For This Exercise, I Went To The Sfu Fitness Centre. The

For this exercise, I went to the SFU fitness centre. The gym is mainly intended for staff and students, although it is open to the public for a fee ranging from $5-$45 per month, should they wish to make the trek up the mountain. They have a variety of equipment available for use, including exercise and cardio machines as well as free weights. Upon entering the fitness centre, there is a desk with staff, however, the electronic system simply requires members to scan their membership card – or their student card, as tuition includes membership. Most people who use the gym seem to be familiar with this system, which requires little input from the attending staff. The entrance is on the upper level of the fitness centre and opens into the†¦show more content†¦The veteran gym-goer proceeded to show her more novice friend how to use the cardio machine to achieve a more effective workout. After the initial tutorial, they both started working, and they seldom spoke for the remainder of their workout, their interaction limited to her easing up her friend’s difficulty level. Once they had finished with their machines, the veteran wiped hers and her friend’s machines down – thereby acting as an agent of socialisation and introducing him to a fitness centre norm – before they went to do som e stretching and cool-down. This area seemed to be the source of most of the conversations in the fitness centre. Because people were less focused on their exercise, they were freer to interact with each other and did so. Each person has their own goals and reasons for being there, although they may be similar. I overheard one girl talking, for instance, about her mother’s health problems; a possible reason for her to exercise while she is able. The machines all have different settings, both for height and difficulty, and there is an array of different weights to accommodate the wide range of goals and ability levels. Users can thereby use agency to choose a fitness regimen and difficulty level to fit their abilities, challenge them, and still stay within their physical limits. The manifest functions of a fitness centre like SFU’s are quite

Public Reactions to the Qantas Grounding Crisis Free Essays

string(33) " of crisis accounts or apologia\." Despite a growing number of studies on crisis communication, there is very little research that examines corporate crises from a consumer perspective, particularly for crisis case studies within Australia. Using Yin’s (2002) framework for case study research methods, this research group conducted a qualitative content analysis of 1121 audience comments attached to three news articles on the 2011 Qantas grounding crisis. Using Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1986, 1995) and the qualitative content analysis software; Leximancer, we used these comments to deconstruct audience perceptions of the Qantas crisis and isolate different emotional, attitudinal and behavioural responses. We will write a custom essay sample on Public Reactions to the Qantas Grounding Crisis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Our first major finding indicated that the majority of audience members attributed the cause of the Qantas crisis to managerial decisions or union action. Working Conditions and Government policy was also found to be secondary factors to the crisis cause. We also found these four causal factors to be strongly associated with audience’s responsibility judgments. The four key responsible stakeholder groups that emerged from our analysis were Alan Joyce (Qantas Management), Unions, Employees and the Labor Government. Another important focus of this study examined audience’s crisis emotions. Anger was found to be the predominant emotion that emerged from our analysis and was largely directed towards management and union stakeholders. Sympathy also emerged as a secondary emotion but was largely directed towards employees and management. Our final research finding uncovered a number of behavioural intentions within the audience comments. While the majority of these behavioural intentions centre around avoidance and negative purchase intentions, a few increased investment intentions also emerged. Although our Leximancer analysis was restricted by a number of technical limitations, these research findings indicate that Weiner’s Attribution Theory can be successfully applied to a real life crisis case study. Despite a growing number of studies on crisis communication, there is very little research that examines corporate crises from a consumer perspective, particularly for crisis case studies within Australia. Using Yin’s (2002) framework for case study research methods, this research group conducted a qualitative content analysis of 1121 audience comments attached to three news articles on the 2011 Qantas grounding crisis. Using Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1986, 1995) and the qualitative content analysis software; Leximancer, we used these omments to deconstruct audience perceptions of the Qantas crisis and isolate different emotional, attitudinal and behavioural responses. Our first major finding indicated that the majority of audience members attributed the cause of the Qantas crisis to managerial decisions or union action. Working Conditions and Government policy was also found to be secondary factors to the crisis cause. We also found these four causal factors to be s trongly associated with audience’s responsibility judgments. The four key responsible stakeholder groups that emerged from our analysis were Alan Joyce (Qantas Management), Unions, Employees and the Labor Government. Another important focus of this study examined audience’s crisis emotions. Anger was found to be the predominant emotion that emerged from our analysis and was largely directed towards management and union stakeholders. Sympathy also emerged as a secondary emotion but was largely directed towards employees and management. Our final research finding uncovered a number of behavioural intentions within the audience comments. While the majority of these behavioural intentions centre around avoidance and negative purchase intentions, a few increased investment intentions also emerged. Although our Leximancer analysis was restricted by a number of technical limitations, these research findings indicate that Weiner’s Attribution Theory can be successfully applied to a real life crisis case study. Abstract Tamara Dorrington (s4177314) | Sarah Natasha Raziff (s4275762) | Jasmine Soriano (s4272997) | Kate Fitzpatrick (s4201686) | Roxanne Lim (s4256084) Supervisor: Lyn McDonald The University of Queensland, 2012 Tamara Dorrington (s4177314) | Sarah Natasha Raziff (s4275762) | Jasmine Soriano (s4272997) | Kate Fitzpatrick (s4201686) | Roxanne Lim (s4256084) Supervisor: Lyn McDonald The University of Queensland, 2012 Public Reactions to The Qantas Grounding Crisis, A Qualitative Content Analysis A corporate crisis often poses an unpredictable threat that can have resounding effects on an organization and its stakeholders (Coombs, 1999, 2010). These effects are largely dependent on how effectively the crisis is managed (Coombs, 2010) and upon stakeholder’s perceptions of the crisis cause (McDonald, Sparks Glendon, 2010). To date there has been very little research on consumer reactions to corporate crises (McDonald, et al. 2010), especially for crises  outside the United States (Lee, 2004). In order to understand the implications of this research project on crisis communication, one must first gain an understanding of the Qantas grounding crisis. As one of Australia’s leading domestic and international airline brands, Qantas has a well-established reputation for upholding â€Å"excellence in safety, operational reliability, engineering, maintenance and customer service† (Qantas, 2012, pp. 2). On October 2011, the company faced one of the largest corporate crises in its 95 years of history, a crisis that had widespread negative impacts on its reputation. After months of failed negotiations between management and union representatives, around 4000 Qantas employees took part in an organized strike, demanding greater job security, better wages and fairer working conditions. Qantas management responded by grounding its entire domestic and international fleet, locking out staff involved in the action and stranding around 68,000 passengers worldwide (Sydney Morning Herald, 2011). The Federal Government also became involved in the dispute, threatening to terminate strikes under the Fair Work Act if negotiations between union members and management proved unsuccessful (new. com. au, 2011) Our case study analysis adds to existing crisis research by analyzing 1121 audience comments attached to three news articles on the Qantas grounding crisis: 734 comments from the Sydney Morning Herald article (Live: FWA orders Qantas dispute terminated, 2011), 171 comments from the ABC article (Qantas grounds its entire fleet, 2011) and 216 comments from the news. om. au article (Qantas crisis: Who won and who’s to blame). Using Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1986, 1995) as a theoretical framework, we used the comments from these three articles to deconstructed audience perceptions of the Qantas crisis and isolate audience member’s different emotional, attitudinal and behavioral responses. While studies into crisis communication are a popular area of researc h, much of the existing research has used experimental designs to examine the effectiveness of different types of crisis accounts or apologia. You read "Public Reactions to the Qantas Grounding Crisis" in category "Essay examples" A case study analysis of audience reactions to the 2011 Qantas grounding crisis has many wider implications for crisis management strategies in future. First, by evaluating audience comments, this study provides an insight into stakeholder crisis reactions that may have greater generalizability than experimental studies. Second, knowledge of audience’s attribution processes will help future public relations managers to mitigate negative crisis outcomes and manage brand reputation more effectively. Literature Review To date, there has been very little research on consumer reactions to corporate crises (McDonald, et al. , 2010) particularly for crisis cases outside the United States (Lee, 2004). The majority of existing literature has approached crisis communication from an organisational perspective, using experimental design to examine the relationship between different types of crisis accounts and consumer’s purchase intentions (Lee, 2004). Very little research has taken a content analysis approach, examining audience reactions to real life crises cases. In bridging this gap, it is relevant to examine real life audience perceptions of crisis cause their association with different emotional, attitudinal and behavioral responses. According to Lee (2004), taking a consumer orientated approach should provide valuable insights into how individuals understand and react to organisational crises. Such knowledge would help public relations managers to mitigate negative crisis outcomes and manage brand reputation more effectively. Theoretical Framework: Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1986, 1995) Our research was primarily guided by Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory (WAT), which examines the psychological process by which individuals understand and react to external events. While WAT was originally used as a theoretical framework for examining interpersonal relationships, it has been successfully applied to the context of company crises (McDonald et al. , 2010). Adapting Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory (WAT) audiences bserve and interpret events, such as the Qantas crisis, making attributions about its cause along two causal dimensions: Locus (whether the cause was internal or external to the company) and Controllability (whether the cause was controllable or uncontrollable). The interpretation of crisis cause under these two constructs leads to a responsibility judgement that, in turn, results in emotions, which then influences behaviors (McDonald et. al. , 2010). Weiner (1995) also suggests that mitigating circumstances or personal relevance may also impact the individual’s responsibility judgement or the strength of their emotional reaction. The relationship between the various components of Weiner’s (1986, 1995) theoretical framework is depicted in the flow chart below. Mitigating Circumstances Mitigating Circumstances In order to successfully apply Weiner’s (1986, 1195) Attribution Theory (WAT) to the context of the 2011 Qantas grounding crisis, we first examined the individual components of this theoretical framework. A)   Attributions of Cause (Locus and Controllability) As previously discussed, Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory (WAT) suggests that audiences evaluate an event and make attributions about its cause along two dimensions. The Locus dimension refers to the location of the crisis cause as being either internal or external to the organisation (Lee, 2004). Controllability refers to whether the crisis cause is within the control of the organisation or not (Lee, 2004). According to Lee (2004) a crisis cause that is within the boundaries of an organisation (internal locus) is also often perceived as controllable. Likewise, a crisis cause that judged to be outside the organisation (external locus) is often viewed as uncontrollable (Lee, 2004). However Coombs (1995) and McDonald et. al. (2010) both hypothesised that crises could be internal and controllable (neglected maintenance), internal and uncontrollable (employee sabotage), external and controllable (failure to comply with government regulations) as well as external and uncontrollable (terrorism sabotage). The graph below represents the causal matrix summarized by McDonald et. al. (2010) | Internal| External| Controllable| Neglected Maintenance| Failure to comply with government regulations | Uncontrollable| Employee Sabotage | Terrorism Sabotage| In the context of the Qantas crisis, this leads us to the following research questions: Research Question 1: What are the audience perceptions of the key contributing factors to the crisis cause? Research Question 2: Are these key factors internal and controllable or external and uncontrollable? According to Coombs (1995) the causal dimensions of Locus and Controllability have a direct impact upon an audience’s crisis response. A study by Folkes (1984) found that locus and controllability had separate effects on customers’ responsibility judgments, emotions and behavioral intentions. Lee (2004) also suggested that, in a crisis context, events that were perceived to be internal and controllable were viewed more negatively by audience members than those that were considered external and uncontrollable (Lee, 2004). Although separating these two constructs was challenging in analyzing audience comments, the following research questions aided us in mapping out ideas for our Leximancer data analysis. Research question 3: What crisis causes are associated with negative and positive crisis reactions? B)   Ã‚  Responsibility Judgment The next step in Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory is the process by which individuals attribute responsibility. Social psychologists Fincham and Jaspars (1980) noted that, in an interpersonal context, individuals would often go beyond the attributions of causality to make judgments about who should be held accountable for an observed outcome. Likewise, audiences will assign crisis responsibility after a causal attribution (Lee, 2004). The direction and degree of responsibility judgment will therefore depend upon the audience’s attributions of crisis cause (Lee, 2004). Coombs and Holladay (1996, 2002) and Jorgensen (1994, 1996) both used Weiner’s (1986, 1995) causal dimensions of locus and controllability as the foundation for their studies into crisis communication. All found perceptions of crisis cause to be a major determinant of responsibility judgments and subsequent stakeholder reactions. Of particular relevance to our current study, Lee (2004) found crises that were perceived to be internal (locus) and controllable (controllability) were more likely to bring about responsibility judgments aimed at the company and its managers. On the other hand, audiences tended to attribute less blame to the company in situations where the crisis cause was viewed as external and uncontrollable, instead reacting with sympathy and support (Lee, 2004). In analysing audience comments through the use of the Leximancer program, we aim to uncover public sentiment and reveal what major stakeholder groups or individuals are held responsible for the 2011 Qantas crisis. This leads us to the following research question: Research question 4: What stakeholder groups are perceived to be responsible for the crisis? C)   Ã‚  Crisis Emotions According to Choi and Lin (2009) there is a strong need to explore a variety of crisis emotions, in particular the impact that crisis emotions have upon attitudes toward the company and upon subsequent behavioral intentions (McDonald et. l. , 2010). Several studies (e. g. Coombs ; Holladay; 1996, 2002, Jorgensen; 1994, 1996 and Lee; 2004) have used Weiner’s causal dimensions of locus and controllability, finding causal attributions to be a major determinant of stakeholder crisis emotions. McDonald et. al. (2010) found that crisis controllability was the single strongest predictor of anger, sympathy a nd negative attitude while Lee (2004) found that in cases where crises were viewed as uncontrollable, pity was elicited. In McDonald’s (2010) study, internal crises were found to correspond with fear and surprise while external crises were more likely to result in a sympathetic emotion response (McDonald et al. , 2010). These findings validate the concept within Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory that causal attribution precedes responsibility judgment, which in turn affects crisis emotions. This leads us to the following research question for our Qantas crisis analysis: Research question 5: What audience emotions have emerged? D)   Ã‚  Behavioral Intentions While responsibility judgment affects emotions, emotions, in turn, impact upon behavioral intentions (Weiner, 1995). Several studies have investigated the relationship between crisis emotion (anger, fear, sadness, joy, surprise) and consumer’s behavioral intentions. A review of previous literature by McDonald et at. (2010) found that anger influences punitiveness (Jorgensen, 1996), negative purchase intentions (Coombs ; Holladay, 2007), negative word of mouth (Coombs ; Holladay, 2007) and indirectly lowers investment intentions (Jorgensen, 1996). Sadness lead to a higher reliance on emotional support while fear was associated with venting intentions or avoidance (Jin, 2009). Coombs and Holladay (2007) also found that dissatisfied customers were more likely to voice negative sentiments about a product or service than happy customers. This leads us to our final research question regarding the application of Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory to audience’s Qantas crisis response: Research Question 6: What audience behavioral intentions have emerged? Based upon the review of existing literature, the current case study examined how Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory can be applied to a current crisis case in Australia using actual stakeholder comments. In particular, we expect to uncover associations between Weiner’s (1986, 1995) causal constructs (locus and controllability), judgments of responsibility, emotions and behavioral intentions within the context of audience comments. Methodology According to Yin (1994), case studies involve a methodical way of looking at an instance or event within its real-life context. It is a process of collecting data, analyzing information, and reporting the results in order to gain a sharpened understanding of why a particular event occurred, and what might be relevant to future research in the area (Yin, 1994). This research project involved the development of a case study analysis that followed a reputation crisis faced by the Australian national airline, Qantas, in October of 2011. By conducting a content analysis of 1121 audience comments, this group was able to deconstruct the crisis narrative and examine audience’s attribution process during the 2011 Qantas crisis. Yin defined the research design as a sequence that links data to the study’s research questions and findings. In order to address our research questions, this group adopted a variation of Yin’s (1994) case study design, collecting appropriate evidence, analysing the data and reporting on the findings. Step one of Yin’s (1994) case study research methods involved the collection of data for content analysis. Yin (1994) noted that data collection could rely on many sources of evidence, one of which includes documentation such as media articles. Following Yin’s (1994) data collection guidelines, this group collected 1121 reader comments attached to three news articles on the Qantas crisis, including 734 comments from the Sydney Morning Herald online (Live: FWA orders Qantas dispute terminated), 171 comments from the ABC website (Qantas grounds its entire fleet) and 216 comments from news. com. au (Qantas crisis: Who won and who’s to blame). We then inputted the 1121 audience comments into an excel spreadsheet, organising them on the basis of media source and comment characteristics. The second step in Yin’s cases study research methods is data analysis. This involves examining and categorizing evidence that is relevant to the study (Yin, 1994). To achieve this, we conducted a content analysis, aided by the concept association software; Leximancer. According to Hsieh and Shannon (2005) a qualitative content analysis is one of numerous research methods used to analyse text data. Qualitative content analyses go beyond a simple word association and instead involves an in depth classification of language into an efficient number of categories with similar meanings (Weber, 1990). Leximancer is a software program designed to perform this conceptual analyses of text data in a largely independent manner (Smith, 2003). It is able to analyse large volumes of comments and to statistically assess the association between words, identifying emergent themes in the body of text. The basis for Leximancer’s qualitative data analysis is a concept association matrix that is built from frequency data (Rooney, 2005). The result is a visual map and insight dashboard that identifies the relational characteristics of key concepts (Middleton, Liesch Steen, 2011). However this raw Leximancer data requires further human analysis. By further analysing these Leximancer results we were able to analyse audience reactions to the Qantas grounding crisis under the construct of Weiner’s (1986, 1995) attribution theory. The final phase of Yin’s cases study research methods involves reporting the results and checking their validity. According to Yin (1994) content analyses involve a danger of committing what has been called the narrative fallacy. This fallacy consists of a propensity to simplify data through a preference for compact stories over complex data sets (Yin, 1994). In case study research, the way to avoid the narrative fallacy is no different from any other error: the usual consistent checks for validity and reliability in how data is collected, analyzed and presented. Therefore it was important to conduct a thorough check of the Leximancer results, correlating Leximancer findings with contextual examples within the article comments and providing exemplar samples of audience statements. Research Results Leximancer is able to generate two types of sentiment analysis reports: a visual concept map showing a detailed assembly of prominent concepts, and an insight dashboard which provides quantitative rankings of concepts and their associated terms (Middleton, et al, 2011). The insight dashboard generates information about the data set by analysing the frequency, strength and prominence of reoccurring terms within the text. It then organises these terms into ‘categories’, which are groups of recurring sentiments, and ‘concepts’, which are ideas that bear a strong contextual link to these categories (Middleton, et al, 2011). Leximancer also automatically identifies ‘compound concepts’, which are two terms that are mentioned adjacent to one another within the context of a larger category (Middleton, et al, 2011). Leximancer analyses the data set using a default thesaurus which it uses to identify terms as ‘positive evidence’ towards a certain sentiment or category. The user can also adjust the focus of the output results by controlling a number of manual settings within the program. By adjusting these settings, results in answer to our research questions were analysed. Research Question 1 asked â€Å"what are the audience perceptions of the key contributing factors to the crisis cause? † In order to answer this research question, a preliminary Leximancer analysis, examining key causal factors, was conducted. The concept map in figure 1 was generated by inputting all 1121 audience comments into the Leximancer program and adjusting the thesaurus settings to recognise related terms (such as ‘Alan Joyce’ and ‘AJ’). The resulting concept map clearly illustrates the key causal categories and maps their association with surrounding terms. The main causal concepts that emerge from figure 1 are ‘union action’, ‘managerial decisions’, ‘working conditions’ and ‘industrial action’. These four terms appear as prominent categories from which smaller, related concepts stem. Figure 1: Leximancer concept map The concept map in figure 1 forms the foundation for the subsequent graphs 2 and 3, where these key concepts are examined in more depth using related data from the insight dashboard. Examining these four main causal categories and their related terms, we can begin to deconstruct the narrative surrounding the Qantas crisis. In particular, we can begin to analyse audience member’s attribution process in terms of Weiner’s theoretical framework. Figure 2 (below) is a pie chart, isolating the four main causal categories and their associated terms. The terms surrounding each main category represent the associated concepts that appeared with relative frequency and strength under each main causal category. Terms such as ‘pathetic’, ‘appalled’ and ‘abominable’ were linked strongly with Managerial Decisions, while Union Action was associated with concepts such as ‘bloody minded’, ‘bashing’ and ‘dominated’. Industrial Action was positioned within the context of government policy with related terms such as ‘Gillard’, ‘Fair Work Act’ and ‘Labor’. Finally, ‘Working Conditions’ can be seen positioned alongside key terms like ‘employees’, ‘pay’ and ‘unreasonable’ Figure 2: Four key crisis factors and related terms Figure 3 shows a further breakdown of each of the four main causal categories. Each pie chart was generated using the quantitative data in the insight dashboard, which outlines the strength, frequency and prominence of the four key categories and their related terms. The first of the four pie graphs explores the category of ‘Managerial Decisions’. Here we can see that the two major concepts associated with the managerial decisions category are MGMT (an acronym for management) and Alan Joyce. ‘Brand’, ‘restructures’ and ‘failures’ are secondary concepts that also appeared in association with Managerial Decisions. The second pie graph depicts the breakdown of concepts associated with the category of Industrial Action. Here, industrial action is positioned closely with concepts such as ‘Gillard’, ‘Fair Work Australia’ and ‘Federal Government’. Therefore it is evident that this causal category refers to the impact of government policy on the Qantas crisis. In the working conditions pie graph, the strong association between terms such as ‘employees’, ‘afford’ and ‘earn’ with terms such as ‘pay rise, ‘wages, and ‘salary’ indicate that one of the causes of this crisis involved current pay schemes and unfair working conditions. Finally, ‘Union action’ is also identified as a main contributing factor to the crisis cause. This pie graph explores this category by highlighting some of its key associated terms. In particular, one can see the clear association between ‘unions’, ‘demands’ and ‘striking’. In the context of the Qantas crisis, union groups made a number of demands regarding current working conditions and this was responsible for a large majority of subsequent employee strikes. Figure 3: graphs exploring the compound categories of managerial decisions, working conditions, Industrial action, and union action Research Question 2 was concerned with the application of Weiner’s (1986, 1995) causal dimensions of Locus and Controllability. It asked whether the key causal factors in the Qantas crisis (identified in figures 1 – 3) could be classified as internal and controllable or external and uncontrollable. As previously discussed in our literature review, past studies on crisis communication have shown that crises can be either be internal and controllable (neglected maintenance), internal and uncontrollable (employee sabotage), external and controllable (failure to comply with government regulations) or external and uncontrollable (terrorist sabotage). If we adapt our understanding of McDonald et al. 2010) we can apply the following attribution matrix to the current Qantas case study. Figure 4: Qantas’ attribution matrix . Research question 3 asks â€Å"what crisis causes can be associated with negative and positive crisis reactions? † Figure 5 addresses this research question by using Leximancer insights to compare the appearance of favourable and unfavourable terms within the context of audien ce comments. To justify the results, Leximancer’s insight dashboard provides examples of each sentiment with comments directly from the data set. The graph below shows that audience comments carry both favourable and unfavourable connotations towards the concepts of management, industrial action, and employees. The balance of favourable and unfavourable terms for all four causal concepts (managerial decisions, union action, working conditions and industrial action) is consistent with our preliminary sample of audience comments. Figure 5: unfavourable vs favourable terms Figure 6 addresses research question 4 (What stakeholder groups are perceived to be responsible for the crisis? by using a Leximancer visual concept map depicting the major stakeholder groups identified in the audience comments. The main stakeholder groups that are identified in this visual concept map are: * Alan Joyce * Employees * Unions * Government * Qantas customers * Australians in general Figure 6: Responsible Stakeholder clusters Based on the information obtained in figure 4, we can take a step further and categorise these major stakeholder groups as e ither internal or external to the company. As the CEO and head of the Qantas company, Alan Joyce is identified as largely responsible for managerial decisions. Baggage handlers, ground staff and cabin crew are grouped under the stakeholder heading of employees, while the Australian Licenced Engineers Union (ALAEA), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Australian and International Pilots Union (AIPA) are grouped under the stakeholder heading of unions. Finally, the government is also identified as a responsible stakeholder group, with many audience comments citing the role of Julia Gillard, the Labour government and the Fair Work Act in failing to mitigate the industrial dispute. Figure 7: Responsibility Judgement Figure 8 is a visual representation of the crisis emotion that have emerged from our anlaysis of audience comments. This graph is based on the information taken from Leximancer’s insight dashboard about the strength, prominence and frequency of various sentiments. Anger was the predominant emotion that emerged from the data set and was directed toward all stakeholders, particularly ‘unions’ and ‘management’. While ‘sympathy’ emerged as another primary meotion, it was used to express empathy towards workers’ plights while ‘Sorry’ was used in relation to customers, employees, and industrial action. Support’ was also a prodominant sentiment that emerged and was expressed toward all parties in relatively equal degrees. Figure 8: Audience emotions Due to the informal nature of comments and the variation in sentence structure, it was challenging to isolate behavioural intentions from the data set using the Leximancer software. However, a preliminary manual analysis uncovered a number of trends in consumer’s behavioural intentions. Major findings indicated that of the 4% of comments that implied a behavioural intention, most were negative, while a small number showed positive purchase or investment intentions. Figure 9 shows a cross selection of comments extracted from the data in response to research question 6. This conceptual depiction summarises the main behavioural intentions that emerged from the Qantas crisis. Figure 9: Behavioural intentions Figure 10 is based on a manual analysis of comments over all three news sites, and shows the frequency of behavioural intentions that have emerged from the data set. The category ‘miscellaneous intentions’ refers to behaviours such as buying shares, venting action, or switching carriers. Figure 10: Behavioural intentions frequency Discussion This case study analysis uncovered a number of key findings that are relevant to crisis communication research. First, our research found that audiences perceived the key contributing factor to the Qantas crisis to be ‘union action’, ‘managerial decisions’, ‘working conditions’ and ‘industrial action’ with the majority of comments attributing the crisis to managerial decisions and union action. When analysing these key causal factors under Weiner’s dimensions of Locus and Controllability, managerial decisions can be interpreted as both internal and controllable to the company while ‘Union Action’ can be seen as both external and uncontrollable. If we analyse ‘working conditions’ in the context of its related terms, we can understand that this cause is about employees’ observations of their working conditions and the resulting strikes. In particular, this casual factor is about employees being unhappy with current circumstances and demanding better working conditions from Qantas management. While employees are internal to the company, their objections to their working conditions and the ensuing strikes can be understood as relatively uncontrollable. Finally, ‘industrial action’ in seen within the context of government policy and work place regulation. While the government is external to Qantas, the company’s compliance with government regulations is certainly within management’s control. Therefore we classify this causal concept as both external and controllable. These findings build upon previous research by Coombs (1995) and McDonald et. al. (2010) – that Locus and Controllability can have separate effects on audience’s attribution process and that crises may not only be internal/controllable and external/uncontrollable but also internal /uncontrollable and external /controllable. The second major finding of this research project linked causal attributions to audience’s responsibility judgements. When audiences identified the major causal factor as ‘managerial decisions’ they also tended to attribute blame to Qantas management, in particular to Qantas CEO; Alan Joyce. The resulting emotions that emerged from this attribution were anger towards Qantas management and support for unions and employees. This sentiment is exemplified in the audience comment â€Å"As a QF F of 20+ years †¦ I wish to register my total support for the staff and crew at QF over their current legitimate and understandable attempts to prevent Management from destroying the airline which I hold so dear. This customer is sick and tired of being exploited by senior management and the board. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (ABC. net. au, 2011). These findings are similar to those of Lee’s (2004) who stated that crises that were perceived to be internal (locus) and controllable (controllability) would bring about responsibility judgements aimed towards the company and its managers. Another key trend in the data identified ‘union action’ as the main cause of the crisis. These audience members tended to attribute blame to unions and employees involved in striking action. When union action, which we identified as external and uncontrollable, was attributed as the primary cause of the crisis, audience members tended to respond with anger towards unions and employees and sympathy towards the company and its managers. One example of this is conveyed in the audience’s comment: â€Å"Well done Alan Joyce. Striking is the lowest form of human behaviour in my opinion†¦. I hope all these lazy striking staff lose their jobs and are replaced by hardworking people, †¦ who unlike Qantas employees appreciate their jobs, rather than expect that they are their god given right† (ABC. et. au, 2011). The third major finding in our case study uncovered a number of audience crisis emotions. While we anticipated finding negative audience emotions such as anger and helplessness, we also uncovered a number of positive emotions that expressed support and sympathy towards all stakeholder groups. One such comment that expressed empathy towards the Qanta s brand was sourced from the Sydney Morning Herald (2011), â€Å"Qantas made the right decision and any company which has a strong union presence should do the same if their future is threatened by them. The Australian dollar is strong and to remain competitive globally, hard decision must be made. † This leads us to our final major research finding. As could be expected, positive audience emotions were found to be associated with favourable behavioural intentions while negative emotions were found to predict negative purchase intentions. While 81% of behavioural intentions centred on avoidance, complaint and negative purchase intentions, another 14% of the behavioural intentions indicated that the audience intended to continue flying with Qantas, signifying the audience’s loyalty to the brand. An example of such positive behavioural intentions is evident in the following audience comment from new. com. au: â€Å"I have always flown Qantas and always will, and to those who say they will never fly them again, you know you will let all those FF perks go to waste Good on you Mr Joyce. † (News. com. au, 2011, pp. 8). Although the technical limitations of Leximancer restricted our study, our research project successfully applied Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory to audiences’ attribution process in a real life crisis case. These research findings provide valuable insights into how individuals understand and react to organizational crises in the real world. Knowledge of this type will assist public relations managers in creating effective reputation management strategies in the future. Limitations Although our case study can be considered largely effective, we did encounter several limitations that impeded the progress of our research. Most of the limitations we encountered involved the technical capabilities of Leximancer. Of particular relevance to our content analysis was Leximancer’s inability to comprehend tone and colloquialisms. This meant that a comment that Leximancer identified as positive might actually be a sarcastic remark meant as a negative. We also found that the informal nature of comments was problematic, since there were multiple ways of expressing a particular sentiment. The data set too was limited by the individual news site’s comment system. The anonymity of contributors made it hard to clearly identify an audience member’s level of involvement, unless it was explicitly mentioned in the comment. The anonymity may have led to audience responses phrased more assertively and argumentatively than they would have been if they were named. The news sites also censor the time frame of the comments. By identifying the time stamp attached to each comment, future studies could examine how audience crises responses changed over the crises lifecycle. This would be particularly important as it would reflect the dynamic nature of audience’s crisis response (McDonald et. al, 2009) – particularly in this study where the online commentary between the audiences is a highly interactive exchange. Conclusion Based on Yin’s (1994) case study research methods and the theoretical framework of Weiner’s (1986, 1995) Attribution Theory, this research project found that managerial decisions and union action were the two key contributing factors to the 2011 Qantas grounding crisis. We also identified the main responsible stakeholder groups to be Alan Joyce (Qantas management), employees, unions and the government. Our findings have shown that the primary crisis emotion that emerged was anger, and that this was targeted primarily towards the management and unions. This was followed by sympathy, which empathized with the worker’s plights, and sorrow which was used in relation to Qantas customers. However, contrary to expectations, â€Å"support† also emerged as a dominant emotion and was expressed towards all stakeholder parties involved in the crisis. These findings suggest that, despite the negative sentiment that has emerged from the grounding crisis, there is still an existing group of passengers who remain loyal to the Qantas brand. Qantas should also take a lesson from these findings in order to better safeguard the interests of their stakeholders in future. This may include being mindful of employee moral and considering the plight of the passengers before taking such drastic measures in the future. Acknowledgments Supervisor: Lyn McDonald Course Coordinator: Aparna Hebbani References ABC News. (2011, October 29). Qantas grounds entire fleet. ABC News. Retrieved from http://www. abc. net. au/news/2011-10-29/qantas-locking-out-staff/3608250 Ackoff, R. L. (1981). Creating the corporate future. New York: John Wiley Sons Colgan, Paul. (2011, October 31). Qantas Crisis: Who won and who’s to blame? News. com. au. Retrieved from How to cite Public Reactions to the Qantas Grounding Crisis, Essay examples

Psychosis free essay sample

Summative Assessment One: Case Study There are several key issues apparent for Belinda, one of which is social isolation. Belinda has withdrawn from her family and no longer spends time with her friends. In becoming socially isolated, Belinda is at risk of disruption to her social development leading to an increased likelihood of failure to achieve in the future (EPPIC, 2001). This is evidenced by the fact that Belinda’s grades have dropped significantly over the past six months. For the purpose of this essay, three differential diagnoses will be offered, however in clinical practice it is preferable to refrain from diagnosing a client early in treatment due to the stigma associated with being ‘labelled’ (EPPIC, 2001). The first differential diagnosis formulated is Schizophrenia. According to the DSM IV criteria for Schizophrenia, (as cited in Elder, Evans Nizette, 2005), there must be at least two positive symptoms present for a period of at least one month. We will write a custom essay sample on Psychosis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Camer explains that the symptoms of Schizoaffective Disorder are variable but include thoseseen in Schizophrenia, such as delusions, hallucinations, and thought disturbances. Symptoms indicative of a mood disorder are also present, such as emotional unresponsiveness, avolition,and anhedonia. These symptoms are in concurrence with those seen in Belinda (see Appendix A). Belinda exhibits a number of these symptoms including anhedonia, avolition, withdrawal as well as the presence of psychotic symptoms (see Appendix A). The differential diagnosis that best matches Belinda’s symptoms is Schizophrenia. With this diagnosis in mind, a plan of treatment and care can be developed for Belinda. EPPIC (2001) identifies that due to the nature of psychotic illness there is an increased risk of disruption to interfamilialand interpersonal relationships. The event of a family member suffering from psychotic illness is likely to be distressing for all concerned, added to that is uncertainty surrounding the illness regarding treatment and prognosis. Psychoeducation, providing information about the pattern of the illness, rationale for the use of medication, time frames for recovery, and expectations, is an invaluable intervention (EPPIC, 2001). Psychoeducation serves to promote understanding and encourages open and honest communication between Belinda and her family; allowing each to express their thoughts, feeling and concerns (see Appendix B). As a result of Belinda’s paranoid thoughts about her parents poisoning her food, she is not receiving adequate nutrition for her body requirements and is underweight. As previously stated, ANRED (2008) have identified several potential physical implications of sustained malnutrition. To avoid these, interventions would be best directed to improving Belinda’s nutritional intake. Offering the option of preparing her own food, or the use of sealed, pre-packaged meals and drinks, would allow Belinda to gain nourishment and avoid the distress of confronting her delusional thinking (see Appendix B). While successful interventions are an important part of the treatment process, there are also legal and ethical issues to consider. According to Elder et al. (2005), as Belinda is only 15 years of age she must have her parent’s consent to receive any form of medical intervention. In this case Belinda’s parents have sought help for their daughter and she is not currently being treated under the Mental Health Act 1992. In the pursuit of a therapeutic relationship with Belinda, the concept of confidentiality between patient and nurse and its implications would need to be discussed (EPPIC, 2001). EPPIC states that anything discussed between patient and nurse must be kept strictly confidential unless consent for disclosure is given by the patient. However, it would need to be made clear to Belinda that should she disclose any information that led the nurse to have immediate concerns about the potential safety of Belinda or others, then the nurse is morally obliged to pass that information on. Elder et al. (2005) assert that within the bounds of the therapeutic relationship the power must remain at least egalitarian and the client must never feel coerced or forced into treatment.

Comparison of Mexico and Brazil Essays

Comparison of Mexico and Brazil Essays Comparison of Mexico and Brazil Essay Comparison of Mexico and Brazil Essay All revolutions that exist or have taken place in this world are full of the revolution traits that were evidently pointed out throughout the book, Anatomy of Revolution written by Crane Brinton. One classification of the revolution that was mentioned in this piece of literature was, A revolution is a drastic, sudden substitution of one group in charge of a territorial political entity by another group hitherto not running that government. Some revolutions may approach this definition in a varied way. Many people think that revolutions only cause trouble and dismay. All the same, have you every considered of a peaceful revolution? Those two words peaceful and revolution may seem ironic together. Nevertheless, there is a severe illustration that had occurred in the past that proves the existence of this satirical phrase and the unique way of approaching a revolution: the Brazilian Revolution. In addition, I will be comparing the similarities that were showed among the Mexican Revolution and the Brazilian Revolution.Due to the reason of proving that the peaceful revolution is still considered an act of Enlightened citizens fighting for their rights. To start out, there are three major parts to the revolution, according to the reading that was in Anatomy of Revolution: cause, sequences, and the consequences. The cause of the revolution mostly states the basic ideas on why and how the revolution sparked. In this case, Brazilian Revolution, the Portuguese all of a sudden appear out of the blue to the sacred land of Brazil.They were on their way from fleeing their country due to the attack of Napoleon. These unexpected people arrived at the land of Brazil and unbelievingly they start ruling over the natives. Of course the Brazilians were baffled by this action. The Portuguese start taking away the Brazilians’ privileges and rights. To illustrate, the Portuguese banned the Brazilians from trading with foreigners, growing crops or manufacturing goods that have the potential to compete with Spain. In yet another example, if we compare this event to the Mexican Revolution, even during the Mexican evolution, the Spaniards, who came to the land of Mexico without warning started governing over the Mexicans. They used Mexicans as slaves and they received meager treatment and had to face the harsh reality. They gathered an unreliable amount of taxes from the natives, which, in the end, angered the lower statues and caused the revolt to take place. Even better, during the courses of the revolutions, both the Mexican and the Brazilian Revolutions created a contract of a constitution that had all the requirements of the radicals documented on it.At first, the rulers or the statue who was in absolute power, refused to sign or agree to the constitution. This lead to more riots and conflicts. Some revolutions, such as the Mexican revolution, created bloody wars and fights in order to gain the approval of their constitution. In other cases, such as the Brazilian Revolution, they cause no destruction on people’s lives and they did not carry out bloody wars- they decided to solve problems peacefully. After revolting a little more, the head of the conservatives decides to sign and be part of the contract, which leads towards the end of the revolution and this is the stage in which the radicals’ desires are fulfilled. In yet another example, the Mexican Revolution created the Inquala plan: which contained the three conditions: One, Mexico would become an independent monarchy governed by transplanted king Ferdinand. Two, Creolles and Pennensulars would have equal human rights and civil liberties. Three, the Roman Catholic Churches could keep their privileges. More precisely, the Brazilian Revolution created a petition that eight-thousand Brazilians signed, that asked King John to let his son, Dom Pedro, to rule this country. Eventually, Pedro gave the independence to the Brazilian, and he led the constitutional monarchy in Brazil. Further more, in the end, or in the consequence, it seems that the rebels achieved what they were enthusiastic to posses. In much the same manner, both revolutions, the Mexican and the Brazilian Revolution, had a positive conclusion.Or in other words, they both gained freedom and independence, along with the equal rights and privileges they couldn’t enjoy and taste before. Taking these two revolutions as an example, you can realize that even a peaceful revolution can have the same results as the violent revolution- the Mexican Revolution. Even though the two revolutions went through very similar, but very unique paths, their results were identical, which is all that matters in the end and the only thing that is taken credit for- the fact that the humans are walking towards a more independent and enlightened thinking process.

Ça Alors - French Expression

Ça Alors - French Expression The French exclamation  Ãƒ §a  alors  can express a whole range of reactions, from delight to surprise to indignation. Its used to mean how about that or my goodness and literally translates to that then. Like the second meaning of its old-fashioned cousin  ma  foi,  Ãƒ §a  alors  serves mainly to emphasize whatever it is said with.  It has an informal  register. Pronunciation Ça  Alors is pronounced [sah ah luhr]. Be careful not to contract the two words into [sah luhr] - you need to pronounce both as with a tiny pause between them. Example Usage of  Ãƒâ€¡a Alors Ça alors ! Je naurais jamais imaginà © un produit pareil.My goodness! Id never have imagined such a product.    -Je vais dà ©mà ©nager au Sà ©nà ©gal.-Ça alors, cest formidable  !-Im going to move to Senegal.-How about that! / Wow, thats great!    -Jai invità © Thomas dà ©jeuner, mais il prà ©tend à ªtre dà ©bordà © de travail.-Ça alors, je lai vu la plage trois fois cette semaine  !-I invited Thomas to lunch, but he claims to be snowed under with work.-Well, really, I saw him at the beach three times this week!

Tourism Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tourism Marketing - Essay Example This pressure on the industry has been further compounded on by the operational environment on the supply side that has to keep pace with influencing factors such as the rapid globalization and technological advancements (Kozak and Baloglu 2011). This paper seeks to identify the various components of marketing in the tourism industry marketing with special emphasis on strategy formulation and implementation. As a reference, the choice destination that has been identified is the Turkish tourism sector. First, it is important to review the chosen destination. Overview of Turkey as a Tourist Destination Turkey has an estimated population of over 73 million people; the country is known to be one of the most populous states with a higher number of Muslims that is a member of the European Union. It has also been cited as one of the nations that is a cradle for human civilization. On the tourism segment, the country is a world-beater for destination marketing. This can be illustrated by the impressive performance of its resorts and destinations in comparison with other European destinations (Andreu et al 2005). Moreover, statistics indicate that the country has 16 international standard airports, over a million combined bed capacity, 9000 licensed tourists’ guides, 568 travel agencies and 258 beaches (Goturkey 2012). Evaluating the market niche based on tourists’ attraction sites, Turkey offers some of the best tourist destinations in the world. From the minaret filled skyline of the famous Istanbul to the Roman ruins found along south west Coasts, the country boasts of a variety of fascinating and memorable attractions that compares with the world’s top destinations (Turopia 2010). Also of importance are the attractive beaches of the Antalye and the seaside resorts found along the mountains of the eastern side of the Black sea. The major tourist destinations commonly liked by most tourists locally and internationally include Aspendos Theatre, whi ch was built around 155 AD during the reign of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius with a capacity to host between 15000 to 20000 people. Next there is the famous Patara beach, a historical scenic beauty as it is considered the cradle of the endangered Loggerhead turtle (Turopia 2010). It is also said to be the birthplace of the 4th century Byzantine bishop St. Nicholas who became the legend Santa Claus. It has massive stretches of sand, which overlaps to about 9 miles, by coverage. It is also supported by ancient Lycian and Roman ruins and swooping dunes with no visible building a part from a small cafe. The mentioned attraction sites are just but a few among the numerous destinations scattered in different regions across the Turkish nation. This calls for a sound marketing research, analysis and evaluation so that an appropriate strategy is arrived at. This will be discussed in the following section. Marketing and the Different Sectors The tourism industry has unrivalled contributio n to many economies as compared to other industries (Tsiotsou and Goldsmith 2012). However, for this potential to be tapped at higher levels in Turkey and elsewhere in the world, it is important that there is an appropriate marketing plan and strategy that has been put in place. The tourism industry is divided in different sectors that require different marketing approaches. The Turkish tourism has been broadly divided into four main categories that include natural attractions,

A Problem In the Field of Finance Annotated Bibliography - 1

A Problem In the Field of Finance - Annotated Bibliography Example She describes the major elements and features of sovereign debt crisis, its implications and impact in the general sense and provides a critical case review of the US sovereign debt crisis. Sovereign debt crisis is a situation where a countrys government is unable to pay its bills (Amadeo para 1). This occurs when the government spends more money than it has. In such a case, the government will not be able to get money from its normal funding sources. Rather, it will need to find ways and means of getting money to fulfill its payment obligation and the most common method is to borrow. In explaining the cycle of sovereign debt crisis, Amadeo identifies that where a government enters a situation where honoring its sovereign debt is an issue, lenders see risks and begin to panic. In other words, the government cannot guarantee a low interest rate for lenders, thus, the lenders become concerned that the country cannot pay its bonds. In such a situation, the lenders will begin to demand higher yields to compensation for the speculation and anxiety that comes with the threat of sovereign debts. They therefore begin to panic and the economy gets into chaos. One of the obvious solutions that most governments employ is quantitative easing which involves the printing of more money to ease the issues with the sovereign debt threats (Amadeo para 7). This causes inflation and affects the value of the nations currency. Thomas Reuters provides statistical information and facts about the US Sovereign debt criss. As of October 2013, the United States governments borrowing was over $16.7 trillion (Thomson para 4). This was at par to the actual size of the US economy. Thus, as part of a trend, the Fitch rating system sought to downgrade the United States from its AAA rating to a lower rating. Prior to the events of October 2013, notable rating agencies like Standard & Poors had downgraded the USs rating to an AA rating. This occurred in August