Compare and contrast shopping as a leisure activity of British Culture with that of your own culture Essay

Becoming a foreign student has given me the opportunity of living in two cities at the same time. Living in each city regularly has let me see many similarities and differences between both. In this essay, I will mainly compare and contrast shopping as a leisure activity between United Kingdom and Hong Kong. I will look at the kinds of activities, attitudes towards spending, the view of shops and the opening hours of shops. First of all, both United Kingdom and Hong Kong are consumer societies. People can find all sorts of things to do like shopping in malls or streets. The appearance of the malls in United Kingdom primarily comes from the fact that they feature more than hundreds of stand-alone shops, cafes, restaurants and a huge number of department stores, in which there are wide varieties of types of shops. Moreover, most shops are chain stores, but among those that are not, there is much individuality. (O’ Driscoll, J. 1995 P. 148) The situation of shopping malls is as common in Hong Kong. Both societies, moreover, like buying and selling products through online. Nowadays, the rapid development of the Internet advances the online trading. The customers do not need to walk on the streets, they just have to browse the website of that company and the shop will provide the pictures of the products for you to purchase. For example, the Amazon. com is popular in both United Kingdom and Hong Kong. (Hong Kong Tourism Board, 2012) Despite some important similarities in shopping between United Kingdom and Hong Kong, there are significant differences as well. One obvious difference is the attitude towards spending. The British are not very adventurous shoppers. They like reliability and buy goods that are preferably with the price clearly marked. Of course, they are not very keen on haggling over prices. (O’ Driscoll, J. 1995 P. 148) In contrast, Hong Kong People spend lots of money on buying things they like. Also, people in Hong Kong like to bargain with the sales owner in order to obtain a cheaper price, especially in some market streets and small shops. (Hong Kong Tourism Board, 2012) Other areas of difference are the opening hours of shops. Most shops close early in United Kingdom such as half-past five and shops close a bit later in large cities. In some towns there are even shops shut at midday and do not open again. (O’ Driscoll, J. 1995 P. 149) This is probably because owner needs to take rest after a full day’s work. However, since Hong Kong is a reputed shopping ‘paradise’, it is easy for you to find a shopping mall nearby anytime. (Hong Kong Tourism Board, 2012) Shops open till late at night in Hong Kong because workers tend to earn more money to earn a living and in order to match with those people who need to work late. Unexpectedly, some market streets even open at 2 am. Therefore, people can go shopping whenever they want to. To Hong Kong eyes, the shopping malls seem just like convenience stores. A final difference between United Kingdom and Hong Kong is the view of the shops. Many people are surprised by the shabbiness of shop-window displays, even in prosperous areas in United Kingdom. It is just that the British do not demand art in their shop windows (O’ Driscoll, J. 1995 P. 148), whereas shops in Hong Kong are definitely decorated nicely and drab hoardings and shop signs erupt in numerous shades of neon color. Peering over the balcony was like looking down on a fairground and even the lights of the shops could not compare with the overall view. People say shopping gives a lot of pleasure to citizens. This must be true. Indeed people in both United Kingdom and Hong Kong like to spend their leisure time on doing shopping. Yet there are still many differences based on the topics such as the spending attitudes, shops opening hours and the view of shops.

Gendering Biology and Sociology Essay

Can we define gender both biologically and sociologically? That question is at the forefront of the continuing debate between cultural and scientific researchers. The issue stems from a fundamental difference in how to explain gender definitions in an era of fluid identities and particularized conceptions of the body. This brief essay will outline the path this debate has taken in an attempt to see where it will take us in the future. Biologists and sociologists see the world in different ways. Biologists tend to believe that the natural world should form the basis of our understanding about life while sociologists believe that culture is the primary driving force that creates our collective knowledge. In this way, a gap has been created between two competing theories about what and how gender should be defined. For example, sociologists critique the biological basis of gender because they speculate that cultural practices influence what type of biology to undertake. Physical appearance, chromosomal sequencing, personal psychology, social norms, and many other factors are at work when we ask questions that transcend sexual difference and enter the realm of gender identity definitions. In the realm of sports, we have seen how outdated scientific gender testing has proven to be unreliable in determining what counts as a male or female. As chairman of the International Olympic Committee medical commission Arne Ljungqvist notes, â€Å"Sometimes, fingers are pointed at particular female athletes, and in order to protect them, we have to be able to investigate it and clarify. † (Thomas). In order to traverse this widening gap, sociologists and biologists need a common language and framework if we hope to come to a deeper understanding of gender and how it will influence our lives. Works Cited Thomas, Katie. (2008). A Lab Is Set to Test the Gender of Some Olympic Athletes. July 30, 2008. The New York Times. Retrieved January 9, 2009 from http://www. nytimes. com/2008/07/30/sports/olympics/30gender. html

Single Dwelling Family

Single Family Dwelling The dwelling has 19 lighting outlet and 12 convenience outlet. It has the typical household appliances including one 8-kw electric range, two 1. 5-hp room air conditioning unit, one 2. 5 kw water heater, one laundry washing machine. Lighting Layout Power Layout Lighting and Power Panel| CircuitNo. | Description| No. of Outlet| Volts| Watts| Phase Current| Circuit Breaker| Conductor size (mm2)| Size of Conduct| | | | | | | AT| AF | P| | | 1| Lighting| 10| 230| 1000| 4. 35| 15| 50| 2| 2. mm2 TW + GND| 15 mm O Conduit pipe| 2| Lighting| 9| 230| 900| 3. 91| 15| 50| 2| 2. 0mm2 TW + GND| 15 mm O Conduit pipe| 3| Receptacle (C. O)| 6| 230| 1080| 4. 69| 20| 50| 2| 3. 5mm2 TW + GND| 15 mm O Conduit pipe| 4| Receptacle (C. O)| 6| 230| 1080| 4. 69| 20| 50| 2| 3. 5mm2 TW + GND| 15 mm O Conduit pipe| 5| 1. 5 HP Aircon| 1| 230| 2300| 10. 00| 30| 50| 2| 3. 5mm2 TW + GND| 15 mm O Conduit pipe| 6| 1. 5 HP Aircon| 1| 230| 2300| 10. 00| 30| 50| 2| 3. 5mm2 TW + GND| 15 mm O Condui t pipe| 7| Water Heater| 1| 230| 2500| 10. 6| 20| 50| 2| 3. 5mm2 TW + GND| 15 mm O Conduit pipe| 8| Laundry| 1| 230| 1500| 6. 52| 20| 50| 2| 3. 5mm2 TW + GND| 15 mm O Conduit pipe| 9| Electric Range| 1| 230| 8000| 34. 78| 40| 50| 2| 8. 0mm2 TW + GND| 20 mm O Conduit pipe| 10| Spare| -| 230| -| -| 40| 50| 2| -| -| Schedule of Loads IT= 89. 8 + 0. 25% (10) x 0. 8 D. F. =73. 86A * Use 2-30mm2 THW Copper Wire and 1-22mm2 THW Copper Wire in 32mm O Conduit Pipe * Use 100 AMP 2-Pole Circuit Breaker 230 Volts Single Line Diagram Electrical System Design LayoutSubmitted to: Engr. Raymund C. Ycay Submitted by: Villanueva, Joshua Francis A. BSIE III-2 Lighting and Power Panel| CircuitNo. | Description| No. of Outlet| Volts| Watts| Phase Current| Circuit Breaker| Conductor size (mm2)| Size of Conduct| | | | | | | AT| AF | P| | | 1| | | | | | | | | | | 2| | | | | | | | | | | 3| | | | | | | | | | | 4| | | | | | | | | | | 5| | | | | | | | | | | 6| | | | | | | | | | | 7| | | | | | | | | | | 8| | | | | | | | | | | 9| | | | | | | | | | | 10| | | | | | | | | | |

Describe your son room Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Describe your son room - Essay Example The furniture rises out of this mess as varying levels of more of the same. The bed I gave him was a wooden framed futon with a full-sized black mattress but all one can see of this is one side of the wooden frame closest to the wall where an inexplicable and largely inaccessible hole exists in the mess reaching all the way to the floor – only a few wrappers here and a couple other pieces of trash. The rest of the bed is more of the same scattered blankets, clothing and pillows. The desk is recognizable thanks to the computer monitor and keyboard, but these are crowded as well by piles of papers and unopened mail. A standing lamp rises disdainfully out of the boxes and bundles piled up against one wall that haven’t moved since we moved here more than a year ago and a TV set peeks out from under yet more clothes slung over its top as if it were a waiting valet. I don’t dare peek in the closet for fear of what monsters might exist in there. At one point in time, I would have thrown a fit for him allowing his living space to become such a danger zone but over the years I have determined that I have other things to spend my energy on. He is uncomfortable in his room but I am allowing him to discover on his own the joy and the relaxation available when one can simply rest in their own quiet, private, clean space – something not at all possible in the room’s current state forcing him to frequently invade his cleaner sister’s room or vacate the house altogether in order to find a place to relax. As long as he keeps his door closed so none of his disaster spills into the rest of the house and he avoids destroying the rest of the house as he has his room, I try to stay out of his business. He had an entire childhood of having to keep his room clean; now that he’s a teenager, it’s time for him to choose when he wants to actually grow up and take care of his

Replacing Core Banking for ADIB Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 13000 words

Replacing Core Banking for ADIB - Dissertation Example This has been done in the dissertation through a focus on competitive advantage and knowledge management tools, which may be used in order to understand the needs of a globally changing environment within which the banking industry thrives today. The SOA, on the basis of the model put forth, can undergo further research so as to be revolutionized as a more need sensitive solution to various core banking needs. Apart from this, there is a vast scope for research into greater employee motivation as well as consumer satisfaction, both of which can come to herald banks as brands in themselves. As a service oriented field, the banking sector and the ADIB bank in particular can benefit greatly from such research. Literature Review This chapter reviews the literature that is being used as regards Core Banking Solutions. In order to do this, the researcher has made use of the previously available work also known as secondary research on the subject along the following technicalities: Relevance to subject Logical flow of information In context of research methodology and overall problem of the dissertation. To begin with, it is imperative to understand the meaning and importance of a literature review to any dissertation. A piece of research is incomplete without adherence to the work previously conducted on the subject. A researcher cannot move forward or find a fitting basis for research unless he or she regards the work of scholars who have dabbled in the field previously. Yet, in today's age of information and knowledge, it may be seen that it has become more important than ever to keep an eye on including literature that pertains directly to the analysis and findings of the subject... This chapter reviews the literature that is being used as regards Core Banking Solutions. In order to do this, the researcher has made use of the previously available work also known as secondary research on the subject along the following technicalities: - Relevance to subject - Logical flow of information - In context of research methodology and overall problem of the dissertation. To begin with, it is imperative to understand the meaning and importance of a literature review to any dissertation. A piece of research is incomplete without adherence to the work previously conducted on the subject. A researcher cannot move forward or find a fitting basis for research unless he or she regards the work of scholars who have dabbled in the field previously. Yet, in today’s age of information and knowledge, it may be seen that it has become more important than ever to keep an eye on including literature that pertains directly to the analysis and findings of the subject at hand. This is where a review of the literature comes in as it helps the researcher look at the use of literature gathered in a critical manner. According to Cooper (1988) "a literature review uses as its database reports of primary or original scholarship, and does not report new primary scholarship itself. The primary reports used in the literature may be verbal, but in the vast majority of ca ses reports are written documents. The types of scholarship may be empirical, theoretical, critical/analytic, or methodological in nature."

Anheuser Busch and Harbin Brewery Group of China Essay

Anheuser Busch and Harbin Brewery Group of China - Essay Example It is because of this fact that no particular local player emerged as the leading national beer producer in the country. The government intervention in the market is not up to that extent as normally considered by outside players. Since the industry experience very small margins and mushrooming of the low cost producers of regional level therefore there is a greater threats of substitutes for AB to enter into the market. As discussed in the case that no international beer brand has been able to make in-roads into Chinese Consumers subtly suggest the level of strong presence of substitutes developed according to the taste buds of the local consumers. The lack of market space for the leading beer brands of the world suggest that the substitutes have strong presence in the market and pose a greater threat. The threats of substitutes are from moderate to High. If the basic use of beer is just to quench the thirst of the consumer than the threats of substitution can be high however since Chinese consumer prefer to have some level of liquor in it therefore the scope of substitutes get bigger as wine and liquor products also become direct substitutes of our products. It has been the strategy of Chinese government to allow the entry into the Chinese Market through the formation of Joint ventures with the local companies in order to help the local players to gain technology and management expertise. Thus the biggest barrier to the entry into the market is the fact that companies looking for making in-roads into the Chinese Markets have to find local players to pair with as they themselves cannot start the sort of Greenfield projects. The current experiences in the Chinese Market suggest that the companies that have brought in foreign capital in the country has been not been able to sustain in the longer run therefore they have to look for the local players to take over their stakes in the

Fundamentals of Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fundamentals of Management - Essay Example These roles will be taken into account during training courses in addition to others roles omitted by in this classification. This matrix does not take into account motivation and inspiring of employees, communication and control functions (Bateman, Snell 2004). The main skills managers need to develop include: a self-assessment, communication, coaching, conflict management and motivation of employees. In this case, the human element plays a major part in the overall success of the project and positive organizational atmosphere. Management of conflicts, an integral part of project management, has assumed a vital strategic role in recent years as organizational attempt to compete through people. Today, projects can create a competitive advantage when they possess or develop human resources that are psychologically strong and organized. Managers should recognize that an employee may expect promotion as an outcome of a high level of contribution in helping to achieve an important organizational objective. They determine the perceived equity of their own position. Feeling about the equity of the exchange is affected by the treatment they receive when compared with what happens to other people. Effective communication and motivation should be th e core of training and employees orientation classes.

Actors and Acting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Actors and Acting - Research Paper Example Antony Sher is another known impersonator. Similarly, Nancy, Bill Sykes and Fagin are also famous impersonators and played in the Dickens’ novel ‘Oliver’. 2. PERSONALITY: Personality actors are the actors who play themselves in different parts again and again. John Wayne, Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise are famous personality characters. Tony Danza is also a personality actor and played in different parts in ‘on Taxi’ and ‘Who’s the Boss’. The personality actor must naturally have strong personalities and coinciding with the roles in which he is acting. Some actors, such as Jack Nicholson, possess such a personality that one can even know the meaning of his non-verbal cues by mere movement of his position or lift of an eye-brow. 3. STARS: Mark Harris, in his article, says that star is a person who can draw and actuate the audience to see a movie where there is no convincing reason to watch it. An ideal example of a star is Arnold Schwarzenegger. His films are very much liked by the audiences and the public is itself drawn to see the movie. The star is deemed to possess a charismatic personality and influences the audience. The stars are very popular off-screen also. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are also famous stars of this age. 4. WILD CARDS: Wild cards are the category of actors who can perform several different roles, all equally well and therefore, cannot be regarded as a one specific type of actors. Philip Hoffman is a known name in wild card. However, he is also considered as impersonator. Helen Mirren is another impersonator who is also considered wild card. Meryl Streep is also a famous wild card. The wild cards usually interpret roles. They often bring themselves in different personalities. The crux and art of acting lies in it as to behave in a number of distinctive roles is not an easy task. 5. CHARACTERS: Here are

Dq-Sheila Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dq-Sheila - Essay Example Qualitative research is categorized as studies conducted in order gain an understanding of phenomenon based on their environment and their interaction with the environment. Another important feature of this research is that those conducting the study have to make their own effort to collect as well as analyze data. These studies are based on observations so the researcher has to himself visit the settings in order to observe constructs and their behaviors (Tracy, 2013). This form of research is conducted for inductive purposes. This means that this type of research helps in developing theories as well as hypothesis that is used in further researches. For example a study was conducted by Heslehurst et al. in which the researchers tried to understand the perception of healthcare practitioner’s regarding ways through which maternity services can be further developed (Heslehurst, 2011). For this study the researchers personally interviewed 30 participants and they identified that maternity services can further be developed in order to counter obesity among pregnant women by increasing communication between private and public healthcare organizations. There are major differences in the characteristics of both qualitative as well as quantitative researches. The quantitative ones are objective in nature and the qualitative ones are subjective and the quantities ones try to answer the question of how strong is the connection between environment and the phenomenon, while the qualitative ones only focus on why the phenomenon occurred and the definition of the phenomenon. The quantities ones focus on identifying whether the theory developed through qualitative research is true or false. The outcomes of the study in quantities are based on statistical tools, while in qualitative study the outcome is interpreted by the researcher. For example a quantitative study was conducted by Van den Broeck et al. in

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of Lavandula angustifolia Essay

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of Lavandula angustifolia - Essay Example The reason for which this research was carried out was the ancient belief that the herb Lavender angustifolia possessed the analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. There have been mixed conclusions in the scientific history that support the hypothesis. Experiments have been carried out both in vitro and in vivo. Majority of them support the findings of the article, which confirms the analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of the plant. In vitro data suggests that Eugenol, which is a small constituent in the lavender oils, has topical anesthetic effects (Catherine and Kathi, 2001). Tests conducted on animals suggest that linalyl acetate and linalool constituents in angustifolia showed significant local anesthetic effect. It also increased the number of stimuli needed to provoke palpebral closure in a dose dependant manner (Catherine and Kathi, 2001). Experiments conducted on human beings, however, have shown mixed results in relieving pain. In an experiment hospitalized children infected with HIV were given a massage of Lavender angustifolia. It was noted that the massage decreased the need for analgesic medication and relieved the continuous pain of some of the children completely (Styles, 1997). In a randomized control clinical trial conducted on 100 patients in a Critical Care Unit, the massage of lavender oil reduced the pain of the patients by 50%. 90% reduction in the heart rate was also reported by the participating patients (Woolfson and Hewitt, 1992).

A Critique on Enlightenment philosophy Term Paper

A Critique on Enlightenment philosophy - Term Paper Example In fact the process of enlightenment transforms back into what it tries to separate itself from; the myth. Theodore W. Adorno (1903-1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist and musicologist. He is recognized mostly for his critical theory of society. His work is selected for this paper as the philosopher has published books specifically focusing and critiquing the concept of enlightenment. His notable works include Dialect of Enlightenment (1947) and Negative Dialects (1966). The works of other intellects used to justify the thesis includes names like Jay M. Bernstein. In his book Adorno: Disenchantment and Ethics (2001), he gives a comprehensive view of Adorno’s aesthetics and social theory. His work is used here to understand the Adorno’s critique of enlightenment in depth. Adorno’s critique of enlightenment is not about the European Enlightenment or a specific scientific thinking. It encompasses the generalized idea of enlightenment. This way there are two fields of knowledge (thinking); before enlightenment and after it. The knowledge that existed prior to enlightenment was based on faith, intangible and uncountable aspects like myth and magic. Enlightenment is thus the opposite of mythology; the process of disenchanting and demythologizing. Most of enlightenment theories exist to negate magic and myth. The mythical way in understanding the universe involves unforeseen forces or gods. What cannot be directly comprehended by mind is left to such forces. After all, if humans cannot grasp infinity, it does not mean that it doesn’t exist. Adorno and Horkheimer give extra weightage to transcendent content, which means that what is beyond the immediate thinking (knowledge) MUST be considered. Scientific thinking relies on comprehending everything. Thus there exists an inclination of ruling out what lies beyond the immediate truth. Enlightenment does not encourage imagination for imagination can

Natural sites Essay Example for Free

Natural sites Essay The choice of a venue or a site plays a very important role as long as tourism is concerned . The location and the type of sceneries found in a particular place will determine the number of tourists who will be interested in venturing into such a place. This determines the revenue that will be generated as far as that venue is concerned. A site can either be described as natural or manmade. Natural sites or venues are those that owe their existence to the nature man has played very little role for their existence. Manmade venues on the other hand exist because man has played a role through constructing them. Modern tourists look for a package that will satisfy their curiosity while at the same time offer their mind and soul a refreshing opportunity. They also look for a package that will fit their budget without compromising much on the quality. A unique venue is not only attractive to the masses but also offers an opportunity to explore what lies on the other se of the world. Availability of such a site makes an area popular and gives it a place in the world map where people will always associate it with positive things. There are different types of venues at disposal for a tourist to enjoy. Venues available in a given area largely depend on a number of factors. (Adam, H 1997) These factors include: the climate, history of the area, the heritage, geographical conditions among other factors. The most common sites all over the world include the beaches, montains, rivers and animal watching sites such as national parks and orphanages. Uniqueness of a site is determined by the type of sceneries or the availability of rare animals that are either extinct or can only be found in that particular area. There are sites which are described as unique due to the history associated with the particular place The great walls of china are unique in nature as they offer a tourist a chance to get in touch with China history while at the same time connecting with the people of China through understanding what they have gone through. Beaches is the tropics are sites that are very popular with tourists especially from countries that experience winter they attract many men and women who would like to escape harsh weather conditions and enjoy the sun. (Adam, H 1997) These areas are described as unique venues since they have a characteristic that can only be found in these areas. One gets to know and experiences the type of weather that is different from what he or she is used to. This gives a tourist a chance to relax and enjoy fresh air while at the same time getting the necessary warmth that helps in the body metabolism. The pyramids in Egypt are unique as they are in a class of their own offering a type of scenery that can not be compared with any other site in the world. The pyramids being the only wonder of the seven unique wonders of the world that is still in existence is unique as it represents part of history that shaped the world as it is believed this part of the world is the cradle of civilization in the world. Another unique package that is gaining prominence in many parts of the world is the offering a quality type of entertainment for the tourist. This can be in form of dances, song and other forms of entertainment. Tourism frequents these areas due to the type of entertainment that is offered. This type of tourism is referred to as creative tourism which exists as cultural tourism. This is an active type of tourism where tourists actively participate in the cultural activities of the host country. (Sydney, R 2003) This comes in form of performances, interactive workshops and other experiences which are educative in nature. It is attractive and unique in nature such that it attracts people who are willing to spend their money on them. It also offers people a chance to learn new thing and also appreciate other people’s culture. So this type of tourism can be said to promote world peace and integration since people learn to be tolerant to one another and at the same time appreciating the uniqueness of different cultures. This is very common in areas where culture has been retained and there is very little influence from the outside world. Africa at large offers this type of package where tourists from the west and other parts of the world visit different cultures to familiarize themselves with what transpires in them The most visited tourist attractions are largely the most unique venues in the world. They are popular with the masses and a lot of revenue is collected. Many visitors frequent these areas due the type of sceneries at disposal and also due to how the product is presented to the general public. This means that advertising is very crucial as far as promotion of a unique site is concerned. This is done to educate the masses of existence of such a site, what to expect in the attraction and how the site can be accessed among many other tips that potential tourists are given. Conference tourism is becoming very popular today with millions being collected all over the world through targeting the working class and business executives. This type of tourism largely targets the corporate world. Hotels and conference facilities are the biggest beneficiaries. Corporations organize workshops and conferences for their employees and customers and during the entire time that this will be happening they need food and accommodation. This calls for conferences facilities and lodges that will offer services to these people. Hotels and lodges that offer a unique opportunity to its client to enjoy its facilities will be a popular joint and its profit will be higher. (Sydney, R 2003) The uniqueness of this type of tourism is that it mixes business with pleasure as those attending the conferences tend to get a taste of what the host town or country has to offer. Hotels are main pillars of the tourism as without them tourist would not be spending away from there locations. There are people who visit a particular place just to sample the type of food enjoyed in a particular place. Therefore with good hotels that offer quality services tourist will always frequent such an area due to the good reputation the hotel has acquired. Other unique venues include the animal parks; they offer a very rare opportunity to watch animals of different types in their natural environment. This type of scenario is common in the African countries especially the sub-Saharan countries where animals still exist in their natural environment. The parks in South Africa are unique venues where different types of animals’ co exist in environments that have not been tampered with by man. Watching animals in their homes is a rare opportunity that is worth venturing as it is not only educative but also refreshing as well. (Wabers, K 1994) Of late the number of tourist frequenting these sites has increased dramatically. This can only be attributed with people’s quest to learn more about nature and primarily familiarize themselves with different type of animals that exist in the world. Unique parks in this part of the world grant tourist a rare opportunity to interact with the nature while at the same time getting relaxed from the hassle and bustle of the busy world (Veraget, M 2002) Mountains in different parts of the world have been popular destination for many tourists. There are people who are obsessed with mountaineering such that they have aimed at climbing all the tall mountains in the world. Mountains are beautiful and apart from playing a role in shaping the earth they have contributed immensely towards income generation in many parts of the world as tourists attractions sites. From Himalayans in Asia to Andes and Appalachians in America mountains give such breathtaking scenery that leaves one wanting for more. The snow capped mountains of Africa and Asia illuminate the land giving it such beautiful scenery that attracts people from as far as Australia who come to watch what nature has to offer. (Veraget, M 2002) Water also offers a beautiful venue where people enjoy themselves through swimming, fishing and different types of water sports. From oceans to the seas lakes and the rivers almost all the parts of the earth are bestowed with these water storage bodies that not only quench our thirst but also satisfy us with the type of scenarios they offer and the opportunities they give us to flex our muscles. Water bodies not only provide an abode for the sea animals but also give man an opportunity to enjoy himself and at the same time make money. (Sandra, L 1999) Other unique venues include the museums and historical site which house the heritage of our countries and our community. They also attract people of all walks of lifes, those who are interested in learning about their heritage and the past. (Sydney, R 2003) All these unique venues have a great effect on our lives, the in a way shape our economy as they contribute a good chunk of money as a lot of revenue is generated from tourist related activities. We need to preserve these sites so that we can continue reaping benefits from them and also our future generation can have a taste of what nature has to offer. If we take care of them they will definitely make us proud as many people from different parts of the world will be flocking our land so that they can have to enjoy the creation in its best way. Unique venues will continue to the hope for the tourism as man will always aim at discovering what lies beyond the borders and the special opportunities that can make him advance. We stand to continue making progress as far as tourism is concerned if we utilize the unique sites to our advantage and at the same time keep up with times and try to discover other venues that will continue satisfying the tourists.Its only through innovations that dollars from the tourism will continue flowing Reference: Adam, H. 1997. The Unique Tourist Site in the World. Atlanta, Collins. Sydney, R. 2003. Tourism in the World London. Oxford University Press. Veraget, M. 2002. The Unique Sites in Africa Nairobi. Macmillan Publishers. Sandra, L. and Veraget, M. 2002. Tour and Travel: World Perspective. Sydney, Odessey Wabers, K. 1994. The Historical Sites. Paris, Magnated. .

What Is Advertising Theory?

What Is Advertising Theory? We live in a consumerist society. That is a known fact. We are surrounded by ads that say Buy this now. You will save time and money or Do you want your skin to be softer? Try this body cream and you will have the much-wanted baby skin!. And even though some of us ignore the fact that we are, indeed, the victims of these carefully planned slogans which mingle with some eye-catching images, we, the readers of advertisements, interact with them and construct meaning from particular given elements the visual signs that represent something familiar with which readers associate, or the language of the ad that can be related, as Angela Goddard states, with any piece of literature, using fully the resources of language and inviting creative and subtle readings from their users. With this statement, Goddard makes the first approach in the long debate concerning whether ads can be seen as literature or not (1998: 15). In the process of trying to define the ad we stumble upon an inconvenient truth: we are unable to answer the question What is an ad? with anything but it tries to persuade us to buy something, and we do not take into consideration how it does that and by what means we are tricked and that the advertising industry means more than just selling a product. That is the reason why linguists became involved in this subject, as well as sociologists or sociolinguists, psychologists and even anthropologists. The study of advertising is, therefore, taken to another level: linguists came to study and analyze the verbal language and have come to a certain point in their research to say that we can talk about a genre of discourse in advertising; sociologists keep studying nowadays the impact ads have on society and how they contribute to the way people and readers of advertising interpret and build their world and their beliefs and the degree to which we define our identities under the influence of the omnipresent ads. Advertisements are not only a tool used to compel people on an economic territory, but also a kind of tool used to conquer people socially, psychologically and culturally. According to Davidson (1992: 6) studying advertising quickly and inevitably means studying how we read language, images, myths and how it is we build out of them our sense of who we are. From this perspective, ads not only help to sell things (White, 2000: 5), but their existence defines gender construction or stimulates the audience to develop their interest by creating new meanings. In the discussion about some theoretical issues of the advertisement, it must be mentioned that the ad always has an audience and we may call it addressee(s) while the addresser(s) is the one who sends the message (to buy a product, to apply to a service, to support some charity organization, etc) through language (slogans, short texts, etc) and visual tools (Goddard, 1998: 7) Throughout the evolution of advertising, defenders of its effects on society contradicted with those who claimed that ads have a dreadful effect on how one relates to a certain ad and constructs a world around a sold idea. It is partially true that advertisements may have a negative influence in unfolding gender stereotypes and shaping consumers lives on certain levels. A relevant example given by the non-believers is that ads continuously cultivate low self-esteem among young girls exposed to huge billboards showing a girl with a perfect body, perfect shiny hair and perfect skin, making them long for an idea of beauty which is not real at all and manipulating them to buy those products advertised to get that kind of hair or that kind of skin. With this, advertising theorists developed the idea that advertisements come to fill in a much bigger need of comfort, thus improving the corporate image of the company in order to create the icon of a trustworthy and benevolent firm (Brierley, 1995: 43). Its defenders used the argument that not all advertising is deceiving people into buying certain kinds of products, but some advertisements are based on social change and use true stories or/and shocking images to create a (positive) impact on society, aiming constantly at changing the way in which people behave: here we can mention the anti-smoking, healthy eating or anti-drug campaigns, which try to shock people by presenting statistics that show the death rate among smokers or drug users or aim to touch the emotional level by telling the stories of the ones in one of the mentioned situations, for successful advertising appeals both to the head and to the heart, to reason and emotions (Beatson, 1986: 265). Finally, advertising is defended as being a form of artistic expression (Leiss, 1997: 3) and contributing to a certain level to the education of the people, teaching them how to behave and what to think, feel, believe, fear and desire and what not to. (Kellner, 1995 : 5). Advertising must always be theorized according to the development of society towards this consumerist culture that exists nowadays. Therefore, one cannot talk about the impact of advertisements only economically. The evolution of the individual within the advertising culture must also be taken into consideration. In the historical evolution of advertising, one can identify the process of constructing gender identities in society. The most world-wide discussed example we can mention to sustain this idea is the evolution of the image of women in society, from the male supremacy towards the emancipation of women. The researchers in the advertising field stated that this evolution of gender identities must always be related to its context. That is the reason why a sexist ad from the 50s could easily cause laughter, because it no longer relates to the cultural context nowadays. Theorists of advertising conclude that another issue which we must take into consideration when analyzing an ad is the context. Linguists came and said that there is more to take into account when advertising analysts decide the context of the advertisement; according to Guy Cook (1992: 1) context includes also the following: substance, music and picture, paralanguage, situation, co-text, inter-text, participants and function, and, therefore, the correct approach in the study of ads must consider these features too. Cooks holistic definition of the ad (Cook, 1992: 2-6) comes as a breath of fresh air after decades in which specialists ignored the fact that the ad is an interaction of elements and linguists who analyzed the language of the advertisement ignored the picture which comes with it and which also contributes to the construction of meaning. What will an ad look like without the picture? I agree with Cooks idea that elements interact in an advertisement and that the first contact we have with the ad is through the visual tools and only after that do we stop and read what is written under the image. One cannot just simply leave behind the meaning of the picture, because it can be integrated in the sphere of the context. Let us take as example an ad in which two or more people who seem to have different nationalities are shaking hands and smiling gathered at a big table and maybe celebrating something. The readers, at first, interpret this visual information and they do not expect to read u nder this image something about a dreadful event, but they associate the people shaking hands with friendship, peace or something positive; and just after that do they come to read about a charity organization. As Cook states, we cannot just cut out important pieces from the ad, because the meaning of the entire campaign is based on how these elements interact with one another and thus sell the idea or the product. Linguists have launched different theories concerning the new type of discourse that ads use. Even though ads are seen as ephemeral discourses, one cannot ignore the long-lasting impact they have. The debate is taken further at the point of discussing whether ads can be seen as literature. So, can we answer the question What is advertising? by claiming that advertising is a new type of literature? Some specialists state that ads use creativity to stimulate people to read between the lines and find the hidden message and, of course, here they refer to the use of narrative techniques. But some of them also claim that it is impossible to put the label literature on any piece of text produced and that there are certain characteristics that a text must have to be literature. So, both parts have come to a consensus, to create a middle category for ads, and include them in the new sub-literary genres (Cook, 1992: Foreword). Ads still being considered the exception and debates still being ar gued, we cannot totally associate literature with ads. Whatever history the field of advertising has, there is an absolute truth about its changeability. Ads change over time, change being influenced by the social and cultural context. Since the 1900s advertising has changed massively, first because of the technological progress that enables ads to be delivered worldwide through radio, media or through the Internet, commercials being delivered in ways that were beyond belief decades ago; and, on the other hand, due to the changes undergone by society and its cultural values which ads have changed enormously. The public changed its identity, and advertising companies reinvented old ads and updated them to suite the new world. Here we can give the example of brands like Schweppes, Coca-Cola, Dove, and so on and so forth. If we have a look, for example, at a Dove ad from 1955, when the company made its debut, and a 2010 Dove ad we find the old one rather simple, plain we could say, because the cultural context has changed and, thus, the com pany nowadays sustains in its ads this battle between natural beauty and the artificial one, real women vs. supermodels. Cook identifies two levels at which one could observe the evident changes of the ads, one is at the lower level of substance, surroundings, mode and paralanguage, and also at the level of text (Cook, 1992:179); the lower level of substance has been partially covered before, but at the text level we can see a change in the accompanying discourses, because within 50 years there has been a shift from print ads accompanied by stories to very short discourses, nowadays, advertising companies claiming that they would rather use slogans that are short and easily remembered. This change happened mainly because people have nowadays a different life- style, and are not interested in reading a one page ad text or, they probably no longer have the time to do so. Ogilvy claims that we have lost the pleasure of reading advertisements, the pleasure of being captivated by the wit ty, tricky story of a product. Here is an example of the changes in the print ads of The Coca-Cola Company: Then Printed vintage Coca-Cola ad Now Ads as a discourse type Different theoretical approaches have generated a variety of definitions of the concept of discourse, but each of them had as a starting point the concept of language and how language is used in particular situations. Various texts are explored within the field of discourse analysis which is based on examining the way in which meanings are created throughout the text and studying language in its cultural form. Researchers have used the concept of text separate from the one of discourse, due to the common belief that when we talk about a text we strictly refer to the written language and that discourse is strictly limited to the spoken area of language. The modern theorists of language introduced the theory that the concept of text includes many other utterances and statements, so that we can put the label text on almost any magazine article, interview or conversation we stumble upon everyday. In Dresslers view, a text is a communicative event that must accomplish the following seven criteria: Cohesion representing the relationship between text and syntax and the use of phenomena such as ellipsis, anaphora, recurrence or conjunction. Coherence which has to do with the meaning of the text. Intentionality representing the attitude and purpose of the speaker or writer. Acceptability concerning the role of the reader or of the hearer to asses the relevance of the important information of a text. Informativity referring to the quality of the new information. Situationality representing the importance of the situation in which the text is produced. Intertextuality which refers to the fact that a text is related to some other discourses. Discourse analysts have always given a more important role to the external factors, believing that they play a significant part in communication. Cook sustains this idea that discourse analysis is not concerned with language alone (1992: 1) and makes the difference between text and context, the first having linguistic forms, separated from context for the purposes of analysis, and the second including, in the case of advertisements all of the following (Cook,1992: 4) : à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · substance: the physical material of the text. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · music and pictures. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · paralanguage: referring to all the accompanying language (gestures, facial expression, or the size of the letters in writing). à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · situation: the relations of objects and people in the surroundings of the text, as seen by the participants. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · co-text: which refers to the text which precedes or follows that under analysis, and which readers/listeners judge to belong to the same discourse. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · intertext: refers to the text which the readers/listeners perceive as belonging to other discourse, but which they associate with the text under consideration and which affects their interpretation. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · participants: each participant is at the same time a part of the context and an observer of it. Participants are usually described as senders, addressers, addressees and receivers. The sender of a message is not always the same as the addresser. Neither is the receiver always the addressee, the person for whom it is intended. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · function: which refers to what the text is intended to do by the senders and addressers, or perceived to do by the receivers and addressees. In order to establish the type of discourse advertisements use, we need to focus first on the field of discourse analysis and see how the ads have been perceived and received into the sphere. James Paul Gee states that the area of discourses can be seen as an institution and prompts us to imagine that we have a giant map. Each discourse is represented on the map like a country, but with movable boundaries that you can slide around a bit and we move the boundaries of the discourse areas on the map around in negotiation with others (Gee, 1999: 22). That is the reason why some types of discourses seem to be hybrids; because of this continuously interaction between them and the contestable boundaries. The only difference between one discourse and another is the grammar they use; grammar as referring to what linguists have named for a long time now as collocational patterns. In the advertising area these patterns signal the type of social language (informal/formal) used to achieve somethi ng like the customers attention and curiosity. Ads caught the attention of the linguists first because they were an evidence of the fact that language is always in context, and second because their discourse was complex, sometimes associated with that of literature, always holding out more to be analysed. According to Cook, describing advertising as a discourse is both more complete and more difficult than the approaches which separate out components of ads, underline a few, and ignore the rest (Cook, 1992: 2). This approach was summed up in Figure 1 by Cook who also believes that the ad is not a stable entity and that any change that occurs at any level, the whole discourse changes (Cook, 1992: 6): Figure 1 Interaction of elements in ads. There are many categories of discourses, or discourse types, which surround us at any time. Some of them are perceived as conversations, others as news bulletins, gossip, jokes, games, lessons, etc. The categories can be drawn further on, but they all merge and defy the same purpose. It is the cultural background that makes us to separate the discourses into units, to give those units names, and to assign them categories (Cook, 1992: 10). Discourse types also cover the area of non verbal communication, and here we can include the category of advertisements discourse. Ads usually have at least a representative slogan, and/or a text sustaining the product advertised. But this is not a general rule. The importance of these non verbal elements depends and varies from spectator to spectator. There are ads without language which have a greater impact through the image associated with what is being promoted, and there are ads in which language plays a subordinate part. When it comes to define what type of discourse ads embody, specialists find themselves in difficulty. It should not be that way, since we are surrounded by them and they represent a conspicuous discourse type in almost all contemporary societies. Cook is among the first linguists to overcame traditionally bias when it comes to define the ad. When trying to distinguish ads from other discourses, he states that people tend to put in the first place as the major qualifying facet the function of the ads. This is because they simply see the surface aim: to convince people to buy a certain product. But ads are not discourses simply related to that universally known purpose, they also are discourses which do not try to sell anything, but advocate a cause, or sustain a campaign. The ads can also be seen according to their intention to inform, misinform, warn or simply amuse the reader. If one considers that the only function is to persuade people, that person leaves a great amount of information aside. For example, if a non-smoker receives ads for cigarettes, or a person who has limited funds receives an ad for a brand-new, expensive, ecologically car, it is clear that the receiver of these ads will know that they are certainly not for him. But this does not mean that those ads do not say anything to the receiver. This is the reason why Cook understands the function from two different perspectives: the function which the sender intends the discourse to have may not be the same as the function it actually does have for the receiver (Cook, 1992: 14). The receiver can use the cigarette ad in a further discussion about smoking/non-smoking. These changes in the function of advertisements are due to the fact that, with ads, there is no single sender and receiver, because ads are not created by a single individual, neither are they the expression of one unique, universal message for the receivers. Advertising is a difficult genre to describe, because it is very wide and merges with other genres; it is Cooks idea of the interactional features in an ad. Every text, as Roland Barthes argued in one of his works, is a multidimensional space in which a variety of writings blend and clash (Barthes, 1977: 146). Donald Matheson studied further this premise and states that according to the intertextual theory, one must ask himself three kinds of questions about all ads and, indeed, all texts: The first one is about identity, and as Barthes noted, a writers work is about the point where that writer puts himself/herself to what has already been told. Matheson uses this theory at a more general level and states that by using language with a particular history, we are placing ourselves, the messages and meanings we produce, in a particular relation to society and culture (Matheson, 2005: 46). A second kind of question concerns the social struggle, which in Mathesons terms is the struggle to re-accent language that has been tied to particular interests before. One can analyze further on the social component of a particular sign to trace its impact and workings on the society. A third and final question refers to the role of media (such as advertising) in shaping shared repertories of intertexts in society. For example, when a passerby sees the following beer advertisement, he/she will immediately make the connection with the popular saying An apple a day, keeps the doctor away. Alluding to other texts is a valuable technique for advertisers. First, it requires a certain degree of cognitive work from consumers and, as rhetorical analysts argue, the more work people have to do to get a meaning, the further they go through the path a particular text is trying to lead them, the more active they collaboration with the texts meaning is. In the text ads carry with them, their receivers recognize previous ways of talking, especially ways which have been solidified over time and used into genres, and these guide them as to how they should fit the elements of the ad together to form larger meaningful units. Fairclough (1995: 55) argues that we can identify social change and challenges of the social structures to this generic heterogeneity. A particular text can draw upon the language of another genre, or it may perform some of the functions of another genre, and also it mat draw upon the graphic form of another genre (Cook, 1992: 46, describes a Hamlet cigar ad that plays with the British Channel 4 station logo). The ad opens up quite unique and specific identity for its readers/viewers. The reference to other texts is sometimes ironic, so we are being asked by those types of ads to be ironic readers and take a critical standpoint towards media. According to Matheson, before an advertisement can create a desire for a product, it must first create a sense of inadequacy which that desire will fill in Matheson (2002: 48). Advertising works not only when people notice the ads, but when they change their behaviour, preferences and their habits in line with the ad. The goal of advertisements is first to participate in the foundation of peoples lifestyles, of their everyday activities and their understanding of themselves and the world that surrounds them. Cooks study concerning the prototypes, not definitive components of ads resulted in the identification of ads as being embedded in an accompanying discourse, foregrounding connotational meaning, thus effecting fusion between different spheres. Adv ertisements abound in intertextual references, this hypothesis being at the core of Cooks metaphorical definition of parasitic ads: appropriating and existing thorough the voices of other discourses (Cook, 1992: 176). In his study, Cook (1992: 12) heightens the following question: since discourse types may be described in terms of their social function, and vice versa, societies may be categorized in terms of the types of discourses they use, where do we place the advertising discourse? Foucault (1971) argues that a culture represent the sum of its orders of discourse. In this position, advertisements occupy a dual position: they help create a new global culture and a new type of discourse, and also it reflects the differences between cultures. The study of advertisements not only draws attention upon language facts, but they give a great amount of information regarding the cultural and social development of a particular civilization. To define what type of discourse advertisements use it is necessary to notice the attitudes towards this discourse. In this respect, ads are the most controversial of all contemporary discourses, partly because it is relatively new and studies and theories keep comin g to light, and partly because it is associated with the market economy from nowadays which helps the advertising corporations to thrive. Attempts to define ads as a discourse type run into different approaches and theories. One of these theories sustains that analysts must consider first the individual meaning of each of the word, and it was developed by Professor Eleanor Rosch and was named the prototype theory (Rosch, 1977: 34). Her research suggests that we choose or understand a word by referring to a mental representation of a typical instance (Rosch, 1977: 41). That given entity can be a bird, she states, and its image will depend on its resemblance to our prototype of a bird. This will vary from culture to culture, and individual to individual. Rosch states that a typical bird for Europeans can be a sparrow, while for the most North Americans is perhaps a robin. We are less likely to identify with the word from the category, if a particular instance does not match with our prototype. This approach, if applied to the debate of defining ads, simplifies the definition, because discourses that are described as ads, but do not share these prototypical elements of an ad, will no longer make the subject of further analysis. But the prototypical ad varies between a community, individuals and of course periods of time. Another theory that was launched first by Cook (1992) has as a starting point the fact that in order to fulfill its aims, advertising discourse use strategies, especially textual-discursive strategies, and makes use of techniques of manipulation of the language, words, creates ambiguity and also addresses to the emotional and personal feelings of the individual. That is why these discourses are more difficult to pin down. It is because their changing and hybrid nature. The language of advertisements, which linguists state that attests a deviation from the linguistic forms, employs both direct and indirect convincing techniques. In order to achieve their communicative effect, sometimes ad discourses appear ambiguous or use contradictory statements. In the process of constructing ads discourses, the signifier and the signified relationship, in the terms of Saussure (1959), is somehow twisted, misrepresented. In advertising discourses the arbitrariness of sign takes over and the old law s disappear. For example, cohesion, according to Vestargaard and Schroder (1985), ceases to exist in the advertising language, and is replaced by the interpretation of the advertisement message that demands coherence from the point of view of the consumer, and his understanding of that message.

Effect of Motivation on Employee Training Effectiveness

Effect of Motivation on Employee Training Effectiveness Training is an integral part of workforce development and creation of new competencies within the workforce to ensure that the organization keeps up with the changing needs of the times. Training is related to performance in two ways. Effective training has a direct impact on the performance output and any gap in an individuals performance can sometimes be filled with training. For employees, lack of training also causes a lack of self-satisfaction and productivity. Training is seen as a major cost center in most organizations in India even though its necessity is widely accepted. This negative view can mostly be attributed because of the apparent lack of direct linkage between training and the bottom-line of the company. In todays world, where the HR department needs to justify its expenses, especially in the wake of recession and lay-offs, it is essential that the trainings rendered are of optimum efficiency in achieving the set target and also that it be done at the least possible cost. Hence it is important to understand whether the methods of training employed are yielding the desired results or alternatively if the same results can be attained in more cost effective ways. One major factor influencing the training effectiveness is training motivation, as we have explained in the literature review below. But the attitude of employees towards formal training is another factor which will decide whether it is justified to spend so much money on formal training modules if the same end result can be obtained by informal on the job training if it is preferred by the employees. Hence we explore the links between these constructs. Theoretical Review and Hypothesis: Training Attitude: Development activities like training are significantly affected by attitudes and perceptual variables (Noe and Wilk, 1993).Eagly Chaiken (1998) defined attitude as the psychological tendency to evaluate an entity with a certain degree of favor or disfavor. These attitudes are good predictors of behavior (Ajzen, 1991).We can extend this line of reason to say that a person with a positive attitude to certain entity will show favorable behavioral response towards it and a person with a negative attitude to it will show an unfavorable behavioral response. Training attitude applies the definition of attitude to training. A persons attitude towards training is a measure or reflection of his or her attitude towards the formal process of knowledge and skill acquisition. Thus we can say that training attitude is indirectly a measure of liking an individual has for the formal process of training as opposed to say learning something on-the-job informally. It logically follows that those who ha ve a positive attitude towards training will be more likely to attend the training programs willingly and gain from it as compared to someone who has a negative attitude towards training which is to say, that training attitude determines the motivation with which a person attends training programs, especially in an organizational scenario where training programs are mandatory. Also this very attitude can be linked to how much learning happens in the training. The scale for measuring the training attitude construct was developed by Anupama Narayan and Debra Steele Johnson (2007) for their research. This was a 20 item scale addressing participants evaluation of 2 issues: How relevant and useful they perceived training programs to be. How much they desired to practice acquired skills on job. This scale with 7 point likert type response pattern had a high level of internal consistency (alpha =0.92) However some items were redundant and for the purpose of this research were omitted. The resulting 9 item scale was again tested for internal consistency and displayed a Cronbachs Alpha= 0.91 which is fairly high. The response to the 7 point likert scale was interpreted as a summated score which indicated the degree of positive attitude towards training among the respondents. Training Motivation: Quinones (1997) aptly described motivation to be an individuals choice to dedicate more energy to one set of behavior over others. In the training context, Blanchard Thacker (2004) explain motivation as an inspiration which is directed by trainees personal needs and decision processes they use to satisfy those needs. Or, as Colquitt (2007) puts it , training motivation is the persistence and intensity of learning -directed behavior in the context of training. Training motivation is affected by a diverse set of internal and external factors as suggested by various research papers. Work environment, organizational climate, supervisory support etc are a few of the external factors researched upon whereas the internal factors hypothesized to affect training motivation include self efficacy, personal mental ability and personality (Colquitt et al, 2000). One of the most popular theories to explain motivation is the expectancy theory of how people are motivated by the results of their behavior (Bandura, 1997). We can also view Vrooms expectancy theory as a theoretical framework for examining training motivation. Vrooms model suggests that expectation of an act being followed by a certain outcome often shapes the motivation for doing that act. To extend this to the context of training motivation, if a trainee expects that the effort he puts into attending training programs will yield valued outcomes to him then he will be motivated to attend the same. Hence this research attempts to understand the valence -instrumentality link associated with training. We measure what the trainee values and whether he perceives those things to be outcome of training programs. A 14 item scale, with 7 items each for valence and instrumentality of factors associated with training, was adapted from the research paper by Phyllis Tharenou (2001).The factors of valence included in the scale are Reaching career goals, Pay increase, Job security, Change to workplace, Promotion or advancement, Opportunities for different career paths, Supervisor praise. The responses for these questions were taken on a 7 point likert scale and scores were summated to arrive at the level of training motivation of the respondent. A higher score symbolizes that the respondent values the inherent factors highly and also perceives that training will help him achieve the same. Training Effectiveness: Training effectiveness is essentially a measure of how effective the training imparted was. Many researchers including Ford (1997), Noe (1986), and Tannenbaum (1992) have recognized training effectiveness as a crucial issue for organizations. Employee performance and productivity can be measurably improved if trainings are effective and organizations will be able to avoid wasteful spending on ineffective trainings. Most organizations would want to have a good return on their training investment. According to London (1989) and Noe (1999) training interventions in organizations are going to increase hence the training effectiveness is going to be an important feature in the organizations. Kirkpatricks (1976) four level approach is one of the most extensively used methods for evaluating training effectiveness (Alliger Janak, 1989). This four level approach measures training effectiveness vis-Ã  -vis the trainees reactions to a training program, the extent to which trainees can execute desired behaviors related to the training, the acquisition of skills and knowledge by the trainee and resulting change in the job behaviors of the trainee. It has been a common assumption among researchers that these 4 levels linked in a linear fashion hierarchically. Hamblin (1947) illustrated the cause and effect chain as training leading to reactions which in turn leads to learning and that leads to change in job behavior. But this empirical evidence for this proposed link has been inconclusive. This led Alliger Janak (1989) to conduct a Meta analysis and conclude that the four factors are not necessarily linearly linked. There are several factors like training motivation attitude, context of training and other influences which attenuate the link between trainees reaction and other criterion measures. A four item shortened version of the Kirkpatrick scale was used for measuring the training effectiveness. The measured effectiveness was the perceived effectiveness of the last im parted training program. Sample items in the scale included questions like Did I enjoy the course. The response was obtained on a 7 point likert scale varying from strongly disagree to strongly agree and the summated score of each item response was used as the measure of the training effectiveness and higher the score higher was the perceived effectiveness of the training. Training Attitude and Training Motivation: Individuals disposition or attitude towards formal training programs has been shown to have a direct influence on his training motivation (Ford Noe, 1987). Training attitude also displays his motivation to learn (Tannenbaum Yukl, 1992) and his motivation to attend training (Facteau et al, 1995) as distinct from training motivation. What the above mentioned research suggests is that there is a logical and empirical link between a person liking a training program and being motivated to attend the same. However the extant literature mentions this relationship in a very general and broad format. We would like to hypothesis a more specific relationship. Going back to our definition of training motivation , we have said that it is the perceived valence the trainee associates with certain outcomes and how instrumental he feels attending a training is in order to acquire them .We listed these outcomes as career development, superior praise, promotion or development, pay increase , job secu rity etc. Research suggests that there is very strong link between training attitude and training motivation .Carlson et al.(2000) found a high correlation between training attitude scores and training motivation scores in their research.Now most employees may find that there is a perceived strong connection between attending trainings and achieving these outcomes and hence may attend trainings when they are mandatory rather than volunteer for it. But otherwise, based on his experience he might feel that training programs are a waste of time over all and he learns more on his job. Especially in the context of Indian manufacturing industry where trainings are mandatory, employees might not be predisposed to attending trainings, but will attend them anyways due to perceived benefits. Hence in this research we are testing whether having a positive attitude towards training increases the individuals training motivation and how much is it correlated. Hence, Training Attitude of an individual positively impacts his Training Motivation: Training Motivation and Training Effectiveness: Based on our understanding of motivation, an individual is more likely to expend more energy for a task he is motivated to do and hence is more probable to do that task more effectively than other tasks. Extending this logic forward if a person is motivated to attend training then he is more likely to enjoy the training, learn most from it and apply it on to his job. In other words the effectiveness of the training imparted will be high if the trainees entering the training program are highly motivated for the same. In the organizational context it is imperative that different individuals enter the training with different levels of motivation. These differences in the level of motivation may be an outcome of various factors like personal characteristics and work environments. After studying these effects, Salas et al.1(1992) hypothesized that individuals motivated to do well in training will be the ones who end up learning the content of the program better than their lesser motivated counterparts. Training effectiveness is measured in terms of 4 parameters derived from the Kirkpatricks model. These parameters are namely, Learning, Behavior, Reaction and Applications of skills. Several studies put forth empirical support indicating a link between trainees motivation and learning (Rails Klien, 1991; Clark 1990; Hicks Klimoski 1987; Baldwin et al., 1991).The attention levels and openness to new ideas is increased by pre-training motivation. Hence theoretically trainees who are more motivated should be more ready or primed to learn and apply their learnings. Also a person motivated to attend the training will be more likely to enjoy it thus displaying a positive reaction. Whereas a person who is unmotivated to attend training will not learn much from the training even if he ends up enjoying the experience (Mathieu et al., 1992). Consequently we also hypothesize a direct relation between how much the trainee learns and how much he is motivated about the training to how much of the learned skills he will apply in his job. Thus training motivation can be hypothesized to bring about change in behavior of the trainee as well. Based on the above reasoning we state out second hypothesis as, Training motivation positively impacts training effectiveness Training Attitude and Training Effectiveness. Hicks and Klimoski (1987) attempted to study the effect of choice of attending the training program with effectiveness of the training program. They hypothesized that if trainee had a choice of attending a training program then he will be more satisfied by it than otherwise. Ryman and Biersner (1975) also studied the effect of choice on training outcome. They found that giving a choice to attend the training program resulted in lesser dropouts from the program and greater training success. In a slight variation of this experiment, Baldwin, Magjuka and Lober (1991) reported that when trainees received their top choice from the available training programs they reported higher pre training motivation and. They also learned more as compared to other trainees who did not get their top pick. Tannebaum et al. (1992) showed by way of their research that individuals who nominate themselves for training actually attach a greater instrumentality to the program and report higher training motivat ion than others. This in turn leads to greater training effectiveness. The same was researched upon and confirmed by Gormley, Collins et al. (2009) on their study on Medical students undergoing E-learning programs. In our research we would like to extend the above findings to the context of training attitude. Training attitude can be seen as the pre disposition of the individual towards attending training. If the individual has a positive attitude towards training then he will choose to attend the same whereas if he has a negative attitude towards training he will not attend it or attend it grudgingly if forced to the same. Hence incorporating Tannenbaums findings, we can say that people who attend training against their choice will not undergo an optimally effective training. Hence we hypothesize that only people who choose to attend the training by way of their positive attitude towards it will be more motivated about the training and hence consequently the training imparted to them will be effective. No previous research has aimed to study this mediating effect of training motivation on the relationship between Training attitude and training effectiveness and this is the gap we propose to fi ll by means of our research. We hypothesize that Training effectiveness is impacted by Training Attitude of the individual via the mediating variable of training motivation. Training attitude positively affects training effectiveness. Training Motivation acts as the mediating variable on the relationship between Training Attitude and Training Effectiveness. Moderating Effect of Prior Work Experience: Goldstein (2002) stated in his research that training transfer happens more effectively if tasks in the training environment are congruent with those in the actual work environment. Typically the young Indian professional fresh out of college will prefer the formal training programs as he is not exposed to any other way of learning. However as we have talked about training attitude it is important to study the effect of previous trainings on the individuals attitude. Employees who have undergone much training and have worked for enough years in the organization may have seen other methods of learning their job or skill apart from formal training programs to form different attitudes about training than those who have very little work experience. Learning On -the-job takes place within the workplace while the employee is doing actual work in the actual work environment under normal working conditions. This is important because it ensures that skills taught in such informal training can be readily transferred to the job (Kleiner Read, 1996). Work based learning focuses on reviewing and learning from experience and is cantered on learning from action rather than simply developing competencies (Dymock Gerber, 2002). Since the employee is trained in normal working condition, there is a high sense of relevance and validity to the employee (Clifford Thorpe, 2007) and is a tool to increase the productivity (Jain, 1999). Learning on the job happens on an individual level and the greatest advantage of this is that it enables each participant to determine the speed with which learning can proceed, at the same time providing a high level of feedback and trainee involvement (Kleiner Read, 1996). Other advantages are that the employee is being productive during training, and thus the associated costs may be less (Kleiner Read, 1996); this training may be given to more people than it is possible at a training institution (Jain,1999). Thus we can see that on the job learning may be perceived to be more effective than formal trainings by employees with greater years of work experience behind them. This could also possibly affect their attitude towards formal training programs and its utility. Hence the effect of training attitude on training effectiveness may be moderated by the prior work experience of the individual. We hypothesize that more is the prior work experience of an individual the more likely he has understood how to perform on his job and how to acquire skills on the job and hence the more it is likely that he will not have a favourable attitude towards formal training programs. Thereby the effectiveness of training programs on such individuals will be subdued. Thus, in this research we will aim to study the moderating effect of Prior work experience on the relationship between Training Attitude and Training Effectiveness. The prior work experience of individual has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between Training Attitude and Training Effectiveness. We would also like to study whether the Mediating Effect of Training Motivation on the relationship between Training attitude and Training effectiveness is valid for different groups of people with varied work experience. For this purpose we propose to study the said relationship by dividing the data set into groups of people with differing work experience. According to our theoretical study we expect to observe a more significant mediated relationship between training attitude and effectiveness for people with lower work experience than those with higher work experience. For people with lower work experience the relationship between training attitude and training effectiveness mediated by training motivation is more significant. Methods: Sample: Around 200 participants from various manufacturing organizations were contacted in person and via e-mail and the questionnaire was administered. Out of the 200 people contacted 122 (61%) people chose to participate. Most of the participants were chosen from the technical background who have undergone some sort of training at their work place. To maintain anonymity the questionnaire did not contain any identifiers. The researchers themselves administered the questionnaire and they themselves collected the responses. Measures: All the scale used to measure the various constructs were measured using a 7 point Likert scale ranging from 1(Very Strongly Disagree, Very Strongly Unlikely) to 7(Very Strongly Agree, Very Strongly Likely). Training Attitude: Training attitude was measured using a 9 item scale developed by Anupama Narayanan and Debra Steele-Johnson (2007). A sample item is I enjoy participating in training programs offered at work. Training Motivation: Training motivation was measured using a 14 item scale developed by Phyllis Tharenou (2001) which was adopted from Noe and Wilk (1993) 17 item scale. This scale was based on the valence instrumentality expectancy theory and had 7 items each for valence and instrumentality. A sample item for instrumentality is How likely you will obtain a pay increase from KSA from TD. A sample item for valence is How important is obtaining pay increase to you. Training Effectiveness: The training effectiveness was measured through a 4 item scale. This scale was a shortened version of the Kirkpatricks scale and was developed by Alan Chapman. The training effectiveness was measured on different parameters namely reaction, learning, behavior and productivity. Prior Work experience: The prior work experience was measured using a single question to the participants asking them of the number of years of prior years of work experience. Analysis: The study was intended to find the mediation effect of training motivation between training attitude and training effectiveness. The procedure followed to study the mediation effect was adopted from the study by Baron and Kenny (1986). Further the researchers also studied the moderation effect of years of prior work experience on the direct relation between training attitude and training effectiveness. This was done through a 2 model approach using the standardized multiplied values for training attitude and years of prior work experience. All the analysis was done using SPSS software. Further the entire sample of respondents was divided into 2 classes based on the work experience, one having work experience more than the median and one having less than the median. The median value was ignored and the mediation analysis was carried out using the Baron and Kenny model (1986). Results: The means, standard deviations and correlations .All the variables were found to be significantly correlated with each another. It can be easily seen from the table 1 that the correlation among all the variables is very high. To test the internal consistency of the scales measuring the constructs, the Cronbachs Alpha Coefficient was calculated and it was found that all the scales were reliable as the Cronbachs Coefficient was greater than 0.7. The results of the measures of internal consistency. Again it can be seen that the Cronbachs Alpha Coefficient is very high indicating that the internal consistency of the scales is very high. Mean, Standard Deviation and Correlations: Measures of internal consistency Cronbachs Alpha Coefficient: In this research we have primarily hypothesized the relationship between training attitude and training effectiveness with training motivation as the mediating variable. Apart from the mediation effect, the moderation effect of number of years of prior work experience on the direct effect of training attitude on training effectiveness has been studied. The results of the mediation effect of training motivation on the relationship between training attitude and training effectiveness. The mediation effect was studied using the 4 step Baron and Kenny model of regression analysis. In the first step, the independent variable training attitude was shown to affect the outcome variable i.e. training effectiveness significantly. In the next step, the independent variable was shown to affect the mediator variable i.e. training motivation significantly. In the third step, the mediator variable was shown to have a significant effect on the dependent variable. These steps showed that the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness was mediated by training motivation. In the 4th step, the mediation effect was calculated through a regression analysis in which the mediator and the independent variable were the predictors and the criterion variable was the dependent variable. Regression results to study mediation effect: The mediation is significant and the mediation effect was calculated to be 0.923 standard deviations. Also in the fourth step, since the effect of training attitude on training effectiveness becomes insignificant we can safely infer that full mediation is present. The step I shows the regression results when training effectiveness was taken as the criterion variable and the training attitude was taken as the independent variable. From this step we saw that training attitude was significantly related to the training effectiveness. Here the value of R2 was found to be 0.796 with F = 468.143 at p The step II shows the regression results when training motivation was taken as the dependent variable with training attitude as the predictor variable. In this step it was seen that training attitude was significantly related to training effectiveness. The R2 value was found to be 0.883 with F = 904.66 at p The step III shows the regression results when training effectiveness was taken as the dependent variable with training motivation being the predictor variable. In this step it was found that the training motivation is significantly related to training effectiveness. The R2 value was found to be 0.909 at p The step IV shows the regression results when training effectiveness was taken as the criterion variable with both training motivation and training attitude as the predictor variables. From this step we could conclude that training motivation was significantly related to training effectiveness and also we see that training attitude loses the significance of its effect that it had on training effectiveness in step I. The R2 value was found to be 0.909 at p The above 4 steps show that the mediation effect of training motivation between training attitude and training effectiveness is a full mediation effect as the independent, variable training attitude, becomes insignificantly related to the criterion variable (Baron and Kenny, 1986). The steps I, II and III are used to test the first 3 hypothesis. In step I it was shown that training attitude was significantly related to training effectiveness hence H3 is accepted. Similarly in the step II it was shown that training attitude was significantly related to training motivation and hence H1 is accepted. In the third step, it was found that training motivation was significantly related to training effectiveness and hence H2 is accepted. Training attitude was significantly related to training effectiveness in the first step and to training motivation in the second step but it was non-significantly related to training effectiveness in the fourth step. From this we could infer that training motivation fully mediates the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness. Thus H4 is supported. The Sobels test was used to just verify the mediation effect. The test showed that the mediation effect is statistically significant (Mediation effect = 0.923; Z-score = 8.68; p In addition to the above mediation analysis, we also tried to understand the role of work experience on the mediation analysis. Hence 2 more mediation analysis were carried out in which the entire data set was broken down in 2 sets, one with respondents having 2 or more years of work experience, second with respondents having less than 2 years of work experience. This was so done because the median work experience of the sample studied was 2 yrs. Impact of years of work experience on the mediating role of training motivation on training effectiveness was studied. First we take the case of respondents having less than 2 years of work experience. The same steps as stated above according to the Baron and Kenny Model were repeated and the results. Regression results to study mediation effect on respondents with work experience of less than 2 years: Again as we can see that training motivation fully mediates the relation between the training attitude and training effectiveness. In the first step we used training effectiveness as the criterion variable with training attitude as the predictor variable. The relation was found to be significant and positively related with R2 = 0.468; p In the next step, training motivation taken as the criterion variable and training attitude was taken as the independent variable. This relation was again found significant and positively related with R2 = 0.639; p In the third step, training motivation was now taken as the predictor variable and training effectiveness was taken as the dependent variable. It was found that this relation was significant with R2 = 0.660; p In the last step, both training attitude and training motivation were taken as the predictor variables and training effectiveness was taken as the dependent variable. In this step, the relation between training attitude on training effectiveness became insignificant hence it was proved that training motivation fully mediates the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness. The mediated effect was found to be 0.592 and the overall mediation was found to be significant using the Sobels test. Using the Sobels Test the Z score was found to be 4.7498. Thus showing that the mediation effect of training motivation on the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness is significant. Another mediation analysis was done to test the mediation effect of training motivation on the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness for respondents having more than 2 years of work experience. This was again a 4 step analysis as per the Baron and Kenny model and the results. As we can see in the table 5, in the first step it was found that training attitude significantly affect training effectiveness. In the second step it was found that training attitude significantly affects training motivation. In the third step, it was found that training motivation significantly affects training effectiveness. And in the fourth it was found that training motivation significantly affects effectiveness but impact of training attitude on effectiveness becomes insignificant. This showed that training motivation mediates the relation between attitude and effectiveness. Regression results to study mediation effect on respondents with work experience of more than 2 years: From the fourth step we can see that training motivation mediates the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness fully. The overall significance of the mediation was checked using the Sobels test. Effect of Motivation on Employee Training Effectiveness Effect of Motivation on Employee Training Effectiveness Training is an integral part of workforce development and creation of new competencies within the workforce to ensure that the organization keeps up with the changing needs of the times. Training is related to performance in two ways. Effective training has a direct impact on the performance output and any gap in an individuals performance can sometimes be filled with training. For employees, lack of training also causes a lack of self-satisfaction and productivity. Training is seen as a major cost center in most organizations in India even though its necessity is widely accepted. This negative view can mostly be attributed because of the apparent lack of direct linkage between training and the bottom-line of the company. In todays world, where the HR department needs to justify its expenses, especially in the wake of recession and lay-offs, it is essential that the trainings rendered are of optimum efficiency in achieving the set target and also that it be done at the least possible cost. Hence it is important to understand whether the methods of training employed are yielding the desired results or alternatively if the same results can be attained in more cost effective ways. One major factor influencing the training effectiveness is training motivation, as we have explained in the literature review below. But the attitude of employees towards formal training is another factor which will decide whether it is justified to spend so much money on formal training modules if the same end result can be obtained by informal on the job training if it is preferred by the employees. Hence we explore the links between these constructs. Theoretical Review and Hypothesis: Training Attitude: Development activities like training are significantly affected by attitudes and perceptual variables (Noe and Wilk, 1993).Eagly Chaiken (1998) defined attitude as the psychological tendency to evaluate an entity with a certain degree of favor or disfavor. These attitudes are good predictors of behavior (Ajzen, 1991).We can extend this line of reason to say that a person with a positive attitude to certain entity will show favorable behavioral response towards it and a person with a negative attitude to it will show an unfavorable behavioral response. Training attitude applies the definition of attitude to training. A persons attitude towards training is a measure or reflection of his or her attitude towards the formal process of knowledge and skill acquisition. Thus we can say that training attitude is indirectly a measure of liking an individual has for the formal process of training as opposed to say learning something on-the-job informally. It logically follows that those who ha ve a positive attitude towards training will be more likely to attend the training programs willingly and gain from it as compared to someone who has a negative attitude towards training which is to say, that training attitude determines the motivation with which a person attends training programs, especially in an organizational scenario where training programs are mandatory. Also this very attitude can be linked to how much learning happens in the training. The scale for measuring the training attitude construct was developed by Anupama Narayan and Debra Steele Johnson (2007) for their research. This was a 20 item scale addressing participants evaluation of 2 issues: How relevant and useful they perceived training programs to be. How much they desired to practice acquired skills on job. This scale with 7 point likert type response pattern had a high level of internal consistency (alpha =0.92) However some items were redundant and for the purpose of this research were omitted. The resulting 9 item scale was again tested for internal consistency and displayed a Cronbachs Alpha= 0.91 which is fairly high. The response to the 7 point likert scale was interpreted as a summated score which indicated the degree of positive attitude towards training among the respondents. Training Motivation: Quinones (1997) aptly described motivation to be an individuals choice to dedicate more energy to one set of behavior over others. In the training context, Blanchard Thacker (2004) explain motivation as an inspiration which is directed by trainees personal needs and decision processes they use to satisfy those needs. Or, as Colquitt (2007) puts it , training motivation is the persistence and intensity of learning -directed behavior in the context of training. Training motivation is affected by a diverse set of internal and external factors as suggested by various research papers. Work environment, organizational climate, supervisory support etc are a few of the external factors researched upon whereas the internal factors hypothesized to affect training motivation include self efficacy, personal mental ability and personality (Colquitt et al, 2000). One of the most popular theories to explain motivation is the expectancy theory of how people are motivated by the results of their behavior (Bandura, 1997). We can also view Vrooms expectancy theory as a theoretical framework for examining training motivation. Vrooms model suggests that expectation of an act being followed by a certain outcome often shapes the motivation for doing that act. To extend this to the context of training motivation, if a trainee expects that the effort he puts into attending training programs will yield valued outcomes to him then he will be motivated to attend the same. Hence this research attempts to understand the valence -instrumentality link associated with training. We measure what the trainee values and whether he perceives those things to be outcome of training programs. A 14 item scale, with 7 items each for valence and instrumentality of factors associated with training, was adapted from the research paper by Phyllis Tharenou (2001).The factors of valence included in the scale are Reaching career goals, Pay increase, Job security, Change to workplace, Promotion or advancement, Opportunities for different career paths, Supervisor praise. The responses for these questions were taken on a 7 point likert scale and scores were summated to arrive at the level of training motivation of the respondent. A higher score symbolizes that the respondent values the inherent factors highly and also perceives that training will help him achieve the same. Training Effectiveness: Training effectiveness is essentially a measure of how effective the training imparted was. Many researchers including Ford (1997), Noe (1986), and Tannenbaum (1992) have recognized training effectiveness as a crucial issue for organizations. Employee performance and productivity can be measurably improved if trainings are effective and organizations will be able to avoid wasteful spending on ineffective trainings. Most organizations would want to have a good return on their training investment. According to London (1989) and Noe (1999) training interventions in organizations are going to increase hence the training effectiveness is going to be an important feature in the organizations. Kirkpatricks (1976) four level approach is one of the most extensively used methods for evaluating training effectiveness (Alliger Janak, 1989). This four level approach measures training effectiveness vis-Ã  -vis the trainees reactions to a training program, the extent to which trainees can execute desired behaviors related to the training, the acquisition of skills and knowledge by the trainee and resulting change in the job behaviors of the trainee. It has been a common assumption among researchers that these 4 levels linked in a linear fashion hierarchically. Hamblin (1947) illustrated the cause and effect chain as training leading to reactions which in turn leads to learning and that leads to change in job behavior. But this empirical evidence for this proposed link has been inconclusive. This led Alliger Janak (1989) to conduct a Meta analysis and conclude that the four factors are not necessarily linearly linked. There are several factors like training motivation attitude, context of training and other influences which attenuate the link between trainees reaction and other criterion measures. A four item shortened version of the Kirkpatrick scale was used for measuring the training effectiveness. The measured effectiveness was the perceived effectiveness of the last im parted training program. Sample items in the scale included questions like Did I enjoy the course. The response was obtained on a 7 point likert scale varying from strongly disagree to strongly agree and the summated score of each item response was used as the measure of the training effectiveness and higher the score higher was the perceived effectiveness of the training. Training Attitude and Training Motivation: Individuals disposition or attitude towards formal training programs has been shown to have a direct influence on his training motivation (Ford Noe, 1987). Training attitude also displays his motivation to learn (Tannenbaum Yukl, 1992) and his motivation to attend training (Facteau et al, 1995) as distinct from training motivation. What the above mentioned research suggests is that there is a logical and empirical link between a person liking a training program and being motivated to attend the same. However the extant literature mentions this relationship in a very general and broad format. We would like to hypothesis a more specific relationship. Going back to our definition of training motivation , we have said that it is the perceived valence the trainee associates with certain outcomes and how instrumental he feels attending a training is in order to acquire them .We listed these outcomes as career development, superior praise, promotion or development, pay increase , job secu rity etc. Research suggests that there is very strong link between training attitude and training motivation .Carlson et al.(2000) found a high correlation between training attitude scores and training motivation scores in their research.Now most employees may find that there is a perceived strong connection between attending trainings and achieving these outcomes and hence may attend trainings when they are mandatory rather than volunteer for it. But otherwise, based on his experience he might feel that training programs are a waste of time over all and he learns more on his job. Especially in the context of Indian manufacturing industry where trainings are mandatory, employees might not be predisposed to attending trainings, but will attend them anyways due to perceived benefits. Hence in this research we are testing whether having a positive attitude towards training increases the individuals training motivation and how much is it correlated. Hence, Training Attitude of an individual positively impacts his Training Motivation: Training Motivation and Training Effectiveness: Based on our understanding of motivation, an individual is more likely to expend more energy for a task he is motivated to do and hence is more probable to do that task more effectively than other tasks. Extending this logic forward if a person is motivated to attend training then he is more likely to enjoy the training, learn most from it and apply it on to his job. In other words the effectiveness of the training imparted will be high if the trainees entering the training program are highly motivated for the same. In the organizational context it is imperative that different individuals enter the training with different levels of motivation. These differences in the level of motivation may be an outcome of various factors like personal characteristics and work environments. After studying these effects, Salas et al.1(1992) hypothesized that individuals motivated to do well in training will be the ones who end up learning the content of the program better than their lesser motivated counterparts. Training effectiveness is measured in terms of 4 parameters derived from the Kirkpatricks model. These parameters are namely, Learning, Behavior, Reaction and Applications of skills. Several studies put forth empirical support indicating a link between trainees motivation and learning (Rails Klien, 1991; Clark 1990; Hicks Klimoski 1987; Baldwin et al., 1991).The attention levels and openness to new ideas is increased by pre-training motivation. Hence theoretically trainees who are more motivated should be more ready or primed to learn and apply their learnings. Also a person motivated to attend the training will be more likely to enjoy it thus displaying a positive reaction. Whereas a person who is unmotivated to attend training will not learn much from the training even if he ends up enjoying the experience (Mathieu et al., 1992). Consequently we also hypothesize a direct relation between how much the trainee learns and how much he is motivated about the training to how much of the learned skills he will apply in his job. Thus training motivation can be hypothesized to bring about change in behavior of the trainee as well. Based on the above reasoning we state out second hypothesis as, Training motivation positively impacts training effectiveness Training Attitude and Training Effectiveness. Hicks and Klimoski (1987) attempted to study the effect of choice of attending the training program with effectiveness of the training program. They hypothesized that if trainee had a choice of attending a training program then he will be more satisfied by it than otherwise. Ryman and Biersner (1975) also studied the effect of choice on training outcome. They found that giving a choice to attend the training program resulted in lesser dropouts from the program and greater training success. In a slight variation of this experiment, Baldwin, Magjuka and Lober (1991) reported that when trainees received their top choice from the available training programs they reported higher pre training motivation and. They also learned more as compared to other trainees who did not get their top pick. Tannebaum et al. (1992) showed by way of their research that individuals who nominate themselves for training actually attach a greater instrumentality to the program and report higher training motivat ion than others. This in turn leads to greater training effectiveness. The same was researched upon and confirmed by Gormley, Collins et al. (2009) on their study on Medical students undergoing E-learning programs. In our research we would like to extend the above findings to the context of training attitude. Training attitude can be seen as the pre disposition of the individual towards attending training. If the individual has a positive attitude towards training then he will choose to attend the same whereas if he has a negative attitude towards training he will not attend it or attend it grudgingly if forced to the same. Hence incorporating Tannenbaums findings, we can say that people who attend training against their choice will not undergo an optimally effective training. Hence we hypothesize that only people who choose to attend the training by way of their positive attitude towards it will be more motivated about the training and hence consequently the training imparted to them will be effective. No previous research has aimed to study this mediating effect of training motivation on the relationship between Training attitude and training effectiveness and this is the gap we propose to fi ll by means of our research. We hypothesize that Training effectiveness is impacted by Training Attitude of the individual via the mediating variable of training motivation. Training attitude positively affects training effectiveness. Training Motivation acts as the mediating variable on the relationship between Training Attitude and Training Effectiveness. Moderating Effect of Prior Work Experience: Goldstein (2002) stated in his research that training transfer happens more effectively if tasks in the training environment are congruent with those in the actual work environment. Typically the young Indian professional fresh out of college will prefer the formal training programs as he is not exposed to any other way of learning. However as we have talked about training attitude it is important to study the effect of previous trainings on the individuals attitude. Employees who have undergone much training and have worked for enough years in the organization may have seen other methods of learning their job or skill apart from formal training programs to form different attitudes about training than those who have very little work experience. Learning On -the-job takes place within the workplace while the employee is doing actual work in the actual work environment under normal working conditions. This is important because it ensures that skills taught in such informal training can be readily transferred to the job (Kleiner Read, 1996). Work based learning focuses on reviewing and learning from experience and is cantered on learning from action rather than simply developing competencies (Dymock Gerber, 2002). Since the employee is trained in normal working condition, there is a high sense of relevance and validity to the employee (Clifford Thorpe, 2007) and is a tool to increase the productivity (Jain, 1999). Learning on the job happens on an individual level and the greatest advantage of this is that it enables each participant to determine the speed with which learning can proceed, at the same time providing a high level of feedback and trainee involvement (Kleiner Read, 1996). Other advantages are that the employee is being productive during training, and thus the associated costs may be less (Kleiner Read, 1996); this training may be given to more people than it is possible at a training institution (Jain,1999). Thus we can see that on the job learning may be perceived to be more effective than formal trainings by employees with greater years of work experience behind them. This could also possibly affect their attitude towards formal training programs and its utility. Hence the effect of training attitude on training effectiveness may be moderated by the prior work experience of the individual. We hypothesize that more is the prior work experience of an individual the more likely he has understood how to perform on his job and how to acquire skills on the job and hence the more it is likely that he will not have a favourable attitude towards formal training programs. Thereby the effectiveness of training programs on such individuals will be subdued. Thus, in this research we will aim to study the moderating effect of Prior work experience on the relationship between Training Attitude and Training Effectiveness. The prior work experience of individual has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between Training Attitude and Training Effectiveness. We would also like to study whether the Mediating Effect of Training Motivation on the relationship between Training attitude and Training effectiveness is valid for different groups of people with varied work experience. For this purpose we propose to study the said relationship by dividing the data set into groups of people with differing work experience. According to our theoretical study we expect to observe a more significant mediated relationship between training attitude and effectiveness for people with lower work experience than those with higher work experience. For people with lower work experience the relationship between training attitude and training effectiveness mediated by training motivation is more significant. Methods: Sample: Around 200 participants from various manufacturing organizations were contacted in person and via e-mail and the questionnaire was administered. Out of the 200 people contacted 122 (61%) people chose to participate. Most of the participants were chosen from the technical background who have undergone some sort of training at their work place. To maintain anonymity the questionnaire did not contain any identifiers. The researchers themselves administered the questionnaire and they themselves collected the responses. Measures: All the scale used to measure the various constructs were measured using a 7 point Likert scale ranging from 1(Very Strongly Disagree, Very Strongly Unlikely) to 7(Very Strongly Agree, Very Strongly Likely). Training Attitude: Training attitude was measured using a 9 item scale developed by Anupama Narayanan and Debra Steele-Johnson (2007). A sample item is I enjoy participating in training programs offered at work. Training Motivation: Training motivation was measured using a 14 item scale developed by Phyllis Tharenou (2001) which was adopted from Noe and Wilk (1993) 17 item scale. This scale was based on the valence instrumentality expectancy theory and had 7 items each for valence and instrumentality. A sample item for instrumentality is How likely you will obtain a pay increase from KSA from TD. A sample item for valence is How important is obtaining pay increase to you. Training Effectiveness: The training effectiveness was measured through a 4 item scale. This scale was a shortened version of the Kirkpatricks scale and was developed by Alan Chapman. The training effectiveness was measured on different parameters namely reaction, learning, behavior and productivity. Prior Work experience: The prior work experience was measured using a single question to the participants asking them of the number of years of prior years of work experience. Analysis: The study was intended to find the mediation effect of training motivation between training attitude and training effectiveness. The procedure followed to study the mediation effect was adopted from the study by Baron and Kenny (1986). Further the researchers also studied the moderation effect of years of prior work experience on the direct relation between training attitude and training effectiveness. This was done through a 2 model approach using the standardized multiplied values for training attitude and years of prior work experience. All the analysis was done using SPSS software. Further the entire sample of respondents was divided into 2 classes based on the work experience, one having work experience more than the median and one having less than the median. The median value was ignored and the mediation analysis was carried out using the Baron and Kenny model (1986). Results: The means, standard deviations and correlations .All the variables were found to be significantly correlated with each another. It can be easily seen from the table 1 that the correlation among all the variables is very high. To test the internal consistency of the scales measuring the constructs, the Cronbachs Alpha Coefficient was calculated and it was found that all the scales were reliable as the Cronbachs Coefficient was greater than 0.7. The results of the measures of internal consistency. Again it can be seen that the Cronbachs Alpha Coefficient is very high indicating that the internal consistency of the scales is very high. Mean, Standard Deviation and Correlations: Measures of internal consistency Cronbachs Alpha Coefficient: In this research we have primarily hypothesized the relationship between training attitude and training effectiveness with training motivation as the mediating variable. Apart from the mediation effect, the moderation effect of number of years of prior work experience on the direct effect of training attitude on training effectiveness has been studied. The results of the mediation effect of training motivation on the relationship between training attitude and training effectiveness. The mediation effect was studied using the 4 step Baron and Kenny model of regression analysis. In the first step, the independent variable training attitude was shown to affect the outcome variable i.e. training effectiveness significantly. In the next step, the independent variable was shown to affect the mediator variable i.e. training motivation significantly. In the third step, the mediator variable was shown to have a significant effect on the dependent variable. These steps showed that the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness was mediated by training motivation. In the 4th step, the mediation effect was calculated through a regression analysis in which the mediator and the independent variable were the predictors and the criterion variable was the dependent variable. Regression results to study mediation effect: The mediation is significant and the mediation effect was calculated to be 0.923 standard deviations. Also in the fourth step, since the effect of training attitude on training effectiveness becomes insignificant we can safely infer that full mediation is present. The step I shows the regression results when training effectiveness was taken as the criterion variable and the training attitude was taken as the independent variable. From this step we saw that training attitude was significantly related to the training effectiveness. Here the value of R2 was found to be 0.796 with F = 468.143 at p The step II shows the regression results when training motivation was taken as the dependent variable with training attitude as the predictor variable. In this step it was seen that training attitude was significantly related to training effectiveness. The R2 value was found to be 0.883 with F = 904.66 at p The step III shows the regression results when training effectiveness was taken as the dependent variable with training motivation being the predictor variable. In this step it was found that the training motivation is significantly related to training effectiveness. The R2 value was found to be 0.909 at p The step IV shows the regression results when training effectiveness was taken as the criterion variable with both training motivation and training attitude as the predictor variables. From this step we could conclude that training motivation was significantly related to training effectiveness and also we see that training attitude loses the significance of its effect that it had on training effectiveness in step I. The R2 value was found to be 0.909 at p The above 4 steps show that the mediation effect of training motivation between training attitude and training effectiveness is a full mediation effect as the independent, variable training attitude, becomes insignificantly related to the criterion variable (Baron and Kenny, 1986). The steps I, II and III are used to test the first 3 hypothesis. In step I it was shown that training attitude was significantly related to training effectiveness hence H3 is accepted. Similarly in the step II it was shown that training attitude was significantly related to training motivation and hence H1 is accepted. In the third step, it was found that training motivation was significantly related to training effectiveness and hence H2 is accepted. Training attitude was significantly related to training effectiveness in the first step and to training motivation in the second step but it was non-significantly related to training effectiveness in the fourth step. From this we could infer that training motivation fully mediates the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness. Thus H4 is supported. The Sobels test was used to just verify the mediation effect. The test showed that the mediation effect is statistically significant (Mediation effect = 0.923; Z-score = 8.68; p In addition to the above mediation analysis, we also tried to understand the role of work experience on the mediation analysis. Hence 2 more mediation analysis were carried out in which the entire data set was broken down in 2 sets, one with respondents having 2 or more years of work experience, second with respondents having less than 2 years of work experience. This was so done because the median work experience of the sample studied was 2 yrs. Impact of years of work experience on the mediating role of training motivation on training effectiveness was studied. First we take the case of respondents having less than 2 years of work experience. The same steps as stated above according to the Baron and Kenny Model were repeated and the results. Regression results to study mediation effect on respondents with work experience of less than 2 years: Again as we can see that training motivation fully mediates the relation between the training attitude and training effectiveness. In the first step we used training effectiveness as the criterion variable with training attitude as the predictor variable. The relation was found to be significant and positively related with R2 = 0.468; p In the next step, training motivation taken as the criterion variable and training attitude was taken as the independent variable. This relation was again found significant and positively related with R2 = 0.639; p In the third step, training motivation was now taken as the predictor variable and training effectiveness was taken as the dependent variable. It was found that this relation was significant with R2 = 0.660; p In the last step, both training attitude and training motivation were taken as the predictor variables and training effectiveness was taken as the dependent variable. In this step, the relation between training attitude on training effectiveness became insignificant hence it was proved that training motivation fully mediates the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness. The mediated effect was found to be 0.592 and the overall mediation was found to be significant using the Sobels test. Using the Sobels Test the Z score was found to be 4.7498. Thus showing that the mediation effect of training motivation on the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness is significant. Another mediation analysis was done to test the mediation effect of training motivation on the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness for respondents having more than 2 years of work experience. This was again a 4 step analysis as per the Baron and Kenny model and the results. As we can see in the table 5, in the first step it was found that training attitude significantly affect training effectiveness. In the second step it was found that training attitude significantly affects training motivation. In the third step, it was found that training motivation significantly affects training effectiveness. And in the fourth it was found that training motivation significantly affects effectiveness but impact of training attitude on effectiveness becomes insignificant. This showed that training motivation mediates the relation between attitude and effectiveness. Regression results to study mediation effect on respondents with work experience of more than 2 years: From the fourth step we can see that training motivation mediates the relation between training attitude and training effectiveness fully. The overall significance of the mediation was checked using the Sobels test.