Definition and Examples of Information Content

Definition and Examples of Information Content In linguistics and information theory, the term information content refers to the amount of information conveyed by a particular unit of language in a particular context. An example of information content, suggests  Martin H.  Weik, is the meaning assigned to the data in a message (Communications Standard Dictionary, 1996). As Chalker and Weiner point out in the Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar (1994), The notion of information content is related to statistical probability. If a unit is totally predictable then, according to information theory, it is informationally redundant and its information content is nil. This is actually true of the to particle in most contexts (e.g. What are you going . . . do?). The concept of information content was first systematically examined in Information, Mechanism, and Meaning  (1969)  by British  physicist and information theorist  Donald M. MacKay. Greetings One of the essential functions of language is to enable members of a speech community to maintain social relations with one another, and greetings are a very straightforward way of doing this. Indeed, an appropriate social interchange may well consist entirely of greetings, without any communication of information content. (Bernard Comrie, On Explaining Language Universals. The New Psychology of Language: Cognitive and Functional Approaches to Language Structures, ed. by Michael Tomasello. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003) Functionalism Functionalism . . . dates back to the early twentieth century and has its roots in the Prague School of Eastern Europe. [Functional frameworks] differ from the Chomskyan frameworks in emphasizing the information content of utterances, and in considering language primarily as a system of communication. . . . Approaches based on functional frameworks have dominated European study of SLA [Second Language Acquisition] and are widely followed elsewhere in the world. (Muriel Saville-Troike, Introducing Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge University Press, 2006) Propositions For our purposes here, the focus will be on declarative sentences such as (1) Socrates is talkative. Plainly, utterances of sentences of this type are a direct way of conveying information. We shall call such utterances statements and the information-content conveyed by them propositions. The proposition expressed by an utterance of (1) is (2) That Socrates is talkative. Provided the speaker is sincere and competent, her utterance of (1) could also be taken to express a belief with the content that Socrates is talkative. That belief then has exactly the same information content as the speakers statement: it represents Socrates as being in a certain way (namely, talkative). (Names, Descriptions, and Demonstratives. Philosophy of Language: The Central Topics, ed. by Susana Nuccetelli and Gary Seay. Rowman Littlefield, 2008) The Information Content of Childrens Speech [T]he linguistic utterances of very young children are limited in both length and information content (Piaget, 1955). Children whose sentences are limited to one to two words may request food, toys or other objects, attention, and help. They may also spontaneously note or name objects in their environment and ask or answer questions of who, what or where (Brown, 1980). The information content of these communications, however, is sparse and limited to actions experienced by both listener and speaker and to objects known to both. Usually, only one object or action is requested at a time. As linguistic lexicon and sentence length increase, so too does information content (Piaget, 1955). By four to five years, children may request explanations about causality, with the proverbial why questions. They may also describe their own actions verbally, give others brief instructions in sentence format, or describe objects with a series of words. Even at this stage, however, children have difficulty making themselves understood unless the actions, objects, and events are known to both speaker and hearer. . . . Not until the elementary school years of seven to nine can children fully describe events to listeners unfamiliar with them by incorporating large amounts of information in appropriately structured series of sentences. It is also at this time that children become capable of debating and absorbing factual knowledge transmitted by formal education or other non-experiential means. (Kathleen R. Gibson, Tool Use, Language and Social Behavior in Relationship to Information Processing Abilities. Tools, Language, and Cognition in Human Evolution, ed. by Kathleen R. Gibson and Tim Ingold. Cambridge University Press, 1993) Input-Output Models of Information Content Most any empirical belief . . . will be richer in information content than the experience that led to its acquisitionand this on any plausible account of the appropriate information measures. This is a consequence of the philosophical commonplace that the evidence a person has for an empirical belief rarely entails the belief. While we may come to believe that all armadillos are omnivorous by observing the eating habits of a fair sample of armadillos, the generalization is not implied by any number of propositions attributing various tastes to particular armadillos. In the case of mathematical or logical beliefs, it is rather harder to specify the relevant experiential input. But again it seems that on any appropriate measure of information content the information contained within our mathematical and logical beliefs outruns that contained in our total sensory history. (Stephen Stich, The Idea of Innateness. Collected Papers, Volume 1: Mind and Language, 1972-2010. Oxford University Press, 2011) Also  See MeaningCommunication  and  Communication ProcessConversational ImplicatureIllocutionary ForceLanguage Acquisition

Learning activities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Learning activities - Essay Example The Americans public displays of affection are seen as liberated and rude in front of elders of Asian countries like the Philippines. It is in this way that false assumptions are made of cultural differences. While racism seeks to rationally and consciously oust different ethnicities, ethnocentrism is created by enculturation (Patterson 2005). A great disparity occurs because of the presence of ethnocentrism in the minds of individuals. With it comes improper deliverance of health care facilities to members of different races and ethnicities. Health workers, community members and policies are all affected by ethnocentrism which prevents individuals from getting the full benefits of a health care program. Despite all of this, there have been universal standards of right and wrong that are introduced and prevalent in the world today. The ideas of a superior white race during America's colonial times have been replaced with equal systems being created for whites and blacks alike. Thus, with time come change and a greater acceptance of different cultures. 2. There are certain health care jobs that each federal and state government is responsible for providing to the citizens of their country. This includes basic ideas like protecting the health and safety of every individual. The physical and mental health of each citizen has to be recognized and acknowledged through providence of proper food and nutrition along with controlling of diseases and providing for the elderly. But it also includes the measures that must be taken to protect the health of citizens during disasters. This includes providing and realizing the basic health care needs of each individual in a disaster hit area and providing relief medicine and goods accordingly. 3. Don't know 4. Don't know 5. Medicare refers to a social insurance program that is set up by the United States government to provide for the coverage of health insurance to any citizen over the age of sixty five or those who meet the special criteria (Medicare Rights Centre). Operating under a single fund, the doctors and expenses of this insurance program are all funded by the government itself. 6. Medicare is a perfect example of a health policy provided for by a single payer: in this case the government. Thus, living up to the ideals of social liberalism, Medicare provides equally for the patients who fit the required needs. 7. The presence of health care provided according to income is ample proof of an economic liberalism that exists in the United States Module 5 Allied health professionals provide a varied and diverse number of services. The education sought by each of these doctors, the degree of autonomy they have been allowed by the medical establishment that employs them and the regulations that have been set out to control their practices are all varied and different from professional to professional. However, there are a number of similarities between them. Emerging from the same history and evolutionary path, the creation of the autonomy is distinctly similar. Cost effective strategies have forced tremendous

Management accounting case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management accounting - Case Study Example The table in Exhibit 1.5 provides this information. Exhibit 1.5 Calculation of the Profitability of Each Cost Object Description Cost Objects Accounting Economics Law Revenue 450,000 320,000 525,000 Expenses 205,132 149,704 192,164 Profit 244,868 170,296 332,836 Percentage 54.42% 53.22% 63.40% Exhibit 1.5 indicates that Law is the most profitable course with a percentage profit of 63.4% followed by Accounting with 54.42% and Economics the least profitable with 53.22%. The difference is profitability among the three courses can be attributed to the differences in the fees charged per EFTSL and the amount of government grant received per EFTSL. The student fee per EFTSL is highest for the Law course and lowest for the economics course. In fact, the student fee for the Law course is $6,000 or 67% more than the economics course and $5,000 or 50% more than the Accounting course. The government grant per EFTSL for the Economics course is $1,000 or 40% higher than the Accounting course and $1,000 or 17% more than the Law course. In total the Revenue per EFTSL for the Law course is $6,000 or 40% more than that for Accounting and 31% more than that for Economics. ... It is described as a complex and comprehensive process which requires careful and systematic analysis to determine different cost pools and activities that relate to them. This makes the implementation of an ABC system a very costly and time consuming exercise (Estrin at al 1994). According to Horngren et al (2011) ABC is one of the best tools available for improving a costing system. Some of the reasons given include the following. i. ABC emphasises individual activities as main cost objects – each activity having a specific purpose while traditional costing systems do not (Horngren et al 2011) ii. ABC calculates the cost relating to each activity and assigns costs on the basis of the activity which led to the production of the service or product and this leads to higher levels of accuracy when compared to traditional methods like absorption costing (Horngren et al 2011) iii. ABC systems facilitate more favourable pricing and product-mix decisions (Horngren et al 2011) iv. AB C enables decisions relating to cost control by providing information that facilitates process improvement and product design (Horngren et al 2011) v. Studies have found that some level of success is achieved when ABC is implemented which leads to improvements in both manufacturing and business performance (Fei and Isa 2011) vi. ABC provides results that are very different from those generated from less costly methods. However, the information provided can lead to major decisions that impact profitability and other important aspects of the business on which it depends (Estrin et al 1994). Motivations for disagreement The motivations that the Accounting Professor has

How Literature Reflects Communities Essay Example for Free

How Literature Reflects Communities Essay Authors have historically used various literary works to reflect the societies in which their live. To this end, the actions of characters in literary works reflect existing social concepts whereas the surrounding society’s behavior mirrors on specific characters’ behaviors. In essence, societies and communities are normally depicted as mutually affecting each other. Notable cases of literary works in which such reciprocal interaction is demonstrated are the three short stories namely: William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily; Flannery OConnor’s Good Country People; and Toni Cade Bambara’s The Lesson. To illustrate, through his A Rose for Emily story, Faulkner describes Emily Grierson as being negatively affected by her surrounding society. In turn, Emily’s actions negatively impact of her compatriots. Likewise, through the Good Country People story, OConnor describes the character named Joy Hopewell as negatively impacting on the people around her. Consecutively, the society in which Hopewell lives demonstrates an attitude that negatively affects her. In a similar version, Toni Cade Bambara’s The Lesson story illustrates the character called Miss Moore being negatively affected by her surrounding society. In response, Miss Moore demonstrates behaviors and attitudes that negatively impact on her compatriots. All in all, OConnor through Good Country People Faulkner through A Rose for Emily – as well as Bambara – through The Lesson short stories describe their protagonists as reciprocally affecting and being affected by their societies in a negative way. For example, in Bambara’s The Lesson story, Miss Moore’s condescending opinion towards her compatriots especially the children with which she spends most of her time attracts disproval from the surrounding community. Consequently, both the children as well as the adults disrespect Miss Moore. For instance, Bambara notes that ‘the grown-ups (talk) †¦.. when †¦. behind her back like a dog,’ thus showing utter disrespect for Miss Moore (). Moore’s irritatingly patronizing nature is evident when she ‘looks at’ her students ‘ like she readin tea leaves’ (). The author thus presents a picture of an individual and the surrounding society mutually affecting each other in a negative manner. Likewise, through the A Rose for Emily story, Faulkner shows that Emily’s unbecoming behavior invites rude responses from her compatriots. For instance, Emily demonstrates impoliteness when she demonstrates stubbornness towards her society’s pleas that she pays taxes. She even firmly removes the society’s representatives from her house. Abruptly summoning Tobe her manservant Emily instructs him to ‘Show these gentlemen out’ (). In reaction, the society demonstrates indifference towards her as is evident from the narrator’s assertions that the society does not know of Emily’s sickness. To this end, the narrator remarks ‘We did not even know she was sick’ (). Similarly, through his Good Country People story, OConnor depicts Joy Hopewell as a character who demonstrates haughtiness towards her compatriots notably Mrs. Freeman and Hopewell ‘s mother the result being that she becomes painfully alienated from her society. For example, because she is educated , Hopewell mocks all people around her as is evident from her remark that her mother is ‘bloated, rude, and squint-eyed’ (). In reaction, society alienates Hopewell , thus making her to beg her mother to wholesomely accept her. A deeply remorseful Hopewell cries out to the mother saying ‘like I am’ take me (). In conclusion, the issue of individuals negatively reacting with their surrounding communities is clearly evident through the 3 stories, Good Country People, The Lesson, as well as A Rose for Emily. Good Country People’s Hopewell suffers segregation due to her arrogant attitude towards her compatriots. Likewise, A Rose for Emily’s Emily suffers segregation due to her condescending view of her society. Lastly, The Lesson’s Miss Moore’s is disrespected by society owing to her attitude of viewing her compatriots as being unknowledgeable.

The Influence Ineffective Coping Has on Adolescent Development Essay

Introduction Adolescence is the stepping-stone to adulthood. During this developmental milestone individuals critically develop physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually (Wetherill & Tapert, 2013). Amidst these changes adolescents develop higher cognitive skills and begin to establish their sense of self. This developmental process can be hindered when the adolescent experiences a loss of a loved one. Currently limited research has been conducted on the physical response of the adolescent population. Coping strategies identified to be used by adolescents included avoidance behaviours and self-medicating. The following paper investigates the influence ineffective coping has on adolescent development. Areas that will be comprehensively evaluated include: the physical responses of bereavement, avoidance and efforts to self-medicate. Physical Responses Restlessness, concentration difficulties and sleep disturbances act as physical stressors on the body and contribute to an adolescents’ ability to successfully facilitate the bereavement process. A study assessing the implementation of a Body Awareness Programme, targeted adolescents to develop their understanding of the bereavement process and physical symptoms (Bugge, Haugstvedt, Rokholt, Darbyshire & Solvi, 2012). The authors desired to introduce strategies that would support bereaved teens and offer possible techniques to effectively cope with the circumstance (Bugge et al., 2012). Results of the research demonstrate the necessary need to invest in bereaved adolescents due to debilitating effect it may have on them and their development (Bugge et al., 2012). This reinforces the negative effect ineffective coping has on this particular population and the need to intervene ea... ...ed youth. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 74(8), 828-833. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1450179429?accountid=13631 Liang, H., Olsen, J., Cnattingus, S., Vestergaard, M., Obel, C., Gissler, M., . . . Li, J. (2013). Risk of substance use disorders following prenatal or postnatal exposure to bereavement. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 132(1-2), 277-282. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.02.015 Monk, T. H., Germain, A., & Reynolds,Charles F., I.,II. (2008). Sleep disturbances in bereavement. Psychiatric Annals, 38(10), 671-678. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3928/00485713-20081001-06 Wetherill, R., & Tapert, S. F. (2013). Adolescent brain development, substance use, and psychotherapeutic change. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 27(2), 393-402. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0029111

Rationale for Ptlls

Rationale My topic will be based around Employability Skills: Why is a CV so important, what should it include and how to put your CV together. I am currently not in a teacher/tutor role right now but I work in recruitment and I find and place suitable candidates within the training and WBL arena. As this is what I currently do for my job I am comfortable delivering this subject to a group of learners. My aim is for my learners To Understand the Importance of Putting Together a Good CV and How to Do it.My learners will make up of 3 of my fellow colleagues from my PTLLS course and will be delivered on the 26th November in a classroom at college. Prior to the session I will prepare a PowerPoint presentation which will include aims and objectives of the session, the CV examples, the group task and the final outcome. I will back up this presentation on a USB stick. I have chosen this resource to enable the learners to engage immediately and digest the subject matter whilst I am introduci ng myself, the aims and objectives.By having a visual resource at the beginning of the session the learners can start to digest the information whilst I am delivering it aurally. This will appeal to the two preferred learning styles and gain interest and engagement from the start. The PowerPoint will keep me and my delivery on track and not veering off the subject. The aim and objective will also be written on my white board or flip chart which will remain up during the whole session. This is to remind the learners of the subject and they can refer to it during the group work task.I will arrange the room so the group can sit together and can see the presentation and can see the whiteboard. I will ask the group to leave their bags and coats at the back of the room to avoid any trip hazards or distractions. As the group already know each other I will not need to introduce an ice breaker. I do not yet know whether they have any special requirements. In preparing for my micro teach I dr aw on information and research around my current employment.I will research the criteria that are needed for a CV, what the prospective employers want to see a CV and the most effective format to use. I will prepare in advance a handout of a good and bad example of a CV. I will also prepare a list of key descriptive words to use in a CV in case we finish too quickly. I will begin my session by introducing myself, my aims and objectives. I will ask if anyone has any previous experience in putting together a CV and if so how long ago it was. The objectives of the session: 1. To listen to the introduction and information about the session. . Understand the importance of a good CV 3. Discuss the good and bad aspects of a sample CV 4. Identify skills and abilities when writing a CV 5. Answer questions and recap. I will introduce the subject by asking questions about their previous experience of writing a CV, was it short, long, bulleted or paragraphed? I will ask them why a CV is so impo rtant and how they can create a good first impression. By asking these open questions I will be drawing on the learner’s previous experience and getting them involved.I can introduce English functional skills here as they will need to ensure it’s written and presented properly with no grammar or spelling mistakes. I will explain that the next task is a group work session where they will be given a copy of a poorly written CV as a handout. They will need to identify the good parts of the CV that are relevant and the parts that are not needed. After this period I will ask them to present their findings which I will write up on the flip chart. I will display on my presentation the layout of the preferred style of CV and ask the group if they have any questions.This will enable them to clarify any information or offer any ideas they may have. I will then handout a formatted copy of the original CV and how it should look. I will ask the learners to discuss what is different with this version relay back to me. This will appeal to the different preferred styles of learning, written, aural and reading. I will use everyone’s name when asking or answering a question, I will make eye contact equally and if someone is not involved I will ask them direct or hypothetical questions.I will use the 7 W processes in asking my questions. If I overrun I will use the last previous CV version as a handout for the learners to take with them, if I run out of time I will introduce my Use of Descriptive CV Words doc. I will summarise the session by relating to the aims and objectives on the flip chart and by referring to the handouts for future reference when putting together a CV. I will thank them for their time and tell them the session is over.

How to Reduce Employee Turnover with Motivation Essay

Nowadays, a word is very popular in white collars. It is â€Å"luo ci† in Chinese, which means people leaving their current work without a new job. With the development of society and the improvement of the level of people’s life, the phenomenon of â€Å"luo ci† become more and more common. As we know, the employee turnover of hospitality industry is quite higher than other industries. In 2004, Wildes warned that hospitality would face a significant work force deficit of quality managers in the near future. Not only is there a shrinking labor pool due to other industries attracting our potential managers (i. e. retail, banking, and healthcare) (American Express, 2006), but turnover continues to be a significant problem. High turnover not only causes the hotels lose their good employees and makes the level of service declined, but also increases the costs and expenses of recruitment and training. So, those hotels should take some measures to reduce employee turnover. Through some information, there are four main reasons: salary and welfare, personal development, sense of achievement, and interpersonal relationship. Clark and Estes (2002) suggest that employee turnover may not be purely a function of remuneration but rather of employee motivation. From this sentence, we know employee motivation plays a very important role in hospitality industry and it is an effective way to solve the problem of brain drain. The methods of employee motivation can be divided into two parts: substance incentive and spiritual incentive. According to the reasons of leaving, the management should pay more attention on their employees’ needs and motivate them from material and spiritual. Substance incentive means motivating and encouraging employee by some material, such as salary, welfare, bonus, or penalty. It is the main mode of motivation. Besides, it is the most common motivation mode. A study from a salary survey by Hewitt Associates showed that the human resource department in the hotel groups offering at least one plan of pay to performance rise from 51 per cent in 1991 to 77 per cent in 2003 (Jeffrey Pfeffer, 2007). Except carrying out the necessary substance incentive, the spiritual incentive is especially important, because it is a key factor to improve employees’ career happiness. According to different needs do some different spiritual incentive, such as, empowerment, make a future career development program for employees, making some effective communication and so on. In onclusion, with the improvement of living standard, more and more people begin to pay more attention on their internal happiness and pursuit. Taking substance incentive purely cannot meet the demands of the employees. Therefore, substance incentive and spiritual incentive are equally important and complement each other, are indispensable. And the proper motivation not only can retai n the best employee, but also can improve the productivity. 2. The current situation of personnel in hospitality industry The current situation of personnel in hospitality industry is structural shortage and non-normal loss. And as a labor-intensive enterprise, the turnover of the hospitality industry should be no more than 15%. But a survey from China Tourism Association suggests that the employee turnover in hospitality industry in nearly 5 years are 25. 64%, 23. 92%, 24. 2%, 22. 56%, 23. 41%, and the average turnover rate is as high as 23. 95%(Zheng Lu, 2009). With the widely and increasingly fierce competition, the employee turnover rate always remains high and personnel training and supply of the hotel cannot keep up with the speed of development of hospitality industry. In China, we have learned the foreign hotel management for more than twenty years. And large numbers of hotel managers and service personnel have grown up. Except part of high-quality employees are hired by some foreign companies, there is a good deal of personnel retaining our domestic hotels. Therefore, the problem is whether those good employees can be retained or not. 3. The reasons of brain drain Through researching some information, there are four main reasons that causing people leaving their jobs. They are salary and welfare, personal development, sense of achievement, and interpersonal relationship. 3. Salary and welfare A survey (Zheng Lu, 2009) suggests that in all influence which leads to employees leaving their job voluntarily, the most important influence is relative wages. In recent years, with the rapid development of hospitality industry, the number of hotels is increasing gradually, which lead to the benefit of hotel is not as good as before. Besides, for the price rise, the employees’ salary that most of hotels offer just can supply for their daily living expenses. But the income level in some foreign high-grade hotels is much higher than others. And, lots of employees measure their own value by their salaries. So, after they find another job that can provide a better salary, they maybe choose job-hopping. Thereby, this phenomenon makes the speed of employee turnover up. 3. 2 Personal development People who are committed to their work always have their own purpose. Some people want to get high wages and treatment, while, some people pursue high positions, in order to realize their own value. The fact states that thinking about from personal career development space and view of vision, some employees choose change their job, enter a new work environment, even though the salary of new job is less than before. Although their salary is less than before, they firmly believe that their abilities can get more development and their future is much brighter. However, on the contrary, some people give up their management positions and jump to a condition superior hotel. Their purpose is getting much more high-quality trainings and practices and they expect to gain more wide development space. 3. 3 Sense of achievement A lot of hotels think that the higher education, the stronger ability. Therefore, those hotels always focus on those employees who have high education, and give them higher position and more training, often send them to study and investigate. And those hostellers think that only they can bring benefits for the hotels, while ignore the importance of primary-level organizations. Thus, sometimes, the primary-level employees think their abilities cannot be confirmed and their jobs cannot meet their sense of achievement. Finally, in order to find a leader who can accept their abilities and get sense of achievement, they choose quit their job, and change another one. 3. 4 Interpersonal relationship As we know, the most things working in hotel is dealing with people. Some hotels, especially some state-owned hotels always exist some complex and tensional interpersonal relationship. In state-owned hotels, the employees compete with each other; the awareness of teamwork is weak and only pay attention to personal performance. The employees working in the hotel, especially the front-line service employees, their great workload always make them mental and physical exhaustion. Sometimes, a few of customs purposely make difficulties for them, even insult employees’ personality. It makes employees feel that they cannot get the proper care and respect. Therefore, due to cannot stand the depressive work environment, some employees quit their job and to look for a better work environment. 4. Incentive is an effective way to solve the brain drain As we all know, the high employee turnover will cause the management cost of training and recruitment increasing, and the quality of management and service decreasing. For this reason, how to steady the staff, minimize the employee turnover and then realize the steady development of hotel is a difficult problem to many hotel managers. From some researches, I find that employee motivation is an effective way to solve the brain drain. According to a survey conducted by The Ohio State University (Wilson, 2005), the top ten factors that affect employee motivation included: â€Å"interesting work, good wages, full appreciation of work done, job security, good working conditions, promotions and growth in the organization, feeling of being in on things, personal loyalty to employees, tactful discipline and sympathetic help with personal problems. † And in a word, it should be undertaken from two parts: substance incentive and spiritual incentive. 1 To establish a substance incentive system combining compensation and performance According to Festinger (Turner, 2006), â€Å"rewards would affect the attitude of individuals toward their work and their understanding of why they are working. † Establishing a reasonable and effective substance incentive is one of the most important factors that whether company can retain employees. Practice has proved that substance incentive is an important way that can stimulate employee aggressive and improve employee performance effectively in the hospitality industry. Therefore, how to properly hold substance incentive is very important. First, the company should choose the best employees who performed well through the fair and reasonable employee performance evaluation, and do some financial incentive to them, for example, increasing their salary as a reward. It can make employee feel sense of achievement and realize their own value. Motivating employees by using performance-contingent rewards is a long-established management practice. Pay-for-performance is used to promote two ends. First, it is expected that these systems will motivate employees to increase their effort and thereby their performance. Second, these compensation plans are often introduced to better align the efforts of employees with organizational goals and objectives the belief that performance will lead to reward (instrumentality) (Turner, 2006). However, it is worth to think about the demands of employees. According to their needs give different rewards, rather than simply showering them with undesired gifts. Spending money at a problem is often thought of as a quick fix rather than a long-term solution. Therefore, some people begin to seek cheaper alternatives to replace spending money, and to achieve the same aims, such as do some spiritual incentive. 4. 2 Do some flexible spiritual incentive In addition to make some material incentive to employees, spiritual incentive is very important for employees in hospitality industry. In some situations, too much material incentive will bring some distorting effects, because high bonus will lead to the information or messages blocked with each other. It will directly reflect various aspects of the normal work. In the book Concepts and Skill Building (Certo, 2004) says that,â€Å"Motivating employees requires employers to study the employee’s monetary, physical and psychological needs, because individuals are motivated by a number of items namely intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. † Therefore, only use material incentive is not perfect, and spiritual incentive is necessary to a company. It can roughly be divided into the following kinds. 4. 2. 1 Empowering employees can help them take more responsibility. Employee empowerment is defined as a strategy and philosophy that enables employees to make decisions on their jobs. Employee empowerment can not only help employees serve customers at the level of the organization, but also help employees take more sense of responsibility. Empowering employee enables employee to have more right to do their job, that is, they do their job with their own brains rather than carry out managers’ order mechanically. Employee empowerment means the managers trust their employees’ abilities of judgment and dealing with problems. This trust is an honor and appreciates to employees. And it can make employees love their jobs and do not willing to leave their jobs. And there are four most important principles to reinforce employee empowerment, accomplishment, and contribution. 1) Share Leader Vision. It can help people feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves and their personal job. Do this by making sure they know and have access to the organization’s overall mission, vision, and strategy plans. 2) Share Goals and Direction. Sharing the most important goals and direction to your group can motivate people responsible for accomplishing the mission. 3) Trust Your Employees. Trust people can do the right thing, make the right decision. It can make your employees get more confidence and passion. 4) Provide Frequent Feedback. Make frequent feedback so that people know what and how they are doing. Sometimes, the purpose of feedback is reward and recognition (â€Å"Employee Empowerment. † n. d. ). 4. 2. 2 Make a future career development program for employees Nowadays, some people leaving their job just because they cannot see the future in their work. In hospitality industry, the average age of employees is generally young, so most of them always have lots of expectations to their future career. They always want to undertake some challenging jobs, so that achieve their own goals and personal development. While, the most important point to do this is training. Due to the requirements of recruitment in hospitality industry are less than other industry, when some people come into the hotel, they still have none knowledge on the hospitality industry. So, on the one hand, the career development program can help employees have a thorough knowledge of the development of hospitality industry and the demands to the personnel. On the other hand, it can help employees establish their own goals, take advantages of their ability, realize their own value, improve the job satisfaction and sense of belonging and responsibility. From the perspective of hospitality industry, an effective training can help employee improve their professional skills and their mood in their work, so that improve customer satisfaction and hotels market competitive power. From the personal development, an effective program can help people understand their own positioning in their hotels, and establish a practical goal for themselves. In a word, the program is an effective way to help employer find employees’ interest, advantages, and some potential ability and help employees exactly know themselves and improve themselves by proper methods. In order to be successful in today’s challenging economic environment hospitality organizations must demonstrate a commitment to helping their employees learn and develop new skills. This is essential if organizations hope to increase retention and create career growth by promoting from within Lee & Bruvold, 2008). Moreover, employee development programs often signal the degree of investment the organization is willing to make in an employee. From the employees’ perspective, this investment indicates how much the organization supports its employees (Wayne, Shore, & Liden, 2007), genuinely cares about the long-term professional growth of its employees, and values the employees’ contributions. So a good employee development program is very important to the employee turnover. A review of the recent hospitality literature further reveals that employee organizational commitment significantly influences employees’ turnover intentions (Johanson & Cho, 2007) indicating that the more committed or attached an employee is to an organization, the less likely that employee is to leave. And it states that the program has the potential to enhance an employee’s commitment to the organization, so, the program could also reduce turnover in the hospitality industry. 4. 2. 3 Making some effective open communication Open communication is extremely important and considered a top priority by the majority of employees (Honore, 2009). Most of employees often feel their managers and supervisor lack of open communication. This phenomenon causes the employees lack of care from their company and their managers cannot understand their needs, in turn, causing brain drain. Therefore, the managers and supervisors must often talk and listen to their employees. And the simplest way to make an open communication is giving employees the opportunity to ask question. And then obtain an answer to the questions and provide the answers in an honest and timely manner. It will help them avoid some further doubt and misunderstandings with each other. An open communication can create a relaxed and happy working environment for employees. It will reduce the working pressure of employees. In addition, open communication makes managers and employees more understanding with each other and is a good opportunity to enhance relationship between each other and clear the air. An effective communication should be clear, consistent, and correct. It is vital to understanding employee needs and make employee willing to work harder to get better performance. Communication should be accurate, prompt, and well organized, and managers should listen to employees carefully, help employees with the problems, and care for employees. An open communication can make employees feel respect from their managers. If employees receive their managers’ care and respect, they will return more care and efforts to their company. And it can reduce the rate of employee turnover effectively. 5. Conclusion Times change; society change; people’s minds change. More and more people begin to pay more attention t their internal happiness and pursuit, rather than just limited to their salary, position, and other material factors. So companies must conform to the requirement of the times, understand staff needs, and meet their needs from different aspects. In order to retain the employees, companies must make material incentive and spiritual incentive together. The motivational effect of material incentive and spiritual incentive is different. If companies want to motivate their employee effectively, they must take proper measures according to the specific situations. Employee motivation is very crucial to reduce the rate of employee turnover and retain the employees. According to the reasons of people leaving, the hotels mainly make some substance incentive to their employees. But it is not enough to meet employees’ needs, the spiritual incentive is also important for employee to meet their desires and decrease the high employee turnover. There are three main methods to make a spiritual incentive. They are empowerment, open communication, and making employee career development program. Besides, praise and respect the employees are very important. It can make employees become more loyal to their company and maximum the satisfaction of employees. The more satisfied employees feel about their jobs, the less likely they are to leave, which further reduces organizational turnover (Costen, 2010). 6. Summary The hospitality industry is, in every sense of the word, big business. U. S. restaurant industry sales are expected to reach a record $537 billion in 2007, employing 12. 8 million individuals, adding two million new career and employment opportunities in the next decade (NRA, 2007). However, the rate of employee turnover in hospitality industry is very high. Therefore, reduce the rate and retain employees is a pressing concern. The key to keeping employees in hospitality industry is rewarding employees for what they do every day and having an employee-friendly environment where people can feel comfortable bringing their concerns to the manager. Therefore, both substance and spiritual incentives are necessary management methods to motivate employees in the hospitality industry. Substance incentive can provide material demand to employee, while spiritual incentive provides spiritual demand to employee. Most hotel managers always like pay more attention to pay for performance and ignore the role of spiritual incentive, which leads to a high turnover rate and high cost of human source department. However, according to the increasingly higher demands of both employee and customer, non-financial incentive to motivate employee is more and more important. In the hospitality industry, the most common methods of spiritual incentive are empowerment, making future career development program, open communication and praise and respect etc. Their functions are meeting employee’s satisfaction which is defined as a sense of recognition, achievement, responsibility, improvement and promotion, interesting work, and awareness for future development. Through different methods can meet employees’ different needs, it can make employees prefer their job, rather than quit their job. Employee motivation can not only keep the best employee for hotels, but also save cost of training and recruiting. It will improve the competitive power for hotels and make their business better and better.