EasyJet emarketing strategies and its implementation

EasyJet e grocerying strategies and its implementationManagement SummaryThis report nethertakes a study of EasyJet e-marketing strategies and its implementation outlining its impact on EasyJet trading operations as a whole.EasyJet is an distributeline political party operate in atomic number 63 with its base in UK. It was founded by Stelios Haji-Ioannou in mid(prenominal) 1995. EasyJets operations be paperless, with exclusively harvest-feastion line transactions done through the meshing.EasyJet has experienced a successful online occupancy due to its e-market schema that aims to provide belittled cost no frills air transportation. Under the strong and charismatic leadership of Stellios, it has accomplished its goal by creating brand awareness, adoption of an efficiency-driven operating model and maintenance of a high aim guest satisfaction.EasyJet conducted its business using telephone in order to achieve the goal of under burn upting traditional political machinerie rs and increase savings by direct marketing. Business was subsequent on conducted over the internet aiming to cut polish up cost on it c on the whole centers, to book flying afford fitted and to compete even with busses by attracting pack who would gravel otherwise not travelled by air.EasyJet is doing this by using a website which is designed with high uspower and has an intuitive navigation allowing characterr to do troth and bribe tag end online. EasyJet also does advance on newspaper by test internet only promotion, giving discounts to consumers who purchase online only. This mix has helped in EasyJet promotion giving impressive vector sums by achieving tremendous sales results.The design, construction, usability and usefulness of its website fuck off enabled EasyJet to secure leverage over its competitors. The most cardinal fact is that EasyJet has incorporated tractability in its e-marketing strategy enabling it to anticipate modifications and further devel op its strategies to counter-act accordingly. The impact of EasyJet e-market strategy is evident on the growth that EasyJet has enjoyed through the yearsIn oecumenical the e-marketing strategy followed by EasyJet works for it. EasyJet is obviously aware of its surrounding environment, and appreciates the magnitude of closely monitoring and control of its strategy, so as to stay ahead in an environment that constantly evolves by keeping a close eye on any happening changes. Its evident that EasyJet takes hardly a(prenominal) risks and applies firm business principles man carefully exploring the market.IntroductionCompany Background, Financial Performance and Key workEasyJet is an airline business phoner based in Britain with its headquarters at London Luton Airport. It operates d domestic and international routes between 118 countries within Europe, West Asia and North Africa carrying more passengers than any other UK based airline. Its parent company EasyJet plc is listed in London threadbare Exchange. (Wikipedia, n.d).EasyJet Airline was founded in Britain by Stellios Haji-Ioannou, holder of masters degree in business and son of a Greek Cypriot shipping tycoon. He toss offed the company with 5 million loaned by his father after he was approached by Virgin Atlantics Greek franchisee to invest in a London-Athens route and decided to start his own airline instead. The company started with two leased airplanes operating in two routes London Luton to Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively and by and by Aberdeen.Stellios was inspired by principle of hurt elasticity utilise by Southwest Airlines based in the United States. Southwest air fares were so low that the airline attracted people who would not have otherwise traveled by air. It aimed to compete with busses as much as it did with other airline companies.In the beginning, EasyJet operated a paper airline contracting British World Airlines to fly and maintain its two 148 seats leased planes. Its base in London was at Low-rent Luton airport. After acquiring its first plane, EasyJet started competing against British Airways and KLM on the route to Amsterdam focusing on short-haul routes aiming to offer half of its competitors fare. Stellios later on capitalized on the Swiss connection buying 40% stake in a failing charter airline TEA Switzerland.It is believed that, in the beginning EasyJet spent all its revenue on advertising, offering cheap air fares. A specific example of billboards declaring a fare of 29 for London-Scotland route which was one-tenth the scathe attentiond by British Airways. Advertisements on TV directed customers to short travel agents and directly call the company reservation number which was also painted on all EasyJet planes. Direct selling was the strategy from start and later the Internet became EasyJets preferred booking media.Dress code for its employees was jeans and orange sweatshirts which reflected a free-and-easy yet fast-paced attitude. Only pi lots were allowed to wear neck ties. Organization purification of EasyJet was described as brutally transparent, allowing employees in all paperless offices to share all types of learning except payroll, by scanning all its documents into a computer brass accessible to all employees.The company is lean on services having no in-flight catering, charging for snacks and soft drinks and having no cancellations or refunds option. The three keys to EasyJet strategy were Simplification, Frugality and Friendliness with a motto of Easy come, easy go. Some passengers were apprehensive of low-rate airlines flexile respectablety, EasyJet had to change tactic in advertising by explaining why it was possible to reduce fares without compromising safety. EasyJet stimulated traffic in all the markets it entered by introducing price competition to a market that was previously driven by free offers such(prenominal) as frequent flier miles. This enabled EasyJet to turn a profit of 2 million in th e year 1997.In 2000 fiscal year, EasyJet declared a profit of $33 million and floated a quarter of the companys stock on the London Stock Exchange with shares offered exclusively to institutional investors, raising 190 million which was apply to purchase 32 new Boeing 737 airplanes. After it merged with Go Fly in August 2002, it became one of Europes biggest and leading low cost airlines. (Business Essays, n.d)Since its establishment in mid 1990s, EasyJet has enjoyed a rapid expansion growing through a combination of mergers, acquisitions and base openings brought nearly by demand of low-cost air travel by consumers. It now boasts a fleet of over 180 aircrafts with 20 bases across Europe and is ranked as the second largest low-cost carrier in Europe having carried 45.2 million passengers in 2009. (Wikipedia, n.d).EasyJet has had its fare share of forkal battles, the most popular one being with British Airways. It has also faced criticism in Germany for not observing the European Union law on compensation and on environmental issues due to its advertisement that EasyJet aircrafts made 22% less emission compared to its competitors.Services offered by EasyJet include real eon on-line booking, telephone booking for 3 months before flight bookings, in-flight magazines containing last guides, holiday and accommodation products, car rentals, airport parking, travel insurance and on-board sales of fragrances, cosmetics etc.Situation AnalysisA business does not operate in isolation. Business reactions and decisions depend on what happens on its environment. The factors happening outside an organization are known as foreign factors or determines. The external factors partake main internal operations and the objective lensives and strategies of the organization. It is therefore important to identify factors that might in turn affect a number of vital variables that are likely to influence the organizations supply and demand levels and operation be (Kotter Schl esinger, 1991 Johnson Scholes, 1993).The strategy of EasyJet is to offer low cost, no-frills air transportation. This strategy has enabled EasyJet to prosper. It is however, important to continually strive to satisfy customer regards and stay in a competitive position by evaluating market trends and situation. This calls up the need to do situational analysis which involves the studying of important business elements such as competitors, customers, be, climate (external environment), collaborators and the company itself. Conducting a situational analysis for a company provides the knowledge and context for planning by describing the companys competitive position, financial and operating conditions and the general state of the companys internal and external affairs. To accomplish this methods such as organize and cuss are used.PEST AnalysisPEST stands for Political, Economical, Social and Technological. PEST analysis is a framework used to categorize environmental issues that in fluences an organization Politically, Economically, Socially and Technologically.Papers4you.com (n.d) quoting Kotler (1998) and Porter (1985) states thatKotler (1998) claims that PEST analysis is a useful strategic tool for understanding market growth or decline, business position, potential and direction for operations. The headings of PEST are a framework of reviewing a situation, and can in addition to SWOT and Porters Five Forces models, be applied by companies to review a strategic directions, including marketing suggestion. The use of PEST analysis can be seen effective for business and strategic planning, market planning, business and product information and research reports. PEST also ensures that companys functioning is aligned positively with the powerful forces of change that are affecting business environment (Porter, 1985). PEST is useful when a company decides to enter its business operations into new markets and new countries. The use of PEST, in this case, helps t o break free of unconscious assumptions, and help to in effect adapt to the realities of the new environment. (papers4you.com, n.d)PEST analysis is therefore useful tool for understanding and determining the market growth or decline of an organization, the position as well as the potential and direction of a business. PEST analysis for EasyJet shows the followingPoliticalThe change of government or policy may influence the company profile as new regulations are introduced.EasyJet has been involved in various legal disputes a good example is when Germany criticized EasyJet for not observing the European Union law on compensation.Political changes in the countries where EasyJet has routes. EasyJet operates in different countries across Europe changes in these countries may affect its operations.Local government councils object to noise and prohibit building of new runways.Governments call foring to promote tourism in their countries may welcome and act in the favor of EasyJet.Differe nt taxes that are charged in different countries for fuel, landing, airport tax etc.Changes in employment laws, trade restrictions and tariffs has impacts on EasyJet business operations for example in April 2000, EasyJet had to instal a campaign to stop Barclays from increasing landing fees by 300%.EconomicEconomic recession where few countries economy might grow and some might collapse.Uncertainty due to the cost fluctuation of energy and fuel.Business involves having loans change of interest rates and foreign exchange rates may affect EasyJet long term loans.There has been unrest in consumers attitude due to the September 11th attacks which caused a significant decrease in the confidence of airline travelers.SocialFlying with EasyJet may attract companies with employees doing frequent business trip since EasyJet do not offer in-flight luxuries thus less cost to companies.Stability in economy and expansion of tourism content many people want to fly away for holidays.Low cost, no frills attracts wider demographic of consumers including people who would have otherwise not think of travelling by air.Outbreak of contagious diseases such as the bird flu, SARS may cause decrease of travelers.Safety quantity applied while on air and on the ground conveys a positive image of the company thus many people feel safe to travel with EasyJet planes.The friendliness and efficiency of EasyJet employees make customers to always want to travel by EasyJet.The growth of population means more travelers and people in a certain life stage have more disposable income to spend.EasyJet runs an environmental friendly business depending entirely on the internet running paperless operations which means less waste. This gives it a positive outlook from a world that is so environmental conscious.TechnologicalThe rate at which technology changes has favored EasyJet by qualification it possible to conduct paperless operations therefore reducing operation costs. IT technology is availabl e in competitive price thus enabling EasyJet to design a system that can be remotely accessed by all its employees.The growth in technology also ensures the availability of spares and maintenance services to its fleet of airplanes. applied science has become cheaper it is cost effective in the running of the company but at the same time the entries to barrier are lower for competitors to join in.SWOT AnalysisSWOT is an important part of strategic planning that involves a scan of internal and external organization environment. SWOT analysis provides helpful information for fitting organizations capabilities and resources to the competitive environment it operates in. SWOT analysis is used to determine the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of an organization.StrengthsEasyJet is under the strong and charismatic leadership of Stellios who possesses great entrepreneurial vision, is adaptable to change and is able to identify business opportunitiesEasyJet is original and ha s very effective promotional strategies.EasyJet is serving many of the leading city destinations across Europe and is leading as provider of low bud build and no added costs air travel.It is a well known, respected and recognized as the leading brand name in travel industry in UK.Has a low running cost due to the use of internet giving its customers the benefit of paying for local calls.EasyJet is slowly recognizable and distinguishable from their competitors due to the high distinctive corporate colors on all of its aircraft.EasyJet has diversified into other market such as car rental and internet cafes making life easy for their customers by being served by same company when requiring these services.Has an excellent customer service for example EasyJet offers refunds for flights that have been delayed for 4 hours or more.It operates an efficient and fast service with an average turnaround time of 30 minutes or below thus is able to maintain a hassle free and reliable service to i ts passengers.It has a very user friendly website showing fully the price breakdown kindly organization for passenger planned trips. Divulging the full breakdown price plan prevents any hidden charges to customers when confirming their booking.It has a sophisticated system that offers online promotion alerts by email to existing customers.WeaknessesEasyJet relies so much on computers for booking and information storage which could be risky.EasyJet flies exclusively within Europe.EasyJet does not offer free in-flight victuals services.The extreme competitiveness of the domestic air travel industry can restrict and shape pricing policies on some of EasyJets less profitable routes. EasyJet has to charge low rates even on these routes to compete with their competitors which are Jet, BMI Baby, Ryan Air and other smaller independent companies.OpportunitiesPossible opening of other routes to major cities in Europe such as from Dublin to UK and new links into business flyers to and from UK.Restructured versions of the fly on the wall documentaries would provide the EasyJet brand with more coverage and publicity. religious offering free in-flight refreshments would be a bonus and would increase comfort to EasyJet customers.ThreatsThreat of substitution where travelers travelling as a convention might choose other means to save on travelling expenses.Other airlines flying the same routes compete fiercely on price forcing pressure on margin on popular flights and time slots.External market forces such as the rise of price of oil can have major impact on running costs posing significant pressure on the profit of less popular routes and time slots.Day to day operations of EasyJet can be importantly affected by pressure from unions and employee relations committees, strikes have proved to be costly to the company and its image.Economic recession may decrease the number of casual and business travelers.E- merchandise StrategyTo fully understand what e-marketing involves , it is worthwhile to revisit the original definition of marketing before it was prefixed by e. Nowsell.com, (n.d) quotes cim.co.uk definition of marketing as followsMarketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably (nowsell.com, n.d)The definition accentuates the focus of marketing on the customer, while implying the need to link other business operations to achieve the required profitability.E-marketing is therefore defined as achieving marketing objectives through the use of electronic communication technology which includes internet, eBooks, e-mail, databases, wireless mobile phones and digital television.(nowsell.com, n.d). The internet, as noted by Smith and Chaffey (2001) can be used to support the aims mentioned in the definition i.e. identifying, anticipating and satisfying as followsIdentifying use the internet for market research to find out customer needs.Anticipating the internet provides an a dditional channel for customers to access information and makes purchases. Understanding this demand is basis to governing resource diffusion to e-marketing.Satisfying an important success factor in e-marketing is accomplishing customer satisfaction through electronic channel by making sure that the site performs adequately and is easy to use.Planning is essential in order to succeed in e-marketing. A successful e-marketing plan relies on traditional disciplines and planning techniques that is adapted for the digital media environment and mixed with digital marketing communication techniques. SOSTAC is a generic framework used for e-marketing planning. SOSTAC stands forS Situational analysis (where are we now)O Objectives (where do we want to go)S Strategy (how do we get there)T Tactics (the details of strategy)A Action (or implementation)C Control (evaluation, measurement)The Situational analysis above has determine the reliable position of EasyJet using SWOT and PEST met hods. The analysis shows EasyJet holds a strong position and has gained a competitive advantage due to the use of technology internet in particular in conducting its business operations.The objective of EasyJet is to increase online revenue, minimize cost and retain their customers. EasyJet has accomplished this by creation of brand awareness, adoption of an efficiency-driven operating model and maintenance of a high level customer satisfaction.Strategy is the process of developing options to achieve a desired outcome. E-marketing strategy therefore consists of go taken and procedure followed for marketing a brand through the website. (buzzle.com, n.d). The important aspect in any e-marketing strategy is the company website which needs to be the right way formatted and designed, so as to give a good impression and attract users and thus increase sales.EasyJet uses internet to meet its objectives. EasyJet has a comprehensive website with good usability and structure that presents EasyJet services without the use of redundant graphics and advertisement which usually distracts website visitors. EasyJet went online because of the need to reduce cost. EasyJet aimed at making flying affordable and urged travelers to deal direct and cut out travel agents. An overview of EasyJet lists the following strategiesReduction and distribution of costs by online booking.No tickets during travel, just an e-mail with the booking reference is adequate to board the plane. This reduces tasks and costs associated with issuing, distributing, processing and reconciling tickets.Paperless operations making the internet useful in other aspects of the business such as administration and management.EasyJet URL is printed alongside all its planes. The company aimed to scale down its call centers operations by selling most of the tickets online. By putting the company URL everywhere, it increased the use of the website and this helped EasyJet get more customers thus making EasyJet flight s prices cheaper.EasyJet also uses the website as an aggressive tool. A good example is the competition to predict BA losses on Go enticing visitors with prizes. EasyJet also had earlier on used a TV series to promote itself in every household in the UK.The value proposition and differential advantage of this strategy can be seen on the benefits offered to customers as well as cost cutting experience by EasyJet. EasyJet operates cheaply making it possible to give its customers reliable, convenient and great value for money service.The EasyJet market mix (i.e. the 4ps product, price, placement and promotion) can easily be evaluated at the structure of its website. EasyJet has identified its website audience as those on-line visitors living in Europe requiring cheap, comfortable and comprehensive real time travel without needing to go through travel agents. For this, EasyJet offers low cost, no frills flights and other services such as car rentals and accommodation (product) at reduce d online price with no hidden-added cost (transparency) showing fully the price breakdown structure (price), that can be purchased direct (disintermediation) online without the need to go through third party travel agents (placement), letting travelers know where to buy ticket by advertising on TV, newspapers, EasyJet planes and through e-mails (promotion).The website has all the required information readily available in all dominant languages of the continent and is sectioned under different tabs of accommodation, travel insurance, car rentals, flight bookings and airport related transport to enable users to go directly to the service they require. Moderate use of text eradicates wastage of time yet communicates accurate message to website visitors to guide them through various links based on logical visitors usage. It also has copious information on from each one page to support the need of visitors without abstract marketing banners to distract real buyers. EasyJet website giv es attention on usability and reliability of information rather than visibility and colorful boasting alone it however does not lack color. Orange color has consistently been used throughout the website helping clients to easily associate the website with the airline. EasyJet maintains a website that can be considered an ideal re-intermediation where service provider is in direct contact with the consumers via an electronic medium (Internet). This reduces cost to both consumer and service provider and creates business value. (businessteacher.com, n.d)ImplementationThe implementation of EasyJet e-marketing strategy has been achieved on the companys website. The EasyJet website has been designed to offer high usability to visitor and is simpler to use compared to some of its competitors. It is simply designed, with an intuitive navigation allowing users to move from page to page without the need to go via home page. It has high functionality and is without excess baggage. It was cre ated with the intention not to tire the visitor with redundant graphics and advertisements which would distract its visitors and make them walk away from the website. It employs contribute use of text eliminating time wastage while conveying accurate message to guide users through various links. Each page on the website consist enough required information without abstract marketing banners to sidetrack real buyers. For example if a user wants to book a flight, he would enter the date of travel, destination and check flight availability then move on to make booking or purchase.How the managements creates new core and extended value for customersThe purpose of lay up an on-line business is to ensure growth, efficiency, competitive advantage and leverage over competitors.(businessteacher.com, n.d). Using the internet, EasyJet has been able to reduce running cost and to cut down its supply chain by removing intermediaries and dealing direct with customers enabling it to sell almost 90 % of its flight over the internet. EasyJet website targets business and leisure travelers who are shrewd on saving time and money and do not want to deal with third party intermediaries, providing them with easy access to booking, flight scheduling, transportation and accommodation. Facilities such as choice of airport lounges or parking are important in completing the process of travel booking, and having this on the website EasyJet extends value for customer.They also break consumer e-mail queries and use these to formulate services according to customer needs. Operating in this way reduces cost and helps the company, by use of technology mediation, to sell its product and services and create business value.There are exclusive promotions for on line booking customers and all customers who book online receive discount for each leg of the journey example EasyJet was able to reduce 1 for people who booked online. Online customers also get the benefit of paying the price of local ca ll. EasyJet make it a point to put all cheap flights online and customers can search flights by fair and view flights that are available over two weeks. Customers can make flight transfers, change names, reschedule flight bookings, and request duplicate confirmation by e-mail and check in on-line. There is also an option of stronghold boarding which enables the passenger to board the flight before other passengers.They also have flight promotions which intend to avoid customers who would fly with EasyJet. These promotions are advertised few minutes before the flight time aiming to get rid of empty seats.Balancing online and offline promotion methodsThe management balances online and offline promotion by using newspapers to advertise about new online promotions and offers by calling or e-mailing journalists and referring them to the website. EasyJet does this by putting internet-only promotions in newspaper encouraging travelers to purchase their ticket online. The guess BA Go losin gs and the section entitled Battle with Swissair were advertised on newspaper to lure more people to the website.Impact of the implementation of the strategy on business performanceThe implementation of the strategy has an impact on the business performance because the site is well integrated into EasyJets existing systems and business process. A good example is the ability to feed press release into the site through electronic and new destination appearing automatically once fed into the companys information system. Also the posture of the website was proved when the dedicated phone number on the site hit six months target within six weeks. The log file recorded 8 minutes average time spent on the website per person and almost each caller made a purchase. The website proved that EasyJet phone operators were busy selling tickets rather than answering questions over the phone.Legal and Ethical issuesThe use of Internet in e-commerce has brought up invasive legal and ethical issues. This is partly due to its fundamental features and the way it has been exploited by businesses disrupting existing social and business relationships and understanding.EasyJet like many other businesses has benefited from commercial development of the internet but this commercial development demand a price from individuals. EasyJet gathers and processes customer information and uses this information for marketing by sending e-mails. This is regarded as intrusion of solitude because once a customer registers in the EasyJet website, then they will be receiving constant emails which can be really annoying. This has resulted to consumer use of spam guard (junk mail filters) to stop receiving unsolicited emails.Sherrington (2009, p 19) emphasizes that the status of a business is not respected it is earned (Sherrington, 2009, p 19). It is not good for a business to burst into peoples inboxes or profiles on social networks such as Facebook, advertising their brands just because it has spot ted a potential customer. Consumers regard this as abuse and violation of their privacy and some can punish the business by never purchasing their product or service. It is important in e-marketing to demonstrate integrity, honesty, respect and a willingness to share and apply the golden direct of treating consumers as you would like to be treated. This can be accomplished by letting consumers know before their information is gathered, give consumer the opportunity to agree or deny secondary usage of their information, give consumer access and the right to review personal data, store accurate consumer information and have in place a clear means by which consumer can address the situation if any of their right is violated.The use of cookies, spyware and other techniques enables tracking of consumers online behaviors, recording searches and sites visited by individuals. This helps business such as EasyJet in profiling customers and targeting them for specific marketing campaigns. Th e law and consumers regards this as intrusion of privacy (like stalking in the physical world). As a result there are a number of privacy advocacy groups on the web that monitor developments in privacy.(Laudon Traver, 2008, pg 500).The use of internet excludes a certain group of people who do not make use of internet. A good example is older people who do not seem to grasp the use of computers. EasyJet are likely not to have customers from this group of people.The use of internet sometimes violates copyright laws where intellectual properties such as trademarks of others are used without consent. EasyJet went through a legal battle with British airways for using a slogan that resembles that of BA. EasyJet called itself The webs favorite airline mimicking the BA slogan The worlds favorite airline.ConclusionThis report mirrors EasyJet strategy for its online business model. In wide-ranging EasyJet strategy works well for the company. EasyJet is aware of its business environment and r ealize the importance of monitoring it. Through the use of internet, EasyJet succeeded to be among the top low cost, no frills airline companies in the UK. The design, structure, usability and usefulness of its website have enabled EasyJet to secure leverage over its competitors. The most important fact is that EasyJet has incorporated flexibility in its e-marketing strategy enabling it to anticipate changes and further develop its strategies to counter-act according

The Role That Perception Plays Psychology Essay

The Role That Perception Plays Psychology EssayTo a great extent, our doings is fashioned by our informations, soulalities, emotions and experiences. In this essay, the role that detection plays in affecting the way that we see the world and its impact on our work related behaviors ordain be examined. Perception is the knocked come out of the closet(p)growth by which individuals select, organize, and interpret their sensory(prenominal) impressions in order to give meaning to their environment (Ivancevich, Konopaske, Matteson). Perception and reality in time canful be two entirely different things and in summation to this, the perceptions of two or several different people pull up stakes very r arely be the like even when reflecting back on the same disaster or event. It can therefore be argued that the accuracy of ones interpretation of a given situation will determine the effectiveness of their response to it and essentially, the outcome. This is why perception is an essential factor to be considered when examining Organizational Behavior.More often than not a passenger vehicle is rated differently by his or her subordinates. The importance of taking perception into consideration in an organization cannot be overlooked by the managers themselves. The way a manger perceives an employee within an organization should not be influenced by their tiptop or position as with different situations for which perceptions feature to be primarily establish as closely as possible on solid facts. The beneath table depicts significant mean differences of perception between supervisors and their subordinates on a scale from 1-5.On these grounds, three distinct factors that contribute to perceptual differences and the perceptual process among people at work boot outThe Perceiver (Factors of influence past experiences, needs or motives, soulality, values and attitudes).The Situation or Setting (Factors of influence physical, social, and organizational).The comprehend or Object/Target (Factors of influence characteristics of the perceived person, object, or event, such as contrast, intensity, figure/ground separation, size, motion, and repetition or novelty).It must not til now be overlooked that although these factors help in shaping the perception of individuals, they may in addition sometimes distort such perceptions. fig 2 (Kondalkar 2007, p.117)THE PERCEPTUAL exhibit in that location are several confronts that determine a subjects perception and reaction as a result of processing information these information processing stages are best depicted in the following figure.The information-processing stages are divided into information attention and selectionorganization of information information interpretation and information retrieval.Fig 3 (Schermerhorn,, Grant Osborn 2002, p.32)Our senses are repeatedly overloaded with too much information to process, unless our minds are selective in what to absorb and what to overlook we wo uld quickly ferment debilitated as a result of this overload of information. Much of this mental sieving is done consciously and the perceiver is full-aware that they are processing information. This function of the mind is referred to by Schermerhorn, Grant Osborn as selective screening.On the new(prenominal) hand, this selective screening process can take place sub-consciously without the awareness of the perceiver. When the mind is functioning analogous this, it is normally whilst performing a task such as walking and talking on ones mobile phone at the same time, in other words, walking devoid of consciously thinking of the act walking. The ability of the mind to slip out of this sub-conscious state is there in event of a non-routine occurrence, however if not done quickly enough an accident can occur.Despite selective screening taking place in the attention stage, it is still required for this information to be organized in such a way that it can be retrieved efficiently. Cognitive frameworks know as schemas help us earn this by acquiring knowledge through experience.A self schema is created by ones self awareness and is rooted around their appearance, behavior and face-to-faceity.A person schema refers to the way by which one melt d knowledges to categorize others based on prominent features normally regarding such demographic characteristics as gender, age,able-bodiedness, and racial and ethnic groupings this is normally referred to as stereotyping or prototyping. Once this stereotype is created it is then stored in the long term memory for future reference. Once formed a stereotype may be difficult to change and will tend to last a long time (Schermerhorn,, Grant Osborn). On this note it can be express that our tendency to create stereotypes can be attributed to our memories oversimplifying of polished information in order to prevent overloading.A script schema is the mental acquisition of the undeniable steps which need to be taken in ord er to complete a given task (based on experience), such as a manager running a meeting. Finally, person in situation schemas are combinational and are built around people (self and person schemas) and events (script schemas).As is made unornamented in the above figure, schemas have a powerful impact on the organizational and other stages of the perception process. Schemas are primarily automatic and sub-conscious responses that free up space in order to maximize ones mental capacity for controlled processing.From the moment that ones mind is drawn in by a stimulus and this information has been processed the next course of action is to expose the underlying reasons behind it. This is otherwise known as interpretation. This method of deduction applied the same situation by two different people will not necessarily lead to the same interpretation.To utilize information stored in ones memory it has to be retrieved. This is depicted by the retrieval step in the above figure. From time t o time all of us have difficulty with the recollection of stored information in our memories, to a greater extent precisely, our memories tend to crumble and only provide us with partial bits of the information we are attempting to recall. Schemas play an important role in this as they make it difficult for us to remember traits or characteristics not relatable to ourselves.PERCEPTUAL DISTORTIONSIt should now be clear that varying view bakshishs in perception result in different people seeing different things and consequently attaching different meanings to the same stimuli. When examining the dynamic between the perceiver and the other subject, the accuracy of interpersonal perception and judgments made can be influenced by factors such as the nature of the relationship between the two parties, the order and amount of information received by the perceiver and the overall extent of interaction. There are five main features that can lead to perceptual problemsStereotypingStereotypin g is the tendency that people have to attach positive or negative labels on others based around their own personalized process of categorization and perceived similarities. This perception is normally centered on what is expected, in this respect, by the perceiver. As mentioned earlier on, stereotyping or prototyping is the minds way of simplifying its intake of stimuli in order to prevent overloading itself (a form of selective screening). The perceiver will tend to place the subject into a preconceived group in which they feel that they best fit. Therefore questionable pre-judgments are formed. Despite the fact that this process condenses information stored in the memory, some extremely negative implications arise which can lead to situations of bigotry or bias. At the workplace, stereotyping can have negative effects on an employee as a negative preconception will normally have the capability to stick and as a result stigmatize and hinder the subjects career.The Halo EffectThe Ha lo Effect occurs when one wizard characteristic of a person or situation is used by the perceiver to create an overall image or impression. This effect triggers the shutting out of any other relevant characteristics. A specific negative impact of The Halo Effect is what Mullins refers to as perceptual blindness, more specifically this is when rash judgments are made and other important stimuli are simply overlooked as a result of utilizing only what is readily available at that instance.Another phenomenon known as the Rusty Halo Effect exists this is where general judgments are made on what can be justified and isolated incidents and a person subjected to this can be wrongfully branded as something that they are not.Perceptual DefensePerceptual Defense is a mechanism that surfaces when someone unwittingly or knowingly filters out specific parameters from a given situation that they may find threatening or intimidating. This inadvertently leads to people selectively striking from th eir minds information that does not support their opinions or points if view.ProjectionPerception is distorted by feelings and emotions. Projection can result from people overemphasizing undesirable traits that they see in others, whilst at the same time refuse to see such traits in themselves. Projection also implies attributing or projecting ones own feelings, motives or characteristics to other people (Mullins). This implies that people will tend to be more favorable towards others who seem to be more relatable to them in terms of character, emotional state or momentary state of mind. harmonise to Freud, projection is a means by which we protect ourselves from acknowledging that we possess undesirable traits and assign them in exaggerated amounts to other people.The Self Fulfilling ProphecyThis phenomenon arises when a person or situation is hijacked by the misconception of the perceiver or perceivers and consequently ends up becoming that very delusion. This can be attributed to peoples strong desire to validate their own perceptions whilst disregarding the actual reality of the situation.IMPRESSION MANAGEMENTIn certain situations, we all attempt to depict our attitudes, personality and competence to others by putting feature emphasis on the way that we physically present ourselves. A job interview is a common example of this which is referred to as impression management. In the forming of an impression, more emphasis is put on some bits of information than others. It has been proven through research that truly first impressions count, this is formally known as the primacy effect. Interestingly enough, it has also been proven that a negative impression is less likely to change than a positive one.DISTORTION MANAGEMENTIn a healthy work environment, the collective perceptual process, at some level should be regulated or supervised. This responsibility, known as distortion management, falls to the managers and supervisors of an organization. A manager who s uccessfully practices distortion management should willfully balance conscious and sub-conscious (automatic and controlled) information processing at the attention and selection stage (refer to Fig 3). Responsibilities of theirs such as cognitive process assessment and clear communication require conscious information processing which will potentially be a hindrance to other job responsibilities. in concert with this, managers should strive toward seeking out disconfirming information (concerning previous deductions that they have reached in assessing a subordinate or situation) that will help level out their typical perception of information, thereby avoiding bias.Particular care has to be taken when considering the range of schemas and stereotypes at the information organizing stage. A manager should make a point to expand on his/her schemas and even consider replacing them all together with more precise or wholesome ones. Additionally they should acknowledge that the retrieval s tage of the memory can be imprecise. With this in mind a manager should never rely too much on schemas and sensitivity toward perceptual distortions should be ever-present.ATTRIBUTION THEORYThe attribution theory focuses on how people attempt to understand the causes of a certain event, assess responsibility for the outcomes of the event and evaluate the personal qualities of the people involved in the event.There are internal and outer attributions that can be linked to causes of behavior. Internal causes are within the control of the individual, whereas external causes are variables within a persons environment. There are several factors that can influence internal and external attributions these includeDistinctiveness consistency of a persons behavior across situations.Consensus likelihood of others responding in a similar way.Consistency whether an individual responds the same way across time.In addition to these three influences, two errors have an impact on internal versus ex ternal determinationThe fundamental attribution error This applies to the evaluation of someone elses behavior whereby success is attributed to situational factors and failure to personal factors.The self-serving bias This applies to the evaluation of ones own behavior, where success is attributed to personal factors and failure to situational factors.CONCLUSIONAll problems encountered throughout the course of this paper point directly toward the massive pointedness of bias which lurks within the perceptual process. Both personally and professionally, people strive to exist in a world ruled by certainty, more specifically their own certainty and it is our individual perceptual systems that oversee this. The underlying absurdity behind all of this is that it is this very idea that is our downfall as this system is run down with errors and bias at the same time. And although we are conscious of this and attempt to rectify these glitches, we are essentially working against our percep tual system in its natural state.

Intelligent Satire in Voltaires Candide Essay -- Candide essays

Intelligent Satire in Candide In the story Candide, Voltaire uses the experiences of the character Candide and parley between characters to dispute the theory by other philosophers that Everything is for the best in this best of all practicable worlds (Voltaire). Voltaire believed that the society that he lived in had many flaws, flaws which atomic number 18 illustrated throughout the story. Voltaire uses satire to take aim at the military, religion, and societies emphasis of physical beauty, to illustrate that we do not live in the best of all possible worlds. One institution that Voltaire takes aim at in Candide is the institution of the military. Voltaire attacks of the military using dialogue between Candide and Martin as they speak during their passage along the shores of England. On their journey they witness the execution of an admiral in the English army. Martin explains to Candide that this admiral was executed for not killing enough people in a participation with a rival French admiral. With this statement, Voltaire illustrates that the military has lost its sense of duty, becoming a machine of brutality instead of an institution to protect the lives of citizens. The manner in which the execution is carried out further illustrates the flaws within this particular society. Instead of secretly executing the admiral, the military made the admirals execution a ceremony for the public. With this chapter of Candide, Voltaire creates a sarcastic and brutal view of the not only the military, but also of the citizens of England who come to watch. In most societies, citizens are appalled by such behavior, but in this instance the citizens are accepting of these actions and even condone the murder. All of these points are illu... ...splay what he considers to be the best of all possible worlds. In the story of Candides set off to the land of Eldorado, Voltaire creates his view of a perfect society, one in which people are kind to one another, money an d jewels have no real appreciate to be exploited, and where government is honest. This section of Candide is different from all others, essentially the only positive section of Candides travels. After analyzing the work, it seems as if the story was not written as a fictional work, but rather a commentary on the state of society throughout Europe. Works Cited and Consulted Frautschi, R.L. Barrons Simplified Approach to Voltaire Candide. New York Barrons educational Series, Inc., 1968. Lowers, James K, ed. Cliff Notes on Voltaires Candide. Lincoln Cliff Notes, Inc. 1995. Voltaire. Candide. New York Viking Publishers, 1998.

The Attitudes to the First World War in Poetry :: Poetry World War Poems Poets Essays

The Attitudes to the First World struggle in PoetryCompare and contrast the attitudes to the First World War in thepoetry you have read. Focus in detail on four poems, two of whichshould be by the same author.When the war started the general scent of the position was that thewar was great and would be over before Christmas. This is evident inmuch of the early war poetry. As the war progressed, however, peoplebegan to flavor disillusion and eventually had an overwhelming whimseyof futility in that so many lives were wasted for such little gain.The people back home were left feeling change taste as they gained knowledgeabout the suffering these young men had endured. The poetry I am goingto analyse The spend by Rupert Brooke, play by Jessie Pope,Dulce et Decorum est and Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owenreflects these changing views.Rupert Brooke was born in 1887. He joined the Navy at the start of thewar, besides died in 1915 whilst going to take part in the Dardenelles campaign. In 1914, Brooke composed his poem The Soldier which is thefifth poem in a collection of cinque which displays the doughnut of war.As he saw little action in the Great War, Rupert Brooke was unaware ofthe terrible conditions in the trenches. This was because he neverfought on the battlefields and due(p) to this Brooke holds a much moreglorified view of war. Brooke describes his death in The Soldier. Hetalks about how he is not scared of dying describing the carriage in whichhe will rest in peace under an English heaven. Rupert Brooke seesEngland as idyllic and tranquil and talks about his write out for hismotherland. Brooke feels by fighting for England he is givingsomething back.Brooke uses many language techniques to portray his feelings. He usesrepetition of the word England to introduce his patriotism. He refers tothe English country as a female Gave once, her flowers to love, herways to roam This makes highly effective use of personification. Itshows Brookes rom antic view towards his country, making the readerfeel proud for his country as well. unearthly overtones such as evilshed away, eternal mind, blessed and English heaven are usedthroughout The Soldier to show purity and to portray the typicalviews of a Christian country.To make the poem calm and poetic, Brooke uses natural imagery such asair, river and flowers. The make of these manner of speaking make thereader feel happy and calm. Sibilance is used with Sights andsound. This soft sounding alliteration slows the pace which makes theThe Attitudes to the First World War in Poetry Poetry World War Poems Poets EssaysThe Attitudes to the First World War in PoetryCompare and contrast the attitudes to the First World War in thepoetry you have read. Focus in detail on four poems, two of whichshould be by the same author.When the war started the general feeling of the English was that thewar was great and would be over before Christmas. This is evident inmuch of the early war poetry. A s the war progressed, however, peoplebegan to feel disillusioned and eventually had an overwhelming feelingof futility in that so many lives were wasted for such little gain.The people back home were left feeling bitter as they gained knowledgeabout the suffering these young men had endured. The poetry I am goingto analyse The Soldier by Rupert Brooke, Cricket by Jessie Pope,Dulce et Decorum est and Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owenreflects these changing views.Rupert Brooke was born in 1887. He joined the Navy at the start of thewar, but died in 1915 whilst going to take part in the Dardenellescampaign. In 1914, Brooke composed his poem The Soldier which is thefifth poem in a collection of five which displays the glory of war.As he saw little action in the Great War, Rupert Brooke was unaware ofthe terrible conditions in the trenches. This was because he neverfought on the battlefields and due to this Brooke holds a much moreglorified view of war. Brooke describes his death i n The Soldier. Hetalks about how he is not scared of dying describing the way in whichhe will rest in peace under an English heaven. Rupert Brooke seesEngland as idyllic and tranquil and talks about his love for hismotherland. Brooke feels by fighting for England he is givingsomething back.Brooke uses many language techniques to portray his feelings. He usesrepetition of the word England to show his patriotism. He refers tothe English country as a female Gave once, her flowers to love, herways to roam This makes highly effective use of personification. Itshows Brookes romantic view towards his country, making the readerfeel proud for his country as well. Religious overtones such as evilshed away, eternal mind, blessed and English heaven are usedthroughout The Soldier to show purity and to portray the typicalviews of a Christian country.To make the poem calm and poetic, Brooke uses natural imagery such asair, river and flowers. The effects of these words make thereader feel happy and calm. Sibilance is used with Sights andsound. This soft sounding alliteration slows the pace which makes the

Public vs Private Education in Australia Essay -- essays papers

Public vs clannish nurtureal activity in Australia Every one in Australia wants the stovepipe pedagogics for the individual. The question is which one. Public or Private ? Education is one of the most important factors in determining what a person will manufacture as a member of Australias society. Because education is so important at that place are many questions that are asked for which is the better. The key terms for this topic are disposal School one administered by the subdivision of Education in each State/Territory Non-government School (private civilise) any school not administered by the Department of Eduaction, but including special schools administered by government governing other than the State/Territory Education Department School an educational institution which provides primary or subaltern education on a regular daily basis, or by radio or correspondence Over the recent decade there has been a enrolment drift in education from earthly conc ern schools to private schools. In the division 2001 this enrolment drift has continued. In 1980 there were 78% of completely students in man education, but last year there were less than 69%. There are a total of 2 248 275 students in public schools (ABS 12/02/2001). While Australia solitary(prenominal) has 69% of alone students in public education, the United States and the UK have 90% of all students in public education. Over the past decade there has been a increase in enrolments at private schools.There has been a steady increase of enrolments in private education. In 1980 there was only 22% and in 1990 there was 28%, and in the year 2000 there was almost 31% or 999 181 students in Australia attending a private school (ABS 12/02/2001). Year 12 guardianship rate across the board have had a continual increase. Year 12 retention rate the piece of full-time students of a given cohort assort who continue from the 1st year of secondary schooling to Year 12. The appar ent retention rate of secondary students from Year 10 to Year 12 remained at the same level as the previous year at 74.4%. In 1990 the equivalent rate was 66.5% (http//www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/ABS). The retention place for public and private schools has not been as even. In 1985 the apparent retention rates for public schools was around 40% while private schools was around 65%. In 1995 public schools retention rates was around 66% while private scho... ...which the public schools can find to be very frastrating. along with anything in Australia it has its positives and negatives. To project these positives and negatives refer to appendix three.To view the positives and negatives for private schools refer to appendix four. More students in Australia today are moving away from public education and into private education because private education is perceived to offer more job opportunities for the individual.Bibliography(2000),Queensland Teachers Journal,Protecting Public Ed ucation, 31 August 2000,p 6.Bagnall, D.(1999),The Bulletin,Values-added education, Sydney,AVP make Pty Ltd, 24 August 1999,pp 20-25.Commonwealth of Australia,(2001).Australian situation of Statistics,Education and Training, http//www.abs.gov.au/ (16 whitethorn 2001).Commonwealth of Australia,(2001).Australian Bureau of Statistics Book,Education and Training.Fordham, B.(2000),Ninemsn,The great debate public vs private schools, http//www.aca.ninemsn.com.au/stories/ 460.asp (1 May 2001).Gauci, J.(2000),Kemps bill rips off public education, http//www.greenleft.org.au/ certify/2000/429/429p9.htm (13 May 2001). Public vs Private Education in Australia Essay -- essays papersPublic vs Private Education in Australia Every one in Australia wants the best education for the individual. The question is which one. Public or Private ? Education is one of the most important factors in determining what a person will become as a member of Australias society. Because education is so important there are many questions that are asked for which is the better. The key terms for this topic are Government School one administered by the Department of Education in each State/Territory Non-government School (private school) any school not administered by the Department of Eduaction, but including special schools administered by government authorities other than the State/Territory Education Department School an educational institution which provides primary or secondary education on a full-time daily basis, or by radio or correspondence Over the past decade there has been a enrolment drift in education from public schools to private schools. In the year 2001 this enrolment drift has continued. In 1980 there were 78% of all students in public education, but last year there were less than 69%. There are a total of 2 248 275 students in public schools (ABS 12/02/2001). While Australia only has 69% of all students in public education, the United States and th e UK have 90% of all students in public education. Over the past decade there has been a increase in enrolments at private schools.There has been a steady increase of enrolments in private education. In 1980 there was only 22% and in 1990 there was 28%, and in the year 2000 there was around 31% or 999 181 students in Australia attending a private school (ABS 12/02/2001). Year 12 retention rates across the board have had a continual increase. Year 12 retention rate the percentage of full-time students of a given cohort group who continue from the 1st year of secondary schooling to Year 12. The apparent retention rate of secondary students from Year 10 to Year 12 remained at the same level as the previous year at 74.4%. In 1990 the equivalent rate was 66.5% (http//www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/ABS). The retention rates for public and private schools has not been as even. In 1985 the apparent retention rates for public schools was around 40% while private schools was around 65%. In 1995 public schools retention rates was around 66% while private scho... ...which the public schools can find to be very frastrating. Along with anything in Australia it has its positives and negatives. To view these positives and negatives refer to appendix three.To view the positives and negatives for private schools refer to appendix four. More students in Australia today are moving away from public education and into private education because private education is perceived to offer more job opportunities for the individual.Bibliography(2000),Queensland Teachers Journal,Protecting Public Education, 31 August 2000,p 6.Bagnall, D.(1999),The Bulletin,Values-added education, Sydney,AVP Publishing Pty Ltd, 24 August 1999,pp 20-25.Commonwealth of Australia,(2001).Australian Bureau of Statistics,Education and Training, http//www.abs.gov.au/ (16 May 2001).Commonwealth of Australia,(2001).Australian Bureau of Statistics Book,Education and Training.Fordham, B.(2000),Ninemsn,The gre at debate public vs private schools, http//www.aca.ninemsn.com.au/stories/ 460.asp (1 May 2001).Gauci, J.(2000),Kemps bill rips off public education, http//www.greenleft.org.au/back/2000/429/429p9.htm (13 May 2001).

Activity Based Costing Essay -- essays research papers

IntroductionActivity Based Costing (ABC) addresses internal operating(a) concerns and is an augmentation to the traditional personify instruction system. It is not a replacement for traditional accounting, but makes use of the source documents provided from standard job costing systems. ABC looks at a business units events as cost number one woods and assigns all company resources and accumulated cost against those events in a time-phased sequence. Revenue tracking provides management with a different point of view on the profitability of ingatherings and services, providing insight into pricing. Middle management and technical do organizations are involved in the plication item reporting provided within the ABC system, enabling management to achieve more responsibility of reported information throughout all levels of the organization. ABC is world ostensible by the accounting industry as the wave of the future and is gaining broad acceptance within larger organizations. This system is intended to provide performing entities and management alike. History of ABCActivity Based Costing (ABC) is an approach to costing that considers the resources consumed by activities in order to create and deliver a product or service. It evolved in the mid-1980s to improve the allocation of manufacturing overhead costs to products, but it soon became apparent that activity-based costing systems could be expanded to include non-manufacturing costs (Langfield-Smith, Thorne & Hilton, 2004). check of ABCWhereas the underlying assumption of a conventional costing system is simply that products cause costs, an activity based costing system assumes that cost objects (e.g. juice) creates the take on for activities (e.g. manufacturing), which in turn causes resources to be consumed (e.g. manufacturing time, outlet space, etc.) and causes costs. Cost objects are the reason for performing activities, and activities are the processes or procedures that cause work and create costs. ABC analyses costs from the perception of the how much a particular activity costs, and the amount of resources consumed by the end product of the activity. Using activity based costing differs from traditional cost accounting in that the focus is on the activities that are required to produce an end product, rather than assuming that the volume of the end product is the only driver of costs. A cost driver is ... ... operationsProblems with ABCWhile activity-based costing whitethorn yield more detailed product cost estimates, it must poke out a cost benefit test before being implemented. Activity-based costing requires a much more detailed breakdown of costs into activities that cause costs. This earth-closet be a complex task involving the teamwork of management, production, accounting, purchasing, marketing and many others. A company should implement ABC only if it thinks the benefit from improved management decisions ordain outweigh the cost of establishing and maintaining th e new cost system. Furthermore, there might be underestimation of the task of collecting activity driver data, and the implementation of this system may be considered a financial management which might cause insufficient commitment from operational managers.We should use activity-based costing if we find the benefits from the new system cash in ones chips its costs.REFERENCE1.Innes, J & Mitchell, F. (1991), Activity Based Cost Management?, CIMA2.Smith, K.L., Thorne, H., Hilton, R.W., (2004), Management Accounting an Australian perspective?, 3rd edition, McGraw Hill

Mother Night, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Harrison Bergeron :: Mother Night Essays

Government vs. Individual in Mother iniquity, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Harrison Bergeron Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has made important contributions tothe emergence of the twentieth century American novel. Hisinfluences are felt in modern social satire, as well asnontraditional science fiction. One understructure that is repeated inhis work is the common portrayal of government forces asdestructive to individuals to force characters to do evil in thename of good. Kurt V one(a)gut, Jr. was innate(p) November 11, 1922 inIndianapolis, Indiana, the son of an architect. He attendedCornell University in 1940, studying biochemistry, but soon quitbecause his grades were poor. He worked as a columnist for theCornell Daily fair weather until link the army in 1942. He was capturedby the Germans in 1944 and forced to work in a factory, where helived through the fire bombing of Dresden. This, and the felo-de-seof his l et in 1944, were the two about influential events inhis life. After the war he worked for the Chicago News Bureau andstudied anthropology. He has scripted umteen novels and one short chronicle collection. His most acclaimed work, Slaughterhouse-Five,is a twisted account of the Dresden bombing. He is still aliveand writing. His most recent published work, Timequake,appeared in the celestial latitude 1997 Playboy Magazine. Mother iniquity was Vonneguts third novel and one his fewworks that contains no elements of science fiction. Though thisnovel is not one of his most critically acclaimed, it serves asa prime example of Vonneguts skill as a black humorist andweaver of human absurdity. Mother Night is the story of Howard W. Campbell, Jr, Naziradio propagandist and American spy. The novel begins and ends inthe same spot a new jail in old capital of Israel (Mother Night p.Mother Night, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Harrison Bergeron Mother Night EssaysGovernment vs. Individual in Mother Night, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Harrison Bergeron Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has made important contributions tothe development of the 20th century American novel. Hisinfluences are felt in modern social satire, as well asnontraditional science fiction. One theme that is recurrent inhis work is the common portrayal of government forces asdestructive to individuals to force characters to do evil in thename of good. Kurt Vonegut, Jr. was born November 11, 1922 inIndianapolis, Indiana, the son of an architect. He attendedCornell University in 1940, studying biochemistry, but soon quitbecause his grades were poor. He worked as a columnist for theCornell Daily Sun until joining the army in 1942. He was capturedby the Germans in 1944 and forced to work in a factory, where helived through the fire bombing of Dresden. This, and the suicideof his mother i n 1944, were the two most influential events inhis life. After the war he worked for the Chicago News Bureau andstudied anthropology. He has written many novels and one shortstory collection. His most acclaimed work, Slaughterhouse-Five,is a twisted account of the Dresden bombing. He is still aliveand writing. His most recent published work, Timequake,appeared in the December 1997 Playboy Magazine. Mother Night was Vonneguts third novel and one his fewworks that contains no elements of science fiction. Though thisnovel is not one of his most critically acclaimed, it serves asa prime example of Vonneguts skill as a black humorist andweaver of human absurdity. Mother Night is the story of Howard W. Campbell, Jr, Naziradio propagandist and American spy. The novel begins and ends inthe same spot a new jail in old Jerusalem (Mother Night p.