Promoting high performers If a worker is exceptionally good, can he or she be promoted on a fast track? Are top performers routinely identified and developed? Is length of service unduly important in promotions? Rewarding top performers How does the appraisal system work? How does the bonus system work? Are there non-financial rewards? How do these systems compare to the competitors’ systems? Example of best practice: An American hardware store holds appraisal meetings every six months – one full appraisal meeting and one update meeting. There is a bonus for both shop floor employees and managers, based on a review of personal performance. For the shop floor employees, there is a reward system where employees et â€Å"stars† in a staircase structure for outstanding performance. For each set number of â€Å"stars,† there is a financial reward. When employees reach the highest level, they get a gift. There are also gift cards/movie tickets and other financial rewards for good customer service performance. Addressing poor performance If a worker is continuously under performing, what is the course of action? Is there a set procedure that is followed? How long would under performance be tolerated? Example of best practice: A US department store has a performance improvement plan, whereby managers meet with poor performers, identify their improvement pportunities, develop a plan, and give them tools to make them work more effectively. Once under performance is identified, weekly meetings are set up to update the status. The manager tries to retrain and/ or move the employee to other departments, but under performance is only tolerated for a maximum of three months. Example of best practice: An American grocery store has a formal career path plan for all employees and a succession plan for managers. Promotions are based solely on performance, and tenure does not play a role. The manager uses regular performance appraisals to identify op performers and look for â€Å"diamonds in the rough. † The company has a mentoring program that tra ins the best to be future managers, and encourages workers to take courses outside the store. Attracting high performers Does the company offer a distinctive work environment that is attractive to top talent? Example of best practice: An American hardware store offers competitive wages, strong performance incentives, and clear career paths. The managers believe it is important to get employees involved in the decision-making process to make them feel like a valued part of the company. Retaining high performers What special practices are in place to retain top performers who want to leave the company? Example of best practice: A hardware store manager in Canada keeps an eye on the top employees and, if they seem unhappy or are thinking about leaving, senior management will meet with them to discuss their career. For a top performer, the manager would adjust hours, increase pay, and offer more responsibility. The manager mentioned an example where he helped the employee’s mother move to their town so they could live closer together and the employee would stay with the company. 24 institute for competitiveness & prosperity