Communications. The origin of capitalism Summary. By Ellen Meiksins Research Paper

Communications. The origin of capitalism Summary. By Ellen Meiksins Wood 17 page reading - Research Paper Example 4. English tenants were stimulated to enhance productivity while capitalism was developing in contrast to the aristocratic culture in which the rulers oppressed the peasants rather than building up on productivity. 5. Capitalist development promoted the growth of independent commodity production in the 16th century England by transforming the feudalism-based relation between landlords and peasants into market-mediated relation. 6. The peasants, as producers, could establish capitalism back in medieval England only if given chance by their landlords who mostly tried to squeeze more surplus labor out of them without rewarding them. 7. In France, the peasants had easier access to the property and firmer hold on it, so they had no trouble in establishing capitalist mode of development by resisting the increasing pressures from landlords. 8. Locke’s view of property, which lays stress on productivity and labor value, laid foundation for the industrial capitalism. 9. The class strug gle or conflict over property rights between the ruling class and the poor subordinates seen in the 17th century English Revolution also contributed in developing capitalism.

Management and Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Management and Leadership - Essay Example This essay discusses and analyzes the importance of corporate social responsibility and personal values such as instrumental and terminal values, ten ethical principles of such corporations, corporate philanthropy and others learnt during the management class. These concepts described in th essay are applied and incorporated in the answers to different questions of the case â€Å"The Housewife Who Got up off the Couch†. In the case â€Å"The Housewife who got up the Couch†, the concept of enlightened self-interest becomes evident when Eleanor Josaitis started supporting Martin Luther King and human rights activists. The researcher have concluded in the essay that the terminal values of Eleanor Josaitis are ‘a comfortable life, ‘a sense of accomplishment’, ‘a world at peace’, ‘Equality’, ‘Freedom’, ‘Happiness’ and ‘Social Recognition’. The researcher also describes the work of Focus: Hope organization with more than 500 employees and a large pool of volunteers who value altruism and philanthropy and who are involved in self-sacrifice for the sake of humanity. In addition, it is stated that ethics and moral behavior is, however, essential to reach the pinnacle of success because it always pays in the long run. Whereas, to conclude those who pay more attention to short-term gains through crimes and violation of ethical principles suffer losses like the great Martha Stewart whose indulgence in ‘insider trading scandal’ dilapidated her career and her phenomenal business achievements.

Bachalor of Commerce, Knowledge and Organisational Learning Essay

Bachalor of Commerce, Knowledge and Organisational Learning - Essay Example Knowledge management has recently emerged to be a successful management strategy that can help organizations manage the available human capital in the business (Noe and Hollenbeck, 2004, p. 1-3). People in the organization are most valuable assets and therefore recruiting and retaining knowledgeable, skilled, experienced and productive people have become highest priority of modern human resources management. This piece of research paper described knowledge management, as an HRM interdisciplinary and examines how it becomes relevant in today’s business landscape. This paper presents various elements that are relevant in the knowledge management process and examines various strategic perspectives as well as suitable technologies for fostering knowledge management in the business. Knowledge Management As Noe (2002, p. 168) noted, knowledge management is a management process that the performance of a business can be enhanced by designing, implementing and strategically aligning va rious tools, processes, systems, structure and cultures with a view to create and share knowledge among its people and to use for overall business purpose. The very basic three elements included in Knowledge management are 1) creation of the knowledge through some effective strategies, 2) sharing of the created knowledge among people and 3) making it available and useful for any business purpose. Knowledge Management has been found to be useful for the organization as it helps it get the products to the target market quicker, develop innovative ideas, serve the customer well in order to maintain customer loyalty and retention and achieve sustainable competitive advantages. As Boxall and Macky (2009, p. 10) emphasized, knowledge management helps a business achieve high performance working through various strategic processes and organizational development programs. Knowledge Management has emerged to be a management tool that focuses on data, information and knowledge among the employ ees in an organization (Awad and Ghaziri, 2007, p. 26) and encompasses the processes by which experience, skills, expertise, knowledge and abilities are gathered, then shared among the people and utilized so that these can be converted to collective organizational learning process (Foster, 2005, p. 397). Knowledge Management Models Explicit and Tacit Knowledge Knowledge management talks about creating, storing, sharing and utilizing data, information and knowledge either throughout papers, documents and database, or throughout the minds of people. This is a classification of knowledge based on where data and information are stored. When it comes to the management aspects, pure data and pure information have relatively less impact for a manager whereas structured data and information are relatively highly useful and effective measures that can be used to analyze and find solutions to issues (Noe, , 2002, p. 170). Based in the above classification, knowledge management is systematic p rocess and strategic approach for obtaining and making use of knowledge in the business throughout papers or documents or computers as commonly referred as explicit knowledge or sharing and making use of the knowledge throughout the people’s minds as commonly termed as tacit knowledge. To be more specific, KM is managing either explicit knowledge, or tacit knowledge or both together effectively. In managing

CVA Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CVA - Coursework Example Changes to documents in version: report of blurred vision, depth insight (Duncan et.al, 1983). Through evaluation of the higher functions such as: Speech if the patient is alert; Position with head slightly elevated and in the neutral position; Sustaining of the bed rest; by providing quiet and calm environment; also restricting visitors and their activities. Intervention of cluster nursing and providing rest period activities in between care activities as well as limiting the duration of the procedure. Inhibit strain at stool, holding breath, administering supplemental oxygen as specified (Burney et.al, 1996). The following reasons may affect the patients readiness or ability to learn: Assessing if the patient is encountering some problems in accepting their conditions. The patient may feel overwhelmed, angry, or depressed (Duncan et.al, 1983). An appropriate referral for a patient with cerebrovascular accident may entail several things. A patient may be referred to a ‘syncope’ clinic over a six-month period where he will be prospectively studied. Initial assessment may integrate ambulatory electrocardiography, carotid sinus massage prior to and following atropine and prolonged head-up tilt (Burney et.al, 1996). The coping skills that a nurse should use in assisting the patient that challenges a younger person consider include: Theoretical basis; Coping area assessed and, Psychometric properties of coping procedures used in studies assessing patients with stroke (Duncan et.al, 1983). Burney, T. L., Senapti, M., Desai, S., Choudhary, S. T., & Badlani, G. H. (1996). Acute cerebrovascular accident and lower urinary tract dysfunction: a prospective correlation of the site of brain injury with urodynamic findings. The Journal of urology, 156(5),

Robin Hoods Band as an Example of Financial Control and Authority in Assignment

Robin Hoods Band as an Example of Financial Control and Authority in Resolving Disputes between People - Assignment Example Imposing a fixed tax on the route through the forest would make Robin unpopular with the band which in turn could lead to a revolt against Robin and his supporters (Burke, Lake and Paine). It is also important to mention here that a fixed transit tax would have Robin lose the support of the villagers. Expanding into new territory would allow Robin and his band to generate greater revenue than they are currently generating. This would not only solve financial problems of the band but would also make it harder for Prince John and the Sheriff to track down members of the band and interrogate them regarding the whereabouts of the entire band. Expanding into new territory would also provide the opportunity to hide their loot in different more secure places. Killing the Sheriff would not yield the result of Robin’s financial problems and there is a good chance that killing the Sheriff would create more troubles for him than it would solve. Killing off the Sheriff might help Robin get the authorities off his back temporarily but Prince John and the Sheriff’s political allies would be even more determined to apprehend Robin. Furthermore murdering the Sheriff would not be an easy task. The Sheriff would probably be guarded by his men at all times and getting close to him would not be an easy task. The Barons’ proposal has a lot of advantages but there are also a large number of disadvantages to the acceptance of their proposal. The greatest advantage of helping the barons ensure the return of King Richard would not only get rid of Prince John and the Sheriff but it would also put Robin and his band in King Richard’s good books. However, there is a chance that a plan this big would grab the attention of Prince John before it can be carried out. The participation of Robin in such a plan could increase the determination of Prince John to capture Robin and his band of men. The best course of action for Robin would be to opt to expand into new territories.     

Ikea Invades America Essay Example for Free

Ikea Invades America Essay Founded in 1943 by a poor Swedish farmer named Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA is now one of the largest furniture retailers in the world. From its inception, Kamprad wanted to create cheap, quality furniture that everyone could afford. That formula led to IKEA’s early success in Sweden and has carried over until today. To its customers, IKEA is not just a store but a way of life, which may be evident through the cult-like following the company has achieved. When talking about the four P’s of marketing (product, price, place, promotion), there are few companies in the world that have mastered this concept better than IKEA. IKEA has been able to recognize the demands of its shoppers and create compelling products that meet those demands at a reasonable price. Its products are sold at unique stores that serve strategically important, geographic markets. This paper examines the factors that have made IKEA such a big success and offers some recommendations for future growth in the United States. Today, IKEA has over 240 stores in 35 countries and has revenues of over $26 billion. Its revenues double every 5-6 years and the company is now expanding to growing markets like China, Japan, and Brazil. The future of IKEA looks brighter than ever. For a brief snapshot of IKEA’s current sales around the world see Appendix 1. In 1985, IKEA decided to invade America. Faced with this early failure, IKEA retooled its furniture to fit American tastes. IKEA soon became the fastest growing furniture retailer and the 14th largest furniture retailer overall in the United States. IKEA executives needed to find a balance of how to create new furniture offerings without losing its unique design and corporate soul. By examining IKEA’s marketing strategy and answering a series of four questions, we have developed recommendations (see Appendix 2) that we think will lead to IKEA’s continued growth and success. 1) What are some of the ways that furniture retailers have sought to overcome these purchase obstacles? : a) identifying a product that consumers like, b) visualizing the product in the consumer’s home, and c) getting the product in the consumer’s home? In furniture sales, there are two general strategies: the low-end and the high-end. The low-end offers cheap, utilitarian furniture that is dreary looking. Cheap furniture is marketed to people such as college students who have a small budget. The cheap furniture is also displayed in poorly lit showrooms that offer little to no customer service. High-end furniture stores compete on quality and service. The high-end offers a large selection in each style and sub-style of furniture, which results in the showroom having a large inventory. The broad, variety strategy virtually guarantees that a customer’s preferred style will be available. The high-end stores also have high touch sales associates to help customers with product selection and furniture measurement. Sales associates are trained to educate their customers; such as explaining the life spans of different materials. They also reassure customers that their furniture will last a life time. Visualizing a piece of furniture in a person’s home can be very difficult. The high-end furniture stores have beautiful showrooms that are elaborately decorated to help the customer visualize where they can place new furniture or how they can redecorate their home. High-end stores also offer interior design services. Most retailers offer credit to make high-end furniture more affordable. All retailers offer home delivery, sometimes free, to make the transition as painless as possible for the customer. As an added bonus, retailers offer to assemble the furniture in the customer’s home. Sometimes, delivering the furniture also involves rearranging furniture, as well as removing and discarding old furniture. Providing these services makes the purchase of new furniture an easy and worry-free process. 2) Explain IKEA’s reverse positioning strategy. IKEA created a matrix used to prioritize product lineup and price. (See Appendix 3) Primarily the matrix is used to set a target retail price and select a product style. With the matrix system, IKEA is able to identify product line opportunities and gaps; creating a well rounded store. IKEA has avoided the image of the low end furniture store by displaying furniture in brightly lit showrooms. These showrooms help customers envision how the furniture interacts with the allotted space. Plus color coordinated cards provide design tips and information kiosks are on hand to help customers. All of these features reinforce IKEA’s self service ethos without making the customer feel abandoned. In IKEA’s case, the firm rejected the standard business models for both high-end and low-end furniture stores. IKEA’s furniture is composed of cheaper parts that are not visible and are not under high stress through use and a higher quality material is used for the visible parts or parts under high stress. This gives IKEA’s furniture a higher end look while keeping their costs low. IKEA’s reverse positioning kept prices low, while eliminating many services thought essential to a higher-end store. The company replaced them with unique services for its category: a bright, inviting showroom, furniture that was attractively designed, a child care center, a restaurant serving Swedish meatballs, and brightly colored house wares and clever toys. As a result, IKEA successfully avoided the feel of the low-end retailers, and customers â€Å"find the IKEA shopping experience to be immensely appealing (Moon, â€Å"IKEA Invades America,† 5). 3) What are some of the various product/service attributes that IKEA has chosen to withhold from its customers? IKEA seems to incorporate a hybrid strategy focusing on both cost and differentiation. IKEA attempts to price in the low to midrange category. IKEA does not build its furniture to last a lifetime, which in-fact flows well with its ad campaigns focused on letting go of the semimetal value Americans often place on furniture. IKEA products are known for falling apart after a few years; however, its customers are typically satisfied with the look, functionality, and affordability of IKEA products (Moon, 2004, p. 5). Its focus is on cost-efficiency, so the company uses higher-quality materials on visible surfaces and lower-quality materials elsewhere. High-end stores compete on quality and â€Å"high touch† experience and selection. Nearly all types of furniture stores offer delivery services. However, IKEA successfully eliminated many of these attributes. IKEA products are designed to be transported unassembled in flat boxes, which keeps shipping costs low and prevents IKEA from having to deliver/assemble furniture for customers (Moon, 2004, p. ). Customers are responsible for transportation of their furniture and assembly of their furniture. Although this step may seem like its decreasing the consumer experience/perceived product value; it’s actually keeping the customer involvement level high. Moreover, the competitive pricing offered at IKEA is attributed to letting customer build their own furniture, which keeps costs to a minimum. Formerly, IKEA only produced a few different designs; however, this has changed in recent years. In order to be consistent with IKEA’s self-service ethos and to keep costs low, the ratio of sales assistants to customers is kept low. The low number of sales associates can have a negative effect on the consumer experience. To handle furniture questions, customers are provided with product descriptions and measuring tape so they can make their own measurements. 4) What are some of the areas that IKEA has managed to achieve cost efficiency by implementing a number of firm-specific operation processes? A number of cost effective operating processes have been implemented by IKEA. In furniture design, IKEA engineers often select cheaper/low quality materials for less visible areas that experience minimal stress and expensive materials for visible areas that undergo stress. This aids IKEA in producing durable, good-quality products at low costs. IKEA has worked with over 1,800 suppliers in over 50 countries and often uses suppliers from developing countries. To keep costs down, IKEA usually purchases in bulk and often orders various components of a given product from different suppliers. IKEA is strict with employees about waste; it enforces minimal travel budgets and requires them to save electricity. IKEA keeps a small staff in stores and provides self-serve trolleys to aid consumers in loading their vehicles. Typical furniture retailers require a larger staff and/or incur shipping costs for delivery of their bulky, already assembled products. Flat packaging allows IKEA customers to transport their purchases home and eliminates the expense of home delivery. IKEA’s flat packaging strategy is another firm specific operating process. The strategy was inspired by an employee who, in 1955, removed the legs off a table to fit it into a customer’s car. This strategy requires designers to keep in mind the amount of space their products take up in their unassembled form. Flat packaging also helps prevent damage to the products during the shipping process. IKEA will often redesign their products multiple times to achieve space optimization and reduce shipping costs. Space optimization typically lowers prices for consumers; however, it may lengthen the assembly process. IKEA should continue to incorporate cost cutting activities across the board so long as the consumer experience remains positive.

Private Tutoring The School Performance Of Senior Students Education Essay

Private Tutoring The School Performance Of Senior Students Education Essay Private tutoring has long been a major phenomenon in parts of Asia, including Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. In this study, we attempt to highlight the relationship between private tutoring and students school performance in Hong Kong. It seeks to account the variety of factors of changing students school performance. The study certainly considers the declining of the confidence of education in current education system as one of the key factors. Meanwhile, the study will examine possible theories to attribute to attend private tutoring and school performance. Finally, we will discuss the effect of attending private tutoring that cause the students poor school performance in their school. In the recent decade, the academia has published a boom of studies on private tutoring in different parts in the world. In the same time, the researches of Bray Mark (2005) reveal that private tutoring is growing elsewhere, especially in the Asian Societies. In countries of Japan, Taiwan and Korean, more than one third students regularly receive private tutoring; in Hong Kong the proportion is considerable higher. As Baker and LeTendre (2005: 55) state, the use of private after-school activities has become a world megatrend among families with children apart from the local education system. Simultaneously, as Baker and LeTendre(2005:61) state that one of the most certain functions of private tutoring is the enrichment strategy. It means that the demand of the private tutoring is associated to the competition for future educational opportunities and the existence of high-stake examinations (public examination). For example, there is a close connection between ones educational qualifications and labor market opportunities. However, private tutoring also provides negative effect to the students such as decreased their interest and participation in school classes. Private tutoring is attributed to a lack of interest of the students. They have kept in mind that they can pay for someone who helps them pass in the examinations and they dont need to pay attention in regularly school lessons. Private tutoring create new educational opportunities for many individual but also placed heavy burden on the states education system (Silova et al.,2006b). In HK, according to the Professor Mark Brays research, there are about 70% senior forms students attending private tutoring. The proportions are higher especially just before important examinations. Meanwhile, according to Census and Statistics Department in 2005, from primary to secondary schools, the total annual expenditure of the tuition fee has reached 3 billion HK dollars. Although there are no lack of researches studying the tutoring culture in HK, still most of them are mainly focus on studying what motivates students attending tutoring or the relationship between private tutoring and academic achievement. Whether the out of school tutoring would affect the in-school education, yet it is remains invisible in most researches or debates, let alone policy documents. 2. Objective With a specific focus on the phenomenon, the study examines private tutoring phenomenon in Hong Kong and analyses its consequences for the students school performance in the secondary school. We aim to generate pervious studies and develop another aspect of this topic, to have a more specific research towards this topic. Hence, more specifically, our objectives are: To further understand the contemporary situation of private tutoring To examine the main factors leading to the change of school performance; (such as students expectation of tutors, confidence in current education system to help students to gain qualification) To test possible theories linking the relationship between private tutoring and school performance To examine how attending cram schools can affect the performance on mainstream schooling 3. Significance Explicit significance: The mainstream education system is expected to achieve a wide range of goals. It includes the development of all-rounded students who have sport and musical talent as well as academic interests or personal development. However, the standardize curriculum emphasized by private tutoring contrasts with that in mainstream schools. Examination-oriented tutoring institutes cut off the notion of the mainstream education and infuse the focus of passing examination into students mind. We view this phenomenon as negatively distorting the development of mainstream curriculum. Private tutoring can distort the curriculum in the mainstream system, upsetting the sequence of learning planned by mainstream teachers and exacerbating diversity in classrooms. (Bray, 2007) Indeed, the over emphasize the importance of private tutoring becomes the barrier over the development of all-rounded students. In fact, the phenomenon may be an expression of the students over the current education system. The increasing in public demand of private tutoring reflects the existing fundamental problem of current education system, especially the examination institution. Hence, it is the time now for HKSAR government and educationists to review on the current education curriculum. Implicit significance: This research is mainly based on the Brays observation. In his previous study, he mentioned that students attending private tutoring potentially lead to the poor school performance (Bray, 2007). But in the study, he did not concretely point out the theories or concepts to explain the attribution among attending private tutoring and poor school performance. Hence, our research indicates two relative theories to explain the mutual relationship which is called achievement goal theory and cultural of dependence. The notion of two theories and the attribution among attending private tutoring and poor school performance will be described in detail of the latter part literature review. Therefore, our research broadens the existing context of the theoretical framework in the study of private tutoring. We hope to have implications for understanding the contemporary students expectation towards the tutoring and what is more important is that we hope our research can find something useful for the contemporary educational organizations to enable students to obtain an all-round development and acquire life-long learning skills. Literature Review As forming a deductive research, we are going to apply two theories to test our hypothesis, which are achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992) and culture of dependence (Yasmeen, 1992) . Achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992) Achievement goal theory is the label used in educational psychology to discuss research into motivation to learn. Goals of learning are thought to be a key factor influencing the level of a students intrinsic motivation. According to this theory, it integrates cognitive and affective components of goal-directed behaviors. Since achievement goal theory argues the purposes of achievement behavior, it mainly studies an the integrated pattern of beliefs, attributions, and affects that produces the intentions of behavior and that it is represented by different ways of approaching, engaging in, and responding to achievement-type activities (Ames, 1992: 261). Under achievement goal theory, Ames (1992) suggests performance goal which focuses on students ability and sense of self-worth. The ability is built up by doing better than others, by surpassing normative-based standards such as examination. More importantly, students want to achieve their goal with little effort. Therefore, students believe learning is an only way to achieve a desired goal and attention is directed toward achieving normatively defined success (Ames, 1992). Base on this theory, we can understand that why students taking tutoring is so popular in following literature review. Senior secondary students attend to mass private tutoring The demand of receiving tutoring is high in senior students (form 4 to form 7) (Lee, 1996). It is because they are presumably sitting two open examinations, which are Hong Kong Advance Level Examination and Hong Kong Certification of Examination. The main reasons for Hong Kong students having tuition are that they are not satisfied with their academic performance. Also, some of the students say they that do not understand what their teachers teach in class (Lee, 1996: 8). Furthermore, there were 8% of respondents admitted preparing for the public examinations is a reason to have tuition (Lee, 1996: 8). In short, as mainstream schools cannot help students to improve their results to take in public examinations, senior students take in tutoring. Students gain from tutoring for taking in public examination The majority of students believe that the quality of tuition class is better than schools (Nanayakkara and Ranaweer, 1994). The reason is that students believe tutoring is a short cut to prepare for public examinations. Kwok (2009) mentions that in Hong Kong, tutors usually deliver exam skills and tips, so tutees do not expend full effort in learning individual subject and feel potential loss if they do not receive tutoring. Also, they, usually represent an authoritative teaching image because of their dress code. In other to meet tutees individual need, tutors introduce CDs and lots of supplementary resources to their tutees. Furthermore, in students view, idol tutors are regarded as famous teachers because they can inspire tutees to study efficiently (Kwok, 2009). For example, idol tutors persuade their tutees to select certain areas for revision. Some past public examination questions were covered in idol tutors lecture notes. All these cause students to rely on tutors rather than school teachers (Kwok, 2009). Culture of dependence (Yasmeen,1992) Yasmeen (1992) argues that lots of students tend to rely on tutoring because of its exam tips. However, classroom attention tends to reduce creation discipline problems for school teachers. In short, students regard only receiving supplementary tutoring is more important than learning with tutoring and mainstream school. Base on the culture of dependence, there is related information that is found from literature. Dependency on school teaching for examination Most students believe the result of public examinations is vital. Kwak (2004) points out that since university admission is determined by public examinations, but not students school records, students seek to prepare efficiently to take the examinations. In mainstream education, however, schooling not only focuses on examination achievement but also all-rounded education (Bray, 2007). In contrast, the content of tutorial classes is close to the major public examinations (Bray and Kwok, 2003). Hence, students tend to undermine the publics trust in school instruction (Kwak, 2004: 4). School performance Bray (2007) argues that tutoring will cause negative impacts on school performance. As some students rely on private tutoring too much, they may be less interested in mainstream education. Also, Students believe that private tutoring can inform student how to pass their examinations; they do not need to attend school classes except when they are required to do so by school regulations (Hussein, 1987). In Japan, some students are absent in school before examination. They just study at homes and attend in tutoring classes (Sawada and Kobayashi, 1986). Since topics have been covered in tutoring classes; students do not pay attention in mainstream education and have less confidence in teachers teaching (Nanayakkara and Ranaweer, 1994). There are also other factors affecting students performance in school like social network. Friendship in school is one of the factors to determinate students performance (Yang Tang, 2003). Since friends have same background like school environment (Fehr, 1996), students are more likely to access resources that may be good for coping with academic stresses (Ibarra, 1995). So, friendship network can let students confirm their academic performance (Baldwin, Bedell, Johnson, 1997). More importantly, a student who is central in a friendship network has a grater chance of helping others and being helped: thus, he is likely to perform better in the school (Yang Tang, 2003: 96). Furthermore, advice network in school can help students perform well in school. Advice network means that individuals share information and guidance for the completion of work (Sparrowe, Liden, Kraimer, 2001). When a student finishes his task, he can increase his work by obtaining help from available advice network. It reflects an individual is capable of accumulation knowledge and experience about task-related problem. If a student is central in his advice network, he is likely to perform actively in the school (Yang Tang, 2003). Conceptual Framework After reviewing the literatures, we form the following conceptual framework. Hypothesis These are our hypotheses of the study as follow: If students participation in tutoring is high, then students would have more gain from tutoring. According to achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992), one of the reasons motivate students taking tutoring is that they seek to success in examination with playing little effort. Therefore, we believe that students can receive lots of useful materials and information from tutors like examination tips supplementary exercise when participating in tutorial lesson for a long time. Higher students gain from tutoring, less dependency on school teaching for examination. According to culture of dependence, students will more rely on tuition than school for their study. So, we want to test whether the tuition for students are important and studying in mainstream schools can fulfill students satisfactions of taking examination efficiency. The less dependency on school teaching, the more difficulty concentration on study in school. The less dependency on school teaching, the less interest in school. The less dependency on school teaching, the lower attendance in school. After reviewing the literature, usually there are negative impacts on school performances that are mentioned after students receive tutoring. These hypotheses try to link up the former variables in our conceptual framework and studies whether there is a relationship between the three variables and the poor school performance. Conceptualization In this part, there are some definitions of the key concept that help us to clarify the nature and direction of the study. 1.) Definition of Private Tutoring According to the Mark Brays book which called the shadow education system: private tutoring and its implication for planners, the definition of private tutoring can be divided into four dimension. Firstly, it is the dimension of privateness. Private tutoring primarily concerned with tutoring provided for profit-making purposes by the private enterprises and individuals. It is not concerned with the supplementary help at public expense, such as provide head-start programmes for slow learners and the unpaid work, such as voluntarily help others with homework and tasks. Secondly, it is the dimension of the subjects which private schools provide. Private tutoring mainly focuses on the academic subjects, such as English, Cantonese or Mathematics rather than some extra-curricular subjects, such as musical or artistic skills. On the one hand, teaching academic subjects help students relieve the heavy academic load of formal classroom and solve the pressure of facing public examination. On the other hand, those non-academic subjects are merely for personal interest and indirectly related to the formal education system. Thirdly, the form of the private tutoring deserves special attention. The form of private tutoring may be provided in different ways. Some tutoring is provided one-to-one in the home of either the tutor or their client. Other tutoring is provided by correspondence in the mail or over the internet. But in our research, we mainly concentrate in the area of mass private tutoring, such as the tutoring provided by Modern Education and Kings Glory Education in Hong Kong. The form of mass private tutoring is there no more than 45 tutees in each tutoring class and the tutoring run both regular class (live) and video class. Meanwhile, the tutoring classes mainly focus on public examinations with intensive notes, revision exercises and on-line follow up services (Kwok, 2009). Finally, it is related to the education level of the target students. Private tutoring exists at the post-secondary and even pre-primary levels. In the majority societies including Hong Kong, private tutoring is most evident at the senior secondary level rather than the junior secondary and upper primary levels. Hence, the senior students in the secondary school can be reflected the phenomenon of private tutoring. At the meanwhile, senior secondary students more tend to perceive private tutoring as the gateway to success in public examination. Our research is mainly focused on senior secondary school students which mean form 4 to form 7 students. 2.) Gain from tutoring According to the study of Yiu (1996), he mentioned that the reasons why students attend the private and what their gain in the tutoring class. First of all, since the EMI schools used English to teach the subjects, students may be benefited from hearing the content again in Chinese. Private tutoring used Chinese as the medium of instruction certain increases students understanding of the topic and enhances their interest in learning. Secondly, tutors provide some extra notes and exam skills for the students which school teachers do not provide. Thirdly, tutors could help consolidate the content which school teacher teach in the class. Therefore, students have a deep understanding of school curricular. Finally, the extra teaching materials of the tutors provide extra-curricula knowledge to the students which they can not learn in class room. 3.) School teaching for examination To conceptualize the school teaching for examination, we will defend it is the materials that provide to students for preparation of examination. So, exercise, text book, skills for taking examination, quiz and mock examination which are provided by school will be considered school teaching to help students prepare for examination. It is because these materials can let students conform their knowledge and practice more in order to prepare them efficiency in taking examination. 4.) Definition of School Performance According to the definition of Indicator and Professional Developing Department (2007), the school performance can be divided into four main dimensions as following: attitudes and emotions (Personal) academic results (Academic) participations in groups (Social) performance in co-curricular activities (Social) At the meanwhile, the concrete meaning of poor school performance is the students who have: (i) difficulty concentrating on study (ii) decreased academic achievement levels (iii) decreased interest in school (iv) increased absences (v) not participate in class or co-curricular activities actively (vi) not willing to participate in groups But in our research, we do not measure academic results as an indicator of ones school performance. Its because the measurement of academic results need to take a long period time to collect the examination results from the students. Currently, students will get their results in Jane to July, and hence we do not have adequate time to finish our research before April. Measurement We choose the 4 level of measurement to form operation and assigns numerical values to the variables. Here are some examples in each variable: Students attending Tutoring NominalÆ’Â   classified into 2 or more categories E.g. Attending private tutoring 1) yes 2) no Gain from the tutoring IntervalÆ’Â   rank objects such that the magnitude of the difference between two objects can be determined E.g. Satisfactory towards the exam tips provided from tutorial Totally satisfied, 2. Satisfied, 3. Dissatisfied, 4. Totally dissatisfied) Besides of the 4 level of measurement, some scales are used to measure subjective feelings of respondents. Dependence on School Teaching for Examination We adopt the Semantic Differential Scale, which is constructed by Osgood in 1950s. It is interested in attitude toward an object but not in each respondents evaluation. E.g. Overall the lessons I am taking in school are Interesting __ __ __ __ __ Boring Useful __ __ __ __ __ Useless Easy __ __ __ __ __ Difficult Poor school performance We adopt the Likert scale, which is constructed by Rensis Likert in 1930s. Subjects are asked to indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement with a series of statements which are favorable or unfavorable to the construct. E.g. Student Attitudes towards Main Schooling Strongly strongly agree agree disagree disagree Q.1 Tutors is superior than teacher ____ ____ ____ ____ Q.2 absent at school servial times is OK since I can catch up the lesson by attending tutorials ____ ____ ____ ____ Research Design Purpose of Research The research is an explanatory and descriptive research. Explanatory: In the research, we will explain the conceptual framework we construct, as the conceptual framework constructed by our group, we will explain how we construct this conceptual framework. Descriptive: In the research, we will describe the statistical data we will get in the survey by questionnaire, in order to generate a finding of the survey. Nature of Study Deductive Approach: Our research will be conducted in deductive approach. After reviewing the literatures, we find two theories, which are Achievement goal theory and Culture of dependency, to prove that how students attending tutoring classes will affect their school performance. We will base on these two theories to conduct our research about the relationship between those two variables in Hong Kong, which are students attending tutoring classes and students school performance. Quantitative: In our research, we have quantitative research method to test the hypotheses in the research. Since we have concerned the difficulties of analysing qualitative data, we choose quantitative research method to conduct the research. We will use survey to obtain the information about how students school performance be affected after the students (respondents) have attended to tutoring classes. And for the survey, we will make use of questionnaire to conduct the quantitative research. Since we want to have statistical information to explain how students attending tutoring classes will affect their school performance. Sampling Sample size: The research will seek 150 respondents in the research from form 4 to form 7 secondary school students who have attended tutoring classes in Hong Kong. Non-probability Sampling: We will select non-probability sampling in the survey, as we do not have the name list of all form 4 to form 7 secondary school students in Hong Kong, we cannot select the probability sampling in the survey. Also, non-probability sampling is less costly and time-consuming, which are important advantages for us to select non-probability, as we do not have much time and budget to conduct the research. Purposeful Sampling: Our group considers that the school performances of the secondary school students from form 4 to form 7 are more influenced by the tutoring classes. Since they have to prepare for the public examination, such as HKCEE and HKALE, they may rely on the tutoring classes which focus on the techniques of examination, and this is just what the students need to prepare for the public examination. Convenience Sampling: The research targeted respondents are the form 4 to form 7 secondary school students who have attended tutoring classes. Therefore, our group will precede the survey in Park Lane Plaza in Tuen Mun, the reason for this is we consider that arcade has many tutoring schools inside, such as Beacon college, Kingsglory Education, Modern Education and Everlearning Eduaction. Therefore, we can capture the accurate samples that can match our targeted respondents, in order to enhance the validity of the research. Ethical Concern Our group has concerned the ethical concern may induce during the research, as we do not want to harm the respondents after participating in the research. And we have concluded the possible ethical concern in three kinds. Students may feel bad about participating in the survey. Students may worry if they have answered poor performance at school in the questionnaire will result in a negative effect to themselves and even their schools. Therefore, in the questionnaire, we will not ask students personal information, and also, we will ensure the information they provide must keep confidential. Students may worry about the survey that obstructing them from attending tutoring classes promptly. Also, students may think that the survey is time-wasting for them if they think the research will take for a long time. To deal with this problem, we will conduct the survey after those tutoring classes have finished, then, students may be free to participate in the research. Also, we will tell them the exactly time the survey will take, which is just about 8 10 minutes, and then the students may be pleased to participate in the survey, as the survey is not very long. The students may have doubt about the research and even us. As they may worry if their information answered will be misused. To deal with, we will inform the respondents who we are and show them our students identity card. Also, we will tell them what the purpose of the research is and how their information will be used in the research. More importantly, we will tell respondents that the information will keep confidential. Data Collection Methods Through this research, we want to find out the relationship between senior students in mainstream schools to attend tutoring class and poor school performance. To know the situation in Hong Kong, we will design a questionnaire and use quantitative interview. It is because data become more convenient to collect and more accurate that avoids subjective perception (Division of Sociology of Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998). We know that there are three main methods to conduct the research with questionnaire in quantitative interview. They are face to face mode, telephone mode and postal mode. Although face to face mode is slow and the cost is high, we still applied it because of the call back rate and high veracity. In the questionaire, we try to narrow down and choose suitable interviewees. Then, we will ask them how often do they attend to tutoring class. Also, we can find what they can gain from tutoring class, dependency on school teaching for examination and school performance after they have attended the tutoring class. We hope through the quantitative interview using questionaire in face to face mode to find out the information that proves our hypothesis between senior students in mainstream schools to attend tutoring class and poor school performance. Data Analysis After we have conducted the interview, we will use bivariate analysis to prove the relationship between different items. Bivariate analysis means the analysis of two variables in the mean time, for the purpose to determine the empirical relationship between them (Babbie, 2004). Firstly, we have to prove diffetrent items of relationship to form our conceptual framework. We have to prove that if students attending more in tutoring class with spending more, they will expect more from the tutoring classes. Then, if students can gain more in tutoring class, they will depend lower on school teaching meterials for examination. And then, if students depend lower on school teaching meterials, they will gain poor school performance. Secondly, after we can prove four independentrelationships, we can try to link up them with running SPSS to find out do they connect altogether. Lastly, if they can be connected, that means our conceptual framework is correct. But, if they cannot be connected, we will find out the reasons and factors that make the relationship unconnected. Budget Schedule