Corporate social responsibility motivations and country factors Essay

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an increasingly important issue for all businesses around the world. CSR covers economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities of firms. Explain the factors that may motivate an MNE to adopt CSR in its international business strategy and operations. How might the country context influence the types of CSR initiatives undertaken? Support your answer with real world examples or cases. While corporate social responsibility (CSR) has existed for a long time, it has garnered attention only in the last two decades as an important aspect of doing business. Academic research on CSR has evolved over the years, indicating a change in how CSR is viewed as time goes by. In the earlier years of CSR research, academics sought to identify a link between CSR and financial performance (Aupperle et al. 1985; McGuire et al. 1998), as though CSR had to be rationalised in order to exist. But moving forward to the present, CSR has been undoubtedly recognised as a need by many organisations, and research has shifted from discussing â€Å"macro social effects to an organisational-level analysis of CSR and its impact on organisational processes and performance† (Lindgreen and Swaen 2010, p. 1). In other words, CSR research has moved from questioning the â€Å"why† to â€Å"how† of doing CSR, reflecting the growing prominence of the practice. CSR involves the â€Å" economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time† (Carroll 1979, p. 500). These programs are designed to fulfill a basic economic or social need as expected by the community, honoured by the company in goodwill so as to position oneself as a positively value-driven entity (Swanson 1995; Wood 1991). CSR initiatives can be derived out of self-interest, or external pressure from institutional economics (Meyer and Rowan 1991; North 1992) or when a company decides to rise above its economic function to help and aid stakeholders (Trevino and Nelson, 2004). While there are many reasons for a company to engage in CSR, it ultimately assists the corporation in enhancing its legitimacy (Wood 1991) and fit with society at large (Zensisek 1979), creating a symbiotic relationship between stakeholders and companies (Tuzzolinio and Armandi 1981). Unfortunately, CSR has no consensus definition (Dahlsrud, 2008). It is important to recognise from this that CSR  is a complex and multilayered concept that requires examination from various angles. In this essay, CSR will be understood as a firm’s obligations to act responsibly to all possible stakeholders in the market environment. This essay will now seek to explore the motivations behind pursuing CSR programs by a business organisation, d etermining how various stakeholders and the general public can influence this decision and how the broader country context can affect how a company participates in CSR. In the corporate world, companies are fully engaged in CSR initiatives, with more than 80% of Fortune 500 companies addressing CSR issues (Esrock and Leichty, 1998), reflecting that CSR is more than an ethical or ideological necessity, but also an economic one. As such, more companies today have realised that â€Å"not only doing good is the right thing to do, but it also leads to doing better† (Bhattacharya and Sen 2004, p.9). While it was infamously argued previously that the main purpose of a company was to make profits and thrive economically (Friedman 1970), enterprises now have the option to do so and at the same time, contribute meaningfully to society at large. The reasons for a MNE to engage in CSR initiatives are multiple. Stakeholder theory (Donaldson and Preston 1995) can be used as a skeletal framework to understand where demands for CSR arise. Demand derives from two main groups: consumers and stakeholders. Stakeholders of a company include its investors, employees, suppliers and even the local environment that it is located in. The consumer demand for CSR will be addressed first. CSR engagements may result in producing a good that has socially responsible attributes, such as dolphin-free tuna or a non-animal tested product. It could be in less obvious means, such as a clothing company not ultilising sweat shops or child labour in producing its goods. When consumers buy products that bear such attributes, they believe they are â€Å"indirectly supporting a cause and rewarding firms that devote resources to CSR† (McWilliams and Siegel 2001, p. 119). Consumers are able to identify better with a company that engages in CSR activities and feel a stronger connection or attachment to such firms. Consumer oriented CSR also involve intangible attributes, such as reputation. Having a strong reputation has been linked to attracting more customers, retaining and motivating employees, gaining favour with analysts and the media amongst many more reasons (Bhattacharya and Sen 2004). CSR has come to matter in building a reputation for corporations. The Reputation  Institute ranks the world’s most reputable companies based on the RepTrak ® system. RepTrak ® analyses seven dimensions of corporate reputation: Citizenship, Innovation, Governance, Workplace, Leadership, Products/Services and Financial Performance (Reputation Institute 2013). Of which, three of these dimensions (citizenship, governance and workplace) fall into the CSR category, and analysis has shown that â€Å"42% of how people feel about a firm is based on their perceptions of the a firm’s CSR practices† (Smith 2012, para. 6). The Body Shop, Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s are some examples that stand out in their respective industries having built reputations centring on socially responsible practices. Hence, it is easy to see why consumers drive the demand for companies to engage in CSR activities. Stakeholders too, demand for CSR for various reasons. McWilliams and Siegel (2001, p.122) have posited that employees will support  "progressive labour relations policies, safety, financial security, and workplace amenities, such as childcare. Workers are searching for signals that managers are responding to causes they support†. Nintendo has numerous employee well-being programs in place where all employees can receive support in various aspects of their lives. Free training in life-saving skills and first aid, and subsidies for work safety shoes, transportation costs and even gym memberships are provided to help employees achieve work-life balance and a better well being (Nintendo, 2013). It has been observed that CSR initiatives in a firm typically lead to greater employee work satisfaction where job attitudes are improved and productivity is increased, and is used as a way of attracting talents to a company (Bhattacharya, Sen and Korschun 2012). Valentine and Fleischman (2008) have observed that CSR also plays a part in mediating the relationships between ethics programs and job satisfaction. Taken holistically, effective organisational ethics and CSR activities will incite more â€Å"positive beliefs in the fir m, as well as the immediate work context and culture† (Valentine and Fleischman 2008, p. 167). As observed then, employees play an important role in creating a demand for CSR in firms as they stand to benefit from such programs intrinsically. For both stakeholders and consumers then, CSR programs create an organisational identity that becomes relatable. When companies engage in CSR that underpins their mission and values, stakeholders are able to see an element of themselves in the organisation,  which leads to increased support for the company. As already observed, this can lead to stronger purchase intention in customers, or increased job satisfaction in employees. The largest motivation to pursue CSR for a company though could lie in developing a competitive advantage. While CSR could be executed simply by donating to charities as corporate philanthropy, some firms have recognised CSR as a strategic tool to use and develop in order to answer not only a societal need, but a business issue as well. Strategic CSR is now a form of social innovation, and by answering crucial problems in society that leads to real, long-lasting change; a company will reap the benefits of a better workforce, a new market or higher consumption while adding value to society (Kanter 1999). The need to recognise that economic and social objectives are not distinctively opposing but complementary will lead to CSR that can potentially bring about a social benefit and improve competitiveness (Porter and Kramer, 2002). There are two main business advantages that arise from CSR. Firstly, it presents an opportunity to test out a new technology. Secondly, it provides the opportunity to build political capital by influencing regulations, presenting itself as a market leader or to strengthen relationships with government officials (Kanter 1999). This was exactly what Bell Atlantic did through Project Explore by going into schools to test out their new High-bitrate Digital Subscriber Line (HDSL) technologies with personal computers in the early 1990s. This provided a test ground that would get their technology into the real world and also presented itself as a demonstration site to political leaders for Bell Atlantic to petition favourably for their proposed statewide technology communications plan (Kanter 1999). Bell Atlantic managed to help schools by providing them with computers and new technologies, bettering education and technology literacy, while still achieving a business agenda. The competitive context of a company and its business environment can benefit greatly when economic and social goals are seen as mutually linked. Porter and Kramer (2006) identify four key areas strategic CSR can affect competitive context positively: factor conditions, demand conditions, context for strategy and rivalry, and lastly, related and supported industries. Improving education, in the case of Cisco, enabled them to educate students in computer skills that resulted in a high quality, yet cost effective curriculum due to Cisco’s expertise. Whilst all students from Cisco’s Networking Academy may not work for Cisco, the industry at large benefits. Furthermore, well-trained network administrators who graduate from The Cisco Network Academy create demand for higher quality service and solutions (Porter and Kramer 2006, p. 85). CSR can influence in the creation of a more productive and transparent environment for competition (Porter and Kramer 2006, p. 85), such as Transparency International, where corporations have pledged to disclose and deter corruption in the world. This aids in building fair competition and higher productivity. Finally, a company can benefit by supporting a related industry. For example, American Express funds travel and tourism academics in the recognition of its reliance on the hospitality industry for travel-related spending on its credit cards (Porter and Kramer 2006, p.85). These examples show how CSR can result in tremendous payoffs when executed effectively. While immediate stakeholders c an drive the motivations for CSR initiatives, it is important to consider how the country a company is operating in can affect how CSR activities are chosen and implemented. The different social and cultural differences in each country should be salient enough for managers to acknowledge that CSR cannot be entirely universal, especially in the case of global MNEs. Furthermore, different social needs and problems will be inherent in each country. For example, the prevalence of AIDS/HIV is critical in South Africa. As such, it is only appropriate that companies with a presence in South Africa address this issue; with the likes of Toyota, Sappi and Mercedes-Benz deploying CSR programs that help employees tackle the pandemic of AIDS/HIV. British Petroleum (BP) (BP 2013), a global oil company, undertakes CSR initiatives that are identified as locally relevant, tailoring to the needs of their host communities and societies. A quick glance of their case studies shows various CSR programs ranging from workforce rights in Brazil to community relations in Turkey. While addressing locale-specific issues would be the most effective method of CSR, other factors may e ncourage or hinder such intention. The legal environment can affect the way CSR is implement in a country greatly. It changes either through strong intervention whereby social responsibility is legally stipulated, or a severe lack thereof, which leads to voluntary action by other players (Campbell 2007). France and Brazil are two examples par excellence of how the government can play a key role in creating CSR  demand, albeit in opposite directions. The French government has influenced how CSR has developed and emerged greatly by playing an active role in passing legislation, amongst other policies that requires French companies, including subsidiaries of international firms, to be socially responsible and accountable (Sobczak and Martins 2010, p. 448). On the other hand, Brazil’s history of a military government has fostered a passive environment where innovation is stifled, including that of encouraging improvements for society (Sobczak and Martins 2010, p.449). As such, private actors such as Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are most active in Brazil to encourage CSR programs to Brazilian companies. While the legal environment can affect how CSR is implemented in a country, it can also affect what type of CSR is initiated. Although France has passed mandates to enforce listed companies submit reports on social and environment impacts, the main area of concern belies in employment rights (Sobczak and Martins 2010, p. 450). Similarly, Brazilian companies are also strongly focused on employee relations and well-being, that being the key principle of CSR in Brazil (Sobczak and Martins 2010, p. 451). CSR then is only translated into one dimension of obligation and other dimensions, though equally pressing; take a backseat in the case of France and Brazil. Different priorities in a country culturally can affect how CSR is implemented. In such scenarios, international NGOs come in and encourage other concerns to be addressed. This helps to bring harmony to the imbalance within the CSR activities focused in countries such as France and Brazil. For instance, international environmental NGO, the World Wildlife Fund, has collaborated with French companies to allow the use of their logo, one of the most recognisable brands in the world, on products that meet their standards (Sobczak and Martins 2010, p.452). This has encouraged firms in France to meet environmental standards that was not previously crucial in CSR portfolios. Through this, French companies are more receptive to practicing CSR that is not inherent to their usual procedures. Despite the particularity of each country and how CSR is ideally done based on local demands, the reality of the matter is that CSR is not always practiced this way. Global MNEs typically have general and universal guidelines on what CSR activities should be undertaken in host countries, and most managers have to be given permission to pursue local CSR from the parent company . Universalism in CSR practices by MNEs creates linearity and  coherence for all stakeholders, but can result in less powerful CSR practices. On the other hand, localised programs may end up being fragmented or ad hoc. There is undoubtedly differing perspective on which approach is preferable, as each holds its argument convincingly (Muller 2006). As suggested by Husted and Allen (2006) then, the key difference between global or local CSR is the community that demands it. Another key factor that affects the way CSR is conducted is the development of CSR in a globalised world. It has been recognised by scholars (Gugler and Shi 2009; Jamali 2010) that CSR is fundamentally Anglo-Saxon both in history and development. Hence, CSR has a strong presence in the United States and United Kingdom, but is still lacking in both conceptual and practical thinking in countries based in the Southern hemisphere. Jamali and Ramez (2007) has noted that numerous issues with CSR in the Lebanon context. Firstly, CSR is typically executed in tangent to the parent company’s mission and values. While it is not necessarily a bad move to have a universally applicable CSR issue identified by a parent company, this may lead to a lack of agency by foreign subsidiaries to pursue CSR that is truly important in a specific context. Hence, CSR in Lebanon is still largely based on altruistic means and charitable giving, which is considered a low-level and basic method of implementing CSR. Interviewed companies by Jamali (2007) did not track the performance of its CSR outputs, showing that CSR is not implemented for a genuine purpose of serving a long-term positive impact to society, but to address the obligatory needs in order to build a positive corporate image. Due to the lack of understanding from global perspectives and North-driven ideology, countries may derive value and meaning from CSR in their own terms (Gugler and Shi 2009). China has come up with their own standards because of the dilemma of being the â€Å"world’s factory† and cannot comply with various standards demanded from different suppliers, it becomes too costly to be effective. In this instance, the Chinese government has developed various rankings and best practices for Chinese companies, and goes as far as prohibiting international certifications unless approved by the right local authorities (Gugler and Shi 2009, p.15). By doing so, Chinese companies do not face foreign pressure to comply with standards that are unfeasible for their modus operandi. Overall, this essay has shown that there are numerous motivations for companies to practice CSR. Answering demands to  achieve higher satisfaction in consumers and employees, helping to build a reputation and in its most strategic form, creates a competitive advantage for companies are some of the benefits that a company can yield through effective CSR. While there are numerous ben efits of conducting CSR, CSR implementation is highly diverse due to the various legal, socio-economic and cultural factors that each country brings. Furthermore, due to the development and history of CSR, CSR is still very much in its infancy stage in the Southern hemisphere and pressure to develop a CSR programs similar to current ones in the Northern hemisphere becomes unrealistic and untenable. As such, other actors such as international NGOs may step in to realign and create focus for different needs, or countries may come up with their own compliance standards as a global benchmark to ease doing of business internationally. This has shown thus far how CSR is highly complex as a practice, varying from simplistic to more complex approaches, and once again changing within localities due to the needs and issues to be addressed. As CSR continues to develop, one should take notice of how CSR might change in developing countries and how globalisation continues to affect how companies may choose to conduct CSR. References: Aupperle, K. E., et al. (1985). â€Å"An empirical examination of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and profitability.† Academy of Management Journal 28(2): 446-463. Bhattacharya, C., et al. (2012). â€Å"Using corporate social responsibility to win the war for talent.† MIT Sloan Management Review 49. Bhattacharya, C. B. and S. Sen (2004). â€Å"Doing better at doing good: when, why and how consumers respond to corporate social initatives.† California Management Review 47(1): 9-24 BP (2013). â€Å"Sustainability.† from http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/sustainability.html. Campbell, J. L. (2007). â€Å"Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? An institutional theory of corporate social responsibility.† Academy of Management Review 32(3): 946-967. Carroll, A. B. (1979). â€Å"A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance.† Academy of Management Review 4(4): 497-505 Dahlsrud, A. (200 8). â€Å"How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions.† Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 15(1): 1-13 Donaldson, T. and L.  E. Preston (1995). â€Å"The stakeholder theory of the corporation: Concepts, evidence, and implications.† Academy of Management Review 20(1): 65 Esrock, S. L. and G. B. Leichty (1998). â€Å"Social responsibility and corporate web pages: self-presentation or agenda-setting?† Public Relations Review 24(3): 305-319. Friedman, M. 1970. The social responsibility of business is to increase profits. New York Times Magazine, September 13: 32–33, 122, 124, 126. Gugler, P. and J. Y. Shi (2009). â€Å"Corporate social responsibility for developing country multinational corporations: lost war in pertaining global competitiveness?† Journal of Business Ethics 87(1): 3-24. Institute, R. (2013). â€Å"Reputation Institute – The Reptrak system.† from http://www.reputationinstitute.com/thought-leadership/the-reptrak-system. Jamali, D. (2010). â€Å"The CSR of MNC subsidiaries in developing countries: Global, local, substantive or diluted?† Journal of Business Ethics 93(2): 181-200. Jamali, D. and Ramez, M. (2007). â€Å"Corporate social responsibility (CSR): theory and practice in a developing country context.† Journal of Business Ethics 72(3): 243-262. Kanter, R. M. (1999). â€Å"From spare change to real change: The social sector as beta site for business innovation.† Harvard Business Review 77. Lindgreen, A. and V. Swaen (2010). â€Å"Corporate social responsibility.† International Journal of Management Reviews 12(1): 1-7 McGuire, J. B., et al. (1988). â€Å"Corporate social responsibility and firm financial performance.† Academy of Management Journal 31(4): 854-872. McWilliams, A. and D. Siegel (2001). â€Å"Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective.† Academy of Management Review 26(1): 117-127. Muller, A. (2006). â€Å"Global versus local CSR strategies.† European Management Journal 24(2): 189-198 Meyer, J. and B. Rowan. (1991). Institutional Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony, in P. J. DiMaggio and W. Walter (eds.), The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London), pp. 41–62. Nintendo (2013). â€Å"Nintendo of America – Employee Welfare and Well-being.† from http://www.nintendo.com/corp/csr/#welfare. Porter, M. E. and M. R. Kramer (2002). â€Å"The competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy.† Harvard Business Review 80(12): 56-68. Porter, M. E. and M. R. Kramer (2006). â€Å"Strategy and society.† Harvard Business Review 84(12): 78-92. Smith, J. (2012). â€Å"The companies with the best CSR reputation.† from

IP Addresses Classes and Special Essay

Use IP Address Space In a computer network internet protocol is used for communication, to each device such as printers and computers a numerical label called an IP (Internet Protocol) Address is assigned. There are two functions of an IP Address a host or network interface identification, and also provides a location addressing. The basic elements of a network are the IP Address and Subnet Mask. There is also switching and routing which after you connect devices to switches and routers, data packets can be moved across the network. The Internet Protocol Version 4 (known as IPv4) is a protocol highly used even today, this IP Address consist of a 32-bit number in decimal or binary in four parts. In 1995 Internet Protocol Version 6 (known as IPv6) was created due to a high growth of the Internet, and the reduction of available IP addresses. IPv6 consist of a 128-bit number for addresses, in 1998 IPv6 was standardized as RFC 2460 and since the mid-2000’s has been used. Stored in text files and displayed as a readable notation IP Addresses are started as binary numbers, before their put out in readable form for individuals. Subnet short for Sub-network was not present in 1969 the classes of A – E did not exist yet. There were only 254 distinct networks with each network having a max of 16,777,214 IP addresses, because the first 8 bits for network part are standard reserved. Network Classes were developed in 1981. 16,777,214 IP addresses can be placed in 24 bits for host address, with this on the horizon developers found that they had to partition IP addresses. This partition had to be done in a way so we can have different sizes of a network. Different sizes of network bits eventually created different classes of networks, known today as Class A, Class B, and Class C. This solved the issue with the classes, but with little information given we still needed to identify what is the network class. In octets Class A (network bit 8 host bit 24) always between 0-127, Class B (network bit 16 host bit 16) between 128-191, Class C (network bit 24 host bit 8) between 192-224, Class D (network and host bit not defined) between 225-239, and Class E (network and host bit not defined) between 240-255. References: Decinteral.in.com Understanding IP Address and Subnet Mask Microsoft Tech.Net Wikipedia.com

Business and Administration Essay Sample

You should utilize this file to finish your Assessment.* The first thing you need to make is salvage a transcript of this papers. either onto your computing machine or a disc * Then work through your Assessment. retrieving to salvage your work on a regular basis * When you’ve finished. print out a transcript to maintain for mention * Then. travel to www. vision2learn. com and direct your completed Assessment to your coach via your My Study country – make certain it is clearly marked with your name. the class rubric and the Unit and Assessment figure. Please note that this Assessment papers has 8 pages and is made up of 7 Sections. Name: Section 1 – Know the employment rights and duties of the employee and employer 1. Identify four chief points that would be included in a contract of employment. If possible. utilize an illustration contract to back up your reply ( experience free to befog any confidential information ) . A Contract of Employment should include the undermentioned:1. Name of both the employee and the Employer. This transcript of my contract besides includes the day of the month of beginning. 2. Job Title. topographic point of work and duties.3. Rate of Pay.4. Hours of Work. 2a ) List three cardinal points of statute law that affect employers in a concernenvironment. 1. Health A ; Safety2. Data Protection Act 19883. Employment Rights and Duties 2b ) List three cardinal points of statute law that affect employees in a concern environment. 1. Health A ; Safety2. Pay A ; Pensions3. Employment Rights A ; Duties 3. Identify a scope of topographic points where a individual can happen information on employment rights and duties. You should place at least two internal and two external beginnings of information. Information sing employment rights and duties can be found in a legion sum of different topographic points. Statutory employment rights can be found within most libraries every bit good as citizen advice agency. The information will most probably be provided within a brochure signifier. slug indicating the chief countries of concern. Another External beginning of information sing rights and duties is the cyberspace. Many web sites will supply both statutory every bit good as contractual employment rights. These Web sites include the undermentioned Direct. gov. United Kingdom this is the authorities run website. another is ACAS. org this provides information used by trade brotherhoods. Internal beginnings of information can be used to happen information sing rights and duties ; these are more likely to be specific to the industry as opposed to employment in general. This information can be found within company’s enchiridion. The enchiridion will sketch a company’s polici es of different issues ; these will include vacations. unifrom. grudge and disciplinary processs. Dismissal. Sick Pay. This is non a contract so hence the information provided within the enchiridion will be capable to everyone within the work force. non as an person. Manuals such as Health and Safety or Legal manuals can besides supply internal beginnings of information. These will include elaborate history for who within a company is responsible for what. where and why. 4. Describe how representative organic structures can back up employees. Representative organic structures come under two classs. Trade brotherhoods and non trade brotherhoods. The difference being that trade brotherhoods are an official representative. although both can back up employees in many different ways. Both administrations can supply employees with specific information in respects to the field of work they are within. This can include Financial. Legal. Educational every bit good as informing employees what benefits they are entitled to do usage of. Representative organic structures are besides allowed to attach to employees to certain meetings ; these can be anything from Disciplinary. Grievance to workplace alterations. Representatives provide the employee with the information they believe is in the best involvement of the employee as opposed to the employer. take a firm standing that people’s rights are maintained within their work environment. 5. Briefly describe employer and employee duties for equality and diverseness in a concern environment. You should give at least two employer duties and two employee duties. If possible. supply relevant equality and diverseness processs from your workplace ( or topographic point of survey ) to back up your reply. These paperss should be annotated to foreground the relevant subdivisions. In 2010 parliament passed the equality act 2010. This act was passed to censor the unjust intervention of people who may differ from others. Using Four Previous Acts: Equality pay act 1970. sex favoritism act 1975. race dealingss act 1976 Disability favoritism act 1995. the authorities implemented the alterations to how people could be treated within employment. instruction and services. The Equality act protects people’s spiritual beliefs. sexual orientation. age. disablement from being used against them. Consequently concerns and administrations have policies which are enforced within the workplace to guarantee that this act isn’t broken. Employers have to do certain that all staff are trained on what is required from them in order to take part within implementing the act. They will hold to guarantee they have sufficient transcripts of the policy within all on the job environments and that all staff are aware of where to happen this information for when and if they require it. It is the duty of the employee to guarantee that they enforce the statute law within their immediate on the job environment. Employers should besides be cognizant that they should inform higher direction when they witness the act non being implementing it. leting higher direction to cover with the state of affairs and supply more equal preparation if required. Below is an image of a statement included within Betfred’s Company profile. within the staff enchiridion. This highlights what the employers expect from their employee and the effects of non implementing the statute law. This is merely their statement and more information can be found within the staff enchiridion. Betfred staff enchiridion. Company Profile. Page 6 6. Briefly explain the benefits of doing certain equality and diverseness processs are followed in a concern environment. Your reply should include one benefit for the employer. one benefit for the employee and one benefit for the overall administration. There are many benefits in guaranting that equality and diverseness processs are carried out right within concerns. non merely to employers but employees excessively. Employees will profit from working within an administration that has these processs set in topographic point for promotional grounds. An employee regardless of gender. race faith etc will cognize that publicities and developing strategies will be given out due to the virtue of their work. as a consequence promoting the employee to seek their best at everything they do. This therefore is advantageous to the employer. When an employee knows that difficult work dramas off and will be recognised for the right grounds. they are more likely to set more attempt and go more efficient within their on the job environment. Therefore in clip this will hike the productiveness or service of the company. accordingly bring forthing higher degrees of net income. When a company’s net incomes increase so will their repute. This wil l accordingly do the administration attract to possible employers. When an person is cognizant of a positive working environment. they will desire to work for that company. This will intend the administration will hold the choice of the best staff about. maintaining them at the top of their game. Section 2 – Understand the intent of wellness. safety and security processs in a concern environment 1. Identify employer and employee duties for wellness. safety and security. If possible. supply relevant wellness. safety and security policies / paperss from your workplace ( or topographic point of survey ) to back up your reply. These paperss should be annotated to foreground the relevant subdivisions. The Health and Safety at work act etc 1974. identifies the responsibilities of employers. employees. contractors. providers and anyone who manages and maintains a on the job environment. It stipulates who is responsible for what. when and why. It stipulates that all employees have a right to work in a hazard free safe environment in which employers are responsible for. However. it besides states that everyone has a duty for guaranting wellness and safety within the work topographic point. Employers must guarantee all working environments have an up to day of the month hazard appraisal. explicating to the user what any hazards are and how they should be controlled and who is responsible for them. Employers must supply any wellness and safety preparation possible every bit good as supplying the safety equipment which may be required for the occupation. E. g. Hard chapeau. overalls. protective baseball mitts. Employers must guarantee they have the certification required such as accident books. They should besides guarantee rinsing ; lavatory and imbibing installations are provided. Employee’s responsibilities differ to that of the employer. Employees must guarantee that they follow all preparation received and utilize all the protective equipment they have been provided with. Employers must guarantee they take duty for their ain wellness and safety but for their co-workers excessively. Finally an employee has the duty to guarantee the relevant people are informed when they witness person non following the right process and hence put on the lining their ain safety but besides the safety of others. Below is a transcript of the wellness and safety policy within my ain on the job environment. Each store contains two transcripts of the policy. One is displayed on position for staff at all times and one is kept within the wellness and safety booklet. which every store has. It stipulates the employee and employers duties. Betfred Health A ; Safety General Policy. 2. Explain the intent of following wellness. safety and security processs in a concern environment. The Purpose of following Health. safety and security processs. is to guarantee everyone has a safe working environment every bit good as people sing the working environment. A major intent of the processs and constabularies is to guarantee everyone is cognizant of theirs and others duties. vouching everyone implements these when they are required. There are many grounds why we should follow these processs. The most of import intent would be to follow the jurisprudence. The Health and safety at work act etc 1974. is a general wellness and safety policy which enforces certain Torahs to which all concerns have to follow. However. most industries are besides restricted by other Torahs which are set in topographic point such as Working Time Directive and Working Time Regulations. every bit good as Data protection Act 1998. Ignoring the process to guarantee these Torahs are abided can take to personal and organizational mulcts every bit good as closing of the concern ensuing in occupation losingss. Organisational regulations besides ties to the Law. The Law will be implemented with administrations regulations. hence if an employee was to interrupt the organizational regulations they are besides likely to be interrupting the jurisprudence. This can take to disciplinary processs which could take to dismissal. every bit good as legal action. The intent of following these processs has moral deductions excessively. It is morally right to maintain employees. clients and others safe from injury. Therefore everyone demands to be cognizant of the processs set in rock. The effects of neglecting to follow with the processs can be highly damaging non merely to the employers but besides to the employee. Loss of usage can impact concerns with bad wellness and safety as clients will travel elsewhere. failure to follow with legal deductions can incur costs such as mulcts. and compensation. which can ensue in redundancies and possible closing of concerns. This affects the employee as they will lose their occupation and hence income. This is why is it important that everybody take duty and dramas there portion in following the processs set in rock as they are at that place for everyone’s security. 3. Describe three different ways of keeping a safe and unafraid concern environment. Keeping a safe and unafraid concern environment can be done in many ways. One of these ways would be personal protection. as stated in the Health and Safety at work Act etc 1974. everyone has the duty to guarantee their ain safety. This can be done in a few different ways. Employees must guarantee they wear all the protective cogwheel provided for them at all the times they are required to make. They should guarantee they wear no points that can go debatable within the occupation that they may make. Not being bothered to have on protective chapeaus or baseball mitts or have oning wrong footwear to work. can both ensue in unsafe state of affairss non merely to the person but perchance to those working around them. Health and Safety would be amplified if everybody ensured their personal protection. Guaranting a safe and unafraid environment can besides be increased by personal behavior. How people behave in work can hold major reverberations on how safe and procure the working environm ent can be. Bad behavior which would be damaging to the safe and security of work could include the undermentioned behavior: practical gags on buildings sites which do travel incorrect. being intoxicated and hung over. can hold terrible deductions both in physical and academic places. terrible fatigue can take to miss of concentration. All of the above behavior can badly impact the working environment and present major hazards. By guaranting that none of this behavior takes topographic point within the workplace. wellness and safety issues will diminish guaranting that all policies are being implemented decently. Another manner of maintain a safe and unafraid environment would be to follow instructions. These can be providers. industries and even employers instructions. When a provider or maker has instructions of a merchandise. they are at that place for a ground. By supplying the terminal user with a set of instructions. ensures that the merchandise is used in the safest most effectual manner. These instructions can run from the how to utilize label on a cleaning merchandise or how to utilize a power tool. Employers besides provided instructions for the same ground. Although administrations instructions won’t needfully come on a label on a merchandise they are still given to guarantee an activity is done r ight in order to guarantee security and safety. These instructions may be to guarantee the security of informations. There are many different ways in which a concern environment can be maintained safely and firmly. but as shown in the three illustrations supra. most of the ways depend on the employee to guarantee their ain safety excessively. Section 3 – Understand how to pass on efficaciously with others 1. Complete the tabular array below with descriptions of different methods of communicating. You should include two verbal. two non-verbal and two written methods of communicating. Methods of communication| DescriptionVerbal communication| 1. One to One DiscussionsThis includes one individual speaking to another. This may merely merely affect one co-worker taking to another about the work in manus. This can besides include monthly action program meetings to discourse issues. 2. Telephone ConversationThis is a simple. speedy and convenient signifier of communicating and can be used for all different degrees of communicating. | Non-verbal communication| 1. Facial ExpressionsPeople’s Facial looks can besides pass on how people feel. Peoples smiling when hearing could be taken as they agree or promote what is being said. Sleep togethering 1s face up or glowering would pass on a concern for what is being said. 2. PostureA Persons Posture or Body Language can pass on to others how they are experiencing about a state of affairs. Positive Position could include sitting unsloped. looking at the talker and shoulders thrown back and chest out. | Written communicati on| 1. EmailsEmails can be used in order to inform a batch of people of the same message. Electronic mails can besides be used to go through in-depth information to those required. Attachments can be added with big files added. 2. MemosMemos tend to be used in big administrations in order to go through the same message to all subdivisions of the administration. These Memos will incorporate a brief description of what is required of those reading the memo. 2. Using two specific illustrations. explicate how to take the most appropriate method of communicating to run into your demands and the demands of others. Communication is required in all elements of concerns and administrations. from the informal to the formal scenes. Businesss hence need to use different attacks to who. what and how they wish to pass on with people and concern to concern communicating. The two illustrations below show how communicating information in different formats suits different hearers demands. Example 1 A New Gambling Law is introduced and a bookmakers needs to inform all staff about the alterations this make to them. First the Bookmakers will look at the company’s hierarchy and hence make up ones mind how the information will be communicated down the construction. This is most likely to be delivered to higher direction such as caputs of sections and regional/ Area Managers. in the format of a presentation. The Company will look at what they require from the result of the presentation which would be for those present to be derive the cognition and apprehension of the new statute law in order to travel Forth and develop lower direction and staff of what will be required of them. The Presentation will be within a formal scene in order to derive the full attending of the hearer due to the importance of the information being communicated. The mark audience will already hold a high competence of the industry and the slang used so the information provided within the presentation ca n be extremely elaborate and ocular AIDSs can be used to assist derive an apprehension of the information given. Example 2 A Company wishes to inform staff of the right process when taking the twenty-four hours of sick. A Company policy is already set in topographic point but a per centum of staff haven’t been following the right process. The company hence wishes the result of the information being communicated to be that staff will adhere to the right process. Due to the result the degree of communicating can be a written papers. The Company can direct a standard memo to all stores across the company guaranting all staff is cognizant of the right process. Therefore the mark audience is shop staff. direction included. Because the information is already provided within the enchiridion. the intent of the memo is to merely review people’s memories of how the process should be carried out. therefore a memo being less formal. The message doesn’t have to complex it merely merely needs to put in rock what is acceptable and what is non acceptable. The Handbook should be referenced within the memo informing staff where the regulations are and the effects of interrupting them. This is a simple manner of guaranting a message is delivered to all staff. It gets the point across is a simple elaborate manner. guaranting the terminal user obtains the information. 3. Describe at least two ways of actively listening. Active Listening demands to happen in order to retain all the information that is being provided. There are many ways that people can go active hearers. This includes inquiring inquiries. By inquiring inquiries the hearer become synergistic with the talker. and highlights the parts they find hard or disagree with. therefore doing the hearer retain more of the information given. When inquiring inquiries the hearer will so go more motivated to implement the message being portrayed. Another manner of going an active hearer is by doing notes. Making notes will assist the hearer after the meeting to retrieve what was said and hence implement the message of the meeting. Note taking can besides promote the talker to go on supplying the cognition required. Section 4 – Understand how to work with and back up co-workers 1. Explain the intent of holding criterions for your ain work. Give at least two grounds.Administrations draft a criterion of work policy in order to inform everyone within a company what is expected from them every bit good as from the people around them. Having these criterions set in topographic point aid for a smoother workplace. Employees need to guarantee they know what is required of them in order to work at a more efficient degree. Many administrations include a unvarying Dress codification ; some will include a set uniform provided to them by the administration usually including a company logo. Some will merely include smart office wear such as Trousers. Shirt A ; Tie. Others may include uniforms set by jurisprudence for illustration. difficult chapeaus on building sites and hair cyberspaces within nutrient and hygiene environments will be specified within the criterions of work policy. Behavioral criterions will be included and will differ for every company in order to specialize to the single service or merchandise being sold. Behavioral criterions stipulate the acceptable work behavior of what is accepted and what won’t be tolerated. Many Retail companies will stipulate that staff members that wish to smoke make so off from the entrywaies and issues of the shop. guaranting this does non impact the customers’ needs. Both Employees and Employers need to hold to criterions of work in order for them to work expeditiously aboard each other. Without the criterions of work employers can’t efficaciously monitor an employee’s work public presentation. And with the absence of criterions of work employees can be lead by personal reading taking to conflict with others sing what is and what isn’t expected. making a hostile working environment. 2. Explain the intent of taking on new challenges and being able to accommodate to alter at work. More valuable to workLearn new accomplishmentsHow administrations and co-workers will experience towardsyuo if immune Nothing in this universe stays the same forever. therefore we all evolve over clip this includes concern excessively. There are many factors that encourage alteration within concern ; two factors that work side by side are clients and engineering. 3. Explain the intent of handling others with honestness and consideration. Honesty encourages trust which in bend encourages higher degree of productiveness Consideration shows tha you respect others beliefsor positions and can stioll work along side one another. If honest and respectful how will it do workBuild better dealingssHow others would handle you if you were non Section 5 – Know how to be after ain work and be accountable to others 1. Explain the intent of run intoing work criterions and deadlines when finishing undertakings in a concern environment. Why is it of import to run into work criterions set of youConsequences of non run intoing them 2. Describe two different methods that you can utilize to be after your ain work in a concern environment. 3. Describe ways of maintaining other people informed about advancement and compare their effectivity. What are the benefits and drawbacks of each attack? Keeping people informed sing your advancement within the work topographic point is critical. Informing the relevant people makes a important impact on the effectivity of the work done. There are many ways of maintaining people informed about the advancement of your work. One of these methods could include calling people. The telephone within concern is a critical communicating excessively non merely with other co-workers but within gross revenues it is an priceless tool. Telephones within the work environment are depended upon to direct and have messages instantly. This can be done non merely office to office. but from state to state. therefore leting critical information to be available to people instantly. Therefore advancement can be reported on an hourly footing if required. Although the telephone is a speedy and easy method to pass on with others. many people believe this can besides do the effectivity of the telephone to be reduced. Having the telephone available to utilize instantly. it can take to being usage to extra and hence perchance impeding others work. if over used. Unlike other signifiers of communicate. with a telephone there is nil written down. so some information is left to personal reading and memory is relied upon extremely. Therefore some people like to trust upon the written word to be able to mention back to if needed. particularly when seeking to maintain several people informed sing different sectors of work. Electronic mails are besides used within the work topographic point to inform people of advancement of work. Electronic mails allow people to direct more elaborate information to a group of people at the same. U like a telephone conversation it is ever available for mention unless deleted. This therefore allows all people requ ired to be given the same advancement studies at the same clip. Electronic mails allow people to direct fond regards. hence leting others to see the work in advancement for themselves instead than taking the word of others. Although electronic mails are another speedy and convenient usage of communicating. it besides comes with some drawbacks. Electronic mails are impersonal and can be easy misinterpreted. intending sometimes they may hold to be more elaborate to do certain people gage the right apprehension. Although electronic mails are sent instantly to the receiving system. it is non needfully read instantly therefore the message is merely read when the receiving system makes the clip to read them. This can be destructive if the message is needed to be dealt with every bit shortly as possible. However. the usage of smart phones has reduced this ; it is still merely effectual if the receiving system reads them. People within concern know is it imperative they keep the needed people informed of their work. taking the method of communicating wou ld depend on the information needed to be received. Major jobs would necessitate a beginning of communicating that immediate and direct ; where as a advancement study with jobs could be communicated via another method. Section 6 – Understand the intent of bettering ain public presentation in a concern environment and how to make so 1. Explain the intent of continuously bettering your public presentation in a concern environment. Everybody should desire to be the best. at what they do for many grounds ; the lone manner you can accomplish this is by continuously bettering the work you do. If an employee doesn’t want to better they have no opportunity of making a higher degree within the work topographic point. hence cut downing their opportunity O succed within their occupation. They are restricting themselves of cognition. power and accomplishments that can be gained from bettering their public presentation. There are many grounds why employees should wish to go on in bettering themselves at work. Many concerns have bonus or committee scheme’s. promoting the employee to endeavor to make their best. Fiscal addition can actuate while honoring the employee to accomplish a higher work public presentation. Having these systems in topographic point can increase the employees apprehension of the company’s net incomes and loss and do them more accountable for the work they do. Some concerns use w agess alternatively of fillips. nevertheless they still work in the same manner. They may non offer hard currency but may offer more holiday yearss. offering inducements to better at work. Therefore it is in the benefit of the employee to seek their hardest for their ain addition every bit good as the companies gain. Some Companies review their staff and aid betterment through the usage of personal reappraisals or assessments. These are used as single ends to promote betterment. Failing to accomplish these ends can intend more regular assessments to foreground where the employee is traveling incorrect. This is hence likely to impact the employee. administrations and co-workers in a negative manner. Therefore seeking to better your public presentation at work will take to a higher criterion of occupation satisfaction. This will happen by the administration knowing you are bettering through assessments. co-workers cognizing everybody is drawing their just weight. Another intent of go oning to better public presentation at work once more Idaho for personal addition. Administrations wont promote employees they believe don’t strive to be the best. Bing lazy gets you nowhere. Therefore if an employee’s employer knows they are endeavoring for better public presentation at work they are more likely to be consider for publicity. This can besides use to come oning perchance to another concern. If an employee was to continuously better their public presentation in the work topographic point they would be given a good mention for another occupation. hence deriving what they want. With promotion/ new occupations they brings higher rate of wage. more duty and a better occupation. This will more likely addition the employee’s occupation satisfaction. As a consequence the chief intent in go oning to better their public presentation at work would be for personal addition. The options available to a difficult worker are far more than that of a lazy person. A difficult worker can derive financially and happiness within work. 2. Describe at least two ways of bettering your public presentation at work. Where relevant. exemplify your reply with specific illustrations from your ain experience. No 1 is Perfect. Consequently this means everyone can and should better where possible. First the person would necessitate to acknowledge that the country of work could be improved. There are many ways people can better their work. these could include. larning from errors. Performance Reviews. and Observations. Everybody makes errors nevertheless the best of people take that error and travel Forth and learn from it. Some errors can be fiddling and minor and some can be because major jobs. in order to larn from errors. an person will necessitate to place the job. admit the job. apologise and inform the relevant people sing what mistakes has happened. By making this. the person will observe non to make it once more and can besides place where they went incorrect and how to avoid it. if the same state of affairs were to happen. This will do the person more argus-eyed within their work and hence increase the public presentation. My occupation involves taking peoples stakes. interpreting them and paying them out. Unfortunately I one time didn’t look into a stake decently and unfortunately over paid a client. This was highlighted to me by direction and I was given a warning. I admitted that I had done incorrect explicating the fortunes of the state of affairs. and have since neer made the same error. therefore bettering the efficiency of my work. Performance reappraisal is besides a manner of promoting an person to better their public presentation at work. A public presentation reappraisal can happen on a regular footing and is a meeting between and employee and Manager where they discuss and evaluate the public presentation of the employee. Within the meeting old appraisals/reviews will be shown in order to see if the employee has made any betterment. The new reappraisal will include what developing the single demands in order to increase public presentation. high spot in what country they need to better and it will besides include the strengths of the employees work public presentatio n. Performance reappraisals are advantageous to the employee because they highlight to the employer what preparation they need to better but the employee can see where they need to better and can put ends for themselves and with the company. Because within many reappraisals and assessments companies include the strengths of the employee. they don’t feel like they are being attacked and this helps do the employee experience more apprehended which is likely to increase the enthusiasm in desiring to accomplish the ends. 3. Briefly describe at least two different types of calling tracts that may be available to you. I am presently a Shop Manager of bookmakers. I have worked there for the past four old ages and have bit by bit climbed the ladder from cashier to director. By wholly this Business and Administration Course I have a assortment of different calling waies. A calling way is influenced by many inquiries some could be. what occupation I want to make? What industry? And for how long do I anticipate to be making it for? I can remain within the same company I am presently working for and increase the degree of duty or even see traveling into the caput office or an Administration occupation if and when 1 was available. Another Career Path I have considered would be to transport on with instruction. and derive a higher degree of Business Administration. Possibly see making a Degree in Business Management which would besides spread out the available calling waies at the terminal of the grade. I have besides considered looking for Administrative occupations within a different industry other than chancing. Section 7 – Understand the types of jobs that may happen in a concern environment and how to cover with them 1. Identify at least two different types of jobs that can happen in a concern environment. Businesss occur many of jobs on a twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours footing. These jobs are out in to two different classs. Major and Minor. in order to prioritize the demand to repair them. Minor jobs. are little and obvious. They tend to be easy identifies and easy to repair. These tend to be able to be dealt with by employees. Major jobs will hold terrible effects. need careful consideration. necessitate adept sentiments and will be dealt with higher direction. Employees need to be able to place a minor job from a major and besides cognize how to cover the jobs they face. 2. Complete the tabular array below by depicting at least two specific jobs that can happen at work and how they can be dealt with. Problem| Covering with the problem|1. Staff Member Telephoning in Sick| Ensure the staff member has completed the right process when calling in ill. Reach other members of staff in order to happen screen of the shift/s. Inform Higher Management A ; Payroll of the alteration of staffing. Log illness in order to notice forms. | 2. Computer Failure| Identify the Problem that has occurred with the computerIf job identifiable and fixable. attempt and decide the issue at that place and so. If job unidentifiable. refer the job to other by pealing the appropriate extension e. g. IT department/ MaintenanceProvide as much information as possible sing the issue. foregrounding the importance of the equipment needed. | 3. Complete the tabular array below by naming at least two jobs you are able to cover with yourself and two jobs you would necessitate to mention to others to cover with ( and how you would mention these jobs ) . Problems I can cover with: | Problems I would necessitate to mention to others: | How are jobs referred to others? | 1. Asking people for ID. Guaranting I am following with statute law. I would inquire the client if they had any designation fro age. if they did I would observe down their Name. DOB and signifier of ID shown. This will subsequently be logged within our societal conformity booklet. If they had no ID they would be asked to go forth and this would besides be noted down within the societal conformity. | 1. Crime occurringWithin my occupation I have the duty to be cognizant that people may utilize our constitutions to fund or help condemnable activity. In this case I would mention the issue. supplying them all the information I know about the state of affairs. | In This state of affairs I would do a note of the suggested offense or assistance to offense. I would compose a elaborate description within the societal conformity booklet which is used to supply grounds that we co mply with the Gambling act 2005. I would besides reach the societal conformity director who is responsible for every shops conformity issues. And if necessary would pealing the constabulary. | 2. Staffing issues These jobs could affect people being absent from work. staff fortunes may alter. struggle between members of staff. All of the above issues can be dealt with by the shop director. This could be done instantly or with staff meetings depending on the issue. | 2. Large BetsWithin wagering stores we have bounds on the sum of money we can take on one stake. This is determined by caput office. due to profits/loss. If a client wants to put a big sum of money on a stake or a little sum that would return a batch we need to mention the issue to the referral and credence section. | To Cover with the issue. I would pealing the section explicate the ground why I am pealing. Using their more in-depth cognition of the betting markets and other stakes place they will so state me whether I can accept the stake or if I can’t. Sometimes they will accept the stake but for a smaller sum. I would so go through the information onto the client. and guarantee the determination made by the referral sec tion.

Media, Culture and Society .... Movie, Outfoxed Essay

Media, Culture and Society .... Movie, Outfoxed - Essay Example The director’s effort to expose media magnate Rupert Murdoch as a dangerous conservative right wing, Christian fanatic; instead quickly becomes an airing of disgruntled former employee views, whose own philosophies and ideals were in stark contrast to the conservative environment within which they worked. Even though for years, decades, in fact, the American liberal party, the Democrats, have ruled the American press corps, no greater threat to that sector has emerged and caused American liberals or the American Democratic party to speak out as loudly, or, in some cases, fanatically, as the Fox News Network. Never mind that CNN, under the management and direction of liberal Ted Turner, is the liberal opposite of FNN, and resorts to the same tactics and extreme leanings as cited by the former Fox employees as being the misleading of the public opinion; that FNN has been attacked by liberals in a way that CNN never has been. At one point in the Outfoxed documentary, Bob McChesney compares Fox to organized crime, using the gangster film The Godfather, to give documentary viewers the sense of the point he’s trying to make about Rupert Murdoch’s media empire being a subversive or covert organization, instead of a mainstream news organization that serves a widespread public o pinion and market. The problem with the Outfoxed documentary is that it fails to bring to light any area of real concern in Murdoch’s media organization. The former employees, while journalistic successes in their own right, such as McChesney, Jeff Cohen, James Wolcott and Clara Frenk; come across as whining disgruntled liberals who fail to expose shed light on anything going on, or that went on, at FNN except that the conservative view promoted by the Murdoch organization was not their view. Jeff Cohen warns that â€Å"media is the nervous system of a democracy,† and says he’s concerned that FNN is committing consumer fraud with its slogan â€Å"Fair and Balanced.†

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 6

Marketing - Essay Example Sales promotion will involve offering free samples of ice cream to children and other customers to improve the overall visibility of the product. Introduction Promotional activities play critical part in increasing the overall brand value and the firms should take into consideration the impact of such events on the overall revenue generation capability of such products. Our Camborne Ices range is one of our emerging products which can get an important sales boost if right kind of promotional tools and techniques are employed to market the product to its target market. Last year’s success at the International Food and Drink Exhibition has proved that an effective promotional policy can really help our products to get desired exposure to our target market. The overall impact of the promotional activities on creating brand value besides allowing the company to gain sufficient publicity is therefore huge and an effective campaign can really create such results. As such creating an effective promotional campaign and combining all the elements of promotion in effective manner can really provide the desired results while at the same time allowing marketers to better expose their product to their target market. Next year’s International Food and Drink Exhibition can also provide the firm a unique opportunity to further consolidate the position of our brand in the market. Considering this objective in mind, this report will provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of different promotional tools to be employed in order to successfully launch the product besides discussing as to how different tools can be mixed together in order to ensure that the product is successfully launched? Effectiveness of the Promotional tools There are different tools which would be actually employed in order to successfully launch the product and get maximum exposure. Some of the tools and their effectiveness are discussed below: Sales Promotion Sales Promotion is considered as one of the most effective methods of promoting the product to the desired target market. Through the sales promotion, marketers often utilize the media as well as non- media based sales promotional tools to improve the product visibility as well as the product demand in the market. (Kotler,2007). Sales promotion is quite effective in the initial stages of the product launch because it can effectively boost the overall visibility of the product in the market. It is important to note that the overall message delivered through sales promotion can be different for different types of customers i.e. for retail chain distributors this can be different whereas the same can be different if it is consumer based sales promotion. Advertising Advertising is another important promotional tool which can be effectively deployed in order to generate the desired level of results and improve the product visibility. Advertising is considered as the most effective promotional tool because of its ability to reach the maximum number of customers. Besides a well designed advertising message can actually allow the marketers to generate the desired level of interest within the customers. (Cook, 2001). Different advertising media vehicles can have different impact on the consumers and their overall effectiveness is judged by the manner in which these media vehicles are used. For

DMI Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

DMI - Assignment Example Data was collected on the following variables: For the variable on the time of study, the histogram shows that 61% of respondents studied at night while the remaining 39% studied during the day. Studying until late in the night can have an impact on the results as a student takes exam while the brain is fatigued and is not functioning at its optimum. The histogram and summary statistics for number of hours slept is shown above. From the results, we see that the average hours of sleep for grade 12 students are 6.5 hours with a standard deviation of 1.35. It has been recommended that students should sleep for at least 6 hours to maximize their cognitive ability. A scatterplot of age versus hours slept shows a negative correlation, i.e. older persons tend to sleep fewer hours as compared to younger ones. Indeed, the results from the scatterplot are further confirmed by results from the correlation table. The correlation is -0.725 implying a negative correlation between the two variables. A plot of exam score against hours slept shows a positive correlation between the two variables. Further analysis through correlation shows a value of 0.617. Consequently, the preliminary analysis supports the null hypothesis that academic performance is positively related with the number of sleep hours. Further analysis through regression is needed to build confidence in this hypothesis. Final analysis of the data involved regression modeling using exam scores as the dependent variable and hours slept, age and food quality as the independent variables. The regression equation can be stated as follows: From the equation, it is observed that the intercept for the number of hours slept is positive implying that hours of sleep positively impacts test scores. This can be stated as follows: a unit increase in hours slept results into a 4.479 unit increase in examination scores. However, age and food quality have a

How has information technology changed the daily lives of enlisted men Research Paper

How has information technology changed the daily lives of enlisted men and women serving in conflict zones overseas - Research Paper Example With the aid of academic literatures, this paper also aims to define information technology as used in this paper to provide a background as to how information technology relates to the US military, and provide a historical background of the utilization of IT in the US military forces to probe on how technology has affected military forces across different eras. 2.0 Information Technology (IT) Generally, Information Technology or IT is the processing of information by the computer systems which are greatly used for communication, data security and storage (Stoyles, Pentland, & Demant, 2003, p. 4). Thus, information technology helps the people in gathering, sharing and storing of data in a convenient and fast manner. Moreover, according to Yadav (2006, p. 2), information technology includes television sets, published works, computers and the Internet (which are common technologies used at home and offices) and any other media platforms where people can acquire information. In the cont ext of the military forces, information technology relates to the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) wherein information technology is used for weaponry, surveillance mechanisms, processing of information, and organizational transformations of different military units (Goldman, 2005, p. 1). These benefits center on the organizational advantage of the force. Part of the utilization of information technology of the US corps is also to provide personal benefits to the military soldiers as privatization of housing through IT, skills development and telemedicine programs. 3.0 IT and the Military: History In the early days of war fighting, various nations have adopted new technologies that brought radical changes in fighting. The end of World War II has marked the birth of atomic bombs where it was later developed to hydrogen bombs (Perry, 2004, p. 235). As people become more knowledgeable on the use of technology, the weapons and war instruments have also metamorphosed to a more advanc ed state. Furthermore, as the Soviet Union and the United States of America are creating war technologies based on fatal situations, both countries have developed missiles (Perry, 2004, p. 235). War weaponry continuously evolved which now includes new systems as satellites, smart sensors and new aircrafts to name a few. However, during the 1990s, as information technology slowly shapes the American society, and likewise, the US military has also acknowledged the importance of such technological advancement to further develop its strategies and principles that will ensure the dominance of the forces of the US military (Dombrowski & Gholz, 2006, p. 1). As information technology in the military forces centers on the war fighting improvement, they have implemented â€Å"network-centric warfare,† thereby providing a centralized infrastructure that allows communication, detection mechanics, commanding and controlling systems, combat information and battleground bearings among other s that can be accessed by various military personnel (X. Wang, Wei, & H. Wang, 2012, p. 573). From the mechanical war instruments, the advent of more advance technologies paved way for the

The concept of sky credit card Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The concept of sky credit card - Essay Example From the research it can be comprehended that aggressive marketing and easy availability of credit cards has resulted in credit cards being used to finance consumer purchases as a way of life. Research suggests that socialization as a consumer begins in infancy with children making their first purchase at the average age of eight years. There has been a change in attitude towards credit card which implies that consumers are more willing to use credit to finance their consumption. The widespread us of credit cards reflects the consumer preference for using credit cards and technological advancements have made it possible for the creditors to offer revolving credit. The credit card has allowed for convenience in purchasing but still one needs to go to the shops and cash machines to use the credit card. For the first time, Sky TV and Barclays have joined hands to introduce an interactive credit card known as Sky Credit Card which offers the convenience to make purchases right from the c omfort of the living room through the television. The users will be able to place the SkyCard in the second slot of their set-top boxes and through the remote control they can manage their accounts and make purchases. The attitude-behavior relationship in consumer finance differs from that in social settings. The consumers may have favorable attitudes towards borrowing but having low incomes poor credit history may impose constraints on the level of credit that they would like to enjoy.

Does islam permite acting in film and theatre Essay - 1

Does islam permite acting in film and theatre - Essay Example Acting is generally forbidden in Islam but is allowed for certain constructive purposes provided certain conditions are followed. The issue of acting being allowed or forbidden in Islam is a topic of great controversy among the scholars and interpreters of Islam. However there is complete consensus among all the various scholars about the type of acting which involves obscenity, interaction between men and women and other evil actions. All the scholars unanimously agree on the prohibition of this type of acting in Islam. There is no dispute among the Islamic scholars as far as this kind of acting is concerned (Al-Munajjid 2009). The prohibition of this type of acting is clear from the saying of Sheikh Abu Bakr Zayed (may Allah preserve him) to the effect that chivalry (behaving properly and decently) happens to be an objective of sharee’ah, plus whatever undermines that makes a person unsuitable for giving statement in court. Islamic teachings stress upon lofty characteristics and prohibit base and low characteristics. And as far as acting is concerned, actors are mostly seen by the viewers as performing ridiculous activities and moving and talking in a ridiculous way. They are yet seen as feigning madness. Thus it is proven beyond doubt that acting is among those things that seriously undermine chivalry. This further leads to the fact that acting is among those things which make a person unsuitable for giving testimony in the court of law. Such a thing cannot be approved of by Sharee’ah in any way. Now let us consider the type of acting about which there exists a controversy among the scholars of Islam. Some forbid it completely while others allow it within certain guidelines of Sharee’ah. This controversial type of acting is one that involves two or more than two persons performing before a group, through actions and dialogue, with a purpose to teach the group about Islamic principles and injunctions, or

Patient educational plan for larry garcia Term Paper

Patient educational plan for larry garcia - Term Paper Example The determination of interventional ways to fill the education gaps is, therefore, timely and necessary in protecting the health of the patient from further deterioration. For patients to have a sense of personal belonging to any health or disease interventions prepared for them, it is important to directly involve them. For this reason, the patient’s educational plan is prescribed that spells out specific roles to be played by both the patient and practitioner. An introduction to the disease process High blood pressure is one of the vascular regulatory system related diseases that proceeds in a manner that â€Å"the mechanisms that usually control arterial pressure within a certain (normal) range are altered† (Medi-Info, 2012). Medically, what this means is that there is a misplacement of the correct means by which arterial pressure is expected to function. Due to this misplacement, the arterial pressure is often identified to be operating out of range. The mechanisms responsible for controlling the arterial pressure are diverse and interrelated in function (Wierbicky, 2008). Some of these include but are not limited to the central nervous system, extracellular volume and renal pressor system (Medi-Info, 2012). ... The subsequent reaction to such displaced function is that there will be â€Å"increased cardiac output and increased peripheral resistance† (Medi-Info, 2012). As this becomes uncontrolled at an early stage, there is the elevation of the arterial pressure, which subsequently reduces cerebral perfusion and cerebral oxygen supply by greater proportion (Selius & Subedi, 2008). As the process leads on, there will be an eventual decrease in the blood flow to the kidneys with oxygenation of the kidney also affected because of an increase of myocardial workload (Medi-Info, 2012). Age and developmental issues The education plan for the patient considerably emphasizes age and development issues. This is because age and development have been identified as some of the worst risk factors associated with high blood pressures (Mayo Clinic, 2012). Since the age and development processes of the patient cannot be controlled or stopped in any way, the approach to be taken is to identify with th e patient how age and development increase the risk of high blood pressure. Such an education would create an awareness of ‘no escape’ and, therefore, of ‘prevention’ as the only solution. This is to say that when the patient is educated concerning the fact that his growing age will increase his risk of contracting high blood pressure and that there is nothing he can do about the fact, he will take preventive measures seriously. The following reasons will be given to the patient as to why his age and development will increase the chances of getting high blood pressure: the fact that there is generally less activeness in the body as a result of ageing; hardening of the arteries; decrease in the functioning of the kidney; body’ refusal to process salt eaten; and the fact that

Database Essay Example for Free

Database Essay Database systems are the spinal cord of any health care organization. It can be define as the collection of health data. The use of such systems has improve the health care system for decades helping set standards and even regulations to help the system be more efficiently productive. There are different database architectures available to meet the needs of each organization individually. There is a need for the continuum of database across the health care system. Definition A database is a structure that can store information about multiple types of entities, the attributes of those entities, and the relationships between the entities (Pratt Adamski, 2012, Chapter 1). How data is received, stored, processed, and made available to others has an effect on the success or failure of an organization. The use of different architecture is a most to fit the needs of the organization, however the value of the data still remains in been able to access and extract information from the database system, and the only way this can be reached is by organizing, storing, and analyzing it effectively. For many organizations these systems have become an essential part of their structural and operational success. The effectiveness of databases is based on the fact that from one single, inclusive database much information regarding a range of organizational principles can be obtained. In the health care industry database systems allows information to be shared and available to different users; it can provide an accurate, consistent, and up-to-date information about a patient’s condition and treatment, as well as provide a security measure so that the information is only viewable to those who should see it. Database Architectures A database consists of one or more tables; each containing data stored as individual records. Different database architectures determine how the tables and records are organized or related to one another. According to Penn State University (2008), â€Å"There are four structural types of database management systems: 1. Hierarchical- A hierarchical database is organized in pyramid fashion, like the branches of a tree extending downwards. Related fields or records are grouped together so that there are higher-level records and lower-level records. 2. Network- is similar to hierarchical databases by also having a hierarchical structure. There are a few key differences, however. Instead of looking like an upside-down tree, a network database looks more like a cobweb or interconnected network of records. 3. Relational- connects data in different files by using common data elements or a key field. Data in relational databases is stored in different tables, each having a key field that uniquely identifies each row. Relational databases are more flexible than either the hierarchical or network database structures. 4. Object-oriented- are useful for handling small snippets of information such as names, addresses, zip codes, product numbers, and any kind of statistic or number you can think of. It can be used to store data from a variety of media sources, such as photographs and text, and produce work, as output, in a multimedia format† (Database Fundamentals). The organization and delivery of healthcare services is an information intensive effort. Generally, the efficiency of healthcare operations is drastically affected by the level of the integration of information across all sectors (Wright, n.d.). Healthcare organizations that have not yet make the effort to integrate their data and relate information in an effective and efficient way will find it difficult to stay afloat or even compete within this part of the market. The healthcare market is undergoing changes were information technology has become essential to their every day functional activities. The need of database users across the health care continuum would increase with the demands of technology to be to focus on striving to provide a patient focus services in different entities. Recent advances in policy, practice and research are compelling health care leaders across the continuum of care to move beyond aspiring to be more patient- or person-centered to taking action to realize that vision. A growing body of evidence is linking adoption of a patient-centered approach to care to improved outcomes, including reduced lengths of stay, avoidable readmissions and emergency department visits, and increases in patient satisfaction and employee engagement (Planetree.org, 2012). Database systems serve as a connection pathway to future strategies of care. The need to keep up and try as much as possible to meet the demand is a most in the health care field. Since many changes are been made to health care, database systems would continue evolve, to improve and standardized the ability to organize, save, and share information throughout the system providing a more efficient and effective line of service for their customers and the demands of their markets for years to come.

Therapies Approaches Essay Example for Free

Therapies Approaches Essay What are the major strengths and weaknesses of the following approaches to therapy? (A) Psychoanalysis: The main goal of psychoanalysis is to resolve internal conflicts that lead to emotional suffering. Traditional psychoanalysis called for three to five therapy sessions a week, however, treatment may still go on for years for the sake of increasing the application and the accuracy of the analysis of the behavioral development of the clients attended with through the said therapy. Today through the application of the new approaches of psychology, the said therapy has already been briefed to be able to give ample and accurate solutions to issues that clients are supposed to take into consideration. This therapy is then noted for its capability to analyze the different factors that contribute to the situations that clients are primarily involved with. However, with the lengthened way of applying the process, finding solutions becomes less applicative in this manner of psychological approach. (B) Person-centered therapy: Individual-focused, this is the characteristic of this particular approach. Since it is individual, the subject becomes more concise and much easier to identify. Having to deal with the issue through the singularity of the subject actually notes the possibility of being more specific with the solutions that are formulated along the application of the therapy. However, being individually centered makes the approach less broad. (C) Behavior therapy: Behavior centered therapy incites the importance of approaching the problem through knowing who and how the person or the client is dealing with the situations that he is facing in life. Through this therapy, the examination of the situation shall be based on the ideal character of the person being dealt with. This makes the process of understanding the problem more accurate and more efficient. (D) Cognitive therapy: This therapy actually notes the process of using the attitudes and reactions of the clients to be able to create the most possible solution available for the problem to be answered. Considerably, cognitive therapy is actually an approach that estimates the specific manner by which people react to the different issues that they deal with everyday. Although effective in many ways, it is indeed noticeable how this particular therapy is subjected to some issues since people change every now and then. (E) Drug therapy: Medication may not be as effective as expected all the time. At some point, this process may even result to a more complicated problem that could be due to overdose. Although helpful, too many limitations should be considered in pursuing this particular approach in psychological therapy. References: Samuel E. Wood, Ellen Green Wood, and Denise Boyd. (2007). Mastering the World of Psychology (3rd Edition) (MyPsychLab Series). Allyn Bacon; 3 edition.

The main concepts of the behaviorist perspective theory

The main concepts of the behaviorist perspective theory As a reaction to the introspective analysis method in psychology and the focus on the study of mental processes, conscious or unconscious that dominated the beginning of the last century and was considered the object of psychology at that time  [1]  , a new approach was developed under the name of behaviorism. This new psychotherapeutic approach was to dominate psychology for about 50 years. Precursors of this approach are the American psychologist Edward Lee Thorndike  [2]  and the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov  [3]  , but the one who is considered the father of behaviorism and established its theoretical and practical fundaments is John Watson  [4]  . Behavior becomes the focus of psychological investigation because it is the only one that can be scientifically studied and quantified, predicted and controlled. The behaviorist assumptions are that: psychology should be seen as a science and therefore it should deal with observable behaviors that generate empirical data; the environment plays a decisive role in determining behavior as opposed to the psychic inner processes; all behavior is learnt from environment and this learning process is similar to animals. In contrast with the vague concepts used by introspectionism, behaviorism places a high emphasis on the use of operational definitions that is defining various concepts in terms of observable events that may be used to describe human experience in terms of stimuli and responses. A specific characteristic of behaviorism is parsimony seeking the simplest possible explanation for any event  [5]  . Key concepts of behaviorism comprise the stimulus response (S-R) equation, the classical and operant conditioning, and the reinforcement and punishment notions. The method used to analyze behavior is the lab experiment which gave the possibility to manipulate the independent variable in order to study the dependent variable. Stimulus is a measurable change in the environment any object, fact, event or situation that may have an impact on behavior, while response is a measurable change in behavior any reaction to a stimulus either environmental or mental. The behaviorist theory excludes thoughts, feelings and other mental occurrences, and genetic factors as well, that is everything that cannot be study objectively, in observable terms. Watson took further Pavlovs idea of conditioning  [6]  and applied it to humans. According to him humans are born tabula rasa and the behavior is simply learnt from the environment through a process of conditioning. In a famous and controversial experiment because of its ethical implications, Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned Little Albert an 18-months old toddler to develop a fear response to rats, by associating the rat NS with a strong noise UCS. They conducted their research following the classical conditioning scheme: Noise (UCS) Anxiety (UCR); Noise (UCS) + Rat (NS) Anxiety (UCR); Rat (CS) Anxiety (CR)  [7]  . Close related to the process of classical conditioning is the generalization that occurs. Thus, stimuli similar to the original CS would tend to elicit the same CR. In the case of Little Albert it was reported that the boy was showing strong signs of anxiety to all fluffy objects, which were similar to the white rat used in experiment. Stimulus generalization results in responding to a whole class of related stimuli, after initial learning with a single stimulus and can enable organisms to adapt better to their environment though it may not always be adaptive  [8]  . Behaviorists draw the conclusion that generalization is the first response of an organism when encountering new situations. Sometimes this generalization may take the form of stereotyping that occurs when generalizing based on group membership. To fight this phenomenon, behaviorists undertook and exemplified through research the concept of stimulus discrimination  [9]  , according to which an organism may be tr ained to discriminate between two or more stimuli that progressively increase in alikeness. As Glassman and Haddad point out stimulus discrimination always requires training in the absence of such training, organisms tend to generalize (emphasis theirs)  [10]  . Opposed to the concept of conditioning is the concept of extinction which suggests that what can be learned can also be unlearned, and that a conditional response is not necessarily permanent  [11]  . However, as some research indicate  [12]  , extinction is likely to appear in humans in some basic behaviors involving muscle responses like withdrawing from a hot surface, but not in complex behaviors which involve fear responses or other responses of the automatic nervous system and which are very hard to extinguish. Using Pavlovs extinction procedure, Watson and Rayner tried to eliminate the conditioned fear response associated with rats in Little Alberts case by presenting the rat for a period of three weeks w ithout associating it with the gongs noise. Contrary to their expectation the fear did not extinguish. Stimulus generalization and discrimination concepts as well as the extinction principle have a great importance for our discussion because they will be used in the process of developing behavioral psychotherapeutic techniques. Skinner developed the concept of operant conditioning. He argues that all behavior is modeled by complex reinforcement patterns from the environment. In his view, humans and animals actively engage with their environment, as opposed to the Watsonian emphasis on classical conditioning where they are more passive waiting for the environment to produce stimuli to which they may respond to. Skinners main idea is that human behavior is determined by the consequences of its past behavior. If from a Watsonian perspective the behavior is triggered by external stimuli, starting with Skinner the behavior may be elicited by internal stimuli as well, as a result of past internalized experiences. Thus operant conditioning is a type of learning where future behavior is determined by the consequences of past behavior. According to Skinner the past behavior may influence feature behavior depending on three types of consequences: if it had no consequence, the probability of that behavior to occur in the future is neuter; if the consequence is found pleasant, then the behavior is likely to be repeated in the future this was called positive reinforcement; if the consequence is negative, then it acts as a punishment and makes that specific behavior unlikely to appear in the future. By extrapolation, learning occurs through manipulation of positive reinforcements and punishments. Newer behaviorist approaches acknowledge that although the two types of conditioning reflex and operant were developed independent of each other by different researchers, they are interconnected and in real life situations both processes can occur simultaneously  [13]  . Practice therapeutic process and methods The behavior therapeutic approach emerged from these behavioral principles of classical and operant conditioning. All behavior is learnt and therefore abnormal behavior is seen as the result of faulty learning. In order to cure the individual needs to learn the correct behavior. The behavioral therapy applying the principle of here and now focuses on the present behavior which the patient finds problematic as opposed to the psychodynamic therapy that focuses on identifying and uncovering unconscious conflicts from childhood. The therapist sees the patient as standing at the intersection between genetic inheritance and learning that occurred through interaction between individual and environmental stimuli. These result in maladaptive thoughts, feelings, attitudes and verbal behavior. Conventionally, the psychotherapeutic process starts by behavior analysis  [14]  . The focus is on indentifying the current stimulus response relationship. Based on the disruptive behaviors identified the therapist designs a program (the psychotherapeutic process) meant to help the patient unlearn the faulty responses and if appropriate learn more adaptive behaviors. The patient is explained how the psychotherapy works, how the conditioned responses were learnt somewhere in the past and how the very same behavioral responses can be modified using the techniques of behavioral therapy. According to Bennet, behavior therapy differs from psychoanalytic therapies in the following regards: it is directive, the therapist actively involves in the therapeutic process, using methods based on learning principles; the goal of therapy is different in that it intends to change behavior not to reconstruct personality; the therapy is shorter than other forms; the interventions are symptom specific, closer to the medical model of intervention rather than the psychoanalytic catharsis or insight  [15]  . Behavioral techniques emerged from the classical conditioning principle involve systematic desensitisation, aversion therapy, implosion therapy and flooding. Operant conditioning techniques are related to what is commonly known in therapy as behavior modification, behavior shaping and token economy. Systematic desensitization is the treatment of choice for phobias and various anxiety inducing behaviors. It aims at replacing the patients anxiety response with a relaxation one, by increasingly exposing the patient to a hierarchy of stimuli from the less anxiety evoking to the anxiety evoking stimulus itself. During the process, the patient goes to the next stage of the stimulus hierarchy only after succeeding to be fully relaxed in the present of the previous stimulus. This method requires the training of the patient in relaxation techniques  [16]  and involves the use of imagination, since when is impossible to be confronted with the actual situation (like is the case in social p hobias) the patient has to imagine being in those situations, following that life itself will offer opportunities to see if the therapy is successful or not. So, the exposure can be done in vitro or in vivo, depending on the phobic stimulus. However, studies have emphasized that the important factor in curing is the exposure to the feared object or situation by breaking the avoidance cycle created and reinforced in any phobia. Aversion therapy is used to induce an aversive response to stimuli which are associated with existing undesirable behaviors. It has been used in trying to treat alcoholic addiction, by associating a nausea producing drug or a small electric shock with the undesired behavior of drinking. As a result of this stimuli association, the patient is provoked to vomit. This supposedly might determine the patient avoid drinking in the future. However, this method raises serious ethical and effectiveness problems, the rates of relapse being reportedly very high. Implosion therapy and flooding involve that the patient has to face the worst possible fear producing situation, in imagination only in the former and in the physical context in the latter. In contrast with systematic desensitization which presupposes a gradual exposure to the stimuli, these techniques are more radical and less time consuming. If successful, the patient might be cured of a phobia in one hour. The advantage of this method is that the patient learns that there are no objective bases for his/her fear by accepting to openly confront it. Ethical problems are associated as well in regard to suffering from therapy. Derived from operant conditioning, the behavior modification method is largely used in educational and clinical psychology contexts. It reinforces desired behaviors and ignores or punishes undesired ones. This techniques raises problems in choosing reinforcers since people can potentially respond to a wide range of such stimuli. Similar to behavior modification is the behavior shaping technique successfully used in working with autistic children in order to maintain a desired behavior. Another operant application has been used in institutions (for examples schools and hospitals) within the programs called token economies, where conditioned reinforcers are offered to strengthen specific behaviors. Tokens are offered in exchange of a desired behavior and can later be transformed in something that the individual wants. Token behave as a secondary reinforcement for the primary reinforcements which are in fact desired. It may be also used to extinguish undesired behaviors by taking away t he earned tokens to punish undesired behavior. Taken economies are uncommon and inefficient in treating mental disorders, although they might contribute to alleviating some disruptive behaviors associated with mental disorders, such as aggressiveness, inadequate social interaction and use of bad language  [17]  . Evaluation of the approach strengths and limits One of the major strengths of this approach is questionably considered its scientific background. Developed from lab experiments on animals (Pavlov-dogs, Thorndike cats, Watson rats, Skinner pigeons and rats) it focuses exclusively on behavior which can be observed and objectively measured. The behaviorist human being is concrete, realistic, determined in its actions by the environment and the society that he/she lives in. This theoretical approach proved to be productive in creating psychotherapeutic methods, mainly successful in the area of phobias and addictions. Compared to other approaches behaviorism is supported by many experiments. However, there are discrepancies between the empirical and the theoretical developments in behaviorism, which is considered a limitation of the approach. Initial empirical studies were made on animals (as mentioned above) while the theoretical studies are done by generalizing observations made on animals upon humans. This fact cumulated with the declared behaviorists rejection of the importance of mental processes offers a very fragmented and simplistic view of human being. Watson believed that observing and describing behavior is enough to predict and control it. Thus, he eliminated explanation from psychology. Psychic life was acknowledged but its understanding was not considered necessary because it will finally manifest itself at behavioral level. At this point we need to reconsider what meaning we give to the term scientific, in regard to our double perspective taken by the present work. If scientific means that positive methods in studying human being (similar to the study of rocks, animals, meteorological phenomena etc.) are favored, then we might as well consider this psychological approach a step forward on the terrain of positive science. But if scientific means to conceptualize the human being in all its wholeness in order to understand its starting point, its inner resorts and teleological direction, then behaviorism might be seen as an unacceptable lessening of the complexity and mystery of human being. The intense use of lab experiments present the disadvantage of a low ecological validity  [18]  . In time it became obvious that understanding of behavior cannot come from the laboratory. On the other hand behaviorism was criticized as being reductionist by eliminating the meditational processes and too deterministic by the fact that human being is presented as not possessing free will. Another weakness identified by ethnological studies show that the principles of conditioning are not as universal as was once asserted  [19]  . However, maybe the most informed criticism is provided from within, by a behavior therapist like Lazarus connected with Joseph Wolpe, who states in regard to behavior therapy that: the methods of behavior therapy are extremely effective when applied to carefully selected cases by informed practitioners. But when procedures overstep the boundaries of their legitimate terrain, ridicule and disparagement are most likely to ensue. Far from being a panacea, the methods are then held to have no merit whatsoever, and the proverbial baby gets thrown out with the bath waterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The danger lies in a premature elevation of learning principles into unwarranted scientific truths  [20]  . Comparison with psychodynamic perspective Within the behaviorist approach various theorists hold positions that may vary in some degrees but fundamentally assert the same thing: behavior is the new found object of psychology; this allows psychology to behave and to be considered a natural science; a belief that its legitimate to study the animal behavior and compare it with human behavior; the emphasis on environment as causation of behavior and consequently dismiss mental processes. The psychodynamic and behaviorist perspectives on human being are opposed. They started from very different points in defining what human being is. Furthermore, the behaviorism appeared as a reaction to psychoanalysis and other currents in psychology that used the method of introspection to define and explain the inner, immaterial and unseen mental processes. Their approach was considered by behaviorists as mysticism. The focus in psychodynamic theories and practice is on inner processes that are seen as motivating and influencing behavior, while the focus in behaviorist theories and practice is on the outer world, i.e. environment that is seen as determining behavior. The change in psychoanalysis comes by uncovering unconscious conflicts that are the underlying causes of behavior, while the change in behaviorism comes by manipulating the environment in order to remove undesirable behavior. These opposing perspectives do not completely eliminate dialogue since the unification point i s the human being itself. For example, if a Freudian theorist suggests that adult behavior can best be understood by looking at childhood experiences, Skinner agrees but suggests that the connections are based on the reinforcement history of the person, not some vague concept of conflicts between id and ego  [21]  . In the Freudian understanding of human nature, the person is born with instincts, hence the development of the drive and unconscious psychology, as opposed to the Watsonian perspective where humans are born tabula rasa. The behaviorist theorist Skinner describes the inner life as a black box. He acknowledges its existence but he sees it in behaviorist terms. For him the private inner life is also behavior  [22]  . However, in the view of the major differences presented above we are enabled to draw the conclusion that psychoanalysis and behaviorism have as a starting point different assumptions concerning human nature and therefore, develop at the conceptual- the oretical and practical-therapeutic level towards two distinct finalities. This point is very well made clear by Watson in one of his famous quotes: Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and Ill guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant -chief and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for thousands of years  [23]  . Contributions to new developments Despite all its limitations, the behaviorist approach has some positive points as well: provided psychology with new and quantifiable concepts, opened the gate to new theories and explanations in psychology, crated more realistic methods. Somehow ironically, one of the major contributions made by behaviorism concerns the possibilities of research opened towards the investigation of cognitive processes that they initially rejected, which will fundament the new cognitive approach in psychology. For example, Edward Tolman, regarded as one of the founders of the cognitive approach, considered himself a behaviorist though not a radical behaviorist like Skinner. In addition, the study of many cognitive issues, such as observational learning imitation) and the use of hypotheses in problem solving, began with similar behaviorist studies of animals. Where the introspectionists failed in their attempts to make sense out of mental processes the behaviorists have pointed the way to new possibil ities for a scientific psychology of the mind  [24]  . Neobehaviorism introduces the meditational processes (motive, emotion) between stimuli and response.