Speech - Business and Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Speech - Business and Economy - Essay Example Larger companies with established brands could use outsourced products rather than manufacturing them and could sell the products with the help of advertising and branding efforts. Companies that create more brands offer more values to the customers. Next, let us turn our attention to branding. Branding is a process of value creation among the various stakeholders groups. It helps an organisation to keep its employees motivated and associated, it helps vendors and partners to create a positive image and establish relationship and most importantly it helps to create a positive image among the target consumer groups in order to motivate them for their purchasing and repeat purchasing decisions. It has affected the economies in various ways. The small companies and manufacturers are largely impacted by the branding efforts of large companies. The purchase decisions of consumers are largely impacted by branding. Companies take their branding decisions very seriously as any wrong decision may kill the brand. Many a time when any crisis comes many prestigious companies have adopted different strategies to maintain their brand name. For instance, Johnson and Johnson responded to depreciation in its product-tampering crisis by recalling and replacing its products, which turns around the situation.

The Power of Nonviolence Essay Example for Free

The Power of Nonviolence Essay â€Å"We heard that the city had decided to allow the police officials to stand by and allow the hoodlum element to come in and attack us†. The story â€Å"The Power of Nonviolence† by John Lewis takes place in the Southern United States during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. An important theme revealed in â€Å"The Power of Nonviolence† is life can be hard but you should always keep going that is what gets you were you are. Three ways that this theme is revealed are, John Lewis and other blacks being discriminated against, John and his friends doing the sit-ins, and Nashville desegregating the lunch counters. The first way the theme is revealed is by John Lewis and other blacks being discriminated against. In the Southern States black people were discriminated against and were not allowed to eat or watch movies at the same places as white people because they were â€Å"colored†. Because of their skin they were denied the same things as white people. As shown in this quote â€Å"You bought your ticket at the same window that the white people did, but they could sit downstairs, and you had to go upstairs.† This quote supports the theme because it shows how hard life is on them and how they go on. The second way the theme is revealed is by John and his friends doing the sit-ins. Many people would go into the segregated places that served food and sit at the counters and wait to be served. Some times they wouldn’t get served at all other times they would get attacked, but they refused to fight back violently. As seen in this quote â€Å"They would sit down in a very orderly, peaceful, nonviolent fashion and wait to be served.† This quote supports the theme because they won’t back down and kept going on through hard times. The final way the theme is revealed is by Nashville desegregating the lunch counters. After months of the peaceful non violent sit-ins Nashville became the first city to desegregate its lunch counters and let blacks eat there too. As shown in this quote â€Å"And so Nashville became the first major city in the south to desegregate its downtown lunch counters and restaurants. That was the power of non violence†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this final quote reinforces the theme by showing that they got were they wanted to because they kept going on through hard times. The theme revealed in â€Å"The Power of Nonviolence† is life can be hard but you should always keep going that is what gets you were you are. Three ways that this theme was revealed were, discrimination all over the southern states, students participating in lunch counter sit-ins, and Nashville desegregating its lunch counters. Though out the story I was affected deeply by the careless discrimination and realized how horrible that it is and it let me see the light and realize what I was doing wrong and what I can do to correct it and fix the problems of discrimination.

Effective Leadership Styles of School Principles

Effective Leadership Styles of School Principles In order to be effective, schools require skilled leaders. The role of the principal is the key to a schools ability to meet the needs of the teacher it serves. However, the impact and the influence a principal has on teacher commitment is not a simple relationship. Principals in todays schools require the person in the position to carry out a countless number of functions as well act in a variety of different roles. As DeLucca, et al. (1997) found, the literature on educational leadership clearly emphasizes that the principal is a highly complex and demanding role (p. 105). Fullan (1991) described the changing role of the principals over the past two decades as becoming dramatically more complex (p. 144). The study of transformational leadership in the context of principals school leadership is relatively new. Building upon the work of Burns (1978), Bass (1985), and Bass and Avolio (1994), Leithwood (1994) developed a transformational model of school leadership. Leithwood states that transformational leadership skills are necessary skills for principals if they are to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Recent studies completed by various scholars in the field have indicated that administrators who demonstrate a transformational leadership style have teaching staff with increased job satisfaction, a greater sense of teaching efficacy, demonstrate higher levels of organizational commitment, and have less staff turnover (Griffith, 2004; Yu, et al., 2002; Ross Gray, 2006). However, strategic leadership is the main role of the principal while pedagogical leadership is the responsibility of the teachers (Crowther et al., 2000 and, 2002; Smylie-Hart, 1999). Their relationships have been described by Crowther et al. (2000) as parallel leadership. Teacher leaders and administrator leaders work in parallel and develop new roles and relationships within the school. Strategic leadership theory suggested that strategic leaders are individuals who have the ability to think strategically by envisioning, anticipating, innovating, maintaining flexibility, and mobilizing others to adopt changes which provide the organization with a competitive advantage (Elenkov, et al, 2005; Ireland Hitt, 2005). Strategic leaders enable organizational staff to exploit diverse opportunities to adapt and respond to environmental uncertainty. According to Ireland and Hitt, strategic leadership theory advocates that, companies are a reflection of their top managers, and, in particular , of the chief executive officers (p. 65). Hence, Davies (2004) had identified nine factors associated with the strategic leadership styles of school heads. In his terms, Davies classified these nine factors into two parts: firstly, the ability of a school head to undertake organizational activity (strategic competence, strategic orientation, strategic translation, strategic alignment, and strategic interaction), and secondly, his or her individual characteristics (restless, absorptive, adaptive, wise). Teacher commitment is crucial to effective schools, teacher satisfaction and retention. There has been increasing interest among scholars in the concept of commitment and the study of the commitment of several professionals such as students (Staw, 1976; Meyer Allen, 1987). Educational researchers have focused on commitment to the organization in this case, teachers (Firestone, 1990; Tyree, 1996; Nais, 1981). They call this phenomenon teacher commitment, denoting commitment to the school (Ryes, 1989). Commitment is part of a teachers affective or emotional reaction to their experience in a school setting (Ebmeire Nicklaus, 1999). According to the related literature, in these circumstances employees can develop affective commitment: in a more decentralized organizational structure (Robbins, 1997), in an organizational structure having an open and honest communication network (Zangaro, 2001), in an organizational culture encouraging participation (Parnell Crandall, 2003), when they h ave the opportunity to participate in decision-making (Somech Bogler, 2002), especially in strategically important decisions (Lines, 2004; Celep, 2000), and when they are affected by the outcomes of these decisions (Torka, 2004), when they have the opportunity to participate in the strategic planning process (Oswald et al., 1994), when they are provided with autonomy (Firestone Pennell, 1993), when they have the opportunity to acquire knowledge and other resources in the organization (McDermott et al., 1996), when strategic objectives (Enriquez et al., 2001), expectations (OCreevy et al., 1997) and the vision (Oswald et al., 1994) of the organization are communicated to them, when they are treated fairly and justly (Martin Bennett, 1996; Naumann et al., 1998), when they have adequate payment (Abdulla Shaw, 1999), when there is a congruence of ethical values between employee and organization (and/or manager or supervisor) (Schwepker, 1999; Peterson, 2003; Janssen, 2004), when the y have a supportive, facilitative and hearty leader (Kidd Smewing, 2001; Hui et al., 2004) and when they find their leader (or supervisor) trustworthy (Perry, 2004). STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Many researchers have pointed out that in order to be effective in the current context of school improvement, principals need to conform to the role as transformational leaders who have the potential for building high levels of commitment to the complex and uncertain nature of the restructuring agenda (Caldwell, 1992;, Hallinger, 1992;, Leithwood Jantzi, 1997;, Murphy Hallinger, 1992). There are differences in what these roles might include, that is, what the dimensions of principal leadership style are. Building the dimensional measure of principal leadership style, thus, motivated the researcher to conduct this study in the hope that it will contribute to our understanding of the principals transformational leadership style which is considered a foundation of school effectiveness. Another important issue that has not been adequately examined by previous research is the underlying model of the strategic leadership styles of principals. Waldman and Javidan (2002) indicated that little research exists on strategic leadership and its influence on organizational performance. The general problem is that contextual factors influence leadership behaviors across all levels of the organization, thus constraining leaders to adopt behaviors driven by external and internal demands. (Antonakis House, 2002;, Carroll, 2002;, Waldman, et al, 2001;, Waldman Javidan, 2002). It has been widely recognized that many discouraged school behaviours are, to an important extent, due to the low commitment of teachers. Teachers who experience this deficiency would engage in a variety of work behaviours that only reinforce their task failure (Rosenholtz, 1989). In an effort to overcome this, teacher commitment becomes necessary. Leithwood et al. (1994) suggest that committed teachers are less likely to leave the organization and have a desire to improve practices in an effort to realize the schools mission. Therefore, teacher commitment should be examined because it leads to greater job effort and involvement. (Porter, et al, 1974;, Rosenholtz, 1989). Since there is no specific style that is best for all situations, developing skills in selection of appropriate transformational and strategic leadership styles need to be emphasized because if these skills are poor, the consequence can be quite negative. Ubben and Hughes (1992) postulate that effective leadership depends on understanding the condition of a problem situation and assessing correctly how much participation is required to be successful and the form that this participation should take. An incorrect response to the demand of a situation may have a negative impact on-teachers personal satisfaction and may consequently affect their enthusiasm and commitment. Many times staff or teachers are dissatisfied with principals, not because of the nature of their decision, but because of the leadership style used (Leadership Management Development Center, 1997). Moreover, the Ministry of Education in Thailand enforces school principals to obtain quality assurance certification once every five years, where the schools need to ensure the system is developed in accordance with the standards, criteria, principles and guidelines as stipulated in the educational Act. In recent years, the average points obtained in the national test shows that, Islamic private schools in three provinces of southern Thailand ranked bottom compared to other schools in national ranking as far as academic achievement is concerned. (Secretary Board of Educational Office, 2007). In addition, Sermsak and his colleagues (2004) noted, the Islamic private secondary school principals lack of skills especially in educational management. As a member of an educational organization, the researcher considers that it is important to conduct this study. In this study, the researcher focuses on the principals in Islamic private secondary schools in southern Thailand. As mentioned abo ve, principals are educational leaders and teachers are practical instruments in achieving the schools goals. Conducting a study to identify which is the most effective principal leadership style (transformational leadership or strategic leadership) and its effect on teacher commitment is believed to be a worthwhile study. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The theory that this study has tried to build was based on the foundations of several existing theories in the literature. Firstly, the study reviewed various dimensions of leadership styles from previous studies by Barnett et al. (2001), Chui et al. (1996), Janzi and Leithwood, (1996), and Leithwood et al. (1996) considering-the present school context in southern Thailand. Five relevant dimensions of leadership styles are specifically proposed to be used in this study (Liethwood, 1996). The five dimensions of transformational leadership styles are visionary leadership, individual orientation, structural leadership, empowering leadership and role modelling Secondly, the study reviewed the strategic leadership styles (Davies, 2004; Davies Davies, 2004). There are nine categories of strategic leadership characteristics. In his terms, Davies classified these nine factors into two categories; individual characteristics (restlessness, absorption, adaptiveness/adaptibility and wisdom) and organizational capability (strategic competence, strategic orientation, strategic translation, strategic alignment and strategic interaction. Thirdly, the study reviewed a theory from perspective of the affective approach on commitment. Commitment is defined as the relative strength of a persons identification with and involvement in an organization (Mowday et al., 1982). According to Buchanan (1974), commitment is a partisan or affective attachment to the aims and values of an organization, to ones role in relation with these aims and values and to an organization for its own sake, Further, according to the cost-benefit approach, commitment is a result of the perception of benefit associated with staying in and the perception of cost associated with leaving from an organization (Kanter, 1968). From the normative approach, commitment is the aggregate internalized normative pressures to conduct in a manner which meets organizational objectives and interests (Wiener, 1982). It extensively examines the influences of transformational leadership and strategic leadership on teacher identification, involvement, and loyalty to the commitment (Abdulhakam, 2005). The three factors of teacher commitment are identification, involvement and loyalty. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES Based on the statement of research problem and the theoretical model as seen in Figure 1, the objectives of the study are as follows: To examine the factors underlying the transformational leadership styles of school principals in Islamic private secondary schools in Southern Thailand. To examine the factors underlying the strategic leadership styles of school principals in Islamic private secondary schools in Southern Thailand. To examine the factors underlying the teacher commitment of school teachers in Islamic private secondary schools in Southern Thailand. To examine the effect of transformational leadership style of school principals in Islamic private secondary schools in Southern Thailand. To examine the effect of strategic leadership style of school principals in Islamic private secondary schools in Southern Thailand. To examine the effect of transformational leadership of school principals on teacher commitment through strategic leadership style in Islamic private secondary schools in Southern Thailand. To examine the effect of strategic leadership style of school principals on teacher commitment through transformational leadership style in Islamic private secondary schools in Southern Thailand. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES As stated earlier, the objectives of the study are to examine the factors underlying the transformational leadership and strategic leadership styles on teacher-commitment and to examine which leadership style which is dominant among the Islamic private secondary school principals. Thus, the hypotheses of the study are as follows: H1: Transformational leadership styles of school principals are represented by visionary, individual orientation, structural leadership, empowering leadership, and role modelling. H2: Strategic leadership styles of school principals are represented by restlessness, absorption, adaptiveness/adaptability, wisdom, strategic competence, strategic orientation, strategic translation, and strategic alignment. H3: Teacher commitment factors are represented by identification, involvement, and  loyalty. H4: The transformational leadership style of school principals directly and significantly affects teacher commitment. H5: The strategic leadership style of school principals directly and significantly affects teacher commitment. H6: The transformational leadership style of school principals positively and significantly affects teacher commitment through strategic leadership style. H7: The strategic leadership style of school principals positively and significantly affects teacher commitment through transformational leadership style. RESEARCH DESIGN This research adopted a quantitative approach as described by Creswell (2003), by emphasizing the utilization of quantitative surveys to determine if the effects existed between the variables, strategic leadership and transformational leadership styles, and teacher commitment as perceived by Islamic private secondary school teachers in three provinces in Southern Thailand. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is used to determine to what extent the model of hypothesized effects is supported, and how well a hypothesized conceptual model fits the associated data. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is preferred because many previous studies supported the employment of SEM in this kind of research (see e.g. Clegg et al. 1997, Neilson 1997). SEM is also selected because of its ability to define and test a comprehensive System Contingency Approach (Hiltz, 1994) type of theoretical models. For instance Chin (1998, vii) has mentioned that, when applied correctly, SEM-based procedures have substantial advantages over first-generation techniques such as principal component analysis, factors analysis, discriminant analysis, or multiple regression because of the greater flexibility that researcher has for the interplay between theory and data. Compared to these first generation techniques often used in these types of analysis, some of the advantages of the SEM include the ability to: (1) estimate the direct, indirect, and total effects of variables; (2) define and investigate relationships among latent constructs; (3) estimate the variance accounte d for in each latent construct by other variables in the model; and (4) estimate error terms associated with each observed and latent variable (Heck and Wolcott 1997; Li, Harmer Duncan, Acock and Boles 1998). Research methods of the study consist of two steps; firstly, a hypothesized model will be developed by reviewing related literatures. The model will be assessed by educational experts. Secondly, the developed learning process reform model will be validated using the SEM to analyze the data collected from the Islamic private secondary school teachers in three provinces in Southern Thailand (Narathiwat, Yala, and Pattani,) Instrumentation In addition, at the end of the questionnaire there is an open space, where respondents have the opportunity to write about their experiences on commitment or comment on the questionnaire or the study in general. The Thai language questionnaire is filled out anonymously and it took about 20 minutes to complete. Validity and Reliability Content validity The validity of the measurement-items will be assessed in order to determine if a measure adequately reflects the real meaning of the construct under consideration. Two types of validity checks were performed in the initial stages of scale development: (1) Content Validity and (2) Construct Validity (Hair et al., 2006). Construct validity Construct validity or factorial validity, describes the logic of items which comprise measures of social concepts; this refers to the extent to which the empirical definition of the construct corresponds to the conceptual definition of the construct (Hair et al., 2006). Two types of validity were used to assess Construct Validity: (i) Convergent Validity and (ii) Discriminant Validity. Reliability The Cronbachs Alpha value is used to assess the reliability parameters. It provides a summary of the intercorrelations that exist among the set of items. Any suspect measurement-items will be removed. For this research study, the expected Cronbachs Alpha value is above than 0.7 as suggested by Hair et al. (2006), implying a statistically acceptable internal consistency reliability. Population and Sample The population in this study is Islamic private secondary school teachers in three provinces in Southern Thailand who teach in the school that are generally based on the Western Educational model. A simple random sampling is used to select the participants. The expected margin of error (accuracy) should  ± 4 % and confidence interval of 95% (Ferguson, 1981; Vockell Asher, 1995). All survey instrument will mailed to and administered by the Principal and Manager for administration for the respective schools. All completed survey instruments will return to researcher using enclosed envelopes. Data analysis method and Statistical technique This study will employed Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques to determine the extent to which the model of the hypothesized effects is supported. All the statistical procedures are performed using SPSS 11.5 and AMOS 16.0. SEM evaluates how well a hypothesized conceptual model fits the associated data. Sometimes SEM is called a latent variable causal modeling because it is used to test causal models and theories, and because it involves the measurement of latent variables. The SEM is usually viewed as a confirmatory rather than as an exploratory procedure. It can also be seen as a family of statistical techniques which incorporates and integrates path analysis and factor analysis. The model consists of two parts, the measurement model and the structural model. The measurement model specifies how latent variables or hypothetical constructs depend upon or are indicated by the observed variables. It describes the measurement properties (reliabilities and validities) of the observed variables. The structural model instead specifies the causal relationships among the latent variables. By causal what is meant is the assumption that, everything else being constant, a change in the variable at the tail of the arrow will result in a change in the variable at the head of the arrow (Loehlin,1987, p.4). SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Result of this study are pictured to provide empirical data on factors of effective leadership styles among Islamic private secondary school principals in Southern Thailand that have not been fully studied. Therefore, this study will fill this research need. Thus, the results of this study are expected to help in the understanding of teachers and principals which is in accordance with effective leadership styles. The findings are extremely important to understand or determine the effect or failure of factors affecting the implementation of principal leadership styles both in terms of on transformational leadership and strategic leadership styles as perceived by the teachers. Such information can help to improve the strategy in order to accomplish school success. Finally, this study will aid teacher educators, administrators, professional development coordinators, and government officials to adequately prepare, train, and support principals so they may become effective Islamic principals in line with the current educational reform endeavour as intended by the Ministry of Education in Thailand. These considerations make this study worthwhile. DEFINITION OF TERMS Principal Leadership Behaviour The behaviour on the part of principals that transforms change in their followers through visionary leadership, individual orientation, structural leadership, empowering leadership, and role modelling. Strategic Leadership It is defined as educational executives who adopt a new way of thinking and acting. More than ever before, strategic educational leadership depends upon a restlessness, absorption, adaption, wisdom, strategic competence, strategic orientation, strategic translation, strategic alignment, and strategic interaction Teacher commitment It is defined as the relative strength of teachers identification with, involvement with, and loyalty in a school organization. In this study, teacher commitment is measured primarily by the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) developed by Mowday and his colleagues (1979) and also by selected items from other scale developers (e.g., Allen Meyer, 1990; Buchanan, 1974; Blau, 1985; Cook Wall, 1980). Islamic Private School (IPS) The schools, which are established by private individuals, offering both religion and secular subjects are fully subsidized or partly subsidized, or not subsidized at all. Those schools that are not subsidized enjoy a certain degree of freedom in educational operation and organizing educational activities (e.g. manpower, finance, and material resources). The present study deals with the first category of schools (fully subsidized) whose educational activities are under the governments supervision.

The Ethics of Gene Therapy Essay -- Genetics Science Papers

The Ethics of Gene Therapy Francis Crick was quoted as saying, "We used to think that our fate was in our stars. Now we know that, in large measure, our fate is in our genes." Over 40 years ago, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). From this a new technique has evolved called gene therapy. Gene therapy was discovered in the 1980’s a few years after researchers were already able to isolate specific genes from DNA. These techniques matured from the massive surge of ideas generated during the Recombinant DNA (rDNA) era. Gene therapy is basically the repairing of genes to correct for diseases that result from a loss or change in our genetic material. It is hard to comprehend the total effects of gene therapy, because we do not know if it should really be used? Who does it really benefit? And ultimately people can easily contemplate how it affects him or herself and their family. Therefore, to understand gene therapy some technical aspects need to be discuss ed. Technical aspects DNA is present in the nucleus of cells and is the genetic information of all organisms. The information of a human genome could be thought of in terms as an "encyclopedia", the 23 chromosome pairs would be "chapters", each gene a "sentence", three letter words "codons", which are spelled by each letter a "molecular nucleotide"--adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T) (Elmer-Dewitt, 1994). A gene acts as a blueprint and if these were blueprints for a house and the measurements were off by a foot, it has a huge influence on its total structure. This is the same for our bodies, if a slight alteration in our genetic information occurs like a mutation this could lead to a disease. D... ...tad. 1991. Principles of genetics. 8th ed. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Gorman, C. 9 Oct 1995. Has gene therapy stalled? Time p. 62-63. Henderson, C.W. 5 May 1997. Researchers use gene therapy to protect human cell from HIV. AIDS Weekly Plus p. 16-17. Henderson, C.W. 5 May 1997. Hopkins researchers complete human gene therapy trial of kidney cancer vaccine. Cancer Weekly p. 29-30. Keenan, J.F. 20 Oct 1990. Human gene therapy: and ethical advance? America p. 262-263. Macer, D.R.J. Shaping genes: ethics, law and science of using new genetic technology in medicine and agriculture. Obtained from the WWW:http://www.biol.tsukuba.ac.jp/~macer/SG14.html Meiser, C. Medical ethics symposium on gene therapy. Obtained from the WWW:http://shsaa.org/Spectator/94n5/5gene.html Mulligan, R.C. 1993. The basic science of gene therapy. Science 260:926-932.

Risk Management Essay -- Business Management

Risk is a commonly used term and its usually liked with bad impacts on our objectives. The Oxford English Dictionary define risk as â€Å" a chance or possibility of danger, loss, injury or other adverse consequences†. There is no agreeable technical definition of risk as it went through many developments. The first stage was the management of threats only then the term is extended to cover the threats and the opportunities which face the organisations. The latest stage which is the management of the threats, opportunities, uncertainties and its sources. Of uncertainty (Ward and Chapmen, 2003). Therefore, Dowie argues to banned use the term â€Å"risk† in the risk management because of its misleading. The definition will be used in this paper is the Australia/New Zealand standard definition which is "The chance of something happening that will have an impact on objectives" (Australia/New Zealand Standard, 1999). The reasons of using this definition are the simplicities and the coverage of the negative and positive effects on objectives. Risk management has been done for thousands of years (Bernstein, 1996). The Risk management term was first introduced in the 1950s by the insurance industry. The first text book published about risk management in 1963 titled Risk management and the Business Enterprise by Robert I. Mehr and Bob Hedges (D’Arcy and Brogan, 2001). Risk management is a integrated process and risk manger need to assist the company’s business process are constant with its strategies, and the what is the relation between risk management and the investment and performance choices (Nocco and Stulz, 2006). Organisations should develop a risk management long term strategies depending on the business environment and shareholders an... ...ment guide 2001. London: White Page. Hodgkinson, R. (2001). Enterprise-wide risk management . Risk management guide 2001, London: White Page. Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO), (2004). Enterprise Risk Management—Integrated Framework. New York: COSO. Beasley, M. Clune, R. And Hermanson, D. (2005), Enterprise risk management: An empirical analysis of factors associated with the extent of implementation. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. 24. pp. 521-531 Kleffner, A., Lee, R., McGannon, B., (2003). The effect of corporate governance on the use of enterprise risk management: evidence from Canada. Risk Management and Insurance Review 6 (1), pp.53–73. Liebenberg, A., Hoyt, R., (2003). The determinants of enterprise risk management: evidence from the appointment of chief risk officers. Risk Management and Insurance Review 6 (1), pp. 37–52.

Tourism is of major economic and social significance Essay -- Personâ€e

Tourism is of major economic and social significance. More than 720 million tourists spend $480 billion annually in places outside their own country (WTO, 2004). This is one of the largest items in the world’s foreign trade. The significance of tourism has been recognized in both developing and developed countries. This can be seen in the establishment of sophisticated and well resourced government departments of tourism , widespread encouragement and sponsorship of tourism developments, and the proliferation of small business and multinational corporations contributing to and deriving benefits from the tourism industry. In 2005, the tourism sector accounted for 3 % to 10% of the GDP of developing countries. The contribution of tourism to economic growth and development is reflected in the form of exports since it represents 40 percent of all xports of services, making it one of the largest categories of international trade (UNWTO, 2006). There is widespread optimism that tou rism might be a powerful and beneficial agent of both economic and social change, some even advocating that it might be a force for world peace. Indeed, tourism has stimulated employment, investment and entrepreneurial activity, modified land use and economic structure, and made a positive contribution to the balance of payments in many countries throughout the world. At the same time, the growth of tourism has prompted perceptive observes to raise many questions concerning the social and environmental desirability of encouraging further expansion. Do the expenditures of tourists benefit the residents of destination areas? Is tourism encouraging prostitution, crime and gambling? Does tourism rejuvenate or erode the traditional arts and crafts of host culture... ...o contain a mixture of both positive and negative strands and affect both hosts and guests (Opperman, Chon 1997; Cooper et al. 1998). As a result, in spite of the fact that some researchers regard socio-cultural change as one of the evils of tourism development, any form of economic development will, by definition, carry with it implications for social structure and cultural aspects of the host population (Cooper et al. 1998) Though originally most of the research tended to look at rural areas in the English speaking world (e.g., Long et al., 1990; Murphy, 1985) and then subsequently with reference to the impact of tourism on the communities and indigenous people (e.g., Ryan & Aicken, 2005), more recent research has looked at tourism impacts in the non-English-speaking world among the cultural representatives of those countries (e.g., Eraqi, 2007).

Thugs in Ancient India

Thugs In Accient India On a well-worn road through central India, Lieutenant Subhani of the Bengal Native Infantry and his three traveling companions were nearing the final leg of their journey. Ordinarily the Lieutenant would have only his pair of loyal orderlies to keep him company as he traveled, but today a third man walked alongside hishorse—a stranger who had joined him only that morning. The year was 1812, and the pleasant October weather made for an easy trek. Subhani knew these roads could be dangerous for travelers, especially at this time of year, but he was untroubled. Trained soldiers and well-armed, he and his men were an unlikely target for roving bandits. But a much greater threat loomed over them on that dusty road, closer at hand than the travelers could have possibly conceived. Accounts of a secret cult of murderers roaming India go back at least as far as the 13th century, but to modern history their story usually begins with the entrance of the British Empire in the early 1800s. For some years, India’s British administrators had been hearing reports of large numbers of travelers disappearing on the country’s roads; but, while disturbing, such incidents were not entirely unusual for the time. It was not until the discovery of a series of eerily similar mass graves across India that the truth began to dawn. Each site was piled with the bodies of individuals ritually murdered and buried in the same meticulous fashion, leading to an inescapable conclusion: these killings were the work of a single, nation-spanning organization. It was known as Thuggee. At its root, the word â€Å"Thuggee† means â€Å"deceivers,† and this name hints at the methods employed by the cult. Bands of Thugs traveled across the country posing as pilgrims, merchants, soldiers, or even royalty, in groups numbering anywhere from a few men to several hundred. Offering protection or company, they would befriend fellow travelers and slowly build their confidence along the road. Often the impostors would journey for days and hundreds of miles with their intended victims, patiently waiting for an opportunity to strike. When the time was right, typically while their targets were encamped and at their most relaxed, a signal would be given—reportedly â€Å"Bring the tobacco†Ã¢â‚¬â€and the Thugs would spring. Each member had a well-honed specialty; some distracted their quarry, some made noise or music to mask anycries, while others guarded the campsite from intruders and escapees. Thugs of the highest rank performed the actual killings. As a prohibition against shedding blood was at the core of Thuggee belief, the murders were performed in a bloodless fashion. The usual method was strangulation with a rumal, the yellow silk handkerchief each thug wore tied around his waist; but an occasional neck-breaking or poisoning helped to add some variety. It was a matter of honor for the Thugs to let no one escape alive once they had been selected for death. Lieutenant Subhani and his orderlies had spent the previous night as guests at the home of Ishwardas Moti, a prestigious cotton merchant and local official. There he had been introduced to another of Moti’s guests, the man who was traveling with him now. Moklal was his name—a business associate of Moti’s, he was told, and one he had spoken of most highly. â€Å"Narsinghpur! † Moti had exclaimed upon hearing the Lieutenant's destination, â€Å"What a fortunate coincidence! Moklal is traveling that way as well. Perhaps you could go with him for the extra protection? † Subhani, though reluctant to take on a civilian traveling companion, did not wish to offend his host—and at any rate, Moklal seemed amiable enough. He agreed. For the members of Thuggee, murder was both a way of life and a religious duty. They believed their killings were a means of worshiping the Hindu goddess Kali, who was honored at each stage of the murder by a vast and complex system of rituals and superstitions. Thugs were guided to their victims by omens observed in nature, and once the deed was done, the graves and bodies were prepared according to strict ceremonies. A sacrificial rite would be conducted after the burial involving the consecration of sugar and of the sacred pickax, the tool the brotherhood believed was given to them by Kali to dig the graves of their prey. Thugs were certainly not above robbing their victims, but traditionally a portion of the spoils would be set aside for the goddess. Kali, despite her fearsome appearance, is not an evil deity. For more mainstream Hindus, she is a goddess of time and transformation who can impart understanding of life, death, and creation. To the members of the Thuggee cult, she was something else entirely. Their Kali craved human blood, and demanded endless sacrifice to satisfy her hunger. According to Thuggee legend, Kali once battled a terrible demon which roamed the land, devouring humans as fast as they were created. But every drop of the monster’s blood that touched the ground spawned a new demon, until the exhausted Kali finally created two human men, armed with rumals, and instructed them to strangle the demons. When their work was finished, Kali instructed them to keep the rumals in their family and use them to destroy every man not of their kindred. This was the tale told to Thuggeeinitiates. All Thugs were male, and membership in the cult was hereditary apart from a few outsiders allowed to join voluntarily and some young boys captured in raids. Around their tenth birthday, the sons of Thugs would be invited to witness their first murder, but only from a distance. Gradually over the years they could strive to achieve the rank of bhuttote, or strangler. Thuggee membership was for life, all the way up to the elderly Thugs who still did what they could for the group as cooks or spies—yet the wives and daughters of these men might never know the truth about the male members of their family. Their extreme secrecy combined with their mastery of murder made the Thugs the deadliest secret society in all of history. In the early 19th century they were credited with 40,000 deaths annually, stretching back as far as anyone cared to count. Some estimates put the overall death toll as high as 2,000,000, but with the cult potentially operating for more than 500 years before formal records were kept, the true number is impossible to determine. Even as the evidence began to mount, most members of India's British-run government remained dismissive of claims that a secret cult of murderers was terrorizing the countryside. It would be the efforts of a single soldier that would eventually turn this apathy around. After nearly a day's travel with his new companion, Lieutenant Subhani did not regret allowing Moklal to join him. The man was talkative and well-educated, and his conversation seemed to shorten the long journey considerably. As dusk approached, Moklal explained that his destination, a wayside grove where he planned to spend the night, was just ahead. â€Å"There I am meeting my friends. Please, stay with us tonight, and let me repay you the courtesy of escorting me today. † Subhani, tired from the day’s journey and already beginning to think of where he and his men might make camp, agreed. A fire was burning by the time they reached the campsite, while around it an animated group of men were gathered. A flurry of introductions went around—many of these men were business associates of Moklal, it was learned, while others were family—and soon Subhani and his orderlies felt like part of the group, eating and laughing with the men. William Henry SleemanSir William Henry Sleeman was a sober, no-nonsense Bengal Army officer who from early on dedicated his career to the eradication of Thuggee. Faced with a wall of disbelief and indifference from his superiors, he transferred to the Civil Service where he could gain enough authority to wage his war personally. As a district magistrate by the 1820s, he gathered a force of Indian policemen under him and set torooting out the cult with a variety of innovative policing methods. By examining common attack sites and listening for reports of suspicious figures, Sleeman and his men formulated predictions of where the next large attack was likely to occur. They would then turn the Thugs’ own methods against them—disguised as merchants, the officers would wait at the chosen site for a group of Thugs to approach, and ambush them. Information obtained from the prisoners was used to plan the next strike. But Sleeman’s job would not be easy, as one of the Thuggee cult’s defining characteristics was its pervasiveness within Indian society. In an era where strict caste divisions dominated every aspect of life, Thuggee was unique for transcending all such social barriers. Anyone from a farmer to an aristocrat could be a Thug. Many were even Muslims who, in a truly inspiring feat of rationalization, managed to reconcile their practice of human sacrifice to a goddess with their religion’s strict ban on idolatry and murder. When members of the brotherhood were not terrorizing travelers, they lived as normal—often upstanding—citizens, with ordinary social lives and occupations. It was impossible to know who might be with the Thugs, even among one’s closest friends. What was more bizarre, and endlessly frustrating for Sleeman, was the level of protection the Thugs seemed to enjoy within India. Though they clearly had the country living in fear, a strange ambivalence toward the cult existed. Local police and officials turned a blind eye to reports of Thug activities, while peasants would simply work around the bodies that occasionally appeared in their fields and wells. Landowners and Indian princes often explicitly shielded known Thugs, to the point that they would sometimes violently clash with British soldiers on the hunt. The reasons for this strange reaction to the cult are varied and complex. In the case of the lower-ranked members of society, it most often may have simply been out of fear or superstition; it was believed by some that the goddess Kali would take revenge on those who interfered with her followers. The rich and powerful, for their part, may have had some vested interest in Thug activity: bribery, perhaps, or they may simply have been charmed by master con artists. Some poor villages accepted the murder and robbery of rich travelers as simply a way of bringing wealth into the region—for many, Thugging was apparently viewed as a regular tax-paying profession, as noble as any other. Whatever the cause, it meant that Sleeman’s men were more often than not met with silence as they probed residents for information. But a few factors were in Sleeman's favor. First, the Thugs’ beliefs forbade them from killing certain groups, including women, fakirs, musicians, lepers—and Europeans. Thuggee was thus unable to retaliate against its English persecutors even when it had the opportunity. Second, once captured, most Thugs cooperated with authorities willingly—one might even say gleefully. Staunch fatalists, the imprisoned Thugs believed their situation was the result of their displeasing the goddess. They therefore showed little remorse in turning in their brothers, believing that anything that happened to them would be the will of Kali. Some suspect that Thuggee prisoners even deliberately accused innocent men; unable to strangle in person during their incarceration, sending men to the gallows was a convenient way of keeping up their obligation to Kali. As for those condemned todie, it is said that each went to his death with no trace of emotion, often requesting only that he be allowed to place the noose around his own neck. With informants pouring in at an ever-increasing rate, Sleeman’s campaign against the Thugs gained ground beyond anyone’s expectations. Within a few years the cult was crippled, and by the end of the 19th century the British declared Thuggee extinct. Sleeman was hailed as a hero by most of India, and in many parts of the country he is still revered. But there are those who have wondered if the British were too quick to congratulate themselves. It is difficult for some to imagine how a secret fraternity that had survived for centuries and engrained itself into every facet of Indian society could have been eliminated in so short a time. Certainly, the mass killings are a distant memory, and India no longer lives in fear of its shadow. But in some remote areas, rumors still linger about the yellow-sashed strangers who welcome travelers with open arms and a friendly smile. It was dark when Subhani and his new friends had finished eating. For a time they sat in comfortable silence, with only an occasional quiet exchange passing between men seated across the fire next to one another. But no one had yet turned in for sleep. Moklal turned from the fire to Subhani. â€Å"Perhaps a smoke before bed? † he offered. The Lieutenant nodded gratefully. Moklal smiled, then looked up at someone apparently standing behind Subhani. â€Å"bring the Tobacco â€Å"