Human resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Human resource management - Essay Example a brief introduction provides an overall view on the business model that Banco has adopted. The discussion then goes on to focus on the Human Resource Management processes adopted and their relevance to the business context. The current role of a centralised HR operation is examined and suggestions are provided to alter it and increase its suitability to the need of the business. The major issues relate to the direct application of the HR organisation, policies and procedures as used in the banking sector without considering the distinct features of call centre management. In conclusion it is pointed out that the bank has used a ‘one size fits all’ approach when the need was to understand the very distinct demands of call centre operations. It is recommended that the bank review the organisation of HR services for the call centre to facilitate its value-addition to the business. Context and Problem Key characteristics The call centre sector has been growing at a fast rat e as an increasing number of companies seek to gain a competitive advantage of outsourcing task-based jobs. Call centres utilize sophisticated technology to provide better service to an increasingly demanding client base. The sector allows companies to provide 24-hour service to a global market. Call centre sector may be set up as a shared service to offer specialized routine services to a larger corporate or to the customer base. The sector is an outcome of organizations to provide superior service to compete effectively. Banco, a mid-sized retail bank has set up a call centre to counter competitive offerings by providing 24-hour service to and improve service levels at reduced cost. The bank has faced the challenge of coming up to speed on the technological demands of this business. Banco has chosen to manage the call centre centrally and opted to use resources that have no experience with that aspect of the business. Banco Call Centre is located in a high employment and economica lly developed area with a booming service economy. Strong HR practices are required to retain the employees because of presence of external job options. The call centre has employed 35% of its staff on a part-time basis. The focus on service is demonstrated in the structure and standards set by the call centre. The call centre has a local team to decide policy issues comprising section heads and a centre manager with no experience in call centre operations. HR policy and procedures are centrally determined by Banco and are considered inappropriate to call centre requirements. The environment in which Banco is competing involves the presence of an increasingly technology-savvy customer who is aware of the competitive offerings in the banking sector and will quickly switch to the offer of better quality, speed of service and accuracy. Service quality is the differentiator in the business and is determined by the availability of sophisticated technology and mature processes. Competitor banks have created a gap by

The Urban Political Machine Essay Example for Free

The Urban Political Machine Essay Basically, an urban political machine is a system which was born around the end of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century. This system was formulated to cater to the needs of immigrants and other urban dwellers because they have become part of the majority of the population around this time. The system served as a guarantor of the delivery of the basic needs of people, due to the fact that the state has started to face difficulties in promoting the said needs and services. (Urban Political Machine) Take note that these urban political machines are unique to the United States, and these systems are constructed in the pursuit of the two most important things in politics, money and power. Their roles extended beyond what the state offered; they provided things such as aid for immigrants in finding tangible things such as houses, to the intangibles such as jobs. These machines also helped distribute food in the forms of groceries to families that are deep in need. One of the most surprising things that these urban political machines did was help families that have members in jail, mostly in the form of bail. (Urban Political Machine) According to Jane Addams, an urban political machine, the Alderman, â€Å"bails out his constituents when they are arrested, or says a good word to the police justice when they appear before him for trial†. (Urban Political Machines) This is one way that the urban political machine garnered the negative image that was associated with it. In exchange for these forms of aid, one important thing needed by any political machine is the trust and loyalty by its members, most importantly the people’s votes. Looking at the urban political machine at a non-moralist point of view, one can see that it has indeed become effective in aiding the people especially immigrants because it was able to cater to some of the constituent’s most basic needs, but when looked at from the other side, it can be seen as a very ripe instrument which could lead to things like corruption and tyranny. Bibliography Urban Political Machine. Radford University Home Page. Retrieved May 6, 2009 from http://www. runet. edu/~shepburn/urban_political_machine. htm Urban Political Machines. University of Houston Digital History. Retrieved May 6, 2009 from http://www. digitalhistory. uh. edu/

Expansion difficulties with IKEA

Expansion difficulties with IKEA Cross Cultural Management Individual paper work Question: Although IKEA is a highly successful global player it has recently experienced problem in its expansion in Russia (Vasilyeva, 2009). Based on the material in Jackson (2002) discuss critically how IKEA has succeeded in instilling its Swedish ways of managing into its international subsidiaries, considering also whether cultural factors have any relevance to its current difficulties in Russia. Introduction: Before going in the question i.e. the problems IKEA is facing in Russia, we will discuss about IKEA, Sweden and IKEA in France, Germany, Spain and United States of America. Discussing about IKEA, we will know the history first, IKEA, as we all know is a Swedish company. It was started by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, and since has grown to become worlds largest retailers of furnishing. IKEA got its name from the initials of four words, the first two from the name of the founder, Ingvar Kamprad. Making I and K, and the second two from the letters of Emltaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and the village he grew up in. IKEA started by selling pens, wallets watches etc, but out of all the furniture it sold got the greatest response, so, it opened its first store in Sweden in 1958. And in Norway and in Denmark in 1963 and 1969 respectively. Culture: We will define the IKEAs and the Swedish culture based on Hofstedes four dimensions. The four dimensions are; Power distance Uncertainty avoidance Individualism and collectivism Masculinity and femininity. More or less the IKEA and the Swedish cultures and same, the simple reason being that IKEA is a Swedish company. Now according to the Hofstedes dimensions we can compare and tell about the cultures. We will start from the Power distance dimension, this dimension is about the distance between the employees and the managers of the company, in short, equal relations are also seen as normal in some cultures and even inequality is seen as normal in some. In Sweden, the managers and the organizational employees scored very low, i.e. there power distance is very low, they all are considered more or less equal. They scored 31 making it a follower of low power distance; where 104 is the maximum and 11 being the minimum. The second dimension we will talk about is Uncertainty avoidance, by Hofstedes definition and from the given case study (Jackson, 2002), it says that, this refers to a preference for structured situations versus unstructured situations. This dimension runs from being comfortable with flexibility and ambiguity to a need for extreme rigidity and situations with a high degree of certainty. Here again Sweden scored 29, which is low, compared to other countries like Spain and France scoring 86. 8 being minimum here and 112 being the maximum. Third in the list is Individualism and Collectivism, this factor or dimension is about the mentality or way of working of employees, that is, are they used to work as a individuals or as a group. This is again a important factor, which differentiates between the cultures. In this dimension Sweden scored 71, and here 6 being minimum and 91 being maximum. This means the Swedish culture is more individualistic. The fourth one is Masculinity and femininity, now again, according to the given case study, Hofstede (1980a) distinguishes ‘hard value‘ such as assertiveness and competition, and the ‘soft or ‘feminine values of personal relations, quality of life and caring about others, where in masculine society gender role differentiation is emphasized. So in this dimension, Sweden scored 5, which is the lowest and 95being the highest. This implies us that Swedish culture is a very feminine culture, that is they are very soft and caring kind of people. So to sum up all, we can say that Swedish culture is a low power distance, again low on uncertainty avoidance, high on individualism and a feminine culture. IKEA being a Swedish company fallows the similar culture, but, being a global player and having its existence in other different counties; it faced a lot of cultural differences. IKEA had an organizational culture similar to Swedish culture, but when it went to France or Spain or United States of America, it faced little problems there and a lot in Russia. Cultural Differences: A global player is a company which works worldwide; likewise, IKEA is a global player. It is a Swedish company and as talked about, its organizational culture is similar to the Swedish national culture. IKEA always wanted to maintain its unique ‘Swedishness. This was essential to maintain because it was there competitive advantage over other competitors and along with this, it wanted to adapt to the other different national cultures it was working in. Well that is the sign of the global player. IKEA fitted perfect in this. Over the years, IKEA spread its market mainly in Europe, North America, Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mainland China and Russia. Germany, France and Sweden were its single biggest markets. It has also recently taken over Habitat, another competitor in the UK and France. IKEAs international headquarters are in Almhult, a remote location in Sweden where only Swedish is spoken, this is the place where products are designed and all the important decisions are made. Well now before we speak of Cultural differences, we will discuss about the key IKEAN cultures. They believe that a person learns by doing mistakes, it is seen as a way of learning. They encourage practically solving the problems. The managers from IKEA generally expected to share the information they have, their knowledge and skills with the employees. Hence it states employees are also considered very important in the organization and are encouraged the work and are made feel responsible. The management style is seen very casual, informal, open and caring. Hierarchy system is almost flat, with three levels of responsibilities at the store level store managers and co-workers. Co- workers may be employees or associates. The managers do not give titles on their business cards. The bureaucratic approach and status barriers are disparaged and the managers are expected to be friendly, understanding and close with the employees. The employees are also provided with a small formal training. In this culture humbleness is not seen as weakness and learning from experiences, though it takes a lot of time and patience but is a condition for moving up the ladder. â€Å"Testaments of a Furniture Dealer† a book by the founder, which sets out his philosophy is distributed throughout the organization. The managers are seen as and encouraged to act as ‘missionaries. And even one week seminar or training is provided for the managers who have not been directly exposed to the founders philosophy. Whenever IKEA opens a new store in any other country than Sweden, the store is first run by a tight knit group of managers or even called as missionaries who are in position to make of the decisions and are able to solve problems in typical IKEAN way. They are in charge of the store until the store is handed over to the local managers. Overall IKEA offers good and pleasant working environment, job security and a caring attitude to its employees. Overseas, all this has proved relatively easy in Netherlands, but didnt work in some countries, say for example in Germany, France, United States of America and Spain. Like in Germany, managers are not used to be called by first names and undermining managers authority. They are used to do what managers say, they usually take all the orders from the managers, they are not used to do work by taking owns initiative. In Germany managers suggestion are generally taken as orders. And IKEAs methods were considered as distinct or not clear. In France, unlike Sweden, informality is seen as a weakness. Being informal is considered as being indecisive. And even no formal job titles meant loss of identity; it was creating problems because they felt like they were lost in the crowd. But in United States of America, the older workers had a bit of problem working with the young American managers because of their ways of doing things. The young American managers showed a lack of elegance with the employees, but they went off with ease with the Swedish managers. But again, on the other side, there was a difference in the perception, Sweden did not believe in individual awards to maintain equality and avoid discrimination between the workers and the employees. American managers thought that it was slowing their progress in the company; they had second thoughts about their future in the company, and as the result they lost their key American managers. To overcome these problems IKEA had to work on some stuff, like in France to attract and retain the employees, they had to provide clear communication with the facts and figures, just to highlight the benefits of IKEA over its competitors. And had to create some formal training programmes for the new employees, instead of the traditional learning by doing and experience methodology. And even did some changes for the other countries as well. IKEA also gave more autonomy to the local management. In the case study, by Jackson T (2002), he gave a bit more emphasis on IKEA in Spain. It is said that IKEA was a complete unknown when it entered Spain. And since then is has mixed the IKEA culture and its Swedish characters in its Spanish Subsidiaries. Firstly, a network of Swedish managers was sent to Spain to pass on their knowhow and IKEA culture to the local management. This turned out to be an extremely important stepping stone in IKEAs entry in Spain. Even the selection of the employees is important, selecting the ‘right people is perfect way of preserving the IKEA culture. To select the employees who have not been contaminated by the culture of other companies. Moreover awareness for IKEA culture is created through introductory programmes for the co-workers and the employees by ‘IKEA Way, during which, participants are given lectures on IKEAs history, human resources ideas, and many more and by official scriptures, handbooks and other IKEA documents. The IKEAs culture, i.e. the methods they fallow, are very different from the normal style in Spain. IKEA is taking a more serious and conscious approach in developing the organization and adjusting it for the local needs. In this case, the first step was by recruiting a Spanish human resource manager. They even provided off-the-job training courses, this was done on the strong demand of the co-workers. Again the important point is they adapted a flexible salary approach is developed in order to attract and retain competent employees. Problems in Russia IKEA entered Russia almost after 5 decades of its international existence. Year 2000 was the entry year for IKEA in Russia. But unfortunately it had to face a lot of problems in Russia. IKEA has opened 12 stores in Russia till the date in all over the country. It has invested around $4 billion in the Russian market. IKEA saw Russia as a lucrative market; it was like a gold mine for IKEA. IKEA was on the verge of becoming the potent symbol of Russian consumer boom. It started attracting the young generation of the country. It was also building giant shopping malls in various cities of Russia. Overall the start was looking good. But the problems they faced were mainly the corruption in the country. Corruption was the biggest and the most disturbing problem that IKEA had to face. Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev also acknowledge on the fact that corruption is Russias national problem. On 23rd June 2009, IKEA announced that it is suspending its future investments in Russia for the time being. The official reason was given by IKEA country manage, Per Kaufmann, was the unpredictability of administrative processes in Russia. But some of the observers even believe that corruption within the country and demand for bribes was the other important reason for the decision made. The founder Ingvar Kamprad was firm on his decision that he was going to solve the problem without giving bribes. For example, in year 2004, when IKEA was about to open a outlet in Moscow, the officials there delayed the opening by giving reasons like, the parking of the store was near the gas pipe line, and because of the safety reason, they could not open it on the given date. The same thing happened with the outlet in Samara; it was delayed 8 times and still has not opened. It was about to open in November 2007, it has been 2 years and still it is at the same place. They gave a different reason every time, the recent reason was, and the store was not hurricane resistant. And was not safe, but there was data of so power hurricanes in that area. And even at the time of opening a first store in the out skirts of Moscow, they needed electricity, the officials increased the rate of the electricity, as a backup plan, they had generators, but the generator company, also increased their rates. IKEA tried to sue the company for this but unfortunately, it lost the case and in return had to pay a amount as compensation to them. IKEA also had to face accusation made by Russias anti-trust watchdog when it investigated and accused that IKEA urges the tenants at its mall outside Moscow to use services of selected companies. James Franker, head of Moscow based Red Star Asset Management also said a few things on the Russian economy like, â€Å"They need GDP growth to help them expand, and thats reversed† and he also commented about the informal taxation being very high in Russia. Conclusion: At last in the conclusion, we can say that, IKEA follows a totally different culture, it also had to face a lot of problems in other countries as well, but in Russia it had a lot more serious problems. The main problem being the corruption of the country. As given to us, Transparency International ranks Russia 147th out of 180, with countries like Kenya, Syria and Bangladesh. IKEA has stopped the investments in Russian furthermore due to such problems. In a situation where Ingvar Kamprad wants to be firm on his stand of not giving bribes, let us see what IKEA has in its future in Russia and around the world. Bibliography: Case study- Jackson T (2002), International HRM : A cross-cultural approach Rey French, cross cultural management: in work organization Ikea, http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/facts_and_figures/ikea_group_stores/russia.html. http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resourses/global-etiquette/sweden.html Ikea upbeat Russia after 10 years of problem, Alex Anishyuk, Moscow times, http://www.cdi.org/russia/Johnson/2009-160-7.cfm. Why is Ikea fed up with Russia, Jason Bush, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_28/b4139033326721.htm. Ikea turns sour on Russia, http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/europeinsight/archives/2009/06/ikea_turns_sour.html. Ikea plans to halt investment in Russia, Andrew E Kramer, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/business/global/24ruble.html. Ikea tries to build public case against Russian corruption, Andrew E Kramer, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/business/global/12ikea.html?_r=1pagewanted=2

OConnors Everything That Rises Must Converge :: Everything That Rises Must Converge

O'Connor's Everything That Rises Must Converge "Everything That Rises Must Converge," in a sense sums up O'Connor's overall philosophy or theology: that is, that everything which rises above the petty concerns of earth, above materialism, must converge somewhere in an ideal realm, that is, Heaven. The story concerns Julian and his mother and a series of misunderstandings between them. We find that Julian's mother is overweight, rude to other people, particularly to Black people, and very judgmental. Julian in turn spends a lot of his time judging his mother. The story focuses on a bus trip that Julian and his mother are taking to the Y's reducing class, and what happens in the course of that trip. During the bus trip, Julian's mother openly sympathises with some other white women who don't like "Negroes" on the bus. When a Black man gets on the bus, Julian attempts to be friendly with him and in so doing sees himself as morally superior to his mother. We see here that Julian is being very judgmental. For instance, we find Julian entertaining these thoughts after the man has got off the bus: He imagined his mother lying desperately ill and his being able to secure only a Negro doctor for her. He toyed with that idea for a few minutes and then dropped it for a momentary vision of himself participating as a sympathiser in a sit-in demonstration. This was possible but he did not linger with it. Instead, he approached the ultimate horror. He brought home a beautiful suspiciously Negroid woman. Prepare yourself, he said. There is nothing you can do about it. This is the woman I have chosen. (15) It is just shortly after this fantasy that a very large Black woman and her little boy get on and Julian is somewhat delighted because the Negro woman is actually wearing the same hat as his mother, a hat that he has made fun of earlier in the story. Julian reacts as follows: His eyes widened. The vision of the two hats, identical, broke upon him with the radiance of a brilliant sunrise. His face was suddenly lit with joy. He could not believe that Fate had thrust upon his mother such a lesson. He gave a loud chuckle so she would look at him and see that he saw. She turned her eyes on him slowly. The blue in them seemed to have turned a bruised purple.

Get Fit With the Grizzlies Essay -- Article Review, Childhood Obesity

The article I chose to analyze is titled Get Fit With the Grizzlies: A Community-School-Home Initiative to Fight Childhood Obesity, which focused on social and physical health related determinants in their strategy to confront childhood obesity and promote change. The research done by C. Irwin, R. Irwin, Miller, Somes, and Richey (2010) in regards to the development of a community health promotion program has similarities to various aspects of the nutrition group’s video and components of their health promotional program structure. As previously noted, social and physical determinants to health aided in the process of development and helped determine societal needs, as depicted by this group’s population of interest. The population that the nutrition group used, involved 9-10 year old boys, who were already in a pre-established group who shared common interest i.e. cub scouts, were learning about nutrition in other areas of their life, parents actively participated and were present, presentation provided to them in a familiar environment i.e. cub scout meeting, and were motivated to participate in this program by earning a pin. Similarly, as found in Irwin, et al. (2010), participants in their program included relatively the same age group, specifically 9-11 year old children from Memphis City Schools in TN, where 11 elementary schools were randomly selected out of 110 to participate in this program and parents involvement at home was required at times. The dissemination of information in the video appeared to be very age appropriate and used similar supplemental tools such as the US Department of Agriculture’s MyPyramid and incorporated physical activities. Interestingly enough, both programs used basketball within their progr... ...r week, after school NutriActive program with kindergarten and first graders. This study’s results indicated that a short, vigorous program such as NutriActive’s, can produce significant and sustainable improvements in motor skills and fitness levels of young children. The nutrition group’s program, especially the interactive components would likely be a great fit for this population, the content may need to be changed slightly to make it more age appropriate but the overall message and delivery would useful. It’s important to point out that the nutrition group, the Holcomb et al. study, and Matvienko et al. study all use of a client centered approach, and a common theme is apparent with respect to enabling individuals participating in these programs to foster feelings of competence, which contribute to their overall sense of well-being and satisfaction in life.

Argumentative essay: Gay marriage Essay

The American dream, one of freedom and equality, is held highly in the hearts of every citizen in the United States. With the â€Å"American† dream in mind, most will say they support equal rights for homosexuals. But if you ask these members of society if they are for gay marriage then the support of gay equality comes to a stop and majority of Americans vote for the Constitutional Amendment, which bans gay marriage. Americans do believe in providing equal rights to the gay community, which include no toleration of discrimination in jobs, rights protecting gays from indecent actions, rights allowing same access to housing, rights allowing advancement in government, and so on and so forth. However, the concept of gay marriage is still not considered an â€Å"equal right† to American people. A huge misconception is the idea that gays have a choice to whom they can feel attracted to. Just as heterosexuals cannot† choose† who they are drawn to, neither can homo sexuals. Opposition movements promote that homosexuality is preventable. They believe living as a homosexual is not as easy as it is portrayed in media. How can a member of the straight community say that homosexuality can be changed, or even if homosexuals can be happy or not. What about the research that has been proven that homosexuality is genetic? No one would ever choose a life that is faced with prejudice and discrimination. Even if its ethnicity, religious beliefs or homosexuality. The same assumption of choice leads to the accusation that homosexuality is all about sex, which is called sexual perversion. Again, the truth is that homosexuality is multi-faceted. Homosexuality is more about the love and affection than it is sex. Sex, in a committed relationship is about expressing love. This is true whether it may be in a heterosexual or homosexual relationship. Being gay defines who that person is and makes up his or her identity. Very few straights can comprehend this. Instead, heterosexuals use their beliefs support for what â€Å"normal† should mean. The most repeated cases’ opposing gay marriages is the idea that it is immoral, but the â€Å"immoral† label is only based on religious perceptions. The First Amendment states, â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.† Religion is not, supposed to be the basis for our country’s laws according to the first amendment. Nevertheless, most of the individuals against gay marriage try to stress their religious beliefs onto others and make those beliefs into laws. Not everyone is religiously  inclined to the same morals and beliefs. The gay community is simply fighting to be free from religion in determining the laws of the country. The opposition believes marriage should be between man and a woman; otherwise, the marriage would be untraditional. The anti-gay community also believes same-sex marriages would threaten the basis of marriage. I strongly disagree with this argument because no evidence can support this allegation. How does giving a person the right to marry threaten marriage? Why is the right to get married only given to the heterosexual society? Courts recently say there is no reason why gays should not be allowed to marry realizing the American principles of human rights. The reasoning behind such laws and beliefs seems more like direct prejudice rather than an overwhelming reason worthy of denying people their civil rights. All in all, much of what the straight community believes to be true about gays is based only on stereotypes. There are those who assume gays are promiscuous and are unable to form long lasting relationships. I believe these stereotypes are extremely inaccurate. Even though unstable and sex-based relationships exist in both the gay and the straight communities, they are usually among the younger generation and only represent a small percentage. Gay marriage is defined as a legal union between members of the same sex. Ten percent of Americans, the size of the gay community, are denied the right to marry. The individuals representing this group want what every heterosexual has, the right to legally marry their life partner. As a country we need to move away from false reasoning, whether it may be based on ignorance or prejudice. Every person needs to be allowed the civil right to wed his or her life partner. Our society must live up to the quota of the American dream. The Pledge of Allegiance states â€Å"liberty and justice for all† and so should every citizen in our country.

Media and Politics Essay

We all agree that a well-informed public leads to a more open, just and civic-minded society. Yet today it seems every major and minor news network has a Sunday talk show or weekly roundtable dedicated to â€Å"educating† the American public about politics. In addition, with the growth of the Internet, thousands of Web sites exist with information on politics and government. The irony is that while the quantity of places we can go for political information continues to increase, the quality of that information has not. Recent voter turnout shows an American public with a general apathy toward government and the political process. If we continue to focus on innuendo instead of insight, we threaten to create even more public apathy. For everything a quick sound bite delivers in sharpness, it often loses the same in substance when the message reaches the public. While it may be easy to fault the media for the lack of public confidence in America’s political system, policymakers are also partly to blame. Because increased political partisanship has led to an adversarial relationship between policymakers, it has created a disconnect with the media who cover them. It is only natural for the media to present the news in this â€Å"crossfire† approach when that is all it hears from politicians on a daily basis. Thus, instead of creating a well-informed society, policymakers, and the media can inadvertently work together to give the appearance that complicated issuesare black or white, with no in-between. We all know this is not true. For television, and the American media generally, the election of 2000 will be the first real taste of things to come, the beginning of the end of an era if not the end itself. Whispers of the â€Å"information revolution† could be heard in 1994, mostly in the accents of the Right, but in 2000, the Internet’s campaign presence will be sounded in shouts and with cymbals.  Campaigning via Websites and the use of e-mail, already routine, will edge toward dominance. In addition, a significant fraction of the public will be getting its politics from the Internet: the Pew Research Center found that in 1995, only 4 percent of adults went on-line for news at least once a week; by 1998, the figure had reached 20 percent, and rising. Today, however, television, which displaced the press and radio (and movies, for that matter), is itself substantially being shouldered aside. It is not even surprising that, according to the Pew Research Center, while 60 percent of adults â€Å"r egularly† watched TV news in 1993, that figure dropped to 38 percent in 1998. Like the press and like radio, television will retain much of its power; its quality of its influence may even rise; what is certain, however, is that it will have to change. If we are lucky, that change will help Americans reclaim some of democracy’s old charm. Our communities have been weakened or shattered by the market, mobility, and technology, and the centralization of the media and of party politics has taken much of the spirit out of our politics, emphasizing mass and hierarchy, and leading citizens to seek dignity in a private life that seems increasingly confined. Our politics, like our society, is more and more divided into two tiers. The elite levels, especially around the national capital and the media centers, are dense with organized groups and with information about the subtleties of policy and politics†¦The great majority of Americans, by contrast, are socially distant from power, baffled by its intricacies, anxious about change, and inundated by the welter of information being made available to them. The links that connect citizens to government are thin, mostly top-down, and dominated by money: the parties are increasingly c entralized bureaucracies, and â€Å"participation† is apt to take the form of donating money in response to direct appeals, voicelessly, without any say in group leadership or policy. As for the dominant news media, they are not seen as a stratum between citizens and centers of power, but as part of the powerhouse, an element of the elite or in its service. The great majority of Americans know that they depend on the media†¦the media decide what opinions to attend to and in what ways. Viewers, lacking a voice, can assert their discontents only by changing channels or by turning off the set, and in relation to politics, tuning out has become startlingly common, a silent protest against indignity. It does  not help that, eager to cultivate and hold a mass audience, the news media tend to dumb down their political coverage, as indicated by the ever-shrinking sound bite afforded to candidates and leaders. It is probably even worse that the media also pander, playing to our worst impulses. Early and consistently, polls showed that most Americans were convinced that coverage of the Lewinsky affair was doing damage to our institutions, telling pollsters that they wanted it to receive much less attention from the media. However, media leaders knew, of course, that despite this public-regarding judgment, very few Americans, as private ind ividuals, would be able to resist getting caught up in the tacky salacity of the thing. As a result, we got coverage in agonizing detail: Russell Baker called it â€Å"disgusting,† an indication that the media market is dominated by â€Å"edge, attitude, and smut.† Moreover, it encouraged millions of Americans to view the media, for all their power, as worthy of contempt. Political societies can be symbolized but not seen, and the most important political controversies turn on words–like justice, equality or liberty–and hence on public speech. A picture makes a strong impression, but one that tends to be superficial. Many see who you appear to be, Machiavelli advised the prince, but not many will recognize who you are. And often, visual coverage of politics is banal or beside the point. In the internet, a good many observers discerned a trend toward a more decentralized communication and politics, more interactive and hence friendlier to democratic citizenship. However, the Internet, at least so far, is not leading us to the public square. It does enable minorities to find like-minded people, to avoid the sense of being alone, and sometimes this gives strength and assurance to our better angels, although at least as often it gives scope to the dark side. In general, however, the Internet creates groups that lack what Tocqueville called the â€Å"power of meeting,† the face-to-face communication that makes claims on our senses, bodies as well as minds. — Over the past five decades, the American electorate has come to depend more and more on the news media for learning about political candidates and making voting decisions. The growth of all forms of media and the rise of â€Å"objectivity† in the press†¦ has made voters more dependent on the news media for campaign information. Today, about seven in 10 voters depend mainly on the news media for information to make choices when they cast their ballot. Voters’ dependence on the news increases the importance of the role that the news media play in American elections. But what do American voters want from election news coverage? And how do voters evaluate the news media’s coverage of presidential elections? In a word, â€Å"lukewarm† describes the general feeling of voters about the performance of the news media in covering presidential campaigns, according to national scientific surveys of the American electorate conducted from February through November 1996, as well as a more recent survey, conducted in October 1999, on the current campaign. The surveys were conducted by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis (CSRA) at the University ofConnecticut. Funding for the 1996 surveys was provided by The Freedom Forum. Why the tepid feelings? American voters are quite consistent in what they say they want from election news–and they are quite clear in saying that what they want is often not what they get. The American electorate is hungry for news and information that allow it to evaluate the substance of presidential candidacies on the basis of issue positions and on the likely consequences of electing a particular candidate to office. News provided outside of these parameters, while perhaps entertaining, is viewed as â€Å"nonsense† in the words of our focus group participant. Two types of stories–those that review how candidates stand on issues and those that describe how election outcomes might affect voters–are clearly the kinds of stories in which voters express the highest levels of intere st. The remedies suggested†¦.enhanced coverage of issues and candidates positions, more coverage of the possible impact of election outcomes on public policy and broader coverage of the  full field of candidates, not just the front-runners–could improve the quality of news and promote voter learning, which would be healthy for American democracy. At the same time, less coverage of the election as a sporting horse race and less obsession with entertaining stories about candidates personal lives would, according to voters, be an improvement. In election periods, the polls highlight the role of public opinion in the political process. They also illuminate the importance of public opinion measurements in the media. Fundamentally, and at their best, media polls are a way for public opinion to be reported and perceived, thus fulfilling the eminent 19th-century British visitor James Bryce’s conception of the American press as the â€Å"chief organ of public opinion,† and community â€Å"weathercock.† However, when employed inappropriately by overzealous reporters and analysts, polls can be used to create an exaggerated sense of precision that misleads more than it informs. Polls routinely bring the public into election campaigns. In an otherwise fragmented and even alienated society, poll reports may be the only means individual members of the public have in situating themselves in the greater society. News reports of poll results tell individuals that they are part of a majority or a minority on various issues. In campaigns with more than two candidates, especially early in the primary season, information about relativecandidate standing gives voters the information to help them cast a vote that is strategically advantageous. But most importantly, polls take that strategic information about candidate performance away from politicians’ control and places it in the hands of the public. News organizations no longer are forced to rely on the instincts of party leaders  or on carefully orchestrated leaks from partisan pollsters for data. Because they are numbers, poll results sometimes create the appearance of a false precision in reporting of candidate support or presidential approval. In fact, some polling organizations flaunt this alleged precision by displaying results to a 10th of a percentage point. Of course, the error due simply to the sampling design is usually at least 30 times greater than the specificity presented. Moreover, there are growing concerns about the ability of su rvey researchers to reach the majority of households selected in their sample. Some respondents refuse to be interviewed. Others have become ever more difficult to reach during the short news survey-interviewing period that must be sandwiched between public events. This perception of precision and accuracy leads journalists into making blunders, including attempting to find deep meaning when there probably isn’t any. Newspaper and television reporters often try to attribute a three-point difference in the margin between two candidates to some campaign action. Either the â€Å"slipping† candidate has made a mistake, or there has been a successful strategic decision that has brought supporters to the â€Å"rising† candidate. Sometimes small movements in the percentages of subgroups that form only a part of the total sample are given the same â€Å"explanatory† treatment. Those â€Å"differences,† however, are more likely to be caused by sampling error than by campaign events. In mid-October, a prominent presidential candidate addressed his largest audience. Hundreds of thousands of voters heard his message–but they never got the news that his message contained some distortions, omissions, and half-truths. Those significant matters were either ignored or buried in coverage by the leading news media. Why? It was not because of bias. It was because the candidate’s message was delivered not at a campaign event but in campaign television ads. And when candidates communicate via ads on the tube  instead of on the stump, journalists act as if we are stumped about our role and responsibility. Journalists at most major and medium-sized newspapers are proud that they are now at least covering political advertisements at all. They report on them in small-boxed features called â€Å"Ad Watch† or something of the sort. But they haven’t figured out that they are still being manipulated by the ad-makers. The â€Å"Ad Watch† reports c arry the transcript of the 30-second ad, followed by a small section in which a reporter subjectively interprets the ad-maker’s strategy. Then–in the most valuable section–the reports briefly focus on the factual accuracy of the ad’s claims. Newspapers display these â€Å"Ad Watch† boxes on inside pages, back with the snow tire and truss ads. Think about it from a journalist’s viewpoint: when a candidate distorts his record in a huge rally speech, a good reporter fact checks the claims. The resulting news story will surely focus in part on the candidate’s omissions and distortions that present a different and more accurate picture of his record.And that may well be a page one story. Now think about it from the political strategist’s viewpoint: Democratic and Republican strategists expect print journalists will check ads for accuracy but then downplay the results. So, being skilled manipulators, they are willing to take a light hit in a box that is buried back with the truss ads and will run just once if they can pour their unfiltered, exaggerated and distorted message in to living rooms where it may be seen by millions, not just once but perhaps 10 times in a campaign. There is one mistake that all journalists make whether we are covering politics at the White House, state house, or courthouse. Every time we report on money and politics, we fail to tell people the real story about how the system really works because we are using the wrong words to describe what is happening right before our eyes, every day. So no wonder people just shrug when we report that a special interest â€Å"contributed† $100,000 to Democrats or Republicans. Because, this special interest really did not â€Å"contribute† this money (which my dictionary explains means that it was given as though to a charity). What the special interest representative really did was â€Å"invest† $100,000 in the Democrats or Republicans. Big business people (see also: big labor, trial lawyers, et al) â€Å"invest† in politics for the same reason that they invest in anything–to reap a profitable return on their â€Å"investment.† Use the right word and suddenly  everybody understands what is really going on. They will especially understand when we regularly report that the largest agribusiness â€Å"investments† in Senate and House races routinely go to the top agriculture committee members, and largest energy special interest â€Å"investments† go to the top energy committee members, and so on. Use the right word and suddenly our next task as journalists becomes clear–and clearly difficult: we need to do a better job of discovering the campaign investors’ motives. We need to ask, Just what profitable return did the investor expect to reap for that campaign investment? A tax subsidy? A regulation waived? A loophole that is difficult for a squinting journalist to see with a naked eye? Whatever the return, this much is clear: the money ultimately comes out of the U.S. Treasury. Clearly, our present system, which we like to say is based on private financing of campaigns, can also be viewed as a form of backdoor public funding–where the taxpayers pay the final tab, no doubt many times over. We journalists have yet to find a way to calculate how many billions of tax dollars it now costs us to finance election campaigns through the back door. At least we can begin using a vocabulary that will finally tell it like it is.