The Role of the Dead Letter Office Essay Example for Free

The Role of the Dead Letter Office Essay While Melville only mentions the Dead Letter Office in the last paragraph, he portrays its significance throughout the story. Melville reveals Bartleby previously worked in a Dead Letter Office, where he handled the monotonous task of burning undeliverable mail. Because the narrator views Bartleby as a mirthless man, he feels pity for Bartleby working at a place devoid of happiness. By employing a theme of lost hope, Melville describes the dead letters as mail, which fails to reach its destination with its encouraging message or item of value. Melville associates the melancholy present in Dead Letter Office with the strife evident in Bartlebys life. In Melvilles short story, the Dead Letter Office serves as an influence upon Bartlebys fastidious nature. Throughout the story, Bartleby expresses his preferences in regard to his work, which primarily result from the dissatisfaction he felt in his previous profession. Perhaps Bartlebys refusal in performing his duties signifies his dismissal of authority, which indicates Bartlebys desire to control his own life. By characterizing Bartleby as an isolated man, Melville demonstrates how Bartlebys environment separates him from nature and the company of others. Working in the narrators office, Bartleby occupies a secluded area near a window, where he constantly stares at a wall. Bartleby exhibits the behavior of a loner as he stays at the office even at night, when no one occupies the streets. When Melville states On errands of life, these letters speed to death, he refers to the Dead Letter Office as a symbol of mortality (Melville 52). In describing Bartlebys former occupation, the narrator even acquaints the dead letters of the mail center with dead men (51). Melville portrays the final depressing image of death through Bartlebys former workplace, the Dead Letter Office.

Social Role Play and the Search For Identity in Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby

Social Role Play and the Search For Identity in Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby When I think about women’s role in our society, especially nowadays, the first word that comes to my mind is ‘exhausted’. What I mean is that this subject is exhausted. There are so many literary and sociological interpretations of the physical and psychological female image that whatever I say or prove would be just another attempt to understand the ‘incomprehensible’. It’s not because I am a woman, or may be exactly because I am. But here the important expression is ‘I am’ and the extension can be endless. And what a human life is but an everlasting search for the right word that would complete the sentence. As if we could complete it, our personality will be completed as well. And after years of searching, finding and again searching, we finally understand that there are so many ‘I ams’ some of which have no logical explanation or certain definition and all are subjected to so many social and personal factors. Nevertheless I will turn to one literary interpretation, Kate Chopin’s Desiree’s ...

How to Build Relationship in a Small Business Essay

According to Gronroos (1997), marketing in relational terms means â€Å"To establish, maintain and enhance relationships with customers and other partners, at a profit so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is achieved by mutual exchange and fulfillment of promises†. As to whether a business will profitably benefit from investing in relationship with its customers and other stakeholders, a lot depends on the nature of the business. With regards to certain sectors, like the service sectors, it becomes imperative to develop the relationship with its customers, so as to ensure consistent growth and sustainable competitive advantage. In big organizations like the banks, the bureaucracy makes it difficult for these institutions to be responsive to the needs of their customers. Hence customer relationship building becomes problematic. But taking a small business like a hairdressing salon, various relationship management techniques are blindly employed by these hairdressers to build relationships with customers. This paper uses the situation of a hairdressing salon located at Akweteyman, a suburb of Accra, Ghana to explain how relationships with customers are built over the years. Top Curls Beauty Salon, located in Akweteyman, is owned and run by Joyce Owusuwaa. She has employed three hairstylists and has six apprentices. She has operated the business for Ten years, and currently is patronized by lots of women from the locality and beyond. Relationship management techniques clearly play out in such small businesses because of the fact that those delivering the services are mostly the owners, and have the passion to see the business grow, hence making them highly entrepreneurial. Conditions that are conducive to relationship management It is not every business that can profitably practice relationship management. Certain conditions must exist to foster the development of an intimate relationship with clients. According to Szmigin and Bourne (1998), the value of a relationship, and by implication the desire to commit to it, will depend on the nature of the service, the nature of the consumers and the nature of the situation. Berry (1983), discussing the service sector identifies three conditions for the applicability of Relationship Management. First of all, the customer has to show a continuing and periodic desire for the service. Secondly, the service customer must be able to select the service provider, and finally there must be a choice of suppliers available to the customer. Berry (1995), further points out that, high involvement services, such as banking, insurance and hairstyling services have the characteristics which lend themselves to relationship building. Taking the case of Top Curls Beauty Salon located at Akweteyman, a suburb of Accra, it has the conditions conducive to Relationship building. Women, both young and old, have a continuing and periodic (which could be fortnightly or weekly) desire to have a hairstyle that enhance their beauty and appearance. The clients, in this case the women themselves; do the selection of the hairstylist. There is also a plethora of hairstylists and salons around the Akweteyman locality, in which case constitutes a large pool of hair salons available to the customers. So how does Top Curls Beauty Salon build relationship with customers? Consistency of quality of service For Joyce, quality of service is very critical to building a long-term relationship with its customers. Quality of service, in terms of a hairstylist, has to do with how good the client feels at the end of delivering the service. Not necessarily the final product in terms of pleasant appearance, but how the person was attended to at the salon upon entering it, how the salon attendants as well as the final hairstylist were gentle with the hair of the client, may be in terms of how gently they stroke and caress the client’s hair and the kind of pep talks that went on with the client during the service, all go a long way to establish an excellent quality of service in the mind of the customer. This could lead to repeat patronage as well as referrals. But the question one may want to ask is; how does she ensure that this quality of service is at least maintained, even to the extent of her brief absence? Though she has about six apprentices, she also employs three hairstylists who had undergone an extensive training and coaching from established beauty schools, and mentoring from her. These three stylists have the flair for the job and assist her as well as deputize for her in case of her absence. In fact these girls are trained all-round, and can solve every client issue. Customization Every customer, be it existing or new, that enters Top Curls Beauty Salon is unique in lots of ways. Customers differ in their appearance, shape of their head, the texture of their hair, the color of their hair, the length of their hair, the strength of their scalp, their likes and dislikes, their socialization and exposure, level of education, age and complexion etc. One style will definitely not fit all of them. This calls for customized service. In fact the business of hairstyling thrives on variety and customization of services to individual customers. The hairdresser gains a better knowledge of the customer’s requirements and needs over periods of encounters. This knowledge can then be combined with social rapport built over a number of service encounters to tailor and customize the service to customer’s specifications. But there is a challenge for Joyce when a customer wants a style which is in vogue, but which will not fit the customer. In a situation like this, persuasion is done with all the tactness, and explanations given to convince the customer that a better style, which is also in vogue will best suit her and give her that â€Å"knockout† appearance and appeal. Customization is very much aided by the next point, which is; two-way communication dialogue. Two-way communication dialogue The rapport between a hairdresser and her customers is very important if a long term relationship is expected. The kind of communication dialogue that ensues in the salon does not only bolster the relationship, but also brings a lot of client issues to the fore so that the hairdresser can best satisfy the needs of the customer. According to Joyce, she constantly engages the customers in a dialogue, all to unearth their needs. Some customers, based on how they have been conditioned in other salons, just remain quiet throughout the period that they are being attended to. These customers leave the salon only to change their hairstyle as soon as they get to the house. By engaging them in a conversation, they feel comfortable to actually come out with how they want their hair to look like, hence promoting the likeliness of future business and referrals. It is only through a two way communication dialogue that customer needs could be met. High level of interaction There is a high level of interaction between a hairstylist and her customers. The relationship between a woman and her hairdresser is unique. This is because she develops an intimate relationship with her hairdresser as a result of visiting the salon regularly. Women go to the extent of confiding in their hairdressers on issues like personal relationships or marriage and family issues. Why won’t they, if they trust their hairdressers enough to alter their physical appearance, sometimes radical? For some customers, it is all about enjoying the whole experience of going to the hairdresser. For this people, you can always have a good chart at the hairdresser’s salon, as well as catch up on the latest gossip. Hence hairdressers initiate certain lines of conversations and gossips, especially fashion, all to get the salon exciting. Some also go to the salon because they need someone to talk to. They tell their hairdresser really personal things, having in their mind that thei r hairdresser is a good person to speak to, because they are completely separated from their lives. With the advent of technology, this form of bonding with customers is enhanced by mobile phones, which makes it possible for the interactive platform to be extended outside the salon. Plays a professional as well as an advisory role Hairdressers play a professional as well as advisory role to their customers. One could classify them as â€Å"informal† psychologists, who exert a level of influence on their customers, not only to change their hairstyles, but positively impact on their lives. Moreover, by virtue of their knowledge in hair grooming and taking care of hair in terms of what hair products the consumer should avoid and those that are suitable (health wise) to them, hairdressers always have the client at heart and appear to act in the interest of the client. If a client should suffer a hair loss, or let’s say suffer a scalp infection as a result of misapplication of a particular hair product, it will adversely impact on the relationship with the client, and generate a negative word of mouth as well. This situation, the hairdresser avoids as much as she can. These are some of the main reasons why she ensures that clients’ hairs are attended to by her and the three most qualified emplo yees. Just to avoid such incidents. Hence, the clients trust the hairdresser to take care of their hair, which the hairdressers consistently do, in their daily dispensations. High commitment and fulfillment of promises From the above point, one can say that hairdressers exhibit a high level of commitment towards the client, and help the clients solve their hair problems. A typical example is when clients consult their hair dresser on problem of hair loss and breakage. The hairdresser goes the extra mile in recommending an appropriate product for solving the problem. Some hairdressers go to the extent of purchasing the product and assisting the client in applying it, all for a fee, and which helps in bonding with the customer. Hence, a constant commitment to solving the hair problems of the client goes a long way to improve on the relationship with the customer. Furthermore, the hairdresser endeavors to fulfill her promises to the client. It is not easy trusting anybody to change your appearance or outlook. What is the assurance and likelihood that you would like the final appearance you are given? Hairdressers, by leveraging their skills and flair, fulfill the promise of making the client feel good at the end of the service delivery. There are situations where some clients refer new customers, and a challenge appears in terms of satisfying this new customer, and fulfilling the expectation and hype. But hairdressers leverage the two-way dialogue to meet the expectations of this new customer. Long-term orientation and horizon Long-term orientation and horizon is a key feature hairdressers use to build a lasting relationship with customers. How long a customer is kept in a relationship and share of their wallet they spend in that salon is very important to the long-term profitability of the hairdresser. There are situations where customers had relocated to a distant suburb in the capital, and yet trek to the old suburb just to patronize the services of a trusted hairdresser. It is important to see customers as partners rather than opposite parties, as highlighted by Gummesson (1999). He goes on to pontificate that long-term collaboration and â€Å"win-win† as a key feature of building relationships. This view promotes collaboration, and creation of mutual value for both the hairdresser and the customer. There are situations where hairdressers freely apply certain pomades or sprays, at least initially, just to woo these clients in the long-term. Sometimes too, customers are given discounts just to get them to patronize the salon for a longer period. Hairdressers, in this sense, do not wholly transfer cost to the customers. Customers are handed certain benefits which in the long run make them loyal to the hairdresser. This loyalty is sometimes assured and maintained even when customers relocate to different localities. Customer lifetime value Finally, hairdressers view customers, though crudely, in terms of their lifetime value to the business of hairdressing. They nurture the notion that if you can best satisfy and delight a particular customer the more likely you are to have a sustained relationship with the client. This lifetime relationship could be extended to the client referring family members and close peers to that particular salon. Furthermore, taking such a position makes it difficult for the client to break the relationship with the hairdresser. How has Top Curls Beauty Salon benefited from developing such relations? First and foremost, the fact that she has established a bonding relationship with them, the customers do not react negatively to price increments, since they know they are getting value for money. Besides, compared to the prices competing salons are charging in the locality, Top Curls Beauty Salon’s charges could be termed as premium, yet the customers see it as appropriate. Again, some customers move to distant localities and yet regularly visit the salon. The client base of the salon has greatly increased as a result of referrals from these customers. The salon has been able to leverage their service â€Å"brand† into other forms of grooming. The salon now does manicure and pedicure as well. But all these are not without hitches and challenges. Not every relationship developed has yielded the returns. In fact some has yielded negative returns. But on the whole, building a lifelong relationship with its customers has brought some level of success. REFERENCES Gronroos, C. (1997) ‘From marketing mix to relationship marketing – towards a paradigm shift in marketing’, Management Decisions, 35, 4, 322-339 Szmigin, I. and Bourne, H. (1998) ‘Consumer equity in relationship marketing’, Journal of consumer marketing, 15, 6, 544-557 Berry, L. L. (1983) ‘Relationship marketing’, in L. L. Berry, G. L. Sostack and G. Opah (eds) Emerging Perspectives on services marketing, Chicago, II: American Marketing Association, 25-28. Berry, L. L. (1995) ‘Relationship Marketing of Services, Growing Interest, Emerging Perspectives’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23, 4, 236-245. Gummesson, E. (1999) Total Relationship Marketing – Rethinking Marketing Management : From 4Ps to 30Rs, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Market Star Human Resource Management Analysis - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2006 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/09/12 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? Market Star Human Resource Management Analysis Brief History Founded in 1988, MarketStar is a sales and marketing outsourcing company providing flexible retail, VAR (Value-added reseller) and direct sales solutions for the worlds leading and emerging companies. MarketStar uses skilled sales and marketing professionals and industry-proven go-to-market tools and intelligence to help clients accelerate sales and achieve market dominance. Its proficiency in recruiting professional and dedicated outsourced sales staff that delivers actionable knowledge has enabled them to consistently produce predictable and profitable results. MarketStar was founded by Alan Hall in his basement in Ogden, Utah. MarketStar is still headquarted in Ogden, Utah, but serves companies all over the country. Now, MarketStar has approximately 2,500 employees worldwide serving clients in more than 20 countries on six different continents. MarketStar is a part of Omnicom Group (NYSE: OMC)—the worlds leading marketing communications company. This affiliation allows MarketStar to collaborate with other Omnicom Group members to better serve its clients. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Market Star Human Resource Management Analysis" essay for you Create order Dave Treadway, president and CEO since 2003, is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of MarketStar. Under Treadways direction, MarketStar has accelerated investments in thought-based leadership, including market analysis. MarketStar represents several Fortune 500 companies, including Hewlett-Packard (14), Verizon Communications (17), Microsoft (44), and Cisco Systems (71). MarketStar employees drive an average of $5 billion in sales for their clients each year. Characteristics of a good Human Resource Management Most Important * Employment Security * Selectivity in Recruiting * Fair Wages/Incentive Pay * Employee Ownership/Participation and Empowerment * Information Sharing * Self-Managed Teams/Training and Skill Development * Promotion from Within Employment Security MarketStar is contracted to represent other companies, which implies that job security is not guaranteed. The companies represented by MarketStar could decide to forgo the services provided; causing a lack of jobs for the teams that represented the dismissed company. In such scenarios, MarketStar does all possible to move the employees of the dismissed teams to other teams available. The downside to employment security at MarketStar is there is simply no future work guarantee. When certain MarketStar accounts close, the company may have no choice but to lay the employees off. However, in our survey, the majority of MarketStar employees felt fairly comfortable that job security was available to an extent. Some employees were even found in the situation of an account closing, but were repositioned and kept their jobs as different employees in different teams. We feel the employment security at MarketStar is rated around the average score because even though there is no guaranteed work for life, MarketStar will help to keep their current employees with the business. Layoffs may come but mostly due to outside circumstances. Selectivity in Recruiting MarketStar helps many different types of companies and therefore attempts to place MarketStar employees to best fit the needs of their clients, other companies. MarketStar posts job opening on their website with a brief overview of their company and then the responsibilities expected of the opening they are seeking. Here is an example of a current job opening in Ogden, UT for a Player/Coach Inside Sales Rep. Marketstar currently has an opportunity available for Inside Sales Player Coach who will be responsible to work with the Inside Sales Account Managers to provide sales support and be responsible for outbound calls into prospective accounts regarding inContact products, services and provide leadership for the team. RESPONSIBILITIES: †¢ Assist manager with day to day management of the team †¢ Identify needed skill sets, and teach those skills to those he/she upervises, both in individual and group settings †¢ Understand the industry and the client’s business objectives and develop and implement a strategy that will achieve those objectives †¢ Responsible for sales lead entry REQUIREMENTS: †¢ College degree preferred †¢ 5 years+ work experience †¢ Knowledge and experience in the B2B channel and IT industry †¢ At least 1 year previous management/coa ching experience †¢ Previous sales and marketing experience needed †¢ Prior experience in handling customers †¢ Must be detail oriented Strong ability to multi task and manage time †¢ General knowledge of the business to business sales process †¢ Motivated to excel in results and be a self-starter †¢ Must have a technology aptitude MarketStar does not discriminate in any aspect of employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, age, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local employment discrimination laws where MarketStar does business. This job posting shows they are very selective with requirements such as, 5 years+ experience, must be detail oriented, at least 1 year previous management, etc. If you apply online for this job it requires an answer from each one of the requirements listed above. Since MarketStar is very specific in the needs they are looking for we do not recommend in changes in this area. Fair Wages/Incentive Pay MarketStar offers competitive wages with very competitive benefits. Although exact salaries and wages are not made available, nearly all of the surveyed employees expressed feelings of being paid fairly in regards to their job responsibilities. MarketStar also offers performance-based bonuses, work related reimbursements such as mileage reimbursements and cell phone service reimbursements, and other pay incentives that are all dependent on the position and the client. MarketStar also offers competitive benefits including multiple medical and dental plan options, paid holidays with additional floating holidays, paid vacation and personal time, 401k matching, stock purchase options, and more. Some of the extra benefits that MarketStar employees receive include employee discounts, paid birthdays off work, semi frequent contests, and extracurricular activities during the paid workday such as movie days or barbeques. In the end, MarketStar seems to rank pretty highly in regards to competitive pay and benefits. Employee Ownership/Participation and Empowerment Employees are given personal and team related goals that are generally measured monthly or quarterly. Although this allows employees to have a direct affect on the organization, the consensus of the surveyed employees was that they were not involved in the goal setting or KPI setting process. Certain positions within the company do allow employees to manage their territories, work schedules, and customer base individually; however, some positions are not as flexible. It seems that employee empowerment is based on what position you have and what client you represent. I recommend that MarketStar implement a goal setting procedure that includes input from the entire team. Each team member of each team should be given the opportunity to participate in the goal setting process to give him or her more empowerment over the work they will set out to achieve. Along with participating in goal setting, employees should be given the opportunity to make decisions on individual and team procedures and requirements to meet the expectations and goals of the individual and team. Information Sharing MarketStar has an internal website where employees can view information and past articles that were written. The public website also contains some information on financials. Occasionally, MarketStar sends emails with information about the company. From an employee perspective, MarketStar does not share much information as a whole to employees, but more on an individual team base. We recommend that MarketStar focus more on sharing information about the position of the whole company through more detailed email reports. This could help employees feel more important about the job they are performing and that it is making a difference to MarketStar as a whole. Self Managed Teams/Training and Skill Development We consider MarketStar’s new hire training to be average. The overall consensus in our survey was adequate but not great. Several online trainings are provided throughout one’s employment. Some are required and some are optional. These online trainings are centered on several different skills associated with general and specific topics. New employees at MarketStar are typically trained face to face, on the job, involving a lot of ride-a-longs and observation scenarios. A leadership training section is also available to help train certain employees. In this training, skills are developed to improve leadership throughout MarketStar. Discipline, compensation, interviewing, and recruiting are some of the topics covered. We found that leadership is a big part of MarketStar because there is a large amount of work done in teams. Teams are self-managed in many situations and have helped MarketStar provide the best service to each company with an account. The recommendations we have for self-managed teams and training-skill development is to provide more in-depth training for new employees. The employees surveyed shared that the training was only considered adequate. This will also help to continue to improve the well-roundedness of employees to enable teams the knowledge to handle non-typical cases they may come across. Better self-managed teams can assist in efficiently providing the service requested. Promotion from within Recruiting within provides current employees advancement for superior performance. Recruiting within supplements and encourages other high performance characteristics such as training and employee empowerment. By promoting within, an organization is less likely see other companies benefit from its training efforts. Needless to say, an employee can feel in charge of their destiny when opportunities are available for their hard work and dedication. Like a chain reaction a list of positive attributes spring from hiring from within; high morale, high employee engagement, retention of valuable employees. At MarketStar existing employees generally have first opportunity at open positions. Although there are a number of avenues for announcing new positions, employees are generally alerted to open positions via email. One employee feels that most managers he knows were hired internally. MarketStar prefers to train and develop their employees to prepare them for more responsibility. Candidates for internal promotions or transfers must meet minimal qualifications, have performed in a current position for a period of 12 months, and must not be in any disciplinary situations. The employees at MarketStar feel they have a better chance at open positions than someone externally. They also feel they can be rewarded for their experience and performance. MarketStar deserves high marks after review their internal hiring practices. MarketStar HR Characteristics Ratings We evaluated each HR Characteristics on a rating from 1-10, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. . MarketStar Employee Survey 1. Do you feel secure in your job? Do you feel like you could work at Market Star for as long as you would like? All of the employees who responded answered that they currently do feel secure. However, one of them was laid off from another account prior to working on their current one or knew of others who had been laid off. 2. Did you feel you received enough training for your position? If so, what kind of training did you receive? The general consensus was that training was overall adequate but could be a little more frequent and in depth. Most training was done in person for new hire training, and online training throughout their employment. 3. Do you feel that you were selected as an employee based on your experience or credentials? Yes, all employees answered that past experience and credentials as well as having a good interview. 4. Do you feel that MarketStar shares the information, financials, future plans, etc,  that you are interested in? Most employees stated that they did not know. This probably means no. They do get occasional emails and know that some of it is posted on the employee website. 5. Do you feel like you are paid fairly for the work you do? All employees answered yes. How would you rate Marketstars benefits? Every employee answered either average or above average. * Above average * Average * Below average 6. Do you feel that you are empowered in your position? The answers on this one varied from yes because employees are given control over their territories and schedule, and no, because they are not involved in goal setting or other decisions. . Do you feel that you are given a fair chance when promotions become available? All answered yes based on how long they have been there and their performance. 8. Does MarketStar give internal employees a better shot at promotions than external employees? The perception from the employees was yes that internal employees were given priority over external employees. Sources www. marketstart. com, Scott Lewis à ¢â‚¬â€œ MarketStar Employee Other Employees from MarketStar