CIPD †5DPP Essay

Introduction Within the confines of this report we will investigate the 6 keys headline statements in delivering the finding. These are the project plan, risk assessment, creative thinking, and team working and conflict, political behaviour, ending with formal recommendations. The principal argument will look at the functionality of project management and the delicate balancing act of the different element that would bring a successful outcome or possibly result in failure. 1. Project Planning Definition: What is a project? A project is a programme of activities that have a beginning and end. Projects are generally used to instigate change, improvements or developments. This statement is underpinned by PMI ‘a project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to produces a product, service or result. (Project Management Institute 2008). What is Project Management? Project management is defined by, ‘initiating processes – clarifying the business need; planning processes – detailing the project scope; executing processes – establishing and managing the project team; monitoring and controlling processes – tracking performance and taking actions; closing processes – ending all project activity’ (Portny 2012) What is a project Managers? ‘The project manager’s job is challenging – her success requires a keen ability to identify and resolve sensitive organisational and interpersonal issues.’ (Portny 2012: 21). As one of the principle stakeholders in the project their responsibility is reliant on developing good team dynamics and delegate correctly through a well organised project plan. The project Plan endorses these statements and clarifies the unique role of the manager, understanding of the project and the application of the management process and is cited in appendix 1. 2. Risk Assessment When dealing with human being it is inevitable that risk factors will arise due to different values, perceptions and behaviours leading to an adverse impact on the success of the project. ‘All projects can be affected by outside or inside risk. Planning what possible risks might affect a project and the likelihood of those risk occurring is vital to the success of the project’. (Horn 2012:414) With project control and clear project planning, many identifiable risks during the project can be minimised or averted. In order to identify these risks a Risk Breakdown Structure can use used (RiBS), to ensure that risk is managed appropriate and effectively. Derived from the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), this chart calculates the impact and probability of various risks associated with the project and then provides methods of contingency to reduce or eliminate the risk. ‘Impact is used in the calculation of the risk factor and is the effect on the project if the risk occurs. Probability is used in the calculation of the risk factor and is the likelihood of the risk occurring’. (Horn 2012:414) Two key areas of risk highlighted in the project are; Scope Creep – where the predetermined scope of the project escalates and the project evolves in size or cost due to a range of changing variables, such as stakeholder and client changes and unforeseen circumstances due to environment, finance or politics. It is in this area that risk levels can be high. ‘Scope creep is a major cause of project failure’ (Horn 2012:405) Scope creep is most likely to happen in the area of team recruitment and development, the most costly part of the project, where any changes in specification may require more staff or specialist staff. Any expansion in the project of this type would be costly for the project. This is confirmed by Horn (2012:406) that ‘when you consider that only about a quarter of projects complete on time and budget’. Early contingencies planning for the effects of scope creep should be interlaid within the RiBS to manage any financial allowance for such eventuality and to communicate the changes across the project and organisation. Roles and responsibilities – It is possible that during the project  development some staff may have difficulty in defining their roles within the team or were not part of the role development process that takes place during the forming stage of Tuckman’s team development model. It is also likely within the project team to have duplication of roles/function, even though Belbin’s Team roles model may have been used. However it is not a pre-requisite that all team must have the nine roles specific by Belbin. ‘Team members can take on more than one role and some roles are not necessary in certain teams’. (Horn 2009:13) Through team meetings and project control, risk associated with roles and responsibilities could be quickly identified. One through work duplication if one or more staff are performing the same task and two through inaccurate, incomplete or delayed work. Left unmanaged they may lead to long term delay and added cost as well as team dysfunction as political behaviours evolved. To resolve these risks, clarity of roles may need to be re-established and a more robust command and control; day to day supervision of roles and task be implemented. Re-evaluation of Tuckman’s forming stages may identify the need for further direct involvement of the project manger, to remind the team of the non-negotiable behaviours expected. ‘Insufficient day-to-day supervision of work is still the largest single reason for lost productivity.’ (Mullins 2005:833) 3. Creative Thinking The aspect of the project that best fits a creative approach is how the project recruits applicants into the organisation. This fits the requirements made by the CEO that they’re looking for a higher calibre of employees that are able to engage with the workforce. This will require a different approach and a move away from traditional routes. ‘Everyone can be a creative thinker; it is a state of mind and a set of skills’. (Horn 2012: 159). To encourage a more creative approach in the team, models such as Mind Mapping, blind, negative and positive brainstorming (Horn 2012:156) would be use in the team on a regular basis. This would work towards promoting open discussion, through using tool that draw on right side brain activity that stimulate creativity and to develop  an environment where people feel comfortable to contribute ideas and solutions to problems. ‘So using the right side of the brain we tend to draw things as they are rather than as we know them to be. It represents innocence which plays a role in creativity, particularly artistic expression’. (De Bono 1985) Paramount to this approach working is a project team of engaged staff that have aligned values to the organisations, where there are shared interests, common causes and an environment built on trust and integrity. ‘The approach is also about celebrating diversity, placing compassion and flexibility at the heart of everything the council does, accepting risk and listening and trusting people to try new and innovative ways of working.’ (David Macleod 2000:56) Alongside these creative mechanisms to support a creative space (De Bono’s 1985) established Six Thinking Hats Model. This method allows everyone to contribute, explore ideas, solve problems and generate creativity without denting egos. This create a non-judgemental environment as a particularly type of thinking is applied to a subject, rather than a personal opinion, allowing free speech and opportunity to explore without feeling defensive. This additional model would be implemented throughout the whole process of the project; for 1-1, team meeting, casual meeting and encouraged in general conversations where it would help resolve problems quickly by removing and instil creativity. In De Bono’s words, ‘the six hats system encourages performance rather than ego defense. People can contribute under any hat even though they initially support the opposite view’. (Burns 2011:17) The key point is that a hat is a direction to think rather than a label for thinkin g. The six hats describe six separate thinking functions as follows; White Hat thinking This covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps. Red Hat thinking This covers intuition, feelings and emotions. Black Hat thinking This is the hat of judgment and caution Yellow Hat thinking This is the logical positive. Green Hat thinking This is the hat of creativity, alternatives and proposals. Blue Hat thinking This is the overview or process control hat. 4. Team Work / Conflict The fundamental ingredient of a team is full and willing participation by each member of the team in whatever task the group faces. The level of participation is perhaps the single most important factor affecting the team’s output. It is only when a group is fully functioning and performing at the optimum level that it can call itself a team. ‘Building successful teams also requires effective leadership with an emphasis on trust, clear communications, full participation and self-management.’ (Mullins 2005:568) The first approach in developing good team work is to establish the different roles individual align themselves to in a team. Understanding and valuing the diversity of skills in a team is essential for good team working and secures the accurate delegation of work. Staff are more likely to be productive when task assignment to them marry up with their skill set and interest. Belbin Team Roles support this explanation in its bid to help team members become aware of their strengths and weakness within a team environment, by completing a personal assessment to highlight people’s behaviour, characteristics and attitudes. These are the aligned to 9 key roles. (Huczynski & Buchanan: 330) The nine roles of Belbin are listed as follows; Plant – creative, imaginative Resources investigator – Extrovert, communicative Co-ordinator – mature, delegates well Shaper – challenging, thrives on pressures Monitor-evaluator – Sees all options, strategic Teamworker – co-operative, mild Implementer – disciplined, reliable Completer – conscientious, delivers on time Specialist – Single-minded, provides knowledge Another method of developing team working and self-awareness is the Betari Box model. It ‘provides a vehicle for discussing the way in which people can get locked into a cycle of attitude breeding behaviour’ (Clements & Jones 2008:217). Implemented within the communication process, in the early stages of the team formation it lends itself to supporting diversity in the workforce. The Betari Box illustrates how our own attitudes and behaviours directly affect the attitudes and behaviours of people around us. When we’re stuck in a negative cycle, then it’s up to us to stop that cycle by changing our attitude. This will positively impact those around us – and therefore break the cycle. My Attitude -> Affects -> My Behaviour -> Affects -> Your Attitude -> Affects -> Your Behaviour -> Affects -> My Attitude and so on. These models are all under pinned by McLeod (2009:9) which states that ‘attitude, behaviour and outcomes – are part of the engagement story’. An engaged workforce are at less risk of conflict and disagreement. As the project manager of a team, understanding changing dynamics and development is essential to grow and functionality. Using (Tuckman’s 1965) team development stages the manager will be better equipped to interpret the team stages of growth. According to Tuckman, in the initial stages of team evolution communication is essential, with the leading voice of the manager guiding an initially dependant team. ‘Members are dependent on some leaders to provide them with structure in the form of ground rules and agenda for action’. (Huczynski & Buchanan: 297) Implementing 1-1s, supervision, regular team meetings, and personal development programme will help to deliver clear modes of operation and behaviourial expectations. Conflict Team conflict can stem from a variety of sources; difference in perception,  departmentalisation, specialisation and role conflict. Mullins (2010) state ‘that there are different perspectives on conflict in the workplace, and in some cases conflict is a driver for creativity, energy and limiting apathy.’ Solving differences in perception is a challenging. The stringent use of management policies and procedures to enforce professional adult behaviour will help deter interpersonal differences of opinion. The reason behind this is ‘conflict is a behaviour that intends to obstruct a person from achieving some of their goal’ Mullin (2010). Informing employees on what behaviours are expect may help eliminate such conflict. Conflict in perception is likelier to arise when there are limited or unclear objectives, expectations and leadership from senior management. ‘Leadership is about creating a vision and direction for people, (Horn 2012:456). Proactive leadership is essential in encouraging conflict resolution. Where possible, promoting a culture of respect and consideration for others needs and opinions, and encourage staff to find mutually acceptable solutions to minimise or avoid conflict situations. ‘People say what they think and trust that the other person will hear the criticism in the spirit of help in which they were intended. They give each other essential feedback that will help to improve individual and collective feedback’. (Ryan & Oestreich 1998:39). One way of managing conflict is the use and awareness of transactional analysis. Encouraging team members to always have adult to adult conversations and to be aware of the possible risk of conflicts when roles change, is critical to conflict resolution. ‘So-called mature people are people who are able to keep the Adult in control most of the time but their child will take over on occasion like anyone else’s, often with disconcerting results’ (Berne 2011:27) 5. Political Behaviour Political behaviour can be linked to the power the individual or team have. The level of power or status will determine how the team or individual will play out their behaviour; possibly removing themselves from involvement with the team if they feel they have limited power or status or firming up power by pushing their view toward a self-interest goal. ‘Involves individual engaging in activities to acquire, develop, retain and use power in order to obtain their preferred outcome. (Huczynski & Buchanan 2001:823) Resistance to the changes recommend by the CEO could initiate many of those political behaviours in order to keep the status quo or to try and sabotage the efficiency drive of the recruitment and selection process. Having an open and clear mechanism for staff opinions and views through, surveys, focus groups, and other staff feedback forums, where staff can contribute constructively, will bring benefit to the organisation and not hinder the progress of the project. Reluctance to take part in team activity or limit information to the team, to negotiate higher status or responsibility because of the knowledge or skill that person has could be a display of political behaviour. This type of behaviour could cause the project to stagnate and caused deeper politicking as other individuals may retaliate in the same or worse manager, causing dysfunctional team dynamics and reduced work productivity as morale plummets. It’s important to note that politics will always be part of a team but it’s not always accepted as adverse to the team or organisation. ‘In every team there are political agendas, so it is as well to be aware of them but try to avoid them’. (Horn 2012:119). ‘Thus organisational recruitment, appraisal and training and promotion policies directly encourages political behaviour’. (Huczynski & Buchanan 2001:824) Influencing In order to bring about change, solve problems or develop ideas that grow and evolve businesses, influencing is critical. Built on Maslow hierarchy of need (Huczynski & Buchanan 2001:242), ‘Cohen & Bradford identified a range of positive sanctions and rewards which they termed organisational currencies. They showed how these could be used to influence others to comply with your request.’ (Huczynski & Buchanan 2001:819): currencies such as resources, information, network/contacts and recognition. Using reward and recognition polices within the organisation to influences positive behaviours and adopt organisational values, would help to shape an open and engaged workforce and decrease the need for political and power play. Persuasion Exploring new ideas, view and thinking is necessary in an organisation to motivate, create innovation, enable development and support change, this require persuasive action. ‘Whatever control is achieved over work behaviour is brought about as much through the processes of negotiation, persuasion’ (Mullins 2005:844). With the De Bono Six hat, the team can be persuaded to see the benefits of the change in recruitment and selection. Using a clinical approach to discussions that remove the ego state associated with political behaviour, individuals will come to understand the importance of a fair political landscape that represents the organisation not a single individual. Negotiation Negotiation involves two parties coming together to confer with a view to concluding a jointly acceptable agreement’. (Gennard & Judge 2005:238) Through the earlier stage of team formation in the project process, issues of political behaviour can be negotiated through clear role selection of Belbin, behavioural expectation and awareness using Betari Box, and transactional analysis. Applied through the traditional route of 1-1s, supervision, team meeting and other informal interaction, leading to a lessening of these behaviours; as a result it can support staff smoothly through the change curve cycle. 6. Recommendations I have used the Cause and Effect Diagram and the Pareto Diagram to argue a preferred decision on which part of the project I should delivery to the CEO. The cause and effect diagram addresses the main problems by identifying what  the causes are associated with that effect; in this case an inefficient, poor quality and disengaged recruitment and selection process. By asking a series of questions to key headings associated with the effect we can reach a range of decisions on what part of the causes are the major or minor reasons for the ‘effect’. ‘Cause-effect’ diagrams are particularly effective of helping to search for the root causes of problems’ (Slack 1998:703). Linked to the Pareto Analysis Model we can analysis which area of the ‘causes’ has the greater impact on the project. (Slack 1998) states that Pareto analysis ‘distinguishes between the vital few and the trivial many’. I have used the cause effect model to help identify where the ‘root causes of problems’ (Slack 1998:704) lie in the project. The Pareto analysis model is then used to identify a specific cause or group of causes, which will solve a greater number of the effects or problems. In this project’s recommendations I have made a few assumptions to pinpoint that, the human resource (people) ‘causes’, would yield the greatest outcomes and it would be in this area that I would apply the ideas for improvement and recommend to the CEO. In appendix 2 have illustrated this explanation. Conclusion With a robust project plan and reliable control measures, issues such as risk and will be identified early on in the project process, ideally during the initial planning stages, with contingencies set in place for those eventualities. With new ways of working applied to not only the process but people through De-Bono Six Hats and adult lead behaviourial awareness of Betari Box and transactional analysis; creativity and innovation should flourish in what should now be a trusting and transparent working environment. Signs of self-interest or personal political behaviours will be limited, though an open dialogue of communication across the team supported by strong influencing, negotiation and persuasion tools by the leadership. Using any project plan methodology or project software to underpin the suggested ideas, the project plans should be able to fulfil it obligations  and delivery the desired outcome for the CEO. References Berne, E. (2011) Games People Play. London:Penguin Books Limited Burns, A. (2011) Engaging with Teams. Unpublished. Birmingham: Birmingham City Council De Bono, E. (1995) Serious Creativity [online] available from http://teaching.ust.hk/~mark329/Papers/serious%20creativity.pdf [29/10/13] Gennard, J. & Judge, G. (2005) Employee Relations. Trowbridge: CIPD Horn, R. (2009) The Business Skills Handbook. London: CIPD Huczynski, A. & Buchanan, D. (2001) Organisational Behaviour. Essex: Pearson education limited Jones, J. & Clements, P. (2008) The Diversity Training Handbook London: Kogan Page Limited Macleod, D. (2008) Engaging for Success Surrey: office of Public Sector Information Mullins, L. (2005) Management & Organisational Behaviour. Essex: Pearson education Limited Portny, S. (2010) Project Management for Dummies. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing Project Management Institute, (2008) The Project Management Body of Knowledge. Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute Ryan, K. & Oestreich, D. (1998) Driving Fear out of the Workplace. San Fancisco: Jossey-Bass Inc Slack, N. (1998) Operations Management. Kent: Pitman Publishing Bibliography Marchington, M & Wilkinson, A (2008) Human Resource Management At Work. London: CIPD Taylor, S (2008) People Resourcing. London: CIPD Appendix 1 Project Plan Appendix 2 Cause and Effect of Project Management Process

Frankestein and his creature Evil Essay

He ate the berries and other small fruits that he found in the woods. He is good at this stage because He has seen how He was upsetting the family when He was eating their food; He realised this and started to chop wood to repay the family. He is aspiring to be like the family, He wishes to be friends with them and have friends of His own. There are a series of events, which leads up to the creature becoming resentful and violent. He first saw His reflection in a pond; His gaze laid eyes upon His ugly, repulsive reflection. He could not believe that His creator had made Him this ugly. When He saw the blind Grandfather alone one day, He decided He would approach Him because He thought the Grandfather would be more understanding as he was old and more wise. This was so but when the old man’s daughter in law and Granddaughter returned, they screamed at the sight and the son came rushing home. The son thought the creature was attacking his father and so the son attacked the creature. The creature ran away and did not respond with violence. The creature did not lash out because He thought that if He did it would ruin any chance of becoming friends with the family. Later on in the week he over heard a conversation between the son and their landlord, the son said, â€Å"My wife and sister will never recover from their horror. † After the conversation the creature gave up all hope of befriending the once, happy, joyous and caring family. The family left the cottage out of fright; meanwhile the creature was angry and very upset. He went back to the empty cottage and set the wooden building alight. He watched the cottage burn and He enjoyed it. Later on in the creature’s life He found Victor’s diary which contained notes on how His creator abandoned Him. In the front of Victor’s diary it had His home address of Geneva written in it. The creature was determined that Victor would feel His wrath. He set of to Geneva to get revenge. On His arrival in Geneva, he saw a small boy walking on the same lane that He was on. The creature hid in the bushes and wandered whether he should He reveal Him self to the child. He thought that if the child being young would understand His condition. He decided to reveal Him self. He took hold of the small boy’s arm, He wanted to protect and look after Him. The child screamed, the creature told the boy His intentions, that He wanted to be friends. The boy kept on screaming, He cried out, â€Å"Monster! Ugly wretch! You wish to eat me and tear me to pieces, you’re an ogre, let me go or I will tell my Papa. My father is Mme Frankenstein. † â€Å"You belong to my sworn enemy, Victor Frankenstein. After all the upset He has caused me, I will give Him something to be upset about. † With that the creature picked up the small boy William and throttled Him. The creature gained enormous pleasure over killing William, He had the taste for killing and He wanted revenge. The creature met with Frankenstein in the remote mountainous regions of Geneva, no one around to disturb them. The monster did not attack Victor, he wished to talk; the creature wanted Victor to create another being, a female one this time. Victor was served with an ultimatum, if he would recreate another being they would retire to South America or Victor would feel his wrath, fired by hatred, self-pity and desire for a mate. The creature does have a right to a mate, He will go away and not disturb any one ever again or He will destroy Victor if He does not. Victor has reason not to create a mate, She could be even worse, she has not promised to be good, the creature could hate it, they could come back or they might desolate the world. When Frankenstein was on His death bed, He said, â€Å"Examining my past conduct, nor do I find it blameable. † He feels it is not His fault about what has happened and He feels He had done nothing wrong. He knows He had responsibilities but He ignored them thinking the duties towards the beings of my own species were more important. Victor said He was right about not building a new creature. He says the first one went wrong and killed his friends and family, so He will not create a partner for the creature that killed them. He said it was evil and He had to kill it. The creature is very upset, He admits to killing Victor by leading Him to the icy lands. He asked for forgiveness but He knows it will not change anything. It said He had put up with more anguish than Victor ever had, He had to do it even though he didn’t want to do it. When Victor was about to be cremated on the ice fields, the ice cracked up, the monster swam across and lit the pyre, and He stayed there next to Victor while He burned. I think that Victor Frankenstein was not evil, He was very confused and completely adsorbed in what he was doing, he was sure he was right, wanting to get rid of death, apart from a violent on. The creature was good in that he helped the family in the winter when food was scarce. However he did turn to evil was towards the end of the book after he failed with living with him self, destine to walk alone for the rest of his life. Another aspect for being evil was that he killed his creator; the man he gave him his pitiful life, and his family.

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Should school teach sexual education in their curriculm Essay

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Ethics Mod 5 - Essay Example SHA asks employers in the United States to comply with its regulations to ensure that they provide safe and healthful workplace, and it constantly monitors strict compliance to these regulations by conducting inspections, whistle-blower activities, post-incident follow-ups etc. According to the norms of this act, employer is basically held responsible for employees’ falls or injuries that occurred due to employer’s failure to provide adequate safety and health measures instructed in the OSH Act. OSH Act imposes a duty on employers to take steps to control risks to employees or third parties from slips, trips and falls. However, employees are also held responsible for falls or injuries if it happened due to their mistakes, because they are under the duty to behave in a responsible way to ensure their own safety and the third parties near to them. Even after 44 years since Congress passed the OSHA of 1970 by strictly instructing employers to provide workplace safety, security and health to make employees free from hazards, the toll of workplace injuries and deaths still remain unjustifiably high. As of OSHA’s report, there were 4,405 death cases in the United States due to falls or injuries in workplaces in 2013 (osha.gov, 2015). Work injuries and hazards cause severe impacts on income inequalities and create a big burden of medical and other expenses on employees. In order to eliminate workplace injuries and its impacts, OSHA has not only made it stricter that employers are responsible for employees’ injuries, but also asked employers to become familiar with standards applicable for their establishments or workplace environments. According to many health and safety professionals today, simply complying with OSHA standards is not sufficient to safeguard all employees in the workplace. Instead, these professional s have developed extensive written compliance programs with which compliance is achieved and maintained as part of the all-encompassing safety and

Economic Report on Housing Sector in Scotland Essay

Economic Report on Housing Sector in Scotland - Essay Example This paper is divided into three parts. Part A will present an analysis of the Scottish housing market for the first decade of the new millennium (2000-2010). It will look at the major factors affecting demand, supply, and price of housing units. In the process of analysis, it will also seek to determine whether the housing sector in Scotland is volatile or not and what are the reasons for this. Part B will go on to review specifics regarding the reasons for the ups and downs in the housing sector. Part C will differentiate between factors that are indigenous to Scotland and factors that may affect the whole of the UK housing sector. It will then end with recommendations to be implemented that when done, will hopefully reduce the volatility of the housing market in the UK in general and in Scotland in particular.  Ã‚  Available data shows that the average number of new housing units established per year in Scotland since the 1980s was 20,000 units; these have however peaked at 25,0 00 in 2007 and there has been a decline since then to around just 17,000 units in 2010. This decline was seen in the years 2009 and 2010. The average UK house price was  £163,244 at the end of 2010, with London being the most expensive region in the UK overall, and Edinburgh leading the price rise in Scotland.  Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire were areas that had recorded a housing demand growth of 4 percent over the year ending December 2010. These areas have benefitted from strong and stable economic opportunities.  

Health Promotion throughout the Human Lifespan Essay

Health Promotion throughout the Human Lifespan - Essay Example Despite this claims, Canadians have time and again misused alcohol, thus leading to health risks. This paper will examine strategies of promoting health throughout the lifespan of alcohol abusers. Alcohol Related Health Problems Abuse of alcohol result major health risks such cancer among other societal problems such as drunken driver accidents, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, criminal activities, and even family problems. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder describes a wide range of health concerns that come because of prenatal abuse and misuse of alcohol. Disabilities resulting from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum disorder include alcohol related Neurodevelopment Disorder. Health problems such as cancer have come up as a result of alcohol consumptions. Consumption of alcohol in risky amounts has been proved to increase risks for individuals developing cancers such as those of the, liver, gastrointestinal tract, breast, pharynx, mouth, larynx, and the esophagus. However, alcohol consumption in moderate amounts is proved to reduce the risk of developing cancer. Alcohol consumers, who take meals alongside alcohol, have a lower risk of developing cancer of the throat, mouth and the digestive system. ... Generally, adolescents and young adults are the most vulnerable to misuse of alcohol and heavy drinking. Many accidents caused by adolescent and young adult drunken drivers have been a major cause of deaths in many countries (Galanter, American Medical Society on Alcoholism, Research Society on Alcoholism (U.S.) and National Council on Alcoholism, 2005, P.2). In addition, alcohol consumption is said to cause impairment, thus making drivers more prone to accidents and injuries that come out to be severe in most cases. Accident risk potential as a result of impairment caused by alcohol varies between women and men. In addition to accidents, misuse of alcohol also causes high blood pressure, weakening of the immune system, osteoporosis, obesity, and even neurological disorders. Risks of high blood pressure are substantially increased by more and more consumption of alcohol. Moreover, heavy consumption of alcohol weakens the immune system and thus individuals have a higher potential of b eing infected, falling sick, and recovering from illness slowly. Studies claim that alcohol is a major health issue when misused, as it results in individual health problems, societal issues, cognitive and physical impairment. Alcohol Neurological disorders resulting from alcohol consumption include dementia and Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, which results in memory loss, and cognitive impairment. In most cases, alcohol affects physical performance of an individual, as it adversely inhibits span of attention, coordination of activities, and the time with which an individual reacts to stimulus. Alcohol also causes poor judgment, and in many circumstances, results in destruction of social relationships and communicative behavior

Business and Virtue Ethics Essay Example for Free

Business and Virtue Ethics Essay Abstract For the purposes of this assignment we will analyze the Mattel case and discuss the actions of the company regarding the behavior and actions in conjunction with the Global Manufacturing Process that was implemented. Breaches of the two business ethics elements of integrity and egoism will be assessed. Within the discussion I have identified the virtues prudence, justice, fidelity, and courage that were largely violated by the Mattel organization and how it affected the employees of Mattel. We will discuss the implications of virtue, deontological, and utilitarian ethics regarding their potential usefulness in evaluation of the Mattel case. Introduction Mattel’s concept of Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP) was not a novel concept. The many forms of GMP including International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) have been around for decades and have worked to insure that specific industries are held to a standard that is industry wide. ISO’s model is â€Å"Say what you do, and do what you say†. When a company endeavors to become ISO qualified, it is required to document every activity (as a standard operating procedure, SOP) that occurs within the company and adhere to that process without deviation. ISO qualified companies are always subject to audit by other ISO registered companies and is initially audited by four such companies in order to acquire certification. Having been directly involved with ISO implementation at a former employer that supplied fasteners for manufacturing, I am fully aware of how involved the certification is. The company SOP was over 1000 pages. Additionally, another ISO company can and will come in and audit your company prior to electing to conduct business with your company. In some instances, ISO qualification is not enough to be awarded the business. The nutrition industry also adheres to the Good Manufacturing Practices, of which I was required to be certified in every year. Each department of the nutritional company I worked for had its own GMP standards that we were to adhere implicitly. The nutrition industry, while not regulated by the FDA, is controlled indirectly by the FDA. GMP is an FDA requirement. Having worked in two industries where the concept is not only expected, but required in some instances; I was not impressed by the fact that Mattel implemented GMP of their own volition for the sole purpose to improve public perception after misconduct was exposed by the media. Business Ethics Issue The one word that I found that resonates throughout the article, whether spoken or implied, is â€Å"integrity†. The incoming CEO stated that Mattel would behave in all actions with â€Å"unwavering integrity† and that the company’s commitment to the GMP remained unequivocal and undiminished. (Sethi, Shapiro, Emelianova, pg.490) Ironically, I identify the most noticeable and important business ethics issue as just that; a lack of integrity. Merriam Webster defines integrity as â€Å"the firm adherence to a code of especially moral value, the quality or sate of being complete or undivided, and the quality of being honest or fair. Mattel exhibited none of these traits insofar as where their GMP’s were concerned. In fact, there were numerous infractions regarding the non-enforcement of their GMP’s across the board in the Asia and Mexico based manufacturing facilities. The second ethics issue I identified was narcissism. Mattel implemented this GMP program with the attitude of ‘look at what we’re doing’ but with minimal effort to ensure the success of the program. According to Duchon and Drake (2009) extreme narcissistic organizations will establish these formal ethics programs but will not have much effect on hindering unethical behaviors. This was evident in that the supervisors at the factories knew what they were supposed to be doing; but found ways to circumvent the system and there were no reprisals as a result of their nonconformance. Ultimately, it was a program of words and not deeds. Three Virtues Prudence â€Å"Careful good judgment that allows someone to avoid danger or risks. † (M-W, 2013) In my opinion, a great deal of misfortune and hardship could have been avoided if Mattel would have practiced a modicum of prudence before ever moving their manufacturing to Asia. In a perfect world, and especially in a modern world we do not expect children to work. However, when dealing with underdeveloped countries; it is normal for children to work in conditions that would be an affront to any American’s moral nature having abandoned child labor decades ago. If Mattel had done due diligence, they would have known that the facility in Indonesia was operating in an unacceptable manner (Sethi, et al. pg. 486) and could have implemented working conditions and requirements from the get-go. Then the exposure by the media would have never been an issue. I have no doubt that the draw of paying lower wages and increased productivity was the catalyst to overlook the conditions in those overseas factories. Justice â€Å"The quality of being just, impartial, or fair. Conformity to truth, fact, or reason. † (M-W, 2013) The concept of justice was completely lost on Mattel. While the implementation of the GMP program was comprehensive; the execution and enforcement was unconscionable. The last paragraph of the GMP, exhibit 1 says that if â€Å"Mattel determines that any of its manufacturing facilities or vendors violate these principles, we may either terminate our business relationship or require that facility to take corrective action. If corrective action is advised and not taken, Mattel will immediately terminate current production and suspend placement of future orders. †(Sethi, et al.pg. 487). However, when audits were performed; the facilities were rife with infractions but there was no follow through when corrective actions were required. The facilities were allowed to continue to operate unhindered. Astonishingly, the 20 plus companies that were not owned by Mattel were allowed to operate without any disciplinary actions imposed by Mattel for infractions if any auditing was conducted at all. Considering the fact that both Mattel owned and vendor factories employ some hundred thousand plus employees; Mattel’s actions were nowhere near impartial, fair, or conforming to fact or reason. Fidelity â€Å"Quality or state of being faithful, accuracy in details. †(M-W, 2013) For this virtue, I am concentrating on the act of being faithful to the employees. Whether or not the GMPs were self-imposed or not, Mattel had an obligation to the people it employs. Throughout the article, it was found during audits that the employee’s time cards would systematically be incomplete where they were not being allowed to clock-out. This resonates that these people were being required to work overtime ‘off the books’. Employees were not being given the appropriate days off or vacation time. Some living conditions and canteen conditions were substandard. Fines were being imposed. (Sethi, et al. 2011) The list goes on and on. In my opinion, Mattel should have had impartial representatives on the ground in these factories to ensure that the rules for payment, working overtime, and work conditions were being upheld. There should have been constant supervision and vigilance on a corporate level. To think that audits that were being conducted every three years was comprehensive enough to get the job done was blind and narrow minded. Courage To go one step further. A virtue is an attitude. Courage is measured when there is risk involved; but also rationality. To be truly courageous there needs to be a clear picture of what a person’s values are. Courage does not need to be proven beyond a doubt. (Hartman, 2008) In the case of Mattel, I feel it was courageous to implement such a comprehensive GMP program although it was misguided and ultimately failed. An even more courageous act would have been to rehab the program and bring it to its full potential and fruition. The article does not mention whether Mattel experienced any loss of revenue as a result, but public perception is a fickle entity and once all of the attention over sweat shops and child labor overseas died down, Mattel was no longer under the microscope. Financially, Mattel was spending money it perceivably no longer needed to spend. Since their program was self-imposed; it is no surprise that Mattel just unceremoniously abandoned the GMP program after nine years. When some organizations implement and enforce codes as part of a self-regulation process and others do not, those who self-regulate invariably incur greater costs. These costs are usually passed onto the consumer who subsequently (and sensibly) choses the organization which offers the cheaper product. (Blackburn McGee, 2004) Virtue Ethics Virtues are attitudes, dispositions, or character traits that enable us to be and to act in ways that develop this potential. They enable us to pursue the ideals we have adopted. Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, fidelity, integrity, fairness, self-control, and prudence are all examples of virtues. (Andre, Meyer, Shanks, and Velazquez. 1988) Virtue ethics indicates that business decisions should be made in a manner that attributes to the overall goals of the professional. It stresses activities and motives, what we do and why. Virtue ethics proffer that action and motive are connected to character and disposition. Actions are taken and decisions made because they are linked to a certain character. (Blackburn and McGee. 2004) â€Å"That â€Å"ought† does not imply â€Å"right† can be seen in another sort of case as well, namely, when what one ought to do in one’s circumstances results from one’s own prior wrongdoing. In such a case, doing what one ought to do may not be the same as doing a right act or a â€Å"good deed†. In fact, the same prior failure may both increase one’s level of obligation to do a given act now and decrease one’s level of praiseworthiness. † (Russell, 2008) The above quote is especially poignant in the Mattel case. Because Mattel implemented the GMP program on the heels of a media expose, the intentions were not solely based on the ‘right’ thing to do, but on what they ‘ought’ to do. Mattel probably did not get the recognition or good press they were looking for and therefore had no proclivity to ensure that the plan was a success. Utilitarian Ethics â€Å"Actions are approved when they are as such to promote happiness and disapproved when they have a tendency to cause unhappiness. † (Driver, 2009) We also know that utilitarian ethics work for the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Mattel directly employs over twenty thousand people throughout Asia and Mexico. If the happiness of those employees would have been considered; the pay, working conditions, time off, and canteen programs would have never been an issue. If the executives of the company would have experienced any of those adverse conditions, they would have cried â€Å"foul† all the way to an attorney. The employees are ultimately left without a voice and no recourse. Deontology â€Å"To act according to the maxim that you would wish all other rational people to follow as though it were universal law. † â€Å"Never treat a person as a means to an end. † (Pecorino, 2000) Kant contends that where morality is concerned, it is guided by law and therefore judgment is not necessary to fill in the blanks, because there are no blanks. He believed that people can conform to duty and not be morally limited. He believed that we could use indeterminate action-guidance for imperfect duties, and I’m paraphrasing; to weigh the moral options for decisions regarding duty towards others. Because that decision requires the minimum of our morality. Kant rejected virtue ethics. (McAleer, 2001) My opinion is that deontology would not work in the Mattel case. There are too many variables to consider in order to narrow down the maxim that will be comprehensive enough to include thousands of people over a number of cultural variances. Conclusion While the design of Mattel’s Global Manufacturing Principles may have been well intended and meant to improve the working conditions of the employees, the implementation was short-sighted and poorly executed. All too often when the few aspire to set standards for the many, the end result is a miscalculation. GMP’s are not a one size fits all type of endeavor. Each facility should have had a program that was custom to their country and working conditions. The ethical treatment of employees was the intention; but the ultimate governance was not enforced. The aftermath was the abandonment of the program due to the lack of interest and participation on the public and other companies in the industry. References Andre, Claire, Meyer, Michael and S. J. , Shanks, Thomas, Velasquez, Manuel. (1988) Ethics and Virtue. Issues in Ethics, V1 N3. Retrieved from http://www. scu. edu/ethics/practicing/decision/ethicsandvirtue. html on November 4, 2013 Blackburn, M. , McGhee, P. (2004). TALKING VIRTUE: PROFESSIONALISM IN BUSINESS AND VIRTUE ETHICS. Global Virtue Ethics Review, 5(4), 90-122. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/235113539? accountid=28844 Driver, Julia. The History of Utilitarianism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = . Duchon, D. , Drake, B. (2009). Organizational Narcissism and Virtuous Behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(3), 301-308. Retrieved from ProQuest on June 1, 2012. Hartman, E. (2008). Socratic questions and Aristotelian answers: A Virtue-based Approach to Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 78(3), 313-328. Retrieved November 19, 2012 from ProQuest. McAleer, J. S. (2001). Kant and virtue ethics. (Order No. 3019123, Syracuse University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 336-336 p. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/304750337? accountid=28844. (304750337). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved on November 4, 2013 from http://www. merriam-webster. com/prudence Merriam-Webster. Retrieved on November 4, 2013 from http://www. merriam-webster. com/justice Merriam-Webster. Retrieved on November 4, 2013 from http://www. merriam-webster. com/fidelity Merriam-Webster. Retrieved on November 4, 2013 from http://www. merriam-webster. com/integrity Pecorino, P. A. (2000). The categorical imperative. Retrieved on November 19, 2012 from: http://www. qcc. cuny. edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/intro_text/Chapter%208%20Ethics/Categorical_Imperative. htm Russell, D. C. (2008). That ought does not imply right: Why it matters for virtue ethics. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 46(2), 299-315. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/218153933? accountid=28844 on November 4, 2013.

Federal Government on Public School Curriculum Essay Example for Free

Federal Government on Public School Curriculum Essay Education is the one which build the molders of the society. It has been one of the major issues tackled during election campaigns and debates. Of all the issues in governance and in leading the nation, federal role in education receives less attention. The federal programs that exist in our country are lacking the ability to meet the standards that would qualify for a world quality yet government-funded education. In the educational system history, less help come from the federal government that worsens the scenario of schools specially those that are considered public. Aside from the role of the federal government in funding education particularly public schools, it is also important for the federal government to make sure that the curriculum be in its world quality standards of learning. The curriculum guides an educational system to be in its right path to reach the proper knowledge and learning. However, the Federal government was prohibited to control education under the General Education Provisions Act of April 18,1970 that was cited at 20USC(52)I §3921 of the Education Security Act of August 11, 1984. This prohibition is followed by the Controlled Substance Act that prohibits all professional competence in drug control. Another prohibition is the non-sponsorship of the federal government of any kind of testing that is provided for and enacted by law. Consequently, these prohibitions make the responsibility left behind with the States. Each States should have their own means of providing education to their respective youths. The congress had legislated an unconstitutional attitude that pertains to such education that prohibits good governance. This also limits the freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The exclusion of the federal government is not applicable at this time and thus, many (including those in the congress) suggest giving the proper education aid as soon as it should be. As an improvement, Former President George W. Bush passed â€Å"The No Child Left behind Act of 2001† which intends to increase the federal government’s support and involvement to education was legalized. The Federal government together with the US Department of Education should allow the idea of a national curriculum for public schools. In this way, the State and local educational offices will only maintain and enforce the standards without even evaluating the curriculum. The Department of Education upon their approval of national curriculum should always have their assessment at each half of the year to make sure that the standards for curriculum are well enforced. Reference ERIC.Government and the Public School Curriculum. Retrieved April 3, 2009 @http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true_ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ270398ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=noaccno=EJ270398

Attitudes and behavior

Attitudes and behavior ABSTRACT The paper focuses on attitudes and behavior on the concept of the youths buying behavior towards branded sports shoes, different consumers have got different decision making process. The buyers ultimate goal is to buy the product of qualitative, quantitative with low/best affordable price. In order to identify different kinds of consumers behavior towards buying of different branded shoes and Nike sports shoe. I have carried out buying behavior of youth and different kind of consumer behavior models, literature and theory of consumer behavior; finally, I analyzed and concluded with research based on questionnaire of Nike shoes and case studies of Nike sports shoes at Halmstad University. 1. INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND Introduction: Why studying youth buying behaviour? Youth is perhaps the most difficult demographic group to communicate with. Not only they have a short attention span, they are also elusive in media consumption, fickle in brand preference, and simply challenging to engage and entertain. Marketers spend millions in marketing research every year trying to predict, or anticipate, changing youth behaviours. With the continually proliferating choices of sports shoe, not only does this group embrace technology at an early age, it quickly becomes the early adopters of all new trends and convergent platforms. One can argue that whatever youth does today foreshadows what older demographic groups will adopt in the near future. All this makes it extremely difficult to understand and target their behaviours. Background Consumer has been elated with the kind of reception; they are getting from various companies these days. The reason behind a drastic change in consumer behavior is because the consumer is no more treated as a hire purchaser but, he is treated as the decider of the companys fortune. Companies or marketers cannot hire any fortuneteller to guess the consumers attitude. Guessing or measuring the consumers attitude is not a cake walk but this is because predicting consumers attitude is as tough as predicting consumers mind (Bheri, 2004). Consumers are continuously choosing among the various products though they are not aware of the products and usage, even though they are intentionally purchasing the various new brands without any knowledge about the new products, furthermore if new company enters into the market, for every consumer it is very difficult to understand the features of the news products and this makes confusion among the consumers to obtain the information. For example: If one local company enters into the market then to gain the knowledge about the features of the new product, it will take long time for the consumers to understand (Nelson, 1970). The term consumer can be described as a person who acquires goods and services for self satisfaction and his often used to describe two different kinds of consuming entities: the personal consumers and organizational consumers. The personal consumers buy goods and services for his/her own use. In this context, the goods are bought for final use by individual, who are organizational consumers, they encompasses for profit and not for profit business, government agencies, institutions, all of them must buy products, equipment and services in order to run their organization (Hawkins, Best and Coney 1998). The consumer will respond according to the product quality and reliability, the fundamental understanding of products is necessary to understand the product features, products reliability and product benefits (Baker, 2004). The consumer is the end user for the product; consumers buy the products in market; in order to perform successful sales operations in the market an effective distribution channel and networks are required for the organizations. Distribution channels and networks play an important role in the consumer goods industry. Consumer is the ultimate user of every product, without any consumer there is no market as such (Baker, 2004). Every region wise the different consumers are using different kind of products. Every consumer has their own tastes and preferences. So, every consumers opinions and preferences are different from one another. The local marketers have good idea about, what the local consumers are using (region wise). For example: The south Indian food habits and tastes and preferences are different, when compared to north Indian food habits (Thomas, 2004). Based on above paragraph, direct marketing activities have big impact on every consumer, because through direct marketing every company knows about the behavior of every consumer in the market. Manufacturing companies, retailer and suppliers do not have an idea about the consumer behavior in the local market. So, author suggested that direct marketing activities should be left to the local market leaders, because the local market leaders have best idea of local market and local consumer behavior. This theory helps for the organization and sub-organizations to know the consumer behavior in different market environments, taste and preferences of the consumer behavior (Thomas, 2004). McDonalds would not have made a big impact in the Indian market had it persisted with its U.S. product line that included beef products, moreover, McDonalds repositioned the brand as family-oriented and children-friendly, catering the traditional Indian middle- class segment that finds pride in its family culture and is especially conscious of childcare. So in this point of view Mc Donalds have approached differently, because they identified that, which they followed earlier that will not get good impact on their business so, they immediately changed the business line to achieve the targets, thus, this is one kind of business strategy to achieve the set goals in huge populated countries (Dash, 2005). For perspective of globalization we can not change the system of tastes and preferences of Consumers. Another instance demonstrating the ignorance of local tastes in the wake of globalization features the multinational mobile phone makers, Nokia had tasted success with its soap-bar designed phones and ceased producing the flip phones that consumers found irritating to use (Zaccai, 2005). The Chinese business people are giving importance to Chinese traditional, patriotic values; the business people are running their businesses by showing their traditional, patriotic advertisement and promotional campaigns to get the business from the Chinese people. The Chinese consumers perspective, by assessing their preferences amongst a host of advertisements and promotional campaigns, later on the business people are started the global Advertisement campaigns with status and social appeal, they sought immense pride in clinging to the traditional, cultural and patriotic values through the local campaigns, with this theory helps by knowing the Chinese consumer behavior and also they are giving same importance to traditional and patriotic values in the name of advertisements. Finally, they want the advertisements with traditional and patriotic values of Chinese culture (Zhou and Belk, 2004). The consumers mind is different from one another in this as author said in the definition that according to the human psychology, demographical differences, age sex and to understand people needs. (Kotler, 2004), to assess the influences of every consumer approach is different, in theory explained that consumer is treated as decider of the company, what ever the product comes to the market, the consumer is the ultimate purchaser for every product, some times the consumers are choosing, selecting and going for family decision making to choose differently, in one point of time the consumers differentiated and explained that they are going for personal and some of the them are using products for profit. Demographical differences make new food habits for every consumer. The choice of variation for every consumer (Kotler, 2004). The example of above paragraph, two countries, therefore Chinese consumers are giving respect to traditional and patriotic values, where as Indian consumers are more religious when they are using the products. These are influences that make the consumer to purchase different products; mostly those influences are more related to the physiological, demographical, social, cultural, economic, family and business influences. According to Kotler (1994), consumer behavior is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It is a subcategory of marketing that blends elements from psychology, sociology, socio psychology, anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people needs. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from group such as family friends, reference groups, and society in general (Kotler, 1994) for example while consumers purchase the shoe, then they go for family decision, comfort, satisfaction, price and quality. Every family member doesnt have the same opinion to buy the same product; different family members have different choice to buy the product. So, in one family consumer behavior is different (Kotler, 1994). 2. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to a better knowledge of consumer buying behavior towards purchasing the sports shoes. The aim of the thesis is to find out the factors influencing the youth in purchasing sports shoes. The purpose of the study could be expressed by the following research question. Assessment factors, which influence the youth to buy sports shoes? 3. LITERATURE REVIEW The Definition: Consumer-buying behavior according to Kotler (2004, p.601) is defined as The buying behavior consumers individuals and house holds who buy goods and services for personal consumption. the term consumer can be described as a person who acquires goods and services for self satisfaction is often used to describe two different kinds of consuming entities: the personal consumers and the organizational consumers. The personal consumers buy goods and services for his/her own use. In this context the goods are bought for final use by individual, who are organizational consumers, encompasses for profit and not for profit business, government agencies, institutions, all of them must buy products, equipment and services in order to run their organization (Kotler, 2004). Peter and Olson, (1993) mention that interactions between the peoples emotions, moods, affection and specific feelings is called consumer behavior, in other words in environmental events which they exchange ideas and benefits each is called consumer behavior . Buying behavior of people, who purchase products for personal use and not for business purposes (Peter and Olson, 1993). The Physical actions of consumers that can directly observe and measured by others, by influencing behavior profit can be earned (kotler, Armstrong and Cunningham, 1989). The study of consumer behavior has evolved in early emphasis on rational choice (microeconomics and classical decision theory) to focus on apparently irrational buying needs (some motivation research) and the use of logical flow models of bounded rationality (Howard and Sheth 1989). The latter approach has depended into what is often called the information processing model (Bettman 1979). The information processing model regards the consumer as a logical thinker who solves problem to make purchasing decision (Holbrook and Hirschman 1980). Compares the four major approaches to create successful inter-organizational relationships and integrates them into a single prescription for managing important inter firm relationships (Palmatier, Dant and Grewal, 2007). Service fails, in satisfying the customers and developing customer loyalty over time in business to business markets. Cyert (1956) may have been the first to observe that a number of managers in addition to the purchasing agents are involved in buying process, and the concept was labeled buying behavior and popularized by Robinson (Faris and Win 1967). Webster and Wind (1972) famously identified five buying roles, they are: 1. users 2. Influencer 3.buyer 4. decider and 5 Gatekeeper (Webster and wind, 1972). Further categories have been suggested as the initiator (Bonoma, 1981), and the analyst and spectator by Wilson (Wilson, 1998). The product purchase decision is not always done by the user. The buyer necessarily purchases the product. Marketers must decide at whom to direct their promotional efforts, the buyer or the user. They must identify the person who is most likely to influence the decision. If the marketers understand consumer behavior, they are able to predict how consumers are likely to react to various informational and environmental cues, and are able to shape their marketing strategies accordingly (kotler, 1994). The consumer behavior influences are follows: The consumer behavior influences in 3 aspects, they are acquiring, using and disposing. The acquiring means that how the consumer spends money on the products, such as leasing, trading and borrowing. Using means some of the consumers use the high price products and some of the consumer sees the quality. Disposing is nothing but distribution, order or places a particular product (Hoyer, Deborah, 2001). By understanding consumer behavior deeply, different authors have given different information about the consumer behavior, how consumer buys the products, it involves four steps they are: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behavior, the marketer can pick up many clues as and how to meet the buyer need and develop an effective program to support an attractive offer to the target market (Kanuk, 1990). According to Kotler (1994), the Consumers buying decision process is influenced by four steps those are as follows: Types of consumer buying decision behavior: Consumer buying behavior decision-making varies with the type buying decision. There are different types of buying behavior decisions. Complex buying behavior: Consumers undertake complex buying behavior when they are highly involved in purchase and complex buying behavior and perceive significant difference among the brands. Consumers may be highly involved when the product are expensive, risky, purchased in frequently and are highly expensive (Kotler, 1994). Dissonance Reducing buying behavior occurs when consumers are highly involved with an expensive, infrequent or risky purchase, but sees little difference among various brands (Kotler, 1994). Variety Consumers undertake variety seeking buying behavior in situations characterized by low consumer involvement, but significant perceived brand difference. In such cases, consumers often do a lot brand scrutiny (Kotler, 1994). 4. THE BUYING DECISION PROCESS Introduction of buying decision process Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Mostly large companies do extensive research on consumer buying decision, to answer questions like what does consumer buy, where they buy, how they buy, how much they buy, when they buy and why do they buy a product, for this question to reorganize the decision different stages needed they are, information search, and evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase decision etc., The consumer passes through all five stages with every purchase, but in more routine purchases, consumers often skip or reverse some of these stages (Hawkins, Coney, 1998). The buying decision process The buying process starts with need recognition, where as buyer recognize the need. The buyers decision is depending on his/her internal external stimuli of consumer behavior. The internal and external stimuli of consumer behavior means that the consumer, which product should purchase, how much wants to purchase and externally which products are more reliable and usable. According to this internal and external stimulis the buyer will take the decision (Hawkins, Coney, 1998). The consumers are searching the information from the various sources those are information search, personal source, commercial sources, public sources and experimental sources; this is also process of the buying decision process before purchase of the product (Hawkins, Coney, 1998). Information search: The consumer can obtain information from any of several sources, which includes: Personal source: family, friends, neighbors, acquaintance etc. Commercial sources: advertising, sales people, dealers, packaging, displays. Public sources: mass media, consumer-rating organizations etc. Experimental sources: handling, examining, using of the product. Consumers receive most of the information about a product from commercial sources, which are controlled by the marketer. The most effective source however tend to be personal. Personal sources appear to be even more important in influencing the purchase. Evaluation of Alternatives: The consumer evaluates all the alternatives available to him/her to arrive at a brand choice. The consumer will see the product as a bundle of attributes with varying capacities, which satisfies his or her needs. The consumer will pay more attention to those attributes connected with their needs. The consumer is likely to develop a set of brand beliefs about, where each brand stands on each attribute. These of beliefs held about the particular brand is known as brand image, according to the beliefs and preferences of the consumer, evaluates the alternative products instead of using existing products (Kotler, 2004). Purchase decision: In the evaluation stage, the consumer ranks all the brands and makes a purchase intention. Generally the consumer purchase decision is to buy the most preferred brand, when purchasing a products, consumer will think about two things, which can be, purchase decision and purchase intention. The attitude of others and unexpected situation factors both directly or indirectly effects the consumers final decision to buy a particular brand. (Kotler, 2004). Post purchase behavior: The buyers job does not end when the product is brought. After purchasing the product, the consumer will be satisfied or dissatisfied and will be engaged in post purchase behavior. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the purchase of a particular product depends on the relationship between the consumer expectation and the consumer disappointment, if it meets the consumer expectations, the consumer can get satisfied. And if it exceeds he/she is delighted (Gilly and Gelb, 1986). 5. THEORETICAL FRAME WORK Consumer Involvement Theory The consumer involvement theory means that, how the consumer involving the purchase of various products in the market, after purchasing the product, how the consumer responding towards the products called consumer involvement theory. The consumers get the information through advertising, for that they purchase, use, and react that they see and hear about the products that they buy (Barry, 1987). Level of involvement an individuals intensity of interest in a product and the importance of the product for that person, those are enduring involvement and situational involvement (Homewood IL Irwin, 1987). Routinized response behavior is that the process used when buying frequently purchased low-cost items that requires little search- and decision-effort (Homewood IL Irwin, 1987). The consumer involved in purchasing of products and usage and, also, various aspects like high involvement and low involvement in process of purchasing of products. The consumer some times involves high and low in purchasing products, so, theory of involvement is explaining that the consumer recognizes the importance of the purchase and it considers that the degree of perceived risk, moreover, it reflects on self image perhaps information processing may be different from one another (Ray, 1973). The low involvement theory is explaining that the consumer would accept wide range of products with positive attitude with do-feel-learn strategy, firstly the consumer select any kind of product, use the product, if they are not sure about how to use the product, and they learn how to use the product. To purchase a new computer in market and using of the computer, if they are not satisfied then they go for learning of how to use the computer. The low involvement of consumer will be in manner that do-feel-learn strategy (Ray, 1973). In one of the consumer article author explained about the consumers, are influenced by television commercials and their relationship effectiveness of advertisements (Krugman 1987). High involvement theory is rational and emotional, and it is explaining about the consumers participations in the context very actively without any hesitation, moreover, they look after extensive problem solving. In this theory of involvement the consumers learn about the product, use the product, if they are feeling that the product is comfortable to use it, and then they go for buying the product, so this is called high involvement because after usage, they definitely buy the products. The high involvement theory is reversible order to low involvement theory like learn-feel-do strategy (Debruicker, 1979). How the involvement theory is useful, the emotions, specific feelings, learning of every product and involves when they want to use it and when they want to purchase it. So, this theory helps when the consumer purchasing any kind of product or after using the product. 6. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR MODELS Introduction Intergradations of three models There are three types of models, which will explain about consumers process of basic needs to selecting one particular product, In order to process consumer behavior the following three models are important, the first and foremost model is that the Hierarchy model of consumer behavior, in this model the author said that, without any basic needs the consumer can not survive, so, the consumer should have some basic needs, which have been explained below, secondly the consumer behavior model. In this model author mentioned about research and planning, in this process, the researchers are taking samples from consumer before manufacturing the new products in the market. Finally, lens model has been explained that in order to choice/select a product by the consumer. Most early psychologists studied people who had psychological problems, but Maslow Hierarchy needs tells us about the needs of consumer behavior. Hierarchy needs of consumer behavior model (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987) Maslow believes that people seek to fulfill five categories of needs. (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987) Maslows given the hierarchy needs for consumer behavior, before starting about the consumer behavior, the consumer needs are important; usually every consumer have some hierarchy needs, they are; self actualization needs, esteem needs, belonging needs, safety and security needs and psychological needs (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). The self actualization needs: The term actualization means that the intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is called self actualization needs. For example: one can play the music, he is called musician or artist, and one can paint the art is called painter, one can write the poems, is called poet. For surviving in competitive world one profession is important, this profession is not only for surviving, but also one kind of need for human being. In small words to understand simply one individual potentiality develop him by doing something; it is called the self actualization (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). The author suggests that the self actualization need is important when the consumer wants to survive, consumer came with new professions, and it is one kind of need, it will help the consumer to survive in this competitive world (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). Esteem needs: The term esteem means that need for things that reflect on self-esteem, personal worth, social recognition, and accomplishment, for example one can travel in the bus, motor bike, and car respectively, depends on his/her financial position they can travel. In this case travel is a need, so, in smaller words, if one can economically sound, then he/she arranges the esteemed need according to their financial possession (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). The author said that, if she/he needs the esteem needs, then they should have good economic possession, if not no necessary to maintain the car or motor bike, it is very easy to use the public bus or walk (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). Social needs: The social needs includes love of family or friends, for example, the boy loves his girl friend, the relationship between husband and wife, one child belongs to one family This is called belongingness or love (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). This is one kind of need for every consumer, because every consumer has their personal belongingness and love. Safety needs: The safety might include living in an area away from threats. This level is more likely to be found in children as they have a greater need to feel safe. For example one wants to live safe and secure life in the society. Finally, always consumer wants to live a life, which is safe and secured (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). Physiological needs: It includes the very basic need air, warmth, food, sleep, stimulation and activity. People can die due to lack of biological needs and equilibrium common needs like food, water, oxygen and other common minimum needs are wanted for every one to survive in the world. This is also a basic need of consumer (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987) Consumer behavior model The concept of consumer behavior model is that, all the consumer minds are not the same, because every consumer thinks in different manner and purchasing of products also different. The below figure is saying about the research and planning, now a days the products are many, the consumer is attracting towards new products and its features. The manufacturing companies are designing the products, before manufacturing of new products the researchers are taking the samples for research from the consumers, after taking the samples from the consumers, researchers are doing the research about the products, it encourages companies to constantly innovate better ways to serve the consumer needs (Yeowzah, 2003). The research planning depending on product design, insights and action. As author saying about the design, if products designs are good then every consumer attracted towards purchasing of new products, the product design is possible only by doing research. The insights is nothing but the product features, the product features are depend upon good research and planning, without any research and planning there is no product as such. In between these two aspects the action takes place to do good research and to get good results in the market (Yeowzah, 2003). 2. Consumer behavior model (Yeowzah, 2003) http://www.yeowzah.com/consumer_behavior_model.htm The significance of consumer behavior decision theory in some cases consumer has clear and strong choice or preference for particular product to purchase. According to the customer preference, companies can increase their sales to develop the 4 Ps marketing to affect the customer preference and test. Company can design the product to attract the customer to make the better sales. To analyze the competitor activity and make the most battle plan to fight in to the market (Hauser, 1993). Lens Model Product Features Perceptions Preferences Psycho-social cues Availability, Price Choice Lens model (Hauser, 1993) Description: The above lens model says that, the product features and perceptions are inter dependent, because the consumer see the product features before purchasing any product in the market, the product features arrow showing towards perception, the perception is nothing but understanding of the product, in this process consumer will understand about the product, after understanding the product, the perceptions is going to be preference of various products (Hauser, 1993). In this process of preference product, the consumer prefers the products, after preferring the product, consumer select the particular product that is called choice. The final arrow showing towards choice, but this whole process depends on consumer psycho-social cues and availability price of the products in the market (Hauser, 1993). The second way is that the psycho-social cues and perceptions are also inter dependent with the help of these two terms the consumer prefers the product and finally choose/select the product (Hauser, 1993). The third way is that the consumer chooses the product with the help of psycho-social cues, which means psychological influences, understanding of the product and availability price of the products (Hauser, 1993). NIKES INTRODUCTION (NIKES CASE STUDIES) The company was established in 1968. Philip H. Knight is the chairman and CEO of the company. The first idea was given by Philip knight to manufacture the shoes, the idea behind this concept is that, when he was studying MBA in Stanford University in USA, he completed the course and he was trying to do the project in different marketing contexts, for this project, he went to Japan to do project in tiger shoes in Japan, it is one of the best shoes brands in Japan, at the same time he presented himself as an American representative and started manufacturing of shoes and he has given name for that company is blue ribbon sports company later on he has changed the name Nike. Later he started manufacturing shoes, apparel and equipments and he renamed his company name like Nike hope for the best to happen after some time he turned in to his coach Bill bower man in his school for what to do next in this industry. So, Bill bower man came up with new idea. In 1979 the Nike was the worlds top companies in the world. Nike mainly concentrated on athletics, the main competitors was Reebok and Adidas. Now Ni

White Fang :: essays research papers

White Fang by Jack London, was written in 1906. The story is about a half-wolf, half-dog who is born from a she-wolf. His name is White Fang he is the only survivor of the litter. He becomes a pet of some Indians and becomes a great fighter. A man named Beauty Smith buys White Fang for liquor. Beauty uses White Fang to make money. He arranges fights to let people bet on, White Fang wins them all. Except A pitbull who bites White Fang in the neck and grips on. Finally a man named Weedon Scott punches Beauty and pries the pitbull from White Fang's neck. Weedon and White Fang became best friends, they loved each other. White Fang gets away and the rest of the story is about their friendship. There were many turning points in the story, some are bigger than others. When Weedon first helps White Fang and they become friends is a big turning point in the story. When the Indians first taught White Fang how to fight also was a big turning point because it shows he is wild. Near the end of the story White Fang and Weedon were living in Sierra Vista with Weedon's dad who was a judge. A man named Jim Hall was after Judge Scott, Jim Hall one night broke into their house. White Fang sensed his presence and fought with Jim and killed him. White Fang suffered a gun shot wound but was ok and lived the rest of his days in Sierra Valley. White Fang didn't make me feel any special way, books never make me feel a certain way. Otherwise it reminded me of my Dogs (not that are like White Fang but the bond we have together.) When Weedon saved White Fang made me feel like I'm the same way. Also when White Fang protected the Scott's reminded me of how my dogs would probably do the same thing because they are very protective. My dogs are very important to me just like White Fang was to Weedon. The book was very descriptive and it involved dogs and dogfights and cool stuff like that. On the bad side the book was long (25 chapters long) and very, very boring in some parts. White Fang is for people with a lot of time on their hand they would like to spend reading a book and like outdoor-like books, if you liked Call Of The Wild you probably will like this book.

The Trip To Halawa Valley :: essays research papers

The Trip to Halawa Valley "The Trip to Halawa Valley," is a short story written by Lynne Sharon Schwartz. The story is about a son succeeding and getting married in Hawaii, and the reunification of his divorced parents. The parents become the main focus of the story when the son suggests that they go on a trip to Halawa Valley. In this story Schwartz is trying to show people that once you make a decision it is very hard to turn back on that decision. With all the characters, except for the briefly mentioned newlyweds, Schwartz shows how decisions made by a person or a couple are hard to turn back on. An example of this is Paul's parents. Lois and Jim are brought back together in Hawaii, and try to rekindle their love for each other. After their trip though, they realize it can not be done, and part in their own separate ways. Schwartz does a very good job of showing the reader the experience she is trying to convey. She does this by using a couple different characters throughout the story. The main ones she uses are the parents, and that is the very obvious example. A few other examples are not as clear, but they do show how decisions are an important factor in life and once made are very hard to turn around. Using Paul's brother Anthony, Schwartz shows that once he made the decision to join the Hare Krishnas there was no turning back, even if that meant not communicating with his parents anymore. Schwartz also uses Paul's other brother Eric. When Eric announced that he was gay, his parents had to make the tough decision to either support or not support his choice in sexuality. Schwartz develops the characters very fast, but in doing so makes the story move faster. Throughout the story the characters are being developed through the thoughts of both Lois and Jim. They talk about their kids and how one of them died at age 11 due to a brain tumor. Schwartz also makes Lois develop Jim, and Jim develop Lois. She does this by making them reminisce about their past together. The conflict in this short story is between the parents of Paul.

The Korean War Essay -- South Korean History

The Korean War began on June 25th, 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. On June 27th, 1950, American United Nations forces intervened to stop the advance. This action has positively and negatively affected both the United States and Korea. Deciding to aid South Korea in the Korean War has drastically changed the lives of many people. In 1949, China fell into Mao Zedong’s communist forces. More than 500 million Chinese and 220 million soviets lived under communist rule. Japan ruled Korea from 1905 until the end of World War 2. Most Americans had barely even heard of Korea. After World War 2, Korea was divided into North and South (Brownstone and Franck p.238). On June 25th, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. North Korea wanted to unify itself with South Korea and create one Korea. North Korea believed a communist government was the most beneficial government to live under. But South Korea disagreed with them. The 38th parallel is the border that divided North and South Korea (Snippets, 2011). The 38th parallel divided the capitalist Southern part of Korea and the communist Northern part of Korea (Hickey, 2010). During the Korean War, the United States had two presidents. Harry Truman was president when it began in 1950, and Dwight Eisenhower was elected in 1952. The president of South Korea during this time was Syngman Rhee (Hickey, 2010). Korea’s biggest problem has always been the lack of resources. Even today, the limited natural resources and small population have deprived them of being a more powerful nation (Snippets, 2011). China entered the war on October 19th, 1950 (Korean, 2011). General MacArthur sent American troops deep into the South. United State Senators went on television and radio and demanded that ... ...e more power. The war between North and South Korea paused with an armistice signed on July 27th, 1953. Sending troops to fight in the war illustrates the United States’ loyalty to South Korea, and this action has positively affected the United States, Korea, and many other countries. Deciding to aid South Korea in the Korean War has drastically changed the lives of many people. The world would be a lot different if the Korean War never occurred. The United States and China wouldn’t be rivals. Also, there wouldn’t be any hostility between North and South Korea, and the 38th parallel wouldn’t exist. However, the Korean War has created a strong bond between South Korea and the United States. The Korean War was also the first war in which blacks and whites fought alongside each other in the American Armed Forces and the war was a learning experience for the world.