Service quality in hong kong restaurant The WritePass Journal

Service quality in hong kong restaurant Abstract Service quality in hong kong restaurant AbstractIntroductionLiterature ReviewMethodologyFindingsStaff:Information:Process:Food quality:Atmosphere:AnalysisConclusionManagerial implicationsRelated Abstract This report is to identify and examine the issues of service quality throughout restaurant industry. Personal survey was carried out in Hong Kong to collect positive and negative expediencies in restaurant. The personal survey categorised into five groups: staff, information, process, food quality and availability. The result will show a range of satisfiers and dissatisfies relating to the experiences in restaurant. Introduction Nowadays, many customers are more demanding on service quality in service industry such as hospitality and tourism. Since 1880s the service quality was began toward to the worldwide trend, many restaurant companies realised that a quality of food, in itself, is not guaranteed to maintain competitive advantage (Van der wal et al, 2002). The purpose of service quality is to delivery of excellent or superior service relative to customer expectation which is recognised as a multi dimensional construct (Zeithaml and Bitner, 1996). Service quality improvements will lead to customer satisfaction and cost management that result in improved profits (Steveson, 2002). Especially for customer service has major impact in service quality, customer service has become a unique component of both product and service sectors as well as the developments in information technology many businesses found that customer are being more demanding and knowledgeable. Not only has that, according to Moore (1987) s hown that many researchers had recognised that service quality could gain competitive advantages for company. Therefore, many companies are increasing attention to improve their service quality (Ghobadian et al, 1994). This report will investigate the levels of service quality in restaurants. It will examine the importance of service satisfaction and meeting customer expectations and studying the SERVQUAL model and the total quality management model. For the purpose of this study, the service quality in restaurants includes staff, decoration and layout, location, menu and information, food quality, hygiene and food process. Customer experiences in restaurant will be assessed by identifying the experience of satisfaction or dissatisfaction by using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT). Literature Review Furthermore, customer to customer experiences is getting more important in todays experience economy, in order make customers are staging memorable, special, and above and beyond service experiences plays an important role. These customer to customer experiences will help company gain a competitive advantage in the competitive service industry. There are many methods and models of evaluating service quality. SERVQUAL is a model that provides a technique for measuring and managing service quality, this has According to Parasuraman et al (1988) from Figure 1, SERVQUAL has five features dimension which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, empathy and assurance. These components are to measure the gap between customer satisfaction and expectation. SERVQUAL is assuming the service quality is critically determined by the disparity between the expectations and perceptions of the customer and the service actually delivered (Curry and Sinclair. 2002). In addition, service quality can be defined as the extent to which a performance of company meets a customer’s need or expectation (Wisniewski 2001). Consequently, these are to improve and provide service to customer and a strategy to be a loyalty and have a luxury experience at company. Moreover, ‘Service quality is a multilevel construct consisting of the aforementioned three sub dimensions’ studied by Brady and Cronin (2001). The first dimension is interaction quality, it is formed of attitude, behaviour and expertis e of the service provider. The second dimension is physical environment quality, it is formed of ambient conditions, design and social factors of the service facilities. Lastly, the outcome quality dimension is formed of waiting time, tangibles and valence. Secondly, Totally quality service (TQS) is a continuous improvement process, it involved leadership, measurement tools and organisational culture, it is the product delivered to the customer is a service rather than a manufactured object and customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal in both cases (Karen,1997). It is focuses on customer needs and expectations, the company should understand what customer needs and their expectations before designing and implementation, also in order to maintain the competitive edge, the company must to identify their customer’s needs and meet the customer satisfaction (Asher, 1989). In terms of restaurant, they need to understand their target customer eating behaviour in order to design the menu which suit customer expectation. Moreover, company having a good leadership system, an organisational culture and a team of good commitment employees would improve business process which result in improvements in service quality. This can be an improvement in service performance outcomes or cost based values, high levels of service quality will lead to high levels of customer satisfaction. Parasuraman et al (1991) conceptualised the Zone of tolerance theory and suggests that service quality perception are dependent upon consumer’s expectations. Company in order to understanding and measuring the satisfaction of customer, they used Critical incident technique (CIT), it’s provide a starting point and a process for advancing company through a learning experience (Davis, P J 2006). The CIT can provide a powerful data analysis tool to increase knowledge which is relating to company’s performance (Bitner et al, 1990). The purpose of CIT is to investigate any causes of the problem and then advance some solutions to address the problem. Grove and Fisk (1997) used the CIT to investigate how customers get along with each other in entertainment parks. They found that it is appropriate and reasonable behaviour in service situation as well as individual situation. CIT is a ‘story telling’ method which provides a variety sources of data by allowing respondents to determine which incidents are the most relevant to the phenomenon   being investigated (Grewler, 2004). This CIT method has been successfully used in many studies provides and justify of the methodology of this report. Methodology The primary objective of this study is to identify service experiences in restaurant industry. CIT is one of the popular research method in the service literature and it is especially useful when researching phenomenon (Edvardsson and Roos, 2001, Bitner et al, 1990). Furthermore, it involves a classification technique in order to analysis qualitative data. This research is based on face to face interviews with prepared questionnaires (Appendix 1). This is to collect the past experiences in restaurants from interviewers as well as the average spending in restaurant critical incident were gathered by asking interviewers to recall the most memorable experience of service quality they had in restaurant. The interviews were carried out in late March 2011 in Hong Kong, China. The reasons of chosen this place was because I am interesting the service quality in my home town as well as Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city that gathered al kind of different type of restaurants. Interviews were conducted in two days. The interviewers were picked up at random places around Hong Kong. This was to make sure the data I collect could be more accurate as I could. Findings A total of 55 results were collected from 40 respondents, 31 were female and 9 male. 29 respondents can recall their good experiences when they were in restaurant whereas 26 respondents can also recall their bad experiences when they were in restaurant. The results were sorted into 5 categories, these data would help readers to understand the main issues of service quality in restaurant industry. Staff: Satisfier- the staffs are quite friendly, well explained of the menu and also recommended their popular recipe for us. Satisfier- I am a vegetarian, the staff recommend some good vegetarian menu to us and she was very patient to answer our requires. Dissatisfier- the service performance was not as good as I expected, I waited 10 minutes till one of the staff came over or asking order. Information: Satisfier- the menu display very well and the picture of the recipe from the menu are almost the same to what we had. Dissatisfier- the restaurant is not easy to find and did not have many advert on magazine or official website. Therefore, it is not easy to find out more about the restaurant. Process: Satisfier- the process was very efficiency, from taken order fill the food delivery only took 10 minutes. Dissatisfier- I waited for so long till the food came, even though there were not many customers at that moment Food quality: Satisfier- the food taste very nice and well displayed. Satisfier- I am a big eater and the portion is huge which is suitable for me. Dissatisfier- the food was very expensive and did not worth for $1000 for four people. Atmosphere: Satisfier- the restaurant location was outskirt of town which was very nice and quiet as well as suitable for gather some friends for a chat and gathering or some business meeting. Satisfier- in the Valentine ’s Day, me and my girlfriend went to a restaurant, the lighting inside the restaurant was very romantic we had a good time at that restaurant. Dissatisfier- the tables were very close to each other, we felt very uncomfortable. There were too many people waiting for table so we can not stay in that restaurant for a bit longer. Analysis The graph shows the satisfaction of service quality in Hong Kong restaurants. The graph shows that the majority of customers are satisfied with the service quality of restaurant. For the most important is staff performance, 19 respondents can recall their experience of staff service quality, 12 of them are satisfied with the staff’s service, they think that staffs are friendly and introduce the popular recipe to customers. On the other hand, 7 respondents are dissatisfied with the staff’s service, they think that the staff have no manner and took long time to take order. These could shown that the staff’ performance are important and have a directive effect on total service quality. Many restaurant companies are trying to increase the attention to improving service quality especially staff performance, some companies consider service quality is more important than product quality as well as good service quality could improve sale performance and improve profit (Ghobadian et al, 1994; Stevenson, 2002). Customer satisfaction depends on worke rs in the restaurant team knowing their role and working to a common objective (Macanlay, S and Cook, S 1995). Customers think that uniformity is what customer service teams seem to strive for such as standard uniform to all staff and standard greetings, these could improve the company image and professional. Furthermore, restaurant manager should also set a clear service standards and objectives and monitor and jointly review staff performance. For example: how long it takes to process customer calls and orders, letters to customers conforming to company style, use of telephone greeting and handling customer complaints. Other than staff’s performance, food quality is essential in service quality to restaurant in order to be successful. It is because good food can keep customer return and building up loyalty. 10 respondents can recall their good experience of food quality, they think the taste of the food was very good and well display. Also, customers think that the size of the portion is important as well. However, 5 respondents could recall their bad experience of food quality, some of them think that the food was tasteless and other respondent had a experience that the food was over cooked. Food is the main element in restaurant as it is a purpose that customer coming for. Moreover, food quality is important to restaurant and also should exceed customer expectation. Restaurant should be knowledgeable of what the expectation is and what customer needed from the restaurant in order to provide the best food to their target customer, especially in Hong Kong, there are many different type of cu rry themed restaurants, they all had different target market of customers and loyalty, it is because the restaurant managers understand that different customer loves different taste and can not fulfil all customers’ taste. After food quality, process is also important to restaurant operation, its included how long it takes to deliver the food to customer and the whole experience in the restaurant, if the restaurant operation run smoothly, it could gain added value.5 respondents could recall their good experience in the restaurant, most of them were happy with the process and think they are very efficiency. However, 3 respondents could recall their bad experience of process in the restaurant. Most of them were not happy with the delivery time, customer waited over 20 minutes for the food and some of them respondents waited for too long for worker to come and take orders. The process and operation have to be efficiency in the restaurant, these could increase the customer cover in the restaurant and improve in sales. In addition, information is how customer receives news and information from restaurant, the picture and text of the food from the menu should be accurate to the real food. 4 respondents were satisfied with the information such as menu and leaflet of the restaurant. They think that the menu layout was clear and easy to look. Addition to the restaurant advertised on many food magazine which help customers easy to find the place and fully described what is the theme of the restaurant and what kind of food they do in the restaurant. But 3 respondents were dissatisfied with the information, mainly, they were not happy with the menu, they think that the menu was too simple and without the ingredient inside the menu could case misunderstanding, also the food was not accurate to the picture from the magazine. Information is important to restaurant because it involved the communication and relationship with customers, customers have higher expectations if the restaurant is on the magazine and well promoted. For the most important is the menu design, good menu layout and pictures could attract customer. Finally, atmosphere inside the restaurant has a direct impact to service quality, atmosphere is including the lighting, personal space and decoration inside the restaurant. 4 respondents could recall their good experience in terms of atmosphere in the restaurant, one of the respondent said the lighting is important if customer are couple for a special meal as well as decoration. However, only 1 respondent was complaining that the table cover was too close to each table which didn’t have enough personal space and can not relax during the dinner. Decoration and atmosphere are essential to restaurant, it can gives a good image to customer and added value to service quality. Conclusion This report has examined customer perceptions of service quality in terms of staff’s performance, process, information, food quality and atmosphere in restaurants in Hong Kong using the critical incident technique. Perceived service quality is highly subject to different people, there are many definitions of quality that emphasize this aspect of customer (Juran, 1974). However, there is always an improvement in terms of service quality. The result shown that the customers are more concern and recognise the important on service quality into five main areas: staff, process, information, food quality and atmosphere. The hospitality industry such as restaurant seems increasing to be acknowledging the message that quality is satisfying the needs and expectations of the customer (Lockwood, 1995). Moreover, it managing quality is a particularly difficult and complex problems, the restaurant needs to face the manufacturing problems of providing a high quality food to satisfy customer, it also needs to counter the problems of service delivery through the high level of interaction between staff and customer (Lockwood, 1995). The report shown that the majority of respondents were satisfied with the service quality, 64% are satisfied to overall service quality in the restaurant. Especially staff and food quality are the main concern and have a direct impact to service quality, 22 respondents were satisfied with these areas. However, there are 34% are not satisfied with overall service quality in restaurant and mainly 12 respondents were dissatisfied with the staff and food in restaurant. Which has told us that there are improvement in service quality in restaurant. Managerial implications The results of the report have shown that there are many issues should be improved by manager of restaurant operation and training. This report could provide opportunities to the restaurant management for improvement in order to gain more competitive advantages. It is clear that much dissatisfaction in staff’s performance and food quality. The respondents in this research though that these two elements are important in service quality. In terms of staff’s performance, in order to provide exceeding service to customer to meet their needs and satisfaction, management should provide regular training to employees. Also in the food quality, the front house staffs should always asking for opinion of food from customers and having regular meeting with kitchen staffs sharing the commends from customers, not only on food quality also on overall performance. For some chain restaurants, they standardise the food quality and staff’s quality, they set a standard of staff’s quality for staff to follow to guideline to serve the guest and as well as on food control. Process also need to be improved, management need to make sure that the operation runs smoothly and aiming for no mistake in any steps, efficiency service could satisfy customer. Atmosphere and information are based on their target customer, the management should be understand their customer interest and provide suitable environment for customer.

Health and safety assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Health and safety assessment - Essay Example According to Health and Safety at Work ( 2007), organizations have legal responsibilities towards their employees, among them are : In view of this, organizations must seriously consider conducting periodic risk assessment in order to prevent serious legal problems which could lead to the closure of a business. Although a business cannot totally eliminate all the risks in a workplace, management can lessen the probability of accidents by carefully evaluating the potential hazards by carrying out a risk assessment. The group assumed that certain hazards would be visible upon our visit to the facility we have chosen. The group selected the engineering facilities of Penrhyn Road - Sopwith Building since it a good example of a workplace that carries a lot of risks for two main reasons: it is a very busy workplace and a lot of equipment and machinery are being used there on a daily basis. The group visited the said facilities after asking permission. A Technician was assigned to us who willingly guided us through the facilities and explained to us some of the equipments that they have been using. They also allowed us to take some pictures since they were aware that we are doing a risk assessment for educational purposes. In order to have a reliable report, we visited the facility a couple of times and recorded our observations. Moreover, the group met after every visit to discuss the observations that we just recorded. The most important thing in this report is to abide by the guidelines in conducting a risk assessment which can be found at the HSE website. The group members agreed to follow the fi ve steps indicated in the brochure. The first step in Risk Assessment is to walk around the place by making observations on possible sources of hazard that can cause harm to the workers. In order to substantiate the findings, the group took pictures of situations where hazards exist. An example of this is a picture of wooden

Change management and employee motivation strategies for a business Essay

Change management and employee motivation strategies for a business process reengineering cycle - Essay Example The company that is the subject of this research is   ABC Company, a world famous chain of automobile manufacturing company, which is operated in many of the countries. Now at this point of time, the operations are so expanded for the company that the management at the centralized hub feels to facilitate the individual continental operational units so that the whole network can work in a better way. The centralized system is good but the management of the variety of sale points can be more effective if the individual units have the authority. In order to facilitate the individual units of the continents, there is a need of business process re-engineering, which will hold at a larger level, thus affecting many of the areas and departments and the stakeholders including, employees, suppliers, dealers and the customers. The business process re-engineering in which the ABC Company will authorize its units in different continents; there is need of highly mechanized communication system between the individual units so that the network of all the units of the ABC Company can be effective. There will be many of the changes in the internal systems of the company, which will affect the employees’ performance. Therefore, it is highly recommended to facilitate the internal control system and the employees first so that they can be a part of the change, which the company management wants to implement. It will be very difficult for the company employees to adapt and adjust to the new and technological communication system but the training programs can develop them in positive ways. Here the training and the motivation of the employees is highly required. The re-distribution of data means that initially when the whole control of the ABC Company was centralized then the center of the employee data and the other knowledge databases was only in the main office. Now the individual units of the company will have to sort out their relevant files and then store the relevant data and knowledge at their own particular main and centralized office.

Leaders and subordinates in Spain Essay Example for Free

Leaders and subordinates in Spain Essay Influenced by its collectivist past, family values, a sense of identity and belonging to a group, are constitutive parts of society in Spain. They care for each other in society like a family. For many Spanish people, the family is effectively a replacement for the state. Generally, Spaniards are very conservative and they will resist making decisions on hazardous matters, particularly if the consequences of their decision would affect other people. Thus, most Spaniards will look for support and approval of family, friends and co-workers before acting on their own. The Spanish believe if you are not a part of a group, neighbourhood, town or business organisation then you are not an integral part of society. This important aspect of the Spanish collectivist culture might restrict business activities and force the outsider and visitors to the country to bear down their outsider status by fitting into a group. However, regarding personal attributes, individualism is highly valued in Spain, along with an emphasis on character and social status. Therefore, personal qualities, appearance, image and personal relationships are extremely substantial elements in modern Spanish culture. Also, personal attributes and character are frequently valued as highly as technical ability, experience or professional competence. While being rather collectivists in their private lives the Spanish show distinct individualism in business context. When doing business in Spain, you will discover that individualism is especially predominant in management, where Spanish managers are less inclined to prefer group decision making and team orientation, as sharing the burden of decision-making is seen as a sign of weakness. Motivation is based on individual rather than collective relationships. The fact that only the individual in highest authority makes the final decision indicates that decision-making can become very slow and tedious, for many levels of management will have to be consulted in order to analyse the proposition. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain a good relationship with these intermediaries in order to succeed. Spain being a feministic society points to a low level of differentiation and discrimination between genders in Spanish society. Machismo is the word for male dominance, and the culture of old men who created it has changed dramatically. Spain has become a very equalitarian society where women are present at universities and work. However, men yet hold the majority of positions within companies. The reason for that is that Spanish men still restrain to treat women as equals in society. Many women in Spain are career oriented and seek high positions in society. Their social and educational status often assigns the role they eventually play in business. Despite the advancement women have made up to date, the change of women trying to achieve higher positions is progressing very slowly, due to the major barrier of it being the mentality of the females themselves. An example for changed/changing attitudes is Soledad Becerril who became not only the first mayoress in the early 90s but also a symbol for many women in Spain of how Spanish females have made progress in the last years. She was also the first woman to become minister in the government, in 1981. And that is very significant of how Spain has changed and how it continues to do so. Furthermore, masculinity and femininity can be referred to the goals that are aimed for in professional life. Spain being a feministic society indicates issues of security of the job, good employer-employee relationship, pleasant cooperation with the colleagues and friendly work environment. Also, Spanish managers tend to pay more attention to consensus and apart from that, they like to rely on their intuition. HAMPDEN-TURNER TROMPENAARS Spaniards tend to particularism rather than universalism. Therefore, at work Spanish seek gratification through personal relationships, especially with their superiors. Charismatic leaders find it easy to put their personal stamp on every area in a business. Most of the time job descriptions in Spain have a different function compared to the job descriptions in other countries. In Spain they seldom serve for selecting an employee, but subsequently they will be tailor-made for the favoured candidate. Spanish culture tolerates even advocates the expression of emotions (affectivity), also in the business environment. The admiration and display of heated, vital and animated expressions are just as common as fluent and dramatic delivery of statements in Spain. People from diffuse cultures carry their status everywhere; your boss remains your boss and will expect the same respect even if you meet him/her at the gym. Spain indicates to be a specific culture, where official relationships are carefully isolated from relationships of other nature. Using the previous example it means that you may show respect to your boss at the office but his status will not follow him outside the office, and he/she may well ask you for advice. This explains the Spanish being paradoxical in their decision making and in their relation to the community. As a consequence of the fact that Spaniards separate work and personal matters, nobody would take work-related criticism personally. Another theory is that people from diffuse cultures prefer to circle around and establish a relationship before any deal is done; those from specific cultures would rather get straight to the point, focus on the deal first and the relationship will flow from that. This definition contradicts the Spanish being a specific society as they need long discussions prior getting down to business and want to know the person they do business with. Therefore, networks are quite important. For Spanish, status is a thing that is given to them because of what they are (ascribed). It does not matter what you do but what or who you are. Ultimately, status and respect are conferred with the aid of family ties and connections. Concepts like bien educado (good education) and enchufado (good connections) distinguish this phenomenon. Achievement-oriented concepts like pay for performance cause for incomprehension in societies like Spain. FUKUYAMA Fukuyama suggests Spain to be a low-trust society where workers are isolated by a series of bureaucratic rules. He describes Spain as a society with strong families and family businesses, a strong state and large foreign owned companies, where hierarchies are necessary in order to force those by distinct rules and measures, who do not act out ethical codes. Evidence of different leadership styles in Spain backs up this theory. A study on Leadership from a Spanish perspectivei drafted by Instituto de Empresa and Deloitte stated that 56% of Spanish Directors prefer a participative leadership style. The report shows that future leaders have to act as coaches, and they must issue their subordinates with the skills and knowhow they need to work efficiently with their teams. However, participative leadership is not the norm among the Spanish directors. Therefore, there is a need for adapting the other styles and make them more participative which requires great commitment from the leaders. The styles least preferred by Spanish senior managers are those based on compulsion with little or no participation of employees and exception-based management where the director only steps in to sort out mistakes. Leaders of relatively new businesses are better at leadership styles, which are based on objectives and development. Where different sectors are concerned, the report unveils how directors in the financial sector tend to use leadership styles that are more direct, transactional and less oriented to learning. While companies in the technology sector give more importance to coaching and vision. MONOCHRONIC vs. POLYCHRONIC Spaniards can be classed as polychronic where nothing seems solid or firm, and there are always changes right up to the very last minute or even in plans for the future. Polychronic cultures are unconventional and flexible with time because it is not seen as a resource or as opportunity cost. Usually start times are flexible and schedules are unrushed. For example, it is not considered to be impolite to keep people waiting, as long as it does not exceed 30 minutes. Since time is also non-linear Spanish tend to manage several tasks at once, often in an unplanned sequence (e. g. salespeople in stores talk to several people at once rather than give only one customer their attention and taking people in turn; a meeting can be interrupted by a phone call; etc.). Another significant cultural difference is the smaller radius of personal space in Spain. Spaniards are most likely not to appologise when bumping into each other or pushing their way through crowds, which can be a shock to visitors from foreign countries. In the business environment, when it comes to forecasting, plans are often based on assumptions, intuition and experience because every day is regarded as unpredictable. Spaniards in the business environment usually make decisions based on judgement, experience and political realities. The supervisory style allows for the rules to be circumvented, whereas style and creativity are highly valued. Titles describe a persons status, which people take pride in, causing great motivation for competition in organisations. Additionally, personal feelings affect the performance. Spanish managers feel that the employees must be watched, thus giving them the total control where also mistakes can be blamed on other people. However, the supervision is based on trust and some power is still delegated. LEADERSHIP STYLE Generally, the leadership style in Spain, in terms of concern for production and concern for people, demonstrates a high concern for people and little concern for production, whereby they try to avoid conflicts and concentrate on being liked, even at the expense of production. Managers in Spain are acquiring some qualities they look up to in other leaders. However, this contradicts with the theory stated above. Nevertheless, evidence suggest that Spanish leaders are still concerned about their leadership style. One of the conclusions of the first study on i Leadership from a Spanish perspectivei drafted by Instituto de Empresa and Deloitte indicated that 75% of Spains directors say that they regularly, or almost always use coaching, a personalised style that focuses on employee development. These leadership criteria are essential when it comes to competitiveness and organisations survival. 41% of directors stated that their preferred style of leadership is contingent reinforcement, which rewards subordinates for their achievements. 37% use the goal-oriented style, based on meeting challenges. Analysing the relations between leaders and subordinates in Spain showed that only 46% of Spanish leaders have a good concept of their subordinates. These leaders tend to use coaching as their preferred style of leadership. 26% of survey participants, however, point out having a quite negative concept of their subordinates. These leaders show a clear inclination to use directive and transactional management styles. Finally, the results of the study show clearly that Spanish development-oriented leaders are also very concerned about developing and educating their subordinates.

Christians And Non-christian Culture Essay -- Cultural Identity Essays

In the world today there are believers and non-believers. There are those who devote themselves whole-heartedly to God and those who choose the lukewarm approach to Christianity. Regardless, humans are all from God and God is in all of them. It is the duty of the human race to unite as one under God and rise up against the evil forces of the world. In order to do this everyone, both religious and the not religious, need to be aware of and recognize the lifestyles of each other. Non Christians should at least study the Philosophy of Christianity, as Christians should explore the philosophy of infidelity. Justin Martyr found discussion with Tryphno very stimulating because the two ended up sharing similar viewpoints on important religious philosophies. (Justin, Dialogue with Tryphno, Ch.1,2)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First of all, as in any intelligent discussion or argument, each opponent can use the knowledge of the other to put their own claim in understandable terms and analogies. (Tertullian, Apology, ch.21) By gathering facts about the non-Christian culture such as social interactions and entertainment sources, Christians can understand what kind of mind set the non-Christians are in and better explain how Christianity can improve their life. While Christians should build up relationships with other Christians, they should not limit themselves from the entire non-Christian culture because they can use it to understand the world and why God is needed. Looking into ...

Hawthorne’s Typical Females Essay

Hawthorne’s stories talks a lot about human evil deeds and nature. Several of the themes are parables or allegorical depiction of human nature. Many readers believes that his stories posses morals which represents the culture and traditions during his time. Others consider his approach as sublimely misogynistic due to his portrayal of woman. This paper ought to present an analysis of Hawthorne’s stories. This includes ‘The Minister’s Black veil’, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown’ and ‘The Birthmark’. It involves a critical analysis of the themes and the plot of the stories centering on the presentation of women or female characters in the stories. Also, a high regards on the prevalent culture and traditions during the period when the stories were written will also be analyze to provide a brief history or background as to how the author come up with such ideas. Hawthorne Former American Literature prior to Hawthorne’s stories represents woman or female characters as innocent or as mothers caring, gentle and kind. In this regards one can assume that women are viewed and treated as weak, emotional, understanding and naive (Amoia, 1998). Some even viewed woman as threats which is depicted by Eve. Others discard women as simply unimportant. In literature they almost always play the role of supporting characters if not servants. This mirrors the typical view of woman during Hawthorne’s childhood. Men view woman to be inferior. Nonetheless such outlook does not affect Hawthorne’s judgment. Some scholars believe that this is due to the fact he grows up without a father. Living his whole life with woman around him, helping and caring for him (Amoia, 1998). Ideas common during the time revolves also with equality of men and women as expressed by Rousseau and his followers. In literature, women are always seen as witness of a crime or victims. Hawthorne’s stories tries to remove this stereotypical female function by creating female characters that serves as men’s companions rather than their servants. There is also emphasis given on men’s fear of woman as the main theme of his writings. Such conclusions are made not through observation but by experience. One should also note that most of Hawthorne’s writings create an impact of social deviation. As he tries to include his main theme in his stories, he also tries to cover it with the disastrous result of human sins or of evil. His writings primarily describe the Puritan way of life and the culture in America most specifically in Salem, which is his home town. In reading Hawthorne’s short stories, one would come across a prevailing plot of man’s failure or loss of power. Power can then be considered as the central idea where Hawthorne’s writings revolve. Men are rendered as powerful, women are displayed as weak. Such denotations stagger with Hawthorne’s persistent referral to women’s control of life. Young Goodman Brown In the ‘Young Goodman Brown’, Hawthorne portrays a man who is innocent about evil. Thus, Goodman Brown is a character who does not know about his mistakes or sins. Faith is Goodman’s wife, which also symbolizes Goodman’s faith in general with reference to life and God. The discovery of treachery or unfaithfulness of Faith leaves Goodman with doubts and a stereotypical female figure similar to Eve. Goodman’s view of Faith as a loving, spiritual wife changes into a whore-like woman similar to most women he knows. In this regards it seems that Hawthorne tries to dissect the usual marital relationship by magnifying man’s common notion of woman. This being woman along with sex and all other things which they represent are tools or apparatus which the devil uses to fool men. It seems that this perspective thrives on men’s mind for as early and as long as the story of Adam and Eve exists. The Christian religion creates the idea and practice of sexual intercourse as something unnatural and must be done, privately between husband and wife. Thus as can be seen in the story of Goodman Brown, the belief in such dogma led him to think that sex is unnatural. Hawthorne gives the reader the view about sex as something that degrades woman for eternity making it a sin. The Minister’s Black Veil The next story which also describes man and woman marital relationship is ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’. Although the focus of the story seems to revolve around Mr. Hooper and his black veil, the reader/s cannot miss the part wherein Mr. Hooper had a talk with Elizabeth. Elizabeth is Mr. Hooper’s fiancee in the story (Stearns). She is a good woman and their relationship is good up until Mr. Hooper starts to wear the black veil. The conversation between Elizabeth and Mr. Hooper is a confrontation regarding the wearing of the veil and the reason for it. To everyone it seems that the veil symbolizes something close to a secret sin. Hawthorne makes the female character looks good or nice while male characters are displayed with evilness. In this particular story, the male character appears deviant not only to the citizens but to the church as well. The wearing of the veil seems to symbolize a secret sin indeed. Nonetheless, if one would read the story in light of the female’s role, one will see that the veil actually prevents the marriage between Mr. Hooper and Elizabeth (Stearns). In first reading one may regard Elizabeth to be inconsiderate. Mr. Hooper even begs her to stay. But upon reading the conversation again, one will see that the smiles of Mr. Hooper symbolize success or the triumph to stay away from Elizabeth. This is in line with the celibacy rule of the church. Hawthorne seems to make his reader consider the fact that celibacy is but a form a male expression of dominance over women. Everyone in the town believes that the veil that the minister wears symbolizes sin and evil. Hawthorne uses this symbolism to define the norms and the way people think in that town. The story ends with Mr. Hooper telling the people that it is fine if such veil represents sins, nonetheless his sins are covered unlike their sins which are revealed. Hatred of woman seems to be obvious in the first few paragraphs of the story. There are consistent referrals on bachelors attending the sermon. The minister needs to attend the funeral of a young lady and the wife who does not want to eat with the minister. With celibacy as a form of excluding woman to a specific male sphere, misogyny is brightly illuminated. With celibacy man has triumph to exclude woman from the power vested upon them by God. Inventions or the proliferation of such conventions still exist nowadays with the same purpose but with less effect. Hawthorne makes it explicit that the veil does create a barrier that grabs away the possibility of woman entering the Minister’s life. Hawthorne assists his readers to generate the idea that the veil generates ‘power’. When he explains how the veil functions on his sermons and how the veil makes the Minister look more authoritative, it crates the impression that a veil signifies power and/or control. The Birthmark This addictive stance of man towards power was moreover expounded on Hawthorne’s ‘The Birthmark’. In this story Hawthorne creates a man of genius, depriving from the usual religious role. Hawthorne manages to construct a character which is a ‘man of science’. Such man has dedicated all his life to the pursuit of Utopia and/or perfection that by which demonstrated through the man’s persistence to out do Mother Nature. The female figure in the story is Georgiana whom the author describes to be almost perfect. Such descriptions of perfection compose physical appearance which must be flawless and fair. This type of ‘beauty myth’ is something that exists during Hawthorne’s era up until today. This idea of beauty has successfully controlled women over the years. It defines woman’s status and possibilities in life. Another thing that is prominent in Hawthorne’s depiction of Georgiana was her submission to her husband’s wishes. The thought of her letting him do whatever he thinks to be applicable and best for her even if it means her own death. This sacrifice seems to explore the subjectivity of woman to men’s choices and women’s submission to men’s control. The story also depicts the profound way that men ‘disguise themselves’ as someone ‘not emotional’ concealing their true selves with a facade of illusions and self-deceptions. In the story, Aylmer conceal his emotional side by being a ‘man of science’ having the ‘genius’ to even try to counter nature. Although all of his experiments landed as failures, his display of objective knowledge gives him a higher authority or power over his wife. This is evident in the way by which the story ended, with his wife, Georgina submitting to his wants even at the costs of her death. The hatred of woman evident in the story as discussed by Fetterley covers man’s attempts to capture the power that both nature and woman share in common, the power to create. Such power is not available to men making him feel inferior. Fetterley also argues that the story provides insights on man’s ability to disguise ‘hatred as love, murder as idealization and failure as successes’. In this regard, I believe that Fetterley is right in her reading of the story. Man is indeed capable of masking himself with another identity apart from which he really is and what he really intends as can be seen on Aylmer’s vision of success marked by an inescapable failure, for his attempt to win over nature only led to a creation of death. Apparently, this creates an image that Aylmer is someone who would do anything to exceed nature and woman, even at the cost of death to prove his success. When Fetterley accounts that female was envisioned as ‘hideous and unnatural’ in the story, she mentioned the ‘cult of female beauty’ which create an idealization of women that makes her look ‘monstrous’ in her natural form. Women were portrayed to be hated on their natural form, just as in the story, when a birthmark represents an imperfection, a thing that may cause her to be hated and thus needs a remedy, which she will be wiling to accept even in expense of her own life. Fetterley showed that man posses such power over women that he can dictate and influence her outlook, he can even manage and control her life to his liking, making her a possession or a thing that owned by him. Deviation of Female Characters Georgiana deviates from the typical female character the most. She is someone who succumbs to the wishes of her husband as if she is a ‘lab mice’. Although she sees the blatant failures he committed in the past, she still worships his genius. At the face of death she still looks forward for his triumph. The other female character such as in the case of Elizabeth managed to leave her husband while Faith at least did not display such display of subjectivity. Elizabeth on the other hand deviates from Georgiana and Faith in the sense that she left her husband instead of standing by his side, which is the typical nature of Hawthorne’s female character. Female characters are always support characters but take the role as fire starters. It seems that they are the reason or is partially responsible for the actions made by their husbands. The male characters are displayed with an inclination towards evil. The woman are displayed innocent but it is implicitly shown that they are just doing what a good woman should do and how they should act in a society. At the least, plain reading of Hawthorne’s literature would create an image of woman as reason’s for male’s failure, an image that is common during their time. But thorough reading would guide the reader to the courage an power that woman posses and men lacks. Conclusion All in all, the writings of Hawthorne hold high respect for woman. Although it somehow discusses and depicts hatred of woman, it is quite obvious that it is not the authors purpose to promote such hatred. Instead the misogyny is elaborated to be able to present man’s cowardice and insecurity with respect to woman. It also present the different ways by which man tries to grab the power from woman by making them feel subordinates or looking down at them. Finally, Hawthorne creates female characters which display the typical female in his era. They do not argue with man as much as woman of today do however the way that men sees and/or treat woman stays the same. This might be rooted in the fact that women does not only permit men to treat them as subordinates and or objects but also encourage them. Work Cited Amoia, A. , Hawthorne’s Rome: Then and Now, Nathaniel Hawthorne Review. 1998. Fetterley, J. The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction. Indiana University Press. 1981. Stearns, F. The life and genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Wineapple, B. Hawthorne: A Life.. 2004. PagebyPageBooks. com. NAtaniel Hawthorne. Retrieved on April 18, 2008, from http://www. pagebypagebooks. com/Nathaniel_Hawthorne/

Commercial Law - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 537 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/09/21 Category Advertising Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? CL510 Assignment 2. Semester 2 May 2010 Student name: Victoria Lenchik Student ID: 700160 Question A 1) When there is a breach of contract the breaching party is liable for the damages. â€Å"The buyer’s rights include the right to reject the goods in some circumstances, the right to recover the price if already paid for total failure of consideration, damages for breach of warranty, damages for non-delivery, and an action to recover the goods and obtain consequential damages. (Understanding Commercial Law Edition 6 Summary page 403(24). The laundry recovered loss of profit because they didn’t receive the boiler on time which is obviously led to the loss of some profit for them. 2) The court awarded the plaintiff damages for loss of profit due to the late delivery. The defendant didn’t know about the special government contact, so that’s why the plaintiff did not receive it. Question B ) Section 30 states that it is the buyer’s duty to acce pt the goods. If he or she failed to do so, he or she can be sued for damages for non-acceptance. The buyer has the right to examine the goods, if he or she has not previously had the chance to do so the opportunity to do so must be given on request† example Finch Motors v Quin ( no 2) 1980. Source: Understanding Commercial Law Edition six page 390 – 391. The damages Huia Kiwifruit ltd would likely face are â€Å" estimated loss directly and naturally resulting in the ordinary course of events, from the buyers breach of contract† Huia Kiwifruit ltd has to sell the goods elsewhere and if there is any loss made on the resale that will be what is claimed by way of damages and if there is an available market for the goods , the damages will be the difference between the contract price and the market price at the time when the goods ought to have been accepted. Circumstances in which breach of contract will enable discharge to occur are found in the Contractual Rem edies Act 1979†. (Understanding Commercial Law Edition six Page 265). 2) Regarding to this situation we can see that Devil is in the role of the victim because the delivery of the fish to him was delayed. CL510 Assignment 2. Semester 2 May 2010 Student Name: Victoria Lenchik Student ID: 700160 â€Å"Section 52 is the mirror image for the buyer of the seller’s rights in section 51. This action for damages for non-delivery is subject to the Hadley v Baxendale rule, and often to the availability of a market for purchase of alternative goods at whatever price they can be obtained† (Understanding Commercial Law Edition Six page 399). Devlin can claim lost of damages for late supply. Contracts do not last for long in some cases. Question C TRUE OR FALSE 1. All agreements are contract – False 2. A gratuitous promise is not a contract- True 3. All contract must be in writing- False 4. A void contract has no effect in law- True 5. Consensus ad idem refers to the requirements that both parties to the contract must be give consideration- False 6. Breach of contract refers to the failure to carry out all or any of the obligations of the contract- True 7. The usual remedy for breach of contract is specific performance- True References * Understanding Commercial Law book by Gerbic Lawrence ( Sixth Edition). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Commercial Law" essay for you Create order