Writing In A State Of Siege English Literature Essay

Writing In A State Of Siege English Literature Essay The ten years between 1948 and 1958 recorded the bustle and disturbance of social life and exhibited the necessity and possibility of a united fight against racial discrimination. The wide spread resentment at the pass-laws, liquor raids and inadequate amenities in 1950 resulted in the suppression of Communism Act. The word communist it self meant unlawful. In 1952, eight thousand people were imprisoned for opposing the apartheid regulations. Chief Albert Luthuli, the President General of the African National Congress was banned for his commitment to a democratic and inter-racial future in South Africa. Things were in oblivion and in 1958, as the whites did not require any permits, the Fugards were advised to go to Sophiatown, a freehold township, a place which combined magic and smut, respectability and crime, black and white and the most lively and crowded of all the African townships, where the blacks and the whites could move freely, with certain social constraints. As Jurger Schadeberg observes, There was poverty in Sophiatown. There were areas that were somewhat slummy. There were gangs. There were crime and there were cutthroats, but it was a real suburb. It had all the facilities a normal suburb has. Whereas when people moved to Orlando or Meadowlands, or whatever, there was nothing there. Sophiatown was romanticized afterwards. Sophiatown was a symbol because it was a place where people were not mixed than in other places. And people owned their own property. (Schadeberg, 2002: 111-112) Sophiatown was predominantly black and also predominantly poor. The greater part of Sophiatown was a sickening slum. As Don Mattera observes the little Chicago of Johannesburg was essentially known for its cosmopolitan flavor and every conceivable space was occupied by a living thing man or animal. (Mattera 1987:49). Derek Cohen also observes, The small corner of the world, the all but forgotten township of the 1950s, Sophiatown, teems with the variety and vivacity of the world itself. Deep in the bowels of this house of hunger, where men and women tread a diurnal mill of deprivation and indignity, lie, as Fugard reminds us, humanity and strength3.(1984:273-284)) The township also had a surprisingly stunning intellectual atmosphere as the black journalists were trying to express their feelings. Jim Baileys Drum magazine covered the township life. Drum ran articles almost every month, reporting on crime figures, the circumstances forcing ordinary citizens into a life of crime, and the shebeen culture, which fed these offences. Benjamin Pogrund, a liberal friend of the Fugards advised Fugard that he would find the right atmosphere in Sophiatown for his play. The only job Fugard could find was that of a clerk in a Native Commissioners Court where offenders of the pass-laws were tried. The cruel conditions gave birth to his pessimism and his earlier incomplete novel (Tsotsi) found its voice in the two plays of his apprenticeship years, No-Good Friday and Nongogo which represented the travails of the black township. Though they were his early plays and though they lacked the dramatic charm and vision of his later plays, they indicate the struggling mind of Fugard to represent his stance as a dramatist. If No Good Friday projects the impact of bad economic conditions on the individuals who aspire for better social conditions and education, Nongogo reflects the aspirations of the people who dream for better living and individual dignity. These two early plays belong to the formative stage of Fugards maturity as a dramatist. No-Good Friday and Nongogo both represent the apartheid trauma of the South African Society. An exploration (Gray,1981:56-63) into the manuscripts of the first novel of Fugard, (which he threw into the Fiji lagoon) Tsotsi, which was published in 1980, reveals Fugards anxiety during his apprenticeship years to present the problems within the existing conditions. Fugards early plays, No-Good Friday and Nongogo also share some of the aspects of Tsotsi as they were set against the same milieu. Stephen Gray5(1981:56) feels that the characters of Tsotsi appeared in the subsequent plays of Fugard like The Blood Knot, Hello and Goodbye, People Are Living There, Boesman and Lena and in many of his plays written during the 1970s. Fugard presents the burning zeal of an incipient black revolutionary against the exploitation faced by the blacks in No-Good Friday (1958). This play works at two levels at the surface level, it appears to be a mere representation of the conditions of the blacks; but at deeper levels, it records the helplessness of the blacks in the face of exploitation by their own fellow men during the conditions of the apartheid. Fugard presents the oppressive politics working on the life of the township in various forms. Crime by African against African was an everyday reality in Sophiatown. For example an article in the November 1951 issue of Drum, The Birth of a Tsotsi, describes the classic circumstances under which a young boy takes the wrong turning: With grinding poverty and the sea of squalor that surrounds the Gold City, it is not difficult to understand the rest. There is a struggle for existence, and the individual intends to survive. Fugard records this struggle in a naturalistic manner in his early plays like No-Good Friday and Nongogo. Willie Seopela, the independent and stubborn protagonist is an aspiring youngman and he stays with Rebecca, his lady love. Willie, an intellectual in the making, with hopes for a brighter and better living, is a student pursuing his undergraduate studies through correspondence. He represents the image of the desperately stubborn black young men of South Africa. Despite hard circumstances, Willie is optimistic and highly independent. He is liked by Father Higgins, the white humanist who visits the black ghettos to offer solace. Father Higgins introduces Tobias, an innocent villager, who comes to Sophiatown for a better living, to Willie and asks him to fix him somewhere, as he is badly in need of money for his living. Willie, aware of the catastrophic situation that awaits black people in the township, asks Tobias not to entertain big dreams. He does not make any promise to Tobias. The residents of the black township are frequently nagged by Shark, a black gangster who appears every Friday, the day of their weekly payment. The innocent residents ought to offer a share from their pay packets either to Shark or similar other gangsters in trains and on roads. They cannot even make a complaint against them to the police, for, they do not have the pass-books to stay in that town. In a way, they buy their protection from Shark, their fellow black South African. Even the independent Willie makes a passive living allowing the share for Shark from his Fridays pay-packet. Tobias, unaware of these facts innocently argues about the share and gets killed in the hands of Shark. It is only after the death of Tobias, Willie realises the gravity of the situation, the result of their passive attitude and decides to oppose Shark in spite of the murderous consequences. In the process, he sacrifices his love for Rebecca. The play ends with Willie getting prepared for the challenge. The play projects a story of loss of relationships, loss of values and loss of security or protection in the white repressive world. Willie, the protagonist condemns the situation in Johannesburg and very often he appears to be the mouth-piece of Fugard. We are frequently reminded of the life-situation described in Peter Abrahams Mine Boy ,Alan Patons Cry, the Beloved Country and Alex La Gumas A Walk in the Night and And a Threefold Cord. Life is not easy there and it has become unbearable, as observed by Father Higgins, a character in No Good Friday. The grim situation of an unprotected life is summed up by Guy very well. Speaking about Shark, he says: Dont you understand? Hes got shares in the police station. . . . . . You can forget about the police. They protect a fellow like Shark. You see they are only interested in our passes. But a Kaffir laying a charge against a criminal-that would be a joke. We are all criminals. Look, Father, do not be hard on us. You know what I have just said better than any other white8. (1977: 146) As in The Blood Knot and other plays here too Fugard arranges his scenes and the protagonist to present the conditions which reflect their predicament. Asked by Guy to explain their sad life, Willie says that the music of their life is a song of melancholy, loneliness and despair (1977:125) and this is reflected in every scene, every chapter and every dialogue. The play portrays the hard realities of the life in Sophiatown, especially on Friday, which is a fertile acre for troubles (1977:126). Father Higgins, though aware of the all pervading nature of sorrow, expresses his helplessness when Willie asks him if he wants to plant a daffodil in his yard. As Don Mattera describes: The ghetto-like township was unpredictable and dangerous. There were times of searching for a loved one in some alley; finding him or her wounded in a hospital or jail, or dead in a morgue. Or checking for husband or father, a brother or a son who had never returned home from work. Or waiting for a mother, an aunt or sister who did not get off the bus or tram where you usually waited for them. Then the anguish and anxiety that would follow reports of a woman raped, beaten and robbed by the jobless and wont work brigades of tsotsis who owned the days and ruled the nights.'(1987:50) No-Good Friday portrays all these problems in Sophiatown, absence of care by the government, unemployment, frustration, poverty, insecurity, gangsterism, evils of pass-laws, broken bonds of love and the cheapness'() of life seen through the lives of various characters. Despite the hard work, they can hardly reach homes safely with their Friday pay-packets. Reflecting the problems of township life, the play is presented in the back yard of Willie and it indicates their poverty amidst iron shacks. The play has black as well as white characters, like Father Higgins, who resembles Rev. Trevor Huddleston, who made a crusade against the stringent laws of the apartheid in the townships. It also records the migration of the innocent youth to the townships to find employment. The play records the raging gangsterism, a social evil, an oppression by the notoriously stronger ones, which has no opposition. It also shows how the underprivileged ones are victimised. The race-laws worsen the condit ions of living and the Group Areas Act had restricted the blacks in the name of the pass-books. The pass laws had been a permanent threat to the African people. As observed by Edward Roux: The pass laws held the people in conditions of abject poverty and subjection à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ were the cause of sharp racial friction between the peoples of South Africa upheld the cheap labour system which resulted in malnutrition, starvation and disease and filled gaols with innocent people, thus creating wide-spread crime19.(1964:320). Fugard also projects the hidden social angle the White police mans hidden understanding with the black gangsters like Shark. Speaking about the crime of Sophiatown Bloke Modisane writes, I learned there in Sophiatoown,that one looked at the killing and never at the faces of the killers; one also knew that the law is white and justice casual, that it could not protect us against the knives of Sophiatown, so we tolerated the murders whilst the law encouraged them with its indifference.( 1986:63) The residents of Sophiatown cannot approach the police, who are obviously on the side of law. The blacks continue their survival in hellish conditions. These and similar conditions are portrayed in a more powerful manner in Sizwe Bansi is Dead. If Tsotsi traces both gangsterism and the realisation on the part of the protagonist in a single individual, No-Good Friday projects the evils of gangsterism through Shark and the realisation appears in the protagonist, Willie. Having understood the significance of life and the way it is being shattered in Sophiatown, Willie mourns over the misery of their lives and the impossibility of living. He realizes that life is not a fairy tale with a happy ending. The absurdity of living forces him not only to be away from Rebecca but from his own life itself. To make his life more purposeful and less mundane, he wants to oppose Shark by informing the police. His dreams of living happily ever after get shattered and he says: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.I gave up dreaming. Tobias reminded me of too much, Guy. He was going to make some money and live happily ever after. Thecosy little dreamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ like this, Willie and Rebecca lived happily ever after! Thats how the fairy stories end and its stupid because, out there is life and it is not ending happily14. (1977:155) He feels that life is vain and useless without a protest against the problem. He blames the individuals within his society including himself for allowing such problems. Willies opposition to Shark and the words of the cunning politician Watson project Fugards anger against such conditions. When life becomes dreadful and unprotected, it becomes meaningless. The death of Willie is not the end of the sequence, but it makes a bold beginning of opposition against gangsterism. It is also the frustration and struggle for a better life. The action of the play takes place between two Fridays and the play carries various emotions like humour, satire, shame, anger, frustration and tragedy, the representative feelings of an impoverished, fragmented and violent society20. (Sheila Fugard: 1993:408).Watson, the politician stands as a satirical portrait of the townships black politicians, who demand a sacrifice from the innocent blacks, for their own betterment. The ironical dedication of the song of Guy, Friday Night Blues itself speaks about the theme of the play. Shark, the gangster with a significant name swallows people like Tobias and ironically praises those who pay him regularly. The play brings out the fact that the people of the township should not have cosy dreams about comfortable living. Going against the tradition of depicting the gangsters from the romantic viewpoint, as was done by other writers of his time, Fugard presents Shark, the gangster, as a cruel reality. As observed by Don Mattera, No story about gangsterism or violence in the townships of Johannesburg can be complete without that of Kort Boy- real name George Mbalweni the five-foot-nothing knifeman from Benoni, a former mining town on the East Rand near Johannesburgà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Kort Boy was a legend in his day much hated , much loved it all depended on which end of knife you were at.(1987:102) Characters in No-Good Friday are many, representing the unlimited problems of his society. Each character stands for a problem. Fugard does not offer any solution but he represents things as they are, for an understanding of what was going on in South Africa. As a symphathising white liberal he expresses his sense of helplessness in the wake of events and the act of writing itself becomes an act of courage and commitment as an individual and as a writer. Despite the removal of the apartheid condition, they enjoy their validity, for, these plays stand as records of the 1950s. Fugard brings out his message best the problem of survival in the wake of hopelessness, dejection and destruction. No Good Friday had its premiers on 30th August 1958 after ten years of the initiation of apartheid in South Africa on the primitive stage of the Bantu Mens Social Centre and Fugard was praised by the African monthly Zonk for giving his unknown actors, a wonderful opportunity to show their talents. Apart from the shows in Bantu Mens Social Centre, the play was also staged amidst church walls in the townships, to black audiences and in the White suburbs. Fugard was refused permission to see even the productions he directed. During the run of No-Good Friday Fugard established friendship with important directors like Barney Simon and Tone Brulin. Not only to the actors, but to the people (both blacks and whites) of Sophiatown, it offered a scope to see themselves and their problems on the stage. Although the play has its own technical faults, as observed by critics -like heavy plotting, unlimited characters etc, the play brings out the shaping mind of Fugard as a dramatist with social concerns. The characters apart from representing the troubled people of South Africa become potential images if Willie, Tobias, Rebecca and Guy stand as the victims, Shark and Watson stand as the wicked political images of the cruel exterior of South Africa. The repeated use of the fairy-tale image with its reference to the impossibility of comfortable life speaks about the predicament of the life of the blacks in South Africa under the pressure of the cruel racist law. Fugard does not present this drama as a mere piece of entertainment. It is a realistic document about the sorrowful living of the black people of Sophiatown who suffer from inter-and intra-racial oppression. Fugard recognises that to be black in South Africa is to be poor, and that black existence is imbued with the struggle to find release from the cycle of poverty and the mean quality of life indigence creates. (Albert Wertheim:) It provokes us to think and Fugard makes his observations and statements come alive through the characters he brings on to the stage. As observed by Sheila Fugard19, the germinative ideas of a nascent playwright got fortified in his later plays like The Blood Knot, Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, The Island, Master Haroldand the boys. Fugard incorporates his intellectual and individual stances of rebellion in Willie the black protagonist. Through him, he voices out his feeling, which necessitate the reason for opposition against the dreadful forces like gangsterism which bear the impact of several cruel racist laws; but according to Nkosi, the play had very little concern with the politics behind the chronic violence and gangsterism in the ghetto. (Vandenbroucke,Russell). Nkosi feels this as a limitation. On the other hand, white writers like Alan Paton and Fugard had observed moderation in depicting their conditions. As analysed by Albert Wertheim it was their moderation that drew world attention to the outrages of apartheid. The final speech of Willie is universal in its appeal, as it explains the reasons for the birth and growth of such evil forces within a society. By making the apartheid tragedy ACT on the stage, Fugard has achieved the theatrical and political meaning of two words acting and imagination. Although Fugard sets many of his plays in South Africa and more specifically in Port Elizabeth, he is not writing specifically South African tragedy, for he uses his South African setting and this presentation of South African life under apartheid rule to define a tragic situation imbued with meaning far beyond the geographical boundaries of South Africa.21 (Albert Wertheim) The play is not restricted to South Africa alone; it appeals to the living conditions of all common people who live in poverty ridden slums and ghettos of all parts of the world. As observed by Albert Wertheim, the play is set against a realistic background-it is a statement against oppression, a feature that is found everywhere in the world. REFERENCES Schadeberg,Jurger(ed).2002. Intervies, Johannesburg 15 March 2002:105-108(Transcript) Mattera,Don.1987.Gone with the twilight: A Story of Sophiatown. London,Zed Books. 3.Derek Cohen, Beneath the Underworld: Athol Fugards Tsotsi, World Literature Written in English, Vol. 23, No.2, (1984) 273-84. 4. Stephen Gray, The Coming into the print of Athol Fugards Tsotsi, Journal of Commonwealth Literature, Vol. XVI, No.1 (1981) pp 56-63. 5. Ibid.P.56 6. Athol Fugard, No-Good Friday, Dimetos and Two Early Plays, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1977. All subsequent references are to this edition. 7. No Good Friday, p 144. 8. ibid, 146. 9. ibid, 152. 10. ibid, 152. 11. ibid, 154. 12. ibid, 155. 13.Modisane,Bloke.1996.Blame Me on History, Goodwood,Western Cape: A.D.Donker 14. ibid, 155. 15. ibid, 160. 16. Albert Wertheim 17. No Good Friday, p 155 18. Mattera,Don.1987:50 19. Edward Roux, Time longer than Rope, 2nd ed. (Madison: University of Winconsin Press, 1964) p. 320; Quoted by Mbulalo Vizikhungo Mzamane, Sharpeville and its Aftermath: The novels of Richard Rive, peter Abrahams, Alex La Guma and Lauretta Ngcobo, Ariel, Vol. 16, No. 2, April 1985, pp. 30-44. 20. Sheila Fugard, The Apprenticeship Years, Twentieth Century Literature, Ed. By Jack Barbera, Vol. 39, No.4, Win 1993, p. 408. 21. Mattera,Don 22. Albert Wertheim 23. Russell, Vandenbroucke, Truths the Hand can Touch, p. 24. Albert Wertheim, ************** b) NONGOGO (1959) Like No-Good Friday, Nongogo also, but in a different way exposes the travails of the black people in Sophiatown. It exposes the anguish of the women who ran shebeens for livelihood and who longed for decency, though impossible. If Willie of No-Good Friday gets ready to face death with existential courage, Queeny of Nongogo laughs in the face of indecency and shame after a stubborn struggle against them. Nongogo, like No Good Friday also deals with the external and internal aspects of the troubled individuals against the backdrop of troubled economic conditions and suppressive rule. The unique quality of Sophiatown was further enhanced by its shebeen culture. Although blacks were not allowed to drink in the 1950s, they were not stopped by the prohibition. The Sophiatown shebeens sold illegal booze, both store-bought European liquor as well as home brewed skokian. But the shebeens were not merely informal drinking clubs. They were homely places where everyone knew each other. As apartheid ceased to exist, intellectuals like Can Themba, Nat Nkasa and others used to spread circles of literature in these shebeens. As Anthony Samson recalls: The shebeens, however, were another story. Here was what Nat Nakasa called that noble institution, those hospitable homes. Here was a place outside of apartheid as the names reflected: Back Othe Moon, Cabin in the Sky, Little Heaven, The Sanctuary, Kind Lady.(Nicol: 1991:97) Modisane recalls how his mother, after the death of his father, was forced to become shebeen queen in order to keep body and soul together. Her customers, he remembers, drank for one reason only to get drunk, as for them, getting drunk was a purposeful destruction of the pain of their lies, a drowsing of themselves in this orgiastic expenditure. They were breaking out, escaping from themselves. (1986:39) The bad economic conditions forced the black women to take up beer-brewing and shebeens to support their families and to send their children to schools. Apart from the naturalistic portrayal, Fugards play focuses light on the hidden ugliness of evil economic backdrop. As observed by Gerald Weales (1978:) both plays deal with the enervating force of the black situation in South Africa, but they do not so directly as an agitprop would. As in the novels of Peter Abrahams we watch shebeens, drunkards, squalor, hunger, and prostitution- as results of oppression. Dennis Walder(1993:414) in The Genesis of the Township plays observes: The Sophiatown plays nevertheless reflected the aspirations, violence, and vitality of urban black people,offering a window into the world of the correspondent student, Shebeen Queen, Tsotsi (gangster) and rural migrant for predominantly white, liberal audiences.They may now also be seen to have helped to legitimate everyday urban black experience the experience of the majority of South Africans as a subject, for blacks as well as whites. Nongogo presents the conflict between hope and despair, the celebration of life in all its beauty and the devalued existence without virtues. As observed by Russell Vandenbroucke Nongogo is a play about the actuality of the past and forlorn hopes for the future (: 22). The conflict is the result of victimisation. The play has two acts-with the first act getting prepared for decency and respectability, the second act plays a dirge upon the death of these two qualities decency and respectability. The play as a whole exposes the guilt-racked victims of South Africa in both physical and psychological terms. Their physical destruction culminates in their psychological crisis, where their souls wail with the anguish for being the victims of the rough exterior of South African society. The play Nongogo exposes two individuals who experience such angst and a sense of guilt. Both of them are spoiled by social conditions of South Africa. Johnny is badly used by the masochistic, sex-starved mine workers and Queeny-is exploited by the carnal appetite of the South African masculinity, during her fight to eke out a living. Both of them dream for betterment -for a life of decency and respectability which remain to be dreams-the dreams of impossibility. Johnny and Queeny both stand as the physical images of destruction of the psychological self. Like La Gumas A Walk in the Night this play projects the brutalisation that has corroded the moral faculties of the poor.(1973:55) As Fugardxx himself observes, man is more concerned about hunger physically and mentally. Johnny and Queeny become the victims of the hunger of loins and of the poor conditions of the neglected lot. There are other characters like Sam, Blakie and Patrick, who make a parasitic living and work against decency; and who are also in a way, the helpless victims of the poor conditions which can not be bettered, and they in turn victimise their fellow beings-Johnny and Queeny and their dreams of better living for their selfish purposes. The process of victimisation here as in No Good Friday, is the result of both the internal and external aspects of South Africa. Queeny, a nongogo a woman for two and six- the proprietress of a shebeen gets enthused by the arrival and speech of an unexpected salesman Johnny at her door-step. His mode of address makes her feel that she should regain her lost sense of decency. His legitimate living makes her think of dispensing with her shebeen and make a cleaner life with a sense of decency and respectability which remain to be dreams- the dreams of impossibility. Her trust in Johnny encourages her to start a legitimate cloth-business. Her idea of legitimacy creates distaste in Sam, her business partner and her earlier pimp and Blackie, her attendant. With the help of Patrick, a way-ward drunkard, Sam and Blackie spoil the mind of Johnny by sowing the seeds of suspicion. Johnny and Queeny come face to face and compelled by Johnny, Queeny unwillingly digs into her past and in this process, hates Johnny for his inability to understand a womans heart. The play ends with Queeny re-opening the shebeen. Fugard has taken care in portraying the character of Queeny. Her desire for better life with a sense of decency and her despair for not finding it form the crux of the plot. If No-Good Friday presents the process of victimization on the physical plane, dealing with the death of Tobias and of Willie, Nongogo deals with the same process, on the mental plane, indicating the death of the self, when there is the sense of guilt and helpless acceptance of the past life of filth. The crisis of Johnny and Queeny, the victims of the South African society gets interiorized in Nongogo. As Robert M. Post observes, in other plays of Fugard too we find these victims(1985:3-16). Morris and Zachariah in The Blood Knot, Frieda and Errol in the Statements; John and Winston, the political brothers in The Island; Gumboot Dhalami in Tsotsi; Sizwe Bansi in Sizwe Bansi Is Dead; Boesman and Lena in Boesman and Lena; Piet in A Lesson from Aloes and the title character of Dimetos-all of them have been victims in various ways. Queenys curiosity in shaping her life as she had wanted gets shattered. She stands helplessly alone before her own life, a testament of time, as a victim of circumstances. Her disappointment as a living being against past, present and future life is made explicit through the use of two images indicating time the singing wall-clock and the wrist watch. Fugard very keenly exhibits the absurdity of human living against the unchanging nature of time in the South African context. Johnny and Queeny remain as the victims of their conscience. The two plays Nongogo and No-Good Friday exhibit the emotional involvement of Athol Fugard in the problems of the township. The pathetic predicament of man and woman in the South African townships comes alive on the stage. Fugard displays no political purpose in his portrayal of the characters in this play. His artistic involvement as a writer and his personal reaction as a liberal individual made him represent them in a realistic manner. As he observes No-Good Friday and Nongogo are inflated verse dramas by a liberally-informed white-but both the plays are in prose. (Quoted by Russell, Vandenbroucke, THCT, p.25) The gold mines stand as a contrasting back drop to represent the cruel exterior of South Africa. As in No-Good Friday, in this play too, we find the process of victimization. Johnny and Queeny stand as the victims of external conditions with a battered conscience and shattered inner self. Johnnys extreme craving for pure life makes him blind to his circumstances. He fails to treat Queeny as a human being like himself with a yearning for perfection and for a life of decency. Queeny dominates the whole scene with her knowledge of life and an awareness of the nature of men. Her shrewd thinking and her mature opinions about womanhood against the backdrop of her unfortunate murky past as a nongogo elevate her. She says: There is now. But there was a time I thought I had all I wanted when I got this. But when I had it that was the end. There has been times I never knew what day it was in hereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and I never needed to know. Id wake up and think is it Monday or Tuesday, be Friday? It did not make any difference. Giving it a name did not make it any different from the rest. (p.91) She exhibits a dignity in the climactic scene when she is found re-opening the doors of her shebeen. Her poor conditions had made her a nongogo; her desire for betterment made her think of the life of decency and respectability and the presence of Johnny had made her once again the Queeny of shebeen. Her resurrection as the proprietress of shebeen makes her a tragic figure. She bursts out: What do you think Ive been doing for five years? It had ended Johnny, it was dead and buried when you walked in here. But you wont let it stay that way, will you? Youd be worse than Sam, who just sighs when he passes the grave. Youve dug it up. Youve performed a miracle, Johnny. The miracle of Jesus and Dead body youve brought it back to life. The warmth of your hate, the breath of your disgust had got it living again. Im not too old . . . not too fat . . . even you looked at me like you never looked at another woman. Gods put a lot of streets Ive not walked, lampposts Ive not stood under, faces Ive not smiled at. (p.11

Attachment And Associated Disorders In A Classroom Education Essay

Attachment And Associated Disorders In A Classroom Education Essay EE and JE are two brothers, age eleven and eight respectively, who attend the same mainstream primary. Both children were identified as having difficulties considered consistent within Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and therefore each was issued with a Special Educational Needs (SEN) Statement. Both children have recently started to experience social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) at an intensity which is of great concern for those professionals working with them. A more detailed description of these difficulties will be outlined in the following section. The school they attend opened an ASD Resource Base (RB) in September 2009. The siblings have been timetabled in the Base according to their language and cognitive developmental levels. They were mapped for this wave 3 intervention with the view of increasing their successful inclusion in the mainstream educational offer. For EE, initial assessment lead professionals to allocate 60% of his school time in the RB, along with eight other students of different ages but similar educational needs. All nine children have been assessed within P Scale levels (QCA, 2005). JEs learning difficulties are of a moderate nature and therefore he was grouped in a different ability group with other three students. All children in this group were assessed to be working at National Curriculum level 1. JEs group was scheduled four weekly sessions in the Base with the view to provide additional support in the development of the childrens Literacy, Numeracy and Social/Emotional skills. All teachers involved in their education are developing a shared understanding of the use of Provision Maps (PMs), personalised documents that provide an overview of the childrens allocated wave 2 and wave 3 interventions, as well as their long and short term educational targets. PMs are used to inform teachers planning, both in the mainstream classroom and in the RB. In addition, they provide staff with a shared understanding of each childs educational needs (Gross, 2008). PMs also contribute to the schools inclusive ethos, supporting Riesers (1995) proposal that SEN should be part of the schools equal opportunities policy rather than being considered as a separate issue (cited in Cowne, 2000). Any child on role at this primary can access to the provision that is additional to or different from the mainstream offer at any time their needs indicate so, whether they present with SEN or not. The purpose of this essay is not necessarily to challenge the subjects ASD diagnoses but to analyse the nature of the behaviours they are currently manifesting, which may provide some relevant explanations and result in useful interventions once and if attachment disorders are considered. Johnson (1992) and Williams, OCallaghan and Cowie (1994), authors cited in Geddes (2006), maintain that childrens attachment experiences have implications for those seeking to support them in their learning process. It is the authors assumption that the two boys in this study are using behaviour as a way to communicate their emotional needs. This essay will attempt to give meaning to their current behaviour using Geddes Learning Triangle Theory (2006) and apply this analysis to inform future practice. Recent behavioural changes in both siblings if considered jointly may contribute to critically identifying possible parenting issues, which could prove significant as both children are currently being assessed as potentional candidates for the Child Protection Register. Identifying Problem Behaviours: an outline of background information and recent behavioural observations. EE is the eldest of the siblings and will be moving to secondary education in September 2010. He was diagnosed with ASD when he was almost 3 years old. EE presents with severe difficulties in the three areas of development which constitute the triad of impairments at the core of the autistic spectrum: social and emotional understanding; all aspects of communication; and flexibility of thought and behaviour (Jordan, 2005). During his primary education, EE has been known as a compliant boy, very quiet and tranquil. He tends to keep to himself but responds well to adult lead activities. He finds it hard to stay focused on activities that are not of his own choosing but understands boundaries and responds well to positive behavioural management approaches used with individuals with ASD, such as making connections with key adults, clear expectations, and verbal praise (Kluth, 2003). Over the past two months, EE has shown increasing signs of anxiety in response to other children suddenly b ecoming upset. On one occasion, a little girl in his RB group accidentally hurt herself and began to cry inconsolably. The change in his muscle tone was very apparent to those working with him. He became very rigid and placed his hands on his stomach. After a minute or two, and once the girl had calmed down, EE asked to go to the toilet, which he never had done before during lesson times. While it is reported that EE has been receptive to criticism in the past, he is currently very sensitive to any sign of disapproval, getting easily upset if he feels he is in trouble and often denying any wrongdoing. If another child hurts him/herself and a graze is apparent, EE tries to communicate the incident to an adult. He has begun relating these incidents to his own experiences, intentionally expressing these connections to the adults working at the RB and consequently disclosing events of concern. He has pointed at scars on his body while naming his brother. When asked what happened, EE usu ally responds mummy slaps JE. EEs language difficulties are a barrier to him expressing his needs and historically he has not initiated a conversation with another person. The contexts in which EE feels the need to share his own thoughts are related to others or himself being in physical pain. Recently EEs appetite has also worsened and he is reluctant to join in at snack time, having to be regularly encouraged to eat. It would then seem reasonable to consider EEs behaviours, such as the changes in his appetite, noticeable anxiety and withdrawal, as symptoms possibly associated with a specific emotional disorder, such as depression or anxiety (DfEE, 2001). JE is a year 4 student and the second child of what is about to become a family of four siblings. JE also was diagnosed with ASD at the age of four. He has always had a very loud and active nature. His language impairment is more apparent in his expressive skills, especially when involved in some kind of conflict with his peers. JE is known for his tendency to be non-compliant. When contradicted or challenged, he initially would protest verbally, but would comply with key adults like his teacher or LSA. He had not shown any physical aggression until two months ago. JE regularly appears in a heightened state of anxiety and he has become increasingly negatively fixated on one particular child, with whom he has experienced difficulty interacting with throughout his schooling. His sensitivity to criticism has accentuated recently and his difficulties in initiating and maintaining positive and trusting relationships with both peers and adults are escalating. JEs most challenging behaviour is his determination to always be in control at whatever the cost, both in class and at playtimes. He appears increasingly restless and has expressed lack of sleep. The nature of JEs SEBD is gradually proving more challenging to those working with him, to the extreme of being at risk of permanent exclusion. He is developing a pattern of flight and fight (Geddes, 2006), demonstrating an increasing violence against school property and/or adults. Physical restrain is met with spitting, kicking, punching, and even with the shouting of false accusations. Sometimes the trigger to his outburst can be peers succeeding in tasks or behaviours which he has declined to attempt himself. At other times, the outburst occurs when he has been denied permission to go to the toilet or to access to a preferred activity. His ability to remain on task is deteriorating. When a member of the mainstream staff referred to calling his father to report his behaviour, JE begged for it not to happen, alegating that his father would hit him with the belt. Despite knowing of his tendency to lie, the leadership considered all recent developments involving both siblings, and the schools child protection officer referred their case to Children Services. Circular 9/94 (DfEE, 1994) defines (S)EBD as difficulties presented in a continuum between behaviour which challenges teachers but which can be considered within normal developmental bounds and that which is indicative of serious mental illness. In EEs case, the behaviours he is presenting could be considered typical within the autistic spectrum, yet it is the sudden change parallel to those observed in his younger brother that has alerted professionals working with him, triggering a multidisciplinary analysis of the possible causes underlying these behaviours. JEs disruptive and disturbing behaviours, the deterioration of his social skills and his escalating distress, have lead the author of this paper to consider a possible overlap between his SEBD and mental health difficulties (SEBDA, 2006). It would appear that his current case scenario fits within the DfES (2001) definition of conduct/anti-social disorders: Conduct disorder is a term used by mental health specialists to describe a syndrome or core symptoms, which à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ involve three overlapping domains of behaviour: defiance of the will of someone in authority; aggressiveness; and anti-social behaviour that violates other peoples rights, property or person. (DfES, 2001 p.24) A referral to Children and Adolescence Mental Health Services (CAMHS) followed this hypothesis, but in the interim that assessment is undertaken by the designated professionals, staff involved with JEs education relates to Geddes (2006) assertion of the practitioners need to reflect upon the effect that he is having on those working with him. Professionals agree that the severity of JEs behaviour at times of crisis appears to be negatively affecting professionals ability to think and respond using best practice, thus the system is becoming reactive with an increase in punitive responses and fixed term exclusions. JE is gradually becoming more rejected and unpopular amongst his peers and the adults around him, which is having a detrimental effect on his self-esteem and consequently his academic performance is decaying hastily. Difficulties in interpersonal relationship skills correlate highly with self-esteem, affect school performance and other psychosocial domains (Dana, 2009). JEs emotional and social difficulties seem to be spiraling within Danas assertion. Greenhalgh (1994) emphasizes that for those children affected with emotional and behavioural difficulties, their ability to learn is strongly linked to the childrens ability to relate to others. His assertion could be then considered in connection with the pioneer work of Bowlby (1969; cited in Bowlby, 1988) on Attachment Theory. Bowlby explains attachment behaviour as a set of behaviour patterns meant to develop during the childs early months of life. He adopts an ethological approach to the understanding of parenting and identifies the need for protection as the reason for the development of attachment between infant and caregiver. Attachment can be explained as the emotional bond that develops between the two, providing the infant with emotional security (Peardy, 1998). Cooper, Smith and Upton (1994) considered that behaviour problems in schools could be caused by the emotional difficulties emerging as a consequence of difficult family backgrounds or physical/sexual abuse. Ainsworths experiment called The Strange Situation (1978; cited in Geddes, 2006 and Pearce, 2009) contributed to the identification of the essential input of the mothers sensitivity to her infant in the development of attachment patterns. It is reported that JEs social and emotional difficulties, specially his inability of developing trusting and long lasting relationships, have always been present during his schooling, but has taken a more anti-social direction in recent times. Prior to critically analysing the attachment patterns observed in the teaching and learning environment of the RB thus the individuals SEBD can be analysed under the Attachment Theory framework -, it appears relevant to first consider the Attachment Theory in relation to children diagnosed with autistic disorders. Attachment patterns in children with ASD. Parenting children with ASD can be highly stressful (Koegel et al. 1992 and Dum et al. 2001; cited in Rutgers et al. 2007). Rutgers et al. (2007) explain how a number of researchers maintain that impairments in social interaction may have their impact on parental interactive behaviour, suggesting that parenting is particularly affected by the childs lack of adaptability, his/her demandingness and the parents acceptability of the childs disability. Despite this fact, Rutgers et al. (2007) conclude that children with ASD are able to show secure attachment behaviours to their parents regardless of their impairments in social interactions. The results of their study, also indicate that children with ASD who present with attachment disorders, follow a disorganised/disoriented pattern. Pearce (2009) describes this pattern as that defined by the childrens bizarre and contradictory behaviours towards the caregiver, exhibiting incomplete movements and poor affective displays. Rutgers et al. ( 2007) attribute the cause of these differences to the detrimental impact that the childrens social and language impairments can have on their parents interactive behaviour, especially when the children have severe difficulties in conventionally displaying their emotions. These authors maintain that with children with ASD, more sensitive parenting is not necessarily associated with more attachment security, whereas for children without ASD, more sensitive parenting is associated with more attachment security. These findings could be significant when identifying differences in the possible underlying causes of the siblings current SEBD. As outlined in the introduction of this essay, the aim of this present analysis is to underpin possible connections between the subjects SEBD and what Ainsworth et al. (1978, cited in Geddes, 2006; Rutgers et al. 2007; and Pearce, 2009) referred to as insecure patterns of attachment. Before considering possible attachment disorders as possible causes of the childrens SEBD, the siblings language difficulties have been taken into consideration. Teaching staff consulted the RB Speech and Language Therapist (SALT) in relation to a possible link between the childrens recent change in behaviour, their communication disorders, and their self-awareness. Law and Garrett (2004) cited the work done by Baker and Cantwell (1985) in order to determine the exact nature of the relationship between behavioural disorders and communication disorders. These authors concluded that early communication difficulties and behavioural problems are integrally linked in a common developmental trail that may beco me stronger as the child grows older. Both children have been receiving language therapy at school and since the opening of the RB, the hours of direct contact with the therapist have increased. During the first weeks of the school year, both children shown better than expected progress in all academic areas and SALT reported considerable improvement in their language and communication skills. Both children are demonstrating a strong need to communicate. Whether this need is to point at what is upsetting them or to link their present experiences to other environments is unknown. In consultation with the SALT, and in terms of their language development, it was agreed that both children are making good progress. It was then assumed that answers to the subjects change in behaviour needed to be found elsewhere. Understanding the nature of early experience and its disorders in the classroom could help staff understand the meaning of the childrens behaviour in school and indicate what kind of response and intervention may be effective (Geddes, 2006). Attachment patterns observed in the classroom: differences between the two siblings. Clements (2005) asserts that behaviour is driven by interactions between the individual and the environment, adopting an ecosystemic approach when understanding behaviour in children with ASD. Attachment Theory is yet another ecosystemic framework within which professionals have the opportunity to view pupils and their social and emotional difficulties holistically (Geddes and Hanko, 2006; Gross, 1987). Consequently, staffs understanding of the impact early experiences can have on the childrens behaviour at school could contribute to the emotional heath and well-being of all pupils (Geddes, 2006). Dowling and Osborne (1985; cited in Geddes, 2006) stress that children develop an understanding of relationships based on their experiences with parents and siblings, friends and extended family. Through these primary experiences, Dowling et al. explain how children will develop an understanding of rivalry for parental affection, sharing and ownership. Stern (1985) maintains that experience s of being in the company of an other are to be seen as active acts of integration, rather than as passive and unsuccessful intends of differentiation of their self. Both siblings seem to have recently suffered deterioration in their emotional well-being, yet they appear to be expressing these difficulties in very different ways: while EE is approaching adults for comfort, JE is attacking them. These differences, explains Bee (1997), could find an explanation in the biological argument explaining temperament and personality. The biological perspective considers that each individual is born with characteristic patterns determined genetically, which then establish the individuals responses to the environment and to other people (Ayers, Clarke and Murray, 1999; Bee, 1997). Goleman (1996) supports this statement and adds that each individual inherits a series of pre-set emotional features, which determine his/her temperament. It would seem, however, as if by adopting a biological perspe ctive to explain the differences in the siblings behaviours, the birth order of the children would then not be accounted for, nor any environmental factors. This would then contradict the advice of a number of researchers who advocate for the need to adopt an eclectic approach to the analysis of SEBD (Cooper et al., 1994; Cooper, 1999; Jones, 1999; Visser, 2002; Visser, 2005). JE is the second of three siblings and the family is currently expecting a fourth baby. EE was diagnosed with ASD soon after JE was born. Sterns (1998) assumption that experiencing the self in the company of another is to be seen as an experience towards integration might not have been such for JE. Links between Attachment Disorders and Mental Health Problems can be found in Greenhalghs (1994) work when he refers to Kleins (1946) concept of the paranoid-schizoid position, which is characterised by the individuals strong need for omnipotence, or in another words, the need to have things ones own way. They relat e omnipotence to the fear that allowing others to get their ways will stop the individual from preserving the experience of things being good. When identifying the problem behaviours in previous sections of this essay, it was mentioned JEs need to dictate his own way (e.g. he is to go to the toilet any time he wants to, not when he is scheduled to; he finds it very difficult to cope with the adults authority, often challenging it and reacting violently when feeling contradicted). Geddes (2006) applies the principles of the attachment patterns originally determined by Ainsworth et al. (1978; cited in Geddes, 2006; Rutgers et al. 2007; and Pearce, 2009) to the classrooms teaching and learning dynamics. She does so with what she names The Learning Triangle, established between the child, the teacher and the task. Rutgers et al. (2007) reached the conclusion that children with ASD tend to be less secure and more disorganised in their attachment pattern. This assertion could provide a th eoretical basis to critically consider JEs SEBD difficulties as being caused by a disorganised /disorientated attachment. When describing pupils whose attachment pattern is of this type, Geddes (2006) identifies the following responses to their schooling and learning: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the pupil is likely to: appear in a heightened state of anxiety; be highly vigilant and notice any slight distraction; have an absence of trust in the authority of adults; be insensitive to others feelings; place considerable importance on objects rather than relationships; may bully others perceived as vulnerable/reminders of their vulnerability; get into trouble a lot in relatively unsupervised settings such as the playground; experience overwhelming affect (feeling) which has no apparent meaning; sudden react to unseen triggers; be extremely sensitive to criticism and implied humiliation; have little development of the capacity to reflect à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and sadly appear to enjoy very little. (Geddes, 2006; pp. 108) JEs problem behaviours seem to be consistent with most of the patterns described above. When JE joins a lesson in the RB, he is asked about his mood. All pupils in his group are invited to register themselves according to six basic emotions. JE has only managed to identify two of the choices, excitement and anger. Over the past month, JE has regularly indicated feeling angry but he cannot express the reason behind his emotion. Research on the origins of anger and rage link aggression and violence to weak bonding in infancy and weak parenting (APA Commission on Violence, 1993; cited in Geddes, 2006). Geddes (2006) also quotes Holmes (2001) definition of outbursts of rage as a form of displacement activity resulting of an individuals dilemma between fear and need. She also classifies the learning profile of disorganised students as that of being omnipotent and controlling when approaching the classroom, reaching to the same consideration as other authors previously refer to (e.g. Klein , 1946 in Stern, 1998). On the other hand, EE is responding well to a nurturing approach to his emotional needs, which Clements (2005) identifies as one successful strategy for those individuals with ASD who like EE are sensitive or anxious and ready to avoid situations. When considering Geddes Learning Triangle to critically analyse EEs SEBD, the evidence compiled with the SALT; the fact that he is approaching the adults in the RB when feeling upset and/or distress; his growing ability to work independently with the support of visual aids; and his good response to the nurturing approach staff is adopting, could contribute sufficient evidence to consider EE as a securely attached pupil who over the last two months has been experiencing some external strain. His condition of first-born and his kind and gentle manner would appear to have contributed to his development of a secure attachment with his mother. Over the years, he has demonstrated a capacity to adapt to school and to respond to the demands of the academic and social setting in which learning takes place, which Geddes (2006) identifies as features characteristic of secure attachment, a social and emotional skill that children with ASD are capable of achieving (Rutgers et al. 2007). Geddes goes to describe the secure attached pupil as a child who presents with high scores of ego-resilience and self-esteem, less dependency on the teacher with the past of time, but with a growing affect for him/her. The securely attached pupil can increase the intentionality in his/her interactions with others and s/he is generally more co-operative. This would seem consistent with the recent improvement in EEs expressive skills assessed by the SALT as well as his ability to allow a key adult to help him focus back on task after an incident that may have upset him. Conclusions and advice for further practice It would seem that EEs emotional distress needs to be further assessed within the work of a multi-disciplinary team in order to bring some light to his family situation. His anxiety could be rooted to home events that are yet to be clarified. From an educational point of view, staff needs to advocate for his emotional well-being and continue offering a nurturing approach to his current needs (Clements, 2005). The conclusion reached in this discussion regarding the possible implications of an identified attachment disorder for JE, along with the nature of his behaviours, imply that the educational priority for the immediate future is to provide JE with safety, reliability and predictability (Geddes, 2006). Visual cues, such as visual timetables, are already being used. Clear expectations and behavioural boundaries are common and consistent practice amongst the staff of the RB and, in few occasions, JE has shown some positive responses to the authority of one of the teachers. It appears necessary that these same boundaries are consistently used in the mainstream provision. In order to guarantee that, the teacher with whom he seems to be developing a positive relationship could be allocated as his key worker for a period of time. For children identified as having a disorganised/disoriented attachment pattern, Geddes (2006) also recommends the use of a physical container as a possible therape utic strategy. She advocates that this resource can be interpreted as a secure base. This approach needs to be further explored, but taking into account that JE is very fond of comic characters, providing him with a toy that he can place in and out of a box during the school day as required by his emotions could facilitate him with a tool with which to explore and regain interest in the world around him. JE shows interest in playing with his peers and it is often his lack of skills to initiate positive interactions at playtimes that causes him trouble. JE could benefit from adult support at playtimes to facilitate good role models and assertive approaches to conflict, social skills strategies recognised as useful in helping individuals to improve their self-concept and achieve optimal levels of self-esteem (Roffey, Tarrant and Majors, 1994). EE and JE have both been displaying abnormal behaviour patterns and despite very similar diagnoses of ASD, they have been exhibiting markedly different responses to what is assumed as external factors possibly stressed within the home. Through this examination of attachment and associated disorders, it has been hypothesized that the variation in the boys response could possibly be due to JE suffering from an attachment disorder in addition to his original diagnoses of ASD. For this supposition to be validated it is acknowledged that there is need for an extensive multidisciplinary investigation in the home dynamics and further analysis of JEs mental health. The value of investigating attachment and associated disorders when analysing possible causes of individuals SEBD is that it can inform staff to look further than the original ASD diagnoses. If the supposition of JE presenting with an attachment disorder of a disorganized/disorientated pattern is correct, working on developing JEs attachment to and trust of staff, as well as maintaining the specialised ASD provision within the RB, can only be of benefit to him. Unlike EE, JE is not responding to the strategies advised as best practice for children with ASD.

Education and Virginia’s Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own Essay -- A Room

â€Å"Only the gold and silver flowed now, not from the coffers of the king, but from the purses of men who had made, say a fortune from industry, and returned, in their wills, a bounteous share of it to endow more chairs, more lectureships, more fellowships in the university where they had learnt their craft† (754). This is a quote from Virginia’s Woolf’s essay, â€Å"A Room of One’s Own†. Here she is making a point about universities and the funding that they received from men that had gone to school there. Woolf’s essay takes place during the early nineteen hundreds when most women did not attend a university. There was great inequality of those who attended school because men had control over all the money. The men in society either received money from inheritances, or from industrial occupations, as Woolf mentions in her quote. Woolf’s essay focuses on the inequality of female writers’ recognition compared to men’s . She points out the fact that women writers were not very recognized by society because of their gender. This is true for the time period, but the reason that these women were not recognized is because of educational reasons. During Woolf’s time (the early 1900’s) women simply did not have the same resources that men had in order to be educated. The most important resource that they were lacking in was money. It took lots of money to be educated, and very few women had money of their own to attend a university. For the few that were educated, their education took place at an institution that was much less funded than a man’s institution. This funding for the institution includes the building itself and the quality of education. The quality of the education depends on the teachers that teach the classes and the ... ...an go to the best schools today. I am certain that this trend will also continue well into the future. So what difference does financial aid make? The difference is that now everyone can go to quality university rather than a low quality, low ranking university. Not every person can attend the best university. This is impossible. It is quite sad that female writers were not viewed as being as important in the past. I think that there have been many major changes to make men and women more equal today. The major equality factor is through education. Education is not only more possible for women, but for everyone. The many types of financial aid available make it possible for those who choose to attend a quality university, to achieve their goals. Work Cited Woolf, Virginia â€Å"A Room of One’s Own.† Ways of Reading, Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999

Personal Narrative: My Favorite Noncompetitive Activities :: essays research papers

My Three Favorite Noncompetitive Activities The three different activities I like is bicycling, camping, and hiking. I got interested in camping because, you get to see the outdoors, and see the stars, and eat burnt marshmallows. This is very fun. Also, because this is a group activity. I also got interested in hiking because, it keeps you in shape, and its just plain fun and it is a dual activity. I got interested in bicycling because, you get to travel around in it, and it keeps you in shape, and it is very fun. And, because it is an individual activity. When I went to camp I got to fish, swim, and tell scary stories, and sleep in tents. It was a lot of fun. We got to pick our camp grounds. We got to make camp fires, so we can cook our food. We are also able to see the stars at night. We can?t really see the stars in the cities, because there is too much light. But anyways we had a lot of fun camping. Bicycling is also a lot of fun. You can travel anywhere on a bicycle. It keeps you in shape, and it is fun. But you have to be careful of glass or nails, or else your tires might become flat. But other than that, it can be a lot of fun. You can get a really strong workout with a bicycle. You can have races against other people. You can take it with you camping and to the beach. Hiking is a lot of fun. It keeps you in good shape. It exercises your body. It helps your brain to think and learn. You can also race against other people. You can see the great out doors if you are hiking in the woods. You can see different kinds of birds and trees and people. Well I can tell you this much, hiking is a lot of fun.

Vertical Structure of Japanese Society

It promulgates the values of filial piety and harmonious relationship between the universe and oneself. It became the official gulden philosophy during the Outages period and It helped legitimate the Outages Shogun rule through its concepts of â€Å"a hierarchical society in accord with nature, of benevolent paternalism in government, of an ethical basis for administration, and of a meritorious Harmony was established through reciprocal benevolent ruling and obedience from their subjects.Social stratification of the Samurai, Peasant, Artisan and Merchant was also developed in a animal vein, with merchants seen as the lowest class as they are deemed as parasites under Neo Confucian values. It is not surprising that the IEEE (household/ family) system was also created during this period. The ‘e system placed great emphasis on family tradition and Its continuity, Members of an lee are expected to see themselves as one collective unit and work towards the greater good of the house hold and not for oneself.The head of the household is typically the eldest male heir and wields absolute power and responsibility. The lee system essentially placed emphasis on the parent-child (vertical) relationship over the husband-wife horizontal) relationship. This can be seen in the code of obligations for samurai promulgated In 1684[2]. The hierarchical social structure continues to be rigidly defined in modern Japan, and has brought about many societal norms and practices unique to Japan.The idea of a â€Å"good wife, wise mother†[3] was introduced In the Mel]/ period and continued to define gender roles in Japan until the late 20th century. The men were expected to take up arms for the nation's imperialist ideals and subsequently serve as corporate warriors In the lead up to post World War Two economic miracle. Thus the men devoted his life to work and serving his boss, while the women devoted their life to child rearing and their education, perpetuating the signific ance of vertical relationships In Japan.The Bunyan-kabob-relationship Is a vertical relationship that makes the relationship between an employer and his employee reminiscent of a parent-child relationship. It is a long term and deeply personal relationship that forms the basis of lifetime employment seniority system in Japan. The sample-kohl- relationship is another vertical relationship where seniors who are more experienced re duly respected by juniors who lack the experience and who needs to learn from seniors.

Dissertation: Employment and Workplace Design

[Impact of Workplace Design] Institute of Hotel Management Aurangabad The Impact of Workplace Design â€Å" A study of the Employee on the Job Performance in Taj Palace, Delhi† Varun Sahgal (H-18095) Submitted in fulfillment of the requirement of B. A (Hons) in Hotel Management University Of Huddersfeild United Kingdom March 2013 [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 1 [Impact of Workplace Design] Declaration I declare that this Dissertation is the result of my own individual efforts and that it confirms to university, departmental and course regulations regarding cheating and plagiarism.No material contained within this Dissertation has been used in any other submission, by the author, for an academic award. Varun Sahgal (H-18095) Third Year Hotel Management Course Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad Date: 19. 3. 2013 [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 2 [Impact of Workplace Design] Acknowledgement Every professional endeavor requires the hard work of many worthy minds and this work is no different. I would begin by thanking my Dissertation guide ‘Mr. Ananad Iyengar’, his patience and support, were instrumental in accomplishing this task.I thank my year tutor ‘Mr. Rakesh Katyayani’ and my dissertation coordinator ‘Mr. Saurabh Krishna’ for their amazing organizational skills that kept me focused on my work. Many of the arguments and facts mentioned in this work were sourced from books, journals, newspapers and websites. Though I have tried to acknowledge most of the sources to the best of my abilities, there were certain sources whose roots were not available making it absolutely impractical and difficult to provide accurate acknowledgement.Regardless of the source I would like to show my gratitude to these anonymous works as they may have contributed greatly towards my endeavor. Last but not the least I would like to thank my college ‘Institute of Hotel ManagementAurangabad’ for providing the necessary guidan ce and resources and I would also like to extend a vote of thanks to the ‘Summons’ online library of the ‘University of Huddersfield’. This work would have been incomplete without their academic support. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 3 [Impact of Workplace Design] Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1. Research Questions 1. 2 Subsidiary Questions 1. 3 Aim of the study 1. 4 Purpose of the study 1. 5 Limitation of the study 1. 6 Dissertation structure 6-8 8 8 8 9 9 9-10 2. Literature Review 2. 1 Introduction 2. 2 Ergonomics 2. 3 Workplace Motivation 2. 4 Supervisory support 2. 5 designing the new workplace 2. 6 Flexibility at workplace 2. 7 Health factors and wellness programs affecting on the job behavior 2. 8 The impact of technology on, on the job behavior 2. 9 Environmental concerns regarding workplace design 2. 10 Managing underperformance 2. 11The people involved 1 11-12 13-14 15 16-17 17-18 18-19 19-20 21-22 21-22 22-23 23 3. Research Methodology 3. 1App roach 3. 2Research Question 3. 3 Research design 24 24 24 24 4. Results and discussion 4. 1 Interview 4. 1. 1Mr, Avijit Sen, G. M. , Vesta Hotels, Jaipur 4. 1. 2 Mr. Akesh Bhatnagar, G. M. , Golkonda Hotel, Hyderabad 4. 2 Structured Questionnaire Analysis 25 25 25-27 28-30 30-40 [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 4 [Impact of Workplace Design] 5. Conclusion and recommendation 5. 1 Summary 5. 2 Major Findings 5. 3 Scope for future research 41 41 42 42 6. References 43 LIST OF TABLESFIGURE 1 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING EMPLOYEES†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 31 FIGURE 2 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING MALE EMPLOYEES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 32 FIGURE 3 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING FEMALE EMPLOYEES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 33 FIGURE 4 COMPARITIVE STUDY OF ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING MALE AND FEMALE EMPLOYEE †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 34 FIGURE 5 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING EMPLOYEES AGED 18-25 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 35 FIGURE 6 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING EMPLOYEES AGED 26-35 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 6 FIGURE 7 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING EMPLOYEES AGED 36-45 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 37 FIGURE 8 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING EMPLOYEES AGED 46-55 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 38 FIGURE 9 COMPARITIVE STUDY OF ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING ALL AGES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 39 [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 5 [Impact of Workplace Design] Chapter 1 â€Å"All work is seed sown. It grows and spreads, and sows itself anew† Thomas Carlyle Abstract Workp lace design in the hospitality sector has become a very important phenomenon; people do not only wish to see a luxurious front of the house but also an amazing back office.Workplace does not only imply to external and architectural design, it also in its folds covers the topics like motivation, wellness, supervisory support, environmental concerns, learning and development etc. This project deals with understanding proper workplace design as a tool for improving on the job performance of an employee. The researcher plans to conduct a research on some of the employees working in the food and beverage department of Taj palace Delhi to understand which attribute of workplace affects them the most and till what extent.The project also involves semi structured interviews with professionals at high designation in the industry and what is their take on the importance of work environment as an overall change maker. The objective is to completely understand workplace modeling and how innovat ions in the same can make it better in the future. 1. Introduction In the changing world of today where luxury and fashion make up for eighty to ninety percent of emotional content in an individual, people look for fashionable and comfortable work places also.The researcher aims to study workplace attributes in the hospitality industry and its affect on, ‘on the job behaviour’ of the employees The researcher while working will adopt ‘contingency orientation’, he will aim to understand that organizational behaviour/on the job behaviour is complex and is driven by a lot of factors. No two employees are alike and different situations means different to each and every individual. Managers therefore must learn to adopt workplace policies that answer not only the grievances of few but provides solutions for the problems of the many. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 6 Impact of Workplace Design] The researcher aims to follow a three point approach while achieving obj ectives for the given topic. ? Identifying the causes of current behaviour through a questionnaire analysis on work and its attributes ? ? Sidelining strategies that would help mitigate current causes of disengagement Studying the impact of change implemented for the same Managing workplace and workforce in the twenty first century is all about embracing a change. In many ways the job of the workplace is to perform the same functions as it performed earlier which is to manage, motivate and influence employees.Current scenario is that, the workplace’s expectation from the employee is the same but the employee’s expectation from the workplace has changed drastically. The complex variety of social, personal, environmental, recreational and technological changes that have taken place recently makes the task of managing workforce and designing workplace even more challenging. Someone rightly quoted ‘Managing on the job behaviour today is like pushing water uphill usin g a rake’ (Anonymous, n. d. ). Time is short and stakes are high. Corporate are running a race to achieve perfect face value amidst their competition.Companies that manage their workforce well get higher returns on productivity. After all, a lot depends on the produce of a company. Recently many companies have focused their attention towards IT; they feel technology gives them an added advantage since it evolves rapidly. Managers forget that technology can only seldom provide an organization with a competitive advantage but in the end, it is the people that matter. Research has also shown that investment in IT workers pays greater dividends than investment in hardware or software.When employees quit they are not leaving their jobs, they are leaving their workplace. Therefore a great workplace atmosphere creates a better on the job performance thereby creating a cadre of the finest productive workers. Products can easily be aped but not the workplace on which the productivity and behaviour of the human resource depend so an organizations greatest competitive advantage is its own workplace and the behavior of its [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 7 [Impact of Workplace Design] employees in the workplace.Implementing methods for the improvement of a workplace should be the first and foremost decision of any company. This is why companies like CISCO, Harley Davidson and Merek are different they invest in manpower more than any other attribute. They understand the importance of work and workplace systems alike. One must know that implementing a straightforward management strategy is easy but what really counts is what the management does in difficult times when on the job behaviour is not good and there are high rates of employee attrition and abseintism. . 1 Research Question ? Is On the Job Behaviour influenced by workplace design? 1. 2 Subsidiary Questions ? ? Would a better on the job performance affect organizational productivity? Why have no strong laws in workplace design been implemented in the past twenty years? ? Will factors like goal setting, performance feedback, role congruity, defined processes, workplace incentive, supervisor support etc influence ‘On the job behavior’ of an employee? ? Have there been improvement trends in workplace design? 1. Aim of the study The aim is to analyze the effect of the Workplace attributes on the employees ‘On the job behavior’ by performing a structured research in the Food and Beverage department of Taj Palace Delhi. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 8 [Impact of Workplace Design] 1. 4 Purpose of the study Workplace and jobs have become a complex phenomenon in today’s times. Employees today have a large number of alternatives and selections at their disposal and hence workplace becomes a crucial factor for keeping or leaving the job.It is imperative that an Employees working environment is well kept and maintained because ultimately the workplace environment is what defines on the job behaviour and employee motivation. How well an employee adapts to his psychological, psycho motive, desire and health factors at his workplace will determine his workplace behaviour, productivity and errors. Through this research the researcher aims to prove the relation between workplace factors and on the job behaviour of the employee thereby being able to prove that workplace design factors definitely impacts on the job performance of an employee. . 5 Limitations and scope of the study: Broad research in this field would bring about data collection complications. The research only analyses the data collected from a few employees in the food and beverage department. The semi structured interviews will also not show the bigger picture as different people have different opinions about their own workplace, to some the workplace seems perfect to others it may require a lot of change.Although the study covers only a small department in one business unit of the h ospitality sector research on this subject in the near future on a macro level would provide managers with an all new level of understanding in employee motivation and workplace design. The research can be extended to hotels resorts or even company policies. 1. 6 Dissertation Structure: The 1st chapter, the Introduction essentially covers the topic of the research and a brief on its relevance to the industry today.The chapter summarizes the approach of the researcher and the hypothesis and other objectives. The chapter speaks of limitations and scope of this dissertation in the next decade. It also covers some of the questions that the researcher will analyze during the course of this project. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 9 [Impact of Workplace Design] The 2nd chapter, the literature review forms the basis of the dissertation. It carries a vivid description of each of the workplace attributes, their current scenario in the industry, prior research and the researcher valuable critiq ue.The literature review provides a structure to the dissertation and also helps to prepare a structure for the data analysis and research methodology. The Literature review also decides the scope for future research on the given topic. The 3rd Chapter, the research methodology deals with the steps the researcher has taken to obtain the desired data to conclude his hypothesis. It also gives a comparative understanding of how the researcher has composed the models for analysis and what was the approach.The 4th Chapter, the data analysis contains the conducted interviews and the analysis of the data collected from the employees in the form of a structured questionnaire, the chapter has the analysis of the data which proves the researchers hypothesis and also answers the subsidiary questions as given on the first chapter The 5th Chapter, conclusion and recommendation summarizes the dissertation and the results of the analysis. It has the critique of the researcher on the existing proce dures and how they can be changed in the near future to achieve outstanding results.The chapter also provides a valuable insight into how future research can be conducted for the same [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 10 [Impact of Workplace Design] Chapter 2 (Literature Review) â€Å"When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home. † -Betty Bender 2. 1 Overview It has always been argued that distraction, lack of interest, poor decisions and high absence are the major causes of employee disengagement; but what organizations actually forget are that these factors might be just the symptoms; – the root cause may be very different (Slade, 2010).Recent scenarios also indicates that subtle productive changes in the workplace environment today actually reduce employee absenteeism and attrition, which in turn improves on the job performance thereby impacting productivity in a very positive way (Roeloefsen, 2002). Today it has been proven that employee sa tisfaction is directly proportional to job satisfaction, which is directly dependent on the working environment. Workplace factors are a major catalyst in productivity and on the job performance of an employee.In fact, research has focused on ergonomics or biomechanics because of workers’ demands for more comfort at the workplace (Wells, 2000). Theorists believe that everyone seeks a balance between what one puts into his work and what one expects to get out of it. Most of the time one tends to compare his own situations with that of other employees in the market place, before he actually decides to work with a particular organization (Adams, 1963). In the recent past the nature of employee and employer relations has actually been distorted because of the changes in job structures and way of living.There are a number of companies in the market and therefore not only employees but employers also need to focus on their conduct to make a mark in the business. Higher salaries and better perks may seem the most obvious way of increasing an employee’s on the job performance but this is influenced by other important factors that include work motivation, training and development opportunities, physical, psychological and psychomotive factors (Leblebici, 2012). [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 11 [Impact of Workplace Design]Maslow’s hierarchy of needs’ theory argued that the measure of anthropogenic attitudes to work was slowly and steadily being extended to workplace and work environment as well for understanding human psychology and motivating factors. The study involved synthesizing success stories of exemplary people like Einstein, Roosevelt, Douglas and Adams rather than studying the so called neurotic or mentally ill. The model involved looking at human psychology from scratch – basic needs like food, water, lifestyle, love etc. Going step higher, needs evolved to less basic ones like security, employment, morality, family etc.At f urther higher levels, needs were more exclusive and included a need for creativity, belonging, selfesteem, motivation and culture. It was realized that if all these factors were well taken care of in a workplace environment, they would boost the on job performance of the individual , which would reflect on the team thereby boosting productivity on a whole (Janet A Simons, n. d. ). McGregor’s theory on the contrary involved classifying workers as X or Y elements, where the X elements are idle, destructive and redundant and require motivation and training to bring them up to speed with work and business.Elements Y on the other hand, are selfmotivated workers flushed with creativity, who actually make up the strong pillars of the business and require less support as compared to the element X. McGregor’s theory differs from Maslow’s theory where he states that it is the worker who should be motivated. According to him, the workers should have a positive relation wit h the workplace to ensure all psychological and self actualization needs are being fulfilled for better performance and productivity. Stuart, 2010) Finally differing from all other theorists Herzberg found out that factors that were cause for concern were company policy, relation with the boss, working conditions, salary and relationship with peers. On the other hand , the factors that kept them motivated were achievement, recognition, business as usual, responsibility , advancement and growth, which again linked the theory of Herzberg to Mcgregor and Maslow (Anonymous, n. d. ) Therefore it may be said that a workplace is the result of various decisions, feelings and emotions working together in a close and cohesive work environment.So to actually determine what is it that actually impacts on the job performance of an employee. The researcher will look into biomechanics which has been a very recent breakthrough in research better termed as Ergonomics at workplace. [Varun Sahgal (H-1 8095)] Page 12 [Impact of Workplace Design] 2. 2 Ergonomics: Today ‘Ergonomics’ or innovation in workplace procedures has become the hip word in the United states of America as the workplace is going through major changeovers during this particular era.The Modern Office Procedure Council has even moved up to publish an article fashionably, entitled ‘Ergonomics; the outbreak of a newer discipline’ (Anonymous, n. d. ). The article though not very acclaimed has covered: work-stations, work-environment, behaviors at work and many other minute issues that are generally overlooked while discussing on the job performance. The research brought together problems that had been collected and researched over a period of thirty years to prove that employers could actually boost employee on the job performance through workplace design.Thi research is mainly being focused on the employees’ reaction to workplace and workplace design. Working all day at a desk in an office takes its toll on the eyes, neck and hands which are sometimes termed as Musculo Skeletal disorders or simply (MSDs) (Anonymous, 2010). Workplaces have today initiated Healthy Work Practice Programs (HWPP), these programs provide a proper checklist for office ergonomic design and also help develop strategies to implement the same (Anonymous, 2010).A study conducted in 2000 also states that in the workplace today where technology has taken over a lot of the workplace space there should be supplementary breaks in between to reduce eye strain and over exertion of the eye muscles (Anonymous, 2007). Theorists have argued that the rate of production per industry per day has been increasing daily to maintain a competitive advantage in the market place. Technologies are being upgraded, work lifestyle is changing and most importantly, recreation time is being diminished. In such an environment, where humans are actually becoming synonymous to machines, the importance of rgonomics is p aramount. If the principles of Ergonomics are not applied to the work task and tools, workers might go through undue stress and mental strain, which in turn decrease on the job performance and have a negative impact on productivity as a whole. Recognizing the ergonomic factors in a workplace is the first step to recognizing the hazards related to workers on the job conditions. Engineers believe that removing physical stress from the working environment could actually eliminate many serious work related injuries each year.Employers should learn to understand employee mindset and work design to make the workplace safer. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 13 [Impact of Workplace Design] Ergonomics can help reduce many (MSDs) while working in operations like hotels, as the work involves giving more than eight hours a day to operations. The process also helps increase the productivity as it provides safer working conditions that motivates the workers to work better in an environment. Ergonomi cs would also help decrease the absenteeism rates due to less MSD’s and more energy among the work force.A workplace can substantially reduce turnovers if new recruits find their workplace properly designed to suit their mindset. Reduced expenses, resulting from a decrease in the rate of (MSDs) would require less cost for covering illness and reduced organization and personal medical costs (OSHA, 2000) OSHA also agues that Reducing Ergonomic Hazards at a workplace is probably the easiest of operations to perform. If one is an employer and his employees frequently complain of ergonomic hazards, all he has to do is incorporate an ergonomics program in the foundation of his organization.The program should motivate employees to participate and should provide scope for valuable feedback to supervisors. The program should be checked regularly by the executive in charge to ensure transparency and productivity. The program at the end of the day should be successful and should be a pr oper training and development task for employees as well as employers (OSHA, 2000) Though from personal work experience it is strongly believed, Employees in the Hospitality ndustry have an inner belief that it is the organizations outlook to provide them with safe, healthy and balanced working conditions. Over a period of the past two years the researcher has completed successful working hour within the premises of three Hospitality establishments and has nowhere experience a proper Ergonomic design program in place. Apart from workplace design 58% of the employees strongly agree that the motivation factor is a major discipline if one wishes to measure the relation between job performance and workplace.Each and every employee feels that to sustain and work happily in a working environment there are only two things of paramount importance, the first being workplace design which has been explained above by the researcher in great detail and the other is Motivation factor. [Varun Sahg al (H-18095)] Page 14 [Impact of Workplace Design] 2. 3 Workplace motivation Motivation recently has been a keen area of research among industrialists and psychologists as it impacts on the job performance of an Individual. It is being taken as a very serious process in a workplace.The beginning of motivation for any personnel in any field of work is very simple, ‘he deserves to be treated fairly and with respect’. On the job behaviour is a pure reflection of how one is treated within the organization. The second step to why motivation is an important fact is because ‘motivation leads to a change in behaviour, which in turn decides changes in the productive aspect of the employee at workplace’. Slowly but steadily managers in many concerns have started taking the concept of motivation seriously.The assessment of satisfaction in the workplace has been a very common occurrence in the recent times and has been used as a tool to measure employee well being and satisfaction in a particular department (Spector, 1997). General Research has shown that out of twenty candidates, seven prefer to go to work happily i. e. They are the category X employees according to the X and Y theory. Ten employees have a feeling that they wish to remain neutral some days can be happy and well other could be boring. The remaining three who are the Y candidates feel that their orkplace requires drastic improvements. There was a similar answer from all the candidates when they were questioned about appreciation, belonging, scope of improvement, salary, supervisor support goal setting and feedback. Therefore as gathered from work experience at a diverse number of workplaces, the general feeling is that workplace motivation is a very important aspect. If the behaviour of the supervisor or the senior does not motivate the employees at work then the employee tends to abhor their work leading to increased abseintism and attrition.The researcher feels that out of a ten hour work shift an employer must at least spend thirty minutes with his employees to evaluate what they have done and what they should do in the near future to establish success in their working methods. An employer should be able to successfully develop a sense of confidence and optimism in his employees. The employer should also once in a while allow the employees to volunteer for tasks that are beyond their abilities so that even the failure can help generate self learning through a method of retrograde training.Apart from this the researcher also feels that an employer must successfully be able to map his employee’s goals and aspirations to help them achieve the same through directed learning and development opportunities. Apart from all this the general feeling is that beyond motivation a good supervisor at the workplace is also an important factor for retaining and satisfying employees. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 15 [Impact of Workplace Design] 2. 4 Supervisory Supp ort Today Supervisors are a very important factor in the workplace.They are epitomes of knowledge and mediums of effective feedback for employees who are working under them (Durham CC, 1997). The level of supervisory support is directly proportional to the teams introduced in workplace today. A supervisor today should be able to comprehend the mood of the individual and the team and work accordingly. With increasing number of team members under a supervisor the need for traditional support reduces. Today a supervisor is expected to possess the qualities for performing diverse roles as with changing scenarios the rolls of different teams.With the drastic changes in the environment it is necessary that the supervisor is chosen before the contingent team is prepared and his behaviour and attitude towards his work must be assessed before-hand so as to give a complete sense of satisfaction to all employees as theorized by (Tannenbaum SI & JA, 1996). A supervisor’s major focus shou ld be on the job enhancement practices for his subordinates, feedback and training. This will help bring about a change in the employee’s behaviour, motivating him to redesign the workplace.A supervisor must allow an employee to learn from mistakes rather than spoon feeding and directing each and every time as there is a line of research that states that ‘autonomy without doubt is the best form of learning’ (Parker Sk, 1998). Sometimes theorists do say that leadership and supervision have a lesser impact on satisfaction but that does not mean it has no impact at all. Supervisory support has critically been recognized as an imperative process for continuous development of new teams on the aspects of satisfaction. BM, 1997) The effect of supervisory support on employee satisfaction is an attribute which has scarcely been researched over time. What really matters is the ability of the supervisor to stay within a team and work as an equal and at the same time being a ble to stand out from the rest in some unique way or the other such that, he is successfully able to motivate and supervise the employees he has to lead. No supervisory support is complete without a super workplace design. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 16 [Impact of Workplace Design] . 5 Designing the new workplace Today ‘on the job behaviour’ is becoming an important aspect of workplace productivity, architects and interior designers have been working hard to provide employees with the most exquisitely modeled workplaces possible. But the time has come to look beyond architectural innovation because (Jusko, May,2000) says that a study conducted in office design and workplace survey in some of the best offices in the US states that most of the managers gave working conditions a grade ‘c’.Hence, it was proved that there are some things beyond architectural design that prompted workers to do well, which were none other than ‘wellness and recreation desi gn’ Healthcare expenditure is soaring high, there is a definite need for reducing hospital and sickness costs in each and every organization. The United States of America and the European nations have adopted structured wellness programs in their office design (Kutler, 2010). Research widely shows that prevention of injury and disease decrease working cost by $3. 47 per employee per day.This average return on investment clearly highlights the fact that incorporation of wellness programs within an organization would help profits greatly and would positively influence on the job performance with reduced health concerns, injury and cost of treatment Theorists’ believe a key factor of human resource is to promote employee satisfaction thereby promoting customer satisfaction. Referring to ‘Maslow’s triangle’ , it can be easily seen that a sense of belonging, friends, culture, team work, co-worker support and supervisor support, games and recreation make an important part of an employee’s ‘self-actualization’ needs.Workplace recreation and design is very evident in organizations that bring together people and processes and its introduction into the hospitality sector is a highly necessary evil. The question to ponder over is why again is a recreational design required at a workplace? The answers though are pretty simple. Today Recreational activities provide a form of intrinsic reward, a sense of self satisfaction from within, which boosts employee motivation. Participation in recreational activities and retreats, help put a balance between work and life.Recreational activities that require participation of staff teams provides scope for individual behaviour and attitude feedback. Recreation in a way helps an employee connect his aspiration to his organization and last but not the least, recreation provides the best forum for self development (Mokaya, february,2012) [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 17 [Impact of Wor kplace Design] So, when it comes to linking recreation and health with on the job performance it has been well seen that both help in strengthening the social bond between customer and employee.They help in developments of skills like leadership, team work and communication, which are invaluable assets for the service industry. The activities also provide a good social forum for discussion and understanding of topics like goals, vision and mission of the organization and future endeavors; it also provides scope for innovation and brain storming at work, coupled with increased friendship and cohesiveness among the staff.Other than wellness and recreation Work stress is also a major cause of not liking ones workplace so to provide a better relationship among staff and employers it is necessary also to act upon the concept of workplace flexibility. 2. 6 Flexibility at workplace Today flexibility means defining how and when a work is done and how does one organize his career in such a c ritical way that there is improved workplace effectiveness. Companies use workplace flexibility as a major tool for managing, customizing, recruiting, retaining and strategizing workforce load as said by (E. Friedman, 2002).There have been several studies in this field that have successfully been able to prove that flexibility has a major role in reducing stress, increasing effectiveness and improving performance. Flexibility at workplace can be of many types depending on what the work demands and how the superior wants to maximize the amount of work done by a particular employee. Today Traditional flextime at a workplace allows employees to choose their own times of coming and leaving the office such that their times will be surrounding the time of core operating hours and the work meted out to them should be done.Employees are given a certain amount of time in a week to complete their work for e. g. ; the employee is to work ten hours a day for four days a week or has to complete eighty hours of work over a period of nine days and so on and so forth (E. Friedman, 2002). Many companies also do offer a concept better known as summer hours, i. e. , increasing an hour per day and completing the time allotted before the designated day, to apply for an extra off. Theorists believe that Flexibility is many times wrongly termed as an employee perk whereas it is only a tool to successfully manage employee on the job behaviour/performance.Its importance is such that it can be used over a range of managerial jobs and at different levels of the hierarchy. Most importantly it is a precise tool and should only be applied only [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 18 [Impact of Workplace Design] where the management feels apt to do so, everyone cannot ask for flexibility and not all jobs can be given flexibility. There are instances wherein on a permanent job an employee can be provided flexibility for a temporary period to boost his morale so as to help him change his outlook tow ards his work (E.Friedman, 2002). It is imperative that a company realizes the problem it wants to deal with, using the tool of flexibility. It is wise always to look into flexibility issues of comparable companies before such a step is taken to boost employee esteem. The company should conduct internal studies and should actually be completely sure about the attitudes of the personnel for whom they are allowing flexibility as the company’s entire working schedule will be centered on flexibility.Going by what theorists say, coping with flexibility is also not an easy factor so it is always better if the supervisors of a company are better trained to monitor staff that are flexible and are trained to calculate output from a flex oriented workforce and last but not the least, a company should make its staff well aware of the continuing improvements and should regularly appreciate staff who have done well on a flexi schedule through accolades and newsletters.Though flexibility i s not a very common answer to problems in the Hospitality sector as it is a very human oriented industry, what can actually become the solution is concentrating on improving the health of an employee. 2. 7 Health Factors and Wellness Program affecting on the job behaviour Today a workplace is viewed from the health perspective, research so far has looked into workers health in two aspects, the former being – do organizations today promote wellness and health programs for workers?And the latter being – Are healthy workplaces also the ones which are more productive? The first question generally covers human resource, employee motivation, hazard free environment, wellness programs, supervisor support, training and development. The latter question though here is significantly more important for this particular research as it is looking into improvements in ‘on the job performance’ of a worker in the organization. Looking at a very three dimensional view of the situation, the answer to the latter appears to be more qualified and complex.Organizations are slowly incorporating workplace wellness programs in their work schedule but actually translating the measure of wealth to on the job productivity is a very difficult task that is required to be accomplished. The research on this front appears to be very weak because in the service industry where work is supposed to be inconspicuous, the industry has shown graphs of deteriorating worker [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 19 [Impact of Workplace Design] health and wellness because of the amount of hard work required and less time available for one’s own self.One must identify the gaps in the health environment of a workplace and should aim to understand the synergistic effects of certain health promotion exercises by combining psychology with job behaviour to research factors like motivation, productivity , sickness ,absenteeism , leave and other psycho social outcomes that can be measure d through wellness studies conducted on the job. Organizations must invest in a healthier working environment and employee care as it will no doubt increase productivity and will be a smart investment in terms of future returns.It is highly imperative that employees coordinate with employers for such programs and understand the effects of team related, work related and family related healthcare. But then again by incorporating better technology also, one can reduce the stress on the Human workforce of the industry. 2. 8 The impact of technology on, ‘on the job behaviour’ Technology has not only changed the workplace today but has also become the lifeline of success of any company. The world has changed after the advent of fax, internet, Wi-Fi, e mail and holograms. Technology is upgrading itself each minute and will continue upgrading itself at a fast rate.Imagining work without access to technology is unimaginable. Technology has not only changed the lives of the physi cally able but has also given equal power to the disabled to compete and even be more productive than normal. With the advent of technology, more and more physically challenged people are entering the business today that probably earlier, just had one or two options. Before technology the differently abled could only earn from supplement programs of the government or could attend ‘training and retraining’ in schools for the challenged, but their life was neither challenging nor productive.The knowledge of assisting devices – how they work and how easily they can be serviced, has empowered the physically challenged to reach newer heights, today even they can be workers, coworkers, self-earning individuals and most importantly with technology boosting their self-esteem, they have become successful and productive employees of today. Theorist believe Whether disabled or not , technology will continue to assist individuals in a job where precision and time management are required, and before joining a job the employer [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 20 [Impact of Workplace Design] s often riddled with questions about what technology will the employee be using and can the technology be remodeled as per his convenience of use (Cohn, 2000). Therefore it is imperative that technology keeps changing so that work becomes easier as ease of work is another incentive/tool to improve on the job performance and quality of service. Before we close the topic of technology, we must not forget that a very simple technology that has been around for the past few years is the one on which the foundation of every successful business industry is based is the e-mail, which is viable proof that technology is a burning need.Though technology is indispensable, policy makers in every country should take an important stride to maintain on the job wellness and a healthy workplace environment. A healthy environment is the first installment of better and greater future return s and for that technology must go hand in hand with the Environmental concerns of Today. 2. 9 Environmental concerns regarding Workplace design Environment issues at workplace should be a growing concern for any company today after the green laws and threat to the ozone layer.Apart from all this it also affects employee performance and on the job behaviour. Who would like to work in an office with bad ventilation and the smell of asbestos around? An infected work environment is a health issue; it not only decreases productivity but also has a direct impact on employee health causing diseases like asthma, claustrophobia and lung infections. This in turn again increases employee absenteeism and health costs of the company. The Employers should take necessary steps to ensure a healthy work environment.The organization should maintain and keep to the guidelines provided by OSHA and EPA to maintain cost effective ways of managing work environment and reduce absenteeism and attrition to i nfluence on the job behaviour and employee productivity. Theorists argue that employees should also understand greater concerns related to the environment when they are working in a service industry where 75 to 80 percent of the waste generated is biodegradable and can be managed simply by doing CSR initiatives and nonprofit work.Restaurants generate around seventy to eighty kilos of edible waste per day. If a company plans successfully, the food waste can safely be disposed off to NGO’s for the poor as a CSR initiative which would give employees a sense of belonging and goodwill and [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 21 [Impact of Workplace Design] would motivate them to innovate on better and unique methods of waste disposal for the greater good and environmental concern.The reason for bringing in environmental concerns while studying employee productivity is the simple fact that â€Å"waste should be eliminated in the surroundings where it is generated’ then only is it said that the company follows a policy of successful waste management. Therefore, every company should have a method of connecting with the experts for complete understanding of environmental concerns relating to a guest service industry. Proper training and development sessions on how to manage cleanliness and environment around and in the workplace should be well followed by employers.The employees should be trained in the art of environment management by their given organization. After discussing every aspect of workplace design one must not forget that an Employees reason for discord may also be underperformance which also sadly makes up a large part of the workplace design. 2. 10 Managing underperformance Workplace is marked by unsatisfactory work performance or the failure to comprehend and act on the tasks which are to be done by the individual in the position of power he holds.The reasons clearly stand to be; a high degree of non compliance with workplace policies and/or rul es, unacceptable behaviour from peers at workplace and disruptive or attitude clashes with bosses or superiors. Apart from this the reasons that are more importantly missed while carrying out a feedback are an employee’s problem in understanding what is expected, his incapability to perform in the given position due to a mismatch between job profile and skill set, lack of regular counseling thereby paralyzing the employee technically, family issues, drug abuse and work culture.It has been frequently argued that dealing with underperformance has always been challenging for employee and employer alike. Managers with formal education require the 5Cs to deal with underperformance which relatively are character, commitment, conviction, courtesy and courage (Khera, 1998). It is crucial to resolve underperformance problems in the location where they arise. Not necessarily does every underperformance issue require a structured approach but the mind must always be free to explore addi tional options.Employers must remember in all contexts that underperformance affects a work environment adversely. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 22 [Impact of Workplace Design] There exists certain incapability among managers to identify the source of underperformance and then assess it successfully. Never has one seen all companies perform at the same level and if they would have, the existence of competition would not have been a paramount feature hence it is important to understand who controls the situation and who manages the workforce. 2. 1 The people involved After discussing all the attributes involved in a workplace design that lead to positive on the job performance, one must not forget the major question of who should be involved in the major processes. An article published by (Frenburg, 1985) stated that flexibility, health, environment, recreation and motivation impacted on the job performance as it involved a sense of well being and belonging in an employee. The resear cher also found that whatever gaps were left in progressive work design was the lack of consultation between employee, employer and workplace designer.It is undoubtedly very clear that a workplace benefits more from staffs who are motivated and trained and understand who the boss is. Effective performance management individuals can create better employees and better effectiveness at workplace. Non compliance with workplace issues, negligent behaviour and hostility in the workplace environment leads to leadership, teamwork and managing the workplace issues. It is rare that an employee knows what is expected from him. Many a times it has been seen that for all the processes mentioned above, there are as such no ground rules laid down by the department to help employees with the same.Unless employees are made to understand that they are underperforming, it is very difficult for them to actually understand that they are underperforming (government, n. d. ). It is essentially required th at the head HR managers and executives , properly look into the tasks mentioned above so that proper coordination is maintained and all the processes followed very closely and carefully†¦ [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 23 [Impact of Workplace Design] Chapter 3 (Research Methodology) 3. Approach The researcher has adopted a mix of â€Å"quantitative† as well as â€Å"qualitative† approaches to carry out this particular study. The Qualitative analysis involves the primary research which draws inferences from the working environment and its effect on the employees in the food and beverage department of the Taj Palace Delhi. The secondary research of this analysis involved conducting literature reviews through thorough study of journals, books and websites to get a global understanding of employee and employee workplace to substantiate the primary research.The quantitative approach involved conducting a survey of thirty employees in the food and beverage department of the hotel, the questionnaires were distributed to equal number of men and women and were spaced over a span of different age groups to understand how employees today feel about their workplace and what is the change they would like to see in that particular department or their working conditions in the near future.After which the researcher conducted semi structured interviews of certain industry personnel who have given sufficient amount of years to the industry and who can successfully compare and contrast the difference between workplace scenarios then and what change they have undergone now. 3. 2 The Research Question/Hypothesis Do workplace attributes affect on the job behaviour of an employee? 3. 3 Research design The primary design of the research is an empirical deductive research. The questionnaire data has been collected from thirty employees belonging to different societies and spread over different ages and genders.The qualitative data involves deducing data from semi st ructured interviews of hospitality industry professionals with sufficient experience of the topic. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 24 [Impact of Workplace Design] Chapter 4 (Results and Discussion) 4. 1 Interview 4. 1. 1 Mr. Avijit Sen, General Manager, Vesta Hotels Jaipur How critical is the physical work environment to office space designing today compared to when you began your work in the industry? Things were indeed very different when I began in the hospitality sector. The industry was still going through a phase of metamorphosis and things were very new.Then, every HM student was considered to be a waiter and a culinary guy a ‘bawarchi’. There was no defined workplace design as such, people were staunch followers of the phrase work is worship and no matter whatever be the condition work is our livelihood so good or bad pleasing or not so pleasing it did not matter. But yes things are very different now. People are being judged on their overall efficiency more and m ore jobs are being replaced by technology and a small number of highly qualified individuals are required in a business unit. Workplace or the so called physical environment of the employee has become an epicenter of change.Innovation and efficiency are today’s mantra and are the keys to employee motivation. Everyone wishes to have an environment with his own physical space. There has been more stress on scientific design lately to suite the body and physical needs of employees and with labor becoming more and more costly, one has to design to retain. When did you first begin to realize that the work environment or the workplace itself has started affecting your on the job behaviour? Well to be very honest, it was not very tough to realize that. When you are at the level of assistant managers you are young in the industry and the world seems to be a gift of Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 25 [Impact of Workplace Design] unlimited possibilities. At that time when you are in the p eriod of frequent transfers and property changes you seem to notice designs and patterns I am from a food and beverage background for me at least I knew that the design of the bar or the restaurant definitely mattered. Better ambience better origination would not only please customer but also employee alike. The major difference always will be that some places the organization would have designed well at other places it would have not shown much interest so the working attitude really differs from place to place.I preferably found the Private hotels and their designs better and hence changed over from ITDC. Why do you feel that the industry is taking so long to incorporate workplace innovations even after realizing that it has a significant impact on the on the job behaviour? Unlike all other product oriented businesses which have been there from time immemorial the hospitality industry is relatively knew and mapping all aspects of its production is very difficult.Plus recent insigh ts show that the hospitality industry is still in need of a lot of qualified professionals Workplace design though essential is a very hi-fi concept, the education system in India is definitely not equipped to produce out of the box thinking individuals and that is why there are very few. It is not that the workplace engineering concept has not been introduced, the fact still is that hospitality professionals are still not mentally prepared to embrace the realities of the concept. If you wanted to create the ideal workplace environment, what would you envision it to be if you were an employee?Honestly, if I were to view workplace as an employee, India is far from achieving the vision I have seen. Improvements are not only required in staff line motivation but also infrastructure [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 26 [Impact of Workplace Design] Life in hospitality is fast paced, the job is demanding and work hours are eerie. In a scenario like this, employees are forced to come and chang e in a changing rooms cramped with lockers that would not even hold two pair of suits. The washrooms of the back area are cramped and employees literally have to bend to accommodate.The bunk beds placed for employees on night parole too are rough and uncomfortable When I began as an hotelier we had a few prestigious properties of hospitality scattered in the regions of Delhi Madras and Bangalore and sadly when today hospitality is growing its staff sector is still underdeveloped. The resources are not proper and the facilities are scarce. What do you feel have been the most repetitive complains regarding workplace issues in the industry? Being a manger you face those complains in abundance, you can never categorize these complains as important or non important.Many of them are linked to issues I have already discussed with you in previous questions. I often get complains like the environment smell rancid, the cleaning in the back areas are, not proper. Technological failure, softwar e’s not working. Then you will also not be surprised to find complains like space in washroom is not sufficient or the staff rooms are too claustrophobic. Lack of basic amenities and training programs and less motivational factors related to work. Office innovation or workplace change is actually the development of technological social and personnel aspects, what are your comments on this statement?It is definitely that but a lot more is what I would like to say as I have mentioned every aspect in my answers above. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 27 [Impact of Workplace Design] 4. 1. 2 Mr. Akesh Bhatnagar, General Manager, Golkonda Hotel, Hyderabad How critical is the physical work environment to office space designing today compared to when you began your work in the industry? Interesting Question, you see physical work environment or office design now is like the rotation of the earth, there is day and there is night. Some changes occurred for the best and well others were no t that successful.Office design was critical then and is critical now the only difference today is that people are more aware of what is expected of them. In the 1980s when I was still in my twenties I remember the laws of transparency at work and overtime were not strict. People could get away with anything and everything and honestly we did not bother much we did what our elders had done, we were told work was for a living and it had to be done come what may. Today though things have taken a drastic turn with people today aping the west and with more flexibility in laws and awareness employees tend to choose their own workplace.If it is good and up to their level of comfort they will do the job and if not ‘it’s not their cup of tea’, so today office space design has actually become a mirage of what the employee wants to see. It is his job and his way. When did you first begin to realize that the work environment or the workplace itself has started affecting you r on the job behaviour? Well it is actually hard to recall but if you ask me personally, I would say I realized it when I was training with ITDC on a banquet operation. I remember I had a very grumpy supervisor who would snap at us every time we moved a glass from here to there.It was actually intimidating the way he would actually direct us in each and everything how to walk, how to talk and how to serve, what to say and what not to say. One must understand that people do not like that. They prefer an environment that gives the ease of working not overstress them From there on I started judging my workplace by how my peers were, how my colleagues were, how well kept my workplace was and most importantly whether I can expect to get back what I put in. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 28 [Impact of Workplace Design]Why do you feel that the industry is taking so long to incorporate workplace innovations even after realizing that it has a significant impact on the on the job behaviour? We ll Varun, I do not know if you realize this or not but hoteliering is not the most happening profession in the world today. You will actually be surprised to know how many people keep this as a second option, honestly hoteliering was my second option too it was much later when I came face to face with my work that I realized it is not that bad after all. If you see figures the industry is actually in need of more than twenty thousand educated professionals but alas!People with brains either become engineers or doctors or join other professions with other noble roots. There is a shortage of skilled personnel in this industry and people knock on the doors of this profession when they have realized that they do not stand a chance elsewhere. People like you that is if hotels was your first option are really hard to come by so you know bringing in an innovation which few seem to understand feels like a waste of time so the process of workplace change though slow seems even more redundant because of the lack of skilled people for its execution.If you wanted to create the ideal workplace environment, what would you envision it to be if you were an employee? Well if I were to envision my work place I would see myself sitting on a chair that floats above the ground and be able to move in an out through walls unnoticed eat sleep work and enjoy when I want. Jokes apart, I am just trying to say that there can never be one vision. The vision of workplace for every person changes with the change in his seniority and his mindset.When I was at the Front office manager I wanted a bigger desk today when I am a General Manager I want a bigger and much more technologically improved office What one envisions to see will always be steps away from reality, so if you wish to sum up what each and every one of us in this industry wants it would just be ‘paradise’. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 29 [Impact of Workplace Design] What do you feel have been the most repetitive c omplains regarding workplace issues in the industry? Well when you talk of complains in this industry they are more like tantrums of kid.It is like when the kid wants something he wants it without even realizing whether or not the company would actually be able to provide him with the same. I get complains like ‘the staff washroom is to small’ or ‘ we need better lockers’ or ‘the work hours are killing’ or ‘sir, I did not get my designated of’ and last but not the least ‘ my supervisor and colleagues do not respect me’. This world is a battlefield of conflicts, people strive to achieve better and better. To people there will always be a scope for change so workplace design or change is like polishing a diamond with each intricate cut it shines better and its value doubles.Maybe many of the complains do not have a solution but many also do but the irony is if you solve one they come up with upgraded versions of previous complains so you have got to keep improving yourself so that you can face the challenges of the future. Office innovation or workplace change is actually the development of technological social and personnel aspects, what are your comments on this statement? Definitely, very truly spoken because work and its outcomes depend mainly on personal social and technological aspects, enhancing all of the above would definitely enhance productivity. . 2 Structured Questionnaire Analysis A structured questionnaire was provided to thirty staff members selected randomly from the food and beverage department of Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi. The questionnaire involved ranking workplace as an important attribute affecting job satisfaction and on-job performance on a scale of one to five, with one being the lowest and five being the highest. After the data was collected, it was analyzed for the importance placed to different attributes with regards to the employees’ job satisfaction and on-job p erformance.An average of the [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 30 [Impact of Workplace Design] data submitted by all participants of the study was calculated and a bar chart was generated as follows. Attributes of Job Satisfaction 5 4. 5 4 3. 5 3 2. 5 2 1. 5 1 0. 5 Attributes 2. 6 2. 6 3. 7 4. 4 4. 1 3. 9 3. 6 3. 6 3. 7 3. 7 4. 1 4. 2 4 4. 5 3. 8 4 4. 5 0 Figure 1 The analysis of this questionnaire presented to employees of different ages and working at different levels in the Food and Beverage Department of The Taj Palace Delhi yielded very interesting results.Looking at the bar chart from the average of all attributes of work and workplace design , it is naturally seen that Learning Opportunity, Promotion, Motivation and Workplace Architecture play a major role in employee satisfaction, which in turn is known to be directly proportional to the on the job behaviour of the employee. Many employees have also marked Wellness Programs and Job Security as important reasons for retaining a j ob. The analysis also included ideas collected from, The Restaurant Manager, supervisors, the stewards and also management trainees working in the department.The questionnaire by design was circulated to an equal number of male and female employee’s in the study. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 31 [Impact of Workplace Design] Next, the researcher segregated the study findings by gender to see if any deviations occurred in the result. It was realized that different workplace attributes motivated male and female employees differently. Given below is a Bar chart of the attributes that the male employees considered essential for job satisfaction. 5 Job Satisfaction Attributes for Male 4. 7 Employees 4. 1 3. 4 3. 8 3. 7 3. 4 2. 8 2. 5 4. 1 4 4 4. 2 4. 2 4. 2 4. 1 4 4. 5 4 3. 5 3 2. 5 2 1. 5 Attributes(M) 1 0. 5 0 Figure 2 It was clearly noticed that for male employees working in the Food and Beverage department of The Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi that what motivates them the most is the physical attribute of workplace, which includes working desk and back area design. Workplace architecture is closely followed by job security, training and development, motivation while attr