How Steroids Changed Mlb

Known as America’s pastime, baseball is a game in which generations of children of all ages grow up playing in parks, streets, and alleyways throughout America. These same children grew up idolizing names such as Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, and Hank Aaron. These men, as thousands of men before and after them, played in a league simply named Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball is rich in history with statistics and records dating back to 1873. Baseballchronology. com (n. d. ) provides this fact. However, as technology has advanced, so have the men who play this game. In the last 15 years athletes have become bigger, faster, and stronger making a game that is so difficult to play,look relatively easy. As a result records that have stood for many years are able to be shattered. Attendance has increased to record levels. Team owners and players are making record amounts of money. Unfortunately, along with these record accomplishments Major League Baseball is enjoying, the use of illegal drugs known as steroids are running rampant among the league’s players. Therefore, although players have become bigger, faster, and stronger, rampant steroid use among players of the last 15 years has changed the face of Major League Baseball negatively. Although it is true that steroids cannot improve a hitter’s hand-eye coordination, balance, or reflex, steroids can affect how hard a hitter hits a baseball. The harder one can hit a baseball the better the chance a hitter has of a getting a base hit. More hits lead to more runs scored, home runs hit, runs batted in by a single player. High statistics lead to Major League Baseball records that have stood for many years to be broken. A player will earn a high salary because of his accomplishments. He will have more of a fan base. This not only affects his pocket book, but the pocket book of the owner of the player’s baseball team because of the increased attendance the player generates. Higher attendance leads to higher television ratings. High television ratings affect Major League Baseball because the higher ratings are, the more the league could demand in a network television contract. With all these factors to consider it is easy to see why a player would use steroids despite the health risk, and why owners would overlook rampant steroid use in Major League Baseball. Thompson, Vinto, O’Keeffe, & Red, 2009 provides interesting facts on this subject. Rampant steroid use has a profound effect on Major League Baseball’s home run record book. Major League Baseball dates back to the late 1800s. An astonishing five of the top 11 home run hitters of all-time either are confirmed or suspected steroid users including the top home run hitter of all-time Barry Bonds. Next is the single home run record. Barry Bonds also owns this record. He hit an amazing 73 home runs in 2001. Barry Bonds surpassed Mark McGwire whom alone with Sammy Sosa became the only players in Major League Baseball history to hit more than 61 home runs in a single season. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are both confirmed steroid users. Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs in 1998 and Sammy Sosa hit 66 that same year. Prior to 1998 only two players ever hit more than 60 home runs in a single season. They are Babe Ruth, who hit 60 home runs in 1927 and Roger Maris who hit 61 home runs in 1961. Sportscity. com/MLB/500-Home-Run-Club (2007-2010) provides homerun statistics. Neither, Babe Ruth nor Roger Maris are suspected or confirmed steroid users. Steroid use is a key factor in perhaps the greatest pitcher of all-time’s success. Roger Clemens pitched 24 seasons in Major League Baseball. He compiled 354 wins, ninth most in history, 4672 strikeouts, third most all-time, seven Cy Young Awards, most all-time, while winning two World Series. Clemens allegedly began taking steroids in 1998. His accuser, Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens personal trainer from the year 1998 through the year 2007, testified to a senate judiciary committee, under oath that Roger Clemens began taking steroids not only to bulk up his aging body, but to help aid recovery time in between games. For athletes, the benefits from steroids come in the form of accelerated recovery from injury and from workouts, allowing them to exercise harder and more frequently. For a pitcher, especially aging pitchers, steroids help them bounce back between games† (Thompson, Vinto, O’Keeffe, & Red, 2009, p. 32). Roger Clemens denies these accusations and even fi led a defamation lawsuit again Brian McNamee that was eventually thrown out of court. If Roger Clemens used steroids, would he have won 354 games, or struck out 4672 hitters? Would Roger Clemens have won two World Series championships and seven Cy Young awards? Unfortunately, baseball fans may never know whether or not Roger Clemens took steroids; therefore these fans will never know the answer to these questions. However, just the question itself brings doubt to the legitimacy of Roger Clemens’ records and accomplishments. Broken records are not the only way rampant steroid use changed the face of Major League Baseball. In 1994 a labor dispute between the players and the owners resulted in a work stoppage. For the first time in the league’s 123 year history, a player’s strike resulted in the cancellation of Major League Baseball’s playoffs and World Series. Prior to the strike of 1994 Major League Baseball’s popularity was at an all-time high. Attendance reached a record high 70,257,938 in 1993. The previous record was set in 1991 at 56,813,760. Unfortunately for Major League Baseball, attendance figures dropped dramatically following the strike. Attendance figures from 1995 through 1997reached an average of 57,911,768 per year. Nineteen ninety-eight was a completely different story. Attendance figures hit a record high of 70,601,147 in large part because of the homerun race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Baseballchronology. om (n. d. ) provides statistical attendance facts. Television ratings reached an all-time high because of the large number of fans who wanted to watch every Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa at bat. Major League Baseball’s popularity was again at an all-time high. Owners and players benefitted greatly because of the substantial increase in revenue. Although there were many rumors concerning steroid use among players in Major League Baseball; neither the Major League Baseball’s Players Association or Major League Baseball’s Owners cared to implement a steroid testing program. Rampant steroid use among Major League Baseball Players was just a rumor in 1998. If the two sides agreed to test for steroids and those test turned up positive results in some of the game’s biggest names, attendance would fall once again. This was simply too much of a risk. Owners decided to look the other way, hoping rumors would fade. Rampant steroid use among players has changed the face of Major League Baseball negatively. First, steroid use among players changed the face of Major League Baseball’s record book. Second steroid use among players help drive attendance up by captivating fans from around America who had no idea players were shattering records because of the use of an illegal substance. Third, steroids use among players helped players and owners line their pockets with millions of dollars in revenue this attendance increase generated. Finally, any accomplishment a player has achieved in the last 15 years is in question from fans of Major League Baseball because these fans do not know every player who used steroids. This is an unfortunate reality for players who achieved greatness through hard work; without the aid of any

Hostel Life Essay

After completing Class 10 or 12, it may be time for you to move out of the comfortable confines of home into a hostel, if you are attending a college located far away from your hometown. Hostel life is almost a parallel culture, an experience that takes you out of your comfort zone and exposes you to several experiences. Living by some stringent rules is one of them. Getting to know a host of students from diverse backgrounds at very close quarters, is another. Read on for an insight into this parallel life. Hostel life is a very memorable period in one’s life, but due to lack of knowledge or a casual attitude or irresponsible behaviour, you may have problems of adjustment to the hostel environment, which can affect your studies and career. This is the stage where you have to take care of yourself. From childhood, parents take care of children in every possible way, but while staying away from home and parents, you have to own up for your actions and their consequences, and become responsible for making the most of the opportunity available to enhance your knowledge as well as take the initiative for your personality development. At Management Development Institute (MDI), these are the two crucial years of student life before entering the workforce and one needs to consider it as an investment in one’s future. So, acquaint yourself with the rules, regulations and norms of the institute and seek guidance from the faculty. The 3 Ds of hostel life †¢ Discipline †¢ Duty †¢ Devotion Your hostel is a place where you can learn a lot of things including how to conduct yourself. Students are expected to follow these rules when they join the hostel: 1. First and foremost, all students are expected to acquaint themselves with the hostel rules and regulations. Lack of awareness about the rules will not be seen as a reason for not following them. 2. You will need to share your room with another student and you have to adjust with each other. 3. Following hostel rules and timings is a must. Any violation can result in strict action being taken by the wardens. 4. Students are not allowed to leave the hostel after a certain time, and this is to be followed very strictly. 5. Keeping in touch with your parents will ensure that you don’t feel homesick. 6. Give the phone numbers of your roommates and some other friends to your parents along with the hostel contact number, so that your parents can get information about you in case your number is not reachable. 7. If your roommates intentionally disturb you while studying, try and make them understand this. If this does not work, bring it to the notice of the hostel warden at the earliest. 8. Be friendly and helpful to other hostel members. 9. Participate in functions or programmes organised in the hostel. You will develop your friend circle and extra-curricular activities. 10. If your seniors ask you to introduce yourself to them, cooperate if it is in the spirit of fun and not harassment. If they try to trouble you physically or mentally, immediately speak to the warden. 11. Give priority to your studies. Remember your parents have let you to study outside because they trust you. 12. Try to maintain a healthy relationship with other students. Never interfere in others’ personal matters. 13. Bring along these things: mattress, towels, soap and shampoo. They are usually not offered by the hostels. 14. Learning cultures: One feature of hostel life is you must learn to share your room with a person from another state or region. This can be a real learning experience. There may be initial adjustment problems, but gradually you learn about other cultures. 15. Last but not the least — avoid carrying valuable things as you alone will be responsible for their safety.

Brave New World: How Technology Affects Society

October 29, 2012 Brave New World: How Technology Affects Society Brave New World, a place in which people are created from scientific labs through a process call the Bokanovsky Process, and where being born from parents is a shame for society. Where conditioning is use for training babies to act and think the way people in society wants them to do. A place where a popular drug call Soma is used to control and keep the society happy and stable, and causes principles and morals to disappear or change.Where entertainment is use to convince people of the phrase â€Å"everyone belongs to everyone†, and becomes a society that is always happy, no problems, and organized. The Bokanovsky Process is another way of reproducing ninety-six human babies from one egg by transforming it into buds, which each bud becomes an embryo. (pg. 17) Normally one egg produces one embryo which becomes one human adult, but in this case the Bokanovsky Process manipulates the egg to produce more than one em bryo by budding.After budding the egg for a couple of times it is dosed with significant amount of alcohol, and then later budded again until it creates more than eighty-six embryos, and since they’re all from the same egg they all are identical twins. Because the Bokanovsky Process is being used to reproduce more population, it has become one of the major instruments of social stability. (pg. 18) It causes people in society to wear uniforms with batches to identify what kind of twin they’re from, and what kind of job they are meant to do.Conditioning is done when the majority of the identical embryos are now full grown babies or children, they are placed in various repetition environments and experience in order to custom them the way they supposed to think and react. A very good example is when the babies are placed in front of books and flowers and start to like or get familiarize with it, once they are starting to like and giggle they give them electric shocks. It makes them get horrified or scared every time they see books and flowers, so that when they are older and full grown they would hate or not like books or flowers. (pg. 0) For society conditioning the children or babies that way is to make them hate the country, but at the same time love all the country sports so that they consume manufactured articles as well as transport(pg. 31), which helps the society increase in labor and income. Now Soma is a type of drug that works with society’s way of entertainment to avoid any unnecessary feelings, such as being in love, the feeling of wanting to form a family, or being stressed and worried. Soma is a drug that raises a wall into someone’s mind between reality and fantasy, which makes the person go into a soma holiday.As for the entertainment, Soma is always serve with coffee or as candy in many different places like restaurant and concerts while placing music by saying to take more soma or repeating the phrase everyone belong s to everyone. An example would be of a song like this, â€Å"Bottle of mine, it’s you I’ve always wanted! Bottle of mine, why was I ever decanted? Skies are blue inside of you, the weather’s always fine: for there ain’t no bottle in all the world like that dear bottle of mine. †(pgs. 8-79) Which basically describes how one feels after taking a couple of grams of Soma, which this actually helps to maintain control and organization in society. The Bokanovsky Process, Conditioning, Soma, and Entertainment all work together to create a world in which everyone is happy with no struggles, no problems or worries. A world where society is always in control and organized by using soma to keep the people conditioned as they are. Where there is no such thing as parents and family, love and friendship, and a new world of identicals with different jobs but with same culture. A Brave New World.

Comparative Management Analysis of Two Firms. (Biogenta and Outback Assignment

Comparative Management Analysis of Two Firms. (Biogenta and Outback INC) - Assignment Example Comparative Analysis of Both Firms Organizational design and structure Organizational design and structure is main standing base of any corporation operating on a global and local level. If we look at the two scenarios both the companies are completely different in their perspective and focus of production but the nature of work demands innovation nonetheless (Mcfowler 2001). Organizational design and structure mainly consists of six major elements. These six elements consist of work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control, centralization or decentralization, formalization and traditional designs (Mcfowler 2001). Work specialization In terms of work specialization in organizations the term refers to how much pressure is put on to individuals within the organizations how through different processes each task is carried out. In both the organizations assigned to analyze each had an effective system of recruiting the most talented and skilled staff for the job but the problem for Outback lies in the external environmental forces too (Carroll 1985). The tourism industry is facing a shortfall because of which Australia requires a good number of 42,000 people by 2015. In such a scenario the staff hired should be valued and considered as an asset to the organization whereas the company is applying paternalism to the structure which is de motivating the staff to come up their ideas for revolution and change (Carroll 1985). On the other hand Biogenta is promoting its staff and making efficient use of its human capital by employing them in cross functional teams and making the best use of them (Carroll 1985). Departmental ization Both the organizations Biogenta and Outback have similar division of departments such as finance, marketing, human resource and support (Gitman and Mc Daniel 2009). Among the many types of departmentalization Biogenta chooses to go about product departmentalization and goes for cross functional teams and virtual teams from various departments to cater to different tasks. The good part about it is that it initiates a good flow of information within departments and the negative aspect is that it can only be applied to a limited category of products (Gitman and Mc Daniel 2009). As far as the case of Outback product departmentalization is applied to increase the levels of the system to satisfy family issues because of this there are limited follow up of organizational goals but yet efficient managerial distribution is carried out (Gitman and Mc Daniel 2009). Chain of command There is strict chain of command extending in Outback INC where authority is of supreme

Theories of Bayes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Theories of Bayes - Essay Example es himself had not been sure regarding the application of the theory, the importance and the applications of the Bayes theory in multidisciplinary fields had been recognized. The theory explores the probability of a number in two successive draws. It can then be considered applicable in relatively complex systems of studies (Savchuk & Tsokos, 2011). The theory of Bayes had been used in the selected study of the researcher Seung-Joon Jeon published in 2012 about the communication to the Editor Bull. There are different reasons as to why the use of the Bayes’ theorem had been used and is considered effective in the explanation of the results of the study. According to the author of the research paper, the application of the theory is determined since it can explain inverse probability in conditional probability which is also referred to as subjective probability. Biological systems are composed of few elements that are bound together in infinitely unique ways, for that matter, there is a high subjective probability or personal belief that these elements or molecules can form in expected ways. Specifically, it explores the probability of events based on another probability. The example given in the paper is the rare event of a binder molecule to find the right target site on the basis of two probabilities which are staying on a wrong site until the correct site had been found or continuously looking for the right site, thus the probability on the basis of another probability. The third reason had also been expressed in the paper which is the fact that Bayes’ theory had the most capacity to apply the strategy of determining the wrong site or the improbable event without doubt rather than the right site first accuracy (Jeon, 2012). In conclusion, the application of the theory of Bayes can be considered important in scientific systems that needed determination of an interconnected or overlapping systems of probability e.g. in this case a rare even in the

Middlemarch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Middlemarch - Essay Example A discrepancy can be observed between the behavior required by the society as a homage to the received education and the natural, non-inhibited aspirations and reactions of a person. The above phrase addresses the common wisdom according to which the more knowledge people get, the more problems they attract into their life. Comparing modern lifestyle with an ancient one, the observer can infer that the level of education among people was incomparably lower than today. This is ironical because, admittedly, people in ancient times lived a better (and simpler) life than people do nowadays. In the quote â€Å"To be present at this great spectacle of life and never to be liberated from a small hungry shivering self--never to be fully possessed by the glory we behold† the author resorts to the language of contrasts, presupposing different characteristics and blending them into one image. The opposition of two different sets of features displays the yawning gap inside a person (and, fetching the deduction further, inside a society too) that is invisible due the polished exterior; a person is literally torn apart by the contradictory emotions: â€Å"but always to be scholarly and uninspired, ambitious and timid, scrupulous and dim-sighted†. The vague and dubious meaning of the whole phrase is created due to the language that attempts to describe hidden, implied qualities applying tangible linguistic devices. The author uses the poetic form of language to explain the atmosphere of the society, its cultural level, its views on the purpose of life. The quote implies that highly educated people often spend most of their energy on baseless word battles. Their pretentious knowledge is opposed to what is reflected in harsh

Maintaining competence in nursing practice Essay - 1

Maintaining competence in nursing practice - Essay Example I believe that this is an important part of my nursing practice because it would help ensure that my patients would essentially be protected from harm. It is important for me to know about the legal requirements in the administration of medications. These legal requirements are important in order to avoid medication errors, to manage adverse drug reactions, to manage side effect, and to ensure the proper administration of the drug (Garrett and Craig, n.d). It is important for me to improve my legal knowledge about the proper administration of drugs and to know the proper prescribing, compounding, dispensing, administration, education, monitoring, and use of the drug (NCCMERP, 2007). I need to enhance my dispensation skills for these medicines because I would likely encounter and be asked to dispense medicines with similar packaging, medicines which are not commonly prescribed or commonly used, or medications which many patients are allergic to, and those which require testing to secu re proper therapeutic levels (Hughes and Blegen, n.d). Medications which also sound alike are possible causes for errors. These risks are part of the practice and represent areas which I need to focus on. I also need to consider the different â€Å"Rights† in medication administration in order to prevent medication errors. These â€Å"Rights† include the following: the right patient, the right drug, the right dose, the right route, and the right time (Fogarty and McKeon, 2005). By mastering these aspects of drug administration, I would be complying with the minimum legal requirements for drug administration. It is also essential for me to participate in case review activities because these case review activities can help in the assessment and evaluation of cases and activities within the nursing practice. Each activity and case

Labor Relations Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Labor Relations - Case Study Example In the second instance, the teacher reportedly lied in response to certain queries while being investigated. Lying is reported in response to queries over the copying and distribution of sheets as well as in response to queries over his relationship to a member of the African American community in school. The findings of the school board concluded that Daniel W. Burrell had lied under oath and this mandated that he be removed from service immediately. The Board’s position on the matter of distributing racially oriented jokes is also highly clear and the Board holds that Mr. Burrell had violated his responsibilities and associated expectations by the distribution. Moreover, Mr. Burrell was furnished with due process of law before dismissal in line with concerned laws over teacher’s rights. Therefore, there is little doubt that the proceedings of this case were carried out by the book in letter and spirit. A look at the relevant laws affirms such view points. Under law, a teacher may be dismissed from service for immoral conduct, incompetence, neglect of duty, substantial non compliance with school laws and fraud or misrepresentation amongst other things. Being a teacher, Mr. Burrell is supposed to serve as a beacon and as a role model to the community in general and to his students in particular. However, the distribution of racially discriminatory material is unjustifiable even if humour is speculated. Furthermore, under his freedom to teach Mr. Burrell could expose students to new streams of thought by using racial or otherwise socially compromising material but the racially centred jokes do not constitute such an intention. Therefore, the distribution of racially centred jokes through personal initiative has nothing to do with Mr. Burrell’s professional responsibilities. Instead, such behaviour deserves discouragement at an official level. Mr. Burrell had the

A Multiagency Emergency Response Plan Assignment

A Multiagency Emergency Response Plan - Assignment Example This work presents a multiagency emergency response plan. Also, each agency is given a task according to the area of its specialization. This multiagency response plan to terrorism and natural disasters will make use of the service of local police department, local residents, FBI Counterterrorism Division, fire and rescue, health department, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The last agency to be included is the local area administration. Each of these organizations has an important role to play in this plan. First of all, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA, n.d.), a potential crime scene often contains fire and various other hazards. The same is true about natural disasters too. In such cases, it becomes necessary to utilize the help of trained people. Here, the service of fire and rescue service will be useful. Secondly, in the case of a terrorist threat, entering into the area requires special expertise as the weapons of terror range from explosives, poison, chemicals, radiological dispersal devices, and biological weapons. That means it is necessary to have well-trained people to enter the area. Here, the service of FBI Counterterrorism Division (CTD) will be useful (FBI, n.d.). Another important point is the collection of evidence. As FEMA states, physical evidence is the most solid evidence. In order to collect physical evidence in the most appropriate way, it is again necessary to have the service of FBI-CTD. The third important component is the health department. Any terrorist attack or natural disaster will leave a large number of people wounded. That means it becomes necessary to ensure immediate medical assistance. The inclusion of health department ensures that the injured are properly taken care of in time. This is all the more important in the case of a natural disaster. Another important agency is the local police. According to

Selection bias Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Selection bias - Essay Example The lack of a control experiment enhances the manifestation of the selection bias especially given the fact that some of the selected sample die. In determining the credibility of the study, one must investigate the initial distribution with the view to determining the nature of the selection bias. Selection bias is a statistical error that affects the validity of the study. By analyzing the nature of the error as is in the study alongside, it becomes easy to interpret the variables by manipulating other features of the study. Estimating the effects of unbiased treatment is yet another fundamental way of determining the credibility of the study. Such strategies as case matching, multivariate stratification and covariance adjustments help observe consistencies in the research thus validate the credibility of the research (Bostrom, 2002). Indeed, the study had a selection bias of concern. The study graph shows that the groups scored four points higher on the pretest than the comparison group. Additionally, the group had an average of fifty-four while the comparison group had an average of fifty. Such is a manifestation of an error that requires effective treatment during

Response to The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht Essay

Response to The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht - Essay Example Upon learning their situation, she remembered her recently deceased grandfather and had a brief look of her life when â€Å"there is war† in her hometown, the Balkan City. Natalia recalled that like any other little girl, she also loved and grew up listening to her grandfather’s stories. She remembered the two stories of her grandfather with memorable mythical characters: the tiger’s wife and the deathless man. The tiger’s wife is the story of a lonely deaf and mute woman, who lived in an isolated mountain village. She was married to an abusive butcher, where in she always suffered beating. The woman was named by the villagers â€Å"the tiger’s wife† because of their malicious thinking. The woman’s affection and too much kindness to the tiger that escaped in the zoo during the war, had been maliciously mistaken by the villagers for something indecent. They thought the woman married the tiger. This rumor had led the villagers to plan fo r the killings of the tiger. However, as Natalia narrated, they were saved and protected by her grandfather. The story of the deathless man was based from the story of Natalia’s grandfather, who was a Christian married to a Muslim from Sarobor.

The Promise of the After-Life in Islam Essay Example for Free

The Promise of the After-Life in Islam Essay I. The Five Pillars and the Seven Articles of Faith That which makes the life of man pleasant and enjoyable, makes his labor joyful, gives warmth to his heart, and broadens the horizons of his vision, is none other than what revelation and religion give man belief in an eternal world . . . (Lari, 1992, p. 17) Islam means total submission to Allahs will. A good Muslim has genuine belief in the Five Pillars of Islam and the Seven Articles of Faith. The Five Pillars purify a Muslim and compound the way of life for him. They are Ash-shahada, testifying that Allah is the only God and Muhammad is His messenger, Salat, five daily prayers, Zakat, charity to needy Muslims, Fasting during Ramadan to appreciate Allahs providence and making a pilgrimage to Mecca to perform Hajj. Observing these Five Pillars reinforces a Muslims true faith. The Seven Articles of Faith are key principles to follow. They are the affirmation that Allah is One (tawhid) and He is The Only Creator to be worshipped, belief in His angelic agency, scriptures, prophets, Judgement Day (Yawm Al-Qiyamah), the belief that the power of executing good and evil acts emanates from Allah and the belief in life after death (Bowker, 2001, p. 21). In Islam, judgement, reward and punishment form the foundation of its creed (Elias, 1999, p. 64). The eschatological thought of Islam teaches a Muslim that he will either pay or earn his dues. The way he lives his present life will determine the nature of his hereafter (al-akhirah). Lari (1992, p. 155) says that the fear of God stems from mens fear of their own deeds and will instill discipline and order. In Islam, the perpetuity of this world is a fallacy (Coward, 1997, p. 50). Eternity resides only in the hereafter. Death will lead to resurrection and Judgement Day when every Muslim will stand before Allah to account for his deeds. Adhering to Islams creed will emancipate a Muslim and merit him with heaven while disobeying it will banish him to hell. Under these circumstances, Muslims are compelled to walk in the path of Allah in this life given the accountability of ones sins on Yawm Al-Qiyamah or Judgement Day, the threat of jahannam or hell, where one is consumed by a raging fire; or the promise of earning His blessing in the al-akhirah or hereafter with the reward of al-janna or heaven, wherein resides Allahs infinite love. II. The three worlds Every soul shall taste of death; you shall surely be paid in full your wages on the Day of Resurrection. Whosoever is removed from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, shall win the triumph. The present life is but the joy of delusion. (cited in Coward, 1997, p. 48) The Quran mentions phases of ones life, categorized it into three different worlds. They are the World of earning, Intermediate state and Resurrection (Ahmad, 1996, pp. 151-157). A. World of earning This is the present life where one accumulates merit or demerit for his deeds. The Quran (84:6) says, O man! To the degree that you strive to obey God you will in the end meet your Creator (cited in Lari, 1992, p. 36). According to two studies (Lari, 1992; Ahmad, 1996) good or bad effects of ones deeds will act as poison or panacea on him in the hereafter (Lari, 1992, p. 143). The bliss or burden felt when carrying out an act disappears but it leaves an impression on the heart (p. 150). One cannot escape punishment in the afterlife. Present life is riddled with tests of Allah, who guides people by showing the good way as well as the one that leads [them] astray (Sakr, 2001, p. 18). One who corrupts his soul through evils like deceit, immorality and rejection of faith will be punished severely on Judgement Day. Death is the opening of the gates of eternity (Lari, 1992, p.15). Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi recites, O you who attempt to flee death in your fear, It is yourself that you fear use your intelligence! It is your countenance that is ugly, not the visage of death; Your soul is a tree on which death is the leaf. (cited in Lari, 1992, p. 18) When ones relationship with God weakens and he starts to distance himself from a firm rooting in faith, the entirety of his being becomes a hunting ground for demons who rob him of all virtue, piety, and the capacity for salvation (Lari, 1992, p. 153). Therefore, his ultimate aim and desire should be to seek the ultimate perfection achievable by man, which is the attainment of union with the sublime origin of all being (Lari, 1992, p. 36). B. Intermediate state This state is known as Barzakh. Here, the soul lives in another phase of existence (Haeri, 1997, p. 24) which falls between present life and resurrection (Ahmad, 1996, p. 152). The soul departs from the body and is held at Isthmus, a storage place for souls. Then, the soul returns to the grave to be questioned by two angels, Munkir and Nakir. They will question regarding Allah, belief in Islam, ones way of life and other questions to test ones virtues and piety. If one is righteous, one will be shown heaven. If not, one will be shown hell and tormented in ones grave. C. Resurrection They will blow on the trumpet and everything in the heavens and the earth will be swallowed up by death, save only that which God wishes to preserve. Then another trumpet blast will be sounded and all creatures will suddenly rise up to behold the plain of resurrection.(cited in Lari, 1992, p. 126) This is how the Quran (39:68) describes resurrection. The first sounding of the trumpet signals every living being to drop dead and the second sounding restores life for everyone to awaken. The trumpets function is to call for universal death and universal revival (Lari, 1992, p. 128). Before resurrection, comes the end of the world. According to the Quran (81:1-6), When the sun (with its spacious light) is folded up; When the stars fall, losing their luster; When the mountains vanish (like a mirage) (cited in Sakr, 2001, p. 73) only Allah remains. After forty years, He resurrects all. The Quran illustrates this by saying, And We send down from the sky rain charted with blessing, and We produce therewith gardens and grain for harvests . . . and We give (new) life therewith to land that is dead: thus will be the resurrection. (cited in Sakr, 2001, p. 82) III. Judgement Day: Accounting for ones deeds With resurrection comes Judgement Day which emphasizes on the Qurans tenacious stress on the ultimate moral responsibility and accountability of each believer (Esposito, 1998, p. 30). Mankind will be led in groups naked to an uninterrupted plain devoid of any irregularity where none can escape Allahs vision (Al-Ghazali, 1995, p. 177). The blazing sun will make the tightly packed congregation perspire in the sweltering heat according to their sins to atone for the duties they failed to perform. Supporting information in a study by Muslim, he says some will have sweat up to their ankles . . . and others will have it up to their mouths (cited in Sakr, 2001, p. 90). The intensity of a sinners suffering will be so unbearable that he will request to be sent to hell rather than undergo this torture. The concept of punishment is imminently significant in Islam. All will stand before Him in humility and be answerable for their deeds. Each will be issued his Book of Records which chronicles all his actions and intentions and this book is testament to how he led his life. A righteous person will receive the book in his right hand to indicate that Allah is pleased with him. A sinner will receive it in his left hand (Sakr, 2001, p. 101). Everyone is then interrogated about the way they lived. There is no intercession, prejudice nor favoritism in the judgement (p. 97). In two different works (Hamid, 1996; Sakr, 2001), it is said that nobody can hide their misdeeds since their own biological organs testify against them. Similarly, the Quran (24:24) states, Their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them as to their actions (cited in Sakr, 2001, p. 98). Allah will grant our organs the ability of speech and as mentioned earlier the bliss or burden of our actions would have left impressions on all these organs, so they will be able to bear witness. Allah will condemn those who failed to abide by His laws to jahannam. The Quran (9:79) says, Those who on account of their own evil nature find fault with the contributions of obedient believers, who mock those who do not grudge spending in the way of God whatever they are able, God mocks them and He will punish them; a painful torment will be theirs. (cited in Lari, 1992, p. 192) The Quran (23:102-4) also says that a person whose scales are heavy with good deeds are prosperers while one whose scales are light has lost [his] soul in [jahannam] dwelling forever (cited in Coward, 1997, p. 59). After the harrowing interrogation, all will have to walk over the Bridge of Hell or the Al- Sirat (Sakr, 2001, p. 108). The path could be very wide for one and very narrow for another. If the path is narrow when one is crossing and he fears hell, angels will either dump him [in] Hell (p. 108) or guide his path for safe-crossing to heaven. Al-Ghazali describes the Al-Sirat: Sharper than sword and more subtle than hair. He who treads on straight and right path in this world will cross it easily and will get salvation. He who is misguided and saddled with sins will slip therefrom at the first step and will fall down into Jahannam (Hell). (cited in Sakr, 2001, pp. 108-109) The Quran (19:71-72) says that by Allahs decree, nobody escapes passing over hell (Sakr, 2001, p. 112). Only the righteous will be saved from falling into the wrath of the raging fire. The terrified sinners then embark on their [march] along the Path of Hell (sirat al-jahim) where they will meet with the wrath of the Blaze (Coward, 1997, p. 60). Said Prophet Muhammad, There is no creature that will not be overtaken by remorse and regret on the day of resurrection, but regret will be of no avail. When the blessed look upon paradise and the infinite bounties that God has prepared for the pure and the Godfearing, they will regret not having performed righteous deeds equal to theirs. As for the wretched, the people of hellfire, they will groan and lament when they see the fire and hear its roar, and they will regret not having atoned for their sins while still in the world. (cited in Lari, 1992, pp. 210-211) IV. The chastisement of jahannam Those condemned to jahannam will yearn for Allahs absolute love. The sinners will be tormented to an extent unimaginable by mankind. Esposito cites the Quran (18:29), explaining what the unbelievers go through: a fire whose sheets encompass them. If they should ask for relief, then water like molten copper shall be showered upon them to scald their faces. How awful is such a drink and how evil a resting place (p. 31). There are different categories of hell where depending upon the sins committed, one could both be banished to jahannam and deprived of Allahs love for eternity or stay for a period of time till he atones for his sins and earns Allahs mercy. Similarly, both Sakr and Al-Ghazali profess that there are seven gates in hell. Al-Ghazali explains that seven is the number of the parts with which a man sins (p. 222). The gates are positioned one above the other. The uppermost level is [the gate leading to] the Inferno [Jahannam], followed by the Blaze [Saqar], Flame [Laza], Furnace [al-Hutama], Fire [al-Sair], Hellfire [al-Jahim] and Abyss [al-Hawiya] (Al-Ghazali, 1995, p. 222). He explains the significance of the infinite depth of the Abyss by likening it to that of mans countless desires of this world (1995, p. 222). He also says that pain caused by fire is supreme which explains the blazing fire that consumes the condemned (p. 223). Sakr explores the various tortures of jahannam. He says that the banished are repeatedly clubbed on their heads with maces of iron to experience pain and humiliation (p. 116). Sakr explains, that dwellers of jahannam are punished according to the intensity of their sins, by citing a verse from the Quran (15:43-44) proclaiming hell as the promised abode for the sinners and unbelievers. To it are seven gates: for each of those Gates is a (special) class (of sinners) assigned. For example, one will be chained and hauled along boiling water on his face while another will be made to drink boiling water which will sever his intestines (Sakr, 2001, p. 116-117) The Quran warns Muslims by saying, Indeed, the friendship of Satan earns man perdition and misguidance (cited in Lari, 1992, p. 210). In general, jahannam is the ultimate torture chamber that executes the most excruciating punishments. Lari (1992) appropriately articulates that these chastisements function as alarm bells to warn wrongdoers and cajole them into reform[ing] themselves before it is too late (p. 44). V. The bliss of al-janna God promises the believers, both women and men, that He will cause them to enter a paradise where rivers flow beneath the trees, and have them dwell in splendid palaces. He will also bestow on them His pleasure and satisfaction, which is greater and loftier than material bounties. This spiritual reward is, in truth, the supreme achievement for the pure (Quran 9:72; cited in Lari, 1992, p.140). Lari (1992) reinforces the reward of being in al-janna by saying that above all, man will [attain] there the true object of his love which is being with Allah (p. 148). Leading a righteous life and fulfilling ones duties as a Muslim wholeheartedly, merit[s] admission to [al-janna] (Coward, 1997, p. 51). Unyielding belief in Islam and the fear of God are core aspects of righteousness (Lari, 1992, p. 193). Lari defines a good deed as one that develops from a pure motive which is done solely to please God and develop the individual morally (p. 190). The studies of both Hamid and Malik show that there are different categories of heaven. Malik concedes there are seven heavens. The seventh heaven [is] [t]he Garden of Firdaws Jannat al Firdaws (2002, par. 21). Al-Ghazali describes heaven as a beautiful garden where souls rejoice, eating of its various foods, and quaffing its milk, wine and honey from rivers whose beds are of silver, whose pebbles are pearls . . . (1995, p. 233). Just as sinners are tormented according to their varying degrees of sins, the blessed are rewarded according to their righteousness and resolute faith. As the seventh heaven is the closest to Allah and His infinite love, it is the ultimate recompense for leading a life in total submission and of unadulterated love for Him. This will be the paramount motivation to [walk] in the path of [Allah] (Coward, 1997, p.51). VI. The consequence of choice Man shapes his hereafter based on his positive and negative deeds in this life, so he should always be devoted to Allah in order to stay on His path. Lari says whenever man falls into the pit of sin, he should immediately feel polluted by his act of rebellion against God and reform before he gets the stamp of perdition (1992, p.167). Mans actions shall be weighed in Scales and a final consignment to Heaven or Hell shall be decreed . . . For the Godfearing shall be a triumph-gardens and vineyards, maidens for companions, and a cup overflowing. But man is not to forget that Hell lurks in ambush, a home for the profligate, where they shall abide for ages . . . (Winter, 1995, p. xiii) VI. References Ahmad, H. M. (1996). Teachings of Islam (M. M. Ali, Trans.). OH: Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha. Al-Ghazali, A. H. (1995). The remembrance of death and the afterlife. UK: The Islamic Texts Society. Bower, J. (2001). What Muslims believe. England: Oneworld. Coward, H. (1997). Life after death in world religions. NY: Orbis Books. Elias, J. J. (1999). Islam. London: Calmann King. Esposito, J. L. (1998). Islam: The straight path. (3rd ed.). NY: Oxford University Press. Haeri, S. F. (1997). The elements of Islam. UK: Element Books. Hamid, A. (1996). Islam: The natural way. UK: MELS. Keller, N. H. M. (Trans.). (1996). Al-Nawawis manual of Islam. UK: The Islamic Texts Society. Lari, S. M. M. (1992). Resurrection judgement and the Hereafter (H. Algar, Trans.). Iran: Foundation of Islamic Cultural Propagation in the World. Malik, K. M. (2002, April 6). Meem The Arabic letter [On-line]. Retrieved March 30, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.meem. freeuk.com/Meem.html Sakr, A. H. (2001). Life, death and the life after. India: Islamic Book Service. VII. Bibliography Esack, F. (1998). Quran, liberation and pluralism. Oxford: Oneworld. Guillaume, A. (1961). Islam. US: Penguin Books. Hixon, L. (1995). Heart of the Koran. IL: The Theosophical Publishing House. Husaini, S. W. A. (1980). Islamic environmental systems engineering. London: Macmillan. Kamali, M. H. (1999). Freedom, equality, and justice in Islam. Malaysia: Ilmiah. Nursi, B. S. (n. d.). Resurrection and the hereafter. Pakistan: Shalimar. Pearl, D. (1987). A textbook on Muslim personal law. (2nd ed.). NH: Croom Helm. Said, E. W. (1997). Covering Islam. NY: Vintage Books.

Contributions of systemic ideas to psychological therapeutic practice

Contributions of systemic ideas to psychological therapeutic practice The systemic approach is essentially a contextual approach to therapy. That is it views the presence of illness or dysfunction as being located within the family system rather than in one of its individual members (Asen, 2002). Practitioners use the term systemic rather than family therapy, because being at the receiving end of family therapy can have strong connotations of blame (Asen, 2002). Systemic ideas have led to major contributions to modern day psychological therapeutic practice, for example, the premise that multi-systems account for the problem and not just the individual experiencing difficulties, a commitment to positive connotation and a non-blaming approach. Several different versions of systemic therapy have emerged over the years. It began with the initial concept of systems theory and cybernetics being applied to the study, and subsequently the treatment of families (Dallos Urry, 1999). In the 1950s Bateson and his colleagues studied the patterns of transaction and communication in individuals with schizophrenia. The group hypothesised that the family of the patient was forming his or her thought processes through the peculiar communication requirements imposed (Bateson et al, 1956). The family was seen as a system with homeostatic tendencies. Family members were considered as various parts of this system and seen as behaving according to a set of explicit and implicit rules that determine interpersonal behaviours and communications (Watzlawick et al; 1967). Systemic therapy developed on this view of the family as a system. It aimed to challenge and disrupt unhelpful interaction patterns and dysfunctional communications, subsequently , allowing new ways of communicating to emerge (Asen, 2002). In fact therapy based on systems theory presented itself as a radical breakthrough in the treatment of mental illness. The prevailing models of therapy at the time considered pathology as predominantly residing in the individual experiencing difficulties. With the introduction of systems theories, it came to be seen in terms of characteristics of the family system. Thus it presented an extremely diverse view of many conditions, such as depression anorexia, schizophrenia, phobias and anxieties. Dallos Urry, (1999), provide the example of a child displaying a school phobia. Systemic ideas suggest that the child might be carrying conflicts on behalf of others in the family. The childs symptoms are seen as functional; possible functions could be to ensure a role for an otherwise isolated and lonely mother, to keep a disengaged father involved, and to distract attention from unresolved conflicts in the marriage (Dallos Urry, 1999 p.165). Importantly, this implied that individual treatme nts might not only be ineffective but could actually exacerbate the problem. To just treat the child in the above example, could serve to reinforce the erroneous view that the problem was residing in the child rather than tackling the causes, which could lie within the family system. It was this breakthrough of seeing the illness not solely as residing in the individual but in the persons family system that could indeed be regarded as one of systemic therapys greatest contributions to psychological therapeutic practice. Thus therapists began to examine the patterns within systems or the family surrounding the individual experiencing difficulties. This first wave of the application of systemic ideas became known as first-order cybernetics (Dallos Urry, 1999) and are briefly outlined below. FIRST-ORDER CYBERNETICS Structural approach Initially Minuchin and colleagues, (1974), proposed the structural approach. This approach assumes a normative family model, claiming families function particularly well when certain family structures prevail (Asen, 2002). Normative families were seen as those with embedded structures, such as hierarchies between generations within a family. It was considered important that these structures had semi-permeable boundaries permitting a sufficient flow of information up and down between hierarchies (Asen, 2002). The aim of structural family therapy is to make a particular family structure approximate the typical (normative) model. Challenging directly absent or rigid boundaries, unbalancing the equilibrium by temporarily joining with one family member against the others, or setting homework tasks designed to restore hierarchies, are some techniques used within a structural approach (Asen, 2002). As mentioned above seeing the problems as residing in the family system rather than the indiv idual was the ground-breaking and somewhat revolutionary at the time and a major contribution to psychological therapeutic practice. Strategic systemic therapy Strategic systemic therapy, is founded on the hypothesis that the symptom is being maintained by behaviours that seek to suppress it (Haley, 1963; Watzlawick et al, 1974). Asen (2002) provides the example of a woman with depression and low self-esteem which may elicit her partners over-protectiveness, a solution that maintains the presenting problem. A strategic therapist may re-frame the problem. For example, suggesting that the womans depression is an unselfish act designed to protect her partner from his own problems. The therapist may then prescribe a ritual whereby for a week on uneven days, the partner needs to experiment with discussing his own concerns (Asen, 2002). It is argued, by strategic therapists that once some changes are achieved in relation to the presenting symptom, a domino effect sets in affecting other interactions and behaviours in the whole family system. (Asen, 2002). The pervading problem is put into a different meaning-frame that provides new perspectives a nd therefore potentially makes new behaviours possible (Asen, 2002). Once again this reframing of the problem was innovative at the time and led to subsequent developments in therapeutic practice. SECOND ORDER CYBERNETICS Mental illnesses are indeed mental, in that they are at least 90% made up of blame, or casual attributions that are felt as blame. (Hoffman, 1993: 391) The shift towards what became known as second order cybernetics was broadly paralleled with a move in the social sciences towards constructivism and a departure from the mechanistic version of systems theory (Dallos Urry, 1999). Observations of patterns within systems were still seen as the major starting point but the emphasis was moved to an exploration of how the particular patterns within a family were shaped by their beliefs, explanations and meanings. Therapists began to make no assumptions about how family life should be and what represented a healthy family. The basic premise of this second wave of systems theories (Dallos Urry, 1999) was that the therapist and supervision team were seen as formulating certain ideas about a particular familys dynamics. These were regarded as no more than working hypothesis (Selvini Palazzoli, 1980) and it was believed there was no objective reality waiting to be discovered (Dallos Urry, 1999). It was imperative that therapists worked in teams rather than individually because it was seen as essential that the therapists continually reflected on and questioned their perceptions. The Milan systemic approach The Milan systemic approach advocated by Selvini Palazzoli and colleagues, (1978), holds great emphasis on a particular style of interviewing circular and reflexive questioning (Selvini Palazzoli et al, 1980). The approach focuses on questioning the various family members beliefs and perceptions regarding relationships. Asking each to comment and reflect on the answers given by the various other family members creates feedback that changes the fabric of family interactions (Asen, 2002). The Milan groups commitment to positive connotation produced a non- blaming approach. Selvini Palazzoli, Boscolo, Cecchin Prata ,(1980), succeeded in establishing three principles that they considered indispensible to interviewing the family correctly. They called these principles Hypothesising , Circularity, Neutrality. By hypothesising we refer to the formulation by the therapist of a hypothesis based upon the information he possesses regarding the family he is interviewing. The hypothesis establishes a starting point for his investigation as well as his verification of the validity of this hypothesis based upon specific methods and skills. If the hypothesis is proven false, the therapist must form a second hypothesis based upon the information gathered during the testing of the first (Selvini Palazzoli, et al, 1980; p.1) A fundamental point emphasized was that every hypothesis had to be systemic, therefore, include all components of the family. The hypothesis was seen as neither true or false but more or less useful. That is, it was used by the Milan group as more of an investigative tool. By investigating proposed hypotheses of the problem, whether they proved true or false, the hypothesis served its essential function of providing the team of therapists with new information. The second principle proposed by Milan systemic therapy was that of circularity. By circularity we mean the capacity of the therapist to conduct his investigation on the basis of feedback from the family in response to the information he solicits about relationships and, therefore, about difference and change (Selvini Palazzoli et al, 1980,p.4) The acquisition of such an ability demands that therapists free themselves from the linguistic and cultural condition that make them believe they are capable of thinking in terms of things so that they may rediscover the deeper truth that we still think only in terms of relationships (Bateson, 1968;p.173). Circular questioning has subsequently been described as both an information-gathering and a change-inducing procedure. According to Tomm the purpose of a systemic interview is not so much the removal of a problem but the discovery of its systemic connectedness and hence its temporal necessity (Tomm, 1985; p.44). The recognition of this necessity makes the need for alternatives self-evident and may result in a problem resolution that appears to be spontaneous (Tomm, 1985). The third principle was termed by the Milan group as neutrality: By neutrality of the therapist we mean a specific pragmatic effect that his total behaviour during the session exerts on the family (and not his intrapsychic disposition). (Selvini Palazzoli et al, 1980; p.6). Ideally if the principle of neutrality is maintained throughout a family session, the family members should feel that the therapist had not sided or supported any one family member in particular. Instead the Milan- systemic therapist builds successive alliances, the end result of which is that the therapist is allied with everyone and no one at the same time. The therapist works to provoke feedback and collects information, the more the therapist does this the less apt to make moral judgements of any kind. It is also the responsibility of the therapist to observe and neutralize as early as possible any attempt towards coalition, seduction, or privileged relationships with the therapist made by any member or subgroup of the family (Selvini Palazzoli et al, 1980). Social Constructionist approach The Social Constructionist approach is based on the reality that the therapist observes is created, with perceptions being shaped by the therapists own cultures and his/her ingrained assumptions and beliefs. This approach is influencing many systemic therapists and has led to an examination of how language shapes problem perceptions and definitions ( Asen, 2002). Family therapists are interested in the active process of meaning-making and the greater variation of possibilities the inherent ideas in particular discourses and the ideas that had been excluded (Boston, 2000). If the narratives in which clients describe their experience- or have their experience reported by mental health professionals- do not fit these experiences, then significant aspects of their lived experience will contradict the dominant narrative (White Epston, 1990: cited in Asen, 2002) and be experienced as problematic. Narrative Therapy Systemic narrative therapy proposes to help families to produce and evolve new stories and ways of understanding events to make sense of their experiences. Family and therapist together co-construct new ways of describing the individual and related family issues so that they no longer need to be viewed or experienced as problematic (Asen, 2002). Brief solution-focused therapy In brief solution-focused therapy, the problem drenched ways of talking are deliberately ignored, with the focus instead on the patterns of previous attempted solutions (De Shazer, 1985). The approach is based on the observation that symptoms and problems have a tendency to ebb and flow. During times when a symptom is less or not present, the therapist designs therapeutic strategies around the exceptions, as they form the basis of the solution. The theory postulates that by encouraging families to amplify the solution patterns of their lives, the problem patterns can be driven into the background (Asen, 2002; 231). Psychoeducational approaches Psychoeducational approaches (Leff et al, 1982; Anderson, 1983) combine behavioural interventions with structural approaches. Family members are educated about the causes and the course of the individuals mental health problem. The general aim of therapy is to reduce the emotional intensity in the family as well as the degree of physical proximity (Asen, 2002). One of the main important aspects of this approach are regular relatives groups- to share experiences and solutions- and family sessions (Kuipers et al, 2002) (Asen, 2002). Behavioural family and couple therapy Behavioural family and couple therapy views the family as a major health-enhancing resource, with each member doing his/her very best to maximise pleasant and minimise unpleasant events in the family unit and the immediate social environment (Asen, 2002). Therapists in this framework employ such things as contingency contracting or operant conditioning to illicit behavioural change. After observation and analysis of recounted family or couple interactions, concrete goals for change are targeted by both family and therapist. The therapists and families work together on behaviours which can be easily modified and changed. Initially the focus is on positive feelings, ideas and plans and once some progress has been made, the focus shifts to the expression of negative feelings, in a constructive manner so that problem resolution can be facilitated (Asen, 2002). The therapist then adopts a structured- problem solving stance to encourage family members to agree on the problems and goals, di scuss solutions and to highlight advantages and disadvantages of each proposed solution. Finally an implementation plan is put in place and the family and therapist continually review the efforts and results (Falloon, 1988). Summary In summary there are extremely diverse systemic approaches which have developed since the initial application of systems theories to therapy in the 1950s. In its very conception, systemic therapy challenged the psychiatric/medical prevailing attitudes of the time and offered an alternative to the oppressive practices of stigmatization, isolation, confinement and enforced treatments. The innovative idea of externalising the problem to the individuals wider systems and a fierce commitment to positive connotation has had a major impact on current therapeutic interventions. In addition to this, the premise of enlisting family members or system members as therapeutic agents, surrounds the individual experiencing difficulties with an invaluable support system. The next section of this paper highlights the impact and contribution of systemic ideas to therapeutic practice by discussing the evidence base for anorexia, schizophrenia and child-focused problems. ANOREXIA NERVOSA Over the past two decades family therapy has gradually established itself as an important treatment approach in eating disorders. It has been found to be particularly effective in adolescent anorexia nervosa. Its impact to the treatment of anorexia nervosa, particularly in adolescent sufferers could be considered to be one of Family therapys greatest contributions in a clinical setting. There is a consistent body of empirical evidence for the effectiveness of family -based treatments which adds significant weight to the earlier clinical and theoretical accounts of some of the pioneers of family therapy such as Minuchin (Minuchin et al. 1975) and the Milan group (Selvini Palazzoli et al. 1974) and has undoubtedly been one of the important factors in the major changes in the treatment of eating disorders that the field has witnessed in the past 20 years (Eisler, 2002). However in contradiction, alongside the evidence for the effectiveness of family therapy, there has also been growing evidence that the theoretical foundations from which this treatment has evolved are flawed. The psychosomatic family model proposed by Minuchin et al (1978) suggested that there was a specific family context within which the eating disorder developed. It was suggested that a particular family process evolved around the symptomatic behaviour in interaction with vulnerability in the child and the childs role as mediator in cross generational alliances (Minuchin et al. 1975) (cited in Eisler, 2002). Minuchin et al. (1975) emphasised the evolving and interactive nature of the process and saw the resulting psychosomatic family as a necessary condition for the development of the eating disorder. The evidence for the psychosomatic family is weak and more recent findings have indicated that families in which an eating disorder sufferer is present are heterogenous group. This heterogeneity is not only with respect to socio-demographic characteristics but also in terms of the nature of the relationships within the family and the emotional climate and patterns of interactions (Eisler 1995). Regardless of whether the family has an impact on the aetiology of the eating disorder, the major impact of an eating disorder, on family life, cannot be denied. As time goes on food, eating behaviours and the concerns that they give rise to begin to permeate the entire family fabric, every relationship in the family, influencing daily family routines, coping and problem solving behaviours.(Eisler, 2002, p.292). Due to the monumental impact of the disorder on the entire family, an intervention that includes the entire family seems logical. The most important facet of systemic therapy is that the family is seen as resource. It is important to explore with the family where things have got stuck and to help them to re-discover some of the resources that they have as a family so that they can become unstuck and start looking for new solutions to the problems (Eisler, 2002). As mentioned previously there is a growing body of evidence for the effectiveness of systemic family therapy in the treatment of anorexia, in particular adolescent anorexia nervosa. The initial studies were uncontrolled follow up studies. The first study of family therapy with patients with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa was conducted by Minuchin and colleagues (1975). Their study involved 53 anorexic patients, just over half of whom started receiving inpatient treatment in conjunction with family therapy. Some patients were also seen individually. The results were extremely positive, the researchers reported a recovery rate of 86%, however the study has been heavily criticised for its methodological weaknesses (the evaluations were conducted by members of the clinical team, there was no comparison treatment and the length of follow-up varied from 18 months to 7 years ) (Eisler, 2002). A similar study conducted by Martin (1985) showed positive results comparable to that of Minuchin and colleagues study. The research was a five year follow up of 25 adolescent anorexia nervosa patients (mean age 14.9 years), with a short duration of illness (8.1 months). At the end of the treatment period there had been significant improvements, although only 23% would have met the Morgan/Russel criteria for good outcome, 45% for intermediate outcome and 32% poor outcome. The results at follow-up were 80% having good outcome, 4% intermediate and the remaining patients either still in treatment (12%) or relapsed (4%). Two other studies (Dare, 1983; Mayer, 1994) used family therapy as the only treatment intervention and found that 90% of patients had made significant improvements or were recovered at follow up. However, both of these studies were small (12 and 11 patients). A third lager study, conducted by Stierlin weber, (1987, 1989), took place with families seen at the Heidelberg Centre over a period of 10 years and adds to the evidence that adolescents and probably also young adults, do well in family therapy (Eisler, 2002). To date there has not been very many randomized clinical trials in anorexia nervosa and the few that there is having been relatively small. Russell and colleagues (1987), compared family therapy and individual therapy and found that adolescent patients with a short duration faired significantly better with family therapy than the control treatment (individual therapy). The findings were however, inconclusive for those with duration of illness of more than three years who mostly had a poor outcome. Eisler (1997), conducted a five-year follow up of this study and showed that in the adolescent subgroup who had a short history of illness, those who received family therapy continued to do well with 90% having a good outcome. In comparison while those that had received the individual therapy also improved, nearly half still had significant eating disorder symptoms. This finding suggests that the benefits of family therapy can still be detected, 5 years after the end of treatment (Eisler, 2 002). Several other important studies have compared different types of family therapy. Two such studies were Eisler et al (2000), and LeGrange and colleagues (1992). Both researchers compared Conjoint Family Therapy (CFT) and Separated Family Therapy (SFT) in which the adolescent was seen on their own and the parents were seen in a separate session with the same therapist. Overall, the results of both studies showed improvements in both the CFT group and the SFT group. The study by Eisler and colleagues, suggested that on individual psychological measures and measures of family functioning there was significantly more change in the CFT group. Similarly, a study by Robin et al (1999), also investigated the differences between two forms of family therapy. Researchers compared conjoint family therapy, which they described as behavioural family systems therapy BFST, with ego-orientated individual therapy EOIT. The EOIT consisted of individual therapy for the patient on a weekly basis, combined with fortnightly meetings with the parents. Robin and colleagues, (1999) found that by the end of treatment, both the BFST (similar to the Eisler, CFT group ) and the EOIT group patients had significantly improved, with 67% reaching target weight by the end of treatment. A one year follow up found that 75% had reached their target weight. The research found that BFST led to significantly greater weight gain than EOIT both at the end of treatment and at follow-up (Robin et al. 1999). Both groups produced comparably large improvements in eating attitudes, depression and self-reported eating-related family conflict. Furthermore a decreas e in maternal negative communication and an increase in positive communication was found in the BFST group but not the EOIT group. In summary, the overall consistent findings of these studies is that adolescents with anorexia appear to respond better to systemic family therapy, and often without the need for inpatient treatment (Eisler, 2002). Conclusions about the comparisons between different kinds of family therapy have to be examined more carefully. This is mainly due to the small size and small number of comparative studies (Eisler, 2002). It seems apparent that those treatments which encourage the parents to take an active role in tackling the adolescents anorexia are the most effective. According to Eisler, 2002, these therapies may have some advantages by over involving the parents in a way that is supportive and understanding of the adolescent, but encourages them to step back from the eating problem. Furthermore it has been suggested that not involving the parents in the treatment at all, leads to the worst outcome and may considerably delay recovery of the patient. However it should be noted that seei ng whole families in which there are high levels of hostility or criticism, may be disadvantageous to the individual with anorexia. According to Szmuckler and colleagues, 1985, such families may be difficult to engage with and this may be even more salient when the whole family is seen together. During family sessions feelings of guilt and blame may be increased as a consequence of criticisms or confrontations brought up during the family therapy session (Squire-Dehouck, 1993). SCHIZOPHRENIA Providing family intervention therapy for individuals with schizophrenia is widely accepted as being beneficial to the both to the individual with schizophrenia and their families. Both the NICE (2003) and PORT (Lehman et al., 1998) guidelines recommend some kind of family work or family intervention for schizophrenia (Bertrando, 2006). Its efficacy with treating individuals with Schizophrenia could also be considered one of systemic family therapies major contributions to clinical practice. Although there is considerable variability in the format of systemic-family based interventions, they tend to share a common set of assumptions. Firstly schizophrenia is regarded as an illness; secondly, the family environment is not implicated in the etiology of the illness. Third, support is provided and families are enlisted as therapeutic agents and lastly the interventions are part of a treatment package used in conjunction with routine drug treatment and outpatient clinical management (Lam, 1991; Dixon Lehman, 1995). The elements of family interventions most frequently used in differing combinations are psycho-education, behavioural problem solving, family support, and crisis management (Dixon Lehman, 1995). It is clear that effective family treatments involve at least some conjoint family meetings which include symptomatic and non-symptomatic family members. Emphasis is placed on blame reduction, the positive role which family members can play in the rehabilitation on the person experiencing difficulties and the degree to which family intervention will alleviate the familys burden of care (Carr, 2000). One helpful aspect of systemic -family intervention is that it provides family members with an explanation or framing of the condition which provides a rationale for reducing family stress, increasing family support and active coping and arranging for the person with schizophrenia to adhere to the prescribed medication regime (Carr, 2000; 284). Initially a study by Brown (1972) found that people with schizophrenia from families that expressed high levels of criticism, hostility, or, over-involvement have more frequent relapses than individuals with similar problems from families that tended to be less expressive of their emotions. There are now several interventions available to families involving education, support and management to reduce expressed emotion etc. (Pharoah et al, 2006). The aim of such family interventions is to reduce stress within the families and subsequently by doing so reduce the levels of relapse. Interventions are proposed to accompany drug treatments rather than to be used as an alternative (Pharoah et al, 2006). A review by Mari, (1996), found that family interventions in Schizophrenia significantly reduced hospital admissions at one year follow up. Further to this, the most recent review carried out by Pharoah and colleagues, (2006) lends support to Maris, (1996) original finding and up to date evidence suggests that family intervention does statistically and significantly reduce hospital admissions at one year (Pharoah et al, 2006). In addition, at 18 month follow up, family intervention was still found to significantly reduce levels of admission to hospital. A study lending support to this hypothesis, reported that total number of days spent in hospital at 3 months was significantly lower for individuals that had received family interventions. Another study by Xiong (1994) cited by Pharoah (2006), favoured family intervention. The authors reported that 33 individuals receiving family intervention , spent on average 7.9 days in hospital by the end of 1 year follow up period, compared to 28 controls who spent on average 24 days in hospital. In terms of effect of family intervention on the families or relatives of the individual with schizophrenia, a study by Bloch, (1995), pointed that familys ability to cope with the illness was not clearly increased by family intervention. However, the study did report that the families understanding of the patients needs were statistically increased by family intervention. In contrast Szmuckler, (2003), reported on continuous measures of coping by the carers and found ambiguous results with no benefit been shown for those in intervention group compared to controls. However studies have proven that family intervention decreases significantly the levels of criticism and hostility compared to groups not receiving family therapy (Tarrier, 1988). Increased understanding of an individuals difficulties with schizophrenia, coupled with decreased levels of hostility and criticism towards that person, can be viewed a significant and important contribution of systemic therapy to dealing with th is condition. There is also evidence to suggest that family intervention is favourable when compared to standard care. A study by Chen, (2002; cited in Pharoah, 2006), reported that at the end of 1 year follow up, family therapy intervention did significantly reduce relapse rates of patients. Zhao, (2000), found that at 2 year follow up rates were again significantly lower in the family intervention groups. Furthermore studies looking at relapse rates at 3 year follow up also favoured family therapy (cited in Pharoah, 2006). In their review, Pharoah and colleagues, (2006), concluded that people receiving family therapy may relapse less than standard care groups. However it is noted by the authors that unpublished and inaccessible smaller negative studies that could not be included in the current review, and may weaken the overall findings (Pharoah, 2006). But at the moment the best available evidence suggests that approximate number of families needed to be given Family Intervention in order to avoid the relapse of 1 patient at the end of 1 year, is 8. The impression of better overall global improvement in family intervention groups is supported by several other studies (Xiang, 1994; Ran, 2003; cited in Pharoah, 2006). Family intervention was not shown to either hinder or promote the completion of one year of therapy , however findings do suggest that family therapy does promote compliance of individuals with schizophrenia and medication (Pharoah, 2006). The authors propose that it can be speculated that this is the reason that family Intervention has its main effect. Hogart, (1997), suggests that although compliance with medication was indeed improved by family

Analysis of Hospitality Industry in Mauritius

Analysis of Hospitality Industry in Mauritius 2.1 Definitions of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) CSR has been defined as the duty of the organization to respect individuals rights and promote human welfare in its operations (Manakkalathil and Rudolf, 1995; Oppewal et al., 2006). Businesses not only have the economic responsibility of being profitable and the legal responsibility to follow the laws or ground rules that guide their ability to achieve their economic requirements, but they also have ethical responsibilities that include a range of societal norms, or standards (Carroll, 2000). CSR has been around for more than two decades. During the later half of twentieth century there arose the idea of the corporate social contract, which today underlies the CSR concept. Given the sometimes adverse effects of business decision making on society as well as corporate reliance on society, the notion of an implied corporate social contract was conceived by social and economic theorists. This contract spells out societys expectations of business as well as (although much less discussed) businesss expectations of society (Bowie, 1983). There is no single authoritative definition of CSR (ISO COPOLCO, 2002). The CSR agenda seems to be a loosely defined umbrella embracing a vast number of concepts traditionally framed as environmental concerns, public relations, corporate philanthropy, human resource management and community relations. One of the most referred definitions is by World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) (1999) that defines CSR as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at largeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. CSR means being a good steward of societys economic and human resources ( Journal of Consumer Marketing, 2001). In summary, CSR entails the obligation stemming from the implicit à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“social contractà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? between business and society for firms to be responsive to societys long-run needs and want s, optimizing the positive effects and minimizing the negative effects of its actions on society. To synchronize that organizational social responsibility concerns are treated in the same routine manner in which legal, financial, and marketing concerns are addressed, four theories of corporate social responsibility have been advanced in the literature. The four positions are the classical, stakeholder, social demandingness, and social activist theories. The classical theory is the oldest of the four, and is grounded in classical economic theory. Firstly business executives are said to be primarily responsible to the shareholders of the corporation and their primary goal is to promote efficiency and secure effective economic performance. Secondly managers are said to be responsible to respond to the shareholders demands. These views are often thought to coincide with each other, because it is usually assumed that the main demand of shareholders is to maximize economic performance. In addition, both versions agree that managers are to perform their corporate function according to the laws and, thus, to avoid such things as fraud and deception. Friedman (1970), points out à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Here the businessman self-selected or appointed directly or indirectly by stockholders is to be simultaneously legislator, executive, or juristà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦He becomes in effect a public employee, a civil servant, even though he remains in name an e mployee of a private enterprise.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? This theory, albeit the oldest of the four theories, is still well and alive; it has many supporters and proponents among academicians and practitioners. The second theory is the stakeholder theory which integrates the main idea of classical theory, that is, corporate executives are responsible to stockholders. Nevertheless, what differs it from classical theory is that other groups are directly affected by the conduct and decision of the firm. These groups can employees, consumers, creditors, suppliers, and legal sub-systems who have a stake in the organisation and who might affect, in one way or another, the corporate decision making process. Furthermore, corporate executives have a direct responsibility to promote the interests of these groups. The main disagreement among stakeholder theorists, however, over whether stakeholder interests of these groups take precedence over the financial interests of stockholders or the stakeholder interests are the overriding ones. Social demandingness theorists argue that corporations have a responsibility to protect and promote certain interests of the general public. They agree with the stakeholder theorists that the interests of stakeholder groups are important, but they believe that these interests do not override non-stakeholdersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ interests or demands for such things as safety, health, freedom, and prosperity. As with the stakeholder theory, this theory repudiates the notion that there is some balanced or sensible list of tangible responsibilities that corporate executives always have toward society. The list varies as the nature and ranking of the interests or demands of the public change. The fourth and final theory is the social activist theory which is distinctively the most socially and morally demanding of the four theories. While agreeing with the stakeholders and social demandingness theories that executives have responsibilities toward stakeholders groups and the general public, social activistsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ theorists argue that corporate managers should sometimes strive to undertake projects that advance the interests of the public even when these undertakings are neither expected nor demanded by them. Social activists theorists contend that such projects should, for the most part, be in the area of corporate know-how, but they sometimes urge that executives deliberately take on social projects for which they have no special training or expertise 2.1 Types of CSR and Corporate Governance The notion that business has duties to society is firmly entrenched, although in the past several decades there has been a revolution in the way people view the relationship between business and society. Carroll (1979) and other researchers believe that we should judge corporations not just on their economic success, but also on non-economic criteria. Carroll (1979) proposed a popular four-part definition of CSR, suggesting that corporations have four responsibilities or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“four facesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Carroll, 2000b, p. 187) to fulfill to be good corporate citizens: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic: Economic responsibility. Economic responsibility is to be profitable for principals, by delivering a good quality product, at a fair price, is due to customers. Legal responsibilities. Legal duties entail complying with the law and playing by the rules of the game Ethical responsibilities. Ethical duties overcome the limitations of legal duties. They entail being moral, doing what is right, just, and fair; respecting peoples moral rights; and avoiding harm or social injury as well as preventing harm caused by others (Smith and Quelch, 1993). Philanthropic responsibility. Interest in doing good for society, regardless of its impact on the bottom line is what is called altruistic, humanitarian or philanthropic CSR. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“giving backà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? time and money in the forms of voluntary service, voluntary association and voluntary giving à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" is where most of the controversy over the legitimacy of CSR lies. CORPORATE GOUVERNANCE (CG) Moreover, CSR is closely linked with the Corporate Governance of the organization, be it hotel organization. Any of those types of CSR should start in the hotel organizations first and then move to external environment. The key people should be taken into consideration so the CSR practices should be geared towards the internal customers who will in turn become CSR delegates to reach the external customers and environment. Companies must improve their business models by bringing CSR and sustainability into their strategy. Shleifer and Vishny (1997) define CG as the ways in which suppliers of finance to organisations assure themselves of getting a return on investment. Over the years, CG has evolved from the traditional à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“profit-centered modelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. By incorporating the community in which firms operate, the political environment, laws and regulations, and more generally the markets in which firms are involved. See Figure 1: The Business in Society which reflects a stakeholder perspective on the firm (Jensen, 2001) 2.1The Hospitality Industry à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"Definitions Definitions of the hospitality have been approached from a number of different perspectives. Most of them combine physiological and psychological elements with security and levels of service. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hospitality is concerned with the provision of physiological and psychological comfort with defined levels of service. The satisfactions may be physiological (thirst, bed, warmth), economic (value for money), social (company, service) and psychological (self-esteem, status, security).à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Source: C.Cooper, R.Shepherd, J. Westlake (1994) Even if the approach to defining hospitality may shift according to the authors, there are a number of integral elements that are common to all. These are: Hospitality is a complex combination of tangible and intangible features and benefits Hospitality involves a satisfying interaction between the service provider and the customer Hospitality provides guests with security, psychological and physiological comfort by offering food, beverage and accommodation. Therefore, bearing in mind the above characteristics, a simpler definition of the hospitality industry may be: The Hospitality Industry is involved with providing accommodations, food, beverage, entertainment, comfort and recreation for travelers away from their usual residences and normal surroundings. The industry also naturally look forward to meet the customer`s needs for safety and support of their persons, property, modes of transportation, and even the varying purpose of their travel. Speaking generally, those who make use of hospitality services demand attainment of a professional level of quality consistent with world standards, although perhaps adjusted for local conditions. They anticipate the facilities will be clean, comfortable, safe and secure. They expect good food and beverage at a reasonable rate. Furthermore, they look for courtesy, friendliness, respect and identification from the host. Perhaps more importantly they demand honesty, truth and equity in their dealings with the operator and his employees. Hospitality Industry In Mauritius HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In Mauritius, the first hotel was the Park Hotel in 1952 so as to accommodate the crew members coming at that time. Then came the Mauritius Hotel, the first beach hotel, built in 1954 at Le Morne followed by Le Chaland, another beach hotel in 1961. But the real development of tourism took place soon after Mauritius got its independence from the British. In early 1970`s the creation of Trou aux Biches Hotel by the Mauritius Hotels, the setting up of the Club MeditÃÆ' ©ranÃÆ' ©e and the Saint GÃÆ' ©ran Hotel by the Southern Sun Hotels as well as the Merville Beach Hotel by the ex-British Colons who wanted to come back here during the winter months of England. The Mauritius Hotel is now the Beachcomber group and the Southern Sun Hotels is the Sun International Resorts Limited. At present there are 95 hotels in Mauritius and there are not less than 5 more under construction as per the registered list set by the Ministry of Tourism. The numbers of hotels, rooms and bed places have increased constantly from 1991. Moreover the Prime Minister has announced his vision to reach 2 million tourists in 2015. Consequently an average annual growth of 10% in tourist arrival is expected. In order to reach this target, an approximate nu mber of 18500 rooms should be made available. This will bring about the creation of around 37000 direct jobs and double the amount in terms of indirect jobs. Due to the rapid growth of tourism and hospitality industry, government has introduced incentives for the private sector to bring in a sustainable development, namely by corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. This is achievable through proper public-private sector partnership. Overview of the Hotel industry IN MAURITIUS The hospitality industry in Mauritius has developed rapidly during the past 25 years. The coastal regions as well as the interior part of the island are constantly changing with the construction of the hotels and the increasing number of vehicles being used for the tourism industry. In 2007, the tourism industry was considered the third pillar of the economy after Sugar and Textile, and currently it plays a vital role in the economic growth of the country. The undoubted fall of 35% in the price of sugar and the removal of preference agreement with the EU market, has earmarked the tourism industry as the main industry capable of boosting the Mauritian economy. In July 2008, according to the last bulletin published by the Central Statistical Office (CSO), Mauritius welcomed 81,169 tourists as compared to 77,225 in 2007, registering a 5.1% growth over the same period a year ago. Table 1: Monthly tourist arrivals, July 2007 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" July 2008 Source:Tourism sector performance for the month of July, AHRIM Report, August 2008, pg 2 But after two decades of impressive growth, the need for responsible corporate governance has been felt in the country as the attitudes; mentality and knowledge of those working in that industry have not evolved at the same pace in terms of social responsibility and environmental awareness. Impacts of this rapid and somehow unplanned development are being experienced in the environment at large. Still, a lot has to be done to meet the competitive edge through proper campaign and involvement of all stakeholders so as to contribute towards sustainable development of the hospitality sector. In order to support its continuous growth, the Mauritian Tourism and Hospitality industry needs well-trained staff with full knowledge of their product while respecting the socio-economic and cultural environment in which the Mauritian tourism product is evolving. It is really important to maintain a high standard of efficiency and service so as to meet the requirements of an increasingly competitive and sophisticated global market. 2.7 CSR in the hotel industry In Mauritius Within the hospitality industry it has been agreed that there are increasing environmental and societal concerns. The big question is how to manage our environmental impact as demand grows against a backdrop of increasing vulnerability. As a result of demand for more sustainable destinations and travel preferences, management policies are being felt. Hotels practicing CSR look at the following areas: Workplace (where employees are treated equally and fairly) Marketplace (stakeholders) Environment (which has to be sustained for the future generation) Community Ethics Human rights Many hotels are now aware of CSR practices and have begun to use environmental-friendly products. Hotels in Mauritius are reducing the use of hazardous or non-degradable chemicals. Big hotel chains like Oberoi Mauritius recycle oil, water and plastic bottles while all hotels with more than 50 rooms are compel to recycle water as per the legislation. Hotels tend to purchase products that have a reduced environmental impact during their life cycle, from suppliers that demonstrate environmental and social responsibility to their customers and the society. Furthermore, Association des Hoteliers et Restaurateurs de L`Ile Maurice (AHRIM), is fully supporting the CSR initiatives initiated by the Mauritian Government. Through its members, they are actively putting forward the CSR activities on a regional basis all over the island. (See Appendix 1: Recommended CSR activities by AHRIM to its Members in June 2008). Stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, business partners, government) are getting more and more involved the hotelsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ CSR activities. Hotel employees are educated to make a conscious decision in favour of environment and social issues in their private and business lives. Hotel guests are informed about CSR activities and are asked to participate in responsible business activities within the hotels and to work together to find innovative solutions that satisfy the hotelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s economic, environmental and social objectives. Managers are asked to abide by local and EU legislation especially on labour laws, health and safety, human rights and the environment. A great deal can be done when developing a hotel property in order to make both the development process and the eventual operation more environmentally sustainable. One of the aims of CSR is to make the community benefit from the hotel industry. 2.8 Benefits of CSR in the hotel industry Hotels who adopt CSR into their operations and public image depend on the following factors: Size Level of diversification Research and Development Advertising Government Intervention Consumer Income Labour market conditions Stage of the industry life cycle However this differs for different hotel organization, for example, larger hotels like international hotel chains may operate a CSR program at a lower cost than a small hotel because of economies of scale. It is a method for organization to distinguish themselves from their competitors Firstly, hotels benefit from CSR as it helps to reduce operating cost such as implementing of recycling and energy saving programs. Secondly, their brand image and reputation are enhanced as consumers prefer companies with CSR programs. Another benefit derived by hotels is in terms of productivity and quality since productivity goes up whenever working conditions improve. Other beneficiaries of the CSR programs are immediate environment in which the company is evolving. It comprises of the local community, neighboring villages, employees who usually live in those areas, the hotel guests and the host country at large. Hotels are expected to have ethical and social commitments, valued connections with partners and consistency over time to build trust with the stakeholders. In doing so, the hotel organizations are also developing societal marketing concept, therefore beneficiate from it. Analysis of Hospitality Industry in Mauritius Analysis of Hospitality Industry in Mauritius 2.1 Definitions of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) CSR has been defined as the duty of the organization to respect individuals rights and promote human welfare in its operations (Manakkalathil and Rudolf, 1995; Oppewal et al., 2006). Businesses not only have the economic responsibility of being profitable and the legal responsibility to follow the laws or ground rules that guide their ability to achieve their economic requirements, but they also have ethical responsibilities that include a range of societal norms, or standards (Carroll, 2000). CSR has been around for more than two decades. During the later half of twentieth century there arose the idea of the corporate social contract, which today underlies the CSR concept. Given the sometimes adverse effects of business decision making on society as well as corporate reliance on society, the notion of an implied corporate social contract was conceived by social and economic theorists. This contract spells out societys expectations of business as well as (although much less discussed) businesss expectations of society (Bowie, 1983). There is no single authoritative definition of CSR (ISO COPOLCO, 2002). The CSR agenda seems to be a loosely defined umbrella embracing a vast number of concepts traditionally framed as environmental concerns, public relations, corporate philanthropy, human resource management and community relations. One of the most referred definitions is by World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) (1999) that defines CSR as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at largeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. CSR means being a good steward of societys economic and human resources ( Journal of Consumer Marketing, 2001). In summary, CSR entails the obligation stemming from the implicit à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“social contractà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? between business and society for firms to be responsive to societys long-run needs and want s, optimizing the positive effects and minimizing the negative effects of its actions on society. To synchronize that organizational social responsibility concerns are treated in the same routine manner in which legal, financial, and marketing concerns are addressed, four theories of corporate social responsibility have been advanced in the literature. The four positions are the classical, stakeholder, social demandingness, and social activist theories. The classical theory is the oldest of the four, and is grounded in classical economic theory. Firstly business executives are said to be primarily responsible to the shareholders of the corporation and their primary goal is to promote efficiency and secure effective economic performance. Secondly managers are said to be responsible to respond to the shareholders demands. These views are often thought to coincide with each other, because it is usually assumed that the main demand of shareholders is to maximize economic performance. In addition, both versions agree that managers are to perform their corporate function according to the laws and, thus, to avoid such things as fraud and deception. Friedman (1970), points out à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Here the businessman self-selected or appointed directly or indirectly by stockholders is to be simultaneously legislator, executive, or juristà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦He becomes in effect a public employee, a civil servant, even though he remains in name an e mployee of a private enterprise.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? This theory, albeit the oldest of the four theories, is still well and alive; it has many supporters and proponents among academicians and practitioners. The second theory is the stakeholder theory which integrates the main idea of classical theory, that is, corporate executives are responsible to stockholders. Nevertheless, what differs it from classical theory is that other groups are directly affected by the conduct and decision of the firm. These groups can employees, consumers, creditors, suppliers, and legal sub-systems who have a stake in the organisation and who might affect, in one way or another, the corporate decision making process. Furthermore, corporate executives have a direct responsibility to promote the interests of these groups. The main disagreement among stakeholder theorists, however, over whether stakeholder interests of these groups take precedence over the financial interests of stockholders or the stakeholder interests are the overriding ones. Social demandingness theorists argue that corporations have a responsibility to protect and promote certain interests of the general public. They agree with the stakeholder theorists that the interests of stakeholder groups are important, but they believe that these interests do not override non-stakeholdersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ interests or demands for such things as safety, health, freedom, and prosperity. As with the stakeholder theory, this theory repudiates the notion that there is some balanced or sensible list of tangible responsibilities that corporate executives always have toward society. The list varies as the nature and ranking of the interests or demands of the public change. The fourth and final theory is the social activist theory which is distinctively the most socially and morally demanding of the four theories. While agreeing with the stakeholders and social demandingness theories that executives have responsibilities toward stakeholders groups and the general public, social activistsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ theorists argue that corporate managers should sometimes strive to undertake projects that advance the interests of the public even when these undertakings are neither expected nor demanded by them. Social activists theorists contend that such projects should, for the most part, be in the area of corporate know-how, but they sometimes urge that executives deliberately take on social projects for which they have no special training or expertise 2.1 Types of CSR and Corporate Governance The notion that business has duties to society is firmly entrenched, although in the past several decades there has been a revolution in the way people view the relationship between business and society. Carroll (1979) and other researchers believe that we should judge corporations not just on their economic success, but also on non-economic criteria. Carroll (1979) proposed a popular four-part definition of CSR, suggesting that corporations have four responsibilities or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“four facesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Carroll, 2000b, p. 187) to fulfill to be good corporate citizens: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic: Economic responsibility. Economic responsibility is to be profitable for principals, by delivering a good quality product, at a fair price, is due to customers. Legal responsibilities. Legal duties entail complying with the law and playing by the rules of the game Ethical responsibilities. Ethical duties overcome the limitations of legal duties. They entail being moral, doing what is right, just, and fair; respecting peoples moral rights; and avoiding harm or social injury as well as preventing harm caused by others (Smith and Quelch, 1993). Philanthropic responsibility. Interest in doing good for society, regardless of its impact on the bottom line is what is called altruistic, humanitarian or philanthropic CSR. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“giving backà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? time and money in the forms of voluntary service, voluntary association and voluntary giving à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" is where most of the controversy over the legitimacy of CSR lies. CORPORATE GOUVERNANCE (CG) Moreover, CSR is closely linked with the Corporate Governance of the organization, be it hotel organization. Any of those types of CSR should start in the hotel organizations first and then move to external environment. The key people should be taken into consideration so the CSR practices should be geared towards the internal customers who will in turn become CSR delegates to reach the external customers and environment. Companies must improve their business models by bringing CSR and sustainability into their strategy. Shleifer and Vishny (1997) define CG as the ways in which suppliers of finance to organisations assure themselves of getting a return on investment. Over the years, CG has evolved from the traditional à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“profit-centered modelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. By incorporating the community in which firms operate, the political environment, laws and regulations, and more generally the markets in which firms are involved. See Figure 1: The Business in Society which reflects a stakeholder perspective on the firm (Jensen, 2001) 2.1The Hospitality Industry à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"Definitions Definitions of the hospitality have been approached from a number of different perspectives. Most of them combine physiological and psychological elements with security and levels of service. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hospitality is concerned with the provision of physiological and psychological comfort with defined levels of service. The satisfactions may be physiological (thirst, bed, warmth), economic (value for money), social (company, service) and psychological (self-esteem, status, security).à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Source: C.Cooper, R.Shepherd, J. Westlake (1994) Even if the approach to defining hospitality may shift according to the authors, there are a number of integral elements that are common to all. These are: Hospitality is a complex combination of tangible and intangible features and benefits Hospitality involves a satisfying interaction between the service provider and the customer Hospitality provides guests with security, psychological and physiological comfort by offering food, beverage and accommodation. Therefore, bearing in mind the above characteristics, a simpler definition of the hospitality industry may be: The Hospitality Industry is involved with providing accommodations, food, beverage, entertainment, comfort and recreation for travelers away from their usual residences and normal surroundings. The industry also naturally look forward to meet the customer`s needs for safety and support of their persons, property, modes of transportation, and even the varying purpose of their travel. Speaking generally, those who make use of hospitality services demand attainment of a professional level of quality consistent with world standards, although perhaps adjusted for local conditions. They anticipate the facilities will be clean, comfortable, safe and secure. They expect good food and beverage at a reasonable rate. Furthermore, they look for courtesy, friendliness, respect and identification from the host. Perhaps more importantly they demand honesty, truth and equity in their dealings with the operator and his employees. Hospitality Industry In Mauritius HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In Mauritius, the first hotel was the Park Hotel in 1952 so as to accommodate the crew members coming at that time. Then came the Mauritius Hotel, the first beach hotel, built in 1954 at Le Morne followed by Le Chaland, another beach hotel in 1961. But the real development of tourism took place soon after Mauritius got its independence from the British. In early 1970`s the creation of Trou aux Biches Hotel by the Mauritius Hotels, the setting up of the Club MeditÃÆ' ©ranÃÆ' ©e and the Saint GÃÆ' ©ran Hotel by the Southern Sun Hotels as well as the Merville Beach Hotel by the ex-British Colons who wanted to come back here during the winter months of England. The Mauritius Hotel is now the Beachcomber group and the Southern Sun Hotels is the Sun International Resorts Limited. At present there are 95 hotels in Mauritius and there are not less than 5 more under construction as per the registered list set by the Ministry of Tourism. The numbers of hotels, rooms and bed places have increased constantly from 1991. Moreover the Prime Minister has announced his vision to reach 2 million tourists in 2015. Consequently an average annual growth of 10% in tourist arrival is expected. In order to reach this target, an approximate nu mber of 18500 rooms should be made available. This will bring about the creation of around 37000 direct jobs and double the amount in terms of indirect jobs. Due to the rapid growth of tourism and hospitality industry, government has introduced incentives for the private sector to bring in a sustainable development, namely by corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. This is achievable through proper public-private sector partnership. Overview of the Hotel industry IN MAURITIUS The hospitality industry in Mauritius has developed rapidly during the past 25 years. The coastal regions as well as the interior part of the island are constantly changing with the construction of the hotels and the increasing number of vehicles being used for the tourism industry. In 2007, the tourism industry was considered the third pillar of the economy after Sugar and Textile, and currently it plays a vital role in the economic growth of the country. The undoubted fall of 35% in the price of sugar and the removal of preference agreement with the EU market, has earmarked the tourism industry as the main industry capable of boosting the Mauritian economy. In July 2008, according to the last bulletin published by the Central Statistical Office (CSO), Mauritius welcomed 81,169 tourists as compared to 77,225 in 2007, registering a 5.1% growth over the same period a year ago. Table 1: Monthly tourist arrivals, July 2007 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" July 2008 Source:Tourism sector performance for the month of July, AHRIM Report, August 2008, pg 2 But after two decades of impressive growth, the need for responsible corporate governance has been felt in the country as the attitudes; mentality and knowledge of those working in that industry have not evolved at the same pace in terms of social responsibility and environmental awareness. Impacts of this rapid and somehow unplanned development are being experienced in the environment at large. Still, a lot has to be done to meet the competitive edge through proper campaign and involvement of all stakeholders so as to contribute towards sustainable development of the hospitality sector. In order to support its continuous growth, the Mauritian Tourism and Hospitality industry needs well-trained staff with full knowledge of their product while respecting the socio-economic and cultural environment in which the Mauritian tourism product is evolving. It is really important to maintain a high standard of efficiency and service so as to meet the requirements of an increasingly competitive and sophisticated global market. 2.7 CSR in the hotel industry In Mauritius Within the hospitality industry it has been agreed that there are increasing environmental and societal concerns. The big question is how to manage our environmental impact as demand grows against a backdrop of increasing vulnerability. As a result of demand for more sustainable destinations and travel preferences, management policies are being felt. Hotels practicing CSR look at the following areas: Workplace (where employees are treated equally and fairly) Marketplace (stakeholders) Environment (which has to be sustained for the future generation) Community Ethics Human rights Many hotels are now aware of CSR practices and have begun to use environmental-friendly products. Hotels in Mauritius are reducing the use of hazardous or non-degradable chemicals. Big hotel chains like Oberoi Mauritius recycle oil, water and plastic bottles while all hotels with more than 50 rooms are compel to recycle water as per the legislation. Hotels tend to purchase products that have a reduced environmental impact during their life cycle, from suppliers that demonstrate environmental and social responsibility to their customers and the society. Furthermore, Association des Hoteliers et Restaurateurs de L`Ile Maurice (AHRIM), is fully supporting the CSR initiatives initiated by the Mauritian Government. Through its members, they are actively putting forward the CSR activities on a regional basis all over the island. (See Appendix 1: Recommended CSR activities by AHRIM to its Members in June 2008). Stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, business partners, government) are getting more and more involved the hotelsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ CSR activities. Hotel employees are educated to make a conscious decision in favour of environment and social issues in their private and business lives. Hotel guests are informed about CSR activities and are asked to participate in responsible business activities within the hotels and to work together to find innovative solutions that satisfy the hotelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s economic, environmental and social objectives. Managers are asked to abide by local and EU legislation especially on labour laws, health and safety, human rights and the environment. A great deal can be done when developing a hotel property in order to make both the development process and the eventual operation more environmentally sustainable. One of the aims of CSR is to make the community benefit from the hotel industry. 2.8 Benefits of CSR in the hotel industry Hotels who adopt CSR into their operations and public image depend on the following factors: Size Level of diversification Research and Development Advertising Government Intervention Consumer Income Labour market conditions Stage of the industry life cycle However this differs for different hotel organization, for example, larger hotels like international hotel chains may operate a CSR program at a lower cost than a small hotel because of economies of scale. It is a method for organization to distinguish themselves from their competitors Firstly, hotels benefit from CSR as it helps to reduce operating cost such as implementing of recycling and energy saving programs. Secondly, their brand image and reputation are enhanced as consumers prefer companies with CSR programs. Another benefit derived by hotels is in terms of productivity and quality since productivity goes up whenever working conditions improve. Other beneficiaries of the CSR programs are immediate environment in which the company is evolving. It comprises of the local community, neighboring villages, employees who usually live in those areas, the hotel guests and the host country at large. Hotels are expected to have ethical and social commitments, valued connections with partners and consistency over time to build trust with the stakeholders. In doing so, the hotel organizations are also developing societal marketing concept, therefore beneficiate from it.